The only survivor among the rebel horde was, of course, their leader.

His hand still nailed to the rock wall just as Kakashi's rage reached its peak, and he couldn't control his own emotions. However, the sight that this man gave him will probably be etched in his memory forever. That sound as he slapped Sakura. The moment he turned to her like she was the worst scum. And also the moment when he openly threatened her. Hatake couldn't allow any harm to happen to his ex-apprentice on his watch. He was pretty sure he had it written on his face the moment he threw the kunai directly at the man, though his intention was to cut off each of his fingers one by one or all at once, just like that scum had threatened Sakura. However, the rest of the group of rebels stopped him, and before he got to him, he completely forgot about his existence in the face of the wounded Sakura.

The rebel leader howled in pain as he yanked his hand from the blade, tearing his skin, tendons, and muscles between middle and ring fingers as Kakashi aimed evenly at the centre of his hand.

Blood oozed between his torn phalanges, dripping onto the floor. The man turned towards Kakashi and Sakura with the lust for murder painted on his ugly face, still dimmed with pain.

"Sakura, lean on my shoulder," Hatake ordered, knowing full well that with Sakura by his side he wouldn't be able to fully fight. However, that was why he had ninkens by his side, and also...

Kakashi glanced surreptitiously at the young woman by his side, and she seemed to feel his gaze on her, and she cuddled closer to him, balancing on one foot to relieve the sick one as much as possible. And when Hatake was sure that Sakura wouldn't stop him, he accumulated as much chakra as he managed to collect during hand-to-hand combat with the rebels, then he formed the seal.

"Raikiri," he whispered, looking directly at his enemy.

The blade of lightning flashed in his hand and the sharingan swirled.

The leader didn't stand a chance against him. Even if Kakashi was weakened and the use of sharingan in combination with his proprietary technique would kill him, he would have at least an excellent cause for death.

Suddenly a small hand tightened on his wrist.

"Kakashi, no..." Sakura whispered terrified, knowing perfectly well how little chakra he had left.

"I have to," he replied, before lifting her a little off the ground and lunging directly at his opponent, until a tree had sprung up in his path, which Hatake had pierced right through.

He stared blankly at his target for a moment, then shot a warning look at his younger colleague, but the latter shook his head and pointed his chin at the leader on the other side of the trunk.

The man stared wide-eyed at Kakashi, who yanked his hand from the trunk and glanced at Sakura, who was clinging to him.

"Enough, Kakashi!" Gai snapped. "We're taking him for questioning."

The two Leaf Village shinobi captured the leader, and as they walked past Sakura and Kakashi in embrace, Gai turned to the kunoichi, "Could you heal his hand?"

"Hell no!" Hatake growled.

Sakura sighed resignedly.

"I can't use my powers because they gave me intoxicants, so even if I wanted to, I can't."

"Good," Kakashi said, and with his free hand he took a bandage from Sakura's pouch, which he handed to his long-time rival. "You can dress him yourself.

And so a group of Leaf Village shinobi left the prison below the mountain (P.S. Who has read A Court of Thorns and Roses then knows what I meant!). Kakashi obviously made sure the place was razed to the ground with the explosive notes attached to the kunai before turning completely around and heading back, carrying Sakura in his arms.

As her chakra didn't calm down for the next few hours, the other companions looked at them questioningly.

"Is everything okay, Sakura?" Ao asked.

"She has a sprained ankle," Kakashi replied.

Then everyone nodded and let go of the topic. Well, almost everyone...

"Kakashi-sensei, if it's hard for you, I can replace you," Naruto interjected.

Shiba almost hissed at the young boy and Hatake laughed shortly.

"There's no such need," he replied, then cast a scolding look at his ninken. "Remember, Shiba, I can always send you back if you continue to be so rude."

And they went on in silence, from time to time sharing their observations about the landscape or the architecture of the Tenzō buildings in which they spent the night. The trip to Konoha took three days with a fast run, while with a wounded prisoner and three injured shinobi it wasn't easy. They travelled much slower than usual and had to rest more often. Until they regain their strength and normal chakra levels. However, Sakura was worried about something else... Both Ao and Kakashi felt good, their chakra level was slowly increasing, but hers was still raging and Haruno couldn't control it.

"I need to see a doctor when I get back," Sakura said, and Kakashi almost dropped her.

"Why? Are you not sure if...?"

Haruno shook her head.

"Your chakra flow is back to normal and mine is still going crazy. Perhaps they've used too many drugs on me and I'll recover longer," she wondered aloud.

"Tsunade will be happy to take care of you," Kakashi replied as if nothing had happened.

"She'll suffocate me sooner and demand answers, and when we all submit reports, it will all come out..."

Hatake swallowed loudly.

While Kushina and Sakura had some of this gentleness, Tsunade lacked her.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine."

These words were meant to cheer him up, but they had a very different effect. Kakashi bristled even more, and he shut up completely from her. His expression remained impenetrable and Sakura once again wondered if this guy, who was about to turn thirty, was ready for such a sacrifice as becoming a parent...

The rest of the way back was passed in silence, although Naruto kept his friends entertained every now and then.

~ * ~

Sakura didn't play with knocking on the door because she had one goal. That's why she decided to enter his apartment through the open window. And maybe it was a complete mistake on her part, or maybe that was what she needed... for the moment she put her feet on the floor in his living room, he himself appeared on the threshold, walking straight from the bathroom.

Strong blushes adorned her cheeks as her gaze immediately moved over his uncovered figure.

Kakashi merely raised an eyebrow questioningly.

Sakura stared at the bundle in her hands for a moment, and when she returned her gaze to Hatake, she noticed that he was closely watching the region of her belly.

"Beginning of the second week of pregnancy," she finally confessed. "And my chakra is fine, it was a side effect of taking too much drugs in a short time."

Kakashi wiped his wet hair with the smaller towel as the larger one was girdled around his hips. He looked at his interlocutor with unreadable eyes.

"So you were right from the start," he sighed in resignation, looking down at the floor. "You're really pregnant."

Sakura pretended not to be offended by his words. After all, she was a medic, too, and she knew her profession very well, yet Kakashi needed another doctor's confirmation on the subject of pregnancy. She swallowed her pride and concentrated on her task.

She stood in the centre of the living room for a moment, her hands clasped on the bundle, unsure what to do or say, and the silence seemed to last too long, so she decided to act. She unpacked the parcel and set the vial on the table without taking her eyes off the amber liquid for a moment, then turned her gaze to Kakashi, who replied. His mismatched eyes met her emerald pupils.

"What's this?" he asked.

"Tsunade came up with an emergency drug that I completely forgot," she replied, holding her breath for a moment before continuing. "It's a kind of contraception, but rather it works like... how to put it, it just removes the foetus from the womb of the woman."

Kakashi frowned, this time with his eyes focused on the vial containing the amber liquid.

"It works immediately," Sakura replied. "And irreversibly."

Hatake rubbed his hand over his chin thoughtfully, but said nothing. And when the silence began to lengthen once again, Sakura couldn't stand it and announced before going to leave, "The decision is yours."

"Will it really work?"

Haruno froze for a moment, then turned her head towards him, giving him a defiant look.

"That you question my medical knowledge is nothing, but you don't even believe in the skills of the Hokage herself!" she snorted, far more venomously than she intended.

Hatake frowned.

"That's not what I meant, Sakura," he sighed wearily and threw a towel around his neck so that it would flow around his neck and on his chest.

The young kunoichi gave him a questioning look.

"Are there any side effects of this drug?" he asked, and she froze.

Yes, they were. And she had no idea how to convey it to him, nor how to beg him not to make her use it.

"Yes, they are."

"Tell me," he demanded.

Sakura swallowed loudly.

"It works on the principle..." She couldn't bore him with medical descriptions, she should have said bluntly. "The woman who uses it will never be able to have children again."

Kakashi's gaze ran from her face to her stomach, and stopped there. Sakura, on the other hand, felt an unpleasant tingling in each of her limbs as he looked at her.

The silence was slowly becoming unbearable.

"As I said..." she began in a trembling voice, then added a little more confidently, "The decision is yours."

And she left his apartment.