DISCLAIMER: I don't know own Naruto! Kishimoto-sensei is the genius behind it all.
Never Forgotten
By: JDArc
© 2004 by Valerie Royo
"Why is it so important that you see my face?" he inquired, raising his one visible eyebrow.
"It's just…I-I…you…well…" Her voice trailed off as she looked completely stumped. "I don't really know," she finally answered, sighing in defeat.
"Good, since that's settled, let's go to Ichiraku," he said, turning on his heel and walking away.
"What for?" she questioned as she hurried to his side, and if he hadn't had his mask, she could have sworn he was smirking at her.
"It's time to reacquaint you with Naruto-kun," he said pleasantly.
Chapter Six: Separation
Ichiraku wasn't as busy as usual when Kakashi and Sakura made their way into the quaint ramen stand, but what was normal was the shinobi who occupied his regular seat. It was the blond who had nearly jumped on her the night she had arrived in Konoha, and although he had frightened her with his straight-forwardness, he now seemed at ease and extremely calm. On his face was a look of pure ecstasy as he slurped his noodles into his mouth, and Sakura looked questioningly to Kakashi as he took a seat next to him.
"Ramen for breakfast again?" Kakashi greeted, startling the blond from the tiny world of bliss he had delved into the moment the ramen had been placed in front of him.
"Hi, Kakashi-sensei!" he replied, grinning broadly. "I have no idea what you're talking about. It's almost lunchtime!" Sensing another presence, Naruto turned around and let out a happy screech. "SAKURA-CHAN!" He jumped up quickly, a splitting image of last night's performance, and before she could protest, he had dragged her down into the seat on his right before sitting back down between Sakura and Kakashi. Calling an attendant, he ordered two more bowls of miso ramen for his companions, and he looked so happy that Sakura couldn't find it on her heart to deny him company for lunch and simply smiled at his exuberance. He had been too much to handle the night before, but she felt more at ease, now that the atmosphere was much more casual.
"You must be Naruto-kun, I take it?" Sakura began, and for a moment, Naruto appeared confused before realization set in, and he nodded.
"Yeah," he said sheepishly. "I forgot about your forgetting your memories for a moment, heh. It almost felt like old times…" He let out a nervous chuckle as he went back to digging into his ramen. It was odd to see a person he had grown up with look at him as if he were just another stranger, and he almost wanted her to smack him on the head like she used to, just to bring back the familiarity between them.
Noting the quick change in his attitude, Sakura felt the corners of her lips turn downward, feeling quite guilty about bringing the disappointment to his face. Though she had only really met him, his discomfort did not suit his lively persona one bit.
"I'm sorry," she apologized softly. "I keep upsetting people because of what happened-"
"No, no, don't worry about it!" he cut in, immediately forcing a smile onto his face. "There's nothing to be sorry about, Sakura-chan! Heh, so you've forgotten a few memories. We can still help you make new ones, right, Kakashi-sensei?" He turned to Kakashi who just nodded in reply.
"Were you always this optimistic?" Sakura questioned, finding herself smiling back at him.
"Of course!" he laughed. "There's no use in being down all the time, now is there?" Just then, the ramen arrived, and he motioned for her to dig in right away.
She picked up her chopsticks, but a thought wheedled its way into her mind, and she stared to her left past Naruto to Kakashi. There's absolutely NO WAY he can eat with that mask on! she thought with a grin, as she brought the noodles to her lips. She leaned closer to the counter, keeping her eyes on Kakashi the entire time, paying no heed to the steam coming from her bowl.
Kakashi snapped his chopsticks apart, before bringing a hand to the top of his mask, and Sakura could feel her heart hammering away in excitement, though she wasn't so sure what exactly she was expecting to see. 'C'mon, Sakura, get it together!' Inner Sakura commanded. 'If he was so hot, why the hell would he be wearing a mask in the first place! He must be hideous!' Despite how much sense that made, she felt doubtful that there was truth to it.
"Sakura, I'm glad you find me so irresistible and charming that you can't keep your eyes off me, but your ramen will get cold if you don't eat it up soon." She blinked as Kakashi stared back at her expectantly, his mask still in place. She looked away, blushing profusely, and quickly stuffed a few noodles into her mouth, surprised at how tasty the ramen actually was, but no matter what she did to distract herself from Kakashi, she could feel his intense stare on her as she ate.
Naruto looked back and forth between the two, but didn't pay any mind as he continued to eat merrily, hoping that after a full stomach, Sakura would be more talkative. There was so much he wanted to say to her, to tell her, and he was also more than willing to listen to her story of what had happened to her in the past five years. He was so happy to have one of his best friends back, even if she didn't quite remember him, but the tension going on between Kakashi and Sakura would have to be solved somehow if they were to have a normal conversation together. However, things only got worse.
"Sakura!" An agitated man stood just behind them as Sakura swiveled her chair around, and it took her a second to realize who it was.
"Kazuki!" she yelped, immediately jumping to her feet. "Wh-what are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same thing!" he retorted, crossing over to her angrily. "You left no note, no clue as to where you'd be!" He drew her into a tight embrace, which made Naruto want to vomit his newly digested lunch, and he glanced nervously to Kakashi, who appeared to be faring well, despite what was playing out before them. "I've been wandering around the town looking for you! I didn't know what could have happened."
"I'm sorry to have worried you." Sakura's voice was muffled as she was pressed against his chest, and she sighed inwardly at how it seemed she was always apologizing.
"There's no need to worry about her here in Konoha," Kakashi spoke up from his seat, and Kazuki released Sakura as he stared down her former fiancé. "Sakura's a capable Jounin-"
"Even so, she hasn't trained in years!" Kazuki fired back, placing a protective arm over her shoulders. "What if she had met someone unpleasant-"
"Actually, she had, and her opponent received quite a beating," Kakashi relayed with a grin, thinking of how easily Sakura knocked out Naoko, a Chuunin. "Trust me, Sakura knows how to take care of herself. Besides, nothing would have happened to her since I was with her-"
"What the hell were you doing with him!" Kazuki shot out to Sakura, suspicion screaming in his tone. "You leave me early in the morning to go on a secret rendezvous with this masked freak-"
"Hey, wait a minute-!" Naruto sputtered and was clearly offended on Kakashi's behalf.
"I went to see Hokage-sama!" Sakura defended, her face red with her growing anger. "Don't you remember what she said last night? She wanted to see me this morning, so I left to go to her office. She was going to call Naruto-kun or Sasuke-kun to take me around the village so I could reacquaint myself with everyone from my past! Kakashi-san just happened to be there, and she thought it would be better if I just went with him, since we were on the same team after all-"
"Like he didn't plan it that way," he sneered in Kakashi's direction, and grew even more annoyed when his aggravation had no effect on Kakashi whatsoever.
"He was surprised to see me there, so it's obvious he didn't!" she stated, her eyes narrowing dangerously.
"I don't want to see you with him, Sakura," Kazuki growled in a low voice. "He's up to no good-"
"You don't even know him!" Sakura screeched as Kakashi restrained Naruto from jumping up and giving her fiancé a good punch to the face.
"And you do?" Kazuki scoffed. "You can't even remember a goddamn thing-" Sakura slapped him across the cheek, her palm stinging from the impact, and he stared at her, surprised more at her strength than at her reaction.
"That was low, even for you," she whispered, holding back her tears. "It's not my fault I lost my memory, so don't you dare insult me about it! I'm having a difficult time as it is, and I especially don't need you to make things harder than they should be." Disgusted and above all, completely hurt, she backed away from him before returning to her seat next to Naruto. "Just leave, Kazuki."
"Sakura-"
"LEAVE!" She gripped her chopsticks tightly in her hand, refusing to look at him. "I thought that you'd be more understanding of what I need to go through, but if you're going to act like this, then I don't want to see you right now."
"Sakura…" Kazuki started, but when she didn't reply, he sighed, his shoulders slumping. "I'll wait for you back at your house, then." Without another word, he was gone in a puff of smoke.
"WHY DO YOU STAY WITH THAT IDIOT, SAKURA-CHAN!" Naruto growled out, finally releasing the frustration he had been feeling throughout their argument. "He ain't nothin' but a whiny, wannabe-Sasuke-lookalike bastard!" Sakura shot him a sad smile, wondering how in the world she could have forgotten someone like Naruto. She was sure that if Kakashi hadn't been there to hold him back, Naruto would have been running his mouth off at her fiancé, and she knew that the situation would have been far worse than it had been.
"There used to be many reasons, Naruto-kun," Sakura answered slowly. "Now, I'm not so sure. Ever since we arrived in Konoha, he's been a little jumpy-"
"If he EVER does anything to you like that again, I swear I'll make sure-" Kakashi gave Naruto a warning glare, "-Kakashi-sensei kicks his ass for you." He grew pensive as he studied her lack of reaction and frowned. "Sakura-chan?"
She didn't reply as her face contorted in pain, her chopsticks snapping in half beneath the pressure of her tightening fist.
"Sakura!" Alarmed, Kakashi was at her side in an instant and supported her as she nearly toppled over from the intensity of the upcoming memory.
"Is Sakura okay?" Naruto's voice was low as he stared on, grabbing onto Sakura's free hand and nearly yelped at her tightening grip.
"A memory is coming back," Kakashi muttered, never taking his eyes off of her. "Sometimes when one is so intense, it becomes physically painful for her." He glanced at the man over the counter who had paused momentarily to watch the drama with Kazuki, and he was now looking on in worry at the trembling woman. "Please, have a glass of water ready," Kakashi nearly barked, and the man scurried to complete the task.
Sakura sat by the window, watching as snow began to drift down from the skies, and she sighed in contentment, nursing a cup of steaming hot chocolate in her hands. Her ankle was still a bit swollen from her last mission, and the cold weather did nothing to make it feel better.
"I wonder when Kakashi will be back," she muttered idly to herself, bringing her mug to her lips, and in an instance, hands were over her eyes. She grinned against the rim of her mug before lowering it. "You know I hate when you sneak up on me like that, Kakashi." He removed his hands as she turned her head to look at him with a smile, making room for him on the couch as he carefully took a seat next to her.
"Is your ankle still bothering you?" he asked, studying her feet as she perched them across his lap.
"Just a bit, but it's almost healed," she answered and looked at him affectionately as he began to message the offending ankle. She closed her eyes in contentment as his hands moved up her calf before venturing further up her body. A giggle escaped her lips as she opened her eyes to find him already positioning himself on top of her. "You move quick, don't you?"
"You can blame it on my training as a shinobi," he answered back, nuzzling his nose against her neck before reaching out to remove her cup of chocolate out of her hands. Quickly placing it on the coffee table a few feet away, he returned to his former position, paying particular attention to the sensitive skin of her ear, enjoying the quick inhalations of breath that he knew he was causing her to take.
"Kakashi, do you think we should do this so soon after last night…and the nights before?" she asked as she opened her eyes to look at him, her cheeks growing red.
"Don't tell me you don't enjoy it?"
"It's not that, and you know it."
"Oh good, because Jiraiya-sama came out with another Volume that we could look at-"
"What I meant was, I could get pregnant, especially after these past couple of weeks, and we haven't exactly been careful-"
"Pregnant?" Kakashi repeated, never losing focus on his actions. "Would it really be that bad?" His reply made Sakura stiffen for a moment before she paused his movements, forcing him to look at her.
"You wouldn't mind having a child?" Sakura pressed on, and Kakashi was silent for a moment as he contemplated his answer.
"Sakura, I love you," he started, "and you love me, and we've been together for a while. And we're happy, right?"
"Yes, that's right," she said blankly, wondering why he was stating the obvious.
"So…?" He studied her as if waiting for an answer.
"I don't understand what you're getting at," Sakura giggled, shaking her head. "You always go explaining things in a roundabout way."
"I guess this is my inarticulate way of asking you to marry me," he said nonchalantly as he continued his exploration of her body. "Starting a family with you isn't a bad idea at all-"
"Wait…" Sakura stopped his movements once more as she straightened up a bit. "Did you just ask me to marry you, Kakashi?"
"Yeah," he answered sheepishly. "You don't have to answer right away, you know-" Sakura felt her eyes begin to tear up as she wrapped her arms tighter around him, and her hands slowly loosened the headband protector from his head and she dropped it unceremoniously to the floor. She then cupped his cheeks with her hands as she laid a kiss on each of his eyelids before curling her fingers beneath his mask to draw it down from his face.
"My answer is yes," she replied lovingly as she gazed into his eyes. "Yes, I want to marry you!" He didn't say a word as she continued to pull his mask down, and as each of his features were revealed, she sighed with happiness, giving the tiny dimple next to his perfectly shaped lips one of her daily pokes, causing him to break out in a wide smile. "I love you, Kakashi…"
"I love you, Sakura." He leaned forward and their lips met in a fevered embrace, and they never let each other go until the early hours of the next morning.
"Hey, hey!" Naruto's loud, booming voice filtered into her ears as she slowly blinked away the last moments of her memory. "She's coming to! Give her the water-" Suddenly a glass was tilted right before her lips and she obliged, gulping down the cool liquid into her parched throat. She looked to the man holding her securely against his chest, and she lifted her hand, her index finger poking into a spot on his mask, the spot where his dimple was bound to be. Kakashi's eye widened in surprise as he gazed into her eyes, and they silently knew that she had remembered seeing his face. He took the glass of water away as he helped her up, and she smiled softly at him.
"It's about time a good memory decided to make it's way to the front," she said, attempting to joke. "A marriage proposal is something that one should never forget."
"So that was what it was," Kakashi commented, releasing his hold on her as he turned away. He looked longingly to streets just outside the stand and said softly, "I think we've done enough for today, don't you?" She blinked at him, surprised and somewhat hurt at his sudden change in attitude.
"But, I'm fine!" she argued weakly, turning her gaze to look at Naruto who looked completely lost. "I'd still like to go around Konoha with you. I-"
"Naruto can take you," Kakashi interrupted, "that is, if you aren't busy, are you, Naruto?"
"No, I'm not," he replied, looking from Kakashi to Sakura, obviously not understanding what exactly was happening. Kakashi didn't say anymore as he hurried to make a quick exit.
"What is with you?" Sakura swiftly crossed the room, blocking Kakashi's path. "What's wrong…?" Her green eyes bore into him, and he fought the urge to squirm under her penetrating gaze. They remained as they were for a few seconds, the chef making the only noise in the room with his food preparations. Just outside the stand, the sounds of the street were beginning to drift in as the rest of the town began to wake up.
"I thought I was ready for everything," he said after a moment of silence, "and Naruto, don't you dare try to walk out." Sakura's attention turned to the blond shinobi who had inched away. Like a small child being caught sneaking cookies in his mouth before dinner, Naruto allowed an embarrassed grin to slide across his face.
"I know that Hokage-sama warned me about your condition, but…your memories are coming back faster than I realized they would," Kakashi continued. "I'm not sure if I can handle it." He paused. "Emotionally, I mean."
"It hurts you to be with me," Sakura ventured, allowing the burst of pain that engulfed her heart at the words.
"Something like that." He noticed her dissatisfaction with his answer and elaborated. "Look, just yesterday, I thought you to be dead for five excruciating years. Just when I thought I was starting to heal a little bit, it turns out that your death never really happened, though with your engagement to Kazuki, death seemed all the more pleasing. And although it was hard, I knew how to handle it because I had already accepted my fate of living a life without you. Now, with these memories of the two of us together…with you acting as if you want…as if you want to be with me, I'm not sure how to handle it."
"I thought that this was what you wanted, isn't it?" Sakura demanded. "Didn't you want my memories to come back quickly? Didn't you want this? Almost as much as I did?"
Feeling rather uncomfortable, Naruto tiptoed his way out of the stand despite Kakashi's earlier threat, deciding that it was much better to leave the heavy atmosphere and wait outside for the two to finish their tiny misunderstanding. Naruto had grown used to different kinds of tension, especially when in battle, but witnessing such a personal argument was something he didn't want to be a part of.
Kakashi ignored Naruto's exit this time and slowly looked into Sakura's face as he gulped. "You know how I feel about you, Sakura. I had mistakenly blurted it all out before you were ready to hear it. But I won't allow myself to believe that you might come back to me. These memories…they're just that: memories of the past. We have to live in the present; all there is left for us is to move forward. As I held you while you remembered my proposal, I…" He broke off, the words becoming difficult to say. "If I were to stay with you throughout this process of recovering your memories, I would regress into the same stage I had battled with over the years, and that was the stage in which I refused to live a day without you. Forgive me for being selfish, but I won't allow myself to return to that frame of mind."
"So you're going to abandon me right now, is that it?" Sakura whispered, glaring at him.
"I'm not a perfect person," Kakashi replied. "Nor am I as strong as I would like to be. I thought I could handle it, but it really is starting to become too much for me-"
"I need you." Her quiet admittance quickly shut him up, and he was left speechless as he stared at her, studying the sincerity of her words reflected in the unprotected emerald pools of her eyes. Her lips trembled at the enormity of what she had said and at the emotional vulnerability she now put herself in at her revelation. "Kakashi-san, I know I've emphasized how I don't remember much of anything, and that problem has caused headaches for more people than I expected. I didn't know I'd feel this much pain when I returned to Konoha, and I especially didn't account for the pain that you had to go through for all these years in my absence. I'm trying to make up for all that right now, if only you'd let me." She sniffed in a manner he recognized as trying to hold back tears. "What little I have been able to remember, my memories of you have been fond…loving. As much as it is hard for me to admit this, not once have I felt this way ever with Kazuki or anyone."
"Don't make this difficult," he whispered.
"I understand where you are coming from," she continued. "I know you don't want to feel that same kind of pain you went through when we were separated, but you're forgetting that I'm here now-"
"But there is no guarantee that you won't leave again!" he cut in, his biggest fear now out in the open. "If I allow myself to even believe that you'd stay only to have you ripped apart from me, I'm not sure I could heal a second time around-"
"But I…I think I-"
"Don't say it, Sakura," he warned, his visible eye narrowing. "You've only been back for less than a day, and what memories you've recovered of me are only a little glimpse of what our past together had been like-"
"And that's all I need to know!" she interrupted. "I was happy when I was with you! Before I regained these few memories, I didn't think it was possible for me to be truly happy because I've always known deep down that something was missing in my life. But now, all of that's changed because…I'm here…I'm here with you." She slowly took a step closer to him, afraid that if she moved too fast, he'd scamper away like a frightened animal. "I'm here, Kakashi. Why can't you see that?"
"That's the problem," he muttered. "I see you all too clearly." Without another word, he was gone in a puff of smoke, and Sakura let out a startled cry as she reached out only to find herself grabbing onto nothing but air. Naruto rushed back in at her shriek and stood puzzled when Kakashi was nowhere to be found.
"Sakura-chan?" He started cautiously, noting her bowed head and trembling lips. With one last sniff, she quickly shook her head and forced a strained smile on her face, but the superficialities did nothing to conceal her pain.
"Let's go," she said in an artificial, cheerful manner, and Naruto gave a small grin, knowing that it was much wiser for him not to question about Kakashi's sudden departure, and Sakura was grateful for his understanding. After paying for their meals, Naruto and Sakura made their way out.
Kazuki slowly stepped out of the shadows just behind the shop, terminating his concealment jutsu, a specialty that only shinobi from the Hidden Village of Cloud knew, and he clenched his hands in anger. He watched as Naruto and Sakura blended with the rest of the villagers that rushed through the now crowded street, and he growled in disgust.
"I'm not going to lose her to that one-eyed freak," he muttered to himself. "I've got to get her out of this damn village before she remembers how she really got to the Hidden Village of Cloud." Enabling an Invisibility Jutsu, he jumped high onto the rooftops of the tiny shops, quickly finding Sakura's pink hair in the crowd, and he proceeded to follow her and her loud companion.
TBC…
