The shrilling sound of the alarm clock made both of them jump. Kakashi let out a string of really colorful words after hitting his head in the top of the table.

"Are you okay?" She asked immediately, all traces of sleepiness disappearing from her eyes. Her fingers started searching for any kind of injury on his head, brushing away his surprisingly soft hair.

"Yeah." He muttered, watching her from the corner of his eye.

"I don't think that it's anything serious. We shouldn't have fallen asleep here." She shook her head.

"I don't mind it." Kakashi turned his head so that he was facing her. She was still holding a fistful of his hair, but her fingers stilled.

He was surprisingly close right now. It was something that felt really comforting the previous night, but right now it made her exceptionally nervous. During her breakdown, she could care less about the fact that the distance between them was practically nonexistent. The woman was way too busy covering his shirt with tears and snot. But right now? Well, it was a whole other story.

"Oh." Was her brilliant reply. It was only now that she noticed the flecks of grey in his black eye. It was fairly interesting, not something out of the ordinary, but it still amazed her. Or maybe she was just surprised by his intense gaze.

"How are you?"

"I'm fine. It's always just a temporary thing…" She shrugged, letting her hands slip out of his hair. He caught her right hand with a swift move, holding it in his much larger one.

"I will be with you whenever there's a storm, you don't have to be all alone." Her breath got caught in her throat and she felt herself at a loss for words.

She started chewing on her lower lip, her gaze not meeting his. "Thank you." After a few heartbeats, Sakura continued. "You are the first person who saw me being like this."

In fact, he was the first to hear her recounting what happened back then. Most of the people of her country already knew that her parents got assassinated and only she and Naruto survived. She really didn't want to further elaborate on the circumstances. Besides, in the beginning, she and the blonde boy shared their grief with each other. And when Naruto left, she buried herself in her studies and diplomatic duties. But no matter how many days passed, she still couldn't say that she was completely healed. But maybe this is how things worked.

Tsunade tried to send her to a few sessions with a psychologist, to talk about her trauma and whatnot, but the pink haired girl refused to do so. Sakura always thought that her feelings about the whole ordeal should be kept to herself. Not only because she hated seeing the pitiful look of people whenever they got reminded of the fact that she lost her family, but because this was the only way she knew how to cope with her past. But with each stormy night, the carefully sealed memories burst out, and she found herself curled up in a ball and crying till it became painful for her to even blink. By the time she started to even consider seeking some form of help, it was too late. She was already sixteen, almost an adult. People would think that it was childish of her to be hung up on events that happened such a long time ago.

The fact, that they don't know the reason for the attack, or even the identity of the culprits even today was also something that made it hard for her to find closure. Sure, there were assumptions that her father being an important diplomat and aunt Kushina being the second in line for the throne of Whirlpool made them important targets, it was all that, only speculation. And while knowing the reason for their deaths would never bring them back, it would've given her chance to somewhat close this gaping hole.

Kakashi started rubbing the back of her hand in circles, sending shivers down her spine, but also making a warm feeling emerging in the pit of her stomach. "Thank you for telling me." He tilted her chin up, their eyes meeting. Their moment was cut short when the door to her room opened and closed.

"Your Majesty?" Keiko asked, her feet becoming visible. Sakura climbed out from under the table, her cheeks becoming hotter with each second.

"Good morning, Keiko." The young girl curtseyed, but her eyes did not leave Kakashi's legs that were poking out from under the furniture. Well, it did look quite off-putting, to say the least.

"Is everything all right, Sakura-sama?" That's when Kakashi chose to follow suit and climb out. The teen emitted a barely audible squeak and bowed a perfect ninety degrees upon seeing her king.

"Good morning, Your Majesty." She said, her gaze fixed on the floor.

"Good morning, Keiko-chan." Kakashi smiled warmly.

"I am terribly sorry for interrupting you. I should leave." She started walking backward, maintaining her bow.

"Oh, you don't have to. I was planning to leave anyways. And please stop bowing…" He rubbed the back of his head, making his already disheveled silver mane a bigger mess. "See you at lunch?" He turned to Sakura, raising a brow.

She nodded. "Y-yeah."

"Good." Smiling, he kissed her forehead and left the room.

Sakura just stared absentmindedly at the door that closed behind his back. The spot where his masked lips contacted with her forehead tingled, making her all giddy inside for whatever reason. To be honest she felt like a naïve schoolgirl, who just got noticed by her longtime crush. The cherry on top was that Keiko was there to witness this whole ordeal from the front row. Wonderful.

"I should be going to the hospital." She headed towards the bathroom, wanting to take a quick shower before departing. "Could you please ready my clothes?"

"Of course." Keiko sported the same bewildered look as her.

…

Sakura almost fell back with her chair when a hand out of nowhere appeared in front of her eyes.

"Finally." Shizune sighed exasperatedly. The raven-haired woman was sitting on the other side of her desk. They were in the process of writing the final list of supplies that were needed before the opening of the hospital. At some unknown point, Sakura started thinking about the events of last night, and then their aftermath this morning. She felt her cheeks burning up after realizing that she completely zoned out.

"Sorry." She winced, playing with the pen between her fingers.

"Is there something I should be concerned about?"

"Nothing." Upon seeing the unimpressed look on the older woman's face, she continued. "Really, it's nothing. I just feel a little bit tired, that's all."

"Tell me about it." Shizune reclined in her seat, running a hand through her hair. "I have to explain each procedure to the trainees at least four times. And there's this idiot Shiranui trailing after me all day." Sakura couldn't help but chuckle at the mention of her chaperone.

"It's not funny." Shizune's eyes narrowed. "Could you maybe ask the king to get the man some other job?"

"It can't be that bad."

"Yeah, it can. Even though I beat him up." She mumbled the last part.

"You what?" The pinkette leaned forward, hoping that she just misheard everything.

"Well…I proved him that I do not need his services." Shizune looked to the side.

"You can't go around and beat the captain of the Royal Guard up!"

"I didn't beat him up…I just…threw him on the floor." She stated sheepishly.

Sakura did not look impressed at all. "Gosh, I hope that he didn't tell that to Kakashi. We would be in really big trouble otherwise." Her husband wouldn't be exhilarated by the fact that Shizune hurt his best friend. Or maybe he would laugh until his stomach hurt because of the fact that Genma got his ass kicked by someone barely reaching up to his chest. Who knows, the man had the tendency to surprise her with his behavior.

"But I did not have a choice; he was so irritating that I just wanted to scare him away. There's a reason why I have to explain everything a bunch of times to the recruits. They keep staring at that bastard the whole time."

"Well, you can't really blame them now, can you? He's quite good looking."

Shizune's eyes narrowed. "His handsomeness does not change the fact that he's the most annoying, self-centered, womanizing-" She paused for a second to think about another infuriating quality that the man possessed. "chauvinistic person I've ever met."

"Such a detailed description."

"Oh, the list could go on and on, I'm just too tired to put more effort into it."

Amused, Sakura rested her chin on her palm. "You like him." She stated simply, earning the woman sitting in front of her to choke on her saliva.

"What?!" Shizune asked after composing herself. "I'd rather end up as a cat lady than to even consider dating him." The mischievous smile Sakura sported made her feel uneasy.

"I wasn't talking about you dating him. But now that you say-"

"No! Sakura, stop there! I refuse to have my relationship with him labeled as romantic!"

"But it's been so long since you had an actual boyfriend."

"He won't be the one to break this tradition. And don't you dare!" The older woman pointed an accusing finger at Sakura, knowing far too well that she'll somehow try to play matchmaker.

"What? I did nothing."

"And you won't." She turned back to the papers she was reading several minutes ago, considering their discussion finished.

…

He was disappointed once again upon seeing Sakura's empty seat in their dining room. Apparently, she got completely flooded with paperwork at the hospital and did not want to waste precious time with coming home to eat her meal. His spirits were visibly deflated, but at least he'll have enough opportunities to ponder about what yesterday's storm has brought to them.

Kakashi could still remember how he was leisurely sitting in his room, in an armchair, reading a book he had recently obtained. The sound of the storm acted as background music to the engaging storyline. Everything changed the moment a chain of thunder and lightning caused a power outage. Had it been any other time, he would've shrugged it off and waited patiently for the generators to start working again. But the shrieking from the nearby room made him stand up immediately, the armchair moving a few centimeters backward.

"Sakura!" He ran towards the door that they shared, but it was locked from the other side. "Sakura!" His palms banged on the wooden surface, but nothing happened. Being far too impatient, he ran outside to the balcony, surveying the gap between the two room's terraces. It wasn't wider than two meters, an obstacle that he could easily overcome.

He walked a few steps backward, and then started running towards the railing, jumping as high as he could. Kakashi landed in a crouching position on the other side, straightening himself up and hurrying towards the balcony door.

"No! Help me! Someone, please!" Sakura screamed.

He rushed inside, looking around the room, but he saw no one. It took him a few seconds to find the pinkette. She was sitting under the table, her disheveled state apparent even though there was barely any light inside the room.

"Sakura! Sakura, it's me!" He kneeled down in front of her, grabbing his upper arms. "Are you hurt? What happened?" It was really hard to tell whether she sustained any kind of injury.

"I'm…" A scream left her lips the moment another thunder came. He didn't have to be a genius to know that the source of her fright was the storm. Next thing he knew, he was crawling under the table, sitting beside Sakura.

Kakashi held her close to him, trying everything he could to calm the shaking woman down. His arms were still around her even after the storm was long gone. There was obviously a reason why she got so frightened, and even though it made him extremely curious to know the story behind it, he didn't want to put pressure on her.

"Do you want to talk about it?" The words spilled out of his mouth before he could stop himself. She looked at him with teary eyes, swallowing hard.

"Do you want to…um…go somewhere else?" She asked instead, clearly referring to his not so comfortable position under the table. While Kakashi wanted to say immediately yes, due to the awkward angle he had to hold his head, the space felt cozy nonetheless. It was like they were able to hide from the whole world.

"No, we can stay here. I quite like it actually." He crinkled his visible eye.

Sakura leaned back in her seat, folding her hands on her lap. Her shaky lips started moving after a few heartbeats of silence, revealing to him events of a past he did not know about. That time he did not realize the full significance of her actions, being too busy caressing her back as she recited that horrible night. It was only the morning after that the meaning of it truly sank in.

The information Sakura revealed to him was so unexpected, so not characteristic of their relationship, that it left him truly baffled. They were getting close; he would even dare to say that they were akin to two friends, but he would've never expected that she would disclose such a tragic moment in her life to him.

And he felt honored that she confided him. Sure, it was him who barged into her room and rushed to her side, but the pink haired woman could've chosen not to tell the reason for her distress. And he would've accepted her choice.

But she took another route and the whole dynamic of their relationship changed. For the better. So, the little cogs in his brain started to work automatically. How can he show her that he trusted her as much as she did? If he wanted this marriage to work out, he should do the same thing. Share with her the most hurtful moment in his life: the story behind his mask and eyepatch. This was something that only his closest friends knew about, and only because they were there to witness it all. He never, even once discussed the happenings with anyone since then.

Just the thought of doing something like this made him really uncomfortable. He was not used to talk about himself in any kind of aspect. Kakashi always thought that his history was something that was nobody's business. But he had to do this. He had to show her that he trusted Sakura enough to open up to her.

Tonight will be the night.

…

Sakura flopped face first on her bed the moment she entered her room. Her body was still aching from yesterday night's improvised 'bed', and it did not help that she couldn't remember the time she actually got a good night's sleep. Heck, she was too tired to even change into her pajamas.

"Why?" She growled into the sheets upon hearing a knock on her door. Slowly, she crawled out of bed and walked towards her door. But the knocking wasn't coming from that one; it was coming from behind her. She looked at the door she shared with Kakashi, her brows furrowing in confusion. Twisting the lock, she opened the other entrance.

Kakashi entered her room instantly, leaving no chance for her to even properly invite him inside. He walked straight towards her desk; Sakura stared at his retreating back in utter confusion. He then did something that was even stranger: pulled down the mask that was covering his face, the black cloth pooling at his neck.

"I think it's about time I told you my story." He said, sitting under the table.

Hello everyone!

How did you like the new chapter? Our couple is certainly starting to act strangely, huh?

This story already surpassed 100 reviews! What the hell?! I would've never imagined...not even in my wildest dreams that something like this would ever happen to any of my stories. Thank you so much guys for your continued support, even though I'm not uploading the chapters as frequently as I should. Thank you!