This one if for my little guest (Who are you, dear little guest?) who said:
"...about went he [Kakashi] realizes SHE [Sakura] was the one. The real one he wanted forever without a doubt..."
So... maybe not exactly that but something like it.
Thank you for your suggestions and I liked them, so I'll be working on some more (What fun!)
Kakashi blinked to try and make everything focus as the world managed to stop swirling around him after he came out of the transportation jutsu, only keeping his legs under him out of the sheer force of his will. He blinked again at the sight of Sakura's door in front of him and tried to recall why he was here instead of at his own apartment. Ah yes, he had just gotten off of a month long exhausting mission and had wanted to take a shower to get the smell of sweat and death off of him before he slept for a week, but someone at the gate had kindly informed him that his apartment building was under construction and that they had had to shut the water off.
And so, wanting a shower more than he wanted his one good eye at the moment, Kakashi had simply transported himself wearily to the front door of his young lover's apartment.
Slowly opening the door Kakashi dragged himself inside, leaning bodily against the door so that it would shut.
"Ah, Kakashi, how was your mission?" The white haired man turned achingly slowly towards the voice, blinking at the blurry form that lay on the couch. Sakura was lounging on the couch reading a book -one of his books, he noted- with his ninkin Bisuke pressed up against her legs dozing, though ready to awaken at the slightest hint of danger to protect his precious Cherry-chan. The woman had her hair up in a messy bun and had an incredibly oversized T-shirt on that hid the shorts she wore. It was obvious that this was one of her days off since she was just curled up on the couch and reading a book in the most comfortable clothes she had, a pastime that she always did on her free days.
Kakashi wondered if the sleep deprivation was affecting him too much when he was struck by the incredible thought that she was one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen.
Watching the white haired man blink blearily at her and sway slightly in place Sakura smiled at him sympathetically. "That bad, huh?" Not waiting for an answer she knew would never come Sakura stood up and walked over to the man, Bisuke grumbling as his nice and comfy heat source walked away from him.
Sakura bent down and went about taking the man's shoes off, Kakashi leaning back against the door for balance as he tried to think of a reason why a part of him was telling him to get it in gear and stop the girl in front of him from babying him. He supposed it was because the thought of someone fourteen years younger than him having to take care of him was supposed to be insulting, but at the moment all he could focus on was the fact that he was so tired his bones ached with it.
After managing to get his shoes off Sakura straitened and unzipped his vest, the rank smell not bothering her overmuch since she had been liberally covered with it a time or two herself. She took off the rest of his clothes to leave him in just his underwear, smiling as he actually managed to fall asleep standing, showing her just how deeply tired he was.
She went back into the tiny laundry room and threw all of his clothes in the wash along with a special detergent that worked feats of magic on old blood and any other stains that came from the field. When she walked back into the living room, the steady thrum of the washer echoing around her silent apartment, she found Kakashi slumped against the door lightly snoring, his legs just barely managing hold him up.
Slipping her arm around his waist she started to lead him back to the bathroom, chuckling as Kakashi came awake prepared to fight even in his sluggish state. "Calm it down there Bucko, I'm just going to throw you into the shower." He sleepily grumbled and leaned more of his weight onto her, too far gone to even consider what a blow this could be to his manly ego.
After depositing the man into the tiny box of a shower her apartment had Sakura turned on the water fully cold, making him jump and hiss as a bit of the blurriness that surrounded everything disappeared. Ignoring the curses that he slurred Sakura pushed his boxer-briefs down his hips and grabbed a washcloth, standing outside of the tiny shower as she roughly washed away the thick layer of grime that covered him.
When he started shivering she began turning up the water until it got tepid, hurrying now so that the water wouldn't have the time to actually lull Kakashi to sleep. She didn't think she'd be able to get a good hold on him when he was all dead weight and wet and slippery.
Water fell out from the open door and onto the tile floor, soaking through her clothes as she managed to wash the past month off of him. She knew the type of mission it had been, though not the exact details.
He had been sent to spy on someone, probably undercover, perhaps an assassination. But something must have went wrong, perhaps he had been seen or perhaps an alarm had been raised, but whatever it had been he had had to get out of there and fast. Where ever the mission had been it had been a terribly long way away and whoever had been chasing him had obviously managed to keep up and leave him unable to sneak away with some jutsu or trick. He hadn't had sleep in days and she was worried that the same might have been said about eating.
Well, whatever had happened he certainly wasn't in a position to take care of himself.
After turning of the flow of the water with a violent twist of her wrist Sakura managed to wrestle Kakashi out of the little cubicle, briefly drying him off as much as she could but not bothering with his hair. He could go to bed with it wet since there was no way she'd ever be able to get him to lean down enough for her to do it without him falling on top of her.
Managing to get him into the bedroom she allowed him to fall onto her bed, quickly covering his nakedness with a sheet, closing the curtain and door so that the light wouldn't bother him.
When Kakashi woke up he wasn't happy. He just wanted to slip back into the blissful unconsciousness and not worry about a thing, not about how tired he still felt or about the inevitable mission report he'd have to give an angry Tsunade. But his well trained mind was urging him to get up, and as much as he wished he could continue sleeping until everything had passed, he knew that wouldn't happen.
But the smell that was leaking through the crack in the door was certainly making him feel better.
Managing to find the spare pair of pants he kept in Sakura's closet he slipped them on, not bothering with anything else, not even his mask. If anyone else came he'd just have to pick something up to hide his face with.
He shuffled out of the room wishing her were ten years younger so that he could just shake of the aches he was feeling like they were nothing, but luckily his little lover was a skilled and sympathetic medic so she'd be able to kiss it and make him feel all better.
Said little lover was currently in the kitchen fixing what smelled like heaven to his empty stomach, yawning widely and looking positively adorable in her baggy clothes and mussy hair.
He dimly remembered everything she had done for him before putting him to bed and though it embarrassed him he appreciated it, especially since he knew he would never have be able to do any of that on his own. Really, the only thing that bothered him was that his trust and complete faith in the woman had grown so deep that he had subconsciously allowed her to see him so vulnerable when he would have naturally fought against anyone else, even as tired as he had been. He wasn't used to that.
"You slept for about fourteen hours." Sakura casually mentioned, flipping sausage out of the skillet and onto the plate in her hand. "When I heard you stop snoring about a half hour ago I figured you were waking up so I started on breakfast."
"I don't snore." He said defensively as he sat down at her little kitchen table. She snorted as she sat a plate piled with toast, sausage and eggs on the table in front of him, going back over to the stove to pour him a cup of the tea he preferred over the coffee she drank.
"You did last night, and it was so loud that I could hear it through the walls. I don't know how I ever got any sleep." She teased, sitting down across from him to eat her own food.
He found himself staring at her. She wasn't beautiful and she never had been, and she wasn't the kind of person he would normally be with, especially not with the whole previous teacher-student relationship. But he -a man who had never been in an actual long term relationship with anyone- had been with her for over a year now.
She was bossy, loud, angry, violent, fierce, short-tempered, arrogant, hard-working, kind, efficient, funny, smart, proud, soft and absurdly emotional. And there she was, sitting across from him in a baggy and stained sweatshirt and shorts, thick ugly socks covering her feet while her hair fluffed out in a tangled mess around a face that was bare of even a speck of makeup.
And he just sat there thinking that she was simply perfect.
Sakura looked up to find him looking at her and smiled at him, though the smile became puzzled when he just kept on staring. "What? Do I have something on my face?" She rubbed at her nose for good measure, wondering what it could be.
Kakashi shook his head and just kept on staring at her as she fidgeted under his gaze, "What?" She snapped out, growing tired of it as she glared at him.
"I think I might be in love with you."
Sakura, for some odd reason, tried to breathe in while making some kind of shocked sound, which had her choking on her own spit for a few moments.
"What?" She wheezed as she tried to take a breath, grabbing her coffee to take a sip and clear her throat, "What?" Kakashi nodded as if having decided something, leaning back in his chair with a serious expression on his unmasked face.
"Yep. I think I do."
Sakura watched as he got back to eating as if the "I love you" thing was no big deal, and after thinking about it a moment she couldn't figure out whether she should jump across the table to clock him or kiss him.
Poking at her eggs with her fork she decided to do neither.
"Well then, I guess I think I love you too." There. She could be nonchalant too. She could ignore the way her face was burning and the way the loud beating of her heart masked all other sounds. She would just sit in her chair and pout and act like an adult if that was the way he wanted to play it.
Suddenly she felt her chair tilting back as Kakashi leaned it enough so that he could press a burning kiss to her mouth that made her toes curl deliciously. "Good." He growled, tugging her so that they could go to the bedroom and celebrate.
She figured it was a good thing she had a sturdy table since they never made it.
Hope you liked it!
To my newest little darlings:
xFallingxCastlexWallsx- Thank you! Aren't you the sweetest?! Yes, I have some with Rin in it which I will be posting soon and I do actually have someone planned out for Kiba and I'll get to that... eventually. I just sit down at my computer and write whatever comes to me so it may come out by tomorrow or in a month.
zigmas- Thank you, too! And a whole year for the actual ending? For shame!
Seashells1000- Fangirl about me? OF COURSE YOU CAN! Can I do it for you, because you're simply amazing.
mjess15- Yes, there will be more ShikaTema
Hana Lee- Yes! I will write! Hahaha!
If I left any of you out, I'm sorry. (There's just so many :D)
And I got 10,000 views! AHHHH!
And Ninquelot, you were my guest? Gasp! You little trickster!
See you all soon my little lovelies!