FACING THE PAST
Chapter 10: Announcements
"Good morning, sweetie," was the first thing Sakura heard the moment she woke up, uttered by the smooth voice of none other than the Copy Nin. She found she liked being called "sweetie." Had Kakashi used "love" or even "dear", she would have probably laughed (it didn't fit his image at all), but "sweetie" fit perfectly. It was sweet without being too cheesy.
A small smile played on Sakura's pink lips as she basked in the warm sensation of waking up in the arms of the man she loved. As she lay there in his embrace, it struck her how strange it was. After all, who would have ever thought that one day she would become Kakashi's lover?
"Good morning Kakashi," she finally chirped. Even if she didn't use any lovey-dovey appellative, her tone of voice was so sweet that it melted the usually-stoic silver-haired jounin on the spot.
They took their time in bed, enjoying each other's company after sleeping alone for so many nights, kissing and joking and laughing as if it was the most natural thing to them, both of them remembering the last night's blissful love-making.
When they woke up to have breakfast, Kakashi's behavior seemed a little strange, but Sakura didn't say anything and waited for him to bring up the subject plaguing his mind.
Kakashi coughed loudly. "Sakura…I was thinking, since we're dating now and everything…maybe I should meet your parents?" Uneasiness was written all over his face. The last time he met Sakura's parents was during a parent-teacher conference back when Sakura was still a genin. Now, he was going to introduce himself as their daughter's love interest, and while that in itself was very nerve-wracking, to make things worse, Kakashi was not very well-versed in these types of matters (dating seemed like a waste of time when he had only been interested in one thing).
Sakura gave a short laugh, amused by Kakashi's obviously-flustered manner. "Well, I do want to tell them we're together, and they'll definitely want to meet you."
His usually-aloof attitude, having already been seriously compromised, shattered completely upon hearing her say that. An audible gulp escaped Kakashi's side, but Sakura continued on, having missed it.
"Besides, I have already explained to them our situation when I left your house, so they are probably already half-expecting this. But I guess it would be ok if we go together."
He nodded, then suddenly gave a heavy sigh. "And we can't forget about Tsunade. She has to know. Honestly, I don't know which meeting scares me more," he said, tiredly passing a hand over his face.
Sakura laughed again before abruptly stopping as a thought hit her. "Kakashi, are the two months of the bet already over?"
He thought about it for a while before telling her there was still a week.
She sighed with a half-smile gracing her lips. "At least Tsunade-shishou will take the news well."
Kakashi merely shook his head alongside her.
Two hours later, they were knocking on the door of Sakura's parents.
When Mrs. Haruno opened the door and saw Kakashi with her daughter, she immediately knew what was coming.
She led the two in the living room where they sat on the couch while she called her husband to join them, taking their seats on the opposite couch.
"Um…mom, do you remember my last visit?" Sakura was slightly nervous, but she was sure that her parents would accept Kakashi. Even if they didn't now, she wouldn't leave him. She would just keep at it until they eventually did.
"Yes dear," was the calm response of her mother.
"Well, this is Kakashi," she introduced; he bowed deeply in his seat, his face a stone mask of decorum and propriety.
"We already had a clue about that…" Mrs. Haruno smirked, deciding it was better to lighten a little the mood. Kakashi, sensing this, smiled at her gratefully, feeling immediately better.
"So-o-o…we sorted out our feelings…and..."
Sakura was fidgeting now, her eyes glued to her lap. Even if she was confident in their understanding, it didn't change how difficult this was. However, she had to do this, and after a moment, she took a deep breath and raised her eyes to her parents' inquiring gazes. "Mom. Dad; we're in love and we want to be together."
Mr. Haruno, who had intentionally avoided speaking until then in order to hide his nervousness, opened his mouth—but his wife cut him off.
"We were expecting this," her mother said calmly. "Are you sure, dear?"
"Absolutely, mom," Sakura said resolutely.
Sakura's mother then turned to Kakashi. "Sakura told us what happened in your home. We completely trust her and we appreciate that you didn't take advantage of her. However, we'd like to hear from you what exactly your feelings and intentions are toward her. After all, you were her former sensei—even if for only one year—and you sometimes went on missions with her. We thought you'd see her in a fatherly way rather than as a woman. What changed your mind?"
Kakashi knew they had a point. Up until a few weeks before, he'd only thought of Sakura in what indeed had seemed like a paternal fashion. However things changed, and he was unable to prevent that. Now he knew he owed them an explanation.
"As you know, I've known Sakura for eight years and in that time, I've cared for her like any adult cares for a child in their care. Even as she matured mission after mission, my feelings for her were only that of camaraderie and nothing more. My feelings were and remained platonic, even when she left for tutelage under Tsunade. It was only during these past few weeks that I started seeing her in a different way. Our close proximity allowed me to know her in a way I didn't before. I've avoided close contact for years—let alone my minimal relationship with Sakura before the incident. But once she came into my home, I was able to see the woman she had become and fell for her. This woman is smart, deep, caring and beautiful, and I am both proud of who she has become and grateful that I have the opportunity to share my life with her.
"I'm old. That is a fact no one can hide, but even with all my years of life experience, I cannot say I've had as much experience in love as people would think. My sexual history precedes me, but I'm not as depraved as people would think or hope for. I'm not with Sakura because I want to mess around with her. She is the first woman I've ever loved, and it's because of that love that I'm here with her."
During his speech, Kakashi felt the intent gaze of Sakura's father upon himself, but he held firm and kept talking. "I know you may have doubts about my motives in dating your daughter, but I do care for her—to the extent that I risked my own happiness by having Sakura wait and sort out her feelings. I could've let her rush into a relationship with me, but her future and happiness outweigh my own, and I would have never forgiven myself if I endangered either. So I distanced myself, but Sakura decided she would have me. It's something that I'm grateful for and I will spend the rest of my life paying my thanks to her. I swore to protect her once, and I still abide by that oath. I will never let anything happen to Sakura if I can prevent it; if Kami allows it, I wish for her to be by my side until the end of time and I will spend each day cherishing her like the treasure she is and more."
This time, Mr. Haruno was the one who spoke. "Are you really sure about this, Sakura? A relationship isn't something you can change your mind about. This isn't like 'what shoes do I want to wear out today.'"
She nodded. "As I've already told him, I'm not afraid of this. A wrinkle won't change my mind, and like I told him before, as long as we grow old together, we'll change together."
Her argument finished, Sakura's father slowly stood up. Taking her hand, he pulled the puzzled girl onto her feet. Amidst the confused looks in the room, he suddenly embraced his daughter.
"We love you, Sakura. And if this is the man you're in love with, we'll love him as well. So don't worry about us and be happy."
Sakura's mother, getting to her feet, also stood up to embrace her husband and her daughter. It was a family moment as they hugged, holding each other through the joy and relief that Sakura had found a man to spend time with and to make her happy, as well as her parents' final moments of holding their little girl as "their little girl." Knowing this, Kakashi knew better than to intrude and instead lowered his eyes respectfully and smiled to himself. Hopefully, one day, he'd be able to call these people family as well.
After that, they had some tea and spent some time letting Sakura's parents get to know Kakashi better, while Kakashi forgot all his nervousness before coming and enjoyed those moments with the Haruno family.
A couple of hours later, Sakura and Kakashi were heading towards the Hokage tower.
"Are you sure you want to go now? There's a nice tree I know of where we could watch the sunset in."
"Kakashi, the sun isn't going to set for at least six more hours."
"Doesn't hurt saving our seats now. It's a really nice view."
At Kakashi's thinly-veiled attempts to escape, Sakura chuckled half-amused, half-pitying. It was so strange seeing Kakashi so put out as opposed to being his usual stoic self. Then again, having to express his feelings to other people had to be really hard on him, and she appreciated his efforts. She really did and showed it with a gentle squeeze of her hand over his.
"Kakashi, you don't have to worry about Tsunade. She probably already half-expected this. Just think of it this way: after we tell her we're dating, we won't have to worry!"
"You're forgetting our friends…" he reminded.
"Well, they'll be easier to deal with," she replied patting his arm reassuringly.
"What about Naruto?" he reminded quietly.
The mention of the corn-haired boy made Sakura stop dead in her tracks, her heart gripped tightly in ice. Both of them knew how much Naruto had liked her—how long he'd liked her for.
"He never asked about us while the rumors were going around. He's been quiet," Kakashi told her quietly. The hand on his arm faltered slightly. To be honest, she'd completely forgotten about Naruto. Not on purpose of course, but on accident. Lately, she hadn't seen much of Naruto because he was always on Anbu missions with his team. She wasn't even sure if he'd heard the rumors.
Sakura's lips pressed into a thin line. "I want to say I want him to be happy for us, but that'd be selfish of me. I don't want to hurt him or for him to stop talking to us. I just hope he takes the news well."
Sakura let her sentence trail off, instead letting her head rest in the space offered to her at his side. Kakashi didn't say anything and rubbed her arm comfortingly.
Knock knock.
"Come in."
Tsunade's voice came from behind a stack of paperwork that hid her face from view. It was so tall, in fact, that only the crown of her head was visible, giving the stack the appearance of having pigtails.
Lifting her free hand, she motioned them in from the doorway and prompted them to speak.
"We've come to ask your permission to date, Tsunade-sama." Kakashi was the one who spoke first, a hand over the back of his neck as he stood slouched. Usually, he would've damned the consequences—they were both consenting adults. Permission wasn't necessary—but he knew how much Sakura loved Tsunade and how much Tsunade loved Sakura. Their relationship wasn't just teacher-student; Tsunade often told him that Sakura was like a daughter to her, and he felt obligated to at least let Tsunade know that he would be dating her apprentice. More than that, though he hated facing these channels of social convention, he hated the idea of having to sneak around behind Tsunade's back to date, and Sakura deserved more than that. She was worth much more than the pain of having to do these awkward conventions anyway.
"So I was right about you two?" Tsunade asked with a smirk, leaning to the right of the stack of paperwork on a delicately poised hand. Truth to be told, Tsunade had contemplated letting them sit on the edge of their seats with her reaction by feigning anger. However, Shizune had dropped off a stack of building contracts and treaty drafts that needed her review and signature by the end of the day so she didn't have time to mess with them. Oh well, another day.
"Just being friends wasn't enough for either of us," Sakura replied with a slight blush as she fidgeted and stared at the floor.
"Which means I won the bet!" Tsunade shouted triumphantly, already breaking out a bottle of sake for a victory drink before handing both Kakashi and Sakura a dish of sake.
The pink-haired medic, accepting the drink, turned beet-red. Tsunade was definitely taking the news in a good way. She could practically see how much Tsunade would be gloating when she got the money from the bet. She'd never let Jiraiya live it down. She'd never let her live it down either. Sakura cringed at the thought of working under Tsunade for the next few weeks; no doubt Tsunade would be teasing her to death whenever they went on dates.
'How embarrassing…' Sakura thought despairingly.
Noticing Sakura's grimace, Kakashi decided to intervene and cleared his throat loudly, catching Tsunade's attention. "Tsunade-hime, if you're done gloating…"
At the nickname, Tsunade bristled and glared at the masked nin. However, he was right. It was a bit much to be acting this way, especially when she still had work to do. Still, he was such a spoilsport. Maybe Sakura would help loosen that stick up his ass. "Fine," she said pouting.
"Thank you. Now, may we please be excused? We have more people to tell the news to. And I hope I don't have to ask you to not announce this to the entire village. We don't want the entire village to know our sex life."
She, relaxing into her chair, laughed and waved off the notion. "Oh, don't worry. Knowing you're together will be enough for the bet. Actually, it's even better than you two just having sex." She enjoyed another view of the utterly-flushed Sakura before smiling warmly at the two.
"Well now that you're together, I expect some changes in you two. I'm letting you date my pupil, Kakashi, so you better damn well be happy and grateful every day, if not every second. And Sakura, it's time for you to find a life outside of work. Start by enjoying it with him," Tsunade said motioning her head at Kakashi.
Sakura and Kakashi both smiled. They would have no problem keeping to those conditions. "Thank you, Hokage-sama."
Tsunade smiled in satisfaction. "Ah, alright. Enough of this sappiness. You both have my blessing, now go kiss or make babies or something," she said and dismissed them with a wave of her hand.
Since they still had to tell the news to their friends, they asked Tsunade to keep it secret until then, but the truth was they didn't know how to tell their friends. They wanted to just gather their friends all together to make the explanation easier (as opposed to stopping door to door), but they didn't know how. Organizing a meeting would be too obvious. Their friends weren't stupid (at least, not all of them). They would surely ask a lot of questions for why there was a meeting and they'd have to explain of course—Ino and Genma would make sure of that—effectively ruining the surprise.
Fortunately, they found a good opportunity in the Tanabata (1) festival which was to be held in Konoha in a few days. All their friends would attend, so it would be the perfect place to reveal the news.
Four days later, the first lights of the night were lit in the streets and people began to gather next to the Hokage tower. Stalls with every kind of food were already up and running, and by nine o'clock, almost all the shinobi and the villagers were attending the festival. Along the edges of the streets stood bamboo branches with decorated papers attached where the kids had written their wishes while all the civilian women (and some men too) wore yukata (2). The general atmosphere was very excited. Unfortunately, shinobi were required to wear their uniforms during these occasions to be ready for any eventuality since the village was more vulnerable than usual during these festivals due to the crowded streets.
That afternoon, Kakashi told Genma he would meet him in the ramen stall, while Sakura told Ino and Naruto the same. This way, they were sure to find all their friends there, and indeed, everyone was present, already chatting away.
Suddenly, Anko saw all the people in the street moving to the side, making space for some people who were walking towards them. As soon as she realized who they were and noticed they were walking hand in hand, she choked on the dango (3) she was eating.
"Guys…!" she shouted in an uneasy, strangled tone, pointing and drawing the others' attention to the approaching couple.
The jaws all dropped at once. It wasn't like discovering Sakura and Kakashi being in love was a big surprise, but seeing them show it off in public was… well, unexpected. This was Kakashi, after all.
The newly couple reached their friends with a big smile. Seeing them so flustered was rather amusing. This triumphant entry left nothing else to explain, and their friends did not ask any questions. Throughout the night, Ino winked a couple of times at Sakura, assuring her pink-haired friend of her approval.
They spent a pleasurable night. Sometimes, they felt eyes glued to the two of them but they didn't pay any attention to it – after all it was to be expected - and eventually, they bid their goodbyes before going away. Only then did Naruto approach them, making sure to be out of hearing distance. He had spent the night being oddly quiet, eyeing them every now and again, leaving them puzzled.
Sakura was a bit anxious about what he was going to say. After all, he was one of her closest friends, along with Ino, so she hoped he would accept her relationship with Kakashi.
"So…you've finally found yourself a boyfriend, eh Sakura-chan?" Both his tone and expression were giving nothing away about his thoughts.
"Yeah. I know it must be a little awkward for you to see us like this, but…"
"It's not like that." He cut her off before reconsidering a little. "Well okay, maybe just a bit, but I'm not questioning this."
He looked at her intensely, then turned to Kakashi. After a while, he sighed and moved his eyes to the ground, kicking a little pebble out of his way.
"In fact, I'm not questioning anything at all. I can't say I'm not a little bit disappointed by this, but it's not because of Kakashi-sensei. It's just…I've liked you for all these years, but I know you love me only as a brother and nothing more. Even while I liked you, I always knew we would never be together and that eventually you would find a boyfriend that wasn't me."
"Naruto…" Sakura ventured, taking a step toward him, but he resumed his speech.
"I also thought that your boyfriend—no matter who he was—would never be as worthy of you as I was, but now, I have to admit you've chosen the only man I trust with all of my being. And since you are the two people I care for the most, I'm happy for you two." He lifted his eyes towards them and smiled.
"About time you found yourself a girlfriend, sensei!"
Kakashi simply chuckled.
"I couldn't have stood it if you fell for someone like Kiba or Sai, Sakura-chan! But Kakashi-sensei is all right with me. If I ever had to concede defeat to someone for your heart, I'm glad it was Kakashi-sensei." And with this, he gave his usual and sincerest wide smile.
Seeing that, Sakura suddenly jumped on him, hugging him in a smothering embrace.
"Oh, Naruto, you don't know how happy I am hearing those words from you. I wanted our relationship to be accepted by you so much. Even if we haven't seen each other as often as we did before, you're still my best friend."
Unbeknownst to Sakura, Naruto's face was becoming blue for the loss of oxygen; Kakashi quickly intervened.
"Sakura, you're killing him," he said with slight alarm as he helped put space between them. Sakura quickly let go.
"Oops! I'm sorry, Naruto!" She gave a sheepishly smile.
"Don't worry, I'm used to it!" he laughed and gave a wink at her.
The following day, Kakashi asked Sakura to meet him.
"Yo!" He gave her his trademark crinkled-eye smile.
"Hello, Kakashi," she returned. On that day, Sakura was wearing her favorite dress since he'd asked her to wear something pretty, though she didn't know why. He didn't tell her and refused to answer, even with all her prodding questions. "So, where are we going?"
"I want you to meet someone. Follow me." He slid his arm around her waist and led her through the street. As the houses and stores melted away, she understood where they were headed, but remained quiet through the trip.
"Since I met your parents, I thought it would be fitting if I introduced you to my family," he said this as they came to a halt in front of the Memorial Stone. He kneeled down and began to trace his friend's name with his finger, quietly voicing them.
"Obito, Rin, Sensei, and even you, father, I want to introduce you to Sakura. She's my girlfriend."
He then stood up and embraced her from behind, as if to emphasize his own words.
"Would you have ever thought that I would be with someone after what happened? It must seem so sudden, but I can tell you she's worth the risk to suffer again. She's opened my eyes and taught me how to love again. You'd love her, too."
Sakura's eyes filled with tears. Staying there like that and being introduced to the people he loved the most made her feel honoured.
"I'm sorry to tell you I will come here less often from now on. Tsunade's given direct orders to find my happiness and spend more time with Sakura, but I know I'll never forget you." He paused a moment, then added, "Obito, you'll finally be able to see a happy life through your eye. You should thank her for this." Then he tightened his hug and gave her a peck on the cheek.
"Let's go now, Sakura."
She nodded and they headed back to the village.
One year later, Kakashi and Sakura could still be seen together as a happy couple. The rumors eventually faded as expected, and they were finally happy. Sometimes they would spend the night together, and this morning found them cuddled in Kakashi's bed. He was waiting for her to wake up, drinking in her sleepy beauty, and greeted her as soon as she opened her eyes.
"Good morning, sleepy-head."
"Mm… morning Kakashi. Did you sleep well?"
"Well I would've, but there was this odd pink-haired lump in my bed that kept tossing and turning all night." At her miffed pout, Kakashi chuckled lightly and nuzzled against her face with his nose. "Kidding," he reassured, "I always sleep well when you're here."
Smiling, he leaned in until their foreheads were touching. Sakura saw he was about to speak and wondered what he was going to say. He took this position to speak only when he had something important to say: when he told her about his past; when they talked about their feelings before she left his house; when he told her he loved her for the first time. What was it this time, she wondered.
She was snapped from her reverie by his deep voice.
"Sakura, would you marry me?"
Her eyes instantly widened. "Are you…really…?" Sakura was unable to form a proper sentence from the shock. Kakashi chuckled.
"Yes, I am. Sakura, I love you and you love me. We've been dating for a year and it has been the happiest period of my whole life."
Sakura couldn't help but smile at this. It was the same for her, too.
"The only way I can think for me to be even happier than this would be by living together long-term, so that's why I'm asking, 'will you marry me?'"
She didn't need to think it out. She immediately cried, "Yes!" before her voice would fail her.
She was laughing and crying at the same time, overwhelmed by too many emotions to name or deal with, but she was sure of one thing: Kakashi was right. The only way to be happier than they already were was to live together forever, and that's why she gladly agreed to become Mrs. Hatake Sakura.
THE END.
(1) Tanabata festival: is held in Japan on July 7th to commemorate the love between Vega and Altair, which can see each other only once in a year. People, mostly the kids, usually write their wishes on papers and hang them up on bamboo trees.
(2) Yukata: the informal cotton kimono, used only during summer.
(3) Dango: 3 balls of mochi stuck on a small stick. Sometimes served with a sauce over them. Every time you see Anko, she's eating them.
A/N
I know someone could say this last chapter was unnecessary, but I've read tons of stories in which they get together and… nothing. My own previous stories were also like that. You don't know how the other people will take the news, especially Sakura's parents or even Naruto. I just wanted for once to deal with this, too.
I didn't want someone to oppose them, but I didn't want to make them automatically accepted either without knowing the how and the why. That's all.
Thank you to all the readers, especially to all those who left reviews…I love you all! Don't forget to leave a final review; I'd like to know if you liked the whole story!
And a big—no—huge thank you to moodiful819 which has transformed my poor writing into this beautiful story. I owe you a lot and I'm honoured to have worked with you!
Bows to you all and see you in the next story!
Kakashisukidayo