MAROONED

Sorry I'm so late on the update today. It's been one hell of a morning and afternoon. I'm only planning on one chapter today but if I can get out of my funk, I'll add more.

Chapter 14

Defeating denial

Sakura sat in a dim bar with Temari. It was the night before they would return home. Once again she battled with the agony of returning. Suna was far from a deserted island, but being away from judging eyes and being with Kakashi surrounded by sand, made her feel a bit more at home. She thought about the little boy, Yuu. She had been making trips as often as she could to the orphanage to visit him. He still wasn't speaking much and rarely showed emotion, but hearing from Garra that could possibly already be an orphan made sense.

She knew in time he would open up, but she feared that if they found the orphanage he was from, he would have to return and she would never see him again. She wished to adopt him, but the rules on adoption stated that it had to be a married couple firstly, and they had to have a stable home. She and Kakashi were shinobi. If she wasn't pulling late hours at the hospital, she was on a mission. Kakashi had been going on so many missions lately that he was rarely home either.

Temari watched as Sakura seemed to sadden with each passing moment.

"So, tell me about your wild island adventure!" Sakura was pulled from her thoughts and smiled. Temari watched the pink haired woman seem to glow as the previous thoughts were replaced with ones she enjoyed. Sakura began the long story. After the story, Temari had a grin on her face.

"Do you love him?"

Sakura's eyes went large. "What do you mean?"

"Silly girl, you really think I would rat you out to your village?"

Sakura seemed embarrassed. "No, I'm sorry I didn't mean it like that. It's just ... well, I really don't know."

"What makes you question it?"

"We were on an island together for months with no other social contact. I don't know if I have these feelings for him out of loneliness, or if it's real."

"Are you happy?" Sakura looked at her questioningly. "In Konoha. Are you happy?" Sakura thought some more. She shook her head slowly.

"Why not?"

"I miss the island. We worked so hard on our home there and I really didn't want to come back. Kakashi and I rarely see each other. I'm buried in hospital work and he's constantly on missions."

"But you have had social interaction with other people, right? Other guys?" Sakura merely nodded. Temari wondered how long she would have to throw out the right words until it finally hit Sakura.

"Do you want to go back to the island? With Kakashi? With Yuu? Start where you left off, away from everyone who wouldn't approve, the ability to be the person who you really are, who makes you happy?" Once again Sakura thought about it. She thought about how she would feel if they attempted to start a family, where they left off. The thought made her so happy, she didn't need to think anymore. "Yes."

"Am I making it any clearer for you?" Temari asked. She was actually surprised. Sakura was a smart girl. One who didn't usually have to have things spelled out for her, but considering her history with Sasuke, Temari supposed Sakura wanted to be absolutely sure that someone loved her before she made it known that she felt the same.

"I think he feels the same Sakura." Temari was lying. She KNEW Kakashi felt the same. She had this very same discussion with him the night before. She would never admit to either one that she was in a way, playing cupid. She could tell they loved each other. The way they looked at each other, the smiles when the other's name was mentioned, how relieved they seemed to be just being on a mission together without anyone else tagging along.

Sakura smiled. "You really think so?" Temari nodded. "If the both of you still seem to have feelings for each other after coming back, then it's real. Sure it could have started out of loneliness, but isn't that how most relationships start? If someone isn't lonely, they wont open their heart to someone else. And besides, if you both hadn't had some type of feelings for each other prior to the marooning, if anything had happened between you, it would have been a strictly sexual relationship. Seeing as how neither of you let it get to that point, that means something too."

Sakura felt like her heart was going to beat out of her chest. She was so happy to hear this from Temari. She knew there was no one she could talk to back home about this sort of thing. The only girls she trusted were Hinata and Ten Ten, but Ten Ten was dating Neji who was all about protocol. If she told him, he would feel obligated to make it known to the elders. If Hinata told Naruto, Kakashi would get his ass kicked by the kyuubi container. She had thought about Sai, but Sai was still working on learning emotions from his books and she felt the conversation would do more damage than good.

The next morning, Kakashi and Sakura said goodbye to everyone and headed home. She wanted to talk to him about their relationship, but she kept having this feeling they were being followed. That evening they made camp. She wasn't sure if Kakashi felt the presence of the other shinobi following them or not, but she kept a watchful eye about their surroundings. Kakashi had felt the presence, but they werent a threat, so he just hadn't made it known they were being followed. He could tell Sakura knew it, but he figured she was waiting for the perfect moment to beat their snooping asses.

He announced he was going to bed after shutting his book. "Taking first watch?" He asked in his normal Kakashi Sensei tone. She neglected to look his way, but simply scowled as she looked into the dark woods, nodding her response. She had figured out shortly before making camp who was following them. She was ready to give the Sakura beat down to all four of them.

"Quit waiting for something that isn't going to happen and come out from those shrubs now!" She yelled out to the forest. Kakashi hid his smile under his mask and kept his eyes closed. Naruto's blonde hair emerged first, then Yamato, and then the dark haired Sai and Sasuke. They came over and sat around the fire, not saying a word. Finally Naruto spoke.

"How'd you know we were following you guys Sakura-Chan?" Her fists clenched and the leather began to creak beneath the force.

"Because SOMEONE accidentally unmasked their chakra! I trained with two of you since we were twelve. You think I cant recognize your chakra signature? You did great with earlier, I really thought we were being followed by someone ..." She raised her hands and did quotation marks "Who was a THREAT, but one of you let yourself slip nearly an hour ago." Yamato and Sai watched as Naruto and Sasuke exchanged glares, silently accusing each other.

Kakashi pretend to wake and rubbed his uncovered eye. "What's going on?"

"Shut up sensei." Naruto pouted. "Everyone knows you weren't asleep. You wake up when my hand gets near your precious book. Like you could sleep through Sakura-Chan's bitching!"

A loud punch erupted through the forest and Naruto was left rubbing the growing knot on his head. Sasuke began to laugh. Naruto attacked Sasuke and the two began to roll around the campfire, fighting it out. Everyone else sweat dropped. Sakura let them beat each other until she had enough and landed two equally damaging punches to the both of them. The dust cloud disappeared leaving both boys rubbing their heads. Both boys returned to their spots, not saying a word.

"What mission were you all on?" Kakashi asked Yamato.

"Well, actually Sai and I were on a different mission, but Naruto and Sasuke were the other team dispatched to the other village to find out about the boy."

"His name is Yuu." Sakura said politely. She had grown tired of everyone referring to Yuu and 'the boy'.

"Sorry, Yuu." Yamato corrected. Kakashi smiled. He knew Sakura cared for Yuu. She had told him about asking to adopt Yuu and the answer she had received. He himself had considered the possibility of adopting him, but figured Sakura was much better parent material. He just hoped that Yuu's future would be a happy one, regardless of where he went.

Sakura and Kakashi were asked again to tell the story of their adventure. Kakashi began thinking of a newsletter, or possibly t-shirts. If he had to tell the story one more time and be reminded of what he was missing, he might just disappear and abandon himself again, not without taking Sakura of course.

Finally everyone went to sleep. The next morning they traveled home in a group of six. Naruto kept asking Sakura if anything had happened on the island that she and Kakashi had left out. Sasuke was leaning in to hear, as was Sai. Yamato was curious, but feared the fist of fury, so he just stayed out of it and listened as best he could. Sakura sighed and smacked Naruto's arm.

"Nothing happened." She and Kakashi had both been very careful at how they acted towards each other once they knew they were being followed. But most people figured a man and a woman abandoned on an island, something was bound to happen, especially when that man was Kakashi Hatake. She really wished people thought a bit more highly of her at least, but people thrived on any bit of juicy gossip they could get their hands on and spread all kinds of rumors. She didn't even want to imagine the ones floating around Konoha right now. Not that she would mind if they came true one day, but it was no one's business if they did.

Once they returned to the village, she and Kakashi gave Tsunade their report. She agreed to send some teams with photos of Yuu to some of the smaller villages like Garra had promised to do. Kakashi and Sakura headed over to the orphanage afterwards. When Yuu saw both of them together, he smiled and ran over to hug them. Sakura tried to hold back happy tears. It was the first time that he had shown this amount of emotion. Hinata was volunteering at the home today and smiled as she watched the event unfold.

Contrary to what Sakura thought, Hinata didn't tell her boyfriend, Naruto everything. She had thought for quite some time that the two of them made a great couple, but had never breathed her opinion. She scrawled some things down on a clipboard and continued to observe the three. When it was time for the children to eat dinner, Yuu returned to his usual solemn self and followed the other children to the mess hall. Sakura was on the verge of crying again, but this time it wasn't happy tears.

Kakashi escorted her out and walked her home. She invited him in for tea. He smiled and accepted her offer. The talked about Yuu mostly. She looked around her apartment and sighed. Kakashi knew how she felt. He missed their home. These apartments were too big and filled with things they didn't need to survive. After giving her a hug, he left and returned to his own home. She unpacked her bag and went to bed.

A/N

I'm working on the next one, I don't know if I will get it posted tonight, but tomorrow is a lazy day, so hopefully I'll get a few chapters posted tomorrow.