Chapter 13: Dead, Born and Grown - Part 4
Summary: In which there are ch-ch-ch-ch-changes!
*Set 2 years after the Fourth War
Part 4 of 4
"What are you up to, boss?" The unmistakable voice of his ninken piped through the window that Kakashi spared a glance before burrowing his head back into his scribbling.
"Nothing," he mumbled listlessly despite the padding of feet now on his desk as Pakkun circled around towards the growing pile of crumpled paper.
Curious, his ninken pawed at one of the discarded sheets. "I am winter's child, pale and dying with warm breath, as I dream of spring."
"It's a metaphor," came Kakashi's slightly haughty defense before he snatched the paper away, unwilling to let the pug's lifeless monotone ruin anymore of his prose.
"That's some depressing metaphor," Pakkun sniggered anyway. "So you're writing a poem?" This time, his nosy little visitor lowered his snout closer to the paper Kakashi had been writing on.
Fighting a small amount of apprehension, he set his pen down to rub his nose bridge. "Honestly, I don't know what I'm doing," he groaned in defeat. "Testing the waters, perhaps?"
His ninken's heavy-lidded eyes could only stare back at him with a blank expression, already knowing who these letters were for without needing to ask. "Whatever happened to good ol' butt-sniffing?" Pakkun remained placid still, undeterred by the unamused stare Kakashi gave him for invoking the unwelcome imagery that had popped into his head.
"Okay, okay, I'm going." With a satisfied chortle, Pakkun picked up the mission parcel he had been summoned for in the first place, before leaping out the window.
Kakashi had never questioned this before, and certainly not with such heightened amount of apprehension but why, after all these years, was there only one proper flower shop in Konoha? It wouldn't be good for a small village economy to have one family monopolize an entire trade now, would it?
Equally absurd, and likely the primary reason that fueled Kakashi's superficial concern for commerce was the fact that the shop was ran by one particular florist who just happened to be the closest friend of the person he meant to buy flowers for— a fortuitous scenario for most people, surely. Except Kakashi was not like most people, and it had to take a conceding defeat for him to admit that, at the very least, he was a romantic enough buffoon to not delegate this task to his ANBU guards.
And so it was, with no shortage of courage, that the rokudaime breached the entrance of the Yamanaka shop one morning, wearing his practiced aloofness.
Ino's face lit up almost instantly. "Hokage-sama!" she chirped from behind her counter. "What can I do for you?"
"I'm looking to buy some flowers." Obviously, he chastised himself as his eyes began to dart around the different types of flora on the ledge.
"Ooh!" She gasped with enthusiastic salesmanship, like he'd been the first person to ever ask for flowers today. "What kind are you looking for?"
Nonplussed, Kakashi could only shrug. "The..pretty kind?"
"Is it for a special lady?" She raised an eyebrow teasingly before whipping her long pony tail back. "Tell me what she's like, I have a talent for figuring out their favorites."
"Thanks, but I think I'll manage." He wasn't about to fall for Ino's cunning inquiries, as innocent as they may appear; the young woman wasn't rising up the ranks at Konoha's Interrogation force for nothing.
"I bottle those petals for Sakura," Ino bubbled as he was about reach for a vibrant purple arrangement propped up in a mason jar. Her words made his arm jolt back however as a large bead of sweat already formed on his forehead and if she had noticed, Ino's calm expression betrayed nothing. "She can't get enough of them, they cancel out the smell of the hospital," she explained further.
Well, at least he knew now that Sakura enjoyed flowers or at least, the smell of them.
"Those are very nice, they go well with some Limoniums," came her next commentary as Kakashi laid his eyes on another set; it was clear she wasn't about to let him shop in peace. "But perhaps you're looking for something more..timeless?" Ino moved away from her counter to collect several stems of roses from a basket. "Not only do they mean eternal love, but what girl doesn't like red roses, right? Even better if they're her favorite color."
He wasn't entirely sure if he had imagined the devilish quality to the wink Ino gave him, already too suspicious to concede to any of her previous suggestions. With a shrug, Kakashi pointed at a sunny bouquet by the shop window. "How about these ones?" They reminded him of the wildflowers he had seen along the river-banks of Kumogakure during the fourth war.
"No, you don't want that. Yellow tulips mean one-sided love." Ino shook her head grimly in disapproval, then her face turned into a puzzled expression as Kakashi picked up the bundle.
Unconditional, devoted, and perhaps happily doomed. Perfect. "Tulips it is."
"So, what do you think?" Sakura gestured towards the collection of painted self-portraits that adorned the whole side of the room like a colorful mosaic. Half of them looked vaguely familiar, each of them varied in manner and expression; he could easily spot Sai's calligraphic style and Naruto's eager yet ham-fisted attempt at illustrating his mug, as they all collectively breathed life into the bare walls of the studio space.
"It was mostly for fun, just to fill up this building with something. We were expecting just a few submissions and then—"
"What do you make of some of these?" Kakashi's attention honed into a few interesting faces; a female head obscured by a bloodied hand, another with streaky red markings that resembled cracked features of a bore-most likely a former ANBU, and a much younger one with hollowed eyes.
"Perhaps they're coming to terms with their own demons? They're quite haunting for sure," she remarked thoughtfully.
"It's interesting to see them abstracted this way." His voice took on a wry edge with just a hint of sadness. "We hardly acknowledge the psychological effects of our occupation, much more exhibit them like this." Somehow, he could understand why the elders felt threatened by it; the seemingly unassuming cluster of artwork could so easily be mistaken for a compelling image of togetherness that challenged Konoha's system— a propaganda, regardless if Sakura meant to or not.
"Can I make one too?" His question seemed to have caught Sakura by surprise that she blinked in momentary disbelief.
"Oh. Of course. Yeah." She grabbed the nearest jar of brushes, setting them on the table with some paper and paint. "We've garnered way more interest about our project since we began the collage," she declared proudly. "It would be an honor to have your work among the people who support what we're doing here, hokage-sama."
"Alright, but I can't find my creative side with you watching me." In case that had sounded like a brush off, he made sure his smile reached his eyes with a subtle crinkle.
"Hai!" Sakura happily skipped off towards a window that had accumulated quite a collection of flowers from the Yamanaka shop. They were all in different stages of wilt that Kakashi made a mental note to start giving her something more enduring, like potted plants.
They were content to let the minutes trickle by in comfortable silence, though occasionally, Sakura would fill the room with her light humming as she sorted through some patient files while Kakashi enjoyed the pleasant melody as it mingled with the light shuffling of papers.
An hour had passed by when he furrowed his eyebrows to examine the last stroke of his paint brush. Sure, it wasn't an exceptional piece, even a little rough in execution and not nearly as visually-provoking as the others, nor particularly unique in concept, but it was the most honest portrait he could manage of himself given his innate reticence for the subject matter.
"I think I'm done," he mumbled softly, though loud enough in their quiet environment for Sakura to stand up eagerly and walk to his table.
"Oh." A curious blush tinted Sakura's face as she stared at his work— not exactly the reaction he had expected. "You didn't have to.. I mean, you could have— "
"Kept the mask?" he smiled. "I wear this thing everyday, I figured I'd try a different approach." And yet for all his artistic spontaneity, such was the power of years of habit that Kakashi still found it hard to divest his face of the actual thing.
But this was a start, and judging from the way Sakura's eyes remained trained at his work, it was a very good one.
"You look so much like the Legendary White Wolf I've seen in pictures." Her head cocked sideways with undiminished curiosity.
"Well, he is my father," he laughed lightly, though it did little to snap Sakura from her reverie, as her fingers traced the illustration of his bare lips, and down the small depiction of a scar on his chin.
"All these years, and you're just showing it to everyone?" Understandably, she looked skeptical. It wasn't like he hadn't taken to painstaking lengths to keep this a secret from the rest of the world.
"That's the paradox, isn't it?" Kakashi shrugged. "Without my mask, it'll just be another face in the crowd."
Carefully, Sakura lifted his portrait from the desk with a soft smile. "Not to me."
It was particularly amusing to Kakashi that Sakura always turned heads wherever she went.
Her pink hair wasn't so much an oddity now but a captivating characteristic that only served to complement her beauty; Kakashi wasn't the only one to notice too, judging from the increased visits of young jounins who would all nurse conveniently invisible injuries. To them, Sakura was delicate in name and appearance that even rumors of her temper faded into some kind of legend when they saw her.
But Sakura was kind to all of them, sometimes even a little coy with the showered attention and Kakashi took pleasure in knowing that if any of them made untoward advances, the graceful little woman hiding behind that medic clipboard would pummel their faces into the ground without hesitation.
It was particularly amusing to Kakashi that Sakura wasn't half as tolerating with his admirers.
He hardly reached his usual amount of Valentine's Day gifts this year and yet his huffy kunoichi made sure to point out how excessive it was to receive this much sweets, and likely only so because of the celebrity that came with being hokage.
The rokudaime responded by clutching his chest dramatically, as he should, at such an inaccurate statement. "Aww, you wound me, Sakura," he sniffed with his best bruised expression.
His former pupil would have remembered easily if it hadn't been for her selective-memory now, that he had been even more popular in his younger years, if not the most, out of all the jounin teachers. Instead, she could only inspect his small pile of presents with a frown as the red box that sat atop it became her unfortunate object of interest.
"Hnnn," she scoffed as she read the small note that came with it. "I know this kunoichi, she teaches at the academy."
"Is she cute?" His question was met with eyes like daggers, and he nearly balked as she appeared to contemplate launching the offending box in her hand towards the direction of his head. When she didn't, Kakashi relaxed back into his seat, swivelling a little. "You didn't just come here to inspect candies, did you?"
"No, of course not," she replied haughtily, eyes averted sideways. And it wasn't until the blush creeped up her face that he noticed she'd been hiding something behind her.
"I..uhm, I made this for you." Her hand revealed a small clear-topped box of unevenly heart-shaped chocolates, a tag strung into it read: from Sakura.
Sometimes the simplest words are the hardest to say.
It took all of his control not to dispatch a team of shinobi when Sakura didn't return from an S-rank mission that was labeled so only for the highly classified nature of her meeting. The task otherwise should have been as uneventful as a hike, and if it wasn't for her near fatal ambush a years ago, Kakashi would have been perfectly content to assume she'd simply been held back by harsh weather.
Even as Pakkun offered to track her down, the hokage reigned-in his own emotions and painfully refused; the forecast of snow would only put his own ninken through unnecessary trouble. Above all, he needed to stay objective.
It was forty-eight hours later when the nearest Konoha check-point finally confirmed her arrival and Kakashi stood there by the gates as if to see for himself if shadowy silhouette at the end of the road was truly his Sakura.
With eyes trained forward, she trudged through the snow and he must've blended right in with the grey haze all over that he smirked to himself when she finally sprinted towards the entrance, a smile on her face. Her nose and cheeks were pink from the cold when she greeted him and in a second, he draped his hokage robe around her.
They had never seen a vandalism like this on the grounds of the Konoha Academy; Sakura's lips thinned into a straight line as she stared at the letters, silent still even as Kakashi moved next to her.
MURDERERS. The word span the whole height of the concrete wall adjacent to the school's entrance, in bright red paint.
"Go to your classrooms, now!" Tsunade barked at the young genins skirting around it in horror.
"The elders have been worried about this kind of backlash since the program started.." He pondered the implication of this with a grim expression that mirrored hers.
Still no words.
"I don't think her patients could ever do such a thing," interjected the godaime as she stomped towards them.
"Then perhaps a radicalist got inspired?" Kakashi moved closer to touch the markings and became curious as he examined the paint transfer under his index finger. It was still wet.
"Or maybe someone is trying to besmirch her efforts." Tsunade prudently lowered her voice, aware that her words carried a conspiratory suggestion. "The elders are not above that kind politics, trust me."
"I didn't mean for any of this to happen," said Sakura, tone broken and entirely detached from their conversation. "I was just trying to help."
He dug his hands into his pockets as he regarded her more closely. "Don't blame yourself for the rigidity of an institution, Sakura. The godaime is right, politics can be quite a dirty game."
But whether the vandalism was real or not, there was a disturbing enough resonance to the word murderers plastered in front of a school that trained young children for combat; how long could they keep patching up a fundamentally broken system?
"Someday there won't be any need for the program anymore, that's the true goal." Sakura's fists remained balled tight as she directed her gaze pointedly at the both of them.
"No. That's not what you're here for," Tsunade countered firmly with unrelinquished authority befitting of a godaime, that even Kakashi had to brace for the incoming rebuke. "Your goal, is to help those that need you. You can't completely overhaul who we are. Not right now, not as long as there is conflict in the shinobi world."
Already baffled by the godaime's words, Sakura's face twisted with confusion that threatened to break into anger. "But we're at peace—"
"Right now, we are. Tomorrow?" There was a resounding silence that followed Tsunade's words, for none of them, not even Sakura could guarantee the future.
Instead, she regarded the older woman steely, despite the wetness that had began to swell on her eyes. "You sound just like them, shishou."
The godaime was hardly bothered by her accusation. "You have to stay realistic," she warned dauntlessly, and she stared her down with an unsaid 'or else' that only made the already tense atmosphere even more strained, whether she had meant to or not.
"These things can't change overnight, Sakura," Kakashi interjected softly. "Small steps, remember?" It was likely the same sentiment Tsunade wanted to impart, despite her terseness.
Not finding enough support for her outrage however, Sakura whipped her head around wordlessly and walked away.
He would not chase her this time.
Effective immediately, from the office of the Rokudaime:
Amendment XVI
The minimum age for S-class missions is 17 regardless of ninja rank. Combat missions at any class require full medical and psychological evaluations prior to and upon completion.
It was hardly surprising to Kakashi that Hiashi had began lobbying the Uzumaki-Hyuuga union all over Konoha, months before the wedding and with a hype that mirrored a political campaign than anything else. If one needed to be reminded of their upcoming nuptials, they would only need to look at every banner, on every house, painted in every corner of every street, to find the two prominent family crests joined together as a symbol of strength— a tantalizing enough epistle that appeared to resonate not only with the villagers, but even past the borders of the fire country.
The writing was on the wall, literally. And so it was, with surprisingly very little apprehension, that the rokudaime penned an official statement endorsing the young Uzumaki as his successor; if he was indeed to be usurped of his seat, he was glad at the very least, that it would be to Naruto.
The former hokage packed his belongings one afternoon, all of them fitting a small box that he carried down the long flight of stairs and out into the streets. Very quickly, the smell of grilled saury tantalized his nose that he began making plans to hide away with his takeout, deep in the thick shade of the forest and as far away he could, from the clutches of politics.
He was just about to walk towards the vendor, when he stopped; it was impressive really, how his eyes would always find her, even in the most crowded places.
The afternoon sun created dappled lighting on her pale green sweater as she stood there under a tree, marveling at the new construction that had already began on the hokage monument.
"Will I see you at Naruto's inauguration?" he asked.
Startled, she turned around. Then smiled. "I wouldn't miss it for the world."
"Minato-sensei would be so proud of him.." Kakashi regarded the early carvings of Naruto's face up there with the Yondaime; it seemed just like yesterday that they had both stood there under this same tree to gaze up at his own monolithic bust.
"As he would be of you too," she said with a small nudge of her elbow. "You managed to do so much good for this village."
"But I didn't even want the job at first," he admitted as Kakashi wasn't quite willing to agree with her but compelled just the same, to be gracious. "Whatever good I've done, I owe much to you— your project gave me the opportunity to make a small difference in my short time in office, Sakura."
And yet her green eyes widened in response.
Was she really that surprised? She had made him a better hokage, surely she knew this?
"By the way.." He cleared his throat. "From now on, just Kakashi is fine. I'm no longer hokage, remember?"
"Oh? But you'll always be the rokudaime, you know that, right?" She maintained a straight face as she regarded him. "That means I'm compelled by tradition to regard you always, with the highest respect."
He felt old enough as it was, and as different shades of dread cascaded onto his face, she laughed.
"I'm just kidding!" she chuckled. "Please, you barely deserve to be called sensei," came her sinker, clearly enjoying this confusing interval of compliments and insults.
"Alright, alright, that's enough." Though his words did little to dampen her girlish laughter. "Then how about we make it official, mm?" Much to her confusion, he handed her his box of belongings, before unsnapping the buttons on his hokage vest.
"What are you do— "
"I'm just Kakashi now, see?" With practiced ease, he slipped the thing off to stuff it inside the box and then their fingers brushed against each other as he took the box from her hands. "Would you care to have lunch with me,Sakura?"
She always looked beautiful when she blushed and he burned one more into his memory like a picture locked away for safe-keeping.
Finally regaining composure, she took his hand, smiling. "Alright, but only if we get some dango on the way."
Naruto married Hinata at the height of a spring afternoon.
The whole affair had an understated extravagance that served to be more intimidating than if it had been colorfully ostentatious. It was clear, nonetheless, that no detail had been spared from luxury. Its measured elegance seemed to have imbued itself into the atmosphere that the guests appeared to float around like a bunch of lilies in a pond to take their turns in congratulating the newly married couple; not even Naruto's boisterousness, which was surprisingly missing to begin with, could rattle this peaceful synchrony.
It was a pleasant affair, no doubt, just a slightly different from the ones he had ever been invited to, and strikingly unlike what he'd imagined for his own wedding.
As he idly straightened the folds of his jacket, he realized that for the first time in his self-imposed solitary life, he was confronted with the idea of settling down. Kakashi let the pleasant newness of it play around in his head as he watched Sakura give her well-wishes to the couple; her knee-length dress swayed gracefully as she moved, elegant in her countenance though playful still in that unique gossamery quality, that it was tempting to just whisk her away to somewhere sunnier, away from this stuffy affair.
It was around night time when the reception started, which to his surprise, felt like it had been from a different wedding altogether.
There were none of any sort of ritual at all, as it appeared Hinata had spared Naruto from participating in traditional Konohan reception— a string of rites that would heavily involve their parents, given as the young groom had none.
Whether Naruto had noticed the intent behind this or not, didn't matter; the young man had jumped head first at the prospect of redefining convention, and with no shortage of glee, had hired Killer-bee to host much of the night's program.
For a lot of things, that would be a bad idea, but Kakashi conceded, as he leaned against one of the walls, admiring the energy of the place...that this...this wasn't one of them.
It was right when a slow song started playing, but not before downing one too many glasses of wine for courage, that he decided stop his fruitless people-watching and approach the pink-haired kunoichi who was sitting alone on a chair.
Sakura idly watched everyone on the dance floor with her chin propped up on her hand, and her smile quirked knowingly as her eyes looked sideways.
"Care to dance?" he asked.
"I don't accept pity offers, sorry," came her haughty answer. God, she was even more attractive when sassy.
"That's good to hear." And to make his point clearer, Kakashi held out his hand. "So, how about it?" Really, he hadn't done this before, but he hadn't known how to use a kunai when he was a kid either, until he had split through three targets with one throw.
Wordlessly but with an obliging smile, she slipped her hand into his and as he led her towards the center, Kakashi prayed that his hubris would not so fantastically embarrass him.
"Is this ok?" he whispered as his fingers made its way to her waist, not inquiring about the contact but for belatedly worrying if he'd inadvertently coerced her out of her comfortable spot in her chair.
Sakura answered by taking her time to trace the lapels of his jacket with her two hands before resting them on his shoulders. "Is this ok?" she echoed with a playful smile.
Fully aware of what this intimate proximity could look like to onlookers, he pulled her closer still with a hand on the small of her back and to the slow sway of the music, they moved. Gingerly at first until they relaxed enough in each others arms to let everyone else in their peripheral fade away.
Kakashi could count on a curious looking Tsunade, who was giving him a knowing smile in a corner, who would likely be more supportive. But nothing else mattered outside the small space they shared, their rapt expressions could only be disturbed by the flighty little secrets they exchanged with their eyes and if it had been entirely up to him, they would be doing this forever.
But the music had to end eventually, and as the last notes faded, they too settled slowly into stillness.
If there had been any lingering wisps of the trance they'd been on, the booming voice from the speakers chased them all out. "Yo, bakayaro! It's time to turn it up!" Killer-bee screamed at the microphone, as a loud though catchy song started playing, making everyone leap out of their partners arms in excitement.
In a painfully obvious gesture of sympathy, she tilted her head towards the bar. "You want to grab drinks?"
"And miss out on this?" Kakashi wasn't having any of her misplaced pity tonight, and with a devilish grin, dragged her by the hand further into the small mosh-pit of people that had gathered near the stage. "You're not shy are you, Haruno?" he taunted with a wink.
Sakura's face turned dubious from his prodding, and even more so when Kakashi started to dance — really it was much closer to drunk-wrestling with a summon scroll than actual moves, but the bubbling laughter that came out of her as she hunched over breathlessly was motivation enough to keep repeating this tomfoolery.
As she was certain now he was daring her for their shared amusement, Sakura threw her arms in the air and joined him in his incomprehensible flailing. Absolutely no one paid attention to them— that was the peculiar thing about being crammed together inside a sea of people enthralled completely to barely coherent lyrics. "This is the best night ever!" Her voice almost drowned out by the loud music that she leaned closer to his ear to say it again.
They were both parched from laughing when they finally extracted themselves from the crowd, and for the remainder of that night they took advantage of small opportunities to touch each other; his hands intertwined with hers underneath the table as they listened to Yamato's drunken stupor, Sakura's fingers played with the grey wisps of his hair near his ears as she feigned finding a piece of confetti. This maddening little game went on for hours that he thanked the stars when Sakura leaned in with a conspiratorial grin. "Meet me outside in ten," she said before she excused herself from the table.
Kakashi found her by the nearby lake that the beautiful landscape opened into, her dress uncaringly bunched between her legs as she sat by the small bridge above it; she wasn't very far from the reception tent, but far enough that the lights became tiny little torches in the dark, the loud celebration fading into muffled sounds.
"All that dancing and alcohol did me in, I must be getting old.." Sakura punctuated her absurdity with a genuine worried frown that made Kakashi chuckle.
"Just admit it— you're as much a lightweight as I am," he teased as he took the spot next to her, their feet dangling above water.
With a groan, and likely as a begrudging agreement, Sakura rested her head on his shoulder. A brief moment of silence passed before she tilted her head towards him, though more facing the night sky as the limitations of craning her neck allowed. "Doesn't this remind you of something?"
The seemingly unending dark vastness of water glittered in front of them as Kakashi let a dopey smile hang on his face. "Hmm, that lake at Kumo," he answered without hesitation. They had sat just like this in front of a serene lake in Kumogakure, right at the end of the war. Even as a thousand other disastrous endings had been exceedingly more plausible— the destruction of the whole world notwithstanding, somehow, one hobbling division commander and his weary medic had found their feet immersed into the brisk water to soothe their tired muscles, flanked between a cloudless blue sky and its equally mesmerizing reflection.
The bottom half had to fall off eventually, he had been convinced of it. He had insisted even more so in the months that had followed as Sakura had began to chip into his cynicism with her stubborn affection.
Smiling wistfully, he spared a glance sideways and noticed his companion had remained completely silent but it wasn't until he heard her faint and even breathing did he realize she had spontaneously taken a small nap on his shoulder. Indeed, much like the old days..
But not quite.
A lot has changed since Kumogakure. That he was surmising this at the eve of Naruto's wedding— an event that would have sounded preposterous two years ago, was proof enough.
As Kakashi looked back up at the ethereal night sky above them, glittering in the millions upon millions of far reaching existence that had already faded, it felt easy, if for this moment alone, to regard his past like the distant memory of these stars— the horrors of it numbed from his brain, the screams muted.
Resolutely, Kakashi no longer worried if or when the bottom half would fall off. Life, he would learn again and again, was sustained by a much bigger force than fear. And as he bent lower, his nose touching the crown of her head, he sighed in the happiest defeat. "I love you, Sakura.." Light like a whisper, mumbled seemingly to no one.
Still, he waited. In that momentary stretch of silence, he became astutely aware of the risk of pushing her away, that when she did lift her head slowly, expression hardly sleep-hazed, he regarded her with bated breath. Right there, shoulder to shoulder, under the pale light of the stars was a perfectly tender moment.
Or at least it had been, until that spreading impish grin on her face.
"Well? Did the world end, Hatake?" she taunted with a smirk. "Wasn't so hard was it?" And before he could fumble for an answer, Kakashi yelped as her finger found a vulnerable spot under his rib. "Did it kill you to say it, hmm?" she continued mercilessly.
"Hey! Cut it out." Despite his stern tone, his lips tightened, already threatening to sputter into the most unwilling of giggles from her tickling assault. "I mean it, Sakura —" His hands tried to block a finger that jammed into his armpit and in an effort to completely keep her under control, he secured one hand behind her while firmly gripping her other wrist between them. "Stop it or else."
"Or else what?" Sakura challenged with chin slightly up, only to swallow a lump in her throat when she realized that their faces were now mere inches apart.
"Or else I'll throw you in the water," came his smirking deadpan that made her pout slightly in disappointment. Even though he wasn't entirely convinced she would behave, Kakashi slowly let go of her and watched as her hand slipped from his grasp to idly rest atop his knee. He nearly grinned; that curious, sort of daring look on her face was his favorite of her expressions, and before he knew it, his eyes had drifted to her slightly parted lips, recalling hilariously that many months ago he had thought this moment to be like leaping from a cliff-edge straight to the bowels of hell.
"Hmpfh." Sakura pursed her mouth impatiently— likely preparing to launch a deflecting retort that would ruin yet another moment, and before she could, Kakashi yanked his mask down, cradled her cheek and kissed her.
Not at all leaping into fiery inferno, no. More like a foundation that had given out from underneath to send him to a natural descent. He was always bound to fall.
They were immobile at first, reminiscent of the first time she had clumsily kissed him in his apartment hallway, but this time with the rush of cold air on his skin adding to the exhilarating sensation of her soft lips against his bare ones.
Eventually, some timid movements; tiny sips, swirled in with that faint taste of champagne as they occasionally brushed tongues in their measured exploration of each other's mouth.
Kakashi kissed her with the utmost piety; it was always in his nature to be reverent, the same way it was in Sakura's nature to be incensed by the treatment. Hilariously, it was that impetuous spirit in her that prevented him from being so blindly idealistic as to put her in a pedestal.
Sakura kissed him with moderate impatience. With fist grabbing the front of shirt, she pulled him closer. That she wanted him.. him in all his lopsided ridiculousness was always going to astound him, rattle the misguided truths in his head until they simply tumbled out. Kakashi obliged by angling his head, drinking deeply that the dance of their tongues became more than natural flourishes to their kisses, entangling now in slow, deliberate strokes.
The rush of blood that seemed to have left his head, dulled his brain enough that the sound of ruffling of leaves registered very low in his cognitive priorities.
But the ruckus grew louder. A raccoon with a mouse caught between its teeth scampered away from behind the bushes, startling the two of them enough to pull away.
"We should get back.." he managed breathlessly, despite the protest of every part of his body. With still swollen lips, Sakura silent nodded, though wide-eyed in appraising curiosity as she began to search his face.
Oh.
He instinctively reached for the fabric that had pooled around his neck only to be halted by a hand gently touching his cheek.
"Wait, I want to get a good look." Sakura continued to drank in the sight of him and each second she did, his discomfort grew.
"Not disappointed are you?" he teased not quite in jest, to which she nearly burst into laughter. Well, touche', Kakashi capitulated jokingly for himself.
"Are you kidding me?" Two hands braced his face as she angled his head towards the reflection on the water. "Look at you. I can't believe you'd keep a face like that hidden."
Startled and thoroughly flattered as he was, Kakashi could only stare back at his flushed reflection before winking cheekily at both of them. "Aha..does this mean I could actually make you fall in love with me?"
"Baka." Sakura landed a solid whack on his head, like they hadn't been passionately making-out a few minutes ago. "I love you regardless of what you look like anyway!"
Undeterred by the stinging pain on his scalp, his smile grew wider. "Sooo...you do love me." Finally, it was his turn to be insufferable. "Wasn't hard to say, was it?" Kakashi poked a finger at her sides for a small measure of revenge. Only, he didn't realize Sakura was infinitely more ticklish than he was, and as she yelped in surprise, her body instinctively jerked backwards past where she securely sat on the bridge to fall unceremoniously into the lake.
"Sakura!" Alarmed, he crouched closer towards the surface, confirming his dread when he saw the fuming expression that bobbed out of water— she was definitely going to kill him. He foolishly offered a stretched out hand anyway, and as she reached for it, a smirking diabolical grin stole over her face— it was already too late. Before he could channel chakra to his feet, Kakashi was yanked down with a loud splash as he crashed into the cold water.
The skirt of her dress billowed against him in the weightless bubbling depths of the darkness, their hands still remained joined and breaking only when she playfully shoved him down by the shoulder to beat him to the surface. As soon as their heads peeked out, his usually gravity-defying hair covered his vision enough that the splash of water Sakura sent his way landed squarely on his face, and gloriously at that, judging from the pure mirth in her laughter.
Seeing as their shared predicament made her infinitely more forgiving, he pulled her closer, snaking a hand around her waist that served to effectively halt her giggling; even as she blushed at their closeness, she looked startlingly comfortable and small with her arms folded between them.
"There's no way we can go back like this," she pointed out with a smirk— one that Kakashi mirrored knowingly, as there was absolutely no believable excuse that would sufficiently explain their current state, at least not one that didn't incriminate them together anymore than their public display of affection had managed tonight.
"I think our friends will do fine without us." His smile then turned into a contemplating frown. "But we still need to find a way to dry off."
With large swath of her hair plastered across her forehead, she titled her chin up. "Your place then, since it's nearest and I have a much better chance fitting into your dry clothes than you fitting into mine."
Convincing logic as it were, there was also mischievous twinkle in her eyes that Kakashi wasn't about to argue with.
Three hundred sixty five days.
Eight thousand seven hundred hours, give or take, seeing as he hardly slept.
Indeed much weighty than simply visualizing one year, but Kakashi wasn't the type to sugarcoat; this was precisely how long Sakura's mission was going to take, just a month in their new relationship.
He coiled like an abandoned puppy on the inside, but he smiled proudly, standing there barefoot as he chopped garlic in her kitchen, listening as she expressed how she'd always want to extend her rehabilitation program past the borders of the Fire Country, as far as the war-torn depths of Amegakure— an idea the elders thought too meddlesome and disloyal. "Not that their opinions matter," she remarked pointedly as she leaned back against the counter. "I have the nanadaime's full support, as well as an invitation from the Kazekage— Suna will be my first destination, where our alliances stretch the strongest." Sakura smiled reassuringly, like she was clearly sensing his trepidation. Then, her eyes averted sideways, faint blush staining her cheeks.
"What's the matter?" Kakashi nearly let out a small laugh at how adorable she looked, always so transparent.
"Well, I know you hate long travels..you hate sleeping bags even more so.." she mumbled half-way through as his eyebrows now genuinely furrowed. "Not to mention, you vowed never to deal with anything remotely close to politi— "
"What's this about, Sakura?" He had just thrown in the garlic on the saucepan, cranking it low for now as he turned to completely face her.
Emboldened by his full attention, she abandoned her shyness for a more determined expression. "I've been meaning to ask you to come with me from the start you know." A hint of irritation growing in her voice. "But you don't seem to care enough to offer. Hell, you probably won't even miss me."
This time, Kakashi laughed. A good hearty one befitting her words. "You can be so ridiculous you know that? Of course I'll miss you. But I don't want to get in the way, not when you have your heart set on something bigger than the both of us."
"Get in the way?" She braced two hands on her hips, an already agitated frown on her face. "You make it sound like I'm bringing a child along. Of course, I'll need you!"
"Then why didn't you say so?" he retorted plainly. "You have to stop playing these little games. If you want something, say it." Not that he was an expert in that department either, it was clear they had a lot to learn in their relationship.
She remained silent. Kakashi turned back to his cooking, cranking the stove back up to medium as the garlic sizzled, very clearly in cruise control now.
"Will you come with me?" came her words he knew would tumble out that he grinned in satisfaction. "I'm going to need someone who can help me deal with the local leaders and internal government, I'm not really the most patient delegate."
"That, my love, you are not." Kakashi could feel the glare boring in his head. "And you'll also miss me, that's why you want me to come along, is that right?" Bravely, he stretched out a hand for the bowl of sauce sitting by Sakura's elbow that could easily be sent to him flying if he provoked her enough.
"You already know I will," she said softly as she handed him the bowl, the contents joining the sautéed garlic to fill the kitchen with a rich aroma. "I wouldn't have even gone without you, baka. We haven't spent a night apart since our first night together."
Indeed, those were some enjoyable nights, he mused as his smile grew wider.
Letting out a long sigh, Sakura pushed off the counter to move next to him, head angled in the sweetest way. "So are you with me?"
Like she ever needed to ask. But Kakashi obliged her anyway by bending low for a small kiss on her lips. "Always."
E/N: I hope you guys enjoyed this culmination, finally it is done!
Well..not really. I haven't decided where I'll jump off in the timeline from here on out. Maybe a background story on Misaki's name (since I haven't visited that timeline in awhile), or what exactly happened at Kakashi's apartment? Did they really just do laundry? ;) Their travels together? So many possibilities! I hope you guys are on board for all of it! Again, I appreciate all the enthusiastic reviews so far, they really helped me push this main story onward!