AN: Whoop! I finally updated every single one of my fics this Christmas :) phew!

So this story tends to get neglected sometimes in favour of others, and I apologise. But here is a nice new chapter :D

Thanks to everyone who has been reading this. I am glad to hear that you like the flashbacks and the emotion in the story. I personally feel sorry for all three of the main characters!

OK so I have only just realsied that my page breaks haven't been working- so I had to go through every single chapter and add them! No wonder the flashbacks where confusing!

Chapter 9

Tears poured from Gai's eyes. Naruto's nose streamed. Rock Lee waved his hands frantically in the direction of his pink tongue that was poking out of his mouth.

Sakura tried to ignore them. She calmly slurped at her noodles.

"What?" Teichu laughed. "I thought you could all 'handle the heat'?"

"Just leave them to it. They deserve it for being such IDIOTS!"

The ramen master flinched. It had been amusing to add so much chili to their broth, but he didn't want to see this sweet pink haired girl lose her temper. For one so small and pretty, she could be very scary indeed.

Gai, panting and gulping down an insane amount of water, asked the chef in a croaky voice, "who... who is the victor...?"

"Erm well, sir," Teichu glanced at each bowl. Not one of them had made any real progress. "Actually as no one has finished yet, none of you can claim a victory. The first to finish wins!" He smiled happily, knowing the affect his words would have on the three.

Each of the men stopped their movements and eyed each other warily. They were each hoping the others would forfeit. Then when no one did they each pounced on their insanely spicy ramen again for round two.

Gai caught up with Kakashi on one of the main roads. He was indeed heading in the direction of his house after leaving the party.

"Rival," Gai called. "Rival wait up!"

Kakashi didn't stop.

"Kakashi, wait!"

In fact Gai could have sworn he walked even faster.

Gai finally caught up to him and put a hand on his shoulder to bring him to a halt.

"Gai, I don't have time for this," the silver haired young man said.

"That's funny, you had time for another beer at the party, before you suddenly ran off. What are you running from, Kakashi?"

"I didn't run off- I just- Look it's really none of your business."

"Caring about my rival and best friend is none of my businesss? How can you even suggest that?"

"Caring or trying to get in my pants? I know what you want, Gai, and it is something I can't give."

"What? That's not what this is about. I don't just want to use you, Kakashi, you mean too much to me. My feelings for you are honest and sincere. I l-"

"Well I don't to hear it! Just leave me alone!"

"But why? Rival-"

"Look Gai, you're wasting your time with me. I don't deserve honest and I don't deserve pure. I certainly don't deserve, yours, or anyone else's, friendship or affection." He took a calming breath. "I just want to be left on my own."

Gai was starting to become impatient with Kakashi's ever persistent self-loathing. "That is no way to live, Kakashi. You need to let your friends in. You need to let us love you. Other wise you will go through life as nothing more than a ghost. You will never know true happiness-"

I don't want your fucking happiness. Just fuck off, Gai. Keep out of my life. I never asked you for all those stupid challenges. I never asked for your... for your friendship."

"But you have it all the same."

"Well take it back!"

"I can't do that."

Kakashi looked away from Gai at the floor. "Look Gai, I'm not like you or Tenzo. I'm not strong and I'm not a good person. I- I can't protect anyone. And I can't feel anything for either of you. All of those feelings left me when my loved ones died. Any compassion I felt died with my father, and my team mates and my sensei. And now it's just me. And it must stay that way. I can't afford to lose anyone else. I couldn't bear it."

Gai grabbed Kakashi's shoulders and shook him. "Now you listen to me. It wasn't your fault, any of it. And not everyone you allow yourself to love will die. You can't just close off and shut yourself down, you're not a machine, you're a person. And if you open up a little-"

"I don't want to open up! Why the fuck can't you get that into your head?"

Kakashi suddenly pushed Gai off him and disappeared in puff of smoke. A log dropped to the ground in his place.

Gai stood there for a moment in silence, frustrated with both himself and his beloved rival. There was just no getting through to him. How could someone be such a renown genius and a fucking moron at the same time? Gai had always been exceedingly optimistic, to the point of irritating his superiors and peers alike. But at that moment he wondered if he could ever even hope to have a chance of Kakashi accepting his love, or even his friendship. The man had built up so many walls around himself, he thought he would never be able to break through. Maybe he should just give up... maybe he could never save someone who didn't want to be saved...

At that moment someone stepped out of the shadows of an alley.

"He knocked you back too, huh?"

Great. It was Yamato. The person he least wanted to see, especially after that embarrassing spectacle of a kiss earlier.

"Come to rub it in?"

"Actually I offer my condolences. Kakashi forces me to keep my distance in the same way. He is so stubborn. And it hurts. But I won't give up. And I find it hard to believe you will."

That was right, Kakashi had treated his ANBU colleague in much the same way. Yet Yamato hadn't given up. And if he wouldn't accept defeat than neither would the great green beast of Konoha! After all hope is what kept shinobi going. What got them through missions where the odds of surviving were against them.

Gai turned around to face the ANBU teen and smirked. "Is that a challenge?"

"Call it what you will, Maito." He waved a hand lazily and started walking away.

"I'll take that as a 'yes."

Maito Gai was a man with many virtues and many faults. His persistence was one of those qualities. He wondered which one of those categories Kakashi would attribute his persistence to.

Sakura slammed down her bowl of normal, edible ramen, as she referred to it. "What do I owe you?" she asked the store owner. She paid quickly and apologised on behalf of her companions. Then she rose to leave.

"Sakura-chan," Teichu called. "Aren't you going to wait for the Hokage and his friends?"

"NO!"

Not that the three men even acknowledged her departure.

The second battle waged with the chili ramen hadn't gone well either. Their taste buds were assaulted; it felt like they had been burned away. Many a citizen of Konoha stopped to gape at the cursing and flailing Hokage and his friends. Their shock at such childish behavior was so great it took them a few moments to realise that the Green Beast, the famous and loud Maito Gai, was sat with him, also behaving like a mad man.

As the their throats burned in their ongoing contest, rumors spread of Gai's return from the dead.

Not that Gai noticed. This challenge had given him exactly what he needed. He felt alive again. He was back in full swing and Konoha had better be prepared.