Chapter Twenty

P.O.V. Kakashi Hatake

My throat felt parched as I pried my eyes open, the suffocating pain that ate away everything that formed me into who I was began to eased its raging havoc on my brain. I felt utterly exhausted as I pulled my tired bones off my bathroom floor.

I knew needed to get dressed.

Tsunade was expecting me at the front gates of the village soon, she wanted me to attend the lock village sting. With all my strength I was finally able to get into bedroom and began changing into my standard jonin gear.

If I was being honest, I will admit I am still a little surprised Tsunade asked me to join them. Sakura did not have me on her list of recommended shinobi from the council that would follow her as she dealt with the lock village and Hanare.

I was glad to be going though, I would feel at ease being by Sakura's side during the tense situation. I wanted to be the first person Sakura turned to, but I understood why she didn't after everything that had happened. I reached up, placing my hand over my unmasked face.

I called her by that dastardly woman's name.

How could I have done that?

My stomach curdles as I recalled the past, I grabbed the wall with my free hand as I felt my body dry heave at the thought of touching that woman in any way. Jolts of electricity shoot through my arms and legs, it burns and boils its way through my chest and up my diaphragm filling my head. My field of vision is tinged with red as the inside of my chest cavity feeling like a vacant void.

Clenching my teeth, I glared through a haze of pink, my heart clinched as I stormed from my apartment carelessly slamming my front door closed. All I could focus on was the pressurized rage building up inside my stomach as I swiftly made my way through the village and into the jail. Slipping past the guards was easy as my hands began to shake in anticipation as her cell drew near.

"Mm." Her voice sent a wave of revulsion through me. "I heard you had survived-" Hanare's voice filled the dreary hallways. "-I knew it was only a matter of time before you slipped your way down here."

Hanare rose from the mattress lying on the cracked stone floor. Her pale skin was dusted in dirt, the closer she got the more unpleasant smell of body odor waved through my mask.

"You used her." I bit down on my jaw as my fist tightened. "How could you?"

"Her?"

"You used the love I feel for Sakura Haruno against me."

"Oh that-" Hanare waved, "-yes, I did."

"But why!?" I snapped, anger spilling out.

"It was the only way to get inside your head."

"You didn't need to-"

"Yes, I did." Hanare chuckled, "I needed a way to blend into the village and what better way than to date the favorite man of the village?"

"I-"

"But-" Hanare sighed, "-you were still so in love with Commander Haruno even though it had been two years since her death. I didn't have time to wait around, a town nearby was on to me and so I needed to vanish fast."

"You used me."

"I can see your head is already breaking apart without me. I am shocked really that you're even standing right now, but I shouldn't expect nothing less from the famous Kakashi Hatake."

"You made me believe I was with her, this entire time I-"

"Your welcome."

"I wasn't thanking you for lying and deceiving me!"

"Don't be so sure about that." Hanare grinned.

"What does that mean?"

"You were easy to manipulate-" Hanare laughed, "-your mind was so eager for the distraction from Haruno's death it was practically begging me to put a jutsu inside it."

"I-"

"You wanted the sweet lies I built; you wanted the false reality which is why you didn't fight it. You wanted a world where your beloved pink haired soldier was still alive, a world where you hadn't hit rock bottom and drank yourself numb every night. You wanted a world where people still looked at you like you weren't a broken man."

"I-" For a moment I felt speechless as I tasted Hanare's words.

"You only started to push back when Commander Haruno annoyingly returned from the dead."

"I would never-" I said shaking my head, "-replace her with something so subsidiary like you. I would rather have lived-"

"Then why was it so easy to create an alternate reality where she still existed?" Hanare challenged.

"Sakura was the woman I wanted to make my wife." I growled gripping the cell bars, "Of course I wanted her back, but what you did is repugnant and unforgivable!"

"I'm not looking for forgiveness-" Hanare smiled, "-and I don't fully believe the look of repulsion in your eye when you look at me."

"What?"

"You were a pawn of mine yes, but it wasn't all fake." Hanare breathed, "I generally do care for you, Kakashi."

"I don't-"

"No?" Hanare blinked, "When what was all that steamy love making, we did-"

"I thought you were Sakura!" I snapped,

"Are you truly going to stand there and claim to have zero feelings for me?"

"Absolutely." I nodded.

"What your feeling now my dear-" Hanare tilted her head much like Sakura did. "-is denial."

"I am not in-"

"Sakura Haruno may be alive again; she may have broken my hold over you and your mind might be shattering apart with the truth but within our saccharine time together, you grew feelings for me all on your own. What we shared together; it wasn't all the jutsu-"

"Enough!" I flared, "The only feelings I have towards you is this loathing mortification with the only positive knowing you're going to live out the rest of your days living inside this cage."

"Is that what you think?" A sly smile sneered itself over her whoreish face.

"What-" I went to question her,

"Kakashi!" Sakura snapped; her voice sent lively shivers through my body. Hanare rolled her eyes, turning to sit back down on the used stained mattress. Sakura reached my side rather quickly, my skin melted against her touch as he pulled me from away from the face of Hanare's cell.

"What?" I blinked looking down at the pinkette, "What are you-?" I wanted to know why she was down here and not prepping for the village trade.

"You can't be down here!" Tsunade breathed standing on my free side, "You need to be as far away from her as possible!"

"But I-" I went to explain why I was here.

"Go Kakashi." Tsunade cut me off, pointing to the direction the exit was. "Now." Her tone was deadly, daring me to argue. I licked my lips; the disappointed look in Sakura's emerald eyes was too much for me to bare, I was still so angry with myself for accidentally calling her by a different name, the pain inside Sakura's eyes when I called her Hanare, made my heart feel shredded.

I sighed glancing back at Hanare's cell with an uneasy feeling bottled inside my chest. Hanare's words dig deeper than I cared to admit.

Had I formed feelings for her while she mascaraed around inside my head as Sakura? And why didn't Hanare believe she wouldn't be inside that cage the rest of her life?