Chapter Three: Meeting on the Trails

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Sundays were Sakura's days off. Unfortunately, her habit of getting up early the other six days of the week didn't change, so she rolled out of bed at five o'clock and put on her running shoes, a pair of short shorts, and a crimson halter top. No one else ran the paths around the village on Sunday mornings, except occasionally Rock Lee and he'd be pushing Guy's wheelchair in front of him for the extra challenge.

So when she passed the green-clad duo she waved in passing, but didn't bother to stop. She spent all day talking to patients and staff. She liked to spend Sunday mornings in silence and solitude. And she was frustrated. She had such an amazing and unexpected good time the last two days with Sukea and now he was gone.

He had promised to return and maybe he would even keep that promise, but she wasn't going to hold her breath. She'd had enough vague promises of return to last a lifetime. But, she still hoped that whatever was happening with Sukea wouldn't repeat the same torturous pattern she'd experienced with you-know-who.

A sharp bark drew her attention and Sakura scanned the path until she saw a familiar medium sized grey dog stand in her path, tail wagging excitedly. She smiled and crouched down holding out her. It had been a few years since she'd last seen the ninja hound. "Hi, Shiba. Nice to see you again. Is your Master around?"

Shiba sniffed her hand and then angled his head to beg for pets, so Sakura happily obliged. She might have said she was more of a cat person, but she loved dogs too. "Who's a good boy? Such a sweetheart," she cooed.

A pair of familiar sandaled feet came into view. Sakura glanced up to see Kakashi towering over her and the ninja dog with a slightly exacerbated look on his face. "Yo," he greeted, somewhat casually.

It was the first time they'd spoken outside of his office in months — maybe even a year at this point. "You're up early," Sakura said, bringing her attention back to Shiba's mane of unruly hair. Of all Kakashi's dogs, this one most resembled him. Reluctantly, she stood and wiped her hands on the material of her shorts, more aware of their lack of length than she'd been when crossing paths with Lee and Guy. "Where are the rest of your hounds?"

"Sleeping in, like I wish I could be," Kakashi answered. "Only Shiba likes to get up early and today he demanded a morning walk." He scratched at the back of his head and yawned wide behind his mask. "Sorry," he mumbled.

Sakura stared at him for a moment, taking in his more than usual disheveled hair and the dark circles under his eyes. "Why did you summon your hounds? You should be sleeping in. Are you even getting enough sleep these days?" She wasn't even sure what to call him right now. He made it clear she wasn't refer to him as Sensei or Hokage. She'd shortened his name to Kashi and he seemed to like it. "I worry for you, Kashi."

"I can't sleep much anyway when I have the time," Kakashi murmured, his dark eyes haunted. He looked back down at Shiba. "I summoned the dogs because I usually sleep better with them."

Did he still dream about the loss of his original teammates? Sakura was haunted by memories of her teammates too — and they were all still alive. "Did you try the sleepy-time teas I brought to your office?"

"Did this conversation just turn into a medical consultation?" Kakashi asked.

"It's become second nature for me, I guess," Sakura answered, feeling self-conscious. She scanned the trail. There was no one else around. She could feel her muscles tensing from standing still so she raised her right leg behind her, grasped her foot and stretched her quads. She switched to the other foot. She noticed Kakashi watching her silently.

"Hm. Perhaps restless sleep is a better description," Kakashi finally explained.

She stood back on both feet and started crossing her right arm over her chest to her left shoulder. "I can put you to sleep. It's only in the REM stage that you dream. I can make sure you're in a deeper stage so you can have the restoration sleep without the nightmares." She switched to stretch the other arm. Then she started walking down the path at a sedate pace

Kakashi stared down at her, as he fell into step with Shiba circling between their legs. "That's a possibility?"

"Shizune and I were researching it. She— the man she's interested in has nightmares too," Sakura explained. She probably shouldn't be sharing this with Kakashi, but it wasn't like he was going to know she was talking about Genma. And besides, telling Kakashi information was like speaking to a stone wall, your words would just slide off. "He likes to pretend he's all cool, hooking up with people and then skipping out without spending the night. It's because he doesn't want anyone to know about his restless sleep."

"I imagine that applies to a good many war veterans," Kakashi mused. "Thank you, for lunch yesterday. I appreciate that you still check up on me."

Sakura shrugged. "You're important to me. Even when things are weird between us."

"Why do you think things are weird between us?" Kakashi asked, his stormy eyes wide in surprise as he stood still and gazed down at her.

"You avoid me like I'm a reoccurring pest," Sakura answered, rolling her eyes. "I would think that by now, you would consider me a friend. Except now, instead of burying your nose in a porn book, you're burying your entire body under a pile of work."

Kakashi's hands shoved into his pants' pockets and he resumed their previous pace, staring straight ahead. He didn't protest that he'd been avoiding her. "I definitely consider you my friend, Sakura."

"When do you go in today?" Sakura asked. "I could write you a doctor's note," she offered.

"I actually wanted to to dive into the archives. I'm not too behind on the paperwork." Kakashi raised his arms above his head and stretched, yawning once more. "The computer has been helpful on eliminating some of the work. Don't tell Naruto he was right about that. I'll never live that down." He glanced back over at her, a brief flash of humor in his eyes. "But, I'm tempted to take you up on the sleep."

"I can help you with the archives," Sakura offered. "I'm free this afternoon."

"I—." Kakashi snapped his mouth shut, seeming to ponder the offer instead of immediately dismissing it like he usually did. "Okay. Two o'clock sound good?"

"Sure, I'll be there. Do you want me to follow you home? Put you into the sleep I was talking about?" Sakura asked.

"Not this time." Kakashi's eyes crinkled in his familiar sibilance of a smile. "I think I'll be okay when I try again." He leaned down and picked up Shiba. "I'll just have to deal with this one being a little unhappy with me."

Sakura held out her arms. "Shiba can stay with me. I'll return him this afternoon. You go back to sleep, Kakashi."

He settled Shiba into Sakura's waiting arms and the look in Kakashi's charcoal gaze was dark with irritation.

"Kashi," Sakura amended. "I'll watch over Shiba, Kashi."

"Alright," he agreed and then he vanished in a swirl of leaves.

Sakura looked down at Shiba and the dog licked her chin, causing a laugh to bubble out of her chest. "Why do I feel like I've been had? I mention I want a cat and now the universe is trying to point out all the great qualities of a dog?"

Shiba barked enthusiastically and Sakura placed him back on the dirt path. "Well, come along. I still have to finish this loop and then we can head back." She started to run again and the ninja hound kept up easily at her heels.

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OoO

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At precisely two o'clock, there was a knock on his office door. Kakashi hid away the framed photo of Sakura with the butterflies into the top drawer of his desk. He'd managed to get another three hours of sleep after he returned to his penthouse and felt significantly more energized. He needed to remind himself he was no longer in his twenties and he needed at least eight hours of sleep to function like a human.

Anything less than eight hours left him as an irritable wrath, whom was difficult for others to work around.

"Come in, Sakura," Kakashi called out.

Shiba rushed in eagerly and after a brief rub between the ears, Kakashi dismissed his summons. He looked up to see that Sakura no longer wore the skimpy halter top and tiny shorts from earlier — it was a shame. Instead she had on her more professional white pants with tons of pockets and red, sleeveless qipao dress. Though, the peek of her bellybutton and toned abs was a nice touch. It wasn't quite as shameless as Ino's dress, but still reminded anyone that saw her that she was a toned beauty.

By contrast, Kakashi wore a simple sleeveless black athletic shirt and the dark blue tactical pants that all Jonin wore. His Hokage robes were draped over a rack in the far corner of his office along with his hat. Normally he had on long-sleeves, but it was unseasonably warm that October day so he'd chosen the cooler shirt, plus if they were digging around in the archives it was bound to be hot.

"You look better," Sakura observed. She set a box on his desk. "I brought us a snack for later." She glanced around the office. The piles of documents were substantially less. His clone had apparently been very eager to work the day before.

"Are you sure you're okay spending your day off helping me?" Kakashi asked, suddenly feeling guilty. She worked harder than anyone else he knew. It wasn't fair to ask her to come in on her day off.

Sakura shrugged. "I have nothing new to read, my apartment is spotless, my laundry is clean and put away. Since Naruto, Sai, and Ino are all paired up, hanging out with them means I'll feel like an awkward third wheel and Shizune is working today." She smiled at him, overly bright.

Kakashi blinked back at her, stunned by the revelations. "Um, okay." He gestured towards the back of the office at a pair of doors. One led upstairs to the penthouse and the other to the archives. He started for the latter. "I want to dissolve the current council and add my own people. The current members are all Hiruzen's old friends — and by old — I mean ancient, out of touch, small-minded dinosaurs."

"Well, who do you want on the council?" Sakura followed after him. "And have you even replaced the former members like the Jonin Commander after we lost so many in the war. I know Master Tsunade pretty much strong-armed you into the position in a matter of weeks."

Kakashi blinked at her in confusion. Were there supposed to be more members to the council?

"Who do you want advising you?" Sakura clarified.

"Shikamaru is already my advisor, along with Shizune. And I'd want you — you're not only head of the hospital, but my greatest ally. If Naruto could get himself promoted, he'd be valuable, but he's not even a Chunin." Kakashi looked back her as he pushed open the door.

"And now with his googoo eyes at Hinata, he's even less motivated," Sakura agreed. "However, rank isn't necessary to be on the council."

"Maybe not necessary, but I think Jonin have proved themselves in ways that Chunin for the most part have not. If Neji had lived, he would have been a great addition," Kakashi added. "I would like someone from the Hyuga clan, but not from the Main branch."

"Why not a representative from each of the noble clans?" Sakura reached for a scroll high above her head and stood on her tiptoes to touch it with her fingertips.

Kakashi stood behind her, so close he could feel the sharp angles of her shoulder blades against his chest. He used his superior height to grab the scroll and hand it to her before stepping back. "Too many people. I should keep it to six or less people, including myself. Maybe Yamato or Sai as leaders of Anbu. I think Sai would agree, Yamato would not. Honestly, I'd like to include Genma, he's the most decorated Jonin aside from myself, but I don't think the Hokage bodyguard is allowed."

He rubbed at his forehead. "Honestly, there aren't that many Jonin that survived the war either physically or mentally. Kurenai wants nothing to do with anything outside of motherhood, but she'd be a good representative of the Sarutobis. Anko is completely broken mentally and needs time to heal. You still haven't cleared her for active duty. Guy's talents don't revolve around critical thinking and he'd be too preoccupied coming up with rivalry competitions with me. Shizune would rather travel with Lady Tsunade than be tied to the village — they're both restless wanderers."

"I wouldn't be so sure about Shizune," Sakura interjected. "She and I run the hospital together. I think with the right motivation, she'd be happy to stick around."

Kakashi narrowed his eyes and tried to understand Sakura's cryptic comment. "Maybe you'll explain that motivation to me later."

"I think if a certain someone asked her to stay, she would," Sakura explained. "I can't tell you who — that's not my place, or yours."

"Right, okay. So, there must be something in here about how to create a new council," Kakashi stated, scanning the shelves and shelves of boxes and scrolls.

"Well, we don't have to look through the archives for that, Kashi. I am happy to give you the history lesson Master Tsunade learned. She'd had much the same desire as you when she first came into office — I'd started my apprenticeship at that time, you were off on one S ranked mission after another."

Kakashi watched as she unrolled the scroll, read over it, and then rolled it back up and gave it to him with a shake of her head. He put it back where they found it. "That was a hard time."

Sakura nodded. "It really was. I never thanked you for telling Master Tsuande about me. When I asked her to train me, she'd already received a glowing report from you. It hadn't taken much to convince her."

"I only spoke the truth. I just said you were motived, clear-headed, and analytical." Kakashi shrugged, the familiar sensation of guilt creeping up into the back of his mind. There really hadn't been much he could do for Sakura at that time. Their skill-set was so different, she needed a different teacher than him. How ironic was it that their skills complemented each other so well in battle now though?

"What we learned, was that the first hokage, had one advisor — his brother and no council. He didn't answer to the Daimyo other than a cursory level. Lord Tobirama was only Hokage for two years and during that time, he picked his teammates to advise him, but they weren't an official council. Lord Second chose from the younger generation that he trained because so many of his generation were gone. That's how Hiruzen Sarutobi, Danzo Shimura, Homura Mitokado, Koharu Utatane, and Kagami Uchiha formed the first council. The latter was the original Jonin Commander and he was killed — likely by Danzo who was Anbu Commander." She reached past Kakashi and pulled out another scroll, opened it and then handed it to him.

"It's written by Lord Third. Since he was Hokage for over four decades, he made up most of the rules as he went along. It's the reasoning he chose to create a council. He states that the current Hokage is within their rights to create their own council over a period of time. They are not to dismiss the current council members, but may add others as they see fit. And the Daimyo is to be involved in major decisions — like choosing a successor Hokage." Sakura smiled. "Master Tsunade decided against making changes because she'd been out of the village for so long, she didn't really have trusted replacements. So she trusted her old teacher's appointments. She kept Danzo, Homura, Koharu, and Shikaku Naru."

"So I can pick whomever I want," Kakashi murmured, reading over the familiar scrawl of the Third Hokage. "And I'm already down two members."

"That's right. Kashi, you can do whatever the hell you want — within reason," Sakura said, smiling brightly at him. "Shikamaru would be honored and irritated to replace his father's position on the council. Hasn't he already been sitting in with you?"

"Well, yeah," Kakashi agreed. "But he's been silently observing. I didn't realize he could voice his thoughts during the meetings. And Anbu Commander — I'll see if Yamato or Sai are interested." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "We're still under the authority of the Daimyo."

Sakura raised her eyebrow. "Are we though? He didn't save the world— you did. You and your old teammates whom you influenced so much. Your father would be so damn proud of you, Kakashi."

Right then, he shut down completely the moment she brought up Sakumo Hatake. He thought after he'd been in limbo and spoken with his father's spirit during Pain's attack, that he'd finally put those bitter feelings to rest. They still popped up now and again.

She could sense the moment his emotional curtain dropped. Sakura reached for him, her hand warm against the skin of his forearm. "You should talk about him, Kashi. He's inspired you so much. I ache for the pain you've been through, but you're not alone." Sakura slipped her arms around his waist and hugged him.

Kakashi stood there, unable to hug her back. He could only stand there, still as a statue clenching and unclenching his jaw. Sukea would have easily wrapped her in his arms. But Kakashi Hatake was no more than a scarecrow— a scary visage and hollow inside.

Sakura stepped back and tucked her hair behind her ear with an awkward smile. "You've got a lot to think about. Let me know if I can be any more help." She started to walk away from him, but paused at the doorway and looked at him over her shoulder. Her jade eyes soft with concern. "I am be honored to stand at your side and support you, Kashi. You're a great man and you're an amazing Hokage."

Kakashi closed up the archives and settled back at his desk in his now empty office. He put the framed photo back up and stared at it. His gaze shifted from the picture of Sakura and the butterflies to the large portrait of Minato on the wall. He didn't feel like a great man. He felt like he was constantly disappointing people.

He should have offered to walk Sakura home.

The lunchbox she'd packed for them was forgotten on his desk. Kakashi took off the lid and was greeted by the smell of a delicious selection of onigiri, a sealed container of miso soup with eggplant, and salt-broiled saury— all his favorites. This was more than a snack . She'd meant for them to share, but he'd scared her off.

With a sigh, he began to write out an order. He'd send one of the Hokage retainers, Hagane, to complete the request. The Yamanaka Flower shop was about to have a regular customer. And Sakura's office at the hospital was about to be brighter. The flower shop was a smart go-between. If Kakashi wrote to Sakura himself, she'd easily recognize his familiar scrawl.

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OoO

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The next morning, Sakura was refreshed and ready to start another week at the hospital. She greeted her staff and when she opened the door to her office her olfactory was pleasantly surprised by the smell of the fresh bouquet of yellow, orange, and red roses sitting on her desk.

She eagerly snatched up the small card attached and noticed a rectangular item along with it — wrapped in a dark green wrapping paper.

It was a letter from Sukea, obviously dictated and written by someone at her best friend's family flower shop. He wrote her about the carnival coming to Konoha the next weekend and wanted to know if they could visit it together. He asked if she'd deliver her answer in a note to Genma — his cousin would relay the message.

Sakura eagerly tore open the present and gasped at the sight. It was an expensive silver frame with pink and green vines twining around it. The 5x7 photograph was of her and Sukea amongst the butterfly migration. He stood behind her, his cheek pressed against hers with butterflies and fall foliage in the background.

They made a striking couple. And butterflies seemed to dance in Sakura's stomach as she allowed herself to feel happy for a moment. Was this what her friends were feeling? Was this what it was like to be desired by a handsome man that you also desired?

Her response in acceptance was immediately penned out She'd drop it off when she next visited Kakashi's office.

There was a knock on her door and Shizune stepped inside, ready to go home after her long shift. Her friend's dark eyebrows shot up. "Wow. You've been busy. Who's that from?"

"Sukea," Sakura explained. "He's a retired shinobi, but is now a professional photographer." She picked up the very expensive framed photograph and showed it to her senpai. "Isn't he cute?"

"I don't think cute is an accurate enough description for him, but you two are very cute together." Shizune glanced between the picture and Sakura. "We'll have to talk about that more when I'm not dead on my feet." She set down the folder with her patients from the day on Sakura's desk. "There's only six. Everyone else has already been released. So there's no need to work too hard today."

"Do you think we can start reducing hours? Give our staff a little more free time?" Sakura asked.

Shizune nodded. "Finally. I think we're at that point. Can you imagine only working forty-hours instead of seventy?"

"Whatever will we do with our free time?" Sakura giggled at the very idea. "I might have to pick up a hobby or something."

Shizune pointed at the picture frame and vase of flowers. "It looks to me you found a way to spend your time."

"Maybe." Sakura stared at the assortment of autumn flowers on her desk. "So, there's a carnival in the village next weekend. Want to go?" Sakura asked.

"To a carnival?" Shizune rubbed at the circles under eyes. "Well, I suppose I'll have rested up by then. If we have someone to cover so that we can both be out — I'd be game."

"Good, then it's a double date," Sakura stated.

"Date? With who?" Shizune's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"I'll be going with Sukea and you'll be going with his cousin," Sakura said, smiling sweetly.

"And who is that?" Shizune asked warily.

"Genma Shiranui."