I know i said i wouldn't update today, but i read a review that made me change my mind... I tend to escape reality when i write or draw and now is the perfect time to do it... so i sat and wrote and i felt a whole lot better... so i thank Godric girl for her review... here's chapter 10... i hope you enjoy.

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Filling empty spaces

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Kakashi had just finished his training with his team and now was heading for the nearest bar where he knew he'd find Tsunade drinking her own weight in sake; since she retired she spent her day drinking and gambling… just like before just… now she didn't have responsibilities.

As he entered the place he saw her yelling at some waiter to bring more sake to her table; only Shizune was there. He walked over and sat nonchalantly.

"Kakashi-san!" Shizune greeted with a small smile.

"What do you want?" Tsunade asked with a grimace.

"I'll buy you another bottle if you can answer some questions…" he stated and Shizune grimaced as Tsunade's eyes glinted with glee.

"Ask then…" she ordered enthusiastically.

"Right… I know this probably doesn't make sense to you, but I want to know if I can get Sakura's file… for a while?" he asked and Tsunade frowned.

"Why would you want her file? You had access to it since she was twelve, but now that she's no longer your student it's kind of hard to get it…" she explained sobering up just a bit.

"I know, but I really want to know about some things that can help me with the twins… Isn't there a way to get my hands on it?"

"No, but I've memorized it… you can ask me." She said narrowing her brown eyes.

Kakashi stared blankly at her though inside he was actually fearing her reaction to his questioning.

"Sakura's mother and her father…" Tsunade widened her eyes just a bit and then smirked.

"I was actually waiting for this day…" she said crossing her arms over her big chest.

He arched an eyebrow and Tsunade grinned even wider.

"The day her father died you were there, but I bet you didn't know it was her father." She narrowed her eyes.

"Hmm… how did he die?" he asked ignoring her amusement.

"You must be the worst sensei ever…" she laughed making him feel bitter.

"I am… Please answer my question…" he prompted her.

"Her father died the day Akatsuki attacked our village… he was leading a team against one of the many bodies Pein possessed." She kept her smirk in place. "You knew him, Kakashi… When he died you couldn't believe someone like him was dead… not because you liked him, but because he was tough."

Kakashi stared at her trying to read the answer in her eyes, but he couldn't.

"Ogura Haru…" The name rang a bell in his head and he widened his eyes. "Sakura doesn't share his last name because he denied it to her…"

"How? Why?" Ogura was one of the team leaders and he specialized on long term missions; missions no one else wanted because of the long periods of time away from home.

"He always prayed for a boy, someone he could teach his techniques and train, but when Aki gave birth to a girl he was so disappointed he denied her as his daughter; so Aki gave Sakura her last name." Tsunade explained. "But there were complications and Aki lost the ability of bear any more kids… she was left sterile."

"But she gave her last name; she didn't hate her own daughter…" Kakashi tried to reason.

"Of course she didn't hate her own daughter… at least not until Sakura turned 5 and started the academy." Tsunade sighed loudly. "The very same day Sakura was born, Haru requested the longest mission in our list… and he left. After 5 years he came back to meet his daughter." Tsunade smiled bitterly. "In all honesty I thought he'd change his mind when he saw her, Sakura had his eyes… she was such a cute kid."

"What happened?" Kakashi asked.

"He requested another mission…" Tsunade resumed. "Sakura was so infatuated with her dad that she decided she'd become a kunoichi, with Ino going to the academy too it was only natural… his father left and he made it clear he hated his daughter but most of all; he hated Aki for giving birth to a girl… so Aki started to hate Sakura."

Kakashi lowered his eyes finally comprehending.

"Sakura begun her training and was put in team seven and her father was back once again; being older and more mature she confronted him thinking he'd see the change in her, but he only mocked her…" she said.

"How do you know that?" Kakashi asked; she smirked.

"Sakura is like a daughter for me… and I am like a mother for her… She told me." Kakashi felt utterly bad, if he were a better sensei, Sakura would've come to him instead of bottling up inside. "She tried harder even after her father left once more and then you trained Sasuke and then he left to become stronger, then Naruto left and then you trained him… How do you think she felt?" Tsunade asked.

He sighed loudly and lowered his eyes once more.

"Not only was Sasuke trained by you but he left to train and become stronger; he already was strong. Naruto does the same and even while he was out and you didn't have someone to train you preferred not to involve. Her father didn't have hope for her and in all honestly never cared." She said so roughly he felt his throat tightening. "Instead of helping her to become stronger you ditched her. When she came to me she actually said she'd become stronger so you'd see her as a potential student! Of course I told her you wouldn't have anything to do with her when her training with me was done…" she snorted.

Shizune was grimacing at her tone.

"When she finished my training and Naruto was back and you fought against both of them; she was so happy she could barely talk to me about it and then what happened?" she asked venomously. "You started to train Naruto… That, Kakashi was a low blow…" she narrowed her eyes. "But Sakura is smarter than all of you put together… she never spoke because she knew Naruto was the only hope, then again few times you recognized her efforts." Tsunade lowered her eyes and tightened her hand around her cup. "She admires you so much; she likes you so much… she never saw your flaws as a sensei…"

"I already apologized…" he defended lightly.

"Good!" she downed a cup and Kakashi sighed.

"And her mother? What's with her? Fugaku and Mikoto don't like her at all…" he asked glad to ditch the subject.

"Ah… sweet Aki. Of course they don't like her! They have me after all!" she grinned. "Aki was injured during the attack, so Sakura was waiting for her to get better to tell her about Haru's death and when she did it Aki blamed her for it… Aki has so much hatred for her own daughter I don't think they'll ever get on good terms again… Mostly now that Sakura gave birth to the Uchiha's traitors and out of marriage…" She drank again.

"I see…" he said as he thought of Fugaku.

"Sakura doesn't like to talk about her problems… she distracts people with measly things about her life, things that sometimes annoys us, so we tend to think she's immature and dumb… once you get to know her well you'll realize that when she says something stupid it's only to misguide us. The real issue lies beneath the surface."

He stared at the older woman who was totally serious and glancing back, there was a hidden sadness in them and suddenly he realized she really loved Sakura as a daughter.

"I have something to do." He said and stood quickly leaving the two women there to think.

"He seems worried…" Shizune quipped.

"Oh yeah… he should be worried, I am going to kick his ass…" Tsunade said gritting her teeth.

"Why?" Shizune was confused.

"He forgot my sake!"

…

"Thank you, Satoru, you've saved me! I don't know what I can do to repay it to you!" Natsu said as he bowed in deep respect to the amazing cat that was Satoru."

Kakashi stood out of the door that led to Sasuke's bedroom and waited patiently for her to finish her reading; Ino had just told him about her new tactic to reach his mind. As he stared at her reading he could see Sasuke's relaxed expression as if her voice was soothing at some point.

"And that's the story of how Satoru lost his fourth life but saved his faithful companion and friend…" Sakura closed the book and stared at his face with indifference. "Hmm… Nothing has changed, the more I read the dumber the story gets… Satoru is nothing but the hero prototype and he earns all the glory; what about Mina? I bet she'd be awesome if you give her a chance!" Kakashi frowned.

One thing was her reading the book, but was she actually giving her point of view of a children's story to a deaf man? He wanted to laugh.

"But of course you probably thought she was useless…" she snorted as she stood and then stopped again and leaned over to the bed. "You probably thought she was annoying…" she said venomously.

Kakashi cleared his throat and watched in amusement as she jumped to stare at him with wide eyes.

"Kakashi-sensei!" she yelled. "You're not supposed to be here!" she yelled once more.

Out of the corner of his eyes Kakashi noticed Sasuke's deep frown as if the noise was bothering him.

"How's he doing?" he asked.

Sakura rolled her eyes and snorted…

"Bad, of course… I'll be really surprised if he survives the night!" she yelled on purpose and Kakashi widened his eyes when Sasuke's frown turned into a deep scowl as if really annoyed.

"What's this treatment called?" he asked amusedly.

"Payback time or something like that?" she muttered walking to the door and closing it behind her. "What can I do for you, sensei?" she said as they walked down the corridor aiming for her office.

"Ah… I wanted to talk to you for a bit…" he said and she arched her eyebrows confusedly. "How are you doing these days?" he asked and watched her face change.

Maybe it was because of what Tsunade had told him earlier, but it was as if he could see the lie glinting in her eyes now.

"Perfectly fine…" she said and smiled.

He was astounded at how real the smile seemed, but he knew different. As they entered her office he made sure he locked the door behind him.

"Sakura… Fugaku is worried about you… but I bet you already know." He said and she sighed.

"Yeah, I know sensei, but… well… It's okay…" she was having a hard time hiding behind her mask.

"Sakura you know you can talk to me. It's probably kind of late for it, but you can trust me… like you trust Tsunade…" he said awkwardly.

Sakura widened her eyes; an image of her father came to mind and she shivered…

"I know I am not your father, but-"

"I don't want you to act like my father… you're my sensei and like a father, but it's just an idea I have of what a father should be like… I want to believe a father is like a sensei…" she said her voice hoarse.

"I didn't know your father was Ogura-taicho…" he said bluntly and watched her mask fell to pieces.

"I… why… How do you know?" she asked with face full of fear.

"I should've known earlier, but only now I got the wits to ask about it… I was worried because Fugaku said your mother didn't like you at all…" he said saddened by his own statement.

There was silence until Sakura found courage to speak, and now everything was different… Kakashi was even closer to her now and there was a thin line between sensei and father. She didn't want to compare her sensei to her father, because Kakashi was a thousand times better.

"I should pay more attention to them… I know, but… I prefer Fugaku and Mikoto alone at home rather than both of them receiving glares from my mother." She said seriously.

"I've always admired that from you… I don't understand how it happened… and I feel it was another thing I missed of you…" he smiled warmly. "One day you were kicking and punching and the next thing I knew was you were a mother… and still kicking and punching." He said and Sakura felt her chest swell.

"Sensei…"

"Tsunade is right… you're smarter than all of us put together. You're strong Sakura; don't let a few words get you down… I will always be your comrade, your friend, your sensei… and like a father…" he smiled behind the mask.

She couldn't say anything. Her tears fell free from her eyes and she felt so much lighter now. She felt her knees wobble and threw her arms around his neck hugging him tightly.

"Thank you… thank you, Kakashi-sensei…" she cried on his shoulder.

At first he was so surprised by the action he could only freeze and let her cry, but soon he hugged her back and marveled at the feeling of making someone feel better… Why hadn't he tried it before?

"I… I am so worried I don't know what to do… What's going to happen if Sasuke wakes up? What will I do? Mikoto hates me because I don't want him near them and Fugaku wants to take revenge on something that doesn't concern him… I am so scared I don't know what to do…" she was crying so hard he could barely make out her words.

"Calm down, Sakura…" he said soothingly rubbing her back.

"I don't want him to end up like his father!" she yelled against his shoulder.

Kakashi took her arms and separated her from him looking down at her with kindness. She was sobbing and the tears falling down her cheeks.

"He won't end up like him because he has you. Sasuke didn't have anyone then…" he muttered softly. "The first thing is getting Sasuke on his feet again; don't worry about anything else until we know that he'll live for sure… Don't worry, Sakura…" he said as he clutched her back to his chest again.

Her green eyes closing and the first thing that came to mind was her father mocking her weakened state when she was twelve; saying she was a failure, saying she was weak and useless.

Like Sasuke had said she was annoying.

Like her mother had said she was hopeless as a woman too.

Like Kakashi had once thought she was childish and dreamy.

But here she was the strongest kunoichi in Konoha, the head of the hospital and mother of the last Uchiha's… she was anything but weak.

She was different from the girl she used to be, but her father had never seen it.

Sakura let her tears fall silently as she let him rub her back; and then it was like filling that empty space in her mind…

Kakashi, like Tsunade, like Naruto, like Sasuke, Mikoto and Fugaku had just filled another empty space in her heart…

Now she understood how it felt to have a father who cared.

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Review, please... and thanks again to Godric girl!