A/N:

This is a Kakashi x Sakura fanfic, set in an AU where Sasuke has been brought back and the war hasn't started.

'Sakura-chan, is it done yet?' Naruto whined from where he was sitting on a chair in the middle of Sakura's apartment.

Because Naruto's hair was growing too long for comfort, he decided to visit his Naruto-proclaimed personal hairdresser during her precious day off without bringing ice cream or chocolate.

Of course, he was then tied to a chair and made to sit through hours of Sakura's reading of medical texts before she deigned to give him her attention.

Sakura was now working on the remaining spot of long hair at the back of his head.

'Sit still.' Sakura admonished, as she hit the top of his head with the blunt edge of the scissors.

'I'm going to complain to Kashi-sensei. This is child abuse.' Naruto accused.

'Sure. Bring Kakashi here so I can finally trim his shaggy hair as well.' Sakura gave Naruto a fake smile as she said.

Now that they were all grown up and placed in different vocations, only Naruto stuck to adding the "sensei" title to Kakashi's name when addressing him. Team Seven hardly went on missions together anymore, since all of them had grown to become powerful Shinobi in their own right, and there was hardly ever a need for such an overpowered team unless it was an S-class mission. Usually, only two of them at most would ever be on the same team at a time.

Naruto was now the Hokage-in-training, and Sasuke had recently been drafted into ANBU. Kai was – well – Kai. Nobody really knew what he does.

Kakashi was placed back on the active ninja roster after refusing to take on any other genin team. He claimed that it would raise his blood pressure too high if he had to continue dealing with brats. Team Seven knew, however, that the truth was that the copy-ninja just didn't want any other team besides them. He was actually quite transparent if one knew where to look.

Sakura was given the position as Tsunade's assistant in the hospital, putting her on the same level as Shizune. Since the Hokage hardly ever had time to personally run the hospital, it meant that Sakura and Shizune were effectively in-charge of it.

'I invited Sasuke and Sai over for dinner. You call Kakashi.' Naruto announced with his hands still tied to the chair.

Sakura didn't even want to question why Naruto saw fit to invite people over to her house anymore. It happened way too often over the years.

No more salt – let's go find Sakura.

I need to patch up my clothing – let's go find Sakura.

We need to catch up with each other – let's go find Sakura.

They might as well have shared a home.

Sakura's initial thought when it first happened was to rage at Naruto and to properly educate him on manners, but then she realised that he had been left alone long enough as a child, and she could bare to spare the time for him if he so wished.

'Why do I have to get Kakashi? You can do it yourself.' Sakura questioned.

'Because, Kakashi listens to you the most.' Naruto spelled out, as if it was something more obvious than Naruto loving ramen.

'What makes you think that? Kakashi doesn't listen to anyone, not even Tsunade-baa.' Sakura asked. The copy-ninja was notorious for always skipping out on meeting he didn't seem to be important, and slacking off on reports that he was too lazy to write. If not for his skill, he would have been reprimanded and punished with house arrest, but as it was, he was only given a light slap on the wrist and sent out for missions time and again.

At her question, Naruto looked at her like she had grown another head.

Before Sakura could smack that look off his face, there was a knock on the door.

It must be Sasuke.

Sai wouldn't have bothered knocking. From all the possible traits he could have picked up from Naruto, the eccentric artist chose to learn this.

'Come in, Sasuke. You better have brought food for us or you'll be heading out with Naruto tied to the chair to pack something back.' Sakura raised her voice to be heard from the other side of the door.

Sasuke thrust a plastic bag of assorted food items through the gap of the door as a peace offering before fully stepping into the apartment. The boys knew exactly when Sakura was playing around and when Sakura was being serious.

Sakura squealed and ran up to kiss Sasuke on the cheek, leaving Naruto in his uncomfortable position. She could always count on Sasuke to be the sensible and polite one.

'Is Naruto being castrated? I would like to take notes.' Sai said from the window where he was perched.

'Gah. You traitor! Come and untie me.' Naruto hollered at the blank faced ninja.

'It doesn't look like Sakura is done with you yet.' Kakashi supplied as he stepped into the room through the window behind Sai. 'I hope you bought enough food, Sasuke.'

'There should be enough if Sakura doesn't consume as much as she usually does.' Sai commented, before receiving a flying slipper to his head – which he neat ducked for it to hit Kakashi square in the face.

'Sai! Get your ass in here now. You're going to prepare the food and also wash up later.' Sakura ordered from where she was in the kitchen with Sasuke.

'See? You should have just taken the slipper like me. A lot easier to deal with.' Kakashi explained to the artist.

'I was under the impression that her period of the month was going to come a little later.' Sai wondered aloud.

'You can also clean my whole kitchen for me after dinner.' Sakura added.

Sai hadn't even been talking loud enough for Naruto to have heard him. Women's intuition was a scary thing.

Kakashi had come offer Sakura a position in his team for a mission, and he hadn't expected the rest of Team Seven to be there, but on hindsight, he should have.

The four of them were almost inseparable now, after the series of life threatening events that had undoubtedly forged bonds that surpassed blood relation. Whenever they had any spare time while not on a mission, Team Seven could always be seen together, be it just two people, or the entire four people.

Kakashi was proud of them.

Granted, he hadn't been that much of a sensei to them and didn't deserve commendation for grooming them into the generous and big-hearted individuals they had become, not-withstanding their fighting power as capable shinobi. However, as someone who had been by their side and watched them grow into the fine adults they now were, he could at least take a little credit, couldn't he?

Naruto was bright and cheerful as ever throughout the dinner, and Sai was staring off into space thinking Sai-thoughts.

Ever since the whole team was brought back together, Kakashi had expected some sort of rivalry to form between Sasuke and Sai, but the aloof Uchiha only regarded the ex-root agent cordially and accepted his addition to the team without any qualm.

In Uchiha language, that meant that Sasuke was thankful to Sai for having kept his team alive and wouldn't mind his continued presence among them - Sasuke could be more mature than Kakashi gave him credit for.

Today, Sasuke was brooding while eating.

Usually, whenever Sasuke fell into a somber mood, Sakura, ever the perceptive one, would sense it and drag him out of his funk. Now, however, she was distracted – she had been since Kakashi first saw her from the window.

As always on her day off, Sakura was dressed in a simple tank top and dry-fit shorts, but unlike her usual appearance, her hair was left untied against her back when it would have usually been bunned up neatly while she read her medical texts, and the jacket she had been using to brace against the approaching winter weather was missing.

'Are you cold?' Kakashi asked her when it looked like she was discreetly rubbing her hands against her arms.

'Oh. I forgot my jacket.' Sakura announced when she realised that she was indeed cold. As she sat back down after retrieving it, Kakashi casually handed her a hair tie which she then used to tie her hair up.

Sasuke glanced at Kakashi after watching the exchange.

'How many missions have you two been on together for the past year? Sasuke addressed the remaining pair who were not arguing about which brand of instant ramen was better – okay, Naruto was one-sidedly arguing against Sai who was simply drawing out his favourite brand.

'Ten?'

'Sixteen.'

Kakashi knew the exact figure, and Sakura was a little surprised that there had been so many. She hadn't been keeping count.

Sixteen was a large figure for two high-ranked jounin like them to have been on a mission together in one year, and that usually only happened if it was specially requested by the client, or specially requested by the shinobi themselves.

In this case, it was the preference of the shinobi.

Every now and then, Kakashi and Sakura would pick a mission either meant for pairs or a larger team. They worked well together, and their skillsets complimented each other. After so many years of suffering each other's presence, they could now work perfectly in sync, and the combination of a combat medic and experienced ANBU was lethal.

After a while, they began to have clients who would specially ask for their placement in the team.

Of course, working with anyone else from Team Seven would have been a joy for either of them, but Naruto was busy with Hokage training, Sasuke had his ANBU business to attend to, and Sai was always off in his own world.

Meanwhile, the two of them only had work and more work in their lives – a perfect fit as partners.

As much as Sakura had tried dating over the years, nothing ever really worked out. The men she had been with were always nice and gentlemanly, but there was always a touch of something missing. They hadn't gone through the same experiences Sakura had, so some of their ideas and remarks seemed almost naïve to her. Death changes people, and it was something that distinguished competent shinobi from others – that was the truth of their world.

Kakashi, on the other hand, was pretty much an established bachelor by now.

'I actually came today to get Sakura to go on a mission.' Kakashi finally explained his unexpected presence when Sasuke was still looking at him.

He passed over a mission scroll to Sakura.

'Hmm. I'm not really feeling up for it. This mission doesn't require a medic, so I guess you can take Sasuke if you need a partner?' Sakura offered after skimming through the mission directives.

Kakashi could count the number of times Sakura had rejected a mission on one hand, and they were usually bad times. As busy as she was, Sakura always took time out for missions because it acted as a reprieve from her daily routine of blood and gore at the hospital. Kakashi suspected she also liked to beat the shit out of offending shinobi or anyone else, but he would never say her that to her face. He quite appreciated his life, and would like to keep it.

'I have some business to attend to tomorrow morning, so if it isn't urgent then I can join you in the afternoon.' Sasuke told Kakashi.

'Alright.' And that settled it.

A/N:

Thank you for reading this chapter, and please leave a review on you way out! It's how I improve on it :)