Author's note: Thank you everyone for finishing this story, reviewing it, and liking it. I had started Ai wa Moumoku over three years ago with the ending in mind. The idea for the fanfiction came when I was reading chapter 177 of Naruto ( which is referenced in the end of this epilogue (by Musashi Kishimoto) ), and I wanted to explore a fanfiction for Kakashi's comment. It is amazing how a couple pages of a manga can spur a whole fanfiction-but I'm happy it did, and I am happy that this fanfiction was able to come full circle with the actual Manga. I never wanted to change anything crazy in the world of Naruto, so I hope I succeeded. Sorry she had to die!

Thank you so much again for all your support. You are all amazing!

Epilogue

The light shown through the blinds in Kakashi's apartment once again, waking the occupant inside. Pakkun yawned from his place on the couch and watched as his master got up from his bed to start his usual morning ritual. Pakkun watched as he walked over to the kitchen slowly, still trying to wake up, and poured the dog his breakfast. Happily running over to the bowl, Pakkun gave his owner a smile.

In the corner of his eyes he watched as Kakashi got dressed, looked over the schedule for today, and watered the plant, Mr. Ukki, over his bed. Putting his favorite book, Icha Icha Paradaisu in his pocket, Pakkun wagged his tail as he gave him a pat on the head and left the apartment to make his usual rounds to the memorial before starting his day.

It had been like this every day for the past seven years—ever since Akane died. Pakkun had to admit, for the first couple years he couldn't get over the loss of his owner. He had known only her for most of his life. Every day, he would expect it all to be a joke—for her to walk through the door and yell at Kakashi for making messes or reading his filthy books. He missed the smell of her bad cooking, and the crooked smile she would give him when she fed him his food in the morning. In fact, he still couldn't get over the fact that she was never coming back.

After she passed, he was given to Kakashi who was to be his new owner. While he loved Kakashi, he still missed the time the three of them had together—no matter how little. But most of all, he missed his family.

Kakashi had bought him some companions, of course, and had taught them all to work together in battle—but it didn't replace Akane. He had a feeling that Kakashi knew this, but neither one ever really talked about it. Pakkun and his master knew that mentioning her hurt them both too much, and so they just didn't do it. But he had to admit he missed talking or even thinking about his original owner.

By talking about her, Pakkun felt like she was still somehow alive.

He missed that.

Gai walked down the streets of Konoha with his green jumpsuit clad shadow—Lee. Today, they were going to train at the training grounds on the outskirts of Konoha. It was a beautiful day to do it—sunny and warm—and he knew that Lee wanted to improve his Taijutsu mastery. He had never been happier that he had decided to wait to become a sensei so that he could train Lee. The boy was like a son to him—and he had a fighting spirit that he hadn't seen since his time at the academy.

As they were walking, however, his student stopped him.

"Look, Kakashi-sensei!" Lee exclaimed, pointing at the man a distance away, "You should go challenge him! I love to watch your challenged, Gai-sensei!"

Gai's dark eyes looked over to where his eternal rival was standing—at the memorial for fallen Shinobi. Gai closed his eyes for a moment knowing why he stood there each day—his rival had lost so many over his years as a Shinobi. His devotions to his team mates, to the one he loved, was never ending. Gai knew that Kakashi never had gotten over their losses—and he knew that it was only until recently that he had returned to semi-normalcy.

As the two kept walking, Gai couldn't help but remember that day all those years ago. He could remember the day after Kakashi had gotten back from his mission and how there were so many harsh whispers about how he breached the code. People were outraged that he did not leave the fallen Shinobi behind—that he didn't leave Akane behind. He was compared to his father—a disgraced ninja who put the mission in jeopardy for another.

But Gai was happy he did.

Gai knew that Akane would have wanted to be brought home to where she was so loved. He knew that she would have wanted to return to Konoha where she grew up, where her friends were, and where she fell in love. Where Kakashi won the only competition between them that ever really mattered.

His eyes traveled passed the cemetery as they walked closer to the training grounds. Gai could remember the day of the funeral they held for her; he could remember how rainy and cold it was that day, and how throughout the entire service Kakashi had tears streaking down his eyes—mixing with the frigid rain.

Gai could remember how bad his chest hurt—how much he missed her, too. He could remember crying when Kakashi had told him the news…he could remember the hysterical faces of her sister and mother who never got to say goodbye to her. He could remember how he felt that he never got a chance to tell her goodbye—how he never got a chance to tell her how happy he was that she was in his life. How she made him a better ninja and friend.

The green suited ninja sighed as he remembered the impact she had on Kakashi. He remembered how his friend refused to go on any mission for months—and how he just sat at her grave, talking to her, telling her he was sorry for everything. It wasn't long before everyone started to put the pieces of the puzzle together and realized that what Kakashi had with Akane was more than friendship—that he loved her.

Gai fished through his memories as he remembered the day he finally approached his friend, silent, before her grave. He could remember how relieved he felt when he told Kakashi that he loved Akane, too—but that he was happy that he was the one she loved back. He could remember how Kakashi just nodded and thanked him, and that he was sorry he couldn't protect her—just like Rin.

Finally reaching the training grounds, he saw his student smile at him—a ferocity in his eyes to succeed that reminded him so much of Akane. He was happy that he was able to teach Lee, who needed to learn to succeed with his own disabilities just like the woman he once loved. Gai knew that Lee would certainly succeed and never give up and he knew he would become a splendid ninja one day.

Just like Akane.

Kakashi walked down the streets of Konoha with his favorite book in his hand. He always felt a little better after visiting the memorial in the mornings—even if it meant that he would be late to training with his Genin team. Over the past few years, he had gone through a lot of teams—but none of them showed the amount of teamwork he was looking for—what was most important on a ninja team.

Laughing to himself, he was almost positive that the team he had now did not really meet his expectations—but he needed to keep the promise that he had with Minato. Finally, Naruto had graduated the academy—dead last he might add—and was under his tutelage. Kakashi noticed that Naruto shared the same drive to be great, just like Minato had, but the personality of Kushina—which, Kakashi had to admit, was taxing at times.

Looking down at the book again he couldn't help but think of her. Even if he had read the book a thousand times, he couldn't let it go. In his mind, he always had the image of her—sitting at Ichiraku on his birthday—giving it to him with a smile on her face, so happy that she had picked it out herself. To him, it was one of the small things he had left of her to bring with him.

But she was not gone from his life. While he had to admit he didn't like talking about her to anyone, to himself—he thought about her a lot. He kept the dying plant above his bed, on the window sill, even though he hated it. Getting rid of Mr. Ukki, as they had named him, was like getting rid of a piece of her—making her death all the more final. For every test he had given to test his Genin, he used the small bells off of the silk bookmark he had been given. Only one team ever managed to capture his precious treasure from him, and that was the team he had now.

Of course, he also had Pakkun. He could remember the dark months he spent alone in his apartment with the seeing eye dog she left behind for him, and how her death only brought them closer—more like friends, than owner and master. He could remember all the times Pakkun saved his neck in battle—as if Akane was still looking after him through the gift of her dog—keeping her word.

Kakashi sighed as the thought crossed him. She seemed to still be protecting him, when he couldn't even protect her. All too often, the memories of that night—that sudden night—haunted him. He tried to think of any possible way he could have saved her—how he should have noticed that the man he threw to her was not done—but when he thought like that, it made him sick. Kakashi wished a thousand times that he could go back to that night and that it would be him, instead of her, that died—but he knew that would never happen.

Since she died, he only found himself becoming a better ninja—even though he had quit the ANBU after the incident. He found himself becoming known around the world as "Copy Ninja Kakashi"-a ninja that was seemingly unafraid to die. Now, he was the sensei to some of the most promising Genin in Konoha, and he couldn't be prouder.

Closing his book, he thought back to Akane. He had never found another girl like her, he had never even considered dating, since her death. To him, there was no one that could ever replace her. No one could ever give him the crooked smile he loved, or make his heart race with every word they said. No Kunoichi he had ever met lived up to the determination and power that Akane had. None of them showed the strength and love she had towards her friends.

He knew that he would always love her—and that he would be thankful each day that she had given him the best few years of his life a man could ever have. That she could show him a love that few would ever experience in their entire lives…

He would always love her for that.

"Sasuke, quit seeking revenge." Kakashi muttered, pulling the chords tighter around the boy, "In this line of work, I've seen just how bad guys like you can get. In the end, those who tasted revenge were not satisfied-it ended in tragedy. You will only suffer more, even if you are successful."

Kakashi watched as the boys faced crunched up in anger. He hated the fact that Sasuke was so bent on destroying his brother. It was sad that the boy who had so much potential to do good, was trapped in his own ball of self destruction.

"What the hell do you know?" Sasuke screamed back, "Don't talk to me like you understand!"

The white haired man was shocked as the boy screamed at him. He certainly understood what he was going through. Seven years ago, he had never wanted revenge more in his life—he wanted to kill those involved so badly—all the ANBU on his team that night for not doing a better job, all of Kirigakure for breeding those rogue ninjas, even the Hokage for not fact checking. But he came to realize that his revenge would only lead him down the same road Sasuke was heading—the only difference between him and Sasuke was when the unimaginable happened to him, he was old enough to realize all of that.

"Hey…calm down…" he said sternly.

"What if I were to…kill the one you loved most?" Sasuke offered, his eyes glowing in satisfaction, "How far would you stray from what you just said? I can make you feel true pain!"

Kakashi looked down at his student who still had so much to learn. Little did the boy know, but his threats were meaningless. Little did the boy know how much pain he had faced over the years, how painful true pain actually hurt. How the pain of losing the one you loved most can change a person, can change a life. If Sasuke really knew that pain, Kakashi was sure, he would not make such silly threats.

"That would work…however," Kakashi began in a whisper, "Unfortunately for me, no such person exists."

Sasuke looked on in disbelief as his sensei just gave him a smile.

"Those people have already been killed."

Please Review! Thank you all for reading this fanfiction! どうもありがとうございます！