There was always a particular fire about you that Kakashi couldn't understand. It wasn't that he was against it; he just had no idea how this came to be. For all he knew, you were classmates in the academy for a short while until he graduated, and then a few years later, became a genin.
His unknowing is why, when you were young, you would see the words 'he doesn't understand you' written on your wrist.
⠀
And for a short while, you had no idea who your soulmate could be. You knew that your soulmate, whoever this guy was, had to reside in Konoha, for he knew you enough to claim that he couldn't understand you.
And that was fine by you. You didn't ask to be understood by someone you didn't know.
That all changed when you were a preteen. You had overheard a conversation, not eavesdropping, just overhearing, between Kakashi and his teammates Obito and Rin.
"It's just a girl, Kakashi. What isn't there to understand? We've got a girl on our team," Obito spoke, loud enough for you to hear him.
"It's not just any girl, Obito," Rin told him; her voice was quieter but still audible. "It's his soulmate. And, if I'm not mistaken, his soulmate is Y/N. She's not exactly easy to understand."
You didn't stick around long enough to hear the rest of the conversation. In your mind, you had heard enough.
"If he doesn't understand me, fine," you huffed. "I'll make sure he never does."
⠀
From that moment on, you and Kakashi never seemed to get along. Arguments were a standard for the two of you to share, and they never really got resolved, either.
You kept your wrist, the one that shared Kakashi's feelings about you, permanently wrapped up in bandages so you wouldn't have to look at it. When you did have to switch them, you made sure the writing was facing away from you. You didn't want to see how he felt about you.
⠀
"Why do you wear those bandages?" Kakashi asked one day. The two of you weren't alone. Obito and Rin were there, as well as your teammates, Hiraku and Yumi.
"What's it to you?" You snapped, glaring at him. "You're always wearing that mask. I don't think you should be talking." You scoffed, folding your arms over your chest.
Hiraku placed his hand on your shoulder. "Look, as much as I hate arguments, Y/N's got a point," he stated.
"Oh, does she?" Kakashi narrowed his eyes. But right before the argument could get worse, Rin stepped in and told Kakashi that they were trying to have a nice lunch, just the six of them and that it wasn't going to get interrupted by an argument.
Sometimes, you hated that Rin and Yumi were friends. If they weren't, you probably wouldn't see Kakashi as often.
⠀
That argument was back when you were sixteen.
Now that you were a Jōnin, along with the squad you were in when you were a genin, you didn't feel obligated to spend as much time with Hikaru and Yumi anymore. They were still your friends, but you didn't feel guilty about declining Yumi's invitations to spend time with Rin and her old team.
Instead, you simply hung around your friend from the academy, Atsushi Takenaka. Unlike yourself, or anyone else you knew of besides Obito and Rin, he and his soulmate were placed on the same squad as genin. Her name was Aina, and she came from a clan that was notorious for their ability to grow plants seemingly out of nothing. Her powers were intriguing, and when she and Atsushi were first getting to know each other, she would grow things using her ability and later gave them to him as gifts.
