Epilogue
Over a decade later…
"I thought I might find you here."
Kakashi was leaning over a railing and looking up at Hokage Rock. He was having a silent conversation with Minato, his old sensei, when Seika appeared by his side. She handed him a hot cup of tea.
"The new floating head is coming along nicely," she noted, leaning over the railing next to him and sipping her own steaming beverage.
Kakashi had to agree. Naruto's carved face was now next to his, continuing the trend of student following sensei along the cliff face.
"Do you think he's ready?" Kakashi asked, worried.
"Kakashi," she said quietly, "he's more than ready."
"Maybe I should stay a few more months to make sure he's settling in. He has the additional challenge of figuring out how to balance his family, after all."
Seika sighed, holding her tongue. She wanted to ask, what about me? But she would not let herself be wounded by a statement such as this. At least, not today.
Today was Kakashi's last day in office. All that needed to be done was to sign over the transfer paperwork, which would be no small feat, even if the signatures were digital these days. Kakashi would finally be free from official duties in the village, and he and Seika had planned a long and well deserved trip together to celebrate. She had been looking forward to this day for years. Now, however, he was hesitant to go.
She understood why. Kakashi felt the weight of responsibility for the village keenly. Hokage was a position he never asked for, nor wanted, but he accepted the work because the village needed him. Now, after over ten years of serving the village in this way, he was transitioning, and transitions were never easy. Seika wondered if he understood just how much he had contributed to Konoha.
"Meet me here, later tonight," she told him. "I have something I want to show you."
That evening, after a long day with Naruto, Kakashi headed towards their usual meeting place. He was still ruminating over the day's events…Naruto had done most of the talking, even though that should have been Kakashi's role. He was supposed to tell Naruto how to be Hokage, but instead, Naruto had spent hours lecturing Kakashi about how to go back to normal life. Told him not to neglect his family. Funny, since that's exactly what Kakashi had planned on telling Naruto.
Kakashi found Seika, sitting on the same bench where they'd met. This time, however, she wasn't staring up at Hokage Rock. She had her nose buried deep in a teal-colored book.
"'Shut up and follow me'," she read in a straight voice. She raised a single eyebrow at him. "Really? This is what turns you on?"
He snatched Icha Icha Tactics from her hands, suddenly embarrassed. She was reading from chapter three, and he knew what happened next by heart. "If I remember correctly, it turned you on after Naruto's wedding. Where did you get this?"
She smiled deviously. "Remember yesterday when I helped you clean out your desk? I figured it's time I know what kind of trash you enjoy."
"You shouldn't be reading this," he told her, closing the pages of the book with a quick 'snap'.
"Why not?" she asked, putting on an innocent face. "It's giving me ideas. Especially the pages you dog-eared."
Kakashi's face turned pink, and then he slowly handed the book back to her. She didn't need new ideas though. Time had only cemented their bond, and she already knew every way in which to please him. She'd exhibited vast creativity in that department.
He looked at her now, her beautiful hair still silky and black, touched with a few strands of gray. They were both growing older, but when he looked at her, he didn't see an aging woman. He only saw a woman he was glad to be able to choose, day after day after day. As the years went on, he was mildly surprised that she kept choosing him, too. He knew he wasn't the ideal partner, but Seika was good at loving hard-to-love people.
Words from Naruto's lecture played through his mind.
'Kakashi-sensei, now that you're no longer Hokage, you really gotta think about your family.'
'My family?'
'Seika-san. When you became Hokage, you told me I needed to stop dreaming about the position and focus on Hinata, that Hokage would wait for me and that family was more important. Now that you're not Hokage anymore, you need to take your own advice. She's been waiting for you this whole time.'
He suddenly felt very guilty. For as much as he treated Seika as an equal partner, he didn't think he had ever acknowledged her as his family. He had never asked her to marry him, and they didn't seem capable of having children, but he knew that those things weren't what made family, family. He wondered what she thought about this.
Seika stowed the book in her bag and stood up. "Come on. We don't want to miss the sunset."
Kakashi felt himself reliving the past as Seika led him up towards Hokage Rock. This time, the path was well-traveled, given that apartment buildings, offices, and restaurants now lined the top of the cliffs. She took him once again to the top of his stone head, looking out over Konoha. To his right, Tsunade's rock face was still regal, while Naruto's face was undergoing the final touches of construction. The sky was as brilliantly aflame as the first time he was here with her.
"What do you see?" Seika asked, looking out over the village.
His answer was immediate. "Something I've loved for a long time."
She turned to him, expecting to find him looking at the village, but instead, she found his eyes trained on her. Her smile faltered.
"Kakashi…"
He fished around in his own bag and pulled out an old photo, worn from constant handling, and passed it to Seika. It was a photo of her in this exact spot, the orange light of the setting sun casting her aglow. The magenta tones in the photograph had faded over time, but Seika's eyes remained brilliantly blue.
"I captured what was most beautiful to me that day."
Seika was flummoxed, unsure of what to say. It was unlike him to be so openly sentimental, but as his time as Hokage wound to a close, his emotions over leaving the position started to seep out in strange and unanticipated ways.
"You're still what is most beautiful to me now."
Seika blushed deeply at these unexpected words. Upon seeing her rosy cheeks, Kakashi moved towards her and placed a kiss on her forehead, glad that he could now give her these public displays of affection. They'd really dug a hole for themselves after Naruto's wedding, but he wouldn't change it for the world.
"You were right," he told her, his voice smooth and soft. "Naruto is ready. And I am more than ready to finally spend time with you. It's time I give you what you deserve."
Seika frowned, searching his face for some indication of what he meant.
As her brilliant blue eyes penetrated into his soul, the full weight of Naruto's statement hit him like a ton of bricks. She's been waiting for you this whole time.
"You've never left my side," he explained. "I know I'm not the easiest person to love…but…" He stopped. His voice was beginning to waver.
"But what, Kakashi?"
There was much he wanted to convey to Seika, but he found himself unable to speak. He couldn't find the words to tell her how much her steady presence through the years had kept him going. How watching her healing process made him realize he was still walking through his own. How her ability to see the good in others helped him time and time again on the days when his duties as Hokage felt overwhelming and meaningless. How her discernment in their relationship liberated him…she gave him space when he needed it, never questioned his commitment to her despite his lack of showing it, and encouraged him when he was brought low by all his failures as Hokage. He was humbled by her…by the fact that she truly knew him, and yet decided to love him anyway.
He watched Seika's expression shift towards concern, and then she gradually grew out of focus.
"Kakashi…you're crying..."
Am I? If he was, the tears were unbidden. He felt a tear escape his left eye, the one with the scar. It seeped into his mask, and he could feel its presence settle over his cheekbone. His left eye was always more prone to betray his emotions. That was still residual of Obito's gift, even without the sharingan. I am… He wondered at himself.
Kakashi was overcome by all that Seika meant to him. Unspoken love laid on his heart like a burden, but he couldn't lift it, couldn't yet speak it and tell her what he knew she deserved to hear. He was afraid to admit how much he needed her, still gripped by a deep-seated anxiety that if he voiced it, she would somehow be taken away. He had grown older, but that childhood trauma still haunted him.
Seika, for her part, had never seen Kakashi cry before. She took it upon herself to carefully wipe away his tears, and then she placed a gentle hand over his heart and closed her eyes, feeling his heartbeat. "You don't need to say anything," she whispered. "I understand."
"No," he said, finally finding his voice, "I'm not sure that you do." He placed his hand upon hers for a moment, and then gathered her into his arms and turned them both towards the setting sun. "But in the coming years, I hope I can show you. Now," he asked quietly as he nuzzled her neck, "what did you want to show me?"
Seika had planned on showing him his old photo album, the one he put together all those years ago. In it, along with the stories of the villagers, was a photo of the village from this same vantage point. Back then, the buildings were squat, with yellow roofs shining in the sun. Large areas of dirt were still present where construction was either beginning, or where wreckage had been cleared away. Beams of wood and piles of construction materials were also dotted throughout the photo. It was the titular photo that encompassed the village's trauma and hope.
Compared to then, the village was now a metropolis. Glass and steel buildings rose high, and the city had sprawled. Peace had lasted, the village welcomed new inhabitants without creating turmoil or sprouting animosity, and Konoha thrived. That was Kakashi's doing. He was handing over something solidly built to Naruto, ready for the Seventh Hokage to place his own stamp on the village.
This is what she had anticipated showing him, trying in one image to encapsulate all that he had achieved, in order to help him let it go, to help him let the village fly. It seemed though that he didn't need that anymore.
"Just the sunset," she said, "one last time before we leave for a while."
"It's always good to remember home." A hidden smile below his mask reached his eyes, crinkling the crows feet that had appeared over time. They were the only wrinkles on his face, and she adored them, much to his own chagrin. They signified the passing of time, and Seika was thankful for the reminder of the years she'd been given with him.
She sighed contentedly, settling into her lover's arms. Just as Konoha had thrived under Kakashi's tenure as Hokage, so had she. The difference in how she felt now versus when he first took office was also night and day, and that, too, she attributed to Kakashi. His patience, love, and care in tending to her heart helped her once again become a vessel for joy. He would deny it and say that she had done all the hard work, but she wasn't sure it would have happened without his companionship. Through the years, Seika had come to understand this secret about Konoha…that despite all adversity, the best shinobi of the village fought to bring out the good in others, and Kakashi was no exception. She was grateful to have been given this chance with him, and grateful that they both understood how lucky they were to have found and held on to each other.
They watched the sun sink below the horizon, and then Seika asked if he was ready to leave.
"No, let's wait for the stars," he said.
A couple of planets appeared first, and then the most brilliant of the night's stars peeked through the growing darkness. The glowing lights of the village below now made it more difficult to see the night's grandeur, and Seika was looking forward to many nights of stargazing with Kakashi outside of the city.
Tonight, however, Seika saw the bright star Kasumi appear at the edge of the horizon, higher in the sky during this time of year. In the coming weeks, she would use it to guide them towards the Land of Waves and Kirigakure, and then after that, wherever they desired. Another set of constellations would guide them back to Konoha. But, none of those stars would be able to take her home.
Seika turned her attention to Kakashi and watched him watching the stars. Joy swelled her heart. No, she would not need the stars in the sky to guide her now. Kakashi might consider Konoha home, but that was not where she found hers. She had a new star, just as Zabuza predicted. She would follow Kakashi. Wherever he was, she would always find a place to belong.
Fin.
A/N: Thank you so much for reading this story. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it...I'm pretty pleased with how this story ultimately turned out given that it started as an exercise to redeem a poorly written fic from my tween years.
Now that it's complete, please feel free to let me know what you think of the piece as a whole...your thoughts and your feedback are always welcome.
