Lounging on the grass and possessively pressing the edges of his mask to his face, lest one of his teammates try and rip it down, Kakashi scowls and tells Obito he wears it because he spends most of his time working dogs and he has an over-sensitive nose.
Obito scoffs and tells him that in that case he wouldn't wear it when it's just him and Rin and Sensei, so he must have something to hide. And besides, if they stink so bad (which they totally do, he doesn't hesitate to add) then Kakashi should bath them.
Kakashi shrugs and says that he has nothing to hide and either way it's none of Obito's business. And besides, if the dogs can speak and fight and 'have a higher IQ than you, cry-baby', then they're capable of taking care of their own hygiene.
Obito glares and kicks out at the younger boy, but Rin intervenes before a fight can develop and tentatively asks Kakashi why he wears it when the dogs aren't around.
Obito buts in before Kakashi can speak, telling the quiet redhead that it's because their younger teammate has no nose-
Rin points out that she can quite clearly see that Kakashi most definitely has a nose, or at least the outline of one-
Oh, and fish lips, the Uchiha hurriedly adds.
Rin eyes Kakashi dubiously, and the silver-haired nin scowls back. Going simply by the outline of his face that she can see, Rin would even now dare to call Kakashi good-looking. There's nothing obviously wrong with the profile of his lower face, and even though she's never seen it she thinks he's quite pretty, especially his eyes; she loves his eyes. They're bright and mismatched, the right one a deep, piercing onyx black, and the left a swirling, liquid amethyst.
Kakashi's glare is becoming suspiciously sulky looking under Rin's observation, and she blushes when she realizes that she's been staring, but smiles a little when she thinks that he's probably pouting beneath the material concealing his face.
Unfortunately cute as she finds him, Obito's words conjure up a face with mismatched eyes and a furrowed brow and comically large pouting fish lips.
The Uchiha seems to get the same image in his head too as they glance at each other and burst into laughter.
Whilst Kakashi's glaring and pouting and sulking more than ever over his annoying teammates fascination with his mask, he makes the mistake of crossing his arms grumpily over his chest.
Obito and Rin having finally calmed themselves, (And only Rin having apologised) their Sensei takes the opportunity the sneak up behind the Hatake and tug his mask down from behind, grinning as he pins Kakashi's arms to his sides so the two before him can get a good look.
Kakashi protests immediately, his cheeks flushing as he struggles hopelessly in his Sensei's grasp.
Fortunately, as embarrassed as Kakashi is – still squirming to get his arms free – even Obito can't find anything there to mock the boy about. Well, except that maybe he looks kind of feminine, the Uchiha thinks, with a sort of baby face and rather girlish lips. And a girly sort of nose too - definitely not manly. But then again Kakashi is only 8, his looks have the potential to change a lot, so Obito can only hope he grows up to be really, really ugly.
Rin on the other hand thinks he's cuter than ever, especially with his cheeks blushing pink as he cringes a little and attempts to twist around and kick Minato. She notes how – in his nervousness and embarrassment at being exposed– he takes his lower lip between his teeth and nips down, looking so much like the little boy he should and not the murder she knows he is.
After that he doesn't seem to mind taking the mask off in their presence anymore, and he grumbles that since they've already seen then there's no point.
Kakashi doesn't become as ugly as Obito wished for, but he does certainly start to look a little more feminine, so Obito has something to tease him about after all and doesn't mind so much.
Whilst Obito calls it 'feminine' and 'girly' Rin calls it cute and can't help but notice how beautiful he looks when he smiles (Such a rare thing nowadays) with his face free of the mask he hides behind, which is even rarer.
Some years later Rin eventually works out that the mask is like his mental and emotional barriers, only visible, yet still just another thing to hide the broken little boy who's crying inside behind, and she wonders if he'll ever be able to take it off.
They're lying on Minato's bed writing mission reports, and as he has possibly the shortest attention span in the world (or so Kakashi and Rin think) he's gotten bored and gone to get take-out Ramen for them.
Kakashi's eyes are still mismatched, but now that twinkling purple orb is a glistening blood red one, and a long scar marks his otherwise smooth face. The Sharingan is a little disturbing, but Rin loves that even though Obito's gone she can still see a little part of him living on in Kakashi, even more so in his more relaxed attitude and the way he's taken to extreme tardiness.
Realizing that Kakashi's looking questioningly at her with his naked face as she stares a little blankly yet sadly at him, she quickly shakes her head and smiles brightly across at him.
The corners of his mouth twitch into a soft smile and Rin's own smile develops into a grin. Kakashi quirks a silver brow and the questioning look is back on his face as she laughs and throws a ball of paper at him.
Maybe he'll never be able to take his mask off altogether, but then that just makes the times when he does more special, right? And besides, he truly is beautiful without it, so it's always going to be worth the wait.
A/N: Not done a Naruto fic in a while! This just sorta started out as like a 100 word drabble that was meant to end in Minato pulling Kakashi's mask down and making some comment about him wearing it because he's a little feminine looking, but then it developed into this, which I made up as I went along…so, tell me how it turned out and review pretty please?