Chapter Five: In Which Everything is Everywhere

Loud groaning woke him from his sleep.

Kakashi was usually an incredibly light sleeper, the slightest sound or the quietest whisper would have him jolting wide awake, fully alert. This was one of the many reasons he didn't get even close to enough sleep at night. The other reason was raging insomnia, but that's a story for another time.

This morning, he was startled to find that he had not only slept through Sakura rolling off the couch and running (noisily, according to Pakkun), to the bathroom, but also through the sounds of her projectile vomiting (also noisily, same source).

Sakura stumbled around the corner, looking like she'd been tumbled in a clothes drier for a couple of hours. He pink hair somewhat resembled a bird's nest, some of it stuck to the right side of her face and the rest of it tangled in painful looking knots around her head. There were dark circles under her eyes and her face was much paler than usual. She somehow looked smaller.

She groaned again and covered her face with both hands. "Ugh, Kakashi. I'm so sorry. You really don't need to see this mess. Feel free to leave while I have my hideous face hidden."

"Mah, I can put up with a little hangover as long as you're willing to make some breakfast or something."

Sakura scowled at this, uncovering her face and shooting him a dirty frown. "Fine. I guess I owe it to you for forcing you to put up with my drunken-self last night. Hold on, I'm going to take a shower really quick, then I'll make your stupid pancakes."

As he heard the water start, Kakashi leaned further back into the cushions. If he could count on anything, it was that Sakura took obscenely long showers. Pulling out his book and petting Pakkun idly, he settled in for a potentially long wait for his morning meal.

"Not to bring up a sore subject, but Sasuke is still gone," the blond boy kicked a stone into the water in front of them. "The only reason that I'm bringing it up is because people are starting to get suspicious. I mean, he doesn't have the best reputation around here, and we all know what happened the first time he disappeared."

Sakura sighed wearily. "He's an idiot, really. He's got to know how stupid this is. It's just a matter of time before the Hokage sends a squad out looking for him. She doesn't trust him."

Naruto snorted. "I can't blame her. You know how she is when it comes to anyone who has hurt Konoha…or more importantly, you."

"You're kidding, right?" Sakura actually laughed at this. While she knew that Tsunade cared for her a great deal, that seemed a little ridiculous. "She'd never send out a squad to apprehend him on my behalf. Tsunade isn't really one to show affection, like…ever."

She caught a skeptical glance from her hyperactive friend. "Mhm, okay Sakura. Whatever you say."

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Naruto!" Sakura threw a rock at him, which bounced off his head with a loud (and slightly hollow sounding) thunk.

"Ow! Jerk," Naruto mumbled, rubbing his head dramatically. "Well, you can't be blind to the fact that you have Tsunade-baachan wrapped around your little finger. And Kakashi-sensei too. They'd both do practically anything for you."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "I guess that's what I get for being the smartest and best from Team Seven."

"Hey!"

She hadn't had a good mission in months, so when Shikamaru lazily told her that the Hokage was looking for her and mumbled something about top secret and very dangerous, Sakura practically leapt over the Nara to get to the Hokage Tower. While peace was nice in some respects, it was also terribly boring at times, and in Sakura's opinion, a little danger and violence never hurt anybody.

Bounding across the rooftops like only a ninja could, Sakura spotted Kakashi's white head bent over a book as he was walking down the street, and she somersaulted off of the building she was perched on to land gracefully by his side.

Without so much as flinching or even looking up from his book, her former teacher chuckled a little and said: "Good morning, Sakura-chan."

"Kakashi-sensei," she drawled mockingly, knowing full-well it annoyed him when she did that. She was in a terribly good mood, and a good mood in Haruno Sakura meant being unashamedly ornery.

He looked at her pointedly over the edge of his book, but declined to respond, simply shrugging and returning to reading.

"Ignoring me won't do anything to put a damper on my mood, Kakashi," Sakura laughed at the man, knowing that he expected her to be upset that he hadn't reacted to her teasing. "I am impossibly happy."

She grinned as Kakashi cracked a smile at this and heard his book snap shut. "Dare I ask the cause of this giddiness?"

"Hokage-sama is finally giving me a mission worth my time, it's been months since I've done anything worth-while, you know."

"Mission, you say?" Kakashi tilted his head towards her. "Me too."

Sakura clapped her hands together, her excitement only building. "Do you think we're assigned to the same mission? I mean, if I was going to get a second I was already going to request you, but it'd be great if we were already assigned together."

"Well, we best be on our way to find out," Kakashi pocketed his book and they fell into step together, Sakura skipping the whole way.

"Sakura-sensei!"

Kakashi couldn't believe his ears. What had that kid just called Sakura? Sensei?

"Sakura-sensei! Wait up! I need…" the child gasped for breath as she skidded to a stop in front of the pink-haired kunoichi. "I need to ask you something, please."

Sakura laughed and bent down to see the genin at eye level. "What is it, Madoka-chan?"

"I know you're probably busy, but can you please just show me how to do the minor burn healing again? I burnt my finger on the stove," the little girl held up a red, swollen finger.

Sakura spent the next five minutes sitting with the genin, instructing her on how to heal her finger and cautioning her to be more careful around the stove. The child left with a wave and a "bye Sakura-sensei!" and Kakashi was left with a mix of feelings he couldn't decipher.

Sakura stood up and brushed her knees off, blushing a little when she met his eyes. Or eye, rather. "What?" she asked, obviously trying to sound nonchalant.

"Sakura-sensei?" Kakashi queried, unable to keep his eyebrows from shooting up. He usually wasn't one to show his surprise, but this was just completely too much.

Sakura's blush deepened to a bright red and Kakashi mentally scolded himself for thinking it was adorable. Ex-teacher. Ex-student. Inappropriate. "I told them that they didn't have to call me that, but there's no dissuading them."

"Them?" Just what had Sakura been up to these past few months?

Sakura coughed. "Uh, Tsunade's been having me teach a group of genin who are interested in becoming medic-nins at the hospital twice a week." She shrugged in an effort to be nonchalant. "It's really not a big deal. It's pretty exciting how many of them there are, though. It'll definitely be nice to have that many medics someday."

"How many of them are there?"

"About fifteen."

Kakashi stared blankly, coming to a complete stop. There were fifteen, fifteen, little genin running around calling the girl, or rather, the woman in front of him, Sakura-sensei. She was sensei to a whole group of children.

"It's not polite to stare, you know," Sakura was practically snickering at him, suddenly looking much less mature than she had only moments before.

"I just can't believe it, that's all," the copy-nin resumed his walk toward the Hokage tower, and heard Sakura fall back into step beside him.

"What? That I, a nineteen year old jonin has a crew of genin calling her sensei? Yeah, Kakashi, that's positively unheard of, I can't believe it!" while her words were wholly sarcastic, Sakura still managed to sound sweet. It didn't make the mockery sting any less though, and Kakashi used that fact to justify the well placed flick he bestowed upon her forehead.

"Oh! You're a nasty old man, you know that?" she asked, rubbing her forehead with her petite fingers. "Oh boy, look at me! I'm ridiculously fast and can flip my unsuspecting friends on their foreheads for no apparent reason!"

Kakashi chuckled. These were the moments when he remembered why Sakura had become his favorite.

Sakura stomped her foot like a child, feeling little to no shame. "Shishou, I thought this was supposed to be a dangerous mission."

The Hokage folded her fingers underneath her chin. "I just said that to get you in here. It may not be overly dangerous, but it is important…which is why I personally selected you and Kakashi for this mission. Our client specifically requested Jonin, and she's paying A-rank price for what is much more like a C-rank mission. We don't want to risk messing this up. You just have to escort this woman and her daughter back to their home in the Land of Waves. Apparently, her daughter suffers from some sort of post-traumatic stress due to some incident in her childhood. The family is wealthy, so in order to make the girl feel at ease, they requested two skillful ninja to escort them."

Sakura grumbled, outwardly pouting and not bothering to hide her frustration. She glanced over at Kakashi, to find him looking completely at ease, if not happy, with what the Hokage had just said. "Are you actually okay with this?" The question came out sharper than she had meant for it to, but hell, she was pissed.

The copy ninja just shrugged. "All I heard was good pay for an easy mission. I'll take that any day."

"See, Sakura?" Tsunade clicked her tongue. "Maybe when you're older, you'll understand the value of an opportunity like this."

Sakura glowered. She knew that Tsunade was just saying that to grind her gears and to get her to stop acting like a baby. She knew that the Hokage actually regarded her as a very mature person, and an experienced ninja.

But she was still furious.

"Fine," she practically spat out, folding her arms and turning her nose up. "I'll go. But don't expect me to apologize for not being old and boring like you two geezers."

Tsunade raised her eyebrows, but looked overly unsurprised. "Many people wouldn't dare speak to their Kage in that tone."

"Many people don't know dozens of secrets said Kage has spilled when she's hammered," Sakura smiled sweetly, spun on her heel, and left the room.

"She certainly is a handful," Tsunade said, lips twitching in a poorly concealed smile.

Kakashi chuckled lightly. "She always has been. Although I will say she has been particularly…spunky lately."

"You two seem like you've gotten awfully close as of late," Tsunade noted nonchalantly as she dug through a stack of paperwork on her desk.

Kakashi froze, momentarily taken aback by this line of conversation. Yes, he and Sakura had been spending more time together lately, but everyone was just kind of…ignoring it. Or accepting it. He wasn't sure which, all he knew was that no one was really drawing attention to the fact, and he was grateful for it. He wasn't entirely sure what to make of it himself. After too much time had passed, he responded, "I suppose."

"Don't get me wrong, Kakashi, I'm not disapproving, as a matter of fact, I-"

The Hokage never got to finish her sentence. Shizune burst in at just that moment, shrieking about a forgotten meeting, and Kakashi took this excellent opportunity to flee the scene.

Sakura waited at the gates for an hour. She had anticipated his lateness and shown up a half an hour tardy herself, but that hadn't been enough. And so, the pink haired kunoichi sat twiddling her thumbs, frustration with her old sensei mounting with every passing minute. It was well after eight in the morning, and their clients were expecting them by nine.

Just as she was about to give up and start stomping towards his apartment, she heard a faint pop and a lazy "yo" as Kakashi materialized in a puff of smoke to her left. Looking completely at ease and not even a little bit sorry, he tilted his hand in a two finger salute and crinkled his eye closed in a smile. "Morning, Sakura-chan."

Sakura grit her teeth, willing herself not to scold the childish jonin standing in front of her. She knew that he was often late due to his frequent visits to the cenotaph, but she also knew that he was just as often late because he overslept or was reading. She couldn't help but shake her head a little at his carelessness.

"I'm sure you're not interested in hearing the time," Sakura frowned at him. Baka…

"Not in the slightest," Kakashi replied happily, his smile intensifying has he reached over to ruffle her hair affectionately. He knew how much she hated that.

They fell into step next to one another, on their way to meet up with the two women they would be escorting.

Sakura scowled. "It's eight thirty-two."

Tsunade hadn't been wrong when she said the girl was traumatized. Sakura fought to keep from staring. The girl was probably Sakura's own age, or maybe even a little older, but she looked about five years younger. She had long, stringy, mousy brown hair that she kept tied half-up with a dusty blue ribbon. Her eyes were big, blue, and afraid, constantly darting here and there, taking in her surroundings at every moment. Her wrists were so small that Sakura thought she might be able to fit them both in one of her own petite hands. A strong gust of wind could surely blow the girl over.

The mother, Hokama-san, was a different story all-together. She was a large woman, massive, really, who probably occupied the same amount of space as Sakura, Kakashi, and her daughter, Mami, combined. Her hair was the same brown color as her daughter's, but it was short and thin, sticking up off her head in wild and unruly cowlicks. Her eyes were almost black. Sakura shuddered as she was reminded for a moment of Sasuke and his own midnight irises.

"Alright there, Sakura-chan?" Kakashi murmured quietly.

Sakura reddened upon realizing that Kakashi had probably felt her shiver, as they and Mami were crushed on one side of the covered cart since Hokama-san was taking up one bench all for herself. This fact didn't seem to bother the woman in the slightest.

"Yeah, just caught a draft," she made an attempt at a reassuring smile. It must not have been reassuring enough however, as Kakashi simply narrowed his visible eye at her and went back to his book, obviously unconvinced.

It was only a moment before she felt Kakashi's arm slide in front of hers very slightly, covering her a little with his body. Confusion washed over Sakura for a moment…and then she remembered that she had said that she was cold. Kakashi was trying to…keep her warm? She blushed at the thought. Naruto would've done the same thing, (not that he would've had the presence of mind to do so, but still). It was nothing.

And then his fingers were brushing her knee and it was something else entirely.

It was only for a moment…it was over so quickly Sakura wondered if their close proximity had fogged her brain and she had imagined the whole thing. Kakashi surely didn't look like anything had happened, he was staring at his book, apparently enthralled in the story, as he always was. He didn't look like he had just casually caressed his ex-student's knee, that's for sure.

She let her head fall back against the edge of the cart behind her, staring out the mesh covering at a sky full of stars. What was her problem? Sitting next to Kakashi shouldn't be making her feel this…strangely. She'd sat next to the man a thousand other times, for heaven's sake. But with every passing moment, Sakura became more and more aware of his body pressed up against the side of hers, and the fact that his arm was still resting casually on top of her own. She felt dizzy.

She looked up quickly, sensing eyes on her, and was just in time to see Kakashi's exposed eye dart away from her. That goddamned blush crept back up her cheeks and she closed her eyes, cursing the woman hogging the entire bench across from them. This cart ride couldn't end quickly enough…

Kakashi turned a page, hoping it wasn't completely obvious that he hadn't been reading for the past thirty minutes. He enjoyed his personal space, and he wasn't particularly comfortable smashed on a tiny bench with two other people. He was situated firmly between Sakura and the edge of the cart, and there wasn't much room to move around. The wood that the cart was made out of was rough and scratchy, forcing Kakashi to move in the other direction…towards a flustered and squirming Sakura. Not exactly helpful.

To distract himself, Kakashi thought over the mission and made an attempt to guess at how long it would be before he was home, safe in his apartment. They were about a day away from Wave by cart, and as soon as they got there, they could drop the mother and daughter off at home and get back to Leaf in record time, since they wouldn't have civilians to slow them down. This thought calmed him down a bit and he began to relax, although the feeling was short lived.

He sensed it just a second before he felt Sakura stiffen beside him.

He was out of the cart in a flash, followed by Sakura a moment later, causing the cart to sway side to side violently and earning undignified shrieks from the remaining occupants. Kakashi saw the driver attempt to rein in the spooked horses and pull the cart over to the side of the road. Good, they would need to stay out of the way for this.

Sakura had moved to stand beside him in the middle of the road. "You can come out now," he heard her say as he turned around. "We know you're there."

Eight masked men jumped from the trees to their right. By the looks of it, they were bandits. If they had any ninja training, they were probably no better than most genin. Kakashi didn't sense much of a threat, but he knew better than to underestimate an enemy.

The biggest one of the group stepped forward, the leader, Kakashi assumed. The man's voice was gruff and stupid as he said, "We just want the girl on the cart. Hand her over, and nobody gets hurt."

Kakashi opened his mouth to reply when Sakura's unladylike snort forced a smile to his lips. That was all the answer they needed.

"Oh, does our little princess here have an attitude?" the leader spoke again, his words taunting. "Jiro, teach her a lesson, please."

It took everything Kakashi had to not jump in front of Sakura right then, but he knew she would be livid if he made it seem like she couldn't take care of herself. And so, he stood perfectly still as he watched 'Jiro' lunge at her with his dagger…and stab her right in the heart.

Sakura laughed gleefully from the branch she was settled on as she watched the thug stab her shadow clone. She laughed even harder at his confusion when the pseudo-Sakura puffed into a cloud of smoke. She jumped from the tree, landing on the man's back and easily knocking him to the ground. Standing up, she grabbed him by the arm and used her chakra infused strength to throw him into the bandit on her left. Both men went flying for ten or so feet and hit the ground with a lot of…crunchy sounds. Neither of them stood back up.

Sensing an enemy approaching behind her, Sakura spun around quickly, using her own kunai to block her attacker's short sword. She ducked gracefully, dodging a shot at her neck, and took the opportunity to stab the man in his exposed abdomen. She turned on her left foot, using her right to kick him hard in the chest and sent him flying.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kakashi easily fighting three of the bandits at once, obviously making no real effort. She smiled to herself. If Kakashi had three of them that meant there were two left, the leader and one other, but where were they?

A shrill scream instantly snagged Sakura's attention and she went running towards the cart. There were the other two men, each one holding onto one of Mami's and running like hell away from Sakura and Kakashi. The pink-haired medic scoffed at this and immediately jumped into action, catching up with them easily.

She vaulted in front of them, landing gracefully on her feet and smiling cheekily at them. "I'm afraid I can't let you take her anywhere. I'm being paid far too well for this to do a bad job at protecting her, you see."

"I'm warning you, little girl," the leader growled. "Move."

Sakura felt her face darken. This guy was a dick. "No. I'm warning you. I usually don't like killing civilians, or low level ninja, but if you make me, I won't hesitate to kill you." Sakura paused to examine her nails, then slowly looked back up at the men holding the small, terrified girl between them. "Do I have to kill you?"

Sakura growled in the back of her throat when neither of the men answered her. "I'm going to count to three. If I get to three and you haven't dropped her, you'll both be dead. Sound good?" Sakura smiled sweetly. "One…two…"

"Three."

Both men fell to the ground, kunai knives buried in the back of their skulls.

Sakura ran to catch Mami, who was a shivering, shaking mess. "It's okay, you're safe now, Mami. We took care of them all, I promise." The girl felt even frailer than she looked. Sakura cradled her shoulders and rocked her slowly back and forth, all the while throwing a dirty look Kakashi's way. "What'd you do that for? I had it covered. You didn't have to kill them for me."

Kakashi didn't answer her. Instead her stared at her blankly, and she was suddenly incredibly self-conscious. There was a dark look in his eyes, and she couldn't quite place it, but she knew she didn't like it. Was it…pain?

Mami's whimper brought her back to the situation at hand, forcing her to look away from Kakashi. The girl was trembling terribly, and she was paler than Sakura had ever seen her.

"Mami," Sakura began. "Do you have any idea why those men would have wanted to take you? Any reason at all?"

The frightened girl could only stare blankly ahead, and for a moment Sakura thought that she might not receive an answer. But then, Mami nodded. It was barely noticeable. Her head barely moved at all, but Sakura saw it. "Why?" the medic prompted. "Can you talk about it?"

"Because of what's inside of me," came the girl's barely audible reply. "T-they want it."

Sakura raised her eyebrows in surprise and confusion. "They want what?"

But Mami was not in a position to answer. Her body began to convulse wildly, her eyes rolled back in her head and her limbs flailed without her consent. Sakura immediately fell into medic mode, letting the girl lay flat on the ground as she used healing chakra to calm her seizing body. Slowly, Mami's body stopped its uncontrolled movement and jerks, and after a few moments, she was lying completely still, although she was still unconscious.

Sakura looked up at Kakashi, who looked just as confused as she felt, although it was always hard to tell with his stupid mask in the way. "What just happened?"

They were only a few miles outside of Wave, and Sakura still had no idea why those bandits had wanted to kidnap Mami. The girl was still unconscious, although her condition was stable, and her mother refused to make a peep, clamming up only after explaining that Mami had a seizure disorder and would likely be waking up soon. It was all incredibly frustrating, to say the least. Sakura had always hated not knowing what was going on.

Kakashi had been unsettlingly quiet ever since their fight with the bandits, and Sakura wondered if she had somehow angered him about something. Was it because she didn't notice the thugs taking Mami out of the cart? Because if that was the case, he didn't notice them either, so it wasn't entirely her fault.

Whatever the reason, the silver-haired man seemed to be avoiding eye-contact with her at all costs, and he wasn't even reading his book. No, he was staring dead ahead, a glassy, distant look in his eyes. There was no attracting his attention.

"Kakashi," Sakura nudged him with her elbow, unable to take his sudden fascination with some point off in the distance. "What's wrong with you?"

She was met with silence for several seconds. "Hm?"

"I asked you what's wrong," Sakura clarified. This wasn't like Kakashi at all. He may be kind of spacey at times and he often was lost in his own thoughts, but this was different. Something was off and Sakura hated not knowing what it was. She hated thinking that maybe it was her fault…

Suddenly, his eye was scrunching shut in a "smile", and he was pulling his book out of his pocket, effectively shutting her out. "Nothing, Sakura-chan, just thinking."

Now it was Sakura's turn to stare blankly ahead. What was wrong with him? Shinobi sure could be moody sometimes…

When they arrive in Wave, Sakura was very uncomfortable to leave Mami there. The girl had only woken up shortly before they arrived, and had refused to speak, her lips seeming to be superglued together.

"Kakashi, something isn't right here. Why do you think those men were after Mami? It didn't seem like they were looking for money or anything, and it's not like her family is exceptionally wealthy. Why her?" Sakura reached out to grab Kakashi's arm to stop him from continuing out the gates of the village.

"You're right, Sakura. Something isn't right. But we did our job and we've been dismissed so there really isn't anything else we can do here but return to Konoha and fill out our reports," Kakashi shrugged, and Sakura noted that he was still avoiding looking at her.

Sakura scoffed, and fought to control her rising temper. "I'm sorry, has my face started to disgust you or something? Are you afraid my gaze will turn you to stone?"

"Stop it."

"I'm serious! You haven't looked at me since that stupid fight with the bandits! I don't know what the hell I did to piss you off, but damn, Hatake, you need to-"

"When did you make that shadow clone?"

Sakura clamped her mouth shut. "Er…what?"

Kakashi finally turned to look at her, and that same look from before was in his eyes. The pain. "When we fought those bandits, when did you make that shadow clone?"

The pink-haired medic rubbed the back of her neck, feeling self-conscious for some reason. "Oh, that? Well, when you jumped out of the cart I cast a genjutsu to obscure the fact that I was making a shadow clone, then I jumped out into the trees and let shadow clone Sakura take my place. It's a little something Naruto and I came up when we were training one afternoon. We were trying to think of a strategy that used his expertise in shadow clones and my ability to use genjutsu."

Kakashi had closed his eyes about halfway through her explanation, and was now standing with one hand pinching the bridge of his nose and the other in his pocket, but due to the thin material of his pants, Sakura could clearly see that his fist was clenched into a tight ball. "It might've been nice to explain that little trick to me before you used it in a fight, Sakura."

"Why are you so mad about that?" Sakura folded her arms. "I don't demand that you go over every trick up your sleeve with me before we go into a fight together. It's just not practical. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you before but you really have no reason to be mad at-"

"Sakura." The crack in Kakashi's voice had her words dying in her throat. "I thought you were dead."

Shit. She hadn't thought about how that trick would look to Kakashi. She hadn't considered the fact that to everyone other than her, it looked like she had just been stabbed through the heart.

"I didn't jump over there when that thug told his henchman to jump at you because I didn't want to piss you off by implying you couldn't take care of yourself, and I thought…" Kakashi coughed and looked away again. "I thought I let you die."

Sakura was in front of Kakashi in an instant, and she threw her arms around his midsection in a fierce hug. He didn't reciprocate, but she didn't care. "I'm sorry, Kakashi," her voice was muffled as her face was smashed against the fabric of his flak jacket. "I'm so stupid, I didn't even think about it like that."

And then his hand was on her back. Just one hand. He wasn't really hugging her but Sakura knew he was doing his best. Physical affection wasn't exactly one of his strong suits.

"I'm sorry, that must've really freaked you out. I can't imagine how I would've reacted if I thought that I had just watched you die. I'm sorry I put you through that," Sakura pulled away to look at him, and cringed at the still haunted look in his eye. "Forgive me?"

Kakashi nodded. "You don't need forgiveness. Just…" he paused and looked skyward at the twinkling stars above them. "Don't do something like that again without telling me first."

Sakura shot him a reassuring smile. "I promise."

Kakashi wasn't sure how long he'd been staring at the wall in his apartment, but it had probably been hours. He only knew that because of how stiff his knees had become from sitting cross-legged for so long.

"Geez, Boss, whatsa matter with you? You're lookin' awful."

"Nice to see you too, Pakkun," Kakashi finally dragged his eyes away from the wall to shoot the ninken a dirty look.

The dog shrugged, if you could call it that, Kakashi wasn't sure if dogs could shrug, but he could swear that Pakkun just-

"Seriously, Kakashi. What's up?"

The copy nin sighed. "Just…something weird happened on my mission. That's all."

"Your mission with Sakura?" Pakkun's ears perked up immediately. "Is she okay?"

Kakashi let his head fall into his palms. "She's alright. But I…I thought..." He heaved a sigh. He sounded like a pathetic babbling idiot, and Sakura wasn't even hurt. "She used a trick with genjutsu and shadow clones and I didn't know she had done it and I thought she got stabbed. Turned out to just be the shadow clone, though. It just shook me up a little bit, that's all. I'm fine. She's fine."

Pakkun huffed a little sigh on his own. "That's a relief. I don't know what the boys would do if something happened to Sakura, we've all gotten pretty fond of her, you know."

Kakashi smiled a little at this. "I do know."

"Is somethin' else the matter?" Pakkun asked, trying to appear casual as he scratched at his ear.

Kakashi cast the dog a sideways glance as he stood from the bed, grimacing as his achy knees popped. "Not really. I'm just…contemplating my reaction, I suppose. If Sakura really had been dead, I don't know if I would've been able to fight, and that's a dangerous thing. When I saw her get stabbed, I froze, and that's not something a ninja can afford to do."

Pakkun harrumphed. "She's you friend and teammate, Kakashi. I'm afraid there's not much you can do about that."

"I can start taking solo missions," the copy nin replied, peeling off his jonin sweater. "Or not go on missions with her."

"I can't see Sakura being very agreeable about that one, Boss."

"Don't you have something else to do right now?" Kakashi said (read: whined).

With an irritated sniff and a poof, the ninken vanished, and Kakashi was alone.

Sakura finished painting her pinkie toe with a flourish, and gently blew on it to dry the polish. She frowned at the drop of blue that had escaped the bottle and stained the rug underneath her foot.

Sai was seated behind her, drawing what felt like a swirly design of sorts on her exposed right shoulder. "Remind me why you wanted to draw on me again, Sai?"

"I need a break from drawing on paper. Seeing as how you are my favorite human subject to draw, I thought it might be interesting to draw on you," the boy explained.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "How very flattering."

"While I'm glad that I have paid you a compliment, it was not intended to be one. You merely have an ideal kunoichi body type and your face is beautiful and symmetrical. Plus, your pink hair makes you unique."

"Geez, Sai," Naruto groaned from his position on Sakura's couch. "Why don't you just marry her already?

"What was that, dickless? I can't see how any of what I just said could be confused as a marriage proposal. Sakura-chan, I was merely explaining the reasons I enjoy drawing you, I was not making you an offer of marriage," Sai explained, never once lifting his brush from her shoulder.

Sakura couldn't help the laugh that fell from her lips as she rolled her eyes heavenward for the hundredth time that evening. "Don't worry, Sai. Your intentions were understood."

"Good."

"Very impressive, Sakura," Tsunade said from behind the massive stack of papers on her desk. "You managed to fool even Kakashi with your genjutsu shadow clone trick."

The pink-haired ninja kicked the toe of her sandal into the floor. Usually, a compliment like that from Tsunade would have her doing a happy dance right there in Hokage tower, but this time, all she could feel was guilt for making Kakashi worry.

"Thank you, Shishou," Sakura smiled at the stack of papers. "Although, I think I gave Kakashi-sensei a pretty good scare."

"Hm," the Hokage's head popped into view as she stood from her desk. "He did seem a little on edge when he left this morning."

Sakura frowned. "He left? Where to?"

Tsunade walked around her desk to lean on the front of it. "He came in here earlier than I've ever seen him, practically begging me for a mission that would take him out of Konoha for a few days, so he took a C ranked courier mission to Suna. Left a few hours ago."

"Oh," Sakura tried to appear nonchalant, "he just didn't mention it."

"Uh-huh," Tsunade murmured, looking at Sakura very intensely. "Did he say anything to you about your little shadow clone trick?"

"He just asked me to tell him next time I was planning on doing something like that," Sakura shrugged. "I think it sort of freaked him out. He thought I was dead for a couple of seconds."

"Hm," Tsuande stared at her for a few more seconds, and Sakura became more uncomfortable with each passing moment. No one could make her sweat like the Godaime, that was for sure.

Turning abruptly, the Hokage walked to the window behind her desk and leaned on the ledge. "Don't you have rounds at the hospital today?"

Sakura nodded lamely, even though she knew Tsunade couldn't see her. "Yes, Shishou."

"Get to it then."

Kakashi paused on a tree branch. Maybe he should have told Sakura that he was leaving. Maybe he shouldn't have…

No. He had to get his head on straight. He wasn't worrying about not telling Naruto or Sai about his mission, so he shouldn't worry about Sakura either.

He set his jaw and jumped to the next tree.

* Yeah, okay, I hate this chapter. Hate it hate it hate it. But I'm gonna post it because I've made you guys wait an ungodly amount of time and I really am sorry for it. I've been working on this chapter on and off for weeks and it just feels sloppy and disjointed and rushed and ugh. Sorry :/

** Like seriously, it's so bad, and I really am sorry.

*** I will say, writing Sai is fun as hell. Pakkun too. Prepare yourselves to see a lot of them.

**** I promise that the whole Mami thing will be coming back, that will be a plot point in a few chapters

***** I don't really have much to say this time, except I'm sorry that I kept you waiting for so long. I've been suffering from some serious writer's block, if you can't tell. If any of you are reading "When Skies are Grey", I promise I'll get back to it eventually.

****** If you feel like leaving a review, please do. I need all the motivation I can get to get to work on the next chapter.

******* I feel like I really rushed Kakashi and Sakura's relationship in the first few chapters and I'm trying to make up for that now. I hope their relationship seems at least somewhat believable…

******** …review? ^_^

********* As always, thank you so much for reading. It means SO much to me ^_^