- S -

Helpless was an emotion Sakura had never expected to see reflected in his eyes, but there was no other way to describe his expression. However, Sakura wasn't done. "Just because I love you doesn't mean I wouldn't do the same for everyone in the village, I'm a shinobi so this is my job. Every time I go to the hospital, every time I take a mission, and every day I wake up I'm ready to give everything for my home here and, like it or not, you're part of my home."

Huffing from the exertion of screaming at him, she refused to back down or break their eye contact without even realizing her admission of love.

"I know you're afraid we're all going to abandon you again. That you're going to wake up one day and we'll be gone." Kakashi always had a way of catching her off guard. He had a skill for saying something completely unexpected that left her scrambling to retain her composure. "But if you go recklessly headfirst into missions without a team or planning you will be the one gone."

Pink lips parted and her finger pressed into his chest softened to spread out to be a palm pressed directly over his heart. The thundering of his heart in his chest spoke volumes because Kakashi never got flustered. He was never lost for words or distraught or helpless.

Not before now.

Reaching down with gentle hands, he wrapped his palms around her face to cup it and hold her gaze to his. "We didn't all come back to you just for you to leave."

Nodding in his grasp, Sakura couldn't stop the soft smile that graced her face. Kakashi looked bewildered by her ability to smile after such an intense exchange and she felt the need to explain herself. "Wherever you all are is my home. Wherever you are I feel safe."

Wrapping her hands around his, she gripped his fingers and pulled them away from her face. Keeping her grip on his left hand, she moved towards the staircase. He allowed himself to be pulled up the stairs and into her bathroom where she released him and wordlessly began to strip. Once she was rid of all her clothes, she moved to him and, after a small nod, she began to help him remove his.

She flicked on the hot water and they stepped in together under the warm rush. "I'll tell you everything, but I want to do it slowly." Large hands fell to lightly grip her shoulders while his chin came to be propped atop her head allowing her to feel his nod of agreement. She moved backward to press herself against him, eliminating any lingering space between them. Every word vibrated in her chest so he could hear and feel her talk.

The details would get painful, so she chose to remain vague for the time being. "They were….impacted by Sasuke's time with Orochimaru. There was a sentiment he didn't deserve to return to Konoha and live a relatively peaceful life. No one was dumb enough to believe they'd be able to capture Naruto or you, so I was chosen as the target. Easier to lure in and easier to subdue."

Lips moved gently in her hair as he interjected, "Don't." It was almost laughable how different things were between them. It felt like it was so recent that he'd been burdened by her mere existence and now he was defending her from her own criticism.

"I was marked and tortured with the exact poison I was looking to treat. The serum has physical and psychological aspects. Physically it impairs chakra channels and psychologically it attacks reason and sense of reality, so it becomes impossible to escape a genjutsu." Every fiber of her being pleaded silently that he wouldn't push her away, that he wouldn't ask what she saw. They both knew she had seen him, but the details were better blurred.

"What did you see?"

Knowing the question was coming didn't make it any easier to hear. Physically flinching in his hold, she reached up to grasp the hands on her shoulders with her own. Sakura didn't have a shot in hell of keeping him beside her if he made up his mind to leave. She could only hope her touch gave him the strength to stay.

To listen.

"I've always been good with genjutsus so being unable to see through this one was…scary. The genjutsu showed Sasuke coming home. There was a brief period of joy and his return was just as good as it was in reality. But then I was coming home to find a bloodbath. I found you and my other loved ones bloodied with the bodies just standing in my living room," she whispered while gripping his hands tighter as he grew stiff.

Sucking in air as if she was drowning, because it sure felt like she was, the pinkette gave the final details of her nightmares. "And then Sasuke killed me. Different ways each time – with hid sword, with his Susanoo, and with his chidori. When they broke me from it, I was tortured physically, and they told me that reality was inevitable and that I needed to come back to Konoha and tell everyone exactly how dangerous he is. They needed to see my scars and know that he is a threat and that the girl who has fought for his freedom is now afraid of him."

Finally, he did attempt to move back, but she held firm to his hands and her tears began to materialize and slide down her cheeks.

"Please don't leave."

- K -

The images Sakura conjured with his story burned into his psyche, forever remaining as if the memory was from his own experience.

Every worry about Sasuke returning to Konoha, every thought and risk he'd calculated, couldn't begin to touch on what the reality had become. Sakura had suffered physically, psychologically, and emotionally at the hands of people who only used her as a vessel to hurt Team 7, but Sasuke more specifically.

"How can you so easily dismiss the suffering you experience because of us?" Despite having moved to back away, he turned his head to press a cheek against the top of her head.

Controlling her tears so she could respond to his question, the pinkette tried to put all her love into her words. "You three mean everything to me. I wouldn't be who I am without all of you. Naruto is like my brother, Sasuke grows closer to an acquaintance every day, and you…" She paused to mull over her words.

"I love you."

No response met her confession for several painfully long seconds. Neither moved, their breaths even stopping for the moment.

"You don't love me, you've just grown attached because I was present while you are vulnerable," Kakashi replied.

Sakura let out a bitter laugh. "I know what love is, Kakashi. You may picture my love as what I held for Sasuke as genin, but that's not who I am anymore. Love is wanting to spend time with you. Love is trusting you when I wake up scared. Love is choosing you over anyone else."

Silence ensued again, choking the room. Sakura opted it to fill it with the last favor she intended to ask of him.

"Will you help me take down Tanzawa?"

Kakashi seemed capable of speaking again after the question. "Will Tsunade allow either of us on that mission?"

"As her apprentice I think I have some leverage. I'll talk to her tomorrow."

No further discussion followed, and they dried off in silence before falling to sleep with less distance between them than normal.