Kakashi had seen the leaving figure of Sakura one too many times. He thought of every time they argued and how he always watched her walk away in frustration and anger. He wasn't going to let her have the last word this time, but he knew that he couldn't talk to her when she was so intoxicated. Kakashi leaned his back to the door and slid down until he was sitting. He reached up to pull off his mask and tipped his head back while closing his eyes. Kakashi drifted off to sleep listening to Sakura's quiet sobs and his own labored breathing.

Sakura didn't remember when she fell asleep or why she was sprawled on the floor. She grabbed her head as it began painfully throbbing as if there was an earthquake within her mind. Practically crawling, she began her difficult journey towards the bathroom. Sakura sat in her shower, holding her knees in and resting her forehead upon the tips of her knees. As she sat, waiting for the water to get warm, she had various flashbacks of the previous night.

Kakashi grabbed at the bartender's hand to tell her something.

Kiba getting close to raping me but was stopped by Kakashi.

My argument with the silver haired ninja…he had wanted to help me. He grabbed my arm to help me when I almost fell.

His apology, "Sakura, I'm sor—" Why hadn't he finished it? Oh, right…I pushed him away.

She let her tears blend in with the water from the shower. 'Why do I always fuck things up?' But she already knew the answer. She had been the weakest one for too long. She was always being taken advantage of, scorned, scolded, looked down on, and she finally took it upon herself to refuse help from anyone. Sakura stood up and rubbed away the tears and the last traces of sleep from her eyes. She had finally achieved rank and respect from her fellow ninjas, but was it worth the price? She pushed the thoughts from her mind as she began her shower.

A cat nudged his side until he stirred from his uncomfortable, restless sleep. Kakashi grudgingly opened his eyes and stared hard at the small gray cat that paced around him. He reached out a hand to pet its head and groaned in pain as he stretched his stiff muscles. Sleeping outside the door of a lovely, drunken kunoichi had not been one of his smarter ideas. Kakashi stood up and stretched some more to work out the kinks in his back and neck. His mouth was dry and he looked like a mess; his disheveled hair seemed even messier and his clothes were wrinkly. Staring at the door, he sat back down, giving his complete attention to the gray cat.

Sakura put on her training clothes and opened the door. She shrieked when she saw Kakashi outside. Before processing her thoughts, she shut the door.

"Sakura, open up. We're going to talk, whether you like it or not. I didn't sleep outside of your damn door to be ignored again." Kakashi stood outside patiently until she opened the door with a sheepish expression gracing her face.

"What was all that about last night? I try to help you from getting molested and you yell at me because you were jealous? Why, Sakura? Why were you jealous…" Kakashi's hard gaze softened as he spoke those last words.

"I'm sorry, we can talk later. I have to get to the hospital." Sakura kept her eyes down as she tried to walk past him. She was startled when she felt him grab her arm.

"No. You're staying right here and talking to me. I've seen you walk away one too many damn times. Why were you angry yesterday? Tell me." Kakashi's softened gaze disappeared when she tried to escape his grip.

"I wasn't angry. I was drunk, okay? People say stupid stuff when they're drunk. It wasn't anything important. I'm sorry, let's just forget the whole thing," Sakura trailed off as she began fidgeting.

"You were jealous, why?"

"I wasn't jealous. I just felt bad for her because you left her just to help me. Go fuck her, I don't care…just leave me alone and forget what I said; it was drunken talk." With that, Sakura wrenched her arm free and poofed her way to the hospital.

"But a drunken mind speaks a sober heart." Kakashi stared wistfully at where Sakura had just been standing.

Putting his hands in his pockets, he made his way back to his own apartment. As soon as he got inside, he kicked his sandals off and made his way to his bed. Collapsing on it, he looked up at his ceiling, and let himself sleep with a heavy heart.

Sakura barely kept herself together as she walked into the hospital. She reported straight to Tsunade, expecting her training.

"Sakura, I can't train you today. Take the day off, we have a surplus of people working today." Tsunade dismissed her before Sakura could protest. Glumly, Sakura made her way out and without much thought, she made her way to the training grounds. She thought of what she said to Kakashi and remembered the way she saw a flash of pain that appeared in his eyes. She shook her head; she must have imagined that. Sakura saw Naruto training with Sasuke on the training grounds. Waving to them, Sakura approached them, hoping to train with the boys.

"Hey, let me train with you guys, please!" Sakura let a small smile appear as she watched the hyperactive blonde being thrown across the field. Sasuke merely nodded and Naruto was too distracted to notice what she had said. Without another word, Sakura made her way to Sasuke at a high speed. She swung her leg at his face, but was stopped. She grabbed a kunai from her leg pouch and thrust it towards the dark haired boy. He barely managed to grab a hold of it, cutting his hand in the proess. Sasuke glared at the pink haired kunoichi and flung himself back to avoid her next barrage of attacks. He took out his own kunai, but was momentarily distracted when Naruto came at him again. Sasuke immediately turned on his Sharingan and stopped Naruto's punch with ease and began making seals for a simple ninjutsu. Before he could finish, the ground split open and he watched as Sakura jumped onto the rocks and sped her way towards him. She grabbed an enormous rock and flung it at him while following the rock to attack him. Sasuke flew back and performed a fire jutsu to melt the rock as it flew towards his face, but was caught by surprise when Sakura was no longer behind it. Breathing heavily, he looked around and barely managed to stop an attack from Naruto. Right as he was about to throw Naruto across the field for the second time, he felt the cold blade of a kunai at his neck.

"Dead." Sakura smirked and put her kunai back in her pouch. She winked at the boy and began healing his and Naruto's wounds as he stared at her in disbelief. His stare of disbelief turned into one of cold calculation, and he realized what he had to do. Sasuke had begun dating for one reason and that was to revive his clan. As much as he liked Ino, he knew that Sakura had to be the one to bear his children. His own abilities combined with her amazing control of chakra, genjutsu skills, and determination would produce near perfect babies. With those thoughts, Sasuke looked up at Sakura. "Hey, let's go out to lunch. My treat." He smirked knowing full well that though Sakura hated him for what he had done, she wouldn't be able to resist. She had been in love for too long to simply push him away ever again.

"I'm okay. I'm saving my appetite for the dinner tonight. Are you guys going?" Sakura smiled at the both of them pleasantly while Sasuke grew confused. He had never been rejected.

"Yeah! It's going to be so much fun, and Shikamaru might be there too. Hey Sasuke! If you're not too careful, I think Shikamaru just might take your girl!" Naruto laughed at the furious raven-haired boy. Sakura laughed and said her goodbyes and took off. She decided to make a visit to one of her favorite places. Sakura was surprised when she felt another presence at the top of the head of the previous Hokage. She stifled a gasp when she saw Kakashi lying there, reading his book. Trying to be discreet, Sakura began making her way out, but as she was leaving, a gray cat ran past her. Kakashi got up quickly to see what had caused the noise and stiffened up when he saw her. His surprised look changed as soon as he saw her, and he tucked his book in his pocket and began walking away.

Sakura had to hold in her tears. She thought of how Kakashi had stared at her. He hadn't looked at her with the softness she had previously seen earlier that day. The look in his eyes was the same one he gave to an enemy ninja…before taking their life. Waiting until he had gone, Sakura fell to the ground and pushed her hair out of her face as she stared straight ahead. She captured her lower lip between her teeth, and began nibbling.

She didn't feel like going out to dinner that night, but she reluctantly let Ino talk her into it again. Sakura donned a short black dress and skipped on the makeup. She threw on some dangly earrings and slipped on low heels. Satisfied with her appearance, Sakura left to the teahouse. It was the same teahouse that Sakura had seen Kakashi at and when she went in she let out a guilty sigh.

'Maybe I shouldn't have lied to him, or at least I should have been a little nicer.' Sakura shook her head of those thoughts as she took a seat next to Ino and Ten Ten. She accepted a shot of sake and the group began ordering.

"Hey Naruto, when are you going to ask Hinata out?" They laughed as they saw Hinata grow bright red. Even when she had been with Kiba, she always loved Naruto. Everyone could see it but Naruto himself. Sakura found herself laughing at a joke that Ten Ten's friend was telling her. He was handsome, she couldn't deny it, but she only thought of her former teacher. And then she felt that familiar presence of chakra enter the room and her whole body stiffened up. She didn't dare look up, but used a near by window to watch the tall jounin walk to a table with a few of his friends. She thought she was being discreet until she saw him make eye contact with her, through the glass. Sakura looked down, blushing as she nibbled on her lip again. Sakura decided to ignore him for the rest of the night and continued to force a smile for her friends around her. When the end of the night approached, she looked up to see Kakashi talking to the waitress he had talked to the last time. She felt an aching thud in her chest as she saw him smiling up at her and moving a stray piece of hair away from the woman's face. She let her eyes drift back down to her plate as she waited for her friends to finish their food.

"Sakura, you okay?" Junto or whatever his name was asked her. He was concerned as he saw Sakura's face fall in the midst of the laughter.

"I'm fine, but thanks for asking." She smiled at him, but he quickly looked away; the pain in her eyes was raw.

She continued smiling, but stole another glance to see Kakashi leaving with his fellow jounin and felt her face fall a little. As her own group began getting ready to leave, she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up.

"Hi, you're the friend of Kakashi, huh?" Sakura tried to look indifferent as she nodded her head to the waitress who had been with Kakashi just moments before.

"I just wanted to tell you that you were one lucky girl. Did you know he paid for your meal the other day? He told me to keep it a secret, but I can't help myself! You guys are cute together!" She gave Sakura a wink and made her way towards the kitchen again.

Sakura replayed the waitress' words in her mind. After the third repeat, Sakura felt the impact of those words finally sink in.

"Hey guys, I'm going to get a head start. I forgot that I had to go do something! Catch you later." Without waiting for a reply, Sakura rushed out. She began sprinting in search of the familiar mess of silver that she was slowly, but surely falling for.

Yawn, waking up for school is a pain! Well, hope you guys enjoy this. R&R, please:)