The Lucky and The Strong

Sakura had brought the proof with her, all of it except what had been destroyed by their own hands. Ino wasn't so keen on the idea of having the birth certificate, death certificate, and couple of photographs in her house, but when Sakura told her it was on Kakashi's orders, she couldn't legally refuse Sai learning anything. She just wished it didn't have to take place here.

But it did, and Sai was being very still, even for him. He wasn't just still and quiet like he often was when observing others or absorbing information. No, he was tense. Every line of muscle was deepened, his eyes narrowed as he looked at the papers and photos before him.

"This doesn't prove I'm the other child," Sai said, seemingly calm. "It just proves that there was one."

"Sai," Sakura sat down beside him carefully, "we tested your blood against his multiple times when we first came up with a test that showed a near perfect match. That's why I took that second sample. It was a better one, and Ino found a previous map of Sasuke's DNA. It was a match; identical. You're not just his twin, Sai, you're his exact genetic copy. An identical twin."

Sai looked over to Ino for confirmation, "The child?"

"It's yours only," Ino nodded, her hands resting protectively over her lower stomach. "The DNA blend test was with Sakura's, and we only used Sasuke's blood for that. We needed to know from a medical standpoint how that would turn out."

"Were those orders, or personal decisions?" he asked, continuing to stare at her.

"A bit of both," she answered honestly. "The orders were to get Sasuke's blood to blend perfectly and to do what we could to create a child that had a high chance of awakening or passing on Sharingan gene. It was a personal decision not to bother playing around with yours. Why bother, when you're his brother?"

Sai took a few breaths to calm himself, closing his eyes and forcing his body to relax. "Thank you for telling me truthfully. I already knew."

"But then-!" Sakura and Ino started together.

"These aren't my eyes," he cut them off, looking back at them a bit more sadly now. "Danzo took mine just after the Sharingan first activated in me. He replaced them with those of my brother...the one in my book that you took from me on our first mission together, Sakura. I was still useful enough that he didn't just kill me for them."

Ino reached out to touch his arm, but he pulled away and left the room as quickly as he could without running. The girls just shared a long look before even moving again.

"That's the most emotion," Sakura commented, "that I have seen in him in a long time. The most anger and sadness, anyway."

"I've seen him sadder once," Ino added... "But, Sakura, why do you get to know about Sai when I don't know who you chose?"

Sakura looked at her sharply, "He can't be found out. The whole village would be in an uproar if they knew!"

Ino smiled. "Then that means he's someone important. Possibly a bit older?"

Sakura blushed and looked away. She hated that Ino could guess so easily. "There are plenty of guys our own age that are important enough to cause issues."

"Then why didn't you blush until after I said 'older'?" Ino scooted closer to Sakura on the wrap around couch. "Was Yamato-san being as good of an actor as Sai-kun was last night?"

Sakura balked, "Ino, you know his kekke genkai make him completely incompatible! Besides, he's not...exactly...well he's not ready to be a dad. A protective uncle like Kakashi might be, but not a dad."

"But that's the point, isn't it? It's about the genetics, not the readiness of the father, or us for that matter! So, scratch Yamato... Oh, Kami, please tell me it's not someone like Gai-san!"

Sakura wrinkled her nose at that. "He'd be suffocating me if I even suggested getting samples from him."

Ino looked thoughtful..."Shiranui?"

"No."

"Ebisu?"

"No."

"Raido? Kotetsu? Aoba? I hear he's good with fire techniques, which would make sense."

"No, no, no, and no, Ino." Sakura sighed, getting tired of this already.

"Certainly not Morino-san?" Ino wrinkled her nose.

"Ino, he's not among the tokubetsu jonin, so you can quit while you're ahead with the fact the man's older than we are."

"On to the Jonin, then... Mimura-san, or Mokume-san?"

"Don't know them." Sakura shook her head.

"Okay, too old for you to know about... Ookei? Izumo? Sarugaku-san? Tatami-san? Tobitake-san? Hayase-san? Shimon? Mozuku? Natori-san?"

"None of the above," Sakura waved off the names. "Besides, I don't know half of them anyway as anything more than their stays in the hospital. If that."

"You wouldn't go after our old teacher, Iruka-sensei, would you? He's not bad looking..."

"The requirement was for a person with recessive genes, Ino."

Ino's eyes widened. She had purposefully not mentioned three of the four most likely candidates based on what she knew Sakura's relationship with them was. There were only three of those men. Technically, one was younger than Sakura, but still, Ino had no proof that the man was older than Sakura.

"Naruto?"

Sakura made a face, "He'd be blabbing about it non-stop or doing other things to give it away while we're in Konoha."

"Tenzou has too many dismissing factors... So it has to be Kakashi-sama!" Ino deduced.

"Is that the best you can come up with?" Sakura questioned. "Sure, there'd be problems with that scenario, but there's others, too. So will you please back off?"

And there was the break in her pattern. She had asked a question. "Oh. My. Kami!"

Sakura's expression fell into dread. Ino had got it.

"You used our own Hokage!" Ino asked, eyes wide. "That's much bolder than anything I'd ever thought of...but...it does make sense. He can control a full blown Sharingan well and has no known kekke genkai of his own, not to mention very recessive genetics governing his coloration and other features... He actually agreed to do this for you?"

"Ino, please," Sakura sighed, dropping her face into her palms, "you know he and I have become close friends. It's bad enough I think Kotetsu believes there's something more going on just because Kakashi was at my house when you and Shizune and Shikaku all sent him looking for us."

Ino pounced on that day, too, "But isn't there? Sakura he brought you that flower. Before that, he went through enemy territory pretty much alone to get you. He went through that same territory with you as a burden and absolutely nobody to watch his back. Most other people would have just killed you and destroyed your body so that the enemy couldn't have it, and then they would have gotten the hell out on their own. Standard orders, Sakura, that he came up with. He broke those orders for you. He likes you as more than a close friend.

"See, Naruto is a close friend to you," Ino continued, "and Tenzo-san and Sai-kun are good friends. Kakashi likes you, but he's too hung up on protocol to tell you! Oh this is so great! Do you think he'll let you get it yourself for the next try?"

Sakura wrinkled her nose, looking back up in disgust, "NO! Besides, I told you already. I'm not going to try again. We've got Sai ready and willing to fuck you at every turn, remember? That leaves me free to focus on healing up to get back on the battle field. Where I belong."

Ino moved over by her side, somber again, "but what happens if you don't get back on the field, Sakura? What happens if you never recover enough?"

"I will recover enough to work through the rest," Sakura replied. "Lee was brought back from being crippled. Sasuke was brought back from Itachi's illusions before he even knew how to work them himself. I can be brought out of both situations. Besides, if all else fales, I can always ask Lee for his free time to train, right?"

"He'll make more moves on you."

"Terrible ones."

"Just... promise me you're not still waiting for Sasuke? I really do think you have plenty enough people here that can take very good care of you...or that you can take very good care of depending on the situation," she ended with a giggle.

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Sakura didn't even look up when he entered. She was dozing off in her chair, medical book open in her lap. One hand held a light blanket up to her collar bone, while the other peeked out to lay on top of the pages of the book. Her mouth hung open as she snored lightly, the lamp light catching a little bit of drool starting to form in the corner of her mouth.

Either she was that exhausted, or she trusted his presence that much.

The very fact that she hadn't stirred at all, and remained peacefully asleep-truly asleep and not faking-sent a little shiver down his spine. She had always known when he was coming before, and she would always try to tidy up a little the moment she felt his presence headed her way. This had to be the first time since her father's death that anybody was able to do this.

"Sakura-chan?" Kakashi called gently, still frozen in the door way just in case she woke up in a fit and threw something at him. Reaction time was a must, and the closer he was to her, the less time he'd have to dodge. That book looked especially heavy.

"NARUTO!" Sakura shot into an upright position, breathing quickly turned heavy and fast, eyes widened, fists clamped as she attempted to take a long L stance. She promptly slipped thanks to the cast and fell into the splits instead. "AAH!"

Kakashi was at her side instantly, not waiting for her to realize where she was. He pulled her into his arms and helped her get her legs together again on the floor, talking softly the whole time. "Sakura-chan, calm down. Slow down. Wake up."

She was crying, clinging to his shirt and shaking. "Don't let them take Naruto! Please! Please, don't! Kakashi, don't let them take him away, too!"

He was confused. Too? Who else had been taken? He'd think on that later. Right now, she needed to calm down. "Nobody's taking Naruto away from you, Sakura. He's safe. You protected him well."

"Are you sure?" she looked up at him, clearly out of it. "Where are we?"

"We're at your place," Kakashi replied. "Remember?"

She looked around, very out of her element, "No... my head hurts..."

Kakashi frowned. "When I came in, you were snoring in your chair. You looked relaxed."

Sakura shook her head, not believing it, "No. No, that's not true. I was with you and Naruto near Suna..."

His frown deepened. The last time that all three of them were together near Suna was two years ago. "Sakura, I'm going to get one of your short-bags, and we're going to get you to the hospital, alright? Your head-ache isn't good."

"Mmh, just give me some aspirin or something first. It's more than my head. Everything hurts...even my soul..." she replied, looking down at her casted, left leg in confusion. "When did this happen?"

"Now do you believe me?"

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Seizures.

That was her diagnosis. She must have had one not long before he walked through the door, but not one violent enough to kick her out of the chair.

Hearing this, Kakashi knew that he could never put Sakura into the field again. She wouldn't want to hear it. She would try to convince herself it was a side-effect of the poison that did nothing other than change her chakra production. The real truth was, her brain itself was damaged. And now...that damage would only be getting worse every time she had a seizure. Eventually, she might even end up with full blown episodes which would wear down her joints significantly.

Sakura was adamant, however, that it would resolve itself. IF they could reverse the poison. She was sure that was the trigger for the whole thing. Kakashi wasn't so sure. The examiner was certain that the damage wasn't wholly due to that, but only a very small percent. Something else had happened. But, could Sakura remember it if the damage erased the memory before it could be fully stored? Not likely.

Nor would she be allowed to operate on patients ever again. No use of tools other than chakra would be acceptable via hospital rules.

"Don't look at me like that," Sakura practically begged when she realized what was going on behind his eyes. "I probably took a good knock to the head before you got to me out there, and it just took this long to manifest a reaction. It will heal over time like with any other civi. I've seen this before."

"I'm sure you have," Kakashi replied, sitting down on the side of her hospital bed... a place she had oh so recently managed to escape. "You have a year yet to prove to me that-should everything else be resolved-this will have at least started to heal on its own. If not... I cannot allow you to continue as a kunoichi in the field. Your only real option as a ninja will be to teach at the academy."

"I know, and... I meant to ask you about that. Would it be alright for me to make some extra money being a sub at the academy for a while?"

That threw him off. She was really going to ask about that? She really just did? "I know of two teachers looking to take their vacations soon. I believe you could fill in for one durring his week, and then the other immediately following that for his vacation."

Good. This way, if things didn't work out, she'd at least have her foot in the door. "What age ranges?"

"First years on the second class, and near-graduates on the first. Do you have preferences or something?"

"No, just curious as to what you're wanting to put me through," she smiled lightly at him. "Kami, why does everything hurt so much? When did we get to the hospital?"

Bad, bad side effects. "You really don't remember what we were doing yesterday, do you?"

"We were in Suna-"

"No, Sakura," he cut her off. "We were going to discuss whether or not you told Sai the truth."

"We're not even sure his will work yet," Sakura whispered. "We have no reason to tell him anything yet! Why are you asking me this?"

It really, really hurt him to think on it. He remembered every detail of finding her bleeding out into the mud and rushing her home again, remembered the fact that she lost the baby, she was raped, beaten, and her chakra flow broken to pieces. She didn't remember anything at all from the past two years. Except... she was about three months behind now... so things were starting to come back together for her. Quickly, but for how long until the next mini-reboot? How many mini-reboots would there be before it all stuck together? Would it all stick together again before the next episode?

"Sakura-chan, I know you won't believe me, but it's your birthday today," he said, giving her a bit of perspective. "Your twenty-third."

Her eyes widened. That should have been nearly a year away yet! "What? Why don't I remember up to now, then?"

"You had a seizure," he explained. "You've recently suffered a lot, including blunt force trauma to the head, massive blood loss, chemical assault, miscarriage, broken leg... and rape. The physical trauma would account for the seizure. The seizure or the realization of the rape could account for the memory loss. Most likely the seizure."

Her breathing was rough, anger all over her face. "Who the hell had the power to do something like this to me?"

"The company Sasuke keeps these days, of course," he reminded. "I have to go home before Shizune decides to imprison me here for a full exam of my own. I'll check in on you in the morning when they release you."

She watched as he stood and walked towards the door before she called after him. "You saw me, didn't you?"

"Hmm?" he looked over his shoulder.

"Beaten," she semi-clarified.

"I still have the clothes with your blood on them."

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He didn't like explaining why he kept a box of bloody clothes sitting in a storage compartment three blocks down from where he lived, but it did have to happen on occasion.

It may have been only superstition when Minato relayed the warning to him, but Kakashi had found himself living by it. If he burned clothes that had a wounded, but still living person's blood on them, said person would die within a day. If he did not burn the clothes of someone who did die of their wounds within a day of their death, he would die in a manner somehow related to what killed the blood's owner. This was only true of allies. If it were enemy blood, it wouldn't matter one way or another. If there were many people's blood, he was safe as long as one of them still lived.

Each event's ruined clothes were placed in their own plastic bag, dated, and labeled with the names, dates, and places of who, when, and where the clothes were bloodied.

However, on the other side of that small room was another pile of plastic containers, much smaller than the bags he used on his clothing. These were full of the ashes of previously burnt clothing.

As he re-checked the names on the bagged side, Kakashi made a special stop at one set of burnt clothing. Inuzaka Rin was the name, and the date of burning followed directly underneath, nine years ago this very day. Sakura's birthday, too.

He didn't have anything to lay at her memorial site, or even a present for the living young woman.

He wasn't sure either woman really wanted his company right now. After all, Rin had died due to miscarriage, and Sakura had just gone through one herself due to the fact that Kakashi hadn't been there to watch her back... both of the babies having his DNA. It just wasn't right. It hurt too much to think about giving any gifts this time of year, which was precisely why Sakura hardly ever got any birthday presents from him, and why he couldn't make the one and a half block trip from the main memorial stone with Obito's name on it to the little one he'd set up nine years ago near the Inuzaka compound for his one time wife.

He usually asked Obito to carry messages for him.

"Hatake-sama?" a male voice called out through the aisle of storage spaces. "The gateman said you were here, so you might as well stop hiding and come on out."

Yeah, he should have listened when Tsunade said this place wasn't a safe hiding spot. Well, he probably couldn't even hide these things from the man ordering him around right now.

"I'm over here, Inoichi-san," Kakashi called out to the older man, stepping outside and locking the door behind him before Yamanaka Inoichi could get a good enough look at what was inside. "What's up?"

"You are needed in the office," Inoichi informed him. "You've been needed there for the past three days."

"I have other priorities at the moment," Kakashi shrugged. "My friend is in need of someone to look after her."

Inoichi was not amused, "Ino-chan has been doing that. Not you."

Kakashi sighed, then looked over the older man with a bit of hesitation, "I know you have to have some knowledge about Ino-chan's past year's work with Sakura-chan. Am I correct?"

"I skimmed some papers that she immediately ripped away from me a few months ago. I read enough to know they were looking at male candidates compatible with Uchiha Sasuke's DNA," Inoichi answered, looking a bit angry. "Don't tell me you've ordered my daughter to start working on the same things Orochimaru was. If you have, I'll see to it you won't leave Konoha alive."

Kakashi smirked and lightly shrugged. "I'm sure you'd find someone capable of taking me out, but the real question is whether or not they'd want to."

"Kakashi-" Inoichi warned.

He straightened up and met the older man's eyes, "She is working on only one thing Orochimaru started, and then stepped away from. It wasn't going to lead him down the path to his ultimate goal, so he let it be, but it still is useful to the council, and to me. I ordered her to find a way to tie Sasuke's genetics into two kinds of male's sperm and find someone willing to go through with a pregnancy if she could successfully create a viable embryo. With this we hope to bring back the Sharingan as a weapon of Konoha's people, not just my last resort techniques."

Inoichi's expression softened a bit, but then became confused. "Why didn't she go ahead and tell me this?"

"All test subjects were to be kept totally anonymous, even from one another. Not even their families were to get a hint that anything was going on. Each girl was to already have a stable relationship or have a lifestyle that could lend itself to accidental pregnancy so that their friends and family didn't catch on to anything out of the ordinary going on."

"You're saying she chose herself to be one of them," Inoichi asked, his voice hardened. "That my daughter is trying to get pregnant by someone other than that boy called Sai? Is this true?"

Kakashi chose not to answer that just yet, "Sakura-chan was working with her, and she chose to be the second female subject. They managed to create viable embryos with their own eggs, and the altered sperm of two trusted males. Interestingly enough, however, Ino chose not to use the one she created. She is already pregnant by Sai himself."

Inoichi took that a bit easier than Kakashi was expecting to happen. "I had suspected as much. But... This does not tell me why you get to stay out of the office for so long. Sakura accepted the mission that brought her back in that shape. If she left knowing she was pregnant, it's her own damn fault that-"

"I didn't give her the choice on whether or not to take the mission," Kakashi cut him off. "I also hadn't been informed yet that she had already implanted the embryo. I did the same thing to her that I did to Rin."

"Kakashi," Inoichi stepped closer to the younger Hokage, "I know what you felt about loosing her, but Sakura is not Rin, and her baby-if it took-wasn't yours. Besides, she's going to be alright. Ino is working very hard on getting the poison reversed. You are needed to help run this village, not sulk over something that happened years ago. I'm sure her boyfriend is happy you were able to bring her back home as well as you did."

Kakashi shook his head. "She used mine. The baby was my baby. And, she's gotten worse. She's having seizures, memory jumbles and even lapses. And I... Just before I received Sai's emergency message, I was about to ask her to dinner... and then to marry me. So, you see... It's almost exactly what I did to Rin... Gave her my sperm, gave her a baby I didn't know about until after she was in harm's way, and damn near killed her even though a couple weeks before I was going to propose to her. The only difference is that Rin died loosing the baby. Sakura wasn't far enough along to make a miscarriage as big of an ordeal."

Inoichi looked on him with kinder eyes now. "I'm going to ask you something very delicate, Kakashi. Answer it wisely. Should you have not needed to send her away, would she have accepted your proposal?"

"Hmm?" Kakashi asked, not sure which woman he meant.

"Would Sakura have accepted without hesitation?" Inoichi asked.

Kakashi nodded, "I believe so. We practically live at each other's homes, and she's mentioned preferring my surname to hers many times."

"I know you weren't intimate. Ino would have siad something if you were."

He got the gist. "No, not sexually. We've flirted and made out infront of Naruto to tease him about not knowing a thing about being with a woman, but... that bit of teasing was as far as things went."

"But you were intimate on other levels?"

"Inoichi, why are you prying like this?" Kakashi asked, irritated. "All I can tell you is what I believe she would have done. Sakura can't be read by past experiences or her looks anymore. It's been a very long time since any of us could predict her with a hundred percent accuracy. You know this."

Inoichi took a breath. "Well... You said she's had memory trouble because of seizures, correct?"

He nodded.

"What if we just tell a little lie to the rest of the council to cover your ass for hovering over her like this? If you're mostly sure she would have agreed, and she won't remember you not asking her to marry you..."

"It would also cover for the pregnancy hormones should anyone come asking," Kakashi finished, understanding. "In the mean time, I just don't even mention it to her. It wouldn't be out of my character to try and win her over a second time, would it? Without telling her that we had been engaged, I mean."

"It worked with Ino's mother, and I only did it because your father told me to try it. I think it'll work just fine for you," Inoichi smiled at him. "I'll go tell the council of your...confessions to me. Then I'm going to have a word with my daughter and her child's father."

Kakashi went to thank the man with a nostalgic salute, but the Yamanaka Clan leader was already gone.

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Morning came, and Kakashi was actually on time for Sakura's release... three hours after it stopped being morning. The hospital was back-loged with patients, and Sakura understood fully well why it took so long to get to her. After all, despite her high status with the hospital itself, her medical needs weren't as great as many of the others currently admitted.

And he brought something in a brown paper bag.

"Close your eyes, Sakura," he instructed.

"Eh? Why?" Sakura asked, confused.

"Do you want to know what's in here, or not?" he teased, lifting the bag. "Close your eyes and open your mouth."

Still a little wary, she did as she was told. Feeling the pressure of something a little sticky on her lips and tongue, she bit down cautiously, hoping not to bite Kakashi's fingers.

"Keep your eyes closed until you recognise it," Kakashi instructed.

She already had the instant she bit down. First sweet, honey covered rice, and then sour, salty fruit. She opened her bright eyes to him, happily declaring, "Honey and rice covered umeboshi!"

"Happy belated birthday, Sakura-koi," he told her, slipping into calling her what he wanted instead of what he was generally allowed. However, it worked to start the hint dropping about his feelings towards her.

And, it seemed she caught on, "And what kind of a date is this a precursor to, then? If you're going to call me that and feed me one of my favorites, you'd better have a date planned out! Don't you dare leave it at this!"

"Well, now that you mentioned it, I do have something waiting for us about a mile out of Konoha."

"A mile!" she balked.

"Don't worry, I'll be transporting us both. I've got a couple clones waiting to be replaced with you and I," Kakashi lifted his hands in social defense, then thrust the rest of the umeboshi at her. "Here, take these until we can legally take you off hospital grounds."

Sakura dug in to the rest of the first one, snatching the bag from Kakashi's hand in the process. Then she asked around a full mouth, "O at is e atch?"

"Stop trying to talk like Naruto. It's hard enough to understand him," he teased.

She swallowed and paused in her eating just long enough to clarify, "So, what is the catch?"

He wanted to say something on the lines of the catch hopefully being her, but that wouldn't do. "No work. No talk of work. Just two people enjoying one another's company for however long I can keep you from worrying about anything, or until someone brings something to me that just can't wait another second."

"And," she chewed on, "how many people know where to find us?"

"Just us."

Sakura smiled brightly. "I knew there was a reason I still hang out with you these days, Kaka-sensei."

Kakashi let her see his whence at that. "Do we really have to stick with that, Sakura-chan?"

"As long as you keep calling me chan, I will keep calling you sensei."

"Time before last I called you koi."

"Which is why I made you explain what you've got plans for."

The door opened before he could cuss at her for that one, admitting an elderly nurse with a wheel chair. "All of your paperwork is finalized, Sakura-chan. You're free to get as far away from this place as you wish for the next few days. Shizune doesn't have you scheduled for the next five."

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Stretched out across the quilt next to her empty plate, Sakura watched as Kakashi napped on the other side of the food. Or, at least, he was pretending to nap. He did look peaceful, and tired, just not asleep. It was amazing that he relaxed so much around her. She didn't know it was possible to see him so still and not calculating his next move in a fight, or how to slip away unnoticed. Right now, he was just there, in the moment, calm, relaxed.

He could feel her eyes on him. Good, she was staring. Kakashi suppressed a smirk. She'd see the shift in his mask if he let it slip out. He decided to see if he could gage her reaction to a little flex and stretch, a show off of muscle left open to the world by his sleeveless shirt.

Sakura watched intently as Kakashi shifted, lifting his hips to untuck his shirt, cross his wrists to pull it up over his head, taking his mask away with it. She knew she'd seen his face several times before, but never in the open like this, never somewhere he might be caught. Of course, as she thought on it a bit more, watching his stomach rise and fall with his slow, steady breaths, the possibility of getting caught was half the fun. She didn't know who this bare chested show was for, or if he really was just getting more comfortable, but she decided she liked it. She liked the soft, silver hair on his arms and chest, the thin little trail that went down his sternum, around his belly button, and down below his belt, promising more below. It was a mystery to her how the man's hair could be so uniform in color.

"That isn't...natural...is it?" Sakura couldn't help but ask.

"Hmm?" Kakashi looked over at her. "What?"

"Your hair color. It's uniform but for a couple grey hairs here and there. No darker anywhere else?"

He gave her a half grin, "Do you want to look or something?"

The look on her face was priceless, making him chuckle a bit.

"You are such a pervert!" she smacked him across his left bicep.

"It's natural, Sakura," he told her, massaging his arm where she'd left a pink spot with her fingertips. "It's a visual marker of my genetic heritage just as much as the Hyuuga are born with white irises, and the Akimichi are large. My family has its own clan techniques and kekke genkai. Not many of us ever activate it, but the moment we do, all our hair grows silver-white from then on."

Sakura absorbed that information, and thought it over carefully, "Then you lied to me when you said you fit what I was looking for in the experiments."

He frowned. "Remembering better now, huh? Yeah, I lied. However, it's Hatake blood that allowed Sasuke to be a lightning type in the first place. You know very well that families share similar groupings of chakra types. One of my grandfather's cousins was Sasuke's grandfather. My genetics would suit your needs without interfering kekke genkai. I'm actually still waiting to see if Sasuke possesses the ability to activate the Hatake secrets or not. If he does... I'll have to start working with it again."

"Why did you stop?" she questioned, letting go of her anger at him over the lie.

"I stopped so that I could maintain and develop the sharingan. It takes far too much to use both of them even in training. If I go back to my bloodline, I will have to give up the Sharingan completely for at least a week first, and then not pick it up again until dropping my bloodline for a week. Although, I would last longer in a fight and not have as great a drain on my body afterwards."

"Then what's the downside of letting go of the sharingan?" Sakura prodded farther.

"I might go to it without even thinking, overexert my chakra in only a few seconds and drop dead a minute later," he said. "Sasuke might not have that problem considering he's been born naturally to both, but I have Hatake and a little bit of Sarutobi three or four generations back."

Sakura's eyes went wide. That was a lot of information to take in. "And the council hasn't ordered you to get hitched and start making babies yet?"

Well... "I did try. Twice."

"Are you counting my...experience... as one of them?"

Kakashi nodded.

"And the first time was?"

"Rin." came his quick, whispered reply.

"Oh..." Sakura reached over to lay her hand on his.

He smiled softly at her gesture. "Now do you understand, Sakura? Now do you understand why I don't open up to women? I'm why your cousin died, Sakura. She was pregnant before we left, but we didn't know. Things were getting rough back here, and we were ordered back, bot of us. I wrote to the Hokage explaining her condition, but he would have none of it. We were attacked, and her body decided to make her have the baby right then and there. It hadn't turned yet...so... he got stuck, and...she bled to death. In my arms."

Sakura shoved her plate and everything else between them away so that she could be near him and just hold him to her. She could see the pain in his eyes as he spoke, locked onto her face as if pleading for something...anything to make it alright. He was so open and honest with her that she didn't know what else to do. Sure, he'd shown her more over the past few years, he'd shown them all more, but this was so much more personal that anything had been before.

"That's... Why are you sharing this with me?" she asked, holding him tightly. "What makes you trust me so much?"

"Because I think I'm in love with you," he answered honestly, telling her sooner than he'd anticipated. Why? She was so soft, so comforting, even though she was in worse shape than he'd seen her in a very long time, probably the worst ever, yet she was here with him, comforting him, holding him like a lover would a crying partner. He didn't even have to let her see him cry for her to know how much he hurt inside, how frightened he was for her... Did she realise that he was off because of how deeply it hurt to see her this way?

"Seeing you like that, knowing that you lost the baby, right there in my arms... I realised how much I need you in my life." She loosened her grip when he propped himself up on an elbow to look down at her, "Do you think you could give me a chance, Sakura, to make you feel loved and wanted? Give me the chance to treat you like a woman first, then a Kunoichi and medic?"