A half-conscious Kakashi emits a low groan. After Sakura had finished treating him, she could finally let him rest without needing to worry about any side effects. There was no denying that they both needed to sleep, but Kakashi needed it more. Not to mention that he wouldn't be any good trying to stand guard right now. So she let him rest, but he was beginning to fade back into consciousness a little.

Kakashi's head was pounding, and his entire body ached. He tried to open his eyes, but they would just barely open. He did his best to look around, but he couldn't see much. He was still hazy from the effects of the poison so everything was blurry, but he could tell that he was laying under a tree in the thick of the forest.

He was also aware that he wasn't alone. Turning his head slightly to see his companion, he could tell that it was a woman. After noticing that he was awake, she leaned in over him then spoke to him ever so softly, "Hey, how are you feeling? Are you in any pain? I used an antidote made from the Gelsemium plant. It's still in study, so I'm not sure how effective the dose I gave you will be. I hope it's doing enough for you," she told him softly.

He wasn't able to fully comprehend everything that she was saying to him, but he knew the voice. Saki?!

He knew it was her voice; there was no mistaking it. He reached for her, she moved a little closer, giving him a better view of her, but he still couldn't really see her due to the haziness. Her hair looked lighter than usual, like it had that night at the park. Her sparkling green eyes looked down at him with concern. Why did her eye color always play tricks on him?

"Sak," he choked out, reaching for her again. This time she grabbed his hand and held it tightly. He noticed it then—the chain around her neck and the pendant attached to it. She was wearing the necklace he had given her, and it matched her eyes almost exactly. Now he was sure that it was Saki here with him.

He knew her touch, her voice, that hair and those eyes. She was wearing the necklace and she seemed so concerned for him; nobody else would have that much concern for him. "Shhh, it's alright, I'm here," she told him, and he slipped back into the darkness of unconsciousness once again.

Sakura did her best to soothe him when he had woken up. It had only been for a moment and he had seemed confused at first. But then when he noticed her, he seemed to relax and slipped back to sleep. She knew he knew it was her even through his confusion because he had attempted to say her name.

At latest he was okay, but they needed to get back to the village. Since Kakashi wasn't able to walk or even stay conscious, Sakura knew she would have to carry him back herself. It was a several hour trip carrying light equipment. It would take her twice as long carrying Kakashi, but she couldn't just leave him there.

Standing up and brushing herself off, she made sure all of her equipment was secure before grabbing ahold of Kakashi and pulling him up on her shoulders once again. They needed to get moving; they had already spent four hours under that tree. "Time to go home, Sensei."


When Kakashi woke up the second time, he could tell two things. One that he was being carried and by someone much smaller than him. Two was that they were making their way through the forest on route to Konoha. Good, I'm being taken home.

"Hang in there, just a couple more hours," Saki told him as she leaped over a fallen tree. Since when could Saki carry him on her back? What the hell is going on? Then everything was black again.

Sakura hoped that Kakashi was doing okay back there; she had stopped to check on him about an hour ago and he was stable, so she continued on. She wanted to reach Konoha by nightfall. She didn't want to delay getting Kakashi full treatment any longer and the forest around there wasn't a good place to spend the night with a half dead Copy-Ninja.


Sakura came sprinting through the front gates of the village hours later with an unconscious Kakashi still draped over her back. She made it all the way to the steps of the hospital before her knees gave out on her and she collapsed face first, still bearing the brunt of Kakashi's weight. The nurse at the front desk could see them through the glass doors and immediately called for someone to get a stretcher and the Hokage.

Sakura was exhausted, and she was having trouble breathing. She also could tell that she was suffering from chakra depletion. With the fight she had at the lab, treating Kakashi, then using her chakra to be able to physically carry Kakashi the long distance home had her reserves dangerously low.

Thankfully, Tsunade didn't take long getting to them and had them brought inside to start treatment. Sakura gave Tsunade as much information as she could about what had happened to Kakashi before being separated to undergo her own treatment.


When Kakashi woke up for the third time, the first thing he noticed was the overwhelming smell of antiseptic. Opening his eyes, he noticed the large, bright light directly above him. Looking around the small, all white room then out the one window to see the village out of it, he knew he was in Konoha Hospital.

The machine beeped loudly beside him, alerting the staff that he was now awake. Then the door to his room opened, and Tsunade came walking in holding a chart in her hand.

"You should be happy to know that the treatment you received in the field was just enough to extract all of the poison from your system. That's something that would have taken hours of time and concentration, as well as chakra it would take." She told him, still looking at the chart in her hand.

"She is lucky that she didn't do mer damage to herself than she did. Silly girl, I'll have to have a talk with her about endangering herself like that," Tsunade mumbled to herself.

Well, at least she wasn't screaming at him about being reckless or careless this time. Not yet anyways. She made her way around the hospital bed and placed the chart on his bedside table, then turned to him and began checking his vitals, stopping to record them on the chart after each one.

She was quiet now, and she wasn't looking at him either. He got the feeling that she was angry at him for something. She usually was after a mission where he got injured, but this felt different. Normally she gave him a good long lecture about how stupid he was for being such a genius.

Tsunade wasn't one to hold back when angry, either. But something was… off. So why wasn't she saying anything? He squinted his eyes.

"Do you have something to say, Hatake?" she asked bluntly.

The weight of everything that had happened in the past twelve hours hit him all at once. What happened to Sakura and Saki? He needed to know that they were both alright!

Sakura—she was his partner on this mission; they had escaped the lab together. He didn't remember seeing her in the forest with Saki. Why wasn't she there? Was she alright? Did something happen to her after he lost consciousness? "Sakura, is she alright? Is she hurt?" he asked Tsunade.

"You were lucky to have her as your partner for this mission, Kakashi, she risked serious and potentially permanent damage to herself in saving your sorry ass," Tsunade snapped at him. "But, she will be fine. She has been given a few extra days off to completely heal before returning to the hospital for duty," she said, her voice evening out.

A pang of guilt hit Kakashi; he had never wanted her to get hurt. Especially not because of him.

"Is Saki still here?"

"Saki? I didn't get the impression from Sakura that the two of you were on 'pet name' terms," Tsunade replied, sounding rather irritated.

"Not Sakura, Saki," he corrected.

"Who is Saki?" Tsunade asked.

"She is someone I know; she works here in the hospital," he said, as if the answer was obvious.

"Kakashi, I don't know of a Saki here at the hospital."

That couldn't be right; he knew for sure that she worked there. "Are you sure? Maybe Saki is short for..."

"I personally approve of everyone who works here at the hospital; there is no Saki."

What the hell is he talking about? Tsunade thought. There wasn't anyone at the hospital by that name, or even on the shinobi roaster. Why would he be asking about her anyways? Shouldn't he be more concerned about Sakura? It seemed rather random, but Kakashi was never as random as he sometimes seemed.

He shook his head. "Saki. She was there with me in the forest. She must have been the one to bring me back to the village."

Confused, Tsunade continued, "I have no idea what you're talking about Kakashi. Sakura was the only one with you in the forest. She brought you back to the village single handedly, nearly causing serious harm to herself to do so."

His memory coming back to him still hazy and out of order, but he was able to piece the events together regardless. "She even used the Gelsemium plant when she treated me in the forest, that's an S-class project. How could anyone who doesn't know how to use it save my life under the stress of battle?" It had to be Saki who was there with him;, who else could it have been?

"As I said before, Sakura did all of that. The Gelsemium project is hers, and she is the only one working on it. She is the one who treated you in the forest, and she is the one who brought you back to the village. She collapsed on the steps of the hospital from exhaustion and chakra depletion while carrying you."

Kakashi was more confused than he had been in a long time. Tsunade had said that Sakura was the one that was there with him and not Saki… Something wasn't making sense. He needed some time to think about this whole situation; he'd had a feeling for a while now that he was missing something. It was time to figure out what.

"Do you have any more questions for me Kakashi?" Tsunade asked, breaking him from his deep thoughts.

"Ehh, do you by chance know where Sakura is right now?" he asked her.

"At home resting. She's been there since this morning. She woke up around 8:00, and I let her go home a couple of hours later," Tsunade told him. "But don't even think about leaving this hospital. You are not fit to leave. Do you understand me?"

"Of course," he said innocently.

"I have other things to tend to. I'll have Sakura come by to see you tomorrow. The two of you have something to talk about."

Kakashi looked at her, what would they need to talk about?

"You owe her a thank you and an apology for your behavior during this mission. Honestly Kakashi, the girl doesn't deserve that kind of treatment from you. You shouldn't be pushing her away like you have been," Tsunade explained.

Kakashi nodded, and Tsunade left the hospital room, leaving Kakashi alone with his thoughts.


Sakura had woken up in the hospital earlier that day after passing out on the front steps of the hospital the evening before. Tsunade had checked her over, and Sakura gave her the short version of the events from the mission. After that, she was allowed to go home to rest in her own bed.

She had eaten at the hospital after Tsunade checked her over, so she wasn't really hungry, but she was in desperate need of a shower. She stripped down to nothing, throwing her dirty clothes in the basket by the bathroom door and heading for the shower.

She was tempted to take a bath to soothe her aching muscles, but she didn't like the idea of soaking in the layers of filth clinging to her body.

"Shower it is," she sighed to herself.

After her shower, she sat down at her small kitchen table to begin her official mission report. Afterwards, she planned to document everything that she could about using the Gelsemium plant to treat Kakashi-sensei.

She had been trying to keep the whole disaster of a mission out of her head since she had gotten home, but she had to document what she had done and what she had learned from using the Gelsemium plant, and she had to turn in an official mission report to Tsunade in a couple of days. If she just got it over with now, then maybe she would be able to get the ordeal off her mind.

She was almost done with the second page of her mission report when someone knocked on her front door. She wasn't expecting anyone, but she knew that people had seen her come into the village the evening before, and she knew that people would be talking about it. It was probably just a concerned friend or co-worker coming to see how she was feeling.

Sakura sighed and stood up from her chair, making her way to the door just as another knock came, this time louder.


Kakashi was thinking through every detail of the mission. There had to be something there that would point him in the right direction; he had just missed it the first time. But the more he thought about it, the more confusing it seemed. He was beginning to run out of possible explanations.

Sakura was the one on the mission with him. She was there when he lost consciousness. She was a medic and she would know how to treat poisons. Due to her training with Tsunade, she had chakra-enhanced strength that would make her able to carry him a long distance. Tsunade had said that Sakura was the one who carried him into the village. She also said that the Gelsemium project was Sakura's and not Saki's, and that she didn't even know anyone named Saki.

So then why had he seen Saki in the forest? It had to be her. Saki had been there; he knew she was! He could hear her voice, feel her touch, he could even partially make her out. She was wearing the necklace he had given her, and she had told him that she was working on the Gelsemium plant project. How would she know so much about the project if she wasn't working on it?

Unless he had somehow mistaken Sakura for Saki in his confusion. Could that be what happened? He began to think of any similarities between Sakura and Saki. They had the same body build, very similar facial features. They even had similar voices, now that he thought about it.

Sakura was a couple of inches shorter than Saki, but he wouldn't be able to tell that from their positions in the forest.

Sakura's pink hair was a lighter shade than Saki's red hair, and her eyes were green instead of blue like Saki's. The eyes he had seen in the forest were green too. That must be it; he had mistaken Sakura for Saki in the forest because there were so many similarities between them.

He distinctly remembered that Saki's eye color always played tricks on him. He remembered the eyes in the forest being green, almost the exact same shade as the pendant. The pendant?

He thought back to his memories with Saki, he remembered giving Saki the necklace and noticing that it was almost the exact same shade of green as her eyes. Thinking back, he realized there were other times that her eyes seemed to change color. Then there was the time in the park, her hair—it was almost pink! They were all signs of a user losing control of their henge. NO, no no no no no. That can't be!

Digging deeper into his memories of both Saki and Sakura, he began to see too many similarities to ignore. Their love of dumplings, their favorite color being red, they hated spicy foods, working at the hospital, the Gelsemium plant project, being friends with Ino, losing their mothers from an illness at sixteen, the fighting techniques they both used… and there were so many others.

Kakashi jumped out of bed and grabbed his clothes, quickly putting them on. He jumped out the window in his hospital room and hit the ground running. Driven by panic, he had only one destination in mind. A few minutes later he arrived outside of Saki's apartment building and headed up the stairs to her floor, down the hall to her door and stood in front of it for a moment.

He raised his hand to knock and took a deep breath. He was at Saki's apartment; he had been there many times before. But he was fairly certain that Saki was not who was going to open the door in the next few moments.

Kakashi knocked, then waited. Nothing.

He knocked again, louder this time.

Then he heard her, moving towards the door. The door opened, and there stood an exhausted looking Sakura. Kakashi's heart sank into the pit of his stomach. Saki was Sakura in a henge. There was really no denying it at this point, but just to make things worse, she was even wearing the necklace he had gotten her.

She didn't look happy to see him. She crossed her arms and offered no greeting. Instead she only asked, "What are you doing here, Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi closed his eyes tightly then opened them again; he could see Saki so clearly in Sakura now that she was standing before him. How could he have been so blind?

"I was told that you had treated me for my injuries and poison in the forest before bringing me back to the village," he started. "I wanted to say thank you!"

"You are a fellow shinobi and I am a medic; that's what I'm supposed to do. You didn't have to come to my house unannounced like this," she stated.

"Ahh, I suppose you're right about that, but I thought that maybe we could grab something to eat, and you can fill me in on all the details, hmm?" He hadn't intended on it, but he had to improvise somehow. He couldn't just tell her he had showed up out of nowhere to confirm his suspicions about her secret identity.

"I already ate, so I'm not hungry. You can get the details from Lady Tsunade," she told him firmly.

"Right," he said, running a hand through his silver hair.

She narrowed her eyes at him. What the hell was he thinking? He had spent the past few years avoiding her like she had an infectious disease, and the last few days he had done his best to push her away. Now he was showing up at her house unannounced trying to casually go get some food and make small talk? How does he even know where I live?

He was staring at her but not at her face. Following his line of sight, she looked down. She wasn't really dressed for visitors but she wasn't inappropriate. Surely he wasn't just blatantly staring at her breasts. What the hell was he looking at so intently?

"What? Why are you staring at me like that?" she asked, sounding annoyed.

He shoved both hands deep into his pockets and was now staring intently at a spot on the floor, seemingly determined not to make eye contact.

"I was just admiring your necklace; it's very pretty. It's almost the exact same shade of green as your eyes."

Sakura's face softened and she smiled a little to herself. "Thank you! My boyfriend got it for me last month at the festival. The lady who sold it to him said that it was custom made and one of a kind." Her smile grew; the memory clearly made her happy.

"He sounds like a good man, you deserve that," he almost whispered.

Sakura sighed and uncrossed her arms, "Kakashi." He looked up at the sound of her voice saying his name softly. "I thought that this mission could help us get closer, I thought that I could show you how much I've grown, that maybe we could actually be friends after all this time.

"You have spent years avoiding me, years blowing me off, years wanting nothing to do with me. When our team was disbanded, you started treating me like I didn't exist. You abandoned me when you were the only person who shared my pain. Even on this mission, all I was to you was dead weight and an annoyance."

No, that's not true! He knew he had been elusive, but had he really made her feel so terrible? Did she really believe that any of this was her fault?

"I have tried for a long time to mend things with you and to bond with you like team mates should. But this last mission showed me that you have no intention of ever doing that. You proved once and for all that you want nothing to do with me."

Panic struck Kakashi as he noticed the tears welling up in Sakura's eyes.

"I'm done trying to be your friend, or trying to get to know and understand you. I'm done following you around having a one-sided conversation. I'm just done with this," she explained as she foisted her hand in the air between them, "I get it; you hate me and I'll leave you alone from now on, Kakashi."

Kakashi's eyes grew wide as he felt all of the air leave his lungs. She couldn't possibly mean that, right? Had he misread her all this time? She didn't hate him at all, she actually wanted to be close to him? His head was spinning.

Had he really screwed things up so badly?

"Sakura, I..." He was at a loss for words, overwhelmed by the situation for the first time he could ever remember.

Kakashi's lack of protest was all the answer Sakura needed; she knew this was the best thing to do.

As Kakashi scrambled for the right thing to say, Sakura spoke up once again. "You don't have to say anything; I'm a big girl now, Sensei. I'm not the same old cry baby that I used to be. I just wanted you to know that I understand, and I won't bother you anymore. You should get back to the hospital before someone realizes that you're missing," she told him, looking away.

She looked back at him and they made eye contact. "Good bye, Kakashi-sensei," she said and closed the door.

Kakashi didn't know how long he stood there staring at the closed door in his face. He was in love with a beautiful, kind, intelligent woman named Saki. Saki had actually been Sakura the whole time. The woman he had fallen so full heartedly in love with was Sakura. Kakashi Hatake was in love with Sakura Haruno.