EDIT 2016

Appearances Can Be Deceiving

They just don't get it.

A village full of trained killers and military personnel just don't get it. People trained since an early age to see underneath the underneath... Just. Don't. Get. It.

We walk together down the main street, off duty (first time in who knows how long). We aren't holding hands. We aren't walking too close. We aren't kissing. We aren't even sideways hugging. We aren't walking with a suspicious distance between us.

Just close enough so that if he sways, his arm will brush against mine.

And that is enough.

It has to be enough.

What with our lives (constant danger and all) and our ambitions (being a good ninja for Konoha, surviving our missions), love is definitely out of the question.

Love. Marriage. Babies.

Not even worth spending time thinking over.

So we just content ourselves with walking. A way of pretending. Which is why we walk a lot.

Which is why they see us a lot. Which is why they point and whisper, "There go Asuma and Kurenai. They've been dating since forever!"

I wish it were true. But they are wrong. Because appearances can be deceiving.

Between us there is much unspoken.

What is said?

Good day, huh?

Not too hot.

Rain will be coming.

Yeah.

Good thing too.

OR...

Hinata's training going well?

Shikamaru seems more… lively than usual, too.

That cut okay?

Yeah.

Hope Kakashi is alright.

So Konoha assumes a torrid relationship when the most I have gotten is a hand on my shoulder when he checked a slight flesh wound after our battle with Itachi.

No. No one can see beneath our walks. None has truly figured out that there is nothing. Our walks symbolize a certain void.

But then... maybe not. Because appearances can be deceiving.

In the silences, there are many words unspoken as we think our separate thoughts.

And when his large brown (capable) hand brushed against my petite white one, it said, "I'm glad to be here."

And when he fought for me, he was really saying, "I'll always be here – to protect something precious."

And later on, when he smiled and sighed, "I'm so glad you – we – survived that!", I knew he meant, "I love you."

So beneath the beneath the beneath there lies a vast ocean. A deep and enduring love.

And it's our secret.

Well, to some, appearances are not deceiving.

It's rather odd to admit – but the only one who recognizes the truth is that bizarre, hentai-loving man. Copy Ninja no Kakashi.

The man who busily isolates himself on the street by reading romantic porn.

It's funny that he of all people could see. Even with one eye.

So when he said, "You guys on a date?" any type of a poke was diminished by the pity in his eye and the sarcasm in his voice.

As if he knows by heart, the pain of getting too close.

Later on that day we first met the Akatsuki, he jumped in – wasting no time – to save our sorry asses. He took a chance or rather – he didn't take a chance as Gai did.

He hadn't hesitated a second really. Not even to get backup.

I think he didn't want what wasn't there to be destroyed.

Because despite our symbol of nothingness between Asuma and I, it's always been there.

A certain somethingness.

It's love.

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