Chapter 2 – North And South Of The River

Even though he was trying to focus his attention on Naruto, it was difficult for Kakashi to concentrate. He hadn't actually turned around to look at her, but he could acutely feel her presence at the edge of the woods, watching the training session. He turned to greet her but became worried when he saw her sitting with her head down, hugging her knees.

What's wrong, Sakura? Are you tired? Sad? Worried about something?

Kakashi wished he could just run over to her and put his arm around her so she could rest her head on his shoulder, but he knew he had to control himself. He had told himself a long time ago that he had to resist the temptation to let her, or anyone, know how he felt about his beautiful young former student.

The day Kakashi had first met Sakura after being assigned her teacher, he had thought she was a cute, cheeky girl, and though she was always being outshined by Naruto and Sasuke, he knew she had great potential and possessed a unique talent for chakra control. Now she had blossomed into a young woman who was well on her way to becoming a great medical ninja, was fiercely loyal, had the ability to break almost anything with her fists, and had a smile that… his words could not describe.

But he knew he would never get to have her. For one thing, she was still quite young and she had also been his student. He could only imagine the kinds of things people would say, and though he knew it would be inconsequential for him, he didn't want her to have to face that. For another, she had been so in love with Sasuke, perhaps she still was, waiting for him to return whether by choice or by force. She had been so devastated when he left. Then there was the fact that she was beautiful. And though she probably didn't know it, she had her pick of all the men in Konoha – there probably wasn't a single one who wouldn't love to be with her, who wouldn't want to caress her soft skin, to feel her curves close to them. She certainly would not want to settle for her perverted old teacher who only showed about an eighth of his face on a good day.

There had been so many times during the past few months that he wanted to tell her, but the last thing he needed was to hear her confirm what he already knew. He didn't want to destroy the relationship they already had by making her feel uncomfortable around him. He let out a small sigh. It almost pained him to think about her, he wanted her so badly. He had tried so many times to convince himself that he didn't, to make himself forget about her.

But every time she was in danger, like in the battle against that crazy puppeteer Akatsuki, he wanted nothing more than to fly to her side and keep her safe. Though he knew how capable she was of taking care of herself he still wanted to beg her to leave so she wouldn't be in harm's way. There were many times when he cursed himself for not being stronger so he could protect her better.

As the sun shined down on Kakashi, he looked across the field at the woman occupying his thoughts. His eyes widened slightly in surprise when she picked up her head and looked right at him. Even from that distance, the intensity of her lovely green eyes pierced him and he felt that familiar jolt in his chest. He quickly made himself recover and smiled at her, taking his hand out of his pocket to give her a small wave.

It was becoming harder and harder not to act on his feelings.

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All right, folks, it's that time again! I hope you enjoyed. Please leave your comments, I GREATLY appreciate them. The next chapter will probably start having some KakaSaku interaction, which I'm excited about. These first two chapters were just a little character development and such.

Also, I don't know if you know this but I've been keeping a U2 theme with the title of the story and the chapter titles. =] But this story is not in any way a songfic.