To avoid confusion, Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke are all nineteen to fit this story.

Song lyrics are from "Collide" by Howie Day.

Sorry if the characters are too OOC for you. I'm trying my hardest, so I don't want to let you down.

Happy Now: Part Two

…out of the doubt that fills my mind…

…I somehow find…

...you and I…

…collide…

He reached for the closest branch and moved it out of the way. "Either way, we'll find out soon enough."

What he saw shocked him. Not saying anything, he moved in front of Sakura and Naruto, blocking their view of the person behind him. Naruto looked confused and Sakura frowned. After a few seconds, Kakashi spoke.

"Sakura, go back to the village and get Tsunade-sama as fast as you can. Naruto, you go with her."

Still confused, Naruto said, "But, Kakashi-sensei—"

Kakashi turned to face them and glared impatiently. "Just. Go."

Sakura started running immediately, but Naruto hesitated. He tried to see around Kakashi but Kakashi had moved closer to the bush and was now completely blocking the sight of the person hidden in it. Naruto scowled and ran after Sakura.

Kakashi kneeled in front of the unconscious young man and sighed.

"What have you done to get in this state?" he asked aloud.

Surprisingly, the young man answered. "I've reached the first part of my goal," he whispered so quietly and raggedly that Kakashi barely heard it. The young man's faced relaxed as he slipped further into unconsciousness.

Kakashi smiled.

Naruto caught up to Sakura in less than ten seconds. They ran in silence for a while until Naruto said, "Sakura-chan, why would Kakashi-sensei send us away like that?!"

"I think it's best we just do what he says. After all, he is our leader," Sakura said in a maternal tone.

Naruto just scowled again. "But as a part of the team, we deserve to know what's happening! We can't carry out missions if we don't know what the mission is!"

"Naruto, if Kakashi-sensei sent us to get Tsunade-sama, then the person in the bush is probably either extremely dangerous or someone in a very bad condition. We can't jeopardize this because we want to know something probably trivial," Sakura sighed.

Maybe I was wrong to think he's changed, she thought. He's still as impatient as ever.

Naruto actually growled at this. "Fine! We'll go get the Hokage-sama, but I'm going to find out what Kakashi-sensei is hiding whether he likes it or not."

Kakashi did what he could to clean up the young man's wounds. He did not know how to heal any of the bruises or cuts, and he didn't want to risk injuring the missing-nin even more. It was amazing he had been able to conceal his chakra from them, let alone walk so far after killing his mentor and then brother. Kakashi pushed the young man's matted bangs out of a cut on his forehead and wiped the some of the dirt and blood off.

He is definitely an Uchiha, he mused.

"Tsunade-sama!" Sakura called as she and Naruto ran through the door of her office. Sakura skidded to a stop at the Hokage's desk. Shizune almost fell out of her chair next to Tsunade's desk, but Tsunade barely jumped.

"Sakura? Naruto? Why are you back so early? Where's Kakashi-san?" Shizune worriedly asked.

Sakura bowed and said, "Nothing's exactly wrong, but we need Tsunade-sama immediately. We stumbled across someone with very serious injuries and Kakashi-sensei is waiting with them."

Tsunade stood up and pushed her paperwork toward Shizune. "This will have to wait," she said. "I'll handle it when we get back."

Shizune looked warily at the Hokage. "Okay…be careful, Tsunade-sama."

And they left, with Sakura and Naruto leading the way.

When they got to the clearing, Kakashi immediately sent Sakura and Naruto back to the village to get some bandages for the insignificant injuries. In their haste, they didn't even try to see the person Kakashi was hiding from them.

Tsunade rolled her eyes as Naruto grumbling something about old women and perverted senseis. But when she saw whom it was that Kakashi had been hiding from Sakura and Naruto, she gasped.

"But…why?" she whispered. "Why is he back now?"

Kakashi merely frowned. "You should have realized that by now, Hokage-sama."

Tsunade knelt by the young man and started focusing on moving her chakra to her hand. When she gathered enough, she pressed her hand on one of the many bruises on his leg. The bruise disappeared immediately.

"You certainly are something," she said to him. "Defeating one of the legendary Sannin and then one of the most feared Shinobi in Konoha. It's a wonder you're even alive."

Kakashi cut in. "He still has something he needs to do."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow as she moved on to healing a third bruise. "Oh? And what's that?"

"I don't want to hide anything from you, Hokage-sama," Kakashi began, "but I think you'll find out when he heals, both physically and emotionally."

She frowned. "I hate waiting."

"You won't have to wait long, I can tell you that."

By the time Sakura and Naruto arrived back in the clearing, Tsunade was gone. And so was whoever had been hiding in the bushes. Naruto dropped the bag of bandages on the ground and swore.

"Now what, Kakashi-sensei? What are you keeping from us?" he yelled.

"Naruto, calm down," Sakura said, grabbing his arm. "Stop acting like you're twelve."

Naruto wrenched his arm free from her. "I am not."

"You just proved my point."

Naruto glared at her and stomped over to Kakashi. "Who was it?"

Kakashi crossed his arms and sighed. "Let's get going. We need to finish our mission."

"Hai," Sakura said, and followed their leader out of the clearing.

Naruto stayed behind for a second and looked at the forgotten bag lying next to the tree the person had been leaning against. After checking to make sure that Kakashi and Sakura were out of sight, he walked over towards it and went through it quickly. All he found in it were a few pieces of traveler's bread, some dried meat, and a ripped blue shirt.

"Damn." He had been looking for something easily identifiable.

Tsunade put the young man on a bed in the most secure section of the hospital. After healing most of the bruises on both of his legs and some small cuts on his chest, she realized that five of his ribs and his right leg were broken. She had to have a lot of chakra to heal the ribs, his leg, and all the other small injuries on his abdomen, face, and arms. And for that, she needed Shizune.

When said woman appeared at the door to the hospital room, clutching a well-dressed pig and gasping for breath, Tsunade said, "Shizune, I need you to heal the small cuts on this boy. I need to use most of my chakra on his broken bones. There are too many other injuries for me alone."

"Yes, Tsunade-sama. I understand." Shizune set TonTon—who was whimpering—on the floor.

Shizune grabbed a cloth out of a bowl of clean water and started wiping the dirt and dried blood Kakashi had missed off the young man's face. When it was all gone, she gasped.

"Tsu—Tsunade?" she whispered. "Is this who I think it is?"

Tsunade merely nodded as chakra started to flow from her hand into the young man's leg.

When the young man woke up, he was surrounded by white.

Am I dead? The pain is gone…what happened?

He tried to lift his head off the pillow but a woman spoke.

"I wouldn't try that if I were you."

Oh…good. I must not be dead.

He turned his head towards the voice and grimaced as the light from the window nearly blinded him. He looked back up at the ceiling.

Yep. Definitely not dead.

"Who—Who are you?" he whispered raggedly. "Where am I?"

"You are in Konoha Hospital. All of your serious injuries are healed, but I am going to make you heal the rest on your own. It's the least you could do after betraying my village for such a stupid reason."

"Hokage-sama?" he asked. "I thought your voice sounded familiar."

Tsunade watched as the boy clenched his fists, obviously trying to mask his anger at her statement. She smiled.

"Get better for punishment you will receive. Betraying Konoha is exactly like betraying me, and I do not take things like this lightly. I'm amazed that you had the guts to even come back."

"I have something I need to accomplish."

Tsunade looked up, now more interested in the conversation than before. "Oh?"

But he had already gone back to sleep.

After delivering the scroll to the Sand's ambassador, Temari, Sakura walked up to the desk in the lobby of the hospital. "Excuse me, but could you tell me if the Hokage-sama has been here?" she asked the receptionist.

"I'm sorry, but I just started my shift. Want me to go ask someone else?" the woman said nicely.

Sakura thought for a second. "No, that's okay. I'll come back later."

The receptionist frowned but said, "Okay, then. Have a nice day!"

Sakura nodded and said, "You, too," before walking back outside.

Sakura sat on a bench across the street from the hospital and sighed.

Now what am I going to do? I want to know whom Kakashi-sensei was hiding as much as Naruto does! But Tsunade-sama is most likely guarding the room. Naruto's probably already been here, so maybe I can find out who it was from him…On second thought, Tsunade-sama probably wouldn't let Naruto within fifty meters of a patient, especially one we obviously are not supposed to know about.

Sakura stood up and grinned as an idea popped into her head.

I've got it!

"Are you going to tell them he's back," Tsunade asked Kakashi when he arrived in the hospital room, "or are they going to find out on the Shinobi grapevine?"

Kakashi smiled beneath the cloth covering half of his face. "They'll find out on their own, trust me. My students have been taught well."

Tsunade watched his face carefully as he started reading his Icha Icha Paradise novel. "You want them to try and find out on their own?"

"Let's say it's time for some more training."

In order for this to work, she had to use a jutsu to change her appearance. Her hair was dark brown and her skin slightly darker. Her eyes were still green but a duller color, and she was a little taller and thinner. Sakura straightened her skirt nervously. She hoped it wouldn't be obvious that she was not really Kira Rei from the medic-nin training academy doing research.

And if Tsunade-sama is still there, she'll definitely know it's me, she thought.

Taking a deep breath, she left her small apartment and headed towards the hospital. After glaring at men who whistled at her, she arrived back at the front desk.

"Excuse me, but I'm doing a research paper on the Hokage-sama's medical breakthroughs and I heard she was here. Could you tell me where she is?" she asked a different receptionist from before.

The receptionist nodded and smiled. "She is on the third floor. That floor is very secure, so you'll have to find out which room she's in there. They don't disclose Shinobi matters with us unimportant receptionists!"

Sakura nodded. So that person was a ninja. But why would Kakashi-sensei want to hide them from us?

In this dream, he was lying on something cold and hard. The back of his head throbbed in pain as though someone had hit it. When he opened his eyes, he was surprised to find tears streaming down his face. He frowned and wiped them off.

Where am I this time?

He stood up and looked around. He immediately realized where he was.

He was at the bench where he left Sakura that night.

When Sakura arrived on the third floor, she was relieved to find that Tsunade was not there. According to a chuunin who was there to visit a friend, Tsunade had left ten minutes before.

Perfect! Inner Sakura shouted. Now I'll have no problems finding out who it is!

Sakura tried to act disappointed by this information. "Well, do you know which room she was in? Maybe her patient could tell me a few things for my paper."

"Yeah, sure. She was in room 355."

Inner Sakura cheered maniacally. YES!

"Thank you so much!" Sakura said, not bothering to hide her enthusiasm. She felt like she could kiss him, but that would have been a little awkward.

She practically ran down the hallway to the room. Right before she was about to put her hand on the door handle, she stopped.

What if this person is someone I don't even know? But if it was someone I don't know, why would Kakashi-sensei hide him or her from us? It must be someone we know. And if Kakashi-sensei hid him or her, would I even want to know?

Sakura pushed the door open. There's only one way to find out.

The young man woke up when he heard someone stop at the door to his room. He quickly hid his head under the covers and pretended to go back to sleep. He didn't want to deal with anyone right now.

The door slid open and the person walked in. They paused a few feet from his bed and sighed. He resisted the urge to sink deeper into the mattress. Doing so would make it obvious he was awake. So he lay there and wondered what the person was doing. Their chakra was familiar, but he couldn't place it. Growing frustrated, he scowled and wondered what the hell that person was thinking. They were obviously studying the bed as though they were trying to figure out if he would get mad if they threw the sheets off.

He sighed and thought, Might as well make the decision for them.

Sakura watched the person beneath the sheets and analyzed their form.

Probably male in his late teens or early to mid-twenties. Their chakra has recovered a bit and it feels familiar—What? He—or she—is moving! Ah! I have to get out of here!

But Sakura couldn't make herself move as the person's hand shot out from the top of the sheets. The man grabbed the sheet covering his face and pulled it down under his chin.

Sakura nearly fainted.

"Sas…uke…kun…?"

A/N: I'd like to remind you that if I get titles, names, or anything else wrong, please correct me! I'd really appreciate it.