Gomen, Gomen. Took a little longer than usual. Somehow times slips away faster when you have something you need to do. *Sigh*

Awkward silence. He was scared to breathe too loudly. This was not safe, comfortable, Team 7 silence, it was awkward silence. Kakashi panned left to right. To his left was Sasuke, walking one step in front, his head up. His eyes were forward but they kept slipping sideways, almost coming to rest on the boy in Kakashi's arms but he'd always catch himself. Cradled against his chest was Naruto, his eyes closed, body too tense to be sleeping. The corners of the masked mouth turned down as he assessed Naruto's wound. It was now closed but the skin around it raised, angry-red and scabbing. Was something wrong? Earlier he hadn't noticed, but shouldn't the wound be healed by now? Or healed when Naruto was under Kyuubi's control? At the very least it should be healing quicker than it was. He frowned. He didn't like leaving the matter unanswered but they had a mission to complete. With or without Kousuke they had to report to the Mizukage.

Moments passed. One remained to be checked on, realized the Leaf's Copy Cat. Sakura. She walked one step behind, head down. He could almost hear her thoughts. Useless. Completely useless. Something like that. Her fingers twitched, curling and then her face would pull together, concentrating hard until her hands relaxed again. Trying not to clench her fists? Kakashi shook his head, a habit he seemed to have picked up soon after taking on the young ninja.

Step, step, stop. The others stopped too and turned to look at him. Sasuke's eyes came to meet his straight away, completely avoiding Naruto. Sakura lifted her face slowly. She lingered on Naruto and then came all the way up but her sea foam green eyes didn't lock with his. They settled nervously somewhere on the bridge of his nose. Kakashi sighed and held Naruto out to Sasuke. The Uchiha boy narrowed his eyes and scowled a little as he took Naruto in his arms.

"Where's my forehead protector," asked Naruto his eyes still closed.

"In my bag, dobe." replied Sasuke quietly, the scowl fell from his face.

"We took it off when you got hurt," said Sakura. There was a minute where they all just watched Naruto. The awkwardness had gone as soon as Naruto had spoken. They were in Team 7 silence; the silence where they were all speaking at once without words.

I let you down...

I was too slow...

I'm useless...

Don't hate me...

I'm sorry...

It was sad and it hurt the three young shinobi, he could tell, but it was safe.

Kakashi looked back to Sakura. Useless. Completely useless, he heard.

"Sakura, let's take a short walk shall we?" he invited quietly. Sakura turned, surprised, her eyes finally meeting his. An unpleasant sensation ran the length of his spine. "Come on." She paused and then nodded obediently, following him off the track, leaving Sasuke alone holding Naruto.

…

The young kunoichi's tried to quiet her nervous breathing as she trailed after her mentor. What did he want? It was about what happened in the battle, right? He was finally going to tell her straight up that she needed to stop relying on the boys. A twig cracked under Kakashi's foot and she jumped. He turned.

"Sakura." She stepped back.

"Yes, Kakashi sensei?"

Don't say it, she begged. I know, just please don't say it. She was a coward; her eyes fell away from him.

"Look at me." She clenched and unclenched her fists.

"Look at me," he said firmly. Sakura's eyes didn't move. She could smell the bitter scent of tears in her nostrils as she slowly traced the sunlight's dappled patterns on the wet grass. The jounin sighed and placed a hand on her shoulder. It was heavy and warm. Something stuck in her throat that she couldn't swallow.

Don't say it.

I know.

Don't say it.

"What's wrong Sakura?" She blinked. One tear fell and curved along her face, coming to rest in the corner of her parted mouth. He squeezed her shoulder, cocking his head slightly. His voice had curved up at the end. A question? Blink. Shouldn't it be even and hard? A lecture? She looked up at him through her eyelashes. People like her weren't allowed to lift their chins like they had something to be proud of.

"You can tell me you know." He said, cutting through her thoughts, his eyebrow dipping into a confused frown. "Is it that you feel responsible for what happened back there? You feel... Useless?" The word struck Sakura in the chest; she sucked in air and stumbled a little, pulling herself from Kakashi's grasp. One tear chased another. The word echoed in her head longer than it should have.

Kakashi sighed and shook his head, just like he always did. Her eyes dropped again. Aggravated, frustrated, annoyed, irritated, fractious... She wished for once her vocabulary wasn't quite as wide as it was. Which word described how he felt right now? Sakura didn't know. She didn't dare look into his face. They stood for a while, Sakura staring at her feet, biting her lip, Kakashi turned with his back half to her.

She closed her eyes. Scenes from the battles flooded her vision. Every colour was heightened, excruciatingly bright. Naruto's orange jacket stung the worst; a flurry that sent her head spinning as he jumped in close to her, shoving her away from Kousuke. The scene turned black and white and slowed. All she saw was the unbearable blue of his eyes before a new memory surfaced and she was ripped away and flung underneath the green-eyed ninja. She didn't stay there long. Just long enough to be tortured by the moment. Suddenly Naruto's hand was around her neck. The words she remembered saying sounded pathetic and fake as she tried to coax his consciousness back. Two seconds there and onto the next scene. Sasuke was sprinting away and she was sitting, too scared to move. Useless.

Her eyes opened and looked toward Kakashi, glancing stealthily out of her peripheral vision. His figure was distorted through her long pink bangs.

"We need you, Sakura," he said softly and she tensed, snapping her eyes away. This comfort he was trying to give hurt more than a lecture.

"You don't," she murmured softly. "I'm... not of any value." She couldn't even say it. That word that was her. He sighed. Again.

"I always act like I know so much more," she said and then laughed miserably. "So what if I'm more mature than Naruto? So what if I can work out a logical problem faster than Sasuke kun? In the end that kind of thing doesn't count for anything, because they're always jumping in, putting their lives on the line where I'm too scared and they're always in the lead and I just watch. I'm helpless... I'm always, always walking in the back. Useless!" Her voice jumped a notch and cracked as she covered her face with her hands. She could feel the man's eye on her. She wanted him to look away, but of course he didn't.

"Sakura." His hand dropped onto her head, startling the sob from her chest. She whimpered pathetically. "You know why you're always in the back?" She trembled and he ruffled her hair a bit. "I don't think you do. You walk in the back for a good reason. You walk in the back because for Naruto and Sasuke, two people who no matter how much they think they're not, are still very much children, sometimes find it a bit scary looking forward, to future. Strong ties with past you know?" She lifted her face to find his eye on her, soft and smoldering.

"Having you behind them is something I think both of them actually need. Being able to look back when it's too scary, and know there is someone watching them, supporting them and pushing them forward is something they really need." His gaze hardened, boring the message into her, she couldn't look away.

"They love you Sakura. Sasuke's a bit shy and Naruto of course says it all the time without thinking but not even they don't realize how much they depend on you." She watched him with wide eyes. It wasn't a lie was it? Could there be a truth to his words? His one eye crinkled into a familiar, masked smile.

"No ninja can become truly strong if they have don't have someone precious to protect, if they don't have someone to love them." Sakura's fingers uncurled and she shuddered into a sob. He lifted his hand away and stepped back.

The something she couldn't swallow was gone and her whole body was light. Tears were of relief rolled over her cheeks. She was needed. She wasn't useless after all. Of course she would still work hard to get stronger because relying on Sasuke and Naruto wasn't something she felt good about, but the weight she had felt on her heart was gone. Sakura smiled a little, a smile she knew would look bad with her tear stained face and quivering lips, but that wasn't important right now. Maybe, just maybe, walking in the back wasn't so bad.

"Thank you... Kakashi sensei..."

They returned to the forest side trail. Sasuke was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the path with his face turned away, a childish pout of annoyance on his handsome face. Naruto lay with his head in Sasuke's lap, eyes closed and breathing deeply. Sleeping. Sakura smiled as she watched Kakashi pick up Naruto and Sasuke jump up and start walking again, waiting for no one. She fell into step with the raven haired boy, matching his quick footsteps and waited for him to acknowledge her. His eyes drifted sideways and met hers before moving frontwards again. That was an 'I know your there' in Sasuke language. It may even have been a 'Hi' but his eyebrows were a little too furrowed and his lips too tight. He was still on edge.

"Ne, Sasuke kun?" He didn't look.

"What is it?" he responded smoothly without much emotion. Definitely on edge. She paused.

"Do you love me?" The boy tripped, missing a quick footstep, his cheeks flushing a soft pink. She giggled lightly. If she remembered correctly, that kind of direct question had never come up before. Usually she just told him that she loved him and he would accept it without saying a word. "No", "Go away" and "Thanks, but no thanks" had disappeared from their conversations sometime ago. This was new.

"Well?"

He was silent for a while and then he turned his face completely away from her.

"A-as a... friend, I guess..." he muttered. Konoha's Cherry Blossom smiled and slowed her steps, falling back to watch his back, the colours of the Uchiha crest crisp against the blue in the after-rain sun.

If its scary Sasuke kun, don't forget, I'm here.