Chapter 41!

Title: 'Night and Knowing'

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

Note:

Happy Birthday, Susan!

...

Well, this one's short and sweet, a breather from all the drama… (I would've made it longer, but then I would've had to cut it at really awkwardly…)

Anyways, I wanted to let all of you know that I recently published a new KakaSaku story… this one has a twist though.
I won't try to advertise it any further, lol…
But if you're interested, it's called 'Konoha Gakuen: Test Questions…'

But enough of this... hope you enjoy the chapter!

…

My eyes opened a little.

My head throbbed as I took in a deep breath, I could feel an aching pain spread through my muscles and into my arms and legs.

Trees were slowly bobbing past me, but I wasn't walking.

I felt two arms under me, one holding up my shoulders, the other anchoring my knees.

I focused on the vague memory of how familiar this felt for only a moment.

Then I realized why this felt so familiar as my blurry eyes found his navy blue shirt and then his eye-level pendant. The jade Gan'u rock resting on his chest lightly.

"Kakashi…." I managed to say his entire name more clearly than I thought I could've.

This was probably the chakra-loss, you always felt numb and fatigued, even when you were getting your strength back.

"You're finally awake." I felt his arms tighten underneath me, like he wanted to hold me closer. But, for the sake of balance, didn't.

His voice was exactly what I needed to wake me up...

I finally looked up to his face, or at least what he was showing of it -that mask was getting kind of annoying. But I tried to push that from my mind as I focused on my legs for a second.

They felt a little weak, but I was pretty sure they were strong enough to use.

"I think I can walk…" I hinted weakly.

Without a word, he stopped. I felt the strength in his arms shift as he suddenly lowered me down, supporting my back more than before so that I wouldn't fall over.

I could tell he was trying to be really careful with me.

I didn't want to be let down because I had minded being so close to him, I just didn't want him to have to carry me when I was completely capable of walking.

But after he put me down, we didn't walk.

We only stood there, his hand on my shoulder, his eyes travelled from checking the balance of my legs to my face. I didn't look into his eyes, but I could tell by just the feeling of his gaze that he was looking for something.

… It was strange how well I knew him now… after all of this…

"Are you ok?" His voice was smooth… but wary.

I could feel his eyes check mine again.

I couldn't bring myself to look back at his own…

I took a deep breath, bowing my head tiredly.

"Yeah, I still feel a little weak, but that'll go away after I rest a for a-" My unenthusiastic answer was cut off.

"That's not what I meant." He sounded a little serious.

The hand on my shoulder moved to my chin, lifting my face up towards his gently.

My fatigue washed away a little when my eyes met his.

I forgot how he could hold that look on his face, even if it was half-covered by that mask... that look of complete concern, care, and... longing?

He had been putting up an act for a while now. He hadn't looked at me with that much… intensity, in a while.

I didn't answer for a moment, not because I didn't understand what he was really asking me, but because it actually took me a couple seconds after seeing his eyes before I could think again.

"I'm just... a little disappointed." I understated dramatically. "I punched her twice.... Twice." I pointed out again. "But she still got away." My little rant slowed to a stop after that.

But, it really was unbelievable.

I knew I still had a lot of progress to make when it came to my fighting skills, but I didn't think I was that weak…

I was woken from brooding over my bruised ego with the sound of one of his trademark chuckles that more-than-never occured at an uncouth moment.

Like now.

But I didn't get a moment to voice my protest before I found myself being pulled forward by his hand. My legs still felt so weak that I'm sure I would've fallen over if his arms weren't immediately pressing me against him.

Suddenly, my short-lived annoyance with him completely evaporated.

My hands instinctually clutched onto the back of his shirt, holding myself to him, the side of my face resting on his chest.

He was so warm compared to the chilly night air.

His arms felt warm and heavy...

"That has nothing to do with your strength." He whispered against the side of my head.

I barely caught what his words were.

"What?" Even though it took me longer than usual to interpret what he said, they still hit me with the same impact of confusion.

I felt him take a deep breath, his chest expanding under my arms, pushing against my ear.

"Usually, just the normal amount of chakra you put into your punches is near-fatal, even for me…" Even if his voice was deep, and sounded deeper from the echoes in his chest, I could still hear his light-hearted attitude towards the end of that strange sentence.

Was my strength actually capable of hurting him?

I didn't find the point in thinking about hurting him, so I quickly forgot that mental question as he started talking again.

"Sato is a wind element user... Wind can come in handy when you need to strengthen your defense." His voice lost some of its humor when he said her name. "She protects herself with pressurized air currents that form a sort of shield wherever she wants one." He finished suddenly.

"…So…" I pressed for more information.

"So if she hadn't had that technique…." He trailed off.

I was about to talk again, until it clicked.

He was saying that if she hadn't had had that sort of shield... I probably would've killed her…

"Oh…" Was all I could say.

It was a little strange, knowing that I could've killed her.

I didn't want to think of the 'what if's…

I buried my face into the fabric of his shirt, taking a deep breath... suddenly reliving all the amount of joy and happiness this scent gave me....

His arms tightened around me as a response.

It had been a while since we had just held each other… I could tell he had missed it as much as I did from the way his fingers clasped onto my shoulders like he never wanted to let me go.

The feeling was mutual.

"But I'm surprised that's all that's bothering you." His lightly-toned voice hummed into my ear deeply.

"What do you mean?" I sounded half-asleep, not because I was tired, but because of the mesmerizing peace this moment possessed.

...

His hands twitched a little… he went silent for a few seconds….

"What you saw… what she made you see…"

The moment's peace was tarnished a little with the memory of what he was talking about.

I closed my eyes tightly, wanting to squeeze the image out of my head.

I tried to distract myself with talking.

"I was a little worried at first…" I started weakly.

I felt his arms quickly unhinge from my shoulders, allowing the freezing air to hit my shoulders... I fet colder than before.

He leaned over a little, looking me in the eyes.

"But?" He continued my sentence for me. Just waiting for the rest.

...

He really felt guilty didn't he?

He needed to know what I felt…

...

It wasn't hard to find the rest of my answer.

"I never doubted you."

…

I really hadn't… no matter what I saw… something inside me knew to trust him.... no matter what.

As soon as I looked back up to his face I immediately recognized, even behind the mask, the smile he wore only around me.

For a moment I could almost see the amount of relief and pride in his eyes, I could feel it in the way his hands slowly inched around me.

I was always surprised when he looked at me like this… surprised by the fact that somebody like me could ever make a man like him this happy… and just by saying the simplest, most natural things…

I was distracted from my marveling when I felt a hand leave my side as I saw it reach upwards to his face.

"I had wanted to wait till we got back to the village, but I don't think I'll be able to wait that long, after all."

I could hear the smile in his voice as he whispered that sentence warmly.

I saw his eyes quickly shift towards the surroundings, like he was checking for something.

"Wait for wha-?" My unnecessary question was cut off before I could waste any more of the breath I knew I would desperately need by the end of this kiss.

The hand he had unmasked with was now brushing along the side of my jaw, his fingers pressing against the back of my neck, titling my face towards his more comfortably.

I felt my hands grab at the fabric of his shirt a little frantically. I really hadn't been ready for the intensity of this.

It wasn't intense in a growing sense, but in a redeeming way.

He wasn't kissing me this way for more... it more like he was trying to make up for the lost time we would've had together, which was lost because of him…

....

… I didn't know how I knew that… but I was almost certain that that's what he was thinking.

I wondered if--I hoped that he could tell that I was accepting this sort of unspoken apology by the way I was kissing him back.

…

It had only been a dozen seconds before I felt my hands start to tighten on his shirt as my knees lost their strength.

My knees buckled, and with a moment of harsh gravity, I was closer to the ground than to his lips… but his hands still caught my waist before I hit the forest floor.

Any other day I would've been thoroughly embarrassed by the fact that I had actually gotten so weak-legged from kissing him that I'd lose my balance – which I had always had a problem with before- but at least I could blame it on my battle-fatigue this time.

"Sorry about that…" He apologized playfully as he held me up again.

The air was too cold to tell if I was blushing... I hoped to God I wasn't.

"You don't need to apologize. I'm just tired…" I corrected him briskly.

"Sure." He smirked that smirk.

The one he always used when he was trying to say he knows everything.

I decided to ignore it and get back at him in a different way.

"I think we need to get back to the others before they start to worry." I started limping away from him, having a hard time walking and talking at the same time, but still determined in my plan for mini-vengeance by cutting our little make-up session short.

He had been the one who 'couldn't wait'…. I hadn't done a thing, this was all him.

(… Although, I probably would've after a while anyways… but that was besides the point.)

I heard his warm chuckle from behind me.

Again… it was ill-timed.

I almost turned around to say something vindictive, but his voice stopped me.

"Fine." He spoke up playfully. Just hearing his voice sound that mischievous made me stop in my tracks. "If you want to get back to Naruto and Sai so quickly, then I definitely can't let you walk all the way there."

Once again gravity took me over as my legs were pushed out from under me. And once again two arms were positioned under my shoulder and knees.

He smiled down at me, his face masked again.

I only glared up at him with a fake conviction.

"You know this is embarrassing don't you?" I tested him.

He closed his eyes happilyf for a moment, before looking away.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." His smile didn't falter.

After a moment of keeping up the act, I decided to just forget it.

I even tried not to think about how ridiculous I must've looked like this…

It didn't matter anyways.

I rested my head against his chest. Listening to his heartbeat.

This moment of peace.

I hadn't had something like this in a long time… and with the kind of relationship we were battling through… I didn't know when we'd ever get a moment like this again.

I wanted to enjoy it as much as possible, while I could...

……….

"Hey, what happened to you guys?!" Naruto's voice would've immediately given our position away to any enemies… had there been any left over.

Naruto ran up to us as we came through the trees, I still limped a little. Kakashi had kept a supportive arm around my shoulder the last part of the journey here, but now that Naruto could see us now, only his hand was holding onto my arm... lightly… barely touching me.

It was always strange, experiencing this sudden transition between our world and the world we both needed to hold up reputations in.

When we were alone, we could be as intimate as we wanted to be, but in front of our team, we had to pretend as if we were just as distant and unknowing of each other as we were only months ago.

"We were ambushed." Kakashi's voice reverted to its serious tone. "The leader, Asaka, tracked us down. She tried to pick a battle, but Sakura defeated her."

In only the moments it took him to say that sentence, I took notice of a plethora of things.

Naruto's eyes widened with interest and energy, only to dull again when Kakashi mentioned the word 'defeat'.

Sai seemed unaffected by most of everything… but I saw his eyes flash to the warm hand closed lightly around my arm a few times.

And then, Kakashi… I noticed that he had no difficulty saying that woman's name with a professional tone anymore, but I loved the fact that even though he was acting professional, I still heard the faint pride in his voice when he said my name.

But I couldn't reactto any of it... I just stood there...

"What about the others?" Sai asked up as Naruto started congratulating and cheering for me for 'defeating' Asaka.

"I wish I would've been there! That's so amazing, Sakura-chan!" He went on. I smiled and thanked him, while paying more attention to the man at my side as he spoke up again.

"Now that their leader is taken care of, I can't imagine that they'll bother this area again." He summed up unenthusiastically. "So, we'll be leaving in the morning."

"Yes!" Naruto exclaimed happily, interrupting his own congrats-rant.

He was probably happy to get back to Konoha… he had been wanting to train for a while.

"Alright, calm down." Kakashi ordered a little tiredly. "We all need to rest. Especially Sakura."

He turned towards me when he said my name.

But as if in payment for looking at me, his hand left my arm.

…

I had almost forgotten, till now… how hard it is to simply pretend you don't feel like this for someone.

To ignore these overwhelming emotions that would conquer you every time you saw their face.

To act like they don't mean more to you than a teacher -or student, from his perspective-…

... it was really tiring.

...

But I guess that was the price we had to pay.