Kakashi’s POV:

Earlier that same day…

"Hound, the preparations are almost ready. The emperor would like to see you now."

I look up from the book I'm reading. Tch, I was just getting to the good part, of course I always get interrupted at the most inconvenient times. I’m sitting on the wall that over looks the castle front gates. It's my usual place to go to get a good view of the city and to get a few moments of peace away from the busy life in the castle. Ever since I became the emperor's bodyguard, I rarely get time to be alone. I’m constantly getting assignments and little things here and there. It’s even worse when I go out into the public, people constantly mob me and ask for autographs. 

I sigh and set my book down. "I understand. I'll make my way to the emperor's gardens right now," I say in a lazy fashion. 

The guard gives me a weary look and rubs his forehead. I shrug and give him a slight glare. There's nothing he can say about my attitude. I trained most of the soldiers around here anyway. Geez why does everyone have to be so bad at sword fighting? 

He motions me to follow him and we start walking down the castle steps. We continue walking down and into a hallway toward where the gardens are. I look out the window and notice some cherry blossoms flying in the wind. We have a few cherry blossom trees lining the streets inside the castle walls. Whenever I see them, I can’t help but start thinking about Obito.

It's been about 10 years since I've last seen him.

He was my closest friend, my confidante, my partner in crime. I could talk to him about anything and he would listen. We connected because of similar problems. No one really understood us. Not our families, not our fellow villagers, and then not even our sword masters. But that was all ok, because we had each other. 

And before I knew it, our friendship grew into something more. Obito became, not only the most important person to me in my life, but the one person I wanted to stay with forever. A lot of people call this type of person the love of their life, that’s what Obito was to me. I truly believed that we would stay together. 

That was until I got recruited by the capital.

I still vividly remember that day. I open the letter and I see the summons by the capital. The feeling of excitement and elation filling my body. Finally, I’ve achieved what I wanted. The goal my family has set for me was accomplished. All that hard work, training with the sword, day in and day out has paid off. I couldn't wait to tell Obito. 

I thought it would make him happy. I thought he would be impressed with my achievement. But instead it just seemed to make him drift farther and farther away. He stopped meeting me at our spot under the Sakura Blossom tree outside our village. And it seemed like he was avoiding me altogether. When it came time to leave the village and go to the capital, I waited for him at our spot. But of course, he never came. 

That hurt more than anything. I watched him become a cold stranger, something I never thought would happen. I wonder if he ever thinks of me...

I look away from the windows and look straight ahead. We’re almost near the gardens. I need to stop thinking about such sad thoughts. I have an important job in the castle now and I have to be on perfect alert for the Emperor’s sake. I push Obito deep into the back of my mind, hoping that the thoughts of him won’t resurface. 

I’ve been at the capital for about 10 years. It was a difficult time at first. I was younger than most of the recruits being called to the capital. And most of the new recruits came from within the city or in areas nearby. I was the only one who came from a faraway village in the middle of the mountains. 

I didn’t let that bother me though. I had to succeed. 

I started as a soldier, training to fight on the front lines for the empire. But I quickly rose through the ranks and made captain within two years. I was in charge of a small group of fighters, and we quietly dispatched groups of rebels close to the capital. It was a long difficult process, but necessary to ensure the empire's survival. 

I created a lot of enemies, and it was even harder to avoid random attacks when I was outside the capital's walls, since the enemy groups knew my face. And my name, Kakashi Hatake, was traveling around as well. It was soon after that Minato Namikaze became emperor. 

Which worked out great for me. He noticed my skill and hardships of trying to protect myself, so he asked me to be his personal bodyguard. I leaped at the opportunity. I would have the most important job in the empire and I also saw it as a chance to change my life, forgo my previous identity and start anew. So 'Kakashi Hatake' became a ghost and I started wearing a mask. Only the emperor and a few high ranking palace guards know who I am. 

Of course, being the emperor's bodyguard doesn't give you complete anonymity. Naturally, the people of the capital were curious of me, of the person who was chosen to be the emperor's bodyguard. And it's rather silly, but I quickly became somewhat of a celebrity because of my mysterious mask and important position. I guess popularity follows me everywhere.

Although it has been quite hard. Even with all the fame and popularity being known as “Hound” I’ve never felt lonelier. The older men that work for the capital always glare at me in the hallways, I can hear them talk shit about me too when I walk by. They’re probably just jealous that I’m the emperor’s bodyguard, but still. I didn’t know that the people here would be so immature. 

And then there’s the fact that I literally have no friends here. Everybody hates me and the only friend I’ve ever made here at the castle moved away shortly after we became friends. I haven’t felt the warmth of friendship since…

I shake my head and look forward, I need to stay focused. The guard leads me into a cute little sunroom and instructs me to sit down. 

“The emperor will meet with you shortly.” I yawn and sit down. I really want to get back to reading my book. The guard sighs and then walks out of the garden room. I pick up my book and continue reading it. The characters end up accidentally kissing at the end of the chapter. Ha, it reminds me of a specific memory that happened years back. 

It was a really warm and beautiful day. Me and Obito had finished sparring, it had been a close match but I won of course. I was sitting on the grass eating my lunch while Obito was busy trying to perfect a move. I take a bite of my sandwich and look up.

I watch as Obito jumps in the air and twists his body to slash at the air and kick. But then he falls down on his face and lands with his ass in the air. I shake my head and try to hide a laugh. 

Damn, that idiot is still trying to perfect that move? I literally just taught him it like a month ago. I continue watching as he does the move again. And this time, it looks like he does the move correctly. Wow, I didn't expect that.

He shouts excitedly and then starts dashing wildly towards me. Obito ends up tripping on a hidden tree root and lands right on top of me, our faces and lips only inches apart. 

I stare into his sparkling eyes and listen to the rhythm of his breathing. 

“S-Sorry.” He stutters as he awkwardly gets off of me. He sits down next to me and buries his face in his armor, clearly embarrassed. I cover my mouth, hiding a small giggle, noting how adorable he looked. 

Looking back on the memory, that would of been the perfect time for us to share our first kiss. Of course Obito probably didn’t have feelings for me but still. I just wish I had pulled him close when he was on top of me so that I could’ve tasted the warmth of his lips. 

Okay now I’m just getting carried away. Thoughts like that are definitely not appropriate in front of the emperor. Speaking of which, here he comes…

I stand up and make a deep bow as Emperor Namikaze enters the garden. "Your Highness, I trust you found your way here with no trouble." I say politely. 

Minato does a short friendly bow of his head, acknowledging my greeting. "Yes 'Hound', I found my way here quite easily. Everything always seems to be going well in the palace, thanks to the lovely staff and fine soldiers protecting the city." He then flashes me a knowing smile, "I'm not sure why you ever chose to disappear and hide your face. At least a few of my close circle of guards know who you are."

I nod my head, "Well of course. I chose the men that I can trust. I wouldn't want anyone hanging around in close quarters with the emperor, if I couldn't trust them and if they couldn't trust me."

"Well, I appreciate that. I'm happy to have chosen you to be my personal bodyguard… 'Captain'," he says with a regal yet personable manner.

I nod my head politely once more. 

"So," he commands, all back to business. "I trust that the preparations for my theatre outing are complete?"

"Yes, your Highness. We have some of our well trained soldiers patrolling the front gates and we have our best guards surrounding the theatre. There hasn't been a lot of insurrection outside the walls in a while, but tonight is a special occasion. We can't take any chances." I look up at him and add, almost on a second thought, "Oh and Happy Birthday, your highness." 

He looks at me with an amused smile, "Why thank you, 'Hound'."

“My pleasure your highness.” I respond automatically. He then smiles once more and then glances at the clock that’s on the wall. 

“Well I guess it’s already time for you to escort me to the theatre, I apologize for arriving late.” 

“Oh no worries.” I say as I go to hold the door open for the emperor. He elegantly strides out of the room and I check my mask, tightening the laces holding it in place around my head, before following him. It’s actually a short walk to the theatre, we arrive within minutes. The crowd cheers and bows respectfully as the emperor passes through the heavily guarded entrance. 

A pack of young boys crowd me, asking for my signature. I politely turn them away, and jog to catch up with the emperor. Once inside the theatre, the emperor goes straight to his designated spot and I go to mine, which is directly behind the emperor’s. It’s set up that way so that I can defend him from any attacks from behind, and so I can scan the whole area around him too. 

I scan the audience, memorizing all the different masks and costumes. I then lock eyes with an audience member. They have a very rare and unique mask on, in fact I’ve never seen the kabuki mask before. It looks like a shiny jet black material… and in the face shape of a cat? The eyes of the mask are narrowed into slits, and they are outlined with a dark bloody red. Interesting...

Also, it seems like the person wearing the mask is watching me intently. I simply nod my head at the person and they nod back politely. Then I look away, a small gesture of apology, since staring is found to be quite rude. 

The lights go dim and the music starts playing as the performers enter the stage...

_______

A/N: Sup guys! Looks like everything is set in place for a dramatic reunion for our secret lovebirds. I wonder what will happen... XD

As always, leave comments and such. And be sure to give your love to Razor_the_ninja as well since this is our collab baby. :3