Kiss Me Goodnight

Chapter 3: Kakashi's Plan

When Sakura finally opened the door, Kakashi had to stiffle a laugh.

She was wearing his spare pants and sleeve-less shirt, that were way to big for her and she seemed to stumble over her own to feet. Her hair was even more dishevelled, than when he first saw her standing infront of his door, and her arms were a mess of bandages, that hung loosely around her slim form.

Apparently Konoha's second best medic, who could heal pretty much anything- which had often saved his life- wasn't able to wrap her own limbs with bandages.

The Copy Nin couldn't surpress a chuckle at her frustrated huff, before she barked at him, not to just stand there, laughing his ass off, but to come help her. Bewildered by her commanding voice- few dared to order him around, mind you- he hesitated for another moment. Giving in, he slowly strolled over to were she was and stripped her off the bandages (mind out of the gutter, ladies and gentlemen, we aren't there yet). For the first time, since she had come to seek him out again, he saw some of the full extend of her injuries. Even in the bathroom, with only a towel to cover her, she had managed to hide the bloody gash on her arm and shoulder, that was witness of her father's usage of weapons on her.

Kakashi couldn't swallow the shocked gasp, that escaped his mouth.

Sakura didn't look at him, didn't dare look at him. She knew, this made everything so much worse, especially since Kakashi was by no means an idiot. He would find out, what had been going on for the past two years...

"His hands weren't enough for him anymore?!" the silver-haired man asked bitterly.

She shook her head.

"How long?"

There it was again. The question, that had driven her away in the first place, but Kakashi couldn't help himself. He wanted, no, needed to know. The pink-haired girl didn't answer, but her head sank even lower and that was all the response he needed. Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he tried to grasp this new little piece of information, that he was presented with. This evening was so full of surprises, none of which he had ever wanted her to go through in her young life. She must have been through hell these past years. Sure, it had been bad everytime, but at least he had "just" beaten her.

If he was using knifes, whips and what else...

...this bordered torture!

"Dear gods." He whispered, pondering this for a moment. "Why haven't you said anything?"

Sakura bit her lip.

"How could you let this slide, Sakura?"

She could hear the disappointment in his voice, even though he tried hard not to let it show, as he readjusted her bandages. He was disappointed in her, that she had chosen to hide for so long, that she wouldn't do anything about it. That she had been weak! He was so terribly disappointed, she just knew, and it was killing her. She didn't want to be a failure in his eyes, for some reason, she wanted him to be proud of her. As proud as he was of Naruto and Sasuke, who both belonged to the greatest shinobi of the Leaf, yet she wanted his pride to be different from what he felt for his other two students and she didn't understand it.

"You didn't heal yourself." He finally stated, after he was done tending to her.

"I..." she trailed off. She was going to disappoint him again, but she didn't want to say it out loud, because that would make it all so final.

"You aren't going to go to the Hokage with me first thing in the morning." This, too, was a statement and he had that tone in his voice again. She looked up at him, because his voice had been muffled, only to find him rubbing his mask-covered face in frustration- or maybe it was despair?! Whatever it was, she had put it there and she hated herself for it!