Catching Up – Chapter 4
Kurai-Hisaki
Sorry for taking so long to update! School and work has been starting to get crazy and psycho on me.
Kakashi had followed the pink-haired kunoichi out when he couldn't find her anywhere in the bar. Hopping on rooftops, he trailed her down the streets of Konoha. He hid his chakra from her not wanting her to be alert that there's someone following her. Despite the fact that she was an excellent kunoichi, she didn't suspect a thing; not once did she look back behind or above her to see if there was anyone there. Maybe she was just occupied with something else. It could have also been the fact that Kakashi had quite a bit of time perfecting his stealth – of course being an Anbu in his youth had helped too.
While keeping a good distance from the kunoichi, he watched her as she looked at her own reflection. Then his eyes followed her figure as she seemed to float down the path that continued after the bridge. He felt like a stalker, because that was precisely what he had been doing – stalking.
Even if Konoha was a safe village, he felt like it was his job to make sure she was safe at home. After all you can never be too safe; she was his only female student, former or not. A thought spoke out to him.
You haven't cared for her in the past 5 years, what made you start now?
It had been right, why was he concerned now? Perhaps he should go back to the bar, or better yet home – it was New Years, what was he doing spying on his former student? He should go spend some time with his friends, seeing how he's never at home. But he felt like he couldn't leave Sakura here alone; no one should be alone on New Years – although he didn't mind it when he was alone. He was comfortable with the lack of socializing, but he knew Sakura wasn't. He thought that someone should be there for Sakura – but that someone wasn't going to and cannot be him.
In spite of all his thoughts, his feet didn't budge from his spot at all – which were now planted on one of the thick branches of a tree. He crouched low on the branch, out of sight, as he watched the pink-haired woman approach the place he spent most of his time in. He vaguely wondered why she would be there – someone as youthful and lively as her should not be in a sad place like this. As far as he knew, all her teammates were still alive and well. He decided he will find out later when she left.
In his line of sight, he noticed her dress flowing in the wind as she lowered herself on the grass. To him, she looked like a fallen angel – her wings clipped and she couldn't return to the place that she wanted to be.
He wasn't sure how long he had been standing in the shadows watching her – how would he anyways? Everyone knows he doesn't wear a watch. He wasn't even sure if he owned one, or how long ago since he used one. Time had never been an issue on his part; why else would he be late all the time? But he guessed that it must have been pretty late as he saw Sakura lay her head on the grass. He knew that she was here for a reason, and he was convinced that she was just resting until she was ready to go home.
More time seemed to have passed by, and Sakura never moved from her spot. An instinctive shiver made its way down Kakashi's back as he felt the breeze through his thin long sleeves – he could only wonder how Sakura wasn't frozen in her dress.
She's going to catch a cold.
A sigh escaped Kakashi's lips as he slipped down from the trees and gently dropped on the grass underneath him in silence. He realized that something was very wrong as he made his way towards the pink haired kunoichi. She never made any movement as he approached her – if he was an enemy, she'd be dead. He frowned.
She's usually more alert; I thought I taught her better than this.
His heart pounded harder as he neared her.
Why wasn't she moving?
He picked up his pace as he took long strides towards her. He flipped her over and kneeled down and placed his cheek near her mouth. She was breathing. Even though it didn't make sense to him, it seemed to him that she passed out from exhaustion.
She hadn't been physically overexerting herself tonight, so what happened?
He had noticed that before he had turned her on her back, she was facing a particular area of the stone. Wondering what had been able to capture her interest for so long; he crouched, facing the stone and looked past her head to see where her eyes have previously been fixed on. Part of the engravings shimmered in the moonlight. His eyes widened.
Haruno
Kakashi's lone onyx eye remained opened wide as he glanced down at the motionless kunoichi. He had been correct on one thing; it was not a death of a teammate. How had he managed to miss one of his student's most devastating moments - especially Sakura's? Sasuke and Naruto had grown up without their parents, but Sakura had parents when she was growing up. How had he managed to miss her longing looks at other children with parents? How had he managed to miss this big event? This piece of news should have travelled to his ears by now – shouldn't it? Surely Naruto or Sasuke would have told him. Only one thought popped up in his head. He hasn't been around enough lately.
Maybe it was his guilt talking, but he wanted to comfort her. He knew he was not the best person to do so – having lost many loved ones himself; he was not capable of telling her that everything was alright, because he knew very well that they were not. He felt pity for her. He knew how losing loved ones felt like, and he knew that she held her loved ones as close to her heart as she possibly can – it must have hit her extra hard. Being the only female in his team, as well as not being the great copy ninja, an Uchiha or the container of the Kyuubi; he knew that she felt inadequate. He felt guilty for not being there for her back then, as well as not being here for her now.
He realized that he missed out on a big portion of her life. She hid these emotions from him, and if he didn't follow her tonight, he would have never found out about this. She was no longer the same girl who wore every emotion on her sleeve. The girl he knew would have been crying for days on end, but the young woman in front of him did not have the scent of tears, nor were there any marks on her face that signalled to him that she had been crying. The only expression that she showed, was a crease between her brows, like something had just been simply bothering her.
Suddenly she looked a lot stronger, yet more fragile than she had ever been to him.
With a deep exhale through his mask, he effortlessly scooped her up into his arms and started to walk towards her apartment. Her skin was icy cold, but she never shivered once. She seemed to be unresponsive, and this made Kakashi's heart drop. Holding her as close to him as possible, he started to walk a little faster than his normal pace.
As he neared her apartment, he didn't feel like it was appropriate to search Sakura's body for the key. When the apartment came into his view, he silently thanked God for little favours as the little balcony that was attached to her bedroom became visible.
There was no door. All there was that led to the inside from this balcony was a window; not that this stopped Kakashi anyways. As he pulled open the window, he put his knee up and propped Sakura's upper body on it. Once the window was successfully opened, he hopped in with Sakura in his arms.
He scanned her room with his eye.
And just when I thought everything she owned was pink.
There were scrolls and books everywhere – including the floor and on the bed. A layer of dust that had settled on her black bed frame and on her red bed sheets caught Kakashi's attention.
Where has she been sleeping these few days, or rather years?
He made a mental map of her apartment as he walked through it. She seemed to have had a bathroom attached to her bedroom. The first thing he saw when he walked out of her bedroom, to the living room, was a pillow lying in the middle of the floor. He guessed that she must have thrown it when she got up to open the door for Naruto this morning. She probably never got the chance to go home after she got dragged out this morning. As he walked past the pillow, he eyed it and gave a slight smile to himself when a thought crossed his head.
She probably stomped on it a couple of times too. Poor pillow.
He saw a thin blanket on the couch, and an opened book lying face down within arms reach from the couch.
So this is where she slept.
Aside from her bedroom that looked like it had been through a natural disaster, the rest of her apartment was spotless – besides the random pillow in the middle of the living room.
After deciding that clearing her bed so Sakura could sleep on it was not a wise idea, he placed her on the black leather sofa. She'd kill him if he messed up the order of her books and scrolls; who was he to know if she was working on breakthrough medical skills. Turning to her bedroom, he stood in front of her closet, debating to himself whether or not to dig through her closet for a blanket. With a droop of his shoulders, he made a decision.
I can't believe I'm going to go through a woman's closet…
Not that he can remember clearly, but the last time he stepped into a bedroom, aside from his own was probably a couple years ago. And it was probably because the person inside that bedroom had been in a life or death scenario. Now he's going through someone's closet – which was located in their bedroom. Thankfully, he did not come across anything that he has never seen before – though this is not saying much for a guy who reads porn in broad daylight. Finally after 10 minutes, he pulled out a worn sleeping bag.
I remember this; she used to use this on our team seven missions.
He did not intentionally try to store information like this into his memory, but it was amazing how his mind remembered little details such as this one. He would say that he has a special sort of selective memory. He remembers things that he does not pay attention to. He can remember every page in the Icha Icha volumes that he had read. He can memorize every jutsu shown to him, yet he cannot remember simple things – like the locations for practices with his only Genin team or the time for a meeting with the Hokage, no matter how disastrous the results were.
With a sigh, he picked up the pillow on the way back to the couch. Gently lifting Sakura's head he propped it behind her. He opened her sleeping bag like a blanket and tucked her in. The moonlight shone through the window, framing her figure and he noticed that she was still in her dress. Would she mind if she slept in her dress? Would it get wrinkled? How much would she have to spend to fix, wash and straighten the dress the next morning? He would never know. It didn't seem to be uncomfortable for her; in fact she still made no motions aside from breathing.
He had broken one too many rules tonight, rules he had set for himself – to distance himself from others around him. Rules that he set so that he would not be emotionally attached to anyone or anything while going on multiple missions in a short period of time. He knew that once he had bumped into Naruto yesterday, things were going to change.
Rules were going to be broken. Afterall, it was Naruto.
I've looked at her once too many times. More or less, they were inappropriate glances, even if she was my former student. I probably touched her more in one night than I had for the past couple years. I stalked her like a pedophile and then broke into her apartment… can't break another one, especially the one that just crossed my mind.
He pushed the thoughts out of his head and yanked the opened sleeping bag up to her neck. Kakashi rested his hands on her forehead to check if she was warming up. Once satisfied with the results, he forced his eyes away from her delicate figure.
So he had finally spent his New Years with someone this year. And so had she, even though she didn't know it. At least she hadn't been alone. Knowing this fact, Kakashi smiled to himself in the darkness. He looked towards the ceiling as he tried to decide what to do. With final glance at his slumbering former student, he turned and walked towards the window and the balcony that he came in from.
I hope you feel better, Sakura.
With that thought, he leaped out of her apartment.
The balcony with nothing but a window actually does exist, there's one around the corner of my street. Sorry for another "not-so-happy" chapter, but at least it's not a depressing one right? *haha*
I didn't get a chance to get an editor for this one either, so if there are any mistakes please tell me!
Anyways, I think the one-shot that I wrote can be inserted somewhere (I'm not sure where) into this story. It describes a lot of feelings on Kakashi's part, which is similar to his feelings in this story. Yet it was different and it also made a nice short story itself (so I made it into a one-shot).
It is called One Simple Dance. Please check it out if you have time!
Thanks to those who reviewed! I can feel your support and it makes me smile. I love you guys for it!