Chapter Twenty-Seven: Confession and Denial
As she entered her apartment, Sakura took a small parcel from her bag before dropping the bag just inside her doorway. “Kakashi? You still here?” she called. Although the elite jonin still wasn’t quite up to escape strength yet, she was unsure if he realized that – he'd been with her for just shy of a week, but was healing much more slowly than she would have liked to see. Absently, she had to chalk it up to the fact that he wasn't quite as young as most of her regular patients.
As it turned out, Kakashi was lounging on her couch, dressed in a pair of his usual loose fitting pants and jonin shirt, having given up wearing his undershirt and mask while in her apartment. He waved and glanced up from one of his smutty little novels. “Yo.”
“Ah good, you’re still here and awake. I was checking on a couple things in your file and found that you haven’t had any of your shots in ages… So, since I have you here now, there are a few that are absolutely necessary for you to get.” She waved the package she was holding at him. “There are a lot of new inoculations that can easily prevent some nasty diseases... I'd rather not have to waste time and effort healing you after you've gotten something that could easily have been prevented.” She fixed him with a determined look.
He stared at her for a moment, calculating what his chances were of refusing treatment. However, no matter how he figured the equation, she won in the end. With a sigh of resignation, he pulled off his shirt and presented an arm.
She giggled a little, not quite feeling bad for what she would have to tell him. “Sorry, no. Not for these… not there…” She gestured for him to flip.
His eye widened in surprise and he visibly recoiled from her as he remembered a couple stories from the other shinobi about some of the more recent inoculations and the possible painful after-effects.
“Now, Sakura…” he said, using his strictest ‘sensei’ voice.
She paid him no mind and gestured again. “Kakashi, roll over.”
Starting to get a little desperate, he reached for anything to delay what he thought was probably the inevitable. “I’m not a dog, Sakura,” he grumbled.
She giggled again, amused with the expression on his face. "I'll give you a cookie..."
"Sakura."
The medic laughed and advanced on him, not missing the bit of panic in his exposed eye. She knew that he would be difficult no matter what she said or did. Stopping just shy of her target, she glared at him as he stared back, ready to dodge any of her advances.
Once her patience wore thin, she couldn’t help but throw her hands up in the air in exasperation. “Oh, for crying out loud Kakashi, you’re going to need these. Stop stalling! I don't want to actually hurt you!” she exclaimed.
He continued to eye her suspiciously and she huffed in annoyance. "Kakashi! Really, I'm just going to give you a couple shots, for your own good."
He pouted a little. "Of course you would say that. It's not your rear that you will be injecting."
She sighed. "Seriously, Kakashi, it won't be all that bad. I'll make it quick... Come on, it is for your own good, you know this."
He frowned, wondering just how long it would be before he would regain the ability to sit properly after receiving who knew how many injections in his rear.
"What?" she asked, feeling a bit self-conscious under his stare. “What else do you want from me? I don't see what I could possibly do to make it better... A shot is a shot…” He continued to stare and she couldn’t help but babble on a little. “What, do you want me to kiss it to make it better?" She fought hard not to blush, having not intended to put voice to that particular thought.
He chuckled at her embarrassment; then, a mischievous light entered his eye as he remembered something she had in her closet. In his near desperate state, he decided to make an unreasonable demand. "If you wore that little white nurse's outfit you have in your closet I might feel compelled to cooperate."
Surprised, she stepped back as her eyes widened and a slow blush crept across her face. "What?"
"The nurse's uniform... wear it and I'll be a good patient for you." He smirked, feeling sure that she wouldn't agree and would instead withdraw, frustrated. Then, as she stared at him for a couple moments, he began to worry that she might actually be contemplating his frivolous demand.
"So, if I wear the nurse's uniform, you'll cooperate?" she asked cautiously.
Kakashi swallowed, thinking that she had to be bluffing. "Yes."
She studied him again, weighing the positives and the negatives of the offer. If all it would take to get him to cooperate with her would be a wardrobe change... "Fine,” said Sakura. “I'll wear the uniform, and you'll cooperate and let me give you your shots." Before she lost her nerve, she turned to go change. If she remembered correctly, the uniform wasn't all that bad. Some professional nurses did wear it, after all. And, if it would get him to stay still long enough it wasn't too big of a sacrifice on her part. It wasn't as though anyone other than Kakashi would see her and, besides, she couldn't let him think that all he had to do was suggest she change her apparel to get her to back off from forcing him to accept necessary medical treatment.
Meanwhile, Kakashi sat speechless on the couch, not quite believing that Sakura had gone to her bedroom to change into an outfit sexy enough to have been taken right from the pages of his precious Icha Icha. Never in his recent fantasies – which of late, seemed to feature only the pink haired medic – had he ever thought that she would actually wear the little nurse’s uniform for him, never mind treat him while wearing it.
Sakura returned a couple moments later, and Kakashi had a hard time not staring – he also found himself missing the presence of his mask as it was taking all of his self-control to prevent a nosebleed. The Copy Ninja was even more annoyed with himself to realize that it wasn't the uniform that was causing his difficulties – he had seen it many times over in various Icha Icha novels, after all. Oh no, it was the fact that Sakura was the one wearing it...
"Okay Kakashi, you’ve got your wish,” said Sakura. She could see that he was having some trouble and couldn't quite feel bad for him. He had, after all, brought it upon himself as far as she was concerned. Just to make it clear to the older man that she was okay with her attire, she did a little twirl, so he could see the entire outfit. "Now, let me prep those shots and we can get started." Then, she smiled sweetly and busied herself with the package, her back to him.
Kakashi slowly began to pull himself together as he watched her un-wrap the parcel and start to sort through the bottles and needles. After a moment of observing her, he realized just how many needles and bottles she had taken out of her packet, and he started to worry about just how sore his rear was likely to become with the amount of injections she apparently intended to give him.
As much as he was enjoying her in the outfit, he was beginning to regret having made a deal with her. All too quickly for his liking, she turned to him with a smile.
"All set Kakashi? This should only take a couple moments." Saying this, Sakura advanced once again and, knowing that he was still fairly weak and unable to put weight on his leg for any length of time, easily managed to push him down on the couch and flip him over.
A couple seconds later, he felt her fingers curl around the waistband of his pants and he had a hard time forcing himself not to move. Nevertheless, he was unable to prevent himself from flinching as she pulled gently at his pants and his control over certain bodily functions mostly deserted him.
“Kakashi! You promised!” she admonished as she leaned in and placed a knee on the couch next to him in hopes of keeping him still – a moving target was never a good thing when trying to give an injection and his fidgeting was not helping her. “The more you fight it the harder it will be for you! Now stay still…”
Her voice trailed off and she glanced up as she heard someone enter the apartment through her front door. Hastily, she looked down at her position – leaning over Kakashi with one hand on the waistband of his pants and a pile of hypodermics within easy reach, not to mention the fact that she was also wearing the little white nurse’s uniform... No matter how she looked at it, the situation would require serious explaining to an outside viewer.
Kakashi froze and cursed silently as he realized that he wasn't wearing his mask. Unfortunately, knowing that Sakura was leaning over him with her knee bumping against his waist wearing the beyond inappropriately attractive uniform, he was having enough trouble regaining his sense of self-control, never mind actual thought.
Quickly, Sakura turned to face the entrance and felt her cheeks heat at seeing Sasuke and Genma standing in the doorway staring. Hastily, she removed her knee from the couch and seated herself on Kakashi’s back. Then, remembering at the last minute that the Copy Ninja wasn't wearing his mask she crossed her legs just in front of his face.
"Genma, Sasuke! Good to see you." She managed to smile at her visitors. "Here to see Kakashi I'm guessing?"
Despite the promise of immediate retribution standing right next to him, Genma whistled. "Damn Sakura! I knew you'd look good in that outfit, but I didn't know just how good..."
Sasuke frowned and narrowed his eyes at the older man "You gave her that?"
Realizing his mistake, Genma quickly back-pedaled in an effort to get himself out of a potentially tricky spot. "Oh, hey! Aren't you more concerned as to why she's wearing it, instead of where she got it from?"
Before things could get ugly, Sakura decided to try and derail the two men. "Why don't you two go into the kitchen and make some tea?" she suggested. Then, she eyed them and amended her statement. "Or, open a couple beers. I've only just been able to corner Kakashi into getting a couple of long overdue shots – don’t you even think about interrupting again." She glared at the two visitors, hoping they would buy her hastily cobbled together story. She quickly added a threat to give them incentive enough to leave the matter alone. "Unless, of course, you'd like to join him?"
Sasuke opened his mouth to object, but closed it upon taking another look at the vials lined up on Sakura’s coffee table. Some of the labels were familiar – painfully familiar, in fact.
Knowing that he wouldn’t win if he protested, the Uchiha turned to do as Sakura suggested. After all, he could always try and corner the kunoichi later (when she didn’t have any hypodermics handy) and get to the bottom of just what they had interrupted – though, Sasuke suspected he already knew. “Hn. Come on Genma,” he said. “Sakura usually has a good selection of drinks.”
When the letch didn’t move, the younger man sighed and bodily pulled him from the room. Genma reluctantly complied, but not without giving the medic a final appraising look. This did not go unnoticed by Sasuke – however, he decided against saying anything since he himself had to wonder more than a little at Sakura’s choice of attire.
The kunoichi let out a huge sigh of relief and rose from her awkward seat. Unfortunately, owing to certain ‘difficulties’ he was just starting to get under control, Kakashi could not take advantage of this chance to roll over onto his back. Turning his head, he looked up at her with a certain concentrated wariness clearly visible on his bare face.
“Alright, Kakashi,” said Sakura. “Let’s get this over with, shall we? Once you’ve had your shots you can go play with your visitors...” she trailed off as she realized that Genma might be in for a rough time at the hands of the Copy Ninja “So long as you promise to play nice,” she added with a slight hint of warning to her voice.
He grunted and she took that as an affirmation. Briskly, she returned to her former position and reached once again for the waistband of his pants.
While Sakura had been convincing the two visitors to go into the other room, Kakashi had been once again having second thoughts about the shots. “Now Sakura,” he interjected. “Don’t you think that perhaps there might be a couple of those that are… unnecessary?”
She looked down at him and blinked in surprise. “What? Of course not, they’re all vital…” She paused, finally catching on that he thought she was going to give him all of them at once, and laughed.
“It’s hardly a laughing matter Sakura.” he said rather stiffly, thinking of the soreness he would have in his posterior after receiving so many shots – and of just how long it would take for him to live it down, although… the fact that Sakura was administering the shots dressed in the sexy nurse’s uniform would probably offset quite a bit of the ribbing he was likely to endure at the hands of Genma. As Kakashi thought about it, he realized that the local letch would probably be smart enough not to bring it up unless someone else commented on it first.
“Oh no, Kakashi… You thought I was going to give you all of these now, didn’t you?” Sakura failed to keep the mirth from her voice.
He nodded slowly, beginning to suspect that he might have been under the wrong impression.
She laughed again. “Definitely not! I can’t give you more than two or three at a time – unfortunately, the ones I wanted were at the bottom of the package, so I had to pull them all out to get to them…” she explained. “I will be giving you all of these, but over the course of several weeks or so, depending on mission assignments.”
He studied her for a moment before exhaling in relief. “Oh.”
Sakura smirked a little, unable to help herself. “‘Oh’, is right. Now, hold still and I’ll give you the shots quickly so you can go socialize… No beers for you though, not after getting these.”
Still a little reluctantly, he ceased moving and managed to prevent himself from flinching away from her light touch as she carefully pulled the waistband of his pants and underwear down far enough to allow her to quickly disinfect a small area and administer the shots. Without thinking, she then gently ran her hand over the injection sites, allowing a little chakra to leak in and alleviate some of the worst of the soreness he would be feeling momentarily – the medic’s equivalent of kissing something to make it better. Once she realized what she was doing, however, Sakura hastily pulled her hand away and fought a blush.
With a deep breath, she pulled herself together. "Okay Kakashi, all set. You can go and play with your friends now."
Carefully, the jonin shifted himself into a sitting position, wincing as his now sore rear came into contact with the couch. “Thanks Sakura...” he said, knowing that she had done what she could to prevent the worst of it. He eyed her again and opened his mouth to tell her that she should probably change out of the uniform, but the words stuck in his throat. He had realized that was no way to mention it to her without coming across as hypocritical, especially since he had been the one to suggest she wear it in the first place.
“You're welcome,” Sakura answered as, absently, she handed him his shirt and a spare mask. "Think I'll start some laundry and leave you be with Sasuke and Genma... er, try to make sure Sasuke doesn't hurt Genma too badly, will you?"
Kakashi nodded and smiled a little before donning his shirt and mask; then, he limped slowly and stiffly from the room. The Copy Ninja sighed in frustration at his leg muscles’ refusal to cooperate and wished that the wound in his thigh would mend already –the slow healing process was an unwanted reminder that he was getting older.
Once he had taken his leave, Sakura replaced the vials of vaccine in their case, unable to help giggling a little as she did so. Then, she headed to her bedroom to gather her laundry – and to conveniently avoid having to see Genma and Sasuke again dressed as she was. There was just no way she could change out of the uniform now without either of them suspecting something, so she was stuck wearing it until they should decide to leave.
As Sakura sorted her laundry, she wondered if she should order out – there was no way of telling how long Genma and Sasuke would stay, and she wasn’t about to blow her cooking cover any more than she already had. One man scrounging around her apartment for leftovers when she wasn't home was more than enough for her.
Just as the medic was starting the first wash cycle, she sensed someone approaching from behind. Silently, she groaned as she realized it was Sasuke although, granted, given her current attire, she would rather deal one-on-one with him than with Genma.
Sakura turned. “Oh, hi Sasuke,” she said, smiling despite feeling a bit odd under his obvious scrutiny. She could tell that he was definitely interested in why she had chosen to wear the Icha Icha uniform to treat their former sensei, but that he was also having a hard time figuring out how to bring it up without pissing her off. Tact was something that Sasuke, thankfully, had managed to pick up over the years – it served as a much needed balance to Naruto’s seeming inability to remember even the most basic social niceties. Finally, he gave up and just went for it.
“What are you wearing?” he asked, still studying the uniform with obvious confusion.
Getting a bit defensive, she huffed. "There's absolutely nothing wrong with what I'm wearing."
“No, no... I didn't say that...” answered Sasuke, doing his best to keep his tone neutral. “I was just wondering why you were wearing it to treat Kakashi.”
“Oh, that.” Sakura waved her hand dismissively and went back to sorting her laundry, hoping that the Uchiha would let it drop.
Sasuke waited; when she didn’t answer, he prompted her, “Well?”
A part of her wanted to tell him about the deal with Kakashi, but she knew that it probably wouldn’t be a good idea. Instead, she shrugged and said, “Haven’t done laundry for a while and didn’t realize how low on clothing I was until this evening after my shift. You’d be surprised at how quickly a medic goes through clean clothes…” She gazed at him evenly, really hoping that he would buy the fib – if it had been Naruto, he would have tried to check, but Sasuke was a bit more of a prude and not liable to try and verify her statement. However, when he didn’t respond Sakura decided to add something to make it more believable. “It’s not like I was expecting company tonight or anything,” she said then. “Just Kakashi. And, it’s not like he would cause any trouble over it.” Hastily, she bit her tongue in the hopes that he would accept her story and leave her alone. To her relief, the Uchiha nodded.
Unable to find fault with her explanation, Sasuke accepted it as the truth. Still, his eyes narrowed momentarily as he considered what she had said – a small part of him had to wonder just what sort of an evening Sakura had planned to have with Kakashi while wearing the sexy little uniform. As much as he wanted to dismiss such thoughts from his mind as nonsense, he found himself unable to in light of both Sakura and Kakashi’s recent behavior, and he couldn’t quite figure out how he felt about it.
~*~*~*~
With a barely noticeable bounce to his step, Kakashi made his way to Tsunade's office – he had finally been cleared for active duty and already had an urgent mission waiting for him. All in all, he hadn't minded being grounded so long as he was living with Sakura. But, once he had returned to his own apartment, and she had gone back to her regular shifts at the hospital, he had grown bored rather quickly.
When he entered the Hokage's office, he was slightly surprised to see that Sakura’s desk was unoccupied. Given the time of day, he had expected the kunoichi to be there as always buried under a miniature mountain of paperwork.
Tsunade smiled as she noticed Kakashi’s gaze shift to the empty desk before coming to a rest on herself. “She's not here today,” she said. “Her presence was requested... elsewhere. She should have gone a week or two ago, but I had to wait for her workload to lighten before I could send her..." She raised an eyebrow meaningfully, clearly implying that he was the reason Sakura had been held up.
Knowing that the Hokage was not going to elaborate if he asked, Kakashi didn't respond, he didn’t want to give her the satisfaction regardless of how frustrated he felt. He wanted to know where Sakura had gone, why, and of course, with whom. Then again, given enough time there were always ways of subtly finding out, ways that usually involved copious amounts of alcohol and a few probing questions…
Tsunade waited for a moment, knowing that the jonin wanted to ask questions – when he didn’t, she was fairly impressed. With a self-satisfied smirk, she tossed a mission scroll to the silver haired man.
“The family of a local city official has been kidnapped,” she said. "And, unfortunately, all of the kidnappers were killed during a botched exchange before they could reveal the location of the captives.”
Kakashi simply nodded – he’d handled similar cases before. Quickly, he scanned the contents of the scroll to see if he had any questions. Finding he had none, he inclined his head at the busty blonde woman and turned to take his leave.
“A moment, Kakashi,” she called, with a deceptively off-hand voice.
He halted in his tracks, then slowly turned to face her again. Kakashi knew that particular tone of voice and, though he was clueless as to what he could possibly have done to invoke Tsunade’s ire, he nonetheless dreaded what she would have to say.
“Ah, there was a little matter I wanted to discuss with you.”
“Oh?” he asked carefully.
“Hmm, yes.”
As she spoke, Tsunade nodded and smiled sweetly – too sweetly, thought Kakashi, who was instantly wary of what was going to come next.
“That’s one lovely armband Sakura’s been wearing…” she then added. “You don’t happen to know where it came from, do you?”
The Copy Ninja narrowed his eye – he had not been expecting the Hokage to bring that up. Nevertheless, instead of trying to dodge the question, he decided to play it straight with her… or rather, as straight as he dared. “I suspect you already know if you’re asking me about it.”
The older woman chuckled. “Thought it looked familiar… Your grandmother was quite the kunoichi in her time, I learned a lot from her.” She cleared her throat and her voice took on a more serious tone. “Do you intend to give your medic the whole set?” she asked.
Doing his best to act nonchalant, he scratched the side of his mask-covered cheek, “I hadn’t really thought all that much about it really…,” he replied, his tone implying that he was contemplating the matter for the first time. “I suppose so… don’t really see why not. They’ll do more good on her than just sitting in some dusty bank vault. Might as well give the set to someone who can actually use it.” He then shrugged as casually as he could manage, hoping that Tsunade would buy his explanation – he had, in fact, made the decision to slowly give the entire set to Sakura when he had first stumbled upon it a couple months previous but he wasn’t about to let that fact slip to the Hokage. The blonde woman was already protective enough of Sakura as it was.
“I see,” she replied, managing to scale back her disbelief to a fairly inoffensive tone of mild doubt, but unable to prevent her eyebrow from rising. “Another person might ask as to what your intentions were in regard to your former student because, Kunoichi tools or not, that jewelry is a pretty serious gift coming from someone who is just a former teacher and friend…” She trailed off, then caught the jonin’s eye, making sure he was listening. “But, I know you’d never intentionally hurt her,” her eyes narrowed dangerously, “right?”
He swallowed, trying not to show the panic he was feeling. A part of him wanted to deny what the Sannin was saying, but he knew it would only make her angry, and at the moment making her angry seemed like a very bad idea. So, he settled on a statement which he hoped would be vague enough to prevent her from jumping to any inaccurate conclusions, while still clear enough to appease her curiosity. “I care too much to let that happen.”
Tsunade nodded and waved her hand in a dismissal. She had not expected a real answer from the Copy Ninja but, for the time being, she was satisfied with the response he had chosen to give to her.
~*~*~*~
Kakashi and Genma sat slumped at the bar in their usual pub which, since it was only a couple of hours past noon, was almost deserted. They had retired earlier than anticipated from their sparring session, the slightly younger shinobi having felt that he had punished his senbon-wielding companion enough for the day. Plus, since the Copy Ninja had just been healed of some fairly serious injuries incurred on a recent mission, and since (intelligent men that they were) neither had wanted to risk the wrath of a certain pink haired medic by aggravating said injuries, they had stuck to straight, unarmed taijutsu i.e. no chakra allowed. Thus, bruises, strains, and slight hairline fractures were about the worst of what either shinobi sported – in their minds, nothing serious enough to warrant a visit to the hospital.
Figuring that he had already had the shit kicked out of him that day and Kakashi couldn’t do much more without sending him to the hospital, a now slightly inebriated Genma had decided to broach a topic he usually would have avoided like the plague. Unfortunately, the conversation wasn’t going as well as he would have thought. “Kakashi, are you really that thick?” the brown haired man inquired.
“Eh? What the hell are you talking about Genma?” the Copy Ninja asked. He was feeling tired of dodging his friend’s comments about Sakura – the last thing he really wanted to talk about at the moment was his former student.
“Your pink haired cherry blossom…” Genma trailed off with clear disbelief evident in his voice. He couldn’t understand how someone whose genius was legendary could be so unaware when it came to matters of the heart.
Kakashi’s eye narrowed, and he responded automatically. “She isn’t mine you know… And, what about her?”
Genma caught the barely perceivable edge his friend’s voice had just acquired – an edge the senbon wielding shinobi had begun to associate with the green eyed monster. It usually came out to play, he observed wryly to himself when a certain green eyed kunoichi was introduced into the conversation. He sighed audibly – it was going to be more difficult than he had imagined.
“For the last time Kakashi,” said Genma, “I’m no longer interested in your cherry blossom. My little blonde bombshell has returned to my bed… and I intend to try and keep her there longer this time.” He paused, thinking about the past couple of evenings he had spent with Sakura’s former rival and almost losing himself to the pleasant memories. Hastily, he shook his head and decided to continue the nearly impossible conversation with the elite jonin before he completely distracted himself. “And, I don’t think anyone else in the village would be so stupid as to try and take her from you after what you did to that sleaze-ball of a former landlord of hers,” he added. “You do know that’s all around the village don’t you? Everyone knows it was you, though, perhaps not Sakura…. I don’t think anyone is stupid enough to tell her about it, beating the messenger and all that…”
“It was me who did what?” asked Kakashi. The younger man shook his head in genuine confusion. He’d never even met Sakura’s former landlord, never mind having done anything to him – though, that didn’t mean he wouldn’t if given the chance.
Genma rolled his eyes. “Come on Kakashi – the shinobi on gate duty saw him slink into the village to do some business not too long ago, and they said he looked like he’d been beaten within an inch of his life. The prime suspects for such an incident, the wonder twins, were out of the village on another mission at the time, so… ” He raised an eyebrow. “That leaves only you. No one has been able to guess why, of course. Unless… perhaps Sakura ran from more than a cold and water-damaged apartment?”
“I don’t know anything about it, so I really couldn’t say. This is the first I’ve heard of it.” Kakashi took a lightning-fast sip of his drink, suddenly having a lot to think about – namely, who had taken it upon themselves to punish Sakura’s former landlord in his stead and, of course, why?
Genma eyed his friend incredulously, looking for some sign that Kakashi was fibbing. Upon finding none, he thanked any power listening that he had never played cards with the Copy Ninja who, he was now positive, had one of the best poker faces he had ever come across. “Regardless, you can drop the jealous act,” he said with a little bit of exasperation finally leaking into his voice. “Your precious kunoichi is safe from me and all other sane males in the village.”
Feeling irked that his friend was ignoring everything he had just said, Kakashi narrowed his eye and tried again. “Genma she’s not …”
“Let me finish Kakashi,” the senbon wielding shinobi interrupted. He waited for a moment before the annoyed jonin returned his calm gaze. “I don’t think you’re grasping the situation in its entirety. She’s yours whether you accept or even choose to acknowledge it or not.”
Kakashi opened his mouth to object once again only to be silenced by a look from his friend.
“Okay, so let me try it this way,” Genma continued, doing his best to be patient. “Not only does Sakura have every jonin regularly assigned to gate duty keep tabs on your comings and goings, but they also alert her of them in person.”
Feeling frustrated, the silver haired man nodded, seeing the sort of point his friend was trying to make and doing his best to ignore it. “They do the same for Naruto and Sasuke,” he said testily.
“True, but she doesn’t then make house calls for Naruto and Sasuke – not unless they’re badly injured and not on their way to the hospital on their own.”
Kakashi shrugged and didn’t bother responding. He was used to preferential treatment from medics because of his long standing aversion of hospitals and his elite status.
“And, this doesn’t suggest anything to you?” Genma asked.
“No, not particularly – why, should it?” The elite jonin shook his head in mock confusion.
Stopping himself from slamming the bar in frustration, Genma decided to try another tack. “Well then, what about those massages she gives you?”
“Hmm? Oh, she’s only given me two – nothing special.” As he spoke Kakashi realized that even he had a problem believing that last claim.
“That might be true, but she’s also made it clear to you that she’s willing to give you one whenever you’re in need. How many others do you suppose she has granted that privilege to?”
Still not wanting to deal with Genma’s all too accurate line of questioning, Kakashi shrugged noncommittally and lied. “I’ve no idea.”
“None, Kakashi… No one, not even Naruto or Sasuke, and this doesn’t suggest anything to you?”
He shrugged again. “No… don’t think so.”
The senbon wielding shinobi huffed in frustration. “Okay,” he said, “how about this one? I took her out to that fancy dinner not too long ago. We were actually having a good time until you showed up, battered and bloody. What did she do?”
Kakashi shook his head – he could only guess since he had passed out as soon as Sakura had touched him. “Presumably, she bullied you into helping her get me up into her apartment and then she healed me.” Forgetting himself for a moment, he smiled at the memory. “All in all, I think she took pretty good care of me while I recovered.”
Genma’s eyes widened with surprise on hearing this. Granted, whenever he had sought out the recuperating jonin for one thing or another, he had always found him at the medic’s apartment, but Genma had just taken that as coincidence since Sakura now lived right across the street from Kakashi. He had had no idea that Kakashi had actually been living with her.
Meanwhile, realizing that he might have let slip something which he shouldn’t have, the Copy Ninja shrugged again. “What else would she do?” he asked. “It’s not like I was in any kind of condition to take care of myself at the time.”
Feeling as though he might finally be making some progress, the brown haired man continued. “Did you happen to notice what happened to that sexy little dress she was wearing?”
“Er, no?” Kakashi thought for a moment. “She slept in it… I suppose with all the blood that got on it, it was probably ruined…”
Genma laughed. “So were all of my hopes of ever winning your pink haired kunoichi. Once I helped her get you up to her apartment, she focused entirely on you. She then spent the remains of her chakra doing what she could to heal and bind your wounds – that is, of course, until she passed out. I put her to bed and went home, though not before she asked me to make sure you were adequately covered for the night.” He raised an eyebrow, hoping that his friend would see what he had been so subtly trying to point out.
Doing his best to ignore the blatant hints Genma was throwing in his face, Kakashi finished his drink. “Sounds as though she did what any other medic would have done.” He said with a shrug.
The senbon wielding man again stared at Kakashi in disbelief. Finally, he shook his head, realizing that his younger friend was determined not to deal with the situation – the man was simply choosing not to acknowledge the kunoichi’s obvious feelings for him. Annoyed, he ordered another round of drinks and gave it up as a lost cause.
Kakashi heaved a silent sigh of relief, knowing that the well-meaning man had finally given up – at least for the evening. However, the letch’s arguments had included some fairly good points about Sakura’s behavior. Absently, the silver haired jonin pulled out a battered copy of Icha Icha Tactics. He suddenly had a lot to think about, and he wasn’t sure that he really wanted to contemplate any of it.
~*~*~*~
“I’m sorry, could you please repeat that?” asked Ino. “Somehow, it seems that something remarkably improbable just came out of your mouth…” The blonde looked incredulously at the pink haired woman seated across from her
Sakura flushed with mingled annoyance and embarrassment. “You know, I knew I shouldn’t tell you,” she grumbled. She set down her teacup and readied herself to leave.
“Sakura wait! It’s not that I don’t believe you it’s just…” Ino paused, looking for the right words. “I wouldn’t have thought to hear that coming from you… especially after how you’ve reacted to him and my teasing in the past.” The blonde shook her head. “How long now?”
The pink haired woman sighed and reached again for her drink. “I’ve no idea, but I’m guessing for a while now…”
“What?” Ino exclaimed.
The green eyed kunoichi laughed a little. “I think it’s been a while now and I just didn’t notice.” She flushed and turned her gaze downward to the cup of tea in her hands. “He’s a lot like Sasuke if you think about it… Not too much of a jump from one to the other I suppose…”
“Hmm, I guess not…” mused Ino. “He is hot, that’s for sure. I certainly wouldn’t mind giving him a try although, then again, I do have Genma at the moment…” she trailed off, remembering her most recent escapades with the local letch and smiled – she knew that if she really wanted to keep him, the only way to do so would be to make him want more by dumping him periodically. After a moment of pleasant recollections, she shook her head to bring her mind back to the matter at hand. “Damn, Sakura…” she said with her surprise still clearly evident. “I’d teased you about it, but had never expected you to actually fall for the unemotional man – like, actually fall for him. A quick fling, maybe, but... well... I mean, he’s got a great body and is probably fantastic in bed given all those smutty little books he reads, but there isn't much else there, you know, emotionally…”
Unable to comment, Sakura shrugged. She knew Kakashi wasn’t exactly unemotional – he was just adept at hiding his feelings.
“So, what are you going to do about it then?” asked Ino.
“Do?” Sakura replied innocently, as if she had no idea what her friend could be getting at. However, the same question had been plaguing her since she had recognized her feelings for her former sensei for what they were, and she still had no idea how to deal with the situation.
“C’mon Sakura, you know what I mean.” Ino shot her friend an irritated look. “Are you going to tell him?”
“Oh that…” The pink haired woman sighed. “No. I don’t think so. Best to let sleeping dogs lie, so they say.”
“What? Why not?” her friend inquired incredulously. Ino could see no real problem with the situation, especially since she rather suspected that Kakashi returned Sakura’s feelings or, at the very least, lusted after the pink haired woman – that was the impression she had gotten from Genma. Granted, according to Genma, Kakashi wasn't likely to ever act on his feelings, but if Sakura did first...
“It’s complicated…” Sakura again glanced down at her hands, a faint blush coloring her face.
“Complicated my ass!” the annoyed blonde exclaimed. “What’s wrong with a little complication?”
“Ino! Really! He used to be my sensei for starters!” Sakura exclaimed, feeling frustrated with both herself and her friend.
“So, he isn’t anymore, and that’s what matters. Besides, I’ve seen the way he looks at you when he thinks no one else is looking…”
“What? You must be mistaken.” Feeling confused and a little annoyed, the medic shook her head, not wanting to comprehend what her friend had just told her.
“No, Sakura, I’m not. I know for a fact…”
The blonde kunoichi was interrupted by soft grunting noises followed by the appearance of the small pig, Tonton and close on her heels, the pig’s keeper.
“Oh! Sakura! There you are! I’ve been looking for you everywhere!” Shizune exclaimed as she caught up with the pig. “Tsunade needs to see you urgently.”
Shocked that she had actually been hunted down on a day off, Sakura hastily rose. Then, remembering herself, smiled apologetically at her friend. “Sorry Ino…”
“No worries Sakura. Looks like whatever it is, it’s important.” Ino’s eyes were also a little wide with surprise. “We’ll finish this conversation later.”
Hastily, Sakura followed Shizune back to the Hokage Tower. Judging by how relieved Shizune was to have found her, the pink haired woman guessed that whatever Tsunade wanted, it was imperative.
Upon entering the hokage’s office, Sakura’s jaw dropped. The room was in a complete shambles – obviously, thought the medic, something had happened to enrage Tsunade. But, whatever it was that had angered the older woman seemed to have passed, as she was now standing at one of the windows, calmly admiring the view.
Tsunade turned to face them as they approached her. “Ah, Shizune, you found Sakura. Good.” She nodded a dismissal at the dark haired woman, and Shizune quickly took her leave. The Hokage turned to the pink haired medic. “I know you have the day off,” she said with a weary note in her voice, “but a few things have changed… I’ve moved your research meeting up a couple weeks, so I need you to ready yourself to leave as soon as possible – no later than tonight.”
Sakura’s eyes widened. “Did they change the deadline?”
The older woman shook her head. “No, but the schedule here has changed a bit and, due to an anticipated shortage of shinobi, we will need your escort back here in the village sooner than we had expected. So, you will need to go now. I don’t think it will make much difference to you since Kakashi is out of the village anyway – he will be until… well…” She trailed off, not sure how to tell Sakura that the mission her former sensei had undertaken was one from which he wasn’t expected to return.
Kakashi, along with several other of the village’s elite, had been assigned and sent out on separate high-risk S or unranked missions by the elders – without her approval. Unfortunately, one of the many downsides to Tsunade’s little drinking hobby was that she occasionally slept through meetings, and this time, she reflected grimly, she had apparently missed some important discussions. Her hands clenched at the idea that the council might have been waiting for such an event in order to slip through missions which she would never have accepted had she not been… indisposed.
Really, she thought irately, the old farts could be remarkably short-sighted sometimes – Kakashi wasn’t a piece they could afford to throw away lightly, especially in light of a couple of recent developments. In fact, Tsunade had made plans for the Copy Ninja and had been beside herself to hear that the elders had interfered. Granted, she had been too hungover to make the meeting that had resulted in his assignment, but still… as a matter of courtesy they should have waited until she was available before making such a big decision.
Annoyed with herself, Tsunade shook her head and decided not to tell Sakura the details for now. There was still the slim chance that the Copy Ninja might make it back to the village –Kakashi wasn't one of the elite for nothing. He had beaten the odds in the past.
“He will be expected to return right around the time you will be returning to the village…” said the Hokage. “So, pushing up your meeting won’t change or damage your findings since you’re not losing any actual research time.”
Sakura had to wonder about Tsunade’s distracted behavior, but then dismissed it as something related to her superior’s more important responsibilities – that is, something more important than routine mission assignments and research projects.
Quickly, Sakura calculated how long it would take to gather her research and pack for a couple weeks. “Okay,” she said with a nod. “I can be ready to leave in an hour.”
“Good. Meet your escort at the gate, and remember that they absolutely must return to the village on time. I will need them to escort a high ranking official to Snow almost right after you are due to return.”
Sakura nodded and took her leave.
