He had gone to seek out Sakura that night with the intention of telling her, to her face - sober - how he felt about her.
But now, with the truth of Hisashi coming to light and the thwarted assassination attempt on Hokage Tsunade, and the confused aftermath that follows, Kakashi has no choice but to wait for the right moment to finally offer his admission.
The Shinobi regroup after the attack, and he waits.
Tsunade barks her orders to find the remaining spies assisting Hisashi, and he waits.
They hunt down the rest of Okigawa's men, cutting them down one by one until none remain, and he waits.
They return to headquarters to report to the Fifth, Kakashi and Sakura are debriefed and dismissed.
They stand together out in the hallway just outside Tsunade's office for a few moments, the adrenaline of the day's events finally filtering out of their systems. Sakura chuckles lightly and Kakashi smiles.
"Wow, talk about a rough day, right? Hahaha..."
She makes an awkward face and shrugs, as though to say: 'well, what can you do?'.
Kakashi nods, hands in his pockets. "Yeah..."
Silence passes between them, an unusual lack of noise throughout the hall.
"Are you...okay?" he asks finally, albeit awkwardly.
As much as he disliked Hisashi, he would never be above showing genuine concern for Sakura, no matter who her affections lied in.
"Who, me? Oh, yeah, I'm fine!" At his unbelieving look, she adds, "I mean, I'm a little disappointed that it seems to be turning into somewhat of a running streak that all my boyfriends turn out to be psychopaths, hahaha but really, I'll be alright. Thanks for asking."
This is it. They're together, they're alone, and the perfect opening in conversation has just appeared. This is it.
And yet she waves, and starts to walk away- "I better get some rest. You should too. Goodnight, Kakashi."
-and his legs tense, his muscles choke up, his mouth opens-
And still.
He waits.
Sakura is long gone by the time he makes his own departure, and while on any other night he would be mentally berating himself, tonight, Kakashi Hatake is exhausted.
He gets home, treks upstairs, and falls face first onto his bed, not bothering to even take off his vest. His mind isn't overflowing with thoughts like it normally would be at a time like this, and instead he just lays there in the moment, focusing on the present feeling of his pillow and sheets cradling his form and the soft moonlight coming in through the open window while all other thoughts float like driftwood at the back of his mind, there but not really.
Kakashi closes his eyes and falls asleep.
After all, he's waited this long. What's one more day?
