Written for the 'Crush' space on my fluffbingo card for 2019 Q2.
Tenzou flinched as a box slipped off the top of Kakashi's bookcase towards him, catching it neatly and giving it a wary look. "Ah. . . Kakashi-senpai, are you sure this is all right?" he called one more time. He glanced at the bookcase, wondering if anything else was primed to launch off its shelves.
"Kakashi, Tenzou," Kakashi called back with a lilt that might be laughter, "and yes, it's fine, go ahead. If you can't find them I can get them out for you, though." he added, really laughing this time.
Tenzou eyed the box again, then put it down and reached up to the top shelf, pulling free the sealing scroll marked with the appropriate character. He set it aside and neatened the other scrolls in the little rack - which was impossible to miss on its shelf, there was no way Tenzou could have failed to find the scrolls - then turned to collect the box from the table and put it back on the top of the bookcase as well. He paused.
The lid was sliding a bit, slightly loose, and Tenzou intended to just . . . put it back on properly. He lifted it and then paused, biting his lip. He put the box back down and reached inside. A photo album?
Tenzou strangled a yelp as he moved to open it, overcome by curiosity, and a handful of flat, pink-
Dried sakura blossoms?
Tenzou's lips pursed as he collected the tiny flying items and flipped open the album to find not photographs - not . . . terribly surprising; Kakashi owned, as far as Tenzou knew, less than a handful of photographs - but . . . pressed flowers. He gently returned the sakura blossoms to what he hoped was their place in the open book, then hesitated and . . . turned a page carefully.
There was a single, somewhat messily-pressed ayame there, and Tenzou trailed a fingertip over it curiously, then flipped to the next. Amaryllis. A pair of them, more neatly arranged - though unlike the ayame, their petals pressed flat well, he supposed.
Next were four pages full of shion in a range of colours, spiky little disks squashed into slightly odd shapes by the pressing as they'd dried. A few asagao with beautifully deep colours followed, on the same page with a pair of kyouchikutou, and something . . . tugged at Tenzou's mind. He frowned, trying to place why the combination was familiar as he turned the page and smiled faintly at the pretty little purple fuji.
"Maa, pretty, aren't they?" Kakashi said, hands sliding over Tenzou's hips and around to rest on his belly as Kakashi pressed against his back, nosing his ear.
Tenzou yelped and nearly flung the album as he jerked backwards into his lover unsteadily. Kakashi tightened one arm around him and reached out to steady the album with the other hand, chin nudging into Tenzou's shoulder as he gave a low hum.
"Kakashi-s- Kakashi!" Tenzou winced. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have- It fell on me and then I was curious when the sakura-" he broke off as Kakashi nuzzled his jaw and kissed his cheek, a soft rumble in his throat. Tenzou relaxed into his arms without thinking, making a little hopeful sound as he tilted his head.
Kakashi nuzzled his throat, nipping lightly, and hugged him tighter. "I don't mind, Tenzou." he said softly, lips brushing Tenzou's throat. "You're welcome to look at anything in my apartment."
Tenzou squirmed, ducking his head and leaning into Kakashi a little more. He gave another low rumble and kissed Tenzou's throat again, swaying lazily.
"I didn't think. . ." Tenzou paused. "I didn't know you collected flowers." he said, tilting the album in his hands and turning another page to find a few kinrenka. "I wouldn't have guessed. It doesn't. . ."
Frankly it didn't seem very much like Kakashi, either the one Tenzou knew so well or the one that Kakashi created to show most of the village.
"How did you choose. . . Why these?" Tenzou asked, ruffling the edges of the pages lightly.
Kakashi laughed in his ear, soft and warm, and Tenzou shivered. "You don't recognise them?" he asked, and Tenzou frowned.
"I. . . Recognise them?" Tenzou repeated. "Senpai I never," he jumped as Kakashi nipped him sharply, voice wavering briefly, "knew you collected flowers," he continued determinedly, flushing a little, "how would I have seen them before?"
"You gave them to me." Kakashi said, and Tenzou blinked, tilting his head and eyeing the pressed flowers. He . . . couldn't remember ever giving Kakashi flowers, and he twisted to eye his lover dubiously. Kakashi smiled. "I took some of them every time you made flowers sprout and bloom around me," he said, and Tenzou's eyes widened, "when you were blushing and often running away from me."
Tenzou whined softly, feeling his face heat rapidly. "Oh senpai that- You-"
"You didn't really notice." Kakashi said unnecessarily, his smile widening. "You were so cute-"
"Kakashi!" Tenzou protested, elbowing him weakly. "You-" You knew? he thought, but it sounded so silly with Kakashi wrapped around him, kisses and nuzzles, and the bed Tenzou shared with him more often than not in the corner, and. . .
"Mm, I remember every one." Kakashi said, nosing Tenzou's shoulder again. He shifted a little, trying to look at Kakashi without making it any more obvious than it must already be that he was blushing so badly.
Kakashi reached around him and trailed his fingers over the album, then flicked through pages. "This. . ." he began as he tapped his fingers against soft orangey-yellow petals, and Tenzou whined softly, covering his face with one hand as Kakashi recounted a memory he had . . . half blocked out, but certainly hoped Kakashi had forgotten . . . or, he had hoped vainly at the time, not noticed.
Kakashi smiled and reached out, ruffling Tenzou's hair and then smoothing it down again. "Good job, Tenzou." he praised, glancing back at the mokuton trap . . . cage? "That's a very creative use, and you came up with it in a corner."
He turned back to Tenzou and blinked, surprised by the pink creeping up his cheeks.
"Ten-"
"Thank you senpai!" Tenzou ducked his head, and Kakashi took a step towards him only to pause, glancing down at the sudden tangle of plants and brilliant golden-orange flowers blooming around his feet.
"Tenzou," he began, surprised - also it wasn't a very effective hold; he knew firsthand Tenzou could do much better, even without things like the nearby wooden cage, "what are-"
Tenzou blushed a little deeper and ducked into a bow, then bolted, half mumbling something that didn't quite make sense as he went.
Kakashi watched him go, head cocked, then looked back at the flowers grown around his own feet. He crouched and ran his fingers over the ruffled petals, smiling. He disentangled himself from the tangled stems, then . . . plucked one of the flowers before he rose.
He cradled it against his palm as he left the training ground, tucked out of easy sight, but held it close to his face, breathing in the soft scent.
"Are you all right?" Kakashi asked, frowning slightly as he peeled away Tenzou's long armoured glove. He hissed. "This cut all the way through, what were you doing to get this banged up in a spar?" he demanded, catching Tenzou's eyes.
"Practising." Tenzou said mulishly, jutting his chin out.
Kakashi hissed again as he watched the wound on Tenzou's bicep, just beginning to bleed anew after it had barely, it seemed, stopped at all. The one lower, just above his elbow, was still oozing sluggishly and had threads caught in it from his glove.
"I'm all right." Tenzou said, the backs of his fingers nudging Kakashi's knee, and he realised he was growling. He swallowed and forced himself to stop.
"What did you need to practise so badly you went full-on with Marten?" Kakashi asked sharply as he wet a bit of bandage with cool water and began to dab away blood. "And let her do this to you?"
Tenzou fidgeted and ducked his head as he answered reluctantly, and Kakashi sighed through his nose as he smeared salve from his pouch over the small scrapes and the two larger gashes on Tenzou's arm, faintly exasperated.
"If you need to test it that badly . . . spar with me." Kakashi said finally, pausing to pat Tenzou's forearm. "I'll help you practise whatever you need to. You shouldn't be getting into this state from a friendly spar." he said firmly, tugging Tenzou a little closer to himself to begin wrapping the bandage around his arm.
"I. . . Senpai. . ?" Tenzou said uncertainly, a faint flush rising on his cheeks.
"I know I won't hurt you." Kakashi snapped, focusing on keeping the bandages comfortably loose as he tensed further. "Marten is . . . careless. If you spar with her again don't do it alone like this." he half-ordered.
"Yes, Kakashi-senpai." Tenzou said agreeably, then shifted a little. "You'll- You'll really spar with me even to let me test out my new techniques?" he asked quietly.
Kakashi looked up to meet his gaze, blinking. "Of course." he said, frowning behind his mask. "You need the practise to refine them, why wouldn't I?"
Tenzou squirmed and ducked his head. "Thank you, Kakashi-senpai." he said quietly, and Kakashi shook his head slightly, tying off the second bandage neatly.
"Of course, Tenzou." he said absently, examining his own work. "Look after those while they're healing." he instructed as Tenzou gathered up his bloody and sliced through glove. Kakashi watched Tenzou rise, absently collecting what he hadn't used back into his pouch.
"Of course, Kakashi-senpai." Tenzou agreed, ducking his head. His cheeks were still ruddy with a blush, and a moment later he was running away, back towards headquarters.
Kakashi hummed absently, then paused as his eyes fell on the little flowers all around him - cheerful blotches of purple and yellow and white springing up in the grass that had very much not been there before he sat down. They surrounded the area he and Tenzou had sat, and bobbed on their stems just a little higher than the grass, thickly-grown and pretty.
Kakashi ran his fingers over several of the little blooms, smiling faintly.
Kakashi got up with a stifled groan for his aching body and moved towards Tenzou.
"Kakashi-senpai, please," Tenzou said, putting out his hands and nudging Kakashi gently, "you need to let yourself heal."
Kakashi began to protest and Tenzou gave him an unimpressed, resolved face and pushed him firmly back down to the chair. Kakashi huffed, slouching, and muttered at him unhappily. He didn't try to get up again, though.
Tenzou slid a covered, disposable dish in front of him. "I even brought you dinner, senpai. If you won't stay in the hospital at least rest?" he wheedled hopefully, and Kakashi gave in, at least for now. He was tired, and he was hungry, and Tenzou's wide eyes and concerned expression were. . .
He sighed and glanced at the dish, reaching for it only to find his grip wasn't quite steady enough to pry the lid off when he tried, though the glue holding it was light and designed break easily. He growled at it and Tenzou slipped around to his side and neatly pried it open for him, setting the lid aside and handing him a pair of chopsticks.
Kakashi managed a sulky thank you and a smile just big enough to crinkle his eye, and Tenzou smiled back at him. "So are you going to eat with me? Keep me company?" he asked, trailing his chopsticks through the vegetables in the bowl.
Tenzou stiffened and stepped backwards. "Oh- Ah, I- I wouldn't want you to be uncomfortable, Kakashi-senpai." he said hurriedly, shaking his head and smiling awkwardly at him.
"Do you want me to be bored?" Kakashi whined, leaning forwards on the table and hiding his wince as his aching body pressed against the wood. "Won't you entertain me, Tenzou?" he wheedled.
Tenzou opened his mouth, then closed it, blushing. Kakashi's brows rose.
"I'll come back to check- I'll come back later, Kakashi-senpai. If you want me to." Tenzou added quickly, nodding shallowly.
"Of course." Kakashi said, propping his chin on his palm. "Why if you don't, I might do all sorts of dangerous things on my own. Reading. Making my own bed."
He stopped as Tenzou made a tiny strangled yip of a sound, blush deepening. He glanced away, then back at Kakashi, and before Kakashi could speak again, Tenzou had fled through the window and away. Kakashi watched him go with concerned bemusement.
It took him a moment longer to realise that-
Kakashi rose, wincing, and put his chopsticks down to move nearer the window. He examined the bright orange flowers now springing from his window frame as though they belonged there, the feeling of bemusement growing.
Tenzou froze, fingers curling and broad wooden tendrils suddenly falling aside in a scatter. "Are you all right? Kakashi-senpai!"
Kakashi laughed, closing his eyes and rubbing the back of his wrist against his temple. "I'm fine." he reassured, reaching out without needing to look to know where Tenzou would be. His hand smoothed over Tenzou's shoulder just as he opened his eyes again, and he smiled, patting Tenzou's back.
Tenzou made a tiny whining noise and leaned closer. "Kakashi-senpai are you sure?" he asked, voice thick with concern. "I didn't mean to hit you so hard!"
"Maa, that's reassuring. . ." Kakashi drawled, and Tenzou gave a little eep. "I'm sure. I'm not so fragile as all that." he said gently, touching Tenzou's back again and nudging him.
Tenzou sagged, looking downcast. "I don't know. . . That technique, I should have been able to pull it; my mokuton. . ." he trailed off.
"Maa, it's a very nice technique." Kakashi said, taking a step back and wincing. "Only perhaps don't use it in spars any more. Save it for the enemy, ne?"
"Yes, Kakashi-senpai." Tenzou agreed, still looking rather guilty.
He also looked a bit worn. They had been sparring for some time, and only just holding back enough to be friendly. "Come along and rest," Kakashi said, hooking Tenzou's sleeve and drawing him along as he swayed with Kakashi's tug easily, "we could both use it. Just for a while, before we head back."
Tenzou smiled slightly and didn't actually protest as Kakashi released him and chose a soft patch of grass in the shade of a small tree to stretch out on. Kakashi was fine, as he'd told Tenzou, but . . . possibly leaping into a tree wouldn't be his wisest choice right now; staying down here would be better.
Tenzou went to one knee, then hesitated. Kakashi beckoned him, snorting, amused. He stretched out nearby, wriggling in the grass with a quiet rustle as Kakashi closed his eyes.
Kakashi didn't doze off, but he relaxed - safe and not uncomfortable, outside the throbbing of his head and the bruised scrapes he bore, which would heal quickly. Tenzou nearby, content and also eminently trusted. It wasn't a bad place to be.
When he opened his eyes again Tenzou had come a little closer, though not quite enough to brush his arm, and the grassy area around them had . . . changed.
Viny plants with pale blue trumpet-shaped blossoms - asagao, it took Kakashi a moment, but he remembered - were heaped messily all around them with little to cling to, and climbing up the trunk of the tree not far from their heads. Interspersed with them, smaller flowers with ruffled peach-pink petals sprang up, leaning in and tangling together. One plant had tipped so far it was resting lightly on his thigh.
Kakashi twisted and looked at Tenzou, who had just begun to sit up, face suffusing with red. He reached up and caught Tenzou's shoulder, gently tugging him down and back.
"Relax, Tenzou. Rest for a while longer." Kakashi said, yawning pointedly and stretching out, propping one ankle over the other. "You already said you had nothing else to do today, and you promised to treat me at dinner if I bested you."
"You didn't!" Tenzou protested sharply, distracted immediately and pushing firmly at Kakashi's arm. "Kakashi-senpai! I beat you! If I hadn't pulled back-" he broke off suddenly.
Kakashi cracked his eye open again. "Then clearly you should treat me." he said lazily. "You nearly hurt me, after all. What kind of kohai are you?"
Tenzou's blush deepened and he scowled. "Kakashi-senpai!" he said fiercely.
Kakashi giggled, tugging at Tenzou's collar. "Maa. . . Just a joke. . ." he drawled, smiling at Tenzou behind his mask. "You are my best and sweetest little kohai!"
Tenzou hid his face in his hands and Kakashi took the moment to snag a handful of the asagao and tuck it in his pocket while Tenzou couldn't see. Then he sat up and reached out, patting Tenzou and making only slightly mocking soothing sounds, giggling again when Tenzou swatted at him for it, glaring.
It was a relaxing afternoon, just the two of them, and Kakashi was enjoying himself. And maybe he'd even treat Tenzou to dinner later.
. . .but probably not. He was pretty sure he could coax or confuse Tenzou into it still.
"Sit down." Kakashi ordered, and Tenzou froze. He didn't sit down, though.
Kakashi sighed and walked over to him, pressing gently and nudging him back into his chair. Tenzou looked up at him owlishly, and Kakashi resisted the urge to pat the top of his head.
"Kakashi-senpai?" Tenzou asked tentatively, and Kakashi squeezed his shoulder.
"I know, just. . . Rest." Kakashi told him, hiding the concern that had been biting at him since he'd heard about the condition Tenzou had returned in. He smiled fondly. "Let me help you, mm?"
Tenzou winced as he shifted positions and Kakashi stepped closer without consciously meaning to, enough that his hip brushed Tenzou's arm. He sagged a little against Kakashi, surprising him, but. . . He put a hand on Tenzou's back, gently steadying him, letting himself be a support. He stroked the nape of Tenzou's neck thoughtlessly, and Tenzou shivered, making him freeze . . . then . . . leaned into Kakashi a little more.
Kakashi lingered at his side, unwilling to pull away, though he couldn't quite put the fish waiting on the counter out of his mind.
Eventually - after Tenzou began almost to doze off - Kakashi encouraged him up and sent him to rest somewhere more comfortable. Then redirected him from the couch that was more bench than plush and towards his futon.
Tenzou huffed but did as he was bade, and Kakashi suspected the protest was mostly for form's sake. He also suspected Tenzou thought he was going to leave, but he hadn't said so, and felt no compunction about returning to Tenzou's kitchen and the thankfully still chilled raw fish, rummaging around Tenzou's kitchen for the tools he needed to cook.
Tenzou slunk out, sleepy-eyed, shortly before the food was done, and Kakashi quickly selected a piece of vegetable and popped it into Tenzou's mouth before he could say anything. He stared at Kakashi, wide-eyed, and Kakashi coughed, shooing him to the table and talking fast without saying much of anything, darting back to the stove.
He flushed when he slid a bowl of grilled vegetables topped with fish across the table and Tenzou only thanked him in a soft voice, eyes warm.
Kakashi ducked his head, not meeting Tenzou's gaze as they ate. Tenzou concentrated on his food, but after a few bites began to speak in soft tones about those parts of his mission he could share. Kakashi listened willingly, his chest aching, so relieved Tenzou had come home after the mess he had been thrown into, all unprepared.
Tenzou began flagging again swiftly after he finished his second bowl, so Kakashi felt justified in shooing him back to his futon. He went with even less protest this time, to Kakashi's satisfaction.
Kakashi didn't notice the flowering fuji until he smelled them, drying his hands after washing the dishes. He inhaled carefully, looking around, then up.
There were cascades of dusty purple blooms descending from the ceiling everywhere. Kakashi swallowed, glancing back towards the room where Tenzou was surely asleep, his chest aching again, though for a different reason this time.
He slipped up one of the walls with a few carefully quiet steps and collected some of the flowers, after running his fingers through the spilling tendrils, then . . . left, all but dragging himself back out Tenzou's window and across the rooftops to his own quiet apartment.
"Senpai. . ." Tenzou protested softly again, trying to hide his face in Kakashi's shoulder as he leaned into Kakashi's embrace. His face was still uncomfortably hot. Listening to Kakashi recount all those stories . . . Tenzou had forgotten some of those flowers. He had certainly forgotten how many he had . . . 'given' Kakashi.
Kakashi hummed, rubbing his shoulder with one hand and idly continuing to turn pages in the album braced on their legs with the other. He nuzzled Tenzou's hair and the curve of his ear, chest rumbling beneath Tenzou, understated and affectionate. He shifted them a little on the couch, curling around Tenzou and kissing his temple.
"You know, darling," Kakashi said softly, "I . . . kept them because they were from you, because they made me happy."
Tenzou squirmed and looked up at Kakashi again. He smiled faintly, stroking down Tenzou's back. "Looking through them," he ruffled the pages of the album, then closed it and set it on the table beside them, "it . . . brightened things for me, even when you weren't with me. Many times, over the years."
Tenzou's lips parted, but he didn't quite . . . have anything to say to that.
"You make me happy. The flowers. . ." Kakashi looked away, though his arm tightened around Tenzou as he trailed off.
Tenzou snuggled into his lover, leaning up and kissing Kakashi's faintly pink cheek. He took a breath, then ducked his head, resting his brow against Kakashi's cheek, and brought his hands up in front of him, in the angle of their bodies, one cradling the other wrist. He focused for a moment and then a bright pink oshiroibana bloomed from his palm on a bundle of greenery.
He offered it to Kakashi, whose eye had gone wide. Tenzou smiled slightly, leaning up and kissing his lover as he pressed the flower into Kakashi's hand. "I love you . . . and you still and always make me feel like . . . like blooming things." he said, face warming again. "And . . . just . . . happy."
Kakashi hugged him tight, whining faintly as he nuzzled Tenzou almost too firmly to be comfortable, sharp nose and cheekbone pressing into Tenzou's face. Tenzou let him without protest, humming softly and rubbing soothingly at his lover's wrist with the pad of his thumb.
Tenzou knows all the flowers, of course, while Kakashi does not, but some of them overlapped.
Shion (asters) are the ones in the bandaging scene. Karankoe are the ones blooming from Kakashi's windowframe. Kyouchikutou are, as they were in the album, along with the asagao in the training field.