The sun rises just like it always does, and though he can't say he's gotten much sleep, Kakashi gets up and ready for the day just like is expected of him.
Sakura is still asleep, so he takes the extra time to clean up a bit and gets to work making eggs and toast for Sakura and himself. Her home is very well lit, and one can most easily tell in the mornings, when the sun is flooding in through all sides, leaving darkness in no angle of any room. It's quite nice, far more refreshing than his old musty apartment on the slightly more questionable side of town. He finishes his breakfast and neatly piles Sakura's helpings onto a plate, pours her a glass of orange juice, and goes into the living room to deliver.
He kneels down to where she sleeps on her roll-out bed, all carefully laid out on her back so as not to stress her rib, and gently nudges her awake. Her eyes open immediately, and he realizes she had never been asleep at all, but instead resting her eyes and savoring the chance to sleep in that few shinobi got these days.
She sees the plate in his hand and readily braces herself to sit up, but Kakashi doesn't give her the chance to hurt herself; he sets the plate and glass on the coffee table and places his hands on her shoulders to stop her from going any further, then hooks them underneath her armpits to gently ease her up into a sitting position without her having to strain her tender muscles.
"Here's breakfast. I tried not to burn it, but I'll let you be the judge."
She doesn't laugh like he expects, and it throws his joke off-key. She wordlessly accepts the plate in her lap and he slices off a piece of egg with her fork and raises it to her mouth. She's on her second bite when he attempts once again to make conversation.
"So how are you feeling? Think you'll be back at it sooner than expected?" Silence drags on as she mercilessly leaves him hanging, and he fumbles to cover his blunder, just barely remembering to hand her two prescription pills that she's meant to take with her morning meal for the next two weeks. "Naruto seems to think so. And the doctors all say that-"
"Did you mean it?"
Her sudden interruption throws him off, and he can only blink in response.
Sakura is not deterred. "What you said last night. Did you mean it?"
There's a long, muted silence before it finally 'clicks', and heat rushes up to his face in an unwanted show of embarrassment. God, she had been awake last night? And heard him? Talking to himself? Or maybe she thought that he had known she was awake, and therefore directing all of his words at her, rather than a figment of her in his own mind...? That hardly made it any better, though, did it? Whatever way you spun it, it still didn't prepare him to deal with it all right now, in this moment. He'd hoped to at least make it through physical therapy this afternoon...
Recovering from his 'deer-in-the-headlights' look, Kakashi attempts to ease into a relaxed sitting position; it doesn't work. And so, he does the only thing he currently knows how to do: tell the truth.
"...Yes. Yes, I did."
Her spring-green eyes are piercing as they stare him down. "Every word?"
He nods, matching her serious gaze with one of his own. "Every word."
Quiet fills the space around them, and his heart unwillingly begins to pound, though only he can hear it. The admission hangs in the air, and the longer Sakura remains silent, the more at risk he feels of his brain going into overdrive and assuming the worst. He had been certain, fairly certain, anyway, that she held similar feelings towards him. But now, as the silence drags on...he isn't so sure.
Oh, Kakashi. Since when did you become one whose faith in the factual was so easily shaken?
Just as his mind threatens to spiral, Sakura opens her mouth to speak, and he waits with baited breath as her parted lips prepare to seal his fate forever.
"Then...I guess...I better tell you how I feel, too."
She purses her lips and swallows in preparation for her speech, her tongue darting out to quench her parched mouth. Kakashi's eyes don't miss the movement.
"I...feel things for you. In a certain way that I don't feel for anyone else. Not even-" she catches herself from saying Sasuke's name, his betrayal still evident on her skin. "Not even him. And up until that point, I always thought that I knew what it was to be in love...to be loved. But...I was wrong."
She pauses and takes a breath, pushing against her bed with her palms to try and shift position to help alleviate the discomfort. Her face turns almost as pink as her hair, but Kakashi finds it quite endearing to see that she's struggling with her feelings nearly as much as he is.
"Kakashi, I-" she pauses, bites her lip, rethinks her words. And then she looks at him. And he knows she's decided to go through with it. Because really; aren't they both tired at this point? "I love you."
Kakashi's eyes widen the slightest fraction, and the air ceases passing in and out of his lungs. She said it. She'd really said it. Out loud. For only him to hear. The three words that he'd fantasized about for God knew how long at this point, and they were finally his to have and keep. For however long she would let him. He gazes into her eyes, in complete awe of the young woman who never ceases to surprise nor amaze by his own standards. Sakura Haruno truly is something else.
He reaches over and takes her hand in his, smoothing out the soft skin there with his thumb.
"Then, I guess it's only fair that I tell you that I feel the same way, isn't it?"
A smile breaks across her face, and he's not sure which comes first, that or her blush, but he can only smile himself because it's Sakura and she's contagious in the best possible sense of the word. Her laughter, her mind, her light are all so potent to him, almost like a bottled sun; warm and limitless, and endlessly bright.
The tender moment between the two would-be lovers is unfortunately shattered when they receive a sudden knock at the front door, and Kakashi is unpleasantly surprised to be greeted with the two physical therapists for her first daily routine.
He nearly tells them none-too-nicely to leave; he's sick enough of being interrupted by himself and his own uncertainties, let alone by other people. Sakura promptly rids herself of her blush so she can get back into business mode and play the role of the good little patient for the few hours that they'll be here.
At one point, Sakura takes Kakashi's hand to steady herself while attempting to stand, and he fully expects her to pull away so as not to make the therapists question the action, but she doesn't.
Instead, she tightens her grip.
