The sun peeked through the curtains as the sound of the shower woke Sakura. She didn't move while letting the sunlight fill her eyes as she slowly opened them. Kakashi's bed was empty on the other side of the room but it was well made. She could see his book sitting on the night stand beside his headband.

The water in the bathroom shut off and Sakura continue to lay unmoving. There was a noise of shuffling before the bathroom opened. Kakashi walked past Sakura's bed with a towel around his hips and holding a hand towel to his face. He moved to his bedside still facing away from Sakura as he grabbed something from off the bed. Bending over slightly, the towel rode up his legs and Sakura blushed slightly as he stood again. Ignoring her still, Kakashi moved to the window and closed the blinds before finally turning and acknowledging the other occupant in the room.

"Sakura! I didn't know you were awake. How embarrassing, I would have put on some clothes."

Sakura made sure to keep eye contact with him from her position under the covers.
"An elite ex-Anbu Jounin couldn't tell if the only other person in a confined room was asleep or not?" Sakura finally moved to sit up. She put her legs over the side of the bed and rubbed her face before looking at the floor. "Go put some clothes on before I throw you out the window in that towel."

Kakashi raised the hand that wasn't holding the hand towel to his face in an innocent manner.
"Now now. We don't need to resort to that."

Sakura looked to his face and her breath caught as she saw his jaw peek out from behind the cloth. Kakashi smiled at her and relaxed his hand to his side again. Sakura's face began to turn pink as she saw the skin wrinkle teasingly.
Maintaining eye contact, she slowly moved out of the bed, and turned to the closet that their clothes resided in. Cringing at the smell that was emitted when she opened the door, she grabbed Kakashi's shirt and vest first and threw them at him. Kakashi caught them easily as she proceeded into the bathroom to find his pants and mask folded neatly on the sink counter. After she walked out and threw them to Kakashi, she grabbed her own clothes from the closet and went into the bathroom.

After she dressed herself and washed her face, Sakura stood in the bathroom until she was satisfied that she gave Kakashi enough time to put his own clothes on. She left the bathroom to find him with his back to her as he pulled up his mask. He then tied his headband on and turned to face her. She nodded as he gave her a bored look and they proceeded to leave the room.

They quickly made their way out of the village. Taking no time with the roads once they left, they proceeded to tree hop their way through the forest back to Konoha. There was no conversation as Sakura followed Kakashi through the trees, until Kakashi stumbled upon a fruit tree during one of their breaks and they decided to have a mid day break as the sun was reaching it's apex.

Kakashi leapt into the tree to grab some of the circular pink fruits, but was shaken to the ground along with a plethora of fruit when Sakura grabbed the trunk of the tree. Kakashi gave her an annoyed look after landing on his feet beside her and Sakura just smiled and shrugged.

"You were taking too long."
She grabbed one of the fruits from the ground and handed it to him before turning to find one for herself.

As she bent down to inspect the various fruits she heard his mask shuffle followed by a small crunching sound. Glancing behind from her crouching position, she saw him now sitting with his back to her on a branch of the fruit tree. She couldn't see any of his face, but she could see him discarding a pit and picking a second fruit from the branch above his head. She returned her focus to the fruits on the ground and grabbed a couple that looked particularly delicious.
Looking back to Kakashi, he was using his vest handkerchief to wipe his face before making a motion of pulling his mask back in place.

"May I join you, Sensei?"

Kakashi looked back to Sakura and crinkled his eye before moving closer to the trunk to make room for her.
"By all means."

Sakura leapt to the branch, keeping hold of the fruits while carefully sitting and dangling her legs over the branch. Kakashi moved to lounge against the trunk of the tree, placing one foot on the branch and let the other hang freely off the side. Sakura bit into the first fruit and let the juice run down her face and onto her medic skirt. She closed her eyes and let out a small noise before swallowing and looking to Kakashi.

"Kind of lucky for you to stumble on this tree, these are really good."
Sakura took another bite.

Kakashi watched her carefully as he rested an arm on his knee.
"Actually, I found this place a few months ago while I was out on a mission. I just figured, since we were in the area, you might like to stop and see it."

Sakura looked to him as she sucked on the pit of her first fruit before spitting it to the ground. Smiling at him, she wiped her hands on her skirt.
"Maybe you can take me to a river next. I wouldn't mind taking a quick rinse."

Kakashi chuckled at her.
"We're not too far away from Konoha. Just a few more hours through the trees and you'll be able to bathe at your own place."

Sakura closed her eyes and sighed lightly.
"That'll be nice, but you don't seem to be in much of a hurry to get back."

Kakashi looked into her eyes. What she could see of his face was more serious than usual, but kept a bored tone about him.
"Don't underestimate the pleasure of solitude. The sooner we get back, the sooner we will be open to taking more responsibilities. We're getting paid just the same no matter how long we take to return, and as far as I'm concerned, we don't have to be back until tomorrow morning."

Sakura's brows furrowed as Kakashi finished talking.
"Is that why you're always so damn late to everything?"

Chuckling, Kakashi smiled and leaned forward to put his hand on Sakura's head. He ruffled her hair a little before jumping off the tree. He started walking away from her as she continued to sit and watch him walk.
"The road of life takes many forms, Sakura."
He looked back to her.
"Sometimes it's very easy to get lost."

Sakura rolled her eyes and gave a deep huff before jumping out of the tree. She began to follow him through the forest.
"What ever you say, Sensei."

They arrived in the village some time later, the sun was still in the sky but it wouldn't be there for long. Sakura entered the gates following Kakashi and they were immediately spotted by Naruto who happened to be walking by.
"Sakura! Kakashi! Where the hell have you been? I've been looking for you two all day! Well, mostly you, Sakura, but now that you're here too Kakashi we can all train together!"

Sakura's temper flared at Naruto and she hit him on the shoulder.
"Naruto! Shut up! We just got back from a mission, neither of us can do any training until someone reports to Lady Tsunade."
Sakura gave a sigh and looked to Kakashi.
"Which I guess is going to be me. I really wanted to take a bath, though."

Kakashi look off in the distance, apparently ignoring Sakura and Naruto.
Balling his fists, Naruto shouted at kakashi.
"Hey! Kakashi Sensei! Why don't you stop being such a lazy fucker and at least go with Sakura! It's like you don't even care!"

Sakura grabbed Naruto's shoulder.
"Naruto, relax. He doesn't need to come with me." She smiled to him. "I have you to go with me instead!"

Naruto stopped glaring at Kakashi and beamed at Sakura.
"You're right! I'll walk with you, then we can go get ramen!"

Sakura kept her hand on Naruto's shoulder as she turned him towards the Hokage tower. They began to walk and Sakura glanced to Kakashi who was still staring off in the distance.
"Have fun on the road of life, Sensei."

Kakashi finally looked to her. He gave her a smile and waved before walking in his own direction.

"What a weirdo. Why did we have to be stuck with such a jerk for a sensei?" Naruto crossed his arms as he huffed.

Sakura's hand was now at her side as they walked.
"He's not our sensei any more, Naruto. Any sticking that's done is purely of our own volition."

Naruto looked to her with mild shock.
"Don't say that, Sakura. Kakashi will always be our sensei."

They kept walking and Sakura shook her head while smiling at Naruto. They approached the Hokage tower and continued to chat about the happenings in the town. Naruto talked about how Hinata and Neji have come to a clan agreement to join the two branches and how Lee has taken up a part time position at the training academy teaching taijutsu.

They entered the Hokage tower and made their way to Tsunade's office. When they got there, the door was open and Sakura called to her quietly before entering.
"Lady Tsunade?"

Not looking from her paper, the Hokage waved them in.
"Come in Sakura. I had a feeling that I would be seeing you first." She looked up after writing something on the paper she was studying. "And Naruto. Staying out of trouble?"

Naruto put his hands behind his head and grinned at her but said nothing.

Sakura rolled her eyes at him before she addressed Tsunade in a formal tone.
"The mission was a success, the client made it on time and there was no problems making it to the checkpoint."

Tsunade nodded.
"Good. I expect a report from you tomorrow before I give you your next mission."

Sakura straightened her posture while giving Tsunade a confused look before bowing respectfully.
"Yes, Lady Tsunade."

The blond woman nodded back to her and waved them off. They both exited and quickly left the building while Sakura fumed to Naruto about having another mission.
"Tomorrow was supposed to be my day off! I mean, I never go on missions. Why is she suddenly dumping these on me?"
She continued for a while more before calming down and stopping in the street.
"Hey Naruto." She looked to him.

Naruto also stopped.
"Yes Sakura?"

Sakura looked around for a moment at the buildings then quickly smiled back to him.
"Let's go visit Ino and see if she wants to train with us."

Naruto gave a concerned look to Sakura.
"Didn't you want to go home and shower?"

Sakura shrugged and smiled at him before walking again.
"It would be better to shower after training."

Giving an excited whoop, Naruto started running towards Ino's flower shop.
"Aww yeah! Hurry Sakura! The the faster we get there the sooner we can get to it! Believe it!"