Mask Off, Spot On

Chapter 10.3

You and Kakashi walked down the riverbank for a while, before you both decided on a spot in the grass to lie down.
You stretched your hand up to the sky and smiled with delight, taking in the view of the starry night above.

"You know, Kakashi, back where I'm from, the streets would usually be so bright at night, that you couldn't see the stars in the sky. I really love Konoha during the night, since the sky is always so beautiful."

"...So you keep on remembering things from before you came here? But you still can't tell where it was you were from..." He muttered in response.

"...The place I came from really wasn't anything that special, at least to me, in comparison to this place. After all, I didn't have everyone there. I didn't have the Team 7, and I certainly didn't have you. That's why, I don't really think it's necessary for you to know of it." You replied, making Kakashi chuckle.

"I figured, but even so, I hope that maybe one day you'll tell me more about it." He said, his soft voice close to your ear and his silver locks shining under the moonlight, made your heart race due to his beauty and charm, sending a soft blush upon your cheeks.

"I hope I do, too."

"When I was young, they always seemed to shine so brightly, but for a while, I think I stopped noticing them." Kakashi began, his voice sounding so softly, that if you didn't pay close attention to his words, you wouldn't be able to hear him.
"It was only a while after you arrived that I began looking at them again."

You looked back with surprise at Kakashi, a sudden though arising in your mind for the first time ever:
"You've liked me since when, Kakashi?" You asked, feeling dazzled. Kakashi looked up at you with a noticeable smile under his mask, and he closed his eyes, giving you one of his famous grins.

"I wonder myself."

"You're an idiot. I've liked you for years. Even that Naruto could tell, apparently." You huffed in response.

Kakashi slightly lifted his body above yours so he could give you a small kiss, and he looked into your eyes, both yours and his shining as brightly as the stars above you.

"...Have you ever heard of the expression: it all ends where it started?" He asked you, his eyes expressing affection beyond comprehension.

'It ends where it started....'
As you thought to yourself about this expression, your mind made its way to a time when Kakashi found you lying in this exact same field of grass, thinking about your troubles with life, skipping his training hours, and how instead of being angry at you, he showed you worry with his gaze. You wondered if it could really be, that he was saying he felt this way about you since then.

"I think I got it with that. But you know what, thinking about it twice, I'm not so sure it really matters anymore after all." You replied to his words, smiling softly at his covered smile. You reached out your hands and gently pulled his mask down, revealing Kakashi's soft expression looking down at you, and you cupped his cheeks, making sure his only focus was yourself.
"...Since I can do this now... it doesn't matter anymore."

"..."

"Kakashi... I don't think I've ever met anyone like you before in my life, and I don't think I ever will. Even if the world is hard and sad, you still lived. And even if everything around you collapsed over you, you still took the damage so that this sad world could keep going... and above it all, you saved people, and you saved lives. You saved many people, and many, many lives... including my own. I can't imagine a life where you wouldn't have taken me into your team, it just wouldn't make sense anymore. Anything that doesn't have you involved in it somehow, doesn't make any sense anymore to me... and amy life which you're not a part of, I don't want it, and I wouldn't take it no matter what."

"[Y/N]..."

Your speech made warm, gentle tears wet your eyes, threatening to overflow, crystallising them under the shimmering moonlight. Kakashi could only see you, and to the both of you, the other was all that could possibly ever exist in that moment. Kakashi softly called out your name, your words making a bubbly feeling begin to overflow. He wanted to hold you close, for his words wouldn't come, he wanted to show you his feelings by holding you tight.

But tonight, you wanted to take the initiative, and you wanted him to retrieve the gratitude he'd made you overflow with, and the undeniable, unexplainable yet explained love you felt for him. So, before he held you tighter, you brought his face closer to yours and stared deep into his eyes, a sly yet soft smile making its way to your lips...

"I'll definitely make you the happiest man of the whole Fire Nation, and all the Nations beyond!" You stated, mimicking Kakashi's close-eyed smile at the end of your sentence.

"I'm pretty sure that was my line you just stole there."

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