A Knight's Duty
It wasn't easy being a knight. To earn a certain amount of respect, one had to do a number of knightly duties which include, but are not limited to: rescuing damsels, slaying dragons, defeating evil magicians, toppling kingdoms, you know, the usual. But nonetheless, Haruno Sakura is a fighter, a warrior, and more recently, as ordained by the Queen, Haruno Sakura is a knight. And by the gods, she will fulfill her knightly mandate for as long as she lives. This was how she found herself to be on a mission to save a silver-haired princess trapped in tall ivory tower in the middle of the mountain. Legend talked about the pale-haired princess, as kind as she was fair, ruthlessly imprisoned for years by a pack of ferocious dogs.
A fitting quest for a young knight such as myself, Sakura had thought as she rode her steed, flying across villages and forests, finally to reach the mountain that was told to house the princess. It had taken many nights before she finally reached the ivory tower and the journey was a tiring one. The tower was already in sight, but she was tired and in no fit condition to battle whichever creature guarding the princess, so Sakura decided to set up camp in the nearby clearing. The night sky was beautiful, and the moon shining down on her and the roses in full bloom all around felt like an omen of good luck. From her camp, she heard the howls of wild dogs and knew she had to prepare herself for conflict before she could finally rescue the princess.
Which was why it was rather anticlimactic that, with all her mental preparation, she was greeted with a quiet climb up the tower and a silver-haired man reading calmly inside the room where the princess was supposed to be.
"You're the princess?" The pink-haired warrior said skeptically, as she eyed the tall, silver-haired man.
The man raised a brow, taking in her lithe form shrouded in thick metal armor, "and are you supposed to be the knight? I didn't realize they came in kiddie sizes. What are you, a free sample?"
Sakura scowled. She hated being teased because of her height. Her best friends, Naruto and Sasuke, used to tease her about it too before she gave them a proper beating. Besides, it's not that Sakura was small. It's just that, the rest of the world was overly tall.
"You don't look like a princess." Sakura said as-a-matter-of-factly.
"Well, you don't look like a knight either, but here we are." The man replied returning to his book, rapidly losing interest in the petite woman in front of him.
"Let me get this straight, you're the one who needed rescuing?" Sakura asked dubiously as she looked around taking in the man's stack of what looks like pornographic reading material and half-empty plates of food, "because truth be told, you don't look like you need rescuing to me."
"Ah," the man replied, as if suddenly understanding why his afternoon was being interrupted by this odd-haired midget, "is this about the ad my advisors placed in the knight quest listings?"
Sakura remembered going to the knight quest placement agency and being assigned a random quest by some angry looking clerk. Shrugging it off as the general unfriendliness of government offices, she had read through the sheet containing her quest and found that she was to rescue royalty from a neighboring kingdom.
"Well?" The man prodded, prompting her for an answer.
"It was in the quest agency, yes." Sakura nodded with uncertainty. This wasn't how she pictured her first quest turning out.
"I see," the man said nodding sagely, "I feel partially responsible for your troubles so let me offer you a cookie." He said waving a biscuit tin in her direction.
Sakura stared at the man incredulously, "a cookie?"
"Best you can ever find in the Kingdom of Konoha, or so I'm told."
Yep. This definitely wasn't how Sakura pictured her first quest turning out. Nonetheless, a knight persists. "Look, Mr. Obviously Not a Princess,"
"Kakashi," the man supplied helpfully.
"Kakashi. I'd much rather you let me rescue you. I've been lucky enough not to encounter your rumored ferocious canine captors on my way here, but the longer we stay here, the more in danger we are. Not to mention I'd like to get this quest over with."
"Ferocious canine captors – oh! You mean Pakkun?"
Sakura sighed. She had no idea what this guy, who was supposed to be a princess, was talking about half the time and all she wanted was a successful first quest, but why must the universe be so punishing? Surely, putting fire ants in Naruto and Sasuke's clean laundry as a prank did not warrant this much karmic retribution? And what in heaven's name was a Pakkun?
"You called?" Sakura heard a rather deep voice speak from behind her, and was surprised upon turning that it came from a rather small pug. She stared at the dog in shock. The dog stared back.
"You can talk?" She gasped.
"So can you, but do you see me gasping about it?" The pug replied. "Yo, Kakashi," the pug said as it trotted past her to sit on Kakashi's ankles, "who's the chick?"
"Excuse me!" Sakura replied, affronted, "I am Haruno Sakura, an honorable knight of Queen Tsunade who is here to rescue the princess - well, this man, actually – from this tower!"
Pakkun and Kakashi shared a glance as if saying, well, there you have it.
"Pakkun, this is Sakura," Kakashi said, gesturing the flabbergasted knight, "and Sakura, this is my ferocious jailer, Pakkun."
"Ah, so your advisors are at it again," Pakkun replied knowingly.
"I don't think they ever stopped to be honest. I wish they'd just consider that I don't want the throne, you know. I did make that bit of information known before I escaped." Kakashi replied with a sigh.
"Wait a minute," Sakura interjected, "what do you mean you escaped?"
"It means, dear knight," Kakashi said, "that I don't need rescuing."
It wasn't easy being a knight. To earn a certain amount of respect, one had to do a number of knightly duties which include, but are not limited to: rescuing damsels, slaying dragons, defeating evil magicians, and toppling kingdoms. To accept a quest means to complete it or die trying, and it is a knight's most humiliating disgrace to come home from a failed quest. With this, Sakura wondered whether she pissed off some divine deity in a past life because she was pretty sure anything she did in this life was not worth this amount of trouble. It's just her luck, really, that her first ever quest was to rescue a person who has no intention of being rescued at all.
She had taken up residence in the tower for what must have been more than a week now in her quest to convince it's sole human resident to come home, and Kakashi let her. The man, despite his royal upbringing, was an apathetic boor, and Sakura found herself questioning the sanity of his country's advisors for wanting such a man to rule their kingdom.
"Good morning, Kakashi! Do you feel like being rescued today?" Sakura would ask every morning.
To which he would reply, "no, thank you," and return to his reading.
This had become a routine for both inhabitants. Sakura would wake up to find Kakashi already awake before her, lounging on his spacious couch by the window. He would read his novels and eat food brought to him by a pack of speaking dogs, who, Sakura found out, were Kakashi's summons. Apparently, his kingdom dabbled in the magic arts and the royalty were mages of a sort. The dogs were actually rather sweet and they frequently talked to Sakura and brought her meals and showed her the best bathing spots close to the tower.
"Hey, Kakashi," Sakura asked one morning after he told her 'no, he would not want to be rescued today, thank you very much', "you never told me why you left your kingdom."
"I never did." He replied without missing a beat and that was the end of the conversation.
And that was the norm when it came to speaking with Kakashi. Sakura would ask a question, he would answer, and they would go back living their own lives. It truly baffled Sakura why he didn't kick her out in the first place, seeing as he doesn't seem to like her at all. It was on her tenth night, after Sakura climbed the tower after bathing in the nearby stream, that Kakashi addressed her for the first time.
"I was wondering how long you're planning on staying here." He told her as he read by the lamplight.
Sakura glanced at her metal armor that lay beside her sleeping mattress - courtesy of Pakkun - and thought she didn't fancy wearing that hot and heavy garb any time soon. "Oh, are you finally ready to be rescued?"
"No."
"Are you kicking me out then?"
Kakashi scratched his head and replied sheepishly, "I really don't want to do that either, as I feel like I'm partially responsible why you're here in the first place."
Sakura nodded sagely, "you got that right."
Kakashi sighed, as if resigning to his fate of being in constant close quarters with a bull-headed, self-proclaimed knight with pink hair. "Why did you become a knight?" He suddenly asked.
"Someone's chatty today."
"Call me curious."
"Nice to meet you, curious."
"Smart, aren't we?"
"I try my best."
Sakura smirked. Kakashi smirked back, showing off canines more elongated than the rest of his teeth. It was the first time she saw him direct a smile at her, granted it was a smirk, and it was rather endearing. She found her smirk growing into a full-blown grin.
"I was knighted by Queen Tsunade," she began, "just recently, I finally completed all qualifications necessary to be knighted, and so, here I am."
"That doesn't answer the why."
"Why not? My best friends are knights too. We were knighted together. They're probably off completing their own quests now as well."
"Huh. Haven't you thought of doing something you want for yourself? It's such a waste that you commit so much time and effort in this knight business when it's not even a goal you set for yourself in the first place. You could be doing things that make you genuinely happy, you know."
Sakura stared at him, humor dancing in her eyes, "says the man who willingly locked himself up in a tower to read books."
Kakashi only shrugged and grinned.
"Your smile is beautiful. You should smile more often." Sakura said before she could stop herself, and then reddening slightly at the embarrassment brought about by her forwardness.
It was worth it, though, because it caused Kakashi's grin to bloom into a genuine smile.
After that night, Kakashi smiled more often and more openly and Sakura found herself looking for ways to make his eyes light up. She didn't know why she did it, but seeing him happy made her happy as well. Kind of similar to the way she felt about Naruto and Sasuke, but a bit different in a way she couldn't quite put her finger on. She found that Kakashi was most animated when discussing passages from his novels, and despite the book's perverted reputation, it had a fairly decent romance going on. She didn't stop teasing him on his choice of literature, though. She also liked to bring him fruits that she picked up on her walks in the forest. She learned that he liked the blueberries best. Sometimes, she could persuade him to go down from his tower and walk with her, and then they would talk until the sun set.
Weeks passed, and Sakura wondered if his frequent smiles were because he noticed that she would openly stare at him and then look away quickly whenever he caught her. She couldn't help it, though. A smiling Kakashi was one of the most beautiful creatures one would have the good fortune to gaze upon.
"You know," Pakkun would tell her, "I've seen Kakashi smile more times the past few weeks than he did in all the years I knew him. And I knew him for more than a decade."
They were both outside the tower. Pakkun was helping her gather edible berries to turn into a tart as dessert for dinner. The heat was merciless and she was thankful for Pakkun's company and Kakashi's light and airy shirts which she had taken into wearing when she realized she brought only one spare change of clothes.
"Huh, really? Why wouldn't he smile? Royal life ain't it all cracked up to be?"
"A bit. Everybody's so uptight and controlling, it's not really a good place for a child."
"So that's probably why he looked like the way he was when I first met him. You know, devoid of any life and joy."
Pakkun chuckled, "I'm just happy something else made him genuinely smile other than those novels of his. Even at the castle, they were the only things that brought light in that boy's eyes. That, and his late father's rose garden, I guess."
"Rose garden?" Sakura questioned.
"King Sakumo used to have a rose garden that he tended to himself. It was the only place where he was allowed to be himself and not the crown prince. When the king died, Kakashi took over taking care of it. He probably misses it."
Suddenly, Sakura remembered the field of rose bushes where she set camp on the way to the tower. She had an idea.
It wasn't easy being a knight. To earn a certain amount of respect, one had to do a number of knightly duties. She was pretty sure those knightly duties did not include pruning rose bushes and setting up a picnic for her supposed-to-be rescue, but here she was. Truth be told, she had no clue about gardening, having opted to play sword as a child and run outside like mad with the rest of the neighborhood boys instead of learning household tasks, but she had plenty of help from Kakashi's dogs and that was enough. Taking a step back, appraising her handiwork, she felt a smile of contentment play upon her lips.
"You did a great job for a first-time gardener." Pakkun said approvingly.
"Thanks. You think he'll like it?" Sakura asked, a bit self-conscious. Pakkun chuckled.
"It's you, Sakura. He won't be able to dislike it even if he tried."
When Pakkun told Kakashi to follow him down the tower, the latter was surprised. Generally, the pug left Kakashi to his own devices, only stepping in when his health or well-being was being compromised. No amount of questioning yielded to answers, though, and Kakashi was forced to simply obey to shut him up. He wondered where he was taking him. And where was Sakura the whole day, anyway? It was usually her who dragged him in these out-of-the-tower expeditions. Kakashi chuckled to himself. Truth be told, he saw her as a nuisance when she first started living in the tower with him. Nowadays, he found that he was looking forward to spending the day with her. Perhaps being alone was too overrated after all.
Pakkun left Kakashi at the mouth of a clearing he hadn't chanced upon before. Around it were the most beautiful wild roses he had ever seen. They held none of the neat and clipped quality of the castle rose bushes, but the way these thickets grew seemed so free and unhindered, and Kakashi found that beautiful. Sitting in the middle of the clearing, hair still wet from the bath she just came from a few minutes prior, was Sakura. Beside her laid a basket of bread and cheese and some smoked meat. Noticing his presence, she grinned and motioned for him to sit down.
"Not that I'm not thankful," Kakashi said as he sat down, "because I am. But mind telling me what's this all about?"
"Pakkun told me you had roses before and that you probably miss them." Sakura replied, stretching her arms behind her and turning her face up to the sun. "I thought you'd like this place."
Kakashi couldn't stop the grin stretching his face even if he tried. Could this afternoon be more perfect? Here, in the middle of this clearing, with roses all around and Sakura beside him, Kakashi had never felt more content. Her eyes were closed, her face turned to the sun as the light bathed her in its glow. Kakashi briefly wondered if this is what angels looked like. "I do. I love it, Sakura. Thank you."
"I'm glad." She replied without turning to face him, her face cracking into a wider smile.
For a while, they sat there in comfortable silence, simply enjoying each other's company.
"Have I ever told you why I left?" Kakashi said suddenly.
Sakura shook her head, her curiosity piqued.
"My father died when I was young, you see. I was slated next in line to the throne, but I was just a kid." Kakashi remembered those days clearly. How hard he worked to please the people around him, how hard he worked for their praise. He studied his books and learned his etiquette and promised to one day rule the land his father loved. "My only solace back then was my father's rose garden. When I go there, it feels like he's still alive and I'm not alone. I was an uptight, regular stick in the mud."
Sakura laughed. She wondered how the carefree and laidback Kakashi ever be uptight.
Kakashi snorted, "you can laugh all you want. It's true."
"What changed then?"
"One day, I found a book. It was left in the stables by one of our helpers who knew how to read. I was curious and took it with the intention to go over it for some light reading." Kakashi grinned as he remembered how he burned the midnight oil in order to finish the first installment of Icha Icha that night. It was one of the raciest pieces he'd ever read but it wasn't that that caused him to gravitate towards the story. It was the adventurous spirit of the hero, so unlike his repetitive everyday life. It was the freedom of the characters to go wherever they want and to do whatever they like. And most of all, it was the romance between the lead characters that made him turn each page asking for more.
"I loved the series so much. Believe it or not, I read it because I enjoyed the romance between the protagonists. I loved how she saved him from self-destruction. I loved how he gave her a sense of purpose. It was not a love that was based on beauty or strength or some other definable trait. It's a love that just is. And I think that's beautiful." Sakura begged to differ. Sitting here, in the middle of this clearing, bathed by sunlight and baring his heart, it was not the book's story that was beautiful. It was Kakashi.
"I wanted to experience that love too." Kakashi continued in a quiet voice.
Well, what do you know. Kakashi was a romantic.
"When I reached the age that my political advisors wanted to marry me off as a prerequisite for me to ascend the throne, I decided to leave. That was a year ago."
"You've been staying in that tower for a year?" Sakura said, surprised.
"I travelled a bit, here and there, to throw them off a bit. I settled in the tower only a few months ago. I guess they finally got wind of where I am since they already requested for a rescue. I still don't get why they said I was a princess, though." He said, brow furrowed in confusion.
Sakura laughed, "perhaps it's because knights would be more inclined to rescue a hostaged princess than a bratty crown prince who ran away from home."
"I'm not a brat." Kakashi frowned.
Sakura chuckled in response, "yes you are."
Kakashi sighed, "okay fine, I am." Then his lips curved into a mischievous smile, "but you like me anyway."
Sakura smiled and turned to look him in the eye, "that I do, Kakashi. That, I do."
Days came and went and life went on as normal for the inhabitants of the tower. They would laugh and they would talk and sometimes they would take strolls in the forest. The clearing of roses would always be their favorite spot, though, and more times than not, their feet would take them their unwillingly and they would rest in that patch of land until the sky bled dark.
The first time Kakashi held her hand, they were walking quietly side by side, gathering fruits for that night's dinner. Twice, their fingers brushed against each other, a shock coursing through their veins each time their skin met. The third time their hands collided, Kakashi grabbed her hand tightly and continued walking as normal. Blood rushing to her face and her stomach doing backflips, Sakura willed herself to continue walking as normal.
Growing up with Naruto and Sasuke, it's safe to say that Sakura had held hands with boys before. Knight training, too, exposed her to so much physical contact with the opposite sex she thought she was already desensitized to the male touch. Her heart hammering against her ribcage and the butterflies in her stomach begged to differ though. Apparently, years of composure training would come undone when Kakashi would hold her hand. What more a kiss? Sakura thought, then chastised herself for entertaining such ideas, albeit fleetingly.
Kakashi, meanwhile, was having similar thoughts. He knew the signs. He had read enough Icha Icha to know he was in love with Sakura. However, the giddy feeling was something he read about in books only, and was unprepared for the onslaught of sensations this new emotion brought. He can only hope that his palms were not sweating. He had always thought nervous and sweaty palms were gross.
To be honest, he was unsure when it actually began. Was it when she opened up about her motivations, or lack thereof, for being a knight? Was it when she would sometimes read with him by the lamplight during late nights and she couldn't sleep? Was it when she sometimes brought him fruits from the forest because he was too lazy to bother picking them himself? He didn't know if it was gradual or if there was a definite line between loving and not loving, but when he had finally come to terms with his feelings, he was already in too deep.
Nonetheless, Kakashi was happy and Sakura seemed to be happy as well, and if only these days could last forever, that would be great. People rarely get what they wish for though, and the end of their days as they knew it came in the form of a group of soldiers riding their horses past the tower.
It was quick, no longer than a few seconds, and the men were already out of sight. At first, Kakashi thought nothing of it. He didn't notice how Sakura's grip on the tower window's ledge tightened. He didn't notice the thinning of her lips, and the spark that died in her eyes. In this tower, there was no missing crown prince and no knight on a mission. They were simply Kakashi and Sakura, two people who might be in love, their titles all but forgotten. However, the clanking of metal armor and the clip-clopping of hooves were enough to make Sakura remember. It wasn't easy being a knight. But by the gods, she will fulfill her knightly mandate for as long as she lives. The following day, Sakura donned her old clothes again and didn't borrow from Kakashi's closet anymore.
The change in Sakura as the days flew by was something that worried Kakashi. What used to be a warm and cheerful woman became detached and emotionless, and on some nights, he could swear he heard her sobbing, the sound muffled by her pillow. She stopped dragging him out for walks, instead opting to train alone. Meals were quiet and no longer the animated affairs they once were. Finally, Kakashi had enough.
"Is there a problem between us? Did I do something wrong?" He demanded one day, after she returned to the tower after a long day of training alone.
Sakura sighed. "You ask that now? I've been here for months, Kakashi. When are you planning to go home? You can't plan to stay here forever."
Shock registered on Kakashi's face. He felt betrayed. Masking his features into cool indifference, he replied, "I was under the impression that you enjoyed living here." With me.
Sakura's features softened and she said quietly, "I did. I do. But this can't be permanent."
"Why?" He demanded.
"Because I want to go home!" Sakura shouted, "because I miss Naruto and Sasuke and my village, but I can't go home because my duty as a knight is to return you to your kingdom!"
"You want me to go back? You know why I left, Sakura!"
"You can't run away forever!"
"I can!"
"Well, you're just being selfish!"
"Me? Selfish? You're the one who's imposing their wishes on others because you can't handle being a failure of a knight!" Taking a deep breath in an attempt to calm down, Kakashi spoke once more.
"You know why I left, Sakura. You know they would be forcing me to marry upon my return." He closed their distance and gathered her hands in his, "do you really want that? Would you throw what we have away?"
His eyes were boring holes into her skull and she cannot bear the intensity of his gaze. She cannot reply. Her lips are glued shut, by shame or by uncertainty, she does not know. She merely looks away. Kakashi does the same, a defeated expression on his face. He sighs, releases her hands and retreats to his bed. They do not speak for the rest of the night.
The following morning came and Kakashi was nowhere to be found.
She would find out later through Pakkun that he already returned to his kingdom. She was instructed to return to her home village, and by that time, Kakashi would have reached his kingdom as well and she technically would have completed her quest. She was told that Kakashi would make sure to send a missive to the quest agency informing them that she did a job well done. Sakura thought that when this day finally came, she would be happy. She was wrong. Right now, it was taking her all not to cry.
It wasn't easy being a knight. Sacrifices have to be made, and sometimes, one would wonder whether it was all worth it. Whether the sheen of the metal plate was worth the smile that faded to nothing. Whether the glory of knighthood made up for the opportunities missed. Whether the title was enough to replace a love lost.
Naruto and Sasuke rejoiced upon her return. They missed her greatly and so did she, and for a few moments upon her arrival, she basked in the love of her adoptive brothers. They tried to question her on what happened during her quest but her lips were shut. Days passed and she was informed that a missive arrived from a neighboring kingdom. Kakashi had been true to his word. He did return to his castle and he did send a message to inform Sakura's superiors of her successful quest completion. The message came with profuse thanks and accolades of her skill. The higher-ups were content and Sakura received the respect as a knight that she craved. The hollow feeling in her chest, however, never ebbed.
She was surprised to find out that her dismal attempt at pruning rose bushes in the wild had more impact on her than she realized. Sakura had decided to lay off knight duties for a while, not really feeling up to taking up quests after what happened with Kakashi. While she knew that sending him home was the right thing to do in the grand scheme of things, she can't help but miss him. Can't help but miss his smiles and his touch and his voice. Can't help but think whether he has another woman in his arms right now. Was she beautiful? Perhaps of royal blood as well. Does he hold her hand the way he did Sakura's before? Does she make him smile the way he did in the tower? She had feelings for him, she was sure of that now, but she didn't think that missing him would hurt this much.
She decided to take up gardening, roses specifically, as a way to keep their memory alive and partly as a distraction for her feelings. It had come as a surprise to Naruto and Sasuke who never saw her take an interest in such activities before, but they simply shrugged and moved on. As time passed, Sakura found that she had a talent for it, and soon, she was spending more time on her garden and less on her training. She was seriously considering a career shift from knight to florist when a messenger arrived from the questing agency.
"Haruno Sakura," the messenger said as he presented her with a sheet similar to the one that held details of her first quest before, "you are handpicked by the Queen to complete this quest. Please prepare your provisions and make haste to leave."
As Sakura felt the wind whipping her hair as she rode across the forest once more on her steed, she reviewed the objectives of her quest in her head. She was instructed to go to the nearest kingdom on the Eastern front and present herself as the knight sent by Queen Tsunade. The king of that land would then instruct her what to do next. At best, this quest was vague and inconvenient. At worst, it could get her killed if the king told her that she would have to face-off with a dragon or something. She sighed. She didn't even get to say goodbye to Naruto and Sasuke who were also off on quests of their own.
When she arrived at the kingdom, the whole place seemed to be in the middle of a celebration. Food were lain out on large tables at the streets and there was music and dancing everywhere. When she asked a citizen about the festive atmosphere, the man simply replied that it was the wedding day of their king and that the whole kingdom was celebrating. This was rather good news for Sakura. If they had a lot of time to celebrate, then perhaps she wasn't sent here for anything dangerous or urgent. Perhaps simple guardsman duty. A spring in her step, she approached the castle gates and introduced herself.
As if they had been expecting her, the guards admitted her immediately, and not long, attendants were crawling around her left and right, inspecting her hair and tsk-ing at the grime at her face and stripping her of her armor.
"What do you think you're doing?" She asked, scandalized, when one lady attendant tried to wipe the dust off her face.
"Cleaning you up, my lady," the attendant replied, as if that was the most natural thing in the world and that would she please cooperate so that the process would speed up.
"His Majesty's orders." Another one piped up.
And that quieted Sakura. After all, she was sent here to obey the king's orders.
The attendants lead her to one of the castle's rooms. Dozens of gowns hung in one corner while there were tables of jewelry. Unable to protest, Sakura allowed the women to strip her of her clothing and rub away the grime from her journey with washcloths and fragrant oils. Later, they chose a gown for her that they said would bring out her pretty eyes and brushed her hair until it shone before braiding roses in it. Sakura, who grew up with boys and was a knight by occupation, was unused to this things and could only look at the mirror in wonder at the attendants' handiwork.
"You look beautiful." Said a deep voice from behind her. She whirled around and caught the last attendant leaving the room. A man in regal clothes stood behind her, her eyes level with his chest. Slowly, she raised her gaze and found herself face to face with the dark, onyx eyes of the man she loved.
"Kakashi," she said breathlessly. Was this a dream? She had come to terms with the fact that the last she ever saw him was that night. That their last conversation was filled with anger. That she would never ever see him again, and never ever have the chance to tell him she loved him. She wanted to reach out and touch his face, to confirm that he was real, but she was scared that when she does, he might disappear. She was scared that this was her imagination, that this was but another dream. "What are you doing here?"
And then he smiled. That smile that reached his eyes and showed off his teeth. The smile that she missed the most. "You're in my kingdom, knight. Show some respect." He said with an edge of teasing.
It was then that everything clicked. She was in his kingdom. It was him who was the king of this land. And she was summoned here to obey his orders. "It was you?" She asked in disbelief. "You were the one who called for a knight of Queen Tsunade?"
"Actually, I called for you specifically."
Well. That was a surprise. "Why?"
Kakashi smirked, and to Sakura's shock, he dropped down on one knee. "So I can ask you to marry me, of course. Will you?"
Sakura wasn't sure if she heard him right. "I – what?"
"Marry me, Sakura. Be my queen. A good career opportunity, if I may say. Very few knights become queens."
"But –"
"But what?"
"Aren't you getting married? At least, that's what the townspeople said."
"I am. To you."
"I can't believe the banquet's already in full swing before you even got around to asking me." She said in disbelief, "I can't just say yes, and you know that! Queen Tsunade – "
" – knows and approves. I asked her for your hand myself. I offered her a lifetime supply of our country's finest liquor. My advisors thought it would uneconomical, given how much your Queen drinks, but I told them that the only way they could make me stay here is if they allow me to take you as my wife."
"But Naruto and Sasuke –"
" – are downstairs, waiting for the wedding ceremony to begin. It was also me who called them in for their latest quests. It involved a lot of interior decoration for our wedding. I must say, Sasuke has a flair for design."
Sakura chuckled, suddenly feeling light, "yeah, he does. He used to stitch up my clothes too from the rips it sustained in battle training. He made me decorative patches."
They were laughing now, at Sasuke's expense, the atmosphere light, much like their days in the tower. Days Sakura thought were long gone. Kakashi raised himself up to full height, gathering Sakura in his arms. "I love you." He murmured in the shell of her ear.
"I love you, too." She replied, with as much feeling, their voices quiet as their emotions are deep. For a while, they basked in each other's presence, holding one another as close as they could. "Kakashi," she said quietly, "you asked me before why I became a knight. I never really knew why. I only did because Naruto and Sasuke wanted to and I didn't know anything else, except be with them. To want what they want.
"But now, I want something for myself. And it's to be with you." Slowly, she pulled herself away from his grasp to stare in his eyes, "will you marry me, Kakashi?"
Kakashi smiled, "I asked first."
Sakura grinned. "You're right, you did. This is my answer, then."
Slowly, she raised herself up on her toes to reach his lips. He bent down to meet hers, their arms snaking around each other, holding the other closer. Outside, the cries of joy of people celebrating their king's marriage could be heard. Children were merrymaking, and men and women were dancing. At that one precious moment, everyone in that kingdom were having the time of their lives, but none of them were happier than the two souls who found each other at last.
It wasn't easy being a knight. Sometimes, sacrifices had to be made for the greater good. Sometimes you have to set aside your well-being for others. On her first quest, Haruno Sakura was tasked to find and rescue a princess. She found love instead.
On this day, the knight had finally completed her rescue.
The king finally had his queen.
And they all lived happily ever after.