Welcome back friends! This story has been over 10 years in the making. If you originally read the OG ch. 1 on back in 2012, Thank you for coming back and giving this strange, lemony story a chance. This time there will be an actual plot. All chapters have been outlined, and there will be a good mix of Sexy times, real emotional connection, slice of life group get-togethers, and multiple love interests. I hope you come to love this story as much as I do.

- Ch. 2 -

Sakura reached across the board, trying to keep her self-satisfied smile from becoming too obvious, and captured Shikamaru's queen with her bishop…and Shikamaru took that personally.

"It's your own fault." She said, smirking in the face of his heated scowl. "You showed me how to do that move last time we played."

"That doesn't mean I want you to use it against me."

Oh yeah, he was going to be salty for a while. They traded their next few moves in silent concentration, Sakura riding the high of her capture right into one of Shikamaru's traps that forced her to sacrifice a rook and her last knight in order to get out of check. Damnit. She'd gotten too cocky and paid for it, as usual.

A waitress came by to refill her tea while Sakura sat considering the board. Shikamaru took advantage of her pause to eat some of the mochi he had ordered over half an hour ago. They were well into their second game of the day, seated in an outdoor booth at their usual cafe near the Hospital. Shika had wanted to escape the heat and sit inside, but Sakura had insisted on enjoying the last few days of summer they had left. Even if they were hot and sticky and sometimes unbearable.

"Uhg, I totally messed up that last exchange." She complained out loud, still unsure of which strategy she wanted to use in the end game.

"Well, you said you wanted me to go harder this game." Shika said around a bite of food. "You won't get better if I always go easy on you."

"I'll remember those words the next time we spar together." Sakura shot back, enjoying the brief look of bodily terror that flashed in his dark eyes. Shikamaru was no slouch of a ninja by any means, but he was first and foremost a tactician, not a taijutsu specialist. Defending against Sakura's 'heavy hand' style wasn't impossible for him, but more troublesome than he'd ever admit out loud. She looked back down on the board, choosing to move her king to a favorable position protected by her pawns.

Shikamaru nodded in approval. "Good, that move was your best option."

"Speaking of which, are we still on for sparing on Friday?" Sakura asked, stealing a sip of her tea. She knew it made no sense, drinking hot tea on a hot day, but something about the heat of the cup in her hands was soothing, and she didn't mind the crazy looks Shikamaru gave her every time she ordered it. Over the past few years, as their friendship had developed, he had come to expect the unexpected from her. The same way she had come to expect the predictable from him. It made their friendship…something comfortable and familiar. Plus, it was nice for her to have a friend outside of work. The Hospital was her life, but it didn't have to be her whole life.

"Actually, I think I need to push sparing to Saturday this week, if that's alright with you. My boss is being such a pain. The Chunin exams happen the same time every year, but every year he's unprepared for it and I have to cover his ass."

Sakura narrowed her eyes at him. "I don't know, it sounds to me like you just don't want your ass handed to you again."

"Worry about your own ass." He says with a smirk, reaching down to move a piece. "You're in check again."

Before Sakura could make her next move, Ino's voice was calling out to them from up the street. "Heeey! There you are!" She said happily, waving to them as she jogged over. A sashiko tote bag was slung across her shoulders, heavy with her haul from the market.

When Ino reached them, she let herself into the covered patio area and made her way over to their table. "I found the perfect dress for tonight, I'm so excited!" She said to Sakura, blindly shoving Shikamaru deeper into the booth so she could slide in beside him. They briefly battled for bench space in the way that psudo-siblings do, and the altercation ended as it always did- with Ino getting her way and Shikamaru rolling his eyes in defeat. "I can't wait Sakura, we are going to have so much fun tonight."

"You say that every year, and every year you buy too many shots you can't finish and someone else gets wasted." Shika complained.

"It's my birthday." Ino intoned, reaching over and stealing his last bite of mochi before he could intercept. "It's the one day of the year I let myself get drunk, and I'm sure as hell not doing it alone."

Shikamaru scowled savagely at his now empty snack plate. "Well, last year I was hung over all weekend, so this year I call 'not it'."

Ino pointed to Sakura with one hand, her index finger touching her nose. "That means you, Sakura. Tonight we are going shot for shot."

"Kami-sama, kill me now." She murmured into her tea mug. She wondered for a moment if Nurse Chizue would report her tomorrow for self-administering a saline bag to combat her inevitable hangover. "As much as I'd love to humor the birthday girl, I can't get too drunk tonight. I'm still monitoring Kakashi's condition and he is being…. Less than cooperative to say the least."

"I heard he overworked his Sharingan again?" Shikamaru asked, trying to adjust in his seat but it was no use. Ino had him firmly shoved into the corner of the booth with her shopping bag.

Sakura nodded, reexamining the chess board. Tch. Her best friend still had her in check. Sakura no longer felt sorry for him. Say what you want, when it came to their chess battles, she was allowed to be petty like that.

"Well, that's Kakashi's own fault, not yours. Don't let his poor chakra-management keep you from having fun with us tonight."

Sakura swallowed around the lump in her throat. She was heavily downplaying the extent of his injuries, but couldn't bring herself to rain on Ino's birthday glow.

Ino might talk a big game, but Sakura knew she was just really excited for her party tonight. For all their rivalries and past misunderstandings, Ino was a deeply caring and sentimental person. She leveraged her birthday every year to get as many of the rookie 9 together for a little reunion. She acted like the night was suppose to be all about her, but in reality... she just wanted to cherish her friends while she had the ability to. In some ways, Ino was the glue holding their friend group together. Well, her and Naruto of course. But of the two, Ino at least had the courtesy of varying the restaurants when they all went out to eat. There's only so much Ramen one can eat in a year.

"Anyway, I have to run, but I can't wait to see you guys tonight. Remember, 8pm sharp. Sakura, don't be late! No excuses this time!"

"If you leave me alone with her, I'll never forgive you." Shikamaru threatened under his breath, throwing up a hand to defend against one of Ino's parting shoulder slaps on her way out of the booth.

Sakura beamed brightly to herself, taking a moment to be thankful that she (unlike other active-duty ninja she knew) still had all of her friends with her.

Well, all her friends except one.

"Shoot." Sakura said, looking at her watch. "I don't think I'll be able to finish this game, I have to get back to the Hospital for rounds."

"That's fine, I have to leave too. Our mountain of Chunin test applications aren't going to file themselves."

"Hey, before I go…" Sakura began cautiously, "Did you… ever hear anything back from Temari?"

Shikamaru, to his credit, stilled for only a moment before shaking his head no.

"I'm sorry, we don't have to talk about it if you don't want to-"

"It's fine." He said, trying to keep the disappointment out of his voice. "I knew you would ask about it eventually." He avoided eye contact by slowly picking up the pieces of their chess game and stowing them away in his travel board. Sakura knew that without even trying to, he'd be able to perfectly remember the positions of every piece when they went to finish their game.

"She said that the distance was just too painful...which is what I was expecting her to say. But I guess I was still holding out hope she might change her mind. I mean, I never really expected her to leave Sand just so we could be together but...part of me hoped our relationship was worth it, you know."

Sakura knew he wasn't really asking her, just talking through his feelings. It was one of her other favorite things about their friendship - They both somehow knew when the other needed to talk, or just wanted someone to listen.

"I'm not dumb. I knew the break up was coming… I guess I just wanted to live in the fantasy for a little bit longer."

Sakura's heart twinged at the word Fantasy, and a small, sad longing turned over in her chest. She related to that last bit a little too closely. "When did you get her response letter?" She asked.

"About two weeks ago." Shikamaru shrugged. "I'm coping as well as I can, I guess. Sorry for not bringing it up sooner."

"Hey-" Sakura leaned forward in her seat, waiting until his brown eyes caught hers before continuing. "You never owe me an explanation. You know that."

"You know, for being one of the bossiest women I know, you're really understanding when it comes to my love life."

Sakura's eye twitched, and she resisted the urge to slap him teasingly the way Ino always did. "Don't act like that's a compliment, Shika. You only know bossy women."

- At the Hospital -

Nurse Chizue was, as expected, not amused when Sakura joked about self administering IV fluids on the hospitals dime. Extra not amused when she hinted it might be for what ever hangover she was sure to have tomorrow. Chizue might be over 80 years old and more arthritis than woman at this point, but anyone who has ever worked in a hospital knows- . You don't. Piss off. The Charge Nurse. It did not matter one bit that Sakura was the most talented and skillful Medical-in of her generation. That she could perform clinical level surgeries in hazardous battlefield conditions. Sakura was just one of the hospitals many tools. Chizue was the whole damn institution, and right now the institution was livid.

"He absolutely refuses to follow medical advice." Chizue scolded Sakura, like Kakashi's uncooperative attitude was some how her fault. "He won't stay in bed, he won't eat what we bring him, and he outright refuses to take his medicine. He even threatened to use his Sharingan on one of the male nurses when they went to give him a sponge bath."

Sakura's temple began to ache. If she's had the opportunity to vent-scream in one of the supply closets, she would have taken it hours ago.

This was not the first time Kakashi had been downright insubordinate when faced with mandatory bed rest. Nor would this be the last if he kept overusing his Sharingan in battle. The hunt for Sasuke had gone on for many years now, and Kakashi's dogged pursuit of her lost teammate seemed to be veering towards manic these days. Fights were growing more dangerous, resulting in Kakashi taking bigger and bigger risks with his body in pursuit of credible information. She really didn't know how much longer he could keep pushing himself like this, never mind how to make him slow down.

The door to his hospital room made a loud Bang! when she kicked it open. Sakura felt the bit of drama was it worth it to see him startle awake in his wheel chair.

"You!" She yelled, shamelessly pointing at her sensei. "You are suppose to be in bed!"

"Bed's lumpy." He sleepily croaked.

"And why aren't you eating your lunches?"

"The food sucks."

"I will break both your legs if I catch you out of bed again, do you understand me?"

"I'm pretty sure that goes against your medical oath-"

"Why do you insist on making my job so unnecessarily hard!?" Sakura cried, throwing her hands up to God in frustration.

"Here," Kakashi said, handing her his cup of green Jello. "My apology present. I know you get cranky when your blood sugar tanks."

Sakura put the Jello cup back on his lunch tray with slap. This was the first day since she's worked on him that he'd become fully conscious. That was the only reason she didnt break the bowl and the table and the floor when she put it down.

"Wrong. I get cranky when my patient refuses to follow his Doctors directions, because apparently he knows everything about medicine and doesn't need to listen to me."

"See, I knew there was a reason you were always my favorite, Sakura-" He tilted his head with a smile, trying to use praise to diffuse her like a bomb.

Sakura was having none of it.

She walked over and put both hands on the arms of his wheel chair, pinning her sensei in place with her glare. "You and I both know you're practically defenseless right now. Maito Guy told me about your last battle when he carried you into my ER bridal style. By the time he got you to me, you were half conscious with barely enough Chakra in your body to pump your stupid stubborn heart. The only reason you're upright and awake today is because I spent all Monday popping soldier pills and manually recharging you like a glorified battery."

An uncomfortable silence settled over the room.

"Huh…I was wondering why the skin on my ribs was so tender this time." He said quietly, and finally had the gaul to look appropriately chastised. His right hand reached stiffly across his body to brush the spot on his ribs where her hands had laid for over twelve hours. Twelve hours of her steadily pushing chakra back into his system to make sure he didn't fall back into cardiac arrest. Twelve hours of popping soldier pills to keep herself focused on the dangerous, delicate work, all the while praying he please wouldn't die so she could personally kill him afterwards.

It was becoming increasingly normal for Kakashi to laugh in the face of his bodily wellbeing. It wasn't every day, however, that he openly acknowledged his cavalier attitude hurt her.

"Was my condition really that critical?" He asked.

"It was not my favorite way to spend a Monday." Was all Sakura conceded.

Here, Kakashi looked out the window of his hospital room, his gaze seemingly penetrating the buildings and walls of Konoha-gakure towards the far horizon. She knew who he was searching for in his minds eye.

"I know you're going to find him." Sakura said, moving towards the supply cabinet in the far corner of the room and bringing back fresh gauze pads and low-tack med tape. She dumped the supplies onto Kakashi's unmade hospital bed, and wheeled him closer so she could get to work. It took every ounce of her will power not to blush like a school girl when she kneeled between his legs and carefully started peeling up the hem of his hospital shirt to get a look at his ribcage.

"Sakura-" Kakashi startled, still not use to being touched by his student this way, even when the purpose was clearly clinical.

"Trust me," Sakura cut him off, "You want me to change this bandage now, because Chizue will be a whole lot meaner about it if she has to come in here later and do it herself."

Kakashi sighed in defeat. He pulled one arm out of the sleeve of his shirt to lift it clear of his ribs, granting her better access to his side. "Fine. But only because your touch is softer than hers." He said. "Her fingers are cold and stabby. And cold."

When Sakura lifted away the bandages, she winced at the red skin she found beneath. It was beginning to blister in the middle. Prolonged exposure to chakra often left the skin irritations that presented like a sun burn. Kakashi had needed extensive chakra replenishing before he was even close to stable, which meant her hands had acted like tiny suns burning up his skin. More moderate Chakra burns wouldn't normally result in any scars, but this one would be prone to infection until was fully healed, and would limit his range of motion for the next few weeks.

The two fell into a companionable silence as she examined the wound, swabbed the angrier looking patches of skin with an antibiotic ointment and checked for any signs of a MRSA infection. They didn't say anything more while she worked, but she kept getting the feeling Kakashi's right eye was tracing her movements. She could feel the heat of his gaze on her, and more than once she glanced up to catch him watching her face instead of her hands. Each time, they both quickly looked away, pretending not to notice.

"What would I do without you, Sakura."

His words came so unexpectedly they made her hand freeze mid swab. But it wasn't the words that caught her by surprise so much as… it was his tone- unusually affectionate and sentimental for her weathered sensei. He never used that husky voice with her. She'd only ever heard him use it on the pretty girls he met at the bars after work, or maybe that one woman long ago who ran the reception desk at a popular travelers inn… But never, ever had he used that voice with her.

She consciously relaxed her shoulders and tried to focus on moving her hands normally. Nothing to see here. Nope. Not her unrequited crush bubbling to the surface again. But it still took a good minute for her brain to properly reboot before she could even think to reply. By then, the time for a witty come-back had passed and her blushing face would have given any comment away for what it really was - a bad cover up for what she really felt.

She busied herself with taping down the new gauze pads and pointedly avoiding looking up at his masked face. Lord, why had she decided to kneel between his legs? The summer heat was absolutely getting to her. When the used bandages were all cleaned up, she walked back over to his food tray and picked up the bowl of abandoned green Jello. She had to force her words to come out normal.

"Make sure you actually eat some of this, okay? Believe it or not, the sugars will help keep you hydrated." Success. Another rogue 'I think I love you, Kakashi' successfully smothered to death by a half-assed medical fact.

"I only eat red Jello, so I make no promises." Kakashi said, but he took the bowl from her hands all the same. Sakura tried not to notice when his hand lingered on hers a little too long.

"You know… it won't matter if we get Sasuke back, but lose you in the process." Sakura said. Her throat was tight now. From longing, fear, from sadness, frustration...all of it.

"I know." He said simply.

Absently, he let go of her hands.

They parted ways after that, but she swore the burning weight of his eyes lingered on her back all the way down the hall to her next patient.