Sakura hated waiting.
She had hated waiting for Sasuke to return, she hated waiting for her ramen to cook, she hated waiting for her patients to wake, but most of all, she hated waiting for Kakashi.
The man had always been late for everything he did, and she knew that this was never going to change. Ever since their first day as team seven, Kakashi had been late, turning up for missions, training and hospital appointments alike, always late. It had occurred to her during the extensive hours of waiting that if Kakashi were ever to turn up on time, he was either ill, or something was terribly wrong. It had also occurred to her that she could perform some kind of shocking survey, something along the lines of 'how many hours of your life you spend picking your nose', but 'how many hours of Sakura's life she has wasted waiting for Kakashi' instead, and marvel at the results. She had even gone as far to give herself a mental 'Hatake clock' that inner Sakura took care of, but once Kakashi had found out about that, he had threatened to set his own clock by that one and end up even later than he normally would have been. Yet as much as she hated waiting, she could grudgingly admit to being so used to it that half her mind would wait, and the other half was filling out her mission reports. Hatred could be controlled.
But she was certain of the one thing: there was one hatred she couldn't control, because there was nothing she hated more than waiting for Kakashi to return from missions. No matter how used she got to his continuous lack of punctuality, she detested that wait for his homecoming, because of the uncertainty that hung in the air. It had become a ritual to wait for Kakashi's arrival, but to wait for his return was something she could never get used to. It twisted her stomach, broke her concentration, burnt her dinner. It squeezed her heart and made her worry, imagine, speculate in a way that could not even bring her fury to the surface, let alone sustain it to vent at the man on his return. Mainly because she was so frightened he wouldn't return.
Yes, she hated this waiting. When Kakashi was home, she would berate herself, angry at her doubt. When she waited, the silence gnawed at the pit of her stomach, her heart leaping in hope at every creak in the floorboards and then plummeting so far down she feared it could never return when the sound turned out to be nothing. She was aware that she shouldn't wait for Kakashi, but should do work and distract herself, but she was also almost painfully aware that the waiting would pull her away from her work almost as soon as she started. Then she would be back to watching the world go past her window through blank eyes, or staring at the second hand creeping round the clock as her insides twisted with every moment that passed and Kakashi still hadn't returned.
But somehow, he always returned. She never voiced her feelings, but she knew he could see her relief when he turned up days late at the hospital, blood seeping from wounds, but always with the words "I'm home" on his lips. She knew he saw right through her when the ANBU had found him outside the village, still attempting to walk and refusing to go to the hospital without telling Sakura he was home. She knew that he worried about her when he returned looking healthier than her, and just held her in his arms, a silent apology for his tardiness. She knew that one day he wouldn't return, because no promise had ever been made, and it tore her up inside, and threatened to spill tears.
So she waited, forever punctual, for her tardy acquaintance, sensei, fellow Jounin, and lover.
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