Title: superproxy
Summary: In which Kakashi doesn't need to pay for anything and sharing a drink is a tradition
Characters: Kakashi and Sasuke (and slight Team 7)
Disclaimer: Naruto ain't mine, no sir.
A/N: Was supposed to post this in time with Fathers' day but my connection got cut off. Oh, well.
The skies are clear as he made his way down the familiar pathway. The gravel crunches under his standard shinobi sandals as he take medium strides in a leisurely pace as if he's got all the time in the world.
As Kakashi made his way towards the same epitaph he has spent an hour everyday at for the past years and he is glad he doesn't need to go anywhere else for the day. Maybe today he'd stay longer than an hour.
The wind blows and he savours it as he nears the epitaph, his eyes closed and both his hands in the pockets of his nin-pants. When he reached it, he stood in front it for a few moments as if paying respect to all the other names carved in the small marble. Tracing each name with reverence and nostalgia before he got to the name of the person he came down there for.
Hatake Sakumo
Sitting with his legs crossed in front of him, he pulled a bottle of sake from his pockets and poured some on two cups he brought before putting it in front of the epitaph. Pulling his mask down, he smiled and raised his cup as if toasting to an invisible being.
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The day went off with all of the members of Team 7 taking a rain check for training.
Naruto had said he's got some place he's got to visit. Kakashi didn't prod. He's got an idea where the kid will be spending his whole day at. Sakura at least was honest about why she won't be in training. He had always known that Sakura grew up to be a daddy's girl just like any other daughter that is an only child. And Sasuke…well, he's not really someone who feels the need to explain himself and Kakashi knew where the kid will spend his day anyway. His way of thinking isn't too far from Naruto as he thinks it is.
The only person he's been wondering about is Sai but then he suppose the kid's heard about the day's occasion and is spending his day at Konoha's library reading up about it.
It's mid-afternoon, the skies are clear and the wind blowing feels cool against his face. Kakashi looks up at the clouds slowly passing by and thinks of what his kids might be doing now.
Naruto's probably done visiting Jiraiya-sama now and if he cast his eyes towards Hokage Mountain the kid's probably lounging up on the Yondaime's head. Sakura's still probably at her parent's house. He's not quite sure about Sasuke though. These days he's not quite sure about anything that boy (he would always be a boy in Kakashi's eyes) is thinking. It bothers him a bit not being able to read Sasuke as well as he did but Kakashi has learnt to accept that Sasuke has many complexities and Naruto is the only person that could ever understand how that boy thinks. As long as he's not trying to kill his team mates or going on a rampage he's not going to trouble himself of figuring out the kid.
A small family of three just passed by and he takes a sip from the beer can on his hands. He preferred to be drinking sake but he opted to leave it at the epitaph instead and bought himself a six-pack. A cold can of beer tasted better at such a hot weather than sake anyway. God, it's always hot in Konoha. He's gone and finished two cans in the time he's been sitting under the big oak tree in their usual training grounds and he thinks he'd probably finished all of it by now if he drinks every time a family passes by his field of vision. Five minutes passed and another family—two kids with the father carrying one over his shoulders and the mother holding on to the other—passes by and he thinks 'what the hell' and takes a swig.
He's still got some time to kill before dinner.
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He arrives an hour late for dinner and even then he still takes his sweet time and walks leisurely in front of the usual place.
Naruto is complaining loudly about his lateness, still not used after years of knowing him; Sakura is standing beside him, clearly irritated but looked to be struggling to control her anger for having to wait and at her grumbling team mate while Sasuke is leaning against a tree a little ways from his two team mates looking just like his twelve year old broody self except he doesn't.
This is how he finds them in the early evening of a Sunday standing in front of Ichiraku and waiting for him. He readies the usual half-ass excuse of being lost to the road of life but before he could even get a word out he was greeted by an enthusiastic "Kakashi-sensei!" and was dragged inside.
"What? No shouting at me for being late?"
Naruto waved a hand uncaringly as he proceeded to order while Sakura smiled at him. "We knew you'd be late so we told you to come an hour early."
He narrowed his eyes at them but he is smiling underneath his mask. Clever. His kids had grown to be clever enough to outsmart him.
Kakashi halts from splitting his chopsticks at the thought. His kids, huh?
Sometimes he'd ask himself when he started referring to them as his kids. Maybe even when they were still genin he had always thought of them as his kids in the back of his mind, even when they were nothing but irritating and flailing brats back then. Or maybe it was after their first chuunin exams when he felt the camaraderie and the subtle hints of a makeshift family forming bit by bit, between reluctant smiles and shared laughters and tears. Maybe it happened along the way, between the shared heartbreaks and struggles and sworn promises, between the misunderstandings and apologies and eventual acceptance. Maybe it had been that way from the start.
Sometimes he'd look at his kids and think if it was too late for him, to have a family of his own.
"What did you do today, Kakashi-sensei?"
"Oh? I went to the epitaph and drank sake."
But then he'd look at his kids, as Naruto laughs and Sakura sighs in exasperation while Sasuke just gives him a look, and thinks it doesn't really matter.
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"Don't bother, Kakash-sensei. We'll take care of this."
"Yeah, Kakashi-sensei. It's your day after all. Sasuke-teme will pay."
"Hn."
Yeah, it doesn't matter. He's got his own now anyways.
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"What did you guys do today? I went to see Jiraiya a bit then I went to see my dad. The view's pretty nice up his head did ya know that?"
"I spend my day at home. I cooked lunch and watched the civilian sportsfest with my dad. How about you Sasuke-kun?"
"Hn. I went training."
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He decides to spend the rest of the night drinking at the local bar after everyone's left just because it's a special occasion. Usually he'd have someone to drink with but it seems everyone he knows is either on a mission or have somewhere else to be.
The bartender puts down another round in front of him and he nods in thanks.
This is how Uchiha Sasuke finds him a little ways past midnight. Propped on a bar stool and hunched over the bar counter with one, two, three, four bottles of sake in front of him. Kakashi knew it was him before he could even lift the flap of the bar. He shot the boy a crooked grin when he started walking towards him and in his half-drunk state, Kakashi unwittingly allowed himself to observe the boy.
Over the years after Uchiha Sasuke had gotten back the village Kakashi had only ever looked at the kid—really looked at the kid—twice.
Once was after the war when he first step foot in the village after roughly four years and the last was a year later after his probation ended. There was a little to nothing that changed in that span of time. He came back paler than ever, had gotten thinner and his eyes were each different than the other and he looks pretty much the same after his probation. If he was being honest to himself, Kakashi didn't know what to feel about that.
Now, two years since then, with the dim lighting of the bar casting a silhouette that hid a side of his face, Kakashi could swear, even in his near inebriation, that he could see the changes.
Sasuke still has the same pallor as when he was still a kid but he had gotten taller and looked like he was actually eating more than just onigiri, tomatoes and the occasional ramen. The orange glow of the makeshift lanterns of the bar hits him just right to cast a five o'clock shadow and Kakashi had to admit that the boy is ridiculously attractive that he can't blame Sakura for still blushing every now and then. His hitai ate is slung down over his left eye, the one with the Rinnegan, and he wanted to laugh at the irony.
Sasuke sat at the stool beside his and looked at him ever nonchalant. Kakashi looked up shooting him another crooked grin as he sees more of the changes upfront.
One of his eyes may be hidden but Kakashi could see it all in his uncovered one.
When Sasuke was first reintegrated in the village his eyes were no different than when he was still a kid wanting to avenge his clan. It was too dark, unfocused, filled with unexplainable rage and a little bit lost.
"Why, hello there, Sasuke. Care for a drink?"
But now as he stared down at him with the look of exasperation and a little bit of questioning, Kakashi could see the begrudging fondness behind it as well and despite the perennial scowl seemingly etched on his face right now, Kakashi had seen the familiar smug tilt of his lips every now and then and the occasional scoff when he find Naruto to be doing something stupid.
"It's a little too late to be drinking don't you think?" His tone was disproving but he made no move to stand or stop him from drinking nonetheless.
"Oh, Sasuke it's never too anything to be drinking! Anytime and all the time is the perfect time to be drinking."
There was silence as Kakashi finished his drink. It's not as if he's expecting the Uchiha to start a conversation. That's like expecting Naruto to pay for ramen or Sakura not to punch anything when she's angry. He knew Sasuke isn't one to divulge anything about himself. Hell, he wouldn't even tell his team mates what he did today. Not that he was any better and thus he didn't think it proper to prod when the kid just shrugged at dinner and told them he just went training.
But alas, he did and Kakashi almost spat out his drink.
"I went to see my parents today."
To his credit, Kakashi hid his surprise well and swallowed his beverage before calmly putting the cup down, something Sasuke took to be an indication to continue.
"And then I went to practice my Katon on the lake behind our old house."
Silence settled again after that as they sat side by side. Kakashi motioned for the bartender to bring him another cup. He doesn't fancy himself to be the type but he figured he's as good as the kid is gonna get. It's a long overdue tradition by now anyway.
"My father died when I was very young too." He poured sake on both cups "Shame. Never got the chance to share a drink with him." He handed Sasuke a cup raising his own in a toast before knocking it back.
Sasuke stared at the cup in front of him for a moment before doing the same and reaching out to refill Kakashi's empty one.
A/N: Anyone else excited for SS Month? 'Coz I sure am!