Catching Up – Chapter 12

Kurai-Hisaki

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

"Uhh…" was all Kakashi could get out as he awkwardly sfcratched the back of his head. He shifted his eye away from hers as he tried to think of the best way to answer her. Turning around to look at something else other than Sakura, he could feel her boring holes into the back of his head from the way she was staring at him.

For Sakura, it was an amusing sight. Never, had she ever seen the Copy Ninja so flustered and out-of-words to say. As much as she didn't want to, she had to admit that he was usually quick and smart with words.

After a while of muttering to himself, Kakashi turned back around.

"Get better first, and I'll tell you."

Sakura raised one eyebrow and shook her head gently while Kakashi made his way back to her side. Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, he lowered his head down to her level until he was several inches away from her face. With a lower voice, he spoke again.

"How about I show you then, once you get better."

Sakura felt herself blush the shade of her hair when Kakashi leaned in close to tell her that. Looking into his eye, she felt her heart skip a couple beats faster. Why did he have to do that to tell her? He could have very well told her that from across the room. But being curious, she agreed – after all, maybe she can use this method to heal others better. It seemed that Kakashi never wounded her in any way to get his chakra in. This could be a good technique to learn.

Leaning back a little, she nodded her head. When Kakashi got her agreement, he stood back up and stared at her.

"I've got a few questions of my own to ask you, so you better prepare yourself when you get better."

She tilted her head slightly, and he continued as he patted her head.

"Now… get some rest. I'll talk to you again later."

Rest felt like a good idea to Sakura. The faster she gets better, the faster she can get some answers and the faster she can learn something new. Soon enough, darkness overtook her.

As Sakura got better, she realized that Kakashi was still frequently beside her. Whenever he was asleep and she woke up in the middle of the night, she'd try to mould his chakra with hers internally. She'd also try to move her head and limbs as much as possible to exercise them. Sure, the nurses had helped her during the day, but she felt that if she worked them more, the faster she'd heal. Tonight was one of those nights where Kakashi fell asleep before she did – which was odd; since he never slept before he made sure his teammates were safe. Maybe he didn't feel any danger in the hospital, or he was still very tired… or Sakura was good at faking that she's asleep. At any rate, she was glad that he was asleep.

Lifting her head and sitting up, she looked at the Copy Ninja that half-laid on her bed.

That can't be comfortable.

Every night that he'd been with her, he had fallen asleep on his chair. Halfway through his sleep, he'd sprawl his top half over her blanket covered legs. Tonight was no exception. There were a couple of times where she wished that she had the strength to carry him so that he could sleep on the bed instead. Maybe it was just her caring nature that made her want to do that or perhaps she felt bad that he had to take care of her for so long.

She had never seen him so relaxed before. The last time she had woken up to this sight, he had still been exhausted and tired. Now, he looked perfectly at rest. Reaching out, she gently ran her hand through his hair. To her surprise, it was a lot softer than it looked. Without his hitai-ate covering half his face, his skin taunted Sakura. She traced her fingers over his eyebrows and slowly made her way down to his nose and cheeks. Moving to caress his ears, a thought popped up in her head.

He had really soft skin…

As soon as the thought had hit her, her mouth dropped and as if she thought of something forbidden, her eyes opened wide. She was touching Kakashi-sensei! Not in anywhere inappropriate, but people don't just caress each other's face like this when they had the relationship that they had.

And just what kind of relationship is that?

She couldn't answer that question herself – but she knew that she had really missed him when he suddenly disappeared and Sasuke took over. She found that suddenly, everywhere that she went… she was missing something. There was something about Kakashi… that had made her want to smile every time she saw him. There was something about him that made her want to laugh with him whenever he did something stupid for an elite ninja. She didn't know where he went for the years that she hasn't seen him, but it felt like the absence had made their relationship grow closer. But just what did closer mean?

They'd known each other for a long time, and after Kakashi had came back after those years, Sakura felt as if she never wanted him to leave again. After all, he had been here for her for most of her life. She wanted to do more of those things that they did – cook together, watch TV together, even cloud gazing together. Ever since her parents died, she hadn't done those things with anyone. She didn't go out, nor did she invite people over. She just never felt like she could be truly happy again, and whenever she saw other people being happy, it made her feel worse. She had been alone for the longest time.

Then there was Kakashi's company. It was somehow different than the company that others had often provided her with. Maybe it was because he knew about her situation, and others didn't. It wasn't as if she was saying her shishou was insensitive, but she just didn't have the time to make sure that she was okay. Though… Sakura would have to say that her shishou wasn't the best person to ask for comfort. Seeing Kakashi happy didn't make her feel sad at all. There was something about his smile that was real, yet so sad. It was strange, but seeing him smile made her want to see him happy – always. She wanted to be that one to give him happiness, even if it meant that she had to heal herself to do so. Perhaps it's because she knew that he had been through a lot – more than she had ever gone through, and he was still here. He was still here, smiling and trying to cheer her up. And after the company that Kakashi had provided her… she wasn't sure if she had wanted to be alone again… and she wasn't sure if she wanted him to be alone either. When he left, she had suddenly felt as if she was a bit lost. Maybe it was because he took care of her, regardless of whether she had asked or not – he had just seemed to slip unnoticed into her life. She just grew accustomed to him.

It felt like after she got sick, Kakashi took it upon himself to look after her. Perhaps he was guilty of leaving as well, but what confused her was why Kakashi had left all of a sudden just when she thought that things were going well between them – even if they were just friends.

Friends…

Friends sounded nice to her ears. It was better than teacher and student… but she couldn't help wonder if they could ever be more than friends.

More than friends…?

Still in deep thought, she moved her finger over his eyebrows and eyes.

Then an onyx eye opened.

Catching Sakura off guard, she tried to snatch her hands away from Kakashi's face as quickly as possible. His hand caught hers mid-air and Sakura's heart rate tripled. Looking at the silver haired ninja, she was speechless. She felt her face heat up once again in embarrassment of being caught touching his face. Closing his eyes again, he readjusted his head so that he was now resting on her thighs. Sakura stopped breathing.

Was he still asleep? What was he doing? Was he dreaming?

One of her questions was answered as his sleepy gaze rested on her eyes. He was definitely awake. Moving her hand so that it rested on his head again, he whispered, "That feels nice."

Snapping out of her stupor, she gave him a smile as she hesitantly continued to stroke her hand through his hair. Then she stupidly said, "You have nice hair."

He chuckled, "I never heard that from anyone before."

"There's a first for everything…"

"How are you feeling? Better?"

"Yeah…"

"Have you been secretly doing this each night when I'm sleeping?"

Being flustered, Sakura stopped moving her hand and quickly responded, "No! I mean, no… uh… this is the …first? I don't know what came over me, I'm sorry…"

With a knowing smile, he added, "I meant if you have been exercising your arms and moulding chakra every night that I've been asleep… "

Being embarrassed for mistaking his question, she sheepishly answered, "Oh! Yeah! I've been working hard to get better! I'm a lot better; can I know what the secret is now?"

Sitting up, Kakashi didn't answer her question, but rather asked his own.

"I want to ask you something first."

"What? But you promised!"

"I didn't say when."

"But…"

"Why didn't you take them?"

Being surprised, Sakura simply answered, "Take what?"

"Why didn't you take your medicine, Sakura."

"…"

How did she answer that one? She didn't have a reasonable reason for not taking the pills. She was sure that whichever reason she had, Kakashi probably wouldn't accept, so she sat there, staring at her lap - silent. She felt weight on the side of her bed and she looked up to see Kakashi reaching out to her. When she felt his hand stroke the side of her face to lift her head up, she felt that his gaze never faltered away from hers. Unexpectedly she just felt compelled to spill everything to her ex-sensei.

"I guess it started like this… I've always thought that I'd be strong enough to heal myself, I mean… I didn't get sick very often, and when I do, I usually did just get better in a day or two. I don't know why it was so different this time. Maybe it's because I was so emotionally exhausted…"

Kakashi continued to look at her, and she shakily started to tell the rest of her story.

"I…"

She closed her eyes and a lone tear made its way down the side of her cheek. She felt his thumb wipe it away and at the same time, she felt as if there was anyone who could understand her… it would be Hatake Kakashi, her sensei, teammate, friend and maybe more- than-friends. Snapping her watery eyes back up to him, she looked at his ever-patient face. She choked out her next sentence with sniffs in between.

"I… want-ed to *hic* see the-m… *sniff* I wanted to see my parents Kakashi-sensei!"

Resting her head on his shoulders, she let her tears fall. It was the first time that she had shed tears on this matter. It wasn't because she was insensitive, and it wasn't because she didn't miss her parents, but it had simply felt unreal to her. The more time that she spent with Kakashi, the more she realized that her parents were never coming back. With the care that Kakashi provided for her, she began to miss her parents more and more with each passing day. As the tears fell, she was ashamed. Strong kunoichis do not cry, but at the same time she was glad that she was finally able to shed tears for her parents. It felt nice to finally let out what she had kept inside for so long. It was like an outlet that had finally overflowed with her all the things that she had suppressed for so long – all flowing out at once. She felt as if she would finally be able to put this behind her and to move on her with her life. His arm encircled her shoulders as he embraced her and she accepted reality.

"Sakura… you don't always have to be strong."

"I… *hic* know… but… but I don't want to be weak. *sniff* I was always the weak one."

Putting his fingers under her chin, he lifted her head up.

"Sakura. You have grown. You and I both know that. You are no longer that little girl that I've first trained. We're equals now. You know that you're not weak, and no one ever thinks that of you. I know a lot of people even look up to you, depend on you. I think there were times when even I depended on you. Even the strongest ninjas need someone to depend on sometimes. You don't have to handle everything on your own. You are strong."

"… I know."

Kakashi had a feeling that she had more to say, so he patiently sat there – awaiting whatever she had to say next.

"Sorry for ruining your shirt… I think I got snot all over it."

With a chuckle, he replied, "Its okay. That's what the washer is for… besides I'm sorry too."

"For what?"

"For not being there when you needed me, for leaving you to train Sasuke and Naruto, for not being here when your parents passed away…"

Sakura gently shook her head and smiled sadly.

"Kakashi-sensei… I want to tell you something…"

"Hmm?"

"Did you know… I took a chance."

"What do you mean?"

"When I didn't take my medicine… that wasn't all that I thought of. I wasn't just testing my own healing abilities… I was taking a chance. When you left me with Sasuke… I had thought that you had left me as well… I had always thought that you were the only one from team 7 that had never really left. Naruto and Sasuke both left Konoha to train, and you… even though you constantly had missions, I knew that you were still here. It had just seemed that no one really wanted to be with me at that time… You know how Sasuke is… he's a close friend, but I can't talk to him about this… especially when he had had it so much worse than me… I said to myself… if I could do without my medicine, and I die… then I'd be able to see my parents again. I guess… chance wanted me to live – huh?"

Trying her best to smile through her tears, she looked at the ceiling as she continued, "But you came back for me… I suppose it was a selfish thought…"

"Yes, that was."

Through a sad smile, Sakura whispered, "Sorry…"

"Hmm."

"It's okay. I forgive you." And through a real smile, Sakura brightened up a little and said, "Even the strongest ninja makes mistakes."

Then after a pause of silence, she continued, "ne… I saw them…"

Seeing Kakashi's eye widen, she guessed that he was surprised.

With a laugh, Sakura copied Kakashi's movement and stroked his face with her hand.

"I really wanted to be with them, my parents… but guess what they told me?"

"Hmm…?"

She giggled a little as she teased him. "They told me that someone here with silver hair was freaking out, and that if I didn't return, he'd die… I wonder who that would be… hmm?"

From Kakashi's lack of words to say, she would say that he was embarrassed. She could almost see the blush glowing on top of where his mask covered. Whether it was because of her first statement or the second one, she wasn't sure – but she was betting that it was the first one. This made Sakura giggle out loud.

"They didn't really say that, did they."

"Nope, but I had really wanted to see this copy ninja freaking out. It was probably just a feeling I had anyways."

With a chuckle, he replied, "I'm glad I amuse you…"

"Thank you…"

Sakura had said those two words with a lot more meaning than intended.

Thank you, for taking care of me and spending time with me.
Thank you, for coming back to me.
Thank you, for worrying about me.
Thank you, for not looking down on me.
Thank you, for bringing me back.

"Hey… Kakashi-sens-..."

"Kakashi."

"Oh, right… Kakashi... Remember… that time when we were cloud gazing?"

"Hmm? What about it?"

"Remember… that bet?"

"What bet?"

"Hey! Don't cheap out! I won – rather… I kicked your ass! Therefore, you have to do something that I ask you to."

"Hmm… I somewhat remember something like that… why?"

"I would like to claim my prize now."

"Oh?"

"I would like you to tell me how you gave your chakra to me without cutting me – right now. No excuses, no waiting until I'm out of the hospital. I can't wait that long!"

"Impatient are we?"

"Yes! Can you show me now?"

Then he leaned in again, until he was inches away from her face. His voice sounded darker and huskier than usual. "Are you sure…" then with a slight smirk he added, "I'm not sure you can handle it."

"What?" Sakura narrowed her eyes at him. "You just said that I was strong!"

"Oh…" Slowly stroking his chin, he continued to sound as if he was saying something intelligent. "I'm sure strength has nothing to do with this."

Overflowing with curiosity now, she demanded her prize. "Show me."

Then it was as if someone had fast forwarded the world - or had really slowed it down. She couldn't tell. Her mind was blank and fuzzy and her hands gripped the blankets around her. This was definitely in a whole new category of chakra transferring, but Sakura couldn't remember that at the moment. Kakashi had instantly pulled down his mask and claimed her mouth with his. All she felt was his soft lips around hers and his hot breath mingle with hers.

When his tongue touched the entrance of her lips, she gasped. Wasting no time, Sakura felt his tongue enter her mouth and she almost groaned out loud. It was then when she started to feel the heat in her mouth. But she couldn't process what it was as her body felt like it was warming up as well. All she felt was that Kakashi was pushing her down on the bed while he leaned over her and continued to kiss her.

People had always told her that kisses don't lie. Ino especially told her that kisses tell you a lot about the atmosphere and emotions that are being expressed. Each kiss portrayed the owner's feelings and with Sakura's case… it had started out with an innocent request, a neutral bet, an innocent kiss and then the kiss had heated up to something more. She had felt his more timid kisses – he was scared that she would just disappear. She had felt him testing to see if she would accept it, and when she did – he kissed her more passionately. She could feel his frustration for spending too much time in the hospital, for when she didn't wake up, for her not understanding why he was still here. She felt that the harder kisses were more of a punishment than a kiss, but just as the hard kisses came, the tender ones followed. When that kiss ended, Kakashi leaned back a bit to let her breathe. She felt her lips flushed and pulsing with heat.

She slightly panted as she lifted her emerald eyes to stare into his mismatched ones. He raised his hand to caress her cheek while he rested his forehead on hers.

He gently kissed her nose. And from this, she knew their relationship had just progressed to 'more than just friends'.

Thank you, for loving me.

Can someone please tell me the proper spelling of the headbands that they have?
I've gotten hiate-ate, and hitai-ate. I'm just getting confused. Does anyone know?

Corny… chapter ne? *haha*

I would say that this story has about one more chapter or so to go. Thanks for being with me as I am finishing up my first story!