Disclaimer: Are disclaimers still a thing? I don't own Naruto.

To Protect

"Bon voyage, Acchan!"

The cheerful shouts of the kunoichi rang out above the clink of the glasses and raucous laughter of the bar around them. Sakura took a sip of her beer and made a face; no, it still tasted too bitter. Ino often made fun of her stereotypically girly taste in drinks, but honestly, a warm cup of sake would have gone down better than this stuff.

Otherwise it had been a pleasant evening so far. For once she had been able to accept her co-workers' invitations to go out with them, instead of being stuck in surgery or doing paperwork. Saving lives, you know the drill.

But this was something of a special occasion. Aki, or Acchan, as everyone called her, had been accepted for a year-long work exchange program in Sand Country, with the option to extend her contract to three years. Aki was one of the more boisterous and outgoing ER nurses Sakura had met, and although they weren't especially close, her ready laugh and cool head would be missed in the hospital.

Glancing surreptitiously around the all-female group, Sakura confirmed with a sinking heart that she only knew about half the women by name. It wasn't that she disliked her co-workers, it was just that being one of the youngest, who also happened to be the one of the highest-ranked, as a kunoichi as well as her position in the hospital, tended to alienate her from some of her colleagues. It was a testament to Aki's friendly nature that Sakura was here, one of the few doctors included in the group. Her thoughts were interrupted by a polite cough at her side.

"Hey, Haruno sensei, are you going to - ," an ER nurse, Kana, gestured toward Sakura's almost-full beer mug, which she had pushed to the side of her dish of snacks.

"Oh! No, no, please, help yourself!" Sakura said, passing it over to her gladly. As Kana took a sip, Sakura waved down the nearest waiter and defiantly ordered an extra pink, extra sweet and fruity, cocktail for herself.

"I saw that, Kana! What, you're so broke now you're stealing sensei's drinks?" A nurse with a long brown braid, whose name Sakura couldn't remember, called out laughingly across the table.

"Oi oi, don't get Kana started on her money problems again, what are you doing?" joked the girl next to her. She placed a cigarette between her bright pink lips and lit it, inhaling deeply.

"We'll be here all night listening to those stories about the deadbeat boyfriends who skip out on the rent because they have a mission in like, Mushroom Country to assassinate a mushroom-kage or some shit like that," the girl with the cigarette commented, looking pleased at the laughter that erupted around the table. Sakura couldn't help joining in; even she had heard about some of the ridiculous excuses Kana's boyfriends had come up with.

"Macchin, sweetheart, please, can we get through ONE farewell party for Acchan without you being a bitch?" Kana returned, grinning widely. "I know it's hard because that's your true nature, but please, for Acchan's sake?"

Apparently-Macchin leaned forward and pointed her lit cigarette end across the table at Kana. "Why steal drinks from doctors when a couple of lipstick missions could pay your bills for the next month, sweetheart?"

Something about that sentence didn't make sense. Sakura opened her mouth to interject, but at that moment a waiter appeared at her side and placed a drink in front of her. He looked a little embarrassed as he indicated the white napkin pinned under it. Sakura's heart sped up as she recognised the cartoon scarecrow scrawled on the napkin.

"This is from a creepy guy over in the corner wearing a mask, and I'm pretty sure he's cosplaying as the great Copy Ninja," the young waiter rolled his eyes, "Because he's been sitting there by himself for ages with his nose in a dirty book, and he didn't even move out of the way in time when someone spilled a glass of water on him."

Sakura giggled. "Yes, it must be a crazed fan cosplaying. Tell him thank you very much and that I'll come say hi to him if he's still here in an hour or so."

The waiter stared at her in disbelief, before wandering away muttering something about weird fetishes and role-playing fangirls.

Sakura smiled and turned back to the table, where the conversation had become heated.

"- can't handle that, he doesn't deserve to be with you!" Aki declared firmly. Heads nodded in agreement around the table.

"Ok, ok, but!" Natsuko, one of the OR nurses began, "If you're in a relationship, or married, and you still keep taking them? Doesn't that seem kind of bad?"

"We're not talking about contraceptives are we?" Sakura murmured to Kana, "Because I thought we were all clear on the fact that birth control is every woman's right, I really emphasised it in the seminar last year."

"No; lipstick missions." Kana murmured back to her absently, intent on the discussion.

"Natsuko, some people just don't have a choice. The money's quite good and it normally doesn't involve killing anyone, which I always find is a bonus," a small pretty girl with long dark curls said patiently. She picked up a chicken skewer from the platter in front of her and took a bite, careful not to smear her plum-coloured lipstick.

"That's something I just could never handle when I was active," announced Hisako, a new intern, from where she sat on Aki's right side. Sakura remembered her name because it was the same name as her favourite aunt. Hisako had black hair pulled back into a long ponytail, and a serious face, even when she was giving patients good news. Sakura had witnessed her announce her engagement in the break room without cracking a smile.

"Killing people?" Aki wrapped an arm around Hisako's shoulders and gave her a squeeze. "Then why'd you come to work in a hospital? We're always killing people accidentally, am I right?" She winked brazenly.

"Oh my god, Aki, stop it, you're so insensitive!" shrieked a chubby brunette sitting next to Hisako. Sakura realised guiltily that she didn't know her name either, but felt sure that it started with an H too.

"It's ok, Ayumi," said Hisako, "That's the sense of humour I'm going to miss." She turned to look at Aki seriously and continued, "That we're all going to miss."

Aki smiled genuinely and pulled her into a hug. "I'm going to miss all of you too!" She waved at a waitress over Hisako's shoulder. "Excuse me! Another round, please!"

An hour or two and a few more rounds later, Sakura was feeling very relaxed and very affectionate toward her co-workers. At some point a birthday cake had appeared, "What the fuck, Aki, it's not your birthday!" "Shut up, I wanted cake!" and Natsuko had kissed a couple of geriatric businessmen at another table on a dare from the chubby brunette named Ayumi, like Ayuko Sakura's neighbour, but with a "mi" on the end, Sakura thought fuzzily. She had had a few more cocktails, and bought Kana a few more beers as well as sending a bottle of sake to Aki's end of the table.

"Haruno sensei, you're the best!" Kana exclaimed loudly, accidentally spilling some of her beer on Sakura's skirt. "Oh shit! I'm so sorry, let me get that!" She snatched up a napkin and dabbed at Sakura's skirt for a moment, before being distracted by the drawing on it.

"What is this? Is it a zombie or something? Did the waiter draw it?" She held it up for inspection by the rest of the table. Only a few of the women bothered to look.

"It's not a zombie, it's a carescrow!" Sakura exclaimed, successfully making a grab for it.

"A crarescow, who would draw a wrarescrow on a napkin, a napkin, for you?" slurred Macchin, standing up to peer at it. She had a row of empty shot glasses in front of her.

"My sensei, he's so funny, he bought me a drink but he drew this on the napkin how cute is that?" Sakura broke into a fit of giggles. She wondered if Kakashi had borrowed a pen from the waiter or if he just carried a pen around in one of his vest pockets. She'd have to ask him next time they had ramen together.

"That's fucking weird; it sounds like he's flirting with you, sensei. Does he have a thing for you or something?" Macchin put an elbow on the table and promptly knocked one of the shot glasses on the floor. There was a tinkle of broken glass and a waiter came over to clear up the mess.

"Wait, wait, I've got it!" Hisako folded her hands together and concentrated. A green chakra glow appeared. Cries rang out around the table.

"What is she doing?"

"She's trying to heal the fucking shot glass!"

"She'll hurt herself! Stop her!"

Quicker than thought, Sakura got to her feet and vaulted to the other side of the table. Before anyone could take a breath, she clasped her hands over Hisako's and dispersed the accumulating chakra. Suddenly drained of energy, Hisako slumped forward into Sakura's lap where she sat on the table.

"Nice one, Haruno sensei!" Before Sakura could move, Aki's arms were draped around her, her loud voice ringing in her ears. As she checked Hisako's pulse and pushed up her eyelids to check her pupils, Sakura vaguely heard the other women around the table speaking.

"That was so fast, oh my god, I didn't even see that, did you see that?"

"After all, she's the Godaime's apprentice."

"You guys have never seen her in battle, have you?"

"Have you?"

"No! That's why I'm asking!"

Having satisfied herself that Hisako was passed out sleeping, Sakura carefully disentangled herself from Aki's embrace and smiled at a couple of waitresses who were standing back, eying the group nervously.

"It's ok, everything's fine, it's all good. Can you please call us some, some, cats, I mean scabs, I mean," she began to giggle helplessly.

"Can you call them some cabs please?" Sakura looked up in delight at the very familiar and welcome voice.

"Kakashi sensei! You're still here!" She hopped off the table unsteadily and threw herself into his arms. He was so tall, and strong, and warm, and smelled so good. She managed not to say any of this out loud, but it was a near thing.

"Are you ready to go home?" His voice rumbled pleasantly in her ear and Sakura pulled back to nod at him.

"Well, if Haruno sensei's ditching us for her boyfriend, then I'm going home too," Kana called across the table. "No more free drinks for me!"

"I told you already, bitch, take a lipstick mission," Macchin yelled at her, before bursting into a fit of laughter.

"What even is that?" Sakura demanded. Her arms were still around Kakashi sensei, she was mostly pressed against him, so she felt it when his whole body seemed to freeze up for a moment. She tensed instinctively; something had put him on his guard.

"Sensei? What's wrong?" she drew back and looked up at him. He smiled down at her, as calm and inscrutable as ever.

"It's nothing, Sakura. I think the cabs for your friends have arrived. Let's go see."

Sakura woke up the next morning in her bed fully dressed, with the sun blazing in through her open curtains. On her way to the shower, she pulled off her top, and stared down in confusion at the edge of a white napkin sticking out of her bra. Why would I put that there?

She pulled it out and smoothed out the crinkles. The hand-drawn scarecrow adorning the paper brought a blush to her cheeks. As memories of the night before came rushing back, she groaned and pressed and hand to her forehead.

"How am I going to face Kakashi sensei after this?"

Author's Note: So yeah, this is what I write when I have a big deadline tomorrow that I haven't written anything for yet. I apologise to anyone who's been waiting for an update on this story. There will probably be another chapter after this one, but I'm not sure when it will be. ^_^;;;;