The Bank II

"A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it." - Jean de La Fontaine

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the characters contained therein, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto who is kind enough to let fans write fiction. I make no profit from this nor do I intend to.

A/N: Unbeta'd. I will attempt to post every other week, sooner if my work schedule permits.

Enjoy.

Chapter II

Sakura sighed, she had started out on an evening walk after work and somehow had ended up at the Memorial. A stray thought hit her as she regarded the large highly polished stone, Kakashi's most often used excuse was that he had 'gotten lost on the path of life.'

After spending years hearing that particular excuse she had finally managed to translate it, unlike her former teammates, she had actually started to see the logic behind their former team leader's excuses. It had been something of a revelation when it finally occurred to her that his excuses might actually have a grain of truth in them. And now, after all these years, she'd finally managed to unravel his most often used excuse and it broke her heart… just a little.

When Kakashi said that he had 'gotten lost on the path of life,' that meant that he'd started out going to meet them but had somehow found himself at the Memorial instead. And, any visit to the Memorial for Kakashi was sure to last an hour at the very least. He had an awful lot of names to ponder, some of whom caused him more than a few moment's pause. Like all shinobi, Kakashi certainly had his fair share of loss embodied on that monument. She could easily imagine that he spent his time pondering the names of his former teammates listed on the stone – and, knowing him, wondering what he could have done to prevent them from having been added in the first place.

Rumor had it that more of his former teammates were now listed on the stone than could be found alive and well. A daunting thought that even if it wasn't entirely accurate, still caused her heart to ache for him. It was no wonder why Kakashi never settled down, never considered kids. His life had already been filled with the loss of all the ones he had really cared for – he had every reason to be hesitant to add any new people to that list – to the Memorial. Deep down, Sakura knew that she would never have had the relationship with him that she had now if she was still in the mission pool as active. Kakashi would never have allowed himself to become such good friends with her if she was. No, Sakura knew her work at the hospital, the work that kept her more or less safely confined to the village, was the only reason he had allowed her to get so close to him.

Sakura knew he was broken, all shinobi were to some extent. The source of Kakashi's breakage seemed to be entirely focused on the Memorial and the names it contained. And, consequently, the overwhelming desire not to have any more friends added to it… While, at the same time, ensuring that his name was eventually added. She knew that he had never contemplated any other future for himself – and that he never would.

Absently Sakura reached out to trace the most recently added names, noting that the blank space at the bottom of the Memorial was shrinking faster than she'd like to consider. The cuts on the new names were still fresh and so was her pain – they had been added within the past week or so. Of the six newest names, she'd had a hand in healing four of them when they had returned from earlier missions. The irrational part of her wanted to take the blame. If she had only done a better job of healing them. Or, perhaps, had been more careful about ensuring their bodies were sound enough to be placed back into mission rotation. Then maybe, just maybe, they might still be alive – if not for her.

It was all nonsense, Sakura knew. She had done her very best and when she had signed off on their return to duty, they had, in fact, been fit to go back out on missions. Sakura knew she had done everything possible, her decisions to declare them mission-ready had been justified. Their deaths were not her responsibility – their blood was not on her hands. Hell, she even knew that two of them had been crushed in an avalanche – not something she could possibly claim any sort of responsibility for – and yet, she still felt their deaths weigh heavily on her.

A small part of her brain had to wonder if these were the sorts of thoughts Kakashi had while he was contemplating the Memorial. Did he review regrets while he stood solitary watch over the carved stone?

With a start, Sakura suddenly realized that Kakashi's name would likely be included in the next batch to be added. Unbidden her hand reached out again, this time to run over the smooth unblemished portion of the monument. The area that would contain the names of the fallen soon enough.

Hastily she pulled her hand away from the smooth surface of the stone. There was no guarantee that Kakashi wouldn't make it back from his latest mission. Tsunade had said that he'd made it back from worse. There was still a chance…. Sakura's eyes flicked up the surface of the Memorial to the three scattered small smooth well-worn patches of stone. Places where names had been added too hastily, only to be carefully cut out and replaced with blank inserts. The inserts should be smooth and flat but, over the years, the fingers of hundreds of shinobi had created slight dips.

Unofficial tradition dictated that when a shinobi was assigned to a mission from which they were not expected to return, they would stop to pay their respects at the Memorial before leaving the village. While at the stone, the superstitious and the not-so-superstitious alike would rub the three spots where the shinobi had returned after all, for luck – in the hopes that whatever had been watching over those three shinobi might be moved to do the same for them.

Sakura couldn't help but wonder if Kakashi was one such shinobi. Did he follow the tradition? Were his fingertips part of the reason for those dips? Suddenly she had to quell the desire to reach out and run her fingertips across lucky spots on his behalf. She couldn't imagine Kakashi doing such a thing. He'd long ago resigned himself to what he had decided would be his fate. He would die, on behalf of his village, with only one really big regret. Wishing for enough luck to return to the village, to remedy his regret, just wouldn't even occur to him.

Her heart once again aching, far more than she thought it should, she resolutely turned away from the Memorial. Standing there and pondering the past would do her no good. She wasn't like Kakashi. Sakura had a future to look toward – especially if Kakashi really and truly did not make it back from his mission. She would need to prepare, one way or another, she would be setting plans in motion to have a child – either Kakashi's or one obtained from another bank.

A short sharp knock startled Sakura from her study of a recent medical journal. Reflexively she checked the clock on her wall and was surprised to find that several hours had passed since she had last checked it. The paper had turned out to be far more fascinating than expected – a blessing as she was still having trouble focusing on work. There had been no word one way or the other from Kakashi or from the client. She was still stuck in a sort of limbo, waiting to hear if he had been successful and, more importantly (to her), if he had made it back to the village.

Shaking her head to clear the thoughts of her friend from her mind she refocused on her office as the short sharp knock repeated itself.

"Yes?"

"Ms. Haruno? May I come in?"

She frowned briefly, not wanting to deal with the man on the other side of the door but knowing that she had brushed him off too many times of late. She would need to actually speak to him this time otherwise be unpardonably rude.

"Yes, come in," she called out to the closed door.

A man carefully opened the door and entered the office, gently closing the door behind him. Average would be a pretty good descriptor for him as he was of average height, average weight, with medium brown hair of a medium-length cut and styled in the most popular style. The only thing about his appearance that wasn't exactly average was the fact that he wore a pair of brown glasses over his medium brown eyes. If he wasn't a medic, he'd make a damn good casual spy – his generic appearance was such that he naturally tended to blend into the background wherever he went.

"Good afternoon, Ms. Haruno," he greeted her with a slight smile, an ever-present wad of nicotine gum shifting from one side of his mouth to the other.

"'Afternoon Itsuki," she returned his greeting, wondering what had brought him to her office, they weren't well enough acquainted for him to just stop by for no reason – she'd made sure of that. Though, she had tried to get him to address her less formally. Yes, she was technically his superior at the hospital but, that didn't mean had to address her so stiffly. Sakura found the affection ludicrous in the face of the fact that he was obviously trying to get to know her better.

"We're having some lovely weather right now, aren't we?"

Sakura stifled a sigh and mentally adjusted herself. Itsuki wanted something from her but, clearly, he felt the need to work his way up to actually asking for it.

"Yes, it has been very nice. Makes for a pleasant walk home in the evening. The stars are particularly bright at this time of year." Silently she cursed, afraid he'd pick up on that and offer to walk her home that evening. A ridiculous notion as she was more than capable of taking care of herself. Even so, he was one of the few civilian medics – he'd gone to medical school and then, while there, had been enrolled in a trial non-shinobi medic program – if somehow she should run into trouble she couldn't handle on her own, he certainly wouldn't be of any help to her.

Itsuki nodded agreeably as he unwrapped a piece of gum and popped it into his mouth, making sure to pocket the wrapper. "I've been enjoying the sunsets myself. I suppose I must just be lucky to get out earlier than you." He added with a bit of a self-conscious smile.

Sakura shrugged. "It is what it is, I suppose." She gestured around her as she continued. "It's never-ending, always files to review, new medical papers and journals to read and difficult patients to see."

Somehow, over the past few years, Sakura had managed to earn the reputation of the go-to medic when a difficult patient turned up. While Sakura was highly skilled in and of her own right, she had additionally managed to earn the reputation of an entirely no-nonsense manner of dealing with patients. Since she was also a skilled kunoichi, the former apprentice of the Hokage, and in the possession of a legendary temper, few of the troublesome patients gave her any problems. Her reputation had gotten to the point where invoking her name was often all it took to get a difficult patient to cooperate.

Itsuki nodded. He was well aware of Sakura's unofficial position of trouble breaker and he prided himself in never needing to appeal to her for help. That was not to say that he had not, on more than one occasion, invoked her name in order to get a troublesome patient to cooperate. He'd just never needed to do more than threaten a patient with the wrath of Sakura.

"It's too bad that you haven't had the time to stop and enjoy the sunset."

Suddenly wary, she could sense a dinner invite coming her way, Sakura waved a hand dismissively. "It's not always this bad. And, I probably could go home a bit earlier if I really wanted to, I just find that it's nice to have a lot to do right now."

Itsuki frowned before catching himself and smoothing the expression from his face. "I agree, it is nice to lose oneself in one's work on occasion."

Sakura nodded, just barely stopping her eyes from returning to the papers on her desk, impatient to get back to work.

Sensing that he was losing his audience, Itsuki hurriedly asked, "Have you had lunch yet?" finally getting straight to the point.

"Lunch?" Sakura asked, glancing at the clock, realizing that it was nearly 1:30 pm, her preferred time to take a break for lunch.

He chuckled. "I'll take that as a 'no' then."

Sakura shook her head, still surprised that she had managed to lose herself in her work for the entire morning, the first time she'd managed such a feat since Tsunade had told her that Kakashi would probably not be returning from his latest mission.

"I heard that they are having a fall theme today in the cafeteria – oden, pacific saury, sweet potatoes, various mushroom dishes, some sort of hot pot..." he trailed off hoping to catch her interest with a partial list, saving the best in case she needed more persuasion.

Sakura's eyes widened, she'd heard that the cafeteria was going to try doing theme days and even theme weeks in the hopes of getting the staff more interested in buying their meals rather than bringing them or going to one of the many small restaurants in the hospital neighborhood.

Itsuki stifled a grin, he was fairly certain she was about to agree. "Why don't you come down with me and check it out?"

Shaking her head a little, Sakura returned her gaze to the pile of papers in front of her before glancing back up at Itsuki. "I appreciate the invite but, I think I have too much that I want to get done today."

Allowing the corners of his lips to turn down just a little, he pondered for a moment, wondering if he should play his ace in the hole. "You have to eat, Ms. Haruno. You'll do no one any good if you pass out from hunger at your desk." He managed to inject sincere concern into the tone of his voice, hoping it would do the trick and get her to agree to have lunch with him.

She chuckled. "Yes, I know, I'm just not very hungry right now. I'll go down later, once I feel like eating." She eyed his expression, looking for a sign that he would give up and leave her alone. Upon seeing none, she decided to add, "I promise I'll go get food when I'm ready."

Grasping at straws, he decided to make one last try and use his ace in the hole – well aware that he was close to an unfortunate emotional outburst and doing his best to not give into it. A recurring personal issue he'd been having when dealing with Sakura – something about her just flipped a switch that often led him to put words to thoughts better left unsaid. Not a good look if he wanted to convince the lovely lady in question to go out with him.

"How about coffee then? I've heard that they're doing something special with chestnuts." He paused and then continued on when it looked like she was still going to refuse and he could sense himself getting closer to saying something he shouldn't. "I've also heard that they have some special chestnut cakes and pastries. You know they will run out of those fairly quickly. So if you want to have any hope of getting one, you'll probably have to go now…"

Sakura paused to ponder his offer for a moment, coffee or tea (even the terrible coffee and tea served in the hospital cafeteria) were always difficult for her to turn down… and, she did want to try the chestnut pastries. Last fall she'd missed them and had to hear about how delicious they had been all winter. With a sigh, she realized that she should probably go. If not for the sure to be delicious pastries then to put Itsuki off for a while. It would take him a while to gather his courage to try and ask her out again if she had coffee with him. If she didn't, he would likely keep coming around until she agreed to do something with him. Better coffee now than something less desirable later.

"Okay, okay. Let me just mark my place."

He grinned, realizing that he'd won – Ms. Haruno would have coffee with him!

"But," she cautioned, "I really don't have time to linger very long. Just coffee and a pastry and then I have to get back to work."

He nodded happily. He didn't care that they would likely sit together for no more than ten or fifteen minutes, it was a start.

With an inward sigh of relief, Sakura placed her ceramic mug, plate, and her fork in the dish return by the exit of the cafeteria. She'd managed to spend a full fifteen minutes with Itsuki and, as of yet, did not quite want to strangle him. A vast improvement from the last time she'd taken pity on him and gotten coffee with him. Though, it was still not something she wanted to do regularly.

"Thanks, Itsuki, the coffee and chestnut cakes were delicious." She stopped just short of saying that she was glad he insisted they go – though it was true, she didn't want to give him any unwarranted hopes.

Itsuki grinned, unable to suppress his happiness. "I'm glad I thought to stop by, otherwise, you'd have missed it again this year for sure."

She chuckled. "You're right. I'm sure I would have. Thank you." She eyed him, gauging if she was safe to hurry off to her office before he could think to tag along.

"I'm glad I could be of help. Anytime!" He glanced at her earnestly. "I'm always happy to come and get you to make sure you eat, you know. You just have to ask."

Sakura slowly started edging her way toward the bank of elevators. She would rather take the stairs but knew it would be easier to shake Itsuki if she took the elevator – his floor was one below hers and she'd be rid of him faster going by elevator. As expected, Itsuki tagged along, following her toward the elevators.

Just as they were passing the hallway leading to the emergency room, the shouts of a group of people reached their ears, presumably as they wheeled an urgent case in and toward the immediate operating rooms.

A very loud familiar voice rose above the others causing Sakura to pause and then slowly drift in the direction of the emergency. The voice suddenly raised even more in volume causing Sakura to increase her speed, leaving Itsuki behind as she suddenly broke into a run.

Somehow, Sakura just knew. She just knew in her bones that it was Kakashi, that he had returned, and judging by the shouts from the emergency room, he was in very rough shape.

She skidded a little as she rounded a corner and confirmed her suspicions. A large group of medics and doctors alike thronged around a wheeled stretcher, Tsunade clearly in charge and expertly directing the chaos.

Sakura slowed as she approached, suddenly uncertain, feeling as though time also seemed to be slowing down. She'd been waiting for any news of Kakashi and now that he was back… she didn't know what to do. She felt her stomach clench as she caught little glimpses of Kakashi through the group of medical professionals. He was clearly in very bad shape, barely lucid as people moved in and back out to do different essential tasks. Even with all the medics and doctors alike, there was no guarantee that he would make it. Depending on his injuries… he might only last a little while before dying. Hell, Kakashi may not even regain full lucidity at all.

Tsunade caught sight of Sakura lingering around the fringes of the organized chaos surrounding her grievously injured patient and decided to do something about it. She knew Sakura had been worried about Kakashi, best to let her see him for herself, even if she was clearly in no condition to help.

Before Tsunade could act, Kakashi himself somehow managed to catch a glimpse of Sakura. Weakly, he managed to raise an arm, unsteadily extending a hand toward her.

Seeing the injured man's actions, the medics and doctors turned to see Sakura hesitating just on the outskirts of the frenzied activity.

Sensing that this may be his last action, they automatically cleared a path for Sakura, briefly pausing any non-essential activities.

As if in a dream, Sakura watched the medics and doctors move aside and clear a path to Kakashi for her. Without a second thought, she hurried to his side, not caring what her peers would think of her clear display of anxious fear.

"Kakashi-" she started upon reaching his side. She took his hand in both of hers, sensing that he wanted her to and uncertain as to how else to proceed.

He managed to keep his gaze locked on her as she made her way to him and gently, carefully, took his hand in hers. "Sa-ku-ra," he managed brokenly as he forced her name out around the pain.

A small, bitter, smile flashed across Kakashi's lips before another wave of agony hit him, twisting those lips into a grimace of pain and nearly causing him to lose what little lucidity he had left.

Quickly, before he could pass out Kakashi weakly pulled on Sakura's hands, trying to urge her closer. What he had to say was for her ears alone.

Sakura, unexpectedly feeling tears start to form in her eyes, complied with Kakashi's silent request, and leaned forward.

"Sa-kura…" he paused to inhale and try and get the important words out before the agony took him, "-sor-ry."

Startled at his apology, she leaned back to get a better look at him. "Kakashi I-"

He once again pulled on her hands to get her to move in closer and closer until her ear was nearly at his lips. Only then did the gentle pressure stop. His hand going slack, releasing hers and falling back to his side, his energy running out.

She stood waiting, knowing that he was attempting to say something important.

Gathering himself, he made one final push to get his apology out. "'M sor-ry I came back-"

The broken words had barely left Kakashi's lips when Sakura recoiled, her eyes wide and her mouth falling open to form a surprised 'O'. After a few seconds, her brows quickly drew together as her eyes narrowed and her lower lip partially closed. Stricken, Sakura took a step back, unable to handle what Kakashi had just said. Too hurt and surprised to do anything else she took another step back – her eyes still locked on Kakashi's.

All too quickly, before he could even completely comprehend more than the fact that he would need to do some damage control, Kakashi felt another intense wave of agony hit him as one of the medics did something to him. Instead of a plea for Sakura to come back to his side, he groaned, briefly breaking eye-contact with her and was suddenly unable to prevent himself from losing consciousness. The stricken look of shock and horror on her face the last thing he saw.

Sakura watched, unable to gather her wits, as Kakashi suddenly seized taunt in clear agony and then blacked out. Several sensors squealed and additional alarms started going off as he crashed. The medical staff around her swarmed once again around Kakashi as Sakura continued to back slowly away in horror.

Once Sakura was clear of the chaos around her friend she was able to gather her thoughts enough in order to flee to her office. She would stay there, pretending to work, until someone came for her. One way or another, she knew someone would be sent. Either for her to say her goodbyes to his corpse or to inform her which room he would be occupying during his stay. Since he was a regular troublemaker she knew she would most likely be assigned to him... if he survived.