Loko: Part of the Kakashi!Fic dump. Fluff again, because Kaka-sensei needs more joy in his life. XD;

Summary: And then one day Kakashi is sitting in the sun streaming through the window of his lonely apartment, and it hits him.

Disclaimer: Kishimoto-san came up with the original idea. He's also responsible for why this can't be held as pure fluff if the context is taken into account. Alas, Kishimoto-san …

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finding springtime

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At first Kakashi has no idea what it is. Except that when Gai shows up for the first time with Lee (and Neji and Tenten trailing vaguely behind), Kakashi blinks and thinks he's seeing double.

"Meet my beloved students, my eternal rival!" Gai says, and glints as much as ever. "Lee, Neji, Tenten, this man is the Copy Ninja Kakashi, and he is my greatest rival and arch nemesis!"

"Ah," Kakashi says noncommittally, already tired from Gai's excess of punctuation. "Yo."

Gai collapses from his dramatic Nice-Guy Pose, You Are My Rival! edition, and the boy Lee helps him up, cheering something like "Gai-sensei! Do not let the amazing but defeatable Kakashi-sensei's 'hipness' destroy the power of our blazing youth!"

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It's barely noticeable but there. Kakashi watches Gai and his team and it's mostly Gai and Lee. Their styles are similar, Kakashi reasons. It makes sense.

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Gai's sparkling white teeth are brighter than usual, Kakashi notes, blinking hard in the aftermath of a particularly delighted Nice-Guy smile.

"None of your students can match my Lee's hard work," Gai crows.

"I don't have students," Kakashi observes, which is the truth. "Failing them gets me out of the trouble of teaching them."

"Clearly you have not found the student of your dreams," Gai says, and under the mask Kakashi winces at Gai's unfortunate choice of words. "You must find the one with the spark of youth and springtime and teach him all you know!"

Kakashi hates to sound like a Nara, not least because he's never understood medical practices and he never really wants to, but: "It's troublesome."

Gai shakes his head. "My eternal rival, you must find a young one to teach your secrets and your life philosophy so you can make him proud of himself and you can be proud of him! This is the way to pass the springtime of your youth to another generation!"

"Hm?" Kakashi shrugs and Gai deflates, as usual.

Kakashi figures that the springtime of his youth died a long time ago, but he'll do all he can to keep the village safe in his autumn.

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And then one day Kakashi is sitting in the sun streaming through the window of his lonely apartment, listening to the fading sounds of Team Gai (they'd come to visit on their way to some D-level somewhere in the village, and Kakashi had noted with amusement that 50 of the team clashed miserably with his red throw pillows) and it hits him.

He's jealous.

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When, Kakashi wonders, did he last have something of which to be proud?

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Something living, anyway, he amends late at night. Almost every ninja in double-digit age brushes past the monument within the week.

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So he's watching Sasuke blind the crowd in a blur of screeching birds and chakra lightning and suddenly he recognises the tightness in his throat and the tightness around his lips.

In the amphitheatre below there is impact and light so bright nothing can be seen.

Kakashi permits himself a smile.

He may be past his own springtime, he figures, but there's always someone who needs help finding theirs.

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520 words

The wordcount is ten times ten more than the answer to life, the universe, and everything. The answer to everything for authors, however, is concrit. Please review and add meaning to this humble author's life. See, here she kowtows.

Loko