A/N: My other fic started to lean towards KakaSaku-ness, when I specifically told it to stay genfic. So, in order to please that muse, I've written this. Don't ask where it came from. Dark and humorous. I seem to mix them well.
Status quo. Don't rock the boat.
Usually, it's the other way around.
Usually, it's her who waits for him at the gate, chewing on a fingernail absent-mindedly, as she runs over the latest healing jutsus in her head. Because you just never know, with him. One day, he can return from a mission looking all peachy fine, and on another day, he comes back all bloodied. And Sakura does know how much Kakashi seems to hate and despise hospital.
Usually, she'll be waiting for him perched on top of the walls near the Konoha building, sometimes maybe talking to a guard—or on occasions, shouting at them to stop trying to get her to leave already. Then he'll come, "LATE!", as usual, and she'll stop him for a quick medical revision. At the gate, or before he heads home.
Sakura understands him. She understands his hate for hospitals, because the smell of death and sickness gets her depressed even on the sunniest of days. So she usually heals him up before shooing him to rest at his home.
Sometimes, when Kakashi's really wounded, she drags his ass all the way to the hospital, and forces him to stay there—"I'm a medic, and medics know best, now sit the fuck down, sensei."—until he's healed properly. He doesn't hold it against her—mostly, anyway. He's just one terrible patient, demanding his books, getting on her nerves, all the damn time—when she does it, because Kakashi knows best about how many times he could've died if his only female student hadn't dragged him to the hospital.
Usually, that's how things go. Kakashi goes on a mission, Sakura stays home. Naruto's gone, with Sai, to god-knows-where. Sakura feels like their wife/mother/sister, waiting at that damned gate all those days, waiting patiently to see if they've survived. But every team has dynamics, and this is theirs.
It's very seldom that this routine changes.
------
"She should be here by now," Kakashi observes, his yellow book lowered from his face.
"Oh, don't you start," Tsunade snaps, glaring at the man. "If you plan to pick up one of her habbits, don't pick up this one. I have enough with one of you eating my ear about how her companions have to arrive any moment now."
"Aa," Kakashi answers, and raises his book again. "Where did you send her, anyway?" he asks from behind it.
"Sunagakure. The Kazekage sent a request. His medic-nins needed better training, and I told Sakura to view this as a vacation in an exotic land."
"She wouldn't like the desert."
"Well that's not important, is it? Duty is duty," Tsunade bristles, poking her empty bottle of sake. "She sent me a letter the other week."
"Did she?" Kakashi asks, wondering why Sakura never sent him any letters. Maybe it was because he was usually away from home. Who'd read them, anyway?
"Yeah. Said she'd done her job, and it wouldn't be her fault if the medic-nins there failed at healing people. Apparently they couldn't stand more than twenty minutes of Sakura's teaching without throwing up," the Hokage answers, a proud look in her eyes.
"Sounds like her," Kakashi murmurs, turning a page.
"Che. All that yap about how Suna is strong because they're in the middle of a fucking desert, and the medic-nins there can't stand up straight during a chakra dissection."
"It does sound painful, though," the man points.
"Not when you're dead," Tsunade adds. The woman shrugs, "Oh well, at least we tried. Sakura probably helped the alliance between Suna and Konoha, and that's a good thing. Plus, I think she gets a kick out of making people faint," she murmurs.
"Wonder who she picked that up from," Kakashi mutters behind his book.
"Hatake, shouldn't you be somewhere else? Like at the gate? Not here?"
He takes the hint and leaves.
------
She arrives with the sunset, just when Kakashi's tired of 'waiting around like a wife'.
Now he knows what she must have felt. But he knows how nice it is to have someone wait for you at the gate, when you return from a long mission. Knowing that someone actually cares if you lived or died. And since Sakura does this for all of them, whenever she can, it's Kakashi's responsibility this time to do it for her.
"What are you wearing?" he asks, landing down beside her.
"It's some sort of Suna attire, works great in the desert," Sakura explains, poking at the material of her cloak. "I brought you one."
"Please tell me you didn't steal them," Kakashi says, laconically.
"Of course I didn't steal them," she snaps. Then pauses. "Well, they gave me one for free, as eternal gratitude."
"So you stole the other."
"Bah, who cares about a stupid cloak anyway? They won't miss it, desert lovers that they are. And anyway, it'll be useful for your missions in Sand, right?" she grins, proudly.
"Sakura…"
"Okay, fine, so I stole their little fashion secret. Big deal. They were cheap with the compensation for all those weeks I spent trying to get them to learn something," she grumbled, dropping her bag on the ground and shying out of her strange cloak. "Ah, much better," she sighs, the grins up at him. "Missed me, Sensei?"
"No." Of course.
"Yeah, I didn't miss you either."You big liar. "So, have you come to check up if I have any wounds?" she asks, amused.
"Of course," he drones. "It's my responsibility as your former sensei to grope you up and see if everything's working. Otherwise you can't step into the village. It's a rule, you know?"
"Hey," she protests. "I don't 'grope you up' when you return from your missions!"
"So you say," he murmurs, eye crinkled up slightly. "So. Diner and tell?"
"Sure. Your pay."
------
"When you said diner," Sakura slurs, three hours later. "You didn't mean all that sake…did'ya?"
"Mm. No," Kakashi answers, slumped in his chair.
"Right. So, anyway, then I gathered them all up and told them 'if you bunch of pansies don't get your heads outta your asses, I'll do it for you'. And then Temari made me honorary member of her club."
"What's that?"
"The Temari's Club. One member. Well…two, now. With me," she reasons, then paused a bit. "Say, d'you think I should've not cursed in front of the Sand council like that, sensei?"
"Well, they haven't declared war on us yet, and you're still alive. I suppose it's fine," he answers, brushing flint from his pants. What he wouldn't have given to see her snap at those bunch of tight-assed pricks. Sakura has a way of pulling people down to earth. Or rather, yanking them there.
It's three in the morning when they exit the restaurant, Sakura trembling a bit on her feet as she giggles.
"Think 'm drunk," she observes.
Kakashi doesn't plan to retaliate that, since she's obviously playing Miss Obvious at the moment. So he just sticks close in case she falls—which she won't, Sakura is graceful when drunk, and also more violent—since it's the gentlemanly thing to do. And he's nothing but a gentleman.
That. Reads porn in public. Anyway.
"'m gonna make milkshakes," Sakura suddenly declares, once they're near her apartment. "And you're invited."
"I think it's a bit late, so I'll—"
"Nonesense! Y'have t'come, sensei," she drawls, leaning on his side—dangerously sweet. "My milkshakes are awesome. They…bring all the boys to the yard...or…something like that…"
"Buh?"
"I heard it in a song," she explains, then leans in, "But something tells me it wasn't the traditional milkshakes that lady was talkin'bout...you know?" she whispers, conspiratorially.
Kakashi clears his throat.
In the end, he does go to her apartment, if only to ensure she doesn't chop off her hand while making any sort of beverage.
------
Usually, it's the other way around.
Sakura waits, Kakashi arrives. She heals him up, and sends him home. Usually, she comes with him, especially during the days when he arrives unhurt, but with that look in his eyes that says 'the things I've seen, the people I've killed'. Those nights are the nights when Sakura ends up sleeping on the floor, near his bed, while Kakashi stares at his ceiling. He never really finds the heart to send her home. And maybe it's because he's selfish like that, but he likes her company. Especially on those nights. It makes him feel special, and for a moment he forgets the fact that she does it to Naruto and Sai, also.
Usually, she brings him dinner, or makes him dinner, depending on her mood. Sakura can't cook well, but a bowl of rice is always welcomed. At least it works better than two bottles of sake. "Same ingredient in them," Sakura will say, shoving the food down his throat. With gentleness. Somewhat, anyway.
It's a complex, well-set, well-thought dance they've established so far. Kakashi calls it routine, and Sakura calls it friendly visits.
Sometimes, during the worst of nights, she'll crawl into bed with him, and he'll hold her close. They're not student and teacher then, they're just man and woman. He holds on to her, because she's the last reason that keeps him from questioning his humanity. Those are the 'what if' nights. What if I had died? What if you died? What if we all died?
Usually, the roles are like so. Sometimes, very rarely, they change.
------
Sakura's on her bed, and Kakashi's on a chair near it.
He's reading his book—how he does it in the dark, she has no idea—and she's staring at the ceiling. The sunset's starting somewhere in the east. Sakura yawns, all her alcoholic haze mostly gone by now.
"Ne, Kakashi," she whispers, lifting a hand above her face, and watching it.
"Hmm?"
"When are we going to stop pretending?" she asks, turning around to watch him with curious eyes.
"What do you mean?" he asks, putting the book away.
"You know." She closes her eyes, and pulls the covers over her head. "I don't treat them like I treat you."
"Sakura, let's not—"
"But I want to start," she snaps, shoving the covers away and glaring at him. "When are we going to stop pretending?"
------
Usually, she's the one who takes all initiative.
Like how she waits for him, how she's there when he needs someone. How she crawls into bed, and makes him sleep easier, calmer. Like how she drags him off to lunch, or how she drops by just to tell him a joke. See him smile.
Usually, she's the one who waits, and she's the one who acts, as well.
This time, it's different. She still waits, sure, but not for long. Because this time, Kakashi finally acts, and pulls her close for a kiss.
The dance is broken.