Scars

Chapter 8

I don't own any of the characters, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto

When Sakura finally managed to untangle herself from Kakashi and stop sobbing like a baby, Kakashi said:

"You can stay with me for today. I have a few days without any missions. And we should go to Naruto to apologize for leaving early yesterday, don't you think?"

"Yeah, you're probably right" answered Sakura still sniveling a bit

"Come on, get dressed. But I think we should go to your place first so you could change into less formal clothes" said Kakashi and left so she could get dressed up.

Sakura still felt a bit numb, she didn't want to go anywhere, but it would be too selfish, because she needed to apologize to Naruto.

The second they left the building Sakura had to close her eyes, because not only did she have a headache but her eyes were still soar from crying. After Sakura changed at her place they headed right to Naruto's. And they finally reached it a few minutes later. It was not the same one he lived when he was a genin, but a bigger one, with more space and in a better place too. Kakashi pressed the doorbell and neither of them were surprised to see Hinata open the door with her hair all disheveled and wearing only Naruto's sweater.

"Oh, Kakashi-san, Sakura-chan. Come in" said Hinata blushing slightly

After both of them came in, Naruto emerged from the bedroom in only his underwear and looked at them like they did something awful to him.

"You guys, how could you leave without congratulating me and Hinata?" asked Naruto obviously dissappointed.

"Well, sorry, Naruto, but everyone seemed to be around Hinata saluting her as the future head of Hyugga clan so I had no chance and I don't know why I should congratulate you" answered Sakura looking as lazy as the ninja beside her

"So you didn't see my surprise?"

"No, what about it?" asked the pink haired kunoichi.

"Well, um..." Hinata showed her hand with a beautiful ring on it.

"So, does that mean...? Really, Naruto? You proposed?" asked Sakura.

"Yes" answered the blond with a huge smile on his face.

After Sakura and kakashi explained that they left because Sakura felt bad and apologised, the two left right away, knowing that now was the time for Naruto and Hinata to be alone together.

After leaving Naruto's place Sakura was about to go home, but before she could do that Kakashi said:

"So, are you coming with me? There are still a few anko dumplings"

"I don't want to bother you anymore"

"You're not bothering me, Sakura" he grabbed her wrist and turned her so she looked him in the face "I don't want you to be sad, I don't want you to feel lonely, I know how it feels myself. I want to be there for you, but I can't if you won't let me. I didn't ask anything because I know how hard it is to talk about these kinds of things. But I do care about you a lot"

All Sakura managed to say without crying was "Thank you"

After that, they headed to Kakashi's apartment without saying another word, with Kakashi's arm around Sakura's shoulders.

When they reached the apartment Kakashi told Sakura to take a seat at the sofa and went into the kitchen to make some tea. After returning with two cups of tea, he sat down beside the woman and turned on the TV.

And so they sat like that for some time. Being with Kakashi was also good because you didn't have to talk and you didn't feel uneasy or something like that so Sakura enjoyed just having someone by her side.

But eventually she started thinking about all the bad things again. She just couldn't control it. Sometimes she could spend a whole day without thinking about it, but sometimes these thoughts were haunting her wherever she was and whatever she was doing.

The blood/ the pain/the fighting/ the shame/ the helplessness/...

It all made her unable to live a normal life. Even now, with a friend beside her she was all alone against her memories, against these shadows. That was why she had to tell about it to someone. And, Kakashi was the one that could be trusted with secrets.

"When we were returning with the scroll we got surrounded and..."

Kakashi didn't say a word, but Sakura felt he was listening to her every word without asking why she was telling this to him or why she started talking now. All in all, he was just there for her. Like he has been there for her since the first time they realized they became more than just teammates, they became close friends.

After Sasuke and Naruto left the village and Sakura started training with Tsunade, Kakashi was more or less useless to them. He was left behind, but Sakura also felt left behind by her two teammates. It was a mere coincidence that Sakura and Kakashi a few years later met at a bar where Sakura was relaxing after intense training with the Slug princess and Kakashi was there to have a few drinks after a mission. They were both tires, but felt happy to have a nice conversation with each other. And, that was the start of their friendship. They were no longer just teammates.

But everything changed when Naruto came back. For his sake Sakura and Kakashi started acting the same they used to when they were still a team and slowly the two became more distant again. But never did they stop being close friends. Only after the mission that scarred Sakura so much did she stop talking to him so much. As a matter of fact, the woman stopped talking to anyone. But this was until this day, until the moment she decided to tell everything to Kakashi.

"...and.. and af-after rap-raping me, they le-left me there to di-die. It's just a coin-coincidence I'm still a-alive" by the end of her story Sakura was sobbing like crazy and getting Kakashi's vest all dirty with her tears. Because somewhere in between the story he pulled her closer and hugged her, so her head rested on his chest.

He didn't say that everything will be alright like Ino would have, nor did he promise to find those who did it to her and kill them like Naruto would have. All he said was:

"It's not your fault and all your friends, including me, will always love you no matter how scarred you are"

And then he kissed her forehead as gently as a lover would have. But Sakura brushed these kinds of thoughts away, saying to herself he was just her friend, just a really good friend...