Love Song

Chapter 16: Epilogue.

-Konoha 5 Years Later-

Hanare woke up in the bed and reached out her hand to find an empty bed next to her. Her face scrunched up in confusion as she slowly opened her eyes to see an empty side of the bed. Groaning she pushed herself up and looked around for Kakashi. There was no sound of a shower but he did see a note next to the bed. Seeing the time she had slept in a few hours, not surprising she had been pushing herself lately getting rid of a lot of work that had piled up recently. The note pretty much told her that breakfast was ready although she hoped it wasn't too cold.

Pushing the covers away she got up and did her morning routine and went into the kitchen. The apartment was not the same one that she had moved into with Kakashi that had been destroyed in Pain's attack. Hanare looked around the new place, it had become their home for a few years now and there were little touches of both her and Kakashi around.

They had argued over the wallpaper and things had been tense but in the end they compromised on a nice light blue. Items that had gathered over the years were also over the place. It was bigger as well, a few extra rooms one which she had some plans that she wanted to talk to about with Kakashi today. She yawned as she found her breakfast still warm enough to eat as she tidied up the place a bit. She found her shelf with various pictures on it. Some were giving her happy memories others reminding her of the not so good memories as well.

One in a large frame was her and Kakashi at their wedding two years ago. She felt the gold ring on her finger and smiled. He had been more nervous than she had been. Gai as best man and she had chosen Anko as her maid of honor. There were also others in the picture but it had been a great day all around. She saw fellow friends in a few pictures but she saw one that made her a bit sad.

It was one that had been taken after the war with those of Konoha that had survived. She still felt a small scar she had from those battles which was better than most, a lot of people had died. Like poor Asuma a few months before the war. Her mind went to the day she heard the news, she had gone straight to Kurenai since the two had finally gotten together. Although in public Kurenai put on a brave face, when she was alone with Anko or Hanare that was when the strong woman finally broke down in tears.

She was better now as she was raising her child with the help of Asuma's family and his students with help from her friends as well. The young boy was nearly old enough to start going to the academy in a few years. She saw a picture of herself, Kurenai and Anko together on a 'girls only' night a few years back. Hanare was so thankful that her friends had survived, Anko had nearly been killed in the war thanks to Kabuto. Thankfully the army had found her and rescued her.

Hanare had enough of remembering when she left her home to go see her husband. She had the day off anyway but she couldn't put this off anymore she wanted to talk to him about something serious. She walked through the village, by now she was used to the new structures and streets. The entire village had been redesigned from the ground up basically. She still felt like this was her home though, she still loved the village with all her heart because it wasn't a building that made a home, it was the people in it.

While on her way to the new Hokage tower she came across three chunin under her command.

"Good afternoon Hatake-taicho," the three said as one bowing slightly to her.

That had been something she had gotten used to as well, being called Hatake after her marriage not that she minded. She loved the fact that she shared Kakashi's name these days. "I'm off duty you three so you can call me Hanare."

"Sorry ma'am it's just we're used to it," One of them said slightly embarrassed.

She only smiled gently at them, over the years she had moved up in the village. Now she was a captain and second in command to Konoha's intelligence agency. She was now in charge of the spies of the village, going through reports and helping with training of new operatives. She didn't mind the desk job these days as she wanted to slow down with her career.

She talked a bit with her three junior members as she made her way up to the Hokage's door. She knocked and heard a familiar voice telling her to come in. She opened it up and smiled at the sight before her.

"Hokage-sama you should really look over these reports, they're due by the end of the day," Shizune told the Hokage. She was still the assistant to the hokage's office mainly because she was just so good at it.

"Okay-okay I'll do them as soon as I finish signing these papers," Kakashi sighed.

Yes there he was, the Sixth Hokage was none other than Kakashi Hatake. Sitting at the desk in white robes and now a matching white mask, the hat hanging by a hook on the wall, he had only been in office for a year as Tsunade had finally decided to retire. She was still active but only now she was teaching new medics and light hospital duty when they had serious cases. So Kakashi was asked to take up the mantel or as he liked to put it 'keeping the seat warm for the one that should be here'.

Hanare knew that Kakashi planned on giving the title to Naruto in a few years. Kakashi wasn't much for desk work but the village needed him and Naruto needed more leadership experience. This was why at this moment Kakashi had given Naruto his own genin team to help teach the young man the lessons that you can only get from experience. Hanare had met the students they were a good bunch and seemed in awe that the 'great hero' Naruto was their teacher.

Naruto had been given a war promotion to chunin after the war and soon after started his training to become a full jonin two years ago. Now he was so close to realizing his dream of being Hokage and Hanare and everyone else in the village was looking forward to it. Looking at her husband as he struggled with the paperwork she thought that he most of all was looking forward to the day he could hand over all the responsibilities to Naruto.

Kakashi noticed her presence by this point and looked up relieved. "Ah my beautiful wife is here to save me from all this."

Hanare only smiled at him, "sorry but no. I just came to see if you had a free moment."

"For you always."

Shizune scowled at him as he noticed her look. Hanare noticed it as well as she turned to face the woman. "Don't worry I'll make sure he gets back to work."

Shizune seemed to relax at that, "Thanks I think you should have this job some days as you're the only one other than me that can get him to work."

Hanare laughed at that seeing her husband roll her eyes at that comment. Over the years Hanare had gotten to know Shizune and counted her among one of her close friends. She also noticed that the other woman was looking at the clock.

"Are you late for something?" Hanare asked.

"Oh, well I was just meeting someone soon is all," Shizune had a slight blush on her cheeks as Hanare had an idea of what it was about.

"Go on I can handle him for you," Hanare told her as Shizune thanked her and started to leave. Hanare waited just until she was at the door before speaking again. "Give my best to Genma when you see him."

Shizune jumped and turned blushing even more now. "W-what makes you say it's Genma?"

Hanare just smiled knowingly letting the other woman escape without saying another word. Her reaction was all that needed to be said.

"So her and Genma huh, when did that start?" Kakashi asked his wife picking up on what Hanare was up to with her questioning Shizune.

"They've been dancing around it for awhile but I think they're starting to finally date." Hanare was pleased at this result.

"Oy, seems like everyone is paired up these days," Kakashi shook his head finishing the last of the sheets that needed his signature. "How long have Anko and Yamato been together?"

Hanare thought about it, "I think a few months after the war."

Kakashi nodded his head as that seemed right. That had been a surprising turn of events when it happened but looking back on it, it did make sense. The two of them had been recovering together in the hospital for a couple of weeks by each other's beds. They had gone into talking and somehow slowly hit it off. Kakashi believed that their shared history with Orochimaru and also what happened to them during the war. Both had been used by the enemy to enhance the ranks of that army and that army had killed and harmed a lot of their fellow ninja.

That shared pain and suffering had bonded the two of them, plus Kakashi was amused by how bashful Anko could make him in public. Even Gai of all people had found someone apparently, she was from Mist village apparently and had meet after the war cleanup. He hadn't met her but apparently she was very into physical training as Gai was.

"Any other surprises I should know about?" Kakashi joked.

"Did you know that Sakura-chan is moving in with Naruto-kun in a few days?" She asked him.

He stopped suddenly and then looked up at her in gleeful surprise. "Oh really? Well it's about time they got serious. They've been dating for awhile now so it was nice to see them getting closer. There was a time that he thought both his students were going to stay depressed after the war. Kakashi's mood sunk low as he thought of his other student the one he felt that he had failed. Sasuke's story had never been a happy one, so it was no wonder if hadn't ended well either. Still, even years later he felt that he could have done better by his student. Maybe he could have prevented all that from happening if he could have, even though Naruto did bring back Sasuke, the boy's injuries had been too great.

At least in the end, he had seen Madara for what he was and had tried to help. Maybe it was the only way that Sasuke could found atonement. But now there were no more Uchiha in the world, the clan was dead now and only he had the only Sharingan left and when Kakashi died the legacy of the Uchiha bloodline would never been seen again in this world.

He felt Hanare's gentle touch on his cheek as she looked at him with concern. "You really should stop blaming yourself for Sasuke."

"I was his teacher and his leader, I should have seen the signs but then things got so busy that I overlooked them." He told her sadly. That had been his greatest failure in his life and would be a regret that he knew he would take with him until the grave.

She sat in his lap holding him close knowing the pain that Sasuke brought to him.

"So is there any reason why you surprised me at work?" Kakashi asked trying to move away from the depressing topic. "I would think you would have slept in a bit more or taken it easy on your day off."

"Well the truth is, there is something that I've been meaning to talk to you about," Hanare felt nervous about bringing it up but lately she really wanted this. She felt she was ready and given their lives at the moment it was the perfect chance to do it.

"Oh? What's that?"

Hanare took a breath, "Well given that we're both in a stable jobs where we don't go outside of the village all that much and that it's relatively peaceful since the war...I thought that maybe it was time, time to start a family of our own."

Kakashi's single exposed eye widened a bit. "Are you saying that..."

She nodded her head. "I want a baby, I want to start a family with you. I want to know all the joys and pains of being a parent."

Kakashi was at a loss for words, sure he had thought about it from time to time but he never really gave it much thought. Looking into her hopeful eyes made him think on it again. He was over thirty now and it wasn't like he was getting any younger. By the time the child would be a teenager he would be middle aged he figured. It was also the best time given that as Hokage and her in her role they both could easily be in the village.

The more he thought about it the more he started to like the idea of coming home to see either a little boy or girl there with Hanare. Plus who was to say they should have only one? But that was a talk for another day after all. Looking back at his wife he couldn't say no to her, as she really looked like she wanted this.

He smiled and nodded his head. "I think that's a good idea."

She beamed with joy as she pulled down his mask and kissed him deeply as his arms wrapped around her waist pulling her towards him. He could finish the reports later, he suddenly had something a bit more important in his lap to worry about. Kakashi was starting to wonder if they should start right here, wouldn't be the first time as his perverted mind remembered that day. Unfortunately he only now was noticing the familiar loud voices just outside his door.

"Don't go barging in there, he might be busy!" a female voice yelled out.

"He'll see me don't worry about it," a male's voice replied as the door was quickly opened as two young adults came in. Naruto and Sakura hadn't changed much in the years, Naruto still wore his clothing from his time with Jiraiya only now he liked to wear the combat jacket he got when he became a chunin. Sakura's look hadn't changed much, although she was keeping her hair a few inches longer these days.

"Kakashi-sensei! I wanted to talk to you about..." Naruto started up but froze at the sight. He suddenly pointed at the two married couple and for a moment Kakashi was wondering if he was going to make some comment on doing things like that at work. Well the comment he did make wasn't that.

"Kakashi-sensei's face! Finally I see it!" Naruto yelled out as Sakura stared wide eyed with a slight blush on her cheeks.

"Oops," Hanare said placing her hand over her mouth.

Kakashi sighed a bit irritated, he just knew that Naruto was going to brag about this to the entire village, some things just never changed. "Naruto there better be a good reason for this." He said pulling up his mask.

Naruto grinned with glee as he looked to start making comments about finally, after all these years of trying had finally seen his face, and it had been completely by accident! Oh he already had a joke about his teacher getting dull with age about this.

Kakashi beat him to it, "And if you say anything about why you're not here for, it's a year of nothing but D-rank missions."

Naruto slumped looking disappointed, those missions were bad enough as a kid but with three kids of his own that he looked after on his team, well he really didn't want to hear three genins complain for a full year especially if they found out it was all his fault that they were doing it. Sometimes Kakashi really didn't like to play fair.

"See I told you that you should have made an appointment," Sakura told her sternly. Honestly after all these years she still had look after him and try to keep him out of trouble.

"Well I wanted to talk to you about the chunin exams, I think my team is ready for them." Naruto told the Hokage. "And you can bet that they'll blow the competition away!"

Kakashi chuckled at his enthusiasm, he still remembered when he was just a very loud young boy with big dreams and a never say die attitude.

Hanare got up off her husband as she straightened her dress. "Well I'll leave you to this then, and please remember to finish those reports for Shizune."

"Going already?" Kakashi asked.

She gave him a secret smile, "I'm going to get ready for tonight, after all we should start away. So remember to finish all your work so you can get home early." She gave him a wink as she walked off saying goodbye to the other two. Both Naruto and Sakura shared a bit of a confused look between them as to what she was talking about with Kakashi.

"Okay let's hurry this up, I got a lot of work ahead of me," Kakashi said quickly and he wasn't referring to his paperwork. He was going to make sure he set a new speed record for finishing his work today and have plenty of time to spend with his lovely wife this afternoon.

THE END

Well I hope you all have enjoyed this little story, I'm glad that I got it done as I wanted at least one good Hanare/Kakashi story out on this site and one that was finished. Who knows I might do this pairing again in some fashion another day.