Glancing over his shoulder, he couldn't help the small frown from forming on his lips, as he took in his teammate. The general air about her could only be described as despondent, at best. The last two months had been especially hard for team Kakashi.

Sharing a look with his other, current teammate, Shikamaru like the rest of them were worried about her, but never one to get involved unless necessary, he gave a simple shrug of his shoulder in response. With an exasperated huff Naruto slowed his stride, allowing Sakura to close the distance between them.

"Sakura?"

"Hmm?" She answered albeit, more than just a little distracted.

"Don't worry too much about Kakashi-Sensei, he'll be ok."

She stopped in her tracks, "How-"

"Hey, give me some credit, I'm not always as stupid as I look". He teased her with a cheeky smile.

Though to be honest, he had figured it out about six months before they had broken apart, and it was only because they had been so focused on arguing one day, that they hadn't noticed both he and Sai had arrived at the training fields for practice. He had been confused at first, how could he have not noticed something like, Sakura being with Kakashi?

The following weeks had been something of a balancing act, you couldn't have Sakura present, without Kakashi making up some vague excuse about the sun setting in the wrong direction that time of year, so he couldn't come, lest the universe implode upon itself, and you couldn't have Kakashi there without Sakura suddenly having to work a double shift at the hospital. It had gone on for weeks, finally when everything seemed to be getting back to normal, Kakashi had left to rejoin the Anbu.

"I guess not." Halfheartedly, she tried her best to give him a reassuring smile.

Taking her hand and giving it a gentle squeeze, he did his best to show her she didn't have to do this alone.

"It might not feel like it now, but you'll be ok too and everything will work out, I just know it."

"Hey, when did you get so wise?"

"So, you've finally noticed huh?"

"Oh brother." She sighed in playful exasperation, before shaking her head in quiet mirth.

"I asked Sai and captain Yamato to keep an eye on him for you. So for now, let's get this treaty thingy over with."

"Naruto...Thank you." She really meant it, Naruto was right, she needed to focus on her mission.

….

Kinking her neck to the side, Sakura gave her shoulder a slight roll before returning to the report before her. 3 months into the assignment and she had seen remarkable progress from the stone medics. Of course, that was to be expected, after all, she had hit the ground running as soon as they had arrived. She spent as much time as she possibly could, hold up in their hospital, organizing and reorganizing anything she could get her hands on. Unfortunately, it meant she had little to no time to explore or even socialize with anyone from the village, but she would just have to leave that to Naruto and Shikamaru… well Naruto anyway.

"Miss Sakura?" Glancing up from her desk, there was no helping the smile that made its way upon her face.

"Oh it's you Itsuke." He was probably the only stone shinobi she had spoken to outside the medical staff.

Looking at him now, she still felt a little guilty. In the beginning, she had only been able to halfheartedly listen to, or answer any of his questions. Overtime however, she could tell just how much, he genuinely seemed to want to help bridge the gap between their villages, so, It wasn't long after, that they were able to share in some of the most ridiculous stories from their respective villages or missions.

To be honest he was a bit goofy, but it didn't bother her much.

"Sakura is fine, come in, what can I help you with?"

"I was wondering, have you've eaten already?"

"To tell you the truth, i haven't actually." Inwardly she cringed as she realized Naruto would let her have it, for skipping yet another meal.

"Great! There's this restaurant not too far away, it has the best the stone village has to offer, would you like to come with me?" For some reason he seemed, nervous more so than usual, she couldn't imagine why though. He was anything but rude and he had allowed her to feel welcome, while staying in the village. Of course she would go to lunch with him, plus, this was great timing, she was just about finished her paperwork for the day and she bet she could score some points for herself, if she could say she'd had at least one meal today.

"Sounds like fun, plus now that you mention it, I'm pretty starved."

Little did she know that, that one meal would set the precedent, not only for her remaining time in the stone village, but would impact the rest of her life, for better or worse.

….

"Would it kill you to pay attention every once in a while? Its already a drag having to listen to it the first time, but it's even more of a pain having to go over everything again with you after."

"Hehe, sorry Shikamaru, I can't help it, most of it just goes over my head."

"Tell me about it…huh? "

He stopped to stare at a building, just about 50 feet away, a small smirk creeping at the edge of his lips.

"Well would you look at that."

"What?!" Naruto, not one to miss out on anything, shuffled trying to see around his friend.

It was Sakura, sitting at a table, obviously out to a late lunch with a stone shinobi. If Shikamaru could remember, and he could, they had seen him around at some of their meetings. Regardless, it didn't seem like he was her usual type, which meant she wouldn't get herself into any more trouble. Ino had begrudgingly made him promise, to watch out for her, though it wasn't necessary, Sakura was one of them after all, and he would step in if he had to, though he probably wouldn't beat Naruto to it.

None of that mattered though, she actually seemed happy, just sitting there listening to whatever it was he was saying, some joke of sorts, though by the look of it he seemed more than a little clumsy as he tried to deliver the punchline. Not that Sakura seemed to mind.

"Looks like we don't have to drag her out to eat after all."