A/N Alas! Naruto is not mine—it belongs to Masashi Kishimoto

Midnight Screams

A shy knock at the door indicated that Hinata was there to check up on Sakura, again. The night had gone by so quickly that it seemed that time had decided to double in speed when passing.

Kakashi rose from the sofa in Sakura's apartment. He slept without a shirt, as he knew Sakura couldn't get up and walk around and that it was going to be a hot summer. He slipped into a new shirt and answered the door cheerfully, "Hi Hinata, Welcome back. Are you here to check in on Sakura?"

"H…Hai Kakashi-sama." He moved to the side to allow the Hyuuga girl in and closed the door softly behind her. They started to make their way towards the bedroom that Sakura resided in.

"Well she's in her room. I don't actually know if she's awake or not so…" He stopped in his tracks when he finally realized what he saw.

Sakura was in her room, but she was laying face down on the floor halfway between the bed and the doorway. The Hyuuga gasped. Kakashi lifted the pink haired kunoichi off of the floor and placed her on the bed in the proper position she should've been in.

Her eyes were open and she was breathing heavily.

"Sakura what happened? Why were you on the floor?"

She opened her mouth and cleared her throat as much as she could and rasped out some words," S...Screaming." Hinata rushed into the other room.

"Who was? Who was screaming?" Hinata reentered the room with a glass of water and held it up to Sakura's lips. The pink haired kunoichi had taken the water in quicker than anyone could've imagined.

She smacked her lips quickly and then sighed. Sakura;s voice rang out in the room, still raspy, but gradually returning to its former melodious tone, "I heard screaming." The word screaming had developed a squeak that led to nothing but air coming out of her mouth.

"Who was it Sakura?" he was eager. Could this have been one of the assassins making their way toward the kunoichi sitting before him?

"You." It was like she had hit him with her super strength. He was at a loss for words, but fought to maintain his composure.

"Why would I be screaming?"

The cherry blossom sitting before him turned her head to one side, "I don't know. You were just screaming."

"Sakura," She could tell he was serious, but the mask covering his face didn't help, "What did I really say?"

Her eyes glanced towards Hinata and the young Hyuuga girl picked up the hint. She quickly got up and after a meek 'excuse me' she left the room, closing the door behind her.

"Okay...we're alone. What did I say?" He grabbed her chin and turned her face towards his. She was astonished at how familiar he was acting with her. Her sensei, her teacher, was treating her like Naruto or Sasuke would. Well maybe not Sasuke, she inwardly smiled.

Though his hand was holding her face in place, her eyes still averted from his, "You called out a name."

His mind raced, whose name would he call out in his sleep? Rin? Obito? Who? "Whose name?"

Tears we forming in the corners of her eyes, she didn't want to tell him, it was too embarrassing, " mine." Her crying seemed to strike him even more than what she said.

He sat for a moment. The silence before his responses usually indicated that he was trying to piece his words together. "Is that really all?"

She nodded her head in one swift motion. The tears were dripping on to her bed. Sakura's hand clenched shut, but no matter how hard she tried, her arm wouldn't make it all the way up to allow her to brush the tears away.

Kakashi lifted his hand up to wipe her tears away. It was an odd sensation. The feeling he gave her was more sensual, even in the midst of tears and a pained body, his touch seemed to calm every emotion, yet stir so many more.

To him, her skin was extremely soft and warm, the kind of warmth that he wanted to surround him. There was tension in the room, but he was confused, "I'm sorry Sakura. I didn't mean anything by it. You know that."

"I…I know. I just feel so helpless." Another squeak followed as her voice trailed off again. She leaned toward him attempting to rest her head in the crook between his head and shoulder. He embraced her, allowing her to do so while trying to calm her down.

"It's not your fault, Sakura. We didn't know the assassin would be so skilled. It was my fault." She backed away from him, preparing to retort to his statement, however he had placed his hand over her mouth to prevent her from speaking. "Sakura, I'm trained for missions that are tens times harder than the last one we completed," his eyes trailed down to her neck. Her scar was completely healed shut with a slight burn around it.

The cherry blossom turned her head to remove his hand from her mouth to speak, but Kakashi spoke quickly, "Sakura, I don't want you to speak for a while. You need to rest and allow your voice to return, fully, before you lose it again." He got up from the bed and walked towards the door, "I need to talk to you about something, but I'll wait until you've rested." He smiled curtly and opened the door, "Thank you, Hinata"

Hinata slowly walked in and began her procedure for the day, avoiding to speak at all. The pink haired kunoichi watched as her former sensei saluted and left her room. Kakashi-sensei.

He had decided to leave her apartment while she was with Hinata. Taking a shower with me there wouldn't exactly be easy for her. Ok…It wouldn't be easy for me… He rubbed the back of his head as he walked, stretching. His face was slightly red from the thought and, before he knew it, he found himself standing in front of the memorial.

Their names seem to be blaring. Every one else on the list had faded in comparison to his two former teammates. The world froze whenever he stood here. Memories flowed rapidly, like a river swollen with rain. Obito…Rin…

Okay! I know I know, this chapter is EXTREMELY short, but the next chapter is so long, and I just can't seem to find a place to cut it off to turn into 2 chapters….it all runs together so smoothly that it would just ruin the composition if I chopped it…

But I will actually try to get both chapters up this week, since I have extremely slow Internet at home and Christmas break is coming soon. 3 weeks…what will everyone do for 3 weeks? I know I'll get a lot o writing done (I hope) not only on this fic but my Avatar and Inuyasha fics.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! Everyone who has posted, I am so grateful that you like my story! Reviews seriously make my day (at least all of the good ones that you all have lovingly provided.)