As they neared Konoha, Sakura and Kiba slowed down to a casual walking pace. When the village's gate was almost in sight Sakura stopped, forcing Kiba to do the same.
"I don't know if we should go all public about this", she said, while looking at their hands, which were still holding each other.
Kiba just grinned.
"Why not?", he said and added that the old ninja-conventions were outdated anyway.
Sakura shrugged, unsure what to tell him. However, she did not need to come up with an answer, for at that moment Kiba suddenly let go of her.
"What's wrong?", Sakura looked at him confused.
"N-nothing", he scratched the back of his head, then continued walking, hands stuffed in his pockets.
"Did I say something wrong?", Sakura hurried to follow him.
"No, it's not – it's just-", they came to an abrupt halt, as there was someone blocking their way.
To be more precise, there was a woman blocking their way, her arms folded, her slitted pupils fixed on the two young ninjas, her dog, one-eared and eyepatched, standing next to her.
Sakura had never actually met Inuzuka Tsume before, but it did not take a lot of deductive skills to recognise her as Kiba's mother.
"Are you trying to avoid me?", she said, sounding less intimidating than she looked. In fact she appeared to be fairly amused by the embarrassed expression that spread across her son's face.
Kiba shook his head and mumbled something along the lines of "Hi Mum", but Tsume had already turned her attention to Sakura.
"Sakura-san, right? It's nice to finally meet you in person."
"Likewise", Sakura nodded her head in return and smiled politely. She noticed Kiba next to her shifting his weight uncomfortably, his ears positively glowing.
"I'm sorry, but we have to get going", she added quickly "with our delayed return, we'd better report back to Kakashi-sensei right away."
"You really took your time with the sand", Tsume replied, then turned to her dog.
"C'mon, Kuromaru, we've still got some work to do", and the next second both of them vanished into the woods lining the street.

"What did she mean, meet me in person?", Sakura casually enquired, when they approached the Academy Building.
Kiba shrugged, his eyes still glued to his feet. Then he looked up, giving Sakura the widest smile.
"Well", he said, stretching the word unnecessarily, "You know, you're sort of a celebrity..."
"Hm", made Sakura, and smiled inwardly as Kiba's ears once again took on a more reddish colour. True, her name was well known after the war, although Sakura did not quite understand why, but she felt certain, that Kiba's mother had not been talking about her reputation as a medic.

As they entered the Hokage's office, they were met not by Kakashi, but by Hagane Kotetsu sitting behind the wide desk. Before he had the time to greet the two returnees, Sakura had asked, in a blunt manner, where Kakashi was. "Looking into something", Kotetsu replied, miming quotationmarks with his fingers. "I don't know, I just sit here, in case any important clients show up out of nowhere and need someone to talk to. And also", he added quickly, as Sakura was already about to turn and leave "to welcome anyone who reports back from their mission. So if you want to talk to me, please do so."
Sakura shook her head, and asked when Kakashi might be back. She got nothing but a shrug in reply, so she in turn shrugged, grapped Kiba by his sleeve and dragged him outside.