[IC/OOC] Kannagara Voicemail

[ura_no_ura]

The subscriber's voice mailbox has not been set up. Please leave a message after the tone.

[OOC: Feel free to leave either IC or OOC messages; specification of OOC in the subject line would be appreciated.]

Comments

[Backdated to September 15th]

[youthfulpassion]

Kakashi.... happy thirtieth.

[The smile is small and warm, sincere but lacking its usual vibrancy; he's worried, and it's obvious, the way it always is. He can't give him anything but a message this year, anything but a remote hand on his back--I remember. I notice. I care. You still have a place here--you do belong.]

I'll owe you a present when you get back, or at least a drink--we're all waiting for you, you know. We miss you. Konoha isn't the same now, this empty....

[But this isn't a call to guilt him, whatever it might sound like--Gai is worried, but he doesn't know what Kakashi is going through. Only can guess at the turmoil that his Eternal Rival must be going through, knowing that Iruka.... well. Iruka isn't very happy either, even if he doesn't seem to fully understand what happened. Gai has his suspicions, but....]

[He shakes himself from such depressive thoughts, smiling encouragingly at the Hitomi. How exactly do you grab someone by the shoulders and demand if they have any idea how much they're worrying you, when you

[youthfulpassion]

Suppose I do ask Yondaime-sama--I might after this. [And if he thinks it's necessary, he will--there's no doubt about that to be seen in his face or voice. He's willing to go ask Minato to tell him for anything he can find out, and that's no bluff.]

What would he be able to tell me, if it's classified? What is your assigned return date? [What would they possibly need classified training for in this world? With how much Kakashi already knows, to get even more specialized training, he'd probably need some expert teacher of the skills to be with him.....]

[ura_no_ura]

Do you trust me, Gai?

[ Ah yes, now play the trust card. Though he doesn't deserve it right now, trust. And it'd make sense that Gai would be asking so many questions and accusing him of things like defecting and abandoning the village -- rather loaded words for someone who's died for said village -- when he had betrayed it, hadn't he? ]

[youthfulpassion]

[Gai's tone and expression soften a bit; he sighs, running a hand through his hair.]

I've always trusted you, Kakashi. [Don't you know that by now? Don't you trust me?] But I also know not to judge a book by its cover.

[Because those bright, colorful, child-friendly-looking covers hide luridly sensual escapades beneath them, and that deadpan, whimsical mask hides the beautiful flawed soul that shines beneath it. He trusts Kakashi, but he also knows very well not to take him purely at face value.]

[ura_no_ura]

Then give me time, and stop asking questions.

[ He says, and this time he means it. Because he's not in any state to be answering questions right now when he doesn't even know the answer to them. When he's just trying to figure things out. ]

[youthfulpassion]

[That's not fair, Kakashi. That's not fair, and Gai is willing to bet that Kakashi knows it. Trust is not one or the other like this. This isn't a do or die situation. This is Kakashi being foolish the way he so often is, only this time, more extremely than normal. He'd like to take a third option, here--it feels like he could. But it also feels like Kakashi is backed into a corner, and that no amount of probing would make much more of a difference in this state. So instead he sighs and smiles.]

Just because I'll be quiet doesn't mean I won't still worry, Kakashi. The rest of the village won't stop, either. We'll all be thinking of you, waiting for you to come home as soon as you can.

You know you can trust me, Kakashi--if you need anything, I'll always be here. [The way he always has been. He offers Kakashi a thumbs up and a twinkling smile, a Nice Guy Pose to make this a parting promise, as he turns his Hitomi off.]