Last of the triptych (or so I think) relating to Ch.19: Wingsand Ch.27: Candleand is from Kakashi's point of view. Not everything is here, only the catalyst-y bit of it. From Wings this would take place after Sakura has kissed him and expressed an interest in him and just slightly before he slept with her. I'm not sure I'll write more from this, as unhappy KakaSaku bothers me because there is just so much unhappy stuff in Naruto that I turn to fanfic to usually have happy things happen to my favorite characters.

Also, TJ Dragonblade if you're reading this, I love all your work to pieces and am heading off to review it post-haste :D


Ice

It should have settled like ice in his chest when he put together what he had done, but it didn't. They'd gone out to see the fireworks with Naruto, as a team once more. Their blonde teammate had quickly gone to get food and play some of the games when the beginning show was over, leaving Kakashi and Sakura alone on the hillside. The bugs rustled through the grasses, and the wind gently sifted through both of their hair. In the moonlight, the town was bleached almost white on the rooftops and smoke from the earlier fireworks floated thick and slow towards the Hokage mountain.

The night was hot and humid and Sakura had her red vest zipped halfway down to allow herself a little ventilation, and her boots were cast aside for the moment. Kakashi took off his own Jounin vest and toed off his own boots, his thin long-sleeve shirt clung to his back and the sleeves were pushed up to the elbows. He had laid back, flat on the ground, with his arms splayed out so his hands supported his head. It was nice out, sitting in the moonlight with a beautiful woman who liked him and was comfortable with him.

To Kakashi, Sakura was an adult. She was an adult who was capable of making her own decisions and of expressing her wants and desires and her opinion. However, he wasn't sure that anyone else knew this and respected it about her. And she was a young adult. Kakashi well remembered how he had been pressured into ANBU shortly after Minato-sensei had been killed. He'd been a young adult as well, and had sorely needed someone to look out for him. He would look out for Sakura, and in such a way that no one would be able to push her around.

He was going to clip her wings, because the landscape of being a shinobi—especially such a smart and talented kunoichi such as Sakura—was a frigid one right now. Little birds like her shouldn't be exposed to the icy winds that he had been, and so that night Kakashi seduced her out on the grassy hill in the moonlight. He told her, and himself as well, that he loved her and would never lie to her again like he had in years past.

He would shelter her from the storm that was the Jounin exam or maybe the mission where she lost every teammate. Kakashi also knew that Sakura would have the same Achilles' heel as her teacher, how she was at risk of losing her nerve in the aftermath of tragedy. So he resolved for that to never happen to her, or at least if it did, to not live life as bereft of comfort as Tsunade-sama did. Yes, it was for a selfish reason. He wanted her eyes to always sparkle with innocence and sweetness, at least for as long as he would have to look into them. Kakashi didn't want to see the ice that was in his heart to ever rim her bright life.


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