Promises Remembered

Chapter 10

A/N This chapter is shorter, sorry. I have so many things I want to say about it and what's coming but I don't want to give anything away. DO read the end note, i need help lol

Chapter 10

Sakura

Sixty-six days into the past

It was nearly ten by the time she reached the Hokage's office, but the ANBU guard let her in. Apparently he had a penchant for working late, like Tsunade. He didn't seem that surprised to see her.

"Ah, Sakura-san. I was wondering when I would see you again. How have you been surviving here with us in the past?" As she approached his desk, his eyes roving over her blotchy, tear-stained face, his warm smile fell. "What's happened? Is everything alright, Sakura-san?"

She shook her head. "No, Hokage-sama... I—" swiping at her eyes, she sank into one of the chairs near his desk. "Sir, I need your advice."

Seeming to sense this would not be a short conversation, the Hokage reclined his seat and folded his hands over his stomach. "I am at your disposal, Sakura-san. I can't promise I will be able to help, but I will do my best."

With a deep breath and a nod, Sakura told him everything. She told him about her childhood and her relationship with Kakashi and Kazuki. She told him the little she had known about Kakashi's wife. She told him about the way their relationship changed in the years before she'd come back in time and about their relationship now. Finally, she explained about their run in with her parents, what it meant and her suspicions regarding the end of her time there.

She had talked for more than an hour, the Hokage not interrupting once except for the occasional clarification. When she'd finished—long ago having accepted a box of tissue for the damned tears she couldn't seem to stop—he was quiet for a long time.

After a while, he stood and walked to a window, hands clasped behind his back. "How much do you know about Kakashi's life until now?"

"I know his parents were both dead before he was five. His father killed himself. I also know that someone—you, the council... both—made far too many wartime exceptions and allowed children to fight in your war. He was six." She couldn't help the anger that seeped into her voice, but when his shoulders sagged under decades of regrets, she softened.

"Everyone from his first team is dead, though I only really know what happened to the Fourth and even then—my understanding is vague. But his teammates... I assume they both died young." She sighed, voice raw. "He's been suicidal for a long time. Though according to one of his ANBU teammates, and from what he's told me himself, he's been doing a lot better lately."

The Hokage nodded, still looking out the window. "His mother died when he was a baby. There was an epidemic..." He sighed, his voice heavy with regret. "Hatake Sakumo was one of the strongest, most powerful shinobi of his generation—famous in more than one nation. A war hero... Everyone respected him. That was until he made what would ultimately be a controversial choice on a mission. In my opinion it was the correct choice, but many did not agree. The shame and rejection led him to eventually commit suicide. Kakashi was the one that found him."

Sakura gasped. She had had a basic understanding of why Kakashi's father killed himself, but hearing it had been five-year-old Kakashi that found him was new information. It was even more traumatic than she'd imagined.

"For a long time, his father's death, and the reasons for it, influenced Kakashi... I'm not altogether certain it doesn't still. As for Minato, he was killed by the nine tails—along with his wife—when they sealed it inside their son."