Caught In The Act
(I don't own Naruto)
Kakashi often went and visited Obito's grave. Everyday for a few hours. He would stand there and remember or chat to him about missions or students.
One day he came as per usual to the stone memorial and was about to say good morning when he noticed something different about it. On closer inspection he saw that the grass had been cut and the stone polished.
After inspecting it again he decided that the Hokage must have ordered someone to do it, probably as a punishment.
After a mission a few days later, in passing after he had given the Hokage his report he asked casually, "So who did you get to clean the memorial stone? They did a good job."
The Hokage gave him a look, "I haven't asked anyone to do it."
Kakashi shrugged. "Well, doesn't matter really."
But it did. It wasn't a pressing concern, but every time he would come and see the stone and see some minor maintenance done to it, it nagged at the back of his mind. He didn't know when this person was doing it, he came at all hours without any really set schedule, yet here he was hiding in a tree while his students were waiting for him on the bridge.
One day he noticed there was a simple pot with some pretty white flowers in them. He picked one and took it to Ino's family flower shop.
"We don't sell these kind here", she said after examining it, "it takes too much time and energy to care for it, it's a very high maintenance flower and a lot of people don't really buy them."
He thanked her for her time and went about his usual business. The next week, the stone had been polished and a crack that had been at the top had been filled in, the flowers were looking beautiful and Kakashi had to admit that the place looked better. He wondered why he hadn't taken as much time to spruce the place up abit but answered it almost instantly. Visiting Obito was about thinking about him and remembering him and pondering on the what ifs. Remembering Obito was suppose to be painful, it was hard to be so bitter by it when pretty flowers were sitting right in front of you.
Kakashi felt a moments anger, he didn't want to move on and forget Obito, he didn't want to stop hurting, this way he would always remember Obito, always. The rational part of his mind told him that the person who was doing this obviously wasn't doing it so Kakashi would move on or whatnot.
He thought that perhaps it must be someone who had a relative that had died who would do this, he spoke to others who sometimes visited the grave. The first person who he spoke to was Iruka, who said it wasn't him, but he had noticed and it was a nice touch.
At the end of the week, Kakashi had spoken to just about every one he knew who had visited the grave. He was still nowhere closer to knowing who it was, even more annoying still, someone had actually gone and dug up all the weeds around it.
After several weeks, the annoyance passed and he realized it wasn't so bad, change was difficult and he had momentarily felt threatened by it, but this change could only be good. He tried tending to the white flowers and realized he wasn't very good at it so he let the mysterious caretaker deal with it. He liked the smell of the stone after it had been polished, this person diligently polished it every two weeks or so, it had a nice scent. So if Kakashi saw a weed or the grass needed tending to, he also took care of it.
He was actually in a good mood and decided to join his students at the ramen bar after training one day. After half an hour, Sasuke (who hadn't eaten anything) left. "He always does that", complained Naruto, "he says we annoy him."
Kakashi shrugged.
On his way home he noticed Sasuke was sitting on a bench on the street were Kakashi lived. When he saw his teacher, he got up and walked over, from the look on his face he could see that Sasuke was going to ask him something and that he didn't really want to.
"I wanted to ask you if instead of coming to the bridge at seven tomorrow like you instructed us, I wondered if I could rather come at nine."
"Good evening to you as well." Said Kakashi.
"We just wait for you anyway and I've never once been late, so if I could just use tomorrow morning to do something, I will make it up another day."
Kakashi went and sat on the bench Sasuke had been occupying, it felt odd to be sitting and his pupil standing. "Sit." He instructed.
Sasuke did as he was told but gave a good berth between his teacher and himself.
"What are you doing tomorrow that is so important?" he asked.
"Do you really need to know?"
"I don't need to know, but I would like to know."
"It is an important occasion …. for me."
"So important that perhaps the rest of your team could join you?"
"No", said Sasuke quickly, "Its personal."
"Give me a straight answer." ordered Kakashi.
Sasuke took a deep breath, "It is my mother's birthday tomorrow and I would like to pay my respects." He immediately crossed his arms in a defensive position that Kakashi knew meant he was uncomfortable.
"Fair enough." He said, "but why can't you do it perhaps after training?"
"That would be like saying that training is more important than my mother's birthday, besides I wouldn't be able to focus." Said Sasuke still not looking at his teacher.
Kakashi stood up and patted him on the head. "Alright. See you at nine tomorrow."
Sasuke nodded quickly and disappeared in the direction of his home.
The next morning, Kakashi decided to stake out the stone memorial, after an hour and a half of nothing, well that squirrel had been fascinating, he decided to meet his two students.
Naruto and Sakura did the usual (LIAR!) when he greeted them. They asked where Sasuke was and he told them he was just visiting his mother's grave.
"Is he okay?" asked Naruto.
Kakashi realized that he didn't actually know how the Uchiha would be handling today.
"Lets meet him, he should be finishing up around about now."
So they waited outside the cemetery, they could just see Sasuke up the hill, they could make out him kneeling in front of a grave. After a few minutes Kakashi said that Naruto and Sakura were to stay here while he went to Sasuke and would walk him back to them.
Kakashi was silent as he went up, more from instinct than intent. He was just a few metres from the boy when he froze momentarily. He recognized that scent and he stared at Sasuke, who was kneeling in front of a grave tending to dozens of white flowers surrounding it, the grave was in impeccable condition, constant care being the reason.
Sasuke didn't notice him as he gently parted the flowers, checking for weeds. Kakashi was glad to see that it didn't look like he had been crying or breaking anything. Kakashi backed off and joined Naruto and Sakura. "He wont be long." He told them.
Sasuke joined them and Naruto complained and Sakura giggled and Sasuke seemed alright, they resumed with training and then went to the ramen bar again. As usual, Sasuke left the bar early and soon after, so did Kakashi.
Kakashi watched as Sasuke got to the stone memorial and as he took some polish from his pouch and a rag and began to go over the smooth edges, he then focused on the flower, inspecting the petals. Kakashi moved silently and with a burst of speed, grabbed the boy's hand.
"Got you." He said.
Sasuke paled and tried to jerk out of the hold. "I didn't do anything wrong!" he yelled.
Kakashi moved forward, "you've been coming here for weeks, doing .." he waved his arm in the direction of the stone, "..this! Why?"
Sasuke tried to pull away and Kakshi realized he must be scaring his student. He softened his voice but didn't let go and ordered, "answer me."
Sasuke looked at the memorial and then to Kakashi, "I know this place means something to you, I don't know why but I know its just really important to you … so I…" he shrugged.
"So why the secrecy?" asked Kakashi.
Sasuke shrugged again.
"Why did you put so much care into this place?" asked Kakashi.
"Because you care about this place." Said Sasuke bluntly and for the first time since the encounter looked at his teacher properly.
Kakashi realized then, Sasuke was a brat sure, a bit messed in the head. He wasn't like Sakura who would give you a hug and say thank you or Naruto who would jump on you and suffocate you with gratitude. This was Sasuke's own way of saying he cared.
Kakashi felt a pull in his chest and realized just how much room his students took in his heart.
He released Sasuke and patted him on the head. "Well I appreciate it." He said and turned away. "Don't stay out too late."
When he got home, Kakashi grinned. He had caught Sasuke out. The boy had a soft side.
Sasuke finished polishing the stone and fixing the flowers. He remembered what his mom was always trying to tell him, but he had thought it was silly.
He remembered sitting down and his mom preparing lunch for him and saying how if a person was important to you, then you cared about what they cared about. Even if it was just a little effort, it would be appreciated.
Sasuke looked up at the starry sky and gently brushed one of the white petals.
"Thanks mom, you were right."
Sniff sniff. So how was that? Too corny? Lol just thought some fluff was in order! Please review and let me know what you think. Cheers!