Red (Kakashi Hatake x Might Guy)

Chapter One

Kakashi didn't remember much of what Guy had actually said the day they'd first met. Instead, he remembered the color that had spilled from his mouth; the blues and whites that had dyed the sky above them, the green that had painted all of the leaves as well as the obnoxious outfit that the ravenette had worn, the light brown that had seeped into the dirt they stood on.

In a world where everyone had a soulmate, they were relatively easy to find. Everyone was born colorblind, only given the privilege of seeing color when their soulmate spoke to them for the first time. Upon seeing your soulmate's mouth move and hearing their first words to you, color would fall from in between their lips and stain the world around you. You would no longer be colorblind.

There was a catch, however. You had to be able to see your soulmate's mouth and hear their words. Because of this, there were many people who were blind, deaf, and mute who hadn't been able to find their soulmates.

Obviously, that didn't apply to Kakashi.

What did apply to Kakashi was the fact that he wore a mask, which prevented his soulmate from finding him since they couldn't see his mouth move.

When he'd first met Might Guy, and when he'd first seen all of those beautiful colors pouring out of the older boy's mouth, he'd been confused as to why it hadn't been brought up. They were clearly soulmates. Why hadn't Guy said anything? Kakashi being his awkward and asocial self hadn't mentioned it either, only struggling to absorb the shock of it all as he'd walked home with his father.

When they'd arrived home, Kakashi had spilled his guts out to Sakumo about what he'd seen, only for the other Hatake to laugh and tell him that it was because he'd been wearing his mask.

Due to him wearing his mask, Guy hadn't been able to see his mouth move. Guy hadn't been able to see the color, and wouldn't be able to see color until Kakashi took his mask off when talking to him.

Not that Kakashi had ever done that. He'd always kept the mask on around everyone, including Guy. Sure, he'd thought about telling Guy the truth, but by the time he was ready to do it, his father had committed suicide. Sakumo Hatake had lost the ability to see color after his soulmate, Kakashi's mother, had died. Wherever he was, Kakashi hoped that he could see color again.

Consumed by grief, Kakashi was too focused on other things to worry about his soulmate. He'd raced through the academy and become a full-fledged ninja, almost immediately teamed with Minato-Sensei, who could also see color. He'd met his soulmate, Kushina, when he was young.

A couple of years passed, and Rin and Obito were put on his team as well. The two were soulmates and had known since they were young children, but for whatever reason, Rin was in love with Kakashi, and Obito's love went unrequited despite the fact that they were destined for each other. Kakashi's ability to see color became apparent to his teammates when he made some spiteful comment about the obnoxiously bright oranges in Obito's outfit, and everyone had practically demanded to know who his soulmate was. He refused to answer, of course, still knowing that it was Guy, but not wanting his friends to be aware of the fact. They'd make fun of him, he thought. The sudden reminder of the fact that he had a soulmate had made him consider telling Guy the truth, though.

Before he could, Obito had died. Consumed by grief again and stuck comforting Rin, who for some reason hadn't lost her ability to see color despite the fact that Obito was dead, Kakashi was too busy to worry about his own soulmate. Not only were they plagued with the overwhelming grief of Obito's death on their watch, but they were also plagued with the realization that either something was extremely wrong, or Obito hadn't been Rin's soulmate after all.

If you never met your soulmate, you remained colorblind for your entire life. However, if you met your soulmate, saw color, and they died afterward, you would revert back to your colorblindness like Kakashi's father had. Obito had died, but Rin had been able to see color up until she'd impaled herself on Kakashi's Chidori and fell with the last thing leaving her lips being Kakashi's name.

Kakashi hadn't had time to worry about his soulmate after that. He'd been in the Anbu, and then guarding Kushina and her unborn child up until the night of the Ninetails attack, which was when she and Minato had been killed. After that, he'd returned to the regular Anbu forces, and he'd preoccupied himself with work as a distraction from everything he'd been going through.

Nowadays, things were different. More peaceful.

At twenty-three, he'd been discharged into the Anbu and encouraged to teach his own team of Genin. It'd taken failing three different teams before he had finally found one that met his requirements, but Team Seven was one of the best things that had happened to him, even if the way things had turned out was bittersweet. Sasuke was gone on his quest for vengeance by Orochimaru's side, Naruto was gone training with Master Jiraiya, and Sakura spent most of her days studying under the watchful Lady Tsunade.

It was odd how all of his students ended up learning more from the Sannin than they ever had from him. Most days, Kakashi felt like a failure- especially when it came to his teaching. He hadn't been ready to teach, and though he was aware of the fact that it was a genuine attempt to soften him from The Third Hokage's end, it was a terrible decision to trust him with the safety and growth of three young children.

He was twenty-eight now, and he spent most days by himself. In his apartment by himself. Training by himself. Reading by himself. Walking around the village by himself. Doing missions by himself.

Really, he was just going through the motions.

But, now that things had calmed down, he had time to think about his soulmate; Might Guy. A good twenty-something year had passed since the first time they'd met, and the ravenette was still completely oblivious to the fact that Kakashi was his soulmate. He'd never seen color, but Kakashi couldn't recall ever hearing him complain about it.

Over the past two or three years, Kakashi had debated on telling him a million times. He'd almost went through with the idea a few times, but it was always some fearful question in the back of his mind that stopped him.

Would Guy be mad at him for being so quiet about it after all these years and knowingly depriving him of the ability to see color?

Would Guy even want someone like him?

Would Guy be immediately turned off by the idea?

Would Guy think he was lying?

If Kakashi pulled his mask down to prove it, would Guy even like the face that he'd put so much effort into hiding throughout his lifetime?

Kakashi didn't know the answer to any of them, and he wasn't sure that he wanted to.

The silver-haired man sat up from where he'd been laying in bed, haunted by the images and thoughts of his soulmate that flashed through his mind and made it race with anxiety. His heart was beating fast against his chest. Just another one of those nights, he thought, tossing his legs over the side of the bed and standing up with a sigh.

His feet hit the cold wooden floor, and he walked over to his bedroom window, which was always open. He stared out of it and up at the night sky for a moment before a flash of green caught his attention.

Might Guy and Rock Lee were running past his apartment. Kakashi smiled, but then frowned, knowing that Guy couldn't see the shade of green in his jumpsuit that Kakashi had always been so fond of.

He quickly turned away and went back to his bed, knowing that he should sleep. He could think about the soulmate issue some other time.