Story – The Cherry Blossom Touch
Chapter 2 – Kakashi's Fear
Rating – Teen
Authoress – Chicklets
Synopsis - Kakashi/Sakura. Kakashi has just return from a mission severely injured and effectively hospitalized. Unfortunately, hospitals make the Jounin fearful. So, Sakura takes it upon herself to care for her former teacher outside the hospital. Between being delirious and craving attention, how will Kakashi and Sakura not become close?
A/N: Hee-hee. Thanks for all the wonderful reviews of encouragement. I could hardly believe how many hits I received on this story. Anyways, here is the next chapter (which was a pain to update -pouts-).
-
It had been two days since Kakashi's had awoken and innocently flirted with Sakura, and Sakura would often be seen blushing as she recalled the images in her head. The way Kakashi had looked at her that night, his soft touch cupped upon her cheek, his warm breath fanning her skin. Sakura could not help but wonder if she would be able to re-experience the butterflies that had filled her stomach for those brief minutes under Kakashi's touch.
Currently, however, Sakura's mind had not been on the feathery touches of Kakashi. She was too preoccupied with thumbing threw a textbook Tsunade had brought her. Her sensei felt that if Sakura was going to sit around all day staring at Kakashi, she should sit around all day studying instead. Tsunade had understood her student's feelings in the beginning, the young girl's nerves being stretched far and wide for fear of losing another important person in her life. However, now that Tsunade was positive Kakashi was going to live, the elder teacher could no long permit her apprentice to slack off; that would be mercy.
"The medical ninjas are a new class of ninjas slowly growing in the shinobi world. It was discovered that by having medic-nins on missions, the chances of success increased. Thus, medic-nins have become a necessity in missions, and for this reason, it is essential that the medic-nin survive during the duration of the mission. Remember, a dead medic-nin is a useless medic-nin. In this chapter we will discuss..." Sakura read dryly as she turned the page and skimmed over the following page. What a ridiculous chapter this was going to be, she thought to herself before laying the book onto the side table.
Gingerly stretching out her limbs as she rose, she once again removed the warm rag from Kakashi's forehead, rewetting it in the cold pail of water at the foot of the bed as had become her routine to help Kakashi's fever. Tsunade still could not explain why Kakashi's fever had not broken with her antibiotic flowing in his veins. Her only guess was that who ever Kakashi ran into on his mission was a poison specialist that was of equal or greater caliber than Konoha's greatest medical specialist, the great Hokage.
Creating a counter-poison was a simple enough task for the great Tsunade unfortunately extensive research was required and time did not permit it with all her other duties in the hospital and as Hokage. It was just fortunate that the poison only simply seemed to give Kakashi a high fever that slowed his recovery process, caused him to feel a little under the weather, and at worse, would cause him to be delirious. Clearly, whoever attacked the Jounin assumed he would not have made it back in to the safety of Konoha.
Sakura began to wring the excess water from the rag as the young medic-nin's emerald eyes began to travel over Kakashi. The color in his face was a lot better, and it seemed that he was relaxing easier now. His leg, unfortunately, was still not much better from when she had found him sprawled out on his bed clinging to life. They had begun the bone restructuring process by using their chakra to pull the pieces of bone together and melded them with even more chakra. Sakura was amazed with the amount of energy that was required; she had seen three of her superior medics collapse in one treatment. Even Tsunade herself had seemed exhausted after one hour of trying to rebuild Kakashi's fibula and tibia.
Patting the cold cloth across Kakashi's forehead, Sakura remembered Tsunade trying to teach her how to rebuild the bone - she had passed out in five minutes.
"The Hokage would have a fit if you slacked off for me," came a painful chuckle from the bed.
Sakura's eyes widen considerably as she stared at the man beneath her hand. Fear crept up her spine as she thought that she might have imagined the smooth voice cracking the joke. "Kakashi-sensei?" she said, her voice almost pleading as her hand fell away from his forehead dragging the cloth with it.
A combination of a grunt and a groan was her response as he opened his eyes for a second, quickly shutting it again.
She had a compulsion to hug the Jounin as her happiness and excitement swept through her body, but the fear of further hurting him prevented her from doing so. "Kakashi-sensei," the tears formed in her emerald eyes. "Are you okay? How do you feel? I was so worried," her body shook harshly as she fell to her knees. "Don't you ever do that to me again!" she finally cried out, her voice changing from concern to angry as she spoke. Her warm tears of happiness slipped slowly down her cheeks to drip on to Kakashi's hand that she had unknowing taken into her own.
Sakura noticed through blurred eyes that Kakashi's lips tug at the ends, his attempt at an apologetic look for the tears he was making her shed. "Sorry," he whispered, his voice hoarse from its lack of use and what she could only describe as... fearful.
Sakura lifted an elegant brow at the shaky voice. It was so unlike Kakashi's normal layback tone. Looking down into her hands, she found Kakashi's larger one was shaking within her small grasp against his will. "Kakashi-sensei?" she said softly, concern etched in her voice once more. Wiping her tears from her eyes with her sleeve to clear her vision, she felt that man's forehead. His fever was still high. Was he cold? Sakura was about to rise; planning on finding the man an extra blanket to make him more comfortable, but his hand tightened its grip on her.
"That's not it," he spoke up having felt her hand move away from his head. His voice was still shaky, and his cheeks were slightly colored with... a blush? Sakura stared in surprise as she admired the adorable features of his face with the foreign glow. Never in her years had she ever expected to see Kakashi blush, least of all before her in the hospital. Of course, she had never truly seen his full face prior to two days ago so it was possible that he had adorn the captivating pink cheeks in the past.
"What's wrong then, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked as she returned her hand to his.
"I... I don't like..." he paused; much to Sakura's amusement he blushed more than before as what was a light pink became a fierce red upon the Jounin's ivory skin. Slowly she realized that his usual calm and lazy exterior was braking away before her eyes, piece by piece, showing her a side of Kakashi she had never knew existed. A side she felt that she needed to protect. "I don't like hospitals."
Sakura could not help but grin at his confession as Kakashi opened an eye for a quick peek, quickly shutting it again, his cheeks still holding the healthy pink glow.
Kakashi had found himself unable to open his eyes for long in the room. Feeling quickly overcome with fear when he stared at the four white walls enclosing in on him, the small needle pierced through his skin. He would even go as far to say that if he had been given the choice of making a full recovery in the hospital or left to die in the hands of the enemy, the thought that everyone dies at one point in time would undeniably cross his mind.
"Kakashi-san, you are awake?" came a shocked voice from the door. Looking up, Sakura saw the face of one of her superiors who had come regularly to work on Kakashi. "I'll go call Tsunade-sama!" Sakura felt Kakashi's body become rigid under her touch at the mention of the Head Doctor of the hospital, and she could sense the fear taking over him with the sounds of the medic's footstep running down the hall.
"Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura said in slight disbelief. Never had she seen so much fear instilled in her favorite Jounin, even after everything they had been through together with the Team 7 missions; fighting assassins and S-class criminals. Smiling warmly, she squeezed Kakashi's hand to get his attention. "Kakashi-sensei, I won't let them hurt you. I promise." Kakashi's eye peeked open once more to take in Sakura's sincerity before shutting them due to the glimpse of the white wall behind her.
Sakura grinned as she watched Kakashi's body soften slightly and his grip in her hand tighten a little more, almost as if to ensure that she would not leave. She giggled a little at how much he hated the hospital.
"Well, well. Things must be good if Sakura is laughing again. Her recent silence was beginning to scare me," Tsunade cooed upon entering, a cheerful smile plastered to her face. It was Sakura's turn to blush now, and found her self immensely pleased that Kakashi did not seem willing to open his eyes in the white room, but to her dismay he made an exception and grinned as she had done. "Well then, Kakashi. How are you feeling?" Tsunade's playful voice turned instantly to one of business. Pulling up a wooden chair to the end of the bed, she removed a pen from her lab coat and opened Kakashi's medical file.
"Fine. Great. Wonderful." Kakashi's voice sounded cheerful, devoid of any signs of agony, more like the usual Kakashi that everyone knew and loved. Sakura knew better though; knowing he was trying to escape the terrifying prison, but unfortunately for the prisoner, she also knew he could not escape the warden's wrath so easily.
"Oh, that's good to hear, Kakashi," responded the Hokage as the scratching sound of pen on paper was heard. "Now, how are you feeling?" she asked again. Kakashi sighed knowing this interrogation would go on all day if he continued to lie. All he wanted to get out of there and to the comfort of his own home and his own bed.
"Tired and sore," he reluctantly responded. He tried to readjust himself to a more comfortable position on the bed, but instead, he gasped at the pain that stretched through his body from his stiffened muscles. Deciding it would be wise to give up, he lay as he was with the intent to try again later that night, provided he was still conscious.
Sakura frowned down on Kakashi and placed an extra pillow beneath his head, lifting him back so that he was a little higher than before. "Thank you," he said almost silently as his previous action had taken most of his strength. Settling down once more in the new more comfortable position, his hand unconsciously began looking for the warmth it had been held in previously.
"Your leg has healed a little," Tsunade noted. Her hand lit with a warm light of chakra that pushed into Kakashi's incased leg. "But, it is not something to get excited about," she said sternly before the Jounin could attempt to talk his way out of the hospital. The two medic-nins could instantly see a grimace cross the man's face.
Removing her hand from his leg, she began scribbling some more information in to her charts, and inspected the intravenous and other monitors that had gathered throughout his days in the hospital. "We should be able to remove the needle from your arm if you like. We've restored most of your blood but you'll have to promise me that you will eat, otherwise we will be forced to put it back in."
"How long must I stay here?" Kakashi finally mustered the strength to asked, his fingers intertwining in the bed sheets and his fears began to rise within him again.
"A month, maybe two," Tsunade responded coolly as she placed her pen back in her lab coat's pocket and closed the file. "But, don't worry. We can use this time to get to know one another," she chuckled trying to make the best of the situation and made her way to the door.
Kakashi's face went paler as his fists tighten painfully in the bed linen, his eyes were clenched tightly, and some beads of sweat had formed on his forehead just from the sheer thought of spending a month in that room.
Sakura's heart went out to Kakashi as she observed the Jounin living in his ideal nightmare. Laying the almost forgotten cool cloth on Kakashi's forehead, she stopped her mentor from leaving. "Tsunade-sensei..." Sakura said a little unsure. She was not sure if this would be allowed, she was only a medic-nin-in-training after all. "Could I... take care of Kakashi-sensei? Away from the hospital?"
Tsunade turned around to stare at her student, a face of contemplation on her face. It seemed as if the Hokage was rolling the idea around in her head.
Kakashi opened his eyes in surprise to stare at the hopeful Sakura beside him. Would she really go so far as to spend the next 2 months caring for him? So he would feel better? His stomach became slightly queasy as he caught sight of the white walls surround them once more and shut his eyes, waiting for the verdict. He would have to repay her somehow.
"It would aid in my training," Sakura supplied, a hint of begging underlying her voice. "I know how to reconstruct the bone, and we covered chakra highways last month."
Tsunade continued to stare at her pupil, seeing the fire burning within her forest green eyes. It was true that Sakura had all of the knowledge to treat Kakashi, and she did need to earn some experience. But, by taking up this responsibility meant giving up her life for the time being.
"You'd have to be there for Kakashi twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week until he is better. No questions," Tsunade said, needing to make things clear, but Sakura's hopeful eyes nodded. "You'll have to keep a detailed reports on his condition and changes, as well as follow the schedule I give you," Tsunade continued sternly, Sakura continued nodding vigorously as her smile grew. "You'll have to make sure he eats healthy everyday." Sakura, again nodded, her body shaking with excitement.
Sighing in defeat, Tsunade finally smiled to her student. "Then, it is fine by me."
Sakura giggled gleefully, feeling proud to finally be able to do something that meant a lot for Kakashi.
Tsunade grinned at the girl's excitement. The girl had not smiled much since Sasuke and Naruto left. Maybe this would be a nice self-esteem booster for the young ninja. Tsunade knew Sakura always felt behind when it came to Team 7. She also knew it got lonely at the rear, the feeling of being inadequate overwhelming all else.
"Of course," the medical professional dawdled. "It will require Kakashi's consent," Tsunade said looking past her pupil to the Jounin. There was no doubt in the woman's mind that her offer would be accepted, she had seen the Jounin's stress displayed on the monitors. But, if Sakura was truly going to care for the injured ninja things were going to have to follow the correct protocol.
"I accept," the Jounin obliged all too quickly as his body could be seen quickly becoming at ease.
"Very well, I shall write up the paper work. Sakura, why don't you go prepare Kakashi's house. I believe there is still quite a mess in there." Tsunade wrinkled her nose at the thought of the room as she opened the door to leave. "Oh, and Kakashi. You have a visitor."
Kakashi could almost here the sadistic chuckle in her words and opened his eyes curiously.
The groan was inevitable as he stared up at the man standing before him in all his glory.
It was Maito Gai.
A/N: Wow, that just came out a lot longer than I had planned. At least, I got to the point I wanted to in this chapter, and I am sorry things are moving so slow, but the fun stuff will be happening soon –grins at evil ideas-. Poor Sakura.
Once again, many thanks to the wonderful reviews – I really enjoyed reading them. I get excited when my e-mail account bleeps signifying a review was made.