Sakura didn't regret sleeping with him and she hadn't wanted him to stay but she felt lonely all of a sudden. She decided to take another shower and she sat in the tub allowing the water to engulf her, hiding a few tears. She grabbed the towel that she'd dried her hair with earlier and finally fell asleep with it under her head.

Sakura was woken by a knocking on the door, swiftly followed by Ino getting into bed behind her.

"You look like shit, Sakura."

"Mmmph," Sakura mumbled in response. She raised her head and tried to figure out what was going on with her wet hair and now wet pillow.

"So, how was your night in the end?" Ino pushed.

Sakura buried her head in her arms.

"Oh my god, you totally slept with him didn't you?"

"Shut up," she mumbled inaudibly.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better Sai isn't a virgin anymore."

Surprisingly, it did make her feel better. She snapped her eyes open and looked up at her friend questioningly. "You didn't corrupt his innocence? Poor Sai."

"Ha! Poor Sai. No such thing. Boy had clearly done his research I can tell you that."

Sakura tried to shake away the mental image but ended up making her head worse. She got out of bed and scrambled to the bathroom. She cleaned her teeth and drank some water, groaning at her appearance.

"Here, brush my hair whilst I work out the hangover," she threw the brush at her friend and sat on the floor as she flushed the alcohol through her system. Ino obliged and talked at her friend until she was in a semi presentable state.

Sakura realised there was nothing she could do about the bags under her eyes, but at least she wasn't holding back vomit anymore.

The two girls decided to go for breakfast together and catch up on life. After they'd eaten, Ino swept out of her space as quickly as she'd swept in. Sakura was used to the whirlwind that was Ino and moved to carry on with her day. Following the mission, she remembered she didn't have any official scrolls to write up her report on, so she headed to the Hokage tower.

After picking up the scroll from the resourcing team, she made her way to her office in the hospital to complete the report. She knew if she tried to write it at home she'd just get distracted and it would take her all day.

"Sakura-san," one the medics greeted her. "Tsunade-sama said you'd be off for another few days still?"

"I'm not technically here but I had a few patients I wanted to catch up on and a report to fill out. I'll be in my office." She smiled at the medic who's name she couldn't remember. She'd seen her temping a few times but hadn't directly worked with her. It had taken Sakura a while to get used to more people knowing who she was than she knew people.

Sakura hadn't planned on standing around to idly chat until the medic said, "one of your boys is here for appointment, I thought you might be checking in."

"Oh? Which one? I saw them all last night and they were ok. Nothing serious I hope?" Sakura frowned and caught a glimpse of the medics name badge as she turned more of her focus on them.

"Oh, sorry I thought you knew. Forget I said anything." The medic blushed, hoping she hadn't breached something confidential.

"Tell me Anu-san," Sakura pushed.

"Well, I think Sayuri-san has Kakashi-sama in exam room 4b. Please don't say I told you though." She pleaded.

"Not to worry, thank you for letting me know." Sakura changed her course and headed for the exam room. She didn't think Kakashi had been injured on their mission.

She knocked on the door and waited. Sayuri, a younger medic answered the door. "Sakura-sempai, I didn't think you were around this week?"

Sakura pushed past the medic and into the room, shutting the door behind them. Kakashi glanced up with a bored expression on his face. His headband was on the side, leaving his eye exposed and he read his book minding his own business.

Sakura held her hand out, demanding the chart.

"Umm," Sayuri held on to it hesitantly.

"You may as well just give it to her now she knows I'm here. We both know she won't leave." Kakashi told the medic, his tone was dry but there was an element of humour in it that only Sakura picked up on. Sayuri handed over the chart and Sakura dismissed her.

Sayuri gathered her things and quickly scurried away.

"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said angrily. "Really? You're avoiding my medical talents now too?"

"No, you should be on leave and I didn't want to worry you Sakura-chan." He told her dismissively.

She sighed loudly and flicked through his chart. "You've been having problems with your eyes again?" Her tone moved from angry to one of concern. "We've just spent the last few days together, why didn't you tell me? I could have taken a look."

He shrugged, "time and a place. Your skills were needed elsewhere. I think I'm what you folks like to refer to as an outpatient. Not exactly critical, eh?"

Sakura ignored him and pulled up a stool. She set as close to him as she could to allow her to examine his eyes. She picked up a tool and held it up. "May I?"

He looked at her as if to say, 'really? Now you're asking?' She rolled her eyes and gently pulled up his eyelid to look in his normal eye. She shone the light and asked him to look left right up and down, she repeated the process with his sharingan eye before sitting back and making some notes.

Her touch relaxed him and he enjoyed feeling so at ease. It was rare for him.

"So, what's the problem you've been having?" She asked him, breaking the silence.

"You tell me," he challenged her.

"Well, it looks as though your muscles and chakra coils are irritating one another, so my guess would be you're experiencing some mild discomfort or pain and you're having patches of blurred vision. Your sharingan is putting more pressure on your optic nerve too, which isn't ideal."

"Good observation," He told her. He already knew this, he'd been having mandatory check-ups as ordered by Tsunade.

"I keep telling you, I'm quite good. How long has this been going on?" She asked.

He sighed and looked her in the eyes, giving her his full attention. "To be honest, it's been happening since I got the Sharingan. But, I'm not getting any younger and the last few months I've noticed it more. You know me, I just get on with it."

He was right, he did just get on with things. Which is why this was so concerning to Sakura. She could tell he was worried.

"Well, optometry wasn't my chosen choice of specialty but I have been looking for a new research project. Will you let me look into this for you?" She asked, almost pleading with her former sensei. He studied her face in the bright lights. Even hungover she was pretty. There was something honest about her face, the subtle confidence she had in her appearance was refreshing.

"Don't worry about me. You should be focussing your talents on something worthwhile. Besides, you know I hate hospitals so I would make a terrible test subject." He tried to dismiss her concern, knowing there were plenty of other medics to fail at fixing the implanted eye.

Sakura sighed, she wouldn't be defeated this easily. No matter how hungover, "I want you to come directly to me for all your future appointments." She insisted.

"Sakura, seriously it's not that big of a deal. I can still see."

"Mmm," she didn't agree. She spun on the stool to write something more in his chart. "For now." There was a brief silence whilst she finished writing. "Even if this wasn't personal, you're an asset to this village and if you're going to continue going on missions, your vision will need monitoring to make sure you're up for active duty. We don't want that Sharingan getting in to the wrong hands."

"Spoken like a Hokage's apprentice," he rolled his eyes away from her.

"Kakashi, I'm serious here. What do I have to say to make you believe me?" The lack of sensei did it for him, but he didn't let on.

"Look, I've already promised Tsunade that I'll come to these check-ups every few months. I'm here. But seriously don't waste your talents on trying to fix this. It's not worth it." He stood and went to reach for his headband.

She went to stop him but stopped before her hand touched his arm. They both paused for a moment before she moved back towards the paperwork.

"See you around then, maybe," she sighed deflated.

Kakashi slipped out the exam room, he wasn't sure how to feel around his grown up student. It was a strange mix of emotions, she calmed him and made him feel on edge at the same time. He felt proud but yet still protective. She was one of the few people who he cared for deeply and one of the few people who knew the real Kakashi.

Kakashi headed to the Hokage tower via the memorial stone to clear his head. He handed in his poorly written report that consisted of a few sentences:

'Arrived without trouble. Sakura fixed client. Traced to local Syndicate. Motive not uncovered.'

Tsunade glanced at the report then back to Kakashi.

"Useless as always Hatake," she chastised. He simply shrugged in response. "I take it from this you didn't manage to see Sakura in action? I was worried she might be a bit rusty after years in the hospital."

Kakashi looked at the woman, angry by her comments. "With all due respect Hokage-sama, why was she promoted if you weren't sure of her abilities?"

Tsunade made a dismissive noise. "Nothing you ever say is with respect. She's been Jonin ready for years - which you'd know if you took any interest. Now, have you had your eyes checked recently?"

He nodded, "just this morning, Sakura saw to it herself." Kakashi knew he was throwing her under the bus with that comment but he got the feeling she didn't take off as much time as she should.

"Oh that girl never stops," Tsunade grumbled. "Shizune," she shouted, "drag Sakura here will you?"

Kakashi turned to make his exit but was stopped by Tsunade. "No, you wait." Kakashi watched the world out the window of the hokage tower whilst Tsunade snuck in a drink of Sake in Shizune's absence.

Shizune appeared half an hour later with a bedraggled Sakura.

Tsunade quickly threw the cup under her desk and snapped at her apprentice. "Sakura. Whilst I'm pleased you've been checking his eyes. I told you to take 48hours off. Why were you in the hospital?" Tsunade demanded.

Sakura glared at Kakashi, who wasn't sure what he was still doing there. "Sell out," she snapped at him. "I went to fill out my report, shishou."

"Kakashi, Sakura, I have been needing to do this for a while, but I think it would be in both your best interests to form a 2 man Jonin squad."

They both opened their mouths to protest but were stopped.

"Not up for discussion." Tsunade silenced them, "this is one of the better ideas I've had for a while." She smiled cynically. "I'd planned on telling you next week, but now seems like the ideal time."

Sakura protested anyway, "what about my patients? My research?"

"You can keep an eye on Kakashi, you know how reckless he can be. You can handover your current patients, we have other medics. If you're needed, I will summon you. The village can't afford to have any trained shinobi not out on missions at the moment."

"Shisho-"

"Not up for discussion. Now do you have that completed report with you?"

"Yes, shishou. Here." She handed over the report, pouting.

"The 48 hours still stands. I can't stop you from training together but stay away from the Hospital and headquarters until afterwards. You're both dismissed."

"Tsunade-sama-" Kakashi was about to protest. Their agreement for him re-joining ANBU had been under the presumption he would be in ANBU until they found and retrieved Saskue.

"Dismissed, shinobi" Tsunade snapped in an attempt to remind Kakashi of his place.

Sakura was used to Tsunade's mood and didn't react to her power play. She turned to Kakashi to see when he might want to meet but he'd already disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Arg!" she stomped out of the office and back to her home.