KakaSaku (Be there)

She sighed. It had been two years now since her parents died, one year since Sasuke.
She didn't know if she still had loved him then, but she was still very sad about his death-
even if she saw how much sadder Naruto had been.
No wonder- Naruto had been the one who got forced to kill him after Sasuke had gotten a lucky hit at Kakashi-sensei
so he crashed into and passed out against a tree.
Also note that the tree also later just "HAD" to fell right over the same sensei so he got stuck there even after he woke up.
Sasuke had been on his way to kill Kaka-sensei with Chidori- the very attack sensei had taught him –
when Naruto came with his rasen-rasengan and killed Sasuke.

It couldn't had been easy to be team 7's sensei now when she thought about it now.
Kakashi-sensei had also told them that they were the first one he had passed.
The first team he ever passed had been the jinchuuriki of the nine tails,
the last Uchiha- later even a betrayer- and herself.
The girl who beat everybody to a pulp if they tick her off and had (still have too) a temper like Tsunade-sama herself.
Nope, definitely not a easy team to deal with.
No wonder Kakashi-sensei had seemed more tired each time she saw him over all these years.

The rain fell down at her and she felt how she got soaked, but she didn't care.
Sakura was on her way to the memorial-stone to visit her parents.
The stone was now in sight, but someone was already there, standing alone in the rain.

What is he doing here?

He didn't seem to notice her, so she quickly masked her chakra at the same time as she focused some in her ears
to hear what he said when she heard him mumble something in the rain.

"It has already been one year. One long year since I failed one more person in my team. This time it was Sasuke.
I… I couldn't even comfort her when she cried, Obito.
She cried and cried, but I didn't even have the courage to give her a hug or say something to comfort her."
The silver-haired man sighed sadly.

"Naruto was sad of course, but I think he took it better than she did.
He was prepared in a whole other level than she was in what would happen."

It seems it's two sides of one story there. I thought Naruto took it way worse than me.

"I guess I failed two of them there. Heh, I PASSED OUT when they needed me the most for gods sake!
I wasn't there for her, and her parents even died the year before Sasuke.
I'm a horrible sensei, am I not Obito?" he continued.

"No, you weren't."
Kakashi spun around. "Sakura…?"

He seemed to be shocked that he hadn't noticed her.

"You weren't a horrible sensei, just a bit unlucky, and you didn't fail us. And…"
She took a few steps forward so she came directly in front of him.

"Most importantly- you were there."
As Kakashi seemed to come out from his shock he shook his head.

"Not? Than whom was it that followed me for months after that Sasuke died?
Who was the one who carried me home after that I fell asleep exhausted
after I had hit and kicked down all the threes in the training grounds?"

It almost seemed like Kakashi got another shock.
"What…? How did you know?"

Sakura sighed.
"I'm 22 years old Jounin, of course I noticed when you followed me everywhere,
and when you carried me home you dropped a few silver hair-strains on me.
How many silver-haired men can you find in Konoha who are able to carry a full grown woman AND knows where I live?"

Kakashi scratched his head.
"Ah, I guess I'm getting old if you're starting to notice me so easily when I actually tried to hide..."

"You're many things sensei, but not old." Sakura told him and gave him a true smile.
"I and Naruto are just getting better."

Kakashi returned the smile. "Well, if you see it in that way it isn't too bad."
But then the smile vanished from his face.

"But I could have done something. You were so sad and couldn't stop crying…"

Sakura understood what he referred to.

"Do you really have to blame yourself for everything Kakashi-sensei!? You had to take care of your own sadness.
You can't take care of others if you don't take care of yourself first."
Sometimes she wondered if he even had allowed himself to grieve properly. Sasuke was one of his students after all.
She took a quick breath before she continued.

"And if that hug is so damn important I can let you give me one now."

For the third time this rainy evening Hatake Kakashi got a shock, despite him normally being so good at hiding his own feelings,
but before he could recover himself from it he felt Sakura embrace him.
It took a few seconds before he was able to return it, and there they just stood for a while in silence.
Both of them soaked from the rain.

Maybe he was the one who needed the hug most of us.

"Sensei?" Sakura asked after what felt like an eternity.
"Hm?"
"I think you need to get inside soon. You must have been here for hours, because it's like I'm hugging an ice-tap.
You'll catch a cold like this."

Chuckling he ended the hug and took a few steps back.

"Well, you aren't that warm yourself. Care to make your sensei company over a cup of tea, coffee or hot chocolate at my apartment?"

Sakura smiled back at him.
"Sure, hot chocolate sounds perfect."

"Good, my apartment is nearby."

"I know. Did you really think I wouldn't want revenge after you stopped to follow me everywhere?" smirked the soaked pink-haired woman.

"I know. And by the way- you dropped some pink hair-strains near my door, and how many pink-haired women can you find in Konoha?"

"Two."

Kakashi got stunned and his jaw dropped.
"Two??"

"Yes, I and my little sister."

"What? You have a…?"

He quickly rummed through his brain. Had he really missed that Sakura has a sister??

"Sensei…" Sakura quickly interrupted.

"Yes?"

"It was a joke. I don't have any sister."

"Oh…" was the only thing he got out.

She could actually hear her sensei sigh in relief and Sakura couldn't help herself and started to laugh.
They walked side by side towards Kakashi apartment.
__________________________________________________________________________________________

:Two days later:

"Sensei, you're late! Again!"

"Sorry Naruto, I got some problems with my nose."

Naruto watched Kakashi in disbelief.
Then Sakura began to laugh so much that she grabbed her stomach.

"What? What's so funny Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked confused.
Sakura faced up and met Kakashi normal eye who looked at her weirdly.

"You DID catch a cold after all, didn't you?"

"Yeach, I kind of did…" Kakashi muttered as answer before he started to sneeze.

Sakura laughed harder, Kakashi sneezed again and became forced to turn around to take his mask of for a moment,
(snot in the mask isn't the healthiest thing in the world) and Naruto just stood there more and more confused for each second.

"What? I don't understand. What did I miss?"