Chapter Text
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Sakura didn't want to go back to Suna.
Don't get it wrong, it wasn't because she hated the citizens or the climate. In fact, she always looked at Suna being a break from the usual humid, tree-lined Konoha. She loved Suna. Usually.
She just had....different reasons this time. More pressing and daunting.
And it didn't help the fact that she was apparently being forced to travel to Suna with Shikamaru of all people. The one person who was far too close to comfort for the problem she had forced shut and vacuum sealed in the back of her mind, never EVER to be thought of again, if she had a choice.
So that's why, when she heard Kakashi, her jaw hit the floor.
"What?" eyes comically wide, she looked bewildered at Kakashi, who let out a barely audible sigh in response. She cursed their stupid ‘drink until we pass out’ nights with a burning fervor sometimes, honestly. Insufferable man. She noticed Shikamaru stand up from his seat too, looking accusingly at Kakashi.
"Why now? I thought that the trade deals went through without a hitch?” She mused out aloud, a single eyebrow quirking up. “So what happened in just a few months’ time?"
Kakashi's shoulder drooped ever so slightly and he greeted her question with a small smile and the crinkle of his eye, conveying both an apology and mild exasperation.
Shikamaru, who was now standing and quietly staring at the Hokage, had lept up from his comfortable seat as if it had burned him. Or not so comfortable. He had complained enough to Sakura about that poky little seat with hardly any backrest. “What do you mean the two of us will go to Suna? Isn’t this Naruto’s job?” Shikamaru asked.
“It would typically be yes. But he is somewhat….indisposed.”
“Indisposed?” Sakura said, a frown marring her forehead. He knew she was about to launch into one of her spiraling concerned medic talks.
“Kakashi, don’t beat around the bush. Is Naruto okay? Should I go visit him? Dammit! As my friend, he knows better than to avoid a medic if he is injured! So stupid, that idiotic reckless….Moron! Ugh. I’ll go right now, Sorry Kakashi, this has to wait, I-"
“Mah, Mah, Sakura-Chan!” Kakashi raised his hands in an attempt to placate the clearly aggrieved pinkette. “It’s nothing serious. Nothing is wrong with him in a life-threatening way. Relax.”
“Which implies that there is something wrong with him, nevertheless” Shikamaru pointed out, darkly.
Kakashi’s eyes shut in defeat. He did not want to have this conversation. Ever. With anyone. And definitely not sober. He smiled uncomfortably at the two glaring ninja’s before him
“Ah. You see. He, he had a change of heart.”
“Eh? What's that now? A change of heart, you say?” Sakura said with her arms crossed, a suspicious lilt in her tone.
Kakashi blanched ever so slightly. She could be threatening even without trying to, and right now, she was trying. Hard.
“Mah, You see, he received a letter last night, and it, well.” Kakashi shifted uncomfortably on his chair, itching under the heavy, white robes draped over him. Kami help him, he hated these stupid robes.
“Well what, S-e-n-s-e-i?”, He smiled a little, wistfully, thinking of the small girl who had grown to become such a strong kunoichi. Sakura looked at his smile and gave a growl that could rival the Inuzuka’s on a good day.
“Well, you see he had to leave the village in a hurry and will be gone for quite a while.”
“What?!” Sakura and Shikamaru exclaimed in tandem, both exasperated and agitated for
entirely different reasons.
“Troublesome little unpredictable ninja” Shikamaru muttered as he uncrossed his legs to lean against the cabinets in the corner.
Sakura huffed. “With all due respect, Hokage-sama, Naruto is supposed to stay here and train with you, isn’t he? So unless this is some new training that he conveniently forgot to mention to me when we were at Ichiraku’s for dinner last night, this is mission related.” When she didn’t receive a response in return, she prodded further. “Right?”
Shikamaru in the corner, a distance away from Sakura looked at Kakashi’s face. In a moment of crystal clear clarity, he came to realise what had passed. A letter. In the middle of the night. And the decision to not inform Sakura, Naruto's teammate, closest friend, and mother hen of the group, about the sudden departure from the village.
Shikamru squeezed his eyes shut and let out a quiet, weary sigh. Damn that Naruto, and damn that fucking Rinnegan owner. They always caused more trouble than was warranted.
Fuck. He was so tired. And his day had just begun.
Kakashi gave him a pleading look, conveyed so subtly that he would have missed it entirely if he hadn’t been studying his face with a grim determination. That was all the confirmation he needed. They were well and truly in the middle of shit.
Ah, fuck it.
“It's probably classified.” He muttered to a confused Sakura, who slowly turned to look at him.
He took this time to study her. She was someone who had become a close friend, an occasional shogi partner, and a regular dinner guest at the Nara compound due to all the medical texts she and his mother took great pleasure in discussing.
Although recently, that had stopped entirely. She was always either too busy, or too exhausted, or met his mother for lunch when he was not around. She was clearly avoiding him, and it had been bothering him. Even Ino had noticed that he was more irritable than usual.
Whether his irritation stemmed from the fact that he was missing her company or because he had not yet figured out why she was avoiding him was something he chose to never think about.
Astonished, she looked at him, as if just realizing he was in the room.
“ANBU?” she mumbled silently, and turned to face the Rokudaime.
“Not something I can confirm, unfortunately, Sakura-chan”
Kakashi’s smile was smothered faster than one can say ‘pakkun’ when one of the smartest ninja’s in the nation pointed out the glaringly obvious loophole.
“Ohhh!” Sakura exclaimed with vengeance dripping from her face.
That tone. That tone was never good news. Inwardly both Kakashi and Shikamaru cursed at their rookie mistake. Well, fuck. So much for avoiding complications.
“So Shikamaru!” He paled slightly.
“The esteemed advisor to the Rokudaime did not know of Naruto’s involvement in this ‘hush hush’ mission until two minutes ago? How very convenient.” The last line came out in the driest tone she could muster.
“Sakura.” Kakashi had let it go on too long. He had to put an end to it here or else he was just asking for a new headache. He already had piles of those laid out hastily on his table.
“If I could, I would avoid sending the two of you. But Naruto cannot be here, and no, don’t ask me where he is. Don’t ask Shikamaru either.”
Sakura positively glowered at the statement but kept shut. She would never put Kakashi in a position where she could take advantage of her friendship with him as the current Hokage. There were some lines you just never cross in friendships. Even though she and Kakashi had crossed several others. She respected him too much to cross this one.
“He’s safe, Sakura” He told her, gently, full of warmth and affection. “Don’t worry about him. You’ll be the first to know if anything happens to him.” Mollified by his caring tone, Sakura backed off, albeit slightly.
“Naruto is still learning the ropes. But you both are the sharpest minds of this generation. I need you to go to Suna and see this deal through. I don’t think I need to explain that friendship is one aspect, but business is, and will always be business. And while Suna didn’t take a massive hit, they are still recovering their funds. So go, put your minds together and figure this one out.” He glanced at both of them and let out a “Please”
“Hai Hokage-sama” let out Sakura, more softly than before. Shakiamaru noticed she looked resigned. Did she really not want to travel with him that much?
“If that’s all, then I need to leave. The hospital needs me.” Sakura turned towards the door.
“Sakura.” Shikamaru’s voice left his lips before he had the chance to curb it. Hastily,
thinking of something to do, he grabbed the mission scroll and threw it in her direction.
Years of training and honed reflexes allowed Sakura to grab the scroll mid-air. She paused and took the opportunity to look at him. A second passed, then two, she turned and walked away.
Kakashi, who was watching this exchange with curiosity, noticed how Shikamaru looked defeated upon Sakura’s exit.
“It’s not you.” He said, as he picked one of the folders lying on his table, flipping its pages mechanically, looking slightly exhausted. Shikamaru silently turned to look back at Kakashi, hands hidden in his pocket. The sunlight painted the sharp angles of his face harshly.
“Whatever do you mean?” He asked softly, but not without underlying curiosity. No one could say that the Nara was bored right now.
“It’s not you that she means to avoid. It’s well- something that’s none of our business, but if this is going to affect you this much, I think it’s wise to let you know.”
He looked up, any sign of exhaustion wiped clean off his face. Well, whatever Shikamaru could see of it with that damn mask covering half of his face.
“She is avoiding something else entirely, and you just happened to be linked to it. So don’t go around moping and taking this personally. It’s not.” Upon noting Shaikamru’s dry expression, he looked slightly at him exasperatedly. “Give her some time, Nara. She deals with her issues in strange ways.”
That caused him to chuckle. “Pot calling the kettle black,” Shikamaru muttered darkly, resuming his position on the Rokudaime’s left.
“Hmm, did you say something, Shikamaru-kun?” Kakashi muttered rather chirpily.
“Too troublesome. You and the entirety of team 7, entirely too troublesome.” Kakashi’s entire demeanor shifted and he smiled happily. Well. Shikamaru thought it was a smile. It could be him gagging underneath that mask and nobody would ever know.
Five minutes later, Shikamaru cursed out loud as he realized something.
“Fuck.”
“Ah. You just realized you gave away the only mission scroll to Sakura-chan just now, hmm?”
“Kami damn Team seven.”