Team Seven Meeting Pt. 2.5
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Previously...
'So manslaughter it is.'
...
Just as he touched the doorknob, a new chakra signature arrived in the room.
"Y'all a bunch of drama queens." All three of them turned on their spot. There she was standing, completely healthy, and mocking them. Naruto's eye color changed back immediately, and Sasuke's sharingan closed. Naruto closed his arms around her and hugged her as tight as he could. He was worried about her, and he doesn't like to be worried about his best friends.
"Sakura, you're unharmed? How?" he asked shocked but happy.
"You, you're an oblivious dickhead. You can't go and destroy the village, you're the Hokage! That is not ok."
"But, Sakura, I was worried about you."
"You should have known better. I don't go down so fast." Naruto loosened his grip and they separated. She hadn't even time to react, when Sasuke pulled her in a tight hug with his one arm.
"And you, are you stupid? Haven't you thought about our daughter? How can you go out and destroy her home?" Young Sakura's gaze brightened up. They had a daughter together, which means she were married and together.
"Technically, she isn't even alive, yet."
"Semantics."
"What did they do to you?" Sasuke asked while letting her go.
"How is this possible? You were unconscious." said Sakumo shocked.
"Sorry, but you couldn't even hold me down, even if I wanted you to. Tell them, with what you've tortured me with." answered Sakura confidently. The 27-year-old version of Kakashi tensed. This was new. She was confident. Her whole body language was different than the one of his Sakura. Every fibre of her being screamed confidence. When did his little shy Sakura turn into this confident woman, and why does it turn him on? That was scary, but she's hot, too hot for his own good.
"A genjutsu casted by an Uchiha." Sakumo answered, still not understanding what was happening. Sasuke and Naruto started to laugh.
"What's so funny?" asked Obito. He felt his pride hurt as an Uchiha.
"Sakura is practically resistant against genjutsu." said Naruto casually.
"Resistant? How?" asked Chunin-Kakashi actually curious how that is possible and why he is so fascinated by the fact.
"She has excellent chakra control, she just snaps out of it." answered Sasuke. "Even a genjutsu casted with the mangekyou sharingan doesn't bother her anymore."
"That's impressive." said Sensei-Kakashi.
"Thank you very much." she answered as she went through the room to get to her Kakashi. She had waited two months to see him again, and now he was 4 meters away and still frozen. He hadn't snapped back from the possibility of losing her.
"Hey," she said softly while wrapping her arms around him, "I promised, so stop worrying, you'll get wrinkles on that stupid face of yours. I'm not them. I don't go down easily, especially not when I have someone to return to." Kakashi wrapped his arms around her automatically. She pressed further into him. He was still in shock.
Even though he could sense her chakra, feel her body pressing against his, smell her intoxicating scent, hear her lovely voice and see her pink hair, but all of this was not enough for him to snap back. He needed a little bit more time for that. He needed to be sure, that this wasn't a dream or genjutsu, that this was reality. That she was safe and sound and back in his arms.
"You kept your promise." He heard himself say. He still hadn't quite snapped back.
"Of course I did. I told you, that I'd find you and come back to you. I'm not them, Kakashi. I will not leave you." He pulled her even closer.
This whole scenery was watched closely by every other person in this room. Rin looked like she was about to cry, 'Kakashi' the man she hoped would be her husband, was awfully close to his ex-student. A beautiful and strong woman.
The Kakashi of her team, was shocked by the open affection of his older self. Obito was pleased. If Kakashi was married to this woman he's so comfortable around, then Rin would be probably married to him. Minato was shocked. For him, the 'couple' looked a little bit too close to each other.
Lee and Naruto also looked like they would cry, they still had hoped that they marry Sakura, but his hope was crashed by now. The young Sakura was as red as a tomato, and even her Sensei got a slight blush on his cheeks. The Hokage, Sakumo and his wife, just smiled at each other knowingly.
"But, wait, why are you so close? What about your wife? Wouldn't she mind?" asked Rin, anger slightly detectable in her voice.
"My, what?" asked the oldest Kakashi quite confused.
"Your wife, right, what about her? Does she mind?" asked Sakura jokingly. She loosened her grip without letting go of him and looked him deep in the eyes.
"Well, I don't know. Do you mind?" he said softly, while cupping her face. The whole room went quiet. The blush on young Sakura and the other two Kakashi's intensified.
"Mhm... I'm not sure." she said, still holding the gaze.
"Not sure? Haven't you missed me?"
"Not so much with me around." joked Sasuke.
"What does that mean?!" said Kakashi angrily. He looked up from Sakura and challenging the Uchiha with his gaze.
"Calm down" said Sakura, she felt her husband stiffened, "They didn't get the message that we are in fact not married any more. We had to share a room for the first half of our mission. No big deal, like there's something that I haven't seen before."
"Or touched." added Sasuke.
"Really? I'm fighting for your life here." laughed Sakura. Strengthening the grip around her husband a bit more. She felt Kakashi's anger and knew that after the mission that he had had, her husband was worn out and will lose it quite easily.
"Calm down, I will not allow you to be a jealous dickhead in front of everyone, especially not your parents. I raised you better than that." He calmed down immediately and looked back in her beautiful eyes.
"You most certainly did." He smiled at his wife.
"Stop! That cannot be true. You two must be joking. That cannot be real. He's old, ancient even." Said the young Sakura.
Her world was falling apart. She was married to Sasuke and left him for what, her ex-sensei? That can't be right.
Her Sensei looked at her in shock. He agreed with being too old for her but ancient that hurt even his feelings.
The two lovebirds separated but stayed closely next to each other.
"Mah, 14 years aren't that much. We're both adults. She was already a mother when we started dating." answered the oldest Kakashi.
"But... but he's our sensei, that can't be allowed."
"He was our sensei, for what? A year? And he was an aloof asshole most of the time. You'll find your shishou, and she will train you like he never could." Argued the older Sakura.
"It's always nice to hear you talk so fondly of our shared time." Chuckled her husband.
"But still... he's a pervert." Argued the younger Sakura.
"That's rich coming from the woman who makes Icha Icha look like a child's book." Answered the oldest Kakashi offended.
The young Sakura looked like she would faint from pure embarrassment any second now. Her sensei on the other hand was fascinated.
"Stop it, you're traumatizing this poor, innocent girl."
"She is neither poor nor innocent, she's you."
"You forget; she's me before Shishou. And don't act like you don't enjoy it."
"Oh I do. I do enjoy it." Her husband answered as his voice darken just a little than usual. Sakura got Goosebumps. She shook her head slightly.
"So will anybody tell me, how did we end up in the past and not only us, but two other versions of Kakashi as well." Asked Sakura after her short interaction with her husband.
The 27-year-old Kakashi stiffened when he heard Sakura say his name. That his eyes were now focused on her, did not go unnoticed by the older Kakashi. He chuckled internally. He knew that gaze. There are a lot of pictures of him looking like that at Sakura.
"This young man here, casted a jutsu he found in a scroll in the attic and thought it would be a good idea to try this unknown jutsu." Said Kira with a light voice and a soft smile. Kira was happy about the chance to see her son in various life stages. Sakura immediately realized that her chakra flow was wrong. She was ill. She looked at her Father-in-law, he tightened his grip on his wife's hand. She knew, he knew, but he didn't want her to interfere.
"I didn't think it possible for such a young child to cast a jutsu that needed that much chakra. Even I would need the help of my seal."
"Seal?" asked the young Sakura.
"That's not important now." Answered her older self, and went over to her Mother-in-law and the child-version of her husband. "I'm Sakura, Hello." She introduced herself, she turned to the young Kakashi, "and Hello you." The young Kakashi turned to her in his father's arms. He watched her converse with his mother.
"Hello, dear! I'm Kira, Kakashi's mother. It's nice to meet you."
"It's lovely to meet you, as well. I would like to check on him, because it shouldn't be possible for him to cast a jutsu like that." Kira nodded and looked at her son and her husband.
"Your hair color is odd." He said shyly.
"Your hair color is odd, too." The young boy started to smile through his mask.
"Is that why we married in the future?"
"Maybe, but maybe because we can smell each other." With that she held her forearm to him, and he smelled her. His eyes widened in happiness.
"You're weird, but that's good."
"Would you allow me to check on you?"
"Check on me?"
"With my healing chakra."
"Will it hurt?"
"No, just a tickle."
"Okay."
"Here or in a private room? I'm a doctor, so your secrets are safe with me."
"Can daddy join us in a private room?"
"Of course he can."
"Then in a private room." said the young boy, and Sakura nodded.
The whole room was listening to their conversations. They all admired her for her way to handle that young boy's shyness. She was calm and patient with him and met him face to face. As they left the room, she looked at the 27-year-old version of Kakashi, and then she pointed at him.
"And you're next. I remember you were not long enough at the hospital after this mission and someone needs to check your eye. And no, I don't take 'no' for an answer. I will hunt you down if I must, but I'm sure you don't want to make a scene in front of your mother." Then she turned to her Naruto and her husband. "Then you two. Your mission was quite dangerous, if they asked for you both, I want to do a full check-up." Then she turned to the rest. "If any of you need medical attention, just ask. I will be glad to help."
"Yes, Doctor Haruno." said Naruto and saluted with two fingers.
"Hatake." Said her husband plainly.
"Whatever, Haruno, Uchiha, Hatake, all the same thing." Answered Naruto and rolled his eyes. Then she left, followed by the youngest Kakashi and his father.
"She is quite the character, isn't she?" asked Minato.
"You have no idea, Sensei." Answered the oldest Kakashi.
"I don't think I need a medical check-up." Said Sensei-Kakashi.
"Oh I don't think you have much of a choice. She will hunt you down. She's not the same girl you know." Answered the oldest Kakashi.
"I was afraid you'd say that."
. . .
Sakura entered a room and held the door open for Sakumo and his son.
"So young man, I will use my hands and let my chakra flow through your body, that will be all."
"Okay." With that, Sakura placed her glowing hands on the young Kakashi. Sakumo looked at them.
"So..." started Sakumo, "I think I should start with an apology. I'm very sorry that I gave the order to torture you, even when it didn't hurt you in the end."
"Oh, it's no problem, you're at war, and you needed to make sure your team was safe. I understand that, and I wasn't completely honest either."
"Would have been pretty odd, if you had told me, you're from the future and then married to my son. I can't blame you for holding your tongue." Sakumo chuckled slightly.
"Yes, that would be crazy."
"But you guys are in fact married to another?"
"We are." calmly answered Sakura, still looking at her lil' patient.
"And you were his student before that?"
"I was." She knew where this was going to end, but she couldn't blame him. Seen from the outside, their pairing seemed at least unusual or in the worst case a criminal offence.
"And then his subordinate?"
"Yes."
"I need to ask this. Did he use his position to make a move on you or forced you in any kind of way?" Sakumo tensed under his thought.
"No. We were mutual long before we ever started to date. It was actually I, who took the first step. Believe it or not, but your son was quite shy back then. He feared he would jeopardize our friendship if he asked me out and even after this I needed to initiate everything." She looked up to Sakumo, now. He sighed silently.
"You won't hurt him, right?" Asked Sakumo after a short time while looking concerned at his young son.
"No, this won't hurt. Or are you in any kind of pain?" Answered Sakura while looking at her lil' patient. Lil' Kakashi shook his head.
"Oh... I didn't mean him, I meant your Kakashi."
"Oh... no. I love him."
"So you and that good-looking Uchiha, that's nothing to be concerned about?"
"No. I have loved Sasuke since I was 6. It started as a childhood crush, then love, from that love it turned into hurt and then into love again. We had our moments, but ultimately we were not meant for each other. I still love Sasuke, he is the father of my first child and one of my best friends, he is family just like Naruto," Sakura took a deep breath.
"Kakashi and I, we were close after the war, best friends even. He was always there for me, and I was there for him. I never planned on falling in love with him nor acting on those feelings, but we got pushed together by nobody less than Sasuke and Naruto and I will forever be grateful to them.
He's my other half. I love him. I truly do. I would never do something to hurt him."
"That's good to hear, because I think he truly loves you. We Hatake men are secretive and impermanent, but when we love someone we are open to them and true. We settle for only one person, and he has settled for you."
"And I have settled for him. It's him, will always be him." Sakumo smiled and looked at his young son again.
"You have realized that my wife is..." he said silently.
"I have. Is there anything that I can do to help?"
"No. This has to happen."
"I know, you're right."
"I'm sorry."
"Not as much as I am." He was silent again. She was ill, for quite some time now. She won't make it much longer. Therefore, he was glad, that she could see their son more or less grow up.
"So young man, you and your father can go now, well done." Said Sakura after she finished her examination.
"Would you send the 27-year-old Kakashi in. I want to examine him next." Sakumo nodded and they left the room. A couple of minutes later, this Kakashi entered the small room.
"Yo."
"Hello. I just want to check your chakra network and your left eye. It'll be done in a couple of minutes. I need to touch you under your shirt, any objections?" He shook his head and lifted his shirt slightly. He was curious to how she felt, when she would touch him. She made her quick examination of his chakra pathways. He was still low on chakra, but not fatal. Overall he was in good physical condition. He realized that she felt natural to him. He was shocked by that, but even more thrilled. She was a good-looking woman, and his older self seemed genuinely happy. That was a good prospect for him.
"Thank you, and now I would like to take a proper look at your left eye." Kakashi nodded again, lifted his hitai-ate. Sakura stepped a bit closer to him and placed her hand on his left eye, then she sent her healing chakra through his eyeball. There was nothing special about it. It was correctly healed and overall in good condition. She dug a bit deeper and found a slightly irritated nerve ending. She healed it first and then searched for its origin. It took her only a couple of seconds until she found it. This nerve was rubbing on his chakra canal when he used his sharingan. She relocated the nerve ending and stepped back.
"Thanks for healing the pain." he said calmly, while closing both of his eyes and breathing deeply.
"It was constant pain, right?"
"Yes it was. I went to some medics, but they only helped me temporarily."
"It should never bother you again. I healed it completely." She had a big grin on her face. Kakashi noticed for the first time how beautiful her smile is.
"You can do that?"
"Of course, I'm the best medic of my time." She said proudly.
"I see that now." He gave her his signature eye creased smile.
"Oh, I would like to examine the 13-year-old version of you as well. Could you ask him to come?"
"I will tell him that." She smiled at him and let him go back to the others, the next one is Naruto. She made a quick check-up and released him short after that. Naruto was fine, thanks to Kurama and his healing abilities.
Next in line was her husband. Her gaze brightened when he entered the room. His mask was gone within seconds, and he crushed his lips on hers.
They kissed like they haven't seen each other in years. He pressed her hungrily against himself. Giving her no way to escape him. She could if she wanted to, but why would she? She missed him, his lips, his kisses and his body against hers.
"I've missed you so much..." He whispered between kisses, "... never leave me again."
"I've missed you, too! I love you so much. You were always on my mind while we were apart." She answered as she kissed him again. He wasn't ready to let go of her, but he knew this was neither the time nor the place for that.
"I was so scared that I would never see you smile at me again." He looked her deep in the eyes and cupped her face with his hands.
"You should have more faith in me. You know I don't go down that easily." She cupped his face as well and caressed his cheeks with her hands.
"But still your seal is smaller, you needed to use it." He kissed her forehead.
"Yes, I did, to save myself and Sasuke." She shrugged and he held her tighter.
"What happened?"
"We got ambushed during a routine around the village we worked in. They hit him in his stomach. I needed to heal him properly."
"And what did they do to you?"
"That's not so important."
"It is. What happened to you?" She dodged his question. That was not a good sign. It was a deadly wound, he knew it.
"They went for my throat. It's not as bad as it sounds, really."
"They slit it, didn't they? Without your seal, you would be dead by now."
"I would have died during the war without it." She argued.
"But still. How many years did it cost you?" He was calm but worried.
"Not so much. I haven't caught up with you." she said with a light laughter to lightened up the mood. He wasn't having any of it.
"How many?" He asked sternly.
"3 years. It's not so much, really."
A knock on the door interrupted their conversation. The door opened slowly and Kakashi placed his mask back on his face. It was Rin. Her face was glowing red under her face paint, and she looked angry. Kakashi was sure, he had never seen her looking like that.
"I am here to talk to you privately, Haruno-san."
"Oh, please call me Sakura. You're Rin right? It's nice to meet you."
"I am, and I don't think that's necessary."
"Ok, but then it is Hatake-san. She's my wife." said Kakashi slightly annoyed because nobody seems to address his wife correctly.
"You can leave it to me, Kakashi."
"All right darling." Kakashi answered and gave Sakura a masked kiss to her cheek, then he looked at Rin, "See you both soon." Then he left the room. He really wants to know what they're talking about, but he knew he has his own battle to fight. He feared that the others will ask him about his relationship with Sakura. His 13-year-old version walked towards him.
"She asked for you, too?" The older one asked.
"Yes she did. Minato-Sensei gave me the order to obey, and so I will, but..."
"But what?"
"I have a question: why do you allow your students to be so disrespectful towards you?"
"Oh, they're not really my students any more, and even before that, I taught them for nearly a year, they were all trained by the three sannin. And they aren't disrespectful, that's how they talk to one another and when they talk to me like that, well, I feel accepted by them. Furthermore, all three of them would kick my ass in minutes if they were serious, and I rather have my pride hurt than my body." Then the older one started to laugh.
"That is disgraceful."
"It can be, sometimes, but we never had much dignity to begin with." The young boy started to chuckle. His older version was weird to him, but he seems genuinely happy, and he couldn't wait to feel that. What his younger version didn't know is, that the worst was yet to come, but the older one smiled at him and walked off to the main hall, where everybody was waiting.
. . .
Sakura sat down and waited for Rin to begin. She took a deep breath. Patience wasn't her strongest trait, but she wanted to give Rin the time that she needed.
"I..." Rin began and Sakura waited again.
"Why him? Couldn't you settle for anyone your age."
"I love him and he loves me."
"He likes that you're young."
"Oh does he now?"
"What else would he like about you. Your skills aren't all that great, you may be resistant to genjutsu, but you can't fight and nobody is a better medic than Lady Tsunade. Everybody knows that, and she is probably still alive in your time. I don't know what you hold against him, but why did you take him from someone his own age?"
"And who would this person be? You?"
"Of course me. I'm his teammate. I've loved him since I was 7, we are meant to be together in love and happy. So leave him alone and allow him to go back to his one true love."
"I thought the same thing about Sasuke, when I was your age. I was blinded by this and don't get me wrong, Sasuke's a good man and I loved him dearly, but Kakashi is my true love and I would like to believe that I am his, but I'm not going to explain or validate my relationship to a child. Is there anything else that I can do for you?"
"Just take your hands off from my future man." Sakura sighed. This was ridiculous. She really hoped that she could get to know this girl, who Kakashi still thinks about a lot. He's in a specific mood when he remembers Rin and Sakura learned to help him over the years, but she was always fascinated about this girl, who stayed in Kakashi's heart even almost 30 years after her death.
The girl that haunts him in his darkest moments. It made her sad, that Rin felt some sort of rivalry towards her. They weren't fighting about a boy, because this fight was already settled. Kakashi was married to her and Rin was dead. Therefore, it just felt insane to even have this conversation, but Sakura made a decision in that very moment. She would not go to the graveyard with Kakashi any more. Rin made it obvious to her, that she is not welcomed in any way, and she wants to commit to Rins wish. Rin felt that Sakura will not react to her in that way.
"Do you know what he looks like to the village when he's seen with you? His student?"
"What do you mean?"
"You make him look like a paedophile that groomed you. He fought hard to be accepted by the village and its ninja after everything that happened with his dad, and you're destroying his image, his reputation. You're-"
A knock on the door interrupted them. Rin immediately stopped talking, and the door opened slowly. It was chunin-Kakashi. Rin blushed even more at the sight of him.
"Am I interrupting something?" he asked cautiously.
"No, I made my point clear." said Rin and walked past him.
"What's wrong with her?" he asked after Rin left the room.
"Never mind her. Thanks for coming. I want to do a quick routine check-up and that will be it."
"Ok, do I need to do something?"
"Just lift your shirt a bit." Kakashi obeyed, and Sakura let her chakra flow through his body quickly. It only took a couple of minutes, then she released him.
"I'll just make some notes, and then I'll come back to the others, but you can go now, or is there anything that you want to know?"
"Actually yes."
"Go on."
"Why me... him?"
"Why is everybody asking me that question. Why not? He's an aloof idiot, who cannot get his shit together even when his life depends on it. Who nearly died at least three times in the last year and who's reading his porn everywhere, but still, when he looks at me or says my name everything makes sense. It doesn't matter how shitty my day was, when he walks into the room, my day brightens up. He is my other half. I can truly be myself around him, and I hope he feels the same about me."
"You are truly in love with me... him..."
"I am, yes."
"Thank you for your time, Sakura." She smiled at him and turned to the little desk in the room after he had left the room. She wrote everything down in her journal. She took a deep breath and walked back to the others.
...
To be continued...
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