FACE
A/N: - Read and Review. Thanks to tazicat12 for helping me with this chapter or this is your chapter I am just posting as idea was mine.
Short and unsynchronised stories/incidents of their life. Main pairing kaka-saku, as always.
NO I do not own naruto and you all know that.
"So, you're saying you can't do anything," in her hospital bed Sakura numbly listened to her lover, her ex-sensei's voice.
"Do you think I'd let her go one more second like that if I could do something about it?" at her shishou's frustrated retort, she closed her eyes as hope died.
They were talking about her face. The ugly, distorted face currently covered with sheets, her standard practice now whenever anyone came in. The face she'd now be forced to live with for the rest of her life. She blinked back tears as Tsunade ended the conversation by storming out of the room.
"Sakura..." hearing Kakashi voice, she suppressed a shiver, strengthened her resolve.
"Go away Kakashi," she forced anger into her voice to cover the painful ache in her stomach, "I don't want talk to you."
"Why?" his mildly surprised tone made her wary, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," stubbornly, she refused to be forced into a conversation, "Just go." He couldn't see her like this. She didn't want him to see her like this. Not in this situation, with her face…
"I'm not going," steel enforced the mild tone, "And look at me, Sakura, when I'm talking to you."
"I…I don't want you…to see me like…like…this," beneath the sheets, she wrapped arms around herself, trying to ease the pain of the admission.
"Like what?" at Kakashi's casual inquiry she hugged herself harder, instinctively curling up, shrinking into herself. Please just go away, she prayed, feeling misery sink into her bones. I don't want to go through this. I don't want to have to say this. I don't want it to end like…this.
"I'm not…not…pretty…anymore. I'm…I'm…ugly," she could feel hot, wet tears course down her ruined cheeks and in the short pause that followed listened dispiritedly for the sounds that would signal his departure from her life.
"So," the cheerful mockery in his tone was like a hard strike to her abdomen, "Who told you were pretty before?" Shock drove her upright in the bed, shaking with rage. Suddenly her sheets were on floor and she was glaring at him.
"What?" Sakura snarled with dangerous softness, "What did you say?" A small corner of her mind took in his defensive stance, realised this was his intention all along.
"I'm saying you're no different now then you were earlier." As her eyes narrowed, Kakashi, noting the sudden increase in her rage, blinked. He quickly analyzed what he just said.
"Okay…that…didn't come out right," he winced at the cruel implications of his words and how it must've sounded to her, "That…wasn't what I meant," he cautiously put a placating hand under her chin, "You must know that."
At the plea in his eye, the warmth of his touch, Sakura felt her rage drain from her. She sighed, understanding what he was trying to do. But she also refused to let him ruin his life. He deserve better. Better than…her…as she'd always be…now. She took a deep breathe for strength.
"Look," she eased her chin out of his grip, turned away from him, "Kakashi, I appreciate this but you don't have to make me feel better. You…you deserve someone beautiful," she blinked back tears, "Someone who deserves you. Not like…me."
"Well, that's true," his pose was thoughtful, "There are many gorgeous girls out there. And I agree I shouldn't settle for less than the best," in his periphery he gauged her reaction, "I do have standards to live up to, after all. I'm happy you understand." Even knowing it was coming, he barely managed to dodge her punch.
"You…you… jerk!" Sakura swung back toward him, aiming another blow, "What the hell did I ever see in you? You…you…" She sprang toward him, intent on mayhem, "You…insufferable ass!" The next little while was chaotic as she pursued him around the room, swearing at him vehemently.
Frustratingly, despite the cramped space, he adeptly evaded her, until, with his eye glinting merrily, he turned the tables. Springing to the attack, he forced her arms against her body, holding her immobile and close to him. She turned her head to snarl defiantly at him. "This," his voice was soft in her ear, "This is what I love about you, Sakura. You've never been just a pretty face. I love you're independent, indomitable spirit. I love the duality of your nature. The fact you have such incredible ability to heal, to lovingly help others in many ways, yet still possess that fine edge, that strength to handle the responsibility of hurting, of killing others as well. I love…," his voice caught poignantly, his arms tightening around her, "All of your many 'faces', from your anger to your pouts, your happiness and sadness as well as all the many others I've seen over the years. I love your entire attitude toward life. I love you, for all of the many parts that make up the whole, that make up Sakura." She blinked in disbelief, unable to breathe at his words, tilted her head to stare into his lone eye.
"Sure, your physical face was the cherry on top of the cake," masked lips caressed her cheek, "But you've always been, and will always be, the most beautiful woman in this world to me," his voice rasped with emotion, "And I'm luckiest man in this world to have you here in my arms."
The sheer love and sincerity in his eye brought tears to hers and she leaned into him, trembling, her eyes closed, thankful for the sanctuary she'd unexpectedly found. She recognised the power she found there as the strength to face any obstacle life threw at her…at them, because they'd face them together.
The harshness of the door slamming open was a cruel shock to them both. Jolting around, still embracing, they stared as Tsunade strode in.
"Get your ass out of here, Hatake." the Hokage commanded, as the room was swarmed by other medics with a plethora of machines and medicines.
"What…but," Kakashi stared at her, unable to process the abrupt change in the last 30 seconds, "What's…going on here?" Together, he and Sakura stared as the room was steadily transformed in a whirl of ordered chaos around them.
"What does it look like?" Tsunade huffed impatiently at their obtuseness, "We're going to fix Sakura's face." Her offhanded behaviour, in light of her earlier dire prognosis, caused his eyes to narrow in speculation as Sakura glanced back and forth between them, still unable to process what was happening.
"But..." she hesitantly began, "You said…" Tsunade rudely interrupted.
"I was waiting for some last tests," with a furtively guilty air, she avoided her protégé's eyes by studiously overseeing the progress around them, "And the reports are good so we can do it now." Brusquely ending the conversation, she strode away to harass her underlings, leaving Sakura to stare after her. Feeling Kakashi's thoughtful hum against her cheek, she looked askance at him, hoping for an explanation.
"I…think I understand," with a quick, disapproving glance at her shishou, he hugged her closer, "This was…a test of sorts. Tsunade's last check, you could say, to make sure I truly love you. That I'm not just using you." She stared in disbelief at him for a second, before the studied cruelty of her mentor's earlier performance struck home. Thinking of the raw emotional rollercoaster she'd just endured made her eyes narrow in growing exasperation and she aimed a venomous glare in her mentor's direction as he sighed in agreement.
"But," he continued, the quiet softness in his voice bringing her gaze back to his, "I guess it served another purpose as well. It made crystal-clear our feelings on the matter as well. And I'm not ever going to let you go now. Not when I know I love you more than anything in this world." The honest love in his gaze made her breathless and she leaned her forehead against his cheek for a second, wordlessly showing him it was the same for her before meeting his eye.
"We'll figure out a way to get back at her later," she breathed back, looked forward to the promise his eye gleamed at her, "Together."
A/N: - this is just a try. Will update if the response is good. About arrangement, next chapter will take time but I am going to upload edited version or say better one. Till next time bye!