Let It Rain

By: Emi of Shioriayano

One shot

Kakashi x Neji

Rated T for safety

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

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It had been so long, so long, since he had had anything worth living for. He wandered through life looking for a purpose, each potential candidate being wiped off the map with every passing day. Never before had he felt so lonely as he did today, standing in the rain in front of the war memorial. The wetness seeped through his very being, making him shiver in the gray drizzle falling before his eye.

"R-r-in...Obito...Sensei...Why? Why did you have to leave me?" He asked through clenched teeth, salty tears running from his eyes, only to be soaked up by the already-wet mask he had worn almost everyday of his life.

The hands he had shoved into his pockets were becoming damp with the tears that the sky seemed to be crying for him. He inhaled as he slowly closed his eyes. He would miss the slightly smoky smell of the October air and the refreshing coolness of the rain he so deeply resented, yet loved at the same time. Today was October 10th, the day his sensei had been taken from this world. Just another person that had to be taken from him.

The biting cold was starting to reach the face he had to look at in the mirror every day and be reminded of his horrible past. Today, of all days, he would not be allowed to wallow peacefully in his sorrow as he wanted. He had to prepare for the festival this evening. Today was the day, along with the Yondaime's death, the day the Kyuubi had been defeated. It was also his student, Naruto's, 18th birthday.

Kakashi sighed. Onto another day of hell. And his students wondered why he was always late? Putting up with those three brats made his head ache already. Sasuke was a spoiled brat, and he used his sharringan as an excuse to be an arrogant bastard, which bothered Kakashi more than anything. Sakura was attached to the bratty Uchiha's side at all times, which made Sasuke even more intolerable because of the way he dismissed her fruitless attempts at love as he did everything else that might actually bring him pure happiness. And Naruto...

October 10th was his least favorite day of all. His bratty blonde student would be parading around the village proclaiming that today was his birthday. Then, he would demand to be taken to dinner on the busiest night of the year. Naruto would then start talking about how stupid he thought the whole festival was. Not that Kakashi didn't agree with him, who was cruel enough to place a festival on a Hokage's date of death? But Naruto would once again be demanding of the information of why the festival wasn't held in his honor. It took all of Kakashi's might to resist from slapping Naruto from Konoha to Suna and back for his stupidity.

Soon, he felt that he was ready, even marginally, to face the village and it's people once more. He pulled on his indifferent façade as he had every other day of the year. He was too tired of this. So tired, in fact, that he did not even notice the two eyes staring at him through the foliage surrounding the memorial stone. The two slightly luminescent globes that looked like paper lanterns in a pool of white. They were a silver color, odd, but very beautiful. The ninja that was currently watching the masked nin walking away from the war memorial, was none other than the acclaimed Hyuuga Neji. For the past 3 weeks, or so, Neji had been watching Kakashi every morning as he came to weep for his dead comrades, family, and friends.

To him, there was nothing more peaceful than watching the man he envied and loved let the tears roll down his cheeks. How he longed to reach out and brush them off! How he wanted to touch the pale porcelain skin of the mighty war tainted man. How he wished he could just walk up to Kakashi, pull down the dark blue mask covering the mysterious face of the hardened hero, and bring his lips close to Kakashi's and...

No. He could not let his daydreams and wishful thoughts cloud his rational mind. As heir to the Hyuuga throne he had to be a gentleman, a gentleman who enjoyed having a wife. This was the role he would be forced to play. If only Hinata had accepted the title rightfully given to her at birth. Instead, she had gotten married to Naruto and declined the offer to have him rule over the Hyuuga clan by her side. Then, she had gotten herself killed because Naruto made a stupid mistake and she tried to save him. Neji sighed, half in anger and half in pity, for himself and what should have been. If only...

Kakashi, being a ninja with very acute hearing, heard the sigh of a very agitated ninja. And being the inquisitive person he was he decided to investigate (any excuse to be late for the meeting with his students). With a skilled silence, he appeared behind his follower, surprised to find him already facing him with a calm face. "Why have you been watching me?" asked Kakashi in a small, calm voice.

"Because I am a fool." answered the Hyuuga, eyes boring straight into Kakashi's single eye. With that, Neji's heart had ripped open into a void, sucking every scrap of emotion into it like a black hole. He reached his hand out and touched the face of a love he thought he could never experience. Kakashi reveled in the warmth a light brush of fingertips could bring to his entire body. It was as if Neji's hand was an open flame licking everything it could touch, yet the tips only touched the small area of skin under his eye and above his mask.

Kakashi wanted to stay like this forever, as did Neji. Both wanted, no, needed the other's touch.

If only dreams came true.

Both men wanted it more than anything else in the world, both for different reasons, and yet they could not bring themselves to connect. Neji had his undeniable place on the village council as a clan head. Kakashi was a well respected and renowned Jonin who's reputation had spanned into bingo books across the nations.

In a tiny fraction of a second they had touched, they had both felt the first true love of their lives, and almost inevitably their last. Neither wanted to part, yet Neji drew his hand back and bowed.

"I apologize for my rash actions, Kakashi-Sensei." Neji said in a monotone voice devoid of emotion.

It was Kakashi whom ended up being rash. He pulled down his mask and watched Neji's eyes widen in shock. Then, he did the most shocking, and pleasurable, thing of his life. He kissed Hyuuga Neji. He let his lips rest on the Jonin's for a short while, then applying pressure. Neji obliged and pushed back. For what seemed like hours they battled with their mouths, but which was only a few seconds ended as quickly as it began.

"Hatake Kakashi, I love you." Neji whispered, slightly out of breath from his first kiss, into Kakashi's ear.

Kakashi kissed the brunette's forehead, his tears running freely again. "I love you Hyuuga Neji." He held the younger man to his chest for a good five minutes before releasing. Neji was crying, too. Kakashi wiped his tears away with the back of his hand. They both knew they would never be able to openly love each other in public, and there weren't many chances to do so in private either. With the sky mourning, the gray clouds shrouding an empty sun, a new love began, but time and circumstance crushed it without letting it live, letting it love. Both men leapt away with salt water running down their faces, blending with the rain as they faced the horrors of life brought to them with false smiles and lies.

Living with no love, they went to live the lives that would kill them as it had their beloveds. They let it rain.

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It was raining when I started this, as it is while I am finishing. Hope you enjoyed it.