Matters to Me

Chapter 2: Something's Wrong

(Just a side note. In this fic, I'm making Team 7 (or Team Kakashi) composed of Sakura, Naruto, and Sai, Sasuke's already left the village. Since they're all grown up, they often go on missions alone, but sometimes Jonin (like Kakashi and you) will accompany them.)

As you two were nearing the village, you noticed Kakashi's breath speed up and shoulders become tenser while hauling the captive over his back. You started to feel bad, after all, he carried the heavy load the whole way without any stops or rests. "Kakashi", you say.
"Hn?" He asks. "Do you need some help there? I could take over-" Kakashi cuts you off. "No, (Y/n), I'm fine." He says stubbornly.
"Hmph," You go, and decide to let it be. But soon Kakashi's breathing started to get deeper, and you decided to help him out.
"Yo, Kakashi," You snap. He jerks his head to look at you. "What, (Y/n)?" He asks rudely. "Gimme the dude. I'll carry him the rest of the way.".
"No,(Y/n), I told you I'm fine."
"Really? 30 minutes ago you were whining about how unfair I was.".
"Yes, but I was just messing with you. Trust me, I've got this.".
You go in front of him and stop him in his tracks. "What's wrong? What, you don't think I can take it? Is it cause I'm a girl?"
"No," he replies exasperatedly.
"Then give me the dude." You say, in your 'I'm-not-messing-around' voice.
"Jeez, fine" Kakashi replies, a little alarmed by your change of tone. He takes the tied captive off of his shoulders and helps you hoist him onto your back. From there you two take off on what most likely would be a 40-minute path to the village. But now there was an uncomfortable silence between your partner and you. You wondered if you had gone too far with Kakashi, and if you should take the first move and apologize.
"Look,(Y/n)" He says at the same time you say "Hey, Kakashi". After a little bit of "sorry" and "no, you should go first" you decide to speak up.
"Sorry if I offended you in any way. I should've known my place and carried the body in the beginning. You are the leader of this mission, after all."
"No, I'm sorry (Y/n). I've been a bit... snappy with you lately. It's just..." he trailed off. You raise your eyebrows and flash him a sympathetic look, trying to get him to go on.
"I don't exactly have the best experience with female teammates. Well, a female teammate. I mean-" He shoots you an apologetic glance, and you understand he doesn't want to open up about this. Yet.
"Hey, it's cool. I just want you to know that I can look out for myself. I'm not some wussy girl," You toss your hair in a primadonna fashion. "I mean come on. I'm way stronger than you, and you're like a bazillion years older than me.".
"Shut up! I'm not that old."
"Says the grey-haired man"
"You're only 3 years younger than me! And I can kick your butt in battle any day!"
You smirked. "That's not what happened last time."
"I-I was going easy on you!"
You raised your eyebrows. "Is that so?"
He looked away and huffed, slightly blushing, and you let out a laugh. He was so mature, yet looked so childish sometimes. "Come on, we're almost home," you tell him, whilst speeding up. "Last one there treats the other to ramen!"
He laughs. "You're so on!"

You two finally arrive at the village. To your dismay, he came in first, but you started to argue that it was because you were literally carrying a body on your back.
"Well, maybe you should have thought about that before challenging me to a race!" Kakashi replies smoothly. You shoot him a glare. "Now about that ramen. I was thinking after we drop the prisoner off you could treat me, unless-"
He stopped, the both of you hearing fast footsteps approaching. You turn to see an out of breath Sakura running to you.
"(Y/n)! I'm glad you're back! I need to tell you something! It's about Sai!". She says hurriedly.
"Yeah, Sakura?" You reply. "What's up?"
"Well, Team 7 was on a mission for the last few days. The last day, Sai was separated from us for a few hours, and when we got to him... he was acting strangely. Even now. We came back a few hours ago and asked him if he wanted to join us for ramen, and he just shrugged us off and said he was tired. Which is weird, you know? I mean, not that Sai isn't normally weird-"
"Sakura" You cut her off. "You said Sai was acting weird. Weird how?"
"Dunno," she replied. "You know how he's always smiling and seemed so emotionless? Today, he didn't even bother to smile, and was so... depressed, almost."
"Depressed?" You thought. "That sounds nothing like Sai. Even if he was sad, he always hid it with a smile. Something's wrong.". You turned to look at Kakashi, who was listening intently into the conversation.
"Kakashi, could you take care of the captive for me? I have to deal with this." You tell him.
He scoffed. "Is this that big of a deal? Can't you do this later?" You were surprised at his attitude. And did something just flicker in his eyes now? Something protective. What was it?
"Yes Kakashi, it's that big of a deal," You say. You look at him remorsefully. "I'm sorry, I promise I'll treat you out to ramen later. Pleassseee?". He sighs. "Fine, but I'm going to hold you to that ramen offer.".
You give him a big grin. "Thanks, Kakashi!". You shoved the prisoner (who, by the way, was making muffled noises the entire time) in Kakashi's direction and take off to Sai's home.

"She sure is something," Sakura says to Kakashi while watching you 'Naruto run' away.

"Yea" Kakashi chuckles. "She sure is"

(Hehe Sai's in the next chapter, I promise.)
(1022 words)