Chapter Four: In which the Apartment is Clean and Sakura is Drunk

Being discharged from the hospital was, quite possibly, the best feeling in the world. As Sakura strolled out the double doors into the glorious sunshine, she found herself grinning like a fool and giddy beyond belief. It had been three horrible weeks of bedrest under careful supervision to make sure the poison was gone, and Sakura was well and truly ready to enjoy a night in her own bed. Her own, wonderful bed.

As angry as she was that a panel testing for poison in her system was overlooked, she felt a little sorry for the medics responsible. She knew that Tsunade wouldn't go easy on the ninja who almost let her apprentice die right under their noses. When it came to Sakura, the Godaime went from intimidating to downright terrifying. Sakura wouldn't lie, it felt pretty phenomenal to have not only the Hokage, but one of the legendary Sanin, in her corner.

The pink-haired kunoichi had been sent home with strict instructions from said Sanin to take it easy, and was told that she wouldn't be receiving any missions for at least a week. This last part had miffed her quite a bit, because she was really feeling fine, honest.

Between Tsunade and Kakashi, though, she knew there was no getting around it. The two of them were quite the pair when it came to making sure that Sakura was okay after this whole ordeal, and the rosette medic had been surprised to see them walking and talking together on several occasions in the last few weeks. She chuckled out loud as the thought of a secret relationship between Tsunade and Kakashi occurred to her.

"Forehead!"

Sakura felt Ino before she saw her, as she was nearly bowled over in a hug (read: tackle).

"Ino!" came Sakura's muffled yelp, half excited to see her friend, half begging for said friend to stop crushing her ribs.

"Oh my gods!" Ino was clutching her shoulders now, gazing at her happily with her obscenely bright blue eyes. "I thought you were a goner! Everyone was so worried, Forehead!"

Sakura offered her friend a grin. "It's not so easy to take me down, don't you have any faith in me, Ino-pig?"

The blond girl smacked Sakura on the arm good-naturedly, sticking her tongue out and crinkling her features into a playful sneer. "We all want to celebrate you finally getting out of that damned hospital! A few of the guys are leaving on missions tomorrow, so it has to be tonight! What do you say?"

"Er, I don't know, Ino," Sakura began slowly, not wanting to be a party pooper. "I'm still pretty tired and I-"

"Okay, you seem to think I was giving you an option. Allow me to rephrase," Ino rolled her eyes melodramatically, "We are celebrating the fact that you are finally out of the hospital tonight. I'll swing by around eight tonight to pick you up. See ya tonight!" Ino blew a kiss right in Sakura's face and went skipping off in the opposite direction before the pink-haired woman had a chance to say anything.

Sakura walked the last few blocks to her apartment quickly, hoping to avoid another run in with someone before she could get home. She was just itching to get her windows open to air the place out…the place would be stale as hell. She unlocked her door and pushed it open, and then did what any other jōnin would do when they sensed a threat. She aimlessly threw a kunai, tripped over her own feet, and all but face planted into the floor. The strangely clean floor…

"It is often surprising to me how you can be a ninja and still be so clumsy," a familiar voice said honestly.

Sakura sat up, rubbing her head slightly. "Sai?'

The aforementioned party stepped out of the kitchen, wearing a pink, floral apron and lime green oven minutes. "Sai, did you let Naruto dress you up again?"

"No, he didn't!" the blond came barreling out of the kitchen. "He's making you something and he insisted on wearing the 'proper baking uniform'. I tried to tell him, honestly I did." The Uzumaki pick Sakura straight up off the floor and nearly crushed her in a hug. "I missed you so much, Sakura-chan! It's been so boring around here without you?"

"Around here?" Sakura raised her eyebrows. "Have you guys been staying here?"

"Ah, about that," Naruto began, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, "We both ran out of food and so we figured since you wouldn't be eating yours we'd just come over here for a couple of days…hehe. You don't want us to starve, do you?"

Sakura tried to scowl but the giddy look on Naruto's face told her that she was failing miserably. Deciding to ignore that admission entirely, Sakura asked, "Did you guys…clean in here?"
Naruto nodded proudly.

"It was my idea," Sai piped up from the kitchen doorway.

"Shut-up, Sai," Naruto grumbled over his shoulder, "Was not."

Sai looked decidedly put out at this, and Sakura laughed a little as she walked over to pat him on the head, a gesture that was always greatly appreciated by the pale man-child. "Thank you, Sai. I really appreciate this."

Sai beamed. "Thank you, Sakura-chan."

"I guess I'm willing to forgive you for calling me clumsy," Sakura winked at him.

Sai frowned and looked perplexed. "That was…offensive?"

"Oh, Sai," Sakura pinched his cheek lightly, declining to answer his question. "I didn't realize how much I've missed you. Now, what is it that you're making for me?"

What Sai was making for her, was apparently an edible work of art. It was a cake, on which he had used edible colors to paint cherry blossoms. While she couldn't help but chuckle a little at his use of cherry blossoms (typical), she couldn't deny that it was absolutely beautiful. It didn't look like something that should be eaten, it looked like something that ought to be framed and hung on the living room wall.

"Aw, Sai, this was very sweet of you," Sakura smiled happily at the man. She was always quick to encourage him when he did something nice or thoughtful, a few years ago this idea never would have occurred to him. While he still struggled greatly with feelings and emotion, he had progressed a long way, and Sakura couldn't be more proud of him.

"You are welcome, Sakura-chan," Sai bowed slightly in her direction, stripping off his 'proper baking outfit.' "Dickless! Let's go spar somewhere. Kakashi told me that Sakura would probably want some time alone when she got home and told me to make you leave." Sai went trailing into the other room to find Naruto.

"Aw, c'mon, Sai, she just got home!"

There was shuffling and the sounds of a physical argument, but Sakura just ignored these noises ans they had become incredibly commonplace to her. She went about rearranging the dishes the boys had put away until she heard, "I'll see you tonight, Sakura-chan!" and the slamming of her front door.

Sakura stiffened immediately. She still sensed someone else's presence. Without the boys' there to distract her, she could really feel it. She frowned," Kakashi-sensei?"

"You realize you shouldn't call me sensei, right? You're a jōnin too, you know," Kakashi spoke lazily, waltzing into the kitchen with his nose buried in Paradise.

Sakura laughed. "Can you believe the boys actually cleaned in here? They're two of the messiest people I know."

Kakashi's eye squinted at her in a smile. "They care about you, and they both know you like to keep it clean in here. Plus, I dropped by the other day, and between Naruto's empty food containers and Sai's discarded drawings everywhere, it pretty much looked like a landfill in here. They didn't really have much choice. They're smart enough not to risk their lives with you."

Sakura rolled her eyes and chuckled behind the back of her hand. "Still, I'm a little surprised. Not that I'm not grateful, I am."

The copy-nin didn't respond. He was now seated at her kitchen table, nose buried in his book with his feet propped on the chair across from him.

"Did you just come here to read at my table instead of your own?" Sakura eyed the man curiously. He did this often, just dropping by to read on her couch or look out her window, and Sakura surmised that maybe he was just looking for company. He wasn't much of a talker, that was for sure, but he did seem to enjoy sitting with her.

She earned a nod in response.

"If I talk, can you at least pretend to listen?"

Kakashi nodded again, "Fire away."

"Ino is going to drag me out to hang out with everyone tonight because they want to celebrate my recovery," Sakura explained, pushing herself up to sit on her kitchen counter. "I feel bad, because I know I should want to go and see everyone, but lately I've just been feeling…blah, about all that. I swear, sometimes I think I'm actually older than you."

"I'd appreciate if you don't use the word "old" in a sentence when talking about me," Kakashi deadpanned, not looking up from his book.

Sakura rolled her eyes at the man. "I still don't see how you've read that book so many times, Kakashi-senpai. I barely made it through it once." Well, technically twice, but he didn't need to know that.

That got his attention. "What?"

Huh, she must've never mentioned that… "Kakashi, if you don't think Naruto, Sasuke, and I read those books back when we were kids, you're more naïve than I thought."

"You've read the Icha Icha books? All of them?" the man was now openly staring at her, obviously dumbfounded. Sakura almost felt bad for him.

"Uh, yeah," Sakura laughed, this was much more amusing than she had anticipated. "Are you really that surprised? We saw our sensei reading them every day. I discouraged the boys at first, obviously, but eventually, curiosity won out and I gave in. I can't say I was impressed."

"Are you actually telling me, the man you know holds these books closer than any friend he's ever had, that you didn't think they were any good?"

"You expect me to say that they are when you just openly admitted you like those books more than me?" Sakura laughed loudly at the copy-nin. He was ridiculous.

Kakashi scowled. "Touché. But you know that's not really true."

"Isn't it?" Sakura eyed him with interest. "Don't worry about my feelings, after years of being second to Sasuke and Naruto, I don't mind being second place behind a pornographic book series all that much."

Sakura regretted her words immediately when she saw the slightly dejected look on Kakashi's face. The whole 'Kakashi-sensei liked Sasuke and Naruto better than Sakura' thing was kind of a sore subject for the man, and while Sakura had moved on enough to know that things were different know, Kakashi still seemed to feel a little bad about it. "I'm sorry. You know I don't care anymore. It's all in the past."

Kakashi pretended to not have heard her. "Hm?" was all he said. He had gone back to reading his book, his expression perfectly bored again.

Sakura turned her head away and smiled. Things were finally getting back to normal.

"Didn't you say that Ino was dragging you away to hang out?" Kakashi asked, looking up from his book. He'd lost track of time, and now he looked up to the clock to see that it was already six-thirty.

"Yeah," Sakura sighed from beside him on the couch. She was laying down with her legs propped up on the back of the couch, painting her toenails in a position that Kakashi could only describe as 'uncomfortable'. "But not until eight o'clock. I still have some freedom left."

"Since when do you not like going out with your friends?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow, staring at the same page he'd been staring at for the past hour.

"Mah, I've gotten old, Kakashi," Sakura snickered at him, "Sometimes these get togethers are just a bit…much. That's all."

Kakashi snapped his book closed at that one. "If you're old than I must be some sort of ancient relic."

Sakura sat up and looked at him intently. He was confused when she stood up right in front of him, looking at him like she'd never seen him before, and slowly reached out a finger to poke him in the slightly exposed area of his cheek.

"Hm," she thought allowed, "I would've thought that you'd be crumbling to dust at this point."

Sakura earned a whack on top of the head with his book for that, and he received a seriously painful pinch to his right arm. Grabbing the closest weapon he could find, Kakashi promptly whacked her in the face with a pillow.

Naturally, an all-out pillow fight ensued. Ah, maturity. He couldn't help but smile a little bit at Sakura's tears of laughter as she dodged his attacks, retaliating with attacks that he would then dodge as well.

He was poised to deliver a particularly good shot to the side of her head when a loud knock at the door spoiled all the fun. Eye-contact was made, awkward smiles were shared, and pillows were tossed back onto their respective furniture. He sat back down on the couch and pretended to read while watching to see who was at the door.

"Ino? I thought you said eight?" Sakura whined upon opening the front door.

"I did," Ino leaned through the door, "But since you've taken up after your old sensei in the whole 'late to everything' department, I decided to drop by and make sure that you're getting ready." Ino looked her over cynically. "Seems it was a good idea on my part. You don't even have any makeup on yet!"

Woah. Kakashi's ears perked up a little bit. That was no makeup? He wasn't exactly an expert when it came to the stuff, he just knew that women used it to make themselves look better and that most of the time, it seemed to look good. He had to stop himself from making the comment that maybe she shouldn't put makeup on at all because she looked nice as is. This, he decided, would be a bad idea, because Ino was here and who knows what the town's biggest gossip would do with a statement like that? Not to mention, he wasn't sure what Sakura would think of a comment like that and he wasn't really sure why he felt the need to say it in the first place.

"Hey, Kakashi-senpai," Ino grinned at him as she walked through the door. "So I see you're the cause of her tardiness this time. Big surprise."

"She's not late yet," he shrugged, not looking up from his book. He still wasn't actually reading, but appearances needed to be kept up.

Ino laughed out loud. "Sakura, you have a man more than ten years older than you reading porn on your couch. Some people might call that strange."

"Yeah? Well I call it natural," Sakura laughed alongside Ino. "To be honest, it'd be stranger for me if he wasn't sitting there."

Kakashi crinkled his eye at them as they disappeared into Sakura's room, not wanting to admit the effect her words had had on him. She wanted him there? He had always hoped that was the case, and that it wasn't just him who enjoyed the company.

He smiled and went back to reading, this time for real.

"Are you sure there's nothing going on between you two?" Ino asked in a barely contained whisper. "You can tell me, Forehead, I won't judge you!"

"No! And be quiet, Ino. His hearing is pretty much inhuman!" Sakura scolded her friend.

"But you guys are always together. And he's over here all the time! I swear half the time I stop over, he's already here and sitting on your couch," Ino continued, and Sakura could tell she was really fishing.

"Yeah, and the other half of the time it's Naruto and sometimes Sai, and you don't say anything about them," Sakura pointed out, although she knew it was weak.

Ino scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. First of all, there's no way in hell that you'd date Naruto, plus he's got Hinata. And Sai? Gods love him, but dating him would sort of be like dating a very artistic tree."

Sakura couldn't help but snort at that last part. "Trust me, Ino. Nothing is going on. We're just friends. Like you and Chouji or you and Shikamaru are just friends."

"Yeah but this is different! This is Kakashi, the guy that people don't see for sometimes weeks at a time, and then we find out that he's just been bouncing between his place and your place. I think it's pretty obvious that he's into you, Sakura," Ino continued. "He voluntarily spends time with you. Knowing him, don't you think that seems a bit odd? Not to mention, he was your teacher and he's quite a bit older than you, which is totally hot, by the way."

"What should I do with my hair?"

"Don't you try to change the subject."

"Up or down?"

"Sakura I swear."

Sakura turned a pleading look to her friend. "Please?"

Ino rolled her eyes. Sakura's puppy dog face was well known across Konoha for its effectiveness. "Ugh, fine. Turn around and I'll do your hair for you. But you're not getting out of this. I will continue to pry."

Sakura smiled at the wall in front of her and reminded herself to thank Pakkun again for teaching her those killer puppy eyes.

Okay, maybe makeup wasn't so bad. Sakura came out of her room looking like some sort of goddess and it took all Kakashi had not to choke on his tea and ask "you're going out like that?" She had on itty bitty shorts and some sort of strappy tank top thing. He knew it was hot outside, but geez. If she wasn't a fully capable kunoichi, he'd be worried about her having to defend herself against wandering hands.

He did his best to maintain a bored expression as his eyes wandered back down to his book. Real subtle there, Kakashi.

"It's probably pointless for me to ask if you want to come out with us tonight, hm Kakashi-senpai?" Ino asked, batting her lashes goofily at the man.

"While I'd love to join you, it's absolutely imperative I get to the end of this chapter tonight. I'm afraid my health demands it," Kakashi explained, squeezing his eye in a smile at the girls.

"Whatever," Sakura rolled her eyes. "Oh! If you want to invite the ninken over, I made them some treats. They're on the kitchen counter in the cookie jar."

Kakashi laughed. "You're going to spoil them so much that they're going to want to live with you, you know."

"That's okay," came Sakura's reply from halfway out the door. "You know I wouldn't mind!"

Kakashi shook his head with vigor upon hearing the door slam shut. He'd seen Sakura dressed that way a thousand times before, why had he reacted like that? He thought this over as he casually bit his thumb to summon his dogs.

"Yo. Sup, Kakashi?" Pakkun's lazy voice came from atop Bull's head.

"Sakura made you guys some treats. She said they're in the kitchen in the cookie jar."

What happened next was a pathetic, mad dash to the kitchen, paws flying everywhere. He then heard Pakkun shout, "Everybody, calm down! You'll all get one – hey! Stop shoving! Bisuke!"

"If you boys don't calm down, I'll tell Sakura," Kakashi said simply, not bothering to raise his voice.

The silence was suddenly deafening.

Kakashi smiled.

"Oh. My. Gods! Sakura!" Ino practically gushed as soon as they were a few steps away from Sakura's apartment.

The pink-haired kunoichi cast a sideways glance at her. "Do I even want to know?"

"Oh, don't pretend you didn't notice!"

Sakura stared at the Yamanaka blankly. "What?"

"You are so dense! Did you not see the way his eyes, or, er, his eye, I guess, nearly popped out of his head when he saw you?" Ino was practically squealing with delight. "He so loves you!"

"Woah there," Sakura ignored the slight racing of her heart upon hearing Ino's words. "Even if he did seem…impressed, or whatever, that doesn't by any means mean he loves me. I'm honestly not entirely sure Kakashi can have romantic feelings. He's too…Kakashi."

"Oh, wonderful excuse, Sakura. Absolutely brilliant. Your mind is really right up there with Shikamaru's isn't it?" Ino snickered.

Sakura scowled slightly. "You know what I mean."

"I'd be willing to take a bet on this. Kakashi will declare his love for you before the year ends," the blond nodded her head confidently. "Loser buys dinner for a week."

"Oh, I absolutely take that bet," Sakura grinned. "Although, one stipulation. It has to be romantic love. If he says it platonically, it doesn't count."

"Fine," Ino sniffed. "I'll still win, Forehead."

"Ino-pig," Sakura grumbled.

Sakura had forgotten what it was like to be drunk.

She was pretty good at handling her drinks, (much better than Naruto, who was absolutely wasted by drink number four), but once she hit her limit, she was hammered. While seven drinks had her tipsy, eight drinks had her stumbling around muttering nonsense, and there was no in between.

Before the dreaded drink number eight, Sakura had actually been having fun. They had set up a bonfire just outside the training grounds, and everyone was talking and laughing. Even Shikamaru was in a great mood all evening, which had nothing to do with the fact that he'd spent most of the day with a blond kunoichi of the Sand, nothing at all.

Rock Lee had declared his undying love for Sakura again and Sakura had smiled and kissed his cheek, patting him on the head as she did so. That had been just after drink number seven.

Sakura was a contemplative drunk and she hated it. Once everyone was good and truly wasted, she was leaning against a log, gazing forlornly up at the sky. What sounded like a dozen different conversations were going on around her, and the noise quickly made her angry. She was also a very irritable drunk.

She was thinking about Sasuke and about how he wasn't there and about how he should've been there and did she want him there? That was a dangerous prospect. She wished she could have fun like her drunk friends, she wished she was arguing with Ino about Kakashi or picking on Sai and his dulled senses. And although all these things sounded appealing to Sakura, all she could do was stare at the sky, caught up in her own repetitive thoughts. This, she reminded herself, was why she didn't get drunk. She was damn depressing. Luckily, everyone else always forgot about her behavior the next day.

Where's Sasuke? What's Sasuke doing? Does Sasuke love me? Did Sasuke ever love me?

Every time Sakura thought she was over what had happened between her and the Uchiha, drunk Sakura came stumbling in to remind her that she wasn't. She didn't love him anymore, he couldn't give her the chills with one look like he used to, but there was still so much history there and now he wanted to marry her.

Was she stupid to say no? It's what she had wanted forever, and now that he was offering it to her, she was turning him down. In fact, she had turned him down without a second thought. As soon as the words had left his mouth, Sakura couldn't believe what she was hearing. She had almost laughed out loud, but had enough respect for Sasuke to hold back. Laughing at a man for proposing couldn't do any favors for his ego. In fact, it might even make her a bitch.

She hadn't even realized she was walking home until she reached out to open her front door. About half of the crew had fallen asleep around the campfire, those being Naruto, Sai, Hinata, TenTen, and Chouji. The rest had done as Sakura had and absentmindedly stumbled away.

Too drunk to fit her key into the lock, Sakura used her inhuman strength to wrench the door open. She'd worry about that tomorrow.

"Out late I see," a voice startled her.

Sakura's hand flew to her chest and she felt her heart hammering against her palm. "It's not polite to startle a drunk person you know," she slurred, kicking her shoes off clumsily as she stumbled into the living room.

"You're drunk?" She now saw Kakashi…well, a very wavy version of Kakashi, sitting where he had been when she left.

Sakura held her pointer finger up in the air, very aware of how ridiculous she must look but unable to control herself. "Very."

"Hm," was all Kakashi said as he rose from the couch, stretching as he stood. "Want some tea? I'm going to make some tea."

Sakura frowned and flopped onto the couch, feeling something soft and furry below her elbow. "Whoops! I'm sorry, Pakkun. I didn't see you there."

A very disgruntled pair of eyes rose to meet hers, and the ninken blinked at her as though she had woken him up. "S'ok, Sakura-chan. Are you feeling alright?"

"Oh, never better, Pakkun," Sakura laid down and let her head hang off the seat off the couch, hoisting her legs up against the edge and over the back. She felt decidedly twelve years old again and she let out a stupid and girlish giggle. Her smile was quickly replaced by a frown.

Pakkun sniffed her head. "You smell upset. Somethin' on your mind, girly?"

Sakura sighed. "Just Sasuke."

There was a crash from the kitchen.

Sakura sat up quickly, giving herself an incredibly extreme head rush in the process, "You okay, sensei?"

The ninja in question poked his head out of the kitchen, his eye squeezed in a smile and his hand offering a lazy thumbs up. "Just clumsy, all is well." He disappeared again.

"You're not thinkin' of gettin' back together with the guy, are you Sakura? I know it's not my place, but I always thought you were too good for him and honestly, he's kind of a dick."

Sakura laughed out loud and clapped a hand over her mouth, her reactions all exaggerated by her drunken state. "Oh hell no! No, I just get all sad and thoughtful when I'm drunk and I can't help but wonder if he ever so much as liked me. I think about all the time I wasted and I wonder if I did something wrong." Sakura frowned, she was decidedly less happy than she had been a few minutes ago. "I wonder where he is right now and if I was stupid for telling him no when he asked me to marry him. Was I stupid, Pakkun?"

"Not in the slightest. You're way out of his league anyway," the dog said gruffly, leaning into Sakura had as she rubbed his ears lazily.

Sakura laughed again, too loudly to be sure, but she wasn't in a state to care. "You shouldn't say that, Pakkun. Even though I don't love him anymore, I have enough honesty to admit that Sasuke's pretty gorgeous. I may look okay when I decided to put some extra effort into myself, but I," Sakura held her finger up in that stupid way again, "am decidedly average. Except for the hair," she added on as an afterthought.

Before Pakkun could answer her, Kakashi reentered the room, handing her a steaming mug of tea as he sat down beside her, with Pakkun between them.

"You should drink that," Kakashi said, motioning to the cup in her hands.

Sakura nodded and took a sip…and promptly slammed the cup down spilling tea everywhere. "Hot, hot, hot!" she complained, sticking her tongue out and rubbing it with her palm.

Kakashi simply raised an eyebrow at her. "Alright, Sakura?"

The pink-haired woman groaned. "No, I hate being drunk. Is it time to be sober yet?"

"Most people your age like being drunk," Kakashi pointed out.

"I'm not like most people my age," Sakura grumbled. "I just get all sad when I drink too much and it's no fun."

"Mm," was all Kakashi said in response, and Sakura found herself searching his face for some hint of emotion. Nothing. This annoyed her even more than it usually would due to her drunkenness.

"Do you remember when Sasuke tried to kill me?" the thought occurred to Sakura randomly.

The copy-nin grimaced. "Which time?"

Sakura laughed at that, even though she knew she really shouldn't. She just couldn't help it. "Good point. I just…how could I love a person like that? He wanted me to die," Sakura put extra emphasis on the last word, widening her eyes to prove her point. Gods, she was drunk.

"People do crazy things when they're in love, Sakura," Kakashi was looking away from her now. "You were blinded by it. It doesn't mean you were stupid. You cared for him so much that you were willing to look past your own safety in an all-out effort to save him. I've always respected you for that."

Sakura frowned. "You have?"

Kakashi glanced at her sideways, nodding his head. "After he tried to kill you, I was a little more…frustrated by your feelings. But still, I respected your resolve to protect him."

The medic-nin nodded her head thoughtfully. "I think," she began, "I think…" her eyes widened. "I think it might be time to throw up."

With that, Sakura fled for the bathroom, too drunk to be embarrassed when she noisily emptied the contents of her stomach into the toilet.

She'd drunkenly asked him to stay, and after a moment's consideration, and some puppy eyes from both her and Pakkun (who was snuggled comfortably in Sakura's lap), he had agreed, albeit begrudgingly. It wasn't like he hadn't fallen asleep in her apartment before, but it was usually one of those accidents and never because she'd asked him to. He almost felt like he was taking advantage of her drunkenness somehow, even though they were on opposite ends of the couch and she had passed out half an hour ago.

He contemplated leaving. She probably wouldn't even remember asking him to stay come morning, right? Just as he was shifting to sit up, a hand reached out and grabbed his ankle.

"Nice try," Sakura's voice was slightly slurred as she spoke. "Pakkun, help me make sure Kakashi stays true to his word, hm?"

"You got it, girly," Pakkun shot Kakashi an annoyed look.

"You've got to be kidding me," Kakashi all but whined. "You're taking her side?"

"That's right," the ninken sighed, closing his eyes and snuggling up to Sakura. "She's the one with the treats."

"I give you treats too," Kakashi grumbled irritably.

The only response he received was the sound of soft snores from the girl and his dog.

Typical.

*Woah, WOAH. I actually kind of like this chapter. Who even knew that was possible? I know that nothing huge really happens, but honestly I just love writing Kakashi and Sakura together, even if they're just talking. And Sai? I swear, there's no one more fun to write.

**You're probably wondering where the plot is. I've launched an investigation, but unfortunately, it hasn't turned up yet. I'll let you know if I come across it.

***Stellar plot or no, I can tell you that there is a mission coming up for our two favorite ninja, and undoubtedly, some fluff as well. Stay tuned.

****And maybe an almost kiss or two.

*****What?

******I don't want to rush it.

*******Like I said, this won't be a super angsty story. While I definitely think KakaSaku could be written with some angst, (for example, if you focus on Kakashi's deep and guilty feelings about wanting his decade+ younger ex-student), but I'm not going to do that. Worry not, there will definitely be some denial on both sides, but hopefully nothing super out of character.

********IMPORTANT! I found a massive, gaping plot hole in chapter 2, in which at some point, Sakura had magically gone from being in the Sand Village's hospital to the Leaf Village's. Pretty much a major oversight on my part and exactly what I get for not rereading my chapters. From now on, I'll be making sure to edit things before I post them. What a drag.

*********Lastly, I'm going to be done with the flashbacks, I think. They were really just there to give you an idea of Sakura and Kakashi's relationship, and now that that's been established, I'd rather focus on the present. I may use one every now and then, but for the most part, they're retired. You served well, flashbacks. At ease.

**********LASTLY, lastly (and most importantly), I love you all so much! Thank you for reading my story thus far, and if you read all these notes, you're a real trooper. Go you! Reward yourself and go and watch some anime.

Next time…shirtless Kakashi? Maybe… ;)

Review, pretty please? *Pakkun puppy dog eyes*