Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I've also found myself slacking off on reading the manga updates, but I'm sure you didn't need to know that...

To Protect

Sakura is growing up.

Kakashi can see it.

He thinks he didn't notice it happening as fast as he could have, or should have, but maybe he hasn't noticed too late. He's still worried though, because even if it's taken him this long to notice, other people are bound to have noticed already. So he decides to keep an eye open and fixed firmly on his pink-haired subordinate.

When he does this, he starts to notice other people noticing. There are boys who are noticing. They notice from shop doorways or out of windows, or sitting on benches; Sakura as she walks down the street, pale pink hair brushing against her smooth neck. If they notice too obviously, Kakashi makes sure to walk a little closer to her, or to start twirling a spare kunai on the end of his finger. There are men noticing her too; shinobi in the hospital where she works, in the break room, in the training grounds. Kakashi can't shadow her all day long, but he can lure her out to train with him, or make surprise lunch time visits to take her out for ramen away from the men who are noticing too much.

Men and boys are noticing Sakura, but that is normal; they can be kept at bay by threats veiled in bland stares and light injuries masked as accidents. They are not what keep Kakashi awake at night, worrying about her.

It is the older kunoichi that Kakashi fears. They wear the forms and faces of women, but inside they are forged from steel. They have seen and done and felt and been things that would break a man, and indeed, most of them are broken to varying degrees. They are different ages, sizes, shapes, levels of skill, professional positions, but they all have one thing in common: they have all successfully completed at least one "special kunoichi mission." This means that all of them, at least once, have subdued their extraordinary strength, or speed, or agility, or jutsu, and allowed their bodies to be used and abused, for the sake of completing a mission.

And they are always searching for new recruits.

Kakashi knows that the Yamanaka girl is in their sights. She has blonde hair, a pretty face, and a figure well-developed for a fifteen year old. Hyuuga Hinata, with her ivory skin and silken black hair is also a worthy target, but the Hyuuga clan would never risk their future Head being accidentally impregnated on a mission. It has happened before.

The girl on Maito Gai's team has already been recruited. A few months ago, Kakashi happened to see her in the main building. She brushed past him with a quick smile, and he caught a glimpse of the characteristic red stamp on the mission scroll tucked in her chuunin vest. He wonders if Gai knows. He wonders if Gai thought about going to the same lengths to try and protect Tenten that Kakashi is going to in order to protect Sakura. Kakashi wonders, as he uses his spare afternoon to go sit in the waiting area of the clinic where Sakura is training, whether he is going too far. At that moment, Sakura emerges from the room with her bag slung over her shoulder and white medic's coat over one arm, and brightens up as she catches sight of him behind his magazine.

"Kakashi sensei! What are you doing here?" She walks up to him and bends down, angling her head to see what he's reading. Behind her, Kakashi notices two young chuunin run appreciative gazes up and down her legs. Casually, he reaches up as if to scratch his head, and pushes up his headband. The two young men turn visibly pale at their first glimpse of the sharingan, and hurriedly move away.

Kakashi slips the headband back down just as Sakura's gaze shifts to his face, and he smiles innocently at her.

"Oh, I just came to wait for a friend," he says.

"Oh," she says, and he feels momentarily confused by the disappointment he hears in her voice.

"So now that you're here, how about some tea? You look tired," he finishes, and no matter how much he might try to deny it, there's no way that a jounin worth his vest can fail to observe how her face lights up at these words and a faint blush appears in her cheeks.

Even after he walks her to her home from the tea house, walking close all the way, he can't forget the blush, or her smiles. This is his former student and current subordinate, a fifteen year old girl who has flawless chakra control and can already manipulate a human body's inner workings with the skill of a medic twice her age. She is a girl who beams at the sight of her former sensei and blushes happily when he calls her his friend and buys her a cup of chrysanthemum tea.

All these things, and more, convince Kakashi that he is doing the right thing when he walks into the Hokage's office the next day.

"Hokage-sama, I request that Haruno Sakura be excluded from selection for special kunoichi missions."

The Hokage looks up tiredly from her paperwork.

"I don't know that that's something that you can really have any say in, Kakashi," she says flatly.

"I understand that, Hokage-sama," he says, "But I feel obliged to inform you that if she is sent on any such missions, I personally guarantee that they will result in assassination of the targets."

Tsunade looks at him, for a long moment, a fine line appearing between her brows. Kakashi returns her gaze steadily. At last the Hokage looks down at the page in front of her, and picks up her pen again.

"Very well, I'll see that her name isn't brought up," she says, pen already scratching away at the next document.

"Thank you Hokage-sama."

As Kakashi opens the door to leave, the Hokage's voice stops him.

"You can't protect her forever, Kakashi."

He tilts his head and gazes back over his shoulder at her.

"Just watch me."

AN: Reviews, comments, criticisms all very welcome.