Note: I am liking the reviews here, all positive. Please readers, if there is anything I need to improve on, don't hesitate to let me know, I don't hold grudges, nor do I hate people Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto... except for Kakashi...he's mine : P
Me: Yes, here we are, chapter six of my mad man story snickers in excitement
Kakashi: nice disclaimer you put down
Me: thanks, just making a scene here
Sakura: this next chapter is going to be awesomely funny, I can tell
Me: aww Sakura-chan, don't spoil it for the others points evilly at Sakura
Sakura: ne, gomen... pouts
Kakashi: now lets all just calm down and let the readers read the fic already
Me: he's right, enjoy the chapter
CHAPTER SIX- A ROCKY START
All Sakura could hear was the sound of a steady heartbeat, which slowly sped up at every pace. As she walked along the pavement of the village, Sakura discovered blood leading to the boy's apartment.
The sky turned blood red and the sun turned black; everyone was dying in front of her. Naruto was in his three-tail Kyuubi stage, slaughtering anything and anyone who stood in his way.
The blood ran down walls and was on Sakura's traumatized face, where she would face certain death at the witness of Naruto's current state. She finds him, hammering three people at once into a wall and watching the fresh blood run down his arms from the kill, "Naruto, please stop, I know what you're going through," she yelled, warning Naruto of her capabilities.
Naruto faces Sakura, his red and cat-like eyes likening that of a monster, which he was slowly turning into. He growled angrily at the medic as he stalked closer to her, "you know nothing about me," there, the clash of both Naruto's voice and Sasuke's voice in the same body, sending chills down the medic's spine.
Naruto began to scream in pain as he lay on the ground from his sufferings. He stands up with all his strength and held a kunai in his hand, "this is what I feel inside," Naruto ran the knife across his wrists and trailed the blade up his arm and across his bare neck. The blood spilled down the blonde's body but stood as if there wasn't a scratch on him.
Sakura began to feel the tears well up before screaming her lungs out, "NARUTOOO!"
With all that shock and disbelief, Sakura forced herself to finally awaken from her nightmare. Tears were streaming down her cheeks although she knew it didn't really happen. She sighs in relief, knowing that it was just a dream, but sensed that something was out of its place.
Sakura scanned the dark apartment room to find that everything seemed normal except for the empty bed on her left. Worried, Sakura wipes the tears from her face and leaves her bed to search for Kakashi.
Standing in the middle of the bedroom, Sakura heard something from within the kitchen. Sakura slowly made her way to the kitchen to find Kakashi sitting at the table with a glass of water in his hands, "Kakashi-sensei?" she wondered, rubbing her eyes tiredly.
"Oh, Sakura-chan, I didn't think you'd be awake at this time of the night," Kakashi replied in his lazy tone.
Kakashi was right, Sakura never got out of bed when waking up from a bad dream; she'd normally look around the room before going right back to sleep again, "neither did I, but what are you doing out here this late?" Sakura enquired curiously.
Kakashi sighs, staring at the wooden tabletop, "I couldn't sleep," he stated firmly. Sakura nods before saying, "same here; I had another dream about him," Sakura found her seat at the table across from Kakashi and frowned deeply.
"What about you?" Sakura added.
"The same thing; every night I have nightmares about Naruto, and it's been driving me mad," Kakashi answered back miserably.
Kakashi stares at his glass, trying to catch his reflection but due to the darkness of the room, no reflection was caught, "I think what Tsunade-sama is trying to do for us is help us so that we don't turn into cranky and depressed old farts and have fun in our lives, even in the darkest of times," he explained, sighing heavily and staring out the kitchen window.
Sakura rests on her arms, ogling tiredly at the silver haired Jounin before saying, "what do you think it's going to be like after the mission?" surprised, Kakashi was nearly thrown back, "what do you mean?" he started blankly.
"What I mean is, what will happen to us when we get back to Konoha?" Sakura repeated.
Kakashi settled down in thought before coming up with the only thing on his mind, "live the rest of our life normally, but it all depends on what happens during the mission, whether or not we have fun is all on where we end up," he stated.
"But we will try and have fun, right?" Sakura wondered.
Kakashi nods with a sigh, "yeah, lets just hope we can do as much as we can to take our mind off Naruto's passing," Kakashi gets up and stretches his arms, "we'd better get some rest for tomorrow; it's going to be a long day," he suggested as he made his way back to his bed.
Sakura got up to follow him when she had a deep and remorseful thought in her head and stood in the middle of the bedroom, staring pointlessly at the wall of her bed. Once again, Sakura's emotions got the better of her and the tears were beginning to blur her vision.
A snivel from Sakura caught Kakashi's attention, "are you alright, Sakura-chan?" Kakashi gets up from his bed and walks over to Sakura, tilting his head to the side to see what was wrong with Sakura.
"I miss Naruto terribly," Sakura wept as the tears rolled down her cheeks.
"I miss him too," Kakashi muttered as he brought his arms around Sakura for a hug.
Sakura sobbed uncontrollably while in held Kakashi's arms, "I miss his childish pranks, his ramen obsessions, his blonde moments, I miss everything about him," she wailed, wrapping her arms tightly around Kakashi, her head rested on the man's chest and staring blankly to her left.
Kakashi stayed silent as Sakura cried in his arms, "it's alright Sakura, just try and move on," he muttered softly, patting Sakura on the head childishly. Kakashi lets Sakura go and just grins at her, "Besides, I'm sure whatever happens on the mission would be fun enough to take your mind off Naruto," he hoped that would cheer up the pink haired medic somehow.
"Thank you," Sakura snivelled, drying her tears.
Sakura glances at Kakashi before returning to her bed and hiding under the blankets without waking Kitsune from her peaceful sleep. Kakashi stands there a moment more before making his way to his bed and pats Kuro gently without waking him up. Once under the sheets, Kakashi closes his eyes with one thought on his mind, 'poor Sakura,'
The light was bright as it beamed through the windows and warmed the blankets of Sakura's bed. The sound of a door shutting was the thing that awoke the pink haired medic.
"Morning sleepy head," a low voice began briefly.
Sakura rubs her eyes and groans in response, "morning," she mumbled as she stretched out her arms to wake up properly. Once Sakura actually opened her eyes suitably, she sees Kakashi wondering into the kitchen, washing something.
She slides out of her bed and pats Kitsune briefly before rushing to the bathroom to shower, "showering, be right back," she said quickly before shutting the door and locking it behind her.
Kakashi turned around with an arched eyebrow and shrugs, "okay…" he muttered, returning his awareness to his washing. He was cleaning a pair of shorts that had a stain on it, so Kakashi had to hand wash it in hopes of removing the dark stain.
Fifteen minutes later, the bathroom door unlocks and out comes Sakura, wrapped in a fluffy white towel with water dripping from her wet pink hair. She skates across the room, making sure Kakashi wouldn't see her and rummages about in her bag to grab some clean clothes.
Kakashi hears the commotion and turns around, only to see Sakura with barely anything on. His face turns red from the sight and immediately looks back to his soaking shorts, hoping Sakura didn't catch him spying on her if he was. Sakura mumbles to herself as she made her way back into the bathroom to change. Kakashi sighs in frustration as he scrubbed deeply to get the filth out.
Five more minutes past and Sakura exited the bathroom while drying her pink hair and sat down on her bed, "so what's going to happen today?" she started with hopes of a happy day, which usually wasn't the case.
"Not sure, but all I know is that we probably won't be able to reach the next village unless we decided to wake up very early this morning, so we have to camp out under the stars tonight," Kakashi explained with a small grin.
Sakura nodded, understanding what the day's plan would be on a rough scale, before something in her head came up, "uhh, Kakashi-sensei, about last night, I-" Sakura was cut off when Kakashi raised his arm with his eyes closed, "don't worry about it Sakura-chan, you just needed to keep yourself calm is all, and I understand perfectly that you just needed someone to cry on," he retorted.
Sakura puts the damp towel down next to her and stares at the floor in front of her feet, "I'm just sorry that I made you feel uncomfortable," she said remorsefully, going back on that moment and fading red.
"Why would I feel uncomfortable about hugging you?" Kakashi asked with a raised eyebrow.
Sakura didn't know what to say at first, "well I'm your former student, and it just didn't seem quite right doing what we did, and I don't know what to do," she felt like panicking, until Kakashi just chuckled uncontrollably.
"Sakura-chan, it was just a hug, it's not like it's going to affect us or anything," Kakashi advised, making sure Sakura wouldn't start apologising again.
Sakura sighed to calm herself down and said, "You're right, what is there to worry about," she reaches into her bag and pulls out her hairbrush. She brushes her hair gently, making it silky smooth with all the hair going in one direction: down.
Kakashi stands there, holding his drenched shorts and wrings them out to get most of the water out. He cleans the kitchen tops and walks over to his bag where Kuro was sleeping, patting him momentarily before dropping onto his bed with a blank expression.
Still shirtless, Kakashi rubs the back of his head before sliding his hand over his left eye, touching the scar as if it still hurt. He closes his eyes and thought back to those days when he was still a Chuunin and back to that last moment when his teammate and best friend gave his own life to save Kakashi.
A sigh escapes his lips as he thought about his past, leading quicker than he thought to only a month ago when Naruto died. All he could do was stare at the motionless blonde before only dropping to his knees to help Sakura and aid her to Tsunade to check if there were any injuries on her, but strangely enough, she had none.
"Kakashi-sensei?" the young voice started.
Kakashi blinked a few times before looking to his right, finding Sakura to stare at him strangely, "you looked like you dozed off for a moment there," she said with a slight giggle.
Kakashi couldn't help but notice Sakura's worry about him, right at the point of realising something else, "uhh, Sakura-chan?" he asked.
"Hm?" Sakura had her attention focused on the other Jounin.
"Why do you still refer to me as 'sensei'?" he continued curiously.
Sakura stared for a moment before shrugging her shoulders, "I don't know, I guess it must be because I've called you that for seven years," she briefed quickly, staring at Kitsune as she finally awoke from such a long night.
Sakura had a point; they knew each other for seven years and from time to time Kakashi still thought of Sakura as the little immature twelve-year-old who thought being a ninja was just a game, but now, Kakashi was seeing the real Sakura he knew, the one who actually grew up.
He sighed deeply, "Well, try and just call me 'Kakashi,'" he stated firmly, hoping Sakura would understand.
"Okay then, Kakashi…" Sakura's words seemed empty, as if something was missing. Perhaps it was the 'sensei' part that Sakura was so use to saying all the time.
Kakashi gets up and puts his shirt on, changing quickly and packing his bag. Sakura did the same, making sure Kitsune had something to eat before she had to be hidden away in the bags again. Kakashi however, was having a real annoying time trying to get Kuro into the bag.
"Kuro please, get into the bag, otherwise we're in big trouble if we get caught," Kakashi pleaded, trying so hard to get Kuro to cooperate, which alas, didn't get anywhere.
Sakura rolls her eyes as she was about to put Kitsune in the bag before coming up with an idea. She pulls Kitsune out of the bag and cuddles her quickly before saying, "Here," Kakashi whirled his head to her with an irritated look in his only visible eye.
"I'll take Kuro, you take Kitsune," she suggested.
Kakashi sat there for a moment, "how will that help?" he asked. Sakura sighed whilst rolling her eyes and took Kuro from him, "you'll be able to handle Kitsune much better than Kuro, and I can keep him under control until we leave this damn building," she explained.
"If you say so," Kakashi sighed, taking Kitsune with great care.
Kitsune purred as Kakashi placed her in the bag, "please keep still until I let you out, okay," he said, hoping Sakura's fox would understand him this time.
With that said, Kitsune nods her cute head with squinted eyes and ducked her head in the bag, waiting for Kakashi to close it. Sakura had Kuro in her arms, trying to calm him down, "it's okay, Kuro, this will only be for a little while," she said softly, patting the black fox gently and whispering calming words to him.
With all the squirming around, Kuro finally ceased and began to purr softly. Sakura grinned and placed him gently into her backpack, closing it slowly to make sure Kuro wouldn't freak out at the sudden darkness.
"Okay, ready?" Kakashi asked, putting on his bag slowly.
Sakura nodded as she did the same, making sure Kuro wouldn't move around so much. Kakashi opens the door and lets Sakura out first. Kakashi looks back into the apartment room in case he might've left something behind and shuts the door, locking it as well.
On their way down the two flights of stairs, Kakashi was staring at Sakura, wondering deeply about her life's issues. Sakura stayed calm but couldn't help feeling Kakashi's glare in her back; it felt kind of awkward, but she chose to ignore it and focus on other things on her mind, like giving that blonde girl a piece of her mind, or fist would be the best choice for her.
Once in the lobby, Kakashi pulled out his wallet and waited for the cheeky blonde girl to check how much they needed to pay, "that will be…35Ryo," she said calmly, waiting for Kakashi to hand her the money.
The blonde haired lady wasn't going to give up that easily, trying to get Kakashi to look at her every time by using her so called 'beauty', but it didn't fool Kakashi. He only smiled at her to show respect and he would be on his way.
Sakura sighed in frustration after watching the blonde curse herself for not being able to win Kakashi's love; though Sakura was glad she and Kakashi were leaving.
As soon as they were outside the building, Sakura opened her backpack and Kakashi opened his, letting out both Kuro and Kitsune simultaneously and leaping to their masters. Kitsune was purring like an engine while moving around on the medic's shoulder. Kuro was just glad to be with Kakashi again, even if he was always being a pain in the ass half the time.
"Kuro was quiet the whole time," Sakura whooped.
Kakashi took Sakura's words as a bad sign, "you sure he wasn't just doing something in your backpack that made him shut up," he warned, patting Kuro quickly.
Sakura shook her head, "no way, I don't think Kuro would be stupid enough to do something like that in my bag, because if he did, then I'm going to be very pissed," she sneered, ogling at the black fox while closing up her bag.
Kakashi took a step back, knowing what she meant by that, "well then, lets carry on with the mission," he mused, nodding his head to the streets and began to walk on. Sakura followed and made sure Kitsune stayed on her head.
The streets were quiet this morning; only a few shops beginning to let the customers in to buy their merchandise. The only other thing that kept the streets alive apart from Kakashi and Sakura were the early children, chasing after each other and enjoying their short lives while it still lasted.
With no time to spend at the village at such time already, Sakura and Kakashi left to carry on to the next village in hopes of something fun and entertaining to do. The road ahead looked the same as the one they went to reach the village behind them but the trees ahead signalled the change in environment.
Athor's note: I'm thinking of changing the second genre from 'suspense' to 'angst', coz there's a lot of it, but you tell me. I am trying to add a bit of fluffy embarrassment between the two, but I'm just trying to think up any kind of odd situation they could get into to make it seem more uhh...actiony...
Me: muahahaha, I made Sakura's dreams sound so bloody and gory and well...you get the picture
Sakura: I think I'm starting to get scared of my dreams now
Kakashi: hahaha points at Sakura
Me: don't worry Sakura-chan, I said it many more times and I'll say it again, it turns out okay in the end
Kakashi: how would you know that?
Me: well ain't it obvious. And besides, I decide how it ends anyway
Sakura: cool
Kakashi: sorry to keep you holding any longer
Sakura: yeah, hope you liked this chapter
Me: and now for the reviews (my favourite part XD)