Chapter 4

Naruto was standing at the stone of heroes. He had watched as they engraved Sakura's name into the stone. It had felt so surreal; he couldn't believe that she was really gone. It had been nearly a week and he was still in his mourning clothes. He didn't think he would ever be the same. Even Hinata could not comfort him and he knew that he loved her just as much as he loved Sakura. Sakura's feelings for him were the same as his were for her, although she would always hold a special place in his heart as his first love and as one of his very first true friends.

He felt a hand on his shoulders and looked to his right to see Kakashi. He looked more depressed than he had ever looked before. They stood there for what must've been hours and Naruto looked back on all of his memories with Sakura, good and bad. His shoulders shook as his emotions came to a boil but the tears wouldn't come, or rather he wouldn't let them. He didn't want to mourn Sakura anymore, he wanted to live on for her and be happy she was in a better place but he couldn't because he knew she wasn't. Her body had been transported to a different world where she would die, and that was not a better place.

"Naruto…. Let it out already. Holding in these feelings… it's just not healthy."

I looked at him and said, "WHAT ABOUT YOU SENSEI?! HUH?!"

Kakashi looked at his student and said, "I've tried so hard not to fail you all. I failed you when I couldn't stop Sasuke and now…"

Kakashi's shoulders began shaking as well and little drops of water could be seen forming in the ground and Naruto knew his sensei was crying, for the first time in front of him.

"I should've stopped him Naruto! Because of my mistakes, Sakura is gone forever now and you've lost both your teammates… I promised to myself and to Obito that I would never let my comrades down again!"

Naruto was crying nonstop now, and he walked closer to the stone, and put his hand on the recently engraved name.

"I came here to pay tribute to her and to try and move on but… I can't sensei… I ask her for forgiveness but I never feel like I've been forgiven and what's worse… I know this is really my fault."

Naruto turned to Kakashi and looked him in the eyes. Both of their eyes had been tinged red, from lack of sleep and from crying.

"I should've killed Sasuke when I had the chance, and I've had so many of them…" He turned back towards the stone and as he continued speaking, a menacing chakra leaked into the air and Naruto's features began morphing. "I won't waste my next chance. I'll KILL SASUKE!"

Kakashi was at a loss for words but quickly subdued Naruto's chakra before it went too far. Naruto calmed down as much as he could but where his sadness was, there his heart lay along with all of his hopes and dreams. He could never hope to become Hokage after what had happened, and he would never accept the position until Sasuke was dead by his own hand. He began to feel more and more like an empty shell as time went on.

"Naruto… I'm going to tell you why I've been late to so many things and why I've always seemed irresponsible. I come here every morning from and stay here for hours on end. I look at my friends and comrades names and I think back on al the mistakes I've made and I remind myself everyday of what I could've done and what I didn't do. That's why I never make the same mistake twice. It's because I remind myself of the pain I have caused. This is the first time I've repeated the mistake, except I see you replaying my life. I watched as my teammate, Obito, die in a mission. And due to certain circumstances, I was forced to kill my remaining teammate. I died inside that day and I was never the same… that was until team 7 was formed."

Naruto understood what Kakashi was saying. "I know… it's neither of our faults…"

Kakashi walked to where Obito and Rin's names were engraved and touched them. He looked up at Naruto and said, "That's right. Neither of us are powerful enough yet to take down that Tobi fellow and we'll need to train very hard to even defeat Sasuke." He looked down at the names once more and stepped back in shock.

"Sensei, what's wrong?" Naruto looked at the stone and on closer inspection he became shocked as well. Slowly, very slowly, a name was fading into thin air. Obito's name was disappearing from the stone as if it had never been written there and others including Sakura's were fading away.

"Sensei… what is going on here?"

Kakashi just as amazed as Naruto, was at a loss for words and did not know what to make of this.

"I don't know Naruto… I don't know…"

To Sakura

It had been a few days since I had come back to the village with the younger Kakashi, and I couldn't help but notice things about Kakashi that I never noticed or learnt about before. Kakashi usually only ever read dirty make out stories but he actually had a plethora of books on knowledge and tactics. I had never known how studious Kakashi was, even when he was a Jonin now.

I hadn't really left Kakashi's apartment, mostly to avoid villagers, but also because I enjoyed staying inside. It was nice learning new things from Kakashi that I would never learn from my older sensei. The only time I left was to visit Obito. He hadn't awoken quite yet but he was in a recovery process. The medics said he was going to be just fine, and he probably wouldn't awake for another 4 or 5 days. I brought Obito flowers and a fruit basket for Rin. She had been staying there every night since Obito went in. We made small talk and after Kakashi visited with them we came back here.

Kakashi had been following Minato's order to a T. He hadn't let me out of his sight since I moved in with him. To make up for him having to watch me, while he could be with his friends, I cooked meals for him and cleaned up around the apartment. We always ate in silence, but today he wasn't here. He had left me by myself trusting that I wouldn't try anything. He had told me he had to go on a quick mission to bring back some of the wounded to the hospital. He said he would be back right around now, so I decided I would clean or read till he came back.

I had just sat down to read a book when the door flew open. Kakashi walked in bloodied and bruised. He had been ambushed during his mission I was sure of it. I ran to him to help him though.

"Kakashi, what the hell happened to you out there?"

Kakashi's breath was ragged and as I helped him stumble to the sofa he said, "I… was ambushed… I had just… gathered the wounded when… I was attacked… I got everyone to the village safe after… defeating the enemy… but he was too strong for me… because of my eye…"

I looked at his bandaged left eye and I felt like a complete jerk. I told him to lie down on his back and he didn't argue for once and he relaxed on his couch. I ran to my room and grabbed some medical supplies that I had left over from treating Obito. I brought a chair to Kakashi's side and before I began treatment I asked, "Why didn't you get treated at the hospital Kakashi?"

He looked at me and said, "I wouldn't leave you here alone that long…"

I blushed but then he continued saying, "I would have failed to follow my sensei's instructions."

I nodded and felt doubly responsible for this. I treated the wounds in his arms and legs. I stopped the bleeding and wrapped his injuries up. This was all his body needed to be repaired… except for his left eye. I began to move toward it but I hesitated.

I touched Kakashi's should and looked him in his good eye and said, "I want to finish the healing process for you eye Kakashi; I hope that's alright with you. The scar will remain but Obito Sharingan won't disappear." He nodded giving me approval to heal it.

I slowly and carefully unwrapped the left side of his face. I was ready to begin but I noticed that the wrap had been hiding several cuts made by his jaw line, caused by shuriken or kunai. It went under his mask and I began to try and remove the mask from his mouth but his hand grabbed my wrist and I stopped.

He tried sitting up but I stopped him, so instead he angrily said, "Don't remove my mask, what do you think you're trying to do?"

Tears began forming in my eyes and I said, "Why are you so self abusive Kakashi? You have cuts that need healing! And I am willing to do that for you, now please let me help you Kakashi!"

He looked at me with his right eye but then looked away and said, "Go ahead Sakura.."

I smiled and removed his mask and I had to stifle a gasp. There was no other word for it. He was beautiful. The lower half of his face was completely perfect. I had to regain focus so I slowly began to heal his left eye. I sat there for what felt like forever, and I knew I was still blushing. I asked him to sit up and try blinking. He did so and he could blink fairly well, but I continued to heal what needed to be healed completely. He stayed sitting up like that, completely still. I had finished healing the blood cells and now I just had to completely heal the retina and cornea of his eye and I would be done.

I had finished and said, "You can open your eye now Kakashi."

He slowly opened his eye. The Sharingan appeared but I had healed it enough that he would be able to activate it at will so he turned it off. He looked around and then at me.

"Thank you Sakura…" He didn't say much else, which was fine. I smiled because I knew he was a quiet guy with little words to say. He stood up and stretched and I began standing up too but I was a bit wobbly from using so much chakra.

Kakashi quickly caught me and as we straightened up, his hands still my arms and we were inches apart from each other's faces. I looked in his eyes and saw something and I began saying my thanks when Kakashi began leaning in closer. My heart was racing and almost as if by instinct, I leaned in closer to him and my heart was beating even harder. I was thinking about backing away when Kakashi completed the distance by kissing me full on the mouth.

I was completely shocked by this but then I sort of melted into it. I closed my eyes and we stayed that way in the middle of the room, just kissing and he held me closer to him. We probably would have never broken apart if not for a loud and fast knock on his door.

We quickly jumped apart and Rin stepped in and said, "Kakashi, Sakura! You've got to hurry, it's Obito! He's finally woken up!"

Just as fast as she had come in she left, leaving Kakashi and I in an awkward setting.

Neither of us spoke and I knew my face must've been completely red, and Kakashi broke it by saying, "We'd better go and see him."

I wanted to talk about what had just happened but I knew we would talk about it later. Obito was more important right now. We ran to hospital and tried to stay as far apart as to not attract too much attention.

Obito was smiling and eating, the hospital had even transplanted a new eye which was working great for him. Rin told him about how I had saved him and he thanked me most of the time we were there. We talked about the trip home and what's been going on since. It was late in the day when Kakashi and I finally left and we did leave, I could see Rin's hand in Obito's and I smiled happy for them.

When we got back home, Kakashi and I stood in a sort of silence and he walked closer to me and I thought he was going to kiss me again when he started speaking.

"I want to apologize for what I did earlier. I don't know what came over me."

I looked at him sad because I didn't know what was happening but I knew I had been developing feelings for Kakashi, no matter how wrong it had seemed. He started to walk away to his bedroom but I stopped him by grabbing his wrist. He turned back towards me and I saw a mix of emotions in both of his eyes now. I saw a sort of sadness, mixed with confusion and a passion trying to masked by an unsuccessful emotionless look.

"Kakashi… I'm not sorry… I think… well… I don't know what to think but I know I'm developing some kind of feelings for you! Maybe even love!"

Kakashi grabbed my other wrist, and said, "I don't understand it myself. All I know is I've never felt this way about anyone girl I've ever met… Are you sure about this Sakura? You did say you were from a different time."

I nodded and was about to speak when I move closer to Kakashi. I removed my hands from his own and moved them up to his face. I began to gently take off the mask he had put back on so I could look at his entire face. I touched both sides of his face and moved my face closer to his and this time I initiated the kiss. I broke apart from him when I needed some air and said, "I'm sure Kakashi."

He pulled me back towards him and I wrapped my arms around his neck. He picked me up and we moved to the couch and we just kept on kissing each. We stayed like that for the longest time. We of course stopped eventually but we were too tired to even move and we fell asleep on the couch together. Wrapped in each other's warmth, I felt so safe and secure and I knew I was beginning to fall in love with Kakashi.