Just a quick drabble I wrote yesterday to try to warm up to writing again.
Title: Knowing
Summary: Kakashi thinks about his revelations he's had about Sakura over time (EWE AU).
Rating: K
Word Count: 513
The day Sakura smashed the earth apart with her bare hand to reveal Kakashi hiding underground he knew he seriously underestimated her strength. When she saved Kankuro from sure death from Sasori's poison, he knew he grievously overlooked her skill. And when Sakura activated the yin seal during the Third Great Shinobi War, he knew she surpassed him as a ninja.
He never knew how to be a teacher. Even less so did he know how to deal with the emotions of other people. Both of which explained why he could take little credit for his students' accomplishments, as all three sought out more apt mentors. This was also why as he watched Sakura join her two other teammates, finally their equal, he knew he failed them. Each one in their own way he was inadequate to help. Kakashi felt he failed Sakura in particular. The last thing he ever taught her was how to climb a tree. All of life's lessons from then on had come from Tsunade.
Yet vigilantly he watched over his three precious people after the war. In the small ways that he knew how he tried to do right by them, at last. More often than not Kakashi felt he had little impact.
A good example being the day Sakura watched Sasuke leave, once more in tears. He had little comfort to offer other than his presence. Kakashi wished he had the ability then to be more for her, do more for her. But he was clumsy in all things non-ninja related.
Kakashi brought Sakura a basket of fruit the next day in an attempt to be more useful and supportive. Sakura had let him know he was rather not. What am I supposed to do with it? I don't feel like eating right now.
It couldn't be said he didn't try. For the next month, Kakashi did his best to comfort Sakura and seemingly failed each time. Or so he thought until four weeks later when he managed to steal a smile when he brought her cake accidentally mistaking the date for her birthday, seven months early. They had an unbirthday birthday cake that day.
From there it snowballed to the point some time three years later when Kakashi complimented Sakura on her yin seal she bashfully blushed with a quiet thank you. He had meant it as a compliment about how far she'd come as a ninja but she had interpreted it as something else entirely. It may have had a bit of admiration for her beauty in it, though that was not intentional. It did lead to Sakura asking Kakashi out a few days later.
Perhaps he hadn't messed up entirely, Kakashi thought later as he slipped a ring on Sakura's delicate finger. After all, she had just agreed to be by his side for life. He must have done something right somewhere with her.
On their wedding day, he knew he had made the smartest decision of his life. And failure or no, he was right where he should be, with the right person.