Hatake Kakashi was a very indifferent man.
When he met his team- really, his team, they were the only ones he'd ever passed- and ever would pass, it would seem- his lungs didn't constrict painfully in his ribs, and, no, his heart didn't stop, just for a second, because Sasuke looked so, so much like Obito.
And when Sasuke ignored Sakura, and Sakura ignored Naruto, he didn't want to shake them and yell at them and tell them that, you never know, you don't know if you'll always be there tomorrow, or if they will either, and if you love someone, you should tell them, because Shinobi. . . well, they're not known for their long life spans. So you should tell your best friend that, yes, you actually do care, and you only act like a jerk just because. . . and tell her that maybe she's not so annoying, because she'll cry when you're gone, and you'll want to cry when she's gone, and so is he, and you're all alone, but you won't, will you?
And that one morning when he was woken up so rudely to the news- Sasuke, yes, that Sasuke, he was gone, really, really gone, and Sakura was crying, and Naruto was being brave for her sake- Kakashi didn't feel like a failure, of course he didn't, and he wasn't later than usual, and he didn't, didn't, feel lower than dirt because he'd neglected his other students (who actually looked up to him despite what they might say), and now they were broken, now a piece was missing, because he hadn't taught them enough, hadn't taught them right.
After Naruto left with Jiraiya, and Sakura began training with Tsunade, Kakashi didn't feel defeated, and betrayed, and alone. Because he deserved it, after all; hadn't he neglected them and handed them off whenever he had the chance? No, he didn't feel a little pang of guilt and he didn't ache just a little bit, he only retreated quietly to his books and watched.
Finally Naruto was back, and there was Sakura, too, and they were almost a team again. And suddenly Sakura was strong, ferociously so, and he never knew that, and how didn't he see it? Naruto was strong, too, more than he could fathom, and out of nowhere they had both surpassed him, but he never felt left behind, or wished that maybe it could have been him that helped them become so strong and fierce, and of course he didn't have any envy for or even spite towards the sannin, because they were only helping, and that's what he wanted, right?
So when Naruto and Sakura went off to bring back Sasuke, because they had to, or else they would never be whole again, and when they didn't come back, and when he was sent on the retrieval mission- not to bring them back, really, they were only searching for remains, but they all knew they wouldn't even find that- when that happened, he was not a broken man, he was not filled with regrets, he did not wish for "what-ifs," he did not weep silently in the dark when no one was around, just once, only once.
No, he did none of this.
Hatake Kakashi was a very indifferent man.
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Another Naru-oneshot from me. I'm think about turning my oneshots into series' of oneshots, centered around a particular pairing or theme. We'll see!
Much love to my beta: justafan245
SailorKagome