- K -
Sun coated the training field with light, a welcome sight with winter wrapping its cool touch around Konoha. It was the first training session since Sakura's return and the first time Kakashi had seen the pink haired girl awake. At his last visit, before eavesdropping, Sakura had still been unconscious and he had no interest in being surrounded by the blubbering visitors she'd had non-stop according to Naruto. From Rookie 9 to ANBU to medics she was training, it seemed the whole village made an appearance and Kakashi had to wonder how she had the patience for all of it.
Maybe she didn't it and that's why she looked incredibly annoyed. The few days Sakura had been hospitalized seemed brief as she stood before him on the training grounds - he had thought she would have been kept longer for observation. She still walked stiffly and seemed on edge, but he'd heard from Naruto a fierce battle between mentor and student had ensued when Sakura announced she was discharging herself. There was a closing comment by Sakura that had ended the argument in its tracks: "I cannot show weakness!"
Kakashi eyed the pinkette critically. She clearly isn't well enough to be here within a day of discharge.
"I want both of you to work more against varying jutsus. Today I want you training with Sai's drawings to work with unpredictably moving targets. It will test your dexterity." She shot Kakashi an unreadable look and approached him as her two teammates moved to follow her direction while following her every move with their eyes.
"You don't need to come out here just for me, I know we're not Team 7 anymore and you have plenty of responsibilities." Her words lacked conviction and he could tell that a small part of her seemed to find relief in his presence.
"I'm between mission. Besides, it's been too long since I tested you all. I think a bell test will be in order soon," he joked.
A barely there smile twitched at her lips before he replied. "Only once I have these idiots back to full health."
Morning bled into afternoon and Sakura remained perched on a tree branch while her male teammates sparred, having asked Kakashi to spar with them gently. If Kakashi were a lesser ninja he may have assumed she was lazing about, but a quick evaluation spotted her healing chakra. Sakura was passively healing herself while keeping an eye on the training.
Just as the sun was beginning to set, she stepped in and call it for the day. "Well done, we'll stop here." With grace she dropped from the branch down onto the dirt below. She stretched her muscles like a feline and then moved to stand by the men.
A sharp finger in Sasuke's bicep snapped the man to attention and, on reflex, his right hand reached out to grab Sakura's wrist tightly. To the point of bruising. Kakashi expected her normal annoyance at his stubbornness so he was caught off guard when she flinched. Recovering almost immediately, Sakura then moved to Naruto and critiqued his sloppy jumps. She repeated the same process with Sai and Kakashi scolded himself for not being more understanding that she would likely need some time to readjust.
In fact, he realized he was still in the dark about any detail of her mission.
"Sakura." A man's voice carried across the clearing and her aura immediately shifted. Neji entered the clearing and a broad grin spreading across her face, Sakura broke into a run, one as fast as her pain allowed, and hugged Neji.
"I heard you were discharged yesterday. Are you well enough to be here?" Kakashi expected the female to smack him as she'd done with Naruto for the same question, but she simply shook her head and gave a bitter laugh.
"You sound just like Tsunade. I made a personal call and decided it was better for me to check out than to have to deal with one more weepy visitor." The two moved off to the side of the field by the tree line and continued their conversation at a low enough level that her team couldn't hear the content.
Whiskers twitched high on Naruto's face as he smiled at the exchange. "It's good he came to visit her. He wasn't sure if he would be on a mission when she woke up."
The mixed Team 7 and Team Kakashi male members stood passively observing the pinkette. Within a few minutes she rejoined the group with Neji by her side. "Neji and I talked about getting a drink in an hour at Whiskey Tavern if you guys want to join." Naruto immediately agreed while Sai politely declined for other obligations. Sasuke didn't respond but didn't necessarily say no. Kakashi felt an odd need to join with her earlier reaction to Sasuke so he offered to come if his drinks were covered which Naruto groaned at.
An hour later found the five gathered at the bar in a small circular booth.
- S -
Seeing Neji had immediately pulled her closer to a sense of comfort. Well, as comfortable as I can be. "Did you two keep up with the exercises I gave you?" the medic asked, pinning both Naruto and Sasuke with a hard stare.
"I did. I can't say the same for Teme." Naruto rubbed his chin thoughtfully while trying to throw his teammate to the wolves. Sakura simply rolled her eyes and sagged back into the booth beside Neji while Naruto was to the left of Neji, Sasuke to the left of Naruto, and Kakashi at the far end with a direct view of Sakura
"Sakura, Hinata told me you spoke of increasing your work in medical research when she visited you. What are you looking to focus on?" She paled momentarily and struggled to regain her voice. It's a perfectly reasonable question. I can do this. It's Neji for fuck's sake.
"I'm looking to research poisons more closely. Tsunade mentioned to me an increase in poison patients lately. Most likely not a problem and I've had some extra free time anyways." I'm gambling that Tsunade didn't tell them anything about the mission.
When neither Sasuke nor Naruto responded, she felt an inner relief. The last thing she needed was to try and recall the mission to them. Kakashi had retained a stoic look that she couldn't read, but she sent a plea to the Gods that he wasn't in on the content of her mission.
"I'll be interested to see your results. Leaf is lucky to have you back for many reasons." Sakura smiled softly at the man and reached out to squeeze his hand before placing her elbows on the table and leaning forward.
Light left the sky entirely as the ninja continued to chat. Sasuke was occasionally drawn into conversation by members of the group and Sakura noted with joy he seemed to put effort into keeping the conversation alive, even if it was barely. As the evening transitioned into early morning, Sakura found herself far more inebriated than she'd meant to be. Neji and Naruto had bought the first two rounds, but she'd not stopped until many rounds later. She had ignored the concerned eyes of the Hyuuga and joined an equally drunk Naruto in shouting nonsensical things. Kakashi had sat by passively watching her and she couldn't help a bitter thought. Nervousness of what her ex-sensei knew put her on edge which further encouraged her drinking in a pathetic attempt to relax.
Gently but firmly the bartender let them know that he was closing up. The group rose and made their exit into the cool night air. Sakura shivered at the temperature despite her black leggings and baggy grey sweater. Stretching her arms above her head, a lopsided grin took over her face and she spun around to face her friends while lacing her fingers behind her back. "I'll race you to the training grounds!"
Neji narrowed his eyes at her, significantly more sober than she and Naruto. "Sakura you're inju—" He didn't complete his sentence before she took off running with Naruto in tow. Neji released a sigh and turned to look at Sasuke and Kakashi who had both stopped drinking after the two rounds given by the other males.
- K -
"Uchiha-san." Kakashi could feel the tension developing between the two men when Neji called to the dark haired man. Sasuke drug his eyes from his shrinking teammates to look at Neji. "Sakura needs her team right now."
Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "We train together daily."
"I haven't received much information on her mission, but she's not one to return in such a state." Kakashi found himself hoping the Hyuuga would shut the hell up because he was only prompting Sasuke to ask questions better left unanswered for the time being. "Goodnight, Uchiha-san, Hatake-san."
Teacher and student watched Neji recede before beginning to cross rooftops to the training fields, the men landing in the training grounds to see Naruto and Sakura tumbling around. They both grasped each other's shoulders and they kicked out their legs at each other leaving them rolling around like a tumbleweed.
Sasuke watched them with a sour expression and Kakashi questioned if it was alright for Sakura to be so physical despite her injuries. It seemed she paid them no mind as she played with Naruto like one would a sibling.
Within the minute the two had fallen into a heap on the ground, panting and laughing. Kakashi watched them warily, unsure of how to respond to his ex-students being dirty, sweaty, drunk messes in the middle of a training ground at 2 am.
Sakura's head was resting on the blonde's stomach, but she suddenly leapt up and came sprinting towards Sasuke at an alarming rate. Before Sasuke could react to her drunken state, she stopped. For some reason she had decided to settle in a standing pose with her hands on her hips, inches from his face.
"Don't be so sour all the time." Behind her there was a howl of laughter. "We're all together again, isn't that enough?" her voice softened to a whisper and was cloaked in sadness, but there was a glimmer of hope in it. Hope that he would tell her they were enough. This is not the time for this.
"You're drunk," Sasuke responded flatly.
"And the sky is blue and you have a stick up your ass." It seemed Sakura had an attitude when she drank. The last thing Kakashi expected from a drunk Sakura was cussing and insulting, at least not in the direction of Sasuke.
Naruto appeared behind Sakura and came to rest his head on her shoulder.
"Yeaaaah! Listen to Sakura-chan!" For an adult, Naruto never lost his childish behaviors as shown by the tongue poking out of his mouth.
"I'm going home," Sakura snapped as she moved from under Naruto's chin and began to stride out of the grounds towards her house. It would have been possible to take her seriously if she hadn't stumbled as she walked.
"Hn. She's got every man in Konoha backing her stupidity," Sasuke growled. He watched her pink hair sway as she tripped over a major obstacle – a pebble.
"Teme." Sasuke found Naruto wearing a somber expression and his left palm wrapped around the back of his tanned neck. "She's got a lot of important people in her life now. Just because she's had a soft spot for you in the past doesn't mean you're the only one."
Suddenly switching his tone, Naruto shouted, "Well, I'm off! Make sure Sakura-chan gets home safe!" With that, the whiskered man returned to his relaxed mannerisms and took off towards his apartment with more of a stumble in his step than Sakura. Sasuke let out a frustrated sigh and looked to Kakashi.
"Aren't you going to get her?" It didn't surprise Kakashi how lackluster Sasuke's response was, but it still was disappointing to see the team dynamic so askew.
Kakashi began to follow the pinkette, suddenly wondering about the crime rates of Konoha while he considered the woman walking in the dark alone. She wasn't weak, but she would be vulnerable this drunk.
Instead of seeing her, he first heard her.
Bent over into flowers that lined the dimly lit walkway between neighborhoods, Sakura looked absolutely miserable. She was sitting on her haunches with her legs bent to the right while her palms were braced on the stone path. She'd managed to pull her hair back into a ponytail which allowed him to see the tears in her eyes. How did I end up here?
Coming to stand next to her, he caught her attention when he spoke her name in a gentle voice. She looked up with an undecipherable look in her eyes before turning back to retch in the bushes again. If he was a lesser ninja, he would have turned his nose at the circumstance, but ninja were trained to deal with illness – alcohol induced or otherwise. "You need to go home."
"I'm trying to." Despite her severe intoxication, she still had decent control of her voice. She breathed deeply for a moment before making to stand. Halfway up she began to tilt backwards and Kakashi grabbed her by the elbow to hold her up. For the second time in only a week, he'd had more contact with his student than the years previously. Part of him wanted to offer his back to carry her home like he had before.
But Kakashi was not that kind of a person, not touchy nor comforting. So naturally his defensive instincts kicked in at the awkward situation and he found himself scolding her. He pulled her up to her feet and all but dragged her along the path towards her house as he spoke. "You don't get to act like a child because you had a bad mission." In only a hundred yards they would be at her front door and he could deposit her inside.
"Stop!" At her outburst he released her and regretted it immediately when she fell backwards and hissed at the contact of her injured back on the ground.
Sakura rolled to her left side and lifted a hand to her back, allowing it to glow green. Kakashi moved to pull her to her feet and she yanked her arm from his reach. "I'll make it back." The weakness in her voice and her coordination told him otherwise. "That mission is none of your business," she snipped. Kakashi could only raise his eyebrows at her, it seemed she assumed he knew nothing of the mission. Her earlier lie about her interest in poisons indicated her belief that the mission statement had been kept secret.
She underestimates the panic caused by her MIA status.
"I'm not leaving you here drunk and alone." Despite his inappropriate defensive snap, he had absolutely no desire to leave her in the cold drunk and emotional. He patiently waited until the green disappeared from her hand and she sat up with a wince.
Without giving her time to argue, he pulled her to a standing position and slung her left arm over his shoulders while wrapping his right arm around her upper back. She was by no means heavy, but she was nearly deadweight on his body between the alcohol and exhaustion.
Kakashi mentally sighed in relief at her silence, the pinkette allowing him to move her along the path until they reached her door where she tugged her arm from his grasp. Fumbling in her top, Sakura finally produced a key. Once the deadbolt slid open, she shoved the door open and stumbled in to hit the light switch. The first floor became bathed in light and he scanned the house. He was surprised with how messyit was. Sakura was somewhat strict in her "everything has its place" mentality so he filed away this odd display.
The woman made a beeline for her couch and flopped onto it. He stood beside the couch and decided his obligations were completed. "I'll assume you'll fine from here. I'll take my leave now."
He heard a deep, stuttering inhale and caught one final comment as he closed the front door behind him. "That's what you do best."