Hey, guys! I know I said that you shouldn't expect another update this month, but surprise! I had a blast at my graduation but managed to get a really bad strep throat infection and I now have an IV needle in my hand. I have to go to the hospital twice a day to get antibiotics fed into my system intravenously, so that's a blast. But all in all, I am fine. So I banged out this chapter while moping around at home tonight. Or yesterday? It's after midnight where I am by now. Thank you so much for the reviews and favourites, I'm glad you guys liked that last chapter.
"I'm so glad that we found some time to do this before the physical examinations," Sakura grinned as she opened to door to find her boys standing outside. Still in her robe, she eyed each of them up. Naruto was clad in a pair of khakis and a crisp black button-up shirt. Sasuke wore a pair of black pants with a navy blue shirt matching Naruto's. Sai finished off the trio with a white shirt and grey dress pants, each of them wearing a nice pair of black shoes. Raising a brow, Sakura smirked. "You guys sure dressed up, hmm?"
Beaming down at her, Naruto threw his arms around her and lifted her up, spinning her around. "Naruto!" She shrieked as she attempted to pull down the hem of her robe, all too aware of the fact that it wasn't exactly the longest garment she owned.
"Sorry, Sakura-chan! It's just been a while," Naruto said, scratching the back of his head sheepishly.
Ushering them inside, she rolled her eyes and stood in the doorway, a hand on her hip. "I still can't believe that you didn't tell me about Hinata-chan." She shot Naruto a pointed look.
"You've been very busy lately, Sakura-chan," Sai interjected, offering his little bit of input.
"Yeah, you're going to overwork yourself, you know," Sasuke chided, giving her a look of disapproval. "Especially once we're in ANBU."
Sakura smirked. Sasuke was good at hiding something encouraging in a reprimand.
"I'm fine, you guys. Really. It's only tiring when I get held down with extreme cases. Most of the time I'm only on call or performing rounds." Sighing, she closed the door and continued on into her apartment. "Besides, I'll be in the hospital much less with ANBU taking up so much of my time. I'll be on call when I'm in town but they'll only call me in strict emergency circumstances."
Naruto plopped down on the couch and grinned. "Ok, if you say so." Turning his attention elsewhere, he stretched out comfortably. "So the big day is tomorrow, huh?"
Swallowing nervously, she nodded uncertainly. "I just hope it's not going to be too difficult."
Rolling his eyes, Sasuke replied cynically, "It's ANBU, Sakura, of course it's going to be difficult."
Her response consisted of a tongue stuck out in his general direction.
"What's it like, Sai?"
Sai simply sent her an apologetic smile―or at least as close to one as he could get. "I was in ROOT, remember? The process is remarkably different, to say the least. Otherwise, I could bypass the exam altogether."
Pouting, she marched to her bedroom to get changed. Shrugging out of her fuschia pink robe, adorned with black designs of dragons native to the legends of the Fire Country. The hem of the robe along with the ends of the sleeves were finished with gold trim. Picking up the silk robe, she hung it up in her small closet, already stuffed to the brim with clothes. Half the time she couldn't even find what she was looking for. Putting on a matching pair of lacy undergarments―not that anyone would see them―she paused trying to spot a nice outfit that would match the general appearance of the boy's clothes. Triumphantly pulling out a black dress, she slipped it over her lacey bra and thong, glancing at the results in her mirror.
"Damn, Sakura. Do you got a booty? Damn right you do," she giggled to herself, stopping as she realized how embarrassing she was as a person in that very moment. Her dress was tight, reaching halfway down her muscular thighs. It had full sleeves that cut off at the shoulders, making a straight line across her bust and around to her back. It didn't reveal any cleavage but was short enough to cause her some worry about revealing her underwear.
Sakura peered out of her bedroom to check on the boys. Seeing them absorbed in some sort of program on her television, she felt it was safe to try to freshen up in the bathroom. Seeing as it was a last hurrah of sorts before they were all potentially split up into their respective ANBU teams, she wanted to put a bit of effort into looking good. Getting out the curling iron that she hadn't used in years, she began to loosely curl her hair until the pink locks curled gently over her shoulders and back. She applied a small amount of eyeliner and mascara, touching her lips up with a touch of strawberry lip gloss. Satisfied with the reflection in the mirror, she tiptoed into the hall, stopping at the entrance to the living room. She did, after all, look better than normal.
"Ta-da!" She called out, flashing a smile at the three men lounging on her couch.
Looking up, equal amounts of surprise found their way onto each of their faces, reflected in a shared raising of eyebrows. As soon as they had seen her, the arguing they were having over the channel ceased. She quickly pulled on a pair of low black heels and started walking towards them.
"Wow, Sakura," Sasuke smirked. "You almost look like a female."
At this, he received a glare and a half-choked bark of laughter from Naruto.
"Thanks, you assholes, let's go already." She rolled her eyes at the pair and linked arms with Sai, dragging him through the door. "At least Sai-kun doesn't laugh at me."
"Only because he doesn't know how."
Naruto blew out in another spell of laughter, tears streaming down his face. "When did you get so funny, Teme?"
"Shut up, dobe."
Spying her chance, Sakura piped up, "Someone must've removed the giant stick up his ass." Batting her eyelashes, she smirked up at him.
"I'm going to kill you, Sakura. I am literally going to end you."
After dodging his weak attempts at retaliation, they walked to the restaurant of choice in comfortable silence.
The restaurant was called Umenohana and was a classy joint that they tended to frequent on the nights when three out of the four of them were sick of ramen. Kakashi used to eat with them before he was chosen to be on Uchiha Itachi's ANBU team. Except for the Hokage's occasional orders to stay in town to rest, they didn't see their ex-sensei very often.
"Reservation for Haruno Sakura, please!" Sakura gave the hostess a bright smile as the lady directed them to their table. Ordering the house wine, they bickered over the best choice of meal.
Laughing at her boys and thinking of how grateful she was to have such a close relationship with her friends, Sakura lapsed into a happy silence. She was happy to just have people that she could count on whether it had been hours since she'd last seen them or weeks.
It had been a week since Kakashi had found Sakura in the hospital. He wasn't great at comforting or expressing emotion, but he couldn't stand there and watch someone he considered close to him disintegrate into nothing. She'd looked so completely lost and hopeless that he had to step in. He had to give her what little he had to give. If that happened to be a shoulder to cry on, then so be it.
The Hokage had ordered them to stay in the village for yet another two weeks to participate in the physical examinations. He knew that one of the recruits would end up on their squad and that Tsunade likely wanted some time for their new member to train and get used to his or her new teammates. It did nobody any good to have not only an inexperienced recruit, but also one that was not comfortable with his or her team.
Kakashi was not looking forward to having a member on his team that couldn't keep up and would inevitably fail and die. But with his students attempting the exam, he was sure that they would assign one of them to his team. In this way, at least, he was sure that they'd have a better chance at surviving. He would place money on the bet that any one of his students could defeat Genma and he'd survived longer than most. In fact, the three of them had long surpassed the life expectancy of ANBU members.
Thinking back, he was a little worried about Sakura after seeing her in the state she'd been in. He'd been checking up on her throughout the week out of concern for her mental health, but she had seemed fine. At least on the surface. ANBU was a place where you needed to show little emotion and care little about others. Sakura cared all too much, especially about saving the lives of others. Could she really make it through the assassinations and careless slaughter that accompanied the job?
He wasn't too sure. Sure, she had the determination and the strength to pull it off. Not to mention her cunning and ability to pick up obscure jutsu, but he wasn't sure that she could come away unscathed emotionally.
He hated admitting, even to himself, that he cared about people. Even though he'd been working for a relatively short period of time with his team, he had become close with them. He'd grown apart from his old students because of the nature of his job, but he would always care far too much for them.
He was weak. Something that he did in fact mind, but he was now finding that he didn't mind it quite as much as he used to.
The members of his pack were all lazing around on the floor of his room, each of them eyeing his form as he began to move. As he made his way to the door, all eight tails began slowly weaving back and forth, eventually picking up their pace to a steady blur of movement.
Rolling his eyes, he gestured to the door. "Come on then." At this they jumped up, each nudging the others to try to get out the fastest. As highly functioning as they were, they were still dogs at heart. Nevertheless, as soon as Bull reached the door, the others found it impossible to get by.
Leading the pack through his now seemingly cramped apartment, he opened the door and allowed them to barrel ahead of him. Following behind at a leisurely pace, he sighed. All he wanted was to get some takeout. But his ninken hadn't been out in a while and they enjoyed taking a stroll through the village occasionally. Scratching the head of the nearest dog as he opened the door to the outside world, he blinked rapidly to adjust to the darkness. With his enhanced senses, he was able to do so fairly quickly compared to most shinobi.
"It's nice out tonight, hmm?" He said out loud, mostly to himself. Pakkun murmured approval as he pattered next to Kakashi, always his right-hand man. Or dog, rather.
On his way to Ichiraku's, he spotted a head of pink hair wandering through the relatively empty street ahead of him. Remembering his instinctive worry, he watched her as she continued along. Although far away, he could make out that she was in a dark dress, black perhaps, and heels. His pace quickened enough that he was gaining ground on her.
Maybe just a small chat to check up with her. They hadn't spoken since that night, afterall.
As she rounded the corner onto an empty side street, he finally caught up to her.
"Sakura!" He called, skipping ahead to come to her side as she stopped.
"Kakashi-sensei?" She smiled warmly, a small amount of confusion and questioning in the way she uttered his name. He stepped around to face her, mostly because he needed to see her face. And a little bit because her ass was mind-numbingly appealing in that dress.
"Yo." He seemed to have forgotten that he should've had a reason to speak to her first before he attempted to.
Laughing, she shook her head, the loose curls bouncing in response. "You should've come out with us for dinner, Kakashi-sensei. One last hurrah, y'know?"
"Mmm, I'm not your sensei anymore, Sakura." At this, she sent an odd, thoughtful look at him. The lack of honourific after her name twice in a row was more intimate than she was used to with him.
"Then what should I call you?"
Smiling under his mask, Kakashi paused for a moment, thinking. She took this as a sign to scratch the heads of his eager ninken, each expressing their love for her by attempting to knock her over.
"Kakashi-dono or Kakashi-sama will do."
Punching his arm as a burst of laughter escaped her throat, she looked up at him, in a seemingly good mood. "If you're going to start calling me just by Sakura, then I suppose Kakashi is fine too. Or would you prefer Kakashi-senpai?"
"As long as it doesn't include sensei in it, I'm fine. It makes me feel old. As someone who's about to turn twenty five―"
Snorting, she held up a hand. "You don't think anyone believes that, do you?" Narrowing his eyes, he turned his chin up at her.
"That happens to be my age, I'll have you know."
Shaking her head at his antics, she rolled her eyes at him. "I don't get you, Kakashi-se―I mean Kakashi. Just Kakashi. What did you want, anyways? I was just about to go home and get some rest before the exam tomorrow. Got any advice?"
Reaching a head up to scratch at his head, he paused to collect his words. "Well, about that, Sakura… Well, are you absolutely sure about this? I mean, is this what you really want?"
He knew he'd chosen the wrong words when her eyes narrowed and her arms stiffened at her sides. She bit out, angrily, "What's that supposed to mean?"
Holding his hands up in an attempt to calm her down, he spoke quickly. "I'm not saying you won't be fine, Sakura, but is this really what you want? I mean, you just aren't really the ANBU type, are you?" Sensing the oncoming argument, his ninken promptly disappeared in a poof of smoke.
"I can't believe you're doing this right now! After last week, when you said you believed in me, when you said I could do it," he watched with dread as her eyes filled with tears. "Y-you lied to my face. Well fuck you, too, Kakashi-sensei," she spat out with anger.
"Sakura! You know that's not what I mean!" Kakashi weakly called out as she turned around. "I'm just worried about you."
Pausing for a moment, her shoulders tight and shaking with anger, a loud sniffle broke the silence. "Why? Because I'm still the weak one? After I've come so far, is this what you really think of me, Kakashi? Am I always going to live in the shadow of my teammates? Will I never be good enough in your eyes? Well, I have news for you. I am good enough, and I will make ANBU. I gave up everything to be a kunoichi and I'll be damned if I give up now." At this, she stormed off, leaving him in a mess of emotions.
He should've known that it would go like this. He was at a loss for words. What could he say to that? He obviously couldn't take back what he'd said. At least not until the next day when she'd had some time to calm down. He watched as she disappeared from sight.
"Kakashi, you really fucked up." He groaned.
Who did he think he was? He had to know how much his opinion mattered to her. He had to know that she needed validation from him. How much it hurt to be left behind as the weak one. To be underestimated and underappreciated. It fucking sucked.
Wiping her tears away angrily, she sniffled away the snot that was starting to collect in her nose. God, he infuriated her. He saw her in a weak state once, once, and suddenly she was incapable of doing anything.
She wasn't weak. Stopping for a moment to collect herself, she finished erasing the evidence of her crying fit. Checking to see if her makeup had smudged, she hiccuped a little. Taking some deep breaths, she allowed her breathing to even out again. Remembering that she left her lucky kunai at the hospital, she turned left and began making her way to the hospital. With some purpose in her step, she found herself getting calmer and the urge to cry lessening little by little. As she reached the hospital, she spotted Hikaru exiting through the doors.
"Hikaru-kun!" She waved, sending him a smile that she didn't know she had left in her.
"Ah, Sakura-chan! It's nice to see you again! I haven't seen you in a while." He smiled at her, a warm, boyish smile that instantly warmed her.
"I've been pretty busy myself. I was hoping to see you again, Hikaru-kun. I enjoyed meeting you the other day, however short our conversation was." He lit up at this, obviously happy at her words.
Running a hand through his hair, he laughed sheepishly. "I'm flattered, Sakura-chan. I'll admit, I felt the exact same."
She returned his smile, a light blush creeping up her cheeks. It was nice to feel a little bit of affection from a cute boy. He seemed to notice her outfit and the effort she'd taken in making her look presentable, and a blush of his own found its way onto his cheeks.
"W-wow, Sakura-chan, you look lovely tonight," he stammered obviously a little shy. "Not that you don't always look lovely! I-I just mean that you look really nice tonight! Did you have a date or something?"
Smiling softly, she shook her head. "No, the boys and I went out for dinner. I haven't had a date since I was sixteen." Laughing a little, she shrugged. "Boys don't really go for me, I'm afraid."
Eyes widening, he gaped like a fish out of water. "You're kidding, right? But Sakura-chan, you're such a catch! I mean, any guy would be lucky to get a single date with you!"
Snorting, she shook her head. "That's highly unlikely. But it's real kind of you to say that, Hikaru-kun."
He seemed shocked by this turn in conversation. Regaining a little confidence, he shook his head adamantly. "You shouldn't talk like that! I'd be happy to take you on a date myself, if you wanted." Realizing how forward he'd been, he ducked his head in embarrassment.
Sakura felt intensely happy at the young man's admission of attraction. She did not often consider herself pretty or hear anyone entertain the thought. So to have a cute, smart man outraged at the thought of her made her feel good about herself. Something she usually only felt when she was showcasing her skills as a shinobi. She was flattered.
"I may just take you up on that offer sometime, Hikaru-kun." She smiled shyly, holding out a hand.
Smiling back at her, he shook her hand, laughing at the oddness of the gesture.
"It's a deal, then."
"I'll see you later, Hikaru-kun."
"I'll be looking forward to it."
Leaving him on the other side of the doors, she made her way through the quiet halls of the hospital until she reached her office. Unlocking the door, she quickly spotted the kunai sitting on top of her desk. Grabbing it, she quickly hurried back into the fresh air. Her feet were starting to cramp up in the heels and she wanted to get home before it got too late. Her conversation with Hikaru had brightened her mood up more than she could've expected. If she wasn't careful, the small crush she'd developed on the boy might transform into something a lot worse for her heart. It hadn't worked out too well in the past. But, thinking of her thoughts in the bathhouse, she thought that maybe it wasn't such a bad thing after all.
As she made her way home, she found the small smile Hikaru had left on her face was still there, leaving her mood in a higher place than she would've expected after her rather unpleasant conversation with Kakashi. She was sure that she'd be fine tomorrow, but she was still miffed that he'd been such a gigantic dick.
Pushing away her thoughts of the negative portion of her night, she reflected on what a nice change of pace Hikaru was. He had a nice face, an even nicer personality, and he didn't challenge her as a shinobi. She didn't feel the need to impose herself, to make her strength known. He knew she was powerful and he respected her for it. She didn't have to convince him that she was good enough.
It was such a welcome relief that she was surprised she hadn't jumped on the chance to organize a date right away. But with her ANBU exam the next day, she couldn't afford to organize anything prematurely.
Sighing, she flopped onto her bed and let herself lay there, completely worn out by the flurry of events that night. It was a wonder she survived the drama at all. Kicking her heels off, she peeled off the dress and crawled under the covers. Setting her alarm, she hugged her pillow and let her thoughts drift away into a sleepy abyss. She would make ANBU, she would get a love life, and she would prove to everyone that she was good enough. She was good enough for the village, for the hokage, and for a love life…
There it is, guys. Some OC/Sakura interactions. Don't worry, he's mostly just there to further my romantic plot, but he'll be gone eventually. It is KakaSaku, as you are all aware. Sorry for any typos, I haven't really proofread it. Thank you so much! Feel free to drop a review and tell me what you think (despite the lack of plot).