A/N: Due to this chapter, and some future chapters, the rating has been increased from T to M. Here are my warnings: There is mention of nonconsensual sex - Anbu is a terrible terrible place, we can only imagine Root is worse because DANZO is the most evil person in the Naruto universe. Tobirama knew it. We've all seen it. In this story, Kakashi and his friend Yugao have both been victims of rape, there's likely more, but I won't deep dive into it too much. There is violence - the upcoming battle between Sakura and Kakashi is pretty brutal. There is murder (assassinations) and the whole point of the time travel is to prevent a massacre of an entire clan, that warrants rated M if nothing else. There is a miscarriage that has happened. I am personally a medical professional and have dealt with either myself, friends, or patients that are survivors of family being murdered, rape victims, miscarriages, depression, anxiety, PTSD - it affects so many people - you have no idea how many of the people around you have suffered some major blows - could be you too! And if that applies to you, you have my sympathy. But you should really get a therapist- the world has a lot of bad things happening in it and there's no shame in learning healthy coping techniques from a professional. Sakura is the medical professional in this story, she founded those Mental Health institutes - which I think in cannon is the best thing she's done, TBH. Every single shinobi has traumas and scars (just like military of today) and I'm hoping within this epic that those characters will find HEALTHY ways to deal with their pain. Sakura also has some pretty serious mental health issues that she's conveniently ignored. Good thing she's got friends that are determined to help her before she gets herself killed.
Oh and there is a Lemon in this chapter- because this is KakaSaku and there's always Lemons in these stories. I mean, that's why I adore this pairing...
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Chapter Seven: Mortal Wounds
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"So, read any good books lately?" Sakura asked.
Kakashi stared down at her with his visible eye. It wasn't the friendly, good humor kind of crinkle eye she was used to. It was a don't ask stupid questions , don't talk to me, I'm already doing this and and I don't want to kind of glare.
"Oookay," Sakura mumbled awkwardly. "I occasionally will read mystery novels, but I mostly read non-fiction — Medical text books, Physics, History, Chemistry, Biology." The silence grew between them and the gate for the Hatake estate was directly ahead.
"I don't have time to read for leisure," Kakashi answered finally. "I do research for my missions."
"You don't read Icha Icha?" Sakura asked, shyly. It was such a part of his personality, she couldn't imagine him without it.
"Like I said, research," Kakashi's responses was clipped.
Sakura missed a step, wondering if she interpreted that right. Did that mean he needed to know how to apply knowledge he'd gleaned from porn into his missions? Just what sort of missions would require….?
"We're here. Ten minutes warm up sound good to you?" Kakashi opened the front door and stepped inside.
"Where do you want to meet?" Sakura asked. Unsure if she should follow him inside or not. He didn't exactly invite her.
"You're a sensory ninja — find me." Kakashi shut the door in her face.
Sakura stood staring at the solid oak door for a moment. The Kakashi she knew liked to tease people, but this was straight up rude! She stepped back from the porch and went around the side of the house There was a little flower garden — it was overgrown now, but there was honeysuckle creeping over the fence and it smelled nice.
She dumped her bag in the overgrown garden area and started a few simple stretches. She might not do hundreds of pushups every day like her teammates, but she enjoyed her isometric strength and balance exercises. It felt like ten minutes had passed, so she laid her palm against the ground to find her wayward future Sensei.
He was high up in a tree about a quarter of a kilometer south. She normally didn't bother to hide her chakra, her reputation often proceeded her in battle these days. But today was about making a good impression, so she did her due diligence, masked her chakra and started the hunt.
She climbed a nearby tree and leaped to other trees in its proximity closing the gap towards the massive tree where Kakashi waited. She couldn't constantly track his location, her sensory skill was still new and unrefined. So hopefully, he wouldn't go too far.
He'd be able to see past her masked chakra with the Sharingan, but at least he'd know she put in the effort. She found the tree, but couldn't see him. She threw a kunai towards where he'd been and when the kunai thudded into the tree, she felt him behind her — a kunai poking into her left kidney, slowing sliding in — a mortal wound. It hurt like hell, her insides being shredded as the blade sunk deeper.
This was a battle to prove her strength and she couldn't afford to hold back.
Sakura twisted out of Kakashi's grasp, grabbed his wrist and broke it with her monstrous strength. She released her Byakugou seal unleashing Creation Rebirth as black stripes formed down her face, arms, back, legs. Her kidney was healed in an instant. She met gray and red/black eyes. He stepped back in surprise before he refocused and she felt herself mesmerized by his Sharingan. She broke away and did a substitution before he could use Kamui and send her to another dimension. Who knew how many enemies he'd trapped within that pocket dimension?
She could sense he was in pain with his broken wrist, but that didn't seem to slow him down any. Once she reached the ground, he was there, hidden in the Earth — a move she remembered well. He was one of the few shinobi capable of single-hand seals. With chakra laced knuckles she smashed the ground, opening up a chasm and revealing the Copy Nin.
"Time out!" Sakura shouted. "Let me fix your wrist!"
She felt him flying towards her and even if she had wanted to dodge, wouldn't have moved fast enough as his sword slammed into her back and upper arm. Her left arm dangled mostly severed aside from a few tendons in the shoulder. She stepped back and with her Byakugou still active, her arm mended itself almost instantaneously.
"All right," Kakashi said. He stood before her, both hands raised above his head — his right swollen grotesquely. "I've never seen anyone recover from an injury like that. I delivered two mortal blows."
"I know — the kidney and the brachial artery." Sakura approached with her hands raised also in surrender. "Can I heal your wrist?"
He nodded.
Sakura's hand glowed green as she circled his wrist and forearm, mending the crushed bones, muscles, blood vessels, and nerves. She stepped back and closed off her seal.
"Do you use that in every battle?" Kakashi covered his left eye with his forehead protector. "I've never seen anything like it. Is it Fuinjutsu?"
Sakura nodded. "Why did you try to kill me?"
"You said you were the greatest medical ninja of your time." He gestured towards her diamond seal. "So — every battle?"
"No. It's usually not necessary," Sakura explained. It was obvious she had his attention and his interest now. "My Master calls it the Strength of a Hundred Healings — though that's not really descriptive enough — I healed an entire army once between my seal and my summoning creature."
"What's the cost?"
"What do you mean?"
"My Sensei used Fuinjutsu as well— the Reaper Death Seal," Kakashi said. "The price was his life."
"Ah, yes, when he sealed the Yang part of the Nine tails inside of Naruto and the Yin part inside himself." Sakura looked off into the distance. "I had thought about trying to travel back to that time — save Lord Fourth— save my friend's father, but I didn't know enough about the events." She looked over at him. "Wasn't sure who I could go to as allies. A fourteen year old you would be even less likely to believe me than a twenty year old you."
Kakashi sat on the ground and stretched out. "I'm just going to lay here a bit and question my sanity."
Sakura laid down next to him. "You can only use your Sharingan for a limited amount of time before it drains your chakra. Whenever I use the Strength of a Hundred Healings it shortens my maximum lifespan. My Master is in her mid-sixties, but doesn't look a day older than thirty. When her seal is inactivated —- which has only happened once — she looks to be her nineties. So, I won't live to be a hundred, but what shinobi does?"
He was silent for a long while and Sakura at first thought he'd gone to sleep. Then he turned towards her, his charcoal gaze the familiar calculating gleam she was so familiar with. "Look. I'm going out on a limb here. Between the bangles, my dogs, and the most insane fifteen minute battle I've engaged in, I'm going to give you the benefit of a doubt and believe your crazy story. I like Shisui and Itachi— I'd prefer if their entire family didn't get slaughtered. But I have my own missions — I can't just help you with your crusade."
"What can I do?" Sakura asked.
"The Hokage and the leader of Anbu are plotting against one another," Kakashi explained.
"Ah, Danzo's power grab. He is the man responsible for the massacre. Perhaps our missions can coincide. He sacrificed all those lives so that he could harvest their Sharingans. He gets them implanted in his right arm — hundreds of eyes. He uses Orochimaru to do the surgery."
"That's…gross." Kakashi scrunched his nose and rubbed it over his mask. "Lord Third tried reasoning with me— I think I believe him. He wants me to infiltrate Root — an even more sinister division of Anbu that Danzo runs. Danzo wants me to take over Anbu— I think he thinks he'll be Hokage soon enough and that there will be a job opening. Or he's trying to blindside me — fool me into a sense of comfort. There are plenty of older Anbu more appropriate to run the division."
"I didn't calculate killing Danzo into the equation, but it might be the only way to avoid the massacre." Sakura tried to run through the scenarios in her mind, but there were too many algorithms. "It might not happen the same way, but he will want to eliminate any threats to his position and harvest more power for himself. Men like that never stop until they are dead. He killed Shisui's grandfather to take his eye — that's why he has that bandaged eye. I bet he protested when Fugaku argued for you to keep Obito's eye."
Kakashi's hand reflexively covered his left eye. "He did."
"Danzo wanted it for himself," Sakura reasoned. "The original Sharingan he stole is being rejected so he needs a replacement. That's why Shisui is in danger — he has the same powers of persuasion his grandfather had."
"I need a partner," Kakashi said, suddenly.
Sakura sat up and looked down at him. They were closer than she realized. This Kakashi wasn't quite as bulky as her Kakashi, but he was tone and strong. She always knew he was good looking, but prior to her little time travel adventure, had never thought of him in terms of attraction. She was having a hard time thinking of him without feeling magnetically drawn to him.
"You'll need top level clearance which Lord Third can provide. Shisui and you will still maintain your affiliation. Say he recruited you from one of the smaller villages allied with the Leaf. Though, your hair — you need to pick a color — red, black— anything but pink."
"Fine. I pick yellow-blond," Sakura smiled, thinking of Naruto's hair color.
Kakashi stared up at her. "I guess that would work with your skin tone. You can't go around wearing a transformation genjutsu. It's just asking to be noticed by the Uchiha police."
"What do you need a partner for exactly?"
"To infiltrate Root. Though, if it's darker than Anbu, I have to warn you— I'm not sure you're cut out for it, Sakura." Kakashi sat up and reached for her face, Sakura flinched away from his touch. "You asked about the books I read. I do read Icha Icha. Half of my missions for Anbu have been assassinations. But the other infiltration missions — I've been seducing the enemy since I was fourteen."
Sakura's mouth literally fell open. "No," she whispered, shocked, heart-broken. She thought about her mental health clinics and how teens couldn't legally consent to sex until they were at least eighteen. Which meant…. "I'm so sorry."
Kakashi shrugged. "It is what it is. But, for new recruits, especially the women, there is a special training required."
"Seduction training?" Sakura asked. All the kunoichi had taken a course under Shizune several years back. It discussed some of the unsavory history of the shinobi tactics. It was better to know how to incapacitate a target before having to have sex with them, but the possibility that it could happen was discussed as well as ways to get out of the situation. It had been forbidden for decades to force shinobi to use their bodies in that way. "Of course Danzo would require that."
She gasped and she had to resist taking Kakashi's hand. "Did you—?"
He nodded. "It wasn't pleasant, but it was a long time ago. There's a teammate of mine — Foxy— she'd found a clever way to make it less awful. Our friend Lion volunteered. He's the one that "trains" her, but unfortunately, sometimes Danzo and his more senior Anbu will observe."
"Voyer," Sakura spat. She could feel her temper flaring and she wanted to smash something. Change of plans. Stop the Uchiha massacre and kill Danzo. Sorry, Sasuke— you won't have that privilege anymore.
"So, if Root is even darker than Anbu, you need to know that will probably happen," Kakashi said.
"With who? With Danzo and his henchmen? No thanks. I'd just send a chakra blade to their carotid and kill them when they tried something," Sakura said.
"I could request to be the trainer." Kakashi pointed at the silver bangles on her wrists. "I don't know how close we were in your time, but if I gave you those bangles, I can guess what my feelings were."
"What exactly do you think those feelings were?"
"Those are a family heirloom. They are only to be passed down to the woman you love," Kakashi said. He lifted his forehead protector and looked at her with both mismatched eyes. "What exactly were we, Sakura Haruno?"
These were heavy feelings. Did this Kakashi just expect her to have sex with him in front of an audience like it was just some simple task? What did her Kakashi mean by giving her those bangles? Had he given up on finding a life partner so gave them to her instead? How did this Kakashi know her surname?
"You're like an open book," Kakashi murmured. "I can practically see the questions swimming around in your mind. And if you want to know what gave you away— it was your caring for Naruto— you mentioned him earlier. And if you're from fourteen years in the future, you'd be between five and seven in this time. I'd watched the boy's class released from the academy yesterday. And wouldn't you know, he kept chatting to little Sakura-chan and Sasuke-ass hole while they waited to be picked up. It got me thinking — if you're from the future and concerned about preventing a great tragedy to the Uchiha clan and there's this mysterious woman who keeps doing nice things for Naruto these past few days — what pink-haired girl training to become a shinobi would care about both of them."
"You are a genius," Sakura said, laying back and staring up at the trees. "It's one of the reasons I needed you for my mission to succeed."
"So, do we have an arrangement? I'll help you stop the massacre and you help me infiltrate Root?" Kakashi asked.
"I'll do whatever it takes," Sakura vowed.
"Okay." Kakashi shifted so that his arms were on either side of Sakura's head, his body hovered inches above hers. His eyes looked directly into hers. "So do you normally walk around without a bra? I did enjoy that little surprise at the market yesterday."
"I hadn't done my laundry. I wasn't supposed to run into anyone," Sakura answered. She could feel the heat radiating off him. This was different — this wasn't like when her Kakashi got into her space. The butterflies in her stomach made her think of how she felt around Sasuke on their long-ago dates before he left after the war.
"I see. And are you a virgin, Sakura? Is it going to be a problem having sex with me?" Kakashi asked. "And having sex with me while others are watching?"
"I'll do what it takes," Sakura repeated.
"You didn't answer my question." Kakashi's eyes darkened.
"Don't you have to be somewhere?" Sakura murmured. She looked away, unable to bear the intensity of his gaze. She survived her arm being torn off, but being stared at like that was too much.
"I can be late." He leaned down, his cloth covered nose and mouth pressed against the side of her throat. The weight of his body pressed against hers. "What do you think? You want to have sex in the open field with nature all around?"
She wanted to have sex in a nice comfortable bed, after being wined and dined by a man that loved her. But, this mission wasn't about her — it was about making life better for her friends. They were what mattered. "If that's what it takes."
Kakashi shifted so that he was sitting beside her. "Not exactly the response that gets the blood pumping, Sakura." He ran his fingers through his unruly silver hair. "I don't know you, Sakura. But my future self does, and you're important enough that he gave you mother's bangles. I would apologize for stabbing you and slicing off your arm, but I'm not really sorry considering you're fine and I got to see a goddess level power."
She took a deep breath and steeled herself. She rose to a sitting position, drawing her knees under her chin and wrapping her arms around her legs, hugging herself. "I'm not a virgin, okay? I've had sex — once. It wasn't great. But then, it's not supposed to be the first time, right? So it's not a big deal."
"My first time wasn't great either," Kakashi confessed. "It was pretty fucking awful actually. Lots of blood. Lots of pain."
Sakura stared at him, heart clenched in pain for him. Who was she to complain? She reached for him —- always drawn to the men carrying the biggest burden. Her fingers ghosted along his temple, brushing an errant hair away from where it clung to his forehead. "This isn't something I anticipated for this mission," Sakura confessed. "And while you don't know me — I do know you. Or at least an older version of you. If I have to train with someone at having sex and have to go through the embarrassment of performing in front of an audience — there is no one I would feel more comfortable with than you."
The simmering anger that had tensed his shoulders eased at her words. "Have you ever seen under my mask?" Kakashi asked quietly.
Sakura shook her head.
"Did you ever ask?"
"Not with any seriousness," Sakura admitted.
"You should ask me now. Here — in the land of my ancestors."
"Kakashi? Will you take off your mask?"
He slipped it down and stared back her her, face bare. He had fine bones, a straight nose, full lips, strong jaw. There was the tiniest mole on the left side of his chin. And when he laughed at her expression she could see his teeth were straight, very white, and his canines looked extra sharp. "Not what you expected?"
"I'm not sure I had any expectations." Sakura reached for his face, and he let her, brush her fingers over his scar — it was deeper than she realized. Then his cheeks, his jaw, her thumb over his bottom lip. "I mean, it's totally you. I traveled through time to know this version of you."
Kakashi opened his mouth and caught Sakura's thumb between his teeth. She laughed at the unexpected action. "Can I kiss you, Sakura Haruno?"
Sakura placed her palms on either side of Kakashi's face and leaned towards him and kissed him. He may have asked, but she was going to be the one to initiate this. He started to kiss her back. His hands grasped her hips, picked her up and settled her on his lap.
Seeing Kakashi's unmasked face was an unexpected thrill and knowing that her adventure in the past might very well be her last — the thought of having sex — especially if it was better than her only other experience in this beautiful field of wildflowers, surrounded by the giant trees of her homeland with one of her most precious friends — sounded like a good idea.
She reached for the hem of his shirt and started to pulled it off, but Kakashi beat her too it, ripping it over his head in a single jerk. "Your turn," he murmured. Sakura started to pull off her shirt, but the part where the sword had cut fell off, first, causing her to feel momentary confusion.
"I'll buy you a new shirt," Kakashi offered, helping her remove the rest of it. Her breasts were bound with bandages and Kakashi tisked. He pulled his kunai out of his holster and sliced open the front of the bandages, letting them fall to the grass and revealing her chest for his greedy eyes. He leaned down his head and took one of his breasts into his mouth, his tongue and teeth caressing her erect nipple.
Sakura's fingers slid through his pale, platinum hair, enjoying the soft, silky tangles. She knocked Kakashi over, flat on his back and straddled him, pulling his pants down while he watched her, his half-lidded eyes indicative of his passion and not his drowsiness. She fumbled with his belt before managing to free him.
She took a moment to enjoy the scenario. Sprawled below her, Kakashi Hatake — in the hay-day of his Anbu service to Konoha — lay completed naked and exposed before her eyes. Then his hands were at her waist and she was just as naked as him. He seemed to enjoy what he saw and Sakura said a quick prayer of thanks to God for granting the two of them youth, health, and excitable libidos.
Kakashi flipped them over so that she was on her back. Before she could protest the change, he grinned down at her, mesmerizing her with his beauty before his face disappeared in her crotch and all she could see was his wild silver hair and feel his mouth exploring her nether regions.
"I want you, Kakashi. Not just your mouth — but you," Sakura whispered, feeling desperate. She reached for his hips, fingers brushing his groin. This was so different from her one and only prior experience — less clumsy.
"Alright," Kakashi said, sounding breathless.
Then she could feel just the tip of him at her entrance, he looked down at her then, charcoal on one side and red/black on the other and with their eyes locked on each other, she felt him sliding inside of her folds. It was so tight at first, but then when he was fully sheathed, he waited a few seconds, letting her get accustomed to his size.
"Do you want me to unload inside or outside?"
"Inside, I have protection," Sakura explained. She'd had an IUD placed months ago. After what happened before….
He kissed her again, and she could taste herself on his tongue as he deepened the kiss. He ended the kiss and looked down at her again. "Ready?" She nodded and he pulled out and then entered in a steady rhythm.
She wasn't sure how much time passed that she just laid there, feeling shivers down her whole body, hugging Kakashi's against her while he remained inside her, softened. It was hot and sticky.
"So, was it better than your first time?" Kakashi asked, his voice muffled where his lips were pressed to the swell of her breast. He shifted so that he could meet her eyes again. "Certainly better than mine."
"Definitely," Sakura agreed. She stroked her fingers lightly down his back, tracing over his slick skin.
"Unfortunately, the experience won't always be so nice," Kakashi warned. "This was lovemaking. You can thank those research books for this. I wanted you to have this first." He gestured towards his unmasked face. "I wanted you to know what was underneath. If we have to perform, there are certain ways we can angle our bodies that help shield ourselves better."
"It's hard to pay attention when your penis is still inside me," Sakura murmured, feeling dizzy.
Kakashi laughed and pulled outside and off from her. "Come in, let's go wash up. Then I really need to get going. Do you have any spare clothes?"
Sakura nodded. "In my bag, but you cut through my bindings."
"Sorry- not sorry." His right hand reached to cup her breast and Sakura batted it away gently. He sighed. "You're right, I've got that meeting."
They shared a shower together, but kept their hands off one another. It was clear they both appreciated the view, but it was a weird scenario. They weren't a couple —were they? Together, they were going to change the past and hopefully the future.
"Do you know what you'll need to color your hair? The yellow-blond?" Kakashi had already put back on pants and his mask. He was slowly putting on his shirt. "You'll need a surname too."
"I thought I could use Namikaze, it would make my affiliation with the Leaf more believable when we talk to the Third. It's a secretive clan and it will solve the mystery of Naruto's friendly visits. I'm sure he'd suggest a different family name when he gives me credentials. And Danzo would want the power. And I can make my own dye." Sakura thought about the honey suckle in the yard. It would be an useful ingredient for the shade she had in mind. "Is it okay if I rummage through your cabinets? See if there's any other components you have here before I go off to the store?"
"Help yourself," Kakashi said. He leaned his hip against the wall, ran his fingers through his tussled hair and stared down at her, his mask firmly in place. "Just— don't fall in love with me, okay, Sakura? I'll do what I can to protect you — because you're obviously important to me in the future — but loving me will only get you killed." He stalked towards her, touched her pink hair and watched it slip through his fingers. "Not sure how I'll feel about the blond, but then again, before today I didn't have any opinions about pink."
"Don't worry, Kakashi. I won't do something as asinine as fall in love with you," Sakura assured him. She clenched her hand so tightly she felt her knuckles crack. She always jumped heart-first into things and realized only now, that she'd already been in love with him, but not him him, the him she left crying out for her in vain at the cave.
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Present
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The door to the Hokage office flew open and Ino Yamanaka stormed in with her husband Sai close on her heels. Shikamaru strolled in after them. "Ino would like an audience with you. I tried real hard to stop her," he said with a lazy drawl, his hands shoved into his pockets.
If Kakashi actually wanted to prevent unannounced visitors, he'd need to hire someone other than Shikamaru for the job.
"Fine," Kakashi said, watching the blond practically on fire with fury. "You're dismissed Shikamaru. Why don't you take the afternoon off? You've been reading through those files all day."
"Sure thing," Shikamaru said, his dark eyes lingered on Ino momentarily before he closed the door behind him.
"I would like to apologize in advance, Lord Hokage," Sai said. "She invaded my mind last night when I was distracted."
"It's fine, Sai." Kakashi shifted his gaze from the Anbu leader to the new Head of Intelligence. "To what do I owe this pleasure, Ino?"
"She left? Like left-left?" Ino demanded. She gestured towards her husband. "This one's brain is too guarded so I couldn't get all the details. But wherever she is— wherever the retrieval mission is — sign me up."
"You're the one that gave me the note. You didn't read it?" Kakashi was surprised.
Sai pulled out one of the chairs and guided Ino to sit, he then stood behind her, his hands resting on her shoulders in support. "I knew she was depressed, but I didn't think she'd do anything stupid."
"Because of Sasuke?" Kakashi pressed.
"No! Not because of that idiot—well, maybe sort of because of that idiot," Ino trailed off. She looked towards the large window at the view of the Hokage Mountain carvings. "She never got over the miscarriage."
"What?" Kakashi stared at Ino in shock. It shouldn't have been surprising to learn Sakura had been intimate with Sasuke, but that she was pregnant and he had no idea. "When was this?"
"Oh, three or four months after he left. She was only in the first trimester and it's not that uncommon, but she took it hard. Blamed herself." Ino turned back towards him, eyes brimming with tears. "I should have known she wasn't over it. Working those excessive hours. She wouldn't even go out with me to the bars anymore." She slammed her fists against Kakashi's desk. "She's the founder of those damn mental health clinics and she didn't even take care of her own depression!"
"I do not feel that Sakura is suicidal," Sai stated. "In fact, I believe her taking action — like this foolish endeavor is actually a sign that she's recovering her confidence."
"Have you been going to the mental health clinics?" Kakashi asked, surprised by the insight. He hadn't sought any therapy himself, but he knew he was one of Sakura's motivations behind the project. He'd gotten used to his ghosts.
"It is quite helpful," Sai admitted.
"Is Sasuke aware?" Kakashi asked, turning back to Ino. "Does he know?"
"How could he? He didn't exactly leave a forwarding address and he doesn't use a phone. Only Shizune and I knew." She gestured between Sai and Kakashi. "And now you two."
Kakashi leaned back in his chair and rested his chin on his folded hands as he let his mind process the additional details. He'd hoped, maybe he'd have new memories, but nothing had changed in his mind— that he knew of. Whatever changes Sakura made, hadn't reached their timeline yet. His gaze drifted to the secured drawer of his desk — the time artifact. It would be ready in five days. Sure, it might be nice to stop the massacre, but he wasn't willing to risk his precious friend.
"Let me ask you something, Kakashi," Ino said, interrupting his musings. "What is Sakura to you?"
He started to say she was his precious friend— which was true. But seeing her vanish before his eyes had caused an uneasy gnawing sensation that he couldn't quite shake. Sakura had been his precious student, then teammate, then friend. And to be honest, things changed the moment he awakened Susanoo. While Obito had given him the temporary ability — he'd only manifested the ultimate protective technique when Sakura had been in danger. The intensity of his feelings for her made it possible. "She's important."
Now was not the time to label his complicated feelings for the pink-haired kunoichi. Now was the time to focus on making sure she returned home — unscathed.
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