Crossing Over (#2 In Shifting Series)

Flashback - A Love Of Kakashi

Melissa Woods flopped onto her couch and threw an arm across her eyes, barely feeling the little licks of her companion and friend in life, Max, on her fingers that were hanging low on her other hand.  He hopped off the floor to rest on her stomach, bringing her first smile in hours.  Her feet were sore from standing all day at work and she was just done all the way around with humanity.  People could be real asses sometimes and today was no different.  It had been an endless stream today of complainers, thugs, and illicit hooks from men she wouldn't have touched with a ten-foot pole. She needed to eat but was just too tired to get up and make anything.  She lowered her arm and fished her phone out of her pocket.  One Favor order later, she was waiting patiently for her order of real Ramen from the Naruto Ramen restaurant in Killeen as she flipped her television on while checking Facebook.  

In truth, she was not just tired from work.  She was sad in spirit.  Her best friend had died a week ago saving a kid out of the river.  Leave it to Sarah to make a dramatic exit from life.  Damn it, bitch, how you going to go and leave me here alone? Her eyes burned a bit as she thought about her best friend.  They were really more like sisters than best friends.  They even went so far as to tell others that they were sisters!  It was for that reason when her job for the Sheriff's office in San Marcos had informed family of her presumed death, she had been contacted almost immediately.   She missed her and the crazy adventures they would have with one another.

She closed her eyes for a moment, sliding back into the past a little over two years ago...

Melissa was bored.  It was her day off and she had nothing to do.  She was absently flipping through Facebook while her dog Max was curled up by her feet on the couch. Her Kakashi Hatake Fan Group was active as always and some of the comments had her almost howling.  Nothing like a group of people that were in love with the silver haired Shinobi of the Leaf.  She laughed at some of the posts then hesitated as she saw one of the ladies had posted about having a "girls only" group chat.  Why not?  It would be nice to drool over Kakashi with other ladies of like minds.  After adding the lady as a friend a few moments later she was pulled into the group chat. OH MY WORD... Some of the posts in the group were borderline porn.  She grinned, loving it.  One lady in particular caught her attention.  While Melissa thought Kakashi was hot, this gal was over the top in her admiration even for this group of Kakashi motivated perverts.

Sarah Klein: I think I'm the oldest one here lol 😂

Melissa rolled her eyes as she looked at her profile picture, she looked all of twenty-eight if that. These kids today always thinking they're older than they are.  She couldn't stop herself from responding.

Melissa Woods:  I doubt it

Sarah Klein:  I'm 36 lol

Melissa sat up and laughed.  They were the same age!  That was unusual because indeed, most of those in the chat were in their 20's.  A couple of them she suspected was even younger than that, teenagers posing as adults.  She really didn't want to know.

Melissa Warner:  Same!

Sarah Klein:  That's total awesomeness!!

Melissa laughed at the answer, who else but someone their age still used "awesomeness"?  So was the beginning of their friendship.  

She opened her eyes, staring for a long time at the ceiling above as she went over their friendship in her mind.  They had so many fun memories together since that first interaction. Over the next month they would send everything Kakashi back and forth to each other.  Some of it made even her blush!  Sarah was obviously crazy about Kakashi.  Melissa was too but she also had other 2D crushes, namely Iruka.  He was adorable.  Sarah on the other hand almost seemed to think it was cheating on Kakashi to have other crushes, although she did have a small thing for Yamato.  She also suspected she thought Obito was hot, but Sarah would never admit she had a thing for a villain.

After talking back and forth for a month, they decided to meet up in person.  Sarah had, for whatever reason, thought she lived up by Dallas but when she found out that she was only an hour and half away they made plans to meet.  

Melissa had liked Sarah before meeting but after, she felt like she had met a kindred soul.  She had an offbeat sense of humor and had no problem acting silly.  It was a surprise to Melissa when she learned that Sarah's husband and daughter had died.  She had wondered at the shadows in her eyes, even when she was laughing.  It was almost like she was two different people.  When she learned of the deaths, she understood.  She kind of got why Sarah was fixated on Kakashi. The two of them had both lived through incredible traumas. I mean, she was fixated on him too, but it was almost as if she believed that he was alive somewhere.

Their schedules were very different but when they could, they got together to hang out.  Even got a bit tipsy one night.  Sarah actually fell out of her chair with a beer in her hand to the floor and didn't move the rest of the night.  Melissa had laughed and then covered her with a blanket before stumbling off to her own room.  The more they had shared with one another, the more she realized she had been gifted a special friendship.  Both of them had lived hellish lives growing up, filled with drugs, abuse, and other horrors.  Melissa had been a product of the foster care system and knew that it had left its mark on her.  Her taste in men being one of them. 

Melissa gave a heavy sigh when her doorbell rang then got up when her food was delivered.  The smell of the Ramen made her mouth water, even though her mood wasn't improved much.  The Ramen restaurant had been Sarah's favorite place to go when she was in town visiting. Melissa shook her head as she set her meal on the counter then grabbed a beer out of the fridge that Sarah had left from one of her visits.  She popped the cap off the Moosehead Lager, flipped the lid off the meal, then sat down at the bar.  She looked to the ceiling and raised the beer in salute.  "This one is for you Sarah; I hope you're at peace with your family now."