A one-shot plot bunny that popped into my head. Set a few years after the timeskip. Don't count revelations of deaths, etc, as spoilers, because I've deviated from the manga.

I own nothing but the plotless ramblings.

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Few things could make Hatake Kakashi feel the black depression that twisted his gut at that moment. He could dispatch enemies without thought, watch his prized student betray everything for power and not give away a flicker of emotion. He could stand at the memorial stone for hours without even twitching, he had attended countless funerals without shedding a tear.

But this…

The girl, the woman, he loved, still felt nothing for him, after all this time. He had dared to hope, after the one she had loved had been gone for so long, that he might possibly have a chance.

When he first saw her, she was a rookie, and he considered her too young. He paid her little attention, although when he did it was to pay compliments to her skills. Then something had happened. Time had passed; he had grown used to her and then not seen her for a long time. They met again and he found her to be beautiful and powerful.

He was the Copy Ninja, the offspring of the White Fang, the master of a thousand jutsus. He could not afford to have his mind waste on matters of the heart in case it distracted him at a crucial moment. Better shinobi than he had fallen because of it. Yet even in the thick of battle, he found his mind on her startling eyes, her pale skin, her beautiful hair. She was intelligent and praised as a gifted kunoichi throughout the village; few did not know her name.

He wanted her body and her mind. He loved her with all his soul, so that it hurt to think of her and in his dreams he cursed as he saw her again in his errant mind's eye. She had fought an Akatsuki member with fear, but compressing the fear and channelling it into her strength.

A few years had passed since then. As the shinobi life tends to be short and harsh, most find pleasure wherever they can, and a number of the kunoichi in her rank already had children. She was no exception – she had borne a son. Kakashi wished so much that he was the father. He had avoided forming bonds for so long but those he had made he treasured, and he really wished he could have raised a family. It would have been beneficial for the village as well as himself, as at least one child was likely to inherit his original talent, Sharingan or no Sharingan. Her affinity with genjutsu and his with ninjutsu would produce very powerful children.

Here he stood, in front of the memorial stone again, thinking. Nobody disturbed him while he was here. He could think things through. He thought of Naruto and Sasuke for a moment. Sasuke was dead. Shortly after Itachi's beheaded body was found, Sasuke had been discovered, scarred and burned. He had managed to will himself to stay alive for long enough to beat Itachi and then succumbed to unconsciousness. Despite his missing nin status, the medics had put everything they had into trying to revive him. His bloodline and his abilities were precious, and because he had managed to defeat Itachi and was no longer under Orochimaru's influence even the elders dared hope he might come back.

But it was of no consequence what he intended to do afterwards. Other than the revival of the clan, he had not said. When his companion, Karin, was found to be pregnant, Kakashi realised that Sasuke believed he had already taken the first step towards continuing the Uchiha legacy and decided he was ready to die. As he had died killing one of the greatest threats to Konoha, Tsunade decreed that his name should be placed on the memorial stone. Karin had been placed under arrest in Konoha until her child was born. She was allowed to nurse the girl until she was a year and a half, and then the Konoha council, in an unprecedented act of cold-bloodedness, had her discreetly put to death and placed the child under the care of her 'uncle' – Uzumaki Naruto.

Kakashi had kept an eye on them for a while, as he picked up Naruto's nervousness at having to look after this orphan. The hair covering her scalp was already black, as were her eyes. Even at eighteen months old she was throwing Naruto's shruikens around – albeit aimlessly – and had a serious face, possibly because she had been affected by Karin's grief at the loss of Sasuke. But Naruto proved that his method of nurturing would overtake the nature of Sasuke in the girl's blood. Kakashi could not suppress a smile when he saw them together slurping down ramen or running around causing mischief. When she entered the academy at four years old it was evident that she had inherited her father's skills and picked up on her uncle's proclivity for extravagant gestures and declarations.

Karin had named her but nobody had learnt the name. Naruto was invited to give her a new one. After some thought he settled on Sasame. The Fuuma clan member was severely injured and in a coma at Konoha hospital at that point and the doctors had given up hope on her. Naruto named the child in tribute.

To everybody's shock, Sasame recovered. Kakashi had been pleased. He had not met the girl before but he could do with a little less grief in those around him.

He thought the young Sasame should have a mother, though, and it became evident she thought so too. Kakashi overheard a conversation between her and Naruto on one day as Naruto was showing her how to improve her kunai throwing technique.

"Naru-kun?" Kakashi had chuckled at that. How Naruto stood being given such a cute name was beyond him, but the Kyuubi container looked down at his niece with a tenderness Kakashi rarely saw on him.

"Hai, Sasame-chan?"

"Why aren't you married?" Naruto looked up at the sky and sighed.

"I would very much like to be," he murmured. "But the woman I love doesn't love me."

How Kakashi could sympathise with that.

"Why, Naru-kun? You're nice and people at the academy tell me you're strong; they say you're going to be Hokage one day!" Naruto grinned and ruffled her hair. Sasame made the same huffing sound as Sasuke used to make whenever somebody touched him.

"Love doesn't care about power or personality," he explained. "You just feel a strong, unwavering attraction to somebody, despite their flaws, and you forgive their mistakes and misdeeds. If you don't you have fallen out of love or were never in love in the first place. It needs to work both ways for marriage – two people compromising and loving without end. I don't want to enter marriage cautiously, but to run into it joyfully with somebody who I will never give up. And I don't want to force it on anyone."

Sasame thought for a minute, and then spoke again.

"Uncle…who do you love?" Naruto crouched down so that he was at her eye height and looked from side to side in a parody of suspicion.

"Promise not to tell anyone?"

"Hai!" Sasame held out her little finger for Naruto to hook his finger round.

"I love a woman called Haruno Sakura. Do you know the name?" Sasame frowned, then brightened.

"We learnt about her in school!" Both Naruto and Kakashi started.

"Nani?!"

"She defeated that evil puppet man from the Aku…Akati…"

"Akatsuki, Sasame-chan."

"Yeah! And she's a really powerful chakra fighter and medic-nin…we were told that after Hatake Kakashi and you, she would be next in line to become Hokage!"

Neither Kakashi nor Naruto had known this.

"What subject were they teaching you when she came up?"

"Kunoichi skills. That class is boring," Sasame moaned. "The boys get extra weapons practice while we sit around cooking and arranging flowers. The teacher told us something funny, though – Haruno-hime wasn't very good in that class."

Naruto hummed in thought before sitting down properly.

"Well, that's a surprise. Sakura-chan was very intelligent. She would have come top in all the classes if it wasn't for your father's physical skills."

Sasame knew about her father's death but had been told her mother died in childbirth.

"I want to become strong like him! But also like you…I found out that Daddy left the village when he was twelve to get more power. I don't want to do that, I like it here." Naruto grinned again and Kakashi saw a lot of relief in that smile.

"Good. Protecting your village and your comrades gives you a lot of extra power in times of trouble."

"I heard you managed to defeat the current Kazekage when you were both genins because he was hurting my dad and Haruno-hime."

"That's true…but it was mostly luck and sheer stubbornness on my part." Naruto settled and began to tell the story of his fight with Gaara. Kakashi decided he had heard enough and left.

Naruto was getting on well enough. His personality was rubbing off on the Uchiha progeny and both seemed to enjoy the other's company. Kakashi had heard from Iruka that Sasame boasted as much about her uncle as she did about her father in class. They had shared a quiet chuckle about that.

As to Sakura…

She had been away for six months, training a medical force in Suna. The bond between the countries, along with the support of the fertile Country of River in between, was supportive and strong. The Kazekage and Tsunade actually got on fairly well as Gaara displayed none of the arrogance that Tsunade was used to from the shinobi surrounding her. Kakashi was certain relations would improve once Naruto became Hokage. Kakashi planned to pass over the offer if it ever came to him. He was an assassin, not a diplomat.

He missed his pink-haired student. She was his greatest failure and her own greatest achievement. While she was naturally intelligent, she worked hard enough to rival Lee's training, and it pushed her far above what anyone could have predicted. He had taught her next to nothing. The chakra control she had displayed during tree climbing was taught by time but perfected by herself, and she had grown physically strong. Kakashi knew he owed her a great deal as he had severely neglected her for both of his male students.

He did hope that someday Sakura would wake up and respond to Naruto's affection. Her volatile temper and his general mischievousness would cause some friction but Kakashi knew that anyway. He knew that Naruto would love Sakura and treat her well. Together they could see the growth of Sasame and give her their ideals. It was something to drop into the conversation when Sakura returned, anyway.

Sighing, Kakashi turned away from the stone and ran slap-bang into the object of his affections. She smiled at him and bowed.

"Good morning, Kakashi-senpai." She was holding a bunch of flowers. Kakashi stood aside and let her kneel before the stone. Her fingers traced over the name of her fallen love for a moment before she placed the flowers down and shut her eyes in prayer. Out of respect, Kakashi followed suit.

"I sometimes forget how long it's been," she murmured. Kakashi's mouth twisted slightly under his mask.

"Seems like a lifetime. How is your son?"

"Little Hiruko? He's fine. I gave him a couple of his father's weapons to play with and he's already injured himself." She smiled. "I think he's a couple of classes above Uchiha Sasame at the moment, although at the rate she's progressing it would not surprise me if they graduated at the same time. Imagine if they were in the same team."

It was a strange thought, and Kakashi allowed himself to think about it. It would be a strange mixture of ages.

She stood up.

"Well, I'll see you later, Kakashi-senpai," she said. "I have a mission. The jounin group are meeting at Syora's bar later – are you coming?"

"Hai," Kakashi smiled. "I could do with a drink."

"See you then. Sayonara!" She took off into the trees.

"Sayonara – Kurenai-chan."

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Little Kakashi/Kurenai one-shot. I know there is no proof for this couple whatsoever, it just popped into my head. I hope you enjoyed it.

-Genjutsu-Dragon-