Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Mr. Kishimoto.
Note
Please… R&R…. it's my first oneshot, so expect some wordiness…
I know Hayate's an old character and this theme is worn out but this for me is the best.
Hayate had proven wrong all the jonin who thought he would never smile.
The rumor shook the ears of those who, through all the devices they used, from feathers to poisons, had tried to no avail to make him laugh or at least smirk.
The pictures that the ninja witness took of him at that moment were circulated, photocopied, scanned, and posted everywhere. Yes, every genin, chuunin, jonin and missing-nin of Konoha gaped at the magnificent beam of Gekko-san's face.
For them and all of the clients, examiners and landlords he had been with, it was a glorious foresight, an omen that Konoha has changed.
Smile
cold hard garlic
Kikyou castle reeked of bird poo that day.
It was ten in the morning.
At the meeting place of the ANBU squads, Uzuki Yugao's troop were waiting for their leader to come.
"Where is she?" the ANBU with the bird mask, the most sensitive of the group, groaned.
"Be patient, birdie," the largest of them all barked. "Maybe she's just doing an errand—"
"You dummy," the bird ANBU snapped. "She's been late like that for days since the chuunin exam started. I would wonder, if I were not so off the news, if she followed the footsteps of the great tardy Kakashi or I was too focused on the horizon to notice. Am I right, big caveman?"
The ANBU with the Iruka-style hair walked to the nearest tree, turned away, and counted.
"Three. Two. One."
"Why, you little avian knuckle head!" the large ANBU roared.
"So you call yourself one, too, huh?" the other grinned.
"Enough."
The ANBU with the bob ponytail turned around. There, between the advancing large ANBU and the annoyingly still bird ANBU, was Yugao, in uniform, gripping the neck of both.
"This is the tenth time. One more and I'll get Hayate to behead you. Two."
"Ooh, Hayate!" the bob ANBU snickered to himself. "Hayate, as if he's the only excellent swordsman in the world!"
"Shut up," Yugao snapped at him.
Oops, she heard him.
Yawning, the bird anbu pulled himself from her menacing choking grip. He knew of girl power and he wasn't surprised at her.
"So," he said. "What now? I only sense a disturbance at Kikyou roof."
"Exactly," Yugao said as she glared at the bob ANBU who was approaching. "I saw some crows fighting there. Must be a dead body."
Yugao raised her hand as a signal to go.
Yet there were doubts. Was it really Hayate, they asked. Was it the Hayate we knew?
Everyone questioned the photos and the incident. Even the closest of friends.
Before this day, Yugao could only be happier if she took a large pill of ecstasy. Her life as ANBU was fulfilling, and handling those two annoying subordinates only added to her joy. Her personal life was even better, with smooth-running family matters and Tuesday night parties that for her needed no alcohol to last.
And of course, going to bed with a nice, tired Hayate every night since the start of the chuunin exam (her apartment was nearer to the exam venue) gave her the nice feeling of paradise.
But one thing was worrying her. Why was Hayate always frowning? She knew how bushed he always was, but even tired, old Sarutobi-sama went on night shift after a hard day's sitting with a toothy grin. She guessed only a few have that energy to do so.
Another problem occurred when she snuggled up to him one night, while he was reading that blasted Icha Icha Paradise he borrowed from Kakashi. As response, Hayate indeed received her into his arms and cuddled her. However, he was still frowning.
The ANBU decided to get naughty and tickle him. But as he was curling and dancing in response, the Gekko could not manage a smirk. He still had that look of melancholy in his face. Maybe he was tired. She shrugged it off and wrestled him to bed.
Yugao had "researched" secretly about Hayate before he became her boyfriend.
1. Many a person, in the past and now, would see Hayate "there in the alley, leaning on a wall with his usual and constant grimace.
2. Like other ninjas, Hayate was a controlled shinobi. But even outside missions he was a loner, a sulking ass, and a scowling grouch.
3. Hayate was calm, yes, but oftentimes they felt Hayate was only showing off. When he was very young, before he entered the academy, he was very cheerful and more cheerful than any other kid was. After that period of time, he scowled more often than any shinobi his age.
4. His family and friends are all fine; in fact, he has a complete and enviable family. A background research and interview did not show any major problems.
5. Hayate had a lifelong crush since he entered the academy.
Yet she accepted him. She still thought that after years together, Hayate would try to grin at her. At missions. With his guy friends. In bed. During sex.
It was the sixth year of their relationship back then. She has tried everything, from tickles and orgasms to frank requests. And not a smile, not even an intentional one. Was she a bad partner? Does Hayate have a problem with life, or his career? Or is it a medical condition concerning his face?
Or was Hayate really elusive when it comes to expressing himself, like some other men?
The next day she saw Hayate, awake, watching her. He was not tense, and his lips looked plain and calm without a curve. He greeted her good morning and asked if she could stay in bed with him some more.
Yugao agreed. She knew this was the time to ask him the question, which bothered her all night.
"Hayate…" she spoke gently as she pushed Hayate down and ran her fingers down his face.
"Why are you always frowning?"
"I'm tired, Yugao," he answered, grabbing Yugao and pulling her closer. "But I'm happy."
"You should try to grin even once, y'know," she told Hayate. "Remember the sharingan mind technique Kakashi pulled on you? The'yd really bug you unless you show anything…"
"I don't care about them," he sighed. "I just… can't smile. Not now. Please… stop bugging me."
"Okay," Yugao whispered, hand crawling down to his shoulder and kissing his forehead. " 'Morning."
For a moment Yugao felt Hayate's chest heave, when Hayate reached out and tugged her hand.
"Yugao, I promise… I will have it as a birthday gift to you. I will give it to you, okay? Someday… before I pass away."
Hayate sat up, taking Yugao in his arms and holding her. She did not know why, but he was sobbing.
"I'll… fight for it. I'll show how happy I am. And… they'll shut up. I'll teach them, Yugao…"
"Ok, Hayate… just don't strain yourself too much."
Yugao let go of her boyfriend, and heaved a sigh as she stood up to fix herself.
She didn't know Hayate had those feelings.
To the broken hearts of many, this was the only time they will see Hayate lapse from his frequent -- no, constant -- state of creased brow and the expression of glowering dismay. For this world, there will be no more coming.
16 Years Ago
"UNMASK THE JONIN!"
When she was eight, right after class, Yugao was often sitting on the Academy's swing, alone. There she always saw some kids her age huddle in a circle, mumbling stuff about taking off the genius Hatake Kakashi's mask.
Yugao always laughed off the prospect of doing so; none of the Academy pupils (or combined), could even touch the young prodigy at the hair without being hit, shoved mercilessly off his territory and landing on the wall covered with bruises.
The group called themselves the Kakashi Unmasked Squad (KUS), an all-male group that trains hard after dismissal time in front of the Academy—a member told her when she asked that they were specializing in stripping armor. The above cheer was their purpose and their cry. (Yugao blushed when thoughts of "armor" came to her mind.)
They didn't mind Yugao watching them everyday, and at most times they would even pretend to "woo" her if they were taking a break. One member, who was very friendly to her, did not join the "game"—a boy with pale skin, uneven longish hair, weird eyebags, and the only one in the group carrying a practice sword.
One day, after the group left, the boy with the sword approached Yugao. He was frowning as he tapped her arm and asked for directions to the Hokage's office.
"It's too far from here, and it's dark too," Yugao warned the boy, but he insisted and explained that his house was near there.
"Nobody would come to fetch me today, that's why I have to go home alone," he sighed.
"It's over there," said Yugao, pointing at the said office. "But… my house is near, too. Can we go together?"
The boy blushed. "I'm sorry my friends were bullying you."
"It's okay," she smiled as she held his hand and got up.
As they were on their way, Yugao turned to him and asked.
"What's your name?"
A few years later, when Yugao and all of her classmates were genins, she was surprised when, deciding to visit the academy; the same kids of KUS (though they were now genins) were there, training, with their respective jonin teachers—even the strict Rokusho Aoi joined in the fun.
The big difference is, surprisingly, that neither Hayate the frowning sword kid nor his team was there.
And the name has changed, the battle cry has changed to one more like a mantra.
"We promise to make Gekko Hayate laugh. We promise to prove all of Konoha that he smiles. We are the Hayate Smiles."
"Yugao. You have to look at it. Now."
The bulky ANBU was struggling to get hold of Yugao as she was avoiding the sight of the corpse. The bob anbu just stared in disbelief. And the noisy, insightful avian-masked anbu felt pain inside him like no other.
"Hayate-san…?"
The bird ANBU moved toward the body, stopping just a few inches to his… well, strange… face.
There it was, as he just felt.
The bulky ANBU could not restrain Yugao and he was tossed off to the edge of the round roof.
The bob ANBU joined the bulky one, trying to calm her down.
All the while, the crows around Hayate screeched as they fled.
Two men in uniform arrived behind the bird ANBU, one carrying a small banner and the other holding a handcuff and feathers.
"We were told that Hayate's been strange these days, coughing mercilessly and basking under the moon atop different roofs," the ninja holding a banner solemnly declared.
"It is now the time to carry out the 'ultimate operation'," the ninja with the feathers continued, raising the handcuffs in his hand.
"Izumo. Kotetsu. Hayate is dead."
The bird ANBU turned calmly to face them.
"I'm afraid your mission has failed."
Kamizuki Izumo was once Hayate's groupmate in the KUS, along with Hagane Kotetsu. Their leader was the bird ANBU who was the first in the group to see Kakashi's face, and the first one in the reformed group to see… Hayate, smiling.
"The Hayate Smiles has lost its purpose," said Kotetsu, lowering his cuffs. "I can't believe it, Izumo…"
The bob and the large ANBU finally managed to drag Yugao, panting, near Hayate's body.
"Look at it, Yugao-sama," the bob ANBU wheezed. "He is…"
Hayate had always asserted that he was calm, controlled and a 'cool' person.
Every time he was around and as soon as Yugao gets to look at his face, she always felt warm and secure; utterly convinced by the "calm scowl" Hayate usually shows, Yugao constantly thought that nothing is wrong even in the face of danger, of fear, and of failures.
She wanted to say that, to whisper to his ear the nice feeling of security he gives her. Yet when he looks at her as she thinks up the words to say, a fear grips her and she is struck speechless.
She had been a composed person herself, following from her parents and his family line of ANBU. She knew how it is to be completely stoic, to be superbly unruffled. She assumed, she perceived that the grimace Hayate displayed was not mere calmness.
And her intuition was right.
Yugao's struggling arms relaxed as she saw Hayate lying still at the sunny Kikyou roof, with the tranquil grin… the slightly open mouth and the parted lips that made the difference.
"Yugao, I promise… I will have it as a birthday gift to you. I will give it to you, okay? Someday… before I pass away."
Yugao crouched near her lover, hand slightly caressing his pale face. The sunlight seemed to make him look healthier; though he was lifeless she could have sworn Hayate looked more in the pink this last moment of his than he ever had his whole life.
She could not hold him, unfortunately, since the crime investigation nin were toexamine his body. But she picked up the sword Hayate was lying on, pulled it out gently as not to cut or move anything, and stood up in reverence.
"Where's the wrapper?" she sighed to Hayate, staring sternly at him as if he was alive.
"Oh well," she sob-laughed, her mask hiding her strange facial contortions and her tears but betraying her sniffs. "Thanks, Hayate."
" Your little fan club seems to be grateful too," the bob ANBU chuckled. "Especially the president."
"Hayate…"
Yugao could not, no, would not, say goodbye. She believed in the afterlife, and there they will meet. It was not fitting to say "Goodbye." All she could stammer is a lame hurried "See you soon."
Epilogue
Ten years later, Kakashi was nominated Hokage. The Godaime Tsunade was planning to retire now that she's about 60. The people who were in KUS did not disband; rather they formed another organization which they called UTH or Unmask the Hokage, encouraged by their previous accomplishment in making Gekko Hayate smile.
Yugao was now a member of the group. She said that in her youth she was interested; she was only intimidated by the fact that they were all boys. The bird anbu, still a bird anbu, decided to invite kunoichi for "deception and trickery".
The research she had of Hayate were kept in her mind. She had no plans to divulge the secret to Izumo or Kotetsu who kept bugging her.
The bob, bird and large anbu were given nicknames: Kage, Goku and Toku Dai No. They were now also members of the KUS and the UTH.
Uzuki Yugao had a couple of dates, each reminiscent of a moment with Hayate.
One moment is tickling. They all smiled.
But the best smile was of Hayate. Always of Hayate.
Nobody had found out why Hayate was always scowling. Nevertheless, his bereaved loved ones are all contented at the fact that Hayate did smile.
Please… R&R! Anonymousreview accepted!
Kage-shadow
Goku- monkey
Toku Dai No- king-sized