Chapter 5

Stupefaction

Sai fidgeted as he watched her scrubbed her hands.

This overwhelming sense he was getting from his chest was exhausting. He felt as if his heart was shrivelling up. Sai had felt it before, the dull ache in the back of his sternum, but now that he was training himself to actually feel, it was suffocating. To achieve human emotions was a very painful process. He inquired Ino (he would've asked Sakura if she was here, Ino was best friends with Sakura, therefore, Sai should ask Ino) about this peculiar feeling and apparently, it was labeled as 'dread' or 'worry.' Dread. Even the word sounded painful.

"Quit staring at me like a toad," she barked, drying her hands.

Tsunade strolled to her cubby and grabbed her usual robe and threw it around her shoulders. She glared with annoyance at the lingering Sai as she tried to smooth down her hair.

"Don't have all day now so spit it out. It's the middle of the night and I won't mind locking you in here."

"It has been two weeks now," he proceeded cautiously, "and I was wondering if-"

"I'm sending out a small platoon in a few days. You don't have to bother me anymore."

"I see..." he drawled out processing, "And that specific team is...?"

"Not you. That's for sure."

Sai's smile faltered for a second before he turned it back up a notch.

"But I've got prior knowledge to the situation and-"

"I said no. Now stop stalking me all the time. I thought I told you to put your mind to other matters instead of them."

"I have put my mind to other matters. I would like the observe the daily routine of a medic nin, that is all."

When Sakura gathered enough courage to roll over to his side of the bed, he was already gone. Still in the room at least, but noticeably on the other side. His mask crept back on his face and he was flipping through his little orange novel. Sunken into the rusty-red armchair, Kakashi remained oblivious to Sakura's watchful eyes.

"Morning," she tested.

"Good morning," he replied, sliding a finger underneath a page to turn it.

Sakura played with the edge of her blankets absentmindedly, unsure on how to act. Raging ferocity because of his nonchalance? Tearful angst due to his ignorance? Or should she play the 'no big deal' game with him?

"Did you rest well?" Sakura tried again, feeling a little nostalgic.

It reminded her of when she was 5 years younger and dissected a reptile (fat lizard) for the first time. It was lying on it's spine, belly jutted out artificially, incredibly smooth and wobbly as the corpse was relatively new. She remembered feeling afraid to open up it's belly, scared of what contents could come gushing out. Sakura was in that situation again, scared of what words Kakashi would spew out.

"Did I...rest well?"

She fumed with indignation, "What?"

"Nothing, Haruno Sakura, I believe your pursuit of using proper languge is an exceptionally delightful mannerism for young ladies to achieve these days. Please do continue."

Sakura sighed. It seemed like he got high over things like this.

"Oh, and I did rest well, thank you," he continued giddily, "And you? How did you fair?"

"Fucking great. Thanks."

In reality, horrible. After Kakashi responded to her, Sakura thought she could go to sleep and push everything away until tomorrow. In fact, she was absolutely thrilled to share the bed with Kakashi; she didn't want to waste a second of it.

Yet, it was because she was too excited, and nervous and jumpy at every single small movement that he made, that she hardly slept. Sakura laid in bed for an hour or so, listening to his breathing and trying to figure out if it was sleep-breath or awake-breath. Then, she fell asleep. Another 2 hours would past and she'd startled awake again. From there on, the cycle repeats until she felt the absence of his weight on the bed.

Lying there then, she'd occasionally glance over at Kakashi's silhouette for as long as she dared until she chickened out again and looked away. She was recalling what it felt like when Kakashi was still her secret superman and whisked team 7 away to exciting, new quests. He was a lot more serious back then, coated in the air of an authority figure. Though she acted indifferent and so god damn confident, she would zealously follow every word he said like it was gold.

"Are you hungry? I can go get some food while you get ready," he asked, dog-earing a page.

She shook her head slightly, "Nah. We should go out and eat. Like some sort of 'last day' celebration, you know."

He walked over and sat on the edge of his side of the bed. His side of the bed. Sakura liked how the words formed and connected together in her head.

"Why don't we celebrate after the meeting?"

Sakura puckered up her lips in thought and then said, "Well..okay, fine."

"Then you promise me," he said, eyes smiling, "Even after the visit you'd still celebrate with me. You promise, okay? No running away."

She was utterly bemused, but got trapped by his proximity regardless. "Of course."

It felt like they were both part of an inside joke. Kakashi's eyes lingered on hers a fleeting second longer every time they caught each others' glances. He no longer had his eyepatch/forehead protector stretched over his sharingan. It was unsettling, but a baby step forward in Sakura's opinion. It has never felt like this before. It was always Hatake Kakashi and his pink haired pupil.

Sakura stretched out her legs and started to shuffle out of bed. She nudge Kakashi's shoulder playfully on the way up and proceeded to do a full yawn-and-stretch routine. Kakashi laughed quietly and commented that she reminded him of a cat. She stuck out a tongue at him, something she hasn't done in ages, and bumbled towards the toilet.

He chuckled again and plundged his head into the pillows, a hand tucked neatly underneath. She stole a glimpse of him (awful habit these days) and watched his chest rise and fall. He only had a fitted, navy blue t-shirt on. His shoulders weren't overly broad yet sturdy and defensive. The helpless part of her wanted to cling on to him and see what he smelled like in the mornings.

After Sakura spent her hour in the bathroom cleaning herself up, they were finally ready to go. The duo had some cashews and chips from the mini fridge section since it'll be some time before their celebration. Kakashi jiggled the doorknob and clutched onto it before he finally closed the door behind them.

"You nervous or something?" He certainly was, she knew that much. It was just the question of if he was going to admit it.

"Sort of." He glanced back at her and his eye crinkled happily. The pirate eyepatch was back in place. He insisted that they only put the hitai-ates on when they neared the village; he didn't want to cause too many disturbances. This most certainly lead Sakura to challenge his past words when they were in the village of Wheat.

"I quote, 'we needed to be seen, Sakura,'" she had drawled with a low and overly somber voice.

All Kakashi had said in his defence was that he thought that this option was better. And apparently, there was just no arguing with the jounin.

Sharp, autumn breezes played with their hair as they made their way towards Kiri. On the streets, the morning was a lively time. Almost like Konoha. Food stands were crowded, laughing children rushed by and middle-aged women strolled along the streets picking groceries. Though the place was busy, they still stuck out like sore thumbs; a pink-haired, cat-eyed girl being accompanied by a silver-haired, eye-patched man was just such a sight to see.

"Let's take a shortcut," Kakashi said gallantly, leading them away from wary eyes.

They weren't even wearing their forehead protectors. He brought them to a winding and narrow path that detoured from the main streets. It didn't seem like much of an detour, but it was certainly more peaceful. The buildings were tightly packed with drying clothes hung out from balconies. Sakura eyed the heaps of garbage and scattered cardboard boxes all along the trail.

"Still had so many eyes on us even with out this," Sakura remarked, tapping the metal piece strapped around her hand, "I felt like I've got a third eye or something. It'll be even worse with this Konoha symbol broadcasted on our heads."

Kakashi shook his head and kicked a bottle back to it's pile of rubbish.

The rubbish pile responded, "Hey!"

They exchanged a quick, stupefied look before the pile began to rise and shudder. It groaned and wobbled as bits of garbage fell off. Suddenly, it exploded, revealing a human frame, dirtied clothes and a set of bright blue eyes.

"Holy shit!" Sakura screamed, jumping at the ragged boy.

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and neck and squeezed like there was no tomorrow. With strange, animalistic cries, she clung onto him and pressed her cheek against his jaw line. Sakura weaved and clenched her hands in his blonde locks.

"Sakura-chan..." he exclaimed.

He gathered her up in his arms and tried to console the hyperventilating girl. She was all snot and tears and racking sobs that shook his body along with hers. Sakura abruptly pulled away from him and patted Naruto all over, as if checking to see if he was missing a chunk of himself. When she reached his mouth and then his nose and then finally caught his nostalgic eyes again, she burst into another round of wailing. He was alive and breathing. She could feel every strong throb of his heart, even through his shirt.

"You sure are torn up over me, aren't you," he cooed, showing his gigantic smile of white.

He jutted out his lips and leaned expectantly towards Sakura's lips. Her swollen eyes squinted even more and she dug her nose into his collarbone, forcing Naruto to awkwardly kiss her forehead instead. Kakashi watched all of this with a slightly annoyed expression.

"I missed you too, Naruto. Do I get a kiss as well?" he asked sarcastically, drawing the blonde's attention for the first time.

"Kakashi-sensei," he grinned, "You look well."

"Oh, thanks for noticing."

"Naruto," Sakura interrupted. She had her face inches away from his, eyes wide and watery. Her hands were tightly clutched onto his shoulders. She looked like she was about to deliver the world's fate to him.

"Where," she rasped, "Have you been?"

"When I was fighting some of the guys, we just kind of drifted off. I didn't know where I was then, so I kept walking until I saw signs that pointed to my bridge. So I guess I just followed the one thing that I knew."

Sakura whacked him on the head. She gave another slap on the cheek for good measure. He made a face.

"I missed you, alright?" she scorned.

"I'm flattered Sakura, but do you have to be so...emotional? We've been apart for months before already and I didn't see you crying an ocean for me back then."

All the while he spoke, she traced every detail of his face to his memory. She lingered on his azure eyes and watched them sparkle when they noticed her extra attention.

"He's got Sai, Naruto," she said quietly.

He frowned, scrunching up his face. "What? Who?"

"Sasuke-kun." Her gaze switched to the bottle Kakashi originally kicked.

"Sakura-chan," he responded with a frown, the laughter gone from his eyes.

She sighed deeply and tightened her arms around his waist again, sinking into his chest. Naruto was a line that she could cross. He was still convinced in his crush for her, but he was her friend above everything else.

"Let's get him clean and fed before we do anything," Kakashi budged in gently.

Naruto nodded with relief, glad to have a change of topic. He hated to see Sakura so meager. He hated to see what Sasuke turned her into. The blonde patted her back and pulled her off of him. He ducked his head a little to try and make eye contact with the girl.

"I swear, you're kinda like a leech now, you know, Sakura-chan," Naruto smiled.

"Leeches can save lives, you know," she sniffled defensively, "In fact, there was this one case that happened not too long ago when medics specifically brought in..."

By the time they reached a decent bathhouse, Sakura was nearing the end of her recitation. No one had the heart to interrupt her fascination with leeches since it seemed to be her way of coping, but Naruto was getting tired.

"...and as soon as they were placed on the man, you could visibly see them swell with-"

"Sakura-chan," Naruto started.

"What?" she answered with a slight crease between her eyebrows.

"I love leeches as well, but I've got to go and wash up. Are you gonna be okay?"

She exhaled. The depths of his happy-go-lucky pupils was something that still amazed her to this very day. She didn't want him to disappear so soon.

"Fine, whatever. Bathe until you're wrinkly for all I care. You reek anyways."

Sakura gave Naruto a small shove on his shoulder and eyed him keenly. He seemed to have gotten the telepathic message and hurried along to the entrance. At the tidy wooden desk planted in front of the bathhouse, he shimmied out a few coins and placed them on the counter. She watched as he followed a brunette into the hallways. Kakashi was contemplating in silence.

"You should go take a bath in the meantime as well," he suggested, breaking up the silence.

"Why? I took one last night already."

"We aren't going to do anything until Naruto is done anyways, so..."

She looked skeptically at him," Why won't you?"

"I..." he paused, "Want to go to a local bookstore."

He patted the bulge in his pants pocket fondly. It was a wonder how he became a jounin, carrying a book around on missions. It was a wonder how he was admitted to become a teacher with such a perverse mind. He must be the reason his students turn out so strange. One abondoned his village. Another doesn't know how to avoid getting hurt. And the third, herself, has developed a crush on him. He's such a bad influence.

She grimaced and scolded Kakashi, "Oh, god. Get a grip of yourself, won't you?"

"Can't help it."

"You're disgusting."

"Might I remind you who else read this book?"

Sakura fumed a brilliant shade of red and jabbed repeatedly Kakashi in the chest. He winced back slightly at each jab.

"Don't EVER mention that to anyone. Ever."

"'Course not, I'm using it as leverage," he replied shrewdly.

Kakashi petted her head before whisking away with a slow gait. His hands were stuffed in his pockets and the tip of his hair bobbed slightly as he walked away.

Sakura was left alone for the first time in many days and she felt strangely hollow. The street was filled with scrambling citizens making their morning walks and visits. From the left side of the roof, she could see steam wafting gently into the air. Sakura had plenty of time on her hands yet nothing to do with it. She had to find something fast or thoughts of Sai will slink back to her consciousness.

Tsunade had her platoon all set, but there was just one thing that was lagging them behind.

"But I can be of great assistance," Sai insisted.

He began to stretch out an awkward hand before the Hokage quickly grasped his wrist. Meanwhile, the platoon, Kiba, Shino, Aya (a medic newbie) and Genma, were sprawled on nearby rocks, waiting for the duo to finish.

"What are you trying to do?" Her eyes narrowed dangerously. From that point of view, it seemed like Sai was aiming for her neck.

"I was going to put a consoling hand on your shoulder to show trust and reliability."

She rolled her eyes and flicked his hand away, exasperated.

"He's improving," Kiba ventured, scratching the top of his white companion's head.

The four of them were debriefing with Tsunade when Sai popped in. She was running over the details of the mission personally (since she learned that even her jounin can neglect to do so) and explaining probable 'what-ifs' and things to look for. Sai had a painted mouse sitting nearby and when Akamaru bit down on it only to find his muzzle splattered with ink, Tsunade hollered.

"I can use my art justus to scout out the area-"

"That's why I appointed Shino."

"I was trained in Root so-"

"They were trained by Konoha too."

Tsunade crossed her arms over her breasts and looked at Sai intently.

"Look," Genma started, rising from his tree stump. The whole time, he had watched the two of them bicker with mildly interested eyes. He had other things to do today and so did Tsunade.

"Sai, when we find Kakashi and the others, we will bring them back. Either way, you'll see them again. You're a team right? You don't want to be out in the field when they finally get home. We can take care of the rest."

Sai frowned slightly and made a deep bow, "I mean no disrespect, but how can I idly sit by and wait?"

"They will, or well, Kakashi mostly, will go through hell when they gets back. You can be moral support. It will improve your people skills," Tsunade replied.

He gazed at his stump for a finger and nodded. "Okay."

Sakura decided to be a good kuniochi and scout out the village beforehand. What if they were under a guerrilla attack and the three of them dumbly sauntered into the middle of it? What if they were hosting a fabulous and extremely traditional celebration when a few Konohas rudely barged in? That would make bonds even worse. Sakura ran through numerous situations in her head as she wandered about. She stopped occasionally to inquire local citizens where Kirigakure just might be.

Naruto must have been in the process of picking himself up from the baths when Sakura arrived. It was misty here alright and the air was awfully thick. The dark velvet greens that grew along the buildings seemed alive with hidden secrets. Tall cylindric buildings stood towering as ever, their shadows lost in the heavy blanket of fog.

She scanned the area, squinting to find where the most friendly entrance would be. From the corner of her eye, she saw two figures. Her heart sped up and her movements became more careful as she inched towards the shelter of trees. Their existent flickered in and out of focus with the heavy mist and curiosity was urging her to take a closer glance.

She could almost make out voices. They were close, perhaps 10 feet away now, but their voices were drawn so low. Too low. Sakura couldn't wait to find out what the shameful secret was.

They were male voices. Male, adult voices. She leaned closer and narrowed her eyes.

They were a Kiri nin voice and a Kakashi voice.

Why the hell was he here? Was he scouting the place out as well? He was suppose to be flipping through porn novels at a bookstore though. She turned her attention back to them. Their postures were stiff and wary; it didn't look like Kakashi was here to catch up and gossip.

She gripped the kunai in her holster, out of habit and cursed that she didn't at least have shuriken on her. What the fuck was Kakashi doing? This obviously didn't seem like a friendly visit, but they were due to make an appearance there soon. How can that shinobi not know?

Or maybe the Mizukage didn't want too many people to know and simply kept this to herself. No, she's not stupid.

So what the hell is he doing? Negotiating? Age must be catching up with him.

But then, maybe Kakashi's strategy was working. They weren't fighting, after all. The two people had their heads slightly bowed towards each other. In fact, they were standing pretty close.

Oh god, maybe Kakashi's gay. That could be his secret lover out there; it must be a lover's quarrel. He must be very handsome for Kakashi to risk so much.

She mingled some chakra to the soles of her feet and crept up on them the way that, after years of training with him, Sakura knew Kakashi wouldn't hear.

"-you owe me that much. The visit will be very short and curt."

"Senpai," the Kiri began reluctantly, "I really am thankful for all you've done for me, but-"

"I gave your life back to you. You have a lifetime of favours to pay me back. Your beating heart right now, is because of me. Your bright, new, bouncing family," he responded with an angry hushed voice, "is also because of me."

Sakura didn't follow the negotiations one bit. Visit? Her fingertips brushed the moist ground and her legs were frozen in a crouch. The weighty atmosphere did wonders concealing her presence.

"I'm suppose to report everything and everyone around here. Do you know how much trouble I'll get in for this? You being here is enough, but you want to bring Sakura and the Kyuubi here too?!"

"It's a fucking 5 minute visit. They're clueless; they won't suspect a thing. Just say the Mizukage is away and that you'll let her know that we came and that's all. It's simple as fuck."

What?

The kiri sighed, "Just admit to them it was a fraud-"

"I can't," Kakashi responded, flustered. "I'm going back now. In half an hour, I want you and only you to be here, waiting for us. We won't take a single step inside Kiri and you will recite to them what I told you and we'll be on our-"

"Happily merry way?" Sakura said.

She stood up and flexed her fingers around her kunai. The Kiri nin started.

"Shit," Kakashi said.