Hey yeah...I have no excuses for how long it took to get this out it's been literally monthes but here it is! So rejoice! heh heh. I had to redo this whole chapter because I didn't like how it turned out. I sped up a few things also I wasn't going to bring ANBU into it this early but...yeah it just...happened.

I want to thank the people who took the time to read this story and review. I love all reviews they keep me going and I'll be posting the begining of my next story on my xanga which you can go to from my profile page so go check that out and leave a reply on how you like it.

What was wrong with her? Here she was, pacing around her apartment like an idiot. Her thoughts wove in patterns and swirls with no end, there was no mistake maybe she really was insane, could she have imagined it?

Padding to the kitchen once more and wondering why she went there in the first place, a frustrated growl rose out of her throat and she stomped back to the living room determined to sit down and relax.

That emotion though….

Kakashi as he'd turned around to leave they'd been that pause, after he pressed his lips to her forehead she wasn't mistaken about that, she didn't even mind it. It was what had flashed through his eyes when he had stood to his full height. There was that….spark of

What?

Confusion

Determination

Interest

Shaking her head firmly

"Don't be stupid Haruno, he's my sensei and he holds no romantic feelings for me!" She was talking to herself wonderful Sakura wondered when the loony-bin people would show up to drag her away, raking a hand through her rosette hair and rubbing her eyes. It was only…taking a quick glance at the clock 3 o'clock and the day was already too complicated.

Maybe she should just go to bed; start over. A knock at her door made her freeze,

'Please please don't let that be Kakashi' she begged in her mind, what would she do? What would she say, the name of the game would be awkwardness and who could break the silence with a stupid comment first, bets were it'd be her. She was panicking, if he was at the door it'd be beyond the limits of awkward, what if she did imagine it. Kakashi would think her deranged and perverted, then she'd feel really bad.

'Get a hold of yourself, you're old enough not to act like an idiot' her pep-talk inspired her to get up and start for the door she lost her nerve placing a hand on the doorknob.

'I can't do this' she thought absolute certainty

"Sakura-chan, open up, I know you're in there" Naruto's boisterous voice rang like a bell, a loud thud on her door made it well aware that it most certainly wasn't Kakashi back for something. Her mouth forming a surprised o and hurriedly opening the door to her other blonde-haired best friend.

Standing on the slight step in front of her door he had his hand raised to continue knocking.

"Naruto…what are you doing here?" blinking at him in puzzlement. He huffed crossing his arms Sakura felt the corner of her mouth twitch into a smile at the familiar gesture,

"I demand you treat me out for ramen!" he said staring squarely at her with sky-blue sapphires for eyes

"Oh" it was the most intelligent thing she could say, of all the things he could blurt out this wasn't what she expected her mind was drawing a blank on what to respond.

"So let's go" he grabbed her hand pulling her out of the doorway, she barely had time to pull the door closed behind her before she was forced to run to keep up with him.

"Naruto" he didn't respond

"Naruto!" she said loudly he grunted he was listening

"What is this?" she demanded

She didn't think he'd answer for a while the silence was thoughtful instead of prickly

"You've been moping," He finally stated

"I have no-"she protested tugging to get her hand back from him

"You have" he swung around interrupting her words, to face her they were stopped on the side of the street. The seriousness in his eyes and the absolute conviction that he was right made her look away, turning her head to the side to watch various nin and civilians move along the road.

He was right.

She knew it, but who cared, she had the right, Sasuke was dead all she had left of him was memories and his eye. He left her, he left their team, they couldn't be team 7 anymore, and admitting it to herself; a tiny part of her hated him for it.

"He was my first friend" Naruto said fondly "I loved him like a brother for what he gave me" he paused in thought, Sakura knew what he meant

Recognition

It was what Naruto wanted so badly.

"Sometimes…" He trailed off "sometimes though I hate him, I hate him so badly, that if I saw him I'd beat him to a pulp, he left me behind, I was supposed to help him, he was like my damned brother and he went out being like he always is…selfish. I couldn't follow him, I couldn't fucking help him, I should have been there when he fought Itachi and when he won, he'd turn to me with that damnable smirk I want to always pound off his face and toss his head mockingly saying

"Beat that Dobe""

Sakura was quite throughout his explanation, lowering her eye to his clenched fists, drawing a deep breath and stepping forward she smoothed her arms over his shoulders and around his neck,

"I miss him too"

Silently she added in her head

'And hate him' ignoring the chuckle that seemed to float in her mind at this. Humming slightly when Naruto wrapped his own muscular arms around her waist and clenched her too him like a lifeline.

The quietness of the moment was a soothing balm for her tormented soul, Naruto, she didn't deserve a friend like him. She wondered if she would have tried to kill herself by now for her pain, squeezing her eyes shut when tears stung at the edges of them.

'Don't ever leave me Naruto, I wouldn't be able to go on if you did, you and Kakashi-sempai are all I have left'

Sakura became aware of shaking under her arms, from Naruto's tall, lanky form as the quite bubble that separated them from the rest of humanity burst and sound rushed back in. She missed the quite already, he was like gravity pulling everyone to him, you could resist him but you would never win, Naruto was a force that could never be denied. If he wanted to be your friend, he would go to the ends of the earth to become it, if he was your friend he'd go to the pits of hell to help you, that was just…Naruto.

"Naruto" she edged back concerned, catching his baby blues.

He was silently laughing!

"T-that's so like him, even in death he makes me want to beat the shit out of him" Naruto laughed harder, leaning over her. Sakura explored her own quite chuckles as the trembled form her mouth, pausing and considering the sound, liking it, she let her laughter mingle with his.

'I haven't laughed in a long while' she realized and let it pour from her mouth, in delight for her hopefully returning sanity, the gift given to her, the friends that surrounded and supported her, and to the brighter and impossibly large future ahead of her.

"Yeah, he would leave us with the urge to hit him" she sighed wiping away a tear from the corner of her eye, letting her laughter fade away with Naruto's but not the newfound happiness that surged through her veins.

"So ramen," she grinned at him

"You're buying Sakura-chan" he said, weaving an arm around her waist, Sakura responded with her own affectionate embrace. It was good to have friends, she decided and perhaps she'd diminish on the moping, letting the smile spread wider across her face as she listened to Naruto talk of this and that.

Sitting back with a sigh of absolute contentment, she turned her head to view the large stack of bowls that tipped precariously on the wooden counter of Ichikaru. She herself had a small stack much smaller than Naruto's but still it was a sizable tower.

Smiling as she remembered Naruto practically inhale the noodles and broth, bowl after bowl only pausing once in a while to chat with her, making her laugh, telling her the most outrageous stories from missions. Sakura already lost count on how many times she choked on her noodles or broth, Naruto having to pound her back.

Presently she was alone, sitting at the counter, since soon after Naruto had eaten his 14th or…was it…15th bowl? He'd been summoned to the Hokage's office for a mission briefing that required his rather unique skills.

Swirling her noodles and broth with her chopsticks, she watched various herbs and the broth coat the ends of the eating utensils. She was at a loss on what to do, Naruto was gone maybe she should go see what Ino was doing. Pushing the staling food away from her, moving slightly to touch one of her feet to the ground and get off. No matter how tall she got she couldn't reach the ground when sitting at the counter stools. Always just a little bit away from it, she judged her growth with it, watching how her feet got closer to the ground as she got older.

A poof followed by smoke filtered through the air slightly ahead and to the right of her, raising her head from contemplation of the stool and her height, Sakura paused waiting for the smoke to clear so she could greet Kakashi.

"Yo Sakura" he raised a palm in greeting, his other stuffed in the black jôunin pants pocket, his eye creased with his smile, hidden though it was behind his mask.

"Kakashi-sempai" she greeted stretching her own fingers in a wave "What are you doing here?" she asked not minding that he was here.

"Can't I visit my favorite kunoichi" he said taking a few steps toward her

"Uh huh" she said suspiciously putting a hand on her hip as soon as she slid from the stool "and just what do you want with your 'favorite kunoichi'" she asked with invisible quotations around the last words.

"Suspicious!" he chuckled

"Underneath the underneath sempai" she taunted his own motto back to him

"Hmmm" he rubbed his clothed chin, peering at her "I do have…." He trailed off, Sakura unknowingly leaned forward to hear what he wanted to say, if it was something perverted she'd kill him, or at least break a few bones.

"This!" he sailed out a scroll opening it in one smooth motion and letting it hang in front of her face. She started back slightly with the sudden intrusion of an object in her view. Tilting to get a better look, she read the words ANBU REGISTRATION in bold black characters, written in the harsh no-nonsense style of the Konoha black ops.

"Aaa…" she breathed reaching out a hand to grasp it, scanning what was written on the parchment,

Jôunin Haruno Sakura, you are qualified for ANBU placement testing, your record and performance as a shinobi for Konohagakure have shown remarkable skills. Testing will occur within the next month, further instructions will be given at a later date. Any testing done will be with secrecy, as soon as this scroll is placed into your hands, you are sworn to keep all confidentiality of ANBU.

Underneath the short paragraph further kanji was written

Recommended by Jôunin Hatake Kakashi, Ex-ANBU Wolf

Recommended by Godaime Tsunde, Hokage of Konohagakure

Recommended by Uzumaki Naruto, ANBU Operative

"Yessss" she jumped up and down, a smile creeping to wide proportions on her face,

"Thank you, thank you thank you Kakashi-sempai" she pounced on his arm, hugging it to her. Ruffling his hand in her hair, she laughed clasping the scroll to her.

"I need to speak to you" he turned toward the street hinting to walk with him, fluttering to a spot beside him letting his arm go and turning to him in question. She had to tilt her head a bit because of the height difference. She only rose to three finger widths above his shoulders he was still almost a head taller than her.

"Joining ANBU…" he trailed off eyes searching but not really seeing the view in front of him. "To survive in ANBU… you have to… have the right reasons…" he trailed off again, muttering something under his breath. Sakura waited for him to say what he needed. Pausing in his steps he turned partly to her, eye searching the building to his right before falling to her.

"Why do you want to join ANBU?" the bluntness of his question caught her off balance. Also pausing, she watched a nin travel over the rooftops, the sun sparked on his hitae-ate, glancing a burst of light on various people. Why was she joining ANBU? It was the right thing to do or…something.

It was a good question why was she joining, for…Sasuke? Herself? The Village?

"Are you doing it for your self or a dead friend?"

"I…" she hesitated looked at the path than peered up at him with hesitation, swallowing quickly why was she having so much trouble, her earlier thoughts on what could have flashed in his eye in her house was forgotten

"It's for a variety of…reasons…., because I want to be better, because I want to help, because…because I just feel that it's what I need and what I want" she searched his face for a hint of whether it was the right or wrong thing to say.

"Sasuke gave me this…eye, I can call it a curse or gift, either way I have it and I will use it in any way I can" her voice took on a hint of steel her jade eyes glinted like pieces of hardened emerald.

Staring up at him, she dared him to say anything against her decisions, but he lazily scanned over her face, gaze lingering on her tilted hitae-ate and nodded. He watched the smile bloom over her face, almost threatening to split her face in half , widening with a small spark of spirit that had been absent for a while now.

Kakashi took heart from this, her expression conferred commitment and focus onto her goal. She seemed to be working through the death of Sasuke, if her returning spirits were an indication of good cheer.

She wasn't taking a bad path, nor making a bad choice, ANBU would be good for her, but…the kinship between their two situations was too close for his liking. Going in after Obito died he'd been drawn into the ANBU lifestyle, until he teetered on the edge of his ever-fading humanity and becoming a tool for his village. Dark thoughts spun their web across his mind, ripping small bits of his soul away like a malicious child ripping the wings off a butterfly.

He still wasn't sure what had drawn him away from his pit the Yondaime, his sensei and the man he loved like a father and a best friend perhaps. Sometimes he considered that he had never left it, not completely at least, he still visited the monument to rememorize familiar strokes of names every day.

To see, Sakura, Sakura the bright, cheery, heart-on-her-sleeve woman treading down a very familiar path was heart-breaking and terrifying, Kakashi didn't like the way she was headed. It was scary to see someone traversing the bitter darkness that he himself had wandered through.

Horrifying, scary, frightening, terrifying he couldn't even begin to name any words that would express what he felt for her.

...But…seeing her now, beside him, gazing into the distance with a wandering smile there was hope, hope that her future would be easier, better…brighter. Surprising though it was, he wanted to be there, he saw himself in an odd demented way in her, still young, a dead comrade's eye blinking in time to her original, and heading to a hazy future. Too similar, perhaps where he had gone wrong with himself he could avoid with her.

A bond

He'd forged one with her, not just of one student and sensei or comrades, but of brother and sister or… something like that. He wasn't going to bring it up with her though, too messy.

'She's beautiful' he realized not a soft, noblewoman beauty, but a sharper toned one that was of raw violence and emotion.

"Kakashi-sempai look, the sun's exploding all over the sky" she twirled in delight, a bubble of laughter growing from her petal lips.

Smiling under his cloth mask, as he watched her spin

"Choices" he murmured "It's all about choices" So he'd make the choice to stand close to her and support her, wouldn't go against her in her decision for ANBU. He wasn't going to set himself a goal of keeping her sanity intact it was too unfeeling, to classify her mind like that. He'd draw from his experiences and try to steer her from the worst, he owed it to her and he wanted to, he really wanted to. He'd question his reasons later, now he'd just watch her watch the sky, and muse on how alike they were.

Next Chapter: The strike came from everywhere at once, right, left, from above, diagonally, she was kept on tense, muscle-cramping edge to keep from being skewered by all the thin blades. A ragged pant broke from her mouth and she forced herself to swallow and wet her dry mouth and throat.

Her black-tomoed eye tracked the nin's movements in fast blurs of their one minute, gone the next, his chakra movement erratic and unbalanced. Her other eye was practically closed, turned to a barely visible slit of green iris. The fluttering white tag of paper with black kanji splattered over it had her jumping away to a tree top digging her sandels in to keep a good grip on the bark. Seeing the first blade and the second, she didn't crouch away in time and the blade stabbed through, piercing her leg and dissappearing to her other side, faltering she twisted out of the way when he lunged in with a kunai.

This is it, my regular length, hopefully it's not too short, I really like to read the reviews that people post so do that if you have time and check out the latest book by Laurell K. Hamiliton yeah!

And check out my xanga for a preview of Coexisting in Hell's next drabble chapter with Sasori .