"So this is why you retired your mask huh? You never told me." You heard the soft voice coming from the front of the store as you placed down the very last of the boxes you'd been lugging around for the past two hours. You followed the sound to the front door only to find the silver-haired Hokage leaning against the doorframe.
"It's... cozy," he said taking in the still in progress store. "Oh, Lord Kakashi, what brings you here?" You say, brushing off some dust from your clothing as you came to a stop in front of him.
"Please drop the lord," he replied, rolling his eyes. "I was just going to get some lunch and saw you, thought I'd say hi and check out... whatever this is," he said, gesturing to the store around you.
"Oh right," you said nervously, tucking a piece of hair behind your ear, "this is why, or at least part of the reason why I'm retiring from the Anbu. It's always been my dream and so I'm finally doing it, I'm opening a book store!" You said, the last part almost shouting it at him in your excitement. "Ah, of course, I remember you mentioning that once a long time ago." He replied flatly.
"You... your not disappointed are you?" You asked hesitantly, glancing up at him from behind your own mask. It wasn't quite the same as his, not a full mask that went down and around the neck, but a simple face mask to cover your mouth and nose held up by the strings around your ears. You never really thought about it too much but you simply felt more comfortable behind it, it was easy, the mask just made everyday life easier and less stressful. Whenever you got questioned about it you would simply relate the habit to your Anbu days, just saying you weren't able to kick the habit but really, you've been wearing masks long before you ever made Anbu.
Kakashi stared down at you, almost surprised at your question. You and Kakashi had known each other as children, your parents were friends with his father and would often invite Kakashi into their home after his father passed. While you were a year younger than him, he would sometimes let you train with him, which is probably why you improved so quickly. After he graduated the academy early you saw much less of him but every now and then he would stop by to have dinner with you and your parents. After the nine tails attack though, everything changed. Your father was killed in the attack and you were forced to raise yourself from then on, never really having a good relationship with your mother. Sometimes Kakashi would appear at your door with pre-made meals to make sure you were looking after your self, but after the attack, you saw even less of him, it became rare. Until a year later, thanks to your natural skill you also graduated early and eventually followed Kakashi into the Anbu, only a year after he made it in, making you the same age Kakashi was when he became Anbu. At first, the two of you were on the same squad and became close again for a time but as active Anbu agents that were somewhat difficult. Years went by and eventually, Kakashi was released from the Anbu and went on to lead a team of genin, while you stayed where you were until the war began after it was finally over you decided to leave the Anbu behind for good and do everything you'd always wanted.
"Why would I be?" He raised a puzzled eyebrow at you, "I think what your doing is... brave." You couldn't see how but it warmed your heart anyway. "After everything that's happened and with your mother, it can't be easy for you and it must be hard work, doing it all by yourself. It's amazing and I'm really happy for you." Kakashi offered you a smile you don't remember ever seeing before, the look in his eyes was almost, prideful?
You were just staring at him now, unsure of how to reply to that, you hadn't thought about it like that before, and maybe he was right. You deserved this and it has been difficult, especially with your mother fighting you on it every step of the way.
"Uhh anyway, I should go. I'll get in trouble if I'm gone for too long, haha." He chucked rubbing the back of his neck.
"Oh right okay, well I'll see you later Lor-" you started but he cut you off with a finger pressed to your lips, you instantly felt your face heat. "Please, you of all people shouldn't call me that, just Kakashi is fine."
"Let me know when the store's ready for opening, I'd love to come to check it out." He smiled down at you and offered a wave as he turned to leave. "Sure," you said nervously, "looking forward to it. Bye, Kakashi."
He turned and gave one last smile, grateful to you for just using his name and then he disappeared down the street.
You blinked and cleared your throat, turning back to your store, even more, motivated than you had been and got to work. You began opening the boxes labelled by genre and began stocking the shelves. You wanted your store to be different from regular book stores, you had bought plants and candles and other decorations to place on the shelves and around the store to give off a cozy atmosphere, you even had small figurines from certain book series ready to be out on display. You were excited about this, and you knew exactly how everything should look, you've been dreaming of this since you were a child and had planned it out over and over since then. You were going to do this and you were going to be successful, no matter what your mother said.