I've been in love for the past year. It has really been great – I've even (temporarily) given up my books. But my relationship has suddenly started falling apart, and I don't understand what I've done wrong…or is he just getting tired of me?

I know that I'm late for everything we go to, and I know I sometimes get depressed over all the death in my life, but is that really a reason for Iruka to kick me out of the house like that? I guess, to truly understand the situation, I should start from the beginning.

Gai, my self-proclaimed best friend, and I were at a bar one weekend about a year ago. I was in one of my bad moods, thinking about Obito again – he was hurt very badly on a hike he, Rin, and I had taken when we were kids. Rin had gotten lost and Obito insisted on going off the map in a dangerous area instead of waiting until we could hike back to the ranger station and get help. We found Rin, after a while, but on the way back…Obito…I can't really talk about it…. We were able to get him to a hospital, but his pelvic bones were crushed and surgery couldn't help. He was given a few days to live. In that time he donated his eye to me for a risky surgery that could replace my blind, damaged eye and give me full sight.

"Kakashi! Let us have another rival battle! What shall it be this time?" Gai said excitedly, the same way he says everything.

I held out my hand for another rock-paper-scissors match. I beat him with paper. He always used rock.

"Aha! Beat my rock again Kakashi! That makes it 24:23!" Gai laughed and slapped me on the back. I gave him one of my signature smiles – the one most people have figured out is fake.

"Speaking of rocks, how is Lee doing as an instructor?" I asked to try to get him onto a subject he could drone on about without noticing my silence. He could talk about his Taijutsu school and his favorite pupil all day.

Tears streamed down the grown man's face and a sunset backdrop suddenly descended out of nowhere – at least that's how I picture it in my memories.

"Lee has come so far! He is my number one pupil!….."

He continued, but I wasn't listening. I shielded my eyes from his blinding smile and continued to sip on my sake, touching the scars around my eye which I kept covered to protect the precious gift that I was given. After only a few minutes of ignoring Gai, he put his hand on my shoulder, surprising me back into reality. That didn't really seem like all day.

"Kakashi, my friend, you have refused my proposals of counseling, antidepressants, and a shoulder to cry on for a long time. Hear this new proposal! Either you must try one of my earlier suggestions or you must accept a new challenge to be revealed after your choice!"

I thought about it for a few minutes. The challenges were usually hotwing eating contests, races, rock-paper-scissor matches (my favorite), and other things that had never taken too much effort or time.

"Let's hear this new challenge," I humored him with another smile.

"We will compete for the phone number of the next person who walks through the door!" Gai stood with his nice-guy pose.

A few people looked at us. I sighed and pulled him back into his chair.

"Now, now," I calmly patted the bruise my fingers left on his arm, "there's no need to bother the other people in the bar and drag them into our rivalry. Our matches are always about personal strength."

"Well, so is this one!" Gai pouted and rubbed his arm. He quickly turned back into his upbeat self, as I knew he would. "If you are as cool as you have always acted, my eternal rival, then you should be able to complete this challenge easily!"

I knew he wouldn't let me say no. It was only a phone number, I guess I could do this just to get Gai off of my back. He leaned in with an eager grin when I let out a defeated sigh.

"If it will make you happy," I replied and shrugged, letting a real smile rest upon my face when he jumped and fist-pumped. At least he was succeeding in getting me out of my mood.

We waited for a while for someone to come in. I was hoping it might be the waitress who seemed to have a crush on me – that would make it easier and it was almost time for her to walk in. Gai and I had talked to her quite a few times and he always looked forward to seeing her because she actually enjoyed his annoying ramblings. I think she only put up with him just so that she could talk to me, but I never told that to Gai. I didn't like to burst his bubble too often when it took the attention off of me and put it on some other unlucky passerby.

Gai and I turned (he a little more enthusiastically) when the bell on the door started to jingle. A young man, a little younger than Gai and I, walked through the door and I turned back to my so-called best friend with a sour expression. Ignoring my one-eyed glare, he winked at me with a thumbs up and hopped over to the table that the young man had sat down at. I called a waitress over, asked for more sake, and sat back to enjoy the show. I was actually surprised that Gai was doing a good job at keeping the words "youth" and "passion" to a minimum. (Iruka later told me he was afraid that Gai was a serial killer at first.)

After a few minutes Gai came back, defeated. I raised a toast to him and all of his eternal youth with a mocking smile. He stuck his tongue out at me in jest and told me it was my turn to try. I took the sake and my cup with me as I walked calmly over to the man's table. He was actually pretty cute. His hair was pulled back in a ponytail and he had a scar across his nose – my first calculated conversation starter.

"Hey sorry about that," I said, catching his attention. "My friend is extremely enthusiastic about meeting new people to the point of embarrassing everyone within a two mile radius."

I flashed my signature smile, sat my sake and cup down on the table, and took a seat beside him. He still looked nervous and uncomfortable from his first encounter with Gai.

"Do you drink sake?" I asked casually, pouring myself some more.

"Look," he said, "I really appreciate you and your friend's interest in me but I really don't want any sake and I, well, I really just want to enjoy some peace and quiet after moving all of my stuff in today."

So he had just moved, I gathered. "Oh, this?" I asked indicating the sake bottle. "You can't have any of that, it's mine, I was just wondering. And I truthfully want exactly what you want, but you see, that guy over there isn't going to leave me alone until I try to get your number. He's very competitive, so we have these little matches and you were the first one to walk through the door."

"Lucky me," he deadpanned.

"Yep," I replied flashing him another smile. "So how about this: let me stay over here and away from my friend for a while and I'll keep any other nutjobs away from your table. Then you can give me a phony number that I can show my friend and I'll leave you alone, hm?"

He gave me a small confident smile. "Right, we can try that."

"My name is Kakashi," I introduced myself.

"Mine is Mizuki," he replied and shook my hand. I asked him why he lied to me later and he explained Gai's serial-killer vibe and I understood completely. Sometimes I'm Asuma when strange people ask me my name, and that's how Kuranai and Sarutobi got together.

We sat there for a while without talking, but somehow a conversation got started. I can't remember who started it and I can't exactly remember what we talked about. I think rubber ducks came up in the conversation at one point and we got into a pretty serious conversation about manscaping. I mean, so what if I like to trim under my arms? But his manicure is a little strange. It was the first conversation I had actually participated in with someone in a long time.

He gave me a number and I showed it to Gai. We left with the score 25:23 and he tried to get me into another match, but I told him that winning three matches in one night would be too much for me. I waited about three days, thinking about the number that I kept in my wallet. I wondered if it was really fake. I decided to try my luck.

I dialed. And it rang.

"Hello?" I heard on the other line.

"Mizuki?"