- K -

Kakashi walked through the Konoha gates flanked by Kiba and Shikamaru who broke off to actually hand in their mission reports. The gates never failed to stir an odd emotion in him. Green doors fitted inside the wall seemed symbolic of the trials faced by Team 7 with Sasuke's defecting, Naruto's departure to train with Jiraya, and Sakura's nearly fatal return.

Before he'd even had a chance to debate the idea of talking to Tsunade he had been sent on a simple escort mission for a low-level lord from Konoha traveling to the Hidden Waterfall Village. It was a one-way escort and took nearly four days round trip accounting for the pace of the client, but he still found himself grateful for the luxury of leaving the village. Part of him wondered if Tsunade was trying to distance him from Sakura, to stop him from fitting in pieces of the mission. He couldn't place any reason for that, however.

He returned to his apartment in early evening with darkness having settled across the village. He didn't remove his sandals or any other articles of clothing, but instead gathered the pink haired kunoichi's now dry clothes from his bathroom counter she'd forgotten in her haste.

They would provide the perfect transition to talk to her. Their conversation before he left had given him a feeling of….unfinished business. He wrapped all the items within her red, long sleeved training shirt.

The trip to her house was less than 5 minutes, one he had walked at all hours and days after she healed him. Knocking on the door yielded a muffled "I'm coming!" and moments later she appeared in the doorway. He noticed two things immediately. A shadow of nervousness fell over her face and Naruto's sandals sat at the door next to hers. A glance around Sakura showed him happily munching on popcorn and focused on the movie playing on her TV.

For a moment she looked dumbstruck at the clothes he held out, but she quickly regained herself and realized he was trying to pass them off quickly before the blonde noticed. She grabbed them and made a beeline for the kitchen across the house, at most 15 steps away, when Naruto finally processed someone had arrived. He began to turn around and, through a mouthful of popcorn, he shouted "Who was it Sak—"

"I couldn't find you, I want to train together soon," Kakashi nonchalantly interjected to redirect Naruto's attention as Sakura shoved the clothes into a drawer with serving utensils. They both knew her ex-sensei returning her clothing would create a bit of a situation with Naruto.

"Perv, you came looking for me? I think you've finally realized how strong I am!" The question was one of excited disbelief instead of actual curiosity and Kakashi's lie had slipped out without any effort.

"You can't be that strong if you failed to notice me following you, I didn't leave a trace in the backyard." Sakura returned to the front door with a flush from how frantic she had been. "Look out Sakura's back window, there's nothing there." Always easily duped, Naruto immediately moved to the window and pressed his face against the glass scanning for a way to disprove the silver haired man's skill.

"We still have more to discuss." He kept his voice low to avoid Naruto hearing.

She began to wring her hands as if she knew this was coming and was dreading the interaction. "Come back tonight around midnight, he'll be gone by then. He has an early mission." This told him when they could talk, yes, but it also told him she would not have Naruto's support around for whatever length the mission may be. With a nod Kakashi closed the door behind him just as Naruto gave up on his search.

- S -

Naruto returned to the couch cussing about what a bizarre and creepy sensei they had the misfortune of being assigned to. He settled sideways on the couch and laid his legs on Sakura's lap. "One of these days I'm going to outwit him. He picked the stupidest time to want to train, I'm going to be gone for a week," Naruto grumbled and Sakura couldn't help a soft smile. Naruto suddenly directed his gaze to meet hers with a firmness in his eyes. "Are you okay, Sakura-chan?" She was surprised by the question and her confusion at how to begin to talk to him thankfully came off as confusion as to why he was asking.

"You just seem tired. Sai and I have been having to pick up the slack of telling Sasuke of what an ass he can be," Naruto joked, softening the conversation. She gently laid her palms down on his shins that were settled on her thighs.

"I didn't realize how exhausted I was from missions and the hospital on top of research. I took this week off from the hospital so I can get some rest and catch up on everything I've been neglecting like cleaning and grocery shopping." There was a basis of truth in what she said, but she did feel slight guilt at not telling him the full truth. She hadn't even meant to tell Kakashi. It was been meant to stay between Tsunade, Ino, and herself at most.

Tsunade had needed to know for her mission report and treatment. Kakashi was unavoidable. Because of my breakdown. However, she didn't want Naruto to bear the weight of her torture because it would be unspoken that the torture would hurt their already fragile team dynamic. Sakura knew Naruto would fly into a rage searching for the assailants and she needed normalcy. She needed work. She needed friends. Right now, a mission to seek revenge was not what she needed.

"I'll head out then so you can get some sleep. You can always ask if you need anything." She internally winced as it seemed he knew she wasn't being entirely forthcoming. In growing so close and standing by each other in times of trial, they had come to respect how much information the other was willing to give.

He rose to pull her into a hug and she inhaled his familiar scent. It was so comforting and so 'Naruto' with an ever-lingering smell of ramen from the splashes of broth he had on his shirts.

"Get some sleep, Sakura-chan." As he left, she realized she could go get Kakashi sooner, but she wanted to take the few hours to organize herself first.

- K -

It only took one quick knock for Sakura to be at the door signaling that she had sensed him approaching. She stepped back into the house and moved to the kitchen counter, putting cleaning supplies back under the cabinet. Black spandex training shorts covered little of her legs matched with a large t-shirt. Her hair was tied back in a high ponytail that moved as she did. He settled himself on her couch and after a moment she sat in her armchair. Their positions were nearly identical to those of the other night.

"I don't know what else you need to know." Kakashi's expression tightened. She's approaching this defensively. This is going to be more difficult than talking when she was emotionally exhausted.

"You got sloppy in training. How am I supposed know that won't happen on a mission and compromise the lives of your teammates." He was fully prepared to match her aggressiveness. Her expression narrowed and anger burned in her eyes, but he could tell the comment had hurt her when she pulled her knee up in front of her. She remained leaned back in her chair, but the leg seemed to provide her some comfort as a barrier between them.

"I hadn't been sleeping well, I was vulnerable to my emotions. It won't happen again." Each word was harsh and attempted to present an air of finality, but they were both equally stubborn shinobi.

"Shinobi rarely get the luxury of good or consistent sleep let alone both. You kept Naruto up on the mission. Two team members running on little to no sleep is dangerous."

Sakura let out a huff of air. He was already beginning to get to her. She was losing her conviction.

"You've had nightmares, haven't you?" Her voice was barely audible, a whisper at most. Kakashi had certainly not expected her to turn the conversation towards him. Kakashi forced himself to continue listening. "The kind where you're there and it feels like a second chance to change things, but everything is the same and just as terrible and you wake up feeling as if it had just happened."

Kakashi knew. A tragic genin team, failed missions, and parents gone from his life as a child. The trials of his genin years alone could yield a lifetime of dreams. He had grown used to restless nights and never fully expected a peaceful night. Nightmares had become less frequent as he got older and grew accustomed to the tragedies the life of a ninja revealed, but that didn't mean he was immune to them.

Sakura stood suddenly and crossed the space between them to grasp his fingers and, before he could speak, she pressed them to her carotid artery in her neck. He felt her racing heartbeat below his touch, but it suddenly began to slow before it matched a healthy resting heart rate. They made silent eye contact and he communicated his confusion through lifted brows. She released his hand and moved to sit on the couch next to him.

"I'm a medic, I have the ability to calm my heartrate more efficiently. I can recognize the signs of building stress in my emotional reactions and have better ways to combat the physical symptoms than most. But if I'm not sleeping because of my dreams, I don't have the focus to stop myself to reacting to my feelings."

Kakashi observed her quietly, unsure of how to respond to the sudden touch and information.

"How can we know you'll be rested enough to control your reactions?" Everything he asked was reasonable and needed to be answered, but he knew it was a harsh reality to confront her with. The use of 'we' seemed appropriate since it affected the team and it shifted subject of conversation to the group instead of solely her.

"Certain things help. I've found an herbal mixture that stimulates melatonin production which helps me get to sleep faster. And…" Never before had he heard her hesitate to discuss medical treatments. "…sleeping with someone else can be beneficial. Naruto, for example."

Kakashi let his mouth drop open a hair's breadth. Hasn't Sakura been encouraging Naruto to go after the Hyuuga girl? When did his ex-students start sleeping together? He had no idea.

After a few moments of silence, Sakura seemed to realize the impact of her words. "SLEEPING, Kakashi! Just sleeping! I—I would never! We're just friends, good friends, who sometimes fall asleep watching movies together! Get your dirty, porn filled mind out of the gutter!" She smacked him across the face with a decorative pillow and he cursed her for picking one with a sequence design as the little fake gems scratched his face.

The pillow flopped to the floor and she was breathing heavily with anger as she glared at him, her fist still raised. However, that anger disappeared and was instantly replaced by concern when she noticed the scratches she had left across his face. Sakura closed the distance between them quickly and, kneeling on the couch while bent towards him to examine the damage, he got a very personal view of her. He berated himself for noticing the changes in her figure in such a time, but her chest was hanging directly in his line of sight as she bent his head at an angle forward to examine him. He echoed his thoughts from the last time they spoke. Sakura was small, yes, but not everywhere.

A warm, chakra laden palm pressed to his cheek and temple where the barely-there scrapes had been left. Both of his eyes became lidded at the warmth she sent into his body every time she healed him. He had come to associate her chakra with warmth like that of the sun. When her hand retreated, her face continued to hover within inches of his face. They made eye contact that neither broke for an unknown length of time until Sakura spoke and pulled his gaze to her lips. "I have the power to flatten buildings, if not more, but having someone there when I break out of the dream makes it…more bearable. It's an immediate reminder that I'm home and I'm safe."

Settling back on her heels, she stared at him as if there was something he was supposed to have to say to that. He simply uttered "Aa."

As with their previous interaction, some form of urgency struck across her and she stood, knocking the other pillow off the couch and ramming her left shin into the coffee table with a wince. "I keep taking up so much of your time with my wasteful babbling – sorry. I won't keep you up, it's so late!" she kept her gaze locked on the clock that hung on the wall behind hm.

"Do you want me to stay with you?"

He almost found humor in the number of times he'd shocked her into silence lately. Hell, he'd shocked himself with this one. But he'd felt a recent urge to do something, almost anything, to be there for her like he'd never been. There was a lot of time to make up for, but no better time than the present.

"I—um…." her soft voice broke off and she seemed to be struggling for words.

Silence filled the air between them and Kakashi had the sudden realization he shouldn't assume she would agree. Considering his minimal presence in her life beyond a sparring and drinking partner, it was objectively bold to ask to spend the night with her. Almost ready to retract the offer, Sakura finally responded.

"I don't want to burden you."

Mismatched eyes narrowed and emerald eyes widened with a hint of….fear?

"I didn't say you were a burden."

Tense silence filled the air. A knowing look was shared between the two shinobi. He hadn't called her a burden, but the countless times he'd treated her like one had certainly impacted their dynamic. Kakashi was quite literally opening a door for her and she couldn't move past the threshold because she still felt unwelcome in any part of his life. Mouth opening and closing softly, Sakura dropped her eyes to the floor as she processed his comment.

No clear signs of response came from the pinkette and for the first time in a long time, Kakashi felt unsure of himself.

"If it's okay with you."

Kakashi didn't know what he was doing. An image of Tsunade throwing him out of a hospital window flitted through his mind. Many reasons this was not acceptable spun through his mind including their power dynamic as ex-student and sensei, their gap in age, and his reputation as a pervert. No matter what he was thinking, he found himself silently following her upstairs towards her bedroom – but not until she had locked the front door and slid out a deadbolt that had definitely not been there before.

He observed the collection of photos hung along the stairwell while she pulled out a key stored in her top. Sakura unlocked the door at the top of the stairs, and it swung open to reveal a room cloaked in dark save for the light falling through the overhead skylight. She moved to her bed and his clothes lay discarded atop the ruffled comforter. He decided not to comment, especially when he noticed her flush at being caught wearing his clothes to bed.

She put them atop her desk and began to root through the dresser by her bed. Satisfactory clothes were found, and she disappeared into her bathroom. He stripped off both his vest and the long sleeved top he wore leaving him only in his jonin pants and a tank top with attached mask. He leaned back against her desk and scanned her bookshelf, waiting for her to decide how this was to play out.

After intermittent sounds of water and the sounds of cabinets being opened and closed, she re-appeared wearing one of Naruto's big orange shirts and a different pair of spandex shorts. The shirt seemed to swallow her and her pale, lithe legs led her to the bed. Her cheeks were dusted in red as she spoke, eyes darting away from his loss of clothing.

"Um, I normally sleep on the side next to the nightstand. But if you're not comfortable sleeping up against the wall-"

"That's fine." He remembered she wanted normalcy, as normal as sleeping next to one's former teacher could be.

Kakashi got into the bed and slide under the covers, facing the ceiling. He didn't quite know where to look so the ceiling seemed safe. The bed shifted and he felt the blankets pull a little tighter as she curled them around herself. Unlike on their mission, she slipped into sleep relatively quickly with an alarm set for a time he hasn't bothered to ask. He had at least a few days off after his mission so there was no rush to be up. She must really be exhausted to sleep so quickly, how much has she been sleeping?

Her peace didn't last.

Amidst thoughts on his need to catch up on his mission reports, he heard a frightened voice cry, "Please stop. I know you're better than this, let me help you!" She began to thrash as she defended herself from this nameless attacker. He had rarely been one to provide comfort, so he was surprised to find himself respond fluidly to intertwine his right hand with her left that was tightly gripping the sheets. A gentle tap or grip may imitate that of an attacker while, he hypothesized, holding her hand could only be taken as a friendly gesture.

Sakura's arm attached to his was the first thing to slacken and the rest of her body followed suit smoothly. The tears stopped flowing from her eyes leaving stains across her cheeks.

She curled on her side to face him, her cheek reaching out to rest against his shoulder while she drew his arm to rest against her chest with her right hand coming to encircle their linked hands. Several stuttering breaths later, Sakura's breathing evened out and she settled into a dreamless sleep. It was bizarre how one simple touch was enough to quell the turmoil in her head. Someone could control her emotions so easily while she slept. She's so vulnerable in her sleep. His gaze wandered across her face and noted that she had lost any remaining chubbiness in her face from her youth. Her features were strong, and she had the build of a seasoned kunoichi. She looks unaware of the troubles of the world.

Kakashi shook his head at the thought. Moments ago she had been thrashing about in fear of torture she was subjected to on a mission to protect her village. She knew pain, she knew fear, she knew sacrifice. She was no stranger to battles or putting her life on the line. How many times has she had to suffer like this? Had to kill?

After a long mission and staring at Sakura's ceiling for an hour, he found himself start to give into the pulls of sleep. With her seemingly content and safe from her fears, for the moment at least, he could justify allowing himself to rest.

He awoke twice more in the night to her crying, but her actions were not violent like the first time. She cried and whimpered, but it only took a brush of contact to calm her. While Sakura had always worn her heart on her sleeve, Kakashi found himself getting to see a facet of her that he felt he was almost intruding on. There was no undoing her experiences and it would be unfair to think she should have never gone.

Sakura was a grown woman and an asset to the village; she had the right to choose what missions she was fit to take.

But the fact that she had been tortured for information. She didn't know what she was getting into. I don't even know what they wanted. Sakura's mission and subsequent torture were stirring many questions in the Kakashi's head that likely only Sakura had the answers to. The possibility of her torture relating to her Team 7 ties hit him like a wall.

Being her protector had always come naturally, but Kakashi had never considered how much of the danger they 'protected' her from was because she was on Team 7 beside three men with bounties on their heads. His mind began to calculate the likelihood this had happened before. No, the better question is how many times she'd been in danger because of them.

Sakura was friends and teammates with the last living Uchiha and the Kyuubi host as well as a pupil of White Fang's son, there was no other exploitable weakness like her. If she were captured and used as a threat, three of the most powerful men in the living world would be impacted. He liked to think he'd be on his knees beside Naruto and Sasuke, but he was still struggling to figure out where he fit into her life.

Despite feeling the need to keep Sakura at arm's length to protect her from himself, Kakashi could admit in the darkness as she slept that she was more than a teammate – more than a friend even.

She was simply Sakura. Pink haired, strong, healing, stubborn Sakura.

There was no universe in which he wanted to walk away from her. After all, those who abandon their teammates are worse than scum.