Chapter 38 - Drunken Realization

(Yue's POV)

The sky rains its tears upon the village as the ninja, clad in black, slowly gather at the memorial.

There are pictures of many fallen ninja, but among them is dear Asuma.

He had died on a failed mission in pursuit of Akatsuki. Ino, Chouji and Shikamaru had tried to save him, but he had been hit in four vital points…there was nothing they could do.

He left a ring on Kurenai's finger, and in tears.

The poor woman was so devastated when Shikamaru gave her the bad news. She's cried herself sick for the past two in a half days.

Now, I stand in front of the diamond-like stone, amongst the other ninjas, holding Kurenai's hand comfortingly.

I glance out of the corner of my eye at Kakashi. He stands next to me, holding Kurenai and comforting her.

I glance past him at Naruto and Sakura, who are watching Awari and Hitomi. All four of them are deathly silent and stiff as boards.

Shocking to see Naruto like this.

I glance to my right at Shikamaru, Temari, Ino and Chouji.

Temari has her arms around Shikamaru, tears slowly flowing, her head resting on his shoulder. Shikamaru is rubbing Temari's arm comfortingly, eyes red and puffy and a cigarette dangling from his lower lip.

I know he thought Asuma as more of a father than his own. He and Asuma were so close, practically father and son. In memory, he took up his smoking habit.

Temari doesn't like the habit, but so long as it was for Asuma's memory, she understood well enough.

Ino and Chouji are clinging to each other, tears flowing like rivers, sobbing uncontrolably.

Poor things. They're so sensitive, and both loved Asuma very much.

And I look in front of me at the sobbing mess of Konohamaru.

That's right, he's the worst here. Now he has no family at all. First, his parents, then, his grandfather and now his uncle.

I get down to his level and comfortingly scoop him up in my arms.

I instantly feel him bury his face in my shoulder, his hot tears soaking it.

I comfort him quietly as the other academy students and genin line up to lay down their flowers.

When it's the chuunin and jounins' turn, I pick Konohamaru up and carry him with me.

We gently lay down our flowers, and before leaving, I lightly brush the picture frame with the tips of my fingers.

I stand at the sidelines, watching Kakashi pull the sobbing Kurenai toward us.

I feel the tears coming back, and I try to hide them. I need to be strong. For Konohamaru, Kurenai and Asuma's children.

If one person is strong, it could make all the difference.

Kakashi wraps his free arm around me, and we walk away from Asuma's crying picture.

I stare nervously at Kakashi and the other jounin as they gulp down their third bottle of sake around.

Everyone here is drunk, aside from me and Gai.

Everyone is still dressed in black from the funeral, most of us adults decided to go to the bar.

Bad idea.

As soon as we hit the table, the guys started drinking like crazy.

Its Kakashi, Genma, Iruka, Gai and I. Kurenai wanted to stay home and mourn. Naruto and his friends are gathered at Kiba's house, watching the smaller kids.

Its been seven weeks since Hitmoi's birth, and not much has changed.

I'm back to training, Anko and Kurenai often babysit, Tsunade is going to start giving me missions and I got me a Konoha hitai-ate.

I'm a real Konoha jounin now.

"Come on, princess." Genma exclaims in his drunken state, holding out a sake bottle, "Have some fun."

I push the bottle away, and scold, "Genma, you guys should know when enough's enough. You've had too much to drink-"

"-No way!" Kakashi interrupts, wrapping an arm around my shoulder, leaning on me for support, "Come on, just have some, it'd do you some good to relax."

Gai pulls me away from the table, and stands protectively over me, "Enough. You shouldn't drink in a lady's presence, much less drinking yourselves. It's a hazard to your health and your beloved youth!"

"Who cares!" Iruka sighs, waving his hand dismissivly, "Youth shmouth, who needs it!"

I walk around Gai and grab Kakashi by his arm, easily lifting him out of the chair, "Well, your girlfriends for one, and our children!"

"Baby," Kakashi grumbles groggily as I drag him out of the bar, "where we going?"

"We're going home."

"Home? Where is that?"

"You're not serious, are you?"

"Hehe, I dunno…maybe."

I sigh, "I'm taking you home, then, I'm going to the Inuzuka's to pick up the kids."

"Kids? What kids? We got kids?" he leans on me even more, "Wow, I'm so happy!"

I raise a brow.

He is serious! Man, he must be really wasted!

"Yeah, there's our adopted boy, Awari, and my baby girl, Hitomi."

"Oh, right!" he exclaims, raising an arm, then, drops it again, "Who are they?"

I sigh heavily and drag him along the road.

"No! I don't wanna go home, I wanna get the kids, too!" he exclaims as I unlock the apartment door.

"No, you're going to bed, Kakashi." I say, dragging him through the door and hallway to the bedroom, "Trust me, you'll need all the sleep you can get. That hangover will be pretty awful."

He sighs, flopping on the bed, "Fine…oh, this is soft…it smells nice…like flowers…"

"I know." I say, pulling him up to a sitting position, "That's my shampoo, remember."

"Oh, yeah…"

I pull off his mask, then his hita-ae, exposing his gorgeous face. As the dimmed lights hit his sharingan eye, he squints and blinks a couple of times.

"Man, its bright in here."

"Sorry." I say, dimming the lamp a bit more before I take my position in front of him.

I pull off his gloves and set them on the nightstand with his headband, mask and book.

He's just like a kid. Me having to undress him for bed.

I smile to myself.

It feels so familiar. He needs to get drunk more often.

I pull off his green vest and throw it on the floor.

His eyes widen slightly when I make him raise his arms over his head so I can get his shirt, "Hey, what're you doing?"

"Getting you ready for bed, kiddo." I say jokingly, pulling the tight black shirt over his head.

"Hey!" he says crossing his arms, "I'm not a kid, I can do it myself!"

"Too late." I push him on his back, his head falls in to the feather-soft pillows, "Now go to sleep. You're in for a lot of pain tomorrow."

He smiles and brings his hand to rest on my face. He lightly brushes his fingers across my cheek, resting his hand there.

"The pain is worth the trouble of seeing your beautiful face."

He quickly bolts up. Before I know what's happened, he's kissing me.

I'm surprised all right. And its surprising, his touch is soft, gentle and caring; and he tastes like alcohol. This is the least I would expect from him, I thought he'd be the rough type.

Like Kemon Teyuka, when…well, you know.

In the pit of my stomach it feels like the butterflies are going crazy, and it feels like fireworks are going off like crazy inside of me.

It seems to last forever, when in reality, it was probably only a few seconds.

When he pulls away, I feel the fireworks die down, but the butterflies are still going.

His eyes close, and he falls back on the bed.

I smile lightly, he's passed out.

I pull the comforter up to his shoulders, and brush a few strands of silver locks out of his eyes.

I touch my fingers to my lips lightly.

They're still tingling, and the alcohol still lingers.

I feel something new happen inside of me, something I haven't ever felt before. All of the memories of Kakashi and I flood throughout my mind, as these words stick in my mind.

I'm in love with Hatake Kakashi.

R & R

-Cloe