There was snow
Sigh, my heart, but do not break.
He read the text again and opened the scroll wider to see if he'd missed something. It said nothing more. Kakashi sat down on the chilly wooden floor and furrowed his brows. Who had written this? Why had he kept it? It almost sounded like a poem. He had no memory of ever writing it, getting it or ever seeing it before. He closed the scroll, put it in the "save" pile. He wanted to hold on to it, despite not knowing where it came from.
The storage was cold this time of the year and he hurried up, went through his boxes more quickly and recklessly, wanted to be done sooner rather than later. He'd been sentimental when he was younger, saved little cards and scrolls and school assignments, recognized his own raking, childish writing from a mile away, saw the crooked lines and wondered how his teachers even could make out what it said. Maybe they couldn't. Maybe they had taken pity on him. Sometimes he suspected that had been the case, that they'd decided to give the clever, bright but oh so unfortunate kid a break and give him a higher grade than what he'd actually deserved. He put his books in the "throw" pile and got moving again. The box contained mostly school stuff, and after he'd gone through it he put it to the side.
Next up was a big plastic bag, black and tattered. Through a hole something dark gray was sticking out. He opened it carefully and stretched his hand down, grabbed a hold of something hard and pulled it out. It was a pair of arm-protectors, smaller than the ones he usually wore. They were full of scratches and one of them was scorched, he could suddenly remember where they were from. It was his first pair, his absolutely first pair, the ones he'd gotten when he'd started in ANBU. It was Minato who had given them to him, patted him on the back and said "Here! I picked them out myself. Take care of them, okay?" He'd worn them and cherished them for a long time, until they were literally falling into pieces. Only then had he bought a new pair, grudgingly. He put them in the trash pile, when he thought about it it was pretty sad to cling on to a pair of old arm guards. He was insecure about letting them go, which told him it was necessary. He didn't want to cling to things.
He dug further down to see what he'd find. Lots and lots of old, dirty copies of ANBU manuals. You couldn't just throw those in the trash, they would have to be burned to avoid the information getting out, which explained why they were in the bag. Dammit, past me. He'd probably stuffed them in there to avoid dealing with it, just like a lot of other things. Next up for evaluation was a scarf, a worn old green thing he'd had when he was little. He did want to save that one, put it in the according pile and dove back down in the bag which was now almost empty. There was still something small on the bottom and after a bit of waving his arm he got a hold of it. As soon as he realized what it was his heart sunk in his chest.
It was a lacquer box, shiny and black with a flower pattern circling upwards. It had been his mother's, she had gotten it from his father as a gift. According to Sakumo she used to keep her hairpins in it. It used to be on the night stand beside their bed, even after she had passed away. His father had never talked about it, but when Kakashi grew older he realized his father always slept on the same side of the bed while staying clear of the other.
When his father died he'd been forced to live in an orphanage and had very little room to spare. He'd been forced to leave his home, all his things, all his father's belongings, had watched them being sold off by the powers that be. Everything except the box which he now held in his hands.
He slowly put it down by the save-pile and then went through the next cardboard box that after a quick going-over proved to hold nothing more than work-related documents. He should probably save those. By then the storage was empty, not that there had been much in there to begin with. He put the boxes back against the wall, filled the black bag with the stuff that had to go and slung it over his shoulder. He stared at the scarf, thought for a moment and then put it in the bag as well. He then grabbed the lacquer box and the scroll and left the tiny room that he rented but rarely visited. He wanted to clean it out so that Naruto could put his stuff here too if he wanted. There wasn't a lot of room in his apartment and it was a bother to store documents at home. By now there probably was a little mountain of papers with Narutos name on it.
Out on the street the people were busy shopping, going about their lives as usual and Kakashi watched it with apparent lack of interest. He'd never been one for holidays and getting weekdays off, but instead offered almost every time. At work they gratefully let him work during the holidays since it meant they didn't have to. He didn't have a family or a lot of friends, so it hadn't felt like a sacrifice. But now things were different, he mused and walked on. A warmth blossomed at the thought of belonging, of having someone that made it feel like his presence was so hotly desired that there was nothing in the world that could make up for the loss of it.
He went by the ANBU quarters for the first time in a long while and left the papers. He didn't especially want to start a fire in his backyard and burn them. In the doorway he almost collided with Genma.
"Kakashi! Long time no see."
"Yo," he replied, not sure of how to treat his statement. It was a long time since he'd been there.
"What are you doing here?" Genma continued.
"Leaving some papers," he answered, truthfully enough.
"So you're not thinking of coming back?"
He shook his head, shifted his weight upon the soles of his feet, wasn't sure of how to put it.
"I'm a civilian now."
Genma snorted. "Yeah, sure," he drawled. "And I'm a-"
"WHERE IS HATAKE?"
Kakashi froze. The positively carnivorous aura belonged to Anko, he felt its icy shards across the walls. Crap.
Ever since she'd become head of ANBU things had definitely become more structured, probably because all those that could be labeled sane did their best to stay in line. He probably shouldn't have dropped the enormous stack of papers upon her new interns desk. Then again, he tried explaining himself, how were they ever to learn the job without being faced with the occasional challenge?
"I forgot that I had something to do. Bye."
He crinkled his eyes in his trademark smile and barely heard Genmas goodbye before he was outside.
On a whim he decided to go see Naruto, happily climbed in through the window, and was met with an elated cry.
"Sai didn't tell me you were coming!"
Kakashi glanced at the corner where he knew the ANBU stood and nodded as a way of greeting.
"I cleared up the storage so you can use it if you want."
Naruto smiled. "Great!"
He was more perceptive than most people thought, and it didn't take more than a second before he noticed the things Kakashi was carrying.
"What's that?"
Kakashi held the scroll and lacquer box out for inspection and when Naruto gently grabbed a hold of the latter he let it go.
"This is beautiful."
He watched as he opened it, studied the golden coating inside, softly closed it and then turned it around.
"It... used to be my mother's." He was still not used to this, sharing. He wasn't sure of how to say the words, in which order he should put them so that the meaning would still be the same when it reached him. They exchanged a glance, a confirmation; message received and understood. Naruto gave it back to him, it was warm in his hands from where he'd held it.
The blond glanced at the clock on the wall and his face lit up. "Ah, I can go now!"
He stood up, stretched, and Kakashi got a dry mouth. There was something simply appetizing about the way he moved, entirely oblivious of how good he looked. Kakashi waited for him to finish his business and organize the document for the coming day.
On his way out Naruto left the door open for Sai, something he found endearing. He was the first Hokage he'd ever known that left the door open for his bodyguards.
They took their time going to his apartment, enjoyed walking in each others company. Kakashi moved the scroll to his left side and held it under his arm, took Narutos hand with his right one. Naruto gave it a quick squeeze and ran his thumb across his palm.
"Wait," he said and Kakashi watched him questioningly. "Look," he went on and nodded upwards.
They both stopped in the middle of the street, making people stop beside them as well, looking for whatever they were looking at.
From the light gray sky tiny white flakes wandered down.
It was the first snowfall of the year.