Mask Off, Spot On

Chapter 7.3

"...I love you..."

...A moment of silence fell upon the both of you, and your mind suddenly began to race. But a single thought screamed louder than any other inside your mind:

'What the f*ck did I just do?!'

"I--..." with the earlier lump now gone from your throat, another one rose, making you unable to speak when you needed to the most.
"I-I really...! L-Love dango!"

"..."

Kakashi stared at you wide-eyed. Any chance of having a good mood up was now ruined, and you'd just succeeded in making the atmosphere go very awkward.

"I-I..." You lower your head, too embarrassed to look up at him, and whisper underneath your breath.
"I was just thinking, the shop was destroyed because of Pain, so now... that's too bad..." You laughed nervously. You knew he was too smart to buy that one though, so your gaze remained on the ground.

Just when your feet wanted to lead you away from all of this situation, a hand layed on top of your head, and began to ruffle your hair.

You looked up to see a wry smile across his one visible eye, which shimmered with the most tender light of all. Your cheeks flushed, and your heart tightened, a familiar sense of comfort filling you up. As you began to softly call out his name, he cut you off, by pressing a finger over your lips.

"...Kakashi-sen--"

"When it's just the two of us, you don't have to use honorifics anymore." He stated, as you simply stared back at him incredulously in response.

"Well then..." You began, before you chuckled.
"Then, we're even, since you never do that with me either way." You laughed softly at your own remark.

Kakashi smiled, although unnoticeably, underneath his mask, before he lowered down his head to lay a soft kiss upon your forehead.

Your red cheeks gave away all of your feelings, that is, if your words somehow hadn't already. You smiled back cheerfully, mischief infecting it slowly, as you leaned in closer to Kakashi, now wearing a sneer smirk, and whispered:
"...Kakashi."

He felt you provoking him like a little kid would, which took him aback. Before he could react any more than he already had, you took a step back, turning further away from him, your smile still plastered on your face, and you begin to walk away from your sensei. Just before he was about to call out to you, a sudden voice screamed out your name, and your relaxed features turned to look at the source...

"[Y/N]-chan! I've been looking everywhere for you!"

"...Naruto, I'm glad to see you. Whatever it is, do tell."

As you turned around to face Naruto, you noticed your sensei there no more, yet, you still smiled back at Naruto.

You were aware that at least in the meantime, your feelings could not be shown to any other, according to the laws of sudent-teacher relations. You were willing to wait, personally. You didn't exactly feel yourself to be in a hurry to live in this world any longer.
Kakashi Hatake had given you a reason to leave your past life in your other world behind, and to finally be able to truly, properly live in this new one. You were truly thankful for it, and so, you felt the need of leaving nor of hiding wjo you truly were no longer.

And truly, these feelings that caused you to realize so could not be shown, so if secrecy's what was needed, you would hide it well, without hiding it at the same time.

After all, it wasn't a crime to love, certainly....?

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(A.n./ *dango is a type of japanese sweet. They're some colourful spheres you may have seen in the Naruto series...)