A/N - Again, I ask you to forgive me if this turns out to be really, really, crappy, but this is the first time I've written a KakaSaku fanfic.
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Chapter Two: Thank Goodness
Recap…
Kakashi, suddenly, couldn't take it anymore, he reached out with his hand and took one of Sakura's; Sakura jumped slightly, then looked into her Sensei's face. Her eyes widened slightly, when Kakashi pulled slightly on her hand and pulled her into a warm embrace.
At first, Sakura was completely shocked, but then, she heard Kakashi whisper the something, over, and over in her ear.
"I'm sorry," Kakashi's voice apologized; and, to Sakura, it sounded as though Kakashi was crying, though she couldn't see his face.
"I'm so sorry, Sakura," Kakashi whispered.
Kakashi…Sensei? Sakura thought, as Kakashi held her to him.
"I'm sorry, Sakura," Kakashi said again, "If I hadn't taken so long…"
Sakura never heard the rest of Kakashi's sentence, as he gave one small sob.
Sakura's eyes became teary, as she felt her Sensei's tears run down her neck. She could see over Kakashi's shoulder, Naruto sobbing into his arm that he held against his eyes, and Sasuke had turned away.
The tears in Sakura's eyes spilled out, and she buried her face into Kakashi strong shoulder, she then lifted her arms, and encircled his back, and hugged him tightly. She sobbed, and sobbed, as Kakashi returned the hug.
"Don't Sensei," Sakura whispered softly, "Don't blame yourself, it's not your fault. You're the one who…who…brought me back."
Kakashi pulled back from Sakura, slightly, and looked at her. She could see that his one visible eye was red, and puffy, and still had a few tears clinging to his bottom eyelash.
Sakura raised one of her hands to brush away the tear, and gave Kakashi a weak smile, "You, gave my life back to me."
Kakashi's eye crinkled sadly, and he nodded slightly, "But I wouldn't have had to if-"
"Please, stop," Sakura, pleaded, as her eyes watered, as she looked at Kakashi's sad face, "Please, don't blame yourself, it hurts me to see you like this."
"How do you think I felt, when I saw you half dead in the water?" Kakashi said in a half shout, Sakura cringed at his tone, and words.
"Sensei…" Sakura said, and her eyes closed halfway and tears spilled over the sides, she was getting dizzy, "I can't take this, please, stop."
Kakashi looked at his student, and began to think, I'm hurting her so much. Why, though, why do I keep hurting her? Why am I acting like this? Even when some of my best friends died on missions, I never cried. So, why, with her, with Sakura, am I so…sad?
Kakashi had no answer to his questions, none at all.
"Come on," Kakashi said, and Sakura blinked at him, "I'm taking you to the hospital."
"Huh! WHAT?" Sakura shouted in shock, as Kakashi slipped his one of his arms under her neck, and his other under her knees, and stood up, "But I'm fine."
"You're not, Sakura," Kakashi told her, as he continued to carry her away towards where the streets of Konoha were full of people.
Naruto looked up, then glanced at Sasuke, who was looking back at him, they could both tell that the other was thinking the same thing.
"Uh, Sasuke?" Naruto began.
"What is it?" Sasuke answered.
"You don't think that...you know..." Naruto started, wanting to know for such whether or not they were thinking along the same lines, but he didn't know how to phrase his question.
"Spit it out, Naruto!" Sasuke said.
"Well, do you think, um, Sensei, you know," Naruto started again, "Loves Sakura-chan?"
Sasuke stared at Naruto with wide eyes, and snapped at him, "What the hell are you talking about?"
Naruto pointed to where Kakashi had just disappeared with Sakura into the forest, "Did you not just see what happened?"
"I saw..." Sasuke said, but he didn't know what to say, "I saw Kakashi Sensei taking care of his student, that's all."
"..." Naruto just stared at Sasuke, then shrugged, "Whatever you say, Sasuke."
Sasuke glared at Naruto, then turned away, "Let's go. We should go see if Sakura is okay."
Naruto stared at Sasuke for a few seconds then, shrugged once more, "Yeah, okay."
Sasuke then led the way through the forest, where Kakashi had disappeared with Sakura in his arms, Naruto followed behind him.
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Sakura looked up at her Sensei's face, he looked so worried, about her. Sakura couldn't understand it. Why was he so worried about her, she felt fine. Her chest hurt a bit, but, Sakura was sure it was nothing. Kakashi, on the other hand, seemed to think differently.
Sakura peered up at her Sensei. He looked so worried, about her.
Why though, why would anyone care about me? Sakura asked herself, staring teary eye at Kakashi.
Sakura suddenly had to choke back a sob, and she buried her face in Kakashi shoulder. He looked down at her, as he stepped out into the streets of Konoha.
"Sakura, are you okay?" Kakashi asked, his voice full of concern.
Sakura didn't speak; she only nodded into Kakashi's strong shoulder. She took a handful of Kakashi's vest, and cried into it. She felt Kakashi stop in his walking, and she knew he was looking at her with his one visible concerned eye.
For the first time, Kakashi didn't know exactly what to do. He had never really seen Sakura cry before, except for when Sasuke almost got killed by a ninja named Haku. This time, however, it was Sakura herself who had come close to death. The worse thing that tore at Kakashi was the fact that he knew it was entirely his fault.
Kakashi's face saddened, as he watched Sakura soak his vest with her tears. Kakashi spotted a bench near by and walked over to it. He sat down, with Sakura on his lap. He hugged her tight, and he continued to, even with the many looks he was attracting from people passing by.
"Kakashi?" A voice asked, and Kakashi, who had had his head down, buried in Sakura's pretty pink hair, looked up to see Gai standing in front of him.
"Now, what's going on here?" Gai said, then he grinned, and added, "Oh, Kakashi, you sly dog, hitting on your student!"
"I'M NOT HITTING ON HER!" Kakashi shouted, Sakura winced at the loud boom of his voice shaking the very air surrounding them. People walking by, who weren't already staring, were staring, now.
"Okay, then," Gai said, then asked, "So, what are you doing then?"
Kakashi didn't answer; he just looked down at the top of Sakura's head, and sighed when he noticed she had fallen asleep. He then looked back up at Gai and, answered his question, "I almost got her killed."
Gai raised an eyebrow at Kakashi, "What are you talking about, Kakashi?"
Kakashi ran his hand through Sakura's hair, and said, "Some guy, from the village hidden in the mist, got into Konoha, and he kidnapped Sakura."
Gai looked surprised, "Someone from the mist got into Konoha? How?"
"I don't know," Kakashi said, and clutched Sakura's hair gently, "and I don't care."
Gai eyed Kakashi for a moment then said, "Okay, this guy tried to kidnap Sakura, and then what happened?"
"He tried to drown her in the river," Kakashi explained, and he signed once more, "She..."
Kakashi stopped suddenly, as grief, and guilt, over took him. He wanted to cry, cry with Sakura, for Sakura. Gai stared, he had never seen Kakashi so close to his breaking point. As he looked at his rival, he realized exact how close the silver-haired ninja was to his young student. Gai knew that Kakashi was probably closer to his student, then any other sensei in Konoha. Even Gai himself, wasn't as close to his students, as Kakashi was to his.
"She almost...didn't make it." Kakashi finished his statement, "And it was all my fault."
Gai looked at him, "So, how did she make it."
"Sensei saved me," A mumble came from Sakura petit body that sat on Kakashi's lap.
Kakashi looked down at her, and sighed, "I wouldn't of had to if I had just gotten to you guys on time."
Sakura lifted her head so she could see her sensei's one eye; it looked so sincere. She had never seen that expression on his face before. She smiled at him, and then said, "Please...sensei, and don't be so hard on yourself. I'm all right, really I am. So, don't worry. Please?"
Kakashi's expression saddened even more at Sakura's kind words, but they still weren't enough to ease the pain he felt about almost being the cause of one of his own students deaths. Kakashi tried to give Sakura a smile, but he failed.
"I'm sorry, Sakura," Kakashi said, "I'm sorry, I caused you all this pain, and I'm sorry, that I can't even give you a simple smile."
Sakura's eyes seemed so gentle to Kakashi, that's one of the things he loved about her. He loved how he could look at her, and all his sad thoughts would fall away, to be replaced by only happy thoughts. Happy thoughts, and nothing else, that's what Sakura did to him, she erased all those horrible memories, and replaced them with golden memories that he won't trade for the world.
Sakura's eyes began to close, and Kakashi knew she was trying her hardest to keep them open, but he also knew that it was a battle she wasn't winning.
Kakashi got to his feet and, said farewell to Gai, and headed off to the hospital with Sakura in his arms.
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Gai watched as Kakashi disappeared into the crowd of Konoha's streets, then turned the other way when he heard his name being called.
"Gai, Gai sensei,"
Gai noticed it was Naruto, and Sasuke, rushing down the street towards him, and he smiled at the two, "Hello!"
"Hi," Naruto was the only one to greet him, "Gai Sensei, have you seen Kakashi sensei and Sakura come by here?"
"Yes, I have," Gai answered, then pointed out to Naruto, "You know, you don't really have to call me 'sensei' you're Kakashi's students after all."
"Still…" Naruto said, trailing off, "We're supposed to show respect to higher ranked ninja's, right?"
Gai nodded, "True."
"What way did Kakashi sensei and Sakura head?" Sasuke asked, seeing as the present conversation was going nowhere.
"That way," Gai answered, pointing in the direction Kakashi had token off in, "I think he was taking Sakura to the hospital."
"Thanks," Sasuke said, then said to Naruto, "Come on, Naruto, let's go!"
"'Kay," Naruto said, and followed Sasuke in the direction Gai had pointed.
"Hey, Sasuke?" Naruto said, glancing over at his teammate.
"What is it?" Sasuke replied.
"Do you really think Sensei doesn't love Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked.
Sasuke didn't answer, he just continued down the street towards the hospital; Naruto sighed.
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Kakashi reached the hospital of Konoha and rushed inside. He ran to the front desk where a female medical-nin was sitting typing into a computer. She looked up, and gasped when she heard Kakashi approaching.
"What happened?" The medical-nin said rushing out from behind the desk to inspect Sakura.
"She was kidnapped, and almost drowned," Kakashi explained; the medical-nin nodded. Then ushered Kakashi through the door to the left of the front desk.
"Dr. Suki will see to her," The medical-nin said, "The last door on your right."
Kakashi nodded, and headed to the said door. When he got there, he walked in and laid Sakura on a bed that was there. Sakura mumbled a few unclear words, and then fell silent. Kakashi stared at her for a moment, hoping she would say more, but when Sakura stayed silent, he sighed, and sat in the chair at her bedside.
A few minutes later, Dr. Suki, a young male doctor with short, light brown, hair, walked into the room and gave Kakashi a hello-how-are-you-doing smile.
Kakashi just nodded to the doctor, as he walked over and bent over Sakura to examine her.
Dr. Suki nodded a few times, and wrote on a clipboard he had brought with him. Then he turned to Kakashi.
"Mitstu-san, the medical-nin at the front desk told me this girl was kidnapped, and almost drowned. Is that correct?"
Kakashi, who seemed to of lost his ability to speak, just nodded in reply.
"How long was she submerged for?" Dr. Suki asked, his pen to his clipboard.
Kakashi cleared his throat, and answered in a horse voice, "For about five minutes, at first, then she came up for a few seconds, then was washed down streamed, where I found her face down in the water, at the…the bottom of a waterfall."
"Bottom of a waterfall?" The doctor repeated, in a surprised voice.
"…Yeah," Kakashi repeated.
The doctor stared at Kakashi for a few minutes, the nodded, and wrote on his clipboard.
"Then, we'll have to keep her here overnight," The doctor said.
Kakashi's eyes widened, "What? What for?"
"She fell down a waterfall!" The doctor said in a sharp voice, "We'll have to check to make sure she doesn't have a concussion, or anything."
Kakashi took a deep breath and nodded, "Yes, you're right. I'm sorry."
The doctor nodded, then asked, "So, are you her boyfriend, or something?"
Kakashi's head whipped around to look to see if the doctor was actually seriously asking him that, he looked serious, so Kakashi answered, "No, I'm not her boyfriend. I'm her sensei."
"Really?" Dr. Suki said, raising an eyebrow at Kakashi, "Surprising."
"And what's so surprising about a Sensei being worried about his student?" Kakashi demanded.
"Nothing," Dr. Suki said, and then added, "It's just…rare."
Kakashi glared at the doctor for a moment, but stopped when her heard his name being called.
"KAKASHI SENSEI!"
The next moment, Naruto burst into the room, with Sasuke at his heels. They were both out of breath, and were covered in beads of sweat.
"Is…is Sakura-chan, okay?" Naruto asked.
"She should be fine," Dr. Suki answered, before Kakashi could.
"Thank goodness," Naruto said in relief; Sasuke was silent, but he looked slightly more at ease.
"Yes," Kakashi said, in a bare whisper, "thank goodness."
A/N - Review and I will update!