A/N: sooo, I've been gone for a while (understatement of the YEAR) and now i'm back! YAY! i know this is a super dupper short chapter, like just a tick over a thousand words, a... mini chapter if you will. but the thing is is i've been feeling REALLY guilty for not updating and i'm going on a sweet little vacay to SoCal tomarrow and I had to give you all SOMETHING. so i gave you this. It's actually part of a much bigger scene i am near to complete in hammering out that i see as a sort of turning point in the story and a bit of funny for us all. well, on with the chapter!

Ceri

I do not own Naruto.

It was another routine day of what had become Kakashi's new routine. Brightly colored toys consisting of play kunai and shuriken, shinobi action figures, legos, a mister ninja potato head, and— oddly enough— a fox plushy he swore stared at him (little bastard gave him the willies) lay scattered across the wood floor of his spartan apartment. Jumbled amongst the toys was a coloring book, a box of abused crayons and one giant story book he was supposed to help the kid read.

Che. Fat chance of that happening. Brat could learn to read on his own damn time. It's what he had to do. Besides, it built character.

Despite all of Kakashi's bitching, he really didn't mind Naruto being there. Sure it was annoying and irritating to an extent, considering the fact that the silver-haired man had always been one for his solitude, but he could get over that. It was time he started learning how to interact with the munchkin. He knew that bastard Hokage (meant in the most respectable sense of the word) was planning on giving him a gennin squad eventually.

Either that or his paranoia was really starting to kick in.

Anyways, back on topic, Kakashi had gotten extremely used to Chizuru using him as a brat dumping spot when she got called in unplanned to the hospital while the daycare was being renovated and for a man (hey, just because he'd been a late bloomer didn't mean anything) who had trouble (understatement of a lifetime) accepting remotely any form of personal change, he saw this as a huge accomplishment in his personal growth.

The first time he had awoken to the sound of hectic banging on his door he had thought that Konoha, in its current still slightly weakened state, had come under attack. That or his landlady was there to demand his marginally late rent again.

So imagine his inwardly projected surprise (HA. He was NINJA. Master of hidden emotions) when he had opened his door to the sight of a slightly disheveled medic-nin in training toting a bundle of what appeared to be on further inspection a giddy Naruto dressed half-hazardly in a light blue Tee-shirt decorated with the Leaf Village emblem at the center, brown short-pants the ended just below his knees and a pair of eye-bleedingly bright orange sandals. Wrapped in his arm and clutched to his chest was some sort of drinking device with a weird spout-like lid that contained an orange shaded substance.

On his tiny little back was what suspiciously looked like an orange and green backpack.

"I need you to baby-sit Naruto for me."

Well that certainly put the piss in his lemonade.

"Hn?" was the only intelligent answer he could give.

"I have to go into work for an emergency and I have no one to watch him right now." Her words came out in a rush as though she had had to force them out before her mind could stop her.

Kakashi thought about it for a nanomoment, his quick mind flashing through his options as he continued to stare lazily at the harried girl before him. One, he could say no, smile cheerfully, say have a nice day, and slam the door in her face. Something a little more than half of his mind was not ashamed to be rooting for. Two, he could smile, grit his teeth, spread his arms wide in welcome and cry out, 'sure, why not, I have no life.' About half of what was left of his brain wanted that.

Hmm…

Sigh.

He hated being such a nice guy.

"Aa."

And that's how he ended up the way he was now: Baby-sitting the little blond pinball about twice a week ranging from early morning to anytime in the afternoon. Due to this finicky schedule, Kakashi found himself missing out on some prime pub time with his buddies that he was sure they were getting suspicious about. That wouldn't normally be a big deal, seeing as he really didn't give a rat's ass whether or not he missed a day or two seeing them except that he REALLY didn't want them showing up at his apartment anytime soon demanding he tell them why he wasn't showing up. Stupid nancies were worse then mother hens and nosier than the old lady next-door. Especially Gai and Genma. Gai, being the thick-skulled mommy's boy he was, would just want to know if anything was wrong but Genma…Genma would want to know the who what where when and why's.

And then he would turn his seemingly innocent and virtually unmotivated assistance of his neighbor into something perverted.

The fact that he read pornographic novels every day was beside the point.

Kakashi shook his silver haired head to dispel the thoughts of his dirty-minded friend. Never mind him. Trying to understand the slightly older Shinobi would take time and energy the currently baby-sitting copy ninja was too lazy to expend.

Naruto was taking a nap on his narrow bed having been stuffed with food and played with till he couldn't stand anymore. Kakashi felt extremely pleased with himself at the moment. There was nothing the Hatake couldn't master be it jutsu or the art of child rearing. To celebrate his mission's success, he decided to treat himself to a few quiet moments alone with his precious Icha Icha Paradise, Vol. 3.

Settling down in one of the two wooden chairs that were tucked into his small and narrow dining table he slowly cracked open the slim neon hardback, releasing a sigh as the smell of printer ink and machine made paper greeted him like a lover welcoming back their beloved after a long mission.

Giving a slight wiggle in the stiff backed seat to get comfortable, Kakashi sunk into the erotic, yet tasteful, story.

It was just getting good when there came a pounding on his door, jerking the teenage Shinobi out of the world he longed to stay in.

Glaring at the door one-eyed, he snapped the book shut. Who the hell was it? Not Chizuru, she knocked politely; not his landlady because she didn't have the strength to knock that hard and led with her voice. Glancing over at the still napping three-year-old, he set his book down and began to rise from his seat—

"Kakashi! Open this damn door you asshat!"

—and promptly froze halfway up, dark eye going wide.

Oh God, no.

The banging continued.

"Come on you bastard, I know you're in there, let me the hell in!"

nonononononononono.

"You remember that time when you and Gai had that little race through the ladies' dorms—"

The table was vaulted, toys leapt over, a young Mr. Yuki narrowly avoided death by foot, and the door wrenched open before the man on the other side could finish his sentence.

"Genma."

a/n: sigh, genma's so frickin' hawt. Makes you wonder what's going to be up next huh? please review?