( Disclaimer: I Don't own NARUTO! They belong to His Highness Masashi Kishimoto! )
Chapter Sixteen - I Will Be Waiting
January had past as fast as it had come and February hadn't been any slower and that had the silver haired Jounin experienced, to his annoyance.
"You go on a mission and suddenly you have missted alot of valuable time..." he muttered to the pink haired Kunoichi beside him as they walked slowly towards the Hokage's mansion. "My life isn't getting any longer..."
"Why do you have to talk so gloomy...? And what could be that important to you that you are complaining about that you have too little time...?" she asked and looked up to him.
"Reading porn..."
"I thought that much..."
"Seriously speaking, I have suddenly got a lot of things that needs to be done..." he said and rubbed his neck annoyed.
"And you didn't have it before...?"
"I did... But now it has began to pile up all around me... More then it was before..." he said and glanced to the pink haired Kunoichi, who walked unconcerned beside him.
She had (obviously) no clue that she was the main problem to everything he had to do before it was to late. He just hopped that he could get a little more time.
"You are really quiet today, Kakashi..." the pink haired Kunoichi said.
"I'm usually quiet..." he answered.
"No... Well yes, you are... But I mean more then usually..." she mumbled. "Is is something wrong..?"
"No, nothing is wrong..." Kakashi said and looked away from her. "Sakura, you don't have to worry so much about me... I can take care of myself... You should be thinking about yourself, not me..."
"B-But..."
"Just because I haven't speaking that much today, it doesn't mean that something is wrong... Stop worring..." Kakashi told Sakura who nodded dejected. "Anyway, care to grab a meal after we have talked to Naruto...?"
"Sure... But Taichou told me that I shouldn't walk around too much in the open... He said something about if I wanted it to be a secret..." Sakura said and Kakashi nodded.
"He is right about that, though, you can't hide yourself... It would just attract unwanted publicity or get Naruto to be worried..." Kakashi said.
"Why don't we buy some food at the store on the way home...? I haven't have a real home-made cooking for a really long time..." Sakura said and Kakashi looked troubled down to her.
"Well... I don't know... I don't cook that well, you know..." Kakashi mumbled and stopped at the stairway to the Hokage's mansion.
"Don't worry about that, I will cook..." she told him and walked pass him and began to walk up the many stairs. "Aren't you coming...?"
Kakashi shook his head slightly and smiled under his mask.
She had change since last time he had walked with her to Naruto. She was (somehow) more cheerful when she was with him now, then she had been before. It confused him slightly, but he guessed it all was due to her pregnency. She had after all become a bit weird the longer her pregnency had proceeded.
He sighed and began to follow her, walking the stairs with a bit of distance between them.
~oOo~
"Sakura-Chan!"
"What have I told you about using Chan after my name... It's annoying and think of Hinata-San..." the pink haired Sakura said and deprecating Naruto's suddenly 'attack' hug, by stepping aside, making Naruto crash in to the silver haired man behind her.
"Sakura-Chan... Why did you move...?" he mumbled in to the silver hired man's chest.
"Because I didn't have the strength to hit you..." she told him and watched how Naruto got pushed away from the sligthly annoyed silver haired man's chest.
"Hi-Hit me...?"
"Aaa... You don't attack your friends, Naruto..." Sakura told him, but it hadn't been the main reason to why she had moved aside.
"I wasn't going to attack you, just give you a hug... That is what friends do, right?" Naruto said and looked to Sakura, while keeping a safe distance from her, just incase if she should change her mind and hit him.
Sakura snorted at him and crossed her arms over her chest and muttered something nither Naruto or the silver haired man could hear.
"Naa* Kakashi-Sensei..." Naruto said and the silver haired man looked to his blond former student.
"What is it Naruto..." Kakashi said carlessly and Naruto frown a bit.
"You have done something to Sakura-Chan, have you...?" Naruto said and Kakashi flinshed a bit by his suddenly accusation.
"Wha-What do you mean? I-I haven't done anything to Sakura..." Kakashi mumbled and Sakura glanced to Kakashi how began to look really uncomfortable by Naruto glaring at him.
"She have began to be like you!" Naruto suddenly burst out. "She have began to be antisocial, just like you! You haven't began to teach her to read that Demon book as well?"
"A-Antisocial...? Demon book...?" Kakashi glared to Naruto and Sakura suppressed a chuckled. "Naruto, if I don't recall wrong... Sakura have never really accepting your hugs, or am I wrong...?"
Kakashi looked to Sakura who shook her head.
"And beside, my books isn't a Demon book... It is a really good-..."
"Hai Hai... Stop ranting, Kakashi... Or I will join force with Naruto about that book..." Sakura said and glanced to him and he could see a bit of mischievous in her emerald eyes. And he had know clue to why. "Naruto, why don't you tell us what you are suppose to say, so we can continue with our lifes... "
Sakura glared to the blond young man beside Kakashi and looked like he was thinking really hard.
"Naruto..." Sakura growled annoyed.
"Ah! I think I got it...!" Naruto finally said and Sakura looked to him.
"Got what?"
"Period..."
"P-Period...?" Sakura looked confused to Naruto.
"Aaa. You got your period, that's why you are so pissed and fat..." Naruto said and both Sakura and Kakashi looked to him, both of different reasons. "I remember that Hinata always got mad for no reason and she get a bit fat too during her period-..."
"Na-ru-to..." Sakura growled pissed, cleched her fist hard and was on her move to beat the hell out of him.
"I think it's best that you keep your mouth shut, Naruto..." Kakashi said and moved to the other side of the room and appeared behind Sakura and grabbed her wrist softly. "Take it easy, Sakura..."
"Let me go so I can kill him..." Sakura growled and then she felt how Kakashi leaned closer to her ear.
"Sakura... Think about your state... It isn't good for you to get pissed or do punshes that could kill... Am I not right...?" Kakashi whispered in to Sakura's ear and she automatically lowered her hand.
"You-You are right..." Sakura mumbled and Kakashi let go of her wrist.
Naruto looked baffled to them and rubbed his head.
"I don't know how you did it, Sensei... But I believe that you just saved mylife..." Naruto said and began to grin to them. "So let's go down to business..."
Sakura and Kakashi sighed and glanced to Naruto, who walked back to his chair behind the desk and sat himself down on it.
"Sakura, you have finish two S-ranked missions, actually one A-ranked and one S-ranked, anyway... We, I and Shikaku, have decided it is time for you two to step in as my counsellors..." Naruto said and looked to them a bit more seriously then before.
"What about the other two...?" Sakura asked.
"Well... They are asked to retire from their position as counsellors and they will slowly began to withdraw from their posts. And with that give you two more room to help me develop Konoha to something better to live in..." Naruto said with a grin.
"I beat the will put up a fight before that ever will happen..." Sakura mumbled and remembered very well how that hag and that geezer had made it very hard for Tsunade to 'rule' Konoha as she wanted it to be ruled.
"Indeed..." Kakashi said and looked to Sakura.
"Well that is maybe true..." Naruto sighed.
"And after all, it was thanks to them that made Danzou to get better access to Konoha..." Sakura said and looked to Naruto. "They always sussced to pull some strings to make them back in to the game again..."
"Aren't you a bit overreacting about this, Sakura-Chan...?" Naruto said and looked back to her. "Well, they aren't trustworthy, but they did what they believed was right for Konoha at that time... We can't blame them..."
"And things was a bit different during Sandaime time as our Hokage..." Kakashi said. "After all they grew up with him and therefor they trusted him to make the right choices... But I do remember that your father had a bit of problem with them as well, just like Tsunade-Sama had..."
Kakashi looked to Naruto as well and Naruto sighed.
"Then what should we do if they would put up a fight...?" Naruto asked.
"Well let them be a part of it..." Kakashi said and Sakura and Naruto looked shocked to him.
"You can't be serious..." Sakura said annoyed.
"I'm... If we don't let them get involve in what we do, they would probably just began to complain to the Daimyo* that we don't do our jobs..." Kakashi said and closed his eye. "So it would be best to let them think they are involved with what we are doing and then they will, hopefully, withdraw when they think their job is done..."
"I hope you are right..." Naruto mumbled. "However... Sensei, I need you to do me a favour..."
"And that is...?" Kakashi asked and glanced to Naruto, who looked to Sakura and then back to Kakashi.
"I need you to sign this papers, could you stay just for a minute..." Naruto said and Kakashi looked suspicious down to Naruto.
"Sure... I guess it is a part of my new job nowadays..." Kakashi said and stepped forward to the desk.
"And what about me? Shouldn't I also sign some papers...?" Sakura asked and Naruto looked up to Sakura.
"No... These papers is for Sensei to sign, so you can go home... okay..." Naruto said and Sakura didn't look to happy to hear it.
"I will see you later, Sakura..." Kakashi said and looked to her and she was still looking quite annoyed.
"Haven't you forgot something...?" she asked him.
"Wha-... Oh, that... Well, in fifteen minutes, at Hayato's..." Kakashi said and Sakura smiled sligthly to him.
"Alright and don't you dear to be late..." Sakura told him and walked out of the office.
"What are you two going to do at Hayato's...?" Naruto asked and Kakashi looked to him.
"I promised Sakura to go shop with her... Not what I really wanted, but a promise is a promise..." Kakashi told Naruto, who nodded understanding. "Well, you didn't want me to stay because you wanted to talk about what Sakura and I are going to do at Hayato's or that you wanted me to sign some papers... And don't you think this little meeting was a little bit short?"
"Well maybe it was a little bit short, but we have a lot of time to talk more later and you are right... I didn't want you to stay to sign some papers..." Naruto said and pushed away the 'false' papers in front of him. "I just wanted a reason to make Sakura leave, without sounding too offending... You know how she can be..."
"Oh I do... But this won't make her curiosity to lessen, I am afraid..." Kakashi mumbled and Naruto nodded once again. "Okay, what is it that I can do for you? If you are asking me to go on one of that suicidal missions again, I will have to decline..."
"Well in that case I have good news to you... It's nothing like that, I just want to know how Sakura is doing..." Naruto said and Kakashi raised his eyebrow at him.
"Why...?"
"Just wondering... She hasn't been like herself recently..." Naruto pointed out and his silver haired (ex-)Sensei glanced to him.
"And why do you think that? Sakura is, as she always have been this last five years..." Kakashi told Naruto who looked doubtful at him.
"You don't reallt believe in that do you...?" Naruto told him and frowned. "Sakura is somehow more... happy... I would say... She hasn't been like that since Sa-... Since Sasuke was in the team... And she is also acting more like she was before the war... That's why I was wondering how Sakura is doing..."
So Naruto too, had noticed Sakura's suddenly change of behavor.
Her change of behavor hadn't been that alarming to Kakashi, but to Naruto (who was caring for her like his own sister) it was alarming. Especially when the Sakura he had learn to know was gloomy and could bite when not needed to (well she still did sometimes).
Kakashi on the other hand, had learn to see the woman behind Sakura's cold and protecting walls and it was that woman he had began to fall in love with.
"Naruto... Sakura is changing, just like everyone else has... War change many people, not just Sakura and even if you haven't noticed it, it have change you as well... You was forced to grow up..." Kakashi told Naruto who looked a bit surprised to his former Sensei. "It have change me as well, if it's to the better I can't tell..."
"I know that the war and Sasuke's death changed her. But why, all of sudden, has she began to be like she is now...? Are you telling me that those four years that she was hating us to that grade that she could kill us, has suddenly just vanish? I can't believe that..." Naruto said and Kakashi sighed. "She is planing something..."
"Why do you think she is planing something...?" Kakashi asked him.
"Because she was looking exactly the same that day she decided to look for Sasuke by herself... Like she was planing something... She looked happy outside, but her eyes was just as sad as they had been that day Sasuke left Konoha..." Naruto said and closed his eyes. "That's why I'm worried about her..."
"Are you worried that she will go and kill herself...?" Kakashi asked and Naruto looked up to him.
"Hai..."
"She won't kill herself... If she haven't done it these last five years, she want do it now..." Kakashi told Naruto and Kakashi was pretty sure why Sakura, as Naruto had explained it, looked like she was planing something. Everything could have to do with Chibi-San and its future here in Konoha as much as her own.
"She won't...? Are you sure about it...?" Naruto asked him.
"I am... Listen, can't you just accept that Sakura have finally found some peace in her life and that she finally have began to accept us... You should be happy about that..." Kakashi said. "So don't worry so much about it... She is just fine, trust me..."
"All-... Alright... I believe you... But can't you just keep one eye on her, just in case..." Naruto said and looked up to the silver haired man in front of him.
"I will... Was that all what you wanted...?" Kakashi looked back to Naruto.
"That was all..."
"Then I will take my leave..." Kakashi said and began to form some seals. "Until next time, Naruto..."
"Sensei! Before you poof away, just make sure Sakura don't eat too much sweets... She has become really fat you know... I don't know how good it's for her health..." Naruto said to Kakashi, who smiled under his mask.
"I will try... Jaane*..." and with that Kakashi was gone with a poof.
The blond Hokage looked to the spot his former Sensei had stood on and sighed.
This time he couldn't trust his Sensei's words.
Something was wrong with Sakura, but he didn't know what and he would make sure that he found that out before she did something stupid.
~oOo~
Kakashi appered a little bit outside of the Hokage mansion and began to walk towards the little shop Hayato's Groceries, while reading his Icha Icha Tactics.
"Senpai..."
Kakashi stopped, looked up from his book and glanced to the brown haired man in front of him.
"Tenzou... Nice to see you..." Kakashi said and looked down to his book again.
"Please, it's Yamato not Tenzou..." the brown haired man growled and began to walk beside his Senpai. "And why are you still reading those books? Shouldn't you began to find some other books to read...?"
"You know that I never got tired of reading them and find other books with the same level as this is really hard..." Kakashi said and began to walk again, making Yamato to follow him. "Why are you following me?"
"Why? Can't your Kouhai* have a talk to his Senpai...?" Yamato asked.
"Of couse he can... But today isn't the right day..." Kakashi said, still reading his book.
"I heard that you and Sakura was with Naruto..." Yamato said, ignoring Kakashi's earlier statement that he wanted to more or less, be left alone.
"We was, so..." Kakashi sighed and glanced to Yamato. "What about it?"
"Was it something important he wanted to talk to?"
"No... Nothing more then we are today, beginning to be Naruto's counsellors..." Kakashi told him and Yamato looked to him with a raised eyebrow.
"Really... Well that was good news..." Yamato said.
"Seriously, if it isn't any important you want, could you please talk to me another day... I have my hands full today..." Kakashi said and began to get put out by Yamato.
"Oh... I see... You are going to meet Sakura right now, aren't you... That's why you are being so rude..." Yamato said and tried to hide his smirk.
Kakashi stopped and looked to Yamato once again.
"What if I am... Are you going to stop me...?" Kakashi asked him and Yamato looked surprised at him. "And by the way Yamato, I have a question to ask you..."
Yamato once again looked surprised at him, but he didn't have the time to anwser Kakashi before Kakashi opened his mouth to speak again.
"I know that you offered Sakura something and I want to know what it is... And don't try to wriggle yourself out of this..."
"I thought she had told you by now, I guess she didn't..." Yamato swallowed and looked up to Kakashi, who glared at him. "I-... I asked her to... To move in with me..."
Kakashi looked to Yamato with shock and surprise writting all over his face.
Could this be the reason to why Sakura had began to be so cheerful. I would make sense, because it had started just after they had got back from this mission. But it couldn't explain why she had given him that book.
Well it could be because of his promise to her.
"You- You asked her to move in with you...?" Kakashi asked and Yamato nodded.
"Hai, I did..."
"Why?" it wasn't a question that Kakashi had come from his lips, it was a demand.
"You know the reason, Kakashi..." Yamato told him. "I am protecting her... If you aren't going to do it, someone else has to do it... And that someone has to be me... "
Kakashi was still glaring at Yamato, while slapping his book close and somewhere deep inside of him, Kakashi felt how fear boiled up inside of him. Fear of what she had said to Yamato. Fear that he would lose her.
He couldn't accept this. He just couldn't and Kakashi felt it was his duty to protect Sakura, not Yamato's or anyone else for that matter.
Kakashi had finally made up his mind.
"You aren't the right person to protect her, Tenzou..." Kakashi finally said and looked away from Yamato and then he smiled slightly. "And I know why you did it and I'm grateful for what you did, but it's my problem not yours... You aren't the one who is suppose to correct my mistakes... I thought I had told you that already..."
"Suman*... I think I have forgot that..." Yamato said and watch his Senpai looking down to the ground. "So what are you going to do now?"
"I'm going to stop being such a coward and began to take care of my own mistakes... something I should have done years ago, though..." Kakashi told Yamato, who couldn't help himself to smile to his Senpai.
"Is that your resolve, Senpai...?" Yamato asked, glad that Kakashi finally had began to open his eyes slightly.
"I think so..." Kakashi answered.
"Then I will not get in your way anymore..." Yamato said and began to walk back to the manison. "But just so you know, I still stand firm about my offer to her, so if you should screw everything up, she will at least have a shoulder to cry one..."
And with that Yamato was gone and Kakashi frowned.
"You little son of a bitch..." Kakashi growled and began to walk again towards Hayato's Groceries to meet Sakura.
~oOo~
"You are thirty minutes late, Sensei!" Sakura barked to Kakashi who rubbed his head and looked down to her with a sheepish grin under his mask.
"Warui Warui*... But you see, a group of teenage girls began to attack me and-..."
"Kakashi, it's no use for you to lie to me... And why would a group of teenage girls attack you? You don't have anything that they would want to have anyway..." Sakura told him and Kakashi felt like that was a hit below the belt.
"You can be really crule sometimes, you know..." Kakashi mumbled and Sakura gave him a smile.
"I know that and I do enjoy it..." she said and turned around to walk in to the grocery shop and Kakashi followed her. "So, have you any request?"
"Well as long as it isn't any sweets, anything is fine to me..." Kakashi said and watched how Sakura looked at some chicken fillet.
"I haven't eaten chicken for some time now, so why don't we do Teriyaki chicken...?" Sakura asked Kakashi who shrugged. "You aren't too much help..."
"Whatever is fine I told you..."Kakashi mumbled and it felt weird to walk around in this shop with Sakura beside him.
Well, he guessed he needed to get use to it, after all Naruto had asked him to watch her.
"Hai Hai..." Sakura mumbled and putted the packet with chicken fillet in the shopping basket.
After they had get everything they needed and Kakashi paid once again (to Sakura's annoyance), they began to walk back to Sakura's home.
Sakura putted the groceries on the kitchen bench and began to pick up the saucepan and then the frying pan.
She groaned when her back began to ache and she glanced to Kakashi who looked around in the kitchen, almost in a way that he was trying to find a way to escape.
"Kakashi, could you please help me to cut the chicken... My back is killing me..." Sakura asked him and Kakashi jumped on the spot, looking down to her.
"Su-Sure..." Kakashi walked towards Sakura who gave him a kitchen knife and he took it. "How big do you want me to cut them?"
"Oh, about 2 inch..." Sakura said and filled some water in the saucepan and putted it on the stove and then she began to prepare the Teriyaki sauce.
"Should you really use saké...? Think about your state..." Kakashi said and watched how she poured some saké in the frying pan along with someother stuff.
"It's okay... It is just a small amount anyway..." Sakura told him and Kakashi sighed.
After a while she poured the rice in to the saucepan and then later she began to fry the chicken, before she poured the Teriyaki sauce on the chicken bits.
"It smells good..." Kakashi said behind Sakura and looked down to the frying pan. "And it looks good too..."
"You think so..." Sakura mumbled while blushing, because of his closeness and his voice was just like a tiny whisper in her ear, made her whole body to sake with lust.
Why did she react like this? It had began to get really annoying.
"Could you please lay the table... It's the cupboard to the right..." Sakura said and Kakashi walked away from Sakura and began to take out the plates. "You know, Kakashi... I do really enjoy this..."
Kakashi was forced to grabe the plate he was holding in his grip harder, to not drope it to the floor.
"Re-Really...?" he asked surprised. "How come...?"
"Well... It maybe sound silly, but when I was younger, Okaasan* and I always cooked together... It was really fun back then..." Sakura said and smiled to Kakashi. "I wonder if Chibi-San and I will cook together, like Okaasan and I did..."
Kakashi looked to Sakura, who had turned her back to him and he couldn't help to feel a bit lonely, but at the same time he was happy for her. Because he knew how much this little thing inside of her, meant to her and Kakashi wasn't surprised that she hadn't made any space for him. He woudn't have a part of her life after her child was born, that was what they had agreed too.
"I'm sure you will..." Kakashi mumbled and looked down to the birch table.
"Chikishou*... I think I burned the rice..." Sakura suddenly burst out and Kakashi began to laught slightly because of her suddenly outburst.
"That is just like you..." Kakashi said to Sakura who frowned at him.
They sat down around the table and began to eat the meal Sakura had cooked to them and small talked, while laughting slightly at each others jokes or other stupid things.
And Kakashi found himself enjoying the meal as much as he enjoyed Sakura's company. After all she was very intellectual and that was what Kakashi found most lovable about her.
"...Are you serious? Did Kurenai's son really found Koshiki-San with a nurse in the hospital...?" Sakura said surprised while laughing slightly.
"He did... And Kurenai wasn't very happy to here it..." Kakashi said and putted down his chopstick to the table. It was finally time to ask her something that had been nagging on his mind for some time now. "Sakura... It is-..."
"That's right! I almost forgot to ask you!" Sakura said and Kakashi looked surprised to her. "Oh, sorry... Was it something you wanted to say...?"
"Eh, no... So, what was it you had forgot to ask me...?" Kakashi said and watched her closely.
"Right... I come to think of it when we began to talk about the hospital..." Sakura began. "I heard from Shizune that you had told her that I had looked for her, but I don't recall that I told you that I was looking for her..."
"Oh... Well, Kurenai was actually the one who told me... She told me that I was probably the only one that would see her soon enough..." Kakashi said and Sakura nodded. "And so I did, she caught me trying to escape from the hospital the very same day..."
"I know that... She told me that you was trying to discharge yourself... And I am glad that they kept you as long as they could..."
"Two really long weeks and the service was awful..." Kakashi half joked.
"What did you expect... A five star hotel or something like that...?" Sakura said and looked to him with an amused smile on her face. "Anyway, what I was about to tell you was that I'm going to one of those gynecological examinations with Shizune next week and I was wondering if you wanted to go with me like some kind of support... You don't have to! But I would be grateful if you did..."
Kakashi sighed and glanced to Sakura, before he dragged his hand through his silver mass of hair.
"I guess I don't have any choice in that one, do I...?" Kakashi mumbled and leaned his chin in the palm of his hand, still glancing at Sakura.
"I said that you didn't have too follow me, if you don't want too... I do understand that in that case..." Sakura said almost in a whisper and Kakashi sighed once again.
"If this is important to you, I will show up... That is what I at least can do..." Kakashi said and leaned back to the chair and looked to Sakura, who looked like she didn't know what to say or do. "But don't hope for too much, if Naruto call me in to go on a mission and then I will have to go..."
"I know that... Thanks anyway..." Sakura mumbled and smiled to him.
Kakashi shook his head a little and wondered what he had got himself into. But he guessed it couldn't get any worse then this.
~oOo~
The pink haired pregnent Kunoichi, Sakura sat beside Konoha's Hokage, Naruto at Ichiraku's Ramen and Naruto looked at the eating pink haired woman beside him, who already was on her thired bowl of Ramen.
"No wonder you have become fat... You eat like a horse..." Naruto said and got smacked in the head by the pink haired Sakura. "Ouch!"
"I'm not fat! I have just gain some weight..." Sakura told him and putted the chopstick down.
`Naruto can be so unconscious some times... Well as usually I would say...´
"Why did you hit me...?" Naruto whined.
"Because you called me fat..." Sakura growled.
"But Kaka-Sensei called you fat once, but you didn't hit him... Why can't I say it?" Naruto asked.
"Baka* Naruto! Do you actually believe he got away with it?" Sakura said and she knew the answer.
Yes, he would get away with it.
"But it can't be any good to your health if you continue to get fat..." Naruto said concirned. "You aren't like Choji, you know..."
"I know that... But it will disappeare..." Sakura told Naruto.
`About three mounts or so...´
"Anyway, if I had know that you would eat that much, I wouldn't have treat you..." Naruto mumbled and looked down to his wallet in his hand.
"You can be so stingy some times, Naruto..." Sakura said and smiled in a good natured way to him.
"Humph... Anyway, could you and Sensei drope by after he is back from his mission, it could maybe be tomorrow... I have some reports that I need to be finish with and Shikamaru have asked for help and I couldn't think of any other better then you two helping him... I would be grateful if you could help him..." Naruto said and Sakura looked to him.
"Of couse... I will tell Sensei when he gots back..." Sakura said and Naruto smiled.
"Arigatou*... Oh, and by the way... Hinata asked me to ask you if you would want to come to us tomorrow and have dinner with us..." Naruto looked to Sakura who looked a bit surprised.
"Well, I would love to... That was really nice of her to ask..." Sakura finally said and looked down to the bowl in front of her.
"Sakura! There you are!" a female voice suddenly called behind them.
Sakura and Naruto turned around to look at the light blond heavy pregnent woman, who stopped behind them.
"Ino..." Sakura said and looked questioning at her.
"You are late to your appointment..." Ino said to Sakura.
"Appointment...?" Naruto repeted and looked confused to Ino.
"Aaa... Your check up on your baby-..." Ino began and then she looked shocked and began to curse herself for what she just had said.
Ino had totally forgot that Naruto was stitting right beside her best friend, Sakura.
Naruto glanced back to Sakura, who was white as a sheet.
`It was only a matter of time...´ Sakura told herself.
"Sa-Sakura-Chan... You are-... You are with baby..." Naruto said shocked. "How the hell did that happen?"
"I'm not going to tell you how it happened... You can probably figure that out yourself..." Sakura told him and glanced to her blond whisker-faced friend.
"Who did that to you...?" Naruto growled.
"I-I don't know! It just happened during a mission..." Sakura mumbled and Naruto raised an eyebrow at her.
"It justed happened..." Naruto repeat. "Things like that doesn't just happen!"
"As I said, it just happened... Okay..." Sakura said once again. "You know that I got sexual abused, so it could be one of those guys... But both of them are dead now..."
Ino looked to her pink haired friend. Sakura had always been bad at lying and she was lying to Naruto right now. Obviously he hadn't noticed that. That made Ino wonder even more who the father to Sakura's future child was and Sakura had been as good as any other ANBU, to not spill a word about who it could be either.
"You know that I will rippe of their heads if I just got the chance..." Naruto growled. "I will protect you Sakura..."
"Naruto, I can take care of myself... I don't need your protection..." Sakura told him. "All I ask of you is your support... I will be very happy if you could just do that for me..."
Naruto turned his face from Sakura, bit his lip and sighed.
"How many are they...?" he suddenly asked.
"How many they are? Are what?"
"Who knows that you are pregnent..."
"Oh... Well, Ino and Shizune knows and Sai and Kurenai figure it out and I think that even Yamato-Taichou knows..." Sakura mumbled.
"What about Kaka-Sensei? Does he know...?"
"He-... He knows it too..." Sakura told him and she began to feel a bit uncomfortable.
Naruto glanced to Sakura and he finally understood why Kakashi had said those things he had said about Sakura, that day he had asked Kakashi to watch Sakura. He knew that she was with child.
"I guess I don't have any other choice then to accept this..." Naruto told Sakura who looked surprised up to him. She hadn't thought that he would accept this that quickly. "And I am really happy for you... Just be careful, Sakura..."
"I will, Naruto... And thank you... I have to go now, I will see you tomorrow..." Sakura said and Naruto nodded to her, while she raised from the stool to walk away.
"Sakura!" Naruto called after her and she turned around to look at him. "You have to promise that I will be the godfather to your child when it's born!"
Sakura looked wide eyed at him and then she began to smiled softly.
"I don't know if I could find any better godfather then you, Naruto..." Sakura told him and then she began to walk away with Ino, leaving a grinning Naruto behind.
~oOo~
"I'm so sorry Sakura... I forgot that Naruto was with you as well..."
"It's okay Ino..." Sakura mumbled. "He needed to know it anyway... Even if it wasn't at the right moment..."
Sakura and Ino finally came to the hospital and Ino took farwell of Sakura and left Sakura behind.
Sakura sighed and began to walk in to the hospital area and it was then she felt someone behind her.
"Do you always have to sneak up like that..." Sakura growled annoyed and turned her head slightly around, to almost coming face with face with that silver haired Jounin.
"Who said I was sneaking...?" he asked and smiled slightly to her.
"Why are you here...?"
"I'm here to support you..." he said and looked surprised to her. "But I can leave and go to report to Naruto and then get a new mission, if you want to..."
"No please stay... I didn't mean like that... I just thought you would be back tomorrow..." Sakura said and stopped at the door. "I would be glad if you stayed, Kakashi..."
Kakashi smiled to her and opened the door and she entered and he followed.
She stopped outside of room 245, which was furthest down of the hospital and they waited for Shizune to come.
Kakashi glanced to Sakura and he frowned a bit.
"Have something happen...?" he asked her and Sakura looked down to him.
"No, nothing... Nothing more then it usually does..." Sakura told him and he could see that she was not telling him the whole truth. "Anyway, Naruto told me that he wanted to see us when you got back, but it can wait until tomorrow... I beat that you are tired..."
"A little I guess... But I still need to go to Naruto with my report... But I think that can wait until tomorrow too..." Kakashi said and leaned on the wall in the hall. "But something other is bothering you, isn't it...?"
Sakura looked to him and then she began to laught sligthly.
"Ahaha... You got me there, Sensei..." she said and Kakashi raised an eyebrow to her. "I beagn to think that people have began to notice this one..." she stroke her stomach gently. "I mean it have began to got really big and it is hard to hide it even with a kimono... People have began to talk behind my back..."
"People are like that... When they see someone that is with child and they knew that she isn't in a marriage or have a man, they began to talk..." Kakashi told her and sighed. "Especially when you don't know who the father is... Anyway, do you know which week you are in...?"
"Oh... Let's see... If Keiko back at the antenatal clinic in Kirizai was right, I should be in week twentyseve-... Oh..." Sakura stopped and jumped slightly in surprise.
"What's wrong?" Kakashi asked and walked closer to Sakura and grabbed her hand. "Are you hurt?"
"I'm okay..." she smiled to him and placed her free hand on her stomach. "Feel..."
Kakashi looked unsure, but Sakura grabbed his other hand and placed it on her stomach.
"Can you feel it?"
"I don't fee-..." Kakashi began, but then he looked baffled to Sakura. "It-It kicked!"
Sakura nodded at him and something washed over Kakashi. Something that was more or less alien to him. A feeling he couldn't grip even if it had been just in front of him, but now he finally thought he could do that.
It was the feeling of becoming a father.
"Sensei... It didn't matter how much I counted, I still got the same result... You... You are the father..." she told him.
"I'm the father..." he mumbled, still with his hand on her stomach.
She nodded once again and Kakashi closed his eye.
"You are sure..." he asked with an unsteady voice.
"Hai... You were the only one I was with in that kind of way back then... That day I couldn't remember that we did it..." Sakura told him and he could hear a faint tone of regret and her eyes began to fill with tears. "I'm sorry if it wasn't what you wanted to hear..."
Kakashi took away his hand from her swollen belly and then he putted his hands around her chin and stroke away her tears from her cheeks with his thumbs.
"Don't be sorry Sakura... I can't stand seeing you sad, because of this..." Kakashi told her and looked in to her emerald eyes. "All this time with you like this, have given me time to think about this ocassion and I'm scared of all this... But I will take my responsibility... I will support you through all of this and I will ask you if you would want-... If you would want to move in with me..."
Sakura looked shocked-surprised up to her Sensei.
Had he really asked her to move in with him?
She grabbed his hands, that was still holding her chin and she lowered them down to hang on each side of his body, but she was still holding his hands in hers.
"Sensei..." she mumbled and looked up to him with tears in her eyes. "Sensei... I-..."
"Sakura!" Shizune's voice suddenly called behind them and Sakura let go of Kakashi's hands and brushed away her tears.
"Shizune..." Sakura said and tried to sound cheerful.
"Let's go in shall we..." Shizune said and opened the door to room 245 and walked in.
"Sakura... You don't have to answer me right now... Just think of it... I will be waiting..." Kakashi whispered to Sakura, who nodded and saw how Kakashi was about to turn and walk away.
She took his hand, making him to turn around to face her.
"Didn't you say that you wanted to support me...?" Sakura murmured to him.
Kakashi sighed and let Sakura drag him inside of the room and Shizune looked surprised to them.
"Kakashi-San...? What are you doing here?" Shizune asked.
"Supporting..." he told her.
"Oh... Um okay... If you rather want, you can wait outside..." Shizune said to him. "Becasue I will undress Sakura and I don't think it is appropriate for you to see her..."
"It's okay Shizune... He doesn't mind..." Sakura told her and let go of Kakashi's hand.
"You did never ask for my opinion..." Kakashi mumbled and watched Sakura walking towards Shizune.
"Well, if you are okay with it Sakura, I'm okay with it too..." Shizune said and glanced to Kakashi, before she told Sakura to undress herself.
Kakashi (who was leaning on the wall) turned his head away blushing faintly.
"Your baby must have grown so much these last four weeks, since I last saw you..." Shizune said, while stroking Sakura's stomach softly and Kakashi turned his head curious towards them.
What he saw made him want to turn his face back again, pretending that he hadn't seen anything. But Shizune had already spotted him looking at them while Sakura had climbe up on the gyn chair, so Kakashi began to glare down to the floor blushing even deeper.
`Why am I blushing? I have seen her before... Well not like this, but I have still seen her naked...´
"...I could feel it's first kick today... It was really faint though..." Sakura said happily, while Shizune examined Sakura's lower area.
"Do you want to know if it is a boy or a girl...?" Shizune asked and switched on the ultrasound.
"Well..." Sakura looked towards Kakashi, who was still glaring down to the floor, blushing. "Hai... I would want to know..."
Shizune smiled to her and putted the little 'reader' on Sakura's stomach and both of them looked to the little screen and both of them smiled to each other.
Kakashi (whos curiosity had got the better of him) began to walk slowly towards Sakura and Shizune, to see what they was smiling at. He stopped when he was just behind Shizune, who began to smile even wider to Sakura.
"It's a boy..." Shizune said excited.
Sakura looked at Kakashi, who had had come closer to them and she could she a smug smile under his mask. Almost like he told her; "Ha, I told you so!"
Sakura smiled softly up to Kakashi and heard how Shizune was writing somthing down on a clip board.
"You can dress yourself Sakura, we are finish..." Shizune said and Sakura nodded. "And Sakura... Are you sure that you don't know who the father is...?"
Sakura stopped to dress herself and looked to Shizune a bit stiffly.
Why was she asking, when she already knew the answer...?
"No I don't..." Sakura told Shizune and continued to dress herself.
Shizune sighed and looked a bit worried to Sakura.
"I was just wondering, because your baby boy has a chakra signature that resembles someone who lives in this village, but I just can't remember whoms..." Shizune said and Sakura looked shocked to her Shichou's first apprentice.
How was it possibly to feel a chakra signature that didn't resemble her own, when her child wasn't even born?
Sakura had heard that children can take after some of the fathers or the mothers chakra signatur after they are born, but Sakura had never heard that you could even feel it before the child was born.
Could it be that bad that Shizune recognized her unborn childs chakra signature with Kakashi's?
Sakura glanced from Shizune and then to Kakashi.
Should she tell Shizune?
Kakashi, who saw what battle Sakura had inside of her head, putted a friendly hand on her shoulder and he leaned forward and whispered in her ear.
"You can say what you want... But it's better if everything just came out..."
Sakura glanced to Kakashi and nodded.
"I'm sure that I don't know who the father is..." Sakura said and Shizune looked troubled but nodded.
Kakashi turned his head away from Sakura. Why didn't she just tell Shizune the truth?
That he had fucked her fellow apprentice and knocked her up. Sakura would (in the end) gain nothing by not telling Shizune the truth. It would only be Sakura's own down fall.
"Shizune-San, I-..." Kakashi began, but got elbowed in the ribs by Sakura, who was still dressing herself in her kimono.
Why was Sakura trying to prevent him from telling Shizune the truth?
"Did you want something, Kakashi-San...?" Shizune asked him.
"Eh... N-No... Well, I was just wondering how Sakura's child was doing..." Kakashi said after have received a deadly glare from Sakura.
"Oh..." Shizune said and raised an eyebrow at him. "Well, her baby boy is doing just fine and it quite surprised me... After all, Sakura have been through a lot..."
"Indeed..." Kakashi said and looked to Sakura who was trying to tie the obi around her waist, with out much luck.
"Kakashi-San... Can I ask you something...?" Shizune began and putted the clip board on the desk and Kakashi looked to her. "Is that a possibility that you-..."
"Ah! Look at the time!" Sakura suddenly burst out and Shizune and Kakashi looked to her. "We better get going... Don't we Kakashi?"
"Eh... A-Aaa..." he said and got pushed out of the room by Sakura.
"She you next time, Shizune!" Sakura called to Shizune, before Sakura too was out of the room.
"See you!" Shizune called after Sakura, who waved at the ebony haired woman, with the obi in her hand. "I just hope it will be a next time..."
~oOo~
Sakura sighed and looked up to the early evening sky.
"That was a close call..." she mumbled and looked to Kakashi, who was helping her with the obi and he thought it looked kind of strange to do it right outside of the hospital. "Sensei... Why was you about to say it...?"
"Sakura, I think they should know..." Kakashi told her and sighed, while putting his hands in the pockets. "It's just a metter of time before they will notice it..."
"It's about thirteen weeks left... So it can wait..." Sakura told him and corrected the obi Kakashi had helped to tie.
"Sakura... You don't understand... It can't-..."
"Haruno Sakura...!"
Both Sakura and Kakashi turned around and saw to their surprise a ANBU with a black cloak, behind them.
"Haruno Sakura... Hokage-Sama wishes to see you, now..." the ANBU said and then he disappeared.
Sakura looked a bit worried and bit her lip.
"Tsk... I guess I should be going then..." Sakura said and began to walk out of the hospital area.
"I will go with you..." Kakashi said and began to follow her.
"No! I mean... You don't have too..." Sakura said and Kakashi began to look suspicious down to her. "Naruto wanted to see me... It could just be something simple like that dinner he and Hinata invited me to..."
Sakura smiled up to Kakashi, a smile he always associate to her when she told everyone she cared for to not worry. A smile that was so much like his own.
"Jaane..." she said to him and began to walk towards Hokage's mansion, leaving Kakashi alone to his own problems.
Problems he couldn't solve on his own.
~oOo~
Sakura knocked on the door to the Hokage's office and then she entered.
"Why did you have to send ANBU after me, Baka...!" Sakura growled and then she froze to the spot.
"Haruno-San! That is not how you speak to the Hokage!" the hag Utatane Koharu said stony and looked to the pink haired Kunoichi in front of her and the blond Hokage looked forgiving to her.
"Um... Gomennasai*..." Sakura mumbled.
"And Hokage-Sama didn't send the ANBU..." the geezer Mitokado Homura said. "We did..."
"You... You did...? Why?" Sakura asked and she began to feel how her anger began to raise.
"Because we have heard disturbing news..." Koharu said sharply.
"Disturbing news...?" Sakuar repeated confused.
"Aaa... About what's lives inside of you..." Koharu continued and Sakura looked shocked to them.
`How could they possibly know?´
"I'm sorry Sakura... I kind of screamed my joy to Hinata and they-..." the blond Hokage Naruto began and then he looked away, too ashamed to even look at Sakura. "I understood that you wanted it as a secret... I'm sorry..."
Sakura sighed and looked down to the floor, biting her lip.
`What now...?´
"Haruno Sakura... We must force you to leave ANBU and also as Hokage-Sama's counsellor..." Homura said and looked to Sakura, who looked up to them shocked.
"What?" both Sakura and Naruto burst out.
"We can't have a pregnent ANBU running around here in Konoha and we certainly don't need a pregnet counsellor who is carrying a whore child...!" Koharu said and Sakura's mouth fell sightly open in surprise. "This is a disgrace to the whole society of Konoha!"
"You can't talk to Sakura like that!" Naruto told Koharu who gave the young Hokage a glare and Naruto become silent.
Sakura who was still too shock to even speak, just stood there and looked down to the floor. Waiting for them to tell her doom for carrying a child that was made out of a mistake. Her mistake.
"Haruno Sakura... Because of this event, you can no longer be a Shinobi anymore..." Homura said and this was those words that made Sakura to look up to them again.
"But... But being a Shinobi is my life! You can't take it away from me!" Sakura told them.
"It can't be helped... You have to choose... Either you leave your child and you will continue as a Shinobi after your childs birth..." Homura told Sakura and she swallowed hard. "Or you keep your child and you will have to face with the consequence... It's all up to you..."
Sakura looked to Naruto, who looked back to her.
She couldn't leave the child she had carried for all these months and began to feel something for, to some stranger that she didn't know. The stranger could be someone who couldn't give her child the right care or upbringing.
She had made her choice and her choice ment that she at least could see her friends, even if it wasn't out in the battlefield.
"I have made my choice... I will keep my child..." Sakura told them stony and the two elders nodded to her.
"Then we don't have any other choice in this matter..." Homura said and sighed. "Haruno-San, on Mars the 28th we need you to leave Konoha..."
Sakura looked confused to them, but didn't say a word, instead Naruto opened his mouth.
"What is that supposed to mean...?" Naruto asked with a frown.
"It means, Hokage-Sama... That Haruno Sakura is no longer a citizen of Konoha..." Koharu told Naruto who glared confused to the hag.
"Haruno Sakura! On Mars the 28th you are to travel to your new home and to your future husband..." Homura told Sakura, who just glared to them.
"Future... Husband...?" she mumbled.
"Aaa... The on you have been proposed to..."
Author note:
Sakura's dreams is about to get crushed, while the elders is about to get more power...
It may contain some spelling errors...
And some notes;
When I writes the text 'like this' it means that the person in question is thinking. When I writes like this the person emphasis just that word and when I writes like this that means flashbacks.
Mini Japanese dictionary and little more;
Arigatou = Thank you
Baka = Idiot
Chikishou = Damn it!
Daimyo = Japanese feudal lord
Gomennasai = I beg your pardon
Jaane = See you
Kouhai = Junior (at work or school)
Naa = Hey
Okaasan = Mother
Suman = Sorry
Warui = Sorry
Chapter 16 out! Phew, this was a really long chapter and I was up whole night just to be finish with it... And now I am going to bed and go up agin in 5 hours...
T-T, but what wouldn't I do to all my readers! *lol* ^o^
I always appreciate your reviews and the support you give me and also everyone who fav's, read and alert it! Thank You So Much! ^-^
Do feel free to ask me if something is bothering you.
Take Care! ^3^
Next Chapter: Need You Now