Theme 3 : Love

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Weeding was a simple task, something that had come up often in his early life- from Genin to Academy Student to the time preceding that, Kakashi had been assigned the task of weeding. The most recent time was with Sensei, of course, and had left him tired and sore when the blond had slapped a seal on him then set him to the task without the benefit of chakra; his time as an Academy Student had him pulling weeds that littered Konoha Cemetery in a tense kind of awkward silence born from students wanting to talk but wary to do so when surrounded by graves.

The first time he had pulled weeds was when he was a toddler, mobile and energetic and entirely disinclined to being inactive. It wasn't that his father had told him to start weeding, the man had set him to wander the garden (to poke and prod at the odd plants that he'd only seen when being carried past them) while Sakumo tended to it. Kakashi had delighted in being set free to sate his curiosity, taking to carrying interesting things he didn't know about to his father or dragging the man from his work to come over and explain whatever odd thing Kakashi wanted to know about-...

"Look! It looks like the purple-things we sometimes eat, what is Touchan?"

"It's called an eggplant. And it is the 'purple-things' we eat."

"It looks different."

"Haha. That's because it hasn't been cut or cooked. Also it isn't done growing yet- it won't be finished growing for about another month."

"...oh. Okay."

…-with a patience that he didn't really admire until he was older. After a while, once he'd learned the name of every plant in sight, Kakashi had grown bored and wandered over to inspect what his father had been doing. He'd initially attempted to copy his father, grabbing onto the crabgrass and yanking but neither his grip nor had his balance been good and he went tumbling to the ground, his father's laughter following him. Sakumo had been suitably apologetic to sooth his toddler self after, showing him how to properly pull the weeds from the ground- the two ending up with a vague system of Kakashi yanking the crabgrass from the ground and Sakumo making sure the roots had all been removed until Kakashi had gotten tired enough for a nap.

Cleaning was a likewise simple task, one that appeared frequently throughout life; from weapons to dishes to clothes to rooms and more. Weapon care was something taught at the Academy (typically during second year for dull weapons and later third year for live weapons), it was something that both his teacher and father had decided he shouldn't do alone as a genin- as if he were going to trip and impale himself on a kunai. Any other kind of cleaning was learnt from either D-Ranks or house chores-...

"What are you doing Kakashi?"

"Taking the desk chair."

"...why are you taking the desk chair?"

"Need it."

"...why do you need the desk chair?"

"So I can reach."

"...alright. What are you trying to reach that you need to drag the desk chair along with you?"

"Dishes!"

…-that he'd insisted on doing once he'd decided he was 'old enough'.

But.

Each year, on March 30, those simple tasks seemed so heavy.

Because-

Kakashi sighed, sealing away his cleaning supplies and using a controlled burst of chakra to burn the weeds before standing. The storage scroll was tucked away and Kakashi turned to the grave, managing a smile as he said, "Happy birthday Tousan."


As you can see, I won't be putting up all 100 themes here- only my favorites (if you want to read all 100, then it's under the title 'A Hundred Things').