It's been a week since they've avoided each other. Scratch that, since Sakura had started avoiding Kakashi like the plague. It may have driven her a bit insane. Or maybe a lot more, she didn't know.
Memories from the past few months—tons of it—permeate her thoughts through day and night. From their missions together, their frequent dinners, and lunches, and breakfasts or brunches. Their accidental encounters at Hokage Tower or the hospital or just anywhere in Konoha, or were they intentional?
To their spars and break times. Each punch to the chest, each bruise to the arm, him cornering her to the tree with his arms on each side of her, then followed by a brush of the hand. The lingering look. The piercing stare which also had something else... longing, maybe. The confusion in her mind. Their breaths hastened, warm on her face. Then the press on each other's chest, their distance closing in.
The near-kiss. Before he ran away.
And it has been a week since that day. It was a week and it was still imprinted in her mind, like a scratch in a glass that won't go away until disposed of.
She wanted to think that she didn't really care. She told herself that this distance was what they needed—what she needed—to be able to sort out her feelings for her former sensei. She could not really recall when the bridge was crossed, but she could remember the warmth that Kakashi emanated which drew herself closer to him. And she knew there was no turning back.
When Sakura met Kakashi all those years ago, she always struck him as cold, secluded, aloof, more like Sasuke. But over the past few months, when she met him again after being away from Konoha for two years, she realized he was actually the opposite of everything she knew. He may look lonely, but he was not friendless, always surrounded by his peers and friends. He may look cold, but he always offered a hand to assist, crinkling his eye to let people know he's happy to help.
Her 12-year-old self would never believe it if she told her. Her 12-year-old self would take offense if she told her that she's slowly falling—
Wait, was she? This was just a crush, right? An absurd, ludicrous crush and nothing more?
But why... Why did it feel empty without him? If this was just a silly, fleeting feeling, why did she miss him this much?
She hadn't realized she zoned out and looked up to the voice. Her eyes widened as she saw the man occupying her thoughts for the whole week. Probably over the last few months.
Kakashi awkwardly stood on the other side of the reception desk, his eyes away from her, tension slowly dwelling between them. She tried to open her mouth to speak, but he cut her off.
She knew now that when she saw him, she wouldn't know what to talk to him about. She could tell that he felt the same, the way he could never look at her. This awkward air between them, it was infuriating and distressing. This might take some time—she's going to need some time. But how much time did she really need?
She nodded, her voice wanting to be let out, but couldn't. Words were stuck on her tongue, but it was like her lips had a mind of its own, not wanting to open when it mattered most.
She saw him nod at her back and walked away to the direction of Shizune's office. He might have walked too fast, disappearing from her sight in just a few seconds.
Tears were gradually falling, making her cheeks damp, as she looked to the corridor he had gone. She smiled bitterly, wiping away every bit of wetness from her face, erasing every evidence of the hurt she felt.
But maybe, it wasn't just her who needed time.
