Work Text:
the first time they ever met, they were staying in an inn at tokaido, kakashi and his dad were about to slept for a night there before continuing their trip to meet the shogun.
kakashi woke up to the cold breeze meeting his neck which was covered with a mask. feeling the need of bathroom, kakashi slid the door to his room open when his eyes met jade colors and pink long hair with droplets of water falling from the end of her hair. she must've finished bathing. kakashi thought to himself. the girl stopped herself from walking to bow at kakashi.
their eyes locked at each other for a moment until the girl smiled at kakashi, her eyes softened, "good evening, hatake-sama,"
kakashi stammered, the lilt of her voice soothed him and he wanted to hear it again, "evening.. um," he smiled awkwardly under his mask. he wanted to talk to her, so bad, the feeling is itching, but he's only sixteen and he was a nervous wreck. she looked confident yet fragile. beautiful and dangerous. kakashi inhaled and tried to let something out from his lips so he threw the worst topic possible from his head instead of asking her name, "...do you like older men?"
"huh?" the girl's eyes widened in surprise, "i'm.. only fourteen.. i still.. don't know about that...?"
"no.. that's not what i mean," kakashi scratched the back of his head which clearly wasn't itching at all, he wanted to slap himself so bad, "what's.. your name, if you don't mind me asking?"
the girl was confused, but she smiled wider as she looked at kakashi, her words slipped through her pink lips smoothly, "i am haruno sakura, daughter of haruno kizashi, such an honor to be able to meet you." she said as she bowed down to him.
oh. from an artisan family. kakashi nodded. of course he knew the harunos, from what he heard, the family produced the best papers in edo. that also explained why she had been so modest and courteous around him. kakashi's an only son of the hatake family, an honorable samurai.
kakashi smiled at her, sentences started to form better in his head. he said in a firm voice, "if you don't mind, i'd like to buy some papers from you,"
"oh, i wouldn't mind at all. what would you do with them? by that, maybe i could choose what paper is best for you," the girl replied with the brightest smile kakashi had ever seen. her attitude towards him might only because of the class obligation, but her smile was the most genuine and sincere kakashi could ever find.
"i want to write a haiku," he didn't think long. about you. he continued under his breath, but of course sakura didn't hear him. sakura nodded and excused herself.
"one moment, please," the girl then bowed down again before disappearing from the thin layer of door which seemed to be her family's room.
kakashi had to write the best haiku for her. that's what he thought.
the next morning, kakashi was about to leave the inn with his dad. but he had to do this first or he would regret it forever. he walked past the haruno's room with a beautiful colored paper in his hand, black ink written above the paper gracefully.
kakashi hesitated whether should he give the haiku to sakura. after minutes of contemplating, he decided to give up, until sakura suddenly slid the door open. they both were surprised and remained silent for a moment.
after long period of silence, a voice called her, "sakura, dear. who's there?" a sound of a man could be heard from the other side of the room, kakashi believed it was her father.
nervous, kakashi put his index finger in front of his lips, suggested her to keep silent. he then offered her a paper which had a haiku written above it, "for you," he whispered, barely heard.
sakura hesitantly picked up the paper with rosy red painted her beautiful face. she smiled at kakashi and bowed down once again, "thank you, kakashi-sama," she now addressed him as kakashi and not just hatake like the night before.
looking at those jade eyes, kakashi felt like his cold heart could melt there, at that moment.
"i should leave now... farewell," kakashi's smile looked bitter as he knew he might never see her again. he believed sakura already knew about it too.
she nodded and smiled genuinely, "safe trip, kakashi-sama. ichigo ichie. one opportunity, one encounter." she said the phrase which made kakashi startled, but he smiled nonchalantly.
kakashi left the hallway and saw his dad already waiting for him outside sitting on top of his horse. sakumo looked at his only son with questioning eyes.
"what's taking you so long, son?" he asked with a grin on his face. "such red ears."
"dad.. it's nothing" kakashi could only act freely when he's with his dad. hiding his red colored cheeks, the boy hopped on top of his horse and scratched his own head, "i was..."
"meeting a girl?" sakumo cut him off and laughed a little.
"what? no!" kakashi furrowed his eyebrows, but sakumo kept looking into his eyes and he smiled smugly, kakashi exhaled a breath, "..whatever, let's just go."