Chapter Text
Around midday on the second day of their new mission, Kakashi called Team Ro to a stop. "We're still about 30 miles out from the rendezvous point with the missing-nin group that Sakura and I are supposed to meet. We'll stop here and change out of our uniforms and into the outfits Jiraiya provided us." Sakura nodded and went to unload her pack, while Genma and Tenzo lounged, having no outfits that they needed to change into, since they wouldn't be undercover.
Kakashi sighed to himself as he unrolled the storing scroll that Jiraiya had provided him with and released it, looking at the contents: everything he would need to take on the guise of his alter ego, Sukea. He wasn't looking forward to having to wear the contacts that disguised his eyes, and he was looking forward to being without his mask even less. Unrolling the bundle of clothing that was included, he took stock without much interest of the loose black pants, long-sleeved black shirt, and mesh armor undershirt. He was just standing to find a place to change when the sound of Sakura exclaiming drew his attention.
"What. The hell. Is this?" she said, in a voice that got a little higher with each word. Kakashi paused, forgetting what he was doing as he watched her dangle some very small items of clothing from her fingers. Genma and Tenzo looked on with interest.
"That looks like a fascinating costume," Genma said, his eyes lighting up at the prospect.
"There's barely half an outfit here!" Sakura snapped. "Whose idea was this?"
"Lord Jiraiya's," Genma and Tenzo said in unison. "He's kind of a perv," Genma added.
Sakura glared at them both, then glared at Kakashi for some reason—possibly because this was his favorite author they were talking about—before abruptly spinning on her heel and stomping into the forest.
"Where are you going?" Genma called. "I want a fashion show!"
"I'm going to find somewhere to squeeze into this!" Sakura snarled over her shoulder before she vanished into the greenery.
Kakashi lifted his brows a little at the exchange, listening to Genma and Tenzo laugh to themselves, but he ultimately returned his attention to his own disguise. He began to remove his ANBU uniform, folding each piece neatly as he lay it on the grass. In a few short moments he'd slipped into the new pants and the long-sleeved shirt and mesh armor undershirt, considering for a moment before he rolled up the sleeves to the outer shirt to let the mesh beneath show. Leg wrappings, sandals, and fingerless gloves completed the outfit.
Clothing secured, he began the rest of his transformation into Sukea. First were the contacts that turned his mismatched eyes into a uniform, pale grey that was much lighter than his natural color. Then came the temporary purple markings that covered his eyelids and brows, extending far enough down his cheeks to cover the scar that bisected his left eye. After that came the tousled brown wig.
He was just putting on the traditional slashed-through hitae-ate of a missing nin when he heard the sound of Genma giving a piercing wolf whistle, and he turned back toward the clearing in time to see Sakura reappear.
Kakashi's hands froze in the midst of tying the hitae-ate.
The first thing he saw was skin. A lot of skin. The outfit that Jiraiya had provided for Sakura had a thin mesh armor undershirt and a slashed through hitae-ate, just like the ones Kakashi had, but that was where the similarities ended. Atop the mesh, Sakura wore a high-collared black sleeveless shirt that ended only a few inches below her breasts, leaving her stomach only partially covered by the bottom half of the mesh shirt. The deep vee in the front gave an excellent view of her mesh-covered chest, which Kakashi quickly looked away from, desperate to find somewhere safer to look. It turned out that looking down wasn't a good idea, either, because her lower half was only covered by a short, slitted skirt with barely-there shorts underneath and knee-high sandals. That didn't help, so he snapped his eyes up to her glowering face, inwardly cursing his lack of a mask and hoping that the heat he felt in his cheeks wasn't visible.
"Fuck me," Genma exclaimed, his eyes wide as he took Sakura in.
"Shut up," she seethed.
"No, seriously, fuck me," Genma insisted, laughing delightedly when she threw one of her ANBU sandals that she'd removed at him.
Tearing his eyes away from Sakura, Kakashi focused on Genma, his jaw tightening. Fighting down a rising feeling that he sternly told himself was not jealousy, he nevertheless scowled as he said, "Rein it in, Genma."
"I think you look nice," Tenzo said placidly. "Very stylish, in a missing-nin sort of way."
"I can't believe I'm going to be wearing this for the foreseeable future," Sakura mourned, covering her face with one hand. Without meaning to, Kakashi followed the line of her arm with his eyes, down her side and over the flat expanse of her net-covered stomach.
"Gonna be able to get through this mission with your purity intact, Captain?" Genma asked softly beside him, grinning impishly when Kakashi tore his eyes away from Sakura long enough to fire a glare in his direction. Kakashi's expression only grew more thunderous as he saw the matching smile on Tenzo's face.
Clearing his throat, Kakashi summoned his best ANBU captain voice and said, "Enough. Finish getting your things together. We leave in five."
Genma and Tenzo both snapped to attention, and Sakura gave one last mournful pluck to her brief top before she retrieved the sandal she'd thrown at Genma, bundling her ANBU uniform in preparation for putting it into the storing scroll.
Kakashi turned away, trying to return his focus to the mission and also attempting to ignore Sakura's hissed threats to put spiders in Genma's bedroll. In his mind's eyes, though, all he could see was that damned outfit. Kakashi generally didn't pay that much attention to what a woman wore, but it was hard to ignore Sakura's body when he was already so attracted to her. What had Jiraiya been thinking? Kakashi didn't know whether he wanted to kill him or thank him. Probably kill him.
It was going to be a very long mission.
The team raced toward the point where Genma and Tenzo would split off from Kakashi and Sakura, and Sakura was still inwardly irritated enough to throw Genma the occasional dirty look. But she wasn't as mad as she would've expected herself to be, and that was entirely because of Kakashi's reaction to her new clothes.
His maskless face, as expressive as it had been when she'd first seen it, had gone slack with surprise when he'd seen in her in the outfit Lord Jiraiya had picked out for her. More importantly, she was sure she'd seen him blushing. It had distracted her enough that she wasn't even able to really be that mad about the outfit anymore—not when her brain could focus on the much more enticing notion of Kakashi being distracted by her body.
She probably should've been concerned by it. If the ever-businesslike Kakashi was having trouble staying focused, then what hope did she have of staying professional on this mission? Still, it made her a little happy to know that he might have as hard of a time as she would. Besides, it would help them maintain the ruse of being lovers if they really were attracted to each other. That's what she told herself, at least.
Evening had fallen by the time Kakashi called for them to stop again, several miles from the rendezvous point with the group that he and Sakura were to join. Team Ro gathered, exchanging silent looks. This would be the last time they would all be together as a team for a while.
"Be careful," Tenzo said to Kakashi and Sakura.
"Don't lose your top," Genma said at the same time, and Sakura slapped the side of his shoulder.
"Enough," Kakashi said in an exasperated voice. "You know what to do. Get settled at the safe house and wait for Uhei to find you. We'll figure out a meeting point from there." Pausing, he shifted his gaze to Sakura. "Be ready. I know this is your first undercover mission. Just be yourself—with the addition that we need to convince them we have an established relationship that's important enough for us to leave our village for."
Sakura knew that wasn't going to be a problem—the problem would come later, when they were alone, and she had to be professional. But she kept that to herself, and all she said out loud was, "I'm ready, Captain."
Genma's face smoothed from its impish smirk into an expression of utter seriousness. "Don't forget that Tenzo and I will have your back." Looking at Sakura, he said, "You'll be okay as long as you don't get too angry about anything."
Sakura matched his seriousness, frowning slightly as she firmly replied, "I won't."
There was a moment of silence and then Tenzo and Genma were off without another word. Sakura turned her head slightly to look up at Kakashi—no, he was Sukea now, all messy brunette hair and dove-grey eyes. Letting a bit of doubt slip through, Sakura asked, "We can do this, right?"
Without a single moment's hesitation, he answered, "Of course we can. We're ANBU." And then he was off, running in the direction of their rendezvous point.
Relieved, at least temporarily, by his confidence, Sakura took a deep breath, and then followed.
Kakashi and Sakura arrived at the rendezvous point at the specified time, but there was no compound in sight, only a moonlit clearing in the woods. Kakashi wasn't all that surprised; it was to be expected that a missing-nin group wouldn't want to commit their location to a message that could be intercepted. As he came to a halt, Sakura stopped beside him.
"We're not alone," he murmured—unnecessarily, because he could already feel Sakura tensing beside him as they both felt several chakra signatures flare into existence around them. Careful to keep his expression neutral, Kakashi still felt uneasy—this group wasn't supposed to be experienced enough to do something like hide their chakra signatures.
What other information was missing from Jiraiya's brief?
From the thick trees in front of them, a single man stepped forward. He was dressed in black, like they were. His dark brown hair was shaggy and fell in loose waves around his face, and atop his head perched a featureless black mask. A smirk played around his lips as he spoke. "Sukea and Sakura, I presume?"
"You must be Shou," Kakashi responded.
Shou nodded. "You're on time. I like that in my underlings."
Kakashi frowned, and he felt Sakura bristle beside him. Calmly, he replied, "We're here to work with you, not for you."
Raising his chin thoughtfully, Shou responded, "A couple of rejected ANBU? I'm not sure if you're good enough to stand beside me."
"How about I kick your ass and show you what a reject can do?" Sakura growled.
"I was hoping you'd say that." Smiling, Shou lifted his hand above his shoulder in a wave. Immediately, six ninja, all in black with their faces covered by black masks like the one atop Shou's head, appeared on either side of him in a flanking position.
Beside him, Sakura drew her sword, and Kakashi did the same, glad that their undercover identities allowed them to still use the skills they'd practiced together. Both of them fell into fighting stances, and not a moment too soon as Shou pulled his mask over his face and gave the signal to attack.
In moments, Kakashi and Sakura were each beset by three ninja who drove them away from each other with a flurry of fists and kunai, separating them. Although this would prevent them from executing some of their two-man sword formations, Kakashi wasn't worried—not yet. After all, some of Sakura's most destructive abilities required space within which to work, and Kakashi should have no problem handling three ninja alone.
As the six masked ninja engaged Kakashi and Sakura, Kakashi noticed Shou staying back, his hands flying as they formed the signs for an unfamiliar jutsu—which made Kakashi regret that his contacts prevented him from using his Sharingan. Tendrils of smoke began to seep from Shou's form, filling the clearing and obstructing the actions of the ninja attacking Kakashi.
That changed things. If Kakashi couldn't see them, that meant he also couldn't see Sakura, and ran the risk of hurting her with any attack that he made.
Kakashi switched tactics and went on the defensive. Sheathing his sword, he drew a kunai from his thigh pouch instead, knowing that the shorter reach of the weapon would make it less likely that he would accidentally cut Sakura. When a ninja leapt from the smoke to attack him, he countered with a slash across the man's chest. The enemy nin immediately hissed and withdrew into the smoke again, only to be replaced by another nin in a black mask.
Before Kakashi could react, the limp body of another ninja came flying through the smoke and hit the new contender, sending them both crashing back into the smoke and out of sight. Kakashi held back a smile, knowing that kind of strength could only be from Sakura. When she appeared out of the smoke and took up a defensive stance beside him, he actually did let his smile show as he said, "You know, that could've hit me."
"Aww, don't pout just because you missed me," she teased. He would've told himself that she was just being flirtatious to play into their roles as lovers, but there was a very real sparkle in her eyes as she glanced at him that told him that the flirtation was no act. Either she was a much better actor than Kakashi had given her credit for, or she was actually enjoying herself.
They were both forced to return to business as another two nin emerged from the smoke, all slashing kunai and flying shuriken. All of their ANBU training came into play as they fought together, guarding each other even as they fought off the rogue shinobi. Kakashi would feint at one nin, sending him dodging into Sakura's reach so that she could punch him into oblivion. She returned the favor by kicking another nin in Kakashi's direction, who got the same slashing treatment that he'd given the last one who'd come within reach. The masked shinobi were good, but they were no match for a trained pair of ANBU operatives—something that gave Kakashi a small rush of pride.
He didn't let himself feel it for long. Kakashi was confident that he and Sakura could handle these ninja, even if they were stronger than their intel had suggested. However, Shou was likely to be a different story, and Kakashi was still waiting for him to reappear. As if that thought had summoned him, Shou appeared from the smoke like a specter, a kunai gripped in each hand. He was masked, as the others were, but Kakashi recognized his wavy hair and his brusque voice as he spoke.
"I think I'll take it from here, boys," Shou said to his men, and the other remaining ninja faded back into the smoke with practiced ease. Before Kakashi or Sakura could react, Shou threw both of the kunai he held—at Sakura.
Kakashi could have blamed his reaction on a lot of things—protecting his subordinate, showing off his skill to an enemy, even underlining their roles as lovers. But the truth was that he didn't think at all as he reacted, his arm curling around Sakura's waist and tugging her flush against him as he put himself between her and Shou, skillfully deflecting first one, and then the next projectile with the kunai he held in his hand.
"You know, it never pays to risk yourself for a woman," Shou said thoughtfully after a brief moment of silence, pushing his black mask up to the top of his head and, surprisingly, signaling an end to the fight. Perhaps he thought he'd seen enough.
"Maybe you just haven't met the right woman," Kakashi countered in the deceptively pleasant voice he had developed for Sukea. He still held Sakura against his side, and he could feel her surprise in the stiffness of her body, but then she melted against him, laying a hand on his chest. He was still trying to make sense of the possessive reaction he'd just had—maybe playing this role was going to be less difficult than he'd thought. He barely even registered when Sakura began to heal a small cut on his arm.
Shou's eyes lit up as he watched what Sakura was doing, his tense fighting stance relaxing into a more normal posture. "So, you really are a medic—and you can fight like that. Impressive."
Kakashi finally relaxed his hold on Sakura, though she didn't remove her glowing hand from his arm. Raising an eyebrow, he asked, "Does this mean our little audition is over?"
"Maybe," Shou said, smiling slightly. "Or maybe I'll just take her and cut you loose." His eyes shifted downwards as he let his gaze travel lingeringly over Sakura's body, barely covered by the skimpy outfit Jiraiya had chosen.
It was clear that Shou was trying to get a rise out of one or both of them. Still, it took all of Kakashi's training to keep his body from betraying the renewed rush of possessiveness that he felt. What was wrong with him? Luckily, he didn't have to respond.
Sakura, having fixed the cut on his arm, turned and fixed Shou with a sharp glare as she said, "Our village tried to separate us, too. It didn't turn out well for them."
At least one of them was staying focused on their story. Gritting his teeth, Kakashi pushed aside the unasked-for feelings that Sakura brought out of him and said, "We're a package deal."
"Pity." Shou gave a dramatic sigh, and then he shrugged and continued, "I guess I'll have to take both of you, then. I suppose that's not a bad thing, since you both just made my men look like rookies." Smiling again, he formed a sign and the smoke around them began to diminish, revealing the other shinobi who all definitely looked worse for wear. Shou made a wide, dramatic gesture and said, "Welcome to Kemuri. Come on, I'll show you to the hideout."
As he turned and began to walk in the other direction, Kakashi and Sakura exchanged a look. He might've imagined it, but he thought her hand lingered on his arm before she finally pulled away and they both followed Shou into the forest.
Sakura fell into a pensive silence as she, Kakashi, and the six masked ninja followed Shou into the forest. That fight hadn't gone as expected—for one thing, it was way too short, and Shou had barely participated. That left Sakura uneasy. And then there was Kakashi—even knowing that acting as lovers was part of their mission, Sakura couldn't help but assign meaning to the way that he'd pulled her closer when Shou had been looking at her like she was his next meal. Being that close to him had been exhilarating, and she felt stupid for wondering if he'd felt the same.
Sakura felt Kakashi turn to look at her from where he walked beside her. Maybe some of how she was feeling was painted on her face, because Kakashi took her hand in his and squeezed it lightly. When Sakura turned her face to look at him, he gave her a surprisingly big smile that was definitely more Sukea than Kakashi, who she was sure had never smiled that widely in his life. When she didn't immediately smile back, he lifted her hand and placed a light kiss on her knuckles.
Sakura had to keep herself from gaping at him. Apparently, Sukea was a flirt.
Biting her lip to smother a silly grin, Sakura looked forward—anything to avoid those teasing grey eyes that made her stomach do flips—and instead caught Shou's eyes as he looked behind him.
"Come on, lovebirds," he said. "We're here."
Shou led them into a clearing amongst the trees that was filled with a large, wooden building. There were small, high windows dotted along the length of it, and a roughly hewn door in the center. As Shou opened the door, he said, "Welcome to Kemuri headquarters," and reached in, throwing on a light.
As they all filed inside, Sakura looked around. The room they stood in was a large one—by the looks of it, a general common area, filled with tables and chairs that appeared to be made of the same rough wood as the walls. On the left side of the room was an open kitchen. The right and back walls were both filled with a series of doors.
"This is where we eat and have meetings," Shou said brusquely. "Bedrooms are on the right wall. The back wall has got the bathrooms and showers on the right, and some storerooms for weapons. Kitchen is to the left."
The rest of the masked ninja moved away from them, some toward what Sakura assumed were the doors to their rooms on the right wall, and some toward a door in the rear that one of them opened with a key. Shou, meanwhile, led Kakashi and Sakura toward the first door on the right. "I'm afraid we only have one room left." Opening the door, he gestured for them to walk inside.
Sakura walked in behind Kakashi, looking around the small room. The far wall had a high window that showed only the blackness of night outside. Everything else in the room was made of the same wood that the tables in the common room had been made of—a small desk, a chest of drawers, and a small nightstand beside a double bed that barely looked big enough for two people. The only thing that even hinted at an attempt at making things homier was a threadbare red rug on the floor.
Walking over to the nightstand, Shou turned on the lamp that stood atop it. Looking at the bed, he smirked and said, "I guess you'll have to snuggle. I'm assuming that won't be a problem for you." Turning back toward him, he once more let his gaze linger on Sakura, and she scowled.
Sakura turned her body into Kakashi's, pressing herself against him. Taking her hint, he lifted his hand and placed it on her mesh-covered side. Leaning into him, Sakura fixed Shou with a glare and said, "That's never a problem for us."
Shou's smirk only widened, but he left the challenge unanswered as he continued. "You missed dinner, so you'll have to fend for yourselves."
"We're not hungry," Kakashi answered for them both. When Shou didn't respond, he asked, "Do you need anything else from us tonight? We'd like to get... settled." His hand moved in a slow stroke up Sakura's side.
"I don't blame you," Shou muttered with a last look at Sakura as he moved back toward the door. Over his shoulder, he said, "Breakfast will be at 7:00. I run a tight ship around here. Don't be late."
That said, Shou turned and exited the room, closing the door behind him.
The second he was gone, Kakashi's hands immediately relocated to her shoulders, pushing her back slightly so that there was some distance between them. Once she was no longer pressed against him, Kakashi dropped his hands from her and moved into the room, turning his back to her as he idly held up a hand and made a sign. It was the ANBU sign for 'silence', followed by a series of signs that told her he wanted to look for listening devices. Silent and businesslike, he began to run his hands over the windowsill at the back of the room.
Sakura watched him, her mouth falling open. He'd told her that he intended to remain professional when they were alone, but she hadn't expected this—for him to be able to just change his demeanor like that, as easily as flipping a switch. Was it really that easy for him to go from acting like her lover to acting like her captain? It wasn't easy for her. She still felt warm from his body against hers, still couldn't get the slight masculine scent of him out of her nose. The fact that he was so much better at being professional than her rankled her.
Stiffening her back—and closing her mouth—Sakura said nothing as she began to search the opposite side of the room for bugs. She had to stop being an idiot. She was on a mission that could turn deadly at a moment's notice, and she couldn't get distracted because she was too busy thinking about how her partner smelled. She had to keep her head.
She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't even hear him approach until he spoke from behind her. "Nothing on my side."
Finishing her inspection of a particular crevice between the boards in the wall, Sakura turned and said, "My side's clean, too." Raising her eyes to his, she searched them for any sign that he felt even a hint of the turmoil within her.
But Kakashi's eyes were unemotional as he said, "Good. Tell me what you observed."
Sakura fought the urge to sigh. Captain Hardass was certainly back. Taking a breath to compose herself, she thought for a moment before she spoke. "They're not the ragtag bunch of thieves that Lord Jiraiya described. For one thing, they were able to disguise their chakra signatures. They're not as good as us, I don't think, but definitely better than expected."
Kakashi nodded, his eyes keen as he watched her. "What else?"
"All Shou did was throw a couple of kunai at us," she said quickly. "So, that means..." She trailed off, not sure of how to word the unease she was feeling.
"It means that either he had really seen enough of our skill, and decided we were good enough—or it means that he's intentionally hiding his own skill from us to maintain the upper hand," Kakashi finished for her.
"He's an idiot if he thinks he's seen everything we have to offer," Sakura said darkly.
"He's not an idiot," Kakashi replied, thoughtful. "If he's intentionally hiding his talents from us, he's smart to maintain an edge. He could also simply be hiding the fact that he's not as strong as us. Either way, it's a good move on his part. Just in case we should happen to be plants from an enemy village," he added pointedly.
"Right," Sakura answered, and this time she did sigh. "We're just going to have to be careful."
Kakashi hummed his assent and turned, walking over to the desk and pulling the storing scroll out of his thigh pouch. "I'm going to draft a message for Uhei to bring to Genma and Tenzo tomorrow. You should try to get some sleep. You can take the bed," he added, not bothering to look at her as he sat down in the wooden chair.
Sakura frowned. She could take the bed—that meant he was planning to sleep on the floor. Hoping to tempt him with duty, she said, "What if one of them comes in unexpectedly? They'll think it's strange we're not sharing the bed."
"We can just say it was a lover's quarrel," he responded distractedly, releasing the storing seal on the scroll only to produce several more scrolls, one of which no doubt held the materials he needed to write a letter.
Sakura fought the immature urge to make a face at his back. Was he really so stubborn as to sleep on the floor just to maintain distance from her? "Suit yourself," she said, unable to keep a slightly waspish tone from creeping into her voice.
Stealing a last glance at Kakashi to make sure he wasn't looking, Sakura turned back to the bed, kicking off her tall sandals before she stripped down to just her short black shorts and the soft cloth bindings that comfortably covered her breasts. Once she'd gotten the thin metallic mesh armor shirt off, she put the softer cropped shirt back on again. Folding both the mesh, as well as the short skirt that she'd worn over her shorts, she placed them on the lower level of the nightstand before climbing into the bed and pulling the covers to her chin. Turning so that her back was to him, she squeezed her eyes shut, determined to fall asleep and stop thinking about the mission—or Kakashi.
That last part was difficult. Not only was Kakashi never far from her thoughts now, but thinking about him was preferable to entertaining her darker thoughts about possibly seeing Sasuke. Just the thought of Sasuke was enough to sour her entire mood; it was much easier to think of Kakashi, and everything that had happened that day.
Her mind was especially eager to remind her of the way 'Sukea' had touched her—familiarly, like she belonged to him. Like he was her lover. It drove her crazy to know that he was sitting only a few feet from her, completely professional and absorbed with the mission, when she was lying in agony wondering if he felt the same way she did.
The more she thought about it, the more disgruntled she became. She rolled to her other side in bed, but that only meant she was looking at him, so with a scowl, she turned over again. By the time she heard Kakashi stand and move away from the desk to turn off the lamp, the bed's sheets were tangled around her and she was no closer to going to sleep. However, just as the room had been plunged into darkness and she heard Kakashi settling down on the floor, something occurred to her, and she bolted upright in bed.
"You haven't let me finish healing you!" she blurted.
"What?" Kakashi asked, sounding surprised, and then quickly followed it with a blunt, "I don't need healing. I'm fine."
"Don't tell me that little cut that I healed earlier was the only scratch you got. Even you're not that good," she retorted, already disentangling herself from the bedclothes and reaching over to turn the light back on. "Get over here."
With a long-suffering sigh, Kakashi pulled himself off the floor and approached her. After a quick glance in her direction, he averted his eyes, no doubt because she wasn't wearing much, and she scoffed at his discretion. She was still wearing a shirt and shorts, after all, even if both of them were fairly small. When he got a foot away from her and stopped, she reached out and took his wrist, tugging him a little closer and said, "I'm not going to bite you." Probably, she added silently in her head.
She watched his jaw flex in irritation before he gritted out, "Just hurry up. We both need to sleep."
Guessing from his tone that he wasn't in the mood for a full examination, Sakura instead let her chakra bleed into him from the place that she was holding his wrist. She knew none of his wounds could be that bad if he wasn't showing any outward signs of them, so a simple wash of her chakra through his system should be enough to take care of any small cuts or bruises he'd received. She worked in silence, with Kakashi still refusing to look at her and staring at the wall like it was the only thing he had his mind focused on. It probably was, the jerk.
After a few long minutes, she finished, releasing his arm. "I'm done," she told him, scowling at his back as he turned away from her, going back to his place on the floor.
"Turn out the light," was all he said as he resumed his position on the floor.
Resisting the urge to use some of ANBU's more indecent sign language to tell him what she thought of his attitude, she turned off the light and got back into bed. He didn't have to treat her like a leper. Did being around her really make him that uncomfortable? Was it really that easy for him to treat her like nothing more than a fussy subordinate?
Her mental questions went unanswered as the room lapsed into pregnant silence. Remembering that it had been a while since she'd worked on her attempt to achieve Tsunade's seal on her own, she closed her eyes and tried to meditate, but the effort was futile. She lay in bed, wide awake and completely unmeditative, silently cursing Kakashi for the sleep she assumed he was already enjoying.
She was wrong. From his place on the floor, he quietly spoke. "You're very conscientious of your teammates' health."
Sakura frowned, opening her eyes, but didn't move from where she lay. "I'm a medic. It's literally my job to heal you."
There was another pause, and then he continued. "It's more than that."
Now, she lifted her head slightly, looking over her shoulder toward him in the darkness. "What do you mean?"
This time he didn't answer. She didn't know if it was because he thought the answer was obvious, or because he didn't have one. Maybe he didn't even know what he meant.
Turning her face forward again, Sakura rested her head on the pillow. She could've let the conversation end there, but something inside her spurred her to continue. "I've lost teammates before," she admitted quietly. He'd probably received a file on her when she'd joined the team, but they'd never discussed her past.
There was another one of those long pauses that made her think that he wasn't going to respond, and then a quiet sigh as he replied, "I've lost teammates, too." There was a beat, and then in a softer voice, he added, "It's hard."
There was a nearly painful squeeze in her chest as Sakura listened to the tone of defeat in his voice. But there was a part of her—a selfish part of her, maybe—that gladdened at him opening up to her, even just this little bit. Without being prompted, he had given her a small piece of himself. She wasn't so blind as to miss it.
Turning again, she sat up in the bed, looking toward him, even though she wasn't sure if he could see her in the dark. In a firm voice, she said, "That's not going to happen with me on your team."
The words hung in the air between them for a moment. "Good night, Sakura," he said simply, but his voice sounded a little lighter.
It was a dismissal, she knew, but for some reason, it didn't bother her. Lying back again, she stared up at the ceiling, feeling a warmth that she hadn't felt before.
"Good night, Kakashi."