CHAPTER ONE:

The Pink Cherry Blossom and The Boy Who Was A Storm

Kakashi was small about half the size of a fully grown human when she first saw him, really saw him, not just glanced down from her branch like she did on occasion to the beings that called themselves humans. Sakura had watched with glistening eyes as he walked by her tree that she was draped upon with his silver hair that looked like rain clouds; to her eyes he glowed like lighting and stars and looked like the sky itself. But that was not what made her search for him in the people who stopped by her forest. It was something about him that she could not put together in her head that made her want to know more about this child of man who smelled like the beginnings of a storm.

He passed by her everyday and she left with him on one when she had gathered the courage in her arms and strayed from her tree. He couldn't see her like most people couldn't. She was a spirit of a cherry tree that grew and lived and blossomed in this forest that he tread upon; there were few who could see her.

She followed him to a clearing where there were other children of man, a girl with purple marks on her skin that she learned was called Rin by a loud boy that wore goggles and went by Obito. The last was a man who had the sun for hair and glistened like little golden rays when he smiled (all teeth and eye squinting). Sakura took a seat on a high branch in a tree that stood on the outskirts of the clearing as she watched her boy that resembled a storm move his body so gracefully to avoid the sharp objects that the sun like man throw -he was called Minato she learned- that it reminded her of blossoms floating in a breeze, all graceful and fluid. Sakura had watched many humans over the long years that she had grown that she knew it was uncommon for them to move in such a manner. She found pleasure in the fact that he moved like water.

She could not help but follow after him everyday that he walked by although she never came too close to him to touch him. She had not touched a human in a very long time and she was scared and excited and scared all rolled together in the hollows of her being. She soon found out after seating herself on a branch nearby that they were training to become stronger by the loud Obito who yelled at the top of his lungs that he would be "stronger than Kakashi" and that was the day that she had found her storm boys name. Kakashi Kakashi Kakashi the named rattled and rolled and stuck in her head like the lighting that she had grown to be fond of.

It traveled with her as the sun dipped lower in the sky to when she followed him out of her forest and stayed with her as she stood at the edge of her trees and watched as his back disappeared. She stayed there long after the sun had slipped down completely and the moon started its journey up into the sky with only his name for company. Kakashi Kakashi Kakashi

Spirits like her did not keep track of time like humans did but Sakura knew that she had spent a significant amount of it watching Kakashi from afar by human standards. As she watched and learned more about him and the people that he called his team the more she came to want more. She wanted to talk to him and to touch him -would it be like touching lighting all sparks and tingles or would it be like standing under a gentle rain with softness and peace? She wondered she wondered she wondered but most of all she wanted him to see her.

She stared with unblinking eyes -because she was a tree and what tree needed to blink?- at this boy that had taken root in her heart faster than she thought was possible, faster than she could have stopped it if she wanted to (she did not want to, she would not even know how to not want to). Kakashi had never once looked her way in the time she known him no matter how much she willed and wished and begged. 'But that was okay, that was okay', she thought to herself she was okay with that.

Sakura knows that Kakashi loves his team no matter how much he denies it to himself. She can see it in the way he edges (teases) Obito on, the way he glows brighter in her eyes when Minato compliments him (even though his face stays the same she knows she knows she knows) it is in the way that he relaxes in their presence and quiets down until his thunder is a low rumble.

One day when she watches them laugh at Obito who landed face first in mud after Kakashi side stepped away from his attack (it was okay because Obito laughed with them while wiping mud from his goggles) she is filled with so much emotions, more emotions than she's felt before, more emotion than she knows what to do with that she does something she has never done before. She gathers up her courage and breathes in deep then ventures down from her spot in her trees to the green grass that becomes greener as she steps on it. She works her way over to the group in firm even steps until she is so close she could reach out her hand and touch them. But instead she steals her spine and leans over to kiss Kakashi on his cheek. It is barely a brush of her lips to his skin but the effect is immediate, she can feel her power wash around him and envelopes him in its version of a hug and a kiss and a touch. An almost invisible cherry blossom mark grows behind his left ear exactly where she wants it to be. Before she can think of how amazing it was to almost touch almost kiss almost almost almost she wanders over to Obito and kisses his cheek. A faint shiver runs through his body as her power wines itself in him, on him, around him. She does the same for Minato and Rin. They all have her cherry blossom mark behind their right ear. It is an extension of her power that she can give to them, not a lot but enough so that she can feel their presence even if they were not in sight and if they should ever be in trouble she could be there. Taking a step back, almost falling (it's hard but she manages to catch herself) she lowers herself to the ground. Her energy is spent, she has used so much, has given so much of herself so soon and so fast and the fact that she is not touching her tree (her other body, her other being, her other self) that it has left her weaker. She tunes back in to her humans that she cares about to hear Obito ask "if they felt something just now" that earns him three stares in his direction, a thoughtful look comes across Minato's face

"Something like...like content?" Rin asks but it's more to Minato then Obito. "I did feel something like that it was," Minato pauses looking for the right word "peaceful." then pauses again because that's not exactly right it's close but not what he thinks fits.

"It was like someone else was here...someone who was kind and gentle. It felt like they gave me a kiss. At least that's the sense that I got." oh Kakashi Kakashi Kakashi Sakura thinks how does he know how to break and rebuild her thoughts of him into better ones? The others pause then nod at this explanation because that seems right to them that fits. There's a warm hush that follows then Minato dismisses them early and asks if they wanted to go eat lunch together. Obito grins and his defending shout of "yaaaaaaaa" is more then necessary to know his answer. Rin smiles and says that she "would like that very much, thank you Minato-Sensei." Kakashi only nods his head but Sakura can see in the area around him that he is smiling smiling smiling.