I don't own anything Naruto.
...
The heat wave broke the following night. Lightning tore through the sky, purifying the shadows of even the darkest crevices of the intricate village. Glass windows and dry streets shook from thunder that vibrated underneath the city. The clouds swirled heavily, drooping ever closer towards the thirsty earth, and Sakura relished in the coming storm while she slept.
Once it finally unleashed she dreamt of rain. It solaced her overheated skin. She tangled her legs further in the cool sheets. She dreamt of the flutters of thick raindrops trailing over her thinly veiled curves. They enveloped her as lover's hands would, pleasantly burning with every drop. She squirmed, attempting to catch every one of them, and as the humidity reached its peak Sakura felt her anticipation climb. The rain caught in her hair. It tickled her ear. One drip bounced off her forehead. Another grazed her nose and itched her cheek. Suddenly frustrated, she awkwardly wiped the latent feeling away and the dream transformed from pleasing to annoying. Every small flick now attacked instead of enticed, and when the whispering winds called out her name she groaned, waking up enough to cover her ears with her thin pillow. She barely heard the storm sigh before lightning struck the bottom of her foot.
She jolted. Her entire body surged with adrenaline from the electric shock and, with a kunai gripped tightly in her hand, her groggy eyes tried to focus in the dim light.
From the black corner of her room, a deep voice lectured her like thunder. "Ninja should not sleep so soundly."
The fading sensations of desire and irritation from her dream only added to her confusion. "Kaka-?"
"Unless you plan on using that as a surgical tool," he interrupted, a hint of white chakra fading from his fingertip, "I am going to insist that you put the weapon down."
Sakura groaned as she slipped the small blade away. "Why are you-" The scent of blood finally broke through her muzzy perspicacity. It was suddenly so thick in the room that it blocked out the jarring and melodic storm outside. She instantly went into her medic mode and the springs in the mattress squeaked with her frenzied attempts to untangle herself. Her feet quickly met the cold floor, beating harshly against the wood as she rushed over to Kakashi's slumped figure in the dark.
"What happened? Where are you injured?" Her arms wrapped around his wide torso as she took his full weight before guiding him back to her bed. "Why are you here?"
Lazily, he moaned and collapsed on her disheveled sheets. "Well, it wasn't to be interrogated."
"Just lie down. I need to grab my kit."
He complied, flopping back onto the pillow still warm from her skin while Sakura rushed around her small apartment. Bolts of light flashed throughout her place, casting ominous shadows and highlighting Kakashi's gory footprints trailing down the hall. She padded back to her room when another strike hit and enabled her to momentarily see the blood-soaked and tattered man in her bed.
"Your sheets are nice," he said lethargically.
Sakura knelt beside him and teased, following his attempt to keep the mood light. "You mean they were." A large water bowl sloshed and her medical kit thumped as she set them down on the floor next to her.
"I can replace them."
Her hands glowed and began hovering over his wounds. "I think you owe me about a hundred meals first."
"Just put it on my tab." She reached his ribs and Kakashi hissed through his teeth.
"Bare with me," she warned. "I have to cut these clothes off."
"Just-"
"I know," Sakura assured, rolling her eyes. "I wouldn't use a cheap trick like saving your life to see your face, anyways."
"So," he groaned as her chakra sliced up the front of his vest and shirt, "You are still interested."
She smiled, keeping her panic well in check. "Mildly." She leaned in closer to his wound when a small, cloth-and-paper ball fell from her hair. Reaching up, Sakura brushed three more just like it onto the bed and identified them as the annoying raindrops from her dream. "What were you throwing at me?"
Kakashi reached into his pocket and produced the dark red mission scroll, now ragged from the missing torn pieces. He grinned, the shadows from the storm deepening the dips in his mask, and shrugged. "It was either this or shiruken."
A low rumble from outside echoed in the small space and she finally noticed her bed littered with the tiny projectiles that had missed her. She had never known his aim to be this bad. "Good choice."
When his clothes were out of the way, she turned on her bedside lamp and was finally able to see the full extent of the damage. He had field dressed a large gash into his ribs, but the bandaging was sloppy for a seasoned ninja. She pushed her chakra deeper into his system, ignoring his lackluster moan, and sensed the foreign poison coursing through his system.
"Shit," Sakura mumbled under her breath.
"What was that?"
Her pause gave away the extent of his injuries. "I said you look like shit."
"I feel like shit." His head lolled weakly as he fought to stay awake. "So… this is what you sleep in?"
For a short moment, Sakura paused purging his system of the toxin to look down at her clothes, not fully realizing the oddity of the question until she remembered what she was wearing. The baggy, breathable navy shorts had faded to gray after years of washing and her large tank, which smelled a little ripe, hung off her slender frame. The bindings that encased her chest were visible from the deep dip in the front as she leaned over her patient. "Whatever," she mumbled, trying to brush it off. "It's comfortable…. Stop staring!"
"I'm sorry, it's just…"
"Just what!?" She pushed her chakra deeper, chasing out the pesky poison in a less gentle manner.
Kakashi noticed and winced. "Well, you always wear such feminine combat clothes. I did not expect this."
She sighed. "I just fell asleep after training in my living room. These aren't actually my pajamas."
Another few minutes passed in silence and the storm calmed to a steady rainfall. She worked steadily, and though she knew his mission was of the highest classification, she still tried to discern where this poison might have come from and where her ex-sensei was when he got hurt. When his system was clean of most of the drug and collected within the water bowl, Sakura quickly inspected it. The toxin was a highly concentrated numbing agent, with a bit of hallucinogen mixed in for good measure. There was no way to tell how long he had been affected by it, but the chemical makings were not done by an amateur. Her mind raced with possible remedies and she returned to suturing his wound.
"What do you wear to bed, Sakura?"
His low voice was thick with exhaustion, but due to the familiarity of the question it had seemed intimate, and the way her name rolled off his tongue without an honorific sounded natural enough to make her shiver. Her cheeks flushed and she suddenly became too aware that he was not a patient in the hospital, but a half naked legendary ninja in her bed in the middle of the night. Sakura gulped. "…How much blood did you lose?"
He side-eyed her sardonically and replied, "You're the medic."
"Well, I only ask because you might be delirious."
"Why, because I am curious what you wear to be-" His eyes shot wide open and body went rigid upon realizing what he was asking. Sakura was sure he would have blush if his body could have spared the blood. The man did not balk at much, but retaliation from Sakura was definitely on that short list. "I'm going to die, aren't I?"
Her cheeks burned and she strained to hold back her smile. "Only if you don't watch your mouth. And it isn't just that," she explained, getting off subject to save him any more humiliation. "You've been poisoned."
"Ah, well, that explains some things."
"Such as?"
"Why I can't feel my right leg."
The heat completely left her face when she scoffed. His gash in his side was still gaping, but the suture was holding and the bleeding had stopped. Two of his ribs were cracked and Kakashi fidgeted when Sakura carefully set them and sealed the bone together. Over the next hour she worked at stitching his wound closed, knowing no matter how great her efforts his body would be marked with yet another scar. Occasionally, her eyes would flick towards unnamed others over the expanse of his chest, the tight muscles of his arms, and finally at the legendary scar over his closed eye. Every wound had a story. In the center of the village, peaceful nights were filled with boisterous nins sharing their favorites and showing off a series of stitches or exposing their marred flesh, whether by burn, blade, or bad choice in a bed partner. The off-color slash that marked Kakashi's face was a tale no one repeated, yet everyone now knew. Sakura knew the significance of it, but it had always been a part of him. It was the unknown wounds that sparked her curiosity. They each had a mission, a weapon, and a person behind the hurting and healing. His skin knitted together under her hands and she realized that every time he looked at the new blemish on his side Kakashi would be reminded of breaking into her apartment in the middle of a storm and her tattered workout clothes. She was forever on his skin and she hoped he would never resent her for it.
Once she was assured that he was stable, Sakura took a deep breath and wiped the film of sweat from her clammy forehead. "Why did you come here? Why not the hospital?"
"You are the hospital."
She shook her head. "I haven't worked there in months." Although her hands felt weak and burnt from using her chakra for so long, she wrung out a wet cloth and began to gently clean the blood from his side.
"But you are the one who always treats me. Besides, you should work on your skills so you aren't out of practice when you go back." His words began to slur as exhaustion and the last harmless bit of the drug worked through his system.
She smiled and joked, "If I go back, then I will never see you. And who says I am?"
"It would be the worst loss our hospital has ever had if you don't."
Sakura replayed the conversation with Iruka two nights ago and felt the self-doubt come back. "You don't think I should have become a teacher, do you?"
"That's not what I said," he replied and shook his head. "Right now, those kids need you. But the whole village will need you as well."
"I think they would have been fine with almost anyone."
"Not true." His tongue clicked dryly. "Naruto and Sasuke… they need you."
She paused before handing Kakashi her own glass of water from the nightstand. "Oh, those kids." Turning her head to give him privacy as he drank, she stared at the small bookcase against the opposite wall and rested her hand over his injury absentmindedly. Her books on poisons and treatments collected dust ever since her responsibilities had shifted to being a jounin instructor. A few paperbacks on ninja tactics and philosophies for teaching, dog-earred from recent readings, now sat on top along with her team's files, and she felt as if no matter what she did she was missing out on something important. "Well, I can't be in two places at once, can I?"
The empty glass clinked once he clumsily set it down and slipped his mask back on. "Why do you think I was always late?"
Sakura giggled and turned her attention back to him. "We always thought it was because you didn't want to be with us."
His head rolled back completely into her pillow and he breathed deep. "That's nonsense. Who wouldn't want to be with you?"
Kakashi's compliment came off as more personal than it probably was. The steadying storm outside rumbled with distant thunder and put her nerves on edge, or it could have been how she just noticed how warm he felt against her fingers and how his natural musky smell was no longer tarnished by the iron scent of blood. Instead, he smelled like the rain, the wind, and the sweet, earthy sugi trees from the training fields. The adrenaline rush from before now settled low in her gut, making her shoulders tremble and body glow with warmth. He breathed in deep and the dibs in his chest were punctuated by the soft moonlight that broke through the weakening storm clouds. Every anonymous scar unexpectedly begged for her fingers to trace them and, in an instant, she was brought back to her dream.
There was something basal about the feminine power, one she had recently grown confidence in, which she now employed with the males in her life. Sakura saw no fault in being a woman and their interactions were not suggestive. The flirting between her and Kakashi was even playful, awkward, and harmless. But, covered by the dark of her apartment she realized this was the first time they had ever been truly alone together, and her normal shyness slowly dissipated from the intimacy. Kakashi had always seen her as a teammate and now acknowledged her as an equal, but once she acted like a woman instead of a playful girl, he had safely treated her as such. Touching him now, she realized how much she enjoyed it.
Tonight, her innocent flirting wanted to develop into something dangerous. She knew logically she shouldn't push him, or this… but it had been many years since danger had stopped Sakura.
"Nothing," she spoke enigmatically, her soft voice bridging the small space that separated them.
His labored question tentatively escaped his dry lips. "… What?"
"Most nights," she teased, "especially when it is hot, I don't wear anything to bed." It was a lie. A ninja always had to be prepared at a moment's notice. Unlike Ino, Sakura usually bound her chest and wore leggings to make it easier to get dressed should she need to quickly. That, however, just did not seem… sexy.
"Sakura…" His widened eyes glazed over.
"Yes, Kakashi?" The words rolled off her tongue in a deep, but still unsteady, coo. Her calm drop of the honorific visibly shook him.
"This is a hallucination, isn't it?"
"Why," she urged, high off her own feminine effect. "What are you imagining?"
His shock turned fearful. Suddenly, she felt guilty, and unprofessional, for bating a drug-laden and injured man. Kakashi was obviously comfortable enough with her to trust her when he needed help, and she was pushing him away. He probably could not discern reality from the hallucinations he had to be experiencing when he came to her, and now she was made him uneasy.
Feeling ashamed and desperately desiring seclusion, Sakura began to stand. "You should rest, Kakashi."
With a surprising amount of strength, he reached out and gripped her retreating arm. "This is real, isn't it?" He pulled her back his side, close enough for her to see the abnormal panic in his eyes. "I'm not bleeding out in some forest by myself dreaming about you, am I?"
She blushed genuinely and reached out to stroke his masked cheek in reassurance, but the anxiety grew in his expression instead. She wasn't acting like herself, so it was no wonder he could not tell if she was real. Sakura sighed and then firmly flicked his forehead; the loud thunk proving to be more cathartic than the flirting. "Pervert."
He blinked once, then twice, and the pause that stretched after her aggressive gesture brought reassurance to them both. "Ow." His eyes began to roll back as the pain and fear receded. "Good to be home."
Sakura rose and patted his head on her way into her living room, leaving him and the odd desires she had felt to rest. "Sleep."
.
As expected, Kakashi had disappeared before she awoke the next morning. On her nightstand, propped against the empty water glass, was a note saying, "I.O.U." and signed by Kakashi's trademark henohenomoheji. As far as legal tender went, it was about as valuable as one of Tsunade's promissory notes, but she smiled at it all the same. She took care in gathering up her bloodied sheets and blankets to throw them out, but couldn't help but catch the scent of his skin on them. Somehow, it lingered with her, along with a hint of embarrassment, until she left to meet her team.
Manami was leaning against the towering gate of the town's entrance throwing small rocks at another genin tasked with repainted the worn, white characters reading 'Konoha'. Tarou continually adjusted new bracers that cut into his thick hands while sitting with his back propped against Shou's, who snores echoed off the tall walls. Sakura appeared in a puff of smoke just in time to catch the painting genin that fell from a rock hitting him on the head. He squirmed in her grasp to get at the laughing girl and she recognized him as one of Naruto's students. She couldn't quite remember his name, but felt he deserved retribution and released him to gain it. Manami and the boy quarreled in the dirt as she approached the rest of her team.
"Glad to see you are all on time, though Shou doesn't appear to be completely prepared."
With a snort, the blonde flinched in his sleep and fell to the ground. Tarou shrugged. "He kept me up half the night boasting about how he could take this mission on single-handedly."
Sakura's head tilted. "Do you two stay together?"
"No," the boy calmly replied, deliberately withholding a complete answer, "Just when there are problems at home."
She wanted to push the issue, but a grimy Manami walked up, nursing a scratched cheek, and kicked Shou hard in the shins. "Are we leaving or wha-AAA!"
The half-awake boy successfully swiped at her feet and both were growling at each other the next instant.
Sakura looked towards Tarou pleadingly and, with a nod, he reached out and knocked both on the top of the head. "You two. Stop."
Before any other confrontation could start, Sakura clapped her hands. "IF you are ready to act like ninja, I think we can be on our way."
With one last scornful look, the pair stood and took spots on opposite sides of Tarou. Sakura did not bother to withhold a frustrated sigh and, after waving to the gate guards, they began walking on the slightly muddy ground away from the village.
The trek was not far, but long enough for the lingering humidity to hinder their pace. During their only water break, Sakura piled up her hair and scoured through her pack, only to find that she had forgotten hair ties. Though she knew it would make her appear unprepared, she immediately began to ask the other female.
"Hey, Manami-chan," she said sweetly, "do you happen to have any…"
The girl raised a condescending eyebrow, pointing to her pixie short hair, and both boys chuckled before each handing her one of their own.
She hid her unconfident blush, but at least the itchy ends of her hair were no longer tickling her neck.
After another half hour of quiet travel, to which she accredited the weather and not their willpower, Sakura began to review their mission. "You all were briefed about what we are facing up ahead. There have been lower-class nin bullying local civilian businesses for financial support in the guise of a "protection tax". No one has recognized any of the oppressors as locals, so we are to assume these shinobi are from another territory. Our mission is to relieve the town of the rogue ninja, but also discover their country of origin."
"Keh, how are we supposed to do that?"
"By their fighting style, mostly," she explained. "Also, most D-rank ninja boast about where they are from."
"Well," Manami questioned, and it was her first words since they left Konoha. "How did the town even know they are so lowly ranked?"
To this, Sakura looked back and smiled pointedly at Shou and Manami. "They quarrel with each other. Constantly."
The genin huffed, blushed, and went quiet once again. Chiming cicadas began to fill the air as the day grew later and Sakura thoughts trailed to Kakashi. She remembered how he handled being in the same position she was in now. He had seen the obvious rivalry between Naruto and Sasuke and he had nurtured it appropriately. How was anyone to know the cataclysmic consequences of leaving them to their own devices, or how it was exactly this oversight that would allow their friendship to develop to a point where they would save the world together? Before Sasuke had left the village, before the betrayal and attempts on each others' lives, they had fought on top of the hospital. The rift only grew wider from there, but Kakashi had promised Sakura one day it would be as it was before. He was sincere, but also very wrong. It had taken her a long time to recognize that with the information given to him, any worthwhile teacher would have done exactly the same thing, even if she held onto the false hope and hint of resentment for far too long afterwards. They were all together once again, but of course things were different. As an adult, she knew it was childish to ever think it would be any other way.
She had been a child at the time, though, just as the three ninjas behind her were now. Sakura worried about failing them, about accidentally leading them down a wrong path by hindering their personal strengths or evolving destructive ones. Every day with her team changed how she viewed her uncertainties and she was no longer bothered that she would make the same well-meaning mistakes her teacher did, but focused on the genuine concern and care that was behind every decision he made for them. Being in a similar situation helped her understand him a little better.
More and more he was transforming from her enigmatic sensei from her childhood. He was a respectable ninja, still a bit of a pervert, and a friend. He skipped out on bills, but was always there when you needed him. Last night, however, she had crossed a line she had not meant to, and Sakura could not help but see him as an attractive man.
…
A/N: There are probably some errors. I'll fix them later.