Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto!
Author's Notes: My many thanks to the people who've reviewed! This chapter is dedicated to you guys 'cause you guys are great!
Never Forgotten
By: JDArc
"Sakura?" Kakashi's voice cracked as he spoke her name, and he stepped forward to her, his excitement clearly building. Her brow wrinkled in confusion as she gave him a weak smile. Her eyes were wide with childlike innocence, and when she spoke, Kakashi paused, feeling as if he had suddenly been dropped into a pool of freezing water.
"Who are you all?"
Chapter Two: A Familiar Face
"Gomen nasai," Sakura apologized, studying the man before her whose mysterious face lay beneath his mask and headband protector. His one exposed eye widened with disbelief at her words, and he took a step away from her, as if her words had slapped him. "I'm not sure if we've met before…?" she continued cautiously, and with a heaving sigh he broke his stare, his pain so evident and tangible that her heart lurched with regret at her words. His grief was so immense that it became contagious, and she bit back a sob, her intuition telling her to run to the man who stood before her and fling herself into his arms to stop the swelling of his misery. She forced herself to remain where she was, just as the loud one with the wild blond hair screamed in frustration.
"SAKURA-CHAN!" he cried out. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE HAVEN'T MET BEFORE!" He flung himself over to kneel by her side as she yelped in surprise, jumping out of her chair with quick reflexes. The blond had no inhibitions about keeping his feelings at bay, and he screeched loudly, making him seem much younger than he appeared, although she was sure he was nearly the same age as she was.
"I don't know you!" she insisted fervently, looking helplessly at Tsunade-sama, who sat still, watching the scene unfold before her.
"How can you say that?" The rowdy ninja was close to tears as he instinctively captured one her hands in his own, gripping onto her rather tightly, but she was too frightened to protest. "Sakura-chan, after all that we've shared together, how could you forget-"
"Listen," she began slowly, her voice quavering. "I'm telling you the truth. I don't believe I've seen any of you before-" The man with the mysterious face looked up at her once more, and when her gaze found his, she felt the slick glide of wet tears fall from her eyes down her cheeks. Why was it that this man could evoke so much emotion from her in the small amount of time that he had been in the room? They stared silently at each other, her heart protesting inanely in her chest with unpredictable beats. "I feel," she heard herself saying, though she had no recollection of ever opening her mouth, "that I should know you, especially you," she gestured to the man with the covered face, "but I-I…I don't…I-I really don't recall-"
"Are you sure about that?" The silent, black-haired ninja in the back finally spoke, advancing a few feet closer to where she stood. She felt her cheeks flush at the sight of him; he was tall and lean with a wonderful voice, but it was his dark eyes that called to her, drew her attention to him. The obsidian orbs locked onto her jade ones, and she drew in her breath sharply, feeling as if he were trying to pierce deep into her soul. He was breathtaking to say the least, causing her heart to tumble about in her chest.
"Who are you?" she blurted out, unable to do anything else.
"You really don't remember me?" He narrowed his eyes, studying her intensely, watching as her cheeks grew into a deeper shade of crimson as she shook her head.
"Gomen," she said, taking her eyes off of him, knowing that if she stared at him any longer, she'd burst into a fit of girlish giggles which would be unbecoming of her age and inappropriate for the situation at hand. She clumsily wiped her tears away to distract herself from the conflicting emotions raging within her.
"Hokage-sama," Kakashi addressed Tsunade, clearly furious at the attraction that Sakura had shown toward Sasuke, "what happened? Why can she not remember us?" Tsunade sighed, fiddling with a poker chip she kept on her desk to abate her need for gambling (though it never really helped). She did not want to break the news to Kakashi about Sakura's condition, especially with a shinobi from the Hidden Cloud Village watching on, but she knew Kakashi had to be informed of what had come to pass. She stared hard at the top of her desk, knowing that the truth would again most likely break his slowly mending heart.
"She doesn't belong here." A masculine voice interrupted from the end of the room before Tsunade could speak, drawing their attention to a man of medium build. He looked much like Sasuke, with the exception of his dark brown hair and piercing oceanic eyes. He wore simple, light-colored robes, and he walked over to Sakura, placing a protective arm around her.
"Who the hell…!" Kakashi growled out, a kunai immediately in his hand as he moved to defend Sakura, but Tsunade placed herself strategically between the couple and Kakashi, preventing his attack mere inches from the man's neck.
"Kakashi, no," Tsunade spoke, and he relaxed…barely. She sighed, placing her hand on top of his, bringing down his kunai. "You mustn't attack Sakura's escort from the Hidden Cloud Village."
"No offense, Hokage-sama, but what the hell is going on!" Kakashi exploded, running his gloved hand angrily through his hair. "What the hell does the Hidden Cloud Village have to do with anything-"
"The Hidden Cloud Village has been Sakura's home for the past five years," Tsunade-sama answered. "It's her story to tell…" Her voice trailed off as she glanced at the couple behind her, the Sasuke-look-alike calming the pink-haired woman, the both of them standing much too close together for Kakashi's comfort.
"Get away from her," he spat out, his eye narrowed dangerously. The pain of losing her to death was suddenly brought forth a thousand-fold at seeing Sakura alive with another man, and Kakashi was on the verge of committing murder.
"A man has a right to support his fiancée," the other man shot out, holding Sakura much closer to his side.
"What…" Kakashi's voice had gone eerily quiet with rage, and by habit, his hand immediately went to his headband protector, lifting it up as if ready to do battle. His eye opened, revealing the Sharingan that had lay hidden beneath it, and suddenly, Sakura gasped, closing her eyes as a vision began to stream into her mind. Her mind cut off the concerned babble that had fled from her fiancé's mouth as she fell to her knees by the intensity of the sting inside her head, and she concentrated solely on the dormant memory that had suddenly come back to life.
"S-Sakura, stop!" Kakashi laughed as she tickled him relentlessly. They tumbled onto his couch after stumbling into his apartment, having spent the entire evening out, openly declaring their relationship to the rest of the village by eating dinner together at Ichiraku and walking down the streets hand-in-hand. Despite the many murmurings and whispers that had floated around them, Sakura was determined to make everyone accept their newly found romance, and Kakashi's mood had been somewhat dismal when they arrived back at his apartment. Sakura needed to lighten the atmosphere around them, forcing the mirth back into his tone by attacking him with tickling fingers. Although he quickly captured her hands in his, she grinned happily, laying her head on his shoulder, tucking her head just beneath his chin.
"Gomen," she whispered. "I just wanted to hear you laugh again. Those villagers haven't the faintest idea of what they're talking about, Kakashi. Who cares if they don't exactly approve of what's happening between us?"
"I don't want to be the ruin of your reputation, Sakura," he said softly. "I can handle whatever they say about me, but if ever they start verbally attacking you…" His voice drifted off, and he grew pensive, staring off into space.
"Kakashi," she sighed, but he said nothing in reply, lost in his thoughts. She shifted slightly, her hands moving to his headband protector, but before she could lift it, he paused her movement. "Please," she implored, "don't hide behind your mask with me when we're like this. I want to see you." She smirked slightly. "Especially since you ate so fast at dinner that I missed out again." He grinned beneath his mask, removing his hand from hers as she lifted his headband protector off his head, her fingers tingling with excitement as they brushed against his rather silky hair. Her hands made their way to his mask, and they gazed deeply into each others eyes, both their hearts bursting with a passion neither had ever felt before. She slowly began to lower his mask from his face-
"SAKURA!" A violent shaking of her shoulders snapped her out of her unbidden memory, and alarmed, her head jerked right, then left, seeing a swarm of concerned faces hovering above her. She quickly closed her eyes tightly, trying to hold on to the swiftly vanishing wisps of images that sputtered like a dying flame left in the wind.
"No!" she cried out, pulling away from the many arms that tried to hold onto her, and she grabbed her head in frustration, coaxing her mind to give her the vision again, but it was rapidly fading, and all she could see behind her closed lids was darkness. Sobbing, she opened her eyes, glaring angrily at the people around her, and she slowly drew herself up onto unsteady feet.
"What happened, Sakura?" her fiancé, Kazuki, questioned urgently, clutching her in his arms as if she were a frightened child, but she angrily pushed him away.
"I saw something, Kazuki," she said, breathing heavily, searching the room frantically until her eyes landed on Kakashi. "You…you…" She shut her eyes desperately, but the images were completely erased, hiding within the depths of her mind's many layers.
"What did you see, Sakura?" Kakashi asked, his voice calm and gentle, the former rage no longer evident in his tone.
"I…it's gone," she sighed heavily in defeat. "For one second, it was there, b-but…" Kazuki, unfazed by her sudden tantrum, took her in his arms again, ignoring the death glares that Kakashi shot in his direction.
"Shh, you need rest," he advised, before looking to Tsunade-sama. "Give her some time before you ask her to reveal her story to them," he said, spitting out the last word like a disease. "She's not ready yet." Sakura paid no heed to his words, keeping her eyes fixed on Kakashi, and she furrowed her brows, struggling with her mind, but it remained sealed, deflecting her attempts to break open its secrets.
"Very well," Tsunade agreed, before turning to Kakashi, Sasuke and Naruto. "I'll escort them personally to her former home, as no one lives there now. I'll summon you three when the time comes." They knew it was more of an order than a suggestion, and the three acquiesced without verbal complaint.
Kakashi trained his eye on Sakura as she walked out of the room with Kazuki and Tsunade, and restrained the massive longing within his crying soul to chase after them. The helplessness he felt when watching Sakura walk away, still very much alive, tore through the protective wall he had built around his heart over the past five years, ripping his heart's tender flesh into a bloody pulp of mangled tissue.
It was then that he realized that death was much more benevolent.
TBC…
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