Sorry for updating so late! School has been busy busy busy. Anyhow, enjoy!
She felt as if she was going to throw up as she clenched her sweaty palms. Standing outside of Tsunade's room, Sakura entered panic mode, and unsuccessfully tried to steady her racing heartbeat. She could hear the various objects crashing at the wall as Tsunade threw them at Kakashi, and she winced as she heard the names that Tsunade was calling him. Sure Tsunade was a mother figure to Sakura, but surely she didn't feel this protective about her.
"Sakura, get in here. NOW" Tsunade yelled through the door. Sakura cringed and pushed the door open, peering in meekly. She quickly ducked her head to dodge the unidentified flying object that headed towards her. Peering around the room, she choked back a laugh as she saw Kakashi cowering in a corner with his hands up in mock surrender.
"I know there was something there, but I didn't think it was serious! You can't be serious about marrying this man, Sakura! He's your teacher and he's OLD." Sakura laughed despite the anger on her teacher's face. "No offense, shishou, but Kakashi is my former teacher, and you're older than him," she snorted. That time Sakura had not been able to dodge the book and winced as it made contact with her left arm. "I forbid you to marry him. It's gross. He's like Jiraiya! He has silver hair! What if your children have silver hair? I don't want silver-haired grandchildren!" Tsunade yelled at the both of them, and neither Sakura nor Kakashi could hold back their snickers.
Tsunade's eyes narrowed into mere slits at the two ninjas who had somehow made their way to each other. "Give me one good reason on why I should marry you two. Starting with you Hatake." Tsunade continued to glower at him as he sighed wearily.
"Well, hokage-sama…I think I'm in love with this one," he muttered. "Think? I know you, Hatake. You've been with plenty of women, why her? Why my apprentice?" Tsunade whined.
"Oh, I don't know. Sometimes when I look beyond that insane rage of her that she inherited from you, I find that she has many appealing qualities. The way she commits to her village, the way she laughs at my corny jokes, the way she has peel as much of the white skin part of the orange off before she eats it, everything really," he shrugged. Sakura could see Tsunade's resolve crumble a little at his confession, and took the chance to go in for the kill.
"Shishou," she started off quietly, "Kakashi has been my teacher, but after that he was my friend. What's more is that he's my significant other now. Sometimes it's hard to see any good quality in him because he's reading all that porn, but I swear he's a good person. I don't think I'd want anyone else to be my husband," she trailed off. Inside her mind, Sakura smirked.
"Fuck you both. C'mon, let's make this quick. I better be the kid's damn god mother…" Tsunade had crumbled. Victory was theirs.
The ceremony itself was brief and to the point; none of them had time to dawdle in joy and celebrate. They had a war to finish. Before slipping out of Tsunade's office, Sakura gave her a quick hug and whispered "thank you," and she swore that she saw Tsunade's eyes tear up, but just a little. Hand in hand, the two ninja walked out to meet their group in front of the gates of Konoha. To their defense, they were only half an hour late, but the whole group glared at them when they arrived.
"There was this black cat," Kakashi began to say, but was suddenly cut off.
"Shut up, there wasn't a black cat. We just got married!" Sakura cried cheerfully. Neji murmured his congratulations while Shikamaru smiled at the two and patted Kakashi on the back. Sasuke narrowed his eyes as he saw a silver glint of matching rings on their hands. He bit back a nasty retort. "Let's go, we have no time for celebrations," he spat out. Sakura lifted her eyes sadly to meet his dark ones. She had hoped that once she had been married, Sasuke would be open to the option of being friends again. Sometimes things just didn't work out.
Arriving at camp, they were once again quiet as they watched their comrades in pain and suffering. War was never beautiful. They split ways; Shikamaru and Neji went off to begin organizing the army, Sasuke left to spar, and Kakashi and Sakura sought to find Naruto and inform him of their marriage. The news was better received by their closer friends as Naruto and Genma both yelled out their congratulations. Sakura blushed when Genma asked bluntly, "why'd you marry already though? Knocked her up, eh Kakashi?" He was cut off from whatever he was planning on saying after by a quick punch in the stomach by Sakura. Naruto winced and rubbed his stomach in pity for the man, and inched away. It was already turning into night, as the four ninja sat around a fire, drinking. They reminisced about the times when Naruto and Sakura had been merely genins, and Kakashi ahd been a pain in the ass. They laughed at the time Genma had tried to steal Kakashi's Icha Icha and had ended up in the hospital under the care of Sakura for two weeks. They discussed the moments when Naruto had secretly gotten his ass whooped by Sakura, but never told anyone. It was late when the group finally decided to head off to bed.
"Good luck, I'll be seeing all of you at the end, okay?" Sakura muttered softly to the three of them. She gave a tight hug to Naruto, kissing the top of his forehead. She even hugged Genma, and laughed when Kakashi shot a glare at him. They parted ways, and Sakura left with Kakashi to their own small tent.
"Hatake Sakura. I don't know, it rather has a nice ring to it," Kakashi smiled as he pulled her onto the small cot that served as their bed. He wrapped an arm around her, tracing lazy patterns into her back with his fingers. Slipping off his mask, Kakashi placed a small kiss on her forehead and began humming an off-key tune.
He was humming some unknown song that didn't even have a rhythm. Sakura chuckled and snuggled in closer to him, searching for warmth that was hard to find during the frigid night. She ran her fingers over his shirt, tracing the wrinkles from the bottom to the top where his mask hung. Lifting her arm, Sakura put it around his neck and placed her lips on his, and stayed there. "I wish we could stay like this forever," she muttered sleepily against his lips. She felt his grip on her tighten, and the last thing she heard before slipping off into the comforting darkness of sleep was "I love you."
Opening his eyes, he found that his lips had remained against hers through out the night. He smiled and brushed a stray hair from her face as she began to wake up herself. "Morning, sleepy head," he placed a kiss on her lips that were already there.
She smiled when he kissed her, and wrapped an arm around his waist. Right as she was going to say good morning, a ninja burst in. "Kakashi-san, Sakura-san, both of you are need immediately. It seems the Mist are planning a similar attack tomorrow. The attack will have to be today."
The color drained from Sakura's face as she listened to the disturbing news. There was no time to cry, and Sakura immediately began throwing on some clothes. Raking a brush through her hair, she tied it up, and looked at Kakashi. Their eyes met, and she gave him a small smile. Lacing her fingers with his, they made their way outside and to Shikamaru.
"Kakashi, Sakura…you will be leading this group off to the side where we feel that the Mist will be most vulnerable. I trust both of you will be well prepared. Everyone else has been informed of his or her groups, plans, and leaders, I felt that letting you sleep in would be my wedding gift to you. Your group is ready to go, and we all leave in ten minutes. Good luck. I'll see you at the end," Shikamaru grimaced. He knew that being a war, there was bound to be deaths, but he hoped that nothing like that would happen between the two, or any of his friends for that matter.
"We'll be okay, won't we?" Sakura looked up at Kakashi as they sprinted off to the west part of the forest to meet the group they were to lead. "Don't worry," Kakashi muttered as he squeezed her hand. They reached their groups and were heartened to see that Genma was included in it.
"I know that everyone knows the plan, but I will go over it briefly with you. We are here to attack the most vulnerable spot they have at the camp. If all goes well, this will be our last battle and the war will have been won. Attack the medics first, without them all will be lost for the enemy," Kakashi tensed as he felt Sakura flinch next to him.
"If anyone is in immediate danger, signal to me, and I will do my best to get to you and heal you," Sakura commanded. Her eyes burned brightly as she faked her confidence in front of her peers. She could see their own fear at running straight towards the enemy. Some of them were young, too young. Her confidence wavered, 'they don't deserve to die. They shouldn't have to do this.' Shaking her head, Sakura cleared her thoughts as she saw Kakashi hold of two fingers to indicate that they'd be leaving in two minutes.
"Kakashi, I love you so much," Sakura began, but was cut off abruptly. "Stop talking as if one of us will die," Kakashi muttered roughly. She could see the pain in his eyes. "If it makes you feel better though, I love you too, with my whole life," he whispered. He pulled down his mask and captured her lips in a delicate and sweet kiss. When he pulled away, he pulled his mask on. Turning around, he nodded towards the ninja. Everyone stood up, and they were on their way.
Judging by the noise, Sakura could tell that the battle had already commenced. She took out her kunai and cleared her head of all thoughts, leaving only a blankness that enveloped her whole being.
Kakashi could hear the screams of the ninja, he could smell the blood in the air, and he could taste the fear of those around him. He grimaced and shook his head slightly, thinking only of getting over it.
The fight had commenced.
Sakura immediately took on a stray ninja with a kunai, and began a close-ranged combat with another. Her back was to Kakashi as she blocked kick after kick. Frustrated, she punched him, breaking his nose, and as he howled in pain, she cut off his scream by puncturing his lungs with another kunai. Leaping off the ground, she threw four more kunai at a ninja who Genma seemed to be fighting. It had been a few minutes, and she was already covered with blood.
Kakashi made four different clones to sneak up between four different unsuspecting ninjas. Quietly as he approached them, he killed them with a quick thrust of the kunai through their bare necks. He didn't even flinch when he heard one of them screaming, and shoved the kunai in deeper so it would cut it off. As he shoved the body off of him, he released his clones and focused on the next ninja. His breath caught when he saw Toroko in front of him, and he narrowed his eyes. Toroko was one of the elite ninjas of the Mist, and Toroko smiled in recognition. Without a word, Kakashi activated his Sharingan.
It had been half an hour, and Sakura was beginning to feel the toll it was taking. She had managed to save three of her comrades' lives, but had to let one go. Her breath came in short pants as she fought ninja after ninja. Sakura managed to feel hopeful, as she began to see that there were almost only Konoha ninja now. The battle would be over soon. Glancing over at Kakashi, she watched as he was in deep battle with another ninja with dark brown hair. Before she could go over to assist, another ninja had blocked her path, and she became preoccupied with killing the new ninja.
"Is that your girlfriend over there, Hatake? I see that she keeps looking over here. After I kill you, maybe I'll kill her too, or better yet…maybe I'll have a small taste of her before I'm done," Toroko smiled. Kakashi broke free of the genjutsu and immediately made several clones that surrounded Toroko. Jumping back, Kakashi missed a kunai that was sent his way and quickly released his clones and began forming the seals for his infamous Chidori. He ran at Toroko, intent on killing the bastard that had insulted his wife. Toroko stared in disbelief at the raging electricity pulsating from Kakashi's hand, and tried to dodge. His efforts were in vain as Kakashi's Chidori ripped through his stomach, but he managed to dig a kunai into Kakashi's chest, puncturing his lungs. They both froze, as they knew death would be impossible to escape. Toroko died first; the whole in his stomach was too great to give him any time. Kakashi sank to his knees and felt his vision blur. He sought out Sakura.
Sakura pushed the dead ninja off of her, and threw another glance towards Kakashi. She lost her balance as she saw him sink to his knees, and look around wildly as if searching for someone. Without another thought, Sakura was by his side. "Damn it, Kakashi…I leave you for one fucking minute, and you're in trouble!" she roughly said. She began pumping her chakra into him to evaluate the damage, and her heart skipped a beat.
"I love you so much, Sakura. God knows how much I love you. Thank you for being my love, for everything. Hatake Sakura, you're the most beautiful woman in the world," Kakashi had slipped his mask off and tears slipped from his eyes.
"Don't say that. Please, don't," Sakura sobbed as she tried to heal him. "I love you, please don't leave me. You promised we'd see each other after this, don't do this to me!" Sakura was shrieking, as she pumped even more chakra into him.
He took her hand from his chest and pulled it away. With his other hand he brought his face close to her, and kissed her once on the lips and once on her forehead. He began to cough violently and wiped away the blood with the back of his hand.
She buried her head into his neck and sobbed. Sakura felt his grip on her loosening until his arms fell away. Not caring about the finishing battle around her, Sakura continued sobbing into his arms. It wasn't fair that he was gone, that they had only a brief amount of time. War was never fair. As she continued crying, she could hear the other ninjas begin cheering as the Mist had fully retreated. Genma stood a few feet away from her in disbelief. His bestfriend was dead in the arms of his new wife, and he couldn't process the thought through his head. He felt his heart clench as he watched Sakura continue crying, and trying to heal his fatal wound. He gently put a hand on her shoulder, unsure of what to say.
She sat there sobbing. "Damn you, Kakashi! You promised…you promised," she whispered. It was as if someone had taken dull scissors and tried to cut their way through her body. She sat there until the sun had begun to set, and the other ninja looked away, giving her the respect that she deserved. It was until Shikamaru gently pulled her away, did she realize it had already turned into night. She felt the lump in her throat suffocate her as she passed out in Shikamaru's arms.
She sat in front of the memorial with a fresh bouquet of flowers. A young, silver haired boy with green eyes sat next to her with a solemn expression upon his face. He had a mask that covered his lower face and gave him an air of mystery that attracted many young genin girls his age. He smiled at his mother before walking away to give her time.
"Hey handsome, guess what? Your son has made the ranks of chuunin already. He's only eleven years old. Genius, huh? You would've been so proud of him. I miss you, you know? Naruto and Hinata have got their own kid now too. He's so cute, but he's just as loud as Naruto. Brings back old memories…and Sasuke has gotten married too! He's finally settled down and begun to start on his own family. Everyone has settled his or her differences, and I'm pretty happy now with Obito. I thought you would like his name. I figured it would be right. He's your reincarnation, I swear. He even has some of your annoying habits. Like father like son, huh? I love you with my life, Kakashi," Sakura whispered the last part. She closed her eyes as she felt the sunlight warm her body.
Obito pulled at his mother's shirt, impatient. "Mom! Teach me that one genjutsu trick, please!" He pulled at his hair in frustration as he realized he couldn't get the jutsu down right immediately. He had inherited his father's silver hair and his mother's emerald eyes. He wore the mask in honor of his father, one of the greatest ninjas of Konoha. He had amazing chakra control, and the intelligence that could have only been from Sakura and Kakashi. Instead of a dimple on the left cheek, he had a slight dimple on his right cheek, not that any one could see. He wore his hair a bit long like his father, and often pulled at it when frustrated. Like his mother, he had a short temper, but often found it easy to calm it. Obito Hatake strove to make a name for himself, and to keep the legend of the Hatake's living on.
I decided to end this story before school captures my spirit again and prevents me from ever finishing. T_T Sorry, but review please! I hope you liked it ^_^