"Kakashi-sensei," said a weak voice, waking the white-haired man. He looked over at Naruto to see the boy's blue eyes staring at him.
"Naruto!" exclaimed Kakashi. "How are you feeling?"
"Kakashi-sensei, I couldn't…bring him back. I…failed," said Naruto. His voice was even weaker the Kakashi expected.
"Don't worry about that now. There was nothing you could have done," said Kakashi.
"Where's…Sakura? Is she…okay?" Naruto continued.
"Calm down. She's spending some time with her family right now. She asked me to keep her updated on your condition," said Kakashi.
"You should probably…go then," said Naruto, giving him a weak smile. It was then that Naruto turned on his side and violently coughed up another small amount of blood.
Kakashi watched him helplessly. The relief that had come over him the night before had been swept away in an instant, only to be replaced with concern.
"I'll be right back," Kakashi said rising from his chair as Naruto weakly fell back against his pillow.
"Excuse me," Kakashi said, walking over to a doctor. "Is it normal for patients to cough up blood after poison is removed from their system."
The doctor frowned, "No, why?"
Kakashi grabbed the young man by the arm, dragging him, confused as he was, into Naruto's room. At first the doctor looked at Kakashi questioningly, but when Kakashi gestured towards Naruto bed, he could see a small splash of blood on the sheets.
"I'll have Lady Tsunade notified right away," said the doctor, walking out of the room.
"What's up with him?" asked Naruto.
Kakashi walked up until he was next to Naruto's bedside again. He gave the boy a serious, but calm look.
"I think Sasuke may have been using a combination of two poisons. Lady Tsunade may not have noticed. So, she may have given you only one antidote," Kakashi answered honestly. It had never been his policy to sugar-coat anything.
Naruto looked up at him fearfully, "Am I going…to die?"
"I should try and find Gai," said Kakashi avoiding the subject and trying to turn away.
"Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said, his voice pleaded.
"I'll be back soon," Kakashi said and was about to walk away when he heard Naruto scream at him.
"KAKASHI!"
Naruto had reached up a hand to grab onto Kakashi's jacket in an attempt to stop him from leaving. He knew the boy was too weak to succeed in keeping him there, but he felt that the fact that Naruto was willing to try was proof enough that he should stay. Taking a deep breath, Kakashi turned back around to face Naruto.
"I need to know…am I going…to die?"
Kakashi looked away from Naruto's face uncomfortably. An oddly pained frown came over his face. Swallowing hard, the gray-haired ninja spoke.
"I don't know," he said, his voice becoming horse. And that was the honest truth.
Naruto looked to the foot of his bed and nodded, "That's all I…wanted to hear."
Kakashi glanced up at the boy momentarily, then back down, "I need to talk to Sakura, so…I'll have to leave you for a bit. Tsunade should be here soon."
"What about Gai-sensei?" Naruto asked.
"Forget it. I'll worry about him later. Right now I have a promise to keep to Sakura," Kakashi said.
He turned to walk out, stopping just short of the door. He couldn't do this…he couldn't just walk out. Not like this. What if Naruto really did die? He should know. He needed to know. It was his right to know…
Kakashi took a deep breath.
"She loves you, you know," he said.
"What? Do you mean…Sakura?"
"She never told anyone else. I suppose she trusted me more than most people and she never had the courage to tell you herself. Its just, she can't always find the best way to show it. Its something she's still learning to deal with," said Kakashi.
With that, he opened the door, stepped out of the room and shut it behind him, leaving Naruto to contemplate his words. Passing Lady Tsunade as he left the hospital, some of his fear seemed to dissipate.
Naruto lay there for a moment, staring at the ceiling. He had suspected that she might feel something for him for some time now, but love was a completely different matter. It was true that he cared more for Sakura then for any of the other girls, including Hinata, but he had made it a point to suppress those feelings as much as possible when he was on missions. He couldn't afford to leave his feelings out in the open. If he had, and anything would have ever happened to her, it would have destroyed him. After losing Sasuke, if he ever lost Sakura too…there would be no getting through it. It was then that he closed his eyes, letting his mind fall into a kind of thick black pool of emotion and he remembered no more.
It was almost noon when Kakashi arrived at Sakura's home. Knocking lightly on the door, he waited until a blonde-haired middle-aged man opened the door.
"Ah, you must be Kakashi. Our Sakura mentions you from time to time. Come in, come in," said the man.
"Thank you," Kakashi said, stepping inside the house. "You must be Sakura's father."
"Yes, indeed," the middle-aged man answered. "Actually, I just got back home only a few minutes ago, myself. Still putting everything away. So what brings you here?"
"A boy from our team was injured in his last mission. I promised I'd notify your daughter as soon as I had any news on him."
"Ah! Well, she should be out here any moment. At least, that's what my wife told me."
Kakashi nodded, surveyed him carefully. He didn't recognize him from anywhere, but the green jacket, black cloak and black gloves with metal hand-protectors that he was wearing were much like his own. They were familiar characteristics of a ANBU ninja.
"You're a ANBU shinobi?" Kakashi asked.
"Yes," Sakura's father said, smiling.
"Ah. I used to be part of that lot too, but when they called me to teacher duty I couldn't refuse. Still, I retired from that branch of our village even before they told me to train your daughter and her teammates. She's become a fine shinobi in her own right, I'm happy to say."
"Thank you. I'm sure she'd be happy to hear that."
It was then that Sakura walked into the room, fully adorned in a midnight blue kimono that had sakura blossoms at the bottom of the faded hem.
"Happy to hear what?" said she.
"Oh, don't you look beautiful, honey," her father beamed adoringly.
"You look very nice, Sakura," Kakashi compliment, feeling slightly out of place.
She walked straight over to her father and hugged him. He smiled lovingly, stroking her pink hair.
"Thank you, sensei." She paused, before adding, "So, how bad is he?"
"Actually, that's what I wanted to talk to you about first," said Kakashi.
Sakura's cheer faded and her expression turned serious.
"Sensei…you're not saying that he…"
"No. He is alive, and was stable through the night," Kakashi said, "but this morning, there were signs that Lady Tsunade may have missed a poison. A second poison has probably been taking affect on him through the night."
"I see," Sakura said, wringing her hands together. She shifted from one foot to the other uncomfortably.
"He was awake when I left him a few minutes ago, though," said Kakashi, in an attempt to keep her spirits up.
She forced a smile, "That's good. In that case, I should go see him."
Kakashi nodded, "Yes. I think that might be a good idea."
"Hold it!" boomed an approaching voice. Suddenly Sakura's mother came into view. "Have you eaten today, Kakashi?"
"Umm…well…no," Kakashi resigned.
"Neither has Sakura. Neither of you are going anywhere until you get some food in you. Understand? Don't need anyone passing out in the waiting room. Besides, Lady Tsunade needs time to work on that boy if she has any chance of making him better."
Kakashi looked at Sakura, but she merely smiled in a way that told him not to argue. Shrugging, he followed Sakura to a small table. Sitting on a mat across from her, he watched Sakura's mother curiously. Sakura's father took up residence next to his daughter. Several small dishes were placed in front of the three. As they anxiously awaited the last dish, it became all too clear that none of them had had a leisurely, warm meal in quite some time. Each expression held a kind of torture that the smell of fresh, well-cooked food bestowed upon them.
While it was true that Sakura had had a warm meal the night before, she found that she was too exhausted to finish it, and instead went to her room and fell asleep before she got halfway through the dish. As for enjoying it, she couldn't remember whether she did or not.
"So, tell me about your team, Kakashi," Sakura's father said. "I'm home so rarely that I hardly ever get to have a nice talk with Sakura anymore. Besides, with both of you here, you can each fill in gaps that the other leaves out."
As Sakura's mother sat down next to Kakashi and across from her husband, she looked at her daughter to try and catch her reaction. To her surprise, Sakura smiled. All four picked up their chopsticks and started eating.
"Well, lets see," said Kakashi. "Of course you know all about Sakura's abilities. She's become quite an amazing shinobi in both medicine and combat. I've come to rely on her quite a bit."
Sakura's father smiled proudly, "I knew she'd do well."
Kakashi smiled at her in a praising fashion as she turned slightly red from embarrassment at her dad's remark.
"Then there's Yamato. He used to be on the ANBU too. He's an interesting character. He's a bit of an odd ball, but he's also a good man."
"He idolizes you," said Sakura jokingly.
Kakashi chuckled for a moment, then continued, "Perhaps. But moving right along…the last one in my immediate team is Naruto. He's…interesting, to say the least."
Sakura buried herself in her food at this point because her face was becoming steadily redder by the second.
"When I first got him as my student," Kakashi continued, choosing to ignore Sakura, "he was a troublemaker. My first impression was that he was either a complete lunatic or that he just didn't care. It turned out that he was a little of both at the time."
Sakura's parents laughed at this, but was silent Sakura turning redder still.
"Still, though. He's changed enormously since then," said Kakashi, continuing. "He's matured a lot and he's gotten quite strong. I've come to rely on him quite a bit too."
Sakura's father nodded, "That sounds like me a bit."
Kakashi nodded, "Yes, well…now that he's become the intriguing person that he is now, it's a sad thing to report that he was badly injured in the last mission. While I was here recovering from my own injury, your daughter, Naruto, Yamato, and another who is no longer with us, went on a mission to find and bring back a former friend…"
"Oh, honey. I'm so sorry. Is that the first loss you had on a mission?" Sakura's father said, turning to his daughter.
Her jaw went slack, her eyes narrowed, and her eyebrows creased into a heavy frown as she turned her head to look at her father.
"He didn't die," she said apathetically. "He changed sides."
Her father blinked, and a uncomfortable expression took its place on his face.
"Oh," he said, unable to think of anything else to say.
Kakashi looked at the two across the table sympathetically.
"Yes. I would not have guessed that Sai would turn. I always thought he had a different hidden agenda that ran more on the lines of disposing of Sasuke, but I guess I was wrong. But through that tragedy, Yamato went after him, leaving Sakura with Naruto just after he had been injured. She got him here pretty much, all by herself," said Kakashi.
"I met up with Gai-sensei's group about half-way through and they helped me some," she corrected.
"I'm proud of you, honey," Sakura's father said, putting an arm around his daughter and pulling her towards him into a sort of one-armed hug.
"Thanks dad," Sakura said, her voice indicating the insincerity in her words.
Silence fell between them and they all finished their meals in silence.
"Well," Kakashi said at last, rising to his feet. "Sakura and I should really be going now. Naruto's treatment should be almost done by now."
Sakura rose too, "Yes."
Sakura's father rose to his feet as well, bowing to Kakashi. Kakashi bowed back.
"Well, its been nice to have you over. Wish you could have stayed longer so that we could've exchanged some stories of past ANBU missions, but maybe another time," said her father.
Kakashi nodded, "Another time. Thank you for the meal, missus Haruno, it was delicious."
She smiled, still finishing a dish she had made, "Any time."
"Well then, until later," Kakashi said.
Sakura opened the door and Kakashi nodded his thanks to her as he walked out. She turned momentarily to her parents and waved.
"Bye mom, dad!"
Sakura shut the door and turned to Kakashi.
"I never knew you could be so polite, Sensei. And almost on time too?"
"I'm not much for formalities," said Kakashi, seeming more relaxed already.
Sakura laughed, "You know. I kinda missed you."
They slowly started down the road towards the hospital.
"Only 'kinda'?" Kakashi said, looking hurt.
"Well, maybe more than 'kinda.' It wasn't the same without you. Yamato was only entertaining in the fact that he had all these weird habits. You're much more fun."
"Yes, well, you do tend to pick-up habits when you've been part of the ANBU for a long time. But as long I'm good for something in your book…" said Kakashi.
Sakura smiled at this. She really had missed his sarcastic humor. Presently, it might've been the only thing that could get her through her anxiety about Naruto's condition. No matter how much she wanted to tell Kakashi that she wanted him to stay quiet or that she wanted to be left alone, she knew it would be a lie. She needed him and they both knew it.
Hey, how was it? I had a bit of a hard time with writing this chapter and I expect next chapter to be harder, so please be patient with me. More later! Bye all!