Disclaimer: If you think I own Naruto, you are sorely mistaken and a bit of a fool.

Since this story is in English, I left off honourifics and tried using as little Japanese as possible. I deemed it more appropriate than not, hence the omission of words such as 'kunoichi,' 'sensei,' etc. I hope this doesn't detract from the story! :)

- Mitsuki

The riot in my heart decides to keep me open & alive
I have to take myself away from you
'Cause I can't compete, I can't deny
There is nothing that I didn't try
How did I go so wrong in loving you...?

The only visible thing to Haruno Sakura was the rain. The rain, falling steadily and fiercely onto her slouched head and shoulders. The rain, dripping with what seemed to be determination through her carnation pink hair. The rain, sliding down her face, pale like porcelain on this moonless night. At that very moment in her life, above all else, she was the most thankful for the endless rain that poured down into the streets of Konoha, tainting the chilly spring landscape. She preferred to stand stone-still in the downpour for one reason only: In the rain, no one could see how strongly she was crying.

One name rang true on her lips; the only name she could think of at that point in time. If she were to open her mouth to speak to anyone, be it her parents, friends, or even her teacher, the only sound she would have uttered would have been one self-explanatory name. Sasuke.

Recalling the evening's events, she had a mental flashback to four hours and five minutes prior. Standing in the very same place, she had repeated his name over and over as he'd walked away, ascending its volume from a whisper to a scream. Falling to her knees, she'd scraped herself up on the unforgiving gravel, watching him turn around just long enough to tell her to stand up, that she had more self-worth than that. Averting her eyes to the afflicted area, she saw three shiny trails of blood leading down her shin from her kneecaps. Emitting a shaky, pained sigh, she closed her emerald eyes and leaned down to wipe the gravel out of her wounds. Five years and all I got were cut knees and a broken heart, she thought to herself. The 17-year-old female ninja had taken more than a fair share of rejection from Uchiha Sasuke since they became teammates when they were both preteens. This time, however, she knew it was the last time. She had to stop hoping he'd eventually find her attractive; stop hoping he'd fall in love with her and she would be the prized bride of the last surviving member of the Uchiha clan. Pausing in her thoughts for the moment, she contemplated what was truly running through her mind. Had she only loved him because she would be wedding an Uchiha? Had she desired a well-documented, historical ceremony that the entire village and thensome attended? Had she simply wanted to beat Ino, her childhood best friend and rival for Sasuke's love? Was she honestly in love with this stoic boy, this power-hungry brooder? Immediately and loyally, she dismissed the answer as yes.

For half a decade, she had lived in a fantasy world. He had never shown anything more than friendly affection towards her, sometimes not even that. Taking every inquiry as progress, every glance as a sign, Sakura had honestly believed that he secretly harbored feelings for her. As an emotional individual, she heard and saw only what she wanted to and none of what she didn't, which is why she kept taking his rejections as temporary things that he'd take back eventually. Always hoping he'd wake up and realize that she loved him more than anyone on this little planet, she stayed persistent.

Lifting her head to focus on the dimmed lights in front of her, perception mangled by tears, she took one aching step forward onto the pronounced, significantly larger footprints that Sasuke had left in his wake. The muddy terrain could tell no lies, and Sakura was unable to shrug off what had happened as just a bad nightmare. No, it had actually taken place. Her heart was on the floor and he stepped right on it with no remorse or guilt whatsoever. After all, what was she to him, anyway? Knowing she would make no progress out in the rain, she became motivated to walk the short way back to her house. As her slow steps proceeded onward, she began voicing her thoughts out loud, seemingly oblivious to the world around her.

"I've been here all along... Five long years of waiting for you to notice me. Couldn't you have realized that I was standing right in front of you...?"

Everything seemed to blur, twisting and fading into jumbled static. The trees spun and whirled; the clouds molded together into one conglomeration – black. All black. Everything faded to black. She wasn't conscious to feel it when her head hit the gravel path with a thump.

--

Darkness faded into light as her eyes opened to fluorescent. Above her were two bright objects which she discerned as lights themselves, forcing her to squint until her pupils adjusted to the change in scenery. Not only did she not recall where she was, she honestly did not understand what had happened before she arrived there. It was almost like time had stopped completely. First she was, then she wasn't. Now you're here, there you aren't, she thought to herself. Where is this...? Her thoughts were interrupted by a dim in the fluorescence caused by a head and shoulders hovering over her from the bedside. The figure had a generous amount of silver hair that was stuck nearly straight up past his Konoha forehead protector, which was positioned diagonally over one of his eyes. The other was closed in what seemed to be a familiar smile, though she could never really tell, as a thin black mask concealed the rest of his face from under his eye down to his neck. That's...

"Yo! It appears as though you're finally awake. Don't worry, you're in the hospital."

...that's my ex-teacher, Kakashi. Blinking slowly, she opened her mouth to reply. Her throat was dry and her words scratchy, but she would rather have figured out what happened rather than if she could have a drink of water or not. "Kaka... shi? Where... What happened? Why am I here?"

Blinking for a moment, Kakashi thought about what she'd said in regards to a decision he had to make. "Well, I was going to take you to my house, but I figured you'd consider that unnecessarily awkward. I thought the hospital was best."

"But what happened? Why aren't I at home?"

"You passed out about a block from your house last night. I told your parents about what happened and they expressed concern, but I told them not to come and that you'd be fine. They were so adamant in thanking me, too. It's the least I can do for the brightest student I ever had. Besides, I missed you." He resumed that playful smile of his.

That's right, Sakura thought. It had been a month since she'd seen Hatake Kakashi. They had trained daily up until then, even when she, Naruto, and Sasuke had 'graduated' from his watchful eye. A month ago, however, Kakashi had to leave for an A-rank mission that had tied him up for a while. He was, apparently, back home. "How did you find me? I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm very glad you did, but..."

Interrupting her, he raised one finger in front of his face. "I saw you."

Raising an eyebrow, she looked a tad confused. "Saw me? Saw me what?"

"I saw you collapse. I was..." His next movements appeared to be out of embarrassment, as his hand scratched the back of his head and his eyes averted. "I was watching you stand in the pouring rain and didn't want to appear and scare you, so I decided to watch what you were doing. Before I knew it, you had collapsed."

"A-ah... I see." Inwardly, she praised his decision. He was one of the last people she wanted to see her cry over Sasuke again. He had already witnessed so many of her 'episodes' that one more would just make her look worse.

Stiffening up and changing his expression, Kakashi stood up straight and averted to a more serious tone of voice. "Right. Anyway, you've been out overnight. It's about noon now. As far as I know, you suffered no damage, though I wouldn't be surprised if you acquire a cold. How long were you standing in the rain for?"

Sakura closed her eyes for a brief moment. How long was it? Straining her mind to remember exactly what took place, she began to go over the details of the night in her mind once more. It had started to rain right at the end of her conversation with Sasuke, right when she began to confess that she has always loved him, all this time, all five years. That was...

"Five hours."

Looking surprised, Kakashi cocked his head to the side. "Five hours, hm? No wonder you passed out. I won't ask what you were doing, I'll leave it up to you to tell me or not. I treated your knees, however. It looks like you scraped them when you fell down, even though I'm almost positive you fell onto your side..."

Sakura found it in her to laugh a little, sitting up. "I appreciate that. Thank you so much for bringing me here, Kakashi. I'd hate to think of what would have happened if I had been left out there the entire time." As she was pausing to consider what to say next, she felt an immense feeling of fatigue pass through her body. Letting her shoulders and head fall back onto her cot, she let out a small groan and closed her eyes tightly. Kakashi looked moderately alarmed, leaning over her a few inches.

"Sakura? What's wrong?" He asked, turning to see if there were any nurses behind him.

"N-nothing, I... I just feel really weak, that's all. Really tired." Staring up at him with half-lidded eyes, Sakura felt herself slipping away into the oblivion she entered in the night past. Not wanting to keep Kakashi waiting by her bedside for hours again, she reassured him that she would be fine and that he could leave, thanking him once more.

"You know I can't do that. I'm not going to go home until you're back at your own. What would your family think of me then, hm?" He said with a concerned smile. "I wish there was more I could do for you, though." It was no secret that he, Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke had gotten even closer recently. Or so it seemed, anyway. The truth was that Sasuke was just as closed off as ever. Naruto would tell you what you wanted to hear for the price of ramen, as usual. That boy will always come off as immature for his age, right up until the day he dies. Simply put, Sakura's relationship with Kakashi was the only one that he could honestly say was growing. When he met her, she was a young, naïve girl; much more obsessed with Sasuke than with training. As she experienced more and grew up ever so quickly, she had blossomed into a brilliant, mature, and beautiful young woman. The two of them would talk for hours about life, the future, and their pasts – mostly his. They grew out of the student-teacher relationship and into two good friends.

Allowing a heaving sigh to pass through her body, Sakura smiled serenely up at him, half-comatose. "You can do something for me, actually. Tell me a story. Tell me about your mission."

Taking a seat by her bedside, Kakashi sat cross-legged with his elbows on his knees. Resting his head on his folded hands, he began to go into detail about where he went, what he did, and how he narrowly escaped death at the hands of three missing-nin. Five minutes later, he looked up at her, awaiting a response of some sort. Noticing her closed eyes and heaving chest, he understood that she had fallen asleep. Smiling softly, he grasped onto the thin white bedsheet that was resting under her hands and pulled it over her shoulders. "Sleep well, Sakura..." He whispered quietly, careful not to wake her from the slumber that she had attained.

Watching her for a few minutes, he admired the silent beauty she displayed in her sleep. Up until that very moment, he had never considered a girl with black eyeliner trailing down her face and matted, rain-dried hair to be something of an ethereal magnificence. Haruno Sakura was the exception, apparently.

That day was a turning point for Hatake Kakashi. He began to realize the true extent of how their relationship had changed. He was not looking after her because she was simply an ex-student that he cared about, nor was he taking good care of a friend. There was something different about what this girl meant to him. Something he couldn't quite place, but he knew he should simply ignore. One thing was clear, however: Uchiha Sasuke truly did not know just what he was missing. But then again, neither did Kakashi himself. Nor will I ever, he thought to himself, shaking his head. There was something too forbidden about the two of them, which is exactly why he was forcing himself to shelve all of his emotions and pretend they did not exist.

Lifting himself up from his sitting position, he frowned slightly to himself before leaning over Sakura and whispering one last thing.

"I've been here all along... Five long years of waiting for you to notice me. Couldn't you have realized that I was standing right in front of you...?"

Walking slowly to a chair on the opposite side of the hospital room, he took a seat and awaited the awakening of sleeping beauty.

& I don't care if you don't love me
& I don't care if you won't change
I could live inside the shadow that I cast on you
& the myth that you would stay
& I'll be home before the morning comes,
You won't have to be alone

I will write this down for you
So you can read it
I will hold my breath for you
'Till I can't feel it
You don't have to see me this way,
'Cause this way I'm okay.

The verse at the beginning of this chapter is from Sarah McLachlan's "Perfect Girl," the one at the end is from Something Corporate's "Miss America."

I think this is pretty mediocre, but if you like it, I'm happy. If you don't, hey, I tried. :)

Expect more chapters. As of the end of this chapter, the rating's PG -- but that should be changing.