A/N:Hello all. I hope you had a lovely summer. I am now back in school and I started my first day at the high school yesterday. It's pretty fun and I plan on becoming very involved with the school. Anyways, I am starting a drabble series just for you! I will work on these more often during school time since it's much easier for me to work on this than on my detailed, hard-to-plan stories. So, I hope you enjoy what I have in store for you all.

Summary: There are always long, treacherous journeys before you find that perfect match. Drabble series, ratings vary.

Disclaimer: I, unfortunately, do not own this wonderful world of Naruto. It belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

Tales of Love

Chapter One: The Stare

Rated: T

It had been a good long week since Kakashi had revealed the secrets behind his mask to his teammates. He never thought the day would come, but he was tired of their little games and pleading. Also, he decided that they finally matured into fine, young shinobi and were trustworthy enough. Therefore, he showed them what they had longed for for the past eight years.

He regretted that decision now.

Naruto started to bother him about his face more than before. The boy would chase after him for hours, questioning him and pleading to take a picture of him. Though Naruto said that it was only for his memory scrapbook, he was absolutely sure that it was for the whole village to see.

Sai, fortunately, was not as irritating. When he had first seen his face, he merely shrugged and nodded in approval. Every now and then, however, the young ANBU trainee would request to draw his bare face. Apparently, Kakashi had a perfect jaw structure, or so he was told.

The worst out of them all, much to Kakashi's surprise, was Sakura. She was more mature than any other child he had ever met. Always, she held a perfect stature, a calm attitude, and never failed to impress him. For the past few years, she had grown into a wonderful kunoichi and it was definite that her maturity was the strongest. Seeing her like this made him…uncomfortable.

"Why do you keep looking at me like that?"

Kakashi scratched the side of his head, puzzled at the stare Sakura was giving him. They were sitting across each other on his small dining table. She dropped by his apartment complex to hand him a scroll given by Tsunade, the Hokage, and stayed a little bit longer than he thought she would.

Sakura's expression held nothing but pure fascination. Her heavy lidded, emerald eyes were big and shining with curiosity. Her cheeks were tinted red as if she was somewhat pleased and her lips were slightly parted. In all honesty, he found her quite amusing, but it was beginning to bother him.

Her stare. It was…scaring him.

"Hm?" she hummed softly, propping her chin on her upraised hand. "Like what?"

His mismatched eyes darted around the room momentarily. "Like…you want to…touch me or something," he mumbled sheepishly, tugging at the mask pooled around his neck.

Her lips curled into a smile. "May I?"

Kakashi simply glared at her. "No."

"Oh," she sighed, the disappointment obvious in her tone.

"…Why are you so interested in me all of a sudden, Sakura?"

"Because."

"Because?"

A small pause.

"Because your face is so fascinating."

The silver-haired jonin rose a brow at her. He drawled, "Oh, is that so?"

"Yes!" she stated excitedly. "Which is the very reason why I need to touch it!"

He shook his head, waving his finger from side to side as if he was scolding her. "No, no. I need to know why my face is so 'amazing' first."

"Hmm, well…you're just so…perfect!" she explained somewhat quickly, looking down at her lap to avoid his consuming gaze. "I'll admit, you're very handsome, Kakashi. I can see now why you keep that mask on all the time."

"Why thank you, Sakura-chan. I think you're very beautiful too," he smiled, amused by her shyness and embarrassment.

Sakura's cheeks reddened even further and she tossed her head in the other direction, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. "A-Ah, so is it okay if I touch y-your face now?"

Kakashi smirked. "No."

"You fucking bastard!"

"Now, now. Cursing is bad for a young lady like you, Sakura-chan."

"Ugh."

But she continued to stare at him with the same, odd expression that he knew he would never get used to.

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