Note: I can't remember if I've ever had a physical in my life. And I'm definitely no doctor, so no bitching about inconsistencies within this story. Just be glad I got it finished at all!

Standard disclaimers apply.

Getting Physical--

The mere suggestion that Kakashi was anything less than in completely perfect shape was enough to send the copy ninja into a seriously foul mood. In his own personal opinion he was in his absolute prime. Of course he was much older than the median age for the new jounin admits, but he could still best any of them with both hands tied behind his back.

Right? Right.

Sitting on the white linens of the sterile hospital bed, he thought over his discussion with Tsunade from that morning. She had held him after the rest of the team had been dismissed. It was obvious that she had something important and potentially serious to say. He had seen it all over her face the entire time they had been giving the report.

Her words echoed in his head.

"Kakashi," Tsunade said. "This last mission was a bit rough."

"Not so much," he said with a shrug, wincing when his torn, bruised shoulder muscles protested the movement.

Tsunade seemed unconvinced. Her lips pursed together as if she were holding in whatever comment jumped to the front of her mind. He knew that she knew he was in pain, and therefore he had a pretty good idea of what was going through her mind. If their situation were reversed he would probably have been thinking the same things.

"Are you sure that your body can keep up with the workout you're giving it?" she asked calmly.

"There's no problem," he replied defensively. "This was a fluke."

"Was it?"

"Yes," he said, taking a deep breath. "It won't happen again."

"I know that," she agreed. "And to make sure, I'm going to have you take a physical as a precaution."

"…a physical?"

"Yes, when you go to have that shoulder looked at this afternoon. I'll have the file sent back to me for review."

"This is unnecessary," he frowned. "Did you make Jiraiya take a physical? Did the Fourth? Have you?"

Tsunade picked up a paperweight and threw it in the direction of his head. He dodged it easily enough, but the weight went crashing into the wall where it left a large dent that some unlucky soul would have to fix.

"Damn it, Kakashi," she barked. "We don't mess up!"

The words were a harsh slap in the face as well as a reminder about how important it was that he needed to pay attention out in the field. He had gotten too comfortable, too careless…

The examination room didn't have any windows, he noticed as he looked for a way out. It was a closed box with various bits of instrumentation, some posters on the walls, and an empty chair where the doctor would sit. Just thinking about some middle-aged man poking and prodding him was punishment enough.

He eyed the rubber gloves on the counter with disdain.

Of course this whole situation was entirely his own fault. He had been careless in leading the mission. His attention had been distracted. Hell, he hadn't even heard the enemy coming until it had been too late. A heavy boot had caught him in his shoulder, bruising and tearing the muscle in a hard kick that had sent him sprawling on the ground. If it hadn't been for the quick thinking of his teammates he wasn't sure he would have had the time to get back up.

That line of thought was put on hold when the door to the room opened and the doctor walked in. Of all the people the hospital could have sent him, the person that actually came was the last person he expected.

"Oh, hello Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said as she closed the door.

"Sakura," he greeted with a nod.

"An injured shoulder," she said as she read over the chart. "And a physical."

He didn't reply to that.

"Let's take a look at that shoulder," she said, placing the clipboard next to the gloves on the counter. Kakashi was relieved that she didn't snap on the latex. Those things really gave him the creeps. "You'll need to take off that vest."

She stood by his left side, helping him tug the vest off of his injured shoulder. By then he could barely lift his arm, which was mildly embarrassing, especially in front of his former student. Not that he needed to be embarrassed in front of Haruno Sakura. She had been a doctor in the hospital for five years – long enough to have seen more interesting injuries than his.

"Can you lift your arm?" she asked as she splayed her hand on his upper back.

"Not very well," he admitted, wincing when she gently began to lift at his elbow. He held in the gasp that threatened to escape.

"How did you hurt yourself?" she asked as she began to press her fingers against the tender muscles.

"Well there was this burning building full of orphans-"

"Orphans? How heroic," she mused with a grin. "I need you to take off this shirt."

"Cut it," he said through clenched teeth.

"Are you sure? I can help you take it off," she offered, reaching down to grab the bottom of the garment.

"Quite sure."

Always the prepared kunoichi, Sakura pulled out a kunai. She quickly used the ninja blade to slice through the stretchy material of his customary ANBU-issue shirt. The material fell to his elbows where he pushed it onto the floor. The cool air of the room felt good against his bare skin.

"Wow, they must have used a lot of force to do something this damaging," she said as she traced the faint pattern of a boot against his shoulder blade.

The feather-light touch made his skin shiver.

"Are you cold?"

"No."

"Oh," she said with a light blush. "Well I'll get this fixed for you."

Kakashi nodded and kept completely still as she set about mending his wound. He could feel the chakra tingling as the cells fused together to repair broken blood vessels and ripped muscle. He had seen medics work like that in the field before, but he couldn't think of a time that he had been worked on. It wasn't an unpleasant feeling at all. It even made him feel a bit lethargic.

As she worked, Sakura studied the form of the man in front of her. Hatake Kakashi was a rare thing. His life had been filled with peril and his body showed the story of it. The scars were numerous against the plane of his back, like reminders of the mistakes he had made and battles he had fought. He was a true hero of Konoha.

Of course she also had to admit to herself the slight attraction she felt towards the man. She had harbored a slight crush on him for years, which was a fact that no one but herself was privy to. The relationship that they had forged through their years of training and missions was strictly professional, and there was no indication that he saw her as anything other than a valuable teammate. She was happy enough to have that much.

"Are you injured anywhere else?" she asked as she moved his arm around to rotate his shoulder once her work was done. The movements were slightly still, but that was normal. At least he didn't seem to be in pain anymore. "Kakashi-sensei?"

"Hm?"

It was obvious that he hadn't been paying attention to her.

"Is that your only injury?"

"Oh. Yeah."

The feeling of her fingers against his bare skin was quite unusual, the more he thought about it. Not to say that he was unused to having female fingers on his body, but these were her fingers. It wasn't a bad feeling by any means. No, he quite enjoyed her innocent touches as she worked her medical magic. Combined with the tingling of the leftover traces of chakra, he couldn't help himself. His body was acting of its own accord…

He inconspicuously slouched down a bit on the edge of the bed.

"Well now that we have that finished, let's get this physical out of the way," she smiled as she walked over to the counter to write on his chart. She fished around in the drawers of the counter to pull out a thermometer and a cuff that he assumed would be used to check his blood pressure. She draped a stethoscope around her neck as well.

Kakashi watched her as she worked, which he agreed with himself was a terrible idea given the current state of his body. He was acutely aware of the lingering arousal that he felt from the chakra and her hands against his back. His mind slid south, wondering idly how her hands would feel caressing his body. An image of her rubbing the muscles of his stomach as she made her way down had him holding in a groan.

Honestly, though, it wasn't just the healing that had done him in. He freely admitted that Sakura was a very attractive woman. Throughout the years he had known her she had grown into the beautiful creature standing before him. The transition had been so gradual that he hadn't really noticed it until that very moment.

"Are you all right?"

Her concerned gaze brought him out of his thoughts.

"I'm fine."

"Well I'll need to take your temperature," she said, holding up the small glass stick. "So that mask has to go."

In her head Sakura was giddy with excitement at the prospect of seeing her old teacher unmasked. She could remember the times that she, Naruto, and Sasuke had spent as children musing over what the copy ninja kept hidden under that cloth. That curiosity still plagued her. It always had.

The idea that he bare his face for her was somewhat laughable. Doing that would be no different than holding up a sign that said 'I'm thinking about you naked'. She would be able to see the desire in his face with absolute clarity, and it would no doubt make things awkward for both parties involved. Not that he didn't already feel weird about the situation. It was quite perverted, in his own opinion, for him to lust after his former student fourteen years his junior.

She was looking at him with an expectant stare, waiting with the thermometer to take his temperature. He wondered vaguely if it would register higher than normal given how hot his body seemed to feel in the room that seemed to be closing in around him.

"Well we can come back to this if you want," she said, dropping the gauge into the pocket of her coat to mingle with her pens. "Let's check your blood pressure instead."

Blood pressure was okay, wasn't it? Just a cuff around the arm and then done.

Her close proximity was absolute torture for Kakashi as she stood inches away, squeezing the balloon to fill the cuff with pressure. He tried his best to keep his eye on the far wall and his mind out of the gutter. But he could only imagine her hand and how it could do wonders for building pressure in other places than the cuff around his arm.

He glanced down at the hand in question, watching the way the muscles flexed as she worked. Would her hands look the same wrapped around his-

"Well your blood pressure is a bit high, but nothing I'm terribly concerned about," she smiled as she deflated the cuff. The Velcro tore loudly as she ripped it away from his arm. He flinched slightly at the sound.

"Are we finished yet?"

"Not quite," she answered. "I need to check your height and weight next."

"Uhh…"

"Kakashi, I don't bite," she grinned. "Now come over here so I can get this done."

"Well, I've broken my legs all of a sudden, you see."

Inside of Kakashi's head he was thinking anything that he hoped would calm himself down. He thought of Naruto in a dress, which was quite comedic, but the dress was one he could remember Sakura had worn to- An image of the Third Hokage wearing a green bikini, but it would have gone so much better with Sakura's pink- His mind scrambled for the most chilling things he could possibly think of. His parents in bed together, bamboo shoots being shoved under his nails, Tsunade stripping- Okay, that one wasn't entirely horrible.

He could tell that Sakura was becoming slightly annoyed with the way that her arms crossed in front of her chest. She lifted one eyebrow in a delicate arch that clearly said, "What's the problem?"

What was the problem? It wasn't like he hadn't seen Sakura a thousand times before. Why all of a sudden was her presence so arousing to him? What about her was driving him crazy?

"Kakashi."

He watched, mortified, as her eyes slipped from his face.

"Kakashi, come stand against this wall."

"Come here."

Her voice had taken on a more sultry tone that sent shivers up and down his spine. It was as if she were trying her best to do him in just by speaking. She could probably do it, too, with as wound up as he felt.

After having mustered up the courage to listen to her commands, he thanked the heavens that he wasn't required to wear one of those flimsy hospital gowns. That scrap of loose cotton would have done nothing for modesty, even before his body had decided to torment him.

The walk was, in reality, only two or three steps to the corner. In his perception of the situation he could have been walking the length of Konoha. Of course he could have done worse for an audience, he supposed. And when he really thought about it, he supposed that it would be difficult for him to do much better. Sakura was somewhere near the top of the ladder.

It was obvious she was aware of his problem. She didn't seem terribly offended by it either. Now whether that was because of her doctor's approach to the situation he wasn't entirely sure. She was giving him a very open-to-interpretation look, though.

With his back pressed firmly against the cool wall he had nothing to hide.

"You're a bit taller than you were at your last physical," she said as she stood pressed against his side, looking up at the measurement on the wall above his head. Her breath tickled his ear.

"That was a long time ago," he said.

"When you joined ANBU," she nodded. "You've grown."

"Have I?"

"I'll say," she breathed, resting her hand just below his navel. Her fingertips traced little circles against his skin.

"You've still got to take my temperature," he reminded. What had seemed like a bad idea moments before didn't seem so terrible anymore.

"How could I ever forget?"

Sakura pinched the material at his chin and tugged it down slowly, revealing the face she was so curious about bit by bit. It was slow self-torture that made her giddy with excitement. It was like winning a prize, one she had lusted after for so long.

Kakashi was on the edge, watching Sakura as she enjoyed herself. The curiosity was clearly written on her face, much like the desire that was written on his own. And her hand only added to the mix. It hadn't ceased its ministrations against his stomach. If anything the touches had turned more methodical.

"Sakura, I-"

A finger pressed against his lips, quieting whatever it was he intended to say. She wanted to look at him in complete silence and savor the moment. He could tell with the way her eyes raked over his handsome features that she liked what she saw.

But just looking wasn't enough.

Hesitantly she leaned up to capture his lips between her own. The movement was slow, timid as she took in the feel of the kiss that she had dreamt about on a subconscious level for some time. The hand that had quieted him trailed across his cheek, rubbing against the faint stubble and twining into the hair at the base of his neck. She pulled down on his head in her need to be closer.

Lightly she ran her tongue against his bottom lip, steering the kiss into something much deeper and headier. Kakashi's arms wrapped around her small frame, pulling her tight against his body in reaction.

"I thought you were going to take my temperature," he said between kisses.

"I am."

"How does it check out?"

"Feverish," she grinned, nipping playfully at his chin.

"Is this how you treat all of your patients?"

"No, just the ones I really like."

He could feel her hand sliding low on his stomach, nearing dangerous territory in her playfulness. He thought idly about trapping her arm against her body and stopping the movement, but he couldn't think of one good reason to do so.

Until the knock at the door.

Sakura buried her face in Kakashi's neck, growling in frustration at the intrusion. She pulled away from his body, straightening her clothes and hair before gesturing towards the bed. Kakashi nodded and followed her motion, recovering his spot from before. He was just getting settled in when the door opened and a nurse poked her head in.

"Oh, Haruno-sensei," she said in mild surprise. "I thought you would have finished by now."

"Yes, just about," she smiled as she wrote notes on a chart. "I'll be out in a few minutes if you need the room."

The nurse nodded and closed the door.

"What else do you need to know?" he asked.

"A great many things," she smiled. "And we can figure them all out later tonight."

"Oh?"

"Dinner is at six," she said as she tucked her pen back into her pocket. "Don't be late."

"Presumptuous woman," he muttered.

"Your body is like a book," she explained. "And I'm an avid reader."

"That's what got me into this situation, you know."

"Books?"

He dug around in the pouch at his back, pulling out a familiar orange-covered novel that he always seemed to carry around wherever he went. It was beat up and dirty, and obviously well-read. The book, just like the mask, was a familiar thing associated with her former teacher.

"I was reading this when I was attacked."

"How terrible."

"I wouldn't say that," he shook his head. "It got me here."

"So it did. Does Tsunade-shishou know that?"

"Nope. So, six?"

She nodded. "Six. And be ready for a very thorough physical."

"I'll be there."

--

Note: Hope you enjoyed that little bit of happy. It's not been proofread, though. Just wanted to get it finished.

As usual, it's no fair that the same bunch of people are favoriting me without reviewing, so consider yourselves spotlighted. I mean, you wouldn't walk into Barnes and Noble and steal their books. It really upsets me and a great deal of other writers. And an upset writer doesn't write.

That being said…

Silent readers are the bane of my fanfiction existence. Review!!