Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
.
.
Her Bad Habit
Chalk it up to nervous energy or restlessness or even a change in routine, but Sakura found herself running laps around the village perimeter at two in the morning while it poured freezing rain. And lately she found herself doing this every night the sky decided to cry.
On her fourth lap she slowed and paused to catch her breath. Her lungs tried to expand past her rib cage to keep up with the physical exertion and it truly was a wonderful feeling. Small puffs of air left her mouth to mix with the streaming water.
Only fifteen minutes before she had been lying in bed next to Kakashi. The patter of rain on the window and roof woke her up from an otherwise sound sleep. She had stared at the ceiling for a while before this melancholic, restless feeling overcame her, the same one that always emerged when it rained and the world outside turned dark. Next to her, Kakashi continued to sleep, and she watched the comforting rise and fall of his chest.
But it wasn't enough to calm her mind from itching to get up and move.
Sakura had stealthily got out of bed and threw on some random clothes before taking off into the streets of Konoha.
She resumed her run after the small pause at full speed to complete lap number five. The still sleeping village passed by in a blur, whether that was because of her speed or the hazy rain, she wasn't entirely sure. Her body went through all the motions and knew the perimeter of the village by heart and this was what allowed her mind to wander.
This bad habit of running in the rain she couldn't seem to escape. It always started with that feeling in bed and it seemed like burning energy was the only way to cure it. But as soon as she got out here and ran these laps the feeling only grew and then it became something akin to despair. This irked her, so Sakura ran faster, trying to escape from her own thoughts.
She was anxious.
Whenever she saw Naruto he spoke in hushed words of war. Kakashi kept leaving the village for "special missions" on her best friend's request. Ino spent an inordinate amount of time in the interrogation department and her mood seemed to worsen every time she saw her. It seemed like the only constant, stable thing in her life right now was her feet hitting the pavement and the rain falling from overhead.
After another six laps, Sakura began to exhaust and pushed herself just a bit more until she was back at Kakashi's apartment.
She silently slipped in the front door and hurriedly ran to the bathroom. There she stripped her soaked through clothes and grabbed one of the faded blue towels to dry off. Sakura retraced her steps to the door and thoroughly began drying the floor where water had dripped. Once it was for sure dried, she threw her clothes and the wet towel into a hamper and prayed Kakashi wouldn't suddenly decide to do laundry the next day.
Sakura finally tiptoed back into the bedroom. Kakashi was still asleep on the bed where she had left him earlier. She grabbed around until she found a shirt to slip on over her nude body and climbed back into the warm bed. An arm fell around her waist and Sakura was pulled backwards into Kakashi's chest.
She smiled at the action and finally felt restful enough to sleep and hoped the rain would stop by morning.
-X-
The next night Sakura found herself racing around in the dark as water pelted her in a steady rhythm from above. She was exhausted. A second night of rain fall made her restless and once again she was out in the middle of it to quell the feeling.
Sakura slowed to a stop back at Kakashi's apartment and breathed a sigh of relief at working out her frustration. Once again she slipped inside but the light of a living room lamp shocked her into stillness as the front door closed behind her.
Surprising her even more was the man standing there, the one she had snuck out of bed from twenty minutes earlier. He had been waiting for her to return. Kakashi's mask wasn't on but he wore a face of indifference anyways, it revealed nothing about discovering her absence. She didn't know what to say or even why she felt incredibly guilty.
"Sorry." She gave a weak smile.
He didn't respond, instead Kakashi stepped towards her. Sakura kept her eyes glued on the small puddle of water collecting around her and just when she thought he might actually be very angry; the weight of a towel fell on her.
Before she could react, her hair was messily dried by him. Once he seemed satisfied with her hair, Kakashi moved on to the exposed skin on her arms and legs. Finally, he wrapped her in a different towel that was twice her size. Kakashi grabbed one of her hands and started to lead her back to the bedroom. Sakura took a fleeting glance back at the puddle still on the ground then cast her eyes on his face, which still didn't show any emotion.
"I'm sorry Kakashi. I hope I didn't ruin the floor."
He turned back to her with a small smile that made her think he was relieved just hearing her stupid comment. She realized he must have been quite worried to wake up in the middle of the night and realize she was gone.
Kakashi brought his hand up and brushed away a stray piece of hair from her face. His hand lingered and warmed her ice cold cheek.
"Next time, please bring a jacket."
She wondered how long he had known about her bad habit.
-X-
His Bad Habit
Kakashi definitely changed his lifestyle to accommodate his relationship with Sakura. All it really meant was instead of coming home from a mission and passing out immediately from untreated wounds, he pretended to be fine while he spent the night or day finally back at home with her. At least until she found out about his injuries and threatened to kill him for being stupid.
And this cycle would repeat after a day or a few days or maybe after six hours when a new mission would be assigned.
This was his life for almost a year now. Kakashi didn't have any complaints. He thoroughly enjoyed coming home and knowing that there was someone waiting for him, who was worried whether or not he made it through those gates after every mission.
But it also meant there were fewer opportunities to visit his old comrades. Recently he had devised a way to get around this by visiting the cenotaph in the middle of the night when it rained. It wasn't because he felt like being sad and have the rain echo these thoughts but the rain did provide a convenient sound barrier when he snuck out of his apartment unbeknownst to his sleeping kunoichi.
Kakashi had done just that almost an hour ago. He now stood in front of the glistening rock with rain coming down in drips from the points of his hair to splash against the names of the dead. Obito, Minato, Rin, and Asuma were the people he came to visit.
His fingers ghosted their names and he thought about what it meant to be where he was. It was cold and wet, and Naruto talked about war openly with him every day it seemed, but Kakashi could only think about the woman at home in his bed with those shy smiles that only he saw.
He wished he could be honest with Sakura about why he secretly visited the cenotaph while she slept. Kakashi had kept this one thing from her since they became involved. Actually he hadn't told anyone about this particular bad habit. But reconciling his conflicting feelings of guilt about the past and the happiness he felt now was no simple task.
What would his old team say about this?
Asuma would surely support him, maybe even hint at allowing him to tell Sakura everything about himself once and for all. How would Rin respond though? She would be angry, for choosing another medic over her, though she would never admit it. Minato would be disappointed in his choice of someone so much younger than himself and the same age as his own son. His harshest critic of all would be Obito, his bubbly and carefree personality would definitely blame him for corrupting the beautiful Sakura.
No. He would never let anyone say those things about Sakura or himself. Kakashi abruptly turned away from the stone and headed towards his home.
These constant warring thoughts left him relieved that he would never have to explain why he was with Sakura to his dearly departed, but so much guilt followed that sentiment.
He flew through the village and landed soundlessly at his door step. He entered the apartment and tried his best not to let water fall onto the floor as he made his way to the bathroom. Kakashi pulled off his mask and wrung it out over the sink. A look in the mirror confirmed he looked tired and pitiful, a lost pup found drowned out in the rain. He sighed then tried his best to dry his unruly hair plastered around his face.
Kakashi left the bathroom and quickly retraced his steps down the hall, drying the floor with a towel under foot. Once it was all dry, he disposed of the towel and prayed Sakura wouldn't discover it and question why it was sopping wet.
He headed straight to the bedroom. Sakura hadn't stirred since his absence, the same old blanket was carefully draped across her lithe form, small rises and falls of her chest shifting it slowly further down her body.
He clambered back into the bed and moved to pull the blanket fully over Sakura from where it had fallen. On instinct she turned in towards him, one of her small hands coming up to rest on his chest. His own arms wrapped around her, pulling her flush to him as he sought out her warmth.
Finally he felt restful enough to sleep through the night.
-X-
The next night Kakashi found himself in the exact position he was twenty-four hours before. The rain had yet to abate and the whole of Konoha looked like it was being washed away from the torrential downpour. The memorial was taking a barrage of raindrops that landed with loud plops against its surface then splashing up to hit the Copy-nin with its cast off.
He crouched low to the ground with his head bowed. Part of him begged it to stop raining, this way he wouldn't feel the all too familiar ache to come and visit his departed team and in the process leave the very alive and present Sakura to sleep alone.
It always felt like he had to choose one or the other.
A pressure on his shoulder alerted his foggy mind to her presence. Without any effort to cover up what he was doing outside in the middle of the storming night, Kakashi looked up at the recently bed-risen woman.
Sakura held an umbrella in her hand and tried her best to cover them both from the unrelenting rain. He stood up anyways from his crouch to face her. Part of him was ashamed, like she had discovered him with a mistress. Kakashi knew it wasn't exactly the same but the guilt still weighed heavy nonetheless.
Without words Sakura thrust the umbrella in to one of his hands and ignored him completely to address the stone. She clasped her hands together in prayer.
"Thank you all for watching over Kakashi for as long as you have. Without your continued support he would not be the person he is today." She bowed deeply in respect to the dead.
Painfully so, Kakashi was overwhelmed with the undeniable feelings he had for Sakura.
He couldn't help but reach around her and pull her against his chest in a crushing embrace. She was caught off guard but then quickly responded by placing her own arms around his neck. Kakashi may not be great with words but she understood wanting to feel connected to loved ones. He needed something substantial and until they got together all he had was this cold stone.
Reluctantly he let her go, more afraid of cutting off her air than anything else. Sakura smiled hesitantly and remembered her original purpose of following him through the rain tonight.
"Next time, please bring an umbrella."
He wondered how long she had known about his bad habit.
.
.
A/N: Something about rainy nights…