Authors Note: Thanks for all the reviews - keep em' coming :D

I hope I fixed the math for how far back Sakura has gone. Obviously, math and I are not friends.

Kakashi still lay unconscious on the hospital bed. Sakura had been reapplying the salve to the affected area for over 3 hours. Anbu Yamato had never left the room and she knew he watched her every movement. The other medics in the hospital had left her alone, for the most part. Some had come in to watch curiously but the moment she looked at them they would scurry out. Kana had popped in at one point, watching her with a venomous look on her face. Sakura half expected the woman to start yelling at her again but it was obvious that Kana couldn't find anything wrong with the way she was healing Kakashi and thus had no ammo to criticize her with. Sakura knew from the wound in Kakashi's chest that no other medic currently at the hospital would have been able to pull him away from deaths door so quickly, if at all. The chances of them catching the fact that it was a rare poison belonging only to a very secretive clan were slim at best.

Sakura peeled back the bandages on Kakashi's chest. His regular skin colour had come back, the dangers of the poison long gone. She couldn't help her eyes as they scanned his form. He didn't look too different from the Kakashi she knew in the future. He was leaner and probably looked good in his Anbu uniform if it wasn't for the blood stains. The hair on her neck stood up as Yamato's eyes bored into her. She wanted the chance to study this new Kakashi but Yamato was very observant. She couldn't have more than a clinical fascination right now or else he might become suspicious or get the wrong idea. Sakura walked over to the sink, filled a bowl with water and soap and grabbed a sponge and a towel. She lay all of this on the table next to the unconscious Kakashi and began to wash away the salve and blood from his chest. She wanted to peel off the rest of his clothing and wash him. Just wash him. Nothing else. She couldn't help the smile and blush that began on her face - her heart thumping in her chest. She had never had thoughts like that about Kakashi-Sensei - beyond trying to see what he looked like under his mask. Her eyes glanced up to the Anbu mask on Kakashi's face. She was fully aware that even making a move to take it off would set Yamato off. He didn't know that she knew who they both were.

Sakura gently washed off the salve and blood - revealing the wound underneath. She had yet to fully heal it as she wanted the antidote to take full affect at the source.

"How did you know?" Sakura jumped as Yamato's voice startled her. A little bit of water sloshed onto her leg. She turned slightly to look at the young man leaning on the wall across the room.

"How did I know what?" she replied.

"What the poison was."

Sakura clicked her tongue in contemplation, staring down at the wound on the younger Kakashi's chest. It was strange, the Kakashi she knew was fast - especially with the Sharingan. He wouldn't typically be hit by such a life-threatening move. Especially not with enough force to cause that much damage. "I've seen it once before on my travels. The poison acts slow but if you don't catch it early on it affects the nervous system for the remainder of that persons life. It can end a great Shinobi's career." She wasn't exactly lying. She had seen it once before - just in the future and in the safety of a lab.

"How did he get hit, if you can even answer that." She asked softly as she continued to wash off the salve.

Minutes passed where Yamato did not answer her, so she figured that he wasn't permitted to divulge that information. In that time Sakura had thoroughly washed Kakashi's chest of any remaining residue or blood and moved to heal up the rest of the wound. As her hand began to glow her wrist was grabbed, startling her. Yamato had silently approached and grabbed her hand. She looked at his masked face but couldn't feel any warning or tension coming from him nor see it in the blank stare of the Anbu mask.

"Not here," he said softly, tugging on her arm for her to follow him out of the room. The hallway outside was empty - most of the medics and patients were on another floor. Sakura had purposely chosen what looked like an almost abandoned portion of the hospital partly due to the fact that Kana annoyed her and partly because she knew Anbu liked their privacy. They stood their awkwardly, Sakura only now noticing how much shorter Yamato was compared to the man she knew in the future. He must be barely 14.

"What I am about to tell you," he began slowly, testing out his words, "I am only telling you because I am worried and you seem more competent than the medics we usually deal with."

Sakura's eyebrow raised in question but Yamato did not elaborate. She nodded her understanding before he continued again.

"The fight was fast, but nothing too dangerous. Sempai has been acting strangely lately... doing things recklessly. He always took risks but not like this. I noticed it a while ago but figured it was just a mistake - we all make mistakes. But it has gotten worse. Him getting hit was not just a mistake - he could have evaded it easily. I don't know for sure but.." Yamato's head was bent, Anbu mask pointing towards the floor.

"He didn't move on purpose?" She asked quietly, heart sinking. She didn't know too much about who Kakashi was in his past - just that it had been very sad. That he had lost a lot of people. But she never expected this of the courageous man she knew, her sensei, her captain, her Hokage... her friend. There was a barely perceptible nod to Yamato's head just as they heard a crash from Kakashi's room. They both looked at the door, then at each other, before moving to open it and make their way in. The bed was empty, the bowl of water overturned, the window open and no sign of Kakashi.

"Typical. I hadn't even finished closing his chest." She muttered to no-one. Yamato watched her before approaching the window. He waved at her as he jumped out after his comrade. Sakura sighed in frustration as she looked out the window. She saw the smaller figure of Yamato chase after the white haired Copy-nin as they made their way towards the Hokage tower. Just as she was about to jump out the window after them there was a loud huff from the door.

"Making a mess in MY hospital and losing MY patients?" Kana's self satisfied voice caused Sakura to turn around and glare. "I don't know who the Hokage thinks you are but you are not compatible with my staff, and I do not want to see you in here again!"

"I saved the life of a shinobi that none of you had a hope in hell of saving," she snarled back. She didn't remember this woman being so mean - but that may have been because of Tsunade.

"Like hell you did! You just barged right in there and ASSUMED you knew what was right. You didn't even test for that so called poison!"

"If I had waited any longer his career as a shinobi would have ended. He could have died. None of your medics even noticed them out in the courtyard." She moved towards the woman now, eyes blazing.

"I doubt a young girl such as you could accurately determine that in the 5 seconds it took for you to have ripped open his shirt. You probably just wanted to see what was underneath -" her words were cut short as Sakura's fist came into contact with the concrete wall next to Kana's head. Kana's eyes were wide as her ears registered the sound of crumbling concrete. Sakura huffed aggressively before stomping out of the room. Kana turned slightly to see a crater sized hole in the wall - you could see directly into the next room. A medic and a patient were staring at her in shock.

Kana took a deep breath and chased after the strange girl. She couldn't do that in her hospital and expect no consequences. She wasn't afraid of kunoichi. Not even one that could punch straight through a wall.

Sakura stomped her way up the Hokage Tower stairs. She was pissed. That woman had no right to say those things - as if she was looking at Kakashi like that. If she hadn't been there he would have died - she was certain of that. And how dare he escape through the hospital window with an open wound on his chest! Who did he think he was!? Just as she reached the Hokage's Office door she heard a yell from behind her.

"SAKI! How DARE YOU!" Kana was almost running down the hallway towards her. She rolled her eyes haughtily at the woman. "Who do you think you are?!"

"Just a person saving lives!" she replied angrily as she pushed the door open roughly. Kana didn't take the hint and continued to follow her, shouting.

"YOU COULD HAVE KILLED ME! YOU STARTLED THE PATIENTS!" she screeched.

Every head in the room turned towards the two women at the door. The Third Hokage looked at her quizzically. Both Yamato and Kakashi were looking at her shocked - Anbu masks hung at their belts.

"YOU," Sakura yelled, pointing at Kakashi. His eyes widened and he took a step back. She barely had time to take in his younger face - or what she could see of it. His chest was still exposed - the wound had reopened and a tiny bit of blood had begun to pool out. She angrily stomped up to him and pushed him down into a vacant chair. "How dare you leave before I had finished! You've reopened it! What were you going to do - ignore it? An near fatal chest wound?" She continued to mutter at him as her hand began healing his chest.

"How do you know it was me?" he asked coldly, eyes glaring up at her.

"Hmm let's see, white hair, hole in the chest? Yea I'd say it adds up to one idiot." She said sarcastically. Sakura patted his chest roughly as the hole closed up completely. "Next time think before you jump, k?"

"And you call yourself a medic!" Kana said angrily from the door. "DO you see this bedside manner, Hokage-sama?! She destroyed a wall at the hospital!"

Sakura felt her face darken as the Third, Yamato and Kakashi stared at her incredulously.

"Do you have an explanation? Saki?" The Third asked, the slight hint of humor in his voice. Oh, how she reminded him of Tsunade.

Sakura's hand went to the back of her hair sheepishly, a smile curving on her lips. "She... pissed me off?"

Kana huffed angrily behind her. "I WILL NOT HAVE HER BACK IN MY HOSPITAL. I DON'T CARE WHAT LEGENDARY SANNIN RECOMMENDED HER."

"Tsunade, to be precise," The Third said. Kana's face went pale and her mouth closed. Sakura tried not to giggle - she knew the pair hated each other but it had apparently started a lot earlier than her time. "But that's fine. I think I'll put Saki on a different project. You three may leave. Stay behind Saki."

Kana smiled happily as she bowed and left. Yamato and Kakashi replaced their anbu masks before disappearing.

"That was fast," The Third stated happily. "At least one part of the mission seems to be over."

Sakura sat herself down on the chair that Kakashi had just vacated. "I'm sorry about the wall... she just made insinuations as to my intention in healing him. That I had just wanted to see what was under his clothes."

"Seems to be the popular opinion of female medic-nin who deal frequently with the Anbu personnel. I must say I am impressed with you. Tsunade really did train you well. I have only known of one other to survive that poison without complications and it was Tsunade herself that healed him."

Sakura smiled gently at him, knowing the story of how Tsunade has saved her own sensei, The Third, from the same poison. "I've never actually performed it on anyone before but the poison hadn't traveled very far. The wound managed to avoid his lungs and heart which is remarkable to say the least. But... the other Anbu operative expressed some concerns."

The Third nodded solemnly. "Kakashi didn't move out of the way - I suspected as much from the story they told. He has been acting out ever since Minato passed. He has lost so many in his young years and Anbu is a dark path."

"How many did he lose?" she asked quietly. She had never been told the full details.

The Third sighed and stared down at the girl. "His mother passed from an illness before his 5th birthday. His father committed seppuku a few years after that," he heard her soft gasp before continuing, "That defined him as a young ninja - he never broke the rules. His father had been shamed for abandoning a mission to save his comrades. Next was Obito," Sakura's eyebrows twiched at the name, The Third noticed but just filed that information away for the future, "They were on the same team. Rivals of a sort. He passed saving Kakashi's life during a mission. Uchiha too - that's how he got that eye. Then Rin, his female teammate. I can't go into the details on that one but his own attack .." The Third's eyes trailed the tear that escaped Sakura's eye. He saw her try to hide it as she stared out the window away from him. "Finally Minato, his sensei, 3 years ago during the Kyubi attack."

There was a long silence between them as Sakura thought about Kakashi and his past. He had never said anything to her. Never in any detail. She had heard from Sasuke that all the people Kakashi had ever loved were dead but never had the courage to ask him about it. He always evaded personal questions anyways. "Do you think he is trying to end it then... without actually doing it himself?" she asked softly.

The Third contemplated this for a few minutes. "Maybe. I will put him on leave for the time being and assign you to monitor him. I'll remove him from the Anbu roster completely until we figure this out but if another pressing issue comes up I may need to send him away. Would it be okay if I assigned you to these missions as the field medic?"

"Of course."

"Seeing as you won't be working at the hospital any longer I will have an allowance set up for you until you determine that Kakashi is sane enough to be sent on simple missions in a trial run. You, of course, would accompany him on these and receive the standard mission pay check." Sakura nodded along, head in a far away place. "I'll break the news to him shortly. I'll give him instructions to come see you at your apartment tomorrow to arrange a schedule for therapy sessions."

Sakura stood, silent and sad. This is not what she was expecting out of a mission. Far from it. Even of a mythical Time-Travel mission. How was she supposed to help him? Did she end up helping him? He was obviously still alive in her world but she had never seen him get attached to anyone, never had a girlfriend...or boyfriend? As far as she could tell. He kept to himself and read those books. She didn't even know how to treat him. Sakura knew the basics of PTSD and the myriad of other mental disorders that could plague people but she was far from an expert. It had been in her plan to study those things but what had been needed was the ability to heal bone, skin, muscle, and develop Mitotic Regeneration for her own safety.

Sakura was in a fog as she walked back to her apartment. She stopped briefly at the market to pick up some groceries and slowly made her way to her apartment. The Third Hokage's story had left her with a heavy heart. She felt guilty for not knowing these details about her former sensei, about a friend. Did he feel sad all the time? The man was a mystery - she had been excited to find out about his life - about who he was. But this was far from what she had thought she would stumble on. It was just so sad. She rifled around in her bag for the keys to her apartment, unlocked her door and made her way inside. As she closed the door she was roughly pushed up against the wall, hand over her mouth, a masked face with angry eyes staring at her. Her groceries fell to the ground as she stumbled backwards - the white hair ninja pushed her against the wall, effectively preventing her escape.

"Who are you?" his voice sent chills down her spine. He sounded dangerous, he felt dangerous. She had never been scared of Kakashi before - not like this at least. She tried to motion that her mouth was covered but he caught her other hands with his free one - pinning them above her head. If this had been any other situation their bodies would feel intimately pressed but she felt the coiled tension in his muscles. He was about to snap. He pulled his hand away from her mouth but kept it at her neck. Sakura prayed her eyes held no fear and that her voice remained firm.

"Saki Hara." She stated simply. "What are you doing in my apartment?"

Kakashi didn't move. "Where did you come from? How do you know Tsunade?"

"I met her on my travels. She trained me as much as she could before moving on. I've perfected it on my own. I spent a lot of time in rain healing the poison of the salamander."

His eyes searched hers, the sharingan tomoes twirling slowly. Sakura wanted to avert her gaze but didn't. She couldn't let him think he was intimidating her but if he used that to get information that the mission could be compromised. He seemed to accept her answer as he eased off a bit. "How did you know what poisoned me?"

"I've seen it before. The Dokukoto tribe whose skin acts as a coat of poison. They mix that with brute strength to force wounds open in you body. Medics are too caught up in trying to close the wound and ignore the poison. It takes 6 hours for the poison to kill you and 2 for it to cause irreversible effects on your nervous system. I know to heal it first and the antidote is finicky to make."

Kakashi's eyes traced her features looking for any tell that she was lying. "What did you say to the Hokage?"

"Nothing he didn't already suspect," she glared back at him.

He pulled away from her roughly but continued to glare at her. Sakura picked up her groceries and walked to her kitchen - he was still watching her. "Why are you here?" she asked as she began to put her food away.

He didn't answer for a while. Choosing to lean up against the wall of her kitchen and watch her. It bugged her. Sakura could tell her wasn't the man she knew - far from it. He held himself differently - more tense. Sakura couldn't stop her eyes from trying to roam his form without him noticing. She looked up and saw his haughty gaze staring back - she had been caught. She tried not to let the blush show as she finished storing her groceries.

"I've been pulled from active duty and you've been assigned to psychologically evaluate me." He started bitterly.

"I know. Is that why you are here?" she turned to him, his body radiated hostility. "Are you going to force me into saying you are fit for active duty?"

"I could."

Sakura cocked her eyebrow at him. He didn't doubt himself at all. "You think?"

She watched as his eyes looked up and down her form, his face saying what he didn't need to. She looked weak and therefore was weak.

"Tch," she walked towards the door angrily. "Let's go then, training ground." He huffed in amusement.

"Seriously?"

"You beat me without your eye and then yes, I will happily say you are good for active duty. What do I care if you throw yourself in front of a bomb or an enemy weapon." Sakura threw open the door and continued outside. Kakashi walked with a confident swagger behind her.

The pair reached the training ground that would start it all. It looked slightly different than from when she was a genin. It was flatter. She guessed that a lot could change in nearly 15 years - especially when Shinobi were practicing at it.

She looked across at Kakashi. He had changed out of his Anbu uniform and into simple black pants, shirt and mask. He wasn't quite as tall as she knew he would become and his body was significantly leaner. His face was the biggest difference. The Kakashi she knew had a laziness to his stare that, in dire circumstances, would change into the one he wore now. She had not seen anything but a death glare on young Kakashi's face since she met him.

"Rules: No Sharingan," she began.

"There are no rules in the real world," his cold voice caused her teeth to grind.

"I'll only clear you if you can beat me without the Sharingan," she stated again. She knew she didn't really have a chance against him with it. Maybe because he was so much younger than the Kakashi she had typically gone up against but he was still considered a genius, an Anbu Captain and the legendary Copy-nin.

Kakashi sighed loudly as he rolled his eyes. "You won't win anyways."

Sakura launched herself at him in anger and watched his eyes widened momentarily before he moved. She was faster than he expected. She had an edge in this fight. She knew his habits, his tactics, but he did not know her. She knew that right now he would have switched out with a clone. Rather than launch at him again, like she knew he expected, she stomped her foot into the ground. She watched as his clone vanished in a puff of smoke as it was enveloped by the broken ground. Maybe this is how the landscape of Training Ground 3 changed, she laughed inwardly. She ducked as the real Kakashi's foot shot out from behind her. Sakura flipped onto her hands and kicked out at him, pushing chakra into her feet. She didn't need to make direct contact. She heard his intake of breath as he was launched 15 feet. Swiftly she ran towards him, jumped up and aimed a fist at his head. Kakashi rolled out of the way but was surprise, again, as the earth began to crumble around him. The pair quickly jumped away from the chasm - standing at opposite sides of the training ground. He glared at the girl in front of him and took in her appearance truly for the first time.

He didn't know where she hid her strength but it was monstrous. She was a petite girl, wrists and hands delicate, hair a soft violet-brown. Her emerald eyes glared at him angrily but he barely noticed as he just studied her small features - fragile nose, pouty lips. She was breathing steady, like this wasn't even a workout. Who is this girl? He had never heard of her before. As far as he knew she wasn't in any of the bingo books. Her attacks were deadly and her knowledge of the medical arts was beyond impressive. He should know who she was. He blurred out of her line of site to attack her from the left but she was ready for the onslaught of taijutsu. She danced away from his attacks like she knew where he was going to hit next. He decided to change his tactic and moved in closer - trying to grab her and pin her down. She smirked at him which caused him to falter slightly. This was when he lost.

Sakura's forehead came into contact with his own and he was thrown downward into the ground. She wasted no time in straddling him, pinning his legs between her thighs and arms with her hands. He groaned, eyes seeing stars as he looked up at a the blue sky in a daze.

"You shouldn't be so cocky. Just because I look weak doesn't mean I am." She said, a smile plastered on her face.

He tried to glare up at her but he was too tired to put any real effort into it. She continued to smile down at him - not moving from her spot. He looked at her, noting that her chest was close to his face, her feet had hooked to pin his legs down, her thighs gripped his hips. He could feel her heat through his own pants. She smelled nice, he thought dazedly. He tried to move experimentally but she just tightened her grip - her thighs rubbing against him. His eyes widened, happy in that moment that he wore a mask. He coughed and pointedly looked down between them.

"Could you...?" she followed his gaze and quickly shot off of him. Her face was as red as a tomato.

"So-sorry. So sorry." She waved her hand in front of her face, backing away from him. He continued to stare up at her lazily from his spot on the ground. She was funny.

"Come to my place for therapy tomorrow around 2PM, okay?" She said hurriedly as she turned back towards the village. Sakura had walked maybe 5 feet before turning back around. "Don't be late! Or else."

He quirked an eyebrow at her. Why would she say that?