Exams are over!

Yay! Here it is! The long awaited chapter! I hope I will satisfy you junkies!

What is going to happen? Oh, exciting! Let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: Nuh-uh, working on it

Dedicated to: Sasuke Uchiha 4 ever, C.A.M.E.O.1 and only and you.broke.a.promise! I couldn't pick just one person, so here you are!

Recap:

What was going on?

Chapter 13: Shikamaru and Kakashi on duty!

After Kiba had left, Sakura finished the rest of her work and went home to her own apartment, to pick up some stuff she would need, while she was staying at Sasuke's.

She was making her way to the other side of the village, as a 'poof' was heard. A lot of smoke made it hard to figure out who it was, but Sasuke didn't need to see his face.

"Kakashi-sensei!" she happily exclaimed.

"Yo!" the silver-haired jounin smiled.

"Is there something you want to tell me, Kakashi-sensei?" she asked curiously.

"In fact there is," he smiled. "Do you have some spare time tomorrow, Sakura? I was going to ask you to train with me, namely."

Sakura looked quite surprised; the last time they had trained together was months ago!

"Ano, you mean now?" she asked, hoping he didn't meant now. She was in the mood for a hot bath.

"Tomorrow," he answered, giving her a smile from underneath his mask.

"Shouldn't you be busy reading your book?" she teased him. He put his hands up in defence.

"I would rather train with my favourite student," he said smoothly. Sakura laughed.

"Okay, okay! Tomorrow it will be."

"Come to the training grounds at noon tomorrow," he waved and with another 'poof' he was gone.

He did not bring his book with him, she suddenly thought stunned. Things get weirder by the day. Oh, that reminds me: Naruto and Ino's plans. At least when they are having plans. It's strange. Poor Sasuke-kun, I hope they didn't talk to him like they did to me.

And so went Sakura home, totally oblivious to all the things going on in the world around her.

She picked up some stuff from home and made her way to Sasuke's.

During her trip, she saw Shikamaru walking in the same direction.

"Shikamaru! Oh, Shika!" she yelled, speeding up to catch up with him.

Said boy stopped and turned around. He was surprised to see Sakura coming at him. Damn, why do I get the troublesome jobs? He sighed inwardly. Go and report to Sasuke, they say. Che, I knew it wouldn't be this easy.

"Oi, Sakura!" he replied. His hands were folded behind his head. He had to get rid of her for a short while, otherwise he wouldn't be able to report to Sasuke. And man, that would make Ino very pissed. He preferred her nice side.

"Where are you going?" she asked, smiling at him.

"Ano," he quickly had to think of an answer. "I'm just on the way home to eat dinner."

"How is the life of a jounin going?" she asked him, apparently unaware of the fact that Shikamaru really didn't feel like chitchatting with her. Even less than usually.

"Lots of work," he answered to the truth. This seemed like something easy, but no, there were always some complications. He preferred the easy life. So he had to talk himself out of this, and he had to do it quickly.

Fortunately for him, Tenten decided to drop by just at the right time. She came over, enthusiastically waving at them.

"Tenten!" Sakura exclaimed happily.

"Well, I better get going. Angry mothers are troublesome," he said. And so are angry girlfriends, he mentally added.

"Talk to you later Shikamaru! Say hi to Ino for me!"

Shikamaru raised his hand to show her that he had heard her. He quickly made his way to Sasuke's place.

"How are you doing Tenten? Long time no see!"

"Yes," beamed Tenten. "I just came back from my mission with Neji," she started to tell about her whole mission, including all the romantic details. Who would have thought that Tenten was a girl for romance?

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Meanwhile, Shikamaru had arrived at Sasuke's. He entered the house by yelling: "Oi, Sasuke?"

Sasuke showed up from the backyard as he heard his name. He was surprised to find Shikamaru standing in his living room.

"I brought you the report," the lazy guy shrugged. He took the scroll out of his pouch and handed it over to the Uchiha. "I ran into Sakura on the way here. Luckily, Tenten showed up and distracted her. Did you guys told her and Neji about the mission yet?" he wondered.

Sasuke nodded, while he was reading the scroll. "That was Tsunade's job. Tenten must have seen you talking with Sakura and decided to help you out. Thank you by the way."

"No problem. It was my job. Troublesome, but A-ranked mission are far more troublesome," he explained.

"I think you can better go home now. She will arrive any minute now," Sasuke warned. Shikamaru nodded and disappeared in a whirl of leaves. Another popular disappearing jutsu. But who had to clean up the mess?

Sakura opened the door shortly after Shikamaru had left. She walked in and yelled: "Sasuke-kun, I'm home!" She put her bags of clothes down. She walked into the dining room and a delicious looking meal was waiting for her at the dining table. Sasuke was already seated. Sakura quickly grabbed her bags and put them on the couch, and then returned to Sasuke.

"You cooked us dinner?" she asked astonished.

"Smart as ever," he smirked, happy that she had that appreciating look in her eyes.

Sakura cocked an eyebrow and said: "I didn't think you would be a person to cook."

"Hn," he replied, slightly offended. Sakura giggled at his reaction and sat down.

She realized after a few bites that the food he had prepared was really great!

"Sasuke-kun! I didn't think you would be such a great cook!" she shouted in surprise.

"I've lived alone for a pretty long time, remember? I don't appreciate fast food as much as the dobe."

Before Sakura could answer, someone knocked at the door. "I'll get it," Sakura smiled. She stood up and walked to the door. As she reached for the doorknob, someone shouted: "Sakura! Open the door, I know you are there!"

Ino-pig, Sakura thought immediately. She opened the door and her blonde friend was almost bouncing in excitement. As she saw Sakura in the door opening, she squealed and hugged her. "Oh, Sakura! Shika-kun asked if I wanted to marry him!"

Sakura's eyes widened and a big smile appeared on her face. She let out a shriek. "Oh, Ino-chan! That's great."

Ino was still bouncing outside and was talking very quickly now.

Sasuke wanted to know why there was such an annoying ruckus in the front of his house. Were the fangirls back? Annoyed he walked towards Sakura and cocked an eyebrow with a blank expression on his face, as he saw the two girls hugging each other, bouncing up and down in excitement. A shame that Jiraiya isn't here to see this, he thought sarcastically.

"What's going on?" he asked annoyed, with his hands stuffed in his pockets. He was leaning against a wall, while he waited for an answer.

"Oh, Sasuke-kun! Ino and Shikamaru are getting married!" Ino squealed again and Sasuke felt the urge to put his fingers in his ears.

"Hn," he replied.

So that lazy guy popped the question? He thought.

"I wish I would get married," Sakura sighed, with a dreamy expression on her face. She was oblivious to the fact that her soon-to-be-married friend and her bofriend/don't-know-what-to-call-you were exchanging looks.

Ino grinned, looked over to her best friend and said with twinkling eyes: "I'm sure you will" Sasuke just hn'ed and turned around. Ino stared after his back, before she turned back to Sakura and hugged her again. "But for now, I would ask you to be my maid of honor!"

Sakura's eyes widened and she yelled: "I would love to!" stretching the 'love' happily.

"When is will the wedding be?" she asked curiously.

"We don't know yet. There is a lot we have to plan of course and we wouldn't want it to be close to the other wedding," Ino mused. Actually, it was more like thinking out loud, because she really felt like slapping herself in the face now.

"What wedding?" the pink-haired girl asked, almost fainting out of curiosity.

"Ano, well," Ino felt really hot now. Luckily, she wasn't a fast blusher.

"You will find out soon enough," she finally answered, hoping that Sakura would buy it.

"I'm so happy for you!" she started again, while Ino was almost trembling. At least she didn't have to feel the wrath of the Uchiha.

"Thanks! Well, I better get going. I have to tell the others as well! Bye!" That is before I will tell you more, she thought while she turned around. Sakura shut the door behind her.

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The next day, Sakura went to the training grounds as Kakashi had asked her to. She wasn't worried that she wouldn't find him, since he had the annoying ability of finding you everywhere you were. She had brought one of her medical books with her. There would be a big chance that he would arrive three hours too late.

Sakura seemed to be lucky today. She had only had to wait for an hour and a half.

"Kakashi-sensei! You scared me to death!" A startled Sakura exclaimed with her hand on her heart, trying to calm her racing heart down.

Kakashi smirked and replied: "If I could do that, I would even be a better shinobi. But why were you scared? You knew I would come." He sounded very surprised.

"Yes, I did, but I wasn't expecting you for at least an hour and a half more," Sakura said, climbing to her feet. "I see you didn't bring your book," she remarked surprised.

"There are more important things today," Kashi smiled, inwardly crying, because his book was lost.

"I hope that was the last time you shocked me today," she answered teasingly.

Scrap the whining and crying about the book, he mentally noted himself. Inner Kakashi sobbed though. Got… to be strong!

"Yes, well… I'm not sure about that. We have to talk, Sakura."

She gave him odd looks. What was it with this man today?

"It's about Sasuke."

Now here looks were suspicious. This didn't went unnoticed by Kakashi, even though he was an emotional wrack.

"Why does everyone wants to talk about him?" she asked, throwing her hand up in the air.

"Because it is important, Sakura," he smiled at her from underneath his mask. Just like our book, Inner Kakashi sobbed again.

"More important than your book?" she winked.

That hurt!Inner Kakashi cried.

"I'm sure you've noticed Sasuke's possessiveness." He waited for her response, depending his story on it.

Sakura sighed in acknowledgement: "I sure did."

"Well, there is a reason why he has become like that." Kakashi closed his visible eye for a second, banning all the thoughts about his lost book. He had to focus on the story now.

"He lost his parent on a very young age. They were killed by his brother as you know," he eyed Sakura and saw that she was listening to him carefully, so he continued.

"Sasuke was alone from that day on, because his whole family was gone. Naruto was alone too, but he reacted on it a bit different, which will be old news for you too. Sasuke had to live up to his brother since he was born. Itachi was a genius and his father probably loved him more than he loved Sasuke. That must have been the reason that Sasuke became… well, a human ice cube would be appropriate here. He locked his feelings inside of him, only focussing on hating his brother and becoming stronger to kill him, as you will surely remember of the introduction I let you make about yourself.

Sasuke didn't care about other people anymore. He had loved his brother so much and now he had done this to him. He didn't trust anyone. But then you guys came into play. Sasuke, though reluctantly, made friends and would protect each of you with his life. He went to Orochimaru to seek power, and killed him together with his brother.

He comes back, and I will make this short, falls in love with you and suddenly, he finds himself loving again. But of what happened in the past, he is afraid of loosing someone important, especially as important as you are to him, Sakura, again. That is why he is so possessive Sakura. I hope you will understand that now. Actually, I don't doubt you do. The more I hope you can live with it, though. But that is up to you to decide." He smiled again.

Sakura had listened with great interest and she surely understood why he was possessive now. He didn't want to lose her! He deeply cared for her.

"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said rather speechless.

"Aa, very good. This will work out just fine," he replied. Without any further announcement, he left, looking for his book, leaving Sakura alone with her thoughts.

Shizune saw Sakura leaving the place and smiled. She emerged in the Hokage's office, smiling contently.

"Report please, Shizune!" The blonde Hokage ordered.

"Hai, Tsunade-sama! Everything went well. I think the time is right!"

"Good," the blonde woman replied, smiling at her cousin. "Get the Uchiha over here."

Stage 3 of the plan: 'Get my apprentice and the Uchiha together' is finished. Time to execute the big surprise, she thought contently. And time for a new bottle of sake to be opened, but then, when isn't it?

Stage 3: make Sakura clear that she can live with him.

Let me know what you think! As you can see, I added both Shikamaru and Kakashi!

Sadly, I have to announce that the final chapter will be the next one. Yes, this is hard for me too. BUT! I am thinking about making an epiloque about Ino's wedding! So, what do you think? I started a new story too, called: 'The captured Uchiha' check it out! I'm looking for a beta-reader to edit it, so if you're interested, let me know!

Best/nicest/cutest/funniest review will be a winner and gets the dedication for the last chapter! You don't wanna miss that now, do you?

Kakashi: Give me the book backkkkkkkk!

Me: Noes! You've read enough!

Kakashi: Tell her to let it gooooooooo! I'm gonna dieeee!