Masked Rivals /A Kakashi Fanfiction\

Chapter 7

Even though I know what I had done the night I arrived contradicts this, I liked to keep stealing while I was playing this little game to a minimum. Once I had some money to my name I planned to pay back the shops for my clothes; but for now...

I headed back to Kakashi's apartment and rummaged through cabinets to find my lunch here. After fixing a cup of ramen with some consume chips.

I couldn't help myself and roamed the apartment in curiosity.

I slurped down a bite of ramen, then set the cup on the coffee table top. I pulled open the drawer and found inside what looked to be some kind of electronic device with pair of ear buds attached.

Does this play music? I thought excitedly and popped one of the buds in my ear. After some fiddling with the device, I finally figured it out and got the music to play. And it was nothing like I had ever heard. Literally.

The Akatsuki didn't really put time into leisure and they didn't exactly have a lounge area with a TV or stereo. And when you've lived with them starting as young as the age of 7, you become quite sheltered from the world outside of being a Ninja.

I finished off the cup, threw it out, then headed back out the door with Kakashi's device in hand.

Deciding to take a bit of a longer break from everything for once, I just strolled around-in the comfort of my cloak of course-through the roads, down the foot paths and even winding through the trees, all while just thinking about nothing. Absolutely nothing. I just enjoyed listening to the music and thought of no one and worried about no one or anything.

I might have enjoyed things a little too much, because I didn't really pay attention to the time and found myself falling asleep where I laid in a meadow as I watched the clouds pass by.

The device beeped at me with a low battery warning,and that's when I finally woke up from my little nap. I squeezed my eyes, groaned and stretched my muscles before relaxing and looking up at the starry sky.

Starry sky. s**t. Just how long was I out for... I wondered as I rubbed the sleep from my eye...guess I shouldn't have figured a cave floor for the best sleep

I slowly made my way across town and figured it must have been decently late since barely anyone was out and about in the streets at this point.

Wanting to take a real shower-not just a bath house soak-a real soap and shampoo clean-I headed back towards Kakashi's apartment in the hopes he was sleeping soundly enough to make that possible.

Quickly becoming my new routine, I slid his bedroom window open and slipped into the apartment. But this time, Kakashi was different, something was wrong.

He was definitely fast asleep in his bed, but he looked quite troubled. It was a cool night, but I could see his skin glistening from sweat in the moonlight that shown through the curtains. Tentatively taking a closer look, I noticed his brows were stitched together and his body was visibly trembling.

"Kakashi?" I whispered worriedly to myself, trying to scan his body to see if there was a reason for his distress.

Then his breathing became ragged as tears broke through his eyes that were still shut tight.

"Rin! N-no! Why did you...I was supposed to..." He started tossing and turning as he spoke in his sleep, obviously reliving some nightmare.

I couldn't help myself and ran to the bed to try and wake him. Screw messing with him for the night. As much as I might enjoy it, seeing him so distressed and upset bothered me more. I didn't know why I couldn't bare to see him like this, but what I did know is that I had to do something.

"Kakashi" I called to him louder. Now kneeling on the bed next to him, I tried to grab his shoulders and hold them still as he tried to turn away from me. "Kakashi, wake up!"

My voice finally broke through his sleep and he sat up stark straight, then slouched forward burying his head in his hands. His shoulders stilled, but I could tell it was only because he was holding in his breath to try and steady himself.

"She wasn't supposed to be there." He muttered to himself over and over again into his hands. "She wasn't supposed to be there and I failed to protect her. I gave Obito my word and I failed them both."

"Kakashi" I started to interject, pulling on his shoulder and forcing his head up to look at me.

"Oh, for fig's sake what do you want? Here to taunt me about my mistakes."He grumbled, quickly dropping his gaze to his hands to avoid me. He stopped the tears now that he saw my presence, but his face was still pained and his body still shook from the memories that now plagued his mind.

"Hey," I said firmly. I cupped his head in my hands, and at first he held himself steadily facing straight ahead, but then with a sigh he allowed me to turn it to face me. I sunk into the bed a bit more to lean in and rested my forehead against his. I shifted my hands from his cheeks to grasping the back of his neck and closed my eyes as I spoke, "You said it yourself, 'she wasn't supposed to be there'. Rin wasn't your fault." I felt movement and knew he meant to argue, but I just placed a finger lightly against his lips to quieten him and he did so, "You did everything you could to protect her and that is not a failure." I finished before he could interject or say otherwise.

I kept this position, foreheads pressed together for a few minutes until his breathing calmed and I could feel the trembling lessen. I jumped a little myself when I finally pulled back from him and he grabbed my retreating hand.

"Don't disappear" He whispered.

I looked down at him in shock, wanting to make sure I heard him right. He avoided my gaze, probably embarrassed that he just made a request of his own 'conscious', and in a way that's all I needed to understand he needed my assuring presence whether I was real to him or not.

I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and pulled him against me as I shifted and laid back on the bed. I shifted and cradled his head against my chest while the other hand rubbed back and forth between his shoulder blades soothingly.

He laid his arm loosely across my waist and curled his body against my side.

He didn't say anything else and neither did I, and after about half hour or so he finally calmed and relaxed enough to slip back to sleep. I couldn't help but wait and continue to watch him for a little while longer to make sure his nightmare didn't resume before falling asleep myself.

Having already gotten a bit of rest earlier, I found myself waking back up still a bit early in the morning. I checked out the clock-only 5. I still had an hour before his alarm went off-assuming it was set to go off at the same time it had the last 2 days.

I felt a squeeze around my waist and my attention came back to the Kakashi that I had soothed in my arms. I didn't even realize a smile was tugging at my lips as I watched the rhythmic rise and fall of his back.

My heart twinged thinking about what I had to do. How will he react, waking up alone? Will he be upset that I left him or relieved that I was gone? I wondered. But, it didn't matter. While this whole game was about him 'seeing' me, too much of it and I might be found out.

Deciding it was unnecessary to disappear just yet, I allowed myself to enjoy the feel of his strong arms wrapped around me and I tangled my fingers through his messy hair.

I checked out the clock again- 5:55.

Carefully lifting his arm from around me, I slinked out from under him and off the bed as gently as possible. Feeling it was best to give him some space for him or for me? I slipped back out the window, making sure to close it behind me, and chilled out on the rooftop just listening to the audible noise of his alarm going off on time for once this week and the commotion that was to follow. But it didn't. Not at first. After his fist collided with the off button, everything grew deathly quiet as if everything within the vicinity had been paralyzed. My heart ached and I bit my lip, my imagination getting the worst of me at what he might possibly be thinking right now. Finally with a sigh and a 'f**k', the bed springs creaked and the apartment was alive with the sound of his shuffling.

After near an hour he finally left and locked up, and I decided to give that shower a try again.

I stripped down and tucked my clothes just under the stool at the vanity. Then I closed the glass door behind me and turned the dials to allow the refreshing warm water to stream over my body.

As I lathered the men's shampoo into my hair, my mind trailed off in thought about last night. Last night was not part of the plan I scolded myself mentally but Kakashi...I couldn't just-

So caught up in my head, I made the mistake of letting myself get distracted and stopped paying attention to my senses.

"Now where did I-" I suddenly heard Kakashi's voice break through the silence in the apartment.

He had forgotten the most recent copy of Icha Icha Paradise and came back to retrieve it, which was suddenly very inconvenient for me. His sentence cut short was obviously from noticing the sound of water running in the bathroom. I thought to make an escape, but the door knob was turning and it was too late to run without being a little too obvious.

Reading a copy of Icha Icha Paradise was one thing. He'd read those books enough that it could be easy to make him mistake that for him simply remembering all the words. But turning knobs and opening doors was something else entirely-and if I was to be caught this was not the place or predicament in which I wanted to do so.

I quickly cloaked myself and held my breath in hope for the best when his masked face poked into the room.

"That's strange. I don't remember turning the shower on." He muttered to himself as he eyed every square inch visible to him beyond the glass.

Even though he couldn't see me, I still couldn't help but turn crimson knowing his eyes still roamed passed my naked body.

"Then again," He paused to sniff himself and I sweat dropped, "I don't seem to remember taking a shower. I guess I started and forgot. Well, I'm already two days running on being late. What's a third." He shrugged and started to disrobe, his clothes landing wherever they may fall.

I guess I should have expected some of this to come back and bite me in the ass I thought at his 'being late' comment. But that was the least of my worries as he closed the shower door behind him and I tried not to hyperventilate. Don't look don't look don't look! I repeated like it was my own personal mantra, eyes peeled to the ceiling above.

Kakashi turned towards me and the closer he got, the harder it got not to let out an 'eek!'. Actually going for the wall behind me, I found myself a little pinned and had to slide down the wall a little to avoid him when he placed his hands against the glass wall to lean forward and just let the water wash over him.

I watched him for a moment to make sure he wasn't going to move any closer than that. With a sigh I didn't process my actions properly and looked ahead to find myself staring at...and there went the 'eek!'

Face and body completely flushed, I quickly darted my eyes back up to look at anything but his manhood. And then his eyes locked with mine, looking just as bewildered as I was. s**t, I lost control.

It all happened in an instant really, and Kakashi quickly lost his footing after being startled when I suddenly appeared in the last place he expected. Without thinking, I tried to grab hold of his arm, worried that he'd hit the wall and hurt himself. Big mistake.

My tug on his arm managed to help him fall in a sitting position so he didn't knock his head into the wall, but my foot also slipped when my body jerked with his fall. I clenched my eyes shut afraid of what I'd see in my tumble.

After a few moments, Kakashi cleared his throat awkwardly and I opened my eyes. I did my best to keep my jaw dropping from the sight of our entanglement. I was hovering over him nearly on all fours with one hand pressed firmly against his abs from where I tried to steady myself. Out of instinct, he had grabbed onto my waist when I grabbed for his arm. Now his hands suddenly felt way too intimate even though they just laid on my hips.

I slowly trailed my gaze from my hand to his face which was now red. Has he looked? Well of course he has. I'm sure he's curious as to what kind of body his imagination came up with. Then curiosity got the better of me and I looked down to see the position from his view. I had landed looking like I was nearly straddling him. One wrong slip of the leg and I could have slipped onto his...

"Don't look!" I squealed, throwing my hands in front of his eyes to block his view. Why can't I get my head together and cloak myself! I squealed now at myself in my head.

I quickly scurried back off of him, being extra careful to avoid a certain body part standing at attention. Then I stood and turned to face the shower wall, at this point resigned to waiting it out. I heard the water splatter with his movements and assumed he just followed suit and resumed finishing his shower.

His hands touched my hair and it took everything not to gasp at his touch cause why would his imagination be so surprised? Although it's a little too late for that.

It took me a moment to get it, but I caught on and let him tilt my head back to catch my hair under the water. Then he slowly raked his fingers through my hair to help rinse out the suds and soap.

"I'm alone and apparently losing my mind. So what does it do," Kakashi let's out a wry chuckle, "it creates a perfect image that I can't have and taunts me." Suds gone, he drops his hands from my hair to my shoulders and lightly tugs on them to turn me; and for some reason I find my legs complying. "But everything about you looks and feels so real." He added, "I wonder if..."

At that he started to lean closer to me and my response-to panic. I finally got my wits about me and raised the 'cloak'. It worked-for a moment. He paused briefly eying the empty space in front of him. Then to my surprise he lifted his hand, managing to cup where he envisioned my cheek was and pulled me to him for a fleeting but soft kiss.