I know this took so long I am so sorry (': but hey, I DID IT.

I only hope it meets the expectations. I have been trying to write this chapter since so long ago! But for some reason it was being really hard for me, and I ended up writing so many words I can't even believe it.

I am actually nervous because of that, because I don't know if I condensed way too much information in a single chapter. I hope it's not overcharged.

I also apologize for the grammatical errors, as usual. I have been struggling with english latelyyy.

And by the way, I forgot to mention it, but DJCyros' review reminded me that I have to state that. This chapter does make reference to eating disorders, so I guess it should be a warning (: (and yeah, Ino struggled with that!)

Also. This chapter contains spanking. I am really sorry I forgot to mention that before!

Naruto refused to leave his side after the small incident. Kakashi tried nudging him in his teammates' direction, but Naruto only wormed his way back into his embrace. He clearly didn't deserve to be coddled, at least not yet, but Kakashi wasn't feeling courageous enough to face the big sad baby blue eyes he knew he would obtain if he pushed his genin away; so he only sighed heavily and indulged in Naruto's leech tendencies while he clumsily struggled to sign the report Kotetsu was handing him.

"I'm really sorry about this, Kotetsu," Kakashi said, though Kotetsu didn't seem to mind at all. He was still smiling. Apparently, to see genin getting into trouble was very entertaining when said genin didn't belong to you. "I'll also make Naruto and Sasuke very sorry before the day ends. I can guarantee that."

Naruto made a disgruntled sound and burrowed his face even deeper into Kakashi's side, nose tickling his sensei's ribs. Like an angry cat. That sort of behavior was very normal in him when he was feeling upset. Kakashi couldn't help wondering if it had anything to do with the fox inside him.

That didn't explain why Sasuke tended to act like that too, though.

"It's fine, really," Kotetsu said, placing one hand on top of Naruto's head. He seemed to have the intention of ruffling his hair, but then he cleverly withdrew his hand and chuckled nervously when a soft growl rumbled low in Naruto's throat. "I mean, after all, the market shouldn't have been left unsupervised for this long."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at that, while he ran one his hands through Naruto's hair to try and stop him from snapping his teeth at the next person that tried to approach him.

"It's true there's no way we could have known the responsible for today's patrol wasn't here." Kotetsu threw a glance over his shoulder, right at where Shikamaru was standing, and the boy looked slightly nervous all of sudden. "But we should have at least checked. It was Shikamaru's first mission, after all. We are always supposed to check on the youngest ones."

"Ah, Shikamaru-kun was supposed to be here then?" Kakashi sighed, trying not to let his annoyance show. He knew it wasn't fair for him to be angry at Asuma's boy, because Naruto and Sasuke weren't angels and he was well aware of that; but he couldn't help it. "How unfortunate. He's one of the few persons I know that can manage to convince these two of staying out of trouble. Most of the time."

"He's a natural leader, after all," Kurenai intervened. "It's a shame he isn't making good use of his talents only because he likes to ignore his alarm clock."

A small snicker could be heard from the Inuzuka boy she was firmly grasping by the shoulders, but an ear tug made him go silent immediately. Kakashi wished he could have that same effect on his students so easily.

Shikamaru, too smart as to try and talk back to an adult, only looked down and pressed his lips tightly together. It was a good attempt at trying to look deeply ashamed, Kakashi had to admit; but he could still tell that it wasn't entirely sincere. The boy was clearly unhappy at his friends' idiotic antics. He probably thought it was unfair he was being scolded for something that clearly wasn't his fault.

And that irritation would have been understandable coming from another genin, but not from a chunin. Pointing fingers at lower ranks wasn't acceptable. Shikamaru had to learn that.

"It won't happen again," Shikamaru mumbled, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"No, I'm sure it won't," Kurenai said. "Because Asuma asked me to tell you that he expects you to meet him in training ground seventeen as soon as you are done here."

The five different expressions that went through Shikamaru's face in less than a second made Kakashi realize that yes, genin in trouble were indeed an adorable and amusing sight for the eyes of those who didn't have to deal with their discipline. He had to suppress a chuckle when the boy finally dropped his face in his hands and let out a frustrated groan.

"I really fucked up this time, didn't I?" He grumbled, rubbing his eyes. "He's going to murder me. It won't happen again because I will be dead."

"What happens in training ground seventeen?" Kiba asked, and then he whined as Kurenai pinched his arm reprovingly.

"None of your business," Kurenai said. "You should be worrying about your own near future. I am taking you straight to your mother after this, young man."

Kiba paled at that.

When the spluttering and begging not to let Tsume Inuzuka know started, Kakashi switched his attention back to his three unusually quiet genin.

Naruto was still too busy hiding his face from the world and silently trying to regain his dignity, while Sakura refused to meet anyone's eyes and was glaring stubbornly at the completely innocent and half-burned tree at their right instead. Sasuke's attention was focused on his female teammate, and Kakashi knew him too well not to notice the concern he was trying to conceal behind his furrowed brow.

"Who did this to you?" Sasuke hissed, very low, almost in Sakura's ear; but Kakashi still managed to hear it. It wasn't the first time the boy had formulated that same question in the last five minutes, judging by his slightly jutted out lower lip.

Ah, his little avenger.

If only he could be that cute most of the time and to most people.

"It's nothing," Sakura mumbled, and Sasuke's scowl deepened.

"Very well, kids, it's time to go," Kakashi informed. The three of them were already in enough trouble as it was, so he didn't want to give the slightest chance for Sakura and Sasuke to start a fight. "You are sleeping at my place tonight as well."

The plan already was for them to stay with him for a week starting from the next day, after all. It was the normal thing to do when they had training week scheduled. Kakashi just wasn't expecting to have to sacrifice his first day off in months so he could have them over one day before. Much less to discipline them.

He practically had to pry Naruto away from him, and even after that his genin's fingers were still clinging to his vest like vicious little claws. Kakashi had to work each of them gently to get the boy to finally release him without much of a fuss. He then patted Naruto's head as a small reward for not biting him, ignoring his grumbles, and nudged him more firmly than before to join his teammates.

"Don't be so sullen, Naruto-kun," Guy said, trying to be helpful. "If it makes you feel better, I would have given Lee that very same treatment if he had dared to talk back to me like that."

"Guy-sensei!" Lee whined. "I would ne—"

As to prove his point, Guy took that chance to give Lee one swat that had the boy jolting in his place. Kakashi felt guilty, because he knew Guy too well enough as not to be aware that he'd very probably just done that out of compromise. So Naruto wouldn't be that resentful about it.

It had been more for show than anything, aimed at resulting loud instead of stinging, but it still had Guy sobbing just as much as Lee did in return. He didn't even manage to keep his face straight for more than ten seconds before he dropped to his knees once more to squeeze his student tightly against himself.

The only thing that kept Kakashi from groaning and reproaching Guy was hearing the small chuckle that escaped from Naruto's lips. When he looked down, and he caught a glimpse of a sunshiny smile fighting its way to his student's lips, he decided that maybe it hadn't been that awful.

Naruto's mouth turned down as soon as the he noticed he was being observed, but Kakashi didn't let that discourage him. It would probably take a lot of cuddling to get Naruto's usual self back, but it wasn't impossible. He had done it before. It wasn't a big deal.

Well, maybe it was going to be a big deal.

Kakashi was used to his genin being noisy. He knew how to deal with their yelling and bickering and complaining, and by that point he even knew how to react when fists and hair pulling got involved. When that happened, it was even easier for him to take them over his knee, because there existed no clearest signal than that to indicate they were in desperate need to be taught a lesson. There was no time for doubting himself when they were behaving like little demons.

But when they wouldn't meet his eyes and let alone produce the smallest sound, like that day, it was just hard to find the courage to even start the lecture.

He took his time contemplating his students, hands on his hips, trying not to let them notice how unnerving he found their silence. They were huddled together on his couch, close enough so their shoulders and knees bumped, but they weren't looking or speaking at each other. Instead they were staring at the wooden ruler that awaited on the coffee table in front of them, their eyes full of apprehension.

Kakashi didn't blame them. Until then they had never been submitted to the bite of anything but his hand, so it made sense they were being wary of something new. He knew from experience how scary it could be to try and imagine how much worse a ruler could be than a bare hand.

"Don't worry," Kakashi said, sighing. "If you behave, each of you will only be getting five with the ruler. I would prefer not to use it at all, of course, but this has just been enough. I don't know what else can I do to make you understand."

That caught the boys' attention. Naruto and Sasuke glanced sideways at Sakura for a few seconds, eyes widened in surprise; but Sakura didn't even raise his head. They eventually fixed their eyes to the floor again, though hesitance was still evident in their faces. Sakura never got the same treatment as them. She was the best-behaved genin in the team. It made sense that they wouldn't believe they had heard right.

"Very well," Kakashi said, while he walked around the short table and carefully lowered himself down on it. It wasn't the most comfortable seat, given his height, but that way he could be almost at his students' eye level. "Is any of you feeling like saying what you did wrong? That would make things much easier."

He waited for a few minutes while he looked expectantly at the little demons sulking in front of him, but as none of them deigned to do as little as blink at him, he just let out another heavy sigh and rubbed his temples.

"Let's get over with this, then," He said, tugging at his glove until it slipped off his right hand. "Sakura. Come here."

Now, that did draw a reaction out from the boys. They both raised their heads so fast they could have given themselves whiplash, with twin expressions of incredulity. Eyebrows furrowed; mouth slightly open. They weren't only surprised. It was almost like they were outraged.

"Kakashi-sensei, you can't be—"

"What are you trying to imply, Kaka—"

"Sakura-chan can't go first! She never goes first!"

"—whatever she did, it surely couldn't have been that bad."

"That's enough, you two," Kakashi intervened, warning implicit in his low voice.

The boys went silent and gaped as Sakura stood up and took a few steps forward, not even stopping to use her sad eyes on their sensei like she usually did. Kakashi took her gently by the wrist when she reached his side, and Sakura turned her head away, still refusing to meet his eye.

"You will be finding out soon enough what your teammate did," Kakashi said. "She will be telling you herself, don't worry. And you will understand why she is going first."

Naruto and Sasuke gave him a glare that, had it been directed at anyone else, would have warmed Kakashi's heart. They were very protective of Sakura; he had always known that. It made him proud to see how upset they could get when someone tried to mess with her. It was adorable, most of the time.

But not that day in particular, when they didn't even know the details of what had happened that morning between Sakura and Ino. Defending a teammate from anything was only acceptable when the enemy was involved. Not when they were being reprimanded by their sensei.

Kakashi guided Sakura to stand between his legs, not missing the slight trembles that ran down her small frame. He rubbed her back in a poor attempt to soothe her, but after a few seconds he realized how stupid and useless that was and decided for just bending her over his knee at once.

"You will get in more trouble if I catch you biting on your busted lip," Kakashi said, calmly, while he rested his left hand on Sakura's back to keep her in place. Tiny or not, Sakura could be just as strong as her teammates when she was angry. Kakashi'd already witnessed that many times before. He wasn't willing to get a bloodied lip himself. "I am warning you."

Sakura hadn't been particularly cooperative while he stitched the wound, so it had taken ages more than it should have. He would murder her if he had to repeat all that hard work only because she was suddenly aspiring to become as unruly as Naruto and Sasuke.

"The sooner you start explaining what got you here in this position, Sakura, the sooner we will be moving onto the next step," Kakashi said and then, only because this was Sakura and not the other two little shits he was used to deal with, he conceded her a few seconds of advantage to start talking.

But a whole minute went by, and no word was spoken.

"I don't know what has gotten into you, Sakura," Kakashi sighed, raising his hand high in the air. "But you're not helping yourself. At all."

And then, before he could chicken out, he brought his hand down in the first slap. So hard his own hand stung.

It was normal for Sakura to start crying even before Kakashi pulled her over his lap. Usually it didn't take more than ten or fifteen swats to have her melt down into a teary mess and the sorriest little genin around. That was why Kakashi hated disciplining her the most, and why he always found an excuse to exempt her from a spanking whenever it was possible.

But that day…

That day, Kakashi was already on the tenth slap, and he was still not receiving any sort of response from Sakura.

He was starting to get nervous.

Even Naruto and Sasuke were wincing and trembling in their places with as much rage as their tiny bodies could contain, hands balled into tight fists on their laps; but Sakura hadn't produced a single sound or shed any tears so far. Hadn't she been occasionally stomping her feet and digging her nails into her sensei's leg through the thick fabric of his uniform, Kakashi would have thought she wasn't feeling it at all.

But she was.

She was only refusing to let it show.

Kakashi was going to spank Naruto and Sasuke into oblivion for teaching her that.

"I have the whole afternoon, Sakura," Kakashi said, giving her another smack that had Naruto gasping and stomping his foot against the wooden floor as if it had been delivered to him. "You're making your teammates feel upset. Don't you see? Stop. Being. So. Stubborn."

The last four smacks had her finally jolting, and Kakashi let himself take a small break, hoping to hear the first apology. But it never came.

It didn't make sense.

He was using the same harshness he usually reserved for the boys when they had been really, really bad, but it was almost like it was making no difference for Sakura. It was starting to drive him crazy.

"What did you do, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, his voice barely audible and heavy with frustration. "Just tell him. It can't possibly be that bad, you know. I will still like you, no matter what it is, I promise you. You always still like us after we do something dumb."

Kakashi felt something tighten in his chest.

His ridiculously cute fox kit.

"She got into a fight with one of her comrades," Kakashi said, giving up his hopes to hear that explanation coming from Sakura's mouth. "And she said something very, very unacceptable to her."

Remembering that made him bring his hand down once again, this time successfully drawing a whine out of Sakura. The girl tried, for the first time, to wiggle out of his grip; but a second smack made her go immediately still. Kakashi felt a few tears wet his uniform and had to suppress a sigh of relief.

"This is something I shouldn't be telling you," Kakashi started, allowing himself to rest his uncomfortably warm hand on Sakura's lower back for a few seconds. "And now I realize I definitely shouldn't have told Sakura about it either, but now it's too late to regret that. This my fault in part too."

He heard a small sob, and it took all of his will not to let Sakura up in that moment so he could sit her on his lap and comfort her.

"One of yo— One of Asuma's— Ino," Kakashi took in a deep breath. They would find out even if they didn't tell them. He had no doubt. "Ino had some problems with her nutrition some months ago. You probably noticed her performance notably declined."

He shifted his attention to his other two genin for a few seconds and noticed the sparkle of recognition in Sasuke's sharp eyes. Kakashi did remember having to tend to a similar problem, though less serious, when Itachi Uchiha was put under his command. Naruto still looked confused, but his pout made it evident that he understood there had to be something hiding deeper behind that explanation. Something more serious.

"Asuma was so worried. Her parents were so worried," Kakashi continued. "You know how important it is for us to be well fed. To be the right weight. The slightest nutrimental deficiency can mean death in a mission. It's something delicate."

He retired his hand, and he felt Sakura tensing up in anticipation.

"That's why I told Sakura, because I know she could offer the support her friend needed," Kakashi said. "And she did. And the problem got solved, after a lot of effort from all sides. But then—"

He had to take in a deep breath to refrain himself from delivering another swat at that same very moment because he was just suddenly feeling so furious again he knew he could hurt Sakura, and he wouldn't forgive himself for that.

"Even after Asuma had to work so hard, after all the bad moments he and Ino went through, after all the courage it took for both to confront the situation—" Kakashi felt like he couldn't breathe only by imagining any of his students going through that hell. "Your teammate just came and disregarded all of that hard work by going forward and making an uncalled comment on Ino's weight, all because of a childish fight."

This time, he did bring his hand down, and he did it five times in succession. Surprisingly, and unnervingly, that didn't make Sakura cry yet. It didn't even make her sob again. And Kakashi's anger slowly started to pile up.

"Why did you did it, Sakura?"

Another swat.

No response.

"Kakashi—"

Sasuke's small thread of voice was lost in the sound of yet another one.

"Kaka—"

Again.

"Kakashi-sensei!"

Naruto's yell was the only thing that made Kakashi react. He looked up to be met with jet black, furious eyes, barely a few centimeters away from his. His and Sasuke's noses where almost touching. He hadn't even realized when the boy had gotten so close.

"That's enough, Kakashi."

Kakashi didn't even realize he was helping Sakura up on her feet until he noticed how much his own hands were trembling while he did so. He didn't even get a glimpse of her face before he had a handful of a Uchiha boy struggling to lay across his lap, his pointy elbows digging into his thighs while he did so.

He contemplated in awe as Sasuke undid his shorts and tugged them down to his thighs.

"Sasuke," He mumbled, and suppressed a cough when the boy accidentally elbowed him in the stomach. "You get to keep those on."

"What kind of teacher even are you?" Sasuke growled, looking back at him with accusing eyes. "Sakura is only wearing a dress and undershorts. This is only fair."

Kakashi wished he could find the strength to give Sasuke his first smack in that same moment. But his heart was still beating too fast. His face felt too warm. His hands were even sweating a little. Anger still ran through his veins but was considerably overshadowed by his growing concern. Why was Sakura acting like that?

"What are you waiting for, jerk?"

Sasuke was provoking him.

He was trying to dissuade Kakashi's attention from his teammate.

He was trying to make him forget that Sakura's lecture wasn't finished yet.

Kakashi looked up once again to see Naruto hugging Sakura tight against him, his own eyes shiny with tears of powerlessness. He was too sensitive to other's pain. But he also understood that what Sakura had done was wrong. That was why he wasn't giving Kakashi murderous eyes, but it was evident that it hurt him to accept that.

Sakura was hiding her face against Naruto's shoulder. Kakashi hadn't seen her eyes in all that time, now that he thought about it. He suddenly felt the urge to, to take her chin in his hand, to ask her directly what was wrong.

Maybe he should just go ask Guy what he was supposed to—

A sharp pain in his left hand had him letting out a hiss. And then, when he tried to shake it, the pain only got worse.

He looked down, and his head cleared again.

Sasuke had bitten him.

He regained his focus.

Okay.

He needed to do something about his two boys.

Punishing Sasuke was so, so much easier. Almost refreshing. It helped Kakashi get his feet back on the ground and remember that he was the adult there, and that therefore he was the one who needed to put order. And that meant making sure Sasuke understood his little acts of bravery wouldn't be tolerated when they involved teeth.

"I don't ever, Sasuke, and I mean ever—" Kakashi mumbled between his teeth, while he pushed Sasuke further down and delivered some well-deserved smacks to his undercurve. "—want to see you— or even hear that you bit someone. We're educated human beings. That's why we have words, and why we use them when we are upset. You need to start dialoguing more instead of first recurring to your instincts. And that applies to everything."

Sasuke wasn't making any sound either, but he mostly never did. That was normal in him. It didn't worry Kakashi as much as Sakura's silence had.

And Sasuke did fuss and kick his feet as much as Kakashi's hold would allow him. He would also wriggle whenever he received a particularly stinging smack, and that at least helped Kakashi understand how effective the punishment was being and determine how he should proceed next.

"Friendly spars should not involve a fire big enough to set in flames almost a whole market," Kakashi continued, giving Sasuke's thighs enough attention to turn them a soft shade of pink. "—sorry. Friendly spars should never take place in market, or any place with as much as one civilian in it, to begin with."

Continuing the lecture was also easy. It was almost the same as always. Don't put yourself and the ones around you in unnecessary danger, Sasuke and You need to start acting your age, Sasuke with a little bit of next time I find out you terrorized a whole village again I am taking you over my lap right in front of the civilians, Sasuke.

The problem with Sasuke wasn't that he wasn't mentally capable of learning a lesson.

The problem was that he always learned not to do a specific thing, and never adjusted said lesson to a brand-new situation. He would very likely never again set in fire a market again. He would however very likely still set in fire a restaurant at some hour in which no civilians were around. And not because he was stupid, but because he was a brat.

"And stop giving all the adults an attitude. You're unconsciously encouraging the other genin to imitate you," Kakashi said, giving Sasuke a last smack that made him jump. "Understood?"

He didn't wait for an answer. He knew he wouldn't get one. Instead, he silently took the ruler that was still patiently waiting to be used, making sure Sasuke didn't notice, and waited until a few minutes passed by and Sasuke finally relaxed on his lap again.

"This time I'm giving you a small encouragement not to forget this as easily as you always do, Sasuke," Kakashi announced. "So you can think very carefully next time you're tempted to take a rash decision."

Before Sasuke could say anything in return, he brought the ruler down. Three times. In a blink. Distributing very carefully each smack to cover all of Sasuke's rear.

And that had the boy gasping, whining and yelping respectively. Kakashi then put the ruler down once more and gently guided Sasuke to sit again, rubbing his back comfortingly and shushing him with a few whispers. The boy was glaring at him, obviously trying to pretend he wasn't in need for his coddling, but the few tears on his cheeks said otherwise.

"I still need to deal with your teammates," Kakashi said. "But after that we can all have dinner and call it an early night. Go sit. I will give you something for the soreness later, but for now it will do you good to feel the sting for a while."

Sasuke was still stubbornly trying to burn holes into his eyes, so Kakashi made him get up and gave him one last swat to send him his way.

He realized that, in contrast to Sasuke, dealing with Naruto wouldn't be as easy as always that time. Probably because instead of giving his sensei an attitude and being unwisely aggressive, he only stood in front of Kakashi and stared at him with his big, big blue eyes. Tears already gathered in them. Lower lip stuck out into a pout.

"There's no way out of this, Naruto," Kakashi reminded him, gently, while tried to take him by the wrist. Naruto swatted his hand away, so he felt forced to use a sterner tone of voice. "Naruto."

The boy cursed softly for himself and, imitating his teammate's actions, shimmied his pants down. Only that he stopped at the middle of his butt. Kakashi raised an eyebrow and, as soon as Naruto had positioned himself on his lap, he tugged the boy's pants lower down until his frog-printed underwear was fully displayed.

"Wasn't today's public humiliation enough for you, sensei?" Naruto whined, already wriggling. "That's so mean, you know!"

Kakashi gave him one slap, not too hard, only to remind him that he wasn't in the position to protest. Naruto growled and hid his face against the fabric of Kakashi's trousers, muttering many other things unintelligible things.

"No one told you that you had to take your pants down, Naruto," Kakashi said. "But if you decided to do it, anyway, then at least do it all the way. It's not my fault you decided to wear your most striking underwear instead of simple black boxers, like Sasuke."

"But— but I like 'ese, you know" Naruto muttered, voice muffled by Kakashi's uniform, fists closing loosely around handfuls of fabric. Kakashi ran his hand through his hair once, reassuringly.

"I am sure your teammates understand. Don't be embarrassed."

"Like hell this bastard could—" Naruto interrupted himself with a screech when Kakashi gave him another slap, this time a little bit harsher.

"Language," He chided. Naruto only whimpered in return.

Kakashi brought his hand down a few more times until he fell into a steady rhythm, and then he started adding the swats a little more of height. Just enough to have Naruto also kicking his feet and whining loudly, and then some more to show Naruto that thrashing around wouldn't bring him anything good.

If he had to be honest, he was started to get a bit tired.

Disciplining genin could look easy enough for any regular adult, but they weren't normal children. They were trained. They had muscle and enough strength to take down a civilian adult by themselves. Their kicking wasn't as inoffensive as one would think.

Restraining them was hard and even slightly painful, when one was forced to do so for several minutes. And Kakashi had been doing so for the past half hour. His shoulders and legs were killing him.

"I am sorry I couldn't contain myself back there in the market, Naruto," Kakashi said. "But what you said was so wrong," He punctuated the word with a particularly stinging swat, that he knew was effective because of how much his own hand smarted after it. "We are supposed to protect civilians. Their safety comes first."

Naruto's struggling against his hold started to get weaker and weaker as the boy pressed his face against his leg more firmly after each swat. That was how Kakashi could tell that he the lesson was starting to drown on him. He and Sasuke were so easy to read. He wished it was the same way with Sakura.

"If you really want to be a Hokage, you need to learn that keeping all the villagers away from any harm is the number one priority for shinobi," Kakashi continued, and Naruto's weak protests turned into quiet sobs. His tears soaked the side of his pants, just as Sasuke's and Sakura's had, and Kakashi wondered idly how much liquid that fabric could withstand.

"Friendly spars are under no circumstance acceptable when they compromise the wellbeing of so many people that have no way of defending themselves if something goes wrong."

The rest of lecture was surprisingly short, considering he was dealing with Naruto, but the boy started crying so soon that Kakashi just couldn't bring himself to keep going. Making Naruto feel guilty was ridiculously easy, after all, especially when one reprimanded him on matters that had to be with becoming a Hokage; and Naruto was always so open about his emotions that it hurt to see how much realizing his mistakes actually hurt him.

He also gave him three smacks with the ruler, because that was what he had given Sasuke and therefore it was what was fair, but after that he kept Naruto on his lap for longer. Mainly because the boy was already the teary mess Kakashi was expecting Sakura to turn into after her punishment.

"I also need you to stop being such a brat in front of the other jōnin, okay?" Kakashi whispered against Naruto's forehead, while the boy clung to him so close it hurt a little. He was still sniffling and rubbing his face against Kakashi's best, trying to get rid of the tears, and Kakashi couldn't bring himself to care about all the snot he was probably smearing there. "It wasn't fine for me to react the way I did. But that behavior wasn't fine from you either."

Kakashi felt the small blond head nod against under his chin, and finally allowed himself to relax a little.

Only to remember then that he wasn't finished yet.

It took several minutes of thinking. Enough so Naruto almost fell asleep on Kakashi's lap and Kakashi almost stopped feeling his right leg, where most of his little student's weight was settled. But then he came up with an idea, which was his last hope to find out what was happening to Sakura. Disciplining her, for some reason, wasn't seeming to work.

So, he targeted the problem in another way.

And it had Sakura bawling and begging for forgiveness in seconds.

"I will tell, sensei," Sakura sobbed, stumbling and almost falling over while she hurriedly attempted to get to him from the couch. "I am sorry, I will tell. It was wrong, I know. I deserve to be punished more. Just please don't do anything to Sasuke-kun and Naruto. It's not their fault."

Naruto, still blinking sluggishly and too grumpy to understand what was happening, swatted at Kakashi's hand just like he had done a moment ago. Kakashi, too shocked that his plan had actually worked, allowed his genin to hit him as many times as it took for him to drop the ruler again.

Sasuke, draped again across his lap once more, looked up at him with eyes so shiny Kakashi just couldn't understand how he had been containing those many tears in them for so long. Shifting him to sit on his lap, after the another mere two smacks he had received with the ruler, was enough to make all of them roll down his face at once.

Kakashi was a monster.

A clever monster, he concluded as Sakura clumsily slumped against him, hiccupping so much he couldn't understand what she was trying to say.

"—I-I just— please don't punish Sasuke-kun anymore, just continue with me," Sakura begged, tears leaving a big wet spot on Kakashi's uniform. Well. He would have to take a shower after that. All of them would.

Sasuke, even though evidently in the desperate need to be pampered at that very instant, still was sensible enough to get up and drag Naruto back to the couch so the cute idiot wouldn't fall asleep again while standing up. And Kakashi took that chance to get Sakura to sit on his lap then.

He caressed her hair and wait for a few minutes until she could breathe a little better, but she wouldn't stop apologizing for a single second, so Kakashi eventually had to shush her softly.

"I won't punish you more," He said, and that made Sakura cry harder. "I just want you to tell me why you weren't saying anything, Sakura. You wanted to have a severe punishment, didn't you? That's why you were acting so weird. So out of place. So not you."

But she still loved Naruto and Sasuke too much as to let them pay for her mistakes.

That was why she had gone crazy the moment Kakashi had announced he would go on disciplining her teammates until she decided to talk.

"That's not okay, Sakura. I am so sorry I didn't realize that before," Kakashi said, caressing her hair. "I should have. I was so blind. I thought you were trying genuinely to be difficult, not that you were feeling so guilty you were purposely trying to get a harsher punishment."

"But I hurt her, sensei," Sakura sobbed. "I hurt Ino-pig and I love her so much and I am the worst best friend to ever exist in the history of best friends and— and—"

"And you can apologize to her later," Kakashi whispered reassuringly, giving her back some pats that made her cough. He didn't want her to choke on her own tears. "Now, I need you to tell me, Sakura. What did she tell you before you said that?"

He knew his Sakura too well.

And Asuma had told him enough about Ino for him to know that the girl had probably told Sakura something just as mean. Sakura wasn't dumb. Only something truly serious could have prompted her to say something so irrational, so instinctual.

He waited patiently, giving Sakura her time to calm down.

It wasn't until several minutes later, when Naruto's soft snores had resumed, that she finally answered.

"She— she said…" Sakura babbled. "She said that you wouldn't train me personally because I'm just not good enough for that."

Kakashi's heart dropped.

"Wait— what—" Kakashi mumbled, incoherently, eye wide open and jaw ajar behind his mask. "She said— what?"

And you believed her? He wanted to ask, but he didn't even had the courage for that. If he had actually talked to Sakura about something Asuma had told him about Ino, wasn't there a high chance that Sakura would at least imagine that it was likely Ino had found out about something Kakashi had told Asuma?

He felt nauseous suddenly.

He also felt like crying himself.

Would Guy give him a lesson if he asked nicely?

"Oh, Sakura," Kakashi let his forehead rest on his genin's shoulder, overcome with the feeling of being the biggest asshole in the history of teachers. "I am so, so, so sorry. And I am also murdering that little mindreader. No, wait. I am telling Asuma. He will surely find this very, very interesting."

"It's okay, sensei," Sakura sniffled. "I know she was lying. But— but I do know that I am not as strong as Naruto and Sasuke. But I am working on it. So I am not wor— worrie—"

But her resuming crying told another story. She was indeed worried. Kakashi fully believed that she knew Ino was lying, because he knew how smart Sakura was, but he also knew that it made sense training was such a delicate matter for her when he had been spending so much time with the boys in personal trainings lately.

Well.

Mostly with Sasuke.

But Naruto also had Jiraiya.

Kakashi sighed and hugged Sakura closer to him, letting his chin rest on top of her head.

"Listen," He said, while he traced small figures on her back with the tip of his fingers. "I am really sorry I haven't been paying you enough attention. This is entirely my fault, because I— well, you're smart, Sakura. And well-behaved. And so full of promises."

Kakashi looked at his other two hellions, one fast asleep, the other rapidly dozing off. It made sense. They had both sparred that morning.

"And these two steps out of line so often," He said. "They need much more discipline than you do. And I just— I don't know what exactly to give each of you. But that's entirely me. My fault. I am so sorry if I ever made you feel insecure of your ability. You're so promising."

Sakura gave him a shy smile through the tears, and Kakashi felt warmth in his chest.

"Let's get these two into bed, yes?" Kakashi said, nodding at Naruto and Sasuke. "And then you can take a shower, if you feel like it, and then join them. I will give us tomorrow free. I think we all need it."

Sakura nodded, and he felt like he could breath for the first time in the last three hours.

He was only a tiny bit afraid of the amount of coddling he knew he would have to deliver the next day.

I am so so so worried this wasn't the proper conclusion to what I had written before. I hope it does justice.

You know that feeling when the first chapters just like, flow so easily and so eloquently and you re-read them and you love them?

Well, this one didn't flow so easily and eloquently, but I truly hope I will be satisfied when I go back and re-read it again. I'm crossing my fingers.

I might write a fourth chapter. Can you imagine about what? (: