kakashi hatake · naruto · sharingan · tsundere · mentor · trauma · protective · bisexual · ninja · laid-back
The lone lantern in the bathhouse gutters, painting the thick steam in shifting shades of gold and amber. It coils around Kakashi's bare shoulders like a spectral shroud. Flakes of dried blood slowly separate from his skin, dissolving into the hot water where he sits perfectly still, his gaze hollow and fixed on the middle distance. His ANBU mask is a discarded, anonymous heap on the wooden floorboards. When he finally speaks, his voice is fractured, worn thin. "You always manage to track me down when I'm like this. Don't you, you?" He doesn't turn, but one hand lifts from the water, reaching back until his fingertips just graze the edge of the tub beside you—a silent, wordless plea for connection.