So here we go with the next chapter. It's pretty different from the previous one, but you now, the life goes on. Even though one day you might be feeling down, there's always hope tomorrow will brighten up.

OK, I hope the story would speak for itself.


6.00

Early morning silence was cut sharply by the alarm clock. Radio screamed in strong voice an old song 'I want to change, I want to keep changing…' Kakashi pulled out a hand from warm sheets and switched off the damned thing. He sighted with relieve when the room was again overwhelmed by silence. He rubbed the eyes. He felt as if itchy sand gathered under his eyelids. Obvious sign that the night was too short.

The daylight was already sinking in through curtains; it was still cold and shy. It seemed today's going to be, in contrary to yesterday, a beautiful day.

Yesterday. Recklessly he opened the path to memories of the previous day. He had succumbed to his weakness. He had given up and was carried away by depressive thoughts. Recently, more and more often he has been undergoing such moments like that, when everything appeared meaningless. Just without any reasonable cause he was tortured by anxieties and doubts.

He dug himself deeper in the sheets and let himself take a nap for another 10 minutes. Kakashi is a ninja. He was taught to fight. So he will fight for himself.

7.12

Shit. He overslept. At 7:00 o'clock he had made an appointment with team 7. He planned to be only half an hour later, but at this rate he might not manage to get on time (his time, to be exact). He jumped of the bed, and dashed to the bathroom. 10 minutes for washing, 5 for dressing up, he will only catch something to eat and be off in no time.

When he ran into the kitchen, putting on his green jounin vest, his eyes stopped at the table under the window. There were two bowls and two mugs there, still dirty from the previous night usage. Traces of yesterday night brought unintentional smile on the man's face. Who could have ever guessed the raven boy has also a delicate, sociable side of personality. And sense of humor. Really, Sasuke is a riddle to him, a one which solving out brings him a lot of satisfaction.

Kakashi just shrugged his arm seeing all the mess around the kitchen and put the kettle on fire. While he was waiting for water to boil he packed his bag. He took some weapons ant two volumes of Icha Icha – indispensable to survive another boring training session.

The water bubbled, he made a coffee and instantly sipped the drink…

Aughgh, my toungue!

Kitchen clock stroke half past seven. Oh no! He just got scalded and now he's already late. He truly tried to be on time, ok? But now it's to late, it's no sense hurrying anymore.

Angry with himself he sat comfortably in a armchair. As a punishment for his irresponsible behavior he decided to take his time. Maybe when he is terribly late he would finally understand how bad as a sensei he is. He 's going to tastes the bitter coffee and cookies while team 7 waits. Then he will get what he deserved - furious scolding from the kids. Yes that's right, maybe it would teach him a lesson not to be late the next time. Oh, today is Friday – That's mean there's a new chapter of his favorite manga! So he will just quickly step out to a store. Hurray!

9.03

„Ssen.. sei. What the… how… late… we wait…" being so pissed off that he couldn't clearly talk, blond-haired kid ran up to Kakashi as soon as sensei showed up in his range of vision.

"Yo, Naruto!"

"Don't 'yo' me!. Just tell m..me what kept you so long. We've been waiting here from 7 o'clock."

"Sensei!", another irritated eyes, this time the green ones, gave him hostile welcome. Naruto and Sakura demanding explanations were all around him.

Jounin looked above their heads at his third student, who was nonchalantly sitting on the nearest bench. The raven was observing their noisy group with half-open eyes. With half-open black-ringed eyes, actually. He slowly stood up and approached his team.

"Kakashi", he said instead of greetings "let's go training."

Oh, so today we act all arrogant and cool. Well well, at Kakashi's place he behaved quite different. No wonder that kid was getting on everybody's nerves. But not his sensei, not anymore. Today when he could clearly see through his pupil, it was no more than a foolish childish act Sasuke put off to protect himself.

After yesterday talk, Hatake was certain they created a tiny bond of mutual understatement – a bond between two people carrying the burden of a loss. He was glad of it. He also found it make him happy that the boy opened up to him, even if it was just a little bit. As for now the things between them were nothing special, nothing strong, but a petite thought there's somebody who trust him enough to share their problems with, gave him a boost of confidence.

„Hey, how about a nice 'hello' for your sensei, Sasuke?', he gave the boy warm smile, the only sign of which was the eye turning into an arc. He wanted to show that yesterday wasn't just a moment of their weakness, that the boy can still depend on him and he would offer comfort and help in the time of need. He gently laid a hand on Sasuke shoulder. Under the touch Uchiha's body tensed up in surprise, but in the end friendly gesture was accepted.

"Hello" murmured raven.

What? Kakashi couldn't believe his eyes. The boy's pale face now blushed slightly. Was it because that little remark of his? Uchiha blushing? Unbelievable. Maybe he was only imagining things as all the morning his thoughts was running around the boy.

"OK, so let's go to the training fields" ordered jounin. He spun on his heel and pushed lightly Sakura and Naruto in the direction. Sasuke followed.

They went down the street and headed outside the city center. Hectares of forests spread around the Konoha. There were shinobi facilities, training centers and what most important – plenty of free space, where they could polish they skills without disturbing the citizens. They passed others teams, many people waved and wished them good day. Two jounins, they came upon near the gate, happened to be Kakashi old acquaintances (or Hatake should just called them friends). Jin and Kame, as those were their names, brightened up at the sight of the silver-headed man. They didn't see each other for a month so jounins were probably trying to talked Kakashi to death while using that rare occasion of unexpected meeting. Team 7 finally managed to escape after Kakashi gave his solemn promise to go for a drink with the two jounins.

Hey, Kakashi, he talked to himself, it seems your life is a far cry from total wreck, as you thought yesterday. Look, that's your home, a place where you belong. You have friends and people, who respect you. A team of genins, who depend on you. You protect them and care for them. You're not alone, even when sometimes you think it's not true. Don't you ever dare to doubt in yourself!

If Kakashi Hatake didn't wear his mask, people who saw him would be surprised at how beautiful a smile of true joy could be.


See you. R&R