Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto.

Author's Note: Once again, a big thank you to my readers, especially those who've been more than enthusiastic in encouraging me to continue with this fic. This chapter has a few changes...especially with the implied relationship between Ino and Shikamaru. In the original version that I had posted previously, I had made it quite clear that Ino and Shikamaru were married, but with this second edit, I've made their relationship more ambiguous.

Never Forgotten
By: JDArc


Despite her frenzied efforts, Sakura could not dispel Sasuke from her mind, even when Kazuki began to quietly strip away her clothes.


Chapter Four: Déjà Vu

Tsunade gazed up at the stone carvings of the former Hokages, and she frowned slightly at the latest addition of her face. The sculptors were still there, trying their best to 'capture her youthful essence,' as she had put it, since they had failed in doing so the first few times around. "Make sure you correct that line right there by the left eye!" she called out to the men. "I don't have wrinkles there!"

Mornings never really put her in a good mood, but accepting the title of Hokage meant getting up at the crack of dawn, even when she wanted to sleep in. She yawned loudly, waving her hand over her mouth as she did so before moving her fingers over her eyes to wipe away the yawn-induced tears that subsequently followed. It was the 7th yawn in the past five minutes, and she strongly debated whether or not to go back to bed as she stretched out her arms above her head, her tired eyes following the men high above on the rock. Her left hand slipped into her pocket, finding another poker chip there, and she pulled it out, twiddling it between her fingers as she sighed. Being Hokage also meant spending less time on one of her favorite activities, and she strongly wished that she could just take one day off to gamble just a tiny bit.

As her thoughts roamed over to her poker days, a bout of smoke appeared behind her, and she turned around smirking. "Mornin', Kakashi-kun," she greeted even before the smoke cleared away to reveal the Jounin.

"Good morning, Hokage-sama," he replied with the slight bow of his head.

"It's rather early, don't you think?" she questioned with one eyebrow raised, and he merely shrugged.

"I couldn't exactly sleep much last night," he confessed nonchalantly. "Had a lot of things on my mind-"

"Ah, Sakura-san," she cut in, and he shifted uncomfortably on his feet.

"That obvious, is it?" he said without much mirth, and Tsunade sighed again, shaking her head.

"She's standing right behind you," the Hokage muttered amusedly, moving over to welcome the young woman as Kakashi turned abruptly, once again glad that the mask he wore covered his crimson cheeks. Sakura's jade green eyes met his for one uneasy moment, and Kakashi gulped, frozen in place by the reality that she was really there with him, that she was alive and well, and this time, the man that had escorted her yesterday was not present. Breathe, he urged himself silently. Just breathe.

"Good morning, Kakashi-san," she said softly, her cheeks flushing prettily. "It seems that Hokage-sama was telling the truth yesterday of my being a Jounin. You didn't hear me approach."

"Hai," he nodded, his voice sounding coarse as if he hadn't used it in years. "You hadn't remembered that as well?" Sakura shook her head, an even deeper shade of pink slowly spreading across her face.

"Hokage-sama told me a few things last night t-that surprised me…" Her voice faded as she shyly looked away from him, using her long hair to her advantage as she swiftly hid her expression behind a curtain of pink tresses.

"Ah," he said, understanding her discomfort, and he looked helplessly to Tsunade, not knowing what to say next.

"This is perfect, actually," Tsunade said, a sly smirk on her face, and Kakashi tensed, knowing that that look meant nothing good.

"What is, Hokage-sama?" Sakura questioned, sweetly ignorant, painfully reminding Kakashi of what exactly he had lost when he thought he had lost her. The pang in his heart stabbed further into his chest as he studied Sakura's face, one that he had memorized every tiny detail of, and knowing that she was still unaware of how deeply they felt for each other burned him more than he cared to show to the rest of the world.

"Last night, I asked you to come back to my office this morning so that I would have been able to tell you a little more of your past," Tsunade began. "I was going to then ask one of your former teammates to escort you around town to reacquaint you with places and people from your past, but now that Kakashi-kun is here, it seems that my job will be far easier than I had anticipated."

"Hm?" Kakashi's visible eye widened at what Tsunade implied, but he was still having a little trouble digesting the information of spending the day, a whole day, with Sakura.

"I apologize, Sakura-san, but I'm more busy than I thought I would be this morning," Tsunade continued, sending Kakashi a furtive wink, "but I don't think Kakashi would mind giving you the tour of Konoha, would you Kakashi-sensei?" Kakashi found himself giving them a confirming nod, although Sakura's panicked expression made him suspect she was about to protest against the arrangement.

"I wouldn't mind," he answered softly, "but it seems as if Sakura-san would be uncomfortable with-"

"Nonsense," Tsunade interrupted, giving them both a huge smile. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have important business to attend to." As she turned away, she whispered in a lower tone to Kakashi, "It's your chance to reawaken her memories, Kakashi-kun. I don't like that fiancé of hers; he's a rather suspicious fellow." He started at her words, but she waved him away, and said, "Explanations later." In a louder tone, she waved at the two, calling out, "Have fun!" before bringing her attention back to the carving of her stone face.

Kakashi and Sakura looked at each other for another uncomfortable moment, and he uncharacteristically gave a nervous chuckle.

"Well, uhm…should we start, then?" he said, fumbling for words, and when she nodded, he walked ahead of her, leading her down the stairs and out of the building. His heart pounding, Kakashi was well aware of her walking only a few steps behind him, and his thoughts went back to the days when he used to be her sensei, leading her and the rest of Team 7 out on their missions. He suddenly felt old, knowing that she was no longer the girl that had cared only for Sasuke's affections; she was now a grown woman, one that he still loved dearly, and yet, she had him feeling like a young, adolescent boy out on his first date. He didn't know exactly what to say to her or how to act around her, and above all, he was self-conscious as he felt her green eyes bore into the back of his head in an intense gaze, as if staring at him hard enough would help her figure out what part he played in her missing past.

"Uhm…" Her uncertain voice drew him out of his thoughts, and he stopped in his tracks to look back at her, his breath catching in his throat as he saw that her blush never left her face, and she turned even more red at his attention to her. Out of habit, he almost reached for her hand, but when her eyes widened, he froze suddenly before bringing his hand back to his side.

"Sorry," Kakashi muttered in a low voice, turning away from her. "What was it that you wanted to say...?"

"It must be hard for you," she said just as softly. "I-I can't even imagine what it would feel like…"

"...Yeah."

"In all honesty, I-I w-was about to object to…to t-this," she said, flustered. "It wasn't because I didn't want to, b-but…you just s-seem so…upset when I'm near." He snapped his head to gaze at her, and she stammered even more. "I-I know that t-that was probably very presumptuous of me-"

"I wouldn't call it 'upset,'" he cut in, continuing to walk in the way that they were headed to before, and he heard her pattering footsteps as she quickly got over her shock to catch up with him. She now walked by his side, refusing to fall behind him.

"Where are we going to first?" she inquired, gazing up at him.

"The Academy," he answered, well aware that as they continued to walk down the streets, they encountered numerous stares, and even a few people pointed rudely in their direction, and at first, it unnerved the pink-haired woman. As he snuck a glance at her, however, he saw the insecurity in her expression melt away to that of determination, and her steely eyes met every glance that was shot their way. It was almost as if Kakashi were reliving the moment six years back when they had first started their relationship, when Sakura had proudly held his hand in public for the first time, challenging those who opposed it to step forward, which no one did.

A lump arose in his throat once again, and he pretended to cough when she suddenly glanced up at him. She took note of the tiny blush that could still be seen just under his exposed eye, and without warning, she felt her stomach do a tiny flip flop as she watched him. Why does this feel so familiar? she thought to herself as she watched him. It's like…

"This happened before," she said mostly to herself as her right hand drifted to rest on her abdomen.

"What?" The disbelief in Kakashi's voice was unmistakable, and Sakura grinned slightly, pointing to her stomach.

"It's just that…I feel sorta funny," she explained as they neared a building with a large Konoha emblem plastered above the entrance. "Like I have a stomachache or something." Kakashi jolted to a stop at her words as he stared at her in alarm, his heart racing a thousand beats per minute. It was as if their relationship were repeating itself over again, and he felt a bit faint from the overwhelming desire building inside of him to take her in his arms and beg her to remember, to force her memories back into her mind. He wanted nothing more than to erase all the pain and loneliness that had consumed him in the period of time that they had been separated, and nothing more would heal him than to have her love him again. Her words, the same words she had used long ago, were bringing back those times he had been most happy, reminding him of all the joy that he had held within his grasp, only to have it all swept away.

Sakura looked at him apprehensively as she drew close to him, and only then did he realize that a tear had escaped his eye and had made it's way down his cheek, slightly dampening his mask, and he cleared his throat as he swiftly wiped the wet trail away.

"Have I said anything wrong…?" she asked tentatively, concern written clearly in her eyes, and he shook his head, suddenly aware of how close they really were. He could see every fleck of blue that managed to slip into the green of her eyes, and he could feel his entire attitude softened as he studied the gentle curves of her face.

Sakura knew her heart was thumping madly within her chest, but no matter what she did, she couldn't calm down its incessant beats to a normal pace. It was as if she was suddenly back in Tsunade's office, wanting to do anything to heal the suffering that the man in front of her emitted, and despite what her mind was telling her, she knew that there was something there that she was missing, something that was desperately trying to reconnect the severed bond that she had shared with Kakashi. Looking into the only eye he had left uncovered, it was hard for her to deny that this man was still in love with her. The message screamed clearly in the way he was desperately trying to restrain himself from doing anything drastic to scare her away.

As if her body were also imploring her to remember Kakashi, a sharp pain began to throb within her stomach, spreading throughout her limbs before reaching her face, causing her to twitch her lips into a trembling frown. "I don't know why…" she stammered as she blinked her eyes to clear them from the blur that distorted her vision, "b-but, seeing you like this…it hurts…" A tear fell, then two, and suddenly, she was sobbing, crying out as a tortuous sting exploded all over her body, electrifying all her nerves. She threw herself against him, clinging onto him as she gritted her teeth to take the pain. As soon as her arms had wrapped themselves securely around the startled man, her mind throbbed madly as if it were pulsing to the beat of her heart, and she bit back a yelp, knowing that the physical contact between Kakashi and herself had called upon another forgotten memory…


"I-I love you," Sakura admitted cautiously to Kakashi, and she waited patiently for him to say something in return, studying his face for any reaction…any at all. But when he didn't respond, the sting of rejection hit her full force, and she looked away from him, attempting to control her emotions long enough to do some damage control. She didn't want their friendship to disappear, especially since theirs was one that had taken years to grow. As much as she wanted to convince herself that this was something she could get over quickly, her heart was telling her otherwise as it pounded painfully, internally weeping the tears that she refused to shed at that moment. She opened her mouth, willing for words to come out. She didn't care what she said as long as she puzzled him long enough for her to escape without him speaking words of consolation. She didn't want to hear his apologies for not feeling the same.

"I know it's foolish of me," she began to babble, "but after all these years together, I couldn't help but admire you. It hasn't been until recently that I'd realized that my admiration had grown into something more, but I was too blinded with my attraction to Sasuke to fully understand what had happened. I'd fallen in love with you without recognizing what I was feeling, and I just passed it off as an upset stomach, because every time I was near you, my stomach would react, making me feel all funny. Haha, isn't that amusing? You give me stomachaches! Haha, and I haven't even seen what you really look like yet, oh, not t-that that matters really. It doesn't really change how I feel." She knew her cheeks were about to explode from the amount of heat that had built up in her face from sheer humiliation, but she was stammering at an uncontrollable rate, unable to stop herself from speaking. "Uhm…I don't know why I'm saying all this. Haha! I guess I just expected much more after disclosing my feelings, but obviously you don't feel the same way, so I should go now and stop embarrassing myself any further-" She attempted to walk away when he finally spoke.

"Sakura." Her knees nearly gave away at the sound of her name on his lips, and she closed her eyes for a brief second, cherishing the way he pronounced every syllable. His voice was so beautiful, bringing tears to her eyes, but she held them in check. 'I'm a Jounin!' she thought hotly to herself. 'A shinobi never shows emotion! But that doesn't stop the hurting…'

"You don't have to make me feel better, sensei," Sakura continued in an uneven tone, desperately trying to control her pain. "I'm perfectly fine, don't worry about me-"

'Please don't worry about me,' she thought silently. 'It'll only make this harder than it should be. Please, Kakashi, don't feel sorry for me…'

"Sakura," he repeated, this time moving closer to her, and with one arm extended, he took her hand in his.

'Oh. My. God. He's touching me!' Inner Sakura screamed. 'He's touching me, he's touching me, Oh. My. God, he's touching me! HELL YEAH!' Her excited thoughts nearly drowned out the rest of Kakashi's words, but she strained her ears to catch them as she snapped her head up to look at him, giving him her undivided attention.

"I don't know exactly what I'm feeling, but we could give this a try, ne?"

"Really, sensei…?" she whispered in disbelief, and he chuckled again, shaking his head at her befuddled expression.

"You can start by calling me Kakashi," he said with a grin. "You're no longer my subordinate…You haven't been for a while."

"Kakashi," she muttered, wiping her tears away with the back of her free hand. "I-I don't know what to say-." At that moment, Kakashi enveloped her in his embrace, and she wanted to weep at how perfectly well they fit each other.

"There's no need to say anything," he replied simply, lightly nudging her nose with his covered one. "Sometimes words are inadequate at times like these." She nodded and smiled, and he lowered himself back onto the grass, pulling her along with him. Sakura settled against him in a comfortable position, as if she had always known all along how to do so. They sat together in blissful silence and watched the sky change from a warm orange to a gentle lavender as the sun began to dip below the horizon.

"How do you think the boys will react to this?" she inquired, and Kakashi shrugged, concentrating on their entwined fingers.

"They'll accept it," he said. "Not quietly, but they'll accept it."


As the thoughts faded, Sakura could hear a soft, comfortable tone whispering in her ear, and as the rest of her mind settled back to the present, she became aware of the strong arms that held her steady on her feet, and beneath her cheek, she could feel the excited pounding of a resilient heart. She straightened up, opening her eyes to gaze into Kakashi's face, and with the gentle curves of the mask, she could tell he was smiling softly at her.

"Kakashi," she murmured back to him, lines etching her forehead as she furrowed her brow. "A…A memory came to me, b-but because I wasn't startled out of it, I remember it clearly this time around."

"What was it?" His insecurity slipped into his voice as she pulled away from him wearily.

"It was when I had first told you a-about h-how I felt about you," she whispered, looking away. "The images were so real, so vivid. Watching the memory almost felt as if it were only yesterday…" Her voice trailed off, and she looked back up at him, frowning. "I didn't expect that I'd remember anything like that so soon-"

"S-Sakura!" a high-pitched squeal came from the building in front of them, and the two Jounins looked over to the entrance where a tall blond woman had exited from, her crystalline blue eyes wide with disbelief. A second later, a man followed her out of the building, a scowl on his face as he sighed.

"Ino, what are you doing, stopping in the middle of the doorway just like that?" he questioned, highly irritated. "I almost bumped into you-"

"Sakura, is it…really you?" the woman, Ino, called out, jogging over to where Sakura and Kakashi stood, and although the blond stopped a few feet away, her eyes were visibly glassy as she stared at the pink-haired woman. Sakura stared at her a moment, slightly tilting her head to the side as she studied the other woman, narrowing her eyes as she tried to remember her face.

"Sakura?" The man who had been scowling seconds before was now standing next to the blond, gazing at Sakura with the same amazed expression.

"I'm sorry, but-" Sakura began.

"Ino, Shikamaru, she doesn't remember anything past five years ago," Kakashi interrupted bluntly. "It's a long story-"

"B-but…we thought you died!" Ino cried out, obviously not having heard Kakashi as she embraced Sakura, weeping heavily on her shoulder. "Sakura, what happened to you? I thought you to be dead, e-even though it was hard to believe at the time-"

"Ino," Shikamaru tried to cut in.

"-and I was having so much trouble accepting the fact that you were gone, but you're here, you're actually here!" She continued to babble as Sakura stood stiffly underneath her embrace, visibly uncomfortable. "You don't understand how much we've all missed you, Sakura-"

"Ino!" Shikamaru said a little louder, but to no effect.

"-why haven't you kept in touch if you had been alive this whole time?" Ino drew back, finally taking a breath as she held Sakura at an arm's length away, gazing into Sakura's confused expression.

"Ino!" Kakashi and Shikamaru bellowed simultaneously, finally drawing her attention away from the trembling Sakura.

"What?"

"She doesn't remember anything," Kakashi repeated with a sigh, and Ino recoiled sharply away from him.

"What do you mean?" she said, turning her tearful gaze back to Sakura.

"It's a long story, but it involves that mission five years ago," Kakashi explained. "Something happened when her team was attacked, and her opponent managed to erase her memory with a powerful genjutsu. She's been living in the Hidden Cloud Village since, before she discovered a token from her past that led her back here to Konoha."

"So, you don't recognize me…or Shikamaru?" Ino said, her face crumpling once more, and Sakura shook her head sadly, her own eyes tearing up.

"No, I don't," she whispered in response, "but your name is familiar to me…Ino." She gave the blond a small smile. "I found a diary in my former room, and the first entry mentioned you. My best friend, right?" Ino nodded, frowning. "If we were best friends before, then we can be best friends again…ne?" Sakura smiled wider this time until Ino returned the favor with a smile of her own, and instead of hugging her again, Ino settled for a handshake, as if to seal the deal.

"Of course, Sakura," she said warmly, and Shikamaru gently grabbed a hold of Ino's hand, diverting her attention.

"Maybe we shouldn't bombard her with so many questions right now," he advised, his eyes softening at the amazement in Ino's expression as she gazed at Sakura. "It might be too much for her to handle." Ino slowly nodded in agreement, and when she turned back to Kakashi and Sakura she smiled wider.

"We have to go check on our Genin teams," she said apologetically. "We just stopped by the Academy to pick up a few scrolls, and our kids get impatient when we're late." Her eyes misted slightly as she added,"There are two girls, one on each of our teams, that remind us of how we used to be, Sakura." She shook her head to herself, as if to clear her thoughts. "We should catch up soon, ne?"

"Ino…" Sakura felt her shoulders droop as she watched the other woman walk away with Shikamaru trailing behind her, and she only broke her gaze when she felt Kakashi's hand on her back, gently pushing her forward into the building.

"Come," he said simply, and she nodded as she followed him.

The long corridor looked vaguely familiar, and as she gazed up studying the walls and ceiling, she nearly bumped into Kakashi when he had stopped abruptly in front of her. He was peering into a classroom, and he motioned for her to step inside with him. She did so with caution, but was relieved to see that it was empty, and he watched her as she tentatively studied her surroundings. He leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed over his chest, wondering if the classroom was going to jolt another memory from her suppressed mind.

"Is anything coming to you, Sakura?" he questioned her, and she circled around, her eyes narrowing, before she looked back at him and shook her head. However, the sight of Kakashi in the doorway standing as he was made her stiffen, and her mind released an image, though this time, she was ready for the slight physical pain that she now knew was part of recovering her memories.

Her eyes grew wide as she stared at him for a faded picture of a chalkboard eraser falling onto his head played in her mind, and she let out a giggle and closed her eyes, fully allowing herself to delve into the memory.

"It was here, wasn't it?" she whispered after a minute, her eyes still closed. "We first met here, and that loud blond kid played that trick on you, with the eraser!" She opened her eyes, only to discover that Kakashi had moved closer, standing now only a few feet away. The gentle way the cloth on his face curved upward indicated that he was smiling, and she smiled back, a bubbling energy bursting within her. Remembering even the smallest memories was beginning to excite her, and with a lump in her throat, it began to fully hit her that she was finally discovering her past and a sense of who she had been. Tears prickled the corners of her eyes as she let out a joyous laugh, and she sprinted forward, hugging Kakashi in the process.

"Sakura…?" he whispered so softly, though speaking volumes of hope at the same time.

"It's just…I'm now getting to see a past that I'd wondered about for the past few years," she answered. "Puzzle pieces are starting to fit together, and it makes me so happy to see that there really is a place that I once truly belonged to…" Her voice faded away and she gulped, realizing that another one of her spontaneous movements had brought Kakashi and herself physically closer. His face was only a few inches away from hers as he looked down at her, and she blushed but didn't pull away. She wasn't about to deny how right it felt when he held her, how she almost knew that their bodies were meant to fit together so perfectly. She realized guiltily that she never felt this complete when Kazuki held her.

"Even after all this time…" Kakashi's voice had grown soft and husky, and he hesitated, unsure of whether or not he should continue.

"…Yes?" Sakura encouraged, unable to pull herself away from him.

"I still love you, Sakura," he whispered. "Being this close to you again, it's almost like I'm dreaming-" He abruptly cut himself off and closed his eye before pulling away from her. "I shouldn't have said that to you so soon," he continued, breathing heavily as he turned away to face the doorway. "We should go-"

"Wait!" she demanded as he started to walk away. "Don't you think what I said to Ino applies to you as well, Kakashi?"

"What was that?" he said, still not turning around to face her.

"If it happened before, it can happen again," she said evenly.

"Things are different for us now," Kakashi sighed, turning to finally look at her. "You have a fiancé and are to be married soon-"

"But you're different from Kazuki," she blurted out. "I guess I mostly stayed with him because I was so grateful that he saved my life and allowed me to live with him when I didn't know anyone. After five years together, I couldn't help but love him." Her lips trembled nervously, as if trying to stop from blurting out deep secrets she kept to herself, but she continued. "But there was always something missing, and lately, even before I came here, I've been wondering about my relationship with him, about why I stayed with him, about why I accepted his marriage proposal even when I wasn't completely sure I wanted to marry him." Kakashi could feel his heart racing with each line of her impromptu confession, and he dared not say a word for fear she would stop speaking if he did. "It was as if I only did what I thought I was supposed to do," she said. She struggled for what to say next, and when she couldn't find the words, she merely shrugged in defeat. "And now that I'm here, I don't know what I'm supposed to do anymore."

"Don't force yourself," Kakashi said after a few moments. "Don't let my feelings for you interrupt what you came here for. Forget what I said earlier-"

"I've done enough forgetting as it is," she replied hotly. "I owe it to myself and to my past not to do anymore of that."

"I'm sorry," he said, shaking his head, as if to berate himself.

"Don't be," she sighed.

"We should get going," Kakashi muttered, desperately wanting to change the subject. He knew he wasn't emotionally ready to discuss their past relationship just yet. "There are still many places that we should visit-"

"I want to see your face," Sakura cut in, not making any effort to follow Kakashi out of the door. "I want to see what you look like without the mask. I want to see just you."

"No," he said firmly, crossing his arms over his chest. "Now, let's go-"

"No," she shot back at him, her eyes full of defiance. "I'll only leave if you let me see your face-"

"No."

"Then we're not leaving."

"That's fine," he sighed, walking back into the classroom and sitting at one of the desks. "I'll just wait here until you change your mind."

"I won't."

"You will," he said in full confidence, irritating her even more, but before she could say another word, he whipped out a book from out of the kunai holster he had tied to his leg. Her mouth dropped open in shock as he opened to a page he had bookmarked, and her eyes widened when she read the title of the book. Her cheeks flushed, but he made no movement as he calmly and quietly read.

"Y-you actually read that filth?" she stammered incredulously. "'Come Come Paradise Volume 20?'"

"One of our personal favorites," he said, and if he hadn't been wearing his mask, Sakura could have sworn he was smirking at her.

"Ex-excuse me!" she shrieked at him, blushing hotly when he pointed to a spot on the page.

"This one particular story actually gave us a few ideas," he continued nonchalantly, enjoying her reactions. "The descriptions were-"

"I've he-heard enough!" she yelped as she ran out the door quite clumsily, and when he heard the sound of heavy scrolls hitting the floor accompanied by a girlish cry of pain, he shook his head, tucked his book back into his holster, and walked out into the hallway to help her.

Sakura, however, was already on her feet, helping Uchiha Sasuke pick up the scrolls he had dropped when she had run into him in the hallway. Kakashi's heart sank when a familiar look took possession of Sakura's face, one that she had always worn years ago when she and Sasuke had been together. However, it wasn't so much Sakura's reaction that bothered Kakashi.

It was Sasuke's.


TBC…