Quote:Kakashi ambled through the market square, enjoying the bright sunshine of late morning, the smells of fresh cooking, and the hum of humanity around him. It was the type of day that could put a smile on your face, and so he did just that. The smile was genuine, but not in the way most people understood it. He did not smile because he was happy, he smiled to be happy. It was the cause, not the effect. By smiling, his mind understood that it should be happy, and so it was.Best Kakashi. The actual fic is about the Team 7 kids getting their acts together in the Academy, though, with Sakura becoming a weapon specialist, Sasuke doing Genjutsu, and Naruto getting into Fuinjutsu... all in ways that are plausibly in character and which would have worked in canon if they had managed to drop their idiot balls for a little while.
The walk was pleasant, calming muscles and soothing the ever-present tense readiness that a decade of war and ANBU had ingrained into his body. A good night's sleep was, unfortunately, the least relaxing part of his day, and he spent many of his waking hours attempting to re-train his body away from that instinctive desire to kill.
Kakashi stopped briefly at a small shop front, smacking a child's hand away from the candy bins that he'd been reaching for while his mother's back was turned. Noticing an elderly lady with a number of shopping bags, he ensured he was in place to catch them by the time one started to slip, and then helped her carry them home. After he waved goodbye to her and made his way north, he passed through a park, pausing briefly to retrieve a kickball that had been stuck in a tree.
Each action he took, he burned into his mind: a reminder of simple, normal daily life, peace, tranquility, normality — the things he fought for, and killed for. The things he must never forget were the reasons he stepped onto the field of battle in the first place.
His own road of life had been a bumpy one, but as long as he could remind himself that it was worth it, he could keep going, and not dwell so much on the shadows of the past.
The story is called "Sonata and Fugue," currently with six chapters, and it may have been mentioned before, but bears repeating for this great character moment alone.
http://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/th ... ruto.9239/
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"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows