Well here I am again, writing cheasy one-shots that aren't even that insanely full of romance. This one is a bit less romance focused actually. It is more on like the thoughts Sakura has on what relationships should be. The words 'you', 'me', and 'us' are used to describe the different people and statuses of relationships. In her case, the you turns into Kakashi, she is the me, and the us is when the two of them come together. As always, I do not own the characters or the anime/manga of Naruto but I do own my words. If you want to use any of my thoughts, get permission first and give credit where credit is due. Hope you enjoy!

Sky

A You and a Me

In this world, there are countless 'yous' and for each one a 'me'. Still, it takes a very special you to join a me and create the unique and beautiful us. The us is perfect, simplistic yet fully divine, an ethereal joint life that binds the two hearts into one. I never believed I would find an us. The one you I wanted was far out of my reach and the you who wanted me wasn't all that appealing to me. But there always was that you that I never realized was there for me. He was solid and quiet, a strong and silent man with a warrior's heart. He was beyond my class, beyond my reach but still he lingered just on the edge of my vision. When I was weak, he was there. When I reached the fullest of my potential, he was there. Still, I could never see him as completing me to create an us just because of how different and better than me he appeared. That wouldn't last for too much longer though. I would begin to see that he could be my you and we could be us just like all of the other couples. It would just take a dose of reality and a bit of suffering to make me see that he could be the one for me.

"Sakura, would you hurry up! We aren't going to a festival; we are going on a mission!" Naruto called as he bounced lightly on the balls of his feet, body rocking slightly back and forth with his fidgety movements. I rolled my eyes from my place in front of a mirror. I wasn't going out looking like I just woke up even if we were only going out on a short mission. Plus, Sasuke was going to be with us and I had to make sure I looked my best for him even if I knew I would never get him. "Come on, come on! I can't wait much longer!" He whined.

"God Naruto…do you have to go pee or something? Sakura wasting her time in front of a mirror doesn't matter since we can't leave until Kakashi arrives." Sasuke said in a bored voice as he looked blandly to the blonde male, who gave him a reproachful yet still antsy look. I came out soon anyway as I was quite done with listening to Naruto go on and on about my desire to look good. Sasuke had been right on target though as we had to wait an additional ten minutes until our sensei finally wander up to us, nose buried in his book and gait at a gentle and easy pace. "Can we leave now before Naruto completely explodes from excitement?" The raven-haired teen asked with his emotionless tone.

Our rather distant sensei lifted his one visible eye from the pages of his book to look at us in a nearly Sasuke-like manner. The look wasn't completely disapproving though, simply indifferent and almost bored with us. "A mission…right. Naruto and Sasuke, you will be going straight to the village and making sure the path is clear. Sakura and I will follow through the forest to look for any hidden attackers. We will meet when we get there and then proceed to deliver the Hokage's message." He said as he flipped his book shut and stowed it in one of his pockets. "You two start now. We will start soon after." He added as the opposites nodded in unison and prowled off to begin their mission.

"Why did you pair those two together?...And why did you leave me with you?" I asked softly after the boys had quite disappeared into the forest and beyond my line of sight. The question had been lingering on my tongue since Kakashi had said we would be splitting up. The older male had seemed to know of the question and I could almost see a smile forming behind his characteristic mask. It forced me to hide a grin of my own.

He shrugged first, as if to tell me that there was no reason behind his actions but I could see that there was more than that coming. He only left a few seconds after his shrug before he allowed himself to speak. "Those two need to learn to harness their powers and collaborate. They could be almost unbeatable if they worked together every once in a while. And you and me getting paired together…that was just how it goes I guess. I didn't want to leave you with either one of them at least. With Naruto, he could end up all over you. With Sasuke, you could end up all over him. We need to get this mission completed and I saw this as the best way. Naruto and Sasuke will compete their way directly to the village in no time just because of their natures." He explained slowly as he began to walk toward the edge of the forest, closely followed by me.

I didn't have much to say in response to this news and so we spent a while just walking side by side in silence, occasionally breaking the unspoken pact to choose a direction through especially overgrown sections of the forest. We were long gone from the entrance and the well-beaten path when we came upon the remains of a fire that still had smoldering coals. "On guard…" I whispered to him as we moved to stand back to back, though the top of my head only came up to just above his shoulders, in the small clearing centered by the pit. There were cracking noises of small twigs as something moved around us and my eyes scanned the half of the circle of trees that was in my direction.

It didn't take long for a group of ninja to appear around us, seemingly surrounding us though it appeared obvious at least half of them were products of Shadow Clone Jutsu. We carefully arranged our attacks just as we practiced, aiming at each target with deathly accurate precision and taking all but two down. Kakashi was at a stand-off with his objective and was distracted temporarily as my opponent began to close in. She had swift moves that made weapons appear out of nowhere to cut at my legs and arms. I managed to retrieve some of her many lost weapons though and turn the tables upon her but only after I was gaining a severe limp from injuries she caused. When I finally found myself free of her attacks, I turned to my sensei, who was just dusting himself off and backing away from the unconscious figure of his assailant. As he caught sight of me he almost rushed to my side, quickly placing an around my waist and slipping my arm over his shoulders so I could use him for support.

"Easy Sakura, that girl had some fight in her and took a lot out of you. We'll head back toward the path and take that the rest of the way so we can get you looked after. Those cuts don't look so good." He said as he used his free hand to do something highly unexpected. The lean digits slid to the back of his head, undoing the knot that held his mask in place and lightly pulling it down to reveal his beautiful face. After adjusting his head band so it appropriately covered his scarred eye, he took his mask and began, as we started to slowly walk toward the path, to tend to the scratches I had received on my cheeks and face. He was surprisingly gentle with his touches and I couldn't help but feel safe with him watching over me and caring for me. I did, however, begin to feel the effects of losing so much blood from all of the gashes I had been given.

"Kakashi-sensei…I don't think I can…walk all of the way to town. I could try…but I don't think I will make it." I breathed slowly as my eyes looked up at him for some sort of response. He gave me a glance in return that seemed to tell me not to worry about it as he stopped and shifted himself, bending down a bit to put one arm under my knees and to slide his other arm a bit further up my back. I found myself becoming near weightless as his arms lifted me off my feet and pulled me up close to his chest.

"Then I will carry you. You aren't heavy at all." He responded plainly, as if this was something he did every day or as if it was something completely typical. I didn't debate, from a combination of exhaustion and comfort, and simply enjoyed the feeling of being held in such a warm and steady grip. My sensei didn't appear to be burdened at all by my weight nor did he seem to mind the fact we were so close; in fact, he seemed to revel in the closeness almost as much as I did. "But perhaps we should rest for a while first though. I want to wrap up some of your wounds." He added after a while of content silence between us. I gave a soft nod of agreement and approval and found myself being gingerly lowered to the ground to rest up against a large tree trunk. Kakashi was crouched in front of me, beginning to unwind the bandages wrapped around his thigh and lower legs. They were really superfluous on him but as he wound them around my battered limbs they gained purpose and crimson stains. When all of his bandages had been used, he moved to sit up against the tree by my side, quickly pulling me up onto his lap when he was in a comfortable position. I was surprised by his action but I didn't deter it, resting my head up against his shoulder and chest as I felt my tense body began to relax as his sheltering arms wrapped around me.

We stayed like that for what seemed like forever and it was well past nightfall when Sasuke and Naruto appeared on a search for us. They were shocked to say the least at the loving and borderline possessive hold Kakashi had on me but they didn't say a word. Our sensei found a sort of delight in their expressions as he pushed himself into a standing position with me still in his arms, though now my legs were wrapped around his waist and my head rested on his shoulder as I felt the heavy tug of sleep. Though I was not surprised at the stoic reaction of Sasuke, Naruto's complete lack of words amazed and yet pleased me. Now he would know once and for all that I was not the other half of his us. I was gone and not even by his arch-rival the Uchiha. It had been the one I had never expected, never given thought to, who had stolen my heart and taken it as his own. I had found my you, filled the hole in my us, and finally realized that there was someone I had really loved all along. The feeling I got from the warmth of his arms only reassured this as my body began to grow heavy and my eyes slipped shut. His voice whispering sweet nothings of acquiescence to my slumbering was the last thing I heard before I found myself whisked off to sleep and I knew for sure that this wasn't going to be a meaningless relationship. Kakashi had given me my long sought after us.