Seeing Gai off
“Sakura?” Kakashi looked around her bedroom, she was nowhere to be found, “Where could she be?” He thought aloud, he knew she was in there, she was probably hiding under her bed. Sakura did enjoy when Kakashi would play along, pretending he could not find her, she’d pop out trying to scare him. So far she’s never actually frightened him.
He looked first in the closet, “No, not here,” he declared, “where could she bed?” This time he intended on scaring her, so he got down low, unlike his usual pattern of looking everywhere but under the bed. He slowly moved his arm, pulling the blanket up he yelled, “BOO!”
Sakura shrieked, giggling as she said, “I ‘posed to scare you.” Kakashi smiled, Sakura had to be the only kid on planet Earth who liked to be scared. “Come on kid, Gai’s leavin’ soon, we gotta say our goodbyes.”
She crawled out from underneath the bed, she looked at Kakashi, and questioned, “Papa go on mission?” He nodded his head, knowing her next question he answered, “He’s gonna be gone for a few days, should be back the day after next.” Sakura thought for a moment, trying to figure out when Gai would be back, when she finally understood what Kakashi had meant she laid her head against his shoulder. The two headed quietly to the hall leading to their front door, Gai was currently putting his vest on, “Good morning,” he proclaimed a bit too loud, “How did you sleep, sweet girl?” He took Sakura from Kakashi’s arms, holding and hugging her. She hugged him back before proudly responding, “Good, I sleeped all by myself, for the all night.” She looked at him smiling, Gai smiled back, “You really are becoming such a big girl! Soon, you won’t want us to carry you.” He said, pretending to be choked up. Okay, it was like 59% pretending and 41% actually being choked up at how fast she was growing up. “You’ll behave for Daddy while I’m gone, yes?” Gai’s question was more his way of saying behave, still, Sakura thought for a moment. After having a proper few seconds of thinking she declared, “I be a little not behaved, probably.” Both men laughed at her candid answer, at least she was honest. Gai kissed her on the head, hugging her once more before setting her down, Sakura pouted, “I miss you, a lot.”
Smiling Gai comforted her, “You’ll have so much fun with Daddy though! Think about it, he probably won’t make you change out of your jammies till you go out. You’ll have him all to yourself! Honestly, I’m a little jealous.” When he saw Sakura smiling a bit he said, “I’ll be back before you know, then we can all play! We always go to the park and play when me or Daddy get back from missions!” Sakura mulled over Gai’s words, “When you back we get ice cream?”
Gai thought for a moment, “I believe that is a reasonable request, so, yes! We get ice cream when me back.” He copied her way of speech a bit, he always found the way she talked endearing and amusing. He began putting his shoes on, and despite his comforting words tears still welled up in her eyes, she went to Kakashi. “Up, please?” He felt his heart squeeze, who was he to deny such a polite request? Picking her up he squeezed her a bit, “Papa’s ready, we gotta say bye-bye.”
“Bye-bye,” Sakura repeated, her voice wobbly. Gai bent down a bit and kissed her cheek, “Bye-bye, sweet girl.” Standing back up, he looked at Kakashi smiling, “Have fun, rival.” He kissed Kakashi goodbye, leaving as to not prolong things. Kakashi looked down, trying to think of a way to distract her. He walked up and down the hall, soothing her the same way he did when she was a baby, and it eventually worked. “What do you say we have some breakfast?”
“We watch TV?” She asked, Gai didn’t like eating in front of the TV, however, Sakura did. She loved eating and watching TV. Oh, and she also liked sitting in Kakashi’s lap getting lots and lots of cuddles. Kakashi pretended to think for a moment, “I suppose I can have that arranged. Only if you promise to use a fork to eat and not your hands.”
Sakura pouted and then tried to copy Kakashi, “I oppose I have that aranged!” She may have said that completely wrong, but she said it so confidently that Kakashi couldn’t help but smile.