Memorizing the Carvings

by Lyrical Rex

Kakashi was without doubt the only person in the village to spend hours there every single day. Not even Miyuki came as often as he, though he supposed that if she hadn't been ANBU, they'd be spending hours in each other's silence. One shot and spoilerish

Title: Memorizing the Carvings
Words: 362
Spoilers: The reason why Kakashi's always late. The Hokage's death. Itachi's special eyes. Obito. Iruka's parents being dead. Hayate dying.
Disclaimer: Own? Nah.

He never meant to stay this long, but it seemed he always did. He always got too swept up in the past, the memories of that war—the one where Uchiha Obito died. He didn't know why he kept coming. The memories were so painful, possibly even more painful than Uchiha Itachi's Mangekyou Sharingan. He tried defending himself by saying he wasn't the only one that visited; he'd seen Umino Iruka place lilies on the tombstone for both of his parents, and that ANBU Miyuki once actually spoke to him about coming to the memorial earlier, as to make his other appointments on time. He told her he did, but morning took so much out of him that it took time to recollect himself and put on his emotional mask. They were shinobi; they weren't supposed to show their emotions. That was the day he was late for the Hokage's funeral.

The truth was, he was without doubt the only person in the village to spend hours every single day without fail in front of the memorial. Even Miyuki didn't come mourn Gekkou Hayate (one of the newer additions) as often as he did; she did have ANBU missions after all, and he supposed if she hadn't, they'd spend hours and hours in each other's mourning company, but this was besides the point.

Speaking of the devil, as Kakashi finally turned to leave, Miyuki was taking off her ANBU mask and shaking her hair free of the ponytail it'd been in. They nodded at each other as they crossed paths and went their separate ways.

At the edge of the clearing, Kakashi turned around to look back at the place he came to everyday—and the place where he'd taught his cute students the value of the teamwork he'd learned from Obito, Rin, and the Yellow Flash. Miyuki knelt on the ground tracing a name with her fingers, as if to memorize the carvings of Hayate's name.

Kakashi silently took his leave, preparing another lie for his student's sakes. Schooling his expression, he hoped his one eye didn't convey the feelings he was trying to hide.

Lucky Miyuki had a full mask.

la fin.

Love it. Absoluetely love it. Originally, it was going to be Iruka he met at the grave. It was going to be KakaIru. But my Hayate fangirlishness (Friend Tim wonderes why I like a dead guy so much, especially if all he does is announce the matches. And dies.) fought through. I like Miyuki too. (That IS her name, right?) Anyway, it'd be nice if you reviewed! Thanks.

7.15.05 12.28.am