okey dokey, i realise that in the last chapter i said this one would be up in a few days and its actually been over a week but... well i dont actually have a but -dodges more flying chairs- sorry!! hehe

thanks to all who review :) you guys really rock - Babybugichoo95, yukibozu, torakama, Merridaine, starlit.kiss7, you.broke.a.promise, Gothic Saku-chan, cutegerbilofdeath, amy14, PiratexNinja, Archerelf, angstar54, Aiyo Rei, Kotone111, soojinyeh, Queen-Cocaine and TellerOfLies, Archerelf, amy14, yukibozu, Queen-Cocaine, dailyangel, ScreamxforxmexBaby, .Wax.Butterflies and Icha Icha Ramen... so so many lol, thankyou all so much for reading and letting me know what you think :)

this chapters dedicated to Daily and her group 7 :) - hehe thankyou so much for all your support, i hope you like this chapter and that you all find your Kakashi's :)

and also (i know, looooong intro, sorry!) - to Archerelf, thankyou so much for offering to be my beta :), if the offers still there could i send you the next chapter when ive finished it?

ok, enough intro lol - on with the story :)

Masked Happiness

Chapter 8: Breakfast and Broken Doors

She wasn't exactly sure what to think of the way Kakashi was handling the situation. After a surprised and timid 'sure' from Sakura, Kakashi had disappeared and before long returned with bacon, eggs and toast.

'I figured that after what happened yesterday you should probably have something substantial for breakfast.' He said handing her a plate loaded with food. She took it gratefully, ignoring how easily he seemed to have found his way around her kitchen. Taking in the glorious smell, she began to eat and tried not to wolf it down too fast.

Kakashi sat in the same chair as before, beside her bed and smiled approvingly at the fact that she was eating without protest before beginning his own slightly smaller plate of food, albeit at a much slower, safer speed. As Sakura slowed down a bit to take in more of the tastes rather than just filling her empty stomach, she laughed lightly saying,

'Hehe, so what does a girl have to do to get breakfast in bed everyday?' before actually realising what she'd just said.

Both Kakashi and Sakura stopped eating for a moment as Sakura looked down and Kakashi looked at her. Truly worried about what he must think of her now that she was properly awake and not thinking of her dream, her mind started racing as she imagined disgust, hate, violence, disappointment and a myriad of other emotions that could be reflected on his face right now.

As she cautiously looked up though, all she saw in his eye was concern, sadness and the obvious desire to help. Those emotions seemed barely recognisable to Sakura as she had so rarely been shown any of them (apart from concern from Naruto… all the time) and she felt her eyes well up at the thought of someone caring. After a moment though, she remembered the last person who had 'cared' for her… who wanted her to love him… the thought made other emotions bubble to the surface… fear, disgust, hatred, betrayal… she couldn't open herself up like that again.

She couldn't let herself become that vulnerable. On the other hand, Kakashi was like a father to her. She definitely considered him to be more of a father to her than her own was, simply because he cared. He tried to help whenever he could and was there for her like a father should be. 'Not to mention he never beat me or mum up' she thought bitterly as she again considered, for the second time in so many days, telling Kakashi everything.

Setting the nearly empty plate of food down on the end of her bed, Sakura sat back and looked at Kakashi, trying to think of how to express in words what she wanted to say. Not sure of how to approach the subject in the first place she decided on something obvious,

'Thank you for bringing me back here last night and sorry for causing you so much trouble sensei,' she began. Kakashi looked at her for a moment before saying,

'Sakura, whatever you're going through, and before you start its obvious you're going through something,' he quickly cut across her as she began to deny it out of habit, 'I need you to know that you can tell me, I am here for you and will try to help in any way I can.'

Just like a father Sakura thought looking at his concerned face and smiling. It wasn't her usual, fake, 'I'm fine', smile though, it was a genuine smile of peace and gratitude at the thought of someone honestly caring. She hadn't felt that for such a long time.

Looking at Kakashi with that genuine smile made his heart break, as he smiled back beneath his mask. The thought that someone simply taking the time to listen to her having this affect was just so sad, because it made him wonder how little attention people actually paid her and what she must have gone through to get to this point.

Still looking at him, her smile drooped a bit as she took a deep breath and starting from the beginning, told him everything. She told him about her father and his ways of 'coping', her mother and the torment they had both shared at the hands of her father, his disappearance and they're reactions towards it.

She told him about her feelings of inadequacy as a ninja compared to Naruto and Sasuke, her own feelings of loneliness and hopelessness and finally all about her own ways of coping, her mother's reaction to that, and how, even though she knew it wasn't the best way of hiding emotions, she didn't know what else to do.

Throughout her story Kakashi sat patiently and listened, taking in every single word and feeling a mixture of relief that she was telling someone at last and sadness that she had been through this much and not told anyone… not told him. It made him feel like a failure but he knew that just by listening now he was at least beginning to make it up to her.

'And… I'm not actually sure I want to stop.' She finished and took a deep breath feeling distinctly lighter than when she began talking more than an hour earlier. Looking up from her hands that were currently folded in her lap, she found Kakashi looking at her just as attentively as when she started and couldn't help but smile.

Kakashi clearly understood what she was feeling and smiled under his mask as well before leaning towards her and hugging her closely to himself, shocking Sakura more than a little. It definitely wasn't the reaction she had expected.

'You know you can tell me anything,' he said, his voice slightly muffled by her hair, 'you don't have to hide your emotions any longer.' And he smiled again, although slightly sadder than before, as he felt a small, warm splash of wetness on his neck and found that Sakura was hugging him back tightly, like a child clinging to her father.

When he eventually pulled away, not wanting to scare her into thinking he was leaving her alone so soon after she had opened herself up, he looked at her and saw that even though tears were still slowly trailing down her cheeks, she was smiling such a heart-warming smile that he was sure he would be able to get her through this.

Slowly getting up, Kakashi took both of their empty plates to the kitchen and put them in the sink before going back to Sakura's room and taking up his seat next to her once again. Both sat silently for a moment.

Realising that they shared something special now and that they had been brought closer together made them smile and feel comfortable enough to sit in silence.

After a little while, Kakashi looked at Sakura's arm which was still lying, facing upwards in her lap. Sakura looked down too at the recently cleaned cuts which were only just beginning to heal. Looking back up to Kakashi blankly, she was brought back to reality and was expecting to hear him say that she had to quit cutting. So what he said next shocked her,

'I'm not expecting you to stop,' he said quietly, still looking at her arm and paused, before looking up into her bright, green, questioning eyes, 'I just want to ask that next time you feel like you need to, you come and talk to me first. Or at least talk to someone.' Still looking at Kakashi, Sakura couldn't help but smile again. It was possibly the best thing he could have said, and she really appreciated him for it. Still smiling, she nodded her head and Kakashi smiled back, just as…

BANG!

'Teme, go back outside, this is Sakura-chan's house and you shouldn't just barge in!'

'You're the one who broke down the door dobe.'

A moment later both Naruto and Sasuke appeared in the doorway to Sakura's bedroom, staring aghast at Kakashi, sitting beside Sakura who was still in bed.

Realising that she was wearing next to nothing (and that her arm was still uncovered), Sakura quickly slipped her arm under the covers as she pulled them up to her chest in a mock show of embarrassment at her semi-nakedness. As Kakashi gave them both a look that seemed to say,

'And what do you want?', Sakura blushed crimson at having her whole team in her room and yet still managed to look ready to throttle Naruto and Sasuke for interrupting (and breaking down her door).

As Sasuke continued to stare between Sakura and Kakashi with his usual blank expression, Naruto's eyes were wide as saucers as he scanned Sakura's bedroom, slowly turning on the spot to take it all in. Whistling low, Naruto caused the others to flinch as he suddenly exclaimed,

'Wow Sakura, your bedroom's just like I thought teme's would be like.'

Throwing a dirty look at Naruto, Sasuke himself slowly examined her bedroom, albeit in a much more subtle way. Feeling the blush on her cheeks redden at this close examination of her most personal space and items she looked imploringly at Kakashi for help, who instantly got to his feet exclaiming,

'Well, I think its high time for ramen myself, would anyone like to join me?'

'But Kakashi-sensei, you haven't even explained why you're here or why you weren't at training this morning. We tracked your chakra and ended up here when you never showed up 'cause we figured you were late. Well you know, later than usual.'

Sakura cringed a little when she heard this because it meant that not only did she waste a day by not training, she had also caused Kakashi to be not just late, but to miss training completely, therefore stopping the others from training as well. Glancing back at Sakura as though reading her mind, Kakashi winked, almost unnoticeably and Sakura thought she saw the ghost of a smile cross his face. Turning back to the others and, with a completely blank, unknowing look suddenly across his features, he said,

'well you see the purple rabbit from the other day decided he needed some help and…' as Naruto exclaimed his usual reaction to Kakashi's lame excuses, even Sasuke couldn't help but mutter, 'liar' as he scrutinized Kakashi and Sakura's faces as if to find some clue as to why they were here and what they had been discussing before they had arrived.

'Ok, ok,' Kakashi said throwing his hands up at Naruto's exclamation, 'but I think this would be a discussion better had over ramen at Ichiraku rather than in Sakura's bedroom while she's half-dressed.'

As both Naruto and Sakura blushed, Kakashi grabbed Naruto and Sasuke by the scruff of the neck (much to their mutual annoyance) and dragged them out the door saying,

'We'll meet you there Sakura,' but after a moment he stuck his head back in and whispered to her,

'Take all the time you need, I've got these two.'

And smiling he left Sakura to her thoughts.

ok, not my best chapter (well i dont think anyway) - let me know what you think, and ill try to get the next one written and up in the next week, but schools getting... well just ridiculous.. so i'll try but i cat make any promises, sorry peoples

thanks for reading - please review :)