Chapter 17!

Title: "Memories and Apologies"

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

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"Welcome" Said the aged voice of the Household Head. "We are grateful for the Great Konoha's help in our affairs." The old man said with his year-worn voice, completely oblivious to the beating that his young heir endured from two of the five kneeling Konoha ninjas before him.

I looked down to the tatami mats underneath my knees, bowing respectfully, hoping that the Koichi-demon standing next to the man's throne wouldn't suddenly throw a fit and tell on us for hitting him a couple times.

"It was nothing!" Called out the familiar, loud voice of Naruto, who, after so many years, still has never learned to sense the atmosphere.

Even though this noble family didn't belong to our country, we still had to show a great amount of respect for him.

I lifted my arm to the orange-wearing ninja to my right, pushing his blonde head down towards the mats.

"Don't talk so informally!" I whispered to him firmly, making him bow the right way.

Why did I always have to remind Naruto of his manners?

Sometimes I felt more like his mother than his team member… which was actually a little strange.

The elder only heaved a windy laugh before speaking up again.

"As you well know about this region, we're going to experience a curious phenomenon that I'm afraid will confine you five to our household here for tonight."

I peeked up to the extravagant, traditionally dressed House Head, a little confused.

What was he talking about?

"I will have some of my helpers handle your room arrangement." His booming voice carried along the wide hall, demanding the respect he had earned as a public figure after many years.

We left the room without another word, following a few servants.

I walked out of the doors right behind Kakashi-sensei… feeling restless.

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"Have a good night." Said the last servant, courteously, as he closed the sliding doors behind him.

It was dark inside of our room, the paper-walls and doors let in a very faint glow of moonlight before Yamato-taichou took out and lit the lantern.

We really didn't need light right now, since we weren't anticipating an attack, but I guess he lit it for courtesy reasons.

"All right everyone, let's get to sleep so that we're well-rested for the journey ahead of us tomorrow." Yamato-taichou announced with his almost-motherly tone.

Following his words I obediently unrolled my already prepared futon, smoothing it out neatly.

I dutifully unbuckled my blanket from my pack, like I always did on missions, and place it on top of the futon.

Even though I had on a very calm, almost sleepy face… my mind was buzzing with thoughts about the silver-haired man who was unfortunately preparing his own futon on the other side of our sleep-circle formation.

I tried to stop myself from looking over to him.

If I did, I knew that I would be hooked into a stare… and I knew that if anyone saw my eyes, they'd be able to tell exactly what I was feeling.

Impatient.

I crawled into my futon after taking off my skirt and top-shirt, so that I could sleep in my tights and tank-top.

Since we didn't expect any attacks, I could sleep as conformably as I wanted.

I tried to lock my eyes on my hands and nowhere else.

"Sleep well everyone, we'll be getting up at the crack of dawn." Yamato-taichou put out the lantern.

"'Night…" Everyone chorused to each other, Naruto still sounded energy-packed even though I could hear his snores start only a few minutes later.

Everything was dark again.

I turned over, facing the paper walls that glowed with a pearlish tint.

Even thought the wall was bright in the moonlight, I still could barely see my hands in the darkness.

Laying there in the darkness... my thoughts wandered to a familiar place....

I couldn't help but think about everything.

About today… about the years before… About Kakashi.

So much has changed in the past weeks…

I'll never be able to return to those old days…. The days when things were so simple, when I didn't have to worry about anything other than training or Naruto… when the only person I ever loved was…Sasuke... if that was love....

I had no idea that any of this would happen.

It was all so unexpected…

I still remember those early days of our team, back when we were still so inexperienced, when we couldn't even defend ourselves in a real battle without trembling.

Back to the days when Kakashi-sensei was just sensei…

… before I knew I could feel like this for a man…

I could hear the night-wind blowing strongly on the other side of those glowing doors.

…

After Sasuke left us, I would always think about those days, wanting to, somehow, travel back to the time before he left… to say things I never said, to somehow convince him to stay with us.

I couldn't say that I missed those days at all anymore.

I still felt strongly for Sasuke… maybe it wasn't something like love anymore… maybe it was just a sense of responsibility…. I don't know for sure.

But I know that my feelings for Kakashi have gotten so much more stronger than I thought they could ever grow…

....and I knew for sure that with every passing day, they were growing even stronger.

…. That thought struck me…

Who would've thought?...........… me and Kakashi-sensei would ever become like this…

I bet if I told my younger-self about all that has happened to me recently… She would freak out and call me a liar.

I giggled to myself quietly, clutching onto my pillow giddily.

Every time I took time to actually think about all of this I always found myself spiraling into girly behavior such as random giggling and spontaneous giddiness.

I suddenly wanted to turn over and just look at him again… but I really couldn't let myself, because I knew that if I looked at him, I'd probably find some excuse to go over to him and wake him up…..

I buried my face into my futon, trying to calm down.

I took a deep breath… I could feel myself growing a little tired.

Well, I guess I can survive one night without being alone with Kakashi-sensei for a few minutes.

I tried to convince myself gingerly as I closed my eyes, blocking out the pearly wall from sight.

I felt something swoop down in front of my face.

Familiar fingers grazed across my jaw, slowly lifting my head to face up towards the ceiling.

I didn't open my eyes.

I didn't move.

I just waited for him.

Lips met mine softly.

I kissed back just as gently.

He was so quiet, I couldn't hear him… I couldn't even sense his movement.

I was suddenly so thankful that he was an ex-ANBU member with such impressive covert skills… otherwise the others would've woken up a long time ago.

His lips moved slowly, cautiously.

His ungloved hand slid down from the side of my face, down my neck, across my shoulder, down my arm.

His fingers fell through mine, gripping my hand tightly.

He broke away from me.

I didn't want him to.

I couldn't really see his face, the room was so dark. I could only see a silhouette of him.

"I want to show you something." His voice was quiet. "Come with me." His hand lifted mine out of bed.

I didn't even respond.

I just followed him, out of my futon, towards the glowing doors.

He opened them slightly, slipping through the small opening, pulling me along with him.

It was so much brighter outside. The moonlight really lit up the small garden outside of our room.

He silently closed the door behind him, turning back down to me with a small smile.

Then his smile disappeared behind his mask.

I guess that was a smart move… just in case anybody saw him.

"It's going to start soon." He started walking along the sheltered veranda, leading me behind him.

"What is?" I asked up, trying to get an idea of what was going on…

"We can really only be out here together for a minute or so… otherwise a servant or family member may spot us." He explained why we were walking in such a hurry, but not where we were going.

We turned to corner of the very wide, extravagant veranda.

I saw an even larger garden, one adorned with species of flowers and trees that wouldn't normally be found in this region… it was most definitely the prized garden of one of the family members.

Kakashi-sensei slowed to a stop.

I didn't say anything… knowing that I'd learn what was going on soon enough.

"Remember when the elder said that we would have to be confined to this estate due to a certain phenomenon?" His voice asked with a small whisper.

I nodded when he looked back to me. His eyes… I loved them when he gave me that look.

He probably didn't even realize it, but I loved the way his eyes seemed to be glued to mine… like I was the only other person in the world with him… for him.

"In this region, they experience every so often… maybe every other month, a unique rainfall. Of rocks." He added. "They call it Gan'u"

It meant rock rain.

"The wind blowing from the north passes over those nearby mountains, carrying small rocks from the desolate pastures beyond." He explained as if he actually teaching a geography lesson, staring up at the sky.

"That's really…" I started… not quite sure what to call a rainfall of rocks.

"But what I wanted you to know was what they say about receiving one of the fallen rocks as a gift."

As he finished his words I started hearing little tapping noises from the garden, more little tappings started from above us.

I looked over, small rocks were falling from the sky.

Kakashi-sensei reached out his hand at exactly the right moment, catching a small pebble.

He brought back his hand, picking up the little stone between his other fingers, examining it.

"They say that if you give someone one of the stones that have never touched the ground since they were carried up by the northern winds…" His hand found mine, lifting my palm up. "… that no matter how far or how long the two of you are separated…" He placed the warm pebble in my hand. "…they'll never forget you."

I looked down at it.

"Today was a really big scare for both of us… and it was mostly my fault." He added these words as a sort of explanation.

The stone felt smooth after travelling and tumbling so many miles, it was a dark obsidian color with a single turquoise streak running across the surface. "I'm sorry." He said even more quietly.

I clenched it in my hand eagerly.

I didn't waste any time… I walked right past Kakashi-sensei, sticking my arm out in front of me.

I had to catch one.

I tried to focus on a single stone as it was falling, but they were going too fast.

I barely managed to close my hand around one that fell into my palm before it bounced off.

I looked at it carefully.

It was a deep jade color, with swirling patterns across it.

Perfect!

I turned around to him excitedly.

I could feel the cheesy grin on my face.

He gave me that look again, he chuckled a little at how excited I was.

I held out my hand, dropping my little winning into his palm.

"I-If anything happens… I don't want to be the only one who never forgets." I managed to stutter out… I really wasn't that good at saying stuff like that when he had just laughed at me a little.

But he didn't laugh this time.

His hand found my arm.

"We really need to get back to the room." He said seriously, his attention suddenly focused on the dim lantern burning across the courtyard. Someone was walking the veranda, too.

He quickly slipped my present into his pocket.

He started running down the wooden planks silently, I followed after him, trying to muffle my footprints by only placing wait on my toes, but I was still trying to recover from our exchange from back there.

I didn't have a pocket to put my stone into… I held it tightly.

I would have never thought Kakashi-sensei would go that far for me.

Just to apologize for the way he acted today… I think just being with me is apology enough…

We suddenly stopped in front of our door, breathing a little tiredly.

He opened it silently, not giving away any sound that could possibly wake up the team.

He pulled me into the room, closing the door behind us.

Everything was too dark… my eyes had to adjust for a second as green and pink spots jumbled through my vision.

He led me over to my futon.

"Good night…" I could barely hear his voice before I felt his lips on mine.

I still couldn't see anything in the dark, but I could feel everything.

His lips, his warmth, his hands on my back, how warm that pebble had gotten in my hand.

He broke away too soon.

"Thank you for everything..."

His hands left me.

He just seemed to disappear into the darkness like he was never there… the obsidian pebble in my hand reminded me that it actually happened.

But I still needed more.

"Wait…" I called out with a whisper. Reaching and finding his wrist, feeling really immature.

He didn't move for a second.

I grew a little worried that he was trying to think of a way to push me away.

His wrist slipped out of my hand, his fingertips grazing my up my arm, all the way to my shoulder, travelling up my neck, to the side of my face, being careful never to stop touching me… as if he was rewinding his previous movements.

His lips met mine.

"I was hoping you'd say something…" His lips met mine again. My hands found his shoulders, trying to pull him closer to me. He broke away. "But you really shouldn't have…" He warned me with a weakening voice.

I didn't take it to heart, pulling him forward into a deeper kiss.

After only a few seconds I realized that we were slowly kneeling down to the ground together.

I wasn't sure who started it first, but I didn't really care.

My lips broke away from his as I leaned back into my futon.

I didn't realize how different this situation was until I was already laying all the way down…

We were both on my futon, he was kneeling over me.

I couldn't really see his face, only the pearly reflections on the surface of his jaw, cheeks, eyes… and the rest was only a dark silhouette.

His hand brushed lightly against my neck, reaching into my hair.

After feeling him touch me so gently, I realized exactly how powerful this moment was, my heart felt like it was suspended in a tight sensation of free-fall.

I didn't have enough time to rethink this situation before his familiar lips found mine again.

Even after kissing them so many times, I still got that shock when they touched me.

I still felt like I was on fire underneath him.

I felt his knee brush agianst my leg as his body leaned farther down closer to mine.

His kiss got deeper and faster.

I could barely keep up with it.

Everything I was feeling was scrambling my brain.

Everything was so warm… too warm. I could barely breathe, my heart was being compressed.

But I couldn't stop myself as I reached my arms around his back, pulling closer to me.

I could feel the heat from his body cover me entirely.

It was so strange to feel Kakashi-sensei this close to me like this.

He broke the kiss, our breathing was getting too loud… but I couldn't control it.

His lips didn't leave me for too long.

I felt him skim his lips along my jaw. I could feel his almost-hot breathing on my skin.

I was a little shocked.

It wasn't normal for him to do that… usually we'd only-

I was distracted from that thought a moment later.

My fingers closed around the fabric of his shirt as his lips travelled along the underside of my jaw.

I felt his hand slip underneath the small of my back.

I titled my head back as his face travelled down my neck. My breathing was really getting too loud.

I felt his fingers slide up my spine.

My body as getting really warm against him.

My back arched when I felt his hand glide farther up between my shoulder blades as he kissed the hollow spot between my collarbones.

I didn't mean to let out a whimper.

His lips suddenly pressed against my skin harder, his hand underneath my back tightened around the fabric of my shirt.

I could feel immediately that he had gotten a lot more intense.

Another weak moan left me when I felt his hand tightened around my shoulder.

I suddenly felt one of his hands find my mouth.

His lips disappeared from my skin.

"I really…" He paused, finding his breath. "I really shouldn't have gone this far…" he said regretfully.

I felt him lower his head closer to my face, removing his hand from my lips.

"I'm sorry, Sakura…" His voice sounded … like he wasn't just apologizing for taking things a little too far again. "You really shouldn't be with somebody like me…" he barely whispered louder than my breathing. Those words didn't make sense to me.

"You're the only I want to be with." I shot down his warning, wrapping my arms further around his shoulders. He leaned over, laying down by my side.

I still didn't let him go.

For the first time I really saw a weaker side of him… He was really tearing himself up about our relationship. He knew that we shouldn't be together… As an adult and as a shinobi, he was always used to always following the rules…and this was relationship was breaking so many rules....But the way he said that right now… It was like he didn't think he was good enough for me…

He had apologized.

Like he was hurting me by being with me like this.

I couldn't let him think such ridiculous things.

"I may not be as strong as you, Kakashi-sensei… but I do know the difference between what I want and what I can handle." I spoke up a little. "If you ever got to be a problem for me, I'm fully capable of punching you into a crater." I added, jokingly.

He rumbled with real laughter.

"I'll believe that when you can stop calling me 'sensei'…" He whispered carelessly into my ear.

"Shut up and get some sleep." I argued back, holding myself closer to him.

"Don't talk to your captain like that."

"So should I call you 'taichou', then? Like Yamato-taichou?"

He grumbled a little.

"Just Kakashi…"

I knew at that moment that I'd never want to go back those simpler days so many years ago… because I really needed to be right here, right now, with him.

…

I felt that hot pebble in my hand again, and smiled against his neck.

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Author's Note:

Just in case you were wondering why there was something so random as rock rain, The Land of Earth actually does have the "Gan'U" phenomenon...

Just wanted to let you know, so you're not confused by the randomness... :)