(Art from @_hardcore_on Twitter)
Are the chapters too long? Cuz I know they're longer than what I normally write but I don't know if it's bothersome or it's fine.
Laughter filled the entirety of the place I was. The smell of alcohol and sweat now really apparent while someone pulled me closer by my shoulder in a friendly embrace, clashing his glass filled with sake with my beer bottle as other people in the same table cheered with us.
"I'm telling you!" A drunk Genma said by my side "She's amazing, I don't even know how she did that!" I chuckled at his statement about me, feeling my cheeks turn hotter although I wasn't sure if it was because of the alcohol or because of what he had said.
"You're just exaggerating. It wasn't that much" I said smiling to these jonins that I had just met today, at Asuma's birthday party.
"C'mon c'mon tell us, how did you do it?" one of the jonins asked.
"Secret" I said winking an eye at them and drinking from my beer again, making all of them chuckle. It was then when I realized I had no beer left "Now if you'll excuse me guys, I need more alcohol" I said with a smile standing up.
"Don't take long! We still want to know about you!" one of them said kind of loud so I'd hear him over the laughter and screams of the others.
"Are you gonna miss me?" I jokingly flirted back as we had been doing for the last past hour.
"Of course!" he said, but I was already too far from the table to hear him.
"Wait! (Y/n)!" A voice called me from somewhere else in the room.
I turned my head to where that specific yell came from, trying to see who from all those wasted ninjas knew me.
"Can you go get more sake please?!" Asuma asked me from a far table.
"You have two arms and legs, don't you? Go do it yourself!" I yelled back at him as I walked to the bar.
"C'mon! Pleaaaaseee!" he pouted so much that I could even see him from the other side of the place. Suddenly a glass of beer flew dripping into many people, luckily to me I was quick enough to step aside before the smelly liquid landed on me "You're already up!"
"Go fuck yourself, Asuma!" I yelled at him although I headed to do it anyway, exiting the bar from the back door to get the sake he had asked me to.
I walked past the back door, entering the dark alley. The cold and fresh air from the night hitting my skin instantly. I unconsciously took a heavy breath, inhaling the pure oxygen while I looked up to the moon. 'God, it's late already. Time sure flies...' I thought to myself as I realized it must have been around 1 am, when we had started partying a long ago, right before dusk.
I stretched myself and turned to grab the boxes of sake. However, just as I was fully carrying the heavyweight of them, and was headed inside again, I was stopped by the sight of a white-haired jonin sitting between the entrance of the alley and the bar. 'That's right, I saw him at the beginning but completely disappeared in no time. I didn't even remember he was here' I thought to myself while I wondered why was he sitting there.
"Fuck" I mumbled as I felt my arms start to give out on the weight they had been carrying due to me zoning out at the sight of Kakashi "Kakashi?" I finally said once I placed the box down, carelessly walking towards him as he was giving me his back, and probably hadn't even realized I was there "What are you doing here alone?" I asked, stopping right behind him.
He stayed silent for some seconds until he turned around his body, holding up a white furball at me. The puppy held its tongue out at me while I was completely taken aback. I looked from the dog to him, watching Kakashi look at the dog with the same eyes the puppy had.
"Puppieeees" he said with a glint of happiness at the fact that he was holding a puppy.
I couldn't help but giggle at how adorably cute what he had just done was.
I looked at the dog again, being pet by Kakashi while he smiled at it like nothing else mattered.
"From all the ninjas I know, and I've known a lot, I would have never thought that Kakashi Hatake was a soft drunk" I said, still giggling at how unexpectedly welcomed this Kakashi was.
"I'm not drunk" he muttered with the same childlike tone he had when he told me there were puppies, making me smile at his cuteness again.
"And I'm not drunk either" I said sarcastically as I sat beside him, petting another dog next to him as it had walked to me and had started to nuzzle against my legs craving to be petted.
We sat in silence, petting the small dogs while the refreshing night breeze blew around us, making the silence more palpable although still pleasant.
"If you're here because you don't want to let the puppies go, why don't you take them inside?" I asked him, not knowing what words were coming out of my mouth because of how the alcohol was affecting me.
He shook his head in denial effusively, still like an adorable kid while he stayed in silence for some seconds. Seeming to have the same difficulty as me to find the words to talk due to the alcohol in both of our systems.
"Too many people being too loud" he simply said with his dark orb lost on the puppy.
I looked from him to the puppy, hoping to get the answer as to what did he saw on that puppy that made his eyes had that intriguingly beautiful glisten. And for a moment, I wasn't sure if his answer was referring to the dogs or himself.
"I must agree with you" I said, leaning my head down to watch at the puppy who was patting my chest with its soft paws.
"(Y/n)!?" A voice tore from inside the bar, making me remember why was I here.
I carefully held the soft puppy and laid it next to Kakashi again.
"Anyways, I need to go back" I said standing up and walking to where I had set down the box of sake, disappearing inside the bar without having a reply from the drunk jonin.
"Thank you (Y/n)! You're an angel!" Asuma smiled at me, also drunk.
"Fuck you, Asuma" I said back at him, although in reality I wasn't angry at him.
I grabbed the beer I had initially stood up for and walked my way back to the table where some different people had joined as well.
Again, time passed as quickly as it had the first half of the party, with the difference that people were starting to be even drunker to the point that there now lied some passed out jonins on the floor. I had stopped drinking after that beer because I was starting to feel slightly uncomfortable due to some jonins like Genma with whom I had been jokingly flirting starting to not take it as a joke. But especially due to not wanting to end like the ninjas who had vomited and had to leave home. Still, whatever the reasons were, the truth was that I was starting to not feel comfortable. It was something normal though, being sober when the rest were drunk always gave you a different perspective, and my perspective was one of no fun and just loud noise. It was just becoming too stuffy and overcrowded for me, so I stood up both wanting to flee from the flirtatious ninjas and the crowded atmosphere of the place.
Again, I stepped outside the bar, lightly rubbing my arms from the change of temperature as I breathed in once. Instinctively, I turned my head to where Kakashi had been hours before, finding him still there but with a load more puppies than before, making me chuckle with my eyebrows slightly curved.
"Why are you still here?" I asked him, sitting once again back where I had done before, now more puppies jumping onto my lap.
"I could ask you the same thing" he said, now sounding more sober, just like me.
I took my time to answer, patting the cute dogs while I took in the revitalizing air.
"I was starting to suffocate and wanted some fresh air and quiet" I answered generally "You? Why haven't you gone home?"
"I felt bad for the puppies" he answered me, surprising me a little that he had.
"You know" I started talking after a small silence "I would have expected you to be reading instead of this" I said with a smile, again not quite believing I had had the luck to see Kakashi, The Copy Ninja, like this"
Kakashi blinked a couple of times, and maybe if most of his face hadn't been covered I would have seen him frowning a little bit while he kept his eyes on the puppy he still held.
"I couldn't focus as I'd like, so I'd rather not read" he answered normally, still with his normally aloof tone yet with a speck of severity. Which made me wonder a little bit what had caused that little and almost imperceptible change in his still mood.
After he answered we stayed in another pleasant silence. Having the comfort of the soft white fur from the puppies as our only source of warmth. It was really enjoyable: the faint breeze, ruffling both Kakashi's and my hair; the smell of the wet forest that surrounded Konoha coming with the current; the peaceful silence of the nightly village only being broken by the distant happy cheers from the people inside the party. But still, they sounded so far that it even added to the atmosphere.
It was so comfortable there that perhaps we must have stayed there for a fair 30 minutes. However, realizing I was losing track of time I decided to stand up, letting go of the puppies. I stretched myself and looked at Kakashi.
"Do you want to take a stroll or something?" I asked him, although whatever he chose I would still go by myself. Even if I secretly wanted him to come because I was slightly frightened that my stalker would creep up on me "You can take the puppies if you want" I added.
I stood there, watching him thinking about it without taking his eyes away from the puppy. We stayed like that for at least a couple of minutes until he sighed looking down. He stood up leaving the puppies on the floor.
"It's alright" he said as he turned around to me and led the way "They should find shelter anyways"
I looked at him pass next to me and then decided to follow him. Although we had left the puppies at the entrance of the bar, and most of them stayed playing there, some others decided to follow us. Or at least until a while when they probably just got tired of us ignoring them and then disappeared as well.
The way to wherever we were heading was, just as it had been before, pleasantly silent. Kakashi was walking with his hands on his pockets, just like he normally did, while I had my hands on the back of my head, looking up to the beautifully lit sky that was even brighter thanks to the few to no lights that were on in Konoha this late. I got lost in all the twinkling little dots that were scattered on the purplish canvas of the night, the more time I stared the more different colors and constellations I saw. It was so astonishing that I didn't even realize my glowing expression from how blessed I felt to be able to see this.
3rd person's POV:
"What is it?" Kakashi's voice forced (Y/n) back to reality, although only a little as she refused to move her gaze from that spectacular scenery.
"Uh?" she only asked, not understanding what he meant.
"You've been looking at the sky for a while" he explained himself, looking at her despite her not looking at him. Intrigued as to why did her face seem so radiant "What is it?"
"Just that, the sky" she answered with a smile, making Kakashi arch his brow a little because he still didn't understand what was it so amazing about the sky "It's so amazing, and mysterious. So vast, full of different colors and little lights that glisten differently. It makes me feel small, for the good and the bad. It's just... beautiful. The more I look at it the more amazing it looks" she explained.
Kakashi didn't quite understand how did she think so many things about the sky. But he did the second he looked up again, his eyes widening at the amazing sight that was discovered in front of him. His mouth dangled open a little bit while he took in all of the details that were new to him. 'How haven't I seen it before?' he asked himself completely dumbfounded.
"I just find kind of funny how people don't even notice this is literally above their heads, just because they see it every day" (Y/n) added once she realized he had just discovered the wonders of the night sky.
Kakashi blinked twice, his eyes now shining like (Y/n) had been doing, making her giggle a little.
"You didn't notice either did you?" she said with a small smile looking up again.
Kakashi shook his head as he moved his gaze from the sky to her, not knowing what amazed him the most. The new beautiful sky, (Y/n), or how the stars reflected so beautifully on her (e/c) eyes, making the stars shine even more gracefully.
"I didn't notice until my..." (Y/n) suddenly stopped talking, her expression changing lightly from one of bliss to one stern, making the stars reflect differently on her eyes, although still elegantly "My best friend told me when we were kids" she kept going, not being able to have that careless smile on her face again, but trying not to look too weird about it "It just makes me wonder how many other beautiful and amazing things must go unnoticed just because we see them every day, and because we don't really look"
Kakashi hadn't moved his gaze from her, obviously detecting that little change in her expression. Although, he was too drawn to what she had just said to think much about it. Instead, he couldn't help but wonder too, still amazed something as big and amazing as the sky had gone unnoticed to him.
A small giggle from (Y/n) took Kakashi back from those thoughts.
"Looks like we've ended up here again" she said as she noticed they had been walking to the same spot Kakashi took her the day she was shaken by her stalker.
Kakashi blinked twice, trying to get a hold of himself and nodded, watching (Y/n) walk to the center of the Hokage's head and lay completely down, watching the stars yet again. He looked at her for a couple of moments, taking in her movements and figure until he decided to do the same, laying next to her but leaving enough space between their bodies.
Again, silence filled the atmosphere, but (Y/n) found it comforting, and Kakashi was too calmed by it to even notice there was a silence. Actually, the only thing they were paying attention was the screen above them that portrayed that amusing setting. In fact, it wasn't until almost an hour passed that Kakashi broke his focus from the now new sky for him. Wondering how much time must have passed he turned his head to his left were (Y/n) had been laying silently, but as he did so he found a sleeping figure, curled up and sleeping peacefully. Which was actually really surprising as in reality (Y/n) had been having many difficulties to find sleep in her house due to the constant fear of his stalker finding a way inside her house, even though her efforts to prevent it. However, something about the night —perhaps the remaining alcohol in her body, perhaps the enjoyable chilliness of the night, or maybe the presence of Kakashi, a skilled jonin, next to her— made her find the comfort to sleep that she had lacked.
"(Y/n)" Kakashi softly called her name, shaking her lightly from her shoulder, but she seemed to be too deep in sleep.
Kakashi's eyes wandered to her tranquil face, moving slightly as she breathed. Instinctively he moved his finger to her cheek, poking it lightly to see if she'd woke up or not, but she only moved her face as if it was a fly bothering her. On the other hand, Kakashi was surprised at how perfectly soft (Y/n)'s skin was, nothing like the one of a jonin that should be calloused and tough. His hand moved towards her cheek again, his eyes still lost on her sleeping long lids, when he stopped himself, a bit worried as to what was about that urge. Instead of going for her peaceful face he moved his hands to her shoulder where he shook her more abruptly.
"(Y/n)" he called her louder. She woke up opening her lids slowly. (Y/n) yawned and sat up, rubbed her eyes as she looked sleepily at Kakashi "You should go home and sleep" he lowered his voice again "C'mon, I'll walk you home" he added standing up.
It was then when (Y/n) suddenly woke up.
"No no, it's fine you don't need to worry" she said standing up too.
"It's alright, it's on my way home anyways" he said to make her agree, and in order not to give her a chance he stood up and started walking. She sighed and followed him, fidgeting a little with her fingers.
Kakashi's POV:
"Thank you for walking me home" (Y/n) said once we were at the front of her house.
"It's no problem" I dismissed her, waiting for her to get in.
She seemed to stutter a little, almost as if she didn't want to get in while I was there, which only made me want to see her get in even more. She finally turned to the door and opened the lock, opening the door and staying there. She looked inside for some time and finally slowly stepped inside.
"Well, goodnight Kakashi" she said holding onto the door.
"Have a good night of rest, (Y/n)" I said back with my typical closed eye smile.
She finally closed the door with a timid smile, and I turned around to head home, but before I could even start walking I stopped, surprised at the many sounds I heard behind (Y/n)'s door. I had never seen any door, at least not in Konoha, that had so many locks. I turned to her door again, stunned at the still sounding noises. Until they stopped. I shrugged it off and decided to get my head busy on other more important things, finally heading home. However, I was yet again stopped on my tracks, this time at the feeling of a weird chakra behind me. I wasn't even out of (Y/n)'s home street when I felt it. I wasn't quite sure what was about this chakra, but there was something definitely off, especially taking into account it was really late at night and neither (Y/n) nor I had come across any other civilian during the night.
Kind of curious I turned my body around, wanting to know who did it come from. It was then when I saw a man slightly smaller than me all covered in black trying to open the same house that I came from. I squinted my eyes at the sight, now definitely interested in that man.
As he saw he couldn't take down the door he rummaged through his pockets and took a piece of paper, sticking it onto the door of (Y/n)'s apartment. After that he took some steps back, watching the facade of her home. Meanwhile, I just stood there, hiding my presence completely while I watched the situation in order to understand who was this man and what was happening. I wouldn't want to make any wrong conclusions, especially this late at night when it could cause quite a commotion.
The man jumped to (Y/n)'s bedroom window, again trying to open it. And then, after he saw he couldn't, he just stood there, watching what I imagined was a sleeping (Y/n). At this point I didn't need to keep watching any more to make sense of everything that was and had happened. As if it were a puzzle, all the things that I had been observing these past days started to create a bigger picture. From how (Y/n) seemed to panic when I first walked her home and she read a note similar to the one this man had left on her door, to how she stabbed me when I sneaked into her bedroom, now making me feel sorry because she must have thought I was him, how I then noticed she had her doors and windows shut, to the eye bags that had started to form under her eyes and how she was insistent on me not walking her home.
Without wasting any other second and almost instinctively, my body jumped to her home, more specifically to the man.
"Hey!" I yelled wanting to question him.
But surprisingly, he was faster than what I had expected as his reflex allowed him to flee at an incredibly fast pace. I tried to follow him through the rooftops of Konoha, and even though I made copies of myself to follow his own kagebunshins, somehow, and much to my dismay, I ended up losing track of him. Completely. Not even my high sense of smell, nor my hearing or sharingan was able to see the slightest trace of him. Which made me wonder how did he disappear like that. I decided it would be useless to stand there thinking about it and decided to rush back to (Y/n)'s apartment. Once I got there I strode to the front door, carefully picking the neatly folded note and reading it.
"He sighed and placed his lover's head back to its place: the fridge. He walked into his bedroom, seeing her headless body lying sprawled across the room, reminding him of how lovely her now dead and cold body had been last night when he had made love to her. The mere thought made him hard"
'What the fuck' he thought to himself, his eyebrows twitching at how disgusting was what he was reading.
There was a slight space between those lines, looking as if it was taken from a larger poem, and the rest beneath. Looking as if the notes hadn't anything to do with each other.
"There's no lock that will keep me away from you (Y/n). No matter what you'll do and where you'll go I'll get to you"
Kakashi reread the lines, grimacing once again and crushing the note in his fist. He decided he didn't want (Y/n) to read this. He also figured that even if she had probably read other similar notes to this one, at least she wouldn't read this one. He kept the wrinkled and almost teared up note in his pocket and did quick signs of summoning. Suddenly, a giant brown bulldog appeared in front of him.
"Bull, I want you to keep a watch on this house for the night" he ordered him before taking off to see someone.