Chapter 23: Chapter Twenty Three
December rolled in with its snowy weather before anyone was ready. Sakura gazed out the window of her house watching the light snow falling from the cloudy sky. She had three large stacks of paperwork to finish before she had to be outside in that weather training her own soldiers today. She sighed, leaning against her chair as her laptop sat in front of her.
"Are you ok?" Kakashi teased, Sakura rolled her eyes as she sipped her coffee.
"Peachy." Sakura answered, looking at Kakashi through the video chat. "How is your mission going?" Sakura asked,
"Pretty good, besides the light fighting between Sasuke and Naruto it's been pretty mellow." Kakashi smiled as he held his phone out looking at Sakura's pretty face. "How is it over there?"
"About the same." Sakura shrugged.
"No more civil wars threatening to break out?" Kakashi laughed,
"Not that I know of." Sakura promised.
"Has Naruto called you?" Kakashi asked, looking back at the sleeping blond who was curled up in his sleeping bag as close to the fire as he could be without being roasted alive.
"He calls me more than you do." Sakura joked, "He told me."
"He hasn't stop talking about it." Kakashi smiled,
"He is excited, I don't think I have ever seen Naruto with another woman. Which I think is surprising since his best friend is the Leaf Villages biggest whore."
"I haven't either." Kakashi agreed with a chuckle.
"So, the fact he has a girlfriend is refreshing. Maybe Hinata can mellow him out."
"Possibly." Kakashi agreed,
"Or he could break Hinata." Sakura muttered laughing with Kakashi at the light joke. Sakura ruffled her hair before pulling it back into a hair tie.
"You have to go?" Kakashi asked,
"Yeah." Sakura sighed, "Those people won't train themselves."
"Be careful."
"Always."
"I'll talk to you tonight?"
"Yeah, be careful out there." Sakura smiled at Kakashi before ending the call between them.
----
"Commander." A soldier bowed; Sakura turned looking over her shoulder as sweat coated a thin layer over her skin.
"What?" She asked turning towards the soldier seeing her phone in his hand.
"This has been going off for about an hour now."
"Oh?" Sakura took the phone. "Thanks." She muttered as the soldier quickly excused himself.
"Ah fuck!" Diem laughed, "Who's sky is falling down on them today?"
"Everything ok?" Dawn asked shooting Diem an annoyed look, Sakura saw Naruto's name flashing through the screen. It was still early in the day, Kakashi wouldn't have set up camp just yet...
"Erm..." Sakura waved, "Continue without me, I'll be back." Sakura said answering the phone.
"Naruto I can't talk right now-"
"Kakashi's hurt." Naruto's voice blurted sounded a little winded.
"What?" Sakura felt alarmed as her body tensed and her stomach squeezed, she had just spoken to him this morning... "Where are you!?" She demanded.
"Well he isn't like hurt hurt, but he overused his mangekyō sharingan and it took a lot out of him."
"What happened?"
"We ran into a couple of those Reapers." Naruto said as Sakura cursed in her head, she didn't feel their seals activate...did they really hold their own without her help? Maybe Carver and Raiden's training were really working with the leaf shinobi.
"Are you ok?" She asked,
"Sasuke and I are fine but Kakashi got that stuff in his system like you, they can't heal him."
"Is he hurt other than from his sharingan?"
"He has a cut from a sword across his chest..." Naruto sounded like he was about to break into tears. Sakura looked around at the people all around her fighting each other, aiming to kill even though this was just a training exercise. Sakura had a meeting tonight that she could not miss, if she went and got team seven there would be no chance that she could just drop them off at the leaf village...she would get stuck there. "Sakura?" Naruto's voice was shaky.
"Everything is going to be fine." Sakura stated, "I have to go but-"
"Sakura no! I-I don't know what the doctors are saying, and this village is creepy, and they don't know how to put the fucking heater on! It is freezing!"
"Calm down." Sakura said, "I will be there soon."
"Really?" Naruto sniffed.
"Yes." Sakura hung up the phone. Sakura groaned, rubbing her tense shoulder turning to see her commanders were watching her. "Shut up." She said as they quickly looked away. Sakura turned to a nearby soldier, "You-" She pointed.
"Yes-Yes Commander!?" The soldier jumped under Sakura's intense gaze.
"Go to the infirmary and tell them to get three beds ready."
"O-Ok?" She said quickly jogging away.
"Everything good?" Dawn asked from behind her.
"Does her face tell you she is ok?" Deim asked earning a punch from Dawn. "Ow!" He whined "Sakura!"
"I will be back." Sakura said,
"Really?" Dawn and Diem sighed,
"We should get that on a fucking t-shirt!" Diem muttered Sakura shot him a warning look.
"I'll be back with plenty of time for the meeting."
"We need to get a move on." Dawn said, "Reaper camps are never in the same place for long and we are so close at finding their hideout."
"Tell someone who doesn't already know." Sakura said, "I found most of that information."
"Alright." Dawn backed off knowing when to shut up.
"Who are you whisking off to save this time."
"Training-" Sakura pointed as wind collected around her, "Go."
"Yes Commander." Dawn and Diem sighed as Sakura vanished again.
"We really should sell those t-shirts." Diem turned to Dawn, "It would be funny."
"She would kill you." Dawn said,
"Yeah...but it would be worth it!"
"Ugh." Dawn shook her head.
Sakura was able to pinpoint where team seven was through the seals that she had placed on them, which they may not know about. Sasuke and Naruto stood from their metal chairs seeing a small dome of air collecting inside the hospital room.
"What the hell!?" Sasuke yelled over the screaming wind.
"I don't know!" Naruto moved to protect Kakashi who was asleep on the small hospital bed. The wind shattered around Sakura leaving her standing inside the village hidden in the haze. She hated this small village; it was gloomy and depressing. She wasn't sure why she hated it since it matched her personality so well.
"Sakura!" Naruto smiled moving forward hugging her tight.
"You ok?" She asked him he had a few scrapes and bruises, but he would be fine.
"Yeah." Naruto nodded with a smile, but it faded as he turned to Kakashi. "He took most of them on..." Sakura moved past Naruto and walked to Kakashi's side. Sakura didn't like this; her heart was tight as she gazed down at his bandaged chest. She reached out and touched his shoulder, trying to wield her chakra into his body to heal him so his eyes would open. After a second, she shook her head.
"Nothing?" Naruto sighed,
"The sword he was hit with had to of had the poison on its blade." Sakura said moving to the front of his bed and looked at his charts. Her eyes kept glancing up at the masked man, her stomach was sour and threated her with vomit as she stared at Kakashi's unmoving closed eye.
"Can I help you?" A voice turned Sakura's head.
"Yes." Sakura nodded, "You can transfer everything you have on team seven to the Waterfall Village."
"Excuse me?" The woman scoffed,
"If you can't understand that, get me someone who can." Sakura snapped, there was no chance in hell she was leaving Kakashi in a rat hole such as this one.
"I am the head-"
"Fantastic." Sakura said, "Transfer the files."
"The Waterfall Village is way too far for these men to travel-"
"They won't be traveling." Sakura said as her eyes shifted into their beautiful Christmas wreaths.
"Re-Reaper." The woman gasped.
"You can send me a bill for the bed." Sakura nodded towards Kakashi as a large amount of wind was collecting inside the room.
"What-?" The woman was confused as the force of the wind made her turn her head shielding her eyes and face. "They are not stable enough to-" The woman turned back as the wind vanished, the woman gasped seeing an empty room with a missing hospital bed that Kakashi was laying in. Naruto looked around feeling the cold winters air, they stood outside a large cream-colored building as a team of people wearing all white stood at the entrance waiting.
No words were said as the team of trained medics moved forward with a clean stretcher. With Sakura standing in the backgrounds with her sharp eyes watching every move the medics nerves were on edge. They lifted Kakashi onto the stretcher and quickly wheeled him inside the hospital. Sakura was the last to enter the building, she watched as Naruto and Sasuke had people flock to them to quickly in order to do a workup. The two men almost protested until their gaze met Sakura's, daring them to complain. Naruto quickly shut up and allowed the hospital staff to poke and question them.
Team seven was placed in a private room, Kakashi still remained unconscious as he was wheeled in after Naruto and Sasuke who were determined to be fine. Naruto wanted to tell Sakura he told her so but with the hard look on her face he decided to just remain quiet. After checking Kakashi's vitals one last time the nurse talked out leaving team seven and Sakura alone.
Sasuke looked at her up and down, she wore tight fitting leggings, a sports bra with an unzipped hoodie over it. Sasuke was drooling as he took his rare opportunity to stare at her body.
"Sakura?" Naruto muttered, playing with his fingers. "We are sorry-"
"You don't have anything to be sorry for." Sakura cut him off, pulling a chair and sitting across them by Kakashi's side.
"But we-"
"Your alive-" Sakura said, "-that's all I care about."
"What were you doing?" Sasuke wondered it was winter, and she was dressed like that.
"Huh?" Naruto wasn't following.
"I was training." Sakura said leaning forward in the chair.
"In that?" Sasuke wondered.
"Do you want me to put you in the hall?" Sakura questioned Sasuke who blushed and looked away from her gaze.
"You look tired." Naruto muttered seeing she was struggling to keep her eyes open.
"Yeah well..." Sakura sighed; she had been chasing the Reapers around the fucking nation. She felt a strong chakra presence behind the closed door. Sakura slowly stood as she took one last look at Kakashi's masked face before moving to open the door. Naruto saw two large men wearing masks similar to Kakashi's.
"You two are to stay here." Sakura ordered team seven as the two men moved into the room, one stood by the window and the other by the door.
"Who are these-" Sasuke was about to ask,
"These two will be watching you." Sakura answered.
"But where are you going?" Naruto didn't want her to leave, but Sakura ignored them and looked at her two soldiers.
"They don't leave this room." She ordered; the two men bowed their heads as Sakura left the room in a huff of air. Naruto groaned leaning back in his chair as he cursed in his head.
Naruto glared at the guard standing by the door to their hospital room. For the past eight hours Naruto had been non stop whining to them, he was hungry and wasn't allowed to leave the room to search for food. The guards would not leave to get food for team seven, Naruto then turned to bugging the two waterfall soldiers about where Sakura went, why she left two guards in their room and when would she be back?
"If you tell him where she went, he will shut up." A deep voice croaked out; Naruto turned seeing Kakashi stirring as he tried to sit up.
"Kakashi!" Naruto smiled quickly moving to his side. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine Naruto." Kakashi smiled with his eye, "I just used my mangekyou sharingan a little too much, where are we?" Kakashi looked around the room.
"The Waterfall Village." Sasuke answered not looking up from his phone.
"The..." Kakashi trailed off, they were at least a week of traveling away from this village, how on earth-?
"Sakura brought us here." Naruto said seeing Kakashi's confusion. "We were able to get you to the Haze Village since your chest wouldn't stop bleeding. After you were stable, I was finally able to contact her and here we are."
"Where is she?" Kakashi leaned against the pillow behind him.
"I don't know!" Naruto flipped around to the guard. "They won't tell me!"
"And they are...?" Kakashi trailed off,
"Sakura posted them here before she quickly left afterward." Sasuke said, "That is all we know."
"I see..." Kakashi nodded, once again he was so close to her and yet so far at the same time. A couple more boring hours passed filled with Naruto's whining voice. One guard's eye was beginning to twitch in annoyance.
"Naruto-" A voice shut the hyper blond up, Sakura turned to the guards. "-your excused."
"Yes Commander." The two masked men bowed and quickly took their exit.
"Sakura!" Naruto smiled watching Sakura move towards them. "Where have you been?"
"I heard he woke up?" Sakura looked at the sleeping masked man lying in the white hospital bed.
"Er...yeah for a little bit before falling back asleep." Naruto said. Sakura nodded, and moved to sit in beside Kakashi.
"Hey-" Sasuke said, annoyed she wasn't telling them where she went and why she left them with two guards for so long. Sasuke touched her shoulder but quickly pulled it away, feeling a wet sensation coat his fingers. Naruto gasped seeing the bright red against Sasuke's pale skin tone.
"It's not mine." Sakura called before the two could freak out, "I would wash that off-" Sakura pointed to Sasuke's hand.
"Sakura?" Naruto asked,
"Calm down." She sighed as her eyes felt heavy, her body relaxed hearing Naruto's high-pitched voice and Sasuke's annoyed mutters as he scrubbed his hands in the sink. Her eyes were beginning to close on their own feeling Kakashi beside her, she felt safe as she leaned forward.
"Sakura!?"
"Shh..." She whispered; she could smell Kakashi's familiar scent as she felt his hand under hers. "You're in a hospital." Sakura's eyes closed as her head laid on Kakashi's bed, sleep grabbed her tightly dragging her under its hazy fog.
Kakashi woke up, for a moment he was confused. He didn't hear Naruto or Sasuke, and the fact he couldn't hear them bickering was another red flag. Kakashi opened his eyes, her soft pink hair caught his eye first. He looked over at Sakura who was leaning forward, sleeping by his side. He removed his hand from under hers and touched the top of her head.
"She was exhausted." Naruto whispered.
"Huh?" Kakashi turned to him.
"She got here a few hours ago and basically passed out."
"Where did she go?" Kakashi questioned.
"She wasn't awake that long." Sasuke said, "But she is coated in someone else's blood, so it isn't hard to figure out."
"We walked around the hospital for a while and was able to piece together some information." Naruto said with a yawn, "Something about a Reaper lead or something."
"We think she went after one of the leaders." Sasuke summed up, "A camp or whatever, it explains why she left so quickly after pulling us here."
"I see." Kakashi nodded, running his fingers through her long hair. Naruto frowned, not knowing how to feel about this picture. Kakashi's exposed eye was so soft as he gazed down at her, Naruto has never seen him look at another person like this before...
Sasuke narrowed his eyes on Kakashi's hand touching Sakura. He hated the fact Kakashi touched her so openly. Sasuke loudly cleared his throat trying to break that tender look out of Kakashi's eye but instead Sakura snapped her eyes open hearing the sound, she quickly spun around throwing a kunai in Sasuke's direction.
"What the fuck." Sakura stated, seeing it was only Sasuke behind her making the ruckus. Sasuke's eyes were wide as her silver kunai pierced his shirt's sleeve pinning him to the wall. Naruto's mouth hung open.
"You-You could have killed him!" Naruto jumped quickly reaching Sasuke's side.
"If I wanted him dead, I wouldn't have missed." Sakura rolled her eyes at their dramatic behavior.
"M-Missed!?" Naruto placed a foot on the wall as he tried to pull the kunai. "What the fuck!?" He cursed at the weapon that refused to move.
"What is this!?" Sasuke yelled as the two-leaf shinobi tried to remove the kunai. Sakura smirked at them before turning to face Kakashi. Once his sight was in her eyes her heart fluttered, she licked her lips and cleared her throat trying to avoid his gaze. She rose to her feet.
"Are you ok to move around?" She asked without looking at him.
"Yes." Kakashi answered.
"Alright then, let's go." Sakura said.
"Go?" Naruto called, "Go where?"
"Do you want to stay here?" She asked,
"No!" Naruto hated hospitals, Sakura chuckled at him as Kakashi slowly removed himself from the bed and found his shoes. Sakura sighed as she lifted Kakashi's bag, he tried to protest but she ignored him.
"Come on." Sakura said to the two men who were bickering about the kunai.
"We are stuck!" Naruto yelled, Sakura walked up and removed the kunai with ease.
"Wha-?" Naruto breathed watching Sakura leave the room.
"You can stay here-" Sakura called as Kakashi followed her,
"We are coming!" Naruto said quickly grabbing his back and following her. The four walked through the waterfall village. Naruto was amazed by how beautiful this place was, he pointed out multiple waterfalls as well was buildings. As Naruto and Sasuke looked at the surroundings, Kakashi watched the people. They all moved away from them or completely got out of the way, they feared Sakura. Kakashi glanced at her as she led them through the village. Yes, she could be a scary person, but she was sweet and caring...why did this village fear her so much?
After ten minutes of walking through a thick forest on a small dirt path they stumbled upon a blue two-story house. Naruto watched as Sakura moved past the fence and up the stairs.
"Where are we?" Naruto wondered.
"My house." Sakura answered.
"Your-Your house!?" Naruto was shocked,
"What?" She laughed looked over her shoulder as she unlocked the front door, "Did you think when I was here, I just morphed into the surrounding area?"
"Well no..." Naruto muttered but he never thought she would have a house, with like walls and windows and stuff...team seven turned around hearing a cracking sound behind them. There stood a masked ninja, belonging to the waterfall village. Kakashi turned and saw Sakura had her eyes locked into the soldier. He looked in between the two and realized this shinobi was deciding if he wanted to challenge her or not. Kakashi was about to reach out, he wanted to pull her into him and keep her safe, but the ninja shook his head and vanished from sight.
"Sakura?" Naruto muttered, having noticed what was going on like Kakashi had done. Sakura ignored them and walked into the house, stepping aside as teams seven moved their way inside looking around as they dropped their bags on the hard wood floor.
"So this is where you live?" Sasuke asked looking at the interior of the house.
"Yeah, when I am in the village." Sakura nodded; her arms crossed over her chest. Her left shoulder felt swollen and sore from her recent fight, this fucking poison.
"What do you mean?" Naruto asked opening his bag.
"I am not here much." Sakura shrugged, turning to sit on the couch.
"Aw!" Naruto whined, "I forgot pjs!" Naruto sat on the floor pouting to himself.
"Go check upstairs." Sakura said,
"Huh?"
"Carver and Raiden have rooms up there."
"They live with you?" Sasuke called from the kitchen, he was hungry.
"They stay here when they are in the village." Sakura watched as Kakashi sat beside her, holding his chest as he leaned down sitting just inches from her.
"Do you have any food inside this house?" Sasuke asked walking into the living room, "There is nothing of nutritional value inside that kitchen."
"Do you have anything of nutritional value inside your kitchen?" Sakura countered.
"We-We are not talking about me!" Sasuke crossed his arms.
"Like I said-" Sakura rolled her eyes. "-I am never really here."
"Why?" Sasuke wondered,
"I travel a lot." Sakura shrugged, she turned hearing Naruto coming down the stairs. He held up a dark blue jacket that held feathers and a box full of buttons.
"Please tell me this is Carvers!" Naruto laughed.
"Nope." Sakura shook her head.
"Aw..." Naruto said disappointed, he wanted to make fun of Carver when they got back. "It does look more like Raiden's style." He sighed.
"It's not Raiden's either." Sakura said,
"Huh?" Naruto said looking at the jacket.
"It's Finns." Sakura explained.
"Who?" Kakashi wondered as he was drifting off, but the sound of another man being inside Sakura's house upset him.
"My teammate on the Nine who died." Sakura clarified.
"You still have their stuff?" Sasuke wondered looking at the jacket.
"Yeah." Sakura sighed, "I tried getting rid of some of their things but when I did Raiden freaked out and so I just left their rooms alone. It seem easier."
"Easier for them who are rarely here?" Sasuke asked, how selfish could Raiden be? Sakura was the one who had to live here with her dead friends belongings constantly reminding her of them.
"I didn't care since I am never really here." Sakura shrugged it off, turning to look at Kakashi who was dozing on the couch.
"Come on." She patted him on the shoulder.
"Hm?" Kakashi hummed.
"You should sleep in a bed and not on a couch." Sakura replied waiting for Kakashi to stand. She lead him into a dark room with a large bed, he sighed laying on the soft surface.
"What room is this?" He wondered getting under the thick blanket.
"Mine." Sakura said, Kakashi looked back over to her.
"Join me." Kakashi smiled,
"I have some things to do." Sakura said, Kakashi sighed reaching out to her as she turned to leave the room he was able to grab her arm. Sakura hissed at the pain in her shoulder.
"Your hurt." Kakashi stated as Sakura's mind replayed the moment she jumped in front of Dawn protecting her from getting her arm sliced off but in return her shoulder got dislocated.
"I am not." Sakura ignored him breaking free of his grasp. "Get some sleep."
"I'll sleep better if your with me." Kakashi winked causing Sakura to roll her eyes as she left the room. She glanced back seeing Kakashi was already beginning to doze off, his sharingan really must have taken a lot out of him.
"Hey Sakura." Naruto smiled his head popping up from the couch. "Kakashi ok?"
"Yeah." Sakura answered, "He needs to sleep this off."
"I bet!" Naruto laughed,
"Hey Sakura..." Sasuke said slowly has he gazed out the window. "Why are there people standing outside?" Sakura quickly moved to Sasuke's side as saw a group of eight people standing outside watching the house.
"Get to Kakashi." Sakura said,
"What?" Naruto asked standing.
"Why?" Sasuke asked,
"Because." Sakura replied picking up her sword, "If they are able to get past me then they will come after you three."
"What for?" Naruto wondered,
"To kill you." Sakura bluntly stated, "Now go!" She ordered as she opened the front door.
"Sakura!" Naruto yelled but Sasuke grabbed his arm and pulled him into the room Sakura put Kakashi in. "Sasuke!?"
"This is her village." Sasuke stated, "We need to listen to her, if we go out there we could get her killed."
"But..."
"I know it's hard but we have to stay inside this house."
Naruto and Sasuke watched from the bedroom window with large eyes. The eight soldiers jumped, striking to kill Sakura waiting for an opening to steal her title. Sasuke noticed the man from earlier was inside this group, he was scouting them.
"I can't believe this is happening." Naruto breathed tightening his fist.
"I don't understand why this place is like this." Sasuke muttered back, he could hear muffled words as if they were chanting something while attacking Sakura.
"We need to get her out of this place." Naruto and Sasuke jumped hearing Kakashi behind him.
"You-You should be laying down!" Naruto lectured but Kakashi ignored them, his eyes were on Sakura as she killed her own men.
A deep breath left her lungs as she stabbed herself before walking into the house, Sakura was tired and didn't have the energy to deal with any more soldiers gunning after her, so she wrapped a seal around her house. Sakura opened her front door and instantly groaned, seeing team seven standing and waiting for her.
"What?" She said flatly as she locked the front door.
"What do you mean what!?" Naruto shouted, "You-They...You just killed eight f your own men!"
"You already knew about this." Sakura said taking her gear off her body.
"Yeah but...like...this is madness!" Naruto yelled with his arms stretched out wide. "Why the hell is this place like this!?" Sakura sat on the couch feeling her shoulder throbbing,
"I don't want to have this conversation." Sakura sighed feeling a Naruto headache coming along.
"But...why do they attack you like that?" Naruto ignored her, "Why do you allow this?! Why does Kaguya allow this to go on!?"
"Because she likes it." Sakura replied.
"Er...what?" Naruto was caught off guard.
"What is purgatory?" Sasuke wondered, it was one of the words those eight soldiers were chanting before they were killed. Kakashi snapped his head up, he knew that word. Naruto noticed Kakashi's reaction.
"Kakashi?" Naruto muttered, "What-"
"Why are you asking about purgatory?" Kakashi turned to Sasuke.
"Well what is it?" Sasuke countered. "And how do you know what it is?"
"Purgatory was a place years ago; it caught a lot of attention from the Sand Village. They turned to us for help on figuring out what the hell it was."
"Did you find out?" Naruto wondered,
"We never went to investigate, the Sand Village was closer so they took it upon themselves. When the teams who made it back reported in the best, they could describe it was a place of suffering and misery. The village leaders were going to get together to storm the place and wipe it off the face of the earth, but out of nowhere the Sand Village said purgatory was gone and that the Waterfall Village had already beat us to it." Kakashi explained turning to Sakura, "But that isn't true, is it?"
"No." Sakura said,
"This village is purgatory."
"Yes." Sakura confirmed,
"I don't understand anything you just said." Naruto said sitting on the floor looking up at Kakashi and Sakura who sat on the couch.
"Before I took over as this villages Commander, this place was known as purgatory which is why Sasuke you heard them yelling it at me. Half the village wants to revert back into what we use to be, it is why they attack me and try to steal my title."
"If they become Commander..." Sasuke figured out, "...then they will bring this Purgatory back?"
"Yes." Sakura sighed,
"What was Purgatory and why did it freak out the other villages?" Sasuke asked,
"We were stronger." Sakura said, "We were ruthless, and we killed for fun, this village was a slaughterhouse."
"Kaguya allowed that?" Naruto breathed, "She wants that back?"
"Yes."
"But can she-"
"I liked it too Naruto." Sakura cut in.
"Wha-What?!"
"I liked the hunt; I liked the endless pit of fighting and blood shed. Pieces of me still do." Sakura shrugged.
"I...I..." Naruto's mouth hung open, who was this woman and where was the real Sakura.
"But the Nine snapped me out of it, I got in control and saw how this village wasn't working and that it wasn't something this world could handle. So, I became Commander and changed things, I saw the potential of what this village could be. A lot of people were not happy and still are not, Kaguya was the most unhappy and she was the one who said if someone can kill me then they could take my job and revert the Waterfall Village back into Purgatory."
Sakura watched as team seven was trying to absorb this information.
"On the bright side-" Sakura spoke back up pulling team seven's eyes back onto her, "-the side that doesn't want me dead is bigger than the ones who do." That didn't make team seven feel better.
"Why don't you leave?" Naruto whispered, "Come home with us?"
"I can't."
"Why!?" Naruto shouted, Sasuke rolled his eyes at Naruto's overly emotional face as he went to gaze out the window to see if he could spot anymore people watching the house.
"Because...I made those people who want to kill me into what they are." Sakura smiled, "I can't simply walk away from them, what kind of person would that make me?"
"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, "How did you make them into what they are? They are people who have free will and who make their own choices!"
"Alright." Sakura sighed standing.
"Huh?"
"I am tired and I need a shower." Sakura flashed a grin before walking around the couch, "Carver and Raiden's rooms are next to each other. Just walk up the stairs and they are the first two doors on the right. I don't think they will mind of you crash in their beds for a night."
"Sakura-"
"Good night Naruto." Sakura waved walking out of the living room.
"Ugh!" Naruto was so frustrated!
Sakura walked into her room, pulled out clean clothing and moved into the bathroom beside her room. She turned on the water giving it time to warm up as she went to take off her shirt. She locked her jaw as her shoulder refused to lift, she sighed leaning against the wall. She was covered in dirt and dried blood; all she wanted was a hot shower and sleep.
"Need some help?" Sakura turned seeing Kakashi, she stepped back as her heart stopped seeing he was standing in the doorway naked, his chest covered with gauze.
"You should be getting to bed." Sakura said looking away from him, Kakashi shrugged moving in front of her.
"Maybe a shower will help me fall asleep." Kakashi smirked as he pulled the fabric on her shirt up.
"You are not-"
"Up we go!" Kakashi said lifting Sakura's shirt over her head. Kakashi saw the patches of dried blood on her skin but no wounds the blood really wasn't hers, this made Kakashi feel better.
"Kakashi-" Sakura protested as he moved them into the running shower, her eyes scanned over the white gauze on his chest.
"I read the box-" He smiled; "-my bandages are waterproof."
"I can wait for you to finish your shower-"
"Why can't we save water?" Kakashi asked, leaning down placing a soft butterfly kiss on her sore shoulder.
"We have already had this conversation; this doesn't save water." Sakura grumbled making Kakashi chuckled.
"But this is more fun." He breathed standing up straight looking down at her annoyed face, her cheeks were flushed as she refused to look at him. Kakashi cupped the side of her face bringing her eyes to his. "Look at me."
"How is your ches-" Sakura couldn't finish her sentence, Kakashi kissed her. He felt happy, she came to his aid, refused to leave him inside the haze village and brought him to her home so she knew he would be safe. He knew Sakura didn't like showing emotion, it was hard for her to express them. Her coldness towards others was the only way she knew how to interact with other people. Now that Kakashi knew Sakura lived in Purgatory, he understood her and her actions a little better; he understood why she was tied to this village in the annoying ways she was.
"My chest is fine." Kakashi smiled quickly kissing her forehead.
"You-" Sakura started but Kakashi pushed her head under the running water, Sakura's eyes closed as the hot water ran through her hair and down her face. Kakashi laughed at her expression, "-not funny." Sakura muttered.
"It kind of was." Kakashi said, running his fingers through her hair.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm going to wash your hair." Kakashi said,
"Why?"
"Can you?"
"Yes."
"You can't lift you shoulder, how are you going to wash your hair?"
"I will figure it out." Sakura said being stubborn. "I always do."
"But you don't need too." Kakashi replied, "I am right here to help."
"I don't need help-"
"Shut up." Kakashi grinned as he pushed her face under the water getting her long hair wet so he could shampoo it. Sakura glared up at Kakashi's unmasked face as he reached for her bottle of shampoo, he lathered his hands before applying through the strands of her pink hair. "Is this so bad?" Kakashi asked after watching Sakura's relaxed expression as she allowed Kakashi to wash her hair, her hands rested on his arms. She opened her eyes instantly going from relaxed to annoyed in 0.1 seconds. Kakashi smiled, noticing she doesn't like when people point out when she appears to be in any positive emotion. Sakura squirted water from her mouth at Kakashi, he laughed as he looked down at the fiery girl with pink hair.
Sakura had her back to Kakashi as she still pouted in bed. Kakashi smiled, wrapping his arm around her and pulled her close to him. He didn't care the cut across his chest stung at the touch he just wanted her close. Sakura smiled to herself feeling Kakashi's strong grasp around her.
Sakura opened her eyes looking around her darkened room, it was this moment she realized she wanted to surrender to the emotions running around inside her chest. She wanted more than what this village had to offer. She wanted more than to just survive in this world and wait for the next fight. She wanted more moments with this man in her life, Sakura turned her head to look at Kakashi. He opened his eyes feeling her moving, he saw she was watching him.
He smiled at her.
It was true she liked the darkness, the excitement of not knowing what could be lurking around the next corner. Something about the cold quiet was terrifyingly beautiful to her. And Kakashi knew this, he saw the sorrow behind her smile, the love behind her anger and the reasons behind her silence. Kakashi saw Sakura's true colors and loved her for them anyway. Knowing that Sakura felt ready to wave her white flag and finally accept the fact she had fallen in love with this silver haired, mask wearing, public porn reading closet pervert.
Sakura smiled at Kakashi's confused gaze, she moved into his embrace, snuggling her face in his neck as she closed her eyes. They both had their own baggage to bare but maybe they could both be a mess together...
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone