Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. At all. :P

Another update! I have actually been continuously writing now. I'm getting back into it, thanks to some great kakasaku tumblr post. :P Hope you enjoy!


Chapter 7:

Kakashi opened the door for Sakura. They walked in complete silence all the way to the Hokage's office. He was worried about Sakura but she seemed to be completely healed. Other than the scars that were visible through her clothes. She had managed to grab an old kendo practice uniform from somewhere. She walked with an air of command, one that demanded respect, no matter if you knew her or not. It was disorienting for Kakashi to look and see this persona with Sakura's vibrant pink hair.

Sakura stood with her hands behind her back, directly inline with Tsunade's chair. But she was very far away from the desk, almost all the way to the back of the wall. Kakashi leaned against the wall, right next to the door. He figured in case things got ugly, it would be the best exit strategy.

"Sakura, it's good to have you back in the village."

She didn't answer.

"I'm glad you have decided to stay. I have spoken with the elders and they think that the amount of information is worthy of your return. They will want to speak with you further down the line but you have proven yourself useful to the village."

With ever word uttered out of Tsunade's mouth, Kakashi watched as Sakura's mouth thinned out and the edges started to turn down. But still she didn't say anything. Tsunade was annoyed at her silence and after a few minutes sighed.

"Because you have been named in the bingo books, your status has been recognized by this village. You are welcome to any missions, including ANBU, after a month. Which is mandated for the amount of injuries that you sustained. Also, I know you don't need to told this but you will never be able to use your eyes again."

For the first time Sakura moved, making a huffing noise. "Will I be issued a new hitai?"

"Good god, she speaks." Tsunade's sarcasm cut the air and Kakashi inched towards the door. "I have talked it over with the elders and they think that it is a fitting punishment that you be reminded of what you once did and tried to do."

Kakashi opened his mouth to protest but Sakura spoke.

"Good. Because it will also be a reminder to you." She stepped forward, and Kakashi watched as Tsunade leaned back in her chair. The air in the room suddenly turned thick and it became hard to breathe. "I am staying in the village of my own will. If I so choose, I will leave if I feel any pressure from you or from the elders. I am an asset to this village and I will be treated like one. Or mark my words Tsunade, you will live to regret ignoring my plea for help after I lost my eyes."

Sakura turned and slammed the door behind her. The air lightened and Kakashi took a couple deep breaths. He watched as Tsunade opened a drawer and pull out a sake set and a new bottle. She poured two cups and downed both of them.

"What did you do to her?"

Tsunade looked up at him, almost as if noticing him for the first time. "I don't know Kakashi. All I know is that she spoke with the elders. That's when she started to act different. It must have been something they said. But, of course, they have no need to speak to the hokage about anything." She spat out the last sentence.

Kakashi looked out at the clear sky outside. "I don't know if I can help her."

"If you can't, then we will lose Sakura. It's only a matter of time. When the Elders have their talk with her, then that's when it will be all over." She took another swig of sake but this time she had forgone the cup and just drank directly from the bottle. "Because I don't think anyone here could stop her if she did turn against the village."

They fell into silence and Kakashi nodded his head before disappeared out the window. He figured the Hokage would want to be left alone with her thoughts. Kakashi had a hard enough time accepting Sakura as she was now. But her mentor, teacher, and second mother would have a much harder time accepting this strong but broken Sakura.

Kakashi walked into the bar. It was crowded but that was expected for a Friday night. Guy was doing some acrobatic move to explain some part of a story as usual. Kakashi managed to slip past Guy's clasp on his shoulder and sat down next to Asuma. Kurenai was sitting across from them, and she smiled at Kakashi.

"So where you there when it happened?"

Kakashi shook his head. She was referring to the fact that there was a giant hole in the hokage's office. Yamato had fixed it best be could but Tsunade had done a number on it. Apparently she still didn't have a hold on her temper.

The waitress brought over another round of drinks. Kakashi downed his almost immediately but not before asking the waitress to bring over some shoji. Guy continued through his story of the mission he definitely shouldn't be telling as loud as he was in a bar that was mostly but not completely full of ninja. The waitress smiled at Kakashi as she set down the drink and he kicked Asuma under the table for chuckling under his breath. Kakashi was not in the mood.

The doors to the bar slammed open and bright yellow hair followed by jet black hair came into the bar. Naruto slammed his foot on the floor and threw his fist into the air.

"Next rounds on me!"

The whole bar cheered and Sasuke rolled his eyes. Sasuke looked over at Kakashi and was about to tap Naruto on the shoulder but the blonde shouted startling everyone.

"Sakura-chan?!"

Kakashi's head whipped in the direction Naruto was looking and sure enough, in the corner, was a pink haired kunoichi with her nose in a very familiar orange book. Getting up, Kurenai gave him a sloppy salute and smile as he left the table and followed the two who now were making a beeline for the table. Naruto sat next to her and Sasuke slid in the bench seat across from her.

"Sakura-chan, aren't you supposed to be in the hospital?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Baka, she's not supposed to be in the hospital. She ended up in the hospital, and now she is healed. We just got back from a mission. You can't expect her to come find us while we were gone."

Naruto whined and then he looked over to Kakashi who was walking towards them with his new bottle of shoji and the sake that Sakura had ordered. He set it down on the table and pushed it towards Sakura, slightly knocking into the one that was empty. Plopping down next to Sausuke, he gave Naruto an eye crinkle.

"How was your mission, boys?"

"It went well! We had to deal with some crazy politicians that kept hiring rogue ninja to off each other. But then they kept hiring the same ninja and they would get paid double but no one was dealt with. It was not fun."

Kakashi watched as Sasuke gave a nervous glance to Sakura. "Naruto, should you be talking about the mission?"

Kakashi made a small wave. "Both Sakura and I are higher rank than you two. So if we wanted to read the mission report we could."

Both of them, jaws open, stared at Sakura. She happened to be in the middle of a sip of sake and she froze mid-swig. Shrugging after a few seconds, she downed the rest of the cup and poured another.

"Sakura-chan, why are you taking after Kakashi-sensei and reading that smut?"

Naruto grabbed the book out of her hands and flipped through the book. Kakashi was about to take the book away but Naruto huffed.

"They are just blank pages! What the hell are you reading blank pages for?"

Naruto passed the book to Sasuke and he flipped through the book too. Kakashi leaned over, confused but sure enough; the bound book was completely blank. Not single ink marking on it. Sasuke cocked his head to the side slightly and then activated his Sharingan. Quickly he slammed the book closed and his face went completely red. He cleared his throat and handed the book back to Sakura who took it gently. She set it on the table, her hands on top of it protectively.

"It's not blank." Sasuke was looking out the window when he mumbled the words.

"What? How is it not blank?" Naruto looked from Sasuke to Sakura.

"It's chakra ink. It uses chakra instead of black ink to show the images and text on the page. It keeps from prying eyes trying to read it."

It was the first time Sakura spoke to them. They looked at her as though she was a new breed of animal. Her tone had taken Kakashi off guard but he wasn't as bad as these two. They just stared. He watched Sakura start to shift in her seat. Kakashi cleared his throat and Naruto blinked, the first to recover.

"Why would you do that to Pervy-sensei's books?"

"Jiraiya did it for me actually." Sakura said quietly.

Naruto slammed his hands down on the table. "You saw Pervy-sensei?! When? Where? How was he?"

Kakashi was stunned as well. There was no mention of Jiraiya in her book. But then, he couldn't expect her to add everything that went on. But seeing Jiraiya would have been something of an event.

"It was a couple years ago Naruto. He actually helped me transfer all the books over. Meanwhile he wrote me a special one. We were together for a few months. I learned quite a bit from him. He is a very good teacher."

This floored everyone in the booth. She had a lot of tricks up her sleeve. Kakashi wasn't surprised about that. Sakura no longer trusted the village. There might be a lot she was keeping from the book. Suddenly, she burst into cherry blossoms. She reappeared standing at the end of the table.

"Next round is on me. Enjoy your evening." Sakura set down money on the table and turned to go. But before she took a step she turned to Sasuke. "Take good care of him. I'm just glad you too are finally accepting your relationship for what it is." With that, she walked out of the bar, book open and head buried in it.

"What was…"

Kakashi smiled. "I do believe that was her blessing" He got up and turned to the boys. "She's known about you two before you even realized it. She's been a better friend to you guys than you were ever to her."

With a small eye crinkle and a short wave, he exited the bar as well. Jogging, he figured he could catch up to Sakura. He had some questions for her.