10!
10. an adventure. hey there anon & other anon (or same anon twice, who can tell?) sorry i'm so late!
You stare at the map in your hands, squinting as you attempt to decipher the scrawled writing. It's almost too dark to make out the lettering, the strange back road you find yourself on woefully unlit by streetlamps.
You grumble as you lament not bringing a flashlight. You could use your phone, of course, but the battery is almost dead and something tells you you might need it later.
The snap of a twig somewhere to your left only reinforces this suspicion.
You don't jump, exactly, at the sound, but every muscle in your body suddenly tenses, ready to spring away from whatever predator is clearly waiting for you just beyond the edges of your vision. Your eyes roll skyward, trying to calculate how much time remains before the last smear of daylight falls beyond the horizon.
You're going to kill Kakashi when you find him. If you find him.
You strike out in the direction you think the map tells you to, though at this point you're really just fumbling through the least brambly trail you can find. The forests around your hometown of Konoha are thick, many of the trails overgrown after years of disuse. Your only saving grace is that it's autumn, and so the canopy above isn't thick enough to blot out the sky.
Not that navigating by starlight is going to do you much good, in all likelihood.
You pull your phone from your jacket to check the time--later than you thought, of course--and see how much battery you have left--just over twenty-percent. You dim the screen and shove it reluctantly back in your pocket.
You should have realized asking Kakashi Hatake of all people to come up with an "adventurous" date might come with some pitfalls. The man was strange at best; totally incomprehensible to move people.
What you assumed would lead to a an evening at an escape room or an nighttime bike ride through the Konoha University campus racing to the city library before it closed had turned into a spooky hike through the woods at dusk. Alone.
What kind of a date entailed you spending the whole evening by yourself?!
Kakashi texted you late in the afternoon--you refused to admit what a dopey, dumb smile spread across your face every time his name appeared on your phone's screen--and you'd eagerly opened the missive while you were still at work, excited to see what he had planned.
You had definitely not expected instructions to open a plain manilla envelope already--somehow, mysteriously--waiting on your desk. And you had definitely, definitely not expected the envelope to contain a hand-scribbled map and a note that said, "See you at 8!" followed by the henohenomoheji Kakashi often signed in place of his name.
You swear as your foot catches on another tree root--when you dressed for work this morning, you hadn't anticipated an evening hike in your future, so your footwear is less than ideal. Your phone indicated you were already half and hour late to your date and your stomach rumbles, desperate for food.
It's now just dark enough that another snapped twig nearby makes your heart race, the coo of a bird in a nearby tree sets your teeth on edge.
Then, you hear footsteps.
Not of a human. At this point, you'd welcome the appearance of a serial killer just for some company. No, the footfalls you detect are distinctly four-legged, distinctly running, and distinctly headed in your direction.
You panic, spinning to try and evade whatever creature is currently lumbering its way toward you through the undergrowth. Immediately, a stinging sensation wraps itself around your ankle and shoots up your leg as you help, falling down the forest floor with a sprain. You attempt to scramble upright only to fall unceremoniously onto your rump, bruising your tailbone. The animal you were attempting to escape is so close you can hear it breathing. You throw your hands up, in some vain attempt to save yourself from the violent onslaught of...
A big, wet, warm nose.
You open your eyes, which had squeezed themselves close against your imminent demise only moments earlier. And though it's too dark to see much of anything, you detect the outline of something vaguely canine.
"Uh..."
The dog before you huffs a woof so deep it makes the ground beneath you tremble, and then it licks your outstretched hands eagerly.
Despite your circumstances--twisted ankle, bruised ass, covered in dirt and leaves--you laugh. Clearly, your surroundings have gotten to you because there is nothing to be feared in these woods. At least not at the moment.
Your attention is soon pulled away by the sound of yet more approaching footsteps and the shine of a lantern. You sigh in relief as Kakashi comes into view, concern painted on every inch of his face. When the lantern light falls up on you and your canine companion, you find yourself face-to-face with an oversized bulldog, his lower teeth jutting out from between his slobbery lips.
"There you are," Kakashi says, clearly relieved, "I was getting worried."
You straighten your posture a little, but make no attempt to stand, sparing the briefest glimpse at your throbbing ankle to see it's already begun to swell.
"So you sent your largest, most-terrifying-in-the-dark dog to come find me?"
Kakashi chuckles, squatting down so he's eye level with you. Bull licks the side of his master's face.
"It appears that way, yes," Kakashi says, before scratching Bull behind the ears and assuring him, "Good boy."
Bull huffs, delighted.
When Kakashi straightens, he holds his hand out to you and you wince, not taking it. His head tilts to one side, a silent question.
"I think I sprained my ankle."
In the lantern light, his face turns pale as any ghost and you know you're going to have to spend the rest of the night assuring Kakashi he isn't to blame. You've never met anyone so easily guilt-stricken in your life.
It doesn't take long for Kakashi to pull you onto his back, hooking your legs carefully over his forearms after handing you the lantern so you can hold it aloft for him as he trudges through the woods with you in tow.
"I'm sorry," he says for the dozenth time, "I totally spaced on choosing something adventurous for us to do today and I panicked."
You chuckle, enjoying the warmth of Kakashi's back pressed to your chest, the smell of his hair as it tickles your nose.
"It's fine, Kakashi, I promise. It just turns out I'm not a great navigator."
An understatement, certainly, and one that earns you the barest chuckle from your companion. "I'll keep that in mind for next time."
Of course, as he walks, Kakashi tells you why he chose this particularly difficult route. It turns out this is a hike he and his late father used to take often when Kakashi was a kid, before Sakumo died. The sentimentality of it sends a stinging sensation through your whole body far worse than any sprain.
Your apology for not being able to follow his map more accurately is met with a soft admonishment.
You both agree it's no one's fault Kakashi's plan didn't work out quite as intended.
In the end, though, when he steps out into the clearing that was your apparently destination--you'll have to scrutinize the map tomorrow once you have access to daylight and Google--nothing else matters.
Because Kakashi has brought with him your favorite takeout so the two of you can dine under the stars, and his pack of unruly rescue dogs all but bowl you over when he sets you gingerly on the grass.
You lean over to kiss his cheek before you sit, "What a beautiful spot."
He hums, but even in the dark you can see the way his cheeks dust pink.
You spend the rest of the evening ravenously devouring your food while Kakashi tells you stories about his father and all their adventures together. He refuses to entertain the idea of you walking yourself out of the woods, and so you spend the hike back pressed against his back again, holding the lantern aloft so he can avoid your same fate.
Watching Bull carry Kakashi's backpack the whole way is one of the funniest and most endearing things you've ever witnessed.
Dating Kakashi might not be exactly what you expected it would be, but it certainly is an adventure. The best kind.
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