I don't own.
Dark eyes met light blue ones and blinked. The blue eyes blinked back at him then lost interest. The dark eyes watched as the blue eyes turned away to find something more fun—like Bisuke. Kakashi said nothing as the pup and the baby played. Although, now that he was looking, the toddler's eyes weren't the only change. What's going on? the chuunin thought.
He'd noticed a few days ago, but hadn't thought much of it. Naruto's normally pure white eyes just looked a little bluer than they ever had before. It was only when they were a deep, emotional color did Kakashi stop to think about it. And how weird it was. He'd gone to the library and (secretly) looked at some child books to find out if this was normal, or even heard of. There was nothing.
The tot never acted any different, except to gain even more confidence (Kakashi's reputation may never recover...) and become even more clingy. Yeah, after the barbecue last month Naruto hadn't let Kakashi out of his sight when he wasn't on a mission. It was kinda hard to go to the bathroom with a toddler that insisted on watching you and had no respect for privacy. Then, this morning, he found that Naruto's colorless hair had a few blond strands.
As he watched the to young mammals roll around on the floor he wondered if he should ask someone about it. But... what if it turned out to be something some stuck-up adult decided was bad and dangerous and took Naruto away? There really wasn't any way to hide it though. He sighed. When did I become so clingy? Kakashi wondered to himself and glanced at the clock. Seven. Time for dinner, but what to make. He didn't really feel like cooking.
Kakashi was taking missions again with his team while Naruto would stay with Kushina or Obito's Aunt Mikoto. While Kushina was watching him for the first time she discovered she could feed Naruto ramen for every meal and he would be more then happy. Naruto was always begging for it. It got to the point that that was all he would eat and Kakashi, Minato, and Rin had to sit down with Kushina and make some base rules to try and get the baby some nutrients; after all, they didn't want him to be the shortest kid in the academy.
Ramen was easy to feed him and Kakashi was feeling lazy, but it wasn't very healthy and the tot probably had a lot of it in the past week while team seven was on a mission. With effort he got up an stalked into the kitchen area and looked through a few cupboards. There was a moldy banana and surplus of ant flavored cheerios. Kakashi's eye twitched. Well I guess its back to ration bars... he thought as he opened the drawer that usually held said sawdust bars of youth and almost growled out in frustration at the sight of torn up wrappers and half eaten crumbs. The worst part was that he wasn't sure if it was one of the dogs or the toddler who got them. Opening the fridge in desperate hopes that he wouldn't have to leave the apartment he sniffed at the milk—and almost puked—then tried to maneuver around the... the... he didn't know what it was and he wasn't ready to find out.
As hard as he tried Kakashi wasn't the most responsible person alive. While his apartment stayed clean (or used to anyway) he was absolutely terrible about keeping his kitchen stocked with non-moldy items. He could have his bag packed for a week long mission in under ten minutes, but he couldn't for the life of him remember to get rid of food that would spoil or get groceries on the way home. Skillfully squeezing past the yuck in the fridge Kakashi sighed: he was going to have to leave the apartment. He repeated "life sucks" over and over again in his head as he grabbed the baby and put on it's jacket and shoes.
They would be eating ramen tonight. Not barbeque. Not seafood. Not anything that Kakashi wanted. Ramen. Walking along shoulders slumped in defeat, hand in hand with the giggling baby pulling him ever faster towards the shop of fat soaked in grease Kakashi tried his best to hold up his aloof, stoic appearance like as if he didn't care and was in complete control. The lie was better for the general populace than the truth. Arriving at the stand Kakashi gave the order for two miso bowls. That ought to at least satisfy the baby for a moment.
As their bowls were set down in front of them another person entered and sat down on a stool. Not really paying attention to details—just movements and body language as all good ninja would—and noting that whoever it was wasn't up to anything more than getting some dinner Kakashi broke apart Naruto's chopsticks and then started in on his own bowl.
Truly he had far too much of this slop he thought as he slurped it down. The man beside them kept looking over at Naruto and it was making Kakashi nervous. He didn't say anything, but he shifted into a deceptively relaxed position as he continued to focus on his meal, glad that he was between the stranger and the baby. The man was fairly old and looked to be a civilian, but that was little reason to let his guard down; after all, ninja were deceptive creatures.
After a while the man seemed to come to a conclusion, nodded to himself, and turned towards Kakashi. "Excuse me, young man, I was just thinking what a great brother you are, bringing your little brother out to eat. Ha, when I was younger I could hardly stand to be in the same room as my brother! Although our age differences weren't as big as you and your brother's." he rambled. Kakashi looked to be giving the minimum attention required to be polite, but was thinking more along the lines of Brother? I have a brother? Where? Naruto? Man, this guy's crazy. "... dumped paint on my head. I nearly killed him for that one." with a blink Kakashi realized the man was still talking and continued to talk, it was torture.
On and on the old man rambled with no end in sight. Kakashi was trying to come up with a half polite escape when Naruto spoke up, "Kashi! Kashi, yum!" then proceeded to take as big a bite as he could of his ramen. The tot's eyes were big and innocent seeking approval and agreement as he stared at Kakashi. Kakashi could only stare at the tot. as he opened his mouth the old man cut in, "Yes, yes, it is very good isn't it? I really do love this stand. I have been coming here for the last few years it has been open. Do you like it here, Little One? I bet it is a lot of fun to come here with your big brother, huh?..."
Naruto just giggled at him, "Yip! Yup! Kashi ramen!". Kakashi resisted the urge to loose his cool and just let the two talk while he ignored them. Although, he was vaguely satisfied with the tot's vocabulary. Kushina had told him talking to the baby would help him learn to talk—and he tried— but he still couldn't bring himself to talk too much pointlessly, so the baby would have to listen to others. Soon, the man began to spout stories from the past again and Naruto's attention wavered and was lost. Kakashi tried to tune him out, but one line still caught in his ear, "-never seen such a cute baby like you around before. Your brother, I think I have seen, I work in the Hokage tower filling out and filing paperwork on all the goings on in the village. Nothing happens in this village that I don't know about!"
Kakashi froze at that and silently hoped the man did recognize the baby. Most people who worked in the Hokage tower were at least ninja, most were Chuunin. A lot of nin had seen Naruto the day he and the fox appeared and the gossip had traveled fast; it is hard to hide such a distinctively colorless child. Kakashi eyed him carefully: what would he do?
The man, oblivious, just kept talking, "di'ja hear about the wreckage along the road a little ways over there?" at this the man twisted and threw out his arm to point in the direction Kakashi had walked in from this very spot three months ago, "some kind of mistake on some merchants part is the official word, but..." here he crouched over so he was right next to Kakashi's ear and spoke in a stage whisper, "...rumor has it it was an intruder aiming for our merchants! I was there, I saw the wreckage, that was no overheated vat of grease!" He was there and he still cant remember the real story? Kakashi thought staring at the man in disbelief, ...And he works for the Hokage! Unless he is lying... yeah, hes probably pretty messed up in the head. With that thought, the chuunin turned to his charge with the intent of escape.
Somehow the tot beside him finished before he did and was looking at him imploringly for more. With a deadpan look he smashed the kids hopes with a flat, "No." only to have the look intensify. Hatake Kakashi is many things but he is no pushover.
After paying for the three bowls as Naruto finished up Kakashi gave his best polite good-bye to the old man and the two kid headed home. As they walked Kakashi studied the kid again and again wondered about the colors. He had to decide if he was going to talk to anyone about it and who he would talk to if he was going to. He huffed slightly in frustration.
This... didn't go where i thought it would. Strange. And here i was hoping to confuse all you; guess I'll have to wait. Sorry about taking so long, i have three Advanced Placement classes and they take up more time then i was hoping. I'm starting to get into why this fic is called Colorful Chance, see? see? I'm not so totally random!
Anyway, reviews are like my life-source.