There was a knocking at her door.

She knew it was him, but it shouldn't have been. He shouldn't be at the door, not where anyone could see him. It was their unspoken agreement. It wasn't that they were worried their friends and teammates wouldn't approve, no, they didn't want it to be a big deal. It was just sex, companionship, an affair between friends. Bringing in outsiders would just complicate things.

He wanted to talk.

She didn't know what to do. They never talked, not seriously. And knocking on someone's door at one am, to talk sounded pretty serious to her.

"Don't look so grave Sakura, we can have sex after we talk." Kakashi could be so straightforward when he wanted to be.

"I leave for a mission tomorrow morning to the Lightning country. It's scheduled to take three weeks. I hope to complete it in two weeks. I was also hoping that maybe with the extra week, you could meet me in Sunahama for a little vacation by the shore."

Kakashi and Sakura never went on vacations together. In fact the only substantial amount of time they spent together was spent either sleeping or having sex.

"You don't have to go if you don't want to. I just thought that you spend so much time at the hospital, and Tsunade was saying how you could use a few days off. You always liked the beach."

"I...ah... I don't know what to say."

Now even though they were having an affair and it was supposed to be just sex and fun. Sakura did notice some slight changes. Her birthday presents became more thoughtful, and Kakashi, always frugal, would splurge on her Christmas gift. Sakura had taken this all in stride, accepting it as it came. A vacation was completely different. But he was right, she needed this, and what could it really hurt.

"I'd really like to go with you Kakashi."

Nothing else needed to be said, and he sealed the deal with a kiss and much more.


She awoke in an empty bed. This was common for Kakashi, he was always gone by morning.

Preparing for the day she came across an envelope lying on her counter, right next to the all important coffee maker, where she was sure to see it. Inside included everything she would need for her vacation. The hotel reservations, her days off from work, all she had to do was pack.

It was nice to have someone do all the preparing for her.


She was ready, in one hour she would leave the village and before she knew it she would be in Sunahama with Kakashi enjoying a nice drink on the beach.


It wasn't meant to be. She traveled through the village by rooftop. She was practically running, not wanting to be interrupted and delayed. When the houses ended and the gate was insight, a cloud of smoke to her left gave way to a fretful medic-nin.

"Sakura-san, Tsuande requests you to hurry to the hospital, it's urgent."

Sakura ran, fast, away from the gate and her vacation.


Arriving at the hospital in record time, she knew it was bad. The emergency room was hectic, it always was. It was the looks on staffs faces that gave it away. Doctors and nurses were trained to handle emergency situations with a calm demeanor. But their eyes revealed their fear. Something was very wrong.


Eleven days. That was time it took to rid the hospital of whatever foreign disease that had seeped in. That was the time the hospital and everyone in it were quarantined. That was the time it took until Sakura stepped back outside, with promises from Tsunade to make up for her lost vacation time. She needed a drink, but first she needed a shower.


It was a Thursday night, the bar wasn't too packed and the crowd she just her style, a mixture of ninjas and civilians returning from a hard days work.

She noticed him as soon as she walked in. She never met anyone else with silver hair. He was sitting at the bar with a faceless blonde.

That was it she realized. He was out with someone else. His intent obvious only to her as she watched his hand brush a strand of blonde hair off the woman's face. It was what he did to Sakura, that night not so long ago when he was looking for someone to warm his bed.

Sakura approached the bar at the other end, hoping to go unnoticed. With a jug of sake in hand she made her way to a booth currently occupied by a coworker also exercising his regain freedom.

The small talk was pitiful, but she wasn't interested in conversation and the more she drank, the more appealing the doctor in front of her became.


Out of the corner of her eye she saw him. He was leaving alone and the blonde was still at the bar. She thought to slip out and join him. If he was leaving by himself then surely it wasn't over. He had to know she was there and that she would see him leaving.

That tiniest bit of hope was crushed when the blonde got up and left the bar. The timing was too perfect, it was too planned. They left separately so people don't get suspicious, Sakura knew all about being inconspicuous when it came to her affair with Kakashi.


A moment could last as long as she wanted it to. For Sakura, their moment lasted a mere two months. This moment, the one when she realized it was over lasted seconds. It wasn't how she planned it and it wasn't how she ever thought it would end. Her story was incomplete and his was a mystery, but their story, the one they created together had reached its end.