Dreams of the Past

Getting Reacquainted

Kakashi carried the food Ume had packed for them, making sure they had plenty to feed 'a growing little shinobi.' He'd decided he liked Sakura's family. The man that would be her father was friendly and sensible, and her grandmother was kind and generous, if a bit overly trusting.

He distinctly remembered Sakura occasionally complaining about her parents. Something about how controlling they tried to be over her life. He had always found it a little childish. Then again, he had no experience with overbearing parents. Listening to her furiously scold his father the night before, he decided she at least understood how precious they were, even if they irritated her.

"When does your father meet your mother?"

She folded her hands behind her back as she walked along beside him. "He's going to do some repairs on her family's home in about four years. She was fascinated by his pink hair, and as he told it to me, he tripped and fell into the deep green forest in her eyes and never recovered." A small, wistful smile lit her whole face. It was rather romantic, Kakashi supposed. From the little that he knew of the man, it seemed to fit.

"It's so strange seeing him now, decades younger than I remember him. He's not my dad anymore... well, yet" The smile fell and she looked sad for a few steps before forcing it back in place. "They're alive, but it still feels like I've lost them." She laughed, but it sounded hollow. "Guess I finally fit in with the rest of Team Seven."

Kakashi frowned at her rather dark take. "Sakura..."

"But hey, if this is real I guess this version of you won't be an orphan. And maybe we can stop Naruto's parents dying too. I'm not sure about Sasuke..." She turned to him suddenly. "What about Captain Yamato?"

"Not Sai?"

She scoffed. "I don't care about Sai."

Kakashi rolled his eyes. "Sakura, he only calls you ugly because it gets a reaction. You know you're perfectly acceptable looking, he just enjoys leaning into the ROOT social conditioning to get away with being a dick. You're uncommonly easy to rile."

He could practically see the smoke coming from her ears on either side of a scathing glare. "I am not!"

He dipped his head towards her slightly, arching a brow. Oh no?

Her lips pursed and she turned away, nose in the air and a faint blush tinting her cheeks. She grumbled under her breath and swore. "Perfectly acceptable. Tch." A scoff, another muttered swear, and a put-upon sigh. "We're worried about Yamato right now, Kakashi. Sai's not even born yet."

Rolling his eyes, Kakashi considered. "Well, I'm fairly certain Orochimaru kidnapped him as a baby like most of the rest of his child test subjects so he'll already have him. That being said, honestly I'm not sure interfering with him would be a good idea."

She balked. "He was performing horrific experiments on those children!"

"Yes, and I would be lying if I said that leaving him there, as well as all of those children, knowing what is happening to them sits well. But without the wood release we would have really been screwed with Naruto more than once. We need him to be a capable wood release user. Going in now might mean he doesn't fully absorb Hashirama's cells and gain that ability. I could be wrong, but I'm hesitant to interfere yet."

"Well..." She pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes, grumbling in frustration. "What about his time in ROOT?"

Puzzling through her question, it dawned on Kakashi how complicated this was becoming. He stopped in his tracks, shoulders slumping more than usual, and let out a dejected sigh. Did everything have to happen exactly as it had to work out in the end? Did he really have to have such a painful childhood, do all the things he did so all the pieces would fall in the right places? Fuck. They could have already lost them the Fourth War decades before it would happen.