The Sordid Tangles of Life-A Kakashi x Student OC Story

Chapter 53

Kaori pushed against her Father's embrace. She didn't care what precious things he had to say to her, it didn't change the fact that they were hypocrites. What if Tameki was her Kakashi? And they wanted her to throw it all away because they were the only ones that could be 'one in a million'? As if.

"Losing my light?" She scoffed. "That's a bunch of garbage. Just because you can't handle the fact that a man other than you loves me doesn't give you the right to keep us apart. I'm not your little girl anymore, so stop treating me like one." And with that declaration, she spun on her heel to leave. She slammed her bedroom door behind her before either of us could respond to her harsh words.

Kakashi hung his head. His face was blank, trying to hide how her words hurt; but I knew the pain was there.

A little birdie fluttering by redirected its route, perching on the open window just by Kakashi and I. It gave out a little tweet, then pecked at the window frame while it listened in to us.

"Oh, Kakashi" I sighed, going to him. I wrapped my arms around him, letting his head fall against my shoulder. His arms wrapped loosely around my waist, hugging me back softly. "I can't believe she said those horrible things. You have done so much for us, for her...it makes me sick that she even thinks of you that way."

Kakashi lifted his head slowly, mustering up the best closed eye smile he could manage. "Isn't that what being a Father is about?"

I blinked a couple times, "what... being mistreated even after you've been nothing but amazing?" I asked rhetorically.

Kakashi rolled his eyes at me, "okay okay, my pride didn't take that much of a hit." The fact that he managed to joke made me smile a little. I rewrapped my arms around him, holding his waist and laying my head on his chest. "Being a father won't always be easy. Sometimes it requires the willingness to do or say what is right for your family...even if it hurts for a while..."

"But it shouldn't have to hurt...Kakashi you are the greatest man I know, and you are none of those things. You shouldn't have had to say that and she shouldn't think of you that way."

"And what should I have done? Told her about the monster that is her biological father, just so she wouldn't think badly of me?" Kakashi pulled me back, holding my shoulders at arm's length and watching me with nothing but seriousness in his eyes. "I don't care what some damned test says, I'm her Father. Which means I will handle this how I see fit as her Father. And if my options are to tell her I am not, or let her hate me for a while...then I'll let her hate me." Kakashi explained.

I started sniffling, trying not to cry. Now Kakashi sighed an 'Oh, Kaori' and pulled me back into his arms. "I can handle this, okay? Don't worry about me."

"I'm not worried...I'm just..." I hiccuped and took a deep breath. I shook my head against his chest, my tears soaking into his shirt, "you still remind me every day how lucky I am to have you." I smiled up at him, my tears a cause of being touched by his words.

*-*-*-*-*

Kaori gasped quietly in her room. Her breath caught in her throat and her stomach twisted. Kakashi's not my Dad?

Her head spun and everything she thought she knew about herself suddenly felt wrong. Her back slid down the door and she held her head between her knees, not wanting to comprehend what she had just heard...but it was unmistakable...he said 'biological father'.

Kaori sat there in her stupor, not letting anyone into her room till nightfall. She finally got up to turn the light on in her bedroom as the dark started to consume it.