Maybe I am stating the obvious here: but this story is written without a beta. It's just a quick story and I didn't want to wait too long in between writing and posting. So there are probably some mistakes.

For a more serious take on this couple, check out my other story: To love a Senju and save an Uchiha.

Thank you so much for all the reviews! That makes me so happy and in the flow.

Snow was falling again. But Sakura did not want to see it. Sitting at the bar of a cafe that was frequented by shinobi, she tried to forget things like that for a moment. Genma was sitting close by, his chocolate brown eyes following her movements. She frowned at him. She knew he was ANBU and it almost felt as if he was keeping an eye on her. He winked.

A few weeks ago she performed the last physical check-up. His cells had been fine, more than fine. She declared him fit for duty. An emptiness had snuck up on her after that. There was tension between them. She tried to invite him for a spar, but he declined and she had not heard or seen him since.

It was his presence in her life that she tried to drown away for a moment. That brilliant, handsome, fearless presence in her life. That could never be hers. Because he was putting every brilliant brain cell of his into finding his way back home.

He would have a good reason to find his way home. That man did not move a muscle without a plan. And she was no part of it.

She ordered another whiskey. Genma was next to her: "Haruno-san. Shouldn't you be heading home?"

She eyed him with irritation. "Why? Are you concerned?"

Genma flipped his senbon towards the other side of his mouth, "Not me, love."

She frowned at him and then considered the possibility of his boss. Her anger flared. "Just leave me alone, Shiranui. I can take care of myself." She took her glass and chucked the drink, slamming it on the bar.

She needed a break from this. And she knew just what to do.

Xxxxxx

Kakashi frowned at the request. He was sitting in the dead of night in his office facing Sakura who smelled like alcohol but looked very sober. Those medics and their abilities to control their bodies. He sighed. And vaguely wondered why Tsunade never bothered to break down the alcohol and preferred to function in a drunken slumber.

He slowly said: "Don't you have a hospital to run?"

"Not yet I don't. Tsunade is in the process of transferring the workload to me. But it's not official yet."

"Then why?"

She sighed. "I just need a break Kakashi. I have been working non stop since the war and I feel tired. I need time to figure out what it is I want."

The suspicion was clear in his voice: "And you need the most dangerous mission level to research yourself? Are you sure you are not running away? Is this about Sasuke?"

She laughed at that. "Oh please Kakashi. I am no longer that little girl."

He gave in after a few more words. And she was satisfied, because for this mission she needed to leave at midnight.

She looked forward to turning off her brain for a while.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Tobirama stood with his arms crossed at Kakashi's desk while the latter kept calmly answering his questions, despite turning somewhat pale above his mask. The Nidaime made no effort to reign in his rather powerful chakra and it filled his office like heavy water, suffocating. If it would be any other shinobi Kakashi would have disciplined them, but this was the Nidaime Hokage. So he kept his mouth shut and answered his questions.

His rather sharp and suspicious questions. "And you let her go alone? Where is the wisdom in that?"

"Nidaime-sama. Sakura-chan can take care of herself. I have complete faith in her."

"And you never wondered why she asked for such a mission?"

Kakashi frowned at that question. "Why? Did something happen?"

Tobirama opened and closed his mouth again. The question made him pause. Did something happen? Why was he voicing his concerns at the desk of the current Hokage? But he knew deep down. He knew that she was struggling with… with whatever was going on between them. And he … hurt her. His efforts to research time travel had somehow given her the impression that he wanted to leave. And if he was honest. He was not sure how he felt about that.

Kakashi looked suspicious, but also seemed to understand that it was a delicate matter. "Nidaime-sama. I do not wish to assume anything. But I have known Sakura for a long time. If she left to work out problems in her life, then I trust her to make the right call. She is not the kind of person to hide, but her future position as head of the hospital is taking all her time. To take a mission like this, might give her the distraction she needs to look at her problems from a different perspective."

Tobirama stared at him, letting his reasoning sink in. It sounded solid. But he knew it was not the entire truth. His ANBU reported that she had been frequenting the bar in Konoha more often than she was prone to and drank more as well. He voiced more concerns.

"Are you having ANBU stalking her?" Kakashi asked incredulously. "Nidaime-sama, is the problem that she is apparently working out right now, related to your relationship with her?"

He said stiffly: "It might be. I am not certain."

Kakashi said with an edge to his voice: "Just. Don't hurt her."

Before he could answer, an ANBU arrived like a shadow through the window: "Hokage-sama, Nidaime-sama. Haruno-san returned from her mission, but collapsed five kilometres from Konoha. We have transported her to the emergency room in the hospital. Godaime-sama is treating her as we speak." He bowed.

Xxxxxxxxxx

Sakura woke to the sound of a heart monitor and the smell of the hospital. She held her eyes closed, not willing to face reality just yet. She knew she wasn't alone in the room. A presence next to her was living and breathing. A familiar smell enveloped her that she recognized and the familiar hum in her cells was soothing. She sighed deeply.

When she was finally ready to open her eyes, she stared right into red ones.

He looked dishevelled. As if he had slept in his chair all night. Concern clouded his eyes.

"Hey…"

He smiled a little at that, but it did not diminish the concern. The door opened with a bang and Tsunade swept into the room, eying her uncle with a dangerous glint.

"Well. How do you feel?" she demanded.

Sakura was used to her bedside manner and said: "I feel good."

"Right." The older woman grasped the clipboard from the bed and leafed through it. "Just so that you know, the injuries listed here don't fit on one page. I don't know what he was thinking of sending you out on this mission, but I am going to break his skull."

Sakura sighed: "Shishou, he could not have foreseen the ninja that was part of the organisation. He was just too good, I barely escaped."

With visible effort, she reigned in her anger and said through clenched teeth, "That is why he should not have let you go solo. And you should not have accepted a mission like that. What were you thinking!"

Sakura's temper flared in turn: "I am a shinobi. Qualified for this mission. I never heard you complain when other shinobi are sent on missions!"

"I will when it concerns the future Director of this Hospital. Don't die on me before I can enjoy my pension!"

They stared at each other for a moment, their anger smouldering in their eyes.

"You are dismissed by the way if you feel good enough to walk."

Sakura blinked at this when Tsunade glared at her uncle. "Don't think for a second, that I don't know that this had something to do with you. You better fix this!"

She slammed the door behind her, The glass windows rattled.

Sakura stated dryly: "She is just concerned."

He said nothing, knowing his niece too well. "Come. I will take you out of here."

Her clothes were a ruin and after concluding that it was no use, he simply slid his arm underneath her bare legs and lifted her bridal style. Before she knew it, he had transported them to the middle of her apartment.

She frowned at him when he lowered her softly. "You have an hiraishin seal in the middle of my room?"

"Only for emergencies."

They still stood very close. She had to look up at him, and marvel at his sharp features. So handsome.

And a creepy stalker apparently. Oddly enough, his invasion of her privacy didn't freak her out.

He radiated heat that she felt through her hospital gown. Rather comforting.

For a moment he seemed to lean into her, but he shook himself quickly, coughing his nerves away. "Get dressed. I will cook."

After a blissful hot shower, she padded on bare feet, clad in her favorite hoodie into her kitchen where the smell of cooked rice made her mouth water.

She had no recollection of ever smelling cooked rice.

She accepted a bowl of it with relish. There was green tea as well, accompanied by mandarin parts. And she sighed in bliss.

The simplicity of the meal was beautiful and the smells made her mouth water. The most devine food she ever faced. When she took a first tentative bite from the rice, too hungry to even sit down, she sighed in pure bliss.

From the corner of her eyes she noticed him smiling.

"It just tastes so good! As if I never tasted rice before!"

Ever the rationalist he simply stated: "This is normal when you have endured exhaustion so close to….."

She stopped chewing when he finished: "... the point of death."

Silence fell.

She felt guilt. That was not anticipated.

Tobirama watched her, his eyes assessing her emotions and then he held up his hands to stop the downward spiral of her thoughts; "Sakura…. just…. don't feel guilty." He paused, searching for words. "I know what a shinobi's life is like, the risks we take in either times of peace or war. Each mission is important. I will never judge you for it, nor prevent you from doing missions. Kakashi is not to blame, nor you. Tsuna was simply projecting her own fears on you."

She did not realise how much she needed somebody speaking those words. A lightness entered her heart and thoughts. Air and freedom surged up through her. This amazing man… he knew her, accepted her, respected her. Instead of feeling an inequality in power, since he was one of the legends and founders of her city, of everything she held dear, he made her feel like his equal. A shinobi in her own right, that would take agency over her own decisions.

She revelled in the realisation. Her parents had been overly concerned and also prone to projecting their fears onto her efforts to become a shinobi, dragging her back into a position of dependence, inferiority, insecurity. It took her a long time to rid herself of these toxic patterns of interaction.

But here she was facing this marvelous man from the past. A man lost in time, uprooted from everything he was familiar with. From a time where kunoichi were non-existent. Where women were meant to marry and produce clan members. He was brought up in an environment like that. In a war. And it was him of all people that understood. That treated her as an equal. Trusted her. The founder of everything she knew. Hokage, brother, shinobi, legend, and also just a man. A friend.

Her head felt light. Where was this conversation going?

And she took another bite of rice.