What the New Year Brings

I don't care if I sound like a broken record because I mean it: Thank you to everyone who reviewed, faved, alerted, and continues to read this story. You make my day and motivate me to keep going! Thank you! ^_^

Chapter 44-First Goodbyes Are Always the Hardest

"Well this is a bit of role reversal, isn't it?" Kakashi asks as he walks up from behind me and stands close to my side.

"Well, if you can tell Obito about the two of us dating, then I can tell her the good news about our engagement." I smile without averting my eyes from the sand colored tombstone in front of me.

Kakashi puts an arm around my shoulders, pulls me against his side, and gently kisses me on the top of the head.

"Are you sure you didn't just make her roll over in her grave instead?" he asks.

I burst out laughing and quickly cover my mouth with my hand in guilt. In such a setting people are supposed to behave quietly and solemnly, not laugh out loud at the deceased's expense, but when I look up at Kakashi to berate him for making me laugh inappropriately in the first place, I see that his eye isn't creased up the way it usually is when he's smiling.

"Oh my God, you're serious!" I look up at him in disbelief. "Kakashi...you said it yourself: Chiyo-sama didn't have anything against you, it was your father she was after."

"It doesn't change the fact that her greatest enemy's son is going to marry the girl who sacrificed her life for her."

"Yes, but the girl who sacrificed her life for her has had her own life saved several times over by her greatest enemy's son, so all things considered I'd say that everyone's even, wouldn't you? Besides, since when did you start caring about what other people, living or dead, think about us?"

"Good point," he says, his eye creasing upward this time as he smiles beneath his mask. "I think my powers of persuasion might be rubbing off on you."

"I was only stating the facts, Kakashi."

"Which is key to good persuasion."

"Ah...So is that how you got me to say 'yes' to you?"

"I got you to say 'yes' to me because you've been wanting to say 'yes' to me all along."

"A bit presumptuous there, aren't we?"

"Like you said, Sakura, I'm only stating the facts. Besides, I was right, wasn't I? You did say 'yes' to me, after all," he says, quickly ruffling my hair the way he used to when I was younger.

I duck out from under his hand and scowl at him, at a loss for words for a good comeback when a loud, obnoxious voice breaks through the otherwise still morning air yelling "Don't you two ever give it a rest?!" causing Kakashi and me to immediately put an end to our...banter? Lover's quarrel? Foreplay?

"Good morning to you, too, Naruto." I say through gritted teeth, moving my scowl away from Kakashi and to him instead. "And everyone else apparently," I say, my eyes widening in surprise because following close behind Naruto is Yamato, the Three Sand Siblings, and the rest of the convoy that had traveled with us to Wind and is now traveling with us back to Fire.

"You didn't think we'd let you leave without saying goodbye to us first, did you?" Temari asks with a wry smile.

"I wouldn't dream of doing such a thing." I smile back at her as we hug each other goodbye. Then I, as well as the rest of Team Kakashi, proceed to say goodbye to the few people who will be left behind in Wind.

"What're you saying goodbye to me for?" Madam Shijimi asks me suddenly. "I'm going back to Fire with you!"

"You are?!" I ask in shocked unison with everyone else.

"Of course! My husband may be an ass, but he's still my husband. Besides, do you really think I let him leave things the way he did last night?! Believe me, I gave him quite an earful once we were up in our guestroom!" Madam Shijimi says with her arms folded in front of her chest, chin held high, and a proud look on her face.

"She even got him to apologize to Shinri and me first thing this morning. I don't how, but she did!" Hiraku says with a bright smile.

"So does that mean you're coming back to Fire Country with us, too?" I ask Hiraku.

"Oh, no! Like I said before, all I ever wanted was to start a new life with Shinri, so that's what we're going to do...Here in Wind. If we go back to Fire, I just know that my father will do everything in his power to try and separate Shinri and me and we'll never get to truly live our lives in peace. The way things turned out really is for the best, like a blessing in disguise."

"So you don't mind giving it all up then: the wealth, the servants, the power of being born noble?" I ask, surprised by what Hiraku is willing to sacrifice to be with Shinri.

"Well, it's not like I'm going to be giving up everything. Shinri's still working in the royal stables, after all, and-"

"And just because my idiot of a husband doesn't want to help his own daughter financially doesn't mean that I won't! I have control over our finances, too. I made sure of that before I officially married that hard-assed fool. Mark my words, my daughter is never going to live in poverty as long as I'm still around!" Madam Shijimi says emphatically.

We all smile at Madam Shijimi. She isn't the flighty, frivolous woman we had all mistaken her for back when she had hired Team 7 to find her lost cat all those years ago, but apparently we aren't the only ones she had fooled.

"Ma, I really wish I had known this side of you back when I was growing up. I think we would've gotten along so much better! And now that I've finally seen this kickass side of you, you're leaving." Hiraku says downhearted, going over to her mother and giving her a hug.

"Better late than never." Madam Shijimi says, hugging her daughter back. "Besides, I'm not leaving forever. I'll come visit you as often as I can and we can do all the mother-daughter bonding you want then, okay?"

Hiraku says nothing and merely nods her head in her mother's embrace. We soon come to realize that the reason she isn't saying anything is because she's crying and doesn't want to bring attention to that fact. So it's of little surprise that when she finally does speak that her words come out barely above a whisper. "Thank you...for everything." Hiraku tells her mother.

"You're welcome. You know there's nothing I wouldn't do for my only baby," Madam Shijimi smiles softly, lifting her daughter's face up and gently brushing away the loose hairs from her face.

"I'll miss you." Hiraku says sincerely.

"I'll miss you, too." Madam Shijimi says, then kisses her daughter tenderly on the forehead before finally letting her go.

Hiraku looks weakened, like saying goodbye has drained her of all her strength, but thankfully Shinri immediately swoops in and takes Hiraku into his embrace instead.

With her cheek pressed against his chest and her face turned to the side, Hiraku's eyes inevitably fall on Kakashi and me.

"And thank you, Sakura-chan and Kakashi-kun, for being so persistent with Shinri and me in spite of how stubborn we both were. If it weren't for you, Shinri and I wouldn't even be together right now. You taught us that love is no less valid or worth fighting for even when it's not what most people would call conventional, and because of that, you truly changed our lives for the better and we're forever indebted to you." Hiraku says, seeming truly content to be in her true love's arms.

Hiraku's use of informal rather than formal honorifics to address Kakashi and me isn't lost on us...Hiraku no longer considers us as merely ninjas for hire, but as her friends. However, this leaves Kakashi and me in a quandary: So do we dare address her just as informally to show that the feeling of friendship is mutual (because it truly is now)? Or do we still address her as "hime" to maintain our respect for her and prevent accidentally insulting her?

Seeing how she had been the one to start with the informalities, I decide to be brave and go with the former.

"You're welcome, Hiraku-chan. We wouldn't have done what we did if we didn't believe that what you and Shinri had was for real, and once we were convinced that it was, it felt like we had no choice but to protect it. So we're just happy that we were able to help in any way we could and that it all worked out for you both." I smile at her.

Hiraku smiles warmly back, and to Kakashi's and my relief, she doesn't seem offended by the new form of address. In fact, she seems both relieved and pleased that I decided to respond informally in turn, showing that I think of her as a friend as well and not just as a princess to show respect to.

"Well, if you two are ever in need of help, we'll be more than happy to give you ours. It's the least we can do," she tells Kakashi and me.

"Thank you, Hiraku-chan." Kakashi and I smile in thanks.

"Well," Madam Shijimi says with her own big, bright smile on her face, "What are we all waiting for? Let's go home!"

We agree and Kakashi momentarily leaves my side to start gathering up all the camels and servants to get them ready for the long journey. Meanwhile, the rest of us say our last goodbyes: Naruto and Gaara thumping each other on the back with a "man hug," and me finishing my one-sided conversation with Chiyo.

"Don't worry, Chiyo-sama. Kakashi's a good man and we honestly love each other. He'll never purposely hurt me. If anything, he'll only try to protect me. That's just the kind of man he is. We'll be okay, you'll see." I promise her.

After the last servant is seated securely in her seat atop a camel, I watch as Kakashi quickly makes his way back towards me.

"You ready?" he asks.

But before I can answer, a mini dust devil rises up from the ground below our feet, encircles Kakashi and me long enough to briefly play with our hair and clothes, then just as quickly as it came, dissipates back into nothingness.

"That was odd." Kakashi muses, lightly sweeping away the grains of sand that have settled on his clothes and in his hair, but for me the occurrence completely makes sense.

We have her blessing.

I gently caress Chiyo's tombstone one last time, tell Kakashi that yes, I'm ready now, and never look back as Kakashi and I walk away from the graveyard with our arms wrapped around each others waist.

~*~*~*~

It isn't until Hiraku, Shinri, and the Three Sand Siblings are small dots in the distance that I finally decide to say something to Madam Shijimi.

"I'm really impressed, Shijimi-sama. You said goodbye to Hiraku-chan so easily. I was sure that we were going to have to drag you away from her, but you didn't even put up a fight or shed a tear."

"Sakura-chan," Madam Shijimi says solemnly, her eyes looking curiously bright and shiny. "Why do you think I was in such a hurry to leave in the first place? I wanted to get out of there as soon as I could before I changed my mind! I can't believe I just said goodbye to my baby. My ONLY baby!" Madam Shijimi wails, burying her face in her hands and suddenly bursting into tears.

Kakashi and I pass each other a look and he maneuvers our camel closer to hers so that I can pat Madam Shijimi consolingly on the back. I try hard not to laugh...Madam Shijimi has proven herself to be a strong-willed woman, one who should never be messed with especially when she's in all her protective Mama Bear mode glory, but even then one thing remains the same: A mother, no matter how tough she may be, will always have a difficult time in finally letting her child - whom she loves with all her heart - go.

To be continued...

~*~*~*~

This chapter is dedicated to Juniper11 because she figured out 3 chapters ago that I was going to have Madam Shijimi have another talk with her husband for being too harsh with their daughter. I just think it's funny when my readers "suggest" something and it just so happens that I'm already planning to write it exactly that way. Something about like minds thinking alike or it proving that they're paying really close attention the story! :P

Happy Holidays everyone and Happy New Year! ^_^