A/N: Written for KakaObi Week 2020; prompt: reincarnation.
I do not own these characters; I'm having a wonderful time exploring them.
Kakashi sat at his desk in his cubicle, burdened with a sadness for which he had no explanation. He sat with his hands idle in his lap, his eyes staring unfocused on the computer screen in front of him.
A sense of longing had accompanied him from since before he could remember. It led Kakashi to travel, to study, to experiment, to lovers, and to therapy. Regardless of where he went, what he learned, what he tried, and who he was with-whether he paid for their time or not-shadows of echoes of dreams of memories refused to be forgotten.
Your touch forever lingers on my skin. I feel your breath in the wind. My thoughts are spoken in your voice. We are seamless, you and I. It is impossible to know where I end and where you begin.
It was when he was asleep and when his mind was most awake, that Kakashi felt closest to being fulfilled. In dreams, he was accepted wholly and unconditionally, but by whom he didn't know. They were more of a presence and less of a person, a soul without a shell.
It was his desire to remain within the dreams that led to misdiagnoses and medication. Supplements that meant to keep him awake and instill cheerfulness stole his dreams from his slumber. The pills were a poor substitute, and he had long done away with them.
Love is an ardent and sincere word, but it still doesn't encompass what you are to me. It's the best word that I know of, so I've used it often. What exists between us is infinitely more profound. Love is only the beginning of what I feel for you, and there is no end to it.
The telephone rang, loud and rude. It interrupted Kakashi's daydream of his recurring dream, and he hated the thing for it. Angry, he stood up abruptly, grabbed his jacket, and ran away from the suffocating dull dreariness of his cubicle.
He walked to the coffee shop and ordered a drink out of habit. Unexplained tension and anticipation fought within him as he exited and walked the street beyond. At the intersection ahead of him, the light turned red. Too agitated to stand still, Kakashi sharply turned the corner without stopping to think where he was going.
As much as I wish to stay with you, it's time for me to let go. Ever since we met-from that very moment-I have lived my life around you. I don't regret a moment of it; my only regret is that a lifetime of moments together is still not enough. It must be possible for us to find each other again. I know that we will.
Kakashi wandered beyond where he knew, his mind chewing on thoughts that had cycled through it countless times before. Was the dream a conversation? It felt like a conversation that preceded a parting.
He stopped and sighed. Whatever it was that he couldn't account for in memory, yet refused to be forgotten, weighed heavily upon him. He raised his eyes to the scenery around him and raised his coffee to his lips. Then, Kakashi's eyes met with the pair of another, and his coffee fell from his grasp.
He didn't know the other man; he had never seen that short black hair or robust frame before in his life. However, he instantly knew every secret of the universe that existed within the stranger's dark eyes. What's more, he found the recognition that Kakashi had searched for all his life.
"It's you," they breathed, finally together once more.
The End