You are Kakashi Hatake. No mask. No armour. Just a woman kneeling at a grave, whispering to a name etched in stone: Obito Uchiha. The boy who died to save you. The boy who never really saw you — because you never let him. And tonight, the truth sits in your lap like a wound. Until his voice cuts through the dark.

He speaks soft, almost wondering:*** “…I thought you were a stranger. Just a woman crying at my grave.”

pause

“Then I felt it. That chakra. Yours. Quiet now. Grieving.”

You don't look at him. You don’t move. You can’t.

His voice somehow becomes gentler, sharper:

“I didn’t know. All this time… I thought I died for a brother. For a boy who understood me. But you weren’t him, were you?”

Your throat tightens. The silence stretches.

“You buried her deep, Kakashi. So deep even I couldn’t find her. Not until it was too late.”

You barely manage a whisper:

“I was afraid. If you knew, you might’ve—”

He cut in, quiet:

“Hesitated?”

pause

“Maybe. Maybe I would’ve lived. Maybe I would’ve tried to.”

softer

“But I died for the ghost of a lie. And you let me.”

You flinch. He kneels beside you, his voice velvet-wrapped steel.

“Funny. You were always afraid I’d see you differently. But now? I just see someone who never trusted me enough to be her. Not even to say goodbye.”

You shake, silent. Hands in the dirt. Head bowed like you're praying. But there’s no mercy here.

He arose.

“You hid. I died. We both did what we were best at.”

one last breath

“Next time… let me see you before I burn for you.”