Author's Note: Last chapter of the story : ) Thanks everyone for the reviews/alerts and favorites. You're all awesome ^_^ Sequel is already worked on. I'll post a teaser of it and the prequel to this story on here, and will hopefully have the sequel up by Friday (we'll see). The prequel is already up. Enjoy ^_^

Chapter 10

Hiroshi woke up to an empty house, but he'd become somewhat use to that. Kakashi usually wasn't home when he woke up and sometimes wasn't home when he got home from school, but it wasn't like he minded. He kind of liked the quiet. But, unlike any other day, he was a little bummed out that his dad wasn't there, because it wasn't any normal day.

"Dad?" Hiroshi called, even though the apartment was so small that he could see everywhere. "Are you hiding?"

He searched around, looking for his dad even though he knew he wouldn't find him. With a sigh, he got ready for the day. Maybe he'll be home when I get back from lunch.

"Yo, Bean Pole!" Daiki, one of Hiroshi's classmates, yelled as he ran into class, almost late. "Too busy coloring to show up?"

Hiroshi just ignored him, as usual. He was use to being picked on for being tall and skinny, although he didn't really like that everyone had started calling him Bean Pole. He sat down in his seat next to Moegi, who smiled at him before continuing her conversation with Konohamaru. She was probably the only person who was particularly nice to him.

"Alright class," Iruka said as he walked in. "Settle down. Today we'll be learning about the art of transformation."

Hiroshi ran into the house, throwing his bag into the room and searching around quickly. Nothing. He stared at the floor and grabbed his bag, his appetite completely gone, and decided to head back to the classroom.

"Hiroshi?" Iruka Sensei said when the student came back from lunch so early. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he said with a sigh, dropping down in his seat and rolling open a scroll, pretending to read. Iruka watched him for a few minutes and then remembered something.

"Oh! By the way, happy birthday," he said with a smile. Hiroshi looked up, shocked. "I have all of your birthdays marked on my calendar. You're seven now, right?

"Yes," he said with a smile. Someone remembered!

"Any exciting plans today?" he asked, happy that he had the boy's attention. Iruka enjoyed talking to all of his students, even if he didn't particularly like their parents.

"I don't know… I don't think so," he said with a shrug. "I haven't seen my dad all day."

"Oh," Iruka said quietly. "Well, it may be because of the chunin examinations. He's probably so worried about his team that he forgot."

"That's right. They take those today," Hiroshi said suddenly. He couldn't help but smile. That would be why his dad wasn't home, so maybe he didn't forget. "Thanks Iruka Sensei."

"No problem," he said as the students started piling back in. Hiroshi cringed at how loud they all were. He liked it better just talking one on one with Iruka Sensei, but he just had to deal with these other people. A piece of paper smacked against his head, accompanied by giggles from Daiki and a few other students. Knowing he shouldn't, he unraveled the paper and looked at the crude picture of himself standing next to a bean pole. He rolled his eyes and threw it away.

Of course, Daiki was unrelenting. Iruka Sensei was absorbed in what he was writing on the board, so Daiki continued pelting Hiroshi. Mostly, they were just pictures about his height. He just continued ignoring them, knowing that if he lost his temper, they'd keep doing it, but it was almost as if he'd been absent for the lesson. He didn't even remember anything that Iruka Sensei had said once class was dismissed. He didn't care though. He just ran home.

"Dad!" He yelled, running into the house. Kakashi was actually there, sitting on his bed, reading. "Hey you're back!"

"So are you," he said with a half smile. "Did you have a good day at school or something? You're more wound up than usual."

Hiroshi's face sunk a bit and he rubbed the back of his head. His dad didn't remember.

"Um, yeah, sure," he said, his mood instantly falling. Kakashi closed his book.

"That's convincing," he said sarcastically. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing…. It's dumb…" he said under his breath. "I think I'll just go to bed…"

"Are you sure? It's only four in the afternoon," Kakashi said, becoming a little concerned. "You aren't worried about Naruto and all of them, are you?"

"Sure, that's it," Hiroshi said, liking that excuse. "The chunin exams are hard. I'm just worried about them."

"They'll be fine. I wouldn't have let them take it if they wouldn't be," Kakashi said reassuringly. Kakashi stood up and walked over to Hiroshi. "Let's go eat alright? You didn't eat lunch."

"How do you-?"

"Iruka told me," Kakashi said, ruffling his hair. "Now, where will it be tonight?"

"Thanks for dinner Dad," Hiroshi said as he followed Kakashi home.

"No problem," he said, taking them in a different direction. Hiroshi was instantly confused, grabbing his dad's hand and trying to pull him in the right way. He knew sometimes Kakashi got caught in his own thoughts and would take wrong turns, but this was in the complete wrong direction. "No, not yet. I have somewhere I want to take you first."

"Where?" Hiroshi asked, shrinking next to his dad.

"You'll see. Just stay close. It's getting dark," Kakashi said, putting a protective hand on Hiroshi's shoulder as they walked into the woods. With each noise, Hiroshi jumped; afraid some sort of animal or bad guy would jump out at them. Even though he was eventually able to accept killing that thief, it had turned him into a much more cautious person. Even the slightest noise would send him on edge. Kakashi just kept walking until they reached a small opening in the forest. There was really not much there, just a nice patch of grass that people could easily sit in and have a picnic. Kakashi stopped, taking a deep breath and remembering.

"Kakashi!" Akahana yelled as they dodged the shuriken of another enemy. They were coming extremely close to Konoha after a mission in the fire country, which made the both of them nervous. They weren't sure if they could take this many shinobi on their own.

"Yeah?" he called back, trying to stay close, but he had taken several shuriken to the back of his leg and was having some trouble running, especially since Akahana was so much faster than him.

"Don't worry. I'll cover you," she said through gasps for air. "I will never let my comrades die."

She kept her promise. The two of them killed every last shinobi that chased them, taking more hits than they should have. Kakashi was exhausted from using his sharingan so much and passed out, but woke up in this small clearing in the forest. Akahana had pulled the top of her mask off, her hair showing wrapped in its very tight bun. She had a wet cloth pressed to his head.

"You took a pretty bad fall," she said quietly through her tan mask. "If I knew you were going to pass out, I would've tried to catch you."

"Sorry Commander," he whispered. She just chuckled as she poured more water from her canteen onto the cloth and put it back on Kakashi's forehead.

"We're alone. You don't have to call me Commander," she said with a smile. She always made Kakashi call her Commander, just like the rest of her team, whenever they were on a mission. He just stared up at her, watching her pendant dangle freely from her neck as she leaned over him, washing out other wounds.

"You're pendant. You told me what it said before," Kakashi mumbled, half conscious.

"The steep and thorny way to heaven," she said under her breath. "What about it?"

"Why does it say that? You said you don't know where it's from," he didn't know why this mattered, and really it didn't. He felt like he was underwater, his head swimming around and everything blurry, but for whatever reason, he needed to know why her necklace said that.

"Well, my mother always said that being human is hard," she started, still working. "And so she had this engraved to remind me that all hardship leads to heaven… Really though, I think being a shinobi is much harder than anything she ever thought I'd go through… Really, it's us who follow the steep and thorny way to heaven and the others who follow the primrose path."

Kakashi just nodded, trying to fight away the dark rings that were becoming thicker in his vision. Akahana hummed quietly to herself as she continued cleaning his wounds and trying her best to heal him. Miyuki was the medical nin, but she didn't come on this mission. Still, Akahana knew a little about healing. Kakashi closed his eyes, hoping to fall back asleep because the pangs of pain were starting to kick in.

"I'm glad you were only unconscious," Akahana said to herself. She was sure Kakashi had fallen asleep. "If I'd lost you…" her voice cut off as she heard rustling leaves. It was only a gust of wind that knocked some loose leaves from the trees, getting them caught in her hair. "Well… I didn't." She removed the rag from his forehead and planted a light kiss on it. "I think I-" She was cut off by more rustling. Afraid that reinforcements from their enemies were approaching, she used the little chakra she had left to place a genjustu around them, making it appear that they weren't in the forest. She knew that she had to be quiet, so she didn't finish her thought.

Kakashi had been conscious, even though she hadn't known it. He'd spent years wondering what she was going to say, but now, he was pretty sure he knew because he felt the same.

"Where are we?" Hiroshi asked, sitting down in the grass and rubbing blades of it between his fingers.

"Somewhere special," Kakashi said, not giving any further explanation. He just sat down next to his son and looked up at the sky. Hiroshi looked up too.

"I think I know why there are stars," Hiroshi said. Kakashi looked at him with interest. "I think at night, all of the people who aren't here anymore want to keep us safe, so they throw a blanket over us all that is so big that it covers the entire world… But, it has holes in it because it's old, so even though they cover us, we can still see little glimpses of wherever they are."

Kakashi just smiled, staring back at the sky, enjoying Hiroshi's theory very much, even though he knew that they were actually balls of gas light-years away. He wouldn't spoil that though.

"I didn't forget you know," Kakashi said, looking at Hiroshi. "I know today is your seventh birthday."

"You do?" Hiroshi asked excitedly, sitting up. Kakashi nodded.

"And I have a present for you, of sorts," he said, reaching into his pocket. Hiroshi sat up in anticipation as Kakashi pulled out his mother's pendant. He gasped, remembering it being in the box given to them by Akira, but not knowing what had happened to it. "I thought that you may want this." Kakashi clasped the pendant around his son's neck as Hiroshi stared at him in awe. "As shinobi, we don't always have an easy life. Your mother knew that, and I know that. But just remember that all things lead to good, eventually. And… wherever your mother is, she's probably very happy."

Hiroshi didn't know what to say, so he gave Kakashi the tightest hug he could manage. For a small second, he could almost feel another presence as the smell of roses, tea, and fabric softener invaded his nose. And for the first time in a while, all was right with the world.