Hi, I'm Memorium Activity. I wrote this fic because I want to update The Sun Kunoichi, but I promised myself I'd only update that weekly so I wouldn't get burned out writing it. Originally this was just a brief conversation between Kakashi and Iruka that was going to take place in a later chapter of The Sun Kunoichi, but I liked the idea so much that I spun it into a full Kakashi/Anko oneshot.
It was only after I'd written it that I found out that White Day-based stories are pretty common in the Naruto section! Fortunately, I couldn't find any other Kakashi/Anko-based White Day fics, so I'm not too unoriginal.
Update: I edited things a little; typos and stuff really. I also changed some honorifics that Anko and Kakashi call each other by so they'd be more accurate. (For the interested, they used to call each other 'Mitarashi-sensei' and 'Hatake-sensei' at first, but I changed the 'sensei' part to 'san'.) Thanks to VVolf for telling me about those!
The sun was hidden behind greying clouds as Kakashi Hatake and Iruka Umino walked through the streets of Konoha. Headed for the Hokage's office, Kakashi in order to organise his squad's next few missions and Iruka to ask the Hokage about Naruto's inheritance, the shinobi strode forward through the village, finding few surprises within the leafy settlement.
It was a shock, then, to discover the chaos in the main street that day. From one side of the street to the other, perhaps fifty or so little makeshift stalls had been set up by enterprising merchants, and almost every one of them was selling chocolates. Dark and dairy milk were both available, but by far the most popular was white chocolate. From the looks of the men that hurried to line up before these stalls, getting white chocolate was worth any inconvenience and any hassle.
"Iruka-sensei," said Kakashi, "Men in Konoha aren't usually this chocolate-obsessed, right?"
"White Day," declared Iruka.
Kakashi never really kept track of holidays. Lack of a romantic partner or a family meant that there wasn't much for him to do on them, so he usually ended up working anyway. But White Day was different; it was the one holiday a year that he really did anything different from his usual routine. Iruka took his silence as lack of knowledge of White Day, so he explained it to him anyway.
"It's a romantic holiday," explained Iruka. "In response to Valentine's Day, men give their wives or girlfriends-"
"Or both," suggested Kakashi.
"-or both, chocolate, traditionally white. That's why it's called White Day."
Kakashi considered this.
"It must be a very popular holiday at the Academy," he commented.
Iruka shook his head.
"We stopped celebrating it about four years ago," he said. "Every year, almost all the kunoichi in the class hoped for chocolate from Sasuke Uchiha. And every year, Sasuke gave them nothing. I think he learnt more about evading capture on White Day and Valentine's Day than he ever did in any of my classes."
"Yes," said Kakashi.
"Hmm?" said Iruka, confused. "What do you mean?"
"I mean…" Kakashi quickly fumbled for words. "I mean, yes, he probably did. Tenacious girls, no doubt."
Iruka frowned.
"Sometimes I don't get you," he said.
"Oh," said Kakashi.
'Oh' was not really a response, but it was the most Iruka was going to get out of Kakashi Hatake on the subject.
00000
Anko Mitarashi knew what White Day was, but she never celebrated it.
Sitting in a little booth outside and letting her dango with bean sauce cool on her plate, Anko glared angrily at a couple sitting at a table across from her. The man had given the woman pearls, a gift that made her yammer on excitedly and gush happily at the man. He responded by thanking her for the year that they'd had together, and his eyes were clearly full of love for her.
Anko scowled further and stabbed at her dango to pick them up. She had never been given anything on White Day, not so much as courtesy chocolates from a friend. Admittedly she wasn't exactly a demure princess-type like the woman sitting across from her, but she wasn't all that bad looking! She'd given Valentines gifts to boys easily enough, but she seemed to have the wrong eye for that as well. Every time she gave a boy a gift, he accepted it, but then he always got all nervous and made excuses to leave. She didn't get it. Why couldn't they just make out right there like she knew both of them wanted to? There was no point wasting time about it.
Chewing on the sweet dumpling, Anko ruminated on the taste of chocolate. She liked milk chocolate okay, and dark chocolate even more, but her real love was for white chocolate. As a girl, she'd always thought that it tasted almost otherworldly; like it was the chocolate of heaven. She had no proof of this, but she'd always believed that while white chocolate eaten on any day was good, white chocolate eaten on White Day would be even better. Somehow, the act of a man giving her chocolate would make it taste all the sweeter.
Someday, Anko swore to herself, someday a man will give me chocolate on White Day! And then, we shall make out immediately!
00000
Both Kakashi and Anko passed the rest of the day normally. (Iruka's day was as far from normal as a day could possibly get, but that is a story for another time.) His squad's missions organised, Kakashi spent the rest of the day training with them in blocking and taijutsu, skills he felt they definitely needed more work in. Anko covered several C-rank missions and retrieved a small child's balloon; the 'happy White Day' said in response annoyed her but the kid was cute enough for her to let it slide. Ending the day with a brief meeting at the Hokage's office to discuss headband colours, Anko decided to walk through Konoha instead of jumping. After all, it wasn't like she was in a hurry to get anywhere.
Quietly walking down a shady street next to one of the long, wooden fences that were abundant in the village, Anko almost didn't notice Kakashi Hatake in front of her until they'd already passed. Kakashi Hatake…the legendary Copy-cat Ninja. For a legend he seemed quite unassuming, but Anko figured she might as well say hello to him. Quickly standing up straighter, Anko raised a hand in greeting.
"Hi!" she said, quite bubbly.
Kakashi Hatake stared back at Anko. Yes, he remembered her. She had been the proctor for the Forest of Death stage of the Chunin Exams; at least, he assumed Naruto had been referring to her when he'd mentioned "that girl with the chainmail top". It was, admittedly, rather striking, but he unfortunately couldn't remember her name…
"Hello," he said.
"What, I don't even get a 'Hello, Anko'?"
Anko! Anko Mitarashi, Kakashi remembered. He was thankful that she'd clued him in on her name, but what was she doing here?
"I'm afraid we haven't really met before, Mitarashi-san," he said.
"Maybe," she said, "but I'm sure we've seen each other around."
Kakashi shifted slightly, and Anko could see that he was carrying a box under his arm. Her eyes weren't as good as a Hyuga's, but if she didn't know better...
"Is that white chocolate?" asked Anko, perfectly aware of what the box contained.
"Yes," he said.
"Ooh, you're gonna give chocolate to a lady," she said. "I didn't figure you for a romantic man, Hatake-san."
"I'm not," he responded. "I just wanted some chocolate. And now I'm going to go home and eat it."
Anko snorted.
"Really? You're gonna just go home and eat chocolate all by yourself?"
"There's nothing wrong with eating chocolate by yourself," said Kakashi. "It reduces stress."
"You're stressed?" asked Anko. "Maybe you should relax more."
"That's the idea with the chocolate," he said. "Don't you eat chocolate by yourself?"
"All the time," she replied, "but it's White Day. You should really be giving that to somebody you like."
"I don't really like anything," he said.
"Maybe," she said, "if you didn't work so hard, you wouldn't be so stressed, and you'd find more time to do the things you like…Kakashi."
Interesting, thought Kakashi. I'll see where this goes.
"I like chocolate," he declared. "That's…what I like."
'That's what I like'? Why would I say that?
"I like chocolate too," she said coolly.
Kakashi looked forth at her. She was an interesting woman, certainly. Considering his options, he came to a decision and held the box out, offeringly.
"You're giving me chocolate," said Anko. "On White Day."
"Yes," said Kakashi. "I can't eat all of this by myself, and you say you like chocolate."
"Do you know what you're implying?" asked Anko, guardedly.
"I'm implying that I won't be able to eat a whole box?"
Anko raised an eyebrow at him, while Kakashi remained impassive as ever. He was always so scatterbrained, but here she couldn't tell whether he was joking or not. Was he offering her chocolate because she'd said she liked it, or was he giving her chocolate as a gift?
Finally, hunger and curiousity won out, and Anko reached forward to take a piece. Carefully selecting a seashell-shaped chocolate, she had just begun to close her fingers around it when the box flew away from her fingers, snapping shut into the arm of Kakashi.
"What're you doing?" she asked, in a voice that she hoped didn't sound too hurt.
"I've thought about it," he said, "and I've decided that I'm not that free with my chocolate. You're going to have to take it off me."
"Take it off you?" she asked angrily. "Hatake, are you pla-"
Anko stopped herself just in time. She had almost said "Are you playing hard-to-get?" That would have been a mistake that could have cost her – she didn't want Kakashi thinking that she was taking this seriously. After all, it was just a little harmless fun between two co-workers. There was nothing romantic at all about playfully fighting over chocolates with a jonin with gorgeous lilac hair…
Aw, dammit, thought Anko.
"Sure," she said, trying to return to full Anko-ness. "Nothin' to it, Hatake. I'll take that box off you."
"Good."
Let's see you try, thought Kakashi.
A moment of stillness occurred, and then Anko leapt into the fray, her hand reaching out for the chocolates. Kakashi's hand darted away, holding them far back. Closer to him now than she was before, Anko tried again, stepping forward and reaching out again with her hand. Again, Kakashi kept them away, but she was only a few inches from him now.
Grabbing onto his right arm with her right hand, she gripped it tightly and stepped forward one more time. Their bodies touched, Anko's arm reached…
…and Kakashi held the box up in the air, higher even than the tip of his bouffant hairstyle.
"That's not fair," complained Anko. "You're way taller than I am."
"Why're you holding my arm?" Kakashi inquired.
"So you can't get it up to your other arm and pass the box to it," she explained.
Kakashi was not particularly intimidated.
"You're not gonna stop me that way," he said. "I'm quite strong."
"I'm quite strong too," grinned Anko.
"Really?" said Kakashi.
"I'd like to show you," she said in a low voice, smiling at him.
Kakashi swallowed. Anko was an unusual woman. From what he'd heard, she was impulsive, rough and un-lady-like, but from what he saw, she was quite strong, very fast and very good looking. She seemed to almost read this process in his mind, because as she stood up straighter, a lot more of her came into view.
Dirty trick, he thought. Don't look at her chest don't look at her chest don't look at her ch-Oh.
In that moment of weakness, Anko struck, sliding her hand up Kakashi's left arm until it reached his forearm, just below the precious box of chocolates. Anko's body was a little closer to his now. No longer touching lightly, but with pressure between them, Anko stretched to hold her hand up to keep Kakashi's arm in check. There they stood, both feeling the other's heartbeat and warmth, held together almost in a dancing pose.
Suddenly, Anko sniffed the air.
"Are you wearing cologne?" she asked.
Kakashi elected to stall for time.
"What's that?" he feigned, blinking confusedly like Naruto did whenever he didn't get something.
"You are," she teased. "Smells good on you."
"Cologne smells good on everyone," said Kakashi. "That's kind of the point."
She laughed. It was not a refined laugh, but somehow, hearing it made Kakashi struggle with himself not to break into an idiot grin. What'd this kunoichi done to him? He was meant to be stoic, collected…stay focused…
She breathed in again and said:
"Can I please have some chocolate?"
Her attempt at puppy-dog eyes would've made a weaker man burst out laughing, but Kakashi retained his poise.
"Of course," he said nonchalantly. "You can probably get it pretty cheap, now the day's over."
"From you, stupid," she said. "Any other man…'s chocolate, and I'd've given up by now."
"If you want my chocolate," he said, "why're you holding both my arms? You should've focused on the one that's holding the box."
Anko did not answer. Instead she drew closer, her face slowly moving towards Kakashi's. Looking down at the short kunoichi, he saw her hair ruffle in the breeze, and developed a strong urge to play with it. He looked down at Anko as she looked back up at him.
Smiling even further, she carefully stepped onto Kakashi's feet. Most of her weight was being held up by her arms, so her sandals felt light on Kakashi as she got higher. Their eye-levels now equal, Anko slowly brought her face got closer and closer to his, until their noses were almost touching.
"A ninja must see through deception," she recited in a low whisper.
Then, slowly and carefully, she opened her mouth and leant forward until it closed over the top of his mask. Pulling out and down, she pulled the mask down until Kakashi's face was revealed.
Impressive, thought Kakashi.
Anko grinned at her handiwork. She'd been wanting to do this for a long time. The 'standing on the guy's toes' bit had been from a book she'd read as a teenager, but using her mouth to pull his mask down? All her idea. It'd been even better than she'd always imagined it, because he smelt so good and the cloth as so soft in her mouth.
"I thought you'd be handsome," she said.
"Why do you think I wear the mask?" he said. "Sasuke Uchiha's year level isn't the first to have trouble with disappointed girls on White Day."
"Seriously?"
"Mm-hmm," he said.
She stared fascinatedly at his mouth, watching how it formed shapes to make words in his voice. It was even better without the mask to muffle it.
"So what now, then?" she asked.
Kakashi considered his options.
"You've got both my arms, so I can't push you away. You're standing on my feet, so I can't kick you away."
"So?" she said, her brown eyes staring into his dark ones.
Kakashi leaned forward. Turning his head slightly sideways, but only so much that their noses actually touched as his head moved, Kakashi's lips met Anko's. Taken aback by the sudden yet very welcome gesture, Anko let go of his arms and almost fell completely, but they grabbed her back and held her close before she could fall, the kiss uninterrupted.
After a full forty seconds, the longest kiss Anko had ever had, they finally leaned out again, eyes gazing at each other.
"That," he said.
Putting her arms around his neck, Anko sighed as she felt him holding her. He was a lot warmer than she thought he'd be.
"Is your apartment close?" he asked.
Anko shook her head.
"Can we go to yours?"
"It's kind of messy," he admitted.
"Is there a flat, horizontal surface?"
Kakashi smiled at this idea. He might be known for being stoic, but his unflappability broke down somewhat when a young, beautiful kunoichi was hanging onto him.
"Why should it have to be flat?" he asked.
Anko liked his way of thinking.
"You gonna hold me up all night, Hatake?"
"I'm quite strong," he reiterated.
"Alright," she said.
Maybe he gets ideas from his little Icha Icha books…maybe I could too.
Gently stepping off his feet, Anko watched as Kakashi held the chocolate box with his left hand and pulled his mask back up with his right.
"You're putting it back on," she said, a little disappointed.
"I'll still keep covered while I'm in public," he said. "But when we're alone…"
She nodded in agreement. Kakashi Hatake all to herself was a pretty good deal, and she wasn't about to lose it.
The couple did not join hands when they walked to Kakashi's apartment that night. They did not wave or even acknowledge each other when they met for the second time in the morning beyond a simple nod, and they kept quiet about the whole thing around their co-workers. But the looks between the two that spanned only microseconds said everything, and Kakashi soon developed another reason to always be late for everything.
Anko Mitarashi won out. For her life, she had Kakashi Hatake. For White Day, she had Kakashi Hatake and chocolate.
Hooraaaaay! *streamers* My first Naruto oneshot! I hoped you liked it, and please review if you did! Actually, even if you didn't, tell me where I went wrong! (But no "OMG why didn't Iruka and Kakashi kiss instead bleaaargh" stuff.)
-Memorium Activity