This was written for the Kakairu LJ comm ficathon. It's been a while since I've written anything (that I've actually finished).. I hope it's okay! ;
The request from mymonkeypjs: "I'd like something involving these two meeting at a festival (real or imaginary) and not recognizing each other for some reason but really hitting it off. Plus points if others (their students, other genin, or other jounin/chuunin) see them together and recognize one or both of them. Have fun with it!"
-x-
"What's Kakashi-sensei doing?"
Sakura didn't look up from where she was slouched across the restaurant table. "I don't know," she said tiredly.
"Look, look, he's talking to some girl!" Naruto said, pointing out the window above the table they were sitting at. It was amazing Kakashi didn't hear him with the way he was practically shouting and making a spectacle of himself.
"Sit down!" Sakura hissed, pulling on his arm forcefully. She cast a quick look around. "Don't draw anymore attention than you already have."
"What?" Naruto blinked. "Are you scared or something?"
"I'm trying to hide, remember?" Sakura muttered darkly, glaring at her teammate. Naruto snickered behind his hand.
"I don't think anyone'll recognize you with pink hair, Sasuke-chan."
"Shut up," said the boy in disguise, checking to make sure no one had heard his real name.
"Stop being paranoid," Naruto said. "Anyway, what do you think Kakashi-sensei is doing with that girl?"
Sasuke glanced out the window, brushing the pink hair from his Sakura henge out of his eyes. "That's not a girl, that's Iruka-sensei."
"What?!"
-x-
Across the street from the restaurant that Naruto and Sasuke (in disguise as Sakura) were in was the festival information booth. Two masked chuunin were attending the booth, handing out colorful plastic masks to the festival goers. One of them had been trying to explain to Kakashi for the past twenty minutes why he had to wear one of the festival masks even if he was already wearing his signature facemask to cover his face.
"It's the rules, sir," said the chuunin, long past the point of being flustered with the Copynin's blatant disregard for the festival's requirements.
"But I'm already wearing a mask," said Kakashi for the umpteenth time. He sighed, wondering if Asuma and Kurenai would actually believe he had a real excuse for not meeting them on time for once.
"The Hokage said everyone had to wear one of these plastic masks, no exceptions."
"Why?" Kakashi asked, picking up one of the cheap masks. It reminded him of the hunternin masks with its small eye slits and a red eclipse design across the left side of the mask. He held the mask up to his face and looked at his reflection in one of the mirrors hanging at the booth. With his silver hair sticking up like that he thought he looked like some alien plant in an Uchiha gardening pot. Eh…
"Nice mask."
"Ah?" He focused his vision through the narrow slits in the mask to look at the other man who had approached the booth and donned a mask. It had a single blue horizontal arc across the middle of the mask and didn't look all that bad framed by the man's shoulder length brown hair.
"It looks like it suits you, the mask I mean," said the man, gesturing vaguely.
"I guess…" Kakashi said doubtfully.
"Please, please, just take it," begged the chuunin behind the booth.
"Fine," said Kakashi, sounding put upon as he secured the mask's ties around his head. The other man chuckled at his tone.
"I know it feels weird to wear a mask, doesn't it?" he said.
"Oh, I'm used to it," said Kakashi, shrugging dismissively.
"Oh? Oh. So you're…?" he trailed off.
Kakashi blinked behind the mask. Did the man know who he was? How many people walked around wearing masks besides him and the ANBU – oh. "I used to be, not anymore."
"Oh…"
There was an awkward silence. Then the other man perked up and Kakashi could feel the friendly you-can't-help-but-like-me vibes he was emitting. "Do you like milkshakes?" he asked.
"Yes?"
"What flavor?" asked the other man, walking to a nearby food stand that was selling milkshakes and fruit smoothies. Kakashi found himself following closely.
"Chocolate," he said, watching the man order vanilla for himself and stretch out a tanned hand to pay for the milkshakes. He liked chocolate…
The other man handed him the milkshake, their hands brushing together ever so slightly. He watched as the other man slipped the straw under his mask and drank some of the milkshake. And for some reason he wanted to ask… "Why don't you just take the mask off?"
"That's against the rules," said the other and Kakashi was beginning to feel like a hypocrite. He continued speaking. "Didn't you hear the Hokage's rules for the festival?"
"I wasn't really paying attention…" admitted Kakashi, discretely pulling down his facemask behind the plastic one so he could drink his milkshake. Chocolate, yummy…
His companion seemed amused. "Everyone has to wear a mask during the festival and at the end of the night, when the fireworks start, you take off your mask and kiss your sweetheart," he explained.
"Sweetheart, huh?" Kakashi grinned.
"W-well," stuttered the other man and Kakashi swore he could see his blushing through the white part of the mask, "that's only if you have one. You don't have to kiss a complete stranger or anything."
"Of course not," Kakashi agreed quickly, chuckling as he imagined the other's embarrassed face. The mental picture was ruined by the fact that he didn't know who the other person really was. Hm…
-x-
"Kakashi can be late sometimes, but he would never have blown us off without a good reason," said Asuma, pushing his mask to the side so he could smoke.
"Those reservations were hard to get since it was a festival night," Kurenai complained. "And Anko was pretty upset when he didn't show."
"You shouldn't have been trying to set them up together in the first place," said Asuma, repeating his earlier advice. Besides, the thought of Kakashi and Anko together – there just wasn't enough sanity between the two of them to be a safe couple.
"But it's almost time for the fireworks and no one's supposed to be alone tonight. It ruins the point of the festival."
"Yeah, but, uh…" Asuma trailed off and stared.
Kurenai stopped and tried to follow his line of sight. "What is it? Is that… Kakashi?"
"With… Iruka?"
"Are they holding hands…?"
"…and cuddling?"
-x-
"It's almost time for the fireworks."
Kakashi tilted his head. "So does that mean we should kiss?"
"If you want to…" said the other man, and this time the blush was most definitely visible through the mask. He squeezed Kakashi's hand a little tighter.
The fireworks went off just as planned, popping loudly in the sky above. They leaned closer together, hands on their masks. Throughout the festival dozens of other couples were in similar positions, preparing to pull of their masks to kiss.
In unspoken agreement they ripped off their masks and pressed forward into a kiss. It was gentle, it was warm, it was a perfect ending to the night of soft jokes and flirting.
And then Iruka realized he was kissing someone whose lips were covered by the smooth fabric of a facemask and Kakashi brushed his fingers across the facial scar he knew only one ninja in the village to have.
Their eyes flashed open and—
-x-
"ACK! How did they find me?!"
"Nevermind, Sasuke, just run for it!" shouted Naruto.
"Sasuke, be my kiss! Sasuke, be mine!" called the fangirls as they ran after the two boys en masse.
"You two have a lot of explaining to do!!" Sakura yelled, pursuing them for a totally different reason but part of the fangirl mob all the same.
Sasuke and Naruto leapt over a cotton candy booth and –
"Oh my god, is that Kakashi-sensei and Iruka-sensei?!"
"Look out!"
"AHHHHHHH!!!!!!"