Red (Kakashi Hatake x Might Guy)

Chapter Five

It had been a week since Guy and Kakashi had gone to the bar together, and despite waking up hungover as all hell the following morning, Kakashi thought it had went well- he'd destroyed the older man at a drinking contest, and poor Asuma had ended up being stuck with the task of getting them both home in one piece, though nothing particularly interesting had happened after that.

A few days had passed since he had seen Guy, and though he wasn't too pressed over it, he did find himself missing the ravenette.

Kakashi sighed as he sat on one of the logs that were on the ground at one of the training sectors in the village, reading his book in peace and praying that Lee didn't ambush him with more soulmate theories. The copy of Icha Icha sat in his lap, the silver-haired man hunched over it. If he was being honest, it was kind of hard to read- it was late at night, therefore dark, but he didn't quite mind it.

It was peaceful.

That is until he sensed the chakra of no other than Might Guy, who felt like he was a good few meters away. Rolling his eyes, he stood up, knowing that the peace wouldn't last much longer.

Almost as if on cue, Guy appeared from one of the bushes, excited as he approached Kakashi with a bright smile.

"Rival!"

"Guy. What's up? Another challenge for me? I thought you'd be done for a good month or so after the shots we took-"

"No, but I have questions!" The silver-haired man blinked at that, immediately afraid. Had Lee brought up his theory, or had Guy figured things out on his own? Was he busted? "My Lee told me that you can see color! When I talked to you-"

"I said that my soulmate hasn't seen color," Kakashi thought back to the discussion he'd had with Guy not that long ago about the matter, thankful that he had been so unspecific in his wording when talking about the matter. "Not that I haven't. I can see color just fine."

"Elusive as always, my dear rival!" Guy praised (?), and Kakashi closed his book as he continued to listen to the Blue Beast talk. "Do they even know that you're their soulmate?"

"Nope," He answered, popping the 'p' on 'nope'. "I haven't bothered telling them, nor do I plan on it. Ignorance is bliss."

"Do you really not care?" Guy asked, seemingly offended by how nonchalant Kakashi was about the entire situation before pointing at Kakashi rather accusingly- a gesture that had been aimed at him a lot recently by Sakura, Lee, and now Guy... Great. His secret was slowly unraveling, wasn't it? As Guy continued to ramble, Kakashi debated his options. Maybe he could move to The Cloud Village and use a Transformation Jutsu to live there anonymously, write his own novel under a pseudonym and live in a quaint home full of cats he would adopt off the street, surviving off of the money he made from his book. Guy wouldn't be able to find him, and no one would be able to call him out on having a soulmate ever again... That would be nice. However, that wasn't realistic, and Kakashi's mind returned to what was currently going on as the ravenette lectured him. "That's not very youthful, you know!"

"I'm not very youthful, so I suppose that's fitting. I'm twenty-eight and feel like I'm eighty. I might have to go ahead and drop dead where I stand."

"I'll be sure to catch you if you do, my eternal rival!"

"I was kidding," Kakashi rolled his eyes, pushing his book into his back pocket, as Guy seemed intent on talking to him about the soulmate issue rather than letting him read. "Also, it's not that I don't care. It's just complicated."

"Your whole life is complicated," Guy spat without thinking, and Kakashi could only let out a small laugh of shock as he gave the older man a questioning stare and crossed his arms. Immediately realizing what he'd just said, the ravenette went to hurriedly defend himself, and Kakashi could only stand there and suppress the chuckles that were bubbling in the back of his throat and threatening to slip out. He wasn't even offended- what Guy had said was true and he wasn't the sensitive type anyways. "I mean, I- I didn't mean to phrase it like that! It's just that you've been through so much, don't you deserve someone to love who loves you back? Well, you have people like that, sure, but I mean romantically! There are so many people who go through their entire lives never seeing color and never knowing who their soulmate is, so why are you taking it for granted?"

"Don't feel bad. You aren't necessarily wrong about the 'complicated' part. That second part's highly debatable," Kakashi muttered, regretting it almost immediately. It was true- he thought that he didn't deserve to love, let alone have someone who loved him back- not after what had happened the last few times.

But he hadn't wanted Guy to know that he felt that way. No, as much as Guy had tried to be a shoulder to cry on, Kakashi had never taken the offer, nor did he ever plan on it. He didn't need a shoulder to cry on, especially when it was at Guy's expense. He could always cry by himself if he ever felt the need to.

Might Guy was someone who always felt his emotions secondhand, and maybe it was because they were soulmates, but then again, the ravenette had always been compassionate and sympathetic like that. Still, Kakashi knew that any time he was in a bad mood, it rubbed off on Guy, and he didn't want to make that already-existing condition worse than it already was by dumping his problems on the older man.

His slip up had made the atmosphere tense, resulting in a sickening silence, one that felt like it was wrapping its invisible hands around his neck and digging its malefic nails into the skin of his throat, and he suddenly couldn't speak. Struggling to do so, the former Anbu swallowed and looked away, even as Guy placed a firm hand on his shoulder.

"No, it's not debatable," Guy argued, tone uncharacteristically stern as he used his grip on Kakashi's shoulder to yank the younger man to face him. Reluctantly, Kakashi met the Blue Beast's dark eyes. "You deserve someone to love... Someone who loves you."

"What, so they can just go and die again?" Kakashi let out a bitter laugh before pulling away, and the look that Guy gave him in return was one that could only be described as hurt. The silver-haired man immediately felt guilty, but he was becoming increasingly desperate to escape this situation. "C'mon, Guy."

"Kakashi..."

"Look, I'm sorry- that was really hostile and I didn't mean to snap at you like that. I know you mean well, but I'm not really comfortable talking about this whole soulmate thing," With that, he gave a lazy wave, turning his back on his soulmate as he began to walk away. "I'll see you later."