Lament of a Scarecrow (unbeta'd)

The table was set for breakfast and Kakashi steadily carried his student and placed her on her chair next to her plate. Using a large spoon and picking up some of the steaming oatmeal, Kakashi brought the hot substance to his mouth and blew to cool it off. Careful he brought to spoon to her mouth, edging it closer and closer to her sealed lips that slowly began to open. With a small challenge, Sakura managed to swallow the oatmeal.

She giggled.

Be it rainy, cloudy, sunny or snowy, the girl alway giggled .

That's how she started every morning, with a lazy giggle. Kakashi may have asked her what's wrong, or what's so funny depending on the day, knowing full well that the pink haired girl would not answer him back. However, as much as she laughed without a reason, Kakashi continued to ask without reason.

She laughed despite the fact she could no longer walk, no longer speak correctly, or no longer care for herself. That struck Kakashi more than anything else. A completely crippled girl, weak and defenseless, sat on her chair and laughed in the face of a monster who could snap her twig like neck in a second. But he never did, he never felt the need to. So instead, he asked...

It hadn't always been like this, though. His student wasn't always rendered to a giggling and confused mess in a wheelchair. No, Sakura Haruno had been once a proud and strong shinobi, fearless and agile. Now, a shell of his old student remained, her body damaged in an invasion...too damaged to fix.

Unfortunately, her parents had been killed in the invasion as well, rendering a mentally unstable Sakura and orphan, and due to her new high maintenance lifestyle, no one had the time to care for her.

However, Kakashi was done losing those close to him. Despite the warning and the stress that was sure to befall him the instant he'd let his crippled student into his home, he accepted the task like a responsible adult. He'd quit going on missions completely in order to care for the girl, he'd rarely left the house in fear that she would hurt herself, in other words, he dedicated himself fully to his mentally damaged student.

The task at hand was hard at first. The medicine, the accidents, cleaning and feeding her proved challenging to the former ANBU, but nevertheless, he didn't back down. Eventually, he'd gotten use to her accidents and messes, until with proper care they completely stopped and life for Kakashi got a little easier, and his heart had gotten a little softer.

Caring for Sakura was a completely different experience for him. She required his fast pace life to slow itself down to the lowest speed, to give himself completely to a girl who couldn't even clean herself, and to expect nothing back in doing so.

Well...to be fair, when Iruka began visiting Sakura as well(due to certain circumstances, the teacher could watch her, though he would if he had the resources), he did get "something" back. It could be considered love, or just companionship, but whenever Iruka dropped by to check on the two (which was often, everyday often) a warm feeling in Kakashi's stomach bubbled, and it took him awhile to figure out what it actually meant.

Naruto visited...he used to visit Sakura all the time. But life "caught up with him", and as a result, his daily visits degraded to weekly visits and finally, monthly visits. Eventually, Naruto faded from Sakura's life. But Kakashi never left her alone, he played with her, read to her and loved her as he would a daughter. Sakura seemed oblivious to the world around her, and Kakashi prayed that inside of her twisted and damaged mind, she was living a fairytale where her prince was Sasuke, and her world was drenched in happiness.

Kakashi blinked...he had been pressing an empty spoon to the girls lips. She looked at him, confused at first, but the same giggle erupted in her chest and out of her mouth. KAkashi smiled, and inwardly apologized, knowing she'd be confused if he did so aloud. And as he had always, he asked her a simple question.

"Sakura, what's so funny?"

Done! It's like 12:02 and about 80 degrees under my comforter. I'm sorry for any spelling mistakes, I just wanted to post this as i'm working on like two assignments at midnight! Oh, this is the time where ghost are at their most active! Anyway, I really hoped you liked this, I planned to make it longer and more elaborated, but the idea was just fresh in my head and I didn't want to lose it. Also, if you couldn't take a hint, Kakashi and Iruka are sorta kinda an item :D, just had to allude to that. Did you read the new chapter, its strange isn't it? Anyway,hope you like this, i don't own Naruto! God bless.