Chapter 13
At the resort restaurant
Kakashi and Iruka have a good time at the resort surrounding, the gardens were nicely organised and that the scenery was very beautiful. They arrived at the restaurant slightly early than they expected, so they managed to be seated at one of the best table in the restaurant, by the window.
An appeared promptly at the entrance. He was wearing a black silk suit jacket, a white v-neck tee-shirt, a pair of black lean trouser and a pair of black loafers, with his long silver hair loosely tied by a black silk ribbon. Iruka could not deny that he has a very good dress sense, and he just felt that maybe he needed to work on his dress sense, but then, he spent most of his time in his shinobi uniform, 'did that really matter?' he wondered. He friendly greeted An, nonetheless.
On the other hand, An studied Iruka causally. He didn't expect Kakashi would fall in love with a man like Iruka, but then, things changed as time gone by. He should be just glad that Kakashi has found his love.
They chatted causally during the dinner. The food was delicious and well presented and the wine that An has chosen was matched perfectly with the meal. They enjoyed each other's company, though Iruka was quite curiously to know the past between Kakashi and An. But he just could not ask Kakashi directly as he just felt not right. However, Iruka decided that he should trust Kakashi, so after dinner, he claimed that he was exhausted and left the men behind to catch up.
When Iruka left the restaurant, An invited Kakashi back to the bar. They sat at the bar table, An took out Kakashi's favourite whisky when Kakashi took out a cigarette to smoke. 'You have killed a lot these days, didn't you?' An questioned, 'I can smell the blood.'
Kakashi didn't reply but picked up the glass. He looked at the glass, without saying a word. An knew the answer, as he was good at observation, from the time that he spent at bar. 'Iruka-chan was far too clean for your taste,' he stated lazily, with his glaze on the whisky instead of Kakashi.
Kakashi smiled warmly, 'no, my dear An-kun, for once, I can say you are wrong. ' Kakashi finished his whisky. 'Iruka is one of the better one in our group. Don't fool by his appearance.' He pulled the end of An's hair to his chest. 'Still cannot forget him?' he questioned, 'your hair is really long now.'
An groaned. Kakashi was surprised that he sighed, as the An he knew was always positive and cheerful, 'well, at least from the surface,' he added in his mind. He played around his hair like he used to do when he was young. The texture was still the same, soft and yet strong. 'You still waiting for Hiroshi-kun, don't you?' he questioned, 'then why did you leave? If you decided to leave him behind, why don't you cut the hair?'
'Kashi-kun, things are never simply, don't you understand by now.' He tried to pull his hair away from Kakashi's grip. 'Thought you will understand this time,' he sighed. He underestimated Kakashi, he thought after these years, he has learnt a lot more about human, but seems the only part he has learnt was only regarding his job. 'You remember, Hiroshi-kun was my light, I was only his darkness. Without light, how you could ever define darkness? If everything is dark, there will no place for darkness.' He poured more whisky into Kakashi's glass as well as his. 'I left because I wanted to learn to forget. But, once I left, I regretted, so I decided not to cut my hair. Anyway, I got all the time I need.'
Kakashi remembered the day that they met, as if he could still sense the sakura peddles that flew in the air. The sakura tree next to the bar was very beautiful. He met Hiroshi for a few time, but as the time passed by, he never saw him again and An's hair was growing longer and longer. 'I can still remember Hiroshi-kun's sakura sake…' Kakashi sighed, ' he shouldn't leave you, he really shouldn't.' He actually heard some rumours about where Hiroshi's location, but he guessed that An knew, but just didn't make a move. He sighed again, even though they were experienced, very decisive and clever people, but once they trapped in love, they were nothing but mortals. He finished his whisky and stood up. It was already quite late; he should head back to Iruka. He took out a note card from his suit pocket and placed next to An's glass. 'You know where I permanent be. Please come and visit me if you are on the move again. I have missed your company, An-kun.' He tapped An's shoulder softly, and placed a good night kiss on his forehead 'If you decided to find Hiroshi-kun one day, hope I can do something for you guys, or by the time, you made up your mind, I will be too old for that?' he smirked.
An didn't respond to Kakashi's word, but he took out a ring from his necklace. 'Take this, a once world famous goldsmith made me this, use it as your wedding ring.' He passed the ring to Kakashi, 'I hope I have the honour to be your witness one day, my boy, I could already see that day.' He smiled warmly like a father to a son. 'It has been great to see you well and grown up.'
Chapter 14Back in the resort room
Kakashi went for a quick shower after he left An at the bar. He quickly slipped into the bed where Iruka was, reading the novel that he bought from the village. Kakashi took his book away and placed a bookmark in there. He switched on his ipod and placed on the speaker dock. 'I want to tell you a bed time story, want to hear it?'
'Sure.' Although Iruka wondered, he adjusted his position and lied on Kakashi's abdomen nonetheless.
Kakashi brushed Iruka's hair gently when he began:
'One day, somewhere far, far away, a silver hair boy met a pair of lover when he finished his mission, on the way back home. He met them at a bar, which there was a very large sakura tree. It was the sakura season, as the flower pedals were flowing in the air. It was a sunny day when the pair was having sake under the tree. The boy joined them and quickly become friends.
Every single time, if there were time, the boy would drop by the bar and chatted with the pair. He has learnt lots from the pair, the knowledge that he would not have the chance to learn from his job, though his sensei tried to teach that, but it was not the same. The focus of what the pair taught was different. He really like the pair, as with them, the boy was no longer the genius, he was simply a boy.
Even when the boy knew the great secret that the couple have, he could not leave them; as to him, once he decided that they were friends; it didn't matter even if they were immortals.'
Iruka looked at Kakashi, puzzled. He could tell that the boy was probably Kakashi himself, and that one of the couple was An-kun, but he was surprised that Kakashi mentioned immortals. 'How could it be true?' he questioned in his head, as he didn't want to disrupt Kakashi's story.
When Kakashi felt that Iruka was ready to listen, he continued:
'The boy found out the secret as he was the rare few customer that could access the pair's living room, which on the top floor of the bar. He accidentally found the family record of one of the men. As he asked about the family record, the pair told him the truth. The silver hair man was a vampire while the black hair man was a werewolf. They met in the woods nearby few years ago, when the werewolf was badly injured. The vampire kindly looked after him and the werewolf stayed, as he liked the environment. Then from friends, their emotions gradually changed to love.
The boy popped by the next few years, though not as often as he used to be when the amount of missions he received increased. He was always envious the relationship that the pair has, as he wished one day he would also found a person that was similar, as warm and bright as the werewolf, as he and the vampire were so alike, almost like brothers, bought up from the same parents.
However, one day, when the boy has the time to visit them, after his secret mission that took a long time, the werewolf has gone in the sakura season in that year and left the vampire behind. The vampire never explained why the werewolf was gone, but the boy knew, even though the werewolf didn't leave any message behind, the vampire knew roughly what has happened. But the boy didn't ask. He stayed longer than usual and tried to keep the vampire company, at least that's what he could do. That's when the boy was 15. He drank with the vampire all the time during his stay, so that he could have less time to think, though deep in the boy's heart, he knew that was not going to help the situation, as he was only a mortal. He knew that the vampire would wait and wait, as what he has left was time. And that was also the year when things turned out wrongly, when they have slept together. They were still friends, but it was not like the same as before anymore. Things are never the same, never be the simple world again. But that didn't endanger the relationship between the vampire and the boy, until, few years later on, when the boy become man, become an mentor; the vampire was no longer at the bar and the sakura tree was wilted, as if it was deeply sorrow for its growers' departure.
The man has carried out a search during his free time secretly. He didn't able to find the vampire for that year, but he heard about the location of the werewolf. When the werewolf left the bar, the hunters that were chasing and injured the werewolf in the first place, were found nearby. In order to protect the vampire from the hunters, he decided to go away and let the hunters to keep tracking him down instead of both of them, as the hunters would hunt down any immortals that they met. The man also knew a rough location of the werewolf, where he was chained and sink in a tank. Nothing could be free, except his soul and heart. Although the man would like to rescue him, the force behind the hunters was too great for him to deal with. Then, by that time, he understood. He understood the true reason of the vampire decided to stay and not looking for him. He was waiting. He was waiting for the werewolf to be strong again and broke the chain and set him free. After all, they have all the time they need.
They knew each other, they knew the other would wait for them, and that's all they need. They have too much time and too much experience. As long as their hearts were with each other, they could wait until the mortals were dead.'
Up to that point, Iruka could not hold back his tears. Kakashi gently wiped the tears away from Iruka's face. 'My love, you okay?'
Iruka sobbed, he was touched by the love that the pair has. But he was also upset by the whole situation. He felt so sorry for An, yet also very frustrated. If Kakashi felt that the whole situation was too difficult to deal with, a Chunin like him, could not help at all. He wished he could offer some help, but he knew he couldn't. He sat up and hugged Kakashi with his arms at his neck. 'Oh, Kakashi…' He hugged him tightly as if he was concerned that they would be apart one day.
Kakashi stroked the back of Iruka's head gently. He understood what Iruka was trying to say, 'my love, even if we were apart, at least my soul will be with you, as always.' He sighed, as it was even worst for them. 'An-kun and Hiroshi-kun have all the time, but we don't,' he thought. 'Iruka, my love, even if death set us apart, please live on, at least for me, live on… As, if either one of us is taken away by death, it's because we did our best to protect the others, and the village that we loved.' He held Iruka's head with his hands. He kissed Iruka gently. 'Promise me, my love?'
'I will. I promise,' replied Iruka while his tears were stilling running across his face. 'I will…'
Kakashi wiped the tears with his thumbs. 'Don't worry about An-kun, he is much older than you could think of… I guessed he is around 150 years old already. He is old enough to look after himself properly.' He kissed Iruka again, 'we have to work tomorrow, let's go to sleep.'
Iruka kissed Kakashi's lip lightly, 'Oyasumi, Kakashi.'
[Yanvi: So here it is, the mystery behind An-kun. Hope this makes sense and clear some of the riddle in the plot, or actually, I should say this set the hint for the 2nd part of Mission 10.
Please do drop me comments! Even just said 'yea, this is not bad.' See ya!]
