"Team Seven?"

"Yes, that's the one." The Third Hokage took one drag and exhaled a fume of white into the air where it sidled up and broke into particles.

"Who's Team Seven?"

"Basically Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, and Haruno Sakura."

Kakashi waited but the older man only continued sucking in his pipe as though the very air he breathed out would answer the question. Kakashi frowned and knowing that the Third Hokage wasn't intent on backing up his information, said,

"What else should I know about them?"

"Are you really asking me that, Sharingan-Kakashi?" the old man said and there was a frayed look swimming in his eyes, the kind he gave his former students when they were about to be reproached. It was also, invariably, a signal of disappointment.

"Well, it does beg the question. I've got to have a niche, haven't I? How can I teach these kids anything if I don't know their needs?"

A sigh. The Hokage was quiet. Time stretched forward, wasting away in nothing. Silence could only take up so much time.

"Umino Iruka." the old man muttered.

"Pardon?" Kakashi almost jumped at the mention of the name. Whenever he thought of that name, if he thought of it at all, he always felt a faint jerk on his nape.

"Umino Iruka was their primary teacher. If you're bent on finding more about them, he's the person to call on."

"I see." Kakashi mumbled quietly.

"See what?" the Hokage was stern all of a sudden. "See him if you have to. As for those kids, they need all the help they can get."

"Alright, sir. In good time."

In a few minutes he became lost in thought. Previous circumstances hadn't landed him in the same picture as Iruka and his imagination had only limited itself within acquaintances with whom he was on speaking terms.

He drew a long breath. Part of him was incredulous, the other just disturbed. The episode from over a decade ago was ever fresh in his mind. The words stuck with him in perfect sync as they started gaining personalities and features, becoming faces like the ones you want to forget and expel from your safe little world. Along with this, he had always remembered Iruka's glance that time. It was a look that betrayed nothing; not pain, not disappointment, definitely not blame. And for that, it deserved more caution.

At first, Kakashi expected Iruka to lash out at him, lay all the blame on his side, and demand retribution. One could never exclude that possibility where separation is concerned. But Iruka would remain calm as they passed each other on the street and leave Kakashi to wonder whether the Chuunin was storing up his anger in order to someday satisfy his conscience. At times Kakashi was even prepared to pay the price. When years passed and Iruka made no effort toward anything, Kakashi learned to be at ease and to give up on the notion ultimately. He and Iruka, whatever they had before, were reduced to rubbles. Words no longer existed between them; they were like a pair of parentheses with nothing in between, nothing to be brought up anymore.

Now confronted with this dilemma, Kakashi was bothered for the first time in twelve years. He could feel the closet unlatching, the hands of that dusty skeleton thrusting out, reaching for him, and Iruka's face sneering as though it was really there, and in a way it was. He didn't dare look it squarely in the eyes, afraid that he couldn't do it without getting hurt, but as reality became more vivid, so did his path ahead. Reality left him no choice.

Once decided, he stood up to leave his apartment. Outside, the world was beating with a multitude of lives. He would mete out his sentence and walk up to Iruka. After all, this shouldn't be about them, not anymore, but about Team Seven. For the sake of those kids everything within my power should be exerted, he told himself. And for the hand that struck the match to start the fire and extinguish it, this was the best it could do, his penance to the past.

TBC