Chapter Twenty-Six: Date Interrupted
Wearily, Sakura made her way to the hospital. She had returned from her mission to Rain two days prior and was still tired – she knew that she was probably not ready to return to her hospital duties. Unfortunately, she was too restless just hanging around her apartment and, the morning after they had returned, Kakashi had been sent out again for what would probably be a month or two. Much to her annoyance, she realized that, after having spent so much time with him, she missed his company more than she would ever want to admit. Absently, she entered the hospital and waved hello to the nurses at the reception desk, then wondered a little at the large grins they both sported when they caught sight of her. With a shrug, she continued on to her office.
Upon opening the door, she immediately noticed something out of place on her desk. Feeling an unexpected thrill of excitement, she eagerly approached to find several bottles tied together with a large ribbon. On the wide strip of fabric was a conspicuously placed seal that promised swift pain to anyone (other than Sakura) who touched the gift, clearly advertising the fact that either a skilled shinobi had left it or that her secret admirer had paid a highly skilled shinobi to create such a seal. As Sakura carefully removed the ribbon, she had to wonder if Kakashi was getting a little sloppy or if he was just deliberately trying to infuriate Naruto and Sasuke.
The pink haired medic gasped as she found that the collection of bottles included the body crème she used, as well as body wash, bubble bath, and a smaller bottle of perfume – all of subtly different, but still compatible, scents. Then, concealed beneath the ribbon, she found the usual scrap of paper:
Patience is a virtue often rewarded... too bad you have none.
She groaned, realizing that Kakashi had probably been sitting on the expensive beauty products since his last mission to Grass a couple months previous, just before she had briefly moved in with him. And, from the looks of her desk, he had left the gift for her before they had gone out on their most recent mission together, thus ensuring that the whole village had had several weeks to speculate about it before she had even returned.
~*~*~*~
“Good to see you back Sakura. I take it everything went as planned? No surprises?” Tsunade asked as she flipped through a pile of scrolls on her desk, and tried to find one that didn’t seem as though it would take her the whole afternoon to proof.
“Nope, went just as it was supposed to,” came the reply. “Fairly boring really... but still rewarding to stamp out that epidemic once again.”
“Ah, good, good.” The blonde woman nodded absently before looking up at her former apprentice. Her eyes immediately fixed on Sakura’s arm. “The boring-but-worthwhile ones can be the best kind of missions,” she said.
“Yes, I suppose so… kind of nice not to have to fear for my life every day. Not that I really would have anyway, since Kakashi was around, but still…” she trailed off, wishing she hadn’t mentioned the bit about Kakashi.
The blonde medic seemed to ignore her slip about her former sensei. Instead, the Hokage focused on Sakura’s newest accessory. “That’s a nice armband,” she said with an undecipherable tone to her voice. “Is it new?”
Sakura's right hand automatically rose to caress the new accessory affectionately. “Oh! Thank you. Yes, it is. I got it for Christmas-”
“Kakashi gave it to you?” Tsunade interrupted, already fairly certain of the answer, but still looking for a confirmation from Sakura.
“Uh, yes. How did you guess?” For some strange reason, Sakura felt her cheeks tint a little at the Hokage’s accurate deduction. Now that she was back in the village, a small part of her wondered a little at her former sensei giving her a piece of jewelry – functional and completely practical to be sure – but still jewelry nonetheless.
Tsunade chuckled a little, feeling gratified to have been correct in her assumption. She had recognized the armband, even though she had been a child when she had last seen it. Since Sakura seemed puzzled by her comment, the Hokage guessed that Kakashi hadn’t told his former student that it had belonged to his grandmother. She also guessed that Kakashi had not been aware of the fact that she had known his grandmother quite well – and that all of her kunoichi tools, jewelry, weapons and the like, had actually been promised to Tsunade. The only reason the busty woman had never claimed the inheritance was that she hadn’t been in the village when the older kunoichi had passed away and had most likely forfeited her rights to it when the whole estate had passed on to the Copy Ninja.
“Oh, just a guess... given that Naruto and Sasuke haven’t returned yet. I figured it must have been him.” She smiled at the younger woman and made a mental note to have a little discussion with the silver haired man about his intentions with his former student – the armband, depending on how Kakashi responded to her questions, could definitely be seen as crossing a line.
~*~*~*~
Kakashi stumbled past the gates, waving off the pair of guards before they could approach and offer him help. “No need to follow me, I’m on my way straight to her apartment,” he grunted, his pride the only thing keeping him going. He’d be damned if he had to be helped to Sakura’s residence; or even worse, be brought into the hospital and have her summoned there to him. He was already very late and couldn’t even begin to imagine what his injuries would do to the repercussions of his tardiness.
It hadn’t been a particularly difficult mission, but it had taken much longer than originally anticipated and as a consequence he had gotten impatient – not wanting to be too late – and, accordingly, a little sloppy. Now, the Copy Ninja was paying for it by the means of several long but shallow gashes running the length of his torso, a fairly deep puncture in his upper thigh (courtesy of a large branch he had been unable to avoid) and a deep-set exhaustion that clued him into the fact that he had probably overused his Sharingan. Kakashi was close to collapse.
Silently, he cursed to himself as he limped his way steadily to Sakura’s apartment. The pain seemed to increase with each step he took and he was freezing – a telling sign that he was either in shock or, much worse, he had a fever. Kakashi cringed from the idea that his body was fighting an infection; he had thought that he had done a good job of cleaning and bandaging his wounds. Regardless, something was much more serious than he had first thought.
At last her building entered his line of sight. He paused in the shadows for a moment; relief washed over him as he hadn’t been sure he would make it much further. Quietly, he gathered the rest of his strength to make a final push to reach her apartment.
The sudden sound of feminine laughter caused him to freeze in place. The last thing he wanted was to be seen slinking into his former student’s apartment building – especially in light of the most recent rumors circulating about the two of them. Letting her stay with him, even though it had been a brief stay and the reason more than valid, had started the local gossips speculating about the two of them and Kakashi had no intentions of causing Sakura any more trouble than he already had. Carefully, he faded back into the shadows to wait until the people were gone.
When the happy couple wandered into his sight, his jaw dropped – not only at how good Sakura looked but at who was with her.
The kunoichi was wearing a strappy short little black dress with a long beaded shawl pulled tight to keep the spring chill at bay. A distracted part of Kakashi was pleased to notice that she was wearing both the hair combs he had given her as well as the armband. However, the jonin’s primary focus was upon her companion. He knew he had been gone for a long time but, still, he had never expected to see her with someone upon his return, never mind him.
~*~*~*~
Sakura laughed at her escort’s half-hearted joke, enjoying herself against all reason. Though, she could have sworn she had already removed his hand from her rear. Determinedly, she shifted the wayward hand back up to her waist and shot him a warning look.
“You know, Genma, I really didn’t want to go tonight,” she said, smiling as she caught his eye, “but, I’m glad you insisted. I haven’t had that much fun in a long time. And, I really did need a nice evening out. Hanging around the hospital and overworking myself was accomplishing nothing.”
He groaned theatrically. “Now you finally see what I’ve been trying to tell you for the past few years!” His hand stealthily made its way back to her derriere. “You work too much. You deserve a nice evening out every once in a while for,” his hand squeezed ever so slightly, “a little fun…”
She gasped in surprise as she pulled away from the brown haired man. “Genma! Really!” She raised her hand as if to slap him, pausing only because she really didn't want the evening to end with her beating him.
Genma hastily backpedaled, having forgotten for a moment just who he was with and under what circumstances. “Sorry, Sakura… My hands sometimes have a mind of their own…wandered a bit…”
She sighed. “I should have expected as much from the village’s number one flirt. Even when he promised at the beginning of the evening…”
“Sakura, that’s not fair!” he interrupted, before she could point out his failing. Genma knew what he had promised her, but had hoped that during the course of the date he would be able to turn her head to him, if just a little. It still irked the notorious letch to no end that she had so blithely chosen his silver haired friend over himself for an imaginary night of fun. “I only wanted to take you out for a nice formal evening. And, you’ve already admitted that you’re glad you came. Don’t let one little slip ruin the evening.” He carefully stepped closer to her, wanting to regain the proximity he had lost when she had backed away from him.
To his delight, she smiled and stepped a little closer to him. “Genma the evening is…”
Whatever Sakura had been about to say was lost as an exhausted and now angry Copy Ninja made his entrance. He had been waiting for Genma to leave before putting in an appearance – in fact, it had taken all of his will power not to try and jump in to break the letch’s hand off of her rear. However, he had finally snapped. Kakashi knew his jealousy and anger were irrational since he had no relationship with the kunoichi other than that of former sensei and current friend. Nevertheless, knowing that did nothing to help him deal with the unreasonable feelings.
The pink haired medic was the first to react. “Kakashi! What happened to you?!” Sakura cried.
Completely ignoring the senbon wielding shinobi, Sakura quickly focused her attention on the injured man. Stretching up, she placed her hand on what she could reach of his forehead and did a cursory scan to get a general idea of his injuries. As soon as her fingers touched his bare skin he slumped visibly, crashing into her. She was only just able to keep herself on her feet as his full weight suddenly descended upon her. “Shit. He’s out. Genma give me a hand with Kakashi, will you? I’ll need help getting him up the stairs.”
Genma sadly shook his head. He had really hoped that, with his friend out of the village for an extended period of time, he might finally have been given a chance to woo Sakura without interruptions. He had even thought that he had made some progress when she had agreed to allow him to accompany her to the formal medic’s dinner in Kakashi’s stead. But, he now realized it was foolish for him to have thought so.
Several fumbling and bumbling minutes later, the trio of shinobi was in the kunoichi’s living room. Quickly, the medic unfolded the futon and gestured for Genma to deposit his cargo on the bed. Once he obliged, she got to work pulling unnecessary garments and soiled bandages from the injured man. Soon, Kakashi was left with only his mask, forehead protector and a pair of pants now minus their right leg to allow better access to all of his injuries.
Sakura was relieved that Kakashi hadn't received any truly serious injuries since he had first shown her his face because it was only sheer force of habit that had prevented her from removing his mask. She wasn’t sure if Genma had seen Kakashi’s face before – and she certainly didn’t want to be the one to show him if he hadn’t, never mind that she would also be letting on to others that their relationship was much closer than anyone probably suspected. She wasn’t sure that that was a good idea.
Meanwhile, Genma watched in fascination as Sakura worked with the speed and efficiency possible only for an elite medic. She tsked at the extent of the Copy Ninja’s injuries, then muttered darkly about an infection upon getting a better look at the angry looking puncture wound. Finally, she seemed to remember Genma’s presence.
“Go to the kitchen, and bring me the medic kit by the balcony door… and a shirt from the box of clothing next to it, please?” she asked, as she started a chain of hand signs. “Oh, and the sealed white box from the cabinet next to the door as well.”
“Right.” Before complying with her request, Genma paused for a moment and watched as she began what he guessed would be a more complicated healing process aimed squarely on the deep wound in his friend’s thigh. The puncture must be the worst injury of the lot, he thought to himself as he turned to do as she had asked.
When he returned, he found her still hunched over the now only slightly bleeding injury in Kakashi’s thigh. Genma was surprised to see that the glow from her hands was that of a healthy, steady bluish-green. Knowing that Sakura would probably try to duck out of their date, he had ambushed her while she had been on her way home from a long and busy shift at the hospital, and he had seen then that she had been completely drained. The brown haired man figured that she was now using whatever chakra she had left, adrenaline pushing her to find more.
Once she sensed Genma’s presence, Sakura stopped long enough to dig through the kit for a hypodermic, a vial of tetanus anti-toxin, some ointment and a lot of bandages. She knew that she didn’t have enough chakra in her to completely heal Kakashi, but she wanted to at least try and get the infection under control and to get his surface wounds to the point where he couldn’t easily reopen them. Upon finding what she wanted, she returned to healing the silver haired man without a glance at Genma or at the sealed, white box.
Almost gingerly, she removed Kakashi’s forehead protector, knowing from past experience that there were three dangerous things to do to the Copy Ninja while he was unconscious. One was to remove his leaf headband; the other two were to remove his mask and to relieve him of his Icha Icha – both of which Naruto had tried and verified as foolhardy. Once the forehead protector had been removed, she shifted his hair out of the way and tightly bandaged his Sharingan – if something were to go accidentally wrong it would be harder for him to remove the bandage to gain access to his ace-in-the-hole. With one of the most dangerous aspects of her patient taken care of, she immediately drew up and administered the anti-toxin to prevent lockjaw. Then, Sakura set about dealing with Kakashi’s fever and what was causing it: the infection he seemed to have picked up.
Genma felt at a loss – Sakura seemed to have completely forgotten that he was there. Uncertain of what else he could possibly do, he watched her. Then, when the steady glow from her hands began to flicker and her body waver, he reached out to grasp her shoulder. “Sakura, that’s enough,” he murmured. “He can do the rest on his own…”
She started at his light touch. Looking up at him, she noted the almost hidden concern in his usually playful eyes, and flushed slightly. “Oh… Yes, you’re right. I’ll just bind these wounds then.” Carefully, she swabbed what remained of the gashes with some of her special ointment and bound them as tightly as she could. Once she finished, she surveyed her work, debating with herself over whether she should try and give Kakashi a plasma pill while he was unconscious… or, if it would be better to just wait for him to wake on his own and give it to him then…
Unable to stop herself, Sakura yawned, exhaustion finally hitting her as the adrenaline wore off. Her decision was made for her. She was too tired to try and force a pill down Kakashi’s throat – he would just have to wait until morning. The young medic rose to her feet and turned to address the concerned Genma, only to find red and blue sparks suddenly flashing before her eyes as the world grew fuzzy and her legs gave out. Sakura hadn’t realized just how much chakra she had used to deal with Kakashi’s injuries.
Not particularly surprised, the brown haired man lunged to catch the suddenly fragile appearing kunoichi. Genma had seen it coming and had been ready. As carefully as he could, he picked her up and moved to her bedroom. He brought her to the bed, managed to move the covers aside with her still in his arms, and gently laid her down.
As he maneuvered Sakura into her bed her eyes fluttered partially open. “Genma…” she murmured, “kashi’s got fever… needs t’be kept warm…” One of her hands weakly reached for the arm that was rearranging the blankets.
“All right sweetheart, just go to sleep and I’ll see to it.” Gently, he took her hand from his arm, urging her to give in to the sleep that he knew was trying so desperately to claim her.
“T’nks…” Satisfied that he would make sure Kakashi was adequately covered for the night, Sakura smiled sleepily at the senbon wielding man as her eyes finally slid shut.
Once he had settled her, Genma removed her shoes and jewelry – removing anything else would, he knew, earn him a truly spectacular punishment from the silver haired man currently sleeping on her futon.
Thus, though he was sorely tempted to do more, he allowed himself only to pull the covers over her to keep her warm. Before he left her side to take his leave, he took one last look at her – she appeared as peaceful and appealing as the first time he had come across her sleeping. He smiled and gently brushed a stray strand of her hair from her face before exiting her room, closing the door behind him.
Upon entering the living room once more, Genma found his friend still sleeping on the futon exactly as the pink haired medic had left him. Sighing to himself, he pulled the covers from under the slumbering man, found Sakura’s dryer and tossed the blankets in for a quick dry cycle. While he was waiting for the blankets to heat, he went back to the living room and, after wrestling Kakashi into the shirt that still lay by the medic kit, did his best to rearrange him into a more comfortable position. When the dryer buzzed Genma pulled out the toasty blankets and positioned them over the unconscious Copy Ninja so that he would stay warm through the night.
“You’re one very lucky man, Kakashi Hatake,” he said with a surprisingly wistful tone to his voice, “whether you know it or not.”
Feeling unnecessary, he finally made his way to the door and took his leave. All thoughts of eventually wooing the woman out from under his friend’s nose were gone. She had clearly proved where her heart lay that evening and Genma wasn’t one to try and stand in the way.
~*~*~*~
Sakura stretched and turned to roll over to sleep a little longer, only to find that her pajamas were pulling strangely on her torso. Sleepily, she cracked an eye to try and figure out what the problem was. Upon seeing that she wasn’t sleeping in her usual night attire – rather, the little black dress Genma had given her – she sat up straight as she suddenly remembered what had happened the previous evening.
With a string of not-so-silent curses, she rushed from her room into her living area, hoping that Kakashi hadn’t done something foolish during the night – such as taking it into his head to leave before he had been fully healed.
She paused in the doorway, then heaved a huge sigh of relief upon finding that he was still there. Carefully, she took in his appearance – he looked like death warmed over.
The silver haired man chuckled lightly at her rather dramatic entrance and was unable to prevent his eye from taking in her sleep disheveled appearance. He noticed that, even though she had obviously spent the night in the dress, she still looked fantastic in it. Kakashi couldn’t help but feel a little puzzled. She had been out with Genma the evening before, so… where was he? And, why was she still wearing that striking, little black dress? Wouldn’t Genma have all too readily helped her out of it, even if there weren’t going to be any bedroom activities? Kakashi couldn’t quite get his mind to work properly in regard to what he figured he must have interrupted.
Not sure of what else to say, Sakura smiled and greeted her former sensei. “Good morning Kakashi… I’d ask if you were feeling better, but I don’t think you will be for a couple days yet…”
“’Morning Sakura.” He wanted to ask about her date with Genma, but managed to stop himself. Instead, he chose to comment on her appearance. “Love the new night attire. Get tired of cherries?” He felt moderately pleased to see her flush at his words.
“Ha, ha very funny, coming from the man who looks like one of Bull's chew-toys.” She made her way to the futon and gingerly sat next to him.
To Kakashi’s annoyance, she didn’t elaborate on why she was still wearing the dress. Unsure how else to respond, he stayed silent. However, as she sat next to him he noted that she was wearing some of the perfume he had given her. As surreptitiously as he could, he inhaled the very light floral fragrance and smiled a little.
“Let’s see how you’re doing this morning,” she said. “That infection was one nasty bit of business.” Carefully, she pulled his mask down and laid her hand on his cheek, noting how with her touch his eye slid shut and a small sigh escaped him. A couple of moments later, she removed her hand – his condition was about what she had expected. There was only so much chakra could do to expedite the healing process which meant that, even with her help, it would take time for him to recover.
“Looks like you’re stuck here for the next week or so.” She sighed a little as she realized how much work he would be in his current state.
His eye opened quickly as he readied a protest.
“Ah, before you even think to complain, there’s no way around it," she said, raising her finger to cut off his protests. “You’re going to need someone to care for you for the next couple of days at the very least. That means either you stay here or you stay in the hospital… your choice.”
He groaned in defeat and allowed his eye to close again. Kakashi knew that he really wasn’t in any sort of shape to take care of himself… and, the more he thought about it, the nicer the idea of Sakura caring for him sounded.
Sakura chuckled. “I’ll take that as you’ll be staying here until you’re better.” She eyed him for a moment. “You up for a plasma pill?”
His eye re-opened to focus on her again. “Eh? Plasma pill? You have those here?” he asked, feeling a little surprised that she had such precious pills on hand in her personal residence.
Sakura laughed and, reaching for the little white box she had asked Genma to retrieve for her the night before, placed it on her lap. “You’d be surprised at what I’m allowed to keep on hand.”
He watched with some interest as she unsealed and rummaged through the box, noting that it contained several restricted substances and a handful of dangerous drugs. “I guess so…” he murmured, more than a little impressed.
She pulled out the right bottle and carefully removed a pill. “Mostly because of you, you know.” Deftly, she replaced the bottle and resealed the box. “I’ll be right back – you’ll want some water after you take this… I know you must be very dehydrated from the blood loss and fever.”
Hastily, she went to the kitchen and filled a pitcher and a glass with water before returning to her patient. Kakashi had made an effort to raise himself into a sitting position while she was away. Sakura gave him the pill and motioned for him to take it before setting the pitcher of water on the end table next to the futon.
Weakly, he took the pill and managed to chew it a couple times before swallowing. When he reached for the water, Sakura made sure that he held it in both hands. Even so, the glass shook slightly, and she wrapped her own hands around his to help him drink from it. After he had slowly finished the whole glass, she took it from him, filled it halfway and set it within easy reach.
Kakashi sighed and, with a couple grunts of pain, tried to slouch down a bit into a more comfortable position. Already, he could feel the pill going to work, helping his body replace the blood he had lost and, in the process, sapping what little strength and energy he had recovered.
With a grimace of sympathy pain, Sakura helped ease him back down onto the pillows. “While that’s doing its job I want to take another look at that leg of yours…”
Not waiting for a response from her patient, she shifted the blankets aside and removed the now soiled bandage. Unfortunately, the wound didn’t look much better than it had the previous evening; she resisted the urge to slap him in the hopes that some sense might penetrate his thick skull with the aid of a sharp blow to his head. Instead, she sighed and set about doing what she could with the little chakra she had managed to recuperate. Sakura could tell that he hadn’t used the ointment she had given to him and it hurt her that he had apparently thought so little of her gift.
The medic started upon feeling Kakashi’s hand persistently brushing against her thigh – if he had been Genma, she would have had to curb the desire to break the appendage trying to grope her. Surprised, she turned to see him staring at her groggily.
“That’s enough, you’re fading fast.” He chuckled softly. “You’ll be lying next to me in a couple minutes if you keep going… well, more like across my legs really…”
She flushed a little and, in her exhausted state, snapped without thinking, the fact that he hadn’t used her ointment having upset her more than she had initially realized. “Well, I wouldn’t be in this position if you weren’t so foolish as to allow this…” she poked the still very angry looking puncture wound, knowing it would hurt, “to get infected… you stupid, stupid, stupid man.”
He grunted in pain, but made no attempt to try and defend himself, in spite of feeling a little surprised and taken aback at both her words and actions. Kakashi couldn’t imagine what had gotten into her or why she was suddenly so upset with him.
Sakura could tell he had no idea what she was talking about and decided to elaborate. “You didn’t use the ointment I gave you for Christmas, did you?”
Kakashi didn’t respond. The truth was that he hadn’t thought the puncture wound was all that serious at the time, and he hadn’t wanted to waste the precious salve after she had told him to use it for emergencies only.
The medic stared at him, her anger building. “If you had used it, you wouldn’t be nearly as badly off as you are now. Did you even have it with you?” She paused for only a fraction of a moment before continuing. “No, don’t answer that… I don’t want to know…” Sakura sighed, trying not to be angry with Kakashi, and failing miserably. “Just because you have me here to take care of you, doesn’t mean that I want you to come back from every mission in need of my aid.”
Unsure where it was all coming from, he continued to stare at her, feeling bewildered.
“Damn it Kakashi! I'm not always going to be here, you know. And, I want you to come back from all your missions! If you had ignored that infection…” she trailed off, starting to get visibly upset. “I mean, really, what were you thinking?”
“I was late.” Finally catching on to just why she was so upset, Kakashi decided to try and respond – to try and placate her with words as best he could, though he really would rather have used actions. The desire to pull her into his arms was strong, but not as strong as the sense that it was probably inappropriate considering he had come across her with Genma the evening before.
“That was a rhetorical…” Sakura blinked in surprise. “What?”
“I made a promise and I was late. I can see now it didn’t matter, but at the time… I thought it might make a difference.” Kakashi averted his gaze, having not meant to say quite as much as he had.
Wide-eyed, she stared at him. “What?”
The Copy Ninja shifted a little uncomfortably under her stare and decided to change the subject slightly. “Where’s Genma? I should think he would have gotten up by now…”
“What does Genma have to do…” The younger woman stopped and stared at him in disbelief, realizing what he must have thought. Suddenly even angrier, she rose from her seat, turned and stepped away, trying to regain control of her temper.
After silently counting to ten enough times to have counted to two-hundred, Sakura turned back to him. She heaved a huge sigh. “Just go back to sleep Kakashi. We’ll… discuss it when you wake up and after I’ve had a shower and breakfast.”
Judging from how angry she had gotten – and how long it had taken her to calm down – he decided that, in his current state, it would be a good idea to do as she said. Besides, he rationalized to himself, the pill she had given him was really taking a toll on him and it was starting to become difficult to keep his eye open.
As he drifted off to sleep, he heard her muttering to herself, “stupid, foolish, moronic, imbecilic man…” while she re-bandaged his thigh, and he couldn’t help smiling slightly – she had really been worried. The smile then faded as he realized that she had neatly dodged his question about Genma.
Sakura watched as a small smile spread across his lips and suppressed the urge to wipe it from his face – though, it faded quickly enough on its own. Once she was sure he was out, she quickly took a shower and had breakfast – checking often on the sleeping Kakashi.
After taking care of the minor necessities, she checked on her former sensei again – making sure he would stay asleep until she got back – and hurried off to report to Tsunade. She would need to have her schedule rearranged at the hospital in order to free up enough time to take proper care of Kakashi.
~*~*~*~
By the time Sakura returned, permission for schedule rearrangement having been grudgingly granted (she had had to play a card she didn’t like playing, that of the sulky researcher), she found Kakashi just as she had left him, with the exception that his eye was open and he had finished the entire pitcher of water.
She studied him almost suspiciously. It was too good to be true for him to have had a chance to bolt, and yet not have taken it.
“You’re looking marginally better,” she greeted him, still wondering why he hadn’t tried to make an exit.
He smiled a little. “I wish I could say the same for you… I think I preferred that little black dress.”
“Say what you will about Genma, but the letch does have good taste in women’s clothing…” She blushed a bit as she suddenly remembered the little nurse’s uniform he had given to her. “Well, most of the time anyway.”
He frowned, realizing that the dress she had worn the night before had been the one that Genma had given to her for her birthday. With that reminder, he decided to try and pick up with the conversation she had dodged earlier. “I do believe you promised me a conversation involving Genma when I woke up?”
Her eyes widened in surprise and she couldn’t help but laugh. “So that’s why you’re still here… I was wondering how I had managed to keep you…” she trailed off thoughtfully.
He smirked. “You’re just lucky… I’m not easily kept.”
She sighed and shook her head. “Okay, let me get you some more water first… and I think perhaps some eggs or maybe rice porridge…”
“You’re stalling.”
“And, you’re probably starving.” She chuckled and, with a raised eyebrow, challenged him to prove her wrong.
Kakashi sighed and shook his head, at which she nodded. Then, satisfied that he knew she was right, she headed off to the kitchen, taking the pitcher with her.
When she returned with his breakfast and the full pitcher, she eyed him calculatingly before giving in and asking, “Can you eat on your own?”
“Sakura…” The look he shot her could have withered flowers at twenty paces.
“What? You’re still weak – it’s a perfectly valid question to ask.”
He held out his hand for one of the dishes and she handed him the eggs along with a pair of chopsticks. With a little less than his usual grace, he was able to maneuver all the eggs from the plate and into his mouth.
Sensing that he might be thirsty after the eggs, she poured him a glass of water and again helped him hold it – the glass was much heavier than the eggs and she could tell that he would have problems with it. As she helped him drink, Sakura assessed that it would probably be a day or two before she would really have to worry about him deciding he had had enough of her care. At the moment, he was just too weak to manage very well on his own and he was smart enough to realize it. When Kakashi was done with the water, she carefully handed him the bowl of porridge and a spoon and watched as he slowly but steadily finished it.
With a sigh of contentment, the Copy Ninja let Sakura take the bowl away from him and shifted himself into a more slouched position. With some surprise Kakashi realized that if he wasn’t so irked with both himself and Sakura about her apparent date with Genma, he might actually enjoy having the pink haired medic caring for him.
After depositing the dirty dishes to the kitchen, Sakura returned and studied him from the corner of her eye – she could sense that he was starting to get impatient, but just wasn’t sure where to begin without getting annoyed with Kakashi all over again. While she contemplated her starting point, she automatically returned to his side, shifted the blankets and pushed up his shirt a little to check his injuries. Before she could settle on an approach not likely to lead to annoyance on her part, he beat her to the punch – and thus managed to irritate her all over again.
“What happened with dating responsibly?” he asked, getting to the heart of what he thought the matter was.
“Eh?” She glanced up from the wounds she was examining on his chest, momentarily thrown from her own train of thought as she tried to figure out Kakashi’s somewhat cryptic statement.
“Genma, your date with him… It’s likely to earn him a sound beating from Naruto and Sasuke once they hear about it.” Kakashi explained.
Annoyed once again at his assumption, Sakura answered evasively, just to needle him. “Genma’s a big boy, he can take it…”
Kakashi raised an eyebrow, wondering at her apparent change of heart. The last he had known, she didn’t appreciate his friend’s advances.
“Besides…” she said, shrugging, “Naruto and Sasuke gave their blessing.” Sakura was having a tougher time keeping a straight face than she had originally anticipated – the appalled expression that had taken up residence on Kakashi’s face almost shattered her thin veil of nonchalance.
“They did what?” the silver haired man exclaimed with some surprise.
“Actually it was Naruto’s idea… Well, at least that’s what Naruto thinks… You have to give Genma credit on that one – he set the whole thing up beautifully.” Deftly, she re-bandaged his chest, satisfied that it was now healing properly.
“What did he do?” Kakashi asked, with a new appreciation for Genma’s apparent skill.
She gestured for him to shift a little so she could take another look at his leg, and he obliged without hesitation, knowing she wouldn’t continue with her story unless he behaved and played the part of a good patient.
“He waited until I was at the pub with Naruto and Sasuke,” she answered, “and then casually brought up the dinner… I guess it all snowballed nicely for him from there…” She trailed off, even though Kakashi was obviously waiting for her to keep going.
The elite jonin sat in silence and waited. If he prompted her it would only take longer for her to tell him the story when she was in such a mood.
After a couple moments, she decided that she had made him stew long enough and continued. “By the end of the conversation, Genma had convinced Naruto that I absolutely must attend the dinner. Thing is, of course, I told them I had planned on taking you along, but that you wouldn’t make it back in time…” She shrugged, again deciding to make Kakashi wait to hear the details she knew he was just dying to learn. Absently, she poked a little at his puncture and frowned – it didn’t look much better than it had earlier. With a sigh, she realized she would be investing some serious chakra in getting it to heal properly.
Kakashi gritted his teeth, knowing that she was intentionally dragging the story out.
“So… I told them that because you weren’t going to be here to take me, I figured I just wouldn’t attend since I wanted nothing to do with going alone. Easy enough, right? So I explained it all to them, making sure they understood that attending on my own wasn’t an option when they objected… Walked right into it, I’m afraid. And, of course, Naruto being Naruto volunteered to take me in your stead. At least, he did until Sasuke reminded him that they had a mission...." Once again, she trailed off as if in thought, but actually enjoying making Kakashi squirm just a little.
By now, the Copy Ninja was twitching at the slow pace she had set, but he knew better than to try and rush her.
"I guess it was at that point that Genma made a comment about how hard it would be for me to find a replacement at such short notice, especially since the guy would have to be dumb, suicidal, or both to actually try to date me with Naruto and Sasuke around… It was then that a tipsy Naruto brilliantly thought that Genma – with some very strong promises and threats, of course – would make an acceptable stand-in for my date.”
Kakashi stared at her for a few moments, digesting what she had just said. He had to agree that Genma had rather masterfully set up the whole thing. A small part of Kakashi had a hard time with the fact that his senbon wielding friend had put so much effort into getting a date with Sakura, especially when the letch had his rather stormy on-again-off-again relationship with Ino… No, he corrected himself – he had a hard time with it because he had thought that Genma had already painfully learned his lesson in regard to pursuing Sakura. He couldn’t believe that his friend had successfully gone behind his back to start a relationship with his former student.
Sakura raised an eyebrow at the incredulous man and answered the unasked question that she knew was lingering on the tip of the Copy Ninja's tongue. “Genma left after putting me to bed last night,” she said.
“Oh…" he trailed off, obviously surprised – and inwardly relieved. He'd known Genma for a very long time, and he wouldn't have been surprised if the ingenious jonin had found a way to spend the night, preferably in Sakura's bed. However, as much as he wanted to put voice to his doubts, he knew that to do so would earn him swift punishment from Sakura regardless of his own current injuries. Instead, he decided to broach the other subject he felt was looming in the room like a giant elephant between them. "So... you’re not upset with me for being late and breaking my end of our deal then?”
She eyed him, wanting to be at least a little angry. Then, finding that she couldn’t, she sighed. “You came back, Kakashi. That’s really all that matters. Besides, it wasn’t all that fair of me to expect you to take me after you got that mission… especially since you got it right after going with me to stomp out that epidemic again. You didn’t even get a full day off in-between.”
He shrugged, apparently unconcerned about the lack of rest he had gotten between missions. “Such is the life of a shinobi, Sakura.”
“Yeah, I guess… but, you didn’t even have to come with me in the first place, you know…” She paused for a moment as an important question she hadn’t thought to ask occurred to her. “Why did you come with me? You’d just come back from an ANBU assignment after a long string of back-to-backs… There was no real reason for you to accept...”
He smiled and stopped himself from reaching out to her, even though a part of him longed to do so. “Because you asked.”
“But I didn’t…” She knit her brows in confusion, remembering very well how reluctant she had been to actually ask Kakashi to accompany her on that mission.
“You were going to, weren’t you?” he interrupted her carefully.
Sakura felt her cheeks heat a little. “Well… I-I don’t know I…”
“Are you telling me you would have rather gone with Genma?” he asked, with a little bit of a teasing tone in his voice.
“Hell no!” She shook her head emphatically.
Kakashi laughed and nodded his head. “All right then. I didn’t think so… and, I wasn’t about to let that happen anyway.” He smiled at her surprise.
“Oh…” Her eyes widened a little as what he had said sank in. “Oh…”
Suddenly realizing what he had just admitted to her, he hastily came up with something to distract her. “So, I suppose you aren’t going to continue feeding me now that our deal is off?” he asked, the clear hope that he was wrong in his voice.
“Kakashi!” Sakura cuffed his shoulder lightly, letting the important piece of information she had just learned slip through her fingertips as he chuckled at her.
Then, quickly, before Kakashi could ask any other questions or distract her, she started a string of hand seals to start working once again on his infection. She knew that he wouldn’t disturb her when she was concentrating on healing him, and… she had a lot to think about.
