Summary: He knew that if he decided on what felt right rather than what was necessary then he would destroy and shatter both his and Naruto's worlds. What he was about to do would be for Naruto's happiness.
Warnings: Yaoi, Underage, messed up timeline.
Pairings: KakaNaru
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, all rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto.
Four months had passed before he met Naruto once again. And yet again Kakashi was dressed in his ANBU attire, only this time he was guarding the village from inside the walls, keeping a silent lookout for any trouble. Though trouble itself found him in the form of an orange clad, blond boy.
"Hey it's you!" The boy shouted at Kakashi, even with a measly 5 feet between them. Usually it would make the silver haired man smile at Naruto's bubbliness but perhaps Kakashi had forgotten how to smile over the past year.
He nodded his acknowledgement, hoping that if he didn't converse with the blond, said person would disappear. Yet a small slice of him wished Naruto would stay for the rest of his shift. The kid never failed to make Kakashi feel two polar opposite emotions at once.
"Not big on talkin' eh?" Naruto smiled and plopped his bottom down on the rooftop next to Kakashi's feet. "Never mind! I bought ramen," he lifted the two packages up to show Kakashi with a gleeful look. "Want some?"
Kakashi shook his head, not really feeling the need to explain the reason why he refused.
The blond shrugged. "Oh well your loss, more for me!" He unwrapped the packages with childish glee, snapping the chopsticks and started gulping down the noodles bowl by bowl. Who would have thought that seeing his ex student eating ramen would be heart warming? The man walked silently away from the younger to the other side of the rooftop, he couldn't allow any emotion to dwindle back to life for Naruto.
How old was he now anyway? Fifteen, sixteen? It felt like it had been years and years since the day he had wiped Naruto's memory.
"Hey! What's your name anyway? I have to call you somethin' right?"
Kakashi peered over his shoulder at the boy still sitting on the roof, surrounded by bowls.
"I am not going to reveal my name to you so don't bother asking again."
Naruto's groan of disappointment lasted only a second before he was enthusiastically bouncing his way toward Kakashi.
"Hmmm, what about your age?"
Silence.
"Hair colour?"
More silence.
"Eye colour? Weight? Height? Do I know you? What abo-OUCH!"
Kakashi kicked Naruto in the side of the ankle, effectively toppling him over.
"I am not answering any questions that could lead you to revealing my identity, so please cease."
The blond pouted up at the man in the mask, rubbing his sore ankle. The pain didn't last long, however, because he was soon up on his feet again, clearly thinking up some suitable questions.
"Fine...what about your rank? What's your rank?"
The man wanted to sigh; Naruto never gave up did he?
"Captain."
"Awesome! I'm still a Genin, I took the Chunin exams but was never actually made Chunin, only Shikamaru was but he didn't even win the final battle!"
Naruto pouted again and crossed his arms, clearly jealous.
"I'm sure Shikamaru deserved to be promoted to Chunin, that is why he was selected to be so."
The blond sighed and uncrossed his arms, looking quite defeated.
"Yeah I guess so, he is pretty clever after all," he looked to the ground. "I just don't wanna be left behind y'know? Everyone seems so much better than me at everything, I try really hard but I never seem to get anywhere."
Kakashi furrowed his brow. Why wasn't Naruto achieving more? He knew that Naruto could easily surpass everyone on his team given the time and the right training. At this stage he should have been able to clear the Chunin exams with ease. If Kakashi had still been his sensei then...No. There was a reason he left.
"Perhaps your jounin sensei is not well quip to training you correctly."
The kid thought this over for a minute.
"I guess...though he spends a lot more time with Sakura than anyone else, even Sasuke is annoyed that he's not getting much attention when it comes to training. Though that teme just trains alone most of the time anyway. I can't really blame Yamato-sensei for not knowing how to train us right, he wasn't exactly our original sensei to be assigned to us."
He sat down on the edge of the rooftop, his legs dangling off the edge.
"I do miss Kakashi-sensei, he didn't even say goodbye, he just left."
There was a long silence as Naruto fiddled with the hem of his jacket, clearly straying deep into thought. Kakashi felt guilty for not letting the boy know it was him but their past was better left in the past. It was still nice to know that the teenager missed him, even if it wasn't the way that Kakashi wanted to be missed. When they'd returned home that day as their last time as team 7, he hadn't said a word to the three of his students.
Two of them had vanished in a matter of seconds out of, most probably fear, but the blond had stayed. They had glared at each other, more on Naruto's side than Kakashi's, neither really knew what to say and even if there had been something to say, it probably wouldn't have repaired the irrevocable damage that Kakashi had already caused. So instead he let Naruto glare him down and he'd simply walked away, no goodbye, no sorry; he'd just turned and left. He wasn't at all surprised the young Jinchuuriki hadn't called after him.
Kakashi sighed and though his cool exterior had been warmed only slightly from being around the person he loved most, he still had many walls that needed to be dissolved between them. There was no worry that that would be happening any time soon. He'd let the boy have some semblance of satisfaction that he'd gotten somewhere with him.
Bending down to sit next to Naruto, Kakashi patted his shoulder reassuringly. It was a poor attempt at comfort but it was more than any of his other comrades had received from him in a very long time.
"I'm sure it was for the best."
Naruto lifted his head to look into the eyes of the man sat next to him, frowning.
"Perhaps"
Naruto didn't look away, so instead Kakashi turned his head to look towards the setting sun. A comfortable silence stretched out between the two of them, the orange light spilling over both of their forms. Konoha always had the best sunsets. Kakashi hadn't realized how much he'd missed this. Just being around Naruto, even in silence, relaxed him so completely he could curl up to the boy and just sleep. If only that were a possibility.
"You can call me Hound."
Naruto snapped his head in the direction of the voice. His bright smile warming Kakashi's heart once again.
'I love you Naruto.'
