Unmoor Yourself from My Heart

The night sky was turning a bloody red as the sun retreated behind the famous Konoha mountainscape. Before long darkness would set in, bringing with it autumn's cool air. Sakura didn't care too much about a little chill after having spent her entire day in Tsunade's stuffy office. Atop of the shinobi hospital building, Sakura perched herself above the city streets, crystal green eyes gazing at the citizens below.

"Sakura." She did not stir at the sound of the familiar voice. Nor did she move at the quiet sound of approaching footsteps. Nothing could steal her away from her thoughts, the sad stride through her memories; that tender place softened by the glow of childhood. Sasuke, Naruto, would the three of them ever have a chance to be together as a team again? Or had that time come and gone? She sighed.

Only when he gently laid his hand on her shoulder did the young kunoichi turn to glance at the man beside her. He had taken a seat beside her with the most unassuming presence. With his one good eye, Kakashi casted her an unreadable look, "Tsunade-sama said you would be up here."

"I just came to get some fresh air," Sakura said with a mild yawn, her voice was quiet and hinted at her underlying exhaustion. "The smell of all those medicines was starting to make me a little dizzy."

With a sheepish laugh she added, "You would think by now I might be used to the smell by now. But really, I just don't know how Shizune-san and the lady hokage can tolerate it all the time."

He nodded with a soft smile on his face, breaking his gaze away to peer at the view before them. Sakura let the conversation die, neither of them quite up for casual small talk. Sakura had forgotten to ask what brought her former teacher here in the first place.

There was a lapse of comfortable silence that stretched between them, both shinobi contending with their own inner worlds.

She thought everyone else had forgotten, or perhaps others had noticed but simply chose to ignore it. And then he said what had been on her mind all day, "Today would be the day that seven years ago Sasuke left Konoha, wouldn't it?"

"Yes." Her heart felt as though it was going to jump straight out of her throat. She stiffened and did not reply, merely curled her delicate hands into her lap and pretended as though his words had no affect.

Only she wasn't quick enough to hide the threat of tears dancing her eyes and when Sakura spoke, there was that unmistakable undertone of pain whenever her former team-mate was mentioned. It still hurt to hear his name spoken aloud, so she avoided using it. "I keep thinking that maybe if he had stayed, if I could have stopped him. If Naruto-kun could have brought him back, things could still be the way they were."

With a sad little twitch of a smile she turned to him and added, "We might still have been team 7, the three of us on our way to being chuunin together. But I guess it is sort of silly to wish for those things now."

Kakashi sighed and for the first time, Sakura thought her former teacher looked much older than he really was. Although his face remained cloaked, Sakura witnessed briefly the man's sorrow as his whole body appeared to be weighed down by his thoughts. Because to this day he had never really showed his emotions, Sakura had never thought about what Sasuke's betrayal (because that was what it really was in the end) might have meant to the jounin.

"It does no one any good to dwell on those things, Sakura," he said slowly, "Sasuke made his decision in the same way we all must choose our own pathes in life to walk--"

"I know," she said sharply, gaining strength in her voice. "I know that it's foolish of me to still think of him. After he abandoned Konoha, abandoned us. You know it really broke a part of Naruto-kun? He is always running towards the future because I think he doesn't want to think about the past. To this day, I still think he blames himself a little. I know I blame myself sometimes. .."

Silence lapsed in which Kakashi was not exactly sure what to say. Sakura forced herself to unclench her fists, exhaling a puff of hot air in the cold night. A cloud condensed in front of her face, disappearing quickly as it had materialized. She brushed away strands of pink, revealing her pale profile in the moonlight. The years had aged her as well, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Long gone was the awkward charm of adolscence; in its wake, Sakura's cheeks had become defined, her features mature. Her small lips formed a serious line, and Kakashi couldn't help but notice something else was different.

Her eyes, once wide and round like saucers with the air of innocence, had darkened over the years to a smoldering mysterious jade. The former teacher suddenly realized that this wasn't the same kunoichi who had formerly studied under him.

In fact, it was hard for Kakashi to believe that the woman before him had once been nothing more than a silly little girl, chasing the footsteps of her teammates. Under Tsunade's wing, she had found her niche. A place where her booksmarts could be put to the test and her cunning mind could be sharpened.

"You shouldn't," he eventually said, "blame yourself, I mean. And it isn't foolish to think about Sasuke, I understand what he meant to the both of you. Just don't let your memories consume you, Sakura. It's not healthy to think about the past too much."

Sakura gently placed her hand ontop of his, asking sweetly, "are you speaking from experience, sensei?"

This simple gesture surprised the silver-haired shinobi more then anything else. The sudden invasion of personal space. In fact, his instinctive reaction was to pull away out of utter bewilderment. He immediately regretted doing so, cursing himself silently for making the situation awkward. Sakura had not meant anything by it, in fact Kakashi was sure it been completely harmless. So why did he have to go and ruin the simple moment of Sakura confiding in him? For that matter, why was he blushing?

By now, it was too late to remedy the situation. While Kakashi struggled to keep his composure, Sakura had turned away to hide her own beet-red face. "I-I better get back to work," she murmured as she got up and scammered away.

Kakashi made some excuse as well but Sakura had already disappeared into the hospital. He wanted to go after her and apologize but he wasn't sure what exactly he would have been saying sorry for.

He slapped his palm to his forehead, I shouldn't have bothered her in the first place. What was I thinking in coming here? Kakashi quickly vacated the rooftop, as if leaving the scene would erase what had just transpired. He knew he should have kept going on his way home that evening and yet something had compelled him to pay the kunoichi a visit. But what?

A voice in the back of Kakashi's mind already knew the answer. Loneliness. Kakashi knew that Sakura and him shared a similar struggle.

The tides of time were too strong for them. The future was rushing away from them, the past was sinking its claws on their heart. They were stuck in the middle.

"For the both of us," he whispered, "I hope we find some sense of balance, Sakura-chan."