Shades of Grey

Chapter 5

It was the middle of the night when Sakura heard her door creak open, but she was not afraid. She would know her visitor anywhere.

"Kakashi." She opened her eyes and turned to face him.

"Sakura." He nodded in greeting, but a layer of anger laced the word. "Tell me when did my favorite student go from being the brightest, to being dimmer than Naruto?"

"I imagined that you would understand better than anyone." Sakura set up to look him in the face.

"Oh, I understand." His mismatched eyes stared into her own. But I do not think that you do. You somehow missed the fact that you are the heart of Team 7. Without you all that we have are two of the strongest ninjas in the world who want to prove themselves so badly that they almost kill each other to do so. Then of course the artist that has to be the most socially inept person that I have ever met, a substitute captain who was a test subject for Orochimaru, and a captain who is a porn addict and obsessed with self-loathing."

"You guys will make it." She assured. "I have faith in you all."

"Sakura," he sighed "you were the one to give those two a beating when they got out of control, the first one to make a true effort to befriend Sai, you have never treated Yamato different from any other shinobi, and you have always been the only one who can calm me. You are the one who can drag me from the darkness of the past and effortlessly put a smile on my face. I don't think that you understand what this will do to us. The teammates that you tried so hard to save are nothing without you."

"I am so sorry Kakashi." She was unable to stop the tears from flowing down her cheeks. "But if it was Rin or Obito in this situation would you have done any differently?"

Kakashi sighed again. She had him there. Truth be told he was prouder of her than he had ever been of anyone. But that could not make the hurt any less. He knew that she was as powerful as her master. A fearsome kunoichi in by her own right. Whenever he looked at her though, she was the little girl giggling while she set on his back and he did pushups. In a moment of nostalgia, he reached out and ruffled her hair; his heart ached. Would this be the last time that he was ever able to do so?

"Rest Sakura." He gently prompted. "The Hokage wants us all in her office at dawn. I will watch over you while you sleep."

He smiled down at her and she complied drifting into a seemingly peaceful slumber. He would proudly guard her one last time; until they were able to find a way to override the damn order. Couldn't she have just allowed him time to figure it out? Taking in the scope of all that she had done though Kakashi decided that he had once again been too late to arrive. She had foreseen the problem and taken away the threat to her team. He might be late, but he vowed that once again as always Kakashi Hatake, the infamous Copy-nin, would come out victorious.