The Hospital Visit

A/N: I just want to say thank you. Thank you to all of those who have subscribed to, upvoted, commented on, and read the story. I really didn’t expect this story to get so much attention, so thank you. I am very humbled.

Please enjoy this new chapter and don’t forget to leave a comment. My little muse feeds off of all the comments you guys give me. They are what keep me writing!

Chapter 3 - The Hospital Visit

Kakashi landed softly on the green roof of Konoha’s hospital. Once his two feet were firmly planted on the green tiles, he felt the familiar feeling of dread wash over him. Kakashi hated—no not hated—despised the hospital. Now that he was standing right on top of the building did he suddenly realize what he was doing.

“I’m going to sneak into the hospital just so I can check on my student,” he muttered to himself, softly shaking his head. Had he gone crazy? Why was he putting so much effort into this?

“And what for?” he muttered once more, wondering if he was finally becoming psychotic.

He ran a hand through his wild, tangled hair, his fingers snagging on a few strands. “Alright, time to head back.”

Just as Kakashi was about to lean forward and prepare to leap on over to the neighboring building’s roof, the window right below him slid open. Out popped the Hokage’s assistant, Shizune. Kakashi inhaled a sharp breath through his nose and froze. His arms hung stiffly over the edge of the roof. Slowly, carefully, and quietly, Kakashi drew back. At a safe distance away from the ledge, he waited on the rooftop as silent and unmoving as a cardboard cut-out. There, he waited for Shizune to move away from the window. He waited for the window to close. He waited.

“Kakashi?”

Shit.

Kakashi drew out the breath he was holding in and crawled begrudgingly back over to the ledge. Dropping forward and hooking his toes onto the roof, he greeted the Hokage’s assistant upside down. He ignored how awkwardly his toes were hanging on the crumbling roof above him as he mumbled his signature “Yo.” Kakashi waved, smiling with his exposed eye crinkling cordially.

“Kakashi,” Shizune hissed unbelievingly, “what are you doing here? In. The. Hospital. Are you confused or something? Did something happen?”

“Mah, Shizune-san. Why are you always assuming the worst? There’s nothing wrong, really.”

Shizune narrowed her eyes. “Then why are you here? Don’t tell me. You...you’re here to—”

“Shizune-san,” Kakashi cut in,“I’m just here to see Sakura.”

“Oh. Sakura, huh?” Shizune smirked, a knowing glint appeared in her eyes. “Oh, why, of course. It’s always Sakura isn’t it?”

Kakashi peered at her quizically, and cleared his throat with an uncomfortable cough. “Uh, so can I see her?”

Shizune frowned. “No. No you cannot. Because, as of right now, Sakura is missing. And God knows where she is! Her shift started over two hours ago, and she still hasn’t shown up. And now, the hospital is a mess, all the work’s been dumped on me, and Tsunade is furious. I’m about to go crazy, okay?” Shizune ended with an angry huff.

“Hm, is that so?” A beat of silence passed. Kakashi gave another awkward cough. He spoke again, with his voice as (seemingly) stoic as ever, “So...where could she be?”

Shizune growled. “Like I would know. Actually...knowing her, she’s probably back at her apartment sleeping and still hungover from drinking too much last night. She’s always drinking. Drinking like a damn alcoholic! Just like Tsunade! Like we need two of her! God damnit. She does this every time. Oh how do you even deal with her, Kakashi?”

Shizune glanced up only to find the silver haired ninja had disappeared.

“Kakashi?” she called out again.

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Kakashi furrowed his brows in annoyance. The wind whipped against his skin as he lept from one rooftop to another. He was going back home. What a waste of time, he thought miserably.

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Beep. Beep. Beep.

The alarm clock! Sakura sprang up from her bed. Strands of her hair were stuck to her cheeks, and dried drool flaked at the sides of her mouth. A bitter taste was on her tongue, and her head felt as if it were splitting. She felt terrible. She felt disgusting. And she felt terribly, disgustingly gross. Sakura groaned loudly in frustration and croaked out, “Water...I need some water.” She slowly pulled herself up, still feeling horribly disoriented as she stumbled across her room. She may have tripped once or twice, including the time when she had fallen face flat over her ninja sandals, but she still managed to make it to her bathroom in a relatively uninjured state. Glancing at her reflection in the mirror, she shuddered. She immediately ducked down to avoid the image and turned on the faucet, splashing the refreshingly cool water on her face and taking a small sip of some. Turning away from the mirror, she slowly and groggily stripped herself of her day-old clothes and climbed into the shower.

Ten minutes later, after the nice, comforting warm shower, Sakura felt more alive and more human than she did just ten minutes ago. She sighed contentedly as she sank into her dining chair. Munching on her piece of toast, she glanced curiously at her clock. It was this late already? She clearly remembered setting her alarm to seven in the morning. Had she set it to one by mistake? Sakura furrowed her brows. Wait...what day was it again? The piece of toast fell from her mouth as soon as she remembered. Her eyes bulged out as she sprang up from the kitchen table, knocking her chair over in the process.

“Crap, Tsunade is going to kill me.”

Within second, Sakura was out the door and sprinting through the village streets.

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What Kakashi didn’t know was, as he was up on the rooftops leaping from one building to another, trying to get away from the hospital as fast as possible, right below him was the pink haired medic racing madly through the bustling village, trying to get to the hospital as fast as possible.

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After checking in at the hospital and making sure that the chaos had died down, Sakura figured it would have been about the right time to go visit her, the female incarnation of Satan. At the Hokage tower, Sakura was now climbing up the stairs to the Hokage’s office as humanly slow as possible. Just a few more steps, and she would be there. Just a few more steps and—

“Haruno Sakura!” The piercing scream resonated throughout the entire eastern wing. Sakura jumped, whimpering just slightly. Hesitantly, she turned around, inch by inch, only to come face-to-face with...Shizune? Sakura slumped back against the wall and breathed a sigh of relief.

“Oh, Shizune. Thank god.”

The dark haired girl snapped, “Oh, don’t look so relieved right now. Just letting you know, Tsunade is pissed. She is ready to kill someone, okay?”

Sakura sighed. “I know...I figured.”

Softening her expression to one of worry, Shizune then asked the younger girl in a much nicer tone, “So where were you, Sakura? Did...something happen?”

Sakura shook her head shamefully. “No...I-I was drinking a bit too much last night and had a pretty nasty hangover. That’s....that’s all.”

Shizune sharpened her tone once again. “Oh, of course.” Sakura winced at the glare that Shizune gave her. After a moment of silent reprimanding, Shizune gave a sigh of defeat and waved her hand as if she were shooing Sakura away. “Hurry up and go see Tsunade already. I gave her a few cups of her favorite peach sake, so she’s a lot calmer now. But remember, no matter what, do not yell back at her. Got it? Even if she starts throwing stuff at you.”

Sakura nodded. “Got it...and thank you, Shizune.”

The assistant gave Sakura a smile, a genuine smile. Sakura, catching it, returned one and spun back around, continuing her march to hell, but before Sakura was able to make it around the corner, Shizune stopped her once again. “Hold it, Sakura. Wait a second.” Sakura turned around and gulped uncomfortably. Shizune was giving her a really, really odd look.

“W-what is it, Shizune?”

“Just about half an hour ago, Kakashi came to the hospital.”

Sakura’s eyes widened. “Really?”

Shizune nodded. “Yeah...to see you.”

“Me? Why?”

Shizune grinned. “Oh, I don’t know...why don’t you try and guess?”

Sakura knit her brows in impatience. She clearly didn’t understand what Shizune was trying to get at. “Well, whatever the reason it probably wasn’t important anyway.”

“Hm, okay. Whatever you say, Sakura.”

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Out of all the powerful and intimidating ninja in Konoha, Tsunade was probably the only one who could pull off a death glare while still be in a drunken stupor. Even Uchiha Sasuke wouldn’t be able to pull off his signature glare in such a drunken state. With cheeks flushing hotly red and eyes dangerously dark, Tsunade barked out loud and clear to her trembling apprentice, “You little twit.” Her brows were kneaded together and her fists were clenched tight. She was the epitome of an angry kunoichi, but within exactly ten seconds, the furrow in between her brows melted away, the unclenched hands were reaching down excitedly for something, and the blonde was giving Sakura a bright, cheery smile. “You twit, come ‘ere.  Come, come. Have a drink with me.” Tsunade gave an uncharacteristic giggle as she pulled out a small sake bottle from under her desk.

Sakura gasped, “So y-you aren’t going to talk about—Oi, shishou! If Shizune finds out that you’ve been hiding alcohol under your desk, you know she’s going to murder you!”

Tsunade’s cheery expression immediately fell back down to a frown. “Quiet, you twit. Just come and have a cup with me.”

“Uh, shishou. I think I’ve already had enough to drink.” She covered her mouth with a hand as she felt another wave of sickness wash over her. “But thank you, shishou.”

Tsunade turned away indifferently. “Eh, whatever. Just means more for me then!” Tsunade raised the bottle to her lips and took a generous sip. Pulling away, she smacked her lips, satisfied.

“So, uh, Tsunade-sama. I wanted to talk to you about something.”

Tsunade glanced up at Sakura curiously. Something in her eyes said she already knew what Sakura wanted to talk about, but Sakura disregarded it. She couldn’t possibly know. “Okay. What is it?” Tsunade answered as she placed her bottle back down on her desk, folded her hands atop her piles of paperwork, and stared up at her apprentice intently. When Sakura refused to speak up, Tsunade murmured once again, giving Sakura a prodding gaze, “Go on.”

“About that ‘special mission’ you gave me yesterday…”

Before Sakura could finish, Tsunade exploded with laughter. Calming back down and trying to stifle her laughter, she told her apprentince, waving her hand in an encouraging gesture, “Oh, please continue. Do continue. Please.”

Raising a confused brow, Sakura continued nervously, “I-I wanted to cancel? B-because it’s Kakashi-sensei, and it’s so awkward! And I wasn’t thinking right last night.  I was drunk for God’s sake. So━”

“What’s so awkward, Sakura? Tell me.”

Sakura fidgeted nervously. “Shishou…”

“Tell me, Sakura.”

“I-I don’t want to see my sensei naked! Gosh, what else could be so awkward?”

Tsunade cackled upon seeing her apprentice flush bright red. “Oh, you’re missing out, Sakura. Why wouldn’t you want to see him naked? You see, his pants may be a bit loose, but let me tell you, that man has one heck of a nice ass, and if you━”

“Shishou…please,” Sakura pleaded with her eyes closed. “‘I’d prefer not to think of such images of...of my sensei.”

“He’s not your sensei anymore, Sakura. You’re already twenty. You’ve moved on right?”

“Okay nevermind that, shishou. Just...just tell me why he’s a special case anyway!”

Tsunade paused. Just when she was finding some fun in playing around with her apprentice, Sakura just had to go and change to topic. She frowned, a bit upset. “Alright, alright. I’ll tell you. So, basically...some villagers were complaining. A lot of them, actually. Women were flocking the hospital almost every day, complaining about this and that.  We didn’t think much of it at first, but then we noticed a common link between all of the cases. It’s Hatake Kakashi. So, obviously, when something is related to one of our elite ninja, we have to do a bit of investigation. Usually I would have to deal with this by myself since I usually head the annual jounin medical check up, but, hey, I figured it’d be nice training for you.”

Tsunade gave Sakura a  (fake) pleasant smile.

“So just go interview all of the women first. Here are their profiles.” Tsunade pulled a folder from out of nowhere and slammed it down onto the table. “Then, go give Kakashi his complete medical check up.” Tsunade smirked. “And that’s all you have to do.”

Sakura blanched. “H-how do you expect me to do this? Shishou...Tsunade-sama, please.”

Tsunade gave an exasperated sigh. “Jesus Chirst, grow up already, Sakura. You’re an adult now. No need to be so prissy over this. Other kunoichi have been forced to do worse things. At least I’m not giving you a seduction mission or anything. At least I still value you as a human being and not just some tool. At least you won’t be in any danger in this mission. I’m just asking you to do a bloody investigation, so what the hell are you complaining about!?” She slammed a fist onto the table, sending a flurry of papers into the air.

Sakura lowered her head and bit out bitterly, “Fine, Tsunade-sama. I’ll do it. I’m sorry for being so difficult. I’ll do everything at your command. Tsunade-sama.”

This time, Sakura did bow before leaving the door, and somehow, Tsunade still wasn’t too satisfied with her apprentice’s behavior.