2

Desire

It was a really strange day. I couldn't bring my mood to a better level no matter what I tried… I took my favourite, slightly perverted, still somehow romantic book to reread it for like the third time. My whole morning was filled with entertainment - I was finding small and boring tasks for my new students, they still haven't gotten used to me though. I appeared surprisingly behind a very good friend of mine, scaring him off badly… Nothing brought me pleasure even close to the usual…

The truth is everything had started to crumble before my very eyes…

The truth is that with every passing day I had started to lose my interest in life…

And all because of her… Because of a woman…!

But she is different from all the other women. Her hair is pink like spring flowers, as her name - Sakura. Her name means "Blossomed Cherry Tree". Her eyes are, just like the spring itself, (are )green and filled with the energy and the hope for a new life. And her smile - lively just like a spring and equally needed and lifegiving to me as that spring would be for a dying out of thirst human. But…

Just like the spring, she was going away when the summer was stepping ahead, she was leaving my life. As it was like she came to brighten my existence with the sole purpose to show me how much darker it was without her.

"Sensei!"

I turned slowly to see what the little girl with red hair and curious blue eyes wanted.

"It is already 5. Can we go now?"

Five o'clock? When did the time fly? I sighed and nodded.

"Tomorrow at nine. Be punctual," I said by the way and got up with the intention of going home. I didn't want to be anywhere else but home. It was the only place I could hide and be myself… It was the only place I could take the mask I was always wearing off, and breathe my lungs fully…

I was almost asleep in front of the TV, which had its sound set to almost silent mode, when someone knocked on my door. I didn't feel like opening. There was no one I wanted to see anyway. I intended to just stay where I was and wait for the intruder to eventually go away. But…there was yet another knock.

"Kakashi!" I heard a familiar voice whisper urgently and without fully realising what I was doing, I was already up on my feet. "Kakashi, I know you are inside! Please, open up…"

My stomach was clenched in a ball. I really didn't expect her… Not her. What did she want? Hadn't she come to tell me goodbye? I squeezed my eyes briefly and succeeded to calm down. Whatever it was, I was supposed to take the hit as a real man… So I went to the door and opened it…

"I knew you would open eventually." She smiled. "I-" She went quiet and bored her sight right in my face.

The realisation why her reaction was so sharp came to me a bit late - I hadn't put my mask on. Yep… Actually she had never seen my face… I grabbed her hand, pulled her inside in the small hallway, then shut the door behind her.

"Sorry about that."

"Kakashi…you…? She blinked a few times with her tender eyelids.

"Well…" I smiled at her. "I don't really wear my mask at home."

She looked at me as if she was hypnotised, as if I was a picture - I felt like I was going to burst out laughing, at the same time I felt really awkward.

"Why are you even wearing that mask?" Sakura asked, reaching to my face with her delicate fingers. "Your face is really-" She smiled softly while stroking my cheek and probably didn't realise she caused a pleasant shiver down my body. "-handsome."

I laughed.

"If I knew I was going to get a compliment, I would have removed it in front of you some time ago." I was honest.

She nodded and brushed near me, heading to the living room. There was no need to tell her to enter. She had already stepped over the doorstep of my heart, so entering my home wasn't really a big deal. I walked behind her, pleasuring my eyes with her smooth and momentary unsure walking. She wasn't feeling too comfortable and that brought a sweet gladness somehow…

"Kakashi…" she whispered and turned to me when she reached the middle of the room.

"Saruka?" I raised my eyebrows.

"I… You know I am going to be away for a long time, don't you?" She asked hopefully.

"I know." I nodded.

"Do you remember, on that ball a year ago…" She sighed and slightly blushed. "Do you remember that game we played and how I pulled out your name and had to fulfil a wish of yours?"

"Yes…" What did she want to say with this? Of course I remembered, but that was just a game. It happened so the last one to enter had to fulfil my wish. It could have been anyone… Just the way I had to fulfil Jiraya's wish…and to accompany him into the bath houses for a month… "What about it?"

"Well… You've never wished for anything. You said you will think about it." She started.

"You are correct. I did say that." I nodded but still couldn't quite understand where this was going.

But what could have I wished for then? All of my wishes were impossible, unfulfilling, insanely selfish and… all related to her…

"All in all, I was the only person that didn't finish that game. And before I leave, I would like to finish it." She smiled and stepped forward to me, surprisingly grabbing my hand. I shuddered…

"Don't worry about it," I replied also with a smile, "It was just a game."

"No…" She shook her head. "Please, don't turn me down. Make a wish."

I looked at her straight in her green, wonderfully green eyes. Her gaze was filled with warmth… I wanted to sink in those eyes… And those little, tender, pink lips… If she was not to leave soon, I probably wouldn't let her go.

"You can't give me what I want, Sakura." I smiled and felt my features becoming sad.

"Alright, even if it is impossible in your opinion, I still want to try." She squeezed my hand. "Even if I had to spend hours and hours in the kitchen, in front of the oven…"

We both laughed then… Well, ok… She was leaving anyway, so I could tell her, right?

I leaned down, carefully removed her soft pink hair from her ear, and said what I wanted to say even when we were both students. "Sakura, love me." My forehead dropped on her shoulder, she didn't move an inch. She looked stiff. She let go of my hand and I immediately felt sorry I opened my mouth. I pulled back and searched for her eyes. She was crying…

"Stupid man…" she whispered, enslaving me with her eyes. "I thought you were smarter than that."

I was in a mild shock and frowned… I didn't get what she meant.

"Smart people want something-" she slowly wrapped her hands around my waist, placing her cheek on my chest. "-that they don't have."

I sensed my eyes widening. I placed one of my hands on her waist and lifted her chin with the other one. I needed to look at her face.

"Sakura?" I quietly asked.

"Kakashi…" she whispered. "I called you stupid, because your wish is long fulfilled…"

I don't know how my lips pulled into a smile… I don't know how our lips touched and we kissed… I don't know how it happened… The only thing I know is I am holding the woman I furiously and genuinely love into my arms. The woman that brought the eternal spring into my life… Sakura.