(A/N: Play music in the media.)

"Sakura-chan! You're up, —ttebayo!"

"Now she's definitely up, Dobe," Sasuke muttered sourly.

Automatically, Sakura sat up in place, stretching her arms and then cracking her neck, taking in her surroundings.

"Good morning, Sakura-chan!"

"Aa," she replied, nodding at the two.

"Damn, Teme! You weren't supposed to pass your stupid catchphrase onto Sakura-chan, dattebayo!"

"Hn," Sasuke replied, smirking and then getting up, glancing at the pink-haired girl in the corner of his eye. Sighing quietly, he headed towards the bathroom.

Tsunami came into their room, carrying food for Sakura and then tidying the blankets while Naruto ate in the kitchen. "You have a slight fever, and you must be exhausted," she said, shaking her head. "Just stay in bed for now, okay? I'm going to check on Kakashi."

Sakura nodded before eating slowly, careful not to spill on the blankets. Fifteen minutes in, she was interrupted.

"Sakura-chaaan!"

"Sakura-neeeee!"

"Sak'raaa!"

Three people barged into the room, with one lingering behind. "Dobe, what if Sakura was naked or something?"

"Uh..." The blonde had a perverted look on his face similar to Jiraiya the Toad Sage's.

"Tch, pervert," Sasuke muttered, hitting him over the head.

"Yeah, you creep!" Inari yelled, kicking him.

"Nar'to, you're pretty creepy," Genta observed before landing a punch on his head.

"Ow! Teme, you've brainwashed these poor children into mini bastards, dattebayo!"

"Aa." I know.  The concerned Uchiha looked at Sakura, who was watching the whole scene with disinterest.

"Um, the old man told us the story, Sakura-chan. He wouldn't tell us much, but from what I heard, you sounded pretty kick-ass to me, dattebayo!" Naruto gave her a grin and struck a good guy pose.

Sakura nodded, tucking a piece of her hair behind her ear. Her left ear.

"Oh, you got a haircut, dattebayo! It looks good!" The blonde babbled to distract the awkwardness of the whole situation.

"Oh m' gosh!" Genta had crawled over to where Sakura was lying and had managed to unwrap the gauze. "Your ear's almos' gone!"

"That's an exaggeration," Inari said, pronouncing the long word carefully. "It's just a teeny-weeny bit."

"What, —ttebayo?" Naruto got closer, while Sasuke brooded in the corner. He inspected the wound on her ear. "Jeez, Sakura-chan!" He exclaimed loudly for comic relief, "W-what's this?" His face suddenly got darker when he reached for her collar and pulled down.

Large, purple and blue bruises encircled her entire neck. "Sak'ra! You were choked!"

Sasuke's attention was snatched quickly when he heard what the little boy that said, pushing away the disturbance that a little boy knew what the signs of strangulation were. He looked up to see the large bruises on her neck, then to Sakura's face. The usual emotionless mask.

Acting as if her life had not been in danger at one moment.

"What else happened?" Naruto was too upset to care about getting sick, he was too worried about Sakura. He grabbed her face, and inspected closely only to find the small scar attached to her lips. "What's this one?!" His voice got even higher as he hysterically continued searching.

"The first and second are from a sword," Sakura replied, still sitting straight.

"Is there a third and fourth?" Sasuke asked in an oddly calm way.

Astonished, everyone in the room froze when she nodded. "L-let's go downstairs," Naruto suggested. "Sakura-chan, you can tell us what happened in the kitchen."

"No." The pinkette lied back down, ignoring her throbbing ankle that wasn't properly set, seeing how she didn't know any more than basics to the medical field. She knew only how to kill, not heal.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto's voice got even higher in desperation. "You need to show us what happened!"

"Hn..." Sakura pulled the covers over her entirely. "You should not be concerned about me, only yourself." Her voice was muffled, and hard to hear, but they understood what she said.

"Sakura-chan! Look at me!" His voice held seriousness and authority, all playfulness stripped of his words. Sasuke looked at him subtly, surprised.

She didn't.

"Dobe," the dark-haired genin drawled out, grabbing his arm, "Let's let her rest."

"B-but, Sasuke—" Naruto spluttered as he was dragged away.

"Let her rest," Sasuke repeated, and sent a look to the little boys to follow him. All four left the room.

:::

"Kakashi-sensei! You're up?" Naruto caught sight of his sensei at the kitchen sipping tea.

"Hai!" Their teacher smiled at them and then took another sip.

"Hn." Sasuke glared at the jōnin with anger.

"My, my, Sasuke! What's bothering my little genin?"

"Sakura!" He growled, furious their sensei was always ignoring her or abandoning her.

"Oh! She's back? Wait, she had to have been, I saw Tazuna." He smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. "Whoops."

"No, 'How is she?'" Naruto growled, remembering Kakashi had lied about Sakura's whereabouts so he could call it a day and rest.

"Why would I ask? I know she's fine, and resting in that room over there. Perhaps even eavesdropping. After all, she is a shinobi." They all glanced over to the closed door.

"She is not fine!" Naruto protested, shaking his head stubbornly.

"I can summon Pakkun to tell us what happened, if you want!" Kakashi's voice remained happy and without care.

"Do it, then." Sasuke jutted out his chin and crossed his arms.

Their sensei sighed. "Okay, Sasuke, Naruto." He bit his finger and made a few hand signs, then slammed his hand on the floor.

"Wh—oh. Hey Kakashi," The small dog nodded. "I take it Sakura is all right?"

"See! Even the dog cares more about her than you!" Naruto angrily jabbed a finger at Pakkun and then their sensei.

"Well, to be fair, she did have it under control..." Pakkun said. "The first one I saw was most likely the last one she killed." The blonde flinched at the last word. "You can still smell it on me," the dog sniffed himself and then wrinkled his nose in disgust. "That man must've done something to really annoy her."

"But Sakura doesn't outwardly show any emotions," Sasuke pointed out.

"Really? It seemed like a very emotional moment for her. He was killed off in one of the worst ways you can die."

"Which is...?"

"Fire. Messy way to kill, even for shinobi. We mostly use it to move the target where we want them to go."

"Unlike Sakura," Sasuke observed out loud. "And you're sure she did it?"

"Yeah. Her scent and everything. After that, she ran off to get Tazuna."

"See?" Kakashi smiled with his eyes closed, making Sakura's teammates want to kill him even more. "There was nothing to worry about."

Unnecessary chapter. Just some more dimension to the story, especially towards the relationship between Kakashi and his students.

I don't have any questions for this chapter, so I decided that you can ask any questions you want (age appropriate, please)!