AUTHOR'S NOTES:
OK! Hellooo everyone! It's been a while, huh? Don't panic, but I have suddenly decided to write again. Since it's been a while, naturally I am worried that I will not do quite as well as before. So, as a result, I have given you the first chapter with the added potential of many chapters to come if all goes well. So be sure to comment and let me know if you like what I have so far. Otherwise I will assume the worst... ;)
Standing at the foot of the doorway, it took me no time at all to find him leaning against a nearby tree, reading one of those books he always has with him. I try my best to put one foot in front of the other as I make my way towards him. His gaze never leaves his book as I slide down the trunk of the tree to sit beside him. I look up at his face and he utters his signature "mmm."
"Hey Senpai, don't you ever get tired of reading the same thing over and over?" I ask.
He snaps the book closed and puts it back into his pocket before I even realize it isn't in his hands anymore. "Maa, you only say that because you've never read them before, Tenzou," Senpai smirks at me, clearly amused by my discomfort.
"Somehow, I doubt my reading them would change my opinion," I smile. "I hope I didn't keep you waiting long?" I ask, staring up at him, the light bouncing off the leaves and twinkling around his face. It's as if every time I look at him, I'm seeing him for the first time. He looks off into the distance, his eyes searching for something, before he answers me.
"Not long," he replies, his gaze still fixated on the Academy in front of us.
I could feel a slight breeze, his hair ruffling in the wind as it blew past us. I couldn't help but stare, my breath betraying me as it got caught in my throat. Kakashi-Senpai looked down at me quizzically, eyebrow raised. "Say, Tenzou, why don't you take a picture? It'll last longer," he smirks at me. My face blushes beet red. I was too embarrassed to look away. If I look away he wins.
I could hear him chuckle as he pushed off the tree to return his stance to normal. He studies my face for what feels like an eternity before finally speaking. "Do you remember what today is?" he whispers, his eyes suddenly turning a shade darker.
My heartbeat picks up as I realize what he's talking about. Today is the day he retires from ANBU. I stare at the dirt beneath my feet. I can't bring myself to face him. I owe my life to this man. If it weren't for him I would still be under Danzo's control. Carrying out his every order without any hesitation. I can't help but flash back to that day I received the orders to kill him.
"Oi, wake up Kinoe! Can you really obey an order to kill a friend?!" Kakashi yells at me.
"You're one to talk. You're the one who killed a friend!" I yell, my Mokkuton exploding from the ground.
"Stop this Kinoe! Abandon this mission!" Kakashi pleads as our kunai clash.
"A shinobi's mission is absolute!" I spit back at him.
"A mission is not absolute! If those orders are to kill a friend then they're wrong!"
Back then I couldn't remember anything but pain. I had no past. I had no future. I only thought of death. True, Danzo saved me that day. But as I look up at the grey-haired shinobi standing in front of me, I couldn't help but think that he's the real reason I am here today. He's saved me in more ways than one, and I can do nothing to squelch the tears forming in the corners of my eyes.
"Senpai," I breathe, tears falling down my cheeks, as I stand. I reach out my hand in front of him. "We had some good times together, didn't we?"
Kakashi looks down at my hand, back up to my eyes, and then back down again. He grasps it firmly in his. "We sure did," water beginning to form at his eyelids. He shakes his head, as if to shake away the pain, and drops my hand from his.
I smile at him, "I don't know what we're going to do without you, Senpai, but I suppose we'll manage somehow."
Kakashi's demeanor changes, "I have no doubt you'll all be just fine," he smiles back at me. I would take a kunai to the chest before I ever admitted to anyone how that smile affects me. We stand there in comfortable silence until Kakashi-Senpai waves for me to follow and starts to walk back towards the center of town. I follow after him, my steps falling into place with his.
"Senpai, maybe I'm being too forward, but would it be alright if we spent the day together?" I try my best to sound cheerful. No matter how hard this will be for all of us, I truly believe this is what is best for him. He was starting to become an empty shell. There are only so many assassinations a person can do before you stop feeling altogether, and unfortunately, his time was quickly approaching.
Senpai's face goes blank for a split second before regaining its original expression, "I would like that, Tenzou."
I couldn't help the feeling of relief that surged through my body. Just because he was leaving ANBU didn't mean he was leaving me. And that was the most important thing for me to remember.
Kakashi-Senpai was a lot of things, as various nicknames would point out, but he wasn't the kind of person to drop you as a friend. And I know this, because even though he acts like he hates it when Guy-Sensei starts rambling on about their rivalry or rock-paper-scissors, I can always see the slightest smirk form in the corner of his mouth. As if his pretending not to notice Guy's existence is one of the tests of their rivalry itself. And I can't help but laugh.
"Hmm? Something funny, Tenzou?" Senpai cocks his head to look at me.
I cough to cover it up. "Nothing at all, Senpai," I smile back at him.
Off in the distance, a shinobi screams about the youthfulness of life and green jumpsuits.
