-"Kirimi...", I whispered slowly into her shuddering ears, tinted like roses in the sweet moonlight. Her eyes caught me like a moth to flame, oh I couldn't help myself when she drew me in with an answering gasp of -

Kakashi leaned into the kick whistling by his face, letting the breeze of its passing turn the page. He nodded slightly in thanks, spinning around and booting the genin in the small of the back as he landed and sending him sprawling onto the dirt. Middlechild hacked a little as he ate shit, and scrambled away from Kakashi's stompy-stompy boots that he'd specially changed into 30 seconds after they'd decided to take his test.

Kakashi leaned back a little, flexing the arm tight against his back to keep the blood flowing.

He'd tied one arm behind his back and the other, well...

Kakashi giggled a little.

That one was preoccupied.

Besides, he still wasn't sure if this was a good idea, and handicapping himself seemed to be the only way to avoid accidentally murdering the little shits. Reminded him that this was voluntary and damnit he needed to control himself.

He would not suffer the indignancy of writing a report on why he shouldn't have killed them and the steps he could've taken to avoid it.

A report. Sometimes he wondered who the schoolchildren of this relationship would be. They took nice long dirt naps while he put labor in. A turning of tables he did not appreciate.

Better not to kill them.

Girlie swung big and missed, kunai going wide. He popped a squat and chambered one leg up, wholly balanced on one side, before whipping a foot out. He felt her chakra-enhanced ribs flex with the impact as she coughed wetly before crumpling.

-slid the ricepaper door shut behind me while Kirimi slumbered within. I'd not have her see me leave, her auburn eyes risked pulling me back even when shut 10 feet behind a closed door. I was too wise to my own ways, and I wouldn't lie to myself, not now. I was growing too attached, dangerously captivated, and I couldn't risk-

Kakashi popped up, spinning on the foot his weight was on and ramming his heel into Middie's face as he ran up behind Kakashi. He went down as quietly as he ran up, gritting his teeth as Kakashi leaned over him. Mid-boy's eyes were leaking a little, as he refused to clutch his nose or do anything but glare angrily.

How banal.

Probably about time for them to-

"Switch!" Middleboy wheezed, slowly crawling away as Tallboy hopped down from the trees. Tallboy'd forgotten to warm up after his little break, and it showed in how stiffly he carried himself, wincing as shock ran up aching ankles. Tallboy began circulating Chakra immediately however, easing the tension, and Kakashi nodded in approval.

Shame he wouldn't get to finish.

He looked up, ready to fight anew, right in time to take Kakashi's flying knee to the nose. This one was a screamer apparently, whirling around in the dirt and howling his pleas to heaven.

Kakashi hummed. He had told them that the exercise would begin with two of them, and the third could come in whenever he felt was good.

They'd adopted a switch-in method. One would rest while watching the others be beaten into the dirt. No initiative at all. No matter how brutal, the one in the trees would wait until the call of "switch!" occurred.

This was already the third or fourth time they'd switched, and they only grew more and more fearful of the call. Soon, that fear would turn to resentment, and they would truly fall apart. Already he saw them judging each other, tabulating the beatings and casting judgement. Finding each other wanting.

My, and they called him brutal.

Girlie looked hesitant to jump in, and Kakashi could only shrug. They'd never get anywhere like this.

"Remember," he advised her. "One hit. We stop as soon as you land one hit, and no sooner."

Endure

Girlie trembled, and Kakashi felt his eye crease in mirth.

Ahhh, to afford cowardice again. Youth really was wasted on the trash.

Kakashi looked up. Time was passing quickly. He hummed and considered giving them a hint, before discarding it.

-"We can't do this Michiko." I pushed her away, gently, carefully, as she caressed my arms. Long brown hair whipped around, and her fetchingly angular face curved deeper towards mine.

"We can," she whispered, and I trembled. Sea green eyes met mine, and the only thing preventing me from falling in deeper was memories of Amber.

She took my weakness for acceptance, and slowly, her hand trailed lower, leaving trails of heat whenever her porcelain hands brushed -

Talls finally managed to suppress his weakness, and went for Kakashi's ankles, conveniently placed juuust within arms reach. Kakashi took great pleasure in stepping on those naughty little reaching fingers, all grubby with dirt and disappointment.

No no no, off the good pants.

Kakashi waggled one of the fingers holding onto his book, mockingly warning the morose child away. A look into his determined eyes told Kakashi to expect something, and sure enough Tallboy's other hand that he'd buried under his back shot up, clouds of dirt spraying, with a kunai clutched in his fingers.

Kakashi leaned back, slamming one foot onto the boys gut hard enough to make him let go of the blade, and put weight on it. Kakashi continued leaning back, minding his bound arm and going nearly horizontal to the ground, other knee brought up, and foot perpendicular to the knife.

And then he caught it between his big and second toes, and rammed it, pommel down, straight back onto the boy's face.

He smoothly spun off Biggs, standing up straight, and watching him vomit onto the dirt.

Kakashi was fucking insulted. He was not that heavy. He was a pleasant, moderate weight, and as a pleasant, moderate man that suited him just fine.

-her breath was still hot on my skin, even hours later. The ripples moonlight played across her bare skin, and I could help but watch it pool about her, flow like her hair down her body and across her thighs, down her feet to the lake spreading about her as night slowly turned to day.

I had not slept, for I could have watched her for eternity and a day, and never felt tired again. She'd caught me, firmly, deeply, and I couldn't even work up the effort to wiggle free, for every time I tried just worked my way a little deeper into her embrace -

Girlie finally seemed to sack up, and threw some shuriken.

Some shuriken. Kakashi didn't even bother moving, watching the disks move through the air a couple feet to his left, where she thought he would be.

A couple feet. A couple feet?! Who did they think he was, Asuma?!

Kakashi showed her exactly how far he could move with a moments warning, when he rocketed towards her, shattering the ground under his feet. Her scream of shock was cut off with a shoulder-led body blow that took her out.

"Switch!" Tallboy howled.

Was this how to teach the children? Kakashi couldn't really tell. He didn't really know.

Middie trembled as he climbed down from the tree. Good, he learned from Tallboy and had warmed up. Kakashi welcomed him with a grin and the threat of immediate violence to follow.

Eyes narrowed, Middie slowly reached behind him.

Kakashi, bored, allowed him to.

Three more shuriken spun through the air, and this time something else followed.

It felt less like the smooth threads working their way into his mind that Kurenai used, and more like a toddler slapping him where it thought his head was and getting him in the ear instead. A clumsy, unintuitive working that slowly made its way into his head and tried to convince him that Middlechild had begun running to the left. Basic, rudimentary, inefficient and worst of all, criminally criminally obvious.

He flexed his chakra and seized the clumsy feelers, deciding not to snap them after a moment's consideration. Instead, he gently tugged them. Mids wasn't good enough to tell the difference between the genjutsu taking hold and his little fakeout - a common trick among jounin to feel out experts from dabblers.

The threads themselves were quite firm however. Not bad, he hadn't anticipated something like that, the kid had some decent focus.

Kakashi played along, circling the other way from the illusion, ending up right beside the kid. He was waiting, tense with anticipation, and the second Kakashi was close enough to him, he drew his kunai with no hesitation and stabbed out.

Having seized the genjutsu threads and wound them into a different genjutsu, feeding it right back into the child's psyche, Kakashi slowly watched the kunai sail past two feet to his left.

For one beautiful moment, Middlechild had no idea what was going on, before his eyes behind his glasses widened in sudden fear.

Too late, Kakashi cackled and nailed him in the plexus with a casually outstretched leg.

He went down like a sack of shit.

Kakashi grinned. Now that the implicit seal on Jutsu had been broken, he could really have some fun.