Hello everyone! I had to redo this chapter before I move on to chapter 4...I'm very sorry for those people who thought that this was chapter 4...GOMEN!!!BOWS Anywho I dedicate this to my best friend and sister Catherine! Without her this wouldn't be possible!!
PLEASE REVIEW!! REVIEWS ARE FOOD FOR HUNGRY WRITER-PEOPLE!!
Sakura smiled affectionately at her summon. She hid her injured leg from the slug and straightened her posture. She then looked into her summon's lime green eyes.
"Sakuya-chan, would you mind sending a message to Tsunade-sama for me?" Sakuya seemed overjoyed in seeing her masters teacher and did not notice Sakura's attempt to hide her injured limb.
"What do you want me to tell her Sakura-sama?" Sakuya slowly circled around Sakura, creating a ring of slime around her. And because of her bouncy movement, Sakuya's cherry blossom hat precariously dangled from her slimy head.
Sakura glanced over to Kakashi, who was strangely quiet, and back to Sakuya. She was hoping that Kakashi would mention something about her summon or that Sakuya would mention a relationship between them. She sighed and gave up on that thought. She could dream about things. Couldn't she?
Hopefully, she could use Sakuya's denseness as an advantage and trust that she wouldn't see her injured leg. In a brisk manner that she usually reserved for the Konoha hospital, she started to speak.
"Tell Tsunade-shishou that Kakashi and I failed the mission" - Sakuya blinked in surprise –"and that we are both injured" –her lime green eyes narrowed-"and need a retrieval-team to assist us in our return."
Sakura tensed. Her injuries wouldn't kill her but her summon could. Being a superb Medic Nin, she had strong opinions and distressed feelings when her co-workers sent the fatally injured to her. Her summon on the other hand tended to be harsh. Having high expectations for ninjas, the pink slug wasn't pleased with the injured. Sakuya was especially infuriated if the injured person was precious to her.
Sakuya's eyeball twitched. A fuming aura shot out from her body and her hat fell off. This was a horrible signal. No matter how Sakuya moved rather, whether it was upside down or at the speed of light, her hat never fell off. Sakura had a hunch that it had to do with the slug's chakra but she was not entirely sure. Yet, fear made Sakura slowly back up to the damp cave wall with the little balance that she had.
"Now, now Sakuya... - shaking her head back forth, her pink locks swaying- d...d- don't get mad I'll heal myself as soon as I get enough chakra and I'll go the hospital! Okay?"'
'I'm surprised that we're still standing! We just used the remaining of our Chakra so how the hell are supposed to heal ourselves so soon and I'm not letting a newbie medic heal me.' inner Sakura stubbornly tilted her chalky-like chin high in the air with a big huff.
Sakura ignored inner's rambling and pondered about her summon. Hopefully her summon wouldn't do what she did the last time she was injured. Sakura shuddered remembering the slimy feeling of her summon leaping on to her injury.
The pink colored slug sighed, put her hat back on her head(a/n: I don't know how a slug can put anything back on their head since they don't have arms)gave one last intimidating glare at her master, and vanished, a trail of slime created in her quick departure.
Kakashi thought in silence not noticing the look the Sakura sent him. How his little Sakura grew. The last time he saw her was two years ago when she was fifteen. Did he start to have feelings for her then or was it recent? Like, when he saw her for the first time after a two-year absence.
(Flashback)
He remembered walking into the Konoha gates, bloody and tired after a two-year mission. He had passed the time limit for the mission and must immediately see the Hokage. She told him that if he were a week or two late for the deadline, she would send out ninja to search for him.
He passed a jounin with a large ax tied to her back. Never in his thirty-three years of living has he seen an axe like this. It was almost as long as Zabuza's sword and the covered steel blade of the axe curved a foot over the kunoichi's left shoulder. The tip of the handle went slightly past her knee. He marveled at the female's poise; carrying such a heavy object on her petite body should be difficult, yet she bore it with such finesse. He estimated her height; she would be level to his shoulder. If he remembered correctly, Sakura was the same height as this mysterious stranger, yet wouldn't Sakura grow after two-years?
He wondered what her skills were with the weapon. On his way to the village, he remembered eavesdropping on some male shinobi about "the Mercenary Kunoichi", who wielded a huge axe that was always tied to her back. He felt intrigued with the female and wanted to know who she was and ignored the loud, throbbing of his tired body.
There wasn't enough sunlight outside to determine the kunoichi's hair color and her long lashes obscured her eyes. He felt from instinct that he had seen this stranger before. Realizing that he was staring, he started to limp to the kunoichi planning to introduce himself, yet he wondered why the kunoichi continued to ignore him, as she concentrated her eyes in a particular direction.
Quite suddenly, however, he felt a familiar chakra signature rapidly coming toward him. Kakashi turned. His eyes widened as a blonde blur sped past him almost knocking him off his feet.
The blonde-haired person shouted, "Sorry Anbu-ojisan" as he sped by.
Kakashi blinked. He forgot that he was wearing his anbu mask.
No wonder Naruto didn't recognize me. He smirked
Beneath the two masks that he wore, he grinned at his luck. He would ask Naruto to introduce him to the attractive jounin. He turned to the pair and opened his mouth to speak but the kunoichi beat him to it.
"Naruto!-her eyes snapped open and startled Kakashi with deep pools of green. - "You are late!-pointed an accusing finger at the blonde- "We were supposed to leave for the retrieval mission fifteen minutes ago! You're worse than Kakashi-sensei!"
Kakashi cringed. "The Mercenary kunoichi" was Sakura! He narrowed his eyes to get a better look at her hair. Sakura's hair would always be a way to figure out if it was really her. He didn't know any pinked haired kunoichi in Konoha besides Sakura, but it had to be a different person. He panicked. He even stated that the female was attractive, in his mind of course, but if she was Sakura…As the mystery kunoichi turned her head the remaining sunlight bounced off her hair and Kakashi was able to see her strawberry locks-He felt ashamed…He ogled his own student!
The setting sun painted a beautiful picture for him but Kakashi didn't notice it he watched the show in front of him pondering if he should intervene and say hi or go to the Hokage first. He chose decision number one and decided to stop them from going on with the mission. He was certain that he was the person that they were departing to retrieve.
Naruto sped up to the female and almost collided with her rather large chest when he tripped past the anbu, but thankfully he was saved when he managed to gain his balance after rapidly flipping sideways into the air. Naruto, in a deeper voice than Kakashi remembered, yelled out the name that Kakashi was dreading,
"Sakura-chan!"
The said kunoichi responded with a loud shout of Naruto's name and a demand of him to apologize properly to the anbu that he bumped into. Yet Naruto adamantly refused to apologize stating that he already did and that it wasn't his fault.
Kakashi slowly walked toward the commotion and knew that if the female in front of was really Sakura he would have to stop the approaching punch that was making a beeline for the hyperactive, blue-eyed man.
Speeding up so he reached Sakura's side he grabbed her wrist just as her fist was about to hit the cowering Naruto. Naruto blinked and looked up at the anbu that had just saved his ramen-loving ass. He smirked and jumped up, he puffed his chest out, and his eyes grew huge and twinkled.
"Ha! Don't you see Sakura-chan! Anbu-chan was the one who was in the way and he knew that I said sorry. He knows that someday I will be above him as the Hokage, so to show his loyalty and support he stopped your fist of terror from punching me! Thanks Anbu-chan! I'll be sure to give you a pay raise when I'm Hokage!" Naruto thumped Kakashi on his back making him flinch with pain.
Sakura on the other hand narrowed her eyes at the grimace.
twitchKakashi sweat dropped at the nickname. You could always depend on Naruto to be disrespectful.
Kakashi decided that it was his chance to speak. "Well I am delighted to see that you are the same after all these years Naruto and I don't think I'll need a pay raise, but thanks for mentioning it." Kakashi said in a dry, lazy voice and slowly removed his anbu mask.
The two jounin gasped simultaneously. Naruto lunged at Kakashi and gave him a bear hug. Kakashi was surprised. Naruto had gotten a lot taller and he had just noticed. He was almost as big as he was and his hug was crushing him!
"Kakashi-sensei it's you! When did you get back? How was your mission?" Naruto looked as if he was going to explode with joy and turned to Sakura, "Now we don't have to go out of the village, huh Sakura-chan!"
"Answering Naruto's question, I came back a few moments ago." Kakashi let go of Sakura's wrist and turned to look at her with his onyx eye. "Ne, Sakura-chan, when did you get that?" Kakashi ungracefully slouched and pointed at the huge weapon on her back. Sakura blinked and looked slightly confused until she looked at where his finger was pointing and chuckled.
Kakashi was mesmerized with her bell like giggle
"I got this shortly after you left on your mission and I've been using it since," Sakura looked up at Kakashi, saw his surprised look, and smirked. "You don't think I can handle it do you?" her tone started to get dangerous and Naruto looked nervous, yet still managed still smile.
Kakashi replied with a slight smile under his black mask and his eye curved in the trademark way. "So Sakura you are the "Mercenary Kunoichi"? Quite an interesting name don't you think? You mind my asking how you got it?"
Naruto looked devious and was going to comment… if the kunoichi hadn't covered his mouth. Sakura turned a deep red color that clashed horribly with her hair. "How did you find out about that...Never mind I don't think it's a good time to have a deep conversation since you're badly injured" No one could escape her medic eye. She waited for some type of argument from Kakashi, but didn't get one and it started to worry her.
Kakashi didn't have enough strength to argue with Sakura or avoid the hospital and reluctantly nodded his head. He saw Sakura nod at Naruto and felt him grab a hold of his shoulder.
"Don't worry Kakashi-sensei! Sakura-chan will get you pieced together in no time!" Naruto grinned and gave Kakashi's shoulder a pat.
Kakashi looked at the both of them, but let his gaze on Sakura linger. Both of them have grown into powerful shinobi and he bet on his mask that if they were to spar, Naruto and Sakura would definitely win. He didn't deserve the name of sensei anymore. They had surpassed him.
"Don't call me sensei anymore" quietly commanding the two and removed Naruto's hold on his shoulder. He limped toward the hospital, not minding the surprised stares that he received from his equals.
(End Flashback)
Since that time, he wasn't able to corner Sakura and question her about her new nickname. Sadly, after his successful healing, done by Sakura, Tsunade-sama sent them on a mission to retrieve an unexplained scroll that seemed to bother his conscious. It put him on a slight edge, but at least he could ask Sakura now.
"Kakashi? Kakashi? Kakashi! You old man look at me!" Sakura yelled in his ears.
Kakashi jerked his body away from Sakura as if he had been burned and glared at her. Covering his precious ears as if they were gold, he turned his moveable torso to Sakura.
"Who are you calling an old man?" He replied in a low menacing voice, sending a shiver down her spine and causing her to clutch the damp wall in effort to keep balanced.
Sakura nervously giggled, "Well while you were day-dreaming I sent Sakuya-chan to get us some help." She carefully slid down the wall to sit across from him and positioned her injured leg in a comfortable position.
She looked out of the cave entrance and did notice the look of longing Kakashi sent her way.
Well I redid some of this and I corrected the many, MANY mistakes, hoping that it would sound a little better. I give big thanks to Sailormoonie17 cause without her criticism I wouldn't have made the effort!!!!