As his mind wandered back to the days before his teammates, Rin and Obito, died, his feet guided him through the empty streets. It wasn't until he was ten feet away from the black stone that he realized another person was there, mourning loved ones. His visible eye widened as he recognized the shock of short pink hair that was stark against the black outfit she wore, presumably pajamas from the loose fit of the pants and the baggy shirt that clung to her shivering skin. His ears perked up as he heard a quiet whimpering sound and his nose smelled salt water. Kakashi stood and watched her cry so quietly in the rain while she remained unaware of his presence.
He wondered why she was there, who was she mourning? He had never paid much attention to the personal life of young kounichi on his team. Then it struck him, she was probably thinking about Sasuke, again. Ever since that idiot had left the village they had been desperately hunting him down as Team Kakashi. Was she praying for him to come back? He shook his head; he knew that Sasuke, even if they ever did bring him back, would never love Sakura. Besides, the young revenge-bound Uchiha didn't deserve someone like Sakura. Kakashi's eye widened at his own thoughts, and what had caused this sudden pain within him? He brushed it off as his own protective nature of the pink haired girl, no, she was no longer the same twelve year old girl, now she was a strong woman with the same fiery temper and spirit as Tsunade.
He was going to turn and walk away, he knew he could come back later, but his feet didn't seem to want to listen to his brain. They led him over to Sakura until he was standing behind her leaning over her slender form that was curled up crying in the rain. She didn't even sense him until she realized that the amount of rain hitting her head was less then that hitting the rest of her. Her head turned upward and Kakashi frowned, he hated to see her cry, and the puffy red eyes were another sign of the young woman's depression.
"K-Kakashi-sensei," was all Sakura managed to say in surprise at her former sensei and current Team leader.
"Why are you crying Sakura?" he asked, his dark eye staring straight into her emerald ones. He didn't know why he had asked, he knew the answer, and he felt that sharp pang in his chest again at the thought that she was still pining over Sasuke.
Sakura tore her gaze from her Kakashi's eye that seemed to drill into her mind and see everything.
"I miss them..." she whispered looking back at the memorial.
'Them?' Kakashi wondered at the plural. He sat down next to his ex-student. The space between them was almost non existent but it didn t seem to bother either of them. Sakura was to numb to realize it, and Kakashi had given up trying to tell his body what to do.
"Who are you crying for Sakura?" he asked the pang in his chest less now that he was sure it wasn't for the missing nin.
Sakura was silent as tears brimmed her eyes once more. "My parents..." she whispered quietly, almost so quiet that he missed it, but not quite.
"Your parents?" Kakashi wondered, he vaguely remembered returning from an ANBU mission several years ago, when Sakura had been training with Tsunade and Naruto had left with Jiraya, and hearing about several shinobi who had been caught in a house fire.
"Yeah, they died a while ago...I'm sorry I-I'll leave you alone now," she said standing up and wiping at her tears.
Kakashi hardly had time to react to his body; his hand snatched her wrist, not roughly but firmly. "How long have you been here Sakura?" he asked as his hand felt the goose bumps on her skin.
"I'm not sure really," Sakura managed to say standing beside her former teacher who wasn't looking at her as he held her wrist, keeping her there.
"I meant, how long have you been coming here Sakura," he repeated, how long had she lived with this pain of loosing both her parents, how long had he never known about her suffering.
"It was about a year after the chuunin exams..." she replied staring at her feet.
'I'm so sorry Sakura,' he thought. He knew what it was like to loose people precious to you; he knew how hard it was to move on, especially when you were alone. He wanted to comfort her, to tell her he knew what it was like, to tell her he was sorry for not being there. A million thoughts raced through his mind, but he couldn't bring himself to say any of them. "You're freezing," was all he said.
"Yeah, I guess it wasn't such a good idea to come out here like this in the rain," she said bitterly.
"You should get somewhere warm," he said as the rain fell harder against the pair of them.
"Yeah," she said.
She had been expecting him to let go of her wrist, but he stood up and didn't let go.
"Kakashi-sensei?" she asked confused.
"First off, I'm not your sensei anymore, you can leave that bit off, and second, your apartment is on the other side of town, come on," he said gently pulling her away from the stone memorial.
"Kakashi-sen-Kakashi?" she asked. It felt odd to stop calling him sensei, but somehow it felt better to call him by just his name now that they were both jounin. "Where are we going?" she asked still confused.
"My apartment, you need to get out of the cold before you catch something," he said simply.
Sakura had been to his apartment briefly before, but that was just her and Naruto standing outside the door trying to wake him up, but now the fact that she was about to be alone with him in his apartment didn't scare her a bit. She knew that Kakashi would never do anything bad to her, she trusted him and she knew that he, on some level, trusted her as well.
Once inside she had to admit that it was nice to feel the warmth of being inside the tidy apartment. She was soaking wet from being outside for so long and her body was stiff and cold. He on the other hand wasn't nearly as wet, just his clothes and hair really.
"Well come on in, here you need to get something warm on," he said kicking off his shoes and going into what she assumed was the bedroom as she stood semi-awkwardly in the living room. It was simple really, all the normal decor of a busy bachelor. What caught her eye though was the bookshelf that housed his entire Icha-Icha collection. It was much more expansive then she had imagined; all the little orange books that transitioned into dark green at the start of a new addition to them.
"Pervert," she muttered rolling her eyes but unable to keep the smile off her face.
"Here Sakura, try these, they'll be a little bit big on you but they should do the trick, oh and you should probably dry off, there's towels in the bathroom," Kakashi said holding a pair of his black shinobi pants and a large white t-shirt while motioning her to the bathroom across the hall.
"Um, alright Kakashi," she said pronouncing his name like she had never heard it as just Kakashi, before.
Sakura took the clothes and went into the bathroom. While looking around she began to change out of her soaking wet clothes. She hung them up on the shower curtain pole and dried off with a fluffy white towel. She ran her fingers through her matted pink hair while looking in the mirror, her eyes were red and had circles under them, and her cheeks were stained with tear marks. She looked away and finished getting dressed and untangling her pink locks, trying to clean herself up a bit.
When she timidly emerged from the bathroom Kakashi was sitting in the small kitchen with a pot of tea before him. He had changed as well; he was now wearing a black muscle shirt that revealed his well toned arms and the faded black ANBU tattoo on his upper arm. He had also opted for a pair of new pants, black also. His typical mask was in place, but his forehead protector was no where to be found and part of his silver hair had fallen in front of what she knew to be his famous sharingan eye.
"Well you're looking better," Kakashi commented as she sat down beside him and poured herself a cup of tea as well.
"Thanks Kakashi," she said getting used to leaving off the sensei. The hot tea trickled down her throat warming her body back up, the goose bumps were almost gone.
"Sakura, what you're going through," Kakashi began awkwardly, he wasn't used to trying to console people.
"Its fine Kakashi, I'm used to it," she said trying to fake a smile.
"No, it's not fine, and you shouldn't have to deal with losing people you loved alone," he said his tone sharing his own losses.
Sakura looked away from his piercing black eye; her own jade eyes saw their old team seven photo on the coffee table in the living room. Glad for the distraction she got up, forgetting her tea, and went over to it picking up the small picture gently, as if it might break at her touch.
"I remember when this was taken..." she said quietly a faint smile gracing her trembling lips as she remembered how things used to be with Naruto and Sasuke always arguing, Kakashi always reading his dirty little books, her parents... she felt tears well up again as she thought about the past. Her fingers gripped the frame tightly now and her vision blurred as tears rolled down her cheeks. "Everyone was so happy then, everything was so perfect," she said with a shaky voice.
Kakashi felt the young woman's pain and he felt that same pang in his chest. It hurt to see her in so much pain. His body reacted against his brain again and he walked up behind her. One arm circled her waist and the other took the photo from her dangerously shaking hand and set it back on the table. He pulled her against his warm chest, just holding her while she cried.
Sakura gasped lightly as she was drawn against him, it wasn't like Kakashi to show affection towards people, but she welcomed the support. She turned to face his well toned chest and cried into his shirt, her hands clenching the tight fabric as he let her cry against him. His hands rubbed her back soothingly, but he never told her to stop crying. His head rested atop hers and the smell of her shampoo faintly filled his nostrils and without really realizing it he cherished the smell of it, strawberry. He almost laughed at the smell, it was so...Sakura.
Neither knew how long they stood there like that, but Kakashi felt his legs beginning to cramp up, so he sat back down on the couch pulling her with him. She sat on his lap with a small hiccup, her tears slowly coming to an end. His arms encircled her small waist and her head rested against his chest, she felt so small in his arms. She was so fragile, something that deserved more then this harsh path, the path of a ninja was dangerous and filled with horrors that he wanted to protect her from.
"It'll be ok Sakura," he whispered quietly. With no response he realized that the young kounichi had cried herself to sleep. It was still early in the morning, and the sun still wasn't up yet.
Kakashi gently lifted her up bridal style and took her into his bedroom. With one hand he pulled down the covers and rested her delicate body on the mattress. He tucked her in and she shifted beneath the covers, her face was so innocent, almost angelic, and a small smile graced the copy-nin's masked lips. This time his body and brain agreed, he pulled his mask down and leaned down hovering above Sakura. Then without hesitation he gently kissed her on the forehead. It was a tender kiss, almost innocent, almost. He shook his head at the thoughts that clouded his mind as he stood back up.
He pulled off his shirt and mask dropping them on the dresser before returning to the bed. He ignored the dangers his brain was telling him of and crawled into the queen sized bed beside her. He smirked lightly as he felt her curl up closer to his body in her sleep. Despite what his brain was screaming he draped an arm over her waist and pulled her closer to him. Together they fell asleep peaceful in the tender embrace they shared.
Later that morning Kakashi awoke to sunshine flooding his room. He ignored the signs of morning and made a shadow clone quickly to cover the windows before letting it disappear in a silent puff of smoke. He then remembered the events of last night and looked down to see Sakura had turned over in her sleep to face him and they were perilously close together. He couldn't resist placing another gentle kiss on her forehead before closing his eyes. It would be interesting to see what her reaction would be.
Sakura awoke groggily, several minutes later. She didn't want to open her eyes to face the light coming through her bedroom window, so she scooted closer to a large source of warmth beside her. She wasn't really a morning person to say the least. Then the weight around her waist registered with her. She cracked open her eyes to find herself staring at a very well muscled chest. She squeaked and her eyes snapped open fully to see that the owner of said chest was none other then Kakashi. Her mouth dropped open as she saw that he wasn't wearing his mask. She had never seen him without it and wondered why he covered it up. He was insanely hot, she had always been able to see the outlines of his face but now all was exposed. Her fingers lightly traced his masculine jaw line, they touched the tip of his nose and traced the scar along his sharingan eye. Then her fingers landed on his perfect lips, she blushed lightly at the mildly perverted thoughts that raced through her mind and at the fluttering of her heart. She had never felt like this with Sasuke, not even when it had been Naruto coming onto her in Sasuke's form. And Kakashi wasn't even doing anything!
"Like what you see Sakura?" the man she had been staring at asked with a smirk on his handsome face and his open dark eye twinkling.
Sakura turned red at his voice. "I-I thought you were asleep," she babbled snatching her hand away only for him to catch it with the hand that wasn't wrapped around her waist. He held her hand gently but his cocky, yet very attractive smirk still in place as he pulled her body closer to his with the arm that was draped over her waist.
"So you do like what you see," he said taking her girlish blush as a good sign.
"You tricked me!" she said indignantly.
"Maybe," was all Kakashi said.
"Kakashi!" she said exasperated.
"Yes Sakura?" he said teasingly.
"You are such a pervert," she said sticking out her tongue.
"Then you shouldn't tempt me," he said still playful but now there was something different to his tone making Sakura shiver.
"Why aren't you wearing your mask?" she asked trying to ignore the butterflies in her stomach.
"Because I figured it was time you see my entire face," he said simply.
"Why do you hide it though? You look-" she said before stopping herself mid-sentence afraid at what she had been about to admit to him.
"I look like what Sakura?" Kakashi asked leaning his head down slightly.
"N-nothing," she said hastily.
"Are you sure?" he asked with a smirk as he leaned closer, his grip on her waist still holding her flush against his body.
"I-I," she stammered feeling like Hinata all of a sudden.
"How about now?" he asked, his lips so close to hers as his single dark eye never broke contact with her emerald ones that radiated confusion and something else...was that...longing he saw in her eyes?
"I don't know," she whispered feeling her insides turning to mush.
"And now?" he asked before quickly closing the gap between them. He was afraid she would push him away, but to his surprise he heard a small, soft moan from her.
His tongue flicked out along her bottom lip and she gasped allowing him entrance. His kiss became heavy as his tongue ravaged her mouth and he felt her hands on his face as if holding him there as her body arched into the kiss. She wasn't going to push him away, he realized then that she would never push him away, and he smiled into the kiss.
Then the window banged open and Naruto appeared in the bedroom shouting at Kakashi for being 'a lazy ass leader who needed to get out of bed.'
"Kinda busy Naruto," Kakashi said angry at the blond for interrupting his kiss with Sakura. It was then that the blond registered his teammate's presence in the room. In Kakashi's bed, wrapped up in his arms.
There was a three second pause as Sakura turned beet red.
"KAKASHI-SENSEI WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO SAKURA-CHAN?" Naruto yelled flabbergasted.
"Nothing yet idiot, now out you go," Kakashi said not letting go of Sakura as the blond nin babbled and shouted.
"NO WAY SENSEI! Sakura come on let's get out of here!" Naruto shouted going to grab the pink haired Kounichi.
"Naruto, leave," Kakashi said firmly tightening his hold on Sakura.
"Let go of her sensei!" Naruto demanded.
"Naruto! Please leave," Sakura said meekly from the bed.
"Gah! Sakura-chan? What have you done to her Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto shouted.
"Nothing Naruto, now stop shouting," she muttered darkly.
Suddenly the room filled with smoke and Sakura found herself, and Kakashi on a grassy hill high above the village.
"Well that ruined my morning," Sakura said with a sigh as she laid back in the soft grass that was no longer wet from last night's rain.
"Let's see if I can fix that," Kakashi said with a smirk.
He leaned over to her and pulled her into another mind-blowing kiss. However this one was different, it was more tender, and this time Sakura responded at once. They both kissed and held onto the other person tightly, never wanting to let go as the sounds of Naruto running through the village searching for the couple reached their ears making both smile as they broke the kiss.
"We're going to have some explaining to do," Sakura said with a grin at her former teacher.
"Oh well, that just means that now I won't have to worry about other guys hitting on my Sakura," Kakashi said with a smirk.
"Your Sakura?" she asked with a small smile of her own.
"Yup," he said kissing her softly again.
"My Kakashi," she whispered back into the kiss making him smile.