You guys are totally awesome! I already got ten reviews (plus I've had an awful day) so I wanted to share the next chapter with you! Thank you to Feather-Crowned Queen, Gabi, lyndyloowho, Cruisegirl86, xyra23, Yoohyuk, generaltay, and Guests for your reviews!

Two people said they wanted to find out about Sakura's past with her and one person was undecided. SO I'm going to give you all just a little taste, but mostly let you figure out with Kakashi :)

Chapter 11

Sakura stared at her cup of hot chocolate, not wanting to look across her dinner table to her mother. If she did, her eyes would focus on the bruise on her cheek. She didn't want to think about how it got there.

"You have a lovely apartment," her mother said.

"How did you find me?" Sakura asked. "Does Kizashi know where I am?"

"No, your father...I snuck out tonight. He doesn't know where I am, either."

Sakura's fingers tightened around her mug. She didn't want to start shaking in front of her mother. Showing weakness wasn't going to solve anything, so she would be strong. Even if her mother was never strong for her.

"We've both had a long day. You can sleep in my bed. We'll talk in the morning." It was as if Sakura was the mother, not the woman sitting across from her. "I have a first aid kit in the bathroom."

Sakura left her mother at the kitchen table. She grabbed her coat off the nearby hook and went outside, needing fresh air. Hopefully a walk would clear her head.

X

Even after her walk, Sakura had trouble sleeping. She laid awake on her couch, staring at the ceiling. She didn't know how her mother found her, which made her worried. If her mother could find her, why wouldn't her father be able to?

Though Kakashi should have been the last thing on her mind, she also thought about him and the beautiful woman he was with. She was under the impression he was interested in herself. Sai had probably gotten in her head, she realized. Kakashi was never interested and she had fabricated the whole thing. The kiss had been in the heat of the moment, and everything else was friendly. That woman was the one he really loved.

Just as the sun was rising, Sakura got a call from Gai, asking if she could cover an opening shift at the coffee shop. She had a feeling it was Moegi who called off. She told Gai she'd be happy to cover the shift.

After sending a quick text to Sai telling him not to come over to check on her, she went back to her bedroom. Her mother was sleeping soundly on the bed, and she noticed she had bandaged her face. "I can trust you, right?" she asked her, even though she knew she would get no answer.

X

Kakashi knew something was wrong with Sakura, and Sakura knew it. She didn't speak to him as she gave him each of his four coffee orders and never looked his way when he was sitting in his corner table, working on his laptop.

It wasn't just about his woman, though that played a part. As the day went on, Sakura became more and more anxious. Everytime the door would chime open, she would flinch and peak around a machine to see who it was. When there were no customers, she became lost in her thoughts. What was her mother doing in her house? Was she still sleeping or snooping around? Had she called anyone, telling them where to find her?

Her shift ended in early afternoon. She was excited to leave, to figure out what was happening at home. She was nervous to go, worried about what she would find when she got there.

To her surprise, Kakashi followed her out of the shop.

"Why are you following me?" she asked, not bothering to sound nice about it. She didn't have the time or energy to be nice to him.

"You're upset. Why?"

"That's none of your business." It wasn't her business to know he had a girlfriend, so it wasn't his business how she felt about it. And she certainly couldn't tell him that her mother was in her apartment, which panicked her to no end. He wasn't privy to that information. Not anymore.

She found herself wishing she lived farther away from the coffee shop. Within minutes she was entering her building, Kakashi still on her heels. He followed her up the stairs and to her door before she turned to him to speak again. "You're not going to barge in, are you?"

He seemed to take that as a challenge. "It isn't barging if you let me in. I know you want to."

She sighed. "Look, I really can't deal with this right now. Can you please leave me alone?"

"So something is wrong."

He reached out to touch her. She didn't know where, but her heart rate sped up just the same. Just as he touched the tips of her shoulder, her apartment door swung open.

"Sakura, there you are! I was worried-" Her eyes widened when she saw Kakashi. "Sakura, do you have a boyfriend?"

Sakura knew her face was already red when she looked back at Kakashi. He must have noticed how alarmed she was, because he extended his hand and said, "Kakashi, nice to meet you." Then he pushed Sakura inside as her mother backed up.

Her mother wanted to say more, Sakura knew, but she wasn't going to let her play Protective Mother. "We'll be right back," she said, pulling Kakashi back to her bedroom, the only enclosed space in the house.

"My, my, Sakura, how forward of you," Kakashi joked as the bedroom door was shut.

She let out a shaky breath, one that was heavy with almost-shed tears. She turned to face him and found she almost lost her words. Almost. But she could do this. She could tell him how bad her relationship with her mother was, why it was terrifying her mother found her, and-

"You have a girlfriend," she blurted out. His eyes widened. Her eyes did, too, realizing that she shouldn't have said that. She dragged him to her room to talk about her mother, not his gorgeous, age-appropriate girlfriend. "My mother just showed up last night. I don't know how she found me."

She could tell he was startled by her change of conversation almost as much as her declaration of his girlfriend's existence, but she could tell he was trying to follow Sakura was worked-up about a lot of things and needed the support he could give her. "Were you hiding from her?"

"I left home after graduation, came here to college. I didn't tell my parents where I went, and I haven't talked to them since." It was harder than she thought to tell Kakashi. She sat on the edge of her bed. He followed her lead. She noticed how he sat nearly a foot away from her. "It's...not good that she found me. I'm worried someone else will."

"Who? Is someone after you?"

She started crying fat tears that soaked his shirt as she clung to him, her hands fisted in the front of his shirt. He held her tightly, wanting her to know he wouldn't let go of her. She couldn't tell him everything — not right now — which they both realized. He would still be there for her the best he could, which they also both knew.

Let me know what you think! Love it? Hate it? Want more of something, less of something else? Tell me what the people want!

Who's Kakashi's girlfriend? If you know drop it in the reviews :)