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She stared at her list of patients, kanji translating into names in her mind. The air was beginning to feel stuffy. Uchiha? As in… Sasuke Uchiha? She couldn’t wrap her mind around it. Of all the people in the world to need physical therapy, one just happens to be related to Sasuke? She didn’t know if she could ever get over her embarrassment from back then.
She had been in love with Sasuke. It started when they were young, and it continued past that. She’d admit she was annoying in the beginning, but he never gave her any reason to back off. It just seemed like he was tolerating it out of consideration for her feelings. But when a joke about them getting married went too far, he suddenly stood up, shooting daggers at her with eyes that she could’ve sworn for a moment were red. Before he walked away he said: “Sakura, I’m gay.”
She’d been mortified. Not only could she not tell, but she also let it go on this long! He hadn’t told her for years and she was just following him around, completely oblivious to his suffering. Now that she thought about it, him and Naruto were surprisingly close. And Naruto was the one who got all his attention when they were together. Sure, Naruto had liked Sakura when they were younger, but as the years went on, Naruto abandoned his flirting with Sakura. Instead he focused on Sasuke, and though it made her feel left out, she thought that it was good her two best friends were finally getting along.
After her discovery, she’d tried to put Sasuke on the back burner. Her love for him had grown out of control and had blinded her to his sexual orientation. At least she could still hang out with Naruto with her dignity intact. But then she had walked in on them and that was essentially the last straw. After that, she had thrown herself into work, and she hadn’t been social for months. What an embarrassing string of months that had been.
But now here she was, years later, in the hospital which was the very thing she had thrown all of her energy into. Here was a relative of Sasuke’s, his name dancing in her peripheral vision all day as she dreaded seeing him. She had come to learn that anyone with the last name of Uchiha was at least distantly related to him. With her luck, he was probably his cousin or something.
At long last, 2PM showed up, and it was the Uchiha’s turn to be healed. When she had started in this hospital a few years ago, she had been placed in the physical therapy unit just as a test to see what she could do. No one, including her, would think that she’d actually do so well as to be nicknamed “Sakura with the Magic Hands” by the clients. She had done so well that this is where she’d lived at work. A few more years and she could even become the supervisor.
She sat in her office, typing up paperwork while she waited for her patient to show up. Maybe he was a little late, she could deal with that. Then a half an hour came and went, and she still hadn’t been interrupted. She crawled out into the receptionist area to talk to her coworkers. “Has my 2 o’clock shown up yet?” she asked them.
“Not that I’ve noticed,” one of them replied. “What about you?”
“Me neither,” said the other.
“Hmm. Well, he’s probably a no-show.” She sighed in relief at that. No meeting Sasuke’s weird distant cousin today. “I’m going to go get a coffee and a muffin, I’m starving.”
“Sounds good, Dr. Haruno.”
Sakura had stepped out, and made her way to the cafeteria. Their coffee was alright, she supposed, but nothing could compare to the poppyseed muffin she had almost every Monday for lunch. It wasn’t just any muffin. This muffin was made by the gods. Every Monday she’d make her way to the cafeteria and she’d order a poppyseed muffin, usually the last one, and a cup of coffee. It was her one solace. It practically got her through the day. Sure there were other kinds of muffins, but the poppyseed one was special. She stood in line, and waited for her turn.
“One poppyseed muffin for me, and a lemon bar as well,” the man in front of her said, snapping her out of her thoughts.
“You’re in luck,” the barista commented. “This is our last one.”
Upon hearing those dreaded words, Sakura took a step in front of the man, immediately noticing his facemask and silver hair. Strange combination. “Wait, Kiba,” she started, already on a first name basis with the barista since she came here so often. “When you said last one, you didn’t mean, like, last one , right? You still… have one for me?”
“Sorry Dr. Haruno, that was the last poppyseed muffin of the day. We’ll have more next week though!”
She gasped, and almost dropped her wallet. “You mean you didn’t save one for me?”
Kiba had just laughed, showing his annoyingly sharp canines. “I have other customers besides you, Dr. Haruno, I can’t afford to keep muffins from people when they ask. How would that look? Oh, excuse me Mister Hot Barista Man,” Kiba starts in a mockingly high voice, probably to imitate a woman. His hand feigned to his forehead as he swooned like an overemphasized lady. “Can I get a poppyseed muffin ?”
He turned to face the imaginary woman, answering himself in a deep “manly” voice. “ I’m so sorry, Ms. Customer, but we are all out .” He drew out the last two syllables, with his hands on his hips.
“ Oh no whatever will I do?!” He covered his face with his hands, in faux desperation.
“And then she leaves, and here you come up with your perky pink hair, and you say: Oh please Kiba, you’re so amazing and sexy, can I please get a poppyseed muffin ? And then I give it to you and Ms. Customer over there will give me a bad review, and I’ll lose my job immediately.”
“That all sounds well and good, Kiba, but this man here isn’t ‘Ms. Customer,’” Sakura said, putting air quotes around Ms. Customer. “I doubt he would mind. Right sir?”
“Hmm?” The man in question looked her up and down as she turned to him. He could tell she was a doctor here, and noticed her name tag on her coat. “No, I think I’d mind. I like poppyseed.” His eyes crinkled up to indicate a smile. She scoffed.
“You wouldn’t miss it, I’m certain.”
“Are you now? Would you like mine?” He held out his poppyseed muffin to her.
She glanced down at it, then back up. His eyes were still in that annoying crinkle. She almost scoffed again. “Well now I can’t take it."
“Why not?”
“Because you just declined to give it to me. If I accept it now it’ll look like begging.”
“But you were begging.”
“Beside the point.”
“Hey, are you going to pay for that?” Kiba called as they started walking away and arguing. The strange silver man hadn’t paid his bill.
They just kept walking, apparently going the same way. “I swear, I’ll give it to you no questions asked.”
“And I told you already. I. Can’t. Take it.” As they were talking, he had a muffin in one hand, and a lemon bar in the other. It was then she noticed just how attractive he was, at least the parts that she could see. His dark eyes looked kind and handsome, and his hair looked soft to the touch despite her initial judgement. She could only imagine how nice his mouth looked. She was starting to feel desperate.
“Hmm,” the man huffed. “Well, can I at least take you to wherever it is you’re headed?”
“No, you can’t. I’m already here.”
He noticed her office was surprisingly also where he needed to be. He glanced up to the sign where Obito would have his physical therapy, and there it was underneath his particular condition: Dr. Haruno Sakura.
“Ah-”
“Oi! Kakashi!” A voice came bolstering from behind the door where Sakura’s practice was. “Where have you been? I’ve been waiting here for like 5 minutes!”
“Have you been bored without me, Obito?"
“You know I don’t like hospitals, man.”
“Yeah, but this one’s different. This is the hospital where they help people get better, not the emergency room. Plus, I got you a lemon bar. The least you can do is say thank you”
“Even so-”
“I take it you’re Mr. Uchiha?” Sakura interrupted the two men. So his name was Kakashi. That was good to know.
“Yeah, that’d be me,” Obito replied sheepishly. A slight blush flushed his cheeks as he nervously scratched the back of his head.
“Ah. You’re 45 minutes late.”
“You see, technically I was 40 minutes late, and you were gone for the last 5 minutes since I arrived. So if you think about it, you’re late, and I’m on time.”
“Hm. Must be an Uchiha,” Sakura said and Kakashi chuckled as Obito flashed a glare his way. “I don’t know, Mr. Uchiha. You see, your therapy session is designed to take an hour and my next client is in 20 minutes. We can either reschedule, and you actually make it on time, or I can squeeze what was supposed to take an hour into 20 minutes and we’ll see if you’re even okay to walk to your car. It’s your choice.”
Obito sighed, and quickly glanced at Kakashi as if to say ‘this is your fault.’ Kakashi threw his hands up in defense and shook his head as if to indicate ‘this was all you.’ “I guess I’ll take the first thing you said.”
“A reschedule?” Sakura’s voice chirped, a complete 180 from the tone she had just used. “Great! I’ll have the receptionist schedule an appointment for later.” Her voice changed to the tone she used before. “ Don’t. Be late. And you .” She pointed at Kakashi. “Don’t steal my muffin next time.”
Obito just nodded quickly and Kakashi chuckled, while giving her a thumbs up. A thumbs up? Really? he chastised within himself.
Her pink hair had disappeared just behind the door. Obito made an appointment with the receptionist while Kakashi stood there, a coffee in hand, and a poppyseed muffin in the other. Oh he was definitely coming back and getting another poppyseed muffin, and not just because they were his favorite.
The next time Kiba saw Sakura, he lowered his eyes at her. “You better pay for Mr. Silver Fox’s muffin and bar. I got my ass chewed by my manager after work!” She apologized haphazardly, and paid Mr. Silver Fox’s bill, glowering.
The same time the following week was when Obito had booked his appointment. It truly was the only time he wasn’t busy. He had his job take up most of it, and he wanted time with his family where he could get it. They were busy at this time, so he tried again.
This time, Kakashi had a reason to be on time, so he showed up extra early to make sure Obito got there. When they arrived at the hospital, Kakashi made a B-line to the cafeteria, while Obito headed to Dr. Haruno’s room. He’d hoped he’d either catch her as she just got there, or run into her somehow, maybe stealing a muffin in the process.
To his surprise, she wasn’t already in the cafeteria. Maybe she’d expect them to be at least a little late. They were 5 minutes early this time. Kakashi’s turn at the register came, and Kiba waited for him expectantly. There were exactly two poppyseed muffins left and Kakashi just grinned. It went unnoticed by Kiba since his mask was obscuring the part of the face that would give him away. But as Kakashi raised his eyes toward him, an eye glint betrayed him. “I’ll take two poppyseed muffins please.”
Sakura was ready to face Kakashi. She truly was. She didn’t need to flirt with him anymore, once was enough. The moment she’ll see him again, she’ll understand. It was just a fluke. A happenstance. She’d even paid his bill last time even though he took her favorite muffin. Truly, she was fine. Nevermind the fact that her favorite type was only made on Mondays. She’d definitely get one this time. But then as she approached the counter, there was Kiba, and there was the empty basket of poppyseed muffins.
“Kiba!” Sakura accused. “We talked about this! Where’s my obligatory muffin!”
“Sorry, Dr. Haruno,” Kiba replied. “But he took the last two.” He pointed at Kakashi, sitting at a small table holding a partially eaten muffin. He still had his mask on, which meant that either he only took his mask off in between bites, or something weird was going on. Maybe he had a dog with him?
Sakura whipped her head back to face Kiba. “Did you say two? ” she yelled, her voice a slight octave higher. “What the hell!” She stomped her way to Kakashi, and growled. “Why the hell would you buy two? You know I wanted one, and there was one for me to have, and you just took it anyway? Why? Do you really like them that much? You know, poppyseed muffins are my favorite! I would eat them every Monday! They only make them on Mondays! I bet you don’t even like them that much!”
“Are you done?” he asked, watching her as she struggled to catch her breath.
“I guess,” she huffed.
“This is for you.”
“W-what?”
“Yeah. I got it for you. You weren’t here yet, and since you hadn’t seen Obito yet it seems we just got here. I knew you’d probably make it to the cafeteria soon and I didn’t want you to be without one, so I bought them both. One for me, one for you.”
“Are you… serious?”
“Yep.”
“You bought it for me?”
“Yes, that’s what I just said.”
“It’s just.. Thank you.”
“For what?” I’m pulling your leg, this is for Obito.”
“Oh,” her voice was low, as if she’d been punched. Had she even noticed the look on his face? Obviously that’s the part that was the joke.
“I lied. That was the joke. This really is yours.”
“I’m so confused,” she knit her eyebrows in exasperation.
“Keep the muffin.” He stood up, placed the uneaten muffin in her hand, and started to walk towards where Obito was.
Sakura followed behind him, muffin in hand, and eyes to the ground as she walked. It’d been so long since someone showed such decent human kindness, it was doing something to her heart. Granted, he did just toy with her emotions for the last couple minutes, but nonetheless, it was for her. It was so agonizing trying to decipher him. She learned from her past mistakes, she really did.
Sakura walked past the waiting room to her office, and Kakashi stayed with Obito. Once she was situated, she let her nurse know it was time to bring them back. The nurse called Obito’s name, and to Sakura’s surprise, Kakashi came with him. Usually if the client was really close with someone, then they brought a guest with them to the therapy room. Sasuke’s situation flashed through her head. Oh shit. She cursed the churning in her stomach when she remembered what developing a crush was like. Was she really only developing feelings for the ones who are 100% gay? Just what happened in her childhood that could drive her to be this way?
Now that I know, I won’t let myself get that way , she said to herself. It really was more like chastising herself for even letting herself feel any sort of anything for anyone. It had just been so long since someone had shown her kindness, she guessed she mistook it for affection.
She sighed and collected herself and her thoughts before she entered Obito’s room. There stood Kakashi, his hands in his pockets and silver hair falling over one eye. Can he even see like that? Obito was staring at the ground and she noticed he was visibly nervous. She brought herself back to her profession, crush on Mr. Silver Fox be damned. “Are you okay, Obito?” she asked. She had been calling him Obito in her head all day, and the formality was lost on her as she recognized a panic attack when she saw one. Sasuke had them frequently, and some of her own clients too.
“Yeah, I’m okay, it’s just-” his breathing was getting quicker and she placed a calming hand on his shoulder. She noticed just how tense he was, he was almost shaking.
“Everything will be alright,” she said, in a calming voice.
Kakashi was then on Obito’s opposite side. A warm comforting voice rumbled out of his lips. “It’s okay Obito, we’re on the other side of the hospital, remember?”
Obito swallowed, looking up at Kakashi. He could tell just from his eyes that he was smiling softly and sweetly at him. It seemed to loosen the tension in his shoulders. It was easy to come down from a panic attack, so long as Kakashi was there. He was there when it happened, after all. He had even experienced it all before. “Okay,” he said with a final deep breath. “I’m okay.”
Sakura smiled a warm, sweet smile. “I’m glad,” she said sincerely. “Now let’s get started.”
After that, visits weren’t so hard for Obito. He came with Kakashi every time, but Kakashi always disappeared at the beginning. After a few weeks of physical therapy, Rin would drop Obito off instead, and Kakashi would meet him there, coffee in hand, and take him home. He would always mysteriously appear seconds before his pink haired doctor strutted through the door.
Kakashi had gone to the cafeteria in the hospital every time he came with Obito. He would go to the cafeteria first, then walk with Sakura to her room of practice before Obito’s appointment would start. It was when he told Obito to get his own ride that he started coming earlier and earlier. She always came at the same time on the dot. He started this little tradition coming at 1:55, and then he had the realization that he just wanted to see her all the time. If he willed something hard enough, it’d come true, right?. So he came at 1:50. And 1:45. Until eventually he’d wait for her at the cafeteria with two poppyseed muffins in his hands at 1:30. Obito’s appointment was still at 2. He just would wait as long as it’d take.
One day, Sakura had a cancellation right before Obito’s appointment. The scheduled 1 o’clock had a family emergency and couldn’t make it. She wondered what she’d do with her time. At around 1:30, she glanced up at the clock from her pile of paperwork. A certain silver haired man came to view. He was always there, sitting at a table, mask on his face, muffins in his hands whenever she’d attempt to get her Monday muffins. She wondered what time he came. He must know that she was always busy before Obito’s appointment. He can’t get there earlier than 5 minutes beforehand, can he? She smirked as a thought came to her. Maybe she’ll be the one to grab the muffins and then he’ll have to take a muffin from her for a change. A perfect plan. This was just a battle strategy between two friends, it’s not like there’s any hidden connotation to it, right?
She made her way to the cafeteria with a plan. The tables will have turned, and she will have her dignity intact! Or that was the idea anyway, because precisely at 1:40 when she made it to the cafeteria, there was Kakashi, in his black jacket, his mask in place, his hair falling over his eye, and his focus downcast. That is, until she walked in, and that was when his dark grey eyes perked up to meet hers.
He was already here? He’d been here 20 minutes before their weekly very-on-the-dot encounter was? Why was that? What was the purpose of that? But she hadn’t seen Obito besides when he’d show up. Did they come here separately? But why? Her mind was reeling as he gazed at her, never wavering. “Yo,” he finally said, holding up a hand to wave. “Want a muffin?”
This time, and only this time, Sakura sat opposite of Kakashi. He’d always be sitting down when she got there, but when she would come up to him, he’d get on his feet and they’d exchange some small talk, and start walking back to her office. That was executed so well that they had the exact times down, as to get maximum conversation time. She found things out about him in snippets, almost like she was making a collage of him with the things she knew. His birthday was in September, he had a pug named Pakkun, and he liked to read the same novels as her. She was collecting all the things she found out about him, and here was something to add to her image. He got here at least 20 minutes before she got there.
“As always.” She took her muffin and started taking little bites out of it.
“You’re sitting down,” he mentioned.
She continued with her muffin. “You’re here early.”
“So are you.”
“Yeah, but you’re here 20 minutes early. Even earlier than that since you have them already.”
“Yeah, but you come at 2 o’clock all the time. How come you’re here now?”
“A client cancelled on me.”
“A client cancelled on you?”
“Yeah,” she sighed, as she took a swig of her drink. “He cancelled on me, so I thought it’d be funny if I came here before you for a change, but just my luck, you’re already here.”
“Ah,” he nodded, starting to peel at his muffin wrapper as well. “Well. I get here early.”
“Yeah, I can see that,” she mumbled, ripping apart another piece of the muffin to put in her mouth. “A total contrast to what happened the first day.” She plopped the bakery treat in. Pure Heaven.
“Hey, that wasn’t my fault. I’ll have you know I was early to things before I met Obito.”
“Oh? And how long ago was that?”
“When I was six.”
“Got it.” She internally screamed. He had known Obito since he was six?! She can’t compete with that. Not only did Obito need Kakashi for moral support, he also has been his childhood friend. This is exactly like Naruto and Sasuke all over again! Nevermind the fact that he made a point to do something for her every week, or that her stomach was churning butter at the mere thought of getting 20 minutes to talk to him instead of the usual 5. Her heart leapt to her throat. “So, does that mean you guys have been, well, together since then?”
“Oh, we didn’t really get along til we were 12. And even then it was strained. We only started getting really close in recent years.”
“Ah, I see.”
“Since Obito had an accident not too long ago, we were kind of brought closer together. I knew about his fear of hospitals since his dad had died.Getting over his own accident while in a hospital was hard on him. So whenever he needs physical therapy, or to go to the doctor’s, I go with him. I can calm him down the easiest. It helps seeing something familiar.”
That was a lot to take in. 5 minutes into this meeting with Kakashi, and they were dropping some heavy shit. But she supposed that made sense given the fact that they only had 5 minutes to get to know each other before they had to part again for the week. Neither of them knew how to snap out of this weird Kakashi-buys-muffins-and-Sakura-swoons loop.
“Well it makes sense that you want to be there for your partner,” Sakura sighed, about halfway through her muffin.
Kakashi chuckled. His own muffin was seemingly smaller, but she hadn’t seen him take off his mask, so she couldn’t be sure. “He is my best friend, but I don’t know if I’d call him a partner.”
“You’re together, aren’t you?”
“What?” Kakashi inhaled, but started choking when it clicked for him that she thought he and Obito were together. “You think Obito and I are seeing each other?”
“Well that’s one way to put it,” Sakura laughed as Kakashi washed down his choked up muffin with some coffee, his face still obscured from Sakura. She did manage to get a glimpse of his jawline though, and it sure was a nice jawline. “I just thought you guys were dating because you were super close with him and are the only one who can talk him out of a panic attack and you’ve known each other since you were young and you grew up together, so naturally I assumed that you were.”
“What do you think I’ve been doing this whole time, while buying you muffins?”
“Uh,” she knitted her brows together, confused by the question. “Being nice to me? Since I’m the one who’s treating your boyfriend.”
“We’re not together,” he reassured her. She just stared back at him in disbelief. “We’re not. We’re just friends who grew up together. Didn’t you see his left hand?”
As a matter of fact, she hadn’t. She was focused on her job, not the marital status of the man she thought was the boyfriend of a guy she was attracted to. Nothing complicated about that. “No,” she said simply.
“Well he is married, you know. Just not to me.” He showed his left hand, and waved his left ring finger. Yeah, sure it was empty, but that can’t be true. It was just too good to be true. Why would the man that she is insanely attracted to also be attracted to her? Fate has never been that kind to her. “I did buy you that muffin to be nice to you, and thank you for doing your job as a doctor, and healing my friend. However. I’m also buying you a muffin because I want you to like me. Because I want to talk to you. Even more than we have been doing.”
“Really? You seriously weren’t just being nice?” She gawked at him incredulously.
“Are you okay?” he asked, seeming genuinely concerned. “I would have thought that was obvious.”
“Well, that was your first mistake, relying on me to pick up on subtext.”
Kakashi laughed and glanced up at the clock. 5 minutes left. Time to start heading back. “Well, I apologize.” He stood up, offering her his hand. She stared at it, as if expecting it to be fake. “You can take it, I won’t hurt you,” he murmured. She placed her hand in his, and he helped her up. “It’s been a pleasure Dr. Haruno, but I must ask you to treat my friend. Since you know, that’s all I’m doing here.” His eyes crinkled, showing evidence of a smile, which reassured her that he was only joking.
She laughed lightly, and followed him to the door of the cafe. “As you can see, that’s all I’m good for” she said, exhaling the tension in her shoulders. He chuckled again as they walked to Sakura’s place of practice.
“So I have to ask,” he started again, walking and talking slowly. He can’t give her to Obito just yet. This was it, his sign that he was waiting for. He was going to ask her. “You’re not seeing anyone, are you?”
“Me?” she asked breathlessly. It seemed this man was determined to kill her. She’s sure she hadn’t had a full intake of air since she saw him with the muffins. “I’m not.”
That’s good to know,” he mused. He took a deep breath. It was now or never. “Do you want to get a coffee with me, then?”
“Kakashi, I have your best friend to treat.”
His heart leapt at her use of his name. This is the first time she had said his name to him, out loud. He could get used to that sound falling from her lips. “I don’t mean right now, I mean later. You know. Not at a hospital where you work. On your day off, with me, and I buy you coffee, and we have a conversation that lasts longer than five minutes.”
“Kakashi, are you asking me out on a date?” she asked, fully facing him now. Her hands were on her hips and her bright emerald eyes were piercing as she looked up at him, challenging him to ask her on a date with the exact words so that she’d get the right message. He smiled at her confidence, wondering where the supply came from.
“Absolutely, I am. Is this you accepting?”
She full-on grinned as she looked up at him. She half expected her to throw herself on him. She didn’t though, as this was her place of practice. Can’t be too unprofessional at her job. Even if something unbelievable happened to her.
She didn’t say anything as she turned around to grab the door handle. For a second he doubted himself and everything about his execution. That was too much, he came on too strong, and no matter how happy she looked when she turned around, it wasn’t real. Everyone actually hates him and is just tolerating him. His breath hitched.
She walked in the door, but stuck her head out to say one last thing to him. “Konoha Cafe has a location in the Target downtown off 10th Ave. Meet me there at 5PM on Saturday. Don’t be late.” And then she was inside.
Kakashi stared after her, his heart now beating double time after the rollercoaster of emotions that just knocked him off his feet. He clutched his chest staring after her, as she called Obito into her room. He had to follow, but his heart hurt. How could she do that to him, knowing that he’d have to be in a room with her and Obito and try to remain completely normal? It was so unfair. He opened the door and stepped inside. Might as well just get it over with. He watched her work with Obito while letting his mind wander to wherever else they could go that wasn’t just a coffee shop on their date on Saturday. A small smile stayed on his lips, and it was at this moment he thanked his lucky stars that he was wearing a mask.