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Hey Guys!
Thank you for your support and welcome to the new ones ;)
When this story is finished, I planned to write some short stories too. Maybe as spin-offs or flashbacks.
Do you have special suggestions?
SquaMata
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22. Practise Phase: Time is running out
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At 10 a.m. sharp on the next day Sakura entered the hokage's office. Although she had not gotten enough sleep, her own bed let her wake up well-rested and happy.
"Good morning, Sakura!" Tsunade smiled friendly.
"Morning!"
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Two ANBU were standing at the same positions. Sakura got nervous, she didn't want to talk about those things in front of Naruto and Tatsuo. Kakashi was nowhere around.
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"So how was your mission?" The blonde hokage crossed her hands.
"Very relaxing, thank you." The pinkette tried to return the smile and to play down her obviously skittish behaviour.
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"Good. " The sannin found it too funny and decided to pretend being deadly serious. She changed her posture and her voice, and looked her deep in the eyes.
"Sakura, I have a question!"
Her former apprentice shifted from one leg to another and her eyes went wide.
Oh god, please don't ask me about Kakashi.
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"Shizune had to go on an important mission and came home sick. Could you please lend me a hand and get her back to her feet? I'm very busy here at the moment, Ino is on her way back from Iwa and the staff busts its back at the hospital." Tsunade's tone lightened up.
"Ehrm, sure." Apparently the pinkette was flabbergasted.
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Cocking her head to the side the blonde leader asked her worriedly "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, I just thought you want me to report or something?" She babbled.
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"Nah, I have already read Hatake's report." Tsunade waved it off.
Sakura frowned in disbelief. "He wrote a report on time voluntarily?"
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"Yes, as strange as it sounds, it was lying on my desk as I arrived in the morning. Everything's ok. I'm glad you both had a good time and were able to" she took a paper and searched for the right passage "… were able to restock your energy reserves for the upcoming mission." She put the paper down and smirked. "So I guess Hatake developed a like for holidays?"
"Kind of, yeah." The young medic-nin grinned, then both couldn't hold back laughter.
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"Good. So could you please stop by Shizune and examine her?"
Sakura nodded and left.
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Shizune wasn't in a good condition, Sakura brought her to hospital and Tsunade allowed her to treat her there, although she wasn't an employee anymore. It seemed like the black haired medic-nin had been poisoned during an attack and now her body was struggling with the substance.
For two days the pinkette worked hard to extract the poison from Shizune's system, also she helped the nurses a bit with other patients and took care of the little pig.
During the whole time she had not heard a beep from a certain silverhead, but she was glad for the timeout.
Shizune got better soon and was discharged on her third day in hospital, but she would have to stay on sick leave at home for the following week. Sakura promised to visit her before she would leave Konoha.
As Sakura returned home at noon, she found that weird messenger bird again, it was chewing happily on what looked like a letter.
After a little fight she finally got the message in her hands, or more precisely the remaining words on the shredded paper.
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…akur... ev…ing spa… ground 3… 6p…
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"Great!"
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Kakashi knew he had been avoiding her, he had to think and needed some time to return back to normal.
He was sitting in a tree waiting on training ground 3, in an hour or so she would show up.
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Exact 24 hours ago he had knocked on his friend's door to have a talk in private. The Jounin had let him inside to the living room and they sat down on his brown leather couch.
The copy-nin had sighed "Genma, I need your help."
"MY help?" The senbon-user had pointed at his own chest baffled.
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A single eye had shown honesty in his look. "Yes. I think you know what I'm asking you for?"
"Enlighten me!" Genma had removed the senbon off his mouth, now he had understood Kakashi had been going to unsheat.
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In a stern tone the masked ninja had continued "At the end of the week we're heading off to Suna. Her practise phase has begun, but it's complicated."
"You want me to do something, right?" The brown-haired man had tapped the senbon eagerly on his lips.
The sharingan user had nodded.
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"I guess you want me to help her with her practise?" He had put the senbon back into his mouth.
Kakashi had rubbed his head in dislike "Kind of, yes." Want is the wrong word.
Grinning like the Cheshire cat the bandana-head had retorted. "There we go! Many years later you're finally that kind to share with me after all!"
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"Genma, let's be serious here. Time is running out. She needs some experience, it must be positive for her. Do you understand?" The copy-nin had propped his head on his hands, he had looked tossed and turned.
"Yes. Rumour has it I'm very capable." The broad smile of the brown-haired shinobi had been underlined with a wink in Kakashi's direction.
"Stop acting pretentious. She's someone special and needs to be treated as so. I'll hunt you down and castrate you personally if you won't behave properly." The silverhead had growled.
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Genma had put up his hands in defense "Sure, sure." He had cleared his throat before he had spoken in a serious from-friend-to-friend tone "May I ask you, why you won't do it yourself?"
Sheepishly Kakashi ruffled his silver hair "I'm her teacher and in charge of the mission, I am not allowed to" Wise excuse! He'll buy it!
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Then he had hemmed and had given him a deadly-serious look "Just take good care of her ok"
"I promise." His response had beed really sincere, he wouldn't dare to hurt her, but he had begun to hope he wouldn't harm the great copy-nin. Damn, this girl got him really bad.
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"So what do you want me to do in detail?"
Then they had talked openly.
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Half an hour delayed Sakura showed up stomping angrily.
"That damn messenger bird again! It chewed half of the message away!"
"Good evening too. I'm sorry, I know, sometimes she can be a real pain in the ass." He chuckled and jumped down from the tree.
The young kunoichi grumbled grumpily.
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They began to spar, he acted like nothing had happened, which made her fuming inside.
After their training he walked her home, both didn't speak a word. Before she reached the entry door of her apartment complex, he stopped her from leaving too soon.
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"Sakura, one more thing."
Whoohoooo, here comes the overdue excuse!
"Time is running out. You need to find a practise partner for tomorrow."
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Her look was too much for him to bear at the moment.
He forced a happy eye-crinkle "Good night!" and teleported himself back to his apartment.
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It was the look of a hurt woman, filled with incredulity, shocked by his clinical words and bubbling in wrath.
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