Awakening

Sakura sat up with a gasp and a splitting headache. The drain of chakra was intense, and she felt near death. "Sasuke!" Her eyes darted around the room, searching, but her surroundings were different from what they had been before, and she didn't understand why. Sakura ran a hand over her face as she trembled. The air tasted different. The world smelled different. Everything felt off, but she felt oddly at peace.

"Some people would be worried about you calling out another man's name in their bed." Sakura turned her head, and her eyes almost bulged out of her head. Kakashi lay beside her utterly bare for her to stare at unabashedly. She swallowed heavily but couldn't force herself to look away. When he smiled, she felt herself blush before averting her gaze.

"Kakashi," Sakura's eyes darted to him and then away, "What are you doing here? Where's Sasuke? Where's Itachi? How…"

Sakura choked back the question as her eyes darted around the room, and she realized she had no idea where she was. This wasn't the Uchiha Compound. It wasn't the place that she had before she moved into it. It wasn't even Kakashi's place. Where was she?

"Sakura, are you alright?" His fingers reached out and entwined with her own. The warmth of his hand seeped into her. It made her look down and see that she was very much without clothes too. Sexy times had been had, and she couldn't remember a single second of it. That was worth more than a few tears.

"I don't know." Sakura grabbed her hair with her free hand and tugged at it. The last thing she remembered was Kakashi and Itachi running toward her and the red of the Sharingan. Sasuke.

Sakura tightened her grip on Kakashi's hand. He didn't flinch at the pressure but instead swiped his thumb over the back of her hand soothingly. It helped a little. She shouldn't be so comfortable with Kakashi in the nude, but it didn't seem to matter at the moment. "Do you love me?"

"You know, I do." Kakashi tugged her hand, pulling her so that she lay down at his side. Sakura couldn't stop herself from cuddling into him. She felt his lips press to the top of her head and sighed. Was this even real? What if she woke up? Sakura squeezed her eyes shut.

"Even if I do terrible things?"

Kakashi chuckled. "Sakura, you're the best of all of us. If you do something terrible, then we would have done a lot worse."

"That doesn't mean that it would be right."

"No. It doesn't, but I'd love you anyway."

It didn't mean he wouldn't leave her if he knew. Loving someone wasn't always enough for you to make a relationship work. "I'd do anything for you," Sakura whispered, and she felt his arms pull her in and squeeze her tight. She was certain he heard her.

:::

Later that day, when she was able to escape from Kakashi's clutches, and she felt marginally better, she got up and walked to the Uchiha Clan. The place was like a barren wasteland. There was no life within it. Before she knew it, she had taken one step, then another until she was at the graveyard. She looked for headstones and found Mikoto's first.

Sakura stared at it for a while before she found herself speaking. "You were right not to trust me with your family, and yet I can't stop myself from hating you even as I respect you."

Mikoto offered no comeback, which was a marked difference from her life. Sakura looked at her grave at the inscription. All it said was: Beloved Mother. She closed her eyes because she needed to find Sasuke. She needed to understand what happened. Why was Kakashi in a bed that he said was theirs? Why did she have no memory of it? The jutsu was supposed to split the worlds back in half. Shouldn't she know what was going on around her? Where was Sasuke?

Sakura's body stiffened when she sensed she was no longer alone. Slowly she turned her head and looked over her shoulder only to see Naruto approaching her. He placed his hand on her shoulder once he was close enough and said, "We'll get him back, Sakura. I promise."

Sakura frowned and pulled away. "Get who back?"

Naruto looked at her with just as much puzzlement as she looked at him. "Sasuke."

Sakura's heart froze. "How?" She wanted to ask 'from where?' but she knew that was the wrong thing to say. If Kakashi and Naruto talked in this world, then they'd know that something was wrong with her, and she couldn't afford for that to happen. Not yet.

Naruto didn't reply, and Sakura hoped that was because he didn't have an answer.

"It's nice of you to keep coming to their graves. He would have liked that since he's not here to do it himself." Sakura closed her eyes and remembered that Sasuke told her that there was a price for what they had done. Was this how she was going to have to pay it? She'd already run around the world to bring this man back once. Were they going to have to do it again? Was Sasuke always going to be a cloud that hung over her head?

Was Itachi alive in this world?

She hadn't known that she would remember both worlds, but she should have. At least one of the Sasuke knew of both worlds. How had he done it? It was like a curse that laid upon her shoulders, always remembering what had been.

"Are you alright, Sakura? Maybe we should get you back home."

Sakura glanced at Mikoto's grave one last time before agreeing.

:::

Sakura went straight to her room as soon as she got home, but she knew Naruto lingered-presumably to talk to Kakashi about her behavior. Sakura did what any ninja would do in the situation.

She eavesdropped.

"I found her at their graves again. She was…talking to Sasuke's mom." Sakura heard Kakashi sigh.

"Do you think it's time for us to go looking again?"

"She would have said it, if that's what she wanted, Sensei."

"Sakura doesn't talk about everything she's feeling."

"She loves you."

"I know, but we both know she loves him more."

Sakura frowned. Splitting the worlds was supposed to fix this. Kakashi was supposed to know that she loved him. Sakura couldn't stop herself from storming out of their bedroom.

"I love you, Kakashi Hatake. I want to build a life with you. I'll say it a million different ways if you don't understand it. I'll beat my love into you if I have to. If you have to doubt something in me, then doubt my sanity because you'd be right to do so. But please don't doubt that I love you." Sakura felt a tear splash against her cheek. "You don't know what I'd do to make you happy."

Sakura heard Naruto exit but ignored it as Kakashi drew her into his arms.

"Sakura, I'm a lot older than you. It makes sense that one day you'd want a man closer to your age."

"So, you think I'm shallow." She had been in another lifetime. A part of her couldn't even blame him for thinking she still was. Sakura tried to pull away, and at first, Kakashi wouldn't let her, but he released her.

"Sasuke—"

"Has nothing to do with us."

"Doesn't he? If he were here right now, where would you have gone this afternoon?"

To Sasuke to see if he remembered the world before. To figure out what they had done. "I would have gone to see Sasuke," Sakura admitted. "But not because I'm harboring any romantic feelings for him."

This was not what she expected to wake up to. The world was supposed to be better than this. She wished she could rewind to earlier in the day when she lay snuggled in Kakashi's arms.

"Look, I-" She couldn't tell him the truth. He wouldn't believe her, but she could give him an approximation. "I had a dream last night. It was intense." Sakura reached for Kakashi's hand, and he let her take it, and she led him to the sofa. "Let me tell you about it?"

:::

When Sakura finished speaking, Kakashi looked at her incredulously. She feared it was because there were too many details for it to be just a dream. "You should write a book about that." Sakura started laughing. There was no way she would undertake such a task. It would be monumental and emotionally draining reliving it all. "It's why I called out for Sasuke this morning."

"And Itachi?"

"We were close in the dream. I trusted him."

"I see."

"Do you? Do you know that I love you?" Kakashi opened his mouth, but Sakura cut him off. "Let me rephrase. Do you know I want to be your wife? That I want your babies? That I would destroy the world for you?"

Kakashi smirked, not believing her in the slightest. "You'd destroy the world for me?"

Sakura smiled softly at Kakashi and said, "Yeah, I would." She wouldn't regret it either.