Sorry for a bit long pause with the updates but I had some important matters to solve in private life, then this war thing on Ukraine... and I just couldn't focus on anything. But now I'm right back with the updates! ❤

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When Sakura finished washing the dishes after the meal, including the ones Kakashi used to prepare the dish, she wiped her hands on the cloth hanging on the oven handle. She looked around one more time before moving towards the room where her companion had disappeared, and having nothing better to do, she decided to follow him.

In fact, she was curious what Kakashi did in his spare time when he was younger, because she knew all too well the current habits of her former teacher, who most of the time read romance novels written by this Pervy Sage, as Naruto liked to call him.

A smile involuntarily twitched on her lips as soon as she remembered her loved ones. Despite the fact that her sensei was too engrossed in books, sometimes completely oblivious to what was going on around him, and Naruto just had an annoying way of being, she missed them both. And she would do anything to immediately find herself in her times, but young Kakashi, despite his annoyingly silent lifestyle, was a mystery to her, and she wanted to know his secrets, see what he liked to do in his free time as a young boy. And make sure he was as brilliant as he was in the future.

Still smiling to her thoughts, she crossed the threshold, finding herself in a small room that most likely served as a bedroom for Kakashi, as there was a bed against one wall, and a huge wardrobe and a smaller chest of drawers on the opposite. There was a simple bedside lamp on the bedside table, and the only interior design was a framed photo of team Minato. And Sakura would have liked to take this opportunity to take a closer look at people she's just met, but something else caught her attention.

From this room it was possible to go to the next one, but Sakura noticed in time that the door was somehow strangely dark. Quite ominously dark ... At the mere sight of them a shiver ran down her spine, so she quickly looked away as a sudden movement in the corner of the room caught her attention.

She took a step further, but froze at the sight of it. As if that were not enough, a storm broke out outside and immediately it became eerie brightly in the room, and then darkness returned. While the silence was torn apart by the mighty thunder that swept over the house. Sakura uncertainly gasped as the weather completely unhinged her, as if Kakashi wasn't distracting her enough in his tank top and loose-fitting pants without bandages around his legs. His bare feet and bare shoulders and ungloved hands seemed extremely interesting to her, but that wasn't all. She even found herself biting her lower lip on the view of her thirteen-year-old teacher when she noticed the play of muscles under the skin on his arms and forearms. His face was obscured by hair, which had fallen because of the fact that he was most likely not wearing his forehead protector.

Sakura froze motionless. Moreover, she couldn't take her eyes off him. She had no idea why, but she couldn't bring herself to do anything else. She was left staring at him and hoping that he won't notice her.

He was very devoted to exercise. He was just doing push-ups on his right hand and keeping the other on his back, probably so that it wouldn't disturb him. His legs were spread a little wider to better catch balance.

Just a usual training, and her body reacted as if she had suddenly fallen into the male part of the hot springs. She didn't know what Kakashi had in him, but suddenly her legs trembled a moment before they refused to obey and the poor kunoichi fell to the floor, leaning against the wall.

The light thud that she made when her ass finally fell on the panels must have caught the interest of the training one, as he immediately froze in the starting position and looked up at her.

Panicked Sakura waved her hands right in front of her face as her cheeks flushed due to being caught red-handed.

Kakashi, on the other hand, merely raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"Sorry, I didn't want to disturb you," she muttered, because she felt embarrassed by the whole situation, and it didn't make it any easier that her face temporarily turned into a ripe beetroot. "I'm finished washing up," she added, as if she wanted to make a better excuse.

"Okay," he gasped, then changed hands and started another series of push-ups.

If Sakura thought that she would embarrass him or that he would suddenly become interested in the fact that his temporary ward had nothing interesting to do, then she was wrong. It seemed as if he didn't care that Sakura was watching him at all. It was evident that he didn't feel at all embarrassed or obliged to keep in touch with her.

Sakura, on the other hand, felt no need to train. Plus, she really was extremely weak today, and she had no idea what had a greater impact on it — time travel or Kakashi's technique.

Once again she found herself comparing sensei to his younger version and she could not believe that they were so different. She wondered if the adult Kakashi had trained that much as well, though given his profession, it couldn't be otherwise. After all, he was a shinobi, and shinobi must always be in shape. That's something he taught the three of them. Therefore, Sakura trained daily outside of hospital practices and missions. Suspending her training for the duration of the mission. In addition, Kakashi continued to gather her and Naruto for their team's training, though they couldn't be any more in tune than now.

Again, mentioning friends made a hole in her heart. She would like so much to know what was happening with them. Were they safe?

Sakura wrapped her arms around her curled legs, drifting away in thoughts.

"What are you thinking about?" Kakashi's voice snapped her out of her thoughts until she blinked in surprise before returning her gaze to him.

Kakashi-sensei had known her for years and was able to read her facial expressions perfectly, knowing when something was bothering her and when she was analyzing something for too long. However, she didn't expect that already at the age of thirteen he had acquired this ability. Involuntarily, the corners of her lips lifted a little.

"I'm ... just ... a little worried about my team," she explained, placing her chin in her lap.

Kakashi wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand, then returned his dark eyes to hers. "You were on the mission, right?"

She nodded in response.

"I'm sure they'll get along somehow without you. Rather, you should be worried about yourself, you're the one who stuck in the past, not them."

His words hurt her heart.

"I'm worried about you from the future, Kakashi."

These words made the boy froze for a moment, then kneel down and straighten up and give her a suspicious look, asking; "Why?"

This question was rather obvious, after all, young Kakashi had no idea what was combining the three of them together, and even less why they became so close, because in shinobi's life there was this stupid belief that a teacher is someone who leads his students to a certain moment of their lives, and then their paths diverge. And such people shouldn't become close to each other, and yet Kakashi-sensei was someone close. She could boldly call him her friend, as he was one of the links that bound Team Seven.

"Well ... I ... I don't want anything to happen to you," she explained, meeting with his surprised look.

Young Hatake let out a soft sigh of surprise.

"Why do you care so much about me? After all, I am only your commander."

Sakura was confused, she started wriggling her fingers, because his words seemed to have a second bottom. And blushes crept down her cheeks uninvited.

"You're not only my commander," she reasonably noted, and her heart squeezed as she suddenly realized the truth in those words. "You have always been more than just a teacher and commander to us. You are... our friend, Kakashi." Having said that, she beamed at him.

At the sight of her smile, Kakashi immediately looked away, feeling how it was influencing him too much. However, something was bothering him. The same feeling he had spoken before, namely the fact that he might be a good commander in the future, but a teacher ...?

"And you're sure that I was your first teacher outside the academy?" Kakashi looked lost.

"Well, yes," Sakura replied without hesitation, nodding her head vigorously.

Kakashi suddenly fell silent. It seemed that the situation with his future apprentice was slowly beginning to overwhelm him.

The pink-haired kunoichi noted the droplets of sweat that appeared on his exposed forehead and, for some reason, this sight seemed charming to her.

"Sakura ..." Kakashi began, but then he stopped.

In turn, the mentioned one noted with surprise that he was saying her name with an increasing amount of familiarity.

"Yes?" she asked, looking at him with her green eyes.

Kakashi seemed to hesitate, as if he wanted to say something else, but he couldn't quite express it in words. And then he just shook his head, got up, and looked down at her.

"I'll go take a bath first, to warm up the water faster for you. And you... well, make yourself at home," he said lightly, before disappearing back into the kitchen, from where he went to the bathroom, beside the couch standing alone against the wall, imitating the role of the living room.

As soon as Kakashi was out of sight, Sakura breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't know why, but the presence of the thirteen-year-old had a strange effect on her. Therefore, when she was left alone with her thoughts again, she felt as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

Her arms somehow relaxed themselves, and her legs fell to the cool panels. Sakura suddenly realized that she was left alone in the dark room while the storm raged outside. A shiver ran down her spine, and the ominously dark door that led to the secret room felt as if it creaked despite the fact that it was certainly locked. Though in the dim light of the bedside lamp, it seemed to her that they had opened a little.

Sakura immediately jumped to her feet and stormed into the kitchen, and there she ran to the bathroom door, where she fell to the floor, completely shaky. The hum of the water and the fact that she sensed Kakashi's presence on the other side of the door soothed her over-aroused senses. She tucked her legs up and hid her head, hugging her knees with her hands.

And it was in this position that Kakashi found her when he opened the door and almost kicked her while Sakura flew back, her back stopping on his legs in time.

"Sakura?" He was surprised.

She raised her head to look at him and froze.

They both stared at each other.

And it wouldn't be surprising, if not for the fact that Kakashi was only wearing a towel that was tied around his waist. A naked torso and damp hair, the unruly strands of which fell over his face, adding to the charm of his youthful face, made it even more complicated.

Well, at least she knew for the future that Kakashi wasn't wearing a mask while having a shower.

However, the sight of his unmasked face combined with a half-naked, well-built body created a stunning effect. Sakura later realized that from her position she could easily see what was under the towel. Not that she was trying hard to do so.

The fiery blush touched her cheeks again.

"Something happened?" Kakashi asked, unaware of the thoughts swirling in her head.

Considering his young age and the fact that he hadn't yet downgraded himself to such level to read Jiraiya's books, he was probably not the pervert type yet. Though actually Kakashi-sensei she knew didn't look and act like one of them at all, except for this nasty habit of reading inappropriate books even in front of the children who they were once.

"I ..." she began, but her voice stuck in her throat because she was too distracted by his pleasing appearance and his unmasked face.

She wanted to slap herself, but that would probably only assure Kakashi that she was about to start drooling at the sight of him.

"I just don't like being alone," she muttered, and quickly rose to get out of his way.

She looked away, too, for as soon as she got up she found that he looked even better than from her earlier perspective.

What was wrong with her? And why suddenly Sasuke's infatuation evaporated from her head?

However, Kakashi wasn't stupid, as Sakura found out the hard way, as he had guessed correctly that she was embarrassed by the whole situation.

"Sorry, I didn't take anything to change," he said, smiling innocently and scratching his neck out of embarrassment.

Sakura ignored the familiar contraction in her lower abdomen at the sight of his raised arm and the play of muscles under the skin still wet from the bath.

"All right," she replied, too embarrassed to let out something more from herself.

Kakashi, seeing her reaction, quickly rushed to help.

"I'll go get dressed and get the bed ready, and you can take a bath in the meantime. The water's just perfect." With having said that, he gave her his captivating smile which, combined with his handsome, unmasked face, almost knocked her off her feet again. She held herself upright only because she sent some chakra to her feet at the last moment.

And then Kakashi went to the other room, so that embarrassed Sakura rushed to the bathroom to hide from him as soon as possible and wash off the remnants of humiliation.

Half an hour later, Sakura was standing in the centre of the bathroom wrapped in a towel when she suddenly realized that she was far too busy seeing Kakashi to remember to take additional set of her own clothes. Plus, she couldn't remember if she had any kits besides the one she was wearing today, and since most of the packed useful things Kakashi-sensei usually wore, her clothes probably stayed in that reality as well.

"Kuso," Sakura snapped and nervously brushed away the wet strands of her pink hair.

It was then when a soft knock came on the door.

"Sakura?"

The panicked kunoichi almost started to squeal, because she was completely not expecting Kakashi here, and her mind was already starting to over-analyse the situation, sending her unwanted scenarios that Kakashi was taking revenge for what she had done to him.

"Y-yeah?" She stammered, abashed.

Silence.

And when Sakura thought he was gone, she heard; "Do you have any extra clothes for a change? Because if not, I can offer you some of my old sets, which are just too small for me."

Sakura blinked in surprise.

She didn't expect it at all. Yet Kakashi guessed everything.

"Gladly," she said finally.

The door opened a little, and Kakashi's slender hand with an armful of clothes passed through a small slit.

Sakura slowly walked over to take a spare set from him, which was rather his usual tank top and boxer shorts, but she had to admit that it was perfect for pyjamas. She took from him things perfectly folded, and her lips parted themselves in a grateful smile.

"Thank you, Kakashi,'' she said, and when by chance her cold fingers brushed his hand, he instinctively pulled it away, banging his elbow on the doorframe, causing the radiating pain that momentarily dim his senses, and so he inadvertently opened the door wide as he unintentionally yanked to himself a sore hand.

Sakura froze with her eyes wide open when suddenly their gazes met.

Strong flushes bloomed on cheeks of them both, and as Kakashi's gaze involuntarily slipped over the silhouette of his future apprentice, he became completely confused. All the words vanished from his head, and worst of all, he couldn't take his eyes off her. Until he felt that he should evacuate out of sight as soon as possible.

Sakura, on the other hand, was so surprised by the whole situation that she was unable to react in time.

It was Kakashi who came to his senses first, mumbled an apology, then closed the door and walked away.

Surprised kunoichi didn't move, she still froze in place with her hand clasped on the clothes he handed her.

~ * ~

When she finally arrived to the other room, she noticed the bed being prepared, with a blanket and pillow beside it.

"Oh, here you are," he muttered as he spotted her in the doorway, but quickly looked away from her. "I've prepared a bed for you, and I'll take a nap on the floor."

"How so?" Sakura was surprised.

"Unfortunately, I only have one available bed."

The pink-haired kunoichi blinked in surprise.

"But this bed is big enough for both of us to fit in," she noted logically. "There's no need for you to sleep on the floor."

Kakashi only now looked up at her.

"I think it would be better if..."

"Come on, Kakashi," Sakura muttered, waving her hand dismissively. "You have no idea how many times in the future similar situations happened to us."

Kakashi pressed his lips into a thin line.

"Thanks, but I prefer to sleep on the floor."

Sakura snorted impatiently.

"After the first night on the floor, it certainly will do no harm to you, but after the next and the other, you might not be able to take it anymore, I say it from a medical point of view. And as your friend and medical kunoichi, I strongly advise you not to sleep on the floor before tomorrow's training."

Kakashi looked at her suspiciously.

"Why are you trying so hard to make me sleep in the same bed with you? The point is what was before? Do you want to prove something to yourself, or..."

"No!" Sakura snapped and for the first time glared at him menacingly. "I'm not hitting on you or anything like that!"

Inner Sakura snorted offended.

"Gee, you're terrible," she admitted after a moment, crossing her arms over her chest. "Kakashi-sensei would understand me..."

His younger version just blinked in surprise.

"It's a childhood trauma," Sakura confessed after a really long silence. "Only Kakashi-sensei knows about it... because he once caught me trying to slip into his sleeping bag... He didn't let it go and I had to confess..."

Kakashi twitched. He didn't think about his weaknesses and prejudices now, because he saw himself in a completely new light. He saw himself as Sakura saw him. He felt her respect for him, and it made him wonder what he did that he deserved for it all. Maybe he wasn't such a bad teacher if he understood the needs of his students?

"To what?" He interjected when he realized that Sakura wasn't going to share her secret with him.

"It's just... since childhood I'm afraid of the dark. I don't like being alone then, even if one of my friends' sleeping bag is a bit further away, or yours..." Here she hesitated and looked down for a moment, too embarrassed by his defiant gaze. "Well, you are the only one who knows about my condition, so you often stay on guard until I fall asleep, or you sit down close to me, lest I feel my fear."

"I understand," Kakashi replied when he finally understood what she was trying to explain to him.

Sakura smiled at him gratefully, and he was beginning to really understand why she had such respect for him.

~ * ~

When the next morning consciousness slowly entered his mind, flooding his sleepy hallucinations with a nasty reality to which he was already getting used to, Kakashi didn't feel like opening his eyes at all. For him, the impact with harsh reality usually felt for him like a blow to the solar plexus.

And so it was this morning.

He didn't want to get out of bed at all. Like in the days right after his father's suicide. In those days, he never got out of bed until he promised himself to erase the stain on the honour of Hatake's name once and for all.

These thoughts sobered him enough that he suddenly opened his eyes.

And he froze.

Only now did he realize that Sakura was lying in front of him. He was just seeing the storm of her pink hair scattered on the pillow right in front of him. What's more, her figure was perfectly pressed to his body, and the hand, which he embraced her waist, rested on her evenly rising and falling belly. While his morning erection in all its glory was pressed against her buttocks.

He remembered how yesterday they had fallen asleep on two different ends of the bed...

Young Hatake shook himself from his thoughts and hurriedly got out of bed, then rushed to the bathroom to control his own body.

Sakura, on the other hand, remained in bed and didn't move, just to not let him know that she hadn't slept for several minutes now.