As Kakashi walked towards their usual meeting point in the Kensington parking lot, he was surprised to find that Rin and Anko weren't there. "Morning," he growled to the boys and bumped his fist to everyone. "What did you do with your girlfriends, buried them in your garden?"

"Rin was called directly to Professor Titty this morning," Obito yawned.

"And Anko has the hangover of her life, she's supposedly in bed with a migraine now," Genma grinned.

"Ah," Kakashi said.

Asuma took a drag on his cigarette and grinned crookedly. "And? How did you get over the night? Or to put it better: Did you have it away with Kina?"

All three of them sneered at Kakashi, who took an annoyed breath and realized that he would probably have to put up with such remarks at Kina's behaviour. "No. We went home sometime yesterday, that's it."

"To you or her?"

Now would be the ideal opportunity to tell them that Kina and he were currently living next to each other, but that would certainly only fuel their taunts, and luckily Minato, of all people, took the burden of answering off his shoulders. The man approached the four boys with determination. Asuma hastily kicked out his cigarette on the floor, left the shoe on it to hide the stub, and slowly blew out the smoke through his nose, which nevertheless enveloped him in a light mist. Minato noticed this, gave Asuma a critical look, but he did not respond to it, but said in a cool tone, "Mister Hatake, please come with me."

Kakashi frowned but followed his teacher in silence. On the way to the main building, he wondered what Minato wanted from him. They only had three days left until the summer holidays and there certainly were no news about the coaches, otherwise he would not be led to the top floor, where the teachers' room, the quarters of the school newspaper, the 'parliament hall' of the student committee and the rectorate were located. He was also surprised that Minato did not speak a word to him, only when he knocked on the door of the rectorate, opened it and said curtly, "Enter."

Gradually, Kakashi had a queasy feeling, which was only for a short moment overshadowed by a small enthusiasm when he saw Tsunade Kusuri sitting behind the large desk, the green blouse stretched over her gigantic breasts with zeal. Despite her fifty years, this woman was a sought-after eyecatcher by the male students at Kensington. At Tsunade's sign, Kakashi sat down on one of the two chairs opposite her, Minato stood a little apart with his arms crossed.

"Mister Hatake," Tsunade said without an introductory greeting. "You must be wondering why I had you brought here, aren't you?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Do you have a guess what it could be about?"

Kakashi searched his brain again, but was sure that he had absolutely no idea. "No, ma'am."

The wrinkles around Tsunade's mouth deepened even though she pursed her lips, which Kakashi thought was a fascinating phenomenon. She leaned forward, took a light brown file from her desk and opened it. "On Monday, someone came to me and told me about an incident that the person witnessed on Friday, July 12, about half an hour after the end of class. According to that person, you were involved in this incident. Can you think of anything about that?"

Friday..? He had mustered the rugby team, nothing more. "No, ma'am."

"And does the keyword 'women's locker room near sports hall B' help your memory?"

Yeah, shit. He had fucked Rin after the meeting with his team. His fingertips dug slightly into his knees as he answered, "No, ma'am."

"No?" Tsunade said, as if she already knew the true answer. "You weren't involved in an entanglement with Miss Rin Nohara by chance?"

"Entanglement?" Kakashi asked innocently. "No, ma'am. Sexual intercourse is prohibited on the grounds of St. Kensington Academy."

Tsunade's wrinkles deepened further. "You're absolutely right. So, you deny having met with Miss Rin Nohara in the women's locker room at sports hall B on Friday to practice sexual intercourse with her?"

Kakashi swallowed dryly. "Yes, ma'am." His heart was beating up to his throat.

With a deceptive calmness, Tsunade turned a page in the file, cleared her throat with her fist over her mouth, and said, "Allow me to quote something. Female voice, 'Please, Kakashi, don't, please, no, don't, stop, don't.' Male voice, 'Rin, shut up and let me fuck you the way you deserve.' End of quote." She closed the file, put it back on the desk in disgust as if it were contaminated with shit, and folded her hands, propped herself up with her elbows and fixed Kakashi's chalk-pale face. His fingernails had already turned white from all the strained clawing and he was uncomfortably hot with his jacket. "Do you still deny meeting with Miss Rin Nohara in the women's locker room at sports hall B on Friday, about half an hour after class ended?"

His pulse in his larynx made it almost impossible for him to answer at all, but he murmured softly, "No, ma'am."

"So you admit it?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"You met there?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Please describe the course of this meeting," Tsunade demanded, still frighteningly calm, although in the meantime an angry swing had crept into her vocal cords.

Kakashi took a deep breath, somehow tried to make room in his throat and began, "In my role as captain, I asked the team of the rugby club to a meeting in sports hall B."

"Why?" Tsunade interjected directly.

"Because I wanted to clarify with the members the possibility of training during the summer holidays in order to prepare us in the best possible way for the first game of the coming season. If more than half of them had agreed, I would have applied to you, Mister Namikaze and Misses Kusuri, to be allowed to use the sports field during this time." Kakashi glanced over at Minato, who was staring angrily into the air with his arms crossed in tense.

"And? Have enough agreed?"

"No, ma'am. Only three would have stayed in Manchester at all, all the others will be away during this time."

"Did that make you angry?"

What was that about now? Kakashi knitted his eyebrows and jerked his head. "No, ma'am. I would have been happy if we had been able to train, because in that case I wouldn't feel so.. well, admittedly insecure about the coaches of the universities. I have confidence in my team, but if I hadn't gotten a scholarship in the end, I could have convinced myself that I did everything possible."

"Do you think so negative of yourself, Mister Hatake?"

With that, she penetratingly tickled his ego. "I admit that I am sometimes dogged and perfectionist, ma'am. I wanted to eradicate every possible weak point in advance so that we as a team could achieve a full one hundred percent in the actual game."

Tsunade narrowed her eyes slightly. "So, you sent the other members home."

"Yes, ma'am."

"What happened then?"

Gradually he felt like he was in a real interrogation, and he had to present his alibi. This was only about the fact that he and Rin had been overheard having sex, why did they make such a fuss about it? "I stayed in the hall for a short time, alone."

"Why?"

"Because Mister Shikaku Nara questioned my authority as captain at the meeting and I was a little upset about it. I had to calm down first."

"And after you had calmed down?"

"I left the gym and wanted to go home, but Miss Rin Nohara intercepted me in the hallway." He felt stupid to call Shikaku and Rin so official, but he had the impression that he had to prove something here, even if it was just his discipline.

"What did she want from you?" Tsunade probed and let her hands sink onto the tabletop, which drew Kakashi's attention to her cleavage for an unnecessarily long moment. He focused on the headmistress's face again and said slowly, "She wanted to.. have sex."

Tsunade's brow furrowed. "Is that so?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Why did she want sex with you?"

Heat and at the same time biting cold spread across Kakashi's face. A drop of sweat ran down his temple. "Miss Rin Nohara and I have... We have been meeting irregularly for sex since November last year."

Tsunade leaned back in her crumpled swivel chair, slapped one leg on the other, played with her own fingernails in the air and asked, again in that knowing voice, "Are you aware that Miss Rin Nohara has been in a committed relationship with Mister Obito Uchiha since mid-February?"

Again, Kakashi had to swallow. "Yes, ma'am."

"And would you consider Mister Obito Uchiha a friend of yours?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"And yet you claim to have an affair with Miss Rin Nohara?"

"Yes, ma'am, we do. Rin wanted to keep it secret."

"Why?"

"I don't know," Kakashi replied honestly. "We never talked about it. She just asked me to do it, so I complied with her request. Only Miss Rin Nohara herself can answer this question." Gradually, this 'Miss Rin Nohara' got on his nerves, especially when they talked about the exchange of bodily fluids in the same sentence.

"I talked to Miss Rin Nohara, and she said that she doesn't have any deeper relationship with you, either emotionally or physically. She said that the two of you only know each other superficially through your joint contact with Mister Obito Uchiha."

The world around Kakashi turned into a giant cotton ball that muffled every sensory perception. "What?" gasped a strange voice that came out of his mouth.

The fumbling of Tsunade's fingers stopped and now she had a look on that clearly signaled to Kakashi that he was indeed under interrogation. "Furthermore, Miss Rin Nohara said that that meeting on Friday was not her idea. She told me that you asked her to wait for you in the women's locker room at sports hall B after class because you had something to discuss with her. Then you harassed her and confessed your, and I quote, 'undying love' to her. When she didn't reciprocate, you pushed her to the ground and forced her to have sexual intercourse with you."

"She's lying," Kakashi blurted out, still in his padded world. "These are lies, I didn't rape her."

"So, you deny that this, well, let's call it 'dialogue' took place between you?" With pricked fingers she lifted the corner of the file.

"No," Kakashi stressed. "That took place, but it's a bit out of context."

"What context? Enlighten me," Tsunade said coldly, waving her hand through the air.

Kakashi sensed deep in his dazed brain that nothing he had to offer in his defense would change the situation, but he had to at least try. He couldn't just accept this accusation. "I admit that I did something Rin didn't like." He already saw Tsunade start to speak, so he quickly continued, "She intercepted me in the corridor between the locker room and the gym, pulled me into the locker room and made me hot." He didn't give a shit that he didn't express himself in an uplifted and respectful way. This was not about etiquette, but about his reputation, his freedom, his whole fucking life. "She gave me head until I was hard and then allured me with her words. She said she wanted my huge dick or something like that, I don't have that exactly in my head anymore. That made me horny and I went a little rougher, but she likes to be touched like that. She likes to be choked and fucked hard, which is why she sometimes makes sounds that could leave the impression that she is crying or whimpering. That day she begged that I wouldn't come inside her because I didn't have a condom on. That was a mistake, I'm aware of that. But the act itself was voluntary. SHE dragged ME into the locker room, not the other way around." With that he had actually explained everything.

But Tsunade seemed unimpressed. "Then you claim that you are the victim here?"

Kakashi opened his mouth, had to let these words sink in for a moment, but then said, "No, that's not what I mean. There is no victim here, neither me nor Rin. I just wanted to note that she slept with me of her own free will. I didn't impose myself on her, touch her against her will or rape her. These are simply.. misunderstandings."

"Misunderstandings?" Tsunade repeated, turning her chair slightly back and forth. "So, you want to imply that a fairly detailed testimony with amazingly precise dialogue memory and the testimony of Miss Rin Nohara personally are misunderstandings?"

"Yes.. I.. I don't know why Rin claims there's nothing between us. I assure you that we sleep together more often, three times since this Friday alone – Saturday evening in Obito's basement, on Monday in her bedroom and last night.. well.. in nature, so to speak. I can prove it to you. She has a small birthmark next to her left nipple and a scar on her left buttock. She got it from a fall as a child, she told me."

"I can hardly check that."

"Her lip gloss tastes like chewing gum."

"You can also find out such things when you rape her. That's not evidence."

"Please, Misses Kusuri," Kakashi pleaded. "It is true what I say. We have an affair, admittedly. Obito doesn't know anything about it, admittedly. We had illicit sex in the locker room, admittedly. But I did NOT rape her." Suddenly something occurred to him. "Ask her father."

"Doctor Nohara?"

"Yes. On Monday, when I went to her, he opened the door for me. If there was nothing between Rin and me, he wouldn't have let me in. Right?"

"Doctor Nohara was present throughout the conversation. He didn't say anything about you being at the family estate on Monday, Mister Hatake," Tsunade said sternly.

"But I was," Kakashi replied vehemently, noticing that he was speaking louder than before, and readjusting his temper. He had to stay cool, even though he couldn't. "I'm not lying. Really not. She likes to be fucked hard, but she also loves to take the lead. She is very dominant, likes to ride, likes to do unorthodox things like sex that could be overheard, or games with urine."

"Be quiet—"

"I think that's why she wanted it in the locker room. She loves the danger of being caught. Maybe that gives her a kick or something, I don't know, but whenever we do something like that, she comes very quickly."

"Enough! Such invented details are of no relevance." Tsunade paused in her swing.

"Yes, they apparently are, because they are not invented and you don't want to believe me. I don't know how else to prove it. Because of Obito, no one knows and there are no photos of us or—YES!" He almost roared it, so that Tsunade and Minato flinched. "There is a video."

Tsunade tilted her head. "Excuse me?"

"A video. A video was made on Saturday. I.. I don't know if you can see Rin on it, but she was there. Maybe you can hear her voice."

"If Miss Rin Nohara is not to be seen, what good is a video? But where was she? What does this video show?"

"It shows how I—" Something in him blocked. His brain was screaming for him to be silent. He had said enough, too much.

"Keep talking, Mister Hatake."

Kakashi lowered his head and shook it slightly.

"Mister Hatake. What does this video show?"

Tears welled up in his eyes, but he couldn't utter a word. If he told about this video, it would come out what happened in that basement. And he did not want to expose himself to this shame. He blinked several times. "I just remembered that the video was destroyed. It can't serve as proof for me. But please, believe me." He looked up, glad that his eyes were dry again. "The sex between Rin and me was always based on consent. I could never have done anything to her."

"That you say that is fascinating, because Miss Rin Nohara claims the opposite. She also told me that you will certainly say something along those lines if you are questioned. She told me that you have been harassing her for a long time and want to go out with her, fully aware of her relationship with Mister Obito Uchiha. But she said you said to her, and I'll allow myself an indirect quote again, that she should think of your cock when Obito gets it for her. She called you 'obsessed' with her. In the past, you probably didn't want to take no for an answer, but she would never have thought you could go so far as to force her to have sexual intercourse. She only agreed to the meeting on Friday because she was afraid of you. You had have threatened her with violence a few times. So do you still claim that you never did anything to her?"

Kakashi didn't know what else to say to that. By now he felt a tickle on his shin, because it was no longer just his fingertips with which he clawed into his knees, and he pressed his nails through fabric and skin into his flesh. The daze of his ears and eyeballs had given way to a fast throbbing, with which he could at least be sure that he still had a heartbeat at all, because there was nothing left in his chest, only an infinite emptiness.

Tsunade sat down again in a formal posture. "Mister Hatake. We cannot ignore such accusations, which is why the teachers' committee unanimously decided yesterday in the preliminary discussion of the case to expel you from the school if Miss Rin Nohara confirms the allegations. You will be banned from the entire St. Kensington Academy grounds, which will take effect as soon as you leave today. In addition, your scholarship will be withdrawn, which will also be cancelled with immediate effect. Since further legal action can only be initiated by Miss Rin Nohara herself, I will unfortunately not be allowed to take any action in this regard on behalf of St. Kensington Academy. Do you understand these points, Mister Hatake?"

Kakashi sat there as if petrified, kept bleeding into his uniform at his knees.

"Mister Hatake. Have you understood these points?"

A jolt went through his body, which felt like a nod. He couldn't open his mouth, nor could his lungs have taken in enough oxygen to utter a word.

"Very good. I now ask you to let Mister Namikaze guide you calmly to the boundary of the school grounds. If you resist, I will be forced to call the police. You can go."

When Kakashi didn't respond at first, Minato pulled him rudely to his feet by the upper arm. "Move," he growled and almost pushed Kakashi out of the headmaster's office. The march down felt like going to the gallows – though Kakashi came from it. But the rope around his neck hadn't loosened just because he had left the podium. He had just been executed, and was now nothing more than a walking, halfway breathing corpse, led to his Beetle by Minato Namikaze, his favorite teacher, his mentor.

Minato waited until Kakashi was seated, then gave him another look as if he wanted to say something, but slammed the door shut without a word and crossed his arms again, while his face changed back to that disgusted grimace.

A small, longing spark in Kakashi wanted to open the window and talk to Minato, maybe hear a few last, well-intentioned farewell words from him. Two years ago in secondary school, Minato had discussed admission to Kensington with him, he had always praised him, they had gotten along well, even later as his sports teacher he had taken care of him, he had made him captain, he had always supported him. And now he looked at him as if he were the rotting carcass of a rat under the porch, which had been spreading a nauseating stench for months. He lowered his head, away from the once friendly face, started the engine and drove off. The closer the crunching tires of his Beetle came to the school gate, the more brutally the realization hit him: He had been suspended, would never be allowed to set foot in this school again. He might not have liked Kensington, had remained an outsider despite his general popularity, but this place had been the manifestation of his future. And he now left it behind him, just like the crimson walls of the Gothic building.

He drove a bit towards the city center, out of Altrincham. His hands clenched more and more around the steering wheel and when he didn't even notice a road sign because of his veiled view and a Vauxhall almost slammed into his side, he decided to pull off the main road, steered his car into an inanimate dead end and switched off the engine.

It was certainly good for those around him that he had stopped, but for him it meant that he could no longer concentrate on driving and his thoughts completely buried him. He took a hissing breath, bit the steering wheel and started screaming. Tears ran down his cheeks, his fingernails dug into his wrists. Hatred and disappointment flowed through his whole body, burning every of his organ. He felt that he was going to vomit, was just able to tear open the door and throw up his meager breakfast on the damp asphalt. Tears and saliva joined in, he spat out his bitter stomach acid and wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his uniform. He didn't care that he messed it up by that. He didn't need it anymore anyway.

With a smash he closed the door again, inhaled through his snarky nose, exhaled through his mouth, blowing a few drops of his saliva onto the horn. He wiped them away. Then he hit it. The tinny honk echoed on the surrounding houses and somewhere a dog began to bark.

It was shortly after ten. What should he do now? Where should he go? He couldn't go home. He couldn't look his father in the face and tell him that he had failed. It was impossible. Because that would make things creepily real. But he couldn't just sit here in his car either, he'd just go mad and drown in his endless hatred of Rin. Again, he hit the horn. He needed distraction.

His gaze darted up to a phone box a little way down the street. Resolutely, he got out, stood in the narrow booth and dialed the number from the Maito family's house telephone. Dai was in his studio, Gai was at school, and a thin silver lining formed on Kakashi's dark horizon that Kina was home and awake. She was the only person he could bear around him now.

It rang several times until it clicked softly and Kina answered. "Maito on the phone, hello?"

Scruples came over him. If he wanted to talk to her, he had to explain to her what had happened, but he didn't want to. He never wanted to mention this matter again.

"Hello?", Kina probed. "Who's there? I hear you breathing. If you're one of those sick stalkers, please fuck off and never call here again."

Kakashi closed his mouth, had actually panted softly. He swallowed, his mouth was still a little bitter. "Kina..", he finally managed to say with a scratchy throat.

"Kashi..? Is that you? Why are you calling?"

He wanted to see her, he wanted company, he wanted a familiar person around him, so that his body wouldn't just do what his desperation thought, not give in to this urge that would express his worthlessness. "Would you like to meet me? Somewhere? Do something?" He sounded rough, as if his vocal cords had rusted months ago, but he didn't want to clear his throat either.

"Don't you have school?"

"Yes.."

Silence. Then Kina said resolutely, but with a softness in her voice that almost triggered another crying fit in Kakashi, "Pick me up. Quarter of an hour?"

Kakashi didn't reply, but hung the phone on the hook, his change jingling into the dispenser. He took it, shoved it in his trouser pocket and returned to his car. Now he had a task. He drove to the Crescents, parked on the hard shoulder near the end of William Kent, and waited. It had taken him just five minutes to cover the distance, as he realized after looking at the clock.

Sighing, he fingered a pack of cigarettes from the glove compartment that had been flying around in it for months and lit one. Because of his father's cough, he had actually decided not to smoke tobacco anymore, because he didn't want to end up the same, but his brain was happy about the nicotine.

After the heavy rain last night, it was surprisingly serene again today. In front of the blazing sun only now and then a wisp of cloud pushed and so Kakashi already started to sweat on half of his cigarette. He took off his jacket, threw it carelessly on the back seat, the tie joined right in, and he rolled up the sleeves of his shirt. In addition, he cranked down the window completely, blew out the smoke and turned on the radio so that it was not so quiet around him. Immediately, his mix boomed off at a deafening volume. He grimaced, slipped in another of his many cassettes and I Melt With You started. Ah, it was the tape he had put together for feel-good rides – although he had screwed up a bit with the song at the beginning.

But maybe he only felt that way because the title alone had to remind him of this godless whore. Kakashi dragged, dropped his arm on the edge of the door and expelled the smoke again in one blow. Miss motherfucking Rin Nohara. Seven months. For seven months he had been sneaking after her like a whining stray, begging for her attention and affection, and she had been fooling him all the time. Love, melting, becoming one.. All lies. It was all just a show for him to satisfy her. Because he wasn't worth more than his fucking cock. Less than twelve hours ago, he had realized that he had to mean little to nothing to her, but that she was accusing him of such things was unbelievable. Yes, he couldn't believe it, but it was so, he had to understand it. How stupid he had been to think that she could feel something for him, even appreciate him as a human being so much that she didn't destroy his life.

Rin's betrayal broke everything in him apart, every glimmer of hope. Because of her deceitfulness, his entire world was in shambles. He was standing in front of an oversized mountain of shit that he didn't know how to climb. It was over. It was all over. His life was meaningless. Everything he had achieved so far had become null and void with this one lie. His dream was over, now he had to wake up. But he didn't want that. He did not want to confront this cold reality that awaited him. He didn't want to face the pile of shards that was now his life.

A rhythmic knock tore him out of his thoughts, his arm twitched up, a good piece of the cigarette that had burned unsmoked during his trance fell off. Kina stood next to the passenger door and drummed her knuckles on the window. It took Kakashi a moment to realize that she was doing this to the beat of Girl U Want. He smirked slightly, put the rest of his cigarette between his lips, leaned over the seat and pulled up the nipple so that she could get in. Groaning, she dropped into the seat. "Even without a uniquely colorful car, I would have only had to follow the disco to find you," she roared over the music.

Kakashi turned the volume down a little. "Like a beacon in the night." He dragged one last time, threw the stub out of the window and got a strip of chewing gum from the glove compartment, Kina also shoved one into her mouth. "And?" she asked smacking, made a bubble, burst it and continued, "Where are we going?"

"I don't know, far away," Kakashi answered and drove off. Although he had kept his eyes fixed on the street, he noticed out of the corner of his eye that Kina was staring at him. He stopped at a traffic light and sighed heavily. "Kensington kicked me out," he muttered, saving her an attempt at persuasion to find out the reason for their adventure.

Kina, who had opened the window on the passenger side and hung with her arm on the edge, raised her head. "Really?"

"Yes, otherwise I would be in class now." Another sigh. She didn't need to ask the question. "I.." How did you formulate something like that? "A girl accused me of raping her."

A cough came from the side. Kina tapped her fist on her sternum and wheezed at the top of her lungs. Kakashi helped her get the gum out of the windpipe that was flapping against the dashboard, and she asked in a choked voice, "What?!"

"Yes.."

"Who's this cunt?"

Kakashi looked at the traffic lights. "Don't you want to know if I did it?"

"Kashi," Kina snorted reproachfully. "I've known you for fifteen years. You're not that kind of person, I know that."

"You say yourself that I have changed."

"Yes, but not like that!"

"So not changed after all?"

"Oh, shut up," Kina grumbled. "I already told you yesterday what I mean. And my Kashi doesn't just become a rapist."

This 'my Kashi' boomed suspiciously long against Kakashi's cerebral cortex. Kina had been the first to call him that, because she had had some logopaedic problems as a child and had not been able to pronounce his name. Since then, he had only heard this nickname from her and later from Rin. To this day, he had never had anything against it. But it wasn't just the renewed memory of a supposedly good time with Rin that threw him off his game. It was also this 'my' that Kina had put in front of it, just like yesterday when she had come to school. Why 'my'? And why did he like that? Perhaps he was thinking too much.

"So," Kina said into the short silence, only interrupted by Stone Cold Crazy. "Who claims such garbage?"

Kakashi took a deep breath. "Miss Rin Nohara."

"That niminy-piminy princess from yesterday?"

"Yes."

"I was suspicious of her right away."

Kakashi frowned. Kina was probably only taking his side because she thought it was polite.

His reaction had not escaped her. "No, really. I thought yesterday that this was a tart. I know those that from boarding school, there are a lot of such cows running around who think the world belongs to them. I noticed that she was constantly pining for you, even though she's with this Obito guy. Was that an act of revenge on her part because you don't want anything from her?"

"No," he replied softly, so that his voice was almost drowned in the music. "We had a thing going on."

"No shit?"

"No shit."

And then Kakashi started talking, and once he started, he couldn't stop. He told Kina every little detail about his relationship with Rin, Obito and the other boys, about the constant parties, that they had made him blaze again, about his first time, this miserable secretiveness with Rin, how much it annoyed him, how much he wished more from her, how she took advantage of him, yes, also from Saturday, which finally gave Kina an answer to what Mei had meant by 'video'. He didn't leave anything out, except maybe the details about the sex, Kina didn't necessarily need to know that. Meanwhile he drove aimlessly north, they stopped in Middleton, had lunch, were glad that Kina had taken her pocket money with her, because with Kakashi's few pence he could just about make a local call. The whole time Kakashi talked and Kina was mostly silent, only asking a question every now and then. She was a good listener, she had always been. She took the burden off Kakashi's shoulders, instead made him feel like he wasn't alone, showed the right reactions in the right places – from widening her eyes in horror to curling her upper lip in disgust to angry looks that almost cost a fire hydrant its life. You could tell very well that she was Gai's sister. Their ability to empathize was probably the only thing the two had in common.

For a while there had been silence in the car, Just Like Heaven blared on the radio, the engine hummed quietly under the sun as they drove to Bolton for no specific reason. Kakashi had never found the silence with Kina bad. You could talk to her well, but just as well you could just enjoy existing with her and do nothing. That was exactly what he needed after this morning. Only now did he realize again how much he had missed Kina. He understood, after all, Sayuri's new husband paid for Kina's schooling and so she could go to St. Albion's College, which was just as big a steppingstone for her as Kensington should have been for Kakashi. Without this boarding school, she would probably have soured in Hulme as well. But that had always meant that she was in London for the school year, only returning home for the summer holidays. And she was right, this circumstance had caused them to become a little estranged. Outside of the holidays, he'd hardly ever given her a thought, floating around in his Kensington bubble, which had finally suffocated him. It was only now, when they were together again, that it was almost as it had been before, as if she had never been away. The only thing missing was–

"Oh!" Kina said and Kakashi flinched in shock, briefly lost control of the car, but quickly swerved back into his lane. "What?!" he asked in panic.

Kina pointed to the radio, grinned and began to rattle off a song lyric at breakneck speed. "That's great, it starts with an earth~quake, birds and snakes and aeroplanes.. and Lenny Bruce is not afraid, eye-of-a-hurricane-listen-to-yourself-chum-world-serves-its-own-needs...–"

Kakashi laughed loudly into her babble. "Why are you even trying?"

She hit him on the shoulder, animated him to join in with a wave of her hand. „… wire-in-a-fire-represent-the-seven-games-fuck-it-I-lost-my-rhythm, he-is-way-too-fast, help-me-now-and-don't-laugh-like-that.. –"

Kakashi still shook his head with a grin, joined in at "team by team" and unanimously they managed to follow Michael Stipes' fast singing for a few bars, but soon gave up, bursting into lung-smashing laughter, until they both finally sang, "It's the end of the world as we know it~"

Kakashi leaned his head out of the window, bawling this message into the wind.

"It's the end of the world as we know it~"

Kina pulled him back in.

"It's the end of the world as we know it.." They both lowered their voices a little, beamed at each other. ".. and I feel fine.."

Kakashi looked into Kina's glowing, purple eyes, laughed and as he moved a single tear fell from his eyelashes to his cheek, where it ran down to his jaw and dripped onto his shirt. Before he looked ahead again, he pressed a quick, grateful kiss on her cheek. Yes, he was very happy that she was with him.