Disclaimer: See first chapter.

Dedication: I'm dedicating this chapter to my late grandfather, who died Wednesday night, May 16th, 2007. Here's to you, grampa -- I inherited more from you than just a love of bologna and a passion for pranks and jokes. Cheers!

AN: So, it's been a while. I was on a Harry Potter kick for a couple of months and it didn't feel right to half-ass this Naruto fic while my focus was primarily elsewhere, but I'm back on Naruto now! And in celebration of Anime North (it could not have come sooner) and my consequent loss of paycheque (aaargh), I bring you a new chapter. And, lucky for you, this chapter is beta'd, by my new beta, Harrison J. Pecans, who happens to be tres fantastique. Hooray! Enjoy, and I apologize for the lateness -- but know that I haven't abandoned this at all. :)

"By the way, why did you say 'Naruto'?"

Sakura looked across the table at Ino. It was just around noon, and they were sitting at a sweet shop sharing a pot of green tea. Shikamaru had disappeared completely after the little debacle in front of that creepy old man's shop, and they hadn't seen him since. But it didn't matter. He probably wouldn't have contributed much to the conversation.

Ino was giving Sakura a pointed look that Sakura didn't really like. It seemed too calculating.

"Does it matter?" Sakura rebuked carefully, frowning.

Ino scoffed. "Is it wishful thinking or something? Because I'm sure I could set something up…"

"Dear god, Ino. It's not that!"

"Then what? I don't get it! Don't you have a crush on anybody? Couldn't you have used someone better?"

Ino could be so dense sometimes.

"Naruto is one of my best friends," Sakura pointed out. "I was sure he wouldn't mind if, say, a rumour started floating around that I was dating him. It would be easier to explain to him what really happened and have him believe me."

"So? Is that any different than Kakashi? He was your teacher, I'm sure he'd understand too."

A furious blush overcame Sakura, and she immediately snatched her teacup off the table and gulped the scalding liquid quickly and carelessly. Ino watched in horror as Sakura's face turned an unpleasant red colour, adding to the blush she was already sporting, and she began gasping for breath. "H-hot!" the pink-haired girl exclaimed, sticking her tongue out and fanning it wildly with her hands.

"Well, duh." Ino ignored the mean look she was receiving from Sakura and propped her head up on interlaced fingers. Her carefully plucked and shaped eyebrows were raised inquisitively and she wore a devilish smirk, and if Sakura didn't know better, she would have sworn it was Ino who harboured the Kyuubi, not Naruto. "So," Ino continued. "Are you going to tell me why Kakashi is so different from Naruto or not?"

Sakura drummed her fingers on the table. "Well… Kakashi has grey hair. That's one way they're different."

"Sakura… stop being so evasive. Would it kill you to tell your best friend what's going on in your life?"

Just then, the worst possible person entered the shop in all of his mad glory, and Sakura thought to herself, 'Yes, Ino. It really would kill me – or, at the very least, he would,' as she watched the object of her misery and embarrassment practically saunter across the floor and over to the counter like some kind of stupid cat.

"Ah, Kakashi-san," the old woman behind the counter greeted him enthusiastically, discreetly trying to pluck some rice off of her hair. "Can I interest you in some desserts? We have fresh dango, I just made it myself not a moment ago. My daughter made some chestnut uiro this morning, maybe you'd like some…? Oh, you remember my daughter, don't you, Kakashi-san?"

Kakashi didn't seem to be in the mood for idle chit-chat. He simply nodded his head. "Do you have any strawberry uiro?" he asked, going directly to business.

The woman clapped her hands. "Coming right up."

"I'll take six, if you have them."

"No problem. Nine hundred ryo, please."

The woman disappeared into the back. Kakashi pulled a few coins out of his pocket and put them on the counter, and then he stared at them for a long while as if contemplating something.

"What is he doing?" Ino asked quietly. Evidently, she found Kakashi's ministrations far more interesting than their lackluster conversation, for which Sakura was glad.

Kakashi suddenly looked up, around at everybody as if he could tell he was being watched, and then – just then – he noticed Sakura and Ino staring at him. He gave a cordial wave and starting coming towards them, his hands stuffed in his pockets. A cold wave of fear washed over Sakura.

Why is he coming over here? No! I'm not ready to face him after – after – that!

"Yo," he greeted casually. "Ino, Sakura, how are you?"

"Why so nice, Kakashi-san?" Ino asked. "I thought you and Sakura were having a fight or something."

Kakashi didn't look at Sakura for the longest time – and Sakura was rather surprised to find that she was staring him right in the face. She thought she'd be too embarrassed. But maybe it was because she knew she'd start thinking about that thing again if she looked anywhere else.

"Is that what Sakura told you?" he asked quietly. "That we were having a fight?"

He sounded almost relieved.

"Well, no," Ino admitted with a shrug. "She actually won't tell me anything. She freaked out on me when I told this old guy that you were her boyfriend. Apparently, I ruined her big plans for her and Naruto…"

"Ino!" Sakura said sharply, desperately even. "Can you shut up?"

Kakashi finally looked at Sakura and raised his eyebrows. "You and Naruto, huh? I'll be sure to let him know…"

"No, you won't, because I'll kill you before you get the chance!" Sakura threatened hotly.

"I seriously doubt that."

"But I know people who could do it for me."

And quite suddenly, without explanation, things felt normal again. The fact that she and Kakashi were on speaking terms again after a few days of avoiding each other completely made Sakura feel relieved beyond all else. Maybe, if they just kept speaking to each other like normal, they could avoid ever talking about the embarrassing scenario from days before.

Kakashi looked at Ino again. "So how come you lied for her?" he asked curiously. "Was the old man trying to pick her up?"

"I don't know. I lied because she lied and told him she had a boyfriend – so really, she brought this upon herself."

"Thanks, pig," Sakura said wryly, and fiddled with her teacup.

"So was he?"

Sakura frowned. "A little. I think. He was asking me a lot of personal questions. I thought if I told him I had a boyfriend, if would deflect a lot of the more… personal ones."

"Oh."

"Kakashi-san!"

The old woman was back, and she had placed on the counter a package of six strawberry uiro, wrapped in pink cellophane and tied with a white cotton ribbon.

"Yes, Moriko-san?" Kakashi replied politely, turning to face the kindly shopkeeper.

"…You gave me only three hundred ryo."

"Oh, that's right," He turned to Sakura and Ino. "I knew I came over here for a reason…"

Sakura twitched. "You came over here to borrow money from us?"

Kakashi sounded oddly cheerful. "Yes. Of course, I was going to offer you one of my strawberry uiro in return, but if you're going to be snippy about it…"

Ino pulled out her change purse and presented three hundred ryo, but she didn't seem all that sad to part with her money. "I'll give you this only if you promise to teach me how to brush off my bills on other people. I see you do it all the time, and I've always wondered how to get away with it as smoothly as you do…" she mentioned idly, rubbing her chin thoughtfully as she handed over the coins.

"I'll see what I can do," Kakashi said, and accepted the money before turning an expectant look to Sakura.

Sakura was a little more reluctant to hand over her change than Ino, but that was only because she hated it when Kakashi did this kind of thing. She wouldn't have been surprised if Kakashi was actually walking around with nine thousand ryo in his pocket.

"You're insufferable," she grated, thrusting her fist out at him and dropping the coins into his waiting palm.

Kakashi smiled behind his mask. "So I've been told," he replied.

"You're indebted to me now," she snapped. "Three hundred ryo. Plus interest. Fifty ryo for each day you don't pay me back!"

"Ah, well, I suppose I can't argue…"

Of course, it was anybody's guess whether or not Kakashi would actually pay her back. Sakura wasn't holding her breath.

He meandered back over to the counter and handed the money to the shopkeeper. She gave him an odd look as she handed over the strawberry uiro, as if she was less than pleased with him for accosting two young ladies for money.

"Have a nice day," Moriko-san said, but her facial expression clearly suggested that she was not wishing him a nice day. She might have liked Kakashi well enough, but really, there was no excuse for bothering two young girls for cash. The man was in his thirties! He should know better!

Kakashi nodded. "Thanks, I will," he intoned lightly, peering with great interest through the cellophane wrapping.

Sakura rolled her eyes and turned back to her tea, and Ino. "You see why he annoys me?" she said in a low voice.

Ino laughed. "I guess it's a good thing you bought all that origami paper," she pointed out, grinning madly. "Now you can use it as a stress reliever as well as a pointless hobby. I don't see why Tsunade-sama forced you to get a hobby anyway. Hobbies are useless."

"Everybody has some kind of hobby, Ino," Sakura said darkly, echoing Tsunade's words from the other day.

Ino scoffed. "I don't. I don't need a hobby. I can have fun in other ways."

Sakura watched her friend for a moment, frowning as Ino gulped some lukewarm green tea. Of course, Ino's idea of fun was drinking almost all the time. It was a common sight to see Ino sitting in a seedy bar somewhere, on her fourth or fifth drink, with Shikamaru and Chouji hanging close by. Of course, Sakura didn't dare point this out; Ino's temper was something that shouldn't be faced unless heavily armed and from a very high turret of some kind, and for some reason, Ino took offense to statements like, "You drink too much", and "I don't really feel like going out tonight". Ino was just plain crazy. Sakura had long given up trying to figure her friend out.

"So, hey, try folding something for me," Ino said all of a sudden, pouring herself some more tea. "Try a crane."

Sakura's jaw dropped. "Ino!" she cried. "I just bought paper, and we just skimmed the origami section in my book! I can't just go and fold a crane, just like that…"

Ino responded with a light shrug of her shoulders. "So what? Just try something. You did buy a huge stack, I'm sure one wasted piece of paper won't make a difference."

Sakura sighed in aggravation. It was true; she wasn't going to cry over having to chuck a piece of paper in the trash. She hoisted her bag onto the table and rooted through it. "Just so you know, this is going to be crap," she reminded her friend lightly. "Cranes are supposed to be tricky. I'm just a beginner."

"I don't care. If it looks stupid, I'll just laugh, but if it's good, I'll give you a mental high five for getting it on your first try."

Sakura raised an eyebrow and her lips twitched into a smile. "You're not going to high five me for real?"

"No, I don't really like high fives. They make you look like a loser."

"I see. You just won't physically do it?"

Ino nodded. "Exactly," she said. "I think it's weird! I'd never do it. But whatever! Let's get off this topic and let's get you folding paper!"

Sakura placed a square of blue paper on the table in front of her, colour side up. She wasn't sure if the colour side was supposed to be face-up or face-down, but she liked the sky blue colour so it just made sense to leave it face up. She pressed her fingers to the edges of the paper and creased her brow. Okay, first fold… in half vertically or horizontally? Wait, if you fold it vertically and you need a horizontal fold, you could just turn the paper around.

"Fold diagonally, corner to corner, from the bottom left," said a voice, very close by.

Sakura jerked all of a sudden and turned her head. Kakashi was standing behind her, looking over her shoulder interestedly. He was holding the bag of strawberry desserts in one hand and gesturing lazily to the origami paper with the other. "Take the bottom left corner," he repeated. "And fold it up. Diagonally."

Sakura folded her paper exactly how Kakashi instructed.

"Okay, now unfold. Good. Take the bottom right and fold it diagonally too. No, a bit straighter than that…"

Sakura gave a tremendous sigh. "Look, Kakashi-sensei, if you want to do it yourself – "

Kakashi raised an eyebrow and shook his head. "No, no, you're doing fine so far…"

"I insist," Sakura said, glancing up at him and gesturing somewhat angrily at the paper. Her voice was bittersweet. It was easy for Kakashi to tell she was irritated with him. He gave a light shrug of his shoulders and gently placed the bag of strawberry uiro on the table. He stood there, at the side of the table, bending slightly at the waist as he pulled the paper towards himself and began folding it rapidly and flawlessly. Sakura's jaw nearly dropped; his hands moved so fast! She probably shouldn't have been surprised, seeing as he was a ninja. Fast hands meant there was a better chance of you surviving a dangerous situation, especially if you had to get through a series of hand signs to perform a complicated, life-saving jutsu. It's just that she wasn't accustomed to comparing the art of killing to the art of folding paper.

Within seconds, a paper crane was sitting in front of Sakura on the table, and when she looked up at Kakashi, she saw that his eye was curved upwards. He was obviously very pleased with himself.

"Wow, that is… um… special," Sakura said, at a loss for words. She picked up the crane lightly and held it in the palm of her hand, staring at it. Kakashi gave her an amused look at her awkward compliment.

"Oh man!" Ino cried, reaching over all of a sudden and snatching the crane from Sakura's hand. When she held it out in front of her to examine it, she had unknowingly bent the wing at an odd angle. But Ino, it seemed, didn't seem to care too much. Sakura was a little annoyed, though. It was like somebody rubbing charcoal on Michelangelo's David. You just don't defile a piece of art like that. The crane was pretty.

"You are seriously skilled," Ino continued, turning the crane around and practically gushing at Kakashi. "Sakura couldn't even do it."

"It was my first try!" Sakura cried incredulously. "You made me try even though I didn't know what I was doing!" She didn't really know why, but she felt really snippy right now. Maybe it was Ino crumpling Kakashi's pretty paper crane, or the fact that Ino seemed very demanding today (which actually was no different than any other day, now that she thought of it), or maybe it was because Ino was very obviously making googly eyes at Kakashi, and it was just weird.

Kakashi probably noticed. Sakura was absolutely sure he noticed. But he didn't tell Ino to stop or draw attention to her rapidly batting eyelashes at all, so he was probably just being polite. Either that or he enjoyed it, the thought of which seemed to irritate Sakura even more. The man was twice Ino's age, almost, and besides that… he was Sakura's old sensei. She just couldn't see the logic behind Ino's sudden flirtations.

Maybe folded paper turned Ino on or something. If that was the case, Sakura made a mental note not to fold paper ever again around Ino. Their friendship was strange enough.

He shrugged and plucked the crane from Ino's hand, looking it over carefully. He attempted to straighten the wing, but it didn't seem to want to stay straight no matter what he did, so he just gave up and handed it back to Sakura. "Origami is pretty easy, once you learn the proper folds," Kakashi said, sounding self-satisfied, and picked up his bag of strawberry treats. "I've got a book I'll let you borrow, Sakura. Consider my debt erased."

Sakura spluttered. "What? No, you still owe me money, sensei, and – "

"That would be lovely!" Ino said sweetly, before Sakura could get another word in. Her mouth hung open, mid-sentence, with no sound coming out, so she was forced to close it right away again. She felt absolutely silly.

"I'll bring it by the hospital," Kakashi said.

"Ino!"

The small group turned to the sound of the voice. It was Chouji, smiling and hurrying across the shop. He eyed Kakashi's strawberry uiro hungrily as soon as he noticed them in his hand and looked almost pained as he forced himself to pry his eyes from them.

Ino raised her eyebrows. "What is it, Chouji?" she asked. "Short on lunch money again?"

"No, nothing like that! I was wondering if you'd seen Shikamaru anywhere. I can't find him in any of the usual places."

Ino paused for a long moment as a look of anger gradually overcame her feminine features. "Hey, yeah! Where is that slacker, anyway? He was with us this morning, and then he disappeared!"

"Shit," Chouji cursed before he remembered that Kakashi was there. "Er, uh, excuse my language," he added with an apologetic look towards the tall jounin.

"No excuse necessary," Kakashi said cheerfully.

"I have a bone to pick with that Shikamaru for scampering off all of a sudden," Ino growled, cracking her knuckles. Sakura rolled her eyes.

Chouji was very excited and clapped his hands together. "Great! You can help me look for him, then! I need to talk to him about something."

"Oh? What about?"

"…It's personal."

Sakura frowned. She knew that Shikamaru had probably predicted Ino's anger and so had found a good hiding place for the next couple of days. He knew, and everyone close to Ino knew, that once the blonde went on a rampage towards a certain target, she didn't stop until she either reached the target or another, more tantalizing target came along. Sakura did not plan on becoming that substitute target, so she made a mental note to stay on Ino's good side until Shikamaru could be found. She was so busy thinking about perhaps finding Shikamaru for Ino, that she almost didn't notice Ino staring at her pointedly.

"What days do you have off at the hospital?" Ino asked, looking very serious. "I want to know so we can go out again, and so I can also plan my weeks around them."

"Oh," Sakura thought back. "Er – Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays," she finally said.

Ino's calculating stare disappeared, and she wore a sparkling grin (which usually only meant trouble). "Perfect!" the blonde kunoichi giggled. "Let's go out to a bar tomorrow night! There's this new one I want to go to, and it works out because you don't have to work the next day so you can stay out later!"

Sakura decided this was not the right moment to point out that she was most likely to swap her socializing time after midnight for some precious down time in her apartment, and instead responded with a tired nod of her head. "Yeah, sure," she replied, hoping Ino didn't really notice the unconvincing voice she unknowingly used. "What's the bar called?"

Ino shrugged. "No idea. They just opened it last week. It's got a red flag outside it with a picture of a big, drunk pelican. Maybe it's called the Drunk Pelican or something. It's just down the street from the bakery…"

"I'm sure I'll find it," Sakura assured her with a smile. Secretly, she was scheming to purposely not find it, so that she could go home and have a legitimate excuse all ready for Ino as to why she wasn't able to make it.

"Perfect! I'll see you there! Now, come on, Choiji…"

Sakura and Kakashi watched Ino and Chouji leave with the tiniest shred of interest, and then Kakashi turned to her. "So," he began quietly, looking at Sakura. "Do you think we need to talk about what happened the other day?"

-

Tuesday mornings at the hospital were about the same as Monday mornings, Sakura had deduced after having worked there for a few years. It wasn't that busy, but she always found something to do to pass the time. This morning, however, she didn't have much to do. Last week she re-alphabetized her files, but there was only so many times you could order and re-order your files without appearing insane.

She felt extra fidgety this morning, and in desperate need of something to do. She was pretty sure that Tsunade had some forms she needed Sakura to fill out (seeing as Sakura was now stuck at her desk for two weeks), but Sakura didn't think it wise to just start rummaging around Tsunade's desk without permission.

Of course, her anxiety might have also come from yesterday. Just when she thought she and Kakashi were on good terms again, he went and brought up the thing she desperately wanted to avoid talking about.

He had asked her if she wanted to talk about it. She said no.

There had been a heavy pause, and then he asked her if she was sure. She had said yes.

Then he had the gall to point out that he thought it might do her a load of good if she did talk about it. She was only eighteen, after all, and she knew him personally. Certainly there would be some awkwardness after that kind of situation. He said he understood that much.

She didn't think he could possibly understand, but she didn't dare say it out loud. Instead, she decided to run.

For some reason, running away from him seemed perfectly logical at the time, but thinking back she realized there were probably other ways to delicately let him know she really didn't want to talk about it.

It was a little embarrassing, actually. She acted like a twelve year old. Kakashi probably thought she was out of her gourd.

But at the very least, maybe he got the message to head off certain topics before they unwittingly entered the conversation.

She sighed to herself and picked up a pencil, amusing herself by doing the "rubber pencil" trick. Tsunade wouldn't be in for another half-hour, so she had to find something to do. Maybe she could find Shizune and bother her for a while.

Suddenly, there was an odd clicking sound. Sakura wasn't sure if she heard it at first, but then, when she stopped moving to listen closely, she heard it again. It was quiet, and she was sure it was a click, not a tap or anything else. It sounded vaguely familiar, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

There it was again! This time, it sounded like it was coming from the window. Sakura couldn't be sure, but that's almost definitely where it sounded like it was coming from. She slid carefully to her feet shoving a hand into the skirt pocket of her nurse's uniform to grip a kunai. It wasn't required for medic-nin to carry weapons in a hospital, but Sakura knew better. Sometimes you could accidentally bring in the enemy for a surgery and not even know it until they had a scalpel to your throat.

She stepped closer and closer to the window until her nose was almost pressed into the glass. Her eyes darted around and she felt her stomach begin to tighten in fear. It was a familiar feeling. Familiarity usually brought with it a kind of soothing comfort in uncomfortable situations, like hearing a familiar voice in a foreign country, or seeing dolphins out at sea. But there was nothing comforting about the familiar sense of fear and nervousness that seeped into her belly.

"Sakura?"

Sakura gave a startled cry and whipped around with her kunai in her hand, ready to strike. She relaxed, however, once she saw it was just Shizune standing there.

"Um, are you okay?" Shizune asked, giving the pink-haired girl an odd look. "You seem… tense."

"Sorry," Sakura grumbled, slipping her kunai back into her pocket. "I just thought I heard something outside."

"Oh."

Shizune didn't seem to want to press the issue, and Sakura was a little relieved. The last thing she needed was to frighten away poor Shizune by talking crazy about odd clicking noises coming from outside.

"Anyway," Shizune said after a moment. "I was wondering if you could assist me in surgery. Er – wait, you're on desk duty, aren't you?"

Sakura bit her lip. Truth be told, she regretted asking Tsunade to put her on desk duty. She would have to see if she could get Tsunade to renege that later, because she forgot how boring desk work could be when that was all you had to do, day in and day out. "I can help," she finally said, smiling. "I have to talk to Tsunade-sama about desk duty later anyway. What kind of surgery is it?"

"Well, I need to take out a lodged shuriken, but it's in a rather difficult place…"

-

It turned out the lodged shuriken was stuck very close to the femoral artery in the man's leg, and Shizune needed Sakura to gently pull the artery to the side while Shizune removed the weapon. If she had tried to do it by herself, the artery would most certainly have been severed, and the man was as good as dead.

"Thanks," Shizune said, soaping up her hands in the sink after the surgery. "Your hands are very steady, and you have a keen eye."

Sakura couldn't help but blush. It wasn't often she received praise for something as simple as pulling an artery out of the way. Sure, there were nurses that could have done it, but Sakura knew that if anything were to go awry, they wouldn't have her exceptional chakra control to try and heal the damage done.

Shizune was rinsing her hands now. "Sakura, can I ask you a question?" she asked, running her forearms under the warm water.

Sakura got an odd feeling. She was pretty sure her question wasn't going to be, 'How do you get your hair so vibrant?'

"If you had been examining Gai instead of Kakashi the other day…" Shizune began.

Sakura choked. "I beg your pardon?"

"…would you have acted the same?"

"Shizune… did Tsunade tell you?"

"Yes, sorry… she thought it was a little amusing. She mentioned something about old men and erections."

Sakura felt a little sting of betrayal, but quickly brushed it aside. It was just Shizune, another medic. Tsunade could have blabbed to far worse people. Ino, for example. At least Shizune would always have the decency not to mention the little Kakashi mishap to anyone else outside of their little hospital trio.

"So?" Shizune pressed, looking over her shoulder at Sakura, whose delicate pale complexion was now flushed pink. "Would you have acted the same?"

Sakura squirmed. "Well… it would be weird… so… I guess."

"What if it was Naruto?"

"If it was Naruto? Well, it'd be weird too, but he's a good friend, so it wouldn't be that bad. Plus, he's always had a crush on me, so it would be easily explained… that, and he also frequently horny…"

"But… isn't Kakashi a friend too?"

Sakura didn't know what to say to that. There were some days when the former student-teacher bond was very defined and obvious, and other days where that line was heavily blurred. He often went from being a teacher to being a friend and back again so fast that Sakura really wasn't sure what he was. Was he a friend who also happened to be a former teacher? Or a former teacher who was now her friend? Or was he just a friend now?

Of course, he might have merely been her former teacher. That answer seemed much easier to believe, but it was a little depressing to think that Kakashi only thought of her as some girl he used to teach in the past.

"Well?" Shizune repeated. "Is he or isn't he?"

Sakura looked almost dejected. When she really thought hard about it, would she have felt this uncomfortable if she was friends with Kakashi? "I don't… I don't think so," she finally said, quietly. "He's just… an acquaintance."

Some say that the truth brings comfort, but Sakura honestly couldn't say she agreed.

AN: Feedback is very much appreciated, whatever kind. I'm in a good mood because of my new yaoi manga and Sephiroth plushie, so nothing can bring me down! How many of you went to Anime North this year?