A Miracle till 12 p.m. - Happy new year
Huff… huff… huff… huff…
Run. Got to run faster. A few more kilometers. Dark. The full moon lightened the night. No time left. Have to…!!
"Whoa! What is that dust cloud?" Izumo wondered at the Gate of Konoha pointing a finger along the way, which led out of the village.
"I bet it is Gai, who wants to prove to Kakashi that he is the best after all", Kotetsu shrugged and sat down again in his chair.
But Izumo just remained in his frozen spot and observed the approaching cloud of dust.
"What the…? It's-"
"Hell yeah!!! I made it in time!!" I shouted from the bottom of my lungs waving my hands up in the air, as I came to a stop in front of the little hut, where Izumo and Kotetsu were sitting in, and I was so relieved to see that the festival hasn't started yet. Because it was December the 31st and I was so damn thrilled about it, so that I accomplished my mission in a new record and hurried back here to make it in time for the great firework. Taking a deep breath I put my hands on my hips and looked at the two shinobi, who were staring at me with open mouths.
"Be careful, guys…if you keep that grimace, somebody will mistake your mouth as an aim for his kunai…", I said sarcastically, "Write down, that I am back please."
"What's the rush, Sakura?" Kotetsu spoke after shaking his head to get rid of this grimace of his.
Izumo seemed to get back to his normal look, too.
"What's the rush?! Don't you know what date it is today? I want to see the festival of course!" I hissed.
"You have two more hours, Sakura…it is only 10 p.m. you know", the black hair man responded.
"10 p.m.?! Oh my god! I have to take a shower now and get ready or I will be late", I said and suddenly I was in such a hurry, "Bye, bye, guys", I waved them goodbye and hurried home.
"…Women…", Izumo said shaking his head slowly from one side to the other and Kotetsu could only nod in agreement.
I opened my door and threw my pack in a corner in the living room, while I started to undress myself walking to the bathroom. I was hardly in there and was already standing naked in the shower. The hot water was the right thing for me just now. It helped me to relax and calm down a bit. Like the water was running down my skin the memories of my mission rushed through my mind. I was in Sunagakure and delivered a scroll from Tsunade-sama for Gaara. Six days ago I headed out for Suna and as soon as I brought him what he wanted, I left. I knew it wasn't that polite, but I had to leave immediately, because otherwise I would have missed my favorite festival.
My eyes shot open, as I thought of the festival. There was really no time for me to day dream now…I had to get ready.
…*no intention of telling you about Sakura's beauty session*…
One hour later - at 11 p.m.- I was ready to go. I had my favorite yukata on (dark red with black roses on it) and had loosened my long hair so that it was a bit wavy. Locking my door from the outside I heard someone saying:
"The festival can start…the princess finally made it."
I turned around to face the man who this familiar voice belonged to. This voice always made me happy deep in my heart…
"Hey, Kakashi-sensei", I greeted him smiling.
He hadn't changed at all. After eight years knowing him, he still looked the way he did, when I first met him. He leaned against the railing, which kept the drunken from falling into the river. Of course he wasn't drunk, but he just leaned there, as if he waited quite a long time.
"Hey Sakura", he greeted back also smiling.
"How long have you been standing there?" I asked curiously.
He chuckled and eyed me from head to toe.
"You look beautiful…the yukata suits you pretty good", he said wholeheartedly.
I wondered why he avoided my question, however, I accepted the compliment with a "thanks" and a slight blush. I went down the stairs and walked towards him till I was standing right in front of him.
"Want to go to the festival together?" I asked softly.
"That's what I am here for", he took my hand in his and we walked side by side along the streets.
"Oh yeah…Kakashi, I have something for you", I took out a little key fob, which had the form of a ninja dog and gave it to him, "I thought I should bring it with me since I was sure I would meet you tonight."
"Thank you, Sakura", he looked at it for a second and then fixed it on his jonin vest.
The past two years it was so easy to be around Kakashi. He didn't treat me like a child anymore…he was like a new best friend or something like that…we could talk about everything and laugh about everything. It was great.
The streets got more crowded, when we arrived at the 'entrance' of the festival in the middle of the village. There were a lot stands on each side of us and they were all very bright because of the Christmas lights they still had. I recognized many familiar faces too.
"Hi, Sakura, what's up?" Sai greeted me.
"Hey, forehead-girl, having a good time?" Ino asked passing by us.
"Hallo, Sakura."
"Hey, Sakura."
"Hi there, Sakura."
Everybody greeted me while they passed by us, but none of them said one single word to Kakashi. I thought about it for a sec and then grinned at the silver hair man.
"What?" He asked smiling.
"You really have to stop reading porn in public, sensei, otherwise people will continue ignoring you."
"I keep that in mind", he chuckled.
When we wandered through the bright streets, I suddenly saw Naruto and Sai behind a stand selling drinks to the villagers. I pulled Kakashi with me and walked to the blond hair boy.
"Sakura-chan!" He shouted as a wide smile appeared on his face. "Gosh! You look beautiful."
"Thank you, Naruto", I grinned.
I let go of Kakashi's hand and put them on the wooden table to chose a drink. Of course I knew what Kakashi's favorite drink was, since I used to go to the bar with him once a week.
"I would like two Bloody Marries, please", I ordered.
"Two? Ah…you don't want to come back here again, do you?" He said with a playful disappointment in his voice.
"What? …Oh…you ignore him as well, don't you?" This was ridiculous.
"Who?" Aha. He played it off.
"Come on! Stop this, Naruto! Just give me our drinks!" I was losing my temper.
He looked scarred and took without a single word the two glasses filled with the cocktail from Sai, who has been mixing them, and gave them to me. He was confused by my rising temper, but he was so…ARGH!! I ripped the glasses out of his hands and turned away with Kakashi following me.
"What was that?" Sai asked as scared and confused as Naruto.
"No idea. Did Sakura have a companion with her?" Naruto wondered.
"Don't think so."
Both of them watched after Sakura making her way through the crowd.
"I am sorry, Kakashi…I don't know why they are doing this…", I apologized feeling guilty for what was done to Kakashi.
"Hey, don't you dare feel guilty for what others do! You will ruin your life if you keep doing that. I am sure this was just a kind of joke…maybe all of the villagers have conspired against me", he chuckled again.
"How can you laugh about that, Kakashi?"
"Come, now, Sakura, it is 11.45 p.m. and I am sure you want the best place for watching the firework, don't you?"
"Yes, but…"
"Then follow me", but this wasn't necessary because he pulled me with him with my hand in his right one and his drink in the left one. We were at the back of the Hokage building and walked up the stairs. I knew where we were going. A good place for the both of us ending this year and begin a new one. We arrived at the roof of the building and Kakashi guided me to a bank, where we sat down. There were still 13 minutes left before the firework started. I nipped at my drink as well as he did. Of course I knew how he looked like under that mask…well if you spent so much time together as we did…
"Sakura", he whispered softly.
"Hmm?" I looked up at him.
"Sakura, before this ends I want you to know something."
"Okay", I responded unsure of what was coming next.
"You have to know, that I like you very much…and I really had the time of my life the last two years…and…you just have to know…that I will always be there by your side and watch over you and help you in each situation…you deserve it to be happy…but you really have to stop looking for a guy now… let him find you and not the other way round."
This turned out not the way I thought it would. I considered his words for a moment and let them sink into my mind. Then I smiled.
"Maybe he already found me, don't you think, Kakashi?" I teased him a little.
Looking him in the eye I noticed that his gaze softened and he leaned forward. First I was shocked by what he was going to do, but then I wanted this too. I just wanted to feel him…not only his hands in mine…
His lips were barely touching mine as he whispered: "Yeah, I had found you."
Then his lips were on mine and I let my glass fall to the ground wrapping my arms around his neck to pull him closer to me. This was a good end for this year and a perfect beginning for the new year. I didn't know how long we kissed, but when we sat there panting and breathing fast as soon as we parted, we heard the countdown from below.
"10!" The crowd shouted.
"Come on, Kakashi! Let's go to the railing so that we can see the firework better."
"9!"
I pulled him to the railing.
"8!"
I grabbed it and felt Kakashi's chest touching my back.
"7!"
He also grabbed the railing on each side of me so that I was sandwiched between his arms.
"6!"
"You'll remember what I had told you, won't you?" He asked worryingly.
"5!"
I chuckled.
"4!"
"Of course, I will, Kakashi", I said jokingly.
"3!"
"And if not, you can remind me tomorrow", I continued.
"2!"
"I love you, Sakura", he whispered wholeheartedly as he did earlier against my ear.
"1!"
"You know what, Kakashi? I love you t-" I turned around to face him. I smiled widely feeling so happy and complete.
"0! Happy new year!!" The crowd cheered.
I looked around the roof, but…he was not here anymore.
"Kakashi?"
I wondered where he could have gone so quickly.
"Maybe he's fetching us new drinks", I thought walking towards the bank, where he kissed me half a minute ago. I saw his drink and noticed that it was half full…then something else caught my sight and I reached for the glass, which was on the ground…there was a small pink present fixed at it. I took it off there and rapped the paper off it to see what was in there. First I saw a small white paper with 'To my Sakura' written on it…I smiled at what I read…under the paper were two pink earrings, which had the shape of roses.
"Wow…", I stunned.
While I put them on the small box fell to the floor with the open side facing the ground. When I wanted to pick it up I saw something written on the bottom too. I took a closer look and read:
"Happy new year"
He was just too sweet, but…honestly…what takes so long that he would be away for 5 minutes now? As my thoughts trailed off, they were immediately interrupted by Naruto's urgent voice.
"Sakura!"
He ran up the stairs panting as if he had been running all day.
"Hey Naruto, have you seen, Kakashi?"
"What? No…but I am not here because of him…Granny Tsunade told me and Sai to look for you and to immediately come to the morgue!" He took my hand and pulled me along with him.
"The morgue?! What does she want us to do there?" I asked more than confused.
"I don't know, but it must be something bad…considering it is the morgue she called us to", he assumed.
Only three minutes later we -Naruto, Sai and me- arrived at the hallway in the morgue and met with Tsunade-sama, who was talking to Gai and Yamato. They were pale like ghosts must look like if there were any.
"Tsunade-sama", I said interrupting their whispered conversation. Their heads shot up and looked at us with guilt. Now I was worried, when even the Fifth Hokage gave us that look. It must be serious.
"What's the matter?" Naruto asked evenly.
Yamato and Gai looked at each other and then let their heads hang. Tsunade on the other hand looked at us and tried to suppress any emotions, which could tell too much.
"You three have to look at something…You have the right to know first…I am sorry that this has to be now…but…please follow me", she whispered guiding us into a room with a litter in the middle of it. On this litter there lay a corpse covered with a black blanket. We gathered around it and watched Tsunade grabbing the top of the blanket and whispering:
"He got killed…not long ago…", she put the blanket down a bit so that we could see the face…the man there had a mask on and silver hair.
"Ah!" I squeaked and covered my mouth with my hands in order to suffocate the scream which was about to come. Hot tears were already rolling down my face. My heart stopped beating in that very moment. I didn't trust my eyes what they were showing me. I looked to Naruto and Sai and saw that Naruto was crying too -silently- and Sai looked very shocked. I trembled forward and tried to get a hold of myself…
Just a few moments ago he kissed me and now…!
"Who killed him at the festival?" I squeaked. My voice failed with each word because of the sobs.
I touched his masked cheek…it was still a bit warm…My love…my world…my life…lying dead in front of me…
"Sakura", Yamato whispered placing both of his hands on my shoulders, "He died 1 hour and 20 minutes ago…he got killed on our way home from a mission…"
I looked at Kakashi and I got pale white…
One hour and 20 minutes ago, Kakashi had stood in front of my house and had waited for me…this couldn't be…then who was the person I spent the evening with?
"That's not true! Come on, Kakashi-sensei! Quit joking already!" Naruto hissed walking up to Kakashi's corpse and shook him a little by his shoulders. His tears didn't subside and one fell down on Kakashi's right eye and then it ran down to the side…it looked like he was crying now too…I couldn't bear to look at him anymore…I turned around and buried my face in Yamato's chest.
"Kakashi-sensei! Wake the hell up!" Naruto continued to shout at him.
I heard someone stepping forward and then I heard how Naruto was pulled away from my love's dead body. I cried so much, but when I heard something - I thought metal- fell to the floor I turned my eyes to what caused the quiet sound.
What I saw let me shiver to my bones. Kakashi's arm fell to the side and his hand was visible next to the blanket…what he seemed to have dropped was the key fob I gave him 1 hour and 20 minutes ago.
"Kakashi", I sobbed and fell to the floor, "thank you…I love you too!"
Even after exactly ten years I have never been able to explain what happened back then, but one thing I can tell you for sure: This night Kakashi had come back to me to show me what life and happiness could be…and he only needed less than two hours for that.
Thank you, Kakashi…I won't ever forget you…Happy New Year!