Note: There was a question about where this story fits into the chronology of the series. In my mind, it started before Sasuke defected, while he was still in hospital. In reality, Sakura had not asked Tsunade for her teaching until a bit later, and Kakashi was still resting after his debacle with Itachi, but I decided to stretch out the time between the Search for Tsunade and Sasuke Retrieval Arcs. Thus, there is a healthy Kakashi and a studious Sakura.To answer someone else, I am aware of Rin's story, and am caught up with both manga and anime (though I am a couple months behind in the anime). Also, sorry the updating's a bit wonky. Cheers.
The ramen shop was devoid of customers, but Sakura had long since given up hope on finding Naruto anyway. If he hadn't been at Ichiraku's, she was completely at a loss as to where he might be. For now, the smell of the cooking rice and pork was comforting as she rested on the leftmost stool. She hadn't ordered anything, but she didn't have to; Teuchi had looked up from his pot with a smile, his eyes crinkling into a deeper squint than usual, when his eyes lit upon her. Recognising her as one of Naruto's friends, he gave her a nod and a swift affirmation that no, Naruto had not been round today, and would she like some ramen? Sakura's nerves were not quite quelled yet, and so she had declined the offer. He still allowed her to stay without an order. He was a kind and adorable old man (with an equally adorable daughter), after all. Now Sakura was glad that he was such an amiable man, as well.
She closed her eyes, her hands clasped in front of her on the counter-top. Neither her mind, nor her pulse, had slowed down since leaving the training ground a number of minutes ago. The image of Kakashi at the monument was etched onto her brain. No amount of clear thought could ever chisel it out again.
Why did he have to be so...like Kakashi all the time? Frustratingly cavalier one moment, dispirited recollection the next. Even when he wasn't trying to be enigmatic, his actions left Sakura at a loss for words. Obviously he wouldn't go for talking about his problems; invading his private life was far from something Sakura wanted to do. The last thing she'd like would be to crowd him and make him uncomfortable. That was just the way Kakashi was. Sure, he always kept up some kind of front for the world, due in part to being a shinobi of Konoha, but Sakura had a feeling it ran deeper than that. The wounds and scars of the past would surely impact him even now—close him off to others because of the loss he experienced at an early age...growing into Kakashi. That would almost...certainly explain...oh. Oh.
She rubbed the palms of her hands into her eyes, exhaling deeply. Was she really evaluating her teacher's psychological profile? Had Shinobi Mental Health and Pioneers of the Thinking Mind really affected her this much? No, her sensei, her beloved-yet-difficult sensei, was not a case study for her medical research. He was a man. Her teacher. Their teacher. And now that she had seen the truth of what he'd faced, how could she possibly help but worry for him? But, then again, he had been doing just fine all these years without her intervention. He had lived life carrying the burden (or maybe he didn't actually blame himself as much as Sakura thought he might) and completing mission after mission for the village. So did he even need help at all..? Would he even listen is she did? She was just a kid, after all, what could she possibly have to offer in the way of comfort?
She needed help herself. If she was to talk to Kakashi, she would require somebody else to make it more...palatable. Maybe she should talk to Naruto about it, if she could only find—
"Sakura-chan!"
She shrieked, then promptly fell out of her chair. Naruto looked down at her, a guilty look on his face. It would've been funny, if not for the rising anger present in her eyes.
"Naruto!"
Thwack. Naruto lay several feet away, rubbing his cheek and wincing.
"Okay, sorry, sorry," he whimpered.
Sakura gave an exasperated sigh, sitting back onto the chair. Naruto rose and cautiously approached, as if testing whether she would hit him or not. When she didn't, he slid into the seat beside her.
"I've been looking for you forever!" he practically yelled. "Kakashi-sensei told me to look for you, but you weren't at Hokage tower, or the hospital, or anywhere."
"That's because I was in bed for most of the morning."
Naruto gaped at her. "You mean...you were late? You were late!?"
"Yes, Naruto! Now shut up. I've been looking for you too. There's something I think I need to tell you. Something important. It's been weighing me down all morning, I need to get it off my chest. Out of anyone, I think I can tell you."
"Huh?" A small blush crept onto his cheeks, and he wore a stupefied expression . "Y-You mean...are you...Sakura-chan, do you mean—"
Sakura groaned, turning her head sharply towards him. "What on earth are you talking about?" Upon seeing his face, slow realisation crept into her. "Not that, you idiot!"
"Oh."
She took a breath and let it out slowly, as if in her mind she were counting to ten. "Just once, can you take this seriously?"
"I'm trying, but you're talking weird!"
"Just order some ramen and listen!"
Naruto grumbled, but complied. Teuchi seemed happy to finally be cooking food for someone—especially seeing as that person was Naruto—but the orange genin didn't seem too happy about his frog wallet diminishing yet again. Yet as the bowl was set in front of him, he became elated and began scarfing it down. "Sakura-chan," he mumbled through an exorbitant amount of noodles, "you still didn't tell me what this is about." He slurped up the remaining broth. He ordered another bowl.
She steadied herself, and began to speak. "It's about Kakashi-sensei. I did something that...I probably shouldn't have." Naruto gave her a questioning look; but to his merit, his mouth stayed shut as Sakura launched into the details of everything that had happened—how the files had come into her possession, and how she had read Kakashi's from front to back—how she discovered that one mission which had shaped him into the Kakashi they know today. Naruto grew increasingly more troubled, slowing the speed at which he ate as she went on, but when Sakura got to the part about the reconciliation with Obito and the cave-in with the Sharingan, he stopped eating his third bowl of noodles entirely. Instead he turned to his teammate and stared.
"His best friend's...eye?"
"Well...yeah. And earlier, when I went to the training ground, I mentioned it to him—not that, specifically, but his friend's name. Obito." She grew quieter as she continued, staring down at the counter as she traced the patterns scratched upon it with her finger. "He described him a bit, and he had this...this look. He had the saddest look on his face, and...and..."
"You didn't know what to do." She turned toward him and nodded. Naruto's brow was furrowed, his eyes taking on an uncharacteristic edge. Sakura could tell that simply trying to picture Kakashi at that moment was difficult for him. Their teacher had actually shown some semblance of emotion which neither of them had really seen before. If Naruto had been faced with that, then he would have been in much the same spot Sakura had found herself in—almost frozen, with no idea what to say to him. And for Naruto, the boy who befriends everyone he meets using his words and actions, that was truly saying something.
They had both grown silent, studying the facts in their heads. Everything they knew about Kakashi. All which he had done for them. All which he had never said.
"Excuse me, but I could've sworn you said 'Obito'..?"
They were swept out of their joint reverie by the deep voice of Teuchi. The old man stood with a strainer in one hand and a bowl in the other. It appeared he'd been listening for a small while, though neither of the two genin had noticed.
"Yeah, she did," said Naruto. His eyes widened. "Do you know anything else about him?"
"Actually, I do." He returned to his stance near the back of the shop, though he continued to speak. "He would come in here often when I first opened, sometimes with his team after a mission. With Kakashi and the girl. The Yondaime would treat them at times." He smiled. "Unlike how your sensei refuses to treat you most days."
Naruto had been gaping at the ramen shop owner ever since he'd begun speaking. It seemed as if Naruto had never really considered the fact that Teuchi had been around for years. The man would, indeed, know the goings-on of the village due to being a civilian. And customers did talk, after all. Teuchi had paused for a moment, but now he frowned as he continued.
"Eventually, his team stopped coming. Well, not the whole team, at least. Not without Obito. I learned about the whole business from listening to Kakashi and the girl—they came here a bit then. Yondaime came too, sometimes, but it was never the same without that Uchiha kid." He sighed. "A shame, really. He was my favourite customer."
"But, the girl," Naruto started quickly, "what do you know about her?"
Teuchi blinked. "I'm afraid I don't know exactly. Everyone from that team stopped showing up here, but I heard things from others. I think she died." Sakura winced. She knew it, she had known Rin Nohara was dead, but hearing it was still disheartening. She had hoped she was wrong somehow.
They heard footsteps close by, just then. It broke the genin and Teuchi out of their conversation instantly. A woman lifted up the ramen shop's signs, settling into the rightmost stool. She ordered her food, then waited quietly.
The appearance of customers drastically changed the mood. A silence had found itself encroaching over the food stall for a minute or two, with only the sound of bubbling water and sizzling meats to cut through it. Sakura and Naruto both knew the moment had passed.
"Old man...thank you for telling us." Naruto grinned at him. Teuchi nodded, smiling back. The two students stepped off their stools and left the ramen shop.
It was almost afternoon. Normally they would finish training within the hour, but with the different format today, they had no idea what to expect. There was still training to be had, however; for now, they had better go find Kakashi. They walked in the direction of the training ground in silence, both their minds working to figure out their next step.
"Should we talk to him about it?" Naruto worried his lip between his teeth.
"No. I don't know. Don't talk about it. Not today. Maybe."
Silence. It stretched out quite a while, lasting until they were close to the forest surrounding training ground three.
"Sakura, should...should we tell Sasuke?"
Sakura started. It honestly hadn't crossed her mind. Which surprised her, because Sasuke was always on her mind. "Why?"
"I-I dunno. I figure, why not, y'know? We both already know. Plus Sasuke's lost a lot of people, too. Maybe he'd understand better."
"...Yeah. Maybe. Though I don't think we should be telling everyone." She hated to admit it, but Naruto was right. Neither he nor Sakura knew the kind of pain that comes with loss—Naruto, maybe, though his was a different kind of loss. He never knew what he had to lose in the first place. Not for the first time, the thought sent a pang through her chest.
"So...we'll tell him? After training?"
"No. I need to go home afterwards, to get the files. I still need to give them back." And then go train medicine with a drunk Hokage and a frazzled assistant.
"Oh. Okay." He brushed aside a low-hanging tree branch. They were quite close to the training ground, now—close enough where Sakura could just make out the figure of Kakashi.
He was in the same spot Sakura had left him in, over an hour ago. The very picture of a statue. As he stared down at the ground, the only hint of movement was the subtle breeze through his grey hair and shirtsleeves.
She was surprised the birds hadn't started roosting.
"Oi! Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto screamed in the direction of their teacher. "I found Sakura-chan! Let's train!"
He ran the rest of the way toward the jounin, Sakura tutting and trailing behind. At the voice, Kakashi had finally turned around. And to Sakura's surprise, he was smiling—well, as much of a smile he could manage, what with half his face covered. She got the impression he hadn't been smiling a second ago, however; it was forced, very forced, even by Kakashi's standards, though Naruto didn't appear to take any notice.
"Good," said Kakashi. He walked over to the training posts as he spoke. "You know the drill. You two have your regular spar, then you each face me one-on-one since Sasuke is still incapacitated." He looked at them each in turn. Being the dutiful ninja they were, they nodded in a show of understanding. Sakura took a deep breath, trying to clear her mind of anything but training. They would wait for a better moment to bring their worries up.
"Alright then. Start!" The jounin settled beside the centre post, fixing his students with a watchful stare.
The forced smile was gone, Sakura noticed.
