Kakashi stared at the front page of the newspaper. Ninja villages were some of the few places left with examples of "analog" information distribution, as Shikamaru would say. Big civilian cities had digital everything. Even in Konoha the kids relied mostly on their devices, but something about the culture held onto quaint and traditional relics. Kakashi kind of enjoyed it. Even though he'd been the Hokage primarily responsible for "upgrading" the Leaf consistent with the modern era, personally he preferred a lot of the old aesthetics.

At the moment though whether the paper was in print or digital wouldn't have made a difference. He was just staring at the page, his thoughts elsewhere. The trouble was… there was someone in his yard.

Kakashi tried to relax. He set down the paper and opened the thermos. A noseful of savory steam greeted him. It was full, apparently, of really good coffee. The nice stuff. Black. Kakashi absently picked up a piece of okaki and ate it. He left the lid off the thermos so the coffee could cool down. He cracked his knuckles. Then he jumped up and ran over to look out the window into the backyard.

Hanare was squatting in front of the westernmost planting bed. Her shorts had slid down and her shirt had ridden up as she leaned over the dirt. Kakashi peered over the rod of the kitchen's half-curtains. He could definitely see some of Hanare's tailbone. The gap of skin showing widened as she worked. Maybe in a few minutes he'd be able to see -

The green-haired woman suddenly turned and looked over her shoulder toward the house and Kakashi ducked down in a flash. He crouched behind the calico for a few moments, making sure he hadn't been noticed. When he sensed the coast was clear, he slowly lifted the bottom corner of the curtain and peeked out with one eye.

Hanare had pulled her shorts up. There was a swipe of dirt on her side where her gardening glove had brushed against her skin. But… now she'd changed position. Instead of squatting, she was on all fours half on the lawn and half in the planting bed. Her butt was toward the house. Kakashi didn't move from his position.

The kunoichi seemed to be comfortable using the garden tools and it appeared she didn't care about getting a little dirty. The yard really was a mess - the kids had torn it up good. Kakashi felt slightly guilty about not helping. It was a decent morning… the sun was filtering down through a few clouds and there was a very slight breeze moving the buds of the magnolia tree. Kakashi watched as Hanare stretched to fill in a hole and pull a weed… her hips shifting forward and…

KNOCK KNOCK

Kakashi jumped back from the window and bumped into a dining chair, tangling his foot in the legs and losing his balance. He tilted, tipped, narrowly managed to catch himself on the table and regain his balance.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

"Coming!" Kakashi yelled, just to make the pounding stop. It really was too early in the morning for such noise.

"Yes?" Kakashi sighed as he opened the door. He stopped and looked down with a whisper of dread in his stomach as he recognized who was on his front porch.

"Old Man Kakashi!" Boruto said. "Morning. I'm coming in."

"Boruto, no -"

"Thanks." The blond preadolescent gracefully shouldered his way past, giving speechless Kakashi a low-five on the way into the house.

"Wow, smells good in here today," Boruto said as he stretched and plopped down on the couch, immediately sprawling all over it. "Can I watch TV?"

Kakashi closed the door. "...Sure." Boruto was already flipping channels.

"Do you have any potato chips, Old Man?"

"No. Boruto, does Hinata know -"

"Yeah yeah Mom knows. I told her on my way out."

"It's pretty early for a visit, you know."

"Do you have any ramuné? Well if it's early it's my dad's fault. He had to go to a meeting and his alarm went off like a million times and he still wouldn't get out of bed so I had to get up and sit on his head. That got him out the door. Stupid old man. Then I was awake and Mom said I was being too noisy so I said forget it, I'm coming over here."

Kakashi sighed. "I see." He took a soda pop from the fridge and walked it over to the boy, who was happily watching an adult anime.

Kakashi handed Boruto the ramuné. "Here. And change the channel, or no TV."

"Aww, Old Man Kakashi! This looks really good…"

"It is. And you can find out just how good when you're the right age. Now change the channel!"

Grumbling, Boruto switched to Power Rangers. "Silver is my favorite. What's yours, Old Man? And do you have any Pocky?"

"I always liked green," Kakashi sighed as he went over to the snack cabinet. "Boruto, look - you can hang out, but I have work to do. So keep it down, okay? Here." Kakashi tossed a box of chocolate Pocky to the boy

Boruto caught it confidently with one hand. "You don't work," he snickered.

"QUIET, or nothing - do we have a deal?" Kakashi glowered from across the room.

Boruto rolled his eyes. "Jeez gramps you don't need to be so mean about -"

The back door opened. "Kakashi, are you yelling at - oh! Hello," Hanare said as she noticed the boy on the couch. "I didn't realize we had company," she smiled. Kakashi scratched the back of his head. He opened his mouth to reply.

"WHOA, OLD MAN KAKASHI…!" Boruto said, his eyes wide with shock. "You… you… have a lady here?!"

Kakashi cursed in his head. "Boruto, I -"

"Hi, I'm Boruto. Who are you, Auntie?" The kid was sitting up, bright and alert and curious.

"This is Boruto, Naruto's son," Kakashi said.

"Hi Boruto, nice to meet you. I'm Hanare. Not your Auntie, though you can call me that if you'd like. However, do I really look that old?" Hanare was grinning with one hand on her hip. Kakashi watched, fascinated, as Boruto blushed just a little.

"Nah, actually. You look too young for Old Man Kakashi."

Hanare laughed. Kakashi wished Naruto could work from home and watch his own son…

"Well, Kakashi and I have been friends a long time," Hanare said easily. "I'd shake your hand but I heard you dislike getting your clothes dirty - I'm covered in gardening dirt. Someone put a lot of holes in the backyard."

"Moles maybe," Boruto mumbled, and Hanare raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, moles perhaps… Well, I'm going to finish up outside. Do either of you want to help?" The silver-haired shinobi and the kid both looked reluctantly at her. Hanare laughed. "Alright then. I have a tablet in my purse, right over there, if you want to try out some of my games, Boruto. They're probably not so cool for a kid your age but some are highly rated -"

"New games!" Boruto cried, ransacking the lavender handbag.

"Have fun," Hanare said, but she was looking at Kakashi. The back door closed again and Kakashi watched her return to the area she was tending. She knelt down this time, tilling the soil with the hand rake.

"Why don't you just go out there too if you're gonna stare like some weirdo?" Boruto's voice cut into Kakashi's thoughts.

"I'm relaxing," Kakashi said, turning away from the window and walking back to his armchair.

"I thought you said you had to work," Boruto said over the sound effects coming from the tablet.

Kakashi sipped the coffee and unfurled the newspaper in front of his face so it obscured the view of Boruto lying on the couch with his feet up. "I'm working at relaxing," the ex-Hokage said.

"That is so lame," Boruto laughed.