#kakashi’s like sakura my favorite student the light of my eyes. what are you doing with that chair

[chialattea]

(leans into the mic) my ideal team 7 dynamic is one where Uchiha Sasuke, former terrorist who has tried to kill his teammates multiple times and was such an edgelord he likely practiced his one-liners in front of a mirror ends up, somehow, being the voice of reason on his team.

[chanfictions]

heyy hope your doing well but ive been wondering how would itachi or kakashi (your pick idm either) react to a s/o with anger issues its been on my mind for so long!!

I don't know why this immediately reminded me of the mythological Erinyes (also known as the Furies, Greek goddesses of vengeance, among other things). But it did. Hence the title. So I ran with it. Go read up on 'em if you're curious! I went down a totally unrelated rabbit hole while writing this one.

Fury

Kakashi x Reader

Warnings: canon-typical violence, mentions of loss. Slight angst at the end.

1.4k

Taking a slow, metered breath, Kakashi set his eyes upon the chaotic scene just ahead of him as he made his way through what was left of your favorite corner of the woods just outside of the village's walls. Trees creaked and groaned as a flock of tiny birds fled from their branches in a chirping flurry of frantic feathers. With a thunderous crash, another trunk was obliterated. At Kakashi's request, Yamato had been tending to this particular grove of oaks, quietly replacing the timber that fell victim to your sometimes explosive fits of rage. Judging by the cloud of dust and dirt lingering in the air, his services were going to be needed again.

You were a force of nature, a cantankerous goddess of destruction with an impulsively short fuse. Your enemies referred to you as the Three Furies of the Hidden Leaf -- a maelstrom of brimstone and fire that decimated battlefields. Your students called you Medusa and shifted anxiously, crossing their fingers when it came time to be assigned to their first squad, silently praying that you would call someone else's name.

Kakashi, however, just called you kitten.

Explosive tempers were nothing new to the seasoned jonin, as he had trained and arguably raised one of the more testy squads of genin that passed through the academy. Defusing arguments between Naruto and Sasuke gave him plenty of experience with impulsivity and festering grudges that manifested as misplaced aggression. Sorting through Sakura's complex feelings about her teammates and shinobi life granted him the wisdom to know when to employ a softer hand. If the present level of carnage was any indication, however, what you needed today was definitely not that. You needed a target.

At least nothing is on fire this time.

"I take it the mission didn't go so well?" Kakashi called out over the sounds of your tenuously contained anger.

Despite your blood still being set to a rolling boil, you ground your teeth and took a step back from what was left of the tree you had all but pummeled into sawdust. "Not in the mood, Kakashi," you growled warningly. While this wasn't the first time the light of your life had crashed one of your rage parties, it irked you nonetheless. You had grown so accustomed to the distance your infamous temper granted you from others when you were in one of these moods that it sometimes threw you for a loop when he approached you so casually.

"I can see that."

Your lip curled into a snarl. He meant well, but sometimes, Kakashi was nothing short of infuriating. Always so outwardly calm and collected, he was your polar opposite. You stood stiffly in your shrine of chaos and destruction with tensed shoulders, ragged breaths, and bloody knuckles while he leaned coolly against a tree that had evaded your rampage, wrapping tape around his knuckles and wrists like it was just another day at the office.

And for him, it was. Your fiery outbursts were nothing new to him, as they had been a topic of contention amongst the village elders and the Hokage for many years. She's unhinged. Unpredictable. A liability. Dangerous. But those traits never disqualified you from service. In fact, those same scrutinizing elders had harnessed your rage in the name of the village, sending you to do the dirty work that was all too relevant to your talents. All of that dirty work, those missions that were little more than thinly veiled execution orders, had taken a toll on you. That eventually led to your forced retirement from black-ops after a breakdown that ended in Kakashi having to restrain you from leveling a city block. Once you were deemed safe enough to be released into the public again, you were handled much in the same manner that Kakashi had been after his own departure from the Anbu -- you were thrust into the role of sensei, charged with a gaggle of genin and a dwindling number laughably tame missions that offered you precious little relief from your festering hostility.

With one final wrap of tape, Kakashi flexed his hands before approaching you. Shrugging tension from his shoulders, he leveled his headband to reveal his gleaming, crimson eye before adopting a combat stance. "Alright, talk."

As your head swelled with growing malice, you snorted, balling your bloodied hands into fists before roaring into action like a stampeding bull. Jutsu flew and kicks were met with blocking strikes as you seethed your grievances through clenched teeth. "I can't -- be their sensei."

Kakashi snatched your wrist amidst the tornado of your fervent exchange, relieving you of a kunai before flipping you onto the ground, your landing punctuating his question. "Why?"

"Because--" With an enraged grunt, your boot struck his chest and sent him flying. You sprang to your feet, launching into a tirade as you closed the gap. "I don't do teams -- I don't teach--"

Kakashi's sharingan followed the chaotic flurry of your barrage as he listened to your disjointed explanation, expertly ducking to the side as your chakra-charged fist impacted a trunk next to his head and smashed it to splinters, leaving you elbow deep in broken shards of wood. The only way to navigate through this was to let you wear yourself out.

"They're too green!" You rasped, flames erupting around your arm and charring you out of the entrapment with a frustrated howl. "They know nothing!"

Kakashi dodged the fireballs that followed, dipping behind earthen walls that sprang from the ground to avoid losing his eyebrows.

"They don't understand that justice is an illusion!" With a sickening pressure swallowing your heart, you scorched the surrounding earth in a firestorm. "Or that they can't cry on the fucking battlefield because their friend almost died!"

There it is.

It was only a matter of time before your ranting would reveal the root of your current fit of misplaced malice. Kakashi's patterned iris swirled in contemplation, trying to discern just how much more chakra you were going to need to burn through before he could have a civilized conversation with you. This was all part of the routine he employed to prevent your temper from landing you in hot water with the council again. Without a pressure release valve, you would eventually decimate something you cared about. Letting you take out your pent up frustration on a repairable forest with a skilled sparring partner was the safest way to keep you in check.

So, he took a defensive stance in the face of his beloved Fury, calm and collected as ever, just waiting out the clock. He dodged and evaded blast after blast of scorching heat and barrages of flashing red fists until you fell to your knees in a panting heap at the center of your broken kingdom, completely spent. Sweat slicked your body as your shoulders shook with fatigue. Kakashi lowered his guard and approached where you came to rest with a bottle of water in hand.

"You good?" He inquired coolly as he extended the canteen to you.

You sat back on your heels, wiping sweat from your brow with your sleeve and greedily drinking the offering in long gulps. "Yeah," you muttered, twisting the cap back on and returning it to him. "Thanks."

With a gentle smile playing beneath his mask, he pulled his headband back down over his scarred eye and rose to his feet, now extending his hand to you instead. "Are you ready to actually talk now?"

A shaky confirmation breezed through your lips as you grasped his forearm and let him pull you upright. You leaned into his chest as his arms curled around your back, standing frozen in the shrine of rage dedicated to a loss of innocence for several long moments before the fog in your head cleared enough for you to speak. "It was too fucking close, Kakashi," you mumbled into his shoulder. "I can't bury another one. I just can't."

"I know, kitten. I know." He breathed a knowing sigh against your hair in quiet condolence before adjusting his grip and wrapping an arm around your waist instead. "Come on. You can tell me what happened on the way home."

You could only nod in agreement now that the vengeful fire in your gut had finally been reduced to a quiet smolder. Leaning against him as the two of you left the carnage behind, it was a struggle to find the words to do just that, but you eventually did. Ever patient and ever kind, Kakashi just listened without judgment, only playfully ribbing you about owing Yamato a drink or twelve after the havoc you wrought in the forest.

[thefairyletters]

I saw you rb a SaiSaku post and was curious if you had any fanfic recs for this rarepair?!

Do I have?!!!!! I am currently binging this ship so you couldn't have asked this at better time.

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This pair is not a crack ship! Crack would mean they have not shared more than two words with each other. But SaiSaku interactions always bordered on romance and best friends who don't act like it. Not only Sakura was the first person to acknowledge Sai had human side to him and bonded with him over his painting, Sai was also the only person outside Sasuke (in part 1) to be able tell her fake smiles and he always understood her feelings better than other characters. Had Sakura ever only cared for good looks (something she don't) then with Sai she'd get that and so much more.

I have always considered SaiSaku as the next best thing after NaruSaku. They had too much potential as a couple. I am not bitter that InoSai became a thing but looking at them I only feel that "Ino didn't get Sasuke so she get his look-alike." Besides, Sai gave people nicknames that are opposites to what actually feels about them – Naruto as Dickless, Sakura as Hag/Ugly and Ino as Beautiful – which makes it worse. Both Ino and Sai deserve better than this. If Kishi has shown them together more often or had interactions between them similar to SaiSaku then I can understand why Ino is his light. I guess it is also SP's fault for showing them in different light. For all SP hates Sakura, they enjoy messing up with her fans by feeding them false hope.

Whenever I want to read something hilarious but deep, SaiSaku is my to-go couple. Usually angsty, or full bout of insults and punches. There's no in between with them.

. SaiSaku .

This list contains my favorite SaiSaku collection. I am not sure if you like SaiSaku only as romance ship but this list also contain stories that expands on SaiSaku friendship, something I absolutely adore.

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Could Roses Bloom? : RiseoftheBlossom || M || AO3 || Shippuden AU || GaaSaku, SaiSaku || Angst, Romance || Ongoing

Sai glanced downwards at his body, the sudden override of his thoughts causing his mind to blank. What did that mean? Had he been straying too close to a piece of information Danzo didn't want him to have or share? Or was it his mind's natural response to shutting down any form of emotion, even if it was just the slightest of inclination towards feeling something?

Go for it if you like: enemies-to-friends-to-lovers troupe, SaiSaku friendship, confused-over-his-feelings!Sai, slow burn, GaaSaku, boys who are bad at feelings, Sakura who is unlucky with romance, angst with fluff

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hello, bright eyes (been waiting on you) : mouseymightymarvellous || T || AO3 || Shippuden AU || SaiSaku || Angst, Romance || One Shot

“look underneath the underneath,” except no one has ever really bothered to look at sakura and see her. and then there is a boy (isn’t there always). maybe they’re both just ghosts, making each other real.

Go for it if you like: enemies-to-friends-to-lovers troupe, confused-over-her-feelings!Sakura, boys who are bad at feelings, Sakura who is unlucky with romance, Sai and Sakura who don't feel like they belong, angst with fluff, sad!Sai

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Oh God That’s Heaven : blueberrysconesandfolkmusic || T || AO3 || Shippuden AU || SaiSaku || Angst, Romance || One Shot

Sakura finds Sai sick, alone, and in desperate need of a hand that doesn't hurt.

Go for it if you like: boys who are bad at feelings, bleeding-heart!Sakura, sad-and-lonely!Sai, Sai and Sakura who are secretly best friends, Sai with PTSD, protective!team7

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for everything blue and bright : sinemoras09 || M || AO3 || Shippuden AU || SaiSaku, SasuSaku || Angst || One Shot

The five stages of human arousal.

Go for it if you like: lonely!Sai, obsessed!Sakura, One-sided love, Unrequited-love-no-matter-how-you-look-at-it!SaiSaku, no-good-very-bad!Ending, pining!Sai, bittersweet lemon

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A mess of me : Dovey || M || AO3 || Pre-Shippuden AU || SaiSaku || Yandere Romance || Complete

In which Sai is a good ANBU agent with an unusual hobby, and Sakura grows up with a #1 fan rooting for her....even if she doesn't know it. Or: Sai starts stalking Sakura when they're both young to satisfy his curiousity about 'normalcy', gets attached, and eventually gets very frustrated that nobody else seems to notice her potential as a shinobi and takes matters into his own hands- and delights in being Sakura's prime source of validation because of it.

Go for it if you like: obsessed!Sai, manipulation, stalker!Sai, mentor!Sai, SaiSaku friendship, distraught!Kakashi, fluff, baby-Sai-stalking-baby-Sakura, abusive haruno household

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There is sunshine on his forehead : amako || T || AO3 || Soulmate AU || SaiSaku but it's complicated || Angst, Hurt/Comfort || One Shot

Sakura is only three when she promises herself that Sasuke will die by her hand, whoever he is.

Go for it if you like: dysfunctional Team 7, Soulmate AU, Unrequited love feels, angst heavy, Sai and Sakura only want to belong, NaruSasu, NaruSaku but not really, betrayal heavy, no fluff only pain, SaiSaku, Team 7 taking Sakura for granted, Sakura is so done

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In theory : nimblnymph || T || FFN || Shippuden || SaiSaku || Romance, Humor || One Shot

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Sai was about to learn that this theory applied to more than just physics. And that putting theory into practice sometimes gave unexpected results.

Go for it if you like: oblivious!Sai, teacher!Sakura, student!Sai, Sai getting educated, Sakura educating Sai, Kisses, Sai being Sai, Sakura with patience of god

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Loathing : i AM the Random Idiot || T || FFN || Shippuden || SaiSaku || Romance, Angst || One Shot

Define "hatred."

Go for it if you like: oblivious!Sai, hurt!Sai, Angst, Onions, SakuSai bonding over mutual hate, love is overrated anyway

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Bunk Mates : ice bitten || T || FFN || Shippuden || Team 7 || Humor, Friendship || One Shot

In which Sasuke and Naruto find out Sakura has been sleeping over at Sai's. Short stories surrounding Sakura, Sai, and the invasive people of Konoha.

Go for it if you like: sassy!Sai, protective!Team7, SaiSaku friendship, roommates, Sai being Sai, Perfect characterisation, Canon feels

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Paint me with Colour : PeregrineFlight || T || FFN || post-Shippuden || SaiSaku|| Humor, Friendship || Incomplete

Sai and Sakura must travel to the Land of Lightning to retrieve something for the Daimyo, they have to travel as a married couple. Much to Naruto's amusement.

Go for it if you like: lonely!Sai, SaiSaku friendship, roommates, Sai being Sai, pretend marriage, SaiSaku bonding over mission, fluffy angst, adorable!Sai

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Forget Me Not : Joy-girl || T || FFN || post-Shippuden || Team 7 || Angst, Friendship || Complete

Sometimes it's easy to forget how important someone is when the person is always in the background – but Sakura's boys still remember. Glimpses of her importance from each member of her team.

Go for it if you like: fluffy angst, Sakura's place in team 7, underappreciated Sakura, Team7 family, Family feels, sad!Sakura, protective!Team7 males, Sakura appreciation, SaiSaku bond, Team7Saku feels, avenger!Teammates

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Add Me Colour : Cella N || T || FFN || post-Shippuden || SaiSaku || Drama, Romance || Complete

"All my life is white. Paint me. Add me colour."

Go for it if you like: lonely!Sakura, Sai being Sai, confused!Sakura, angst, poetic translation, colors

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Euphemisms : Nymbis || T || FFN || Shippuden || SaiSaku || Humor, Romance || Complete(?)

Drabbles about Sai, Sakura, and their strange attempts at bonding.

Go for it if you like: Sai being Sai, Sakura being Sakura, Hilarious friendships, SaiSaku friendship, loveggression, love-hate relationship, Insults, Sai's brand of humor, fluff with punches, Raunchy stuff

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Ricochet : Strix 4 || T || FFN || Shippuden AU || Team 7 || Family, Drama || Complete(?)

Sometimes it's easy to see the familiar in the faces around you. Sometimes it sucks to figure out why.

Go for it if you like: fluffy angst, Sakura's place in team 7, Team7 as family, Family feels, wise!Sakura, SaiSaku bond, Sai's place in team 7

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Pick up lines : Demoneyes 14 || T || FFN || Shippuden || SaiSaku || Humor || One Shot

Ero sennin's pick up lines! Guaranteed to get the girl or your money back! Well... it would be more guaranteed if it hadn't fallen on his face in the library, but heck, Sai will try anything once! Maybe it will save him a beating from Sakura...

Go for it if you like: Sai being Sai, Sakura being Sakura, SaiSaku friendship, loveggression, love-hate relationship, Insults, Sai's brand of humor, fluff with punches

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Special mentions...

Study of the Heart : teresa

In an effort to become a better friend, Sai undertakes a study of love, not really understanding how difficult it could be, and how surprising.

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The Blood of a Cherry Blossom : Slytherin Kunoichi

Originally, for Halloween, Sai hadn't decided what to go as, but once he glimpsed at the bleeding flesh on Sakura's neck, he suddenly had the urge to be a vampire…

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Old Dogs, New Tricks : yuugiri

After an unprecedented turn of events, the Fifth Hokage has officially assigned Sakura Haruno the responsibility to make Sai recover what he had lost; his emotions. With a time limit of a month, will Sakura succeed in this mission?

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Once More, With Feeling : Cynchick

Sakura didn't know what she was thinking when she showed up on his doorstep. 

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Ink Me : Krickitat

Exploring the art of bod-modification Sakura takes a step into the unknown world of the exquisite pain of art.

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The Uchiha Secret : Slytherin Kunoichi

Sasuke froze as he stared at Sai's eyes, which were identical to his Uchiha Sharingan eyes now: red with anger and black with hatred...One family secret could threaten and shake three lives forever. Bonds will be broken.

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My babies don't get enough love in the world.

[pinkhairedlily]

Chapter 8 - Student Council President Sakura

SCPS AO3 | PREVIOUS CHAPTER

“Oh, hello there Sakura.”

She almost lost her balance when she saw her next customers. Standing beside Kakashi with her arm entangled in his was a brunette, a spitting image of Dr. Aki Nohara, a giveaway that this was her sister. Sakura’s surroundings dimmed out of focus, and her hearing became muffled as if she was submerged underwater.

“Couldn’t mistake that green eyes for anyone,” Kakashi continued. “I’ll have a caramel butterscotch with extra whipped cream – make it super heavy – and Rin –“

“That’s supposed to be my order, you dummy,” the woman replied beside him. He chuckled in fascination and tightened his hold on her arm. “Besides, you don’t like sweets.”

“You’re still on a specialized diet so allow me to eat and drink whatever you want while you stick with – “ Kakashi glanced at Sakura, and she immediately mustered a tight-lipped smile. “One iced americano in your smallest size please. Thanks, Sakura.”

She took in a deep breath, suddenly aware that she wasn’t able to acknowledge her teacher and his companion, but so many things have been running through her head – like how did he know it was her? Why was he with Rin? Did he propose already? She hasn’t even confessed yet.

Somehow, in the dragging silence in her ears, she heard Sasuke cleared his throat. That was enough to break her from the spell, and she put on her bravest mask. “Hi Kakashi-sensei. Nice of you to drop by! I’ll have your order ready in a jiffy.”

Kakashi turned around and waved lazily at Sasuke. “One of my students is here too. Are you on a red eye advance study?”

“Can’t sleep so might as well have caffeine.”

“You’re too young to have this energy.”

Rin jokingly slapped Kakashi on the arm. “You talk as if you’re old already.”

“But aren’t I?” The pair slowly drifted away to find a table, but Sakura noticed the flash of recognition when Rin took a long good look at Sasuke, but her friend stared at them like he was throwing sharp draggers.

“He looks happy,” Sakura noted as she fixed their drinks.

“I want your favorite coffee,” Sasuke quipped out of nowhere.

“There’s a thing called palpitations. It’s caramel macchiato.”

“Might do me some good while I wait for you to finish your shift.”

Sakura sighed, feeling the tiredness come upon her all of a sudden so she relented. “Just take it to-go. I want to get out of here.”

She quickly asked permission from the manager, saying she felt sick and fatigued, and with her clocking overtime in the past few weeks, her request was immediately approved without deductions. The mixed winter and spring air hit her lungs as soon as she stepped outside. Sasuke waited for her across the street, a gesture that implied she could go to him or separate ways right now. As she vied for time to decide, she took one last look through the window.

It was a foreign sight. She has never seen Kakashi’s attention torn apart from his books. Even if he was talking, there would be an open page on his side, stealing glances on passages when the conversations got boring, yet there he was, fully attuned to whatever Rin was saying with no book around him…like she was his favorite book and he enjoyed reading every letter of her.

And Sakura realized she could never be the story he would even want to pick up.

She felt the tears coming so she started her pace on the same road. Across from her, Sasuke got the signal and went the other way.

--------------------------------

The last term of their second year came like a bazooka. Sakura threw herself on her pet project as a sort of coping mechanism. The announcement was done during the general assembly which did not generate the intended buzz or reaction. After all, it was a tricky topic to handle and many facets of which were still stigmatized when talked openly in public. Naruto, ever the people magnet, broke the agitated atmosphere in the auditorium with a slow clap and was soon joined by many others.

The council created a Google form which allowed students to anonymously register, and they get assigned a schedule on the day their contracted psychiatrist comes to visit. All they had to do was provide their designated client number. The council further complemented this with short programs that serve as mental health breaks for the student body. Sometimes, this would be as light as a block screening of a coming-of-age film or heavy like a conference with faculty and teachers and questions and concerns are remotely flashed.

Then came Valentines’ Day, and the council organized this some kind of literary showcase that presented the opportunity to mingle woes of personal sadness and griefs with confessions that would have been left unsaid. Naruto and Sasuke both helped in constructing the makeshift stage in the middle of the soccer field that would be used later that afternoon.

“Cookie points for my crush,” Naruto grinned as he hammered away. “Thanks for picking the poem I will be reciting tonight, grumpy. Didn’t know you were into literature.” He jokingly elbowed the raven-haired beside him, and he got a death glare in return.

“Do it properly. Look at that nail sticking out like your porcupine hair,” Sasuke grumbled. “And yes, I’m not as uncultured as you are.”

“But I still don’t understand it though.”

“Ugh, just use the internet to search its meaning, idiot.”

“Meanie!”

A fellow runner peeked into their work area and knocked on wood. “Hey Uchiha. Some girl is looking for you.” Her face expressed grimace, having done this for more than five times already within the span of an hour. If it wasn’t Sasuke, it was one of Naruto’s fan girls or boys.

Sasuke went to her and fumbled around for cash in his pocket. “Next time someone looks for us, tell them we went home for the day. Here’s money for your date later. If you have anyway.”

“Whatever grumpy.” The runner replied, still half-angry, half-frustrated, but she took the money all the same and told the girls that ‘They told me to tell you they went home for the day so shoo shoo.’

Naruto laughed at Sasuke’s successful attempt at bribery. “Look at that rich money. I wonder whether Sakura will give us chocolates.”

“Have you seen their office?” Sasuke flipped open the curtains that will be hang as backdrop. “Their desk is filled with chocolates from her admirers – platonically, romantically, whatever. Some people from other schools dropped by too. You got serious competition.”

Naruto chuckled nervously. “As if I do not know that already. Haven’t you told me before- she likes everyone and everyone likes her.”

Not really true at all now, Sasuke thought to himself. But ignorance is bliss, Naruto.

--------------------------------

The three sat on the grass beside the stage, having full view of the student body listening to the reciters. Throughout the program, Sakura went through each package given to her, visibly stressed with evident signs of sleepless nights under her eyes.

“Before I forget, happy Valentine’s day you two. My council-mates told me you didn’t get any chocolates,” Sakura gave each of them a pouch of small chocolate bars. Sasuke didn’t have to guess if it was store-bought or homemade based on the cuts on her fingers.

“Sakura, stop eating. I almost gagged at the seventh chocolate,” Naruto complained. He tried to get the basket of sweets from her, but she just moved it away from his reach.

“Everything tastes bitter,” she muttered under her breath. “I need sugar. My energy can’t keep up with the countless interviews. I understand that the school board liked the exposure, but the burden falls on me. At least have a teacher back me up?”

“Heard Kakashi-sensei volunteered to accompany you in interviews?” Sasuke was too late in shutting Naruto up, but the most that question got out of Sakura was an eyebrow raise.

“I need more sweets.” She proceeded to jam the rest of the Hershey’s kisses in her mouth.

“Okay, we have a submission from Uzumaki Naruto,” the announcer said. “Shout out to our rookie MVP!” A round of applause. “And who might be the recipient of this poem? We heard through the grapevine that he hid from his admirers all day. I know several people are waiting to confess to him!”

Sasuke instructed him earlier to send the poem anonymously and address it to Sakura, but the dumbass blonde mistakenly exchanged it. He rubbed his forehead in annoyance, but he can’t bring it up right now.

“Just read the poem!” Naruto shouted on the side, clearly embarrassed now. Sakura looked up at him, genuinely curious now, and her sticky chocolate-filled mouth was on the edge of firing him questions.

“Sasuke and I sent in poems! Just to support your program, nothing really too deep into it ehe.” Naruto glanced at Sasuke with slightly widened eyes. “Right, Sasuke?”

“Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare,” the person started.

“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day

Thou art more lovely and more temperate.

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimmed;

And every fair from fair sometime declines,

By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimmed;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade,

Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,

Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,

When in eternal lines to Time thou grow'st.

So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.”

Sakura slapped Naruto on the arm. “Didn’t know you read Shakespeare! What a romantic!”

“Isn’t it a tragedy?” Sasuke remarked, a look of disgust in his face when Sakura mindlessly offered him a toblerone. “No sweets for me.”

Sakura guffawed at Sasuke’s remark, and her laughing was a rare sight recently. She was in too deep in her student council functions that they barely see her. And when they did, she’d be a little bit closer to fatigue.

“What’s funny? Who’s Shakespeare? Let me in on the joke!”

“Let’s call on Kakashi-sensei, our very own student council advisor and youngest teacher in the university. He’ll be reciting a poem by Pablo Neruda. A man of culture, we see,” the emcee announced.

Sakura stopped laughing as soon as she heard his name. If Sasuke could glean into her thoughts, she’s probably making up excuses to escape right now.

Kakashi stood in the middle of the stage, holding an open book. “Let me just ramble on here for a bit. Neruda is a Chilean poet and a politician, but just as much as he is a revolutionary, he is a romantic and a worshipper of ideals and ordinary things. He often compared his muses to earth and nature – basic providers of our existence. It’s interesting to see. Now, this poem is what I would have wanted to say to someone who is fundamentally part of my existence, but she won’t listen to me.” Kakashi smiled even more at the onset of outburst of giggles from the students. “So you’re gonna be the audience whether you want it or not.”

I crave your mouth, your voice, your hair.

Silent and starving, I prowl through the streets.

Bread does not nourish me, dawn disrupts me, all day

I hunt for the liquid measure of your steps.

I hunger for your sleek laugh,

your hands the color of a savage harvest,

hunger for the pale stones of your fingernails,

I want to eat your skin like a whole almond.

I want to eat the sunbeam flaring in your lovely body,

the sovereign nose of your arrogant face,

I want to eat the fleeting shade of your lashes,

and I pace around hungry, sniffing the twilight,

hunting for you, for your hot heart,

like a puma in the barrens of Quitratue.

A thundering applause followed Kakashi’s poem and random shouts of, “Drop her name sensei!” “Good luck to your love life!” “Happy for you, sensei!”

As the lights went out on the stage, Sakura fished another pouch from her vest pocket, and Sasuke knew at once that it was Kakashi’s. She popped a bar into her mouth, staring blankly ahead.

“God, it’s so bitter.” Her lips started to quiver, and she started to cry.

Naruto threw a worried glance at Sasuke, but his expression must have given something away because the blonde didn’t prod, and he looked as if all the puzzles fell into place.

Sasuke just didn’t expect to be confronted about it as soon as the program finished. He was carrying blocks of wood to the shed when Naruto dropped the question – a question he already knew the answer to.

“You like Sakura.”

Sasuke inhaled sharply and halted his steps. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He stacked the wood against each other and turned to face the blonde. “Besides, shouldn’t you be worrying about exams?”

“What exams? We’re exempted from it,” Naruto bristled.

Sasuke smirked. “No, you’re not. You didn’t qualify for finals.”

“Oh shit.”

--------------------------------

“What do we get in return?” Sakura asked as she munched on her bento box. Shouts of the practicing dragonboat team filtered through their space.

“But last time you volunteered!” Naruto said.

“We’re friends so my services don’t come free anymore,” she chided back.

Naruto glared at Sasuke. “If she’s not gonna do it, you’re gonna do it.”

Sasuke nonchalantly shook his head as he skimmed through Naruto’s notes. “What she said.” They weren’t notes per se, but doodles of Sasuke and Sakura and interestingly, projections of different batting stances. “I’m also not gonna forgive you with the duck butt hair.”

“But you have a duck butt hair!” Naruto crossed his arms and huffed menacingly. “Ramen?”

“Same old, same old.” Sakura finished her lunch and started to sip her cranberry juice. “Give us something new.”

“Ramen and…..karaoke?”

Sakura brightened up at the prospect. “Deal.”

“At least add snacks to your place,” Sasuke interjected. “And not just ramen. Put some nuts or fruits in your fridge.”

Naruto grumbled but raised two thumbs up in defeat. “Deal.”

--------------------------------

Sasuke has thin patience when it came to teaching Naruto, Sakura observed. She didn’t know how these two managed to do the supplementary math lessons when she wasn’t a part of their group yet. She didn’t mind teaching, but Naruto’s short attention span was a devil of its own. He would be attentive to her for 15 minutes and then drowse off so Sasuke and her agreed on non-negotiables.

“No ramen break for you if you don’t finish this set of problems,” Sakura told him.

“You’re demon spawns,” Naruto cried out in defiance.

“If you don’t get a passing score on this sample test, no kani toppings for you.” Sasuke raised the stakes.

“Demon spawns,” Naruto repeated.

“You won’t call us demon spawns if you see your name on the list of passers.” Sakura started the stopwatch on her phone. “Now go.”

This took her mind off things, from Kakashi’s public confession to the blank career form hidden within the pages of her history textbook. It was a good distraction until the penultimate exams day. Naruto came in with a bandana on his forehead with FIGHTING written in the middle of it. Sasuke, as usual, breezed through it, already finished by the thirty-minute mark.

And she? Well, she liked exams. The time limit and the pressure allowed her the reprieve to shut the rest of the world out so she relished answering each number until the bell rang. It was a moment where she can focus fully on the paper in front of her, the sound of her pen scribbling, and her mind working full force to cull out the answers in her memory. Her utmost concentration on questions suspended her own questions on her feelings for a teacher, on her parents’ divorce, on her future.

When the school plastered the results on the bulletin board, she couldn’t help but release a satisfied chuckle. She turned to Sasuke who was surprisingly stoic about the results. “First place! The bonus point really helped.”

“Why should I bother with a teacher’s middle name for the bonus question?” Sasuke grumbled back. “Congrats. Stop rubbing it in my face already.”

Naruto was too busy pointing his name on the board and bragging about it to the student body, most especially the freshies. When he found them on the back of the crowd, he rushed to them and placed his arms around their shoulders “Drinks on me!!!!!”

--------------------------------

“He really shouted drinks on me in the middle of the school, sauntered in here like he’s loaded, and ordered two pitchers of iced tea.” Sakura kept bringing this up since they entered the karaoke room ten minutes ago.

Naruto was preoccupied with inputting song numbers on the machine to respond to Sakura’s banters. “Technically, they’re still drinks!”

Sasuke was on the phone with the kitchen, and from what she could hear, he was ordering almost everything on the menu. When he sat down on the adjacent couch, Sakura leaned forward to him. “Are you gonna finish all of that?”

He jutted his index finger to Naruto. “No, but he will.”

The first notes of Michael Jackson’s Thriller wafted through the room, and the blonde made a quick impression of the artist’s famed moonwalk.

“Why are you opening with that?” Sakura cried out in amusement. “It’s not even Halloween!” Sasuke watched Naruto try to dance with a straight face, but she thought he was itching to face palm the whole time.

Naruto kept beckoning Sakura to join him in the middle of the room, but she was busy laughing at him and taking videos. “I’ll send these to Haru as a pick-me-up. I think this is the best remedy.”

Next was Sakura’s pick – Heaven is a Place on Earth by Belinda Carlisle. She couldn’t contain her laughter in between verses when the two boys finally heard that she was tone deaf. Naruto joined her with the other mic, trying to drown out the off-key notes. By the bridge, Sasuke stood up with them, a glass of juice in his hand, and mouthed the words.

“You know this song!” Sakura said excitedly.

“I don’t live under a rock!” He yelled back amid the loud music.

“OOOH BABY DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT’S WORTH OOH HEAVEN IS A PLACE ON EARTH. THEY SAY IN HEAVEN, LOVE COMES FIRST. OOH HEAVEN IS A PLACE ON EARTH!”

“Okay who’s next?” she asked when the next number flashed on the screen. Sasuke silently took the mic from her and faced the monitor with a hand in his pants’ pocket.

Naruto gripped the mic harder when the song started. “I’ll be your second voice, grumpy!”

She immediately went to the front and started recording. “One for the road.”

“No videos, Haruno,” Sasuke warned.

“Come on, it’s my remembrance,” she whined. He wasn’t able to clap back when the lines started to move.

“Turn around…” Naruto sang.

“Every now and then, I get a little bit lonely and you’re never coming ‘round,” Sasuke’s baritone voice filled the room like an empty coliseum.

“The fuck. You can sing?” Sakura gasped out loud. “How can you have that voice and not sing - like you know, every day?!”’

Sasuke gestured her to stop as he belted, stoic-faced, through the chorus with Naruto singing like a slaughtered pig in the background. Sakura stopped recording and joined them for the rest of the song.

Two hours and three pitchers of orange juice later, they finally settled on the couch and munched on Naruto’s leftovers of fries, buttered chicken, nachos, and calamari. On the karaoke monitor was David Bowie singing Heroes.

“Can’t believe we’re already seniors two months from now.” He stared at the ceiling, his eyes following the tag game of disco lights. “Elections of officers will be tomorrow which means Captain Haru will be formerly stepping down.”

Sasuke reached out and shook his hand. “Good luck next captain.”

Naruto immediately pulled out from his grasp. “What do you mean next captain?”

Sakura chuckled and patted his back as assurance. “Everyone knows it’ll be you. Have you seen how your teammates look at you when you’re discussing strategies?”

In the dimness of the room, she saw the flush on Naruto’s cheeks, and she found it amusing how he cannot take compliments.

Naruto scratched the back of his head. “Well, everything is possible, right? That said, I still haven’t filled out my college form, but I’m really set on getting an athletic scholarship and eventually be part of the national team! How about you grumpy? Changed your mind yet?”

“About what?” Sakura glanced at the silent raven-haired guy beside her. To be able to see this much of him was a nice privilege.

“I’m moving away after high school.” Sasuke fiddled with his half-empty glass, his eyes trained on the slushing juice. “I already sent applications to some universities in Europe.”

“We also have good medicine programs here. I don’t get why you have to move away so far. I’m so bad with converting time zones.”

Sasuke scrunched his nose in annoyance. “Are you dumb? The schools you listed are also out of this district.”

She seemed to be moving farther and farther from their exchange. Like an outsider peeking in, she understood the frailty of the moments in front of her, and by the time the next two months set in, the stopwatch would have started running its last lap. The bonds she has made so serendipitously were in danger of being cut off by dreams. She breathed in, engulfing the noise and scent of this room, panning every color and shape assembled like supercut in her head, praying that someday if she would lose herself, she’d come back here right at this frozen memory and relive the wonderful indecisiveness of adolescence and the chance to say I don’t know without repercussions.

“Sakura to earth?�� Naruto’s voice.

“Idiot. It’s earth to Sakura.” Sasuke’s voice.

She blinked fast, returning to the moment that wasn’t finished playing out yet. She quickly brushed her hands on her eyes as if something got into her eyes, hoping they don’t see the small droplets of tears that have formed. “Oh uh, I have a list of prospects, but I’m not quite sure what to take.” The form was still blank actually.

“That’s a usual problem of anyone who’s too good at everything,” Sasuke replied.

“Are you complimenting me?” I wish I was.

“Should I take it back?” He proceeded to gulp down the remnants of his glass.

The monitor suddenly turned off, indicating their time has run out. “Hey guys, for our last term, let’s make the most out of it, all right?” Naruto asked. “I’m so happy we became friends.”

“No hugging please,” Sasuke said, but it was too late. Naruto’s arms were too strong to pull away from so the two allowed him a few seconds of skinship.

Naruto’s words struck a chord in Sakura; it was a resolve she tried to form and disfigure for several months now. Before they could stand up to fix their things, Sakura blurted it out loud before her courage took the best of her.

“For our last term.” She flexed her fingers and curled them up against her palm, placing weight on her lap as she ground her fists onto it. “For our last term, I’m gonna confess to Kakashi.”

AO3 LINK | NEXT CHAPTER | CHAPTER 9

[honeypirate]

Why You Should Never Eavesdrop

AHHH it’s my first ever Naruto fic!! Don’t hate me if it sucks

Kakashi x female reader.

I will soon branch out to write for like Genma and Izumo but I had to make my first fic for Kakashi since he was my first ever crush ever XD. I’m going to write a part two because this is a terrible place to end it. I just got excited and wanted to post this now lol

Naruto Masterlist

Of course you went after him. You wanted to see if everything was okay, he was your friend after all and you cared about him. But when you got lost in the trees looking for him, this was the last thing you expected.

You were a Jonin, masking your chakra was second nature and something you always did, which is why you were able to quietly and accidentally sneak up underneath them. Kakashi with his student, Sauske, in the tree, “you’re a little late to the game” you froze, should you run? Should you speak up? You held your breath so they wouldn’t hear you as you debated what you should do. You didn’t mean to eavesdrop but part of you was glad you were when you heard the words that came out his mouth next “everyone I care about is already dead”

You disappear quick after that, realizing it wasn’t a conversation you should be listening to. Also realizing that he didn’t think you were as close of friends as you did. You know about his past, his history, you know about it all, but you thought, stupidly, as you now realize, that you could be someone to him. “Ridiculous” you nutter to yourself as you take to the trees, running through them as far as you could go, far away from Kakashi.

Far as possible without leaving this village, was to the trees by the gate, it was always nice here, the clouds easier to see because it’s where there was the tallest tree and you loved to sit at the very top. You were disappointed in yourself, you were a shinobi for crying out loud! you never got so invested in your feelings before. You will not let your feelings interfere with your life. You needed to think and this was where you came when you needed space.

Kakashi didn’t even come in to your life until recently, you got back from a mission that lasted a few years, protection of a political family, now you were home after so long and just when you thought you’d be given a little time off, the Hokage told you he wanted you to be a sensei to some new young Genin. That’s what brought Kakashi into your life.

You knew him growing up, had mutual friends in the academy, but you’ve never talked to him directly. Until after one especially long day with your rowdy eleven year olds you decided to go get some ramen and de-stress. The only chair open was next to Kakashi at the bar, who wasn’t even eating anymore, he was reading his icha icha book while Naruto rambled on next to him about Sakura.

He knows when you arrived, felt you sit next to him, but he didn’t show any signs. He had a crush on you in school and when you were in ANBU at the same time, you never looked his way so he didn’t think you even knew about him. That was, until tonight.

You’re so fried right now, bags under your eyes from the missions you’ve been sent on and from teaching, plus, you don’t remember the last time you slept more than three hours a night. Given that, your filter when speaking to people is basically nonexistent.

You wait for your ramen to cool a little before eating it and your eyes wander over to the words on the page you can read over his shoulder. “This part was my favorite” you say “then the part at the end as well. Have you seen the poster for the new movie?” You ask and then turn your tired attention to your ramen, taking slow bites so you could enjoy it.

He’s glad his blush is hidden by his mask, “I’ve seen it” he says and you nod “I thought you would have. You’ve always loved those books” you say and then smile content with your ramen. “It looks like it’s going to be good” you say and he nods.

When you finish your meal you turn in your stool towards him, Naruto has been distracted by someone else he knows and so you’re not interrupting anything, “i liked that book the best” you say and push your empty bowl forward, leaning your elbow on the table and leaning your head on your hand to smile at him. You talked together about icha icha books and the movies, sharing your favorite parts and ways you thought it could be better. You talk so long that by the time you leave Naruto had already left.

He wouldn’t lie about the fact that your smile always made his heart race, no, he wouldn’t lie, but he wouldn’t tell the truth, either, if he was ever asked about it. “Goodnight y/n” he says and does his cute closed eye thing where you can tell he’s smiling. You feel your cheeks warm up in a blush but you don’t look away you place your money on the counter before hopping off from your stool “I’ll see you around Kakashi” you say and shove your hands in the pockets of your pants and walk out of the shop.

He watched you leave, a curious smile on his lips under his mask, you surprised him today and now he’s curious to know more about you. After that you somehow ran in to him every time you had ramen, and you talked every time for sometimes hours, before you knew it you grew close with him. You trusted him and believed he felt similarly to you.

It’s been a year since then, you felt like he was a good friend now and didn’t even consider it wouldn’t be the same for him. You were both called into the Hokage’s office for a mission together, you were hyped, it was going to be easy peasy, you’ll be back in three months and you’ll have more time with Kakashi. You were walking back home when you saw the fight on the roof of the hospital which led you to wanting to find Kakashi since you knew how he felt about his students, which led to you here, now in the tree tops, trying to get over your feelings and hide them like a true shinobi.

“There you are” a voice said behind you, a voice you knew well, “here I am” you said and made your face neutral before you turned around to look at him. “What’s going on?” You ask and meet his eye, tilting your head a little. You wanted to pretend nothing was wrong and act normal but you felt cold. Inside and out.

“We’re supposed to be leaving tonight?” He says and furrows his eyebrows. “Shit. I’m sorry Kakashi I lost track of time. Give me five minutes I just need to grab my pack” you say before disappearing, running back to your house to grab your bag that’s already been prepared, cursing under your breath for being so stupid for a second time today.

You’re glad that he’s never made you feel like you have to talk, you can run though the trees with him in silence and not be awkward. “Did you hear me? Y/n?” You finally realized he was talking to you and you looked over at him “what was that?” You said and he came to a stop, you following suit and stopping next to him. “I said we should stop for the night. We’ve been going for hours now. it’s probably after two am” he says and you nod “sounds good” he knows something is off but doesn’t press it “there should be a cave up ahead we can stay in” he says and takes off, you right behind him.

“I’ll take the first guard shift. Get some rest” you say as you finish setting up your bed, standing up and walking over to the entrance of the cave, the whole time not really even paying attention to Kakashi or anything he’s saying, if he’s even said anything you don’t really know. You sit at the entrance, your back to him as you keep your mind aware of everything out in the woods and unaware of the man behind you who’s staring at your back, the book in his hand forgotten about, as he keeps wondering why you’re acting weird.

After your guard shift is over you quietly make your way over next to where he’s sleeping, you place your hand on his shoulder and he wakes up instantly, his eye looking into yours. His hand reaches up to grab yours that’s still on his shoulder “oh sorry” you say and try to take it away but he doesn’t move his hand. You look back into his eye and raise your eyebrows, wondering what he was thinking, wondering if he’ll ask the question you can see in his eye. He seems to make up his mind when he releases your hand and looks away, he goes to sit up and you clear your throat “like fifteen minutes ago I felt something off over to the east, but I couldn’t see anything with my Kekkei Genkai. It could be nothing but just in case” you say as you lay down on your back in your bed, using your arm to cover your eyes.

You’ve been on the road traveling for about a month now, you almost made it to your destination and once you were there you would deliver your message and then take a package back to the Hokage. You successfully shoved every feeling back into a tiny jar in your heart, now easier to pretend you never had them to begin with, although you acted a lot like you did when you were an ANBU. He’s noticed, of course he’s noticed, he notices everything about you, he has since you punched him once in the Chunin exams when you stole his scroll. He watched you now out of the corner of his eye as you run through the treetops, he missed how you used to laugh so easily with him.

You’re walking now, him a bit ahead of you, the sun has been down for a while “We can rest here since it’s a bit late or keep pushing until we get there, we could stay at an inn and have our meeting in the morning.” He matches your pace before he responds “second one is my choice” he says and you nod “we’re only about an hour out I’d guess” you say “yeah I’d bet you’re right” that was the last thing said for the rest of the walk. The lights of the city coming into view, your stomach growls for the first time in all these weeks when you pass by a ramen shop “come on” Kakashi says and walks through the door, you thanked every deity you could think of in that moment and then followed him in.

“Yummmm” You hummed over your steaming bowl, you felt like this was exactly what you needed. To warm your soul and let the unknown go. So what he doesn’t care about you. He’s just being a good Jonin and shinobi. It was fitting that it was ramen that helped you release your pent up emotions.

Kakashi was sitting across from you in the booth of the nearly empty restaurant, it was probably around 10 pm now and the only people in here other than you both were a few drunk men at a different table. “After we eat let’s get a room and a bath and we’ll meet the Kage in the morning” he says and you nod, your mouth full of noodles and your heart happier than it’s been these past few weeks. You were going to be yourself and be his friend no matter what, because you cared about him and that was all that mattered. ‘Everything will be fine.’ You think to yourself as you finish your bowl and meet his eye, smiling warmly at him. That just confused him even more. He was sitting here the entire time wondering how to talk to you about what’s going wrong and you just turn around and act normal again. What the hell. He’ll talk to you more about it later tonight.

“I’m gonna get a room at the inn down the road and then head to the bathhouse, you eat and we’ll meet up after” you say as you place enough money on the table for both of your meals before slipping out of the booth and out into the chilly night air. ‘Yea’ Kakashi thinks to himself ‘I’ll definitely have to talk to her about this later’

“Lucky you!” The person at the front desk says “it’s the last room” they hand you over your key and a string of curses go through your mind, you let go of your pent of feelings but that didn’t mean you wanted to be thrown right into intimate moments with him. You couldn’t do much about it now “do you have an extra mattress? I have a friend who needs a room as well and we might have to share” you say and frown, to which they chuckle amusedly at your unhappiness “yes we do! We’ll have one sent to your room” you nod “thank you. Where is the bathhouse?”

The cold night air is calming, you look up at the moon as you walk slowly down the road to the bathhouse, grateful to the inn keeper for the directions. Your hands in your pocket and your footsteps practically silent, just like your thoughts, surprisingly quiet for the first time in weeks. You felt a weight off your shoulders, like physical evidence of your letting go of your hard feelings. Finally coming to terms with your heart. You felt so relieved and you can’t wait to sink into the hot water so your muscles could feel the same kind of relief.

Strings of even more harsher curses run through your head as you read the sign on the bathhouse. It was co-ed. Open to all. Which means you’ll probably have to share a bath with your ninja partner. Just great. You took a deep breath and steeled your nerves before walking into the establishment. Maybe Kakashi would take his time or maybe he’d find another inn and go to bed right away. You sigh, knowing he’ll be here soon.

Luckily the bath was empty as you entered, you lowered your body into the hot water and sighed in happiness. You considered hurrying but now that your body is in the water you know you’ll stay as long as your body wants, no matter who showed up. You laid your head back and took a deep breath, feeling the hot water release the tension you’ve been holding, which was almost immediately replaced with new tension when you heard the door open.

Even though you knew who it was, you raised your left eyebrow, causing your eye to open lazily as you looked through the steam at the silver haired man. He gave you a slight nod before you closed your eye and focused on steadying your breathing. You’ve seen him shirtless before, but you knew if you saw him in this setting you’d have a heart attack and stop breathing. He’d never let you forget that either so you couldn’t let him know the affect he had on you, sure, you’ve accepted you’d never be anything more than work friends but that didn’t mean you were blind.

His body couldn’t relax in the hot water, he had no room and now he had to share a bath with you. How cruel could the universe be? The wet glint off your shoulders that peaked out of the water, your wet hair stuck to your neck, the way you looked so relaxed in the hot water, it all drove him wild. What done him in though, was the way you looked at him when he walked in, ‘sooo cute.’ He thought. This was exactly like a scene from his favorite book, it was everything he could just to keep his boner at bay. So

The sigh that left your lips as ran the warm wet washcloth over your neck, made his heart race, he couldn’t help but watch you. You don’t know what has happened, something in you snapped the longer he watched you wash your chest and shoulders, something compelled you and you didn’t fight it, you embraced it. “You want to help me wash my back or are you just enjoying the show?” You ask, your eyes still on the washcloth as it passes across your skin. His heart beat is hammering in his chest, that was the last thing he expected you to say but he couldn’t resist from moving slowly through the water and over to you, sitting behind you he reaches down and takes the cloth from you, slowly running it up your arm and over your shoulder.

Your heart is pounding in your ears, you sigh softly and your eyes flutter closed, tilting your head to the side as the cloth passes over your shoulder and neck. You pull your hair all to the front of your shoulder so your back was completely open and you hum contentedly as he begins to wash your back slowly, you lean forward when he gets midway so he could go lower if he wanted, your knees up on the side of the seats and your arms wrapped around your knees.

When you’re satisfied with his work you look over your shoulder at him with a smile before turning around to face him, looking into his eye as you take the cloth from him, you run the warm cloth up his arm starting from his wrist, when you get to his shoulder he breaks eye contact to turn around to allow you to wash his back as well. You wash his strong shoulders, leaving the cloth on one of them as you begin to massage his neck, kneading your fingers into his skin, working down his strong shoulders, kneading out knots and smiling every time he lets out of a relaxed, soft, moan. You massage down his back, working the muscles near his spine massaging in small circles with your thumbs to his lower back before running your finger tips up his back and across his ribs before grabbing the cloth and finishing washing him now that you were satisfied with how relaxed he looked. You set the cloth down to the side, softly running your finger tips across his shoulders before placing a feather kiss to the back of his neck. “Thank you for your help ‘Kashi” you whisper, finally breaking the silence, “if you don’t have a room, I’ll get another mattress and you can stay with me. Room 23.”

He was so relaxed he didn’t know you were gone until your words registered, who knows how long it’s really been, he thought he felt you kiss his neck but part of him believes he dreamed it. The longer this mission went the more confused he got.

[cherrywoes]

prologue. (acanthus.)

SAKURA HARUNO LOST THE ability to use medical ninjutsu when she turned twenty.

There had been no warning, no sputtering of her chakra, no imminent sign that she was about to lose the very foundation that her newfound strength had been built upon. She woke up one morning to her squad members with their throats slit, one just barely clinging on to life—a Hyuuga, her pretty lavender eyes wide with shock and desperation—and when Sakura sealed her hands over her pale throat, intent to close the wound as best she could and haul ass back to Konoha, there was nothing. No pale green chakra to flood her systems, no pinpoint accuracy of healing down to the very cells, nothing—just razor sharp chakra, cutting so deeply into her teammate’s throat that it went far enough to decapitate her completely.

Sakura watched the light fade from her eyes with pale pink strands of hair blowing into her face on a warm, humid breeze.

She continued this for some time—accidentally murdering her teammates when they were on the brink of death. Fear kept her from telling Tsunade. Ego kept her from revealing she was not, in fact, the prized healer of Konohagakure anymore. Arrogance forbade her from admitting any harm she had done. Sakura made herself forge the stories of her teammates’ deaths when she couldn’t sleep, their eyes haunting her dreams and her not so kind hands wrapped around their throats. It kept her up at night, so every afternoon, when she returned from narrowly avoiding every single healing session that was tossed her way at the clinic, after pushing them off on overworked nurses and doctors on overtime, she took enough sleeping pills to kill a horse three times over just to rest.

The people in her dreams were faceless, then, and easier to deal with when she woke up.

“Forehead, you look like you’re about to pass out.” Ino’s long blonde hair was a bit too bright in the sunlight. It was shinier than it had ever been, flourishing under the happiness of a successful pregnancy. She glowed, and it was even in her personality. She was chipper, far more perky, and while her appetite was something to be feared, it didn’t stop her observative eye from catching on to the dark circles underneath her friend’s eyes or the sallow look of her face. “Are you alright? Is Tsunade making you run night shifts again?”

Sakura sighed and rested her forehead on the cool marble tabletop. It felt nice against her heated skin; heated as if it was under the sun of the Suna desert. Suna, where she had managed to disembowel her adorable teammate instead of stitching her leaking intestines back together. Suna, where she had been forced to kill her second teammate who had witnessed it to hide her secret and spread his limbs amongst their enemies before returning home. Suna, where that ninja probably still remained, rotting in the hot sun and being picked apart by vultures.

Ino, a concerned hum exiting her mouth, pressed a hand to her forehead. “You’re burning up! Sakura, how long have you been like this?”

She didn’t answer and pressed her cheek further against the table. Her hair, long, longer than she had ever had it before, the ends brushing past her waist, stuck to the side of her face and neck, clinging with sweat. Her thoughts were muddied and sluggish. An image of a face flashed through her mind—cute, chubby with baby fat, and eyes of the lightest Yamanaka blue—in livid color, doused in vermillion red seconds later, Sakura’s rough hands held over her injured eyes.

“I’m so tired of this, Ino,” Sakura sighed. It was mumbled and nearly incoherent, but the blonde caught it anyways, pressing an ice cold cloth to her forehead. “I’m so tired of killing my teammates.”

“What?” Ino’s voice was tight. The lights around her warped in and out of focus. “Sakura, what did you just say?”

Sakura couldn’t answer. She slipped into darkness, the faces of her victims—her teammates—floating seamlessly through her dreams, as if they had never died at all.

Sakura spent the next four months in a cell. She was given subpar food—a multigrain bar, some vitamins, IV fluids to flush her system of the high doses of sleeping pills, water that tasted far too much like chlorine—and equally appalling care. When her chakra cuffs dug into her wrists, no one came to heal them, so they scarred over and opened back up in an endless repetition until they were permanent accessories to her skin, shiny and puckered and irritated. When her period did eventually come, spotty and unusually light at best, they gave her tiny packets of pads for her to stretch through months, and if she suffered several bacterial infections afterwards, they didn’t much care. Her hair had grown long and matted, unbrushed, and combing it with her fingers did nothing to help the endless matts and knots that had grown near her nape. Her clothes were the same ones she had gone in with, so they were dirty, threadbare, and practically dry rotting off of her body.

She felt she deserved it—this torture. She was only afforded the barest of luxuries—her food and IV—because she was, despite what she had done, the Hokage’s apprentice. Former apprentice now, she figured, since they had most likely discovered what she had done. Four months was enough to follow Sakura’s bloody trail all the way back to her twentieth birthday when she had been sent out on a mission. It was also enough to compare the discrepancies in her reports; enough to exhume the bodies of the dead and charge her with a dozen counts of murder, and recover the other bodies she had neglected to bring back.

When anyone did deign to visit her, it was to cross reference what she had said with the actual truth. She had no reason to lie, anymore, not when her little slip of the tongue in a delirious fever had gotten her caught in the first place.

“Haruka Hyuuga.” Sakura could recognize Kakashi even when he wore the ANBU mask and attempted to disguise his voice. His hair was impossible to hide—she had tried on several occasions to dye it, only for it’s unusual hue to spring back within a few days and nearly blow their cover. He was, at the moment, playing the role of Hound, but she knew once the mask was off he would be her former partner, former teacher, and broken hearted friend; because he, of all people, would believe it was his fault she had ended up in a cell just because she was too proud to say she was an awful human being. “Do you remember her?”

“Yes.” Sakura leaned back against the small wooden shelf that made up her bed. It was covered with a thin white sheet that wasn’t much in the way of comfort, but as a kunoichi it didn’t bother her like it would a normal civilian. She dragged her shoes across the concrete floor to break the lack of noise within her section of the underground jail cells. They had been ground down to the latex-polyester sole when she paced in boredom or dropped her heels and skidded them as she walked. “She was the last one… Someone had gouged out her eyes. Or tried to, I think; it was all a blur. It didn’t matter in the end, though. I couldn’t heal her.”

Kakashi—Hound—was quiet as he wrote something down in his tiny square notepad. “When did you first lose your medical ninjutsu?”

Her pale pink eyebrows furrowed. No one had bothered with this line of inquiry before, past merely wanting the knowledge of when she had lost it in the first place. Kakashi was usually there to interrogate her about her teammates, nothing more. “When I turned twenty; so, maybe six or seven months ago.”

“And you had no precursory signs beforehand to indicate you would lose it?”

“No.” She shook her head slowly and reached for the small metal tin cup he had placed in her cell. She was surprised to find it was filled with her favorite drink—apple juice, of all things—and cherished the tiny little sips of flavor she was granted. “It just… happened. I was healing—or I thought I was?—and then it wasn’t… healing. It was cutting, sharp as a razor’s edge. I couldn’t have stopped it if I had wanted to by then.”

“But you continued going on missions after that, knowing you would hurt others in your attempts to use medical ninjutsu again.”

“I didn’t think that. That I would hurt them.” Sakura paused and admitted, so quietly it was barely a whisper,”I thought it would come back if I tried hard enough.”

More scribbling, this time a little slower than the previous. “I think you tried hard enough after the second person you killed.”

Hound stuffed the notepad into his white flak jacket. With a cursory nod to the guard standing just out of her field of view, he was gone, vanishing in a puff of smoke that had Sakura’s eyes watering.

“You know what they’re calling you, right?” The guard goaded when he was certain there was no one to hear him. Sakura closed her eyes; she didn’t want to know what they were saying about her out there. “They’re calling you ‘Ninja Killer Sakura’. Like teacher like student, huh?”

A few days later, her Strength of a Hundred seal was gone, as if it never existed in the first place. The vast amount of chakra she had stored within it was gone, spirited away from her body. No one had removed it from her; no one had sealed it while she had been asleep. It had just disappeared in the same way her medical ninjutsu had, in nearly the same fashion. The only clue she had that it had vanished was the faint tingling in her forehead, right between her brows—but something else was clearly there, because the next guard in her rotation was calling for a Nara guard before she could wonder what it was.

She found out, later, after being immobilized by a shadow technique and examined by a medic, that the symbol upon her forehead had changed into a crimson red spider lily. It was no larger than the diamond had been, but was more ornate and complex, with interlocking rings centered at the bottom and sun phases etched into said rings. When the rest of her chakra, the chakra she used to maintain her health, was sealed off because of it, she didn’t complain.

She deserved it, after all.

“I don’t know if I should kill you or slap you and kill you and revive you so I can kill you again.”

Her next visitor was Tsunade. She hadn’t expected her to visit her at all, much less come traipsing in her cell with clean clothes, a basin of water, shampoo, soap, new shoes, and a pair of scissors. While the Hokage was angry, Sakura wasn’t sure if it was her fondness for her keeping her alive or the fact that it would be fairly inconvenient for the Senju woman to kill her and dispose of her without the council’s input.

“What were you thinking, Sakura?” Tsunade whirled on her, scissors in hand. She watched them cautiously, fiddling with the scars on her wrists when they itched. “Really, I mean, what was going on inside your head? I had thought you of all people would be level headed and rational—”

“Rational went out the window when I lost the only power keeping me equal with Sasuke and Naruto, Shishou.” Sakura met her gaze head on, unflinching. Her eyes were dull mimicries of the once vibrant jade they used to be; she was tired, sick, and most of all, guilt was eating her alive. “I lost everything keeping me from drowning in the ranks of endless genin. And now I’ve even lost the Strength of One Hundred seal—I don’t think I’ve been level headed or rational for a while.”

“I see.” Tsunade sighed. “That’s good, then. We can plea insanity—”

“You’re helping me?” Sakura blurted incredulously, her first real show of emotion in months.

“Of course. It isn’t out of the goodness of my heart, though. If I had my way you’d rot down here for the rest of your life.” The Hokage crossed her arms and shrugged her shoulders. “But I owe a certain teacher of yours a favor, so after this we’ll be more than even. Now clean up and get dressed so I can cut your hair. Your trial starts today.”

When the cell door slammed behind her, Sakura picked up a clean rag—the cleanest thing she’d seen in months—and dipped it into the water. It was pleasantly cool as she ran it along her neck experimentally, bringing with it the grime and dirt of four months without a shower. When it came back visibly stained, she soaked it clean and lathered it with soap and got to work.

When she finished with her body and hair, the basin was almost pitch black. She wasn’t very surprised. She had seen worse when she returned home covered in dried blood, mud, dirt, and various other secretions she would rather not recall due to the pungent odor. She smelled like mint and watermelon, a scent she purchased personally before she had been put in prison, and she was momentarily comforted by the smell until the stench of mildew crept past it.

Tsunade had provided her with a simple long sleeved turtleneck she had seen many ANBU wear underneath their flak jackets and a pair of slightly too large pants that she quickly realized were men’s pants. She tucked the shirt as best she could with the sagging waistline and pulled on the standard issue civilian shoes (flats, uncomfortable on her high arches), and felt like an entirely new person. Clean, renewed, with clothes that didn’t smell like death and underwear that wasn’t blood stained for once, she felt a little bit of the old Sakura creep back in like a breath of fresh air.

When her former teacher returned and began hacking away at the giant knots in the back of her head, she allowed the faintest, most miniscule thread of hope to worm its way into her heart.

masterlist ❚ 一 (ichi)

a/n: this is my first attempt at writing something out of my comfort zone (at least moderately; it's very tame compared to what i normally write.) feedback is appreciated! i just let the words flow and didn't take it too seriously. <3

[itachi-uchiha-deserved-better]

Misunderstanding

Itachi looked at the paired Tantos that Sakura was holding out with some confusion. They were beautiful weapons, Blackened steel blades, well crafted and excellently balanced. The crossguard for one of the blades was a pair of outstretched black wings with a crow's head carved into the pommel, two jeweled red eyes peering out like a pair of sharingan.The second blade had an intricate feather design etched into the blade and a polished onyx gem handle, more subdued in design than the first but no less elegant. They were a perfect match for the pair of Uchiha prodigy they were intended for. Flashy and bold for the one and only Shisui of the body flicker and modest but refined and graceful for the quiet clan heir. 

Shisui was already giggling like a schoolboy, leaning over Itachi’s shoulder as his younger cousin studied both th weapons and the kunoichi who had brought them. 

Sakura was smiling shyly, her eyes jumping between the faces of the two Uchiha’s in front of her, taking in Itachi’s puzzled expression and Shisui’s excitement.

“Sasuke mentioned that your birthday was coming up and I realized that I’ve never given either of you a gift. You both have helped me so much to get stronger and I know that Uchiha don’t really celebrate their birthdays but I still wanted to get you both something. I’m sorry if it’s kind of lame, I guess you both probably have plenty of weapons but when I asked Kakashi, he said that giving someone a weapon is a good way to tell them how much you respect them…” She trailed off, her eyes finally stopping on Itachi’s face as understanding dawned on him. 

“Thank you, Sakura-san. These are beautiful weapons.” A small smile crossed Itachi’s face, “But I don’t know if us accepting them is a good idea.”  

Sakura’s smile faltered and her eyes dropped, “Oh…”

Itachi hissed in pain as Shisui pinched his arm and pushed himself forward to toss an arm around Sakura’s shoulders, “What my idiot cousin means by that is you really didn’t need to get us anything. I mean, it’s not like we’ve ever gotten you anything.” 

“Speak for yourself.” Itachi hissed, “Just because you forget everyone’s birthdays every year…”

Shisui shot Itachi a glare, “Mr. Perfect over here is just trying to say that these are amazing and you are way too nice to us. Thanks a million Sakura-chan!” Shisui gingerly took his gift in his hands, testing the way the blade felt in his hands. 

Sakura perked back up immediately, her small smile growing until it reached from ear to ear, “Oh it’s really nothing! After all, thanks to both of you I’m sure I’ll get promoted to Jonin. Honestly, these are the least I could do.” 

Itachi caught Shisui’s eye out of the corner of his own. His lips pursed and his eyes narrowed ever so slightly in dismay at his cousin. 

That’s not what I meant and you know it. One of us needs to tell her that we can’t keep these. 

Shisui answered the glance with a smile and a quirk of his eyebrow.

Are you kidding me? Itachi these look amazing and expensive. We can’t offend her by not accepting them. Besides, I think she might cry if we don’t take them. 

Itachi grimaced. Him and crying women never ended well. He always just stood there awkwardly, not sure what to do or what to say. Or he ended up saying the wrong thing and making them even more upset. 

You know what people are going to think. One of us needs to tell her.

Shisui beamed at Itachi, his eyes shining with a hint of mischief. 

No way. This is going to be funny as hell. Besides, just because it’s tradition for Uchiha to give engagement weapons instead of engagement rings doesn’t mean every gifted weapon is seen as a proposal. She isn’t a member of the clan, it isn’t like we’re the ones giving her weapons. 

Itachi sighed, looking back to Sakura who was watching them both with an amused expression. 

“Who won?” 

“What?” Itachi and Shisui replied in unison.

Sakura laughed, “you guys just had one of your silent arguments, right? So which one of you won?” 

“Me!” Shisui chirped, pulling Sakura closer to give her a kiss on the cheek, “Thanks a million and one, Sakura-chan!” 

Itachi sighed and took the second tanto. He did have to admit it was a very nice weapon. He gave her a deep, respectful bow, “Yes, thank you Sakura-san. Your kindness is unrivaled in all of Konoha.” 

Sakura flushed crimson but her smile only widened, “If you’d like, maybe we can all go get Dango after my shift at the hospital today.” 

That managed to break through Itachi’s show of formality, his eyes lighting up at the mention of his favorite sweet. He leaned in and copied Shisui by placing a kiss on her other cheek.

“That sounds wonderful.” 

Sakura’s face turned an even deeper shade of red at the rare show of affection from the clan heir and she quickly turned and started running off towards the hospital building, waiving as she left, “It’s a date! See you!” 

As Shisui and Itachi headed back towards the district, Itachi gave Shisui a shove, glaring over at him.

Hey! What was that for?

Because I’m going to have to explain to Sakura if this whole joke of yours goes sour and you know it. 

Oh common, Itachi, loosen up a little. You need to learn to have a little fun in life and not be such a stick in the mud. 

Shisui stuck his tongue out at Itachi, earning a punch to the shoulder and another scowl from his cousin.

“Do you really think we have silent arguments that much?” Shisui asked as Itachi sighed in exasperation.

Sakura was used to walking through the Uchiha district. She had made the trip to the clan head’s house more times than she could count to bring home some item that Sasuke had left during training, bringing him homework when he stayed home sick, or letting him know when they had a last minute mission assignment. She was used to the icy reception she received every time she walked the streets, used to the glares that came her way from shopkeepers and the way people gave her a wide berth as she made her way to the heart of the Uchiha district. 

But today something was different. Instead of avoiding her, people were waving at her. She had been stopped on her way to Sasuke’s by no less than three shopkeepers who were offering her small gifts or samples. Sakura was starting to question if some kind of strange illness had suddenly swept over the Uchiha because the amount of smiles that she was getting was absolutely disquieting. 

“Sakura!” Mikoto was smiling brightly when she opened the door, “Itachi is out right now, but please come in.” 

“Oh, that’s fine, I actually just came by to drop off some paperwork for Lord Fifth.” Sakura chuckled awkwardly, holding out the bundle of paperwork. It caught her off guard that Mikoto mentioned that Itachi was out since she usually assumed that Sakura was there to visit Sasuke. 

“You came all this way, please why don’t you come in and have a cup of tea. I just finished a batch of cookies too!” 

Sakura couldn’t see a reason to turn that down, “Sure, I can spare a few minutes. Thank you Mikoto-san.” Sakura gave a shallow bow and followed Mikoto into the house. 

“We really need to have you by for dinner soon, Sakura-san. It’s been a while now, hasn’t it. I don’t think you’ve eaten a meal with us since you were a genin. Tell me, how is your work at the hospital going? Tsunade-sama has nothing but praises for her favorite student.” 

Sakura ran a hand up through her hair, “Oh yeah, I guess it’s been a while. I guess since team 7 all started training under different sensei we haven’t spent as much time together.” It was a little sad. Sakura had so many good memories of getting together with Sasuke and Naruto over bowls of ramen, listening to the boys bicker.

“Things are going well. The hours are long but I’m helping a lot of people. I’m just thankful that Itachi and Shisui have been able to help me train despite my unconventional schedule.” 

Mikoto’s smile brightened as she handed Sakura a cup of warm tea and a plate with two cookies on it, “That’s right! Itachi has mentioned your training sessions. I have to say, I didn’t expect them to lead to all this. It’s a bit unconventional, I’ll admit, but Itachi and Shisui have always been so close. I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised.” 

Sakura paused mid sip. Lead to what? Is her training with Shisui and Itachi some kind of a problem? Maybe there was some kind of rules about training with non-uchiha that they were breaking by helping her? 

“Oh I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cause either of them any trouble.”

Mikoto peered over her own up of tea, “Oh don’t worry too much about Fugaku-san. He’ll come around. Believe it or not, he’s actually happy. I mean, sure he’d prefer for things to be a bit more...traditional...but really I think he was worried that Itachi would never get married so even if it’s a little unusual…”

Sakura spit out her tea, coughing and sputtering as she processed what Mikoto was saying. 

“You...think...that…”

Mikoto frowned, “I saw the Tantos you gave them. They’re beautiful.” 

Sakura nodded, hesitantly, “Yeah...I wanted...to…” She was struggling to find any way to form words, “Wanted to thank...thank them...for training me.” 

Mikoto’s brow furrowed, “So it was just a gift? Didn’t Itachi explain it to you?”

Sakura shook her head, “He...He didn’t want to accept it, but Shisui said-” 

It hit her. Shisui. Of course he would be the kind to get a laugh out of this. Letting her flounder around like this while-

“Wait does...Does the whole clan...Do they think that Itachi and I are getting married?” Sakura asked. Mikoto put her cup of tea aside and put a hand on Sakura’s shoulder.

“Of course. Well, Itachi and Shisui both. Like I said, unconventional, but no one really ever thought either of those boys would ever find a girl to settle down with. They could certainly do worse than the Hokage’s favorite apprentice. It’s tradition for our clan that you propose with a special weapon. Fugaku proposed to me with a pair of jade Kunai.” 

Sakura reached up and rubbed at her temples. She was going to kill him. The next time she saw Shisui she was going to punch him so hard he’d wind up in Suna.

[catflorist]

The Time Being (ao3 / ffn) catflorist Summary: Time-slipping is a side effect of wielding the Rinnegan. When Sasuke slips through time, he always goes to Sakura, whether he wants to or not. 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8

pt 5: sakura

After Sasuke left, Sakura woke up alone on a bench just as the sky began to lighten.

She rubbed the goosebumps on her bare arms. The aching pressure of a sob churned in her chest, but she could not cry.

Someone sat next to her. She recognized the line of his shoulders before she recognized his face.

Sasuke's jaw was sharper, his hair tied back and long enough to graze his shoulder blades. Mismatched eyes—red and purple—met hers before fading into their familiar dark.

He frowned. "You're cold." His voice was quieter, deeper than the voice of her Sasuke. He shrugged the cloak off his shoulders and offered it to her.

Sakura accepted, too stunned to speak. There was no need to voice the obvious. He was not the Sasuke she knew.

"I always wondered how you knew I was leaving," he said.

Sakura burrowed inside the cloak, still warm from his body. The fabric was soft, sun-worn, and smelled like salt. "Because I know you," she answered.

Sasuke smiled, and Sakura's head cleared. He had left, but he was here again. That had to mean something.

"What are you doing here?" Her voice trembled, but the knot in her throat was loosening.

The first rays of sun peeked over the horizon, lighting the treetops in gold. "I need to tell you something."

As dawn rose, Sasuke told her about his time-slipping, about the Rinnegan, that she should expect more appearances in the years to come. Sakura listened in a rapture. When he revealed the truth behind the massacre of the Uchiha clan, her tears finally fell. In the morning light, the village appeared ghostly, like bones bleaching in the sun.

"Will you ever come back?" Sakura asked, when everything was said.

"Yes," Sasuke said.

She dried her eyes on the collar of his cloak. "Do you promise?"

"I promise," he said. "We'll meet again soon."

"How long?"

"Five years or so, for you." His brow furrowed. "I'm sorry. You'll need to be patient with me."

"I'll be here when you're ready," she said.

Smiling again, Sasuke tapped the center of her brow with two gentle fingers. "You're with me right now."

A rush of questions flooded Sakura's mind, but they were out of time. Sasuke frowned, rubbing his temples, and Sakura took this to mean he was about to leave. She passed the cloak into his lap.

Sasuke slipped away like ducking underwater, leaving behind a quiet ripple of his presence.

When Naruto and Kakashi found her, the village had already woken up. Traffic clattered from the nearby main streets, and curtains fluttered from open windows. Someone nearby was grilling fish for breakfast.

"He's gone," Sakura said.

For a beat, Naruto and Kakashi said nothing. They searched Sakura's expression, giving her the opportunity to grieve, if she wanted to. But Sakura's breathing remained calm.

Kakashi lifted the hitai-ate obscuring his left eye. His gaze shone with regret. "This is my fault." At this, Sakura's lip started trembling.

Naruto's fists clenched and unclenched at his sides. "I'm going after him," he snarled.

"There's no need, Naruto." Sakura gripped the stone of the bench. "He'll come back one day."

.

.

Sakura trained under Tsunade and grew strong. She learned how to tear open the earth and to mend bones. How to store her chakra drop by drop, so one day it would become a vast ocean under her control.

Two years passed before she saw Sasuke again. It occurred in her own time. He perched on the rim of the cliff outside Orochimaru's hideout, wind lifting his robes. A purple obi ensnared his waist. With the sun at his back, he looked more shadow than boy. His eyes held nothing when he looked at her—neither interest nor contempt.

Then he said, "Sakura." He exhaled her name like a breath, like he didn't even realize he was saying it.

It still hurt when they failed to convince him to return, even if it was what Sakura expected.

The trip back to Konoha was solemn. Naruto was shaken and quiet, and even Sai wisely held his tongue. They traveled through the night until Captain Yamato constructed a temporary wooden shelter with four separate rooms.

When she was alone, Sakura held her head in her hands. She tried to fit the Sasuke she just saw into her knowledge of him. He was longer her teammate, and he was far from the man who had chosen to tie his hair back. He was somewhere in between, somewhere lost, with a long way to go.

"Sakura?"

Sasuke, exactly as she remembered from their genin days, inspected her wet face. All his questions stopped. He grasped her hand and looked stubbornly away, daring her to state what they both knew. It was not his way to freely offer a comforting touch.

Sakura closed her eyes. Sasuke had promised to return, but she never would have doubted it on her own.

.

.

"The daimyo wants to drain a lake to build another summer palace, and the council says they have the funds to spare," Tsunade spat, shoving a mountain of paperwork in Sakura's direction. "But there's nothing in the budget for the civilian guilds?"

Sighing in sympathy, Sakura pulled her favorite chair to Tsunade's desk. She flipped through the paperwork, signing a perfect copy of the Hokage's signature on each page. Tsunade filled two glasses with amber liquid, set one beside her student, and settled behind her own tower of paper. This was their evening ritual.

Signing her name with angry flourishes, Tsunade muttered, "Three years as Hokage and I can't get anything done."

Each day, Sakura watched Tsunade fight the council tooth and nail to implement her vision for the village. Each day, the council blocked her every move.

Sakura's pen stilled. Tsunade did not know the truth of the Uchiha massacre. Was it right to tell her?

"Tsunade-shishou…" she began, then the words froze on her tongue.

Her teacher raised an eyebrow. "Spit it out," she urged.

"Have you ever thought that the council might be doing more harm than good?"

This was a radical view. Many citizens of Konoha supported the council in their decision-making. The village was prosperous and powerful. There was no reason to ask deeper questions.

Tsunade was silent for a breath too long, revealing her answer. Teacher and student gazed at each other with a new understanding.

Sakura's hands shook. "There is something you should know."

The council met in an imposing structure set behind the largest gate in the village. Since few windows penetrated its thick walls, the building's interior remained cold and dim no matter the season. When darkness fell, Tsunade and Sakura snuck inside and entered the archive.

After undoing a genjutsu, breaking the ninjutsu seal on a wooden chest, and snapping a plain lock in half, they uncovered the file detailing plans behind the Uchiha massacre.

The scroll was thin. It did not take much space on a page at all to massacre a clan.

Sakura read it first. It was one thing to hear the truth from Sasuke. It was another to see it confirmed in writing, signed by the leaders of the village, and stamped in approval. When she saw the Third Hokage's signature, her heart panged. Sarutobi-sama had always been kind to her. Yet he had known and approved of this plan. Was it a betrayal, or a requirement of his position? Which was worse?

"This village is rotten to the core," Tsunade muttered after closing the scroll. "Is this why your teammate left?"

"No," Sakura said. "He doesn't know the truth yet."

"How did you think to look for this?"

"I was close with Sasuke," she offered, not meeting her teacher's eyes. "I had a suspicion."

Tsunade did not push further. She pressed her lips together, rubbed the space between her eyebrows. For once, the ageless face of Sakura's teacher looked tired.

"We carve our faces into the cliff as if we have something to celebrate," she said. "As if we owe our greatness to the world. But it's all a lie."

Huddled next to Tsunade, surrounded by the archive's chilly secrets, Sakura swore to make the village a better place by the time Sasuke returned.

.

.

"No surprise, Sakura. They denied your plans." Tsunade stamped a document hard enough to shake her entire desk. "Danzo told me personally."

Sakura clenched her fists, but she was not surprised. Last week Tsunade refused to shut down an investigation into the Hyuuga clan's use of branding. Now, the council had coincidentally tabled Sakura's sensible proposal to construct a pediatric wing of the hospital.

This was not Sakura's first roadblock. Last month, the council canceled their first meeting with Sakura's newly-established civilian board, citing scheduling conflicts, and dodged all attempts to reschedule. Not long before, they implied that unless Tsunade agreed to spare three extra jonin for the daimyo's entourage, they might not find funds to spare for Sakura's medic training program. Each time, Danzo delivered the news with a modest smile, as if he were pouring her a cup of tea and expecting gratitude in response.

The more Sakura's plans fizzled out, the more she feared Konoha could never change.

Sometimes Sakura imagined herself leaving the village. She thought about it the same way she thought about embracing the next Sasuke she saw. It was not a real possibility, but the idea floated in her head, and sometimes hurt to think about.

She could live alone somewhere. Maybe by the ocean. Her brain conjured all the details: fresh, salty air. Seabirds screeching and plummeting into the water. The temperamental sand shifting under her feet. There would be nothing to fix. Nothing would require changing. Maybe she would find peace.

Sakura worked hard to improve the village, but she did not buy the plant Ino suggested would flourish in the morning light of her bedroom. She stored every scrap of chakra away for her future seal. She did not spend money except when her friends dragged her to dinner. She thought about the Sasuke who smelled like salt. She dreamt about the ocean.

.

.

When Sasuke appeared next, it was at the worst possible time, and that's what she told him. She had a village to defend and to heal.

Sasuke was closer, somehow. He wore the obi, but his eyes were brighter. He did not hesitate to approach her and to call out her name. Sakura wished he had stayed long enough for her to heal the wound on his head.

The battle worsened. A hoard of Katsuyu's summons under Sakura's command saved the hospital and the old Uchiha compound from destruction, but Pain's attack leveled much of Konoha to the ground.

Tsunade sank into a coma. Shizune and Sakura tended to the wrecked village.

Captain Yamato was reconstructing Konoha by himself when Sakura stepped in. In his patient voice, he taught her the basics of woodstyle. At first she could only summon twigs and vines. Her wood produced too much foliage, inhibiting its use as a building material. She persevered. By the end of the month, she was by his side, reimagining and rebuilding Konoha, coaxing the surrounding forest to regrow.

Sakura and Yamato faced the empty land where the council building once stood.

"I have an idea," Sakura said, "though it isn't traditional."

"By all means," Yamato said.

Sakura pressed her hands together. Wood coiled into the air and formed a new type of building. It was small and modest with an unadorned facade. A large window opened upon the council gathering space. Where the gate once existed, she created a square for the citizens of Konoha to gather. The council's discussions could no longer occur in private, outside the public eye.

It was no trivial responsibility to possess the skills to rebuild a village. If she could carve out a window when before there was none, create a new space for people to breathe, she would.

.

.

"Sakura, you have too many jobs," Ino complained.

"I am a simple student," Sakura denied, though Ino was right. In Tsunade's absence, Sakura's role in the village took on more of a political nature than ever.

After the council appointed Danzo as the temporary Hokage, she and Shizune fought to maintain Tsunade's policies and legislation under his strict rule. During council meetings, she served as Tsunade's representative. In between these responsibilities, Sakura squeezed in training and shifts at the hospital.

This meant Sakura did not have time in her schedule to eat dinner with both Ino and Naruto in one week, so she requested they meet together. Her two friends disrupted the peaceful evening of every Konoha resident with their public debate over where to eat before Ino finally threw up her hands.

Naruto slurped his Ichiraku's ramen. "You're a student, a shinobi, an architect..."

"...a medic, a politician," Ino picked up. She considered. "A large-forehead-bearer."

"Pig," Sakura responded fondly. She eyed Naruto. "Dobe," she said, using Sasuke's word without thinking, and the cheerful mood dampened.

Ino set her teacup on the table with a soft clink. "Have you heard anything?"

Naruto sighed. "The teme is up to some shit."

Sakura chewed her lip. The last they'd heard, Sasuke had formed a team and joined the Akatsuki. Five years or so, Sasuke had promised. Over four years had passed since that day.

Just as a lump formed in Sakura's throat, Ino squeezed her shoulder. "Let's walk to the square, later," she suggested. "It's great, but I think it could use a few more places to sit."

They walked to the square. Sakura twisted wood into benches and placed them according to Ino's vision.

"Beautiful work. But what about trees? Some shade would be nice," Ino said. "Don't you think, Naruto?"

"Eh? But it's night––ow," Naruto gasped, as Ino elbowed him in the ribs. "I mean, absolutely. Could use some greenery, and all that."

Sakura's hands flew through the signs. Trees sprouted in each corner of the square, growing taller than the nearby council building, than any building in the village.

The transformation was immediate. Soft murmurs of rustling leaves replaced silence. A bird landed upon a branch. From where they were standing, the newly born foliage obscured the faces carved into the Hokage Mountain. In the silver wash of the moon, it appeared as if they grew over the mountain itself, a tangle of wood and leaf and stone.

Without speaking, the three of them sat together on the nearest bench, inaugurating the new space.

"This was a good idea, Ino," Sakura said.

Ino and Naruto raised eyebrows at each other.

"Do you feel better, Forehead?"

Gazing at the treetops, Sakura found herself smiling. She felt better.

.

.

Sakura was listening to a council meeting with detached resentment when news broke of Danzo's death.

Tsumiki Kido, Danzo's closest confidant on the council, called for a moment of silence. As councilmembers bowed their heads, Sakura's heart raced. She and Shizune shared a careful glance.

When the moment was done, Tsumiki shook his head. "It is clear Uchiha Sasuke has outgrown his usefulness."

"He is a criminal and an enemy," another voice chimed in.

Sakura already knew there was a future waiting for Sasuke. He would live to meet her on that bench. Still, her blood ran cold.

"The boy has shown his true colors," Tsumiki replied. "Who will his next target be? How else will he terrorize our beloved village?"

As evenly as she could manage, Sakura said, "Konoha will never be the same after Danzo-sama's loss." She lowered her head, and faces around the table followed suit. "He displayed the Will of Fire until the end. It is evident he made a great sacrifice for the village, a sacrifice we must not undermine."

Tsumiki frowned and opened his mouth.

"Don't you see?" Sakura interjected, meeting the eyes of each councilmember. "Danzo-sama could easily defeat any enemy. In his wisdom, he understood that Uchiha Sasuke's continued wellbeing is in the best interest of the village. The Uchiha clan's doujutsu, the Sharingan, is a valuable tool. Only Sasuke possesses this skill, now that his brother Itachi is dead."

When several heads nodded, Sakura frowned and looked to the ceiling. She twisted a strand of hair around her finger, as if in thought. "I'm happy to volunteer to look through our archives on the Uchiha clan. I'm certain I'll find useful information that illustrates how having an Uchiha in service of the village is beneficial. Perhaps I'll uncover other skills, other histories, that are useful to know. We keep good records, after all."

The younger members of the council did not blink, but Sakura watched key faces twitch. Their eyes bored into her, wondering if the words archive, Itachi, records, all said in the same context, were a coincidence.

As silence fell, the public square outside remained lively. Two elderly civilians took a seat upon one of the newly crafted benches. A shuriken thunked against the large window overlooking the meeting space. Children's laughter sounded, then a group of young Academy students raced to retrieve their object.

Tsumiki's lips pressed together in a thin line. "That won't be necessary."

All talk of retaliation against Sasuke ceased. Discussion turned to Danzo's funeral preparations, then to candidates for the next acting Hokage. Sakura suggested Kakashi. The council grumbled, but it was a good suggestion.

"You spoke well, but that was a risk," Shizune said later. "They will be upset."

.

.

Sakura was scrubbing her hands after a surgery when she heard that Tsunade was awake.

She burst into the room. Shizune lifted her tear-streaked face and smiled. Tsunade sat upright in her bed, young and fresh as ever, as if awaking from a catnap rather than a deathly coma. Her teacher was not physically affectionate, but she returned Sakura's tight embrace with no reservations, and brushed the uncombed hair away from her face.

"You've both been busy," Tsunade said, after Sakura and Shizune explained everything she had missed. She eyed Sakura, inspecting the dark circles under her student's eyes. "Don't give too much away. You can't heal or fight or fix this damn village if you don't keep anything for yourself." .

.

Sakura was on the battlefield. She saw his shadow before she saw him, that familiar line of his shoulders. .

.

.

.

Up next: Sasuke and Sakura meet again.

Notes: double cliffhanger...don't be mad? :) though i hope some of your questions are starting to be answered.

also, we're more than halfway through now! this chapter through the end were the hardest to write--thank you for following along with me!

[depressedhatakekakashi]

Making her way down the hallway, Sakura dug frantically in her back. Searching for her favorite notebook that she loved to use on her biology class.

She couldn’t go to class without her notebook. It had all of the notes she was going to need to look back on, plus she couldn’t write new notes without it.

“Where’s the last place you left it?” Looking up, she sighed when she saw Ino walking by her side watching her. “If you think back we can go try to find it. Rin-Sensei will understand if we’re a bit late.”

That was the bonus of having Rin-Sensei as her next teacher. As long as you didn’t interrupt the class she had no issue with people being late.

Stopping in her tracks, Sakura thought back through her day. She had just left organic chemistry class with Shizune-Sensei, but she hadn’t taken her notebook out there.

The last time she had seen it was..

“Oh!” her eyes widened. “I took it out of my bag to reorganize everything in my Medieval Japanese history class. I must have left it there.”

If she was lucky, Kakashi-Sensei had spotted the book after everyone was gone and put it on his desk so no one else took it.

“Then let’s go,” Ino grabbed her arm and started to pull her down the hallway. “His class isn’t far from here. If we’re quick enough we might even avoid being late.”

Being dragged down the hallways of Konoha University, Sakura couldn’t help but smile. Even when Ino could just leave her to get her own notebook and head off to class without her, she still insisted on being by her side. Even going so far as to be the one to start them on the way back to her Medieval Japanese History class.

It was no wonder she was head over heels for Ino.

“Here we are,” Coming to a stop in front of Kakashi-Sensei’s classroom, Sakura frowned when she saw the door closed. “What is it? Go in and get your notebook so we can get to class.”

“Well, it’s just...” She wasn’t sure how to explain it. Seeing Kakashi-sensei’s door closed wasn’t normal. Usually her professor would leave his door open, allowing students to come in at any moment to talk to him, or retrieve forgotten items.

There’s not a moment in the last three months that she can recall ever seeing the classroom closed. Even when Kakashi-Sensei was elsewhere he’d leave the door open.

“I don’t think we should go in,” She couldn’t explain why, but there was a voice in the back of her head telling her to just leave it be and get her notebook tomorrow. “We should just get to class. It’s really not that big of a deal. Kakashi-Sensei will hold onto the book until tomorrow.”

“Don’t be silly, Sakura,” before she could stop her, Ino had reached out and grabbed the door knob, pushing the door open with a proud smile. “See it’s unlocked. You worry too m-“

Ino fell silent when she looked into the classroom, the colour leaving her face as soon as she looked inside the room.

Stepping past her girlfriend, Sakura peered into the room and sighed when she saw Kakashi-Sensei sitting on top of Gai-Sensei’s lap. Both of them looked as if they had been caught in the process of something they definitely should not have been doing on school ground, not that they were the only one’s.

Sakura had learned to tell what a closed door meant after accidentally walking in on Rin-Sensei and Shizune-sensei in a much more inappropriate scenario once.

“S-sorry,” placing a hand on Ino’s shoulder, Sakura started to direct her girlfriend out of the classroom. “I-we-we’re leaving.”

On the way out she heard Kakashi-sensei calling back to her “you forgot something!”, to which she turned just in time to catch her notebook.

“Close the door, would you Sakura,” Kakashi-Sensei smiled, his face in complete view without the mask that he usually wore gone. “I wouldn’t want anymore interruptions.”

She felt bad for anyone else who made the same mistake as Ino.

Holding her notebook close, she grabbed hold of the door handle and pulled the door shut behind her once more, glaring at Ino who was still stunned by what she had seen.

“I told you not to open it,” she grumbled under her breath. “Closed doors means danger in this school.”

“F-face...” Ino whispered, her eyes lighting up and energy returning to her body. “Sakura, we saw Kakashi-Sensei’s face!”

“So?” Sakura huffed, holding her book close to her chest. “I’ve seen his face before. Every time i bring doughnuts and coffee to class.”

“You what!?” Ino’s hands came down on her shoulders, shaking her slightly. “And you didn’t tell me? Sakura do you know how amazing this is! Everyone’s always talking about what he looks like under that mask and we have an answer! The gossip potentials are amazing!”

Rolling her eyes, Sakura reached up and carefully slipped her hand into Ino’s, smiling when her girlfriend looked at their joined hands with confusion.

“We can gossip after class?” she chuckled. “Come on, before we miss everything.”

There was no doubt in her mind that Ino would be spending the next week telling as many people who would listen about Kakashi-Sensei’s completely normal, uninteresting face. Some of them would believe her and find themselves incredably disappointed. Some would cling to their increasingly ridiculous ideas of what he actually looked like, rejecting Ino’s explanation of what she saw.

Either way, Sakura would spend the week both enjoying the excited, energetic story over and over again, while also trying desperately to forget the fact that she had clearly seen Gai-Sensei’s hands cuppinh Kakashi-Sensei’s ass.

[kakashikxge]

Sakura was wearing a skimpy black dress, the fabric tight around her bottom and loose around her chest. Her skin glistened as she danced, grinding on Ino in her drunken haze. Kakashi couldn’t peel his eyes off of her. How she moved her hips, and wrapped her arm around the back of Ino’s neck made kakashi feel..well, a certain type of way. He adjusted his masquerade mask, rolling up his suit sleeves before walking towards her. There would be no way she’d recognize him and he decided to take his chances. Alcohol really seemed to make him more risky. Why was he doing this? She used to be his student for Christ’s sake. But through his drunken judgement he wanted to dance with her. And hopefully with this being a masquerade ball and everything, his colleagues wouldn’t see him trying to make a move on his former student. That’s if they even recognize the two of them.

He made his way over towards her, she was no longer dancing with Ino. She was wearing a black lace mask across her eyes, her pink hair curled up loosely. Her skin shining under the dim lighting. He walked up behind her, leaning his head down to her ear. “Would you like to dance?” He asked her, his voice a whisper. She tilted her head back, leaning against his chest before wrapping her arms around his neck. She swayed her hips and Kakashi wasted no time in placing his hands on them. She smelled sweet like vanilla with a spike of alcohol. It was intoxicating. Kakashi bent his head down into the crook of her neck as they swayed and she ground into him with her hips. She had to feel him growing hard, as she slowed her movements and pressed harder up against his pants. He groaned into her neck, gripping her hips slightly harder. She lifted her head up against his shoulder, “What’s your name?” She said slowly as she moved to the music. “The point of a masquerade is to keep your identity hidden. Does that bother you?”

“Not one bit.” She moved her hands to his, sliding them up her body and back down. Kakashi took that as his consent to feel her body more. He traced his hands along the curve of her, all while she grinded against him. Kakashi could barely take it. He had never of thought he’d be in this position.

Of course he had noticed her beauty intensify over the years after she was no longer his student. He never batted an eye at her until after a mission together. One where they had to pretend to be together romantically for the mission to pan out and succeed. It wasn’t until then that he thought of her as someone he wanted. Someone he needed. He told himself he would never act on this, but with the alcohol in his veins nothing mattered. Nothing but her.

Before he knew it, she whipped around to face him, and through the lace he could see her lust filled eyes. She tugged on his tie, leading him back into the bathroom. She locked the door, before grabbing him. Her black dress strap slipping down to expose one of her breasts. Her nipple hard and the prettiest shade of pink Kakashi had ever seen. The bathroom lighting was dim, her skin glowing. His hands found their way onto her body, running his hands softly along her breast. Pinching her nipple softly, causing her to moan slightly. He kept his mask on, but slid it down far enough to kiss her neck. She moaned as he inched his way down, catching her nipple in his mouth. He lapped his tongue on it, lightly twisting it between his teeth to hear that sweet soft moan escape her lips. He ran his hands on her thighs, teasing her by brushing his fingers lightly across her panties. He could feel the damp spot, where her wetness has soaked in slightly. “Just please-touch me” she moaned as her head leaned against the wall. Kakashi took no time to kiss her through her panties. He lifted her leg over his shoulder as he kneeled beneath her. He looked up at her flushed face, her eyes closed and breasts exposed. He kissed her panties one more time, before moving them to the side to kiss her on her clit. She gasped as his tongue met it, slowly licking up and down. Her legs quivered, her moans quiet. She fisted her hand in his hair, bucking her hips into his mouth. Kakashi ripped her panties to get better access to her.

When he laid his tongue on her, he tasted her wetness. He started lapping it up slowly to make her quiver more. Her moans quietly filled the air, Kakashi put his fingers in Sakura’s mouth. She sucked on them slow to get them nice and wet. It made him twitch in his pants. He took his fingers and teased her entrance, watching as she tilted her head and gasped out of frustration. He dipped his fingertips in her, feeling her clench around them. He placed his mouth on her clit as he inserted his fingers as deep as they would go. Her sharp intake of breath, the way she bucked up on his hand made Kakashi curse. He shouldn’t be doing this. But god was it so good. She tasted so..good.

He inserted his fingers and Sakura felt herself pulse around them. She had never felt this good before. Sure she has had good sex but nothing close to this. And it was just his hands and mouth. Whoever he was. She knew she definitely needed to get his number after this if she remembered. His tongue circled her clit so slowly it was hard to stay quiet. Her legs started shaking as pleasure radiated up her legs into her stomach. She needed more. She needed him. She ground her hips into his hand, pushing his fingers as deep as they could go. His slow soft movements of them drove her insane. He kept gently grazing her favorite spot. She was dripping wet all over his fingers and mouth but she was too drunk to care. She only knew she wanted this more than anything. “Fuck me.” She moaned.

Kakashi’s cock twitched when she said that, his hard on pressing painfully against his pants. He stood up, unbuckling his belt and hitched her leg on his hip before teasing her entrance with his tip. Sliding it back and forth along her slit, rubbing himself with her wetness while kissing her neck. She was gasping, trying to grind her hips. He slowly pressed his tip into her, feeling her try and buck down for him to enter all the way. He stopped her, teasing her with every inch.

Sakura has never felt this good before. The teasing was too much. Her skin was hot and her body screamed with need. The animalistic nature in her taking over. She needed him. More than ever, she needed him to fuck her. She gripped onto his back and dug her nails into his dress shirt. She shuddered as he entered her inch by inch. Slowly pushing into her, stretching her out. It was euphoric and her body sighed as he filled her all the way up. She moved her hips back and forth, moans left his lips as he gripped her hip and held her leg. He started moving in slow strokes, pleasure racking all the way up her body. Her moans were hard to control at this point, the way his cock filled her up, hitting that delicious spot. His thumb found her clit and he started rubbing slow soft circles as he pushed into her. It was so good. So good. This had to be the best sex she’s ever had, she thought to herself.

Kakashi could barely keep it together. She was so tight and wet around him. He could feel her pulsing and clenching, causing his moans to become more frequent and his thrusts to become harder. She kept getting tighter around him, and he wasn’t going to last much longer. He needed to feel her cum on him.

He reached his thumb to her clit, and made slow movements. That was what drove her insane, her moans were loud and heavy. Kakashi’s cock twitched as he felt a rush of wetness drip down him. Her pussy squeezing him tighter than before. He thrusted into her harder. Hot pleasure burned in his stomach, he wasn’t going to last. His cock felt so good buried deep inside her. He slowed his thrusts, making them long and hard. Rubbing her clit faster, pushing into her slowly. He felt her clench tight around him and she gasped loudly while digging her nails into his shoulders. He could feel the skin break beneath her nails, but he didn’t care. She moaned a moan so loud and breathy as he felt her cum on him. She convulsed around his cock, pulsing so rapidly that it made him lose it. He thrusted into her hard one last time as he came, spilling his seed deep into her as he groaned.

They stood there, breathing heavily together before kissing feverishly. “I want your number,” Sakura said breathlessly. Kakashi was shocked. He froze in the midst of pulling his pants up, “I don’t have one,” he chuckled. He helped her fix her dress before walking out of the bathroom. He ran into Kiba and the look he was giving him made Kakashi feel uncomfortable. “I can smell her on you, Kakashi.” And his stomach dropped. He knew. “Don’t worry, I won’t say anything. I mind my own business.” And Kiba walked on. Kakashi made his way home. And he couldn’t get Sakura out of his head.

Sakura stumbled into her apartment, her legs still wobbly after that amazing sex she had at the bar. Ino asked who it was, but in all honesty, Sakura didn’t know. And that’s what was bothering her. She needed more, wanted more. He was so intoxicating, like a drug almost. But she would never know, unless she’d miraculously run into him again but that was highly unlikely. She made her way into her bedroom and passed out on her bed, not able to stop thinking of the mystery man.

[nolongerironicteenwrites]

three years pt 2

read it here or on my Ao3 https://archiveofourown.org/users/nolongerironicteen/works or read my other works too 

You put your car in park and sighed. Finally, you were home after longer than you wanted to admit. But you were happy nonetheless. Which meant you were finally going to address the elephant in the room with Neji. Instead of texting till three am you could finally discuss what you were. You looked at your parents' house in front of you as you got out of the car.

    “(Y/N)!” your mom called from the open kitchen window.

You smiled wide and you trekked up the driveway. The house was quiet save your mom’s washing in the kitchen. You found your way in there and gave her a huge hug.

    “Where’s dad?”

    “In the backyard, he’s doing some gardening and collecting the vegetables for me. You can go see.”

You figured unpacking your car can wait for later. You wanted to go see your dad. You kissed your mom on the cheek before going outside. You were thrown through a loop to not see your dad, but see your friends all there.

    “Welcome home!” they shouted.

You doubled back smiling before rushing to hug them all. You were overwhelmed. You might have only seen them like two weeks ago you were happy to be home. Even if it was only a little while.

    “We missed you.” Naruto laughed pulling you in for another hug.

    “We saw her like a week ago?” Sai replied, confused.

You ruffled Sai’s hair when a set of arms wrapped around your middle. You tensed up before smelling the familiar smell of cigarettes.

    “Traitor.”

    “For?” Shikamaru asked.

    “Dating my keyboard player. Smoking. Or where you spending time with Azuma seeing your godchild?”

    “The latter.”

You rolled your eyes and he let you go but not without rubbing his cheek to yours and pulling away. You huffed and backed away. You didn’t get far before bumping into something cold. A set of hands-on the back of your elbows.

    “You got a tattoo?”

Neji.

You spun around and checked out the inside of your elbow blushing.

    “I uh yeah. I have four actually.”

He looked impressed. Not deterred, he grabbed your arm and saw the grl pwr tattoo on the inside of your elbow. You and Temari have matching ones since you two were two women who basically front a band. You have three others. You have a paper airplane on the back of your shoulder, a galaxy piece on your side, and on your thigh, there was a storm cloud that under a UV or blacklight made the lighting bolt shine. Neji smiled at you. You heard someone gag behind you. You had the vaguest feeling it was Kiba. You turned around and pulled your eye and stuck your tongue at him. He hugged you and you laughed.

You spent the afternoon with your friends and parents until you were nearly falling asleep where you sat. You didn’t realize how tired you were until you let yourself relax against Neji. The night grew colder and the party moved inside. It quickly became a quiet night after that, movies and drinks and crashing on the couch. Well you crashed on the couch everyone else went home to Shikamaru’s to get their car or ride home. Neji once everyone was ready to go brought you to your bedroom and kissed you goodnight before leaving.

    “Are you going to ask her?” Lee asked.

    “Ask her what?” Sai asked guiding Ino to Shikamaru’s.

     “Ask (Y/N) out properly.”

Neji glared at Lee and pulled his jacket closed. He ignored the question which Shikamaru didn’t like. He imposed himself over Neji but Neji was just slightly, only slightly taller. Shikamaru crossed his arms and glared. Which in itself is nerve-inducing.

    “Well, Neji what are your plans with my best friend?”

    “If you must know, I like her. Clearly. So I wish to ask her out.”

    “Hurt her and your ass is mine.”

    “I don’t like you like that at all but I would never, I’m not Koma.”

Shikamaru gave one glare and then nodded. Neji waisted until he looked away to silently release his breath.

    “There’s your answer Lee. Be safe getting back you guys text the group when you all make it back home.” Shikamaru waved before going inside.

Neji gathered Hinata, Naruto, Lee, and TenTen and headed to everyone’s respective homes. He and Lee lived together, Hinata and Naruto lived together, and TenTen lived in the same building at Neji and Lee. Neji didn’t let anyone talk on the car ride back. He didn’t wish to speak about his love life with anyone anymore. Once in the comfort of his own apartment he let his hair down and groaned.

    “Neji- I’m sorry. You guys were just so cozy.”

    “Lee I’m not upset with you. I mean you were just speaking about what you saw.” Neji replied while pulling off his jacket. “She’s back for a year while some of her bandmates finish school. I have time but no time when I can’t even talk to her about my feelings!” Neji flopped onto the sofa neglecting to take off his shoes.

    “You could talk maybe Guy and Kakashi-sensei.” Lee sat by him.

Neji didn’t hate that idea. It would have been better than talking to his own father. Not that he didn’t want to, but he didn’t think his dad could help. His mom made the first move on his dad. But with Guy-sensei it was an accident with him and Kakashi but probably better advice than his father so maybe Lee was onto something there.

       menace to sobriety

the boulder

    Neji and I are home.

tippy

    As am I.

eyes

    Naruto and me too.

glasses

    Kiba is drunk on the floor of his house crying to Akimaru about the boy in facepaint?

fur culture

    traitor!

pencil ****

    Ino and Sakura are trying to dye their hair.

*eye roll*

    They’re getting along?

pencil ***

    sauske isn’t here to fight over. i'm on watch duty..

omnipotent friend

    dont let them make bad choices they’ll regret in like 5 minutes.

*eye roll*

     or you could.

omnipotent friend

    ill remove you

*eye roll*

    not ur chat

        fur culture changed the admin to omnipotent friend

*eye roll*

    im in danger

The chat died down after that and you fell back asleep. Neji laughed. This chat has bounced admin to admin and the nicknames change often enough to keep anyone entertained. Neji himself got ready for bed. Rock Lee stayed up a bit longer than him to do some work for his up-and-coming school week. He was student teaching this week.

The next morning everyone woke to a few changes in the group chat. You changed a few nicknames and the title

       the void calls me forth

gremlin

    (y/n)! how dare you call me a gremlin.

void keeper

    bc im not kiba and you will not bully me

pretty boy

    im pretty?

sai-duck

    i like this more.

fur culture

    I deserve this honestly. All though these were good changes. neji is pretty, sai clever pun and shikamaru deserved it. you should have been this admin from the start

whoji

    we told you that from the start, and two she came up with half the original nicknames

the boulder

    teenagers scare me.

You snorted and walked down the stairs. Kiba just accepted his fate. It was almost perfect. Your mom left you a note about her plans for the day. Your father was there for the day but he was engrossed in work. You ate something quickly and popped your head in to say hello to him. He waved at you and went about your day.

n. hyuuga

    Good morning. Can you meet me at The Blossom for coffee?

you

    sure. totally. see you in ten?

n. hyuuga

    Yes. Of course. Cannot wait.

You smiled to yourself walking down the stairs. Your mom was gone for the day. You could hear the television on. You popped your head in to see your dad watching a show about rocks. You smiled while he just read in his rocker the noise in the background. You leaned on the frame waiting for him to notice you. It takes him a moment before he looks up from his book and he smiles.

    “What’s up buttercup?”

    “I’m going to get coffee, do you need anything while I’m out?”

He shakes his head no.

    “Go have fun. I’ll see you later.”

You smiled and blew him a kiss. Walking into the kitchen you grabbed your jacket and purse off the coat rack. You slipped your phone into your jacket pocket and started on your walk. The great thing is The Blossom was a five-minute walk from your house. The walk, while short, gave you time to reflect. You thought about Neji. You probably always liked him, it went through phases where you liked him more than a friend, but then Koma happened. That six months of your life where Neji didn’t cross your mind. But now it all seems to be falling into place.

As you approached the cafe, Neji was already there. He looked beautifully aloof. You quietly walked up to him while he scrolled on his phone. His light skin contrasting against his dark hair and the bright red t-shirt and checkered pants to match. You honestly were a mixture of both impressed and intimidated by him. He always looked like he had his life together. You looked down at yourself and how you were dressed. You layered tights under overalls with a baggy sweater on top. You felt like you weren’t dressed well enough to compete with him. He looked up at you and smiled. He gently pulled you to him and kissed your forehead. You weren’t sure what you two were but you were content.

    “This is my treat, come on.”  He smiled opening the door for you, “I picked this place because no one would come here or neither do I think our friends care enough to find us. This place has chai lattes and oat milk which I know are your favorites.”

You smiled, cheeks becoming redder.

    “You remembered?”

    “Of course,” he responded. It’s because I love you. But he didn’t let her know that.

You held onto the crook of his elbow whilst he ordered. He ended up ordering for both of you while you had a small smile on your features. He ordered the chai latte for you and a simple London fog drink. You weren’t expecting that. As if he read your mind.

    “I had a small cup of coffee before I decided to ask you out. Do you want anything else?” he asked.

    “Do you want to split a coffee cake?”

Neji nodded. His eyes lit up like you hung the stars in the sky. You felt very on par with Neji, finally. You and he walked over to a table situated in the corner by the window. It was a kind of chilly morning for how early in September that it was. You rested your head on your hand looking between him and the window before you asked.

    “Don’t you work on Monday? Like a new startup position at a family-owned accounting firm?” You asked, smirking.

Neji smiled at your question crossing his legs and leaning over to rest his head on his hands, thinking for a moment to formulate an answer for you.

    “Yes but technically no. My days got changed because I’m going back to school for my masters so my uncle has me working sparingly.”

    “Your masters? That’s great!” you smiled excitedly.

He looked very bemusingly at you. He offered a hand to you to hold across the table. The two of you shared the cake and drinks in silence. No need to talk currently. The two of you spoke sparingly and worked on individual projects. You worked on songs and he worked on some classwork.

    “Neji. What are we?” you asked.

The keyboard clicking stopped. You felt your body tense. Had you pushed a boundary? He was hesitating and you were getting progressively more anxious. He started wringing his hands, but you quietly waited for him to answer you. Seconds felt like hours to you waiting.

    “I-I knew this was coming but I-” He sighed softly, “I was just trying to feel out how you felt before I spoke to you about me.” Neji explained, “(Y/N) I have liked you probably since I was fifteen. But our lives never seemed to line up. Call it destiny if you will always seem to escape me. I dated, you dated. I got scared of my feelings for you but not anymore I can’t. I don’t want to. I- I want to take care of you, and be with you and support you.” He ended up just muttering to himself.

Your heart clenched watching him. You smiled that he was being honest with you. Even though he was avoiding your eye contact. You reached out to grab his hand to get his attention. He slowly let you coax his hand into yours while you figured out how to respond.

    “Thank you, Neji for being honest with me. I know how you feel. You bore your feelings to me for how you feel. I accept your feelings.” you replied, smiling. “And I- I would love nothing more than this to work out. It would need work. Between music and you being in school again it won’t be easy, and I’m sorry for that. I wish I can be more for you.”

    “You’re perfect enough.” He brought your hand to his lips to kiss. “You are worth the work.”

Kiba was passing by when he stopped and did a double-take. He was convinced that he saw you and Neji but he wasn’t sure.

       the void calls me forth

fur culture

    r (y/n) and neji on a date?

ino-yeet-chi

    why would that be ur concern if they were kiba?

fur culture

    b/c im not being left out of this revelation once it happens like i was when lee came out. also i see them..

Kiba was squinting at the frosted glass window. Neither you nor Neji knew what was going on in that chat; both of you had your phones picked up. Kiba needed to know so he quietly snuck into the cafe and to a booth on the other side of the store from you two. Not that you would have noticed, either way, you and Neji were in your own little world. It looked like a date to Kiba.

       the void calls me forth

ino-yeet-chi

    KIBA NO. LEAVE THEM ALONE. SHINO GET YOUR BOY

        glasses has left the chat

Neji laughed to himself at something you said. He then leaned in to grasp your chin to press a soft kiss to your mouth. Not wanting to push you. Kiba could hardly believe it. He got up and slipped into the bathroom.

       the void calls me forth

fur culture

    Holy- DUDE

You felt your phone vibrate and Neji felt his too. You both grabbed your phones and checked the messages. His eyes shot up and scanned for Kiba keenly aware. You were confused. You also looked over the messages and glared.

    “He’s here somewhere.” you groaned.

Neji pinched the bridge of his nose and looked at you almost apologetically.

    “I’m sorry.”

You shook your head. You grabbed his back and yours and pulled him from the cafe.

    “Don’t be sorry. I know where we can go where no one will find us.”

You and Neji dipped through the streets. He allowed himself to be pulled by you while you brought him to a home. He didn’t recognize this house. You explained it was your grandfather’s home, but he wasn’t home. You had a treehouse in the backyard that you wanted to show him. He was surprised to see this.

    “Whoa.”

    “I know.”

You climbed up the rope ladder and Neji followed closely as you went up. Inside the treehouse, it looked older but sometimes you still come up to be alone or to play music. Neji stood hunched because it was made for you who had never been very tall. He looked around and smiled.

    “Finally.” he groaned.

He grabbed your face softly and kissed you properly. You gasped quietly and he kept one hand on your face and the other on your waist to make sure this was real. You both needed air eventually and he actually started to giggle. You laughed and the two of you spent the afternoon in the early fall air laughing, stealing kisses, and being in each other's presence.

[thelovableninjagirl-blog]

So here some the adults for the Miraculous Naruto/ Naruto Shippuden Au things

The Genin Sensei minus Guy/Gai (in another post)

Asuma - maybe a history teacher, probably didn’t start out like that. Maybe he took a few gap years to find himself or follow his dreams before going to college to get a degree. Probably got in trouble for smoking in school grounds, also the type to try to scare/gross kids to not pick up the habit. Relationship with Kurenai. Known the previous Ino-Shika-Cho since he was younger.

How they met

Shikamaru - since Asuma know his dad probably met Shikamaru. Sometimes plays games like chess/checker/Shogi with him. Most likely ended up in one of his classes. Made a deal with Shikamaru that he can sleep in class as long has he keeps an A in his class.

Ino - knows her dad, so most likely met. Asuma once told Ino that “some people who smoke get hair can growing on their tongue”, she swore to never smoke. Definitely ships Asuma and Kurenai. In one of his classes. Ino isn’t a problem child( she breaks dress code sometimes but Asuma dosn’t notice).

Choji - again knows his dad. In when Asuma was single he ate at the Akimichi restaurant a lot. Also tried to scare Choji in to never trying to smoke. In one of Asuma’s classes with Ino and Shikamaru. Asuma gave up telling Choji he couldn’t eat in class so he lifted the “no food or drink rule” as long as it’s quiet.

Kakashi - either a cop w/ both eyes or a retired undercover cop(was still new but in deep) w/ one eye probably was able to go back to school and get a teaching degree( maybe a math teacher) the one eye scenario no one really knows why he became a teacher people get different answers every time and most definitely needs therapy. Lives in an apartment or like a house you rent. Most definitely has dogs. The type of person who would special order a cake for their dogs birthday and the good treats as a gift for them.

How he met:

Naruto - has known Minato and Kushina( even though Kushina is no longer with them) for a long time ,so naturally he would meet Naruto. Has baby sat the kid. At first baby sitting Naruto was terrifying because he was responsible for another human person, then Naruto learned how to walk ..... . If he becomes a teacher Naruto would be in his class, most likely shows Naruto favoritism, not a lot but still noticeable.

Sasuke - Kakashi’s best friend, besides his dogs, is Obito. So he somewhat knows the kid. Once he had to help Obito watch him a few times,Sasuke was ok until he was like 11. If doing the teacher route, Sasuke would be in his class. Gives Sasuke about the same,if not slightly and I mean slightly more, favoritism. Sasuke reminds Kikashi of his younger moodier self

Sakura - you know what I’m making Sakura’s family run a bakery and since Sakura lives there and helps out at the register and Kakashi most likely frequents because they sell dog treats home made dog treats some times and not all their baked goods are sweet, not alway willfully with Naruto or Obito. they kind of know each other. To Sakura he is that weird dog man that reads those orange books her mother says she can’t read. To Kakashi she is that pink kid who runs the counter, he refers to her as “pinky” and she hates it. Sakura calls him “boomer”(his hair makes him look old and she is making fun of him). It’s not a mean sort of thing. Boomer =baby boomer. If a teacher it would add “hey pinky in my class” and after a few test “turns out pinky is smart”. Let’s be real we all know Sakura would be polite to him since he was her teacher but maybe a little bit of bite. Literally a normal teacher student relationship except I think if Sakura had something happen to her at school I think she would ask for advice, example if a Lila Rossi situation happens.

Kurenai- a teacher but gives female defense lessons on the side and teaches Karate ,probably gives Hinata private karate lessons. I think Kurenai would have tried teaching a few different grade levels before she found the one that suited her. I ship Kurenai and Asuma plus it’s canon so they are either developing a relationship, married, or somewhere in between.

How she met :

Hinata - literally began teaching her since she was like four, Kurenai had college to pay for. Eventually Hinata was placed in the schools Kurenai was at and Hinata was always in her class. Kurenai, likes Hinata as a student and she considers herself Hinata’s mentor and source of comfort( kinda like family). Kurenai thinks Hinata’s dad bribed the school(s) to keep Hinata in her class.

Kiba -was kindergarten first teacher, boy was that a challenge. Probably had Kiba in few diffrent grades since she was trying to find her spot. Kurenai eventual gave up telling Kiba he can’t bring Akumaru to school. All of Kiba’s teachers gave up at some point. Kurenai cares for all her students but she is glad he is one of the kids looking out for Hinata

Shino - same as Kiba, except more quite. A different kind of quiet than Hinata. She found it adorable when eyes light up when talking about insects, granted the expression was hardly noticeable. Glad that he is friends with Kiba and Hinata. She was worried for a moment, being friendless is hard at any age.

Still can’t figure out a replacement for Lila or Bustier. Maybe because I’m biased. I can kinda see the 3rd Hokage be the Damocles but only because the 3rd old and probably should have retired a decade ago thus letting stuff slip though the cracks or not do a thorough investigation. In cannon Naruto grew up an outcast and people were horrible to him.

I do not endorse smoking, also don’t know if the hair on tongue thing is true but years ago the health teacher told us that.

[pinkhairedlily]

Chapter 9 - Student Council President Sakura

SCPS AO3 | PREVIOUS CHAPTER

Sasuke wondered for the umpteenth time since three in the morning why he agreed to go with the baseball team for their summer camp and wondered more why the student council had to do its orientation and team building event at the same time. He supposed it was to cut down on expenses, but both trips could have gone on without his presence.

Well, it turned out his shoulders were needed as pseudo pillows for the sleepyheads duo. On one side, he can feel the wetness of Naruto’s drool dripping every minute onto his linen shirt, and on the other, Sakura’s vanilla shampoo was arresting his senses. Five hours after a rough roadtrip, the two awake beside a very grumpy Uchiha.

“I demand a barbecue treat from both of you,” he huffed as they disembarked in front of the groups’ joint headquarters.

His mood soured when Kakashi emerged from the next bus, serving as one of the stand-in guardians for the activities, followed by Hyuuga Hinata. She gave Sasuke a stern nod when their eyes met, and he briefly recounted their interaction while waiting for the rest of the participants.

“Good morning, Ms. Hyuuga,” Kakashi greeted. He waved for her to come closer, and he introduced her to the students. “If you’re not aware, the Sports Council has rolled out funding to under-resourced teams across the state to be particularly used for summer trainings. We’re lucky we’re one of those teams. Joining us as an observer is Mr. Hiashi’s daughter herself, Ms. Hinata, who also happens to study in the same district.”

She generously bowed to everyone with a tight-lipped smile. Later, she assumed a position beside Sasuke.

“If it makes you feel better, I did not orchestrate this,” Hinata said. “And if there’s anything you should now, both sides of that relationship have been hurt, with reasons far from what you’re thinking.” She stopped for a whole minute and breathed in, struggling to keep the tears at bay. “So please, leave me alone.”

Yeah, he was a bit of a jerk to her, Sasuke knew that. But he also knew that Hinata had already developed an affection for the blonde idiot, regardless of her denial. As much as he wouldn’t want to complicate things, he thought it best for now to allow the situation to play out. He had to remind himself that he wasn’t here to entangle himself in someone else’s business.

They settled in the mess hall cum dining area for a quick breakfast and breakdown of house rules. He still needed to get used to the fact that this was Sakura’s last time to be a head organizer for a school activity. She will pass on her reins to the incumbent secretary by the start of the next term. Both him and Naruto knew the extent of her sadness in letting this position go, and even more so the need to look out for her the instance she does her confession.

Yet she hasn’t. So they became unwilling witnesses to this awkward tiptoeing with awareness literally skewed to only one side of the party, and Kakashi showering in ignorance bliss.

They went about their room assignments, and Sasuke, with all his luck in the universe, was stuck with Kakashi and Naruto.

“I won’t ask if it’s possible to trade rooms, but would you care to explain why you don’t have a solo room of your own?” he annoyingly asked the silver-haired man who was nose deep at the moment in a coverless book.

“I’m your guardian, Uchiha,” Kakashi replied while yawning. “I’m gonna go sleep so why don’t you frolick in the ocean with your friends while it’s still your free time?”

Unwilling to spend his time with a man who annoyed him so much for no reason at all, Sasuke trudged off his designated room and followed the many footsteps on the sand. The untrimmed hedges eventually give way to the expanse of the gray ocean, its waves roaring from afar, building up like shifting towers, cresting, and breaking into foam by the time they reach the shore.

Naruto was already neck deep in the waters with the rest of his team, the new captain certainly setting a good camaraderie example. Sakura caught his entrance and waved him over despite the new council members intensely blushing at the sight of him.

“Sasuke!” He heard her call.

But every step he took on the soft sand was like a laboring walk on a cesspool of blood, his parents’ blood.

“The turtle is faster than you, you slowpoke!” Sakura continued her incessant teasing.

Trust me, I’m trying to get to you, he thought. Screams broke out just then.

And he felt like he was being whirled away into the barrel of his repressed memories. He started seeing everything in slow motion.

Naruto shouting cramp cramp cramp, an idiot move that got seawater into his nose, and ultimately made him lose his balance. Quick on her feet, Sakura swam into his vicinity with sure, measured strokes of an experienced swimmer. He heard her scream calm down you blonde idiot! and his teammates were able to usher him out of her hold and onto dry land.

But she didn’t manage to follow safely. She was swimming, but her direction kept on going farther away from the shore. She was caught in a riptide. The screams changed from Naruto’s name to her, the intensity and volume of voices getting stronger with every second.

“Sakura!”

“Miss Pres! Someone! Help!”

“Help please!”

Save her, a voice said in his head. “I can’t.”

Her pink hair looked like a blob riding untethered on the arms of the waves. Yet he was rooted to his spot, his memory spilling over like blank ink. Suddenly he can smell the gasoline in the air and the waves lose their sound, replaced by the gasps and shaky breaths of his parents, and the ticking time bomb of an explosion.

He started to hyperventilate as his sight closed in on him. “Sakura, I’m sorry.”

Fast and light footfalls passed by his side, breaking him out of his reverie, and Sasuke’s eyes opened to a coverless book on the sand, its pages fluttering in the wind.

A silver-haired man dove into the surface with no hesitation, briefly disappearing, and emerging again in a few seconds with an unconscious Sakura safe in his arms. Only then did Sasuke run in haste.

“Give us space!” Kakashi yelled with a sliver of anger and panic in his normally laidback voice.

Sasuke would have to content himself seeing the next events play out in between warm bodies, his heart drowning the waves when he realized she wasn’t breathing and Kakashi had to start chest compressions.

Seconds worth of chances and he stood there waiting again.

She still wasn’t responding.

“Come on, Sakura, breathe,” Kakashi pleaded through gritted teeth. When he counted down to thirty, he leaned down and gave her two rescue breaths.

Still no response.

“Dammit Sakura. Don’t die now.”

Another set of thirty compressions. By the fifteenth try, some council members have broken down and started crying.

“Fuck.” Kakashi did another pair of rescue breaths. Then she vomited water.

“Clear the way!”

A group of paramedics came thanks to Hinata’s calm thinking and took the disoriented pinkette from Kakashi’s hold. Sasuke’s eyes trailed after them, her long pink locks swaying in the wind, and landing on Hinata’s fixated gaze on him, like she knew something he didn’t. Or since then has denied.

--------------------------------

Sakura refused Kakashi’s instruction to go home. It was a close call, but she needed to see through a good transition in the student council, and a productive summer training camp for the baseball team.

“I’ll inform your parents then,” Kakashi said with a steely anger in his voice she was unfamiliar with. At whom it was directed she’ll never know.

“Ah, no need, I already called them,” she lied through gritted teeth. He responded with a brow raise but let it go for now.

“Get some rest, Ms. Pres.”

She did just that, holed up in a room for two days with minimal interaction save for her roommate Hinata who basically sidestepped around her in silence.

“How’s everyone?” Sakura asked her on the third day when she was about to scamper off to her observation duty.

“Your boys wanted to see you,” Hinata said. Sakura wondered if there was a tinge of jealousy in that but she saw the Hyuuga daughter as someone who already has all the good things in life. “But I refused entry since Naruto can be quite noisy and Sasuke is easily riled up nowadays.” Including sensitivity for others.

Hinata continued after giving her a plate of peaches and cranberry juice. “Your student council is still devastated, but they changed up their agenda to include a quick first aid training from a virtual trainer. Baseball team is doing quite well, far better than what I first expected….notwithstanding Haru’s absence.”

She noticed the visible change in Hinata’s expression after she uttered his name. “And how are you?”

The beautiful raven-haired looked at her with eyes brimming in tears. Poor girl never had someone to unload her broken heart to.

“I miss him Sakura.”

Sakura bites down on a slice of peach and taps her finger on one of Hinata’s clutched fist. “Do you still talk?”

Hinata shook her head, her fists clutching then unclasping each other in between pauses. “He was the one who ended the whole thing. Called me up for a date and we went to my favorite café, ordered me my favorite drink, and broke the news that he wanted to break up. He wasn’t angry when he said it, he was weary of everything, and I was hurt more by that fact. After I came home, I learned that he blocked me in all his social media accounts.” She took one slice of peach and stuffed it in her mouth, regardless of the tears that streaked her unmarred face. “I wanted to introduce him to Father, you know. Just until after I graduated so I could at least move away first. If he felt so suffocated by my family, how much more it was for me?”

Sakura puckered her lips with a tint of cranberry juice. “I think you’re both cowards.”

Hinata, who probably expected an empathetic response from Sakura, moved her hand away from Sakura and covered her mouth in surprise.

“It’s true,” the pinkette reasoned out. “Haru is a jerk for leaving all the work to you. He knows of your family so he should have stood up for you if he loved you. But you’re at fault too, Hina, because you know you could have introduced him earlier and faced your father’s wrath together. This gives me Romeo and Juliet vibes.”

“They both die in that story, Sakura.”

“Then West Side Story?” Sakura retrieved Hinata’s hand and put her hand over it. “I’m just saying I hope you find someone willing to take on that risk for you but also allowing you to have your agency to choose and act.”

Hinata doesn’t back away from Sakura’s touch. “You’ve always known what to say since we were in junior high.”

“Well of course! It’s because you and Haru are my friends!” She elbowed Hinata jokingly. “So Naruto?”

Blush bloomed on Hinata’s cheeks with a color far too intense to cover up. “Naruto? What about him?”

“It’s because of his strong people charm, isn’t it?” Sakura smiled, no longer looking at Hinata. “And if Haru had that personality, maybe it wouldn’t be difficult for your father to accept him.”

She was greeted with silence which told her that this was the truth, this was the reason why Hinata craved for his sunshine energy, and the reason why she had always wanted to orbit around him.

--------------------------------

Despite the life-threatening incident that marked the beginning of their excursion, the remaining days have fallen into some sort of normalcy and mundanity. Sasuke, more than he would like to admit, found himself spending more time with the mathematics teacher who was on his second coverless book.

“What’s your bet?” Kakashi asked out of the blue. Prior to this, they shared the silence punctuated with cicadas and the occasional crackling of wood in the campfire.

“Erotica,” Sasuke replied nonchalantly, seated across him on a foldable steel chair.

The teacher almost choked on his water. “What if I tell you it’s a classic lit?”

“A classic erotica literature,” Sasuke insisted. “Because if it is as safe as you said it, you’d leave the cover on because bookworms are snobbish like that.”

Kakashi chuckled. “What a brat. It’s a good thing I’m not a snitch for the school board.”

“You’re just implying they don’t pay you enough.”

“You’re really a brat.”

Again, the silence engulfed them, not much different from the night that lulled everyone to sleep. Sasuke kept his hands inside the pockets of his thin jacket, moving away from Kakashi to return to their room. He debated about this with himself for the last two days, wondering if it would be worth it. “You seem like a good guy despite your reading preferences.”

“Excuse me?” Kakashi’s voice was laced with offence.

“Thanks for saving Sakura.” He realized he was too young, too unreliable, like the kid he was once before. It was just he never grew up.

And the week was done, and time was in constant shift. The reshuffling in classes left him alone, but never that much, not when two extroverts came checking on him at every break. The spot behind the library was still their hidden spot, the dragonboat team was still their background music, and the countless scenes on the side of the lake were still their guilty pleasures of what-ifs.

Maybe every last year of every phase in life ended up going so fast. Like how the baseball team sped through the preliminaries to the nationals in one relentless drive. And yet again, he found himself going back to the same café with his favorite cashier who colored her hair pink.

“You like my new hair?” Sakura teased. “Okay hit me, I’m on a 15-minute break.”

“Stop eating my tomato basil salad first.” Sasuke flicked off her encroaching fingers on his bowl. “The team needs funds. In the board’s defense, they prepared for jersey uniforms, travel assistance, and board and lodging.”

“Up until the semis,” Sakura clarified.

“Unfortunately. What’s the council gonna do?”

“I’m not the president anymore, remember?”

Sasuke sipped his cold americano, looking pointedly at Sakura, who deflected his gaze. He tapped the surface of the table, knowing all too well that she will spill something any second now.

“The council is gonna do a fundraising event,” she finally relented.

“Please don’t tell me it’s another pass-the-hat.”

She shook her head, but if she was at all excited, she didn’t show it. “They’re gonna invite student musicians and do a showcase in the mall park.” She shrugged. “Not my idea and not my place to meddle.”

“You know it’ll be a failure, right?” Sasuke asked. “The crowd and the weekend traffic won’t be worth the effort.”

She sighed in agreement. “Well, Kakashi-sensei greenlighted it. They must have a trump card.”

Sasuke was right for the most part. No one paid them attention, not the crying kids, not the parents rushing for the flash market sales, not the aunties catching up with the newest town gossip. The music club was already halfway down to the set, and Sakura was keeping her head low and hidden in her beret in secondhand embarrassment.

“Please tell me it gets better,” Sasuke almost pleaded

She eyed him from head to toe with a smirk. “We could auction you if you want. Girlies at nine o’clock want your number.”

He rolled his onyx orbs but flushed at her insinuation that he was worth looking at today. It wasn’t his expertise to dress up nor did it come to him to actually buy new clothes in the last three years. He just put on an oversized graphic t-shirt over a pair of jeans and called it a day, and Sakura stood there beside him in her 90s fashion silk blouse tucked into black pants with a leather belt, very much unaware of how she stole attention.

“Let’s leave?” he suggested.

Sasuke lost sight of the crowd when she looped her arm in his as they walked away to the first notes of Flightless Bird, American Mouth. It was sudden, probably on impulse, and not much to Sakura’s thoughts, and maybe those were the reasons why he didn’t pull away from the electricity of her touch.

And maybe he should have walked quicker so she wouldn’t have looked back and seen Kakashi on the piano chair, stroking the keys like that of a lover, and his voice crooning everyone to join his atmosphere.

So while she stood there beside him, all dolled up and beautiful from head to toe, with her arm linked with his in the middle of a gathering crowd, she wasn’t entirely his, her heart not swaying in time with his pulse, but beating instead to the pluck of his chords.

Ah so I really was in love with her. A realization too late and another missed chance to offer her his saving grace.

Two songs later and a beaming Kakashi taking pictures with the audience, Sakura finally unlinked her arm from Sasuke’s, and they walked out of the mall under the threat of impending downpour. With hurried steps and foregone conversations, they managed to reach the shelter of a small shed along the bridge connecting the mall to the train station just before the rain ensued.

“Ah I forgot to bring an umbrella. Funny since it was scorching hot earlier.” She put out her fingers outside the cover of the shed, making contact with the drops. “Like it was sudden and inevitable.”

Sasuke kept mum about the umbrella inside his crossbody bag, wanting instead to drown in the rain with her.

“I wish it was that sudden and inevitable too – falling out of love,” she said as she took her wet hand inside for cover. “Because I’m running out of excuses to not fall further more.”

“You haven’t confessed yet,” Sasuke reminded her. “And we all know how that ends in this setup. You can never be together Sakura.”

“I know.” He heard her choke back a sob.

“I wish I could, Sasuke. But my eyes see him and then my mind plays back a dozen frames of him every second. I really wish I could do just that – fall out of love.”

She gave in to her emotions and cried with abandoned resentment and yet he saw her with rose tinted lenses – still beautiful in the woes of a first love heartbreak. His body started to move on its own, his arms hovering around her, an unspoken question of permission to touch her safe space, and she leaned into his embrace, an equally unspoken consent to envelop her in comfort.

They must have been lovers in the eyes of those under the passing umbrellas. His hug tightened at best, absorbing every convulsion in her small frame like it was his sole function.

“Would you like to use me, Sakura?” he whispered like a prayer he uttered under his breath for the rain to continue and give him a little more seconds, a bit more minutes, an illusion of stranded time with her in his arms.

Pools of emerald looked back at him stricken with fear. “It’s not fair. To you. To me.”

His ember irises held steady. “I don’t mind.”

“I do mind.” She cupped his face, soft yet calloused palms that tether him to this reality. “I do mind so I will not let my broken heart steal your chance at first love.”

But the rain has stopped as sudden as it started and she was out of his hold, running for her dear life out of the cover of the shed, through the bridge and into a train line he couldn’t follow.

But you’re my first love.

AO3 LINK | NEXT CHAPTER | CHAPTER 10

[shiranuigenma]

An Unexpected Arrangement - KakaYama

TEEN+ // ALSO ON AO3 Words: 2,554 Prompt: Fake Dating Warnings: Alcohol, Drunk kissing, background Sasuke/Naruto

Anyone who knows me knows that angst is more my speed than humor, but I had this idea and I loved it so here we are, with my day 3 prompt for @kakayamaweek2019!

Hope you guys like it! :)

EDIT! I forgot to link to AO3 lmao

Kakashi does not talk about his personal life, to anyone, but Team 7 is notoriously nosy and he doesn't want to deal with it so he says something he shouldn’t - which, of course, backfires spectacularly.

Kakashi is not a man known for talking about his personal life. He's just a very private person - he always has been, and despite how much being the sensei for Team Seven has changed him, his dislike for sharing any details about himself hasn't changed a bit.

This, of course, does nothing to deter Sakura. She's always been too nosy for her own good, and while Kakashi knows that it's because she cares, that it comes from a place of worry, right now it's annoying because he's just left the longest, most tedious meeting of his life, he's tired, and he would rather listen to Naruto wax poetic about Sasuke for six hours than talk about his nonexistent love life right now - or ever, really, but when has he ever gotten what he wants? As it is, Sakura seems determined to hound him all the way back to his apartment, which he can't let happen.

He's made it eight years without one of his students finding out where he lives, after all. He's not about to break that record now.

"Sakura," Kakashi says as he comes to a stop, tone gentle but laced with an edge of warning. She stops beside him, glancing up at him curiously. He knows it's probably a bad idea to pull rank with someone who could kill him with just one finger if they felt so inclined, but he's only half a block and three flights of stairs from a well-deserved nap and he'd like to get there at some point today. "Do you really think this is an appropriate conversation to have with the Hokage?"

"Probably not," she replies after a moment of thought, but she doesn't appear apologetic. If anything, she sounds almost defiant, grinning cheekily at him. "But I'm not asking the Hokage, am I? I'm asking my friend, who I'm worried about."

For a moment Kakashi can only stare at her, wondering when she had become someone who so easily dismissed the Hokage. He knows her respect for him as her sensei has been declining steadily over the years, though that probably has a little to do with how lackluster he was as a teacher and a lot to do with his habit of walking around reading porn in public.

Well, that and maybe how he told her not two days ago that he hated the job and tried to pass the hat to her. He doubts he'd respect himself much either, if he were in her shoes.

"Maa, I'm fine," Kakashi finally says, but she doesn't look like she buys it. "You don't need to worry about me, Sakura, I..." He pauses when he catches movement from the corner of his eye, turning his head to see a group of men walking toward them. Naruto is talking animatedly to Tenzo, bouncing on the balls of his feet, while Sasuke and Sai trail behind them looking disinterested. Of the four of them, Tenzo is the only one who looks intrigued by whatever they're talking about.

It's like a lightbulb goes off over his head.

Is it a stupid idea? Maybe. Definitely, because if Tenzo finds out about it he will kill him, but those consequences for what he's about to do are the last thing on his mind.

"I have Tenzo," Kakashi tells Sakura, looking back at her. He expects confusion - Tenzo is not a name she is supposed to know, so she won't know who he's talking about. It's almost brilliant in its simplicity.

But confusion is not the reaction he gets. Instead, she lights up, clasping her hands in front of her and breaking out into a bright, excited smile. He doesn't like that look, and he likes it even less when she suddenly sprints up the street, closing the gap between them and the rest of their team.

Kakashi realizes a split second too late that not only has he made a mistake, but he’d played right into Sakura’s hands.

"I told you!" Sakura yells, and Naruto yelps when she suddenly jams her finger into his chest. This is bad. This is very, very bad. "Kakashi-sensei confessed, you owe me dinner!"

But that is so much worse.

"Confessed to what?" Naruto wheezes, clutching his chest where Sakura had poked him, jumping back when she moves to do it again.

"To dating Captain Yamato!"

Tenzo's head turns slowly, and if looks could kill Kakashi would drop dead where he stands.

"I'm sorry." Kakashi's not sure how many times he's apologized now - he lost count in the lobby, and while Tenzo hasn't said a word since they walked away from their arguing students, Kakashi knows he's in trouble.

He can't say he doesn't understand why Tenzo is angry with him, though. It's one thing for him to lie, but to include Tenzo in that lie without at least telling him about it first crosses one of the few boundaries that they have, and on top of that he had told that lie, intentional or not, to one of their students. He'd be mad, too, if Tenzo had done that to him.

And hell, he'd probably react the same way Tenzo is, too - with silence, quietly fuming as he all but drags Kakashi up the stairs to his apartment. He knows he's in for it the moment the door shuts behind them, and Tenzo does not disappoint.

"What were you thinking?" Tenzo demands, spinning to face him once he's slammed the door shut, dark eyes narrowed into a glare. Kakashi gets the distinct feeling that his friend is currently resisting the urge to hit him, and if he didn't find Tenzo as scary as an angry kitten, the pure fury in his eyes would almost being intimidating. "You told Sakura we were dating?"

"Not exactly," Kakashi replies defensively, kicking off his sandals by the door and beating a hasty retreat to the couch, sinking onto it with a heavy sigh. Resisting the urge to lean back and close his eyes, he instead leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees and watching Tenzo tug off his own sandals. "Sakura was concerned that I was lonely. I told her I had Tenzo, how was I supposed to know that she knew that was you?"

"You..." Tenzo stares at him, and when his knuckles visibly blanch on the sandal he's holding, Kakashi thinks he might throw it at him. "I'm starting to think that everyone who calls you a genius is either a liar or has never actually met you. The whole team has known my name for years now because you can never remember to use my code name-"

"Oh. Well, shit." Thinking about it now, he does vaguely recall only calling Tenzo by the code name Tsunade had given him maybe two or three times since he came out of Anbu to captain Team Seven. Sakura's reaction makes a lot more sense now. "I'm sorry, Tenzo. In my defense, I did just come out of a five hour meeting with the Daimyo's advisers about his upcoming visit. And honestly, is it really fair to only be mad at me? Sakura's the one that started a betting pool. She even got Lady Tsunade involved-"

"Lady Tsunade would bet on whether Naruto is eating ramen for dinner tonight if someone asked her to," Tenzo interrupts, finally tossing his sandal down and crossing the room, dropping unceremoniously onto the couch next to Kakashi. When he speaks again, he sounds just a little less angry. "I just... I thought you knew that the kids jump to conclusions like it's their job. You should have-"

"I know." Kakashi sighs, leaning back into the cushions of the couch. "I'm not going to apologize again." He closes his eyes, letting himself relax - it's not like there's much else he can do right now anyway. "I'm also not telling them the truth. Telling Sakura I had you was the first time she's actually quit asking me questions about my love life in weeks, and I will happily let her keep thinking we're dating if it keeps her off my back."

Tenzo doesn't seem to know what to say to that, and a heavy silence - not quite awkward, but not entirely comfortable either - falls over them, and when Tenzo continues to offer no response, he lets himself begin to doze off.

He's half-asleep when Tenzo finally speaks, pulling him back to attention. He cracks one eye open, giving him a curious look.

"I guess I can go along with it," he says, and if Kakashi isn't mistaken, his friend's cheeks are flushed. "If Sakura really bothers you as much as you say she does, I can pretend that we're dating."

"You sure?" Kakashi asks, both eyes open now as he looks at Tenzo, and after a split second of hesitation, Tenzo nods, though his expression becomes one of regret when Kakashi grins wolfishly. "I could kiss you right now."

Tenzo slugging his shoulder as hard as he can is totally worth the way he turns the same shade as a beet and bolts for the door.

At first, pretending to date Tenzo had been a good idea. Sakura and Sai still ask questions, but Sakura isn't as pushy as she'd been before and she's teaching Sai to be more tactful, so if Kakashi asks them to respect his privacy and drop it, they typically listen. Sasuke just doesn't care, so he's a non-issue in that regard (which - and he won't tell the others - makes the Uchiha his current favorite).

Naruto, on the other hand, isn't as considerate, but Kakashi's still not entirely convinced the boy wasn't raised by wolves when no one was looking so that's to be expected.

He does have to admit it's nice, not having to field questions about his personal life constantly, and even nicer still to get out of doing things by telling the kids he's spending time with Tenzo.

At least, it was nice, until Naruto was finally promoted to Jonin and he decided to have his celebration at a bar.

Maybe it's the poorly lit booth Naruto picks out in the back of the room, or the sake sitting warm in his belly, but Kakashi finds himself letting his guard down - and, in a strange turn of events, actually enjoys himself. 

"I didn't know Kakashi-sensei knew how to have fun!" Naruto crows about it over his third drink, and it visibly sloshes over his fingers when he thrusts his cup into the air.

Kakashi would probably be offended if he weren't already beginning to feel a bit of a buzz, and besides - Naruto isn't wrong. But he's not going to put a damper on the night by bringing up the differences in their childhoods.

"I know how to have fun," Kakashi tells him instead, reaching over to pat Tenzo's back when he inhales his drink. "I played along when you were trying to see under my mask, didn't I? I even tried to help you."

"What are you talking about?" Sakura asks, but instead of answering Kakashi just grins, tugging his mask down and taking a drink.

Sakura is the only one currently looking at him, and by the time she recovers from her own shock and gets Naruto, Sasuke, and Sai's attention, his mask is already securely back in place.

The others, of course, don't believe her.

Four drinks in, the mask comes off and stays off. He's starting to feel unnaturally warm as the alcohol takes effect, and he's tired of pulling it up and down - at this point, Naruto is the only one who hasn't seen his face because Sakura, who is now taking Sasuke's place as his favorite, has been making him look the other way when Kakashi tugs it down.

This time he's paying attention, though, and his indignant reaction to realizing his friends really do already know is almost worth the mouthful of water he spits in Kakashi's face.

Five drinks in, the full length of Kakashi's leg is pressed against Tenzo's despite how much space they still have on their side of the table, his arm thrown carelessly over Tenzo's shoulders as Naruto regales them with a story about the new jutsu he's working on.

Six is still sitting untouched in front of him when he turns his head to mumble something in Tenzo's ear, and he doesn't really register the kiss he presses to Tenzo's temple until Naruto makes a joke about the PDA like he hasn't been all over Sasuke for the last twenty minutes.

Seven... Well, seven has him standing at the bar waiting for eight when Tenzo's hand suddenly wraps around his wrist, and then his back is pressed to the wall in the dark hallway that leads to the bathroom and Tenzo is kissing him, hands in his hair while his own are pressed to the small of his back.

Seven has him fleeing as fast as his feet can carry him and feeling grossly more sober than he had been seven drinks ago.

Seven has him realizing he is absolutely fucked.

Of course, he's known how he feels about Tenzo for way longer than he would ever admit - he reads enough trashy romance novels to know what it means when his palms start to sweat and his heart tries to escape his chest when Tenzo is around. The question is when this had started - maybe when they'd started going on missions together again, after his students had all left for other teachers.

Now that he thinks about it, he does remember a moment on one particular mission to the Land of Waves where they went undercover in a local bar to gather information, and seeing Tenzo smiling and laughing with the locals had made his chest feel so tight he thought he was having a heart attack.

Yeah, that's the moment. It has to be.

But whether that moment was the catalyst or not, the truth of it is inescapable - at some point, Kakashi had fallen hopelessly and pathetically in love with Tenzo, and that realization is somehow both the best and worst thing that has ever happened to him.

The problem with that is, though, that Tenzo had kissed him back. In fact, if he recalls correctly, Tenzo had been the one to drag him into that hallway in the first place, had been the one to tug his mask down and kiss him stupid. And that is terrifying and confusing and he doesn't know what the hell to do.

Which is how he finds himself confessing everything to Sakura when she visits him in his office the next day, hiding his head beneath a newspaper on his desk while she laughs at him.

He supposes he deserves it.

"You love him," she says, patting his shoulder sympathetically. She makes it sound so simple.

"No," he groans, but he's a liar and she's heartless.

"Yes." She pulls the paper away and rolls it up, smacking him on the head with it. "If Naruto and Sasuke can get over themselves, you can too. Just tell him how you feel and date him for real." With that she turns to leave, taking his newspaper with her.

"I hate you," he calls half-heartedly after her as she goes, but she just laughs and shuts the door.

[cityofblurbs]

Favorite Sakura Fics

Gaara x Sakura

Best Present Ever by paws-bells

GaaSaku. The cliched method of locking two quarrelsome lovers together in a room works after all, as Sakura and Gaara are about to discover. How could it not, when one is covered in only a towel and the other is not as apathetic as he appears to be?

Rated: T - Chapters: 1 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Walking Togetherby Zelha

Following the same themes as the other collections, it’s now up to Gaara to figure out how to handle an arranged marriage with a pink-haired medic that somehow, he doesn’t mind to have around, bad temper and all. His siblings are all too amused by this.

Rated: M - Chapters: 15 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Kakashi x Sakura

25 KakaSaku Moments by hikomokushi

25 drabble prompts, written using the prompts from the kakasakudrabble community on livejournal. Various themes, ratings and situations. KakashixSakura Disclaimer: Written strictly for entertainment. I do not own Naruto, nor the characters.

Rated: M - Chapters: 25 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

A Series of Firsts by leafygirl

A series of moments that happen between Sakura and Kakashi on a rotation at an ANBU camp as they discover their dynamic has changed over the years. One Shot. Mature content.

Rated: M - Chapters: 1 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Chidori no Jutsu by Lucibell

Kakashi Hatake had never known that coming home could feel so good. KakaSaku. Oneshot.

Rated: K+ - Chapters: 1 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Closest Thing to Family by Silberias

As Hatake Kakashi, General of the 3rd Division, looks around the battlefield after their victory he only wants to see the faces of his family. Crossposted on Ao3.

Rated: T - Chapters: 1 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Double Edged by nimblnymph

Seduction is like a double edged sword. You never know when you'll go from being the seducer to being the seduced. KakaSaku.

Rated: M - Chapters: 27 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Even a Blind Pig by rabid behemoth

It can be tough to keep secrets from a village full of ninjas. Particularly when Ino's on the prowl. [Set post-4th Shinobi War] [KakaSaku]

Rated: T - Chapters: 1 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Fated by leafygirl

Sakura runs from her past as Kakashi wants to run from life. Naruto and Genma witness the painful trials their friends must go through. Kakasaku Sasusaku - Please be aware there are multiple serious main character deaths. You will probably cry. This story has angst/tragedy/romance and maybe not in that order.

Rated: M - Chapters: 23 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Fated – Alternate Ending by leafygirl

This is an alternate ending to the story "Fated". Read the original first. These three chapters are an alternative ending to the last three chapters of the original story.

Rated: T - Chapters: 3 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Feeling Youby cutecrazyice

It started with a kiss...a touch...a stroke. Now the lines are blurred, and the borders are being crossed - and nothing has ever been more delicious. KakaSaku

Rated: M - Chapters: 23 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Flaming Heart by Creidhe

An unexpected incident, sends Sakura into the past. She has a chance at saving everything, but as the wise say 'Playing with the hands of times brings you the most deadly consequences,' However, Sakura was not one to be intimidated ...

Rated: T - Chapters: 26 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Flow of Life by Ebil Chameleon

He didn't love her. He couldn't love her. He couldn't get attached. But his heart was betraying him. Building bonds that were irreversible. It was love. SasuSaku Chapter 46: Our Finale.

Rated: M - Chapters: 46 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

To Grow a Garden by Wolfy Tales

"So what do you think about having a kid with me, Sakura?" - A family focused one-shot [KakaSaku]

Rated: T - Chapters: 1 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Heart of Patience by alifestylechoice

Kurenai grinned, a small laugh escaping. "Hatake Kakashi, in love. Who'd've thought." Kakasaku, Kakashi x Sakura

Rated: T - Chapters: 1 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

House Calls by Spoiled Sweet

Always the Team Mom, Sakura opens up her home as a clinic for the hospital-phobic ninja of Konoha. At the same time, her relationship with Kakashi begins to evolve in a way she never expected. M for swearing and later content.

Rated: M - Chapters: 40 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

I Found You Missing by Wolfy Tales

'They're asking us because these soldiers have absolutely no one left to write home to,' Sakura thought with a frown. So she signs up for the Shinobi Letter Exchange, not realizing how large the consequences would be. - AUish one-shot [KakaSaku]

Rated: T - Chapters: 1 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

In Case of Blue Scroll by Leola Majora

In Case of Blue Scroll the Hokage must lock himself in his office and pull his hair out as what he thought were memories of a long lost love turn out to be the memories of a mission he was about to assign his former student, Sakura Haruno.

Rated: M - Chapters: 12 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Just Try by Erika Hearken

The struggles we all face are sometimes almost too much to bear. In those times, everyone needs someone to lean on. Sakura finds that someone wasn't quite to far away after all. In fact, he's been right there all along. And he's ever ready to be that someone she can lean on. Warning: there is a character death.

Rated: M - Chapters: 1 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Left Behind by Trinnerti

They first stopped training with her, then slowly she was pushed out of the missions before she vanished from their lives. Now seeing her stronger than ever they couldn't stop but feeling guilty. Will their friendship blow up again or will this be the end?

Rated: T - Chapters: 28 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Life Informs Life by Silberias

When Kakashi was 5 years old his father defended him, and when Kakashi was 20 years old he defended his father. And then a fiery woman named Sakura bashed her way into his life and when Kakashi was 50 years old he was glad of it. Parallel views of a life. Crossposted to Ao3

Rated: T - Chapters: 1 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Packmate by Aria Illusine

Pakkun finally gets tired of Kakashi doing nothing about his attraction to Sakura, and takes matters into his own hands...er...paws. With the rest of Kakashi's summons pack to help! KakaSaku Complete

Rated: T - Chapters: 1 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Paths by Spoiled Sweet

No one said it would be easy to be a Hatake. One-shots centering on Sakura, Kakashi, and their offspring.

Rated: T - Chapters: 11 - Complete or Incomplete: Incomplete

Point of Grace by Shadow.of.Illusion

“Why can’t you just leave me be?” A muffled sigh answered her question, and she found her gaze suddenly riveted to Kakashi’s cloth-covered mouth. “That’s a very good question, Sakura.” KakaSaku

Rated: T - Chapters: 1 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Puppies and Babies by Gentlewatersoul

A holiday one shot. Happy Holidays.

Rated: K - Chapters: 1- Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Respect and Understanding by ronny-of-yore

[Complete] 24yr. old Sakura tries to join Anbu. She must seek the help of two old teammates to do so. Will she find love while in the ranks of the elite? A story on how respect can slowly change to love. Kakasaku

Rated: M - Chapters: 17 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Samadhi by Zelha

As the New Year is around the corner, our favorite kunoichi wonders what to do with a suddenly elusive lover of hers. And, of course, she has all the answers she needs ... in some well-known books. KakaSaku, of course!

Rated: M - Chapters: 1 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Sequential by Winter Ashby

Sometimes, the only way to understand how everything went wrong is to go back to the beginning. [Kakashi & Sakura]

Rated: T - Chapters: 1 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Seven Flowers by bluefurcape

Love doesn’t need words.

Rated: K+ - Chapters: 1 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Sinch in Time by Blade Redwind

Six years pass. Jiraiya & Naruto left Leaf. Sasuke & Kakashi left too. Sakura's been working with Tsunade. Paths cross as the men return. And somehow the three ninja find themselves hurled twenty years in the past. Summary inside.

Rated: M - Chapters: 68 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Some Light Reading by J-Pop Princess

Sakura's curiosity gets the best of her and she finds herself reading one of Kakashi's Icha Icha books. Little does she know that reading it will result in a world of experimentation on both their parts.

Rated: M - Chapters: 6 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Something Worth fighting For by Spindelhona

Homage to Wolfy Tales I found you missing. This is my version of Kakashi Hatakes' side of the story: War's ugly. But so is Life. You have to remind yourself there's still things worth fighting for. Assuming there is. Unless they're all dead and you're practically homeless. And yet, you have to carry on. You're needed. Is that enough?

Rated: M - Chapters: 1 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Star of Silver, Heart of Tinby J-Pop Princess

Written for the Kaka/Saku Fairytale contest! Kakashi had never seen the pink haired nurse before that day, but the fact that she wore an eye patch just like him gave them something in common. Or at least that's what he thought.

Rated: T - Chapters: 3 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

The Window by SilverShine

Kakasaku Sakura always wanted to see Kakashi unmasked. This was a bit much though...

Rated: M - Chapters: 21 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Three Blossoms by SilverShine

[KakaSaku] Two and a half years is a long time. Time enough for a blossom tree to bloom three times. Time enough for a child to become a girl, but not enough to become an adult. Time for a heart to crack in loneliness, but not enough time for it to heal.

Rated: M - Chapters: 1 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Torn by Blade Redwind

Kakashi's past comes back to haunt him when he finds himself facing the prospect of sponsoring Sakura for ANBU where seduction missions are not optional, but required. Now... Complete summary inside.

Rated: M - Chapters: 24 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Unbroken by princezsupastr

When Sakura finds herself facing a rogue ninja, she never dreamed that she would end up fourteen years in the past. Trapped in a Konoha where she must hide her true identity, she runs into a familiar face, except he doesn't seem familiar at all.

Rated: M - Chapters: 26 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Welcome Home by Wonderfoal

[KakaSaku] [oneshot] Sakura is having his baby. Too bad he doesn’t know it.

Rated: K+ - Chapters: 1 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Will of Fireby Cynchick

Forced to flee their village and the new regime, the loyal shinobi of Konoha must find a way to preserve their way of life and take back their home. As they fight for their future, Team Seven struggles to overcome the past. KakaSaku

Rated: M - Chapters: 26 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Winner Takes All by Clearheart

Heartbroken for the last time, Sakura swears off all relationships. But even as she makes this vow her team-mates take notice of her exceptional skill and beauty. It's not long before there's a fierce competition for her heart. Team 7, KakaSaku.

Rated: M - Chapters: 11 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Neji x Sakura

A Last Request by Mikami

NejiSaku. Uchiha Sasuke’s death, though unforeseen, was not in vain after the final mission of his life. His last words were taken in by the most unexpected comrade, Hyuga Neji.“ Don’t let her be unhappy, Hyuga...”

Rated: M - Chapters: 12 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Affaire de Coeur by Lady Silvamord

Affaire de Coeur: affair of the heart. Not here, exactly, nor anywhere too far away, instances in the lives of two very different people. Drabble series. [30: the last chapter.]

Rated: T - Chapters: 30 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Brought Together by purple-peach

At war with Sound, Neji and Sakura unexpectedly begin to discover common ground and comfort within each other. COMPLETE. NejiSaku

Rated: M - Chapters: 1 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Cages by Winter Ashby

Neji examines the new cage he's managed to twist his wounded soul into and the pink and green that haunt him at every turn. He wonders what she would taste like. [Neji & Sakura]

Rated: T - Chapters: 1 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Midnight Snack by Zelha

In which Sakura has a craving, Neji is pretty much uptight, and the rest of the Hyuuga Clan is holding back their laughter at their resident tensai. AU NejiSaku crackish smut.

Rated: M - Chapters: 1 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Promises by Winter Ashby

Neji and Sakura return from the resque Gaara arc, but it looks like they've been hiding something. [Neji & Sakura]

Rated: T - Chapters: 1 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Revelation by paws-bells

NejiSaku Revelations are dangerous things, as Sakura was just starting to find out. They could turn turn your peaceful life upside down and inside out, even if it wasn't your revelation in the first place. Damn Neji.

Rated: T - Chapters: 1 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Secrets by Winter Ashby

Rough hands and green eyes meet in the dead of night. It was a mistake she never should have let happen, but now she dreams of him and all the dark secrets he holds for her. Someday this will all end, but not tonight… [Neji & Sakura]

Rated: T - Chapters: 1 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Silver and Emerald Days by Zelha

Silver and Emerald Days is a drabble collection by Celtic Oak and Zelha. Neji now lives with Sakura, as their partnership has escalated to another level. Companionship and brilliant love among the two genii. Various ratings.

Rated: M - Chapters: 15 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Three Days Till Home by Winter Ashby

Three days can be a very long time to get home and out of the sun, especially now that Sakura holds a precious piece of information. But, in the presence of the right person, perhaps three days isn't quite long enough… [Neji & Sakura]

Rated: K+ - Chapters: 3 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Tis the Season by Zelha

Set after Silver and Emerald Days. Neji and Sakura, a bit of Christmas loving and some major fluff for this joyful season. Smut alert.

Rated: M - Chapters: 1 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Sasuke x Sakura

A Full Circle by Lady Momo

Years after his desertion, Haruno Sakura realizes that she and Uchiha Sasuke never did have an ending. But on a stormy, rainy night, as she hangs on the verge of death, she realizes that they never had a beginning either.

Rated: M - Chapters: 12 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

A Highly Contested Topic by Annie Sparklecakes

SasuSaku. He's not lonely, he says, Because he has her. In which Sakura desperately tries to form a bond, and Sasuke grows more and more attached by the day. He won't admit it, but the truth doesn't lie.

Rated: T - Chapters: 3 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

A Twist in Time by wolf08

With Konoha on the verge of destruction, Sakura is sent on a last-resort mission to save her world by traveling to the past. Join her in coping with her old body's shortcomings, testing the natural laws of time, falling in love all over again, and rediscovering who she is. Time-travel. SasuSaku. REAL publication date: Jan 2015

Rated: M - Chapters: 12 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

An Uchiha Christmas Carol by Blade Redwind

Visited by three Ghosts in a Narutoverse version of Dicken's classic tale, Sasuke must endure a front seat view of his life, past, present and future to ultimately decide if his actions, his goals, are really worth pursuing. 4 part one-shot.

Rated: T - Chapters: 4 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Contradicted by HauntedAngel

I was nineteen. I had just passed my Jonin exam. And then I met him..."You conceited, stuck-up, selfish, pathetic excuse of a man!" Unfortunately it took four years and a war for us to fall in love. SasuSaku. EDIT: First chapter now available in Vietnamese! Check out my profile for the link.

Rated: T - Chapters: 24 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Devotion by Annie Sparklecakes

No one ever expected their story to be perfect, because they were Sasuke and Sakura, and things could never be easy for them. But still Sakura hoped, Naruto lied, and Sasuke was sorry. [SasuSaku]

Rated: T - Chapters: 4 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Flow of Life by Ebil Cahmeleon

He didn't love her. He couldn't love her. He couldn't get attached. But his heart was betraying him. Building bonds that were irreversible. It was love. SasuSaku Chapter 46: Our Finale.

Rated: M - Chapters: 46 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Incomplete by letmeannoyyoutoday

AU. Sasu/Saku. When her father told her she would have to marry a guy she knew nothing about, just because that was the best for their family, she knew she couldn't say no, just like she knew she wouldn't be happy. She just never imagined it to be that bad.

Rated: M - Chapters: 39 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Next Contestant by Annie Sparklecakes

When she was 12, Sakura was always protected by her team. Now she's older and stronger, but they're still protective. [Team Seven oneshot][Implied SasuSaku]

Rated: T - Chapters: 1 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Shades of Grey by Lady Hanaka

Sakura knew that Sasuke would hate her when she brought him back to Konoha, but she was willing to let him do so, as long as he came back. She hoped she could save him from his darkness...but more than that, she hoped he could save her from her own.

Rated: M - Chapters: 26 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Sleepwalking Past Hope by dezmari

"I came back." He managed to speak. "Years too late. I stopped caring, I stopped trying, and by now I just don't care. You, Sasuke Uchiha, don't mean a thing to me anymore." -R&R-

Rated: T - Chapters: 11 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Stay by SouthSideStory

Sakura begs him not to go, so Sasuke stays. And year by year he falls a little more in love with the girl he couldn't leave behind. (AU in which Sasuke never abandons Konoha.)

Rated: M - Chapters: 1 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

The Perfect Dream by elle6778

When the dream to reunite Team 7 ends, it is surprisingly easy to bury the pain and carry on. But how long can one pretend? SasuSaku.

Rated: T - Chapters: 4 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Two Seconds Away from Home by rawrchelle

Sasuke/Sakura. Non-massacre. You don't need to be extraordinary to have an extraordinary story.

Rated: T - Chapters: 1 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Variance by dances.with.sunflowers

Life. Sasuke is back, her team is always gone, and the hospital is a grave. Sakuracentric. Updated weekly. COMPLETE!

Rated: T - Chapters: 25 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Shikamaru x Sakura

Hero by Winter Ashbury

Shikamaru reminds Sakura of someone she's tried to forget, because he's an avenger now. But he's also different, because he turns to Sakura in a moment of weakness and she sees him for the first time for what he really is. A Hero. [Shikamaru & Sakura]

Rated: K - Chapters: 1 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Shisui x Sakura

Training Grounds ThirtySevenby KatMaxKu

Oneshot. AU. Nonmass. Haruno Sakura would have done anything to get her favorite training spot back, but she didn't realize the gravity of her determination...The outtake "The Black Hawk" is up!

Rated: M - Chapters: 1 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Itachi x Sakura

Mendoususei by Naz-G

Sakura, an S Class Jounin and medic, one of the most powerful Konoha has ever had. Her legendary Team 7 are all part of ANBU. Life's good. Only 1 problem: she's steadily falling for her stoic, gorgeous sex god of a captain. *Sigh*, mendoukusei, ne?

Rated: M - Chapters: 35 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Mango Sorbet by Itaweasel-hime

She needed someone to lean on, and he really did not know what he wanted. All he knew was that they had been brought together by a carton of mango sorbet. Non-mass AU.

Rated: T  - Chapters: 1 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

A Continuous Circle by JUCHKO

Sakura accidentally stumbles upon the Akatsuki hideout and is forced to use a scroll that was for 'last resorts only'. The scroll takes her to the past, back before the massacre. Rated T just in case. ItachiXSakura Time travel. Sequel up: And the Circle Comes Round. Sister story to Kindred Spirits.

Rated: T  - Chapters: 41 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

And the Circle Comes Round by JUCHKO

Sakura returns, only to find that the old woman was telling the truth. Now she's been captured by the Akatsuki for reasons unknown. Her heart is torn between love, hate, and the mass confusion that comes of finding out things she never wanted to be true.

Rated: T  - Chapters: 60 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Crimson Genii by Zelha

Crimson Genii is a oneshot collection that follows the same themes as Silver and Emerald Days. This time, Itachi and Sakura show how they try to cope with life, duty... and their hidden relationship. Various ratings, Non-Massacre, AU.

Rated: M  - Chapters:15 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

This is my way as a ninja by paws-bells

ItaSaku Prequel to heart strings. To protect her most precious person, Sakura would willingly give her life. Itachi wasn't about to let her die, though.

Rated: T  - Chapters: 1 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Heart Strings by paws-bells

ItaSaku. Follow up to This is my way as a ninja. When all seems lost, hope comes in the most unexpected of ways. She was never going to be free of him, and for that he was never going to let her go.

Rated: T  - Chapters: 1 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

Curtain call the final act by paws-bells

ItaSaku Sequel to heart strings. They were never meant to be together. Fate was doing everything possible to tear them apart, but one thing binds them closer than never before. As long as hope never dies, life continues to blossom.

Rated: M  - Chapters: 19 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

The Chance by elle6778

Sakura discovers just how different it is to go on a mission led by Uchiha Itachi. Non-massacre AU.

Rated: T  - Chapters: 1 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

The Course of True Love by Annie Sparklecakes

It never did run smooth, and it holds true for Itachi and Sakura. But maybe they'll get their happily-ever-after... eventually. Non-massacre AU. ItaSaku. Oneshot.

Rated: T  - Chapters: 1 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

The Way of the Wind by just enough

ANBU Captain Uchiha Itachi had things well planned out, until a medic-nin with ridiculous hair went and made herself interesting. Sakura insisted she was just doing her job, but Itachi didn't quite see it that way. Non-massacre. Sakura/Itachi.

Rated: M  - Chapters: 25 - Complete or Incomplete: Complete

[altanhal]

i am one (but you are a million)

Summary: He lives forever. She lives to die. It’s a cycle he will never get used to as long as Kaguya’s plague beats in his chest.

Alternate Summary: Cursed with immortality, Kakashi serves and protects Sakura in every single one of her lives. She is Kaguya made human, reborn again and again to erase the plague. The same plague that consumes lives to give Kakashi his eternal one.

Rating: T

T/W: Major Character Death/s

Relationships: Hatake Kakashi & Haruno Sakura, Hatake Kakashi/Haruno Sakura, Haruno Sakura & Uzumaki Naruto

Characters: Haruno Sakura, Hatake Kakashi, Uzumaki Naruto, Ootsuki Kaguya

Additonal Tags: Alternate Universe – Reincarnation, Reincarnation, Soulmates, Friendship, Guardian-Ward Relationship, Partially Completed, Work In Progress

Also on AO3 and FF.net.

Excerpt: 

She's thirteen, only thirteen when she remembers her short lives and his same face.

She's the first of her seven lives that remember.

He hears her laugh at the cruelty of their fate. 

A/N: This is inspired by Caius and Yeul's (from FFXIII-2) Guardian/Ward relationship where Caius is immortal and protects the Yeul reincarnations. I added some vague FFXV lore too. This is tagged as complete even though it's open ended. I plan to extend this but I don't know how I'll end this yet. I have a vague idea of how but I still can't form it in my head. Thank you for reading!

First

He is a warrior first, a man second.

For a plague had killed his wife right after he married her. She wasn't the only one inflicted by the disease because only he was left alive in their small village. It was a miracle and a curse. He didn't want to live without her.

But their Goddess had a plan for him it seems; he is alive because of a little girl. She healed him and she did it when she is six, only six. Her name is Sakura, all pink hair and green eyes. He wanted to weep at the sight of her. His wife in a small girl. Kaguya-sama you've blessed us.

But she isn't the same, this he learned. The same face and nothing more.

"I am Sakura. I am the cure." She told him and that's when he knew, she is the healer of not only him, but of this world.

The plague of the stars was the Goddess's lethal dose. The poison she crafted to kill humanity. And she had given him eternal life, her heart beats in his chest. For as long as he is alive, she too will send forth the plague.

"I am Kakashi. My purpose is to protect you until the last of you dies." Because Sakura will succumb to the plague soon, with every person she cures, death shines brighter in her sea glass eyes, consuming her until she is all but alive.

 Second

The second time he meets her she's holding onto the body of a drenched blonde boy. Her shoulders are shaking and she's got fat tears and snot dripping down her chin.

"Sakura?" The name isn't foreign on his tongue even though he's only met her once. Twice now as she seeks his eyes.

"He's dead!" She shrieks and clutches the blonde boy tighter. "I'll kill him!"

It's not the plague that claimed the boy's life. It's murder because he drowned right under another boy's hand.

"I'll be your friend now. Don't cry Sakura." He tries to console her but she doesn't let the blonde boy go.

"I'll kill Sasuke." She says and he shakes his head. Little girls aren't supposed to be murderers.

"How old are you anyway?"

"Nine."

"Only nine?"

She nods and he feels a weight dropping on his chest.

"Four more years." He says plainly.

Before you die again.

 Third

He'd never seen a baby not wailing before.

Someone left a crib on his front door with a hastily written please, they'll kill her on a piece of paper. He peeks in the basket to find that shock of pink tuff and sea glass.

She is a month old, only a month old, and she's the first one he raised. The only one because he knows he'll never have a child as long as Sakura keeps living. The goddess is cruel like that but he accepts their fate nonetheless.

 Fourth

He thinks it doesn't look right when he sees her in a voluminous miko hakama. The head shrine priestess they call her, because she's the best at drawing out the plague from a dying soul.

He doesn't get tired standing watch of her through her days as she heals and heals with a line that is as long as the roads in the village. She gets tired with every passing moon and he knows this because she's nearing that age. Thirteen, only thirteen, wherein she slumps forward on the shrine floors but he catches her before she hits the mahogany that's polished of blood and sickness.

It's the fourth smile he sees on her cold face and never the blur that's always in his eyes in moments like this.

 Fifth

The thing about being immortal was that he stays absolutely the same. But his silver hair is ancient she says. It grows so long he has to tie it into a ponytail. She likes braiding it and he lets her because she's twelve, only twelve. And girls her age are about beauty and small things, so he lets her. She'll die next year after all.

 Sixth

"Sakura, I thought I said no pets."

"Naruto's not a pet!"

"You named it?"

"Naruto. And he's not a pet!"

Sakura stands at four feet and three inches but the set of her shoulders are threatening; he doubts that she's seven, only seven with that stance. He eyes the creature hiding behind her impressive display, and is more surprised of the animal's-boy's-blonde hair and diamond blue eyes than the nine orange tails he's trying desperately to hide.

"Kitsune." He mutters breathlessly, and remembers in vivid detail the drowned blonde boy in her arms.

Is Kaguya sending gifts now?

 Seventh

She's thirteen, only thirteen when she remembers her short lives and his same face.

She's the first of her seven lives that remember.

He hears her laugh at the cruelty of their fate.

 Eighth

She's crying when she gets back to their tiny tree house, forehead and sea glass eyes hidden beneath unevenly cut short hair. He rushes to her side when he sees the small cut on her cheek.

Who dared hurt the healer of this world?

"What happened?" He asks and she sniffles softly to herself.

"Ino said my pink hair is a curse."

You're a gift to this world. "You're not cursed."

"She cut it."

He balls his fist in rage but outwardly, he stays calm. With a sigh, he straightens himself and walks to sit at the table. Grabbing a pair of scissors, he beckons her.

"Come, I'll give you a cute haircut fit for cute six year olds."

She stops crying, her eyes lighting up in that way he knows how he's spoiled this Sakura.

"Cuter than Ino-pig's?"

"The cutest!"

 Ninth

When he meets her he is speechless. Her hair is longer than his. He's been growing his for longer than this Sakura is alive but hers is ridiculously longer. He doesn't understand how it happened because she's four, only four, and he's well over a hundred now.

 Tenth

By the tenth time he meets her, he is convinced that every Sakura is unique but is still the same old soul. That same soul that is tethered to his, driving a knife in his very being between the years of the last death and the next life.

 Eleventh

Oranges are her favorite while tomatoes are her least favorite, this he learns. He wonders if this is a foreshadowing of some sort, of her future lives. He hopes it isn't sour of any sort but he knows each of her lives will inevitably be in that taste one way or another. He could only hope.

 Twelfth

She came to him covered in dirt and blood. Dressed in rags and pink hair a horrible shade of brown and carnation. A group of men came bounding from where she came. Laughing and leering, and there was nothing more he desired than to rip out their eyes and cut each of their fingers off.

He's never murdered for her before but it took a hundred years for him to do so. He left the bodies to rot and gave her his coat and boots.

"How old are you?" He asks this time because this is the first time he's met her older than thirteen, the age she usually dies by the plague.

"Sixteen." Only Sixteen.

Kaguya is teasing him.

 Forty-eighth

He was given three students to teach the arts of the shinobi. A blonde boy, terribly and wonderfully blonde as the rays of sunshine. Another boy with hair the color of the night sky when the moon is neither silver nor red. He teaches them. Far more interested in their little competitions than his third one.

She doesn't fit with either boy but she seems to think that the two of them match, all light and scattered colors of spring and fall. She is twelve, only twelve but she believes she'll be a good shinobi. One who he'll fear one day, she says. It is comical but Kakashi smiles kindly at her. He doesn't believe her. How could he? When all she cares about is her long soft hair of cherry blossoms instead of the smell of blood that's forever stuck on her palms.

She seems to think-this one likes to think, he notes-that love would be her constant strength.

But he knew better.

The day the next clan village raided their small one was the day this Sakura's first friend fell. The blonde boy was the Sun made human. Morning was killed that day and thus, the world was plunged in eternal night.

The dark haired boy was her only friend then. He did not teach nor approach her. He grew tired of her chasing that boy. But he protected her from a distance. He never could protect her from each death because the plague won her over for the forty-eighth time.

 Sixty-second

It seems that with the absence of the sun 26 incarnations ago, the plague became more selfish and hungry. Two thirds of the world had been wiped out already, only two million remain. This Sakura died healing over a million. The most she did in any of her lives combined. And she died at nine, only nine. This Sakura is the one most loved by the people.

 Ninety-ninth

The first time she asks about her past selves, she cuts her long bubblegum hair short of her ears. It's the shortest he's seen her wear her hair and it's a breath of fresh air for his already weary soul.

"Do I always have hair down to my butt?" She is fourteen, only fourteen and he laughs because she's never used the word butt before. This Sakura is one of his favorites-but then again he has ninety-nine favorites.

 One-hundredth

The next death isn't any kinder than the rest.

She's three, only three, born with weak lungs. She had only saved this life's parents when the plague had claimed her for the hundredth time. This was the youngest he'd seen her die.

 216th

Night still reigns, sunlight is yet to return, but under the silver moon, he watches her murder the boy with hair that blends with the night sky. She is fifteen, only fifteen when she does the opposite of why she's always born.

"Just this once." She tells him and promises to heal a hundred the next day in repentance for this sin.

He helps her bury the body, shoveling dirt on the boy's pretty face. The warmth of something long forgotten caresses the skin of his forehead when he finishes with the crime. The sun rises from the horizon as she grins at him through the blood on her face.

"It's done. It's finally done." She says and he looks at her curiously. "Sasuke killed Naruto. I sacrificed him to appease Minato the Sun God."

 330th

His hair has gotten longer than his whole length. It feels like being reborn when she offered to cut it all off. He thinks that this must be how Sakura feels when her soul restarts at age one, always one. But despite the lack of weight on his head, he knows he'll never truly get the one in his ribs off.

 395th

She's back to dying at thirteen again, only thirteen, and he's getting tired of seeing her smile on her death bed.

 477th

"Kakashi. How old are you now?"

"I don't know. How old are you?"

"Come on, Kakashi."

"Twenty-three."

"Six thousand then."

"I had silver hair since the day of my birth, excuse you."

"I remember."

"What?"

"I remember it. The first time I met you."

". . .you were six."

"Yes, and it's been 5,977 years."

"Good at math, congratulations!"

"Whatever. That means I'm 5,983 years old."

He scoffs. "You're eleven, only eleven."

 501st

He's lost count how many times he's seen her cry when she couldn't save a soul from the plague. Although it is a hundred thousand times less than how many she heals, she grieves nonetheless.

 627th

She tried to braid his hair again, this time though, he refuses. She's seventeen, only seventeen and she is a child in his eyes even with the way her waist dips only to swell to a very inviting hip. He must keep her away from him, keep his hands to himself.

 783rd

He hates how she's growing up and dying at seventeen now. Though he never fails to meet her at eleven, only eleven.

 888th

She promises to marry him one day and she said this on the precipice of death. Promises him this one last thing, but he couldn't answer because if in the next life she doesn't remember about this, then he can't hold her to her promise. She's seven, only seven after all and seven year old girls are not supposed to get married yet.

 959th

"Why do you always say that?" She asks, looking straight at him.

"Say what?"

"I'm only whatever age I was." She furrows her brows at him. Pink and slender arching on a forehead too big but she's beautiful still.

He sighs, shaking his head, refusing to meet her gaze. Because you're always too young.

 1000th

He doesn't say it out loud nor ask what her age is. He can't have her asking the same question again. But despite this, he knows she dies at seventeen in this life.

And never fails to do so in the next lives.

 1,287th

This Sakura is different, he could feel it. She's still fluffy haired and chubby cheeked but there's something absolutely different about her.

"What do I look like to you?" She asks cheekily and he frowns, refusing to answer. "Hey, Kakashi."

He ignores her in favor of staring at the diamond on her forehead. It's new. He's never seen it on her before. It must be some kind of sigil that she's wearing to appease the people who believe she's some sort of goddess in the body of a child. She's the 1,287th rebirth and he's inclined to believe it.

"Tell me, 'Kashi." This Sakura has given him a nickname.

He's amused but he doesn't show it.

"You're eight." He tells her as he pokes the diamond roughly.

She glares at him through big sea glass eyes, and it makes him pause, heart sinking in his gut. A child's eyes but it doesn't belong.

It's like seeing through a mirror. The thousands of years he's lived condensed in her eyes on a face of a cherub.

"You're eight." He repeats, breathless and an ache blooming in his chest. "Only eight."

She scoffs at him. "There you go again." She frowns and crosses her little arms on her chest. She notices the look of despair on his immaculate masked face and her own softens into melancholy.

"I'm sorry I ruined this." She says and holds his hand. He doesn't respond, only closes his eyes.

He doesn't want to hear her say it. Not when she looks so young, so young like a rose still without its thorns; so young and enough to be his daughter. He despises himself when he thinks like that.

"I'm eighteen." She says quietly. "Finally eighteen."

Kakashi cries but he doesn't show it. But why do you look eight?

 1,580th

He doesn't understand why she dies at eighteen now. Kaguya's plague beats hard and alive in his chest as a reminder that she will always die. He's too heartbroken to piece the clues together.

 1,999th

If he keeps counting, every death after would just be a passing. Just that, a passing. Because he would look forward to seeing her again and again. But with each last breathe she takes, she keeps in her death bed an infinite percent of his soul.

 2000th

"So, Kakashi. Which is faster? The speed of light or Minato the Flying Thunder God?"

"Hm?"

"You know, the superhero in the new comic book you bought me?"

"Oh, that."

"So, which is it?"

"Naruto."

"Who?"

"Nothing, Sakura-chan!"

 2222th

Tears have dried from his eyes now. He's become hardened with each smile on her last moments. The blur in his eyes has turned to diamonds, hard and yet beautiful still. Exactly what he is, a hard long life with a beauty always slipping between his fingers.

 2650th

He is reminded again that she is not a child when this Sakura walks all over their apartment in nothing but her plain white school girl panties. She doesn't care if he sees because she remembers all the times he's seen her naked when she was under sixteen. There wasn't any kind of desire in his eyes only the exhaustion of seeing her nude and bloodied for the three hundredth or so time.

The red of her blood flashing in his eyes at the memory but this time she sees something different. He looks boldly at her and she doesn't flinch. Removing her last piece of clothing, she stands before him, unashamed.

"Is this the first time you're seeing me?" She asks with a roguish smile and he just stares at her, dark and brooding, piercing yet nervous.

"I've seen you many times."

"But I was just a child."

"Yes you were."

"How old am I now, Kakashi?"

"Twenty."

Sakura cheekily smiles at him, as if she's won a bet against him, and brings her arms to wrap around his neck. She's so close to him that her breathe fans on his chin. Even though she's reached this age in this life she's still much smaller than him. It amuses him. He can feel her breasts pressing onto him and his hands twitch at his sides. Seemingly limp but it's buzzing with restraint.

"I have a favor." She whispers and lifts herself on her toes. The ghost of her lips just a hairsbreadth from his own.

"Hm?" He hums, unable to open his mouth, afraid that the space between them could close with the movement.

She quirks her lips in a lopsided smirk and he has to close his eyes to deny himself this game she has. How could he, an immortal, let her, a mere twenty year old, toy with him? And the truth of his answer is because it's her.

"Kiss me." She says and he trembles, opening his eyes to meet her sea glass. She's so painfully beautiful and it takes him a while before he responds.

He kisses her. Just that gentle tap of a kiss. And then he runs.

The next morning, she dies at 21.

 3000th

He's tired. So tired.

Of watching her, guarding her, standing vigil over her, standing still beside her, protecting her on her death bed. He can stop it. The only way it ends is if the plague in his chest stops beating. He figured it out after all.

He is just so, so tired. But he doesn't want it to end. He'll have her kill him instead of driving that shattered rusty sword of his long dead clan into his heart. He knows she will never. So he lives and she lives. He remembers each life and death. Sometimes she does too but consistently, in every life, she loves him in all forms.

And that's where he never fails; he loves her too.