[A/N] I'm currently laptop-less and typed chunks of this on my iPod touch when I couldn't borrow a sibling's laptop, so pleeeeaaaase forgive the lateness and typos and possibly awkward autocorrect and I AM SO SORRY.

Quality-checked by mannuj. Many thanks and hugs to this amazing girl!

Also... add me on tumblr? XD I'm pretty active on there, so if you have any questions about SftR or about me or just wanna flail/rant about sasusaku (e.g. MAGICAL 685 or even Kakashi ship-blocking Sasuke in today's chap XD) just direct any of your concerns/inquiries/random thoughts at me and I'll be happy to reply :D reni-chan is my username.

Happy reading~

Shelter from the Rain
a vampire fic

30} honesty

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will you let me be your shelter?

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"Wait—this person is Kakashi-san?" Sakura shot a wide-eyed look at the silver-haired man in astonishment for a moment, lips parted in surprise,before she turned to the boy sitting next to her for confirmation. Sasuke watched like a hawk as his consort's green eyes flickered back and forth between him and the older man who had just entered the hospital room.

Hatake Kakashi watched silently for a moment, wondering how to respond, but settled on giving the girl a small wave and a big smile behind his high turtleneck. "Long time no see," he greeted Sakura, who gasped and dropped her head into as low a bow as she could do, considering her seated position on the bed.

Sasuke suddenly wrapped an arm around the girl's shoulders. "You two know each other?" he inquired, narrowing his dark eyes at the older man, as Sakura hesitantly straightened her back again.

Young, jealous love. Kakashi wanted to roll his eyes, but refrained. He could be an adult, especially since Sasuke was acting so much like a child. "We met almost a year ago, I believe."

"Yes..." Sakura breathed, looking lost in memory for a moment until she turned to look at Sasuke, whose cheek was pressing into hers. "Why are you so mad?" she asked, noticing his sharp glare directed at the older man.

"I'm not." He certainly sounded like he was, and his next choice of words only reaffirmed this fact. "But why the hell do you two know each other?"

Sakura and Kakashi exchanged glances. Kakashi scratched the back of his head, deliberating, unsure of how much he could say. But thankfully, Sakura spoke up first.

"He saved me," she said, her voice trembling. "I was going to... I'd given up on everything after senpai abandoned me... but Kakashi-san stopped me. He's the one who convinced me to go to the high school here, and even showed me a cheap place to live. He basically set me up here."

Sasuke suddenly shot a glare at the older man. "Wait a second," he said. "Did you purposefully...?"

.

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my savior

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"You don't actually want to die, do you?"

A strong grip yanked her thin body back to the safe side of the railing. Sakura remained there for another few seconds, breathing hard, her stomach pressing into the metal railing. Then she turned and glared at the silver-haired man, her eyes bloodshot. The girl looked as if she hadn't slept for a few days.

"Why did you stop me?" she asked, beginning to violently shake, and she fell to her knees. He was still grasping her wrist, so one of her arms hovered in the air. "I'd just gathered all my courage, I'd just jumped, I'd finally done it, and then, and then—you pull me back? I finally, finally did it, and you—and you—bastard! My life has nothing to do with you, why can't you just...?!" And then she promptly burst into tears.

He released his grip and crouched down beside her. "Why are you in so much pain?" he asked her gently.

The girl struggled to form coherent words. "Otou-san... Okaa-san... and even senpai... everyone, everyone, they all leave me, and—I don't know what I'm doing wrong. No, I'm just... I'm doing everything wrong. I must be a terrible person, that's why they all disappear, even though I think it's forever, but it never is, it never is, and I'm suffocating!" She gasped, tugging at her chest. "It's like I can't breathe! I feel like I just have to leave, I have to disappear, I can't take this anymore, and..." She ducked her head, hiding her tear-stricken face. "I'll just never be good enough for anybody."

"Shh," he said, and ruffled her hair. She looked up at him, eyes wet and hopeless behind the strands of her hair.

She reminded him so much of a certain young vampire that he couldn't just let her go, and before he knew it, he was speaking to her. "Hey. I have an idea."

Her bottom lip trembled. It was enough of a response. At least, she would listen.

"Why don't you start over?" he told her, softly.

She looked at him with wide eyes, communicating disbelief and uncertainty. "I can't," she said, the words sounding automatic.

"Why?"

"Because I'm scared."

"If you're scared, it means you still have something to lose."

She finally seemed to pause, staring at him. His words were beginning to light a spark of hope.

"You're still alive. Isn't that something precious? You still have a chance to find happiness. You might continue to get hurt, but if you don't try, you will absolutely lose any chance of finding happiness again." He dropped his hand, and smiled at her from under his mask. "I know cliche words like that don't have much effect. But... I believe in them. Because I don't want to see you disappear."

"...Why?"

"I know someone very much like you. He's been through a lot of pain. His entire family was killed, and he has a time limit on his future before he loses everything, but despite all that, he's still doing his best. He's fighting against his time limit. Fighting for his happiness."

The girl looked away. "I guess I remind you of him. But he's different from me. Just because his story is like mine doesn't mean you can assume what works for him will work for me." Her words were carefully cold.

"In what way? Everyone is entitled to find happiness, don't you think?"

She suddenly met his eyes. They were impossibly green. "He's different because he has you." Then she glanced away again, staring over the bridge railing on the opposite side, her gaze forlorn and still tinged with anger.

Kakashi pulled a pen from his pocket. "If you listen to what I have to say, you'll be able to find someone like me, too."

She didn't reply, only tenaciously continued to look away.

"I have faith in you. I think you can do the same thing. How old are you?"

She mumbled her reply. "Just turned fifteen."

"So about to start high school?" he asked.

"...Yeah."

Kakashi took her hand and began to write on the back of it. She watched as he scribbled in careful, yet rather unelegant scrawl; the black ink was sharp and clear against her pale skin.

Konoha District High School

Kibou APT

He pointed to the first line with the back of the pen. "Konoha District High School is a public high school. It's in a nice place, safe neighborhood, and it's not too huge." He slid his finger down to the second line. "Kibou Apartments are a few minutes walk from the high school, but they have pretty spacious one bedroom apartments for cheap."

"...Why are you helping me?" Her green eyes were distrustful, confused, but he could still see that glimmer of hope in there. "You're a complete stranger."

"It's because I don't know you." Seeing her confused expression, he tried to explain further: "Hmm. Well, let's say it like this. I want you to live." He put his pen back into his pocket. "That boy I was telling you about—the one whose entire family that's been killed? Well, I've managed to convince him to keep trying, to keep living even though it's always going to be a struggle, and that he might lose even if he tries. If I give up on you, a random girl I met on the street, I have no right to keep believing in him, see?"

"I don't think I understand."

"Well, I'm helping you for personal, selfish reasons. Let's leave it at that. But whether you choose to accept my help or not is entirely up to you." He stood up, and took her forearm to also get her to rise her to her feet. He pulled her up; she didn't fight it. He smiled.

"I'll give this to you." He handed her a small packet of tissues, the type they gave away for free on the street. It had no inherent value, but the girl held it to her heart, as if it were precious. "Wipe your tears with them and look forward. If you continue to cry, I will feel sad. Good luck," he told her, and then he was on his way.

"Thank you," she called out to his back, sincerely.

He held his hand up in a lazy farewell, not looking back, but wondering if he'd ever meet her again. He might not have done anything for her, but there was also the chance he did.

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thank you for believing in me

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"You weren't trying to set us up or anything, were you?" Sasuke asked suspiciously.

Kakashi blinked, then reached forward and grabbed the smaller boy's head with one hand, squeezing it as punishment. "Hey. It's true that I sent her to your school and to your apartment building, but I had nothing to do with the fact that she got the apartment right next to yours. That's only the work of Fate."

Sasuke's gaze continued to pin him down.

With a wry smile, the older vampire released his protege's head and crossed his arms. "Well, I may have been hoping that you two would meet each other, but I never expected this development that day I met her." He gestured generally in the two's direction, referring to their relationship. "Well... now that we're all here, shall we talk?"

Sasuke hesitated. "I want to talk to Sakura, first."

"Do you want me to leave?" Kakashi asked, and raised an brow inquisitively. "If this is a private conversation, by which I mean intimate, I'd rather not hear it."

Sasuke considered it for a moment, then finally said, "No. It's fine." He turned his inky gaze to the girl sitting beside him. They were in Sakura's hospital room, and Sasuke wondered if the nurse would come looking for him soon, since he'd essentially escaped from his own room, which was in a different ward of the hospital. But that didn't matter so much now; it was time to get serious.

"Sakura," he said quietly, "things are going to get extremely dangerous from here."

Kakashi took a seat on a chair a few feets' distance away, observing quietly.

The girl nodded.

"And I don't mean just for me. The thing is, you're likely going to be a target. I need to train somewhere away from here, away from other people, and Kakashi will help me. So the question is... where do you want to be?" His gaze was uncertain as he looked at her. "This is why I didn't want to tell you about... about, er." His eyes flickered towards Kakashi. "I didn't want to tell you about my feelings because I didn't want to affect your decision... but regardless of what you choose, there's a good chance I might have to leave you behind with somebody—to be safe."

They met gazes for a silent moment. Then: "You really are an idiot," Sakura said, her green gaze and words unapologetically straightforward.

He frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

She bit her lip, feeling embarrassed, but finally said it: "I can wait. I'm fine with waiting." She paused. "As long as you come back."

He gripped her hand, and ducked his head, just enough that his hair cast shadows over his eyes. "Yeah. Thanks."

"I know I'm useless in an actual fight. I'll just make you worried and have to protect me. It's better to leave me behind." Sakura closed her eyes. "Well, that's what I can say rationally..." But neither of them really wanted to leave each other, that was certain.

Kakashi finally spoke up. "It'll might safer to stick with one of us at all times possible until the actual confrontation, because you never know when Orochimaru might send someone to kidnap you, Sakura. And when Sasuke is finally ready to fight, we will leave you in the custody of one of our allies... Shizune, probably."

"Regardless, we still have some time," Sasuke added. "Orochimaru's body isn't supposed to deteriorate for at least another year and a half. His plan is to switch into my body when I turn eighteen." The younger vampire reached up to point at his cursed seal mark. "This thing marks me as his. We need to take Orochimaru down before he tries to initiate the switch."

"The problem is, we probably have less time than that, Sasuke," Kakashi said. "Considering how Kabuto suddenly appeared, it could be a sign that Orochimaru is getting desperate. Kabuto might have been a check on your current level of power. It's possible Orochimaru's body is deteriorating faster than it should be, which means he'll be coming after Sasuke sooner than planned." He noticed the worry beginning to etch into the girl's face. "But... it might also mean nothing. Don't look so stressed, Sakura. It's a conjecture, not a fact."

"Even if it's a conjecture, you're going to prepare for it, right?" she asked.

He nodded. "All we can do now, regardless of Orochimaru's situation, is make Sasuke as strong as possible without the use of the curse seal."

Sakura furrowed her brow. "But why not use the curse seal, when it makes Sasuke-kun so strong?" she asked. "Doesn't it make sense to utilize and enhance what power he already has?"

"Because Orochimaru controls the curse seal," Sasuke said. "That'd be like a puppet trying to attack the puppet master controlling its strings. And besides..." He pressed his hand against the mark, cringing. "It's getting to the point where I might not be able to change back into myself if I use it again."

"But didn't you convert back the other two times fine?"

"Last time was only because of you, Sakura."

There was silence as Sakura's cheeks started matching her hair, under her consort's intense gaze. "Oh," she whispered, remembering what had happened.

"Enough," Kakashi practically groaned. "I don't want to see a boy I raised flirt."

Sasuke immediately shot the older vampire a sharp glare.

"I'm joking, I'm joking. Stop looking at me like that, Sasuke." He turned his one-eyed gaze to the girl. "But it really was thanks to you, Sakura, that he changed back. I was on my way, but I was too late." The silver-haired man smiled at her, and she hesitantly smiled back.

"I don't understand how I stopped him though." she said, looking a little bewildered.

Kakashi had to stop himself from smirking. "Ask Sasuke that sometime when you two are alone," he said. Sasuke's death glare was now strong enough to melt something. Kakashi didn't dare meet the boy's eyes for fear of that gaze boring a flaming hole through him.

Sakura tilted her head inquisitively, but asked no further. Instead, she turned to a different topic. "Is there anything I can do to help with the situation?"

Both vampires fell silent, exchanging long looks.

"Believe," said Kakashi softly. "That's all. I can't promise everything will go well, Sakura. But you'll have to have faith that everything will be okay."

Sasuke's hand felt cold in hers; Sakura squeezed it tight, trying to transfer some of her own body heat, and prayed for the best.

.

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so please believe in him

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The discussions continued on for a while. Kakashi came to visit a few more times, and soon Sakura and Sasuke were released from the hospital. Sakura left the hospital a few days later than Sasuke, lacking his faster recovery despite his more severe wounds, and then they were suddenly in the midst of exams before winter break. Sasuke had called Sakura's workplace soon after entering the hospital, explained the situation, and managed to get a few weeks of vacation for Sakura until the end of exams.

The scratching of mechanical pencils and the squeak of erasers created a harmony in the chilly classrooms for most of the week. Sakura, lacking sleep from last minute studying, had to fight to stay awake as she filled in her answers. The medication she had to regularly take further prevented her from giving it her all, and she stumbled out of the classroom after the last exam without any confidence in receiving a good score.

"Sakura, how'd you do?" Ino asked, following after her.

"...Dunno," she replied truthfully.

"I got Shikamaru to tutor me, so I think I'm pretty set," the blond grinned. "Well, now all that's left is the closing ceremony, and it's winter break! I hate exams, but... I feel so free, once they're done! It's not a bad exchange, I guess."

"Ino..."

The blond paused, then turned to look at the girl beside her. "What? What is it?"

"I need to talk to you."

The hall was mostly empty, the students generally leaving straight after finishing their exams. The two girls stood in near silence, only soft murmurs and the sounds of footsteps permeating the atmosphere.

"Are you mad because I only visited you in the hospital once?" Ino asked, keeping the tone light. "Sorry, but I was really busy! Honest! The flower shop's going to be given to me someday, so my parents are being really pushy about me learning everything I need to know sooner rather than later."

"No, that's... I was happy you visited at all." Sakura felt embarrassed saying it, then realized she was getting off track. "But that's not it. There's something that, um, I didn't tell you. That I need to tell you. I've been pushing it off, and... well, I wasn't so sure about it being real myself, and I was confused about it... but anyway, it's not fair to you at all." She was beginning to ramble.

Ino quickly sombered. "What's wrong, Sakura?"

"Sasuke-kun and I are... We're together, now."

"Oh," was all Ino said, but despite the disinterested tone, her blue eyes were blown wide.

There was a heavy silence. Sakura tried to stop her slight trembling, but this situation was exhausting. She'd held the information back from Ino for several days now, and it couldn't be fair, not when Ino had so earnestly chased after Sasuke's affections.

Sakura was painfully reminded of her days in elementary school. I'm hurting Ino again. "I'm sor—"

"Don't you dare apologize," Ino said, her voice low and harsh, while blue eyes turned to meet the green of her childhood friend's.

Sakura was surprised to see the usual baby blue looking frozen, like pure, chilly ice.

"Don't apologize. Apologizing to me is you looking down on me, and there's no way I'll allow that. I have pride, you know." The soft voice cracked somewhere near the end.

"But—"

"Don't you dare feel sorry. I'm not that weak, Sakura."

No. Those eyes... it wasn't ice, after all. "Ino..."

"I knew it, you know. I knew all along you were falling for him, and he was starting to love you, too. I knew it. If anyone's supposed to apologize, it's me, Sakura."

The blue eyes were melting.

Tears.

"I'm sorry for never having been there for you. In the end, you had to depend on Sasuke-kun instead of me. If I was just a little more dependable, I—I—to be honest, I wanted you to approach me and tell me about everything going on." Ino was positively sobbing now. "I thought that by edging you on with Sasuke-kun, you might get mad, and then yell at me—because when you're angry, that's when you really talk about how you feel, you know? You don't hold back when you're mad. But with me, I feel like you always hold back, and—and—"

Sakura just stood there, shocked at the sudden emotion from Ino, who usually acted so cool and self-controlled. Ino, the girl she'd idealized and admired for years. After a moment's deliberation, Sakura reached into her bag and pulled out a pack of tissues, one she'd received for free on the street, and handed it to the crying girl beside her.

Ino just continued babbling half-incoherently as her tears fell, not seeing the tissues Sakura was holding out to her. "Actually, I was only using Sasuke-kun as a means to make you jealous, you know, to edge you on. So I'm not mad you got him, Sakura. Don't blame yourself. I don't care."

Suddenly Ino threw her arms around her. Sakura stood in stunned silence as the slender arms tightened around her. Her hand still held out the tissues awkwardly, ignored and frozen in mid-air.

"But you have no idea how I felt when you abandoned me in sixth grade!" Ino wailed into Sakura's ear.

It took the other girl a long moment to finally gather her thoughts together and respond, and she did it by wrapping her own arms around the blond's waist. "Ino," Sakura said softly.

"I'm seriously so, so angry! I'm still mad! I think I know now, why you did it, but... but..."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize, how many times do I have to tell you? I hate it when you do that. I hate it when you see yourself as trash, Sakura. It really pisses me off- that low self-esteem of yours."

"Yeah."

"Idiot."

"Mm."

"Stupid."

"Eh..."

"Dummy."

"I get it, Ino."

The blond finally pulled away, just enough for blue to sink into green as Ino met Sakura's eyes. "Why didn't you depend on me more? Back then, I mean."

"I didn't want you to get hurt. And... and besides, you're the one who didn't depend on me. You never..." Sakura felt tears unexpectedly well up in her eyes, suddenly sentimental. Ino's tears were probably contagious. "You never told me the other girls were bullying you because of me."

"You would've felt terrible if I told you!"

"But I figured it out anyway..."

"Well, you should've told me you figured it out! I didn't know that! You left me without a word. I thought you left me for that guy..."

"That was a lie."

"Damn, I knew it!" Ino grit her teeth. "You're such a liar!"

"Yeah..."

"Never lie to me again, you hear me? Stupid."

Sakura started to laugh.

"Don't laugh! I'm insulting you!"

"I can't—I don't—why am I laughing?!" Sakura's face turned red, unable to stop giggling. It felt like so much of the weight on her shoulders, carried since sixth grade, had suddenly dropped off, leaving her giddy.

"Idiot," said Ino, and everything felt like it was going to be okay.

.

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it's okay

.

"...Ah."

Shikamaru paused, taking in the sight of his neighbor curled into a ball on the bottom stair of the fire escape, her arms wrapped around her legs, her face hidden in her knees and behind her long blond hair. He had been heading home for dinner, but taken a detour towards the fire escape, somehow just knowing that Ino would be crying there, and surely enough, here she was.

"Troublesome..." he muttered, as he dropped his school bag and stepped onto the stair Ino was sitting on.

She recognized his voice and his catchphrase, and barked back a muffled, "Then leave!"

"You've been troublesome since I met you. You think I'm gonna leave now after all these years?"

Ino sniffled, finally lifting her face from her knees. When she looked up to give him a glare, her eyes were rimmed with red. "You came to watch me cry?"

"I came to make sure you were okay."

"I'm fine!" she retorted angrily.

"You act like you're fine, and then you come here to the fire escape to cry by yourself. This has been a habit of yours since middle school."

"...Whatever," she muttered, settling her chin on her knees and determinedly not meeting his eyes.

"So what exactly happened this time? Although I can guess."

Ino's expression darkened. "Sakura and... Sasuke-kun are... together now. Sakura told me today after school."

Shikamaru let out a quiet sigh. "I see," he said.

"She kept apologizing. It made me so mad..." Ino began to tremble, and fresh tears trickled down her cheeks. "So I lied to her. I lied about using him, just to rile her up. Because she seemed like it hurt her to even tell me, and I just... I hate it when she looks like that, you know? Like she's convinced she hurts people just by being alive."

Shikamaru remained silent, knowing Ino didn't need any words of sympathy here; she just needed someone to listen.

"But the truth is, I really do love Sasuke-kun. I do. But I could see the way he looked at Sakura, and the way she looked at him, and I just knew I didn't even have a chance, though I've loved him all this time. And I just... Shikamaru, everything hurts."

He closed the short distance with a single step, and pressed a hand onto the top of her head. "Yeah," was all he said. "I know."

Ino grabbed hold of his leg and began sobbing into the fabric of his uniform pants. Shikamaru watched quietly, stroking her head, this fragile girl always pretending to be strong.

"It isn't easy, is it?" he asked.

She pulled away just enough to look at him with wet eyes, confused. "...What?"

"Finding your happy ending."

She shook her head.

"But, even so," Shikamaru said, "I'll help you find yours."

And finally, Ino smiled.