Roses {Kakashi Hatake}

Prologue

A twenty year old Kakashi lay in bed, unable to sleep. He kept changing his sleeping position, like someone else was sharing the bed with him. He made a movement like he was pushing away someone else's arm, but all he hit was air.

He could see her when he closed his eyes, her red hair, in combination with those green eyes and rosy lips. He had known her for years, from when they were still in the Academy.

He missed her, she had gone away and she wasn't coming back anytime soon. The only way for him to find her again, was for him to go to her. That wouldn't be what she wanted, she would want for him to just move on and wait patiently, however hard it might be.

He hated the feeling, he hated not having anyone to sleep next to, he had gotten used to it after all those years they had been together.

At times, he wished he would just forget everything about her, her smile, her appearance, how he felt about her, just like the roses she had given him on their first date had withered away.

He closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep again, but she would even haunt him in his sleep. He'd dream about their happy days, or he would be reminded of what happened the day she had to leave.

In the end, he fell asleep, and he did not dream of her today for a change.

***

The next day, he had to get groceries. He strotted down the path in the village, hands in his pockets, looking up to the sky.

"Kakashi!" he heard an all too familiar voice, it was the excited and hyper Might Gai, "I challenge you to a taijutsu match!"

"I'm busy," Kakashi told him prior to walking away from, resuming his way to the store.

"Oi, Kakashi! Don't you want to set the score even again?! You know it's 17 wins for me and 16 for you!" Gai retorted.

"No," he told him, "I've won 17 times already, you've won 15 times."

"It's about her, isn't it?" Gai asked, refering to the red haired girl, Kobayashi Akahana, "You know what she'd say if she were to see you like this."

"I know, but she's not here," Kakashi simply told him. This time, he actually walked away from him, ignoring his attempts to change his mind.

Gai had tried to help him move on many times and their matches did come as a distraction, yet he couldn't get over it. He missed her terribly, all he wanted was for her to come back to him.

Gai wasn't the only one who tried, both Asuma and Kurenai kept telling he would get over it, he just needed to learn to accept it and stop blaming himself for the fact she left him alone. She broke his heart, and Kakashi held himself fully responsible.

After getting the groceries, he dropped them off at his home and went to the training ground. He had been stripped of his ANBU duties a couple years back and was now living as a regular jounin, no more code names and masks.

He had shared the last of his ANBU days with Akahana, and he cherished those memories, just like he never wanted to forget how they first met and when they truly got to know each other. Those memories had made him into the person he was that day, just like the memories of Obito, Rin and Minato and his wife Kushina.

The first time they met was at the first day of the Academy. They were both only five years old. They had been the opposite of each other, she was a happy child, humble and kind. He, on the other hand, was cocky, arrogant and very antisocial, which only got worse after his father committed suicide.

That night, he dreamt about her again.

--

I know, the prologue is really short, but it's a little look in the future. The next chapters will be set in the past and you'll eventually learn what happened.

-x Crartistic