Missing Kunoichi (Book 2 of MK Series)

One Day

It was now mid September, the summer breeze giving way to the crisp autumn air. Tobi said he'd be back tonight, and I decided to cook. It was strange playing house with someone who's face you didn't know. Someone's name you didn't know. He's slipped up a few times and mentioned people he grew up: Gai, Asuma and Kurenai. So the only things I knew were:

- He was an Uchiha
- He was around the same age as Kakashi and his friends
- He could be tender and sweet when he wanted
- He was scared of being his true self around me
- He likes sweets

The last one always made me think of Itachi. I asked Tobi a handful of times if I could see him, but he refused. I wanted to ask Itachi about the massacre and the reasoning behind it. Tobi would only tell me that I would know one day, which was the same answer he gave when I asked to see his face. The nights he slept beside me, I was blindfolded. I did accidentally walk in on him changing once, but that's all I remember, the asshole used a genjutsu.

This was my new normal, almost three months in, and I was adapting, accepting and dealing with it all. I asked him if he sent word to the Leaf, a firm 'No' was all I had in return. When I pushed, he snapped at me: they don't deserve to know. It hurt, but he wasn't going to budge. Kakashi crossed my mind often, but I couldn't forget the pain he caused. Then, when I asked Tobi if he'd checked in on the village again, for him to see how Kakashi was.

"He's fine." Obito said.

"Fine? That's all I get? The man asked me to marry him when I told him I was leaving the village."

"You chose to leave." He snapped.

"I know that!" I replied, heatedly.

"He was with a woman." Tobi finally admitted.

"He what?" I felt myself crumble as I dropped the dish I was drying.

Tobi stood before me in a heartbeat, his hands holding my face, "He never deserved you."

I shook my head, dispelling the thoughts. That was two weeks ago and I still couldn't forget the feel of his hands, trying to soothe me. I had practically thrown myself at him that night and he refused, in a gentlemanly manner. Not yet. Was the only answer I was given when I asked him why.

That was just before Kakashi's birthday, and maybe that's why I thought of him so much that week. Maybe that's why I pushed Tobi for answers, I don't know. I would've thought that Kakashi would miss me, found no comfort in another's arms, I was wrong though.

I sighed and looked out the kitchen window, the small creek trickling by. Though Tobi said war was coming, things were peaceful at the moment, and I was actually comfortable with my life. It wasn't ideal, and I did ache to go home, but did anyone care that I wasn't there? Tobi cared that I was safe, he hadn't been lying when he said he knew Minato, nor me as a child, he even told me a few stories. Tobi was taking care of me, the way I deserved, he always said.

One day, my life will be normal again. One day, I'll allow myself to feel again. Maybe one day.

Tobi POV:

I hadn't meant to fall in love with her, it was the last thing I wanted, I needed or that I deserved. So I dedicated myself to giving her the life she deserved. She would be livid if I ever did show myself to her, furious, but I couldn't do it, not yet.

I was being selfish and I knew it. I should've made her go home, made her go to Kakashi, but I couldn't let her go. Over the last three months, I had began to find comfort in her presence. She is what's precious to me, so much so that I had even found days that I didn't think of the past.

I was trying to protect her, but I felt as though she would still hate me in the end. I needed to tell her the truth, all of it, but I couldn't put that stress on her. I'll tell her one day, and I'll tell her why I waited too.

I was headed home, home, is what I had started calling it. I was playing house with this woman and losing sight of my goal. This woman mattered so much to me, that I even thought of abandoning said goal. But I couldn't. I was in too deep to turn back now. Just like I was in too deep with her to turn back.

Her h/c hair was even longer now, saying she didn't need to cut it now. Her e/c eyes seemed to shine even brighter, now that the weight of the world didn't seem to be resting on her shoulders. She smiled more over the last couple of weeks, after I told her of Kakashi's infidelity. I didn't tell her that he was sloshed out of his mind as he walked with the woman to her apartment, but that wasn't the point. He still sought a woman's touch that wasn't Y/n's.

I opened the door and the smell of freshly cooked food wafted into my nose. She turned from her spot at the kitchen sink and her hair fanned as she did. She smiled, so bright and loving, and I couldn't help myself as I smiled behind the mask. One day the mask won't be there. One day I won't have to lie to her anymore. One day. It was all I could keep saying to her, and to myself. One day.

Kakashi POV:

Five months, it's been five months since she left me. Since I so casually threw out the words: marry me. I never told Asuma, or Gai, or anyone for that matter, that I even owned a ring. The ring was tucked away in a drawer of my dresser, her bracelet and charms with it.

No one ever came to my apartment, I always went to theirs. I usually slept in Y/n's apartment these days though, when I slept. Even though her scent lingered in my apartment, I found some kind of comfort in being in her apartment.

But now, now I laid in some woman's bed, one that I don't even remember her name. I've sobered up and I'm about to drag myself from her bed. She was nice enough, pretty even, but I still couldn't sleep with her. I guess it's been a month now. A month of trying to fall into bed with other women to forget Y/n's hands on my body, and they all end the same way: I use a genjutsu to make them think we've had sex.

It was wrong, on many levels, but I'd rather everyone think I'm whoring around in this drunken stupor than know the truth. The truth, a bitter thing to taste these days. The truth is: I can't even kiss another woman through the mask, without seeing Y/n's face.

No one has seen or heard from Y/n, Rowan or Sage. We've sent word to all of our allies about all three of them, and nothing. She's listed as a missing nin, and a reward has been offered, and nothing.

No one has reported storms raging out of season. No odd wolf sightings even. I was hoping maybe she just took off to Rowan's pack, but I don't think she would do that.

I pulled myself from the woman's arms and finished dressing. I glanced back and sighed, feeling horrible for my life decisions. If I had just told her, told her the truth, she'd be here. She'd be the one I'm falling into bed with. The one I'm waking up next to and the one I'd call all mine.

As I trudge home in the early morning hours, the wind still and birds silent, I can't help but feel her hand brush mine. When I do manage to sleep, I wake up, the feeling of lips ghosting over mine. I know she isn't dead, I feel empty, but not alone. I have to have some kind of hope.

My birthday I spent locked in her apartment. After I trashed it, I cleaned it. I don't know why i had the urge to just throw everything she left behind, but I did. The sketches were strewn across the entire apartment, and I wept as I stacked them up. The closest I'll ever get to her right now is looking at the single sketch of herself, while only her back, I knew it was her.

A lone Kunoichi stood watching the sunset, a wolf on either side of her. Hair billowing in the breeze and shirt even twisting slightly. Storm clouds in the distance as she stood atop a cliff. She was beautiful, and precious. She was my everything, and I ruined it.

Now I crawl into bed, cold and empty sheets greet my skin, like my cold and empty heart. I close my eyes and see her, making me pull the pillow closer to my body. One day, she'll be by my side again. One day, she'll be mine. One day...