4.

- S -

Sakura entered the operating room with a deep sigh. This procedure had been she and Tsunade's personal project since the moment the war ended. Their research had been a cross of work on the reconnection of nerves in a limb still attached and work on the reattachment of partially severed limbs through muscle and bone regeneration. Nights had been spent cross-applying techniques to build up to the actual transplants.

Sasuke was seated on the hospital bed with two arm shaped extensions from the table on either side of the bed. His right arm lay on one and the remainder of his left on the other.

"Are you ready?"

"Hn."

Tsunade entered the room with the arm and Sakura reached for the Uchiha's temple to lull him into an unconscious state. Her fingertips had barely grazed his head before he snatched her wrist and pulled it out to the side of his face. Glaring did nothing to loosen his hold.

"I am not a project, my surgery had better not be any different than the Dobe's."

Releasing her wrist, he laid back on the table and closed his eyes. Sakura narrowed her eyes at the man and felt a wave anger rush through her consciousness and drown out any logic. How dare he. I've done nothing but help him and he still thinks like he did on his first day in the hospital.

"I need you to sit up so I can examine one more thing." He was obedient in following her request and she donned a devious smirk. "Thank you, Sasuke-kun." The use of the honorific caught him off guard and he locked eyes with her. Words carefully chosen, she used his surprise to her advantage and brought her hand down into the back of his neck to knock him unconscious. The irony of the situation bathed her in bitterness as she watched the dark haired man crumpled back onto the bed. "I don't know if I'll ever see a day where you trust me."

The surgery was long, tedious, and exhausting. The first step was more emotionally difficult than physically demanding – they had to re-open the wound on his arm in order to expose the bone and muscle for attachment. Once the limbs were both pressed together, the women took to building muscle striations that linked the two sections of flesh. The process was repetitive and they both had to be mindful of where the other was working. Silence reigned in the operating room as hours drug by.

When Sakura emerged into the hallway, she was not surprised to find Naruto waiting for her tapping his foot in an attempt to channel his energy. He spotted her almost immediately and she could read the unspoken questions in his eyes.

"Sasuke is fine, there were no complications. And…" she heaved a deep sigh and stretched her hands high above her head in preparation "….yes, we can start yours right now. I can take a day off when you're both settled. You'll both start training at the same time this way."

"You're the best, Sakura-chan!"

Boys…No – my boys. That's why I'll always give them what they need. I'll cheer them on, heal their wounds, and defend them. Even if only Naruto will do the same for me.

And so, the process began again.

- K -

Sakura never showed up at his apartment. Any spare time together was usually spent training or making meals at her house, there was some unspoken agreement that his home was somewhere he purposely went to be alone.

Three sharp knocks occurred before he made it to the door and pulled it open to reveal Sakura's bright red face and tense stance. Still stunned at her presence at his door, Kakashi barely registered when she moved past him to heave herself into the nearest chair. Curling in on herself with feet tucked close and arms wrapped around her knees, the kunoichi was barely recognizable.

With no idea as to why she had shown up, Kakashi opted to take a seat on the adjacent couch and wait for her to break the silence when she was ready.

"He just makes me so – so – so mad!" That was also not what he expected. Raised eyebrows asked the question for his mouth. "I was getting him ready for surgery and he has the balls to try and question me as a medic so….well….I may have knocked him out the same way he knocked me out when he left…."

Kakashi didn't know what he'd expected, but that would have never crossed his mind. Imagining Sakura striking the boy in the neck and having him crumple like a rag doll was an amusing image, but she likely wouldn't appreciate him laughing at her situation. "You're worried about his reaction." More of a statement than a question.

"I'm sure it's not going to improve his attitude – in fact I'm already preparing for a tantrum of unseen proportions," she sighed.

The man stroked his chin for a few moments, feigning deep thought, before offering his advice. "Just do what I do."

Narrowed eyes met his mismatched ones and he could see her absorbing his words. "So you're telling me I should hide out reading porn until the issue either resolves or is forgotten?"

Chuckling lightly at how she chose to translate his vague suggestion, he shrugged. "Your words, not mine." Silence followed his statement and he couldn't shake the odd feeling of having Sakura in his apartment. He didn't host anyone let alone his students which made him a socially inept, unprepared(?) (didn't ask for, can't remember work) host. Perhaps he should make tea like Sakura always did, but for all he knew that was only a 'Sakura' habit.

Rarely did he spend time in anyone's company aside from Genma, Kurenai, and occasionally Ikibi or Anko – Sakura was the rare exception. But even then, he mostly was around her to train or when she decided he was neglecting his health in some ways. That could manifest in a few different ways including forcing him to eat dinner with her for nutrition and forcing him to sit still while she healed him after a mission.

The war and all the changes that it entailed hadn't change Kakashi much. Still a loner for the most part, still hiding his face, and still a pervert – at least according to his students. Well, not students anymore, he corrected himself mentally. He'd asked them to stop calling him Sensei when Naruto and Sakura moved on to different masters, but only Naruto had dropped it immediately. Sakura had taken time to retrain her mind and at times it still slipped out.

He hadn't given up his Icha Icha novels, Paukkun and the other nin dogs still accompanied him on missions, and he hadn't – nor would he likely ever – slow in his shinobi work.

Sasuke's return had been the cause of endless joy for Naruto, but Sakura seemed submerged in every type of feeling about the reunion. It ranged from overjoyed to resentment. Resentment that he still treated her as a subordinate instead of an equal.

Most unexpected, however, was that Sasuke's return had impacted Kakashi greatly. His choice to casually decline visiting the Uchiha was not so casual in his head. The jonin wasn't ready to look in the face of the young man, the one who he resembled in so many ways. Hell, Kakashi was still processing how he'd failed Sakura as a teacher – Sasuke was a whole different chapter of his life he'd long left untouched.

Oddly, most of Kakashi's reservations to see the sharingan wielder lied in the man's treatment of Sakura. Sakura was an adult who didn't need his help, something he'd learn rather harshly, but that didn't mean he had lost his softer side for his only female student. She had suffered in her own right, largely as a product of her time with Team 7, and Sasuke clearly was refusing to give her respect she'd earned years before his return.

I'll see him eventually, Kakashi justified to himself. It was true, in some fashion Naruto would surely force a reunion dinner, training day, or something where Kakashi would have to look Sasuke in the eye. He would have to face a disturbingly similar reflection of himself in the eyes of the younger man.

Kakashi instinctively reached for his jacket pocket where his precious novels were always stored, but he dropped his hand to his lap before he got even a few inches. It was not the time to distract himself with porn while his student was looking for his advice. His pessimism would have plenty of time to emerge later.

"Would you like to get dinner? I don't have anything here." Apparently Sakura had become just as lost in thought because her head jerked up at his voice.

"Um, yeah. If that's okay?" Her voice betrayed her nerves, it was likely she'd finally begin to process that she'd shown up at his apartment unannounced in a frazzled state.

After he nodded, she quickly added, "No ramen. Naruto has been begging for Team 7 to all go and I'd feel guilty going without him."

Withholding the urge to remind her Team 7 technically had ceased to exist years ago, they stood in sync and put on their shoes before departing. While Kakashi hadn't grown any more vocal, Sakura retained her chatty nature from her younger self. This one, however, was actually enjoyable to listen to. Not to be harsh on the girl but listening to a pre-teen agonize over her male teammate got old after only a few times of hearing it. She had matured some while on the team, but training under Tsunade had been a catalyst for growth into the woman beside him.

Now, she spoke of her work. She knew better than to think he enjoyed silence being filled by casual talk of friends and personal connections. Surgery, medical techniques, and specific patients were the most common topics that she brought up. It had become custom for her to jump back into where she'd previously left before continuing into new discussion.

Kakashi understood practically nothing that she spoke of but had grown to enjoy the dynamic they held. They could still entertain silence when necessary or when she'd run out of shinobi talk, but he had become a listening ear for her professional side. He assumed she talked about more casual conversational things with people like Ino who enjoyed surface level village talk and reserved her more serious talks for him.

Or maybe he just liked to think that.

When they arrived at the casual bar and restaurant combo, Kakashi couldn't help a small grin as they passed chair and table sets to settle into a booth. "Do you remember the first time I took you to dinner after training?"

Looking at him, she responded dryly, "I'm sure you're talking about when you tried to pull out my chair for me and I hit you with it. But I'd hardly call that taking me out to dinner since you skipped out on the bill and left me to cover your tab."

"Minor detail," he responded with a wave.

They ordered and chatted lightly as they ate and drank. Kakashi had never dropped the jabs when she drank – he liked to compare her to Tsunade while simultaneously noting her significantly lower tolerance. He usually had to dodge a flying object, it being a butter knife in this particular instance. The knife wedged itself in the wooden booth back behind him and he then moved to teasing her about needing to pay for the dinner tab and renovations to the restaurant seating.

By the time they were leaving, Kakashi noted she seemed significantly calmer. More like herself. As they approached the splitting point between their residences, she turned to face him while continuing to walk backwards. Her fingers were laced together behind her back, much like she'd done when she was younger. "Thank you, Sensei."

Shooting her a glare did little to wipe her cheeky grin off of her face. "You did that on purpose."

Sakura only shrugged and the grin grew. "You'll never know."

He could only sigh.

Turning to part ways, Kakashi offered her a small wave and a closing comment. "Don't let him get under your skin, you know what all you've accomplished."

He pretended to not notice her flush at his words.