Hey guys, it's me again! Thanks for all of your reviews on the previous chapter! I'm sorry that this one took so long…I do hope you continue to read, and that you enjoy it just as much as you did the other ones. Thanks again!
-FH
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters involved.
"Then I crashed into you, like a runaway train, you will consume me, but I can't walk away…"
It had seemed like ages since Tsunade had decided to allow Sakura to go on missions again, even though it had only been roughly a week. He could no longer handle the itch to fight, to spar, to physically hurt something. With a sigh, he decided it was best if he just trained like a normal Shinobi. The clouds swirled in intricate patterns above his head as he all but stomped to the training grounds. He paid them no mind as he attempted to pinpoint just where everything started to spiral out of control in his mind. Was I always this fired up? Or was it because of Sakura's situation? His thoughts then strayed to the pink-haired kunoichi. He would be lying if he stated that he wasn't avoiding her these past few days. Every day he wasn't on a mission he spent vegetating in his lonely apartment, with nothing but a block of wood and a kunai. It was his new-found hobby. Yamato would laugh at him if he saw his crude carvings, and then the wood style user would probably pale when he realized that Kakashi destroyed them with flame when finished. It just helped get his emotions out sometimes…
"Are you going to answer me, or not?" Startled and berating himself for being caught off guard, Kakashi nearly jumped when the very woman he had been avoiding appeared out of nowhere. With an eye-crinkle he responded albeit hesitantly,
"I…didn't hear the question." His voice was bordering sheepish as his left hand scratched awkwardly at the fine hairs at the base of his neck.
"I asked why you have been avoiding me?" She repeated, an unknown look covering her face as her delicate hands wrung together, an act betraying her nerves. He tried to ignore it, but his eyes wandered downwards anyway.
"I'm not avoiding you." he replied with a tone of finality. Her eyebrows raised, nearly caressing her hairline. He nearly stuttered his next sentence as a look of disbelief colored her face,
"I've been doing a lot of missions lately, and I've just been trying to relax." his eye crinkled, indicative of a smile hidden underneath his mask.
"I'm not just talking about recently…" she stated with hesitancy. His forehead wrinkled beneath his hitai-ite as his eyebrows knitted together in confusion.
"I don't understand what you're talking about." he muttered. Green eyes narrowed in obvious annoyance.
"Ever since I told you what Sa-he did to me, you never see me anymore. You don't even acknowledge my existence when I pass you on the street. What have I done? Have I pushed you away somehow?" her voice no longer held an edge of annoyance to it, rather, it held a bitter anger. It was Kakashi's turn to raise his eyebrows. Have I really been acting that way towards her? he thought awkwardly to himself as his mind tried to make sense of it. I mean, I have been on missions lately, a lot lately. Maybe she took that as me avoiding her? It was bad timing…
"You know what? Nevermind. I just hope that I'm not the reason that you rejoined ANBU and have been taking so many S-class missions." her heel dug into the dirt as she stomped away from Kakashi and the conversation, leaving him to his own maddening thoughts.
"It isn't your fault…I'm sorry." he whispered to the air, as his feet carried him back to that lonely apartment.
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The next day came with sun and a cool breeze that continuously shifted the clouds above the village. A series of distinctive thuds were heard throughout the training grounds as a certain female ninja was getting reacquainted with the tools of her trade. With a flick of a trained wrist, the kunai seared effortlessly from her hand, now embedded in the wooden logs in front of her. She smiled gingerly as she yanked the knives out of their new wooden homes.
"Oi! Already training without me?!" Naruto shouted playfully. Sakura jumped, causing half of the kunais in her hand to plummet to the ground, blade first. She sighed and picked the instruments back up.
"Sorry." The golden-haired boy said, belatedly as he saw the blank stare the kunoichi was now giving him. He gave her a tentative grin that she returned in earnest as she dropped the cutting instruments back into the pouch on her hip.
"Where's Kakashi?" He asked, trying to get used to dropping the 'sensei' honorific that Kakashi had asked them to try and avoid. Sakura's face fell slightly as her arms loosely crossed over her chest in a defiant gesture. Naruto's signature grin diminished under her icy stare,
"Eheheh….I take that as a no." That was what Sakura liked about Naruto's sudden maturity. He still acted like a child a lot of the time, but not nearly as bad as he was when they were genin. He now knew when to stop pushing on a subject, whereas when they were younger he would have kept pestering her about her change in mood at the mention of their old sensei.
"Well! Would ya wanna train with me, then?" his eyes lit up as he awaited her answer. A small smile tugged at her lips as she thought about teasing her teammate, who's blue eyes now narrowed in a questioning manner.
"Sakura-chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!" he dragged out her name with a whine and a pout. She shook her head in a comical fashion as she thought to herself; I guess he hasn't matured that much.
"Oh, just answer him already." a voice sounded from a tree-branch far above the two restless teammates. Shit, I didn't even sense his presence. Sakura seethed at her own incompetence at chakra detection.
"Kakashi-se…Kakashi!" Naruto yelled exuberantly trying his hardest to hide the fact that he almost forgot about dropping the honorific. Kakashi's head tilted to the left slightly as he raised a stoic hand in his signature salute to his friends.
"Yo, Naruto. Sakura." he added her name on the end a bit belatedly, which did not go unnoticed by the woman in question. Naruto, however, bless his heart, did not notice the slight tension between his other two teammates.
"Kakashi." she said curtly, not to be outdone by him, as childish as it sounded.
"Training, I'm assuming?" He asked nonchalantly, even though that was obviously what they were attempting to do. Naruto glanced awkwardly between Sakura and Kakashi, not knowing what to say to break the sudden silence.
"I was trying to get her to train with me…" he began pouting again, this time more forcefully staring at Sakura.
"I'm not in the mood right now, Naruto." Sakura's voice held a certain lilt to it that even the brazen shinobi understood. With a shrug of the shoulders, he went on to his next victim: Kakashi.
"Kakashiiiiiiiiiiii~" he said with a funny face, maybe he was still trying to get a grasp on hearing his sensei's name without the sensei part come from his mouth.
"Narutooooooooooo." Kakashi played back, trying to get the blonde riled up without moving an inch from his perch on the treetop. A sly fox like smile graced the teens face as he lunged towards Kakashi in a haphazardly way. Sakura knew she was in for a good show when the smoke from Kakashi's replacement jutsu clouded Naruto's form. With a huff, she planted her bottom on the grass beside the tree that started their battle.
She watched on their spar with a clouded mind. Perhaps I was a little to blunt with Kakashi… she thought with a sigh. A handful of grass laid at her feet, the result of her tearing the green turf up in her frustrating thoughts.
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He tried not to pay attention to the forlorn look on her face, knowing that it was his own idiocy and lack of excuse that caused it. His hand grasped Naruto's right ankle as he dropped below the boy to avoid his other leg. With a shove to the kyuubi vessel's trapped leg, he slid back a few feet. A smile stretched across the younger's face as he regarded his old sensei.
"Your movements are slowing, Kakashi. Did you need a break?" he teased, with the intent of getting under the older shinobi's skin. All Kakashi did in retaliation was a simple 'tsk tsk' motion with his head as he charged his former subordinate. Punch for punch, kick for kick, they were on even playing ground, and this was a welcome distraction from his thoughts for Kakashi.
"Kakashi, I have a question." Naruto said between puffs of breath. Kakashi relaxed his fighting position as he regarded the teen.
"And that is?"
"What did you do to Sakura-chan?" he whispered while motioning with his eyes to the kunoichi who seemed to be spaced out at the base of the tree that started it all, a good hundred feet away from the sparring duo.
"I didn't do anything." he sighed as he regained his fighting posture. Naruto however, did not reinstate his own vigor.
"Liar. I just don't want us to start off on a bad foot as a reformed team, you know?" He asked as he slowly approached the older shinobi. Kakashi never let his guard down, even when the teen seemed to be approaching in a more friendly manner.
"I know, Naruto. That is why I am telling you that there is nothing to worry about. Nothing happened." Kakashi nearly growled. Truth be told, he hated being questioned about things that were still so fresh, especially when he had not given himself the time needed to come to terms with what was going on. He still felt the need to confront Sakura about the issue again, or rather, understand what the issue really was. He still hadn't found a way to explain things to her. It wasn't her fault that he couldn't bear his own demons in order to help her with hers. In hindsight, he knew that he was an idiot for this.
"Whatever. Just don't hurt her like Sasuke did." Naruto said bitterly, knowing that his team captain was not going to admit anything to him, no matter how hard he tried. Before the blonde had a chance to respond, Kakashi's face was in his, his back smashed against the back of a tree, his wrist in a crushing grip by the elder's right fist, and a new fire burned in Kakashi's lone eye.
"Don't you ever compare me to him when it concerns her. Ever. Again." Naruto squinted through the pain, trying to break free. He had never seen his friend this angry before, especially not towards him.
"Kakashi. You're hurting my wrist." he pleaded, still not understanding everything that was going on.
"Do you understand?" Kakashi asked just as forcefully as the first time, ignoring the other's gasps of pain as a crack resounded through the otherwise empty training ground.
"Kakashi!" Sakura screamed from the other end of the field. His eye widened in horror as he released Naruto, who slumped against the tree he was made captive against. His wrist was an angry red, swollen and in obvious discomfort. His blue eyes looked betrayed and surprised as he questioned Kakashi,
"What the hell? I didn't mean for you to take it as bad as you did! I was just looking out for her!" he whispered the last part as Sakura ran over to the pair of them. Kakashi didn't respond as he froze, staring at his wrist.
"I'm…sorry." he gulped, his voice failing as Sakura's eyes met his own, green laced anger. That's all Kakashi recognized.
"What is your problem!" She shouted, more than asked. Kakashi took a step back, his mind reeling I guess you never thought that your blood-lust could turn towards your teammates too, if you didn't let it out, huh? A deeper part of him snickered, making his blood run cold.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean for it to happen!" he said rapidly. A green hue emanated from the medic-nin's hands as she closed them around Naruto's misshapen arm.
"I understand." Naruto's voice sounded defeated as he glanced up to his senpai,
"I understand what you asked of me. I don't understand why, though. It's okay, Sensei." for once, Kakashi did not reprimand him for the continuing use of the word 'sensei' when referring to him. With shaky hands, Kakashi offered one to Naruto, in an effort to help him off of the ground he fell to.
"Thanks." he said stiffly, wringing his hands together, trying to rebuild the sudden loss of strength in his dominant hand.
"You still have to take it easy, Naruto. I'm sure Kurama will help you with healing it all the way." He nodded his consent as she turned sharply to the third member of the party.
"You're just batting a thousand, Hatake." she spat, her eyes boring into his own.
"I truly am sorry. Not just for his wrist." He said with an air of sorrow. Before Sakura could reply, he was gone in a swirl of leaves. Leaving Naruto and Sakura to stare at the smoke from his disappearance.
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"Goddammit, Kakashi!" He yelled at himself as he sat down on his dusty old bed. One hand gripped the bed sheets below him, while the other tore at his scalp in frustration. How could he have done something like that? He never wanted to hurt them. Especially not them. They already had to deal with so much because of him. He already regretted his inability to protect Sakura…or Naruto, for that matter, when it came to the third part of their old team. His eyes glanced towards the old team 7 portrait that gathered dust next to his own genin team. His eyes fell onto Sasuke's dark orbs first, then Naruto's blue…and finally, Sakura's jade eyes stared back at him. She looked so…young, so undamaged. So…not close to him.
"You need to find a new outlet for your anger at a certain somebody." he whispered to himself, trying to quell the inner disgust that was rising from his very core. You really should do that, before more people get hurt…that same voice from before muttered somewhere in the darker side of his mind. Gritting his teeth, he balled his fists on the bed beneath him and made a silent promise to talk to Sakura, to reassure her that nothing is her fault. And to Naruto, to apologize again…for his arm, and his loss of control of his emotions.
It's going to be a long day tomorrow….the sun had just set in the only window he had. With tired eyes, he watched it sink, pondering how metaphorically, that seemed to be him. However, he wasn't so sure that he would rise again, like the sun did.
I'm sorry for the late chapter, guys….I am currently in my Junior year of College. It's been a pain in the arse. Anyway, I hope you enjoy, and review! Thanks! You're all wonderful, you know that?
-FH
