Author's Note: D: Sorry for taking so bloody long to get this next chapter up! I actually wrote it already, but went to scrap it and write it ALL over again. Crazy? Yea I know. Then I kept nit picking at all the little points in this chapter. Pffft.
I love all the reviewers and stalker people that actually read my story! I appreciate the reviews soooo much. It made me really happy when I rushed to my email early in the morning before I left for school and saw them reviews and whatever. Thank you!
School life is still hectic so I suppose that I can only update once per week? At least, I hope. I'll probably get the chapters up over the weekend, I can't be bothered to on a weekday, too lazy. D: So enjoy.
Extra Note: yea, still not pleased with my writing but whatever. I like hoodies, so I added the word into my story. Hoodies sweatshirts… with hoods.
If you're wondering why Kakashi is actually EARLY for the meeting. Let's just pretend he's still an uptight bastard and though Obito died already, he just never really took on the personality. Anyways, he is still pretty young and emo-ish and all 'pretend to be happy like'. Now let's get over these boring notes. To the story!
He should have worn his hoodie. For then, he could at least hide his face by pulling the hood up around his head. He fidgeted slightly as he felt multiple pairs of eyes on him. He drew stares wherever he went and he was used to it, but here in this new town he could practically feel the stares intensify and scrutinize him, forming their little opinions of the newcomer that was probably all wrong. He already did not like the new surroundings.
"Hokage Station. Those wishing to alight at Hokage Station please alight now." The fake-sounding automatic voice echoed throughout the train as it slowed down.
"Probably got into a fight or something,"
"Maybe he's disfigured,"
"What is up with that awful dyed hair?"
The persistent staring continued as he stood up, none too subtle whispers from the old women seated across him easily heard by his sharp hearing. Disgust was evident in their snobby voices.
"It's not polite to stare, ya know?" He could not resist muttering loudly as he passed by them.
A casual wave was thrown in their direction before the man had merged with the busy crowd just beyond the automatic gates of the train, leaving behind aghast looks on wrinkled faces.
He blew the golden locks of hair out of his face with a frustrated sigh. The rent was due this Saturday and he needed more applicants. The applicants that have come forward were all not suitable! That crazy cat-freak girl, the muttering old man and… the Sasuke-stalker girls. No, no and definitely NO.
Though at the rate things were going, he might have to choose one of the fan girls. He rolled his eyes at the idea; Sasuke would die before that happened. They were creepy, those stalker girls. They followed him around in the campus, offered to feed Sasuke like he needed their help, offered everything to him! He swore he had seen a shrine dedicated to his friend in one of the girl's locker. That was just creepy.
Please Kami, listen to my prayers and give me someone better than those creepy girls, someone relatively normal at least! He muttered a prayer and went back to his work, sorting the books into alphabetically order with another sigh.
Bad idea. He felt regret overtake the twinge of satisfaction he had gotten when he snuck a look at their horrified faces. Konoha was a small town, word spreads fast and seeing as how those old hags looked like the gossiping kind, the whole of Konoha would know of "that newcomer with the horrid attitude and badly dyed hair!"
He sighed wistfully as he climbed up the grimy stairs to the upper surface. A flash of colours caught his eye and he paused for a moment. The poster was hard to miss with its bright colours and bold words making a stark contrast to the dull concrete wall beneath it. His mood lightened as he read the words over for the second time, he was willing to share an apartment if it meant paying only a third of the rent! He memorized the mobile number indicated on the flimsy paper and slid his phone out from his pocket, typing out a quick message before pressing a button to send it. Maybe his day would get better.
Minutes after his prayer, he felt movement from his pocket, signaling a newly received message for him. He shot a look in the bookstore owner's direction before reaching into his pants for his mobile phone.
The old owner was a kindly man, still hiring him after hearing all the malicious rumours about the "demon-child", but he never liked it when Naruto used his phone when he was supposed to be working. The owner however was chatting away with one of his customers, a gossipy old woman. From what he heard of the conversation, he could tell that it had something to do about "that newcomer with the horrid attitude and badly dyed hair!"
'Probably some punk,' Uzumaki Naruto thought distractedly. All thoughts of this drifted away as he read the message, a grin coming across his whiskered face.
"Hello Naruto, my name is Hatake Kakashi and I was wondering if we could meet up to discuss about the apartment for rent?"
"Sure! Would it be okay with you if we met up today evening at 5pm? I would like to meet at the Mist Café along [some street. Don't worry about finding me! I am the only one around Konoha with blonde hair!"
"That would be fine, Naruto. I will be wearing a grey jacket and jeans, meet you at five then. Ja ne."
Grinning madly, Naruto stashed his phone away as the customer left. Hatake Kakashi could be the applicant they needed. Kami had indeed answered his prayers.
The pale teen snaked a hand up to his neck to tug at the stiff, white collar. He had never really gotten used to the uniform he had to wear while serving at the café he worked at. Today was a slow day and he was bored out of his mind.
He quickly lowered his hand back to his side as the bell tinkled, announcing the arrival of a new customer. His dark eyes narrowed as the familiar golden hair came into his view.
"Shizune-neechan, I'm going to talk with Sasuke-kun for awhile, okay?" his hyperactive friend yelled towards his boss, a young woman, before making a beeline towards him. His friend was more excited than usual today, as he shook Sasuke by the shoulders vigorously.
"Sasuke, Sasuke! Some man called Kakashi or something like that is coming here later! He wants to ask about the apartment!"
He perked up in slight interest at the mention of another applicant, he had heard about the other… less suitable ones and was hopeful. As Naruto ranted on about the applicant and how it was his great idea to choose this cafe, Sasuke had to admit that his friend had thought of a good idea. He was the only waiter, at the moment, of this small, quaint café. That meant that he could overhear the conversation between them and observe the man carefully before forming an opinion. He shrugged the hands off his shoulder before growling, "That's wonderful, Naruto. Now stop shaking me and take a seat or I'll kick you out of the café,"
His friend bounced cheerfully off to a small table for two while waiting for the man to arrive.
At exactly 5pm, the bell twinkled again. Two heads shot up from whatever they were doing to stare at the front door. Naruto's jaw dropped slack as he stared at the man in the doorway while Sasuke had more self-control and only allowed himself to stare wide-eyed. The man looked around the café, one lone eye stopping to rest on the dark-haired waiter before moving on towards the blonde.
Naruto amazement grew as the man approached his table. HE was Hatake Kakashi?! A black mask covered half of his bottom face while stark white bandages wound themselves around his head so that it covered his left eye and also made his odd silvery-grey hair stand up and tilt noticeably towards the left. This left only his right eye, which was a stormy grey colour, and some of the skin surrounding the eye visible. Aside from his face, this man was rather slim and slightly taller than both of the boys were.
The man now stood directly in front of him, looking distinctly amused at the reaction he had gotten and smiled. Or what Naruto thought was a smile, only able to see the right eye curve upwards into a crescent. The newcomer took off the glove on his right hand and stretch his arm outwards towards the teen. The sleeve of the jacket fell back slightly as his hand moved, revealing yet more bandages below that stopped at the wrist.
"Pleased to meet you, Naruto. I'm Hatake Kakashi,"
"Ahh..." he could only mutter in response to the polite greeting while standing up from his seat and shaking the outstretched hand. Still amazed, he continued staring and shaking the hand longer than needed. The man looked bemused as the handshake continued for a full fifteen seconds before the boy realized what he was doing and quickly retreated his hand, blushing slightly.
"Hi! I'm Uzumaki Naruto, it's nice to meet you too Kakashi," He gave a wide grin towards the man, regaining his balance.
"Soooo, Kakashi… How old are you?" Naruto started out with a simple question as the man took a seat opposite him. What he really wanted to ask though was what was up with the scary mask and bandages?! However, he knew better than to ask rudely.
"Hm, I will be 19 this coming September. What about you, Naruto? How old are you?" Naruto was expecting the man to be slightly older than, though you could only see a slight portion of his face, and was not surprised.
"Oh, Sasuke, the other person who lives in the apartment, and I are only 17 this year! We're both in our first year of KJC!" A tone of pride entered his voice as he mentioned the word 'KJC'; he had worked extremely hard to get into the prestigious junior college and was proud of it.
They paused in their conversation to give their orders to Sasuke before continuing, both ordering a cup of coffee.
"Oh, what does KJC means? I've not heard of it," Naruto raised an eyebrow as he heard the man's question.
"You've never heard of KJC? You must be new to Konoha, am I right? It stands for Konoha Junior College, an extremely prestigious college here in our town!"
"Oh, congratulations on getting in! I only got here about three days ago and my entire luggage is still in the hotel, I was looking for a place to stay when I saw your poster,"
"Thanks. Well, you know that you will have to live with my friend, Sasuke, and me, right? Are you fine with that?"
"Sure, I don't mind,"
"Ah, okay! If you want to live with us, you have to follow a few rules though! Number One, you do some of the chores and you clean up after yourself! Number Two, pay up your part of the rent and bills each month on time. Number Three, this one isn't compulsory though it is recommended. Do not disturb the grumpy emo boy, he's like a PMS girl 24/7. I swear you'd think he was a freaking girl!" A certain, well only, waiter's eye twitched in anger as he stirred the coffee. He could hear every single word from the counter and he swore to kill his blonde friend when they got back. Kakashi chuckled at the comment.
"Number Four, don't use the bathroom for more than 40 minutes, we only have one in the whole apartment. Number Five, if you want to bring home your girlfriend or someone for a SPECIAL overnight stay, keep it quiet, will you?" The teen laughed nervously before continuing, "Are you in a relationship now, Kakashi?"
"I'm still single,"
"Ah okay, that's good to hear! Those are the rules, do you have anything to say?"
The masked man shook his head quietly.
"Oh okay, do you have any quirks that you want to mention, Kakashi? Like maybe you mutter random words every now and then or could go into killer mode and kill us all in the night or maybe you are some unknown terrorist!" Naruto exaggerated greatly, using his hands to show the movement of strangling somebody. Sasuke came back to their table with the two cups of steaming coffee and resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he placed one in front of his long-time friend. The older man just another small laugh at the boy's antics.
"Hmmm, I like my privacy so I don't want any of you trying to look at my face or prying into my personal life. I do not allow anybody to see my face. I might also not be able to sleep at night. I don't think that I will disturb your sleep that much but I might go to the kitchen for a drink or something like that," the man hesitantly said. Sasuke placed the other cup in front of the potential housemate and took that chance to look carefully at his face.
"Oh that's fine! Sasuke also make some noises in the night from his nightmares. Does the name Uchiha ring a bell to you, Kakashi?" Naruto seriously asked. There it was, the important question. Naruto thought that this man could very well be the third person to share the apartment. He was quiet, polite and though a tad bit suspicious and mysterious, he seemed friendly enough. He did not have to ask if the man knew about the Uchiha clan, of course he did! The whole country knew of the incident! He wanted to know what the man would say though, if he offered any mention of pity for the Uchiha or made a snide remark, Sasuke would outright refuse to share an apartment with him.
"Yes, I've heard about the incident." Was the simple reply that came back with no extra comment along.
Sasuke heard the man speak from behind his counter and relaxed. The man had not made any noise of pity or something of the like, he merely stated what he knew. He liked this man enough. That was it; Hatake Kakashi would be the third person.
"Ano, Kakashi, I know you don't want me to ask about your mask but what happened to your eye? I am sorry, I was just curious! You don't have to answer if you don't want to!" Naruto sheepishly asked, changing the subject. He barely knew the man, but he just wanted to know a bit more about him, after all, he was definitely going to be the new housemate.
"Oh, this eye?" his hand subconsciously placing itself lightly over the bandages while Naruto nodded, "Well, an incident happened…" he trailed off while his stormy grey eye darkened. Naruto stared, entranced by the sudden change in attitude. He was strangely attracted to this mysterious man and he reached out with his hand and took the other man's one away from the covered eye. He did not know why but he did not want to see him so sad. He could feel the blush coming back in full force as he held Kakashi's hand. That pale hand felt so smooth and… Wait what was he thinking! Kakashi is a guy and he was a guy and this was all wrong, he was not gay! He liked one of the girls in his school! He let go of the hand after these thoughts while Kakashi looked at him curiously.
"I'm sorry, I just didn't want you to be… er sad," Naruto realized how lame he sounded and tried to rephrase his sentence, "I mean you just seemed sad just now and it was my fault for making it that way and…" he closed his mouth shut to stop the barrage of lame words, his cheeks still red.
"It's perfectly fine, it was not your fault, you were only curious about my eye," he did the smile with his eye again towards the embarrassed Naruto. Naruto just gave a shy smile and drank his coffee quickly, trying to convince himself that what he had done was perfectly normal and fine. Kakashi called for the bill as they finished their coffee in silence.
"Are you okay?" a soft worried voice directed towards him said as a pair of hands slowly took his own injured one. He had been careless and while placing the bill on the table, he had made the porcelain cup fall and break, cutting himself in the process of picking the broken pieces up. His pale cheeks were tinged a light pink as the hands touched his. He was not used to strangers touching him like this.
"I-I'm fine," he muttered, mortified at being so clumsy and stuttering. He moved his hand away from the new housemate and looked away.
"Oi, Sasuke, you should go wash that or it might get infected!" worry in his best friend's voice obvious as his best friend finally spoke up from his strange silence.
Shit. That idiot had just exposed him for who he was. They had been planning to tell Kakashi that he was Uchiha Sasuke but not like this. He glared at his idiotic friend who looked stunned for a moment as the implication of what he said dawned on him. They turned simultaneously to look at the silver-haired man. He just crinkled his eye up and said cheerily,
"Oh, don't worry about it! I already knew,"
Author's Note: Oh my gosh, I was so tired when I finished this. And I feel pretty crappy so I didn't bother to read over about half of it to check for mistakes. Sorry, just too tired. I still want my writing to get better 'cause I'm pretty damn sure that I can write better than this. Well, give me the nice reviews or add me to your favourites or alert list or something. I like them all the same. I'm going to sleep now, too bloody tired.