I smiled as I uploaded this but also was in pain. - a quote by me, for me, reminding me of my masochist ways. Or is it sadism in this context? Who the hell knows.

Enjoy.

Akari

"You gave Taiyo-san and I a fright there," the pink Uchiha's familiar voice was the first thing Akari heard as she came to. "Some of your organs failed but I repaired them best I could despite what's happening. It won't last long but it should hold it off for a few days."

A few days… That's all she had left.

Akari inhaled deeply and was relieved that she could.

"Thanks," she croaked and attempted to sit up but Sakura pushed her back into the bed.

"Don't, just rest." She commanded and Aki couldn't find the strength to disobey.

"How long has it been?" she wanted to laugh at the words. She wondered how many times she'd asked Chikako the same thing.

"A day. I kept you in an induced coma to help with the repair but I knew you didn't have…. Didn't have long left so I brought you around earlier than I usually would. Is that what you want?" Uchiha came to stand by the edge of the bed and looked down at her.

"Thank you, Uchiha-sama."

"Please, call me Sakura." She smiled sweetly.

"Sakura." She confirmed.

"You were in the hospital but I brought you here myself. I thought you'd be more comfortable." Sakura looked around the room and Akari found her eyes following. She realised she was back in Kakashi's room and relief flooded her.

"Is he back yet?" she found herself asking but Sakura shook her head.

"No, but I sent word. He should be back by tonight." She watched Sakura's gaze glaze over as she stared into nothing out the window.

"I'm sorry," Akari found herself saying.

"Don't be, despite everything, I see how much happier Kakashi is with you. I owe him a lot. I'm not even sure I'd be with Sasuke if it wasn't for Kakashi sensei," Sakura admitted as she looked back down to Akari who was still lying down. "He's always tried to bring Sasuke back to the light but during the war he made both of us realise how we felt." She watched Sakura smile at the memory. The thought of Kakashi valiantly trying to show his students that they loved each other made her chest feel light and tingly despite everything. She found herself smiling and she couldn't stop.

"Sasuke has said the same. I remember when he made me realise how my love for Sasuke had changed a lot. That it was on a totally different level to the puppy-love I felt from the academy. He told me he trusted that I loved him even when everyone else seemed to mock how I felt." She laughed but it was full of warmth and reminiscing rather than amusement. She shook her head and her smile fell. "Sasuke said he told Kakashi he felt like he had no reason to love me, and Kakashi was the one that made him realise he didn't need a reason to love me. He told him I just wanted to help him, all that time." Sakura seemed to be deep in memory and watching it made Akari chest tighten until Sakura looked straight at her. "I think, maybe if he never met you. Never experienced the love between you two, we might have never come together. So I guess what I'm trying to say is thank you. Not only for bringing happiness to Kakashi sensei but for everything after." She gave her a smile with her eyes closed and Akari realised then how much they all meant to one another. They really were a family. Sakura turned to leave.

"Sakura-Kun." Akari seemed to desperately call out and sat up. The pink-haired medic halted and turned back to her with a questioning gaze. "I know you will anyway, but… lookout for him when I'm gone. I don't want him to be lonely, and make sure he eats. Gai said he didn't eat afterwards… last time… and make sure he trains, I don't want him to lose his strength. Oh and make sure he doesn't spend all hours of the day talking to us at the memorial stone. Oh! And-" the chime of Sakura's laughter halted her verbal spray of words and she watched Sakura's fingertips cover her mouth lightly. Akari felt her head tip to one side in question.

"I'm sorry, it's just… you really love him don't you?" Akari found herself smiling at the medic who returned it warmly.

"Would you try convincing the adviser with the crazy ponytail of that," she rolled her eyes and flopped back dramatically in jest which caused Sakura to laugh a little louder.

"He's stubborn, but he'll come round,"

"It will probably be too late then," the morbidity of the words seemed to sap the energy out of the conversation and the woman stood in the silence of deep contemplation.

"I need to ask you of something Sakura-san. I don't think you're going to like it."

Akari dove into a brief explanation of all she knew. Sakura's face contorted into shock, then pain, and finally acceptance of what had to happen. She reluctantly agreed but hated the secrecy.

"I feel like I need to tell him, as the Hokage." Sakura winced at the scenario laid at her feet. Akari saw it was clear she was in two minds.

"Kakashi can't know, you know he'll try to follow." Akari reiterated finally. Sakura sighed and nodded.

"Rest, I'll see you…. goodbye Akari."

"Thank you, Sakura."

It wasn't long after Sakura left that Kakashi stormed through the house looking for her.

"Akari," his voice boomed around the walls waking her from her resting slumber. "Akari!" he called.

"In here," she coughed not realising how groggy she sounded. He burst through the bedroom door wide-eyed and panting. He looked a mess. He looked like he hadn't bathed since he left and the purple positively ringed around his obsidian eyes. They were full of terror and worry.

It didn't take him long to close the distance between them and his arms wrapped around her tightly. The warmth and comfort she found in his embrace made all her fears slip away.

She realised then that she would give herself a day. One perfect day with Kakashi, and then she'd slip away.

"Why is there a pen and paper here?" his voice broke the silence and then he broke their embrace. Her eyes followed his to the bedside where she'd placed them.

"I was going to write you a letter… for after." She couldn't look at him and she continued to stare at them on the bedside table.

"No. No more letters. Please no more letters." His words were quiet, almost a whisper. The way he spoke made her chest feel like it would tear in half.

"No more letters," she agreed.

"You should rest." He rose to his feet and Akari already missed his warmth.

"I'd agree with you but then we'd both be wrong" the grave atmosphere was something she couldn't handle. She teased him and found him actually smiling back at her.

"Then what do you want?" he turned to her fully. Her eyes raked up his form. He wore dirty black trousers and a black long sleeve top. His black body protector with the rokudaime embossed in red on the back was in place and his mask and headband. She felt like she needed to see him without all of it again. Seeing him fill out from young man to the man who stood before her made her gut coil despite everything.

"Don't you dare," Kakashi warned her but he watched a slow smirk cross her lips. She began pulling the duvet off her and slipped onto the floor. She took her time to cross the distance between the two of them. She watched the amusement dance with lust in his eyes. "You're too unwell."

"You can't stop me," she smirked but it came out more of a purr.

"You want to bet?" he folded his arms in protest but it only fed the flame in her belly.

"How much?" she'd halted mere inches from him. She brought her hands up to his mask and slowly pulled it down to reveal his face. Kami, she'd missed it. Missed him. Even the past few days felt too many. She watched thoughts flash past his eyes and a seriousness settled in his features.

"Marry me."

"Sex or marriage, not both? That doesn't seem fair. I think you underestimate how much you turn me on, Hokage-sama." she taunted him and she watched him fall for it.

"I think you underestimate how much I want you." The intensity of his words made it obvious that he wasn't talking about her body at this point.

"I think you're overestimating how hard I'll try to resist, then." He seemed shocked at her words as she stepped away from him. The playfulness began to override her sultry side.

"Marry me Akari." He spoke carefully and seriously. His eyes seemed to will her of an answer.

"To prove you can trust me?" she found herself asking.

"To be my wife." Her heart faltered at that. She realised she wanted nothing more than that. Images of what could've been began to flash behind her eyes. The same things she'd been seeing for years but it seemed to hit her harder than ever.

"I'm not going to be around much longer Kashi..."

"And if you were? If it was possible? Would you then?"

"I couldn't possibly know then, I wouldn't want to deal in what if's." She joked and she could feel the sadness that pulled at her false smile but she couldn't find it in her to promise him that she'd marry him. She wouldn't do that to him. She'd already taken so much from him. "You should find a nice woman and settle down Kashi… this time you really need to move on. Please. I can't stand the thought of you not having anyone."

"I've already found a woman. Nice is questionable, however," he smiled at her but she knew he was just trying to smooth talk his way out of the conversation.

"Kashi," her eyes began to water uncontrollably. "Please, please this time." He seemed to falter at the sadness in her and he stepped forward towards her. He took her face in his hands and she relished in the feeling. He wiped away the tears that rolled down her face.

"Do you not remember what I said to you?" he asked so tenderly it felt like it broke her heart.

"There won't be anyone else for me, I could never unlove you, I already know." He recited the words he once told her and she squeezed her eyes shut as heartbreak seemed to invade her chest cavity but he only held her face nearer to his. "When I look at you, I can't imagine being anywhere else. There isn't anyone else for me Akari, you're it." She peeled her eyes open as his words grew softer and quieter. She could feel his breath whisper across her face as his mouth neared hers.

"Please Akari say yes. Be my wife." The warmth of his full lips pressed against her own. She savoured the feeling of them. The electricity that passed through them. The tender way he held her. The taste of him. He pulled back but not enough to part their mouths. "Do me the honour of marrying me?" he didn't give her time to answer. He only pressed another kiss against her mouth but this time it was desperate and broke her heart.

He made love to her then. Only whispers of tender words passed their lips as they came together. They didn't rush. Everything they wanted to say seemed to be spoken, only not in words. She'd never felt closer to him and further from the life she so desperately wanted at that moment.

She looked back to his sleeping form on the bed as she hesitated in the doorway. He lay on his belly and his face was half-submerged in his fluffy pillow. The soft orange glow of the table lamp seemed to bathe him in golden light. She wanted to remember it for the forever that she had. She clenched her jaw trying to stave off the water that threatened to spill and forced her feet to move.

Goodbye Kakashi. Thank you.

Kakashi

Kakashi woke in the middle of the night to an empty bed. Confusion pulled at his brows and he forced himself to get out of bed. He remembered the last few days and realised he needed to shower and sleep a lot more than he had.

He'd travelled to Suna for the help of the Kazekage and a few experts in seals to see if there was anything to be done for Akari. A few things could've been promising but when he heard what had happened- he couldn't stay away then. Sakura said she was quite literally on the verge of death and she could pass at any moment in the next day or so. Her organs were quite literally giving out. She didn't know how she as still speaking, let alone walking around like it was nothing.

He sighed and got to his feet. She must be in the bathroom only he couldn't sense her presence anywhere. The panic started to rise in him as he checked each room of the old house without a trace of her. He stood frozen for a second as his mind whirled through the possibilities but he already knew. He knew her too well.

He was dressed and racing to the Hokage tower within a few minutes. He ordered the anbu stationed at the tower to fetch the two he needed. He didn't know what else to do. He should've kept the anbu team on Hokage house watch. He cursed himself for refusing them at the start of his tenure. He just wanted his home to be a space of freedom for him. He knew she was too good of a kunoichi to alert anyone at the gates.

Not ten minutes after he reached the tower a yawning Shikamaru stood in front of him dressed in his gear. Kakashi couldn't sit and waited, his foot tapping against the floor. Although Shikamaru would've argued he was beating the floor with it.

"She didn't say anything?" he asked Shikamaru for potentially the 10th time in 2 minutes as they waited for Sakura. He shook his head at the distressed Hokage and crossed his own arms.

"If she really has left the village, I need to think of where she'd go next," Kakashi knew he could do the same but his mind was out of control, maybe he'd lost it entirely. He began pacing from one side of the room to the other when Sakura burst through the doors. He hadn't seen his old student dressed in mission gear for a long time. He met her wide-eyed gaze with her own. It seems she already understood.

"You know," he confirmed and she only nodded.

"She told me I couldn't tell you. And, she's right I shouldn't. It's too dangerous to be near."

"Tell me on the way." Kakashi turned to the window not bothering with the stairs but realise neither of his subordinates had moved. "You already decided when you came here in your mission gear." He glanced back to Sakura as he crouched in the open window. He could see she was fighting it.

"You shouldn't go Kakashi." Her tone was sterner than she'd ever been with him and it should've registered with him but he quite frankly didn't care. He looked to Shikamaru who was giving him the same expression as Sakura.

"And if I order you?" Sakura flinched and looked hurt. He might've just sabotaged one of his most precious relationships and guilt swirled amongst everything raging through him. "Please, Sakura. I can't…"

"Let's go." Her abrupt change of heart seemed to shock both of the males.

"What?" Shikamaru spoke first.

"If it was Sasuke, I'd need to know. I'd do anything. If it was Temari? What would you do?" they watched Shikamaru's eyes flare and they knew his thoughts defied his usual brilliant logic.

"Lets-"

The door slammed open shocking everyone. Three elite nin didn't notice the presence of the man behind the door.

"Take me." Taiyo's determined tone didn't faze Kakashi.

"There isn't time, Taiyo-san, I'm sorry," truly he was.

"Who is this?" Shikamaru sighed. "You'll only slow us down old man."

"How did you know?" Sakura asked.

"We need to leave." Kakashi reminded everyone even though the conversation flowed so quickly it was hard to keep up with his mind whirring.

"Just let me follow, if I fall behind so be it. Please let me see her before…."

"Fine." Kakashi agreed and shot out the window before anything else could happen.

"How did you know?" Sakura asked the old man again as they flew across rooftops. Kakashi could hear the conversation as he headed to the main gates.

"I was walking by and I saw the office light on." Taiyo was already panting and he seemed to realise how suspicious he sounded, "I couldn't sleep. I have insomnia" he panted through his words as they already approached the gates. "I knew the Hokage was going to be there if the light was on at this hour. I was going to ask how she was doing and I overheard the conversation and knew."

"Sakura," Kakashi commanded.

"Sensei," she obeyed and shot ahead at a speed only chakra could produce. He followed suit as she lead the way. They didn't stop at the gates. Anbu followed them for a short way before they realised who was leaving unannounced. He knew he'd be in trouble with the elders but he couldn't find it in himself to care at that moment. He could feel Taiyo-san slip further away and guilt racked him. He debated hanging back a little until a beam of familiar silver seemed to shoot high into the sky. So high he couldn't see the end of it. Dread and a painful understanding made his legs numb as all four of them seemed to slow to a halt.

The silver beam seemed to send a shock wave that would've swept them away if they hadn't been using chakra to stay to the treetops. Kakashi covered his face with his arms as debris whipped past them.

"Sensei!" he could barely hear Sakura's shouting over the gust. "That's her!" she was screaming and he only just heard her.

The fear and knowing made his body move. His mind seemed to fall oddly silent as he fought against the shock waves of the silver beam lighting up the night sky. The strange white light made it seem almost like daylight as Kakashi somehow made it to the next tree, and then the next.

It took him too long to close the distance between him and where he knew Akari was. He'd made it not 1000m even though they were already miles from Konoha. He realised that is why she left. All the energy that was tearing her body apart could've destroyed most of Konoha.

The silver beam seemed to disappear in the blink of an eye after releasing for over 10 minutes. He fell from the tree at the sudden halt of the hurricane winds but he was on his feet without registering the pain. He flew back through the canopy without thought. He couldn't feel his legs but he shot from branch to branch at a pace he didn't think humanly possible. He couldn't sense anyone else around him as he closed in. The devastation was almost eye-watering. He approached a crater the size of Konoha but was running too fast to stop and flew from the tree down into it.

He fell down and down through the air until his legs hit the floor. He broke the fall best he could but he was positive he heard bone break. It didn't register and he was running again. Running to the body surrounded by a silver glow. Akari.

"AKARI!" he found himself screaming for her as he closed in. Why did she have to be so far? Running downhill seemed to threaten his fall but he flew down without hesitation.

His knees seemed to hit the ground as he skidded towards her and stopped just before her body. He clawed his way to her and he looked down to her as the silver glow began to lessen.

He gasped for breath uncontrollably and his vision began to blur. The pain from the fractures seemed to begin registering and his ears rang.

"Akari!" he called out weaker this time as he finally made it to her. He could see it now. The pain soaking her face tore through his chest. He pulled himself towards her and cradled her as tightly as he could. His arms wrapped around her hoping he could take it from her. Absorb the sadness and pain for her. His heart cried for her. Please not her, not now, not again.

"Akari," he sobbed as his soul was cried for her. Pleading with fate. Please don't take her, Kami. Not her. His trembling hands tried to brush her lilac hair from her face.

He squeezed her upper body in his arms as the light from her eyes began to fade. He cradled her whilst he leant on his knees. His tears blurred the sight of her. Her shaking and wheezing breaths were daggers in his ears. The crimson red slipping from her colourless lips like a knife to his chest. He found himself wracked with sobs but he needed her to know everything he wanted to say. No words would be left unsaid this time.

"I see you everywhere," he could barely speak as sobs paralysed his chest, "I see pieces of you in all things and everyone I meet." The words came out shakily and desperately.

"The tenacity of Sakura, the warmth of Naruto, the ferocity of Sasuke. Even when I look in the mirror I see all the ways you shaped me. The taste of Sake and Whiskey makes me want to kiss you. The hospital makes me remember the times where you saved me. The time I told you I didn't trust you when all I really wanted to do was tell you that I thought I was falling for you and I was scared." Kakashi brought a hand to her face and brushed her brilliantly lilac hair from her face again but the contrast against her paling face felt like it was peeling back his skin.

"When I see Gai part of me was always jealous of how easily he makes you smile. I always thought I couldn't make you happy and I hated part of me for that. I wanted to give you everything. Even when I go to the tea house or eat Taiyo's curry for kami sake." He found himself laughing singularly void of amusement.

"I seem to be consumed by the memories of you Akari. I pretend that I'm not, I try and continue like I'm not walking with an unhealable wound. Sometimes I find myself believing my own lie but it's just because I've numbed to it. I've only truly felt fear a few times in my life despite being shinobi. But, watching you fading away like this and not being able to do anything is killing me. Knowing what's waiting for me is killing me. I've never been this scared in my life." He sobbed and squeezed her against him. His face disappearing into her as his tears blurred the world.

"The way I love you is timeless and unwavering but I know that my soul has already died with you once. Please don't make me go through it again. Please. Just stay. Please stay with me. Stay for me." He begged loudly and the pain in his chest tore through him forcing him to keel over her corpse. "I can't ignore the pain anymore." This only fell at a whisper.

The stench of death wasn't new to Kakashi. But, watching the life slip from her silver stare was enough to split his chest wide open and empty the contents of his heart on the ground. The silence was deafening. Kakashi was paralysed looking down at her still form. He looked down at her like he didn't believe she was really gone and he was waiting for her to blink.

"Hokage-sama, she's gone." Shikamaru's breathless voice travelled across the small distance but Kakashi didn't move. Couldn't.

"Kakashi sensei, she's passed on." Sakura's hand came to rest on his shoulder snapping him out of the dark daze. His face snapped to the intrusion, his eyes wide and filled with pain and Sakura flinched back from the haunted look. Red ringed sorely around his onyx eyes. Tears of fear and heartbreak staining his pale skin. The look would be enough to haunt Sakura for years.

"No," he uttered, jaw quivering.

"Kakashi…" Sakura's heart seemed to break for him as she watched him look back down at her lifeless body.

"NO!" he roared as sobs erupted from him. He clung to her harder, holding her close to him as if she'd come back to life at any moment. Sakura and Shikamaru found they couldn't watch and looked away from the scene but Taiyo had made it. He stared on in silence until he didn't.

"Keep her safe Kakashi, fill her life with happiness." Kakashi heard it clearly and turned his head to Taiyo-san. He watched as he took a strong stance, determined, and brought his hands together. "Do it for her." He watched the old man start a sequence of seals he'd only witnessed a few times in his life. His eyes flared widely as his broken heart began beating too quickly against his ribs.

"No!" he was on his feet running before he knew what he was doing, "Taiyo! Don't!" Kakashi watched it all happen as if time had slowed down. His legs couldn't carry him fast enough. His arm stretched out as far as he could in front of him. "NO!," but it was too late.

"Goodbye Kakashi-sama. Tell her I love her. Tell my daughter I love her." Kakashi reached him as the life shot from Taiyo and travelled across the small clearing to Akari's lifeless body. Kakashi caught the limp form of the old man before it hit the ground.

"What have you done?" he sobbed looking down at his face helplessly. A small soft smile graced his aged features as his eyes closed for the last time. "I'll tell her, I promise." He cried for him as Sakura and Shikamaru watched on wide-eyed at the events that unfolded.

"Kakashi!" Sakura's voice snapped Kakashi's attention to Akari. He watched Sakura run back over to her body and suddenly he was there too, beside her.

He knelt over her his eyes wide, unable to find breath the breathe. The silence was enough to send him into the next life.

He watched on until her eyes cracked open heavily.

"Ka-shi," two-syllable he had never wanted to hear more in his life. It was just a whisper against the soft breeze as they escaped her lips. Akari was alive.