He watched in amusement as Naruto piggy-backed Sakura towardthe spring. It was funny to him, the same girl that would punch the blonde for looking at her the wrong way would hug him after he called her body beautiful. She was a maze of every changing emotions and limits. You never knew how far you could push her boundries, because none were set in stone.

"Your smitten." He heard a lazy voice say.

He turned to the copy ninja he was walking with. Kakashi's onyx eye was fixed on him, and he merely gave him an exasperated look.

"Im not so sure."

Kakashi sighed and stared up at the sky, before saying something that would forever change his way of looking at Sakura.

"You said it yourself, she's stronger than what I give her credit for. She has far surpassed me, do not think I do not aknowledge that Nara. Its hard for me. For so long she was just my student. And I cannot say when that changed exactly, but now when I look at Sakura... I see what I would have wanted for a daughter. I have this all comsuming urge to protect her from anything and everything. Even though she could probably hand my ass to me on a silver platter."

He didn't know what to say. Ino was like a sister to him, he wanted to protect her yes... but more from bodily harm. The way Kakashi felt about Sakura was confusing, he thought that as an ex ANBU he would know better than to get so attached.

"As I said, I cannot tell you when or how. It happened. That's all there is too it. She is amazing, she was always a brilliant pupil. But even more so... When he left, she was so broken... I thought it was the end for her Shikamaru. But she made me eat my own words. She broke out of that stupor and trained relentlessly, she absolutely amazes me. I cannot put into words the respect I have for that woman. All I can say to you is; do not take for granted the way that Sakura loves. Because if you pursue her, she will let you in. And when she does you will see the Sakura that loves with complete abandon. I always thought that she was too soft to be a shinobi. She feels to intensly, but somehow she has proven me wrong."

The copy nin stopped walking, and turned his back the him, he was stunned by the words he was hearing. Kakashi never spoke much at all, Shikamaru had never heard this many words come out of the mans mouth at one time. And the way he spoke of Sakura, was almost as if he lo-

"I love her as if she were my own. Don't hurt her Nara."

And with that he was gone. Shikamaru stared at the spot the man had been seconds ago. His mind was already racing with the implications of his last statement. He knew Kakashi had said he loved her as a daughter, but Shikamaru couldn't help but wonder if it was more than that. All he knew was that whith every day passing, it seemed that this girl had another amazing quality he could only hope to acheive in his life. He smiled to himself. The way she reacted to his comments this morning was enough to make him feel confident with moving forward with his plan.

However, Haruno Sakura was ever-changing, plans hardly worked out when she was around. It was a good thing he was procliamed a genious, he would need to keep up with the female version of his intellect. Not an easy thing, women were so troublesome.