Note: This is Team Angsty McMuffin Pants' final entry for the Chuunin Challenge being hosted on the kakasaku community on LiveJournal. The final chapter of this fic was written by the phenomenal FlameTwirler who managed an impressive 8.5 K all on her own given her health problems of late. We all hope you get better soon, FT!

We, SammyQuill, Edelin and FlameTwirler, would like to thank everyone who has kept up with this story so far and hope the ending lives up to your expectations!

Kakashi leaned into the kiss as Sakura's surprise, her hesitancy at his seemingly abrupt change, burned away, and he imprinted every little nuance onto his mind. He'd never tasted her in such extreme cold before and found it lent her a new sharpness. He let her roll across his senses, fill every inhale and take every exhale, until her implicit demands would no longer be ignored.

Reaching down, he clasped each of her wrists firmly and pulled her grasping hands away from his waistband. Sighing, he said, "Sakura, I said we can't. We're still on a mission."

"Fuck the rules," she growled, while her eyes all but begged him to fuck her instead.

He eyed her calmly, ruthlessly. "You know they're rules for a reason. What would you do if we were attacked and caught off guard because we were otherwise occupied? How would you cope if you were seriously injured? If I was? What if one of us was killed?"

The wheels were turning in her head, he could see it; she was too logical a person for the argument not to affect her. Still, she was also an emotional person, and one of the most interesting things about her was trying to guess which side she'd respond with. Still, she scoffed at him, stubborn heels digging in. "And what's the likelihood of that actually happening?" she scoffed at him.

He stared her down. It seemed logic wasn't going to win this time, even for all her history. Between working in the hospital and apprenticing for the Hokage she probably knew more about ambush attacks than most nin. Then again, given how long the tension had been building up between them he should've guessed her emotional side would take over.

"It's a chance I'm not willing to take, no matter how small the risk," he declared with finality. She colored at his words – whether a flush or a blush he couldn't tell in the cold moonlight – and he forced himself to walk a few steps away. He was already feeling guilty about the kiss and how much of a distraction that had been. If someone had been sneaking up on them during those few moments he was pretty sure he wouldn't have noticed quickly enough and they would have been severely compromised. Hardly befitting of the senior operative on the mission.

He paced back and forth, trying to clear his mind and cool the blood still boiling in his veins. "Why are you pursuing this now? Why tonight, of all nights?"

She could've come to him any night she wanted but in this little game of cat-and-mouse they played, the only other time she'd ever taken the lead had been after Gai's funeral, and that had been fueled by sympathy, not desire.

He knew he made her uncomfortable – as evidenced by the lengths she went to in order to avoid him in her daily routine. He couldn't say he blamed her, not with how horrified he'd been with himself after the first night they'd somehow managed to stumble drunkenly to her bed.

Then time had turned his weakness, his craving, into something so much deeper, so much grander.

He didn't understand why she'd never pushed him away, why the avoidances, the stilted conversations and longer treks to the hospital didn't outweigh the awkward relationship they had. Maybe she was lonely, or liked having a relationship with the benefits of release without all the messy emotional entanglements. He knew he she was busy enough at the hospital, especially with the newest promotion and projects she'd taken on, that she likely didn't have time for any real relationship.

Or perhaps he'd made it too patently obvious that he needed this, needed her. For all that she liked to bluster and talk big and pretend otherwise, she had a damn big heart. But here her empathy could be playing his enemy. It could be that, as a friend, she liked him too much to deny him something he was desperate for – at least when she didn't have any romantic conflicts on the horizon.

And there were none. That he was sure of.

He'd started watching her when she'd begun to look pale, had to step in when she'd skipped one too many meals. And he was a selfish son-of-a-bitch because even though he knew it was his fault that she was like this, he couldn't stop visiting her.

If another man ever entered the picture, though, he'd have to make his exit, and he could only hope he'd do it somewhat gracefully. The two of them had no agreement of any kind, let alone one of exclusivity, and if he was only concerned about himself he could stay in their tenuous relationship. It would be about nothing more than an addict satisfying his cravings. But he cared for her a good deal more than he should, so he'd be cruel to her, take out the brunt of his anger on her, so for her sake he'd have to break things off.

From the look in her eyes at the moment, however, it might never come to that.

"Why are you questioning me? You're the one saying one thing then doing another. Is this some kind of game to you?" She balled up her fists, yelling at him, "I'm not a toy!"

"I'm well aware of that," he said calmly, hoping to somehow salvage this conversation that seemed to be careening wildly out of control.

"Oh really? Did you come over here with no intention of changing your mind?" she demanded to know.

He already knew where she was heading with this so he chose not to answer. She'd get to her point eventually anyhow.

"So what was all this then? Just a tease?" Her voice was trembling with frustration.

He sighed heavily. Now that he thought it through from her perspective perhaps that hadn't been the wisest move. "No, of course not, I hadn't meant to do anything of the sort. I just thought that…one last kiss would be fitting."

"One la…" she repeated quietly. Her mouth opened and closed silently a few times and Kakashi waited the interminable moment it took for her to find her voice again.

"Fine," she said in a surly voice. "Can I take my bath now?"

His eyebrows popped up. "You were serious about that?"

"Of course."

"Sakura, as long as you're in the perimeter I have no problem if you want some time to yourself, but we're in the Land of Snow. In case you haven't noticed, it's below freezing out here and that lake is going to be even colder. You'll get hypothermia. Just heat up some snow over the fire like we usually do to get cleaned up."

She scoffed at him. "Kakashi, I'm a medic; give me some credit. We have our tricks."

He studied her a long moment but she appeared perfectly confident in her abilities so he relented. "All right, but I'm checking your extremities when you get back to camp so your fingers and toes better be rosy and glowing. Otherwise you won't like the way I choose to get your circulation going again." He'd have to check her lips too, among other things, and he just hoped her abilities were all she made them out to be because he wasn't sure he could handle touching her lips again so soon.

Sakura rolled her eyes but nodded and he darted back to camp to start building up the fire. Despite their extra clothing he was cold just from looking at the lake, and super-special-medical jutsu or not, she'd be freezing when she came back, hypothermia or no.

He was tempted to linger, to hide in the trees and attempt to copy the jutsu she used. If it truly staved off hypothermia it would be incredibly useful, but with the discord between them he doubted she'd been amenable to teaching it to him at the moment. Still, it had already been hard enough to keep himself under control, to keep his priorities straight, and watching her bathe and trying to keep his focus on her hands – and only her hands – was something he doubted he'd be able to do at the moment.

Thus he chucked it up as a loss and headed back toward camp, stopping to grab a bit more wood on the way back. Granted they'd already gathered quite a bit, and with Sakura's chakra punch she'd be able to more readily get any they needed later, but he needed to calm himself down and keep his mind occupied, so the task suited.

She was back not fifteen minutes later, wet hair tucked up underneath the hood of her coat, and for all the absurdity of the situation she looked way too comfortable and inviting for his taste. It had already been hard enough to keep a suitable distance when it was only the two of them sleeping an arm's width apart for days on end, but when she looked like that it only made it seem all the more intimate.

With a grunt he turned his back to let her get situated by the fire before he kept his word and checked on her, eyeing her color and squeezing her fingers and toes to see how quickly the blood rushed back to them. Her lips were still bluer than they should be, as well – though in this cold it was likely his were too, but he was hardly going to compare – so, awkward and wonderful and achingly devastating though it was, he pressed the bare tips of his fingers to the soft skin there as well.

She looked everywhere but at him until this final step, then her eyes were glued to his face and he almost didn't dare to look into her eyes. When he did he saw exactly what he expected: utter exhaustion. Not just physical, but mental and emotional as well. It seemed he wasn't a good influence on her.

He chuckled derisively at himself, her curious glance turning deadly and he let out a puff of laughter, ruffling her hair just for kicks. "I'm not laughing at you, I promise."

She sniffed, clearly unimpressed, but he couldn't help it. Even her stubbornness could be cute. Sometimes.

"May as well tuck in," he advised. "We should start early in the morning. The sooner we're out of the snow the better. Never could get used to the stuff," he added under his breath.

Without a word Sakura slid into her bedroll and shimmied just far away enough from the fire that she didn't have to worry about waking up with singed hair.

Yup, definitely still too cold.

He lay back, ostensibly gazing at the stars, but he kept watch on her out of the corner of his eye. Every now and again she was beset by the shivers, making him wish he could just go dump his blanket on her. She'd refuse it though; even if there had been no tension between them her pride would rile up or she'd go all medic on him and say that he needed to be kept warm as well. Instead he did the next best thing and started to pull his arms back out from under his head. It was a shame too – he'd just started to get comfortable.

Sakura jumped as a large, warm body settled down at her back, and she stiffened instantly. Then she caught a whiff of the breath that puffed across the side of her face and her lips puckered even as she reached behind her to confirm her suspicions. When her fingers found the first four-inch spike she relaxed, body going slack in an odd mixture of relief and disappointment. Continuing her perusal, she trailed her fingertip down the cold metal and tucked it up under the thick leather of Bull's collar, tugging lightly. He lifted his head and she moved her hand up until she found a patch of close-cropped fur and began scratching in appreciation.

What she wasn't grateful for, though, was that his large bulk now completely blocked her from the fire – and with as close as she'd been lying to it he had to be roasting anyhow. Since Kakashi had summoned him up to act as a living blanket she told herself she didn't feel guilty about poking him until he got up and was situated on the other side of her. She told herself it was perfectly natural to sneak glances at Kakashi through the laborious process of getting the beast of a dog to move – she was only curious to see if they were disturbing his rest with all the noise they were making of course. She also made a mental note to tell Kakashi to have Bull take a bath. Soon. If only Pakkun's habits would rub off on the rest of his pack mates.

Once she and the massive hound had finally jostled into comfortable positions, she was safely encased in warmth, sandwiched between Bull and the fire. Petting him behind the ears she whispered a soft, "Thanks." After all, it probably wasn't too much fun to get summoned out of his home, thrown into a cold environ, and then get shoved around by a cranky kunoichi.

He growled out an acknowledgement and licked at her hand – or the cloth of her glove at least. She was just glad he had managed to avoid the metal bracers on the backs because, as tired as she was, she really didn't want to have to go through the whole de-thawing process had his tongue frozen to it. Then Bull turned his head away and fell asleep, which was another small mercy, because he snored loudly. Years of traveling with Naruto, however, had gotten her inured to the sound, so she was able to block it out without too much trouble.

Her back was still to the fire, and to Kakashi who was bunked down on the other side of it, but somehow she knew he was still awake. "Thank you," she whispered again, barely loud enough to be heard over the popping of the fire, but she knew he'd heard her all the same.

He made no reply but she hadn't expected him to. Still, the silence was nowhere near as oppressive as it had been only a few minutes before.

For tonight, that was enough.

The return trip took much longer than necessary but Kakashi had his reasons for the prevarication. He knew that something in her had changed and that once they got back to Konoha she would end things. The only reason she hadn't done so yet, as far as he could gather, was because she didn't want to make their remaining time alone together on the journey even more awkward than it already was.

The only thing he didn't understand was why she didn't seem to be in a hurry at all either. The tension had been growing throughout the entire trip but it was something they were used to, something they could deal with, until her attempted seduction, his refusal, and the resultant fall out. Why she wasn't busting her ass to get back to town and get out of his company was a puzzle to him. Did she dread having to give him the goodbye talk that much?

As they were in the final stretch before approaching the front gate their steps lagged dramatically until Sakura stopped altogether. His momentum carried him a few trees beyond her so he had to backtrack, and when she seemed interested in just about everything else other than him, he just pulled out his book and made himself a seat where two branches nestled up against the trunk. He was in no rush whatsoever for whatever end she had planned; he could wait. Plus he still held onto the selfish little hope that if he made this too difficult then maybe she wouldn't go through with it and they could keep up the facade just a little bit longer.

Sakura turned to him, face stern.

Ah, who the hell was he kidding, he thought, lifting his book up just a little bit higher. This was his little Sakura. When she decided on a course nothing could dissuade her from it, especially nothing so trivial as his acting like, well, more or less like normal, he supposed.

"I can't do it anymore," she said quietly but firmly. "I just…I want…I…"

He almost took pity on her then, knowing she'd get her rejection out eventually anyhow, but he wasn't sure he trusted his own voice to speak either.

She took a deep breath, held it, and then released it slowly before continuing. "Kakashi, please don't come to my apartment anymore." The request – if he could call it that – was made with a finality that let him know she'd been thinking over her decision for more than the past few hours. This was a few days in the making, at the very least.

He'd known it was coming all along. Hell, she'd already given him more than he deserved so he should just be grateful that they were parting on amicable terms, that there wasn't screaming and tears and hate-filled accusations. If she never knew of this hollow ache that formed in his gut at the words, then maybe one day he'd be able to look her in the eye again. As it was, he was glad they both seemed to be more comfortable looking anywhere but at each other while they changed the very foundations of their relationship, because while he did keep most of his face covered, he was sure he wouldn't have been able to keep all of this hidden from her.

It was expected, yes, but that didn't soften the blow at all, it seemed.

"If that's what you want," he said quietly, because a selfish bastard he may be in some things, but he did love her, and he did want her to be happy. If that had to be without him, then so be it. (He may not have given up on that idea altogether, may still hold some treacherous hope in his heart, but that would be for him and him alone to know.)

He looked fully at her then, catching the way she paused before nodding, and he sighed. Even now he made her uncomfortable. Even now she hesitated when stating her own desires for the sake of sparing his feelings.

Yes, her heart was definitely still too big for her own good.

"Well then," he said, standing and closing his book with a snap, "now that we've settled that matter we may as well press on toward home. Mr. Ukki could probably do with some watering by now."

She stood as well, fingers fidgeting along the straps of her pack nervously. "You mean you don't have someone take care of him while you're away on missions?"

Hn. Normally her reaction to that would've bordered on the incredulous, if not outright offended for the sake of his poor neglected plant, but a tentative barb was better than nothing. He shrugged. "He's survived this long." See? Conversation. He could do this.

Now he just had to make it back through the gate, check in, and make his mission report before he could go home, indulge in some sake, and forget all about the past couple weeks and pink-haired kunoichi who'd taken up entirely too much of his mental energy as of late.

Sakura had offered to make the report to Tsunade by herself, and Kakashi had only needed to hand in his written report at some point the following day, so it was a full two days later that he first heard about Shizune's unexplained absence. Being a ninja village, and given that it really wasn't uncommon for missions to run long or run into unforeseen obstacles, it wasn't that unusual a circumstance, even considering that she had been on a simple training mission with a group of genin.

What was suspicious was the combination of elements. Not only was Shizune a very scheduled, orderly person, but the training mission should have been over at least two weeks prior. And given that it was only medical training there shouldn't have been too many outside combatants for them to run into, which left many worried that something had gone wrong during the training itself.

It was another week before Shizune stumbled back through the gate with the rest of her team, all badly injured but alive. As soon as he heard, he made his way slowly over to the hospital. There was no rush; he knew exactly where she'd be. Plus it gave him time to pick up bits of information on the way.

It had been a training accident, as a matter of fact. None of the gossips seemed to know too many details, or at least none that made any sense. He'd rather expected that, since anyone who would be able to understand the intricacies of internal medical jutsu would likely either be working in the hospital or out spreading the gossip to others who would understand the juicy tidbits they were passing along.

Kakashi shrugged as he passed two little old ladies huddled in conversation behind the fruit stand they tended on the street corner. It seemed Shizune was the most badly injured, they murmured mournfully together, clucking their tongues, repeating what he'd heard over and over again, and reaffirming his reasoning for heading over to the hospital to begin with. Such a shame since she was the leader, they continued. Such a bad bit of luck that she'd been standing in the wrong spot.

Again, such a sad lack of understanding of how medical jutsu worked.

As for him, he'd hazard a guess that Shizune had only been lightly injured to begin with. But being a team leader was a burden he identified with, and the responsibility was a tough one to negotiate. He'd bet she'd erred on the side of investing too much in her students, to the point of further injury and complete chakra depletion, ending in slowing her team down instead of simply saving her resources and sending ahead for help.

Somehow he imagined that if Sakura ever became a team leader she'd behave exactly the same way.

Shaking his head he started climbing the hospital stairs, finding relative peace in Shizune's room. Tsunade and another medic – who he recognized but whose name he couldn't recall – leaned over her, their faces tense but un-panicked, and he watched the regular rise and fall of Shizune's chest for a moment, just to be sure she was fine, for all that she was unconscious.

Sakura was relegated to one corner of the room, stolid and unmoving. She just stood there, one arm dangling limply against her side, the other braced across her chest, hand clenching her other elbow, as if it was taking some monumental effort to hold herself back.

Without a word he drifted to her side, feeling the anxiety radiating off from her in waves. She stiffened further as he approached but didn't move away or in any other way indicate he was as unwelcome as their last conversation might have intimated, so he stayed.

Tsunade caught his eye then, sparing him the briefest of glances, and gave him a nod of acknowledgement that also served as his permission to stay. He nodded back but frankly he would've stayed anyhow.

He didn't ask her why she just stood here, why it was clear she was struggling so much to do so. Nor did he ask her for Shizune's story. He wasn't there to sate his curiosity; he was there to support her if she needed it, plain and simple. When she reached over and caught one of his fingers with her own he gauged that he'd made the right decision in coming. Glancing at her from the corner of her eye, he guessed she might not even be aware she'd done it.

How long they stood like that, just watching the others work, he wasn't sure. But after awhile, whether from a desire to fill the interminable silence, or because she sensed his curiosity, or because she really felt the need to make her displeasure known, Sakura answered his unvoiced question anyhow.

"I'm not allowed to help," Sakura told him suddenly, an acrid bitterness lacing her voice.

"Damn it, Sakura, I told you I can't have three of our top medics unable to work! With Shizune out of commission I can't have both you and I running low on chakra, and as much as you've come to care for her as well, I've known her longer."

Silence rung hollow in the room, resounding after the Hokage's outburst, until Sakura sighed heavily. "I know, it's just hard not being able to do anything but watch."

Tsunade irritably pushed back a lock of hair that had fallen free of her hair-tie, before grumbling, "Fine, then take a break. Why don't you heal Kakashi's hand and then bring us all some lunch."

"Kakashi's hand? But what happened…" She trailed off because there was no point in asking. As soon as she looked down she saw that she'd somehow managed to unconsciously wrap her own hand around his, and in her worried state of mind, crush it.

The color drained from her face and she looked at him, expression caught somewhere between horrified and accusing. "Why didn't you tell me?" she demanded, even as she gingerly unwound her fingers from his, other hand automatically switching to her green medical chakra in order to diagnose the damage she'd done.

He shrugged. "I've had worse." It wasn't that big a deal, really.

She glared at him. "'I've had worse'? Really? That's the best you could come up with? So, what, you'd have stopped me if I ran you through, but not for anything short of that?"

The light from her chakra shuttered off. "I sprained two fingers and fractured three bones. You didn't make a sound. You didn't even flinch."

"I'm impressed, Sakura," Tsunade interjected. "You weren't even using your chakra to deal that damage."

If Kakashi didn't know any better, he'd think Tsunade actually sounded amused. Oh, who was he kidding, she probably was amused, though he had no idea why.

Sakura turned to her shishou. "Is it okay for me to heal him or do you want me to just put him in a cast?" she snapped.

Kakashi smirked. He loved it when she was snarky – at least when it wasn't directed at him.

"If you want I could restrict you to bedpan duty all week…" Tsunade threatened.

Closing her eyes and gritting her teeth, Sakura breathed out slowly. "No, thanks, I'll just take Kakashi and go heal him now. I'll be back in a bit with your food."

Sakura led him out of the room then, through the brightly lit halls of the exam rooms and down into the maze of corridors and dank, dark rooms that made up the research facilities where she spent most of her time. She took him to the small room that served as her office before closing the door behind him, assuring their privacy.

"Sakura, you don't need to heal me if it's making you uncomfortable; there are plenty of other medics wandering around."

She sighed heavily before turning away and sinking into a chair. "Tsunade would have my hide if I did that."

He hated to admit it, but even after everything they'd gone through, his ego was bruised just a bit to know that the only reason she wasn't pushing him off on someone else was because she feared the Hokage's wrath.

"If that's all, then I can assure you there are plenty of people I know who owe me favors and could be trusted to keep the healing a secret. It needn't be a worry if you don't want it to be."

She looked up at him then, the first time she'd looked him fully in the face since their mission, and took his hand gently in hers. At the first pulse of her chakra against him relief rushed through his system but she only seemed to look even more worried.

"Why did you come here?"

"The cafeteria food is quite cheap, and on Tuesdays it's almost palatable."

"No, Kakashi, really. Why did you come? After everything we did and said, why are you here?"

He was quiet a moment, just watching her, feeling the way her chakra pulsed into his palm, and said, "Because you were there for me when I needed someone."

She looked up at him sharply and he shrugged, feigning nonchalance as he looked away. "I know Shizune will be all right, otherwise Tsunade wouldn't give a damn about making sure you had a reserve left for everyone else, but I know it still hurts." He'd been there, had watched enough comrades teeter on the brink of injury, and the constant worry wore away at the edges of a person after a while. "You've been under a lot of stress," not the least of it due to him and their last journey together, "and I just wanted you to know that if you need anything," his throat tightened momentarily and he pretended he'd intended the dramatic pause, "I'll still be there for you."

Her eyes narrowed at his pause, at his 'anything', confusion and exhaustion seeping into her expression. "Kakashi, just what are you trying to say?"

"I'm just trying to give you whatever you need."

"Sex?" she asked flatly, and he knew plainly that was clearly not on her agenda. More's the pity.

"Only if that's what you want."

Curiosity sparked in her eyes and he wondered at what could be going on in her head. "And if I wanted you to go out and do a jig on the desk at the nurses' station?"

He tapped his chin in deep concentration. "Hm, not sure I know how to do a jig. I might have to get back to you on that one."

A small smile appeared on his face and he considered himself victorious for the day already. "Thanks for the offer, and I'll let you know if I think of anything, but – why?"

He had to think over the answer to that one for a minute. He couldn't say it was because he loved her, because it wasn't something she wanted to hear, and saying he wanted to make her happy was tantamount to the same thing. He couldn't lie to her either though, so what to say? Ah, a half truth would work just as well. "As I told you, because you were there for me."

It was one of the things he loved about her, that she gave of herself so selflessly, so in the smallest of ways it was an admission, but he didn't really understand the look that crossed her face when he said it.

Probably just exhaustion and grief.

"Well, there you go," she told him, letting go of his hand and prompting him to flex his fingers. "Good as new."

He twisted his arm around a few times, practiced a few hand signs, before conceding, "That it is."

"So I'll be seeing you around then?"

Kakashi almost snorted. That was a dismissal if ever he heard one. Didn't sound very promising for the likelihood of her taking him up on his offer either. At least he'd distracted her for a little while; maybe that would just have to be good enough. "Yes, I suppose so."

Sakura had already started rummaging around in drawers for papers and he smiled at her obvious attempt to ignore him. If he hadn't just gone on and on about trying to give her what she needed he'd have been sorely tempted to feign ignorance and hang around her office just to ignore her. As it was he'd probably already overstayed his welcome.

So turning his back on her, he walked out of her door and quite possibly out of her life.

An hour later when Sakura walked back into Shizune's room carrying three lunches, the vultures descended.

"So, how long has Hatake been in love with you?"

Luckily she'd already made it to the side table otherwise all of the food would've ended up on the floor.

"W-what?" She looked around frantically, expecting either Naruto, a hidden camera, or someone else trying to corner her into some kind of prank. But no one was around, not even Himeki, the medic who'd been working on Shizune alongside Tsunade.

Tsunade chuckled. "I sent Himeki down to the lab to check on Shizune's blood work."

Sakura quirked a brow. "Haven't you been trying to keep her away from the lab since she keeps flirting with one of the technicians down there and takes forever to come back with the results?"

Tsunade's lips turned up into an outright smirk. "Exactly."

Shrugging, Sakura started dividing the contents of the third plate between the other two, doing everything she could to avoid her shishou's piercing gaze. "Oh well, more for us."

Unfortunately, this was the Hokage she was talking about. "Sakura, you do realize that ignoring me isn't going to make me go away, right? I haven't had a scandal like this in ages!"

Sakura sighed before shoving one of the plates into Tsunade's empty hands. "He isn't in love with me."

Tsunade snorted. "Of course he is. You'd have to be blind not to see it."

Throwing her hands up in the air, Sakura declared, "Then I guess I'm blind because I have no idea where you're getting that from."

"Oh, so you two haven't slept together?" she asked slyly.

Sakura nearly choked and was sure she'd flushed a brilliant shade of pink, yet still she was tempted to lie. There were some things she'd learned during her apprenticeship with Tsunade though. One was to learn how to hold her liquor. Another was to always take a bet against her – the woman's bad luck was legendary. And one of the most important was never to lie to her. Not only could she tell – it was like she could scent them out – but she always thought up the most unique and painful punishments for them as well, as she'd learned the hard way.

Instead Sakura let the silence speak for her and winced as Tsunade's loud, cackling laughter filled the room.

She felt really guilty for even thinking it, but she hoped Shizune's coma was deep enough that she wasn't hearing a word of this – not like Tsunade wouldn't relate it verbatim when she woke up anyhow.

Wiping away a tear, Tsunade asked her, "What makes you think he doesn't love you?"

Sakura's mouth opened and closed a few times as she tried to formulate an answer, one that wasn't horribly awkward or embarrassing or inappropriate, and couldn't settle on anything. Instead she asked, "What makes you think he is?"

The blonde snorted. "Oh please. Kakashi, Mr. I-Hate-Hospitals-And-Have-To-Be-Dragged-Kicking-And-Screaming-Or-At-Least-Unconscious, willingly came to one when he wasn't even on death's door. It wasn't even to visit someone who was injured – it wasn't that you were hurt, or Naruto or Tenzou. It was that someone you cared about is injured; he came as emotional support. He easily could've waited until you were home for the day in order to avoid the building altogether but he didn't. And do I even need to mention the hand thing?"

Sakura stared at her, horrified. "You don't really think…?"

"What did he say after you both left?"

"…That he'd be there for anything I needed."

"Ooh, boy!" Tsunade crowed, slapping her knee. "You have that man whipped! Make sure you get as much as you can out of him before you let him know you love him too."

"That I lo – What makes you think I love him?"

Tsunade gave her a flat stare. "We're not going to go through this again, are we? All you have to do is look at your face right now. But aside from that I know you, girl. I've worked with you for years and am not so easily fooled as some other people might be."

"Wait, wait, wait, let me get this straight – are you actually trying to talk me into going after Kakashi here? You do realize this man is fourteen years older than me?"

She rolled her eyes. "I use a jutsu to look decades younger than I really am and sleep with men who are as old as I look. So what am I going to say about age? Next," she said, waving her hand for Sakura to give her her next objection.

"Ew, I really didn't want to know that much." She supposed she had known that since Jiraiya's death her shishou hadn't been interested in anyone else her own age, but still…

Tsunade laughed. "Now that's a lie if ever I heard one – I see the curiousity in your eyes. Once you're settled with Kakashi we'll do an info swap; I'll tell you what it's like to be with a younger guy and you can tell me what it's like to be with an older one."

Sakura smiled and just shook her head. Somehow she always got stuck with the crazy ones but it made life so much more interesting.

"Now, did you have any other stupid objections I needed to plow over before I kick you out of my hospital?"

"Well there are the facts that he's also my ex-sensei, lazy, reads porn in public…things like that."

"And do any of those things actually bother you?"

"Not really, not me. Well, the constantly running late thing does, but that's just part of who he is."

"Ah, young love," Tsunade sighed. "Give it a year and you'll be chewing his ear off about it, but for now it'll just be one of his cute little quirks."

"But what about everyone else?"

Tsunade's eyes sharpened and her head canted to the side. "What about them?"

"Well, what'll they think if Kakashi and I are in a relationship? I mean, assuming he does actually want me and all, which I'm still not convinced of by the way. Will people think I'm a pervert, or that he's taking advantage of me, or any other myriad of other horrible things about the pair of us?"

"People will always think whatever they want to. If it amuses the gossips, they'll think bad things, or if the tide of public opinion changes, they'll think good things. The important thing, though, is that those close to you would be happy for you if you were happy. You'll get razzed about it all the time, don't doubt that, but those around you, those who love you, really just have your interests at heart and ultimately will have to defer to your judgment. I hope you trust all of us enough to know that we'll be behind you, through thick and thin, and wouldn't fall off because of something so frivolous as your significant other's age."

Sakura's eyes started to tear up and Tsunade hated water works. "Well, if that's all settled, then what are you still doing here? Get out of my hospital already, you've got work to do!"

Hastily shoveling down the rest of her food, mostly forgotten during their discussion, Sakura bolted for the door, plans already whirling in her head.

"You owe me a case of sake for playing matchmaker!" Tsunade called after her. "The expensive stuff, too, not that cheap crap Ebisu tries to pass off on me-"

Sakura didn't hear any more of what was sure to be a long and laborious tirade about the unrefined palates of some of the poor saps on the payroll, because her patience had run thin. Now that Tsunade had planted the idea inside her hope was bubbling up in her like a well and the walls of the hospital wouldn't contain her anymore, so the first window she came to she slid open, and with a carefully executed spin-jump, she was gone.

Kakashi woke to the feeling that something was definitely off, but he could smell he was still in his apartment and his sixth sense for danger hadn't been triggered so for a moment he just let himself lie there trying to puzzle it out. Finally, unable to figure it out by intuition alone, he scrubbed at his eyes – or at least, tried to.

His wrists were tied to the bed.

His eyes immediately snapped open and locked on Sakura, who conveniently enough happened to be sitting right next to his bed. "This is new," he said sardonically.

"We need to talk."

"And I need to be tied up for this because…" He really, really hoped it was because she wanted to talk to him while doing delicious, kinky things to his body, though he sincerely doubted that was the case. In reality, he guessed it was because she was worried whatever she was going to say would make him run far, far away. Or she was planning on torturing him. Yes, torture was definitely an option. Or castration. Maybe Tsunade had found out about them and had decided that he'd been taking advantage of her? No, then she'd have come herself.

"Because you're distracting."

He blinked. Well, he hadn't seen that one coming. But if that was her reason…that sparked a dull bit of hope inside of him. Suddenly he couldn't help but tease her.

"If we're going to be having a long conversation then, and if I'm doomed to be trussed up like a pig for the duration, do you think you could move? If you're sitting over there I'm bound to get an awful crick in my neck." When she seemed rather hesitant to get any closer, he added. "I did have my hand broken today, and said hand is currently tied up in a less than comfortable position. The least you could do is save my neck since I'm going along with the whole 'being tied up' bit."

"It wasn't broken, it was barely fractured," she grumbled, but she did get up from the chair and sit cross-legged on the bed by his knees, facing him. "And I tied you up in the most comfortable way I could get you into. I could've made this a lot worse, you know."

He smiled winningly up at her, grateful for the only time in his life to be caught without his mask on. For some reason, since she didn't want to be distracted, he very much wanted to distract her now.

"What was it you wanted to talk about?" he asked, dragging her gaze from his lips back up to his eyes, his heart suddenly hammering in his chest. He was glad she'd thought to put his protector over his sharingan because he didn't know he'd be paying close enough attention at the moment to make sure he didn't use it. Part of him wished he had it open so he could memorize the hungry look on her face in this exact second. Even if it was only wishful thinking, just knowing it was directed at him once outside of a bedroom scenario would keep him happy for years to come.

"You. You're just so vague. Why is it you always speak in circles, always in riddles? Why don't you ever just say what you mean?"

He attempted a shrug but with his arms tied he was sure it just made him look like he'd had a fit. "Like what?"

"Earlier, all that about filling my needs – why do you care so much? Why my needs and not Naruto's or Yamato's or Ayame's? Or what about your needs?"

This was dangerous ground here – and could either be headed in a very good or very bad direction, so for now he still needed to just play it neutral. He just couldn't be sure what she was doing and, no matter what, he didn't want to screw up their friendship by throwing some sort of confession out there and pushing her completely away if she was utterly turned off by it.

"I just want you to be happy."

"You promise?"

He cocked his head to the side, waiting.

"I know what I want then."

She didn't elaborate and one minute passed, then two, so finally he figured he may as well play her game.

"You don't want me to start visiting your apartment again, do you?" he asked first, just to be sure, just to get it out of the way.

"No," she said surely, quickly, but she smiled a bit to soften the blow. "That's not what I need."

"A pygmy rhino goat, then?"

She laughed, a sound he hadn't heard in a long time, and he wished he could encapsulate it. "No, is there even such a thing?"

"Of course there is! I know the best place to get them too, Bob's Pygmy Emporium. Some of the other places sell pets that are actually just baby animals, not true pygmies. Then they outgrow their pens and you have to move into a new house just to accommodate your enormous full-size rhino. But at least your pet can beat up everyone else's pet."

"I'll keep that in mind," she said seriously.

"Oh, yes. Only the best from Bob's."

"No, what I need is a date."

Kakashi's heart clenched right before it dropped through his stomach. So this was where it went; she was kicking him to the curb for good for the sake of a relationship with someone her own age, someone who wasn't ancient and perverted and just a bit mental. "Hm, Bob's doesn't carry trees, but I can probably find some good nurseries if you like."

"Kakashi."

"Hm?"

"You're rambling."

"Ah, that I am. Sorry, being tied up tends to have that affect on me."

Sakura didn't even roll her eyes at that quip so he knew things were more serious than she let on and he sighed, sinking even further into the bed.

"This makes you uncomfortable," she said, stating the patently obvious.

"I meant what I said about wanting what's best for you Sakura."

She regarded him a long while after this, a myriad of expressions flitting across her face, none staying long enough for him to decipher. "Tsunade said…but I'm still just not sure…"

His eyebrows shot up at that. "What did she say?"

"Kakashi, I want to go on a date with you."

"Tsunade said that?"

"No, idiot, that's just what I've been trying to build up to this whole time, so answer me, dammit."

"Of course." Inside he was doing a little happy dance. He couldn't believe she actually wanted to go on a date with him. Be seen in public with him. But at the same time, could he really do that to her? There would probably be rumors rampant and it might damage her reputation in the village, perhaps even among her friends. Had she even thought about things like that? He couldn't be sure he wouldn't be hurting her more than anything else, but it was still her choice.

"I want a real relationship, something more than skulking around during the midnight hours, something….wait, did you say yes?"

"If that's what'll make you happy."

Suddenly her eyes turned to fire and she rose up on her knees, moving over to straddle him and grabbed him up by his shirt. "Damn you, Kakashi, give me a real answer as opposed to all this wishy-washy crap! What do you want? Do you want to have anything to do with me? Is this some kind of guilt thing? Do you feel like you owe me something, or are obligated to me in some way? If you actually feel something for me then just show me or say something already instead of putting everything on me. I need to know what's going on inside of your head too!"

"Fine," he growled. Truth be told he was getting sick of it himself. "I want to fuck you every minute of every day. I want to savor your smile for myself and myself alone and hide you away from any other guy who would dare see it. I want to boast of your accomplishments and set you on a pedestal to show you off as an example of what a kunoichi can do with hard work, sweat, intelligence, loyalty, and determination. And right now I really just want you to ride me slowly to completion until we get each other off, then you can untie me and I can make love to you again and again and again until we both pass out from sheer exhaustion. And mostly, I want to wake up wrapped around you, and see the morning sunlight shining across your body, and to repeat that every day until the rest of forever, until I am consumed utterly by you."

She looked slightly concussed after his fervent statement – not that he could blame her – so he closed his eyes and tilted his head back. He chuckled mirthlessly. "Now that you see the depths of my obsession you can see why I wasn't terribly forthcoming with this information."

He was startled out of his self-loathing when Sakura's lips descended hungrily onto his. His eyes shot open and he intended to ask questions, but they were quickly swallowed by her mouth, her oh-so-talented tongue, and soon enough his thoughts were too thoroughly scrambled to remember anything other than the sensation of her skin against his. His question would save for later anyhow.

She pulled back playfully and nipped at his nose, staying just out of his limited reach, and told him, "By the way, before I left for the night, Tsunade told me that I had quite a few vacation days stored up that I needed to use."

"That is convenient," he murmured, breathing slightly uneven. "I take it you're thinking of using those now?"

"Hm, I was considering it," she teased. "Of course, I'll be spending plenty of time at the hospital anyhow, with Shizune," she added, sobering for a moment.

"Do you want me to go with you?" he asked.

She smiled softly down at him, running her fingers through his hair. "No, I'll be fine. It'll be enough if I can come and see you afterward… I can come and see you afterward, right?"

He leaned up enough until she got the hint and leaned down for a short kiss. "As far as I'm concerned you can come every day. Or you can stay forever and never have to leave. Take your pick."

"You mean it?"

"Na, I just felt like playing with the mind of the woman who has me tied up and at her mercy."

"Well, in that case, I accept," she declared, grinning fiercely down at him. "We'll have to wait on the 'sex-until-exhaustion' bit until Shizune's in the clear though. The whole reason I can't help heal her is that they need me in top shape to help heal any other trauma or emergencies that come in, so we'll just have to postpone that one until later. I'll definitely take a rain-check though."

"That's fine – it's certainly not the most important part of it anyhow."

She stopped in the middle of pulling his shirt up and shot him a curious glance. "Just what is the most important part?"

The slow, warm smile he bent on her melted her heart. "Waking up together."

And for every morning thereafter – sans the occasional separate missions – they did.

End Note: And that's a wrap! Once again, we'd like to thank everyone who took the time to leave a review, favourtize this story and vote for us. Thanks to your awesomeness, we're actually tied for first place. If you liked this entry, please take a moment to vote for it at the kakasaku community on LJ.

Update: OMG WE WON! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Because of all your support and votes an general amazingness, we landed first place. And we got an angsty muffin banner to prove it (which can be found on my profile).