#kakashi and Gai use to talk about how when the war was over they were both going to date and just live the life they both wanted but

[maoam]

Okay I want to talk about this comic here. It’s an old comic, made during or after the Kages arc. For context, the creator is a Hinata stan, Team 8 stan and NH stan. I just want to talk about how these heteronormative stans read the manga wrong.

“Hinata: Note to self, if female, don’t try to be a hero!” Except she’s wrong. Temari saved Shikamaru’s ass in part 1 already. She was also a great leader during the 4th shinobi war. And what about some others? Tsunade broke down Susanoo and healed her teammates while being broken in half, Karin took down a monster kages couldn’t, and Ino took control of the Ten-tails and stopped its attacks and connected the whole shinobi army.

Just because your favorite wasn’t heroic doesn’t mean it’s because she’s a female. It’s because she’s written to be weak and selfish. There was nothing she could have done against Pain, and she was told she would only be in Naruto’s way, but confessing her feelings was more important for her.

“Sakura: Do you realize you just started the pairing war?” It’s like these people were ALMOST aware Kishimoto didn’t give a damn about their het pairings.

“Naruto: Sasuke I wish I knew how to quite you!” Stupid homophobic Brokeback Mountain joke. Which is made even funnier when I tell you after the ending she said SNS weren’t denied anything, Naruto and Sasuke were always portrayed as brothers (again a person who doesn’t know common gay plotlines and storytelling tools) bla bla bla. So Naruto and Sasuke were always portrayed as brothers but something triggered you in Kages arc so much you had to resort into a gay joke to demean Naruto’s pain over Sasuke?

“Sai: You are a bitch for making him suffer” That’s not what he said though, he said they all rely too much on Naruto. Which is true, especially for Sakura who treats him like dirt all the time.

“Sakura: I wonder what Kishi thinks I’m gonna do with a bloody kunai” What you do best Sakura, fail. Because that has been your characterization for the entire manga except for that one fight where you were used as a puppet.

“Sasuke: Why won’t you let me kill something?” I know this person dislikes Sasuke (probably for taking Naruto’s attention from Hinata and not wanting to fuck girls she stans so hard) so I’m not surprised how she omitted all the reason why Sasuke was having a breakdown. You know, the whole genocide of his clan and all. Finding out Konoha used his brother... finding out the discrimination towards the Uchiha. But nah, let’s just make Sasuke look like he is doing it for the lulz.

“Sakura: Kakashi-sensei is so hot” Don’t know what this is all about, Sakura isn’t attracted to him lol.

“Sakura: Just when I thought I would be able to do something awesome. But nooo they need to have their stupid macho time. Being a girl in this manga sucks.” It’s just you and Hinata. You two are useless. Try to be Shino, he’s sidelined all the time. Newsflash, the manga was always about Naruto and Sasuke’s love.

“Sakura: Fuck this shit, I’m gonna be a lesbian” Yes because women become lesbians when they can’t get a man and not because they’re homosexuals.

This is what happens when you read a manga only for a character who is not relevant.

#naruto ramblings #sns #narusasu #sasunaru

[depressedhatakekakashi]

1 (looking at T*birama), 3, 8, 13, 16, 21, 22 & 23 for the asking game :3

(I also chose violence today)

the character everyone gets wrong

For Tobirama i just wish people would stop acting like he doesn’t have problems. It’s fine to like a character because you think they’re cool (a lot of people like Madara as well) but let’s not act all surprised when you realize that people hate that character for very valid reason’s (making lots of jutsu’s doesn’t make up for being a ninja racist/hateful jerkwad)

Also, everything people credit him with making in the village to ‘prove he’s the best hokage’ are things that were wrong with the system or other’s made better. Chunin exam (kids fighting kids. Wrong!), acadamy (good idea but kakashi and Iruka made it better by extending it to other’s so they could learn shinobi skills without expecting to become shinobi), Police force (making one entire clan the one’s in charge of a police force is NEVER a good idea. It does not show ‘trust’ it show’s that he thought they could only be useful to the village in one area)

screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr

Ohhh there’s so many.

Right now i’m going to have to go with ‘Hinata didn’t care about her sister and was only on the mission because of Naruto’. Hinata love’s her sister and was trying to rescue her. She cared deeply about her sister and her being caught off guard by Naruto’s confession doesn’t wash that away. It means she was caught off guard

‘Oh but naruto said-‘

Yes, and Hinata’s not caught off guard by ‘we need to rescue hinabi’ because that’s why they’re there. She doesn’t need to be told why they’re there. She was on the moon and almost married a creep to try and get close to her sister and save her

Thinking about naruto in her dreams doesn’t damn her. We literally do not control our dreams and at this point she at least knows her sister is alive and she is actively trying to do something to save her

Stop shitting on my girl for her crush jfc

common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

Kakashi didn’t care about Sakura/Didn’t teach her anything

Tell me you didn’t read the manga without telling me you didn’t read the manga. Sakura is not the main character so if she’s not in the scene her development takes a back seat to Naruto’s, but Kishi constantly writes throughout the story about how much Kakashi cares about all of his students. He notices Sakura’s skill with chakra control, he teaches her the Qi release, he protects her throughout the war arc (which is an act of PLATONIC LOVE).

worst blorboficiation

You know what, Tobirama. Since we went over this

Love your man but stop acting like he isn’t a hateful douch canoe

you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

Perfect good at everything Sakura. Hate it.

But ok i’ll choose another one. Bottom Kakashi. And i choose this specificlly because i’ve had people come at me for daring to not ship him exclusively as a bottom. 1) we have no idea of Kakashi’s canon sexual preference so it’s fair game all ways. I scroll past ‘pillow princess kakashi’ content you scroll past mine and leave me tf alone 2) it is ILLIGAL to talk about what a nice ass character’s like Obito and Gai have, and then not let Kakashi fuck them. That’s rude. 3) kakashi doesn’t ‘need to let lose and let someone else be in control’. That’s not even what being a bottom is. He can be the sub and still top his partner ffs

part of canon you think is overhyped

Pein arc. Honestly the only thing i would change is have Naruto actually use Kakashi’s number one lesson to him. Team work.

Also i’d have Iruka make the sacrifice to save Naruto, not Hinata. Hinata was beautiful and her reason’s were solid, but Iruka jumping in to protect Naruto would be beautiful. He’d still get his ass kicked but Naruto losing his cool would make so much more sense because we know how important Iruka is to him.

Also, that little part where Kakashi and Sasuke face off. I think i’d want the fight to be a wee bit longer, and for Kakashi to acknowledge danzo’s death and flat out tell Sasuke he does not care. Man did not give a shit about Danzo and he was not there at all because Sasuke ‘killed the hokage’. In fact, for Kakashi that was probably a gift because he clearly didn’t respect danzo since he fucked off out of the village when it was against the law to,

your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

Ohhh that’s hard to choose.

Maybe…. Kakashi turning away from Tsunade trying to give him a mission and walking away to go try and save Naruto and Sasuke.

A lot of people like to act like Kakashi only cared about Sasuke, but he clearly was willing to ignore the Hokage for both of his students and felt responsible for what happened even though it wasn’t his fault. Like the only thing he could have done was stayed behind so the sound four never got to Sasuke, but that would also involve ignoring hokage’s order’s and not going out on a mission

Oh, also him telling Jiraiya off for teaching Naruto the rasangan and telling him to talk to him about using it against friends. People constantly get on his case about chatting with Sasuke about trying to use Chidori on Naruto, but then conveniently forget he was trying to hold jiraiya responsible (it was jiraiya’s responsibility to talk to Naruto at that point. He’d told Kakashi to let him care for Naruto’s training so it was his job to ensure Naruto wasn’t using rasangan against friends)

Oh and JIRAIYA TELLING KAKASHI TO LET HIM TAKE CARE OF TRAINING NARUTO. People act like Kakashi just chose to focus on Sasuke cuz favoritism and ignore that he was being pulled two ways (between sasuke and naruto) until Jiraiya stepped in and told him to focus on Sasuke,

ship you've unwillingly come around to

Other than Yamato and gai (which i’m still meh on) i haven’t really ‘come around’ to any ship.

[wind-becomes-lightning]

Meet me in the woods (6)

Sora Sarutobi is a sheltered child, set safe with parents, classmates and clan, wanting for nothing. He is nobody, living through more terrible things in the first six years of is life than others do in a lifetime. When they meet by accident, Sora’s life is changed forever.

uh - hi! It has been a minute! I'm not sure how many of you are still around, but I've had this mostly finished for a good while. I just was very busy in august and early September (And end July for that matter), so I could only finish it today. 

Grown up Sora looks like this (click)

Yamato | Tenzou / OC

canon known pregnancy mention.

9888 words.

Tenzo becomes Yamato, Asuma has some news for Sora, then the early war days find Konoha.

6. A Sarutobi Death.

In the next months Tenzo stayed away from everyone that was not related to his ANBU squad. He didn’t talk to Kakashi or Gai or anyone else. After his missions he retreated back into his apartment by himself, bought two or ten plants to put around him to feel homely. He tried taking evening walks in the forest just outside the village boundaries, but he found himself unable to take the rustling of leaves overhead. Somehow his own abilities had ruined the love for forests he used to have when he was young.

So he stayed away when he could, making his own food, taking care of his plants, delivering his missions, training only in ANBU facilities, never leaving his mask behind if he could help it. Kakashi tried reaching out, stopping Tenzo once or twice on the street to talk to him, but the younger man could always come up with an excuse or other to get out of having to talk to him. Feelings were not something Tenzo was good at openly discussing and any talk with Kakashi would just bring questions that Tenzo didn’t feel like answering, mostly because he himself didn’t know how to answer them.

***

Sleep, work, research, sleep, work, research, sleep work research… Sora’s days were full to the brim with things to do. She was so tired - all the time in fact, but now that she could actually work what she always wanted to work on, she did not want to slow down. The improvements of her clients were visible and she was discussing with Lady Fifth to eventually transfer even more people from the hospital into her care. At the same time she was talking to a branch of the Yamanaka family, that had always been specialists with brain and brain waves and therefore were taking her example and working on a very similar clinic, maybe for a different clientele, but the cooperation was very fruitful.

The fear in the air of the village was easily felt. There might be a different war coming, everybody talked about it in hushed tones and whispers. The Akatsuki, which Sora understood to be a group of rogue ninja that wanted to take over the world, were now more and more on the move. They had attacked the Kazekage and almost succeeded in killing him, and they were accordingly attacking other villages. According to Asuma, who had sat down with her one lunch break, they were attacking multiple villages to steal their bijuu. It was only a matter of time until Konoha’s bijuu would be targeted. Sora couldn’t help but think of Iruka and his specific love for Naruto.

[More on Ao3]

#oc: sora #fanfiction things #yamato tenzou x oc #tenzo x oc #not that... anyone cares really but yo

[headoverheelss]

Gai: I’m so sorry

Kakashi: It’s alright Gai.

(Au where Gai did not survive opening the 8th gate and Kakashi sees his ghost one night)

#kakagai #Gai is waiting on the other side for Kakashi #kakashi and Gai use to talk about how when the war was over they were both going to date and just live the life they both wanted but #unfortunately life has other plans #and Kakashi is okay with it he would have done the same thing

[lexpressobean]

I've been thinking about these 3 alot...

... and how much they seem to really respect Shino. I know it's a filler, but, like... Why does it seem like Shino has a knack for finding children who have wondered off away from school? Like, he's just taking a walk, making his way around the village or surrounding forest, and then there they are. Kids playing hooky or some shit. And Shino just takes it upon himself to approach them and steer them back to where they should be, while getting them attached to him somehow in the process??

But honestly. If this was just one of many times this had happened, I'd say Shino does this not out of his knack for teaching or having a way with kids. Rather, he developed a way with kids and easily applies that to his teaching because he has a strong desire to simply protect children. And it's not even from some paternal instinct as much as survival, because I think it stems from the developing trauma of losing Torune to Danzo. And I don't think it's all subconscious either.

Like I know the novel and anime frames his desicion to teach as a sort of a new goal in life as the war has ended for a couple years already and a noticable Peace has been achieved by the Blank Period and well... He's an Aburame.

Like, the Aburame are literal living, breathing, walking bioweapons. With no fight to utilize that, what else is there? Well, much like the Nara have the Nara forest and Pharmacology specifically, The Aburame most likely have a historical stake in the area of Konoha, perhaps it was simply in their Ancestral Home. Idk, but they're here to stay, they ain't budging. They're Clan Culture is very Martial and I'd argue Spartan in nature, but otherwise, they do other things too. I think they'd do well as major players in the conservation and research of native species of animals and plants, but definitely insects too. I bet they play a huge part in the general area's ecosystem, especially due to the fact that the Kamizuru clan attacked with a whole clan's worth of non-native Hymenoptera that could very well have become and still are an irritatingly and consistent problem as invasive species tend to be. And as a far as goods go, why not put some of them to use and handle an apiary? Honey is a great good to sell. All of this is great as a clan that no longer needs to fight. But, what about individual members in general, and so Shino?

Well Shino is the Heir of this clan. This Noble Clan. This "ready to throw hands at any moment" clan. It's future is in his hands, so to speak. So I doubt Shino would completely sever his connection to Shinobi life all together. And so, teaching at the Academy would be a great way to keep that connection. Teachers have to know their stuff, after all.

But what if in order to ensure teaching was his calling, Shino did his absolute best to make Jounin ASAP so he could take on a Genin Team. And. And by chance, it ended up being these three?? And they are absolutely STOKED!!! And they also pass Shino's genin test, which... would probably be a feat in it's own right. But they already know Shino, and Shino has bestowed upon them some wisdom they actually took to heart! Yeah, well, in reality they might be just a tad too old to be Shino's first official genin squad, but they were still his squad one point in a sense, right?

Kon Nohara, Tano Ikemoto, and Aoki Kobayashi

I even gave them names help Imagine these three are already chuunin at least and decide they want to pay Shino a visit and even volunteer to help Shino during class time on a collective day off because they admire him so much (T~T)

But even then if not these three kiddos, maybe these three li'l shits lol

Even in times of Peace, Shino's special set of skills seem too useful to waste, and being a Jounin teacher would definitely have been a way he could still go on missions, but also definitely commit to becoming a Sensei at the academy once he was 100% sure and got older. Kurenai became a Jounin/Genin Squad Leader in her late twenties, but in comparison I see Shino doing that more mid-20s. (He needs some time to travel and find his big bug friend and generally live a little?)

Kurenai was a Genjutsu Specialist who manned a Tracker/Sensing based team. This sounds like it was a highly beneficial combination, even if she ended up being somewhat sadistic lol. Asuma was bound to Team 10 by Tradition as InoShikaCho and Sarutobi have that Pact together. Kakashi's team was literally Cherry Picked for him specifically by the 3rd Hokage. And Gai, a Taijutsu Specialist, had a team that Specialized in Taijutsu and Physical Offense.

Of all four teams, Kurenai and Gai were very suited to their teams, Gai in a complimentary way and Kurenai in a Challenging way. In that same vein, I think Shino would imitate Gai. Shino as a Shinobi himself has a general set of skills, but the way he goes about them are very niche. But, he was always very stealthy, and could sneak up on nearly anyone. Gags aside, he could go unnoticed as long as he wanted too, and by the time he was noticed or was ready to attack, he has you quite literally surrounded. Honestly I can see why Search and Destroy would be an Aburame's forte, but when there's no need, a person with a personal skill of high quality stealth could probably man a team with an emphasis on Reconnaissance and/or Surveillance, even Bodyguarding. I feel like Shino would probably put an emphasis on Stealth and Tracking too, utilizing his insects as sort of assistants that keep tabs on his students (Stealth Test) as well as to encourage just enough fear during too much down time in his students to inspire quality training opportunities, so maybe Kurenai rubbed off on Shino more than they all realized haha

(Plus I'm sure his students would be be smart and thoughtful enough to eventually understand what Shino and his bugs are: a complete unit. They realize just how strong and dedicated Sensei really is to be the way he is, and they all learn more in depth about Kikaichu and it's like WOW SENSEI YOU REALLY ARE RISKING BEING EATEN ALIVE EVERY SINGLE DAY, AREN'T YOU? But he's still here, because THAT'S how strong he's become over the years and the confidence to manipulate the Kikaichu while having to think of current chakra level, the most efficient use at any given time, how many he actually needs, how long usage will last, ect. They are high maintenance, man!)

Shino would no doubt produce highly skilled Bodyguards and Masters of Stealth. Maybe the type that would end up being in high demand for the eventual Celebrities that start to pop up as times change, but still very much needed when it comes to Criminal Activity, like in Sora-Ku?

But as time passes and he decided to teach at the Academy, he'd feel very at ease to do so. He'd be happy to be put in charge of all these children, because he would be able to help teach them things they need to know to defend themselves and others in a world where adults like Danzo had and will continue to exist. Maybe while he's at it, he'd use his stance as a Noble Clan Heir and accomplished Shinobi to push for changes in government with Sai's help and with Naruto and Shikamaru's cooperation? Like, the truth does come out, everyone on the Council were actually horrible and had too much power. So HERE are some ideas and REASONS why these ideas should be implemented because Shino's not going to let his brother's life and death be in vain!? HELL no, we WILL make some changes around here. Shino sees his students and just wants a future where no kid ever has to live in fear of being completely taken advantage of by the very system that was supposed to keep them safe and they pledged allegiance to.

I cannot help but think of the quiet but absolute fear little Shino was harboring for the years to come after Torune was taken by that strange man and Father Shibi didn't even attempt to stop him. His own father didn't dare beat the shit out of this strange man who came looking for him, and the only solution for Shino to stay was for Torune to make himself look more desirable as an asset and be taken instead. I bet there was a lot of misplaced resentment there for a while, and talks that just didn't happen. Maybe a classmate doesn't show up to class one day and Shino is IMMEDIATELY stressed out and just... takes it upon himself to look for them after class. And he's relieved when he see they're simply at home with a fever. Shit like that just fucks with Shino, because theres people taking kids and no one is doing anything about it?? And then as Shino grew older he realized exactly what happened and how slimy the machine of Konoha really is and it was never completely Shibi's fault that Torune had to leave. He grows mentally at a faster rate than most of his classmates, and knows more than a kid really needs to know.

Shino doesn't want that for any other child. Shino is the kind of person who hears kids screaming outside of his house and he can't tell if they're playing or being murdered and it's stressful to the point he'll check through his window and he sees them for himself. He get stressed out seeing a kid in public unattended and WANTS to approach them to help if need be but also maybe he's overthinking it and the parents are there somewhere and he'd just end up looking suspicious. Like, that's what I kind of figure for Shino. He's so hyperaware of the power dynamic between kids and adults and seeing a kid so ready to fall victim to that makes Shino feel ill the more he thinks of what could happen. And he wonders if watching the kid in the market until they finally reunite with their parent so he could move on with the rest of his day causes him even a fraction of the the utterly disgusting flurry of nerves and fear that Shibi must have felt all those years ago. It goes along with his desire to spare every single little insect's life he can. It goes a long with the fact he only gets violent unless absolutely necessary. Like he wants to be strong but he doesn't want to go mad with power either, less he becomes the very thing that hurt him and his family in the first place.

Originally Shino wanted to become strong to be able to defend himself because at a very young age adults failed him and Torune. But then that changes to defend not only himself, but others as he grows on a team, and realizes trust is important. And then he figured if there must be adults out there that would hurt a child, it's only logical that he should become one that would only nurture and teach one to be strong as well.

Anyway, yeah. Had some feelings. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

#anime: naruto #aburame shino #shino aburame #tis i #i wish we could've seen jounin-sensei Shino #imagine he's consistently given a team of -bad kids- #but by the next chuunin they're an absolute unit in sync #people think he's the -scare them straight- sensei #in reality he's the -im not mad im just dissapointed- sensei #its super effective lol #being such a positive figure in the open as an Aburame would definately make the clan look good too #because I have a suspicion that Aburame were very often taken into ANBU and ROOT and while good for Shinobi life #its not seen as the best for public relations #anyway don't mind me im just rambling

[sup-hoes-its-me]

Skinny Love (Kakashi x Reader)

A/N: hello again. I'm in love with Kakashi this mans makes me heart go wild I swear. Hope you like seeing him on ur dash lol. Shy reader who is too afraid to confess how she feels to Kakashi. This is only part one and is essentially just fluff. The second part will be all angst and sadness so beware.

Ps. It took me so long to get this one done. I was struggling to find the right words.

Word count: 4000

"Come on, sensei. You like him," Sakura laughed, poking her superior in the arm. The group of women stood outside the training grounds after a day of hanging out and working on their jutsu. On occasion Y/N enjoyed taking the girls out and spending time with them. It was a relief to be away from all that testosterone. If only for a short time.

She just shook her head, smothering down the embarrassment she felt creeping up her neck. Her stomach churned whenever she recognized her feelings for the man. It was just so intense. "I would never feel that way about a coworker, you know that, Sakura."

"But he's not just a coworker to you, is he? He's also your close friend," Ino hummed.

"Perhaps, but haven't I taught you that it's bad to let emotions get in the way of work?"

The blond rolled her eyes, turning to fully face one of her sensei, who she would argue was deeply in denial. "Seriously why does it even matter? Kurenai-sensei and Asuma-sensei literally had a baby together. You should definitely tell Kakashi you like him."

Y/N tossed her head back against the wall, sighing. "Girls, I really don't like him. He's just my friend. He's nice to me and I appreciate that, but that doesn't mean I want to date him or anything." Her voice shook and clearly she had been caught.

She was always so bad at lying.

"Whatever you say, Y/N."

"It's just something I'd rather not dwell on, Sakura. I'm sorry for being so private about it, but it's a sensitive subject for me," the woman confessed, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly.

"It's okay! You don't have to apologize. We get it! Feelings can definitely be complicated."

"I-I," she started, about to explain herself, but instead she rethought what she was about to say. There was no reason to actually reveal how she felt about the man. These times were tough, and there wasn't any room for making things even more messy with relationship drama. Y/N was more than happy just pretending they were friends and nothing more. As long as she had him just to talk to, she would be fine. As long as he always made it back alive, there was no reason to complain.

"You're right. Feelings are too complicated," she muttered, feeling herself practically deflate as she did so. Y/N was beginning to think she was just the one making everything complicated when it didn't have to be. Skipping around and lying about her feelings. Kakashi wouldn't ditch her if she just said something, she was sure of it.

Just as Sakura was about to reply, the voice of the man in question chimed in from down the path, "Y/N, we were looking for you."

"Yes, the third wheel to our tricycle of youth!"

Y/N felt a smile grow on her lips at the sounds of those voices, especially Gai's exclamation of youth. He was awfully weird, she thought, but that was what kept him so interesting. She turned to face the men walking in her direction. "Kakashi, Gai! What's up? The girls and I were just finishing our training."

"We're going out for drinks and thought you might like to join."

"Sounds great. It's been a long time since the three of us went out. For some reason we never have off at the same time anymore."

"Yeah, it's a shame. Missions have taken over our lives lately," Kakashi said tiredly. It was true. They really never had a second to rest. It was beginning to take its toll. Those were the consequences of war though. "How have you been?"

"Good, I, um..." she began, her eyes trailing up to Kakashi's. He watched back intently, patiently, and she felt something in her chest flutter up. He was always so handsome, she wondered how she could go so long without seeing his face. She just wanted to leap forward and give him a hug, wrap herself up in his warm arms for just a little while. That wasn't an option though, so she settled on some simple words. "I've missed you."

His eyes softened barely enough to be noticeable but she saw. Her heart continued to flutter up in her chest and she sighed, clutching her hands tighter behind her back. No doubt the girls standing just behind her were hyper-analyzing all their interactions, especially after revealing they held an interest in the pair's relationship.

He didn't have the chance to reply though, as Gai was the one to chime in. "Why thank you. I have to say, I've missed you as well, my kunoichi friend."

"Thanks, Gai." Even if the statement wasn't exactly pointed toward him, she was happy she had been missed.

"No problem! Now I hope you young ladies don't mind if we take L/N off your hands."

"No no. It's not a problem, Gai-sensei. I'm sure our moms want us home for dinner anyway. It's getting late after all."

"Yeah, we'll see you later, Y/N-sensei." The pink haired girl waved ss they started to make their way in the opposite direction toward town. Ino paused for a moment though.

"Don't forget what we talked about. You really shouldn't be so shy; it's gonna be okay," she said softly. Y/N sighed, nodding her head as if to say fine. In reality, she wouldn't do anything different. She wasn't feeling very open to changing herself or facing any of her fears. "See you around."

It was kinda sad that Y/N found comfort and support in a bunch of 15 year olds. She was an adult, couldn't she talk to other adults about her problems. These girls were just so accepting and she didn't feel awkward talking about immature things like crushes. Any other adult would just be too wrapped up in their own lives to care too much anyway.

"What was that about?"

"Nothing, Kakashi. We were just talking about random stuff. You know how curious they can be."

"You go out there and fight rogue shinobi every week. How could you be shy?" The green beast asked.

"It's really nothing. They're always assuming things about me. I'm reserved, but I wouldn't say I'm shy, per se…" She stopped to think for a quick second, tapping her foot on the ground. "Actually, I would say I'm just more conscious of the things I say and do than most other people. Not a bad thing at all."

Kakashi nodded. "It's good to keep a level head."

"Exactly. I'm Level headed. Thanks, Kakashi."

"Now let's head off to the bar! Sake for everyone!" Gai cheered, throwing his fist up in the air. She nodded, walking up beside the pair as they started off toward the restaurant of their choice, which she hoped was her favorite one with the tastiest fruit juice drinks. She was willing to put out good money to have one good, tispy night of drinks and snacking. It had already been weeks since she had a night off, one time wouldn't break the bank.

She stood to the right of them, just beside Kakashi. Every now and then she found herself drifting just a bit too close to him, her natural gait leaning toward the left. At one point, she found her hand skim dangerously close to his and she snatched it away to keep herself in check. Holding his hand perhaps was a dream of hers but she wasn't going to actually try anything.

It wasn't that she was afraid of Kakashi. Quite the opposite actually. She cared for him so deeply it sometimes made her stomach churn when she thought about it. He was her friend for ages, ever since she could really remember. He was one of the only people she could sit with and feel completely enveloped in a warm comfort, free of judgement and deceit. Gai as well, but Kakashi was different.

Maybe he could be a bit of pervert, and even sarcastic at times, but he was never rude. He had changed over the years from being a know-it-all, little jerk to someone everyone liked and admired, a kind and brave soul.

Unfortunately, it took bouts of death and loss to come about this change, but she wasn't going to ignore it. He was the best man she knew, and it only seemed natural she fell in love with him. He would probably never feel the same way. He had better things to worry about and other women to long for. He didn't have his entire life to wait around for a shy woman like herself. That was okay.

As long as he was alive and well, she would be happy.

Maybe one day she would gather the courage to grab his hand, to run her thumb over his knuckles and feel the callouses against her skin. Maybe one day she would have the courage to confess how she felt. Not now, but one day when she was comfortable.

"You okay?" He asked, pulling her out of her deepening thoughts. "You're walking really slow and uh, your hand…" The man motioned to where she was clutching her wrist against her chest.

"Yes, I'm fine. Just uh, my wrist is sore from training." She worked her hand in a circle, pretending to stretch it out. He rolled his visible eye, knowingly.

"Sure. Always skipping around the real issues."

"I'm really okay. I was just thinking hard about something."

"Anything to do with what you, Sakura, and Ino were talking about?" he suggested, raising a brow.

She groaned. He always knew what she was thinking. It was definitely one of his best and worst qualities depending on the situation. In this case, she felt awkward as she was so lost in thought about him. She felt like a fool. "Maybe it was. But that was girl time and now it's drinking time. Different topics of discussion."

"Well, mind telling me what's got you so caught up? It's gotta be important."

"It's personal."

"Ah, I see. Well, that's fine. When you want to talk about it, I'm always around."

There was silence for a moment, her thoughts running wild in her head. He was so kind, it wouldn't be bad to tell him how she felt. He would let her down easy, surely. And Gai would be there to cushion her embarrassment, no doubt. He would make things less awkward somehow. She was sure of it.

It was crazy. No way she would say anything. Definitely not.

"I'm interested in someone," Y/N found herself blurting out before she could stop herself. She just felt so much pressure building up in her chest and the only way she could relieve that feeling was to tell him something, anything about the predicament she was in. She wouldn't tell him exactly how she felt and about who, but she could vent.

Damn, all this and she didn't even have her first drink. That man really did something to her.

The men stopped in their path, their heads turning their attention solely to her. She felt her neck and cheeks begin to heat up and her palms start to sweat. Why would she say that? Dammit. She really was a fool.

"Really? Who?" Gai asked. "He'd be a fool to reject you, of course, beautiful flower of the leaf! You do not have to worry!"

"Gai...it's really not that simple. He is, um, out of my league, I guess you could say," she muttered nervously, rubbing her palms together to ease her anxiety. "He's just well, I don't know, the perfect guy ever."

She could feel Kakashi tense at her side, and her eyes scanned over him. He didn't look out of the ordinary but his energy had definitely changed. Strange.

"No one is out of your league, don't you dare say something like that! If he doesn't let you down easy, I will use my fists of justice to defend you! Tell me who this mystery man is."

"This is what Ino meant when she said you were being shy. You aren't going to tell him, are you?" Kakashi asked, and she noticed the bit of annoyance in his tone. She wondered if he was just upset she was talking about such silly things when they were ready to start drinking. She felt embarrassed. They were adults. Adults don't talk about this kind of thing. He doesn't want to hear about the guys she's interested in, or how she feels about them. Maybe Gai would be interested in it, but not a cool guy like Kakashi.

"Of course not. Like I said, he would just reject me anyway, there's no point," she told them. "And Gai, I can't just tell you who it is. You know you're a loud mouth; you'd go around telling everyone." She really didn't believe Gai would do that to her. He was far too conscious of others feelings for the most part. She just couldn't risk Kakashi knowing. She would keep it a secret from him.

"Oh come on! Just tell us! I'll help you out, be your wingman!"

"Maybe I'll tell you another time. When I'm more confident in myself."

"Well, what is it that has finally caught out dear friends heart in a web of love? Tell us!" Oh man. He really was nosy sometimes. He meant well, but occasionally he just didn't know when to stop. Kakashi kept his mouth shut because he understood she was getting uncomfortable, that or he was growing annoyed as she suspected.

Regardless, it was nice to get some of this off her chest, even if it was risky business.

"I don't really know. He's smart and considerate, and very brave. He's handsome as well, that's a plus," she smiled, listing off the things she liked about the man standing right in front of her. It felt so exhilarating, talking about her feeling so openly. It was terrifying and relieving at the same time. Y/N exhaled as she thought about him again, "He just makes me feel happy when I'm in my worst moments, that's all. I mean, what else could I ask for?"

"I see! He sounds like a good guy. Can't wait to meet him," he laughed until his eyes widened and he leaned in a bit closer to her face. He pointed his finger at his chest and questioned, "Unless of course, I already know him. It's not me, is it?

She found herself smiling just a little, her lips curving up at the absurdity of it all. "No definitely not. You don't have to worry about that."

"I'm wounded, but I understand. My youthfulness is just too strong for you."

As she thought of something to say, she began to question just why Kakashi hadn't said anything really at all. It was strange of him, letting the other man do all the talking when normally he asked her questions and at least tried to engage. Maybe he was feeling tired or bored with the conversation. She had to change the subject.

"So uh, let's get a move on before all the good booths are taken, yeah?"

"Actually, I'm getting tired. I think I'll just head home for the night, get ready for my mission in two days," the white haired jounin sighed. They both looked over to him, surprised, but Y/N knew why he needed to go. She had upset him somehow. So much for a fun night between the three of them.

"Kakashi, come on! Don't bail on us now!"

She took a step back and her eyes trailed up to his, which were narrowed, not angrily just as if he had been hurt or confused she couldn't tell which. "Oh, are you sure?" Her heart was sinking in her chest seeing him so conflicted.

"Yeah. Got a headache, too."

"Ah, okay. Well, I'll see you around sometime?"

"Yeah."

"Goodbye, rival. Hopefully you are feeling better tomorrow and we can have a real night of drinking indeed!"

And with that, he left to his apartment, leaving the other two behind. She felt her stomach begin to turn uncomfortably, sick from the thought of Kakashi just leaving them like that. He seemed so angry, she couldn't help but think it was all her fault. It wasn't in his nature to act that way.

They had already spent so much time apart already that it was tugging at her heart strings. She felt like they rarely saw each other anymore. For him to be angry at her and leave, that meant they would just see each other even less than before. It seemed like a nightmare come true. She really did miss him, like she had said. She missed the fun they would have together and the conversations they shared. She just missed him and there he went, gone off again without so much as a real goodbye.

The woman clutched at her stomach, feeling the tossing and turning overtake her sense with nausea.

Suddenly, before she could contain herself, tears began dripping down her cheeks, and she sucked in her breath. Hot tears warmed her cheeks, and frantically she wiped them away from her cheeks. Her arms wound around her waist and she hugged herself tightly inward, almost as if she would turn into a ball if she could.

"Y/N, what's wrong?! What happened?"

"It's Kakashi," she whispered, trying to keep herself from crying anymore but it only got worse.

"Kakashi? Because he left? It's okay, we can go drinking another night or-or you and I can just go alone. No problems," he tried to say but it wasn't going to work. She didn't want to go to dinner with Gai and she didn't want to wait until tomorrow, or whatever the next time they would all be together. She was being stupid and selfish, acting like a spoiled little baby with all this crying. She just couldn't stop herself.

"It's not that. There's something I haven't told anyone. I don't know what to do."

"It's gonna be fine whatever it is. Just calm down."

"No, I can't. It's so bad, Gai. I'm in love with him, it's him, and now he's mad at me and I don't know what I did wrong," she confessed, feeling all the words slipping out so easily. How is it that such strong emotions could just cause her to think so irrationally and just let something like this happen? A bout of confessing every feeling she had to her friend who may or may not go and relay all this information to Kakashi. It was stupid. She was just being stupid and reckless.

He nodded carefully, moving to take ahold of her shoulders to steady her. "It's gonna be okay. He's not mad at you, I promise. I know Kakashi and I'm sure he really was just feeling sick."

"Gai, I just...I don't want him to ever leave me, even over something stupid like this."

"Trust me, you don't have to worry about Kakashi leaving you. He would never do something like that. You are one of his closest friends. There's almost nothing you could do to make him do that, especially if you always have good intent at heart. Trust me, you really don't ever need to worry," Gai explained trying his best to reason with her. "You two do everything together. He never stops talking about you! He would never let you go."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I am one hundred percent sure!"

"I-I need to go find him. I need to make sure he's not upset with me," she said as she pushed herself away from him. He waved to her as she started in the direction of Kakashi's apartment.

"Goodluck on your mission, Y/N, not that you'll need it."

______

Kakashi was just about to enter his apartment when she dashed up the stairs and turned the corner, going so fast she nearly slid into the wall. His eyes widened when he saw her, and he froze in his spot, not turning the key to the door just yet. Her face was flush and chest heaved. He could tell she rushed on her way.

"Y/N, did you run all the way here?"

She stood, catching her breath after just having run all the way across town to find him. Her heart raced as she looked up at him, and she clutched at the railing of the stairs for support. "I wanted to say sorry for whatever I said to make you angry with me. I didn't know I was being insensitive."

"I told you I was sick," he replied, but she knew better. And he knew she did. He wasn't dumb. They knew each other better than that and there was no pretending.

"I could tell that was a lie. I know you were angry and I felt terrible."

"Were you just crying?"

She exclaimed back, holding a hand over her heart to maybe try and ease the racing heartbeat, "Maybe. What about it?! I was hurt that I'd offended my friend, isn't that tear-worthy?" She took a few more deep breaths through her mouth, letting the air fill her up and calm her down. "Why were you so upset?"

"It's not important."

"No, no. It's important to me!"

The man paused, thinking over his next words carefully. He very well knew the real reason he ran away from their conversation like a coward. He actually thought it was obvious. It wouldn't hurt for her to know. He sighed, "If you really want to know. It's because I was tired of hearing about your love life. It's not exactly an entertaining subject."

She knew it but admittedly she would be lying if she said she didn't feel her heart break a little at those words. He didn't care about her feelings enough to just sit there and listen to her talk for a couple minutes? Was she that annoying? So many thoughts ran through her head, and each one made her sad. "I just didn't want to go a whole night with Gai talking about it," he added. "It's nothing to do with you."

"I'm sorry. I really shouldn't have brought it up."

"It's fine," he brushed off her apology. "I'm the one who asked about it in the first place."

"Why- why wouldn't you want to hear me talk about other men? Why would that be a sore subject for you?" She asked, her curiosity spiking up through the roof. It was strange, the whole situation. He had never backed down from a personal chat before, only this time.

He felt like a deer caught in the headlights suddenly. How was he supposed to reply to that without blowing his cover. "I just don't like the whole romance thing."

But they both knew that was a lie. He read romance for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. But if he wanted to keep his secrets, she would let him. There was no need to pry. She just hoped he would trust her enough in the future to explain what he meant. Secretly, she wished that it was because he was jealous. That he didn't want to hear about another man because he wanted to be that guy, her lover. It was a wild thought, a hopeless theory meant to be thrown out, but she could fantasize.

"Kakashi, we're still good? As friends and all? You'll go out with me and Gai another time then?"

He nodded, his lips quirking up into just a tiny smile. It was characteristic for her mind to go straight to the worst case scenario. He replied, "Of course. Like I said, it's not that bad. Don't worry about it."

"Okay. I'm glad. I really thought I messed up this time."

"I don't think there's anything you could do to make me hate you," he sighed, leaning his shoulder against his door frame. "The day I let you go is the day I die, Y/N."

She smiled, closing her eyes and finally taking a relaxed breath. It was done. He wasn't angry at all. He still cared for her and everything else she could hope for. As long as they could remain friends, it was all gonna be okay. She laughed, "That's what Gai said. Should have listened to him, huh?"

The both nodded and suddenly they were enveloped in a peaceful silence for a while. She stared down at her feet and he watched her quietly, admiring the way she could be so miserably shy yet so adorable at the same time.

"Do you wanna go catch dinner? Or uh, just drinks like we originally planned, if you want," he asked, running his hand through his hair. Her eyes brightened at the question, and he'd be stupid not to notice the new shine in them.

"Do you want to go find Gai first?"

"Actually, how about it just be you and me this time? We'll catch Gai tomorrow morning for breakfast instead."

"Two meals in two days...I'm not made of money."

"It's on me. Don't worry about it."

"Oh, jeez. So nice of you, Kakashi. Thank you! Where are we going?" she asked happily, walking up to him and rolling back in the balls of her feet.

"Wherever you want to go."

"I feel like I'm getting the special treatment. I'm so excited," she cheered, pulling him in the direction of the stairs by the edge of his sleeve.

He just smiled. It was all he could do. He had the most beautiful woman in the entire world in front of him ready to go on a not-exactly date. They were only friends, and she reaffirmed that today when she mentioned she was interested in someone else.

But for now he could pretend they were a thing. That they were dating and that she loved him and he could openly love her back. He would take her out to dinner and kick at her ankles under the table just to annoy her. And he would take a sip of her drink and pretend it was too sweet for him and watch as she struggled to drink a sip of his liquor.

And after he walks her home that night, he would hug her tight to his chest and he would think about kissing her, to pull down his mask for just a split second and press his lips to hers, but he would refrain. It just wasn't the right time. Maybe there would never be a right time either, and that was okay.

As long as they could have nights like these, as long as he would feel her in his arms, he was more than happy. He was in love.

Part Two is up.

#kakashi x reader #kakashi imagine #kakashi hatake x reader #kakashi one shot #naruto one shot #naruto imagines #naruto x reader #writing #one shot #x reader #kakashi #naruto #kakashi hatake #naruto fanfic

[allthingskakashi]

• Birthday Boy •

[ Kakashi x Reader ]  |  3 Chapters // 17. 2k words  |

This is hella long so if you’d rather read on Ao3, here’s my Ao3 link 

A/n : slight shift from canon cause Gai is still capable of walking even after the war

CHAPTER - 1 (2 days to go!)

You let out a sigh, your eyes glancing over to the small desk calendar sitting in front of you.

September 13th.

A photograph of bright pink cherry blossom trees stands out on the glossy white page.

Just one more day. Just one more day and you still have absolutely no idea.

Your teeth grit unconsciously on the plastic cap of your pen as you look at the papers laid out on the table. You still have so much paperwork to get through. How, when or what you’ll plan for Kakashi’s birthday is beyond you.

You let out another loud sigh, the air making the papers in front of you shuffle just a little.

“Three.”

“Huh?” the voice brings you out of your stupor, and you look up at the purple haired woman sitting across from you, immersed in her own work.

“That was your third sigh.” Anko states, looking up at you with her eyebrows furrowed. “What’s going on with you?”

You lay your pen down on the desk, resting your forehead against your hands to massage your throbbing temples.

“Nothing, I’m just so overloaded with work, I barely have time to breathe.” You reply, dark bags under your eyes serving as witnesses. “And on top of that…Kakashi’s birthday is coming up and I really want to plan something special for him. But with all this work, I don’t know when I’ll get the time. And even more importantly, I haven’t the slightest idea what to do.” You say, leaning back against your chair to look up at the ceiling.

Anko stares back at you, her otherwise impassive face broken only by the slightest hint of sympathy behind her eyes.

“Really? Well, you better ask that old miser to pay up and throw us a party. He’s Hokage and what not now.”

Her words elicit an immediate eye roll from you. Protectiveness towards your boyfriend aside, that’s a completely ridiculous statement.

“Shouldn’t I be the one to throw HIM a party?” you retort as you slouch forward resting your elbows on the table, staring at your smirking friend in despair.

“What am I going to do, Anko? He’s been so busy since he became Hokage, I really want to make this one day special for him.”

The look on your face is so miserable, it makes even Anko soften up just a little.  

“I don’t know Y/n.” she shrugs, “I don’t usually stick around long enough to have to think of this kind of crap. Just hand him two beers I guess, put on a nice push-up bra and you’re golden.”

You narrow your eyes, shaking your head at her. “I have to give him a present too”

“Wear a bra with a bow on it.”                          

If you didn’t know Anko better, you’d have thought she was joking.

You sigh again. This is a lost cause, talking to Anko about this.

“UGHHHHH!! You’re completely useless!!” you cry out, bending forward and making a show of banging your head against the wooden table as she laughs, watching you with a pitiful look.

 “Hell-o Anko! Y/n! Correct me if I am wrong but I think I just overheard my dear rival’s name!”

A familiar voice fills the room and you stop to turn your head at the sudden intrusion.

It’s none other than Maito Gai, and the air surrounding you almost immediately livens up at his presence.

“I hear you are confused about what to do for Kakashi’s birthday! Fear not Y/n! I am here and I will help you make sure that my dear rival has the best birthday he has ever had in his entire life!”

You perk up at his words, looking at the man standing by your side.

Now that’s the spirit you’re looking for.

“Thank you so much Gai! You came in at the right time! What do you have in mind?”

Gai hurries to take a seat beside you as you turn around to face him, your eager eyes widened with interest.

“Hmmm, let me think…” he puts a finger on his chin before clicking his fingers. “A nice intimate evening with good food and tasteful music and lots of activities to celebrate the Power of Youth!!!” he says, before standing up again with his fist in the air.

You let out a wide grin at his words, that sounds absolutely perfect.

A nice intimate evening, just you and Kakashi. You could maybe cook up something, he’s taught you quite a lot of recipes lately. And music, yes. He has never been one to listen to much music but it’ll set the mood.

And activities to celebrate the power of youth… yeah, you can surely think of quite a few of those. A red tinge creeps onto your cheeks at the thought.

How you would manage the time is still a question but now that you at least have a fair idea, you can probably work something out.

“Thank you so much Gai!” you say, clasping the man’s large hands with your smaller ones. “I don’t know what I’d do without you. That sounds absolutely perfect!”

His eyes light up at your words. “You are very welcome Y/n! It is only my duty as Kakashi’s rival!”

You can hear him say something else in the background but your mind is already wandering, flooding your brain with all sorts of visuals. Expensive wine, the very best…a candlelight dinner…Kakashi looking so intensely into your eyes as you brush your foot up his leg under the table…bed laden with red rose petals…a night of passion…the spark in Kakashi’s eyes as he sees everything you’ve arranged so lovingly for him… a sensual melody playing in the background as he strips you of your clothes, one by one….

You shake your head. Now is not the time to be getting carried away.

You return your attention to Gai, whose last few sentences you missed as your mind became preoccupied with thoughts of everything that you’d like the Hokage to do to you.

“—And leave it all to me!”

“Sorry, what was that, Gai?” you ask as you watch Anko out of the corner of your eye, looking as if she’s choking on air for some reason.  

“You heard me, y/n! I will set everything up, you don’t have to worry about a thing!” he sings, clasping your shoulders with his hands.

“Well thank you for the offer Gai but actually—”

“No! I won’t listen to a single word!” he shakes his finger at you, “you can leave it all to me! You go get on with your work! I will get the BEST caterer-

Caterer? What do we need a caterer fo-

“and hire the best singers in the village-

Wait what is he talking about, am I missing something-

And set up some great challenges for people to enjoy! I’m thinking 6000 push ups, a cake eating competition and of course the lucky winner gets a chance to compete with my one and only rival—

Hold up-

“And I will send out invitations to all his friends! All you have to do Y/n is bring him and yourself at my house on the evening of his birthday!”

WAIT JUST A DAMN MINUTE-

“Wait, GAI, I think there’s been a—"

“Please do not thank me, y/n! As Kakashi’s eternal rival, it is only my duty to make sure he has the best time of his life! I would be very happy to set everything up!”

“Um, no actually I—" you start, but you’re cut off quickly by the zealous man.

“Don’t worry! You can still take care of his birthday cake, I will leave that to your impeccable taste!”

“Right, sure but—"

“Well, off I go then! I have a party to plan!”

“Gai—” you make one last weak attempt but you’re so baffled by the pace of events that your feet stand glued. You stare dumfounded after Gai, watching him walk out of the room, skipping with every stride.

Beside you, Anko’s cheeks glisten with tears as she clutches her stomach with both hands, chortling in such a fit that almost makes her slip off her chair.

A sudden dizziness threatens to take over your senses. You stand frozen with your arms hanging limp by your sides, resisting the urge to fling yourself face first into a wall.

You throw another menacing glare at your friend, your gaze shifting between her and the door that Gai walked out of few seconds ago, before you plop down on the floor with a thud, sitting down with your legs crossed, gaping blankly at the tiled ground with your head between your hands.

What the hell just happened.

CHAPTER - 2 (1 day to go!)

You force your eyes open at the sound of your alarm. Your skin feels damp against the heavy quilted blanket, the light from the windows is too bright and a headache clasps a tight grip on your forehead.

You shake your legs to get the duvet down your body and turn on your stomach to turn that horrible beeping off. Your hand flounders around your nightstand, knocking a few things down before you find the damn clock and pound it against the wall a few times until it shuts up.

Turning on your back again, you rub your eyes and sweep away the several strands of hair sticking to your face.

14th September, reads the calendar hung on the opposite wall.

Great. Another Monday. And a day closer to Kakashi’s birthday.

You feel an instant panic rising to your throat at the thought. Kakashi’s Birthday. Goddamn.

Gai has gone into complete party planner mode, you saw him rushing manically through the village over twenty-five times since yesterday, trying his hardest to be subtle; so you suppose you’re having a party after all.

You let out a sigh, massaging your temples. God this headache is turning out to be a real bitch.

The thoughts start swirling in your head again.

Kakashi’s not really the party kinda guy, and definitely not the kind Gai’s planning. This is so not what you had in mind, but…Gai looked so eager and excited, talking about the party with such a shine in his eyes, you just couldn’t strip him off of that. Moreover, ever since his injury in the war, Gai has been prohibited from missions outside the village. To a man of his vigour, it’s as good as being put into coma. This is the one thing that seemed to make him truly happy in ages, so to take that away from him… no, you cannot do that.

But at the same time, you really want the day to be special for Kakashi. You want to make it memorable for him and show him how much you love him.

Ugh.

Your stomach grumbles as you hang your legs down your bedside, preparing to get out of bed. You were so immersed in work last night that you forgot to eat dinner. You’d fallen asleep at the desk itself but you woke up in the morning to find yourself tucked in your bed.

You shuffle your feet around, trying to find to your slippers but they’re nowhere to be found.

“Kakashi!” you yell out, your voice still groggy from sleep. “Are you wearing my fucking slippers again?”

There’s some distant noise of things clattering in the kitchen before Kakashi’s figure comes into view at the doorway, wearing nothing but a pair of joggers, holding a mug of coffee in each hand. He stands leaning on the doorframe as he takes a sip from his mug and the sight of him is one for sore eyes, enough to crumple that temper of yours into a puddle of lovestruck mush.  

“Good morning to you too” he smirks as he comes near you, placing the other cup of coffee on the nightstand and planting a kiss on your head before bending down to pick up the things that had dropped on the ground earlier.

He reaches under the bed and pulls a pair of slippers out, placing them near your feet before keeping the other things back in their place on the stand. Your lip balm, hairclips, a few pens, his book and some loose sheets.

You slide your feet into the slippers, your face contorting into an apologetic look as you watch him.

“I’m sorry” you say in a whisper, admiring the way the muscles on his arms flex as he picks the things up. “I’ve been a little stressed lately.”

“I know” he says, his tone concerned as he comes up and sits beside you on the bed. “Why don’t you take a day off?”

“Oh no, I can’t, there’s so much to do, I have so much paperwork and I need to go through these files to check for—”

“Y/n.” Kakashi cuts you off, taking your hand in his. “It’s okay. Take a day off. Call in sick. You’re putting too much pressure on yourself. Take the day off and stay in bed, I’ll have someone pick up something for you from that restaurant down the street for lunch.” He says, stroking the back of your hand with his thumb.

“But Kakashi—”

“Nope. The Hokage orders it.” he says as you lean forward and sigh into his chest.

“I wish I could Kakashi….”

He wraps his arms around you, rubbing your back. “I knew I couldn’t convince you but it was worth a try” he says into your hair as you close your eyes, snuggling closer to him. The feel of his strong arms around you almost lulls you to sleep, enveloping you with such warmth and comfort that makes you wish you could stay this way forever.

You feel yourself almost dozing off against his chest so you pull away, planting a quick peck on his bare skin before relieving yourself of his grip. “Alright Lord Sixth, time to go to work” you say, patting him on the thigh.

He chuckles, nodding and taking the last sip of his coffee before getting up from the bed. “I left some toasts for you, eat before you go”

He turns around to walk away but you’re quick to catch his wrist before he leaves. “Hey.” You say softly as he stops, turning around to smile at you with a twinkle in his eyes.

“I love you” you say, pulling him down to you with a tug and placing a kiss on his lips.

He reciprocates, before pulling back to look into your eyes. You feel yourself melting under his gaze as you can’t help but smile like a twelve- year old girl.

“I love you too but your breath stinks worse than a dead rat” he says flatly without taking his eyes off you.

You fling his wrist out of your grip immediately, pushing him aside to get up from the bed. “Kakashi, you fucking asshole!” you scream, throwing a few punches at his arm as he chuckles and blocks them.

“I was trying to have a moment, you jerk!” you say, throwing a last jab at his stomach, before walking away past him, towards the direction of the bathroom, his laughter still ringing behind you.

Stupid asshole, you smile to yourself, shaking your head as you lock the bathroom door and turn the shower on.

…………………………………………

You watch white cotton clouds sailing across the sky overhead as you make your way down your usual work route. You might have appreciated the view a little more if your mind wasn’t entirely jammed and you weren’t surviving of off only 3 hours of sleep, walking around like you just rose back from the dead.

You already know you’re going to be late to work today, but that simply cannot he helped. You have to make this detour. You have to at least give this a shot.

You turn a street corner, a one storeyed white building with a fenced gate slowly coming into view as you walk ahead. Standing outside the gate, you open the latch, walking along the pavement which leads to the main door of the house.

You knock softly on the door, waiting for a response from the other side. There’s some shuffling behind and then the door opens, revealing Gai in a robe with the belts hanging loose. You notice him wearing a bright coloured boxer with banana prints on it, and his hair looks dishevelled, like he just woke up.

“Good morning, Gai! Um… I’m sorry to drop by so early, but there’s something I need to discuss with you.”

“Y/n! Come on in! It’s no problem, my morning is only made better by your radiating face!” he pipes, stepping aside to usher you in.

Only this man can sound so chirpy even with someone barging into their house during the early hours of the day.

“I apologise for my state, I was…. Finishing some business.” he says, taking the belts of his robe and tightening it around his waist.

You stand awkwardly as he closes the door, wondering how on earth you’ll bring this up with him. You shift on your feet, waiting for him to return his attention to you.

“Would you like something? Perhaps some coffee or tea or juice?” he asks, leading you into his living room.

“Um, no thanks Gai.” You look down to the floor, trying to form the sentences in your mind before you speak. You decide blunt and honest is the way to go.

He stands waiting patiently, looking at you with concerned eyes.

God I’m just the worst person in the world.

“Listen Gai, you start, “… Uhm… about Kakashi’s birthday—”

“Don’t you worry about that Y/n! The plans are full and well in motion! I’m sorry I could not get the singers, it seems that they are all booked for the day but everything else is right on track!” he flashes a toothy grin at you, holding his hand out in a thumbs up.

“That’s great, Gai… But um… Well, the thing is…” you try your hardest to come up with words that’ll soften the blow the most “I kind of wanted to do something special for Kakashi… by myself but now with your party, which is a great idea by the way, it’s just… I’m not sure, uh… I just want to do something for him too.” You fumble, looking up at him from under your lashes to register his reaction.

He stays quiet for a while, looking like he’s deep in thought before looking at you. “I completely understand Y/n.”

“You do!?” you ask, stepping forward towards him. “Oh, thank you so much—”

“It seems to me that you and I both want just the best for my dear rival! And you want to make sure he has the best birthday, just like I do! Which of course means that we should—”

Oh wait no. Oh no no no

“—Have a challenge!"

Just. What. I. Feared…

“Gai…” you begin, sighing.  Your voice sounds so weak and tired, as if any moment now you’ll lose your ability to speak.

You take a few deep breaths, steadying yourself.

Okay. If this is how it’s gonna be, so be it.

It doesn’t matter what you have to do. You WILL make sure Kakashi has the best birthday and no-one can take that away from you.

If this was another time, you would have gotten Gai to somehow cancel the party. But under present circumstances, you just cannot do that. That would be selfish and horrible. So right now, you simply have to play along and do your best to make the day special for Kakashi, even amidst all of this.

But you sure heck will make sure that YOU’RE the one that makes him happiest.

“Fine.” You say, meeting Gai’s gaze, your voice masking the absolute mayhem in your mind. “Challenge accepted. We’ll both try our hardest to make this the best birthday for Kakashi, and see who succeeds.”

Gai flashes a blinding grin at your words. “Grrr-reat!” he exclaims. “I would expect no less from my rival’s lover!” he says, holding another ‘thumbs-up’ out as you smile weakly, raising your hand up to do the same.

………………………………………………..

You take a large bite of your sandwich, looking out at the vast green training grounds from the window beside your desk.

A sandwich is the only moderately nutritious but not disgusting in taste food that you can manage to eat in your 20-minute lunch break, so that’s what you usually stick to. Thankfully for you, you were able to be done with most of your work in the morning, giving you some time to think clearly right now.

You already know you’re not going to get Kakashi alone at night because of the party, which leaves… the morning. But of course, you both have to go to work in the morning which means the only time you’ll see each other is directly before the party since you’re the one supposed to be bringing him. And since he is the Hokage and doesn’t get back from his office until 9 pm, the party is set to start late. By the time you get home it’ll probably be 1 and sure, you can probably have some time with him then but…you will both be exhausted and more importantly, it won’t be his birthday anymore.  

“UGHHHHH” you scream to yourself, tearing off a big chunk of your sandwich with your teeth and proceeding to chew noisily, putting all your frustration into the food churning in your mouth.

“Uhm… is this a good time?” you turn your head at the sudden voice, looking around to see Kurenai.

You hasten immediately to wipe the crumbs off your face as you gesture at her to sit and stuff the rest of the sandwich in your mouth, chugging it down quickly with some water.

“Yes, absolutely oh my god. It’s been a while since I saw you! How are you, how’s Mirai?” you ask, dabbing your mouth with your handkerchief.

“Ah you know, I mostly work from home these days. I was in the area today so I thought I’d drop by and pay everyone a visit”, the brown-haired woman replies, smiling.

“Good thinking” you say, returning her smile. “I’m glad you did, we have so much to catch up on.”

“God yes we do. Oh, and Mirai is great! They grow up so fast.” She says, her eyes filling with the kind of love you can only see reflected in a mother’s eyes. “But enough about me” she says, waving her hand. “I didn’t come down her to bore you with stories about diapers and potty training. Tell me what’s going on with you” she says, leaning forward on the table and resting her chin on her hand.

You let out a sigh, shaking your head before looking out of the window into the distance. “Ugh Kurenai, I don’t even know what to tell you.”

“I got the invite by the way! For Kakashi’s party. I was kind of surprised, didn’t take him for a party guy.” Kurenai says, her brows furrowing.

You look back at her with hollow eyes. “He isn’t. It’s a long story.”, you reply, your tone sounding just as miserable as you feel.

“Well, talk to me Y/n. Is something wrong? You look a little…bummed.”

You let out a chuckle. “Yeah, bummed is right.”

But it feels really good to talk to someone, someone sensible and actually capable of giving advice so you decide to tell her everything, narrating everything from how you’ve been up to your nose with work to how you got roped into having a challenge with Gai, to your dilemma about what to do for Kakashi. Kurenai stays quiet the entire time, listening attentively to every word, nodding and giving empathetic glances from time to time.

“So yeah…. That’s pretty much it.” you finish, sighing again.

Kurenai flashes you a kind smile before she speaks.

“Okay, so… if you aren’t getting any time with him throughout the whole day, how about you meet him for lunch during your break?” she suggests.

Lunch… yeah you hadn’t considered that. Sure, it was only around 20 minutes, but still better than nothing right?

You look at your friend, your eyes perking up as a smile spreads through your face. “Yeah, you know what…that’s a good idea!”

Kurenai returns a happy grin, glad to have been of use. “I know exactly what you should do. Pack a nice picnic basket, take a mat with you, find a good shady tree in the grounds and have a little picnic down by the lake. It’s sweet, romantic and perfect! There’s no way he wouldn’t love it. It beats a party and the weather is absolutely perfect too!”

Your eyes widen at her words. Of course! Why didn’t I think of that?

You almost jump across the table, pulling your friend into a bone crunching hug. “Oh my god Kurenai, thank you! You’re a real life saver! That sounds absolutely perfect!” you exclaim, before letting go of her.

She laughs a hearty laugh, before skidding her chair across the floor and proceeding to get up. “I’m glad to be of help Y/n, but I should get going now. Your break is almost over and I have some errands to run. It was great catching up though, I missed being around you” she says, smiling as she turns to make her way towards the door.

“Drop by more often!” you holler at her, before turning your head to look out the window at the beautiful clear sky outside.

A picnic, yep. That’s perfect. Everything is working out.

…………………………………………………

You open the drawer under your desk, shoving some loose sheets and files into it before jamming it close.

The clock reads 6 p.m. and you’re finally, finally done for the day. You worked an extra hour to make sure you have less pressure tomorrow and now with your load a little light and a tiny ray of hope about how you can make Kakashi’s birthday a good one shining through, you’re starting to feel slightly better.

Of course, there’s still loads to do. You still have to order the birthday cake, buy some things for the picnic, and pick up his gift which you’d pre ordered a month ago.

You ferret around on your desk to find the notepad you carry with you at all times. That’s where you make all your to-do lists, so that you never miss anything out.

You open the little notebook, flipping through the pages to locate the one where you’d started making a list of things to do for Kakashi’s birthday about a week ago.

You’re flipping when suddenly your eyes fall upon a different entry on the notebook, written in a handwriting that’s not yours.

You bring the notebook closer to get a better look and identify Kakashi’s handwriting at once. Written in black ink on the top of a page is

To do:

1)Kakashi

You let out a loud chuckle, your laughter ringing all the way out into the hallway.

This guy, you laugh to yourself, shaking your head. When did he even write that?

Turning a few more pages, you finally find the one you’re looking for. You glance at the sentence written in your messy handwriting.

Read Icha Icha Paradise, Page 162, para 5.

Ah yes, you’d almost forgotten about this. You’d written this down when the idea had occurred to you of re-enacting his favourite passage from that book to surprise him, one that he’d insinuated at, not so subtly, several times. You wanted to do it for a special occasion, and of course this would be just the perfect time. You make a mental note to give that paragraph a read once you return home.

So, re-enacting Icha Icha, a picnic, and his gift. That’s all you’ve got so far. Not bad but still not quite satisfactorily top notch yet. Still nothing that beats all of Gai’s efforts with a 100% guarantee. Something is still missing…

You stare out of the window, racking your brain for something, anything.

Outside, the Sun drapes the sky in its own colours. It looks so beautiful, you can barely take your eyes off for a while.

You watch the sky in awe, lost deep in thought when suddenly it occurs to you— Yes!

Yes, absolutely!

You. Are. Going. To. Write. Him. A. Poem!

What says you love him with all your heart better than a sweet, heartfelt poem written with your own very hands? It’s sweet and personal and just the kind of touch necessary to make you win. There’s no way anything can top that.

The sudden strike of inspiration sends you into a frenzy as you quickly pull a pen out from your pen stand, opening your notebook to a random page before starting to write.

Only… You have never written a poem before, don’t know how to, never tried one.

You uncap your pen, tapping on the page with the nip of your pen as you think hard, leaving blue dots all over the white sheet.

Ugh.

Kakashi your eyes, you jot down carefully, taking a minute to look out of the window before turning to your notebook again.

They’re as beautiful as the skies.

You lean back to admire the sentence you just wrote, a grin spreading across your lips. Great start.

You hunch over the notebook eagerly, scribbling the next few sentences in a haste.

Kakashi your face, it makes my heart race

Kakashi your hair, it’s so smooth it’s unfair

The grin on your face grows wider. God are you totally killing this or what? This is great, but still needs just a few more sentences.

You close your eyes, tapping the pen against your chin as you try to recall everything you love about him. The grin on your face turns to a curled smirk as you scribble the next sentences.

Kakashi your dick, it’s so big it’s sick.

Kakashi your lips, I love it when they touch my nips.

You feel a warm rush through your veins as you look at the words on the page.

Alright, now for the conclusion…

They call you copy ninja, you make my mind unhinged-ah

Baby you can bet, you make me so wet

You are my king, you make my heart sing

You lay your pen down, holding the sheet up to your eyes to read your final work.

And suddenly, the grin leaves your face. What the hell were you thinking? This is terrible.

You’re no poet, why did you ever think you could pull this off?

You tear the page off, shredding it into even smaller pieces before crumpling them together and shoving them into your pocket.

So much for poetry.

You check the time on the clock, it’s almost 7 p.m. and you have to be at the bakery by 8.

You clear your desk, moving some stuff around and throwing the rest of the junk into the trash can before gathering your things and setting off to leave. You pass by the Hokage Office on your way out and find the door closed, with two of Kakashi’s Anbu standing guard outside. They bow at you as you pass by and you understand that he must be in a meeting.

The cool evening air outside hits you like rain following a drought. After being shackled to your desk the entire day, the wind on your skin feels tranquilizing.

You walk along the street, snippets of people’s conversations flowing into your ears as you walk on, your mind boiling over with thoughts of its own.

You begin to realise how completely exhausted you are and that you can’t wait to simply go to bed. All your attempts so far have been completely useless and you most probably will be able to do nothing to make your boyfriend happy. The thought threatens to send you panicking, so you try your best to shove it away for now.

You take your last few strides towards the Bakery, which is decorated with twinkling lights on the outside. You pull on the glass door, stepping into the small store with cakes of all flavours and shapes displayed on the glass counter.

Your eyes dance across the displayed items as you reach into your pocket. You had already decided what you want and had written it down on a paper earlier today.

You scout around in your pocket, before pulling a piece of paper out and holding it out the young girl on the other side of the counter.

“Hi! I’d like to place an order for a birthday cake for tomorrow. The details are written on the paper.” You smile as she takes the paper from you.

She writes something down on a register and looks around to check both her sides before leaning closer to you, almost speaking in a whisper. “Thank you for your order ma’am, you can pick this up by 4 p.m. tomorrow. We have 3 sizes available for the cake, which one will it be?”

“The very biggest one, of course!” you sing. “The cake reflects the man, so it’s only fitting to have the largest one you have!”

She scribbles some more into the diary before looking up again. “And would you like me to add some special details?”, she asks.

“Yeah, why not? Make it your best!” you say as the girl scribbles on the notebook for a last time before handing you a receipt. You make the payment, shoving the receipt into your pocket before heading off for your next and last stop for the day, the market.

………………………………………

The Konoha Market sells everything from spices to shurikens. You stroll along the cobbled path lined with numerous small shops, each adorned with twinkling lights and a colourful assortment of all sorts of items. Your surroundings buzz with the vibrancy of people scuffling around, chattering and laughing.

You always found something so charming about the village market at night. Something about the way the little shops almost sparkle against the dark sky, or the way it always hums with such an energy, makes your heart feel happy for some reason. You take a deep breath in, various fragrances from nearby shops wafting into your nose at the same time.

You’re on your way towards one of the fruit stalls when suddenly your eye falls upon the unmistakable green figure in the distance. Gai.

He appears to be speaking very animatedly to the shop owner about something and you watch from a distance in amusement, before the man suddenly turns his head in your direction, catching sight of you.

He waves at you as you make your way towards him. You give him a nod instead of waving back, keeping up with your newly established rivalry.

Upon reaching nearer, you find yourself face to face with a variety of fluffy boa scarves of all colours, ranging from blue to red to yellow to green.

You look in confusion at Gai, who seems to have a dark green one draped around his neck.

“Um… will this have something to do with Kakashi’s birthday tomorrow…?” you ask, your glance shifting between him and the scarves, not knowing if you really want to know the answer.

“It sure does!” he replies, before turning to the shopkeeper. “I’ll take them all!” he says, as the old man proceeds to pack about 20 boa scarves into a bag.

A thousand different questions run through your mind, but if you were to put any more burden on your brain, it would iron out so you decide to simply pretend like you never saw any of this.

“Hope things are well at your end too, y/n!” he says, “I’d hate for you to lose to me, my rival’s lover!”

You take a gulp, avoiding looking at his eyes. Your head feels like it’s being crushed under a thousand heavy rocks as you feel the headache making its way back. You realise your arms can barely hold the weight of the bags you’re carrying, each filled with items necessary for tomorrow.

You look up at him, even the slightest movement of your neck suddenly so troublesome.

He looks back at you expectantly, the twinkling smile still adamant on his face. His teeth shine so bright, you can almost see your reflection in them.

You take a deep breath.

“Of course. Things are perfect, Gai.” you say, flashing him the very biggest and brightest smile that the twenty muscles in your face can possibly manage.

CHAPTER - 3 ( The Big Day)

The feel of two strong arms, one hooking under your legs and the other around your back, lifting you off the chair you’d fallen asleep on rouses you from your doze.

That must have been the fifth day that week that you fell asleep on your desk. You had been reading the para from Icha Icha which you want to re-enact for Kakashi’s birthday, and then all of a sudden you found yourself immersed in the book, devouring every single line, eager to know more about the story and what happens to the characters. So, you’d kept going but before you realised, you’d fallen asleep with your head over the book on the desk itself, with a string of white drool trickling down the corner of your mouth.

You blink in the dark as the arms carry you, melting into their familiar touch, your eyelids so heavy with sleep that you barely manage to keep them open enough to see what’s going on. The arms lay you down on the bed gently, pulling a cover over your body as you shift around in slumber, making yourself comfortable.

You watch a figure go round to the other side of the bed, before slipping in next to you slowly, careful not to wake you up by making too much noise or movement. 

“Kakashi…” you whisper, your voice hoarse and barely audible. “Happy Birthday…sorry I couldn’t…stay aw…” you trail off, falling into a deep drowse before you can finish your sentence.

Kakashi smiles to himself in the dark, his heart filling with such an ache at the sight of your sleepy, drooling face. He drapes an arm over your waist, pulling you close to his chest, his hand stroking your hair at the back of your head as he places a soft kiss on your forehead.

This, this feeling… this is all he would ever want. Just you safe against his chest, the two of you falling asleep together in each other’s arms every night.

“Thank you”, he whispers against your hair, the familiar smell of your shampoo so welcoming to him, soothing his soul after a long day, washing over his mind and carrying his worries away, even if it’s only for the night.

You snuggle closer to him in your sleep as he tightens his arms around you, the feel of your body next to his filling every cell in his body with such warmth, that he gives himself in to the pure bliss of the moment, his eyes closing as he dozes off as well.

Yes, it is indeed a ‘Happy’ Birthday.

………………………………………

 You jerk open every single cabinet in your kitchen with maniacal speed, looking for the damn frying pan.

Where the fuckity fuck did this guy keep the pan?

Between the two of you, Kakashi is the one who mostly uses the kitchen so he’s the one who has everything arranged according to his convenience.

You’re running on borrowed time, Kakashi should be up any minute now and you have to finish making breakfast before he does so you can surprise him with a nice breakfast tray in bed. You don’t usually wake up before him, he’s the early riser in your relationship but you figured you could reverse the roles for one day and kick start his day with a delicious meal, which would probably give you some winning points. And, of course… something else too. Something that will DEFINITELY give you some winning points.

You find the pan lying right in front of your eyes on one of the shelves and you turn the stove on, placing the pan over it before cracking open two eggs and sprinkling some cheese on them, berating yourself the entire time for being so blind.

On another burner of the stove, four perfect pancakes sit glistening, glazed with some maple syrup you picked up from the market yesterday. You reach for two cups on the counter and fill them with freshly brewed coffee as you hunt for a tray next.

You take a small glass vase and put two red roses in it, which you also bought yesterday, before placing it on a corner of the tray. Finding a notebook lying around, you rip a page off and scribble a note on it, a stupid grin spreading across your face as you write.

Happy Birthday, Kashi. You’ll always be the Hokage of my heart.  

Icha Icha Tactics Pg 150, line 2. <3

Icha Icha Paradise, Page 162, line 4. ; )

By the time you’re done, so are the eggs and you gather all the things on the tray, setting the note right beside the vase. You smile to yourself, looking at your creation. Not bad.

Take that, Gai.

You peek through the door of your bedroom to see Kakashi beginning to stir, and make a quick dash towards the bathroom.

You stand in front of the mirror, checking yourself out in the blue satin two-piece you changed into in the morning, just so you can wake him up with a real jolt.

You pull on the hem of your spaghetti top, revealing more of your cleavage and pull up the waist of your shorts, before turning around to admire the way it accentuates your curves. You fluff your hair up with your hands and take your favourite lipstick from the shelf, before puckering your lips up and dabbing a bit of it on.

You step back, admiring yourself in the mirror.

Forget a snack, I look like a full meal, baby. Take THIS too, Gai.

Hearing some sounds come from the direction of the bedroom, you rush back to the kitchen. You light a candle and place it on the tray before picking it up and making your way to the bedroom.

“Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthdayyy- ayyyyy Kakashi-ii, Happy Birthday to you!” you sing, swaying your hips to the tune and doing a little dance as you enter through the doorway. You find him sitting upright on the bed, still under covers, his sleepy eyes widening in surprise as he catches sight of you.

He looks you up and down, taking your view in in thunderous astonishment as you place the tray on the bed and step forward to pull his face into a hug against your chest. “Happy Birthdayyyyyy baby” you mumble, smooching him all over and leaving red lipstick prints all over his face.

His hair looks dishevelled and his eyes are still sleep laden as you pull back and watch him look at the tray and then at you, and then back at the tray again.

“This… this is for me?” he asks shakily, looking up at you as you stand beside him.

“Well, duh! Who else would it be for?” you reply in a cheery tone.

He picks up the note from the tray and chuckles as he reads, his shoulders heaving with every snort of laughter.

 “Y/n, I…” he fumbles, “This is… I’m…you didn’t have to...” he trails off, looking up at you with eyes that send a pang to your heart.

“Of course I did. You deserve it.” you say, smiling as you sit on the other side of the bed, facing him.

A wide grin spreads through his face, lighting the entire room up and instantly aging him down by about eight years, not that he looks a day beyond 30 right now.

“And…“, he says with a twinkle in his eyes as he gestures towards your outfit, “Is that for me too?”

“For you to rip off, yes” you say in a husky voice, smouldering at him before breaking into a giggle immediately. “Well okay now, dig in, come on! I woke up at 4 am for this!” you say, pushing the tray towards him.

He straightens up, the grin sparkling in his face as he looks at the food in front of him. “Y/n, this looks amazing!” he says, picking up a fork and a spoon before taking a bite of the pancake.

You watch in anticipation as he chews the food and lets out a “Mmmmm. This is really good!”, before digging in for more.

You watch him happily, forgetting everything about the challenge for a while and just admiring how happy Kakashi looks, your heart filling up with such joy and gratefulness to have him, and to be able to share such moments with him.

“Where’s your food?” he asks, looking up at you between bites.

“Ah I’ll eat in a while. This is for you” you say, flashing him a smile.

He stops, holding the cutlery in his hands before fixing you with a deadpanned stare. “Absolutely not. I know what that means. Come here, have a bite, there’s enough for the both of us” he says, holding out a spoonful of cheese scrambled eggs at you.

You roll your eyes at him, but comply, leaning closer and letting him feed you.

The eggs melt in your mouth, the cheese tickling your taste buds. You allow yourself a moment to feel happy with yourself.

You did a great job, no doubt.

 The two of you eat in bed, laughing and talking until all the plates are scraped clean.

“That was the best meal I’ve ever had” Kakashi states, shaking his head as he takes his last bite, before putting the tray away to the side.

“Really?” you ask, smiling as you sit up your knees on the bed, watching him wipe his hands, before crumpling the tissue and throwing it into the bin.

You smirk as you crawl closer to him, slowly quenching the distance between you. He returns the smirk, a playful look dancing across his eyes as you put your legs astride his thighs, placing yourself on his lap.

You fix him with a stare, your eyes boring into his as you lean in closer, wrapping your arms around his neck.

“Well…you haven’t had your dessert yet” you whisper, your lips grazing his ear before you give it a light lick, one hand holding the back of his neck as the other trails slowly down his chest, drawing a straight line along his stomach till you reach the waistband of his pants and give it a small tug.

You hear a light ‘clap!’ as the elastic hits his skin and his breath hitches.

You slide down slightly on his leg, making sure to rub yourself against him as you do and pull on the waistband of his pants again, before reaching inside and stroking over his length with nimble fingers. Your mouth trails along his chest in red sloppy kisses… moving down his body…almost about to make contact with what you can feel growing harder and harder in your hand with every touch, when a sudden loud banging noise makes you and Kakashi both jerk up.

Not the kind of jerking you’d hoped to be doing.

The banging grows louder as you look at each other in confusion for a few seconds, before you get off Kakashi’s lap and he pulls his trousers back up, hurrying out of bed and rushing to the main door to see who’s banging so loudly this early in the morning.

You sit on the bed, pulling the fallen straps of your top up and wiping the smeared lipstick off the sides of your mouth as a feeling of dejection starts to grow heavy in your stomach.

The main door can be seen from where you’re sitting and you watch as Kakashi opens the door, a booming voice echoing through the house even before the door is fully ajar.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY DEAR RIVAL!”, Gai’s unmistakable voice hits your ears as you watch Kakashi being pulled into a hug before he even has time to react.

Gai shoves Kakashi away just as quickly as he had pulled him in, before thrusting a huge bouquet of flowers, ornated with daffodils, lilies, orchids and flowers of all sorts of other exotic kinds into his hand, making Kakashi stumble with the force.

Even from the distance you can make out the look of pure confusion and surprise in Kakashi’s face as he says “Gai...?”

You can hear both men’s voice as they exchange more words in your living room, but the voices start to fade and the words become incoherent to you as you feel your mind spiralling into a horrible, sinking feeling.

You look away from the door and plop onto the mattress on your back, starting up at the ceiling as you feel the load of your heart weighing you down.

A beeping sound goes off, and you turn your head to the side, catching sight of the alarm clock which indicates that it’s time to get ready for work.

 You’d set it last night so that you and Kakashi didn’t get carried away while you made him feel like the happiest man alive.

Well… so much for that.

Beside the clock, the two red roses you got Kakashi sit still in the glass vase, their wilting bodies watching you, as if in mockery. After all, what’s two measly roses in front of a massive bouquet of exotic flowers?

 ………………………………………………………..

 You look out of the window, up at the sky for the third time since morning.

The skies are still clear, thank goodness. The weather truly is absolutely perfect for a picnic.

You take the fully packed picnic basket out of the cupboard in your office, checking the items once again. Some sandwiches, fresh fruits, yogurt, a bottle of wine, two glasses and a mat.

The morning did not go exactly as you had hoped it would, true, but that’s okay. You still have the picnic and nothing will get in the way of that. You’re still hopeful and you refuse to give up. No, you absolutely will not give up. You had resolved to try your best to make this the best birthday for Kakashi, and you will do everything in your power to make that happen.

Sure, things haven’t entirely been going your way. But that’s fine, you still have the picnic.

You tell yourself this over and over again as you make your way towards the Hokage’s Office, this little internal monologue of yours standing as the only thing that keeps you from crumpling down completely.

The door to the office stands ajar and you notice Kakashi hunched over his desk, putting stamps on a bunch of papers as you enter.

He looks up at the sound of your footsteps, immediate surprising flashing across his features. “Y/n! I didn’t know you were coming” he says, his face lighting up at the sight of you. “What’s that?” he asks, glancing at the basket in your hand.

You smile and make your way towards him, sensing a warm rush flow to your cheeks.

Despite the years that you’ve been together for now, your heart still melts at the sight of him every single time. And there’s something about seeing him in the Hokage’s chair, looking so powerful and authoritative that really gets something going in you.

“What’s your schedule like right now?” you ask once you reach his table, even though you had already asked his Anbu guards to make sure he was clear during lunch time.

He looks at the papers on his desk before glancing up at you. “Pretty free, I’d say.”

“Great”, you grin, holding a hand out at him. “Come with me.”

“Come with you where?” he asks, looking cluelessly at you as he arranges some of the papers into an organised pile.

“Stop asking so many questions, Lord Sixth” you laugh, tugging his hand and pulling him up from the chair.

  Outside the Hokage Tower, you link your arm with Kakashi’s as the two of you walk along the path leading to the river. The village looks idyllic, people going about their own business, friendly chatter and chirping of birds ringing in the background. A pleasant breeze hits you and you close your eyes, inhaling the sweet fragrance of flowers it brings along with it. Kakashi smiles down at you and despite the fatigue in his eyes that’s always been a constant ever since he took up the position of Hokage, you see that he looks quite content.

You choose the biggest tree near the river, the one with lots of branches, casting a comfortable shade over the soft green grass. The shadows of the leaves dance across on the ground, swaying and flickering.  

You open the lid of the basket, taking the small rolled mat out and proceeding to unroll it.

Kakashi stands in the distance, gazing at the flowing river. This always was his favourite place to come to whenever he needed a break.

He turns towards you, smiling, before crouching down and helping you lay the mat. “You know you really didn’t have to go into all this trouble for me” he says, his eyes filling up with the same familiar look that he always gives you, every time you do something for him. There’s always a sadness in it that breaks your heart.

“Would you shut up already?” you say, unpacking the rest of the contents in the basket.

He laughs, raising his hands up in defence. “You’re spoiling me rotten. When did you buy all of this anyway?” he asks, watching as you take each item out and place it on the mat.

You shrug in reply, before handing him a sandwich which he takes eagerly, biting in immediately.

“Good?” you ask, “I got it from that shop you really like” you say, biting into one yourself.

“Really good”, he replies, finishing up the entire sandwich in about two bites and reaching for another. “I didn’t realise how hungry I was.”

You get the wine bottle next, taking two glasses out and pouring some into them. The liquid catches the sunlight, shimmering like jewel inside the crystal glass.

Beyond you, the river cascades gracefully down its winding path as you watch in awe, a peaceful silence enclosing its wings around you.

Kakashi smiles at you as you hand him a glass, clinking his glass against yours as his eyes linger on you and you feel your cheeks burning under his gaze.

Even after all this while, he has that effect on you. “What?” you mutter, gazing at him over the rim of your glass as you take a sip.

He shrugs, not taking his eyes off you. “Thank you” he smiles, and you know it’s not just for the wine. Or even the picnic.

You return his smile, leaning in for a kiss when suddenly a voice interrupts you.

“Kakashi Sensei!” you turn your heads around to watch two figures coming down towards you, one with bright blonde hair and the other with bubblegum pink.

The figures get closer and you wave at Naruto and Sakura, the latter holding a small bouquet in her hands.

“Happy Birthday, Kakashi sensei! I guess you really are an old man now, huh? Good thing your hair was white to begin with!” Naruto rambles with his hands behind his head as the young kunoichi  glares at him.

“It’s rude to remind a man of his age on his birthday, Naruto”, she rebukes, turning to her sensei to hand him the flowers. “Here, Happy Birthday Kakashi sensei!” she smiles, her eyes crinkling as she does.

Kakashi looks as taken aback as ever. “Thank you, Naruto, and Sakura! This is a pleasant surprise! It’s been a while since I saw you two” he says, placing the bouquet carefully beside him.

“Don’t be standing there you two, come join us!” you say, waving them over and gesturing at them to sit.

“Oh no, we don’t want to interrupt” Sakura says as Naruto crouches down with a “speak for yourself” directed at her, before reaching into the basket for a sandwich and letting out a contented moan with his eyes closed at the very first bite.

You laugh, handing him another of the two remaining sandwiches which he takes happily, putting it in his pocket. “Thank you, y/n sensei, you’re the best!”

You are about to offer Sakura the last one, when suddenly a loud, screeching noise infiltrates the grounds.

Kakashi stands up immediately, walking a few steps over to see what is causing the noise as you dust the crumbs of your dress and stand up, following after him.

You watch his eyes turn the size of saucers as you step in closer, turning your head at the direction of his gaze when you see it.

WHAT. THE. HELL.

Right there on the middle of main street stands Gai, holding a huge megaphone in his hand. Behind him stands a quartet, each holding an instrument of their own.

“Is that Gai sensei?” Naruto chimes, coming in and standing behind you with the second sandwich stuffed in his mouth.

“What…what is he doing?” Sakura says, going ahead to get a closer look.

All four of you stare frozen as another screeching noise fills the area, making you block your ears with your hands.

“HELLO, MIC CHECK— GOOD MORNING ALL MY DEAR FELLOW FRIENDS!”, you hear Gai screaming into the megaphone, the sound resonating across the next few miles.

“I AM FILLED WITH JOY TO TELL YOU ALL THAT IT IS OUR BELOVED LORD SIXTH’S BIRTHDAY TODAY AND IT IS ONLY OUR DUTY AS HIS COMRADES IN ARMS TO MAKE THIS THE ABSOLUTE BEST BIRTHDAY HE HAS EVER HAD!” He takes a few strides towards your direction, the quartet of musicians following after him.

You watch as several people in the vicinity stop to stare at this sudden spectacle.  

You look at Kakashi out of the corner of your eyes, standing with his body paralyzed as he gapes at the scene unfolding in front of him.

“GENTLEMEN, IF YOU WILL PLEASE”, Gai yells, turning around at the group of men behind him and giving them a nod.

They get their instruments in position and soon a tune breaks out so loud that it almost makes the ground vibrate.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY DEAR RIVAL, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU” Gai begins singing off key as several people, shinobi and civilians alike join him. People poke their heads out of their windows in the distance, some coming down, all eager to wish the leader of their village on this auspicious day.

“Gai, what the hell are you—” Kakashi begins, but his voice fades beneath the roaring noise.

Soon a crowd begins to gather, as Gai keeps singing in tune to the quartet, nearing closer and closer to where you’re standing, the rapidly growing crowd following after him.

“This is so cool!” Naruto says, going forward to mix in with the crowd as Sakura follows behind with a “Naruto, wait—“, leaving you to stand alone.

The ground begins to echo with cheers and claps and wishes as everyone comes around Kakashi, surrounding him and you feel yourself being shoved and pushed as group of men gather in front of you, chanting “Lord Sixth!” and singing other praises in his name.

Kakashi stands in the middle of it all, his face reddened in embarrassment as he manages his very best to maintain composure, thanking everyone again and again with the occasional protests which are quickly cut off by the overzealous crowd.

You stand in the distance, watching the crowd devour his figure as you slowly lose sight of him completely.

You take a few steps backwards to get away from the stomping, screaming and shoving and come near to where you were sitting peacefully, just a few minutes ago.

You look down at the ground, Kakashi’s untouched glass of wine and the unopened boxes of yogurt lying near your feet, a few inches away.

You look up at the crowd in the distance again, their deafening bellows hurting you ears as you plop down on the ground in defeat, unable to keep holding any longer.

You reach for your glass, chugging the entirety of its contents down in one swig before grabbing the stem of Kakashi’s glass and doing the same.

Leaving the empty glasses lying on the grass, you reach for the bottle, opening the cap and tossing it somewhere into the distance.  You feel your eyes well up, in spite of your every effort to hold the surge of waterworks back. Fat, hot tears start rolling down your cheeks as you chug the liquid down straight from its container, trickles glistening down the corners of your mouth, your throat beginning to burn with every swift successive gulp.

 ………………………………………

 The Konoha bookstore lies in a quieter part of the village, away from the usual chitter chatter.  It was made so with the idea that a bookstore should be situated in a place where there’s peace and quiet, a sanctuary for people to seek refuge in when they need to get away from all the commotion.

Unlike most of the newer and fancier shops in the village, the quaint little bookstore carries an old school charm, with its wooden floors, low ceilings and cosy reading lights. The latest spruce to the store, however was the addition of a DVD collection, making it a book and DVD store at present.

Throughout the years, this little bookstore has seen many unions between you and Kakashi, from romantic dates to squabbles over novels and authors. It has also always been very close to your heart, your safe place, the place that provides you comfort even on incurably bad days.

And right now, you’re on your way over to this very bookstore, walking as fast as your legs would carry you. Kakashi’s gift, which you’d pre ordered about a month ago should be here by now. Had you not gotten entangled in a million other things, you would have picked it up earlier.

You can read the little sign, written on a wooden board in the distance as you inch nearer, almost tripping on a rock as you push your poor legs to their very limit. Your body feels made up of nuts and screws more than flesh and blood by this point, ignoring every signal from your brain to work on its own.

Images of the afternoon threaten to break into your mind as you shut them away with all your might, not wanting to recall that horrible meltdown smack in the middle of the grounds.

Thankfully the crowds were too busy with Kakashi in the middle and Gai right by his side, leading the entire village into singing like they were all in some sort of a choir, to notice the Hokage’s girlfriend having the silliest meltdown of her life in the corner.

Moreover, you had made sure to slip away before the mob had thinned out, your last recollection being the tiniest glimpse you caught of Kakashi as you went by, looking as if he wanted the Earth to swallow him whole, as Gai beamed by his side with an arm around his shoulder.

You shake your head, trying to rid your mind of these flashes. You can’t break down again, no. You’re too far into this to give up now. No matter what happens, you have to stick to your resolve. Your hope may be dwindling, but it’s still not out yet.

You reach for the little glass door of the bookstore, pushing as you enter. The musty familiar smell of old books hits you immediately, almost making you feel as if everything is going to be okay.

You glance at the numerous books stacked in wooden shelves, categorised by genre. Some look new, and some display the ravages of time on them.

The shop owner, Mrs. Kimura catches sight of you, beaming as you draw nearer.

Because of how frequently you visit this store, you and old Mrs. Kimura have developed quite a bond. She also happens to be a war veteran, and you’ve spent many evenings listening to tales of her time from back in the days, tales that never fail to astonish you.

“Y/n! Hello! It’s been a while since I saw you!” she greets as you smile at her, even the smallest act of smiling so exhausting to you.

“Hello, Mrs. Kimura. Forgive me for not dropping by more often, I have been a bit busy lately” you say, flashing her an apologetic look.

“Ah, that’s okay dear. Well, what are you here for today?” she asks, the wrinkles by her eyes crinkling further as she smiles.

You fish around for a receipt in your pocket and take it out, handing it to her. “I had pre-ordered a special edition book containing unreleased manuscripts of the Icha Icha series about a month ago?” you say as she brings the paper closer to her eyes to get a better look. “It must be here by now, I’m here to collect it.” you say, unconsciously bouncing your legs as you wait.  

She keeps the paper away, before looking up at you with a sympathetic look in her eyes, her face looking as if she’s about to break the news of someone’s death to you.

No. Please No.

She notices the immediate flash of horror across your eyes, reaching out her wrinkled hand to touch yours over the counter before speaking softly, as if speaking to a child. “I’m so sorry dear… I know you must have wanted it for Kakashi…Unfortunately, we had some trouble with shipping and it’s still not here yet.”

Your heart pounds in your chest as you hear her words.

No.

Is this for real?

Your hands start shaking beneath hers as you look at her, the tear ducts behind your eyes threatening you once again.

God is this really happening?

You pull your hand away, turning around to face away from her and taking deep breaths to try and calm yourself down. 

This is a disaster. This is a total disaster.

This was your very last hope and now that’s gone too. If you were anywhere other than here right now, you’re sure you would’ve smashed something.

You put your face in your hands, not wanting Mrs. Kimura to see you in this state.

The old lady steps out from behind the counter, coming around to stand by your side and rubbing your back in consolation. “I’ll tell you what dear, let me give you a little something to make up for this mishap.” She says, her voice soothing.

But nothing can make this better. You had managed to maintain your cool every other time because you knew that if nothing else worked out, you at least had this. It was the one thing that kept you from crumbling and now…

You feel a horrible feeling growing into a lump in your belly as you straighten up, fighting back the dam behind your eyes with every cell in your body. You take three deep breaths, before turning to face the old lady.

“It’s fine, Mrs. Kimura. I have somewhere else to be.” you say, trying your hardest to form your face into a smile as she watches you, her white brows furrowing.

You hear her mumble something behind you but you’re already out of the door, onto the street again.

Once outside, you stand out in the lonely lane for a minute, letting out a deep sigh and looking up at the sky, the bright blue suddenly looking so grave.

You walk in the other direction from the one you’re supposed to be going in next, down the lane into an alleyway, rounding into a secluded corner where one of the village junkyards is situated.

A rotten smell of trash fills your nostrils as you see multiple trash cans littered around the area in the dingy dark corner.

You walk in amidst it all, the scattered trash resonating perfectly with how you feel inside. You let your back rest against the mouldy wall, closing your eyes to let the anger wash over you.

You feel it come surging through your veins like a charging bull as you feel your hands forming into fists and your body working against your instincts to raise your foot and hurl a kick towards one of the huge trash cans with a loud, ringing thud.

You’re taken aback by your own outburst as you watch the big metal can wobble on impact and before you realise, you find yourself coming forward, throwing kicks left and right on the can, on the walls, sometimes missing your aim but pressing on again and again and again, persevering through the shooting pain in your toes.

You are right in the middle of your maniacal fit, possibly your ninth kick, when you suddenly feel your balance stumbling, having stepped on something gross and slippery. You tumble as you feel yourself falling backwards, before crashing straight into all kinds of sticky, smelly debris and landing flat on your behind with a ‘thump!’.

You sit heaving in the middle of it all, several used wrappers of heaven knows what things sticking to you as you lift your hand off what looks like… a used condom. In addition to your toes, there’s also an ache creeping its way onto your back.

Great. Just great.

But you’re hardly surprised by this point. You almost break into a cackle at the thought of your own pathetic, pitiful state before getting back up, doing the best you can to brush your clothes off all the junk sticking to you.

Out of all the things that went wrong in the recent days, falling into a dumpster certainly hits a new low.

You dust your hands as you make your way out of the dark alleyway, a slight limp in your strides as you step into the light again.

Things are so far beyond worse by now, you feel as if nothing can possibly go downhill any further from here. You’ve hit the lowest of the low. Moreover, you are all out of ideas anyway and there’s nothing left that could go wrong.

The thought is almost strangely comforting. Because if you’ve hit rock bottom, the only way from here is up, right?

Checking the time on your watch, you make your way towards the main streets. It’s fifteen minutes to four and you have to pick up Kakashi’s cake.

 ……………………………………………………………

 The Konoha Bakery looks emptier than it usually does, from what you can see through the glass doors as you enter.

That’s good because you’re running slightly late, thanks to your second meltdown of the day, and you have a lot of cleaning up to do before the party. With every other option out of the window, you suppose the only thing left for you to do now is just simply look stunning for your man and have him feeling lucky to have you.

Anko’s suggestion doesn’t seem so bad anymore, she was probably right the entire time. Perhaps you really will just put on a bra with a bow after all.

The young girl from before is the one at the counter again, and she greets you as you walk in, while the other few customers scrunch up their noses at your entrance. You must be stinking really bad. You flash an awkward smile at them as you wait for the girl to assist you, feeling very self-conscious all of a sudden.

She disappears into the storage room at the back of the shop without a word and you feel panic rising within you as you half expect to be served another piece of bad news, instead of the cake you had ordered.

Thankfully for your nerves, and for you since the stink eyes from the customers were getting a little too uncomfortable to bear, she comes back soon enough, holding a huge white box with a big red bow on top in her hands.

“Here’s your order ma’am! Just the way you wanted!” she says with a grin, placing the box on the counter.

Without wasting further time, you flash her a quick smile and hold the box with both hands, lifting it off the counter.

It’s heavier than you’d expected and you almost stumble, catching your balance at just the last moment.

There’s no way, no way you’re letting anything go wrong with this, hell no.

You tuck your purse under your arm as you try to hold the box, making sure to balance it in your hands. The box is so big, it almost obstructs your view and you struggle to see as you proceed to walk out of the store.

You push the door open with your foot and step outside, barely managing to see anything in front of you as you peek through one side of the huge box to see where you’re going.

 Out on the street, you keep struggling your way ahead, relying majorly on your other senses to walk, tripping and stumbling a few times.

No matter what though, you are not about to let this box fall from your hands.

You’re almost near your home when suddenly a very familiar voice stops you, one that you’ve unfortunately had to hear more times than you’d have liked to in the past few days.

You peek across the stooping box to look at Gai, standing in front of you with his eyes bright as ever and the evergreen toothy grin pasted across his face.

He also seems to be carrying some bags in his hands, but you don’t bother asking what they are.

Unicorn feathers for his dear rival perhaps. Or berries of immortality handpicked by tiny fairies from the forbidden forests of the Land of Rainbows. Whatever.

“What is it, Gai?” you ask, “I am not exactly in the best state to stand and chat right now” you say, making no efforts to mask your annoyance while struggling to hold the box up as the purse almost slips from your tuck.

“I am so very sorry, Y/n! Please allow me to carry this for you—” he begins, stepping forward as you take a step back, cutting him off.

“That won’t be necessary, Gai.”

You watch a look of confusion flash across his face and then he says, “Well then, I’ll see you at my party, Y/n! Everything is almost—”

“Yes, I am sure that everything is just wonderful.”, you can’t help but snap. You know that he is only trying to make his best friend happy but with each failure, you can’t help feeling more and more bitter towards the man in front of you.

You feel your patience running out as he says “Well, the cake looks wonderful too, Y/n! I can’t wait to—”

“Yeah, yeah” you snap again, cutting him off, not able to bear it any longer. “I have to go, see you later.” You say, sidestepping past him and walking ahead, trying your best to look dignified and not trip on the way.

You hear him call after you “Y/n, Wait! You have something stuck to your—”

But you pick up your pace, ignoring his calls and walking on with your eyes ahead, hearing his voice get fainter and fainter.

Once out of his view, you stop, looking behind to check the back of your dress and sure enough, find your old friend, the used condom sticking to the thin material of your dress.

You hang your head forward, and exhale heavily into the air.

So much for dignified.

  Once at home, you place the cake on top of your kitchen counter and run immediately to the bathroom, stripping as you go. The stench emitting from you is truly unbearable and the thought of having a myriad of disgusting, unknown things sticking to your body almost makes you gag.

You turn the tap on and wait for the bathtub to fill up as you take a quick glance into the mirror. You look absolutely terrible. You have dark bags under your eyes from several sleepless nights, your hair is all out of order and you just look completely exhausted. Which, well, you are. But that’ll have to change before the party.

You get your favourite, most expensive body wash down from the shelves, the one that you only use on special occasions or when you need to take a nice long bath to unwind. You uncap the bottle and breathe into its mystic fragrance, smiling to yourself.

Perfect. Kakashi loves this smell.

Next you splash some water on your face, dabbing it dry with a towel before putting on a homemade face mask that always softens your skin and leaves a nice glow.

With the face mask on, you step into the bath, leaning your head back against the edge of the tub with your eyes closed. The warm water engulfs your body, washing away the horrible day, and the stench.

You take a deep breath, inhaling in the fragrance of one of the aromatic candles you lit, and let yourself get into the moment. This is the first time in a week that you have felt truly relaxed and you take time enjoying it. You really, really needed this.

There’s still a few hours to go before the party and you take your sweet time in the shower, washing and scrubbing every part of your body.

You wash your hair, file your nails, put on some nail polish, and lather your entire body with sweet smelling moisturiser.

By the time you get out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel, however, you realise that you’re running thirty minutes behind. You got so into the moment that you completely lost track of time.

The clock reads 8:45 and the party is set to start at around 9:15.

You dash to the bedroom, going straight for your wardrobe and racking through all the hangers to find the dress you had in mind for tonight. Sure enough, you cannot find it, so you start yanking each hanger out, throwing them onto the bed one after another. After about seven minutes you find the one you’re looking for, hidden behind clumps of a few other clothes.

You really need to organise your wardrobe, but that’s a thought for later.

You pull out a set of lacy black lingerie from another shelf, a pair that you haven’t worn yet since you were saving it for a special occasion.

You untuck your towel, letting it fall to the ground before slipping into the pair of black underwear. Next you wiggle into your dress, before walking to your dresser to catch a glimpse of yourself.

You smile, looking at your reflection. You have on a red, halter neck floor length dress with a thigh high slit on one leg. It was an impulse buy that you had made on one of your vacations and you recall having worn it only once your twice before.

You turn around in front of the mirror, checking yourself from all angles.

Definitely not bad.

With the clock ticking, you don’t spend further time on admiring yourself and move on to doing your hair and make-up. You brush your hair into a loose low bun, with loose locks of hair hanging by two sides of your face.

You aren’t one for much make-up, so you go for your usual minimal look, with a bit of eyeshadow, some mascara and lip gloss. To add one last touch of dazzle, you put on a pair of silver dangling earrings and then step back, looking at the final result on the mirror.

Your reflection is better than satisfactory, and a grin breaks out on your face. 

Kakashi certainly is going to need a moment to catch his breath when he sees this.

Now that you’re ready, you make your way towards the main door, making a mental list of all the things you need to check for before leaving the house.

Keys, wallet, watch, cake.

You repeat the order in your head as you go around the house, locking every cupboard that contains anything valuable and turning the lights of each room off.

You take the keys off the keyholder from the wall before going up to the kitchen counter where the cake is. How you’ll carry this cake and walk wearing a floor length dress and heels is a good question, but you suppose after all that you’ve been through today, this will quite literally be cakewalk.

The smell of the rich chocolate flavour permeating through the box is overwhelming and you resist the urge to sneak a peek.

There’s no harm in sneaking a little peek. Or maybe even in getting a little taste of the icing?

You giggle to yourself like a child as you tug the bow off and keep it carefully to the side before peeling off the single piece of cello tape that’s closing the box shut.

You slowly begin lifting the cardboard lid up, juvenile anticipation rising in your chest as you grow eager to catch a glimpse of the magnificent cake, until the lid is all the way up and—

 Sitting there, in front of your eyes, is a humongous, chocolate covered penis cake, complete with a pair of balls and several veins and even tiny hairs drawn delicately with icing. On top of the cake written in cursive, also with icing is “Kakashi your dick”.

You stare at the sight in front of you for a few seconds, having lost the ability to function.

You keep staring, as an inaudible scream leaves your mouth and you feel your legs wobble, your head suddenly spinning as they give way and you feel yourself losing balance, unable to keep yourself standing. Your foot catches the hem of your dress and you hear a clear ‘screeeesh’ as the flimsy material comes ripping on impact, before you fall on the ground.

You sit staring blankly at the ground in shock, your head suddenly completely empty of thoughts, before you find yourself letting out a loud, long coming, screeching scream that almost tears your vocal cords, into the empty house.

Your voice echoes through the walls as you find yourself unable to keep holding the tears back anymore, letting them come as you feel them roll down your cheeks in streams of water, completely messing up your freshly put on make-up.

You sit with your back resting against the kitchen counter, slowly slipping onto the floor before you’re fully horizontal on the cold tiled ground, crumpled up in a screaming, sobbing ball.

You make no efforts to hold back any longer as you catch hold of the ripped part at the hem of your dress and tear it off with a hard yank, using it to wipe the watery snot running down your nose.

Your shoulders heave as you stay on the floor sobbing, a whimper escaping your trembling mouth from time to time.

You lie on the floor crying for you don’t know how long, the clock ticking by behind you as you make no attempts to move.

I give up.

Gai wins.

You tried, you’d gone out of your way, you’d bent over backwards to do everything you could to make Kakashi happy. But despite your best efforts, you couldn’t. You failed. You failed at making him happy. You are a horrible girlfriend and a horrible person. You snapped at Gai and were rude to Mrs. Kimura, who had been trying to help you.

The sobs come harder and you give yourself in to them, your face looking like a wet mess with make-up smeared all over. And your dress… your beautiful red dress…

But that’s not the most important thing on your mind right now.

You recall every single moment from the past two days, letting all the feelings you had pushed to the back of your mind, every single instance where you tried to be strong when you really wanted to scream, flow over and consume you.

Your mind wanders to when you’d placed the order for the cake and you realise… you have no one but yourself to blame for this particular mishap. When you’d shoved the ripped pieces of the poem into your pocket, it must have mixed up with the scrape of paper that had the details of the cake written on it. And like an utter moron, you had handed the paper to the girl without even looking at it. No wonder she had looked at you funny.

And God, Kakashi’s name was on it. He’s the Hokage for God’s sake.  

In addition to self-pity and dejection, you feel embarrassment creep in as you recall the conversation you had had with the girl.

The cake reflects the man so the largest one you have of course.

Not only did you embarrass yourself, you also, without even trying, managed to drag Kakashi’s dignity into the grounds by involuntarily disclosing details about his measurements down there to the girl in the bakery.

God what did she even think!?

Another surge of tears overwhelm you as you hide your face into your hands, realising just what you have done.

The veins, I suppose that’s what she meant by “special details”

You bury your face in the cold ground, hoping never to get up again. There’s no way you can ever show your face at the Bakery ever again. Which really sucks because they have the best blueberry muffins in all of the Land of Fire.

 You remain lying on the ground for what feels like a lifetime and the tears eventually stop but you feel like trash and your muscles feel weak from all these days of running around and biting off more than you can chew, so you remain on the floor, crumpled into a ball like a snail.

It must be somewhere around 10:30 p.m. when you feel the main door clicking, but you remain in your position, too exhausted to care about anything anymore.

“Y/n!” Kakashi’s voice rings as he enters, almost screaming. “What happened, are you okay?” you hear him as he comes running across the room as soon as he’s inside, crouching by your side to take your face in his hands.

In all the years that you’ve known him, you can count the number of times he’s sounded this alarmed on your fingers.

You study his panicked eyes as you look into them, a sloppy smile spreading through your face. “Kakashi… what’s up, man?”

His brows knit deeper as he takes your state in, your tear streaked, make-up smeared face and your ripped dress. He leans down further and sniffs. “Are you drunk?”

“No, but I should be” you reply, still in the same position as he watches you in utter confusion.

“Y/n, what’s wrong?” he asks, his tone worrisome. You realise he’s breathing fast, like he ran on his way here.

You lift your head off the ground, sitting up and facing him. “The question is, what isn’t wrong?” you say, putting a hand on his shoulder. “And the answer is, nothing. Because everything is completely and utterly wrong.”, you smile again.

You watch his eyes grazing across your face, reading you but saying nothing. He remains quiet, only looking at you, waiting for you to regain sanity.

A few minutes of silence pass before you speak. You let out a sigh before forming the words.

 “I’m sorry” you say, taking your face into your hands. “It’s just… I really wanted to make you happy on your birthday, and I failed. Miserably…” 

“What are you talking about?” he asks, moving your hands away your face, shock evident in his voice.

You avoid looking at him, shaking your head. “Nothing. I’m just stupid.”

He comes closer, pulling you into his arms as you rest your head on his chest, matching your breaths to the beat of his heart.

 Being in his arms feels like being blanketed in a cocoon and you feel a strange feeling of comfort flood over you. You stay that way in silence for a while before you conjure the ability to talk again.

“So…Did you um… go to the party?” you ask against his chest, still in his hold.

“Yes, but you weren’t there, so I came to look for you.” He replies, his chin resting on the top of your head as he speaks.

You feel a strange guilt forming as you wonder how thrown off Gai must have been when you hadn’t shown up.

“And were you surprised?” you ask, making a mental note of apologising to Gai. Temporary rivalry aside, he’s a good friend.

“Well, I knew about this” he says matter-of-factly and you pull back, looking at him. “But there definitely were surprises.”

“You knew about the party?” you ask, your brows furrowing.

“Well, yeah. Gai tried to hire singers and any gathering of such magnitude requires the Hokage’s sanction and I didn’t want him to go through so much trouble so I denied permission and asked the singers to tell him they were booked, but…  he found some way around it, I really don’t know how.”

You can’t help letting out a chuckle at this. “Sounds like Gai. He really went all out, huh?”

You watch Kakashi almost shudder. “You should’ve seen what did for the party” he says, shaking his head.

“Were there boa scarves involved….?”

“You don’t want to know.” He says chuckling, and you smile, taking his hand in yours, glad to have him alone at last, even under these circumstances.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there. I was the one who was supposed to go get you and I got ready” you gesture at your face and your dress,” But then this happened” you say, reaching for the open box lying on the counter with your hand. “Are you ready?”

He looks at you in confusion as you get a hold of the box, carefully bringing it over and placing it in the space between you.

You watch his eyes widen at the sight before he starts laughing and you join in, staring at the humongous edible rendition of a penis in front of you.

“Well, that is one well-endowed cake” he says, tilting his head to get a better look at it.

You sigh. “Ugh. This whole thing turned out to be such a disaster. This is not how it was supposed to be…” you say, looking down at the ground, your face forming into a frown again. ”I just wanted this day to be special and to make you happy”.

His eyes soften as he looks at you. “I AM happy”.

Inside your chest, your heart starts doing somersaults.

“You bring me a lot of hap-penis, Y/n.” he says, looking right into your eyes with a straight face.

“Kakashi, did you just—"you scoff, “This is not funny! Do you know the amount of craziness I’ve had to—” but you trail off, breaking into a fit of laughter yourself. “You’re such an idiot” you say and he smiles, coming closer to you and pulling you into a hug again.

You close your eyes as he whispers into your hair, “You smell nice”.

“Can’t say the same about you,” you reply without missing a beat but do nothing to let go of him.

He laughs into your hair and you feel the muscles of his chest move as he does. “Yeah, I should go take a shower. I ran on the way here.”

“Shouldn’t you get back to the party?” you ask.

“I’m not going back there.”

“But it is your party. As much as I’d like you to stay, you should go, Kakashi.” You say, pulling back from the hug to look at him.

“I did go.” He protests. “Believe me, they won’t miss me if I don’t go back. Gai is 3 sakes down, he can barely tell his right arm from his left, it’s havoc out there.”

You widen your eyes at his words. “3 sakes down? That’s not going to be good” you say, shuddering as you recall this particular memory from a few years ago where you had had the misfortune of witnessing Gai drunk in a bar. The place had taken 2 months to renovate and your entire group was banned from ever setting foot there again.

Kakashi laughs, recalling the same memory. “So, don’t worry. I am going to go take a quick shower and then I’m all yours for the night.” He says, with a twinkle in his eyes.

You smile at him and for the first time this evening, it doesn’t feel like a chore.

“Wait, let’s cut the cake before you go, it’s been sitting out for too long” you say, getting up with the box in your hands as Kakashi follows.

You come around to the counter, placing the box on top and looking for a knife as he comes behind you, standing with an arm around your waist as he laughs at the sight of the cake again.

“Well thanks to this, everyone in the village is probably going to know now that their Hokage is packing” you say, before proceeding to take the cake out of the box and placing it on a tray.

“Yeah, I had been thinking of ways to get out of this Hokage job for a long time and I think you gave me the perfect reason to resign.” He says as you hand him the knife, chortling.

He remains standing beside you with an arm on your back as he makes the first cut on the cake, and you watch thick white molten cream come spilling out onto the tray.

“Oh my god” you exclaim, laughing in fits as he cuts a slice and holds it out near your mouth.

You open your mouth and let him feed you and cut one of the 'balls' of the cake before holding it out to him. “Open wide” you say, before feeding him the slice as both of you try not choking on your laughter.

He looks at you with those eyes again, before dipping his index finger in a bit of the cream and smearing it on both your cheeks and your nose, before leaning forward and kissing the areas, licking them away.

“Thank you, Y/n” he says and you see the same look from earlier reflected in his eyes.

You lean forward and place a kiss on his mouth, the one you couldn’t earlier.

“Alright, I’ll go take a shower.” He says, kissing your cheek again before turning around to head towards the bathroom. Halfway through, he turns around to call out. “Oh and I found a package addressed to you at the doorstep? I kept it by the couch” he says, before turning back and disappearing down the hallway.

A package? What could that be?

Confusion looms over you as you walk up by the couch, inspecting the package in your hand. It looks big and heavy.

You crouch down, unpacking it slowly and find a note attached. You keep the note aside and open the package first and inside, you find a projector, complete with a roll up screen and a manual guide, and a DVD copy of Icha Icha Paradise.

You pick up the note, holding it in front of you.

Dear Y/N,

Please accept this small gift for me, as a token of apology and gratitude for all that you’ve done for me over the years.

But remember that the best gift a man can have is the company of the woman he loves.

My best wishes to Kakashi and my love to both you.

Akari Kimura

You hold the little note close against your chest and feel your eyes welling up, but not out of frustration or sadness this time. You smile to yourself and make a mental note to personally deliver a bouquet of flowers to Mrs. Kimura tomorrow.

But right now, something else plays in your head as you suddenly recall a line from that paragraph of Icha Icha Paradise.

His engorged fleshy sword slipped into her moist tenderness, thrumming deep and hard into her honeypot as the petals of her flower bloomed to welcome him into the humble abode between her legs. Their dewy bodies heaved, as if dancing to a melody written only for them and they became one, in a sacred union of love and lust, as they made love under the sparkling stars of the beautiful night sky.

Sparkling stars of the beautiful night sky.

Your face breaks into a massive grin and you stand swiftly up on your feet and dash towards the bedroom.

You pull out some sheets, a pair of comforters from the storage cupboard and run to your backyard, piling them all on the grass before making a quick dash back into the bedroom and coming back with some pillows and cushions.

You lay the sheets and the comforter carefully on the grass, before throwing the pillows on top.

You hurry back to the living room next, carrying the box containing all the things out into the backyard and set up everything one by one, with the help of the manual. You connect the projector to the DVD player you had in your house already and set up the screen on the two metal stands in front of the makeshift bed on the grass.

You make another quick dash inside your house, making sure Kakashi is still in the shower. You hear some movement behind the door and you yell “Don’t come out now!” before getting some twinkling string lights you have from the store room.

“What do you mean don’t come out? I’m done, I need to get dressed” you hear him yell back from the other side, followed by the sound of the bathroom lock clicking as you run to the door just in time, the string lights still in your hand, and lock the door from outside. “Don’t come out until I say so!”

You hear him utter a confused “What?” but you’re already off, out in the backyard again. You wrap the string lights around, in bushes and trees and clothing wires, before turning them on.

A dim yellow light fills your backyard, flooding the entire place with a warm cosy aura.

You look around to your creation, satisfied with the results and let out a big grin, thanking Mrs. Kimura in your heart.

She’s right. The best thing you can do for Kakashi is to simply be there for him, and spend time with him. You got so wrapped up in thinking about doing things to make him happy, that you forgot that it doesn’t matter what you do, as long as the two of you are together.

Kakashi loves you and you know you make him happy, regardless of whether or not you make any grand gesture on his birthday. 

But that being said, it certainly doesn't hurt to do a little something for him, as long as you don't get too carried away with it to the point that it almost kills you. 

The realisation soothes you and you feel a long-standing burden slowly crumble in your heart as you start to feel lighter, your spirits lifting up.

You hum to yourself as you make your last trip into the house, gathering some of the food you had picked out at the market that day but didn’t fit into the picnic basket. You pull out an old bottle of wine from the refrigerator, filling up two glasses and carrying it outside to the backyard.

Laying it all beside the sheets, you make your way back towards the bathroom and stand outside, facing the door.

“Kakashi?” you call in a soft voice.

“Yeah? Can I come out now? What are you even doing?” he calls back as you smile to yourself at the sound of his voice.

“How well do you know Icha Icha Paradise?”

“All the lines by heart, can we have this conversation when I’m not standing near a commode?” he calls out impatiently as you laugh again.

You reach behind and pull on the strings of your halter-neck tied at the back of your neck, feeling the top of the dress fall to your hips in one swift motion. You slide the rest down your hips, letting it pool near your feet as you step out of it, standing in front of the door in your lacy black lingerie.

“All the lines?” you ask again, your voice teasing.

“Yes”, he replies and you hear him about to start another sentence as you unlock the door, pushing it open. “We’ll test that.” You say, looking into his eyes as you watch him look at you like he just got an electric shock through his veins.

You gaze at him, standing there in a white towel with his hair wet, droplets of water still trickling down his torso as you feel something stir inside you and you smile, not taking your eyes off him.

He still stands there looking frozen as you step forward, and take his hand in yours, even the touch of his fingers against yours suddenly sending a shiver through you.

“I, uh… You look… I’m—” you hear him fumble nervously, visibly shocked as you cut him off.

“Just like the main heroine of Icha Icha, yes” You say in your calmest voice, tugging at his hand, a mischievous smile playing on your lips as he steps out of the bathroom, still looking at you as if he’s not sure you’re real. You pull him by his hand, slowly leading him down the hallway, all the way out into the backyard, knowing that nothing is going to come in your way this time.

You catch a glimpse of the clock as you lead him outside, and see that it’s almost midnight and soon it’s not going to be his birthday anymore but right now, you don’t care.

You don’t care if it’s not his birthday anymore, or if you don’t have rose petals, expensive champagne or a delicious meal cooked.

You don’t care that you couldn’t give him the perfect birthday gift, or that he’s already watched this movie multiple times before.

You don’t even care that all your previous attempts had failed, that even after breaking your back trying to do things for Kakashi, you couldn’t pull a single thing off.

All that you care about, is the fact that he’s here with you.  

In the end, it all worked out just fine, better than you could have ever dreamt of.

But what matters most is the fact that you’re together, and you make each other happy, and nothing else in the world could ever be more special, or a greater gift than that.  

 Just her and him in their own little world, entangled in each other’s arms, laughing the night away and making sweet love under the stars. (Last Line, Icha Icha Paradise)

Notes:- 

I tried my best to proof read but since it's really long, I may have missed some things. So if you find any spelling mistakes or any words missing or anything that seems out of place, please do not hesitate to let me know! 

Also, I’m gonna reply to the comments about the earlier chaps on here lmfao 

@ibukiirisha​ - You’re so cute what the hell, it was MY honor to tag YOU omg, I honestly was so fkn delighted when you’d even asked to be tagged in my fics,I was just ahdfdhkefhj  😩 Thank you so much ❤️

@ren-hatake​ - AHHHH i cant even tell you how happy you make me with all the love and support i mean  😩😩 it really fills my heart, you and your comments make My day 6000000x better and thank you so much for everything bb, I’m so glad you liked the earlier chaps thank you so so much ily ❤️

@issamomma​ - OH GOD THANK YOU SO SO MUCH FOR EVERYTHING YOU SAID, honestly. I can’t verbalise how happy it made me 😩 Your comments always make my day, thank you so much taking the time to write them, I appreciate it a hell lot. You’re so precious, thank you, ily ❤️

@psychofishie​ - shdhdk i don’t even know what to say, you’re literally encouraging me and supporting me all the damn time and thank you so so much, it really does keep me going. Your comments mean a hell lot to me, thank you SO MUCH for all the support, i completely adore you and i really hope you like the story ahhhhh  ❤️  

@ sushi-comet - I agree lmfao Gai is pure af and i love him but yeah he sure does go over the top sometimes lmfao. Thank you so much for reading!!  😩

#kakashi #kakashi hatake #hatake kakashi #kakashi fanfiction #kakashi x reader #Naruto #naruto fanfiction #naruto fanfic #kakashi fanfic #kakashi x y/n #kakashi x you #hokage kakashi #rokudaime #kakashi headcanons #naruto headcanons #kakashi scenario #naruto scenario #kakashi imagines #kakashi's Birthday

[dreamersscape]

In Which I Attempt to Wreak Havoc Upon Panharmonium's Heart. Or Something.

Because I am an awesome friend, clearly, and possibly making people sad/verklempt is definitely an excellent way to (belatedly 😔 but I did start before the 15th!) celebrate Kakashi's birthday, right? ;)

I will admit up front that this is nowhere near as deftly structured and compiled as your Kakashi fanmix, @panharmonium, but that is precisely why I'm not even going to try to organize all these songs into individual playlists. Yet. Plus, I have a tendency to over-explain so this way I can better expound on why certain songs remind me of certain characters. Sorry that I sorta went a little... overboard?

Everything--except a few that aren't available on spotify, I'll link to them directly--can be listened to HERE.

What I'm Looking For - Brendan Benson | Kakashi → I may be a little biased with this one because it fits SO many of my favorite characters so well, somehow, but there's just something about the upbeat/tongue-in-cheek musical cues/delivery of lines such as 'I visit hell on a daily basis, and I see the sadness in all your faces' that just feels so Kakashi to me.

Happy Ending - MIKA | Kakashi → This is presumably a breakup song, but I enjoy it so much more in a non-romantic context (and the song itself isn't really boxed in with overtly romantic framing, so I appreciate that!). Anyway, some very important instructions IMO for listening to this with Kakashi in mind: everything before the bridge is about Kakashi up through his ANBU years, but when you get to the 'little bit of love' refrain, picture Kakashi meeting Tenzo, and then becoming Team 7's sensei, opening back up to Gai, adopting all the other leaf genin, assimilating Sai and Yamato into Team 7, and it keeps building with Kakashi gaining more and more loved ones to fill the hole in his heart, and then cry tears of joy with me! Just my personal suggestion. :D

Light - Sleeping At Last | Kakashi & Team 7 (/all his kids)

with every heartbeat I have left I will defend your every breath

→ I've seen this song used for ship vids and I'm all ????? about that because this is clearly a song about the love you have for your child! But I suppose if one of my favorite pastimes is aggressively re-interpreting love songs in non-romantic ways, I can't begrudge the opposite process... too much, lol.

Heroes - MIKA | Team Minato

your blood on me/and my blood on you/but to make you bleed/the only thing I wouldn't do/.../I wish there was a way/to give you a hand to hold/'cause you don't have to die in your glory/die, to never grow old

Long Lost Friends - Transit | Kakashi & Obito

how long/do you have to say that/this is not the person I used to know/you are not the person I used to know/.../because lately, you've been looking at me like you've seen a ghost/and isn't it obvious who's been missing who the most

→ What the heck! What the heck! What the heck! What the heck! What the heck!

Against the Voices - Switchfoot | Kakashi

'cause everybody knows/the hardest war to fight/is the fight to be yourself/when the voices try to turn you into someone else

Out of the Darkness - Matthew and the Atlas | Obito? Yamato? Kakashi? Itachi & Sasuke? Naruto & Kurama? → I'm a bit undecided about this one, or if I should just not worry about choosing one character and just let myself feel all the "inner darkness is not an innate characteristic, Danzo! They're just grieving/in a lot of pain, and they can find their way out of that dark place!" feels.

Save A Place - 1969 | Kakashi & Sasuke

so I'll keep away and save a place for you/and I'll only make the same mistakes as you/.../when all the blood all over your fingers is dried up/the pain will still linger

→ I'm not uber-confident in picking out really fitting Kakashi & Sasuke songs yet, but I hope this hits a lot of the right notes for you. :)

Thrive - Switchfoot | Kakashi

I'm always close, but I'm never enough/I'm always in line, but I'm never in love/I get so down, but I won't give up/I get so down, but I won't give up

→ See, it says right there that he's never in love! Not the crux of the song, and he's not always 'in line' either, but still! :)

Disarm - The Civil Wars | Kakashi & Obito

the years burn, burn, burn

→ I don't know how I keep collecting fictional relationships that work so well for this song, but literally every single line of this song hits so hard for these two?? Will never recover from this. (Also, I usually disregard when 'my love' pops up in the last line of the chorus, as the mood dictates. :) It's pretty incidental as is IMO.)

Renaissance - Paolo Buonvino & Skin | Sakumo & Obito & Kakashi & Naruto

let me show you one last time/let me show you one last sign/you can find it/I can't say that I can change the world/but if you let me, I can make another world for us/let me suffer all for you/make this vision all brand new/we can fight them/I can't say that I can win it all, [but] come with me and I will make my words stand tall

→ Okay, this is a very odd choice given that it's actually the theme song for a different show about the Italian renaissance (if you happen to see this, Mirjam, don't hate me!), but this could be IT! The "those who break the rules are scum, but those who would abandon their friends are worse than scum" anthem that's all about building a better world based on these principles! I really hope our sharing-a-brain talent translates to listening to this song in this way because I am feeling SOME KIND of way about this!

The Lament of Eustace Scrubb - The Oh Hellos | Kakashi → I really liked the song you chose from this album for your fanmix, so now I've feeling a tiny bit too on-the-nose with my choice, but I guess this is just a Kakashi album all around. 😆

Glass Heart Hymn - Paper Route | Kakashi(+ Obito) & Sasuke(+ Itachi)

memories as heavy as a stone/ I am empty, in my end you are my beginning

This Is Home - Switchfoot | Yamato & Kakashi (+ Team 7)

and now, after all my searching/after all my questions/I'm gonna call it home

→ All finding-where-you-belong songs are actually Yamato songs. True story!

Faust, Midas, & Myself - Switchfoot | Obito

you have one life left to leave/you have one life left to lead

→ Could this be any more perfect for Obito? It even has creepy-old-man!Madara!

Pluto - Sleeping At Last | Kakashi

Always Gold - Radical Face | Kakashi & Obito/Sasuke & Itachi/Naruto & Sasuke

all my life, I've never known where you've been/there were holes in you, the kind that I could not mend/and I heard you say, right when you left that day/does everything go away?/yeah, everything goes away/but I'm going to be here till forever/so just call when you're around

→ ...but mostly Kakashi & Obito because 'there were holes in you' 😭😭😭

Lemon Boy - Cavetown | Yamato & Kakashi → You already know the delights of this song of course, but I gots to be comprehensive. :)

Everywhere I Go - Lissie/cover by Sleeping At Last | Kakashi & Team Minato

danger will follow me now everywhere I go/angels will call on me and take me to my home/well, these tired eyes just want to remain closed

→ I chose the Sleeping At Last cover for maximum angst, 'cause sometimes it be like that.

Uneven Odds - Sleeping At Last | Kakashi

maybe your light is a seed, and the darkness the dirt, in spite of the uneven odds, beauty lifts from the earth

→ ...just like an earth style: mud wall :') Okay, okay, bad jokes aside, the seed metaphor of course makes me want to associate it with Tenzo, but this is clearly a Kakashi song!

Twenty-four - Switchfoot | Kakashi & Obito

life is not what I thought it was twenty-four hours ago/and I'm not who I thought I was twenty-four hours ago/still I'm singing spirit, take me up in arms with you/you're raising the dead in me/I wanna see miracles/to see the world change/wrestled the angel for more than a name/for more than a feeling, for more than a cause/I'm singing spirit, take me up in arms with you/and you're raising the dead in me

I'm Still Here (Jim's Theme) - John Rzeznik | Kakashi

and how can they say I never change?/they're the ones that stay the same/.../they can't tell me who to be/'cause I'm not what they see/.../and their words are just whispers/and lies that I'll never believe

→ Yeah, I might've accidentally imprinted on Treasure Planet as a 14 year old, and then someone made sure this song would forever live in my heart by making a fanvid of it with my favorite character from my robin hood show, but! He's still here!

See You Again - Wiz Khalifa (feat. Charlie Puth) | Kakashi & Obito/Team Minato

how can we not talk about family when family's all that we got?/everything I went through, you were standing there by my side/and now you gon' be with me for the last ride

→ I am being very unoriginal here, and there are in fact already fanvids made for these relationships set to this song (along with many others featuring different Naruto relationships), but I don't think I'll be able to rest until I translate the movie playing in my head whenever I hear this song now into an actually watchable format. After all, they have come a long way from where they began, and I intend to make that both as touching and ironically hilarious as possible!

Goodnight, Travel Well - The Killers | Kakashi → Admittedly, I got this idea from a magnificently crafted fanvid done for my robin hood show, but I genuinely think it would be really interesting to make something similar for Kakashi centered around the time he technically died but got better? I don't know how to explain it, but I think it fits quite well.

30 Lives - Imagine Dragons | Kakashi & all the people he's loved and lost → can be listened to here.

A Pound of Flesh - Radical Face | Kakashi

then today I wake up feeling easy/and find I'm on more familiar roads/I got a darkness wrapped inside me/but now it ain't so hard to let it go/so keep a candle burning in the window/I'm almost home

Hold Back The River - James Bay | Kakashi & life getting in the way of him being with his precious people (you may be sensing a pattern here) → @the road of life: Let! Kakashi! And his People! Hold! Each! Other!!! Also, 'tried to square not being there, but think that I should have been' is absolutely about Sasuke's defection and Kakashi adding it to his long list of undeserving self-recriminations.

The Fall - Imagine Dragons | Yamato & Kakashi → 😊😊😊😊😊😊😊

Shadowman - K's Choice | could work equally well for Kakashi or Obito, I think

any time tomorrow a part of me will die/and a new one will be born/any time tomorrow/I'll get sick of asking why/sick of all the darkness I have worn/any time tomorrow/I will try to do what's right/making sense of all I can/any time tomorrow I'll pretend to see the light/I just might/.../and doesn't it make you sad?/to see so much love denied/see nothing but a shadowman inside

Paint - The Paper Kites | Kakashi & Team 7

still there's a wound and I'm moving slow/though it don't show, though it don't show/I've got a hole where nothing grows,/how little you know, how little you know

→ A song for just how much Team 7 doesn't know about their sensei.

Always Find Me Here - Transit | Kakashi → ...most likely at the memorial stone. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (why am I like this)

Taste - Sleeping At Last | Kakashi

it’s bittersweet, it’s poetry/a careful pruning of my dead leaves/it’s holy ground, a treasure chest/I'm on my knees and only scratch the surface/like fists unraveling, like glass unshattering/we’re breaking all the rules, we’re breaking bread again/we’re swallowing light ’til we’re fixed from the inside

Help - Hurts | Yamato & Kakashi

take my hand and lead the way/out of the darkness and into the light of the day/.../'cause I know what I've been missing/and I know that I should try/but there's hope in this admission/and there's freedom in your eyes/.../I can feel the darkness coming/and I'm afraid of myself/call my name and I'll come running/'cause I just need some help

→ NO ONE TOUCHE ME.

Your Soul - RHODES | A mish-mash of Kakashi & Tenzo and Rin & Obito & Kakashi and Gai & Kakashi vibes? → So like, 'oh you know when you're alone/I'm holding on and on and on and on/to your soul' reminded me of your 'when you're all alone...the only thing you really think about is dying' 'but when there are two of you...the only thing you can think about is surviving.' and now kakashi - who just saved his life - is asking him 'did you want to die' and yamato is saying 'no' there are two of them and yamato wants to SURVIVE. tags as well as Gai's steadfastness as a friend, and 'I just wanna hold your hand' made me think of Rin's "Well then, I'm just going to have to connect the two of you." while holding their hands, and the sunlight/'soul shine'/'your light' motif is just A Lot in this song!!

7 Years - Lukas Graham | Kakashi → Alright, yeah, there are already approximately a gazillion pre-existing Naruto AMVs for this song and even one or two focusing on Kakashi, but they don't capitalize on all the angst possibilities in many of the lyrics or reach the fluff potential of 'will I think the world is cold or will I have a lot of children who can warm me [when I'm old]' and I cannot abide that!

Putting The Dog To Sleep - The Antlers | Kakashi & Sasuke → Okay, on one hand, this song is One Big Oof. But I do like the (potentially odd) way I've conceptualized it for Kakashi & Sasuke? Like, the first half is Kakashi going through all the tragedies in his life and getting lost in ANBU, but then in the second half it transitions to him wanting to prevent Sasuke from having to be as alone as Kakashi once was and they can face life together? It makes me emotional!

Trust Me - The Fray | Kakashi & Obito

I found a friend, or should I say a foe?/said there's a few things you should know/we don't want you to see/we come, and we go/here today, gone tomorrow

→ There are a few lines that call Tenzo & Kakashi to mind, but mostly it's Obito & Kakashi.

The Lightning Strike (What If This Storm Ends?) - Snow Patrol | Kakashi → I had to, right? My mindscape is a little murky/scattered about what specifically I want to think about when I listen to this, but obviously it has to do with Kakashi in one way or another.

Kettering - The Antlers | Team Minato(???) → Honestly not sure if this will make any sense, but yeah, vague team minato vibes?

Swans - Unkle Bob | Kakashi & Obito/Rin/Minato/Kushina/Sakumo → They should be by his side always!!!

Looking Too Closely - Fink | Kakashi → I honestly feel rather ambivalent about this one too, but I can't deny 'truth is like blood underneath your fingernails/and you don't wanna hurt yourself, hurt yourself/looking too closely' always destroys me because... well, you know. I love suffering. :(

Souvenirs - Switchfoot | Kakashi & Obito & Rin

wolves - Switchfoot | Kakashi

snowfall for the battlefield/roses for the father's sons/see them red on the ground:/bleeding/when the revolution came/we were more than hungry men/we were hoping for more:/bleeding/end. begin again./all of my world is collision and spin/hope is a world that has yet to begin/awaken, oh sleeper/awaken, oh sleeper/a new day begins

→ I wanted a wolf-related song too. :)

PRODIGAL SOUL - Switchfoot | Obito, Itachi, & Sasuke; just all them wayward Uchiha boys

Coming Down - Dear Euphoria | kid!Kakashi & his relationships

the shell/that I wore/it wasn't for fun/it wasn't to make you/stick around/it was for survival/it was what I've learnt/it was for the sun/.../our love has grown/our love has flown

→ Another one I'm a little unsure of whether it makes sense outside of my head or not, but I like the vibes?

Ghosts That We Knew - Mumford & Sons | Kakashi & Yamato? → Hmm, can I maybe submit this as a Kakashi-&-Yamato-just-need-to-mske-it-through-this-war-so-they-can-have-a-bright-bright-future song?

All Is Well (It's Only Blood) - Radical Face | Kakashi → ...he said as he's bleeding out or after he's thrown himself in the line of fire protecting someone he thinks is a better person than himself...

Bleeding Out - Imagine Dragons | Kakashi

when the hour is nigh/and hopelessness is sinking in/and the wolves all cry/to fill the night with hollering/when your eyes are red/and emptiness is all you know/with the darkness fed/I will be your scarecrow/you tell me to hold on/oh, you tell me to hold on/but innocence is gone/and what was right is wrong

→ In a similar vein to the previous song. But goodness gracious! Were they NOT straight up describing Kakashi here?

Amaryllis - Shinedown | Yamato & Kakashi → Just tossing this one out there, not sure if it will make sense or if it's a reach... but I like it?

lost 'cause - Switchfoot | Kakashi & Sasuke

are we a lost cause?/or are we just lost 'cause/we won't be the future we refuse to see?/and if I'm your lost cause/it'll be your lost 'cause/you won't see me as I am, the possibility/that I'm not the enemy

→ 214 feels. (And before and after that, but yeah.)

Through the Ghost - Shinedown | Kakashi & Obito

so many silent sorrows/you never hear from again/and now that you've lost tomorrow/is yesterday still a friend?/.../everything that mattered is just/a city of dust/covering both of us/did you hide yourself away?/I can't see you anymore/.../did you hide yourself away?/are you living through the ghost?/did you finally find a place/above the shadows so the world will never know?/the world will never know you like I do ... like I still do

Little Talks - Of Monsters and Men | Kakashi → Just Kakashi having little chats with his ghosts, totally the most heartwarming way to conclude this section. 😅

Sleepyhead - Passion Pit | Kakashi → Just kidding! Here's a slightly less morbid song for the Most Tired Boy Of Them All.™ (Random aside: this was my customary song to listen to on my walks to 8AM organic chemistry classes; I found it strangely soothing! On a different occasion, after a particularly long day for her, one of my roommates didn't have the energy to make it to her bed but nevertheless requested a lullaby from us. So I obliged by playing this song for her, but she didn't seem to gain the same peace of mind from it as I did. 😄 I know it's not my place to propose anything like this, but it does amuse me to imagine bookends!Kakashi in these situations, even though it's not OChem classes he has to go to.)

General/Miscellaneous:

Rise Above It - Switchfoot | Ensemble

don't care what they're telling me/we can be what we want to be/.../just because it's law doesn't mean that it's fair/.../don't believe the system's on your side/.../the curse is spoken/the system's broken; rise above it

→ I mean, how could I not think about Naruto when this song also has the lines 'hear us sing tonight like the last night on earth/we will rise like the tide/like dead men coming back to life/we are rising, rising'? It's fun to be literal sometimes!

Doorways - Radical Face | Allllll the traumatized children → Someone has to put all those tragic childhood flashbacks to good use, after all.

Ghost Towns - Radical Face | take your pick of Itachi, Sasuke, or Post-Kannabi-Bridge!Obito

there's no comin' home/with a name like mine/I still think of you/but everyone knows/yeah everyone knows/if you care, let it go

Blinding Light - Switchfoot | Hey, Hiruzen? You may have coined the phrase, "children are the king" but I don't think you truly understand it... (insert Princess Bride joke here)

hey boy, don't believe them/we're the nation that eats our youth/.../still looking for the blinding light/still looking for the reason why/still looking for the sun to shine/all my life I've been living in the darkest night/still looking for the blinding light/to take me higher and higher

Brother's Blood - Kevin Devine | EVERYONE → ...but certainly so much you could do with Itachi & Sasuke, Obito & Kakashi, Shisui & Itachi, even Hashirama & Madara! Sakumo's teammates turning their backs on him and saying 'I don't know one thing about my brother's blood'?!?! There are SO MANY ideas I have for this song! It gives me chills and makes my brain scream.

We Need Each Other - Sanctus Real | Ensemble → Already mentioned this one to you, but I have to include it here for thoroughness' sake!

Whispering - Alex Clare | the Hidden Leaf's lost/ostracized children/orphans

who will care for the falling?/who will care for the falling leaves?

So this is probably a strange concept to come up with and apply to this song, but the 'whispering, whispering, whispering' parts brought Konaha's virulent gossiping/passing judgement about others and often kids they don't even know problem to mind, too, and yeah?

The World You Want - Switchfoot | Ensemble → If I were to make a fanvid set to this song, I would definitely keep a broad focus, but I can't deny that the lines 'you start to look like what you believe, you float through time like a stream, if the waters of time are made up by you and I, I could change the world for you, you change it for me' FOR SURE has strong Obito & Kakashi/Kakashi & Tenzo vibes.

Red Eyes - Switchfoot | Ensemble, but definitely many dashes of Uchihas 😄 → I would like to thank Masashi Kishimoto for creating a world where red eyes are a Thing of Importance so I can one day make a fanvid using this song in not just the tired or teary bloodshot-red eyes way, but in a very literal sense too.

TAKE MY FIRE - Switchfoot | The Will of Fire → 'Cause I think I'm sooooo clever. 😄

Above The Clouds Of Pompeii - Bear's Den | various parent & child relationships → This obviously derives from the not-caring-about-your-female-characters problem, but it always gets me that all the single parents in the Naruto universe are almost invariably the fathers! I guess sometimes you can safely guess that the mothers are still alive/exist, but either way we hardly ever get to see them. :/ The one exception I can think of right now is Kurenai, but maybe I'm forgetting another conspicuous single mother. Anyway, I don't know if this helps or hinders more a potential Naruto fanvid for this song, but regardless, it still gives me feelings?

Who We Are - Switchfoot | Ensemble → It just makes me inordinately happy that the chorus for this song starts with 'who we are (in the fever of our youth)', you know? :D

Brother - Kodaline | all the friendships we can stuff in here and then some → Quite a well known song I'm pretty sure, but I love how many dynamics one could showcase in a potential fanvid of this. And, not gonna lie, 'oh brother, we go deeper than the ink beneath the skin of our tattoos' deserves to be used in some sort of Tenzo 'n' Kakashi or Team Ro fan creation!

Special Bonus:

Shake It Out - Florence + The Machine | Kakashi & Obito → I'm not sure whether I would have realized how well this works for Kakashi & Obito on my own, funnily enough, but then I found this fanvid of it (containing only scenes you've seen naturally!) and it hit me like a ton of bricks. It's so well done!

#I do apologize for all the switchfoot/other repeated bands or artists #I wanted this to be really varied but switchfoot just has my number I guess? #I'd like to say I got it all out of my system now since I'll likely have to do a part two at some point #but that's not completely true *rubs back of head sheepishly* #also all the mentions of fanvid creation are just because I've always been a heavily visual learner/how I process stuff #--ironic given my visual disability-- #so I suppose when my brain gets attached to something that's in an auditory medium it still has to find a way to add in a visual component? #anyway I hope this 60+ songs behemoth of a playlist is not too overwhelming and that the musical styles are somewhat up your alley! #I swear I'm going to jump back into our Kakashi & Yamato conversations now! #turns out I really suck at multitasking sometimes /0\ #kakashi hatake #obito uchiha #team minato #kakashi 'n' obito #kakashi 'n' rin #kakashi 'n' tenzo #gai 'n' kakashi #sakumo hatake #naruto uzumaki #kakashi 'n' sasuke #kakashi 'n' sakumo #kakashi 'n' naruto #kakashi 'n' minato #Itachi 'n' Sasuke #itachi uchiha #itachi 'n' shisui #yamato #tenzo #sasuke uchiha #sakura haruno

[nibbler747]

The Real Houseninja of Konoha

After the last great war, a wave of peace took over the great nations, changing the landscape of the ninja world.  Gone were the child soldiers, endless wars, and bloodshed.  In its place peace prevailed allowing creativity and jubilance.  The time of the historic ninja is over.  What were once fighting ninja - have become houseninja.  The battles have taken on a different flair.

Ladies and Gentleman, let me present - The Real Houseninja of Konoha

Producer:  Kakashi, as centre leaf holder, let me congratulate you.  Life has taken quite the turn for you hasn’t it?

Kakashi:  I’ll say!  Believe me I’m not complaining, I’ve got to say I like this new lifestyle.  No more early morning missions, I can get up when I want to.

Producer:  Ha ha!  That’s great!  Well catch me up on yourself and your fellow Houseninja.  What are you keeping busy with now that the world is at peace?

Kakashi (shyly): Well...you might have heard about my new book release?

Producer: You’re being modest.  I don’t think the literary world has been this abuzz in I don’t know how long.  What inspired you to get into writing?

Kakashi:  Well, I’ve made no secret that I’m a huge fan of Jiraiya sensei’s novels.  While my novels are a bit different in tone, he was my inspiration to get into this field.  He always encouraged others to dream the impossible, so that’s what I did in my novels.

Producer:  You’ve been hugely successful!  Any hints on your next novel?  Will it be a sexy number?

Kakashi (blushes):  I can’t say, my publisher would kill me.  One thing I can take from my past life, is that I am good at keeping a secret.

Producer:  Hooboy!  Well, that might come in handy OR NOT as a houseninja, I guess we’ll see how that plays out for you over the season.  Well catch me up on your castmates.  They are a recipe for pure drama.  But, they’ve all been wildly successful in their own rights. 

Kakashi:  It’s true!  Well basically Genma started a line of smoking cessation senbons.  They’re wildly popular!  I’m glad he put his oral fixation to good use.  Ten - I mean Yamato is a builder architect.  He’s in such demand, that he’s booked up for years.  Although he’s been working on a project he won’t tell me much about.  Can you believe that - he won’t tell me??  Gai is probably the most financially successful out of all of us.  He created some moisture wicking Lycra and made tons of money.  With that he created a Gym Empire - Gai’s -

Producer:  Springtime of Youth Emporium!  Who doesn’t know about it!  It’s in every nation across the world.  You’re guaranteed to drop weight and build muscle in just one session!  His workouts are renown!

Kakashi:  You’re a fan I see.

Producer:  Of course!  That and his energy drinks.  I feel like a new person.  Are you not a fan?

Kakashi:  Oh Gai’s workouts are great I’m sure.  His grass smoothies I could do without.  Also, I’m just not a fan of sweating if I don’t have to.

Producer (laughs):  Fair enough.  And there is one more...I’m not sure how to bring him up.  But Obito Uchiha?  I thought he....ummm...died?

Kakashi:  Well he did, but The Sage of Six Paths granted Obito life again.  It’s great.  I have my friend back, and he’s really living it up.  He’s determined to make the Uchiha name one to remember and is doing it through philanthropy.  He always did love helping people.  Although, I haven’t seen him around much lately.  He tells me he’s chilling at home, but that’s not quite like him - you know him - Mr. Social.  Well he’s got my book launch tonight so I’m sure he’ll make an appearance.

Producer:  That is strange....If only we knew what he was up to....

Cut Scene - Uchiha Estate  Obito and Yamato are looking of plans outside near a large pool.

Producer:  So is this the project you’ve been keeping secret from Kakashi?

Yamato (blushes):  Well.....I mean if I was scheduling sequentially, Obito’s house would have been like three years down the road, but I couldn’t resist.  It’s not everyday you can work with a client like this.

Obito:  What was that?  Are you telling them about my fabulous house?  You know, I learned a great many things from Madara Uchiha.  And although we disagreed about a lot of things, we did talk about philosophies and stuff.  And we came to agreement on this - More is more.

Producer:  More is more?

Obito:  More trees, more columns, more rooms, more pools, more skylights, more swans!

Producer:  Swans?

Yamato:  It’s a literal dream working for him.  I get to design the craziest stuff!  And he wants it as extravagant as possible. It’s so fun, I get to design a swan pool!  With a swan slide!  For the swans to have fun!  How great is that!

Obito (squinting at the blueprint):  Do you know what this needs?  An adjoining swan pool!  For the baby swans!  With a little slide!

Yamato (claps):  More swans!

Producer: Are you two going to let Kakashi in on this little secret project you’re working on?

Obito:  Of course not!  It would ruin the grand opening!  The party to end all parties!  We are creating a waterfall just for the event.  And fireworks too! And Uchiha design at that.  Sasuke’s been working with me on that.

Yamato:  Yeah, we’re keeping it a secret.  I think it’s better that way...although Kakashi keeps asking me to make some stuff for him, and I’m running out of excuses.

Producer:  Well you are all meeting tonight.  Hopefully, you can keep it under wraps.

Obito:  Well Gai did stop by...

Yamato:  Oh my God....

Producer:  Well it sounds like you have your hands full!  Stay tuned for more this season on the Real Houseninja of Konoha!

#the kakashi lounge #kakashi #genma #captain yamato #obito #maito gai #wwkd #nibbler747

[ohayohimawari]

And Everyone Else Knew It

A drabble for Day 5 of @kakaobiweek Blue | Safe | Mutual Pining

Brief mature humor, romance, and fluff. I hope that you enjoy reading it!

And Everyone Else Knew It

Kakashi combed his cowlicks with his fingers and tried to steady his heart as he hurried to meet with Obito.

It was part of the latter’s conditional release to have regular meetings with a member of Konoha’s security force. As Hokage, Kakashi was not only the top of the law and order food chain in the village, he was also the only one with authority to pardon anyone for war crimes. As such, the Council of Elders decided that he would be the one assigned to supervise Obito’s rehabilitation and integration back into society. But there was a problem with this arrangement.

Obito was hot, and Kakashi had it bad for him.

His attraction to his old teammate and hero set in almost the exact moment they were reunited on the battlefield during the Fourth Great Shinobi War. The shock over the fact that Obito was most certainly not dead lasted for a fraction of a second, replaced by the shock over the handsome man he’d become. Kakashi barely had an opportunity to make sense of his conflicted feelings before they fought in their Kamui dimension, where he wished they were exchanging blows of an entirely different variety.

But that would be impossible, even after the impossible became possible.

Just because Obito was alive didn’t mean he could return Kakashi’s feelings. Any daydream in which the Rokudaime might indulge quickly ended with the cold, hard fact that a man who would start an international war over a female was probably, most likely, definitely not into dudes.

Even though he wore a watch these days, Kakashi checked the sun’s position in the sky to determine the time. He quickened his pace when he realized he was running late. Running late was Obito’s schtick, and now that he was back, it seemed silly to Kakashi to mimic the habit. At least, that’s what he told himself to explain why he would always hurry to their meetings, not because he was excited to see him or anything.

The funny thing was, was that Obito wasn’t arriving late to their meetings, either.

Kakashi attributed Obito’s punctuality to his desire to make a good impression on his parole officer instead of desiring his parole officer. But what a delicious fantasy that was; it was one that Kakashi turned to often in private and one that he shook clear from his mind as he opened the door to the restaurant where they agreed to meet. They had important things to discuss this time.

Obito said he'd undergone many changes recently, so Kakashi suggested they'd meet in a more casual atmosphere than his office. That way, it could be more like two friends having a conversation instead of abiding by the guidelines of Obito’s punishment.

However, when Kakashi spied Obito waving to him from where he was already seated in a booth, the Rokudaime wondered if he’d set himself up for additional hurt by arranging what could feel more like a date to him than a meeting.

Kakashi nodded a curt greeting at the three remaining members of Team Ten, who enjoyed their weekly dinner together in the booth next to Obito before joining his unrequited crush.

“I hope you don’t mind, but I’m starving, so I already ordered for us,” Obito said as soon as Kakashi sat down.

“That’s fine,” Kakashi was too nervous to have an appetite, anyway. “So, you mentioned that a lot has happened since the last time we met,” he folded his hands in front of him on the table, “you should be moved into your new apartment by now.”

“I am,” Obito nodded.

“How do you like it?”

“I mean, it’s an apartment,” Obito looked down at his lap. “It’s small, but it’s bigger than my prison cell and comfier than a cave.”

Kakashi hummed thoughtfully in response, quietly considering how Obito lived for so long in hiding and doing his best to ignore how his heart ached for the man.

“My neighbor is a kind woman,” Obito continued, briefly meeting Kakashi’s gaze. “She’s elderly; her eyesight isn’t great, and I don’t think she knows who I am,” he smirked sheepishly. “I help her carry her groceries up the stairs, and she brings a plate of whatever she bakes that day, which is really nice.”

This sent Kakashi’s aching heart into somersaults, and he figured he better say something while he still could talk. “Are you forming connections and friendships with others?”

“Yeah, y’know, Gai comes around with his student, Lee, and they invite me to train with them. They, uh,” Obito chuckled, “gave me a matching leotard, and I like sparring with them, but I don’t think green is my color,” he laughed. “It’s nice to feel included, though.”

“Gai is pretty great that way,” Kakashi agreed, thankful for his old friend and rival.

“Kurenai smiles and waves at me when I see her at the cemetery these days, so I hope that we’ll become closer over time.”

Kakashi nodded, shifting uncomfortably in his seat and ignoring how his stomach tightened.

“I dunno, there’s only one person that I talk to a lot since I’ve come back, and that’s, well,” Obito mirrored Kakashi’s discomfort across the table, “I mean, everything about my life is complicated, but that’s really complicated.”

“How so?”

“Well, they’re pretty great,” Obito’s sheepish smile returned. 

Kakashi noted that when it seemed that everything else about his old teammate had changed, that expression remained the same. Then he realized that he was lost in thought, not listening as Obito continued to talk.

“...And they make me feel safe. Which, after everything I’ve been through, that’s pretty important.”

Kakashi kicked himself for not paying attention to Obito because whatever he said made him blush.

“Anyway, that’s hopeless,” Obito muttered.

“Why?” Kakashi asked.

“Well, I was kind of a jerk to them when I was a kid, and… and then I went and messed everything up.”

Kakashi leaned over the table closer to Obito to emphasize his earnestness. “People are learning that you were taken advantage of, Obito. Yes, you did terrible things, but you were manipulated when you were vulnerable. Then, you fought alongside the Allied Shinobi Forces when we needed it, and most importantly, you aren’t running from the repercussions of your actions. That’s why I could pardon you, and it’s why people are able and willing to forgive you.”

“Do you forgive me?”

“Here’s your broiled saury,” a waitress interrupted, and Kakashi sat back in his seat so she could set his dinner down on the table in front of him.

Obito thanked her and assured her that they had everything they needed before leaving them alone at their table.

“This is my favorite,” Kakashi muttered.

“Yeah, I know,” Obito replied off-handed, reaching for his utensils.

As casual as it seemed to Obito, the gesture touched Kakashi. He swallowed down the dangerous beginnings of hope before it could take hold of his exhausted heart and sought to encourage Obito in all of his pursuits. “If I’ve learned anything from being Naruto’s teacher, it’s that nothing is ever truly hopeless.”

“There’s a first time for everything,” Obito spoke through a mouthful of food, and it amazed Kakashi that he could find even that attractive.

“They’re popular, like, really popular, internationally popular,” Obito’s eyes bulged as he stressed the point. “They could seriously have just about anyone they wanted, and I can’t exactly compete with that,” he finished, clearly crestfallen. “Anyway, let’s talk about something else.”

Kakashi was not a romantic man, and he knew it, and he also knew that he didn’t have a chance in hell with the man that sat across from him, no matter how much he yearned to reach out and reassure Obito that he was worth loving, and—

Kakashi chewed his dinner and choked on the word ‘love’ when it crossed his mind. He was in way deeper than he thought and decided that a change of subject was probably best. “You mentioned that you found a job,” he offered.

“Oh, yeah!” Obito perked up at the opportunity to share his good news. “I may not be a ninja anymore, but I’m still in pretty good shape.”

Really good shape, Kakashi thought.

“So, I was offered a modeling contract.”

Kakashi dropped his fork in his surprise, and it clattered on the table.

Obito laughed at him. “I know, it’s unexpected, but,” he chuckled again and awkwardly scratched the back of his head. “Looks like I’m going to be the next bad boy in Blue Boy.”

“Blue Boy?” Kakashi repeated, astonished. “The gay men’s lifestyle magazine?”

“You know it?” Obito asked, wide-eyed.

“Yeah, but I didn’t think you were into— I-I, I mean, I’ve bought a few editions,” Kakashi felt his mouth go dry, “for the articles.” And if Obito would be featured in its photo spreads, he’d be buying a subscription.

“Right,” Obito drawled sarcastically, and Kakashi felt seen. “Anyway, to be honest, I was amazed too,” he fiddled with the straw in his drink, “I don’t exactly consider myself to be fashion model material.”

“You’re hot!” Kakashi was juggling too many surprises, and as a result, dropped his filter. Then he did his best to pick it up and put it back on when Obito’s eyes snapped to his face. “I mean, that’s hot, I mean, good for you,” he wished for the earth to open up and swallow him, or for an assassin to show up intent on taking him out, or—

“You think I’m hot?” Obito asked quietly, tenderly, longingly.

Kakashi licked his lips and opened his mouth to speak but closed it when everyone heard Shikamaru’s groan from the table next to them.

“Mendokusē! Would you two just kiss already?”

Both men sat in silence, staring at each other. Kakashi felt as flushed as Obito looked.

“Shikamaru’s right,” Choji agreed. “You two are worse than a one-hundred-thousand-word slow burn fanfic.”

“Oh, I love those!” Ino gasped.

“A what?” Kakashi asked.

“Who cares,” Obito answered, his eyes beginning to smolder in a way that Kakashi had only dreamed. “Let’s pay the bill and—”

“My place or yours?” Kakashi flagged down their waitress.

“How about ours?” Obito asked, his Sharingan eye already spinning.

#kakaobiweek2021 #kakaobi #kakashi #obito #day 5 #hima writes

[depressedhatakekakashi]

Team Gai Week Day 3

A Night Of Celebration

Prompt: Festival

@team-gai-week

Characters: Hyuga Neji, Tenten, Rock Lee

Pairings: Hints of NejiLee

Words: 1265

Edited by: @kyu-pine 💜💜💜

The Sixth Hokage had been declared. Konoha was beginning a new chapter in history and Hatake Kakashi was the one leading them forward into a brighter future. A time of peace and, hopefully, prosperity for the village.

With a new Hokage came a celebration. Tenten could still remember the night her team spent together at the festival to celebrate Tsunade-sama taking the title.

The games that they played, all of the treats they consumed while laughing and talking about their futures, and the fireworks. If she closed her eyes she could still see them there behind her eyelids. Bright flashes decorated the sky while all of Konoha watched with hope for a brighter, safer future.

“What should we do first?” she plucked a piece of salmon Sashimi off of Neji’s plate, snickering when he glared at her. “When we get to the festival tonight. I bet there will be all sorts of games, and the treats…” her mouth watered at the thoughts. Mochi, Dango, mooncakes, and chocolates. So many things for them to try.

“We should play some festival games first,” Lee declared with an excitement that could not be matched even by Uzumaki Naruto himself. “Neji, I-”

“No,” It didn’t take a genius to figure out what Lee was about to say, and with a speed that surprised both of them, Neji rejected the suggestion. “I want to relax tonight.”

“Mmm, it must be hard work,” using her elbow to nudge his arm, Tenten grinned when he glanced her way again. “How are you and Hinata doing in your goals? Is the Clan changing for the better?”

With Hiashi’s death in the war, and Hanabi still too young to take her spot as clan head, Neji had stepped up with his cousin to lead their clan. To change it for the better so that no one had to live the life that Neji and so many others had been forced to suffer through. Most days he spent going over the Clan’s laws and sitting through meetings with Hinata and some of the clan's older members.

“It’s a slow process,” Neji admitted, exhaustion dripping in his voice. “We’re meeting a lot of resistance, but I won’t give up.”

“As to be expected of my Rival,” Lee pumped a fist into the air and ignored Neji when he attempted to protest at the use of ‘Rival’ instead of ‘boyfriend’. “No one can stand up to you for long. You’ll get through to those trying to stop your changes, I’m sure of it.”

The tiniest hint of a smile tugged at the corner of Neji’s lips. A little moment of emotional vulnerability that Tenten filed away into her memory banks for later. When Lee wasn’t around and she was free to tease Neji mercilessly. 

“So, a relaxing night,” she agreed, returning their focus to the conversation they were having about the festival. “Well, we could watch the fireworks from our usual spot.”

“Will that be alright?” Lee’s voice became uncharacteristically soft. “Will Gai-Sensei be able to join us if we’re sitting on top of the Dango shop?”

Tenten cringed at the reminder. Even a year after the war she still struggled with the fact that her Sensei was now wheelchair-bound. Partially because whenever she saw him he acted the same as he always had. As if his injury did not affect his outlook in life or his ability to get around. Although, there had been changes made to the Hokage’s residence in preparation for Kakashi-sensei and Gai-sensei moving in.

Even if Kakashi-sensei hadn’t organized the installation of ramps all around the building, she had no doubt her Sensei would find a way to get around. After all, half the time she saw him he would inevitably get out of his wheelchair and walk on his hands to get wherever he was going.

The man was already built like a brick house, but there was no doubt in her mind that his arms had gotten even stronger since he got his wheelchair. A feat that felt like it should have been impossible given how strong he already was.

“I’m sure that if he wishes to join us, Gai-sensei will find a way,” Neji waved his chopsticks around, dismissing Lee’s concerns. “Besides, he’ll probably spend the entire time hanging out with Kakashi-Sensei.”

“You’re right,” Lee sighed. “He’ll want to celebrate with his Eternal Rival.”

Tenten would never understand why Lee and Gai-sensei had such an aversion to the word ‘Boyfriend’. It was as if it was a word full of poison that would burn their tongues if they dared to speak it. 

Plopping the salmon sashimi into her mouth, she reached out and snatched a cucumber nori off of Lee’s plate and smirked when he opened his mouth to protest. Swallowing her food she cut him off with a suggestion “We could get Sensei a gift.”

“A gift?” Neji and Lee spoke at the same time, sharing a look as they contemplated Tenten’s suggestion. 

It was Neji who spoke next. 

“What kind of gift?” he asked, swiping a salmon nigiri off of her plate while she devoured her stolen nori and holding it out towards Lee who wasted no time in leaning forward to eat the treat right out of Neji’s chopsticks.

Swallowing, Tenten tapped a finger against the table while she thought about a fitting gift for their Sensei. “Well, during the festival for Tsunade-sama there were some moon cakes shaped like Katsuyu,” Neji grimaced at the reminder. “Maybe there will be some shaped like Kakashi-sensei’s hounds this time.”

“Oh!” Lee perked up at the idea, swallowing his food when his friends glared at him for speaking with a full mouth. “Gai-Sensei always speaks highly of the hounds. Especially Pakkun. I think a gift like that would truly be appreciated.”

“And it wouldn’t depict Kakashi-sensei, so he would enjoy it as well,” Neji agreed. “We can try to find something while we’re walking around.”

“After we play some games?” Lee asked the only response he received being another Salmon nigiri shoved into his mouth by Tenten to silence him. 

“So,” Tenten grinned when Neji forced his eyes away from Lee and towards her. “You think you can skip a night of fixing your clan to hang out with us and get Sensei a gift?”

“Hmm, well I guess I could take some time off,” he agreed, a playful look in his eyes that immediately set Tenten on edge. “Someone needs to make sure that you don’t steal all of Lee’s snacks.”

Throwing a hand over her chest, Tenten gasped. “I would never,” she protested, her mouth twitching upwards into a smirk. “I would leave him a bite or two.”

Neither of the boys seemed impressed with her words, but that didn’t worry her at all. She had a festival to look forward to. Some party pooper teammates weren’t going to ruin the fun for her. 

Games, treats, fireworks and a nice relaxing night with her friends. This promotion might be the worst thing to happen to Kakashi-sensei in a long time, but Tenten could only see the upside. At least in Kakashi-sensei’s suffering, she had an opportunity to unwind and relax. They all did.

“Ah!” stretching her arms over her head she grinned as ideas swirled around in her mind. “I wonder what kind of stuffy I’ll be able to win this time.”

Perhaps a giant Bull stuffy that she could use as a pillow, or a little Pakkun one to place on her bookshelf beside the Tonton she had won at Tsunade-sama’s festival. The options seemed limitless.

Toss A Coin To your Writer 💜💜💜

@alumort

#Tenten #hyuga neji #Rock Lee #Team Gai #Team Gai Week 2022 #TeamGaiWeek2022 #Post-war

[marsshifts]

Hey! Could you maybe talk about your naruto drs and your script? And how did you altered the plot in your second naruto dr? I’d be delighted to know about it more

Oh my gosh thank you so much for asking!! I’d love to share!

So my first DR actually came about as a fanfiction I wrote when I was a kid (LOL)

It’s called the Konoha 14 DR

And it’s exactly what it sounds like, instead of the Konoha 11, my team is included as well making it the Konoha 14! This DR is actually aged up to be college aged. I didn’t really “age up” the characters, rather, I scripted that the Academy schooling process is more like our Elementary-Highschool system. Chuunin exams are a College Age exam. The one big thing that is changed: Neji survives the war.

My DR self in this DR is named Tadashi Akechi. Tadashi is the original name I gave to this “character” when I was younger, although I don’t really think of Tadashi as a “character” anymore. I think of her as my DR self who I am channeling.

I have curly purple hair and yellow/gold eyes. I didn’t really change my actual looks though other than that. I was in Neji, Tenten, and Lee’s class in the Academy, but my sensei (Anko-sensei!! 💖🥰) didn’t hold us back a year, and I ended up being promoted to Chuunin the year before they take the exams. My teammates are a pair of creepy ginger-haired twins named Kyo and Kaito, I love them.

As for my relationships with the other Konoha 14 members: Neji and I fought constantly in the Academy and hated eachother for a while. We got over it though and now we’re friends. Tenten is my best childhood friend, and Shikamaru and Shino are my best male friends. Shikamaru and I started working together sometimes when he became a Chuunin, and one time Shino gave me a preying mantis and I was like “wowee we are best friends now” (also please note, I haven’t shifted yet, this is all scripted backstory)

My second DR doesn’t have a “name” really I just call it the Miya DR. This DR is accurate to the show, including filler because it’s fun why not lol. There’s no changes to the ages or anything like that.

In this DR I set out to fix the main problem that I think we all have: Why the fuck did Naruto raise himself, alone, drinking sour milk and eating cup-noodles instead of actually being taken care of by someone?!

Well that someone is Me. In this DR my name is Miya Senju. My sensei was Kushina, and because of that I was chosen to be Naruto’s guardian. I’m ANBU, although Naruto had no idea. He actually thinks we’re cousins or something. Even though I’m ANBU, taking care of Naruto is my mission, so I’m undercover like 99% of the time. He doesn’t even think I’m a Shinobi LOL 😂

I have split dye hair (purple and split dye are two styles I have had and they both look good on me soooooooo yeah hahaha) styled in a bob, and red eyes. Again, I didn’t really change any thing else about my looks.

Naruto and I live together, he doesn’t have to take care of himself all by himself. I thought for a second that that would ruin the plot but then I realized I DON’T CARE. Naruto is my smol son. I will not let him be treated badly all alone.

As for my relationships and friendships:

Anko and Kurenai are my best girl friends, we go drinking together-Shizune joins us when she moves back to the village. Tsunade is my mom’s cousin (I can break down the family tree more if that seems confusing) and we act very sisterly. Asuma is a childhood best friend of mine, we are also very sibling-like. Gai is my male best friend-he’s the best!! And last, but not least: Kakashi is my ex LOL. We dated when we were teenagers in ANBU together, but broke up when he joined ROOT. As a Senju, I am VERY anti Danzo-who isn’t tho-and I would never continue dating someone who was under his control. Sorry Kakashi. Maybe we get back together?? Idk, I haven’t shifted there yet.

Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to go off about my DRs LOL

#naruto dr #dr self #reality shifting #shifting #shifting realities #ask #dattebayoreality #about my DRs

[theshinobiway]

I Fix Team Gai’s Endings:

CAN I GET SOME LITERARY PAYOFF PLEASE?

Might Gai

How it Ended:

Gai fails to defeat Madara despite having the ‘best chance’ as a Taijutsu master. 

Gai narrowly escapes death and his leg is shattered, disabling him for life.

One of his precious students is dead. 

He’s forced to retire from the career he’s spent his whole life attempting to build. 

Well, be does get to spend his time with Kakashi (who is also in retirement), so he does have some silver lining.

What SHOULD have happened:

Gai defeats Madara, cementing his reputation as the legendary Taijutsu Master and gaining respect for Taijutsu users worldwide OR

Gai narrowly fails to defeat Madara, but Rock Lee avenges Gai by surpassing him (Possibly inventing a new level of Taijutsu that surpasses the 8 Gates).

Even if Gai is disabled, he gets the fame he deserves by being the most renowned Sensei in history. He becomes the model for all future Jounin instructors, and his training methods and philosophies (and by extension, Duy’s) become ingrained in Konoha’s teachings.

Might Duy receives the honor he deserves post-mortem because of Might Gai’s heroism.

People from all over come to battle Might Guy in his dojo, who still manages to defeat all of his challengers despite the lack of mobility in his leg. He accepts students who show particular grit, and it’s considered a badge of honor to receive tutelage from Gai.

Gai still spends retirement with Kakashi, going on trips and leaving his dojo to Lee and Tenten when he’s gone.

Rock Lee

How it Ended:

Rock Lee is an Average Dad

Despite being a romantic, his wife is nowhere in sight. He was never shown with a happy marriage with someone who loves him for who he is.

He has no particular fame or renown for his part in the war, and he has no major fights in the final war arc.

Lee doesn’t get a rematch with Neji OR Naruto.

We find out in the final war arc that Lee has a…CLAN? And then it’s never mentioned again.

What SHOULD have happened:

Lee needed way more screentime during the war. This would cement him as someone important and give us a chance to finally see Taijutsu at it's most advanced‐and I don't mean just the gates. I'm talking sheer technique and will of the human body that simply decimates.

Lee would either team up with Gai in the final fight (or attack) against Madara. If Gai gets defeated, it's Lee who steps up to the plate, delivering this badass monologue: "You all thought Taijutsu had its limits. You all thought I had my limits. Well, let me say this now: I, Rock Lee, have finally pushed Taijutsu beyond what you thought impossible. And how did I do it? Simple. You decide your limits from the beginning... and I reach them."

Lee, to the witness of the entire world, defeats Madara. No one is sure what to make of it at first, but it's clear: he's unlike any other Shinobi in history. He's created something they've never seen before and it's strong. And now, they believe in him like never before.

In the post-war, Naruto is approached with an offer about about a path to becoming Hokage. At the same time, he learns that the village is banishing Sasuke for the time being until they can sort out what to do. Naruto realizes political corruption exists so our precious war hero chooses going/being with Sasuke/his team. It's unintendedly a major political statement that has the elders clutching pearls and clamoring to pardon Sasuke. In his sendoff amid the uproar about him leaving, Naruto loudly nominates Lee in front of all the other Kage and drops the mic.

When finally confirmed after much drama, Lee makes for a FAR better Hokage. His arc goes from disadvantaged, talentless youth to the most impressive Ninja in existence by sheer hard work, the guiding theme of the series. No one worked as hard or stayed as humble as Lee, and Naruto recognized that.

Naruto can be his ‘War-Hero’ right hand when he returns. The "Hand of the Hokage." He still gets the “heroic” validation he REALLY wanted without the responsibility of governing.

Shikamaru is nervous about working with Lee since he's the opposite style in terms of, ahem, "actually working," but after a few early riffs and some honest communication, the two actually learn to balance each other out: Lee teaches Shikamaru be more diligent, Shikamaru teaches Lee to pace himself.

This also frees Naruto and Sakura up to actually accompany Sasuke on his redemption journey, be more present in the series, have relationships develop naturally, and explore the political repercussions of the war and everything that led up to it. It's a point of humility for Naruto to admit he wanted love and confidence over the real responsibility of governing, and let's just say the most effective ruler is always the one who never asked for the job. Naruto is better suited having his own squad as a jounin.

Shikamaru gets exasperated by the shenanigans Lee sometimes pulls in the office to train while doing paperwork. Lee often overworks himself too much and Shikamaru feels bad on his behalf, eventually encouraging him to delegate work. He has a much easier time guilting Lee into going home, though, because Lee would never choose to miss time with his family when it comes down to it.

Lee Clan? Don’t know her.

Lee surpasses Might Gai to become the most renowned taijutsu user in existence, paves the way for taijutsu specialists in shinobi culture.

Lee happily lives with his wife and Metal, who were definitely introduced either in a stand-alone novel or earlier in the series. They are the quirkiest, but most loving family in Konoha.

Their love story is meant to be cute and has the theme of “loving someone for exactly who they are.” I would love it if his wife was also disabled but excelled in her own field and Lee admired her for it. 

Lee invents a new style of Taijutsu techniques that he uses to defeat Madara. These techniques are on-par with some of the most legendary jutsu in existence.

Lee finally defeats Neji in a match, completing the arc we started in season 1. It’s a legendary fight that's still talked about to this day.

Lee’s condition is finally explained as being from a sickness he had as an infant that almost took his life. Gai had the same illness, but not as bad. 

He spends his adulthood looking for information on this sickness. He doesn’t want a cure for himself, but he has research done so it can save the lives of other children.

Lee does a training routine every morning. Academy students who idolize their Hokage eventually join in and try to keep up. It’s also endearing to the village that their Hokage makes time for the kids. 

Even if they can’t finish the routine (and none of them can) Lee congratulates them every morning on doing their personal best. 

Often, Lee teaches valuable life lessons at the end of his morning training sessions–just like Gai.

Tenten

How it Ended:

Tenten sets out to become a Legendary Kunoichi, but only manages to be legendary because she wields/owns all the Sage Weapons.

Tenten is never given a thorough backstory.

Tenten ISN’T the head of Konoha weapons research.

Tenten finally accepts that she isn’t like other girls and doesn’t want to have relationships or get married, her friends support her.

Tenten embraces her goofy side, becomes more like Gai and Lee and is heavily involved in their lives.

What SHOULD have happened:

Tenten originally sets out to be like Tsunade–the woman who could heal an entire army. She isn’t great at medical jutsu, but later discovers that her abilities mirror the Fourth Hokage.

Tenten vows to be legendary like the Fifth, powerful like the Fourth.

Tenten rediscovers and revives the Uzumaki’s sealing jutsu. This, coupled with her mastery of Minato’s jutsu, make her untouchable.

Tenten acquires all Sage weapons, gains fame for using them in battle to turn the tide of the war. Minato meets her and recognizes her as his successor. He gives her his blessing to revive the Uzumaki techniques as her own.

Tenten instead becomes the “Legendary One-Woman Army” In the war arc, she can teleport entire platoons of shinobi in an instant. She rains destruction down on the Zetsu army. 

Tsunade comments that her “strength of a hundred″ seal would have been wasted on Tenten; Tenten has the strength “of a thousand.”

Tenten’s mastery of seals lets her identify and rig the reincarnation seal; All deceased Shinobi that were forced to fight have their free will restored. Tenten has your army now.

Post-War, Tenten, at Hinata’s command, finds the way to remove the Caged Bird seal from the Hyuga clan.

Instead, a new seal is given to EVERY member (starting with Hinata) that functions to protect the Byakugan after death but has no other effect. It effectively halts all attempts by outside forces to steal the Byakugan.

Tenten keeps her weapons shop only because it suits her and her down-to-earth personality. She also likes the freedom to travel as she pleases, exploring the world and discovering more about the Uzumaki.

Tenten is famous for being Konoha’s #1 desirable single, but she will never settle down. It’s not what she wants.

Tenten deflects suitors with sharp objects as a gag. Everyone, though they may not understand, supports Tenten being exactly who she is, and they protect that. It remains a quietly apparent choice her character has made, and doesn't act as a challenge for the plot to fix.

She eventually becomes the sensei of Metal (and Neji’s child too, if he has one.) She pulls pranks on her team to both train them and remind them of who's in charge.

She still is involved in the lives of Gai, Lee, and Neji.

Neji Hyuga

How it Ended:

Sigh.

He begins his arc by cursing the fact that he’s going to die for the main branch and then…dies for the main branch. (And Naruto, I guess.)

Neji does not see his clan unified.

Hiashi’s throwaway comment during the war meant nothing. Neji and other branch members still had their seals. The Hyuga clan still went into the war with “head” and “branch” families. 

Neji does not get a rematch with Lee.

Neji doesn't speak to his father during the war.

What SHOULD have happened:

Hiashi dies for Neji, proving beyond a reasonable doubt that familial love comes before the hierarchy and reversing the old narrative.

Hiashi declares Hinata the new leader of the Hyuga with his dying breath, and tells her she knows what to do. He cryptically hints that Neji will lead the Hyuga to a brighter future. Hiashi knows the elders wouldn't accept Neji as head right off the bat, but he knows his daughter will stop at nothing to fight for her family.

This is also Hiashi’s redemption, finally repaying his brother’s sacrifice.

Neji gets to speak to his father during the war. It’s one of the most heart-wrenching scenes in the whole anime.

Post-War, Hinata stands before the elders and abolishes the status of head and branch families. She also has Tenten abolish the seal, as well as create an entirely new seal that goes on every member to completely protect the Byakugan from thieves but serves no other purpose.

Neji is the first to have his seal removed, Hinata is the first to have the new seal. 

Hinata then declares Neji the new head of the Hyuga while she finally gets the quiet, peaceful life she’s always wanted. If the opportunity did present itself, however, she may have her own squad with a similarly shy kunoichi. She comes to Neji often for advice on how to best train them.

Neji leads the Hyuga through major reform, abolishing harmful training methods and teaching the younger generation about the importance of family.

Neji is rightfully respected and hailed as the greatest Hyuga as he single-handedly creates new techniques that we see used in the next generation.

The Hyuga clan now selects their future leader from the most capable in the family. Hanabi is fine with this because she ‘knows she’ll be the best anyway.’ Neji teases her by saying he ‘isn’t so sure’, which pushes Hanabi to work harder.

The Hyuga are one of the most fiercely loyal and loving clans. Any affront against a single member will bring the wrath of the others. It's like one giant, close-knit family. Make fun of a Hyuga kid and now you’re getting drop-kicked by their third cousin.

Neji loses to Lee in a rematch, but warmly acknowledges his growth from when they were children. Neji is the first to officially support Lee becoming Hokage and is the one who gives him "the talk" that convinces him to accept Naruto's nomination of him to the council. Neji becomes Lee’s confidant and closest advisor.

Neji is an amazing uncle who is sometimes out of his element when it comes to dealing with his energetic niece and nephew. It’s all fluff.

When no one is looking, Himawari will stare intently (threateningly) at her uncle, who will slowly grimace and hand her a piece of candy from inside his sleeve, glancing around to make sure no one sees him complete the exchange. No one knows where Himawari gets her spontaneous candy and stash from. It's a mystery as to what he seems to be paying her off for, but it'd probably be a delicious secret to find out..

Neji’s relationship with his niece is heartwarming. He constantly threatens Naruto to be a good husband and father to his niece and nephew OR ELSE.

Neji trains Boruto and Himawari. He’s strict, but as kind as he is firm.

Neji teaches Boruto to have a closer relationship with Himawari, mirroring the relationship he had with Hinata. If he has children, they're the "cool older cousins" to the siblings and have their dad's clout for sure.

Neji might get married or have children. If he does, it’ll be the subject of a Gaiden novel. Perhaps also a quick throwaway scene in the epilogue post-war where he meets someone that catches his eye. His child(ren) will be on the same team as Metal, where they will also be rivals.

He might have twin boys if we really want to go hard with literary parallels, but it’s not necessary. He'd name his kids after his father first.

There, I fixed it.

#Naruto #Naruto headcanons #Naruto ending #anti naruto ending #neji #neji hyuga #Neji Hyūga #neji hyuuga #Rock lee #tenten #seriously might gai is the best #might guy #maito gai #maito guy #Team guy imagines #team guy #team gai #headcanons #scenarios #naruto scenarios #alternate ending #theshinobiway #the shinobi way

[alitaimagines]

ALITA’S big ass masterlist:

fandoms include: hetalia, naruto, my hero, fire force, ouran hshc, daiya, and more. 

since my dumbass changed my URL, my original masterpost went to the shits so here’s everything from 2018 till today. 

*: latina reader, ~: nsfw

haikyuu- 

kyoutani kentarou: 

meeting and dating kyoutani

tanaka ryuunosuke: 

dating tanaka would include

having a meme-y relationship with tanaka

asahi azumane:

having a meme-y relationship with asahi

tendou satori: 

relationship headcanons with tendou

ushijima wakatoshi: 

finding out ushijima’s yandere tendencies 

getting back together with ushijima 

takeda ittetsu: 

takeda proposing to you 

bokuto koutaro: 

dating Iwaizumi and bokuto finding out

iwaizumi hajime: 

dating iwaizumi and bokuto finding out 

oikawa tooru: 

romance headcanons with oikawa 

yandere oikawa headcanons 

yandere oikawa headcanons part two

calling oikawa out after your night in bed together 

sugawara koshi: 

suga liking a girl who hates athletes 

pregnancy scare with suga 

suga with an affectionate s/o

futakuchi kenji: 

kenji pinning after you without you realizing it 

futakuchi dating foreign exchange student

hinata shouyo: 

hinata pinning after his obsession 

having a meme-y relationship with hinata

hetalia-

ludwig / germany: 

what happens when he catch Alfred cheating on you. 

vasch / switzerland: 

becoming friends Lilly much to Vasch’s surprise 

arthur / england: 

arthur coming back from war and spending time with you

pirate england leaving you for war 

going through the era’s with arthur 

dancing with punk! arthur 

what they want/need with 2P! england 

breaking from England and ending up with Romano 

sailing out to sea with pirate England

francis / france: 

what they want/need with 2P! France 

lovino / northern italy: 

being pregnant with 2P Italy’s baby

not realizing you’re someone that’s in the mafia

matthew / canada: 

matthew asking alfred to break up with you 

what they want/need with 2P! Canada

alfred/ america: 

what they want/need with 2P! America 

ouran high school host club- 

kyoya ootori: 

slowly falling in love with Kyoya 

yandere kyoya headcanons 

tamaki suoh: 

dating and falling in love with tamaki 

yandere tamaki headcanons 

kaoru hitachiin: 

dating kaoru after Haruhi introduces you 

soul eater: 

soul evans: 

alpha headcanons with Soul 

death the kid: 

alpha kid headcanons 

my hero academia: 

kirishima ejirou / red riot:

omegaverse with Kirishima 

being kirishima’s feisty girlfriend and having a love for baking* 

being crimson riot’s adopted daughter and dating Kirishima 

ending up with Kirishima after breaking up with Bakugou

kirishima beating up his s/o’s bullies 

relationship headcanons with kirishima 

toshinori yagi / all might: 

pregnancy scenario with Toshinori 

getting toshinroi flustered in public

being a vigilante and toshinori pinning after you

climbing toshinori to kiss him

being a new hero and toshinori taking a liking to you

going clothes shopping with toshinori

SFW Alphabet challenge

coming out as bisexual to your dad 

helping toshinori out with his insecurities 

dating toshinori and being a POC 

having to stop being a hero because of your injuries 

being quirkless and being toshi’s daughter

shigaraki tomura: 

being shiggy’s girlfriend and him meeting your family*

ojiro masatoshi / tailman: 

getting together with ojiro

relationship headcanons with ojiro

shoji mezou / tentacole: 

relationship headcanons with shoji

izuku midoriya / deku:

yandere izuku headcanons 

villian deku trying to keep you from leaving him

falling into a coma and how izuku deals with it 

NSFW Alphabet challenge~

neijre hado / neijre-chan: 

being neijre’s feisty girlfriend with a love for baking*

a lazy day with neijre 

tokoyami fumikage / tsukuyomi: 

tokoyami healing your wounds and you realize you like him

tokoyami marveling at the fact that you’re his girlfriend

pregnancy scenario part two

tokoyami getting flustered when you gloat about him

stealing tokoyami’s cape 

dating tokoyami and having a nocturnal animal quirk 

being all cute with tokoyami 

dancing with tokoyami at a school dance 

NSFW Alphabet challenge 

doing scary challenges with tokoyami

showing the class your room and its exactly like tokoyami’s

tokoyami being jealous when you have a new friend 

pregnancy scenario with tokoyami

being childhood friends with tokoyami and dating him

enji todoroki / endeavor: 

realizing that your enji’s now 

kaminari denki / chargebolt:

pregnancy scenario with kaminari 

NSFW Alphabet challenge~

moments after the first I love you 

dabi: 

being dabi’s russian girlfriend 

dabi meeting your family for the first time*

dancing with dabi* 

dabi telling you he loves you while baking 

you tell yandere dabi he’s exactly like his father 

mirio togata / lemillion :

dancing with mirio* 

breaking up with Bakugou and Mirio being there for you

comforting mirio after the battle with Overhaul 

mirio catching you singing 

yandere mirio and tamaki having a reckless darling

mirio dating someone with a clone making quirk 

takami keigo / hawks: 

going into labor without hawks being there 

surprising hawks in lingerie 

SFW Alphabet challenge 

NSFW Alphabet challenge~

possessive Hawks!~ 

bakugou katsuki / king explosion murder / ground zero: 

breaking up with Bakugou and Mirio being there for you

being FwB with Bakugou and it takes a turn 

bakugou’s spotify playlist 

ending up with Kirishima after breaking up with Bakugou

bakugou trying to save himself by using you

falling into a coma and how bakugou deals with it

pregnancy scenario with bakugou

breaking up with bakugou and monoma ending up with you

being in a talent show where bakugou falls in love with you

NSFW Alphabet challenge~

here’s some more bakugou angst! 

bakugou mistakenly thinking that you’re talking badly about him

angst to fluff with bakugou

mafia au! 

awase yosetsu / welder: 

being FwB with Bakugou and it takes a turn

kurono hari / chronostasis: 

dancing with Kurono*

kurono catching you singing*

todoroki shouto / shouto : 

todoroki catching you singing*

you keep denying going out with shouo bc of your dark secret 

you tell yandere todoroki he’s exactly like his father 

falling into a coma and how bakugou deals with it 

soulmate au with Todoroki 

being all mights daughter and dating todoroki and endeavors burns you

pregnancy scenario with todoroki 

being kidnapped and shouto helping save you

dating todoroki/all might daughter and stopping a villain

todoroki finding out enji hurt you on purpose 

shindo yo / grand:

dancing with Shindo*

falling in love with shindo and being a UA student

shinsou hitoshi:

dancing with hitoshi*

dating Iida but he slowly pushes you into Shinsou’s arms 

dating Shinsou headcanons 

pregnancy scenario with shinsou

SFW Alphabet challenge 

tamaki amajiki / suneater: 

dancing with tamaki*

yandere mirio and tamaki having a reckless darling

yandere tamaki with a feisty s/o

SFW Alphabet challenge

sero hanta / cellophane:

getting married to Sero 

iida tenya / ingenium:

dating Iida but he slowly pushes you into Shinsou’s arms 

iida taking you out on a date 

getting a haircut and iida not realizing it was you

iida liking you and him blurting it accidentally

relationship headcanons with iida

aizawa shouta / eraserhead:

aizawa getting jealous and saving you 

reuniting with aizawa

yamada hizashi / present mic: 

aizawa getting you and hizashi together 

reuniting with hizashi

chisaki kai / overhaul:

being overhauls badass girlfriend 

daiya no ace: 

general headcanons: 

being the only girl on the first string boys team 

hongou masamune: 

being a foreign exchange student and playing for Hokkaido 

playing at Hokkaido and dating Hongou

dating Hongou after breaking up with Furuya

ryousuke kominato: 

breaking up with Ryo and ending up with Harada 

ryou finding you wearing his uniform 

training with ryou 

narumiya mei: 

pregnancy scenario with narumiya 

celebrating the win against Seidou with Narumiya 

miyuki kazuya:

finding miyuki cheating on you and going to Ugumori 

pregnancy scenario with miyuki 

umemiya seiichi 

finding miyuki cheating on your and going to Ugumori

kuroko no basket: 

akashi seijruo:

being hanamiya’s daughter and dating Akashi’s and Shintaro’s sons. 

yandere akashi headcanons 

shintaro midorima:

being hanamiya’s daughter and dating Akashi’s and Shintaro’s sons.

blue exorcist: 

suguro ryuji: 

meeting Bon’s family for the first time 

rin okumura: 

comforting Rin after a hard time 

vacationing with Rin 

being Rin’s omega and him not being able to save you

being rin’s and yukio’s younger sister

getting married to Rin

yukio okumura: 

being rin’s and yukio’s younger sister

shiro fujimoto: 

NSFW Alphabet with Shiro~ 

dating Shiro and taking care of Rin and Yukio

astaroth: 

omegaverse imagine with Alpha Astaroth 

naruto: 

might gai: 

realizing Gai likes you 

gaara: 

gaara asking kakashi with your hand in marriage 

attack on titan: 

reiner braun:

breaking up with Reiner and ending up with Bertholdt 

knowing you can’t date Reiner but you do 

choosing reiner over porco 

moments after the first I love you

bertholdt hoover: 

breaking up with Reiner and ending up with Bertholdt 

porco galliard: 

choosing reiner over porco

secretly dating porco 

erwin smith: 

being Erwin’s s/o and nearly dying on an expedition 

erwin trying to flirt with you (modern au)

colt grice:

dating jean in revenge towards Colt 

levi ackerman: 

yandere levi kidnapping you 

being humanities strongest soldier and levi liking you

jean kirschtein 

dating jean in revenge towards Colt 

eren jaeger: 

dating eren and the two of you comforting a child after an expedition 

fire force: 

benimaru shinmon: 

NSFW Alphabet with Benimaru~ 

obi akitaru: 

dating Obi would include 

yandere headcanons with Obi

shinra kusakabe: 

finding out you were being cheating on and shinra being there for you 

moments after the first I love you

rekka hoshimiya: 

getting together with rekka (modern au)

yuri on ice:

georgi popovich:

dating Georgi after being heartbroken by Leo

moments after the first I love you

emil nekola: 

getting back together with Emil

Mob Psycho 100: 

reigen arataka: 

getting to know Reigen 

#admin alita #not an imagine or scenario #original masterlist: may 4th #yuri on ice #fire force #attack on titan #naruto #blue exorcist #Ao no Exorcist #kuroko no basket #daiya no ace #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #ouran high school host club #ouran hshc #hetalia #haikyuu!!

[headoverheelss]

The group of ninjas ran to Hana’s body after they were free from the barrier that held them back. She was laying in a pool of her own blood. There was a gash on her side. Akito had stabbed her pretty good before Hana was finally able to stop him. 

Kakashi was having trouble breathing. Here was his pup on the brink of death because she had to sacrifice her own life to protect everybody else, to protect him. He couldn’t do this. 

Gai noticed that Kakashi stopped running with the rest of them.

“Kakashi what’s wrong?” Gai walked towards him. He cupped Kakashi’s face with his hand.

“I can’t do this Gai. I can’t watch her die.” Tears were flowing down his face.

Gai pulled Kakashi’s forehead to his. 

“Rival, I know how scared you might be right now. I know I’m terrified right now but we promised when we adopted Hana that we would be with her always. And right now she needs us. So whenever you’re ready, we’ll go over together okay?” Gai held out his hand to Kakashi. 

Kakashi took a breath. Gai was right. Their daughter needed them. Kakashi took hold of Gai’s hand and both of them ran towards Hana and the group.

Rin was trying her hardest to heal Hana but the girl’s body was mutilated beyond repair. Hana had already lost so much blood already. 

Rin could feel herself getting frustrated. This was no time to lose concentration. 

Hana was still conscious surprisingly but she could feel herself slipping away. 

“Rin..rin..” Hana’s voice was scratchy. 

“Hana! Don’t exert yourself.” Rin was using her medical voice on Hana. 

“Rin,,it’s okay. You can stop.” Hana heard the collective cry of dissent from the group surrounding her. 

Rin looked at Hana. This went on for a second before Rin relented. The medic went to stand by Obito. 

“What’s wrong! Why did you stop?” Kiba was angry. 

“Kiba. It’s alright there was nothing more she could do for me.” Hana could feel herself struggling to talk. 

Kakashi and Gai moved closer to Hana. They both knelt down by their daughter. 

“Hey pup.” Kakashi smiled sadly at Hana. 

“I’m so sorry, Kakashi.” Hana was crying. 

“No, no darling don’t cry. You have nothing to apologize about okay.” Gai took his daughter’s hand. 

“Your Dad is right pup. We’re so proud of you.” Kakashi stroked Hana’s hair out of the way. 

“Stay with me.” Hana was scared. 

“Always.” 

Kakashi’s statement was echoed by the group. 

Hana looked at every person. They all became her family in the couple of years she lived in Konoha. And she even got her Suna family back too. She took a few seconds to remember Baki. She would be seeing him soon though. 

“Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari. Promise me that you guys will take care of eachother.” 

Gaara nodded his head. Tears started to fall from his face. Kankuro gave Hana a look like he would never dare to leave his siblings. Temari held onto Shikamaru’s hand and gave a nod. 

“Lee, Kiba, and Shikamaru take care of them and treat them respectfully like I know they’ll treat you.”

The three shinobi’s gave her a salute and went over to console their partners. 

“Asuma you better treat Kurenai correctly or I’ll come back and haunt your ass.” 

“Don’t you worry, Hana. I got this one.” Kurenai gave a teary laugh. 

Hana smiled and continued to talk to the rest of the group. She told Obito and Rin that they better get married. Obito promptly turned red but promised Hana he would. Rin was already crying heavily on Obito’s shoulder, frustrated that she couldn’t save her closest friend.

Next she told Inoichi, Shikaku, and Choza, thank you for being the best adopted uncles a girl could ask for. Hinata and Shino were told to take care of eachother. 

Naruto and Kiba were told that they were her best cousins and to tell Aunt Kushina, Aunt Tsume, and Uncle Minato that she loves them. 

Hana told Tenten and Neji thank you for all the training practice they give her and she wishes them luck in whatever they decide to do in their future. 

Ino and Sakura were told that the sleepovers the three had were probably the best nights of her life. The girls all shared one last laugh.

Hana thanked Choji, Sai, and Rock Lee were told thank you for all the times they went out to eat and the cool restaurants they visited. 

Hana gave stern instructions to Sasuke about how to treat Naruto. Sasuke gave her a firm nod.

The Legendary Sannin were individually thanked for not only training Hana to her highest potential but for also being her Grandparents. Something she never had before. Lady Tsunade was ashamed of herself. She was unable to heal Hana because of damage taken in a fight earlier.

Finally there was Genma, Kakashi, and Dad.

“Genma, I really am sorry. I wish.. I just..” Hana wanted to say I love you but it got stuck in her throat.

Genma smiled at her.

“I love you forever and always. And I promise you that we will meet again and it will be like we never left each other.”

With those words, Hana felt like she wanted to stay so bad but the pain in her body was spreading and she knew it could never be.

“I’ll hold you to that promise.”

Kakashi could see the life starting to drain from her eyes. He moved to cradle his daughter against his chest.

Gai moved in front of Hana as Kakashi held her up.

“Dad and Kakashi thank you for being the best parents to me. I love you guys so much and please don’t feel any regret or guilt. This was my choice.”

Hana’s eyes were starting to close.

“It’s alright pup, we’ll be fine. Rest now, you deserve it.”

Just then something enveloped Hana’s body. Something that didn’t feel like Death bringing her home.

Bonus:

The smell of blood everywhere.

People screaming. So tired.

So very tired.

“HANA!”

“HANA!”

Hana sprang up off her bed, throwing the covers off in the process. Her brain was moving at a mile a minute.

There was war. She fought in it. She killed Akito but she was injured badly to the point were she should be dead.

Hana’s hands moved around her body checking for injuries.

so is this heaven?

The room Hana was in looked like a regular apartment. She stood up and walked to the window. 

Hana gasped. Outside the sun was shining on an intact Leaf Village. Citizens were walking up and down the streets. Kids were laughing together and playing ninja. There weren’t dead bodies on the ground or destroyed buildings. 

She took one step back from the window.

Where am I?

#kakagai #kankiba #nejiten #chouji x karui #genma x oc #shikatema #gaalee #obirin #sasunaru

[yahboobeh]

When the Clock Strikes Midnight

Happy New Year everyone! Here’s my NejiTen discord server Secret Santa fic for @giada-luna! FF.net | AO3

There were very few things to do at the hospital, and Neji could count them all on one hand. He thought he would have been used to it by now. He had spent most of the past two months in and out of the hospital between checkups and surgeries as his body slowly recovered from the multiple impalings that should have killed him. 

He mostly slept, breaking apart the cycle of visits from nurses and loved ones with groggy drug-induced naps. However, four days post-op meant his pain medication was replaced with something less addictive, making even napping a difficult way to adequately pass the time. Hinata insisted that Neji packed a book, but he’d made short work of that the first day the nurse had removed his IV (and, by extension, his pain medication). The tv on the wall was only good for the white noise, and even meditating was starting to feel monotonous. 

Luckily, tonight was his last night in the hospital, recovering from what was hopefully his final surgery. It was also New Year’s Eve.

As if on cue, Tenten was there, pushing the door to his room open, sporting a pink and white quiapo and smile on her lips. 

“Oh good, you’re awake!” 

He nodded and watched Tenten close the door and cross the room to the side of his bed. 

“New dress?”

Her face reddened as if she hadn’t expected him to notice, much less comment on it. 

“Yeah, new year, new me?” She chuckled awkwardly. “What do you think?” 

“I like it.” 

Her blush deepened, and she muttered out her thanks before shifting the conversation away from herself.

“Have you done your exercises today?”

Neji sighed before answering, yes. A nurse came by twice a day to ensure he was walking and practicing special breathing techniques to keep his lungs clear. Tenten knew this but continued to worry over his recovery consistently. 

“You did the breathing exercises?”

“Yes.”

“And the coughing?”

“Tenten.”

“Ok, but when did you go for a walk last?”

“Last night when you insisted,” he teased.

Tenten crossed her arms and huffed at him.

“That’s not funny. Sakura said it’s important for you to move.”

“I know,” he said with a bit more exasperation than he’d intended, “I’ve been through this countless times over the last two and a half months, Tenten.”

“I’m sorry,” she huffed, “forgive me for being concerned.” 

Neji sighed. They were both tired and stressed. Tenten came to visit him every day, and it didn’t matter if he was in the hospital or resting at home. She seemed to have made overseeing his recovery her primary job. Neji knew from Lee’s visits that Tenten was also fretting over Gai. He appreciated her concern and even felt guilty for being the source of her anxiety, but the constant worrying and nagging opened the door for more arguments. Neji enjoyed exchanging barbs, but Tenten was the last person he wanted to argue with.

“A walk sounds nice,” he relented. They walked every night, regardless of her questions and his answers. So, Neji began the slow process of sitting up. It didn’t hurt nearly as much as it did during his initial recovery, but his muscles still ached and protested from the exertion. 

The nurses made him keep a walker next to his bed to brace himself on while he got out of bed, but Neji hated it. It reminded him that he was weak, mortal, and very lucky. Tenten knew he hated the walker; Neji didn’t even have to tell her. It was one of his favorite parts of their friendship. They knew each other so well that they communicated silently. Tenten stood in front of him, offering out her hands should he need them. 

In front of anyone else, Neji would wave away assistance but not from Tenten. They gripped each other by the forearms, and Neji stood up. She smiled the whole time, and his heart fluttered. 

“Where should we walk to tonight?” she asked as they stepped out of Neji’s room and started down the hall.

“Have you eaten anything?” 

“Not yet.”

“Then how about the cafeteria?”

“Oh, are you offering to buy me dinner?” Tenten teased.

“Sure, just charge it to my room,” he joked. 

But he’d seen the glint in Tenten’s eyes at the prospect of a meal. He knew she wasn’t eating well. She looked thinner and tired. The war had been particularly unkind to Team Gai, and while Tenten carried herself with a demeanor that said ‘I’m okay,’ Neji could see the truth. He hated it. Hated that she was spreading herself so thin between his and Gai’s recoveries, that she only had Lee to train with, that she had seen so much and cried so little. 

“Let’s eat,” Neji confirmed. 

The walk was slow. All of his walks were slow. 

“How is Gai-sensei doing?” Neji asked. “Lee thought he was almost done in surgery when he was visiting.”

“Yes, he is doing well. He was in recovery when I went to see him today. I left when they moved him back to his regular room. Although I think Sakura gave him some extra medication to make sure he rests.”

“Ah, so I take it we won’t be seeing him tonight?” 

Neji paused to rest, and Tenten leaned against the wall.

“Lee and I talked earlier. Gai-sensei will likely be in and out of consciousness all night. We decided it would be best if we split up this New Year’s celebration. He’s staying with Gai-sensei, and I’m with you.”

“So we finally get a quiet and uneventful new year?” 

Tenten giggled.

“Just this once.”

They started walking again, quiet as they neared their destination. At the entrance to the cafeteria, Tenten continued the conversation.

“You know, this just means that next year Gai-sensei and Lee are going to go over the top to make up for this year.”

Neji rolled his eyes, trying to ignore the images of Gai and Lee’s potential outlandish plans. 

Tenten, at Neji’s quiet insistence, filled a tray with food. He had eaten earlier, so he prepared a cup of tea and purchased Tenten’s meal. 

“You didn’t have to do that,” she muttered while they scanned the room for a table.

“I wanted to,” he ensured. A wave of emotion hit him. He always wanted to do small things for Tenten, to repay her selflessness and kindness with his own. 

He knew she felt the same way he did, and Neji had resolved to tell her as much. It wasn’t a matter of if he should tell her, but when and how. 

Would she want a grand romantic gesture, or would she appreciate something more quiet and comfortable? He could easily imagine either scenario and felt overcome with indecisiveness and nerves. 

Tenten elbowed his arm, and he was back in the cafeteria. 

“Sakura and Sasuke are here!”

Neji gave a nod to indicate that joining them was fine and followed Tenten to the table. 

“Hey, guys!” Sakura, who had been hunched over a cup of coffee, perked up when she saw them. 

“Hey, Sakura! Do you mind if we join you?” Tenten asked. 

“Oh sure, I’m just on a coffee break.” 

Tenten set down her tray and glanced up at Neji. He shook his head, silently declining her offer for help. 

He winced as he sat down and let out a sigh before sipping his tea. 

Sasuke sat across from him, toying with his coffee. 

It was strange to see him without an arm. It made Neji’s stomach turn, and he wondered if it was similar to how Tenten might have felt when she saw him half dead. 

“How are you guys doing?” Tenten asked. 

“We’re good,” Sakura replied, “tired, but good. Things are starting to slow down, and Tsunade-sama is feeling well enough to help out here and there.” 

“That’s good,” said Tenten. 

“And I was just checking up on Sasuke’s… uh… arm… before my break, and here we are.” 

Sasuke polished off his drink and stood up. 

“Gonna grab another coffee, want one?” 

“No, thank you.” 

Sakura then jerked her chin towards them, ever so slightly. 

“How about you two? Need anything?”

“We’re all set, I think,” said Neji, “thanks.” 

Sasuke walked off, and Tenten instantly leaned across the table, her meal half-forgotten. 

“How are things going?”

“He wants to stay and keep me company tonight!” 

“Really?” 

“Yes! My shift runs late. Do you think he’s going to kiss me at midnight?” 

“Maybe! If he does you have to tell me everything!” 

Neji drifted in and out of their rushed conversation giving an appropriate nod or shrug whenever Sakura looked at him for reassurance or he felt Tenten’s expectant glances. 

Sakura excused herself shortly after Sasuke’s return and the pair departed the cafeteria. 

Tenten tried to push her half eaten bowl of fruit onto Neji, claiming she was full and he needed to eat more. 

She cleared their dishes and they slowly made their way back to Neji’s room. 

Neji sighed as he leaned back against the bed, the pillows and mattress taking over for his strained and sore core muscles. The bed was raised so he could sit up comfortably. 

Tenten stretched her arms and yawned before sitting next to him on the bed. 

She reached for the remote and turned on the tv. 

“Only three and a half hours left of this shit year,” she said, flipping through channels. “Do you know which channel is the news?” 

Neji shook his head. 

“There might be a list in the drawer,” he suggested. 

“Oh! I found it!” The local New Year’s Eve celebration show had started. Any other year they would be among the revelers in the center of the village enjoying the festival.

...the crowd is ecstatic tonight...eager to leave behind a year of death and destruction...hearbreak and loss....

“I heard from Hinata that they’re going to interview Naruto and Kakashi-sensei.” 

“Sakura mentioned that earlier today,” said Neji.

“It’ll be weird to see them on TV.”

Neji glanced over to his teammate, catching her eye. 

“I’m sorry you’re stuck here.” 

Tenten giggled and leaned her arm against his. 

“Don’t be silly. This is where I want to be.” 

Neji raised a brow. 

“In a hospital room?” 

“With you.” 

Neji felt his face flush and hoped she didn’t notice. Was this the right moment to speak up? 

“Besides,” she continued, “we can see the fireworks from your window.” 

Neji shrugged. 

“I suppose it’s a fitting end to this year.” 

Tenten smiled. 

“Yes. The year that we never thought would end. It’s been awful from start to finish.” 

“The entire year?” 

“Pretty much. I mean, there were some good things. But it was all just preparation for the war and then…” 

Tenten trailed off, picking idly at a loose thread on the blanket. She shook her head as if she was denying access to the dark place of her mind where those memories were tucked away. Neji knew that place well. He suspected everyone did. 

“It doesn’t matter. The further we move away from this year the better.” 

Neji chuckled. 

“Do you think that once the clock strikes midnight everything will suddenly change?” 

“Maybe, you never know.” She gave him another smile. “It doesn’t hurt to hope though.” 

Their conversation died down for a moment, picking up the familiar pattern of silence between topics. 

The television hummed with the activity of revelers and hosts entertaining the crowd as the last few hours of the year ticked away. 

Twenty minutes before midnight Kakashi appeared on screen to help ring in the new year as Hokage. 

...we’re ushering in the new year with an era of peace...

“I hope Gai-sensei is awake for this,” said Tenten. 

Kakashi was a bit awkward and unprepared, but if Gai was watching, Neji knew that the new Hokage’s performance could be discussed as nothing less than perfect. 

After a few minutes Naruto made his appearance. They listened for a bit before getting out of bed to look out the window. 

“Oh, I almost forgot,” Tenten reached into her kunai pouch and pulled out a small bottle of sparkling sake, “can’t celebrate without a drink.” 

“Don’t let Sakura see that.” 

“It’s a mini bottle and you’re going home in the morning. I think you’ll be alright.” 

She twisted off the cap and took a swig. 

“Although I got a twist-off lid so no one hears a cork pop.” 

She passed Neji the bottle and he took a drink. Fizzy bubbles rippled across his tongue, the sake dry and tart. 

They finished the bottle as the countdown to midnight started. 

...59...58...57...56…

The energy in the room shifted. Neji felt lightheaded with anticipation.

...41...40...39...38...

Neji remembered the question Sakura had eagerly posed to Tenten at dinner.

‘Do you think he’ll kiss me at midnight?’

And he knew that the moment was right. 

....27...26...25...24…

Neji watched Tenten watch the television. She was smiling, and Neji didn’t need his byakugan to see that she had relaxed. If it was the sake or the prospect of a new start, Neji wasn’t sure, but her aura of calm was contagious.

...11...10...9...8…

He looked back up at the television, where Naruto was helping lead the countdown.

...5...4...3...2...1... Happy New Year!

Neji could hear cheering from the nurse’s station as the first few fireworks went off. 

Tenten ignored the view of the fireworks show they had stood by the window for, turning from the tv directly to Neji, her smile wider.

“Happy New Year, Neji.”

His arm moved before he could register it, cupping her jaw. The smile on fell from her lips, and her brows furrowed with the confusion that played across her face. 

That was when he kissed her, soft and gently. He heard the smallest gasp between the burst of fireworks outside their window. Tenten’s lips were soft and tasted sweet like sake. She kissed him back and pressed her hands to his chest. Neji put his hands on her waist and drew her in closer. 

They were slow, sweet and unsure. His mind hummed, and his body buzzed. He wanted to pull her even closer and kiss her harder, but he was too nervous, and this was perfect.

Neji wasn’t sure how long they kissed for, but when they stopped it was nothing more than a brief pause, foreheads pressed together.

“Happy New Year, Tenten.”

#NejiTen #tenten #Neji Hyuuga #fanfic #booh writes