Sweet girl

It was nine in the morning, the sun rose no more than an hour ago, and it was especially chilly for a Konoha winter morning. Gai was on a mission, he had been for the past week. He still wasn't due home for at least another week. This left Kakashi all by himself with Sakura. Which had from most of this week been okay. They slept in, ate cereal for breakfast, laid around in their pajamas, and played games all day. It's not that they didn't do those things when Gai was home, it just wasn't as often. Plus, this was special one on one time with each other.
Kakashi had been up for some time now, he woke up early that morning craving nicotine and was unable to fall back asleep. So he was letting Sakura sleep, maybe he let her sleep in longer than he intended having gotten distracted, but he was getting to waking Sakura now. He went into her room, sitting down next to her bed. Gently he shook her.
“Time to wake up sweet girl.” He ran his hand up and down her back, coaxing her gently to the world of the living. Sakura was, however, extremely displeased at being woken up. She grumbled and pouted looking at Kakashi, “No.”
Kakashi sighed, he could tell she was in a rotten mood and he hoped that it would mood lighten up a bit. Sakura wasn't a normally fussy or angry toddler, so it was always of great concern when she was. Though, she didn't seem sick or in any way injured, so she was probably just being a toddler. Learning and feeling new emotions was more commonplace recently. He could work with that though, he could help her through that. So he mustered every bit of patience he had, just in case.
“I know you wanna keep sleeping, it must be so cozy and warm under your blankets, but you-”
He was interrupted by her pulling the blanket over her head, Kakashi looked at her slightly amused, she behaved a lot like him. Sighing he removed the blanket from over her head. Not completely, moving it just enough to be able to see her.
“Sakura, come on. I know you're hungry and thirsty by now. It’s nearly nine. You haven’t gone to the bathroom yet either, so I know you have to go.”
When he was met with silence he knew she was contemplating what he had said. He sat quietly, patiently waiting for her answer. He didn’t want to wait too much longer, he knew kids, toddlers especially. Their need to pee went from 0 to 100 in the blink of an eye and he really did not feel like cleaning up pee today.

She huffed, “Fine. Only cause I gotta go.”
"That's the spirit," Kakashi said, getting up and walking to the bathroom with her, “What do you want for breakfast? Eggs?”
She scrunched her nose looking at Kakashi she quickly shook her head no, and he smiled saying, “I have to be able to tell Papa I at least offered. I know you want cereal.”
She nodded her head noting, “Eggs are yucky.” Kakashi didn’t completely agree or disagree, so he just shrugged and told her, “I’ll be in the kitchen, bring your stool from the bathroom, I still haven’t replaced the soap in there.” He knew he didn’t have to explain the whys, or at least not the real whys, because half the time she wasn’t even listening to the whys. She didn’t care about the content to the whys, she just wanted to feel in the loop about things. She nodded her head and they went their separate ways.
By the time Kakashi finished with the two bowls of cereal, Sakura was walking out with her stool.
Kakashi went over to the sink, he was met with Sakura screeching, "No!"
Kakashi was taken aback, "I doed it." She declared with a huff.
"You can 'doed it' all you want." Kakashi mimicked her, remembering he had to be a parent he continued, "But, really, there's no need to screech like that."
She stuck her tongue out, blowing a raspberry to express her displeasure. "You're a butt." Enunciating every word to get her point across. "That's not very nice, you know? You shouldn't call people names." Kakashi didn't particularly care and he wasn't particularly offended, but he knew he was supposed to correct her on these things. She set her stool up and began washing her hands. Kakashi went to put the milk away, he came back to Sakura crying. She wasn't sobbing, she was quietly sniffling and trying to hold back tears.
"Sweet girl?" Kakashi questioned, he put a hand on her shoulder. The dam broke and she began to full on sob, she reached out for him to hold her. He didn't hesitate to take her in his arms, hugging her tightly. Momentarily he wishes he had hesitated because of the soap and water that was seeping onto his clothes from her hands, but he quickly shakes the thought from his head.

He turned the faucet off and watched as their breakfast turned to mush. They stayed like that for a while, Kakashi holding her and swaying her back and forth to soothe her, he rubbed a hand up and down against her back. That's all he could do till she told him why she was crying. He tried to guess, but he couldn't figure it out. She hadn't spilled water on herself, she hadn't hurt herself, she hadn't had an accident, and he barely scolded her, so why was she crying?
"'M sorry." She sniffles out finally. She pulled back a bit to look at Kakashi.
"Sorry for what?" Kakashi pushed away the hairs that were sticking to her face. As he combed his fingers through her hair the waterworks began once more.
"'M sorry for bein' meanie. Sorry for yellin'. 'M just mad and sad." She hiccuped.
Kakashi looked at her with a smile, kissing her cheek, "We all have bad mornings, sweet girl. It's okay." He assured, giving her kisses till she was too busy giggling to cry.
".I jus miss Papa, he gone, 'm sad and mad." She puffed out her cheeks with anger, her expression softened to one of sadness, "'M miss him." She fiddled with the hem of Kakashi's shirt. Kakashi frowned a bit, Sakura was a good kid, she was a Saint compared to the tiny terrors that other parents talk about. She always took her faults or mistakes to heart, it always upset Kakashi cause he knew exactly who she got that habit from. "You're still learning," he hugged her bit before continuing, "you're still learning how to be human. Emotions are hard, you're feeling and understanding a lot of big things for the first time." He wondered if she was even comprehending what he was saying or just being soothed by the sound of his voice. He wondered if he was saying this more to reassure her or to reassure himself. "You'll make mistakes and sometimes you'll do things you don't mean. Me and Papa are here to help you, to teach you how to deal with those things. So, it's okay, I forgive you. You're not a meanie, you're just learning. Trial and error."
She hugged him back tightening her grip, "'M still mad and sad." She said, her voice frustrated. Kakashi smiled a bit, "Sometimes feelings stick around for a bit. Maybe some cuddles with help, hm?" Sakura looked at him, considering, before laying her head on his shoulder. Kakashi knew that cuddling the bad feelings away wouldn’t always work. Her problems would grow more complex, she would grow more complex. Teenagers aren’t exactly known for loving and accepting affection from their parents, so Kakashi would cherish every moment that he had left of cuddling being some magical fix-it.
"Okay," Kakashi smiled. He glanced down at their breakfast, "Opinions on soggy cereal?"