Getting Lost on the Roads of Life - a KakaSaku Story [CONCLUDED]

A Dream to Remember

The rain had stopped. Sakura was holding her umbrella under her arm, throwing furtive glances at Kakashi who sauntered next to her, his heavy rain cloak over his arm. She would have liked to take his hand or at least touch it, but he was looking straight ahead, making it quite clear that he wanted no such thing. He looked slightly different to her tonight, maybe because of the grey Anbu flak jacket he was wearing? Because his hair was still wet and flattened? Because he wasn't wearing a headband? Or because she had seen the face underneath the mask?

Or because... because they had slept together.

The recent memory made her squeal inside. It was mortifying and exciting at the same time. She wanted to go hide in a hole and yet shout it from the rooftops. She knew she had done very badly and yet felt like she'd never done anything better.

Maybe it was just the silly, inexperienced her who thought the intimacy they had shared changed everything between them. It probably meant far less to someone like him. Someone... so popular with women. Someone with so much confidence. Not once in all the time she had known him had he hesitated. In every situation, however difficult, he had known exactly what had to be done and had followed through.

And now he had told her no more - and clearly meant it. It wasn't that she didn't understand the difficult spot her advances put him in. But that didn't change the fact that all she was thinking was when can we do it again?, because it was so clear to her that they were not in the least done. His mere presence next to her made her chakra churn faster and her nerves tingle. But what was it she wanted from him?

Comfort, was the first answer popping into her head.

Like nobody else, he made her feel good. About herself, about the world. He made her forget her fears, her woes. And maybe most importantly, he could make her forget Sasuke and the mess she was in with him. A child with that woman? Goddammit, it was like the worst kind of nightmare. Would she be able to stay calm when the village started to buzz with the news? Everybody knew how stubbornly she had pursued the Uchiha without giving a second thought to her dignity. Having this happen now... it was so, so embarrassing!

But taking such comfort was also the most selfish thing she had ever done to anybody, when Kakashi wasn't and couldn't be feeling the same. When his situation was ten thousand times more difficult than hers right now, with everybody breathing down his neck and him finding himself under suspicion for something someone like him would never do.

Helping him get his memory back was what she could do for him. She wasn't going to allow herself to expect something in return.

"Come on in," she said at the door to her apartment and smiled bravely.

He nodded though without really looking at her and put his coat on a hook. After a brief moment of hesitation, he shrugged out of the flack jacket too and took off his boots.

She would not let herself be distracted by the sleeveless shirt or those shapely, muscular arms. But she did turn her head to check for the blood seal, finding it hidden once more. He followed her eyes to his own arm.

"Kakashi," she ventured to address the topic, "Kabuto said a few things to me about the seal that..."

His eyebrows contracted angrily.

"I don't believe a single word he says," she assured him quickly. "But... should I maybe take a closer look at your arm? I mean... not now! Tomorrow at the hospital for example. I also... I still have those pills Tsunade gave me for you in my purse and I thought... those, too, I should maybe analyze them?"

Kakashi nodded. "Yes. Why not."

"I hope there is no danger anymore? With that seal... the last time..." the mere memory made her shudder.