-DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of these characters ok? God knows what would happen to them if I did... ;) -

please enjoy my story!

The blonde lightly traced his whisker scars on each cheek while sighing. Sakura sat next to him, fiddling with strands of her pink hair. They both sat in silence, under the cherry blossom tree, petals raining down on them. It was noon, and they had both agreed to meet at the tree, the same tree that they had met up at since they were together, for possibly the last time. The spell of silence was shattered by a laugh from the boy.

"So is this how it's always going to be?" He asked with a snort. "I don't want to become enemies with you, Sakura. You have always been my friend, my team mate, and lover. I don't want to destroy the friend ship we have." He lightly touched Sakura's cold hand but she pulled it away sharply.

"But I'm not any of those anymore am I?" She failed to disguise the pain in her voice. "We aren't team mates, or lovers, and after this I'm almost sure we won't be friends." She hugged her knees, bringing them up under her chin. "You know what? Let's just end this now. We both know what's going on so you don't have to explain yourself."

"But we need to-"

"Just go! I hope that you and Hinata have a-" she choked back tears before completing the sentence. "-a happy life together." She avoided eye contact with her ex.

Years ago, she had stopped having her girlish crushes on boys like Sasuke and focused on her ninja training with her team mates and friends. It worked for months until she noticed how mature and strong Naruto had got. She also noticed a few other things about him which caused her to have a few nose bleeds. Their relationship blossomed over the past few months, but, like all flowers, started to wilt. He finally noticed Hinata.

Of course, Sakura did not wish to blame it on Hinata, she never interfered with their relationship. Naruto was the one to end it, in one of the harshest ways possible, kissing Hinata, who was surprised to say at the least. But it wasn't just his fault. Whenever she went close to the pairs make out spot, her friends diverted her. They had got Naruto drunk, hoping he would make a move on Hinata, who loved him since the first day they met. She only found out what had happened when her partner came home to her, drunk, and broke her heart. They hadn't spoken since, until now.

It hurt Naruto to see Sakura like this but he had brought it all onto himself. He had been set up by the others, and he fell for it. He cursed under his breath and shifted position. Even before he kissed Hinata, Naruto knew that something wasn't right between himself and Sakura. He should have been over the moon that his all time crush loved him back, but slowly, he started to feel different feelings towards her. Friendly feelings, but not love feelings. To be honest, he was glad that their relationship was over, but he wished that it didn't end in this way. She was breaking inside, if he stayed any longer, she would be driven over the edge.

Sakura felt Naruto's hand on her shoulder, but she shook it off.

"Please, Sakura, please listen to me. I know my words were harsh but that was because I was drunk. I didn't know anything then. I'm sorry."

"Oh, you're sorry are you? Well I'm sorry too. I'm sorry that I loved you, I'm sorry that I ever thought that you loved me back, and I'm sorry that I got in the way of you and Hinata!" She looked up at him with sad lonely eyes. "Why? Why did you ever go out with me if you really loved her?"

"I'm sorry Sakura. I'm so sorry. I-I-I don't know." He whispered, trying to stroke her cheek.

"You don't know?" she slapped the hand away and scrambled to her feet. "So you never loved me? You don't know why you went out with me? You don't care about me?"

"No, no, no! Nothing like that! Sakura, please don't-"

"Well I don't know either! I don't know why I ever fell for a stupid bakka like you!" The tears were pouring down her face now. Her green eyes had lost their sparkle. She focused all the chakra to her feet and ran. She didn't know where she was running to, but as long as it was far away from her so called friends, she was fine. She glanced behind her for a split second to get a look at his face. He looked disappointed, but nothing more. He didn't chase after her.

Good riddance! Her inner Sakura clenched her fists and pummelled an imaginary Naruto.

"Yeah," she mumbled, "Good rid...GAH!" she cried out as she almost smacked into a citizen. She tried to stop but she was going too fast. Luckily, he side stepped and caught hold of Sakura before she stumbled by trying to stop abruptly while running at extreme speeds.

"Are you alright Sakura?" The man gently lowered her onto the floor. She gasped.

"Kakashi-sensei?"

"Drop the sensei. It's Kakashi now." He corrected her, grinning under his mask. The grin dimmed when he noticed her eyes. Sakura was mortified to find that she was still crying. "Sakura, what happened?" He gently laid a gloved hand onto her cold shoulder. She shivered and looked away, remembering Naruto. "I can see that you don't want to talk about it, but if you do, I'm always here." He brushed away her tears. Sakura smiled up at him.

"Thanks Kakashi."

"Do you want to talk about it now? It'll make you feel better." Kakashi squeezed her shoulder gently. Sakura hesitated for a minute, then nodded. "Right then, let's go to my place. It's closer." He wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her close to him. Sakura squealed, but hung on. Kakashi chuckled softly and made a special hand sign. In a few seconds, they were gone, with only a swirl of smoke to show that they had ever been there.

Sakura found herself sitting cross legged on Kakashi's sofa. His living room was surprisingly neat, but his house was amazing. He lived in a mansion! She didn't even know that her Sensei was rich! She took a sip of her tea and breathed out a sigh of pleasure. It was just the thing to calm her down. Kakashi sat next to her, reading his pervy book. "Now, let's take a look at you." Now sitting up, he tilted her head towards him and examined.

"Aren't I suppose to be the medic nin?" she giggled. He smiled back half heartedly.

"All ninjas have to learn medical. If they get wounded and are on their own, even the slightest bit of medical knowledge will save their life, or the lives of others." His only visible eye seemed a bit hazy, but then it was gone. "You just have much more medical knowledge than me. Now, let's take a look at you."

"It's fine...I'm fine. Nothing's wrong. I don't need examining" She looked down and tried to break away, but Kakashi cupped her chin in his hand.

"Your eyes tell differently" He said. She stopped moving and gave up, almost sulkily. After a few moments pause, Kakashi released Sakura's chin and leaned back. "It doesn't take a medic nin to realise that something's up. Nothing wrong with you physically, yet we can safely presume that there's something wrong mentally. Would you like to tell me what happened?" Sakura looked away for a second, memories of Naruto came flooding back. Happy times, good times, hurtful times. She soon found herself explaining the whole situation to Kakashi, who turned out to be a very good listener. Minutes passed un-noticed, and Sakura had explained every little detail to her ex sensei. Every time she trailed off, he motioned her to continue again. Sakura found herself enjoying talking to Kakashi.

"-so that's it really. Naruto has gone off with Hinata and everyone was planning this behind our backs. No-one likes me, not even Naruto anymore." She tried to stifle a sob. Kakashi rubbed her back gently.

"I like you, a lot actually." He comforted her for a few minutes then leaned back. "Ok, it's settled. You're staying with me until you're better. I'll help you pack your stuff." Sakura almost protested, but she noticed the determined glint in her ex sensei's eye.

"What do you mean? There's nothing wrong with me really. Well..." She thumped her chest, "Nothing that I can't handle." With her confidence back, the blossom smiled and tossed her hair. The strong smell on perfume wafted out. The perfume that Ino bought her. Ino and the others hated her now. She felt the niggling worries return.

"No Sakura. Some mental injuries take longer to heal than physical ones. Unlike a cut of a scratch, there is no medicine except laughter, and they don't heal unless you really want them to." He smiled from underneath his mask. "Besides, there's nothing for me to do anymore. I'm suppose to train the newbie teams, but they don't start for months."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. You're also going to stay off work for a while."

"But-"

"No buts. I may not be your teacher anymore, but I still have authority over you. Got that? Now come on."

"Yes Kakashi-sensei." She fumbled with her shoes and followed him out of the door. Kakashi laughed.

"What's it going take for you to just call me Kakashi?" He winked at the medic nin, then followed her out into the darkness.

Sakura balled her hands into fists as she sat on the sofa, desperately trying not to cry. Her emotions were truly mixed, depression and anger that Naruto and her ex friends had done that to her, happiness that Kakashi seemed to care, slight confusion that he should care and finally exhaustion. She looked up at the masked ninja, who was sat in the armchair opposite, reading. She had to ask. If she didn't, her inner-Sakura would explode.

"Kakashi-sen...I mean, Kakashi?" she began warily. He marked his page and settled the book down, giving her his full attention. Another odd thing. He didn't give her this much attention when they were teammates and now, after meeting for the first time in ages, he actually puts his pervy book down! "Eh, why did you, you know, let me stay here? I mean, um..."

JUST SPILL IT! Inner Sakura yelled. She cringed.

"You seem kind of different. You never let people in your house, yet you offer to look after me without hesitation. It's...different." She hoped he didn't take it in a bad way, but he smiled.

"Why, don't you like the new me?" He grinned, hoping it sounded convincing. The real reason was...well...she reminded him of...Rin. The eyes, the hair, the once cheery attitude, all the same. But now she had changed, and he had a huge urge to fix her. He longed to see the huge, cute smile on her face again.

Cute, he thought, I just described her smile as cute. He shook his head and grinned.

"Well, I do actually like the new you." Sakura grinned back, sipping her favourite tea, savouring the taste. "But I miss my lazy sensei." She suddenly realized what she had said. "Our lazy sensei. Sasuke and...him and me." She corrected herself, feeling foolish. Kakashi cocked his head to one side, amused. She blushed, hanging her head to hide it, suddenly interested in examining her tea. Kakashi got back to his precious book, carefully flicking the pages. Sakura watched him get totally absorbed into it with every word. The front cover looked innocent enough, just a girl getting chased by a boy, but then, she guessed, it would be more of a surprise once you actually read it. She found herself gazing at him not the cover.

Wow, I've never noticed this before but your sensei is kinda hot. Inner Sakura teased.

Shut up, inner, that was a mistake. And I guess he does look slightly hot, but- oh my God, what am I saying? He's my ex sensei! But he does look good, but I shouldn't be thinking that!

His skin looks so smooth and his eye looks so deep and his fingers... oh woah, why didn't I notice this before? Sakura's eyes explored every inch of his exposed skin while he was reading. Suddenly realizing what she was doing, she dropped her gaze back to her empty cup. He must have notice her staring at him, surely! He was an elite ninja, so he must have felt her looking. She blushed again.

Kakashi tried hard to concentrate on his book, but other things were clouding his mind. For starters, he knew that he felt more for Sakura than he first thought. He liked her, maybe a bit more than a student, but not exactly a friend. Mixed emotions. And secondly, she was staring at him. It didn't exactly bother him, but, much to his horror, he was beginning to enjoy it. It was going to be hard to live with her like this, but letting her stay on her own was out of the question. She was confused, sad and broken. He knew what that was like. Kakashi found it hard to keep his eyes on his book. They kept straying from the words, slowly towards Sakura. He quickly flipped the pages to find his favourite parts, trying to keep his eyes averted from the pink beauty. Yes, beauty. He admits that Sakura is quite attractive, but that doesn't mean anything, right?