- S -

Sakura arrived at 6:30 and found herself approaching the training ground in sync with Kakashi, studying the slick training grounds left by an overnight rain. They began with some basic weapon training, so basic she was feeling patronized. When he said he thought I was out of practice I didn't realize he thought I couldn't throw a fucking kunai. They followed with heated rounds of taijutsu that she was irritated to find he mostly held his own at.

It was understandable to make sure the team was in sync and would be a strong unit instead of just having strong team members. However, just because she was a medic didn't mean she didn't need to know how to defend herself and go on the attack. That made sense. However, having her and her alone be challenged for her contribution was beyond infuriating.

"Alright, everything is free game," Sakura snapped. She didn't need her chakra laden punches to get in a good hit, but they were a lot more gratifying – especially when she was mad. The spar changed to a rapid and more aggressive pace with fire, earth shattering, and clones. Sakura was preparing to surprise him from above when she realized her mistake. It was a clone on the forest floor and suddenly he leapt from a nearby branch to lock eyes with her and cast her into a genjustsu.

- K -

It was a rather basic genjustu, the victim found themselves in a dark room alone with an unknown enemy approaching the door to enter. It fed off the fear of the victim to decide who the attacker was, but it was not overly difficult to break. Why isn't she done already? She's always had natural skill with genjutsu.

Sakura suddenly lurched off he branch, her limp body beginning to fall straight towards the forest floor, defenseless of the incoming ground. With a burst of speed, he intercepted her fall to catch her while dispelling the genjustu. Kakashi was panting from the exertion of taking on her full body weight when she began to lash out.

"Stop!" Kakashi released her quickly and stepped back, startled at hearing her scream in a way he'd never heard her do before. "Don't fucking touch me, don't fucking touch me!" She was panicking. Fully, irrationally panicking.

- S -

The pain thundering in her head overcame any other sensory stimulus. Her hands rose to grasp her head while she screamed for him to stay away. It's not real, like it wasn't before. The rational side of her tried to interject, but it was a small whisper with waves of panic cresting and crashing and consuming her existence. She could feel the mud of the rain slick training grounds press into her knees harshly as she moved to her hands and knees with her palms digging into the earth in search of a way to anchor herself back to reality.

Sakura was unaware of how her body shook and the tears that were streaming down her face. She felt the chakra signal attempt to move closer again and she slammed her palms down into the earth where she'd been pressing them, verbally lashing out.

Suddenly, she was on her back. Someone was sitting on her torso while strong, unmoving hands gripped her wrists over her head. She was helpless. She was weak. Use chakra to enhance your movement, roll him off. Rational thoughts failed to reach her again as she let out a blood curdling screech, one of pure terror. That of someone staring at their reflection in the eyes of death.

She vaguely registered it was a man trapping her to the ground and she thrashed harder, kicking up her legs as they were the only part of her body not being pressed down on.

Vision clearing slightly, she began to realize it was Kakashi.

"Sasuke, stop! Please!" Her head rolled back as she gave up on screaming, giving into the sobs that overtook her body as soon as she stopped resisting. Slowly, her head heaved side to side while crying as if shaking her head in dissent would make it all stop.

Minutes passed before the waves of panic subsided to leave her disgustingly weak, restrained, and exhausted. Opening her eyes, she found Kakashi sitting on her stomach while his hands held her arms down. With a distant mind she realized he was protecting her from herself, something that was a far cry from what she saw in her nightmares.

Kakashi clearly felt the way her whole body became limp because he, with caution in case her panic returned, let her wrists free. He brought his palms to rest atop his thighs which caged in her hips when he settled back.

"Sakura—"

"Please get off of me." She cut him off harshly, but her voice was barely a whisper.

Kakashi gently lifted his weight off of her and stepped backwards so he was no longer over her. On reflex he held out a hand to help her up. When she didn't take it, he seemed to realize his mistake and put his hands in his pant pocket.

For a long moment she didn't move, but she eventually pulled herself up to be seated atop her bent knees. Her palms wrapped around her scraped knees and she bowed her head. She felt overwhelming shame at her behavior, especially with who she behaved so wildly in front of.

"Sakura, this now affects me and the team. What did you see in the genjutsu? How is Sasuke involved?" He used a tone of finality that rarely came out anymore.

"My attackers had a vendetta against him which turned into one against me."

There was a long pause where she hoped he would say something, say anything, but he remained silent pushing her to speak further.

"They were after him, so they drew me out."

Sasuke's return had been of interest to many, mostly in the interest of capturing or killing him. He continued to be silent, but she was done speaking. Revealing this much information was already more than she wanted to, and they were toeing a dangerous line.

"Have you spoken to anyone about it?" He had stepped back, and it made her feel relieved and alone at the same time.

"I did my mission report. I got the information and I wasn't killed so it was technically a successful mission. Tsunade and I talked about it and she decided it would be best for me to be with the team right now. She cleared me."

Eyebrows pulling upwards at her comments, Kakashi disagreed. "You're clearly not okay to be in the field or working at all. I'm going to talk to Tsunade if you don't." His words were harsh and she knew he meant it.

"Please, Sensei. Please don't take my work from me. If you talk to Shishiou she'll take me off missions and pull me from the hospital. Work is all I have right now." Her tone was pleading in a way that seemed his decision could make her or break her. The use of his title seemed to cut through his determination slightly and he felt another spark of annoyance that she let the title slip.

"I think we need to talk about this privately."

She blinked and raised her head in surprise, the tear tracks left on her cheeks catching the setting sunrays in a picturesque way. That was certainly not what she expected him to say and she could only nod. Despite her exhaustion she rose quickly before he might change his mind and go straight to her mentors. Even her fear of Kakashi finding out details of the mission was overridden by her need to placate him.

He led the way – to where she did not know. When they ascended a set of stairs and arrived at a plain, grey door with similar ones surrounding it she realized they were at his home. Apartment, more accurately.

Kakashi let them in and she removed her boots at the door. It was a simple layout that barely looked lived in. The living room was to the right with a leather couch and armchair facing a TV. The kitchen was in the back and on the right wall there was a door which she assumed led to his bedroom.

Taking a few steps into his apartment, she realized she had left muddy footprint on the wooden slats. Taking off her boots had done little to leave the mud behind since they were open toed anyways and mud had gotten into them. She lingered in the threshold before Kakashi's voice broke through her thoughts and she jerked slightly.

"You can shower and borrow clothing." She quickly looked up over her left shoulder to see him standing behind her.

"I couldn't shower here and take your clothes that would be completely inappro—" They were making a habit of cutting each other off.

"It is only you and I here and we are having a serious conversation. There is nothing inappropriate or risqué about this. I'm offering you talk to me not freezing and muddy." Mulling over his words Sakura found no point in arguing. She silently followed him through the door on the right wall keeping her eyes fixated on the muddy prints she was leaving behind.

She entered his room and watched Kakashi go across the room to pull out sweats and a long sleeved shirt from a small dresser that doubled as a nightstand. He handed them to her and pointed to the door directly next to the bedroom door signaling it was the bathroom.

"All the way left is hot water. Towels are under the sink." And he was gone, leaving her alone.