Sakura went back to work on Monday as normal, Tenzou driving through the streets of Konoha now being buried in snow.
First, however, she made an early morning trip to see her doctor—before office hours early, to avoid the general populace. She needed the OK to go back to running herself ragged, and Kakashi wouldn't budge. He dropped her off with Guy and Asuma, before snagging a taxi from the doctor's office, on his way to see Inoichi.
The taxi took him through snow muted streets, Konoha slow to wake as fluffy flakes steadily buried the city. Kakashi wondered if Sakura would be interested in going snowboarding—he should pitch it as an idea for one of Fire Drive's vlogs. Sakura could even make head-to-toe snow gear look good, and that was pretty damn impressive.
He shook his head, forcing his mind away from Sakura as herself and to Sakura as his assignment. Inoichi had sent him an encrypted text message ordering him to meet, an aggressive reminder after yesterday that he had a job to do. He felt like he was having this battle inside him every damn day.
The Akatsuki were terrorists. This wasn't just about Sakura for him. Rin and Obito's smiling faces flashed in his mind. Were they getting blurrier? The more time passed, the harder it was to recall their features without looking at a photo. The realization horrified Kakashi, but it also focused him.
His taxi pulled up outside the gates of a non-descript office building, and he hopped out into the cold, his footsteps muffled by the yet undisturbed snow. Ordinarily, he would go outside of the city, to the Konaha Intelligence Agency compound. A collection of concrete buildings surrounded by barbed wire, cameras, and armed guards. But today he needed to get back to the set of Night High before she went to Senju, where Fire Drive was filming tonight to promote the mini-album that they were going to release in a few weeks.
Kakashi was a hardened solider, but sometimes her schedule made even his head spin.
He headed into the office building, glancing briefly at the directory—there, Konaha Municipal Works. Top floor. Kakashi rolled his eyes. Super-secret satellite location for the ANBU but they still had to have the best views. If that wasn't some government bullshit Kakashi didn't know what was.
A minute after entering the building, Kakashi stepped off the elevator on the top floor and breezed through the doors of the ANBU's cover business. What even were Municipal Works? He shoved his hands in his pockets and escorted himself to the far office, where he knew Inoichi was waiting. The rest of the suite was empty, though filled with normal office furniture, right down to a reception desk with a phone ringing. It was rather off-putting.
Kakashi didn't need to take his hands out of his pockets to knock; the moment he stopped outside the office door, it opened, Inoichi's face right behind it. He didn't smile.
"Hatake." He greeted, stepping aside to let Kakashi in. Kakashi inclined his head as he entered in acknowledgement of the greeting.
"How's married life?" His boss asked, a sarcastic lilt to his voice. Kakashi met his eyes as he sat behind his desk. Kakashi's expression was flat and unamused. Inoichi put his hands up in surrender. "Well don't worry, Ino fills me in every time she calls."
Kakashi didn't find that surprising. He cut to the chase. "To what do I own this summons?"
Inoichi was all business now. "Our friendly attempted kidnapper has been murdered in his jail cell."
Well, good riddance, was Kakashi's initial thought. Then followed a stream of consciousness about the ramifications and implications from this situation. "How could that have possibly happened?"
Inoichi made an annoyed sound in the back of his throat. "Jurisdictional bullshit. Konaha PD was in charge of the case, since we couldn't actually prove his involvement with the Akatsuki. That gave them jurisdiction, and of course they fucked it up."
Kakashi didn't comment on his boss's inherent dislike of KPD. The chief was a Uchiha that Inoichi had been beefing with since he was a young man, long before even Kakashi's time. And that was none of Kakashi's business. Besides, every different agency had beef with every other agency. Cooperation who?
"Why now?"
The older man steepled his hands, the gesture eerily similar to Tsunade's. "He was going to cough up some information in order to get a lesser sentence. Well, maybe get a lesser sentence, depending on the value of the information." He shrugged. "We've also been seeing a lot of suspect activity around the Land of Fire. The Akatsuki are getting bolder, but also inpatient."
Kakashi wondered what was driving the sudden increase in activity. The end of the year? "What, are they worried about their account books?"
Inoichi laughed. "No, I don't think it's got to do with the end of the tax year." He became serious again. "I received a tip about some drugs and, likely, information passing through The Last Call."
Kakashi quirked an eyebrow.
"There's a big charity Gala on Saturday night, all the wealthy and corrupt out together." Inoichi provided.
"Like Halloween?"
"Yup. Any time the rich and powerful get together it's prime for criminal activity. I need you there on Saturday night to listen and learn." This was not a request, it was a politely stated order. One which there was no doubt Kakashi would do. "Have your head on right." Kakashi was used to this: get an assignment, get instructions, execute. It was the side affect of being raised in the military for all intents and purposes.
"Do you have building specs? Suspect list? Timelines? Delivery routes? Staff list? Other info?"
The two men were off, files spreading over table tops, pens poised, plans planned. All this information would be sent to Kakashi via a secure server on a secure laptop he had locked in a small safe under the guest bed at Sakura's, but the physical documents had to go. When they were done, nearly an hour later, they put the files in the shredder without hesitation and watched the sensitive information become was back in the SUV when Tenzou picked Sakura up from her doctor's appointment. They were ten minutes late; but Sakura, surprisingly, was unbothered.
He sat across from her in thicker black pants and a heavy, black leather jacket. He loved the cold weather, the snow, the holidays. He loved the pink biting Sakura's nose and cheeks from the chill morning air. It was the small, inconsequential things that reminded him to live. They warred with his sense of duty and focus.
But she was directly before him, so he took Sakura in, comparing and contrasting the young woman before him now to the girl she'd been when he met her. He wondered if she had noticed over the last four weeks that she had grown. Not physically (Kakashi was certain she'd remain her current size forever), but mentally. He would never ask her to change, but she was so capable of adapting, a crucial life skill. Despite her vehement stubbornness about her personal space, she now didn't seem to mind her guards in her home at all. She spoke more to them. She was less harsh to those around her. Kakashi was sure she would keep becoming an incredible woman.
Sakura was watching the snow fall out the car window, eyes a little big with wonder.
"It doesn't snow much in the Land of Rain, does it?"
Her eyes didn't leave the flakes fluttering by. They were the fat, wet kind, that stuck to everything they touched and got deep, fast. "No, it does not." Her breath fogged the glass of her window, and she wiped it away impatiently. "I love the snow. Snowmen, snow fights, sledding, ice skating. I love sweaters and hot chocolate and Christmas lights."
Kakashi wondered if she knew that she was smiling.
"Me too,"
She tilted her head to the side, considering the winter outside. "You know what's curious? My blood pressure and heart rate were lower today than they usually are. I wonder if it's from actually resting for a week." She pondered aloud.
"Gee, I wonder,",
Now she did look at him, those eyes glowing. The air in the car was thicker while he held her gaze, her gravity stronger. Had eye contact always been this intimate?
"What?"
He gave her a pointed look. "You've been a little less high-strung lately," But truly, only a little.
She pouted at him. "I am not high strung." Kakashi made a face under his mask, but the message conveyed all the same. "Okay, maybe a little bit." She held her fingers up, her long nails a nanometer from each other. He laughed.
Thinking of what caused her to be high strung reminded him that her attacker had been assassinated.
"What?" Sakura asked, having picked up on Kakashi's change in mood. For a young woman most people might describe as 'self-absorbed' she was very perceptive to Kakashi's little tells. She was always paying more attention than she would let on.
Kakashi met her gaze, the burning electricity between them now smothered. "Your stalker was murdered in prison." No way to sugar coat that. He leaned back into the plush leather car seat, crossing his arms over his chest.
The words hung in the air while Sakura processed that.
"Well. Alright then." She shrugged. "That's...unfortunate?" She ventured. He knew how she felt about violence, but he could tell she was having an internal struggle over the news.
Kakashi tapped a finger against his bicep, noticed he was doing it, and stopped. "He was supposed to have a proffer today,"
Sakura stared at him blankly.
"An interview with a prosecutor where the defendant gives the prosecutor information that's valuable in exchange for maybe getting a deal." He explained.
"Maybe getting a deal?" She raised one baby-pink brow.
"Depends on how valuable the prosecutor finds the info," Kakashi supplied. "But now it doesn't matter. Can't get shit from a dead guy."
Sakura groaned. "What a pain." She winced. "Now I sound like Shikamaru."
Kakashi consciously restrained himself from tapping his fingers again. "Akatsuki's on the move." He didn't know why he felt the need to share this with her; maybe as a warning?
Sakura scoffed. "When aren't they?"
Good point.
"I'll be busy this weekend doing some work on it, so I'll assign Kotetsu, Izumo, Genma, and Guy for the entire time."
"No love for Asuma?"
"Asuma has a small child and a wife. He gets preferential treatment." Kakashi explained.
Sakura narrowed her eyes. "And where will you be?"
He did not want to answer that question.
"Oh, I see. Hiding things from me again. That went sooooo well for you last time." She mirrored his posture, arms over her chest, expression sardonic.
"Working." He supplied flatly.
"Where?" She pressed him, undeterred by his warning look.
"I have some information to collect at The Last Call," he hedged.
She grinned wickedly, leaning forward once more. "Great. I'll go with you. Be your Lady Luck."
"You've lost your pretty pink mind."
"I know about that Gala. Gambling isn't my thing, so I wasn't interested, but I was, of course, invited." She waived his comment about her sanity away.
He said nothing, his expression becoming tight.
She waved a hand, dismissing his silence. "Well, I think I should go, make a big thing about it. I'm sure it will provoke them to move if lay myself out like a big steak." She paused pointedly. "This time I'll be aware of the fact that I'm the bait."
Kakashi hated everything about that idea, and he expressed as much to her. "You will draw too much attention for me to slip in and out of conversations and places discretely."
"Ok well, you can go along and view it as a strategic move, or you can come along because I'm going anyway. It's an A List Gala, everyone is going to attract so much attention that it basically cancels out." Kakashi understood, she wanted to make a preemptive strike, but this was a poor plan. He knew that he was guilty at Halloween of using her as bait, but all he wanted now was for her to stop being in those kinds of vulnerable positions.
He should have kept his damned mouth shut. He should buy a new mask that prevented him from speaking. Yeah, that was a solid idea. He'd get on the internet and find one immediately.
"I don't see how this event is any different from all your other events," He pointed out.
Sakura hummed. "True. But it's the next biggest event with all the characters drawn out; the politicians and millionaires and idols. Some of those people are bound to have dirty hands, and where best to learn that kind of gossip than the den of sin?"
Sakura was a fox in the hen house, pleased with herself for the logical point. It was the exact point the ANBU assigned to this mission, minus the knowledge of drug trafficking. Again. They had been moving drugs on Halloween as well, as it was a huge part of the Akatsuki's criminal empire. Endless funding for their war mongering goals.
"You nearly have a good point there," he conceded. He sighed. "The Last Call is certainly a den of sin. But we aren't exactly Brad Pitt and George Clooney."
Sakura looked blankly at him, swaying as the car came to a stop outside the filming studio.
"Ocean's 11? Cascino heist?"
She shook her head with nonrecognition, entirely unbothered. The car doors unlocked with a faint clunking sound and Sakura raised her eyebrows sharply at Kakashi, impatient.
Muttering to himself as he got out of the car, Kakashi braced himself against the cold. The snow immediately began to collect in his hair and on his shoulders. He was amazed by this stark opposite weather. Just a bit ago they'd been in a tropical paradise. Weird.
He cracked his neck as he shuffled around the vehicle, annoyed to see that the paparazzi did not take snow days. Kakashi wished he was still in bed. Warm and pressed against a soft, pink body.
He was finding himself wanting to do more and more unprofessional things when he was with her. He needed to get the fuck ahold of himself.
Reporters pressed forward, swarming like flies on a carcass. To his surprise, cameras and microphones were shoved in his face as much as Sakura's. He kept his expression flat and uninterested as he pushed by them, ensuring they didn't reach out and grab Sakura. He threw elbows and knocked hands aside, unrelenting in deflecting the crowd.
He didn't anticipate that he would be grabbed by the elbow, which very nearly caused him to slip on the sidewalk. He felt Sakura bump into his back. He spun on his heel, ripping his elbow away from the reporter who had been bold enough to grab him, and caught Sakura around the waist before she fell.
She huffed pink strands out of her face as she stared up at Kakashi, eyes wide. Clouds of her breath billowed past his face. Slowly, those jade eyes narrowed, and she glared around him at the reporter. The reporter didn't even blink, entirely unapologetic. He yelled a question at them about their relationship, which they both ignored.
Kakashi twitched his eyebrows at his wife. She was making a sour face in front of cameras, which was something he knew she tried very hard not to do. He gently set her up right and dusted some fallen snow from her shoulders, blocking her as best as he could from view.
"Careful, the look on your face could melt all this lovely snow," he said quietly to her. Her brows relaxed and her face cleared, becoming soft and open. Kakashi grinned at her under his mask. "Atta girl,"
He turned back around and pushed through the crowd more aggressively than before. He was her bodyguard after all, he was allowed to get a little physical. Kakashi was pleased when the paparazzi backed up, creating space in the face of his dark gaze. Sakura had an image to uphold—Kakashi did not. While it was true his behavior would reflect back on her, he was not behaving any differently than he ever did in his occupation, so he did not fear the blow back.
Kakashi's breath was hot inside his mask as he and Asuma covered Sakura as she entered the security gate into the studio complex, her cream boots leaving ephemeral prints in the snow.
His brain ran scenarios in his head while he thought about her proposal. The gala at the casino would undoubtedly be filled with information, enough seedy characters that there might be some black-market info, and under the table dealings. If Sakura went, it just might draw the Akatsuki out. Seemed like a stretch, but it certainly was possible. The real problem stemmed from Sakura wanting to be involved in the hunt.
He wanted her nowhere near involvement. Going to the gala didn't really cross the line but knowing that she was even thinking this way terrified him to his bones. He certainly didn't want her trying to scheme. This was his job, his world. She didn't need to be getting involved.
The three of them didn't speak as they strode across the already bustling lot outside of the actual studio building, Asuma standing in front of Sakura, Kakashi standing behind. Props and directors, golf carts, actors all flowed by them in the cold, busy busy busy. He frowned at the back of Sakura's head under his mask. If his hair weren't already grey, it certainly would have turned that color after working for this woman.
The moment they stepped out of the cold into the enormous warehouse that was the set, Sakura was engulfed in the circle of her fellow cast, tugged away from her guards and rushed off. She didn't look back. Kakashi and Asuma shared a look, tucked their hands in their pockets simultaneously, and went to assume positions leaning against the wall with the other security. C'est la vie.
They both kept the pink head in sight as it moved towards costuming, the orbit of people around her nearly eclipsing her from view.
Kakashi was surprised when a few minutes later Hanare strolled in, guitar case in hand. He did not move from his position, but nodded when her eyes found his across the immense space. He heard the little noise of excitement she made and then she was barreling into him, forcing him to raise his arms and catch her.
"Hey, stranger! It's so good to see you! It's been, like, a week." She pulled back, taking a few seconds to disengage. This was how she was; she didn't withhold being affectionate with anyone. She was just a nice person.
Hanare greeted Asuma as well, smiling widely and showing off her white teeth.
Asuma's expression didn't change, though it almost never did while working. "What brings you here?"
Hanare adjusted her grip on her guitar case and tossed her hair over a shoulder. "I have a little musical cameo for the episode they're shooting today." Her smile became entirely self-satisfied. It was a big deal given the size of Hanare's band.
"Congratulations," Kakashi and Asuma offered at the same time.
"Thank you!" She squealed a little in her excitement, then glanced over her shoulder at the director. "Okay, I have to go, wish me luck!" She briefly hugged Kakashi again and then darted off—towards Sakura, who's eyes had watched the entire exchange.
Now in her uniform for her character, Sakura was standing just off set, wand in hand, hand on hip, head cocked slightly to her right. Her expression was blank. But as Hanare got closer to her, Sakura's face became polite, and Kakashi could see her greeting his friend.
He could not hear the exchange between the women, but he did notice Sakura become a little stiffer as the conversation progressed. She was icing over as he watched. Hanare leaned closer and said one last thing before striding off, leaving Sakura standing alone for a moment.
Sakura shook her head, reset her expression, and went to work.

-
The moment the elevator doors dinged open, Naruto Uzumaki barreled into Sakura, taking her in his arms and swinging her out of the elevator into the hall.
"Sakura! How could you leave us for so long! It was basically abandonment!"
Sakura flinched from his volume, though a small smile tugged her lips. "Naruto, I was sick," she scolded when he released her.
Sasuke, standing just off to the side, scowled at the blond. "Try not to get her sick again, Naruto,"
Naruto pouted. "I won't get her sick again. I'm healthy as a horse."
"Are horses particularly healthy?"
Naruto thought about it. "I have no idea."
Kakashi and Kotetsu, who had replaced Asuma, made eye contact, a chuckle escaping Kotetsu. Naruto's frown deepened.
Sakura grabbed both her bandmates by the wrist and began tugging them toward makeup and wardrobe. "Guys, it's already five. We have a five-hour live stream. Let's get down to business."
"To defeat the Huns," Naruto sang under his breath, allowing Sakura to pull him along.
Kakashi groaned internally. The release of their new album was approaching, but a five-hour live stream this late in the evening was a drag. Kakashi began internally comparing his most tedious assignments to guarding FireDrive for five hours of fan entertainment. This might not be horrible, at least there would be free entertainment.
The guards followed silently and waited outside the door of the dressing room in order to remain out of the way while designer garments and cosmetics started flying. As the clock ticked towards five, the band members stumbled back out, their outward appearances flawless other than their ruffled expressions.
Sakura was in the white angelic outfit she had worn when she had kissed Kakashi on the couch for the paparazzi. He swallowed harshly as he took her in, the outfit setting his blood ablaze. The memory of that first kiss sending his heartrate sky high. Kakashi had never reacted to beautiful women or sexy outfits the way he reacted to Sakura. She was one of a kind. There was no one-in-a-million comparison to make because there would simply never been anyone like her.
Kakashi forced his eyes away from her and looked at the ceiling as he followed the band down the hall to their usual lounge and recording booth. What an interesting ceiling paint. Was that eggshell or picket fence white?
Kotetsu and Kakashi stopped just inside the door of FireDrive's lounge, taking in the cameras set in the direction of the opposite end of the room, comprised of a couch with an armchair on either side, and a coffee table between them. Props filled the room behind the cameras: yoga balls, hula hoops, giant jenga, sparklers, a unicycle for some reason, the band's instruments… There was, of course, also a professional grade coffee machine in the corner, real ceramic mugs and glass bottles of flavoring shining beside it.
Kakashi and Kotetsu leaned against the back wall in mirror posture, arms crossed over chests, legs crossed at the ankle. The same posture as always. Their backs were probably going to go out before either of them turned forty. They watched through uninterested eyes as the bandmates got steaming cups of cappuccinos and chatted, intermittent laughter filling the air.
"Do we really have to stand here for five hours?" Kotetsu whispered. "There can't possibly be a threat from inside this building."
Valid point. Kakashi inclined his head incrementally. "With celebrities, you never know." He answered. "It's not the longest amount of time we've spent as wallpaper. At least we'll be entertained. And there's coffee."
Kotetsu considered this for a moment, then nodded. "I suppose."
Kakashi did not fail to notice that the mini fridge under the coffee machine was stocked with bottles of sake and champagne, beer and seltzers. He found himself nonplussed, as Sakura wasn't usually one to over-indulge. But then an image of her in her bachelorette party dress, biting his collar bones, popped into his head.
The blood in his body flowed due south, and he shifted his stance subtly. Kotetsu marked the movement anyway. He smirked at Kakashi. Fucker.
"What ya thinking about so early in the day, Captain?"
"Shut the fuck up, Kotetsu." He muttered lowly.
Sakura still heard it, though. Her green eyes flashed over her shoulder from where she stood at the coffee machine, one perfect brow arched. Kakashi coughed into his fist, his expression neutral. She turned back around and started making her way to one of the armchairs in line of the camera, her hips drawing his eye.
Kotetsu elbowed him.
Kakashi cuffed the younger man over the ear, not looking away from his wife. "Shut the fuck up, Kotetsu."
Kotetsu opened his mouth but shut it when the door swung open, and the camera and sound crews came in. He settled for glaring at his superior, entirely unrepentant.
A flurry of activity ensued as Naruto and Sasuke took up seats, the blond sprawled on the couch, Sasuke claiming the other chair. The film crew got going, getting ready to live stream FireDrive until just after 10pm.
Kakashi glanced at the clock above the door, a crew member started a countdown, and they were off.
The livestream went without a hitch as the time crept by. Sometimes one bandmate would slip away to use the restroom or refill their coffee. In order for them to eat dinner but be entertaining, they had ordered a spread of hot wings of varying degrees of heat and made a game of trying to get through to the hottest flavor.
"Ten bucks says Sakura can't take the heat," Kotetsu whispered to Kakashi.
"I'll take that action," he replied under his breath, and the men shook on it.
Naruto was the first down, hissing and gulping glasses of milk after the third level of spice. Sweat dripped down the sides of his red face.
Sakura and Sasuke came down to a battle of wills, until Sakura tapped out near the eighth level of heat, her eyes watering from spice. Sasuke sat proud and victorious, his face a little red but otherwise no worse for wear.
Kakashi bitterly exchanged cash with Kotetsu, who was smug as all get out.
His stomach rumbled, so Kakashi ambled towards the food laid out near the coffee machine, eyeing his options. Wings, of course, ribs, sandwiches, a variety of sides. He opted for a sandwich, slipped back to his place against the wall, and turned his back on everyone in the room to very, very quickly eat when no one could see.
He had gotten exceptionally skilled at inhaling food in order to replace his mask, and two minutes later he swung back to watch Fire Drive, mask in place. Kotetsu made no comment. This was just part of knowing Kakashi—he hid his face.
Fire Drive was opening up for a Q , taking questions from the comment section under the stream, as Kakashi turned back.
"Sakura, where is your new husband?" Naruto read from the tablet he was holding. All eyes in the room shifted to Kakashi. The camera man panned to him.
Of course, that was the first question.
Kakashi rolled his eyes and crossed his arms back over his chest.
Sakura winked at him saucily, then answered the question. "Exactly where he is supposed to be." The camera panned back.
He wished he had not been filmed, but there was nothing to be done. He had been getting filmed—by the public—ever since he started guarding Sakura. Where she went, cameras went. An unavoidable fact of being in her orbit.
She quickly selected the next question. "Which one of you is most likely to make a mistake during a show?" She laughed. "You know, I think there's a couple of compilations of all of us making various mistakes on stage. I'm probably most likely, since I tend to move the most."
Sasuke laughed under his breath. "It's definitely Sakura. Don't you remember when you fell into the cut out on stage during 'Cycle'?" All three of them winced at the memory.
Kakashi remembered that. It was shortly after the beginning of his employment, on FireDrive's third world tour. Sakura had been strutting across the stage, singing her lungs out to the adoring crowd, and then she had disappeared. She'd stepped into open air where she had risen through the floor an hour earlier. Kakashi was nowhere near her; there was nothing he could do. Fortunately, she had caught herself on the lip of the open hole and had the strength to pull herself back up. She kept singing like nothing happened. Kakashi had been impressed.
"Oh, hang on, there was that time a girl flashed Sasuke in the Land of Clouds." Naruto reminded his bandmates.
Sasuke's face turned just the barest hint pink.
Kakashi remembered that instance as well. A woman in the front row, with an impressive set of breasts, had lifted her shirt and bared them to the stage. They were pierced. Sasuke lost his grip on a drumstick and it went flying off. Though Kakashi recalled that Naruto had also faltered, striking a harsh cord on his guitar. Sakura had flatly ignored it. That—Kakashi had not been impressed by.
Kakashi stopped listening as they regaled their audience with tales of mishaps and shenanigans. Time passed. He and Kotetsu drank coffee and took turns using the restroom. The end crept closer.
Truthfully, Kakashi loved the monotony. Excitement meant trouble. He liked the routine of being Sakura's shadow, of quietly watching. It was, he thought, a just fine use of his skill set. Sure, he could do more high risk jobs for the ANBU, but he had intended to retire anyway. This was basically a compromise; he didn't retire but he was no longer running through the nights laden down with weapons or hunting the underground for terrorists or human traffickers. Being around Sakura was comfortable.
Well, he was sort of still doing that work, but less so. Sakura was incredibly famous, and aside from the Akatsuki's weird obsession with her, plenty of non-terrorist civilians were obsessed with her as well. And they caused trouble, too. But man, he loved not doing what other operators considered to be 'exciting'.
The more 'exciting' work he had done weighed on a person. Even if he had somehow avoided losing anyone, it was heavy work. The kind that often tempted men to pick up a bottle, or a cigarette, or a poker chip. Kakashi preferred to read and take his dogs for walks. It was not the kind one told stories about, except to others who had participated, and only sometimes.
Even though he was hunting the Akatsuki, guarding Sakura was nearly cushy. Nearly. Sometimes it made his blood pressure spike, but maybe that was just his age. Not that Sakura seemed to mind his age.
Oh no, there went his blood again, sailing southbound.
The viewers of the stream must have heard his thoughts, because as he tuned back in, Naruto read a question to the group, "How old is Sakura's husband?"
Sakura didn't let it fluster her. She held her palm up to one cheek, tipped her head just a little to the side. "Ya know, it is kind hard to tell, with the mask and hair and all. How old do you guys think he is?"
Sasuke chimed in, blessedly helping to move the attention from Kakashi. "I am so bad at telling age. There was this time…" He launched into a story about a woman he had accidentally insulted. The focus devolved from there.
Kakashi's pocket vibrated. It was Hanare, gushing in a text about performing for Night High. He was happy for her; it was a pretty big step. Then, she text and asked if he was home. He quickly responded in the negative and replaced his phone in his pocket.
Kotetsu shot him a curious look. Kakashi shrugged and went back to watching.
The bandmates kept picking questions, eyes sorting through the flood of questions. Sakura was in the middle of answering a question about the new album when her eyes caught on the screen of the iPad. She stiffened almost imperceptibly, her eyes narrowing ever-so-slightly. She had seen something she did not like.
With a few blinks, her expression cleared and her body relaxed. Kakashi wondered what it was. Only a few moments went by before the same thing happened; this time, Naruto also noticed it, his voice trailing off. Sakura forced a smile and nudged him with her elbow.
"Finish the sentence, Naruto," she encouraged. The blond shook his head slightly and went back to whatever he had been saying. Now they had Sasuke's attention. The dark-haired man casually grabbed the iPad and scrolled up while nodding at whatever Naruto said. His expression didn't change.
Kotetsu and Kakashi exchanged a look. What had the three caught off guard? Particularly nasty comments? Probably.
Nothing came of it, but at least six more times through the Q & A he noticed the bandmates tense just barely.
By the time they were finally, finally finished, the three looked a little worn out. Sakura rubbed her eyes as she stood from her seat, groaning.
"Let's all agree to never, ever, do one of those 24-hour marathons, okay?" Sasuke asked, stretching his arms above his head.
Something was definitely afoot. Naruto and Sasuke kept glancing at Sakura out of the corner of their eyes and then looking away uncomfortably. Sakura said nothing, only went about wrapping up so that they could go home.
She said nothing as they descended the elevator, as they left the building, as they got into the SUV.
Halfway home, Kakashi had had enough. "So, what was it? Were trolls asking about the pictures from the morning after the wedding?" That was his best possible guess as to what had upset all three band members.
Sakura's cheeks puffed out with air for a second, which she then released in a long, slow breath. "Not quite."
Kakashi remained neutral. He would let her get to whatever it was. Given her reaction and speed to inform him, it wasn't any kind of threat to her. Which meant it was more drama tied to her celebrity status.
She unlocked her phone and tapped through a few screens, before flipping it around to show him.
It was a tweet. Judging by the repost arrows at the bottom, a very popular and widely seen tweet. It contained two images. The first image was a screenshot of an Instagram page, which Sakura tapped on to fill the screen. He could see, quite clearly, that it was Hanare's page. The post that had been screenshotted was a picture that had been taken way before Kakashi had met Sakura. It was him and Hanare outside a club in some far off land, during a rare moment of peace, dressed in civilian clothing.
He couldn't have been but twenty-five, though only he would know, as even his younger face was concealed. Hanare's arm was thrown around Kakashi neck, and he had an arm looped around her waist. Her face was tilted slightly towards Kakashi, a wide smile stretching her face. Kakashi's eyes were crinkled—he was also smiling at the camera. Kakashi resisted the urge to flinch. It would have been Rin or Obito behind the camera.
His brain was flooding with images: light and heat; flashes of smiles and crude jokes. Dark nights and laser sights. Detaching himself from the reality of war. Snow laden mountain tops crawling with enemies, hidden in crags and caves. Fingers stiff with cold. Hot sake on quiet nights. Dancing on days off. Smoothly avoiding paying the check when they went out.
Kakashi steadied his mind and cocked one eyebrow at Sakura. She tapped one perfectly manicured nail on the caption of the Instagram post. It read "A little late, but congratulation to my dear friend on his wedding!"
"She posted that this morning. While on set." Sakura's voice was public-relations pleasant. Kakashi was unintimidated.
"Okay? Lots of pictures of me have found their way onto the internet since I took this job." And thank God and the Stars and everything else that the ANBU wore full face masks, or Kakashi would be a dead man a thousand times over. He did not like the attention, but since he struck this deal with her, and the truth about her new husband got out, all he could do was minimize the damage.
He should probably ask Hanare to take the post down.
Sakura merely swiped to the next photo in the tweet.
This one was a picture of a picture of two people in conversation sitting on bar stools, facing each other as they talked. It was, of course, Kakashi and Hanare. A martini and a rum and coke could be seen sitting on the bar behind them, both empty. There was a date on the bottom of the photo. It was the day Sakura had been attacked in her home for the first time. The time that the press was aware of.
Kakashi's eyebrows drew down at this. "Who could have possibly taken that picture? The only thing anyone knew then was that I was your guard."
Sakura met his eyes with a stony expression. "One: you were my, Sakura Haruno's, guard. Two: Hanare is an up-and-coming indy artist."
Kakashi felt somewhat guilty. She had been attacked on his day off—both times, actually—while he was with Hanare.
"These popped up during the entire livestream. All over the comments. I had seen Hanare's post this morning, but I'd never seen any of the others before, so imagine my surprise." She continued.
Sakura tapped through more tweets, with more photos of him and Hanare in public spaces. He likely hadn't noticed anyone taking the pictures due to the public nature of Hanare's jobs. Kakashi was in the habit of mostly drowning out the press, and not even he could be aware of every photo from every iPhone in public. People were constantly on their phones; it was hard to determine if they were taking selfies, or pictures of the area, or pictures of him.
The last photo she swiped to was from last week, when Kakashi had picked up the dogs from Hanare after the honeymoon. He was standing on her porch, hand extended, in the exact moment she had been handing him the leashes. You could only see the back of Kakashi's head, but Hanare was entirely visible, a soft smile on her face.
It dawned on Kakashi where this was going. "Sakura," he said firmly, taking her face in one gloved hand, "there is about as much going on between me and Hanare as there is between me and Kotetsu. Our friendship will not get in the way of my job." He had a very strange sense of DeJa'Vu, They seemed to have an awful lot of tense conversation while in the back of this car. His life seemed to revolve around tense conversations in the back of cars.
Sakura did not relax. If anything, she stiffened. Swallowed once. Her phone buzzed, drawing both of their attention to the text banner that appeared at the top of the screen. It was Shikamaru, who was pouting about the negative PR and wild theories going around the internet. Sakura pulled back, forcing Kakashi to drop his hand. She rubbed one of her temples.
"I never get a break, do I?" she muttered to herself.
She said nothing else the rest of the way home, and Kakashi did not push her. He didn't think justifying his friendship would help any, and he didn't think he should have to.
Snow had nearly buried her front steps as they trudged up them, their footsteps silent on the snow. It was beautiful. Sakura was beautiful, even though he could tell that her brain was swirling with negative thoughts.
After going through her nighttime routine, she had relaxed some, which allowed Kakashi to relax (as much as someone on constant guard can). They went to bed without incident.

The next morning, Kakashi went about his routine to get ready to go out. It was his day off, and he had every intention of going to the judo dojo for some practice. Sakura was in the shower, washing off their self defense lesson. She had been tense all morning, though her face gave him nothing.
He didn't know how to fix whatever had her so nervous and she didn't seem keen to share, so he let her be. He made a to-go coffee and got ready to head for his truck. He was reaching for the front door handle when Genma called him.
"Yo."
"Someone's at the front gate." Genma said, a yawn breaking up his words.
"Who?" Kakashi inquired, his grip on the phone tightening.
"Sakura's immigration agent."