Oh, kami, he knows.
He knows.
Sakura laid in her own bed that night, tossing and turning, her blankets already fallen off the bed and crumpled into a heap on the floor. The rest of the evening after his treat, that was her dango and tea after their sparring, went relatively normally. She walked him back to the tower and she backtracked towards the hospital to see if there were any pressing cases she had to prepare for before turning in for the night.
There weren't any serious cases but she still took on a couple and finished them in a few hours. Just a couple cases of genin who had been learning more advanced yet still basic elemental jutsus from their jōnin senseis and either had dirt clogging up their nasal passages or the one kid who was covered in burns from learning a katon jutsu form.
Did she expect her white lie to get so out of hand? Not really, Sakura just wanted to thwart Kankurō's intentions. She didn't think that the Kazekage's personal bodyguard and last sibling living in Suna would want to leave his home just so she could stay in Konoha.
Truth be told, she didn't even remember saying that she was Kakashi's fiancé. She did, however, remember the fib about the dating for six months. Maybe Kankurō took it as her engagement?
A sharp rap rattled her window, causing her heart to jump and her eyes to be drawn towards the sound. The backlit figures of Naruto and Sai with cheesy smiles on both of their faces asked for a welcoming invitation.
(Sakura was almost partial to not allow them to come in, but considering that she didn't think she'd be able to go back to sleep anytime soon, she let them in. Reluctantly.)
"Naruto, Sai." She greeted, pushing the window open allowing her teammates in. Naturally, Sai glided into the room, still retaining his deadly graceful movements whereas as Naruto still somewhat clumsily crashed onto the floor. "What brings you to my place at this hour?"
"We heard that, uh-" Naruto trailed off as if he was still confused by what he knew. His brows were furrowed together, wrinkling above his nose.
"What dickless here is trying to say, is when did you and Kakashi-senpai get together?" Sai asked matter-of-factly. Naruto nodded fiercely in agreement, his face relaxing.
"Ah."
"Well, you see, Sakura-chan, it just appeared out of nowhere. Like a week ago, I heard you were in Suna on a medical friendship mission and then right on the eve of the journey back home, you were back here even though it is definitely a three-day run. Even I can't run that fast with Kurama's chakra. Like I can fly but run? Not a chance."
Sai looked impressed all of sudden.
If anything, Sakura also looked impressed. Who wouldn't be after hearing the feat she just pulled barely eleven days prior. "Unmatchable chakra control? Maybe?" She shrugged. "You guys want tea, since we're obviously going to have a long discussion this evening?"
"Well, I can't stay long since Boruto is surprisingly clingy for a year-and-a-half-year-old." Naruto remarked, though still followed after Sakura in the kitchen, with Sai trailing after him. "And, Hinata's expecting again."
"Oh, my goodness, Naruto! Congratulations!" Sakura smiled, truly happy for her friend. She busied herself setting a kettle of water to boil and preparing a pot of a calming tea blend she managed to come up with a couple years ago for Kakashi when he needed to destress.
"Same here, well besides the expecting again. Inojin is already a handful, I'm not sure if Ino would want another after him. But gosh, dickless, I'm shocked you guys were trying for another after Boruto." Sai remarked as he took a seat at Sakura's kitchen table.
"Ah, well, we weren't either but regardless we're excited for their arrival this fall. Hinata's getting her grumpy pregnancy urges again." Naruto grinned, playing with a frayed edge of Sakura's centerpiece.
Sakura smiled at her two friends, happy for the little families they were able to eke out in such a harsh world. Though it was not lost on her that the world did seem a little less harsh these days, with Kakashi at the helm of Konoha, leading them to more peaceful times.
"Ne, Sakura, anyways," Naruto began, holding the mug of hot tea tenderly. "What's this thing you got going on with Kakashi-sensei?"
"Yeah, Ino heard from Temari who heard from Gaara who heard from Kankurō that you turned him down because you were engaged with Kakashi-senpai." Sai summed up for the ineloquent blond.
"Oh, well… you see," Sakura gestured incoherently with her hands, unsure how to go about this. Did she tell them the truth or continue the lie?
"Go on, ugly."
"I may have mentioned that we were dating." She heard herself saying, not really looking at either of the two seated in front of her. If she were, she would have definitely seen the looks of absolute shock on both.
"Damn, ugly, you really know how to pull them don't you?" Sai grinned sardonically, clapping his hands together. "Just let me know when the wedding is, so I can let Ino plan it."
Sakura groaned. She knew without a doubt her next visitor was most likely Ino and currently, it was only by the pure luck of motherhood that kept her best friend away.
"As long as you're happy Sakura-chan," Naruto sighed, running a bandaged hand through his unruly blond hair which was getting shaggier and shaggier despite the trims that Sakura knew Hinata gave him throughout the year, having said something along the lines about how distinguished he looked with the shorter style he sported back when he was nineteen.
"Why do you sound like that, Naruto? Is there a problem with my relationship?" Sakura asked, brows furrowed, wondering if Naruto was waiting for a fight to happen. Maybe it's the wiles of fatherhood and he really needed to get out of the house, Sakura mused to herself, mentally smiling at the thought. Poor Hinata.
"No, no, it's… it's just that it's Kaka-sensei," he tried to amend. "Ain't he kind of, like, old, you know?"
"I don't really know," she replied, pouring the boiled water into the previously prepared pot and left it to steep. "It kind of just happened."
"Well, ugly, regardless, you managed to snag one of the most eligible bachelors in the village and probably the whole country outside of the Daimyo's sons." Sai noted.
Naruto giggled. "Kami, Sakura, imagine going after the Daimyo's second eldest son. I saw him a few months ago, when Kaka-sensei had to meet with the Daimyo and he brought me along for some hands-on training."
Sakura scowled at him. "Naruto, stop making fun of the old man. Just because he's got kind of a hawkish nose and a butt chin doesn't mean he is undesirable." She poured the two of them each a serving of the tea that just finished brewing, setting it before the two of them before going back to pour herself a cup.
"Wait, wait, can we go back to how you managed to run at a past a dead sprint from Suna to here?!" Naruto waved his hands in the air, metaphysically clearing the air of the teasing quality it took on. "My brain can't fully wrap itself around the notion. Like, Sakura-chan, were you not there to train the Sand shinobi more advanced healing jutsus?"
"Well, yeah. That's true."
"Then, how the hell did you make the run in a single night?"
"Her kami-like level of supreme chakra control?"
"Shut up, Sai."
"Okay, I'm not even fully sure how I did it either, considering most of the day I'd been teaching the Sand-nin one of the more chakra draining medical jutsu's I know. Remember the one time I told you guys about when I had to split the two genins who got all of their organs stuck together because they decided to attempt a rasengan-" and with line that she glared at Naruto "- and test it on each other."
"Hey!"
She looked at him strongly once more before continuing. "As I was saying, since Wind country is known for their Fūton jutsus, I thought it prudent to teach them the method for healing such gruesome internal injuries in a much easier way than fully relying on seals."
Sai and Naruto both nodded as she explained the minute and technical details, not fully understanding but still trying to be supportive of her. Especially when she went on tangents of weird medical knowledge that either of them would probably never ever comprehend.
"-And then, there was a banquet held at the end of a stay, the night before our Leaf-nin were set to begin the journey back..."
# # #
Eleven days ago, in Sunagakure.
"It's been a pleasure having you to teach our medic-nin, Sakura-san." Gaara commented, leaning over his elder brother to speak more easily to Sakura. Kankurō groaned. The puppet master had forgone his usual purple face paint this evening, revealing the roguish charm that Sakura had only seen once before when he was decidedly in much more terrible shape.
If you could count on the verge of death a worse shape to be in. Which is a valid reason, Sakura supposes.
"It's nothing, Gaara-sama. Just as Tsunade taught, I'd like to help spread the knowledge now that I've mastered it." Sakura smiled in return, before picking up a piece of the roasted fish that was the main dish of the evening.
"Ah, yes, by all means, please continue to speak through me." Kankurō waved, eyes closed in annoyance.
"I'm terribly sorry, Kankurō-san. I didn't mean to." Sakura apologized. "I mean, Gaara-sama did speak to me first." She then glanced towards the red-haired Kazekage on Kankurō's left.
"Yeah, yeah," he murmured, taking a sip of the expensive sake that Tsunade had eyed for months the last time Sakura had met with her.
"Excuse me, I need to speak with Hashibira-san about some of our budget cuts. Again, Sakura-san, a pleasure having you teach our shinobi." Gaara stood with a slight bow, and left the two to continue their meal. He left with the older Sand-nin, making small pleasantries to the other people in attendance as they made their way out of the large dining hall.
"So, Kankurō, developed any new poisons recently?"
"Actually, I did. Did one of your trainees mention it?" He queried, looking a smidge taken back with her prowess for rumors.
(Definitely a good skill for kunoichi and shinobi in general. Somehow though, the kunoichi were always better at gathering intelligence than their male counterparts.)
"Actually no, I happened to pass by Iguro-san the other day, who was talking with someone I didn't know, but I think she was pretty close to you." Sakura glanced over to her quiet tablemate.
"Ah, of course, I could never get Iguro to ever stay tight-lipped about anything he helped me work on." Kankurō laughed, taking another sip of his sake. "But it is true, I discovered a new species of venomous snake that burrows deep within the sand and only surfaces at night. It's really quite interesting how it even manages to survive the freezing nights in the desert."
"I suppose so… guess I've got to start working on an antidote, eh?" She winked. "That's really interesting. Are you going to incorporate it into your puppetry?"
"I hadn't even thought that far ahead, truth be told. Still working on the poison itself and seeing how it functions in various dilutions." He leaned back in his chair, crossing his right arm across his chest and resting his left elbow over his hand.
The night wore on, the conversation with Kankurō moving onto other topics, such as his nephew, Shikadai and his parents, Temari and Shikamaru. And of the upcoming switch of the two countries shinobi medical forces as the Sand-nin would accompany the Leaf-nin back to Konoha for the final two weeks of the month long biennial medical training period that Kakashi and Gaara came up with to strengthen ties of the two hidden villages.
At some point, Sakura realized that she really needed to head in and call it a night to get some rest before the journey back home. Soon she'd be back in her own bed, elbow deep in one of her well-worn medical tomes.
"Kankurō-san, it's been fun getting to finally catch up with you but I must turn in for the evening." She stood, stretching her arms above her head, feeling her shoulders pop with the movement. And just for good measure, she cracked her head, feeling the pressure build up in her vertebrae dissipate in wonderous relief.
"Allow me to walk you, Saku-chan." Kankurō muddled, standing to his feet, his form wobbly and unbalanced.
Ignoring the drunken nickname, Sakura waved him off. "It's quite alright, I know my way back through the maze that's the Kazekage residence."
"No, no, I- I'd be a terrible host, if I- I let you go alone," his eyes were unfocused. Sakura realized it was probably do to the sheer amount of sake the two consumed over the course of the evening. Whereas Sakura could use her chakra to burn off the ethanol in the alcohol, Kankurō could not and was very clearly drunk.
"I- agh, fine, alright." She gave up, lending a hand and discretely trying to help with lingering effects of the alcohol within his system. He didn't seem to notice the foreign chakra but gave a soft smile the moment their hands touched.
Determining that she helped reduce the effects, she released his hand and began the walk back to her room, drifting through the maze-like architecture.
"Ehhhh, Sakuraaaaaa-channn," Kankurō slurred, reaching for her hand. She felt the tug on her hand and turned around, questioning his intentions. "Are you seeing anyone?"
She felt her cheeks warm, avoiding his suddenly intense gaze. He tugged her hand again, dropping his head slightly. She had to come up with something quick. As much as she enjoyed Kankurō's presence, she didn't really want to be with him… in that way, at least.
"Because, I would totally love to court you." He stated, slurring the word 'totally' and 'court'.
Sakura could feel her heart pounding in her ears. "Kankurō-san, I'm really flattered but I'm already seeing someone, it's been going on for, uh, a long time." She eyed her door, planning ahead for a quick escape if need be.
"Well, whoever they are," Kankurō trailed off. He let go of her hand to stabilize himself on the wall next to him. Sakura slowly edged herself away, in the general direction of her door. "They can go suck it because I would really like to court you. Have all of them… what are they called? Chaperoned visits, I think they're, uh, called?"
Despite the delicate steps she took, Kankurō noticed, moving forward to box her into the wall with his arms. "Sakuraaaaa."
She could feel the panic rising within her, feeling the fuzzy feeling in the back of her throat. Whatever drunk Kankurō was up to was not good news at all for Sakura. Two well trained shinobi. Sorry, two well trained, drunk shinobi, was a bad mix.
He leaned in closer and Sakura had a good idea of what he might do, quickly shooting a hand out to jab him in the neck with a burst of medical jutsu she used on unruly patients that needed an immediate way to subdue. She didn't use it often, since it took a lot of chakra and control to do it safely.
Kankurō's form slumped on top of Sakura and she groaned up the dead weight of it. Now she had to figure out what do with him. Should she leave him in the hallway outside of her room? No, that'd be a disaster. But she couldn't very well bring him in either, who knew how easily he could break out of the chakra induced sedative?
In the end, she brought him into her room, putting him on the bed, and began pacing at the food of the bed, deep in thought.
"Fuck!"
None of the situations she came up seemed like good ideas. She could run back home. Her trainees and her second in command, Hori, were already planning on departing first thing. She could also try to bring Kankurō out of the chakra induced sleep and clear the alcohol from his system and have a proper conversation as to why it was a bad idea to try to get with her. Or just leave him be.
"Cha, okay, puppet boy. Let's clear out your system." She rolled up the sleeves of her jōnin shirt, rolling her neck and went over to the form on the bed. She yawned, pulling up chakra to her hands and pushed it into his temples to burn off the alcohol in his bloodstream, starting at his stomach and working her way up to his head. By this point, there really wasn't much to burn off so she used her chakra to nudge his pathways to wake him.
Kankurō shifted, his eyes shooting open and glaring at Sakura's hunched form by the bed. "What did you do to me?"
"You tried to kiss me."
"I- what?!"
"Yeah," she rolled back onto her heels, still squatting by the low bed.
He chuckled. Darkly. "Well, the offer still stands. No need to knock me out again."
This time her eyes shot open, finding the pull of the chakra strings hard to resist as he used them to get her to face him.
The pulls intensity increased and she found herself being brought closer. Sakura fought it with all of her power, still finding that she lost inch by inch. Within a moment's notice, she was a mere breath away from Kankurō's dark gaze. He released the chakra strings, using his hand to curl around her neck.
It was that motion that brought her out of her shocked stupor. She bolted out of the window, barely managing to snag one of her hip pouches that she had packed that morning in a stressful rush, wanting to enjoy her last evening in Suna before the return home. It was a few hundred-foot drop, landing with a cushioning of chakra bracing her landing.
Taking a mental stock of her normal chakra reserves, revealed that she was barely at fifteen percent. Sakura hoped that there would be a chakra replenishing pill in her pouch, one that she fine-tuned to have less severe after effects compared to the issued recipe for soldier pills. Unfortunately, only three soldier pills were inside, along with a backup storage scroll for undergarments.
She shook her head, trying in vain to clear her mind. The most logical thing would be to see Gaara and let him know that she needed to get out to clear her mind. Choosing her course of action, led her dazedly to the Kazekage's office. She knocked quietly, her breathing rapid and her hands were shaking.
She heard a quiet come in and gently opened the door to slide into the room. Gaara sat at the far side, behind the big oak desk, looking down at a pile of scrolls.
"Oh, Sakura-san, what brings you here at this hour? I would have thought you retired already." He spoke, lifting his gaze up to meet her wide eyes, still reeling in the shock of what happened. Immediately he looked concerned. "What happened? Are you alright?"
"Ah, Gaara-sama," she managed to choke out in between deep, panting breaths. "I just came by to let you know I'll be leaving early. Please let Hori-san know before they leave tomorrow."
"Any particular reason for the early departure?" Gaara stood, pushing the scrolls back onto the desk, moving around to console the shaken kunoichi.
"Um, I just really miss my fiancé," she finally let out, feeling a tear slip out of her eye.
"Oh, I wasn't aware that you were engaged," he said quietly.
"We were keeping it relatively hush hush since he's such an important figure in the village." She noted with a shaky sigh.
"With the Uchiha?"
"No, um, I don't know if I should even be saying this, but Hatake Kakashi." She let out. Any lie is more believable if there's a smidgen of truth interwoven. And for Sakura to lightly admit her feelings to the Kazekage of all people? Inconceivable.
"My congratulations to the both of you," Gaara smiled, not realizing the ploy. "Very well then, I shall inform your team before they depart tomorrow morning. In the meantime, be safe. I know we're in much safer times but stay vigilant."
"Will do, Kazekage-sama." She bowed and left the room. She made her way through the Kazekage tower and began her run home. She wove in and out of the residential areas and finally made it out past the gates.
The desert stretched far and wide, the bright moon above loosely indicating that it was not even past ten in the evening. Sakura saw the undulating sand dunes and groaned, pushing chakra into her feet to have a firm grip on the loose material. It's so much easier to run on water, she thought to herself sardonically.
She fell into a dead run, her body bent forward to reduce drag and sprinted. It felt good to have the wind brush through her hair, grounding her as she blanked out her mind in an effort to push home.
About an hour in she remembered the soldier pills, popping the lone set of three in at once. In hindsight, she knew it was a terrible mistake but in her frenzied state of mind, she ignored all forms of rational thought, just wanting to be in her own bed and hide away from the world. Except, now she had to make a stop at her old sensei's place to ask for a very big favor.
In her blind stupor powered by the three soldier pills, she barely even discerned that she was soon out of the desert and crossing country lines and was soon bounding through the trees at an alarming rate.
(In hindsight, Sakura wondered if any of the on-duty ANBU that evening even registered her practically flying at the speed of sound through the forest. But she would never even remember fully how she got home.)
In the five and a half hours that it took to get to the massive gates of Konoha, Sakura had blasted through the reserves the pills gave and was back again at her slowly recovering natural chakra reserves. She didn't even bother to check in with Izumo and Kotetsu, outside of a small salute and made her way over the rooftops to Kakashi's apartment building. Why he didn't move into the Hokage residence, she would never know. Though perhaps she could ask him when she wasn't bone tired.
"Do you like Kaka-sensei?"
She choked on her tea. Sakura didn't expect Naruto to be so blunt, Sai, of course, most definitely, but Naruto still had a smidgen of his cluelessness about him.
"I mean, that's pretty much what I got from the whole story, ya know."
"Ugh, Naruto, I thought you'd be more interested in how I grossly misused the soldier pills. Like, I'm shocked I didn't die from the excessive amount of caffeine and chakra in such quick succession."
He laughed, eyes crinkling in mirth. "Actually, Sakura, I think you may have come up with a new transportation jutsu… kind of like my dad's shunshins. Too bad you don't really know how you came up with it. Could be pretty useful."
"Yeah, I don't know about that, Naruto." She shook her head with a small smile. Sakura looked over to Sai, gauging his reaction. "What are your thoughts, Sai? New jutsu or are you going to comment on my relationship?"
"Nah, but I do think you should probably tell Kakashi-senpai your true feelings for him." Sai said, standing to his feet to place his empty mug in Sakura's sink. "And soon."
Naruto soon followed, leaving Sakura to sit alone at the table deep in thought on how to proceed further with her farce of a relationship.
"Well, ugly, it was nice to finally catch up with you, but I must get going to Ino and my son," Sai broke the silence, moving towards her front door rather than her bedroom window. "Just be honest with your feelings, okay. And be honest with Kakashi-senpai."
"Okay, I'll try."
"Bye, Sakura-chan, I'll bring Boruto over sometime, kid's becoming a natural attractor for danger." Naruto also bid farewell, choosing the window over Sai's preference of a proper entryway.
"Goodnight, Naruto. And anytime you need someone to watch him, I'll be free to." She smiled with a slight wave of her hand.
Now alone once more and releasing all of the encounters over a week ago through talking with Naruto and Sai, Sakura finally felt some relief at getting it off of her chest. She cleaned up the dishes for the impromptu tea and ambled her way back to bed, shutting her window and pulling her blankets back onto her bed and slipping underneath. She found sleep came swiftly this go-around and succumbed to the blankness of her mind.
Knock, knock
"Yo, Kakashi, wake up." Sakura asked, holding onto the thin window sill that protruded off the wall, using chakra in her toes to stay planted firmly on the outer wall of his apartment building.
Again, it was three am, a time that Sakura should have been asleep at but she had the nagging feeling in the back of her mind that told her that she should probably ask Kakashi to the festival as a lover compared to going as the leader of her village. Well, she supposed he could multitask? Right?
(And how did she keep managing to bother the poor man during the dead of night anyway?)
"Oh, Sakura-san, what are you doing here?" A dog with bandages wrapped around his neck and chest popped up from his post underneath the window.
"Ūhei?" She peered over the sill, looking into the darkened room. "Where's Kakashi?"
"Oh, the Boss was pulling a late one at the Hokage office before the festival begins tomorrow… wait, today. Soon-ish? I don't actually remember when it begins." The reddish colored ninken responded, using his bandaged-wrapped paw to scratch behind his ear.
"I'll go to the tower then. Thanks, Ūhei, remind Pakkun to remind me to make you boys some treats soon." She reached over, giving him a short head scratch.
Sakura pulled herself up the top of Kakashi's apartment building and ran across the rooftops towards the Hokage mountain.
.
"Oh, Sakura-chan," Kakashi looked up, buried underneath missives and the cream colored Hokage robes. A curious sight as his tired eyes took in her doctor's jacket, covering her typical qipao dress with her usual black obi tied snugly around her waist.
"Sorry, I don't mean to intrude. I just had a quick question." She meandered closer to the overloaded desk.
"Shoot away," Kakashi beckoned with a wave of his hand.
"Well, you see it's about the festival…" she began, immediately trailing off due to her nerves. "Would it be okay for you to join me?"
"Ah, now that is quite the hefty favor you're asking of me, Sakura." He laughed, though his eyes not quite curling into a full smile. "But, I'd be honored and delighted to take my fiancé to festival in two days' time."
"Will you ever drop it?" She groaned, carding her fingers roughly through her hair.
"Not until Gaara does. It's got a nice ring to it, don't you think? Hatake… Sakura?" He mused, leaning on his palm, finally breaking into a smile.
Sakura tried in vain to stop the blush that rose up her neck to no avail. "Alright, meet me at the Aburame bridge at sixth pm."
"Of course, my dear." He winked and she groaned again.
"You clean up pretty nicely, love."
Sakura slowly swayed over to the tired yet elegant form of the Hokage. He was wearing a dark green yukata, with a dark blue obi tying it together, lightly leaning on the handrail of the bridge and looking down at the rushing water below. She noticed the way his ears pinked at the small complement and smiled. He turned to face her, giving her a wink and tilting his head like one of his ninken at the mention of treats.
Once she got within a few feet of him, she held out a hand, though she let it drop when he didn't immediately come to take it.
"You know, Sakura, to really fool these people you're going to need something that quietly says it." He murmured turning away from her and looking back down at the river.
Sakura moved forward, leaning against the same railing that Kakashi had, less than a foot in between them. "What did you have in mind? I can't go ask my mother for my great-grandmother's ring, without her railing me with questions."
Kakashi chuckled, standing up and digging into the sleeves of his yukata. He pulled out a small dark box and guided her hand to hold it. "I found it at the old Hatake estate, in one of my father's storage chests. I think it was my mother's but I don't remember her at all. You can use it if you like."
Sakura's cheeks pinked. She felt her heart race, now scared to drop the priceless box into the river below. "Kakashi! You can't just give me your mother's ring. I would feel bad as it were."
"Father did say I could give it to someone I cared a great deal for so it's actually quite alright, Sakura." He shrugged, opening the box and pulled out the simple ring, pulling her hand closer to him to slide it onto her ring finger. Though she could tell the calluses on his hands had begun to disappear from lack of weapons use, his hands were still much stronger and bigger than her own. Sakura felt her face warm even more at the close proximity.
"There," he said, pocketing the box in his sleeve, and giving her, now, ring-adorned hand a gentle kiss against her knuckles, keeping his eyes locked on her own.
Sakura wanted to descend right there into a gooey puddle of… something. She couldn't quite articulate what she felt at the moment.
He tugged her out of her thoughts, gently pulling her to follow him towards the festival.
Konoha, as usual, had gone all out despite it being such a small festival. Maybe it was a continuing after effect of almost losing the entire world as they knew it. In any case, it did bring in a way for shinobi and civilians alike to relax and enjoy themselves.
The road leading up to the shrine was filled with booths of food and beverage vendors. Sakura eyed an anmitsu vendor and looked up to Kakashi with pleading eyes and a small pout, silently asking for the cold desert. Poor man realized that this woman was going to drain his wallet with all of the sweet things in the world that he didn't quite care for. Outside of her, but he wasn't going to mention that any time soon, choosing to remain quietly in her presence until she didn't need him anymore.
After securing a portion for his faux fiancé, the two continued onwards, making small pleasantries to the attendees and the out-of-country visitors. Sakura quickly finished the small portion, offering some to Kakashi who shook his head before she polished off the bowl. She had wrapped a small hand in the crook of his right arm after she finished eating, delicately showing off the old Hatake family ring being displayed on her hand.
Kakashi felt wrong for the feeling but regardless felt a notion he likened to pride at the subtle declaration, even concerning the circumstances of their bizarre situation. Did he ever think that she would ask him to such a strange request? Truthfully, no, he hadn't. It did, however, open a case of strange possibilities of how this strange arrangement could proceed.
"Hokage-sama, Sakura-san," Gaara nodded towards the two from his small group consisting of Naruto and Hinata, both dressed in the airy yukatas bearing the Uzumaki clan mon on the back. Sakura now noticed the slight bump growing on Hinata's stomach and the blond toddler who clutched his mother's leg with an iron grip.
"Gaara-sama," Sakura bowed, still keeping her hand on Kakashi's arm. Kakashi nodded slightly to the Kazekage.
"Please, don't let us intrude, we were just passing through." He stated, looking down at Sakura, who had looked back at him questioningly. She shook her head at his unknown antics, looking back at Gaara and the Uzumaki family. "Gotta do my Hokage duties, you know, greet everyone, show her off." At that she blushed and Kakashi whisked her away.
.
Hours passed and just when Sakura thought she couldn't take anymore small pleasantries with anymore of the village people, they had gathered by the fields to watch the fireworks display. Soon, the dark sky was lit with bright, effervescent colors of all the shades of the rainbow, reflecting on the slightly rippling water that flooded the fields.
"It's beautiful." Sakura breathed, taking in the sights.
Kakashi looked down at her pink hair, changing in the light bursting in the sky. Though he had been taking her in all evening, he finally had a moment free to assess her light blue yukata (though the fireworks both washed out and electrified colors). After months of only slightly noticing her lack of spunk and just going through the motions of life and not really living, something he knew quite well, though he had found a different way to cope, she managed to brighten again.
Part of him wondered if it was because her everyday life was broken in its monotony by this simple ruse. What he didn't know was because she had to chance to spend her time with one of the people she loved most in the world.
"You're beautiful," he whispered, squeezing the hand still locked in his elbow.
"You're just saying that, Kakashi." She sighed in disbelief. Her face looked a little crestfallen, as if she didn't believe he believed what he said. The firework show came to an end soon after, and she looked up at him. "Walk me home?"
"Of course."
A blip of silence passed as they moved through the crowded throng of people.
"You don't really believe that."
"Huh?"
"That I'm beautiful… Of course, I would definitely say the same thing in regards to yourself." She frowned before grinning at the last detail.
"Mah, Sakura, such flattery won't get you anywhere." He smirked.
"I mean, all I had to do to land you was claim that I told other people that I was dating you." She continued in a teasing tone. "Though there is a part of me that does wish that it's all real."
The final bit was said in a half whisper, Sakura thinking it was carried off in the rare summer breeze but Kakashi having the more adept hearing out of the two of them, heard it all.
"Feels pretty real to me," he murmured, turning down her street and leading her to her apartment complexes outside landing.
"Thanks, Kakashi, I had a fun time." She said after taking a step and facing him fully. She made way to extract the ring on her finger to give it back but was stopped by his own.
"Keep it," he said, closing his hands around her own fumbling ones. "It looks better on you than in the box."
Sakura couldn't believe him, "if you say so." She looked at him dubiously before leaning forward, ignoring his shocked expression and kissed his mask covered cheek. "Thanks again, Kakashi. Sleep well."
"Goodnight, Sakura-chan." He waved her in, feeling the warmth spread out from where she kissed him. Now that was a feeling he was going to hold onto until they spoke again. Hopefully soon.