You know what, ppl? It seems as though nobody on my favorites likes to update. I mean seriously, they all stop updating. AT THE SAME TIME!! It's starting to get REALLY annoying. So I just decided, to hell with it, I'm gonna go ahead and post all of my chapters. Which equals about 4 (including Ch1). So you people can read 'em. Aren't I so nice?

Disclaimer: I still don't own it!! TT

--

Kakashi and Sakura were waiting between two hospital beds. Waiting, and watching. Kakashi was leaning nonchalantly against Rosuto's bed, reading the latest novel of Icha Icha Paradise. Sakura merely stared at Naruto's empty expression, as he lay with several machines beeping and tubes pumping several fluids through his body. Her chair was turned away from Kakashi and Rosuto.

"You seem upset," Kakashi commented.

"It's her fault. It's her fault he's like this." Sakura mumbled.

"Hmm … not exactly."

"What do you mean, not exactly?! She fought him. She hit him. She was the one who pounded his body to a pulp." Sakura could barely restrain her temper.

"She was provoked," he stated calmly.

"Provoked!? SHE attacked US!! That's what started this whole mess in the first place!" she closed her eyes in a vain effort to hold back tears. "That's what got him like this."

Kakashi merely grunted in reply. He could remember a time when Sakura wouldn't give a shit if Naruto went and fell off a cliff. In fact, she would have rejoiced at the news. But now … they had grown a lot closer. They actually got along, most of the time. Naruto just grew on you like that.

He sighed as he put down his book, tucking it away into the kunai holster attached to his waist. He glanced over to where Rosuto lay. She was so young. So innocent-looking. How did she get caught up in this life - the life of a shinobi?

There were less tubes sticking out of her arms, and the only monitor she had was on her heart. Beating strong now, thanks to Tsunade-sama. They had just barely gotten her to the emergency room on time. Tsunade had chewed him out, of course, for letting her get in such condition when he was supposed to be watching over her. He had shrugged it off, saying that he couldn't help it. She had "wandered away" from him.

In reality, he had left her to practice on her own in the forest right before the confrontation between her and Cell Seven. Surely she could take care of herself while he went on a few errands? But apparently that had been a mistake.

Kakashi sighed in annoyance. This is why he didn't like kids. They always got themselves into trouble, which almost always led to hospital bills. Not that he had much room to lecture - the things he did as a kid were far worse. But then again, he was shoved into a full-blown war. He had an excuse.

Sakura finally broke the silence. "Did Sasuke ever get back?"

"Not as far as I know. Not that he cares about Naruto anyway."

"He could at least come to keep me company." She complained.

Kakashi nearly rolled his eyes at how naïve she was. "Sakura," he explained, "Sasuke is a loner. He doesn't keep people company. He doesn't want other people to keep him company. He hates almost everyone in Konohagakure. He's not going to come."

Another tear ran down Sakura's cheek. She knew that, of course. She wasn't stupid. But she still kept up the hope that one day, Sasuke would look back at all the time they had spent together and realize how kind she had been to him all those years. Maybe. One day.

Rosuto stirred. Kakashi looked back over at her. Her eyes flickered open, and she sat up, turning her head in all directions.

She's probably wondering where she is. Her sonar must be a little scrambled after that fight, Kakashi thought.

"Rosuto - over here," he stated, letting her know who and where he was.

Instantly, her head snapped over in his direction. She blinked.

"Kakashi-kun?" she looked dazed for a moment, and then her face lit up. "Kakashi-kun!!" she jumped out of bed and into his arms, simultaneously knocking over her I.V. and monitor. Kakashi gasped in pain as she knocked the wind out of him.

Sakura turned and looked at them. "Something wrong, Kakashi-san?"

"… Can't … breath!" he wheezed.

"Oh! Sorry." Rosuto released her hold on him. Then, the look of puzzlement returned to her face. "Where are we?"

Kakashi got up out of his chair and began picking up the spilled equipment. Kids.

"We're in the hospital. I know you're still a little disoriented, so you couldn't tell. You suffered from ventricular fibrillation. You almost died. You should be dead." he patiently explained, as dully as if he were going over his grocery list.

"Oh." she paused. "What about that other guy? What was his name?"

"He's over here." Sakura answered for him. "His name is Naruto." Sakura forced her voice to remain level.

Rosuto pulled out the I.V. from her arm and the monitor off her finger, then slowly got up and walked toward them. Her face was solemn as she reached out and touched his face, caressing his features, forming a mental picture in her mind of what he looked like.

"What colors does he have?"

"Hmm?" Sakura was puzzled by the question.

"His skin, his hair, his clothes, his eyes – describe them."

"Well –" Sakura began. She looked over at Kakashi, as if for approval. He nodded, as if to say, "Go on!"

Sakura cleared her throat and began again. "Well … he has tan skin. Not as tan as yours. And his hair is medium-blonde, and it's always messy. He wears the same, bright orange jumpsuit all the time, but right now he's wearing a hospital gown. His eyes are cerulean, and he has 3 black whisker-marks on each cheek. He's about five foot eight, and he's pretty muscular – but still lean, like a runner."

Rosuto nodded. "What else is noticeable about him?"

"Hmm … he goofs off all the time, and he loves playing pranks on people to get attention. But deep down, no matter how disrespectful or rude he may be, he loves the people in this village. His dream is to become the Hokage, so that everyone will love him and respect him, too. He's got a lot of courage and determination. He'd never give up on his dreams, or the people he cares about."

Rosuto closed her eyes. "Give me his hand."

"What for?" Sakura was intrigued, temporarily forgetting her resentment toward the girl.

"Just do it." The young kunoichi formed several seals, and held out her right hand. Sakura gently placed Naruto's hand in Rosuto's, and the girl placed her left hand on top of his. Her palms began to glow, and her brow was furrowed in concentration.

Kakashi cocked an eyebrow. "She did this to me, once."

"Did what?" Sakura was halfway between curiosity and alarm.

"Read my palm." Sakura gave him a skeptical look. Kakashi looked back at her. "What? It's a very interesting technique."

"Uh-huh." Sakura wasn't buying it. "Does it show your future or something?"

"Just watch," he told her.

Rosuto let out a small gasp. She let her hands go limp as she fell back onto her bed. Kakashi walked over and sat down beside her.

"What did you see?" Kakashi put a gentle hand on her shoulder. She didn't answer. "What did you see?" he repeated, a little more forcefully.

"His memories … they're awful." Her voice came out in a frightened whisper. "And the demon …"

Rosuto covered her mouth to suppress a scream as she stared at Naruto with those sightless eyes.

"What happened? What did she do?" Sakura had a worried expression on her face. Kakashi turned his attention to her.

"It's a special technique she uses. It allows her to experience the target's most significant memories, their most prominent emotions," he explained.

"Isn't that kind of an invasion of privacy?"

"Not really – she's not reading people's minds. Only their personalities. Sort of like a small summary about them. She must have picked up on Naruto's childhood – the time in his life when he was surrounded by hatred, anger, fear – and of course a legendary demon is kind of hard to miss."

"How does she do that?" Sakura's eyes were wide with amazement.

"She's extremely sensitive to that sort of thing – very few people would be able to do it, even if she was open to teaching it. But let's not get into that now. We're about –" Kakashi glanced up at the clock – "an hour late for our meeting with Tsunade-sama." He reached into his backpack that was lying next to his chair on the floor, and pulled out a brown-paper bundle tied with a string. "Here's some clothes. Get her changed out of that hospital gown and meet me outside in five minutes." He tossed the package to her and walked out of the room.

Rosuto was still staring blankly at Naruto. Sakura touched her hand.

"Rosuto?" the child jumped.

"Oh! I'm sorry. I was just lost in thought." She smiled at Sakura. Sakura smiled back, despite herself. This child was very intriguing, to say the least.

"Come on, you have to get dressed so we can go to your meeting with Kakashi and Tsunade-sama." Sakura unwrapped the package.

"What did he bring for me to wear?"

Sakura looked at the garments. "Let's see … "

--

Tsunade looked at the clock again. Four thirty-seven. He should have been here at three. Why does he always insist on being late?

--

Rosuto stepped out of the main entrance of the hospital and into the afternoon sunlight. Her new attire included a long, fitted tee; it was black with the blue Konoha leaf emblem on the back, navy blue shorts that were mid-thigh length, and platform sandals that had ribbons tied all the way up her calves. Her golden-brown hair was shimmering in the evening sunlight – Sakura had curled it nicely. And done her make-up. Rosuto's eyelids were tinted blue, which nicely complemented the shade of dark red lipstick she wore along with the subtle bronze blush (only subtle because of Rosuto's amazing tan – Sakura had complimented her on this several times, much to Rosuto's embarrassment).

When Kakashi saw Rosuto's stunning new look, he barely managed to control his laughter, which he "cleverly disguised" as a fit of coughs.

"Ha ha ha – ahem, cough cough - nice style you got there." How amazing – Sakura had gotten Rosuto to wear eye shadow. That was about a once-in-a-millennium occurrence. Rosuto hated make-up.

The young girl furiously whirled around to face Sakura. "See!? I told you he'd laugh!!" she pointed accusingly over her shoulder at Kakashi, who was now rolling around on the ground in tears. "Go on, LAUGH IT UP!!" she screamed at him.

"HOO HOO HAHAHAH!! AHH HAH HAH!! HA HA!!"

Sakura frowned at her former mentor's behavior. Rarely had Kakashi ever shown any emotion except boredom and indifference, and this was getting ridiculous.

"OH, COME ON, HAVE SOME TACT FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE!!" she yelled at him as she kicked him in the ribs. Hard. And nearly breaking her toe in the process. Apparently Kakashi was wearing armor under his clothes.

"Ahahaha … ha ha … ha." He finally calmed down enough to breath properly as he wiped the tears off his face. "Oh, what I'd give for a camera right now …"

"SHUT UP!! YOU WILL NOT TAKE MY PICTURE!!" Rosuto started hyperventilating at the thought. She hated it when people took her picture. May all cameras burn …

"Okay, okay, sheesh." Kakashi smiled underneath his mask. He had never seen her this dressed up before. She actually looked like a fourteen-year-old girl, not a soon-to-be Jounin. He got up and brushed the dirt off his pants. "Just relax, okay?"

"Humph." She turned up her nose at him, and stubbornly crossed her arms.

"Come on, Rosuto. Stop being so uptight." His words were met by silence. "Well, since you're going to ignore me, I guess I'll have to eat all of these pixie-sticks by myself …" he promptly pulled a few of the sugary treats out of his pocket.

"Sugar!? Where!?" She immediately turned around and caught the scent his handful of tasty goodness. She shrieked.

"OH, KAKASHI I LOVE YOU!! CANDY!!"

Sakura watched dumbfounded as the girl consumed the pixie-sticks gluttonously. Mood swing, much? she thought.

Rosuto smacked her lips as she finished off the last one. Kakashi patted her head. "Come on, gotta go to the meeting now."

She nodded as she skipped happily down the streets ahead of the older shinobi. Sakura looked over at Kakashi.

"Mind if I come, too?"

He shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

Rosuto stopped and turned around. "I just realized something."

"What?" the other two asked simultaneously.

"I have absolutely no idea where I'm going."

Sakura slapped her forehead in frustration, while Kakashi sighed and shook his head.

"You're hopeless," the Jounin told her.

Rosuto was about to protest when she heard a sudden crash, and screaming voices coming from the hospital.

Naruto came bolting out the door, still in the hospital gown, but with his old clothes dangling on his arm.

"Get back here!!" one of the nurses scolded out the window of his room.

"Yeah, right! Forget this place, I'm leaving!!" he grumbled as he began walking out into the street – and bumped right into a very confused Sakura.

"Whoa, sorry 'bout that. Wasn't really paying attention to where I was going." Naruto looked around. "Hey, where's everybody else at?"

"Sasuke still hasn't come back yet," Kakashi answered, "but the rest of us are here."

"And me!!" Rosuto waved as she walked back over to where the others were standing. "Kakashi-kun, are we gonna leave soon or what?"

"Huh?! 'Kakashi-kun?' Since when are you on speaking terms with our sensei!? And what are you even doing here in the first place?!" Naruto pointed accusingly at the younger shinobi.

"She's supposed to be going to a meeting with Tsunade-sama, which you conveniently interrupted our departure to." Kakashi replied coolly.

"WHAT THE CRAP! She knows Tsunade-sama?" Naruto stood there, astonished, still pointing at Rosuto.

"Yes, now can we please get going?!" Rosuto begged the Jounin. Kakashi stared back at her.

"Yeah, alright, seeing as we're already late, we should probably get a move on …"

"Oh, FINALLY!!" Rosuto cheered as Kakashi led the way down the street. The man turned his head to peer over his shoulder at Naruto. "If you're coming too, you better get changed."

"Right!!" Naruto immediately leapt into an alleyway and popped back up at the next one, fully clothed. "Last one to the old lady's house is a rotten egg!"

"And that's gonna be you!" Rosuto shouted back, chasing after him. Naruto smiled as they both took off running. She looks rather pretty in that outfit …

Kakashi shook his head as the two hooligans disappeared around the next corner. Internal bleeding, a punctured lung, and heart failure, and they still had energy to waste on such childish pursuits. He ripped off the end off of a pixie stick he'd saved and pulled his mask out just enough to dump the tasty powder onto his tongue, without letting anyone see his face. These things aren't half bad, he thought. No wonder that kid's addicted to them.

No one could tell by looking at him, but Kakashi was smiling.

Naruto raced through streets, along the alleys, and over rooftops, but no matter how hard he tried to shake her off, Rosuto was always a few feet behind him. It was unnerving how she mimicked his every leap, shadowed his every step, almost like she was copying his movements with Sharingan, that infamous Uchiha (let's not forget the one Hatake) technique. Soon, he could see the Hokage mansion, its towering height a comforting presence to the rest of the village.

"Is that our destination?" Rosuto nodded her head toward the building before him as she ran up to Naruto's side.

"Yup, that's the one," he grinned as he pushed his legs to go faster.

"Thanks." Rosuto put on a whole new burst of speed as she ran right past him, straight to the front entrance of the Hokage's office and living quarters.

Naruto slowed down to a jog as he traveled the last 50 feet to the door.

"How do you do that?" he looked at her in wonder.

"Aren't most shinobi fast?" was her only reply.

"No – I mean, how do you run in those shoes?"

The kunoichi burst out laughing.

--

Author's Note:

Ah, my third chapter so far in the first fanfic I've ever done. I feel like I've accomplished something – the other fanfic I started to write (and fortunately never posted) never even got past the first. Maybe I should bake a cake to celebrate the occasion … or maybe not. I'm too lazy to do that.

Didn't really go as I expected, but my other characters will show up!! (eventually …)

Naruto: LIAR!! (throws random object at munkee's head)

Munkee: Ow! That hurt, you jerk!!

Naruto: Then get on with it already!

Munkee: Alright, fine ... grumbles

Well, let's see here – Rosuto and Kakashi apparently have some kind of previous connection. Sakura is starting to feel a little woozy. Sasuke comes to the hospital, only to find the desired occupants gone. Poof! But wait – why did Tsunade want to see Kakashi and Rosuto anyway? And is there really a shoe jutsu? Find out next chapter!! (evil laughs)

Hold on a sec – did Kakashi say future Jounin?

Mmmm … pixie sticks …

NOW GET REVIEWING!!