When Sasuke stomped back into their small camp, dragging along a felled tree -that he probably shouldn't have been physically able to move- to add to the ever-growing pile of sticks, kindling, and logs Kakashi looked up at him and smiled behind his mask.

"Sasuke," Kakashi said softly as the boy's dark eyes snapped onto him with clear rage burning in his irises. "I think that's enough wood for the fire." He waved his hand at the pile Sasuke had been stocking angrily since Naruto went after an obviously injured Sakura. He paused his glowering at his sensei long enough to note that the pile of wood nearly reached to his chest, and had he been in a different headspace, he might even have smirked at it.

But he wasn't in a different headspace, and being a boy who needed to do something while he waited impatiently for the teammate he maybe kind of didn't but probably did have a crush on he simply drug the tree a few steps closer to his ridiculously large pile. At that moment, when he was formulating a snide remark to make to Kakashi, Sakura and Naruto walked back into camp.

"About damn time," he grumbled at them, dropping the tree and crossing his arms. His dark eyes glared at his teammates, and then at his teacher, and then down at the fire Kakashi had made with the first bits of kindling Sasuke had brought back.

"Welcome you two," Kakashi said supportively. "You're just in time, the meal is ready." His eye crinkled in a smile as he passed a crispy fish stick to each of his students.

Sakura was no longer crying, which Kakashi was immensely grateful for, and Sasuke was utterly confused about. When the blond boy grinned at the fish offered to him and plopped unceremoniously onto the ground to start stuffing his face, Sakura tentatively took hers and gingerly sat down on the ground closest to Naruto. It was probably the closest anyone had ever seen Sakura sit to Naruto, which Kakashi instantly noted wasn't in the same manner that she normally reserved for Sasuke, but Sasuke didn't seem to realize that if the murderous glares he kept flashing Naruto's way were anything to go by.

Sasuke noticed, between irritated bites of fish and glaring at the blond, that Sakura had changed into one of her other qipao dresses, which made his eyes narrow with uncertainty of her illness. Her eyes were downcast and puffy, nose sniffly as she weakly nibbled the food. Naruto happily munched away and chattered kindly to Kakashi about his father wanting him to visit sometime. He was either unabashedly ignoring the homicidal energy rolling off of Sasuke or he was totally clueless of its existence. If Kakashi had to guess, it would have been the later. The team leader watched his students coexist, and had to remind himself a few times not to crack a smile or chuckle at the social dynamics at play.

When it was time to finally settle down to rest, and the group were laying out their sleeping bags, Kakashi's brow rose when Sasuke shifted the position of his sleeping bag so that his head, rather than his feet, would be positioned towards Sakura's head. The boy glared around the clearing and Kakashi had managed to not give away that he obviously saw the adjustment. Sakura was finally interacting with them again, though in a subdued and exhausted manner. Kakashi took the first watch, with Sasuke, Naruto, then Sakura following through until morning.

Kakashi, who was really not worried about any interruption in their mission -it was a D-rank mission that just happened to take them barely outside of the borders of Konoha- read his book as his hours passed mostly uneventfully. The only potential issue was the soft cries that came out of Sakura's sleeping bag, but before he had a chance to investigate, he heard Sasuke quietly wake her.

"Sakura," he said gently, groggy with only two hours of sleep. He laid on his belly to look at her and poked at her head. "Hey," he yawned and prodded her carefully again.

"Sasuke-kun?" glassy green eyes looked up to him, before readjusting her position to face him.

"You were whimpering." He whispered, rubbing at his eyes.

This was Sakura's favorite part of missions. Seeing her teammates in their in between states, the moments teetering between complete vulnerability and complete control. The way that Sasuke yawned again made her heart flutter.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't realize I was doing that," she turned as pink as her hair. "Thank you for letting me know. I'll stop." She moved to nestle back into her bag, but he carefully tugged on a piece of her hair.

"I wasn't saying so to make you feel bad." He said it evenly, black eyes growing more focused as he woke up. "I wanted to ask if you are alright."

Her heart lunged into the back of her throat, and briefly she wondered if she was still sleeping. "I-I…" he looked at her intensely, like nothing else mattered except that she was in fact, alright. "I'm in pain." She decided to be honest with him.

"Oh."

"But I'm alright, Naruto's mother packed an emergency kit for me in case this happened."

Sasuke's brows pinched together, in irritation at the way she said Naruto's name, like he was some dependable someone to her now, before he folded into confusion. "Why would she expect this to happen?"

Sakura's mouth fell into an oh shape. "Um," she tried to think back to that extremely awkward day at the Academy and couldn't remember if Sasuke had been there that day. "It's a, uh, girl thing?" she offered weakly. And when his black brows stayed poised in confusion, clearly waiting for her to further clarify what was a girl's thing, she simply said: "Maybe you'll just want to ask your mom about it when you get home."

Sasuke scowled. "I'm not sure why I would talk to my mother about you being ill."

The girl had to stop herself from laughing at the petulant way he was looking at her. "I think she'll maybe clear things up for you more than I can." She offered.

"But-"

"Oh, good Sasuke, you're already awake." Kakashi stepped closer to his genin, effectively ending the conversation on Sakura's behalf. "It's your turn to take watch."

The boy sighed, seemingly resigning himself to not get an answer from anyone on his team about Sakura's condition. And muttering about it as such, he stalked away to take his turn on watch.

"You okay Sakura-chan?" Kakashi asked gently, patting her head with a warm hand. She nodded, strangely comforted by the enigma that was her teacher, before his eye crinkled at her and she felt herself drifting off to sleep.

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