A/N:

So. . . I love Keiko X Kakashi so I wrote this bonus chapter that digs a little deeper into them. Enjoy!

Pull Me in Gently

Bonus Chapter

Izumi shook her head as she watched Keiko move around the room at an alarming rate. Rin and Obito's wedding had gone well and they looked incredibly happy. The dinner had just finished and the reception was well under way. Itachi was helping Shisui decorate the getaway car and Izumi was hoping to have some time with her best friend.

Unfortunately Keiko was in full stress mode. She was the maid of honor and had to make sure everything was running smoothly. But there seemed to be something else bothering her that made her stress even more annoying than normal.

Keiko sighed as she finally collapsed against the wall Izumi was leaning against. Izumi handed her a drink and Keiko took a few sips before handing it back. "Kei, isn't everything done already?"

"Yeah, it is for the most part."

"Then why are you still so frazzled?"

Keiko sighed and started using her hands animatedly. "Well the caterers are trying to get all the food figured out and the DJ needed some help with the song planning. And the best man is an idiot."

Izumi hid her chuckle by taking a drink. "Now I get it. What happened?"

"Well, the idiot."

"Kakashi."

"Fine, Kakashi. Whatever! He just is standing over there reading his stupid book like he can't be bothered to have fun or mingle or anything. And he had the audacity to be late this morning! Rin and I did plan a second schedule if he was late but I was hoping that we wouldn't have had to use it! Then, he tells me that for his speech he didn't plan anything and was just going to wing it. I could wring his neck. Honestly."

Izumi didn't hold back her laughter. "You're telling me that you and Rin actually made two schedules for the wedding?"

"Yep," Keiko straightened off of the wall "We planned a schedule in case Kakashi was late and an actual schedule that we were hoping to use. But you know which we ended up with. Come on!" Keiko grabbed Izumi's arm and pulled her toward where Kakashi was perched against an opposite wall.

"What are you doing?"

"We are going to get him to party."

"We?" Keiko ignored her and continued moving. Izumi let herself be dragged and rolled her eyes. Why was she being pulled into her best friends crazy, stress filled antics?

Keiko stopped right in front of Kakashi and he lowered his book a slight amount. He regarded them lazily until he realized who he was looking at. His eye widened slightly and he stood a little taller. Izumi immediately noticed his shift.

"Okay, what gives? Your best friends just got married and you're reading against the wall?"

"I was just passing the time. I was waiting for someone to stop running around." Izumi smiled at what Kakashi was insinuating. Keiko was so far gone she just ran right past what he had said.

"Well I don't see why you can't dance while you're waiting." Kakashi looked confused as Keiko grabbed his arm and Izumi's wrist and pulled them out onto the dance floor. "The two of you can dance!"

"Um, I kinda have Itachi. . ."

Keiko waved her hand back and forth. "Oh don't worry. He's busy decorating the car and besides he's not threatened by Kakashi at all. He won't mind." Keiko smiled and with that walked off in the direction of some of her family members conversing in another part of the room.

Izumi frowned and watched her best friend. What was up with her? Didn't she want to dance with Kakashi? Why was she making Izumi do it? Kakashi cleared his throat and held out his hand. Izumi turned her attention toward him.

"Might as well. We're already out here." Izumi shrugged and put her hand in his and her other hand on his shoulder. The two of them began swaying to the music. It was silent between the two of them as they tried to figure out what to say to each other. They had only spoken once and that was at the dance competition.

"You remember what we discussed at the dance competition?" Kakashi asked smoothly as he looked down at Izumi.

"Yep. It was about you liking my best friend."

"What if it was. . . true."

Izumi smiled knowingly. "I would be ecstatic."

Kakashi frowned and looked off to the side where Keiko conversed with her mom and Mikoto. "The problem is I don't know if I should do anything about it."

"What do you mean?" Izumi observed him and tried to discern what he was thinking but she was coming up short.

"I mean I can't even tell if she's interested and I just feel like she'll be expecting this grand romantic but all she'll be getting is me." He looked down at their feet for half a second before making eye contact with Izumi.

"I think you should go for it." Kakashi's eyes widened and he looked confused. "She's my best friend and I can honestly say that she's interested and that she won't care about the romance."

Kakashi snorted. "Yeah right. Every girl cares about that at least a little."

Izumi shook her head. "I'm sure that there will be times that she wants it but it's not a deal breaker."

"Okay, but you said she's interested. Why does she seem so far away if that is the case?"

Izumi chewed on her lip for a few seconds and debated whether she should tell Kakashi what she was thinking. She looked at Keiko laughing in the corner and realized that she truly wanted her best friend to be happy.

"She seems far away because she's afraid of getting hurt." Kakashi raised his eyebrows in interest. "When we were freshman Keiko met this guy named Haruki. They were best friends and eventually started dating. They were happy but it was tumultuous. There was another girl that he was really close too and it was borderline cheating in the way he would ditch Keiko for her. Keiko didn't want to seem like a controlling and jealous girlfriend so she let them stay friends." Izumi glanced at Keiko.

"But all that while she was falling hard. They were making lots of future plans and they spent all of their free time talking to one another. Then after a few short months he came to see her and told her that he wasn't actually as in love with her as he thought. He was really just with her because he thought she was hot and everything was superficial."

Kakashi looked at Keiko and Izumi noticed the sadness in his eyes. She smiled sadly and continued on. "Keiko was okay for a few weeks. She was trying to deal with being without him but she missed him terribly. They had been best friends and now the nature of their relationship had changed. Well, a month after they separated he started dating that other girl and a month after that they got engaged. Then married not too long after that." Kakashi's eyes were wide.

"That fast?"

Izumi sighed. "Well. . . we found out right before they got married that the two of them had actually been dating prior and had separated for a while. That was when Keiko met him and they started dating. The truth was they were secretly engaged the whole time and had been for at least a year."

Kakashi's surprise was slowly morphing into anger and Izumi tapped his shoulder to calm him down. "How can someone be that selfish?"

"That was what I thought about it all. Keiko, however, was understanding. She at first couldn't understand it but realized that he was just as confused as she had been. There was nothing she did that made him break her heart. But break it he did. Keiko was devastated. She dated and stuff after that but now she has a hard time opening up to others. She doesn't want to ever feel like that again. And honestly I don't want to see her like that either."

Kakashi nodded. "Also, Haruki ran into her after he was married and told her that he had lied. He was actually in love with her completely but he felt like he needed to make things work with his fiancee. That tore Keiko up even more."

Kakashi silently watched Keiko as Izumi spoke. Izumi finished her story and watched him to see what he was going to say next. That would tell her what he actually felt for her best friend.

"She deserves better than that. Keiko is amazing and I think that she needs to realize that." Izumi's face split into a beautiful smile.

"I was hoping you would say that. Now, get over there and ask her to dance!" Izumi spun out of Kakashi's arms and pushed him toward Keiko.

Izumi had spotted Itachi sitting at a table close to where she was dancing and she made her way to the seat next to him. He pulled her closer and they threaded their fingers together. The two of them watched as Kakashi interrupted the three women and asked Keiko to dance. He then lead her onto the floor. Both of them had smiles on their faces.

"Do you think that was a good idea?" Izumi raised an eyebrow in Itachi's direction. "Telling your best friend's dating story to Kakashi?"

Izumi nodded. "From what I've been told and what I've learned about Kakashi, he has a lot of baggage and he has a hard time trusting people in his inner circle. Rin told me that he needed someone to love and to love him because he has been so starved for that his whole life. I think telling him about Keiko was a smart move. He realizes that he's not alone and that she needs love too."

"Well aren't you a little genius?" Itachi leaned over and kissed Izumi tenderly on the cheek. "Now, what do you say we get out on the floor and show all these other losers up?" Izumi giggled as Itachi led her onto the dance floor.