Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Wildflower Spirit

Flight Risk.

The Disloyal Last Uchiha.

Threat.

Defector.

Traitor.

Sakura held her head up high as she walked through the marketplace, knuckles white as they clutched her grocery bags. Sasuke had been charged with attempted defection, had only been spared execution thanks to his eyes and blood. And, because of her, he'd been helpless as the Binding Seals had been painted on his body, locking away his Chakra and leaving him as nothing but a Civilian. If he left Konoha without one of the Key-Holders to the Seal (Jiraiya-Sama, Tsunade-Sama, and Kaka-Sensei were the only three), then the Security Protocols would activate and shock him unconscious while sending the Key Holders his location. If he wasn't returned to Konoha within an hour of activation, he would die.

And Sakura had handed him over for it to be done.

'He was going to leave,' Inner hissed venomously, furiously. 'He deserved it! Worse than Trash, Sakura,' Inner growled, pacing within their mind, and Sakura's lips firmed, eyes hardened.

She didn't regret a single thing.

"I'm back," she called into the apartment as she shoved the door open with her hip, the keys hanging from one hand as she carefully held the bags with the other.

"Welcome back, Sakura-Chan!" a cacophony of voices called back as Kaka-Sensei's Ninken came scrambling out of the woodwork of her Sensei's apartment. Sakura smiled affectionately as Bull ducked his massive head beneath the bags, lifting them up onto his shoulders and snuffling her hair before carrying them into the kitchen. Kaka-Sensei was waiting, reading with one hand as he stirred the miso, an obnoxiously bright blue apron on over his black casual wear, the cheery pink and orange pawprints on it breaking up the almost-blinding color.

"Did you get the eggplant?" He asked her absently; Sakura bobbed her head as she scooped Pakkun up into her arms, cradling the pug as she followed Bull around the kitchen.

"She got the jerky too," the Pug announced, sniffing at the bags and tiny, curled tail wagging against her chest. "She's a good Pup, Boss." Turning in her arms, he solemnly held out a paw. "Go on, you can touch my paw," he told her seriously. "Good Pups get treats." Giggling a little, Sakura obligingly took his tiny paw between her fingers, gently squeezing and rubbing his ridiculously soft paw pad as she did. It really was a marvel how they were so soft and bouncy.

"Maa, maa, you'll spoil her, Pakkun," Kaka-Sensei drawled, eye-smiling at them even as he set his spoon down to pull a cutting board out of a cabinet and set it to the side. "If you'd please cute the eggplant, Sakura-Chan."

"Hai, Sensei," she agreed, pressing a quick kiss to Pakkun's forehead before setting him on Bulls back and pulling the requested vegetables out onto the counter. As she cleaned and readied them, Sakura couldn't help but wonder at the changes the last two months had seen in her life.

After that day on the bridge, and the knowledge that she'd apprehended Sasuke before he could leave the village had spread, her friendships with the Rookie Nine had shifted. Naruto was hurt and furious and in denial and had all but leaped at the chance to go on a three-year Training Trip with Jiraiya-Sama. He had been loud and determined and fierce when he'd gone, declaring that he'd show both Sasuke and Sakura that they didn't need to turn on each other to be strong. Sakura had been both hurt and indignant about the accusation that she'd had Sasuke arrested out of jealousy, but the blond hadn't really wanted to listen to her explanations before he'd left. Maybe, with time and Jiraiya-Sama's focus on him, he would be willing when he came back, but not now.

Ino had been in denial as well, at first. Had screamed and snarled and spat at her, weeping violently and furiously as she did. It wasn't until after the Trial and Sentencing that the reality of what Sasuke had tried to do had hit her, turning her morose and uncertain and sullen. Afterward, she'd approached Sakura tentatively, smile cautious and eyes guilty, and asked for a spar. They were closer, now, bound by their broken dream of being Mrs. Uchiha. No one wanted to marry a Traitor, after all.

The other Rookies all seemed torn, between furious disbelief that one of their own had tried to defect, and surprised disbelief that Sakura had been the one to stop him. The insult of their surprise had burned, had torn into her self-esteem until Inner had shored her spine with steel and murmured mantras, and she's worked herself to the ground against Sensei and the Ninken in one of the Training Grounds.

The biggest difference out of the Nine had, surprisingly, been Kiba's reaction. Or, really, lack thereof. He hadn't been surprised that she'd stopped Sasuke, or that Sasuke had tried to leave. No, in fact, he'd been angry on her behalf.

"S'not like you're a Civvie, Sakura," he scoffed, baring his fangs and rolling his eyes as Akamaru yipped at her in agreement. "Only reason you weren't Kunoichi of th' Year was because of that diet'n shit you and the other girls were doin'. You're trainin' your ass off like the rest of us, you're a Shinobi like the rest a'us. And the fact that your Packmate tried to turn on ya but you took him down instead just goes to show that you're stronger than anyone took you for." He ran a hand through his hair, ruffling the wild locks with his claws and giving her a bemused look as Akamaru wriggled down to sit on his shoulder and grin at her with his tail wagging. "You've always been strong, y'know. Everyone else has just been kinda slow on the uptake."

It had really given her a confidence boost to hear that, to see that he meant that. Inuzuka Kiba was loud and obnoxious and crude, but he was an Inuzuka, a Clan that was known for both its Canine Traits and its Loyalty. To walk down a street, and get nods of approval and acknowledgement from every Inuzuka she saw, to have Kiba throw an arm around her shoulders or let her hold Akamaru while he rough-housed with his teammates, to meet Inuzuka Tsume's sharp gaze and get a hair-ruffle and a fang-baring grin?

Inner hadn't needed to pour steel into her spine on those occasions. Sakura did it for herself.

"Here are the eggplants, Sensei," Sakura announced, handing the chopped vegetables over.

"Maa, thank you, Sakura-Chan," Kaka-Sensei replied, taking the bowl and pouring the vegetables into the miso. This was another thing that had changed for her, her relationship with Sensei. With Naruto gone and Sasuke confined to the Uchiha Compound and removed from the Shinobi Service, Sakura was Kakashi's only student. And she hadn't wanted that to change.

Those who abandon their Comrades are worse than Trash.

The day of the Sentencing, the day Naruto left, Sakura had hunted throughout Konoha for her Sensei, finding him hours later, perched on the Team Seven Bridge reading, desperate to make sure that he wouldn't leave her(too). She'd been panting, sweaty and dusty and her dress torn at one corner, and he'd just looked up, eye-smile in place, and told her that she was late for Team Training.

Sakura would freely admit that she'd burst into tears and tackled him, and that his awkward head pats and uncomfortable attempts at comforting her had made her giggle. The scroll he'd handed her once she'd calmed down, with the filled-out paperwork declaring her his Apprentice and Adjunct-Heir, only awaiting her Signature to be made Official, had sent her into tears again. Her parents had also burst into tears, overwhelmed with pride as they'd willingly helped her pack her things to move in with her new Shishou, as was expected of an Apprentice.

Now here she was, two months since Naruto left and Sasuke was Sealed, stronger and brighter and better than before. And while these last two months had been filled with nothing but rigorous, unforgiving training, so hard and exhausting that she'd occasionally ended up in the hospital, Sakura could lift her head high and say with confidence that the scared little girl from the Chunin Exam was a Shinobi of Konoha now.

"What are we going to do tomorrow, Sensei?" She asked as she started setting the table, pulling the large bag of dog food from the counter to start pouring it into the Ninken bowls. Kaka-Sensei hummed thoughtfully, looking upward as he tapped his book against his mask-covered lips, Hitai-ate no-where to be seen as he eye-smiled at her with both eyes.

"Maa, I think it's time to start you on Kenjutsu, Sakura-Chan," he told her cheerfully. "Now that your stamina, strength, and Chakra levels have risen to the proper level of a Genin, I feel comfortable starting you on the Hatake Forms. And we'll also look into your Elemental Jutsu." His eye-smile didn't change, but Sakura felt a shiver of foreboding arch up her spine as his shadow seemed to grow monstrous behind him, no-doubt some subtle form of Chakra Manipulation or even a Genjutsu coming into play.

(Inner made note to try and learn it later because it was Bad Ass.)

"Come the next Chunin Exams, my cute little Apprentice, you will be more than ready." It was a statement of fact, unwavering in its belief, her Sensei's Decree.

"Hai, Sensei!" Sakura agreed as she straightened, a bright, fierce grin curling across her face as she perked up at the praise. The shadow disappeared as Kaka-Sensei chuckled, reaching over and ruffling her short hair with his free hand as he tucked his book away, before grabbing their dinner and moving to the table.

"Food!" He called into the apartment, and Sakura laughed delightedly as the daily ritual of scrambling paws and furry bodies commenced, sitting at the table with her Sensei and the Ninken around her, the apartment filled with the smell of miso-eggplant soup and dogs, and her smile so wide it hurt her face.

I'm Home, she thought, as she accepted a bowl from her Sensei, who smiled back at her gently.

I'm Home.

Chapter Text

Wildflower Spirit

The very first day Sakura had officially moved into Kaka-Sensei's apartment as his Apprentice, he had sat her down and given her the lecture of a lifetime. He'd sat in front of her, and bluntly, seriously told her everything she was doing wrong as a Shinobi. He critiqued everything, from her strawberry shampoo to her diets to her lack of muscle definition from not training. From her red dress to her bare arms and legs to her perfume. For each thing he listed, he gave her instances where it could have gotten her or her teammates or the client killed. He was brutal, graphic, and, most importantly, completely truthful.

By the end of it, Sakura was a sobbing mess.

He hadn't tried to console her, hadn't tried to tell her it was alright, hadn't told her to suck it up, either. Instead, he'd handed her a box of tissues and waited until she stopped on her own, before offering her an eye-smile and cheerfully telling her that, as her Sensei, it was his job to make sure that those awful things didn't happen. That those things wouldn't happen.

That had been the start of her Hell Training.

First, he had taken her shopping. Her red dresses were placed firmly in the Off-Duty section of her closet. Instead, she was given sturdy, dark-colored clothes. A pair of dark green pants with the ankles and thighs tied down just like Sensei's, and a long-sleeved dark brown shirt with a dark green short-sleeved half-jacket over it, with deep pockets in both shirts and pants. Long, fingerless black gloves with reinforced metal plates in them that doubled as bracers.

The first day of Actual Training, he'd introduced her to the Ninken besides Pakkun. They had then proceeded to cheerfully run her into the ground, harrying her until she'd passed out. She'd woken up back at the apartment, a cool cloth on her head and Pakkun curled up on her lap. Sensei had been reading on the ground beside her, where he had proceeded to cheerfully inform her that Stamina was the first thing they would be working on.

Now, here she was, two months later, her stamina, strength, and chakra reserves matching closely to the average, if not above-average, levels of what was expected of Genin, according to Kaka-Sensei. And, in her hands, was a blade. It was metal, if dull, and Sensei had already corrected her grip twice in the ten minutes she'd just been holding and carefully swinging it in a steady up-and-down motion, her arm muscles straining lightly with the unusual weight and heft of the blade.

"Hatake learn Kenjutsu with live blades," he informed her easily, holding his own, equally dull blade in his hands as he took his place across from her. "The metal is dull enough in the beginning that the only way it will cut is with excessive, unnecessary force. Broken bones, welts, bruises, and contusions, of course, are just a part of learning!" He declared easily, eye-smiling at her as Sakura kept her focus on him seriously. "Now, there are eighteen beginner Hatake Forms. They're called the Little Fang Forms, and are a series of short, swift movements." Quickly, he slid through the entirety of the Little Fang, at half-speed so Sakura's wide, wondering gaze could track and analyze the movements easily. "There are Seven Form Sets all together in the Hatake Kenjutsu. Little Fang, Howling Strike, Silver Crescent, Wolf Moon, Lightning Fang, Hunting Call, and Falling Moon Song. That is in order of difficulty and Mastery. My father," Sensei started, only to stop and take a slow breath as Sakura blinked up at him.

"My Father," he started again, voice steady, "was known as the White Fang of Konoha. He was a hero, and a Master of all Seven of the Hatake Forms. He was able to manipulate the Hatake Clan Chakra, our White Chakra, with a Chakra-blade, to the point that he could cast Raiton Jutsu's with the forms alone. Now, you are not a Hatake," he told her calmly. "You don't have our White Chakra. And, even with training and a Chakra-conductive blade, you may never be able to cast even a weak Jutsu with one of the Forms." Here, he met her eyes steadily, before his own closed into its usual smiling-shape.

"But!" He sang cheerfully, using his blade to gently tap against the side of her own. "You have Chakra Control in spades and growing your own reserves hasn't changed that. This means that, what you lack in power, you make up for with potential. This is why I am willing to teach you the Hatake Forms, why I'm willing to work with you until you have them memorized and Mastered. I have faith in you, Sakura-Chan," he told her simply, seriously, as if it was simple fact and not something she yearned to hear. "You're a good student, a quick study, and smart enough to know your limits. I don't have to worry about you over-working yourself, and you know now the risks with under-working. I'm proud of the progress you've made so far, and I look forward to helping you go even further." Sakura's eyes were watering, lips trembling, even as she tightened her grip on her practice blade and straightened her shoulders.

"Hai, Sensei," she managed, sniffling; Kaka-Sensei eye-smiled at her.

"First lesson," he told her warmly, lashing out with his blade. It slammed into her own with force enough that her palms stung sharply and went numb, making her yelp as the sword was knocked from her hands. "Before you can even begin the Little Fang, you have to learn how to hold and handle the blade." Lifting his blade again, Kaka-Sensei beamed at her, his shadow once more morphing and writhing into a monster behind him as it did. "So! Pick it up, and we'll start again!"

"Hai, Sensei," she agreed sheepishly, absently shaking her fingers out as she stooped to pick up her blade again. She quickly adjusted her grip back into the hold her Sensei had shown her, only much firmer than before.

"Keep your wrists and shoulders steady," he ordered her.

"Hai!" she agreed as he smacked into her blade again, making her grimace as her hands ached. The lesson continued that way for the next two hours.

"Watch your footing. A step out of pattern, a knee bent too much, and-" A lunge, the sharp sound of metal smacking into metal, a muffled yelp as she fell to the ground. "-you die."

"Hai, Sensei!"

"Keep your grip strong!"

"Hai, Sensei!"

"You're not a statue, Sakura-Chan, you can still dodge."

"Hai, Sensei!"

"Footwork!"

"Hai!"

"Dodge!"

"Hai!"

"Grip!"

"Hai!"

And so on. At the end of those two hours, Sakura was covered in bruises, welts, and blood-blisters, dusty and sweaty and panting heavily as she stood with trembling arms and legs before her Sensei.

"Very good, Sakura-Chan," he told her warmly, handing her a bottle of water and a ration bar. "Take ten minutes to hydrate, eat that, and stretch. Then I'll start on the first forms of the Little Fang." Beaming up at Kaka-Sensei even as she panted, Sakura clutched her prizes with shaking fingers.

"Hai, Sensei," she agreed simply, happily. She was always eager for the approval and encouragement of authority figures, especially those that mattered to her personally. And, as Kaka-Sensei ruffled her hair affectionately as she slowly chugged her water, Sakura was all but glowing despite her exhaustion.

'Sensei is the best,' Inner agreed happily from their mind. 'Even if he is an asshole.'

Yeah, Sakura agreed with a sigh as she dropped to begin her stretches as Kaka-Sensei watched. He is.

Chapter Text

Wildflower Spirit

D-Rank Missions with Kaka-Sensei had taken a turn for the ridiculous, now that she didn't have Teammates to help. Everything was used as Training. Babysitting? Bodyguarding mission with possible-hostiles in the form of the Ninken. Fence painting? Time to use the Tree-Walking exercise while carrying both buckets of paint in each hand stretched out on either side as far as she can reach and not spilling any. Weed-Pulling? Pop Quiz on what plants in that garden are poisonous, which are edible, and which parts of each plant are both, either, or neither, and any use they had in passing along secret messages.

And then there was the Tora Mission.

Once, during the Academy and when she was younger, Sakura had wanted to have a pet cat. They were sleek and pretty and smart. They took care of themselves and liked to be pet and even if they had sharp claws they weren't loud or had big teeth. Little Sakura had been intimidated and even nervous around dogs, especially those bigger then she was. If her Kaasan hadn't been allergic, she would have begged for one of the sleek, sweet little predators.

But now, living with Sensei, she'd learned to love dogs, to love their loyalty and simplicity and affection.

And now, as a Genin, she'd learned the truest fact any Cat-Owner would tell you.

"Kami damn it!" she spat as Tora screeched in her ear, dragging his claws down her cheeks and missing her eyes by millimeters.

And that fact was that cats were undisputed assholes.

"Maa, you alright there, Sakura-Chan?" Kaka-Sensei asked her mildly from a nearby fence post, where he was standing safely out of the line of fire, reading his book. Sakura growled, a low, chest-shaking sound she'd learned from Bisuke. "Such language!" Her Sensei declared, mock-scandalized as he pressed his book to his chest. "Why, where did my polite, sweet little student go?"

"Oh, hush it, Sensei," she growled, forcefully pinning Tora's legs with one hand as she used the other to hold tightly to his scruff, scowling despite the harsh stinging of her cheeks (and hands, and arms, and back, and everywhere the abomination managed to catch her skin.). She wished that she was wearing her Training Clothes, but no. One of the very few stipulations for the Tora Mission that Kaka-Sensei gave her was that she was to wear her Off-Duty Clothes. The severe lack of protection from the cat's attacks only emphasized the ridiculousness of the get-up, and for every wound she failed to dodge or deflect, it was an added set of ten to her daily katas and work-outs.

She had yet to go a single Tora Mission without adding at least a hundred reps to something.

"To the Missions Desk, now," Kaka-Sensei ordered her cheerfully, eye-smiling as he padded along beside her, a good ten feet between him and the monster in her arms. "Chop, chop, Sakura-Chan!" Tora had stopped yowling, his gold eyes narrowed as he glared fiercely at her, promising revenge. Sakura glared back, baring her teeth the way Urushi did whenever he and Shiba got irritated with one another.

'Cat's are now Number One on our list of Dislikes,' Inner declared darkly, sharpening a mental Kunai in their mind and glaring out of Sakura's eyes with her.

Hai, Sakura agreed just as darkly, lips pulling back even further, a growl curling through her bared teeth as Tora hissed threateningly at her. A nearby Inuzuka and his canine partner paused as they passed, blinking at Sakura's bloody form and low growls, before sharing a look as Kaka-Sensei cheerfully waved them on.

"Team Kakashi reporting in!" Kaka-Sensei declared cheerfully as they finally arrived at the Mission's Desk. Tsunade snorted at the sight of Sakura, clothes tattered, face covered in blood, green eyes narrowed and teeth bared murderously as she had a stare-off with the most hated cat in Konoha. "Mission Capture Tora, a success!"

"I'm sure Madame Shijimi will be relieved to hear that," she drawled, lips quirked as Tora started struggling again at his owner's name, screeching loud enough that Kaka-Sensei winced faintly, his sensitive ears no doubt ringing. Sakura's growl turned into the same throaty snarl that Bull once gave when she'd accidentally trod on his tail while he was asleep.

"Sakura!" Kaka-Sensei yelped, eye wide with surprise as he looked sharply at her (as did the Inuzuka Chunin who had just arrived with more paperwork for the Desk, his partner, a large gold-colored hound of some sort, snorting and choking on snickers at his side as the Chunin gaped at her.)

"What?!" She snapped back as she used a touch of Chakra to stick to the writhing feline's limbs in a bastardized version of the Tree-Climbing technique. "If you don't want me to learn new swear-words, tell the Ninken to stop using them so much! And, seriously, Sensei?!" She said, shooting him a judgmental look. "You're trying to get onto me for poor manners?" Pointedly, she looked at his book, lurid orange cover proudly displaying the raunchy scene of a, ah, blessed blond woman who bore a keen resemblance to their temperamental Kage, straddling a man who had the same face markings as Jiraiya. Coughing shortly, the tips of his ears turning faintly pink, Kaka-Sensei 'casually' slid the book out of sight into his pocket.

"Maa, Bisuke is a bad influence, I see," he mused; Sakura snorted, relieved as a Chunin appeared from a side room with the basket that Tora was supposed to be placed in for his owner.

"Actually, Bull taught me that one," she told her Sensei, and couldn't help the slight giggle at the scandalized look that crossed his face, even as she forcedfully shoved the snarling feline into the basket under the Chunin's unhappy watch.

"Enough chatting," Tsunade ordered, rolling her eyes as she took the shaking, thrashing basket of cat from the wary-looking Chunin. "Congrats on your successful mission. Get those scratches seen to, Haruno. Last thing I need is one of my more promising Genin getting taken out by cat-scratch fever with the Chunin Exams a month away."

"Hai, Tsunade-Sama," she agreed easily, offering a quick, short bow before she left, Kaka-Sensei waving her off towards the hospital with a cheerful 'ja ne' and a musing note that she'd added a hundred and twenty reps to the next days workout. Sakura rolled her eyes and trudged onward grimacing as her sweat began to bite into her open scratches and her blood grew tacky and itchy as she moved.

"Yo, Sakura!" Kiba's voice called from off to the side; Sakura glanced over, offering a quirked smile as the Inuzuka skidded to a halt, wincing and cringing at the sight of her face, Akamaru offering a sympathetic whine. "Holy shit, that looks nasty," he told her, wrinkling his nose as his dark eyes racked her form. "Tora?"

"Tora," she agreed; as one, the three of them lifted a side of their upper lips instinctively in an aggressive display of distaste, only to blink at one another with surprise. Immediately after, they started to laugh, Kiba's guffaws mixing with Sakura's giggles as the two grinned at one another.

"We'll get you talkin' like an Inuzuka in no time!" Kiba announced cheerfully once their laughter started to dissipate, grinning widely as he threw an arm around her shoulders. Akamaru barked happily, leaping down to prance around their feet as they walked on towards the hospital.

"It's Kaka-Sensei's Ninken," she told the other boy with a fond grin. "If they don't want me figuring out what they're always talking about in their doggy-language, they should stop using it all the time," she grumbled good-naturedly, grinning mischievously up at Kiba, who'd seemingly shot up a good seven inches in the past five months since the Invasion. "Especially the swearing. Even Kaka-Sensei has been surprised by my sudden ability to curse." Kiba cracked up again, grinning fiercely as Akamaru snickered at their feet.

"Man, that's great," he chuckled. "I can just see his face!" Immediately, Sakura gave him a mockingly deadpan stare.

"Yeah, all two inches of it," she snarked; the two of them burst into laughter again.

"Aw, man, Sakura, stop it," Kiba chuckled, wiping a tear from his eye and shaking his head as he chuckled. "I was comin' t'find you for serious shit, now, don't keep distractin' me!"

"Sorry, sorry, Kiba," Sakura giggled, rolling her eyes. "Okay, what's your 'serious shit', then?" Immediately, Kiba snorted, covering his face with a hand as he started snickering again.

"Okay, yeah, no," he chuckled. "No swearin' right now, you're throwin' me off. Book-lovin', prissy-girl Sakura, all prim'n proper, cussin' like a regular heathen, just, no," he chuckled; Sakura elbowed him in the side, rolling her eyes fondly as he yelped and pulled away in a hopping movement that made her lips twitch. "Okay, okay, I get it! But, yeah, seriously though," he continued, folding his hands behind his head in the same way Naruto usually did, making Sakura casually glance down to the cheerfully trotting Akamaru to hide the pang of sadness that the movement caused.

"So, the Chunin Exams are next month," Kiba continued easily. "An' they're in Kumo, y'know? An' Shino'n me, we're ready, y'know, and Kurenai-Sensei, she say's we're ready this time. But, well, y'know the Hyuuga shit that went on, like, years ago, right? The one that got Hinata almost kidnapped by Kumo?"

"I'm pretty sure everyone of a certain age knows that, Kiba," she replied mildly. "No Hyuuga has gone to the Kumo Exams since that, at least, none of the Main Branch Hyuuga's have gone." Her tone shifted, she knew it did, at the poignant reminder that the Hyuuga Clan Traditions were, well, disgusting. Kiba grimaced, lip shivering faintly, hinting at fangs as his sharp, pointed irises narrowed (She'd always found it amusing, that the Dog Clan had Cat eyes. Now, with Tora fresh in her mind, she discarded the amusement for an inner grimace of sympathy at the comparison. Just... Too Soon.) with distaste.

"Yeah, that," the Inuzuka grunted, scowling into the middle distance, before shaking his head sharply, wild hair flinging about in a bristly mess, as if he was shaking off nasty water. "Anyways, because of all that, Hinata's old man won't even let her think about leavin' Konoha for the Exams. So, Team Eight is a member down'n can't take the Exam's without another member. Soooooo," he dragged out, offering her a cocky, cheerful grin. "I knew just the right person who could make our Team go straight to th' top! So, whaddya say, 'Kura? Wanna join Team Badass?" Sakura snorted, rolling her eyes with a fond grin, even as something in her chest warmed at the fact that he was asking her, that he thought she could make Chunin. It was one thing for Kaka-Sensei, who was training her, to say he knew she could do it, but, Kiba was one of her former Classmates, had known her since they were seven.

Not even her parents had thought she'd make it this far, not until Kaka-Sensei had made her his Apprentice. They'd supported her, of course, but even she could tell that they'd assumed she'd never make it past Genin, if she managed that at all. So, to be here, almost a year out of the Academy, and have one of her Classmates tell her that she could make Chunin, jus...

"Shouldn't my joining make it Team Badass?" She asked him, giving a bright grin. "Of course I'll team up with you guys," she added, laughing as he hooted and punched the air, Akamaru barking enthusiastically before leaping up into her arms, making her laugh even as she absently noted that he'd grown a few inches as well, and gained a few pounds of solid muscle.

"Hell yeah, we're gonna destroy this Exam!" Kiba declared enthusiastically, Making Sakura smile even as they finally reached the hospital. "I'll leave you to this while me'n Akamaru go tell the others, okay?" He told her happily, even as Akamaru gave Sakura an affectionate lick on the chin before leaping from her arms to his partner's shoulder with a pleased yip, tail wagging and tongue lolling. "See ya later, 'Kura!"

"See you later," Sakura murmured back as he darted away, a warm smiling on her face as she watched him go, before walking into the Hospital to get seen to.

She couldn't wait for the Exams...

Chapter Text

Wildflower Spirit

Sakura was on her back, coated in sweat, dirt, blood and bruises, her muscles trembling from over exertion as she panted for air. Her right hand was cramping, where it was wrapped around the hilt of her training blade at her side. She was pretty sure she had a cracked rib or two on her left, as well.

"Maa, maa, you're doing rather well so far, Sakura-Chan," Kaka-Sensei announced as he crouched next to her, the only sign that they'd even been sparring for the last hour was the dust speckling his clothes and the few tiny tears she'd managed to get in the loosest parts of his clothes. But he hadn't been able to pull his book out after the first five minutes, and that was something she took fierce pride in.

"Enough resting, now," he declared cheerfully, reaching down to grip her shoulder with his own hand and carefully heave her into a sitting position. Sakura hissed as her chest pulsed painfully, going tight for a brief moment and making her breathing slightly more difficult. "Drink this," he told her, pressing an already open bottle of cold water into her empty hand. "After that, there's something I need to teach you."

'That's his Serious Face,' Inner noted warily as Sakura carefully drank down the water. 'Last time he wore that was when he tore us apart at the beginning of our Apprenticeship.'

Hai, Sakura agreed warily, carefully setting the empty bottle down as Kakashi kneeled in front of her, sitting seiza and making Sakura self-consciously follow his example despite the way her calves and hamstrings protested.

"The Hatake Clan has a long history," he informed her, voice solemn and calm, eye half-lidded and sharp as he held her utmost focus, the world around them seeming to disappear to her senses. (Whether this was simply an extreme for of Tunnel Vision or some sort of chakra manipulation or Genjutsu, neither Sakura nor Inner could tell, but they made absent note to check if the latter two were legitimate possibilities next time they went to the library.) "We started off, long ago during the very beginning of the Warring Clans Era, as a Clan of Samurai in Iron. Many of the practices and codes were lost or deliberately cast aside, once we became Shinobi, but some traditions and laws stayed." Kaka-Sensei flashed through a few hand-signs, pressing his fingertips to the earth directly in front of him. In a poof of smoke, a large, thick scroll appeared, the intricate end-pieces made of dark, silvery-gray steel shaped like snarling hounds.

"One of these traditions," he told her, "is the signing of the Ninken Scroll. Unlike most Summons scrolls, the Hatake Ninken Contract is unique to each Summoner specifically. My Father could Summon a pack of Wolves, who helped him in battle. My Grandmother could Summon Coyotes, who were immune to most poisons and could sniff out antidotes, which were a godsend for her as a Healer. My own Pack is trained exclusively in Hunting and Capture, their varied species working together so that I can bring them to most any terrain. Each Hatake Summoner starts with a single Ninken, usually a puppy of at least eight weeks, who is their Lead Summons and their Bonded Summons. Pakkun is mine." Sakura nodded quietly to show she understood, and, really, she did. She was just also very carefully not thinking about why her Sensei would be talking about this now, the day after she agreed to step into Hinata's place temporarily on Team Eight for the Kumo Exams.

"Another unique trait about the Hatake Ninken Contract," he told her, voice mild, "is the physical changes that occur once signed." And, with that simple, single sentence, Kaka-Sensei pulled down his mask.

Sakura felt her breath catch, her injured ribs spiking with pain at the sudden jerk of her lungs, as she stared, wide-eyed, at her Sensei. The cloth of the mask lay bunched at his neck, and his mouth (thin lips, slightly-crooked nose, mole under his eye, pale scar on his jawline) quirked up faintly on one side. In doing so, it showed off a hint of fang, sharp and curved, a legitimate canine tooth.

"The longer one of the Contracts is held, the more intense the Changes," Kaka-Sensei told her, dark eye glinting with amusement as Sakura was unable to pull her gaze away from his mouth.

Holy crap we can see his face! She squeaked internally.

'Holy shit he's hot like fire!' Inner wailed back, making Sakura flush in mortification and drop her gaze back down to the scroll. This time, Kaka-Sensei really did chuckle at her, using one of his fingers to tap pointedly against the metal of the scroll.

"I am the longest living Contract holder the Hatake Ninken have had in two hundred years," he informed her simply, calmly. "I am also the youngest to sign on. I was five when I first placed my name on this scroll. Before me, the youngest Summoner had been my Father, who was eleven when he first Signed. Upon putting your name on this Scroll, you pledge your loyalty to the Pack. You vow to always be loyal, to never be cruel, to care for them as Alpha and tend to their wounds and woes and wellbeing. In return, the Pack agrees to the same for you. This agreement, this Vow of Mutual Benefits, is consummated by an exchange, of sorts." Here, he lifted a hand and tapped the side of his nose, immediately drawing Sakura's attention back to his face, where it once again locked.

"The new Hatake Ninken Summoner will suddenly find an increase to their senses of smell and hearing, an increase of endurance and agility, and a change in their mindset, to a degree. I found myself becoming obsessed with rules, when I was younger," he told her, voice turning wry. ('His smile is crooked and he has a fucking dimple!' Inner wailed). "I became a little bit of a jackass. It took the death of my Teammate and best friend, who at the time I'd just shoved into the mindset of 'annoying rival', to shake me out of the tunnel vision of Obedience. I started to take steps, to learn, after that, how to be a proper Alpha, a real teammate. Because, before that mission that saw my Teammate killed, I was on my way to being worse than Trash," he told her grimly, and Sakura flinched slightly, even Inner going silent as they stared, wide-eyed, at their Sensei.

"I am telling you all of this, Sakura," he said quietly, intensely, as he leaned slightly towards her, "because you are my treasured Student and Comrade. You are my Apprentice, my Heir, and you have done nothing but exceed my expectations. Sasuke may have gotten my Chidori, through simple fact that I had assumed the proof of gaining such strength here would give him reason to focus on Konoha instead of those outside its walls, and to enable his survival against the Suna Jinchuriki. Naruto may have gotten my attention by simply being the loudest and furthest behind outside of Chakra Capacity. But, you are the one who has taken my Teachings and decided to Live by them." His voice grew almost guttural, a low, canid growling rumbling in his chest, a sound of approval and strength and power that she'd only ever heard while half asleep when he was corralling the Ninken.

"Hatake were once a Samurai Clan, Sakura," he told her solemnly. "And, if there is one thing we kept of all those long-ago beliefs, it is that Honor and Respect are Earned. And you have Earned this Honor, Haruno Sakura." He quietly laid the Scroll on the ground between them, and, with a deft movement of fingers, undid the hinges. In a rustling movement, the Scroll opened, exposing the many different names of long-ago Hatake's, many faded with age to the point of being one step from invisibility. And, there, in dark ink at the end of a long list, lay Kaka-Sensei's slightly tilted, messy name, a couple of smudges around it from dripped ink.

A name written by a five-year-old who grew too fast.

"Haruno Sakura," Kakashi intoned seriously, gravely, holding out a quill and a sealed bottle of ink, just waiting the blood to make it capable of Seals and Summons. "Will you take this Vow, to join the ranks of the Hatake Clan as a member of its Pack, to claim a Ninken for your own, to cherish and guide and protect, until the Shinigami comes for you?" Sakura's breath caught in her chest, eyes huge, fingers trembling at the enormity of what was happening. She was nearly overwhelmed, nearly swallowed by anxiety of this, it was too much, too big, she was just a paper-ninja, she wasn't good enough-!

Inside her mind, Inner poured molten steel down their Spine, silenced those panicking thoughts with a snarl to put Bull to shame, and dug her claws into Sakura's heart.

'Those who abandoned the Mission are Trash,' she growled; Sakura's hands stilled, no longer trembling, and she took a slow, deep breath.

But those who-

'Abandon their Comrades-'

'Are Worse Than Trash' they finished together.

Lifting her gaze, the green jade paling into daggers of emerald, Sakura held the severe gaze of her Sensei, her Shishou, her Comrade.

"I do so Vow," she, They, told him, just as solemnly, just as gravely.

"Then sign your Vow in Blood and Name," he told her quietly, fiercely, as he handed her the quill and ink, making her absently notice that the quill had a blade attachment hidden within the silver feather. "And Claim the title of Hatake Summoner."

"Hai," she agreed seriously, stabbing the tip of her left thumb without hesitation, the sharp pain only sharpening her focus. Carefully, she mixed her blood with the ink until it turned to dark crimson. Then, carefully, with utmost care, she signed her name on the Scroll.

Hatake Sakura.

That's me, Sakura thought, wonder and awe and disbelief blooming in her heart and mind, breaking through the steel-spine'd solemnity Inner had enforced. That's me.

'That's our name,' Inner agreed, just as hushed and wondering and startled at how right it felt. They would always be a Haruno, it was in their blood, but this, this was right in all the ways being Haruno Sakura hadn't felt.

"Well done, Sakura-Chan," Kaka-Sensei told her, voice soft as he leaned over the Scroll to press their foreheads together, Sakura's wide, wondering green eyes meeting his gently crinkled, affection charcoal. "Well Done."

And, suddenly, Sakura felt tears welling, a short, choked whine escaping her lips before, abruptly, she was lunging forward, quill and ink bottle falling to the ground as she wrapped her arms around her Sensei's shoulders, forcing him back with the force of her lunge, gaining and amused 'oof!' from the man as she buried her face in the coil of cloth that still hung around his neck. Kakashi chuckled fondly as he rubbed her back, laying on the ground as she sobbed into his shoulder. After a few moments, she'd settled back down, sniffling and rubbing at her face in embarrassment. He let her gather her self again, choosing to pull the Scroll back towards him for the final step she'd need to do, stealthily sliding his second, sentimentally mischievous gift, off to the side for afterwards.

"Now, to complete the contract," he declared when she finally glanced back up at him, eyes shyer than they'd been in a while now. All you have to do is push some Chakra into the Vow," he told her easily. "This will Activate the Contract, and is also when your senses will strengthen. It's also how you Summon your Primary Ninken, so be prepared for the Chakra Drain, depending on the size and species you Call," he warned her. "Touchan told me that his first Wolf Summons took enough Chakra to knock him out, and he had a bigger reserve than you do."

"Hai, Sensei," she sniffled, shuffling over to lean against his side briefly before taking a deep breath and squaring her shoulders, determinedly setting her hands on the scroll, forehead scrunching in concentration as she started to focus.

On the scroll, her name glowed an eerie red, burning itself into the special paper, to remain there until death and time wore it down, like all things wore down. Wisps of Chakra smoke started to leak from around the edged, trailing into the air, twisting and coiling around themselves until a writhing ball settled and started to grow. Sweat beaded Sakura's brow as she focused, feeding the ball a steady supply of her Chakra, unwilling to hesitate, to hold back, to allow even the possibility of failure.

'We're Hatake Sakura now,' Inner agreed fiercely, her hands joining Sakura's in their mindscape, teeth bared and already pointed, eyes glittering like some forest beast's as shadows flew across her expression. 'We won't lose!'

Spurred on by Inner, Sakura fed more of her Chakra into the Scroll, fed her determination and dedication and focus into it, fed it everything that made her Sakura. Her hopes and dreams and mantra, her anxiety and worries and loyalties, her love and hate, her fear and courage, everything she was into it-!

Something clicked, and the pull of the Chakra Smoke cut abruptly away.

There was a surge of foreign Chakra within her, a roaring tide that moved through her entire being and back out again in a sudden, violent circuit, tracing from her hands on the scroll and back out again, until, suddenly, her world twisted.

Her mind seemed to explode with sensations.

The pain in her mouth as she gasped, teeth falling out with spatters of bright blood, only to be abruptly replaced by fangs.

Her ears ringing with the sounds around her, suddenly amplified to the point that the faint wisp of the wind moving her hair sounded like a great beast dragging its kill across the ground.

Her nose beginning to run unflatteringly as a thousand different smells overwhelmed her and made her choke on the taste of dust and pollen and fur and soap and air.

Her skin tingling, muscles shivering, as a sudden shift in priorities at a molecular level made itself known.

Mind overwhelmed, body overtaken, Sakura didn't even manage to catch a glimpse of the furry form that appeared out of the smoke before her eyes rolled up and she passed out.

When she eventually started to come to, her head pulsed in an aching, thrumming beat that her body helpfully pointed out was her own heart. Her temples throbbed, her nose and eyes and ears pulsed, her mouth wept. The aches and pains of the two-hour long sparring match, even the possibly-cracked ribs, paled in comparison.

'Ow,' Inner whined, curled into a ball in Their mind and just as miserable as Sakura.

"Ow," she slurred in agreement, whining lowly as the sound of her own voice made her head ache.

"Maa, maa, easy there," Kaka-Sensei rumbled, low and quiet and just the right pitch of near-subvocal to keep from causing her more pain. There was a flash of light beyond her closed eyelids and, suddenly, her senses dulled a little bit at a time. Oh, she could still smell and hear and feel more intensely than before, but she no longer felt like she was going to have an aneurism because of the sensory input. "there you go, Sakura-Chan," her Sensei cooed, hands once more pulling her slowly into a sitting position. Sakura whined, soft and hurt and unhappy, as she curled against his side, making him chuckle lowly.

"Ah, yes, I forgot how intense the First Sensing is," he murmured to her gently, rubbing a hand up and down her spine comfortingly as she snuffled uncomfortably against him. "The Sense Dulling Jutsu will need to be re-applied every other hour for the first few days, until you get used to the sensory input, but for now it should help." He smelled like ozone and metal and dog and summer rainstorms and something coppery like old blood and something musky that made her think of her Touchan's favored shirts that, no matter how often Kaachan washed them, always smelled faintly like him. It was too many things at once, too strong. Sakura sneezed, grimacing in disgust at her hand afterwards.

"Here," Kakashi chuckled, pressing a handkerchief to her palm (it was purple with yellow pawprints on it). Sakura blew her nose and shuddered in disgust at the gross amount of snot and slime she managed to bury in the colorful cloth. "This will help as well, you know," he offered, tone shifting to something innocent, immediately earning a narrow-eyed look from Sakura. She blinked at what he was offering her.

It was a dark pink, a deep shade of hibiscus that teetered on the edge of wine. It was thick and of a sturdy material. And, from where she sat, she could just faintly make out the scent of rosemary and mint within the fabric, no doubt too subtle for her nose pre-Scroll.

It was a mask.

"Seriously, Kaka-Sensei?" She asked, snorting grossly with a grimace as she wiped her nose.

"Maa, what can I say?" he told her cheerfully, fangs glinting in the sunlight as he grinned at her. "Come on, my cute little student! I'll help you put it on." Sakura rolled her eyes, but couldn't help the fond warmth that curled in her chest as she obediently ducked her head through the larger opening of the material. A few tugs and shifts of her Training clothes and, suddenly, one more sense was muffled, making her sigh in relief as her nose was dulled further against the assault of the world around them

"It'll take some getting used to," Kakashi told her cheerfully, eye-smiling and actually smiling as he did so, canines glittering distractingly as he did. "The seams will rub uncomfortably for a few days, and you'll need to keep an eye out for acne buildup for the next few years until your hormones settle, and I've gone ahead and put some backups in your Mission-pack and dresser back at the apartment, but, there you go! You're officially a Hatake now!" he declared, laughing as she rolled her eyes at him, reaching up to tug carefully at the edge of the mask, straightening it.

"Speaking of!" he added, just as her ears were assaulted with the sounds of loudly rustling bushes. Pakkun came leaping from the side of the clearing, looking mildly amused and yet frazzled as he darted over to them to leap up onto Kaka-Sensei's shoulder.

"Welcome to the Pack, Pup," the Pug told her simply, seriously. "The puppy's your problem now."

"Puppy?" She murmured, perking up as she remembered the Chakra smoke. Turning eagerly to the still-rustling bushed, Sakura forced herself to sip up straighter, pulling away from Kakashi's side as she did so, earning a low chuckle from him as well.

She didn't have to wait long, either.

Bursting from the bushes, yipping excitedly the whole way, a small form only a few inches bigger than her hand fell over itself in its excitement, tumbling with giggling yips through the grass. Sakura looked at the puppy as it rolled to its feet and shook, taking in the tan, white, and black pattern, the big, amber-colored eyes that looked around, the wagging tail and rolling puppy-wrinkles, and the long, floppy ears, and her very being melted.

"Oh, oh, hey!" the puppy yelped, gleefully overjoyed as it caught sight of Sakura. "Oh, oh, you're awake! Yay!" Scrambling over to her, giggling and yipping the whole way, the puppy fumbled its way into her lap. "Hi!" it, she from what Sakura could tell, greeted her enthusiastically.

"Hi," the girl giggled back, wrapping her hands around the puppy's soft, wriggling body, giggling as she did so, feeling the rolls of skin and pudgy baby-fat against her fingers. "My name's Sakura."

"I'm Anzu!" the puppy yipped, beaming up at her, tail wagging furiously enough to rock her tiny body in Sakura's hold. "I'm a Basset Hound!" Sakura and Inner combined forces to coo at the giggling puppy, lifting her up to nuzzle and being happily nuzzled back as Anzu wriggled her way to hide her head under Sakura's chin, tail still wagging fiercely as she did so. Anzu smelled like grass and puppy breath and sunshine and her namesake, and Sakura fell even more in love as she cradled this warm, tiny body against her skin.

"We're gonna be the best partners!" Anzu declared; Sakura found herself smiling, beaming behind her mask as she slid sideways to once again lean against her Sensei as happy tears slipped down her cheeks to soak into the hibiscus colored cloth.

"Yeah we will," she agreed, promised, Vowed as she cradled the tiny body close. One more thing for her to protect and love. One more life to hold close and cherish.

Sakura wouldn't fail.

Chapter Text

Wildflower Spirit

The three days that followed Sakura becoming a Hatake were filled with too-sharp senses being slowly adapted to. Kaka-Sensei was relentless in their training, throwing everything from explosive seals to stink bombs to firecrackers to chili-powder at her as she struggled to keep from being overwhelmed. Even with the mask to help her, the number of times she was forced to yank it down to wretch when smells got too strong outnumbered the times she was able to use her hands to press the faintly scented cloth to her nose as a barrier.

"It's your body, Sakura-Chan," Kaka-Sensei told her mildly, calmly. "You control its reactions. Your senses may be overwhelming at the moment, but giving into them in a weakness you can't afford to fall for. The Chunin Exams are approaching, and I know you'll make it through. But you won't falter once you're there, won't flinch. You're a Hatake now, after all." He eye-smiled at her even as her eyes watered from the strength of the garbage he'd just finished dumping her into while they were training.

Thankfully, those three days seemed to be all she needed in order to compartmentalize and mentally separate herself from the various distractions her new senses caused. It was also enough time for her to stop biting her tongue, her new fangs sharp and slightly awkward in her mouth, almost too-big and curved strangely. That first day she's bitten her tongue badly and often enough that there had been two extra trips to the hospital after the initial one to treat her (cracked) ribs.

Those three days had also shown her that she had a long way to go before she could even hope to control a Pack. Anzu was adorable and cuddly and willing to obey, as well as affectionate and intelligent and well-taught when it came to her Scenting and Hunting abilities. But she was also only nine weeks old, with the chattering hyperactivity of a five-year-old on a severe sugar-high. And Sakura would very willingly admit that the puppy was running her almost as ragged as Kaka-Sensei's Hell Training.

"Team Kakashi, here for a D-Rank," Kaka-Sensei informed the Hokage as they stood before the Missions Desk for the first time since the Contract Signing. Tsunade stared blankly at Sakura's masked face, making the girl smile sheepishly beneath the dark hibiscus-colored cloth, unconsciously mimicking her teacher's eye-smile as she did so.

"I don't want to know," the blond woman finally declared, deadpan, as the Chunin at her side hid an amused grin, eyes flicking between the two eye-smiling mask-wearers.

"Hi!" Anzu yipped, scrambling out from behind Sakura's legs to wriggle excitedly on the ground, beaming enthusiastically up at Tsunade as the Kage blinked at her, surprised. "I'm Anzu! I'm a Basset Hound! Sakura's my partner!" Beaming, the puppy's tail wagged hard enough to forcefully rock her body back and forth.

"Well, then," Tsunade muttered, arching a brow, lips quirking. "It's nice to meet you, Anzu. I am the Godaime Hokage, Senju Tsunade."

"Hi!" Anzu squealed, sitting up so that her front legs were off the ground, showing off the dark pink bandana tied around her neck, the kanji for apricot, her kanji, sewn in bright gold in the center. "This is my bandana! It's got my name on it, see?!" Anzu hopped on her back legs a bit before flopping back down, large ears flapping comically as she did. "Sakura says that, when I'm bigger and know more stuff, I can get a Konoha headband like hers and Kaka-Jiji's and Pakkun-Jiji's!"

"Is that so?" Tsunade asked, thoroughly amused; the puppy bobbed her head rapidly, making herself stagger when she tried to hop up at the same time, which, predictably, resulted in her stepping on one of her ears and tripping into a faceplant.

"I'm okay!" She shouted, lifting her face from the ground but otherwise staying on her belly, front paws buried under her and tail thumping against the ground. Sakura giggled helplessly, covering her face with her hands as Kaka-Sensei chuckled at her side.

"I'm sure you are," the Kage agreed easily, chuckling a little herself before pulling out a scroll and tossing it at the two, making Sakura jerk as she caught it reflexively. "A bit of a heads up, Hatake, next time you decide to squirrel away one of my best Genin for a few days," she offered wryly as Sakura opened the scroll, grimacing as she saw what it was.

The Tora Mission.

Because of course it was.

"Uh-oh," Anzu suddenly said, making Sakura blink back into focus and away from her grim thoughts, and look up, only to find her puppy hunched over and staring up at her with doleful, droopy eyes, tail tucked in. "I peed..." And, indeed, there was a small, yellowish puddle on the ground a few inches behind her.

"Oh, Anzu-Chan," she sighed, handing Kaka-Sensei the Mission Scroll as she pulled a wad of disinfectant wipes from her kunai-pouch.

"Sorry, Sakura..." the puppy whined, shuffling over as Sakura quickly and efficiently cleaned the spot up.

"Accidents happen, Anzu-Chan," she replied simply, gently, as she threw the wipe away. "Just remember to tell me next time you have to go pee. I know you forget when you get excited but it's impolite to use the bathroom on someone's floor," she told the puppy firmly, making Anzu duck her head before the Basset Hound shuffled around to face the Hokage.

"Sorry, Tsunade-Baa-Chan," she said meekly, peering up at the Kage with wide, wet eyes. "Didn't mean to go potty on your floor. I won't do it again, I promise!"

"See that you don't, Anzu-Chan," Tsunade told her, eye only twitching faintly at the 'baa-chan' added to her name. But, considering that anyone older than Sakura was automatically called 'Jiji' or 'Baa-Chan' by the puppy, she didn't really seem too bothered.

"Well, we have a Mission to do!" Kaka-Sensei declared, clapping his hands together with an eye smile. "Chop, chop, you two!"

"Hai, Sensei," Sakura agreed, ruffling her hand against Anzu's head and flipping her ears playfully when the puppy still looked upset. "C'mon, Anzu-Chan. We're going to play Hide-and-Seek with Tora." Immediately, the puppy perked up, as Hide-and-Seek was her favorite Scent Training game. Immediately, the ball of wrinkles and cheer gave a high-pitched, bellowing howl and charged towards the door, stumbling over her own ears every so often as she giggled and yipped excitedly. Sakura smiled warmly beneath her mask and trotted after her Ninken.

After managing to catch and hold the puppy's attention, Kaka-Sensei pulled Tora's travel basket out of the Mission Scroll, letting the puppy snuffle and huff and sneeze around it, her tiny body wriggling.

"Ooh, kitty!" She squealed, hopping up and down, her ears flapping around her. "I love kitties! They smell so nice!" Anzu beamed up at Sakura as Kaka-Sensei chuckled and waved them off, no doubt disappearing to watch them hunt at a safe distance, leaving the Genin holding the basket and scroll.

"This one's name is Tora," Sakura told her Ninken simply. "He's really mean, because he doesn't want to go back to his owner because she hugs him really tight. But he must go back, because he belongs to her and she misses him."

"But Sakura!" Anzu whined, eyes big and pleading. "If he doesn't wanna go back, why do we make him?" Sakura blinked at her.

"Because that's what his owner is paying us to do," she replied. "Sometimes, Shinobi get missions they don't like, but as long as the Hokage accepts them and the client pays, it's our job to make sure it happens." Anzu whined unhappily, drooping into a puddle of loose skin and warmth on the ground heaving a woe-begotten sigh so deep that Sakura couldn't help but giggle. "Come on, now," she teased, reaching down to playfully tug the basset hound's ears, lifting them and waving them like flags until she got a few giggles. "We've got a kitty to find."

"Okay, Sakura," Anzu agreed, scrambling back to her feet and shaking herself, sending her ears flipping over her head, temporarily blinding herself. "Oops," she said, giggling as Sakura affectionately flipped her ears back into place. "I'll find him!" She declared, before smacking her nose into the ground and beginning to snuffle. Sakura watched her attentively, slowly following as the puppy began to waddle around the road like a drunken civilian, earning more than one coo, giggle, or smile from various females and the occasional male as she did.

Sakura did her best to practice her Tracking as well. She inhaled the faintly-stale air from inside the basket, gagging and grimacing at the reek of angry cat and faint traces of urine, ammonia and rotten fish. Tora, apparently, liked to hide pieces of fish in his basket and forget about them, and no amount of washing in the disgustingly strong, jasmine-scented laundry detergent would get the scent out of the pillow.

'God, it's almost a taste!' Inner gagged, grimacing and bearing her fangs in their mind, her much spikier hair flaring out in disgust around her head. She'd taken a much more feral appearance after the Signing, as if she was supposed to embody the purely canid traits of the Hatake Jutsu.

"Ack," Sakura gagged in agreement shuddering and shoving the basket back into its scroll, rolling her shoulders to try and alleviate the uncomfortable feeling in them. The god-awful scent had caused the hairs on the back of her neck and arms to stand up, the muscles of her upper back clenching and tightening, as if to raise hackles she didn't have. Huffing out an unhappy grumble, Sakura shook her head and loped after Anzu, who had gotten a good block ahead of her while she'd struggled to wipe away the almost-taste of Tora's bedding.

It took them twenty minutes to finally lock onto a fresh trail, and then another thirty minutes of following that trail around and over buildings and under bushes and, on one memorable occasion, through a brothel that had left Sakura utterly mortified and Anzu giggled about the gauzy scarf the Genin had tied like a collared-bow around her neck, knotted in the back to a degree that Sakura couldn't see it. She'd had to pull out a kunai and cut it off, Inner guffawing in her mind before pointing out that it wouldn't have happened if she hadn't looked away from the one half-naked woman.

'We're not Trash, Sakura,' Inner reminded her, amusement settling down into something serious as Sakura and Anzu continued to hunt Tora. 'Shouldn't let a bit of booby embarrass us.'

It was more than a bit, Sakura grumbled, face feeling too-hot under the mask thanks to her blushing. Inner snorted but let it slide. No doubt it was something Sensei would bring up after the mission, anyways.

"Oh, oh, hi!" Anzu barked, darting into an alleyway and making Sakura growl under her breath as she quickly darted after her puppy. "Kitty! Pretty kitty!" the puppy yipped excitedly, dropped into a playing position, her butt in the air and tail wagging furiously as Tora eyed her from where he was sprawled on a crate, half a mackerel sticking out of his mouth. "I'm Anzu! I'm a Basset Hound! Hi!" The cat growled at her, pointedly crunching on his fish, letting it drop down onto his paws as he stretched, chewing his last bite even as his claws flexed, sunlight glinting off their points.

"Easy there, Tora," Sakura said warily, her non-existent hackles beginning to lift again at the blatant warning she could see in the cats body language. "Anzu, back up, give him space."

"But I love him!" the puppy declared, hopping up to the crate and standing on her back feet, snuffling nose just pocking over the edge at the cat.

"Anzu!" Sakura said, sharply, but Tora had already moved, claws racking over the puppy's nose and making her squeal loudly in pain. And Sakura, with her still-new instincts and her still-new senses and her still-new Bond, saw red.

She came to with Kaka-Sensei's hand gripping her scruff like an actual dog with one hand, a battered but relatively unharmed Tora hanging from his other. She was hunched on all fours directly over a still-whimpering and crying Anzu, her mask down, her new fangs all on display, and a snarl in her throat loud enough to make her own ears hurt. Her nails were cracks and bloody, where they were dug into the ground, as if she'd thought she had Inner's hardened claws and was trying to get a good grip.

"That's enough," Kakashi ordered, voice hard and calm, the end of sub-vocal growl in it making the Command hold weight. Instantly, Sakura quieted, panting as her limbs trembled. Tora fell quiet too, and it was only after he did that Sakura realized he'd been meeting her snarl with one of his own, more than ready to meet her, fang to fang and claw to claw. As she forced herself to focus, forced back the red haze that was still curling at the edge of her vision, Sakura could suddenly feel the harsh sting of scratches, on her shoulders and forearms, and realized that some of the red she was blinking out was actually blood from a cut on her right temple.

"I think that's enough for today, Sakura-Chan," he told her calmly, eye hooded, sub-vocal rumbling settling from strict Alpha Command to calming vibration. Sakura swallowed, throat aching fiercely from her snarls and her mouth dry and offered a stiff nod as best as she could when the grip on her neck made her feel like she couldn't move. Sensei carefully released her scruff, and Sakura shakily lifted a hand to wipe the blood from her eyes, grimacing as her various new injuries made themselves known. Inner was still Feral in her mind, absorbing all the instincts and violence she wished to do, swallowing them down and prowling around their mind with a cacophony of howls and curses barked out in guttural, animalistic noises.

Anzu whimpered pathetically as Sakura shakily scooped her up, hiding her face in Sakura's neck as the Genin carefully tugged her mask back up. The cuts on her nose were deep and bloody, and Sakura felt a flash of fear as she cuddled the puppy closer.

"Let's drop Tora back off at the Missions Desk and then get Anzu checked out, alright?" Kaka-Sensei offered, his free hand landing gently on her shoulder, steering her safely through the streets as Sakura kept her head down, her focus on keeping Inner from feeding their Instincts back into Sakura, and on Anzu who refused to stop crying pitifully into her neck and whining in pain. Sometime during her little... Episode, Kaka-Sensei had reclaimed the Mission Scroll and taken out Tora's basket, shoving the furious cat into it without fanfare.

By the time they had turned the cat back over to the Missions Desk, Sakura's adrenaline had fully dispersed, leaving her shaky and anxious as Anzu hiccups and cried into her neck. She'd shot the Hokage a pleading, wild-eyed look, hands clutching the puppy close, as Kaka-Sensei handed the basket over, and the woman had huffed.

"No more Tora Missions for you this month," she declared, grimacing. "Not until your puppy has toughened up and you've got a better hold on your instincts, brat." At Sakura's twitch of surprise, the woman rolled her eyes. "I recognize the symptoms of a Feral Episode, brat," she grumbled irritably, waving a hand at Sakura in mild irritation. "Now shoo! Take your puppy to the vet clinic, the crying is pitiful."

"Hai, Hokage-Sama," she managed, voice still edged with the hoarse, harshness of the canid language, gratitude making her tired shoulders slump before she let Kaka-Sensei steer her from the room and towards the Inuzuka Clan Compound, where the veterinary clinic would be, right next to it.

"Yo, 'Kura!" Kiba's voice called; Sakura looked over anxiously, watching as the Inuzuka's enthusiastic grin immediately vanish into wide-eyed confusion and concern. Hinata, trailing along behind him, gasped, pale eyes wide with concern as Shino stiffened at her side, brows lowering. Kurenai-Sensei frowned faintly behind them, casting a questioning look towards Kakashi. "Holy shit, 'Kura! You disappear for a few days an' come back lookin' like you're Sensei, with a Ninken pup, and scratched all ta hell?!" As if on cue at the reminder, Anzu let out another heartbreaking cry, and Sakura got to watch from an outside perspective as Kiba and Akamaru shivered sharply, hackles rising and pupils shrinking abruptly.

"Maa, maa, everyone just calm down now," Kaka-Sensei said mildly, that rumbling in his chest picking up a notch, causing Kiba and Akamaru to twitch and look at him, instinctively settling under his Command. "Let's get Anzu-Chan checked out, hmm?" he added, using his gentle grip on Sakura's shoulder to guide her into the Clinic, Team Eight following after a brief hesitation. The bell above the door chimed softly, and, immediately after, a pretty young Inuzuka woman came out, her hair pinned back in a ponytail. She blinked at them, eyes darting first to Kakashi, then Kiba, and then to Sakura, who met her eyes pleadingly just as Anzu whined again.

"Ah," the woman said, sniffing the air. "Tora?" She asked Kaka-Sensei.

"Tora," he agreed mildly; the Inuzuka snorted faintly, flipping open a small door in the counter and gesturing for them to follow her.

"My name's Inuzuka Hana," she told Sakura as the Genin hurried forward. "Kiba's my bratty baby brother." Kiba huffed indignantly behind them, but Team eight still followed as they hurried into a clean medical room that wouldn't look out of place in a hospital. Sakura's nose itched, and she grimaced lifting a hand to rub it uncomfortably. "I'm a Med-Nin for shinobi and Ninken alike," Hana continued simply, before gesturing vaguely at the nearby corner, where three massive wolf-dogs lay sprawled in a pile inside a beam of sunlight from the window. "Those are my idiots, the Haimaru Brothers. Say hi, boys," she added. Sakura glanced at the dogs as the three of them lifted their heads, and, from what she could tell, the only differences between them was in how the cream markings on their faces went around their eyes. Otherwise, they were all the same uniform gray-brown with cream underbellies.

"Hi, boys," the three dogs replied, promptly snickering together even as they reluctantly heaved themselves to their feet.

"Real comedians around here, I know," Hana remarked dryly, rolling her eyes. "Okay, so, I'm guess by the looks of things, your puppy's first meeting with Tora didn't go so well?"

"Hai," Sakura said, curling her hands protectively around Anzu's warm little body. "Anzu-Chan here just, you know, ran up to him and told him she loved him, and, well," she lifted a hand to gesture awkwardly at her face, wincing. "She won't let me look at it, but I know he got her on the nose pretty badly..." Immediately, the Haimaru Brothers all winced, tails drooping.

"Oh, ouch, on the nose?" One asked, shaking his fur out sharply with a dramatic shudder.

"Tough luck, Pup," another said sympathetically.

"At least he didn't go for the eyes this time," the last muttered, wrinkling his own nose and twitching one pointed ear sharply.

"Can it, peanut gallery," Hana barked, although there was no actual aggression in her tone. "Alright, give her hear," the Inuzuka ordered; Sakura's body flinched, hands clamping down protectively as her hackles rose and a rumble started in her chest. Immediately, Hana's eyebrows rose in surprise and the Haimaru Brothers perked up.

"Well, holy shit," one said.

"Looks like Hatake finally got a pup!" laughed another.

"'Bout time," grumbled the last.

"A bit of warning next time, Sempai," Hana drawled, casting a judging look on Kaka-Sensei. "If I'd known they were still Bonding I wouldn't have bothered asking her to separate," the Inuzuka huffed, carefully edging around the table and approaching Sakura. Kakashi hand once more rested on her scruff, pinching only lightly, but Sakura still felt like her muscles were going limp and still, like her movement was suddenly restricted.

"Easy, Sakura-Chan," he murmured to her calmly as Hana reached for Anzu. "Easy..." Sakura was forced to remain still, her green eyes flashing as she watched Hana carefully pull Anzu's head away from her neck, not even trying to move her further away. Anzu still whined, however, and Sakura felt a snarl tear from her throat against her will, Sensei's pinched hold on her neck growing firmer in warning.

"Calm down, Pup," Hana said, though who she was talking to, exactly, Sakura didn't know. Instead, she watched with narrowed, focused eyes as Hana lifted one hand to her puppy's face, the mint-green of Healing Chakra, the same color as Sakura's eyes, gleaming from her fingertips. "Tora got you good, huh, pumpkin," The Inuzuka murmured as she dragged those fingertips over Anzu's nose, making her whimper unhappily. After a few moments, however, those fingers pulled away, and Anzu immediately buried her face back into Sakura's neck, tail tucked close.

"Her nose is going to ache for a few days," Hana said to the room at large, turning her back and padding away. "I recommend not letting her near anything with too strong a scent, or letting her lick it too much. While I closed and healed the scratches, the skin is still tender, and she could risk giving herself sores if she licks it." The further away she got from Sakura, the more relaxed the Genin felt, until Kaka-Sensei released her scruff and, suddenly, she was swaying a bit in place, abruptly exhausted from the constant change from Battle Ready to Standby.

"Tsunade-Sama has taken us off the roster for the Tora Mission for a month," Kaka-Sensei informed her easily as she turned away from the cabinet she'd been in. In her hand was a stick that, even from ten feet away, Sakura could smell. It was like peanut butter and bacon and oatmeal combined, and her stomach growled even as she winced at the realization that it was a dog treat.

"Good," Hana told Kaka-Sensei as she handed the treat-stick to Sakura. "I would have prescribed that, anyways. Give Anzu-Chan this when you're back home. She won't be feeling up to socializing again until after she's calmed down and feels safe."

"Hai, Inuzuka-San," Sakura agreed quietly. "Thank you very much, and, um," she flushed, shifting on her feet awkwardly. "Sorry for the, um, snarling and everything," she said, embarrassed; Hana snorted and rolled her eyes.

"Kid, I'm an Inuzuka," she replied mildly, amused. "If it's not my patients, it's their partners or family members that snarl and bark. Just means you're the same as everyone else I see around here," she spread her arms sardonically.

"Come back soon!" One of the Haimaru's ordered, tail wagging. "But not hurt next time!"

"If you break the treat in half," another offered earnestly, "then it's like you're getting two treats!"

"Stay away from Tora," the third huffed, ear twitching grumpily. "Or bite him next time. That works too." Awkwardly, Sakura thanked them for their advice, before Kaka-Sensei began to herd her back out of the room, Team Eight once again following, with Kiba hollering an insulting goodbye to his sister who threatened to force him into a flea-bath if he didn't get out of her Clinic.

"So, you gotta Ninken now, huh?" the boy offered cheerfully as he trotted at her side, Akamaru curiously leaning over to snuffle at Anzu, who whined at him and jerked her head a bit to make one of her ears cover her face. "That's awesome! We were hopin' ta find ya anyways, 'cause Team Eight wants ta train with you a couple'a times a week until the Exams, y'know? So we can get ready to work together," he told her cheerfully. "Akamaru an' me, we'll show ya all sorts of tricks you can dow with a Ninken! Right, buddy?" he asked; Akamaru yipped in agreement, tail wagging.

"I would think Kakashi has some things to teach her, Kiba," Kurenai-Sensei said, sounding amused as she stayed back, walking between Hinata and Shino as Kiba bounced at Sakura's side. "She's his Apprentice, after all."

"Maa," Kaka-Sensei drawled, his orange book appearing out of nowhere and making Kurenai-Sensei's easy-going expression turn to stone, her eye twitching. "It'll be good for Sakura-Chan and Anzu-Chan to train with other Ninken for a little while," he declared easily. "Anzu-Chan is a Tracker, after all, but not a fighter." Here he looked up and gave Sakura an eye-smile, setting a hand on her head and ruffling the spiky mess it had become since the Signing. "We look forward to Training with you!" He declared, and, if she'd been even a fraction less exhausted, Sakura would have winced.

'Asshole-Sensei,' Inner grumbled tiredly within their mind, and Sakura could only tiredly agree.

He was still the best, though.

Chapter Text

Wildflower Spirit

Hatake Kakashi was used to being disappointed in himself. He was used to making mistakes, to fucking things up. He'd long ago accepted that he didn't deserve nice things. Everything he'd every tried to hold close had been torn from his grasp one after another. His Father, his Team, his Sensei, his Family...

So, it hadn't surprised him at all that, upon getting assigned a Genin Team, he had, once again, fucked it up. How long it took surprised him, sure. Long enough for him to maybe start thinking it would be alright, that he wasn't going to fail them like everyone else, that maybe, just maybe, he could do this Sensei thing...

And then Reality came crashing down again.

Sasuke had tried to Defect, tried to abandon the Village. He'd only been spared a Traitor's Execution because he was the only born Sharingan User in the Village.

Naruto had left at the first opportunity, following after Jiraiya without a backward glance to his Sensei, chasing dreams larger than life, with frustrated blame in his eyes and Chakra as he'd stormed away.

Only Sakura remained. Sakura, who Kakashi had overlooked and dismissed and been prepared to sign off as a failure the moment she realized she wasn't prepared for the life of a Kunoichi, who he'd been desperately, carefully trying to keep safe even as he kept an eye on her Teammates, because she was still one of his Students, still a Comrade... And then, then she had completely thrown his expectations, his impressions, his negligence back in his face. Had stepped out from behind him on her own two feet and proved that, of the three, she was the one he should have been watching with a Sensei's eye.

He'd been called to the Hokage's office, pulled from the Memorial Stone to stand before Tsunade and be told that Sasuke had been arrested. That one of his teammates had turned him in. Before she'd told him which Teammate, Naruto had burst through the door demanding answers, making Kakashi realize which one had put Loyalty and Honor above her own emotions. Then he was forced to intervene, grabbing Naruto and keeping him from doing something truly stupid, like lunging across the Hokage desk as he demanded answers and tried to make excuses, tossing accusations and denials and frustrated words through the air like twisted confetti at the world's most ridiculous pity party.

By the time Kakashi had been dismissed, Naruto had stormed off to confront Sakura and Tsunade had told Kakashi about the trip Jiraiya would be taking the boy on, about Akatsuki and their plans for Jinchuuriki. On top of the notice from the Council about their decision for Sasuke's imprisonment, making Kakashi realize that the boy had been arrested hours before he'd been informed. He'd been dismissed immediately afterward, had fled from the Tower to Gai's apartment, where he found his friend waiting with a grim expression and a bear-hug.

"I fucking called it, Gai," he managed to choke out, before letting the panic attack sweep him away. And he had, he remembered, months ago when he'd been given his students folders and gotten flashbacks. He'd gotten knock-out drunk, safe in Gai's apartment, and clearly remembered slurring out to his friend that he was going to fuck this up, that he was going to ruin this Team. That ghosts and Fate and the kami-damned world was out to tear anything good and peaceful from him in the twisted, vicious Karmatic justice that he deserved after Obito and Rin's deaths at his hands, both literally and metaphorically.

Hours after his panic attack faded, after Gai had reluctantly left him to go speak with his own students, Kakashi had found himself on the bridge in the Training Ground his Team had claimed. It was there that Sakura found him, looking drawn and tired and grim, eyes red-rimmed and tear tracks on her face, but something like steel in her spine. She'd looked to him, chin lifted, ready for yet more condemnation to be thrown in her face as Naruto had undoubtedly done, and, for a moment, Kakashi had seen his Father in her mint-green eyes, in the steel in her spine and the hold in her shoulders and the way her eyes dared him to judge her.

And his heart had ached.

"I'm proud of you," he told her, as she clutched him, two tired souls clinging, and Kakashi patted her back awkwardly as he looked off towards the Stone while she had wept, and made a promise.

(What was one more promise to the Dead for the Living? He already had so many, tying him to the world like a noose around his neck, a choke collar on a too-short leash. Some days, he was just so tired that only those Promises kept him from not moving every again. He was a Hatake, after all. And a Hatake's Honor was their Life. Even in a Ruined Hatake like him)

After he'd seen her safely home, he'd gone straight to the Archives and dug out Apprentice Papers. Before he could hesitate and second guess himself, he'd filled out everything, clinging to the desperation in his chest that begged the world at large to just let him have this, please. And, once they were safely tucked away in a scroll, awaiting her (hopeful) signature, he'd gone back to Gai's and once again gotten black-out drunk on his friend's shoulder and futon, and prayed that he hadn't completely ruined her too.

...

She'd signed the papers without hesitation, weeping in relief that he hadn't left or blamed her, tattered and dusty from chasing his shadow all day, only considering the Training Ground after exhausting all other places and, could he blame her when he made a point of avoiding it so often? Her parents hadn't hesitated, either, to leave her with him, to give him and her their Blessing for the Apprenticeship.

The unflinching trust that he wasn't the failure he actually was had made something ache in his chest. His apartment had never felt so much like a home, even with his Ninken crawling everywhere and reminding him he was never really alone, the Bond a constant, thrumming Proof in his chest. And, living with Sakura, desperately clinging to the need to Not Ruin Her, Kakashi had forced himself to straighten up, to wear the Hatake Traditions like he hadn't in years.

He trained her into the ground, the ever-present fear that she would leave, whether for another teacher or for the Shinigami's Realm, pushing him to push her and push her and push her until she passed out and his own body ached in sympathy. And she exceeded his every expectation. There were tears and frustrations and anxiety, but she never faltered. She met his gaze head on, faced his every challenge with that same, unflinching steel-spined determination, his Father peering out of her eyes at him like a particularly smudged reflection in a dark room. And, as he taught her, Kakashi realized how far he'd let himself go as well, how deep into the well of Despair he'd allowed himself to fall.

Touchan would be so disappointed, he thought as he stirred the soup, waiting for his little student to return with the eggplant. And, for the first time in a while, the pain that rose in his chest wasn't from failure or grief or despair, but the sort of realization that left him stunned still and blank-eyed for a good, long moment. Because it was true. Hatake Sakumo had worn the Hatake Traditions to the point that he'd felt committing Seppuku was the only way to get rid of the shame of his failings. And yes, Kakashi had inadvertently aided him, his childish, tactless statements of condemnation piling upon the man's shoulders alongside those hissed whispers from the Villagers, but his Father had lived and breathed Hatake.

Once upon a time, they had been Samurai. And that sort of history brought with it a weight of Honor and Respect and the need to follow a Creed, that most Shinobi, even Clan Shinobi, didn't adhere to. Hatake were Shinobi who followed a few simple Truths. Honor and Respect were both Earned and Held in Accordance to the Creed that they believed in. And Kakashi's Creed, his Nindo, had been the only thing that had kept him from killing himself these last few years. All of those he'd ever loved, who had died for him or because of him, their sacrifices would have been made worthless if he killed himself, and Kakashi would not Abandon his Comrades, even in Death, especially not some mockery of an attempt to somehow redeem himself.

He Was Not Trash.

Sakura had taken his Creed upon her shoulders, had carried it in her Heart and Mind, and she was flourishing. She was everything, he realized belatedly as he taught her the Little Fang, that his Father would have adored in a granddaughter. Everything he would have been proud to claim as Family, as Pack. And, as he watched her Train and Grow and stand with steel in hand and spine, Kakashi was proud as well. So proud, so fond, so desperately, desperately relieved that he hadn't managed to fuck this up, that he was alright with that idea. With having her as a daughter.

And, seeing her Sign the Contract, Sign it as a Hatake, with no hesitation in her hand or face as she did so, that pride and fondness grew into a genuine affection that was so deep that he was caught genuinely off guard by it, even as he caught his precious student and cradled her close when her new senses overwhelmed her and left her unconscious.

This is My Pup, he thought, equally grateful and wondering and bewildered but so, so happy as he absently Summoned Pakkun to help keep Sakura's puppy distracted. This is My Pup.

And I will raze the world down into ash for her, he Vowed in the silence of his mind, every day and every night, as he coached her through those first few days, feeling more alive and more vulnerable than he had in years as he removed his Mask and taught. Sometimes, he would wake up, drenched in sweat with the memories of his every failure still fresh in his mind, and only hearing her steady breaths and soft snuffles in the other room would remind him that he wasn't Failing now. Sometimes, he would find himself standing at the side of her bed, watching her breathe as she curled around little Anzu-Chan, before turning to sit on the ground in front of her and guard her sleep, the Pack surrounding him amicably enough, their Bond Singing with possession and familial love and desperate, desperate relief that she was still there.

That she would stay, was just as clingy and lonely and fearful as he was, if not as tempered by his own tarnished life. She clung the way small children and pups did, terrified to be left alone, abandoned, found wanting, even though she was doing so very, very wel... She had nothing to fear, in that regard, because, of the two of them, she was the one with the power to leave if she chose. He was Bound too deeply already, Instincts that had long ago been shunted beneath a tide of grief and self-loathing and training finally, finally free to stake their Claim, to bury themselves beneath the realization that she was his daughter in all but blood. Only Death would see him willingly leave her side, and it would not be by his own hand that it would occur.

(Promises to the Dead for the Living, tied tight around his Soul, stained Red with blood and black with ash and tarnished by so many past Failures he would not Fail His Pup- )

Now, as he supervised her training with Team Eight, watched her growl and bark playfully with the Inuzuka boy, watched Kurenai offer advice on Genjutsu and the Hyuuga shyly hand her a balm of something minty and medicinal as the Aburame vibrated with his kikaichu and made logical, cautious comments to better their Teamwork, Kakashi allowed the rumble of contentedness to rattle his chest, let a smile so strangely genuine curl his lips, something that had happened more and more often as he trained His Pup. And, when she glanced to him, her own grin easily seen despite her mask, Kakashi allowed his eyes to crinkle affectionately.

He was still broken, still a Failure and Friend Killer.

But he had His Pup. And she still wanted him despite all his short-comings, still looked to him like he hung the moon, like, despite the blood that stained his hands, she still felt safe and protected in his presence...

That, more than anything, told him he was doing something right, for what was probably the first time in his life.

I will raze the world for you, he thought as he caught Anzu when the pup ran over to him, chuckling as Sakura quickly followed, flinging herself against his chest, arms and legs in circling him as she giggled and yipped alongside her Ninken, making him rumble contentedly back. Grinning, he ruffled her hair and playfully threw her into the river, Anzu yelping indignantly as he rolled her into a nearby puddle.

Because you're My Pup. Sakura sputtered and growled at him, making him rumble back, shoulders loose and hands lax at his side before he caught the Inuzuka by the back of his shirt when the boy playfully lunged at him, tossing him in as well, making Kurenai laugh and Sakura sputter before cackling as Akamaru barked mockingly from the safety of the Hyuuga's giggling arms.

And you deserve the best I can give you and more. With a flicker of hand-signs, he manipulated the water around the two Genin in the river, and basked in the squealing yelps of shock as he dumped an unnaturally cold dragon on their heads, chuckling, heart light, as Sakura snarled out a curse world that made Akamaru fall off his perch in shock and the Inuzuka choke on water.

And, for the first time since the day he returned home to find his Father's body cooling in their living room, Kakashi felt hope.