Hey everyone, your favorite author Candy Radio is baaack! Moving is a hassle, remember that kids, but in the end, all shall be well. All of my stuff is somewhere between New Castle Alabama and Las Vegas. It'll be a while before I get back on my Lovely Compu, so typing might go a little slow. I'm planning a few good AU fics, so Uchicest fans, rejoice! School will cut into my schedule, but that won't stop me. And yes, this chapter is AU-ish because Hayate would actually only be around 11 at this time ee Yay for plot devises! And yeah… I don't think blood glows under black lights, but whatever. ;; Now onto Chapter Six of Hard Life!
Obito's eyes lit up with admiration; "You'd… You'd do that for me?" Clutching the front of his shirt, the Uchiha squirmed slightly with delight as he stared up at his sensei.
"Of course I would!" the older man said, patting Obito on the shoulder with his strong hand, "I'm sure Kakashi just needs a bit encouragement when it comes to making friends." His blue eyes turn upwards into cheerful crescents.
Obito smiled slightly, faint blush dotting his face "Yeah, friends." He said, nodding up to his teacher. Friendship would be great… But Obito wanted more. He wanted to have someone to listen to him, care about him. Really care. The Yondaime looked down to his student, reading his face with ease. He had been trained to do so; there was no hiding anything from him. Obito knew this also and immediately turned away. The boy had a crooked smile on his face, a bit ashamed to have his teacher find out about his secret feelings for his teammate.
The Hokage merely smiled, standing beside the Uchiha and placing a hand on his back, "Don't feel bad, Obito. I understand." His warm smile made Obito grin, "Make Kakashi happy."
It was nearing eight-o-clock as the two Jounins awoke. Actually, Genma was the first to wake up, but once he began trying to feel up on Kakashi through the sheets, it wasn't long before Kakashi was awake. At that point Genma was trying to slip a hand under Kakashi's shirt when the other grabbed his arm, hit him lightly in the stomach with his free hand, and moved backwards off the edge of the bed, landing on the floor. Laughing, Kakashi asked "Are you really this frisky in the morning?" as he looked up at Genma from the floor, blankets pulling at his sides.
Pulling himself out from under the covers, Genma hummed and grabbed a toothpick from the nightstand beside the bed and popped it into his mouth, unfazed by Kakashi's punch. "Not really," he mumbled "it all just depends on wither or not I had a good sleep…" He yawned and stretched, arms reaching out as he arched his back, causing his shoulders and back to pop.
"I always saw you as a late sleeper." Kakashi said, throwing the covers back up at Genma as he turned over back onto his own bed. "I'm going back to sleep if you don't mind…" Pulling down one of the covers, Kakashi weaseled back in, rolling over and falling back asleep. Genma only nodded a reply as he began straightening up his bed to sit back down on it.
The sound of Genma walking about upstairs caught Memeru's attention. The cat was always put down stairs at night so she could go off and hunt outside. Wanting to go back upstairs to sleep in her favorite spot (Genma's bed); she began to claw at the door, mewing to be let in. Striding back over to his trap door on the floor, Genma opened the door and let Memeru hop back into the loft.
"Now Memeru," Genma said, "Kakashi is our guest, so try not to tread on his while he's sleeping, all right?"
"Puurreet."
Genma smiled "Yes ma'am."
Once Kakashi had finished resting up, Genma had already gone down for breakfast. Blinking through the bright morning light shinning through the two windows, Kakashi pulled the covers back over his head once more, slowing waking up rather than jolting out of bed. "Ohhiyooo" Kakashi yawned "goziimamphff…" His words were unintelligible as he threw himself back down onto the pillow.
Leaning over the edge of the bed to push a plate towards Kakashi, Genma said "Morning' there, Kakashi. Did you sleep well?" He was busy brushing Memeru idly as he waited for Kakashi to wake up. "Memeru was going to eat your food, but I stopped her for you."
Kakashi finally squirmed out from under his covers at the sound of 'food' and smiled on a large plate of eggs. Just eggs. Kakashi grabbed a fork on the side of the plate and looked up to Genma nervously. He had this look on his face as if he was just waiting for Kakashi to remove his mask. Matching his stare quietly, Kakashi glanced at the window, gasped, pointed and yelled "Oh my GOD. What the hell is that?" Eyes wide with fear.
Blinking, Genma jumped as Kakashi yelled, head turning to the window urgently "W-what is it!" he said, panicking slightly. It wasn't like Kakashi to lose his cool. After a few seconds of analyst, Genma found nothing out the window and turned back to Kakashi "What? What was it Kak-…" Genma smiled "You bastard…" Kakashi set his empty plate back down and snapped the edge of his mask back onto his face.
"That was really good." He smiled "Thanks, I haven't had eggs in a while."
"I'm not even gonna ask…"
"It's best if you don't."
"Hmmpf." Genma said, flopping back down onto the bed, staring at Kakashi with a smug look. "You're quiet the character, you know that Kakashi?" The other nodded, silently tying his forehead protector back around his head. Genma watched quietly, Kakashi seemed to have adjusted to his new eye very well. It seemed as though it was still staring through the plate over it, straight into one's soul. Before long, the two were back to reading their adult books, waiting for the time to roll by.
After many hours and multiple break ups and make ups in Icha, the clock in Genma's room flashed 6:45 and the older Nin stood. Yanking more items out of his closet yet again, Genma pulled out a dark outfit. His red shirt was racing with glow-in-the-dark lines along the chest and back, while rings of the yellow tape lined his sleeves. He grinned "There are a lot of Black Lights at the club, so after a few minutes, this thing glows like hell." Kakashi nodded, digging through his bag to find the set of clothes he'd brought for the Club.
He had worn the same thing when he went do a different Club with Obito. His shirt was long sleeved and black, navy lines striping his waist and sleeves. Both were wearing uniform Chuunin pants, letting them fall around their ankles rather than wrapping them up in tape. Genma headed downstairs to dress in the bathroom, giving Kakashi the privacy he deserved. As the other undressed, he looked over Genma's things. Apart from everything with function, Genma did have a few pictures around. There was one of him and Hayate, grinning and laughing about something. Kakashi found himself staring into Genma's pictures for a long time, forgetting that at any moment Genma could pop up from the first floor and get a good look at the waist-up naked Jounin. Pulling shirt on swiftly, Kakashi brushed his shoulder quickly as Genma reappeared from under the trap door.
"You ready?" he asked, long arm reaching out from the stairs to his night stand, opening one of the drawers on it's side and pulling out extreme purple colored ski glasses. Slipping them behind his ears, Genma smiled and began heading down the stairs before Kakashi had time to say anything. The younger Nin combed a hand through his light hair and followed after the other. Reaching the first level of Genma's home, Kakashi dashed down the hallway to catch up with the other just as he was waving good-bye to his mother. "We'll be back before one or so. Promise."
Grinning, Genma's mother nodded "Oh, it's alright. I just don't want to get a call at four-in-the-morning about someone finding you in a dumpster." She smiled sweetly, causing Genma to smirk.
"Sure thing, mum." Grabbing Kakashi's hand as the other was busily pulling his shoes back onto his feet, Genma swiftly dragged Kakashi on out.
"Yo, let me put my shoes on, alright?" the younger boy grumbled, hopping on one foot as he gracelessly tried pulling the shoe around his toes up to his ankles. Genma paused only for a moment, sighing as he bounced from one foot to the other boredly
"Alright, but we need to hurry, the Club stops letting people in at a certain time." Genma said, looking around them as if waiting for someone to show.
As soon as Kakashi had slipped on his shoes, the two were off at a good pace, dashing through the small patch of trees near Genma's house to head back to the main road. Kakashi guessed that Genma and his partying posse must have been caught out after the set time once before, if he was so urgent about it. Before long they were back in downtown Konoha, zipping down through the now busy streets, filled with people fresh out of work. Turning a corner onto a quiet street, Kakashi began to feel the drum beats from the near by club through his feet. Genma had long let go of Kakashi's hand, no need to lead him around like a child, he could follow (More like track) very well.
Leaning on a wall on their right, was none other than Asuma. He two was clad in one of those fashionable club outfits, dressed from head to toe in black clothes with bright neon shapes and stripes dotting his duds. He had such a nice smile, took care of his teeth Kakashi guessed. It would be sad if he ever started smoking and ruined his white teeth. Waltzing up to the other two Nins, he said in his smooth tone "Hayate already headed inside," he laughed "He's so impatient."
Genma nodded, continuing "All he comes for is that coffee they serve here. I've never tried it, but Hayate tells me it's addicting." He snorted, looking down to Kakashi. "Nnn, yeah. I brought Kakashi along." Genma smiled, wrapping an arm around the silver haired Jounin's neck. Asuma smiled, laughing slightly. Kakashi rolled his eyes as Genma spoke, he could just be so stupid. Hmmpf.
After making their way past a tough, broad shouldered bouncer, the trio was inside. The club was a lot like a dark lounge with a booming dance floor in the center. The entire club was circular shaped, pillars with speakers lined the walls and one large pillar with moving lights on bars branching out from it's center, went straight though the dance floor. There was a clear compartment at the base of the pillar where the DJ sat, head bopping to the beat. On the far wall was an area with a small bar and tables along with a set of stairs, leading up to the second floor which had a few of those new arcade games and more tables and couches for tired dancers. It looked much like the dance club Obito and Kakashi used to hang out at, only this one was much cooler, the AC was hiked up. Plus, there were the amazing pillars, multicolored lights raced up and down the walls, shinning onto people's faces and kick starting their expressions. The air was thick with yelling, laughing, chattering and this was giving Kakashi a head ache. The bass booms coming from the speakers weren't helping at all.
It wasn't even 30 seconds before Genma had rushed out to the dance floor, yelling and screaming like some crazy party boy. Wait, never mind. He is a crazy party boy. Asuma wasn't long after, pausing to talk to Kakashi before he got himself lost in the sea of bodies.
"Glad you could come, Kakashi-kun," He was still wearing that mature smiling face as he lightly punched the other ninja on the shoulder "If you want someone to talk to, go back over to the bar." He turned and pointed past the large group of dancers, their raised hands getting in the way of Kakashi's line of sight. "Try looking for the guy with the cold," Asuma smiled "Hayate's not to bad, once you get to know him. He can be a little blunt at times, but don't hold it against him." And with a wave, the dark haired boy disappeared into the crowd, leaving Kakashi to party by himself. Deciding it would be easier to make his way to the bar by going around the crowd rather than through it, Kakashi hugged against the wall and headed towards the quiet bar.
Soon the bar and its costumers were in full view. There were a few bubbly, giggling girls dressed in bright neon dresses sitting down at a table along with a tired looking bunch of young adults, already worn out from dancing too much. The person he was looking for was sitting backwards in his chair, facing the dancing crowd. His chest rested against the back of his bar stool, legs wrapping around its long, long legs. Bright Green Ski goggles partially covered the teen's sick, tired eyes, the dark rings under them were hard to cover. His outfit, unlike the other's, was plain and simple yet still party material. Bracelets of all sorts were compulsively organized in the color order on both of his wrist as they made their way up to his elbows. Under all that jewelry was his long sleeved white shirt, he sleeved bunched up where the rainbow colored bracelets began on his long lanky arms. The back of his shirt had a dark red insignia of, what Kakashi guessed was the clothing company's logo.
Along with his shirt, he was wear a pair of black jeans, import maybe. You couldn't buy a pair like the one Hayate was wearing in Konoha. The fabric was nearly black, like it had been washed with dark ink during processing, and the back pockets were enormous. Hayate might be able to place a few of Kakashi's ninja dogs in those pockets. As Kakashi approached the older teen, Hayate's eyes appeared to widen as he turned to look at the other. In his hands was a clear green glass, its contents were the so called addictive coffee. On the bar behind him, Hayate already had a more than a healthy number of empty cups on the counter. The corners of Hayate's lips twitched into what he must've saw as a smile, Kakashi smiled back, but through his mask it wasn't even apparent. The two were quiet for a moment, studying each other like old friends, lost from years gone past.
Hayate was the first to break their line of sight, turning back to the jumping crowd and he drained the cup in his hand. He looked as if he were in deep thought, possibly playing through a conversation or maybe he was watching someone's original dance moves as he filed them away in his head. Swiveling the chair around to face the bar, he set he cup down among its copies and finally spoke to Kakashi.
"You're the one with the Uchiha's eye, am I right." He coughed lightly into his hand as he looked up at Kakashi.
A little taken aback by Hayate's choice of words, Kakashi stared back at him for a moment before replying with a weak "Yeah."
Hayate hummed and nodded as if Kakashi had said a good long paragraph or two instead of his single word. He spun back around to face the crowd, eyes scanning the area for Genma or Asuma. "I thought so, there's no reason to cover a good eye with your forehead protector. That is," he continued "unless you feel like being a jerk." He coughed before continuing on something about how rude it was to do something like bandaging up your arms if you didn't need to.
"You make others feel uncomfortable, plus, if you truly know nothing about how it feels to be in pain or regret or shamefulness over a condition that needs to be show in order for you to function normally on a daily basis, you appear to others as someone who thinks they know everything." Hayate spun around as the bartender set a 17th or 18th cup down amongst empty ones, his hand quickly flying out to grab the full cup. Where was he going with all this? Kakashi still stared over at the other, looking over his shoulder to pull up an empty chair. Hayate took a sip from his cup, a cough caused him to sputter into his glass as he hunched over. Shrugging slightly, the boy merely took a small sip before going back to his one sided conversation with Kakashi.
"You and I, though, and under stand what it's like to have something abnormal. Something that gets in the way of our life. "Hayate made sort of a half smirk, half bare teethed smile. "I hate it when those silly girls wear masks over their mouth when they don't need it." He went back to sipping his drink for a little while before asking "You must dislike it when people talk about their 'ghost encounters'," he drained the cup, setting it down as the bartender began taking away all his dirty glasses "Because you know the only true ghost around, is with you."
Kakashi tilted his head, feeling a little odd over Hayate's words. "What do you mean?" He asked, leaning forward a little.
"He is still around, Kakashi, and you know it."
"..."
Somewhere off on the other side of the dance floor, something smiled lightly, almost sweetly.
Hayate hacked into his hands, rolling his shoulders forward as he did so "T-the, ehherm, the temperature in your home has dropped, hasn't it? And you of all people must feel like something is watching. It's just that sixth-sense kicking in." Hayate looked Kakashi in the eye, reading it easily. "I'm guessing you have noticed that, hmm?"
Kakashi looked away quickly, it was true, but he didn't want to think about him anymore. If Obito was going to be anywhere, he'd be six feet under. This… this guy was making him uncomfortable. Just as Kakashi hopped out of the chair, trying to get away from this conversation, Hayate's hand shot out and grabbed onto Kakashi's wrist.
Flinching, Kakashi pulled back slightly under Hayate's touch. The older boy stared at him once more and spoke before letting him go. "When you get home, try calling his name," Hayate smiled briefly, a real smile this time "You just might get a surprise." Nearly tearing himself away from the tired boy, Kakashi rushed off into crowd of dancers, leaving behind a very good source of information.
Running into the crowd was a bad idea. Because the entire club was congruent, Kakashi couldn't tell the difference from one side of the room to the other from looking at the ceiling. The people laughing and screaming was helping much either. And in this whole mess, Kakashi was being pushed around. Though at the time he had lost he balance, Kakashi was still standing, the dancers pushing him up as they boogied. In all this chaos, Kakashi couldn't find Genma or Asuma. (He was sure he'd heard Genma whooping on about something.) After a few minutes, someone's voice boomed over the speakers.
"All right everyone!" The male voice said, causing the crowd to scream "Time for our famous black out!" With that, many people began sifting through their pockets for un-broken glow sticks. Kakashi looked around wildly, quickly coming to a conclusion as the words were spoken. Even if he spoke out loud, it didn't matter; people were laughing and giggling too loud from anyone else to hear Kakashi.
"They plan on turning off the lights?" He growled, a little panicked at the thought. After Hayate had upset him a little bit, the Jounin was more than rattled now. Now he was franticly looking for any sign of Genma in the crowd, but before Kakashi's search was fulfilled, the lights powered down and black lights above flashed on and off, everything now coming out in strangely colored flashes. Kakashi nearly felt himself begin to cry out for help. Everything was strange on this alien plane. As the boy was spun around and pushed from side to side, he felt someone grab onto his hand, lacing Kakashi's fingers with what felt like gloved ones.
Head turning towards the direction of the hand's owner, Kakashi wasn't even able to distinguish their body from everyone else's under the black light. From what Kakashi could tell the person's back was speckled with glowing flecks, flashing with UV rays. Even through Kakashi lost sight of the hand's owner many times, he was still able to hold on and before long he was out of the mess. Confused, Kakashi looked around for the hand's owner, but no one appeared to be around. Feeling himself shiver, Kakashi wrapped his arms around himself and spotted the closest arm chair near the wall and plopped down. Looking down at his hands through the black lights, the Jounin tried remembering where he had felt that grip before. His question was quickly answered.
"I was hoping we could dance." Said a dry, wryly voice.
And with that, Kakashi fainted into his chair, only to be found later when his friends finally came looking for him.