Chapter 4.

10 years ago

It was the fourth and final year of High School, for the past three years both Kakashi and Obito had discovered precious bonds that they would never learn to relinquish fully later on in their lives. Kakashi had evolved from an introverted, angsty teenager to a chill, insightful and still-pedantic young adult—the tardiness and lame excuses would come later. On the other hand, Obito had mainly remained as the same Obito that unpredictably disrupted orientation 3 years ago, still the same issue with lateness, still the orange goggles, still the same excuse, still the same optimisms.

The silver-haired boy couldn't help chortle as he recalled how the klutzy Uchiha charged in at form time on the first day of Senior Year, 30 minutes late, panting, face livid from the running.

"Sorry Minato-sensei! Maki the cleaning lady needed my help in carrying her equipments to the storehouse, I couldn't say no to an old lady like her—"

"LIAR!" He was cut short by the rest of the class; some of them deliberate in their rejection, Obito looked a little downcast and pouted.

"But it's true!"

Apparently, he was still faintly dissatisfied about this subject 20 minutes into Biology class.

"Hey Rin, Kakashi," he whispered as they were dissecting a pigs heart, "you guys believed me right? I mean Maki-san is 61 years old, she should have retired but she needed more money for her grandson's education, so as a result she had to extend her working years, I mean how can I just cast a blind eye on someone like that."

"Alright dumbass, we believe you, remember? We saw you helping an old lady carry her groceries last year when we were on our way to your house," Kakashi replied, "oh, and because of that we arrived there near dinner time."

Obito groaned, "Bakashi, relax a little, it was only 3 hours late."

"Three hours right?" Kakashi snorted in mild derision. "One can do a lot in three hours."

"Guys, calm down…" Rin had to intervene, again. Gosh, they simply had to argue at every single open opportunity possible, don't they?

She grimaced while attempting to avert her eyes from the grotesque, bloody organ in front of her—Rin Nohara had loved animals ever since her childhood witnessing part of it's corpse, let alone dissecting it was unbearable, unthinkable.

But you're going to be a medic, a doctor, remember? What's the use of cowering in fear like that? You'll never have the courage to handle surgical difficulties if you continue to squirm at the sight of every single bloody organ.

She braced herself, bit her lip, hands still shuddering uncontrollably as she lowered the knife.

"Rin-chan, you don't seem very comfortable," Obito had noticed her discomfort and snatched the equipment out of her hands, "you sure you don't want me or Kakashi to do it instead?"

Rin heaved a relieved sigh.

"I'll do it if none of you guys mind," Kakashi said indifferently, though within, he had dreaded the feeling of coming in contact with exposed animal organs, their gruesome, sludgy textures slithering through his hands; wearing gloves really didn't help him much.

"Nay Bakashi, you hate that kind of stuff I'll do it," without waiting for the guy's consent, Obito instantly started to remove the grease surrounding the artilleries.

The whole practical assessment proceeded quite successfully with Obito doing the dissection and Rin and Kakashi recording notes of observation, then the three of them eventually drawing conclusions from what they could ascertain.

Except that Obito had unknowing cut himself, leaving blood red trickles down a slash on his left arm. It really was just a superficial wound that would eventually recover by itself, that was what the boy had initially thought, nothing worth concerning about.

As they were about to leave, Rin held him back.

"What's the matter, Rin-chan?"

"Your wounds, you are hiding them from me," her voice was filled with scorn and concern. Obito isn't going to pretend he's fine, no, not in her presence.

"No… it's nothing serious, really…" he attempted to chuckle.

"It's bleeding pretty heavily, come on, we're gonna get it bandaged up before to next lesson."

"But—"

"Oh Obito, sometimes you just tried too hard, it's not brave it's foolish. Just don't hurt yourself okay? I'm always watching you." Beneath her rather sober expression was a smile just enough for Obito to discern.

He grinned back at her.

"Obito had grown to really love Rin and she had really began to care for him, you see, she really was everything to him and he would do absolutely anything, anything for her… I never really deserved her, same as I never really deserved Anko, all this time, I pretended I didn't notice her efforts at flirting with me, I treated her as a friend and nothing else," Kakashi commented. "Actually all I wanted to do is make her realize who she should really be with."

Shisui raised his eyebrows in suspicion. "How about what he did? Was it all because of her?"

Kakashi's expressions darkened and deciding to ignore those plaguing thoughts, he muttered, "not entirely, no."

Deciding to take a break, he glanced at his surroundings, despite being part of the police force for over 7 years, he had never actually been inside those interrogation cells—a thought dawned on him, there were probably surveillance cameras around, meaning that people, perhaps in another remote corner of the station, had their eyes on him.

The man pleaded to himself that Anko wasn't one of his uninvited spectators. Otherwise he'd have a multitude of explanations to give—that being said, only if she were willing to listen.

Kakashi shifted, perturbed. Of course, this was also partially due to his separation from his Icha Icha Novel Collection, which he was obliged to hand in to the security checkers during the interrogation—subliminally, his mind was itching for some smutty tale about people who had little to worry about in their nonchalant lives, aside from trivial inconsistencies in their love affairs. How he wished everything had been much more congruent, just like the novels, where everybody had their fair share of a happy ending.

Sighing, he resolved to question his interrogator something that had been persisting unrelentingly at the back of his mind: "Are you sure you never knew Obito personally?"

"Not really…"

"But you guys are one family, you sure you didn't bump into him in some sort of reunion?"

Silence.

"Yes, no, maybe… I can't remember, around 7 to 8 years ago we completely lost contact with him, he simply vanished off the face of the earth, that is until—"

"So you did know him?"

"I… no."

"I don't believe you," was the brisk, assertive reply dictated by Kakashi.

"Mr. Hatake, please recall the purpose of our interrogation—it's about your relationship with Obito Uchiha, the rest are none of your concerns and just to reiterate my previous affirmation. No, I did not know Obito personally."

Kakashi had been in the detective business long enough to notice the most obscure nuances of expressions, gestures and postures that conveyed the lies and unsaid truths. So far, he was forced to admit, Shisui pulled it off well.

"Shisui's too soft, let me do this!" Anko insisted to her superiors as she observed the frustratingly lengthy interrogation, feeling her insides embroiling with anger.

"No way, he may be subtler and slower but he knows his thing and you're way too short-tempered! Considering how he is your ex-boyfriend, you'd have to have an entire team refraining you from killing him!" Ibiki Morino, one of her partners snickered, "besides, getting the information out of him isn't the only purpose of this interview."

"But look, now Kakashi is interrogating him, that damn cunning bastard!"

"Whoah no harsh feelings," another one of her colleagues Genma, also former classmate of Kakashi's, exclaimed," he may be your ex but—"

"Don't tell me what to feel! Ibiki, what is the other intention then?"

"Your ex-boy—"

"Just call him Mr. Hatake."

"Nay I'll go with Kakashi."

"Fine. Whatever."

"Look, Kakashi hasn't been feeling the same ever since Obito Uchiha's assumed death," he pasued, " which we all know was a fraud, he's been having depression and stress issues, Shisui was supposed to help treat that."

"Well he's just allowing that damned bastard to recount his entire life story!"

"It helps, I guess."

Anko winced inside, notwithstanding his betrayal, there was still a part of her that was anxious about his well-being. No, she did not still have 'feelings for him' as her colleagues claimed, she merely found the way he tortured himself uncomfortable to watch. Almost against her will, her thoughts drifted to the day that they first met.

6 years ago

The morning seemed eerily quiet as ominous clouds gathered over the ashen skies, it was Kakashi's 22nd birthday, except there really wasn't anyone left for him to celebrate with anymore. Rin was still overseas attaining a Medical PHD, Gai and Asuma were out of the city for the moment, while Obito… while Obito had simply vanished off the face of the earth. Not a single word.

The silvered haired adult sighed, it's been more than two years since their last meeting, and he wondered whether his friend was still going well.

Kakashi Hatake swung the door open and pulled away the book he was reading: Icha Icha Police Station. Today was the day he'll be part of the police force, he wasn't sure what got him into this job—until then, he had been majoring in law—most likely Minato-sensei's unforeseen death.

That sheer thought had struck an excruciating pain in his chest, Kakashi attempted to numb his senses like he used to do whenever the matter of his parent's death resurfaced in his conscious when he was young. Needless to say it was to no avail, memories and unpleasant experiences have an inexplicably ruthless way of resurfacing themselves when you least need them.

Four month's ago, just before he was about to take his final university examinations; a distressing phone call had reached his ears.

Both Minato and Kushina were found cold, lifeless, slumped at the back of their car. By the time Kakashi had hurried to the scene of murder, blood had already splattered all across the place where they laid, seeping into every nook and cranny, yet what really baffled him the most was that the police who investigated the crime scene claimed to have not found any substantial traces of the killer.

To this day, their frigid, emotionless eyes still maintained a mocking quality about them, which were burned in Kakashi's memories. To this day, their deaths still haunted him. To this day, their murderer remained scot-free.

And their child, their child Naruto, barely four, was left orphaned, alone to face the vicissitudes of this unwelcoming world. A few days later, the kid, still oblivious of his parent's demise, was taken to an orphanage, except the grownups that took him there claimed, "Minato and Kushina Namikaze were away on a long- time business trip. Those people would look after you."

Little Naruto chose to believe them. Not that the kid had much of a choice, in retrospect.

He brushed these impeding thoughts away as he stepped into the room. Suddenly realizing the rather salacious novel he tried to conceal was popping out of his pockets, Kakashi made another attempt to stuff it in further.

"Hey you! Aren't you going to introduce yourself?" A woman, who couldn't have been much older than him, shouted out. "Yes, I'm talking to you, yes you."

She was an inch or so shorter than him, with her scruffy purple hair haphazardly gathered in a ponytail that seemed to spike up as she flashed a sadistic grin at her new partner.

"Kakashi Hatake, pleased to meet you," he immediately resumed his eloquent manner of speech developed in law school, "may I ask, what's your name?"

"Anko Mitarashi, newbie, now, let me show you around." A wild, and yes, slightly psychotic, grin manifested itself on her countenance, which would have scared off most newcomers, Kakashi remained unfaltering, except for the slight glint of amusement in his eyes.

Then her eyes travelled to his pockets and her face contracted in incredulity.

"Is that… Icha Icha Police Station you have there?" she inquired accusingly.

"Yes…" Kakashi swallowed. Don't act all cowardly, it's nothing to be ashamed of… nothing to be ashamed of… "I must say, a pretty entertaining novel, Jiraiya's newest work." He resumed his smile.

"Really?" Anko stated brusquely. "Well, the police station is no brothel like that depicted in this novel. No one dates each other, no one marries, nor conducts a one night stand. So I'd suggest you embrace reality and save your romantic fantasies for yourself."

An interesting one, she mused to herself. Anko had already acquired a notorious reputation in the police station. In the past few months, she had switched from assistant to assistant, partner to partner, all of them had reportedly found her either difficult to work with (due to her exceedingly bold and brazen attitude) or were immediately intimidated by her sadistic ways. Setting aside his unconventional and queer taste in novels, he seemed remotely decent.

This, concluding from first impressions, bookworm who had apparently been studying law at university seemed relatively polite, nor did he shrink away like those prissy little newbies she had previously encountered. Even so, Anko doubted their co-operation would last long.

"You couldn't have been much older than me," Kakashi questioned curiously, it had been a few days after his enrollment and he could perceive that his partner and leader had the brash abrasiveness of someone who had just freshly joined, "how on earth are you the head of a unit, you couldn't have joined for more than two years that's the minimum requirement—"

"Bah! I didn't go to college, went straight to the police training station, officially joined the force after two years," she smirked at him, "what? You surprised?"

"No it's just, you couldn't have been more than 20, pretty amusing," he nodded curtly.

"Things happened. I no longer have the luxury to enjoy my life like you lackeys do, I've got a criminal to catch," she stated matter-of-factly.

"A criminal?"

"What?!" She snapped, irritated that someone was trying to venture in her personal business.

Kakashi could sense that he had broached a delicate subject, mentally chiding himself for his obliviousness; he decided to veer away from the topic and concentrate on something else.

"My apologies, Anko, anything you would like me to do?"

Kakashi has been orphaned since 10, he was much more vulnerable and younger than you, a thought tugged at her subconsciously. Yes, forget about what Orochimaru did to you, Kakashi has suffered worse. No, not that, he helped you, remember?

DAMN, Anko cussed at that, struggling to dismiss the idea, telling herself: remember that silver-hard bastard committed treason, he betrayed you.

Still… there was a part of that still wanted to approach him, talk things over. Ever since Anko realized she held romantic feelings towards him, she had been especially paranoid when anyone female was within Kakashi's presence—she was your typical possessive girlfriend. Naturally, the man had still retained quite a lot of admirers, even after his time in high school or university.

Tch… Anko reflected. I've been in so many love triangle situations with that bastard that I've lost count. Perhaps someday if I lost my job at the station I could live off the income of a couple of cheap romance novels inspired by my oh-so-competitive love life.

With that, she chuckled bitterly to herself.

Kakashi… Kakashi, that name plagued mercilessly at her thoughts, refusing to relinquish itself.

A/N: Naruto was first mentioned in this chapter, I think I should mention that in this story/ AU, Naruto is younger that Sasuke by around 3 or 4 years. Not that they'll actually interact that much but it's still something I'd like to point out.

Feedback? :P Particularly Kakashi and Anko's first meeting? I wasn't sure whether I executed it well enough because I didn't want them to act all lovey dovey at first sight, bear in mind, this is Kakashi and Anko we're talking about.

Wow, I was literally blown away by the sheer thought, length and constructiveness in all of your reviews! Send some more? :) This is quickly becoming my favorite story to write due to the detailed feedback I'm receiving, so keep the constructive criticisms rolling!