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

Allies

Micha turned his head when he heard the door and as soon as Sakura saw his friendly face with the shaggy blond beard, she started to cry so hard she even surprised herself.

"Engelchen," Micha got up and rushed towards her like a concerned mama bear, "are you okay?"

"No," she sobbed, "no, I'm not okay. I'm just so done with everything, why can't we catch a break?"

"Shhh," Micha soothed her, his broad hands rubbing her shoulders in circles, "this is why we don't want people to leave the hospital too early, Sakura. They need to be observed until body and mind are ready to go back to normal life. You shouldn't have let the bad man kidnap you."

That got a miserable chuckle out of her. Everybody knew. The entire village was talking about Kakashi and her. And it wasn't only nice things she heard... Given the lack of confirmed information about the massive explosion that had woken up every single person in Konoha, rumors were flying. That the Hokage had snatched the half-dead Head of the Hospital away from that very hospital and had locked himself in his Tower with her was considered swoon-worthy by some and highly contemptible by others. Some had turned the whole affair into a fight between love rivals. Sasuke got massive sympathy since wife-stealing wasn't viewed favorably. (Apparently, that he had fathered a child with another woman was all but forgotten?) In some of those stories, Sakura was the problem because everybody knew the Hokage was to marry the Nohara heir come spring, so how dare she interfere? Others were convinced it was an act of sabotage by Kirigakure and they were going to war next. Other scenarios had poor Micha as the evil mastermind in a convoluted plot to create a killer gas, some others assumed an underhanded scheme by Kabuto who wanted to turn everyone into a private army of reanimated corpses.

"It is so unfair," Sakura bawled, trying to get control over the ache in her heart, "he is trying so hard all the time but he has the worst, rotten luck."

"Which of your multiple men are you talking about?" Micha asked with a lopsided smile once her emotional outburst subsided a little.

Sakura had never seen Kakashi in as much despair. She was seriously afraid for him. The mere recollection of the pain she had seen in his eyes, the way he tried to hide the depth of it from her, tried to be brave and appear strong, unconcerned ... new sobs began to constrict her throat.

"I'm talking about Kakashi," she said, almost choking on her new tears. If she couldn't help him... what then?

"Hmmmm," Micha said and beckoned her to step to the microscope. "I have something to show you."

"Micha, how are you? You didn't have to stay at the hospital for long, right?" Sakura wiped her eyes and her nose. She saw ugly bruises on his arms since he had rolled up his sleeves. He looked more unkempt than usual and slightly sleep-deprived. Otherwise, he seemed to be fine and moved without pain.

Micha made a dismissive gesture. "You made me wait outside where it was safe, didn't you. There was a lot of debris falling from the sky it was ... goddamn scary, but I hid halfway underneath a massive boulder. You are the one who got hurt the most. Your men seem to have many lives though, you chose wisely."

"For someone who doesn't speak our language, you're surprisingly well informed," Sakura remarked drily.

A happy grin spread on his features. "Ichika told me. We can converse quite well now, she can say things like 'Guten Tag, wie geht es Dir' and 'ich finde Dich süß'. Not sure she knows what that means but I make her say it a lot."

"Ah!" Sakura exclaimed with a nervous giggle. "You are not heeding my warning and keep courting her? Her brother will have your head when he finds out!"