One was a medic and the other was a war veteran. Both were intelligent and had exceptional observation skills. It was almost a crime for them to be so oblivious.

It had been five days since that lunch meeting with Ino, and all was well in Konoha – almost all.

The sky was an azure blue with the clouds languidly floating through the soft wind. The market was bustling with the activity of trade and haggling, while children played traditional games of tag at the park nearby.

It would have been the picture of a perfect day if not for a certain medic storming through the hospital.

All the medics who had their shifts that day knew not to do anything to stand out, because today was the day that Sakura had decided to carry out spot-checks and go through their standard protocol that many had long ago forgone for higher efficiency.

Leaving the first-aid standard description blank? One week's worth of paperwork.

Going through a patient's file without recording it in the log? One week's worth of filing.

Discharging a patient half a day earlier than scheduled? Extra night shifts.

The unlucky medics who happened to have been caught on that particular day cursed whatever creature had gotten Sakura into such a bad mood.

Usually, Sakura and Shizune would turn a blind eye to certain minor malpractices that hindered only bureaucracy rather than any medical effectiveness - but today was not that kind of day.

'Sakura-nee?' Udon called out as he entered Sakura's office.

'Hmm?' Sakura hummed.

'Why are you so pissy today?' Udon asked. He had always been rather shy and timid, but having been a friend of someone like Konohamaru for years, he had learned the art of absolute bluntness that was needed to get through his friend's thick skull. Sakura couldn't decide whether it was a good thing or not.

'What makes you think I'm in a bad mood?' Sakura replied with her own question.

'Because no medic wants to get within five meters of you.' Udon answered.

Sakura knew why exactly why she was feeling so annoyed today. Kakashi and Sasuke hadn't returned from their mission when they were due to be back two days ago. Both of them were among the most powerful shinobi Sakura knew, and together, they were almost unstoppable. Even if they had been delayed, Kakashi could have sent one of his ninken to bring word to them. There was really no reason for them to be out of contact unless…

Sakura dismissed the thought

'I'm fine, sorry. Tell everyone I'll be going off soon and I'll get out of your hair.' Sakura told Udon.

Since Shizune was always telling her to rest more, Sakura took that as a free pass for her to leave work at her own whim – although it was usually the case that she stayed longer than required.

Sakura ran over the roof of the buildings to reach the Hokage tower.

The administrative shinobi registered her visit without a word, seeing that it was the Hokage's apprentice who had come. There was no need for any appointment.

'Tsunade-shishou.' Sakura greeted her master as she opened the door.

'Oh, it's Sakura. Did you bring any sake?' Tsunade asked.

'Did Shizune confiscate it again?' Sakura's voice carried the tone of amusement. Sometimes, she had to wonder how Shizune managed to carry out the work at the hospital while keeping their Hokage in line when it came to her vices.

The answer to the question Sakura voiced was obvious, because only Shizune would dare to rob the Hokage of her sake, so Tsunade didn't bother answering. Seeing that Sakura had come empty handed, she went back to doing her paperwork while Sakura picked up stray files and pieces of paper to put them back where they belonged to on the shelves.

Her master was the only person Sakura knew who was more disorganised than her when it came to paperwork, and Sakura was always forced to clean up after Tsunade even while she hardly ever cleaned up after herself. It had already become a habit after so many years.

'There's no news yet, if that's what you're here for.' Tsunade offered after a moment of silence.

Sakura felt her heart sink.

'You know that they can take care of themselves, Sakura.' Tsunade said more gently this time.

'But it's Kakashi and Sasuke.' Sakura said almost exasperatedly.

'It isn't uncommon even for the best shinobi to-'

'I know, but it was just a simple transport mission and – well – it's Kakashi and Sasuke.' Sakura stubbornly repeated herself. Tell any shinobi on the street that the copy-ninja and elite ANBU got into trouble while together on a mission, and they would laugh in your face.

'Sakura, I'll let you know the moment I get news, alright?' Tsunade said.

Seeing that she clearly wasn't going to get anything else, Sakura simply nodded in acknowledgement.

As she prepared to leave from the door, a blur of yellow and orange whirled into the room through the window, and the ANBU hidden in the shadows tensed. They only relaxed when they saw that it was just Naruto.

'Baa-chan, are they back yet?' Naruto asked with his usual exuberance, but there was a tinge of worry.

Tsunade wanted to raise her white flag. Just add Sai, and the whole of Team Seven would be-

'Sakura is here.' Sai commented from where he was perched on the windowsill.

He had been with Naruto when the urge to check on their missing teammates struck the blond terror, so naturally, he followed along.

'Out. Everyone out.' Tsunade commanded.

'Aww, Tsunade-baa.' Naruto whined before he received a lump on his head and was booted out along with his teammates.

'They'll be fine, Sakura-chan. They're almost as strong as me, y'know.'

Sakura could see that Naruto was trying to comfort himself more than he was trying to help her.

'Yeah, we'll cook tomato soup for Sasuke and miso soup for Kakashi when they get back.' Sakura said.

It was another three days before Team Seven was back together.

Sasuke carried a limp Kakashi into the hospital late in the afternoon, and the injured shinobi was attended to by Shizune.

The wounds looked ghastly, but most of it was purely superficial and would only leave light scarring behind.

As he was being transferred out of the emergency ward, a harried Sakura finally burst into the room.

She had just left the hospital earlier that day after her morning shift had ended, and she rushed back the moment she heard from a passing shinobi that the pair from Team Seven had returned – trust shinobi gossip to be more efficient than any relay system.

'Are they alright?' Sakura asked Shizune who was filling out the medical charts.

'You could just ask me.' Kakashi drawled from where he was sitting on the edge of the bed.

Only the sight of the bandages covering his muscles torso stopped Sakura from decking him. No one could trust a Konoha shinobi to give a reliable evaluation of their own health – most would insist they were fine even on their death beds. This was the fault of the previous generation of shinobi. There was always some sort of petty rivalry or another between them, and out of the blue, it had become a competition to see who could stay out of the hospital the longest.

It was probably meant as an encouragement for shinobi to remain safe while out on missions, but of course, the thick-headed shinobi took it as a challenge to avoid the hospital for as long as possible even if they were injured.

This was the ultimate obstacle all medics faced. There was a saying among them that if one could convince a Konoha shinobi to willingly stay in bed, one was a successful medic. Sakura hoped that using threats and force wasn't considered cheating.

'He's fine. Due to discharge tomorrow.' Shizune announced. 'Sasuke wasn't injured.'

Sasuke had already left to report the mission outcome after taking Kakashi to the hospital. It was standard protocol for any able shinobi to report directly to the Hokage if anything unexpected had happened on their mission.

Leaving just Kakashi and Sakura in the ward, Shizune exited to carry on with her shift since she was still on duty.

Sakura crossed her arms over her chest.

Kakashi absently noted that her breasts where her arms were had developed well, and she filled out nicely into her adult body - with curves in all the right places.

As attractive as it was to look at, Sakura crossing her arms was never a good sign. Kakashi was itching to bring out his Icha Icha to direct his attention elsewhere, but it had been blown up along with his shinobi pouch during the mission.

The whole transportation of sensitive documents had gone well, but when Kakashi and Sasuke were on the way back, they came across a group of missing-nin from Rain. Since they were already near the border of the Land of Fire, Kakashi decided to simply activate one of Konoha's own traps as a distraction for the pair to safely cross into their country. It would all have gone well if not for the fact that there were more than one explosive seal hidden within the trap. The shinobi who set it up must have screwed up and decided it wasn't worth reporting because the trap would still be effective against intruders anyway. In Kakashi's case, however, he hadn't anticipated such a wide blast radius and failed to escape unscathed. Worse still, the enemy had been tipped off by Kakashi's quick movements the moment he noticed the two tags, and they left the area.

For the next few days, the two of them stayed at a small inn in one of the villages at the outskirts of Fire country to monitor the movements of the missing-nin. Now that they had exposed the trap, there were fewer effective means to repel the intruders, and the pair hadn't come across any Konoha patrol yet - suspiciously odd.

The two of them only returned when they were sure that the group of missing-nin had turned tail and ran instead of staking out the area to manoeuvre around the traps and patrols.

'So?' Sakura tested.

'So…?' Kakashi dumbly repeated. He wasn't quite sure what she was getting at, and that could lead to a lot of discomfort for him later.

Sakura waited in silence.

Kakashi just stared blankly at her.

'You didn't send Pakkun.' Sakura finally hinted.

'I didn't send him.' Kakashi confirmed, gauging if he could smoothly talk himself out of whatever situation this was.

'Kakashi-sensei.' Sakura finally called out in exasperation.

This was not good.

She only ever used the term when she was trying to remind him that he was supposed to be mature and responsible in the face of some act of foolishness of his.

'Sakura-chan.' Kakashi affably replied with her pet name.

'Damn it, Kakashi. You could have just sent a note to let us know you were alright. I know you never send notes, but I wasn't on the mission with you this time and I worry.' Sakura's voice was getting increasingly louder.

'I'm sorry, Sakura.' Kakashi said.

There was a paused as Sakura had him under scrutiny.

'You're still never going to do it, are you?' Sakura asked, already knowing the answer.

There was nothing for Kakashi to reply to that. It wasn't against mission protocol to contact the village if there was an efficient method to do so, but doing it ran the risk of interception, which could lead to many undesirable outcomes.

Sakura sighed and approached Kakashi to clean up his wounds and re-administer his bandages. Shizune had already done it earlier, but Kakashi silently allowed Sakura to poke and prod at his body. It was her way of assuring herself of his presence.

Kakashi couldn't say he was displeased with this turn of events. With his shinobi reputation and his many eccentricities, nobody bar the Hokage and his friends were daring enough to cross him, much less baby him like what Sakura was doing – and she did that a lot.

'To be fair, Sasuke didn't do anything either.' Kakashi offered, once it was clear that Sakura's ire had died down.

He received a light pinch on his arm.

'That doesn't excuse you of anything. I'm going to grill him separately later.' Sakura said.

Kakashi was glad that Sasuke hadn't been injured like him, but he was surprised to find that it was not for the innocent reason that he cared about his student's safety. He would file this bit of information for future analysis.

A/N:

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