I do not own Naruto

Love Never Dies

Kakashi felt uneasy all day and now at night when he begged for sleep the feeling wouldn't subside. Staring straight up into the pitch darkness of the room, he groaned as he shifted his entire body to find comfort. Jerking his blanket up over his shoulder he found himself tangled in it. Flaring his legs and arms to burst out of it he accidentally rolled off of the futon and on to the floor. The blanket was his enemy now and he'd tare it to pieces if need be.

In frustration he stood from the floor and violently broke out of his homemade cocoon. "Free at last" Attempting to calm himself he breathed in deeply. It was already midnight and he had had just about enough. It may have been late but since about ten o'clock this morning he felt worn, troubled. He couldn't get rid of the unwanted feeling. He wasn't even interested in reading the new book the Naruto bought him for his birthday.

Looking around he couldn't see much, It was practically a Shadows breeding ground. Quickly making his way to the other end of his room he though the curtains open. The light from a street lamp outside his apartment pored into the room. It still wasn't enough, it was far to stuffy. Unlatching the lock on his window he opened it welcoming the fresher air. His hands griped the wood on the widow ceil. Bowing his head down he took took in the cooler air. It cetently felt good.

Finally relaxation started to over take his body. Pushing himself from the window he made his way back to his bed. "Sleeeep.." he mumbled.

Picking up his torn blanket from the floor, he placed it gently on the bed. No need to worry about a new one until tomorrow, It would have to do. "Sleep." he said again. He wasn't really all that tired but he hoped that with sleep the feeling in the pit of his stomach would go away.

Suddenly a knock at his door startled him. The three soft knocks seemed louder then they really were. They sliced through the silence like a knife. Letting go of the corner of the blanket Kakashi made his way the the side table where his mask was. Pulling it over his head he called out to the person on the other side of the door. "Yeah."

"It's me" The muffled voice said. Kakashi knew that voice, it was Sakura. 'What the hell is she doing here?' he thought. Adjusting his mask for comfort he reached out and unlocked the door. Opening it slightly he peeked his head though. Their she stood in her ANBU uniform, mask sitting on top of her head. Her eyed reached his slowly, he noted that see looked a little nervous. "Sakura, What are you doing here? I thought you were on a mission for two weeks or more, you've only been gone two days." He watched as her eyes traveled down, then suddenly perked up with a big bright smile. "Missions over for me, I got to come home early." Kakashi's brows knitted together and eyed her but he knew he couldn't ask what happened, The mission was S-Ranked. He had no place in it's knowledge.

"May I come in?" Her voice was different...softer. It was late but He couldn't deny Sakura something if she needed it, even just company. She had grown into a reliable, strong and very beautiful young woman. Needless to say He was quite proud of how much she had grown. Wordlessly he moved aside and opened the door wider to let her though. Sakura noted the futon on the floor as she slid passed him. "I'm sorry you were sleeping." Rubbing the back of her neck she spun around to see him closing the door. "I though for sure you'd be up reading." A small smile played on her lips but quickly vanished as she put down her hand. Kakashi once again eyed her. Something was defiantly up. Walking past her he sat down on his couch and patted the seat next to him. Silently she sat down.

Kakashi watched her carefully as she licked he lips. It was pretty obvious she had something to say. "um..I.." letting out a deep sigh she tried again. "um..Alright look, this is really hard for me but I had to come tonight to tell you something very important.." She had almost yelled it all out. "Whoa whoa. Calm down. Start from the top." Kakashi waved his hands in front of him as he tried to calm her enough to speak. Taking a deep breath she started once more. "Kakashi..over the last few years you have been a great sounding board, sparring partner, friend..."

"Sakura what are you getting at?"

Looking down at her lap she continued. "I've never felt this close to someone before. I feel like we've bonded over the last few years, and I needed to tell you that." Her eyes never left her lap.

Kakashi raised his hand and cupped her chin pushing it up gently to look into her eyes. He watched as tiny tears welled up around the shining green orbs. Rubbing his thumb over her cheek he wiped one away. The comforting smile he gave her made he feel better, even if she couldn't see it behind the mask. "Sakura you could have waited until morning to tell me this." Sakura stared at him..He wasn't getting it.

"You don't understand. I'm not tiring to tell you your a good friend, you already know that." She was getting frustrated and quickly. He dropped his hand away from her face. "Okay. Then what are you saying?" Sakura's body stiffened, she stood straight up and yelled. " I'VE FALLEN IN LOVE WITH YOU, YOU IDIOT!"

Kakashi was shocked, did he just hear that right? If he would have been standing he would have fallen over. His mouth fell open. He didn't know what to say. Sakura watched Kakashi's reaction and she didn't like it. He didn't feel the same? She didn't feel like it was a one sided love. She felt loved around him.

"Well I guess that's it then." Sadness filled her face as she turned to leave. " I've said what I needed to say and now I can move on." Walking past the couch she grabbed on the door handle, but before she could turn it two large hands held on to her shoulders. She froze.

Would he play mind games with her? Closing her eyes one tear fell to the floor. "Sakura..." His voice was a bit to shaky for his liking. Swallowing the lump in his throat he softly spun her around to face him.

He could say that he was to old for her. He could say that he didn't deserve her love, But he couldn't say he didn't love her. He pulled her closer and before she could react unclothed lips were placed gently on hers. Sakura's eyes went wide. The softness from his lips made her feel weak. Slowly she allowed herself to melt into the kiss.

Pulling her even closer Kakashi felt daring enough to trace his tongue over the bottom of her upper lip. Opening her mouth slightly he took the opportunity to taste her. He had always imagined she would taste like a strawberry, but she didn't. He couldn't describe it but he certainly enjoyed it. Sakura let out a soft moan as Kakashi ran his hand under the back of her ANBU vest.

Removing her hand from around his neck she quickly unbuckled the garment and shrugged it from her shoulders careful not to break the connection. She was not holding back on this one. Their would be no other chance. She had to be with him. Tugging at his shirt Kakashi raised his arms so She could remove it quickly. It was in the way and had to go now.

Opening one eye she could see the futon close by. Softly but urgently she pushed him while staying ever close to his warm body. Taking the few steps need to reach their destination, Sakura Pushed once again hard enough to make him fall onto the unmade bed. Kakashi looked a touch shocked at her actions but pushed the thoughts away when he saw the determination in her eyes. Slowly she bend down,crawling her way over his body brushing herself gently over him. It was all he could take, wrapping his arms around her waist he pulled her down to him closing the gap.

The sun had slipped thought the window and into Kakashi's sleepy eyes. Knitting his eyebrows together the groaned at the unwelcome sunrise. Turning his head away from the sun he reached out to find Sakura's warm body, but instead found a shredded blanket. Quickly he raised his head eying the spot where she had been recently.

Collecting his thoughts and waking himself he gathered his discarded clothes from the floor but didn't see Sakura's. A deep frown formed on his unmasked face. 'Why would she leave?' He thought. Sighing slightly he though his clothes in a nearby hamper but before he could get clean ones a tapping noise stopped him.

Looking to his right he saw Hokage-sama's messenger hawk tapping it's beak on the glass of his window. When the brown bird knew Kakashi had seen him he flew off toward HQ. "Damn" he silently cursed. "No time for a shower I guess." Grabbing his clean clothes he jerked them on before running out the door. This was going to be another long day.

Knocking on Tsunade's office door Kakashi was starting to feel that unwelcome feeling on the pit of his stomach. Something just wasn't right, this was the second day of this crap. Tsunade's mumbled voice broke him from his thoughts. "Come-in"

He walked into a room that had plenty of bad karma in it. Instinctively he backed up a step. Naruto was standing at the window back to the rest of the room. Ino was on Tsunade couch crying. Full tears pored from her eyes and on to Shikamaru's shoulder and chest as he comforted her by rubbing gently on her back. One ANBU soldier stood silently in front of Hokage-sama's desk. The others in the room Kakashi recognized but could place where he had seen them before.

Eying the room with caution his eyes finally stopped on Tsunade.

"Y-you wanted to see me?" Lately he just couldn't keep that damn shaky voice down.

Tsunade sighed slightly and folded her fingers together to let them rest in front of her face. "Yes, I have unfortunate news." Her voice was calm but soft..too soft. "Yesterday morning An ANBU team was ambushed and one of the team was KIA. "

Instantly Kakashi remembered how Sakura had acted about coming home early. 'It must have really bothered her that a team member had died, but who was it? '

Tsunade continued. "I regret to tell you that the person Killed in action was Haruno Sakura."

Kakashi rolled his visible eye "Is this some kind of sick joke. Naruto did you put her up to this!" Kakashi was officially pissed.

Naruto turned around slowly showing his face to Kakashi for the first time that day. Shocked at what he saw, Naruto was crying..this really wasn't a joke, they really thought she was dead.

Suddenly Kakashi burst out in laughter, he couldn't stop himself, it was just to ridiculous. Tsunade was outraged, in a flash she was up from her seat and had Kakashi by the color of his vest, Dangling him in the air she screamed. " ARE YOU INSANE, SHE'S DEAD HAVE YOU NO RESPECT! I THOUGHT YOU TWO WERE CLOSE FOR GODS SAKE!"

Struggling for breath Kakashi gasped out "She's...She's not...dead." Tsunade's eyes slanted as she placed in gently to the ground. Letting him goes she asked. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Kakashi readjusted his vest and cleared his voice to clarify. "You said she died yesterday morning...But she couldn't have she was at my apartment last night."

The ANBU walked past Tsunade and stood in front of Kakashi. " I have no idea what your talking about but I was on this mission with her, I was beside her when she died and I brought her body back to Konoha. Thou I never did find her mask. You can be in you own ignorant world if you want but I'm telling you that woman is dead, and she DID die yesterday morning."

"It's true Kakashi, I examined her body myself this morning. I took a picture if you would like further proof." Tsunade walked to her desk snatching a file and tossing it at Kakashi. He caught it with ease. still unbelieving he opened the file to see Sakura's personal file with a red stamp over it that said 'deceased' Flipping the page over a picture fell from between the pages.

On it a pink haired woman covered to her chest with a white sheet was lying on a steel table. Her skin was gray, body cut open... That's all he could stand to see. It was true. The body in the picture was defiantly more then a few hours old. His hands started to shake slightly. The file fell to the floor as Kakashi's head dropped. "I.." Clearing his voice his head shook side to side one to many times. "I'm sorry.." Turning around quietly he walked slowly out of the room.

It was unreal. She was dead..was last night a dream? Had he dreamt it all? Fiddling in his pocket for his keys to open his door he thought. 'Sakura, I'm sorry I never told you that I loved you.' Unable to find his keys with his shaking hands he spun around and leaned against front door. Sliding down to the ground he clutched his pant leg watching his knuckles turn white. It was to much. Pushing his legs up but keeping his balance with the help of the closed door he had to get inside, he had to find solitude...darkness.

Reaching his fingers into his pocket once again he found the illusive key. Unlocking the door he opened it wide and enough force to put the handle through the wall behind it. The room was quiet, but way to bright. He missed the shadows breeding grounds he despised last night.

Shaking his head back and fourth he raised his hands up to his face to rub bloodshot eyes as hard as he could before it started to hurt. 'A bed..that's what I need.' He thought.

Staggering over to his unrolled futon he lifted the tattered blanket up to see a white cat mask staring back at him. Kakashi's eyes went wide. "Sakura...?" With a slightly nervous hand he bend down to touch the stark white mask gingerly with the tips of his fingers.

He had hoped it was an hallucination, as silly as that sounds, but it wasn't. The mask was solid. Jerking his hand away and holding it as if he had just been burned, Kakashi tried with difficulty to swallow the rather large lump in his thought.

Closing his eyes softly he reached out once again to pick the mask up. Finally succeeding he opened his eyes to see the inside of Sakura's mask had small writing in it.

Holding it closer to his face he could smell her sent on it. Squinting slightly he read the words,

'Love Never Dies.'

A small smile played on Kakashi's lips and tears began to fall slowly. He understood now. He didn't have to be sad for Sakura. She would wait for him. They would be together again. Someday.

END

Flamers are welcome but try to remember this was really just the result of watching to many M. Night movies. Also super sorry if you see any misspellings..spell checks on the fritz