Chapter 60!
Title:'Teachers and Tortures: Part 1'
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Note: Phew… almost 11,000 words in two days.
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Disclaimer: I own nothing!
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"Haruno."
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His voice didn't seem real. Nothing here seemed real. It was like a dream. Like I was walking at the bottom of the ocean. The room was dark like the ocean. My vision almost seemed blurred like I surrounded by water. I must've been hundreds of feet below the surface for this intense pressure to be crushing my insides like this.
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"Sakura."
…
That shook me a little.
He sounded a little worried.
It almost sounded like 'Kakashi' for a moment.
I moved my eyes, they found his.
My heart dropped into my stomach when I realized these eyes didn't love me anymore.
"Go ask for the Hokage. We need to straighten this out." He ordered with that voice.
I opened my mouth for a moment.
I couldn't speak.
Even if I had anything I could say right now… my vocal cords weren't going to move. The lump in my throat was paralyzing them.
Instead… I focused very closely on my legs.
I looked away from him.
I turned around.
I took a step, another, and another. Slowly but too fast at the same time.
He didn't stop me as I opened the door.
He didn't call me back, laughing, saying this was all a horrible painful joke, pulling me into his arms. My breath hitched at the thought that….
… I couldn't do that… not now….
I walked through the door as if I was trying to leave this sickening feeling behind, too.
I didn't close the door behind me.
I forgot.
I walked down the hallway, focusing on my feet. Focusing on anything but the way everything was hurting so much.
Everything's fine.
I convinced myself for a moment.
It was only a few more feet till I walked back out the door to the waiting room, the door seemed heavier, harder to push.
My eyes barely focused in time to see Naruto jump off his seat, Sai followed after him as he ran up.
"How is he?" Naruto was so excited.
I opened my mouth again.
I couldn't say it.
"Was he happy to see you?" Sai asked from behind Naruto randomly.
Naruto gave him a weird look.
My eyes found Sai's.
He was smiling the same smile.
He found this interesting, didn't he?
He was wondering whether or not… whether Kakashi… Kakashi-sensei and I-
Because I love Kakashi-sensei.
Because he thinks Kakashi doesn't love me back.
He-
He doesn't lo-
I-
But I-
I still…
"Can you guys go get Lady Tsunade?"
My voice started cracking towards the end. My eyes started to feel heavy, a dull ache pulled at the back of my throat.
"What happened?" Naruto asked loudly.
I couldn't stay here any longer.
I couldn't be here.
I couldn't be anywhere near him.
I needed to think.
I needed to just stop everything and think.
I started walking again, ignoring Naruto's question rudely.
I heard Naruto start running after me, something stopped him. I could imagine Sai grabbing his shoulder and telling him to stop.
I didn't know how to feel about that.
I didn't know how to feel right now.
I just needed to get home.
I can think about how to feel when I get home.
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"You really screwed things up this time, Kakashi." Tsunade huffed as she folded her arms by the side of his hospital bed. Leaning herself against the wall after a moment.
Kakashi looked down to his bandage covered, purple and blue chest. "That's the feeling I'm getting." He agreed slowly as he ran a hand through his hair tiredly.
"We need you for another mission as soon as possible." The Hokage spoke up with a business-like tone, "But with your state being as it is…" She trailed off as she looked out the window, the blue morning light was peaking over the skyline and spreading over the fenced grass outside. Her eyes were lined with dark circles. It looked as if she'd been up the whole night working.
That didn't sound like her. She usually avoided work at all costs.
"I might not remember the past four months but I can still fight at the same level as before." He offered, already swinging his legs over the side of the bed, as if he was proving his capability by getting ready to leave so early.
"No." Her tone had a bite.
Her gave her a second glance over his shoulder at that, she was scowling out the window.
"What's happened?" He asked, knowing that tone too well to think this upcoming mission wasn't more important than he thought it was.
"I can't share the details with you, yet, Kakashi." She explained, "But we'll be needing your previous knowledge over these past months for it, to say the least."
He dug through his mind for the hundredth time this morning for anything… nothing. He only had a few blurry images that didn't make sense. "Can't any of the kids tell you what they remember?" He offered, starting to feel the frustration with himself build.
Kakashi reached for his hole-riddled shirt.
"I've already asked Naruto and Sai about what happened. They didn't know." Tsunade sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose with irritation.
"What about Sakura?" His mind flashed back to earlier that morning.
The look she gave him.
That look.
…
He pushed it to the back of his mind.
"You're a very private man, Kakashi, I doubt she'd know any more than the boys." Tsunade reasoned tiredly as she pushed herself from the wall, looking away from the window after he had finished buttoning the blood-speckled dress shirt.
"So what do we do?" He asked, letting his irritation spill into his voice despite the fact he was talking to the Hokage.
Tsunade excused it, everyone was going to have some trouble adjusting to this. Especially when Kakashi got himself in this condition now of all times.
"From what I can tell, your memory loss had nothing to do with the chakra points in the brain. It's a matter of damaged wiring."
"Damaged wiring?" Kakashi didn't like the euphemism.
"Memories are carried as electrical impulses in the brain." She explained shortly. "The damage is completely physical. Even after healing the tissue, the memories are either lost forever, or locked in your subconscious as a memory of the memory."
A tense moment passed as he straightened his shirt.
He found his voice a second later.
"For the sake of this mission, let's say they're still in there." He tapped his head as he picked up his tattered jacket from the bedside table. "What do we do?" He slipped it on after seeing that it was probably cold outside.
"Start with the basic rehabilitation of memory loss."She sounded like the medic-nin she once was again.
"What is it?"
"Reintroduction to familiar objects and routines. As well as tissue healing." She answered.
He still wasn't sure how that would work. His life didn't follow much of a routine. "How can we do that?"
She shifted on the spot a little, her eyebrows pulling together in concentration for a moment before speaking up again. "Can you remember, in any sort of way, someone you might've been around frequently? Any face you at least remember vaguely?"
Again he tried reaching into his mind for those blurry images of the past few months. And again none of them made sense, just like a dream it almost felt like the more he thought about them the faster they blurred past any point of possible recognition. He concentrated on her question a moment longer, 'Any face you at least remember vaguely?'…. The only face he could think of was the one he saw earlier this morning. That look she gave him before turning around and leaving.
But that wasn't what he was being asked to remember. That was a new memory that wasn't important.
"Sorry…" He sighed.
She nodded somberly as if she knew he wouldn't have an answer for her.
She uncrossed her arms quickly before she spoke up again, "Fine, then I guess that leaves us with the last option."
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This isn't helping.
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How many hours have I been laying here?
I buried my face in my pillow, not moving any other part of my body. I could hear mom and dad downstairs talking over breakfast. It was starting to get on my nerves.
They were so normal… while I was…
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How long have I been this useless slug?
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My eyes found the green numbers on Warble's face. 8:34.
Almost five hours.
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I should be out there. I should be at that hospital right now. Doing everything I can to figure out what's going on.
Doing everything I can to…
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I can't do anything…
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The only thing I can do right now is lay here, using all my energy to keep the lump in my throat at bay, keeping the heaviness of my eyes from spilling over, and keep my voice from sobbing into the shaky breaths I took every time I let my mind wander back to earlier this morning…
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This is all I can do.
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Again… I'm just so useless.
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But at least I'm not crying.
At least I'm not crying.
I said I wouldn't cry in front of him again.
I won't cry because he isn't gone.
I won't cry because once I see him again and everything will be back to normal, I can be proud that I didn't let myself turn back into a crybaby while he was 'gone'.
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Yeah.
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Lady Tsunade is probably healing him right now.
She's the top-most medic-nin in Konoha, in the Land of Fire. She probably has dozens of way to fix this.
I don't need to be by his side because he doesn't need my help. He'll understand I needed rest. He needs rest now, too.
I'm just resting.
I'm really tired.
So tired.
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But.
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I don't need to be here, scared to move an inch.
Scared that by moving one muscle I'll realize that I'm just lying to myself. I'll realize that I'm wasting my time here. And then I'll realize that even if I tried to do something… there's no way I could.
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I can't do anything.
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Again.
I can't do anything.
And he isn't here to save me this time.
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I'm alone.
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My body felt so tired even though I was completely limp, my throat was starting to ache again. I swallowed hard.
I'm not going to cry.
I don't want to cry.
He wouldn't want me to cry.
A little voice in my mind spoke up, 'He probably doesn't care anymore'.
I didn't have time to slap myself with that thought when my pathetic 'rest' was interrupted suddenly.
"Sakura! Naruto-kun is here!"
Mom called for me from behind my door.
"I-I'm not feeling well." I half-lied.
… I don't think I could deal with Naruto right now.
"He has a message from the Hokage." She added.
A moment passed.
"O-ok. Just a minute."
I heard her walk downstairs.
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My body felt like it had paralyzed itself into this position. Laying on my stomach, my arms tucked by the sides of chest. I was actually a little worried, a little hopeful, when my body seemed too stiff to move. But in the end the security of that position left me as I pulled myself off my bed. I suddenly felt cold and open. Like the world was free to see all my weak points and attack at any moment.
I ignored it and stepped down the stairs carefully, my legs still felt stiff and weak at the same time.
I saw Naruto outside the front door.
I didn't say anything to my parents as I passed through the front rooms to get to the boy by the door.
"Morning, Sakura-chan!"
His cheerfulness was enough to make me regret coming downstairs, but I tried not to let it show. I tried not to let him tell how fast my heart was beating, how nervous I was. He had a message from Lady Tsunade. I can just imagine the worst. That Kakashi had no hope for rehabilitation. That he would never be able to remember anything about the past months. Or that he had irreparable brain damage that would end his career as a shinobi.
That last one scared me more than anything else.
But I nodded at Naruto politely, pushing all that to the back of my mind.
Naruto was faster to pick up the conversation than I was ready.
"Old Lady Tsunade wanted me to tell you, 'Take care of Kakashi'-sensei."
A moment passed.
"W-what?"
Naruto just blinked, his enthusiasm dropping only a fraction. My reaction must've been weird, "Uh, Kakashi-sensei is okay, but he can't remember a lot. She said that since you were his medic-nin last time, you're in charge of making him remember stuff."
I stared at him for a long moment.
What was this?
Some kind of sick joke?
I was in charge of making him remember 'stuff'?
How could I…
How could I…?
A moment of stupid hope ran through me as a part of me wondered whether this was something that could help.
That maybe I could just tell him about us and hope he remembered.
I suddenly wanted nothing more than to do that, but I felt like I wasn't looking at everything clearly. I felt that if I just did as I wanted I'd only make things worse.
I couldn't think straight with all these possibilities right now.
This is way too much.
I need to think.
I had to squeeze my eyes shut before speaking up, "I don't know if I can do that."
"Yeah. I saw him this morning just for a few seconds before he left the hospital." He started, I could already tell whatever he had to say was just going to make me feel worse, "He was so cold. I don't know why but Kakashi-sensei seemed a lot more fun lately, when he wasn't being weird… now he's back to being all serious and stuff. I don't think he'll get his memories back if he stays like that."
"Naruto." I stopped him right there. "I-I'm really tired."
I needed to think.
"Oh, yeah, sorry." He remembered his manners and started walking away before stopping himself, "Oh, but Old Lady Tsunade wanted you to go see him later. She said he'll tell you the schedule or something."
Naruto turned back to the dirt street casually with that, walking into his own life and I was left there with that word.
'Schedule'
Schedule
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I was going to see him every day, wasn't I?
I was going to go to his apartment and spend time with him.
Yesterday… that would've made happy.
But.
Now there were so many conflicting feelings welling up in me.
It was too much.
I didn't know what to think
I needed some time.
I needed some time to think.
I wasn't a minute before I was in my room again.
I stayed away from the bed for a few minutes. Trying to think.
But I had no idea where to start, there were so many things going through my brain at once I couldn't focus on anything and before I could help it… that stupid hope came back.
A tiny voice in my head tried to convince me: 'If you get to see him every day, and your job will be to help him get back to normal, then you can just tell him about what happened between the two of you and get him to remember you again.'
It sounded so perfect.
A perfect way to escape this horrible feeling.
But I wasn't a kid.
I knew things wouldn't work out like that.
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Right now. He's Kakashi-sensei.
And I'm just Sakura.
Even if he believed me, which I really think he wouldn't since if my memories of him had disappeared and he told me we had… what we had… I wouldn't believe him. I just… I wouldn't be able to. It just sounds so impossible.
But it was possible.
We made it possible.
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That thought alone threatened my demeanor. I moved on quickly.
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But even if he believes me… why would he take me back?
He isn't the same man as before… he probably doesn't feel anything for me like he used to.
My nails dug at the fresh cuts in my palm when that thought lingered painfully.
And even when I thought we were happy together…
… he…
I could tell he still regretted getting mixed up with me.
He didn't like what he was doing, he hated himself, but it was too late to turn back by the time he had second thoughts.
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This is his second chance.
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If I told him about us. Would he really let himself make the same mistake?
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When this all started it was only a fluke.
In a moment of stupidity and weakness I showed him my feelings. He accepted them because he couldn't help it.
But now that he's starting from the beginning and has a chance to see what that choice would give him –an underage girlfriend who can't take care of herself, a lifestyle of secrets and lying, and even more trouble than he wanted- would he really make the same choice?
If I told him everything… and he…
And he told me to give up on him.
If he told me to leave him alone and never bring it up again.
I don't think I could survive that.
My fists started shaking slightly at the thought. I took a few deep breaths only feeling light-headed afterwards.
I sat down on the edge of my bed, tired of pacing already.
I hadn't slept in over a day, my insides were heavy, my limbs heavier… I was so tired.
But even if, by some miracle, he believed me… if he accepted my feelings and grew back into his own after time.
How could I do that to him?
Why would I?
Bring all this back to him right when he finally gets to live… live a normal life again?
My breaths started to hitch in my throat.
I can't do that to him.
He wouldn't want me to… he would probably want us to live normally from now on.
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When this all started he gave me so many chances to leave him. He was always so worried I was too scared to leave him.
Maybe this is his chance to escape?
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I leaned my head down on the pillow again, feeling even heavier than before. I couldn't tell if my eyes were blurring out of exhaustion or tears. I didn't want to know.
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If I told him… he'd get upset. He'd have so much to deal with. How can I just do what I want and dump all these decisions on him while he's still recovering?
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If there's one time I can do something for him.
One time when I don't to be selfish.
It's now, isn't it?
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He'll be happier not knowing, won't he?
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I need to do what's best for him.
This isn't about me.
With the way he is now… it's not about me anymore.
I'm not a part of his life like I used to be.
This isn't about me.
Not anymore.
…
I didn't remember when my eyes closed.
But when I saw his face behind my closed eyes, I didn't care.
The dream took over and I didn't feel so heavy anymore.
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"Hss" He hissed slightly with a sharp inhale as he removed the last bandage.
Every time he checked out of the hospital he always needed to take a shower, and even though the cuts still felt really sensitive, he took off each of the gauze squares carefully so that he could take the shower he looked forward to the whole morning.
He looked at himself in the mirror for a few seconds. Blotches of yellowing purple marks were centered on his chest and thin slivers of red pointed in every direction on his chest, sides, and arms. He wished he could remember what happened.
Must've been some fight to let himself get cut up so much.
The water was barely warm, but scathing along the cuts and the sensitive skin around them. He didn't care. He closed his eyes and let the water splash onto his face, running over the top of his head and down the front of his chin and neck. The water sprayed uncomfortably on the cut on his cheek. He reached up to it, to shield it from the water. It still stung under his touch.
'If tha- enough sufferi- then imagi- things I'm going to do to your-'
Kakashi stumbled back a little, immediately wiping the water from his face and blindly reaching for the spigot handles. He turned them off instantly.
His breathing picked up now that he wasn't holding it anymore.
The water dripped noisily from his hair onto the floor of the shower.
That voice.
It was familiar. Like he had just heard it today, though he knew he didn't. He could barely understand the words he heard… the words he remembered.
But what he couldn't explain was the fact that hearing those words, as broken and blurred as they were in his head, filled him with a momentary rush of anger and killing intent.
He sputtered for a moment, trying to regroup from the weird vertigo that moment gave him.
He stepped out of the shower, not caring about finishing it any more.
He leaned the heels of his hands on the edge of the bathroom counter, his arms straight but his head bowed slightly.
If this was how it was going to be for every almost-memory that came back for him, he wasn't looking forward to the rehabilitation process.
… but…
At least, he did get something back.
S soon, too.
He almost chuckled to himself.
Even if it was probably a memory he wouldn't want back, whatever it was, he got some of it. It existed… somewhere in his head. The rest of it was somewhere.
He looked up to the mirror after a moment longer of silent gratitude.
He didn't feel so useless anymore… now that he knew there were probably more memories hidden in his head somewhere.
He lifted his hand to the steamed mirror, wiping away a single line.
He sighed when he saw little pink trails decorating his chest. Some of the cuts reopened, the blood mingled with the water to make little mocking pinkish patterns. His mind still caught up with what just happened, he took the towel and gently dabbed it over his chest. After that he took the other towel and started to dry himself, he ran it over his hair, rubbing the moisture out of the silver locks, he didn't know why but he was suddenly reminded of that morning.
Sakura.
The way the moonlight hit her face… the expression that it lit.
He still didn't understand that moment.
It was like she was afraid of something.
His mind moved onto Tsunade's words and he started drying off his arms:
"Fine, then I guess that leaves us with the last option."
"What?" He had asked as he started walking to the door, limping slightly, Tsunade following him.
"Well, we'll assign you a personal medic-nin again, but this time to monitor your progress and help you figure out what you can remember from the past months."
"A 'personal medic-nin'?" He asked in a ridiculing tone, he wasn't sure if he really needed a babysitter. The Hokage gave him a testing look. "'Again'?" He asked further after he noticed the word.
Tsunade nodded slightly, "Sakura was your supervising medic-nin while you were recovering last time."
"Really?"
"Yeah, she did a good job, too." Tsunade praised with some vigor.
Kakashi suddenly wished he knew what happened those days she was his 'personal medic-nin', he had always been curious to see her progress in the medical field. He'd heard a few stories about how much she'd grown in her abilities and could impress most of the hospital staff, but he had only seen her powers first-hand occasionally.
He tried to make a point to ask her about the days she helped him recover.
"Well, now that I think it about it, it would be best for her to take up that position again. She's one of the best out there right now, thanks to me." Tsunade boasted for a moment as they walked down the hallway. Kakashi didn't doubt it for a second. Not only because Tsunade was a strict teacher who wouldn't praise meaninglessly, but he knew what a hard worker Sakura had become lately… or at least he could remember that night a few weeks before – actually a few months before – (he corrected himself after realizing a lot more time has passed since then than he can remember) when he found her training in the forest by herself, doing everything she could do push herself to the edge, the teacher in him almost smiled at the memory of his student's determination. He remembered now that he had wanted to start training her a bit more after that night. That probably wasn't an option now. Tsunade interrupted his moment's thoughts.
"Since she's on your team, she can help with your memories concerning the missions as well." She added onto her earlier words.
"So it's settled?" He asked.
"Yeah, I'll send one of the boys to go tell Sakura about the arrangement."
"She isn't here still?" He asked as they were approaching the door to the waiting room.
"No, Naruto said she wanted to go home early. She must've been tired."
Again, he thought about that morning. It still stuck in his head.
That moment.
Her hand, it brushed against his.
He pulled back quickly. Not for any reason he could think of. It was probably just an accident. He didn't need to react that harshly. But he had just felt… different when he saw her hand on his.
…
He must've been tired.
…
He pulled on the pants briskly, limping a little as he walked out of his bedroom and back to the bathroom with the new bandages in hand, his other hand buttoned his pants on the way there.
He set down the gauze squares and tape, readying himself for the work ahead of him.
This definitely wasn't the first time he had to reapply so many bandages, but it seemed like something of a daunting task this time. He looked over the cuts again, wondering for a moment how'd he get to the one on his back before starting with the ones on his stomach and chest, taking the gauze and tearing the tape from the wheel, applying it tightly, but not tight enough to peel off if he had to stretch. He wished he could just bandage his entire torso, but the reels of cotton needed for that were on short supply and too expensive right now.
The missions must've gotten more dangerous over these few months.
He reasoned mentally as he reached the tip of his right shoulder.
Almost done.
He took another square from the diminishing pile and brought it up to the side of his neck, checking the final cut in the mirror more closely.
But it wasn't a cut.
The bright red spot he had thought was just another cut of dozens looked more like a bruise up close. It was too precise to have been made the same way his other bruises were. It actually almost…
Almost looked like…
A kiss mark?
…
He needed a moment.
…
Do I have a girlfriend?
The idea was completely strange to him. Not that he couldn't do without a girlfriend, he had been single for a few too many years now. And not only because men usually knew when they had a girlfriend, but it had been so long before he got into a relationship that didn't last longer than a few days if even a night… Besides he was past the age of 'girlfriends'. At this stage of his life people were expecting a 'fiancée' or 'wife' already.
In a moment of strange panic he thought back to the hospital. There wasn't some type of ring on his finger when he woke up, right?
Of course not.
He almost laughed at himself.
But laughing at himself wasn't going to explain this.
…
He stood there, leaning against the countertop again, staring at himself in the mirror without looking at himself. Thinking. Trying to remember.
He passed his fingers over the mark carefully in a circle, as if he was hoping he would get another memory jolt like he did when he touched the cut on his cheek.
Nothing.
…
He had to rely on logic this time.
…
Ok…
Even if he wasn't engaged, he could actually just have a 'girlfriend'… no matter how strange it sounded to him, it was definitely a possibility…
But…
If he did have a significant other right now… wouldn't she have been there at the hospital when he woke up?
… He thought back to his visitors…
… No woman had been there waiting for him.
Just the boys, the receptionists, and the Hokage.
Kakashi couldn't quite view the Hokage as a 'woman', she was too much of an authoritative figure, so she didn't quite count.
…
Maybe this woman was another Jounin who was on a mission while he got injured.
… Which means, she wouldn't know yet… what happened to him.
…
He started to panic a little again… the idea that he actually had some sort of woman out there believing he remembered anything about her was troubling.
He tried to think of any sort of memory again, his head already hurting with the forced concentration… still nothing…
…
He sighed.
This whole situation was insane.
The fact he was even involved with anyone was hard to accept to begin with.
No…
This probably isn't that big.
He got an idea.
This mark probably wasn't attached to any sort of relationship.
Though he outgrew those days many years ago, there was a time he didn't mind one-night flings with women from other countries. And from the way Tsunade had been talking about his missions in the past few months, they sounded pretty wide scale. He must've spent the night with some woman.
…
That didn't seem right.
He wasn't like that anymore.
He was a captain now, a teacher, he wouldn't leave his group just for a woman.
Besides… this mark almost looked… fresh.
It was only a day or two old.
…
That meant it had to be made by either some woman from the last mission or one of his colleagues here in Konoha.
He couldn't decide which was better before he nearly jumped at a sudden banging sound.
Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock.
It didn't stop until he had to practically tear a mask and shirt on, feeling the bandages shift a little uncomfortably as he did, and run to the door, limping, swinging it open with more agitation than he felt for his knocker. He was mostly frustrated at himself and that entire thought process he just had.
But he almost instantly forgot it when he saw the crowd of visitors smiling at him before they practically pushed him through the door, back into his own hallway.
"We brought drinks!" The Jounins cried as they usually did when they started the 'get-drunk-and-talk-at-the-injured-guy's-place' Party.
Kakashi really didn't want to deal with them right now, but his uninvited guests just made their way to his bedroom and picked places to sit as they brought out the sake bottles.
He checked his alarm clock for the time:
1:32.
And these parties usually last well into the night.
He sighed as he maneuvered through the crowd of people in his room, half of them shouting stuff at him, others playfully patting his sore back, knowing the effect. If he ever felt like a bullied kid, now was the time.
"Yo, Kakashi, I once lost some of my memories, too!" One of his old comrades spoke up as he took a seat on his own bed, "I was on a mission in the Land of Mist and there was this big food-nin that had a thing for fighting with hammers…" He trailed on predictably.
Today was going to be a long day.
And he had been expecting another guest.
… Well…
It was probably best Sakura wasn't here for this.
She can take the day off and go out with some of her own friends while the adults here acted like idiots.
She could probably use a rest.
She looked really tired this morning.
She was probably at home sleeping.
Kakashi found himself absent-mindedly trailing his fingers over the fabric of the mask on his neck, remembering the kiss mark again for no reason he could think of.
He wondered where she was.
The woman who belonged to this.
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"Bye, Iruka-sensei!" And the last little pair of feet went stomping out the classroom, picking up speed to catch up with his friends.
Iruka smiled to himself as he usually did whenever the day was over and all the kids were hyper to get home. Even if that meant they didn't like sitting in his classroom as much as they did playing with friends, it was still nice to see them lively like that. They were always so tired, but happy after staying behind a few extra hours for a tutoring session. Almost the whole class stayed today. Iruka's smile widened at his student's determination.
He stacked their tests into a neat pile, about to sit back down at his desk and grade them.
He knew it would take hours since he made it an short answer and essay test, but he didn't really mind.
"Iruka-san."
He turned back to the door and found one of his colleagues standing there, bag in hand. He was already leaving.
"I heard Kakashi's out of the hospital. I think all those drunkards are probably already breaking into his place." Kuroke-sensei joked about the Jounins who loved throwing drinking contests at not only a recently injured Jounin's place, but Kakashi's in general. He was always popular without trying. "I'm going to be heading over, you gonna go?" Kuroke offered.
"Uh-no. Not yet." Iruka responded quietly.
He hadn't even known Kakashi had been in the hospital.
"Ok. I'll save you some sake, if I can." He said politely before turning to leave the doorway.
"How is he?" Iruka asked quickly, feeling out of the loop. Kuroke turned back.
"I don't know. All I heard is that he's gonna be taking a break for a while, and he's gonna get monitored by a medic-nin like last time." He explained ineloquently, "You know, I think he might be losing his edge." Kuroke added, but Iruka didn't quite hear.
'A medic-nin like last time'?
Sakura.
Suddenly Iruka wasn't so sure if he wanted to grade the tests right away.
…
He had been wanting to talk to Kakashi about Sakura as soon as he got back.
This would probably be a good time.
"Uh, actually." Iruka spoke up. Checking his watch and then out the window at the setting sun. "I think I'll go with you now."
Iruka grabbed the papers and clumsily filed them into his little leather binder bag and walked out the doorway with Kuroke, already trying to plan how he could possibly bring up the subject with Kakashi of possibly easing his relationship with Sakura a little bit without it turning into a fight.
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