A/N: Sorry for the late update guys! I'm taking my mid-year exams at the moment, so updates will be a little slower. Thank you for being patient. xx
Sakura took extra time to dress the next morning, braiding her hair back neatly and stocking extra kunai into her weapons pouch. She didn't know why, but she somehow felt as if she would be grateful for the extra preparation at some point during the day; call it a sixth sense, but Sakura always awoke feeling slightly on edge on the days when she ended up having to kick some heads in. Of course, the events of the previous day indicated that it might have to be one of the two Kakashis' heads that she ended up kicking in, but she wasn't one to jump to conclusions.
As she left her apartment, Sakura activated one of the simple security seals that she hadn't used in days. As a general rule, no one was stupid enough to try to break into Sakura's apartment; well, no one except Kakashi, who was also one of the only people who could take a decent scolding from her. Therefore, Sakura didn't feel the need to seal and trap her apartment most of the time - only when she was away on missions did she bother.
Sakura stopped at Shizune's house on the way to the Hokage's office, and was greeted by the sleepy brunette at the front door.
"Morning, Sakura-chan." Shizune yawned, her eyes crinkling into a fond smile. "Would you like to come in?" Sakura shook her head with a smile, pretending not to notice the half-naked form of Tokuma Hyuuga in the kitchen behind Shizune. Shizune blushed lightly, taking in the flicker of Sakura's eyes despite her impassive expression.
"Ah, it's not exactly what it looks like." she protested weakly. Sakura laughed.
"I'm really not one to judge, am I?" she replied with a grin. "Don't worry, neechan. Your secret is safe with me. Besides, you couldn't have picked a better Hyuuga."
Shizune smiled gratefully, the blush still fading from her cheeks.
"Thanks, Sakura. So, what can I do for you this morning?"
"I was wondering if I could talk to you about sealing, actually." Shizune nodded, becoming serious.
"What about it in particular?" Sakura chewed her lip thoughtfully.
"Have you ever heard of someone being able to read another person's seal on sight?" she asked. She was met with a thoughtful frown.
"Not on sight." was her eventual reply. "Though I've heard that Jiraiya-sama can figure out the exact meaning of a seal if he's given a few hours. Why, have you discovered your prodigal talent for sealing?" she asked half-jokingly. When Sakura didn't laugh in reply, Shizune scanned her face seriously. "What is it?" she asked.
Sakura smiled quickly.
"I'm sure it's nothing." she reassured her, shrugging off the question. "Just a strange experience I had yesterday. I tried to read some basic seals last night, though, and I had just as much trouble as always. Ah, never mind. I'll leave you and Tokuma to uh... wake up properly."
She left with an amused grin on her face, storing away the tidbit of information for blackmail at a later date.
"Hatake. And uh, other Hatake. Morning." Tsunade greeted the men with a nod as they entered her office before turning back to the decoded diagram which Jiraiya had handed to her only minutes before. She had been grateful to find out that the man was back in Konoha the previous day, for the first time in months, it seemed. He'd accepted the diagram and worked on it through the night, before taking off again on a 'training exercise' with Naruto. Tsunade had dutifully ignored their obvious attempt to hide what was really a glorified day trip, and sent them both off with a warning to "stay out of danger and bath houses".
Sakura wandered in several minutes later, looking for all purposes as if she was ready to take down an entire army that day. Tsunade felt a fond swell of pride just looking at her fiery apprentice, complete with neatly braided hair and a plethora of weapons hidden on her body, distinguishable only to the eye of the woman who'd taught her where to hide them. Her greeting to Sakura was considerably warmer than when she'd spoken to the Hatakes.
"Morning, Sakura-chan." she smiled. "Creative placement of your kunai today. Who are you planning on assassinating?" she joked, coaxing an amused grin from her pink haired apprentice. Sakura shrugged, stretching her arms behind her back.
"Ah, whoever takes my fancy, I imagine." she replied in mock seriousness. Tsunade stifled a snicker at the way both Hatakes faces had turned a peculiar shade of white, instead handing Sakura the decoded diagram which Jiraiya had produced.
Sakura's face turned ponderous as she considered it.
"This is almost right." she commented absently. "This part here- yes, that bit, that's not quite right. It doesn't mean 'transport the chakra', it means 'transport their chakra'. Strange."
Tsunade tried to keep the flutter of surprise off her face as Sakura spoke, the girl pointing to the hastily scribbled notes which Jiraiya had left.
"Can I keep a copy of these?" she asked, finally looking up. Her eyes were alight with curiosity. Tsunade nodded.
"Great." Sakura grinned. "What's the plan today?" At that point, both Hatakes looked up, slightly more interested. Tsunade cleared her throat.
"Yamato should be here soon." she began cheerfully. "He'll be joining the three of you on another trip out to the cave today to check on the seal. You don't need to do anything exactly, except check that the area is secure and that the seal hasn't changed significantly or disappeared. Also, if you and Hatake could put up a simple containment seal around the site, just to make sure it stays in the one spot, that would be helpful. Jiraiya is out of the village for the day, but he will be returning tomorrow to assist with sending Kakashi back. And Sakura, do try to restrain yourself from touching the seal, for the love of Kami, or at least let Hatake restrain you." Sakura's eyes flashed dangerously.
"Or Yamato." Tsunade amended quickly. Sakura looked slightly appeased, at which point Kakashi was struck by the sudden and troubling thought... does Sakura like Yamato?
"Who's Yamato?" the younger Kakashi asked his older self lowly.
"Tenzou." Kakashi replied shortly. He turned to Tsunade. "I take it he has been informed about the latest developments?" He gestured to himself and his younger counterpart.
"Ah." Tsunade frowned. "Actually, you're right, I probably should have considered that before he-"
"Reporting, Tsunade-sama, sorry I'm la- oh, what in the everliving fuck." Yamato stopped dead in his tracks. The expression on his face would have been hilarious, if not for the fact that Kakashi was too busy pondering the possibility that Sakura liked Yamato to notice.
The man composed himself quickly, a resigned sigh escaping his lips.
"I apologise for my swearing, Tsunade-sama." he bowed quickly. Tsunade rolled her eyes in amusement.
"Yes, don't fucking swear in front of the Hokage." she reprimanded him mockingly. When he flushed and sent an annoyed glare towards the older Kakashi, Tsunade cleared her throat.
"Yamato, meet young Kakashi. He's somehow managed to travel through time to find himself nine years in the future, and at the moment we're trying to figure out how to send him back. You're going to be joining these three to further investigate the seal which we believe caused this incident. Good luck breaking up the fights." Tsunade finished with a wicked grin. "Sakura, fill him in on the way."
"Of course, shishou."
The group left quickly, leaving Tsunade alone in her office to giggle quietly. Poor Yamato, she thought.
"Hang on, you tried to touch it?" Yamato asked incredulously, sending a disbelieving glance Sakura's way.
"Why does everyone react that way?" Sakura exclaimed, shaking her head resignedly. "It wouldn't have done anything to me." she paused, frowning. "Well, it could have made me travel to a different year, but that's beside the point." she added.
Yamato groaned, rubbing his palm over his face.
"I can't believe I've wasted the past three years of my life with you idiots."
The older Kakashi nodded in agreement. Truth be told, he couldn't believe the man had stuck around past their ANBU days either.
"Anyway, we're here." he interjected, cutting the conversation short. Before them stood the natural cave, looking as unwelcoming as it had the day before. Kakashi led the procession towards it nonchalantly, all the while keeping Sakura in his peripheral vision. She caught his gaze for a moment, offering him a tiny, tired smile before flickering her gaze away once again. He noticed with some consternation that she clenched her jaw when she looked away, as if she was biting back a comment. Kakashi made a mental note to talk to her in private later.
As they entered the gloomy darkness of the cave, Kakashi began to draw lightning-natured chakra into his fist in preparation for the chidori which would light their way. To his surprise, the extra lighting wasn't necessary. In the twelve or so hours that he and Sakura had left the seal, its light had grown much stronger, and now illuminated even the tunnel in its strange purple glow. As they travelled along the tunnel, drawing closer to the fork in the road which would reveal the seal, the light grew brighter, and Sakura's eyes grew wider. His younger self kept his facade of forced impassivity, but Yamato didn't make much of an effort to hide his discomfort - not only was the man uncomfortable in caves, he also seemed to be finding the light strangely unsettling, if the expression of mild distaste on his face was anything to go by. Kakashi couldn't blame him.
When they finally reached the smaller cave which housed the seal, Sakura made to enter the room first. Kakashi grabbed her wrist in a firm grip, holding her back from the cave entrance.
"Younger me first." he murmured, leaving no room for argument. Sakura stared at him for a long second, gaze unreadable, before tugging her arm out of his grasp and following the younger Kakashi into the cavern. Kakashi followed her in, Yamato trailing reluctantly after.
The seal was almost blindingly bright. Kakashi watched with some trepidation as Sakura crouched on the ground before it, her eyes thoughtful. He was ready to pull her back at any moment, but this time, her hands stayed by her sides. After a moment of consideration, she rose to her feet, eyes thoughtful.
The younger Kakashi broke the silence.
"That looks... really familiar." he admitted, voice unreadable. Sakura bit her lip thoughtfully, turning to survey the younger man.
"Do you remember anything at all before you woke up in this time?" she asked. He deliberated.
"Just the purple light." he said finally, with a shrug. "I don't remember anyone being around, either. Whoever set this seal is clearly a genius, but I wouldn't like to make wild guesses as to who it is."
After a moment, the older Kakashi spoke up.
"Try anyway." he ordered. The younger man flashed a quick glance at him, but after a moment nodded. He ran his fingers through his hair in an unconscious nervous habit. The older Kakashi watched with narrowed eyes.
"If I had to make a guess, I'd say Danzo." he confided honestly, meeting the others' eyes in turn. "I can't think of anyone else in Konoha powerful enough to set up a seal like this, or at least have someone do it for him. He could gain a lot from having the means to time travel, especially if he was keeping it from the Hokage. Though I think it was an accident that I got sent to this time. It's not as if I'm affiliated with him anymore."
The older Kakashi nodded, satisfied.
"I was thinking along the same lines." he agreed flatly. "Though that doesn't explain how Sakura can read the seal."
Three pairs of eyes turned to Sakura at once. She raised an eyebrow and gave a tiny shrug.
"Don't ask me." she deflected blithely. "I haven't got a clue."
Kakashi sighed.
"Anyway, Sakura, can you tell if anything about the seal has changed?" he asked tiredly. She shook her head.
"It has definitely changed state - it's becoming more active as time goes by. But the actual markings are the same, and its properties are the same, from what I can tell."
The four shinobi stared for a long moment at the glowing seal between them, pulsating with an otherworldly light.
"Can we go get some fresh air?" came Yamato's voice. The other three glanced quickly over to where he stood, discomfort etched into his face.
"Yamato-taichou, are you feeling okay?" Sakura was the first to reply, stepping forward, a note of concern in her voice. The mokuton user gave a strained nod and allowed her to place a cool hand on his forehead.
"You're burning up." she murmured, already turning to lead him from the cave. Both Hatakes followed after, exchanging a confused glance. Kakashi glared involuntarily at the steadying hand which Sakura placed on Yamato's arm, a pang of unreasonable annoyance running through him.
Why am I annoyed? She's helping him, he berated himself, averting his eyes. Stop being an idiot.
As they broke out of the cave mouth and into the fresh air of the world above, Yamato let out a sigh of relief. Sakura guided him quickly to lean against a nearby tree, helping him to the ground. Away from the purple light of the cave, Yamato did look decidedly pale.
"Let me just check your vitals." Sakura said, frowning as she lifted her hand to Yamato's forehead once again. The green glow of her medical chakra began to emanate from her hand, humming faintly as she sent a diagnostic pulse through his body. Kakashi crouched down on the other side of Yamato, eyes narrowed.
"Hmm." Sakura sat back on her heels and allowed her hands to settle back in her lap. "There's nothing major wrong with you, just an elevated heartbeat, and your body temperature is fairly high. Have you been sick lately?" Her question was directed at her sometimes-captain, who looked vaguely uncomfortable with the reversal of authority between them. He shook his head.
"I strongly dislike caves." he admitted after a moment. Kakashi resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Honestly, though he'd never tell him so, the younger man was as skilled a shinobi as he, had killed thousands of enemy nin, was unafraid in the face of death... and had a debilitating fear of caves. Typical.
"Well, you'll have to help secure the perimeter then." Kakashi decided abruptly, taking up the position of command. "You go with younger me, and I'll take Sakura back in-"
He broke off at Sakura's hard gaze.
"I'm going to finish stabilising his heartbeat and temperature first, sensei." she interjected. Kakashi kept the surprise from his eyes, but couldn't help but be slightly impressed that she was finally learning to stand her own ground with him. She'd always been the one to agree with him first, as a genin, leaving the arguing to Naruto and Sasuke.
"Fine." he agreed.
Several minutes passed as Sakura sent calming medical chakra into Yamato's system, slowing his heartbeat until it was back to a normal rate, and cooling his temperature slightly. Finally satisfied, she climbed back to her feet, extending a hand for Yamato too.
Kakashi couldn't help but regain a tinge of his earlier annoyance when the man took her hand in his and climbed back to his feet.
"Yamato, you go with him to secure the perimeter." he instructed shortly, gesturing towards his younger self. "Sakura and I will place a containment seal around the one in the cave while you scour the area. This shouldn't take more than a couple of hours."
The two men nodded before bounding off into the trees, instinctively taking up one of their old ANBU formations. As soon as they were out of sight, Sakura turned to Kakashi.
"You should be nicer to him, you know." she reprimanded sternly. Before Kakashi could even think to reply, she had moved on.
"What kind of seal are we going to use?" she asked, voice professionally detached, as they began to walk back into the confines of the cave. Kakashi paused for a moment to process her change in attitude. He emulated her distant tone when he replied.
"We'll set up a basic containment seal to confine the reach of the chakra in this one." he replied. "It only needs to last until Jiraiya can help send the brat back."
"You speak about yourself horribly." she remarked, softly enough that Kakashi thought he may have imagined it. He shrugged.
They were almost at the fork in the tunnel once more when Sakura accidentally brushed her arm against Kakashi's. She made a startled noise in the back of her throat and jumped back, hitting her shoulder against the tunnel wall as her ankle rolled precariously. Kakashi turned around, grabbing her upper arm to steady her. There followed a moment of awkward silence as the two stared at each other.
"Um. You can let go of my arm now, Kakashi."
"Oh. Right."
Neither person moved. The silence stretched on as the two stood, his hand on her arm, eyes locked. The professional coldness of before had melted away, and in the purple light, Sakura looked strangely vulnerable. She was the first to break eye contact.
"We already went there, remember." she murmured, looking down. Without thinking, Kakashi reached out with his free hand to gently lift her chin so that she was looking him in the eyes again. He saw the surprise and the fragile, faltering hope reflected there, and took a tiny step closer.
"We didn't." he replied. "I'm not... Sakura, the man out there may as well be a different person to who I am now."
"That's no excuse." she pointed out. He nodded and let go of her, stepping away.
"I understand that."
"You're an idiot."
"Yes, I can agree with that."
"Kakashi?"
"Yes?"
"You have two seconds to kiss me."
He didn't need to be told twice. He pushed her back against the cave wall in one stride, resting his hands on her waist. Her hand snaked up his chest to pull his mask down, and in one fluid movement their lips met. The kiss was fast paced and frantic, his lips pushing against hers fervently. Absently, he noticed that her hands were tangled in his hair, and one of his hands had found the curve of her ass.
He was the first to break away with a gasp, taking a stumbling step back. Sakura looked up at him in confusion, chest rising and falling lightly.
"Mission." he explained as he caught his breath. "We're on a mission. We can't be doing this now."
Sakura gazed at him for a moment before finally nodding.
"You're right." she agreed. "I'm sorry. Um- Right. Mission." She took a deep, steadying breath and took the lead as they began to walk down the tunnel once more. Her head spun a little. Did that just happen? she asked herself.
"You seem... happier." Kakashi remarked as he ran beside Yamato, checking the perimeter they'd set up. Yamato shot him a strange glance, but eventually nodded.
"It's strange seeing you like this. You've changed a lot in recent years. I mean, you will change in a few years." he amended. "This is so confusing."
Kakashi nodded.
"You're telling me." he agreed, a note of frustration entering his voice. A strained silence ensued.
Several minutes later, Kakashi spoke up again.
"So, you and Sakura." he began flatly, forcing a disinterested note into his voice. Yamato shot him a strange look.
"Me and Sakura?" he questioned. Kakashi cleared his throat.
"Are you two together or something?"
He was slightly surprised when Yamato had to stop running, he was laughing so hard. It took several minutes for Yamato to regain his composure, by which point Kakashi was outright scowling.
"What?" he demanded. Yamato trailed off into chuckles, wiping his eyes.
"Nothing, nothing." he replied placatingly, finally returning to his previous, more serious tone. "Just that Sakura would sooner punch a man than kiss him. Since Sasuke left, she's only had time for training and hunting Akatsuki. Not that that would make much sense to you, of course." He shrugged, beginning to walk at a stride once more. Kakashi quickly caught up to him.
"Who is Sasuke?" he asked, all pretense of nonchalance discarded. Yamato seemed to consider for a moment, eyes calculating. After a long second he sighed wearily.
"Missing nin. Sakura was pretty hard in love with him, from what I can tell. He took off from the village a few years back, and since then she's only seen him at times when he's tried to kill her, or one of her friends. I think it was a pretty tough blow for her, especially with what happened the last time she saw him, but at least at that point she finally accepted that he's not coming back."
Kakashi narrowed his eyes thoughtfully.
"I don't see how that's funny." he commented after a moment. Yamato shook his head.
"It's not." he replied. "The funny part was imagining your face if I tried to date your student. You're quite protective of her in this time, you know."
Kakashi grimace beneath his mask.
"Somehow," he said, "I get the feeling she can take care of herself pretty well."
Yamato snickered.
"You're right there." he agreed. "I've seen her throw a man into a tree and bring down half the forest, before. I pity any man who decides it's a good idea to screw her over." he confided.
Kakashi paled slightly, but Yamato didn't seem to notice.
"Hold it. You're doing well, try to keep it at that level." Kakashi instructed, concentrating on keeping his chakra output at the same level as Sakura's. She raised a brow at him from across the small cave, where she was sending chakra into the other half of the seal they were setting up over the purple one.
"Sorry." he added. "I'm used to trying to keep Naruto's chakra under control." Sakura sent him a tiny, if slightly tired, smile, before focussing once again on the seal which was hovering in the space between them, held in place by their hands on either side. Though it was a fairly simple seal, the amount of chakra control which it took just to keep the two seals in such close proximity to one another without them interacting was mountainous. They'd only been at it for half an hour or so, and Sakura was already flagging. Though Kakashi would never admit it, the chakra control was taxing for him as well, especially with his sharingan active to keep an eye on both seals at once.
"Tell me when you want to start moving outwards." Sakura murmured, her voice carrying easily across the distance as the sound bounced off the hard surfaces of the cave. Kakashi nodded, before realising that her eyes were trained on her own hands.
"Now." he called instead. As one, they began to take slow steps backwards, expanding the size of the seal until they each stood with their backs to the cave walls, facing one another directly.
"Okay, now we'll just lower it down carefully," Kakashi said, "Until the edges reach the floor, and hopefully it will be strong enough to overlap the other seal without interacting with it. Ready?"
"Ready." Sakura replied.
They began to move into a crouch, bringing their hands down with them as their seal neared the ground.
"And just let it touch the ground, and then fix-"
The purple seal flashed a blinding white, and Sakura gave a sudden yelp of pain as the flow of chakra between her and the seal snapped. Distantly, she heard Kakashi grunt in pain as well, before her vision blacked out and she found herself on the ground. The deep muscular ache which came with rapid chakra depletion set in almost instantly. She gritted her teeth. What went wrong? she wondered.
After a few seconds, she found she could see again, and pulled herself up into a sitting position. The ache in her muscles remained.
"What the fuck was that?" she asked, climbing unsteadily to her feet. Kakashi rubbed the back of his head, pulling himself to his feet as well.
"The seal failed." he said. Sakura resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
"I hadn't noticed." she sassed, fighting to hide the slight tremble in her voice which often came with chakra exhaustion for her. Kakashi shook his head wearily.
"Are you alright?" he asked. She nodded.
"Suddenly very low on chakra, but other than that I'm fine. Are you okay?" she moved across to him, instinctively gathering medical chakra in her right hand. As the green glow began to light up in her palm, she gasped and winced again, quickly releasing the chakra.
"Shit. Forgot already. No chakra." she muttered to herself. "Can we go outside?" Kakashi nodded, hooking his arm around her waist and pulling her arm over his shoulder. She flashed him a surprised glance but accepted his help nevertheless. They made their way unsteadily from the cave, leaning on one another in turn. It was a relief when they finally found themselves above ground. Kakashi noted with some surprise that the sun was already beginning to set. How long were we actually down there for? he wondered. It didn't seem like that long.
They lowered themselves to the ground almost immediately. Sakura crawled to the tree which Yamato had been propped up against only hours before, leaning back against it.
"That was weird." she noted after a minute. Kakashi hummed his agreement. "And painful." she added with a sigh.
By the time Yamato and the younger Kakashi found them, the sun had almost disappeared. Yamato took over immediately, crouching first by Sakura, who briefly explained why they were on the floor, and then by Kakashi, at Sakura's directive to "check the idiot's pulse".
Yamato shook his head in exasperation at the two of them.
"Here." he pulled several soldier pills from his hip pouch, handing one each to either incapacitated shinobi. "Eat a couple of these, at least you'll get your chakra back." Sakura accepted the pill gratefully, swallowing it without chewing. The effects were almost instantaneous. She felt the warm tinge of chakra returning to her system. After several minutes, the ache in her muscles eased up until she could stand again. She moved straight to Kakashi's side, who was still lying, unmoving, on the ground. With a sigh, she pulled down his mask, pushing the pill into his mouth in one swift movement.
"Swallow." she directed. Kakashi complied, and Sakura let out a tiny sigh of relief. Yamato cleared his throat.
"While you two were sealing, we were met by a messenger." he interrupted their silent exchange. "Tsunade sent someone to tell us that Jiraiya will be meeting us here at dawn, so we have to camp out here instead of returning to the village." Sakura turned to him with a tired smile.
"It's getting dark already." the younger Hatake commented. "We should start a fire while we still have some light." Sakura nodded her assent.
"Let Kakashi recover for a minute." she instructed, swallowing another soldier pill as she climbed to her feet. "I'll go find some firewood."
She wandered off into the trees, the last of the earlier dizziness fading from her head. Yamato glanced after her in consternation.
"You go with her." he ordered the younger Kakashi, inclining his head in her direction. "I'll do one final run of the perimeter." Yamato knew that in the outer forests of Konoha, the group would be relatively safe - but, he reasoned, since Kakashi-senpai was out for the time being, he would have to take the role of team captain while he recovered. The last thing he wanted was for something to happen on his watch. Naruto had already sullied his reputation enough times with his disappearing acts, and Yamato was not interested in seeing a repeat of his senpai's disappointed expression.
Kakashi fell into step beside Sakura as she made her way from tree to try, picking up the small branches and sticks which littered the ground beneath the boughs. He absently began to pick up his own pile of sticks, keeping Sakura in his peripheral vision. She seemed to be recovered, but the fact that his older self was still lying on the ground indicated that she probably wasn't quite as recovered as she made out.
"Sakura-"
"Kakashi-"
Both began at the same time. Sakura smiled, gesturing for him to talk first.
"Listen, I'm really sorry about what happened the other night." he apologised, voice low. "I didn't think through how that might affect you in this time, and-"
"It's okay. I wanted to as well. No hard feelings, right?" she offered.
"Well, speaking of hard feel- never mind." he cut off quickly at the sight of her raised eyebrow. Stop trying to flirt, idiot, he reminded himself.
"Thank you, Kakashi." She sent him a warm smile. Kakashi didn't reply, concentrating instead on gathering up the firewood and ignoring the insistent stutter of his heartbeat. They worked together in silence until they had picked up enough firewood for a long-lasting fire. It was well and truly dark by the time they turned back towards the campsite. Though they didn't speak, the atmosphere between them was decidedly warmer and less tense.
They re-entered the campsite to the sight of Kakashi spreading out blankets in a circle, while Yamato skinned a rabbit which he must have caught in their absence. Kakashi met Sakura's eyes as she sat down, handing the firewood to him to start the fire, as was their custom on missions. Their fingers brushed, and Kakashi gave a tiny smile beneath his mask.
