I don't know how you did it Silent-Serpent…but the troll must've received your cookie, because here I am updating earlier than expected.
Enjoy.
Chapter 3
Sakura woke up the next day with a slight headache and puffy eyes. She remembered the events of the night and wanted nothing more than to bury her head underneath her pillow and avoid all human contact. Jade green eyes traveled to her dresser and the collection of picture frames sitting on it. At the very least, she'd get questioned by Ino, Naruto, and Hinata on the success of the night. Kurenai would be slightly curious. Iruka would want to know that the time he took meddling with the assignments in the missions office was well spent.
Thanks to her enthusiastic planning and plotting, too many people knew how important yesterday was for her. Too bad the man himself didn't know.
She was just glad that only one other person knew the surprise she had planned on springing on the Copy Nin after dinner.
Sakura knew that nothing would change what happened last night. She reluctantly dragged herself out of bed and went through her normal morning routine. She was about to slip on her regular jounin outfit when she realized that it was her day off.
Depression reared its ugly head again as she remembered that she had planned on spending the day in bed with her lover.
The pink-haired woman shook her head and changed into a pair of black jeans and a simple black lace tank top. She wasn't going to think about Kakashi anymore this morning. If she did, then she'd probably break down and get an even worse headache. She was about to reach into her medicine cabinet for some aspirin when she remembered that she couldn't take the small white tablets.
Sakura decided to drink some herbal tea instead and found out that she no longer had any of that particular beverage in her fridge. A search of her cupboards yielded no tealeaves anywhere. Letting loose a sigh, she accepted the fact that she'd have to go out if she wanted to have her tea.
She was wary of leaving her apartment. If she saw one of her friends, she could just avoid them. The same went for Kakashi, but she also knew that the sight of the silver-haired jounin would either make her want to kill him or make her want to bawl her eyes out. Sakura was certain that no matter what, if she saw him she would get angry.
A part of her knew that she was being a bit overdramatic.
After all, Kakashi wasn't the kind of man to care about anniversaries and things like that. As it was, he barely remembered the birthdays of the members of Team 7. It was only through the actions of Sasuke and Naruto that the Copy Nin remembered.
Every year for Christmas, Sasuke would give Kakashi a calendar and a new alarm clock. When Sakura once remarked on the cheapness of the Uchiha's gift, Sasuke simply raised an eyebrow and said that his gift was the only reason Kakashi would give her anything on her birthday. She couldn't say anything to counter that statement because they both knew that it was true.
Every year, right after the Copy Nin would open his present, Naruto would take the calendar from his hands and mark each of their birthdays with a bright red marker. The blonde even went as far as to mark the date two weeks before their birthdays so that their former sensei had enough time to buy them decent gifts.
Was Kakashi an overly forgetful man? No, he wasn't. He was more of a man who didn't give much thought to the significance of certain days and what made them stand out from the many other days that made up a year. Unless there was a major mission planned, the man usually didn't even know what day of the weekit was.
But even as Sakura acknowledged that fact, another part of her—the part that included her heart and soul—knew that, even if last night hadn't been their anniversary, she deserved a little more than a hug and a kiss on the forehead for an apology.
The man showed up four hours late and didn't even blink when she told him how worried she was. He acted as if it was a normal occurrence. And although for him it was a normal occurrence, she didn't know if she could spend rest of her life waiting for him.
She walked to her door and pocketed her keys and her wallet. She was so focused on her headache and what teas would help alleviate it that she almost tripped over the small bundle that sat just outside her apartment. She looked down and saw Pakkun—Kakashi's ninja dog.
"Pakkun," she said. "What are you doing here?"
The pug remained silent and sat on his haunches. He tilted his head up expectantly and it was only then that Sakura noticed that he held something in his mouth. She knelt down and slowly removed the daffodil from the ninken's jaws. She looked at the flower and frowned.
"Kakashi would like to meet you for lunch today at the dango shop," the pug announced. "He has something to tell you, something to give you, and something to ask you."
"He couldn't come here and ask me himself?"
Pakkun gave a small laugh and scratched the back of his head with his paw. "Kakashi said something about you probably not wanting to see him long enough for him to ask you," he said. A sly look entered his eyes and he stared up at his friend's woman. "What did he do wrong? It's got to be big. He's never used me as a mediator before."
Sakura sighed. Great, she thought. Now we're using a dog as a relationship counselor.
She was tempted to deny his request. But she also wanted to hear what Kakashi had to say. She should really give him the chance to defend himself. Knowing the man, he probably was still absolutely clueless as to why she had been so touchy last night. She was about to give her answer when familiar voices echoed down the corridor.
"Oi, Ino," a bored sounding voice said. "Are you sure that you want to do this? She might not want to see you."
"You don't know anything about women, do you Shikamaru?" Ino's voice answered. "Her boyfriend totally forgot about their anniversary and didn't even have the decency to apologize for it. At least last night me, Hinata, Kurenai-senpai, and Anko-senpai got the chance to smack Kakashi a few times on her behalf. But right now, Sakura needs a woman's shoulder to cry on."
"Then why am I here?"
"To be the stand-in."
"Stand-in?"
"Sakura's going to need a male to pound her frustrations out on, Shika. Seeing Kakashi would be too painful and I don't know where Naruto or Sasuke are, so we've got you."
"Aw, hell no!"
The sounds of running feet reached the ears of the two listeners outside of Sakura's apartment. Pakkun winced as a loud thud reverberated and they heard Shikamaru groan in pain. Ino began screeching at her friend and they both sympathized with the shadow user.
"So Kakashi forgot about your anniversary, huh?" Pakkun asked. He ignored the obvious noise of a major scuffle occurring just around the corner.
"Yup," Sakura answered. "And apparently, Ino knows about it. And if Ino knows, everyone does. Speaking of…we should get out of here before she drags Shikamaru to my door."
They quickly exited through the hallway's only window and bounded over the rooftops. After a few blocks, Sakura stopped and placed a hand over her stomach. She didn't know how people could be so energetic without breakfast. She was starving.
"Are you going to meet him or not?"
Sakura looked down at her companion and sighed. She still held the flower. The woman held the daffodil between two fingers and snapped the stem right below the blossom. She gave the green stalk to the dog, who took it between his jaws. Tucking the bloom into her hair, she nodded grimly.
"But not at the dango shop," she qualified. "For one, they'll be too many people who can see us and bother us there. If he wants to talk—I mean really talk—tell him to meet me at the old Team 7 spot by the bridge at noon. And if he knows what's good for him, he won't be late."
The ninken nodded and bounded off to tell his master her message.
Kakashi leaned against the red painted railing of Team 7's Bridge and held back a sigh. A large picnic basket lay at his feet and in the crook of his arm was a small bouquet of daffodils. The silver silk yukata he wore was a Christmas present from Sakura and had dark red trimming on it. A matching dark red turtleneck, pulled up over his jaw and nose so that it acted as a mask, completed the outfit.
He knew that he looked a bit ridiculous standing around in traditional clothing in the middle of the day and with no festival planned for months. He really didn't see how Hyuuga Hiashi could move comfortably, let alone fight, in the robes he wore. He held back another sigh and shifted his weight onto his other foot.
Sakura was late.
His gaze drifted up to glance at the position of the sun and absently noted that it was now at least forty minutes past noon. Kakashi wasn't sure if this was intentional or if she was legitimately late. Their profession was an erratic one. It was easily prone to sudden calls and emergencies that could cancel any number of personal engagements and plans. Added to the fact that Sakura was almost obsessive about being prompt, the silver-haired jounin assumed that something must have held her up.
But then again, he thought. She has every right to stand me up for what I did.
Kakashi placed his free hand in his pocket and felt the stem that Pakkun brought back from his conversation with Sakura. The pug didn't give him any more information than Sakura's willingness to meet him and her change of meeting place. But there was a shine of amusement in the dog's eyes and a final parting shot about Kakashi's general intelligence that rankled the jounin's brain before he left.
Damn smart-ass dog.
He wasn't sure as to the meaning behind Sakura's action of sending the dog back with the flower stem. Because he knew her for so long, and because it was second nature to him, Kakashi racked his brain to look "underneath the underneath."
She accepted his invitation for lunch, but changed the location. So that showed her willingness to talk, but on her terms.
She accepted his flower, but sent him back the useless, wilted stem. So that proved that she was willing to forgive him, but that he would have to grovel for her forgiveness first.
But it could also be a threat. The limp, flowerless stalk could mean that when she did see him again, she would rip a few parts of his anatomy off with the ease and strength she used to rip the bloom from its stem.
Kakashi thought about that scenario and closed his eyes in imagined torment. Sometimes having a vivid imagination was a bad thing. Like the time when Naruto mentioned seeing Gai holding hands with some woman and the image of the spandex-wearing jounin having sex automatically popped into the Copy Nin's mind.
"ARGH! NOT AGAIN!"
Sakura stifled a laugh as she saw Kakashi hold his hand over his visible eye and yell out as if in terrible pain. Judging by the way that his jaw worked—as if to get rid of a bad taste in his mouth—and the way he kept rubbing his hand over his eyes—as if to tear the orbs from their sockets—he probably imagined Gai having sex again. The urge to laugh died when she noticed the flowers in his arms and she remembered that she was mad at him.
"Kakashi," she said softly. "What are you doing?"
The silver-haired jounin stopped his uncharacteristic pawing and stood up straight to look at his lover. She wasn't dressed as formally as he was—she only had on black jeans, a dark blue men's style blouse over a black lace tank top and her black shinobi sandals. But then again, she wasn't the one who had to beg the other's forgiveness.
Sakura felt her heart lurch at the sight of his dark eye meeting hers. He was looking mighty handsome at the moment. The silver and red complemented his coloring. And Sakura always felt that seeing him in any kind of traditional clothing was sexy beyond all reason. She noticed that his hitai-ate was gone and in its place was the black eye patch that made him look like a pirate. Kakashi knew that she had a weakness for pirates.
Damn the man, she thought. Damn him for looking like that when I'm angry with him.
I know we're angry with him, but can't we jump him first and shout at him later? Inner Sakura asked.
The kunoichi shook her head. It had been a while since her inner self came out to talk to her.
"Sakura," Kakashi murmured. Even though he knew her for the better part of ten years, he never knew exactly what went on in that brain of hers when she got that look on her face. The woman blinked and focused her gaze on his. He wished that she didn't do that. Sakura had a way of looking at a person that made the world shrink until it only contained her and whoever she was looking at.
Green orbs held him until his gaze traveled down and he saw the hard line of her lips. Feeling awkward in a way he'd never been, even as a teenager, Kakashi held the flowers out to her. For a moment, she stared at the blooms as if they were poisonous. He breathed easier when she silently took the bouquet.
"You wanted to talk, Kakashi?"
The jounin cleared his throat and motioned to the grassy bank near the bridge, then to the picnic basket. "I thought that we could talk over lunch," he said. "Since you didn't want to meet at the dango shop, I brought some food."
Sakura raised a thin eyebrow at the size of the basket, but remained silent. She nodded slowly and followed Kakashi. He stopped at the spot where the land began to slope into the river and laid a red and white-checkered cloth on the ground. He motioned for her to sit and she did. She placed her flowers on the grass next to her and sat back—resting her weight on her arms behind her.
She stayed quiet as he settled next to her and took out two plates of fried chicken. She stared at the breaded meat and raised her eyes to meet Kakashi's.
"What's this?" she asked.
"Southern Fried Chicken with Gravy, Coleslaw, and a drink called Mint Julep," he answered. "I have water too, if you don't want to drink this."
"What restaurant did you get this from?" she asked after taking a bite of her chicken. She waved off the Mint Julep and instead took a swig from the water bottle Kakashi handed her.
"I didn't get it from a restaurant."
"You cooked?" Sakura asked, ready to induce vomiting if he answered in the affirmative.
"No," he laughed at the look on her face. "I don't want to kill us."
"Then where?" she asked as she relaxed her stomach muscles.
"I asked the Head Cook at the Hyuuga compound to prepare the food," Kakashi admitted.
And promised to build a tree house for his sons and complete 15 D-rank missions for free, the silver-haired jounin added silently.
Sakura was shocked. She knew from experience that the Hyuuga Chef never did anything for anyone who wasn't a Hyuuga for free. The fact that Kakashi went to the man probably meant that he was doomed to a month of menial tasks. The thought that he would go so far to get a nice lunch for them warmed her heart.
But that warmth faded as she realized that Ino must've told Kakashi about Sakura's deal with the Hyuuga for last night's dinner preparations. There was no other explanation for his sudden decision to work off the debt for the meal rather than pay for it at a restaurant.
"Traditional clothes…foreign food…a quiet picnic by our old meeting spot…what exactly are you planning, Kakashi?"
Sakura turned away from him and let her bangs shade her face from him. Her wording wasn't lost on the Copy Nin and he frowned. Kakashi set down his plate and took hers off of her lap. He moved so that he sat facing her and hesitated. He wanted to hold her hands, but he wanted her to look at him more.
The silver-haired jounin froze as Sakura's finally eyes made contact with his and felt the world around them shrink again. But unlike the other times, when she looked at him with affection and love, he felt that this time, she despised him. It was not a pleasant feeling. He remembered the things he planned to say to her and determination filled his black gaze.
Over the course of last night, in between getting smacked by four righteously angry kunoichi and begging the Hyuuga Chef to make him a picnic lunch, Kakashi decided what exactly he would say to Sakura to get her to forgive him. He loved her too much to let one big, idiotic mistake on his part ruin their relationship. He knew she loved him as well. She wouldn't be so hurt if she didn't.
"I just wanted today to be special."
"Special," Sakura scoffed. His wording wasn't lost on her either and she turned her glare onto him. Hugging her knees to her chest, she rested her head on them. "What's so special about today?"
"Nothing," Kakashi replied. "Nothing's special about today. Nothing is special or worthwhile when you're this upset with me."
"Do you even know why I'm angry?" she bit out. Oh, but it was hard to hold on to her anger when he said sweet things like that. He picked up way more than perverted thoughts from reading Icha Icha. Sakura had to admit that—when it came to sweet-talking a girl—Jiraiya had a way with words.
"I forgot about our anniversary," Kakashi answered. "I was late for the dinner you made and I didn't even apologize for it. Well, I'm apologizing now and I'm asking that you forgive me for being so inconsiderate."
"You only know about our anniversary because Ino told you, not because you remembered it yourself," Sakura assumed. When he actually voiced his crime out loud, her anger returned full force.
"As for you being late, you're always late. I've known you for years and nothing's going to change that. But you take it for granted that I'll be there waiting for you. I can't tell you the number of times I've wanted to just leave a restaurant or stop hanging in front of the movie theatre like a loser because you can never be on time. The only thing that stopped me from leaving was knowing that at any second you'd show up and everything would be fine and we'd have fun."
Sakura leaned her cheek on her upraised knee and looked over Kakashi's shoulder. She didn't want to look at his face anymore. He dragged his hand through his silver hair and stared out onto the river. The family on the opposite bank was having a picnic as well and the father was helping one of the children fly a red kite. Kakashi wished for a moment that he and Sakura could be that easy with one another again.
"I can't afford to always be the one waiting for you. I've got people who count on me: Tsunade-shishou, my squad, my family. One day there'll be someone else who needs me and I won't be there because I'm stuck waiting for you. There are only so many hours in the day and other people deserve my time too. Time is precious to me, Kakashi. While you act as if you have nothing but time."
"So what do you want me to do?" he demanded, eye narrowed. The jounin's temper flared at her little speech. His pride—of which he had plenty—prompted him into speaking without thinking. "I understand if you're not there when I show up. I don't turn it into a huge deal when you are late. We're both shinobi; we both have duties that make living normal lives difficult."
Kakashi kept his eyes fixed on the family, but continued talking in a gruff voice.
"Do you want me to run around rushing through life and stressing about useless and unnecessary things? Do you want someone who'll worry needlessly about deadlines and watches the clock incessantly for every little act that must be done? If you want someone like that, then go after Iruka. Hell, after me, dating another former teacher of yours should be easy."
Sakura's eyes widened at the last part and Kakashi knew that, in his temper, he went too far. He saw her fist flying toward him and closed his eyes. He kept them closed even after the force of Sakura's punch made him fly several feet and knocked him onto his back on the grass. He cursed himself for losing control and mouthing off without thinking. It was something that was never pretty when it occurred and a state that only the kunoichi currently walking away from him could reduce him to.
Wait, Kakashi thought, his closed eyes snapping open. I can't let her walk away. I just can't!
Two strong arms wrapping tightly around her upper body from behind halted Sakura's march. She clenched her teeth before raising her hands to rest them lightly on Kakashi's forearms. She felt a small measure of satisfaction when he stiffened warily, but he didn't loosen his hold.
"Hatake," she growled. "If you know what's good for you, then you will remove your arms from my person right this instant."
"No," Kakashi whispered.
He didn't care too much for many people. He respected the other jounin he knew and enjoyed their company. He was fond of his male students and saw them as younger cousins. But he realized that if they disappeared tomorrow, he would mourn, but he would also find a way to go on with his life. If he lost Sakura now, he would never be the same.
"I'm sorry," he rasped. Her soft pink tresses rested against his cloth-covered chin and he breathed in her apple blossom scent. "I didn't mean that last part. I was angry and stupid. I'm sorry."
"You have no right to be angry I this situation, Hatake Kakashi," Sakura said in a strange monotone. "I told you the problem I had with your attitude and you reacted like a child. You've insulted and hurt me. And now, like a child, you expect it to magically get all better now that you've said that you're sorry."
"I don't know what else I can say. I've messed up and I am sorry. Just…don't go." The silver-haired man didn't care if he sounded pathetic at the moment.
Screw pride, he thought. That stupid character flaw is what got me into deeper shit than I already was in.
"Stay and we'll talk—like adults. Please?" he buried his face in her hair and sighed. "I know it's selfish to ask you to do that after I royally fucked up and said what I just did, but please hear me out. Let me make it up to you."
Sakura had tightened her hold on his arms, ready and willing to use force to get him to let her go, but she stilled at his words. Her head fell forward and tears began to drip down to stain the sleeves of his yukata.
"Kashi," she cried, using the nickname only she used for him. Sobs began to quake through her body. Sakura's headache returned full force and with reinforcements. "Let me go, you insensitive moron. It hurts too much to be near you right now. Let me go."
"No," he repeated. His heart broke with each sob that wracked her frame. "We don't have to talk right now if you don't want to. But don't go. Just let me hold you."
Sakura shook her head and cried harder. The pain and stress from last night and the past few hours caught up with her and her knees buckled. Kakashi caught her and held her in his arms. He walked over to the blanket and sat down with her in his lap. He felt her become limp in his arms and looked down.
The stress must have been too much, because Sakura fainted and was now unconscious in the Copy Nin's arms.
"Sakura…I'm so sorry." Kakashi murmured, a tear trailing down his cheekbone and dampening the cloth of his mask. "I'm an idiot."
"The biggest," a feminine voice called out.
The Copy Nin froze in fear at the familiar voice and he looked up to see a frightening figure standing over him.
"Tsunade-sama…"
A/N:
Should I end it there? Yes, I think I'll end it there.
One reviewer wanted a little clarification for the Ino-tachi insult hurled at Kakashi last chapter, so here it is:
"Hatake…" Asuma began.
"…you are undoubtedly…" Kurenai sighed.
"…the most fucked up…" Anko growled.
"…troublesome…" Shikamaru murmured.
"…d-disrespectful…" Hinata stammered.
"…completely moronic…" Sasuke drawled.
"…totally late, lame, and perverted…" Naruto yelled.
"…sad excuse for a walking meat-bag idiot cyclops who doesn't know exactly what kind of treasure he has!" Ino screeched, finishing the string of insults by smacking the silver head of the sad excuse for a walking meat-bag idiot cyclops.
There ya go : D