I am so, so, so, sooooo sorry about the wait. This chapter was almost completely done about a day after I published the first chapter but I got so caught up with exams and I really just didn't get around to finishing it. On the bright side I now have a couple more days of March break to try and write one more chapter.

When Sakura woke up, she felt refreshed and ready to take on the world. She groaned, however, when she thought about how much damage Ino had done to her pocket. Before Ino had left her to sleep, she had taken an iron fist to Sakura's closet, throwing out almost all of the clothes that she owned.

Sakura's stomach growled, alerting her that she hadn't eaten since the café. She groaned, rolling out of bed, clutching her stomach in pain. She was used to these stomach pains, however, due to the nature of her work. At the hospital, she sometimes went an entire shift without consuming more than coffee. Tsunade always scolded her, but sometimes she couldn't help it. With devoting her time between helping the civilian doctors and the shinobi she was treating, she often was so busy that she forgot about herself.

Whipping up some rice and scrambled eggs, Sakura sank into her couch and ate. She ended up eating two plates of food before she realized how long she had slept. It was now one in the afternoon and she was glad that she had nothing to do that day. Dragging herself up, finally full, she stumbled her way to the bathroom of her cozy little apartment. It had a small bedroom and living room, but it made up for that with its bathroom and kitchen. When Sakura was home, she dearly loved to cook. The kitchen was one of the selling points of the entire place. The bathroom was pleasant as well. With both a standing shower and a bathtub, it made things lavishly convenient. Opting for a long shower, Sakura gingerly stepped out of the last pair of sweats she owned and into the warmth within the glass walls of her shower. Sakura lathered her body with sweet smelling cucumber body wash, opting for a peach blossom shampoo and conditioner. She ran her fingers through her long, pink tresses, instantly at ease.

Sakura dearly loved to shower. But showering led to thinking, and thinking led to the rather unfortunate incident of the day before. She felt her face flush when she thought of the very moment where she met his gaze with her own. Of course the biggest pervert in the village would have been gazing into the shop.

Sakura just hoped that she could look him in the eye after this.

The more she thought about it, the more she became angered at the entire thing. She needed to release it somehow. She climbed out of the shower, toweling her hair dry. As she stood in her bathroom, she stared at her reflection in the full length mirror. Her eyes travelled from her damp hair down to her protruding collarbones, weeping past her full, perky breasts and over the flat expanse of her taut stomach. She sighed, wrapping her hair up in a towel on her head. She pulled another from the towel rack in the bathroom and dried off the rest of her body. Wrapping it around herself, she made her way into her bedroom, eyeing the bags littering the floor. Ino must have made her spend a month's rent on clothing the day before.

She spotted one of the bags they had acquired at the shinobi clothing store and reluctantly went through it. Pulling out a pair of navy blue spandex shorts and a long sleeved black shirt, she began to wrap her breasts. Ino could suck it if she thought that Sakura would wear a sport bra right away. Wrapping them up was just fine. She was going to ease into the outfit transition in her own time. Finding a simple white thong that Ino had allowed her to keep, she slipped her legs into it and pulled on the rest of the gear. She would go to the training grounds and work out for a little while and then see if she could find something else to do. Sakura was always so lost on her days off.

Closing her door and locking it, Sakura jumped onto the rooftop and began to jump from roof to roof, heading for her favourite training grounds. She figured that she would find someone else there to spar with, and if not, she could practice the skills she would need for the ANBU exams. If she ended up taking them…

But enough of that thought pattern.

Sakura loved to run. She loved each momentary pause of her foot on the ground, the contraction of her muscles as she pushed off and landed on the other foot, the way she sped past everyone with ease. She spent much of this run, however, mulling over the ANBU exams. She really wanted to join, but… She wanted to be on the same team as her best friends. Her boys were like brothers to her and she loved working with them. What would it be like working as a cohesive unit with others? She couldn't imagine it. Naruto's overeagerness, Sai's cluelessness, and Sasuke's grumpiness, how would missions go without them…

At last she arrived at one of the numerous training grounds. She had hoped that someone would have been there, but she was sadly disappointed. The wind rustled through the trees surrounding the small clearing. A tiny pond to her left reflected the cold grey sky of the afternoon, and there were no birds to be found.

"Ah, fuck, it's going to rain isn't it?" Sakura murmured. She had a nasty habit of talking to herself.

She knelt to the ground, stretching her legs and arms in various positions until she felt limber and ready to go. As she got up, she quickly made the handsigns necessary to form a few solid dummies out of the ground beneath her. Each posed differently, she leapt back to study them. Retrieving a set of senbon from her pouch, she whipped them at the targets with precision and speed. Memorizing the positions of the last few dummies, she closed her eyes and threw the remaining senbon. Leaping back to the dummies, she was satisfied that she had hit all the spots she was aiming for.

Tucking them back into her pouch, she paused, considering what to do next. Thinking of Kakashi, she decided that her monstrous strength needed some fine tuning. Feeling chakra flow into her limbs, she began to punch, kick, and throw everything she could find. It was truly a thing of beauty to see her destroy literally everything in sight. She danced around flying chunks of dirt and rock, leaping above the settling dust to grin at the mayhem she had caused. Sweat beaded her forehead and chest as she landed back on the now uneven ground.

Sakura began to practice the jutsu in her arsenal, save for one very special medical ninjutsu that she'd been working on. She hadn't told anyone about it and it could prove to be one of the most advanced medical ninjutsu ever created if she mastered it. Sakura still had some fine tuning, but it wasn't really relevant to her training for ANBU. It was more suited for clinical use. Her hands whipped through seals producing various elemental jutsu. Sakura had an earth and water affinity but she could perform a few high calibre jutsu of each element. Kakashi had always impressed upon them how important it was to be prepared for anything.

After spending the majority of her chakra, Sakura was thoroughly tired. Panting and sweaty, she was satisfied with her workout. Having a sparring partner would have been better, but she wasn't overly disappointed. She was ready to turn and leave when she caught a movement out of the corner of her eye. She turned and brought a kunai up in front of her face, a metallic ring sounding throughout the clearing. Sakura's eyes hardened as they made contact with a single crinkled one. It was Kakashi, grinning under his mask. He held a kunai nonchalantly in his hand, pressing against her own.

"You! You pervert!" Sakura growled, narrowing her eyes.

Kakashi simply continued to smile, leaping backwards as her other hand came flying towards his face. Kakashi was still a little weirded out by Sakura's obvious change in appearance, but he wasn't too concerned with what had happened. He knew, however, that Sakura was incredibly embarrassed by the ordeal.

"Yo." Kakashi's feet slid along the ground and, in a heartbeat, he leapt back into close quarters with Sakura. With his single kunai, he slashed and parried her blows, sweeping his leg along the ground in the hopes of knocking her over. Sakura, too wise for his tricks, saw it coming and jumped into the air, flipping over and diving towards his figure. Throwing her kunai, she continued to aim her body directly over his. Quickly deflecting the kunai with his own, Kakashi wondered what she was going to do now that she had thrown away her weapon.

"Suck it, sensei!" She grinned, extending her arm as she reached him. He automatically brought the blade up to block what was coming, but was genuinely shocked when he saw that she was using her hands as blades. Sakura had manipulated her chakra and concentrated it around her hands, sharpening it like she would with a chakra scalpel and using it to suppress the kunai he was wielding against her.

"Ne, Sakura-chan, when did you start doing that?" Kakashi inquired, genuinely curious. He knew that the technique was rarely practiced because it required such finesse and chakra control that many weren't capable of practically using it.

"Tsunade-sama gave me a few scrolls on it. She said she'd been meaning to show me herself but she's so busy, you know." She grinned, obviously proud of herself.

Kakashi was impressed. This would go over very well on her entry into ANBU, not to mention the fact that it was self taught.

"Well done, Sakura. You make your poor old sensei proud." Kakashi pretended to sniffle, genuinely laughing as she scowled and attempted to swipe at him with the blade.

Sakura almost paused at his laughter. It was so rarely genuine that she wanted to ask him what was so funny.

They continued to spar, Kakashi helping her test the boundaries of the new technique. Sakura pushed herself, sweat pouring out of her skin and her chest heaving as she focused on channeling her chakra into her hands. Kakashi found himself sweating as well as he tried to keep up with Sakura's speed and taijutsu. Since Sakura's discovery of the merits of super strength, she had focused a lot of her time into taijutsu. She was talented and had improved her speed a great deal in the last few years, something she was very proud of. Her soft spot for Lee had also gained her an opening for the impressive taijutsu teachings of Guy-sensei. Although incredibly tiring, it was incredibly enlightening as well.

Kakashi was faster, however, and Sakura was still feeling out the limits of the technique. She was hesitant at times and Kakashi used it to his advantage. Kakashi saw her falter on her last lunge and used it. He took a page out of her book and with a less than accurate chakra ladent stomp, he crushed the ground beneath her and caused her to stumble backwards.

Sakura saw this coming, and focused even more chakra into her hands, sharpening it on a molecular level. As he came flying towards her, her body still free falling backwards, she raised her hands in preparation. Just as he was upon her, black dots clouded her vision and a sudden onset of dizziness caused her to lose focus. The chakra in her hands faded away and she blacked out before she could figure out what had happened.

Kakashi had been just about to meet her with his kunai when he saw her falter. Her eyes had clouded over and the green chakra that had been glowing around her hands faded away to nothing. Unfortunately, Kakashi saw this just as his kunai made contact with her forearm, slicing the skin. He pulled back before too much damage was done, but not in time to avoid harming her at all. He reached out to catch her and cradled her unconscious body in his arms.

"Sakura? Wake up, Sakura." He murmured, concerned about his student. Although her now maimed arm was a concern, her lack of consciousness was the main priority. Kakashi took an educated guess and figured that it was chakra exhaustion, but he wasn't completely sure.

He was relieved when her face scrunched up and her eyes blinked open wearily. "Kakashi-sensei?" She groaned, holding her head.

"Yo." He slowly helped her into a standing position. He was almost completely supporting her limp figure, but her attempts to stand were a good sign.

"I think I should've called this off a little earlier." She sheepishly smiled, allowing Kakashi to guide her over to a shady spot under the nearest tree. He propped her gently against the tree and began to channel chakra into his hand.

"Sakura, you have to recognize your limits…" He scolded her, making sure that she was paying attention. "I could have seriously hurt you. You are not a child, you do not need your sensei to tell you when enough is enough. And now I have to heal your arm, which, I will warn you in advance, will not go very well. I can only do so much."

Sakura winced as his chakra met her skin, slowly knitting the wound on her forearm back together. "Sorry, sensei. I was just so into using the hand blades… I overused my chakra at my last shift at the hospital and I think I just haven't fully recovered from it." She hung her head in shame, hoping that he wasn't too angry with her.

He seemed to be ignoring this, however. "Ah, that's as much as I can do. When you're feeling better you can heal the rest yourself. Just be more careful, Sakura. You really scared me for a minute." He slowly bandaged the wound and tied it off, eye crinkling in a smile as he ruffled her hair.

"Sorry, sensei."

Wrapping his arm around her waist, he guided her into a standing position. Turning around, he crouched low to the ground and made a hand gesture for her to climb onto his back. "C'mon, Sakura, I'll take you home."

"Sensei, you don't have to―"

"Shh, Sakura, just get on. No need to make a fuss about it." At this, she reluctantly climbed on his back, allowing him to hook his arms under her knees.

"Now, where do you live?"

"Mmm, do you know where Ino lives?"

"No."

"Oh. Um, do you know where that cute new café is?"

"Yeah, yeah. It's around there?"

"Hai, sensei, it's a few blocks away."

Sakura allowed her chin to rest on her sensei's shoulder, watching his silver hair bounce as he jumped out of the clearing. He continued to run, wind blowing his already wildly messy hair into a truly awful mess. He felt Sakura relax into him, obviously exhausted. Smiling, he continued until he made it to the edge of the village. He ran along the rooftops of Konoha until he reached the café she had mentioned. He turned his head to find her asleep on his shoulder. Her soft, pink eyelashes brushed against her cheek, her lips parted as she breathed slowly. Nudging her gently, he coaxed her eyes open. She groaned, blinking a few times in confusion.

"Where do we go from here?" He asked.

Sakura's head rose as she looked around. "It's uh," she yawned, "uh, a couple blocks that way. The white apartment building." Kakashi chuckled, trudging his way along the street to the white building just ahead.

Sakura's soft snores told him that once again, she was asleep.

Oh, well.

Once he reached the building, it wasn't hard to find her unit. With his enhanced nostrils, he was able to pick up her scent and follow its trail up to one of the windowsills of the third floor. It seemed that she was also in the habit of using her window as a door. Not that there were many shinobi who didn't practice this strange habit. Nudging the window open, he pulled them through the window carefully. Looking around, he was impressed at the state of the place. With how busy she was, it was incredible that she had the time to clean it at all. Most shinobi liked to consider themselves busy but Sakura was truly a marvel to behold in that department. Save for his unit in ANBU, there wasn't a single shinobi that he considered as busy as Sakura. Well, he mused, Tsunade might have her beat. Carrying her to her room, the only bedroom he could see in the place, he laid her carefully on the bed, stepping around the numerous shopping bags.

"Oh, so that's where the new clothes came from."

Tucking her in, Kakashi stopped for a moment to watch the sleeping face of his former student. It was only in rare moments that she looked this innocent and peaceful. Her long, pale hair fanned around her head as her lips parted with each passing breath. Kakashi missed his students but it was only fair that they had to move on eventually. He did enjoy catching a glimpse of his students with their guards down, something that continued to happen less and less as they got older.

"G'night Kaka-sensei…" she murmured.

Kakashi smiled as he whispered back, "Goodnight, Sakura-chan."

It was a long walk back to his place but he was glad that he had accompanied her home. Sakura was obviously exhausted. Kakashi couldn't remember the last time they had sparred like that. Since he had joined Itachi's squad, he spent most of his time either on missions, training, or recovering. His apartment had become the squad's place to hangout so more often than not, he found himself sharing it with Genma and Itachi. In the short time they had been together, they had grown quite close. Kakashi even considered them his best friends of sorts, which was a weird thing to think about as he was in his thirties. They'd grown on him. Itachi, with his antisocial behaviour and how closely he related to Kakashi's own life. Genma, with his witty humour and love of women. They'd gone on some incredibly dangerous missions together which had only brought them closer. Since the loss of Itachi's best friend, Shisui, they had finally accepted him as a suitable replacement.

Kakashi found that he really enjoyed working with them. During their recovery periods in the village, they would spend their time at his place, drinking and spending time together. Occasionally, they avoided each other when one of them brought a girl. Kakashi had three bedrooms in his apartment, and although he found it distasteful for Genma to sleep with girls in his apartment, he didn't care enough to tell him to stop. Kakashi often brought home girls when they were there, so it was only fair.

It was close to dinnertime as he passed through the village, keenly aware of how hungry he was. Stopping by Ichiraku's, he acquired enough ramen to satiate the hunger of three grown men. He trudged through the streets, bag in one hand and his small, orange book in the other.

As he reached his apartment, he smelled the other two inhabitants already there. Climbing through the window, he raised one hand in a salute and smiled under his mask.

"Yo."

"Kakashi!" Genma cheered, having obviously spotted the food. "You are one great guy, Kakashi. What would we do without you?"

"Thank you, Kakashi-san." It was a big step for Itachi to call anyone by their first name.

As they sat around eating in silence, Genma paused and turned to Kakashi.

"So, Tsunade-sama said we're getting one of the new recruits when the exams are done."

Kakashi groaned. "I hate to admit it, but I hope we get one of my students. At least I know they won't die on us. They're far too stubborn for that."

Laughing, Genma raised his glass of sake and clinked it against Kakashi's.

"Cheers to that!"

I am once again so sorry for the wait. Not too much happened this chapter but oh well (maybe that's why it took so long to write). Thank you to the people who have reviewed, favourited, and followed!