Chapter Seven

After dinner, Kurenai and I spent most of our time catching up on things. I was worried that I should be doing something at the moment as a renewed shinobi, but she said that Lady Tsunade probably wanted to give me some time to settle down and catch up with my closest friends. Kurenai also helped me find the perfect spot to wear my new headband. After many suggestions, we decided I should wear the headband around my left arm. It works because I was never fond of wearing my headband on my forehead; it's bothersome with my hair and all.

It's late in the night. I haven't been able to sleep well; I've been tossing and turning for quite a while. I stare up at the ceiling through the dimly lit room. My arms lay on my sides as I lay motionless on my bed. I sigh and get up. I walk over to my black ninja sandals and slip them on. Carefully, I open the window and head out. I land on my feet and quickly head for a rooftop and leap from one to the other as swiftly as possible. After a while, I finally reach my destination on the other side of the village: the burial area of fallen shinobi. I walk over toward two erect tombstones and stand before them.

"Here lays Kohaku Uchiha. An honorable and highly skilled shinobi, head of the main family branch of the Uchiha Clan. Died fighting for the village in the Third Shinobi World War," is imprinted on my father's grave.

"Here lays Miyako Uchiha. An honorable and highly skilled shinobi of the Uchiha Clan. Died fighting for the village in the Third Shinobi World War," is imprinted on my mother's grave.

I look over at the third grave on the right and gaze at it with a blank expression.

"Here lays Denizu Uchiha. A young and highly skilled shinobi of the main family branch in the Uchiha Clan. Died in an Anbu mission for the well-being of the village," is imprinted on the grave.

I stare down at it for a few moments before turning my attention back to my parents' graves.

"Surprised to see your name?" I hear a familiar voice say.

I turn to my left and am surprised to see Kakashi walking toward me. His hands are in his pockets; he's not wearing his jonin vest nor his headband, just his long sleeve, navy blue shirt and his dark pants, his face still covered with his mask, both of his eyes revealed. I look him in the eyes before turning my gaze back at the graves. Kakashi stops and stands next to me while facing my parents' graves, less than a foot away from me. There's a brief moment of silence between us.

"What are you doing here?" I ask, finally breaking the silence.

"For some reason, I had this feeling you wouldn't be sleeping," he responds. "You would always sneak out at this time of night and come visit your parents' graves. You also haven't seen them in such a long time, so I figured you'd be here tonight."

"So you came to comfort me like you always did those nights you found me sobbing here when I was young..." I say, still gazing down at the graves.

Kakashi as well gazes down at the graves, beginning to remember one particular night.

FLASHBACK: 19 YEARS AGO

It's a cold and rainy night. Kakashi lands outside an open window of a two floor house. He looks around to be cautious of anyone and then peers inside the bedroom. He is surprised to see that the bed is not made, as if someone has just gotten out and left.

'She's gone again,' he thinks to himself as he pulls back.

Kakashi quickly jumps off the top of the house and heads away quickly in the light drizzle of rain. After some time, he arrives at the burial area of shinobi and stops. He stands and stares at a young girl kneeling over two graves, sobbing with her hands in her face.

'Denizu...' he thinks in sadness.

He looks at me for a moment with sorrow in his eyes and begins to quickly approach me. He kneels down next to me and puts his arm over my back, feeling my cold, wet clothes.

"Denizu..." Kakashi says to me with concern. "You're soaking wet. You shouldn't be out this late in the rain."

"But I miss them, Kakashi..." I mutter.

He looks down at me with sorrow, positioning his body over me in an effort to cover me from the light drizzle of the cold rain.

"I know a shinobi must handle the death of other shinobi with strength..." I say in between sniffs. "But...they weren't just shinobi...they were my parents..."

"I know that, Denizu..." Kakashi says. "There is no problem mourning their deaths, especially because they were your parents."

"It's just so hard to believe that they're gone..." I say rubbing my eyes.

"I know how you feel... I lost my dad a few years ago. You know about that..."

I sniff as I rub my left eye with my hand and sit up. Kakashi moves back a little to give me room to sit up straight. I look into his eyes as I feel rain drops from my soaking wet hair trickle down my face. He looks into my eyes and sees so much sorrow and pain.

"I'll take you home, now..." Kakashi says as he takes a hold of my hand. "It's late and you're soaking wet."

I nod and stand up with him. He holds my left hand and wraps his right arm around me. All along the way back to my house, he holds me close, trying to keep me warm.

We reach the roof of my house and sneak into my room through my open window. Kakashi closes the window behind us, carefully and quietly, not wanting to make a lot of noise because of my grandmother sleeping in the room across from mine. I stand in the middle of my bedroom, shivering and dripping wet. Kakashi hurries to my dresser and grabs a folded blue towel.

"Here, go change into some warm, dry clothes," Kakashi says as he hands me the towel.

I take the towel and walk over to my dresser. Kakashi keeps his back turned to me to not look at me while I quickly change. He stares at the wall with a blank look, and his gaze turns to his left. The picture frame on my night stand catches his attention. He walks over to it and picks it up. It's a picture of me and my parents. I stand in between them as the three of us smile at the camera, obviously a pleased and happy family. Kakashi studies me in the picture, taking note how happy I look with my parents.

"Kakashi..." he hears me say from behind.

He turns around in surprise and sees me standing in front of him wearing dry clothes, holding out a red towel.

"You should get dry too," I say to him with a weak smile and tired eyes. "I'd feel bad if you got sick because of me."

He stares at me for a moment before setting the picture back on my night stand.

"You shouldn't worry about me," Kakashi says as he takes the towel from me. "It wouldn't be your fault at all. I'm not even that wet; the rain calmed down once I got to you."

I watch him as he places the towel over his head and begins to dry his messy silver hair. As he begins to take the towel off his head, I see that he has slid his mask off. I stare at him in wonder as he continues to dry the back of his hair. He notices my wondering gaze and is a bit surprised.

"What's wrong?" he asks as he uses the end of the towel to dry the side of his head.

"You're not wearing your mask..." I say to him in a soft voice. "Why?"

He stops drying his hair for a moment and gives me a warm look.

"Because I trust you," he says in a soft voice.

I look up into his eyes with a surprised expression. He smiles warmly at me as he notices a very light blush on my cheeks. I suddenly sneeze and he gives me a worried look.

"Come on. It's time for you to get into bed and get warm," he says as he leads me to my bed. "I don't want you getting sick."

I climb into my bed and stick my legs under the covers.

"I want you to get some sleep now, okay?" Kakashi says before turning around and heading for the window.

"Please, don't leave me, Kakashi..." I say in a trembling voice as I grab his wrist. "I don't want to be alone..."

He turns to me in surprise and is heartbroken to see tears running down my face.

"My parents are gone... I'm scared of being lonely..." I cry softly to him.

I then feel him climb under the covers with me. He makes himself comfortable as he pulls the covers over us. I place my head on my pillow and he does the same. We position ourselves to have my forehead right under his chin as he wraps his arm around me. I feel the soft skin of his face on my forehead as he pulls me closer.

"Never feel lonely, Denizu..." he whispers softly as he takes a hold of my hand. "I'll always be here with you."

I am surprised at his words. I then cuddle myself closer to him as I gently squeeze his hand.

"Thank you, Kakashi..." I whisper to him as a warm smile appears on my face.

END OF FLASHBACK

Kakashi and I continue to both gaze down at my parents' graves.

"That night you revealed your face to me," I say. "I remember all that you said..."

The sound of the leaves moving with the light gusts of wind fills a bit of the silence.

"Why didn't you come back?" Kakashi finally asks.

I stand there in silence, keeping my gaze down. Suddenly, Kakashi grabs me by the shoulders, turns my body to him, and pulls me into an embrace. I stand there, frozen in shock.

"Do you have any idea how I felt when I saw you in that explosion?" he asks in a mutter, his mouth close to my right ear. "It was a living hell for me after you were gone... I was left alone after that... Every person close to me had died..."

I turn my gaze down in sadness at hearing his words. I then embrace him closely and bury my face into his chest.

"I'm so sorry to have made you go through all that..." I say as tears roll down my face. "I didn't mean for that to happen..."

Kakashi notices I'm now crying and pulls me closer to him.

"There's just so much I went through before and after the explosion... So many things happened in these past ten years..."

"We don't have to talk about it tonight..." Kakashi says as he pulls away and looks me in the eyes. "I can tell you're still a bit exhausted from getting to Konoha as fast as possible these past few days. I'm able to wait for us to catch up in order for you to get better."

I look up at Kakashi with an appreciative, warm smile as he wipes away my tears with his thumbs. His black eye and Sharingan eye return the gaze full with warmth.

"Thank you, Kakashi," I say softly to him.