Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Fighting to Rest ❯ Dragons First Kiss ( Chapter 1 )

A sweet fragrance woke Sakura from yet another afternoon nap. She took them now because she still had night terrors that made her unable to go back to sleep again. Kakashi had told her that it was fine by him if she set her own sleep schedule. After her third week in his home he had also insisted she drop the honorific. He was `Kakashi' now not `Kaka Sensei.' That made her feel strangely better and more adult then she had been feeling recently.

The sweet smell was incense burning on a small altar Kakashi had set up for his ancestors. Sakura's was right beside it and she humbly bowed her head to pray to the long line of Haruno's and one Uchiha that she considered ancestral spirits in the land of the dead. That done she lit her own incense stick to honor them and quietly got ready to go for her short walk. Kakashi had his own missions to attend to, in the village proper mostly so he could stick around to care for her regenerating mind, and Shino was the one who usually came by to walk Sakura around.

It wasn't Shino who came to walk with her this time. For the first time in months she greeted her father at the door and was fully conscious to talk with him. The Senior Haruno was somewhat concerned that she had not come home yet.

"He says I am almost ready for it Dad, but I think I will have my own place anyway instead of coming home. Donate my junk to the orphans fund ok? I'll come home for the winter festival dinner, most likely with him in tow and then we'll talk some more about it with mom around."

They never spoke about the things that had happened to her. All the people of the village were under strict orders to never discuss those events unless she brought them up herself. Only Tsunande Sama and Kakashi knew all the details down to the last drop of blood. Her father however knew she had summoned the dragon. The Scroll was open he said, on it's glass domed shelf in his office, and her name shone clearly on it.

"Was mom upset? She knows what it takes to make your name stick on that and that part of me did what it took."

Her father shook his head.

"Don't be silly Sakura. Mother's rule for all Ninja in the family has always been a simple one. "Do what it takes to come back alive and the rest be damned." She still believes in that and so do I. You did the best thing you could. It's only unfortunate that… well we'll talk about that later then won't we?"

Kakashi had come around the corner, homing in on her Chakra. A heavier jacket that was black except for the Haruno Circle was held in his left hand. he urged her into it just as the temperature began to drop again.

"The snow will let up in time I suppose but it's starting to get on my wife's nerves." Her dad said to Kakashi.

"Winter is a time for catching up on your rest. Go home and den up the both of you. After this last year everyone can use the extra rest and relaxation."

He was clever and he said the right things when they needed to be said. That was the Kakashi she had come to know in the past weeks. It was now week five. He led her home past the small corner store. When she asked if they could get something different to eat he chuckled, ran a hand through his hair nervously and asked if she didn't like his cooking. She teased right back that she `liked it well enough to have gained three pounds on it thank you very much!'

Laughing they took home some fish and decided to have it fried. Just a little lemon on her fish and she was happy. Kakashi liked to ruin his with tartar sauce. Hey teased each other about their eating habits as they drank their tea, hers was practically syrup with the amount of sugar she put into it, his was six or seven times stronger then average and he drank it with only a small drop of honey in it.

"Oi Kakashi you should just switch to coffee then if you like drinking hot liquids that are strong enough to dissolve metal." Sakura mocked readily. She adopted many of his speech patterns when she was teasing him and he took it and gave back good naturedly as good as he got.

"I'll just put maple syrup in your cup next time and you can dunk your pancakes at breakfast!" His retort came. They laughed. Then they finished off their store bought dessert cakes. It was time fore her Yoga again already. Sakura enjoyed the specially designed stretching routine that Tsunande sama had set out for her. It was easy and fun. Kakashi performed his own version of it "To keep an old man like me limber enough to keep up with you!" He had teased. Somehow Sakura doubted that he would ever have any trouble keeping up with her. He was faster the Sasuke had been and stronger over the long run then Naruto, despite the bursts of fox Chakra that came from inside the blonde Shinobi.

The snows had started turning into sleet instead and the frozen ice coated everything. Sakura skipped her walks in favor of staying inside Kakashi's nice warm house. She merely sent to Tsunande Sama and had her Yoga routine lengthened by about half an hour. It kept her in shape and was actually eating away at those three pounds she had gained because Kakashi was a fry-a-holic who happened to be overly fond of sugary sweets and chocolates.

Her new clothes were all exactly like those inner sakura had worn in front of Kakashi when they were all inside her head. She spoke inside her mind to Inner Sakura often. It soothed her nerves to have this whole other person she could talk to who still understood her perfectly. The time was coming she had been told when she and Inner Sakura would be put back together again. That was the benchmark by which Kakashi gauged her healing. She had honestly told him about talking more to her Inner. Kakashi had shocked her by saying that this was not counterproductive to her treatment but helping it instead.

"I think that when you and your inner become good enough friends then she will become part of you again. That is when I believe you will be who you were meant to be at last."

Sakura woke up in a cold sweat again. Her heart was hammering against her chest. The cool kiss of metal against her skin made her realize that she had something in her hands. Somehow she had ether made the six hundred seals in her sleep or used enough Chakra to drag the Haruno claws back from her mindscape.

Something else felt wrong, then Sakura sensed her housemate out and found out why she was feeling so upset. Kakashi was all the way across town and his Chakra was flaring as if he was in a pitched battle! She did not even think. If Kakashi was defending the town then the others had to be there and so should she!

Scrambling out of bed she set the claws aside long enough to put on her clothes. They were still there when she reached for them to pick them back up. They were gloves with metal talons that sprouted over each finger, encasing the tips before another four inches of blade sprouted from the ends of it and the blade was double sided once the main claw started. Before that a thin blade ran down the back of her hand from each finger before joining at a Haruno circle enameled into he back of each dragon colored glove. Underneath her palms the slender blades also came down from the fingers to disappear plainly into the glove itself. Now open handed slaps weren't just for girls fights anymore.

She was on her way across the rooftops quickly after that. At the gates that led out of town she found the battle raging. Naruto's red foxfire energy was being whipped about like a giant waving a tree trunk club. I t was far more effective though. Even the fastest of the enemies he selected had trouble dodging.

Sakura walked over to a fallen enemy and looked at the forehead protector he wore. No mistaking it, it was Orichimaru's hidden sound that was attacking. Anger welled up and gave force to her otherwise weakening will. She hated the hidden sound and all the evil it represented. Now they were threatening her team again and so soon after Sasuke's loss!

Anger went across and became rage. Blood soaked her vision and she began her attacks. She saw everything through a haze of hate and wrath. At last only Hidden leaf ninja remained standing. She forced herself to see the field of flowers in her minds eye and the rage began to drain away. Kakashi had programmed her to respond that way. She could step to the side of herself and be standing in that meadow at any moment in time. She took a ragged breath and began to seek Kakashi.

He was standing, casually, leaning up against a battle damaged wall. She leaned right beside him and he took her hand in his. He avoided the blades as if he was used to their presence on her hands.

"Doing all right Sakura?"

"Hai and you?"

"Fine now I suppose. I was worried for a minute that I had left you all alone at home. They you showed up and made it rain blood for our enemy. You make your old former teacher proud."

They never looked at each other while they talked after a battle. It was simply not something they would do. You could be with your friends that way and still be alone inside your own head or for Sakura part of a pair inside her own head. Right then her Inner's steady chatter had absolutely nothing to do with the battle that had just passed.

"He's holding our hand! HOORAY! He's holding our (whoa that IS a deadly weapon)hand!"

Sakura didn't bother to remind her Inner that this wasn't the first time. Just as her Inner was Sakura had suddenly become convinced that at last this was the first time Kakashi held it as an adult holds another adult's hand. She was about to be responsible, and suggest they go find Naruto. Just in case he was passed out in a slush pile someplace, when the bouncy Ninja came along supporting a wounded Hinata.

They joined them in leaning up against the wall. It did not escape her notice that they were holding hands as soon as the weight was taken off Hinata's injured leg.

Naruto surprised them all by beginning a healing Jutsu. He spoke softly to Hinata about how he had learned about it from granny Tsunande. What he didn't have to say was what crossed his face anyway. He had learned it because he felt helpless to aid his injured comrades after her kidnapping and eventual recovery. She smiled as he finished and Hinata tried her leg. It was well mended only giving off a few stings by way of complaint. These Hinata bore with a smile to encourage her boyfriend in his learning path.

She was still holding Kakashi's hand. Naruto's eyes met hers and he was laughing. Oh he was hiding it well, something she hadn't thought him capable of, but he was still laughing at Sakura and their former teacher. She smiled serenely and lifted the middle claw in her free hand. The added length of the claw made the classic obscene gesture even more obscene. This broke Naruto's discipline like an egg dropped on the sidewalk of life.

The sound of his laughter brought smiles to the nearby Shinobi. One handed, Sakura managed to make the seals that released the dragon claws. After the twentieth seal they disappeared. Now she held Kakashi's hand comfortably. Finally the long moments that they kept to themselves after battle ended. Kakashi met her eyes with a sparkle in his own that made Sakura blush softly. Younger Sakura would have broke eye contact and turned a brighter pink. Older Sakura smiled and returned the heated look with one of her own. Naruto wasn't the only one who gained some self discipline in the intervening years. She could hold a staring contest with Kakashi all day even if he was a hentai pervert. Just so long as he didn't use his Sharingan to cheat that is.

A week had passed since the battle. An excited and hyper Naruto had swung by to drop off things from her parents. He had babbled about how Tsunande had complimented his excellent execution of the Jutsu he had used on Hinata. Apparently he had used exactly the right amount of Chakra and directed it to exactly where it needed to go. Sakura smiled and told him he had better go home before it got to cold again.

The moment she closed the door she flung her fuzzy bathrobe at her bed and ran to the shower. She had a date that she had better not be slow getting ready for. Admittedly she was right where she needed to be, and her date had to come home to get ready himself. Still being ready before he got home would set a good example. Kakashi needed all the good examples he could get for being punctual.

Kakashi had decided that a little public social behavior would bring her further along in her mental healing. To that end he had offered to go `out on a date' with her to a dance club he knew of. At first she had pointedly refused. When he asked why she had turned around and outright refused to speak to him at all. Finally his reasonable voice had come through.

"I may have been in your head once or twice Sakura. Still I am not a mind reader. Tell me what is so objectionable about stepping out with your former Sensei hmm?"

"It's not for real."

It took him a minute of hard thinking before he came up with, "We are not in my illusionary world Sakura…"

"KAKASHI NO BAKA! IT'S NOT A REAL DATE!"

He blinked several times while he waited to get his hearing back in that ear. Then he had actually blushed. "I…I.." He really had nothing to say to that one right away, so he had bowed semi formally to her and walked out of her makeshift room, moving the screen back into place behind him.

The next day he had come back again. In the crook of his left arm he had a huge paper sack. The contents of his other hand were a mystery because he had it behind his back. The other hand came forward and he dropped to one knee in front of her.

"Please Sakura go with me to the dance club!"

The profusion of red, red roses in his hand was easily several dozen instead of the usual twelve. More offerings came out of the bag. A box of chocolates she knew were expensive, they were the kind her mother got once a year from her father on their anniversary. After that came a bottle of Champaign. An older bottle that looked to be twice the price of the expensive candies if not more. Then he pulled out the ultimate coupe de grace. Chocolate dipped strawberries. They were the kind with swirls of white chocolate that decorated the dipping chocolate. It was real milk chocolate to, not the high wax variety usually used for this kind of confection.

"Only on the condition that you feed me some of those and we share the Champaign. That is my final word on it."

Kakashi had a wicked glint in his eye that made Sakura nervous. Before she could take it back he had pronounced the word of doom. "DONE!" The triumph in his voice was even more scary then the glinting eye.

Kakashi had revealed his own condition on top of her own. She had to wear a blindfold!

"I want to eat some of these things too Sakura. They cost way to much at this time of year for you to not share with me just a little." His teasing voice was back and he was pretending like he had never worn his fierce `victorious ninja' face in front of her.

So it was that Sakura wore the blindfold and Kakashi Sensei fed her a Strawberry. They tasted wonderful. Especially in the middle of winter like it was now. Sakura was partly amused and partly mortified at herself for holding out for treats before doing something that was supposedly in her best interests. It seemed childish now, and once she had eaten the last chocolate then she would apologize!

"Here comes the next one Sakura and it's a special one."

The Strawberry tasted really good. She was about to take the next bite to finish it off when instead someone's lips touched her own! Sakura had gotten faster at thinking on her feet, or in this case on her rear on Kakashi's hearth rug. She swallowed her bite and kissed back.

When the kiss ended a gentle hand tugged her blindfold down around her neck and she met the sparkling eyes of a fully masked Kakashi. He understood all the things in those eyes right then and there no need to think about it. This may have been the first kiss but it would not by any means be the last. The flames behind those mismatched eyes spoke volumes about the fact that next time his mouth might not just be on her mouth but on other parts of her body as well.

{{That's the sequel to Sleeping Awake folks! Look for the next chapter in the Sleeping Awake Saga coming soon! Now Review!}}