The One Night Henge

Chapter 4

As Sakura looked around The Rusty Shuriken, she noticed that it had gotten much more lively over the past couple of hours. There was a small group in the back of the bar playing pool, another group in a corner to the left of the bar, and people on the dance floor dancing to the beat of the loud music.

There was an attractive woman making her way around the establishment, laughing and talking with everyone there. She must have been a regular visitor of The Rusty Shuriken because she seemed to know everyone. The only group she had not made her way around to socialize with was their own.

The four of them were still in their little booth against the wall. Niko was now practically sitting in Genma's lap and Saki was still tightly tucked up next to Sukea. There were several empty glasses on the table and a half eaten basket of fries.

The small group had been laughing, joking and talking about anything and everything going on in the village recently. Genma talked about the mission he had just returned from, apparently one where Kakashi had been his partner. Sakura figured that was probably why she had seen Kakashi around the bar earlier. She assumed that he had been making his way to leave when she had seen him, because he had only passed by her once and she had not seen him since.

Taking a hint from the glare Kakashi was giving him, Genma decided to change the topic of conversation "So," he drawled out as he looked between the two women, "you ladies never told us what brought you out tonight."

Ino perked up instantly at the chance to talk. "Well, you see, Saki here had a horrible week at the hospital and then ran into her ex earlier. So, I really had no choice but to bring her out. I mean, what kind of best friend would I be if I let her sit at home and mope?"

Kakashi was relieved that Genma had finally gotten the hint to stop talking about the mission that they had both just returned from. The whole topic of 'Kakashi' was making him a little uneasy. Now, though, the topic had been moved to something he was more comfortable with, not to mention much more interested in—Saki. "So, you work at the hospital?"

Shit, good going Ino Pig! You and your big mouth. Sakura groaned to herself. "Uhh, I uhh. Yeah!" she stuttered, Well that was pathetic, Sakura.

"What do you do there?" Sukea asked, giving her his full attention.

"I'm a nurse," she answered. It wasn't far from the truth; if anything she was downgrading her abilities.

"Really, so you trained as a medical nin then?"

Was he honestly just that interested in learning about her boring life? "Yes, I learned medical nin-jutsu for the war. But I lost my entire team over the course of the war and after it was over I requested to be moved to the hospital permanently," Sakura answered honestly. Just because her teammates weren't all dead didn't mean she had not lost them all during the war.

Was she being serious? Kakashi Hatake was usually a pretty good judge of character and he couldn't see Saki just making up something like that so casually. He searched her face for any sign of dishonesty but found none. "I'm sorry to hear that. I know what it's like to lose a comrade." The words slipped out before he could stop himself. He knew the kind of pain she was talking about. It would seem they had more in common than he originally thought.

"You lost comrades before? I thought you were a photographer?" She couldn't stop her curiosity. She had always had a big heart.

"I was a shinobi before this. I was granted permission to leave after I lost my entire team." The tone in his voice and the look on his face told everyone at the table that he had shared more than he usually would like to.