By: Charlize Miller
Genre: Romance/Humour
Rating: T
Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.
Summary: After five years, Haruno Sakura finally returns to Kohona from two long missions. After spending some time back, she falls into dilemmas that affected her heart and her memories. What will she do? KakaSaku.
Author's Notes: Sorry, I didn't update as quickly as I usually do. Anyway, people I forgot to list last chapter. Thanks to pyro-witch2, animeroxz, Noyesgirl, Fiona McKinnon and MissPriss998 for reviewing! Anything between the two ---FLASHBACK---'s is well a flashback (like a parenthesis, if you get what I mean, oh well you guys can figure it out when you read it). OnWARDS! Chapter FIVE.
Reading AID:
--- / ---FLASHBACK--- means a time shift.
italics means somebody is thinking.
bold means nothing really, emphasis? I dunno.
underline means well, I hardly use it but if you see it use your imagination.
"" means somebody is talking.
'' means somebody is doing an action or a sound.
---
Chapter FIVE - Confessions
Last week when Kakashi advised Sakura to follow her heart rather than her head, she confronted Hatsuharu the next day. Since then, Sakura had been spending more time with the teal-haired ANBU than her friends.
---FLASHBACK---
Sasuke and Naruto hid behind a tall bush to get a closer look at the couple sparring.
"The HELL? Who's that freak?" Naruto tried to contain himself to a whisper.
"Shut up, shut up, shut up. You're going to blow our cover!" Sasuke bashed a fist at the blond head.
"Since when did she tell us she liked that guy?" Naruto asked a little quieter.
A figure grabbed the two by the back of their shirts. "Well, who do we have here? Don't you know it's not nice spying on people?"
The two turned their heads to look at the blonde-haired woman lifting them above the ground, "Ino! Well, you see, it's...it's...uhh, it's all Sasuke's fault! He made me come!"
"Shhh, she'll hear us!" Ino said as she dropped them and hurried to look through the bushes as they had done, "AWW! That's not fair. He's so hot! Why does she always end up with the guy?" She pouted arms crossed as she withdrew her head from the bushes.
"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked curiously on her right.
Ino shook her head, losing the blush forming on her cheeks, "nevermind."
When Sakura had told her that she didn't like Sasuke anymore, Ino always still had. Sakura was always one step ahead of me. She could have had Sasuke easily since they both belonged in the same team. Ugh! She's so lucky.
Sasuke stared at her and shrugged his shoulders.
---FLASHBACK---
Today is Hatsuharu's departure. Sakura woke up early to meet him at the airport. She quickly got dressed and shoved a toast in her mouth before she ran out the door.
---
When she arrived at the airport, she spotted Hatsuharu right away with a daisy in his hand and his luggage in the other. She thought he looked really cute waiting for her like a puppy waiting for its owner.
She walked slowly towards him becoming visible as she made her way through the crowds of people.
"Hi," he said as he leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. She wore a mid-knee white skirt with a cream-coloured camisole. He thought she looked gorgeous.
Sakura blushed a bright shade of pink, "hi."
'Ding-dong', "Flight 17, now boarding all passengers," 'ding-dong', the intercom spoke.
"That's me. I'll be back, Sakura...I promise," Hatsuharu said tenderly. He stood there waiting for her responce. She looked at the tiled floor.
Her hesitation made him feel uneasy so, he dropped his stuff down and took her hands and held them . He stared into her eyes. She looked at him as if his eyes were magnets.
Oh my god, what should I say?
Say bye.
That's it?
Okay, okay. Saaaaay...I'll miss you and I'll be waiting for you.
No!
Why not? You do have feelings for him, don't you?
I...uhh...
'Ding-dong', "Flight 17 will depart in two minutes," 'ding-dong', the intercom spoke again.
Hurry, just say it! Sakura opened her mouth, "umm...I'll miss you. I...I'll be waiting for you." Out of the blue, she threw herself at him and kissed him.
Hey, that wasn't supposed to happen. Why did I do that?
I don't know.
He broke the kiss remembering his time limit. He picked up his belongings and hurriedly jumped on the escalator. He looked at her, gave her a wink and threw the daisy at her.
She caught it and the crowds behind her cheered as the witnessed the romantic scene. Hatsuharu smiled at her.
She smiled back, waving. Why doesn't this feel right? Why wouldn't the words come out of my mouth properly? Was I lying? No, Sakura! Think with your heart, not your brain!
---
Sakura walked along the riverside. She had a lot to think about. She decided to visit her old training ground where she had spent most of her adolescent years. As she got nearer, she saw a broad figure.
"It's Kakashi," she said to herself. He looks like he's been training hard. She discreetly leaped in a tree and watched him.
Kakashi wasn't wearing a shirt, however, he still wore his mask. His muscles were damp with sweat from practicing his TaiJutsu on the trunk which was once used to tie Naruto to a couple of years ago. The trunk looked thin and worn out. She figured he must have been at it for awhile.
As Sakura watched him attentively, she soon found herself admiring his strength, his skills...his hair, his posture, his body...
Hey this is your teacher you're talking about.
Yeah and so what?
Are you serious?
Huh? I'm confused. Shut up!
She shook her head abruptly trying to get rid of her jumble of thoughts. Her attempt eventually led her to lose her balance.
"Ahhhhhhhhhh!" She yelled as she fell off the branch.
"Sakura?" He questioned as he recognised the alarming voice.
She landed on the ground and slowly got up rubbing her butt and the back of her head, "...owwww...ch." She looked up at the approaching shady figure, "I...I...was...uh, you know, like umm...saying good morning to the birds in the nest up there," she explained.
He laughed as he removed the twig from her hair. Sakura blushed lightly. Sakura! WHAT are you doing? I command the blood rushing to your cheeks to NOT rush to your cheeks.
"You have a knack for falling out of trees," Kakashi said, "so, what really brought you here?" he crossed his arms expecting another weird excuse.
"I...was..." Sakura thought hastily, "going to practice BUT you're already her, so..."
Practice in those clothes? Kakashi thought strangely.
"...so...how about a challenge?" Sakura said without thinking but she had nothing better to offer. She always wanted to show him how she's come around.
"You sure about that?" He asked eyeing her clothing.
"Why not, got a problem?" She quickly said getting his attention to her face.
"Fine...prepare yourself," he said as he failed for her to reconsider. He didn't want to hurt her but he could never turn down an offer especially when it dealt with bragging-rights.
Oh my god, what did I get myself into? NO, I can take him! Watch yourself Kakashi! I won't go easy on you!
Sakura took her time to concentrate. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Swiftly, she lunged at him with her elbow. Kakashi reached back and did a back flip to avoid her. She ran to her right and jumped high in the air. In mid-air she threw shurikens at him. Hehe, who would have guessed when these might get handy.
The HELL? Where did those come from? Kakashi tried to reason where she could have kept them on her. Promptly, he grabbed a smoke bomb from his pocket and threw it on the ground, escaping from her sight.
Soon as Sakura reached the ground she scanned around for the silver-haired ninja as the smoke gradually disappeared. She stood in her fighting stance.
Where'd he go? She wondered.
WHERE'D HE GO? She anxiously asked herself again. She feared that she might be where he wanted her to be.
"Wrong!" Kakashi said behind her, "never panic." He crouched down and swung his right leg causing her to stumble and fall flat on the floor.
"I won," he said as he planted his foot firmly on her neck, enough so that she couldn't move. He waited for a signal of defeat.
Oh shit. Now what?
Getting harder to breathe, she scanned for possible solutions.
I KNOW!
"Not yet!" She managed to say. She hacked his foot off her neck with her hands and tripped his other leg with hers. She used her leg muscles to get her up from the ground. Pulling out two kunai knives strapped on the sides of her thighs, she threw one at him. Kakashi, however, rapidly dodged it by rolling away. Sakura charged at him with the other. Kakashi grabbed her wrist and twisted it, causing her to drop the knife.
DAMN! Sakura's arm was now securely held behind her. Quickly, she threw a backwards kick at him with her heel protruding his stomach.
The Copy Ninja fell back, letting her loose. There's no way he'd let her win. So, he pivoted with a kick aiming for her head. Surprisingly, Sakura had thought the same.
They both froze bewildered at the similar attacks they had contemplated. Holding their positions, they saw each other's foot an inch's length from their faces. It's over. They both thought.
Incredible, she has gotten better. Kakashi was very, very impressed and almost intimidated by her. After all, he had once thought that she was almost an exact mould of himself. Now, he was able to witness what she has become. She may actually one day surpass.
Holy, that was close! I thought I'd be bruised up by the end of this fight. They abdicated their advances and smiled at each other.
"Good job," Kakashi said as he picked up his shirt and vest from the ground.
Sakura's once white skirt was now covered with dirt and grass stains and her camisole straps hung off her shoulders. She didn't care. She was very happy at what she had accomplished today. She didn't lose but she didn't win either. This was the closest she had gotten to defeating Kakashi, ever.
She picked up her kunai knives and shurikens and said, "you know, Kakashi-sensei, I couldn't let you win. You know why?"
"Yeah? Why is that?" he said as he put his shirt over his head.
"Because, Hatsuharu, would be disappointed if I did," she smiled as she picked up her last shuriken.
Kakashi figured that was the name of the guy she was talking about on their last walk. "Oh?" he replied dully as he put his vest on.
Sakura caught the mark in his response but she ignored it. There's no way he meant anything by the reverberation of his voice! Kakashi had always sounded like that. Right? She laughed mentally but remained skeptical.
---
Author's Notes: How was that chapter? It was probably pretty obvious...OR is it? To tell the truth, I hated writing about the fighting scene, I suck at action. Anyway, REVIEW! If you're lacking things to say, you can answer some of these questions:
1. What do you think about Urashima Hatsuharu? (I created him, so he's supposed to be perfect...except for the teal hair, I don't know what I was thinking but I can't go back on that now)
2. How is the story so far?
3. ARE you crazy about it? (LOL, well, I am)
4. What do you think is going to happen next?
5. Have any questions for me?