Sakura was nervous the next morning as she and Kakashi made their way towards the cafe that he had suggested the meet-up take place. It had been months since she'd seen Naruto, and she had no idea how much he could have changed between the last time she'd seen him and now. She knew firsthand how grueling and demanding it was apprenticing under a legendary Sannin - and though Jiraiya seemed as aloof and as carefree as Kakashi, Sakura knew he wouldn't have gotten his reputation in the shinobi world for nothing.

She hoped that he was still the same bright ray of sunshine that he had always been; that his time training with Jiraiya hadn't somehow taken away that important aspect of her blonde teammate's personality. She looked down at the ground, trying to imagine a different version of Naruto that didn't smile and laugh, who didn't have that sparkle in his eyes. It was a sad image, and she told herself that that's all it was - an image, not the real Naruto.

What he'd be like wasn't all that had Sakura nervous, though. As she lifted her head and glanced sideways at Kakashi, she couldn't help but wonder how he would react to their relationship. He was still disguised as Sukea, so Naruto wouldn't know that the man whose hand she'd be holding was actually Kakashi. Still, though, she knew it would come as a shock to the blonde that Sakura had found romance with someone not named Uchiha Sasuke. She had, after all, claimed to be head over heels in love with their missing teammate for years. She'd gone as far as to feud with her best friend over the raven-haired boy. Would he be upset with her for moving on? Would he think she'd done so too quickly? Or would he think her disloyal?

"Thinking about Naruto?"

Kakashi's smooth voice pulled Sakura out of her thoughts. She let out a small sigh, nodding slowly as she turned to look up at him. "I'm worried he'll be angry even if he doesn't know it's you." She admitted. "As far as he knows, I've only ever loved Sasuke."

He hummed in thought. "I see."

Sakura arched her eyebrow, stopping in her tracks and turning him to face her. "You see?" She repeated his words. "What do you see, Kakashi, because all I can see is how Naruto will think I turned my back on Sasuke."

"You didn't." Kakashi replied simply, his eyes serious as they met hers. "You moved on with someone who wants you, Sakura. Someone who doesn't call you annoying and who didn't assault you on his way out of the village."

Sakura blinked, surprised by the fact that Kakashi was talking about this with her right now at all. It had been nearly half a year since Sasuke had left, and neither one of them had ever brought him up since the nightmares had stopped. Sakura had never thought to ask how Kakashi felt about Sasuke's abandonment of Konoha, and he'd certainly never asked her how she felt about him now.

If he ever had asked, Sakura would have told Kakashi that her feelings for Sasuke had shifted not that night he'd left the village, but some ten weeks later. It had right around the time Naruto had finally been released from the hospital and Kakashi had been on his mission in the Land of Earth. The day she'd left for that mission she'd gone on with Jiraiya and Naruto, she had realized as they'd walked away from the village that she no longer wanted to bring Sasuke back so that she could be with him.

She had realized that her feelings for Uchiha Sasuke were nothing more than a childhood crush that time had twisted into an obsession. She had never truly loved the raven-haired boy smothered in shadows so suffocating that she doubted he'd ever find peace. She'd known that for certain when Kakashi had returned from his mission angry and afraid right before drunkenly confessing his love to her - that he loved her enough that he'd nearly died over a split-second hesitation when a trick of the light had transformed a lethal enemy into herself.

"I know I didn't." Sakura murmured softly, leaning in to his touch with a small smile that didn't quite meet her eyes. She continued, "But still...He's going to have questions."

Kakashi nodded, tucking some of her hair behind her ear. "He will. But you won't have to answer them alone, Sakura. And we don't have to lie to him about everything."

She bit her bottom lip, unable to stop the frown from tugging at her mouth. "I don't really want to lie to him at all, Kakashi. I know he might be angry, and that he probably won't understand it but-"

"But lying to him feels like betraying him." Kakashi cut her off quietly, his eyes meeting hers. Sakura nodded, bringing her hand up to his shoulder. After a short pause, he asked, "It's your decision, tenshi. Will Naruto be meeting Sukea, or are we telling him the truth?"

Sakura thought about it for a moment, her expression determined as she gave her answer, "The truth."

Kakashi nodded, moving to thread their fingers together. "I want you to know something, Sakura. My feelings for you won't change, regardless of how Naruto takes the news. My love for you didn't waver when Gai questioned it. I love you, Sakura. Nothing Naruto says will change that fact."

Sakura's eyes widened in surprise. No interaction she'd had with Gai-sensei since her relationship with Kakashi had begun had given her any indication that he didn't approve. She hadn't noticed any strain in their friendship, or any difference in how they treated one another. The excitable man had even been helping them fix the farm up. "Did Gai-sensei confront you about us?" She asked Kakashi.

He shrugged, pressing his lips to her forehead. "He asked me what I was thinking and then he sulked for awhile. A few words were exchanged. Even after he came around to the idea of us, he wasn't exactly thrilled about it. It took him some time to understand." He answered, his tone even and giving no hint as to how badly Gai might actually have taken it. He didn't want Sakura to worry even more than she already was.

Sakura listened as Kakashi spoke, her head coming to rest against his chest. "I'm glad he came around." She breathed against his coat.

"Naruto will too." He reassured her, holding her close. After a moment, he pulled away and nodded towards an alleyway across the street. "C'mon, then. If he's going to know the truth, I need to get this disguise off and put my mask back on."

Sakura pouted, leaning in to brush her lips over his. "But then I won't get to look at your face."

Kakashi chuckled, turning to lead her towards the quiet alley. "I think one surprise is enough for Naruto today, don't you? Too much and he might have a heart attack."

Sakura giggled at the thought of Naruto's expression if and when he ever got to see Kakashi's face. She had thought him the most attractive man she'd ever seen, far surpassing Sasuke's boyish, unblemished mask of a face. She knew Naruto would be shocked at how good-looking their former sensei was, given how they'd all assumed for years that he must surely have been hiding some unfortunate disfigurement of some sort.

"You know," Sakura murmured softly as she helped him in removing the strips of purple tape from his cheeks a few minutes later at the back of the alley. "these marks remind me of that photo of you and your Mom." She glanced up at his eyes, carefully gauging his reaction to her observation.

Kakashi smiled, nodding as she reached into her pouch for a makeup remover pad to clean his eyelids of the matching purple paint. "I chose this disguise as a sort of homage to her back in my ANBU days when everyone was always telling me how much I looked like my father." He explained, tucking the wig into the pack on his back.

Sakura nodded, kissing the corner of his mouth. She helped him slide out of the coat and pulled a storage scroll from her backpack. Kakashi worked on changing into one of his undershirts that had an attached mask while she sealed away the coat and replaced the scroll in her pack. His eyebrow arched at the ease of her movements and the fluidity of her use of Fūinjutsu - another thing he'd never taken the time to teach any of his students while he'd been their sensei.

"Lady Tsunade taught me how to use sealing scrolls." Sakura explained to him with a small smile. "She says it makes it much easier to bring more equipment into the field, which can mean the difference between life and death for a patient."

It was a brilliant idea, Kakashi thought to himself as he adjusted the mask snugly over the lower half of his face. He had always thought Tsunade's ideas for improving mortality rates within the ranks were good ones, and he hoped that someday some of them would catch on and become standard protocol. After passing his hands through his matted hair, he slid his fingers in between Sakura's and began leading her back towards the street.

Twenty minutes later, they were sitting in a back booth waiting for Jiraiya and Naruto to arrive. Sakura was used to Kakashi being the late one - in fact, she'd worried that their detour in the alleyway would cause them to arrive after Naruto and his mentor. They'd been waiting for about ten minutes, and with each passing second, Sakura felt her nerves becoming more and more on edge. As her tapping fingers began to intensify on the surface of the table, Kakashi covered the top of his palm with his hand, pressing hers down flat.

"They'll be here, Sakura." He murmured gently against her ear, letting his forehead rest against the side of her head. "You aren't having second thoughts about this, are you?"

"No." Sakura shook her head, turning her head sharply at a flash of orange outside the window. Her heart sunk when she saw a dark-haired little boy wearing an orange tee run across the street instead of Naruto and his familiar jumpsuit of the same color. "I think I'm more nervous about what he'll be like, honestly. I haven't seen him since the end of that mission in the Land of Rice Paddies."

Kakashi smiled against her cheek, leaving a masked kiss there before he straightened and looked out the window at the same little boy she'd thought was her blonde teammate. "He'll still be Naruto." He promised her. "Nothing will ever change who he is."

Sakura didn't answer as they watched the people in the street. She hoped he was right. With everything that had been happening in the last few months, she craved a piece of normalcy in all the chaos of her life. Naruto had always been a constant ray of light in the darkness, and she hoped she'd find that hadn't changed.

Another ten minutes passed by before Kakashi's change in posture let Sakura know that Jiraiya and Naruto were about to appear. His body stiffened just a little before relaxing, his hand pulling hers underneath the table onto her thigh so that it wouldn't be the first thing Naruto saw. A second later, the door at the front of the cafe swung open with a clatter and Sakura couldn't help but giggle when she saw Naruto carefully scanning every table with blue eyes squinted in focus. When he saw her, Sakura knew the red hair hadn't thrown him off. He knew exactly who she was, and a wide grin overtook his face as he quickly and clumsily began making his way back towards the booth she and Kakashi were sat in.

"Sakura!" Naruto's voice nearly yelled in excitement as he approached them. "Your hair...it's...not pink." He mumbled, earning an arched eyebrow. His tan cheeks flushed pink as he quickly added, "It looks good, though!"

Kakashi couldn't contain a small, amused sound and Naruto looked over at him for the first time, confusion etched onto his features. "Hey, Kakashi-sensei. I wasn't expecting to see you, too."

The silver-haired man just smiled underneath his mask as he said, "Surely Jiraiya told you Sakura didn't come here alone."

Smart, Sakura thought to herself. He was subtly trying to feel out just what Jiraiya had told Naruto.

The blonde scratched the back of his head as he took his seat across from Sakura. "Well, yeah, but...He said I might not recognize her companion. Why wouldn't I recognize you, Kakashi-sensei?"

Sakura gave Kakashi's hand a light squeeze just before she spoke. "He was disguised yesterday." She explained for the man sitting next to her. "We had to make sure we weren't followed to the meeting."

Naruto thought about it for a moment before glancing back at Kakashi. "So why aren't you still disguised, then?"

Sakura had known he'd be full of questions, but she wasn't used to Naruto paying such close attention to small details like that. It seemed to her that Jiraiya hadn't been spending all of his time in onsens and brothels and that he'd taken the time to teach Naruto some observational skills. It made her smile - he was taking his training just as seriously as she had been.

Kakashi glanced over at Sakura, giving her the opportunity to answer Naruto. She took a deep breath and spoke quickly before she could think too long about what her words would be. "There's something you should know, Naruto."

Before he could reply, a waitress walked over and Sakura couldn't help but sigh in relief at the brief reprieve in the conversation. She felt Kakashi lean his shoulder against hers, a subtle reminder that she wasn't alone in this and she discreetly gave him a thankful smile as Naruto asked for a double order of the meal he'd chosen.

Sakura didn't really feel that hungry, but she ordered a plate of eggs and grilled fish anyway before Kakashi asked for the same thing. The waitress repeated their orders before walking away. Naruto stared expectantly at Sakura, whose mouth went suddenly dry.

"Well?" He asked her. "What should I know, Sakura?"

Kakashi would answer for her if she gave him a sign, she thought to herself as her heart began racing in her chest, anxiety she hadn't thought was still there rearing its ugly head once again as Naruto's blue eyes met her green ones. But as she looked across the table at the blonde boy who had become one of her most special people, Sakura knew Naruto needed to hear it from her.

"That we're...together." She answered him carefully after a long pause, her words slow and deliberate with just a hint of shakiness to them. Kakashi's hand tightened around hers reassuringly as silence fell and the tension thickened around the three of them.

"Together?" Naruto's face was twisted in confusion as he looked between the two of them as though she'd replied in a foreign language.

Before Sakura could speak, Kakashi said, "Yes, Naruto." His grey eye met Sakura's gaze as he slowly lifted their joined hands to the top of the table before he reiterated, "Together."

The blonde's eyes widened as he stared at their hands before lifting his attention to Sakura's face again. "I don't understand, Sakura." His voice was much quieter now than she'd ever heard from him in the past. He continued before she had a chance to reply, asking, "What about Sasuke?"

"What about him, Naruto?" Sakura couldn't keep the bitterness from her tone as she snapped, finally letting the words burning her tongue be spoken. "He put you in the hospital for weeks."

Naruto looked completely distraught. "You can't give up on him!" The blonde exclaimed. "You've always loved him, Sakura, and when I bring him back, he'll love-"

"If I ever loved Sasuke at all, that stopped the day he knocked me out and walked away from Konoha." She cut him off quietly, her teeth clenching as angry tears sprung from the corners of her eyes as she added, "It doesn't matter if he comes back and changes his mind, because mine is already made up."

Naruto was speechless, his face crestfallen as he listened to what Sakura had to say. For a few minutes, none of them said anything. Finally, the blonde set his gaze upon Kakashi, his blue eyes narrowed as he snapped, "You manipu-"

"Don't even finish that sentence, Naruto." Sakura glared hard at him. "I'm the one who made the first move. I won't sit here and listen to you accuse him of things that never happened."

Naruto balked. "But he's our sensei, Sakura!"

"Was." Kakashi reminded Naruto, inserting himself into the conversation for the first time. "I was your sensei, Naruto. But you know that hasn't been the case for awhile."

Naruto huffed, his face turning red. "That doesn't mean it's okay!" He blurted angrily. "She's...and you're..."

"We're adults, Naruto." Sakura told him, her tone clipped. "You don't have to like it, and I don't expect you to understand it, but there is nothing wrong about my relationship with Kakashi. Lady Tsunade has known for months."

"Naruto," Kakashi spoke again, drawing the blonde's gaze to his own before he continued, "I know you're upset, but I also know that all you've ever wanted is for Sakura to be happy...right? That's why you agreed to bring him back in the first place - to make Sakura happy."

Naruto nodded hesitantly, his eyes flicking towards Sakura before he sighed. "Yeah."

Kakashi tapped Sakura's knee with his under the table, and she took the cue. "Kakashi makes me happy." She told her teammate, bringing his attention back to her. "He's the first thing I think about when I wake up, and the last thing I think about before falling asleep. I love him, Naruto."

Naruto didn't speak right away as he looked between the two of them. After a moment, he quietly asked Sakura, "You're really happy?"

She nodded, letting her head fall against Kakashi's shoulder. "I really am." She promised the blonde.

Before the conversation could continue, the waitress returned with their food. Sakura picked at her plate as the three of them sat around the table silently. Naruto said nothing else, giving no indication as to whether or not he'd decided to accept their relationship. By the time they were all heading out of the diner after Kakashi paid, Sakura had resigned herself to knowing that they'd likely be parting with a cloud hanging over their friendship.

Their goodbyes were mumbled and uncomfortable, with Naruto keeping his distance from both of them. It was only once Sakura and Kakashi had turned to walk away that the blonde finally said something that eased the tension in her shoulders, a sigh of relief falling from her lips.

"I'm happy for you - for both of you. I really am."

"Thank you, Naruto." Sakura replied, not turning around to say the words. It went without saying that Naruto needed some time to wrap his mind around the change in Sakura and Kakashi's relationship. She had been expecting that, and she could deal with that. As the two of them began to make their way out of Tanzaku-gai and down the road that would take them back to Konoha, she realized that now, she had some things of her own to deal with - like her father's impending mission, and the level of risk he'd be facing in the Sky District.