Chapter 10

'Damn it, gotta pee.'

Sakura whined silently to herself as she crawled out of the warmth and comfort of her oversized bed. She recoiled and her toes curled instinctively when her bare feet hit the cool wooden floor and quickly made her way out of the room and to her bathroom.

The sudden sound of a mixed mumble and low groan stopped her in her tracks before she reached the bathroom door.

The sounds were coming from Kakashi's room.

Sakura tiptoed her way over to the closed bedroom door to listen, half for curiosity's sake and half to see if there was an actual cause for concern. After a few more seconds of listening to the combination of sounds and mumbles, none that made any sense to her, she concluded that he must just be dreaming and talking in his sleep.

'That's kinda cute. I wonder what exactly he's dreaming about?' she thought to herself with a smile as she made her way back to the bathroom to quickly attend to her business and retreat back to her room and into warm bed.

It had been three days since his outburst in his office and he had since been kind of sullen and withdrawn. It was nice to know he seemed okay, even if was just him mumbling in his sleep.

"Please, no! Don't! You can't!"

Sakura froze the moment she stepped out of the bathroom. The shouts were coming from Kakashi's room sent the bodyguard into autopilot as she turned and ran down the hall. All but kicking in the door, she continued to hear Kakashi shout out in distress as she scanned the room for a threat or enemy.

But there was no danger in sight.

'What the hell?!'

She turned her attention to her left to the king sized bed and found Kakashi thrashing around half under his comforter. Sakura ran to the edge of the bed and realized instantly that he was still asleep.

'He's having a nightmare!'

"Kakashi! Wake up!" she called out as she reached out to grab his flailing arm, "Please wake up! You're not in any danger! You're safe with me!"

Her words had no effect as she had to practically crawl onto the huge bed to pull him towards her in attempt to stop his violent jerking and to stop him incase he hurt himself.

"Please, don't die!" he shouted again, "You can't die!"

Sakura stared down with wide eyes at his unconscious pleas. His voice sounded so broken and it struck a chord within her.

"Kakashi! I'm here! It's me, Sakura! I'm here! Please wake up! No one is dying!" she called out again, concern beginning to find its way into her voice.

'What's got him so scared?!'

Suddenly Kakashi reached out with his free hand and grasped her upper arm tightly and yanked her down on top of him in a crushing embrace.

"Kakashi?!" she gasped as she tried to wiggle out of his crushing hold to no avail.

'Damn, he's scary strong. Please let go, please let me go!'

"Sakura?!" his voice alert and clear as he spoke her name.

Sakura felt him immediately release her from his hold. She quickly sat up and crawled off of him. She looked down at him in the dim light of the room to find he was staring wide eye back up to her.

"It's me, Kakashi… You're safe." she breathed as she reached out and touched his shoulder, "Are you okay?"

He didn't reply right away as he continued to lay there looking up at her like he had seen some type of ghost.

"What are you doing in here?" he asked, clearly confused.

'Does he not remember that he was just having a violent nightmare?!

"I woke up to go to the bathroom and I heard you practically screaming! I thought you were in danger, Kakashi… I ran in here to find you flailing about in your sleep. You must have been having a nightmare, right?" she explained as she drew her hand back.

She suddenly realized that Kakashi wasn't wearing a shirt as he sat up in bed next to her. She was suddenly thankful for the near darkness as she felt her cheek heat up at the sight of his toned chest and abs.

'Oh my…'

She silently scolded herself for admiring him in a obviously inappropriate moment.

'Get. It. Together.'

"I'm sorry I scared you like that." he whispered quietly as he looked down at his trembling hands before he clenched them tightly.

"Do you have nightmares like this regularly?" she asked as she shifted to sit cross legged next him on the large bed.

Kakashi continued to stare at his hands in the dim light for a moment before he looked up to find those fierce green eyes studying him closely.

"Yeah." he admitted with a small, almost ashamed nod.

Sakura's face scrunched up slightly as if the answer hurt her and he felt guilty for some odd reason then.

"This is the reason you've been looking like hell lately, right?" she asked next, "You're not sleeping because of the nightmares?"

He only nodded again in acknowledgment to her question as he looked away from her and out to the floor to ceiling windows to his left. He heard a quiet sigh leave the woman. In that moment he knew why he felt guilty.

"Just how long has this been going on for, Kakashi?" she whispered, "Why didn't you tell me?"

Kakashi just let out a low groan as he rubbed his face. He was exhausted and knew he wasn't going to be able to get back to sleep anytime soon. Not because Sakura was currently sitting next to him questioning him, but because he couldn't get the images of this new nightmare he's been experiencing lately out of his head.

-flash back to the nightmare-

"Kakashi! Get down!" Sakura yelled at him as she shoved him down and behind her.

The sound of bullets firing back and forth deafened his shouts back to the pinkette.

"Sakura! No!"

The next thing he saw when he opened his eyes was Sakura crumbled in front of him and the sounds of gunfire suddenly gone. He crawled to her side and found a pool of blood coming out from under her. He started violently shaking as he turned her over to check on her and gasped when he saw her entire front drenched in blood as well as her face bleeding from a deep cut on her cheek.

"Oh god, Sakura!" he cried out.

"It's okay, Kakashi…" Sakura suddenly whispered as he held her, "I did my job. I'll die knowing I was able to protect you."

"Please, no! Don't! You can't!"

Sakura coughed violently a couple of times as he watched blood leak from the corners of her lips. He reached up and swiped always the trail of blood with his thumb.

"You're safe now." she breathed as she closed her eyes.

Panic set in as watched a smile graced her bloodied lips.

"Please, don't die!" he shouted as he clutched her to his chest, "You can't die! I can't lose you too! Sakura, please! I love you!"

-end flashback to the nightmare-

Kakashi cringed to himself at the memory of him confessing he loved her. Did he?

'I can't let her know the nightmares have been about her recently.'

"They started shortly after my dad died. They've been increasing in frequency over the last couple of months though." he revealed that much to her.

He wasn't lying after all, just leaving out a couple details.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner? We can get you some help or som-"

"I don't want that kind of help." he quickly cut her off as he turned back to look at her, "I'm fine. Besides the nightmares. I didn't want to bother you, or anyone else for that matter, with this. That's why I didn't say anything. You don't need to worry about me, you have enough on your plate already."

Another quiet sigh escaped the petite bodyguard at his mild outburst. He glanced at the small band aid that was on her cheek, his mind instantly remembering the bloody gash that was in his dreams.

Kakashi felt his hands begin to tingle. The same exact tingling he felt after he washed Sakura's blood off at the emergency room. He looked down and was shocked to see that they were stained with blood again, but kept his face passive as he threw comforter to the side and scooted past Sakura and walked around his bed to his bathroom.

"I need to wash my hands." he mumbled more so to himself than to her.

"Why?" she asked nonetheless.

"They're covered in blood."

"What?! Are you hurt?" Sakura's suddenly voice cut through the room an octave higher than a second ago.

The same second he flipped on the light in his bathroom, she was next to him. The bodyguard grabbed his hands began to examine them before shifting her gaze over his bare chest. After a few seconds, she looked up to him with worried eyes.

"What blood, Kakashi?" she whispered quietly.

Pulling his hands from hers, he stepped up to the sink and began the process of washing his hands.

"I know you can't see it." he stated flatly as he finished up and dried his hands, "I realize it's in my head, but it's there."

'I can't let her know it's her blood I'm seeing either.'

He turned back and found Sakura regarding him cautiously. The strife in her eyes was loud and clear under the fluorescent lights.

He had been dealing with this since the incident earlier that week. He was washing his hands multiple times a day to get rid of the blood. He knew it was in his head, purely a result of trauma, but he couldn't stop himself no matter how hard he tried to ignore the imaginary blood.

"You need to be seen, Kakashi. There is something wrong. If you're seeing things that aren't there, you most likely have some form of PT-"

"Don't." he cut her off in a harsher than necessary tone, "I'm okay. Don't worry."

"Kakashi, it's my job to worry about you. Even when I'm not working, I'm still… I'm still really worried about you." she spoke quietly to him as they walked back into the dark bedroom and he sat down on the edge of his bed, "You don't have to go through this alone."

Kakashi struggled to read her face in the darkness as she said this while she stood in front of him.

'She's worried about me even when she's not working? What does that mean? Why does she even care this much?'

"At least let me help you." she added softly.

The CEO grew even more frustrated with himself. Sakura had managed to invade every part of his being lately. The words she spoke to him now were not helping in the slightest either. Ever since the incident, he couldn't stop thinking about her or her wellbeing. Granted, he thought about them before then, but now they were bordering on obsessive it felt like. He had been shouting he loves her in his dreams for heaven's sake and prayed that he wasn't saying it out loud since Sakura revealed he had when shouting. If he did, she made no indication to it.

'Do I really love her? Or is this some weird infatuation? I've never felt like this before.'

"Do you want to talk about it? The nightmares?" she spoke up again as she made to sit next to him on the edge of the bed.

Kakashi glanced over to her, not realizing he had lost himself in his thoughts.

"Not really." he replied as he ran his hand through his messy hair.

'I don't think she'd like to hear that she keeps dying over and over in my dreams. Or that it's her blood I'm seeing. She might blame herself… or think I'm completely psychotic.'

He watched her nod a couple times in understanding. They both turned face forward again and sat like that for a few minutes as they stared out the window into the pitch black darkness outside. It was yet another cloudy night and living in a skyscraper only made that more obvious.

"That's okay. Just know you can talk to me whenever, okay? Night or day." Sakura gently informed him as she broke their silence, "Like I said, let me at least help you if you don't want to seek outside help."

"Okay." he whispered.

"I'll let you go back to bed then." she said as she stood and turned towards the door.

"Sakura, wait." he called out and started to reach out for her but stopped himself before he could grab her hand.

He didn't want her to leave yet.

"Yeah?" she stopped at the edge of the bed and turned to look at him with a raised brow.

Now he was stuck holding the bag.

'Could I even ask her to stay a little while longer or would that be too weird?'

Swallowing his pride, Kakashi looked at her more clearly. What little light that was streaming in from the windows, lit up her face enough for him to read her expression more clearly now. He bit his bottom lip as he took in just how beautiful Sakura looked at this moment.

She had pulled her long pink hair into a messy bun that had only been made messier from sleeping. She was wearing an old blue t-shirt that had faded letters reading 'Konoha University' on it and a pair of white fuzzy pajama pants that had little pink hearts on them.

'She looks like the epitome of cozy.'

Kakashi realized he hadn't replied yet and glanced back down at the hand that had tried reaching out for her a few moments earlier and clenched it gently before dropping it back onto his lap.

"Would it be weird if I asked if you could stay for a little while longer?" he asked timidly as he glanced back to the woman he realized he had developed feelings for.

There was no use in ignoring that thought anymore. He had feelings. He even realized those feelings had somehow manifested in love at some point. He just needed to keep himself in check now. He couldn't ruin what they had in this moment. He doubted she even viewed him in that same light that he viewed her in.

He felt weird. Feeling so vulnerable around people in general was something he wasn't used too. He had always remained fixed and focused, even after his father died. He couldn't waste time feeling bad for himself or crying in a corner when business needed to be taken care of.

But with her, with Sakura, it felt weird. But in a good way. He didn't mind opening up around her. She didn't care that he was vulnerable right now. She treated him no differently.

Sakura's face registered surprise at his request for a few seconds. Kakashi immediately regretted asking such an obviously dumb question and opened his mouth to tell her not to worry and to go back to bed herself when she suddenly smiled sweetly at him.

"I think we're beyond the realm of weird at this point. Don't you think? But, yes, I can stay as long as you'd like me to stay. I can stay for as long as you need me too." Sakura spoke so softly he felt himself become breathless.

The pinkette walked around to the other side of the bed and scooted herself onto it and made to lean against his headboard a few feet away from his right side. The king sized bed was wide enough for them to comfortably occupy it without it becoming any weirder than it was already.

Kakashi let out a sigh of relief that she was being so nonchalant about this. She was right, they were probably way beyond the realm of weird at this point. He didn't mind it though. He'd never really gotten this close to someone on such a level like they have and he found out that he enjoyed this odd friendship they shared. But now he was slowly coming to terms with his own feelings and he wasn't sure how to deal with them.

'I have feelings for her. But I can't do that to her… She's only here to protect me. Nothing else. If I go off declaring that I love her, she'll probably think I'm creepy and quit.'

Glancing over to Sakura, he saw she looked completely relaxed as she sat near him. Making the conscious effort, he scooted himself back onto the bed as well and stayed bit to the left before he laid back down. Grabbing the comforter as he did so.

"Thank you." he mumbled after a few minutes of silence, "You really don't have to stay if you don't want to. I know you probably want to get back to sleep yourself."

"I don't mind really. I wanna be here for you, Kakashi." Sakura answered honestly.

'Granted, this is a bit weird. But I don't mind. I do wanna be here for him. I care for him. He's been so distant lately, so this is nice. Plus, he's being respectful and keeping his distance, so he's obviously not trying to make a move on me…'

She felt the bed to her left shift and looked down to see that he moved onto his side and was facing her.

"How's your cheek?" he asked.

Sakura reached up and touched the small bandaid on her face. It no longer stung when you she touched it or if she smiled.

"It's fine. It's healing nicely." she told him.

"That's great. I'm glad." he whispered.

They stayed like that for a little while longer. They chatted lightly over various things until she watched Kakashi slowly doze back off to sleep. She didn't know how long she sat there watching him to confirm that he was indeed sound asleep and that no nightmares were starting back up, but she didn't mind.

'He looks so peaceful.' she thought as she studied his sleeping face, 'I'm glad he said he needed me here.'

She didn't know what overtook her in that moment, but she reached over a brushed back the unruly hair before letting her fingers trail down the pink scar on his left cheek. She blushed when she felt his hot breath on her wrist as she did so and pulled back immediately.

Being as gentle and quiet as she could, she slipped off the bed and tiptoed to the door to go back to bed herself.

"Goodnight, Kakashi." she whispered with a smile as she closed the door to his room behind her.

A/N: Ahhh, I think is my favorite chapter so far? Poor Kakashi! Just lemme come give you a big hug! I felt I wrote caring Sakura so well in this chapter, cozy yet protective? Yeah. hehe

What did you guys think? Now that Kakashi has admitted this to himself, do you think he'll really keep himself in check?

Please leave a review if possible, as always I love hearing from you guys. Hit follow if you haven't already because like I've mentioned, this is gonna be a long haul story. ;)

Thank you as always to my amazing friend and beta, Taytay95! She's working on chapter 25 of her own KakaSaku story right now and will probably have it posted soon! :D