A/N: For Diaph Annie (who inspires. Inspires. Inspires. And is on vacation) and Epiff Annie II- The Ripper, otherwise known as ohwhatsherface (because I was supposed to update a kazillion years ago but didn't follow through with my end of the deal). It's not great but it's what I can come up with in the middle of the night. One-Shot
It's summer. SUMMER. I don't know what that means to you but it means getting crunked off my ass and five more hours of sleep. Just kidding about the crunked thing.
Ripped this scene from Grey's Anatomy. So definitely do not own Grey's or Naruto.
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Sasuke came into the hospital looking a little worse for wear. Naruto, trying to avert his eyes away from his friend's battered state couldn't, help but cringe at the sight of him and took note at the swelling on his right cheek and stifled a snort. His best friend was completely hopeless.
"What'd you do this time?"
Naruto already knew. Sasuke knew that he knew.
The man glared at the blonde and tossed his mission folder unceremoniously across the wooden table provided for patients at the hospital. The folder managed to knock against a familiar orange book, sliding it over a few inches. Kakashi frowned when his novel was no longer within his reach.
"You messed up."
"I didn't mess up." Sasuke emphasized. "I don't know what the hell is wrong with her."
Naruto scoffed and brought his arms to cross over his chest. He gave Sasuke a pointed look. "She curled her hair for you."
"I don't care if her hair is straight or curled. It doesn't make a difference to me."
Kakashi, ignoring the bickering going on in front of him, reached over his bed with some forced effort and stretched his fingers as humanly far as possible to grasp the orange book.
A little bit more…
The dark-haired man kicked a chair out of his way and chose that precise moment to lean against the table, pushing the manila folder so it settled securely in the middle. He hadn't noticed the thick novel being scooted aside as a chain reaction. Kakashi inwardly wailed for his book.
"But she cares. She curled her hair for you!" Naruto repeated. "You know how long it's been since she's done anything to her hair?! That stupid iron curler--curling iron--whatever the shit it is, took an hour and a half just to heat up!"
"I didn't ask her to." Sasuke mumbled, glaring at the floor instead. Naruto's bright ass jacket was burning his pupils.
The blonde gaped at his friend. "What the fuck were you going to do if you were to ask her? 'Hey Sakura, babe, curl your hair for me, would ya?' She'll come hunting me down thinking that was me instead." He groaned and rolled his eyes, tugging on the hem of his jacket to straighten it out. It didn't help smooth the wrinkles in the least bit.
"Look, she wasn't complaining through out the date, okay?" Sasuke rubbed temples in small circles. Migraine. Migraine. Migraine.
"And that gives you a reason not to kiss her good night?" Naruto asked incredulously. Dumbass. Dumbass. Dumbass.
The grey-haired man, who was the actual patient there, managed to lift himself upright and turned his body in order to grab the Icha Icha Paradise before it fell into the abyss of the floor.
Sasuke growled and pushed against the table, knocking the book on the floor and headed towards the foot of the bed. There, he stood and stared blankly at the blonde in front of him. Apparently, both were unaware of their former sensei choking at his loss.
"I didn't know she was expecting something."
Naruto shook his head. "You didn't…you didn't know she was expecting something? It was a date! A date, you moronic GIT!"
Kakashi continued to sulk in his bed.
"Why didn't she just tell me she wanted a kiss from me?" The Uchiha seemed to have mumbled that to himself but his friend caught it easily.
"Because you're supposed to initiate it, asshole." The blonde rubbed the back of his head and figured he had enough with his best friend--rival's stupidity for one day. It was usually the other way around. "Listen, you didn't follow through."
Kakashi, during this moment, digested his former student's words and looked genuinely surprised at Sasuke. "You didn't follow through?"
Sasuke whipped his head over to the man and for a second, Kakashi witnessed real confusion fleeting through his eyes before it returned to its normalcy of a blank magnitude. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"
The room was quiet.
"Are you kidding me?" Naruto counted to ten and breathed slowly before shooting a glare at Sasuke. "How the hell did you get her to go on a date with you in the first place?"
"I don't see how that's any of your concern. I don't see how ANY of this is of your concern." His voice was discerningly calm and it only proved to piss the blonde off even more.
"What…you don't—you bastard!" Naruto sputtered. "It's Sakura! She's not who she was six years ago. She knows what she wants and she has expectations! Even when she was twelve, she had expectations. And honestly, Sasuke, you haven't reached one of them so far."
Sasuke fought the urge to deck his best friend in the face for bringing up the past. "What the hell are you on about?"
Kakashi was busy building a fortress behind them in case Naruto decided to lunge at Sasuke but he piped in a "He's right, Sasuke" before turning back to work. At least the Uchiha would have something to land on.
"Women have expectations! Sakura is a woman. Therefore she comes with expectations. For the past six years, you haven't lived up to any of her standards." The blonde was practically breathing fire but Sasuke was too busy trying to figure out what the hell it was that he hadn't exactly achieved up to their teammate's expectations.
Naruto chose to go on and completely dismissed the warning look that Kakashi tossed him from behind. "She expected you to stay in Konoha. She expected you to never betray us—her." He corrected himself. "She even expected you to come home without attacking us."
Sasuke's neck snapped up and he scowled at the future Rokudaime. "Shut up. She expected too much." I can't give her what she wants.
"She didn't expect you to give up your revenge." Naruto whispered. "She didn't expect you to love her."
"That's none of your business." Sasuke hissed, taking a step forward.
"None…none of my business?" Naruto laughed. "I watched her curl her hair for you, perfecting every strand. I ate hairspray because she doesn't know how to aim correctly! So when you don't meet her expectations, I hear about it all night. I hear her sulking and bitching and everything in-between. So yeah, I do think it's my business."
This time, the other man was quiet and Kakashi was slowly taking down his fortress. "You know, her shift doesn't end until eight today."
The two men turned to their former teacher. "What?" Sasuke blurted out.
"Her shift." Kakashi glanced at the clock. "It doesn't end until eight. Just because you screwed up doesn't mean you don't get a second chance." His eyes crinkled. "Sakura's good at giving second chances, remember?"
Sasuke licked his lips and before his mind decided to take a 180 turn, he was out of the room, shaking some nurse for information on where the pink-haired kunoichi was.
Naruto still a bit miffed, blinked at the man on the bed. "What are you doing here, Kaka-sensei?" He asked dumbly.
The man fell back against his pillow and silently cried to himself.
I can't believe Konoha will be in his hands in a few years.