The Girl Under the Mask-Kakashi x OC Romance

Chapter 24

Happy New Year!

"Itatsu?" I glanced around, only seeing a great expanse...no, not expanse...more like a void surrounding me. "Itatsu?" I called again...my voice sounded like an echo in a cave...wait, why was I calling for him? "Itatsu!"

That seemed to do it. Blurs of color began to whizz by as if I was looking out the window of a subway. Just as sudden as it started it stopped, but this time I was now standing in the middle of an apartment. The color was gone now, this world now filled with walls of black, lines of white and shades of grey. I looked down, seeing that I was still in color, though.

I walked through the apartment, trying to recognize through the vague details where I was. I stepped into the kitchen, and there Itatsu was. Another perfect rendition in this hazy world, sitting in a booster seat by the kitchen table...but...I tilted my head in wonder...he looked younger...

My body seemed to go on auto pilot and my legs carried me to the seat next to Itatsu's. There was a small decorated cake for one sitting on thw table in front of him with two candles on the top...is this his 2nd birthday? I wondered...but this can't be...that was nearly a year ago.

"Alright, Itatsu-" I found myself saying, just as I had on his birthday, "-make a wish and blow out your candles"

Of course too young to understand a wish, he went straight for the candles. You could just hear the excitement as he took a deep breath, then let it all out on the little candles. When the candles went out and smoke wafted from their little burnt tips he looked up at me with a smile in triumph. "You did it!" I cheered, "good job!"

He smiled and laughed happily, then raised his hand to smash it right into the cake.

Everything around us became caught up in another blur. This time it looked like we were flying through the city ay night. Everything was still black with the lines of white and grey streaking the sky like the blur of a neon light.

Everything settled down and I found myself now...is this the daycare? I could just make ABC blocks and nap mats in the grey haze. Looking around, I noticed only certain areas of the room had finer details. In ome corner of the room was a childs size table that Itatsu knelt at. He looked to be drawing something with crayons. I went over to him to see what he was drawing-it was a coloring book of animals.

"That's a pretty purple zebra" I said with a chuckle, but Itatsu didn't seem to notice. He just kept drawing without a smile at me or shrug of his shoulders. "Itatsu?" I waved a hand over his face. Nothing.

Then he lifted his head, looking to the other side of the room-the other area that had finer detail. A little girl a year or so older than Itatsu sat cross legged on a mat, playing with the dolls gathered around her. At first her coloring was a dull grey until she lifted her head-then she burst with color as a smile lit up her face. "Mommy!" She cheered when an older woman walked through the door. A gentleman followed in behind her, "Daddy!" She smiled for him too and jumped from the floor. The man crouched down, waiting for his little girl as she ran into his arms. He scooped her up in a bear hug and spun in a circle, making her soft giggles grow to laughter.

Itatsu's face scrunched in confusion as he watched the family across the room. Then he turned his head toward me, as if he could see me now...and yet he didn't see me at all. His head titled to the side curiously. "What's a daddy?" He asked.

My mouth fell open, not expecting him to ask such a question so soon...I wasn't ready to answer.

"He loves you." A small voice answered so simply. I spun around, finding a new figure in the scene. He didn't see me, he wasn't talking to me. It was this other little kid...is this an imagination or did this a memory too?