Author's note: Hey everyone thanks for all the support with my lovely stories! A big thankyou goes to Shippertrish for being such a great Email buddy
Disclaimer: I do not own either Kakashi or Sakura. Or the entire cast list of Naruto. I do own a replica of Naruto's sleeping cap though, and for the moment thats good enough for me xD
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It was ritual. When leaving the village on a mission to mentally say good bye to everything that was familiar to them.
Almost all the ninja's said goodbye to the stone faces looming over all of them. A good percentage said goodbye to the Ichiraku Ramen stand, though one goodbye was always said with much more intensity.
Few said goodbye to the Hokage's building, some of the ninja's felt a small level of resentment towards the structure, and it meant they might not come back from whatever it sent them out to do.
One person said goodbye to the memorial stone.
Every day he came and said his goodbyes, while like clockwork he was back the next day unless something required him to be gone for an extended period of time outside the village.
He had the attitude of someone who was ready to die, and waiting almost eagerly for that moment so he could rejoin those who were lost. This had been with him for years; it was second nature for him to have nothing in his life to tie him to the present except the defense of his village.
Things were changing though.
It started with the arrival of three children who were slowly teaching him to let others into his heart, while he taught them how not to die in battle. The years came and went, and he slowly allowed them to crack the cold façade that he had built around himself.
One constantly took him to eat ramen, while the other would arrive diligently after a mission had landed him in the hospital and fix him up as quickly as possible before allowing him to escape through the window.
The fox child moved on, rising in the ranks and becoming more powerful.
However the pink haired child stayed with him, grew up, and got stronger. He was unprepared for such a change in her, and began to notice other things about her that made her stand out from the other women in the village.
The first time he was ever late arriving at the memorial was after spending the night at her apartment.
He hadn't explained to her why he needed to leave in the morning, and she hadn't asked him to, but he had felt so fulfilled with her, that sleep hadn't been attainable for him until the early hours of the day, which in turn caused him to wake up hours later than his normal schedule.
There had been no thoughts of the stone until after breakfast, in which she asked him what exactly it had been that he had to do in the morning. There had been no anger, just a small bit of guilt because he'd been so content that he hadn't felt the need to go dwell in the past.
It wasn't just the stone he said goodbye to anymore.
On his way out of the village, while the others were saying goodbye to landmarks and restaurants, he went to her for those last encouraging remarks before the mission. What could be her last touches, or her last words to him, though he would indeed carry them forever.
"I love you Kakashi."
It wasn't the only time she said it, though it was the only time that he needed to hear it from her.
His final stop before leaving the village was the memorial stone. Because old habits die hard.
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Thanks everyone for reading, please review and favorite. Also If you want me to write a story around your special couple in Naruto, please feel free to ask and I'll see what I can do!
cheers
darkie