Chapter 3.
12 years ago
The summer holidays that year were anything but diverting, Rin normally loved them, but the one after her first year at Konoha High gave her a sense of emptiness, she had longed for those Environmental Commission projects; longed for those stinky, sweaty changing rooms; longed for her friend Obito's carefree laughter; longed for that mysterious, silver-haired boy's presence…
Which is precisely the reason why her demeanor lit up the moment she woke up to realize that a new school year is starting today. Her eyes had faint black circles around them; after all, she had spent yesterday night meticulously arranging her back-to-school stationaries and attire. But she didn't care. If someone offered to take her to High School instantly at the cost of half of her summer job salary, she would have gratefully complied.
Unlike most of her friends, Rin didn't originate from a particularly affluent household. Her parent's fortunes were survivable, though usually she didn't allow herself to indulge in the typical luxury goods like expensive perfumes, mascara and eyeliner.
"I'm leaving!" She called briskly to her parents and headed straight to the underground metro station, where her friend, dorm mate, Kurenai Yuuhi waited.
Those two have gotten pretty close last year and would often stay up at night chatting about boys. Kurenai, apparently, had begun to develop a crush on Asuma, Rin had seen those two walking together occasionally, yet none of them admitted publicly that they were dating.
Rin, however, was a little disconcerted whenever being asked who her crush was. Sure, she did like Kakashi, that's what she told her friend, but she most definitely didn't belong to his notorious group of fangirls.
And then there was Obito, which, Kurenai had constantly teased her about.
"He likes you! It's already pretty obvious, he even bought you a birthday present!"
"No…," she tried defending herself, " it's a pencil case, I mentioned to him that the one I used was getting worn out… he was just being a really good friend…"
"Come on!"
It was true that she liked him, albeit it was more that he was someone she could tell everything to, spill all her worries, hug, nag about his tardiness, carelessness and clumsiness—he was more like her best friend and brother.
"You know I like Kakashi," she replied.
"Oh, everyone likes Kakashi, believe me, I used to like him too. Until me and Asuma started to click…"
"Who's the lovestruck one now?" Rin teased at her friend, Kurenai flushed.
"Mmm… I'm still debating if I'm Team Obito or Team Kakashi? I'd probably take the former."
"You're impossible, you make it sound like a shipping war…" Rin shook her head.
"So… any recent developments?" Her friend smirked.
"Well, Kakashi is far nicer than he was at the start of the year… And, we talk now and then because we're both friends of Obito…" She could help it; her face was a deep shade of pink from all the blushing.
Obito Uchiha had re-fastened his orange goggles as he approached the gates of his school, immediately upon seeing the brown-haired, kind-hearted girl, he yelled mirthfully: "RIN-CHAN!"
The girl that stood beside her, the one he was convinced that Asuma was infatuated with—seeing as Kakashi had accidently bumped into them taking a 'regular evening stroll' on a Friday night—gave Rin a gentle nudge and smirked.
"Obito! How's your summer been?" she inquired excitedly.
"Meh… it was alright, mum and dad were still pretty busy so we couldn't go anywhere… "
She could help notice a bandage around his right index finger. "Obito… what happened to that?"
"That… um… I was asked to look after one of my younger cousins, … well, he wasn't happy I took his dinosaur toy, mind you he is only 3, and he bit me."
Obito groaned as Rin burst out laughing.
"You are impossible!"
Another year, Kakashi thought, he had grown to enjoy Konoha High, much to his own incredulity, approaching his dormitory, he sighed as he heard the ruckus of his friends guffawing at each other's jokes and boasting about how their summer vacations were like. Great, just great, he groaned, I told Obito I needed some privacy on the first day of school just to get my room re-organized.
"Obito what the he—" Kakashi Hatake grumbled again as realization dawned on him that everybody, literally everybody, was sitting on his bed.
"Come on Bakashi, sharing is caring, just let them stay on your bed—"
"Really Obito? If sharing really caring then why are you the only one on your bed?"
"I—"
Honestly, Obito was possibly the most annoying dorm mate ever, always inviting others in, haphazardly casting his belongings all over the place and was consistently, frustratingly, amusingly, late the whole time. Yet Kakashi found him exceptionally entertaining to have around, compared to his rather stoic personality, Obito was the perfect counterpart, being cheery, boisterous and clumsy as hell.
Suppressing the… rather disturbing thought that he might has missed his orange-goggled room mate during the holidays, he joined his friends as he sat on (much to Obito's reluctance), the other bed that was being dominated by one very loud Uchiha, who was previously enjoying the fact that his friend was suffering from an invasion of personal space.
Speaking of summer, Kakashi is only one out of the trio that found it particularly pleasant.
Finally, after the constant nagging of Kushina and Minato, he had resolved to move out of his miserable apartment.
"Kid, you can't possibly live there, it's as gloomy as one of the typical prison cells in police stations, dattebane!" He had heard Kushinaa exclaim.
"But I…"
"No worries you can live with Minato and me dattebane," the red-haired woman confidently declared.
"Really?" Kakashi was stunned by her straightforwardness, feeling unsure of what to reply.
Internally, he had secretly coveted for an opportunity like this, an opportunity for someone to ask him to live with them—he had long since found the loneliness in his apartment unendurable. Nonetheless, he had still inwardly chastised himself as another string of thoughts sprung within his conscience, telling him that it would be best to leave others alone and carry on living at the place where his deceased parents left him. Back then; he was confident he could handle all the emotional stress.
"Kakashi," Minato's voice was just as concerned as his girlfriend's, although much calmer, " you would be more than welcome and don't think that you would be a bother, we're more than happy to help. Your dad entrusted me to be your guardian so you're part of my family. Besides you would only have to spend your holidays here, the rest of the time you would be at school." He smiled warmly.
"… Could I?" Kakashi eventually asked, evidently still unsure.
"That's settled then! You're living with us" Kushina happily announced, not giving Kakashi any time to react.
The first few days were slightly awkward for him, despite sharing a dormitory with someone in boarding school, Kakashi was still not used to living in the company of others, especially not with two people who possess the same maternal and paternal qualities as his parents once had.
At the beginning, he had no idea on how to behave, afterwards he had gotten used to the reality of having, perhaps, surrogate parents, yet he often stumbled into rather embarrassing scenario's when Kushina had started teasing him on his pedantic, perfectionist habits and, of course, girls. Boy she was persistent, what their neibours called her: "The Red Hot Habanero" was a fittingly deserving epithet that accompanied her feisty personality.
"So is it the gorgeous one with the long red hair?"
"Or the one with the short brown one?"
"Oh, I know it's the one with the spiky blond ponytail!"
Minato's girlfriend can cook, sure, the boy had managed in making his own food for the past 6 years but it was all simple work, none of the delectable cuisines Kushina made. Her culinary capabilities were simply legendary; Kakashi especially drooled over her homemade sumptuous sushi's layered with salmon, avocado and eel, her salt-broiled saury and her miso soup with eggplants.
Unknowingly, the wounds from the young prodigies past were subconsciously healing themselves.
Minato had started observing the child and with a sense of mellow contentment, noticed that the boy, though still appearing aloof at several times, was starting to become less and less embittered. The boy, in spite of his hardworking, studious habits and being clogged with books, was starting to open up to him; he was beginning to voluntarily make conversations.
He's recovering; the man thought to himself, slowly but surely, I'll do my best Sakumo.
A few weeks had elapsed since the first day of sophomore year and the regular routine of High School had seeped in the conscience of everybody, replacing the fervent feelings of summer.
It was Kakashi's birthday, he had never thought much about it, and geniuses like him could afford to ignore such advents, the Kakashi before Konoha High would have concluded. Even now, he doubted that celebrating it would do much good.
So, not expecting anything special, he swung open the door of his room only to discover that place was pitch black: this was unnatural, Obito would usually arrive there before he did—yes, these were probably the only times that Obito was earlier than Kakashi—as the silver-haired boy would spend most of his time staying up late in the library.
"SURPRISE!" Everyone's yell had caught him off-guard.
Instantaneously the lights flickered on, his rambunctious best friend hurled confetti upon him, heck, there was even a cake.
"What the—"
"Happy Birthday Kakashi!"
"Bakashi," Obito tried to correct.
"What—"
"It's your birthday genius," Obito remarked, "so we're throwing a party in our dorm, hope you don't mind."
"I think I'll just—"
"My eternal rival, I have come to youthfully wish you a youthful birthday!" It was Gai and he held out a pair of brand new trainers, "here, this is your youthful present. You can wear them for PE lesson or training."
"Happy Birthday, I've got you…" Rin had a faint blush on her face, which had gone unnoticed by most people in the room, "well, I hope you'll like it." She had given him a set of the newest encyclopedia editions, "I know that you liked to use those a lot, though the ones in the Library are of a older version, think about it, you can study in your dorm!"
"Aww, I'll have to deal with another nerd—"
Kakashi gave Obito a mock-death-glare.
"Ignore the idiot beside me named Obito, thanks Rin, I really appreciate this." He smiled at her, in a way that he would have thought as platonic; apparently Rin herself perceived it as a gesture of development in their relationship and beamed in delight.
Afterwards, he simultaneously received a special keychain, an entire pack of cigarettes accompanied by a deluxe-edition lighter (he doubted he would ever use these though…), a new night-study lamp, a scandalously high pile of flowers from anonymous fangirls and from Minato, who had dropped by just to pay him a visit, an expensive fountain pen with his name engraved on it, which Kakashi had still kept present day.
"Well… Obito…" he turned and held his hand out, "where's my present."
"Relax, I've got it in my suitcase, I'll go get it now," Obito complained, immediately shifting his emotions to a devilish glint, he held out a wrapped parcel, "open it, you'll love it!"
"Obito…" Kakashi wasn't sure whether to trust his friend or not, from Obito's expressions, you could have easily mistook that parcel for a time bomb. He glanced furtively at the rest of the room, Rin was smirking, so were Asuma , Genma and Aoba. As for Gai, well… Gai was just being youthful as always, coming to think of it, a little MORE youthful than usual.
"Believe it!"
First layer.
"You'll spend hours hooked on them Bakashi…"
Second layer.
"…and you'll be addicted to them for the rest of your life, with no regrets…"
Third and final layer.
"What the hell!" Kakashi could have sworn that he delivered the most pulverizing punch since the day he was born, because behind the layers of wrapping was none other than Japan's number one notorious porn series: Icha Icha Make Out Paradise.
...
"You're not serious are you! Your 16th Birthday present, porn?!" Shisui couldn't control his disbelief and laughter.
"Yeah, Obito was damn right that I'd be addicted to it for the rest of my life," he chuckled.
Somewhere else in the police interrogation headquarters, an infuriated Anko Mitarashi staring at the screen that displayed the entire process, bellowed: "Not only does Obito Uchiha hold responsibility for being the shady organizer for one of the most dangerous mafia organizations, for the death of hundreds, thousands of people—he had to be the one that introduced my ex to porn! Unforgivable! Someday that diabolical bastard would be sorry if I ever got his hands on him!"
Her companions, by nature, stole wary glances at each other.
Soon, the nostalgic air dissipated by Kakashi's light, comedic account had began to return.
Reverting to his curt composure, Shisui asked," so… did he ever take you to visit his, my, family? I mean you two were best friends right?"
"Once, he invited both me and Rin, it was on the third year, the school had to be shut down for a few days, Minato-sensei was too busy with organizing the end of year exams and Rin's house was too far away, so we decided to live at his house. Of course, his parents were away and so was his little brother—hey did I forget to mention that Obito had one…"
"He did? Have you met him…" Shisui seemed uncannily curious about the matter.
"Oh no, he wasn't there when we stayed over, heard Obito mention about him a couple of times, forgot his name—apparently a prodigy like most of his family."
"Oh… Right, would you like to proceed on the story?"
A/N: Let me get this clear, this would probably be the last fluffy, fully light-hearted chapter of this story, shit starts to get serious after this.
Any feedback? Honestly, as an aspiring writer, nothing gets better than a couple of constructive criticisms. Since this is a more angsty, serious piece of story, please don't leave reviews that simply say: "lol! Update please!"