What time did to us chap 6

VI. None other than …



"Was that Jiraya-sama, one of the Sanin?"

After team Jiraya had disappeared from their sight, Kakashi and Sakura continued on the road to the academy. But since the little girl was way too curious she couldn't help but ask. The Copy Ninja, who affirmed her assumption right away, was deep in thoughts since he realized that he indeed hadn't seen Jiraya for a very long time. He wondered why. But to be honest he knew exactly why. It was the same reason why he hadn't seen any of his other friends for the past years. Ever since his bond with  Sakura had been torn apart Kakashi tore the bonds to everyone else apart, too. Back then he hadn't considered it worth to keep those bonds if the one true bond to his girlfriend had been destroyed.

If Sakura hadn't pulled a little at his trousers, Kakashi wouldn't have noticed that they had already arrived at the academy. He stopped right in front of the entrance and looked down only to see that Sakura hesitantly let go of his trousers in order to take a step backwards. She looked up smiling brightly and thanked him for taking her there.

"You're very welcome, my lady," Kakashi teased her again only to receive the cutest blush and shy smile on earth. But as quickly as that blush appeared on her cheeks it disappeared just as fast, when there was a girly voice coming from behind Sakura.

"Hey, Forehead! Haven't we told you that acting cute is worthless for you? With your huge forehead there is no chance for you to ever be cute."

Kakashi and Sakura glanced at the entrance of the academy, where a class of pupils was coming out with the noisy girl in front of them as if she was leading the class. As Sakura turned to Kakashi again, he could see that she was extremely uncomfortable and obviously afraid of that girl.

"Emi! Haven't I told you at least a hundred times that you mustn't tease Sakura?" A voice shouted from behind the class.

Kakashi looked up to see Iruka coming up from behind the class, but he stopped dead in his tracks as he saw the Copy Ninja. The academy teacher didn't even hear the apology from the girl named Emi, who didn't even regret her accusation.

"Kakashi," Iruka said truly surprised "What are you doing here?"

Kakashi nodded once which was his way of greeting somebody and answered him.

"I accompanied Sakura today," he shrugged.

"Forehead needs a babysitter while her parents are gone! And you want to be a kunoichi someday? How will you do that if you can't even take care of yourself?" Emi ridiculed Sakura once again.

"Emi! -" Iruka started, but Kakashi raised his hand in order to stop him from going on. The Copy ninja got on his knees in front of Sakura and smiled brightly at her. Her frightened expression turned into a puzzled one.

"Well," he started so that everyone could hear him "I hope you'll have a nice day in school, Sakura. And as I told you before…if anything should happen to you, I want you to tell me right away because I will make sure that the thing which is bothering you will disappear from the world in the most painful way possible."

Although Kakashi was smiling like the most innocent angel, the threat in his words wasn't misunderstood by the girl who this murderous intend was directed to. Each pupil turned complete white as a ghost and their mouths dropped to the floor. Emi showed the same symptoms and on top of that she started to sweat pretty much. Even Sakura was surprised by his words, but she was endlessly grateful to the Copy Ninja so that she stepped forward and hugged him tightly cuddling with him for the blink of an eye before she let go of him again.

"Thank you," she only moved her mouth, but he understood her nonetheless.

"Eh…okay. Let's get going, everyone!" Iruka announced and the class started walking down the street, where Kakashi and Sakura had come from a few minutes ago.

When almost everyone passed by the Copy Ninja - keeping a healthy distance to him - Naruto came towards Kakashi and Sakura.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei! Hello, Sakura-chan!" His smile widened as he looked at the pink haired girl.

Kakashi only nodded at the young boy smiling down at him and Sakura greeted him relieved that there was at least one in her class who liked her.

"Sakura, Naruto, let's go," Iruka said.

Both of them nodded in agreement and followed their classmates, but not before Sakura turned around again to wave goodbye at Kakashi. The Copy Ninja raised his hand and waved back realizing that it was somehow uncomfortable to be apart from that little girl.

"Where are you going with them, Iruka?" Kakashi asked the Chunin, who was about to go away, too.

"To the Hokage monument. Yondaime has agreed to tell the pupils a little bit of the history of Konoha."

"Well, have fun," Kakashi had nodded once again, before he turned around himself and started to walk down the street opposite from the direction he had come from.

The silver haired man didn't recognize where his feet had led him until he was in front of a very familiar house. A house which he hadn't seen from inside since that fateful day six years ago. He thought about just going away again, but he needed to know if what he had been suspecting was true or not.

Kakashi knocked three times in a row.

A few seconds passed until the door was opened.

The woman in the threshold gasped as she saw who was standing in front of the door.

"Kakashi," Kushina didn't hide her surprise at all.

"Hi, Kushina-san. How are you?" Kakashi asked faking a smile. He hated doing small-talk.

"Fine, thank you. Would you like to come in?" She offered politely.

"Yes, I'd like to. Is Minato-sensei at home?" The Copy Ninja asked as he entered the house.

"Yes, he is," Kushina answered and led him to the living room, where Minato sat on the sofa reading the newspaper.

Kakashi smirked under his mask, as he saw his sensei. 'He completely forgot-' were his only thoughts.

"Minato," Kushina tried to get his attention "You have a visitor."

The Hokage looked up from his newspaper to Kakashi and it seemed as if he knew exactly why the Copy Ninja had come here.

"Kakashi," he greeted grinning at the Copy Ninja "To what do I owe the honor of your visit?" He gestured for Kakashi to sit down at the chair opposite of himself, which the silver haired man did.

Before Kakashi could ask what he came here for, Minato asked Kushina to make some tea for them. She nodded once glancing at Kakashi and then she went into the kitchen to boil some water.

As Minato looked at Kakashi with those knowing blue eyes, a very painful memory crawled into Kakashi's mind.


Everything was meaningless without Sakura.

"Kakashi", a low voice said behind him.

Minato stood behind him. He was totally covered in blood - his own as well as his enemy's blood.  

"You have to believe Sakura. You'll meet her again, I guarantee it", he told him calmly.

"How? She is dead", Kakashi's eyes were dry again, but his voice shaky.

"No, she is alive and very healthy. You know, there are many things we have to talk about, my son. Take Sakura with you and follow me back to the village", Minato helped him to stand up and walked towards Konoha with every ninja following him.


And another one.


Minato crossed the room, as he didn't get any reaction out of Kakashi and sat down on the bed beside him. Sighing the Hokage began to talk calmly again as if he was smoothing Kakashi.

"Listen, son. I won't lie to you by saying that I know what you are going through right now. Hell, I don't have the slightest idea how you must feel after such a loss. Considering it wasn't the first time for you to lose someone dear to you makes it only worse, I think. But you must know that you'll kill yourself if you continue -"

Before Minato could finish that sentence Kakashi interrupted him.

"Sensei," he mumbled, "It is gone."

"What's gone?" Minato asked.

Without turning around Kakashi continued mumbling in his pillow.

"Her scent is gone. And I can't remember it. I - I can't," he lost his voice.

Minato sighed quietly. He couldn't bear to lose Kakashi to his agony.

"Kakashi, what would you say if I told you that Sakura is alive?" The Hokage asked noticing that Kakashi went completely still. It was like a déjà vu for the Hokage since he said something like that to Kakashi, when Sakura had defeated the Kyuubi.

The Copy Ninja didn't move nor did it seem like he was even breathing. That's why the Yondaime was surprised, when Kakashi actually answered, although he didn't turn around to face his teacher.

"Minato," another surprise for the Hokage. It was extremely unusual for Kakashi to address his mentor without any suffix.

"I held her in my arms, when she drew her last breath. I held her to my chest, when her heartbeat slowed down until it ended completely. I held her, when her warmth left her body," Kakashi slowly sat up and was finally facing his sensei with a teary and yet angry gaze, "I fucking held her, when she died! Now tell me again that she is alive!"

Minato knew that the last sentence was only rhetorical, but he still dared to say it.

"Sakura is still alive, Kakashi," Minato knew that he was playing with fire at that moment, but he simply had to try it with the truth.

Kakashi laughed quietly, but it wasn't at all amused. For a second Minato thought that Kakashi was losing his mind, but he didn't want to believe that. For crying out loud! This was Kakashi in front of him - the fourteen year old jonin who managed to get through his father's death, when he was four and he even got through his teammates' death over a year ago.

"Out"

At first Minato thought that he had just imagined that Kakashi had said something, but when he looked at his student, he knew that Kakashi had just told him to get lost.

"Believe it or not, Kakashi, but I want you to know that I tell the truth and that Sakura is indeed alive. When you are ready to talk to me about it properly, then you know where to find me," Minato said calmly.


"Sensei, you once told me that my life would be a lot easier if I just believed. And now I am willing to try, but you have to tell me the truth. Is it really true?" Kakashi gulped trying to get rid of the lump in his throat.

Minato, who knew exactly what Kakashi was talking about as if he had watched Kakashi's memories on screen just now, simply stared at the Copy Ninja.

"Is it true?" Kakashi asked again, when he didn't get any answer.

Minato took a deep breath and answered. "Yes, it's true."

In contrast to the reactions Minato would have expected from Kakashi, the Jonin only smiled lightly looking at the floor. Minato could feel the sadness around Kakashi, but also relief.

"You know what she had told me, just before she had died? 'We will see each other again, Kakashi. Let's meet again in twelve years at the academy in team 7.' That's what she had told me. But Sakura miscalculated. I have already met her after only six years on the streets of Konoha."

Minato didn't miss the drop of water falling from Kakashi's eye down to the floor. However he was more distracted by his words.

'Kakashi has already seen little Sakura? Wow…that must have been quite a shock for him,' the Yondaime thought.

"How?" Kakashi whispered breathlessly.

It was clear for Minato that Kakashi wanted to know how it was possible that his girlfriend had died and yet she was completely healthy, but only ten years younger than she had been six years ago. The Hokage was relieved that Kakashi finally decided to open his heart to the truth and listen to his sensei. It was a chance for him to make his life less painful and more livable.

"Okay, let me tell you everything I know about Haruno Sakura, my son," Minato started and began to tell Kakashi the story of the girl who had gone to the past in order to save her village from the upcoming dangers and who had sacrificed herself for all her beloved ones.

While Minato was speaking he had to think of the very first time, when Sakura had opened up to him and had told him the truth.



Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

Finally the pink hair girl couldn't stand this silence and the stares of two certain people anymore and she began to talk.

"Okay. I will tell you."

Sakura was sitting on the one side of the table which was standing in front of the kitchen, and Minato and Kushina were sitting next to each other on the other side of the table.

Kushina raised an eyebrow: "You'll tell us how you knew that I was pregnant?"

Sakura nodded, but before she began with her story she paused.

"…"

Minato noticed that she had no idea where to start.

"Just begin at the very beginning", he smiled warmly at her, "Where did you come from, when Kakashi and I found you a couple of hours ago?"

Now he stared at her seriously again.

"Well, as I said I had come from Konoha", Sakura started.

Before Kushina and Minato could interrupt her, she waved a hand to silence them immediately.

"I know it sounds impossible, but I am from the Konoha about 16 year from now. Tsunade-Shishou, the fifth Hokage of the future Konoha, sent me here to hinder the Nine-tailed fox to appear here and destroy Konoha. I want to change the past, so that the future Konoha won't be destroyed in 16 years."

"Stop! Stop! Stop! Sorry to interrupt, but I don't understand…You are really saying that you are from the future?" Minato asked curiously.

Sakura nodded.



Minato had to smile because of that memory. It was a miracle that Sakura had managed to keep her secret from Kakashi, since she started to blabber about her top secret mission in an instant once she couldn't stand being watched in silence anymore. The Hokage would have to work on that with Sakura once she would be old enough.

As soon as Minato had finished telling Kakashi everything, it was completely silent for a few seconds until Kakashi spoke.

"She doesn't remember me consciously, but I can tell that her subconscious knows that she once knew me. Tell me, Minato-sensei. Is there a possibility of her remembering everything someday?" Kakashi still couldn't look into Minato's eyes afraid that the Hokage could read him as a book now.

"I honestly don't know, Kakashi. There had never been such a case before, so I can only hope for you that she will remember one day, " Minato sighed desperately hoping for a miracle.

Slowly Kakashi got up from his chair and looked into Minato's eyes for the first time since he had come into this room. There were no signs of weakness in his one exposed eye - no sorrow, no regret, nothing. He had that neutral look like had had before.

"Thank you, Sensei. I think everything will be easier for me from now on."

Minato got up as well and looked at the Copy Ninja - he was in Hokage mode.

"Kakashi, would you like to come to dinner tonight? Kushina would be glad to talk to you a bit and Naruto adores you too much to not see you for too long," Minato smiled reassuring.

"I'll think about it," the silver haired man said as he turned around and walked to the front door. But then Kakashi remembered something and he turned his head a little to look at the Hokage who had followed him.

"Oh, and I think that you should head to the Hokage monument now, before a bunch of kids get too edgy waiting for you," he smiled wickedly at his Sensei.

Minato's eyes widened in shock and then he suddenly shouted at Kushina's direction, who was still in the kitchen.

"Kushina! I have to go! Please prepare something for dinner! We'll have a guest tonight! Bye! Love you!" And then he shoved Kakashi out of the house to the streets and hurried down the streets waving goodbye at Kakashi.

The Copy Ninja sighed heavenly putting his hands in his pockets and started to walk down the streets, too. There was much he had to think about.