Getting Lost on the Roads of Life - a KakaSaku Story [CONCLUDED]

Sharingan

"Sooooo," Anko said once they had stepped onto the Academy balcony and she had offered Kakashi a cigarette, "is it true that you're seeing the Haruno girl?"

So the news had spread this far already.

"Kind of, yeah," Kakashi murmured. He passed back the lighter, inhaled deeply and watched the smoke weave a complex pattern into the air as it left his mouth.

"No wonder you've lost interest in me," Anko sighed dramatically. "She's drop dead gorgeous."

"Mhm," Kakashi agreed, feeling acutely uncomfortable. He would never learn to like discussing his private affairs.

"But that child isn't yours," Anko said and pointed her chin at Sarada below in the courtyard. The girl was peeking out from behind Iruka to observe the Shuriken practice of those who had recently entered the Academy.

That false rumor had spread too? Now that he liked. Kakashi grinned at Anko who grinned back. What had he said about the fictional mother? A beautiful woman whom he had met in the Land of Waves, born with a rare disease and doomed to die early. Ah, so tragic.

"She's clearly an Uchiha," Anko continued. "You'd have to be blind not to see it - hair, eyes, body shape. She's about what... five? Six maybe? When did Sasuke do that?"

The when was less interesting to Kakashi than the why... though maybe the when and the why were connected? Had Sasuke already known he was ill back then? Had it been desperation? Or had he slept with Karin right around the time of his wedding to Sakura because he had gotten cold feet?

Kakashi took another drag off the cigarette, looking up at the light blue sky with its puffy white clouds. He was familiar with men who panicked before marriage, fearing they'd be trapped afterwards and therefore felt a need to sleep with as many women as they could get their hands on - from Master Jiraiya's book series. He had always wondered what it would feel like... knowing you were about to vow to spend the rest of your life with one person? In his imagination, it had to feel amazing - but what did he know.

"Yours or not, Hatake Kakashi walking around with a cute kid in tow is a security risk," Anko teased him, "thousands of ovaries have exploded all over town, I will have to file a complaint with the Hokage."

"Not a good time for that," Kakashi murmured.

Shizune had told him what was wrong with Tsunade. It was Dan Kaito's death day today. Apparently, that plunged the Hokage into a very deep depression for several days before and after. She had gotten so drunk and medicated the night before Shizune had needed to use advanced medical jutsu to revive her. Here was another extreme, Kakashi mused. A person still so caught up in the grief of losing a loved person after decades, she could not move on.

It also explained her comment about the psychological checks that she thought she wouldn't pass.

"Anko, did you hear about the new checks they want to add to the physicals?" Kakashi asked the woman looking at him with her eyebrows raised.

"You didn't listen to a single word I said, right?" she laughed. "Get a grip. It's dangerous to be distracted in your line of work."

"Sorry," Kakashi said. "What were you saying?"

"Not much. Just that I'm sad you won't come see me anymore. You don't know how delighted I was when you rang my doorbell."

"I'm not dead, I can still visit you," Kakashi said, "like now. I'll just keep my clothes on."

Anko laughed. "That's fine. And you can come cry at my shoulder anytime if you need to."

Why would he...?