Twenty-Two: Respite

They slept later than normal the next morning, but all four shinobi woke up feeling refreshed, and Sakura supposed that was what was important. Unfortunately, because they'd wasted half the morning, they didn't have time for breakfast before Shino and Tenten had to depart.

"Our captain's going to be so mad at us when we get back," Tenten mused, stuffing a roll from the previous night into her mouth and attempting to ignore her grumbling stomach.

"I'm sorry we got you in trouble," Sakura said.

"Oh, it's all right. He'll just be mad that we got to sleep in a comfortable room while he was camping outside."

Kakashi waved it off. "I'll talk to your captain when we get back and take care of everything. Don't worry about it."

"Oh, thanks, Kakashi-sensei!" Tenten said, her mood clearly lightening at the thought of not getting yelled at.

"No, thank you guys. We would have been in trouble without your help."

"Yeah, seriously, I owe you guys a big one," Sakura said, hugging both of them in turn. "Shikamaru too."

"I can't wait to see the look on his face when we tell him about this," Tenten gushed. "I bet he'll be so surprised."

"He probably doesn't even remember giving us these charms," Shino added.

"Well, he will now, because these mini scrolls are about to make him look like even more of a genius," Sakura said, waving to the two as they made their way to the outskirts of town.

"Take care of yourselves!" Tenten called. "And don't get into any more trouble if you can help it!"

Kakashi and Sakura watched until the ANBU pair disappeared behind the trees, then turned back to their room. They had decided to stay in town for a week or two to allow Kakashi's chakra levels to recover and to come up with a plan.

If the previous day's ordeal was any indication, it was going to be nearly impossible to sneak into the enemy's camp undetected, and an infiltration was going to be tricky. Sakura had told Kakashi what the two soldiers had said during dinner the night before. The news didn't make him happy, but Kakashi wasn't surprised that it would have become more difficult to join the rebels now.

"So what should we do?" Sakura asked.

"Rest," Kakashi said. "Check out the town. Go back to the room. Sleep. Eat. Read. Whatever."

"But—"

"There will be plenty of time to worry about the mission later," he told her. "But now, we're going to rest and recover—physically and mentally. I think we've earned that."

Sakura's frown slowly morphed into a grin. "Yeah, we have, haven't we? I wouldn't mind sleeping for a few days straight."

"Then it's settled. Back to the room."

Sakura hadn't been joking when she said she was going to sleep for days. Kakashi laughed as he shut the door quietly behind him the next morning. He'd slept well himself, but he'd taken the couch again, and no matter how tired he was, he couldn't sleep all day on that lumpy thing.

Kakashi decided to go check out the town. If they were going to be staying awhile, he figured he might as well learn what he could about the place. He didn't bother to hide the fact that he was a shinobi. This village was very loyal to the Sasaki family, and since Kakashi and Sakura were there on a mission for Lord Sasaki, he was sure the villagers wouldn't give him any trouble.

They still regarded him with wary expressions, however, and Kakashi realized that he probably should have brought some civilian clothes with him. He never wore anything outside of his jonin attire in the village, but he had normal clothes tucked away in his apartment somewhere for missions like this.

After grabbing something to eat, he wandered around for a few more hours, making a mental map of the village and trying to remember where the good restaurants and shops were. They would need to pick up a few things if they were going to stick around.

The sun started to set, and Kakashi realized he should probably go and check on Sakura. He was starting to get hungry again—another side effect of overusing his Sharingan—and he decided to see if his pink-haired partner wanted to go with him to get some food.

Kakashi let himself back into the room quietly. Sakura was still asleep. He sighed, wondering how she could possibly sleep for so long. He'd slept sixteen hours—an amount that wasn't uncommon for him when recovering from using the Mangekyo—but she had been asleep for almost a day now.

A worrisome thought crossed his mind, and the silver-haired shinobi found himself creeping silently toward the bed. What if she wasn't okay? What if she'd been hurt worse that she was letting on, or what if the kunai she'd been stabbed with had been laced with poison?

Careful not to make a sound, Kakashi came to a standstill a few inches away from the bed, leaning down to make sure she was breathing. He closed his eye in relief. She was.

"Kakashi?"

Two emerald orbs were staring up at him.

"What are you doing?"

"I thought you said you were going to sleep for days, Sakura. It's only been one," he teased.

"I was going to sleep longer, but how am I supposed to with you breathing on me!"

"I could hardly have been breathing on you. I'm wearing a mask. So now that you're up, how about we go get something to eat?"

Sakura sat up, running a hand through the unruly strands of pink hair. "Sure, some breakfast sounds nice."

Kakashi shook his head, laughing lightly. "Oh, Sakura. It's way past breakfast."

"We really should buy some new clothes while we're here," Kakashi mused as they strolled along the village streets, looking for a place to eat.

"Says the man who's never seen in anything outside of standard shinobi wear," Sakura teased.

"I have other clothes."

"I'll believe that when I see it," she laughed. "I know the first thing I'm going to buy. A nice, warm, long sleeved shirt!"

"It's getting warmer now. You shouldn't waste your money on something you're not going to need."

"Oh I am not risking another night like that one! I'm never going on a mission so unprepared again!"

"I'm offended. Was snuggling with me really that bad?"

She glared. "I hardly consider that snuggling."

"Why, Sakura. I didn't know you'd become such an expert on snuggling while I was away. Something you learned with Tenzo during your training?"

The pink-haired girl rolled her eyes. "Just because I don't have any experience doesn't mean I don't know how it's supposed to go. And for the record, I'm pretty sure trying to prevent our mutual deaths due to frostbite doesn't count as a snuggle."

"Of course not," he said, voice light and teasing. "That wasn't a real enough life-or-death situation for the great Sakura Haruno, was it?"

She snorted, pulling him farther down the road. "Come on, let's go eat. I'm starving."

Kakashi spotted a bar that looked promising and motioned for Sakura to follow him inside. He hadn't originally planned on drinking, but he decided they could both use a bit to relax.

The bar they went into was one of the nicer ones Kakashi had seen in all his travels. It was large, with the countertop extending all the way to the back of the building. It was already full, so Kakashi and Sakura headed toward the back, weaving their way through the crowd effortlessly. Even without Kakashi's ninja clothing, it was obvious what the pair of them were. People subconsciously moved out of their way, making a path for the two shinobi. They managed to find a section of empty stools, and took a seat.

"I thought you said you were hungry," Sakura joked as she looked over a drink menu.

"Bars have food," Kakashi said, shrugging.

"Uh-huh. Because you obviously go to bars for the food."

He grinned. "Okay, so maybe I wanted to unwind a little. Since we're still on our short break, of course."

Sakura laughed. "Right. Am I even old enough to drink here? Don't you have to be twenty-one in some places?"

"I don't know," he answered honestly. "I know it's twenty-one in Earth country, but I don't even know if they have a drinking age here."

Sakura looked around, and seeing plenty of kids who looked much younger than herself, felt inclined to agree with him.

"Yeah. I see your point."

"Well, just tell me what you want and I'll get it for you," Kakashi said. "It doesn't look like the bartender comes this far down anyway, so I'll have to go up to the front to order."

"Okay, uh, I'll have one of these. And no judging, they're delicious."

Sakura glared, daring him to say something about her drink choice. She had, of course, picked the fruitiest drink on the menu, but it was one she knew she liked—and knew she could handle the alcohol. An ANBU mission with her former sensei was not the setting she wanted to be in when she experimented with new drinks.

"I'd never utter a word," Kakashi smiled, before slipping back into the crowd.

Sakura turned back to the bar, thinking about how, when she was younger, she never would have believed that she'd be sharing drinks with Kakashi-sensei at a bar. On an ANBU mission, no less. She grinned, thinking about how much she'd grown since then—about how much they'd all grown since then.

"What's a pretty girl like you doing out here all alone?"

Sakura rolled her eyes as she turned to find a twenty-something-year-old man with slicked back hair sliding onto the stool next to her. If she had to pick a word to describe him, she would have said greasy. The pink-haired medic couldn't tell if he was a creeper, or just a really bad flirt.

"I'm getting a drink, the same as everyone else at a bar," she said evenly, not wanting to encourage him, but also not particularly caring to pick a fight.

Unfortunately, the guy didn't seem to be able to take a hint.

"Yeah, but I asked why you're here all alone."

"What makes you think I'm here alone," she snapped.

"What, you got a boyfriend?"

"No."

"Good," he said, leaning closer. Sakura could smell the alcohol on his breath, and the medic in her knew quite a bit of detoxification would be in order before this man would be thinking coherently again.

Sakura did her best to ignore him. She had no intention of humoring the man, but she didn't really want to punch a civilian either. There was no doubt that her strength would be far superior to his. Still, the idiot didn't act like he had any intention of leaving her alone.

She was about to open her mouth and say something when she spotted Kakashi headed towards her, carrying their drinks. The man next to her seemed to notice that both Kakashi's hands were full, and any doubts he might have had were crushed when Kakashi slid into the seat next to Sakura, handed her her drink, and fixed the man with a glare that was known to send enemy jonin running.

"Oh," the man muttered, pushing his stool back from the counter. "I didn't know you were here with grandpa."

Kakashi's glare deepened, and Sakura put her hand over his, hoping it would calm him down. Part of her was afraid Kakashi would actually get up and attack the guy. Finally, once the man was out of sight, the silver-haired jonin relaxed.

"Good riddance," he mumbled, taking a swig of his drink. Sakura didn't know what he'd ordered, but it looked a lot stronger than hers.

"How do you know you didn't just interrupt my date, hm Kakashi?" she teased, hoping to lighten the mood.

Kakashi's eye lingered on her. "If you really had that bad of taste in men, I'd never be able let you out of my sight on good conscience."

"To be fair, the last person I was in love with tried to kill me. Twice."

"Sasuke may have tried to kill you, but at least he never would have been sleazy about it."

"Oh, no. He would've been real classy when he splattered my guts all over the floor."

Kakashi shrugged. "I'm just saying."

Sakura rolled her eyes at him. "I could've handled Mr. Sleazebag, you know."

The silver-haired man shrugged. "I know, but your version of handling things is usually a bit more violent than mine."

She laughed. "I don't know. For a second there, I thought you were going to lose it when he called you grandpa."

"I'm not old," Kakashi said firmly. "I just happen to have silver hair."

"And it's very pretty hair," Sakura soothed. "Now drink up. You'll feel better."

Sakura and Kakashi stayed at the bar for a few hours, considering they had nothing else to do besides eat, drink, and eavesdrop on the other patrons.

"Bars are a great source of information for any outsider," Kakashi had told her. "People are in a more inebriated state, so they either aren't as suspicious of your questions, or they're just too drunk to notice."

Sakura took his advice, sipping her third drink and scanning the room, looking for any conversations that seemed interesting. She was curious about the Land of Silver. The country was small, and very private, and as far as she could tell, had no clear ruler.

Tanosuke Sasaki was the lord of the nation's biggest city, so many villages—like the one she and Kakashi were in—were as loyal to him as they would be to a daimyo, but there were still other cities within the country with their own sovereigns. Sakura thought that made for a shaky political landscape, and she was surprised the nation had existed peacefully for so many years.

She turned back to her observing, but it turned out she didn't have to look very far to get her information.

"Hey, did you hear about Shiro?" a drunk spiky-haired man asked, stumbling onto the stool a few spots down from Sakura.

"No," his buddy said, slurring his words just as bad. "What'd that idiot do this time?"

"He's run off to join the rebellion!" the spiky-haired man said, slamming his hand down on the table.

The other man laughed. "That idiot! He won't last one week! Where'd he run off to?"

"I heard he went to Gintown. Apparently that's where the new recruits are supposed to go now."

"Well he's gonna be out of luck then," the second man drawled, taking another swig of his drink. "There's already been a recruiting drive in Gintown. My cousin went and signed up a few weeks ago. The rebels won't risk coming back there for a while. He'll have to wait it out until summer."

Sakura glanced over at Kakashi, making sure he was catching this. His dark eye slid over to meet hers and she nodded imperceptively. She was thinking the same thing he was. Gintown would be their next stop.

~A/N: So I'm actually kind of surprised that no spontaneous random not-plot-related battles didn't break out in this chapter, because I listened to the SNK opening (the first one, not the new one on the current episodes. I don't really like the new one) on repeat like the entire time I was writing this. Now I feel like I need to write some badass fighting scenes or something...

But, you may have noticed, I'M BACK! I got moved in to my dorm room yesterday, but I still have a lot of things to do this weekend. Like build this floor lamp I got because I really regretted not having one last year. And I got these paper lantern lights to string up along my wall. They look like sakura blossoms hehe so it made me think of all you guys who are reading this story :P Anyway, even though I'm here, the next week is probably going to still be crazy between getting all my school stuff together, seeing my friends, and trying to figure out books (ugh) but I'm hoping to be able to update at least once during the week, but it may not be twice. Sorry! Things will straighten up soon I think!

As always, thanks for reading, and for the new follows/favs!