As Sakura and Naruto made their way up the path to the home he and Hinata recently purchased, the smell of Hinata's cooking drifted from the open windows. Sakura was still amazed Naruto had learned to enjoy anything beside ramen, but if anyone was going to make it happen, it was Hinata.
She must has sensed their presence, because she came to greet them at the door. "Welcome home. We have some unexpected company."
Naruto immediately perked up, which told Sakura that although she didn't sense him yet, Sasuke was the other visitor.
"Would it be better if I left?" She asked. She didn't mind Sasuke's company, but she didn't want to infringe on the reunion. "I know Sasuke hasn't been home in awhile."
"Nonsense, please come inside," Hinata insisted with a gentle tug on her hand. With both she and Naruto ushering her inside, Sakura accepted their hospitality without anymore reservation.
The three of them entered through the common area and into the dining space where Sasuke sat waiting. He was clearly fresh off a long mission, if his long hair and threadbare clothes were any indication.
"Naruto, Sakura," He greeted.
"About time you returned!" Naruto said by way of hello, and Sakura watched as the two men bumped fists.
"It's good to see you, Sasuke-kun," Sakura offered with a soft smile. While Naruto sat to catch up with their teammate, she followed Hinata into the kitchen to help with preparing dinner.
"It's nice your team is still so close after everything you've been through." Hinata mused as she fried the tonkatsu in a pan. "Naruto worried when you and Sasuke ended your relationship that it was the end of your friendship. "
Familiar with the layout of Hinata and Naruto's home, Sakura moved to the cabinet that held their dinnerware and began to take out enough for everyone.
"Hmm, I suppose it could have." Sakura glanced at the time left on the rice cooker to avoid Hinata's gaze. "Keeping our team together once we reunited has always been more important to us, though."
"I had to learn that in a relationship, both people build trust in looking after each other." Hinata flipped the cutlets to cook on the other side. "When Naruto and I first started dating, I wasn't sure if he had settled all his feelings from the past."
Sakura frowned. She hadn't known that. "Naruto would never do that to you."
"I know," Hinata agreed. "I had to trust when starting a relationship with me, he had truly closed the door on his feelings for you."
In the midst of her current situation, Sakura felt guilt bloom in her chest. "I'm sorry if I ever made you feel insecure, Hinata."
Hinata shook her head and dropped her hand on top of Sakura's. "You always supported me. Because the two of you cared for me as well, it was easy to accept and cherish your bond with each other. For you not to be a part of Naruto's life—our life—would be too painful. And it's the same with your bonds with Sasuke."
Sakura smiled in agreement, their hands drifting apart as the rice cooker went off. "Yes, it is." Though her and Sasuke's bond certainly had different phases and would always be eclipsed by his and Naruto's, Sasuke was a integral part of her life as a teammate and former lover.
Sakura scooped the miso and the rice into bowls and seasoned them while Hinata cut and plated the tonkatsu.
When they returned to the dining area with plates and food in hand, Naruto was still updating Sasuke on the comings and goings of inside the village. Sasuke acted as though he was above idle gossip, but Sakura knew he actually enjoyed being in the know as much as Ino.
They both stood to help set the table, and quickly enough they were all resettled at the table and filling their plates and bowls.
"Itadakimasu."
Naruto continued with his previous line of conversation while the rest of them listened and ate in silence, and once Naruto had given his report on Konoha, he immediately switched to badgering Sasuke about how long he would stay this time and how badly he needed a haircut. Sasuke glared a few times in his direction, but otherwise remained mum on how long he would be in Konoha. Perhaps even he didn't know the answer.
"I can cut it for you, if you'd like," Sakura offered, nodding at Sasuke's long hair.
"Ah, thank you," he agreed.
"You can use the main bathroom after dinner," Hinata added. "I have a pair a scissors and a large mirror in there."
Sakura ate the rest of the time in silence; things like the three of them together and cutting Sasuke's hair for him made her feel nostalgic for the year she and Sasuke traveled together. When they were close to Fire's border, Naruto would come out to meet them and they would picnic beneath a group of trees for hours poking fun at each other. Those early days of peace felt tentative, but they had become some of her favorite memories.
She found herself wondering if in the chaos of war, Kakashi was able to have memories like that with Rin and Obito. She let out a small sigh.
"We'll clean up," Naruto said as he stood and began to take up the dirty plates. Hinata followed, and soon Sakura and Sasuke were left alone at the table.
"Shall we go?" She smiled at Sasuke in hopes of hiding her anxiety. She stood and went ahead toward the bathroom, making quick work of finding the scissors.
Sasuke came in a few moments later with one of the chairs from the dining area.
"This brings back memories." She smiled at him fondly and pointed to a spot for him to place the chair in front of the mirror. She watched as he placed his cape on the floor to catch the clippings, then pulled over the chair and sat down.
"Always so thoughtful," she teased. She gave his hair a few cursory run throughs with her fingers, assessing his hair in the same way he seemed to be assessing her. She kept her eyes on his dark black strands as she made a few snips.
"You seem troubled."
She sighed. Too perceptive.
"I am. Rin, Kakashi's old teammate, has shown up from—" She waved her hand into the empty space of the room. "Elsewhere."
"And that's upsetting for both you and Kakashi," Sasuke correctly deduced, and Sakura nodded in confirmation as she focused on cutting an inch along the back of his head.
"The few who know are comforting, and I appreciate it." Snip. Snip. "But I need to know what to do."
"Kakashi's made a promise to you," Sasuke dismissed. "He won't go back on his word."
"I don't want it to be like that." Snip. She gritted her teeth at the idea of Kakashi feeling trapped by her. She wouldn't allow anyone else to make her a promise that caused them harm.
Sasuke shrugged, and their gazes met in the mirror's reflection. "Then free him of it and see what he does."
It wasn't Naruto's sunny assurances or Hinata's gift of perspective. It was sound advice, and she appreciated it as much as it broke her heart.
"All right, I will."
It was just past sunset when Kakashi's chakra signature could be felt on the other side of Naruto and Hinata's front door. The four of them were three rounds into a card game where Sakura had won the previous two rounds.
Unwilling to prolong the inevitable, Sakura motioned to the others that she would greet Kakashi at the door despite the gnawing in her stomach. She smiled at Naruto's relieved expression as she folded her hand of cards on the table; now the odds of winning were even amongst the three of them.
As she lifted her hand to grab the front door knob, she noticed she was trembling. She set her expression into one of serious neutrality and clenched her fist to hide the tremble. She would not show weakness in this—she loved Kakashi and wanted him to be happy, because he deserved it more than anyone.
She would not allow this, or herself, to be another burden on him. She would step aside graciously and quietly if that's what he wanted.
"Hi." He stood on the single step outside and seemed as unsure as she felt.
"Hi." She opened the door wider, a silent invitation to join them inside.
"I'll say hello to Sasuke later," Kakashi waved off, clearly sensing his presence within. "Care to come for a walk with me?"
She stepped out onto the front step and took a cursory glance around though no one else seemed present. She felt her anxiety spike. Was he going to have this conversation already? When her gaze returned to him, he was watching her with what looked like puzzlement.
"Or I could meet you at home if you prefer," he amended.
"No, I'll come." She closed the door behind her and they walked slowly down the path that lead away from Naruto and Hinata's home. They were a few feet apart as they walked in tandem, and Sakura wrapped her arms behind her to worry her hands together without Kakashi seeing.
They continued a bit in silence, Kakashi looking pensive and Sakura's anxiety growing. He cleared his throat and Sakura swung her head in his direction.
"I'm sorry we took over your office earlier. I wasn't prepared to see Rin, and I'm sure neither were you. She mentioned—"
Glancing back down the path, she saw they were far enough away for privacy. "Where is she?" she asked, both dreading and needing to know the answer. Was Rin waiting somewhere for Kakashi to return?
Kakashi seemed to shift whatever his thought had been and stared down at her, both of them standing still. Although his mask was in place, she could see he was gauging her responses.
"Rin is staying in one of the guest quarters where we host foreign dignitaries," he told her. "Tomorrow I'll assign some genin and chuunin to search for the tome. No version of Konoha should go without a medical director for too long."
He reached out and brushed his fingers along her arm in what was usually a reassuring gesture between them, but all Sakura could focus on was the idea of Kakashi getting back someone precious that he had once lost.
Her gaze dropped to the ground as different scenarios ran through her head. Would he ask her to go back in Rin's place? Would he return with Rin and leave Konoha? Being together again with Rin and Obito—that's what Kakashi had longed for his whole adult life, wasn't it?
And here was his chance.
She felt herself begin to panic at the thought of him gone for good. She needed him here, in his rightful home, even if they were no longer together.
"Sakura, are you alright?"
"You don't need the tome. I know it's not ideal Obito isn't here, too, but—" she paused, trying to get her voice around the lump in her throat. She could make this easy for all of them, and then maybe he would stay. "We can tell everyone our engagement is off, right?"
Kakashi's brows lifted, but then his eyes narrowed as he scrutinized her. She hated when he did that—couldn't he be a normal idiot for once instead of an analytical one?
"What are you—has something changed for you?" He asked carefully, and she clenched her fist. Was he going to make her say it aloud?
"Given the circumstances," she hedged, averting her gaze away again. She stared at a point just past his shoulder, and so long as she didn't have to look at him too long or say her name, she knew she could keep from crying.
"You mean Rin's appearance."
She nodded stiffly, intent on studying the line of trees along the pathway. There was a large crack along one of the larger ones, and she began to hypothesize what had made it: A weapon, or a storm, or Naruto training too close to home…
"Look at me."
She startled and glanced over at the command and Kakashi's gruff tone; he had never spoken to her like that.
"Come here," he commanded once again, but this time she hesitated to close the distance between them. She could feel the tears welling up along her eyelashes, betraying her. She didn't want to be weak in this moment. She wanted to show him she could handle this.
"I should—" she began, but suddenly he was so close to her, and she could feel the tension in every inch of him as he wrapped his arms around her. She felt the first of her tears begin to fall just as he flash-stepped them away from the Uzumaki residence.
She kept her eyes closed, but the familiar smell of home enveloped her.
"I hate that you're insecure after all this time," he murmured into her hair. "And I hate that I've made you feel it."
"You haven't done anything," she protested.
"I clearly haven't done enough," he said, lifting her chin and making her look up in his face. He 'tsked' at her tears then began to gently wipe at them with his thumb. Unbidden and undeterred they kept coming, and she blanched as she audibly shuddered when she tried to hold back a sob. She could see Kakashi's frown deepen despite her blurred vision.
"I'm sorry," she apologized as she tried to pull her face away from his gentle attentions. "I told myself I wasn't going to make this difficult for you."
"Stop. You haven't done anything wrong." He gave up on removing her tears and settled on stroking her hair to try to soothe her. "We'll find the tome so Rin can return where she belongs. No matter how long that takes, it won't change anything about our lives."
"You aren't going to leave to join Rin and Obito? I thought that—"
He looked stricken as he cupped her face with his other hand. "I belong here. Konoha, our teammates, our friends, you—are my family. I've accepted the losses of the past, as painful as they'll always be."
"What if —" She couldn't seem to get the rest out. Even without a mirror, she knew her face was an ugly, blotchy mess. She'd feel embarrassed if his reassurances weren't slowly calming her. 'What if we can't find a way to send her back home?'
By then Kakashi seemed to easily guess her line of thinking. "If we can't locate the tome, Rin will figure out how to build a life here. But everything else remains the same," he promised. "You're the Medical Director of Konoha. You're also the only person I belong with."
That broke the dam holding back her emotions, and she buried her face in his chest, her nose uncomfortably pressed against his vest as she wet it with her tears. He let her hide her face there, offering her soft sounds of comfort and gently caressing his thumb along her upper back until she finally settled.
"Tell me," he urged, pressing a kiss to her temple, then her cheek, and finally her lips.
"You're mine," she sighed against his mouth. "Just mine."
Kakashi hummed in agreement, and they continued the slow, familiar exchange of soft caresses between them until Kakashi's stomach growled in protest.
They broke apart to both glance down at his stomach and an embarrassed blush bloomed across Kakashi cheeks and ears.
"You didn't eat the okonomiyaki from earlier?" Sakura asked as she pulled back to look up at him.
"No," he confirmed after clearing his throat. "That's yours, too, though I hope you'll share some with me."
She was still full from dinner, but Sakura warmed up the food and sat with Kakashi while he ate, their ankles intertwined under the table and her heart at ease for the first time that day.