Chapter 3: Shh! My Biggest Secret Scar Is On My Soul… And It's Made By You!
"How dare you say that?! I demand you take it back at once!"
"What do you want me to take back? The sour truth? I just can't believe how you've brainwashed-"
"Sensei! Father!"
Both men turned to the young girl's yell. Kakashi was slightly surprised, her father was furious,
"Sakura-chan? Why-"
"Why aren't you home with your mother?! I told you to stay with her!"
Sakura walked past her father ignoring him completely. "I'm not listening to you anymore father, I know the truth now!" she said with her eyes closed, as she tried to keep the tears of anger away she turned to her sensei. "Sensei, is it true that's she's back for good? That's she alive and well?"
Kakashi had no words for this as these were questions where no answers existed for yet. An older man stood in the hall, "Lady and gentlemen, why are you making such a fuss?"
The Hokage had his hands in his pockets as he strolled towards the concerned company making a racket, "All of what you've heard is a misunderstanding."
"What? I've had 5 messengers at my door all telling me my daughter is alive and in Konoha!"
The Hokage sighed,
"Yarichin, it was all a misunderstanding. She may have been sighted near Konoha, but no one can say for certain if she is alive. That's why we need the finest ANBU, Kakashi-san? Please come with me." The speechless jounin proceeded after the Hokage, but not before he looked over his shoulder towards Sakura, her eyes were uncertain of what was happening. He smiled as far as one could see, she nodded in affirmation.
A silent tapping on the door distracted Zak from her mind breaking gaze outside the window, "Who is it?"
She didn't even bother to turn towards the door as it slid open, "It's just me Kura-chan."
"And me…"
Her mind echoed, 'Those voices…'
Her head shot quickly towards the door, she gulped as well as breathing heavily. When she fully took in that sight, she saw… nothing. The room was empty and the door closed.
'Again, am I hallucinating? These are some heavy meds…' she thought as she repositioned herself in bed. Yet before even having the chance to think twice, two sneaky chuunins jumped up beside her bed and squealed, "Kurakura-chan!"
"We missed you so much!" The duo hugged her and squeezed every bit of sense out of her.
"Air…A-air!" Zak pointed weakly towards her throat, her lips were moving silently as she said with the last bit of breath in her, "Kotetsu! Izumo! Let go of me!"
The door of the office opened slowly, revealing a weakly lit desk and examining table. "Kakashi, I need you to take an ANBU team and go out of the village for a few days."
Kakashi stammered, "But, why Hokage?"
He feared the worst, like the fact she might actually be sighted outside the village, dead. "It's just a distraction, she's safe. But we need to convince the third party of otherwise."
"She's 'safe'? So you're telling me she's alive, here? Is she in this hospital? Hokage-sama, I must know!"
Kakashi slowly began to loose his calm as he strolled inside after the Hokage, the older man wiped the dust of the seat and table.
"Do you remember the legendary sannin, Kakashi-kun?" the old man said as he pointed towards the seat and desk, the jounin slowly nodded and sat down on a chair across the desk. "This used to be the office of Tsunade-sama, although she hardly ever used it. I'm thinking about passing it over, giving it to another young experienced medical nin."
Kakashi glanced at him, "How does this concern me and her?"
The Hokage smiled as he sat in the big chair, "It concerns the both of you greatly…"
"I can't believe you're back! And that you're breathing!" Kotetsu hugged the girl, she placed her hand on his arm but didn't respond, Izumo felt the tension.
"Kura, tell us what happened…Where were you?" Her heart was throbbing in her throat as she recalled memories that weren't there before, gazing towards infinity,"Kei, what are you?"
"So, you're willing to take this mission? I understand if you don't want to, it's not a difficult task but you two have a past. That's why I chose you." The Hokage awaited his answer, Kakashi avoided his gaze. If he were not to do this particular mission someone else would. He would never get to see Zaku again without clearance, the last thing he'd want. He stood up and looked the Hokage straight in the face, "I'll do it!"
With those words his stomach starting churning because before he would leave on his 'mission', he would get to see her once, before she would have to take refuge. The Hokage smiled broad as he saw in front of him, a flash of a young eager boy with the same hair and mask, and the same ambition. The little boy and the young man would do the same, everything to save a young girl's life.
Kotetsu placed his hand on her forehead, "She doesn't seem to have a fever, but there are two strange spots on each of her temples."
Izumo looked closer, "I've seen these before, she's been under treatment for memory loss, probably suppressed by traumatic events."
"Well, they're emerging right now. What do we do?" Kotetsu asked as he held her close, her lips murmured words, not relevant as a sentence. Izumo stood up and searched the room, "We have to record everything she says, it might come in handy. Why don't you alert a doctor?"
"Father," Sakura almost whispered, "why are you so determined upon getting her back?" She prepared herself for any kind of abuse, but not for this.
"She's my daughter… That's why."
Silence struck the young Haruno, she stopped in her tracks as she looked at her father. He followed suit. "But…I thought you hated, no, revolted Zak?! You always said you could never be proud of a girl like her. And that you always wanted a son first! You degraded and abused and, and-!"
Between sobs she tried to continue speaking, "You killed her!"
Those words struck him like lightning would fell a tree,
"No! That was an accident. I never meant to hurt her like that! Please, forgive me?" he pleaded as he placed his hand on his youngest daughter's cheek.
Sakura breathed heavily, she turned away from his hand and stepped towards the sun. "Incident comes first, and it's not me who's going to forgive you! If she's even alive, ane-san might give you a second chance! If you do it right this time old man, maybe people will start to like you."
"Another miso-ramen please! Make that a double!"
The boy almost stood on his bar seat, the man smiled and nodded, "A double miso-ramen, coming right up!"
A young man heard this cry for food and stepped inside, "Yoh! Naruto-kun, what happened at the first exam?!" The boy turned his head quickly.
"Iruka-sensei! Man, I'm so happy to see you!" The boy jumped at the man as he hugged him, for he was his father-model. "Let me guess, you ordered out of your price range? I'll treat you tonight on whatever you like!"
"Sugoi! I've got so much to tell you about the exams and stuff… Like, did you know Sakura-chan has an older sister?!" Naruto said. The tanned young man was speechless, his mind silent but his heart was raging.
Chapter 4: Shh! My Secret Love Was Divided By Two… One Was Him, The Other Was You
"So? Did she fall asleep?"
Kotetsu nodded as he watched his friend come from the Hokage's office, "Yeah, I fell asleep as well. But with the tape recorder you found we, uhm, we got about 5 tapes of babbling…Well, 2 tapes of babbling and 3 tapes of me out snoring her." He smiled nervously as he rubbed his neck.
"I told you time and time again you snored, but you wouldn't listen to me." Izumo gloated as he sat on the table in front of the couch. "Either way, I searched through the Hokage's files, and I found a non-processed mission file of 6½ years ago, it has Zak's personal entry code. But no termination code, so I figured she never debriefed from the mission." Izumo mentioned he opened the manilla folder and flipped the pages.
"You think she never reported or came back in the meantime? I think they found her out, and they tortured her till she could bleed no longer." Kotetsu said as he looked at the girl, sleeping silently on the couch and sighed deep, "Where was she when she disappeared? Please, tell me it was in Fire-country…"
His friend shook his head, "Rock-country…She was in the capital… " Izumo's eyes were dark, saddened by what he had read and as Kotetsu ran his finger past Zak's temple he realised something.
"Naruto, tell me everything you know about her! How did she look? Did she say anything? Where was she?!" Iruka held the boy by his shoulders and shook him slowly but violently.
"Sensei, what the- Hey! I never saw the lady's face, I just heard Sakura say it was her sister!" Naruto looked even deeper into Iruka's eyes, "You like her, don't you?!"
The tanned man pulled his hands off the boy as his face flustered, "She…" he sighed as he looked at the floor quite saddened, "She and I used to, be an item about 12 years ago. Before she left and disappeared, I told her how much I loved her. She never said she loved me back, I figured she used me as a decoy to make someone jealous. But everything I felt for her, it was real love."
Naruto saw the pain in his eyes, he recognised that pain, "And you still love her, don't you?"
Iruka looked away, "These are grownup problems Naruto, you wouldn't understand. Besides, after what happened back then, I'm not surprised if she doesn't love me back, anymore. There's no reason to push."
"You're right," Naruto replied, he was patted on the head and smiled, "it's reason to shove!"
Iruka's eyes widened as Naruto disappeared in a cloud of dust, running into a random direction. Iruka sighed, 'He'll never understand you can't make people love you…'
Teuchi coughed trying to pull his attention, and it worked as Iruka looked up at the man. He pointed to his side and Iruka turned his head. To his dismay, Naruto ordered a little more then just over his budget. The big stack of roughly 20 bowls threatened to tip over, "Let me just pay for this…"
Once again he went home, completely broke and alone.
Kakashi pondered about the things he had to say to her, the right things may sound wrong but sometimes it just takes a slap to realise something. The Hokage opened the door to his office and proceeded to his own desk, Kakashi followed with verve. He pressed a little red button and a buzzer rang, another door opened and in came Izumo, "Yes Hokage-sama?"
"Have you made progress with Yeazakura-chan? It's almost time."
Izumo nodded, "She was just talking in her sleep. According to the doctors it's not wise for her to leave the hospital or receive visitors. Should I try to give her message when she awakes?"
The Hokage sat down as he shook his head, "Let her be for now, have you, by any chance, recorded anything she said?"
Izumo doubtingly nodded his head.
"I would like you to fetch Ibiki-san for me in the meantime. He's in charge of this shenanigan mission. You are dismissed." He bowed and said.
"Yes sir."
Kakashi head dropped, he'd have to go on this mission without the promise of seeing her again. Right? The Hokage looked over,
"Kakashi-kun, I care less for what the doctor says, you have my permission to see her if you'd like."
He smiled faintly as she felt anger rising, boiling inside of her. Until she snapped, "Stop those fake smiles goddamnit!"
"Zaku, what's wrong?"
"Your charade! That's what's wrong! I can't believe you can just smile so easily like that! After all that's happened..."
His smile disappeared and his eye turned sad again as she was on the edge of breaking down in tears. He looked quite serious and dejected at the same time. "These smiles aren't part of my 'charades', these are genuine smiles. I'm just happy to see you, alive and well." His faint smile returned again.
"I may be alive, but I'm not well." she said, pointing to her chest, there where her heart was supposed to be, "I'm dead inside Kakashi, take note of that!" She seemed calm but quite panicked on the inside.
"What can I do to make you feel alive again?" he was standing quite closer now, and slowly he kneeled in front of her as she still sat on the couch. He looked into her eyes, at least he tried to as she refused to open them. Tears fled down her cheeks as his hand caressed her tender skin, he was on his knees now, so close, as she could tell by the way she felt his breath dance on her lips.
'He's not wearing his mask?' The dance on her lips got more ravaging as he lifted her chin, he closed the distance between them, once more she wanted to see his face. Slowly she opened her eyes and took in every breathtaking moment, but what she felt wasn't there. She was still lying in her hospital bed, her right arm sore of sleeping on it. She tried to push herself up and sit straight, within seconds she felt hands on her shoulders. She looked up and saw it was Kotetsu, his lips were moving but no words reached her ears. All that was audible to her was the rustling of leaves. Soon she felt lightheaded and her face flushed, she fainted once more.
"I suppose Kakashi-san, the doctors were right." the elderly man spoke.
Kakashi's sigh was heavy, filled with disappointment, "I understand sir, I'll pack and get dressed immediately."
The man nodded him off,
"You'll have to wait to see her until after your mission then." The man noticed Kakashi's heart grow lighter, he was given hope. He wanted to turn back to the old man and ask if he was being serious, only to remind himself it was the Hokage, he would always be serious. He left with a smile.
According to the mission scroll, it would have taken about a week for him to return to Konoha if the mission went according to plan. Kakashi figured he was ahead of schedule since it only took him 5 days to complete the required distracting objectives, as he already found himself on his way home. It was not only a mission to distract Yarichin's thralls and others interested, there was actually something to do. As he visited her last-known hiding places in Katon to collect information from witnesses, colleagues and snitches, he recollected memories of his ANBU days.
How he'd be gone for days or even weeks, and that she would be waiting for him at the gates or the hospital. Even if it were only to say hello in the short times they usually had together. It wasn't much, but it was time well spent. He always kept a 'farewell-note' in his room, should it have been necessary to search it, of course. 'I better hurry to the hospital.'
"She is doing much better now, Hokage-sama." the attending doctor said as he replaced her chart. Dr. Hyuuga continued,
"After her second treatment yesterday, she responded much better. Even so, it is most unwise to immediately resume treatment, we are better off letting her rest, psychologically speaking."
He nodded, "I assume she is ready for guests and a regular B-ranked mission."
"B-ranked shouldn't be too difficult, but she shouldn't go unaccompanied. At least one full jounin."
'Ah yes, you have not taken your last jounin exams yet. Exciting times await you, Haruno-san.' the man thought as he looked upon her slumbering form.
Three men sat in a circle, one stood by a door. The eldest in the circle broke the silence, "Izumo, go see if she has awoken already. If so, bring us to her room."
He bowed and slipped through the door next to him.
"Hokage-sama, I do not think I'm ready to see her yet. Especially under these circumstances. We've had a rough, 'goodbye' you could say." the silver-haired jounin said. The Hokage took a long drag of his pipe,
"It's important you meet again eventually, we suspect you might be the key to several of her locked memories. You are to re-visit some places of her past, together."
Kakashi responded surprised in a negative manner, "W-what? I thought I wouldn't get to see her alone? Are you sure it is wise to take her out of the village? Wouldn't you rather have her take an ANBU team along?"
The older man shrugged, "We cannot afford to stall anymore, Kakashi. She holds information we cannot access freely, we have to convince her she's safe again. An ANBU team will monitor her constantly but it's better not to inform her too well. This is a great opportunity for your team, I'd like you to take them with you."
Kakashi was burdened with information too much to process at once, he felt the gears in his mind turn as both other men noticed him clutching his chest.
"Ibiki, your turn."
"Kakashi, I know how your 'relationship' with her ended. But 7 years ago Kakashi, she was just a girl. And you were just 19, you know I saw her as my own daughter. It was for the best. Now we forget the past and start over. You're both adults now, act that way." Ibiki's words penetrated his mind, his head was twirling and his heartbeat irregular. His mind rattled, 'I hate being a victim of infatuation…