2. Anonymity

Vacations sucked. Sure, the fact that Sakura could laze in bed and do nothing all day was great but as she stared at her ceiling fan, she preferred working to her white walls. Despite sitting in bed, contemplating her plans for her free day and being terrifying bored, Sakura did appreciate sleeping in. She couldn't get enough of that wonderful, foreign thing called sleep!

However, now that she was awake—Sakura glanced over at her clock and groaned at seven-thirty glowing from her nightstand—what was she going to do?

Sakura rolled out of bed and willingly flopped to the floor with blanket and pillows piled on top of her. She tossed the pillow to the side. Oh, what a nice point of view. Sakura never had time to look at her room from the floor. With a pleasant groan, she stretched her arms and legs, enjoying the crack of her joints and the ease of her muscles. Then, she lay there, staring at her ceiling.

Day one of vacation and it already sucked.

The phone echoed through her apartment as the clock struck ten past noon, waking Sakura from her midmorning slumber. Even in her half awake, half-asleep state, Sakura knew exactly who called. No one else called her; they usually barged in through the front door and if they really wanted to piss her off, the window.

Sakura crawled over to her nightstand and fished for the phone, unwilling to push her body off the ground. Once she found it, she grabbed the phone and the cradle down and plumped her head back down on her pillow. "Hey, Dad," she muttered, stifling a yawn and rubbing the tired out of her drooping eyelids.

He always breathed too heavy into the phone, a hoarse sounding thing like he was congested or something. Her father cleared his throat and they continued to sit in silence before he said, "Hi, baby girl. How's my Sakura doing?"

Sakura inwardly scorned her father, knowing he had his puppy dog look on his face at full force even if she couldn't see him. After years of putting up with it, she managed to look past his matching emerald eyes that looked so gently, watery, and so puppy-like. His eyes would make anyone give in to his needs but not her, oh no!

"I'm doing all right," she answered sweetly. "I just got a week break, so I'm kinda excited. What have you been doing? I haven't heard from you in a while." Mainly because he spent all his time in bars and casinos and the only time he ever showed his face or called Sakura was when he needed money. This had to be one of those times.

"Good, good. I've been doing good," he said, his voice raspy. "Um, would you want to come over for dinner some time?" The question stilled Sakura for a second. She raised her brows and looked at the phone. He was probably too hung over to notice the silence.

"Yeah, just tell me when, Pops," she responded, a bit too suspicious sounding than she wanted but again, she didn't think her father would notice.

"Sakura!" Naruto shouted as he rammed through the door and only stopped when he flipped over her couch. "Sakura, I need you!"

"How does tomorrow night sound?"

Sakura pressed a finger to her lips and glared at Naruto who was sucking in air for his next belch. She covered the talking piece with a hand and sneered, "Naruto, I'm on the phone. Shut your face!" To her father, she nodded and said, "Yeah, Dad, sounds perfect."

"Okay, great. I'll be on my way now, baby girl."

Sakura only smiled and waited for the dial tone to ring in her ear before setting the phone back in its cradle and turning her deadly attention to Naruto. He now sat on his couch, arms crossed and whistling a nameless tune. She wasn't surprised to see him here since she did—now, regretting it—give him a spare key on the condition that he cleaned up his mess and didn't clog the shower drain anymore.

"Is your shoulder okay?" Sakura questioned halfheartedly, squeezing the shoulder and hoped that it wasn't healed just yet.

"Totally fine," he responded with a grin. "Oh, yeah, that feels good."

Sakura stopped her ministrations. "Good. I'm glad," she said through tight, disappointed lips.

"I got a mission today. To Grass, I think."

"Classified?"

"Yup."

"Ask Hinata out yet?"

"Nope."

"Huh, you're here for something important?"

Naruto shrugged. "Eh."

"Kakashi?"

"Threw out his back."

"Right," Sakura sighed and began to gather her keys. "Come on."

Kakashi's apartment was two blocks away from Sakura, so she could easily jump over five roofs and come crashing through his window like usual but today since he decided to ruin her vacation with all this medical stuff, she decided to walk. Inevitably, though, Naruto complained about taking too long and being too slow.

Outside their former teacher's door, they could hear two bickering voices from beyond the door. She knocked and opened it—he always kept it unlocked no matter how many times she lectured him about being robbed.

"Pakkun, your weight isn't making anything better," she heard Kakashi hiss from somewhere in his living room. Sakura tiptoed and peeked over the couch to see Kakashi spread out on the floor with bags of peas flattened on his back and his trusty sidekick lying across them. "You're hurting me—get off!"

Pakkun snorted. "Pain is for the weak. Suck it up, bitch!"

"Who's the bitch!" Kakashi snarled, glancing over his shoulder to glare at the pug but instead made eye contact with Sakura. His glare changed to the eye crinkling smile she knew. "Oh, Sakura, what a pleasant surprise."

Sakura rolled her eyes and crouched next to Kakashi. She shooed the pug off his back and pulled his frozen veggies off his back. "Don't act like you didn't send for me. I'm on vacation, you know."

"Oh," he mocked interest. "Finally?"

Sakura ignored his question. "What did you do exactly?"

Naruto, who planted his bum on the couch next to Pakkun, snickered. "Old man threw his back out. Maybe it's time you retired, Grandpa."

"Thirty is not old," Kakashi groaned, rolling his uncovered eye.

Sakura ran a hand down the man's back. He shivered at the touch but continued to lie there with his book of erotica in hand. She pressed her fingertips in his lower back, causing him to lurch up and groan. "Did that hurt?" Sakura half teased.

"Not at all," Kakashi huffed. "But I do advise you not to do that again."

"Note taken," she laughed.

Sakura sat back on her bum and eyed Hatake's back, noting the dimples on his lower back, his narrow hips and waist and the wiry muscles lined across his shoulders. Sakura couldn't ignore the faint scars etched into his skin from the years of service as a shinobi. Taking her index finger, she pressed against a knot in his lower back, earning a painful hiss from Kakashi.

"Your muscles are tense. I suggest a massage…from Naruto," Sakura added quickly when Kakashi peeked over his shoulder, a broad grin outlined underneath his mask. "Those knots are huge, Kakashi."

"At least something about him his huge," Naruto snorted.

"No one has time for your stupid jokes, Naruto. Rub your sensei's back."

"That's so—"

"Helpful that you're going to aid an old friend?"

"Guys, thirty really isn't that old…."

Naruto and Sakura switched places. After cracking his knuckles and doing some fingers exercises, Naruto plopped a seat on Kakashi's rump and began to dig his fingers into his teacher's skin, causing the silver haired man to yelp in pain.

Ignoring Kakashi's plea for help, Sakura leaned her head back on the couch and scratched Pakkun behind the ear. It was going to be a long day.

The chatter in the restaurant sounded like a bee buzzing in Sakura's ear, which was downright annoying and she had to resist slamming her glass over her head to drown out the noise for a few seconds. However, Sakura managed a smile on her face as she engaged in the conversation at the dinner table. The other kunoichi, Ino, Tenten and Hinata had dinner every other weekend. It was a time for them to gossip and catch up since everyone was so busy with their Jounin lives.

Since her father planned to retire in a couple years, Ino has taken a hitch to working at Intel and learning new techniques while attempting to train her new Genin, just two weeks fresh to be exact. Tenten planned to join the ANBU ranks, which consisted of too many psych tests, endurance and jutsu tests along with meeting a quota of a certain number of A-ranked missions before a date—Sakura's head hurt just thinking about all that work. Hinata was Hinata, a new Jonin and on her way to becoming the heir to her clan.

"I haven't been on a date in a while," Ino hummed, looking disappointedly at her empty drink cup. She tilted it, the ice cubes toppled over each other at the action. "There's a new guy at Intel—I may give him a ride or two."

"Whatever happened to Shikamaru…or was it Kiba that you were seeing?" Tenten asked. "You bounce between those two so many times I always lose track."

"They found out about each other," Ino grumbled, pouting. "So obviously that can't happen anymore. I need to find someone new, someone who has as much energy and stamina as Kiba and is a silent lover like Shikamaru. If only I could mush them into one person…"

Tenten laughed. "I highly doubt a man like that exists. Hinata, how are you and Naruto?"

Hinata smiled and a light blush came over her cheeks. "Nothing has happened," she sighed. "For a second I thought he would confess himself but he suddenly became very sick and ran off." Sakura held a chuckle. Naruto, nervous? That couldn't have happened! "Tenten, has Neji been behaving?"

"Eh?" Tenten cleared her throat and ran a hand over her buns resting on the top of her head. "He, uh, rejected me," and with that, she hung her head, her forehead banging against the table and making their dishes jump up. Ino caught her glass that threatened to teeter over.

"I'm sorry," Hinata said as she placed a hand on Tenten's back. "May I could talk—"

"No!" Tenten shouted, making Sakura jump a bit. "I'll talk to him…"

The table fell silent as Hinata consoled Tenten in whispers, leaving Sakura and Ino out of the conversation. Ino didn't looked to upset over the fact that she was kicked out; she looked bored, eyeing the ice cubes in her drink with her head propped in her hand.

"What's going on with you, Sakura?" Ino mumbled. She grinned at her pink haired friend with mischievousness glinting in her eyes. "We didn't get a chance to catch up yesterday. Any boys that tickle your nipple—what happened to your freaking face?" This question caught Tenten and Hinata's attention, for their gazes shot up to Sakura's slowly flushing face.

"Some kid kicked me in the face," Sakura uttered quickly, self-consciously covering her black eye from all the gazes it attracted. "Let's do back to your dry spell, Ino. How's that been treating you?"

"How has your dry spell been treating you?"

"W-We're here to have a good time!" Hinata intervened, setting down her drink with more force than needed, which was uncharacteristic for the quiet Hyuuga but as of lately, Sakura noticed more assertiveness and confidence in the girl. She flushed as the girls stared at her questioningly. "Eh-h, Ino, how is your team doing? They're relatively new."

"Those brats...," Ino sighed. "I'm lucky Genma is there to help me out or I would have strangled them already. Seeing them makes me wonder if I was like that as a Genin and if Asuma-sensei"—Ino's expression fell for a quick second at the thought of her deceased teacher but she quickly picked up her expression with a small smile—"wanted to strangle me as much as I want to them. Other than that, though, they're good kinds; know how to kick ass and what not."

"I hate kids…." Sakura vehemently groaned.

The girls managed their good-byes after fifteen minutes of standing outside the restaurant, saying goodbyes and then remembering something they didn't discuss and discussing it or Ino bickering with Sakura or Tenten about something trivial like a piece of Tenten's hair was sticking up or Sakura's panty lines were showing.

When they did separate, Sakura walked the long way home, enjoying the cool summer breeze that wasn't present during the day and the glittering stars in the indigo night sky. She could still feel the moisture in the air, sticking to her skin like syrup but the breeze quickly cooled Sakura.

She walked through down the sidewalk, eyeing all the bars with spotty neon signs that said "OEN" instead of "OPEN" or "LOSED" instead of "CLOSED". Men thundered out of the bars in a drunken heat, sporting bloody lips or broken noses that she wouldn't mind fixing but she was on vacation—and she already had down her one good deed for the day with Kakashi's back.

Howls of laughter from one of the smaller bars that didn't have a lit sign but a flip sign with flyers taped to the windows instead of more signs that advertised what beer they served and their specials. Another hoot came from them followed by a crash as trashcans toppled over when a man tumbled into them.

Sakura crept close to the group of men surrounding the fallen man. In the dull light, she caught fair hair that looked matted from a long nap and creased gray eyes. This familiar face had blood smeared across his cheeks and more ran down his chin, dripping onto his sweat stained shirt.

"Excuse me," Sakura huffed as she hurried to the crowd and shoved her way through the smelly glob of men. She stood in front of the fallen man and faced the towering bullies that grinned down at her. "The hell do you think you are, huh?" she growled, rolling up her sleeves up to her elbows.

"How are you, huh?" one mocked. Grins shone at her. "Get out of the way, little girl."

Sakura gritted her teeth. She felt hands tickle her ankles and she took a second to look back at her father bowing at her feet. "Please, Sakura, go home."

"But, Dad—"

"Dad! Aw, is his wittle girl protecting her wittle daddy? How cute!"

"That's it—I'll kill you!"

Hands shot at her. She grabbed them and turned the body over her shoulder, knocking out another man. Before she could take her aggression out on the next, she heard fluttering whiz by her ear and a hand shoved her chest, knocking her down next to her father. In the dim light, she watched black knock the men down with just sandaled feet; his hands clutched to the hood, keeping it from falling off his head.

Just as the last thug fell to the ground unconscious, Sakura lunged forward, a hand reaching for the cloaked man but just as her fingertips touched the fabric, the man vanished.

"Dammit," Sakura mumbled before turning her attention back to her father who sat in the middle of trashcans, nodding off to sleep. "Dad," she whispered and walked over to him, picking him up and leaning him against her body.

"You didn't have to do that, Sakura honey."

Sakura smiled and began to walk towards the hospital. "I'll get you nice and healed, okay?"

"Sakura—"

"Dad, it's okay, really," she breathed hastily.

With her free hand, she grazed her fingertips across the Konoha insignia on her hitae-ate. So much for having a day off but as long as she wore her hitae-ate, she will always be serving the injured, the civilians and ultimately, Konoha.

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