Author's notes: Sorry it took me so long to get the next chapter uploaded; I was busy trying to get ahead a little so that I would'nt rush myself if you were waiting for me to finish the chapter. So yes, we are definately reaching the climax of the story, which also means that we are reaching closer to the end, also meaning I will be reaching the most irritating part of the story to write (I think you may already have an idea in what I mean). Not only that, but I've also been a little busy with my other commitments, so that may also explain my short absence. But enough ranting, I present to you, the next chapter; the title says it all, so enjoy .
CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT: THE FESTIVAL
After Sakura and Kakashi had breakfast and remembered to feed Kuro and Kitsune after waking up, the two set about in the village looking for something to do. As they were walking down the main street of the town, looking for a nice cheap place to have lunch, a subject popped up in Sakura's mind.
"Kakashi," she started plainly, not making eye contact with him, but the road ahead, "how do you know Kongou?" finally came the question.
Kakashi sighed, "well, when I was in ANBU, I was sent here to assassinate a missing-nin and met Kongou-sama for the first time when I needed a place to stay," he explained, turning a page to his beloved Icha Icha Fantasies before continuing, "because I was injured at the time, Kongou was constantly checking up on me to make sure I was okay and not collapsed somewhere on the floor. We ended up having a few conversations and chatting, which was something I wasn't really supposed to do as an ANBU, but it couldn't be helped. Soon we became sort-of friends, but after I returned to Konoha, we kind of lost touch,"
Sakura raised an eyebrow, "he's weird," came the blatant statement, making the Copy Nin arch a brow at her, "yeah, he's a little strange, but he's generous; I mean, look at what he did for us, he let us stay at his expensive motel for free," he replied simply.
"You mean, look at what he did for you; if you were someone else other than Kakashi, we'd have to pay for it,"
"True…" the Jounin shrugged it off and read on.
Throughout most of the morning, Sakura was on and off doing things for Kakashi and she was starting to hate him for it. She had to get him something he preferred to eat, which was only available on the other side of the village, and the village was about half the size of Konoha, but still it was big and maze-like, not to mention that Sakura had to find the right shop that sold them. Not only that, but Sakura had to give Kuro and bubble bath to keep him clean. It was fun a first until Kuro wanted to play with Kitsune and Sakura, and ended up getting the medic just as soaked as he was.
But overall, Sakura was exhausted by the day's progress and wished it would end quickly so she could beat the living hell out of her former sensei later on the next day.
"Okay," Kakashi stopped dead in his tracks and looked up at the town clock, "we have about two hours until the big event, so in the mean time, you can prepare yourself for tonight,"
That brought a relieving smile on the pink haired medic's face, "thank you…" she sighed and was about to take off to her destination when Kakashi had stopped her. Looking a little puzzled at the Jounin's sudden actions towards her, she gave him a strange look. Kakashi stared a moment more, "I expect you to look beautiful," he reminded and let her go.
Sakura's face reddened a little at the message and smiled, "don't worry Kakashi, I'll keep that in mind," she winked at him before she was off in her own little world as she skipped out of sight into the crowd.
The silver haired Jounin smirked a bit and went the opposite direction from the medic to get ready himself.
Sakura stood before the store she practically had to hunt down. It was a dress store and the gowns on display looked gorgeous. Sakura found one in particular basically screaming at her to wear it and entered the building.
Inside was a bit dark, the isles were a bit cramped up because of the size of the actual shop, and the place smelt musty, most likely due to the smell of old clothes in the back room.
Sakura found the dress she was looking for; it was a red kimono with white ribbons on it. It looked absolutely amazing and she could already picture herself in it, but the smile fell right off her face when she saw the price, "500 Ryo?" she exclaimed and slouched in disappointment.
Now Sakura didn't know what to wear, and walked around aimlessly in the shop in search for a nice dress to wear for the evening, and the clock was ticking, fast.
"Can I help you with something?" came an aged voice behind the medic.
The medic jumped and faced the voice to find a short old woman smiling kindly at her, "oh, umm, yeah, I'm looking for something nice to wear for tonight's festival," Sakura said sweetly, and she was almost desperate to get help.
Quickly the old woman pranced around in joy, "wonderful, come with me, let's just take a look at what we have," the old woman gestured at Sakura to follow her and so she did.
At the counter at the back of the shop, the woman went behind the counter and gave a thoughtful stare at the pink haired Kunoichi before her and nodded, "we just got this ordered and it came in this morning; you're in luck," announced the elderly lady.
She knelt down, disappearing from the medic's sight and hearing the lady unlocking something by the sound of it and stood up with a white box with a red bow on it. Sakura bit her bottom lip at her own anxiety and awaited what was inside the box. Swiftly, the old woman opened the box to reveal a beautiful white kimono, with pink lacing and frilly bits on the sleaves.
Sakura stared in awe at the gown and was blown away by the beauty, "that's beautiful," she exclaimed with her jaw dropped open. The old lady giggled and said, "of course it is, it's the best in the shop, and when I saw you, I thought it would be perfect for you; after all, you have the perfect figure and your hair suits the colours nicely," Sakura blushed faintly at the woman's compliment.
Not only could Sakura get this nice dress, but she got a pair of matching killer heels with it, but when she saw the price, she almost fainted, "I can't afford that, I can't buy something that's 700 Ryo, I can't even afford what's displayed at the window," she jerked a thumb at the red kimono at the window and sighed.
The old lady was disappointed somewhat before an idea crossed her mind, "but for you my lovely lady, I'll half the price; only because this kimono suits you better than anyone I've ever met," Sakura lit up in hope, "really?" she yipped, receiving an instant nod from the lady across the counter.
"Oh, thank you so much; just wait here, don't let anyone buy that dress, I'll be back with the money soon," Sakura bolted out the door before the lady could say anything in reply.
The sun was already setting and Sakura could already see people setting up the dance floor for the evening and some people were already dressed up and ready to go. Thinking that she was going to be late, Sakura decided ninja-ing would be the best option to get to the motel in time and get her money, but while leaping through the crowd swiftly and running past the villagers with ease, she suddenly hit something and fell back to only get her wrist snagged at before she could hit the ground.
Her mind dazed momentarily before she realised what had just happened, "watch where you're going Sakura-chan, you're going to hit someone if you aren't careful," came the smooth voice that held her wrist tight.
Sakura shook her head and looked up to find none other than Kakashi holding her and grinning like an idiot, "sorry," she panted, trying to catch her breath and make this conversation short so that she could get back to the shop in time.
"What's the sudden rush?" Kakashi asked simply.
Sakura gulped and gasped to catch her breath and finally replied, "I need to get back to the motel to get the money to pay for the dress I found," Kakashi sighed under a low grunt, "how much do you need?" the straightforward question came along.
Sakura was uneasy with the idea of Kakashi handing out generous amounts of cash, but she was in a hurry, "uhh, 350," she answered, hoping the Copy Nin wouldn't jump out of his shoes at her response.
He rolled his eyes with a sigh and pulled out his wallet, "you owe me big," he reminded and handed her said amount of money and grinned.
"Thank you, and don't worry, I'll pay you back at the motel once we're through the night," Sakura pocketed the money and smiled sincerely at the Jounin before her, who only smiled back and vanished in a cloud of smoke.
Staring at where Kakashi was standing before, the bubble-gum haired medic shook her head and made her way back to the store in time to get ready.
"Took you a while," mocked the old woman when Sakura finally entered the building.
"So sorry, here you go, 350 Ryo in cash," she said, placing the money on the counter.
The old woman smiled pleasingly and put the money away, "now, the festival is in less than an hour, and I know you don't want to be late," the woman started, trying to look busy as she fiddled with the ribbons of the white kimono, "not only do I sell dresses, I help prepare beautiful women such as yourself for wonderful events such as this one. Come on,"
Sakura raised an eyebrow before she delightedly stepped out back with the aged woman and changed into the kimono, with the help of the old lady to make sure it fitted her perfectly without preventing her from breathing when it came to tying the back.
There were only about two layers of clothing to put on, and it wasn't difficult at all. The old lady was a professional when it came to these jobs and by the looks of it, she loved it. The top half of the kimono was not thick like those old fashioned dresses with massive wigs; it was layered with white silk, covering the bigger portion of her breasts. The sleaves hung loose and was laced with little frills at the shoulder, revealing an open shoulder and collarbone.
Sakura looked into the body mirror and stared mouth agape at her reflection, "you look good so far, but now for the makeup," declared the woman and pulled Sakura's wrist to a chair and wheeled over a tray of eyeliners, shadows, lipstick and other accessories.
The old lady pinned up Sakura's pink hair so that it was displayed in a nice bun, allowing a few tresses of her pink locks to stray over her face. With matching colours added to her face, Sakura the given some earrings to wear and a bracelet.
Sakura was done after putting on her killer heels and was standing at the counter, looking fantastic, and just in time too, "I will send the clothes to Kongou-kun don't you worry, and I'm pretty sure you'll have a wonderful time tonight," the old lady smiled dearly at the dressed up Kunoichi before her, who smiled back.
"Again, thank you so much, how can I ever repay you for doing this for me," Sakura wondered, her smile constant on her face.
"Just have a good time," the old lady spat back tonelessly.
Sakura giggled and made her way out the door to be greeted with Kakashi, fine and smart looking. He was wearing a standard fancy navy blue tux (typical), tie-less, but still looked smart. His mask was still attached no doubt and his hair was just the same as always: naturally spiked to the left. His headband however was not with him and his Sharingan eye was revealed.
Kakashi's eyes widened at the sight of his former student and his heart nearly melted, "you look…amazing," he commented smoothly and held out his arm.
Even Kitsune and Kuro looked clean and Kuro had a cute white bow around his neck. Kitsune had a little red bow attached to her left ear, giving her a feminine appearance through her foxy figure.
Sakura blushed at his words and linked her arm around his and off they went. The sun had long set and the lights went on, already inviting the evening goers and the festival was going well so far.
People were often glancing at the well-dressed Sakura, who simply smiled at everyone who smiled back and gazed at he appearance. Either that or it was the fact that she was walking with someone who could almost look to be her father, but neither cared. They just wanted to enjoy the wonderful night without anything spoiling it.
On their way down the busy twilight street, Sakura stared at all the jewellery and other accessories that were on sale. Everything was cheap at that and everything looked beautiful. There were stalls and other mini shops selling cheap food for the night, all knowing they'd get good profit out of the event.
The pair sat down at a picnic table next to the dance floor and happily listened to the music. Sakura was bobbing her head to the beat of the sounds and was mentally urging herself to go dance, but she didn't want to look like a total pretty loser and dance by herself. Her Inner self was tugging her to ask Kakashi, but the courage to ask never came.
Kitsune, who was sitting on the table with Kuro, meowed at the medic and nudged her gently. Sakura knew Kitsune knew, and she soon gave up with a sigh.
"Umm, Kakashi?" Sakura started nervously.
"Hmm?" replied the bored Jounin.
"Can you dance with me, please?" wow, that was easier than she thought she had anticipated.
Kakashi gave her a sideward glance, "why?" okay…that might've been a bit rude of the Copy Nin to ask a question like that, but Sakura knew he lacked people skills and answered him anyway, "because I'm bored and I just want to have a good time and let the time pass," Kakashi raised an eyebrow.
"I'm not a good dancer, just so you know," he warned as he got up, escorting the young medic to the dance floor.
Sakura didn't expect Kakashi to admit that he couldn't dance, and no doubt was she expecting him to be right either. On the dance floor, Kakashi didn't look as though he couldn't dance, but in fact that he didn't really want to dance at all. It disappointed the pink haired Kunoichi to see that Kakashi wasn't interested in the social activities.
Eventually, with not much movement going on between either Jounins, Kakashi lazily hauled himself back to the table and sat down with a huff. Sakura wasn't sensing any of this going anywhere positive, and she hated it.
Sadly, Sakura walked off, leaving Kakashi alone with his thoughts to contemplate over the things that definitely went wrong, "Sakura?" he wondered, watching her walk down the hill to the river, not paying attention to anyone who may have passed her.
Kuro glowered at the man sitting in front of him and growled lowly at him, "what?" Kakashi retorted, to only receive a small growl from both foxes, as if they were trying to tell him something he seemed to have missed by a mile.
"Ugh, okay don't worry, I'll sort it out," Kakashi rolled his eyes at the two foxes and got up, glancing back at the now grinning foxes before making his way down the path as casual as he could.
Sakura stood on a bridge that arched over the river. She leaned against the railing of the bridge, staring at her reflection that stared back on the water. The moon was up and that was all light could give, besides the twilight of the village.
The pink haired medic had already come to a decision that this night was going to suck; she was already in a down mood and trying to do something about it would probably make it worse for her. With a deep sigh, Sakura contemplated over the loss of a close friend. It was behind her now, but she found it so hard to let that fact get to her head without bursting into tears whenever someone mentioned Naruto's name in a sad conversation about his death. Sakura stared deep in thought at her reflection; even though she looked beautiful, she felt there was something missing in her life, as well as something missing in her current situation.
It was true, Sakura needed someone to come save her from all worries; a man who was willing to deal with the pain she was practically radiating off her.
"Are you alright?" a low calm voice asked.
Sakura knew for sure who it was and she didn't bother looking at him, "yeah…just thinking about something," she replied, staring at her watery reflection that bore the same expressions she had, moving sluggishly from the movements of the water as it flowed downstream.
Kakashi stood there, staring at the pink haired beauty fall apart in front of him. His hands twitched at his sides, having nothing to do about the issue but wait for Sakura's move. He edged closer to the upset medic and placed his hand gently on her shoulder for comfort.
The medic didn't move, but sighed instead as she finally glanced up at the Jounin with watered eyes. Kakashi knew. He knew what was happening to her. He frowned at her expression and couldn't help but sense the slight rage in herself; curse that Sharingan for being able to read chakra.
"I can't believe Sasuke's gone now…" Sakura sobbed, though trying not to.
Kakashi recognised the fact that Sakura had dropped the suffix 'kun' and had only noticed that now after the entire mission had practically flown past.
Sakura was trembling a bit and gazed upon her shaking hands, "I can't believe I killed him," she definitely didn't seem proud at all. Sure she was an elite ninja, an experienced medic Jounin whose skills were almost to the match of Tsunade's, but Sakura still couldn't handle killing. She was soft at heart.
"You didn't mean to…it was an accident…" Kakashi tried to make her feel better.
"But I just…can't believe he's-" before Sakura could finish her rant about Sasuke's death, she was pulled into the silver haired man for a hug, "I know," he whispered softly, rubbing her shoulders.
He pulled Sakura from him and gazed into her emerald orbs with hope, "but Tsunade-sama gave us direct orders to have fun and enjoy ourselves to get over the loss of Naruto, and she even warned us about Sasuke and you knew he would come," he paused and with a thumb, he gently wiped the medic's tears from her eyes without smudging the makeup off.
"Sasuke's gone now and we can't do anything about that, but get over his death too," Kakashi smirked thoughtfully, "so how about a dance to pass the time?"
Sakura's eyes widened a little at the unexpected question, but before she could say anything, Kakashi continued, "besides, I can't just watch the prettiest female in Konoha stay depressed now can I?" Sakura blushed at the grin on his face and smiled.
"Thank you," she whispered and took his arm.
The heavy beat of the dance was strong and people were raging about like lunatics and having the time of their lives. Kakashi and Sakura made their way up the hill again and saw Kuro and Kitsune hadn't moved from the table yet, and only smiled at the two Jounins, having probably figured out through instinct that everything was alright between them.
The two had only been on the dance floor for about three seconds when the music had stopped and a slow song started. With a large blush on the medic's face, she noticed how Kakashi was now actually interested to dance…with her.
The Copy Nin grabbed Sakura's wrist and pulled her towards him and placed both hands on her waist. In a natural reaction, Sakura wrapped her arms around the Jounin's neck, her blush reddening even more, and making Kakashi chuckle.
Moving side to side with the steady music, Sakura realised the song was a really sad song, where the message said something about love and how it could not be reached. Where the road in life was a massive mistake; it made Sakura almost agree to it. Absentmindedly Sakura rest her head against Kakashi's chest, and looking to her left in sheer misery.
She already felt the tears run down her face, not caring that her makeup was probably going to get smudged off by her tears. She shifted her head so that her head was resting as much as it could on the man's shoulder.
Kakashi heard her soft sobs and embraced her in a tight hug. He stared at her pink tresses and leaned to her ear, "memories last, but pain fades…" he said softly, his hot breath tickling the medic's skin.
Sakura opened her eyes at the sound of his oh so calm voice and her crying turned to light sobs. For some reason, she started to understand what Kakashi was saying. She sighed softly and tightened her grip around the Copy Nin's neck as if he would crumble away and she would be alone.
Being a simple reaction, Kakashi squeezed gently and sighed deeply against her neck, sending chills running down the medic's spine. Sakura never felt so warm and fuzzy like now; it never happened between her and Sasuke. Actually, it's never happened to her before in her entire life.
She reluctantly lifted her head from the somehow cosy position and gazed up at Kakashi's mismatched eyes to find his face getting closer to hers within seconds. Before she knew it, her face flushed a new shade of red when she felt Kakashi's masked lips press on the corner of her mouth while his hands remained on the woman's waist. Even though her eyes widened and she found almost completely wrong, her hands trailed from around the Copy Nin's neck to his face.
Kakashi froze at her touch when he had a vague idea where her hands may have wanted to go and wanted to do. He gazed unsure out of the corner of his eye at the medic he was so close to and pondered what she was basically up to.
Kakashi pulled his face away from Sakura's who still had her hands gently planted on his masked face. She blushed faintly when she looked into the Jounin's mismatched eyes and gulped a little to push the lump down her throat. She stroked her thumb over Kakashi's masked lips before slipping her fingers under the navy fabric that covered the greater portion of his face.
Author's notes: yeah, how you like me now? This story is getting fluffier by each chapter, yet that's an annoying thing for me because I'm getting closer to the heavier lemony bits now, and it's awkward when you have a little brother ready to read over your shoulder when you least expect him :S. So yeah, I will have the next chapter up as soon as I can. Just so you know, the next chapter is the fluffiest and lemony one, so bare with me, it's basically my first time writing something this intense so yeah. Hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it; I could actually picture Kuro and Kitsune with their fancy dressing (if that's what you could call it I guess). I'm not good as describing kimonos but I'm sure you get the idea. I had to give Sakura a quick explanation as in to what she had to do for Kakashi all day, mwahahahaha... So anyways, reviews now please .