- Check -

Sakura reaches across the chess board, attempting to hide her self-satisfied smile. She tries not to make her delight too obvious when she captures Shikamaru's Queen with her Bishop.

But Shikamaru takes this move personally, so she can't hold back her grin anymore.

"It's your own fault." She says, smirking at his heated scowl. "You showed me how to do that move last time we played."

"That doesn't mean I wanted you to use it against me."

Oh yeah, he was going to be salty for a while.

"All is fair in love and war." She says, sitting back in satisfaction.

They trade their next few moves in silence, Sakura grinning the whole time. She grins right up until she rides the high of her victory into one of Shikamaru's well laid traps. He forces her to sacrifice a rook and her last knight in order to avoid a near checkmate.

Damnit. She'd gotten too cocky and paid for it, as usual.

A waitress comes by to refill their tea as Sakura sits, considering the board. Shikamaru takes advantage of this pause to finally eat some of his long forgotten food. He eats his usual food in their usual outdoor booth at their usual cafe. This is their 'usual' place because Shikamaru hates change and she can't help but humor her friend, even when he's insufferable.

While he eats, she looks around the busy market street, enjoying the blissful peak of summer. They always sit in this booth, even if the heat was sometimes unbearable.

Looking back to the board, Sakura finally catches her mistake. "Shit, I totally messed up that last exchange, didn't I."

"You said you wanted me to go harder this time." Shika says around a mouth full of food. "You won't get better if I always go easy on you."

"I'll remember those words the next time we spar." She shoots back, enjoying the look of bodily terror she elicits. Shikamaru was no slouch of a ninja by any means, but he was first and foremost a tactician. Defending against Sakura's supercharged Taijutsu wasn't an impossible task for him, it just took more effort than he preferred to employ.

Examining the board, Sakura gives a sigh. She makes the sensible move, shifting her king to a defended position behind her pawns.

Shikamaru nods in approval. "Good call, that move was your best option."

"Speaking of moves, are we still on for sparing Friday?" She asks, taking a sip of her tea. She knew it made no sense, drinking hot tea on a hot day, but she liked the incredulous look Shikamaru gave her every time she ordered it. It was actually kind of...cute.

As their friendship had developed over the past five years, they had become a study in contradictions. He had come to expect the unexpected from her the same way she expected the predictable from him. It made their friendship…comfortable. Familiar. Some might even say unique.

It was nice having someone who so easily understood her, especially on the days she didn't understand herself. Plus, he never seemed to mind her crazy work schedule, always happy to meet up around it. Running the surgery ward meant she was essentially married to her job, but that didn't mean she couldn't have friends…people…

"Actually, I think I need to push sparing to Saturday. My boss is being a total pain. The Chunin exams happen the same time every year, and every year he still manages to be unprepared for it. It's us office grunts that always end up putting out his fires."

Sakura narrows her eyes at him. "I don't know, it sounds like you just don't want your ass kicked again."

Shikamaru gives her a heated look that does something funny to her insides. Then he reaches down to move his piece. "Worry about your own ass. You're in check again."

Before Sakura can groan, she hears Ino's voice calling out to them from up the street. "There you are!" She calls happily, waving to them as she jogs over. Her tote bag is slung across her shoulder, heavy with her market haul. She let herself into the covered patio and over to their shared booth.

"I found the perfect outfit for tonight." Ino says to Sakura, blindly shoving Shikamaru deeper into the bench. She steals a bite of Shikamaru's food as she slides in, much to his irritation.

"Calm down, I'll buy all your food at my party tonight." She says around a mouth full of rice.

"I don't want party food, I want my food." He glares, reaching over to take his plate back.

They briefly battle for bench space in the way that psudo-siblings do, but the altercation ends as it always does- with Ino getting her way and Shikamaru rolling his eyes.

"I'll tell you what. I'll buy all your food and I won't make you drink."

Shikamaru eyes her skeptically. "You promise me that every year. And yet, every year you buy too many shots you can't finish so everybody else gets wasted."

"What ever, it's my birthday." She says, waving a hand. "I want to get spectacularly drunk, and I'm sure as hell not doing it alone."

Shikamaru glares at his now empty food plate. "Well, last year I was the one hung over all weekend, so this year I'm calling 'not it'."

Ino turns to Sakura enthusiastically. "That means you're up, babe! Tonight, we're going shot for shot."

"Kill me now-" Sakura mutters into her tea. She wonders absently if she can get away with swiping a hang-over saline bag from the hospital supply closet. "As much as I'd love to humor the birthday girl, I can't get too drunk tonight. I'm still monitoring Kakashi's condition. He's being…less than cooperative."

"I heard he overworked his Sharingan again?" Ino asks. Beside her, Shikamaru stills in his seat. He knows this is a touchy subject.

Sakura averts her gaze the only way she knows how, reexamining the chess board between them. Tch. Shika still had her in check. "Yeah, but he was finally able to sit up today. I'm checking on him later after rounds."

"Well, Kakashi's bad choices are own fault, not yours. Don't let his poor chakra-management keep you from having fun tonight."

Sakura swallows down the lump in her throat. She glances up, making brief eye contact with Shika. She had already confessed everything to him- How less than a week ago, she'd been the thin line between Kakashi and his early grave post run in with a dangerous nin. He knew she was heavily downplaying the extent of her Sensei's injuries right now, but didn't want to rain on Ino's birthday parade.

"I wouldn't miss your party for the world." Sakura says, relieved when Ino drops the subject.

Ino might talk a big game, but she was just really excited for tonight. For all their rivalries and past misunderstandings, Ino was a deeply caring friend. She leveraged her birthday every year to get as many of the rookie 9 together. It was more like a reunion than a birthday party. She might act like the night was suppose to be all about her, but in reality... Ino just wanted to cherish everyone while they could still get together. In some ways, she was the glue keeping their original friend group intact.

"Anyways, I have to run, but I can't wait to see you guys tonight. Remember, 8pm sharp Sakura! Don't be late."

Shikamaru throws Sakura a narrowed glare. "If you leave me alone with her, I'll never forgive you." He threatens under his breath.

Ino gives him a parting shoulder shove on her way out the booth. He throws a hand up to defend, but Sakura knows it's all in play. Their bickering comes with the territory when you're practically raised in the same crib together.

If anything, it made Sakura miss her own team. Kakashi was away on missions more often than he was in the village, Naruto was off somewhere training with Jiraiya, and Sasuke… well, that was another matter.

"Shoot." Sakura says, looking at her watch. "I have to go too if I'm going to make afternoon rounds. Can we finish this game another time?"

"That's fine, I have to get back to the office anyway. My mountain of test applications aren't going to file themselves."

She and Shikamaru pack up their chessboard together, separating out their respective tiles into a divided travel pouch.

"Hey, before I go…" Sakura begins cautiously. She was about to venture into dangerous territory. "Did you… ever hear anything back from Temari?"

Shikamaru, to his credit, stills for only a moment before shaking his head. "Two months, and not even an apology note. Not that I was expecting one after the argument we had…"

"I'm sorry, we don't have to talk about it if you don't want to-"

"It's fine." He says, but his voice is clipped.

She can tell he's trying to keep his disappointment in check. "I knew you would ask about it eventually." He avoids eye contact, picking up more chess tiles.

Sakura knows that, without even trying to, he would perfectly remember the positions of every tile the next time they sat down to play. His analytical mind was fascinating to her. She didn't understand why his insisted on slumming it working for the chunin office when he could have literally any job he wanted.

As she takes him in, Shikamaru does the thing he sometime did- he starts rambling without watching his words.

"I get that long distance is painful for both parties, but she kept acting like nothing I did was good enough. Not our visits, not our letters… she was distant even when we managed to get together. It was stupid to think that relocating would have made any difference in our relationship, but I wish we hadn't fought about it. But what ever, it is what it is. I'll be fine."

"Hey-" Sakura leans forward in her seat, waiting for his umber eyes to catch on hers. She's about to be vulnerable with him in a way she rarely is. "Sometime when people leave, it doesn't mean they're leaving us."

She has to swallow through a new lump in her throat. These are the words Sakura has repeated to herself nearly every day since Sasuke left. She offers them up to Shikamaru now, even if they won't be any use to him.

"I know." He says quietly.

She knew he was just talking through his thoughts and probably didn't need her feedback. Still, he never made her feel stupid for trying too hard or caring too much. Caring too much was definitely a Sakura specialty. But her favorite things about their friendship was how they didn't try to change each other. They just...worked.

"You know, for being one of the bossiest women I know, you're really understanding when it comes to my love life."

Sakura's eye twitches, and she resisted the urge to slap him. So much for thinking nice things about him. "If you were smart, you wouldn't be calling me bossy."

"If you weren't so bossy, I wouldn't have to say it."

They make mutual 'I'm so done with you' faces and stand up from their booth. It's Shikamaru's turn to pay, so he throw a few bills down for the tab.

"But for real, don't leave me at Ino's mercy tonight." He says.

"Look who's bossy now." She replies.

And with that, they part ways.

- Hospital -

Nurse Chizue is, as expected, not amused when Sakura jokes about self administering hang-over IV fluids. Chizue might be over 80 years old, and more arthritis than woman at this point, but anyone who has ever worked in a hospital knows- You don't. Piss off. The Charge Nurse.

It did not matter one bit that Sakura was the most talented and skillful Medical-nin of her generation. That she could perform clinical level surgeries in hazardous battlefield conditions and she wasn't even 20 yet. In Chisue's eyes, Sakura was just one of the hospitals many tools to be wielded at her leisure.

While Sakura might be Tsunade's surrogate Head of Surgery, Chizue was practically the whole damn institution. Right now, the institution was livid.

"He absolutely refuses to follow medical advice." Chizue scolds Sakura. She glares like Kakashi's uncooperative attitude was some how her fault. "He won't stay in bed, he won't eat what we bring him, and he outright refuses to take his medications. He even threatened to use his Sharingan on one of the male nurses when they went to give him a sponge bath."

Sakura's temples begin to ache. She makes a note to vent-scream into one of the supply closets when she gets an opportunity. Not that she'd get another break before her shift was over…

This was not the first time Kakashi had been downright insubordinate when faced with mandatory bed rest. Nor would this be the last time if he kept overusing his Sharingan like this.

Between Orochimaru's attack on Konoha and Akatsuki making power plays across the country, the world was growing more dangerous by the day. Over the years, Kakashi had started taking bigger and bigger risks with his bodily health. She didn't know how much longer his Sharingan would hold out, never mind how to make him slow down.

The door to his hospital room makes a loud bang when she kicks it open, storming in with barely restrained rage. Her entrance might be a touch dramatic, but it's worth it to see Kakashi startle awake in his wheel chair.

"You." She growls, shamelessly pointing at her sensei. "You are suppose to be in bed."

"Bed's lumpy." He croaks, still half asleep.

"And why aren't you eating your meals?"

"The food sucks."

"I will break both your legs if I catch you out of bed again, do you understand me?"

"I'm pretty sure that violates your hippocratic oath-"

"Why do you insist on making my job so unnecessarily hard?" She finally cries, throwing her hands up to God.

"Here," Kakashi says, handing her his bowl of green Jello. "My apology present. I know you get cranky when your blood sugar tanks."

Sakura sets the Jello cup back on his lunch tray with a snap. She takes a breath and counts to 10, torn between strangling him a little or a lot.

In true Kakashi fashion, he was choosing to be difficult. The only reason she didn't break the bowl and the table right now was because she was desperately relieved to actually see him alive. He'd been in a deep sleep all week...

"I get cranky when my patients refuse to follow their Doctors directions. But apparently you know everything about medicine now, so why would you ever follow my advice? I'll tell you what- why don't we just discharge you now and put you back on active duty?"

"See, I knew there was a reason you were my favorite." His tilts his head up to her with a knowing smile. He's trying to use praise to diffuse her like a bomb.

But Sakura is having none of it. She walks over and locks both hands onto the arms of his wheel chair, pinning her Sensei into place. Her words are a low and dangerous growl that chills any residual humor from the room.

"You and I both know you're lucky to be alive. Gai had to carry your unconscious body into my OR because you couldn't even walk. By the time he got you to me, you had barely enough Chakra in your body to pump your stupid stubborn heart. The only reason you're upright and awake today is because I spent all Monday popping soldier pills and manually recharging you like a glorified battery."

She watched the carefree attitude slip from his face with ever word she piles on him. She's finally getting through to his stupid brain.

"So you can make jokes, but don't expect me to smile. I'm tired of watching you try to kill yourself in battle. Why should I keep putting you back together when you're just going to go be reckless again? Do better, I know you can."

An uncomfortable silence settled over the room.

"It was that bad, huh?"

"Worse." She says, swallowing hard. This was an example of Sakura-cares-too-much, even when her love was a lost cause.

"…I was wondering why my ribs were so tender this time." He says quietly, finally having the gaul to look appropriately chastised.

His right hand reached stiffly across his body to touch the bandages on his chest and sides. It would take time for him to recover from the chakra burns that resulted from his surgery. Until he did, they would serve as an unfriendly reminder of how close he'd come to a very real death.

Twelve hours of her steadily pushing chakra back into his system, making sure he didn't fall into cardiac arrest. Twelve hours focused on the delicate work of putting this dangerous man back together. Half a day spent praying for him to please not die so she could personally kill him afterwards.

It was becoming increasingly normal for Kakashi to laugh in the face of his bodily wellbeing. It was a special day, however, when he openly acknowledged how his cavalier attitude actually hurt her.

"Was my condition really that critical?" He asks, looking up into her face. She really was leaning too close to him.

"It was not my favorite way to spend a Monday." She concedes.

Here, Kakashi looks out the window. His gaze seemingly penetrates the buildings and walls of Konoha-gakure, scanning the far horizon. She knows who he's searching for in his minds eye. The same person he was always searching for when he had reason to leave the village.

Sasuke.

"I know you're going to find him." Sakura says, moving to a storage cabinet in the far corner of the room. She rummages through it, bringing back an armful of supplies: fresh gauze, anti-bac gel, low-tack med tape. She dumps her gear onto Kakashi's unmade hospital bed, wheeling him closer so she can get to work.

It takes every ounce of will power she has not to obviously blush as she kneels between his seated legs. It would be easier to do this if he would just get in bed, but if he's going to be stubborn than so will she. '

Stop drooling and be a professional.' She scolds herself, carefully peeling up the hem of his hospital shirt to get a look at his bruised ribcage.

"Sakura-" Kakashi starts. He's still not use to being touched by her this way, even when the purpose is clearly clinical.

"Trust me-" She cut him off with a glare. "You want me to change this bandage now. If Chizue has to come back and do it later, she won't be so nice about it."

After a moment, he sighs in defeat. He pulls one arm out of the sleeve of his shirt, granting her better access to his side. "Fine. But only because you're actually gentle. Chisue has witch fingers, cold and stabby."

When Sakura peels away the bandages, she winces at the raw skin beneath. His were only a superficial burns, but they were beginning to blister in the middle. Prolonged exposure to chakra often left the skin dry and irritated, but this wound was presenting like a third degree sun burn. Kakashi had needed extensive chakra replenishment before Sakura was able to stabilize him. Hovering just a hair's breath above his skin during surgery, her hands had acted like tiny suns while she manually pumped his heart.

These burns are a testament to how injured he'd been. She tries to focus on her job, and not on how close she'd come to losing him.

They fall into a companionable silence as she works, swabbing his burns with the anti-bac ointment. She checks for signs of Staph or a MRSA infection. They don't say anything as her hands brush his skin.

But…she keeps getting the feeling that Kakashi's grey eye is following her every movement. She can feel the heat of his gaze on her. More than once, she catches him watching her face rather than monitoring her hands. Each time, they both quickly looked away, pretending not to notice the other.

But her heart beats on wildly in her chest. She tells herself she's being foolish, Kakashi would never look at her like that-

"What would I do without you, Sakura."

His words come so unexpectedly her hands freeze mid swab. It isn't the words themselves that catch her by surprise so much as his tone- unusually affectionate and sentimental for her cranky, weathered Sensei. Not just affectionate...appreciative?

He never uses that voice with her. She's only ever heard him use it on the pretty girls he meets at the bars after work. The low, husky one that sends her blood pressure to the moon, the one she replays when ever she...

'Nooope. We aren't going to think about that here.'

She wonders if he knows what his gaze is doing to her already thinly fried nerves. It really isn't fair, making her swing like a pendulum from frustrated to flustered the way he does.

But when she glances up again, he is looking out the window. She's convinced she's making all of this up. It wouldn't be the first time her imagination ran wild. She consciously relaxes her shoulders, focusing on just moving her hands normally. Don't look now Sensei, just her unrequited obsession bubbling to the surface again…

Even focused on her task, it still takes a good minute for her brain to reboot. By the time she's in control of her faculties again, the time for a witty comeback had passed. Sarcasm is not her friend today. But at least he isn't staring at her face anymore. From this close, he would have to be literally blind not to notice his effect on her.

He probably knew everything, and was granting her mercy. This wouldn't be the first time she'd loved a man who could never love her back. She wasn't going to make the same mistake this time, though. If Sasuke had taught her one thing, it was this: Confessing you love for a teammate only made things worse, never better.

Best to keep her heart in check.

Sakura busies herself with taping down the new gauze pads and pointedly avoided looking up at her Sensei. Lord, why had she decided to kneel between his legs? The summer heat must be getting to her, melting her brain from the inside out.

When the used bandages are all cleaned up, she walks back over to Kakashi's food tray and picks up the bowl of abandoned green Jello.

"Make sure you actually eat some of this, okay? Believe it or not, the sugars will help keep you hydrated." Success. Another rogue 'I think I love you, Kakashi' camouflaged by armchair medical advice.

"I only eat red Jello, so I make no promises." He says, but he takes the bowl from her hands all the same. Sakura tried not to notice when his fingers linger against hers for just a beat too long.

"You know… it won't matter if we get Sasuke back, but lose you in the process." She says. Her throat is tight again. From longing, fear, from sadness, frustration...all of it.

"I know." He says simply. Finally, he lets go of her hand.

They part ways after that, but she swears the burning weight of his eyes follow her down the hall to her next patient.