Chapter Twenty-Four: Epidemic Revisited
“Kakashi?” Sakura called as she entered his apartment after her shift at the hospital. It had been brutal, but satisfying. The medic's workload had lifted enough for her to get back to her research and today she had been able to make a couple minor breakthroughs. Sakura was almost ready to take another look at the Copy Ninja and his Sharingan.
Upon receiving no response, she wandered through the apartment to double check that he wasn’t just ignoring her with his nose in one of his dirty little books. Feeling strangely let down after not finding him, the medic meandered into his kitchen to start something for dinner.
In the kitchen she found several papers and a pen scattered across the surface of the table, as though someone had sat down to write something and had been interrupted before getting very far. Kakashi didn't usually leave paperwork lying around, and on the rare occasion he did, it was usually something he left in the living room. The only things she had ever seen him work on in the kitchen were quick last minute items, or the odd note for her before heading out somewhere. Out of habit, she gathered the papers into a neat pile; then, as she was about to move them somewhere out of the way, she noticed the top paper was addressed to her.
Sakura,
Called out, back in
The note ended abruptly and she assumed that either his team or someone Tsunade had sent had come to the apartment and dragged him away for a mission. She chuckled to herself at Kakashi's expense and checked the other papers to see what he had been working on. When she saw a brochure for a newly renovated apartment building, her interest piqued and she checked the others. One was some sort of flier for a preview showing of a model unit in the remodeled complex, while another had contact information and an appointment. Not quite believing it (the photos in the brochure were absolutely gorgeous) she hastily gathered the papers and set out to try and find the building. She had noted that the appointment was for the next day, just before her shift at the hospital.
~*~*~*~
With a sigh of relief, Kakashi reentered the village, happy that his mission was finally over. It had turned out to be a bit trickier than the client had originally led him to believe. Of course, this shouldn't have surprised him since the price of an assassination was high to begin with and could rise steeply depending upon difficulty. It had been ranked an A but really should have been at least an S. The target the target had been both paranoid and unpredictable, making it a hard job to plan, especially with a deadline looming.
Since it was just barely noon, he figured Tsunade would be available for him to give his report and he headed straight for the Hokage's tower. Once finished there, he would head back to his apartment to see if Sakura had any leftovers in the fridge. He didn’t like to admit it, but he had missed her cooking while he was away from the village. Genma's comment about having something to come home to after a mission floated through his mind, only to be hastily pushed away; he had been trying very hard to keep those sorts of thoughts under control. He knew very well that a large part of him wanted more with Sakura, but the rest of him, the more rational part of him, couldn't allow it.
As he entered Tsunade’s office, his last conversation with her came flooding back and he had to fight back the surge of disappointment he felt upon realizing that the pink haired woman had probably already moved, and that he would return to an apartment devoid of both Sakura and tasty leftovers. Annoyed, he kept his report brief and took his leave immediately after, missing the ill concealed smirk on the blonde woman’s face. She could easily guess what had put the elite shinobi in a foul mood and it amused her quite a bit. Sakura had found a suitable apartment almost immediately after he had left the village, confirming her suspicions that he had been interfering with the pink haired medic on that particular front.
Almost sullenly, he entered his apartment to find it as he had expected: cold and deserted. Absently, he wandered into his kitchen wondering if she had left him any food and was pleasantly surprised to find several premade meals waiting in his fridge, as well as a note from the ever industrious kunoichi on his refrigerator door.
Kakashi,
Welcome back! Hope the mission went well. Not sure when you’ll be coming home, but I thought I should thank you for allowing me to stay with you while I looked for a new apartment. The one you found is perfect, thank you! I’ve left a couple basic meals in your fridge, all you have to do is reheat them in the oven. Since I don’t know when you will return, I’ll come by replace the meals in your refrigerator until you come back so everything in there should be safe for you to eat.
Sakura
PS – this is pure generosity on my part – after you’ve eaten these meals you’re back to deducting from the total I promised you in exchange for your company at the formal medic’s dinner. I hope you haven’t forgotten your end of the deal.
He chuckled as he slipped one of the well-packaged meals into his oven to warm it up, his day having improved marginally with the discovery of a couple days worth of food waiting for him in his refrigerator. As for her not so subtle reminder, he hadn’t forgotten and had no intention of trying to duck out of it; on the contrary, he was looking forward to seeing her dressed up again.
While he was waiting for his meal to reheat, Kakashi set about doing all the little things he usually did upon returning from a mission. He took a quick shower, then wrapped a towel around his waist and started his laundry. It had been a while since he had last been able to lounge around his apartment in as little apparel as he pleased and he figured he might as well go back to his bachelor habits. The jonin hoped that the sooner his life went back to how it had been before Sakura temporarily moved in, the sooner he could forget how much he had actually enjoyed the experience.
Just as he was removing his lunch from the oven, there was a knock at the door. Belatedly, he remembered that Sakura usually checked in with him not too long after his return from missions. Since she had recently been staying with him and he had been voluntarily visiting her apartment before that, it had been quite a while since she had last stopped by unannounced.
Cursing his forgetfulness he hurried to his door, knowing that she would worry and let herself in if he didn’t respond immediately. A small part of him, one he no longer bothered to try and squash, looked forward to seeing her reaction to him clad in only a towel.
~*~*~*~
Sakura knocked on her former sensei’s door, feeling strange since for the last couple months she had just entered with her own key. She had to wonder while she waited what could be taking him so long. The pink haired medic had just heard from one of the jonin on gate duty that he had returned and had surprisingly decided to stop by the Hokage's office – by now he should be home and most likely expecting her.
As she was contemplating either knocking again or using her key, the door opened and she was only just able to keep her eyes from widening in surprise at the sight that awaited her. Kakashi stood before her wearing only a fairly short towel secured low around his hips, his hair still a bit damp from the shower he must have recently taken. Sakura suppressed a groan, as she realized once again that there definitely was something about a wet Copy Ninja that seemed to increase his attractiveness, especially if he happened also to be maskless and semi-nude. Hastily, she revised her assumption that he had been expecting her, and did her best to suppress the blush she knew was spreading across her face.
With a roguish smile, one that made her heart jump a little, he beckoned her inside his apartment, enjoying her discomfort.
“Come on in, Sakura. I guess it slipped my mind that I should expect a visit from you this afternoon.” He chuckled as he led her back to his kitchen. “Make yourself at home, I’ll just go put some clothes on.”
Sakura nodded mutely and watched him go. After a moment, she was able to shake off her bemusement and regain her bearings, though a small part of her really wished he hadn’t gone to make himself decent. Once she had gotten used to the idea, she had rather enjoyed the sight of him wearing next to nothing.
By the time he returned, wearing a pair of his usual loose pants and undershirt with attached mask, she had started a pot of tea and slipped his meal back in the oven to keep it warm. She frowned upon seeing his mask in place but said nothing, not wanting to be teased for preferring him without the fabric barrier… or, after catching a glimpse of him in just a towel, any fabric at all apparently.
“So, I’m assuming that you’re here to check up on me then?” he asked as he once again pulled his lunch from the oven, being careful not to burn himself.
“Yup. Well that and to say thank you for… well, for everything. Tonight, I’m going to order a ton of food because Naruto and Sasuke are coming to help me arrange furniture. I moved in a couple days ago, but I wanted to spend a few days living there before finalizing a floor plan… but the apartment, it’s perfect! How did you manage to find out about the building? They still haven’t even started advertising it yet!”
“Ah… a friend of a friend mentioned it in passing and I thought it might be just what you were looking for.” He shrugged, hoping she would buy the fib.
After Sakura's run in with her former landlord Kakashi had made a little trip to a small, but very old, bank to check on some things. The silver haired man, having found that a little protectiveness was indeed warranted, had decided that the best way of preventing a possible repeat of the situation was to ensure that her new landlord was someone he could trust – such as himself. His family had started out as farmers but had ended up as large-scale landowners. For the most part, he couldn’t be bothered to deal with any of it, preferring to let someone else take care of his inheritance. But, his need to secure Sakura a suitable apartment had caused him to express an interest in just where exactly the clan holdings lay aside from the family estate and his own apartment building which, unfortunately, was full. Nevertheless, Kakashi had figured that he could have one of the other properties he owned renovated, preferably one that was conveniently close to his own residence, and hopefully Sakura would never know that he would be her new landlord.
“Ah, well that was a good bit of luck then!” She paused, examining him from the corner of her eye for a moment. “Funny that it’s directly across the street from your building, though… I can even wave to you from my balcony.”
He shrugged, though a tiny part of him wanted to panic. “That’s probably why it was mentioned to me in the first place – a warning that I would soon be getting neighbors I guess. No more walking around naked in front of open windows and the like.” He suppressed a laugh as she choked on her tea. Kakashi had to wonder if she would spend an abnormal amount of time on her balcony trying to verify his offhand comment – the fact that she had just come across him in nothing but a towel definitely lent some credibility to his seemingly outrageous statement.
After coughing, sputtering and finally regaining her breath, Sakura nodded. She was apparently satisfied with his explanation, or too embarrassed to want to inquire any further. Kakashi heaved a silent sigh of relief and pulled his mask down to eat.
“So… you seem to be uninjured?” she asked as she toyed with her mug.
His mouth full, he nodded, then swallowed so he could speak. “Mission was pretty uneventful.”
She looked up and smiled. “That’s good. Tsunade said it wasn’t one of the easier ones, so I was expecting injuries.”
He frowned. “I may be old, but I’m not incompetent, Sakura.”
She laughed at his disheartened expression. “You’re not old Kakashi, and you’re certainly anything but incompetent.”
He chuckled a little at her indignant tone, and poured himself a cup of tea, simply enjoying the moment and her company.
“Mmm, that reminds me," said Sakura. "I’ve hit another block with my research and have a deadline approaching… Do you think I could…” she trailed off not wanting to ask him for another favor as he had already done quite a lot for her in the recent past.
He eyed her speculatively, wondering if he could get some sort of extension on his meal deal with her out of it, before his conscience firmly reminded him that he had already promised Tsunade to help her. Besides, now that she lived across the street from him, it would be all too easy to drop in just in time for dinner, or even break in and steal leftovers if he felt inclined. “Sure, just tell me when and what you need me to do. Though, you might want to let Tsunade know if you’re going to check any of those more advanced theories of yours – don’t want you putting me out of commission just before she tries to send me out.”
“Oh, no... of course not!” Sakura exclaimed, surprised that he would even think of it, or willingly allow her to do something to him that might pull him out of mission rotation for any length of time. “I don’t intend on doing anything that might impair your skills for any period of time… but I’ll still mention it to Tsunade, just in case.”
Sakura finished her tea and rose to her feet, ready to take her leave and head back to the hospital. She eyed him for a moment suspiciously. “You would tell me if you were injured, right?” The medic in her couldn’t help but ask; she was feeling a bit guilty for not trying to verify his claim of no injuries.
He chuckled. “Yes, I’d tell you, and aside from a little soreness I’ve been carrying around in my shoulders, I’m fine.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Soreness? Let me take a look.”
Before he could react, she had stepped closer to him and reached out to one of his bare shoulders to do a quick scan of his system to see what could be the cause of his soreness.
“Oh geeze, Kakashi!” she exclaimed. “You’re all stiff again! No wonder you’re sore.” She slapped him lightly upside the back of his head. “You should have told me before it got this bad! I can easily relieve that tension.”
He choked a little at her word choice, and was thankful that she didn’t seem to notice. If things kept progressing as they were it wouldn’t be long before it would be another type of tension entirely that would need easing and, tempting as the thought of her helping him with that particular problem was, he still found the idea to be all too inappropriate – her words reminded him of something very similar that had happened between the two main characters in the original Icha Icha novel Jiraiya had written for him. That scene had started out innocently enough, but by the end of it, both main characters were having incredibly dirty thoughts of the other; though neither one could see it or would dare to act on it even if they could.
“Come on," Sakura ordered. "Get up and move to the living room – I can fix this easily enough. Why you continue to wander around like that when I'm more than happy to help you out, I'll never know.”
Unsure if he could handle her hands on him without having some sort of natural reaction, especially with thoughts of Jiraiya’s manuscript floating through his mind, he tried to persuade her not to bother. “Sakura, you really don’t…”
“Nonsense, you’re my… friend, I’ll not sit back and let you suffer if there is something I can do about it.” Sakura tilted her head to the side in thought. “Besides, you do stuff like this for me all the time.”
“Um, not really.” He almost twitched at the all-too-pleasant thought of laying his hands so intimately upon his former student. “And, really it’s not that bad.”
“You did once..." Her mind flitted back to just before her birthday, and the little impromptu massage he had given her after she had healed him. A part of her would love to have him give her another... Hastily she pulled her mind back from the memory and continued. “Anyway, you’ve taken very good care of me over the years and times like these are my only chances to try and repay the favors you’ve done for me… Stop being so stubborn!” She eyed him for a moment and, sensing that he wasn’t going to give in, she decided to change her tactics. Sakura smiled appealingly. “Come on,” she tried in wheedling tone. “You know I’m going to win this one, so just make it easier on both of us and give in already!”
One look at her expression decided the silver haired man – she knew him too well, he could never refuse her anything when she looked at him like that. “Okay, okay.” Kakashi drained the last bit of tea from his mug and followed her into his living room.
Sakura moved his coffee table out of the way and gestured for him to lie down on the floor. “Ah, before you get comfortable, take it off,” she gestured to his shirt, “it’s easier when I don’t have to send my chakra through fabric.”
He sighed, feeling as though he was digging his own grave, but still complied. As soon as he stretched himself out on the floor, she knelt at his side. Her hands were as skillful as he remembered and it wasn’t long before she had him almost completely relaxed.
Then, just as he was really starting to enjoy the movements of her hands across his back, neck, shoulders and arms, he felt her pause. “Mmph?” he asked, not quite trusting himself to speak but wondering why she had stopped.
“Hang on a moment.” Sakura laughed at the all too obvious disappointment she could hear in his voice, despite the fact that he hadn’t used words. “I need better leverage to attack those knots in your shoulders.” Carefully she shifted herself to straddle his lower back. She felt him immediately tense beneath her and she sighed, watching her hard work going down the drain. “Stop that," she scolded. "You’re going to make it harder.”
Kakashi suppressed a groan at this poor choice of words and did his best to forcibly relax. Until she had slipped her bare knees on either side of his equally bare waist he had been able to keep himself under tight control. But now… now, he was in trouble. His mutinous brain was not helping matters either as the best massage scenes from all of Jiraiya’s dirty novels insisted on floating to the forefront of his mind.
Sakura felt her patient's breathing pattern change; a light flush crept across her face as she guessed what might be causing a problem for the elite shinobi. Though he was legendary for his sense of self control, Kakashi was also a man and, like most men, susceptible to certain stimulations, such as her current, rather intimate position. The source of her surprise was not the fact that he was only human – it was that she had been able to affect the stoic Copy Ninja in such a way. With some annoyance, she cleared her mind to better concentrate on what she was doing.
Not wanting to cause him more distress than absolutely necessary, Sakura did her best to quickly and efficiently finish removing the last of the stubborn knots. Unfortunately, the thought that he was having problems with his self-control while she was giving him a massage was causing her mind to wander happily off and into the realms of fantasy or, more likely, Icha Icha. Hastily, though not as quickly as she should have, she shoved those distracting thoughts aside and renewed her efforts.
Even while dealing with his 'troubles' brought on by Sakura's now rather intimate oh-so-stimulating position, Kakashi was still able to find himself entertained by her reactions. The older man had felt her stiffen and pause momentarily once his breathing and heart rate changed before resuming the massage more forcefully than before. Obviously, she had clued in to the fact that he was having some problems controlling certain natural responses, and he couldn't help but find her clear embarrassment amusing. Nevertheless, his failure to keep his body's reaction to himself, didn't mean that the silver haired man wouldn't continue to try and regain control – he had no intention of overtly adding to what he assumed would be a bit of awkwardness between the two of them once she was done.
When she finally finished, Sakura sighed and settled herself back next to her patient to do a final scan to make sure she hadn't missed something – and, to give him a little time to pull himself together. As far as she was concerned, so long as she didn’t actually see proof that she had had a certain effect on her former sensei she could pretend not to have noticed. The medic figured she must have guessed correctly as she watched Kakashi slowly stretch while letting out a huge exhalation of breath, almost a sigh, before carefully pulling himself up into a sitting position.
"Okay, Kakashi," she said with a hint of strained cheerfulness in her voice, "You're all set, should be as good as new now." Still acting as casual as possible, Sakura rose to her feet, realizing that she really should return to the hospital to finish her shift. By now, her coworkers would be wondering why she had been gone for so long for what should have been a routine check-up. "I have no idea how you function when you're tense like that – geeze, most men would have been uncomfortable enough to seek some sort of relief from a skilled professional."
Kakashi chuckled a little at her apparently innocent choice of words and enjoyed the little flush that crept onto her cheeks as she probably realized what she had just said.
Hastily Sakura smiled at him, willing the strangeness of the situation to go away. “Right, um, so anyway... all set then? I need to head back to work.” She watched as he stretched again before rising to his feet. Doing her best to suppress another blush she made a motion as though to head to the door, before pausing. “Don’t let it go so long next time, okay?”
He nodded his agreement, barely able to hide a smile, enjoying her little fit of embarrassment. As he watched her take her leave, he found it amusing that his all too natural difficulty had unsettled her as much as it did.
~*~*~*~
“Actually, I think it was better over there.” Sakura frowned a little as she examined the configuration of her furniture for the tenth time, ignoring the annoyed and frustrated looks the two young men were shooting her.
“That’s what you said the last time, Sakura!” Her blonde former teammate exclaimed, allowing some of his exasperation to show.
“Well, I thought wrong. I want the couch over there,” she gestured to one of the walls, “and the armchair over there,” she gestured again, but paused. “No, actually the armchair should be over there,” she gestured to a different portion of the room, “and the coffee table, here.”
“Are you sure, Sakura?” Sasuke asked, eyeing her warily. As much as he would never want to admit it, he was getting a little tired of constantly shifting her furniture around. Her apartment wasn’t very large, but she had managed to come up with quite a variety of different layouts and apparently wanted to try them all before settling on one. Luckily, they only had her bedroom to do once they finished with her living area.
She nodded decisively, wondering what could have happened to the delivery person. Naruto and Sasuke were getting grumpy and the food she ordered should have arrived already.
As if on cue, just as her two former teammates finished moving the furniture, someone knocked.
Happily, the kunoichi hurried to the door with her money – forgetting that her new apartment building had a state-of-the-art security system that no simple delivery person would have been able to get through on his or her own.
“Kakashi?” she exclaimed with some surprise on opening the door. “What are you doing here?”
The elite jonin smiled and pushed a bag-laden young man in front of him. “I found him wandering around outside – must have been lost.”
She eyed her former sensei suspiciously but let it pass as he entered her apartment with the food, leaving her to settle up with the deliveryman and send him on his way. A few moments later, she followed Kakashi back inside and moved to her kitchen where she could hear the three men talking as they pulled the cartons of food from the bags and started to eat.
As Sakura sat down to join then, Kakashi handed her a carton containing a favorite dish of both hers and Sasuke’s. She smiled gratefully at him, and missed entirely the Uchiha’s eyes narrowing over the unusual blatant act of favoritism by their former sensei.
“So, as I was saying, Kakashi... I wanted to thank you for stopping all that secret admirer junk.” Naruto continued the conversation she had interrupted between large mouthfuls of noodles. “Sasuke and I were a little worried since we couldn’t figure it out…”
Exercising a supreme sense of self control, the silver haired man was only just able to keep himself from choking. Naruto was the last person he would ever have expected to guess that he had been playing the part of Sakura’s secret admirer. If anything, he would have thought that Sasuke would be the one to figure it out – certainly before the often dense, blonde man at the very least.
“But, then it stopped and we realized it had to be you.” Naruto gestured at the older man while still attacking his food with gusto.
“What are you talking about, Naruto?” Sakura exclaimed with clear surprise – a small part of her was also panicking at the thought that Naruto had actually figured it out.
Sasuke sighed, feeling slightly annoyed with his former teammate for his inability to say something that didn’t need clarification. “What he meant was, neither of us was able to figure out who was leaving you gifts, so we figured that Kakashi had, and had taken the appropriate measures… it has been quite a while since you last received an anonymous gift. The coward must have been persuaded to give up.”
Feeling relieved, though careful not to show it, Kakashi finally felt able to respond appropriately. “Ah, I see. Sorry to disappoint you two, but I did nothing of the kind.” He shrugged and continued eating.
The two younger men exchanged glances, chagrined.
Sakura sighed loudly. “Will you guys just give it up already? I’m sure he probably lost interest or found someone else more worthy of his attention.” She eyed them, trying to gauge their willingness to let the matter drop once and for all. “Really, just let it lie.”
“Not until we’ve made sure that loser is going to leave you alone.” Naruto huffed into his carton of noodles. “He doesn’t deserve you and is definitely up to something.”
Sasuke rolled his eyes, then again addressed the kunoichi. “Sakura, no man goes so completely out of his way as to shower a woman with flowers for an entire day without expecting something in return, and he certainly doesn’t just lose interest after doing something like that.”
Wanting to laugh, but feeling too exasperated to do so, Sakura realized that she would get nowhere with her teammates on the issue – they were just too stubborn. Thus, Instead of trying to convince them to leave the issue alone, she changed the subject. “So, when are you two going back out again? I thought I heard Tsunade mention another mission earlier today?”
Sasuke checked his watch and cursed. “Shit! We spent too long rearranging your furniture. We’re due for the mission briefing in ten minutes.”
Still stuffing noodles into his mouth, Naruto rose hastily. "Oh oops, gotta go. Tsunade’ll kill us if we’re late! Now that you have Kakashi, he can help you out in the bedroom.”
“Excuse me?” asked Sakura, who suddenly found her mind temporarily unable to pull itself from the gutter as a small part of her began to wonder just what it would be like to have her former sensei help her in the bedroom – the idea was all too appealing for her liking.
“The bedroom," elaborated Naruto. "Kakashi can help you arrange the rest of your furniture – we’ve got to go.”
“Oh, right! I’d forgotten that we hadn’t done it yet. Okay, thanks for all your help!” Exclaimed Sakura as she sharply reined in her wayward thoughts.
As soon as the two men took their leave, Kakashi pulled down his mask and resumed eating.
After a couple minutes of companionable silence, Sakura felt it necessary to try and broach the subject of her ‘secret admirer’ with Kakashi. So far there had been a sort of unspoken understanding between them that they weren’t to discuss it.
“Er, Kakashi?”
“Hmm?”
“Um, it’s probably a good thing that you’ve lost interest…”
He raised an eyebrow in inquiry.
Sakura flushed a little and hurried to clarify. “I mean, you know, stopped leaving me little gifts at work…”
He chuckled and was unable to stop himself from teasing her a little. “Who’s to say that I lost interest?”
“Kakashi!” she exclaimed with some surprise. “You’ve certainly given me more gifts than a… I could ever expect! That robe alone…” she trailed off as she thought of the beautiful garment and the all too pleasant sensation of his breath on her neck and his arms around her waist when he had helped her into it not too long ago. Sakura had to acknowledge that if he had actually been serious in leaving those gifts for her as a real admirer, he would have already won her interest if not her affection – judging from the game he had been playing as her secret admirer, Kakashi was evidently a force to be reckoned with when interested in a woman. Not that she had ever seen it, but she had a hard time imagining any woman resisting any sort of serious advances from him for long – he was just too good.
“What’s wrong? Afraid I’m expecting something in return?” Kakashi smirked, knowing what her reaction would be, and he wasn't disappointed.
The kunoichi flushed a brilliant scarlet and decided to let the matter drop. She should have known, she reflected, that she wouldn’t get any sort of serious answer from the silver haired man.
Once they finished their meal and cleared away the mess, he caught Sakura eyeing him and correctly interpreted the reason for it. Kakashi chuckled a little at her concern. "Relax Sakura, I'll give you a hand with the bedroom."
She smiled prettily at him, feeling thankful that he was not going to skip out on her. “Oh, good. It's fairly small, so there are really only a couple configurations that will allow all my furniture to fit.” As she spoke she led him around the boxes and back to her room.
He took a quick look around her room upon entering. Almost immediately, a splash of red, white and silver in her open closet caught his attention. His eye widened a little as he recognized the garment. Sakura stopped talking, and turned to catch his gaze lingering on her closet. "Is that what I think it is?" he asked with a little surprise.
She blushed a little. “Probably... as much as I wanted to burn it I just couldn’t… it is rather pretty… if one ignores the fact that it comes from the world of Icha Icha…”
He chuckled. In fact, he had wondered if she had kept the dress. A small part of him wanted to know if she ever intended on wearing it again – and, if so, if he would be granted the chance to be present for the occasion. Just as he was about to turn his attention back to the furniture, his eye fell upon something white and highly starched hanging next to the red dress. Not quite able to believe what he was seeing, he took a step closer. Gingerly, he removed the article of clothing from the closet for a better look – it was a cute, but still quite naughty, nurse outfit. His gaze returned to Sakura questioningly.
Sensing his eyes on her, she turned away from him and felt the blush return. “Ah… that.”
“Where did you get this one?” he asked, unable to keep his voice as neutral as he would have liked.
She laughed nervously. “They’re quite popular in Suna right now for nurses, you know, since it’s so hot there….”
“I see… so you… wear this when you travel there?” Kakashi asked, enjoying the idea of such a world where the female medical staff wore such provocative uniforms as a matter of course.
“Ah, no. No, not at all. I’ve never actually worn it. Genma gave it to me on the last mission we had together. I suppose the heat must have gotten to him to think that I’d wear something like,” she reached out and, taking the garment from the surprised silver haired man, held it up to herself, “this for him."
He gulped almost audibly at seeing the outfit held up against her form, which made it only too easy to imagine her in it. Still, a couple of pieces clicked into place at the mention of his lecherous friend’s name – most notably, the gift Genma had 'given' to Kakashi for his birthday. Inwardly, he had to groan at his friend’s taste and sense of the appropriate for gifts. Rather forcefully he pulled his gaze from Sakura to examine the furniture in the small room, while a small part of him indulged in a new fantasy, wondering what he could do to get the kunoichi to model the uniform for him… or, even better, treat him while wearing it.
~*~*~*~
Sakura sighed to herself as she rerolled what seemed to be the hundredth scroll and looked at the pile that appeared to have grown rather than shrunk since she had sat down. Covertly, she shot a look at the blonde woman currently studying a difficult looking jutsu scroll – at least, she thought, she wasn’t working alone. With renewed determination, she pulled another scroll from the pile and started reading.
A couple hours later, just as the pile had finally started to go down, her work was interrupted by a firm knock on the door. At the Hokage's resigned 'come in', two men entered – Sakura recognized one of the jonin who regularly served gate duty; the other man she found incredibly familiar, but couldn’t quite place.
“Hokage," said the shinobi, "this man has an urgent request to make.”
Carefully, Tsunade put the scroll she had been working on aside, then studied the man before her. “I see," she said. "What have you come to ask of Konoha?”
The man shuffled a little nervously, clearly uncomfortable in the presence of such powerful people. “Well, Lady, I’m from a small village near the border in Rain. Uh, um, you sent aid to us not too long ago to help stop an epidemic…”
Sakura, who had been trying not to listen, and to ignore the looks the man kept sending her way, suddenly found herself interested in the conversation.
“I see. What sort of aid are you requesting from us now?”
“Er, you see, a couple villagers were out hunting and they stumbled upon a cache of strange bottles. They didn't know what to do, so they took the bottles back to the village. While they were showing them to their friends, they broke one… I guess it contained the disease your village helped us fight off the last time.”
“Hmm, didn’t we also show your healers how to treat it?” Tsunade asked with a hint of annoyance in her voice.
“Um, yes, and the techniques work, they work very well… It’s just that, well..." The man nervously shifted his weight from one leg to the other, feeling very uncomfortable with the situation. "It’s too quick for our healers to contain. It has spread too fast for us to keep up with it.”
“Ah, so you’d like for us to help you again?”
“Yes, Lady Hokage. We are desperate for your help. We hoped you would assign the same woman to come…” He gazed longingly at Sakura, who was still trying to dutifully work on her scroll. “We know it will be very expensive, but we are willing to pay… The future of our village depends on it.”
“Hmm, well... as you can see, she is a very busy woman. I will need to discuss this… please wait outside.”
As soon as the two men left Tsunade let out a long string of curses before turning to her pink haired, former student. “You’re not in any position to leave the village right now, are you?”
Sadly, Sakura shook her head in a negative. “Not really… I have that research deadline approaching, Kakashi’s been out of the village for the better part of the past month or so… I can’t progress with my findings until I can check a couple things with him.” She felt frustrated as she really wanted to help the village but her time had already been committed to another mission. “They’re really pushing me on this, too… I think they’re irritated in that they have been stonewalled in their own research and are now depending mostly on mine. To be fair, Kakashi is a hell of a lot more cooperative than… well, anyway I can’t blame him for not trusting them, I probably wouldn’t either... but that's beside the point. I just don't have the time right now if we're to make the next deadline.” Sakura ended her thoughtful rambling by shaking her head with a sigh.
The busty woman sighed; she had intentionally been sending the elite jonin out on back to back missions to make up for lost time from when he had been refusing assignments. With some annoyance, she pulled out the master copy of the duty roster and flipped to the medics. After a couple minutes of study, she slammed the book shut.
“It’s no good," grumbled Tsunade. "You’re all we have at the moment, and he did request you specifically... We’ll just have to miss that deadline. They’re medics after all; they should understand that quelling an epidemic is more important than this joint medical research project. Besides, since we’ve been more than accommodating to their schedule, it’s about time that they accommodate us a little.”
Sakura nodded, feeling relieved; her conscience would have given her a lot of problems if she hadn’t somehow been able to take the mission. “Right, when do you want me to leave?” As she spoke, she tidied her work space and rose, ready to make her exit.
“As soon as possible," replied the Hokage. "But, first let me assign you a partner. I can’t let you go alone and if your last report is anything to go by, you’ll definitely need someone there with you… Let me see,” she opened the duty roster again and flipped through. “Ah, Raido, Genma, Lee and Guy are available. Take your pick.”
“Um… I, I’d rather…” Sakura trailed off suddenly upon finding herself reluctant to admit her preference out loud. “Well, to be honest, I’d rather have Kakashi… he’s due back in the village today.”
Tsunade raised an eyebrow questioningly, although she was not as surprised as she should have been by the younger medic's request. “Oh really? And, why would you want to take him? He’ll be just coming off another mission, ANBU to be precise. No doubt Kakashi will be tired and might not be operating at one hundred percent.”
“Oh, er, well…” Sakura hesitated. She was having a hard time vocalizing just why she wanted her former sensei to join her on what would basically amount to a babysitting mission, in that he would be spending his time taking care of her. “He did come with me the last time… and did a… pretty good job taking care of me… and things.”
Tsunade laughed. “You have a strange definition of a good job. He left you with Naruto, against orders, so he could take down that rogue medic – and in doing so managed to get a near fatal dose of the disease you were dealing with. You almost did yourself in saving him and he tried to kill you in the middle of the night in some sort of delirium caused by the disease…” She shook her head in disbelief, not only at what Sakura had said, but at the fact that she had said anything about it at all since it definitely wasn't one of Kakashi's better missions. “And, you think he did a good job taking care of you?”
Feeling a little annoyed, Sakura nodded. “Yes. When all was said and done he got me back here in one piece, didn’t he? And, he stopped himself before actually trying to hurt me, I don’t think he could, even when he was not in his right mind.” Realizing she would need more to convince the clearly skeptical Hokage, she grasped at straws. “Besides, now that he has had the illness, he’s immune. I won’t have the time or energy to heal my teammate… if it’s Kakashi, then I won’t have to, will I?”
“Ah, you do have a point there," replied the older woman, suspecting that Sakura had other reasons to defend her choice of Kakashi for the mission. "But, he’s been out on an ANBU mission and I am unable to order him to go with you so soon after returning to the village – it’s part of the Konoha’s law to prevent overworking elite shinobi such as Kakashi." As she spoke, she noted the pink woman’s shoulders droop a little in what she could only guess was disappointment and decided to throw her a bone. “However, there’s no law to prevent him from voluntarily accompanying you after just returning from an ANBU mission. I don’t know if he will...” The Hokage snorted to herself, knowing full well that he would. “...but, you are more than welcome to ask him. If he says yes, then fine – the two of you will set out with the villager tonight. If he says no, then you’ll go with Genma.” She was unable to stop herself from adding that last bit as an impetus for her former student to actually ask Kakashi, and for the elite jonin to accept. From what she had heard, Kakashi had been getting a bit overprotective of his former student when the local letch was involved.
Sakura opened her mouth, unsure how to respond and even less sure now about even asking Kakashi to join her on the mission, especially since he was likely to be exhausted and she had no real right to make such a request of him. As she was debating with herself, the decision was taken from her hands – the man in question appeared in Tsunade’s window, dressed in slightly battered ANBU gear. Surprisingly enough, despite his appearance, he did not seem to be injured.
Kakashi had, in fact, landed outside Tsunade’s window just as the villager from Rain arrived. Pushing his ANBU mask aside, he tossed his completed mission scroll to the Hokage.
She smiled, having known that he was there listening to the entire conversation. “Everything go as it was supposed to?”
"Yes. It was easier than it should have been.”
Tsunade shrugged. “Sometimes the clients overstate things rather than understate them. Either way, we get paid just the same. Good work.”
Kakashi nodded and turned to his former student who, he was faintly amused to note, was blushing a little. “Just tell me what time we’re leaving, Sakura, and I’ll meet you at the gate.”
Her eyes widened in surprise, having not realized just how much of her conversation with Tsunade he had heard. Without really thinking about it, she responded. “Seven. We’ll leave at seven tonight.”
Kakashi smiled and headed to the door to take his leave. As he was about to pass Sakura, he reached out to ruffle her hair. Then, his hand paused and, instead, landed on her shoulder for a moment before he continued on and out of the room.
Tsunade did her best to hide a smirk – the silver haired man’s aborted action and recovery had revealed that he was having a hard time keeping her former apprentice at arm’s length. If she had had any lingering doubts, about just where the Copy Ninja stood on his intentions this simple sequence had cleared them. It was obvious to the older woman that Kakashi now saw Sakura, not as a former student, but as a woman and an equal.
