Mask Off, Spot On

Chapter 6.1

After Sakura told you about everyone's decision of having you stay at your sensei's place to recover, you fell baffled in response. You thought the idea was much too ridiculous for you to even consider it. And as a side-note, you especially didn't want to bother your sensei more than you already had up to this day.

"I'm not staying at sensei's place!" You replied, indignated. Sakura sighted at your reply, a distressed expression on her face, and you wondered why she insisted so much on that idea. But when you asked her, she simply deviated from the topic.

It was child's play to deduce that something they didn't want to tell you about was going on with you, and so, determined, you decided to figure out what was going and accepted your teammates' request under one condition: if anyone was staying over, it was your sensei, at your house.
You officially made him become your mission.

Still, after all that happened during the last mission, you'd realized that your body was going through major struggles in adapting to this world.
In the beggining, it was like your body was able to absrob chakra from your surroundings, creating a stable source. But lately, you'd noticed that source running out, and it was starting to take a toll on your body.
At this rate, you could die.

It was like your chakra source was limited to begin with.

And perhaps, that's what everyone had found out. No, that was probably it, you realized. But if it was, you'd might find yourself in the situation of having to explaining everything about yourself to everyone. The one thing you'd been avoiding from the start...

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You led your sensei down the streets of Konoha, and from time to time, you glanced over to him suspiciously, as if by doing so you could find the answers you were looking for. He simply sweatdropped, and glanced back down at you, making you abruptly look away, whistling your way out of the situation awkwardly.

You both eventually reached your place, and you huffed proudly, readying yourself for the mission you'd requested upon yourself.

You simply opened the door and led him inside, as he awkwardly made his way inside the house of his student, undressed his shoes, and looking back at you, his lazy eye searching for further instructions. You closed the door behind you and smiled, looking up to your sensei, trying to look as normal and indifferent as possible.

"So, Kakashi-sensei, are you hungry? I'll cook lunch!" You stated, as you headed towards the kitchen. He silently followed behind you, his hands resting inside his pockets.

"I'm supposed to be looking after you." He stated, making you look back at him as you dressed on an apron.

"But you're my guest! And besides, I feel just fine, and it's not like cooking a simple, quick meal could make me faint or something."
'And besides, it's not like I use up chakra to cook, so it should be fine.'
You thought to yourself.

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After the both of you ate the meal you'd prepared (and no, you didn't get to see his face, again), your sensei helped you out with the dishes, before heading towards the living room and sitting down on your couch, pulling his infamous book out of his satchel to proceed reading it.

You stare at him for a while, thinking to yourself 'What now, then?'.
With your sensei right there in front of you, it wasn't as if you could just simply give in to insanity, singing your heart out like a lunatic just to pass time like you'd done in the past whenever you were on your own. It wasn't as if you could just sit next to him and talk nonsense like you did with Sakura, or heard of his dreams and passions like you did with Naruto--to begin with, you doubted Kakashi would even tell you of those if you asked him to.
So, you decided to approach him a little like you did to Sasuke:
You sat next to your sensei and stared at a blank wall ahead, thinking about life.

You being oblivious to this fact, your sensei glanced over to your blank expression, and a few minutes later, you finally began to feel the awkward tension around you.
To you, this was an unusual feeling, for you generally always felt comfortable around your sensei. Then again, you felt like it was your fault, for simply sitting there like a doll, almost looking as if you didn't even breath from how motionless you seemed.

You suddenly breath in a sharp breath, as if you'd been holding it in for a while now, and get up from the couch, heading towards a small bookshelf you had right next to the entryway.
You pick a random book, and go back to your couch, sitting next to him, and opening your book to read it.

You only noticed then that you'd picked the most cliché fairytale you owned, and felt yourself blushing softly, thinking of how Kakashi might think of you as childish once he noticed what you were reading.

That's what you felt then, but as you read through the book, you noticed the story was earning a heavier atmosphere than you could've ever imagined. This was more like a Grimm's Tale than a Disney's clichéd one, and you began wondering whenever was it that you earned the possession of such a book. You didn't remember ever reading it before.

As the main character reached its tragic end in the story, you felt your eyes begin to grow warm, and you reach your hand to cover your nose, as it began to feel ticklish with the feeling.

You'd completely forgotten of your surroundings.

"Eh, how sad, I was starting to like the character..."
You simply nod in response, sniffing softly as you stare at the pages of the book. You eyes suddenly deviate from the story, and you snapped your head towards Kakashi, who was leaning so close to you, his head almost rested on your shoulder.

You stare at him surprised, as he slowly lifted his eye to look at you...