A/N: FOR A BIT THE CHAPTERS MAY BE A BIT CONFUSING, BUT IT WILL ALL MAKE SENSE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. PLEASE ALSO BEAR IN MIND, WHEN KAKASHI SAYS HE LOVES HER, IT IS AS A DAUGHTER FIGURE, NOT A ROMANTIC SORT OF LOVE ALSO: FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO NEED A 2 YEAR OLD DEFINITION OF WHAT NO FLAMING MEANS I SHALL EXPLAIN...
1. NO LEAVING NASTY REVIEWS
2. NO LEAVING NASTY REVIEWS USING A FALSE NAME OR USING A NAME THAT MARKS YOU AS A PANSY (a.k.a. Guest)
3. IF YOU MUST FLAME, EITHER DO ONE OF TWO OPTIONS...
3A: MAKE AN ACCOUNT AND MESSAGE ME LIKE AN ADULT
OR
3B: CLICK OUT OF MY STORY AND DO NOT READ IT
Sakura sat on her bed, lost in thought and not even noticing that Kakashi was leaving the village for a while. He looked at her apartment wishing he could change the decision made by Tsunade and remain by Sakura's side, but he knew he would only be standing in the way, preventing her from standing tall on her own and tempted to do everything for her.
Sakura was dealt a hard card, she discovered that when she died, she was in a paradise, only for her friends to rip her from that paradise to be placed back in the hell that was her mortal existence. She played with the ring on her finger, a symbol of all her friends and team, looking out the window she started singing, not knowing he was singing also somehow.
S:
I'm under your spell
God how can this be
Playing with my memory
You know I've been through hell
Kashi don't you see
There'll be nothing left of me
You made me believe…..
K:
Believe me I don't want to Go
K & S:
And it'll grieve me cause I love you so
But we both know
K:
Wish I could say
S:
Wish I could trust that it was just this once
But I must do what I must
I can't adjust to this stuff we're done
K & S:
Wish I could stay
Wish I could stay
Wish I could stay
Wish I could
Stay…..
She looked down at the gates and saw Kakashi stop and lift his hand in a waving gesture he always did before leaving on a mission. Sakura fought her tears knowing this time he would be gone for what would seem like forever. The only father figure she had in her life was being taken away because of Sasuke and his ambitions. She watched as Sasuke and Naruto joined Kakashi as they all left the gates of Konoha. As soon as they were out of her line of sight, she broke down and cried, Sai sat on her windowsill waiting for her to notice him.
Over the years he spent with team 7 he had come to think of Sakura as a sister seeing as she was Ino's friend. When he saw she wasn't going to stop crying, he sent a bird to Ino and climbed in and sat behind her, placing her head on his lap. His fingers threading through her hair gently.
Ino had arrived a few minutes after getting the message she was needed at Sakura's. She watched with a saddened face at the pain her friend was going through, she knew that Kakashi was her life line and her main support. For Tsunade to take that away…the kage was unnaturally cruel.
Sai left her in Ino's hands while he headed for the kage tower. After informing her of Sakura's condition, Tsunade reflected on whether or not to call Kakashi back and send another in his place, she was forced to face a dilemma that could result in Sakura's mental stability to relapse and crash back to when they first revived her. Not hesitating a moment longer, she threw a scroll to Sai and informed him to retrieve Kakashi and take Kakashi's place in the Itachi retrieval team, Sai vanished in seconds.
MEANWHILE
Ino held her friend tightly while she cried in silence. Sakura was slowly getting lost in the memories of her past, and there was nothing anyone but Kakashi could do for her. "Sakura, please talk to me, what is wrong?" Ino said, barely holding back her cries.
"I was in paradise Ino….when I died…..I remember being in a paradise and finally free from the hell I was forced to endure and now I have been ripped from it and expelled from ever being there again." Sakura said. "To make it worse, the one person who has always helped me deal with it all is now gone for a long while." Sakura cried out while her body was wracked with pain.
Ino ran her hands along her body in hopes to find the source and found nothing on her body, She was about to restrain Sakura when a familiar head of white flew through the window and was holding Sakura in his arms. "Ino, I got this, leave and inform Tsunade that I have returned and will deal with the issue at hand." Kakashi stated, leaving Ino to vanish for immediate reporting.
"Sakura, you were doing so well, what happened to cause this relapse?" Kakashi said, laying her back on her bed while his hands scanned her body for any self-inflicted wounds. Satisfied when he found none, he scanned her brain activity and found that it was off the charts in a negative manner. He focused his chakra and breathed a sigh of relief when the negative energy was slowly reversing and fading.
Sakura opened her eyes when she no longer felt pain through her body, her eyes focusing on Kakashi's unmasked face. She reached out and touched his cheek, gasping when he gripped her hand and held it to his cheek. "I'm really here Sakura. Sai arrived and informed me you were relapsing and was informed by Tsunade I was to return to help you. What happened? You were doing remarkably well Sakura, adjusting wonderfully"
She merely looked to the window. "Kakashi….why did you all…rip me from my paradise?" she whispered, Kakashi lowered his gaze and remained silent. He had known she was bound to ask, he knew none of them had the right to pull her back, they should have just let her go.
"It was not our intention Sakura, had we known you would be in a paradise we would have left you in there, untouched by the pains of this life. None of us were ready to let you go though, I admit it. I know it is selfish Sakura to want you to stay when you are in pain but I am begging you to let us help you" He sat before her and held her hands.
"You are the closest thing to a daughter that I have Sakura. I never got to have a child of my own, my love was ripped from my life before I could do anything about it. When you lost your parents and family…..I saw that you were a girl in need of a father and I was a man in need of a daughter. We were a perfect match Sakura." He stood and kissed her head gently. "I'm sorry if I made a mess of things. Would you like to see Sasuke?" Sakura nodded and climbed on his back as he ran to where Sasuke was.
After several hours of running, Kakashi could see the others up ahead and stopped in front of them. Sakura was lowered to the ground where she ran straight into Sai's arms. His arms folded around her as he rocked her gently. "It will be alright Sak. We are all here for you. I know you experience pain from time to time but we won't abandon you." He whispered, she turned and saw Sasuke's gaze soften, she pulled from Sai's arms and ran straight to Sasuke.
Sasuke's arms held her tightly to him as her lips claimed his, desperate to feel some sort of normalcy that was untouched by Orochimaru and Kabuto's foul deeds. Sasuke held her tightly before resting his head on the crown of her head. "I'm sorry I wasn't here Sakura."
She looked up at him and held him tighter. "You are here now Sasuke and that's all that matters" she whispered before kissing him gently. Sasuke made a silent vow that he would become an avenger once again for her, even if it meant losing everything he ever wanted and his whole world that was embraced within his arms.
