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i. when they’re four
They’re four, when they meet for the first time.
“Hello, Kakashi-san!” The girl chirps at him, holding out her hand with the brightest grin he’s ever seen. “I’m Haruno Sakura, I live next door!”
He blinks owlishly at her. She’s the first kid to actually approach him after his father’s death, and she’s one of the few who knew him.
“You probably don’t remember me,” her grin turns sheepish. “But I really looked up to your Dad, y’know?”
He doesn’t say anything, but he wants to. He wants to tell her,
“I know. I used to watch you all the time whenever you’d come home. Dad told me all about you.”
He doesn’t say anything.
“Ah, I have to go now,” she tells him when she hears her mother call out her name. He tries to stamp down on the jealousy. “See you around, Kakashi-san!”
“See you,” he mumbles.
(Two years after he graduates, he hears rumours about a pink-haired apprentice.)
ii. at thirteen
He sees her again when they’re thirteen.
Obito is dying , and Rin is sobbing and—
And then, their saviour lands behind them.
“What happened?” She barks, as she storms past them. “Nevermind, Hatake-san, Nohara-san, please step back.”
“H-Haruno-san!’ Rin squeaks out as she and Kakashi step back, and the pink-haired girl smile back at her briefly. It was a small smile, and rather somber in nature. Kakashi thinks he can distantly recall her being his neighbour.
He watches, awed as she picks up the boulder Obito is crushed under. He watches, awed as she sinks to her knees to heal him.
“He’s alive,” she reassures them. “He’ll survive this. I can’t guarantee he’ll make it off unscathed, however.”
(She saves him, every part of him. Kakashi has never been more thankful.)
(She gets up from where she’s kneeling and tells them to head to safety. Rin thanks her while crying, and the rosette just awkwardly pats her on the back.)
iii. fourteen
“Morning, Hatake-san!”
Her hair is shorter, now. She still grins at him like the world’s too dark and she has to brighten it personally. (She’s kind of right, to some extent.)
He nods at her as he passes, trying to ignore the blush that rises on his cheeks, under his mask. The redness on his face remains even as he meets up with Obito. He scowls when the Uchiha teases him relentlessly.
extra: still fourteen
Sakura apologises, unable to salvage his teacher’s corpse. He doesn’t say anything, only sparing her a nod.
The girl is still mourning. He can only watch as she single-handedly takes control over the hospital. Her house is no longer there next to his — he catches wind of her parents’ deaths.
The girl is still mourning.
(So is he, except he’s not swamped with hospital work but she is. So is he, except he’s not the only one who lost someone — she lost her parents, and she lost Kushina.)
(So is he, and yet, she manages to look after the son to the best of her capabilities.)
iv. seventeen
They’re seventeen, and together in ANBU.
Everybody knows about Hound and Slug. The ANBU and his appointed medic. (Sakura finds this ridiculuous. They’re both ANBU operatives!) They know about Hatake Kakashin, Son of the Fang — the Copy-nin, and they know about Haruno Sakura, the student of the Sannin, the one who’s surpassed Tsunade in every possible sense of the word.
(The Yin seal is a testament. She wears it proudly.)
“Morning, Taichō!”
He rolls her eyes at her cheeriness.
“Morning, Slug.”
extra: eighteen
They’re eighteen when she leaves. She grins at him, and it’s all wrong .
It looks all melancholic instead of her usual brightness, and it looks wrong .
“We’ll meet again, some day,” she promises him. “Don’t die while I’m gone.”
“I won’t.” He pauses, “you’ll come back to me, won’t you?”
“Of course I will, Taichō,” she grins.
v. twenty-one
She visits Konoha when they’re twenty-one.
He’s not sure what she’s doing out there, but he knows enough to know she’s safe, and most likely with Tsunade.
He wants to kiss when he sees her again.
(They take Naruto out for lunch. Sakura argues vehemently with the Sandaime.)
vi. twenty-six
On his twenty-sixth birthday, he wakes up to someone else in his kitchen.
His heartbeat stutters when he recognises the humming of the intruder, and he practically rushes into the room.
She’s cooking breakfast. For him.
She’s back in Konoha, standing in his kitchen, wearing his apron and she’s cooking breakfast (for him).
“Good morning, Kakashi,” she grins.
“Sakura,” he says. “You’re back.”
“I am,” she nods. “For good,” she adds. “Thought you’d like to see me.”
He hugs her.
They fit together like puzzle pieces slotting perfectly against each other.
(All of their friends celebrate once they catch wind of her return. Obito hugs her tightly and refuses to let go. Rin cries into her shoulder.)
extra: twenty-six
She’s introduced to Team 7. Naruto remembers her as the pretty lady who’d take him out to lunch. She almost cries when he calls her “pretty Onee-chan” and Kakashi, for some stupid reason, is jealous.
Sasuke knows her from Obito’s stories. He asks her if she really saved his cousin, and she smiles at him and pats his head.
Sai asks her if he can paint her. She lets him. Kakashi hangs it in his apartment.
(Later on, she starts teaching Sai how to heal. He calls her “Shishō” and she cries.)
vii. twenty-seven
“You need to ask her out,” Sasuke sighs from where’s sitting next to Kakashi underneath the shade. The silver-haired man pays him no mind, opting to simply observe as Pakkun chases Naruto in circles around Sakura, who’s weaving numerous flower crowns.
Sai is resting his head on her lap. Kakashi wishes that were him.
“Like, seriously, you need to ask her out,” Sasuke grumbles, making a face. “It’s disgusting to watch the both of you.”
“Mah, you’re quite talkative right now, aren’t you?” Kakashi hums.
(He knows the kid’s right. Even Obito and Rin tell him that the kid’s right when he goes to them to complain. He’s been pining after Sakura for so long — and everyone know’s the rosette is one oblivious brick when it comes to romantic feelings.)
extra: twenty-eight
“Good morning, Sa-ku-ra,” Kakashi whispers against her ear, making the rosette squeak. They’re quite used to impromptu sleepovers after tiring mission, but this might be the first time she’s so flustered and he’s not.
It might have something to do with the fact that he’s shirtless and she’s not.
He reaches for something in the cabinet above her, making no move to shift from where he’s currently standing — right behind her.
Maybe he should heed the advice his friends keep giving him. (Even his cute little students.)
“Say, are you free tonight?”
“I thought you’d never ask,” she sighs, grinning in relief.
viii. twenty-nine
They’re in the middle of a spar.
“Marry me,” he declares, when she pins him to the soil.
Her hold relaxes, and he uses her surprise to flip them around. Her nose scrunches up in the cutest way imaginable, and he almost forgets how she was snarling at him a few minutes ago. (Some habits just don’t die.)
“That’s cheating,” she whines, after she yields.
“I wasn’t kidding,” he admits. “Marry me?"
"Maybe when you get me a ring?"
(He proposes again, after a grueling mission. She rolls her eyes, but the grin on her face and the shimmer in her eyes can't lie to him.)
ix. thirty-one
They get married two years later.
Team 7 plays rock-paper-scissors to decide who gets what role.
It’s the only time Sai gets heated up, competitiveness settling in as he battles for his Shishō and his Shishō alone.
Naruto becomes Kakashi’s best man. Sasuke walks Sakura down the aisle. Sai is Sakura’s man-of-honour.
Obito curses them out but in the end, embraces them as he cries.
The wedding goes like this:
Sasuke walks her down the aisle, and Kakashi’s heart stutters when he takes her in. Sakura looks absolutely ethereal and he wants to kiss her.
Honestly, he can’t really believe that she’s marrying him.
Oh, fuck, they’re getting married .
The wind gets knocked out of him when she finally stands on the opposite side, and he can’t help but whisper.
“You’re beautiful.”
She grins at him.
They cry when they say their vows, and so do all of their wedding guests. (Kakashi was going for a small wedding, but Sakura knows a lot of people and felt bad about not inviting someone.)
Naruto is trying not to bawl, holding his wobbling lip up even as the tears stream down his face. Sasuke sniffles as he cries, even as he vehemently denies it. Sai only watches with glassy eyes, a prideful smile on his face.
Tsunade and Obito are the ones to make the speeches. Naruto joins last-minute, because of course he does.
Tsunade tells everyone about a girl who’d write letters to send back to Konoha, always holding home close in her heart no matter how far she goes. Tsunade tells them about letters sent back to her.
Obito narrates a tale about a girl who saved him, a boy who’s been in love with the girl for as long as either of them can remember. (When Sakura asks, Kakashi smiles at her and says, “I’m pretty sure I’ve been in love with you since I was four.”)
They get teary-eyed during both speeches, but Naruto’s speech is the one that makes them cry.
“When I was seven years old, there was this really pretty lady who took me out to lunch with a guy I thought was her boyfriend,” he says, with a wet laugh spilling from his lips. “I thought they were dating, y’know? But when I asked, she laughed and said that they were only friends. I could tell how upset the guy was by the face he made when she said that.”
“Really?” Sakura asks, turning her head to look at him.
“Please just listen.” He mumbles.
“What he didn’t notice was how her smile was strained and her eyes were sad. It was always so easy to tell whenever she’s sad, y’know? And usually, this guy was the first one who was able to tell, dattebayo.”
“Well, he’s got one thing right.” Kakashi mumbles.
“But, that’s not my point. What I’m trying to say is, Sakura-sensei has always been like a mother to me,” Naruto grins at the crying rosette as he speaks, “I’ve never known what it’s like to have one, but I think Sakura-sensei is the closest to what I think a mother is like. She’s scary when she’s angry, and she gets angry a lot . She always nags and worries, but that’s because she cares, y’know? We always tell her to relax but she never listens, and she frets over everyone all the time. Sometimes, I feel guilty, but other times— it’s nice, to have someone who cares about me so much.”
“I think I’m gonna cry,” Sakura whispers.
“You’re already crying,” he whispers back with a fond smile. She smacks his shoulder.
“It’s kind of really obvious how much he loves her — all of us knew it from the beginning, ‘ttebayo,” Naruto grins. “We used to tease him ‘cause of it. He even got jealous of children . Can you believe that?”
“Oh my god,” Sakura mumbles in glee.
“Weren’t you about to cry?” Kakashi whispers, exasperated and embarrassed.
“He was so in love with her that he was blind to the fact that she loved him too,” Naruto laughs. “But they finally figured it out, and — well, nothing really changed. The both of them were already so used to loving each other, it’s just that they didn’t know they were loved in return. Team 7 remained Team 7, all we did was grow stronger under the guidance of our pseudo-parents.”
“That’s a big word,” Kakashi hums.
“Sai taught him,” she tells him.
“And— I’m probably rambling, at this point,” Naruto sighs, before drawing in a breath. “What I’m trying to say is that I’m… thankful. Thankful, that they love each other, thankful that they’ve figured it out — because they deserve this. The both of them deserve this happiness, this love, no matter how long it took them to get there. I’m also thankful because they gave me a family. They taught me what a family feels like, and I’m so grateful, because no matter how many times I beat up Sai and Sasuke, they’re still my brothers. No matter how many times Sakura-sensei gets mad at me, I know it’s because she’s worried and she cares and she loves me.” He pauses, “I don’t know about Kakashi-sensei. I think she’s too good for him.”
“Didn’t he just say that we deserve this?”
Sakura giggles.
“I’m kidding, sensei. Please don’t kill me,” Naruto sweatdrops. “No matter how many times Kakashi-sensei pisses me off, he’ll still protect me, and everyone else. He’ll still look after me, teach me or help me be taught when nobody else besides him and Sakura-sensei really bothered.”
“Are you crying ?” Sakura asks.
“Shut up. You’re crying too,” Kakashi sniffs.
“You better be happy, old man! You better not fuck this up for yourself!” Naruto exclaims. “I’m— I’m happy for the both of you, I really am. It’s— I don’t know the word, I think it’s honour? Yeah. It was— It was an honour to be your student, someone you cared about. It was an honour to watch you fall deeper in love, even if you were complete idiots about it.”
Sakura giggles again.
“I hope your first born has Sakura-sensei’s hair!”
Kakashi facepalms. Sakura bursts out in laughter.
x. thirty-three
Their first born does get to have Sakura’s hair.
(Naruto laughs loudly when he holds the baby.)