KakaSaku- Perfectly Enchanted

Ch. 14

Not knowing where Kakashi was taking her, Sakura blindly followed him through the village, to the outskirts. He leads her to an area that she's only ever been by once or twice while on guard duty. She felt like a ball of nerves and hoped that wherever Kakashi was taking her, that it would relax her.

They came upon an old gate with a clan emblem, wrought in metal, in the middle of the gate. It looks familiar to her, and she tries to flip through her memory for the emblem.

The diamond has nine smaller diamonds within it and as Kakashi pushed the gate open, she realized it belonged to the Hatake Clan with a quiet gasp.

"Kakashi? Is this where you grew up?"

"Yes, but I haven't been here in years. I moved into my own apartment when Minato-Sensei became Hokage and didn't come back here until after I had my own genin team," he explained as they made their way through the Hatake grounds.

Sakura couldn't help but feel out of place as they walked to who-know's-where. She looked everywhere, but all she saw in the dusky light were trees and overgrown grass. The place almost felt eerie.

They came upon a lake and made their way towards a raft that was tied to a nearby tree. Kakashi leads her up to the raft but held his hand up for her to wait where she was. She was feeling more nervous by the second and wasn't sure what he had planned.

Kakashi walked over to the tree and untied the rope saying as he walked, "Let me set everything up, and then we can get on the raft."

Sakura pulled her knitted shawl around her a little tighter, after feeling a cool breeze blow by her off of the lake. She was glad she wore her boots and brought something to cover herself.

The lake from what she could see looked beautiful. The stars were already starting to come out and twinkle off of the wavy water. She also noticed small frogs hopping in and out of the water, along with small fish swimming under the almost translucent lake.

She could hear the wildlife all around the clan grounds sing their song to the setting sun and felt herself becoming calmer.

"It's so tranquil here," she whispered.

"That it is," Kakashi whispered back suddenly by Sakura's ear, sending chill bumps across her body.

She felt her face flush by his closeness and didn't realize that he had set up a blanket on the raft, along with a few candles in the middle. He held his hand out to her, as his other one was currently holding a picnic basket. He must have either hidden the basket in a scroll or pulled it out of a tree while she was nature watching.

Gently grasping his warm hand, she stepped onto the raft, followed by Kakashi. He helped her sit down on the blanket and laid the basket down beside her. She watched him with some mild amusement in her eyes, as he kept one foot on the raft and used his other foot (with some chakra) to propel them towards the middle of the lake.

He sat down and grabbed a candle, then blew a small fireball jutsu on the wick. He lit the other candles, laying them back in place, and opened the basket containing their food.

"I made us some bento's so we wouldn't have to heat anything up. I hope you don't mind?" he asked while handing her a small bento of food.

"Not at all. It's lovely, thank you," she replied. It smelled wonderful and her stomach was feeling ravenous all of a sudden.

Kakashi poured them some chilled sake in wine glasses, then held his up to Sakura to make a toast.

"To peace, friendship, and new beginnings." he declared casually.

Sakura smiled brightly and repeated, "To peace, friendship, and new beginnings." She sipped her sake and noted that it tasted like the fancy, expensive stuff Lady Tsunade use to drink. She wondered to herself if maybe the Godaime left part of her stash in the Hokage tower and Kakashi decided to keep it for himself. The thought made her giggle.

"What's making you laugh?" Kakashi asked with amusement in his eyes.

"Oh, I was just wondering if this sake was from Shishou's personal stash. It tastes like it."

"I seem to remember coming across a decorative flask of sake while adding my belongs to the Hokage office. I couldn't remember if someone gave me the flask as a gift or if it belonged to the Godaime herself, but I figured she would have cleaned all of that out when she cleaned out her belongings last week."

Sakura snorted because she knew that her Shishou would have scoured the whole building, looking for spare sake before she left. Maybe it was a gift to the soon to be Rokudaime.

"It must have been a gift for you because Shishou would never abandon a bottle of sake." she laughed then placed some pickled vegetables in her mouth.

Kakashi hummed in agreement as he chewed his fish. They sat there quietly, enjoying each other's company, while they ate. Sakura couldn't help herself but sneak peeks at Kakashi while they ate. She was starting to see him in a different light. No longer as her Sensei, Captain, comrade, or the next Hokage, but as a grown man who seemed to be interested in her.

They finished their meal and Kakashi meticulously placed everything back inside the basket. When he was finished, Sakura took the opportunity to lay back on the raft, staring at the stars as they floated along the lake. She could feel Kakashi's eyes on her, so she slowly turned her head towards him, with a big goofy grin glued to her face.

Kakashi grinned back, picked up the candles, and blew them out. He then slowly laid down beside her, tucking his hands under his head. Feeling risky, Sakura slid over and placed her head on his arm, and kept her eyes glued on the stars above.

Feeling warm and cozy, Sakura wondered how often Kakashi comes here. The raft looked like it was recently mended, with new boards mixed in with old ones. There's a story here and she tilts her head towards him to quietly ask, "Can you tell me about this lake? It looks like you come here often."

He tilted his head down to her, looking at her affectionately, "It's a very romantic tale that begins with a beautiful fairy that meets a white wolf."