Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Respect & Understanding ❯ Wishing & Wanting ( Chapter 11 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I just enjoy writing about it.

Chapter 11: Wishing & Wanting

The journey home had fortunately remained uneventful. Since they were now in a familiar area their legs seemed to carry them without the slightest bit of thought, which was a good thing since both shinobi's minds were distracted. They had been silently sprinting from tree limb to tree limb for the past few hours. The sun had already gone down in the sky and the night's breeze had become slightly chilly.

All either leaf ninja could think about was sinister laughter and those haunting last words.

`How does a treaty between Thunder Country and Sound rattle you? You leaf bastards are all gonna die…'

Those words brought a chill to Sakura's spine as the walls of her beloved home came into view. The last war on Konoha had taken her mother's life. Sakura shuddered to think who else might be taken from her if there indeed was another invasion. A blonde fox boy came to mind, a purple haired kunoichi was next along with the Iruka look-a-like and lastly her emerald eyes turned to gaze at the silver haired man before her.

`What are you to me…?'

Before her answer would have been her Captain and a good friend, but she wasn't so sure now. Captains and good friends didn't try to get into your pants. Sakura smirked.

`Well, he defiantly tried to do just that…'

Whatever he was, she knew that he had always been special to her. He had been her first Sensei in the days of Team 7. Then came the day he had told Naruto and her that they were no longer teacher and student, but equals once Team Kakashi had formed. She had definitely felt just a tad bit closer to him. It had taken the whole `force feeding' incident to close the deal of actual friendship in her book.

`Funny how it took us so long to get to that point, but it took us no time at all to run right past it.'

Sakura knew for a fact that had they not been interrupted things would have continued along just fine. She was also very much aware that she would have enjoyed it….immensely. The question was, would she regret it and would he, for that matter.

`Well, I can't answer for him, but I'm pretty damn sure that I wouldn't have…'

Sakura didn't try to disillusion herself by reading too much into his actions. Hatake Kakashi was never one to be known to have any sort of relationship except the one of ninja and client for missions. Come to think of it in the entire time she had known the man she never knew him to have a girlfriend. She had always thought him as the A-sexual type who preferred his ink covered pages than real company.

`Boy was I wrong….'

Sakura knew Kakashi well enough to be able to read between the lines. His life revolved around his duty to Konoha and if she was truthful so did hers. Neither had any true family left and so they put all their efforts into protecting what little `family' they had, that being their friends and this village.

`Well regardless, you just better not have any regrets…'

Sakura's eyes narrowed dangerously while boring a hole through Kakashi's back.

`Cause you started it….You better remember that….bastard….'

Sakura continued to stare at his back as they finally walked through the front gates.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

“Nozomu Sasaki and Akiko Yajima are currently residing on the second floor of the Konoha Hospital tonight.”

Tsunade saw a silver eyebrow raise and Sakura's startled expression and figured it best if she elaborated.

“It's nothing serious, just minor cuts and bruises and exhaustion of course. I had them examined and forced them to stay the night. From the looks of it, I may do the same to you two.”

All Sakura wanted to do was sleep in her own bed tonight. Having Kakashi as a blanket had been nice, really nice but sleeping on the ground never was. Kakashi seemed to share her idea as he was quick to speak up.

“That's quite alright Hokage-sama. I can assure you that Sakura and I are in the best of health… Our interrogation results hinted at possible war between Konoha and an allied army of Thunder and Sound….”

It was Tsunade's turn to look startled. Kakashi began to relay exactly what the doomed Sound ninja had told them. Tsunade began to rub her temples.

“Intelligence pointed toward the scroll holding information on some sort of secret deal. At first it was thought to be some new trade agreement. In actuality it holds half of an odd looking diagram, half of an even odder list of ingredients and a few seals. It appears as though the parchment has been torn some time ago.”

“Could Sound have already obtained the first half?”

“It's seems to be the case. I've already assigned a team from the `code breaker' division to study and analyze the half we have. Though its contents may elude us at the moment I can't help the dark feeling I get from it. I hate to imagine what kind of evil might have been conjured had your team not have…”

Sakura was the one who spoke. Her voice was rough and hard, yet held a note of reassurance. Sakura hated to see that vulnerable look grace the beautiful features of her strong and wise sensei, the woman who had help instill her own inner strength.

“But we did and now it's ours.”

Tsunade cast clear honey colored eyes on her pupil and smiled. Her apprentice, this woman in front of her had grown so much under her watchful eye, both in body and in mind. Tsunade smirked.

“Yes, it is.”

Tsunade had just opened her mouth in the process of saying the first syllable of her assistant's name when the door opened. In shuffled the dark haired senbon master.

“Shizune, I want you to contact our allies and alert them of our possible threat from Thunder and Sound. I want the guard around the gate to be doubled and I want the village to be placed on immediate Alert-Bravo until otherwise notified.”

Alert-Bravo consisted of a having every shinobi in their `uniforms' and armed even during off duty hours. In-active and retired ninja were also expected to do the same. It also arranged missions so that half of their jounin and all elite jounin stayed inside the gates. This left missions to be completed by the Chuunin and Genin ranks. The hill side shelters for the civilians, woman and children, were to be kept open and ready for occupancy in case of immediate need.

Tsunade figured it best to cover her bases, even if it did seem a little extreme. There was no way she was going to let Konoha be caught with their pants down like the last time. She was still kicking herself for not giving the order to annihilate Sound before hand; of course the resources had never been there.

That despicable `Hidden Village' was more like a ghetto for castaway criminals, thieves, and murders from all countries combined. No matter how much destruction it endured, more shady individuals seemed to flock to it. No amount of surveillance information could ever stay accurate and no form of leader ever stayed in power for long after Orochimaru.

From what they had gathered, the shinobi of Sound lived life like a pack of wolves. Someone was always challenging the Alpha wolf for dominance. The last piece of information had come at a high price. Their spy had been found and left hanging in front of their gates as a warning. Their leader at that time had been an S-Class criminal from Grass called Narza. The chance that this Narza was still the head was very slim.

Tsunade brought her thoughts back to the present as she once again took in the haggard appearance of the two shinobi in front of her. They looked just about as tired if not more so than herself. She decided to finally take pity on them. She gave Kakashi a measuring look.

“Well, if you are sure that neither of you require medical attention…I suggest you leave my sight for now lest I come up with another job for you two.”

Both Kakashi and Sakura bowed gratefully to their Godiame and then slowly turned to leave. As Kakashi closed the door behind Sakura, her shoulders slumped and her eyes began to immediately droop. It was now somewhere close to 2am and all she wanted to do was fall face first onto her soft white bed.

As they walked tiredly through the half empty building toward the front doors in silence, they could hear the alert sounding outside. Once standing on the front steps, Sakura stretched lazily while succumbing to a wide yawn. Kakashi seemed to have stopped as well. He was now staring quietly toward what she could only guess to be the very welcome sight of his apartment building.

As her body shuddered with the power of her dwindling yawn and stretch, she vaguely wondered why he was still beside her. This was around the time after a debriefing with the Hokage that he would make his departure in his trademark `poof'.

“Sakura…”

The woman in question grumbled rather crankily next to him while staring up at the twinkling stars. She was in no mood to have any type of conversation having to do with work, and she especially was in no mood to discuss their `shared time' that morning. Her mood was well reflected in her voice as she interrupted him.

“Kakashi, whatever you're about to say, please tell me it can wait until I've had at least 7.5 hours of sleep…”

She only received an equally tired, but somewhat relieved grunt in response. He brought up his hands intent to start his `teleportation' seals when she threw out a hand to grab his wrist. If he was startled he didn't show it as he continued to stare at her hand upon him.

Sakura wasn't sure why, but she knew she didn't want him to leave in his usual way without saying at least some form of good night. She still had no idea what his intentions if any were toward her, but she felt she at least deserved a goodbye.

`You're not getting away that easily…'

Sakura tiredly placed herself inches from his chest and then let her forehead slump onto his vest covered front. She still lightly held his wrist that now lay by his side. She let go of his wrist as she blurrily looked up at him with sleep deprived eyes. He was just staring down at her with an equally tired blank eye.

“I just wanted to say good night, so there… good night.”

She tried to give him a bright smile, but her exhaustion only allowed half of it. His own eye crinkled somewhat as he gazed down at the woman so close to him. Sakura next felt cloth covered lips press lightly to the top of her rosette covered head and then she heard his deep soft voice.

“Good night Sakura.”

In the next instant, she was left all alone as the cloud of smoke began to dissipate. She tiredly trudged her way home ever thankful that she too didn't live that far way from HQ.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The next afternoon as Sakura stepped out to retrieve her Konoha Newspaper from her doorstep she noticed a folded piece of paper taped to her front door. The chicken scratch within revealed that training was suspended for the day, but to expect normal scheduling to resume the day after.

Sakura rejoiced as she set about throwing on her Jounin uniform. She was already sipping at a cup of sugar enhanced coffee and reading her newspaper when she looked at her Men of Konoha calendar on the wall beside her fridge. Her loud exclamation bounced off the walls of her kitchen.

“Crap!”

Today was the day she usually sought out her dear friend Ino to catch up. So much had happened since the last time the two young women had met to talk. Sakura just remembered that the poor girl had no idea that she had been inaugurated into the esteemed ANBU world! Sakura quickly threw on her vest and set out in search of the Yaminaka flower shop.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sakura noticed her friend's attire at once. Instead of Ino's usual flirty clothes she, like her self was sporting the customary jounin outfit. She also noticed that the Ino looked excited.

The blonde kunoichi across from her look fit to burst if she didn't divulge her juicy bit of new information. Sakura hadn't seen her friend so excited since the time Chouji had proposed to her at that B-B-Q restaurant years ago. Sakura figured it best to give her sign for her to start their conversation.

“Spit it out Pig.”

Ino took in a deep breath and expelled it rather loudly, turning more than just a few heads in their direction.

“I'm pregnant!”

Sakura took in the girl's words as the blonde launched herself across the table and latched onto the pink haired woman in a bone crushing hug. Sakura beamed into the flaxen blonde tresses covering half her face. Ino finally let go and retreated back to her side of the table ecstatic. Sakura was overjoyed for her friend.

“Ino, that's great! Congratulations!”

“Thanks, oh Chouji's so happy! He wants a boy, but I secretly hope it's a girl. You know, so I can do her hair and dress her up in cute little dresses and give her advice on boys…”

Sakura watched the girls sapphire eyes sparkle at the thought. Sakura shook her head while laughing.

“So when did you find out?”

Ino shook her head to clear her thoughts and tapped a finger to her lips.

“Just yesterday actually, I'd been feeling rather ill for the last few days and went in to get checked and boy was I surprised…. Oh, I asked to see you and was told that you no longer worked at the Hospital. No one would give me any details either, I even went by your place to let you know the good news but you weren't there. Is there something you want to tell me Sakura?”

Sakura smiled warmly at her friend's obvious concern. It seemed that her good news had made her forget certain parts of their last meeting. Sakura couldn't hold it against her. A new baby was big news indeed.

“Well, if you remember what we talked about the last time we were here…”

Ino cut in seeming to remember exactly what they had discussed. The blonde kunoichi looked very apologetic.

“Oh Kami Sakura, I'd completely forgotten… So, does this mean that you…!”

“As a matter of fact…yes!”

Both grown women broke into squeals of happiness effectively drawing attention from the other patrons yet again, neither kunoichi seemed to give a damn though.

“Oh, Sakura I knew you would do it! This is great; we both had good news to share! I'm so proud of you forehead!”

The two girls exchanged another hug.

“Thanks pig, but I'm afraid mine isn't nearly as great as yours though.”

Ino sized up her friend with narrow eyes and a slight pout. Sakura knew that look. That look from Ino always meant trouble.

“So forehead, when are you planning to get started on your own?”

Sakura scowled. Just when things were going good Ino had to start in on her. Annoyance was clearly written all over her face and in her voice.

“Come on pig, don't you ever want to talk about anything else? I mean we are in Alert-bravo….”

Sakura had just stuck her foot in her mouth and she promptly clammed up. Ino slapped a hand to her forehead.

“Your right, how could I forget about that? Do you know anything…since you're obviously higher up in the food chain now?”

Ino looked eager to learn any little tidbit that she could gather about their village's high alert. Sakura wanted to kick herself. Sakura sighed as she nodded her head in the negative.

“Even if I did you know I wouldn't be able to tell you, besides I'm sure the Godiame will enlighten us all soon.”

Ino sized her up again.

“You're lying…but I understand….”

Sakura smiled at her friend in return.

“So, back to what I was saying before…”

Sakura sighed.

“Look Ino, I've come to terms with the fact that I'm not cut out for the whole `family' concept. I just made ANBU. I'm quit comfortable with the way things are right now.”

Ino didn't look convinced in the least. She leaned forward resting her chin on her pale hand. Her voice betrayed her skepticism.

“Forehead, no one is `fine' with being alone.”

No matter how she tried, she couldn't argue with that. Just then a sudden violent urge to spill what had happened between her and Kakashi over the last few days surfaced. Then she argued that there was simply no way to explain to her blonde friend without spilling confidential details like, her squad members identities, details of her mission leading to the alert. Even so, Sakura desperately needed to get her thoughts out in the open and so she decided to be as vague as possible.

“Pig, what if I told you that…something happened…”

Ino placed both hands flat on the table, leaning forward with eyes wide.

“It's about damn time!”

Sakura rolled her eyes and then took a deep breath before starting in to her story.

“You see, there's this person who has kind of `shown his interest'…”

Inner Sakura snickered at that. Ino started her barrage of questions.

“Do I know him?”

“Maybe.”

“Is he hot?”

Sakura felt a blush coming on and she looked away from her friend as she answered.

“Oh yeah…”

Ino looked perplexed.

“So, what's the problem then?”

Sakura didn't know where to start on answering that question without giving too much away. She figured the only way the girl would understand was if she said his name. Like herself, Ino had come to the conclusion that her ex-sensei was A-sexual.

“You see it was the whole “heat of the moment” thing and you know how we both thought he wasn't interested in anything but those silly books of his and…”

Ino's eyes became huge as saucers. Her mouth dropped open and she pointed a shaky finger at Sakura. Sakura wanted to laugh at her friend's sudden comprehension.

“Oh. My. God…You…and…The Hatake Kakashi! We are talking about the famous Copy Ninja here right! Tell me we're talking about the same man here Sakura! Tell me!”

Sakura's hand came out of nowhere and covered Ino's mouth. Ino was still squealing behind it.

“Yes, but you got to swear you won't tell anyone. I mean it! No one is to know about this. I'm not even sure what's going on yet.”

Sakura let go of her mouth as her friend nodded. To say that her friend was happy for her was a complete understatement. Sakura swore she saw tears forming in her friends eyes. Ino was practically bouncing in her seat.

“Ok! Ok! I swear! Oh my god, when? Where? How?”

“All I can say is that one thing kind of led to another…”

Ino looked like Christmas had come early. Her hands were waving around as she spoke next.

“Oh my god! Oh my god!”

Sakura bit her lip embarrassedly as the patrons turned to give them sour looks this time. Sakura grabbed her friend's hands to try to quiet her with one of her own as she raised her tea with her other. Ino seemed to get a hold of her self and then she leaned conspiratorially in and put her hand to her mouth as she whispered her question.

“Was he good?”

Needless to say Sakura ended up spewing her mouthful of green tea all over her friend's face. Ino disgustedly began wiping her self off with a hand full of napkins as Sakura continued to choke on the small bit of liquid she had swallowed.

“It was just a question Sakura…I guess that means it's a `no', a pity too. Surely I would have thought someone who has been obsessed with those pornographic books…I mean I thought for sure… ”

When Sakura's hacking coughs had finally subsided she turned a teary eye to her not so subtle friend. As always she felt the need to defend her ex-sensei and current Squad Captain.

“I'll have you know the man …wait, what the hell am I saying? Look, we didn't actually get around to `that'….”

Ino seemed almost as disappointed as she had been, if that was possible.

`I swear the girl wants to live through me…'

“But did you want to?”

Sakura didn't even have to think about that one.

“Yes.”

Ino looked perplexed again.

“Then again I say where is the problem?”

“Come on Ino, from what we know about him even combined, we've never known him to get involved…”

“So are you saying you want to get `involved' then?”

Sakura felt like pulling her hair out.

“I-I don't know.”

Ino seemed to contemplate her situation for a moment then plucked her own tea off the table and began to sip.

“Then don't push for anything until you find out what it is you want. I have a feeling there's more to this story than your letting on, but I also have a feeling that it's part of the `you can't tell me' stuff that comes with your new job.”

Sakura felt somewhat relieved that at least Ino had come to that assumption on her own.

“Seriously though Sakura, even though we've never known him to have a relationship of any kind, I still hold tight to what I've always said. No one wants to die alone.”

Sakura sighed as she looked out the window taking in her friend's words.

`He's been alone for so long now. Has he ever been in love before? If so, does he even remember how to? If not, is he willing to learn? The bigger question is… do I want to teach him? I just don't know…'

Ino looked at her watch suddenly and Sakura took this in out of the corner of her eye as she was still gazing out of their window.

“Oh, it seems it's that time. The shop calls…”

Sakura got up as Ino did and the girls exchanged good bye hugs and words.

“Congratulations again Ino, I'm truly happy for you guys.”

Ino smiled in return.

“Thanks and I hope things work out for you too…What I wouldn't give…”

Sakura smacked the blonde on the shoulder, hard. Ino put up her heads in defeat while giggling.

“Can you blame me, seriously?”

Sakura rolled her eyes while watching her friend walking out of their meeting place. Sakura couldn't blame her. She had finally seen him for what he was, not an ex-sensei, not a Team Leader, and not a Squad Captain. She had finally seen him as a man, a man to be desired, pure and simple.

Sakura laid her money out on the table and got up to begin her journey back home. Sakura suddenly found her self restless. She found herself wishing that training hadn't been postponed for the day. It had nothing to do with wanting to see a certain silver haired shinobi. No, not at all…

As Sakura took in the sights of the vendors set up along the main street in front of her she caught a familiar shape on a rooftop to the left and she suppressed the urge to smile. There sat basking in the sun one Hatake Kakashi lazily lounging, reading one of his precious little books.

As she was about to look away, he chose that exact moment to lower his book. Brown gazed into emerald as he brought up his gloved hand in a customary hello. His eye crinkled and Sakura was only vaguely aware of her surroundings. She was quit aware of the sudden tightness in her chest as she smiled back up to him.

`I can't blame Ino…there's something about you…I'm not sure what it is exactly, but…there's definitely something…'

Sakura also became aware of the sudden twinge as she waved her good bye and continued on her way home.

`No, I won't push. I won't push until I figure out what it is I want, what it is you are to me…'

XXXXXXXXXXXxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

As the note had said, training began just as always the next day. Yajima had told the tale of their return in a flashy vigorous manner while Sasaki stayed quiet. Truthfully she wouldn't have gotten a word in edge wise even if she had tried. Sakura had recounted their tale leaving out certain bits and pieces here and there.

Yajima had recounted again how their Captain had shown up the morning after their return to welcome them back and congratulate them on a job well done. Sakura had apologized profusely for not showing up herself, but they just waved it off. They hadn't been expecting their Captain to show up so early, much less Sakura.

Their usual tag team session had started as soon as their Captain had shown up, late as usual. They had started off with the battle of the sexes. By the time the switch came around that had Sakura paired up with Yajima, she had noticed Kakashi's off behavior. It wasn't that he was taking it easy on her, it was quit the contrary.

Usually in sparring sessions, hell even in “Dragon Team's” sparring sessions, to some extent punches were pulled and so were kicks. The full extent of chakra used for certain jutsu's were lessened, but her Captain seemed to have it out for her today.

By the time it came for their finale switch, she was sporting a broken rib, more visible bruises than normal, and more than a few scratches. Her lip was even bleeding. Sure Yajima and Sasaki contributed to some of her injuries but the bulk was thanks to Kakashi. She had been thankful to finally be on his team.

Like every other time, who ever was paired with Kakashi had come out victorious, but this time to Sakura their victory had seemed slightly hollow. The communication had just not been there like it usually had.

She hadn't noticed anything amiss with the other two, just with her. It was almost as though he was mad at her, but why? Sakura couldn't understand it. Just yesterday they had shared a smile as she had been walking home.

Kakashi cut training down by an hour as he had done the last time. This time he did not stay to read as he had done before. He had curtly nodded to the two girls as he reminded them of their sword training before `poofing' and leaving them to their business.

Sakura's sword training had gone on as before. She ended up looking far worse for ware than Sasaki, but that was to be expected. As Sakura leaned on her sword hilt, the blade stuck in the ground, she panted for breath. Sasaki sat down tiredly about a foot in front of her. Sakura could tell the older woman had something on her mind to talk about and Sakura hoped it was some miracle cure to help her get better.

“Go ahead, you can tell me. I can see your hesitating. I'm terrible, go on. I can take it.”

Sasaki laughed as she shook her head in the negative. Her purple hair was spilling out of the ponytail she had created before their match.

“No, your not, you're just learning so this is to be expected. You will get better….actually I noticed the way the Captain was being rather hard on you earlier…”

Sakura was glad to hear that she wasn't the only one who had noticed.

“Yeah, he was wasn't he? Hm, it's not like I've done anything to make him angry, well that I'm aware of anyway…”

Sasaki could only guess as to what really transpired after Yajima and her self had left the two of them behind. She could tell from the way the younger woman's eyes had drifted during her tale that she hadn't told them the whole truth.

It wasn't exactly hard to put the pieces together though. She had seen the Copy Ninja go after Sakura in the water. She had also seen the look he had given her as he cradled her in his arms before they had taken off. It also didn't take a medic to know the only way to help someone who had been in Sakura's wet and shocked state. Sasaki had seen the map and knew that they were no where near a village.

So Kakashi's behavior earlier could be explained in several ways and Sakura had just crossed out a few of them by her statement.

“Well, whatever it was, I'm sure he's gotten over it by now. I'm sure tomorrow everything will be back to normal.”

Sakura considered the other woman's words.

“Yeah, maybe you're right, everyone has their off days.”

Sakura offered a hand to help Sasaki up and Sasaki returned her smile. The two women headed tired and worn toward the back entrance to the HQ as the sun began to set behind them. Sasaki looked at her female partner out of the corner of her eye.

`She's special to you Kakashi…I can see it.'

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The next few days training had went much the same as before. Sakura ended up having to use most of her chakra to heal her own wounds. Kakashi left each time to leave the two women to train in the art of the sword. Neither woman spoke of their Captains behavior again and there was no word from the Hokage about the half of scroll they now possessed. The village was still on Alert-Bravo.

Slowly as a week came and went, the frustration Kakashi had conjured up inside her from his morbid `favoritism' during training began to fester and bubble. Sakura would never admit that part of her ire was fueled by the fact that the subject of their `time together' had not been brought up or even hinted at.

He was acting as if it had never happened and that aggravated her to no end for far more reasons than she cared to admit. On one side she was glad to have things semi normal and on the other she was angry that he hadn't even tried to change things between them. She still didn't know what she wanted from him, but she had come to a conclusion. She was damn sure tired of being picked on during training.

That's why on that clear sunny morning as they walked out onto their training field Sakura vowed that if he continued with his charade, he was going to pay. If he wasn't going to pull his punches then she figured it was well within her right not to do so either.

The girls had won the rock paper scissors duel. They were to have the advantage of being hidden while the men stood their ground out in the open field.

Sakura targeted Yajima with a shower of shuriken from her hiding spot crouching on a tree limb to his left. The star shaped weapons were deflected as he sent his wires into a spin in front of him. He followed up by sending his wires to stab into the tree limb where Sakura had just been.

Sasaki had sent her own shower of shuriken toward Kakashi who easily deflected all five with the metal bars on the back of his gloved hands in a series of rapid movements.

Sakura took a second to scout for Yajima when she felt the ground under her give way. Kakashi had tried to pull her into the ground to take his place. Luckily she had jumped away at the last second.

Yajima had his wires wrapped around Sasaki's sword as Kakashi and Sakura faced each other. Sakura stared at his feet contemplating his next move when she felt him suddenly behind her.

`Damn, shadow clone.'

She was just a second to late in her drop to the floor in an attempt to sweep his feet out from under him. She felt his fist connect harshly with her right shoulder blade. The blow sent her flying and it hurt like hell. She was suddenly aware of the metallic taste in her mouth.

Sakura flipped to a standing position as Kakashi's leg collided with the ground where she previously lay. She wiped her mouth and found blood on her gloved hand. That hit she had taken had not been the full brunt and it was enough to make her cough up blood!

Sakura was more than a little pissed to say the least. He was the one who deemed the use of her monstrous strength a no-no during their training sessions, at least when used in direct contact with the body. He had also made it a point to stipulate the use of her frozen muscle jutsu. It was not allowed due to the fact it used up so much of her chakra and besides training would be cut short if no one could move their arms or legs.

`That bastard, he could have killed me! He can't be serious…what the hell is he thinking!'

Sakura decided to try to put some distance in between them. She burst into a shower of cherry blossoms as he sent a handful of shuriken at her. She reappeared on a high tree limb further away from their previous spot. Yajima and Sasaki were no where in sight and thankfully neither was Kakashi.

The blow to her shoulder blade had seriously done some damage. It hurt like hell to move her shoulder and she could just imagine the nasty bruise it was going to leave.

Sakura was no where near being aware of Kakashi standing on the same tree limb as her. He had used the temporary invisible jutsu the Sound Ninja had tried on him during their mission.

Sakura felt two strong arms encircle her own from behind and soon she saw the ground rushing up to meet her. Sakura panicked, she was going to create a small crater in the ground face first if she didn't do something soon. With her shoulder almost immobile, it made throwing him off damn near impossible. So she did the only thing she could. She latched on to his arms and sent a burst of chakra into them.

She felt him immediately let go and she twisted in just enough time to use his body to cushion her fall. The impact was hard, the ground cracked around them and a cloud of dirt and grass flew up into the air. She was staring shocked down into his masked face.

His dark eye stared blankly up at her and in the next second he was coughing and his mask was tainted slightly red. Anger flowed and enveloped her. She couldn't believe what he had just done. With her already injured back and shoulder she could have been seriously injured, hell maybe even killed.

“What in the hell do you think your doing!”

Sakura was yelling down into his face. She had taken away the use of his arms and her body was pinning him to the ground. When he spoke his voice was slightly hoarse from the impact and from Sakura leaning her weight down on him. She had her hands fisted tightly into his white vest as she glared vividly down at him.

“Training.”

She fisted more of his vest into her hands as she growled at him.

“Training my ass you bastard, ever since we returned from that damn mission it's like you're out to kill me or something! Even Sasaki has noticed! Are you trying to kill me Kakashi?”

Still his dark orb stared blankly as he kept his scarred eye closed, his voice betraying nothing.

“No.”

Normally his one word answers wouldn't perturb her so, but she wanted answers and she wasn't getting them. Her jaw clenched and eyes narrowed as she spoke through gritted teeth inches from his face.

“Then what in the seven hells are you doing then?”

She had not been expecting his answer, no, not one bit.

His answer came in the crush of his cloth covered lips to her own still set in a hard scowl. To say she was shocked would be an understatement. This was a new experience for her. One minute he's acting like he's out to put her six feet under and the next he's…well, he's definitely not trying to kill her anymore. Devour her through his mask, yes, but not kill.

Her resolve crumbled upon being subjected to his hungry kisses yet again. Truthfully she had missed them. Succumbing to her own need now she ripped the offensive piece of cloth down and out of her way. Her hands were no longer fisted in his vest but busy running through his silky silver tresses. She fisted his hair and used her hold as leverage to deepen the kiss. Still, Sakura's brain functioned enough to say a simple word in between their next fiery kiss.

“Why?”

Their hurried kisses seemed to go on for a few moments before she pulled back to let him answer. She gazed into his mismatched eyes and watched his brows knit in frustration and then he looked away from her, turning his head to the right. Sakura wasn't sure if his irritation was directed at her or himself. She figured she'd wait for him to speak before deciding, when he did speak his voice was more of a low growl than anything else.

“I can't get you out of my damn head. Ever since…no before that, since I saw you in that damn bar you're all I can think about. You even haunt my damn dreams at night….”

Sakura didn't know whether to be happy to hear these words she never thought could ever come from the man beneath her or to be angry at the way he had said them. Plus she was still angry about his previous behavior toward her and even though his words had set her heart slightly a flutter she still wanted answers.

“…but why have you been trying to stick me in the hospital?”

She watched him close both eyes rather tightly and grimace. She waited another minute for him to respond. He stayed quiet and Sakura's anger flared brightly. Her hands were back fisting into his vest and Kakashi felt his back lift from the ground slightly as she pulled him up toward her, glaring.

“Kakashi I swear to Kami if you don't start talking I'll…”

“I was never out to hurt you Sakura, I …”

Sakura shook him slightly to try to get him to continue. He finally turned to face her and his face softened considerably but yet still remained to appear slightly pained.

Just then both Yajima and Sasaki appeared behind them. Sasaki had obviously been the victor between the two seeing as how Yajimi sported more than one sword mark and even a nice gash to his thigh. Yajima's voice called out to them as they walked up.

“No way! Sakura actually beat the Captain!”

Sasaki took in the fact that Kakashi's ever present mask now hung around his neck and their current position. She had also been privy to the look he had been giving the pink haired kunoichi a second ago. She knew they had obviously interrupted something.

Sakura quickly let go of Kakashi's vest and got to her feet. She turned in the direction of their HQ and started walking back. Training for the day was obviously finished since she had made Kakashi an invalid once again. She threw an explanation to Yajima over her shoulder as she continued to walk away.

“I cheated.”

QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ

Author's Footnote:

Real life is never easy and I don't want theirs to be either….

There's a method to Kakashi's madness, really I swear!

And it's true he never meant to kill her.

(Don't forget people she's a shinobi as well, she suppose to be able to take an ass-whooping.)

The half of the scroll will come into play in a HUGE way later.

As I've said before Rome wasn't built in a day and love isn't fortified in a night no matter how good the…..well you get the picture.

From here on out I don't think I can give hints to the next chapters without giving it all away so I hope you don't mind! XD