Desperado

Desperado, why don't you come to your senses?
You been out riding fences for so long now
Oh, you're a hard one
But I know that you've got your reasons
These things that are pleasin' you
Can hurt you somehow
Desperado, oh, you ain't gettin' no younger
Your pain and your hunger, they're drivin' you home
And freedom, oh freedom, well, that's just some people talking
Your prison is walking through this world all alone

The Eagles

This woman is amazing. As quickly as the thought had come, Kakashi quashed it. They would finish the mission and Kasumi would move on, and it would be for the best. The people Kakashi cared for a tendency to die, often just after he'd admitted his feelings, even just to himself. He had a feeling that, if he spent too much more time with her, Kasumi would become one of those people he cared for deeply. Better that I never see her again than she died. I couldn't live if something happened to her. Did I just…? I'm in so much trouble. Kakashi wanted to groan aloud, but the emotional discipline he'd imposed on himself from an early age prevented him. To keep his mind off his own troubles, he decided to focus on those of his students.

And so quickly, the situation is reversed. Instead of Naruto being in love with Sakura, who is in love with Sasuke, it's Sakura in love with Sasuke, who is in love with Naruto. And instead of a rivalry between Naruto and Sasuke, there's one between Naruto and Sakura. On her end, anyway. I think Naruto is just afraid she'll beat him up for stealing her 'one true love.' What a bunch.

"How long were you planning that?"

When Kasumi turned to look at him, her silver hair flew up about her, strands lightly brushing his cheek before settling to swing behind her. "Would you believe me if I said it just came to me?"

"No."

She made a sound somewhere between a laugh and a sigh. "A couple of days ago, actually. I hadn't meant to do it, but…"

"They deserved it?"

"Yes." She turned to look back at the three squabbling genins. "It's time they learned that their fondest dream and their worst nightmare are scarcely a breath apart."

Did she read my mind? I love this woman… no! No, I can't!

They walked in silence for a time. When Kasumi broke it, she spoke so softly he thought he hadn't heard. "Kakashi, I'm sorry."

What could she possibly be sorry for? She's the best thing that ever happened to me. No! No, that way she'll die. Through the fog of years, Obito's voice drifted back to him. "Take care of Rin." "There's nothing to be sorry for."

She visibly hesitated, then said, "If the dream becomes a nightmare…"

He moved to brush her cheek with his hand, but stopped. He dropped his hand, not meeting her eyes. He felt the brush of her fingers against his own, light as a butterfly's touch, and then gone as though it had never been.

"Kasumi." Sakura had come up behind them, leaving the two boys to pretend to ignore each other while sending surreptitious death looks at each other. The girl's voice was calm and decisive, as though nothing had happened. "What's it like being a kunoichi in the Water Country?"

"Ah, well…" Kasumi dropped back to walk with Sakura, and her words quickly faded from Kakashi's hearing, even though she only walked a few steps behind him.

She graduated before Momochi Zabuza, Kakashi recalled. So she killed a classmate. Without chakra? Or with a kind that no one could even see? Which would be worse? Someone so powerful you can't even comprehend, or someone capable of killing with their bare hands? But that must have been more than a dozen years ago. She would have been one of the first kunoichi to receive the same training as a boy, and she would have been taught the same ways as the old kunoichi as well. Singing, music, flower arranging… the arts of the kunoichi. She's a strange mix: the grace of the kunoichi, the strength of the dragon. She's beautiful, is what she is. No, I can't do this!

With an inward groan, Kakashi resigned himself to a long, silent walk filled only with arguing with himself.