Much to Sakura's frustration, walking with Kakashi calmed her down and washed away the anger that should have allowed her to speak up bluntly, to stand up and actually lecture him – her former teacher, the current Hokage. But by the time they arrived at his residence and he led her to some room, which looked as if it was meant to discuss important matters with important guests, by the time he took his seat opposite of her and looked at her expectantly, Sakura didn't know where or how to begin anymore. The opening-line she had thought up, minutes ago, seemed unfitting in the calm and orderly setting, but if she kept quiet much longer Sakura feared that Kakashi would simply send her away.
"I'm sick of", she began lamely. It really didn't work with the lacking level of irritation.
"I'm sick of you acting as if this", Sakura gestured helplessly in Kakashi's direction "was your problem alone. Because it's not. The moment you asked me to – you asked me to help, you made it my problem as well. And if things go wrong, it'll be everybody's problem."
She paused momentarily, looked at Kakashi, but if there was so much as a hint of any reaction in his face it was too thoroughly masked to be read.
"We're in this together. But I can't, I can't do this, if you don't let me in.. on things.
"You obviously don't get anywhere locking yourself in your study every night – do you really think I'm so useless that I can't help you, or are you just too damn proud to ask?"
Sakura heard Kakashi breathe in as if he wanted to say something, but she cut him off.
"And don't – don't tell me anything about, how you're trying to protect me. Because you can't. And I don't want – I don't need your protection. I'm not your student anymore. Either we see this through as a team, or you'll have to find someone else to be your ripcord!"

Kakashi sat and listened. He watched as Sakura – at some point – got up and started pacing around, filling the gaps in her speech with the sound of her footsteps. She let her hair grow, Kakashi thought, and wondered why he did notice this now of all times, and why it bothered him.
"I can't do this, if you don't let me in.."
Her hair was getting closer to its original length, giving her an unsettling resemblance to the annoyngly girlish teenager she had once been.
"– do you really think I'm so useless that I can't help you, or are you just too damn proud to ask?"
Her hair contradicted her behaviour, Kakashi satisfied himself. His resentment had nothing to do with his suspicion that Sakura's newly attained lenght in hair was somehow connected to her newly attained boyfriend.
"I'm not your student anymore", the words got entangled somewhere in strands of pink, where they struggled, like flies caught in a spiderweb – and like flies caught in a spiderweb they buzzed frantically, as they tried to get free and evaporate into thin air, as words should once they are spoken.
"So?", Sakura sat on the bench next to Kakashi. Far enough away for them not to touch, while still close enough to feel each other's presence. Not close enough for one to sense the other to tense or his breath to temporarily stop, Kakashi hoped.

By now Sakura's anger had not just calmed but cooled down. Kakashi did get her point she gathered from the way his gaze altered between his knees and her own pacing form. She had not even noticed getting up.
"So?", she asked as she slumped down on the bench next to Kakashi.
"You know, teamwork isn't just a tactic for the battlefield, right?"
Their eyes met, and Sakura couldn't help but smile at his sleep-deprived, untypically helpless expression. Without thinking about it she wrapped her arms around him, ignored his initial attempt to back away from her but instead pulled him closer, rested her forehead against his shoulder, her hands against his back, where they started to move on their own.
Eventally Kakashi placed his arms around her in turn, allowed his head to follow his nose which – quite despite his own rationalised will – had wanted nothing but to burry itself in Sakura's hair since the second she had sat down next to him.
Today, this Kakashi had already noticed when they were still in his office and keeping a safe distance, today Sakura did not smell of her boyfriend, today she smelled of nothing but herself. Which was much harder to ignore.
Kakashi had once considered to buy her some perfume, something to cover the powdery, sweet and salty scent of her sweat, that hint of vanilla, honey and soap, something that he could without any effort feel indifferent about, but not only was he sure that such a gift would give the very wrong impression, he also knew that Sakura was, apart from a short period of olfactory confusion during her early teenager years, not the kind of girl, of woman, to wear perfume.
He closed his eyes, felt her breath's warmth accumulate as it got caught in his shirt's fabric, felt his shoulders relax, and – if only for a few seconds – forgot that there was a world around them, forgot about his responsibilities, forgot about his mindworm or Sakura's boyfriend.
The moment of comfortable oblivion did not last long. It was ended by a flash of pain behind his left eye, which forced his grasp on Sakura to tighten.
"What's wrong?", Sakura leant back to look at Kakashi, who had already let go of her, and covered his covered up face with his hands.
"It's... happening, right?", Sakura bit her lip. Her eyes wandered to the door, behind which Bull, Urushi and Shiba were waiting, outside – to give the two humans some privacy.
Kakashi nodded, then he got up and shoved Sakura out of the room.
"I'm not leaving!", Sakura protested, when she was already with both feet in the hallway.
"Yes, you -", Kakashi's voice broke, as another headache washed over him, made him lose his feet and stumble right into Sakura, who somehow managed to keep them both from hitting the floor.
"Kakashi!", she tried to force him to look at her, but his visible eye was squeezed shut.
"Plea-se leave", he managed to say, between gasps of pain, "I can't – you –"
"I'm not leaving, Kakashi. Listen to me", Sakura kneeled infront of his slumped figure.
"Try to focus, please. Look at... no, focus on my voice, yes?"
"Go! Please", Kakashi whimpered. Sakura wasn't sure anymore if he was adressing her or the pain in his head. And then he was still.