Published: 3/3/2015


Suzu: Summer Shenanigans

"This is interesting," Kakashi says. From him, this means a lot, so I scoot over to his end of the couch to see what he's looking at.

"A photo album?" I smile when I see the blue cover. "Did you find something?"

Given the amount of children to have passed through this household, there are far too many pictures for any of us except perhaps Auntie to be completely familiar with. I look curiously at the photo in the top right corner, which he seems to be fixed on. A young girl in a sundress is smiling over her shoulder, a matching hat with a long pink ribbon on her head. Long blond hair swishes at her waist, blowing in a light spring breeze.

"Oh, I know this one," I say in recognition, blinking with surprise. What were the odds of him picking that one, of all pictures?

"Your face hasn't changed as much as I would have expected," he tells me, head tilted as he examines the photograph. "I didn't know you wore these kinds of outfits."

"Well, it's kind of fun to dress up like that on occasion, since kunoichi don't get the chance to look pretty when they're working a lot," I reply. "Auntie likes to take us shopping for dresses every now and then, if there's money. My mom really liked this kind of style—apparently this was one of her favorite pictures, even when she had gotten older."

Kakashi goes rigid. Single eye wide, he turns his head slowly to look at me.

"Oh, it's Kazue!" Auntie Reiko exclaims, delighted, as she drops in out of nowhere behind us. "I remember taking this picture. We were so young back then… She was the prettiest girl of our generation, so I was always jealous." She grins and lifts the album from our laps, flipping it around and holding it up next to my head. "Don't they look completely identical?" she asks my teammate cheerfully. "Suzu is beautiful just like this when she bothers to clean up, you know."

I roll my eyes as Kakashi gapes at us with his jaw hanging. "It's not a ninja's job to be pretty, you know," I point out. "Dirt is unavoidable in this profession."

"Don't be like that," Auntie chides, cuffing me on the ear. "Kazue was lovely and graceful even on the battlefield. If only she'd passed the disposition on to you!"

"Want us to change?" Chiharu asks, popping her head over the stairwell. "We still haven't worn those outfits you got for us in the spring. We could put on a fashion show for Kakashi-san," she adds, grinning impishly.

"I—" Kakashi immediately holds up his hands, but is prevented from speaking as a small blur with blond pigtails shoots past us and up the stairs. Auntie bursts out laughing.

"I think Haruka means dress up and seduce you, Kakashi-kun," she teases him, poking his shoulder. "My, she's really taken to you. I thought she'd lose interest a week or so after declaring her intentions, but she's really kept at it!"

Kakashi looks like he wants to crawl under a rock and die. Well, I muse, I would probably be the same if my teammate's baby cousin proposed marriage to me.

"I'll go change then," I offer, standing up to spare him a few minutes of embarrassment in my presence.

"Wait, don't—" Kakashi protests, flustered.

"OOH! Hairdressing time!" Heiwako interrupts, throwing her arms over my shoulders. "Good! I've been meaning to get my hands on your hair, Suzu—look at how long it's gotten, there's so much I can do with it now…"

"Don't try fighting it, Kakashi-kun," I hear Uncle Souhei advise as my cousin pushes me up the stairs. "You'll find the women of this household are a force best left unopposed."


Twenty minutes later sees a parade of giggling orphan girls descending the stairs, ribbons in their hair and skirts swishing at their knees. I'm honestly pretty happy to play along—back in my old life, I'd never really done this sort of thing, despite the fact that it suited my secret vanity very well. I may or may not have given a few extra twirls on the way down.

Jin catcalls, grinning mischievously, and earns a smack on the back of his head for his troubles. Akira and Tenrou immediately crack up laughing.

"Am I pretty, 'Kashi-niichan?" Haruka asks, immediately bouncing over to Kakashi and dropping a little curtsy, lifting the ends of her blue skirt. For someone with only a quarter of his face exposed, I observe, Kakashi can put on an impressive blush.

"You are very pretty, sweetheart," Uncle Souhei murmurs when Haruka begins to sniffle at the lack of response, lifting her up and setting her chin on his shoulder. He meets Kakashi's eye and gives him a wry smile.

"How about the rest of us?" Chiharu demands, hands on her hips. She spins around and strikes and expectant pose.

"Gorgeous," our uncle replies, deadpan. Auntie Reiko smacks his arm before looking over the group of us and smiling.

"You're all so beautiful," she sighs, making us beam. "You almost make me think your mother's alive, Suzu," she adds wistfully, giving me a longing look.

"Does that make me the most beautiful of all, then?" I ask innocently, to the protest of my sisters. "You did say she was the prettiest of your generation."

"I did, didn't I?" Auntie laughs. "Oh, I despised her when we were children. She was my love rival, you know."

"She was not." Uncle immediately scowls. "I told you, I never liked Kazue. I only talked to her because she was Yasu's best friend."

"Sorry, Kakashi," I say as the room descends into noisy bickering. "We're all pretty rambunctious, I suppose. Don't mind the teasing. They do it all the time."

"I know," Kakashi sighs, putting his palms on his face. For a moment, we both stand in silence. Then he mumbles something through his hands.

"Pardon me?" I ask, raising an eyebrow. He jerks his head away, crossing his arms. I wait patiently, giving him my best and most unnerving stare.

"...You look nice," he finally mutters, sour.

I laugh. "Thanks, Kakashi."

"Suzu and Kakashi, sitting in a tree!" Jin suddenly crows over the noise. "K-I-S-S-I—"

"Shut up, Jinta!" A slipper goes flying for his head. Things only degenerate from there, and soon the boys are wrestling on the floor, with Chiharu charging in with one of the couch pillows and beating them over the backs of their heads.

"—I told you, it was White Day, and she gave me chocolate the month before," Uncle Souhei argued. "I couldn't very well not repay her—"

"It's your fault for accepting chocolate from her in the first place!" Auntie Reiko accused. "What kind of excuse—"

"This place is pure chaos," Kakashi groans, slumping.

"Isn't it?" I agree, unable to keep the warm smile from my face.


A/N: White Day, for those of you who don't know, is one month after Valentine's Day, where the men give gifts to the girls who gave them chocolate.

Anyway, thought we could use something light-hearted, so I just slapped this together and threw it up. It came to me as I was writing the next (21st) chapter, so you'll probably get more context for its time window soon.

Enjoy your Kakasuzu ship tease.