Posted for Kakashi's birthday! Not a birthday fic, though. Gonna be some drabbles. I don't normally do them. These are all for contests. This was the first one I ever did. The theme was "Need" at the naruto_contest community on LJ. Max words 300.

Title: Differences of Opinion

Rating: T

Characters: Kakashi; slight KakaSaku

Genre: General/Humor

Warnings: Very slight sexual themes and language

Word count: 294

Everyone had theories about why Kakashi carried his book. It was a mild scandal, really; whenever the gossip mill was churning particularly slowly, people would hash out their best hypotheses, weighing the many factors that could affect this most puzzling habit. Whispers of "pervert" and "hooligan" would drift about; when the topic was at its hottest, mothers would shield the eyes of their children when his presence loomed on the far side of the street.

Kakashi never paid much attention to these people, though. After having been accused of conducting a steamy affair with Maito Gai's turtle, there wasn't much that could ruffle his feathers.

And really, every one of these idle chatters was far from the mark. Kakashi had heard it all: childhood abuse, denial of homosexuality, sexual predator, emotional mask, secret crush on Jiraiya…

No.

The reason Kakashi was constantly seen with the offensive orange book was that it was a compulsion. It wasn't something he could control anymore. The original reason was lost on him; he was sure it had something to do with adolescent curiosity, but it mattered little now. By this point, it simply didn't feel right to go without it. His hand craved the feel of the spine nestled between his middle and ring fingers; his eye ached for the familiar arrangement of ink strokes on paper. He had long since memorized the steps of its exquisite literary dance. A grand ball filled with pirouetting verbs and the occasional, heated tango of a delicious adverb sprinkled between gentle waltzes of emotion.

It was beyond habit at this point. If he couldn't feel the corner of a dirty book poking at his rear end, he couldn't function. It was a need.

Sakura thought that Kakashi was full of shit.