Falling for Temptation (A Kakashi Hatake story) Naruto fanfic

Chapter 41: Infidel

It was a love story from beginning to end. It started with love at first sight and spiralled into a whirlwind romance. Ablaze with a spark spreading into a wildfire, like cigar on dry grass.

        Shikaku Nara was by no means an expert in relationships nor was he an ardent lover. So he thought, as he looked at the report file smuggled to him just after the death of the Third Hokage, how much of a shame it was for two people that seemed to go so well with each other to be burning each other away.

       Nhira and Kakashi's profiles printed out neatly on the papers, their pictures staring blankly. 'It's a whirlwind romance, I thought I wouldn't see one again. That's why it's going downhill so quickly because there is no proper foundation built, it's all just passion. They didn't get to know each other and they both haven't opened up completely.'

      He touched one of his scars and shivered as his warm fingers grazed the damaged skin. The permanent image of a dead shinobi flashed through his mind. Blazing red hair and dark eyes. Jiko Uzumaki.

      'Sometimes I still can't help but wonder what the Leaf Village would've been if he had become Hokage. How many of these tragedies would not have happened?'

      "Dad." His son's call broke him out of his thoughts and as he gazed at he young man, Shikaku remembered that Jiko too had a daughter. One which was no longer a young child and now a young woman.

      He burned the piece of paper she had written to him and he couldn't decide whether it was a warming or a threat.

     'Damn it. Now that the Hokage is dead and Lord Jiraiya went off, there's no figurehead to go against Danzo.'

      "Dear," His wife called as she stood by the doorway to hand his weapons to him. "You're late." She said pointedly and he groaned almost dragging his feet.

        "I know you don't want to go.." She began and coaxed her husband saying, "Don't worry I'll make your favourite for dinner."

      "It's not that I don't want to go." Shikaku said as he slipped his sandals on. "I don't want to discuss what they want to discuss." And he didn't tell his wife, although he assumed she already knew that the person that called the council meeting was Danzo.

        "I've been wracking my brain, how am I going to stall him? Who knows how long it's going to take Lord Jiraiya to find Lady Tsunade?"

      "I'm sure you'll figure it out."

      His house, Kakashi shook his head and thought it was no longer just his house. Their house had been silent for days and yet he could feel the rising tension and the cracking of delicate glass from the seems.

      She was silent and although she stayed at their home most days and did nothing but clean and sleep, he was still uneasy with her silence.

      Especially as he would walk around the village and feel the lurking gazes and see the villagers hide and hear whispers in the street it felt as if another war would break out. Only a matter of time.

       And Kakashi Hatake wallowed in the helplessness he felt for not knowing where to start or how to fix things. Before he left, he watched her water the potted plants she had put by the window. Those prickly cactus stinging his skin.

       "Nhira, I'm going out."

       "Mm.." And again, an empty response as if all life had been sucked out of her and he turned and left. His feet feeling heavy as lead by the threshold of his house that he now shared with his broken lover.