Born Anew

Chapter 17

Karin POV

In the morning, Naruto is the first one awake. I'm half asleep myself when the blonde hops to his feet and saunters over to me. Yawning, he says, "Morning, Karin-Sensei."

I give him a smile. "Morning."

He glances around. "I'm the only one awake?"

"Yup." My eyes fall on the silver-haired ninja who's still out like a light. He didn't seem to be having a nightmare so I let him sleep for the remainder of the night.

Naruto starts to walk away. "Where's the nearest body of water? I need to pee."

My lips twitch up into an amused smile. I point him toward the stream that I visited last night and with that, Naruto disappears.

The next person that wakes up is Sakura. She ambles over to where I'm sitting and takes a seat beside me. "Good morning, Karin."

I nod to her and glance at Kakashi again. He looks so peaceful in his sleep, his face relaxed. My fingers itch to pull down his mask and finally take a good look at his face but right now, Sakura's awake. I'm pretty sure Kakashi wouldn't appreciate his face being displayed like that.

I don't realize that I'm full-out staring at the Jounin until Sakura's soft voice beside me jars me out my thoughts. "You're really close to Kakashi-Sensei, huh?"

I look at the pinkette and then swing my gaze back to Kakashi. "Not really."

"I don't know what went on between you two the last time you were here but when you left, Kakashi pretty much fell into a depression. He didn't talk to anyone and Captain Yamato got really worried about him. Apparently, he reverted back to his old self like when something happened in his childhood."

I quietly soak all this information up and let her continue.

"It was frightening, really." Her voice drops an octave and I can tell that just remembering that time is hard for her. "He wouldn't give us those sweet smiles or laugh at our stupid jokes or Naruto's ridiculous antics. He became a shell of the old Kakashi."

I'm stupefied. Kakashi really cared for me that much to act like that after I left? If we were that close as Sakura is making it sounds how could I do that to him? 

Sakura sighs. "Stop."

"Stop what?" I give her a confused look.

"I can practically hear the gears in your head turning. I didn't tell you this to make you feel bad. What happened, happened and there's no way to turn back and change anything."

"Why did I leave though?" I muse. "Was the person that I was going to so important to me that I would hurt someone who cared for me like that?"

Sakura gives me a sad smile. "The person you were going to is the one we're after right now. You really cared for him. You were ready to lay down your life for him. But when he tried to kill you, you left. Your feelings for him still stayed though and that's what pushed you to leave the Leaf Village."

Numbness spreads throughout my veins and I try not to cry. I hurt Kakashi so much. How could I do that to him? Even though I don't remember anything, I've begun to feel something for the man during my stay at Konoha. I can't even picture myself leaving the village or him.

I'm so lost in my thoughts that I don't realize that everyone else has woken up, including Kakashi. Only when he comes over to me do I finally realize that he's awake.

He crouches down in front of me, his eyes betraying his concern. "Are you okay, Karin?"

I blink and look up at the handsome man in front of me. I force a smile to my face but I can tell he's not really buying the fake smile.

He looks to his student and gives her a stern, disapproving glare. "What's going on, Sakura? Why is Karin upset?"

A small smile creeps up onto the pinkette's face and I can tell that she's feeling a bit smug for pointing out to me just how much Kakashi cared for me. It seems that even though I've stabbed him in the back before, he's still concerned for me. Or maybe that's just because he's a nice guy like that.

"Sorry, Kakashi-Sensei. I didn't mean to make her worry." Sakura gets up and walks over to Sai to help him pack up the supplies.

Kakashi's gaze falls back on me and his hand extends forward but freezes a centimeter away from my face. It hangs in the air for the longest moment, but then it drops back to his side. There's a look of sadness that passed across the handsome Jounin's face but he stands up and sticks out his hand to help me up. His hand burns into mine as I take his and the warmth sears deep into my body and soul.

Now at the same level, Kakashi, a few inches taller than me, hovers over my average frame, his dark gray and red eye boring into mine. He makes no move to release my hand and I clutch his hand tighter, showing him that I'm not releasing his hand either. His broad back shields the two of us from the eyes of the rest of the team and I feel secure.

There's a moment that passes between us, our eyes still glued to each other. Everything and everyone else fades into the background and for a moment, there's only the two of us in the clearing.

I stretch out my hand to touch his mask-covered face and when he doesn't flinch away, my hand lands on his mask, feeling the smooth material beneath my hand. An image flashes through my mind:

Kakashi pulls off his mask, letting it rest around his neck. The lower half of his face is striking, so much so that I stop breathing. He leans toward me and touches his lips to mine, the heat of him scorching me.

I'm startled out of my thoughts that took a trip to the gutter, by Naruto's loud voice. "Come on, Kakashi-Sensei! Karin-Sensei! We gotta go and catch up!"

I drop my hand and Kakashi gives me an achingly sweet and genuine smile, his lips curling up beneath his mask. "Come on, Karin," he says in a low and husky voice, that shakes me to the core. "Let's go catch up with the others."

------------

Hey guys, so this was Chapter 17. Hope you all enjoyed.

See you all soon!

--dimples_qt