AN: At the time I started writing this chapter, I was unemployed. However, that is no longer the case! Hooray for me! Unbeta'd, all spelling/grammar errors are mine.

"You're as bad as Jiraiya," Sakura grumbled, moving to sit at the small white desk beside the examination table. She paused for a moment, an odd look crossing her face. "Oh god, I hope he's not coming in here today…"

Kakashi chuckled. "I don't think I'm as bad as Jiraiya," he mused, dog-earing a page in his book and placing it down beside him.

Sakura stared at him with a frown on her face. She was happy to see him, really. It was always nice to see old teammates. But did it have to be under this context? They hadn't spoken for months. She would have preferred bumping into Kakashi at the market or at the bookstore, not here. He was her former sensei, he was thirty-two, and he was sitting in nothing but a medical gown in front of her. It was too awkward.

She'd always looked at her sensei with a kind of cool admiration before. After all, he was the famous Copy-nin Kakashi. He was one of the strongest ninja in the village! It was hard for young ninja not to want to be like him, and even harder for those under his tutelage. But as much as she respected him, she didn't think she would be able to complete his physical examination without blushing a deep red the entire time.

Sakura had no problem dealing with people, normally. She could poke, prod, squeeze, and examine to her heart's content because she found it easier to view her patients as examples of human anatomy. However, when a familiar face is put on that example of human anatomy, suddenly things become much harder.

"Anyway… um… Kakashi-sensei," she gave him a half-smile as she began flipping through the stack of folders. "How have you been these days?"

He shrugged. "No worse for wear. Will this take long?"

"It's nice to see you too," she sighed, and began flipping through the files for a second time. There was a rather awkward moment of silence as she furiously checked each file. "I can't believe this," she murmured after a few more seconds, turning to face the tall jounin seated at the table. "Your file isn't in here."

"A tragic loss," Kakashi agreed unsympathetically.

"I'm going to have to go find it," Sakura said, getting up from the desk. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

Kakashi's hand suddenly shot out and gripped her arm tightly, effectively stopping her from moving any further. "There's no need," he said stiffly. "It's just my family history and medical history, right?"

"Well, yeah…"

"We can probably do this without it. I can tell you everything you need to know."

Sakura gave him an odd look. "Why are you so anxious to get out of here, sensei?" she demanded, jerking her arm out of his grasp. "Got a busy day of intense reading planned?"

"Oh, you know. Places to go, people to accost."

"Well, I'm afraid I'm going to have to accost you for a little longer. I really need that file."

Kakashi gave her a defeated look. There really was no stopping her, was there? It wasn't as though his medical file was particularly interesting. As her hand closed over the doorknob to the exam room, he called out to her again. "Sakura, if you leave the room, there's no guarantee I'll be here when you get back."

She paused and threw him a glare over her shoulder. "Fine," she said evenly, releasing the doorknob and walking towards him again. "I'll just fill in everything later. First we have to get your height and weight…"

She ushered him over to the scale on the far side of the room and he tentatively stood on it, his back facing her. She was glad he had the mind to tie the drawstrings on his hospital gown tightly. She wasn't sure if she could handle seeing her former sensei's bare backside. Things were awkward enough already, and they would only get worse as the exam progressed. She adjusted the measuring devices on the scale and studied it for a moment. "You are… just under six feet tall," she murmured, crossing her arms. "And a hundred and fifty pounds."

"A hundred and forty-eight, last time I checked," Kakashi corrected lightly.

Sakura gave him a wry look. "Poor you, you're getting fat."

He just gave a low chuckle and made his way back to the exam table. "Well, that takes care of the first part," he said, hoisting himself up on the table and sitting down, watching her. "What's next?"

"Well, at some point I'm going to have to ask you to take your mask off, so we might as well get that over with," Sakura said, and then stood in front of him expectantly. When he didn't move a muscle, she sighed. "Sometime today, please."

"I'd rather not. Can we skip this part?"

"What, and get right to the part where I examine your – your – um…" Sakura decided to stop herself right then and there before she dug herself into an even deeper pit of shame and humiliation. As it went, she was in deep enough already having left her sentence hanging like that.

Kakashi's eyebrows shot into his hairline. "Examine my what?" he prompted casually, and Sakura shot him a dirty look, knowing fully well that he was just trying to embarrass her.

"Never mind," she mumbled, her cheeks getting red. "I'll go get my stethoscope."

Kakashi watched her with mild interest. Sakura certainly had grown up over the years. It was very easy to differentiate between the twelve-year old Sakura he had left in Tsunade's care and the eighteen-year old Sakura standing in front of him in that nurse outfit with her heeled sandals. For one thing, she had matured both mentally and physically. Naughty nurse day indeed.

At the same time, however, there were many things about eighteen-year old Sakura that remained the same. Her tendency to blush easily, for example, hadn't changed. She also remained long-limbed and slender despite having wider hips and slightly fuller breasts (although not by much). But she had become smarter, sharper, and more responsible. And she wore those shoes very nicely.

Sakura turned and saw him staring at her feet rather blatantly for a second before he snapped his eyes back up to her face. She gave him a strange look. "The shoes again?" she asked, approaching him with the stethoscope in her hand. "Look, quit staring at my feet, Kakashi-sensei, you're starting to make me nervous. I'm not wearing these because it's 'naughty nurse' day…"

"I wasn't even aware it was an actual day. I lucked out, didn't I?"

"Ugh, there's no such day. I couldn't find my other shoes. That's all," Sakura said, shaking her head. "And if you keep staring, I'll end up getting so edgy I'll fall flat on my face."

He shrugged and looked away. "They look nice."

Sakura opened her mouth to say something, but she couldn't think of anything to say to that. She supposed she should thank him for the compliment, but for some reason it seemed borderline inappropriate. She wasn't exactly sure why. "Um, anyway… I'm going to check your lungs and heartbeat now…"

Kakashi hummed in response as Sakura pressed the metal chestpiece of the stethoscope to his chest through the cheap cotton of the gown and inserted the listening ends into her ears. "Breathe," she instructed.

"I am."

"Breathe deeply."

Kakashi complied however many times she asked, and turned his attention to the window. It was such a nice day outside. He was always more inclined to appreciate the fall, even though spring was far prettier in Konoha. He was a little startled out of his reverie when he felt her undoing the top drawstring on his gown.

"What are you doing?" he asked, vaguely concerned. For some reason, his mind couldn't comprehend the necessity of her actions.

Sakura gave him a look. "You don't just listen from the front, you listen from the back too. As it so happens, you tied this so tightly at the top," she said, and after a brief pause added, "I'm not even sure how you did that." For a moment she was inwardly giddy that she had managed to catch the great Kakashi off-guard. She took a quick glance at his back before pressing the cold metal to his skin. He flinched a little, but that was no surprise. Many people flinched when they were unexpectedly touched with something cold. It was nice to know that the almost-robotic copy ninja could be human at times.

"Breathe," she instructed again, and he did.

After a moment of careful listening, she sighed and pulled the stethoscope down around her neck. "Well, it seems you've got a bit of crackling. Have you been sick recently?"

"No…"

"Well, don't be surprised if you develop the sniffles in a few days."

Kakashi sighed. "That figures. I haven't been sick this year yet."

Sakura laughed softly and took his right arm in her hands. She silently and quickly checked his joints and flexibility in that arm before moving to the next to do the same. This portion of the exam moved fluidly and effortlessly. Kakashi was rather impressed with Sakura at this point; she certainly seemed to know what she was doing.

"Could you stand up and walk around?" she asked all of a sudden, stepping back to watch him. He slid off the table and casually sauntered around the room, his arms swinging lazily at his sides as he walked.

Sakura seemed to be mumbling something. "No limp… knees look good, ankles good…" She unconsciously let herself trail off as she watched his muscles flexing underneath his skin. Kakashi had rather nice legs. It was almost a pity that the standard male ninja uniform consisted of loose pants, a loose sweater, and a clunky green vest.

Kakashi stopped walking and turned to face her curiously. To be honest, he didn't like physical exams. This one was his first exam in about six years. He just didn't see the need to go see a medic unless he was in pain or something was clearly wrong, and even then he was a little hesitant. Most things he could take care of himself.

He stared at her for a moment and saw that her cheeks had darkened substantially, and she was deliberately avoiding his gaze. "Er… I guess we move onto the next part," Sakura said, clearing her throat nervously. She moved to the desk drawer and pulled a pair of latex gloves from the box inside.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "And what part is that?"

"The… um…"

It was sort of amusing, watching her trip over her words like that.

Sakura finally met his stare with a rather embarrassed one of her own. "Uh… that one," she mumbled, with a vague gesture of her hand towards him.

"That doesn't sound like a medical procedure to me," he said with a low chuckle, but she didn't return his flippant attitude. She let her eyes fall after that and he curiously followed her gaze… right to his groin.

"Oh," was all he could manage to say. "That one."

"Yeah…" Sakura cleared her throat. She took slow, careful steps towards him and kept making vague gestures with her hand, a pained expression on her face. She was mentally kicking herself for how unprofessional she was being. Sure, she knew Kakashi personally, but she should still have been able to retain some professionalism, right? But maybe it was that small measure of professionalism that was keeping her from running from the room in a panic because she was about to touch her former sensei's "naughty parts". Sakura swallowed hard. She could do this. It was just a human body, like so many other human bodies she'd examined before.

But… it just seemed so weird! Even if they were no longer student and teacher, there was just something inappropriate and wrong about touching Kakashi in an intimate place like that.

She exhaled raggedly. "Lift, please," she said, pointing at the hem of his gown. Well, there was no turning back now.

Kakashi reached down and lazily lifted his gown up slightly. Sakura was immediately glad that she couldn't see it, because that would have embarrassed her to no end. For a long moment, nobody moved, and then Kakashi gave a slight cough to get her attention. "Ah, it's getting a bit drafty…" he trailed off, letting his gaze drift to a rather dull painting on the far wall. He didn't really want to stand here all day lifting up his gown.

Sakura blinked. "Oh. Right. Sorry." She reached out hesitantly, her fingers shaking, and then suddenly they ghosted over flesh. She pressed a little harder. Okay, that's his hip. She nearly sighed in relief.

"That tickles," Kakashi murmured.

Sakura said nothing, and let her fingers travel closer to that spot. When she touched it, she tried not to think about how it belonged to one of the most respected and skilled ninja in Konoha. This is a medical procedure, she kept reminding herself. Just a medical procedure. Nothing out of the ordinary.

It was soft and warm, but no bigger or smaller than most of the ones she'd dealt with. Of course, she still couldn't see it. Sakura didn't want to look at his face in case he was looking at her, so she stared at a random spot on his hospital gown, near the middle – around where his ribs were, she supposed. The gown hung so loosely on him that it was hard to tell without looking above his shoulders.

She kept squeezing and cradling, checking for any strange lumps or anything out of the ordinary. "Any discomfort?" she asked, and was a little relieved to hear that she sounded more professional than she felt.

Kakashi made an odd noise in the back of his throat. "Not yet," he replied, and there was something odd about his tone of voice that Sakura couldn't quite place.

She frowned. "You know what I mean…" Sakura stopped, feeling something strange all of a sudden. She gave another experimental squeeze. "What is that…?" she mumbled almost incoherently, and a few seconds later she pulled her hand away and stepped back quickly. "Is it – are you…? Oh my god."

-

Tsunade nearly choked on her instant ramen when Sakura burst into her office, her face red.

"Tsunade-sama!" Sakura cried, and came to an abrupt halt just in front of her mentor's desk. Her fists were balled so tightly her knuckles were white and looked like they might pop from the strain.

Tsunade coughed a little, trying to clear her windpipe, and she looked at the pink-haired kunoichi curiously. "Yes?" she rasped, and cleared her throat. "Can I help you?"

"Remember earlier? When you asked me if I was being overworked?"

"Yes…"

Sakura began pacing back and forth in front of the desk. "Well, I think I might need a little time off," she said carefully, and then stopped. "No," she corrected. "Not time off, just… a little less work."

Tsunade narrowed her eyes. "Okay… I could cut your shifts for a couple of weeks. Is that fine?"

Sakura chewed on her lower lip. "I was thinking… desk work. I'm sure there's a lot of paperwork that needs to be done… and if I devote my time to filing, then you and Shizune-san would probably be able to get a chance to do other things…"

"Sakura…"

"Um, yes?"

Tsunade pushed her instant ramen off to the side and clasped her hands together on the desk. "Is there any reason for this sudden change of heart?" she asked delicately, watching her protégé closely. Sakura was behaving strangely, like she'd just seen a ghost or some other kind of paranormal activity. Sakura took brief glances at the Hokage every couple of seconds, until she finally leaned on the desk and gave a weary sigh.

"Okay, well… I was doing my first exam today and…"

"And?"

"And… during the testicular exam, he…" Sakura couldn't bring herself to complete that sentence, so she settled for using crude gestures to try and get her point across.

Tsunade was amused. "Sakura… how is that a bad thing? Actually, let me rephrase that. How is that an unusual thing? I mean, this has happened to you before. What's so different this time?"

"It was… um… Kakashi-sensei."

Tsunade chuckled but said nothing. It was kind of amusing to think that Kakashi could have succumbed to the same kind of thing that normally affected pubescent genin and horny old men when they were subject to a complete physical by a pretty young nurse. Plus, Kakashi was almost nearly in complete control of himself. She couldn't help but chuckle.

"It's not funny, Tsunade-sama!" Sakura cried. "It's weird!"

"So? It's just Kakashi. He doesn't have anything you haven't seen before, I'm sure."

"I know that, but… he was my teacher! I knew him when I was twelve!"

"Fine, fine…" Tsunade waved her hand dismissively and sighed. "I'll put you on desk duty for two weeks. Is that enough time for you to get over your little hang-up over this… thing?"

Sakura looked absolutely relieved and found herself bowing several times graciously. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"I am also giving you Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays off from now on."

Sakura stopped. "Huh?" she spluttered, looking confused. Why would Tsunade give her three days off? She was fine. She had desk work now.

Tsunade shrugged. "Well, initially, you did say you wanted less work."

Oh. That was right. She had said that. But she wasn't really listening to herself; she kept thinking about that incident. How could that happened? It was true that sometimes men could get aroused during physicals, but that hadn't happened recently to Sakura, and moreover it hadn't bothered her until now. The first time it happened, she freaked, but after Tsunade and Shizune calmed her down and explained to her why it happened, she began to get a little more comfortable in exams, knowing that it was just something that happened sometimes.

But this time, it seemed different – dirty, even. Something utterly, utterly wrong. And it made her blush like nothing else.

"I was going to suggest some time off anyway," Tsunade was saying. "I was thinking about it before, about how you said I wasn't overworking you even though it was obvious you were lying, and I came to one conclusion."

"Oh… yeah?"

"You live and breathe medicine."

"I'm sorry?"

"You're here every day, healing broken bones and patching up injuries with the nurses. You're very dedicated."

Sakura nodded her head, but she didn't feel especially ecstatic about the compliment. She had a feeling this wasn't going to end well for her.

"It's your dedication I appreciate. It's helped you achieve so much these past few years. But…" Tsunade's brow creased as she gave Sakura a very intense stare. "It's your dedication to your job that has me worried. It's almost as if you have no life outside of work."

"That's not true!" Sakura protested. "Last night I went out with Ino to a bar…"

"I'm guessing not completely of your own volition?" Tsunade offered, and then continued before Sakura could say anything. "I'm just concerned that you're biting off more than you can chew. You're eighteen, Sakura. You shouldn't be holed up in a hospital giving old men erections."

Sakura shot the Hokage a dirty look.

"Sorry. That was in bad taste, huh?"

"Tsunade-sama… I'm not like the other eighteen-year olds – "

Tsunade interrupted her. "And that's exactly what I'm concerned about! I'm concerned that all this work is alienating you from people your own age. You should be able to drink and have fun. Give old men erections outside of the hospital."

"…Still in bad taste," Sakura grumbled. "But even so… Tsunade-sama, the reason I'm not like other eighteen-year olds has nothing to do with working here. I just don't like… doing those things."

"So… take the few days off I'm giving you and find a hobby."

"A hobby?"

"Yeah. Take up flower arranging or collect wind chimes. Anything non-medical so you have something to distract you from things like what happened today," Tsunade gave a shrug. "Everybody has some kind of hobby."

Sakura thought about that for a second. "Ino doesn't," she pointed out. "Not really."

"Oh? What does she do in her spare time, then?"

"Uh… she goes to bars and hangs out with Shikamaru and Chouji…"

"I see. And that doesn't distract her from the brutality of missions?"

Sakura said nothing.

"And what do you do in your spare time, Sakura?" Tsunade asked, raising an eyebrow.

"…Nothing."

Tsunade thought as much. As fiery as Sakura could be, she just didn't seem like the kind of person who would indulge in a trivial hobby during her off hours. At the end of her shifts, the pink-haired girl just seemed exhausted. "Think of it as a mission. I'm ordering you to get a hobby," Tsunade said casually, pulling her instant ramen towards her again. "I'll give you until Tuesday."

-

Kakashi couldn't believe that happened. That had never happened to him before. Even six years ago, when he last had a physical, a female medic had been the one examining him, but he didn't feel even the slightest aroused. And he'd been reading his book too.

He'd been embarrassed, considering Sakura had been touching him at the time it happened, but he never stayed embarrassed for very long. He was a little concerned about how Sakura was taking this, actually. She'd completed the rest of the exam with a kind of robotic haste he'd never seen her possess before, and then was out the door as soon as she was done.

He just couldn't understand how his body worked sometimes. One minute, he was thinking about how strange it was that he was being squeezed in the palm of Sakura's hand – Sakura, who'd been twelve six years ago – and how she was just a little girl back then. And then he kept reminding himself that she was eighteen now. She was an adult, not a child. An adult. But reminding himself of that fact seemed to unconsciously send his hormones into overdrive, and then, before he knew it, he was sporting a rather impressive arousal.

He wasn't sure what to do now. Should he apologize to Sakura? Or maybe it was best not to see her…

But first, Kakashi was going to go home and hit his head against the wall a few times.

AN: So, um, this is actually the second version of the second chapter. The first version I actually had completed a couple of days after I first posted, but I was seriously unhappy with it so I started writing this version. The other version was almost completely humourless, which disturbed me. I hope you had a good time reading! I adore your wonderful reviews. You guys made me happy.