Gifts From the Heart

In Which Things are Awkward and Iruka Gets a Note

His ceiling was becoming a very familiar sight and that grated on Kakashi's nerves. According to the glowing red numbers on his clock, it was nearly three in the morning and he had yet to see the back of his eyelids for more than few minutes at a time. With a heavy sigh, the shinobi sat up in bed and rubbed his tired eyes with the heels of his palms. At this rate, he was going to start looking old enough for his hair color. He needed to get some sleep but that was not going to happen right then.

Kakashi threw his blankets back and swung his legs over the edge of his bed. With a weary grunt, he rose and stretched his back, contorting until a series of pops ran the length of his spine. It took him only moments to dress - the heat wave left the nights balmy so he chose only his sleeveless shirt and an old pair of pants, leaving his flak jacket behind. He doubted he would be seeing anyone else up and about at three a.m. but he did pull his mask up over his face out of habit.

Halfway to his door, Kakashi paused and glanced down at his kitchen table. His apartment wasn't large and his kitchen doubled as a dining room. The single, tiny table he owned held his dishes from dinner, as well as a very out-of-place black, pink, and white box. A thought occurred to him and he scooped the container up into his arms before slipping on his sandals and padding silently out of his home.

His feet took him along the familiar path between his apartment and the memorial stone. Trusting his subconscious to find the way after so many years of repeatedly walking the route, Kakashi turned his thoughts inward. His eye vaguely saw the ground moving beyond the box he stared at.

Sakura's box of cookies was something that Rin would have done. It was a kind thing, a selfless thing. Although the present had not helped Kakashi sleep any better, he did feel more at peace than he had the previous day.

The unexpected gift, given not just by one but by all three of his students - a group effort if Sakura and Naruto's words from that morning were true - reminded him that there were people that still cared about him. Not only that, but they were people he cared for, too.

It had been difficult lately to remember that. Anniversaries from his past loomed closely and it was those memories that had been increasingly difficult to face. Too many nights he had woken up in a cold sweat, faces he had hoped to forget lingering in his mind's eye. Every year at this time they would return with a vengeance; every year they would be harder to cope with.

It wasn't until he was nearly at the memorial stone that Kakashi registered a low, murmuring voice up ahead. He had been so wrapped in his own thoughts he hadn't been as perceptive as usual. He stopped short behind the nearby bushes, peering through the foliage at the moonlit clearing containing the stone.

A dark figure knelt next to the epitaph. The moonlight illuminated the man's back but his face was cast in shadow. The voice was vaguely familiar though, and Kakashi tried to place it.

"I think you'd be happy with how things have been recently," the figure started speaking in earnest. Fingers twitched on some flowers laid out at the base of the rectangular stone. "Most of the classes are well behaved; nothing like when Naruto was there."

A light bulb clicked on in Kakashi's mind as he eavesdropped: it must be Iruka. The size and shape of the silhouette was about right, even if the older ninja couldn't make out the instructor's face.

Oddly, Iruka did not appear to be dressed as a ninja. Kakashi thought it looked like he had decided to visit the memorial stone in his pajamas. Seeing Iruka in a hooded sweatshirt was out of place when the only thing Kakashi had ever seen him in was his uniform. The Copy-Nin glanced at his own casual garb. He wasn't exactly geared up, either.

Kakashi shifted slightly in the brush, wondering if he should just come back later. He wanted to visit with his own ghosts, but Iruka had gotten there first. It felt rude to listen in on what was obviously supposed to be a private, if one-sided, conversation. Why else would Iruka be there at this unholy hour?