Prequel to Day 8 of Winter Spirits

Series :: Christmas Spirits - Side Story
Title :: A House is Not a Home
Rating :: G [kid!Kakashi + kid!Gai]
Summary :: AU. The Hatakes get a housewarming gift. Set after the side-story, Roasting Chestnuts Over An Open Fire (or Where There's Smoke). (They're 7 years old)

Kakashi clutched Pug-kun and wandered beyond the entryway. Everything in the house was unnervingly bright, shiny, and new. It bothered him.

Since the sprinkler system incident a few weeks prior, the more prestigious residents of Konoha housing had started to move out of the building into private homes, deciding that now was a good a time as any. A few days ago, the Umino family had moved to a large home with a small yard and a river running behind it. Today it was the Hatake family's turn.

The hallways were full of boxes and the few spare furniture pieces that had been brought in earlier like tables and chairs. The tatami floors were a soft greenish yellow from recent repairs. The doors, a surprisingly traditional make, were washi-papered shoji and thrown open as Nanori bustled about directing where boxes should go.

Someone almost tripped over Kakashi and he darted out of the way.

"Sorry, kiddo," Jiraiya rumbled, grunting as the box he was carting slipped a little. On the other end of the large box, Gai's father winked at Kakashi and nodded his head down the hall at an open door, hefting his end of the box higher.

"I think that's your room," he said. "Gai's about."

Kakashi nodded seriously and scuttled past them making a beeline for his room.

Thankfully there was no sign of Gai and it looked like the boxes with all of Kakashi's things were in place, the tape still intact. He sat Pug-kun on the bag that held his futon and dug around in his pocket until he found the penknife his father had given him and started to cut open the boxes.

"Whatcha doin'?" Gai called loudly from the doorway. Kakashi's hand slipped and he almost cut himself.

"Nothing!" he shouted, looking annoyed.

"What are you doing," Gai whispered loudly, shuffling closer.

"Getting my stuff out. Go away," Kakashi grumbled, folding back the flaps of a box and digging inside.

"Wow, what's that?" Gai asked, pointing at Kakashi's hands. He was holding a scale model of the human brain, complete with stem.

"Cool, huh? My father gave it to me a couple of years ago," Kakashi grinned.

"I want one too!" Gai grinned back.

"You can't! Your father isn't a neurologist! Your father's a physical therapist. You can have a muscle." Kakashi decided.

"I want a whole man," Gai declared, running out of the room. "I'm going to ask my dad right now!"

While Gai was trying to explain why he wanted a muscle man to his father, Kakashi found the back yard and had his head in a bush while following an odd sound when something cold and wet touched his nose. He yelped and toppled backwards before scuttling away from the bush.

He bumped into a pair of legs and looked up to see a large bust––Tsunade. He saw Tsunade.

"So that's where the stinker went," she mused, crossing her arms. Kakashi tilted his head curiously.

"Jiraiya, go get him!" she commanded, pointing imperiously.

"Get it yourself," the man called back from the bowels of the house. "I'm busy!"

Kakashi could almost hear his aunt grinding her teeth together as she nudged him with her foot.

"Kakashi-kun, you go get it. Go." She shrugged in the direction of the bush.

He continued to stare.

"Fiiiiiiine." She heaved a drawn-out sigh and stomped towards the bush and dunked her arm in up to her shoulder.

Kakashi was standing next to her trying to see what she was digging for when she withdrew her arm in a fluid motion and dumped something in his arms with a bland "Happy housewarming."

Something wet touched his chin and he froze, feeling the rough tickle of tiny hairs scrubbing his cheek. A rough grunting made him look down and the squashed face of a dozy-eyed fawn pug puppy stared back. Judging him.

There was a silent stand-off of sorts and Tsunade marked the occasion by eating an an-pan. When she took the last bite, the puppy seemed to nod and snuffled Kakashi's cheek before giving it a tentative lick.

"Tsunade-bachan?" Kakashi's voice shook a little as he slowly rubbed a finger across the wrinkles on the pug's face.

"Meh," she grunted. "Jiraiya-jiji decided that since you finally have a real yard, you can have a real dog. It's more work though."

"A real dog?" Kakashi asked, sinking to his knees and scrubbing at the pug's wrinkles with both hands.

"Well, that's not really a dog, but it's dog-like," Jiraiya said, strolling up.

The pug growled and let out a gruff puppy bark at the insult. Jiraiya raised an eyebrow and snorted.

"It's crotchety too," he complained.

"I like him. He's just like Pug-kun, only different," Kakashi declared, and scrambled awkwardly to his feet. He sort of leaned against Jiraiya and whispered a quiet thank you before running towards the house.

"I'm going to show my parents," he called.

"Oh that's right. We never asked them if we could get him a dog, did we," Tsunade mused.

"Nope."

OMAKE

"You got us a what?" Sakumo questioned in disbelief, staring at the puppy squatting in the hallway, glaring at him.

"A dog," Jiraiya said. He corrected himself. "Dog-like creature. You like dogs. You had a whole pack when we were kids."

"That is not a dog," Sakumo countered. "That is... Oh gods he's going to pee."

"No he isn't." Jiraiya paused. "Yes he is."

Kakashi watched his new puppy let loose a puddle of damp on the shiny hardwood floors and grinned.

Now this house was home.