Promises Remembered

Part 2 Chapter 16

A/N A couple of things. Yes, I have Neji surviving the war. FTW that prince is alive. Also, I have made Hanabi a few years younger for reasons. We are off to rescue Sakura! Can she be rescued? We shall see!!! Please bear with me, the tone of the next few chapters is all over the place. Blame it on Kakashi. He is having some big feelings and his usual cool collectedness is sort of falling apart and very inconsistent. Let me know what you think!! 

Part 2 Chapter 16

Kakashi

Day four-thousand four-hundred twelve without her

Sakura sat beneath a shade tree, enjoying her lunch and the beautiful afternoon. She had no idea of what lay ahead for her, how radically her life was about to change. Nor did she notice the foreboding, anxious cloud hanging over Kakashi where he watched from high in the trees. He had never been one for outward displays of nervousness. But waiting for his wife to be assaulted, abducted and inserted into an unknown jutsu and sent back in time was a new kind of stress.

"Um... Kakashi-san?"

"Hmm?" He tore his eyes away from his perfectly relaxed almost-wife to glance over at Hinata. "Yes?"

Her wide, pale eyes watched him carefully before she spoke. It was vaguely unsettling. "Are you alright, Kakashi-san?"

"Of course." The reply came out harsher than he meant, not exactly proving his point, if the incredulous frown on her face was any tell. "Fine. I'm a little anxious. Why do you ask?"

"Well..." She pointed at the ration bar in his hands. "Normally, those are meant for eating, not shredding."

Kakashi looked down to see that he had indeed reduced his lunch to crumbles, littering the branches below. A squirrel scampered off with full cheeks and he sighed. "I probably needed to eat that."

Hinata hummed, sounding only slightly judgmental. "Kakashi-san?"

Dusting off his fingers and returning his attention to Sakura, he hoped this would not be a meandering, invasive conversation. Then he remembered he was with Hinata, not Naruto. "Yes, Hinata-chan?"

"Sakura-chan is one of my best friends." He glanced down at her, doing a double take when he saw her bright red face. Oh no. "So... so I want to ask... Well... I was wondering, it is obvious you still love Sakura, your wife... But, do you still want to be married to her?" Apparently her boyfriend was rubbing off on her. "And what about the village? It would surely be a scandal, considering how long you've known her." Her eyes widened and she waved her hands in front of herself. "N-not that I think there is anything scandalous, Kakashi-san! But, well..."

He sighed, turning his attention back to Sakura. How bothersome. Then again, she was helping him. And more importantly, she was right—Sakura was her friend. So, they were having this conversation. "I never stopped loving her." He crossed his arms and leaned slightly away from her. "If her memories are intact, the last thing she'll remember is saying goodbye to her newborn son and a much younger me. I know it will take some adjusting for all of us, but I am going to bring her home. I want—"

Soft sniffling interrupted his train of thought and he glanced down at her. She was dabbing at her eyes with the corner of her sleeve. Just a little irritated, Kakashi frowned. "Tch, Hinata..."

She jumped slightly and looked apologetically up at him. "S-sorry Kakashi-san. It's sad to think about how that must have felt for her. And... It made me think of when Hanabi-chan was born. My mother died shortly after. I didn't even get to say goodbye to her."