"Are you alright?" Yamato asks. His almond eyes watch her closely as he leans against the doorway of the bedroom, arms tucked across his chest. "You were kinda off at dinner tonight."
Sakura swept up the shattered remains of the vase that him and Naruto broke during their wrestling match. The kunoichi wills herself not to react too suddenly. She corrals the shards of glass into the dust pan before turning to him with a light smile. Delicate fingers brush pink locks from her face.
"I'm great. Really."
Sakura goes to give him a kiss on the lips as she passes by him, disposing off the broken vase into the trash. She puts the broom and dust pan back where they belong and goes to stand in front of Yamato. His eyes are little clouded from the sake but not enough to make a difference. He's always been alot better at handling alcohol than she is.
The pinkette wraps her arms around Yamato's waist and he sighs, returning her embrace. They sway gently, quietly in the living room almost like they're dancing. He kisses the top of her head.
"You just haven't seemed like yourself lately." He pulls away and looks at her, the beginnings of a frown tugging at his lips. "Like you're a million miles away."
Sakura hugs him close to her as they shuffle their feet together across his floor. It's late and she's tired, more mentally than physically. She wishes Yamato would just drop the whole thing.
If only he knew. If only her Captain knew that she chose him. That she wants this life instead of another. Sakura wants slow dancing in the living room with nothing but their heartbeats for music. She traded Kakashi for this. Because leaving Yamato would've been too painful, too regretful.
Liar, a voice hisses in the back of her head.
He chuckles and smooths the hair back from her forehead, tilting her chin up to look at him.
"You're doing it right now."
She needs to think of something and fast. Yamato is smart. Incredibly quick on his feet and responsive. Of course he's starting to notice. Sakura has worked alongside him long enough to know that he can sense things that are being left unsaid.
If she doesn't tread carefully, it'll all be over.
Sakura bites her lip. Her green eyes tremble lightly as she thinks of Kakashi's shoulder brushing up against hers as they wash dishes. She thinks of his rainwater scent and it makes her head swim.
"I've been thinking about him alot…"
Yamato cocks his head to the side. His eyes narrow suspiciously but only for a second. They revert back to their usual kind expression as he traces her cheek with the backs of his fingertips, understanding before she speaks..
"I can't get Sasuke Uchiha out of my head. Especially after tonight."
Sakura is lying through her teeth and she can hardly stand it. Sasuke is a traitor, a criminal, and unwelcomed. Her heart breaks for him every once in awhile but not because she loves him. Those days are long gone. But because he should be here. Because Sasuke should be training with Naruto in his spare time. They, all three of them, should be going to Ichiraku after missions and Kakashi should have his main pupil, the boy he tried to pull out of the dark with his bare hands.
As much as Sakura cares about Sai, it should've been Sasuke sitting at Yamato's table.
She lies to him about Sasuke being at the forefront of her thoughts lately. But the reasoning isn't completely false.
"I thought so," he mumbles quietly. Yamato leans his head against hers and looks into her eyes. Sakura wishes she could tell the truth.
"I hope I give you more than what he ever has, Sakura."
"Yamato," she says with a laugh of disbelief. Her fingers rub over his cheekbones softly. "Of course you do. Is that even a question?" She gives a sigh. "It's been a long time since I decided that he was no longer worth the aches."
"But you miss your teammate," he interjects. "And Sai reminds you of all the things that Sasuke could be if he had remained with Team Kakashi."
Sakura feigns deep contemplation. She pretends to be startled that he figured it out so quickly.
The kunoichi congratulates herself sarcastically for her ability to lie. She learned from the best sensei after all.
"It's an old wound, Yamato. Sometimes you just feel a ghost of the pain for no reason at all." She presses her lips to his and the Captain kisses back slowly. Beneath her hands, Sakura can feel him resigning to her confession. For now, the suspicious Yamato has have been satisfied.
"Forgive me for prying." The ninja smiles softly at her. "Now," he says cheerfully, taking her hand. "Off to bed!"
"To sleep?" she asks, exaggerating her excitedness at the idea of finally being able to call it a day.
Yamato smirks at her mischievously. And in that instant, Sakura reminds herself for the millionth time today that this is why she wants this life.
Now all that's left is to get rid of the need to remind herself in the first place.
"Does it matter?" he drawls smoothly.
The ninja gives her rump a nice tap and she laughs, stumbling into the bedroom as he shuts the door behind them.
Sakura's eyes open wildly. She can't move. She can't fucking move.
Her fingers desperately try to pry off whatever is holding her down in the dark. Fingernails scrape up wood splinters and she struggles helplessly. She can't even sit up.
"Yamato!" she screams as her eyes adjust to the dark.
The captain stands over the bed, his left arm sprouting his wood release into limbs that bind and constrict Sakura. Her ribs are crushing beneath his hold but she can't do anything but crack her fingernails into bloody stubs against the bark.
He drags her out of the sheets and she falls to the floor in a heap. His jutsu curls up her arms as she tries to scramble her way back onto the bed.
His grip tightens and she cries out, feeling her wrist break beneath the pressure.
This is a dream. This has to be a dream.
But the pain is too real for it to be her imagination. Yamato lifts her up from the floor and the tree limbs twist down to her ankles, ensnaring them tightly when she starts to flail her legs.
His almond eyes look at her but he's not seeing her. They're dark and hazy as he slams her up against the wall. The back of her head snaps against the hard surface and she sees stars.
"Yamato, stop! You're hurting me!"
He doesn't respond. The wood seems to try and squeeze the life out of her. But there's no life in his own eyes, no sign of him even recognizing her face as she kicks and screams for him to let her go.
He doesn't even realize anything that he's doing.
The conclusion hits her like a train wreck.
"Baby, stop," she gasps. "Wake up! Yamato, it's just a nightmare!"
A rib cracks and Sakura howls.
Emotionless and cold, Yamato simply stares up at Sakura, eyes clouded and unwavering.
"Please," she begs, painful tears slipping down her cheeks, "Wake up!"
Deciding that the enemy is making too much noise, Yamato thrusts his free hand upward and clenches her throat in his grasp. Sakura can't breathe. She struggles to take in air, wriggling within the confines of his wood release.
Her lungs burn but so do her eyes. Tears blind her but Yamato doesn't react, he simply looks back at her like a bug that needs to be crushed and strangles her harder.
She has to do something. He has to wake up or she's going to die.
Yamato is a soldier. And soldiers do not show mercy in combat.
Sakura just wishes she could get through to him. This isn't war. This is his bedroom.
Spots explode behind her eyelids and her heart begins to stutter. Not enough oxygen to her brain. She can feel the fight leaving her as Yamato nearly crushes her airway beneath his palm.
He sees the enemy looking back at him. He sees Yoshirou beneath the captivity of his wood release, not Sakura. And in the boundaries of his head, he can hear Akira screaming instead of her.
I'm gonna die, Sakura realizes as her limbs finally stop the struggle. She doesn't have the energy to keep resisting. The kunoichi fades in and out of consciousness.
She has to do something. She has to react or he's really going to take her life.
Yamato won't ever forgive himself.
And Kakashi just might kill him in return.
Sakura's desire to live burns brighter for just a moment longer as she thinks of his face and his mismatched eyes. She gives an earsplitting scream and rocks herself forward.
Her forehead comes slamming down onto his.
Pain splits her skull wide open and blood trickles down over her eyes. Yamato falls back onto the ground and the impact snaps him out of his nightmare. He groans on the floor, holding a hand to his aching head.
He blinks up at the ceiling slowly and then at his transformed arm. His gaze follows the trail of his jutsu to see Sakura pinned to the wall, blood dying her pink hair red as she takes desperately greedy gulps of air into her lungs.
"Oh my god." He releases the jutsu and Sakura crumples to the floor in a sweaty, broken heap. "Sakura, I never meant to-"
He tries to crawl over to her and reach out. He grabs her broken wrist and Sakura cries out, scurrying back against the wall, wrenching her hand from his grasp. She brings her knees to her chest. Yamato pulls back, frightened and sick with shame. The pink haired kunoichi looks at him with green horrified eyes.
"I need to look at the wound on your head, sweetheart, please. I am so sorry," he pleads.
Yamato reaches out for her one more time but Sakura stands up quickly, unsteady on her feet.
He throws himself at her and wraps his arms around her waist. He presses his face into her stomach and she winces as his head pushes against her cracked rib.
"Sakura, please," he begs, "I didn't mean to hurt you, I swear. "
She trembles beneath his touch. Her knees are barely strong enough to keep her upright.
Sakura pries herself away from him, unable to stand another moment beneath his pleading stare. So she runs.
The girl takes off into the hall and before Yamato can even get to his feet, he hears the front door open.
The Captain nearly trips on his way out of the room but he catches himself and skids after her. Crisp November air greets him at the doorway as he stares out into the night. She didn't even bother to put her sandals on. A trail of blood leads from the entry all the way down the stairs of his apartment complex before disappearing altogether.
"Sakura!" he calls out to the still air. "Sakura!"
He waits. He stands at the door and counts the seconds. Maybe she just needs a moment or two.
But Sakura doesn't return. His nightmare replays in his head like a horror movie but yet his eyes are open and he still feels like he's drowning. Ten minutes have passed.
Yamato kicks the door closed and sinks down against it, his head in hands. He pulls them back when blood coats his fingers from where his head has been split open.
"What I have done?" he moans into his palms. Crimson, both hers and his, smears across his cheeks. Yamato thinks about a trembling Sakura, absolutely terrified of the man that she shares a bed with when he tried to reach out to her.
He had tried to kill Sakura.
The Captain's entire body shakes with the realization that he had nearly strangled her to death with his own hands. He stares at them, red and guilty, before fisting them in his hair.
"Oh my god, what have I done?"
Kakashi groans and stumbles out of bed.
Goddammit. The one night he actually tries to get some sleep and someone has to knock.
The copy ninja grabs an undershirt from the floor and pulls it on, slipping his mask over his face as he sleepily treks through the hall. His visitor knocks a second time.
"Yeah, give me a second," he calls. Kakashi turns on the light in the kitchen before going to answer the door. He yawns as he swings it open.
But then his heart freezes in his chest as he stares out at Sakura, sweaty and shivering in the cold November breeze. Blood drips down from her forehead and onto the ground.
"Oh my god," he says, pulling her into the house. Sakura stumbles half-heartedly after him and she stares at nothing in particular, her eyes distant and unfeeling. It scares him more than the open wound on her face. Kakashi pulls down his mask and gently takes her face in her hands when she doesn't respond. The girl's eyes only fill up with tears as he makes her look at him. "What the hell happened to you?"
Sakura gives a sob and the floodgates open. She wraps her arms around herself and starts speaking in broken sentences, something about Yamato and nightmares and how he-she can't get the words out. She starts to hyperventilate and it's like she's waking up from a bad dream.
Delicate fingers touch the gash on her head and look at the blood. She takes in ragged breaths and the burning in her side from the broken rib sears it's way up her spine. Sakura sobs uncontrollably and Kakashi can't think of anything to do but to hold her.
He brings her into his chest and she holds on for dear life. Sakura trembles in his arms.
"Did you say Yamato did you this to you?" he asks against her pink hair. The only response she can give him is a whimper and wet tears staining the front of his shirt. "Okay, it's alright, you're safe now." He rubs his hand up and down her back slowly, whispering reassurances against the top of her head.
"Come on. Let's get you cleaned up."
Kakashi sweeps her up into his arms and he carries her to the bathroom. She lays limply against his chest, her eyes once again going unfocused.
"Can you stand for me?" he asks gently. Kakashi sets her feet down on the rug gently, holding her by her sides to make sure she won't fall over. Her knees have stopped shaking but she has yet to look at him. The ninja turns on the water in the bathtub. "Let's get you in the tub, okay?"
Kakashi slowly peels off her tshirt. The back of it sticks to her with sweat and blood stains the front of it. His keen nose picks up the scent of sandalwood all over her. His fingers gently smooth back her hair so he can take a look at her head wound.
How could he have done this to her? It's the most absurd thing he's ever heard.
But his primary concern is Sakura. He doesn't let his fingers linger or let his eyes wander. She doesn't need a lover right now. She needs a safe haven. And if he can't be anything else for her, he can be that.
Robotically, she steadies herself on his shoulders with her hands while he leans down and gets her out of her night shorts, one leg after the other. Sakura stands there in the underwear and he reaches over to turn off the faucet.
He touches her face gently.
"Hey, look at me." No response. "Sakura, please look at me."
Her eyes slide to his face absently.
"I need to get you in the bathtub and let me wash those clothes. Do you want to take the rest off by yourself?"
She looks at him as if he's speaking another language.
This is painful for Kakashi. He's only ever seen her act like this on one occasion and it was a scary time to know Sakura.
It was when Sasuke betrayed the Leaf. She didn't talk. She didn't eat. Just passively stared off into nothing and she just existed. Her eyes are like ghosts of that time period as she looks back at him now. And it terrifies him.
Kakashi slips her bra straps off her shoulders, unclasping the hooks and lets it fall to the rug. Once again, she wills herself to hold onto to his shoulders while he gently takes down her panties. He picks her up again in his arms and sits her down in the warm water of the bubble bath. Kakashi throws his leg over one side of the tub after rolling up his pant leg and he straddles the edge of it.
Gently, trying not to get soap into her eyes, he washes the blood from her hair.
The gash on her forehead has stopped bleeding and is beginning to close itself so it doesn't need stitches which is a good sign. She must be sending chakra up to kickstart the natural healing process. But Sakura simply stares at the bathroom tile behind him as he washes her neck and her face, gently, to get the blood stains off her skin.
"Sakura, I need you to tell me what else hurts you."
Her left arm lifts itself up and places her hand in his. The wrist has turned purple and started to swell. He picks it up tenderly and notices the splinters in her fingertips and the short, cracked remains of her fingernails.
"Anything else?" he asks sadly.
"My ribs," she says almost inaudibly. Kakashi reaches into the water and presses a hand to her side. She winces.
The copy ninja pulls his leg out of the water and grabs her clothes from the floor. Sakura sinks down into the bubbles, letting it comes up to her chin. She starts to tremble again.
Kakashi goes to put her garments to wash. The blood stains on them make him shiver as he pours soap on top of them and lets them soak.
He grips the edge of the washer machine until his knuckles turn white.
What the fuck happened over there? Kakashi was literally just at Yamato's house not even six hours ago and then this happens. She shows up at his door, covered in blood, no shoes on, and crying uncontrollably about how Yamato did this to her.
It's impossible. He knows better than anyone that Tenzou worships the ground that Sakura walks on. How could he muster up the will to hurt her? To hurt anyone he cares about?
The thought makes him sick. Kakashi pushes himself off the washer and goes to fetch the first aid kit from his closet. He returns to the bathroom and finds Sakura leaning her head back against the tile, eyes closed. One green iris opens when he enters.
She watches him perch himself back on the ledge of the tub.
Kakashi takes his time cleaning her up. He sets a bandage to that wound on her forehead before wrapping up her broken wrist. Then he gets a pair of tweezers and spends almost half an hour taking every single splinter out of her fingertips. He clips down the jagged edges of her fingernails to clean lines. He even washes the bottom of her feet which are filthy from running barefoot through Konoha.
"Thank you," she rasps when he seems to be done.
Accustomed to the silence, Kakashi jumps a bit. He packs the first aid kit away and stands, sighing deeply. The man shakes his head.
"No need for that. Are you ready to get out?"
The girl nods and stands, a little wobbly. The water has grown cold. He wraps her up in a towel and helps her out of the tub. Kakashi takes another towel and dries her hair with it gently.
"It was an accident," Sakura says quietly.
Kakashi decides not to answer. He simply drapes the second towel over her shoulders and turns the light off in the bathroom. His hand finds hers in the dark and he leads her out into the bedroom. He gets her to sit on the edge of his bed while he brings back her clothes.
"This is the only thing that's completely dry," he mentions, handing her the panties. "I can get you something else to wear in the meantime."
She nods and he rummages through his dresser, pulling out a clean long sleeve shinobi shirt. Kakashi helps her get it on, pulling it over her head as she painfully puts her arms through. Her entire body is sore and achey.
Kakashi gently pulls her hair out from where it got stuck beneath the collar of his shirt.
"How could I not be mad? He hurt you," he says suddenly.
"It was an accident," she says again.
"A broken rib and wrist along with a bloody gash on your head doesn't look like an accident, Sakura."
"He has bad dreams at night." Her voice shakes.
Kakashi rubs his face tiredly. He understands what she means a little too much for comfort.
But that doesn't settle the fire in his belly. He can't stand to look at her like this. In a matter of hours, she's managed to shrink into herself. To look small and fragile.
And by the look in her eyes, she's already been broken.
"He could've killed you."
She goes quiet again, losing the will to speak. The severity of tonight only increases when the words come out of somebody else's mouth. Sakura wants to be sick.
"I know a little something about nightmares, Sakura," he says after a few moments of silence while he fixes the bed for her. "And until he gets help, Yamato is dangerous to be around. Night terrors aren't something to be taken lightly. Especially for a shinobi."
But she's not listening. Sakura is far beyond his reach. He pulls back the covers on her side and with a little push, she climbs herself in. Kakashi tucks the covers around her. He smooths away the pink hair from her forehead as she turns over on her uninjured side and stares blankly at the wall.
"Please try and get some sleep."
The ninja reaches over her to grab his pillow. He's about to move away from her to go sleep on the couch. But a tiny hand comes and encircles his wrist as he turns on his heels.
He can't. Kakashi is too angry, too riled up from the nightmare that this evening has become to give her what she wants. He's too weak.
And to be honest, he can't face the morning. She'll want to forget and he can't let any of it go.
But her eyes draw him to her like magnets. He looks over at her from his shoulder and he wants to shake her until she comes alive again. The bed seems to swallow her up whole. And the light in her eyes has dulled down to something cold and wandering. Kakashi can hardly stand it.
"Stay. Please."
He considers this for a long time, weighing the options and the outcomes.
But his mind can't outrace his heart. She needs him to keep her safe through the night.
Kakashi sighs and goes back over to his side of the bed. He lays the pillow down and climbs in next to her. She moves over to settle against his chest and he wraps an arm around her as gently as he can to avoid her injured ribs.
Oh how ironic Kakashi's life has always been. Not even half a day earlier, Sakura was telling him that they were wrong. That they could never be the same and their first night together was nothing but a mistake.
The kunoichi shudders against the warmth of his skin and Kakashi pulls the covers over her tighter. He smooths her hair soothingly as she silently cries for the last time of the night. Her little fist clenches the front of his shirt tightly.
"He never meant to hurt me," she says, voice cracking.
"I know, love." He kisses the top of her head. "I know."
Kakashi waits until her breathing slows. He waits until she feels safe enough to sleep. Her arm drapes over him and her leg tangles up with his beneath the sheets.
But the ninja can't rest so easily. The sharingan implanted that image of her, terrified and lost as she stands in his doorway. And it haunts him.
His heart seizes up in his chest painfully and he tightens his grip on Sakura. Her pulse beats slowly against his side and he sucks in a deep breath as the panic that he refused to show her rises up in the dark and silence of his bedroom.
He could've killed her. Yamato could've easily taken the life right out of her. The dark, purpling bruises on her neck are evidence enough for that. And Kakashi would've never even seen it coming.
The thought of her not existing in a world where he does sends horrible chills up his spine.
How could Yamato have been so reckless? A shinobi should know the difference between nightmares that are manageable and nightmares that threaten, even in the daylight.
He put Sakura in danger. Yamato held her life in his hands and for the first time since he's led the team, Kakashi doubts his ability to keep her safe.
Anger rises up in his throat like bile and he keeps himself from cursing Yamato out loud because beside him, Sakura stirs. Her arm snakes around his neck and pulls him closer, mumbling under her breath in her sleep.
"Kakashi..."
Yamato's wood release crushes her. Sakura struggles to breathe.
His almond eyes stare coldly back at her and she wishes she could scream. But his fingers capture her throat and Sakura tries to gasp out a plea to Yamato.
Her windpipe cracks beneath his palm.
"You're a liar, Sakura. You're a filthy cheater."
The jonin's hair suddenly begins to fade into silver from the roots. He grows a few inches taller and the scent in the room changes to rainwater and freshly cut grass. The bark of Yamato's wood release begins to glow. Then it crackles and splits like lightning and Sakura can feel his hand slice through her body like a kunai knife. Sakura can smell the iron of her own blood.
A pair of mismatched eyes stare back at her when she uneasily lifts her head up, coughing up crimson until it splatters Kakashi's pale face. But it is fear in the stormy gray orb, not malice.
"Stop lying, Sakura."
She wakes up screaming.
Kakashi drops the newspaper onto the kitchen table and runs to the bedroom. He yanks the double doors open and sees Sakura sitting up in his bed, hands around her throat as she seems to realize that can she breathe properly. A few more fast seconds and she checks her chest, expecting a gaping hole to be spilling blood onto the sheets.
A sheen of sweat coats her pale face and Kakashi gives a sigh.
He goes over to her and sits on the edge of the bed. The girl immediately climbs into his lap and trembles. His strong arms snake around her and he kisses her pink hair softly, soothing her with kind words until she's ready to stop shaking.
"Only a dream, love." He tilts her chin upwards and makes her look at him. Jade eyes lighten and stop their quaking. Kakashi's thumb strokes away a lone tear as it curves down her cheek. "Besides," he says with a grin, "You're with me. Safest place in all of Konoha besides Hokage Tower itself. They don't call me Kakashi of the Sharingan for nothing." He leans in and whispers this last part, almost as if he's telling her a secret. The kunoichi rolls her eyes.
"Don't get smug with me. It's too early for that."
She scowls at him and the copy ninja merely smirks in return. For a moment, he makes her forget. He gets her to smile, even if it's only half-assed. But Kakashi makes progress and that's all that matters. As long as it gets her talking, he'll try anything.
"Are you hungry?" he asks, smoothing the pink hair back from her forehead to check the head wound. The kunoichi slaps his hand away and, a little embarrassed, crawls out of his arms and out of bed. She goes over to his dresser and stares at the mirror looking back at her. Sakura really is a mess.
Her playful manner evaporates quickly as she sees the purple and yellow bruises in the shape of a handprint splayed against her neck. She reaches up to touch it and her side aches in response.
Memories of Yamato last night bring bile up to her mouth and Sakura puts a hand over it, not trusting herself to speak.
Kakashi watches sadly. He almost had her.
"Come on," he says casually, stretching his arms above his head. His shoulder gives a loud pop. "Let's get some food in you."
Sakura doesn't want to eat. Sakura doesn't even want to move. She stares at herself in the mirror but then her eyes slide to Kakashi looking back at her. He doesn't wear a shirt, his chest and shoulder blades bare as well as his face. The kunoichi doesn't know if she'll ever stop losing her breath every time she looks at Kakashi without a mask on.
Sometimes he's just too beautiful for words.
He looks at her, afraid. And although his entire body contradicts that, the way he lazily carries himself and the sleepy yawn he just took, it's his lone gray eye that gives it away.
Everyone else would be scared to breathe around Sakura right now. They would be hesitant and cautious, treating her like a porcelain doll that can shatter at any time. And she knows that it would only make things worse.
But not Kakashi.
He's only afraid of her getting up and walking out. That's what makes Sakura force herself back to life and respond to him.
The man had taken her in, given her a bath and even took the time to remove every single splinter from her bloodied fingers. Without lecture, without pitied looks or reprimands, or awkward interjections about where they stand together, Kakashi selflessly took her in when she seeked shelter from the life she had previously chosen. It scattered around her feet in pieces and yet, he still kneels down and helps her pick up them up.
Sakura owes him.
She swallows her pride. Of all the places she could've gone last night, she felt like this was her only true option. Sakura craved Kakashi's steadiness. She wanted his hands and his worried gray eye. So she shoves down the guilt of sleeping in his arms last night.
Sakura forgets that she's not supposed to be within 15 feet of him unless absolutely necessary.
"Could you please put a shirt on?" she says with a tired eye roll. "It's distracting."
"No can do. My house, my rules."
He gives a wink and then leads the way to the kitchen. Sakura follows slowly behind him, a hand under his shinobi shirt as she heals her busted ribs just to ease the pain a few notches. The kunoichi nearly crashes into him when he stops abruptly, just to piss her off.
"You idiot. You almost made me mess up," Sakura mumbles as she pushes him aside so she can sit down. Kakashi chuckles as he watches her reach her hand back up his shirt to keep healing herself.
A sense of pride wells up in his chest when he looks her over, the pinkette adorning nothing but his long navy blue fatigue. She's covered in his body wash, in his scent after sleeping in his bed.
The copy ninja quickly turns around to hide the satisfied look on his face as he fixes her breakfast.
"I'm surprised that there's food in this house," she says nonchalantly. Besides some aches and soreness, her ribs will be fine now. Sakura moves on to healing her swollen wrist. The kunoichi watches Kakashi as she unfurls the bandages he wrapped around her broken bone.
"There wasn't until this morning," he replies coolly as he cracks an egg open over a bowl of rice.
"You didn't have to go to the trouble," she says quietly as her hand glows its medicinal green, hovering over her opposite wrist.
"Wasn't a trouble at all. You slept until one anyway. Didn't have anything better to do."
Sakura looks around wildly and finds the clock above the stove. It's 1:17 in the afternoon. The kunoichi groans.
"Tsunade is gonna kill me," she moans. Sakura can already hear the blonde woman cussing her out for not showing up to work. And she would have to lie her way out of it.
Yamato crosses her mind again and the medical ninjutsu flickers when her concentration goes elsewhere. Her hand begins to tremble. Kakashi notices from the corner of his eye.
"I went there this morning as well."
Sakura snaps her eyes up to him as he places the bowl in front of her and a bottle of soy sauce. The ninja turns back to the counter and cuts the green leaves off of some strawberries.
"What for?"
"To tell her you wouldn't be coming into work today." The toaster spews out two slices of bread. "And about Yamato's extreme case of PTSD."
"What?!" she cries shrilly. "You told her?!"
Kakashi doesn't even flinch. He places the fruit and toast onto a plate and slides it across the table to her.
"Mhmm. Do you want milk or orange juice?" he asks as if she didn't just scream at him. Kakashi pulls both cartons out of the fridge and holds them up for her to choose.
Sakura becomes irritated as he smiles, watching his eyes crinkle in return.
"Why the hell did you tell Tsunade, Kakashi?"
"I'm gonna go with milk. You like it more than orange juice." He sets the milk back into the fridge and takes a glass from the cabinet.
Sakura's jaw twitches and she grits her teeth.
"I asked you a question."
"So did I but you didn't answer. We're even." He smiles again as he pushes the cup of cold milk towards her. Kakashi leans against the counter, watching her through his stupid crinkled eyes, and crosses his arms.
"Will you be serious for five seconds!" she cries.
"I am being serious." That goddamn smile. Sakura is about to get up and smack it off.
"Kakashi, this is my life we're talking about!"
And then it's gone. The amused, slightly disinterested look on his face is gone and is replaced with the Kakashi that she's still a stranger to. He clenches his jaw and his one gray eye is the eye of a hurricane.
"Yes, Sakura, it is your life. And you almost lost it because Yamato doesn't want to bother people with his suffering."
"Are you sure you aren't talking about yourself?" she snaps back.
"I didn't try to kill you with my bare hands, did I?"
"You should've kept your mouth shut. Now Tsunade will be angry at him too and Yamato will know you told-"
"Sakura, wake up," he says with the slightest raise of his voice. Kakashi realizes his slip and sighs. He lowers his tone back down from a confrontational one. "I don't care if Tsunade gets mad at anyone. I don't care if Yamato knows that I told her, he endangered your life." His fingers grip the countertop tightly until they're stark white. "And believe me when I say, the night terrors don't stop. Yamato will start loosing his mind, even when he's awake if he doesn't talk to someone. It comprises his relationship with not only you but it comprises his life and the lives of his comrades if he goes out on a mission and he can't stop seeing blood on his hands."
She opens her mouth to protest but Kakashi cuts in. He keeps his cool but his jaw twitches in anger.
"PTSD does not give a damn if you slept with another man, Sakura. If you love him, even in the slightest bit, you will stand back and let Tsunade help him. Unless you want Yamato turning into me," for the first time Sakura hears Kakashi sound bitter, "he needs to talk to someone."
Sakura looks down at her breakfast as it starts to cool. She's ashamed of herself.
"Is that what happened to you?" Her voice is barely a whisper as she scratches absently at the surface of the table. She looks up to meet his gaze and Kakashi has to look away.
He swallows hard before speaking.
"I was alot worse than Yamato, Sakura."
Silence envelops them as the clock on the wall continues to tick. He can feel her eyes on him but he can't force himself to look up and meet her.
"The only reason I didn't hurt anybody that I cared about was because either they were already dead or I didn't allow anyone near me until I knew I could deal."
He takes a chance and peers out at her from behind his shaggy silver hair as it falls over his eyes. Sakura looks down at her hands in her lap sadly. Kakashi sighs.
He pushes himself off the counter and slowly goes over to sit next to her.
Like two magnets, Kakashi opens his arm out to her and she immediately falls into his side. She breathes in his scent and traces the faint scars on his forearm.
"I didn't mean to upset you. But I just-" he searches for the right words, "I need you to understand. Whatever happened, or happens, between us? This is so much greater than that."
She doesn't respond but continues to trace the raised, imperfect skin of the arm around her.
"Look at me."
Her eyes raise slowly and he leans his forehead against hers, cupping her face gently in his palm. She leans into his touch.
"He could've killed you. And I don't think I could've handled that." He closes his eyes and whispers to her, their breath mingling together as the air begins to charge between them. Sakura can't help but to flicker her gaze to his lips. "Sakura," she turns her attention back to his eyes, "I don't know what I would've done to Yamato if you had-" the words don't come out but they don't need to. Sakura reaches up and traces her fingers along his handsome cheekbones.
"But that pales in comparison to what it would've done to him when he woke up and realized that he killed you with his own hands."
The truth rattles through Sakura like an earthquake. Kakashi is right. She was being selfish. Yamato needed a kind of help that she couldn't give him. And Kakashi, of all people, was ready to help him get there.
"You're so much stronger than I am," she says in a raspy whisper as tears threaten her jade eyes. Kakashi gives a sad smiles and shakes his head.
"It's because I'm weak that I want him to be better."
Their skin is electrified where they touch and Kakashi can't help but curl his fingers into her hair, cupping the back of her neck gently. He is weak and he is selfish. But for Sakura? He'd be anything he needed to be.
His lips touch hers and Sakura kisses him back slowly, savoring. The ache in her chest, the hollowness in her bones, ebbs away until there is only Kakashi. There is only his bare chest as he pulls her against him. There is only his lips and the scent of rain on his skin.
Until there's a knock on his door.
Kakashi pulls away and hovers his lips over hers.
"I really need to put a do not disturb sign on the door handle," he mutters regrettably when the kiss halts. Sakura gives a sheepish smile and leans in for another. He kisses her back quickly before standing.
His nose wrinkles as he sniffs the air and his entire body tenses.
"What is it?" she asks, sensing the shift in his mood.
"It's Yamato. Go to the bedroom," he orders sternly.
Sakura's heart dips into her stomach and she gets up, racing to the double doors of Kakashi's room. She shuts them behind her and slides her back against them, concealing her chakra immediately.
Is she nervous because she doesn't want to get caught at Kakashi's?
Or is she scared to face Yamato?
She asks herself this over and over again until she hears the click of Kakashi's door open. Sakura quiets her mind and strains herself to hear them.
Kakashi had pulled on a masked undershirt that was hanging on the arm of the couch before answering. He swings it open and the other man stands there, a bandage on his head in the same spot as Sakura's wound. But that's not what startles Kakashi.
His eyes are red, dark circles underneath them and he looks like he's aged five years overnight.
It scares Kakashi because he thinks he's looking at a reflection of his younger self.
"Hey," he finally says. "You alright?"
Yamato looks up at his friend slowly and tries to mumble a response but he can't. Kakashi has never, in his entire life, seen the man this disheveled.
"Tsunade told me this morning that you're the one who told her about the-" Yamato swallows hard, "the incident. It makes sense that she would come here. I surely would've thought Naruto's but he wouldn't have really known how to act." The exhausted jonin tries to give a smile but it falters immediately.
His almond eyes look up at Kakashi hopefully. A twist of guilt twinges in the silver haired ninja's gut.
"Is she still here by any chance? I really need to speak with her."
From the privacy of his bedroom, Sakura's heart pounds in her chest.
She begs Kakashi not to let him know that she is. The kunoichi can't face him just yet.
The wound is still fresh. And that kiss is still unfinished, leaving a bad taste in her mouth as Yamato and Kakashi's voices mix together at the doorway.
"No," he lies easily. "She left early this morning to go back home."
"Right. Of course."
Yamato is ashamed. He's embarrassed and mortified that Kakashi knows what he did. But the copy ninja makes sure to look at Yamato the way he always does.
He doesn't need judgement passed on him. He doesn't need incredulous eyes on his back.
The Captain turns to leave but Kakashi puts a hand on his shoulder and stops him.
"Tenzou," he says quietly, giving the man's shoulder a squeeze. "Let her be for now. She's scared. And heartbroken."
This makes Yamato's hands tremble. He stares at them and clenches them into fists to keep them from shaking so much.
"But most of all," Kakashi continues slowly, "she's worried about you."
Yamato looks up at the sky, a desperate gesture as he tries to blink away the tears from his eyes.
"You need help, Tenzou," the copy ninja says gently. "She can't give you the kind you need."
"I never meant to-"
"I know, brother." The word startles Kakashi. It came out before he could stop himself.
And as much as he hates himself for hiding Sakura in his bedroom. As much as he loathes himself for the betrayal that he gives to Yamato every second of every day, he considers this word true.
"I just want to take care of her, Kakashi."
"Then do it. Let Tsunade help and you can take care of her by taking care of yourself."
The other ninja's hand reaches up and grips Kakashi's as it rests on his shoulder.
Tell me what to do, it says. A gesture Kakashi is all too familiar with when it comes to a certain long haired kunoichi with red eyes.
"Is she-" his hand drops from Kakashi's, "Is she gonna leave me?"
Yamato stops his trembling. He stops his timid, uncertain voice and replaces it with something that sounds almost like his original soothing rumble. Kakashi gives a half smile at this.
But the question haunts the copy ninja. He doesn't know the answer.
And he's not sure if he wants to know.
"Give her some time, Tenzou. She needs to heal on her own."
The young man nods appreciatively and takes his leave, slowly making his way down the stairs of Kakashi's apartment complex, arms tucked into the pockets of his civilian clothes.
The copy ninja goes back into his apartment and gives a sigh of relief, closing the door behind him. Sakura is already sitting back at the table when he gets to the kitchen, eating her breakfast quietly.
Kakashi sits across from her and as if they have been doing it since the beginning of time, the copy ninja opens up the newspaper and reads as they eat together. Sakura reaches over and steals sips from his orange juice after she's finished with her milk.
Time passes by pleasantly, silently. The afternoon sun shines in from the open windows and Sakura heals the bruises on her neck while Kakashi continues to read. Only after he finishes, folding it up, does he look at her.
No words are spoken. She smiles at him and he smiles back.
Her green eyes lighten at the edges and his heart pounds against his ribs.
Sakura gets up and walks into the living room, opening up the double doors of his bedroom. He watches from where he sits, his elbow on the table, chin in his palm.
She smirks at him and disappears into his room.
Chuckling to himself, Kakashi gets up and follows slowly, his hands in his pockets.
He closes the doors behind them and from somewhere inside, Sakura laughs.
Author's Note: Next chapter, Sakura realizes something is up with her body. And a visit to the clinic shatters everything.