Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I just own the plot of this fic.
Chapter One: Retrograde Motion
He underestimated her. The little girl that watched the eraser fall on her teacher's head and that tattled on her teammates at every turn had not inspired him to think of her as a ninja. She was only in it for the boy, and that thought understandably pushed him to pay more attention to the other two.
He was surprised, pleasantly—horribly—when the chuunin exams rolled around and he watched in fear as the last member of his team was going to be slaughtered mercilessly at the hands of the sound shinobi. He had grown to like the little brats, and his heart leaped into his throat as the pink-haired girl flew at the man trying to harm the unconscious boys of Team Seven. He expected her to die, and he waited with dread as he would lose another person he found important in his life. She showed more courage in the minutes she was being beaten than she ever had before, and he began to rethink how he saw her.
He underestimated her again when he issued the same challenge he had given Team Seven as genin. Caught off-guard by Naruto's trick—and embarrassed by his avid love of the Icha Icha series—the knucklehead and the pink-haired kunoichi managed to take the bells from him.
He was torn between pride and sadness at the growth she had shown under Tsunade's tutelage. Between her and the old woman, Chiyo, Sasori was defeated while he had been off after the other Akatsuki member. Where had the little, love-sick girl gone, and who was this new, confident, dangerous woman in her place? He had missed quite a bit in the time he had been gone chasing Sasuke and taking on missions.
Hell…He still caught himself underestimating the familiar pink-haired girl, even as she stood beside him, her newly painted ANBU mask hiding the familiar features of her face. The mask was a nod to Naruto and to the late Uchiha with whiskers and swirls similar to those in the sharingan. The cat-like grin hinted at the humor the woman tried to find in life, especially as of late. He sighed internally, trying not to let the worry in his chest get the better of him as he glanced at her for the third time in the last few minutes before looking back down on their targets.
"You're doing it again, Kakashi…" Unlike Naruto's inability to keep his voice below a shout, Sakura's whisper ghosted to his ears and made him flinch with guilt.
"Doing what?" Her sigh was barely audible as she flipped a kunai between red-tipped fingers. She retained some of her girlish vanity, he saw, and the thought made a grin break out under his mask.
"You're questioning whether I can handle this." He could sense her leg muscles gathering under her, preparing to launch herself down to the forest floor some 10 meters below. "Will you ever stop underestimating me?" Before he could answer, she was gone in a flash of pink hair. He dropped to the ground right behind one of the men they were here for and snapped the man's neck quickly. Two others already lay dead on the opposite side of the carriage, blades sticking out of their necks.
Silence filled the trees after the dust settled. Six men lay dead around the coach, and the man who sniveled and cowered inside the vehicle pleaded with the woman to have mercy. The scoff she let out was unlady-like, but Kakashi could envision the disgust on her face. He knew Sakura held loyalty and courage to be some of the most important attributes of a person. My…how she had grown.
"Umata Gaio, you are charged with treason against the Land of Fire, conspiracy to align yourself with enemies of our nation. Your sentence is death." The man's bronze flesh paled to a chalky white as he pressed further back into the carriage's seat. He flapped his arms in front of him, as if that would stop the shinobi's blade from silencing him forever.
"No…No! I love my nation. Please, there must be a mista…" The man's panicked babbling was cut off as Sakura bit out an angry retort. Her fuse was still as short as it had always been, making a small smile of nostalgia break out on Kakashi's lips. Only a shinobi could smile while surrounded by dead bodies.
"The Hokage does not lie. The documents do not lie. You have forfeited your right to trial by so obviously running away like the dog you are. Prepare to face the swift hand of justice." Where she once may have hesitated or cringed at the necessity of shedding blood, Sakura deftly slide the kunai's edge through the man's jugular, sending a spray of blood across her arm and torso. Flecks of crimson dotted the white of her mask, but the grizzly scene did not disgust him. He was used to death as much as the girl—no, he corrected himself, woman—was.
Free of any intruders or outsiders, Sakura slid up her mask and smiled faintly at the silver-haired man beside her. Her jade eyes searched his mask until he too lifted off the cover, one eye crinkled with a smile. He stepped back and out of the carriage first, offering an unnecessary helping hand up to the kunoichi as she followed him. Landing lightly beside him, Sakura didn't let go of the appendage, and he didn't have the inclination to pull away from her, leaving them to just simply remain standing together while surrounded by death.
"Will you ever stop underestimating me? I can handle myself, you know?" Stepping closer, she prodded his chest with her free hand, using her famous chakra control to add more force to the single digit than ordinarily possible. The tingle it left on his flesh sent a wave of goosebumps over him.
Hiding the feelings rising in him was growing harder and harder. He suspected he first started falling for the young woman after rescuing her from nearly dying at the hands of her past infatuation. She hadn't hesitated in trying to help, even as he argued with her to leave. His heart had pinched painfully when she had 'confessed' her love for Naruto, but he blamed it on his disappointment in her lying to the Kyuubi vessel. As he began interjecting himself back into the lives of the remaining Team Seven, he started finding himself drawn to the grown kunoichi. Now, he merely enjoyed her presence whenever he could, finding it to ease the pain of old wounds in him better than the blonde's rambunctious ways.
"I know…"His eye crinkled with the grin hidden under his cloth mask. He wrapped his other hand around the one against his chest and tugged the woman closer. "But can you blame an old man for still thinking of his teammate's safety?" Sakura blinked up at him, emotions flickering in her green orbs.
"You aren't that old, Kakashi…And you know I can handle myself, so why worry?" Internally, his heart clenched, and he sighed softly to himself. Should he tell her? "Kakashi?" A man of little words and more of action, he decided to show her and hope for the best.
"Because…" He leaned down slightly, releasing one of her hands to wrap his arm around her waist. "I can't help but care about the ones I love" Before she could utter a word, he pressed his cloth-covered mouth to hers and smiled as she let out a soft squeak of surprise. The kiss was chaste and briefer than he wanted, but he pulled back regardless. His grip was lax, giving her the opportunity to flee in fear…or horror… or—huh? The smile that broke out on the kunoichi's face was the last reaction he would have expected. But then again, when had Sakura ever done what he expected? Her free hand pressed to her lips in a daze, as if unsure he had really kissed her.
"Did you mean that?" Kakashi nodded, feeling a fluttering in his stomach and like a teenage boy all over again. "Since when?" Startled by her calm demeanor, he shrugged and answered honestly.
"For awhile now…" Reaching up to brush the dip between his chest muscles, Sakura's soft smile widened.
"Would it surprise you if I said the same?" As his eyes widened in shock, the familiar giggle erupted from Sakura's throat before she stood on her tiptoes and brushed a kiss across his jaw-line. He never thought to have his feelings accepted, let alone returned. The place where her lips touched tingled, and with the knowledge that she cared too, Kakashi swept down the mask and crashed his lips to hers. As Sakura gasped in surprise, he took advantage and slid his tongue against hers, earning a small groan out of the woman in his arms before she returned his ministrations with a ferocity all her own.
In his heart, Kakashi finally knew peace.
In her heart, Sakura finally found the love she had craved.
AN: I am not sure if I want to make this a one-shot or if I want to continue it. I pretty much just had this idea bouncing around in my brain and decided to vomit it out on paper. I hope you like it, and I hope it isn't too sporadic or just all-out awful.
Reviews are much loved!
~SGK