Getting Lost on the Roads of Life - a KakaSaku Story [CONCLUDED]

The Reunion

"What is taking so long? We're only meeting Naruto," Sasuke grumbled, his voice muffled by the bathroom door.

Only Naruto? Sakura rolled her eyes. Hinata was also going to be there and Ino with Sai, of course she wanted to look her best! If not, her childhood friend would tease her brutally about not taking good care of herself. So it was cameo pink lipstick, mascara, eyeliner, and a bit of blush... nothing too fancy or that would get her teased too.

She batted her eyelids at herself in the large mirror. Not bad! She had put on a purple dress for the occasion, it was new and even though cut just a tiny bit too short for her full comfort, she thought it brought out the color of her eyes really well. After checking her image one last time - she had bought a purple headband to go with the dress and had washed and carefully blow dried her hair - she stepped outside.

Sasuke was... nowhere to be seen.

But since the front door stood slightly ajar, she gathered he must have gone ahead. Sakura hastily grabbed a purse, the little brown one with the tassels she had bought on a whim not long ago, slipped into her sneakers... but no, they wouldn't do. She hadn't packed that many shoes, but she had had foresight enough to realize the need for dressing up might arise, so she had brought one pair of black pumps. They were slightly uncomfortable if she wore them for too long, but they would mainly be sitting down anyway.

Their temporary apartment was far more spacious than their real one and stylish in an understated, traditional kind of way, befitting important guests from other villages. Right after moving in, she had returned to work at the hospital. Their current abode was at least thirty minutes further away from her workplace than their other apartment, but she actually enjoyed the longish walks through town twice a day. The bustling streets and busy shops made her feel proud of Konoha and its inhabitants.

But where was Kakashi? It was like he had disappeared from the face of the earth again.

Tsunade had assured her he'd be in touch but had also made it clear that making him remember wasn't a top priority anymore. That seemed very strange to her, but apparently, the situation was defused with the killing of such a high number of enemies.

To Sakura, it was unreal to hear stories told of that night everywhere she went. She wasn't ready to believe half of it, but even then, it seemed Kakashi had single-handedly killed several dozen enemy soldiers! To honor him and his bravery, the people of Konoha had even given him a new nickname: Purple Fang of Konoha, in honor of his father's nickname: Konoha's White Fang.

It was well intended, but Sakura feared that Kakashi might not like to be reminded of his father. She had remembered how in one of her more desperate moments after the war, when she could not find Kakashi however much she looked for him, she had done a little research in the library and found out that Hatake Sakumo, a very capable Shinobi and sole parent, had committed suicide when Kakashi was only five years of age. The information was overall sketchy, but it seemed Sakumo had abandoned a mission in order to save his team-mates. The failure of that mission had come with highly unpleasant consequences for the Land of Fire and Sakumo had been brutally shunned by everyone afterwards because of it, eventually leading to a severe depression and his untimely death.

Imagining child Kakashi all alone and heartbroken made Sakura burst into tears every time she thought of it. But even so, she almost preferred it to thinking of him on those rooftops slaughtering enemies with his bare hands. "A most proficient killer" indeed, so proficient it was frightening. But she did not want him to be known as a killer, even with people dropping their voices in awe when they talked about him these days. He deserved better. Something different. True happiness... whatever that was.