Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Exodus'04

Absolute Devotion

Chapter 7: Forever

My heart has spoken…

Back in the hotel Sakura dreams, over her travels with Sasuke and Naruto to find Kakashi, their friend, their sensei, their mentor, their leader… the man she fell in love with. Small tracks of tears stained her cheeks as she slept.

Through mountains high and valleys low
The ocean, through the desert, snow
We'll say goodbye to the friends we know…
We'll say goodbye to the world we know…

Her thoughts were stirred by someone sitting down on the bed; she rolled over to see who had come back. Naruto and Sasuke had left her that morning she knew they had. However it wasn't ether, she sat up with a start. The same man she saw the night before was sitting on the edge of her bed looking at her, his scarf pulled up above his nose. Before she could speak he did, "What are you doing here?"

Her breath escaped her, her fingers were cold she wanted nothing more then to reach out and touch him. His hair was still a raven color, and his eyes… one grey, one crimson. She couldn't speak as much as she tried. He asked her again, "What are you doing here, Sakura?"

"I…I… we, where told by the Hokage to come find you." He sat there, looking at her. "How did you get in here?" She already knew, but it didn't stop her from asking. He didn't say anything; obviously he wanted some kind of explanation of why she was there. "A year ago, the Tsunade- Shishō sent us, to find you. We traveled all over, finally reaching snow. Naruto and Sasuke are out in the city right now looking for you." He didn't break his eye contact with her; clearly he wasn't happy with the answer she gave him.

"Sakura, I asked you: why are you here?" She tried to understand what he meant. What was she doing there? They come to find him. He stood up and began to walk out the door, "If you do not have a proper answer for me then I will leave."

"Wait, I told you."

"No you gave me an excuse." Excuse? She fumbled over her thoughts… excuse…. Aitai… wait, I did this all for me, Aitai, Kakashi aitai. He opened the door to leave.

"AITAI, Kakashi Aitai… Please, don't leave me alone." She blurted out nearly screaming to make him stop that's all she wanted for him not to leave, he looked over at her with a small amount of surprise. Closing the door he came back into the room slowly.

"Really…?" His voice was almost a whisper.

"Yes, the real reason I left the village was to find you, for myself. I do love you more then anything in this world. I'd give it all up for you Kakashi, don't leave me. Please." Distance makes the heart grow fonder, lived up to it's meaning at this moment. There was no sense of lies in her voice, she truly did love him.

He closed the distance between them, she found herself being enveloped by him. His arms were around her holding her tightly. He was so warm; her face was pressed into his shirt, "I'm sorry I've been gone so long."

"What happened?" She asked whispering into his shirt.

"I got caught up in something, something big. Tsunade didn't tell you anything when you left did she?"

"No, only she wanted us to come bring you home. You are coming home aren't you?"

"After this is done, I'll go where ever you want me to go Sakura." Her eyes felt like they were going to burst, tears filled her eyes yet this time they were not the salty sadness kind. They were tears of relief.

"How long?"

"Not to much longer."

"Is it something we can help with?"

"No, it isn't."

"What do I tell the boys?"

"Nothing, tell them nothing, you didn't see me here. I'll come here when it's over." His breathing was calming to her; she wanted nothing more then for him to stay here like this with her forever, zutto… zutto.

"Stay with me now."

"I can't, I need to get back." Drawing back, he looked down at her with the same soft eyes she had seen the night before. She knew he felt the same for her, over a year and the feelings were still the same. It was true, everything absolute devotion. Caressing her face, whipping away the tears he leaned in to kiss her. It wasn't like what she thought, after all there was a red scarf in the way, but it was warm and endearing. Pulling away she thought she heard him whisper something, getting up he looked back at her. "Stay safe, I'll see you soon."

She watched him leave. She thought back to what he said, "Daisuki." A small smile appeared on her lips, she would wait as long as it took she would wait for him.

TBC

Notes:
Daisuki: Really like or I love you
Zutto: for a long time