-Chapter 25-

So far, so good. Sakura walked from her bedroom to the kitchen, where she had begun to pack snacks. So far she'd made a few sandwiches from the stuff Kakashi had on hand and had looked around the boys' stuff to find some trail mix (she'd already donated her rice crackers and a couple of protein bars), and she'd just heard the rice cooker ding, so she was about to make some onigiri.

So far, so good.

Naruto had come back excited, telling everyone that the plan really was on. Everyone was given their instructions (Tenten was to hand out weapons to everyone, Sakura and Lee were on snack duty (since Tenten swore to the mountains that he made damn good cookies that would beat out any store-bought frosted sugar cookies), Naruto and Sasuke were to head out with Karin to scope out possible hidden routes into the forest, and Neji had, indeed, said he would stay behind with Hinata.

She tightened her ponytail and began washing her hands, humming some pop song that was fairly popular on the radio. She'd lucked out when she saw the nori in the kitchen. A bit of flavor for the rice.

She swayed back and forth as she scooped up some rice and began to shape it with her hands. She was thankful her mother had started teaching her how to cook.

She set the ball on the plate in front of her, and as she turned around to get the nori, she froze upon seeing Kakashi sitting at the kitchen table, hands folded.

"Uh..." she stuttered intelligently. She rose one sticky hand. "... hi."

"Hello, Sakura." He greeted pleasantly.

Her eyes darted back and forth from the nori to Kakashi. "So."

"So." He echoed.

She fell silent for a few seconds, trying to think of what to say. "Dammit! He caught me red-- er, sticky-handed! How in the hell am I gonna explain this to him? I told Sasuke he should've been the one tasked with making the food!"

It took a grand total of three whole seconds of staring at her teacher before the dam broke and she rose her hands, words exploding from her mouth. "I-- it's not what it looks like! Well, I don't know what it looks like other than me taking your food, but I promise I'm not--"

He chuckled, raising a hand to quiet her. "Calm down, I already know."

She stopped in her tracks. Fear spread through her face in the form of paling. "W-- who told you?"

"Naruto asked if you all could come," he shrugged loosely. "And I said you could."

At his words, she sagged against the counter, relieved. "Oh thank Kami-sama," she breathed, barely remembering in time that her hands were sticky before she could cover her face.

Kakashi stood and walked over to the kitchen counter, inspecting the rice balls. He nodded in approval. "You kids have a real operation going on here," he commented. "It's impressive seeing you all set your differences aside to work together."

"Well someone's gotta do something," she replied, grabbing a piece of nori and folding it onto the rice. "And if the adults come up blank, then I'd say it's fair game to let us try."

"An excellent point." He patted her head and watched her work. "I admit, perhaps we should have put you kids to work alongside us in the first place. But you do have to understand that it simply would not have been safe."

"Yeah, I get it," she mumbled with a sigh. "Since people are going missing."

He nodded again. "There is simply no way Tsunade would have let us take you anyway. But now, at least, the situation has grown dire enough that we wouldn't mind a little extra help."

"I can safely say that we're honored that you're needing our help."

"I bet you are." He chuckled, rolling up his sleeves and discarding his gloves. "Would you mind help?"

"Not at all, Kakashi-sensei." She smiled as he began to wash his hands. She set the rice ball she was working on down on the plate. "Not at all."

-line-

Later in the day, the shadows were growing along the ground when the group met at the entrance of the forest.

"I'm really nervous to go," Sakura admitted, crossing her arms. "What if we get lost?"

"We won't get lost if we have buddies!" Naruto replied enthusiastically, laughing. "Don't worry so much, Sakura-chan. We'll be totally fine."

"For once, I agree," Sasuke nodded in agreement. "We have Hinata's help and we'll have our counselors the whole time."

She cast him a disbelieving look, but simply shook her head.

She happened to look behind herself for a second and smiled when she saw Karin running towards them. "Hey, Karin! Are you coming with us after all?"

"Yep," she panted as she caught up. She bent over, putting her hands on her knees. "My cabin counselor thankfully said I could."

"Glad to have you with us, cousin!" Naruto cheerfully greeted.

"C-- cousin?" The other two kids were taken aback at this revelation. Sakura and Sasuke shared a surprised look as Naruto helped Karin upright.

"Yeah, we're cousins on my mom's side," Naruto explained. "It's complicated, but let's say she's a distant cousin."

"Not that distant," she objected with a small smile. "Our moms are cousins."

"Small world after all." Sakura hummed.

As soon as they got to the forest's entrance, they saw Gai along with Tenten and Lee standing there.

"Hey guys!" Tenten called, waving them over.

"Yo!" Sakura gave her a side-hug as they approached. "You got the weapons?"

"Sure do!" She proudly opened her bag to show them the stockpile of kunai and shuriken. "Got these babies from the storage shed! On loan, of course."

"Each of you gets two kunai and two shuriken," Kakashi instructed, handing them out. "If you lose them, you pay to replace them."

"Hai," the group chorused. Most of them put their knives in the hip holsters they'd been loaned when they got to camp, and a few put them in pockets or in their bags.

Lee was beaming as he came over to kneel in front of Sakura, taking her hands. "It's wonderful to be travelling with you, dear Sakura-chan!"

She laughed, helping him up. "I wouldn't miss a good ol' search party for anything, Lee."

"Neither would I," Sasuke interjected, giving the boy a level frown.