Author's Rant: Okay, firstly, those of you waiting on updates for Dear Arakawa, fear not, I'm on it. Expect the next chapter in a few days.

This little one shot is written for the 2011 Poe Challenge over at the Kakashi x Sakura community on LiveJournal to the prompt A Dream Within A Dream. Major kudos go out to nimblnymphfor organizing and running the challenge and to the lovely Clearheart for making Kakashi and Sakura kiss… and stuff… XD

Finally, no betas were employed or harmed in the making of this fic so if it sucks, it's entirely my fault. That being said, I hope you… enjoy (?) it….

Did I mention, I don't own Sakura? Or Kakashi? Or even Poe? *crawls into emo corner*

Dream Catcher

Sometimes, Kakashi was sure it was a dream.

There was really something dreamlike about her, her luminescent pink hair, her glazed green eyes, the way she came to him night after night without any condition, any expectations, any hesitation…

But it couldn't be a dream because he remembered her too well. He remembered the bright, firm look in her eyes the first time she had told him she loved him, he clearly remembered the intensity with which they made love for the first time, on the floor of his tiny flat as neither could wait to reach his time worn single bed. Most of all, he remembered her scent. How Sakura managed to smell like flowers and cherries and sunshine and clean air even in the middle of a battlefield always amazed him.

And just to prove to himself further that she was not a dream, he held her tightly during the nights, sometimes leaving marks on her porcelain skin. Surely a dream would collapse and end if one applied so much force to hold on to it. But she never did, she understood the need he had to feel human, to feel closer to another human being, to be reminded that he was still breathing. And when he closed his eyes, he liked to imagine she was holding on to him just as tightly. The nail marks on his skin testified to that.

But if she was indeed real, and indeed there, than why didn't she ever say anything? He remembered the way she used to talk and babble before the fourth shinobi war, a pretty blush covering her cheeks as she realized she had said something awkward. Maybe the war had hardened her? It had certainly hardened her heart, and made her love him with a new zeal, one he wasn't complaining about.

Sometimes what they did seemed purely carnal, for how can biting scratching, sucking and panting so violently ever be called "love". But it was love, it was their form of love and the fact that at the end, they always lay together in silence proved it. Kakashi remembered a time before Sakura, a time when he had run from such closeness until a pink haired angel had decided to drop into his life and make it worth living, worth wanting to stay alive for.

"How could you be so fucking careless, you could have died, sensei!"

"All my friends have, maybe it's my turn now?"

"You bastard!"

"Sakura-chan, I don't think you're supposed to physically harm already injured patients, imagine how bad it would look on my tombstone: 'Survived a brush with Uchiha Madara only to be pummeled to death by former student'?"

She had not punched him after that; she had done something a lot more shocking. She had flung her arms around him and kissed him, hard, kissed him like she meant it, like she needed it just as badly as he did.

XxxxX

Tonight is like many others, she comes to him under the cloak of darkness, ever willing and ready as he takes her into his arms. Today he is on a mission; he is going to make her scream. He misses that raw sound that used to emit from her throat, sometimes in the form of his name, sometimes as an incoherent curse word. He misses the sheer force with which her lungs would work as he lowered his head between her thighs working his tongue into her sensitive folds, teasing and teasing until she begged and screamed for release.

He tries, he can feel her shivering and shuddering under his ministrations, he feels her fingers curling into his silver hair, pulling at them painfully as he squeezes and kneads the flesh of her thighs and caresses her soft bundle of nerves with his tongue. He can almost hear her screaming… almost…

Never mind, he will try again tomorrow, he tells her with a ghost of a chuckle as they lie in his darkened room in the aftermath, he spent and panting and she quietly clinging on to him.

Just before he succumbs to sleep, he tells her he loves her and she curls into him in response. He barely remembers wishing for a verbal reply before the blissful fog overcomes his senses.

XxxxX

It had been three months now and there was still no change in the patient.

Yes, the patient, Shizune would not think of him as anything but, because to do that would be to put an all too real confirmative seal on the matter.

Plastering a bright smile on her face, she enters the closed off area of the permanent residence ward, noting that the tray of food at the patients bedside had barely been touched.

"Good morning, Kakashi-san, didn't eat your dinner last night?" she asks cheerfully as she moves to his side to take his blood pressure. As usual, there is no reply. The jounin simply lies as he had done since the war, the final battle in which many had died and many more had suffered worse.

"I know hospital food is not much to brag about but you need to keep your strength up, no?" she continues, noting that very little change has registered on the monitors since she'd last checked on him.

Yes, the brain waves are still on a similar frequency as they have been for months now. Even after external shocks, internal chakra disruptions and numerous variations of seal breaking, Hatake Kakashi is still trapped in his own self inflicted genjutsu.

"It's like he doesn't want to wake up…" Shizune had tried to explain to a distressed Naruto after Sakura's funeral. "We're doing everything we can but the problem is, he put himself in that condition, Naruto-kun. So even his subconscious isn't fighting it."

"Open up, Kakashi-san, we need to see if you have a fever. The autumn winds can be chilly," the medic continues, shaking her head back into the present. In one swift movement, Shizune has the thermometer in the man's mouth and in another, is moving to consult his chart once again.

"Not good…" she mutters to herself. "His muscles will start atrophying if he doesn't start using them. Maybe we can get you on a physical routine, huh? That way, at least your body will get some exercise."

Kakashi has no opinion on the matter and Shizune finally turns away after noting that his temperature is normal. Today's examination just serves to confirm what they already know. There is nothing physically wrong with the man; he could get out of bed and discharge himself if he wanted to – like he would have done before…

"Alright Kakashi-san, I have other patients to tend to, you have a good day now," Shizune hurries from the room, feeling a familiar burning at the corners of her eyes. If she is going to cry, she sure as hell isn't going to do it in front of Kakashi.

She can't be entirely sure but for a moment, she thinks she can hear the words "See you, Sakura…" coming from his direction.

XxxxX

End Note: My apologies if this is really bad/depressing but this was the only way my twisted mind chose to interpret the prompt. If you like, please leave a review to let me know how I did with the challenge.