Every time a ninja came in from the front, Sakura felt her breath catch, but she withdrew all feeling as she went about healing them. The war was taking its toll on Konoha. She watched families trudge about, waiting for any news, good or bad. She saw children rub their tears away, trying to hold it together as they found out that Daddy or Mommy was never coming home again. Her heart broke when she saw mothers collapse onto the floor, bawling, when they found out that their children were gone forever, and their husband's face turn ashen. Yes, the war took a heavy toll indeed.
Sakura herself felt morose as she waited for any information on the brave captain, Hatake Kakashi. She hated every second of waiting, of being helpless, but she knew she was pulling her own weight by healing the ninjas who ended up in the hospital. She thought she'd never see him ever again.
"Sakura, I hate to send you out there, but you're going to the front. There have been too many casualties, and I need Shizune here to help me with those in more dire conditions." Tsunade rubbed her temples in frustration as she spoke softly, but firmly, to the young kunoichi in front of her.
"Of course. When will I be leaving?" asked Sakura. She was excited at the prospect of seeing Kakashi again, but she hid it beneath a cool demeanor.
"Tonight. Genma will be escorting you," Tsunade rubbed her table with a finger, scraping off some imaginary dust. "Be careful out there, Sakura…I can't afford to lose one of my best medics." Tsunade's eyes softened as she looked up to her student with all the love of a mother to her daughter.
Without giving it a thought, Sakura walked around the desk to embrace her mentor as a tear or two escaped her eyes. Tsunade tensed up, but quickly relinquished her tension and forced calmness, and hugged Sakura back.
Smoothing her white medic dress, Sakura took a step back and nodded her head once before exiting the room. As soon as the door was closed behind her, Sakura broke out into a sprint as she rushed home to pack a few belongings. She stopped by the local bakery to pick up some vanilla mochi that she knew Kakashi loved. Despite his hard ass exterior, Kakashi had a sweet tooth that could hardly be satisfied out in the front.
He was hiding in the foliage, barely breathing. Kakashi's eyes narrowed as he surveyed his opponents, sizing them up. He was hoping that the mist nins would take two more steps to the right, and fall into the trap that he had set up over an hour ago. Holding his breath, he watched the wary ninjas take a step to the right as they heard a noise to their left, and that last, fatal step to the right. Two of three ninjas cocked their heads as they began to hear a slight buzzing noise, and the third one yelled, "FUCK, IT'S A TRAP."
Before they could react, 14 different kunai came at them, each tagged with their own exploding tag. Kakashi stepped out to the clearing, and glanced around him. The previously dark green, mossy foliage had become a deeper shade of red, almost black. He cringed as he smelled blood and burned fat everywhere. Without another thought, Kakashi left the clearing to go back to his camp, and he barely noticed the animals that had begun to appear in the clearing to scavenge what was left of the ninjas.
Arriving at camp, Sakura was immediately set to work. She had known that the front would be bad, but what she saw extended beyond her expectations. She glanced at the blank stares of ninjas around her, eyes dead to the sight of blood and gore. She bit her lip as she saw women and men together, but not really together…not in passion and love, but only in lust…to fulfill their needs. Feeling hopeless, Sakura could only pray that Kakashi had not turned into one of them, devoid of emotions. Pushing her hair out of her face, Sakura concentrated on the task at hand. The young ninja was pleading her to put him out of his misery.
He staggered into camp, and was immediately tackled by Takeshi, one of the few medics they had in the camp.
"What were you thinking, Kakashi-san!" Takeshi was pissed off as he examined the state of the copy ninja.
Before Kakashi could hear more, he collapsed into the ninja's arms, exhausted beyond measure. When he woke up, he was vaguely aware of a familiar presence near by, but it wasn't one of the medic ninjas that he had been accustomed to see. Pulling himself up on the bed, Kakashi blinked his eyes groggily as he tried to comprehend the shock of pink hair in front of him. 'I must be dead…I guess I shouldn't have taken those ninjas on by myself,' Kakashi mused to himself as he reached out to touch Sakura. When he grabbed her hand, he saw the young ninja tense up. "Sakura, please tell me that this is just my own version of heaven. You can't be dead, you were in Konoha…" Kakashi trailed off as he spoke softly to his fiancé. The ninja whirled around and glared daggers at Kakashi.
He visibly gulped.
"Hatake Kakashi, don't you ever dare pull that kind of shit, ever again!" Sakura flew into a rage as she saw that the silver-haired ninja was awake. "You could have died. You're freaking lucky Takeshi brought you back to me in record time," Sakura roared at him. To say she was angry would have been an understatement. "I leave you alone for a few months and what do you do? You try to go to your fucking death! After promising me to return?" Are you trying to be FUNNY?" Sakura was now sobbing against his chest as he held her close against him.
Kakashi smoothed her hair as he kissed the top of her head. 'I guess it isn't heaven. Close enough.' Kakashi's eye crinkled as he glanced at the sobbing kunoichi. Kakashi continued to hold onto her until her sobbing ceased and hiccups replaced it. He didn't have any words of reassurance to her; he didn't know how to explain his actions. He ached as he thought of what he had done and how it could have destroyed his chances to be with her once again.
"Wait a minute, why are you here?" Kakashi's eyes widened as he tfinally processed her appearance. As she explained to him what Tsunade had told her, he unconsciously traced patterns across the palm of her hand. He smiled as he reached the ring on her finger, and brushed his thumb against it. He brought her hand to his lips and gave it a quick kiss before Takashi appeared into the tent.
"Kakashi-san, Sakura-san…the both of you are requested to join a party to track down a group of three mist ninjas that pose a threat to our camp. You will be working with Shikamaru and Genma-san to take them down." Takeshi blushed as he realized that he had walked in on an intimate moment.
"Thank you, Takeshi. We'll be out in five minutes," Sakura muttered as she blushed wildly.
When he left the tent, Sakura stood up and smoothed her shorts and wiped her face of any remaining traces of the tears. She held out a hand to Kakashi with the biggest smile on her face, as if they were back in Konoha going to train instead of out on the front going to kill. He observed her idly as he took her hand and wrapped his arm around her small waist.
"We'll celebrate you're arrival after we finish this up, babe," Genma winked flirtatiously at Sakura. Shikamaru could not help but chuckle as he saw Kakashi's eyes narrow into slits as he tightened his grip around Sakura.
They left quickly and quietly, disturbing no one.
"We have about two miles to go, and we'll set up to trap them. I'll go to the right with Genma and isolate two of them, and you two take the others. Kill them as swiftly as possible; we have no need for survivors. If you haven't noticed, Sakura, we have more than enough prisoners at the moment," Shikamaru sighed at the troublesomeness of it all. He didn't approve of so many prisoners, but Ibiki held rank over him.
The group quickly masked their chakra as they approached the mist ninjas and split into two directions. Kakashi beckoned Sakura further left with his hand, and led them on top of a nearby tree.
"Hop over to that tree over there, and on my signal attack, okay?" Kakashi slipped his hitaite up, revealing his beautiful, mismatched eyes.
"Alright," Sakura pulled herself up to peck his cheek. "Be careful."
Right as Kakashi was about to give her the signal, a scream ripped through the air, and he knew that Genma had already begun. He gave the signal.
They both made clones and rushed in from all directions towards the two ninjas. Kakashi took the bigger one on, and immediately went into a taijutsu fight. Being smaller and more agile, Kakashi ducked from the man's punches easily. What he didn't duck from was the kunai that a third ninja threw at his side. He was momentarily distracted as the third, unexpected ninja came hurling at him. Dodging, he felt his breathing becoming labored. He jumped up to a tree and quickly began a fire ninjutsu, the very one he copied from Sasuke years ago. Feeling a cool, numbing energy on his side, he looked next to him, startled. Sakura had ripped out the kunai and healed him quickly and efficiently, and had already jumped down to take on the third ninja.
They worked well together. Shikamaru could see the outlines of pink and silver moving fluidly with each other as he raced over to them. He thought that they worked well together because they were lovers, because they knew each other in that way, but he was wrong. They worked well together because they had been mentor and student for years, teammates for a few more years, friends, and then lovers. Shikamaru stared in awe as he watched them work together. What he saw was not two ninjas, but one. Where Kakashi had a blind spot, Sakura quickly defended it and took over. Whenever he suffered a wound, it was healed before he had a chance to experience the pain. They were a remarkable pair.
Genma was disturbed as he saw the petite woman pull the ninjas hair and cut through his neck with her kunai. She stood there breathing hard with the mist nin's head in her hand. Only when they approached closer could Shikamaru and Genma see that she was trembling. Walking over, Kakashi gently pried her fingers from the hair. Without another word, Shikamaru and Genma turned away to give the two ninjas their respected privacy.
"Are you okay?" Kakashi whispered as he stroked her hair.
"Can we just leave?" Sakura's eyes had brimmed to the top with water, as she couldn't stop shaking. She had fought before, but she never experienced such bloodlust.
Without another word, the team left the site and headed back to camp, seeking comfort. Upon arriving, Kakashi immediately took her to his tent and sat her on his bed. She had cried silently on the way back, and he stared at her, longing to stop the pain that came with unnecessary violence, but he knew better than anyone else that there was never stopping that pain.
She felt empty and cold as she took a seat on his bed. All of a sudden, Sakura understood the blank stares of the ninjas in the camp. They had all gone through what she had just gone through, but multiple times. She shifted so she could lie on the bed and rubbed at her eyes with her hand, as if rubbing away the weariness. Closing her eyes, she felt the cot bending with more weight as Kakashi slid in next to her. He turned her around so she faced him and kissed her lightly on the forehead before holding her tight against him. Wrapping a small hand around him, Sakura fell asleep to the sound of his breathing.
He watched her drift off to sleep, and saw traces of understanding, loss, and hurt on her face. Brushing her hair away, he looked sadly at the kunoichi who was much too young to feel the pain of killing. Though he was younger than she was when he killed, he couldn't help but feel bad for the one in front of him. Kakashi took Sakura's hand in his and lifted to his face to stare at the silver glint on her finger. He felt sleep begin to take residence and before he drifted off, he pressed his lips against her hand.