Thank you all for reviewing! I know the story suddenly twisted quite badly Sakura blood blood etc. but well thanks for the reviews! At least I know it didn't turn out so bad after all :P

Thanks to all who have reviewed, it means a lot to me! It motivates me to write more for you people :D

And sorry I took such a long time update I was so sick down with very bad cough and always so drowsy on medicine. Plus with Thanksgiving and everything PHEW:P

Kakashi sat by Sakura's head, holding her hands and praying so hard. The medic nins did what they could. They did an immediate blood transfusion and closed up her wound but it kept reopening because the gash was too deep.

Now all they could hope for was that Sakura's body was strong enough to withstand the time it took for the wound to heal. Although she was a strong girl, her body had grown weak due to the wound. Even Tsunade was at her wits end. The surprise she intended for everyone was thoroughly spoiled and replaced with the worst surprise ever. Her subordinate, her junior, her apprentice was so badly wounded.

But the one who was affected the most was Kakashi. Though rarely seen in a depressed state, this time he took off his mask. He couldn't stand it anymore and was clumping his soft white hair with both his hands and stared at the ground. After a little while he looked up at Sakura again. Checking that no one was around, he talked to Sakura. Although he wasn't sure she could hear him, he just talked.

"Sakura... Will you please wake up soon?" Kakashi hesitated, and decided to add another two words, " pretty please?"

At first it seemed like it was the two magic words needed to wake her up. Her eyes slowly opened and she looked at Kakashi, at first dazed and then she flinched because of the overwhelming pain she felt on her tummy. The medic nins quickly came in and worked up with their chakra to seal the wound again. They were sure it wouldn't open again, not for another three days. Sakura's breathing evened out and she gradually turned her attention to Kakashi. She was so sure she heard the two words she had been hearing lately.

Her whole body felt cold, except for her hand. She looked at her hand and realised Kakashi was holding her hand.

"Kakashi... " Sakura tried to ask him what had happened but trying to even talk took much greater effort than expected. Her eyes showed great deal of pain that she was going through. She tried to speak again but Kakashi put his finger to her lip.

"Hush... Don't talk. You're in the hospital now. Assasins were targeting you during the party and they messed you up pretty badly." Kakashi then pointed to the wound on her tummy that was wrapped with bandages. Sakura couldn't believe her luck, that her night with Kakashi was so ruined. Worse, she frankly told herself, face it you're gonna have an ugly scar on your tummy now. Sakura teared at the very thought. Scars were not something a girl liked.

"Rest while you can because you'll take a long time to recover. I'm sure you wouldn't want your stay at the hospital extended" Kakashi gave a weak smile and that was when Sakrua noticed his mask wasn't on. She stared at his face, admiring his facial features. She never thought he would look that handsome, all the while he had hidden his face, masking his beauty. She wondered why but she couldn't think anymore, not while worrying about the constant pain felt on her tummy. Kakashi sighed heavily and realising that Sakura had slept off, he took the blanket and covered her and then he put his mask on again and left the building.

He headed towards his favorite spot and that was the memorial stone. He leaned against the cold marble and lay there thinking. He just kept blaming himself. He didn't protect her, allowing his own student to get hurt all so bad. He was also thinking why they were targeting her. In any case he should assign ANBU members to guard her round the clock. Just as he was about to close his eyes and nap Gai-sensei jumped into the scene and shook Kakashi forcefully.

"Dude something's wrong with you! C'mon and tell me all about it" Kakashi glared at a hyped up Gai and shoved him aside.

"Leave me alone, unless you want me to put you in another dimension with my Sharingan" Kakashi threateningly told him, and even lifted his Konoha headband a little to show he was serious. Gai just sighed and sat next to him, on the cold marble.

"You like her don't you? Sakura?" Gai just threw it at him. Kakashi looked down and said nothing.

"You know I think you should lay off her for awhile. Because she's being targeted and if anything happens to her again you'll get all depressed and say you couldn't protect her. It wasn't your fault she was injured like that. The smoke clouded everyone there was no way you could be that alert to know where the enemy was attacking from, espeically if that person was Uchiha Itachi" Kakashi's eyes widened. No way Uchiha Itachi was still alive! They were sure they had assasinated and annihilated all the Akatsuki members!

"How's it possible? We killed all of them and wiped out their clan!" Kakashi exclaimed, anger building at a dangerous level.

"Remember the battle you had with Uchiha Itachi? It wasn't Itachi at all, but he was a substitute from the Hidden Village of Sand, a captain who betrayed his village. While you were recovering, a part of your memory was slightly modified by accident due to a medic nin who carelessly forced Chakra into your brain on the wrong artery, and so memories from the mission where you fought with Itachi was messed up"Gai told him firmly. At least Kakashi had to know what was going on.

"Akatsuki was thoroughly wiped out and their leader was assasinated. No way Itachi would still be in Akatsuki. He has to be working for someone else now" Kakashi was guessing. He had to assume Itachi was alive and was working for someone. But wait, how did Gai know that one of the assasins were Itachi?

"How did you know?"

"He was using his Sharingan and casting illusions over everyone. Because I can dispel his illlusion, the smoke scenario was just one of his illusions. Infact there was no smoke at all." Gai got up and brushed his shirt a little.

"You'd best take care of her while you can, it's Itachi we're dealing with. You never know when she might just-"

"There's no way I'll let them harm her dammit! True I've got feelings for her, but I can also protect her as my student! The only opponent Itachi will go against is me!" Kakashi shouted across at Gai, who was sighing.

"The Hokage already knows about it. Right now, she has hired quite a number of very skilled ANBU members who were former protectors for the Third. They'll make sure nothing happens to her. Although we are still trying to find the reason why Sakura was targeted" Gai then left the grounds, leaving a very confused Kakashi behind. He decided that if he wanted to do something useful, at least be at her side whenever he could. He headed back to the hospital but on the way he saw Tsunade-Sama signalling to him to come over to where she was. Without any choice left, he changed direction and stopped where Tsunade was.

Kakashi stared at her, raising his eyebrows, indicating a what-you-want message to her.

"Kakashi I'm assigning you a mission. Gai has told me all about you. Your mission is to retrieve as much information as possible on Uchiha Itachi. All we know is that he had a symbol on the back of his clothes in the shape of a convenant and that he works for someone else. Do it without any fight you hear me? And I'm giving you special permission to see Sakura, but only you are allowed." Kakashi silently nodded and disappeared.

Tsunade heavily sighed, things are gonna be so difficult now. The most important Jounin is now in love with his student, he's the most suitable for retrieving information since he harbours feelings for Sakura and will do everything in his power to get back at Itachi. She headed back to her office with tons of things on her mind.

Kakashi opened the window to Sakura's room and stepped inside, closing the window. No one was in the room, probably because they didn't allow anyone in. Just as he was about to sit on the chair next to Sakura's bed, a hand reached for his shoulder, tapping him slightly. Kakashi turned around and saw an ANBU member.

"No one's allowed in the room, under the strict orders of the Hokage." The ANBU member firmly said.

"The Hokage has allowed me to visit her. Got a problem with that?" Kakashi hissed at him. The ANBU member nodded his head and retreated back to the shadows. Sakura was actually awake the whole time and found that she was under the protection of ANBU. But what was Kakashi doing?

"Yo Sakura. You heard it huh?" Sakura nodded and then replied,

" But what's going on? Why am I under ANBU protection? Why are you here?" Kakashi just breathed in deeply and said,

" You're being targeted by someone for God knows what reason. Hokage wanted ANBU to protect you round the clock incase anything happens. I'm here because I wanted to see you. So how are you doing?" Sakura was lost for words. Although Kakashi said it really fast, she could still catch his words. I'm being targeted? she told herself.

"Well I did tell you earlier in the day but I guess you were just too tired and it didn't get into your head!" Kakashi chuckled. He was trying to liven the atmosphere. It was simply too tense, what with the ANBU members watching his every move.

"Erm I did remember something the assasin said after slashing me though... He said that 'We'll be back' and then he let go of me and I sorta blacked out I think," Sakura relayed the information to Kakashi. Kakashi's eyes widened and he turned around, saying out loud

"Tighten your damn security. They'll be back soon" Though it was weird at first, Kakashi was trying to tell the ANBU members. A reply soon came,

"Understood" Kakashi then turned back to Sakura and sat down next to her. Sakura couldn't help but blurt out,

"Why did you visit me? I mean why everything?" Sakura was sure Kakashi knew what she meant. What was going on? Why was he suddenly so... gentle? Nice? Whatever it was, he wasn't being like the sensei she knew. Something was definately keeping his mind busy.

Kakashi just looked at the floor and shuffled his feet for awhile. He couldn't believe. Should he tell her now? Later? When? But she asked in such a way. If he refused to answer, well, his silence would have been an answer to her. She would have known everything. So which was better? Silence or him saying it from his mouth?

"I... have my own reasons. You're my student and I should take good care of -"

Sakura cut in and said, " Yeah right, you never visited me everytime I was hospitalized. It seems only recently you've taken a liking for me, am I not right?" Kakashi was silent. He didn't really know how to answer that but nonetheless he still replied

"And? Perhaps I have realised that my students are important, whether or not they've been hospitalized before and I didn't visit them, does it really matter so much that I visit now? Do you not realise I am utterly random?" Kakashi couldn't help but smirk at his own words.

"You're just being defensive! It's pretty obvious, Tsunade-Sama wouldn't just let anyone visit me, especially if I'm being targeted." Sakura sort of puffed up her cheeks a little and gave the 'kid is angry' face. Kakashi liked her face, it was so cute and looked really immature of her to do that but Kakashi grinned widely.

" You're still a kid you know? You let others know you're still a kid with that cute face of yours." Sakura was shocked. Did he just say cute? Sakura decided to play along with Kakashi's teasing.

"Oh yeah! Loads of guys say that too. Apparently or should I say,I'm obviously too cute for you to even comment on. Besides you're just as cute as a puppy. You're face and hair, looks great! I wonder where you go for your haircuts!" Kakashi's facial expression changed almost abruptly from grinning from ear-to-ear to a serious, shocked expession.

" You just called me a damn puppy..." Kakashi then gave a really really funny expression that resembled a puppy whining sort of face, and Sakura who was on her bed, gripped her sheets tightly.

" NOW THAT WAS REALLY CUTE!" Sakura couldn't help but burst out laughing a little too hard and her wound shockingly re-opened again. She gagged halfway, aware of the pain. The bandages surrounding her waist soon had a red blotchy spot. Kakashi realising the cause of the sudden silence raced out of the room to get a medic nin. The medic nins came in and sealed her wound again, but this time after they sealed it, they told a heavily breathing Sakura,

"Sakura, you as a medic nin know perfectly well that if you have a wound on your stomach, sudden movements or use of abdominal muscles WILL re-open the wound, and yet there you were laughing. Don't do it again or we will strap you tightly to your bed and make sure you can't move a single muscle!" The medic nin said with a stern face, they were serious. If Sakura was being targeted, making sure she recovered as fast as possible was top priority.

"Oops looks like my cute puppy face damaged someone huh!" Kakashi said sarcastically. Nobody had ever called him a puppy face, nor did he allow anyone to call him that at all. Perhaps he showed too much of his face to Sakura. Kakashi then took his mask and covered his face again, leaving Sakura to raise an eyebrow.

"Why do you cover your face? Honestly speaking you're handsome, so why don't you wanna show your face?" Sakura broke the quiet silence that was going for about a minute.

"That's the problem. Too many gals like my 'cute puppy face', troublesome. They chase me around town, have to cover it or more will come." Kakashi replied her question. It was true a lot of girls were after him, and it seemed to never end when he didn't cover his face. Sakura gave a (-.-) look. [Authors Note: I'm sorry I didn't know how to describe that face so forgive me for putting up those symbols which are not recognised obviously in the english dictionary . Somebody please correct me I'll correct it as soon as possible or else that face is gonna be there for ages.

"You still haven't answered my question." Their conversation was too long. Sakura only asked him one question but it led to the next without any answers. Kakashi just stared out of the window, admiring the view. Maybe he wouldn't say it know, leave her to wonder, or maybe he should just say it now... So to say the truth, keep quiet or say something else?

"I ..."

SUSPENSE SUSPENSE!

But thanks to all who have reviewed, I'm in awesome mode now.

Had severe shoulder aches[ perhaps from sitting down too long or typing continuosly for 3 hours straight(work work work, stories stories stories, blogging blogging bloggin .)

Anyway Have a great Thanksgiving [although its already so late and if I can't update in time, I wish all fellow readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year in advance(: