Hello again. I'd just like to thank everyone who has taken the time to read and review. The eight reviews that are currently visible will be responded to at the bottom of the page. You guys rock!
Moving on : ) Here is the next chapter of the story. Enjoy!
"Damn it," Kakashi muttered under his breath as he looked at the clock on his wall. The small hand was already moving towards the eight, and the big hand had just rounded the six.
It was 7:30 already.
He had promised to meet Sakura at the Hyuuga apartment an hour and a half ago. He cursed again at the bad habit he had picked up over the years of being late.
After he switched off the lights, Kakashi pulled on a muscle shirt and grabbed a loose-fitting long sleeve shirt from the closet. He hastily jogged over to the door and locked it behind him.
As he raced down the street he stuck his arm into the sleeves of the black shirt, but he left it unbuttoned. Despite the fact that it was already September and the nights were usually cool, this particular evening had been doused in a startling humidity. He flapped the shirt open and closed as he tried to circulate some air around his body.
Kakashi rolled the sleeves up to the elbows as he turned the corner onto the final road. He could see the apartment now; the lights shone brightly from the second story windows where Sakura would be waiting. He took the steps three at a time and knocked on the door when he reached the top.
Kakashi could here quiet footsteps approaching the door. Soon the lock clicked and the door slowly opened. Kakashi had to smile beneath his mask as he took in the picture before him.
Sakura stood in the door frame of light, sporting a red spaghetti-strapped top, stained with a dribble of what looked like baby food, as well as a pair of simple ebony board shorts. Her dainty feet were bare, and her hair was pulled up in a loose knot, wisps of bubblegum strands having fallen out over the course of the evening. She held a little girl in one arm, supporting the infant on her hip. Her other arm was preoccupied with holding the door open.
"It's about time," Sakura said.
Kakashi grinned apologetically and scratched his head. Here it comes, he thought. Sakura was usually one of the kindest people you'd ever meet. But in her training, Tsunade had not only passed on her greatest ninja skills to her roseate student. Sakura had also inherited the Godaime's raging temper. After spending years under the tutelage of Tsunade, Sakura, too, had become infamous for her spitfire fury that would surface every once in a while.
She glared at Kakashi a moment, then broke down and smiled. "I was going to try and make you feel bad for being late, but I can't do it." She laughed as Kakashi breathed a sigh of relief, and she stepped out of the way so Kakashi could come inside. She closed the door behind them and led him into the living room.
The little girl in Sakura's arms peered over her carrier's shoulder at the Copy Ninja, her big silver eyes fixed on his hidden face. She smiled wide, revealing her tiny baby teeth. "Mask," she said, reaching her hands out at Kakashi. Sakura looked back over her shoulder and laughed.
"I guess she wants you," Sakura said. "Do you want to hold her?"
"Sure, I guess I can do that." He stretched his arms out as Sakura handed the baby over. The infant giggled and stared up at Kakashi, fingering the silky material on his face. "What did I tell you," he said to Sakura, "Women can't resist the mask."
Sakura rolled her eyes as she went into the kitchen. "Yeah," she called out to him, "only because it looks so silly." She stuck her head back out the doorway and looked at the Copy Ninja. "You like chicken fricassee? Because that's what I made for dinner."
Kakashi responded, "Yeah, that's fine." He sat down carefully on the couch and positioned Mayu right beside him. He grabbed a translucent miniature beach ball with bouncing bells inside off of the coffee table and held it over the baby's head. For the moment her eyes were more concerned with the round jingling object above her instead of Kakashi's mask.
Sakura came back out of the kitchen with a plate of steaming food and a cup of iced tea in her hands. She watched Kakashi's interactions with the infant, slightly surprised by his child handling abilities.
"I never pictured Hatake Kakashi as the model babysitter," she said. Kakashi glanced over his shoulder, his eye crinkled.
"There are many secrets you do not know about me," he assured her. Sakura laughed and shook her head.
"Yeah, that's for sure." She handed the plate to Kakashi and set the glass on the table. "Okay, let's see if you can watch Mayu and eat at the same time while I go get my plate." She sauntered back into the kitchen.
Kakashi turned to the little girl beside him and whispered, "We'll show her, won't we?" Mayu gurgled her amusement to the Copy Ninja as she watched him slip his mask down and devour the food on his plate in a matter of seconds. Mayu giggled and clapped her hands together, purely entertained by the spectacle going on before her very eyes.
Kakashi pulled his mask up just as Sakura came back through the doorway and took a seat on the other side of Mayu. She glanced curiously at the delighted infant bouncing on the couch, then Kakashi, and then the empty plate that he held in his hand. Her eyebrows furrowed as she realized what was going on.
"Aw, no fair," she laughed, "I've known you for almost ten years and I've never even gotten a glimpse of what's under that mask. And her," Sakura said, pointing toward Mayu, "she just met you almost ten minutes ago, and she's already seen more of your face than I ever did." Kakashi shrugged his shoulders and winked at the babbling baby.
"Yeah," he said, "but she won't remember it by the time she grows up, and she can't tell you what I look like." Sakura punched his arm lightly and he raised his hands in self defense.
"Hey," he protested, chuckling softly, "Don't worry; you'll get you day, too. I promise," he said as he placed his hand over his chest and gazed at Sakura sincerely.
"Yeah yeah," she smirked, "Just make sure you don't go and get yourself killed or anything on one of your missions. If you do I'll curse your spirit for as long as I live."
"Deal," he said. "If you don't get the chance to see my face before I die, then you can damn me to hell for all eternity." He folded his arms, obviously satisfied by the pact they had made. Sakura shushed him and tried her best to frown at him.
"First of all," she scolded, "You shouldn't talk that way about your own soul; you just might get what you wish for. Secondly," she paused to put her plate down and pick up Mayu, "If her Mommy and Daddy come home and hear her speaking the words she's heard tonight, well, you can guess where I'm going."
Kakashi chuckled and looked warmly upon the woman and child. Sakura looked so natural, holding the infant against her own petite body and letting the tiny hand wrap around one of her fingers. She would have been a wonderful mother if she and Sasuke had been able to have children. Kakashi reached out a hand to squeeze Sakura's shoulder.
"You know," he said, "I bet you'd make a great mom." Sakura looked up from the baby, a melancholy smile on her face.
"Yeah," she sighed, "that's what Sasuke would tell me all the time, too." She laughed quietly. "Of course," she added, "I don't know how I would have been with all the kids he wanted. He told me he wanted six."
Kakashi shook his head and grinned. "That's crazy," he said. "But then again, one woman I know had seven kids; one right after the other. One day I asked her how she managed to take care of them all, and she just looked at me like I was an imbecile. 'Why,' she said, 'having seven is just like having one: you're always busy, always tired, and always up to your elbows in dirty diapers.' So I don't know; I guess it just depends on the person." He shrugged his shoulders skeptically.
"Well," Sakura concluded, "If having one is like having seven, than I'd just stick with the one, thank you very much." She glanced back down at the baby and exhaled softly.
"Oh crud," she said suddenly. She peered at her watch and frowned. "I'm supposed to put her to bed soon; Mayu's on a 'very strict schedule,' as Neji explained to me. Oh, and he said that Tenten usually sings to her, so singing is the only way to get her to sleep." Sakura eyed the Copy Ninja and smiled. "Say," she said, "You wouldn't happen to sing? I mean, since you're a man with such diversified talents."
Kakashi rolled his eyes. "What's the matter?" He laughed. "Don't tell me you can't sing."
"Me? Sing?" Sakura stared at him in astonishment. "Kakashi-sensei, I need a bucket just to carry a tune."
"All right then," he chortled, "hand her over." However, Sakura wrapped her arms around the infant.
"But I wanted to rock her to sleep," she pretended to pout.
"But I thought you couldn't sing," he teased.
"Yeah, but I still want to hold her," Sakura explained.
"Then how am I supposed to sing to her?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow.
"Well," Sakura thought for a moment, "We could rock her together. What do you say?" She looked up at Kakashi with pleading eyes.
He chortled and slid over on the couch. "Fine, we'll rock her to sleep together." He placed an arm around Sakura and another under Mayu. After a moment of readjusting their positions, Kakashi asked, "Is everybody nice and comfy?"
"Yep," Sakura replied. Mayu tugged at Kakashi's mask again and he laughed. "Go ahead. Work your magic," Sakura said, looking up at the Copy Ninja. Kakashi cleared his throat and took a deep breath. He opened his mouth to sing.
Sakura smiled as she listened to Kakashi's deep voice resonate with one of the village's oldest fairytales in the form of a lullaby. She had never heard Kakashi sing before, and while he was no Frank Sinatra, he wasn't too shabby, either.
She laid her head of bubblegum tresses against his chest and watched Mayu's eyes droop closed before she felt her own do the same. She noticed how warm Kakashi's skin was against her own and the emphatic, even pulse of his heart as it kept time with the song.
The lullaby weaved the tale of a very melancholy princess inside Sakura's mind. One day, the princess met a ninja who saved her from a group of bandits. After a while the princess found her herself in love with her mysterious hero, but she was still very sad because she was supposed to marry another person; a prince she had never even met. When the two finally did meet, she discovered that the ninja she had come to care for was actually the prince all along. In the end they got married and lived happily ever after.
Sakura's mind floated away on the voice singing in her ear. She saw a man and woman standing under a gazebo decorated in flowers. The man was dressed in a well made suit, and the woman was adorned in a flowing dress. They smiled at each other, this roseate princess bride and her handsome groom.
Although she could only see the back of his head, Sakura could tell the silver-haired man must have been very attractive. She watched the man tilt the woman's chin up and gently kiss her. Sakura smiled as the people in the crowd clapped lightly from their seats in the hazy surroundings. Soon the fog swirled into the scene she was observing, and she drifted into slumber.
Kakashi sighed gently after he sang the last verse of the song. He glanced down and saw the two beauties resting peacefully in his arms. He forced himself to suppress a laugh as he watched them sleep.
Sakura shifted her body slightly as she slept, drawing her face into the smooth curve of Kakashi's neck. Her hand involuntarily reached up to the collar of his shirt and tugged at it as she inhaled the scent of skin.
"Hmm…" Sakura mumbled from somewhere far away in her dream. Kakashi tilted his head so that he could hear her words. She was talking in her sleep.
"Kakashi-sensei," she murmured, "It smells… it smells like eucalyptus here."
"That's my cologne you smell," he whispered softly. Sakura's nose nuzzled his skin. She sighed.
"I like the scent," she murmured. "It's nice."
"Yeah," Kakashi whispered as he softly caressed the sleeping face. "It sure is." He leaned his head forward and kissed the kunoichi's forehead. He decided to stay there, just like that, for the time being. It was nice being there.
Thanks for reading. As I promised, here are my responses to the reviews. Stay tuned!
Iamitachi: I'm glad you like it : )
AznNarutoGrl-91: Thanks! And yeah, I like scrambled eggs, so I figure hey, why not include them in the story? They're awesome with some A-1 Sauce : p
MommyRogers: Thank you : ) That's one of the things my teachers have always praised about my writing.
Angel: I already sent one : )
Tami: Thank you so much! I probably should have researched a bit when I wrote that section. I always get Strep Throat, and when I go to the doctor they do one of those swab tests on me, and it takes like five minutes to see if you test positive for the bacteria. But I guess that doesn't tell you the strain. Also, I feel like such a dope about the word confusion. My apologies, and thank you for pointing it out . I'll make sure to change it : )
Afiag: Yeah, I know the story has been lacking in that department. XD Don't worry, though; all in good time.