Alright, I have a confession to make. Since KakaSakuYama is my OT3, I've been entertaining thoughts about writing up a drabble collection like Silver and Emerald Days for this awesome threesome as well, and thus, Manolito (my bunny muse) started bombarding me with several scenarios for the fifteen themes.

I present you the first of them.

-XxX-

Synergic Paths

9. - Joined Mission

-

When her shishou told Sakura about the mission, something really disturbing crawled down the pink-haired medic's spine. Call it a bad premonition, but the entire mission layout brought many doubts to her brilliant but sometimes stubborn mind.

Especially because she was going on a mission with all the members of Team Kakashi. Naruto was displaying his usual boisterous behavior, while Sai remarked once or twice about the lack of reproductive organs in the blond's body.

Both friends had already started their bickering and they hadn't even reached the border of their country.

This, of course, brought a gigantic headache to the only female of the team. With twenty years of life under their belts, Naruto and Sai liked to pester each other mercilessly, not realizing that their usually crude and raunchy comments offended and angered their companions.

It only took two more remarks about male organs from Sai and two shouts of "stupid bastard!" from Naruto for her to explode.

Kakashi only stepped aside to avoid the orange projectile that flew towards him, smashing against the tree he was standing on. As for the pale former Root Op, he had been decked rather viciously, his body sailing towards a boulder.

A hiss from the exasperated medic shut them both up, forcing the promise that both of them would behave correctly on the course of their mission. It was bad enough that they were entering Sand without telling the Kazekage in advance, but having two morons on her team usually brought additional stress to her senses.

When she was about to stomp back into their way, a sandstorm broke, forcing the team to gear up a refugee until it passed. Thanks to Yamato, they could shelter within a house he pulled from the deep recesses of the earth itself.

Still stressed, Sakura proceeded to sit in a corner and mull about her annoyance. But her meditation didn't work as she thought it would, for Sai and Naruto started once more with their infuriating pissing contest.

"Alright, both of you shut up."

Kakashi's seemingly bored voice filtered from behind his orange-covered book, effectively accomplishing what she couldn't with her fists.

"Are you okay?" Yamato's whisper broke her out of her observation spot, while her former sensei was targeted by an annoyed Naruto. She shook her head wistfully.

"I'm just stressed, that's all."

Yamato nodded in understanding. Taking his seat next to her and leaning his head on the wall, he let out a deep sigh.

"I know you will do fine, Sakura." His murmur washed over her stressed mind and brought a little calmness on her senses. "If anyone can pull off this task, it's you."

Forcing a grateful smile to form on her lips, she nodded curtly at the mokuton user, imitating his posture against the wall.

She fell asleep instantly.

Kakashi watched his former kohai's try to reassure their pink-haired friend, but it seemed that his kind words weren't working out like they always did.

Knocking out Naruto and sending one of his lazy glances at Sai for him to take a nap as well, he made his way to Sakura's slumbering form, her legs slightly bent and her head almost slipping off the wall.

To the ANBU member's inward surprise, the Copy Ninja gathered the medic's shoulders softly, leaning her to lie on the wooden floor, her head on his thigh.

"I have to admit that I'm a little worried about her," he finally said. Kakashi nodded, pocketing his book to lay a hand on Sakura's upper arm. She sighed and her breathing evened into a deep slumber.

True to his ways, Kakashi wasn't much of a fan of physical touches, but his mere palm against her arm brought the calmness that they were looking for to Sakura.

"I'll keep watch," he murmured to Yamato. "Get some sleep; the storm won't break out until tomorrow."

"I don't mind," the ANBU replied lightly.

Mulling about the details of their mission, Yamato truly understood why Sakura had been behaving so skittish and ill-at-ease. She was going to infiltrate the Wind Daimyo's First Advisor's home, in order to assassinate one of his main servants. The fact that Gaara had appointed this stealth mission to their allies in Konoha spoke miles about the gravity of the situation. The servant was slowly poisoning the Wind Advisor, reducing the man into a shell of his former self, always asking for the medicine that only their target seemed to provide solicitously, like an addict.

However, Gaara and his shinobi couldn't do anything because of the tenseness that was floating in the village due to Sunagakure's strained relations with the Wind Daimyo. The Lord wasn't too happy with the redhead's performance as the Leader of the Sand Village, and he was on the verge of removing him from his position if it weren't for the people of Suna itself, who had sent a large contingent of villagers to the Daimyo, standing up for their Kazekage and pleading for another chance.

To make the story short, Gaara wasn't too pleased with the Wind Lord, especially after finding out that the First Advisor was behind the scheme to throw him out of his job. It turned out that the man had been requesting not only Gaara's dismissal from the Kage position, but also his execution for his past deeds.

A lot of time was involved into recon tasks and info gathering, but only one mind in the world could make out the entire scheme that was acting against the Sand Leader. And that mind was from Konoha. Temari had visited the Village Hidden within the Leaves, explaining to Shikamaru about the entire ordeal that had been stressing the whole Village of Sand, and finally issued a clandestine request for a team to eliminate the threat that endangered her younger brother's position and precious life.

Team Kakashi was to slip onto Wind's territory unnoticed, terminate the servant that had been poisoning the First Advisor and afterwards, bring the man to Konoha under a strict surveillance. Being a politics man he couldn't exactly be terminated like he was advocating to do to the Godaime Kazekage, but somehow they were going to save Gaara. It was the least Konoha could do to pay homage to the alliance they had with Suna.

Sakura's role on the ploy was easy in theory. She was going to enroll the servant's lineup in order to pay the poison guy back with some of her medical tricks. But that also required some skills that only kunoichi possessed.

Yamato recalled how Sakura's face drained of blood when Tsunade had issued the main operation. She didn't protest at what she had been asked to do, but the rank of the mission served to cave into her nerves.

But to her boys' surprise, Tsunade had explained that this wasn't exactly Sakura's first kunoichi mission. This, of course, made Naruto explode into a myriad of angry questions, with Sai's oblivious inputs from time to time. Sakura's physical innocence quickly became the topic of their discussion, thusly pissing off the pink-haired woman next to them.

While she knocked her teammates' heads together, she had displayed a great deal of pride regarding the control of her feminine skills, surprising the mokuton user and also the Copy Ninja, from what Yamato could observe. The mere fact that Kakashi's nose wasn't buried in the book he always carried to have his eye trained on Sakura's defiantly emerald eyes seemed to place a spotlight on several facts to the acting captain of the first Jounin team in Konoha.

Until now, the pink-haired medic hadn't showed any doubts of what she was supposed to do. And that disturbed Yamato somewhat.

And by the grim look on the silver-haired shinobi's pensive face, he was also sharing the concern he felt for their only female partner.

Unbeknownst to Yamato, Kakashi's thoughts were on a wild rampage. Guilt, sadness and rage were warring in his brilliant mind, trying to come up with a solution to the ordeal at hand.

True, he had known that Sakura had took upon herself to prove everybody that she had grown from the weak, lovesick little girl she had been back in the day, but seeing her calm face when she had accepted Tsunade's statement about her expertise in kunoichi-related tasks sent his mind into an overprotective overdrive.

Watching her from afar, he always had thought that leaving her to Tsunade was the best course of action, seeing as how the things were when Sasuke left the village and Naruto went away to his training with the Toad Sage. One Team Seven member to each Legendary Sannin, it was only fitting that Sakura remained under the Godaime Hokage's wing. He had checked up on her from time to time, reveling in the small changes that he noticed she had made to her physique and attire.

But her true strength he only could fully appreciate in that bell-test-slash-sparring-session he had pulled upon Naruto's return, making him realize exactly how much she had grown up.

To his eternally in denial mind, Sakura was a thing they needed to protect and cherish because she was a female and thus, she had to be cherished and sheltered. But that thought fell in crumbles along the large boulder she tore down with only her fist, discovering the Akatsuki hideout and one of the most worrying battles of his entire life.

But then she had come out almost unscathed, also thanks to the old lady, but that didn't mean he could remain with that chauvinistic mindset, especially when the fact of what she had done finally dawned on him with the force of a thousand bricks.

Sakura had been the first one that had brought down an Akatsuki member. She participated actively in a battle against one of the most dangerous shinobi in the world. And, on top of that, she hadn't cowered when they faced a replica of one Uchiha Itachi.

These facts had made Kakashi realize how wrong he had been when he labeled her as a precious thing to be protected when she had soared through the ranks quite easily, achieving Jounin when he hadn't been looking.

And this, this growth, this development of one of his friends and teammates, hurt him.

He couldn't stop worrying about Naruto when he had witnessed his epic battle against a five-hearted, horrid Akatsuki member, but true to his multitasking mind he was also worrying about the medic. He had seen her standing protectively next to his Akimichi charge, the light in her eyes showing how fierce she was going to be if the occasion arose.

But the sigh he heaved in relief when she came back with Shikamaru after he dealt the retaliation to the religious Akatsuki enemy spoke volumes to his accustomed guilt trip.

He had started training Naruto, but that didn't stop him from making a point with the Hokage from time to time. Patience wearing thin, Tsunade had appointed him to also observe Sakura's training in order to shut him up from once and for all...

... And he had been entranced by how Sakura fought. Her evasive moves were quite the sight, even for him that he had seen a lot in his life. Her hands, small and rather cute when gloved, dealt a massive damage that promptly ended his thinking that she needed protection.

And with this acceptance, he had stopped seeing her as a little girl, making him finally notice the curves under her attire, how her chest heaved with every labored breath, how her eyes shone with mirth when she was picking on Naruto, how her white skin seemed so endearing and soft, almost eliciting an urge for a touch.

Pragmatic as he was, Kakashi stopped observing his teammate's training, asking Yamato to follow Sakura's advances in her preparation... only for him to burn in annoyance and badly-concealed jealousy when he caught them laughing in a tea shop over dinner once.

He knew his kohai. After all, they had been around each other for quite some time. And the admiring glances he directed at their pink-haired teammate and medic only meant that he had also realized the true beauty that lay beneath the feisty demeanor.

But he was also thrown into a confused loop when she started to send stares at his own self. She was young, he had thought. It was only a phase.

But the phase didn't go away, and he acutely felt Sakura's glances whenever he bumped onto her... and he also noticed that she started to smile more when he and Yamato were in her vicinity.

So she had a crush on both of them. That was the cold, harsh truth. But the confused part was that she hadn't acted upon her feelings, contenting herself with looking at them and smiling, relishing to be in their presence... but nothing more.

Yamato had observed everything, of course. He knew his kohai. He had noticed Sakura's behavior as of late, but he was also confused at the lack of flirting from her part. It was clear that she liked them more than one could like a teammate or a friend, so why she didn't do anything about it?

The answer was easy to deduce. Sasuke's lack of response and cutting remarks had opened an abyss of self-doubts and psychological issues about Sakura's femininity, issues she had overcome by mastering her kunoichi skills.

Kakashi was too tight-lipped regarding his feelings, but when Yamato voiced his worry about the slumbering female in his lap, he couldn't help but agree, both of them devising a surveillance scheme in which she was to be observed at all times on their mission.

They didn't realize at the moment, that working together on behalf of Sakura's safety was the first step to accept their own feelings about her.

And that was the beginning for the three of them.

-X-

Sakura only had time to regain her breath when a silent Kakashi took down the inebriated shinobi that posed as the Wind's First Advisor.

Another shadow in the window showed itself as the mokuton user, who kept careful watch on the room that had been assigned to her in her role as maid.

"You have two seconds to leave," she hissed, her temper kicking in. "This is my part!"

"We're not holding you, Sakura," Kakashi said seriously. "Do your thing."

She stared at him, not believing her ears. "What?"

"We're supporting you, Sakura."

Yamato's words did the trick this time. Terminating the shinobi with a poison that only she knew the composition of, she had started the healing on the second target, securing him enough to be moved to Konoha without complications.

After three days of a mad race through the forest back to their village with their Wind charge and the body of the unknown shinobi, they heaved a relieved sigh when they entered their beloved home village.

The Kazekage had been cleared of his political sandstorm, resuming once more his duties as Sunagakure's Leader, to his people's delight.

After the mission, Sakura locked herself in her home, trying to understand Kakashi's and Yamato's sudden change of behavior but nothing cleared after mulling the facts over and over in her mind.

True, she liked them more than friends, but that was beside the point. She had been the one dealing the final blow to their target. Not Kakashi, not Yamato, not Naruto. Her, Haruno Sakura, and yet she didn't understand why they let her kill their target, because they were rather overprotective of her and Naruto.

The mission took a lot of her patience, finally breaking down when she saw herself secluded within the walls of her own home.

She cried to relieve herself of the stress and the feelings that wreaked havoc on her mind. She had a crush on both of her superiors and she just couldn't accept it. She couldn't, because her heart was still bleeding in pain due to Sasuke's scathing remarks.

Sitting on her sofa, her arms wrapped around her legs and head bent to touch her own knees, she came to terms with herself and her feelings. Or at least she tried to, but a pair of arms encased her against a warm body, offering the comfort that her senses craved.

"It's okay," a deep, male voice murmured over her hair. "Let it go. It's okay, Sakura."

Yamato.

She stilled in shock, tears still shining on her eyes as she raised her head to look at him. Her eyes widened when his hand brushed her cheek, wiping away her tears as he offered her a soft, fond smile.

"It's okay to feel guilty after your first kill, Sakura," he soothed softly.

She didn't correct him. That man wasn't her first kill. Her first kill had been a young chuunin in the hospital, who was dying slowly from a fatal wound.

Enclosed in Yamato's arms and unbeknownst to her, under the vigilant gaze of one Hatake Kakashi that watched them from a far roof, she sought the comfort she needed to finally, and ultimately, let go of the last remnant of her innocence.

A remnant called Uchiha Sasuke.

And from that very moment, she would be free.

-

- Tenna' ento lye omenta -

-XxX-

AN: I finally came around to post these. I actually wrote them like three months ago, more or less, and yes, they somewhat comply with my first KakaSakuYama, Synergy. Let me know what you think!
And I also would like to thank Cynchick for her lovely input and diligent beta efforts! 8D