I am glad to say that I'm done with this chapter. ^.^ (That's all I had to say, for now)

Oh! And Naruto does not belong to me, but damn I wished it did!

Kakashi laid on his sofa with his favorite book in hand. The storm was a good way to catch up on his reading. It made him stay indoors and stick to one place rather than roam the streets of Konoha.

He read non stop not paying any attention to the storm. It was unnecessary anyway. He had received a message from a ninja telling him to stay inside unless instructed other wise. Having no place to go that day and a book to finish, he did as told and waited for the storm to pass.

But even with his best entertainment on hand, he couldn't forget about his cherry blossom.

It was becoming late and the storm was still ragging with the same force as it began. Sakura began to think that it would never end. Every once in a while she would turn to the window to see if it had calmed down, but the conditions didn't change.

The storm seemed to not only effect the outside but the indoors as well. Yamato's apartment wasn't usually very cold during the day in Konoha. The nights made it slightly more cool, but not beyond the point of needing to wear a long sleeved shirt. The storm, however, made the surrounding air colder, causing Sakura to shiver with just her shorts and t-shirt.

The browned haired man noticed how the temperature was making her quiver. "Do you want a sweater?" He asked.

Sakura smiled in embarrassment. She was cold, but her pride made her lips form the word no.

Yamato laughed at her reply. Sakura always acting tough, he thought.

Sakura's face reddened as he laughed at her. It didn't take a mastermind to know that she was lying, but now the embarrassment was eating her alive.

The male ninja stood up and went to the furthest door in the apartment, his room. He slipped inside and then, quickly, returned back outside holding something in his hand. Before taking his seat once again he gave the long sleeved shirt he held to Sakura.

The rosette took it and thanked him. She put it on, but him being twice her size left the sleeves to dangle and the shirt to fall on top of her knees. It was much long than any of her shirts, but kept her very warm.

She turned to the window again, hoping for the storm to have changed.

"It seems like this storm won't end." She told herself rather loudly.

"It's the biggest storm we've ever had." Yamato added.

Sakura gave a loud sigh in frustration. She was getting sleepy and she wanted to be on her warm bed preparing for a long night of sleep. She knew, however, that even without the storm she wouldn't get a good night sleep tonight like she had not had a good night the days before.

"Do you think it'll end anytime soon?" She asked the brown haired nin.

"I'm not sure." Was all he responded. He answered sincerely to her question, but was inwardly hoping that it would continue to fall.

Sakura gave a small yawn. She really wanted to be home. The ninjas from before had told them to stay inside, but she wanted to go home. They hadn't come back since to tell them otherwise.

"Why did you ask?" She asked remembering the last thing he had asked.

Yamato, confused, replied, "Ask what?"

"About me having regrets."

He had completely forgotten about that. After the ninjas had knocked at his door, the moment seemed to cease. He had no idea why he had asked the question and now that he had what would he answer?

He had wished he had kept his mouth shut.

"I-I wanted to know." He stuttered. Then, feeling he had to add more, continued, "There are so many things that have been running through my head for so long. I don't know what to do." He breathed in and let the rest come out, "Now, with you here, maybe I can calm all these thoughts, all this guilt I feel."

"Why? Why should you feel guilt?" Sakura exclaimed, "Please remember that I chose this."

"You might have chosen to be part of the mission, but I was chosen to be your protector." His face was stern.

"You have to sto-"

"I can't!" He cut her off speaking loudly. "I can't." He repeated with a lower tone this time. "How can I forget? Can you forget?" He asked looking directly at her.

Sakura couldn't answer. She couldn't because she would have lied. And his face, his stare wouldn't let her.

"If you can't forget, then how can I?" She didn't want to look at him anymore. His guilt was eating him alive. But she couldn't look away, either.

She felt relief when he laid his head on his hands, looking at the floor.

"I've always known I've been pathetic. My blood is tainted with one that's not my own, I have done nothing to prove myself, and the one moment I can help someone I care about, I wreck it. Sometimes I wonder what worth do I have?"

He was shaking and Sakura was certain it had nothing to do with the cold air.

Sakura rose from her seat and stood above Yamato. She let her knees fall to the cold floor. Slowly she lifted her hands to land on his and held them. He grip was strong in a loving way. She lead his hands away from his face holding it right in front of her.

Closing her eyes she gave his hands a light kiss. She opened her emerald green eyes to stare directly at his watery brown ones.

"You need to know something," her eyes were getting hazy as she also began to tear up, "I don't regret anything."

Her hands moved around his waist to hug him. He did the same, laying his head in the crook of her neck.

"You did so much for me, more than you can ever know. I'm glad you were the one who went with me."

Yamato let out a sigh of what felt like a large bump in his throat. He hugged her tighter thankful of her words, of her forgiveness.

They stayed like that for several minutes, until Sakura's legs fell asleep.

Still in the embrace she whispered in his hear, "My legs.."

He immediately understood. Retreating from her warmth he helped her up to take a seat on the couch this time much closer than what they were before.

Once again there was silence between the two, but this one was different. It didn't hold the awkwardness it did before. It was more like ease.

Sakura's lips lifted looking at Yamato. They had worked it out, this was their new beginning. Yamato felt the same, but more than that he felt free to love her.

Thud! Came the large bolt of lightning flashing from the sky. Both turned to the window seeing the sharp lightning flash hit the Earth then another after another.

"It won't end tonight." She stated.

Yamato knew it was late and that Sakura usually would leave before it got this dark, but with this weather it would be impossible for her to get home safely.

"Stay for the night. You'll sleep on my bed and I'll take the couch."

Sakura quickly rejected the proposal, "I can't do that. This is your home and I don't want to intrude."

"It'll be fine. You can't leave with the big storm."

"But..." Yamato, before she could say anything else, spoke again, "You won't be able to leave this apartment until the storm clears."

His voice held authority, like the sensei he was to her. She couldn't stand a fight against that.

She lowered her head in defeat as Yamato prepared for her stay.

He had adjusted the pillow perfectly under him. His blanket was thick keeping him warm from the cold air. The sofa was smaller than him in length, but it didn't bother him at all.

Sakura was just a couple of feet away from where he laid. He had prepared her bed making sure it was comfortable for her.

Although it was past midnight the brown haired nin could not sleep. The thought of having Sakura under his roof for a night made him so happy. His mind help no thoughts of impurity toward the rosette. He was just glad that the women he loved was near him. No more running away, no more hiding. He could be with her without the second thought of her hating him running through his head. Everything was looking up, everything.

As joyous as he was he knew that there was still a lot of things to settle between the two. He also knew that conveying his love to the rosette would be impossible. At least right now he couldn't.

Right now he would just help her, protect her and this time he would get it right.

Before he knew it he was asleep. His head, for once, felt relaxed.

His first benevolent dream was simple but held so much. Sakura and him sitting beneath a tree talking and laughing. The day was warm and gave off small winds of air that felt refreshing. The heat of the sun was shining the land as they were hiding underneath the shadow of the tree.

Everything was perfect.

But quickly it ended as he slowly rose from his slumber. Opening his eyes to the darkness surrounding him he did not understand why he had woken up. The sun had yet to rise so there was no need to stay awake. Again he began to dose off, but heard the noise again keeping his eyes open.

It was small. It could barely be audible with the continuing storm, but it was there. Yamato straightened from his couch and listened to the sound.

For a while he heard nothing and thought it was just his imagination. He began to lay back in the sofa but continued to listen to his surroundings. Before his head could touch the pillow he heard the noise again.

It was a whimper! Whatever or whoever made that noise sounded in pain. Yamato got off the couch following the strange noise.

The noise itself baffled him but the direction it was leading him to brought shivers up his spine.
He slowly reached for the door knob in front of him and turned it. The door creaked as he slowly opened it to look inside. Once the door was fully open he looked around finding nothing suspicious. He then turned to Sakura, who was snuggled on the left side of his bed. She had covered all of her body except for her head.

Yamato, forgetting what he had come in for, admired her sleeping face. Her pink lips were slightly parted and her hair was splattered all over his pillow. It took a lot of will power to not bend down and give her a kiss.

Not knowing how much he would be able to stand looking at her he began to walk back to the living room. Half way across the room he stops and turns his head to the same noise that had woken him.

It was coming from Sakura's corner.

Yamato silently approached the rosette. As he got closer to her the whimper became louder. It only took a couple of minutes for Yamato to put together that the pained noise was coming from Sakura.

He watched her as her lips quivered and her brows furrowed. She was sweating from her foreheads and her head slightly moved from right to left.

Was she moving her head to say no?

She began to whisper something. Yamato lowered his head to her lips to hear the uttered words. After being only a few inches ways from her mouth he was able to understand what she whispered.

He lifted his head to look at her face again. It had the same torn look as before. Her mouth formed the same words that he had not heard at first.

"No, stop!"

Those words...he had heard her say them before, with the same agonizing tone. He thought it would be the last time time he would ever hear them again.

Her head jerked faster from left to right. Her hands were white as she gripped the blankets. Her whimpers grew and added a small scream of fear in them.

Yamato looked at her torn as well. His shaken hands lifted to wake her up. It did, but not without her rising up form the bed with a jump and sitting in crouched position crying.

She was in some type of shock. He waited for her to compose, but he knew she wouldn't. He was the one that had to shake her out of it. But he couldn't. He also needed time to compose himself.

Her cries were lower than in his dreams, but still as painful. Her position was one he had seen thousands of times over with her pink looks obscuring her face.

The sound of her cries always bore into him even after he awoke from the nightmare. Now he wouldn't wake up. Now he had to do what he never had the courage to do during sleep, what he never was able to.

Without thinking much about his actions his body moved closer to the bed. It sunk as his body got on top of it moving closer to the distraught girl. She made no signs of being startled or of any attempts to move. It was as if he wasn't there.

Once he was next to her he moved his hands slowly toward her, but retreated before he was able to lay a finger on her. Should he be the one to awaken when he was the demon in her dreams? No, but he had to.

He had thought it would be good now, that things were fixed. How wrong he was.

Sakura' s cries did not grow in volume, but they were not stopping anytime soon. He knew he had to do something. He couldn't let her be this way.

Closing his eyes he forced his hands to close in on her fragile body and move her closer to him. Soothing her he called out for her to wake up while moving his hands up and down her back.

It slowly worked. She was calming down as she awoke from her trance. She had heard Yamato's voice from a distance and come back to reality.

Her emerald eyes opened to see Yamato's black pajama shirt. His hands going up and down her back relaxed her.

She was awake now. Everything was okay, she told herself. He's not here anymore, there is no more reason to be scared. She repeated this to herself every night, but she never believed it.

Scared she wrapped her arms around Yamato and hugged him. Her tears fell again, staining his shirt. Yamato felt the wetness on his shirt, but didn't say anything. He waited for her to fall asleep, but even when she did she didn't let go. He should have felt glad with the embrace, but why should he? Wasn't it him who had caused her the nightmare when he had rapped her? Who was he to enjoy that moment?

So there it is... In a way I'm proud of this chapter but then I feel disappointed . I don't know how to feel. Anyway you guys I hope you like it. And I guess I'm going to start a new way of ending a conversation by asking you, my fellow readers, question(s).

Here it is:

In Sakura's shoes who would you choice? And off course, why?

Well with that I leave. Please review!

-Zero =)