Seventeen

Something's calling

From within

I listen to everything

Except the thing

That is nestled

At the centre of everything

I thought it once eluded

From my gasp

I thought it not possible

To try

I thought it

All but a discarded hope

I never knew

I've forgotten

The meaning of living

Forgotten that two souls

Make one

That forevermore

I still need

To acknowledge

That as human

I need another

To become whole


It was deep into yet another night in the village.

A lone figure sits up on her futon. She knows that sleep would evade her again. It was the fourth night running and it was draining her mentally to be staring into an abyss of perpetual black. She touches upon the cloth bandages that are still wrapped around her eyes for still they were still not ready to be filled with light.

She wondered.

If it wasn't the torment of no colors, then the residual repressed memories of the past would rise up again her to cause a series of fragmented sleep.

Either way, there was no peace.

She runs her hand through her hair and stands up. Perhaps some cool air might aid and so the figure pushes open the door to a moonlit path that leads towards the bonsai garden. The feet plodded along in cloth slippers and the fingers with its sense of touch guide the way. With a light boost from her hand, she sits upon the parapet that over looks the pond.

Of greenery and tranquil settings of aged architecture, the water surface ripples lightly in defiance to the gentle breeze that blows. It lifts random strands of red hair and causes them to float about the slender figure. She stretches out the full length of her legs along the narrow strip of wood and settled herself against a pillar, it was relaxing here but still she feels no urge to sleep coming on.

She felt the presence of another.

"Kakashi."

Another figure walks up beside her. He was clad in shorts and dark tee and somehow still masked as usual.

"Can't sleep?"

She shakes her head lightly and continues to bask in quiet moonlit glory.

He happened to be not asleep when he heard her coming out her room that she resides in next to his. He was greeted by a familiar sight of a single girl perching quietly on a parapet. As he got closer, he continues to observe the sight of her, for she was only clad in a loose-fitting black button-up blouse and shorts that would never touch mid-thigh. He ran his eyes along her long legs, the type where the muscles are not too overly developed and no eye of his will miss the hint of a cleavage that loiters as she conveniently left the buttoning to start at only the third one. It being oversized also meant it was slanting to one side, exposing more skin on the right. The settings weren't helping either. The moonlight was giving off a dreamy feel to the scene as her skin illuminates under its lighting and the breeze that is floating by, carries her familiar jasmine scent over to his senses.

Obito, I'm in trouble, aren't I?

"Kakashi?"

"Hmmm?"

"Could you help me up to the roof?"

He obliged and she hooked an arm over his to follow the way up to the roof. There, she settled down upon the tiles again. He smiled a little before sitting down next to her.

"You're one of the few people who don't ask why I keep a mask on all the time."

Her head turn to his direction. She smiled.

"Everyone has their reasons. I believe that the mask prevents recognition of you by your looks for the basic practical reasons but as well as maintaining the barrier of your own personal emotions from mixing with the outside world. People recognized you for your abilities and your inner strength. As long as the mask is on, your priority is to perfection. It keeps you in focus."

He blinked.

And she laughed and leaned a little closer to him.

"No one can touch the man beneath the mask, can they? It is your barrier that keeps your heart safe from further hurt."

Ba-bum.

He took a sharp intake of breath.

No one has come close to analyzing him that thoroughly before and he continues to stare at the crimson-haired woman that he has come to be comfortable with.

She, on the other hand was preoccupied wondering why she can't sleep. She was missing something but can't quite put a finger to it.

A faint scent of sandalwood lingers in the air.

Could it be?

"Kakashi?"

He snapped out of his thoughts. "Hmmm?"

"Could I borrow your back for a second?"

"Nani?..."

She laid her head against his back and adjusts a little before she finds a comfortable spot to lean on properly.

He just froze.

She could hear the thundering of his heartbeat against his ribcage.

She smiled sad smile. And if she could, would allow the tears to flow.

For her heart was beating fast too.

She finally understood. Finally realized.

The scent of sandalwood and the song of heart beats of someone nearby were the times she slept best. It was times when he was around. It was he who kept the loneliness and nightmares at bay because of the security he provided with his presence.

She raised a hand to her mouth to mask her emotions.

She had gotten careless.

Someone had crossed her defenses.

A complete stranger has come to affect the way her way of living.

Hatake Kakashi.

So this was what Ken was talking about.

It was just some two years ago when Ken confessed his feelings to Kaede to her on a similar night like this. She remembered,

"I have no idea how it happened. One minute I found her to be a cute girl that hung round me too much, the next, I realized that I enjoyed it. I actually, for the first time really enjoyed the company of another besides the lot of you. No offence but even then sometimes I needed time out from you guys too. I wanted her to stick close to me. I actually, in some sense, come to need her to be nearby. It somehow seems lonelier when she's not around."

Ba-bum. Ba-bum. Ba-bum.

Oh no.

She shifts and moves away from him.

Flushes.

Emotions were tangled with logic.

Kakashi was watching her sitting there. Thoughts were flying random and chaotic in her mind.

He wondered at what he should do.

She chose ignorance and ran.

Standing up with her back towards him, she said, "I-It's late, I ought to try and get some sleep." And she jumped off the roof.

Momentarily, she enjoys the suspension of time itself as she makes the silent descend to the stone floor beneath. And landing softly like a large cat with much grace and agility, she then straightened up to walk towards her room.

Running like a coward that you are, a voice lurked around her mind.

She ignored it and was walking back fast.

However, he moved faster and had grabbed her hand to halt her running.

Her head spun round to him. He held his eyes in a downcast fashion as he curled his fingers around hers.

"Don't go."

Nani?

He swallowed and he held her hand tight.

"Stay with me, all right?"

Her face had panic and confusion written all over it.

Uncertainty lingered.

"Demo……"

"I know. I can see it."

"………."

Time ticked by as they stood there in the middle of the night. She, towards the door one hand balled and the other limped in his gasp. He, facing her back and holding on firmly, waits for her reply.

She asks herself.

Can I?

Can I take a chance?

Will it be selfish?

She swallows hard. Her lips were parched and her stomach was doing acrobatic feats of varying degrees.

"They would have wanted you to be happy, above everything. They died so that you may have the one chance to live and find the meaning to life."

Maemi-sama……

She turned to face him.

He breathed and wondered if he had done the right thing.

Kakashi looked at her face for some hints. He found nothing but nervousness.

"Kakashi."

He said nothing. He was relishing the last possible moments to hold her hand. And wonders at how life is like a novel. He felt as if he was replaying a scene from one of the Icha Icha Paradise booksand wondered at how to act tomorrow in front of everyone after the rejection.

He sighs.

She bit her lower lip. It was hard to put it into words.

She chose another way.

She walked closer to him. Resting a hand on his chest, the figure reached up and gently kissed his cloth-covered lips.

She pulled back immediately after, flushing.

For the first time in a long while, he really felt relieved and this happy. Almost instantaneously, Kakashi drew her close into his arms, buried his face in her neck and inhaled all the jasmine scent that lingered in her hair. He smiled to himself and hugged her real right.

She smiled.

For real.

For the first time.

And so did Maemi-sama, who walked away quietly to give them back their privacy.


A young boy with blonde hair in his growing adolescent phrase of his life was sitting edgy upon a chair in one of the offices in the administrative building. Cross-legged he was starting to get real bored from waiting and started to run a checklist in his mind,

Played with the brushes? Check.

Messed with the Kantana that is on display? Check.

Walked round the room? Check x 10.

Sighs.

Naruto was bored of waiting.

It has been some time since he discovered the engraving. And he has been visiting the memorial ever since, where he would sit for a little while and wondered what sort of face Natsu had. What was his personality like? How old when he died? And many other little questions that he wonders at to build a makeshift story to believe in until the real one gets told to him

Ishida and Maiko refused to say anything that may know. They insist that it would be worth the wait to hear from their Onii-chan and Onee-chan.

On that note, he decided to evaluate the two.

Let's see…..

Ishida nii-chan reminded him of Kakashi except without the sadistic intentions in the mental plane. Full of smiles and extremely popular with the ladies, ne, even Ino and Sakura-chan have diverted their attention temporary to him. Ne, though he seems not interested in anyone, not even Kurenai-sensei whom he lives with.

Not in the observable sense that is. He's pretty shrewd so can't tell what goes in his brain.

Tough guy with an impeccable ability in genjutsu. Ne, we still fell for his jutsus even the second time.

Overall, nice guy since he buys me lots of ramen dinners.

Maiko-chan is comparatively younger. Ishida nii-chan is rather protective and watches over Iruka sensei that keeps coming over to send bentos to them. Ne, that guy is too obvious but Maiko-chan does not seem to notice at all. Very dense, even compared to me. But I give her some credit for she can sure give us some good whipping at training. Ano, maybe it's just me but I don't really feel that Iruka sensei and she are compatible though. He's too nice and she's too erm…. far away. Yeah, she likes to day-dream a lot and plays on that flute of hers.

Ne, they both lied when they said they knew nothing about their parents. The little flute is her Otou-san's one and the song that she keeps playing is her Okaa-san's favorite tune. And Ishida's parents were from Hidden Mist Village, though he said he didn't grow up there.

Anyway, back to the main point.

Overall, Maiko-chan is a nice girl since she buys me lots of ramen dinners too.

He concluded his evaluations of them with a satisfied nod.

He managed to kill some more time with that.

And still they were not here.

The wait was killing him.

A bird flew by.

More minutes went by.

THEY ARE LATE! LATE! L-A-T-E! Ne! Did they catch Kakashi sensei's bad habit? Naruto yelled mentally.

And suddenly a knock came on the door.

Tsunade came in.

He sulks. What a disappointment.

"Naruto, relax. They're here." And in walked in two figures who were dressed in the same fashion as Ishida and Maiko behind Tsunade. One was a tall male with raven dark hair that reminded him of Sasuke but with purple eyes and a female with blood red hair and blue-grey eyes.

"You look nothing like Maiko-chan or Ishida nii-chan."

They laughed and sat in front of the boy where they apologized for their tardiness.

"We should introduce ourselves first. I'm Harada Kendon." The guy said as he showed me his face. He still reminded Naruto of Sasuke. It must be the hair.

"Keishinn."

And she got whacked on the back on the one called Kendon as she pulled down her mask.

"Baka! That's not your full name."

She rubbed the sore part and wondered at the need for violence.

"Did you have to hit that hard?" The other guy shrugged. She re-introduced again, "My name's Hatake Keishinn."

"Hatake?" Tsunade and Naruto chorused.

The boy aired his confusion outright.

"Ano sa. Ano sa. First, you know Uzumaki Natsu. Now, you're related to Kakashi-sensei."

He folded in arms and adopted an unconvinced pose.

"Of course she's related to Kakashi. She's his wife." He stated out flatly, to which, the girl flushed a tinge that matched her hair color.

They blinked.

There was a pause in time itself.

Nothing moved.

Then suddenly, chaos unleashed itself.

"NANI !" The other two yelled in shock. So loud that it was of the appropriate decibels to ring throughout the building and stopped all on-going activities within. Though, at the foot of the building sat a jounin who was reading, who had a different reaction, he was amused.

"So they learned about us already." And he smiled before turning a page.

Time sailed by very fast in the village but they would always remain crystal in his mind. Such that sometimes it felt though it happened only yesterday the morning after walking up in her futon. The little joy that surfaced holding her while she slept.

He laughed to himself as his memory took a stroll.


FLASBACK

He remembered her intertwining her fingers in his and leading him into the privacy of her room.

"I think we are finally alone." She said as she shut the door.

He said nothing as he continued to watch what she would do. Her head tilt up in his direction and one hand reached up to stroke the side of his face. She ran over the cloth and along the scar over his Sharingan. It gently works to etch the outline of face into her memory as she traces out his nose and his lips.

He grabbed her hand and tucked two fingers into the mask. Her heart beat fast as her fingers read the skin that was no one was allowed to see. She pulled the material until it fell down to hang loosely around his neck.

Removing the forehead protector, he bent to touch upon the lips he has been staring at for a while.

It was sweet and very addictive.

It was slow at first, to savor the first touch and warm feelings that was emerging from within. But soon the pace changed. And a growing need ensued to touch and know more about the other.

He pulled her closer and the kiss deepened.

Deep sighs escaped from her.

Breath ragged, he pulled away from her lips and traced hot kisses along her cheeks and jaw line. His hand drew them closer before it slipped under the loose blouse. The calloused fingertips traces the firm stomach was the fruits of her daily exercise of 500 sits up whilst hanging upside down from a tree branch. He delights in wandering about the hollowed bits of the muscle definitions and of course, from the fact that the surface had a silky feel that encouraged him to explore more.

She was getting aroused from his assault on her heightened senses. Her sense of touch especially was more sensitive than usual and her body was heating up from caresses.

He was caught surprised when the hand slipped upwards to her chest.

"Did you forget to wear your bra or was it deliberate?" He whispered into her ear, before playfully nipping the sensitive lobe.

"Does it matter now?"

He laughed before dropping to work at the nape of her neck downwards, hot breaths trail the path he was taking. The other hand was working on removing the confounded fabric to grant him more access.

Then he suddenly saw a thin blue line that was peeking from the left side, he momentarily paused.

She suddenly realized what he was staring and pulled the fabric to cover up.

He halted her when she tried to pull from his gasp.

"Let me see the scar."

She shook her head.

"……….."

He instead picked her up and brought them to her futon. Sitting her down, he gently coaxed her trust back as he unbuttoned the front first.

He kissed her lips assuring before moving behind her and unveiled the scar.

Her heart raced.

She was nervous, for she rarely granted anyone permission to look at the bane of her existence.

She gathered the blouse to her chest as he took into the remnants of the forbidden jutsu. The blue hue was the evidence of the seiryuu's (dragon) containment within her. Where the blood once flowed through the cuts was now healed and replaced by blue chakra that healed the open wounds and created a smooth finish. To be more politically correct, it resembled a blue tattoo rather than a scar.

His heart pained.

It spanned nearly three quarter the surface of her back. It may be a piece of art but still, he could only imagine the pain she endured when the bastards carved the design out.

His fingers traced out every curve and line.

She was surprised at his gentleness.

The creature stared back at him.

And she felt him gather her into his arms from behind. She could feel the touch of bare skin against hers. It seems that he stripped without her knowing.

"Kakashi……..." She whispered quietly.

"I know. I can see that the chakra balance is unstable."

For the first time, she really did not want to acknowledge the truth of her condition. Her head bowed in regret.

He shifted and kissed her again.

"It changes nothing about my feelings for you."

Tears spotted the bandages as she reached for him.

And he held her close, all the way through all the night. Of knowing each other more and of the flaws they find and of the beauty that ensued when they came together. Of knowing, they had each other to face the coming future together.

END OF FLASHBACK


Kakashi chuckled quietly as he heard yet another outburst from Konoha's loudest Ninja.

Anyway, they had slept in late into the next morning cradled in each other's security.

And as expected, the rest were waiting for them to appear and were way too eager to give their blessings and congratulations. And of course, nothing could beat the MasterCard moment when Uchiha Sasuke found out. For one split second, he lost his stoic posture and had a very comical expression complete with wide eyes and a dropped jaw. It was priceless.

Uchiha Sasuke.

It was because of him that they delayed returning to Konoha.

Oh yeah, it was at Maemi-sama's stubborn insistence that they had gotten married.


FLASHBACK

"All right. Try opening your eyes." A crimson-haired one sat in the midst of everyone who was watching as the bandages came off.

She squint her eyes. The sunlight in the eating hall was blinding after many days of visual deprivation and it was hurting a great deal to open her eyes. She kept trying and with every attempt, more tears spilt out in protest. But soon, the irises soon learnt to adjust to the conditions and the pupils were letting in the appropriate amount of light.

From a blurry image, the world soon became crystal to her. She soon saw the wrinkled concerned faces of Chief and Maemi-sama. She smiled at the people who were pleased to see that her eyes had recovered.

Her eyes settled upon the silver-haired jounin who had a very soft expression. (It's amazing what one eye can do to express emotions!). He came closer and raised a hand to wipe away the wet trails on her cheeks.

"Kei-chan! Oh do go with Maemi-sama's suggestion and get married!" Kaede said.

"Ne, I don't really want Kakashi to be tied to me. Not with me in this state." The blue-grey eyes spoke of her fears.

The Jounin only took her hand in his. She looked up at him surprised.

"I don't want any regrets. I think we've enough of that."

Her blue-grey eyes got a little watery.

"And so, you lost the argument, my dear child." The old lady said, beaming.

END OF FLASHBACK


And so, that's how it happened.
Author's note:

Hi everyone!

My, it took seventeen chapters to get them together! Hope you guys like the chapter! I believe that with the story's development, we should be heading towards the end already. Just hang on for a little longer all right? Ha-ha still can't believe I actually wrote so many chapters for this story but thanks anyway to everyone for your support! You guys rock!

Special thanks to:

Agent Pandora Black (Sorry about the box thing…. Was thinking Pandora's box ;P)

Joel

Rythmic

Jemiul

Lovable-M

Syllable

Cheers,

Arte