He's been waiting.

All this time, for hundreds of years. He's been waiting, yearning for this one person to show up in his life.

His bride.

Take me out of this misery, he thinks to himself. I've been waiting for you all this time, how much longer must I wait?

He needs her. He needs his bride.

To fulfill his need, his longing, his wish.

He wants to meet her.

Soon, soon.

Come to me, he bellows. Show yourself.

Kill me.

But perhaps-

He needn't wait much longer.

Who ever realizes that a single act of kindness on his part will actually bring life to his bride?

He simply doesn't want to watch another person die in front of him, is all. That's his entire reason for that one act of kindness.

He's watched enough.

He's been left behind enough.

Isn't it his time by now, to be the one to leave everyone behind, instead of being the only one left alive?

Nevertheless, at that point of time, he's tired of seeing someone dying in front of him. It won't do any good for his conscience, and thus, despite his usual refusal to meddle in the life and death of a mortal, he reaches out toward the dying woman in front of him and saves her life, knowingly saving two lives in one go.

For the woman wishes for a life not for her own, but for her child.

For that, Kakashi thinks she is worthy of his blessings.

Sakura has always been kind of a freak.

When she was little, she couldn't accept her condition and cried a lot, often times on the lap of her beloved mother. She was a freak, and she didn't want to, she really didn't! It wasn't her fault that she was born with a wide forehead. It wasn't her fault she was born with a strange mark on her forehead. It certainly wasn't her fault too for being able to see ghosts!

It was sometimes hard for her to differentiate between ghosts and humans, and thus she was seen talking to empty air a whole lot by her peers, and that didn't help in ceasing the bullying done to the girl.

I want to be normal, she thought to herself, again and again, as she cried and cried on her mother's shirt. Why can't I be normal?

Nobody wanted to be her friend because she was a freak. It also didn't help that she was almost cripplingly shy. The ghosts she had the pleasure to talk to were kinda weird, too, sometimes they would screech and scream about how they died, which was... scary. Some other times they sprout strange premonition talk that her brain couldn't follow just yet. Some wanted her to do things, some other just wanted to talk. Some would just stare, or stalk her and freaking her out. All in all, they weren't exactly pleasant to be around with.

She was lonely. And it hurt. It hurt so much. She just wanted a friend, she wanted to be normal so she could get a friend! But she couldn't, because she was a freak.

But her mother would always shush her. Her mother would always hug her and bounce her on her lap, she would always run her fingers through her pink hair that her mother said she inherited from her father whose nose she had never seen before.

And with kind understanding in her eyes, she would always say that she wasn't a freak. It didn't matter for her mother if she could see ghosts, if she had a strange birthmark on her forehead or that her forehead was huge-in which, in her mother's opinion, it wasn't, thank you very much!-what mattered for her mother was that she was here, that Sakura was here, alive and breathing.

And with a smile, her mother would always say that she wished for her to be happy.

I'm trying, mother, Sakura closes her eyes briefly, the soft melody coming from her plugged earphones slowly easing the tension on her body. The now nineteen year old teenager sighs softly to herself, slowly plucking the last bits of rice sticking on her hair out. It's raining, and thanks to her beloved cousin's graciousness, she has no umbrella to use.

It's not like she cares much anyway. Getting her hair soaked is one hundred times better than going to class with numerous rice sticking on her head.

Sometimes, she wonders if she's cursed. Haruno Sakura is, after all, a world class freak. It's not that far fetched to think that she's cursed somehow, to live like this. She's no longer bullied for her forehead, thankfully, although she gets into problems here and there with teachers who think her birthmark is a tattoo.

Her only lingering problem is her ability to see ghosts.

...And some other new problems too, but still.

She really can't wait until she has enough money to move out, because her aunt is an abusive bitch and it takes so much of her patience in a day to withstand it. Ever since her mother's death, everything seems to go downhill for her. Her aunt took everything from her that should've been hers, and she has a suspicion that the only reason she's allowed to stick around is because her aunt still cannot find her mother's bank book.

She wonders to herself, where would she go, when her aunt finally manages to find the bank book and uses all the money.

Perhaps living on the street.

Dying on the street.

After all, she has no one left.

She still has no friends, and not only she has to handle living with her aunt's family, she has no one to support her anymore.

Her mother was her best friend. And the only reason she manages to live this long is because of the promise she made to her mother long ago.

I'm trying, mother, she says inwardly, I'm trying to be happy. I'll be successful, just see. And after that, I won't have to live in misery anymore, right?

She will try.

She has to.

It's her late mother's last wish, after all.

The girl is staring at her.

Long dark blue hair and white lavender eyes. She's wearing a long white dress, perhaps a sleeping dress, and maybe made of silk, if Sakura's peripheral vision can be trusted.

Sakura has to wonder if when she was blind when she was alive, to have that kind of eye color. Still, it is not a question whether the girl is able to see her or not when she's a ghost, because the girl is staring at her.

It's a new ghost she's never seen around, so perhaps her death was recent. Or she just wandered here by accident, she thinks wryly. It doesn't matter, a ghost's business is not her business, not even if the ghost is staring at her.

It's not her concern, really.

Sakura makes sure to never truly glance toward the ghost's position, and walks off, ignoring the persistent feeling that she's being stared at.

She has a cake to buy.

Her mother once told her that if she wished for it hard enough, a God will come and make her wishes come true.

Of course, Sakura is skeptical. If it's true, then she should be out of her aunt's hair by now. She should be able to live somewhere comfortably right now.

Or, well, maybe the God's busy, she jokes dryly, or that my wishes are not important enough. Or that I don't pray hard enough.

People always say that faith is important.

Perhaps that is why her wishes hasn't been granted yet? Because she doesn't have faith?

She stares at her lemon cake, making sure it's steady on sitting on her lap. She doesn't want it to fall off to the ocean after all. Perhaps it's not a good idea to sit on the rocks near the beach, but it's great for sightseeing and there's barely any people here, which is another plus in her book.

With small difficulty, she lights up the candles, for once determined to get her prayers across.

Even if it doesn't work, she promises not to get disappointed. She's sad enough about her life as it is, it doesn't bode well for her to be sadder thanks to ignored prayers or something.

Visibly steeling herself, she prays.

"Dear God, please let me have a job so I can save up money, I really, really want to get away from my aunt's family and to have my own job and lots of money will help that a whole lot. Please, please, I won't ask much from you, but please, just help me, I really want to be happy."

I want to be happy.

With unbidden tears on her eyes, she blows her candles.

And-

Nothing.

Happens.

A strangled sob leaves her lips. Of course nothing happens. How stupid of her. She knows pointlessly wishing for something like this is never going to work. She has to do everything by herself with her own effort. There is never going to be a miracle job offer given to her hands out of the blue. There is never going to be a chance where her aunt suddenly becomes loving and kind towards her.

It's just impossible.

What makes it worse is that she promised herself not to be disappointed, and yet she lets herself become disappointed in the end.

How pathetic.

I just want to be happy, she cries. Can't I just be happy? She sits there, staring down at her cake that she bought with months worth of pocket money. Her vision is blurry with tears, and there's a tight knot in her throat that refuses to go away, even when she lets out several more sobs along the way.

This is pathetic, she thinks, I shouldn't be crying here. What if somebody comes? What if-

"What," a low voice behind her makes her stop, her body stiffening in surprise as she whirls around, only to see a... man?

A man with spiky silver hair. A man with an odd scar on one of his eye. The man is wearing a mask that covers his nose and lips, and... he's staring at her, looking almost as shocked as her.

The man's gaze is directed at her, and after a few seconds of confused and tense silence, his eyebrows furrow. "Are you... crying?"

Sakura hastily touches her cheeks, wiping the remnant of tears away. "Sorry," she finds herself saying, "hah, sorry, I'm just- Um. Sorry."

She looks back at the man when she's done, seeing that his eyebrows are still furrowed in a way that should've given him some new wrinkles, and raises her eyebrow.

"Um. Is something... wrong?"

"Yes," he readily answers, almost making her flinch at how quick it is, "actually, how did you call me here?"

Sakura blinks.

She blinks again.

She blinks again just to make sure that this is real.

"I... call you here."

"Yes, you called me here," he looks impatient, "how did you do that? No one can just call me like that. It's not possible."

Sakura blinks again.

She wonders if she's met a mad man.

A mad man in a beach. On her birthday.

Just her luck.