"I have to talk to you."

Ino blinked sleepily at the pink-haired girl on her doorstep. "Forehead, you know I like to sleep late on my days off. I would have thought you'd be doing the same, given your recent fatigue-related near-death experience."

"This is important," Sakura said, squeezing past Ino into her tiny apartment. Ino saw her friend's expression and didn't protest.

"Okay, what's wrong?"

"I messed up," she groaned, running a restless hand through her rosy hair. "I've done something so unfathomably bad I'm not even sure how I got to this point."

"Yikes," Ino grimaced in sympathy, "Better start from the start then."

Sitting down, Sakura took a deep breath as Ino watched expectantly. "So I made a civilian henge last night, and went to The Blossom."

"Hey, me too!" Ino said, suddenly perking up. "Did you see my henge? What did yours look like? Ooh, and did you see the woman Kakashi walked in with? Seems he's made a speedy recovery."

Sakura swallowed nervously. "Well the thing is… I was the woman Kakashi walked in with."

Her best friend stared in confusion for a moment, before suddenly bursting into laughter. "Sakura, the idea of pretending to be a civilian is to have less drama in your life."

"It was a mistake," Sakura defended, "it's not like I planned to meet my technically still-hospitalised captain down a dark alley while pretending to be a helpless civilian woman."

"Kami, when you make a mistake you make it big, huh?" Ino grinned. "Now explain exactly how you managed all of this..."

Ino's coffee cup had been poised in midair en route to her lips almost the entire time Sakura had been relating her predicament. Now it was placed firmly on the table.

"Well, you're pretty much fucked, aren't you?"

"Thanks," Sakura grumbled, "I knew you'd be able to shed some fresh light on the subject."

"Honestly I'm not sure what you expected me to tell you. You chose to invite him to dinner, and now he's going to expect to see Umeko again tonight."

"I shouldn't go."

"Then why didn't you tell him that last night, hmm?" Ino gave Sakura a knowing look that always irritated Sakura.

"I don't know! I wasn't myself- literally. Oh Kami, if he ever finds out about this, I'm leaving the country."

"Relax Billboard, it's not going to come to that," Ino assured her, you just need to meet him tonight as Umeko and explain that you can't ever see him again."

Sakura wasn't convinced it would be as easy as Ino made it sound, but was willing enough to try.

"I suppose so. He probably won't even remember me- Umeko- after long. I think he only asked to meet again tonight because he's bored cooped up in the hospital all day." It was stupid to think it was anything more than that. Kakashi probably would have accepted an invitation to dinner whether she was Umeko or not. It was only her concern for Kakashi and the lingering remnants of their former teacher-student relationship that made her feel so guilty.

"Thanks for the coffee, Ino- and for not assuming I had dinner with Kakashi because of anything… anything sinister."

"If you mean that I might have assumed you fancied him, I'd hardly describe such a thing as 'sinister'," Ino told her as she collected their cups. "You're not his student anymore. You're both adults."

Sakura chose to ignore her.

The sterile smell of disinfectant was actually quite comforting to the green-eyed medic. The hospital might have recently been her place of confinement, but it was also her place of work, the place she felt confident and powerful. She felt no uneasiness walking its halls.

"Haruno Sakura, do you even know the meaning of rest?" The thunderous voice of the Fifth Hokage appearing from a closed-off corridor stopped Sakura in her tracks.

"Shishou," she said meekly, "I'm not working. I'm just visiting today."

Tsunade snorted in disbelief. "I assume you're talking about Kakashi, in which case it's essentially work for you."

Sakura rather resented her mentor's implication. She had become a medic to protect her loved ones; yet she knew it wasn't always possible to save them all. But she had been able to save Kakashi, so why was Tsunade treating it as such a crime? Nevertheless she remained respectfully silent.

"Honestly Tsunade-sama, I'm just calling in for a minute because I promised I would. I just want to make sure he's okay." And see if he confesses to sneaking out last night.

Tsunade relaxed slightly. "As long as you don't use your chakra to examine him. He actually seems to have perked up today. Which is good, because something's come up and I don't know how he'll react to what I tell him."

Sakura frowned. "Why? What's happened?"

Tsunade glanced back at the closed-off corridor. "You'll find out anyway sooner or later. In fact, if you hadn't gotten yourself removed from active service you'd probably be working on it as we speak." She paused for a moment. "Hyuuga Kensuke, a respected elder of the Hyuuga clan, is dying."

Sakura was saddened to hear that, especially for Hinata's sake, who would soon be mourning a relative. But what did that have to do with Kakashi?

"I don't understand, Tsunade-sama. Did Kakashi know him?"

"No but if he agrees to it, he may share a deeper connection than he ever expected."

It took a moment for Sakura to realise what she meant. "You mean to transplant the byakugan's optic chakra vessel to Kakashi?"

"After the latest overexertion, it seems the single chakra vessel may be unable to continue unassisted. Hence, we have discussed the possibility of transplant with Kensuke-dono." Tsunade's face seemed rather grave considering this was excellent news. "All that remains is to discuss it with Kakashi."

"Let me tell him."

Tsunade's eyes half-closed in contemplation. On the one hand, she wasn't sure what would happen if Sakura and Kakashi spent any more time together. Sakura had ignored the medic's code for the masked jounin before, and had almost wasted her young life for his. But all the same, Sakura was maybe the only person whose opinion Kakashi might seriously consider. If Tsunade herself told him, he might feign nonchalant acceptance of his commanding officer's wishes, even if he was truly concerned about the procedure and how it would change Rin and Obito's gift. Sakura's medical opinion was above reproach, as Kakashi well knew. But her personal opinion would be more valuable, for their relationship had the potential to be gentler, with less need to pretend for the sake of appearance. Perhaps Sakura could give Kakashi something the Hokage couldn't.

"Very well. But remember that the decision is Kakashi's and Kakashi's alone. If he refuses, that's his prerogative."

Sakura frowned. "Why would he refuse? The operation is unprecedented, but shouldn't be too risky."

"He may have his reasons to hesitate," Tsunade told her.

Sakura wasn't exactly sure what she meant by that, but the ghost of a recollection flickered at the edge of her mind. Of course she knew how Kakashi felt about the Sharingan; it was why she'd risked so much to protect it. Could it be more than respect for a valuable weapon? It was obvious enough that the Sharingan had belonged to a now-deceased Uchiha. Just how had it fallen into Kakashi's possession?

Kakashi did indeed seem in better spirits amongst the lifeless white of his sickbed than he had on the day of Sakura's discharge. He was propped up on a pillow, and seemed to have been halfway through a bowl of soup when she entered; though naturally he wouldn't resume it in her presence.

"So you came back after all," he said by way of greeting.

Sakura huffed. "I said I would, didn't I?"

The jounin held out his hand, and Sakura stared at it uncomprehendingly.

"Well?" he said expectantly, "haven't you brought me Icha-Icha to help pass the hours of my imprisonment in relative solace? Isn't that why you're here?"

Sakura blushed. "Actually I forgot about that; I just came to see how you were doing."

"Oh. That's… nice of you."

Sakura could tell Kakashi was a little embarrassed by her caring, so she busied herself with his file, adopting her medic-nin attitude. "Besides, you'll probably be discharged as early as tomorrow at this stage. So hopefully you haven't been giving the orderlies trouble, trying to sneak out or anything," she said, watching him carefully for any indications of guilt.

She was disappointed. "You know me Sakura," Kakashi replied blandly. "I've been a model patient. Ask anyone."

Sakura fought the urge to glare at him. "Well that's just great, Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi seemed to be grinning beneath his mask. "Honestly, you should just tell them to discharge me now. I feel fine, so what's one more night going to change? Besides: I've got a date tonight."

Sakura almost dropped his file. How casually he said it! She knew Kakashi was only so cavalier because he was confident she'd assume he was lying anyway. But a part of her was still a little paranoid he was teasing her; that he knew everything and was just waiting for her to confess.

"That's… highly unlikely, considering you've been cooped up here being a model patient. Who is this mystery date?"

"Cinderella," he replied, clearly pleased with his response.

Sakura's eye twitched. He was infuriating, and yet part of her was secretly flattered he had called it a 'date'; even if he thought he was having it with someone else.

"Right. Well, I'm afraid you'll just have to miss it. I'm sure Cinderella will understand." Time to change the subject. "But I do have some good news for you: Tsunade just told me that there's a terminally-ill Hyuuga who has agreed to donate an optic chakra vessel when he eventually passes."

Kakashi stared at her for so long she began to wonder if he understood the implications of such news.

"This would mean you'd have a fully-functioning optic chakra system for the first time. After the operation your sharingan will work better than ever!"

"But you'd have to operate on my sharingan," Kakashi said. His expression continued to reveal nothing.

"Tsunade's working on making it as safe as possible for you and the sharingan," she assured him. "It will work."

"But the sharingan will be changed," Kakashi said. "It will work differently to how it does now."

"But only in a good way. Like I said, it'll be improved. No more overexertion, and you might even be able to activate it manually rather than have it constantly in use."

Kakashi fell into silence, and Sakura began to see why Tsunade had discouraged her from assuming he would accept. She felt another unexpected twinge of angst, like she was a radio picking up someone else's feelings. It seemed there was indeed more to the sharingan than met the eye.

"Well you don't have to decide anything immediately. But I hope you do consider just how much this would improve your health."

Kakashi made a non-committal noise, and Sakura made her excuses to leave. She had a lot to think about before tonight.