Naruko P.O.V

Kakashi and I walked back to my apartment after our date. Our fingers intertwined with each other as the smiles on our faces never faded.

"Thanks for taking me out today. The ramen was really fancy!" I cheered. There's no way I can tell him I didn't like that expensive ramen. He paid too much money to have me complain about it.

"Of course, anything for my girl."

My girl...? Ahhshjsjaka I'm actually crying! I can't believe I'm my senpai's 'girl!'

I had an uncontrollable smile on my face as I stared at him. "Your girl...? Heh, I'm my senpai's girl..."

He chuckled as the hold of his hand tightened around mine. "You're such a dork, Naruko." My heart jumped in my chest as he called me a dork. That's what Sasuke called me when we danced that night...Ugh, what am I thinking?! Focus on Kakashi-senpai! You're technically still mad at that jerk anyway!

We finally reached my apartment building. We stood by the stairs, saying our goodbyes before having to be away from each other until tomorrow morning.

"Thank you so much for today, senpai--"

"Kakashi."

"Huh?"

"Call me Kakashi...we are in a relationship now so there's no need for you to call me senpai anymore."

My face blushed a light pink from his mature statement. Looking at him now, I began to notice things I hadn't before. The way the moonlight shined on him made my heart pound. His eyes were dark like Sasuke's, but his soul was far from being as broken as his.

I always knew my senpai was handsome, but there was something about standing in the moonlight together that made me see him as a prince. The prince that would save me from the clutches of the evil dragon. He was my ticket to happiness, and I was going to make sure I would take the chance to jump into my prince's arms, leaving the dragon behind.

As we stared at each other, my senpai's hands slowly rose to hold my cheek in his palm. He used his thumb to caress my cheek, never taking his eyes away from mine.

"Naruko...you're one special girl. I don't know how you did it, but you managed to save me..." His stare was sincere and full of affection for me.

My heart began to beat quickly, anticipating what might come next: a kiss.

Kakashi-senpai used his other hand to find the band that wrapped around his ear so he could remove the mask from his face. I knew he was going to kiss me, and I wanted him to kiss me, but something didn't feel right. I felt scared.

I felt my heart drop from the reality of my feelings. I don't want to lose my feelings for Sasuke...

In every fairy tale, the princess would be saved from the prince. He would ride on his majestic horse, slaying the dragon to free the princess. Soon after the princess would fall in love with her savior, marrying him to live happily ever after, but that wasn't the case in this fairy tale.

In this tale, the princess was saved by the Dragon. While the princess was locked away in her tower she grew lonely. Every day she wished for the day her prince would come. All she had was the evil dragon that protected her castle to keep her company, but the Dragon was not an approachable beast. The dragon wanted nothing to do with the princess. He only wanted to do his job: protect the castle at all costs. The princess hated the dragon and his uncaring attitude until she began to see the amount of affection he actually carried for her.

The dragon cared for her in ways that made her heartbeat for him. The dragon would sweep her off her feet like a prince, flying her around the castle, making her the happiest princess as they lived together in their tiny home. Soon the princess came to love the dragon. She wanted to stay with him forever and not ride off with the prince. But like Romeo and Juliet, they could not be together. A dragon and a human could never work out.

If only the prince had arrived sooner, maybe the princess would have wanted to leave the horrible dragon. Maybe she wouldn't have gotten to know the dragon and see him for who he really was. Maybe she wouldn't have fallen in love with the dragon and his small acts of kindness. If the prince would have arrived sooner, she wouldn't be in love with the one person she could never have.

He was about to remove his mask when my hand quickly stopped him from going any further. "Stop..." I mumbled with a pain in my heart. I couldn't bare to look him in the eyes, so I kept my gaze fixed on the ground. Tears slowly formed in my eyes. I wanted to cry from guilt and a broken heart.

"Naruko...?"

"Senpai--no--Kakashi...I'm sorry, I guess I'm just not ready yet...I hope you can understand..." I'm truly a cruel person...

"Oh uh, it's okay, really!" He took my hand in his again, lowering it from his face while he adjusted his mask. "I'm sorry for doing that out of no where."

I quickly picked up my head, shaking it while trying to reassure him that this situation wasn't his fault. "No, no, no! You did nothing wrong! It's just me...I'm so sorry senpai--I mean Kakashi, haha...Maybe dating someone younger than you might be a problem for you..."

He shook his head, holding my hands in his. "Your age has nothing to do with this. You're just new to this...well, more like we're both new to this, haha!"

My eyes widened in surprise. I'm Kakashi's first girlfriend?!

He released the hold on my hands so he could caress my cheek. "Look Naruko, we'll take it as slow as you want to. There's no need to rush anything. What I feel for you is something special, and I'm willing to do whatever to make you happy."

"Ka-Kakashi..." The guilt in my heart grew.

The prince was trying hard to win the love of the princess, and vice-versa. But her heart was contaminated by the dragon. But the princess knew that a human and a dragon could never be together, so she had to try and love the prince no matter what. He promised her happiness, and the dragon promised her nothing of the sort. In fact, the dragon never loved the princess, so her effort to stay with him would be pointless.

His eyes closed to show his good intentions. "Naruko, I like you...and I hope that we'll be able to date until that feeling turns into something more." He then bent down towards me, kissing me on the cheek through his mask. "I'll see you tomorrow, Naruko."

I held the spot on my cheeks which he kissed. I was overwhelmed by his affection that I became speechless. I simply nodded my head while he walked away.

He was about to cross the street when he turned over, digging through his bag to take out his book. He showed me his book which had the book cover I bought him, placed around it.

My eyes widened in shock. He put it on...That means I'm someone he holds dear...What have I done...?

He smiled happily through his mask as he showed me the book. He then placed the book back in his bag and crossed the street. My eyes continued to follow him until he was gone.

My chest felt heavy from the amount of guilt my heart was carrying. Tears formed in my eyes, but I tried to wipe them away before they could fall. I was tired of crying over something as petty as love.

The princess knew that the universe wanted her to be with the prince, but that wasn't what the princess wanted. She wanted to be with the dragon. She loved the dragon and no one else. At night she would pray, hoping that the universe would change its mind and allow her to love the dragon, but even if it did change, the dragon did not have the same feelings for her. It was an unrequited love.

I want to see Sasuke...

I climbed the stairs quickly to see the person who caused me my very heart ache. Despite all the emotional pain, he had put me through, I still wanted to see him. Just being around made my world a better place. It was a cursed love that could never be taken away from me.

The princess was an idiot for loving the dragon, and so was the pigtailed teen for loving the man that came back in time to make sure they never fell in love

I rushed to take the key out of my bag, struggling to put the key into the lock to open the door. Once I finally had the door open, I rushed in calling out his name, but he was no where to be found in the small apartment.

"Sasuke...?" I walked around the apartment, searching each room to make sure he wasn't hiding somewhere. No matter where I looked I couldn't find him.

Did he go back to the future...?

The pain in my chest spread to my body, causing me to collapse on the floor in shock.

I hadn't spoken to Sasuke since our fight from yesterday. I was angry at him because I knew he didn't love me. He didn't care for the present nor future me. But now that he left, my life felt empty.

I'm so stupid! I should have apologized to him this morning! Now he's gone...and the last thing we did was fight...No wonder he wanted to make sure we never fell in love. I'm the reason why he doesn't want to be with me...

I stared at the door as tears streamed down my face. He's really gone...Sasuke is gone...

As I sat on the floor in a saddened state, I began to hear the locks of my door begin to open. The door slowly opened to reveal Sasuke. He was dressed in all black, holding a convenience store bag while he removed his shoes.

"S-Sasuke...?"

He looked over at me with a confused expression. "Why're you sitting on the floor, idiot?"

He's still here...

I stood up off the ground, quickly wiping my tears as he approached me.

"I went to the convenience store to get you something...You hadn't spoken to me all day, so I thought buying you some of your favorite ramen cups would help you forgive me..." He passed me the bag full of instant ramen packs.

I stared at the bag in my hands and then back at him. I still couldn't believe he was here. "Sasuke..." I whispered under my breath.

"Hm?"

In that instant, my shocked expression turned into an angry one. I lifted a fist to punch him in the arm.

"What the--What was that for?!" He yelled angrily.

Tears began to fill my eyes again. I dropped the bag on the floor and ran into his arms.

"Huh...?"

I dug my face into his chest, trying to wipe the tears on his clothes. "I...I thought you left..." I mumbled.

He sighed, wrapping his arms around me. "No...I promised you I would never leave you without saying anything ever again."

"Again?" I asked while lifting myself away from his chest.

He nodded his head while looking at me sadly. "When we were dating, I had some issues with my family. They didn't want us to get married, and I was scared of going against my family's wishes...Out of fear and guilt, I left you alone for a few days with no contact. It was the worst thing I could ever do to you...I needed time to figure out what to do, and I had someone to help guide me into making the right choice. A few days later I ran back to your aparment, left my family behind, and married you."

He left his family behind to be with me...? So he really does love me...so why-?

Sasuke slowly released the embrace with a sigh. He then bent down to pick up the bag I had dropped on the floor. "Even though I promised you I would never leave you again without your knowledge, I went off and still did it..." His back was turned to me, but the pain in his voice was enough to paint the picture of his heartbroken expression.

He placed the instant ramen cups into the cabinets, closing them with a sigh. "Even though I left you in the future, the least I can do is keep my promise to you..." He walked back towards me, covering the cheek that held Kakashi's kiss, with his own hand. He caressed my warm skin with a smile. "Naruko...I promise not to leave you until I've told you."

I smiled lightly as my hand went up to hold his hand. I rested my small hand against the hand that held my cheek. I snuggled my face happily into his hand, closing my eyes so I could take in the moment. "You promise?"

"Yes."

The princess found out one day that the dragon was actually in love with her. What kept the dragon apart from her was a secret he refused to tell her. And like an idiot, hoping that they might still have a chance, she kissed the dragon without a moment of hesitation.