Tsunade Caught Him

Sakura felt a large hand on her shoulder and tensed. The rich, baritone voice that spoke up from behind her filled her with relief. "I think you should leave miss Haruno alone," Kakashi addressed the smaller, young man in front of the green-eyed Kunoichi. The sweaty palm gripping her arm loosened and her bad choice of a date backed away and left, trying not to look frightened at the famous copy nin standing behind the pretty girl he'd failed at seducing. He'd failed pretty miserably.
Sakura rolled her eyes, attempting to act like she wasn't so happy to see her teammate. "You know I could've handled that jerk on my own, Kakashi" she stated, not wanting to sound too ungrateful.
"Yeah... But you wanted me to show up." He chuckled, almost bashfully. That was new. Bashful wasn't a word she would normally use to describe Kakashi.
"Why would I want you to show up? And if I did, how would you know?" She giggled at him.
"Because you did not trust that scumbag. But you do trust me."
"Why would I trust a pervert like you?" She challenged playfully.
"I honestly have no idea," he murmured, looking anywhere but at her. "What were you doing with such a loser anyway?" He almost sounded protective; maybe even jealous. She shrugged off the warm feeling his recent, odd behavior was continuing to induce.
"I don't know. He seemed nice earlier. He offered me dinner." She made it clear that it wasn't an actual relationship which seemed to set the older man at ease. She had always thought that he didn't notice her. She was never strong enough, never pretty enough, and she would never be old enough. Everything had changed mysteriously, however, after a simple conversation she'd had with the Hokage. Her mentor had summoned her and had merely suggested that Sakura be Kakashi's teammate on all of his missions, no matter the skill level or mission type. Her argument was that through all of their escapades in taking care of Naruto and chasing Sasuke, the two of them had developed a nearly perfect level of teamwork. Sometimes it almost seemed like they could read each other's minds. No one could argue with that. Everything was different after that and Sakura couldn't figure out why.
"You want me to stand as your date's replacement for the rest of the evening since I chased him away?" Kakashi offered, returning to his typical cool and collected demeanor. Sakura froze. Had he just asked her out? It took a minute for her to formulate a response that made sense.
"Uh... Sure." That was the best she could come up with at the moment.
Kakashi silently wandered down the street with Sakura at his side. He couldn't believe what he was doing. His mind drifted back to the events that had led to this.

Her hair was the prettiest color. It was the exact shade of a cherry blossom. Her eyes were the same soft green as leaf buds in early spring and her expression as bright as the world after a summer rain. Her rosebud lips seemed to taunt him with how soft they looked from across the table. His eye locked on them and he cringed internally as she lightly bit her lower lip.
An abrupt noise suddenly woke Kakashi from the daze he'd been in. After the moment it took for him to remember that he was in the middle of a Jonin meeting, he registered that the noise had merely been Guy obnoxiously adjusting his chair as he had been known to do when he had just finished speaking. Kakashi looked to Tsunade, wondering what Guy had said and what her response to it was. She, however, was not looking at Guy. She was looking intently at Kakashi. He tensed a little at her narrowed eyes. He wondered if he had been addressed and hadn't been paying enough attention to realize it. As the conversations continued without him, he realized that wasn't the case. Tsunade continued to stare at him, though. She looked like she had just seen something she'd never seen before and didn't fully understand it. "Oh no..." He thought as panic began to take hold of his mind. He met her eyes, trying to look innocent as the discussions he wasn't listening to continued. The Lady Hokage's gaze darted to Sakura and back to Kakashi and one eyebrow raised as if to ask the question Kakashi knew was floating through her mind. "She knows!" Was all he could think as his heart rate increased. Tsunade's expression morphed from questioning to a mixture of satisfaction and mischief. An odd smile rested on her face as she finally looked away and continued with the current conversation. Kakashi couldn't concentrate on a single statement made the rest of the meeting. He was terrified.
What if Tsunade confronted him about his dreamy eyed staring at a certain Kunoichi? What if he had to verbally admit that he... That he had feelings he shouldn't have. He swallowed at the lump in his throat as he wandered toward his apartment. What if she thought it was sick and twisted and tried to do something about it, like make sure they never went on the same mission?
On the other hand, maybe she was just trying to tell him to pay attention to what was going on in the meeting. He thought back to that mischievous smile on her face and changed his mind. What if she told Sakura? She wouldn't tell Sakura. Why would she? Unless Tsunade thought it was best for Sakura's protection. If Sakura knew his feelings, she'd be more wary of him. Tsunade might think he was a danger to her apprentice since she trusted him so much.
Kakashi's stomach was in knots. He felt like trash, but that was a feeling he'd grown accustomed to over the years. What bothered him more was that he felt exposed and there was not a feeling he abhorred more in his entire range of emotions.
It was in his personality to hide how he felt and what he thought and only show what he wanted to, not to mention that all ninja were trained to do so from childhood.
But who was he kidding? He'd let his attraction to Sakura get so far out of hand, he'd known it was bound to come out. He'd almost wanted it to. The only reason it hadn't yet was because he'd avoided her more and more as time went on. There was something like a tiny bit of hope in the back of his mind that maybe Sakura wouldn't be creeped out. Tsunade catching him staring and putting two and two together was not what he'd had in mind. This just made him feel stupid.
But now he had to decide what to do. He could just pretend nothing had happened. Maybe Tsunade would forget all about it. That wasn't likely. He should probably go talk to her and try to convince her that she'd misunderstood. He pondered his options as he unlocked his apartment and went inside. He'd just began unzipping his vest when there was a knock on his door. He sighed and pulled the zipper back up. He opened the door to find a weary-looking Shizune.
"Lady Tsunade wishes to see you," she mumbled simply. Kakashi's throat went dry. Apparently, ignoring it and hoping it would go away wasn't an option anymore.
He pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation. "Alright, I'm coming," he grumbled and followed Shizune back to the Hokage's office. He walked into the office, looking completely bored; effectively hiding his racing heart. "You wanted to see me, Tsunade-sama?" He monotoned.
Tsunade slowly turned her chair around to face him and looked him straight in his one eye. "I've noticed a few things recently," she hummed and then paused. "Sakura," she continued firmly, raising one eyebrow.
"No, Lady Hokage, I'm Kakashi, not Sakura."
"Don't mouth off to me. You know what I'm talking about." She smiled confidently.
"No, but I'll go tell Shizune she summoned the wrong person. She'll get Sakura for you." He turned and walked toward the door.
"Hatake Kakashi," she said in a low, calculating voice. "You are familiar with the feeling of your opponent obtaining information you were trying to protect. Is there a point to continue denying the validity of that information? I think the wiser choice would be to move on to negotiations."
Kakashi's shoulders sank. He knew she was right. Suddenly the realization of what this could mean for him came crashing in. What if Sakura found out and pushed him away forever. They were actually pretty good friends and she seemed to very much enjoy the company of her old sensei. He had to keep it a secret, no matter the cost and he was at her mercy. He cringed visibly as he turned back to face her. "What do you want?" He asked sternly.
"You tell Sakura how you feel about her in the next month. If you haven't told her by then, I'll tell her." Kakashi's eye widened in shock. Tsunade didn't know when she had last seen such an expression on his face and felt even more confident in her decisions.
"What?!" Kakashi asked, sounding almost panicked. "Why?!"
"Trust me on this, Kakashi. I've been around for a lot longer than you. I've seen a lot more than you. I'm forcing you to make a good decision." She reasoned while looking over some papers in front of her.
Kakashi couldn't decide whether he was distraught or irate. He settled on horrified. He had to reason with her and show her how bad of an idea this was. Surely she would understand. "Tsunade-sama..." He stopped and took a calming breath. "I don't see what this accomplishes. If Sakura finds out about my..." He paused searching for the words to use. "If she..." His jaw clenched in frustration beneath the mask that was usually more helpful in hiding his feelings. He decided to just skip that part. "She wouldn't trust me like she does now. It would be damaging to our relationship and our teamwork on missions."
"If this issue could make work more difficult, perhaps you should only be assigned to different missions from now on," she stated decisively.
"No!" Kakashi interjected more passionately than he'd meant to sound. "I mean, we work really well together. I just meant that-"
"Good!" Tsunade interrupted. "Then I'll tell Sakura you will always be assigned to the same missions from this point on since you work so well together. And after all, it wouldn't be fair if you were separated for part of your month." She stood up from her chair and began escorting him out of her office. Kakashi was dumbstruck. He couldn't get a single word to come from his mouth as he found himself being pushed out of the Hokage's office. He turned around to see her smiling face before she slammed the door in his. "But..." He whimpered desperately to the wooden door in front of him.