During the day the pub was a quiet place. Only a few customers would come in to have a drink and rest. When the sun went down the serene place turned into a loud drinking fest for every ninja that was present in the village. In here, their worries went away until the next day. They danced, laughed, and at times sang until their voices ran out, annoying the villagers nearby.

Genma was no stranger to the lively nights that occurred in the pub. He was a regular customer when he was in the village. Like his comrades, his objective was to forget the hard life of being a shinobi, but instead of singing his heart away he had preferred to give it to any girl he could get his hands on. Well, he used to, now that he was in a real relationship, his time at the pubs was mainly for meeting friends and having a drink.

As he had hoped, sitting on one of the stools was none other than a-long-lost-friend.

"Yamato!"

The brown haired nin turned to his new and unwanted companion. He had come in the hopes to clear his thoughts. He was not that naive to believe that after a day in the pub everything would be clear but he had hoped for some solitary time.

Yamato raised his cup as his hello and Genma took that as his cue to sit beside him, oblivious to the annoyance Yamato was harboring towards the new company. The senbon ninja proceeds to ask for his sake and start a small conversation of nothingness.

Out of courtesy, Yamato stayed and listened to the boisterous man. He knew, however, that the minute he had the chance he would escape.

Sakura gathered the dishes from the small table by the sofa. She was not one for messes, so she hastily washed the dishes and cleaned the table. After the cleanup, she sat back on the sofa, this time calmer than she was before. She reclined her head back on the couch, closing her eyes to figure out what she was going to do. She knew this was not the time to be relieved as her situation was still the same. Lee, however, had made her understand that she could not go acting stupidly on her witty impulses.

No, what she had to do was think of a way to satisfy Tsunade and get her job back without scaring herself to death.

"Seems easy enough", she sarcastically said to herself.

Her relief was subsiding once again. She dearly wished for it to stay, but her time alone always made her acknowledge the despair and fear she had. She kept on repeating the same questions over and over again. What will I do now? How do I fix this? There was never an answer, but she hoped that by some divine power someone or something would answer her.

Surprisingly, this time something did occur. A knock on her door. She stared at her black painted door in bewilderment and expecting for it to open itself and give her the answer. Whatever miracle was or was not behind her door knocked again, a little louder than before. Sakura, with a heavy sigh, stood up to open the door.

The white-haired man before her definitely couldn't have an answer, but he was another person who would distress her for the time being.

"Hey. I didn't think I would see you two times in one day today." Sakura gave way for him to come in. He walked casually inside and stood in the living room rather than sit on the couch or lay on it as he usually did. "Why don't you sit down? I'm sure you're not in a rush. Imagine that, the famous Kakashi Hatake in a rush." She gave a small laugh, but the Copy-nin didn't find it as funny as she did. Great what caused him to be in such a sour mood!?

"So what seems to be bothering you?" Her question was left unanswered.

Kakashi stared Sakura up and down, looking for anything odd with her. For the time being, she looked fine. "Are you okay?"

"I think I asked first." She glanced at him challengingly.

He did not know what Lee had been referring to, but she seemed more cheerful than before. Her cheeky remarks were evidence of that. "I'm fine, just worried about the health of my favorite student."

She laughed, "Then you asked the wrong person, I don't know how your favorite student is doing." Kakashi gave a chuckle at her remark. His worries were subsiding, but not enough to forget why he came over. He took his usual seat on the couch as Sakura took hers beside him. Casually and without facing her Kakashi said, "I talked to Lee before coming here. He talked to me about you, said you were acting strangely." He asked again, "Are you okay?"

Sakura was becoming frustrated with his questionings. She didn't want to answer and she wasn't going to. She just wanted a relaxing afternoon to think and focus. Her sensei, however, only made her worries grow with his concern. His concern over her was unwanted at this time. She had other things to do, even if it was just to lay on her bed and drown herself in misery. At the moment she really wanted him gone, but knew that kicking him out would only make him more stubborn. It seems that he was becoming a little, dare she say, annoying. Recently, everytime an incident occurred to her Kakashi was there. Why was that?

"Why did you see Lee before coming here?" She asked suspiciously. She didn't know why she was suspicious, but her instincts were telling her that something was up with her Sensei.

"We saw each other before I came here." He answered nonchalantly.

"Why were you heading here? I thought that you would have headed home after I left you."

Kakashi gave a small laugh, "Why? Now I can't come to see you anymore?"

"It's not that," she wasn't going to let him change the conversation, "but we never used to see each other as much as we do now. We never sat down to talk casually or met other than missions or training. So why now? If it's because of what I told you yesterday, I appreciate your concern, but I need space too. "

"We've known each other for a long time. It's only natural that we become closer over time." A reasonable answer, but there was something that wasn't fitting well with Sakura. She trusted Kakashi and knew his intentions were good, but he had spied on a private conversation between her and Tsunade and spoke privately to Yamato over a secret mission that he wasn't involved. He had started settling into her life before she had known how much he knew. While she really did appreciate his concern, as she thought about it more, his actions were deceitful and frankly stalkerish. "It's also normal to be more concerned about you after everything you've been through." Again his words held reason.

"Kakashi, I'm not saying this because I'm unhappy that you're here, but you have hidden things from me before and I can't help feeling you are doing it again. It seems strange that you're here whenever something happens." Her thought was becoming uncomfortably scary in regards to Kakashi's behavior. There had been warning signals before, but she had not seen them as clearly as she did now. "Kakashi have you been meddling in my life?"

Instead of answering he asked, "Are you saying that something occurred today with Lee?"

She was frustrated with him. "Stop dodging the question and answer it!"

"Why don't you answer my question?" His face was expressionless and that concerned and angered Sakura more.

Frustrated she yelled, "What are you hiding? I'm sick and tired of you tiptoeing over me! If you want to know something be straight with me, don't come and ask me arbitrary questions. I'm not a kid anymore!"

"I'm not treating you like a kid." Kakashi didn't want to anger her any further. He spoke in a calm voice in hopes to get her to calm down, but it wasn't going to work.

"Yes, you are! I don't know if you have realized it, but I'm an adult and I've done my fair share of living as one. I want you to stop asking me 'Are you okay?' and get to the point. You know things even before I tell you. The mission with Yamato was…"

"I told you I overheard when you were talking to the Hokage," He cut in, "It was just a coincidence."

"I don't believe you. Since then, it seems you know more than you're letting me know! Why don't you tell me? I'm not a client who you need to snoop around in order to get information!"

"I know you're not!" His temper was starting to kick in. "I'm not trying to hide anything from you or treat you like a child, I just want to help you."

"How do you plan to do that? By asking everyone around then coming to me and asking me if I'm fine! Where do you think that will get you!?"

"Well, you're not telling me anything either way. If I hadn't pushed you, you would have never told me what actually happened to you!" He was practically yelling at this point, but he couldn't maintain his composure anymore. "I have given you the opportunity to talk to me, but you continue to keep secret from me! What makes me believe you'll do it on your own now?"

Sakura wanted to explode. She wanted to punch him until he couldn't speak anymore! Who is he to meddle in my life! All my life I had to struggle alone to get to where I am today. Now, all of a sudden, he wants to help me. "Why do I have to tell you my problems! They are mine for a reason. I need to resolve them, not you!"

"You need my help!" Her eyes were tearing from her anger. She was not a damsel in distress, she never wanted to return to that. Ever.

Kakashi understood where he went wrong. With her, his temper came out and he forgot just how deep her wounds were. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that, not the way you think."

"Then what am I thinking, since you know so much." She was fed up with Kakashi seeming to have all the answers to her life when she was barely able to understand where she stood. "Tell me what it is I'm thinking and tell me what I should do to fix it! You have this assumption that I need your help, so help away! Maybe you'll tell me something I don't know since I need you to be meddling in my life so much. I must be as useless now as I was back then. Thank goodness you're here to save me!"

Kakashi knew he had opened up wounds that he had not meant to step over. He was just really concerned over Sakura and truly wanted what was best for her. They could go on and on disputing how he wasn't questioning her skill which would only fuel her more to state otherwise. He wanted to tread carefully, but he didn't know if that was possible.

"Sakura, I'm concerned. I have never seen you like this. You have cared for teammates who are all broken in their own way. We all love you and would do whatever it is necessary to protect you, to protect you from being as broken as we are." Inside he knew that it was too late to protect her. She was already broken, but he would never admit it to her. He would give her hope and he would do anything to mend as much as he possibly could. "I don't think you're weak. Your ability as a medic konichi tells everyone you are a force to be reckoned with. That does not mean that you have to handle everything on your own. The same way you have cared for team 7, for me, I want to care for you."

The anger that had consumed her before was slowly vanishing all because of his words. Sakura had never heard him pour his feeling to her. Kakashi always kept his feelings inside and rarely, if ever, spoke his true feelings to those around him. How could she hold a temper when he was saying sweet words that she had never heard him speak before. "I'm sorry. I know you're trying to help and I'm grateful, but sometimes I feel powerless. You are keeping stuff from me about my life, how do you think that makes me feel?"

Kakashi's arms reached towards her back bringing her head closer to his chest. His head laid on top of hers as he ran his fingers over her hair in a soothing effect.

"I'm sorry if I've made you feel that way, I didn't mean to. I know you're not weak and you're not alone." He whispered to her.

"I know that Kakashi. I tell that to myself every day, but then I start to doubt. I doubt my ability, I doubt myself and I-I hate it! I know I have you, Yamato, Ino, and the others, but I feel alone. I just feel so alone." Her voice was cracking with each word. Tears formed in her eyes, ready to fall at any second.

"You shouldn't feel that way. There are people here for you, I'm here for you." He felt miserable hearing her broken words.

"I can't. I don't know how to. I need to solve this myself, but I can't. I can't let Tsunade down, not after everything she's done for me. Not after everything I've gone through."

"What do you mean you can't? What do you need to solve?" He was confused. He didn't know what she was referring to.

She didn't respond to his questions, but her hands closed around his chest and clutched his vest with desperation.

Lee had been able to ease the troubles within her for a fleeting moment, but that was all. As she held onto Kakashi, she realized nothing was resolved. Her career was still on the line and so was any hope for normality to return to her life.

Piles of paper everywhere, barely any sake, and no Shizune or Sakura to be around to help and distress her. The Hokage was tired of all the work that held her in her office every single day. She never wanted to be Hokage and every single day she was reminded why.

Assigning missions was never an easy task. She had to decide the rank of the mission, the cost, and most importantly who would be put up to the task. The lowest ranking missions were always the easiest. It was the high ranking missions that always gave her more trouble. While her work never ended, her strong hatred for the job came from the decisions she made that impacted and harmed those she cared about the most. Her young student was an example of her hard decisions.

As her mentor, she knew her student was strong and trusted in her abilities. She was second best to herself and worked damn hard to get to such strength. People admired her abilities, while others envied them. With all her potential, Tsunade couldn't let Sakura be her own obstacle. She needed her student to get past this. For Sakura's well being and for herself as well. She knew she was being hard on her student, but that was because she felt guilty for putting Sakura in such a mission. The girl was innocent in these types of activities, but she had sent her out anyway. Maybe if she had waited for someone more capable, maybe things would be better.

Tsunade hated second-guessing her student's capability. She was strong and always would be. This was not the time to question herself or her student. It was the time to help the rosette and, as Hokage, she would.

No matter what it took.

He was drunk. He was very drunk. Genma, the bastard, had chatted on and on and with that came one bottle of sake after another. Before he knew it, he was laughing and chattering with the sendon-nin as well. Whatever worry he had before had left him and now he walked beside the same man who allowed him to have such a carefree night.

"I'm gonna tell yuh something. It will AMAZE YOU!" Genma paused for a moment, staring hard at the floor below him before continuing, "I haven't gotten dis drunk since-since before I met my w-women!" Genma's voice was a roar to the silent streets they walked. Yamato smiled at his less than secretive confession.

"Don't tell her I drunk ok! She'd," he moved his finger closer to his neck and moved it in a pretend act of slicing his throat, "me." Yamato laughed at Genma's gesture.

"I love that woman, but she," he hiccuped," scares me shitless, ya know." He didn't speak to Shizune much, but he knew that her temper was close or par to Tsunade's and Sakura's temper. That was definitely something to fear. He remembered his first encounter with Sakura. She radiated a kind and caring personality, it wasn't until later that he learned of her brute strength and strong personality. She may have looked like a delicate flower, but even flowers had thornes.

"But I've never felt like this before." Yamato's eyes turned to look at Genma's. His expression was now gentle and loving, nothing compared to the humorous one he had before. "I always looked at lovebirds with disdain. It just looked so stupid, ya know. A partner for life. What life can I give when every mission could be my last."

Silence filled the air. Yamato could not tear his eyes from the sincere words coming out of such a boisterous man. "I know that this is gonna sound stupid, but she gave me life. Before I was just surviving, now I'm living. Does that make sense?"

Yamato nodded. It made perfect sense to him.

The serious tone left and with new energy Genma said, "Maybe she just has me under her clutches! Goddamn, I always knew women were witches!" The senbon user laughed and left with the departing words, "Best be getting home or she'll kill me."

Yamato watched his drinking partner leave, leaving said man's words behind. What is life without living? He wanted to live, but what would that mean for him?

Unfortunately, Yamato was still drunk and thinking when an ANBU arrived where Genma had left him. With a brief message, the tiger masked man said, "The Hokage needs you in her tower now." Then disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Reluctantly, he left to the Hokage's office.

"Sakura," His voice was soft and concerned. She buried her face in his chest as he continued, "tell me, please. I can help. I can help you, let me help you."

He was pleading now. There was nothing else he could do. The girl was in his arms in tears holding another secret he didn't know, another secret that was causing havoc in her life.

"Please," he repeated.

She said the words through his chest. They were difficult to understand at first, but the Copy-nin soon understood them. And he really wished he hadn't.

Yamato entered the office with a bow to his superior. She made no acknowledgment of his presence, so he spoke up.

"Hello Hokage, you called for me?"

"Yes, I did." She didn't look up from her desk when she spoke again. "I assume you're all sobered up now?"

He straightened himself and answered "Yes."

"Good." Her eyes moved away from her desk to him. "I have a mission for you."

Yamato would have thought nothing about having a mission so late at night, but something felt off about the way the Hokage said the word mission.

"I need you working on it as soon as possible." She replied. Yamato said no more as he waited for her to explain. "The mission will be simple, or so I hope. Your mission is to seduce and report back to me. The report should be in full detail of the start of the seduction until she is seduced. You can spare me the acts on the bed, but I do want to know that it was done and completed. I will evaluate the situation afterward."

"Who am I seducing?" He easily noticed her eyes grow distant.

"Sakura Haruno." No, he was wrong, those brown eyes held sorrow.

Kakashi held her tighter and so did she. "The Hokage told you this?"

No reply, but that was enough. He felt an anger toward Tsunade that he never felt before. Be damned what happens to me, but she'll hear me for this.

As if reading his thoughts, Sakura said, "She's trying to help me. She knows how this has affected me and is doing her best."

His hands smoothed out her hair in an attempt to relax himself, more than her. "And?" His tone was a bit accusing. "What have you done?"

Her face lifted from his chest to his dislike. She stared at her hands unable to look him straight in the eyes with his inquiries. "I-I tried to kiss Lee, but…" She was embarrassed and worried to tell her ex-sensei the events with Lee.

"But?" His eyebrows rose awaiting her response.

"I couldn't kiss him. I wasn't able to!" The words came fast. She needed to say them quickly before her lips sealed completely.

The haired man sighed in relief. There was nothing to worry about. He once again pulled her closer to him and hugged her. "That's ok. It's fine for you to take your time. Don't rush into things."

"I can't." She whispered, " I'm running out of time."

"You can't be serious. You know what happened on the mission and you want ME to seduce her?" The brown nin was incredulous of the task being given to him. Tsunade didn't feel the need to answer. Her words were law and no matter what the man before her said, she would not back down. "Please," he begged, "don't let me-her go through this again. This is not the way."

"This is a mission I am giving you because I know only you can do it. I don't want to hear your excuses." She saw him defeated, but that did nothing to stop him from speaking up against her.

"Please!" His plea came out with a vigor of anger he didn't show before. "If you're doing what's best for her don't do this!" Silence was filled on her part. She wouldn't discuss this anymore, she wouldn't change her mind. It was the best option she had and she knew that it would be the best she could do for her student.

He saw the stubbornness in her eyes and knew his pleading was pointless. "She'll come to hate men more from this experience. She needs more time! Please understand! Giver her time!" He was willing to go down on his knees and beg her if he had to. He knew what this meant for Sakura and for him as well. He knew the young konichi wasn't ready to take such a leap and in his heart, he knew he wasn't ready either.

It was easy for Kakashi to understand what she meant by "running out of time." Tsunade was going to push Sakura, like she had done in her genin days, to go back to her strong and confident self. He knew that the young pinkett would feel the need to prove herself, but it would not be enough to make her jump over the hurdle. The Hokage was pushing her toward an assignment that was too difficult for her to complete. At least, too difficult for her to complete on her own.

"I can help." The silence surrounded them after those three words. Those words ignited a flame that would push them beyond the bounds of teacher and students. Sakura realized this as soon as he finishes those words and thus became mute. How could she do such a thing with Kakashi? He was her sensei, her friend. She couldn't-wouldn't allow it to happen. She already allowed it once and although the relationship still stood, she knew that luck couldn't be on her side again.

Before speaking, the male beside her explained, "I know you're scared, but what better person than someone who knows you and your situation. You can't go out looking for men when you can't stand being next to one."

"But-," she tried to cut in, but was shut down by Kakashi who asked, "Are you afraid of me?"

The answer was no, but the words wouldn't come out of her. She knew where he was heading with his question and she was scared, scared because she knew he was going to win.

"Sakura," his voice held authority as he whispered in her ear, "Are you afraid of me?" She shook her head, affirming his conclusion. "Do you trust me?" She gave a small slow nod, knowing too well it was over. His hand moved toward her chin and rose her face to face him, their lips only inches apart. His eyes penetrating her, making it difficult to look at him. With a kinder tone, he said, "Let me help you."

Tsunade didn't like to explain herself, but seeing as Yamato was against her decision she did so. "I know that to you might be pushing her too hard, but I know she needs this push. If we allow her to continue on this path, she will always blame herself for being weak."

Yamato did not accept her explanation, but that didn't matter. "As Hokage, I make the decisions, if you feel you are incapable of completing the mission tell me now and I will find someone else."

He could have asked her who else she thought would be good for this mission. He could have yelled at her to come to her senses. He knew, however, that it didn't matter what he said, she had already made a decision and no one could go against it. With no other resolution, he said, "I understand, I'll start immediately."

I know I never keep any promises with how fast I update and I would like to apologize, but I promise that as of now I don't plan on leaving this story. I hope you can all bear with me and thank you for all the support!

Please comment, it really does motivate me, even if its a year later. LOL.

-Zero