A/N: Yet another chapter!
I felt so bad for writing three chapters on my new fic that I decided to hurry up with this one as well ;)
Thanks for all the wonderful reviews! 18 for the last chapter - That's a new record!!
This chapter now, is mostly about hair.
The change had been subtle. Kakashi had noticed other things more clearly as October hustled in. Things like the changing colour of the leaves that were starting to fall of the trees in the forbidden forest and the more chilling weather.
The first thing he noted was that the sleeves of the (second) set of robes Dumbledore-sama had provided him with did no longer cover his hands. He had picked up training again and spent a lot of time in the forbidden forest, he was afraid that he'd lose his touch after so long in the castle.
The second thing was that his ANBU-issue pants stopped further above the edge of his sandals. And that a gap ha started to show between the lower edge of the shirt and the waistband of those now-to-short trousers.
The third was that he could now look Hermione straight in the eye. He was still shorter than most boys his age, but at least he didn't look quite so small anymore. His constant training and well-developed, wiry muscles did nothing to prevent the sudden clumsiness though.
And his hair was still pink.
In response to the fact that he suddenly seemed to be unable to keep his too long limbs under control he intensified his training.
"Ron, have you seen Kakashi?" Hermione asked as she came puffing up the stairs to the Gryffindor tower, she had looked all over and he was nowhere to be found. In her hands she held a bottle of what she was convinced would 'cure' Kakashi's current hair 'condition'.
"No I haven't," Ron grumbled and stared angrily at the Fat lady's portrait. He had forgotten the password and she wouldn't let him in. It was Saturday morning, and he still had his pyjamas on, he had been to lazy to change before breakfast.
"Oh," Hermione said, a little disappointed. She was eager to try out her latest 'hair product'. The last one had done nothing to help the colour but had made Kakashi's hair more 'spiffy', as Ginny put it, and as shiny as it was probably ever going to get. All the Gryffindor girls now used it as shampoo. So far, there had been no side effects. "They have found Peeves, by the way," she added with a sudden smile. Ron perked up.
"Really?" he asked. "Where!?" The poltergeist had first been terrorising the castle (not to mention Kakashi) mercilessly before abruptly disappearing.
"Come on!" Hermione grabbed Ron's wrist and they hurried down the hallway, and back down the stairs. There was a small crowd gathered in the fourth-floor corridor when they arrived. Directly beside a twelve-foot statue of Rowena Ravenclaw stood Dumbledore.
"Come down here, now, or we'll get the Baron to get up here," Dumbledore said, he had hint of annoyance in his voice that was the only thing revealing that he'd been standing there for a long time. His neck was starting to hurt.
"Hah!" Peeves exclaimed. "I'm not going down there for something as petty as that!" The Bloody Baron, petty? Ron wondered what the hell had been able too freak Peeves out like that.
"What!?" A cold voice was heard and most turned around to see the ghost covered in silver-blood. "What did you just say, Peeves?" he asked and floated a bit higher into the air, so that he didn't have bend his neck like Dumbledore.
"Y-you heard me!" the now desperate poltergeist yelled. "You are way less scary than Mister Hatake!" Mister Hatake? Mister? Dumbledore glanced at McGonagall who inclined her head a bit to the right and they both left down the corridor, leaving the Bloody Baron to handle the poltergeist. Ron and Hermione followed, as sneaky as they could. They saw the teacher and Headmaster disappear behind a corner and carefully glanced around it.
Then, both of the older, seemingly solemn Hogwarts inhabitants exploded into laughter. Ron and Hermione glanced at each other. Now that was freaky.
"You don't have to hide, you know," Dumbledore said, tears coming out the edges of his eyes. The two Gryffindors stepped out next to an armour that emitted a hollow chuckling. "I'm sorry," Dumbledore laughed, "But whatever Kakashi did to Peeves, that damn little ghost deserved it," then he started laugh even harder. Beside him, McGonagall was wheezing and trying to catch her breath. Hermione had never thought Dumbledore to be that… sadistic.
"Anyway," McGonagall regained some of her dignity. "If you see Kakashi, could you tell him to get up to the Headmasters office? We need go to London and get the boy some clothing; the way he's been growing lately. You are free to come if you like." At that, she straightened her back further and went on her way down the hall. It had been nothing wrong with the picture if it not were for the random fits of giggles that rocked her body now and then.
"Well, I guess I'll see you around, then," Dumbledore said and disappeared. Hermione and Ron gaped. It was supposed to be impossible to apparate within the castle, and now they had seen both Kakashi and Dumbledore do it!
Damn, his mask had ripped. Or, had been shredded to pieces. And Kakashi had been training hard for the last hours; he didn't even have the chakra to use a simple translocational or even a body-flicker jutsu. Just great. It hadn't even been during training that the mask had broken.
He couldn't blame the little creepy, black, winged foal for it either. It had been an accident.
Kakashi had seen the strange, skeletal horses on several occasions in the forest, but he had let them be and they had let him be. Until today. He had accidentally cut himself on a kunai and suddenly many of them came trotting between the trees. They had seen him, and stayed a short bit away. It seemed like they were carnivores (their reaction to the smell of blood along with sharp teeth pretty much confirmed his suspicions), but refrained from attacking humans.
A brave, gangly foal had been the first to approach him. It had sniffed his hand before licking the blood off. It hadn't bit. He had petted the foal for a few minutes (while it stared in something similar to awe at his pink hair) before they somehow got involved in a strange game of tag. Most of the winged horses had left the clearing by now; only a single, watchful mother looked on from afar. After a while Kakashi, still tired from training, sat down and watched the foal's antics and wild jumps. The laugh that erupted from his throat had shocked him. It had been a genuine laugh, completely natural. He had frozen as soon as he figured out where the odd sound had been coming from.
The foal, suddenly concerned, had tripped up to him on small hooves and licked his face in a comforting way, much like his ninken would have done. Unfortunately, it had gotten a hold of his mask in the process and the black fabric was shredded by razor-sharp teeth. Kakashi hadn't been able to be even annoyed with the little horse and stayed in the clearing until the wind picked up and the mare motioned for the little filly to come along. With a mournful glance at Kakashi the black creature followed her mother deeper into the forest.
Now, Kakashi had to deal with the problem of a nonexistent mask and prying eyes as he would have to make his way up to his room in the castle, where he kept spare masks. Thank Kami he always brought those along on missions.
He pulled up the hood of his heavy ANBU-cloak and pulled it further down to obscure his face. He kept the lower part of the hood together with a gloved hand.
He had just stepped into the castle when a small, blonde Gryffindor boy (probably a first-year) started wailing about Death-Eaters. Kakashi sighed as teachers came welling out of the great hall. No doubt attracted by the shouts coming from the boy. Kakashi pulled the hood back a bit; showing his… pink hair and hitai-ate but still covering his lower face.
"Oh, it's you," was the boy's only reaction. He proceeded by skipping away with his friends. Kakashi rolled his eyes and went up the staircase that, on Saturday's, led to the seventh floor.
When he took the last step of the stair he was almost glomped by Hermione and Ron who came running at full speed. Harry was nowhere to be seen.
"You are to get to Dumbledore's office, NOW!" Ron yelled. Kakashi's eye widened a bit.
"Calm down," Hermione said and smacked Ron over the head, which looked quite funny since she was a lot shorter than the Weasley boy. "It's not such a hurry. Besides," she held up a glass bottle which contained a shimmering, green liquid. "I think this will actually help against your hair colour!" she smiled brightly and Kakashi shuddered inside. He strongly suspected that she was using him as a guineapig pig for strange hair products.
"Thanks," he said and took the bottle with his free hand. His voice was somewhat muffled by the cloak. "Where's Harry?" he asked.
"In bed," Ron grimaced. "He's just taken that medicine against cold and is resting for today." Kakashi nodded in understanding and walked past the two towards his room. They spun around immediately and followed him. Outside his door, he stopped.
"You know, I'd really like to take a shower and get changed, if you don't mind," he said.
"WHAT!?" Ron yelled, as if Kakashi was deaf because Ron hadn't been able to hear his words. Hermione smacked him again and dragged him away down the corridor.
"Don't forget! Dumbledore's office, we'll meet you there!" she yelled. What was up with all the yelling today? Kakashi wondered.
Hermione, Ron and Professor McGonagall waited patiently for Kakashi to show up in Dumbledore's office so they could leave for Diagon Alley by floo powder. The door was pushed up, in an almost painful, slow way. Kakashi stepped into the room, his too-small set of robes showed of bare toes through his sandals.
"Sorry I'm late…" he muttered, "My hair-" he was interrupted by Ron's wailing laughter. It sure was a sight to behold; Kakashi's hair stood on an end in its normal fashion but there ended everything normal about it. It was constantly changing colour between so green that it hurt their eyes and its previous, bubble-gum pink. Ron thought that it kind of looked like the Christmas decorations those insane muggles insisted on pulling out every year that blinked in different colours.
"Anyone got a hat?" Kakashi growled. Ron tossed him his own black, pointy one. He had intended on using it himself – it was cold out, but it would just be mean to force Kakashi to go outside like that. Kakashi pulled the hat on; it was a bit too big, even though his headband was underneath it as well.
McGonagall clicked her tongue.
"Ready to go?" she asked and held out an open bag of floo powder to Kakashi. He knew what to do – he had read about it, but was reluctant to take any powder. This was not really a way of travelling he had been especially eager to try. After a second's hesitation he took a handful of the powder.
"Where to?" he sighed.
"The Leaky Cauldron," McGonagall said and he threw the powder into the fire, stepped in between the now emerald flames and repeated her words.
The spinning made him want to retch. He was moving in high speed and sometimes he caught glimpses of living rooms and shop-interiors. He landed heavily onto his feet and stumbled out of the fireplace. Soon three other figures followed him, though two of them coughing badly from the dust that had risen when they all landed. Ron looked as sick as Kakashi felt.
The barman eyed them strangely. This place made Kakashi's skin crawl.
"All right then," McGonagall said, "We'll start out at Madam Malkin's and then go on to buy some decent shoes," Kakashi was just about to say that he didn't need shoes when he realized that the ones he wore were sandals. He'd freeze his toes when winter came. He sighed quietly.
"First I'll have to exchange my money," he said. He was not even sure how long they would last – He had no idea how much his Land of Fire ryu would be worth in wizarding currency.
Apparently, the Goblins of Gringotts bank did. For his five thousand ryu (which was two thirds of the emergency funds all Konoha shinobi was provided with for out-of-country missions) he got 65 galleons, 26 sickles and two knuts. According to Ron, he had a small fortune. At least it was enough for clothing and shoes.
"Hm…" the goblin behind the high desk had said as he looked at the ryu note. "It was a long time since I last saw this currency," he muttered to himself, on Ron's inquiring, the small creature confirmed that he did know how to exchange it.
When they turned to make their way back out the impressive gates to the bank Kakashi was stopped by the goblin's voice-
"What is a Konoha ANBU doing this far from home?" Kakashi whipped around and looked the into the creature's eyes. "And with such a revealing hair colour," the goblin chuckled. A few strands of his hair had escaped from underneath the hat and made sharp contrast against the black of his mask and the hat itself. Kakashi made a sound very close to a growl and the goblin disappeared with a silent 'pop'. Kakashi threw a glance around and wished that he could have checked those goblins out with his sharingan. He had sensed a tiny bit of chakra flare when the creature had snapped its fingers and vanished.
"Hey, Kakashi! You coming!?" Ron yelled. Kakashi growled, on the inside this time, and followed the others. He now held a strong suspicion that these goblins might have knowledge about the gap. But he also doubted that it would be possible to get anything out of them. Sneaky little bastards.
The street outside was crowded the way they only are when it is a nice autumn day in a city, during a weekend when the sales putting out the summer items are at full tilt. Kakashi didn't like it. Not one bit. Mixed with the overall presence of all these people were the smell that always lingered around large crowds along with the smell of different foodstuffs being sold by street vendors. One of them sold what looked eerily similar to fried toenails. Those 'snacks' even reeked like dirty socks. The worst part was that people actually bought and ate the stuff.
To Kakashi's surprise though, this 'Alley' held none of the exhaust smell that he had found so overwhelming during his last visit to London.
Madam Malkin's shop selling 'Robes for all occasions' was, surprisingly, empty when they entered. Kakashi breathed out in relief and Ron fell into the chair that stood against one of the walls as they entered. The last fort-five minutes had consisted of them (McGonagall and Hermione had disappeared at some point) pushing their way through the crowds to their destination. Kakashi had already purchased a pair of boots, really expensive, made in scale-free dragon hide; he hadn't been able to resist them. With those on he would never have to worry about having his feet frozen, or burned, for that matter. He suddenly got a picture in his head of his entire body being engulfed by flames and the only thing left of him for identification was feet, still safely tucked into really nice boots.
He quickly shook the picture from his mind as a short (he was taller than her!), squat, witch came out of the room at the back of the store.
"And what do we have here?" she said happily and walked forward. "Are both of you looking for robes? Taylor-fitted?" Kakashi cleared his throat a little.
"Just me," he said.
"Ah," the little woman seemed way too excited by having a single customer, Kakashi thought. "Hogwarts?"
"Not really,"
"Alright then, let's see your hair so we might be able to find a fitting colour," she said and snatched the hat of his head. Damn, she was fast. Her eyes looked like they would pop out of her head at any moment.
"It doesn't usually look like this," Kakashi said flatly. "It's white."
"Oh," the witch exhaled. The next thing he knew Kakashi was handed a small, orange bottle. The label read 'Spell-a-way shampoo' and also stated that the shampoo would remove any kind of 'inconvenient' spells attached to hair, or something like that. "Here you go, dearie," Madam Malkin said and then pushed Kakashi onto a stool. A measure-tape started to work on it's own as Madam Malkin pulled heavy curtains over the windows and ordered Kakashi to undress. She pulled out a grey roll of fabric, the colour two or three shades darker than his hair and just a bit lighter than his eye.
Ron just laughed from his position by the wall as he watched a confused Kakashi being tormented by the enthusiastic, babbling tailor.
Kakashi cleared his throat and interrupted the woman in the middle of her musings about last years 'Triwizard-Tournament' at Hogwarts.
"Don't make it too expensive," he said, "I've been growing a lot lately-" he was interrupted by Madam Malkin.
"Don't worry; I know how to make clothes for growing boys. This particular fabric along with a special way of stitching will make the robes grow as you do. And it is not even expensive! Imagine the wonders of modern research…" Kakashi tuned out the witch's babble and stood patiently as she draped his thin frame in the fabric. He really liked that colour, as far as he could tell, it would make him able to disappear anywhere, at any time. It wouldn't stand out like black during daytime nor glow like white in the night. At dawn and dusk, he'd be like a ghost. If his hair would ever return to normal, that was.
"…All too skinny dearie, just look at you," Kakashi couldn't hide his twitch. He did not like being called that.
"What did you say?" he asked the woman.
"You really have to eat more, you're only skin and bones!" she exclaimed. Kakashi rolled his eyes. That comment was nothing new. His sensei had nagged him about it for as long as he could remember,
Twenty minutes later the curtains had been pulled away since Kakashi no longer stood half-naked for the world to see. He had one of the two new, grey, set of robes on and madam Malkin was finishing up the last details as McGonagall entered the shop, closely followed by Hermione. They both looked exhausted and dishevelled.
Soon they were on their way back to the Leaky Cauldron, Kakashi now wearing the too-small black robes again. They were all tired and annoyed when they returned to Hogwarts. Kakashi spent the rest of the day reading by the window in his room and decided to go visit the skeletal horses again next morning.
He washed his hair with the new shampoo before going to bed.
When he woke the next morning, he felt oddly cold around his head and looked at his reflection in the small mirror someone (probably Dobby) had placed in his room. His breath hitched in his throat.
Hatake Kakashi; had gone bald.
A/N: Thanks for reading!
