After their unscheduled break, they had continued to run full tilt through the dense forests of Fire Country for another five hours until Sakura's calves and quads burned and her feet were sore.
She had no intention of complaining however because she felt she had to make up for her careless mistake earlier that morning.
Conversation had been quite a bit lighter after they had resumed their journey, saving their breath instead to lengthen endurance as they both pushed their bodies hard. Sakura had secretly been ecstatic about that particular part.
When Kakashi had finally called for a break, the sun had already passed overhead and Sakura guessed it to be about one or two in the afternoon.
She had been more than ready to rest her shaking muscles and get some food into her system and figured Kakashi was hungry as well.
As they ate, he further discussed interrogation tactics with her, explaining how in some situations in was best to ask questions casually, sometimes even flippantly while other times would require firmer, but in her case, still flirtatious approaches.
Much of what he said was review from other general training she had undergone but she was more than happy to listen and ask the occasional question.
After all, this was far less personal than their earlier conversation and she was especially grateful for it. She knew she was by no means through with discussing the more intimate topics with Kakashi but she was hoping to delay it as long as possible.
After all, it had been some time, years in fact, since this man had been her teacher and once she had started training as Tsunade's apprentice, she saw him next to never, considering he abhorred hospitals and that was where she always was.
It was odd to have the occasional mission together and then not see each other for months and then suddenly be flung together into such a compromising situation.
Kakashi hadn't really changed since he was her teacher, but she had changed a lot, and that made it a little difficult to sort out what their new relationship exactly was.
He was in charge of this mission, clearly making her his subordinate, and yet she would have the biggest role in the operation.
He wasn't really her teacher anymore, but on this mission he was, instructing her in activities far more mature than tree climbing.
It was all very confusing, and Sakura Haruno didn't like being confused and that only added to the long list of things that seemingly were conspiring against her to make certain she would return to Konoha a failure.
After lunch and their brief discussion, they were on the move again, flying through the trees at top speed. Kakashi didn't attempt to ask her anymore embarrassing questions and Sakura didn't fall out of any more trees.
She kept her eyes focused on the next branch, scanning the surrounding area with her chakra for any possible threats as she jumped from tree to tree until the sun went down and she lost all track of time.
Her body was starting to throb with the exertion of their travels and she realized that working inside the hospital had perhaps taken the edge off her once razor sharp combat skills and excessive stamina.
Practicing in the training fields a couple times a week wasn't enough to keep herself in shape because she could feel herself becoming weaker with every bound to another branch.
Expert medic or not, she simply hadn't been out of Konoha on a mission in too damn long.
Kakashi could tell she was reaching her limits as he sensed her chakra signature wavering as she began to draw from the last of her reserves. They had at least another day and a half of travel before they would reach Fire Country's borders and he didn't want to completely exhaust her the first day.
At the next clearing he saw, he jumped down from the tree tops and landed in a silent crouch on the forest floor. They would make camp here for the night and continue in the morning.
He heard Sakura's sigh of relief as she landed behind him, obviously glad to be calling it a day. A small smile tugged at his lips as he remembered how she had made the same sounds after traveling a quarter of the distance they had covered today back when team seven was in its infancy. Times certainly had changed.
"How's your body?" he asked as he moved past her to search for dry branches he could use to start a fire.
The question was completely innocent and as a medic, she should have recognized the question for what it was: an inquiry about the condition her muscles and chakra after traveling at a grueling pace all day.
However, that wasn't the first thing that popped into her head and she found herself blushing again at the thought of Kakashi asking that same question with quite a different connotation, even though she knew that's not what he meant.
Frowning at her own immaturity, she brushed the dirty thoughts aside and answered him with a surprisingly steady voice.
"I'm fine. I'll probably be sore tomorrow though."
Kakashi nodded as he picked a dead branch out of the underbrush.
"Stretch well tonight. We'll be moving just as fast tomorrow."
Sakura couldn't help but smile a little at his words as she braced her hands against the tree she was facing and moved her left leg back to produce a welcome stretch in her calf. He was still a hardass instructor. No doubt about it.
In minutes, Kakashi had gathered enough wood to pile in the center of the clearing and with a simple jutsu, had a fire burning in no time. Sakura sat down near the blaze, basking in the warmth it radiated.
It felt good to relax in front of the fire but it didn't beat a hot shower.
After running hard all day, she was covered in a thin sheet of sweat and grime that she probably wouldn't get to remove for another few days; something else she had grown unaccustomed to while being spoiled behind hospital walls with indoor plumbing.
As she stretched her legs straight out in front of her and pressed her nose to her knees while touching her toes, Kakashi sat down across from her, watching her stretch out her hamstrings through the crackling fire.
He hadn't talked with her about her mission nearly as much as he had wanted to but there was only so much conversing one could do while running top speed. He was also looking forward to their upcoming conversations about as much as she was, which was not at all.
It was so awkward to talk with a girl who had just recently entered the stage of womanhood about such adult things, especially when that girl was still inherently innocent and a former pupil.
He would have to do it sooner or later though and the sooner he got it over with, the sooner he could stop worrying about it. As much as he wanted to get it out of the way, he knew it was already late and now was not an ideal time. However, there was just one thing he wanted to know now.
"Sakura, you never answered the question I asked you earlier today," he said as he fished a bag of dried and salted meat out of his pack.
He saw her tense before hesitantly lifting her head and disrupting her stretch.
"And what question would that be?"
She knew what it was. He knew she knew what it was. And she knew he knew she knew what it was, but he humored her anyway.
"You've informed me you're a virgin," he said, meeting her eyes through the dancing flames of the fire. "But that doesn't mean you haven't done…other things."
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