The Old Biddy

Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto" or my chapter title that comes from a Heinz Ketchup commercial.

Note: THANK YOU as always to those who took the time to leave kind and encouraging reviews, added my story to their favs or alerts, or have simply continued reading this story. It gives me the motivation to keep writing, so thank you!

This chapter is dedicated to Broken Mantra because not only has she left me awesome, thorough reviews, but she's also PM'ed me with a very kind compliment that made me blush with embarrassment. Thank you, Broken Mantra!

azndrumergrl, thank you for literally reviewing every chapter and making it harder for everyone else to figure out what the heck our inside joke was. If anyone else is still wondering, I was referring to her review of Chapter 7. Anyway...the next chapter is most likely a lemon, so I'm dedicating that one to you...So that you can sit in school with your itty, bitty window screen that shows only one line at a time, hoping that you don't get caught. Girl, you've got balls...DON'T GET CAUGHT on my account, 'kay?

Chapter 15-The Best Things Come To Those Who Wait

Sakura woke up with a shiver. No sooner did it cross her mind that she needed to cover herself up did she feel someone sit up on the other side of the bed, grab the crumpled blanket at their feet, and cover her half-naked form, carefully tucking her in up to her chin. Then, she felt his weight gently leave the bed.

Sakura slowly opened up her eyes and was surprised to discover that it was nighttime once more. The room was shrouded in darkness, the moon providing the only source of light.

Sakura followed the naked form of her ex-sensei with her eyes as he quietly padded across the room to close all the windows to keep the chill out. Even in silhouette he was breathtaking, tall and lean, broad-shouldered and broad-chested without an ounce of excess fat, and (Sakura felt herself grow definitively warmer) already semi-erect.

He silently made his way back to the bed, lifted up the blanket, and crawled underneath it next to Sakura, wrapping his arms around her in a lover's embrace.

Sakura rubbed Kakashi's arms to warm them and let her eyes drift shut once more, feeling blissful and safe.

"Thank you, Kakashi." Sakura murmured sleepily.

"You're welcome." Kakashi replied, gently kissing her behind the ear.

"You're so good to me." Sakura continued dreamily. "Why are you always so good to me?" she asked, snuggling closer against him.

"It's called love, Sakura." Kakashi answered, nuzzling his nose into the back of her neck and breathing her sweet scent in.

Sakura smiled and opened up her eyes. She found herself looking out the window and her smile faltered a little.

"I think..." she began, "That even though I've seen your face, that you'll always be a mystery to me."

Kakashi immediately opened up his eyes in shock by her sudden change in mood and looked down at her confused. He saw that she was staring out the window and looking up at the sky, so he looked up at it as well. Together they watched the bright, full moon dim as clouds slowly passed over it.

"Why do say that?" Kakashi asked, trying to pull himself out of his reverie.

"Because, Kakashi, for 36 years you've lived your life as a designated bachelor and heaven knows you didn't have to. You literally had women...and men," Sakura couldn't help but add with a smirk, "Throwing themselves at you. You could have had anyone you wanted, but you insisted upon keeping to yourself. That's the first mystery. Then, one night, an old biddy comes along and sticks us in a room together and it suddenly occurs to you that, hey, you don't want to be single anymore and you want to spend the rest of your life with me. Why, Kakashi? You could've had anybody, someone your own age even, but you chose me instead. That's the greatest mystery." Sakura said, looking him directly in the eyes over her shoulder.

Kakashi saw fierceness in her eyes, not anger, just a determined fierceness. The kind you get when you want to hear the truth.

Kakashi didn't like what he was about to do, but she needed to hear it...for both their sakes.

"You're right, Sakura. I could've had anybody I wanted, someone my own age even. Who should I start with?...I could've had Ayame. Nice, sweet girl. She's seen my face even and I know she's in love with me for that fact alone. If I had chosen her, I could've had a nice civilian wife to come home to. Someone completely ignorant of the bloodshed and horrors of the shinobi life. She'd have been my escape. Then there's Anko. She's quite the vixen, isn't she? From the way she dresses alone, there's no doubt we'd have had one hell of a time in the sack..."

"That's enough, Kakashi." Sakura said, tearing her gaze away from him and pulling slightly away from his embrace. She didn't like where he was going with this and she could feel hot, unwanted tears beginning to well up in her eyes, but Kakashi stubbornly continued.

"I could've had Shizune. Sweet girl as well. Kind of like Ayame in that I could've come home to her after a mission and escaped with her for awhile, only she's ninja, too, which gives me the added bonus of being able to talk to her about my missions. I could've had Kurenai, especially since she's a widow now. She's a lovely kunoichi, kind-hearted as well. I'm sure she wouldn't have minded having me as a substitute father for her son..."

"Enough, Kakashi!" Sakura cried angrily, completely tearing herself away from him and sitting as far away from him as possible on the other side of the bed. She hugged her knees tightly to her chest and tried to calm herself down.

Kakashi could hear her softly crying in the dark and he felt his heart clench.

"I'm sorry, Sakura, but I needed you to understand..." Kakashi said gently, sitting up against the headboard as well, but maintaining the distance she had created. She still needed her space and he knew it. "The fact of the matter is, I have given a lot of thought as to who I want to spend the rest of my life with. I have already considered all the possibilities. Yes, Ayame would've made a nice civilian wife, but she's still only a civilian. I can't relate to her the emotions I feel when I've killed someone or lost someone in the field. I can't talk to her about jutsus or weaponry. I can't relate to her our way of life. Yes, Anko is hot, but anything between us would only come down to sex. She's too salacious for my taste, even if I am a pervert. I prefer my women to have substance. Yes, Shizune would've been the happy middle between Ayame and Anko, but I'm just not attracted to her in that way. The same goes for Kurenai. As much as I love her as a friend and as much as I'd love to be a father figure for her son, I just can't see myself being with her in that way. But you, Sakura, you're different. You're the first person of the opposite sex that I've found myself spending this much time with since my old teammate Rin. I can easily talk to you about anything, from the next upcoming mission to, hey, do you remember the time Naruto drank sour milk and kept grabbing his ass?"

Sakura giggled and Kakashi was relieved to hear her spirits rise again.

"I can talk to you like one of the guys because you are one of the guys, Sakura. Through all these years, you've been right there beside me fighting off enemies or just traveling with me on missions. Either way, I know you have my back just like I have yours. I literally trust you with my life. And because of that, I find it easy to open up to you in ways I'm not able to with any other woman civilian or otherwise. You've grown into this beautiful, intelligent, sweet, sexy, and kind woman who's a culmination of Ayame's, Anko's, Shizune's, and Kurenai's best features put together. Sakura, there is no mystery. I've lived my life the way I have for the past 36 years because I was simply waiting for the right person. Only I didn't know at the time that it was you I was waiting for. I didn't know that I was waiting for you to get older so that you could be with me. So that you could be mine. Because, Sakura, there's no one else I can imagine spending the rest of my life with."

Sakura looked into Kakashi's eyes and not for the first or last time, fell in love with him all over again. She scooted herself across the bed and Kakashi welcomed her into his arms once more. They sat in comfortable silence with Sakura sitting between his open legs, her back against his chest, and her head resting on his shoulder. He embraced her tight against him and softly kissed the crown of her head.

The silence was broken only by Sakura's warm, bubbling laughter.

"What?" Kakashi asked wryly.

"Well, it's just that..." Sakura tried to contain herself, "I guess that blows the whole 'He's just having a mid-life crisis' thing out of the water."

"What?!" Kakashi asked aghast.

"Well, Kakashi, you can't deny that you are a man of 'a certain age' and people will be wondering why you've got a young thing like me for a girlfriend."

"Sakura, I'm not mid-anything and I'm most certainly not having a crisis!"

"You sure sound like you're having one right now." Sakura teased.

"Because you called me old!"

"No I didn't! I just said we averted the idea of you having a mid-life crisis!"

"Sakura, that still implies that I'm old!"

"Kakashi, I'm not saying that you are!"

"Yes, you are, Sakura!"

"No, I'm not, Kakashi!"

"Yes. You. Are. Sakura." Kakashi said through gritted teeth.

For a good ten minutes or so, Kakashi and Sakura bickered like an old married couple...or a couple of lovesick teenagers who couldn't stop teasing each other. Either way, unawares to them, the wind had finally blown the clouds away and the moon was shining full and bright once more.

To be continued...