A/N: hi lovelies, thank you SO MUCH for all the love this story has received. Please enjoy this new chapter full of fluff. I do not own Naruto.

The day was long. She treated colds, over enthusiastic genin with shuriken, had a meeting with Sai and T&I's Ibiki about treating shinobi with PTSD, delivered three babies and completed two surgeries. She was worn out by the time she hung up her white lab coat and left the hospital. She trudged her way to her house and was surprised to see the lights on and the windows open, letting the breeze in the house. She felt herself smile, despite the tiredness that clung to her like shadows.

She opened the door and called out her usual greeting, already sure of who it was. Kakashi called back and she impatiently removed her shoes, putting her heeled sandals next to much bigger ones.

She sniffed the air, curiously peering past his shoulder at the stove. "Oooh, chāhan!"

He laughed at her enthusiastic response, and pushed her away. "Go, wash up. This will be done soon, I've got it taken care of!"

She nodded and said, "Hey boys!" to the eight dogs in her living room, getting barks in return before she disappeared into the house. The sound of the shower turning on let Kakashi know how much time he would have to prepare the table. He did his best to set the dishes and plates in an aesthetically pleasing way, and pulled out the peach flavored dessert he bought from the fridge where it was being chilled. He placed a flower at the seat he knew Sakura liked to sit in, and started putting food on the dishes.

She soon returned, smelling like the coconut and vanilla shampoo she liked to use when she wasn't on missions. The smell was comforting, and he pulled the chair out for her to sit. They began eating, and she thanked him readily for making the meal.

She blinked in surprise. "Hakuto jelly? This is expensive, Kakashi. What's the occasion?"

Kakashi saw her curious expression, and cleared his throat, putting his chopsticks down. He felt nervous, suddenly, with his face devoid of a mask and no hitai-ate on his forehead, covering his now normal eye.

"Sakura, I wanted to tell you something." At her encouraging expression, he continued. "I'd like to take you on a date!" He blurted out, feeling like a teenage boy all over again, even though he had never had the time to experience most normal things at that age. In a quieter tone, he said, "You matter to me, Sakura." He knew that sentence was an understatement.

She blinked, and looked between him and the jelly and the dogs. Then, suddenly, she burst out laughing. She laughed so hard that tears formed in the corners of her eyes and Kakashi tried to stop the burning of the skin on his neck.

She took a gasping breath, seeing his disappointment and told him, "Kakashi. I thought we were already dating!"

"Huh?" He asked, completely bewildered.

She shook her head, and got up. She returned to the kitchen with a book he hadn't seen on her shelves yet, one he didn't recognize. "Look," she told him, and he did. She flipped through the pages and Kakashi saw each and every flower he had given her was meticulously pressed with its name carefully printed beside it.

"Flowers are symbols. They have a language of their own. Did you know that?"

At his blank expression, she laughed again. She handed the book over to him to take a closer look. The meanings of the flowers were written in Sakura's neat script under the names.

"Oh," he said, his face coloring again. He chuckled quietly, shaking his head. He stopped flipping through the book suddenly. "Wait, if we've already been dating…"

She nodded. "Well, it's been over six months now." She was pretty sure it was closer to seven or eight months by then, but she hadn't been counting. She laughed again, "I'm glad we're on the same page now, I was wondering when you'd want to meet Mom and Dad."

Kakashi's heart did a little skip in his chest. So she had been wondering when the serious part of the two of them dating would come.

"What about Sasuke?" He asked, in a last ditch effort to let her change her mind, despite the words feeling like acid in his mouth.

"What about him?" She asked. "He has nothing to do with us. I care about him, he's my teammate, but you are the man I want to spend the rest of my life with. I want you, not him."

Feeling slightly overwhelmed, Kakashi couldn't hold back the dizzy grin on his face. "I am the luckiest man in the whole world."

She laughed, and leaned over to kiss his lips. He was warm all over. Into the kiss, she whispered, "I'd go so far as to say I'm in love with you."

When she pulled back, he looked into eyes that were soft green and beautiful like the leaves of Konoha's tallest trees. He whooped loudly, overcome with joy. "Haruno Sakura loves me!" He shouted, standing up from the table with arms thrown victoriously in the air. "I am the luckiest man in the whole world!"

He picked her up from the table, kissed her again and again, holding her bridal style, spinning them around. Her slowly growing hair whipped around them, and Akino nipped at Kakashi's ankles, the rest of the pack barking happily. The house was filled with joyful laughter that lasted long into the night.

A/N: if any of you noticed, the majority of the scenes in this fanfic involve food and meals, a time where I am often with family or socializing with friends at uni, and this also applied to when I visited my extended family in Europe. Food is a huge part of culture, no matter where you go, and I'm trying to be as accurate as possible with these scenes and scenarios.