Oblivious Valentine
For the ones that I loved and still love
Happy Valentine's Day!
Yanvi
O o o o o O o o o o O
It was a rather sunny and warm afternoon for a day in late January. The village of Konoha was peaceful, yet vibrant. Villagers were enjoying the precious sunny day as it has been snowing heavily for the whole week. Most of the shinobi were at their home, as at this time of the year, the number of missions dropped significantly and that they were mainly doing training within the village gate, as well as planning new arrange with the new blood, as the pre-genin were graduating in late March.
A young shinobi was sitting comfortably on the blue sofa in his room, casually reading a recipe book while having a cup of tea in his hand. His dogs were having a nap by the end of the sofa, resting soundly. With the smoothing baritone singing in the background, the whole atmosphere was relax and peaceful.
An alarm clock broke the atmosphere and the said shinobi looked up the clock. He quickly laid the book on top of the small black coffee table in front of him and jumped out of the window right after he worn his flak jacket and hitai-ate. He quickly, smoothly jumped on the rooftops, across the village to the other side of the forest. He stopped in front of the academy, and the young blond that he was expecting, was already there with his brunette sensei.
"Yo, Iruka-sensei," the said shinobi causally addressed the teacher and then turned his attention to the young blond who was wearing an orange jumper, "did you behave today, Naruto?"
"Hai! We have kunai throwing practice today and I am good at it, ne, Iruka – sensei?" the blond boy asked cheerfully as he grabbed the gloved hand that the shinobi has. "Me and Sasuke-teme has a competition and I didn't lose!"
Iruka stoked the scar that lied across his face, "as a matter of fact, they drew, Kakashi- san."
"I see," Kakashi nodded. When he turned his attention to the black haired boy, he realised that an older black haired boy just appeared by jutsu.
"Kakashi-sempai," the boy addressed when the heap of smoke was disappeared. He then nodded to the sensei politely, then, gently placed his hands by the younger boys shoulder, "let's go home, Sasuke."
The said boy nodded politely to the brunette and walked off along with the older boy. Kakashi then said, "well, it's also time for us to go, see you on Monday, Iruka- sensei."
"Hai. See you on Monday, Kakashi- san, Naruto- kun."
"Bye, Iruka- sensei," the blond waved happily and pull Kakashi away from the academy gate. "What we are going to have tonight, Kakashi? Ramen?"
"No, Naruto, we are not having ramen."
"But I really want to… Kakashi, please?" the blond pull a puppy face as he tried to convince the older man to cook him ramen.
"No, Naruto, you will have ramen when I am out for mission," Kakashi replied while gently mess the spiky blond hair that Naruto has. It has been already a long while since Naruto learnt to pull the puppy face, therefore Kakashi was already immune by it, "when we are in the market, you can decide what we are going to have tonight, deal?"
"Okay," Naruto replied though he was still pouting. "Will dad back home on time tonight, Kakashi?"
"I think so," Kakashi answered softly, "I think sensei will try to get out of the office as promptly as he can."
After the pair went to the market and what the young boy wanted for dinner, they head home, not the one that Kakashi left, but the house that Naruto shared with his father.
When the master of the house, Minato, arrived at the door, Kakashi was working in the kitchen, busy as a bee, while Naruto was playing video games in the living room. "I am home," he said.
Kakashi poked his head out of the kitchen door when he heard that, "welcome back, sensei."
The man smiled when he walked towards the kitchen, and placed his cloak, flak jacket as well as porches on the table in the kitchen. "How are you today, Kakashi-kun?"
"I am alright, sensei," Kakashi answered and he then quickly turned back his attention to the salmon that was in the pan. "Have you managed to hit your target today?"
"Na… still a huge pile," Minato pull a long face as he raffled his yellow hair, "I really shouldn't have send Sparrow out for mission, he is much better than the chunin at the mission desk."
Kakashi smiled while listening the mumble that the older man was pouring out. "I have told you that, sensei, Robin is good enough to complete those missions and that you do need Sparrow to assist your administration document."
"Hai. Hai." Minato replied sarcastically.
O o o o o O o o o o O
After dinner, Minato read his documents at the dinner table whilst the younger man was washing the dishes. Minato looked at the younger man that was having his back to him. It has been 5 years since the Kyuubi attack and the death of Kushina. It was a difficult time for him, as he suddenly loss his wife and has to place the Kyuubi into his son. He really wasn't planning to raise Naruto on his own and he was so glad when his young protégé volunteered to take up some of the responsibility, as he trusted the young man and that he knew that he would treat the boy nicely, without any prejudice. Suddenly, Minato has a realisation. His lovely protégé has turned into a handsome man, a fine assassin, and a loyal shinobi. Soon or later, the younger man would not put his main attention to the Namikaze family, but some other young shinobi. Somehow, this idea stunned him and that he would like knowing what kind of person that Kakashi would like. He hoped that the person would able to interact with Naruto well, and of course, himself too, as he always considered the young man as his part of his family, since the death of Sakumo sempai.
Once the housework was done, Kakashi left the Namikaze and went back to his own home. By the time Kakashi reached his house, the other resident was already there.
"Kakashi- senpai," the man removed his attention from the book that he was holding and greeted when Kakashi set foot in the living room.
"How's the interrogation going, Tenzo?" Kakashi asked while he switched on the television.
"It is going well, for our side, I have learnt a lot more from Ibiki-san, as I managed to exact more information from that missing-nin from Kirigakure."
"Good," Kakashi commented, "Ibiki is an expert in this field, and I definitely need you to learn more, so that you can lead your own team later."
"Hai, I will work hard," Tenzo replied, and then he hesitated whether he should say what he was thinking. After a short pause, he decided to speak out, "but I would much prefer to work under you though, sempai."
"Hm… thought you much prefer work behind me, kohai," he teased. " Though, of course, I don't mind swapping."
The wood nin flushed, "sempai!"
"Ma… just teasing, you know…" Kakashi smiled, and then turned his gaze back to the television.
It was already 3 years since the kohai moved into the Hatake compound with him. The younger man was the only person survived in Orchimaru's experiments. As his identity was a highly classified matter, he could only work in ANBU. As the situation was in such tension, Minato decided to assign his beloved protégé as the boy's taicho. After Kakashi read though Tenzo's file, he decided to put forward his request as he was tired to live the ANBU quarter and that he thought the kohai could make a fine companion.
When Minato approved his request, he was so pleased and hoped that he has made a good move. Indeed, he has. Tenzo was a fine companion to the fact that Kakashi has the kohai as his bed companion, for which Kakashi did not do it on purpose, as he already has someone that occupied his heart.
Even though he saw the man that he loved, but he knew that he would never let the man aware of it. He would do anything that he could to stop the information leaking out, well, except his kohai, who was already aware of the situation. There would be nothing between the man that he loved and himself. Even though it has been 5 years since the Kyuubi killed Kushina, Kakashi doubt that his sensei would stop thinking about her. He was glad that Minato did not dig into the detail. He remembered the night clearly, as it was only yesterday.
O o o o o O o o o o O
Author's Note:
I was planning to write this up before Val's day, but clearly I have not managed to hit the target, so just want to upload the parts that I have already written. I was planning to write this as a short story, but seems, from the way it develops, it is going to hit 10k!
Looking forward to hear your reviews!
Vi :)