A/N: This is the first of my Twitter threads I've edited to be posted in here. With all the rumors (or impending doom) of the site, I've decided to back up my fics on different platforms and do some edits here and there for a more readable experience.

This was posted on Kakashi's birthday 2021, and this is so special to me because this is the first twitter thread I made that probably marked the start of my journey as rye the fanfic writer, instead of just rye the fan content consumer. :))

Enjoy this edited piece!

something different
by ryekiree

Every year on his birthday, Kakashi just wants to be alone for himself. He doesn't want anyone bothering him with gifts and whatnot, so he usually asks the Hokage to place him on one-week solo missions at the start of his birthday week.

But this year, he has decided to do something different.

He still wants to be alone, but for a change, he wants to stay within Konoha. He thinks that maybe he was getting old. Maybe he just wants to have the day for himself.

So, he dresses up himself as Sukea on the day of his birthday. Team 7 had already met him before, but no one knew that it was him...

Or so he thought.

His day went on well as expected—buying groceries for the next fifteen days, walking around the training grounds, not minding other people's businesses when he walks past them.

And as the sun starts to set, Kakashi decides to settle at the top of the Sandaime's head at Hokage Monument, feeling the relaxing night breeze. He watches the sky start to dim, the city beginning to light up. There is a certain happiness in him whenever he's alone during summer nights, but deep in his subconscious that he never really agrees with, he hopes someone will at least look for him.

But isn't dressing up as someone else the point so that he'd be left alone? He sighs and starts taking some photographs of the Konoha landscape from his view. It was one of his hobbies growing up. Konoha is such a beautiful city that he could never get enough of.

"Didn't know this spot was already taken."

A beat, and Kakashi moves his head away from the camera, only to find a familiar pair of heeled sandals he'd already seen for years. When he looks up, his eyes find green, and there beside him is the pink-haired kunoichi he'd been fond of. He feels his heart jump when she smiles. He almost raises his eyebrow at her, but catches himself, or he's sure that he will get caught in his disguise. Sakura is too suspicious of things, but he has never thought Sakura would know about this spot.

He doesn't know if she frequents here, at the top of the Hokage Monument. Maybe, she's always here whenever he's not. Maybe, he doesn't really know her at all.

Besides, there is only the surface that he knows about the people he works with.

"This is my favorite spot in Konoha, actually," he starts, acting like it was the first time he's ever talked to her. "It's always nice to take breather here."

She raises her eyebrows. "Funny, someone told me about that too. And I was looking for him everywhere." He had actually forgotten he'd told her about that.

He knew she was looking for him, but she couldn't know that, can she?

"I made cookies for him, you see, but I think he won't be home until the end of the week," she says, with a slight disappointment in her voice. She sits down beside him. "Would you like to share them with me?"

Kakashi looks at her, bewildered.

"Wouldn't the person you're looking for be disappointed you're sharing this with a stranger?"

Sakura grinned at him. "You're no stranger, Sukea-san." So, she knows—remembers his name. "I've met you before." Then, she winks, and he can feel his cheeks heat up. "I can make him more cookies on other days anyway," she adds.

He stares at her intently and asks, "Are you sure?" He knows this gift was still for him, but again, she didn't need to know that.

"Yep." There was a jump in her voice, as if she was excited to share it. Like the other times she shares something with him with that big smile of hers—her smile that was as bright as the moon that lit above them.

Kakashi stares at her for a bit, suspecting that there might be some kind of trick on her sleeve. But when she raises her brows again and offers the box for him to take, he dismisses the suspicion and looks at the box. A pink and green ribbon lies on top of it, just for him to know that it was from her. When he opens the box, he catches himself smiling at the shape of the cookies—eight of which are in the form of his ninken, the other five are of Team 7.

Without thinking, he takes the piece that was shaped like Sakura, breaking it in half to share it with her. Thankfully, the sky had already dimmed, and he was under a bit of a tree shade, or Sakura would probably see his cheeks in heat when he noticed the piece he picked up first.

He never liked cookies really, especially commercialized ones. But these—the ones that Sakura made—are all made for him and his tastes.

"The person you're looking for is missing half of his life right now," he says after his mouth is almost empty, almost choking the words in a hurry.

Then, he hears her snort and chortle. Her laughter sounds so beautiful, he thinks, the way summer nights and the stars are to him. He has never heard it up close, and he knows that this isn't going to be the first thing he forgets in the morning.

Then, he smiles at her. "Thank you, Sakura… san," he adds the honorific a bit fast, almost forgetting that he isn't Kakashi right now. "I might ask you to make this again for me when I'm back in Konoha."

"When would that be?" She challenges.

"You'll know." It's his turn to wink at her.

They eat more of her cookies as the minutes and hours flow, taking the Bull-shaped one next as she takes the Kakashi-shaped one, then Tenzou and Pakkun's as they laugh at some of his made-up stories of his expeditions as a traveling photographer, then Bisuke and Uhei's as she tells him some gruesome stories inside the operating rooms at the hospital.

And when they take and consume the last pieces inside the box (Sai and Shiba's), she pats the crumbs on her hands and stands up.

He looks at her when she says, "I have an early shift tomorrow, so I'll go first."

He presses his lips tightly. And it is then that he feels something in his chest—a slightly heavy feeling he has never thought of before at the end of his birthday. Disappointment? Probably. He has never had a conversation with Sakura like this.

And he quite liked it.

He wonders if he'll ever have these kinds of moments with her if she knew who he really was.

But the next thing he knew, warmth engulfs the night, and Sakura bends down beside him and kisses him on the cheek. And at the time she does, it feels like the falling leaves had slowed, the breezing wind had crawled, the buzzing of the city had gone static, the air in his lungs had dulled. It feels like a few minutes that they had stayed that way.

Then, she pulls away and whispers into his ear.

"Happy birthday."

Game over.

She knew all along.

Sakura jumps up to the top of the cliff before he can stand up. And when he does, he only stares at her in disbelief. Questions start flooding—when? Why? How?

And as if she reads his thoughts, she only laughs the way he thinks of the summer nights—beautiful, full of life. Is this what he's been missing every year on his birthday?

"See you soon, Sukea-san!" she says with a wink as she waves goodbye, leaving a trail of a chuckle into his mind.

Kakashi doesn't know what to say or think, but there is this overwhelming feeling after what happened on a once-ordinary day like today. He absentmindedly places his fingers on his cheek, where Sakura's soft lips were just minutes before and a whiff of cinnamon and mint, then chuckles.

Maybe he'll start asking for those cookies the next time he sees her. Maybe, she'll want to teach it to him. But maybe, before that, might as well make a quick visit to the Yamanaka flower shop and buy something there.

Maybe he'll be able to get his answers that way.

fin.

A/N: Thanks for reading!

There will be a bit more of the threads I've made on Twitter to be posted (maybe here or maybe on AO3 only), so get ready for some fluff, hurt, angst or tragedy. (In no particular order.)

Let me know what you think of it.

I'm on Twitter (still) & Tumblr if y'all want to interact.
~ Rye