Ungodly bright lights. A light pressure cupped in his hand.
He flexed his fingers and got a nearly immediate response with a strong squeeze. The rustle of the overly clean sheets met his ears and he slowly turned his head in its direction. When he opened his eyes it took a good minute for them to adjust; all he could see was blobs of color.
He didn't need to see clearly to know who was at his bedside, however. The blurry pink hair he saw was all he needed.
"Awake, Kakashi?" The syllables dropped delicately from her lips and he could instantly tell that she was sleepy.
"Mm," he grunted. He reached up his other hand to scrub his face and check for the mask. The headband was gone and most likely on the bedside table, as usual, but thankfully the blue fabric was still in place over the lower half of his face. Tsunade and Sakura knew better.
"How do you feel?" she murmured. Kakashi let his eyes slide closed.
"Do I look well enough to go home?" was his reply.
That elicited a few light giggles from the kunoichi resting her head on the mattress beside their clasped hands. Sakura didn't know why she had reached up and grabbed his rough palm in hers, but he didn't pull his away so she simply let it lie there. She sighed and let her eyes close, the threat of forced sleep hovering over her like a gloomy rain cloud.
"How long have I been out, Sakura?" He asked, keeping his mismatched eyes shut. Not for any particular reason, not even because the lights were blinding; for some reason he couldn't rationally think of, her voice was calming to hear, and instead of shoving away thoughts of that profile that concerned her, he let his mind revel in what it wanted. He didn't have the capacity to care at the moment and it wasn't like they were in a public place, so he let it go.
"Just a couple of days." Her voice was abnormally low when she replied and to Kakashi it sounded like she was halfway to comatose.
"How long have you been awake?"
He caught her hesitation at that query.
"Well…just a couple of days…" she mumbled.
"Sakura…"
"Don't, Kakashi. I am a grown woman and I can do what I want. I'll get some sleep soon anyway, now that you're awake."
He listened to her breathing continuously get slower and slower beside him until he thought she was out. She surprised him when she spoke.
"Yesterday was the day," she whispered so quietly that he almost wondered if she had wanted him to hear her.
"What day?" He rolled his head on the crisp pillow to gaze down at her. He sighed inwardly; he couldn't deny that she had become a beautiful, intelligent kunoichi.
"It's been a year, Kakashi."
A flood of memories smashed down the barriers in his mind and engulfed him entirely; Sakura pulled him out with the soft tugging of her voice.
"We both lost so much that day. I just wish I had been stronger."
"Sakura…" He squeezed her hand tight in his; it made her blink up at him with wide, shimmering emerald eyes. "We did lose a lot, but we've still got each other. If you had died a few days ago, I don't know what I would have done. Everyone I've ever loved I have lost because I couldn't protect them and I can't let that happen again. I won't let that happen again." His thoughts spilled over unfiltered, even through his mask. It sounded strange to him to sound so sentimental; he usually wasn't that transparent with anyone, not even himself.
"Y-you love me, Kakashi?" That questioning gaze couldn't escape his notice when he swore he saw flecks of hope skip through her eyes.
He paused before answering, opening his mouth before closing it and opening it again in uncertainty, his brain paper jamming. Is that the way he really felt about her, as a companion and not as much a comrade? Had he really fallen for this girl? This woman? Did he dare murmur that word that he always thought he would dread the day to say? He couldn't explain the foreign sensations and emotions prancing through his mind when he looked at her radiant face every day, nor could he make sense of his thoughts about her, day in and day out.
"Yes, Sakura. I…I love you."
There was a painfully long pause and Kakashi's heart began to sink. Perhaps he was wrong and she didn't feel the same. Perhaps he had said too much. But then Sakura started to say his name, softly at first, and as she continued to repeat it, her voice grew louder. Kakashi kept responding, but she didn't seem to hear him.
