Author's Note: Only my second posted Naruto fic, please be nice! I just love the parallels between Team 7 and Team Yellow Flash and finally decided to try writing about them. I really hope you like it - honestly, whipped it up in about an hour or two. I kind of wanted to post one more thing before I left for HAWAII! XD
So please read, enjoy, and COMMENT! Thanks!
Disclaimer: I do not own anything "Naruto" except for my Kakashi T-shirt and keychain and a couple manga.
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This Time Around
Sunlight streamed through the puffy clouds above Konoha, casting a warm glow upon the bustling village. A blonde boy of about thirteen huffed impatiently as he waited in front of the ramen shop for the rest of his team. He had no money himself and therefore could not pay for a meal, so the spicy smell wafting from inside the shop was quickly becoming unbearable. As though to punctuate this hopeless thought, his stomach gave a loud growl. It was so loud, in fact, that the young woman behind the counter heard it and laughed.
"Naruto, just order and have your sensei pay for it when he arrives! You know Kakashi-san is always late anyway, so why bother waiting?" she called. Naruto huffed again and folded his arms stubbornly across his chest.
"No way. I plan on making him feel as guilty as possible for being late and making me starve," he said. The young woman shrugged and moved to help two new customers, and as soon as she was out of sight, Naruto's frown disappeared into an expression of utter desperation. He doubled over, clutching his empty abdomen with a groan. "This plan is not working out as well as I had hoped," he muttered to the ground.
Two pairs of sandal-clad feet suddenly appeared in his line of vision. The pair on the left, whose toenails were painted a light green, scuffed the ground uncertainly.
"Er, Naruto? What are you doing?"
Naruto looked up and blinked, struggling against the sunlight to make out the pink-haired kunoichi who was peering at him with concerned emerald eyes.
"I'm, uh, hungry," he said. The other ninja snorted, and Naruto did not have to identify the details of the silhouette's face to tell that it was Sasuke.
"Then why don't you order some ramen or something?" Sakura asked, quirking an eyebrow. Naruto straightened, jabbing a finger at her.
"Because Kakashi-sensei promised to buy us lunch and I'm not eating until he's here to pay for it!" he said loudly. Sasuke rolled his eyes.
"Whatever, loser," he muttered, striding into the ramen shop. Naruto spun to face him angrily.
"What'd you say?" he demanded, then doubled over again as his stomach let out another great rumble. Sakura sighed and followed Sasuke into the shop.
"Come on, Naruto. I'm sure Kakashi-sensei will be here soon enough." Naruto mumbled inaudibly under his breath and followed his teammates reluctantly into the ramen shop.
Despite Sakura's frequent assurances, Kakashi never appeared. The three Genin managed to wolf down two bowls of ramen each (out of spite, or so Naruto insisted) and split a dessert, but still their sensei remained missing.
"Man!" Naruto burst, throwing his chopsticks down angrily. "Now we have to pay for all of this food by ourselves!" Sasuke sighed and was just about to reach for some money when the young woman appeared before them, smiling. She winked as she cleared their dessert plate.
"Don't you worry. I'll put all of this on Kakashi-san's tab," she said. "Now go train and work off those calories!" The trio thanked her and set off to find their negligent sensei.
"The nerve of him, not showing up like that!" Sakura huffed, crossing her arms.
"Yeah, we almost had to pay for our own lunch!" Naruto grunted in agreement, resting his hands on his slightly protruding belly. He was almost too full to really be mad, but Sakura's anger was proving to be contagious. Sasuke just walked beside them, hands in his pockets, refusing to comment.
"Do you think we should look for him?" Sakura asked.
"Yeah!" Naruto yelled in agreement, then stopped, blinking in confusion. "But... where should we look first? We don't even know where he lives!"
"Hn," Sasuke snorted. "You don't know where he lives." Naruto rounded on him immediately.
"Youdo?" Sasuke made a face and inched away from his excited teammate.
"Of course I do."
"Then we should go there first, believe it!" Naruto cried. People in the street began to stare at their small group, especially Naruto, and Sakura flushed.
"God, Naruto, you're so embarrassing. Let's just go," she said. Then she turned to Sasuke, her eyes turning wide with admiration. "Lead the way, Sasuke-kun!"
Sasuke led them to a small apartment complex near the edge of the village. They stared up at the two-story building, slightly apprehensive.
"So. Which, er, which does Kakashi-sensei live in?" Naruto asked. Sasuke shrugged.
"203, or something. I'm not sure about the number, I just know where it is." Sakura took a deep breath and grabbed the boys' hands, dragging them into the building.
"We said we'd do this," she said, "so we should just do it." Despite her confident words, she made Sasuke lead the way up the stairs and down the second floor hallway until they reached Kakashi's front door, where they stood in silence for a full minute.
"Heh," Naruto laughed uncertainly. "What are we so nervous about? It's just Kakashi-sensei."
"Yeah," Sakura said quietly, "but it's his home. It's weird."
"I wonder if it's locked," Naruto muttered.
"Should we knock?" Sakura whispered.
"What if he's not there?"
"Then he won't answer, will he, Naruto?"
"I guess not, but you don't have to be so snippy, Sakura."
"You deserve it."
"I don't think I do!"
"WellI think you do!"
"Aw, come on, Sakura!"
"What?"
While his teammates bickered, Sasuke's curiosity got the better of him. He put a careful hand on the door handle and twisted it, prepared for anything - booby-traps, alarms - but nothing noticeable happened. It wasn't even locked. Encouraged, he turned it the rest of the way and carefully pushed the door open. Naruto and Sakura stopped arguing as soon as they noticed that Sasuke had entered the dark apartment.
"It wasn't locked?" Naruto whispered. Sasuke shook his head. The three Genin closed the door quietly behind them, allowing the dim light from the blind-covered windows to help them find their way around. The apartment was neat and tidy, but rather sparse, almost as though it was rarely lived in.
"Do you think he's even here?" Sakura hissed, peering into a doorway to her right, which led to a small kitchenette. Naruto shrugged and tip-toed over to a partly closed door on the left wall. He peeked through the crack between door and doorframe.
"Found him!" he whispered to Sakura and Sasuke. Naruto opened the door quietly to reveal a moderately-sized bedroom, in which the bed was clearly occupied by a tall man with silver hair. "I think he's sleeping," Naruto said.
"Astute observation," Sasuke quipped. Naruto whirled, teeth bared.
"Sasuke!" he hissed.
"Naruto, be quiet!" Sakura whispered, watching their sleeping sensei apprehensively. "We don't want to wake him up. We should really just go."
"But he has to pay for our lunches!" Naruto whined.
"Notnow, he doesn't!"
"But Sakura -"
"... Naruto?" All three Genin froze as Kakashi slowly sat up in bed, rubbing his Sharingan eye and yawning through his mask. He cocked an eyebrow in inquiry. "What are you all doing here?"
"The door was unlocked -"
"We didn't know -"
"You missed lunch -"
They all launched into explanations, but Kakashi only heard the beginning of each before he groaned and rested his head in his hands.
"Lunch!" he muttered. "I completely forgot." He raised his eyes apologetically. "I'm sorry, you guys. I know it's no excuse, but I got back from an S-ranked mission late last night and -"
"No, we're sorry, sensei," Sakura said, bowing slightly. "We shouldn't have bothered you. We'll go and let you sleep."
"Wait," Kakashi called as the three were about to leave. "You should stay. I'll make it up to you."
"But aren't you tired?" Naruto asked. The Jounin shrugged and slid out of bed, stretching.
"I rest quickly," he said. "Just give me a few minutes to clean up. Would it be okay if we stayed here?"
"Sure!" Sakura grabbed Naruto and Sasuke and ushered them out into the living room. "We'll be waiting out here!" Kakashi smiled at them, then sighed and went into the bathroom connected to his bedroom. As he turned on the shower he remembered the first time his team - Team Yellow Flash - had invaded their sensei's home. It had been winter, and Minato had been sick with the flu for almost a week...
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"You knock. This was your idea," Obito said to Rin, shivering in his thin jacket. Rin just cradled the picnic lunch she had prepared to her chest and stared at the closed door wordlessly.
"We've been here for almost ten minutes now. This is getting ridiculous," Kakashi muttered. His arms were crossed tightly across his chest for added warmth, but it had long since stopped working.
"Thenyou knock!" Obito burst. Kakashi growled and jumped forward, rapping sharply on the door. Obito stared at him in surprise. "I didn't think you actually would -"
"I'm cold," Kakashi said shortly.
The door opened a moment later, revealing their sensei bundled up in a large gray-blue blanket. As soon as he saw who it was he broke into a wide grin.
"Kakashi, Rin, Obito!" he exclaimed. "Come in, come in!" His students hurried to obey, shaking out their cold limbs once inside the warmth of the house. Minato showed the three of them into a large, cozy living room, complete with a roaring fire and piles of blankets. "Please, make yourselves at home."
"I made us a lunch, sensei," Rin said, presenting her boxed meal almost shyly. Minato patted her head with a smile.
"Thank you, Rin. That was very thoughtful of you," he said, taking the lunch from her. "Actually," he frowned slightly, "this is all really thoughtful. What's the occasion?"
"You've been sick," Obito said, as though pointing out the obvious. "We thought we'd come and cheer you up."
"It was Rin's idea," Kakashi said. Rin blushed fiercely and Minato's grin returned.
"Well, thank you. I'm feeling much better today, so why don't you stay for a while? We can have a cozy lunch by the fire."
"Sure!" Obito said excitedly. Kakashi just sat on the floor before the fireplace.
"Sounds good," he said, already warming his hands. Minato removed the blanket from his shoulders and handed it to his eldest student - who took it with reluctant grace - then moved to a nearby cabinet and managed to dig out three more.
"I'll go prepare the lunch. Make yourselves at home," he said, doling out the other blankets, then headed into the adjacent kitchen with the lunchbox in hand. Rin leapt up from where she had settled beside Kakashi.
"I'll help you, Sensei!" she said, following him into the kitchen.
The meal passed quietly and comfortably. The team had been together long enough to be used to each other's presence, and even Kakashi and Obito could not bring themselves to bicker and ruin the pleasant atmosphere. Even so, Rin and Minato made most of the small talk between themselves.
"So what now?" Minato asked with a sigh, leaning back and resting his arms on the couch behind him.
"I dunno," Obito muttered, almost falling asleep because he was so warm and full. Minato grinned wickedly.
"How about some cards?"
"But... I don't know any games," Rin said.
"Then I'll teach you." Minato turned to Kakashi and nodded toward a nearby table. "Kakashi, can you go into the top drawer of that table and grab the deck? The cards should be yellow." Kakashi obeyed and came back shuffling the deck absently. He paused right before handing them to his sensei.
"There are two sevens," he said. Obito snorted.
"Yeah, duh. There actually should be four," he said sarcastically. Kakashi glared at him but didn't take the bait.
"No, I mean there are two sevens of spades. One of them is green." Minato's brow creased slightly and he held out his hand for the deck, which Kakashi handed over.
"Huh." The Yellow Flash flicked the green card out of the deck; it slid across the floor and came to rest right behind Kakashi. Minato smiled. "Should be fine now." Then he shuffled the deck and began to explain the rules of poker, gin, and other basic card games. Rin and Obito hung on his every word, but Kakashi - who had already been taught all of the games by his sensei - couldn't get the green card out of his head. He hesitated, then, when he was sure Minato was not watching, reached behind him, grabbed the card, and stuffed it in his pocket.
The card games made the afternoon pass quickly. Rin had just miraculously won all of Obito's money in a hard game of poker when Minato finally realized that it was after six, and his students should be going. Obito and Rin left almost immediately, thanking their sensei for the wonderful day but admitting their parents might get worried.
Minato was silent for a moment after he closed the door after the two of them. Then he turned to Kakashi with a slight smile on his face.
"Keep that card safe, Kakashi. It's always been a lucky one," he said. Kakashi was not really surprised that his sensei had noticed, but he smiled anyway.
"I will."
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Kakashi turned the hot water off with reluctance, letting the last trickle of memory drip down the drain with the shower water. He stepped out and ran a towel through his thick hair, making it stick up even more than usual, then wrapped the towel around his waist and replaced his mask before heading back into his bedroom to change. He figured he had spent too much time already and could practically hear Naruto complaining, but he hesitated before leaving the room.
A deck of cards lay on the bedside table, left over from a week before when he had played a few games with Asuma and Genma. Kakashi allowed his hand to hover above the worn stack before grabbing it and heading for the door to the living room. He paused at the threshold and flipped through the deck, searching, then pulled out the seven of spades with a smile. This card was older, the edges close to yellowing, and it was also the single green card in a sea of blue...
"Kakashi-senei, what's taking you?" called Naruto's impatient voice from the other room. Kakashi quickly returned the card to its place in the deck and joined his students in the living room.
"How about some cards?"
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Thanks for reading, and please write a review! TEH LUV!