Little Red Riding Brat asked about Naruto's turn. So here's it! I couldn't help myself.
And there's another small request from a Guest, so that's coming next. Though I don't know yet if I'll add that one as a chapter or as a new story.
Anyway, please have this other chapter with more tiny cute grammatical errors.
Thank you to rosyhatake, Chan, Little Red Riding Brat and Guest for the reviews!
He woke up to yelling.
Opening his eyes was painful, even though he was surrounded by darkness. The first thing he was aware of was the dull and throbbing ache in his temples, which started to intensify as the screaming behind his door gradually rose. Then he realized that he wasn't in the kitchen anymore, and that apparently his precious genin had teamed up to tuck him into his futon.
However, the warmth he felt in his chest was significantly overshadowed by the sudden murderous need that invaded him. He'd imagined that they would eventually start to misbehave again, but he hadn't expected it to be that soon. He didn't even understand from where they were getting their energy to cause trouble. They'd been out like lights that very same morning, there was no way they could be recovered after so little sleep.
Or maybe Kakashi was just old. He didn't know anymore. He couldn't bring himself to care, actually. All he needed in that moment was to get them to shut up, so he rose to his feet and went directly to the door. He made sure to slide it open with enough force to make noise, hoping that his students would hear him and get unsettled enough to stop their bickering, but the level of the voices only increased.
Normally he'd have bothered into hearing what they were arguing about in order to carefully plan his lecture. That night, though, Kakashi just couldn't gather enough patience. Not with the killer headache that was starting to overwhelm him. He could only notice that the discussion was mainly between Sasuke and Naruto, like all the damn time, and that Sakura was trying to get them to stop.
"Why don't you just go away, loser?"
"Me? I'm not the reason why we must spend an entire week doing nothing. You go away, you bastard!"
"Sakura can't do missions either, idiot. And you'd still be drooling and babbling bullshit if it weren't for your weird healing abilities."
"I wouldn't even have gotten that concussion if you weren't such an idiotic asshole, you—"
"—And, even though you're not injured, you're just always too stupid to be useful. So just go and get lost. Find some other team to bother with your uselessness."
"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura's shriek made Kakashi take a decision.
He stormed into the living room without bothering into keeping his annoyance from showing in his frowning face. Then he strode directly to where Sasuke stood and firmly took him by his arm, not missing the way the boy flinched and how his eyes grew larger as he realized in how much trouble he'd just gotten himself into.
"Medicine, Sasuke," He ordered, narrowing his eyes as he looked at him. Daring him to try and talk back. "Now."
A shuddering breath left his student's lips, and he went so pale that Kakashi ran out of words for a few seconds. He just stared back at Sasuke's panicked eyes, feeling a small pang of guilt in his stomach at realizing how unwise that move had been.
The irritation started to fade slowly, and to get replaced by nervousness. Using the excuse of medicine as a punishment was unacceptable. Particularly in Sasuke's case. But he'd decided to let himself be guided by the annoyance, and now he wouldn't be able to give Sasuke his pain medication without making it look like he truly thought he deserved to go through that suffering.
He was still trying to find a way to get the almost hyperventilating boy at his side to calm down when he noticed it.
The mocking laughter.
Kakashi was stunned by it that for a second, and then he tried to convince himself that he was misinterpreting it. That Naruto was probably just being silly about the situation, about the stupid mistake his sensei had just made. Not laughing of his teammate.
When he lifted his gaze, however, he was proved right about his first impression.
"Serves you right, bastard," Naruto snorted, eyes shining with such an arrogance that Kakashi felt his blood starting to burn again beneath his skin. "Look at you. Not feeling so presumptuous when it's about something as little as a needle, heh?"
"Naruto," Kakashi warned, voice threateningly low, but the boy didn't seem to care.
"You can say what you want, but that doesn't change the fact that you're this team's biggest nuisance right now," Naruto continued. "And because of your own fault, you self-centered idiot. You even got punished because of that. Like a little brat."
"Naruto, I swear," Kakashi hissed. "One more word and—"
"Now go and cry like the scared crybaby you are."
That was it.
Kakashi didn't even give Naruto the opportunity to blink before he was suddenly at his side, grabbing his arm with a roughness that made the boy whine. He barely managed to oblige himself to loosen his grip a little, thanks to the tiny voice of his common sense that was trying to get to him over the increasing anger and headache.
Then he forced Naruto to turn around and brought his hand down, hard, on his backside.
"Enough!" Kakashi's voice boomed, with a tone much louder than the one he usually used to reprimand his students. A shiver ran down Naruto's spine, the tiny hairs at the nape of his neck visibly standing up. Then a heavy silence fell over the entire room, and Kakashi forced himself to take three deep breaths before striding to the sofa and yanking Naruto with him, none too gently.
"I can guarantee you, Naruto," Kakashi said, sitting down and not giving the boy a chance to protest before throwing him over his knee with another yank. "That there won't be only one person crying this night."
"Wait, Kakashi-sensei, I—" Naruto desperately tried to get back up, squirming and kicking and looking back at Kakashi with wide, panicked eyes. He wasn't nearly as stupid as he sometimes tried to make it seem. He evidently understood how bad he'd fucked up. "—I-I didn't mean it like that. I can explain it. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
"Each second I count in which you don't stop moving will earn you one more slap," Kakashi calmly informed. "One. Two. Three. Four."
He was purposely counting faster than seconds, so it did the trick perfectly. Naruto whimpered and finally lay still just as Kakashi counted to six, entire body shivering. It was clearly not the first time he was in that position. Unlike Sakura, who'd made known how authentically and deeply sorry she was from the very beginning of the punishment, Naruto was using empty apologies only to try and get away with no consequences.
Kakashi wasn't going to have any of it.
"Then I'll make you sorrier," He said, taking his time to take his right glove off. "You know the rules. Being an asshole to your own teammates. Will. Not. Be. Tolerated. Reflect on that for the next five minutes, I'll give you a hand."
"No. No, no, no, please, sensei, no— "
Kakashi delivered two swift smacks, interrupting him and making him yelp.
"Now. That's not a good place to start," He said, while pinning Naruto's legs down with his own when the boy started to squirm again. "Let's start with this: why, in the name of all the honorable Founders of this village, did you think that it would be funny to make fun of your teammate's need for medicament?"
"Because he was being an idiot, sensei! He was the one who started this fight and—" Naruto yelled once again and desperately kicked his feet when Kakashi's hand came down another five times, on the very same spot.
"Wrong answer," Kakashi said, and forced himself to ignore the small sniffs he obtained as an answer. "There's no valid argument to justify going against your friends on sensitive matters. Do you understand? I don't care if the world is ending. You just don't do it at all, Naruto. I'm so disappointed in you."
He heard the first sob. Whether it was because of his words or because of how he gradually picked up his pace to entirely cover his student's behind with his slaps, he couldn't tell. Though he suspected it was the first. Naruto surely had taken worse from Iruka at some point.
"I keep telling you three the same thing over and over again, but it's like you never learn the lesson," Kakashi continued, starting to give attention to Naruto's thighs. The sobbing intensified, along with the insistent pang in his head that was starting to make feel a little nauseous. "You need each other. There's nothing more valuable than the bond that exists within the members of a team. If you break that, then you're lost. Dead."
He stopped for a second when he noticed the redness of Naruto's neck, and the way his shoulders heaved while he silently wept with his face pressed against one of the cushions of the sofa. Tiny black dots danced in front of his eyes, and he had to rub his temples.
"I hate doing this, Naruto," Kakashi admitted. "Your teammates hate seeing you like this. Please, just don't do it ever again."
Naruto nodded weakly between sobs that were starting to interfere with his breathing. Kakashi had intended to talk to him about the stupidity of hitting someone with his own head while having a mild concussion, but the pain was starting to get almost unbearable. Both in his head and in his chest.
He didn't even bother into adding the six last slaps he'd promised. He only put one hand on the shoulder of his now-truly-sorry genin and felt afflicted when Naruto flinched under his touch at first. But then the boy seemed to get the message and lost no time before clumsily getting up and throwing himself at his sensei's arms.
"I-I am, so— so, so sorr—" Naruto babbled, incoherently, while pressing his teary face against his sensei's shoulders. He was trembling so much Kakashi couldn't help feeling a little worried. "So-sorry. Very. A lot—"
Kakashi shushed him softly, whispering that he'd already been forgiven, and that made the boy cry even harder. Though he'd absolutely expected Naruto to be a crier, especially when the lesson was about taking care of his very precious teammates, he certainly hadn't expected so many tears.
Could teenagers die from dehydration from crying? If Sasuke had been the one crying that much, Kakashi wouldn't have doubted for a second on taking him back to the hospital for another IV. The shoulder of his uniform was now damp.
And, even though he was holding Naruto as tight as he could against him, the boy was still attempting to press even closer. Which hurt a little. Kakashi didn't manage to convince him of stopping until he started running his hand up and down his back, while purposely taking deep breaths in an attempt to get Naruto to imitate him.
It took some good five minutes before the crying finally ceased, and then Kakashi could finally let himself relax. He kept caressing Naruto's back, though. There was something in the way he clung to him that gave him the impression that Naruto was in desperate need for affection. And he was going to deliver.
"Sasuke told me that it was my fault he got hurt that day," Naruto whispered, taking Kakashi by surprise.
"What?" Kakashi said, lifting his gaze to meet Sasuke's. His face had regained the color, but the boy avoided his eyes by looking the other way. Kakashi would've gotten angry if not for how distraught Sasuke suddenly looked. "Is that true, Sasuke?"
"No. I didn't say that," Sasuke muttered, crossing his arms over his chest. He usually made that out of arrogance. But that day it seemed almost like he was trying to hide. "He was just being so annoying and complaining about not being able to take missions for a week. He wanted to blame me."
"But you did insinuate that it had been Naruto's fault," Kakashi guessed, and knew he was right when he saw Sasuke lower his head and bite his lower lip. He sighed. "That's why Naruto got so upset and acted like an idiot."
"I didn't know he would react like that."
"Sasuke."
The slightest reproving tone was enough to make the boy shudder and stay quiet. It didn't draw an apology from him, but this was Sasuke. He didn't go around delivering apologies. Kakashi would've demanded one if he didn't know how anxious his student was already feeling.
"Naruto," He whispered, noticing that he had now closed his eyes. "I still need to inject Sasuke. You can't fall asleep on me. I need you to get up for some minutes, okay?"
"Not fair," Naruto complained, sniffing. "You made me cry first, sensei."
Kakashi chuckled while he gently nudged him to stand.
"Now, that's no one's fault but yours."
Naruto finally obeyed and grumpily dragged himself out of the couch. To Kakashi's surprise, that was almost like an invitation for Sasuke to get closer to him. He didn't walk straight to where he was sitting but roamed near the sofa like he was a tiny moon gravitating towards its planet. All of that with his eyes still glued to the floor, making his shame quite obvious.
Kakashi patiently waited for Naruto and Sakura to leave the room before catching Sasuke's wrist and gently tugging him closer. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't shocked when Sasuke decided for draping himself over his lap, without Kakashi having to nudge him or restrain him or order him anything at all. Then he also unbuttoned his pants and tried to pull them down, but by then his hands were shaking so much that Kakashi just had to stop him.
"I'll do it," He said, running a hand through Sasuke's hair to put it away from his face and passingly caressing his cheek. That persuaded Sasuke of finally meeting his eyes. "You do know that Naruto didn't mean what he said, right? He was crying so much because he felt guilty."
"He was crying so much because you were scorching his ass," Sasuke pointed out, frowning. Kakashi chided him by tugging one strand of his hair with no actual force.
"You know it's not like that," Kakashi said, and then he rummaged in his pouch until he found one of the syringes. "How's your neck feeling?"
"Why are you asking me if that won't change the fact, you'll be sticking that damn needle in me?" Sasuke complained, and Kakashi could hear a pout in his voice.
"It comforts me to be aware of the dramatic difference before and after the medicine," Kakashi explained, pulling Sasuke's pants down and then his boxers. He inevitably flinched when he noticed there was a bruise. Then he cursed for himself. "I gave you a bruise the last time, Sasuke. Why didn't you tell me? A nurse should be doing this."
"I hate nurses," Sasuke mumbled.
Kakashi was about to chide him when he realized that by that Sasuke actually meant «I don't want anyone else than you to do it»
"I need you to relax," He almost pleaded, while swabbing Sasuke's skin with the alcohol wipe as far as he could from the bruise. Then he uncapped the syringe and held it in position, though he concentrated on massaging Sasuke's shoulders with his free hand first. His student had already started to tremble. "I'll prepare tomato soup just for you tomorrow. How does that sound?"
Sasuke's muscles relaxed for a second, and Kakashi took that opportunity to press the needle in as gently as he could. Sasuke whimpered, but it was nothing compared to the usual cry he usually let out. Then Kakashi started emptying the syringe, and Sasuke clenched again and the usual sobbing started. Kakashi really tried to comfort him, hard, but it was of no use until he finally took the needle out.
Then he pressed the wipe against the puncture for a few seconds before pulling Sasuke's clothes back into place. He hadn't even rebuttoned Sasuke's pants when the boy was already scrambling onto his lap and hiding his face in the crook of his neck. Kakashi could only whisper sweet nothings against the crown of his head while tracing small figures with his fingers on his back like he'd done with Naruto, patiently waiting for him to fall asleep.
A few minutes after he finally did, Naruto and Sakura entered back into the living room carrying a cup of tea. They gave it to him, and then they curled up against him too and promptly fell asleep, without saying much. It was after the first sip of tea that Kakashi realized it had some medicinal herbs in it, for the pain.
He pressed a loud kiss against Sakura's wide, charming forehead as soon as he did. Even though it was a little hard with Sasuke in his lap. She was always so observing, so smart. Kakashi didn't deserve her. Except perhaps he did, after having to deal with all of their antics.
He allowed himself to close his eyes, once more, and hoped that this time he'd put his foot down firm enough not to have any more trouble soon.