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Kakashi removed his hands from Sakura's breasts slowly as she stood up and straightened her hair and shirt while Kakashi adjust his headband and reapplied his mask. She was suddenly grateful to Mr. Puppykins for barking his warning as she was now able to sense someone coming. She turned to her pup and smiled as he wagged his tail, and she patted his head. "Good boy." She and Kakashi both stood and smiled at the blond that emerged through the trees.

Chapter 4

She and Kakashi both stood up and smiled at the blond that emerged through the trees.

Naruto waved at Kakashi and Sakura with one of his fox grins, "Hey, what's up you two?"

Sakura smiled over at Naruto sweetly, despite the moment he had unconsciously ruined. "Hey Naruto!" She waved at him as inner Sakura fussed.

'Damn it Naruto! Why do you always show up at the wrong time?' she asked as she punched the air several times.

"Yo, Naruto," said Kakashi calmly with a crinkle of his eye, "Just got back from the mission?"

"Yeah, I just finished seeing Hinata, and I heard that you were leaving on a mission, so I wanted to say good luck before you left."

Kakashi nodded. "Aa, thanks for the concern Naruto, but I don't need it. I'll be just fine," he said as he glanced down at Sakura, silently reassuring her.

Mr. Puppykins, who really did not like being ignored, jumped a little and barked at Naruto. Naruto blinked as he looked down at Mr. Puppykins, "Sakura-chan, you got a dog?"

Sakura giggled and picked up the white pup who craved attention. "Yeah, Kakashi taught me how to summon dogs, and when I summoned Mr. Puppykins; I just had to keep him." She laughed on the inside at the look Kakashi shot her and stuck her tongue out at him.

Kakashi looked at Sakura sternly. "His name is not Mr. Puppykins. It's Tsukiyomi, Sakura."

Sakura rubbed the top of Mr. Puppykins' head as she kneeled down in the grass with Naruto to play with the pup. "Not anymore it's not. He doesn't even like that name you gave him, Kakashi. He likes mine a lot more. Don't you, Mr. Puppykins?" Mr. Puppykins put his little rear up in the air as he wiggled his tail and barked. "See, Kakashi? He likes mine more."

Naruto snickered at the pair as he saw his opportunity to annoy Kakashi further. "I agree with Sakura-chan! Mr. Puppykins is way the hell better than Tsukiyomi!"

Kakashi now stared at both Naruto and Sakura with an aggravated expression. "Tsukiyomi is a respectable and honorable name for a nin-dog. 'Mr. Puppykins' is a silly meaningless name. His name is Tsukiyomi, Sakura. Stop calling him Mr. Puppykins or he'll get confused."

Sakura scoffed at Kakashi, "No, Mr. Puppykins is a fun and nice name that I came up with. Besides, he likes the name I gave him, and he sure as hell doesn't like the one you gave him."

Kakashi let his head fall into one of his hands. Really, how foolish was this? Arguing with Sakura over a dumb mutt. If it was so foolish and he did not like the damn pup, couldn't he just let it be? He sighed, "Fine, Sakura. Let him decide what he wants to be called. Step away from him and then we'll call out to him, if he goes to you then you can call him Mr. Puppykins. Sounds fair?"

Sakura stood up and dusted her pants as she stepped away from Mr. Puppykins when Kakashi started to walk away. "Alright fine. Ready?" She saw Kakashi nod his head and the two of them called out to the pup once. "Mr. Puppykins/Tsukiyomi! Come here!" The dog tilted his head to the side, and then licked Naruto's hand as he stood up. Mr. Puppykins started walking towards Sakura slowly, but then turned his head to Kakashi calling his real name; he started to jog up to him.

Kakashi smirked under his mask. "I told you he wanted to keep his original name, Sakura. You should have listened to me." He bowed his head to stare down at Tsukiyomi with a small smile, and he was going to pick him up but stopped when Tsukiyomi walked past to the tree behind him. He turned around to stare as Tsukiyomi sniffed the tree. Kakashi's eyes widened as the pup sat down to use the restroom, and then scratch his ear before he walked back past him.

Sakura grinned as she kneeled on the grass to open her arms wide for the pup running over to her. She scooped him up in her arms and smiled over at a twitching Kakashi. "Awww, I knew you liked my name better. Now you will permanently be named Mr. Puppykins."

Kakashi felt like he had just unraveled his own demise when Sakura summoned Tsuki- Mr. Puppykins. This...mutt...was already causing problems for him, and he had not even brought the dog home yet. He actually felt ill at the thought...that mutt was going to cause him problems. And what if he broke things and chewed up the apartment or...god forbid...used the restroom inside his apartment? He was having second thoughts about the dog, but he could not go back on his word now...not when he was about to leave on a mission. He sighed, 'Speaking of missions...I should really get going...'

"Sakura, I have to go now," he said evenly, like he was not about to leave on a mission at all.

Sakura took her eyes off Mr. Puppykins immediately to look up at Kakashi. She found that she was actually able to speak. "Ok...be careful, Kakashi." She was not expecting him to show her affection in front of Naruto, not like this anyways. She was surprised, but then relaxed.

Kakashi walked over to Sakura and kissed her softly on the lips, keeping his mask in place. "I'll see you when I get back, Sakura." Kakashi turned to leave but turned to look at Mr. Puppykins when he whimpered. He sighed, 'Damn mutt.' He patted his head. "See you when I get back Tsu- Mr. Puppykins." He looked at Sakura one last time before he turned and left, disappearing with a 'poof.'

Sakura stared at the spot where Kakashi had been sanding. 'Be safe.' A hand on her shoulder brought her back from her thoughts, and she turned to look at Naruto.

"C'mon Sakura-chan, I'll walk you home," he said softly with a smile.

Sakura smiled and nodded. "M'kay." They walked out of the forest in what seemed like a few hours, but Sakura knew it had taken far less than that. When they had reached Konoha's main street, Sakura looked down at Mr. Puppykins. "You think my mom would like him?"

Naruto smiled at Sakura and reached a hand out to scratch the back of Mr. Puppykins' ear. "Yeah, I'm sure she will, Sakura-chan." He fell silent for a moment, contemplating if it was okay to talk about Kakashi or not; he risked it. "You really love him. Ne Sakura-chan?"

"Yeah, I do love him Naruto."

"...I know it's hard when people you care about leave on missions, but it should go away after a while."

Sakura shook her head. "It won't ever go away. You just learn to cope with it. Besides...I'm not the only one that will be worrying. Naruto...I-I'm ANBU now too."

Naruto almost fell over as he looked at her. "A-are you serious?"

She nodded, "Yeah, I am. Tsunade-sama and Kakashi think that I can do great things in ANBU and...And I think I can too."

Naruto smiled at her. She was so much stronger now, both physically and emotionally. "That's great. I know you'll be great as ANBU. We need some one like you, Sakura-chan."

Sakura looked up at Naruto as she stopped walking with her parent's house right in front of her. "Thank you Naruto, for everything."

Naruto grinned and embraced her tightly while trying not to squish Mr. Puppykins. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

She nodded, "Yeah, good night Naruto," she said as she opened her parents door. She took her sandals off and put them next to the door as she put down Mr. Puppykins. What time was it? She looked up and the clock hanging on the kitchen wall read 5:30. Maybe her mother would be home?

"Mom? You home?" she walked over to the living room and saw her mother sitting on the couch. "Hey, didn't you hear me, mom?"

Her mother looked a bit startled at seeing her daughter. "Sakura, no, I'm sorry, I didn't. ...Why didn't you come home yesterday, hunney?"

'Because I was sleeping with Kakashi at his house...' "Ummm, I was over at Ino's yesterday. Sorry."

Mrs. Haruno glanced at the floor when she head a bark, "What?"

"Oh, this is Mr. Puppykins," she said as she lifted him off the floor. "I summoned him and Kakashi let me keep him," she replied a little too brightly.

Mrs. Haruno raised an eyebrow at her daughter, "Really? He's adorable, but why would Kakashi-san let you keep one of his nin-dogs?"

This was as good a time as any to tell her mother about her and Kakashi, right? Sakura sighed as she hugged Mr. Puppykins to her chest. "Mom, can I tell you something that means everything to me? But before I do, let me remind you that I am nineteen years old and now what I am doing."

Mrs. Haruno nodded and made room for Sakura on the couch. "It's alright Sakura. I trust your judgment. Come, tell me."

Mrs. Haruno put down her cup of coffee on the table next to her and lightly ruffled the top of Mr. Puppykins' head. "I see...so then...you love him?"

Sakura looked at her mother with complete certainty, "Yes, I do."

Mrs. Haruno nodded her head. "If you think you can handle the pressure, then don't let him go, Sakura."

Sakura nodded; she knew what her mother meant. "It's not a one-sided relationship mom. I know he's worried about me too, now that I am ANBU my missions will be more dangerous. It doesn't help to dwell on the down sides of the relationship mom, you know that." Sakura looked up at the clock again, it was late; it read 9:50. She was tired and wanted to get some sleep. "I'm going to get some sleep, alright mom?"

Mrs. Haruno nodded and stood up from the couch with her daughter, "Just be careful, Sakura. There's a reason why most shinobi don't want to start a family. They might not come home one day...just like your father."

Sakura nodded at her mother as she stared at Mr. Puppykins softly. "Dad was brave, he died to protect the village...and...I think that most shinobi are...afraid. They are afraid to only be able to hold onto something precious for a short time. Like you and me; we miss dad all the time, but we don't dwell on it. We remember all the good times we had, and not the bad ones."

Sakura paused to look up at her mother who stood still, starring at her. "And even though I never want it to happen...I know someday that either Kakashi will be taken away from me, or I will be taken from him." Sakura looked away from her mother as she felt teats sting her eyes, and her heart ached at the mere thought of loosing him. She clenched the material of her shirt where her heart was as she continued to talk. "The memories...they will be enough to help me live on when he is really gone."

Mrs. Haruno looked at her daughter with a mixture of pride and sympathy. It was alright that she was involved with an older man, someone she loved deeply, because she was ready;she was prepared. She knew what she was getting herself into, knew that she might be setting herself up for heartbreak. "Sakura, I am so proud of you." Mrs. Haruno took a step towards her daughter to embrace her, but looked over at the door as frantic knocking was heard.

Mrs. Haruno walked over to the door, "Who is it?"

"It's Shizune! Is Sakura here?" came the yelling voice from outside.

Sakura walked over to the door as her mother opened it. "Shizune, what's wrong?"

Shizune looked exhausted and ready to collapse. "We need your help at the hospital. We have been healing patients all day long, and all the medic-nins working have no more chakra left to heal the patients that have just arrived."

Sakura bolted out of the house, yelling back, "Feed Mr. Puppykins for me mom!" She put chakra on the bottom of her feet and took off as fast as she could to the hospital, unconsciously leaving Shizune far behind her. She jumped from roof to roof at a none catchable pace and burst through the hospital doors. She inwardly cursed herself, without Shizune how the hell was she suppose to know who it was that needed healing and in which room?

"For the love of God! We need a medic in room 250 B!"

'There!' Sakura ran over to the nurse and slightly nudged her aside to enter the room. She gasped, there was no way...

'How the hell...is this possible?' There, lying on the hospital bed, bleeding...was...Sabaku no Gaara.

"Sakura! He needs help!"

Sakura turned her head, and for the first time saw Temari and Konkuro. They were injured too, but...not like Gaara. Nothing like Gaara. She nodded her head, "Right." She ran over to the bed and placed her hand on Gaara's chest to start pouring her chakra into him, but she was stopped by his had grasping her wrist tightly.

He looked at her with an unreadable emotion, "Don't."

Sakura blinked, ""I'm not going to hurt you, Gaara. I'm just going to help you." She smiled at him as his grip on her wrist loosened. She started pouring chakra into his chest, making the chakra spread through out his body to heal all his wounds. She closed her eyes and tuned out everything around her other than Gaara. He was really injured, and as she continued to pour her chakra into him with her eyebrow twitching every once in a while and sweat starting to cover her face, she almost did not hear him speak to her.

"Why...why are you...helping...me?"

To her own surprise, she did not even hesitate to answer him. "Because you need help, Gaara-san, and I am able to help you." She was using up too much of her chakra to heal him, and her legs were wanting to give up on her. How long had she been pouring chakra into him? She could not remember how long. She was exhausted, but she could not stop, not now. She was almost there, almost done healing him completely. It was his voice that surprised her once again.

"You can stop now...H-Haruno...Sakura."

"No, not yet, I'm...I'm almost done." Another voice, this one was one of shock and worry, almost broke her from her concentration. It sounded like Shizune.

"Sakura-san, stop! Don't over exhaust yourself! You've done enough already!"

She felt Shizune's arms wrap themselves around her and she opened her eyes, but did not stop giving Gaara her chakra. "Stop it, Shizune. I'm...almost done, and you are not helping me," she said through clenched teeth.

"But, Sakura-san!"

"T-Temari...can you...hold her back 'til I...finish?" Sakura did not need to turn her head to see if Temari had agreed or not because she no longer felt Shizune holding on to her. She looked over at Gaara and found that he was staring back at her with an unreadable expression. She shook the strange feeling away and gave one last push of chakra into Gaara's body. Her legs gave out and her knees collided hard against the concrete floor of the hospital, but she pressed on; her hands still pouring the last of the chakra Gaara needed to fully recover into his body.

Her hands slipped off Gaara's chest as she hung her head in exhaustion, sweat dripping off of her forehead. She realized that she was falling backwards but made no effort to try and stop herself, she was far too tired and had not the energy. The impact she expected never came. She looked up wearily and saw two heads above her. One was Konkuro's; he was standing behind her, her back resting against his legs and the other one was Gaara's. He was sitting up right on the bed, both of his hands grasping on to her shoulders. She supposed that the both of them reacted at the same time to keep her from falling. She smiled lightly, "Thank you."

Her voice was a whisper, but Gaara was able to hear it. Why was she...thanking him when she was the one who saved him? He should be thanking her, not the other way around. He nodded at her slowly, still a little disoriented from the loss of blood, and then blinked. "Thank you, Haruno Sakura."

Sakura's eyes widened. He had...Sabaku no Gaara had...thanked her? "Y-you're welcome." With effort, she looked around and noticed that Temari and Konkuro had some minor injuries. She forced herself to stand, her legs wobbling the whole while. "I...I still need to heal...the both of you," she said lightly, almost distantly.

Gaara was surprised and impressed. She was most certainly not the same genin he had met at the chunnin exams all those years ago. This woman- Haruno Sakura- he corrected himself, had saved his life, healed him completely even though it drained her of almost all of her chakra. She had done more that enough, more than any other medic would have done for him in this hospital and yet, she wanted to heal Temari and Konkuro too.

She had enormous passion and devotion to whatever she did, and at that moment...Gaara developed a new sense of respect for her. He saw her fiery spirit, and he briefly wondered if all of that talent had been there when she was a genin. He put a hand on her shoulder, "Don't over exhaust your self."

She shook her head, "I am a medic-nin. Healing...people is...what I do." Sakura put her hand on Konkuro's shoulder and closed her eyes as she attempted to heal him. She felt a hand on top of her own and opened her eyes. She saw Konkuro staring at her softly, his hand on top of hers.

"Gaara's right, don't. Temari and I can wait until one of the other medic-nins recover enough chakra to heal our wounds. They are not that serious anyway. You should just rest, Sakura-san."

Sakura blinked and looked over at Temari and Shizune, her vision coming in and out of focus. "I'm fine...I can...still heal... you..." Her vision started to fade to black and she inwardly cursed. She fell back and felt strong hands grip her shoulders. She opened her eyes for a brief moment, seeing blue eyes staring at her...then she saw black.

Gaara held her in his arms as he stared down at her. ' She is strong,' he thought as he scooped her up in his arms and brought her over to the bed to lie her down, but did not put her down. "We need new sheets," he said emotionlessly as he turned to glare at Shizune.

Shizune hastily nodded and exited the room as quickly as she could. When she returned with the new sheets in her arms, Gaara still stood in the same spot as before and he still had Sakura in his arms. She quickly changed the blood stained sheets with the fresh white ones. She watched silently as Gaara laid her down and covered her with the thin white sheets. She jumped when Gaara spoke to her.

"Will she be alright?"

Shizune nodded her head; "She'll be fine in the morning. Medic-nins have a higher rate of recovering then regular nin. She just used up too much chakra. Sakura-san is always over doing it though, always wanting to completely heal her patient no matter what." After a silent moment she added, "I would put you in another room so that you could lay down and rest Gaara-san, but I have no other rooms available."

Gaara continued to stare at Sakura's unconscious form lying on the bed. 'Why would she do this for me-us?' he corrected himself. He had tried to kill her in the chunnin exams, and yet she seemed to have completely forgotten the incident. He had been at her mercy an hour ago, she could have decided to decline and not heal him. No one would have blamed her for it, not even himself. She was, perhaps, too soft for a kunoichi; that was both her strength and her weakness.

Temari had grown tired of standing up against the wall and decided to sit down on an empty chair as she closed her eyes. Konkuro seemed to have the same idea as Temari and he sat down on the chair next to hers. Gaara had leaned against the wall next to Sakura's bed as he crossed his arms over his chest, his gourd lying against the opposite wall. His eyes remained with his eyes focused soully on Sakura's face.

Even after Shizune and another medic nin came back into the room to heal Temari and Konkuro of their minor wounds, Gaara simply stood and stared at Sakura. Far into the night when Temari and Konkuro and the rest of the hospital had fallen asleep, Gaara inched closer to her bed.

One would think that such a lovely Sakura blossom would look at peaces when sleep claimed her, but she did not look at peace; she was worried. "Why are you worried...even in sleep?"

"Because her loved one is on a mission."

Gaara turned his head towards the door and saw Tsunade leaning against the wall. "Her loved one? Is it the Uchiha?"

Tsunade smirked; "Hatake Kakashi."

"The Copy-nin?" Gaara looked back at Sakura. So she was worried because the Copy-nin was away on a mission...and she...loved him. When he looked up, Tsunade was no longer there, and he was left with his thoughts for the rest of the night.

When Sakura awoke, Temari and Konkuro had left to get something to eat. It was only her and Gaara in the room. She sat up on the bed and looked over at Gaara with a smile. "How are you feeling today, Gaara-san?"

Gaara looked at her, "I'm fine. Is your chakra supply restored?"

Sakura blinked for a few minutes before she remembered what had happened last night. "Yeah, I'm fine now...thank you. Is Temari-san and Konkuro-san alright, or have their wounds not been healed yet?"

He nodded, "They are fine. Thank you for your concern."

She smiled back brightly at him as she stood up off the bed and stretched. She looked over at the clock and cursed, "Shit! I got to go Gaara-san, but promise me you'll be more careful on your missions from now on!" she said as she jogged over to the door. She stopped at the door and looked back at him, waiting for his answer.

Gaara nodded at her, "I will."

Sakura smiled at him one last time before she rushed out the door to the training grounds to meet Anko and Tenten. As she jogged through Konoha to the training grounds, she thought of Gaara. He really was not all that bad...'Once you get over your fear and the fact that he tried to kill you.'

True, he had tried to kill her. By all means, she should have left him to bleed to death, but she was not that type of person. And besides, seeing him bleed and look at her the way he did reminded her that no matter how many people he had killed, and how vicious he was...in the end he was still human.

It was just as Naruto had once told her, he was just lonely and hurting on the inside...and those feeling were completely human. The way he had looked at her today... the way he had talked to her...he was not the same as he was in the Chunnin Exam. He had changed, and when he said,"Thank you for your concern," had had really meant it.

She briefly started to wonder about Kakashi. She hoped that he would be alright, and that he would come back home safely. While she jumped from tree branch to tree branch thinking about her silver haired lover, she noticed that she was being followed. To confirm her suspicions, a kunai came flying at her with great speed and presice aim. She managed to dodge the kunai and figured that TenTen had been the one to throw the kunai at her as she jumped to the middle of the clearing and stood her ground.

SO srry that it was late like this. I was bombarded with stupid essays and hw . I still have a Bio paper to right too...that was what i was suppose to be doing instead of typing this but geh lol I had the sudden strong urge to write KakaSaku so I did. Pls review, if you do then then next chapter will come in sometime in the next two weeks- Promise!