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The Butterfly	By : tealeaf Category: Naruto > Het - Male/Female Views: 1742 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 14
- 15
- 16
Disclaimer: Naruto�s not mine so all standard disclaimers
apply.

A/N: This chapter should help clear up Sakura and Kakashi�s
relationship a bit�maybe�I dunno. I�ve still got a lot planned in regards to
them. Thank you very much to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, I feel
better about it now. And a special thanks to Fly for helping me sort out the
beta situation. I think a beta reader just isn�t appropriate for this fic if
only because I write so much and so I�m not sure a beta would be able to keep up
and tons have people have been telling me how much they love the regular
updates and a beta would again slow that down. So maybe in future fics, but in
this one I�ll just keep proof reading it myself. I�m sorry if I miss a few
mistakes or if it feels off. And Kayoko, I�m going to try and explain Sasuke�s
reactions better in the next chapter so you can tell me if I did a good job on
that. Ivy, don�t worry ^_~ there�s tons more to come in the story and there
will be enough with everyone to favor any pairing you like.

So, here�s the next chapter, I hope you guys enjoy it and I
look forward to your reviews ^_^

~~~

The Butterfly: Chapter 16
By: Tea Leaf / Banana Soap

~~~

She felt numb. It was growing. She couldn�t feel the subtle
pain from her leg anymore and was walking normally. The world was slowly
becoming consumed in that shadowed tunnel vision that had plagued her for the
past two years.

She�d told him he didn�t want to know. He didn�t see her as
human either.

Kakashi had recognized her humanity, he was the only one who
had ever understood and fully accepted her.

She was walking through the woods. She didn�t need to think
about the direction, her feet knew it instinctively, they always had.

She stood at the edges.

Hundreds of black and crimson butterflies were resting in
the moonlight. They were so still, almost looking like flowers on the long
strands of grass.

She sat down. They didn�t move; they were accustomed to her
visiting them in the middle of the night.

She pulled out her kunai and stared at it for a long time.
The moonlight gleamed off its sharp edge.

The numbness was consuming her.

But she couldn�t�she�d promised him she wouldn�t�he was back
and she had to honor that promise now.

She stabbed the kunai into the ground and stared at the
butterflies for a long time.

A small blue and black one perched on her leg. She stroked
its wings.

She sighed.

This was the moment where he used to walk up behind her.

He never said much; he would just sit beside her and keep
her company. He�d always tried to look out for her; it had started long before
she had gone to live with him. And it had never really changed.

Even while she�d been unconscious he had still helped her.

She frowned at the thought. She was sure that her
subconscious mind hadn�t invented that Kakashi. He really had spoken to her.
But how?

Come to think of it, every time she had lost consciousness,
he�d been there in the form of some pleasant memory to keep her company and
remind her that it was worth it to wake up again.

She picked up the butterfly from her leg and flicked her
finger a bit, forcing it to flutter off her hand.

She stood up and walked away from the woods, away from the
kunai, away from the butterflies.

~~~

She stopped at the doorway. The room still felt so empty,
like a tomb. She stepped in and closed the door behind her. She walked over to
the bed.

She brushed a stray strand of hair off his face, careful not
to make contact with his skin.

She sat down on the bed at looked at him for a long time. He
was the only one who�d really ever understood. And although she knew that he
wasn�t the only one who cared, he was the only one who cared for the real her
and not some made up ideal.

He�d known she wasn�t the person everyone else had decided
she was. She wasn�t some china doll that needed to be protected. She wasn�t
perfect.

She was human and came with all the same insecurities and
faults as everyone else. He�d been the only one to really know that though.

She wanted to touch him but she didn�t dare.

She gently took hold of his arm, using the bottom of her
shirt as a barrier and moved it over a bit. She then lay down at his side,
laying her head and hand on his chest, reassuring herself of his breathing. All
the while making sure her skin never touched his.

She hated the irony of it. He, the only one who had ever
understood her need for skin-to-skin contact was now the only one souldould not
have that with.

She didn�t sleep. She couldn�t really. Not when Kakashi was
a corpse because of her.

Her eyes glazed over and she slipped into that familiar zone
between being awake and being asleep.

~~~

He couldn�t sleep. He was worried about her. But he didn�t
move. The door didn�t open again. Not once throughout the night. She didn�t
come back.

He felt stupid. He shouldn�t have asked her. She had told
hwicewice not to ask her. She had told him he wouldn�t like the answers. He
hadn�t listened.

She hadn�t even told him the full answers though. He had
enough to guess at the situation but nothing about the circumstances. Or at
least, not enough.

He understood isolation, he understood needing to reassure
your existence. He understood her side of things.

He didn�t understand how it had come about. He didn�t
understand what had happened with Kakashi at all. What had been his motivations
if any?

What had really happened? She had only ry say said that she
liked physical contact. He liked to believe that it was fully possible that she
had slept with Kakashi as she had slept with him only they had been flesh to
flesh.

{I wish�} his ego pouted.

He sneered at it, now wasn�t about him.

But maybe it was. How did he fit into everything?

He needed to find her and apologize�

He didn�t move.

~~~

She was shaking as she slowly rocked herself back and forth.
She fumbled with her kunai in one hand.

She wanted to, oh how she wanted to but she�d promised.

She sat on the floor in her room in his apartment. The
window was open, letting in the cold air. The room was spotless. She hadn�t
even been able to vent through destruction.

She�d tried training in the rain outside, and was now badly
scrapped and bruised as a result. But she couldn�t feel it. It wasn�t enough.

She didn�t feel anything. She needed to feel something.

�Sakura-chan?� a voice called from down the hall. She didn�t
answer. She didn�t want to hear her voice; it was numb.

�Sakura?� the voice was at the door to her room now; her
back was to the door. Her body kept moving. The kunai was slipping and dancing
psychotically over her knuckles, she couldn�t grasp it.

He quickly crouched down beside her and snatched it from her
hand, tossing it aside, then grabbed her wrists, examining her arms carefully,
looking for anything resembling a fresh slice wound.

�I didn�t do it.� she said in that hated dead voice, her
torso still rocking slightly despite the fact that he was holding onto her
arms.

�I promised you I wouldn�t. But you�re checking anyway.� She
said, still numb, still dead, still rocking.

He looked up from her arms. She was soaking wet and shivering
violently. Her arms were ice cold.
clasclass=MsoNormal>
He moved a hand to her forehead. She was cold.

Her lips were blue.

She was slipping into hypothermia.

�shit� he muttered under his breath and picked her up off
the floor and setting her on the bed.

He started pulling off her wet clothes.

�What are you doing?� she asked, narrowing her eyes.

�Sakura, you�re sick. You need to take these wet clothes
off.� He told her.

She glared slightly but did as requested and he closed the
window before helping her under the covers of her bed.

He stripped off his shirt and joined her, pulling her
towards him and crushing her against his chest with one arm and the other
rearranged the blankets in a cocoon around them to trap the heat.

Her eyes were wide.

�Now what are you doing?� she asked his neck seeing as she
couldn�t move.
�You�re showing early signs of hypothermia. The quickest way
to treat it is with body heat. You should know that from survival training.� He
responded as he kept her shivering body glued to him.

She didn�t answer and hesitantly wrapped her arms around his
waist.

~~~

She sighed at the memory. She was such a stupid girl, she
was always getting sick. She always needed someone else to take care of her.

That had been the first time she had ever been flesh to
flesh with anyone. That had been when she had started to learn that she could
find her humanity through human contact and for as long as Kakashi had been
around, she�d been fine.

His body had been so warm then, like a furnace against her
frozen, numb skin.

She hadn�t felt numb when he�d held her.

He was cold now. He barely gave off any body heat at all.
Her inner self hoped that maybe she could be the one to warm him for once.

Tsunade walked in then and almost dropped the clipboard she
was carrying.

The first shock was Sakura lying there. The second was
Kakashi�s hand resting on her hair at the top of her head.

Sakura looked at her with empty green eyes. She didn�t
really want to move just yet.

Tsunade frowned at her.

�Sakura, what are you doing here?� she asked as she set her
hands on her hips.

The pink haired girl shrugged slightly.

She looked younger for a moment, more open, more innocent.
But Tsunade blinked and it passed.

She sighed.

�I�m going to need you to leave for a bit child, I�ve got
some tests to do.� Tsunade told her gently.

Sakura nodded and sat up; his hand slid down her back.

She looked at him for a moment and her hand rose and hovered
over his cheek for a moment. Then she pulled it back and stood up.

�You can come back tonight if you like.� Tsunade said
offhandedly as she pretended to be studying her clipboard.

Sakura smiled a little and left.

~~~

Lee was doing his 685^th out of 800 laps around
the village when he spotted her as she rounded the hospital walls and started
to walk along the village outskirts.

�SAKURA-SAN!!!!!!!!!!� he yelled at the top of his lungs as
he rushed towards her.

She turned, he eyes wide in surprise.

�Lee-san? What are you doing up this early in the morning?�
she asked as she blinked at him.

�Early? Its already 8:30!� he responded.

She blinked again and then understanding dawned on her, Lee
started the day at 4:30 am.

�Ah, you�re right.� She said, a small smile playing at the
corner of her lips.

mal>�Where have you been?� he asked her then his eyes wide with
past worry.

She felt guilty about not telling him goodbye when she had
left.

�I�ve been wandering mainly. Saw some of the west of the
country and traveled to the far north of the Cloud Country.� She answered.

�Why did you go there?� he asked as he set his hands on his
hips lightly and cocked his head to the side.

�I was searching for my sensei. Whom I found, incidentally.�
She answered easily.

�Your sensei?� he asked a little confused and then his eyes
widened in happy surprise. �You mean Copy-ninja Kakashi! Gai-sensei�s rival!�
he exclaimed.

Sakura smiled a bit more and nodded.

�Gai-sensei will be so happy! He can finally even the score
again! He was so upset when he thought he had lost the rivalry.� Lee said; his
eyes all wide and puppy dig like.

Sakura suppressed a laugh and sobered.

�He won�t be able to for a while, Kakashi-sensei�s in a
coma.� She told him.

His face fell slightly.

�Well, at least he�s not dead!� the boy exclaimed after a
moment.

�No, thankfully he�s not dead.� Sakura agreed.

�Ne, Sakura-san?� he asked then, an eager expression painted
across his face.

�Yes?� she responded.

�Would you like to train with me today?� he asked her.

She smiled softly at him; he really was a sweet boy. He
hadn�t said a word about her leaving without telling him.

�I�m afraid I can�t today. I�m recovering from a few
injuries and Tsunade-sama said no training.� She answered regretfully.

�Well, Tsunade-sama�s orders must be obeyed. Your health
comes first of course.� He assured her.

�After you�ve recovered?� he asked then.

�After I have recovered, I would be glad to train with you
again.� She answered him gently.

He grinned brightly.

�Alright! Well, I have to run, I still have 115 laps to
finish! Bye bye!� he exclaimed as he rushed off again and waved at her.

She waved back and started to walk again.

She didn�t understand Lee�s fascination with her�maybe it
was like her fascination with Sasuke�

{Sasuke�}

She sighed, definitely not her favorite topic at the moment.
She�d have to face him eventually, that was certain, but she intended to delay
it for as long as possible.
- 14
- 15
- 16
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The Butterfly