Long Hair
Sakura sighed, running a hand through her bubblegum-pink locks. She tucked a wayward strand behind her ear, temporarily wishing that it was long enough for her to pull back in a ponytail, but the notion disappeared from her mind as quickly as it had come.
Her long hair had been a symbol of a time she longed to forget. Her infatuation with Sasuke, her stupidity, her general lack of any skill as a shinobi. Kakashi had been right to think she was useless. She had been useless—way more interested in impressing Sasuke than in honing her skills. She didn't blame her old sensei for not being able to do much for her.
"What's with the long face?" the man in question asked, slipping into the booth across from her and raising an eyebrow questioningly.
He'd forgone his usual jonin attire that night—they were in the nicest restaurant in Konoha, after all—and wore a black button-down with the sleeves rolled to three-quarters, a green vest, and gray slacks. His forehead protector was gone as well, a thin black cloth covering his left eye in its place, letting his silvery hair fall even more into his face.
His mask was gone as well. The Copy Ninja still wore it with his uniform, but he'd become much more comfortable with showing his face after the war. Sakura had helped with that, he supposed.
Sakura brightened instantly when he showed up. Her smile grew even wider as she took in his appearance. He'd really been listening when she said she wanted to dress up for their anniversary dinner. It seemed he'd even been listening when Sakura said she was going to wear the lime green dress Naruto and Hinata had given her for her birthday, because the vest he was wearing matched her outfit perfectly.
They'd been dating for a year—Ino, Tenten, and Hinata had finally built Sakura's confidence up enough to get the pink-haired girl to ask him out six months after the war ended, telling her the two of them spent all their time together anyway—and it had been the best year of Sakura's life. Kakashi was everything she'd ever dreamed of and more. Thinking back on what she used to think was love, Sakura laughed. She hadn't even been close to realizing what real love was.
"You look amazing," Kakashi said, bringing her back to the present. She blushed, loving the way dimples formed in his cheeks whenever he gave her a genuine smile.
"You don't look half-bad yourself," she grinned.
"Is that the dress Naruto and Hinata gave you?"
Sakura nodded, looking down at the simple green dress she wore. It fit her perfectly, accenting her small waistline and chest before billowing out to just above her knees.
"It matches your eyes," Kakashi murmured, before a waitress came over to take their drink orders.
Sakura technically wasn't old enough to drink yet, but no one in Konoha really enforced the rule anyway. The Hokage had said if they were old enough to lose their lives in the last war, then they were old enough to drink in her opinion. Secretly, Sakura thought Tsunade-sama just wanted to impart the younger generation with her love of sake, but she never voiced that opinion out loud.
"So do you want to tell me what you were thinking about before I came in?" Kakashi asked, a worried expression on his face. "It wasn't because I was late, was it? You see, there was this black cat…"
"No, it wasn't that," Sakura said, waving off his explanation. "You aren't even late, really. I just got here early and claimed a table in case they ran out of room."
"So then what was it?"
"It's stupid."
"Nothing you have to say could be stupid."
Sakura gave him a look. Kakashi returned it.
"I work with Naruto everyday."
The pink-haired medic laughed. "Okay, fair enough. I was just thinking about my hair."
"Your hair?"
"My hair," she nodded.
"And your hair makes you upset because…?"
This conversation was out of his realm of knowledge. Kakashi had had one hairstyle his entire life, and that was the way he planned to keep it.
"I was just thinking maybe I'd grow it out again, but then I thought better of it. Long hair reminds me of Sasuke and my genin days, and both are things I'd like to forget."
"I liked your long hair. I could tell you styled it every day, even though it was impractical considering we were going to be training. Didn't I tell you?" he asked, when he saw the skeptical look on her face.
She snorted, almost spitting out her drink.
"Kakashi, do you even remember the only thing you ever told me about my hair?"
The Copy Ninja didn't look like he did, so Sakura decided to enlighten him.
"One day after training, after the boys left, when I was fussing with my hair you came up to me. You really don't remember what you said?"
The silver-haired jonin shook his head. He honestly didn't remember, but he guessed it probably wasn't good.
"You came up to me and you told me I should probably cut my hair, or at least wear it in a bun, so that an enemy couldn't use it to grab onto in a battle."
"Oh."
"Yeah."
"Well, I did like it," he shrugged, giving her the sheepish grin he knew she couldn't resist.
He wondered if he'd be pressing his luck, but Sakura seemed to be in a good enough mood that he decided to go ahead.
"You know, your enemy did end up using your hair to grab onto," he said, thinking of the Chuunin exams.
"Yeah," Sakura said flatly, tugging on her short strands, "and that's when I said goodbye to my long hair forever, and ended up with this mess."
"I liked your long hair, but I like your short hair too. I like you hair however you like it."
That was the right thing to say, it seemed, because after a moment of confusion, Sakura's face lit up and Kakashi knew he'd made her happy. He meant it too; he hadn't just said it to make her feel good. He liked his cherry blossom's hair any way she styled it. Because it was her.
"Thanks, Kakashi."
Sakura let his words sink in, and realized that just as she'd grown her hair long in her younger days because Sasuke liked it, she'd kept it short as she grew older because she knew it was what he didn't like.
In a way, it was like Sasuke was still holding onto one last bit of her.
"I like your hair however you like it."
Sakura smiled. She may have grown her hair out for Sasuke, and even cut it for him indirectly, but Kakashi had given her something much better.
Many people in the village thought Sakura Haruno started growing her hair out for Kakashi Hatake that day, but they were wrong.
Kakashi had given her something better than the ability to grow her hair out for someone other than Sasuke—the ability to grow it out for herself.
~A/N: So I know this makes two prompts in a row where she's thinking about Sasuke, and normally I don't like to do that, but the first couple paragraphs of this story were originally going to be the start of yesterday's one shot, before I realized it would go much better for the 'long hair' prompt, and I was blanking on ideas for today, so I decided to go ahead and use them today. But don't worry, I won't make every story like this, I promise!
