The red lamp flashed. Kakashi averted his eyes from the black letters that roared "ON AIR" through the room, flipped a switch on the desk and purred into the microphone, "I wish you all a luscious evening. My name is Sukea and you are listening to Village of Sound on 69.6 FM. Turn up, turn around, but always remember: the 69 remains. It's Thursday, 6 p.m., and you know what that means: chain your knickers, there's new music here at Rock Hard Radio. Freshly fluttered in, still completely wet from the music press, I have an absolute treat for you today. I know them, you know them, we all know them. Next month their fifth album will be released, the single, which is about to blow up your panties, will be released in just over two weeks. So, get your wallets ready, guys, pitch the tent in front of your trusted record store, it's getting hot in the speakers. Now comes Enter Sandman by Metallica. And while we get a little lost in these sounds, do some soul-searching, think about what you want to hear from me, and call. 735285 here in Manchester, the lines are open."

Kakashi turned off his mic, pressed a button and a riff sounded on his headphones, which he had been able to enjoy for the first time half an hour ago.

Orochimaru Hebikawa, owner of the small, private radio station, which filled Manchester and the surrounding area with current hits from all genres around the clock, knocked on the window of the door. Kakashi took off the headphones and nodded, Orochimaru entered the booth. "Kakashi," said the man, who with his long, black hair, purple silk shirt and gray bell-bottoms was stylistically easily twenty years too late, "I can only praise you again and again. Not only have you expanded the demographics of the show through your way of anchoring, now you also impress me with your fine hearing." He held up a cassette that Kakashi knew only too well, had spent many night hours with it. "I listened to your mix and who would have thought that soul and hard rock sound so good together, mh? You have an extremely talented producer in you. If you do it right, you're gonna go far." He put a hand on Kakashi's shoulder, which made Kakashi shudder slightly. The coldness of the flesh penetrated unnaturally piercing through the thin fabric of his T-shirt. "I'll clarify the playing rights, but for my sake you can put on your tape as soon as possible. What do you think of tomorrow? And afterwards I invite you to a drink to celebrate your success. You don't have school on Saturday, do you? That's a good opportunity we should seize."

Again, Kakashi was overwhelmed with goosebumps, but he smiled at his boss from below and said, "Thank you, Mister Hebikawa, that really means a lot to me."

Orochimaru laughed softly. "Kakashi.. How many times have I told you that you don't have to address me so politely, huh?" His hand moved slightly. "Please call me Orochimaru."

"As long as you're my boss, you're Mister Hebikawa," Kakashi replied evasively, looked at a small screen and added, "Sir, the song is about to end, I have to plough ahead."

"Of course," Orochimaru said with an unmistakable singsong in his voice. Only very slowly he took his hand from Kakashi, brushing the bare skin of his upper arm, and left the booth again to take a seat at the large mixing desk behind the window on the long wall.

Kakashi struggled against the stinging cold that radiated into his neck from his shoulder, changed his timbre to Sukea and murmured into the last sounds of the song, "Wow.. I feel it, folks, this decade is going to be hard and sexy. If we are already so spoiled, how are we supposed to endure it without a heart attack until the turn of the millennium?" He laughed darkly. "Speaking of eargasms, our lines are really glowing, and I can't wait to hear your voices after such a prelude to the evening." He flicked a switch. "Hi, this is Sukea. With whom do I have the honor?"

"Uh.. H-hi..", an insecure girl answered. "My name is Mary."

"Hey, Mary," Kakashi purred and although only Orochimaru could see him, he smiled boldly. "Do you have a request, Mary?"

The girl on the other end gave a high-pitched beeping. "Mh, yes. I wanted to ask you if you have a girlfriend."

"Why?" Kakashi replied without losing his Sukea voice.

He clearly heard excited giggling in the background as Mary answered, "I just think you sound very hot and a friend of mine, Joana, would like to meet you. Do you live in Manchester?"

Seeking help, Kakashi looked at Orochimaru, who, leaning back in his chair, turned his finger in the air to indicate that he should keep the conversation going. Kakashi hastily dug out every shred of charm he was capable of. "Mh-hmm," he growled, "so Joana wants to meet me, huh? Is this Joana with you right now?"

"Uh.. Yes.. Here." Mary sounded muffled now, there was a rustling and another girl answered. "Hey, Sukea.."

"Joana?"

"Y-yes.."

"Tell me, why didn't you call yourself right away?" Silence, so Kakashi playfully probed, "Are you shy?"

"A little..", Joana admitted.

Kakashi giggled darkly. "You don't have to be, I don't bite. Unless, of course, it is asked of me." A soft gasp, but gradually he didn't know how to get out of the situation without falling out of his role. He tried with the reason why they usually all called. "Joana, do you have a special music request?" This time he left no room for interpretation in his question.

"I.. Well.. Mh." She cleared her throat. "You brought me fully into the Sisters and I fell in love with one song in particular: Ribbons."

Behind the window, Orochimaru already raised his thumb, signaling to Kakashi that the song was ready to play. "Ribbons, I see," Kakashi said half-absently as he answered Orochimaru with a nod. "First of all, of course, I'm glad that I was able to pull someone over to the dark side, but you make me curious. Why this song of all things? What do you like about it?"

It was just a superficial chat, a game of his charisma to make the listeners feel interested and bind them to the show, giving them a feeling of friendship and yes, a little bit of being desired, but Joana's answer actually left Kakashi speechless. "If he sings that she looks good in red ribbons, I like to imagine that you think that about me."

For a moment, Kakashi's heart stopped. Oh holy Eldritch, never before had such a statement baffled him so much. He was used to flirting, so much so that he could hardly talk to girls normally, because they all wanted exactly that from him, but now? Some strange Joana, probably somewhere here in Manchester, imagined being tied up and fucked by him. He would have thought that would turn him on, but at that moment he was just overwhelmed with everything. What was he actually doing here? How did he end up here in the first place? He had only wanted to clean at VoS, nothing more. Now he sat in this tiny booth, with a microphone in front of his face and embodied Sukea, who in truth didn't even exist.

His breathing was heavy and only when he saw Orochimaru's hectic arm waving out of the corner of his eye did he understand again where he was and that he had to say something. "Uh.. Wow. I wouldn't have expected that, I'm be honest." He swallowed hard, ran his fingers over the beads of sweat on his forehead and laughed briefly. "You're very direct, Joana. I get the feeling that you're anything but shy."

"Yeeaah, maybe you're right," Joana warbled and Kakashi recognized clear eroticism in her voice. He closed his eyes and fingered blindly for the button. "I'm happy to fulfill all your wishes, Joana. Just for you: Ribbons by Sisters of Mercy. Let your imagination run wild, but don't think I have mercy on you." Before Joana even had a chance to answer, the drums boomed and he hastily pulled down his headphones. At other times, he would have enjoyed the song because it was also one of his favorites, especially stoned, but right now he didn't want to hear it. He manually added the song More to the playlist, stood up and tore open the door of the booth.

"Where do you think you're going?" Orochimaru immediately asked angrily.

"With the two songs, I easily have ten minutes, I have to go to the toilet." And there he disappeared, in the small, half-dark room with the two urinals. He stood at one of them, released a few forced drops into the porcelain and leaned his forehead against the wall with a deep sigh, which helped him at least in fragments to calm his mind a little.

Behind him, the door opened and a note of sweat announced Orochimaru. Kakashi straightened up again to not let any questions arise as to why he caressed the mint green tiles. A click sounded and acrid cigarette smoke enveloped him. "What was that about?" Orochimaru asked in a sharp tone.

"Nothing, sir," Kakashi replied.

"Tz," Orochimaru said disparagingly. "Since when have you had a problem flirting? That's what brought you into this show in the first place. Without your charm and your carefree, attractive charisma, I would never have made you a jockey."

Kakashi felt a touch on his back and he flinched. His cock in his hand, which had been hanging outside for a minute only to sniff the air, began to tremble, and he stared incessantly at the bland urinal cake, from which a blue strip of pure chemistry stretched to the drain.

"Tell me what your problem is, Kakashi. You know you can trust me." Orochimaru sounded soft now. The icy hand on his vertebrae caressed him lightly. "Is the job getting too much for you, huh?"

He stood right next to him and Kakashi tried to completely cover his penis with his hand. The stroking became more intense, more extensive, distributed the cold on his spine.

"Trust me, Kakashi.. I'm not angry with you. I can well understand when work stresses you out. Show business is a tough place."

He dragged, Kakashi's eyes burned slightly and he pinched them briefly.

"If you need a break, feel free to say so. We can talk about the payment, we'll find a solution."

The hand slid a little lower, down to the last rib, bringing Kakashi out of his trance.

He tore himself away from the sight of the urinal cake, stowed his cock in his pants and went to the small sink. "It's all okay, Mister Hebikawa. I guess I'm just ready for the holidays." He threw a fake grin at his boss in the mirror, who nailed him to his gaze with his piercing, yellow eyes. Again, he took a drag on the cigarette. "If you say so.. But I want you to know that you can always come to me with your problems. Kakashi."

He had never noticed before how this man pronounced his name. Somehow there was something in it, something.. strange he couldn't name further. He only knew this much: He didn't like it at all right now. "Thank you, sir, I'll come back to that," Kakashi said, turning off the water and drying his hands. "I have to head back, the song is about to end."

"Of course."

With that, he left his boss behind, but his eerie aura continued to creep over his neck. For the remaining two and a half hours, in which Kakashi played Sukea, the sleazy anchorman, he became more and more uncomfortable that he was sitting in a brightly lit booth and being watched from the shadows by Orochimaru. Sometimes, when he happened to look at the window, he imagined that his boss was turning his face away from him in a deliberately inconspicuous way. Where did this malaise suddenly come from? He had been working at VoS for almost a year now, he had spent many nights here to work on his mix in his free time, because Orochimaru had kindly allowed him to use the mixing desk, often enough he had sat next to him on the couch, they had talked about music and the world, had touched each other on the arm or shoulder before, but for the first time a queasy feeling dug through his stomach. To concentrate on his job, he blamed the grumbling at his navel on the fact that the guy at the takeaway had simply poured too much vinegar on his chips, did his thing and left the station after nine.

Outside in the cool air, he took a deep breath and immediately felt this clammy feeling fall off of him. He really needed a break. School, work, studying, the mix – it had probably all become too much in the last few months and now he was already seeing or rather feeling ghosts. Orochimaru was a good guy. Sometimes a bit peculiar, strict and above-average touchy, ok, but always open, helpful and supportive.

Still a little lost in thought of the mix, whether he was really ready to show it to the public, he climbed the stairs at home. He longed for his bed, a good portion of sleep, peace, silence, a last introspection, a possibly necessary fine-tuning, perhaps a fresh, honest opinion..

Something rustled in front of him and he raised his eyes. There he stood, in his green tracksuit, which he always wore, of which he had at least ten versions in his closet, the zipper pulled up to his throat, his feet in bright orange plastic slippers and a garbage bag with food scraps in his hand. His straight, raven-black hair, shimmering in the light of the hallway lamp behind him, covered his chunky eyebrows only moderately. His button eyes with the girlish long lashes, which did not correspond to his age at all, were wide open and directed at Kakashi, who stared back for a small eternity, then grimaced and snapped, "What are you staring at, poofshroom, eh?! I told you not to come close to me again."

Gai swallowed visibly, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down and the nostrils on his wide, pimple-scarred nose quivered briefly. "I heard noise from your flat earlier. Is everything okay with you?"

"What the fuck do you care?" Kakashi bawled out and marched past him. Over his shoulder he nagged, "Don't put your conk in other people's business, bastard," before he unlocked the door to his flat, slammed it shut behind him and leaned against it, groaning and with his eyes closed. This cocksucker was all he needed to put the damn shit crown on this day, which had actually started so well. The chaos in the flat didn't lift his mood at all, so he dragged himself into his room, didn't even take off his jeans or hoodie, but slumped dead tired on his bed and fell asleep on the spot.

"Okay," Kakashi said and clapped his hands, which the gym loudly replied. "I called this last meeting before the holidays to discuss something with you. Yesterday Mister Namikaze told me that coaches from the universities will be present at the first game next year. That's why I expect top performance from all of you."

"Coaches?" Kotetsu yawned, rubbing his eyes theatrically. "Who cares?"

There it was again, the pulling in Kakashi's chest. "I do. They are my chance to get a scholarship."

Kotetsu snorted arrogantly, but didn't answer anymore.

"So, I thought it would be wise to train during the holidays. We can't get rusty as a team," Kakashi explained, trying not to let his anger at Kotetsu's behavior bubble to the surface, which he only managed with difficulty. "I suggest two sessions a week, after the holidays the usual three. We have to work on our back, I recognized weaknesses in our last game."

"Yoyoyo, training during the holidays? Are you crazy?" Izumo interjected. "I'm not even here. We're flying to the Canary Islands."

Was this the only vacation destination of the snobs? Kakashi refrained from commenting but instead sighed heavily. "Who is staying at all at that time?"

Of the fourteen boys in front of him, only three stretched an arm in the air. Another sigh. "Yeah, bollox, then fuck it."

"That's right," Aoba grumbled and Raidou next to him nodded in agreement. "As if I were voluntarily coming to school during the summer holidays."

Kakashi gave him a stern look. "But then I expect two hundred percent commitment from you, get it? We can't fuck it up."

"Why, because you can't parasitize then?" it came muttered from one corner, which provoked an angry hiss in the other corner. Shikaku, the left wing of the team, had waved his brows challengingly.

Kakashi gathered all his composure, crossed his arms behind his back and slowly walked to one end of the row of seats. "Shikaku, whether you like it or not, I'm your captain, and as such, I demand that you show me respect." He stopped, building up in front of him with tense muscles. "Tell me one thing, please: Who reworked the team's tactics and gave Kensington its first golden trophy after five years of non-stop defeats?"

"You," Shikaku replied in a low voice.

"Correct. And who has restructured the team's line-up, which makes everyone shine in their position?"

"You..", Shikaku repeated with clenched teeth.

"Correct." Kakashi leaned forward, looked menacingly into the face of the sitting boy. "You should think about that the next time you make such accusations against me and thus want to undermine my authority."

Shikaku took a deep breath. "Yes," he squeezed out.

"So," Kakashi said, straightened up again and walked along the row to the middle. "Two hundred percent of each, and I'll increase the sessions to four times a week. Anyone have a problem with that?" Silence. "Good. We'll see each other again after the holidays, enjoy your vacations."

A hum arose together with his classmates and they shuffled towards the exit. Kakashi took a deep breath and released the tension from his body. How often had he had to endure such shit. As if he wouldn't wish it any other way. But the fact was that he had led the Kensington to four wins and a school championship title in just one year. Nevertheless, they did not really acknowledged him because he did not come from a well-heeled background. How much he hated that. Soon that would change. He only had to hold out for a few more years, then he would be no different from all of them.

When even the last stragglers of his team were no longer to be seen, he also made his way out of the gym. Behind the wide swinging door, however, someone grabbed him by the shirt collar and pressed him against the concrete wall. "Eh!" he exclaimed in surprise and was about to defend himself, when he saw brown bangs and felt soft lips on his. He gasped, pushed the girl half away from him and grumbled, "Rin, what the fuck? You can't attack me just like that."

"I want to fuck you, Kashi," Rin breathed against his mouth. "Come on, I was a bad girl, punish me." Her slender fingers wandered between two shirt buttons.

Kakashi looked down the long hallway. No one there. "Not here," he replied quietly.

Without further ado, Rin pulled him by the wrist to a door that led into the girls' locker room. In here it didn't smell quite as strongly of sweaty feet as it did with the boys, but it wasn't pleasant either. "Well, not sure if I can get it up here at all..", Kakashi joked and turned to Rin, who had already loosened her bow and opened her blouse. "You can do it, I believe in you."

She kissed him again and pressed him backwards around a corner against a row of lockers. The metal hummed loudly as he banged his head against it. "Not so stormy, you little bitch," Kakashi murmured, grinning dirty and grabbing Rin's ass under her skirt. "Why so greedy? Do you miss my cock so much?"

She fiddled with his belt and giggled restrainedly. "You simply have the biggest of them all, what can I say." When he was free, she got down on her knees and put it in her mouth. Kakashi put his head back with a rumble and leaned against the side wall of the lockers. Rin's mouth was so incredibly hot. Her tongue tickled his glans from below and despite the smell of cheese, an arousal stirred in him. He dug into her hair longingly, pulled on it, moved her skull a little.

A choking sounded from below, followed by a vulgar smacking. "Yeah, that's exactly how I love it..", Rin purred and rubbed his shaft with a firm grip, let her thumb glide over the notch of the glans. "Big and thick and delicious." She gave him one last kiss and stood up again, pressed her lips again against Kakashis, who returned the contact, absorbed the sweet chewing gum in her lip gloss, imagined that his cock tasted the same now. She continued to rub him to full hardness, briefly sank her thumbnail into his raphe and elicited a tortured gasp from him.

Rin giggled again. "Does that hurt?" She repeated it.

Kakashi slammed the back of his head against the thin metal wall and moaned softly, but immediately turned back to Rin's mouth. "You're a cunt, do you know that?" He pushed her backwards, whirled her slender body around and forced her onto one of the benches. "A little, horny cunt.." He pushed up her skirt and pulled the panties off her buttocks, revealing her pretty, pink pussy, surrounded by a slight fluff and a delicate moisture. "An incredibly horny cunt..."

"Kashi, wait, I have–HAAAH!"

He didn't think any further, immediately penetrated her. He didn't care what Rin had. He cut off any further thought by thrusting himself hard into her hot, wet inside. With a boisterous lust in his loins, he grabbed her shoulders, held her upper body in position and rammed himself into her with full force, which made her moan loudly and uncontrollably. Between her released sounds there were small "Yes"s and even one or two "Kakashi"s, which only spurred him on. He loved it when she knew exactly who was fucking her, that it was him and no one else.

Each of his thrusts was more like unbridled blows, both of their skins clapped loudly, their lustful tones echoed on the bare walls of the locker room.

"Fuck, Rin," Kakashi gasped, clutching her throat from behind and leaning deeper over her. "You're driving me completely crazy.." He kissed the back of her head, smelled her expensive shampoo, which reminded him of spring, flowers, blooming nature.

"Ngggh, Kakashi, don't cum in me.. please.."

His fingers strengthened the grip.

"Please, Kakashi.. don't..." Rin croaked past his hand. She moaned, whimpered, her abdomen narrowed. "Please, no... don't.. Stop it.. don't..."

Her pleas made Kakashi horny. "Rin, shut up and let me fuck you the way you deserve." He put his free hand on her clit and rubbed sturdily over it.

She tore open her jaw, spit, gasped, her saliva flowed over the back of Kakashi's hand, she came again, longer and more trembling than before, wept bitterly, begged for mercy, her whimpering made her larynx vibrate. That was too much. When he let go of her, she took a loud and affirmative breath. He clawed into her tight, sweet ass and quickened his thrusts. Hungry for her tortured voice, he pulled her cheeks wide apart, was rewarded by her, looked at her pretty rosette, his rock-hard cock that drilled into her, her secretion that splashed on his pubic hair. Everything was too much. He tilted his head back, moaned loudly, moved his hips forward and poured into her. Her pulsating muscles tensed in unison with his twitching penis, tickling last drops out of him.

For a moment he still enjoyed the heat inside her, moved slightly back and forth, until he slowly slid out of her, pulled a few threads of sperm with him and finally watched his juice leak out of her shiny, pink hole. "Haaaah fuuuck..", he gasped and shoved a thumb into her to stop his cum from dripping. He had never seen anything like that before, but fuck, this sight turned him on.

"You bastard..", Rin gasped breathlessly. "I told you.. hahh.. not to come inside me. I have rubbers with me."

Kakashi laughed, moved his thumb inside her, she squealed. "Rubbers? Plural? How often did you want to do it here?"

Rin turned to him, forcing him to move away from her, and braced her hands into her sides, which was not very impressive with a dripping pussy, wet panties in the knees and an exposed bustier. "You know I'm into your cock. And you can also put it into me as many times as you are able to get it up. But fuck, Kakashi, what are you thinking about cumming inside me just like that? That's not how you treat a lady."

"You're not a lady," Kakashi teased, pulling her hips towards him, causing his wet cock to press against her naked belly, and giving her a deep kiss. "I've just stated that you're a cunt." From behind he stroked her wet vagina, she squealed again and stood on her toes for a moment. He took advantage of this reaction to kiss her. "And what a pretty cunt you are.."

She beat him on the chest. "Stop that, you're disgusting." She gave him an angry look before she laboriously pulled up her panties again, but Kakashi laughed. "Don't complain. You were so greedy for me."

"Honestly, Kakashi," Rin began, Kakashi's grin crumbling from his face at her tone. "You can't pull something like that off. When I say no, I mean it. Understand that."

"Sorry..", he murmured embarrassed and suddenly felt very naked, which is why he closed his pants. "I was maybe a little.. impetuously."

"Yes, you were," Rin agreed, shaking her head and sighing heavily, which seemed to calm her down a bit. "Oh well. It was still good." She looked at her thin wristwatch, set with small diamonds, made by Daddy's bank account. "I have to go now or my mother wonders where I am. Are you coming to Obito tonight?"

It was so incredibly awkward when Rin said his name after a spontaneous, sweaty fuck. "Can't," he shrugged his shoulders and walked out of the locker room next to her. "I have to work, I have a show today, and then my boss wants to go out for a drink."

"Oh yes, that thing," Rin groaned, sounding just as arrogant as everyone else on Kensington, though he'd never thought of her as such a cow. "Can't you skip that?"

"Are you stupid?" Kakashi snorted, holding the outer door open for her in an exemplary manner, where they were greeted by heavy rain. "That's my only source of income. Without this job, I can't afford my car."

With jackets over their heads, they reached the only two cars that were still in the parking lot so late after class – Kakashi's baby blue Beetle and Rin's bright purple sports convertible. She looked at his rustbucket with curled lips, but didn't say anything about it, winked at him instead and said, "Well then, see ya. Why don't you come by tomorrow, at least you don't have to work then."

Kakashi smiled. "I will."

"Cool, bye." She waved, got in and raced off the yard with screeching tires.

At home, an empty flat awaited Kakashi. The battlefield that the two sharks had left behind yesterday had apparently been cleared by Sakumo in the course of the day. Kakashi would have liked to help him, now he felt bad.

"Dad?" he called into the silence, looking into his father's bedroom, where the duvet lay crumpled on the wide mattress. He let out air, put on street clothes and left the flat again. If his father wasn't here, there was only one place he could be. And indeed: In the arcade three street corners away, he saw a well-known, wild hairstyle peeking out from behind one of the bandits. "Dad," he said, stepping around the machine.

Sakumo lifted his head. He seemed tired, drained and extremely pissed. "Son," he remarked, turned away from him and pulled the lever into the depths. Excited strumming filled the silence between them, then a devastating sound. Sakumo slammed the heel of his hand against the edge.

"Dad...", murmured Kakashi.

Sakumo jumped off the stool and left the arcade with heavy steps. Outside, he turned up his jacket collar, lit a cigarette and walked along the sidewalk less roughly than before. Kakashi caught up with him and buried his hands in his pockets. The rain pattered on his hair. "Have you won anything?"

"Kse," Sakumo blurted out. "If that were the case, we wouldn't have any more problems."

"I thought money wasn't everything," Kakashi teased, catching a venomous look from his father and lowering his head. "Stop being such a fucking smart-ass, son. Nobody likes pricks like you."

"Yes, Dad." It was clear that he had been drinking. He never talked to Kakashi like that when he was sober. "I just mean.." He kicked a large pebble over the stone slabs. "They will come back."

"Do you think I don't know?" Sakumo hissed, throwing half his cigarette into a puddle. "But luck doesn't want me, never wanted. A Hatake experiences nothing but bad luck, you'll understand that at some point."

"But there are some things we can influence."

"Shut your fucking mouth. Any thought about control is a deceptive one. You think you can influence things, but then life comes and FUCKS you in the ass."

Kakashi raised his eyebrows, but remained silent, continuing to watch his chucks set the water on the floor in motion.

"You're not a child anymore, Kakashi, so don't act like one. Fucking grow up. At that time, I understood that you could not help your mother, but I will not allow you to show such weakness again. You're eighteen, behave accordingly." They stopped at a red light. "You have to learn to swallow and still fight. Don't hide in your hole of self-pity. Show maturity and face things."

How Kakashi would like to record his father right now and play his own words to him in quiet moments. But he knew that it didn't help. Sakumo sat at the bottom of his personal hole of loss and despair, scrawling phrases to the surface, ignoring their echoes, and just continuing to dig at his mental grave.

He knew that a discussion would not bring anything now. Sakumo was drunk and frustrated – an explosive mixture. And he hadn't been so stupid as to ignite the powder keg for years, as he knew the consequences. So, he remained silent, did the only thing he could do: make sure that his father came home safely.

Just before the next bend, Kakashi asked quietly, "Beef today?"

"Do what you want," Sakumo growled, which in normal language meant: "Gladly."

So, they bought a slice of beef steak from the butcher near the Crescents, which Kakashi cut into strips upstairs in their flat, fried them in the pan and threw in a few carrots, potatoes and peas, while Sakumo hung at the dining table, punished the wall with grim looks and emptied a beer. Their late lunch was silent, and it was better that way. Kakashi couldn't stand his father in this state, and he didn't have any positive things to say today anyway. What even? Sakumo was not a big fan of Kakashi's job, had always called Orochimaru a "poofy pedo" in his alcoholic mode, saw hard rock and metal as earcancer-causing garbage. Kakashi felt that the announcement that the release of his mixtape was imminent was not very appropriate.

The one bottle of beer quickly turned into five and a few fingerbreadths of booze and so Kakashi supported his father shortly before five on the way to his bedroom, heaved him onto the unmade bed and covered him.

However, before he could get up from the mattress to let Sakumo sleep off his intoxication, Sakumo grabbed his wrist and stopped him. "Kakashi..", he mumbled suffocated by the pillow filling. "Kakashi.. please.. I'm sorry.."

Kakashi swallowed dryly. "I know, Dad."

"No, you don't.." Sakumo pulled out his face and in the twilight of the darkened room, Kakashi saw melancholy in it. "I don't want to be a burden to you, and yet I am."

"You're not, Dad."

"Thou shalt not lie."

"I don't. I understand you. We all deal with grief differently."

Sakumo grimaced and sobbed. "I miss her.."

"I know..", Kakashi breathed. "I miss her too. Now sleep well, Dad, I have to go to work." He got up, turned around again at the door. A shimmering trail of tears sat on Sakumo's temple, eating away at Kakashi's framework of emotional strength. So he could bear his father even less.