The gentle rhythm of someone's footsteps echoed in my ears, awakening me from a blissful slumber to find myself nestled against a warm chest. The violet sky stretched above, a silent witness to the peculiar circumstances that had led me here. I tried not to squirm as we moved through the village, suppressing the rising blush that threatened to give away my feelings.
"Huh?" I mumbled, my gaze snapping up to a lazy glance.
"Nice of you to join me in the living world," he remarked, his lazy tone jolting me fully awake.
"Kakashi!" I whisper-screamed.
"That's my name," he replied, unbothered. The urge to scowl at his nonchalant attitude surged within me, but I focused on our surroundings. We were back in the village, close to downtown Konoha central. Home, then.
"Um," I tried not to focus too much on his face, where a brand new sphere filled his once empty socket. "How did I get here?"
"I carried you." Kakashi stated, matter-of-factly.
I pouted grumpily, "I meant why, you jerk!"
He chuckled, infuriatingly unfazed. "Fair enough." He said. "Kushina-san called me after you passed out in your training and asked me to take you home to rest."
A blink. "She did."
A nod, "Yes, she did." He confirmed with ice-cool nonchalance. "And here we are."
'Not sure how much of that I believe.' I My mind churned with scepticism. Mobile phones didn't exist yet in this timeline, and that was if they ever would be invented. Considering old-school telephones were a thing right now in this world, I would say there was a good chance of handheld versions being made but as of right now, that convenience wasn't available. 'It's more likely he was watching me train from the shadows without my noticing and when I passed out from exhaustion he revealed himself to carry me home.' Ugh. Great, just great. Another thing to watch out for, a lurking Kakashi in the shadows.
"Oh, I should warn you," said Kakashi, "Kushina-san took photos of us before I left with you."
0_0 – I gaped.
"…Huh?"
"She took a photo of us, many in fact." he repeated as if I didn't hear right. "I suspect she might wield them as ammunition next time you meet up."
My inner child merged out of me like an aura of petulant annoyance, "Awwwww!" I whined, kicking my legs. "Sensei's too mean!"
"Indeed she is," he agreed, not uncomposed or unset in the slightest.
"The last time I try and tease her," I turned my cheek aside, crossing my arms underneath my bosom.
"Huh?" Rung a familiar, slightly lightened voice in the speaker's adolescence. I stiffened, already sensing the smirk on her lips from her vibrant tone. "Hey, get a load to this? That stuck up prick Kakashi carrying a girl?" She hollered, jogging up to us in the same outfit she wore under Orochimaru's tutelage in canon. "This is great."
"Um. Hi, Anko," I shyly greeted. "S'up?"
She wasn't falling for my distraction strategy, unfortunately. "Oh, no, not s'up me, girl." I pouted, but she continued. "S'up with you and Kakashi, that's what." A snicker. "Finally caught your man, eh?"
"W-Well, you know how it is," I couldn't keep the stutter out of my voice nor my reddening face cool and the steam in my ears, gingerly reaching a lithe hand up and laying it on Kakashi's chest. He rose an eyebrow above his new eye. I tried making any sort of signal to just play along so she would get tired and quit teasing us.
"Oh, I see that." Sadly, I had a terrible poker face so the amusement on Anko's eyes never faded. "So, fess up, girl! I want all the juicy details."
Please don't tell me she wanted what I think she wanted, right. I don't think my nerves could take being prodded about life in the bedroom. "There's not much to tell." I insisted, snuggling closer to my alleged man. 'Please stop, please stop, please stop!'
"I begged to differ," She countered, drawing a silent wince from me. "There's plenty to tell. Like." She scooted her head to me, cupping her mouth against my ear, "What's he like in bed? Is he as small as I thought he was."
Steam erupted my ears. 'She just had to go there. She couldn't ask me something light like is he a good kisser, nope, she just had to jump straight to the love life question.' Stupid teenagers.
"Okay, I think that's enough chit-chat." Kakashi swooped in back into the conversation like a chad, coolly walking around the prying Anko. "Rin's had a long day, I'm sure you can imagine. I need to get her home to rest."
"Ooh, you don't say," She continued to needle. "Taking your princess home to rest. Is that code for, 'we're going to make sweet music on her bed'."
"It's whatever your imagination wants it to be." He quipped, accelerating his pace a little to a gentle power walk.
"C'mon! Don't leave a girl hanging." Anko was right on our tail, I saw from over Kakashi's shoulder.
"She's gaining on us!" I exclaimed.
"No she isn't." I felt movement beneath my legs before the world blurred, leaving me dizzy.
"Huh?" It took me a solid second for my vision to materialize before I noticed the grey metal surroundings of my apartment's balcony, "Oh, you used the Body Flicker Technique."
"No, that was just me moving at about 00000000.1 of my full speed." He dismissed.
My cheeks ballooned, "Did anyone ever tell you what a jerk you are."
He smiled, "So I'm told." I turned my inflated cheek away as the beat of Kakashi's moving feet echoed in my ears, though it stalled before it reached my door. That prompted me to follow his restored gaze where I found a parcel wrapped up in silver foil resting in front of my door.
"Oh. That's the chicken karaage Honda-san said she would share with me." I explained, beaming. Kakashi, being the cool jerk that he was, tucked a few toes underneath my concealed plate and gently kicked it up into my waiting arms below my rosy-red complexion. "Show off." I hid my glowing cheeks beneath the warm bowl in my arms underneath Kakashi's warmth. 'Stupid Rin! Stop crushing on this hot jerk already!'
It was her crush, not mine.
The bloated feeling of my bowl provided my brain a much-needed distraction of stupid Rin's feelings for the masked aloof. "Would you like to join me for dinner?" I smiled at his inquisitive raised eyebrow above a brand-new left eye. "I can't eat this much."
"I'll take you up on that offer," said Kakashi while I rummaged through my back poach and pried my house keys from within. "You still owe me after all." I paused, looking at him and his smiling eyes. "Don't tell me you've conveniently forgotten I covered your tab the other day?"
"You mean you wasn't treating me?" I fluttered my eyelashes.
He hummed a laugh, "I don't recall putting a ring on your finger." He pulled me close, whispering in my ear, "Yet."
My face boiled and a slow laugh left my lips. "Haha." Geez. Since when was Kakashi such a flirt? 'I guess he's intent to spend more time with me… or Rin. Ugh." Ugh. Pronouns, so confusing. This time around canon he shut himself away behind an ANBU mask after losing Rin. I suppose it only made sense he would want to cherish every single moment with me since for all he knew, a high key miracle had kept her with him.
Pushing my door open, Kakashi ambled in. A jolt electrified my spine, making me clam up. I wasn't proud to admit that I "eeped" when I felt Kakashi's arm sliding down my leg, his gloved hand caressing my little size four feet and slipping off my sandals. "Here you go," He casually said like he didn't just feel me up, propping me down above my upraised step.
"…Thanks," I whispered softly before breaking into a short jog to my kitchen space. "Slippers are in the cupboard!" I hurried to explain. Kakashi's titter afforded me no respite. 'He really is a flirt.' Or maybe it was just me. Honestly, I never could deal with guys flirting with me in high school, or secondary school as it might be more suitable to call. England didn't have a middle school like Japan or the USA.
After leaving primary/grade school at eleven years old, we were given five mandatory years in high school. College was optional.
I turned the tap and reached under my sink, filling a small see-through cup with water I quickly downed in one smooth go. 'Easy, girl.' I mused, breathing.
"Something wrong?" Kakashi's placid calm voice drifting closer than I thought brought a flinch from me.
"Oh, nothing." I plated my best breezy smile, gesturing to my cup. "Thirsty? I have barley tea ready in the fridge if you want."
I suspect he didn't believe me but he took pity on me and left it at that. (Considering he was the one who flustered me in the first place, he owe me that much) "Please." He answered.
"Cool."
He shifted into his gentleman form helping me carry everything to my living/bedroom. We only needed a single plate since I only wanted a few pieces. Kakashi was a growing boy and boys naturally ate more than girls.
The aroma of Honda-san's delicious chicken karaage filled the air, creating an informal yet cozy atmosphere in my apartment. Kakashi sat cross-legged, casually leaning back against the wall. I fidgeted a bit before settling down on my knees across from him, stealing occasional glances as the warm hues of the sunset streamed through the window. As we shared a comfortable silence, I couldn't shake the realization that Rin's crush on Kakashi was becoming harder to ignore.
"This is really good. Honda-san has excellent taste," Kakashi complimented, breaking the silence.
"Yeah, she's a great cook. I'm lucky she decided to share with me," I replied, trying to focus on the meal.
As we continued eating, my mind swirled with conflicting emotions. Kakashi seemed surprisingly at ease, and I couldn't help but wonder if he had any inkling of my-uh, Rin's feelings. The casual conversation, the stolen glances—it all felt like a dance of emotions I wasn't ready to confront.
"So," I breathed, finishing a second of Honda-san's crispy golden chicken. "New eye."
"Yup." He answered without missing a beat. Another chicken disappeared through his mask. I shook my head. His speed-eating was on another level. He didn't leave my obvious forthcoming question hanging thankfully, continuing, "A fallen comrade's donated his origins in his will."
"Oh, I see." I said, tone dampened. "Well," I lifted my cup of barley tea, taking a slip and continuing, "That was nice of them."
"Very," he agreed, absorbing another chicken tender into his mask. Sheesh. The gap between a Jounin and a Chunin was vast like the ocean. Kakashi lived in the upper echelons of another country far, far away from me. I couldn't keep track of his movements and steal peek of his face for the life of me.
"How're you finding things without the, um, you-know-what?" I hesitated, Obito's crimson spherical tomoe present flashing through my mind.
"I'm managing." He rose his cup and drew his head back and I couldn't even see him sipping on that. "It's refreshing to have all my Chakra back."
"Oh?" I queried.
A nod. "The Sharingan was a constant drain on my Chakra, considerably so."
"Even covered?"
"Even covered." He confirmed. "I probably have three times the amount of Chakra now without Obito's Sharingan draining my reserves like a furnace."
I think I remember watching YouTuber NCHammer23 relay Kakashi's considerable buff post-Sharingan in one of his Boruto videos. Sorry, I never did watch or read Boruto. I don't like post mangaka-sequels pumped out for the sole purpose of milking a popular series, hence why I never liked Dragonball GT. Granted, I knew Kishimoto jumped back on board following the unfortunate cancellation of his following series Samurai 8, but I still didn't want to dive into the series, neither by the anime and especially the manga since he wasn't the artist for the Boruto manga.
"So, you're even more powerful now." I beamed.
A light chuckle seeped through his mask, "Essentially."
"Great, just when I thought I was closing the gap a little between us, you can and go stretch it into infinity." I joked. 'Uh, making an obscure Toy Story reference to someone from this world certainly wasn't on my things to do today.' I grinned dryly. "But it's okay, though. I don't need to be super powerful or anything, just strong enough to support you, and not be a burden."
"Rin." He murmured and reached across the table, laying a gloved hand on top my bare one and gooseflesh appeared over my skin. "Don't be so hard on yourself." He insisted, raven eyes a soft pool of comfort. (Kakashi with two uncovered eyes was a strange sight to adjust to, but it helped the donator's eye was also black)
"You're sweet." I murmured and in spite of the tingle Kakashi's touch gave me, I flipped my hand around and blanketed his. "But it's okay. I know I have a long way to go to stand on a level that I… well, won't slow you down." I noticed the wording in his comforting words. 'Don't be too hard on yourself' instead of 'you're not a burden.' It was subtle, but that distinction in phrasing said a lot.
It was sad, but the hard truth of the matter was, Rin was just dead-weight to Kakashi and Obito, and they were better off without her, even she was a specialized nurse. What was the point of having an alleged trained nurse on a team when she was significantly weaker than her male counterparts? The other two were ultimately going to find themselves handicapped having to keep one eye on their lone kunoichi, preventing them from cutting loose.
The enemies, shinobi in particular, weren't stupid. They were just as trained and well-versed in assessing their opponents as we were, pinpointing the weak link. Everything that happened to Rin in canon was inevitable. The enemy ninja saw right through their formation set up to protect her and bypassed it entirely with their hax jutsu to take her captive. And that led to Kakashi and Obito eventually putting themselves in danger to free her.
Rin being so far behind her companions in strength and ability made her a massive liability they paid dearly for carrying.
His eyes softened in defeat. "Alright, just take it easy in those training sessions." I felt a small squeeze, surging heat in my cheeks with the realization that we were holding hands, "It's dangerous to push past your limits."
"I know," I sighed. "I do plan to have children some day." I learnt on a YouTube video that women risk going Infertile trying to keep up with men. Why wasn't it mandatory for young shinobi, particularly their weaker kunoichi, to know the Body Flicker jutsu before leaving the academy? From a writing standpoint, it made sense that Kishimoto would want to forget such an overpowered escape jutsu existed, but it really made the shinobi look massively incompetent.
As the conversation shifted, Kakashi teasingly mentioned, "Well, Rin, if you want strong and powerful children, you know where to find me."
I couldn't help but laugh, feeling a mixture of embarrassment and amusement. "What?" I blushed, frantically shaking my head, "K-Kakashi. I'm just focused on getting stronger myself for now! I didn't mean right now!"
He smirked, his eyes gleaming mischievously. "Just letting you know, whenever you're ready, I'm here."
I covered my steaming face, realizing Kakashi's playful teasing had taken an unexpected turn. Despite the joking atmosphere, a blush spread across my cheeks, and I stammered, "W-What? Kakashi, that's not what I meant!"
Who knew Kakashi was such a flirt? Guess reading Jiraiya's novels paid off. 😯😳Poor NQR. Can she survive Kakashi's relentless teasing? Find out next time.