A/N: This is my first KakaSaku piece. I hope you enjoy it, dear reader. Please bear with any mistakes, I was much too anxious to just post it.

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I recommend 1/2 page format.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Chapter One: Old Sensei

Sakura was by no means a fool, albeit a little too young and naive to understand in all entirety the social norms that came along with certain situations like that of which she currently found herself. It was as if she'd learned nothing in her twenty years of living. Thinking back on Saturday's goings-ons, she frowned to herself. It was so like her to almost singlehandedly ruin something that had so much potential.

That Saturday morning had started much like every other. Sakura made her way out into town at her own pace, at a reasonable time. Days like this were nice. Peace times in Konoha made time feel as if it were standing still; from morning to noon to sundown seemed like forever, but in the most pleasant of ways. And all was pleasant until her breakfast had been so kindly interrupted by three familiar young faces, a certain disappointment held in each one.

"Sakura-sensei," Kimiko whined, using a term of which Sakura had grown accustomed to after nearly a year of being the group's designated jounin. "You promised us this morning after skipping out on Wednesday, remember?"

Sakura did remember, but simply rolled her eyes with an amused smile, "I'm so terribly sorry that sometimes I have to tend to the sick and dying. Won't you ever forgive me?" she clasped her hands together as if to beg. Her underlings narrowed their eyes at her sarcasm.

"We want serious training," Akira asserted with a furrowed brow, arms crossed over his chest in displeasure.

"Tch," Sakura sounded, taking another mouthful of food, "I gave you serious work that day. You just chose not to do anything with it." She poked the unhappy boy smack in the middle of his forehead. He scowled, reminding her so much of a certain someone that it hurt to think about it. She quickly shook the thought from her mind and continued eating.

"But really," Kyoya spoke in as kind a tone as he always used, "you only gave us that card thing to find out our chakra natures, Sensei."

"Yeah," Kimiko followed, swiping her spiky blonde hair back, "and even if we did find out what our natures were, it's not like we could do anything about it."

Kyoya sighed, "I have to agree with her, Sensei."

Sakura narrowed her eyes at her students for a moment before letting out an even breath, slightly defeated, "Fine."

"Yes!" Kimiko and Kyoya chorused, though in different ways. Akira's face lit up in a mixture of surprise and contentedness, but he was quick to play it off.

"But only because Kyoya's my favorite and the three of you have it way too easy anyway," Sakura joked, wagging her chopsticks at them in a shooing motion. "Meet at training ground two in fifteen minutes. Now shoo!"

With that she motioned her troop away. Finishing the remains of her breakfast, she smirked a bit to herself. They wanted real training, and she would make them eat their words.

"Please, Sensei," Kimiko begged from her exhausted state on the ground, "my chakra's been exhausted."

"I think mine was nearly an hour ago," Kyoya said in an equally exhausted tone, though with an air of dignity left.

Sakura couldn't resist a crude smile as she was reminded of her genin days. Team Seven would complain out of eagerness just as young shinobi might, and Kakashi-sensei was always sure not to disappoint them with a backlash of aggressive training at the slightest hint of complaint. She had picked up the technique to quiet her students. Hell, they were lucky she hadn't been apart of Team Gai. This would've been about twice as grueling and about a thousand times more embarrassing.

As her other two munchkins droned about the ground, Sakura tended to the most stubborn of the three. Carefully examining the extent of his injury, she frowned at him. "Carelessness," she began, earnestly, "is not something you should make habit of. This is the second time this month you've managed to pop your shoulder out of place."

The dark haired boy simply scowled, wiping sweat off his tan face. He scowled at the pain as she examined his shoulder. "Whatever," he responded.

"Akira," she said more assertively, "I'm serio-"

Her lecturing was soon cut short by the raspy voice of none other than Uzumaki Naruto.

"Sakura-chan!"

She sighed at her friend, who had the worst timing. How was Akira ever going to respect her when this baka still called her 'Sakura-chan'?

"What is it, Naruto?" she groaned, letting her lazy, annoyed eyes fall on his smiling face, "now's not a good time to be dragging my team off for a game of tree tag." Although it was something she enjoyed thoroughly despite never admitting it.

"What's wrong with now?" the blonde boy inquired.

"I'm a little busy snapping shoulders back into place," she remarked with light connotation.

"Wait, what?" And as Akira managed these two words, she jolted the bone back into place with a thick, dull crack.

"Sakura!" Naruto exclaimed at her actions with a sudden look of horror on his face, but she didn't pay note of it.

Akira slumped over to the ground with a low groan.

"So," she said, lifting herself from the ground with a breath, "who wants ramen?"

As the years passed, Sakura realized more and more that some rituals deserved to be held dear- lunch at Ichiraku ramen was certainly one of those rituals. Not just for the much needed time with her favorite foxy friend, but as a means of connecting to the past. Ichiraku would forever be a staple of her youth, and a place she solely went with people she loved. While Naruto slurped away at seemingly endless noodles, Sakura sipped her tea, taking in a familiar scene with a content feeling in her being. She giggled to herself as Kimiko glared at the kyuubi container with contempt as she attempted to catch up to him in their one-sided ramen eating contest. And of course it was one-sided, the poor girl didn't stand a chance against the ramen-vacuum disguised as a nineteen year old boy. "Agh!" Kimiko groaned, broth sliding down her chin as she finally set the empty bowl down. Sakura appreciated her student's keenness for competition, but it was all for naught as Naruto called for fourths.

"So," Naruto said, turning to the pinkette, "you going tonight?"

Blinking a blind stare in his direction, she peeped, "What?"

"Ah, Sakura-chan," Naruto sighed at her, "you didn't forget, did you?"

Sakura quickly searched her mind for an out. It wasn't October yet, so it couldn't have been his birthday. It couldn't be the annual jounin social, that was in December. Perhaps there was a festival coming up that she didn't know about? At a loss, Sakura sighed in defeat, the truth was unavoidable. "I guess I did forget...?" She flashed him a falsely innocent, toothy smile.

"How could you forget Kaka-sensei's birthday?" Naruto whined, his chin wobbling in the slightest. She hadn't seen him this hurt since she forgot to water his plants when he was away on a mission a few months ago. How was she supposed to know that he loved his precious ficus plant more than life itself? He continued, "It isn't every day that a guy turns...well, however old he is now..."

Thirty-four, Sakura thought, remaining silent. In truth, the relationship between the grown kunoichi and her former sensei really hadn't been much of a relationship for awhile. Not to say that the two had ever been as close as the man was with his other two students. Even so, she could keep track of his age, and even his birthday. Really, she hadn't so much forgotten his birthday as much as she had simply lost track of time. In that aspect, it sometimes felt as if she'd lost track years ago.

"Oh," Sakura finally managed to say, feeling a bit guilty for disappointing her friend, "Whoops. Well, what's going on tonight?"

"Party at Genma's."

"Ehhh," Sakura sounded, "you know I've never been good at those sort of things."

The blonde boy groaned, "Don't be such a drag! We both know you wanna go, all you ever do is work and spend time with your brats." He gestured to the genin to her right, receiving two glares while Kyoya continued to eat his ramen contently.

"I do not!" Sakura retorted, crossing her arms childishly as she considered how right he was.

"Well..." a separate voice rang.

Sakura and Naruto turned their heads to the speaker. Kyoya straightened his glasses and looked back at them congenially before continuing. "You do seem to spend quite a lot of time working, Sensei," the young boy reasoned, "And although we, as your students, appreciate all of the time you dedicate to us, it does seem a bit unhealthy to have such little time for a social life. For example-"

"Okay, thank you, Kyoya," Sakura quickly interrupted the boy before he made yet another point, her eyes narrowed in realization of his words. She really was a bore.

"You know," Kimiko chimed in, "you really should go, Sakura-sensei. Greyhair-sensei seems to really enjoy you."

Sakura's cheeks tinged pink before she shook the sudden flattery from her mind, "As if."

"Yeah, Kimi-chan," Naruto agreed with Sakura, "Kakashi hardly enjoys anyone. Much less Sakura-chan." Before Sakura could muster up a snappy retort, Naruto followed, "So what do you say, Sakura-sensei?" He grinned at her goofily, yet with a foxy charm that had developed as he matured (sure to make a certain Hyuuga faint at the sight of it.)

Reluctantly, Sakura replied, "Fine."

"Yes!" Naruto and two happy genin chorused, Akira groaned at them all, his gaze not leaving the countertop.

"But," Sakura added, "only because Kyoya suggested it. And you all know he's my favorite."

Three tongues stuck out at her in response, with the exception of Kyoya. "That's just mean, Sakura-sensei."

Sakura stared blindly into the space in front of her as Ino chatted flirtatiously with a couple of men she recognized from the jounin break room. Tugging at the skirt of her dress, or better yet one of Ino's dresses, she sighed at her bare legs. The years since her promotion had been filled with elite uniform-clad Sakura, flak jacket and all. But now she found herself in casual wear, with bare legs and arms and...chest (what little chest she did have.) It felt nude to her.

Her eyes searched the room full of familiar faces, though none of which she had maintained close relations with; other than Naruto and Ino, of course. A number of unfamiliar faces also dotted the room. She hadn't anticipated that Kakashi had so many friends judging by his anti-social tendencies; i.e. sitting in trees, alone, reading softcore porn. Or maybe, it was hardcore, she had never read Icha Icha despite owning a copy that simply collected dust underneath her bed, where no one would ever find it.

Drifting from her spot at Ino's side, luckily unnoticed, Sakura set off in search of a stronger drink. The one Ino had given her was both obnoxiously fruity and severely lacking in the alcohol department. Genma's home was more complex than she had wished for at a moment like this; all she wanted was a respectable drink. Was that too much to ask for? Finally, Sakura found the kitchen after carefully navigating through the crowd of people. Digging through the liquor cabinet, she set her drink down on the counter and sighed. She would have to settle for the sketchy punch on the bar. As she reached for a cup to serve herself, she heard, "You don't want to drink that."

Sakura dropped her cup, startled by the sudden human contact that she had so tactfully avoided in order to eventually make her escape. She turned around, Hatake Kakashi peered up at her from a familiar copy of a certain orange book. Sakura felt a bit relieved that it was just him and not some other unwanted presence, but the jitteriness had yet to subside.

"How long have you been sitting there?" she asked, eyes narrowing in the slightest.

He shrugged and spoke in a calming tone, "Long enough." If there was anything Sakura missed about the grey haired nin, his vagueness was not it.

"Anyway," Sakura breathed, "what's wrong with the punch?"

"Everything, unless you like overwhelmingly cherry tinged booze that really doesn't do much other than give you a slight buzz," Kakashi replied in a bemused manner.

Sakura frowned at the punch and stepped away from it, defeated. "So much for that." She began to make her way out of the kitchen and back into the party when she heard.

"Sakura-chan."

Sakura turned back out of sheer curiosity and acknowledged the man with her gaze.

"I take it you're in search of some real alcohol," he said, a hint of humor in his sole, visible eye.

"Your assessment skills are as sharp as ever," she sighed in a pleased manner, shifting her weight onto the wall.

Kakashi hopped off of the counter and pocketed his beloved book, much to Sakura's surprise. His eyes gave her a once over before settling on her gaze, "Follow me."

The two entered a dark room that she could only assume was a study. Carefully, she followed close behind Kakashi as he approached a certain shelve of books. Considerately, he placed the books aside and removed what seemed to be a large bottle of alcohol. Sakura narrowed her eyes through the darkness to read the label. Her eyes widened in surprise as she saw the quality, brand name sake. Not only was it strong, but it was damn expensive. Or so she had been told by none other than Tsunade, the sake connoisseur.

"Are you sure Genma won't mind?" Sakura said to the tall, dark figure that was Kakashi.

He handed her a glass full, "He can consider it repayment for making me endure this awful excuse for a party."

So he didn't like these things either? It didn't surprise her at all.

Kakashi lifted his glass to her, "To solitude."

She smiled and touched her glass lightly to his.

The pair soon found themselves wandering the upper, less populated level of Genma's house. Kakashi took a less graceful swig of sake and passed it to Sakura.

"Ooo," Kakashi sounded, approaching a certain door, "this is where he keeps old mementos."

They entered the room. Normally, Sakura would've been more considerate of others' privacy, but she was a bit too drunk to care.

Plopping down on the sofa next to Kakashi, she peered over his shoulder as he gazed over what appeared to be a photo album. Sakura was pleased to see that the photo album was comprised of nearly all of the current jounin class in their youth. Shizune, apparently, hadn't changed a bit. While others, like Tenzou, hardly looked the same at all. A familiar masked face stared up at them, alongside a goofy looking Obito, lovely Rin, and the beautiful Yondaime in his prime. It was no wonder Naruto had grown into quite the looker. Still, her eyes fell steady over the young boy that now sat beside her as a man. The same nonchalant features, same mask, minus one eye. She smiled.

"You were adorable," she giggled, taking another sip of her strong, white beverage.

"Ah," he sighed, "we all were at some point, as well as being pretentious little bastards."

"I never was," Sakura retorted lightly.

His shoulder bobbed with a chuckle, "I'll let you think that, Miss Hokage's apprentice."

Sticking her tongue out childishly, she reclined on the couch. Comfortably, she rested her legs over his knees. Gazing over his relaxed features, she grew curious. A curious drunk was a dangerous thing.

"So," she began, "why aren't you down there enjoying your party?"

"Why?" he inquired, "Does my presence disturb you?" His voice dropped into a debonair tone she had never heard before, but she did well to contain her blush. Or she thought so.

"No," she quickly replied, "It's just that- I figured you'd want to spend time with your friends."

He chuckled, "I have too few social skills to have that many friends. People just like having a excuse to drown their daily stresses in alcohol and the opposite sex. Or the same sex, I've never been good at telling those sorts of things."

She could not agree more, to the first part, that is, "Yeah."

It grew silent between them and as his hand fell comfortably on her knee, she couldn't contain the growing curiosity within her.

"I guess what I meant is," she began, her eyes falling down on her folded hands which lay easily over her stomach, "why are you here with- with me?" Her jade eyes glanced up at him with wide intrigue.

"Huh," he let out an amused breath, Sakura could no longer contain her blush. "Perhaps it's because I enjoy your company." He said it with such ease, as if he hadn't just shattered a relationship that only a few seconds ago had been strictly platonic. Still, she considered the fact that she was misreading the situation entirely. Maybe he meant that he enjoyed her in a friendly way? There was only one way to find out, and had Sober Sakura been present, that one way would have been struck out of her mind with vehemence.

Pushing herself up, Sakura placed her chin on his strong, relaxed shoulder. And in one, bold, swift movement, she lowered his mask just enough to place a kiss on the apple of his cheek. He turned to meet her gaze, the familiar wrinkles of a smile on his mask. She could have sworn she saw a flush in his cheeks. "So prudent," she heard him say, but before she could decipher what this meant, he did something even bolder. As she blinked, he quickly pulled his mask beneath his chin and pressed his lips to hers. Although surprised, she reciprocated. His lips moved skillfully with hers, and suddenly she realized why he wore the mask: there had to be some sort of barrier between these sacred vessels and the undeserving outside world. Smooth, yet masculine. Soft, yet vigorous. A mix of alcohol and something else was bitter on her tongue, but in a way that she did not mind. It was purely drunken, but not too salivated; there really was nothing worse than a sloppy kisser. She was entirely entranced in this moment. Many things in her life were all too hopelessly complex to bother with an explanation. But this- this was as easy and as simple as breathing. And when he said to her, "Please do this for me," she did not hesitate in giving him what he wanted.