Chapter 29: Holding On To Everything

"Hello, Sasuke," Sakura said, trying not to look too surprised. "I didn't know you came to Tokyo as well."

He replied with a forced smile and walked to a chair several rows in front of her.

She felt a little uncomfortable, not because she used to have a crush on him, but because of how much he had changed for the worst between junior high and high school. She wasn't sure why she childishly proclaimed her love for him in the first place back then. He was never a kind person. Although he acted indifferent towards most people, he always remained one of the most popular students in her school. If it wasn't his well-known family that made him so, it was how skilled he was no matter what subject or sport he did. Maybe it was the popularity that got to his head, but he had become really snobby and short with people, namely with Naruto who at the time in junior high was picked on a lot. She didn't care so much then when she was blinded by her crush on Sasuke, but the more she matured, the more she realized how wrong it was for anyone to treat people that way. She should know of all people. She was bullied by some of her classmates because of how she looked, but the people that used to tease her grew out of it. Sasuke always continued being rude to who he considered 'lesser' than him. His main target had always been Naruto, who she later learned what a great guy and friend he was. Sasuke's constant fighting with him really made her silently start to dislike him later in high school.

The last time she and Sasuke ever spoke words between each other was at graduation. He was the valedictorian of their class. Since she was salutatorian, they both had to sit next to each other separated from the rest of their classmates during the ceremony. They presented their speeches and made some small awkward talk as the ceremony progressed to pass time.

After Sasuke took his seat, she didn't pay him any mind and focused back on the starting lecture in class. She was hoping they would just do introductions today and leave early, but her professor already had a full lecture planned for them as well as homework. She sighed. She really didn't want to start readings already. Once class was over, she went to her next one which was calculus. Math wasn't her favorite subject, but it had always been pretty easy for her. To her it was just a matter of plugging in the numbers. She groaned silently when the professor of that class also assigned homework for today. All hope of having one last relaxing night with Kakashi was disappearing. She still had chemistry lab later and was going to bet she would get homework in there as well since it was only a once a week class.

At least today she and Kakashi would have time to get lunch together. She wouldn't be able to on Tuesdays and Thursdays because of their schedules. It was so depressing to her that she wouldn't be able to meet up for lunch on those days, but tried to remind herself at least they would go home together and have dinner every night. It made her even happier they decided to move in together now, rather than later. She would have gotten to see him even less if she was still living with Ino. It would have driven her crazy.

After buying a couple things from the bookstore, Sakura walked down the main campus walkway and weaved around passing crowds towards the language building. The English class Kakashi was assisting with wasn't out yet, but she decided to wait in the main lobby area which had a worktable area. She figured now would be a good time to start working on some of her piling amount of homework.

Pulling out her phone, she sighed at the text her mother sent wishing her a good day for the new semester. Right now they weren't talking, at least not calling each other directly. When she finally called her mother back the day after she came home from France, to say that her mother was angry from not hearing from her in a week was an understatement. She was furious. Sakura argued with her that she wasn't a baby that she needed to keep constantly checking in on. That just made her even angrier, telling her that she had the right to check in with her own daughter who disappeared off with some "man" when she last saw her. Then she started giving her guilt trip reasons: that she was the one who gave her life, raised her, and paid, among other things, for her education growing up. Needless to say, she didn't ask about possibly meeting Kakashi. She wasn't sure what to do now. Ignoring it for now seemed like a grand idea.

Sakura quickly replied back 'thanks' and then sent Kakashi a text that she was waiting around the lobby for him when he was finished. Sighing, she started working on her chemistry homework. About twenty minutes later, a pair of fingerless gloved hands covered her eyes while she was mid-writing one of her answers.

"Guess who?" a teasing voice asked.

"Hum… Naruto?" she asked.

"I should tickle you for even comparing my voice to his."

"Ino?"

"Now you're just insulting me."

She pulled his hands down and turned up to look at him with a grin. "Oh, Kakashi. I had no idea."

He sat down beside her and placed his bag on the table. He let out a fake depressed sigh. "Cruel."

"Never." She grinned, and then kissed his cheek. She turned back towards her work to finish up the last bit of the problem she was working on.

"Doing homework already?" he asked. "Day's not even half over yet."

"I know, right? I'm not even half way done and I still have lab later. So, how did the class assisting go?"

"So far, so good. The professor I'm working with seems like a decent guy who knows what he's doing. I really can't gauge how well the students are until I start grading papers. They could be all idiots."

She chuckled. "Oh, I'm sure it will be fine."

She quickly finished her work and placed the sheet into the pages of her book, then closed it to stuff it in her bag. Kakashi rose from the chair and helped her up. Squeezing his hand, she smiled and asked, "Where would you like to get lunch?"

"I'm down for whatever."

"How about ramen?" she asked jokingly.

"Okay, I'm down for anything, but that."

"Let's just go to one of the cafeterias."

He nodded in agreement and pointed towards a direction. "I think the closest one is that way."

They walked outside amidst the rush of people either getting lunch themselves or scurrying off to their next class. It was similar to the one they went to the first time they ate together. It had various buffet styled food stands for different specialty types. So you could pick and choose whatever you liked.

"Let's meet over there?" Kakashi asked, pointing near the group of tables over by the windows.

"Sure," she replied with a nod.

After they finished selecting a few items to eat for lunch, they met up at a small table. They started to chat a little bit about everything, including reminiscing about their trip to France that was merely just a couple of weeks ago.

"I miss France," she sighed.

"Me, too. I mean, where else can I get quality snail dishes to sneak in your food?"

Sakura playfully gagged. "Bleh. I still hate you for teasing me that there was some in my salad on the first night."

"But there was," he said sternly.

"Don't even say that."

"There was."

"…"

She narrowed her eyes at the serious look on his face. He remained silent until he took in a breath to say, "I joke."

"Argh. Hate you."

"You do realize though, that day I actually had some... you did kiss me later which means you technically were tasting the snails that I ate."

She dropped her chopsticks and gave him a death glare.

"Love you," he muttered meekly. He looked apologetically at her.

Not being able to withstand the sad look in his eyes, she smiled and gave him a quick kiss. Circling her chopsticks around in her food, she looked around the cafeteria to suddenly find her eyes locked with Sasuke's. He was a few tables over scowling at them. She flinched and blinked back to her food. Slowly, she looked back to him again. Finally, he shifted his cold looking gaze from them. She glared at him as he turned away. What was his problem?

Kakashi glanced at where she was looking at. "Oh, isn't that…Uchiha Sasuke?"

"Yeah…"

"Mm…" He looked at her uneasy gaze toward the Uchiha. "Look, um, I know things change over time. That's even obvious between us from when I first met you, but I have to ask…"

She turned her attention back towards Kakashi. "…Yes?"

He sighed, figuring she'll probably be angry at him for even saying it. "You don't still have some kind of thing… for him like you used to in junior high, do you?"

She looked shocked, then irritated. "O-of course not," she stammered. "Why are you even asking? You think I'd leave you for him or something?"

"No, no… but I can't help knowing how infatuated you were back then. I don't know anything between you both beyond junior high. So, I'm just curious if you still harbored any feelings like that anymore and I'm asking because… um... well, I…"

Sakura huffed. "For one thing that was eons ago. Stupid puppy love. Didn't you ever have a silly one-sided crush on someone growing up?"

"I can't say I have. I guess that's why I felt the need to ask you. It's not that I think you don't love me or anything like that. I already know you do."

Her anger dissipated a bit. "Oh, well, most people do and that's something that fades over time once you realize that it's not worth it for whatever reason. Then you just move on."

He couldn't help his curiosity. "What made you move on?"

"I only focused on his looks and not who he was. He turned into a real jerk… least from what I know and heard about him."

Kakashi glanced at Sasuke for a moment. "Yeah, I know that first hand."

"Oh?"

"He used to be a part of the karate team when I was in charge of it."

She hummed in thought. "I forgot about that. I remember he was in it during junior high, but… beginning of sophomore year in high school he dropped out. Everyone made a big deal out of it since he was one of the most skilled on the team. Wasn't he even one of the captains?"

"He was, yes."

"Do you know why he quit?"

Kakashi tossed around the vegetables in his bowl with his chopsticks as he contemplated. It wasn't something he could talk about when he was still teaching there. Only he and the headmaster knew anything about it to avoid any unnecessary drama. Of course, things were in the past now and he was no longer a teacher there anymore.

"I made him quit," he finally said.

Her mouth dropped open. "Huh?"

"Well, it was either quit or me officially kick him out. He chose the first option."

"What for?"

"Besides the growing lack of respect for me or any of his teammates, there was an incident that happened which he almost could have killed someone…"

Her eyes went wide. "What? Really? How come I never heard about this before? With who?"

"I shouldn't say who, I guess… but it happened after practice one night. I'm not sure what led to it, but when I got there it was almost too late. Sasuke's kind of like me in a way, in being descended from a well known family. No one was told about it because of his ties to Uchiha, who actually contributed quite a lot of money to the school over the years. The school didn't want to get any bad publicity for making an ordeal out of it. It's not right, but it's how they wanted to handle it at the time."

Sakura looked down for a moment, processing what he had just told her. She had heard Sasuke picked fights sometimes, usually outside of school, but nothing that ever ended up too serious. "That's crazy… I had no idea."

"Yeah, well. I probably shouldn't have told you most of that, but I trust you."

She smiled for a moment. "And I trust you, too."

Shifting an elbow to the table, Kakashi looked off to the side for a moment. "I have to admit, that I kind of feel like I failed as a teacher for him to end up acting like that."

"Don't say that…"

"It's just fact."

The mood darkened a bit. Sakura placed her chopsticks down to pull at his hand that was lying on the table. "Hey, I don't know everything, but I do know sometimes you can't reach out to everyone. Not if they don't want the help."

He tapped her hands appreciatively. "You're probably right."

"I am. You know, Naruto used to say nice things about you a lot back then."

"Really?"

"When he wasn't talking about ramen of course."

He chuckled. "Of course."

"Besides how late you'd be sometimes and being a bit of a hard-ass," she teased.

He playfully glared at her. "I can't deny that."

"But really. He told me he was seriously thinking of dropping out in high school when we became better friends, but he loved being a part of the team and that forced him to take school seriously. I know he's thankful for that. I bet he wouldn't even be here now on a scholarship if you didn't have any sort of part in it."

He smiled. "Well… that certainly makes me feel a bit better hearing that. Thank you."

She squeezed his hand. "You kind of pretended not to care when you were my teacher in middle school, but I can tell you generally love to teach and trying to make a difference, right?"

"Yeah. It is the reason why I wanted to be one. Specifically with karate growing up, it helped me not lose my sanity of the things around me. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be here if I didn't have any kind of outlet like that."

"What you mean not be here?"

"I really wasn't in a good place back then… I could have done something stupid to myself."

Understanding the implication he meant, she lowered her eyes. "Oh…"

"It's the past though. I'm better and stronger for everything now. Also, need I remind you if things didn't happen as they did I probably never would have met you."

"Well, I'm certainly glad to be here with you now," she said with a shy smile.

After they finished with their lunch, Kakashi walked with her towards her next class before he went on with the rest of his day. "I'll see you at ten, right?" he asked.

"Right. I'll be out of work by then."

"I'll come a little early."

"To torture me?"

He quirked an eyebrow. "Torture? I just want a special drink made by my love. Is that so wrong?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "If you mean special as in your ridiculous order from last time, I'm going to be sure I punish you if you make me do something like that again…"

"Ooh," he said with intrigue. "Does punishment involve any removal of clothing?"

She rolled her eyes. "No."

"Handcuffs?"

"No."

"Leather?"

She sighed and glared at him. "Obviously, your idea of punishment is not my idea of punishment."

Completely ignoring her statement, he asked, "So, it's leather?"

She sighed. "Hopeless pervert."

"Your hopeless pervert."

"Wouldn't have it any other way," she teased back.

They kissed goodbye and reluctantly parted to head to their next class. Sakura had chemistry lab next. When she entered, half of the stools of the long rectangular lab tables were taken already. The laboratory was typically set up to have two people sharing per each section of the lab tables. She went towards one that was still empty and plopped her bag on the table. Pulling out her notes and homework from her previous classes today, she figured she should try and keep working on problems until class started.

Sakura inwardly sighed, seeing Sasuke come inside the room. She had hoped he would have picked a different lab day than her. At least he probably didn't care to talk to her, so it really didn't matter. It was just his presence that made her feel irked, especially after what Kakashi mentioned about him. She started to fill in answers again, but to her surprise, she could see in the corner of her eye that Sasuke decided to sit next to her. She glanced at the other tables that were still empty. He could have sat somewhere else besides here.

"You're kind of disgusting," Sasuke muttered.

She looked up from her work to see him peering at her. "Huh?"

"You and him."

Her cheeks flushed with a mix of anger and shock. Instead of saying something, she decided to keep her mouth shut and ignore him. Was he seriously saying that about her being with Kakashi? Jerk. She went back to the problem she was working on, but he pulled the paper out from her hands which made the tip of her pencil break.

"What the hell?" she spat. She tried to grab the paper back, but he kept her hands at a distance with a single arm.

He looked over her answers and said, "You have two and seven wrong."

She made an attempt to snatch it back, but was still out of reach. "Whatever."

"I'm being nice and helping you out. So, did he do all your work in school back then?"

She froze and glared at him. "…What is that supposed to mean?"

"I always wondered how in the world you managed second in our class. Now it makes a lot of sense."

Feeling her heart start to beat within her throat, she rose up to slam her hand down on the counter, making the glass instruments on the lab table shake.

"I do my own damn work!" she yelled. She then lowered herself on the stool, seeing various pairs of eyes staring at them. Biting her lip, she was trying really hard to control her anger.

"Sure, right." Sasuke looked forward with a bored look on his face and then threw the paper at her without looking. "Well, I'm sure a quick BJ will have him fix your problems on there for you. I was just trying to save you some effort."

Her hands clenched. "…I do my own fucking work and we weren't together when I was in school. Who I'm with is none of your fucking business, anyway. Fuck off."

"Wow. So mean to me, Sakura-chan. I thought you used to love me?"

Trying to keep her composure, she muttered between her teeth, "...Move to a different table. Now."

He pushed his chair back like he was going to, but instead of getting up, he turned to her to lean in and say, "By the way, you can be a skank with whatever old loser you want to. I don't care. Does it turn you on he's old enough to be your father? Did your father used to fuck you, too?"

She slapped him hard in the face which made him fall backwards off the stool. Screeched sounds of metal chairs and gasps in the room sounded as people rose up to peer at Sasuke on the floor.

"What the hell is going on?" a voice from the front yelled out.

Sakura's eyes snapped towards a man, who she assumed was the professor of the class. He placed a stack of papers on the desk he was holding and folded his arms with a shocked look on his face. Her cheeks further burned the longer he stared at her in disbelief.

Sasuke slowly latched his fingers on the table to help him rise off the floor. Once he was up, he propped up the chair and whispered an inaudible curse at her before he sat down.

He looked forwards towards the teacher and said aloud, "I don't know what her problem is." He glanced at her and then raised a hand to the side of his pale cheek where a red-stained hand print was forming.

"You. Outside. Now," the man said, pointing directly at her.

Glancing around the room and having everyone's attention on her, she felt utterly humiliated as she pushed her chair back to get up. She fumbled with her hands as she walked quickly to the door that led out into the hallway. The teacher followed out after her.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Haruno Sakura," she replied weakly.

"I didn't see what led to that, but I can't have any kind of violence in my class. It's dangerous if someone gets pushed into something. There are poisonous chemicals in the room, glass objects and fragile equipment."

"I-I'm sorry," she stammered. "I didn't mean to. He was harassing me and… I guess I wasn't thinking…"

"You'll need to drop from the class."

"…"

Tears started to well up in the corners of her eyes. She wouldn't be able to pass chemistry without this class. "He started it! Why don't you make him drop?" she argued.

"All I saw was you hitting him. I don't care what's all between you, but I can't take the chance of it happening again and it resulting into something more serious. I'm sorry. It's nothing personal."

"But-"

"Look, I'm not reporting this to the university or it could get a lot worse. So, just drop and try and to find a different time slot."

"Everything is full now. How am I supposed to find another lab?"

"You might find an opening after the week passes."

After a moment of silence she said, "This is so stupid. I don't see why he gets to stay."

"I'm sorry, but it is what it is. Go get your stuff, please."

Wiping her eyes, she hastily opened the door to the lab and went inside. Everyone hushed and stared at her as she stacked up her books from the lab table. She tried her best to look down and ignore everyone, but she was inwardly starting to crumble. Slinging her bag over her shoulder, Sasuke made a small wave goodbye to her, making her feel even more pissed off. She gritted her teeth and shoved her stool back in place under the counter.

Once she was outside the lab, she forced the door closed and stomped off down the hall. The loud slam of the door echoed down the hall, making her feel so childish in doing it, but she couldn't stop herself. It wasn't something an adult should do, acting out in some tantrum like that. Nor was slapping someone, but she couldn't regret that. He deserved it. She started to fully cry now as she rounded the corner. Ignoring people looking at her as she hurried by, she couldn't stop crying. She couldn't believe this. There was no way she could not take this class. It was only offered in the spring. She couldn't wait a whole fucking year to take it again. She wouldn't be able to sign up for her sophomore classes that needed it as a base requirement in the fall.

All she could think about was how this was so stupid and unfair. Sasuke. What he said to her was just unbelievable. Anger flared up in her veins just thinking about it. With that thought, she stopped to punch hard into the brick wall of the hall. The moment she felt pain shoot throughout her knuckles, she realized how stupid she was doing that in the first place, but the blast of anger she felt subsided as she pulled back her hand. Some of the skin on her knuckles had been torn and was beginning to bleed.

Relaxing her now aching fist at her side, she sucked in a breath only to make her voice tremble out in crying more. She felt so immature. Nowhere else to go, she walked to the library and found a single table to sit at. Throwing her stuff on the floor next to her, she rested her head in her crossed arms. She would stay that way until it was time for her shift later.


"What's wrong?" Kakashi asked gently. His heart dropped in seeing her look down from him. It was easy to tell something was the matter the moment he walked in the coffee shop.

"I'll tell you later," Sakura quickly replied. The tremor in her voice certainly didn't sound like nothing.

"Sakura…"

She fixated her gaze on a key of the register and clutched the inside of her apron her hands were currently stuffed into. "Do you want to order something or not?"

Sakura felt so relieved in seeing Kakashi, but at the same time it made her want to burst into tears and throw herself in his arms. She was still at work and she couldn't leave yet. She had to pull it together no matter how she was feeling right now. All day she had been feeling so stressed at the possibility of having to retake the course again next year. Work was hell for her. She couldn't keep her mind focused and was messing up orders left and right. Her manager seriously asked her if she had forgotten everything since the break. It made her feel so embarrassed. Now, she was struggling not to cry.

He leaned on the counter. "Please… tell me what's wrong."

"Later."

"Why?"

"I can't right now, okay? I have to work and I'm just getting more upset," she said as her voice cracked.

Placing his hands in his pockets, he sighed and looked worriedly at her. "Can't you take off early?"

"No. I'm already in trouble for screwing up so much today. I can't."

He sighed. "Okay. I'll wait over there. I'm not going anywhere."

She nodded and slowly lifted her eyes to watch him take a seat in the corner of the shop. He looked sadly at her before pulling out his Icha Icha book.

There was no way he could read anything. He kept glancing at Sakura when she wasn't looking. She seemed so upset and it was killing him. What the hell happened? He didn't think it was anything he had done. So, what was it? He racked his brain trying to think what in the world could make her so upset since lunch. Was it about her mother? She had told him they weren't talking at the moment. Did something happen? Whatever it was, he was going to make sure he made her feel better no matter what. The fake smile she held up as she dealt with customers made him feel even worse watching her struggle.

Once her shift was officially over, she dejectedly walked slowly to Kakashi with her arms crossed. She stared at the floor. "Let's go home, please."

Kakashi closed his book he had yet to turn a page on and got up from the chair. He put his book in his pocket and looked at Sakura. She still wouldn't look him in the eye. He began to follow her towards the door, but saw her bandaged hand as she started to push open the door. He pulled her wrist to make her stop walking any further and pulled her towards him to have a closer look.

"What the hell happened?" he asked. Her fingers twitched as he grazed a thumb on top of one of her knuckles.

"I stupidly punched the wall," she replied.

"…Why?"

"…"

Sakura's only response was a sigh. She winced as she pulled her hand away and went immediately to push open the door that led to the outside. The cold breezy night air whipped her pink strands into her face. Catching up to her, he pulled the stray hairs away from her eyes, and placed an arm around her. He heard her begin to sniffle. "Please, tell me what happened," he pleaded.

"Can we please go home first? I-I just really want to leave here."

"Sure," he replied back as calmly as he could. He held her more tightly, feeling her lean more into him. It hurt so much seeing her like this.

The drive home seemed like the longest hour in his life. She remained silent the whole time, looking out the window at the buildings and cars that passed by. When the amber lights of the street lamps faded in and out to highlight her face, he could see her brows furrow in trying to hold back from crying, but would quickly try to compose herself. He felt so helpless glancing at her, and had to stop himself from wanting to pull over to have her tell him right then and there what was making her so upset. She wanted to go home though. Their home. He could at least comply with her wish.

Kicking their shoes off at the genkan now, Kakashi wasted no time in pulling her towards the living room and making her sit down on the couch. "Please, tell me," he said.

She took in a deep breath. "Basically I was… I was kicked out of my class."

"What?" he asked completely stunned. He wouldn't have ever guessed something like this.

"I… I…" She began to cry in frustration. "I slapped someone. I know I shouldn't have, but I couldn't help myself. I made… I made him fall to the floor."

"Who?"

"Sasuke."

He tensed. "…What did he do?"

"He just… was saying things like I was disgusting… a skank…" She paused to fight back her tears "And other crap. I know I shouldn't have hit him, but he got to me."

"No," he murmured softly.

She looked up at him through the blurry vision of her tears. "No?" she asked, confused.

"Saying things like that to you. He deserved it. If I was there… I sure as hell would have hit him."

She smiled weakly at hearing him say that. "Still…"

"I'm sorry he said that to you. No doubt it's because he saw us together earlier. I'm sure he doesn't have many nice things to say about me either. So, was he kicked out, too?"

"No… My professor walked in to see me hit him and… and he only told me to leave the class. It's just… It's just so frustrating because I don't know if I'll ever find another open time for the lab I need. I'll be basically held back a year if I can't. I-I don't know what to do. That's what upsets me the most," she grimaced.

"He's still in the class…?"

"Yes, but its fine…"

He sighed. "It's not fine. You were provoked. He's as much at fault as you are."

"I don't know, but I can't change anything."

"Making sure you two were just separated would have been fair for you both. I don't understand why you're the only one having to be forced to leave. That's just stupid. Who's the professor?"

"Well… why?"

"I'll talk to them."

"No… don't do that. It will just make it worse," she protested.

"But it's not right."

"Maybe I'll find another class… I don't know."

"That's only a maybe though. Who's the professor?" he asked again.

She bit her lip as she thought. It really would just make it worse, she figured. Kakashi had just started being an assistant and wouldn't that look bad on him trying to start something up among the professors there, especially given their relationship? She knew he probably didn't care about all that and had the best intentions, but she had to deal with this herself. "I don't want you to fight my battles, Kakashi…"

He squeezed her knee and sighed. "I want to help. I'm here not only to listen, but if I can help do something, I want to. You don't have to do anything alone."

"You being here with me is enough. It really makes me feel so much better just to talk with you. See? I've stopped crying…" She wiped her eyes to further show how she actually did stop a few moments ago. "Really… it's okay."

"Okay," he reluctantly said. He pulled her into his chest and leaned back into the couch holding her.

Kakashi really didn't agree with it, but decided to leave it there for tonight. She did seem as if she was feeling a bit better after telling him, which relieved him a little bit. Now he felt angry towards Sasuke and the whole ordeal. He wasn't sure what he would say if he saw him, or if he should even say anything at all. If he did, he wasn't sure if he could control himself in wanting to smack him senselessly. Even though she didn't tell him everything that he said to her, if it made her this upset and caused her to get removed from of the class, that was just too much to ignore. He had to do something. This was his fault, more or less. Why else would Sasuke go out of his way to harass her? It had to have been because of a personal grudge against him. Taking it out on her wasn't right.

"Hungry?" he asked, in hopes of changing the subject.

"Yeah, a little bit."

"I'll make something quick for us. It's pretty late as it is."

"Can I help?" she asked.

"If you want, but you don't have to. You did have a pretty bad day, after all. Why not just rest a little bit?"

"It will help me take my mind off things."

"Well, if you insist. If that's what you really want." He lifted her chin to kiss her softly. He meant it as just a simple kiss, but quickly found her tongue begin to swirl dominantly against his. Not that he was complaining. Every time she pulled back, she would tug at his lips, making him all the more want to capture hers again and again.

She broke away and couldn't help but have a goofy smile on her face. "That makes me feel better, too."

He returned her smile and slowly began to trail small kisses along her cheek until he heard her stomach growl. He chuckled and pulled away as she blushed with embarrassment. "Okay, let's get something to eat."

Giving him one last kiss, Sakura rose up from his chest and stood up from the couch. Briefly smiling at him, she left into the hallway towards the kitchen. Kakashi slowly stretched and sat up from the couch to follow after her in the hall, but he halted midway. Their bags they dropped near the door caught his eye. Glancing towards the kitchen, he went to open the side pocket of her bag in hopes of finding what she stuffed in there before they left earlier in the morning.

He pulled out a folded slip of paper and quickly opened it. It was her schedule, which was exactly what he was hoping to find. Finding the name of the professor of her chemistry lab, he refolded it and placed it back into the pocket. He couldn't just sit by and do nothing about what happened. How everything had been handled was just ridiculous to him and it wasn't right on any level. She might be mad at him later for intervening, but if he didn't try, he would be angrier at himself more than anything.

Also, if he had the luck of running into Sasuke… he definitely needed to say something, or do something. He just wasn't sure what.

TBC


[ Author Note: Um… -holds up a shield made up of cookies- No offense to Sasuke lovers. I have nothing against you. -is beamed in the head by a cookie- :(

Well, not so many laughs this chapter obviously, but I have good news to up your spirits!

I made a one shot as a reviewer requested prize (which some of you have read already – ty for reviewing!). It's based off after Sakura and Kakashi leave from the Eiffel Tower and go to a pub to drink a little (a lot). Lolz ensue with Sakura. So, check it out on my story list (Reason: Un Peu Bourrée)

I'm currently sickly with an eye infection, so might be a delay in next chapter. Need to rest my eyes and stop staring at the sun (and at word docs).

Anyway, hope this chappy wasn't too disappointing. Review and let me know either way.

-chips off a piece of my cookie shield and gives it to you as a peace offering-

Chapter edited by: CelestialCircumference ]