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Chapter Text

It was only a light tickle. Any lighter and the pull of sleep would be much stronger. But the pressure of the touch was enough to bring her to wakefulness.

It took exactly three seconds for her to realize what was going on.

"NARUTO!"

"I was asleep, Sakura-chan! I didn't mean-"

Thwack. … stomp, stomp stomp.

"Kakashi-sensei." She stood over him, blanket tucked under her arm. Pink hair stuck out at odd angles. He nodded and she settled on the ground next to him, then laid her cheek against his leg.

She was never going to let Naruto convince her that he was a good pillow ever again. Pillows don't grope.

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"This is the song that never ends, yes it goes on and on my friiieeend!"

Kakashi didn't flinch. He could show no weakness. There was a price to be paid, however. He hadn't been able to turn the page of his book for the last three minutes.

"Some people started singing it not knowing what it was!"

His eye twitched.

"And they'll continue singing it forever just because…!" Breath expended, the singer took a huge gulp of air.

"This is … Oooof."

Kakashi's eye crinkled.

"Kakashi-sensei! That hurt! That's no fair! I was singing for you!" Naruto's blue eyes were wide, his expression wounded as he clutched his gut. "It's only because I care!"

A blur of pink and red dropped from the tree. Sakura stood in front of Naruto with her hands on her hips, thoroughly unimpressed.

"Sakura-chan! Tell him it's because I care!"

She whopped him upside the head.

"Heeeey!" Naruto took precautionary steps back as he rubbed at the bump that was sure to form. "What'd I do?"

She just looked at him, nonplussed. She sighed moments later and shook her head. "Tsunade wants to see you in her office. You shouldn't keep her waiting else you'll get a matching bruise on the other side of that thick skull of yours when you get there. She's in a mood today."

After he was gone Sakura let herself drop next to Kakashi and leaned back against the tree. "He's hopeless. Utterly hopeless." She pinched the bridge of her nose.

Kakashi just patted her leg. "Shh. Everything's going to be okay."

She glared. His eye crinkled.

Exactly one minute later, he finally turned the page.

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Twelve: Sakura could walk up trees. She was clever. And she discovered that she was brave when it counted. Her hair went from long to short and she grew up just a little bit.

Thirteen: She was a below average ninja. There was nothing to merit fanfaronade. Nothing to brag about. Nothing that was enough to make Sasuke stay.

Fourteen: Naruto left too, and Kakashi did in his own way as well. She cried. And it was okay to cry, because crying didn't stop her. It freed her up to concentrate on what was really important. Like becoming someone who was necessary. Someone who was strong. Someone who was just as dedicated as Naruto, who could bring Sasuke back to Konaha, someone that Kakashi-sensei would look at and actually see.

Fifteen: For all that she had improved, Sakura discovered that she had not improved enough. She slayed a deadly puppet, but she could not kill Sasuke. She had to be saved. Twice. Sakura wondered if she was even meant to be a ninja.

Sixteen: War changes everything.

Seventeen: Sakura learns that being a survivor is both a blessing and a curse. She has Naruto and Kakashi, but Sai is gone. Yamato is gone. Sasuke is gone. Tsunade is gone. So many more. She spends every morning with Kakashi at the Memorial Stone.

Eighteen: One day she holds his hand. He links their fingers together. He sees her.

Nineteen: Sakura discovers that it's about the journey. She had to go through it all to be where she is. In love. Loved.

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Kakashi is a lauded ninja. One of the best the village has to offer. He's prominently featured in the bingo books. He's the Copy Ninja, the wielder of a thousand jutsus.

But Kakashi knows the truth.

He was not enough to inspire his father to live.

He was not enough to save Obito, not enough for Rin.

He was not enough to save Minato, and he was too weak to look after his son.

He knew he shouldn't have taken a genin team. He'd done his best to stay away from Naruto so he could not fail him as he failed his father. He should have known better than to take on an Uchiha, the Last Uchiha.

And really, what did he know about little girls? He didn't even try with Sakura, didn't even see her. This, too, was not enough, another failure in a long list of them.

Kakashi was a disappointment. He failed everyone he cared about, or accidentally came to care for. If Kakashi had learned anything, it was that it was best not to get involved, not to get in too deep. It was best they were just distant names and not people with faces and feelings, who laughed at you and with you, who remembered the important things and forgot the mistakes, who cried for you and would die for you.

If you slipped up. Cared. It was best to pull away. Stay away. It's for their own good, or so he will tell himself.

But really, he couldn't fail someone if they weren't important enough to try for in the first place.

Kakashi knows the truth. He is a coward where it matters most.

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Contrary to popular belief, it was not easy shopping for the men in her life.

Well, it was easy to shop for Naruto. He liked food, ramen in particular. And Sakura supposed it was fairly easy to shop for Sai too. He always seemed to be pleased with the art supplies she gifted him. And Tsunade wasn't terribly hard to find gifts for either, now that she thought on it. Saké did the trick every time.

Kakashi was the difficult one. He didn't seem to genuinely enjoy much of anything except his Icha Icha books, and Sakura knew he had three copies of each.

She'd had to get creative for his birthday.

"Like this, Ugly." Sai demonstrated the technique. His pencil was dragged in effortless lines and the portrait really began to emerge. "It's a shading technique called hatching. Or if your hand isn't steady enough, you could try stippling." He ceased the long lines and began making a flurry of dots in a concentrated area.

Sakura tried stippling. She poked the pencil right through the paper. "Hmm."

"Terrible," Sai commented neutrally.

"Yeah, I kinda got that on my own, thanks," Sakura grumbled. Kakashi better appreciate this.

...

It was on his windowsill wrapped in a jaunty red bow. Something like happiness warmed him from the inside out. He knew who the gift was from. She was the only one that not only remembered his birthday every year, but gave him a gift as well.

Kakashi reached for the scroll of parchment, tugged the silk ribbon off, and unrolled it. His brow climbed up into his silver-grey hair. It wasn't perfect, but what he held in his hands was a depiction of one of his favorite scenes from Icha Icha Paradise. There were even nipples.

Sakura, his only female student, had drawn him pornography. He wasn't sure whether to laugh (because he knew now that for all her grumbling she had actually read the books) or be completely horrified (because Sakura had given him something sexually explicit).

He tipped his head to the side as he studied the pencil drawing. It was actually quite good.

Kakashi decided to be proud. He'd brought his students up right.

Chapter Text

She went down. Hard.

"Come on, Sakura-chan! You can do it!" Naruto cheered, though all his efforts earned him was a hard glare. He glanced over at Kakashi. "Why'd she do that, huh? She could have had the teme right there. She can't still like him?"

"This is the first time they've fought since he came back. She's not used to knocking him around like she is you."

"Hey!"

Kakashi's eye crinkled. "He'll dismiss her abilities in some way in the next few minutes and then she'll break something."

Naruto watched his friends spar and looked doubtful. Sakura wasn't her usual self and Sasuke was dancing circles around her. "I don't know, Kakashi-sensei. The teme's really fast."

"And then she'll give you a black eye," Kakashi predicted happily.

...

1. Sasuke told Sakura her form needed work. She broke his nose on the very next attack. The match was a draw. Sakura refused to heal his nose.

2. Naurto congratulated them both on a great spar. He also told Sakura he wasn't sure for awhile if she'd be able to keep up since the teme had gotten so fast while he was gone and she just wasn't looking herself. Naruto got a black eye for his trouble.

3. Kakashi won 1,000 ryō from Tsunade for correctly predicting Sakura would not only damage Sasuke's pretty face, but she'd manage to get one in on Naruto, too. Hell hath no fury like a woman surrounded by idiots, after all.

...

Sasuke refused to go to the hospital. His nose healed ever so slightly crooked. Sakura is very smug about this.

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"There's this guy I like."

Kakashi's brow rose. He dragged his eye away from his Icha Icha book to look at the pink haired woman sprawling in the grass.

"He's completely out of my league though."

Kakashi frowned. For all that he was confused about Sakura's current topic of chatter, he thought her last statement ludicrous. She was a beautiful, talented, brilliant woman. If anything, she was the one above others.

"I'm not even sure if he knows I'm there, to be honest." She waved a hand in the air as if to dismiss her earlier words and kept talking. "Well, he knows I exist, but I'm pretty sure he's not aware I'm a woman."

Huh. Kakashi's expression shifted to one of consideration. It'd be terribly difficult to miss the fact that Sakura was a woman. Her curves were slight, but noticeable in her usual medic's outfit; a tiny waist, a noticeable flare of hips, toned legs framed by short shorts and knee high boots. And she smelled very subtly of jasmine.

"Are you sure he likes women?"

She laughed and rolled over onto her stomach so she could lift herself on her elbows and face him. "Oh, I'm sure he likes women." Her green eyes were bright, mischievous. Now that he could see her face, Kakashi was sure she was up to something. "He loves those books," she said with a slight nod toward the orange book in his hand.

Kakashi wasn't sure how he felt about this. On the one hand the object of her affection had excellent taste. On the other, he didn't like to think about any man she might be with who would think of her in the place of any of the heroines. She was his teammate, after all. It wasn't really acceptable for him to approve of a man who would surely objectify her.

"Who is it?" he asked, lifting his gaze from where it had fallen to the book in hand.

She wasn't there. He frowned, though his nose twitched seconds later. Jasmine. His awareness of her proximity made the genjutsu fall away.

"You," she murmured, lips barely brushing his ear.

Kakashi could feel heat traveling up his neck. She was sure to see it above his mask in moments.

"But I never did stand a chance," she lamented, breath hot against his skin. And then she was gone and only a swirl of sakura petals were left in her place.

Chapter Text

Lee had an idea. Naruto thought it was the best idea he'd ever heard.

Those two facts were enough to make Sakura wary. If she were a lesser woman, she would be frightened. (She was frightened. She was also a ninja. Ninja did not admit such things.)

...

"If I have to do it, you have to." Her hands were on her hips and her green eyes were flinty. She liked to think she was fearsome.

Kakashi only turned the page of his Icha Icha book.

"Kakashi. I mean it." And she did. She couldn't give Naruto a black eye for this. He hadn't technically done anything wrong. He and Lee had everyone's best interests at heart, and they were really excited. And Naruto had given her The Eyes. And a really good wibbly lip. She wasn't heartless.

Her old sensei turned the next page.

She sighed. She didn't want to do this, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

...

"My Eternal Rival!" Gai dropped from the tree to land in front of Kakashi and posed with his hands on his hips. "Your Beautiful Youthful Sakura Blossom Has Had a Wonderful Idea!"

Kakashi was halfway through the hand signs to transport himself away.

"I Challenge You!"

Kakashi's head hung in defeat.

...

I used to be the guy stood next to Diddy
Crucified for bringin sex in the city

The music was loud. Lee and Naruto were louder.

"Let the Music Speak to Your Body and Fill Your Youthful Soul!" Lee shouted. Naruto pumped his fist. "Yeah! Let's do this!"

And I don't chase money man
Money chase me

The assortment of ninja gathered on the training ground knew the moves.

"Awake these people up and show them they keep dreamin', BEATHE! STRETCH! SHAKE!, Let it go!"

Bums shimmied in choreographed unison.

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Just put your paws up, because you were born this way, baby…

Kakashi couldn't pinpoint the exact moment where it had all gone wrong. It was more a series of events that had seemed inconsequential at the time. Very Unfortunate Events, he knew now.

He should have known better, to be quite honest. Sakura could be particularly vindictive when she wanted, and it was easy to forget that Naruto could be sneaky. Very easy to forget.

Kakashi could only blame his inattention on the latest edition of Icha Icha. (Jiraiya had outdone himself. He was man enough, and fan enough, to admit he got a little choked up thinking about how fantastic it was.)

It all culminated in the predicament he now found himself: wearing a black corset, a pair of Sakura's tiny shorts (they were not made for a man of his size), high heels, a feather boa, a voluminous purple wig, and doused in glitter.

Gai was worse.

But dammit, now that he was here in the moment, he'd be damned if Gai out-dragged him.

He slinked onto the stage.

Really though. Hindsight's a bitch.

Don't be a drag, just be a queen.

Meanwhile…

"OH MY GAWD!" Ino stood and waved her ryō.

Sakura choked on her drink and coughed until her eyes watered. Then she nearly fell out of her chair.

The image of her purple-haired sensei leaning over the edge of the stage to kiss her best friend while the blonde stuffed money in his (hers!) shorts was going to be burned in her mind forever.

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1st Rule: You do not talk about the fight club.

People think they know, or at least they speculate. But it's the guessing and the gossiping that makes it all the more mysterious. Makes ninja dressed in black with their faces covered all the more menacing.

Those who are ANBU don't say who they are or what they do while the mask is on.

And those who no longer wear the mask say nothing.

2nd Rule: You DO NOT talk about the fight club.

Sakura expected to be tested. Their standard of excellence is high. Very high. Only the most elite of ninja need apply - and not all make the cut.

Sakura did not expect this.

It's so raw. So basic. So unrefined.

3rd Rule: If someone says "stop" or goes limp, taps out the fight is over.

She had talked to Kakashi, of course. He had done his best to dissuade her, though he trained her all the same.

He hadn't said anything about this, however. But then, now that she knew the rules, she knew that he couldn't have.

4th Rule: Only two to a fight.

No chakra, no jutsus. Only taijutsu, only their bodies and their minds.

Sakura was not afraid.

5th Rule: One fight at a time

There were fights before hers. ANBU Falcon was graceful in his movement, his long, dark hair like sakura petals whirling on the breeze as he viciously beat his opponent.

Sakura would know him anywhere. The pearly white eyes she caught glimpses of through his mask only confirmed her suspicion.

They would never talk of this. That was rule number one.

6th Rule: No shirts, no shoes.

She wrapped her hands with tape. It was all she was allowed other than her chest bindings and black shorts.

She eyed the faceless, nameless man across from her. Felt the rush of adrenalin and anticipation.

She smiled beneath her blank mask. It was more feral than happy.

Kakashi needn't have worried.

7th Rule: Fights will go on as long as they have to.

There was something satisfying about the thump of flesh on flesh. Sakura was a close range fighter, but her chakra made contests uneven. With only her wits and natural strength, she landed hits that didn't immediately destroy, but instead would leave deeply purpled bruises. Broken ribs. Her knuckles slid along sweat-slickened skin.

His fists found purchase on her body, too.

8th Rule: If this is your first night at fight club, you HAVE to fight.

He was faster, stronger. But she was smarter. And she had better stamina. (Thank you, Kakashi.)

It took longer than the other fights, but she finally had him pinned, angle right to snap his neck. He tapped out.

Her body shook with the strain, but she had never felt better.

Chapter Text

Naruto never had a family.

Sasuke's was taken from him.

Kakashi's father left him in the most final way. He lost Obito. Rin. Minato.

When Sasuke leaves, Sakura thinks she knows what it's like to lose someone.

Sakura doesn't realize how naive she is. Not yet.

She grows up. She's stronger and smarter and more capable than ever. She is the Hokage's apprentice and one of the most accomplished medic's in the village. She looks down on the twelve year old version of herself with distaste. She is older and wiser, and she will never be a silly, vacuous girl ever again.

But the war steals her parents from her, the only family she has, and it is only then Sakura finally understands that she never really knew anything at all. She had only traded artless immaturity for delusional vanity in the rightness of her own logic.

Sakura is a fool.

Chapter Text

Everyone had said she didn't understand. Of course she wouldn't understand if no one told her what it was she was supposed to know. The huge thing that everyone else seem to know.

Adults were pretty dumb sometimes. They thought they knew best.

As she walked through the eerily quiet Uchiha district for the first time all she could think was how wrong they were. Sasuke had lived here by himself. Everyone he'd ever loved had lived here and then died here. His mom and dad, and aunts and uncles. His cousins and grandparents. And his brother had been the one to do it.

Sakura was intelligent, which allowed her to know the difference between being smart and being wise. She didn't claim the latter given she was only thirteen, but even she knew her teammate shouldn't have been left here alone. It was bad enough that they'd not done more for Naruto, that they had isolated him to a little apartment.

But to leave Sasuke with these empty houses, haunted by memories and people who were stolen from him in such a violent and personal way?

Sakura wasn't sure if she could have done or said anything that would have made him stay, not with what he'd been through, not with how he'd been left to stew in the pain and the past, but she could have at least tried. If she had known, maybe it would have been different…

Her fingers curled into a fist. It would be different. It wasn't over, not yet.

She twirled on her heel and headed toward the Hokage's Tower.

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Kakashi liked cleaning days. Sakura's cleaning days, that is. And she didn't really know that he liked them. Or that he knew she had them.

Or that he knew not only did she spend every Wednesday she had off from missions and the hospital cleaning, but her ritual included Elvis Presley, tinier shorts than even he was used to seeing, and dancing.

Some would say he should feel ashamed of himself for spying on her. He didn't. He was a ninja. His moral code was flexible. Plus, Sakura was a ninja as well and if she left her windows open so anyone passing by on the roofs could see in… well, she knew better.

And someday he might even tell her about it.

But today he would treasure her spirited lip sync of "Hound Dog" into her repurposed hand vac microphone. He would also treasure those tiny little red shorts forever and ever.

Amen.

Chapter Text

"And this," Buffy said, voice reverent, "this is she shoe department." The two small women look enraptured and Kakashi shook his head.

Sakura had taken to this world much easier than he'd anticipated. He had known she could handle the weight of importance, the banned jutsu used to force their silence, and that she would be able wrap her mind around inter-dimensional travel and accept there were other realities. He'd had his doubts about how the mission would go once they got to Sunnydale, however. He'd learned on his last few top secret, special ops rendezvous to this dimension that the Slayer and Sakura had a lot in common. Both were fiery women. Impetuous. Liked to solve problems by smashing things.

One could never be too wary of women with quick tempers and super human strength.

But he couldn't have accounted for their shared love of shiny things. Fluffy things. Shoes.

Their sighs of contentment brought his attention back to them.

"I love these," Sakura said, fingers dragging lightly over the soft, supple leather of a pair of knee high stiletto boots. She sighed. "They're impractical."

"Nonsense," Buffy said as she picked up the footwear. "They make your legs look long and fantastic, and the heel can be used to kill vampires in this dimension. See?" she said, pink-painted finger pointing to the end of the thin heel. "Wood. Round house kick plus pointy wood equals dusty vamps." She smiled brightly, pleased with herself. "Totally useful."

Sakura smiled back. She also decided to try them on. Buffy picked three pairs to try on.

Kakashi decided he was very glad he'd only had one female student.

Chapter Text

Medicine was a science grounded in the physical and natural world. More specifically though, it was the science of the human body - what made it work properly, and the kinds of things that made it break. For all that jutsus and chakra seemed magical, it wasn't. Chakra was nothing more than energy. Just as it's true that humans only use a small percentage of their brain, so also do they only use a small percentage of the energies their bodies produce. Ninja had learned to use those untapped reserves. Apply their conscious mind to manipulating it to their will. Hundreds of years of accumulated knowledge had fine tuned how to do this most efficiently, and now instead of few ninja, there were villages full of them.

Sakura liked medicine. Science. The things that could be observed and studied. She could learn all there was to know about the human body, the chakra pathways, the fine application and manipulation of the 'magical' energy that made it possible for her to cause minor earthquakes with her fists. She could learn what it took to fix broken bones, burns, fatal wounds.

But the bijuu could not be accounted for in such a way. They really were magical. There was nothing Sakura could do for Naruto as he lay there, sweating, brows occasionally furrowing in a pain she could not alleviate. How could she apply scientific knowledge and physical energy to healing something that was spiritual in nature?

...

"It's a spiritual house cleaning, dear," the miko had said patiently as she waved the burning herbs. "The smoke attaches itself to the negative energies, and as it clears it will take it away from here and release it into another space where it can be regenerated into positive energy."

Sakura internally scoffed at such nonsense, but only nodded politely at their client as she 'cleansed' the room they would sleep in for the night.

...

She was not scoffing now. If the ritual of smudging could help Naruto fight the demon inside him, then she would do it. Sage for purification and spiritual safety, lavender for peace and restfulness, and pinon for cleansing, strengthening and spiritual healing. The smudge stick was put in a bowl to smolder and the smoke whirled up from the dried herbs, swirled lazily, and drifted toward the window she'd left open a crack.

She took the blond's hand in hers. All she could do now was wait. Wait and hope.

Kakashi put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed.

Chapter Text

By some miracle of the Mission Assignment Gods the four of them were home at the same time. In Ino's opinion, this called for saké (lots and lots of saké). By the time the girls were well into the second large bottle, the conversation had devolved to the men in their lives. It was inevitable it would come to this, really.

It'd been established Lee was a five. Too much spit, but his enthusiasm (and great hands) made up for it. According to Hinata, Naruto was a perfect ten. Due to a miscommunication of sorts that Was Not Talked About on Team Kakashi, Sakura knew that was an overestimation of her teammate's skill. It was decided Naruto was probably a seven. Surprisingly, both Ten Ten and Ino could objectively (and unfortunately) say Neji was only a three. (Very disappointing, really, given his prominence in many of their fantasies). Not so surprisingly, everyone but Hinata could attest Kiba was a solid nine (Rawr. No, really.). Sai was a seven (Sakura had taught him to kiss herself. How could he not be decent?), Chouji was a six (attentiveness gets you extra points), Shikamaru was an eight (he might be lazy, but he wasthorough), and Shino was a complete mystery to all of them.

"Not a perfect ten in the bunch." Ino was disappointed in the results of their shared knowledge.

"See, that's why you've gotta aim a little higher," Sakura said knowingly. She dropped back another shot of saké. It didn't even burn going down anymore!

"A little higher?" Ten Ten asked, genuinely curious. Ino looked suspicious. Hinata tried not to look interested.

"Sure!" Sakura said. "I mean, with age comes experience, right? So it only stands to reason that the more experience they have, the better the experience you'll have."

Ino's eyes narrowed and then widened as a realization hit her. "You didn't."

Sakura grinned. It was the kind that said she was Very Satisfied with herself. "Oh, I did. Kakashi's definitely a perfect ten."

Chapter Text

When Sakura is fourteen she gives Kakashi a four leaf clover charm for Christmas. It has a kanji on the back he hasn't ever seen before. On a solo s-class mission he only survives because it turns out the little charm he hung from a piece of leather around his neck is a membership token of the gang he's been trying to infiltrate

When Sakura is fifteen she gives him a decorative senbon. He sticks the silver knick knack on his vest like a pin. It wasn't really meant for combat, but that little senbon saves his life when he has no chakra or weapons left. At the last moment he remembers the engraved senbon. A perfect throw strikes his attacker's jugular vein. It turns out the ninja is also allergic to silver.

When Sakura is sixteen she gives him a thick, leather book the size of his palm. It is a special encyclopedia that details the poisonous and antidotal attributes of plants found in the ninja nations. He keeps it in the breast pocket of his vest over his heart. It wasn't the contents of the book that saves Kakashi's life, but the book itself. Evisceration by kunai can ruin anyone's day. He only ends up getting a small cut from the tip that manages to make it through the book.

When Sakura is seventeen she gives him a kiss under the mistletoe at Christmas. Kakashi does what he does best. He runs away. Later he pretends nothing is different.

He doesn't realize until Sakura is twenty-one and giving birth to their first child that she saved his life that day, too. She gave him a reason to keep going.

Chapter Text

"You're the crappiest genie ever." Sakura scowled at him. He ignored her.

"You get three wishes. I grant them. It's all very simple." Kakashi turned the page of his book. He'd been in his lamp for a few centuries and had been making due with what he had in his library from ages past, but these Icha Icha books - they were fantastic.

He could hear the pink haired creature growling at him. Such an odd little woman.

Sakura stomped her foot. "I can't kill anyone? Fine! No wishing for more wishes? Got it! Can't make anyone fall in love with me? Don't need it! I'm sexy as hell," she said as she bat the damn book out of his hands. The wounded look he gave her only served to further disgust her. "And I can't bring anyone back from the dead. Basically, you're a failure of a genie and I get that. So I ask for something simple. Something I think even you can do. And what do I get?"

"What you asked for?" Kakashi tried, mismatched eyes sliding to the orange book lying forlornly on the floor. He pined.

"I asked for a library of all the secret medical jutsu that exist!"

"I know," he said, puzzled now, and his eyes slid back to the pink-haired woman. She reminded him of a teapot about to whistle.

"Where is it!?"

"It doesn't exist yet, but it will!" he said, very proud of himself. When she only continued to glare at him he deflated a bit. "It's not my fault you didn't say when."

She screamed and stomped out.

Kakashi shrugged and retrieved his book. All Icha Icha, all the time, he thought gleefully. He loved this era.

Chapter Text

She shrieked and it was enough to startle Kakashi. He flinched when she pulled the parchment out of his hands and waved it rather violently to dispel the flame.

He gave her a slow blink with mismatched eyes. "You're very excitable."

"Excitable?" Sakura was doing her best imitation of a teapot about to whistle again. "YOU WERE BURNING A JUTSU SCROLL!"

"It's paper. It's common in this dimension to use paper to start a fire, is it not?" Kakashi thought this was reasonable.

Her mouth opened. Closed. Opened again. He thought she looked a bit like a gaping fish.

"You're a genie," she said finally, almost pleadingly. She held the partially burned scroll to her chest protectively. "Will a fire into existence."

"Just because I'm gifted with mind-boggling supernatural powers doesn't mean I shouldn't endeavor to live as an every-man while I'm here." Kakashi's eyes crinkled with his smile. "Plus, burning things is fun."

"JUTSUS, KAKASHI. SACRED, RARE JUTSUS."

"I promise not to burn anymore jutsus," he promised, patting her on the head. He liked her pink hair. It was shiny and soft.

"… you burned other jutsus?"

Kakashi shifted on his feat, uneasy. "Define 'other jutsus.'"

Chapter Text

Kakashi is thirty-seven years old. He has survived all of his family, most of his friends, two wars, and one of his students. He is the infamous Copy Ninja, can perform a thousand jutsu.

But there are some things that cannot be fought, or survived, or even detected until it is too late.

He is dying. There is nothing Tsuande or Sakura can do for him. His body is failing him and he will continue to weaken until he is no longer able to care for himself. He will need a nurse, and then he will waste away slowly.

Kakashi refuses to let that be the way it ends for him.

Even when the village was near destitute after Pein's attack and the war, Tsunade refused obscenely well-funded missions where the margin of survival was not to her standards. Kakashi has convinced her to allow him one of these missions. His last act will be in service of his village.

...

Death is a reality ninja cannot hide from. Kakashi is intimately familiar with death. So many he has known and cared for are gone now. He has even faced the reality of his own death more times than he can count.

But it is different this time. When you're chakra is depleted, your weapons gone, your body broken and your teammates dead or incapacitated, there is only a few seconds to reconcile what will happen. There is no time for reflection. Kakashi has been fortunate that he has woken up every time he thought he'd closed his eyes for the last time.

This is not like those moments. Kakashi has time to think about his life. What he has accomplished, and how meaningless it all has been. That he is alone as he prepares for his final mission.

He seals the scroll he has filled with the supplies he will need. He leaves his bed unmade and slips out the window.

...

One last stop.

The moon is bright, full and heavy in the sky. The air is chill and it chafes at his skin. It will be autumn soon.

He will not see the leaves turn.

Kakashi lays a single white poppy next to the memorial stone and he straightens. "Be seeing you soon," he says with a two finger salute before turning, stuffing his hands in his pockets, and strolling away.

The darkness of the forest swallows him and he disappears as if he was never there to begin.

...

Pakkun is the one to deliver the news to Tsunade. The mission is a success.

Kakashi's name is etched into the memorial stone.

Sakura weeps.

Chapter Text

Sakura couldn't stand Kakashi.

She had thought it a stroke of some divine luck to not only come across the lamp, but be bored enough on her meandering travels back to Konaha to attempt to clean the tarnished brass and make it shine. She'd not expected a genie to slip from the tiny opening. A genie. (She'd tried to kill him, to be honest. Reflexes and whatnot.)

When they had come to an understanding (genie!), Sakura had thought she was perhaps the luckiest kunoichi in the world. But then had come the 'wish rules'. And then she'd had to spend time with her genie. Kakashi.

He was not only a terrible genie, but he was obnoxious. Annoying. Irritating and infuriating and maddening.

Needless to say, she never expected to find herself kissing him. And she certainly never expected to like it.

Boom! Bang! Pop poot poot pop!

Sakura started and pulled away. She blinked, green gaze hazy as she watched the show light up the sky. "Fireworks?"

Kakashi's fingers traced the warm skin just above her collar, paused to brush over her pounding pulse and then continued up her neck. Mismatched eyes were very intent on her mouth and he brushed his thumb across her bottom lip. "Kissing you feels like fireworks."

Sakura's eyes shifted away from the light show to her genie. He was completely intolerable, but then he had to go say things like that. And literally make the sky combust.

She tugged him back to her. After awhile she didn't even hear the fireworks anymore.

Chapter Text

When Buffy had pulled him aside and asked if he could take something back to Konoha for safe keeping - a key - Kakashi hadn't hesitated to say yes. Tsunade would surely approve of fostering continued goodwill between Konoha and The Slayer by granting such a simple request.

Kakashi had forgot his most important rule, however - to look underneath the underneath. But really, how could he have ever guessed Buffy's precious 'key', one that could open portals to hell in her dimension, was her little sister? Her sulky, petulant, very teenage little sister who liked to glower at him. For no reason! Kakashi didn't understand it at all.

"Is he always so obnoxious?" Dawn asked the shorter woman walking next to her.

"Unfortunately," Sakura said with a little sigh. "He also openly reads porn in public."

The brunette shot another glare at him.

If Kakashi had been confused by how enraptured Sakura and Buffy had been over a large selection of shoes, he was completely mystified now. He couldn't even figure out how to look underneath the underneath of what they were saying.

Women, in general, were terribly confusing. Moody teenage girls, he discovered, were to be avoided at all costs if one valued their sanity.

Chapter Text

Sasuke was frowning when he sat down at their table at the back of the bar.

"Did you learn anything that'll help?" Naruto asked. He was antsy, squirming a bit in his chair. Information gathering was not something he generally had the patience for. Sakura resisted rolling her eyes at her teammate and turned her attention back to Sasuke. He hadn't been gone from their table for more than a few minutes and she was curious at how he'd explain his failure.

"No." He frowned harder, but there was a different flavor to it than normal. Sakura knew all variations of his frown after years working with him. This one was as close as an Uchiha got to looking confused.

Her lips twitched upwards.

Dark eyes flicked to her and she took a sip of her drink to try and hide the smile beginning to peak at the edges of her mouth. Sasuke didn't miss much though and he raised a brow at her.

She set her fruity drink down. "Did you even try to speak to her?"

"Hn." Fuck, no.

"Sometimes these things take effort, you know," she told him pointedly. "Not every woman we need information from is going to fall over herself to please you." He only scoffed.

"Especially," she continued, "when you're not her type."

"Whaddya mean, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, expressing his bewilderment for both boys. She knew it drove the blond crazy Sasuke didn't even have to try with women, but he, too, had come to rely on the inevitable during these kinds of mission tasks.

She laughed at his utter bafflement. "I mean that I'm more her type."

She had suspected when the woman hadn't even spared Sasuke more than a glance. Honestly, that really was odd, so she'd paid closer attention after Sasuke moved away. She was rewarded with witnessing their mark sending the buxom bartender the kind of smile Sakura herself only shared with Kakashi. When the woman had suddenly met her gaze and winked, Sakura had been sure. Even if it turned out she was wrong, their mark was definitely more interested in what she had to offer.

Naruto went from looking bewildered to something closer to gleeful. Sasuke only frowned harder. She shook her head, amused, and stood up. Small hands smoothed the wrinkles out of her short black skirt, a deliberate move as she knew their mark was watching her again. "I'll talk to her. Pay attention and I'm sure you'll both learn something."

"Hey! I don't need to learn anything!" Naruto said, affront written across his features. "… hey, wait… you've picked up women before?"

"Shut up, dobe."

Sakura only laughed as she moved away. It was easy to smile at their mark when she was so amused. She loved her boys.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

A single moment changes everything.

Before: Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura were his students and now they are jounin; his equals, his teammates, his friends. Naruto is still loud and obnoxious, Sasuke is still sulky and irritable, and Sakura's temper hasn't waned even a little. But then Naruto is also wiser, Sasuke has found the courage to live well in revenge, and Sakura has accepted that soft doesn't mean weak.

It could have been so much worse. Somehow Kakashi knows that he is lucky, blessed, fortunate - whatever you want to call it - that his students are happy and thriving, and that the world hasn't imploded (because he knows it could have been so much different; they all have the capability of making the world go down in flames). Kakashi hasn't lost anyone and he is not alone, and he's more content than he's ever been.

A single moment changes everything.

After: He can't sleep. His training has suffered from his bad concentration and lethargy. He can't even read Icha Icha because the heroines are somehow all her now. There's nowhere he can go that doesn't remind him of her in some way. She even has the audacity to ask if he's alright, comment that he's flushed, press her hand against his forehead.

Her palm is cool against his heated skin. He likes the feel of her touch too much and he despairs because this was never a problem before.

A single moment changes everything.

The Moment: He was practicing with Naruto and Sasuke. Sakura was at the hospital. This is all very normal. Sometimes she comes late to workout with them. Most times her shifts run long.

It's the middle of the summer and swelteringly hot. She arrives just as they're taking a seat in the grass beneath a large oak tree. She's wearing a white sundress and there is a light sheen to her skin; as airy and fresh as she looks, no one escapes the humidity.

She's brought popsicles. His eye crinkles.

It isn't until ten minutes later it happens. Naruto says something idiotic, Sasuke calls him on it, and she laughs. This, too, is very normal. But Kakashi's eye lingers, is caught by the weak rays of the setting sun shining through her hair. He finds himself wondering if her hair is as soft as it looks, and has her bottom lip always been that pink and pouty? Her skin is damp from the humidity and he can smell her. Sakura does not wear artificial fragrances and her natural scent is so faint and light he usually has to make an effort to catch it on the breeze. He breathes deeply and his gaze follows the curve of her jaw, down her neck, lingers where her pulse is pounding.

When he catches himself wondering what her skin would taste like Kakashi finds a reason to leave immediately.

Now that he's seen her, really seen her, he can't go back to before.

It only takes a moment.

Chapter Text

Sometimes she thinks she sees trees. The dapple of sunlight on fluttering leaves, the breeze stirring the long grass edging a sandy beach. The water is beautiful, a sea of chakra, green and lavender and blue all swirling together in waves, rolling on a shore of black sand. It's an ocean that looks warm and lovely, and when it pulses again she smiles and looks down, anticipating the chakra water rolling over her feet.

But she cannot see her feet, only the black sand, and the harder she looks at the sand, the more it seems like nothing at all. And then it occurs to her that the ocean isn't supposed to be hazy and ephemeral, nor a kaleidoscope of colors.

Panic makes her chest tighten, creeps up her spine and she closes her eyes tight.

… hold on, Sakura.

The voice is vaguely familiar and eases the tension somewhat. When she opens her eyes, though, there's nothing at all. She's nothing. The voice is gone. She screams.

...

The poison is working faster than she'd hinted at before losing consciousness. Her skin is damp and too hot, and she's pale as a ghost. Tendrils of pink hair stick to her temple and her breathing is shallow. She smells of sickness.

Kakashi knows a thousand jutsu, but nothing that will fix her.

Out of nowhere she tenses in his arms and when he chances a glance down he sees her face is frozen in terror. It only lasts for seconds and then she goes limper than ever before, if that's possible.

The coil of panic in his chest pulsates and he pushes himself harder, faster, flies like the wind through the trees. He must get back to Konoha, back to Tsunade.

"Just a little bit longer." It's said breathlessly in a vain hope she can hear him.

He cannot fail. Kakashi refuses to contemplate a world where Sakura does not exist.