Dog Days of Summer
A/N: I'm experimenting with writing Kakashi at different ages/stages of life, and familiarizing myself with writing other characters within his immediate orbit. I wrote this informal scenario this afternoon and thought it was cute and fun enough to share :)
I don't own these characters, I had a wonderful time exploring them.
"I can explain, Lord Third."
The tired sigh of a patient man alleviates some of the tension in the very silent, very crowded, and very hot Hokage's office. The dog days of summer are always brutal in Konoha, and the lack of air conditioning in the Hokage Tower only makes this situation worse. The village leader is impressed by the jounin sensei's ability to diffuse the situation when the mood of the room settles into a calmer sort of silence.
Then a boy snickers.
"You are in SO much trouble Bakashi!" His whisper is louder than a Yamanaka with new gossip. The delighted dark-haired boy lifts his goggles to apply drops to his eyes so that he can see clearly. He doesn't want to miss a moment of this.
A sullen, silver-haired youth glares kunai at the other boy, but his grey eyes dull with worry when he looks to his sensei, and then to the floor.
"Rin, would you mind taking the boys and waiting just outside the office for me?" The jounin sensei appeals to RIn (the peacemaker of the three) and isn't disappointed when she nods at him. "Sure Minato-sensei. Come on, you two." She loops her arms in the arms of her troublesome teammates and drags them out the door.
Once they're in the waiting area, Rin turns to the chunin on her team. "Don't worry Kakashi, I'm sure sensei can smooth things over." It makes her heart hurt to see her crush seeming so apprehensive.
Kakashi bristles, saying, "I'm not worried and I'm not going to apologize." He sticks his nose in the air to prove how little he's bothered by this.
But he is bothered by this and both of his comrades know it. One of them is less sympathetic than the other and having far too much fun tormenting his rival. "I've never seen anyone look so angry." The dark-haired genin isn't even trying to hold his laughter in.
"Obito!" Rin stomps her foot, a rare display of short-temperedness, scolding him out of his mirth. "It's just too hot to listen to you two bicker. I'll get us some water."
Without the medic-nin-in-training around, Obito loses his audience and some of his bravado dissipates.
"It's because of the heat that the Daimyo's daughter didn't want to ride here in the palanquin. I guess that car has air conditioning. Or I should say, had."
Kakashi is far too interested in something on the ceiling to be a part of this conversation.
Obito ignores the fact that Kakashi is ignoring him. "I've never even seen a real car before, have you? I've only seen pictures of them in magazines. It's crazy how fast they can go."
"They're not faster than Minato-sensei." Kakashi is impressed by few things and even fewer people, but the Yellow Flash has his respect. Truth be told, what worries the silver-haired boy the most right now, is that he may have disappointed his sensei.
"I know that, Bakashi! All I'm saying is, is that it was kinda neat y'know? That is, before you, well, totally destroyed it. What the hell was that anyway? I've never seen you do that, um, that crazy-zappity-zap-jutsu before…" Obito trails off seeing the genuine look of distress in the other boy's eyes.
"You know what? I'll just go see if Rin needs help carrying the water for us. We'll get a bottle for sensei, too. I'm sure he'll want it after dealing with...y'know." Obito starts to leave before he can make things worse, but stops after a few steps and without turning to his teammate offers, "You went overboard, but I think you did the right thing." And he takes off after Rin.
Kakashi is left alone just long enough to pull his mask down to wipe away the sweat that's gathered there. "Hey Boss," a pug appears at an open window in the waiting area.
"Yo, Pakkun. Any luck?" The young chunin slips the mask back up, hoping his favorite summons has some good news for him.
"Yeah, we found him. Poor guy was so thirsty we just brought him to the river to drink his fill. It was a close call, but he's resting now and it seems he'll be ok."
The grey-eyed boy is visibly relieved at this. "Good, well, try to bring him back here as soon as you can so he can be returned."
Pakkun sits down at his master's feet and stares up at him with the biggest, tear-filled pug eyes he can muster.
"What?!" Kakashi is in no mood to deal with "the look".
"Well Boss, it's just that the boys and me, we don't think he should go back. Anyone who would do that to someone they call family-" he cuts himself off at the sound of movement coming from the other side of the Hokage's office door.
"Ok, ok, we'll talk about it later. Just take care of him for now." The chunin urges the pug to leave.
"Thanks, Boss. We're proud of you. The whole pack is behind you on this." Pakkun reassures Kakashi as he leaps out the window.
Before the boy could allow the ninken's praise to soak in, the Hokage's office door opens, and the Daimyo's daughter prances out. She looks at the boy and sneers "You've made quite an expensive mistake. That car cost more than you'll probably earn in five years."
The grey-eyed boy glares kunai at her, too and this time, his eyes didn't waver.
"And here I thought you were supposed to be a genius." The Daimyo's daughter stalks off and the silver-haired boy was only too happy to see the back of her.
"Kakashi." The boy turns around at the gentle voice of his sensei, as he exits the office.
"Minato-sensei, I'm sorry if I've let you down, but I'm not sorry for what I've done. How could that, that…how could she leave her dog in the car when it's so hot? I mean, it could've died in this heat and I-" Kakashi rushes to get the worst over with.
"Calm down, Kakashi. You acted rashly, but your heart was in the right place. For that, I'm proud of you." Minato gives the most important reassurance he could to the boy, first.
"Lord Third agrees, so, he's willing to be lenient. Because you're a chunin, the incident will have to be documented." Kakashi winces at this. "But because you're still a minor, this won't go on your permanent shinobi record. The village will reimburse the Daimyo for the car, and Lord Third will summon you to discuss how you can reimburse the village, gradually." Minato finishes, feeling relief radiating off his young silver-haired student.
"Was that the new jutsu you've been working on?"
"Yes, sensei. But, I haven't mastered it, yet."
"You cut a car in half is what you did."
Kakashi isn't sure if he should feel ashamed, or proud of himself. To be fair, Minato isn't sure if he's chastising or praising. He continues with what he is certain of. "Don't use that jutsu again until we've had a chance to work on it together a little bit, ok?"
"Ok. Thank you, Minato-sensei."
The End