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Denial	By : djserani Category: Naruto > Het - Male/Female > Kakashi/Sakura Views: 4298 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: As always, I don't own the world or characters, I just like to torment them. Kishimoto-sensei gets to keep them permanently. (I make no money from it!)

Chapter List
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Otafuku Gai was not as big as the Leaf, but still respectable as far as cities went. It's most prominent feature was its red-light district that Kakashi had, despite his reputation, avoided. Aside from the district, it boasted many hotels and inns and plenty of entertainment.

They'd had to stop twice in the thirty or so kilometers from Konoha. Once was simply for a personal need for Maiko, but the other took quite a bit longer, as the driver, with the help of Kakashi and Sakura, had to repair one of the wheels. They'd managed to put it back together enough to get to town, but it took a while. As such, it was now going on sunset as they pulled into the city.

The wheelwright that the driver needed to go to was on the southern end of the village, so they went straight through and found rooms at a small hotel nearby, off the main road. Sakura and Maiko went to get checked in and Kakashi helped the driver unload the bags so he could get the repairs done.

When Kakashi came back to the hotel, Sakura was waiting on the front porch for him. Their escort was nowhere to be seen. "Hi. Where's Maiko?"

Sakura smiled up at him. "Inside. She was tired and opted for room service. I've checked us all in." She handed him a key. "I am next to Maiko in an adjoining room to hers and you're on the other side of me. I offered to keep her company, but she wanted to be alone."

Kakashi nodded, noting the significance of her room and took the key. "Well, I guess we need to get some food."

"There's a dining room in the hotel. Or room service. Or�" She waved her hand to encompass the street, with its ramen stands and small restaurants. She stood up and brushed her behind off, the silence thickening between them. Kakashi wondered if they would ever again have the easy conversation they once did.

"The dining room sounds fine." He paused and looked her over. There were shadows under her eyes that hadn't been there three weeks before. She was paler than usual and looked strained. "Would you care to eat with me?"

He watched her swallow and take a deep breath. "Yeah, I'd like that very much."

He turned to the door, holding a hand out and she walked in front of him into the cool interior of the hotel. The lobby was simple with a long counter to one side and a small grouping of low tables and accompanying cushions on the other side. Opposite the entrance was a wide archway leading to the dining room. The floor was basic polished wood and the walls traditional rice paper.

The dining room was nearly empty by this time. They chose a small low table in the corner and settled on cushions on opposite sides. A short, older woman came out from the back and offered them menus. "Can I get you something to drink?"

"Do you have Oolong?" Sakura asked.

The server nodded and turned to Kakashi. "I'll have the same, thanks."

She bowed once. "I'll be right back with your drinks and I'll take your order then."

"Thank you," Sakura said and turned back to her menu. They sat in silence, each considering the menu for a few minutes. Sakura tried to concentrate, but it was difficult. She could almost feel his knees under the table and she was getting angry with herself for the way her heart beat was speeding up over it.

For Kami's sake, you're not a kid anymore! Inner-Sakura chided her. Sakura sighed and refocused on the menu.

When the server came back and set the tea cups and pot out, Sakura thanked her. "Miso soup and umeboshi, please." She handed her the menu and the server turned to Kakashi.

"That sounds good. Thank you." The server bowed, retrieved his menu and disappeared into the kitchen.

Sakura picked up her tea and stared into it, so she didn't notice when he pulled his mask down and left it there. It wasn't until he started speaking that she looked up. "So, tell me what's wrong with Maiko."

She looked up at him and stared for a full minute at his bare face before pulling herself together. Once again, she called on the shinobi in her. "The most prominent symptom she has is fatigue." She paused to think it through, "think about how tired you get when you've overused the sharingan." When he nodded, she continued, "it's kind of like that, only every day. She also has a temperature intolerance - she's always cold, but extreme heat bothers her, too."

She took a sip of her tea. "There are other, more minor, symptoms -- joint pain, mental fogginess, that sort of thing, but most of those are actually caused by the primary symptoms - the fatigue and temperature problems."

"Do you have any idea what it is?" He took a sip of his own tea.

"There are a couple of things that can cause this. There is a gland in the human body that is responsible for regulating all the other systems. It's what tells the rest of them how to work, when to work. It's also the primary gland that controls the flow of chakra through the system."

"Which can cause the exhaustion." He said.

She nodded. "Exactly. The problem is, without being able to examine her directly, she could have other problems, as well. There are blood diseases that can cause these symptoms, as well as a bone disease. It's just impossible to know without looking."

"Are there treatments for it?" He asked before sipping more tea.

"It would depend, of course, on what the problem is, but yes. Some are simple. If it's the first problem, there are a couple of things that can be done. I might be able to use my healing technique to repair the gland. If, after that, it isn't completely healed, there are herbal medicines that she can take to help force her systems back into sync. Again, if it's the first problem, as I suspect it is. But we go back to not knowing, for sure."

Kakashi thought it over. "How will it impact the trip?"

"Well, you wouldn't think that riding in a carriage would cause problems, but even that has its own exhaustion. As such, our days will be much shorter than we're used to. I'd guess no more than five or six hours at a time, and that's including breaks. So, maybe four hours actually moving."

He nodded. "I suspected they'd be shorter, but that's even shorter than I thought. That nearly doubles our trip." He sighed. "Well, we knew it could be a long mission."

"Yeah." She sipped her tea for another few minutes. "I haven't been down in this part of Fire country much. Will we have places to stop?"

"I've been thinking about that. There's only one inn that I know of, for sure. The major road south branches off just past it and heads to the Capitol City. Unfortunately, that's too far out of our way."

He stopped as the server brought out their food. After setting out their dishes, she turned to Sakura. "Can I get you anything else?"

Sakura shook her head. "No, thank you, this is great."

The server turned to Kakashi. "I'm good, thanks." She bowed once more and returned to the kitchen.

They spent a few minutes concentrating on their soup. "I think the best thing for us to do is simply try to play the stops by ear. After the inn at the crossroads, if we see one - unless, of course, it's only an hour down the road, we might consider simply stopping for the night."

Sakura thought it over. "Yeah. I'm not sure I'd want to try to camp. It's nothing for us. But I have no idea how Maiko would do with it."

"Right." They went back to their food and ate in silence.

The tension was thick enough, however, that Sakura couldn't even enjoy her umeboshi. She was sure the salty fruit and rice was probably good, but had no idea. She forced herself to eat it all, though, knowing that she'd need her strength for the trip ahead.

When she finished and put her dishes together, she sipped again at her tea and looked at Kakashi. He seemed�worn. She wondered if their relationship was the cause of it. She sighed. Love was supposed to be good for you, make you better.

She knew what she looked like and knew she didn't look any healthier than he did. She'd seen the dark circles under her eyes. The last few nights, she'd fought sleep as long as possible, determined to get every minute with him that she could. And she still went to work, still had her regular duties at the hospital. And it was taking its toll.

As the silence stretched, she wanted to scream. What happened to them? How had it come down to this? It was like they were strangers, not lovers, not friends who'd been together for years, been through everything together, trusted each other with their lives.

He cleared his throat and was about to say something when the server came out and cleared their dishes away. She left the check next to Kakashi, bowed once more and left. Sakura reached out to take it, but he picked it up and held it out of her reach. "For once, I think I can take care of this." He gave her a crooked smile and she remembered all the times he'd conned Yamato into paying for lunch. She laughed and when she realized that she had, it felt so good.

"Only because Yamato isn't here."

He chuckled. "Something like that." She watched as he counted the ryo out and placed it into the folder with the check. "Do you have any idea when Maiko might get up?"

"She told me she was normally an early riser. So, we should be able to get going early." She drank the last of her tea and pushed the cup away.

"Good." Kakashi finished his own tea and pulled his mask back into place. "Are you going up now?"

Sakura nodded and felt the tension creep back in. She stood up and together they headed for the lobby and stairs. The silence descended once more as they climbed to the third floor. Sakura stopped in front of her door and pointed to the next one down the hall. "That's you."

He nodded. "Yeah. Well, um, good night."

"Night." She said, but continued to stand there another moment. She forced herself to turn to her door and push the key into the lock. As she twisted the knob, her voice came out as a whisper. "Night..." Then she stepped into the room and closed her door behind her quietly. She stared hard at the lock on the door, but couldn't bring herself to turn it.

He waited, his gaze glued to the door, listening. After a few seconds, he heard her drop her keys on the table he'd seen just inside, and then her receding steps. She hadn't locked the door.

He made his way into his own room and lay down on the bed, fully clothed. He shouldn't go over there. He shouldn't take the chance. What if Maiko saw them? Heard them?

Entirely aside from the fact that he should just not go, period. Regardless of Maiko. He had to stop doing this, had to stop putting her through this. She deserved so much better than this. Than him.

He stood up and quickly stripped out of his clothes. He headed into the shower, hoping the hot water would pound some sense into him. He somehow doubted it.
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Denial