What the New Year Brings

Chapter 42-The First Night They Don't and the Promise That They Always Will

Come what may

I will love you

Until my dying day

- from "Moulin Rouge"

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I fall into bed, relieved to finally lay down and stretch out my sore, aching body. It's been such a long, taxing day both physically and emotionally.

At the end of the bed, Kakashi pulls off his hitai-ate, jounin flak vest, and sandals. When he's stripped down to nothing more than his boxers, he plops heavily down onto the bed next to me and lets out a big sigh of relief, grateful as I am to finally rest.

Because of the sudden weight of his body and the dip of the bed (and the fact that I'm just used to it by now) I automatically turn onto my side and curl up against him, pillowing my head on top of his chest so that I can feel his every breath as it rises and falls, and hear the life beating inside of him.

Kakashi lifts his head up from his pillow long enough to give me a long, lingering kiss on the crown of my head before letting his own head plop unceremoniously back down onto the pillow. Then, he wraps one arm supportively around my shoulders while his other hand absentmindedly rubs against the bare arm I've wrapped around his waist.

Every inch and ounce of my body is screaming for me to just go to sleep, but after several minutes of listening to Kakashi's steady breaths and heartbeat, my relentlessly wide awake mind wins out.

"Kakashi?..." I ask softly.

"Mmm..." he grunts, and when I lift my head up from his chest to look at him, I see that both his eyes are already closed.

"Kakashi..." I repeat, "I'm worried."

He slowly cracks one dark eye open to look up at me.

"About what?" he asks.

"The way things turned out today."

The look in Kakashi's eye softens.

"Don't be," he says comfortingly. "Everything will work out. You'll see. As long as Hiraku and Shinri are together-"

"Kakashi, it's not them I'm worried about, it's us."

"Oh!" he says, his eye widening in surprise. "How come?"

"Well, the way Hiraku's dad reacted, it was so..."

"Scary?" Kakashi offers.

"Yes." I agree. "And I'm worried about how things will turn out when I tell my parents about us. I mean, what if my father reacts the same way as Hiraku's? What do we do then?"

"Sakura, even if your dad reacts as badly as Hiraku's, that won't stop me from wanting to stay with you. If anything, it would only make me want to fight for you and prove myself to him even more. If you haven't noticed, I'm in this relationship for keeps," he smiles, and not just with his eyes, but with the corners of his mouth pulled up to the creases of his cheeks...A true smile.

"Thank you." I smile back at him, then gently lay my head back down on his chest. With my eyes closed and body lax, I feel my awareness of the waking world slowly start to slip away...

"Great. Now I'm worried." Kakashi says, jolting me back to reality.

I lift my head back off of his chest to look at him blearily.

"About my dad's reaction?" I ask.

"No, your reaction."

"My reaction?!" I ask, fully awake now. "What do you mean?!"

"So let's say your dad does react as badly as Hiraku's. What then? Are you willing to stay with me even if your own father disowns you?"

My heart suddenly feels as heavy as lead. I was always "Daddy's Little Girl" and the thought of my dad never wanting to see me again or speak to me again...It'd be like my best friend turning his back on me.

"I'm honestly not sure what I'd do in that situation." I confess.

Kakashi looks crestfallen.

"BUT what I am sure of is that I love you. No one loves, cares, and protects me the way you do. From the very beginning, it was always you, before I even knew it myself. And if my father disowns me like Hiraku's father disowned her, then I'll just have to learn to live with it because I'm not leaving you." I say firmly. "I'd prefer not to have to chose one man's love over another's, but like Hiraku, I want to live my life the way I see fit. Doing what my father asks might make him happy, but only at the cost of my own happiness. It may be selfish, but I can't do that to myself...or to you."

"'Love conquers all,' eh?" Kakashi says with a smirk.

"No, that's a bit much," I admit, "But it's an undeniable fact that we go to extreme lengths for it. The way I feel about you is no different."

Kakashi smiles back at me with an amused look in his eye.

"What?" I ask confused.

"If I wasn't so freakin' tired, I'd make crazy love to you right now!" he says.

I laugh.

"I feel the same way! Bright and early tomorrow morning instead?"

"Before the sun even comes up." Kakashi agrees.

So I lay my head back down on Kakashi's chest, and he wraps his arm back around my shoulders, the two of us just happy to be in each others embrace because, after all, you don't have to make love every night, especially when you know you have many more nights...mornings...days...(you get the idea) to do so, and finally we fall asleep, at peace with the knowledge that, come what may, no one can ever stop us from staying together or loving each other.

To be continued...

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youtube.com/watch?v=Sq-_9lOCyu4