A/N: Sorry, no lemon. This is rated T for a reason.
Send Me An Angel: Chapter 8
The warm magic that Sakura had fallen into wasn't to be broken. The whishing of the wind outside woke her early that night as it whistled against the outer layer of the house, the sound echoing and surrounding her. Her senses could only read the feeling of the warm sheets against her bare skin, the hard chest pressed against her back, and the muscled arm wrapped around her possessively. Kurenai's warnings hadn't stopped them from doing what they had done last night. Frankly, Kurenai had encouraged it.
Sasuke could never have given her this.
Sakura leaned back against Kakashi's sleeping form. It was so peaceful, so perfect. His nightmares had never come. Perhaps it was because he had been awake during the hours it was scheduled to, or perhaps it was because he had been just absorbed in the happenings as she had been. Maybe they were coming, and just hadn't arrived. Her sigh was drowned out by the booming of an nearby explosion.
Kakashi was awake and hovering over her protectively before she had even had time to realize that the noise had come from multiple paper bombs. She felt dizzy and the loud, continuous booms were only adding to the surreal experience of it. Kakashi held her face between his hands. He told her fiercely, "Get dressed, Sakura. They found us. We're being attacked. I need to go find Naruto."
He left her, grabbing his folded uniform from its resting place on his dresser before he went. Sakura stared after him for a moment before her mind processed what was happening. Her head cleared and she jumped up, tugging on her clothes as she went. She ran down the hallways until she reached her room. Every patter of her feet across the wooden floors had seemed to echo in her mind. She grabbed her weapons, putting them any place that she could hold them.
She held her arms over her face in an attempt to block as an eruption tore away the wall of her room, the fire blasting across her belongings. She used her medical ninjutsu to heal her burns as quickly as they appeared, but the threatening chakra presence behind her did not belong to that of a merciful person. She heard the whoosh of the air as a large, bandage covered sword sliced through it. The last thing Sakura felt was the pain piercing through her skull before she lost consciousness. The last thing she saw was Tsunade's note.
I'm proud of you.
--
Sakura groaned when she finally began to regain consciousness. The hard, uneven floor beneath her did nothing to help the pounding in her head as each heart beat pumped blood through her skull and caused another aching of pain. The next thing she felt was the biting cold against her bare arms and legs. She shivered, and the movement caused something solid around her right ankle to clank against the floor.
When she gained the courage and strength to open her eyes, she saw through the dim light that she was chained, the metal attached to a rusty, yet sturdy pole running through the small room she was being held in. She forced herself to sit up and lean against the wall, even though she gasped at the pain. After a moment of recovery, she opened her eyes again. She was in a cell, three solid rock walls and one wall made of cage bars. How insulting.
"Don't use your chakra," she heard Kakashi say from the other side of the room. She slid her gaze towards him and was met with disappointment when she saw that he too was chained. And missing his flak jacket.
"Why?" she croaked, her throat scratchy and hoarse.
"They've drugged us pretty bad. If you try using a lot of chakra, you don't know what that chakra will attack. For example, if you try using Tsunade's strength to rip that chain from the wall, then you'll probably just end up breaking your hand."
She sighed, feeling a weight on her shoulders. "And what about my head?"
"I suggest healing it gradually. Only use as much chakra as you would for a paper cut, but keep the chakra flow going until you're healed."
"'Kay," she mumbled as she began focusing her chakra towards her scalp. It was difficult regulating the amount, she was so used to using medical ninjutsu with quick, efficient work. But she could feel the pain when she pushed too hard, so she settled for a thin trail of chakra that would lace up the gash first. She asked grumpily, "Where are we?"
"We're captives," he answered strangely with exhaustion. "From the fact that it hasn't stopped raining since our arrival, I'm sure you can guess which country we're in."
She groaned again. "How long have we been here?"
"You've been out of it for a whole two days."
So, they had been caged and drugged for two days straight. No big deal. They just had to break out and notify the Hokage. But, first thing was first, "Where's Naruto?"
She watched as Kakashi's eyes stared off through the small window on the northern wall, out of ether of their reaches. His voice was returning to normal when he spoke. "Perhaps I should wait to tell you. I don't think right now would be the best of times."
"You can't screw a girl and then keep secrets from her," she joked. "Now, where is he?"
When Kakashi looked at her, she was shocked to see that both of his eyes looked black. His mask was in place, but it barely hid the bruise alongside his cheek or the dried, stained blood that had leaked down across his covered neck. "Sakura, you don't realize the seriousness of the situation."
She stared at him silently, her breath harsh. "What happened to you?"
"I fought back," he said simply.
A sickening worry struck through her, causing her breath to catch in her throat, adding to its dry pain. "Please, Kakashi, I'm awake now. Where is he?"
Kakashi turned his eyes away from her. "They've been removing the Kyuubi from him since we've been here. It's taking them a bit longer than usual with so few members, but even with eight people it still would have taken them three days."
Sakura began to choke, her breathing not cooperating with her body. Kakashi stared down at her from his sitting position on the other side of the room, his back pressed tightly against the wall as his shoulders tensed slightly, and then relaxed. "Sakura, calm down. There is nothing we can do right now, and making yourself sick isn't going to help us."
She bent on her hands and knees, not allowing herself to fall. Her vision blurred with unshed tears. She couldn't stand this. She could not be sitting here doing nothing while Naruto was being killed, she couldn't sit here being helpless. Her voice hitched as she asked, "Kakashi, have you ever felt so weak that you wanted to cry because of just how pathetic and disgusted you felt?"
"No."
His answer was short and cold. She nodded as she swallowed her sobs. "Why not?"
She heard his bitterness in his answer. "Because I would not allow it. I could not allow it."
"Why? Doesn't everyone need to feel weakness at some point in their lives?"
Kakashi bit his lip. "I wasn't allowed to feel weakness. Weakness kills you--that's what they said. That's what they pounded into me everyday of my childhood."
"And now you can't feel it?"
"No," he whispered. "Now I become hard and cold and cruel when I feel it because I know that it does kill you. It killed my father, and my best friend. My mother. My teacher. My comrades. All of them. I won't let it kill you, too."
Sakura's arm gave out from underneath her. Her jaw hardened as she rested her forehead against the rough stone of the floor. "It didn't kill them," she said shakily. "Love did."
Kakashi put his head between his knees. He spoke slowly, incredulously. "In the shinobi rules, love is weakness, Sakura. It's a weakness that betrays you and haunts you, and one that I have felt far too many times to be able to resist."
Sakura whimpered quietly as she began to pull herself back up. Kakashi's voice stopped her. "Don't," he said. "Just lay down and rest for a while. Give your body time to heal."
Sakura paused, holding herself up as much as she could with unsteady arms. "But isn't that what you hate? Isn't that weakness?"
"No, that's strength."
"How?" she begged. "How is it strength? I feel so weak."
Kakashi looked at her with the most unfathomable expression. "Because you are my strength. Because, in the end, you're weakness always becomes your strength."
Sakura fell, and as she did the blackness overcame her again.
--
The steady dripping of water from the hidden leak was driving Sakura insane. Kakashi's never-ending silence did nothing to help. The lightening of the sky only showed them that the third day had begun, that their time was limited. Sakura pressed her face into her hands and groaned.
Kakashi finally turned his head to look at her. "What is it?"
"Say something, please. I can't take it anymore. Distract me."
"It won't change anything," he told her.
"Yes, but it might help us put our heads back on straight."
"All right," he said as he shifted his sitting position. "What do you propose we talk about? Last night? It was wonderful. Sucks that it was ruined, but the night itself was great."
She frowned. "You're not helping. You aren't even trying."
He tilted his head back and rested it on the dirty wall. "Some people won't suffer in silence because that would take the pleasure out of it."
"Quotes?" she asked. "Seriously?"
"Yep."
She glared at him and said bitingly, "If there's a substitute for brains, it has to be silence."
She could see the hint of a smile behind Kakashi's dark mask. He said much more lightly, "If you rest your chin in your hands when you think, it will keep your mouth shut so you won't disturb yourself."
Sakura giggled. "Are you mocking me?"
"A little," he admitted.
She paused. "It is better to be silent and be considered a fool than to speak and remove all doubt."
"That's a pretty famous one," Kakashi commented. "Have you ever heard this one? 'Discretion is putting two and two together and keeping your mouth shut'?"
"No, I haven't."
"I'm surprised."
"You're rude."
"Not often."
"Often enough."
"Perhaps. But it's your turn, so give me a quote."
She thought for a moment. "The primary condition for being sincere is the same as for being humble: not to boast about it, and probably not even to be aware of it."
Kakashi chuckled. "How is that, in any way, relevant to our situation?"
Sakura shrugged. "I didn't know it had to be relevant."
"The whole silence quotes conversation wasn't a hint?"
"It was supposed to be?"
He laughed. "Sincerity needs no witnesses," he answered.
She smiled, and replied, "I should say sincerity, a deep, great genuine sincerity, is the characteristic of all men in any way heroic."
"That hurts, Sakura, really."
"You aren't sincere?"
"I'm paid to lie. It's what I do."
"Ah, right, you're a shinobi. I forget that because I'm in the same profession."
"How nice. We share something in common."
"Shut up," she snapped playfully. "It's your turn."
He lifted his head, and Sakura could see his smile clearly. "If you must kill time, work it to death."
She grinned, saying, "He who kills time injures eternity."
"That one was unfair," he complained. "Besides, I'm out of time quotes."
"Then just come up with something else," she said.
"Ok." He said with a sigh, "The arm of the law needs a little more muscle."
"We need tougher child abuse laws," Sakura agreed. "Parents have taken enough abuse from their children."
"That one is so funny that I'm going to ignore the fact that you said a quote that has nothing to do with anything relating to us. Again."
"Thank you."
Kakashi grinned, snickering, "Hangover: the moaning after the night before."
Sakura gaped. "That can't be a quote!"
"It is," he laughed.
"Men are disgusting."
"Is so different from my situation with us?"
Sakura opened her mouth to object, and then quickly shut it. "To battle alcoholism is simple. Never take the drink just before the second one."
"I think I'm enjoying this topic," Kakashi commented.
"Boozers are losers," Sakura mumbled.
"That's no fair, Sakura. You gave two quotes."
"You can repay me."
He raised his eyebrows. "Quote one: When a man drinks too much liquor, he can approach you from several directions at once. Quote two: One reason I don't drink is that I want to know when I'm having a good time."
Sakura shook her head. "You do drink, Kakashi."
"Never enough to forget the night before," he said with a wicked smile.
"You're impossible."
His smile turned oddly tender. "I don't think I'm so impossible. I held up my end - you were distracted."
Sakura was suddenly reminded of the horridness of their predicament. "What are we going to do?"
Kakashi grinned at her. "When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece."
Sakura glared at him. "Enough with the quotes. Kakashi, we need to make a plan."
His grin faded and his face turned serious, but it also turned away from her. "What do you expect me do to? I'm not the hero you think I am."
She was surprised by the hurt that flooded through her, and the guilt. He had been trying, trying as much as he could. He had played and toyed with her to make her feel better, safer somehow. But she denied them both that, even when they needed it. She said softly, "He gave her a look that you could have poured on a waffle."
So sweet were the stares he had looked at her with.
He didn't answer her.
She whispered to herself, "Love without return is like a question without an answer."
"Do you want my answer?" he asked her.
Sakura looked at him with surprised eyes. "You heard that?"
"Do you want my answer?" he repeated.
She swallowed, nodding.
He recited another quote. "Love is a fabric that never fades, no matter how often it is washed in the waters of adversity and grief."
She had a small intake of breath after a moment of breathless joy. He turned his gaze back to her, with the same depth that she remained unable to describe. "I promise, I'll be there for you as long as you want me to be. All right, Sakura?"
She didn't answer, unable to.
Kakashi looked out the window. "Can I use a quote from a song?"
"Yes," she granted him, confused.
"For all the words I didn't say, and all the things I didn't do, tonight I'm gonna find a way."
--
A loud ringing clank against metal caused Sakura to jump. A bloodcurdling laughter floated in through the cave-like walls, so familiar. Kisame. The demon had returned.
His pale blue skin soon became visible, along with the glinting of his razor sharp teeth. His lips were pulled back in the most sadistic of grins, his eyes dancing as he met her defiant gaze. He laughed at her, and her reaction was a painful stiffening of muscle and a feeling of tight, stretched bone as she clenched her jaw as hard as she could. Still he came in high spirits, still he came mockingly.
She glanced at her companion, but her breath caught in a moment of fear as she looked in to his hateful expression. His eyes seemed darker than possible, his rage so palpable that it choked her, made the room stifling. His face was the only thing that indicated his acknowledgement of their new arrival - the rest of his body was relaxed, in the same position it had been for hours. The air seemed to tremble, as though it wished to run.
Kisame's voice displayed no reaction other than amusement. He grinned at her. "It's time for you to go. Can't have you both sitting here plotting with the big event coming up."
Her throat tightened even more. It felt as though she couldn't breathe. They should have been plotting this entire time. They might have been free at this point it they had, but they hadn't. They had sat in silence for hours on end. There was so little communication between them that it wouldn't have mattered if they had been held in separate cells in the first place. The only useful thing Kakashi had said to her was the first sentence he spoke when she woke up, but that was all. Everything seemed so hopeless.
She waved her arms against Kisame, trying to push him back, as he came with a syringe. She was afraid to use her chakra, knowing what it would do to her. She felt the prick as the needle punctured her skin and the cool liquid as she was injected. She became lightheaded, confused. She kept her eyes open even as her body fell to the ground, as she was picked up by the bastard who she wished more than anyone to kill.
She could feel the shake of his body as he laughed, and in response she tried to use her burning hate to cause herself to vomit, but she had no control, and no food in her stomach. She was overcome with a desperateness, and yearning so strong she whimpered against its craving. She wanted Kakashi, to be in his arms, to be safe.
"Would you like to hear a quote?" she heard his wonderful voice growl.
"You've lost your mind, Hatake. I can't believe it."
"It's an interesting one," Kakashi continued. "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."
The pause was unendurable to Sakura's ears.
She could hear the threatening humor in the tone of Kakashi's voice when he spoke. "We'll see where you stand when I get to you."
--
Wild with rising panic and rage, Kakashi sought to find a plan, an escape. Sakura was somewhere here, more than likely being hurt, and Naruto was in the process of being killed. He had failed one student already, watched as his Uchiha protégé changed sides and fought against his comrades, but failing all of them was unthinkable. It was too painful. He already had too many regrets to allow this one.
There was one guaranteed plan of success, though it involved a jutsu that Kakashi despised. His father's teaching. The jutsu that gave another being your body to fight with, your battle to win. Was he desperate enough to use it?
He stood up and walked as far as his chain would allow. With his arm extended the bars of the cage were still feet away from him. The answer was that yes, he was that desperate. Muttering a curse under his breath, Kakashi spread a slow, burning chakra through his chest. It wasn't enough to aggravate the drug in his system, though even it was there was no place in his body that the chakra would be unable to overtake. He quickly shoved his mask down, trying to make the transformation as easy as possible.
Kakashi felt the pain as his jaw snapped. He felt the strain as his teeth pulled into tight points, fangs. A deathly growl escaped his roughening throat. His vision turned red and his mind receded as the beast took over. Damn him.
Kakashi watched as his control slipped and was given to someone else. He saw his hands, now with long nails and stiff fingers, rip at the metal bars of his prison viciously, savagely, the chain around his ankle ripped from the wall. His lungs expanded in an effort to steady his breath as the beast continued to scream out against his will. The screech of the iron bending and being torn rang through the caves, echoing back against him, taunting him.
He could see Kisame on the other side, his eyes wide with shock but his mouth curving into a fiendish grin. A mocking grin. Sakura was not with him. Kakashi's vision blurred with bright colors as his body sped forward with intent, a craving of bloodlust strong enough that it shook his hands guiding him. Kakashi recoiled in disgust, trying not to pay attention to the howls of pain or the ripping of flesh or the sound of blood splattering and spilling. His disgust only grew when he found that he was not disgusted with the blood staining his hands, but he was excited and even satisfied by it.
They were paying.
"Do you see?" the beast growled to him. Its predatory smile spread across his face as it raced down the dimly lit cave, a howling laughter erupting in a voice that brought only slaughter and fear. With the canine beast's life sharing his body, the scent of his prey was strong in his exposed nose, as well as the scent of the blood sprayed across his lips, lips that were pulled back in a grinning snarl.
He found them, and it was at that moment that Kakashi felt his rage and jealousy overtake him. It was for this reason that he hated his forbidden jutsu: it stole from him the pleasure of feeling the kill of his enemy beneath his fingertips, under his power. It was a sick pleasure, and one that he was only reluctant to give up when the kill was personal and the need for blood festering strongly.
But he would surrender that pleasure for the lives of his students, the lives of his family.
Konan was the only one in the room, a room with walls covered in chakra ridden paper. He could feel the defensive energy, and could see it while looking through the beast's eyes, eyes that thirsted for the sight of shredded female flesh.
Thankfully, though Sakura was in the room, she was unconscious, injured but unconscious nonetheless. She wouldn't have to see him like this. She wouldn't have to see his teeth gleaming in sadistic pleasure, or his hands ripping through Konan's chest, or the bright red sight of blood spraying across everything in the room, including her own being. She would never have been able to look at him again if she did.
"What do you think you're doing?" the beast demanded of Konan, looking over the half naked body of Kakashi's precious person, a feeling of protective rage searing through him. Kakashi was taken aback by the unpredictably genuine feeling of a want to dish out justice coming from the beast. It seemed that the more time the beast remained in him, the more of Kakashi that tainted him.
"I'm working," Konan answered coldly, papers beginning to circle them, seeming to dance in the air. "I suggest you stop. Your death will already be excruciatingly painful. If you keep going, then you will be made to suffer through it for much longer than necessary."
Kakashi was pleased with the defying grin that marred his face. "I'm going to kick your ass before you can even try, bitch." He also found himself wondering who had said those words, him or the monster possessing him?
Konan's eyes narrowed. "Are you Kakashi?"
"No, I'm his kitten. What do you think?
"Sarcasm will not help you here," she warned.
His body snickered. "Sarcasm? Lady, my sarcasm should be the least of your worries."
"Why?" she asked. "Is it because your body has nonhuman characteristics? Or because your voice echoes with your growling hate? Because the white of your eyes is tainted red?"
"No, because I'm going to kill you."
How pleasurable it was to see the blood he craved.
When she was dead, and the sticky redness coated him, the beast paused, unsure of what to do with the pink haired student of his host. Stop, Kakashi told him. Grab her, run for the rest of the Akatsuki. When they're dead, get Naruto.
"Why don't I just leave her here? She'll only be deadweight."
You won't leave her because you love her.
"I don't love her, you do. Don't confuse us."
But even as the beast said that, he gently lifted the sleeping girl from the hard, cold table she had been placed on. And he ran.
--
It was barely ten minutes later when the true war began. The shaking wall had rock and dust falling overhead, the rumble singing in his ears. Naruto's body had fallen to the earth, and though alive he was barely breathing. Sakura remained at the entrance to the room of chaos, not completely safe from the battle raging inside.
The beast knelt over Naruto, crouching low and hovering to protect the boy from the blast of chakra and the onslaught of varying weapons. That was not to say he wasn't enjoying it. He was having a damned good time. But Kakashi wasn't. Kakashi's nerves were reaching their limit, draining him with the worry and doubt and fear that didn't usually plague him. His body was so unused to the physical reactions to these emotions that it troubled the beast, annoyed him.
Dragging Naruto's body quickly from a shot that would have killed him and then leaping back in time to avoid a damaging attack, the beast grinned mockingly. How pathetic these humans were.
An explosion to his left shattered his amused expression, repainting it with a look of absolute dread. The explosion had been very close to the entrance, and the smoke fogged his keen vision and made distinguishing smells nearly impossible. The rest of the possibility of identifying Sakura's blood was drowned by the fact that blood already spilt still stung his nose. He couldn't tell if she had been killed.
Kakashi and his imprisoner were for once on the exact same page as they raced through the clouds of dust. Kakashi felt his control slipping back into his limbs as they ran, the beast fading as they reached their destination. Sakura's body lay slumped, but she had no new wounds. The beast - no, the wolf - sighed, "Thank goodness," before he finally disappeared.
Kakashi's awareness startled him as be bent low, his hands sliding under Sakura's body and lifting her with little effort. The presence of the wolf had washed the drugs out of his body, enabling him to move freely, but his chakra was still drained. He turned and stared out at the roaring and searing before him, the lighting changing and flickering as bombs continued to go off.
Life. Such a simple, accepted thing. Some see it as a race for survival, others as a chase towards distant dreams, and some as a quest to find the meaning of their existence. He couldn't see himself believing any of them. Life was there so that you understood good and evil, desire and duty, loyalty and betrayal, and all the things that you learned through contact and contact alone. An overwhelming burden that offered you the most precious of gifts. How ironic.
Even more ironic was the fact that more often than not, those gifts were almost certainly taken away.
A pink haired girl lying unconscious in his arms was a gift. A blond boy dying somewhere just out of his sight was a gift. The girl was here, with him, and though not safe was at least not in immediate danger. The boy was becoming more and more of a lost cause by the second. So sad, but so much more infuriating. An anger swelled in the pit of his stomach, in the pit of his heart, and he fought to control it.
He stepped out, breaking into a heart pounding chase after the missing piece of his loud, crazy, unpredictable, danger attractive team, knowing he had little to no possibility of saving everyone.
When he reached Naruto he squatted low, Sakura still in his arms, his nose burning with the coldness of the air. What to do next? He didn't have enough chakra for a proper clone. Even if he did use his remaining energy to create one, he would just die, and where would that leave his young, broken team?
A closer explosion stopped his thoughts, as did the cool chakra signature of someone Kakashi hadn't noticed before. A dark haired young man stood slowly, appearing out from behind the smoke. His onyx eyes turned a deep red, what looked like three hooked spheres spinning around his black pupils. Kakashi whispered in disbelief, "Sasuke."
"It's been a long time, Kakashi," Sasuke said with a smile, though it didn't touch his eyes. "I've been waiting for the Akatsuki to catch Naruto for a while, and now look what happens."
Kakashi stood rooted, his muscles tight.
"What are you doing?" Sasuke asked.
He answered firmly. "Leaving. Now get out of my way."
"I never meant to stand in it," the Uchiha replied. "I'm here to fight for you, Kakashi. Now go, quickly."
Kakashi tensed. "Why are you doing this?"
"Because I'm not hunting my own, I'm killing them."
Kakashi stared, shocked silent. "They are your own, aren't they?"
"My past is dead, Kakashi," Sasuke said emotionlessly. "They mean nothing to me, but my future was always in Konoha, so you do mean something."
"You'll risk you're life for this?"
A small, sincere but ironic smile appeared on Sasuke's face. "I've been risking my life since I was born into this world. This fight isn't going to make much of a difference to that."
Kakashi nodded once. He glanced down at Naruto. Now one question remained, what to do? He couldn't ask Sasuke for help. Putting his own feelings aside, Sasuke would need all of his energy for his fight. Kakashi glared at the ground, the swirling of the dust.
"Leave him," Sasuke ordered indifferently.
Kakashi demanded a sharp, "What?"
"I'll get him back to the village," Sasuke promised. Behind him another explosion shook the walls. He yelled, "Now go!"
With a tight throat, Kakashi gripped Sakura's limp body firmly and leapt, running as quickly as he could towards the smell of cool wind, of wild shrubs, and of icy rain.
Reaching it was the personal miracle of his lifetime.
He was right of course. When he exited the horrid place, the cold water poured mercilessly down upon him. Where his skin was bare, stabs of pain touched. It soaked his clothes, and soon he was shivering despite himself. It must have been worse for Sakura. She was barely clad in any clothing. But lucky for her, she was also unconscious.
He ran as long as he could while feeling that Sakura was safe in the weather. He stopped when that feeling left him. Finding a tree that offered a little coverage, Kakashi leaned against it and panted. After a moment he looked down at Sakura. His breath caught. Her lips were going from purple to blue.
He glanced around frantically. Biting his lip, he took a deep breath. He had been here before. There was an unusually large tree that served as more of a cave. It's inside had rotted out. It was a miracle that the wood was still perfectly good. It held out wonderfully against the rain.
Another quick glance and he started off in its direction. It would serve well enough for a few hours, just until the rain let up.
A small break in the trees alerted him to the arrival of his destination. The bark was wet, and so it appeared black. Such a thing would have appeared eerie normally, but at the moment it seemed perfect, or as perfect as an escapee could hope for during a storm in Rain country. Kakashi stumbled in, his arms going numb.
His legs gave out as soon as he reached cover. Sakura fell into his lap, and for the first time Kakashi was aware of how chilled her body was. He scoot Sakura over to the side, against the wall, and then started stripping off his shirt. As wet as it was, it could possibly still be useful. He twisted it to make the water drip out, using as much force as he could without ripping the fabric.
When he was finally satisfied, he looked it over. It was nearly dry. Nearly. Kakashi sighed, preparing himself. He sat the shirt on the ground and placed both hands on it. After a few minutes of concentrating, he used a portion of his remaining chakra to suck all rest of the liquid out. It was finally dry. Kakashi sighed again, this time in relief.
He shifted Sakura until he could slip the shirt over her head. The wind bit at the skin across his back as he tucked the shirt around her.
"That should hold you for a minute," Kakashi whispered to himself as he forced himself to stand up.
He grunted as he confronted the cold and the bitter rain shirtless. The hell I go through for that girl, he thought. Something suddenly clicked in his brain. He was weaponless. He hadn't gotten their tools back from those bastards, and he sure as hell wasn't going to be waiting on Sasuke.
That brought back a wave of guilt. He had left. It was such a pointless, idiotic thing to do. He shook his head against it. He couldn't waste time second-guessing himself. Not now. Not here. He found a few broken branches that had plenty of leaves. Fresh. He picked them up and carried them back, crawling into the cave of the tree and using the branches as a door to block out some of the storm.
The rain was still pouring down when Kakashi decided it was time to leave. Waiting any longer would be dangerous as they were still painfully close to the Akatsuki. He had no way of knowing if Sasuke had finished them off, and to be honest he felt better not knowing. The more likely outcome was that Naruto and Sasuke were both now dead. The Akatsuki had what they wanted. They were now all-powerful.
Kakashi was overcome with a guilt born from his own selfishness. He couldn't stop himself from thinking about it this time. He had risked everything for Sakura's safety, absolutely everything. And now all he could do was pray that by some miracle his other two students had survived, however unlikely that was.
"Stupid," he muttered. He had wasted his love, his home, his life. And he had forfeited his chance to protect them when he had traded his competence for Sakura. But it didn't feel wrong. He knew that even now he wouldn't change his actions. If anything he would have done it again.
"Damn it all," he growled, running his fingers through his hair in frustration. He should have taken Naruto. That was the smart thing to do. That was the rational thing to do.
But he couldn't have handled it. Not knowing whether or not Sakura was alive or dead, not being able to touch her and keep her safe…His mind made the image so vivid it was almost too much to bear. He turned his eyes back to her and sighed. There was no way to fix this, and he had to stop beating himself up for it or he wouldn't be able to plan right. He had to stop being clumsy.
He stood up, rolling his shoulders and sketching. There was a town a few miles away, Sakura couldn't weigh more than 115 pounds, and the storm - he glanced at it - was settling into a drizzle.
Kakashi knelt down and wrapped his arms around a still unconscious Sakura. He paused. The sight of her after his earlier thoughts had his knees shaking. He forced them to stop and picked her up easily.
--
The prickling along her skin woke Sakura from her sleep. The overdose of drugs was taking its toll if she was too weak to gain full consciousness. Her breathing came harder and faster as she focused on flushing her system clean.
"Easy," Kakashi's voice warned her gently, comfortingly. "It's all right. We're safe."
Safe…Sakura's throat tightened. It felt swollen. She coughed in the attempt to rid herself of it.
She opened her eyes, and in that moment everything came crashing down. She heard the rain beating against a tin roof, the wind whistling and dancing outside, her hitched breath, the slow rippling of the thunder in the background. She saw the grey and dulled blue of the earth, the darkness of the small raggedly built storage shed that she and Kakashi held cover under. She felt the bed of hay beneath her.
"What happened?" she rasped.
She heard Kakashi's sheepish, relieved laugh, but was disappointed to find that she didn't yet possess the strength to turn her head to see the smile that accompanied it. Sakura was floored by the thankfulness that dropped her stomach when Kakashi lay next to her, coming into her line of vision.
He wasn't wearing his mask, she noticed. After a moment of staring at his exposed face, she realized that she was wearing his mask. So that was why it had been so hard to breath…
"Take it off," she ordered, still unable to move.
"Take what off? I'm only wearing my pants."
As wonderful as that idea was, she frowned. "The mask, you fool."
Kakashi chuckled lightly, but Sakura was still aware of the relief in his voice. "Was I that bad?" she asked as he pulled the mask down and tucked it under her chin.
A blinding flash of lightening and an echoing roar of thunder interrupted them. Kakashi ignored it. "You were pretty bad off," he told her.
"What happened?" she asked again.
"I escaped, found you, and ran into Sasuke," he answered, deciding to spare her the details of exactly how that had happened. He continued, "Sasuke's going to bring Naruto back to the village. He's meeting us there."
"Sasuke's coming back?"
Kakashi nodded. He knew that Sakura's thoughts were more near relationships than the possibility of Sasuke and Naruto's survival. He decided not to burden her with that 'if'.
"And…us?" she asked with a soft blush.
"Elaborate."
She took a moment to form her question. "I…want to know if…I was just a fling or if…?"
Kakashi smiled, grateful for the distraction. "Can I ask you something, Sakura?"
Her eyebrows turned up in worried lines. "Yeah?"
"What do you want it to be?" His voice was husky and sweet. Sakura wondered if he noticed how she melted into it.
"I…I want it to be real."
He smiled. "Then it is."
As if that settled everything, he leaned forward and kissed her lightly. She asked in confusion, "That's it?"
His smile quickly turned into a grin. "Yep."
"Well," she said in a huff. "I guess--"
"I guess we should get started now," he interrupted.
She frowned. "Stop being perverted."
His eyes became unbearable. Sakura shifted her gaze away. How was she ever supposed to think straight when he looked at her like that?
Kakashi's warm fingers tracing her jaw line forced her eyes back to him in surprise. He was closer now, his voice again teasing her sanity. "That's not what I mean."
"Care to explain?"
His eyes traveled down to her lips. For a moment he looked uncomfortable, unsure. It passed, overshadowed by the raw confidence of Kakashi's that Sakura loved. "I meant that…Sakura, I couldn't leave you. I should have taken Naruto instead, but I just couldn't leave you behind. It hurt and…it scared me."
Sakura's lips parted slightly in silent shock. Had he just admitted to having a moment of weakness that his shinobi training did not prevent? To think of how harsh he must have been when he had scolded himself…
His sad smile took her breath away. He was beautiful. "Sakura, we should start with me tell you the truth."
It took her longer than it should have to find her voice. "What is the truth, exactly?"
"I love you." Finally, he found himself capable of saying the words that had been caught on his tongue.
Kind of rough. Not sure if I can write action at all, but I'm sure you got the point. I think there will only be two or three more chapters. And I apologize for making this so…gooey. I wasn't really thinking about this when I wrote it. All I had was a basis of what I wanted for the story. I hadn't planned anything else, so this is being revealed to me as I write it.
I hoped you've enjoyed it so far regardless.
Also, Disclaimer: I own none of the quotes. That's why they're are called quotes. The song quote is Bon Jovi's. Yes, I am a Bon Jovi fan. I admit that. But the quote fit, didn't it?