- S -

Gathering at the training grounds the next day was tense. Sakura seemed timid for a moment before gathering herself and telling them the regiment for the day.

"Sasuke, you'll be against me. Naruto, you against Sai. Kakashi, stay on the sidelines and you can spar later in the day. We're going all out, no handicaps or restrictions." Kakashi was miffed at her decision to sit him out and wondered if it was retaliation for their interaction the night before. Everyone seemed surprised by her training plan and Naruto attempted to oppose it but was quickly shut down.

"This isn't up for debate," she scolded. Naruto relented and broke off with Sai to stretch before they began. Kakashi eyed Sakura carefully, unsure why she had suddenly decided to spar with Sasuke and take off all restrictions simultaneously. He couldn't pinpoint a reason for this sudden shift.

Stretching rotations were completed and then the team members took fighting stances across the field from one another. "Start!"

They both took off immediately.

Sakura launched into the air with a chakra enhanced leap while forming chakra scalpels. Sasuke immediately engaged his sharingan and Rinnegan, surveying his options. Engaging in a brief round of taijutsu, they jumped back from one another while planning their next moves. Sakura moved at a speed he hadn't anticipated, and he was in a rush to block her attack. In order to prevent greater damage, he used his left hand to block the cut aimed for his abdomen.

As the day progressed, Kakashi was please to note that Sasuke found himself only retaining a marginal advantage over the pink haired medic. Experience taught her to avoid meeting his eyes while using her chakra control to compensate for her lack of ninjutsu. Genjutsus attempted from both sides failed. When dusk fell across the earth they had upturned, neither ninja showed signs of giving up.

Blood ran from a cut on Sasuke's left forearm and he grew frustrated with the pace of the match. He put distance between them with a barrage of kunai and shuriken that forced her to move back to block the attack. Going through a series of hand signs, the Uchiha blew flames at Sakura in an act meant to create a barrier of fire between them. The barrier seemed intended to impair her sight so Sasuke could exploit the handicap and force eye contact.

However, he failed to consider her ability to punch through the earth the fire was burning, effectively extinguishing the flames.

Pulling a kunai from his pack, Sasuke swung out at her and managed to catch her bicep. Not even wincing at the injury, Sakura advanced and spotted a weak point in his form. Holding a kunai meant his left side was more vulnerable to attack and his left arm was already weakened from the cut.

Sasuke's sharingan followed her movements, but the doujintsu was useless if his body couldn't keep up. Growling in anger, Sasuke swept out with his kunai to back her up. "Fuck!"

Sasuke was losing his temper, but Sakura didn't yield. Exploding tags were strewn at his feet and he leapt back into a nearby tree. Kakashi began to wonder if the fight should be allowed to continue with her recovery status and Sasuke's temper.

That exact temper led Sasuke to summon his Susanoo, allowing his left arm to go lax as it was no longer open to attack. The pinkette didn't falter in her attacks despite going against the massive form. None of her attacks were geared to be effective against his armor so when she leapt up at him all he had to do was swat her aside.

"Sasuke, stop!" Kakashi ordered, moving to Sakura's side instantly. The intensity of Kakashi's voice broke through Sasuke's angry focus. Sakura was on the ground some ways away gripping her right leg tightly as blood rushed from a cut on it that appeared to be bone deep. Her front was marred with cuts from the contact of the armor against her skin and Kakashi felt something stir in him seeing her bleeding before him, again.

"I'm fine, I'm fine! It was part of training, I provoked him on purpose. Sasuke, disarm yourself!" Sasuke released his doujinsou and began to move towards his pink haired teammate, but the blank expression of Sai appeared suddenly in his path and impeded him. "Everyone calm down. Sasuke isn't a threat."

He could have killed her, is she really so careless with her life?

Sai withdrew from Sasuke's direct path but remained nearby. Naruto had already come to kneel by Sakura's side, demanding for answers on how to help.

"I'm okay, I promise. Can you help me sit up? I need to start with my leg." Naruto pressed his hands into her back while Sakura lit her hands with healing chakra before pressing them into her thigh. The bleeding stopped almost immediately, but the sick feeling in Kakashi's stomach remained as he watched the muscle begin to grow and reform into normal looking flesh. Minutes passed in silence as Naruto watched the pinkette with worry, Sai stared at her healing with small signs of discomfort, and Sasuke stood some distance from the rest of them.

Kakashi found himself uselessly crouched near her. The blood oozing from her leg was all too reminiscent of how he'd found her only days ago and he berated himself for freezing. The infamous copy nin did not freeze.

Once all the major injuries were healed, cuts and burns that were deepest and most visible, Sakura heaved a sigh and looked up to the Uchiha. "I need you to see that you're not where you were – you should be able to defeat me. Not easily, but at full strength you wouldn't be at a standstill with me after a day of sparing. You know that. Check your ego because falling into massive displays of power don't compensate for basic strength you still need to build in that arm."

Scowling intensely, Sasuke opened his mouth to retort when she hissed in pain before continuing.

"I can't say I understand the level of setback you and Naruto are facing, but I'm your medic and for once in your life take me seriously." Silence reigned over the ground for painfully long before the Uchiha replied.

"Fine." Sasuke stalked away and Kakashi watched the rest of the teammates deflate slightly. Even Sai seemed to be invested in the team dynamic progressing and he approached Sakura.

"Hag, I'm unsure if I can be of help here. Beautiful tells me comfort is good when someone is having a hard day. So – there, there. It will be okay!" Sai's awkward attempt to be thoughtful broke up the atmosphere and a smile graced her face.

Continuing to send chakra to her remaining injuries, she responded, "He just needs time, things will work out!"

Offering her a hand that she accepted, Kakashi pulled her to her feet and held on slightly longer than necessary to ensure she was stable on her feet. Sakura read straight through his intention and rolled her eyes at him, but smiled nonetheless.

"We're done for the day. Naruto – I heard Hinata is grabbing lunch with Ino at Ichiraku. Go say hi for me, I'm just too tired. Sai, I'm sure Ino would be happy to see you." Both boys said goodbye and followed her instructions, disappearing off towards the ramen shop.

Only once they were out of sight did she allow herself to sag into her stance and take in a deep breath.

"You're playing a dangerous game pushing him like that," Kakashi warned as he took in her much weaker presentation.

Refusing to make eye contact, she gave a small nod of assent. "I know, but he's never going to get better if he tries to heal alone. I'm also being selfish in part – I want him to be here with the team. Even if I have to hold his probation over his head to make his attendance mandatory."

Kakashi could only watch her passively, taking in the stubbornness that had been enabled by years under Tsunade's teachings. For the first time, maybe ever, Kakashi viewed her as the grown woman she was.

Pink locks brushed her shoulder blades, often held up in a bun or at least clipped back in her role as a medic. Her figure had grown into that of a woman with all the associated curves and, while she hadn't taken on the proportions of her master, she still easily caught the eye on certain features. Every visible stretch of skin covered well defined muscle that flexed as she appeared lost in thought.

She rarely indulged in any clothes aside from her medic or training attire, most of the time the items being taken from Ino's closet for a night out. He wasn't sure Sakura owed anything not ninja-related aside from maybe nightclothes.

"Well, I'm going to head home for the day. See you later, sensei!"

Kami he hated when she called him that.

- K -

For the next two days Sakura wasn't at training, leaving Izuhara to act as a liaison who passed on her notes for the day's training. Kakashi had skimmed the fields each day and, upon noting her absence, he decided it best he didn't join in. Sasuke's temper still didn't sit well with the silver haired man and arguing would be useless.

Kakashi didn't see her again until his arm began to hurt from training with Genma and he refused to go to the hospital. She knows I hate hospitals, he justified.

So, in the dark of night after parting with Genma, Kakashi went to Sakura.

His fingertips gripped the roofing of her house with strength he normally didn't employ, and he had a distant thought of her future tantrum about the bloody handprint he would be leaving behind. His other hand grasped the skylight pane to lift it and found it locked.

Breaking the lock mechanism with a kunai from his pouch was a simple task and he dropped down into her bedroom with a barely audible thud. Before he could even flick on his sharingan to improve his vision in the darkness, he felt a chakra enhanced fit slam into his chest throwing him backwards across the room into her desk chair which clattered to the side leaving him sprawled backwards over her desk.

Kakashi was no stranger to a surprise attack, but he had been unprepared to receive a hit from Sakura when he came to her willingly. Naruto and he had taken to visiting the medic after returning from training or missions to avoid hospital visits as she had the power to then clear him. The idea of going to the hospital and facing medics who weren't Sakura made him….uncomfortable. Submitting himself to a stranger for medical treatment seemed worse than the option of waking Sakura.

While taking in a breath to return the air previously knocked from his lungs, he leveled Sakura with a questioning look and noted her fighting stance. She had one chakra charged fist extended before her, the same one that had hit him, and the other was pulled back ready to defend. She wore only panties and a large t-shirt he vaguely recognized as one of Naruto's, her bare feet pressed to the wood floors in an offensive stance. There was an emotion in her eyes he didn't have time to place before her stance relaxed and she moved towards him.

"Kakashi! I'm so sorry, I thought you were—"

"It's fine." Her face molded into a hard line to match his displeased expression. She moved to him and Kakashi let her guide him into a seated position atop her desk. She removed his long-sleeved black shirt in a flash, taking care not to jostle his mask. Her eyes fell to the growing red mark just below his ribcage left by her punch. She pressed her hands to the mark in guilt and grimaced at the same time she felt the 2 broken ribs.

She pushed him back down across the desk and her hands lit green with healing chakra as she began to set and heal the ribs. She swept his body with her chakra while she healed him to discover the gash on his upper right arm. Kakashi didn't speak as she healed his wounds knowing it would disrupt her concentration.

Her face remained tight with concentration. Knowing she would heal his leg next, he reached down to remove his pants when two strong hands grabbed his wrists in a bruising hold. That same unknown look she'd had when he arrived flashed through her eyes. She seemed to mentally shake herself and then sent her soothing chakra into his wrists, immediately clearing the damage to his vessels and preventing future bruising.

She silently stripped him of his shoes and pants leaving him in only black socks and left hand returned to his abdomen while her right spanned her fingers across his thigh, both glowing that familiar green. Before he realized it, she had stepped back from him with an exhale of air. She pulled her shoulder length hair back into a clip she picked up from her desk and wiped sweat from her brow.

"Do you have any other injuries?" Her voice broke the silence and was cloaked in exhaustion. He noted the dark bags under her eyes and wonder if she'd spent the entire day at the hospital as she was apt to do.

Kakashi shook his head no and proceeded to flex his leg, finding the injury and pain entirely gone as expected.

"Were you expecting someone else?" he asked in a neutral tone.

Her eyes narrowed in what appeared to be annoyance and she snapped, "No."

Kakashi was already reaching for his clothing, sighing in annoyance at yet another pair of pants ruined beyond repair. He also was noting her sharp tone and obvious lie. The first comment out of her mouth had been about thinking he was someone else, but who and why were left unanswered.

She padded away towards the bathroom door across the room next to her bed. The door swung shut and even locked behind her. The tense exit and locking door were signals their interaction was done.

Naruto likely knew whatever was going on and would pry it out of her before offering support in the form of crushing hugs and invitations to eat Ramen. Ino would likely also play a part in reliving the issue.

During his exit through her skylight he mentally added a new lock for it onto his shopping list.