It doesn't take terribly long for rumors to start piling up.
The nasty kind.
He hears them as he walks through the streets, visits the library and market and other places he frequents. Sadly, it's just outside the Hokage's headquarters where they seem to be the worst, and some of the faces he distinctly remembers giving him congratulations are singing a decidedly different tune outside of the workplace. He has no doubt that Tsunade probably had a 'talk' with her staff, warning what could happen if anyone were to verbally bash or otherwise treat any differently her favorite student over her personal life choices. And, although the fear of their Godaime's monstrous strength had, indeed, most definitely struck the fear of the gods into many of the Leaf's shinobi, there were still a few that held tightly - though quietly - to their own opinions on the matter.
Sakura had never once said anything to him about hearing any such complaints about the nature or social acceptable-ness of their relationship, save for a single time towards the beginning, about three weeks in, when a pair of complete strangers remarked on their blatant age difference while they were out buying groceries. Sakura had yelled so loud that she scared them away, and he just stood there chuckling with his hands in his pockets as she flicked her hair and went, "Hmph! The nerve of people, I swear..."
Other than that, though, he doesn't believe anything else of a particularly damaging nature had reached Sakura, probably because the ones who were judgmental of the relationship were smart enough to keep their mouths shut around the Hokage's apprentice. But, who knows. Maybe she was just lucky.
Which brings him now to their most present problem; Sakura has had a couple of visits to the hospital over these past two weeks, and was just recently diagnosed with sciatica.
At first she'd tried to fix it herself, thinking that maybe her posture while walking or sitting or what have you had caused a nerve to become pinched. But when that didn't work, and once she'd ruled out any obvious issues with her spine or muscles causing her trouble, she gave up and went in for a checkup. Despite doctor/patient confidentiality, news of her sciatica had spread like wildfire, and most everywhere he went, Kakashi's ears were assaulted with some rather vile remarks.
"Sciatica? For the Hokage's apprentice? She's a medical ninja, isn't she? Can't she just fix that herself? I bet she's pregnant."
"Please. What a coverup. She's probably pregnant."
"I saw her walking down by the library a couple weeks ago. She had a really weird limp, I bet she's just not used to having such a 'mature' lover."
"Haha, yeah, she oughta talk to her daddy-boyfriend about having that fixed, not some doctor."
And the list went on.
Kakashi prided himself in ignoring people, particularly stupid people, but where Sakura was involved, it...became a rather gray area. He'd nearly opened his mouth a couple of times at some of the things that had been said about the two of them, but in the end - just barely - he held his tongue. Lashing out at those who have nothing better to do than gossip about people they either barely know or don't know at all would only prove to fuel the fire, and produce even more of the thing he wanted to snuff out. Though it was irritating, and infuriating as hell at times, he knew that once enough time had passed, people would get bored, and something else or someone else would come up that was far juicier than their old married couple relationship, and move on.
It was just the 'waiting for that to happen' part that was testing his patience.
"Hey, Kakashi. I'm home."
He lowers his book and looks up to see Sakura closing his front door, his ears pricking at the sound of rustling grocery bags. The tension he'd felt at reliving the fifty or so comments he'd heard over the past few weeks instantly dissipates, and his muscles relax and his face softens without even realizing it. Sakura slips off her shoes and prances across his hardwood floors to bend down and plant a kiss on his masked lips, and he closes his eyes and savors the three seconds of bliss. She has no idea how happy she makes him every time their lips meet, every time her hand cups his jaw and brushes his cheek as she pulls away. Just having her near is cathartic.
