The next afternoon, Kakashi showed up on his friend's doorstep. Shyly, he knocked on the door, and after waiting a while and wondering if the Uchiha was asleep the raven haired boy answered it, "Hey Bakakashi!"

Kakashi groaned inwardly at the given nickname, he was of course used to it by now, but sometimes it still managed to tick him off a little bit.

"Hello Obito. Are you just going to stand there, or are you going let me in?" he asked with a milder tone.

Obito opened the door and let Kakashi wander into the rather small apartment. It was rather sparsely decorated, more so than he expected from someone like Obito. The most intriguing item he seemed to own was a billboard with a few photographs on it. Kakashi smiled a little under his mask.

"So are you hungry?" Obito asked pulling something out of the fridge.

"Sure," Kakashi sat down quietly and carefully set the present down next to him. They were still quieter than usual, though he'd been expecting this. After all, the odds of them forgetting about the previous ordeal that had landed them here were down to zero.

After a few minutes Obito set down a plate before Kakashi and himself, "Whelp, eat up!"

Kakashi got ready to eat when he noticed a fairly odd smell coming from the food, "Obito, what is this?"

"Err…oh you know, fish…"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, "Fish? It doesn't smell much like fish, and it doesn't really look like fish," he picked at it a little with his chop sticks.

Obito glowered, damn Kakashi and his keen sense of smell, "Well it is, it's a special kind of fish, it's rare and…and, it cost me a fortune to get it, okay?!"

"Oh, well alright then," Kakashi lowered his mask and took one bite while the other boy at the other end of the table watched carefully for his reaction. Kakashi cringed at the taste and was sure this wasn't anything good, in fact if he could define the tastes just right, it tasted like meat gone bad. Instantly he pulled his mask up and pulled his headband up to show his sharingan eye.

Obito gaped, crap, he'll figure it out for sure now! Damn it of all things I just had to give him that eye!

"Obito! This is bad meat!"

"Okay, so they're leftovers, but…I don't think they expired just yet!"

Kakashi went to the other end of the table and took both his plate and Obito's while going to the trashcan and throwing both portions of food away, "How long have you been eating 'leftovers' Obito!?"

"Since a month ago when I didn't have any money coming in from missions! And they're not that bad, I mean those expiration dates don't really mean a thing anyway, most food lasts at least a month after it expires."

Kakashi had heard enough, "Well, I'm certainly not letting you eat any more of it, why didn't you say anything!? I would have lent you some money for food."

"Oh come on, I couldn't talk to you for a whole month!"

Kakashi sighed; Obito did have a point there. Instead he put the present on Obito's bed, "come on, we're going to get some real food, not whatever 'leftovers' you've been trying to dish up for a month now."

Obito was drug out of his apartment into the streets of Konoha, the sun still shone bright and hot and he felt his stomach rumble a little for food. But from this point on, he didn't fight over it, he'd just let Kakashi pay for some good food for once at a restaurant and then go back to eating his own food after that. After all he was a ninja; he could go on for a while without regular food.

But rather than take them to a restaurant, Kakashi went all out, he dragged his friend to the local market and packed five bags full of food while paying for it all. Obito ended up carrying most of it. And nearly two hours later they were on their way back to Obito's apartment.

Obito found he was caught between thanking Hatake for the food, and being a little angry that the other thought he was helpless just because of a little old food. Of course as far as carrying the groceries went he didn't mind, it was something he did on a regular basis for older folks around Konoha.

The sun was nearly an hour away from setting by the time they got back to his apartment, he felt starved and ready to complain. He'd take rotten food any day over starvation. But as soon as he entered, Kakashi instructed him to set the groceries on the kitchen counter and go and wait at the table.

At first, the Uchiha was beyond surprised that Kakashi was going to cook for him, but as time went on, all he could do was think about what Kakashi might be cooking for him. Smells emanated from the kitchen that were making his mouth water. His nose wasn't as keen as Kakashi's but it didn't have a hard time picking out the meat from the other smells. It smelled like beef, and the moment he smelled it, his stomach growled. Finally he couldn't take it anymore and got up to go see what Kakashi was up to.

Kakashi spied him instantly, "Obito, I told you to just sit down and wait."

"I can't! Are you ready yet!?"

"Almost, so go sit down and wait like a good chunin."

Grumbling the boy sat down again and glared at the wall. Finally the other came in with a hot skillet and set it on a hot pad he placed in the center of the table. Obito went to reach for it until his hand was slapped away by Kakashi, "I have to get us plates first, you barbarian,"

Obito thought about the new insult offered his way and decided promptly he didn't especially care at the moment. All he could do was stare at the skillet only a foot or so away from him that held his dinner of bell peppers and meat. Kakashi finally came in and the moment he handed Obito a plate the raven haired Uchiha began pulling the meat and vegetables from the searing hot skillet. He was surprised the Uchiha had spared him with about a third of it left, "Didn't anyone ever teach you basic table manners?" Kakashi said, clearly unimpressed with the way the Uchiha was shoving the food down his throat as though he were from the Akimichi clan.

Then only with the speed he'd gained from being a ninja, Kakashi took the last third of what was left on the skillet as well as the rest of the portion he'd made for himself from Obito's plate, leaving them each an equal half, which Obito had already scrounged down.

"You're supposed to savor your food," Kakashi remarked as he lowered his mask and showed Obito what he meant and slowly chewed.

Obito was about to stick his tongue out at the Hatake until he realized he was looking at the other boy's face. This was the longest time on record for the other boy to reveal his face to another person. He had of course seen it before, but not long enough to study it and almost catalog it. Sometimes during training he and Rin would talk about what they thought it looked like under that mask. Rin had often speculated on some sort of scar that Kakashi might feel embarrassed about. Obito figured it was something like bucked teeth or birthmark.

But now looking at it, he wasn't sure he did understand why the other male hid his face from public. There was nothing wrong with it, not a birthmark or a scar in sight. His lips were thin normal, the frame of it was also long thin and refined. It wasn't until a few seconds later when Kakashi cleared his throat that he realized he'd been staring a bit too long. Feeling his face heat up in embarrassment he looked away.

"It's rude to stare," Kakashi stated coolly.

"Well…it's not my fault you keep it hidden all the time. Maybe if you didn't wear that stupid mask all the time people wouldn't stare when they saw it."

Kakashi was silent, and for a moment Obito wondered if he'd gone too far.

"Maybe, but I don't feel comfortable showing my face to just anyone, it's just a pet peeve, that's all, I feel naked without this mask."

Obito wasn't sure if he should feel privileged to be one of the few Kakashi showed his faced to or disturbed that Kakashi actually felt naked without his mask. Instead he chose the safe route and apologized, "Sorry."

Kakashi was a little surprised that the Uchiha had apologized, "It's fine. You're probably right." Kakashi finished his last bite and set the chopsticks down over his plate, "I suppose since you wolfed it all down, you liked it?"

"Yeah, it was great, err… thanks Bakakashi."

Kakashi nodded, "You can keep the rest of the food, and I've already put it in the fridge and thrown out all of your old food for you."

"Really?" Obito wandered into the kitchen with his plate and looked into his fridge to find it fully stocked up with food, "wow…hey where'd you get all the money to buy all that food anyway!?" Obito demanded suddenly.

Sighing the other boy set his own dishes into the sink and leaned against the counter, "I'm a jounin, remember, jounin get more money for mission because we do higher rank missions, baka."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." The other one waved it off, "Present time!" He said with such enthusiasm that might have made Gai cry in pride.

Kakashi rolled his eyes and they found themselves at the table again with their presents in hand. Kakashi beheld his, it was small, rectangular, a book maybe? Had Obito really enough foresight to actually buy him something practical? Kakashi was impressed. They looked to each other and nodded making a mutual agreement that they could open the others gifts. Kakashi pulled the almost obscenely bright orange colored book out of the wrapping paper and beheld it, "Make out Paradise? By...Jiraiya, isn't he one of the three Sannin?"

"Yeah, that's what the old codger told me anyway."

Kakashi beheld the book some more. The cover was a little weird to say the least it looked like a man was chasing a woman. He opened it up, curious and began flipping through pages. It was nothing really just a little thumb through until he landed on a page where he thought he saw a word he wasn't expecting to see and doubled back to it. Obito watched in genuine amusement as Hatake's face grew red and surprisingly Kakashi went on to read the next page, and then the next, "O-Obito? Where did you get this?!" Kakashi asked.

"I promised the old guy I bought it from I wouldn't tell."

He wasn't sure whether Kakashi was elated or disgusted. Kakashi wasn't exactly an easy to read person. And then Kakashi closed the book, "This is the best thing I've ever read in my entire life! Arigato!" He was practically bouncing off the walls in happiness that Obito had never seen before in his usually stuffy and stoic friend.

"Really, I read a couple of pages and it looked pretty boring to me."

Finally after reveling in his gift to Obito's surprise, he regained his previous composure and told Obito to open his own present. The Uchiha tore the paper apart unceremoniously and beheld the scrap book. There was silence as he began flipping through it. Kakashi waited for the boy's response. With every page, the other boy's face became harder to read. Kakashi began to feel bad, he'd never been any good at picking out presents for anyone.

"I'm sorry if you don't like it Obito, I thought, since you loved Rin so much maybe you wanted something to remember her by."

He heard sniffing come from the other side of the table and telltale signs of the other boy beginning to cry.

"No, I love it. Thanks a lot Kakashi," the other said quietly, flipping to another page. Tears were falling and the boy tried wiping them away.

Kakashi studied his friend carefully, and then the book was closed, he wiped away the last of his tears and looked up grinning like he did in the old days. Relieved Kakashi relaxed a little again, "Good, because it took me a good six hours to put it together."

The other laughed a little. With their friendship restored they sat across from each other for a long while, talking and grinning at one another almost as though nothing had happened. It was late when Kakashi got home that night and collapsed in bed with a smile. That night he slept far better than he had in all the months since Rin's death.