Authors Note: Hi everyone! I know, I know - I was gone for a while. Just super busy. Today I managed to update this chapter as I need to get back in the swing of things.

Hope you enjoy and updates should be coming soon for this story and my two others. I plan to really focus on it and the fun bits this week/weekend.

As always - Reviews please! They really keep me going and bring me back.

The day went by slower than Sakura expected, but she supposed that was largely due to the fact that she had nothing to do all day now that she was basically banned from the hospital. It didn't help that she was nervous. It was rare that she was nervous in regards to her profession but mental injuries were a lot harder to mend than bone and flesh. She did not have much experience with treating such injuries either. After the war, Shizune had taken the lead on treating the many mental illnesses plaguing the Shinobi population. The plan had always been to complete that section of her training once things calmed down but the medics were stretched thin and needed expert direction in both fields.

Sakura spent the morning tracking down as many books on a wide array of mental illnesses in hopes of getting herself prepared. She always did well in theory but what if she failed her future sensei. Maybe she had failed him and that's why he remained so aloof in the future. Sure there were some differences between the Kakashi Hatake she knew and the one she had met 24 hours ago, but whose to say she was the one that solved that.

As far as she could tell her only purpose in coming here was to heal him because her version of the man hadn't told her anything. Sakura froze and looked out around her small apartment. Countless books were thrown on her counters and coffee table. He had sent her. Kakashi had sent her in the past on a mission to deal with himself. And hadn't told her a single thing.

"I'm going to kill him!" she yelled to her empty apartment. He could have at least given her a hint. He wouldn't even look at her when he assigned the mission to her. He didn't even tell her how long she would be gone.

Sighing, Sakura rose from her seat and began going through the motions of making tea. It always calmed her down and she needed to be calm for the therapy session with mini Kakashi. The last thing she should do is act out against him. Sakura needed to create a safe environment for the troubled young man if they were going to have any hope of making progress.

She honestly didn't know where to start. She would be in unknown territory and that always made her uncomfortable. To make it worse she was undergoing her first counselling session with the younger version of a man who was now her Hokage. Who had been her sensei. Who had become a very aloof friend. Who was a known genius, child soldier and feared assassin. Her stomach hurt.

For now she was just going to feel things out. Pull a page out of Naruto's book and just try to be his friend. That could be all he needed. She suspected he had closed himself off after losing so much, like a certain Uchiha she knew in her own time. She never managed to get through to Sasuke - despite all her trying. The only one who could was Naruto through sheer determination to be the Uchiha heir's friend. So far, it was the only thing she knew actually worked with the brooding avenger type.

One thing that always comforted her after a tough mission was coming home to the smell of her mom's home-made cookies. Sakura glanced at the plain clock in her kitchen. It was nearing 2PM but she knew that Kakashi wouldn't actually show up until 3 at the earliest. She was halfway through cookie preparation when there was a knock at her door. She looked up at the clock again - it read 2:00 PM. Sakura looked in front of her - there was flour and cookie mess everywhere. She hadn't even had time to put the cookies onto the baking sheet yet.

There was another knock at the door. Sakura wiped her flour encrusted hands on a towel and scurried to the door.

"Hello-oh... Kakashi-san?" Sakura meekly said as she opened the door to a stiff standing Kakashi. His one visible eye searched her form quizzically.

"You said 2PM right?" he stated.

"Uh, yea - come in." She motioned for him to follow her as she walked back into her apartment. "I didn't expect you to be so prompt."

Kakashi didn't say anything for a few moments as he studied her apartment. Medical books were everywhere. A half drunk cup of tea sat on her coffee table. A book entitled "Shinobi Suicide" lay propped open - face down - on her couch. She hadn't even tidied up before he came.

"Why wouldn't I be prompt?" he asked. He noted that the back of her neck tinted pink as she made her way into her kitchen rather than take a seat on the couch. He followed - only because he wasn't sure how this was supposed to go.

"No reason," she said quickly. "I was in the middle of making cookies if you don't mind waiting."

"Were you hoping I would be late then?" He watched her place bits of cookie batter onto the baking sheet.

She didn't respond at first - carefully placing each chunk of cookie batter haphazardly around the baking sheet. "Most of my patients are late," she stated simply.

Kakashi continued to study her. Her body was tense and she was barely looking at him. This was not what he was expecting of a therapist. "You told me not to be late."

Sakura turned her head back to glance at him. He was watching her, leaning up against the counter, body as stiff as a board - not at all the Kakashi she knew. She needed to distract him from her mistake or else risk his continuing distrust.

"It's just a habit of mine to say that." She said flippantly. "I have a friend who shows up hours late to everything even when he determines the time." Sakura finished putting the cookie dough on the pan, shoved it in the oven and turned around to the young copy ninja. "Do you want what's left on the spoon?" she said with what she hoped was a soft smile.

Kakashi eye grazed down to the spoon she held in her hand before returning to her face, his own eye blank of all emotion. "No."

"More for me!" she popped the spoon into her mouth and made her way back into the living room. Sakura collected the mess of books and placed them on a small shelf in the corner. Her living room had two couches, one full-size and one love seat, that surround a plain wooden coffee table. Sakura sat herself down on the love-seat - assuming that the younger version of Kakashi would feel more comfortable in the larger space.

Sakura watched him sit down stiffly in the middle of the longer couch. She hoped that she was portraying the calm of an experienced medic rather than the nervousness of the girl she really was. Kakashi continued to just watch her, paying particular attention to her mouth. It was with a small blush that she realized she was still sucking on a spoonful of cookie dough. She removed the spoon and placed it on the coffee table.

"How is this supposed to go?" Kakashi asked - never breaking eye contact with her.

"I figured we would start slow today. Just get to know one another, you know?" she tried her best to smile comfortingly.

He continued to watch her, expressionless.

"So, care to tell me a bit about yourself?" she could feel her smile beginning to falter. Sakura had thought her years spent with the older Copy-nin and the avenging Uchiha had more than prepared her for conversation minimalists but the younger Kakashi Hatake was even worse than the sensei she knew in her own time. After what felt like an uncomfortable 10 minutes, but was actually just 60 seconds, Kakashi shifted in his seat and sighed.

"I'd really rather skip ahead and get this all over with. I have much more important things to do."

"Like what?" Sakura tried as hard as she could to keep the irritation out of her voice. She knew perfectly well that he had nothing else to do. The Third had put him on leave from missions and his current injury prevented any serious training. He would just be maintaining his current physique.

"I'm a very busy Anbu Captain," he said slowly.

"That's on leave until his assigned medic determines he is fit to resume work," she smiled sweetly.

"You only won because I had been recently injured."

"Keep telling yourself that." Another sugar sweet smile. "Let's try this a different way. What do you think brings you here?"

Kakashi let out a frustrated sigh. "No, actually."

"Do you think the Hokage would have assigned therapy to you if it was not needed?"

Kakashi gave her a death glare.

"Have you seen a counselor or therapist before?" she decided to skip ahead like he clearly wanted.

"Yes."

Sakura sighed softly and crossed her legs in front of her. The smell of cooked cookies permeated the air reminding her that she needed to pull them out of the oven. She got up slowly and made her way back to the kitchen. Kakashi did not follow her.

A few minutes later she came back into the room - Kakashi still seated - and placed a plate of warm cookies down in the middle of the coffee table as well as two large glasses of milk.

"What did you see the other counsellors for?" Sakura slouched down on her couch.

"They made me go each time." Kakashi was no longer looking at her. He was staring resolutely down at the cookies. "What kind of cookies are those?"

"Double fudge chocolate," she replied. "Each time what?"

"Each time someone died." He glanced sideways at her, waiting for the sympathetic sigh that all the women around him seemed to do when they found out about that.

"How many exactly." Sakura asked while grabbing one of the cookies. She new from experience that sympathy would not be received well from the Copy-nin. Sakura had also learnt from dealing with male shinobi that if you tried to sympathize with their pain they would shy away from you. It was best to act like it wasn't a big deal. Truth be told it was just facts. Just his history. It had made him who he was but her sobbing about it wasn't going to help him no matter how sad the situation was.

The Copy-nin watched the cookie enter her mouth, noting that she seemed perfectly composed and relaxed which was a stark contrast to the usual female reaction to this information. Even the counsellors he had seen reacted with the sympathetic nod, the 'I'm being understanding of your situation' tone of voice. All said the same thing - it would fade in time - try to get over it. None of it ever worked. The only thing that worked was putting all of his being into his profession. Preventing others from getting killed. Protecting the village. The more dangerous the mission the better as he truly had nothing to live for. It let him react better and be expendable.

He watched as she chewed on the soft, warm cookie. She observed him with a calm, inscrutable stare. Her violet-brown hair sat at the base of her chin in a cropped cut - bangs pulled out of her face. She wasn't the prettiest girl he had ever seen but there was a fierceness to her emerald green eyes. He could tell she was pushy in her own way and was used to getting what she wanted, but there was a sadness about her that he didn't think she knew about.

"5... in total." The cookies smelled good.

"Do you feel comfortable walking me through them all or would you rather leave that to another day?" she grabbed the glass of milk closest to her and took a sip. She had said it so casually - like she had asked if the sky was blue that day.

"There is nothing really to say. My mother died when I was an infant from an illness. My father killed himself when I was 6 out of shame which isn't too uncommon for shinobi. Both of my team-mates died on missions and my sensei died protecting the village as Hokage." The worlds left him mechanically. He had said it so many times before. Rehearsed it. He never betrayed a hint of emotion. It was no-ones burden to bear but his own.

Kakashi waited for her reaction. Now that she had heard his rehearsed tragic past she would surely show the typical sympathy and try to comfort him. Tell him that its normal. That it happens in their profession. That it was okay to show weakness to her. They all did.

"How many friends to you have?"

"What?" He looked up at her. He hadn't realized he was staring at the ground. She was dipping a cookie into her cup of milk and looked at him innocently.

"Do you have any friends?" she rephrased her question. He was sitting stiffly on the couch. She didn't think he realized it but the moment she had asked about the people he had lost he began drilling a hole through the cookie plate with his eyes. His whole story was horribly rehearsed to make it sound like he was unaffected. Typical of the little boy genius that he was. It made it even worse that he was a child soldier.

He stared at her, hard, before answering slowly, "Yes.."

"Anyone in particular?" She knew his type. She knew him when he was older and less affected by his past. He barely socialized. It was like pulling teeth to get him to do anything. He was always reading his smutty books and avoiding work. Sakura had only ever seen him with a few of the older Jonin. He avoided Gai like crazy because of all the challenges. She had seen him drunk twice the whole time she had ever known him. Once at Naruto and Hinata's wedding due to the drinking challenge sent his way by both Gai and Tsunade. The other time had been shortly after the war when everyone else had been celebrating. Sakura had found him drunk in front of the memorial stone mumbling things about past friends and a love he was never going to see again. She had never mentioned it to him.

"Asuma... Genma... Gai... You don't know any of them so why does it matter to you?"

"Hmmmm. Have you tried the cookies yet?" She asked him sweetly. "They are my mothers recipe."

"Uh," Kakashi looked back down at the cookies.

"I promise I won't look," she laughed. He looked up at her. She was weird but he couldn't deny that the cookies looked and smelt good. He grabbed one of the cookies and glanced back at her. True to her word she was far more interested in her nail beds than his face. To be safe he turned away before shoving the cookie into his mouth. It was still warm.

"When was the last time that you did anything with your friends?"

"I dunno," he mumbled as he chewed. He grabbed the class of milk in front of him and sniffed it. He was sure she hadn't poisoned it but he had to check anyway.

"What do you do when you are not on missions?"

Kakashi took a sip of the milk through his mask and looked back towards her. Sakura had to stifle a giggle as the milk left a mouth line on his dark mask.

"Train." He looked at her in confusion - she was smiling at him.

Sakura sighed and grabbed another cookie. "Do you want to take any of these home with you?"

"Uh-ok?" This was the weirdest therapy session he had ever undergone. He watched her go to the kitchen and return with a paper bag. She picked up the plate and let gravity pull some of the cookies down into the bag before folding up the top and handing it to him.

"Do you have any plans for the rest of the day?" she asked, returning to her seat.

Kakashi was floored. This had not gone the way he had anticipated. "No?"

"Nothing with your friends?" she tried not to smirk triumphantly at him. Sakura knew this was therapy. Knew that she should be more nurturing about the whole thing, but this was the younger version of the man who had gone out of his way to torture her and her team in their genin days. He wasn't going to respond to conventional therapy.

"What's your point?" he cocked his head in her direction.

"Well... you have friends that you never talk to or see. From what I can gather, you don't have hobbies or interests beyond training and work. All of it stems from a need to remain unattached out of fear of finally filling the void in your heart only to have it torn open again by a comrades death."

Kakashi stared at her slack jawed.

"I'm sure the other counsellors told you similar things, though. Our focus needs to be on moving back towards living rather than running," she mused.

"You an expert then?" Kakashi replied more aggressively than he intended.

"No." She said softly, staring out beyond him towards the window. She didn't add anything to her comment.

"We done?"

"For the day, maybe. I do think we should give you an assignment though. Something to focus on."

"Hn."

Great, Sakura thought, back to one word answers. "Go out and find something to do. Friends or something. Anything really. I'd like you to come back tomorrow with a new hobby if you can."

"What's that got to do with anything?" Kakashi said as he stood, unconsciously clutching the paper bag full of cookies.

"I didn't mean to offend you Kakashi-san. I just assumed that conventional therapy wouldn't work on you as you are too smart and I am sure if it would have worked you would have been able work through it on your own." Sakura stood as well, mostly because his height was even more intimidating when she was seated.

He looked at her blankly as he processed her words before he approached the door and exited without saying anything.

Sakura promptly collapsed on the couch. This was going to be a lot harder than she thought.