One Day at a Time

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters and make no money from this.

Day Twenty-One: When

Kakashi sat with his legs crossed and his back against the wall, as usual, waiting for his partner to be brought back to him. Even if it was near impossible to keep track of time, he was certain that it had been much longer than any other time. His partner should have been brought back to him by now.

The jonin's eyes seldom left the door, watching intently and waiting for it to finally open.

It was strange how he anticipated the common sound of a door creaking open with unbridled hatred one time, and the next with bittersweet impatience. It made sense, since the first time it opened meant that he was seperated from his partner and the next he would be reuinted with her. Yet, it still bothered him that a sound so casual caused such anxiety for him.

For a while, he debated with himself over what was worse between waiting with a watch or without. With one, you could tell at what point your company was late, and by how much. You could quantify the amount of time they made you wait, watch the seconds tick by and calculate. Even if one fifteen minutes seemed twice as long as another, you could comfort yourself by saying that long has passed.

Without any kind of device to tell time, you might not realize that so much time has passed already, and not be quite as frustrated since you never could count how long it was. On the other side, the opposite was also true. It was possible to think that forty-five minutes had gone by when only twenty-five was the right amount. Then, the wait would be more aggravating.

No matter how many times his thoughts circled around the subject, he came to the same conclusion. A watch would be a blessing right now. Maybe if he knew just how long he had been obsessing over what they could be doing to his friend, he could calm himself with the thought that at this or that time she certainly would be back.

With the argument over, his mind could only race with the possibilities of what Sakura was currently experiencing. The first idea that came up was that Koroku was finishing what he had started the previous day. There was also the option that he had simply resumed taking his anger out on her. Or maybe Sakura had managed to devise a cunning plan and had knocked out their enemy so she could gather the last bits of information they needed to escape.
So many events could have happened, but he was not privy to any kind of hint as of now. He was alone. Alone and still in the dark, even if now there was light. At least, they had been fed after their captor's visit, so his stomach no longer felt like it was eating itself up. It was a positive point. Were there any other good sides? In his current situation, he couldn't find any.

Flashes of the several times he had kissed Sakura since her birthday returned to his memory, spreading comfortable warmth in his chest and abdomen. Now, that hadn't been horrible, to say the least. He could hardly remember locking lips with another woman in the past few years, mostly due to his adamant refusal or removing his mask. There had been a couple, evidently, but none had stirred the odd concoction of feelings that kissing Sakura had. His teeth caught his tongue, biting down with little force as he remembered the sweet sensation of her lips pressed to his, her hot breath on his skin, the overwhelming sense of possessiveness that assaulted him whenever he held her body.

God, what he wouldn't give to have her there with him, just to know that she was okay.


Chapter Twenty-Two: Click Here