Warning: ...I'm still in the last stages of being sick as I write this. Don't mind the chapter too much.
.7. Exposed?
Kakashi scowls slightly as he hops over rooftops, trying to rush to the spot everyone is meeting for training. If it wasn't for him helping Minato out with his paperwork until yesterday late in the evening (as the blonde never seemed to be able to sort out the papers himself) he wouldn't have to rush nearly as much as now. As it is, this morning found by founding the very convenient snooze button on the alarm clock which Minato had given him back at the carnival, and turning around again... several times.
He doesn't pay much attention to the bustling streets below him, his feet barely making a sound on the roof tiles as he draws nearer and nearer to the forest. He narrows his eyes lightly before speeding up some more, not allowing himself to relax before he enters the small clearing where he can see the bright blonde head which belongs to no one but his dearest teacher. How the man always manages to be up pert and cheerful even after pulling near all nighters shall forever be a mystery to Kakashi...
Minato's head raises as he spots his prized student a little ahead before his blue eyes widen. A flash is all there is as Minato suddenly appears in front of Kakashi. "Kakashi... I think we need to talk... You know... About the birds... the bees... the condoms... The kunai and the shuriken... and definitely the condoms...!"
"Erm... Sensei...?" Kakashi takes a step back, looking up at Minato in a mixture of horror and wonder. "What are you..."
However, he in interrupted by Rin launching herself at Kakashi, her eyes puffy and red. "Say it isn't true!"
"I know, I know... I was hoping not having to do this for at least a few more years, but..." Minato takes out a shuriken and a kunai.
"Erm... what?" To say that Kakashi is confused is an understatement... really.
"It's true..." A small sob escapes Rin's mouth before she runs off to sit behind a tree and mope around.
"So, Kakashi, when you have a girl and a boy..." Minato mutters in the background, moving his kunai and shuriken around as if to make a point.
Obito grins as he moves to Kakashi. "Kakashi old pal, old buddy, old friend~ I heard you weren't alone last night and your hair is even more of a mess then normally... Did you stay 'up late'?" The Uchiha grins, leaning towards Kakashi slightly.
"I wasn't, and it didturn pretty late..." Kakashi admits, leaning away from Obito slightly as he wonders why the hell the guy is acting so familiar...
From behind the tree, the sounds of Rin sobbing get just a little louder.
"So you actually did it!" Obito's eyes widen ever so slightly as he stares at Kakashi in something akin to amazement.
"Why, yes... I did it because he," Kakashi points at Minato who is still going on about kunai and shuriken in the background "was too lazy to do it."
Obito's eyes widen even more. "Kakashi-teme! Before me!" He staggers back before jumping behind the tree Rin is sobbing behind to sulk together with the female member of the team.
Minato stops his explanations, giving Kakashi a slightly lost look. "I was too lazy...?" He repeats softly before blinking. "You, erm... You do know what we're talking about... right?" He asks, raising a blonde eyebrow at his student.
Kakashi sends Minato a slightly annoyed look. "Yes, sensei... About that mountain of paperwork which was mostly filled in by me." He huffs, crossing his arms over his chest.
Minato's mouth makes a small o shape before he coughs. "Erm... I'll be right back." He comments before flashing off to God-knows-where.
Kakashi raises an eyebrow but otherwise stays quiet, noticing that Rin's sobbing seems to have quieted. Well, that's good to know at least.
A few moments later, Minato appears in front of Kakashi again, holding a poster which displays Kakashi on Shinra; Shinra is leaning towards Kakashi while Kakashi has his hands on Shinra's shoulders. Kakashi recognizes the scene from when Minato had happily pushed them into each other, however that is not what catches his attention...
Underneath the picture the text; Hatake Kakashi's secret relationship: Secret no longer!is scrawled. There isn't anything he can do but stare at the picture quietly, letting the entire thing sink into his brain.
"I... See." He comments quietly because really, what else can he say to it? He knows that he can deny this entire happening all he wants, but he doubts that will actually do much. On another note, he does figure he should find out who the hell did this and beat them up. Badly.
"So... Nothing happened?" Minato questions carefully, letting the poster dance in front of Kakashi's face as if that will change his pupil's answer.
"No, sensei... You pushed us into that position." Kakashi comments dryly.
"Oh..." Minato blinks slowly before realization dawns. "Oh!" He grins lightly at the memory. "It was fun, wasn't it?" He comments.
"Sure, sensei." Kakashi sighs, shaking his head.
"Want to keep the poster?" Minato offers.
"Sensei... why would I want that poster?" Kakashi snorts, eying his teacher like he believes the blonde to be an idiot.
"So that you may remember your love for many years to come, of course." Minato answers, shrugging lightly.
"Sensei..." Kakashi grits his teeth lightly, about to tell his teacher off that there isn't any love between him and Shinra.
"Oh, look! There she is!" Minato opts, pointing behind Kakashi.
Kakashi raises an eyebrow, figuring that Shinra is also wondering as to who the hell did this to them and turns around. He wonders if it was Obito... But the twins on Shinra's team are also known to create havoc and pranks...
He blinks, realising that no one is behind him. "Erm..."
"Whoops, seems that it was nothing but a tree." Minato shrugs. "But you looked! That shows that you want to see her again." He points out, smiling at Kakashi.
Kakashi sighs and simply shakes his head. At the moment he's more interested in seeing her team members then seeing Shinra herself, after all. 'Maybe I should start with interrogating Obito... Not everyone has a camera after all and he has one...' He thinks. 'And his greeting was very suspicious...' He barely manages to suppress the shudder before making his way to the tree.
Well, that is the plan, but Minato's hand on his shoulder stops him. "Now, I think we should have this conversation nevertheless... I know that I gave it to you some time ago, but this time I'm prepared. I won't leave anythingout. We will get through this conversation together, Kakashi."
Kakashi rolls his eyes to the heavens 'Oh please don't...' He thinks before submitting himself to Minato's story... But only because Minato calls out Obito and Rin (who seems to have recovered from her earlier depression and seems to be the same as always now that the misunderstanding has been cleared) and forces the entire team to the torture.
Afterwards when the three are completely traumatized and will, most likely, never look at shuriken and kunai the same ever again, Kakashi sends Obito a look which just screams; 'This is all your fault. Isn't it.'
Obito bites his lip, his eyes wide from Minato's story before he grabs onto Kakashi's top. "I am sosorry! It seemed completely harmless at the time!" He groans out, shaking his head.
Kakashi's eyes narrow ever so slightly. "From all the stupid ideas you had..."
"I actually agree with Kakashi this time..." Rin utters from where she's sitting. 'At least it was all a joke...' That thought alone is what got her through Minato's explanation with little trauma.
"No! Rin!" Obito cries out, letting go of Kakashi before scrambling over to his female team member. "Nonono! I'll make all this up to you! I'll take you on a date!" He comments.
"Uhm..." Rin blinks. "You should be apologizing to Kakashi and Shinra, not to me."
"Then I'll take them on a date! No! Wait!" Obito's eyes widen in horror at what he just said before he tries to rectify his mistake. "I'll setthem up for a date!"
"Ano..." Kakashi appears behind Obito, looming over the Uchiha. "I think no..." He scoffs, hand itching to pulverize Obito.
"Oh come off of it, everyone already thinks you're dating anyway." Obito huffs.
"And whose fault is that, hm." Kakashi blanks at the other.
"Come on, guys..." Rin sighs. She knows that someone needs to break up the fights between her teammates, but does it really have to be herall the time...?
"You know, a date isn't even thatbad of an idea." Minato muses, joining his genin in the conversation, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
Kakashi sighs. "Sense-"
"A training date, that is." The blonde grins, cutting Kakashi off.
Kakashi merely sighs again. "Sensei. Honestly." He blanks.
"Nonono, it's a good idea, really." Minato nods to himself before straightening up. "Come on, let's go to their training spot." He grins.
Kakashi groans while Obito scowls. 'Hiro is probably going to be all over Rin again...' He thinks, scowl deepening as his eyes shift to Rin who doesn't seem like she cares much.
With a sigh, Obito looks down. 'If I'd have known my little prank would turn out this way...' he thinks, shaking his head mournfully.
The walk to the other side of the forest isn't as long as Kakashi had originally hoped it would be. About 40 minutes later team Minato is nearing the clearing in which they can hear team Kushina train, well... train...?
"9... 10! Coming!" Fuji calls, letting his hands drop from his face.
Kushina watches with a small smile on her face as Fuji hops into a tree, circling it a few times, before grinning slightly. "Kai!" He calls and almost immediately the illusion that Hiro had used to cover himself is gone.
Wasting no time, Hiro rushes to where Kushina is seated, followed closely by Fuji.
"In!" Hiro calls, at the same time at which Fuji calls; "Out!" Both their hands on the tree next to Kushina, their fingertips in the small circle on the tree.
Kushina snorts. "Neither of you has your hands on the circle completely... come on, again. And you guys can come here if you want to watch." She turns her head to where team Minato is watching.
"Uhm... Why are you guys playing hide and seek?" Obito asks as the team moves to Kushina.
"It's common practice." Kushina shrugs. "The seeker counts to 10, which is really too little time to properly hide yourself. Thus, the people 'hiding' have those few seconds to conceal themselves to the best of their ability." She points out. "After that, the seeker tries to detect the hiders and then outrun them as they rush for the safe spot... which would be this." She taps the circle on the tree. "Your hand has to be completely in the circle for it to count, meaning that there can only be one winner which is either the hider or the seeker." She explains.
"Oh..." Obito blinks before frowning at Minato. "Why don't weever do fun games like that!"
"Because sensei knows you'd lose too fast and give everyone a headache with your rant." Kakashi comments. He's played this game of 'hide and seek' before, years ago. It's very basic but remains effective in training if done seriously.
"Would you guys like to play too?" Kushina asks, ignoring the jab Kakashi sends Obito's way and effectively stopping any further fight.
"Sounds like fun, right guys?" Minato grins at his team.
Obito nods excitedly while Rin smiles and nods as well. Kakashi sighs but nods as well. He'd have rather used this opportunity to collect some more data on the other team.
"Alright... Hear that, Shinra? We're going to start again, you can come out now!" Kushina comments before blinking and glancing at Obito. "Oh, can you move a bit? You're standing on her." She smiles as she feels Shinra give out a wave of chakra in warning.
Obito blinks and steps to the side, just as Shinra raises up from the earth yet is strangely enough not covered in it, obviously having used a technique for it.
"Psh, I could've sworn I checked the ground..." Fuji huffs.
Shinra merely shrugs a little before moving back to Kushina.
"Alright, everyone gather around..." Kushina muses, watching all the chunin stand in front of her. Her eyes land upon Obito and she smiles. "Your Sharingan isn't activated yet, right?"
"No..." Obito huffs softly, lowering his eyes and steeling himself for the ridicule that often follows after that sentence. However, it doesn't come.
"Good, it would be a very boring game for you otherwise." Kushina chuckles. "However, I'm still going to have you start out being the seeker now that it's still possible to do so." She smiles at him.
Obito blinks a few times before grinning. "Sure!" He pipes up. "Just you wait, teme! I'll find you!" He points at Kakashi who merely rolls his eyes and shrugs.
"Alright, now come here... Don't forget. Even if you find someone, you still have to mark them as 'out' and hiders can try to mark themselves as 'in' as any given moment. This is a battle in which the strongest prevail and in which the losers bite the dust, you got that." She narrows her eyes lightly and Obito nods almost solemnly.
"Yes!"
Hiro snorts slightly at the display before leaning towards Rin a little more then he probably has to. "Does he always get this hyped about a game?" He murmurs to her, sweat dropping ever so slightly.
Rin merely sighs and closes her eyes. "You have no idea..."
The two teams play the game for a few hours straight, everyone taking turns in finding each other. Hiro and Kakashi prove to be the best seekers, managing to find almost everyone while having the speed to tap everyone out after wards.
Shinra and Obito are the worst seekers. While Shinra manages to find everyone quite easily, she lacks the speed to mark them as 'out' most of the time. And while Obito has the speed... he is, simply put, all over the place, straying too far from the safe point so that people slip past him and mark themselves as 'in'.
The best hider is Shinra, but as staying out of sight is her specialty that isn't too much of a surprise. She blends into nearly everything and strays as close to the safe point as possible, generally tapping herself as 'in' while the seeker is too occupied finding other people. Rin is a close second when it comes to being the best, having a great chakra control. While she's not adverse in genjutsu and thus can't hide too well, she can use normal means of hiding and cover up her chakra.
The worst hider is, surprisingly enough not Obito but Hiro. His chakra control is only so-so, so even if he uses genjutsu to cover himself, if you wait long enough you can feel small waves of his chakra.
"Well, that was fun, wasn't it?" Kushina smiles at the teams, most of the chunin a tad tired and ruffled up. She is still sitting where he had been sitting before, the only difference being that Minato is sitting next to her, holding her small hand in his, their fingers laced.
"Shall we all get something to eat?" Minato comments, looking the chunin over as well. "You're probably pretty hungry after all." He grins.
Murmurs of agreement (and a few rumbling stomachs) answer the blonde and soon enough everyone is on their way to Ichiraku ramen where the group of eight sits down.
Kakashi doesn't even look up as he's placed next to Shinra anymore and Shinra doesn't even blink at it. Both of them are starting to get used to the seating arrangements that are generally forced upon them. They make sure to ignore the look Teuchi is giving them as they quietly wait.
Obito is happily discussing the games they played with Rin, Fuji and Hiro occasionally piping in their own comments. Though it's slightly surprising that Obito doesn't attack Hiro out of nowhere, the group deals with it pretty well, figuring Obito is still happy over notbeing the worst in everything for a change.
Granted, Obito is hardly a crappy ninja as there are definitely worse ninja's around, but he really had the bad luck of being placed in the same team as the nearly perfect Hatake Kakashi.
Kakashi glances at Shinra before speaking in a hushed tone. "Did your team bother you over the poster?" He asks. Though he was pleased that there were no posters in town as they walked here, so he figures that people took them down.
Shinra shrugs lightly in reply. "Not really... They said I'd date Genma before I'd date you and that was it."
Kakashi blanks lightly. 'Genma... Genma... Ah.' His mind draws the picture of the pretty midi core ninja from team 2. "Really now." He comments dryly, thinking back to when Genma one time spilled water all over Kakashi when he tripped. Kakashi disliked the guy ever since. 'I'm better than him.' He can't help but think as he suppresses the huff.
"Apparently." Shinra comments.
"... Really, though. Why Genma, of all people?" Kakashi questions. Heck, there are a lot of ninja which are better and would be a lotbetter suited to be used compared to himself... No, he's not vain, just truthful.
"To make a point, I guess?" Shinra comments, placing her chin on the palm of her hand, resting her elbow on the bar. "I don't know. I haven't seen him since the last time our teams did a mission together."
"You did a mission together?"
"Yeah." Shinra nods. "Our teams were generally put together for bigger missions, but I guess we'll be put together with yours from now on." She comments.
"Most likely." Kakashi agrees, only looking up when Teuchi starts placing down bowls of ramen in front of everyone. He notes with a sweat drop that Teuchi has cut his and Shinra's eggs in the shapes of hearts. 'Really now...' He thinks before shaking his head and eating at the same speed as normal as the others start eating as well.
After dinner, the group exits the small ramen stand before Minato turns towards the chunin with a smile. "Now, don't forget. Jiraiya-sama will be training you lot tomorrow since Kushina has to go to the hospital for a routine check-up. I expect you'll all be on your best behavior, alright?" He comments.
The chunin nod at his words and Kakashi can't help but to wonder just what kind of man Jiraiya, the legendary Sannin, is. The man trained his teacher after all... '... He can't be anything other than a weirdo.' Is the conclusion that Kakashi draws with a sigh.
"Oh! Kakashi, you should-"
"Walk Shinra home?" Kakashi comments dully, cutting off Minato. Heck, that's nothing else then what his teacher makes him do everytime, after all...
Minato blinks before grinning. "Well, I was going to say that you should go to bed early tonight, but sure!"
"..." Kakashi is quite aware of Obito, Rin and the twins staring at him but is too busy beating himself up over what just happened to care much. 'I can't believe I walked right into that one...' He thinks, ignoring the people who are staring before glancing at Shinra who's making it a point to keep her eyes on the ground. "Let's go."
She glances up at him before nodding. "Bye." She tells the others as Kakashi waves at the rest before the two start to walk down to their houses, leaving the group first for a change.
After a few minutes of walking in silence, Kakashi rubs his forehead lightly. "... That was awkward."
Shinra bites her bottom lip to keep from smiling before nodding. "It was..." She doesn't even bother to cover up the amusement in her voice.
Kakashi feigns a scoff before huffing. "I didn't see you getting us out of that situation."
"Ah... That's because you did a good enough job digging a hole for the both of us." Shinra points out at which Kakashi lets out a mock-gasp.
"Since when are you so cheeky?"
Shinra shrugs lightly, this time allowing a small smile to show as she glances at Kakashi. "I wonder..."
Kakashi blinks before chuckling softly as he shakes his head, stuffing his hands into his pockets as he turns his head to the sky in which he can see the sun setting. "Well, whatever." He muses, his own smile hidden under his mask.
He knows that later tonight he'll probably pass off this easy-going attitude as being tired and refuse to think on it anymore, but at the moment he's perfectly content walking home together with Shinra.
Alright, as mentioned at the top, I'm still suffering a little from a cold... but I really didn't want to keep you guys waiting anymore so I decided to update as I will be gone Monday to Friday and it's really been too long already. That said, if you leave me a review in that time I won't appreciate it any less; replies will just take a liiiittle bit longer~
As most of your probably noticed in the beginning, this chapter was supposed to be another crack chapter as I wasn't completely sure what to do with it other than the fact that I wanted to update. But somewhere half-way I figured out something to do with it! Go me!
I came up with the hide-and-seek part out of nowhere but it seems like a perfectly efficient way to train, don't you think? Well, that said, Jiraiya will be in the next chapter! Yes! Can't wait, can you? =D
Ano review replies~
narutofan - I only noticed after your review that I had completely forgotten to give any explanation on how it was a mission even though I did have one in mind before hand... so I edited that. Thanks for that! ^^
Some romance hints are appearing here and there once more~ And I can only hope you found this chapter as enjoyable to read as the previous ones.
And don't worry, you're perfectly understandable. English isn't my first language either so I'm generally struggling with my own grammar, haha. Where are you from if I may ask?