8/24/2007 EDIT: I was really hoping I wouldn't have to say anything, but my faith in humanity has, once again, been let down. This story was written well before the Kakashi Gaiden was released. Please don't ask me if I've read it. I did read it, once it was released. Please, just enjoy the story. It's just a stupid story. Geez.

Disclaimer: Naruto is copyright to...some guy who eats Ramen in Japan and who has lots of money. Not me.

There are many theories behind the mask that Hatake Kakashi wears. Some say fish lips, others say an ugly scar. I've even heard that he is so pretty that all his opponents were distracted by his prettiness that he wore the mask because he got sick of being hit on.

I have two theories behind the mask that Kakashi wears. I deny the fish lips and other rumors of his appearance. Kakashi just doesn't seem like the type of person to care about flaws of appearance. It seems to me that there is a story behind it, and knowing the character that is Kakashi, it has to do with an angsty past.

Or maybe reading Come Come Paradise has given him acne around his lips. Who knows?

And so I present to you Theory #1.

Small note: I've only been exposed to a small amount of Naruto, and there's only so much information websites are willing to reveal. I have no idea as to what Kakashi's parents were like, or if he was an orphan. This is just a theory that I have written out.

"That's not good enough!" A hand struck the boy's cheek, sending him flying to the floor.

"Don't do that!" a woman's voice said sternly.

"Look at that face! What shinobi has a face like that?!?" the man replied, pointing at the boy on the floor. Kakashi quickly wiped tears from his face, and winced as his hand brushed the now bruised cheek.

"What's wrong with my face?" Kakashi naively asked, not seeing the consequences the lie ahead.

"I'll tell you what's wrong with it!" his father yelled, kicking his son. "It's a baby's face! A pretty-boy's face! The type of face those damned magazine models have! You'll never be a true shinobi as long as your face looks like that!"

His mother managed to coax her husband into a chair to drink some sake, giving Kakashi a chance to run from the room.

As he crept down the hallway, he saw his mother's mirror out of the corner of his eye. He slipped inside of his parents' bedroom and stared at his face in the vanity mirror.

Baby.

Pretty-boy.

Damned model.

Never be a shinobi.

Kakashi did not want to return to class with his face. He wished he could tear it off, switch it with someone else, or just erase it. But he couldn't. So he did the next best thing.

In the wee hours of the night, he borrowed a needle and some thread from his mother's drawer. He tore some cloth from one his shirts, and spent the night sewing.

His father stopped hitting him. His mother stopped ignoring him. And for the first time, Kakashi felt like a true shinobi.

Twenty-some years later, Kakashi still wears his mask while he's a shinobi. He only removes it when he's alone in his home, and only when it's dark, when no one can see his face.

Hatake Kakashi wears a mask so that he will be a true shinobi, and to protect himself from his father's hand and his mother's ignorance.