Blinding Lights

Chapter III: The meeting

Kakashi turned the corner, and there she was, walking Home. Sakura was still in her working clothes, tiredness all over her face. She seemed to be in a hurry. Was she so urge to get home? As soon as they met, face to face, she was in ow when she saw him. Was she afraid?

"Hokage-Sama?" was all Sakura could say before wrinkle her nose, already, inspecting Kakashi's look as in a medical interview. Surely she thought he was injured again, or sick, or drank for the matter.

"Maa, Sa Ku Ra" Always pretending. "Drop the title, please." Lord, he was pleading, and it was definitely much needier than all the other times he had asked the same.

"What are you doing here Sen..." He lifted an eyebrow "Kakashi".

" I've been tryna call." Kakashi stated simply and then closed his mouth. Sakura opened her's as to say something, but nothing seems to come out for a while. "I kind of forgot your phone number" Kakashi added, this was killing him. Sakura bit her lower lip, she wasn't buying it.

"Do you need something, Kakashi?" Sakura finally asked.

"You" Sakura was shocked, fuck, he was ruining this, he felt like an idiot. "I mean, I needed it to talk to you" alright, much better. He had to keep it neutral.

"Oh..." Sakura was still looking at him with concern. She was running a silent exam on him "I see, tell me then Sensei." Again with the title, but this time he let it go.

"Are you in a hurry? Were you going home? I can Wait, maybe tomorrow." he was choking on his own words. He was accelerated, and he felt like a teenager. Sakura laughed.

"Easy Kakashi, I'm not in a hurry; actually, I was looking for you." Was she blushing? He couldn't be sure, the dim light from the streetlamp casted a shadow over them that made the vision quite blurry. How he missed the Sharingan right now. He tensed, and for the first time in the hole day, he stood straight.

"Ah, Sakura Chan, such a coincidence, right?" There, he had to keep it cool. "Tell me, why were you looking for me?" His voice was deep though, deeper than what he would like it. Sakura stiffened, she was kind of nervous, and Sharingan or not, he could sense that he was right: she was a bit blushed, he took his chance and walked a step forward to her.

"I...I" Sakura began nervously. All her resolution from before had run like a rat in a fire. He was overwhelming. She never had thought that one thing was speaking to him in her mind and another totally different face to face. "You first, Hokage Sama..." She suddenly remembered that infatuated with him or not, he was still her superior, the correct thing to do could be to listen first.

"Sa Ku Ra..." He warned. She sighed, this was going to be difficult.

"Alright" she could never win. "Yesterday, after our meeting, I came directly to the hospital, and I've been working since then" Sakura started with a tired tone.

"Wait, are you telling me that you've been in here for almost a whole day?" Kakashi was stunned. She was incredible. He knew that she was a bit of a workaholic, but twenty hours was too much, and there was no chakra that can handle that amount of overwork. "You must be exhausted." He finished in disbelief denying lazily with his head.

"No" Sakura started "Well, yes... But..."

"Sakura, if you need a vacation, you just need to ask." Kakashi interrupted, this was definitely not going as he expected. He had arrived there feeling so miserable about himself, ready to cry his heart out with the girl and now that he was in front of her, he was full of concern only wanting to give her a free time at least at the spring bath where she could relax.

"It's no not that, I..." she tried again.

"Sakura you know I'm the Hokage, you can ask me anything. How many days do you..."

"Hokage Sama, I know who you are" she finally said "I know it too well." Was regret in her voice? He stubbornly closed his mouth this time. He needed to listen. Sakura started again.

"As I was saying, Kakashi, I've been working... a lot. Please wait" Even without seeing his face she knew that he was going to talk again. "And I lost track of time, so I know I was getting late to show you the reports, which I have them here in the satchel. I thought I would catch up with you on your way home so to handle them to you, but you are here, so here they are" Now she was chocking with her words. She released her breath and looking down at the floor, she handed the files to Kakashi. There was silence for a moment until he also extended his arm to take what Sakura offered him.

Their fingers brushed and lingered on the papers together more than necessary, Sakura could feel the electricity the simple touch was providing her, it was like thousands Chidori trying to escape from the hands of his former sensei. Kakashi could feel it too. Such an intense touch, so lightly and innocent, but so tempting and forbidden at the same time. He smirked under the mask, yes, Sakura was all he wanted, but he needed it to break the silence, the touch. Things shouldn't be rough, and he wasn't a hormonal teenager.

"Maaa, Sakura, you didn't need to take such a bother, there is always a tomorrow you know." He was acting all so cool again. A hand full of papers, the other scratching the back of his neck and a close eye smile painted in his face.

"Tomorrow may be late, sensei." Sakura was whispering, he could sense the sadness in her voice "Anyway, you never told me why you were looking for me." She changed her demeanour, changed the subject, and changed her stance. Now she was all professional again and with arms crossed look alike too much like Tsunade to his likeness.

"Ahhh..." He brought his index to his mouth and smiled "I guess I forgot?" Kakashi was dumbfounded. Apparently, the romantic's affairs weren't as easy as shown in Icha Icha. Years and years reading those books and all for nothing.

"Kakashi, are you telling me that you were trying to call me but forgot my number, and come all over here to tell me something, this late, and you just forgot what it was?" Sakura was amazed, surely the Hokage was starting to lose his mind, that tedious, dull job was finally taking its toll. She shrugged and watch him closely. There had to be something wrong with him.

"I'm sure it was not that important, Sakura." Kakashi was lying. It was crucial, his heart was depending on it. He was felling fearless moments ago when the effect of the sake was still playing with his metabolism, but now that it was gone, he couldn't bring himself to tell anything to the girl, no, not the girl, the young woman he had in front of him. He was a fool after all. What had he thought? That Sakura was going to listen to his clumsy love confession as in a love story and jump into his arms, tear apart his mask and ravish his mouth as if there were no tomorrow? The idea was alluring, and he was quickly reacting to the image. He was inner battling with his body, heart and mind, and no one seems to be winning, and Sakura was sensing that something else was happening.

"Kakashi, you look strange, are you sure you are ok?" Sakura asked, concerned, bringing her hand to the forehead of the man in front of her. She needed it to know at least if he actually had a fever. Kakashi snatched her hand midway. It was a rude gesture, but if he let her continue, he feared that containing himself wouldn't be an option any longer, that was not how he had planned any of this. But wich one was the plan again?

Sakura was shocked. If Kakashi didn't even want her to touch his forehead, how would she get closer to him? This was going terrible, she was feeling like a little girl again, like that day with the bells. Useless. The voices in her head were coming again: Ino's words, Sasuke's scorn, her insecurities, everything. She took a deep breath, she had promised herself to be stronger, that she would never be again that weak child, and if Kakashi was what she wanted, then she would go for him and see how far she was able to go for him, for both of them. She took courage and spoke again.

"So, no fever, then Kakashi." She eyed him warily.

"Nah, no fever." He dismissed her. She was starting to walk, she was going away from him. Not this time "Were you going home? Sakura nodded, and he felt relieved. At least Sakura didn't have any plan for the night, that could have made him extremely jealous. "Do you mind if I walk you home, Sa Ku Ra?" Kakashi spoke in his soft, relaxed tone, but for Sakura, it was a terrible invitation, if only he knew what she felt every time he said her name like that. She wasn't that aware before, she was aware now. And she hated it. She would much prefer to keep on living in the oblivion about her feelings for the Hokage. He was so unreachable.

"Hokage Sama, I think you know that I'm pretty capable of walking home alone" she laughed nervously "I've been doing it for the last five years a least."

"I know you are" Kakashi excuse himself "I meant walking with you."

"Are you sure?" Sakura was ecstatic and disoriented at the same time. Hatake Kakashi was offering her to walk home together. Didn't he have better plans than to accompany your former student home?

"Yes, I'm sure, besides I'm also getting old, exercise is good for me" Sakura laughed heartily.

"Kakashi, in all these years I have not seen you grow old a year. You are the same as that day I met you, I bet you are like wine" Fuck, she spoke too fast without thinking, she unconsciously bit her lips and was sure that her face was redder than any cherry.

"Like wine?" Kakashi knew what the girl was referring to, but he needed to hear it from her. Sakura was impulsive, and this almost innocent comment had escaped her mouth, surely without her strict permission.

"You know, a good wine is better with age" Sakura answered almost in a whisper.

"So you mean I'm like a good wine?" Kakashi couldn't believe what he was hearing "It's the best I've been told in a long time."

"Oh came on Sensei, you know what I mean, is a way of saying" she was blushing profusely. He laughed genuinely and ruffled her hair like so many years ago.

"Way to say or not, thank you!"

Kakashi and Sakura walked in silence. It was not an awkward silence. They were two people who had known each other for a lifetime, and despite feeling apart for a long time, they felt comfortable in each other's company. Kakashi walked looking at the stars with his hands in his pockets as always, and just as Sakura had foreseen, the Hokage's white robe hanging loosely from one of his shoulders. She walked beside him, every so often stealing a glance finally at his profile.

The road from Konoha Hospital to the apartment where Sakura lived was not very long. Sakura would have given her life for the road to be longer, but unfortunately, the walk would be short, and in the blink of an eye, they were already at the building's door. Sakura nervously played with her hands, Kakashi stared at the ground.

"Well, Sakura, I think we have arrived."

"Yes, we did" Sakura answered, putting the key in the door to open it.

"Safe and sound ..." Kakashi was fighting with himself again. He wanted to kiss her right there, against that door, no matter what else. He imagined his hands travelling all over the girl's body and even how her skin would feel when touched by his fingers without the gloves. What would the skin on Sakura's neck taste like? Would he still be able to savour there the same fragrance of strawberry candies that he both hated and loved at the same time? No, he had to stop "I think we'll see each other tomorrow, right?" He turned to leave. He was stupid.

"Kakashi ..." Sakura said his name as if it was the first time she had, with her hand resting on his right arm "Would you like to come in for a coffee?"

So I'm back, It's a bit shorter than the others, but for them to talk to each other and find out how they fell and see if something happens between these two, I think, that it was better if I split it in two. I don't believe in relationships wherein one moment they say hello to each other and in the other, they are making out. I don't know, maybe I'm just getting old.
Hope to read your comments, as usual, please, they make me happy and help me to improve.

Another thing: I noted, that in a moment I said that Kakashi was the Lord Seventh, well he is not. He is the Sixth, I don't know why I made the mistake but anytime I'll try to fix it.