The next couple of days went by to become a sort of routine for Kakashi. He would get up in the morning, go out to the training grounds to meet his squad when the time was right, (though they wouldn't dare let him get up for an early session because they insisted he get plenty of rest all of the time) go through with their training session, brushing off any worries they may have had for their teacher when he ordered them to spar with him. He found that since he wasn't allowed on missions quite yet, Kakashi would have to settle with sparring with his students, which wasn't really all that bad.
After the session was over, Kakashi would find himself strolling around Konoha, going shopping for groceries or whatever he needed. Looking into the "Adult Manga" store in Konoha always made him happier too. But the Copy Ninja couldn't deny that something just felt… Foreboding. He couldn't shake off the feeling he had that something bad was going to happen soon.
It didn't comfort him at all to know that his curse mark hadn't been hurting at all for the past few days; in fact, it worried him greatly. Dormancy could only be the pretense for disaster as far as Orochimaru was concerned. And Kakashi was known to be a pessimistic person anyway, so these feelings of apprehension weren't foreign to him.
Something else came to his attention as well later that week when he met up with his squad for their normal training routine. Something that Sakura brought up.
"… Kakashi-sensei?" She asked, her eyebrows lifting up with a look of concern.
"Hm? What is it Sakura?" He asked casually.
"Are you… Sure you're feeling alright?" At this, Kakashi noticed Naruto and Sasuke look at her oddly as well.
"Why do you ask?" His expression hardened a little.
"Well…" She started, "I know it's probably nothing big, but… You haven't been late recently."
Kakashi allowed a small amount of surprise to cross his features as Sakura finished her sentence. She was right… He had actually been on time. He hadn't thought much about it until she brought it up.
"Whoa, that's right…" Naruto's bright blue eyes widened, "You've been on time every day this week, haven't you Sensei?"
"I… I guess I have," Kakashi replied, a little dumbfounded himself.
One of Sasuke's eyebrows rose as he looked at Kakashi accusingly, "… Are you alright Kakashi?" Even he thought the Jounin's lack of tardiness odd.
"I'm fine," Kakashi held his hand up as if stopping all of their accusations. He slid both of his hands into his pockets shortly after, regaining his lax composure, "I can be on time when I want to, you know," He smiled.
The three of them still looked at him unsurely, like they really didn't believe him, until Naruto broke the silence. For once Kakashi was thankful for his disability to keep quiet for long:
"Maybe Sensei's just finally listening to us when we yell at him to come on time," He said, folding his hands behind his head and grinning.
"Heh," Kakashi chuckled, "Well, how long could I ignore you guys for? It was getting kind of annoying listening to your complaints all the time."
At this, Sakura and Sasuke seemed to calm down a little, which relieved Kakashi. He didn't want them worrying unnecessarily about him. Though what had been brought up made him feel a little poignant. He hadn't been late, had he? Then after training, he definitely knew where he was going:
The Memorial Stone.
……………………………………….
Kakashi walked casually up to the Memorial Stone as the clouds above him began to gray with signs of rain. He stopped about a foot in front of it, gazing down somberly at the black stone.
".. Sorry," He said in barely a whisper, "I know I… Haven't been coming lately. I guess it's been a little bit of a rough week."
He sighed, running his fingers along the stone, tracing along the name of a dear friend, "Obito… What do I do?"
Brush ruffling made Kakashi instinctively turn around. To his surprise, Gai had stepped out of the shrubs and was now gazing at him seriously. Kakashi stood looking at him for a second before turning back around.
"… What is it Gai?" He asked.
"You're still uneasy, aren't you?" The Green Beast asked, "I can tell. You haven't quite been yourself lately."
"You too, huh?" Kakashi said, stilling looking down at the stone.
Gai chuckled shortly, "I see you're still as sharp as ever…" He frowned again when he looked back at his friend gazing down at the Memorial Stone. He walked up until he was a few feet away from Kakashi.
"… He knows it's not your fault," Gai began. When Kakashi looked back at him curiously, he continued, "Obito knows it's not your fault that you can't use the Sharingan…"
Kakashi turned his head around all the way, his visible eye widening a little; he hadn't expected him to say that at all, "Gai… How did-"
Gai took the liberty to smirk a little, closing his eyes, "After all these years, I think I've gotten to know my Eternal Rival pretty well… Dontcha think?"
Kakashi's gaze softened as he turned back around. A hand was put on his shoulder:
"Don't worry about it. I know he doesn't blame you…" Kakashi could almost feel Gai's expression falter a little, "Come on Kakashi. Obito wouldn't want you to dwell on this anyway."
"… Yeah. You're right Gai," Kakashi turned around to face him, his eye crinkling up into a smile, "Thanks."
"Don't mention it," Gai responded with his trademark toothy grin.
"Let's go home," Kakashi said, putting his hands back in his pockets, looking up at Gai with the normal inattentive sleepy gaze. Gai smiled again, noticing the normal calmness that had come over his friend again.
"Yeah," He nodded, starting to walk with Kakashi back to the Leaf Village, "You know Kakashi," He started in a tone that suggested to Kakashi he had most of his old spark back, "This state of yours would be a perfect opportunity to work on taijutsu! We could have a fiery test of our-"
"Not today, Gai. Thanks," Kakashi replied swiftly but lazily, throwing a half-hearted smile in the Jounin's direction.
Gai's air never faltered, "Nonsense! It'll help invigorate you!"
"… I'm going to go with no on that one," Kakashi rubbed the back of his head nervously, "Hm?" He looked up when he heard the flapping of wings. Gai looked up as well, taking a break from his exercise tangent.
A brown messenger hawk started to descend, and it landed on Kakashi's arm as he held it out. The Copy Ninja untied the message from its leg and glanced over it briefly before letting his brow furrow a little.
"What is it?" Gai asked, seriousness starting to return.
"The Hokage needs to see me…" Kakashi looked up at Gai, his expression still serious, "For a mission."
Author's Note:
So sorry this chapter took forever and ever to be put up! I put it off for a long time; busy with other things... But I hope you all still like it, nonetheless. (Even though; more filler! XP) I do promise to start moving along with the plot, as you can tell by my hopefully suspenseful ending.
So, remember how I said I was busy with other things?? One of those things was going to see the Seattle Symphony Orchestra! The program was: Distant World~ Music from Final Fantasy, and the composer himself- Nobuo Uematsu –was there!! He sat an aisle away from me during the concert!! . I about had a panic attack.
So yeah, hope you're all enjoying this story! Thanks so much for reading and reviewing!