Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
An: Takes place during Shippoudan.
Warning: bad grammar...sorry...
Summary: Kakashi's journey into fatherhood...it's a strange one.
Mid-day Waltz
Chapter 2
The smell of pine sol and the sunlight smacking him in the face was what woke Kakashi. He opened his eye to a brand new apartment, one where the cot was place neatly in the corner, the clothes were picked up off the floor, the door was open and wafting in was the smell of clean linen, breakfast, and fresh air. One glance at his bookshelf and he could see that all his Icha Icha Paradise novels had been organized and placed in order by volume number.
His little house guest had been busy while he was out cold.
When he walked into the kitchen, he leaned against the door frame.
"I need to go to the market," she said without looking at him. She stood on a chair by the stove, staring out the window while she stirred.
Kakashi shrugged. He took a seat and a plate was shoved in front of him filled with buttered toast, sunny-side eggs, and several crispy strips of bacon. It looked good. It smells great. But what are the odds that it was poisoned?
He searched his memory for anything he might have done to her to warrant an attempted murder. He slowly lifted his fork as she turned her back.
He lowered his mask and chewed calmly. He waited several heartbeats. When he didn't keel over, he took that as a good sign and he devoured the rest of breakfast. It had been a while since his last home cooked meal. He involuntary let out a burp as he pulled his mask back up.
His new ward brushed passed him on her way to the door.
"The Hokage gave me a card to help with my living expenses," she said. "Let's go."
Kakashi wasn't given much of a choice.
He was hard press to keep up with her as they strolled into the market. At one point, he had somehow lost her in the crowds. One minute she was by his side and the next she was gone. In the sea of people, it was easy to lose track of a child who only came up to his knees. He had seriously considered summoning Pakkun until he spotted her bright blond hair thirty feet to his left.
She looked physically fine, peering into the barrels of the local fish stall.
In the seconds he took to reach her she had already made her order.
The man behind the counter handed Kakashi the package. "A new student, Kakashi-sensei?"
"Mm? The cousin of my neighbor."
From there it had been rather easy to come up with a story. He placed a fond hand on Temari's head and affectionately preceded to tell the shop owner about Paku (Pakkun should be happy to know that he now had a namesake) and her cousin Jiro, a nin whose mission in Rain took longer than expected, so he wasn't here to complain about Kakashi using his name. Paku was a orphan who recently arrived to stay with the only family she had left. Kakashi was merely a temporary guardian until the single nin returned home.
"That's every generous of you, Kakashi-sensei," the shop owner commented.
Kakashi smiled winningly behind his mask.
"Paku?" she scowled when they walked away.
Kakashi thought that the name suited her rather well.
He whistled innocently.
It was midday when they were finally through with the market. Kakashi's hands were loaded with bags upon bags of groceries, clothes (she point blank told him that she wasn't wearing any of the frilly crap that girls her age wore), and he had the extra burden of carrying a sleeping Temari in the crook of his arm. The trip had exhausted her and he remembered too late that children her age often had naps around that time of day.
He sat the bags down on the kitchen table and carried her to bed.
When she got up from her afternoon nap, bed-head and grumpy expression, Kakashi said nothing. They had reached an unspoken truce by the time they sat down to dinner. They were stuck with one another. They should try to make it as pleasant as possible.
One week passed.
Then two.
Three.
Before he realized it, a month had gone by.
His life hadn't change much in the way he thought it would having a child living with him. Temari of the Sand still remained the same as he remembered. Capable, stubborn, and very much determined to do things on her own. She practically took care of herself and by default she ended up taking care of him as well. She did the laundry. (Kakashi felt slightly guilty, though in his defense, she got to it often before he could). She cleaned. (His apartment has never looked or smelled better). She even cooked. He often found her in the kitchen. Her eighteen-year-old memory had no trouble recalling how to make simple dishes. It wasn't anything gourmet, but it beats having frozen dinner or greasy take out.
His apartment had become a breeding place for other nins who just wanted something homemade to eat.
"You'd make someone a good wife someday, Paku-chan," Gai said boisterously. He and the other jounins had crashed at Kakashi's place for dinner again.
There was a subtle twitch of anger at her temple, but Kakashi was amused to see how she managed to kept her temper in check.
"I hear you're going to start school soon," Kurenai said with a smile.
"Yes." For the sake of their cover story, Kakashi had enrolled her in a genin academy. He could tell by the slight tug of her lips that she wasn't too thrilled.
"Any word from Jiro?" Raido asked between bites.
"Maybe we should send him a message," Genma suggested.
"Already done," Kakashi lied smoothly. "He's going to be in Rain for a little while longer."
"Does that mean Paku will continue to stay with you?" Kurenai asked with furred eyebrows.
Kakashi merely smiled.
"Poor thing," Genma muttered. Everyone tossed Temari a sympathetic look.
Obito snickered and even Rin let out a stiffened chuckle.
"If you need a place to stay, I have a room," Anko grinned. Her smile was very predatory like and he felt, rather than saw, Temari take a step back.
"You just want her for the food," Ibiki rolled his eyes. He reached over and ruffled Temari's hair.
Later that night, they all got roaring drunk.
"I miss that idiot," Genma hiccuped. They were in the 'I'm so drunk I'm starting to reminisce' stage. "Things are so dull around here!"
Everyone agreed.
Nothing was the same without Naruto's crazy antics to keep them entertained.
"Jiraiya's probably got his hand's full," another nin cheered.
They all toasted Naruto.
Their laughter soon gave way to louder hiccups and a sombre mood as they continued to down the saki. They were now in the 'Why does my life suck?' phase and Kakashi's hand was starting to shake slightly.
'I will always love him.'
The Third Hokage's sober image and words came through Kakashi's drunken thoughts.
Kakashi hadn't understood what the Third meant until Sasuke deflected. Just like the third's feeling about Orochimaru, no matter what Sasuke had become, Kakashi will always love the boy. He still considered Sasuke as the son he never had.
What went wrong?
He tried to be a decent teacher. He thought he had been doing the right thing by his students, but somewhere down the line he had screwed up. He had let down Sasuke. He had let down Naruto and Sakura. He was suppose to be a freaking genius, right? How the hell did he go so wrong?
Kakashi was grateful when a wobbly Izumo refilled his glass.
What would Sakura say if she saw him now? His third, admittedly his favorite, student was all he had left.
'You've had enough,' Rin said carefully.
Small hands took the glass away from him.
Before he mercifully passed out, he caught sight of Temari's disapproving look as she glared at all the swaying, tipsy jounins.