Just felt like angsting today.
Disclaimer: Do not own Naruto.
Life was a cruel thing. She probably knew it well from the stories he heard of her childhood. Children laughing at her because she was different, getting a rise out of the fact you merely existed; it must have been horrible, but to them, it was probably the funniest fucking thing they'd ever seen. Life was funny that way.
Rain pelted down on him as he sucked on the senbon needle in his mouth. Above, the hollow laughter of a raven circling above reached his ears and stuffing his hands into his pockets, he shivered as a gust of wind crossed the field.
A funeral had passed by here, a large procession that involved the entire village down to the last shinobi and civilian. Speeches had been given on the giant platform where most announcements were made, the Hokages of years past gazing down at the ceremony in somber silence as flowers were deposited by his photo before the procession moved to the stone epitaph. It was only moments ago that they finished engraving the man's name.
An anguished cry brought him from his reverie to where he stood. It was the training field, the same one that held the epitaph for their fallen heroes. Looking around, he drank in the quiet, finding solace in the sound of the falling rain. Unfortunately, he couldn't say the same for the girl sobbing against the stone, but at least she could be honest with herself.
She missed him.
Another sob and a chill ran down his spine from the sound. Letting his gaze stray to the stone once more, he frowned and shifted the senbon to the side of his mouth as he rubbed the back of his neck. It felt awkward standing here in such a private moment, but he was important to him as he was to her.
Her petite frame was wracked with sobs, back trembling with every shaky breath she took and he winced at the scene. Her clothes were soaked and she looked so much smaller than he remembered her being. She was shivering now and a regretful sigh escaped his lips. For her to be so affected by this…but he shouldn't have been surprised. She loved him, after all.
Now Genma couldn't say when it had actually had started. It could've happened as early as four years ago, but it had been unexpected to say the least. Years before, when they were drinking one night, the man had expressed his feelings of platonic friendship with the girl, stating he would never feel more for her than a father would his daughter, but that had changed in recent years. He had grown; she had grown and the transformation to a selfish brat to a woman had been a shock to both their systems. The fact that they were the same person didn't register for a while, but it did eventually and when he finally accepted it, the first thing the man did was ruffle her hair and smile.
They were friends. Despite the gap of two and a half years from when she went under Tsunade's tutelage, they had remained friends. Catching up on old times, the wide gap between them seemed to shrink. They got to know each other, seeing smiles and sharing pains. They had never expected it to happen and when they first figured out what had changed between them, they laughed until they cried.
Now he didn't know all the details, but apparently it was Sakura who made the first move. It hadn't surprised him that she did because Kakashi would never admit to having feelings more than fatherly to his former student. What did surprise him was that she had gone through with it. It was a boldness that he had never suspected of the girl that used to cry over everything, but she had changed since those days. She had grown stronger and smarter and he respected her a bit more for it. Needless to say, she had gotten her man, but looking at her now, watching as she sobbed and clung desperately to the memorial stone wishing he would just come back, he had to wonder if it was really worth it.
Kakashi and Sakura had never expected to fall in love. They never expected to be more than teacher and student, more than friends, but that's just how it went. Life was just funny that way…
But it was a cruel type of funny.