Because Kakashi is awesome, if not slightly lame at the same time, and yeah. Also because of reasons. Headcanons, AHOY!
Not meant to be KakaSaku in any way, though I can hardly stop you from seeing it as such if you so choose. Just know that it wasn't my intention. Yeah.
Disclaimer: I, Saya Moonshadow, must sadly deny any claim to the manga known as Naruto. It belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.
Snaptrap
By: Saya Moonshadow
Haruno Sakura has always been his favorite of his three students.
Kakashi knows that as an instructor and as a professional, he is not supposed to have favorites - he is supposed to treat all three equally, and not favor one over the others in the least. But in Sakura's case, he really can't help himself.
She is the only one who does not remind him of someone from his past who is now gone.
Naruto is too much like Minato-sensei and Kushina-sama rolled into one - he has Minato's hair and eyes, and Kushina's face and personality, and at first, just looking at him is enough to give Kakashi a serious case of the heartaches. Perhaps this is why he never bothered to reach out to the obviously lonely child before, despite practically being his older brother in a sense. He reminds Kakashi of the final precious people whom he has lost, Minato-sensei, whose opinion he valued above all others, and Kushina-sama, who was like mother and older sister rolled into one, and who always treated Kakashi so kindly, no matter how frigid he was to her in return.
He misses the two of them more than he can express, and the first time he officially meets Naruto, the blonde's enthusiastic shout of, "My dream is to become Hokage, dattebayo!" cuts so very, very deep that for a moment Kakashi cannot speak.
"My dream was once to be Hokage, dattebane! But I guess Minato can have it, since, y'know, he's already got it!"
"Ah, Kushina, dear, you wound me so."
Naruto is also practically the spitting image of Obito, what with his spiky hair and open, friendly face and loud, boisterous demeanor, and goddammit, it isn't supposed to hurt this much but it still does, anyway.
Perhaps this is his second chance, then. Maybe Naruto is kind of like Obito reborn, come back so that Kakashi can properly protect him this time, and - he stops before his thoughts can take an even more ridiculous turn, and quickly moves on to the next.
Sasuke, of course, reminds Kakashi of himself, or more specifically of how stupid he used to be back in the day.
All the Uchiha heir truly thinks of is revenge. An understandable goal, Kakashi knows, especially with the manner that everything was taken away from him. But when he looks at Sasuke's brooding face, he sometimes sees instead a fifteen-year-old boy with silver hair and a black facemask, desperate to prove himself beyond what has come to be expected of him as the son of the once great, now disgraced White Fang. Someone so utterly blinded by the darkness in his own mind that he can't see the so very precious things right in front of him.
He once thought he would not care if Uchiha Obito died. He was proved horrifically wrong, and he only hopes that Sasuke is not forced to learn the lesson in the same way that he himself did.
No, he will not allow that to happen. And so, he takes Sasuke under his wing as much as possible. Train, train, train. Become strong to protect the people precious to you. Leave well enough alone, and don't forget about the people who still for some reason care about you.
For a time, it seems things are going well. Sure, Naruto and Sasuke have some issues getting along, but this is nothing new - most genin teams seem to have at least two kids that for some reason or another immediately decide that they are Rivals For Life. It doesn't even have to be two genin on the same team, he remembers, dryly thinking of his and Gai's so-called "rivalry", though really, that's more on Gai's part than his own. He could really care less about who is the better one, but he appreciates the other man's efforts at friendship, regardless.
Sasuke seems to be doing just fine for a while, seems to be understanding the importance of one's comrades. Perhaps one day soon, the stoic Uchiha will thaw out completely. Stranger things have certainly happened.
And then, it all falls apart.
Throughout all the chaos, Sakura is almost like a rock. She is small, and perhaps still weak, and maybe unable to change much in the long run, but the fact of the matter is that she refuses to abandon any of them, and this makes Kakashi prouder than he can say. He has heard the story of how she fought the three Oto genin in order to protect Naruto and Sasuke, and the thought of his little kunoichi student going up against those three sadists is an unpleasant one, but instead of being traumatized by her experience, she is so determined to do better.
Sakura is safe for him. He does not have to worry about her repeating the mistakes of the past, because she is nothing from his past, just an ordinary little girl who happened to have the fortune (or misfortune, Kakashi isn't sure how lucky she actually is) to be placed on his team. Her chakra control is amazing, but other than that, she is very normal. Perfect.
In the end, he finds he cannot stop Sasuke from falling into the darkness, despite his best efforts. He warns him countless times, shows him examples, endless lectures, everything, but it still isn't enough.
Finally, he is forced to admit that this is not an unwilling thing - Sasuke chose to go to Orochimaru. Despite what Naruto and Sakura may insist, Kakashi is not so certain of the other boy's friendship. After all, what kind of friend abandons you like this? Apparently all his lectures and lessons and examples went in one ear and straight out the other, though he is still determined to at least fix what went wrong.
There is still hope for Sasuke. There is still hope. There has to be. He refuses to allow himself to think otherwise.
After Naruto leaves on his three year training mission with Jiraiya, Kakashi lets out a sigh of not-quite-relief, not-quite-sadness. He will miss the boy, as embarrassing as that sounds, but he still has one student left to teach.
He sends Sakura a message instructing her to meet him at the usual spot the next day, and actually makes an effort to get there somewhat on time. He's only two hours late, anyway, and she glares at him for just a few minutes before they begin.
It's not until they're halfway through target practice training and she accidentally cuts herself with one of her kunai that he feels the blood draining from his face.
Haruno Sakura is his favorite student for a reason. She does not remind him of anyone from his past, and so she is a safe haven for him. With Sakura, there is a clean, blank slate to start from. Maybe not so blank anymore, not after all these months, but the point still remains. He is free to construct any image of himself that he wants in her eyes, and it is such a relief to be just Kakashi-sensei instead of Sharingan Kakashi or Kakashi of the ANBU or Son of the White Fang or any of the other stupid titles he's gained during his 27 years of life.
To Sakura, he is merely Kakashi-sensei, lover of perverted books and possessor of a thousand-and-one late excuses. And maybe extremely powerful jounin that she looks up to. She's surprisingly stingy with her praise.
Sakura lifts her bleeding hand to her face, inspecting the wound, and before he can even think to offer her a bandage, she brings her other hand up.
It's glowing green with a healing light, and for a split second, it is not Haruno Sakura that Kakashi sees.
"I made you this personalized medkit, you know, just in case! I am this team's medic, so I need to take care of you as best as I can!"
No. No, no, no. This isn't supposed to be happening.
She is not supposed to remind him of anyone, particularly not of her.
How can she do this to him? And now, of all times?
"Kakashi-sensei?"
Her hair is brown - no, pink - no, brown again...no, back to pink, and her eyes are green, not deep, fathomless brown. She is Sakura, not...not...
"Are you alright, Kakashi-sensei?"
He blinks, snapping out of his trance, and gazes down at her. He knows she can see the agony in his one visible eye, and so he quickly smiles and causes that eye to turn up with false cheer that is nonetheless so convincing that even Gai has a hard time telling the difference between it and the real thing.
It is disturbingly easy to pretend he's not dying inside.
"It's nothing, Sakura. I was just up too late reading, is all."
"More of your perverted books, sensei?" she asks disapprovingly, and he is both pained and relieved to know that he has successfully distracted her. She sighs. "I'm learning the medical arts from Tsunade-shishou, sensei, and let me tell you, the books she's given me so far are very strict about sleeping habits. You should be getting at least six to seven hours a night in order to be well-rested!"
"I'll remember that," he tells her, though he knows he will definitely not be sleeping properly for quite some time after this.
He dismisses Sakura for the day, and she cheerfully tells him that after lunch, she is going to the Hokage's tower for more medical training. There is a horrible pang in his heart at this, and he resolves to avoid her for a good long while.
She waves goodbye to him, and that is the last he sees of her for three years.