"Going somewhere?"
Sasori fastened his puppet scrolls around his waist, not once looking up at the man leaning against the living room door frame. The Akatsuki recently assigned to the safe house in River Country—himself, Kakuzu, and Kisame—were ordered to stay out of the public's scrutiny as the next set of missions were laid out and distributed.
In other words, it was free time.
"Just paying a friend a quick visit," he replied. Kisame raised an eyebrow.
"You have friends?"
"Now you're just being rude."
He tucked Sakura's most recent note into the inner lining of his cloak as he slipped it on. Kisame stepped aside and Sasori walked passed to pick his kunai pouch up from the sofa. He was ready to head off towards Konoha and check if Sakura really had begun to lose some of her sense.
He wouldn't let her go crazy. He knew he was already too far gone and she had to be the one to keep the sanity between them.
"Is the friend you're visiting Deidara or the Kazekage's youngest son?" Kisame asked. Sasori stopped a few feet away from the door.
Ah.
He turned, hair brushing against his lashes.
"I thought I did such a great job keeping that a secret," he said. "And if you know, Yahiko-sama must be aware by now. Well, I suppose I could make this trip before I'm brought into questioning and detained for the next month. And it's neither of those two, if you're still wondering."
He managed to take another step before being stopped by the sheer force of the ex-Kiri nin's next few words.
"I didn't tell anyone."
Sasori spun around. "What? What do you mean, 'I didn't tell anyone'? My actions are obviously suspicious and should've been reported a long time ago."
Kisame waved his hand about nonchalantly. "What you're doing must be important if you're sneaking around. It's your business. I was just... curious," he said. Ever since their quaint conversation on hypotheticals, the hulking swordsman was very quiet and contemplative around Sasori. The latter thought it was odd, but didn't question it and chalked it up to him being weird again.
"And you're going to let me keep doing it?"
"Yeah."
"Because it's none of your business?"
The taller man nodded. "Pretty much."
"... Huh," the puppet-master muttered, glancing at the door. "Well... I'll bring back a souvenir, I guess."
::
It was 6:30 am.
On Wednesday.
The morning after the team's first day off.
Kakashi, being the kind man that he was, expected his genin to show on time after being graced with his leniency.
...
So where the hell were they?
He tapped an irritated finger on his bicep as he stood in the middle of the training field. He told them their very first meeting that being early meant being on time. Fifteen minutes prior than what was set, preferably. But no. They were thirty minutes later than late, making the grand total of forty five minutes they could have training!
There had better be a damn good explanation or one hundred laps around Konoha was in order.
Kakashi turned his head towards a thicket of bushes just before an blue and green blob tumbled out. It quickly shot up to its feet and exclaimed:
"We didn't mean to, dattebayo!"
The man towered over him. "You have five seconds."
"But—!"
"Four."
"W-W-W-Wait!"
"Three."
"Kakash—!"
"Two."
"We couldn't leave 'im!" Naruto cried, his face red from the running ahead he did and the panic that rose when a death glare was aimed at him. "He was scared an' alone an' hurt an' his kaa-san wasn' movin' so we had ta' do somethin'! He woulda' died, Kakashi-sensei!"
The jounin refused the urge to cock an eyebrow and looked up at the bushes once more. Sasuke and Sakura came out at a more justified pace with a bundle tucked in the girl's arms. And quite a large bundle it was, seeing as she had to peer all the way to the side to see in front of her.
"Sensei, we have to get him help," Sasuke stated firmly, eyes holding a steady determination that wouldn't allow for an unacceptable answer. The bundle moved slightly.
"Yeah, Kakashi," Sakura added. "Don't get your panties in a twist. Don't you know how long it'll take for you to untangle them?"
The bundle, wrapped in Naruto's orange vest, wriggled until the hood fell away and a head popped out of the masses. Two powder blue eyes peered up from a white furred head. Its black nose twitched as it stared at the subtly surprised Kakashi. A baby deer—a white one—with a loosely bandaged front leg was what kept them so long. If he could say anything about it, there would be a slightly darkened patch on its crown that resembled the sun.
"... What did you think to achieve by bringing it here?"
"Its name is Yuki. And we're going to find him some help. I'm pretty sure the wound on his leg is going to need stitches and we want to make sure he doesn't have any more injuries," Sakura said. Kakashi's eyes roamed from the fawn to his three students.
"Perhaps you won't find the help for it."
"Nu-uh!" Naruto protested. "Hana-san's a vet and she told us we could come by anytime! Kiba took us to her office once and we know where it is. We'll go there and make sure Yuki's alright, yeah?"
A tie to the Inuzuka's wasn't something he considered a possibility. Again, an interesting perk that came with the early graduates, but he wouldn't complain. The more connections a shinobi had, the more abilities and techniques they were able to utilize.
He was going to open his mouth and deny their request. They were more than half an hour late, breaking a rule outright. And they had done it for an animal, no less. But he caught Sakura's gaze from above the other heads, her previous words ringing through his ears.
Are you trying to get them to hate you?
"... Fine," he relented. He purposely moved his eyes to avoid seeing the girl's gleeful grin. "We'll go to the Inuzuka Veterinary Clinic."
::
When Hana went to work that morning, her three canine companions rushed forward to the back entrance of the clinic. The Haimaru Brothers had taken quite a liking to Kiba's friends the past few years and would readily greet them if their paths ever crossed, even the odd girl that always carried the smell of cats. Masaru, Masashi, and Masato poked their noses at the ten year olds with familiarity while eyeing the other animal and the strange man.
"Ah, the three squirts," Hana hummed. She waved at them before fishing for her key. "Congratulations on graduating. Since you're here with your sensei, did you get a mission?"
Sasuke shook his head. "We found a deer when we went to the training field. His mom's dead and his leg's hurt."
Hana unlocked the door and held it open to let them in. "Alright, come on in. I'll see what I can do for you."
Kakashi lingered near the back of the group, the dog triplets tailing his heels. He'd never been inside the clinic before as his summons were rarely injured and returned to their homes if they did. Besides, he wasn't known for his personable attitude with other shinobi. He was an ANBU for his village first and foremost and he didn't have time for anything else.
... Though he'd probably have to find a new excuse with the department change.
He stopped outside the examination room and leaned back against the wall, watching as his students patiently waited Hana to look over the fawn. Why they had taken the time to help a wild animal, he couldn't fathom. It should've been left in the forest to learn to fend for itself since it was a circumstance it couldn't refuse.
Those whose futures were doomed from the beginning had to learn to live with their curses. There was no hope in changing that, and he was determined to have his team understand it before it was too late.
"Oi, Kakashi!"
He repressed the urge to sigh and turned a cold stare to his group's little pseudo-leader. "Address me properly."
"Yeah, sure, whatever, Anyway, Kakashi," Sakura began. The deer was back in her arms and Sasuke and Naruto hung back to talk to Hana. "Yuki's not hurt anywhere else and his leg'll heal naturally. We'll probably drop him off at the Nara Forest and have him recuperate there."
He regarded her with a raised eyebrow. "You need permission to step on those grounds."
"Nara-san lets as hang out there all the time!" Naruto exclaimed, running up beside Sakura. "When we're with Shikamaru, he says we gotta check on the deer. Rikumaru's my favorite."
The Nara too? They were a family of geniuses that contained the best strategists Konoha had to offer. Not to mention they used deer antlers in numerous medicinal concoctions that came at a quite expensive price if one didn't have ties to the clan.
"Can we go look for Nara-san, sensei?" Sasuke questioned. The man was met with another round of hopeful eyes, the third, of course, observing him carefully to see what kind of answer he'd give. Kakashi leveled his stare.
"... We'll go," he said. He didn't miss the way Sakura's lips pulled up in a proud grin, or the way Hana's eyes widened at his show of compliance. As the team made their way out of the clinic, Hana called out her goodbye.
"Don't cause too much trouble for Hatake-san, you hear? I heard about what happened with the potatoes!"
The Haimaru Brothers yipped in agreement.
::
Sasuke and Naruto walked a bit ahead of the group, occasionally nudging each other and arguing about where to find Shikaku. It left Kakashi and Sakura to take their time while watching for any mishaps the two boys could get into.
"You know we're missing your precious training time, right? Those 'life or death' sessions or whatever you call them."
The Hatake glanced down at the fawn, whose blue eyes stared at him intently. "I have a schedule. I will follow that schedule. You don't need to know anything about it- just follow what you're told and there won't be a problem."
"Cut the crap, Kakashi. You're doing this because you like us, huh?"
The audacity astounded him.
"Actually, I bet that in seven days we can get you to admit you like us!" Sakura continued. At Kakashi's dead stare, she beamed. "Seriously, I mean it. A week from tomorrow, you'll see that you like us so much that we'll be the best thing that's ever happened to you. Stakes! I'll even hold up stakes to show you how right I am!"
He took a look at Naruto, who was bristling at something said to him, then Sasuke, whose smug smirk displayed his victory in whatever argument he got himself into. Kakashi returned his attention to her.
"Stakes?"
"If I win, you have to go up to Dan-sama and tell him that no matter what happens, we'll always be your team," she stated. An odd stipulation, he admitted, and one he couldn't even see how it would benefit her.
"And if I win?"
"If you win, I'll call you by your proper title and won't give anymore of my lovely commentary. Deal?"
A chance to be free from her unappreciated snark? It took him a while to digest her conditions before he- irritatingly- started weighing out his options. He could join this childish game and have a 50/50 shot at finally getting her to curb her ridiculous attitude. It would save him the trouble of enacting disciplinary measures. But on the other hand, he was going to lower himself to a point where he'd be making bets with a ten year old.
If he backed out, though, it would look even worse on him.
Well, at least he had nothing to lose.
"Deal," Kakashi said. "The bet will end at noon, a week from tomorrow."
Sakura didn't grin this time. Rather, her eyes lit up with something he'd never seen on her before. She turned and walked ahead before he could say anything about it.
Those eyes...
Surely, they couldn't have looked as sad as he thought he'd seen.
Day 1: Thursday
"Where's Sakura?"
Sasuke and Naruto exchanged glances. Around 5:45 in the morning, the two of them came by themselves on certain circumstances. They would have normally met up with Sakura halfway to the training grounds, but a note tacked onto a nearby tree acted as her substitute instead.
Naruto scratched the back of his head. "She, uh... won't be here today. 'Cause she's at her shrink."
"Therapist," Sasuke corrected. "Sakura's going to be with her therapist the whole day, but she'll be back tomorrow."
Kakashi might not be too taken with the girl, but that didn't mean he'd not think that piece of information wasn't something to keep in mind. A therapist?
Why?
::
Inoichi asked her to come early so afterwards, she could sneak the day away answering practice cases in Ibiki's office. That, and the only time Obito was free were the few early hours he had until the official start of a separate mission of his.
Sakura's palms dampened with sweat as she sat on the worn couch. Obito said nothing from his spot against the wall, but his mere presence—especially after what happened a couple of years ago—was enough to set her on edge.
"I hope you don't mind me taking you out of your genin team for the day," Inoichi said, pulling her out of her thoughts. "Will your sensei get upset?"
"Kakashi can live with it," she snorted. She flinched as Obito's gaze shot up at the name. Inoichi clicked his pen and jotted down some notes.
Patient susceptible to sudden movements.
Consistent response with documented panic attack at 8 years old.
"I guess you wouldn't have it any other way. Let's proceed the session as we normally do- anything interesting happen this past week?"
Sakura's eyes flickered to her right, then moved to the spot on the wall to avoid both their gazes. "Nothing really."
The Yamanaka lifted a page on his clipboard and moved his pen.
Exposure therapy will last through several future sessions.
Day 2: Friday
Naruto grumbled to himself as he bent over to pick up another piece of plastic stuck beneath the river rocks. He knew they were genin and they had to take the lowest ranking of missions and yeah, sure, he knew something like this had to be done. Shinobi were commissioned to do any and all jobs, Iruka told him all the time, and he was grateful that the job market was pretty decent towards beginners.
It was just...
"ARGH! This is so damn boring!"
Sakura chucked a small pebble at him. "You're serving the community, Naruto."
"Well the community's stupid, 'ttebayo!" he shouted. He spun around, splashing water to the sides as he glared up at his sensei who was standing in the shade of the treeline and watching them with blank eyes. "What 'bout you, sensei? If we gotta 'serve the community', you gotta do it to!"
"He doesn't have to, Naruto. Kakashi's our team leader no matter how much he sucks at it, and we have to listen. He's kind of in charge of us," she said.
"How's that fair?" Sasuke asked. He tossed an empty can into the trash basket he carried on his back. Three hours they'd spent mulling around the river to take whatever trash they happened to stumble across. Their feet were starting to prune and the water had gotten slightly warmer than when they first started, but it was still cold.
"Life's not supposed to be fair. Look, you two, the sooner we get this clean up done, the sooner we can see Shino's new colony. Do we want to keep him waiting or no?"
Much to Kakashi's interest, their complaints ceased and they continued with their work. He didn't know how to feel about Sakura's blatant... authority over the two, even when she never acted above them or said anything that implied it. She simply acted as if she knew better or that she held a certain wisdom that the two had yet to understand.
She glanced his direction before turning away, making him narrow his eyes.
No, it wasn't an act. She probably did know better. How, he had yet to figure out.
Naruto trudged downstream, following a slip of paper he couldn't care to run after. Sasuke looked over his shoulder.
"Careful, dobe. You're getting close to the waterfall."
The older boy turned until he was walking backwards and stuck his tongue out. "I know there's a waterfall! I'm not dumb enough to—AHH!"
Naruto slipped on some of the smoother rocks on the river bottom and tipped backwards. Sasuke threw his basket to the bank and lunged forward, hand outstretched to try and grab the other boy's hand before he fell off the edge. He managed, but the momentum brought him forward instead of back.
Kakashi didn't hear the slosh of water of someone hastily running through the river.
Kakashi didn't sense any sort of chakra collecting at someone's expense.
Kakashi didn't see anyone else move.
But yet, she was there. Sakura, somehow, had silently gotten to the other end of the river faster than the naked eye could track and grasped Sasuke's hand before he and Naruto could take the whole waterfall down. The soles of her feet glowed a light blue as she stood above the steady river current, and the weight of two ten year old boys hadn't hindered her in the slightest.
"Can you two take something seriously for once?" she sighed. She looked up at Kakashi. "Yo, Kakashi! If you can give me a little help, I'll take back that comment of you being a sucky sensei!"
She shouldn't have been capable of doing that.
"You got over there just fine," he mentioned lightly. "You're more than capable of helping them up yourself."
She shouldn't have gotten by without him knowing.
"Why, Kakashi! If you didn't say that to be such an asshole I'd say that was a compliment!" Sakura grinned. She used her free hand to hook under Sasuke's bicep to hoist both her boys back a safe distance away from the waterfall. Naruto sputtered incredulously, tumbling onto land and kissing the ground like he hadn't seen it in a hundred years.
"Idiot!" Sasuke growled. "I said you were getting close to the waterfall! If Sakura wasn't there then you would've died!"
"Sakura-chan's always gonna be there so it wasn't that bad, bastard! We're okay, right?!" he shot back.
The only female on the team lost the shine in her eyes at that short sentence. She suddenly stepped away from them both and adjusted the straps of the trash basket, returning to her duties with a small frown on her face.
Neither Sasuke or Naruto noticed.
...
But Kakashi did.
Day 3: Saturday
Weeds.
Stupid, stringy, annoying weeds.
At least there weren't any waterfalls to accidentally fall over this time.
A civilian who ran a close-by persimmon farm had requested their services to help clean up his grounds so that his profits wouldn't decline from the mild infestation. It was a simple enough task even if the land was so expansive, but the plucking wasn't the problem that had Sakura's hand twitch every time it made itself known.
It was the shitty civilian who wouldn't keep his mouth shut.
"Koichi, you stupid, stupid boy!" the civilian roared. "Any simpleton can get this job done, yet you can't! What's so hard about it?!"
The five year old Koichi, whose light brown hair stood at odd ends, looked up at his father with watery gray eyes. "I-I'm so... so..."
"A question, boy! How many times do I have to tell you to give me an answer when I ask you a question?!"
The genin team was across the field, but the civilian's voice cut through the air like a butcher hacking at a rotten cut. They had only been working a short time, but there wasn't one second where the man hadn't found fault with the little boy.
"Go tend to the fruit and be useful for once, you worthless brat!"
Koichi ducked his head, nearly tripping over his own feet as he ran as fast as he could to the trees just a few meters away from the weed-pulling trio. As the civilian disappeared into his house, Naruto dropped his weeds.
"Koichi, are you okay?"
"Y-Yeah. S'okay, Shinobi-san. I don' mind."
Sakura gritted her teeth but said nothing. Sasuke patted her shoulder. The three of them didn't need to be warned about what would happen if she snapped and lost her cool in the middle of the mission. Dan would definitely be upset with them and probably move them off the roster for a week or two.
Kakashi sat on the wooden fence beside them. He had a book about some sort of philosophy held against his knee and read without a care in the the world. On the outside, he was nonchalant and uncaring as ever.
Inside?
Probably as irritated as the rest of his team.
But it wasn't their place to step into matters that weren't their own. Of course it was wrong and the boy's father shouldn't be acting so harsh, but what could they do? This was a job and he was a client. Nothing in their contract said they had to look into their employer's personal life.
All that had to be done was pull all of the weeds, have the civilian's approval, then probably never come back.
::
"What did I tell you?! Tend to the fruit! The FRUIT! So what is all this crap you're showing me, you little shit?!"
Some of the fruits were nearly ripe, so Koichi had hauled a ladder all the way to the tree and began picked the persimmons. Though he had picked one too much, the weight causing him to topple off the ladder and drop onto the ground.
The civilian was more concerned about the bruises on the fruit than the bruises on his son's back.
"I di-didn't mean t-t-to!" Koichi cried. The civilian's face burned with rage as he raised his hand, knuckles pointed towards the ground.
"Raising your voice at me?! You insolent cur!"
SMACK!
Kakashi's eyes widened. Because there, stood in front of a cowering little boy, was Naruto with his face jerked to the left. His cheek gleamed an angry red. The man's eyes widened further when the civilian recoiled in disgust, not in surprise or shock, but disgust when he got a good look at the genin's face.
"The demon defending the good-for-nothing. Fitting," the civilian hissed. He had no time to react when a fist appeared in his vision and clocked him clear in the jaw, sending him sailing into the dirt and letting an audible crack ring in everyone's ears.
"Say that again, filth. I fucking dare you," Sakura snarled. Her bandaged hand stayed balled even as the sorry excuse of a man held his chin and pointed an accusing finger at her.
"You hit me!"
"I returned the favor."
"I'll report you!" he shouted. "I'll report the lot of you!"
"To who?" Sasuke questioned smoothly, speaking up for the first time. He stepped up to stand on the other side of Naruto and placed a pale hand atop Koichi's quivering head. "Uchiha Fugaku is head of the Uchiha and the Police Commissioner, the highest possible rank, of the Konoha Keimu Butai."
The civilian gave him a dirty look. "I know that!" he snapped. Sasuke raised his chin.
"Then who's he going to believe—a lowly farmer or his own son?"
A few moments passed before the threat sunk in and the civilian's face gained an unhealthy pallor. He knew he was going to lose this battle, so he whipped his head towards their sensei. Kakashi's face returned to its usual blankness.
"They're your students and they'll be held responsible! Do something about them!" the civilian demanded. The jounin raised an eyebrow.
"You raised a hand to your own child, hit my student, then refused to apologize for your wrongdoing by insulting him instead. I say the reactions were warranted," he said. "If you believe not, report it to Hokage-sama. I'm sure he'll listen to your claims after you've been handled by child services."
Sakura retracted her hand and pulled out bruise salve from her pouch to tend to both Koichi and Naruto.
Weeds.
It was always the stupid, stringy, annoying weeds.
Day 4: Sunday
"You've eaten at Ichiraku's right, sensei?"
Kakashi looked up from sharpening his kunai. This was their hour break for lunch when they'd normally run off the minute they were dismissed and came back a minute before they were counted as late.
"No."
"WHAT?!" Naruto shrieked. The man held himself to keep from flinching at the horrible volume the boy's voice had risen to. "Everyone's tried Ichiraku's! It's the best ramen in Konoha!"
"I'm not too fond of ramen," Kakashi replied. Naruto's mouth dropped to the ground, his hand clutching his heart like he'd been stabbed a million times. Without another word, he grabbed his teacher's hand and pulled him to his feet.
"Sakura-chan! Sasuke! Sensei doesn't like ramen! He's possessed, dattebayo! POSSESSED! We gotta give him ramen to save his life!" he yelled. No correlation, but Kakashi expected nothing less of the him. Given what had happened just yesterday, he supposed he could let himself be dragged off to who knows where. The ramen shop?
That's where he found himself not ten minutes later, sitting on one of the stools in the stall with Sasuke and Naruto on one side of him and Sakura on the other.
"Ah, my best customers!" Teuchi greeted with his cheery grin. "Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura. Nice to see you three again! Here to treat your sensei to lunch?"
"Yup!" Naruto chirped. "He's gotta try the best! So we'll have four miso, one chicken, and one tempura please!"
Sakura poked Kakashi's side. "Naruto usually eats three bowls. It's actually pretty scary, if you ask me," she whispered. The man spared her a quick glance.
"You're here often?"
"Mostly. Sometimes we can get him to the other stalls, but Ichiraku's will always be his favorite. He only brings people he likes here," she smiled. "You think you can guess what that means?"
Kakashi resisted the urge to roll his eyes, but failed to stop the feeling that he was beginning to think of the three as tolerable. The only people he found tolerable were Obito and, to a very special extent, Gai. He wasn't about to put those three brats on their level.
Sakura pressed her hands to her mouth and hit her fist against the counter, shoulders shaking with laughter and tears threatening to trickle from her eyes. Kakashi blinked at her for a second before looking to his other side. Sasuke was in a similar state, trying hard to keep himself from falling off his stool.
Naruto had stuck a pair of chopsticks up his nose and began giving his best impression of the Daimyou's wife.
Kakashi pressed his lips together and refused the quirk that threatened to take the edge of his mouth.
Nope. Not tolerable. Absolutely not at all.
Day 5: Monday
Kakashi stood merely fifty meters ahead of her, observing the way Naruto and Sasuke sparred with taijutsu only. She should've been paying attention to them just as much as their sensei was.
Instead, she was whisper-yelling up at the tree beside her.
"You're crazy!" she hissed. "You're going to get caught, then you're going to get me in trouble, and then I'm going to have to bail your dumbass out!"
"I'm crazy? Me? I'm not the one who wants to make Uchiha Itachi the Rokudaime Hokage. You need to explain that to me right now or I'm not leaving," Sasori returned. She made a choking motion in his direction, looked at Kakashi to make sure he still hadn't become suspicious, and looked back.
"A literal ANBU is right there!"
"And? We could probably take him down, no problem," he shrugged. Sakura was tempted to break the tree he took refuge in, but didn't for the sake of not getting caught. He should realize how lucky he was that she wasn't going to.
"Seriously, can we do this later? My plan is long-winded and will take a while to explain. And honestly, I'd prefer to stay on Kakashi's good side for at least a week. That means no conspiring with, oh, I don't know, S-Class criminals!"
Sasori waved a hand. "Unimportant. Well, I guess I'll have to wait out on telling you about Kisame suspecting I'm actually a time-traveler."
...
"What?"
"I was joking, but I think I said too much."
Sakura pressed a palm to her forehead, foreseeing the headache that would come in a few minutes. Eighty years in the Void, was it? It must have been a hell of a time to turn one of the greatest geniuses the shinobi world had come to know into a complete, utter idiot.
"Sakura," Kakashi called out. "What are you doing?"
She met his even gaze with a bland stare. "There's a stupid squirrel in the tree, Kakashi. I'm trying to get it to go away," she said. Luckily, he was used to her oddness and turned back to the sparring duo.
Sasori chucked an acorn at her head the same second.
Day 6: Tuesday
Ibiki tugged on his trench coat as he opened the fridge to get himself a glass of orange juice and a piece of onigiri. When he shut the door, Sakura appeared right next to him holding out a pen and a piece of notepad paper.
"Write down Kakashi's address for me?"
He took the pen and paper while taking a bite of his breakfast. "Pour me some juice. Isn't it an off day for your team? Don't tell me you're choosing to bother Hatake over being a decent citizen of the village," he said. Sakura took a glass from the cabinet, poured a cup, then put the rest of it back into the fridge.
"I'm always a decent citizen, for your information. The time the Hokage Monument was painted orange was a moment of weakness," she countered. Ibiki handed her the paper, downing his drink in one gulp and setting it in the sink.
"Of course it was. Will you be back tonight or tomorrow morning?"
"Hm... probably tomorrow morning."
He nodded. After putting on his sandals, he opened the front door for her to step out before doing so himself and locking the door. "Don't get arrested."
"Wouldn't dream of it. See you tomorrow, old man!"
::
He was probably going to spend his afternoon visiting the memorial stone or scouting for a spare mission the Hokage might have in store. Those plans were genin-free, giving him at least 24 hours to clear his mind and think up a new training regime to work on their dynamic, or lack thereof.
It was going to be a good day.
Until they showed up at his doorstep. With grocery bags. And shit-eating grins.
"Afternoon, sensei!" Naruto exclaimed. He let himself in despite the twitching of his teacher's left eye. "Did you eat yet? Well, if you did that's okay. The food's gonna take a while anyway."
"We'll make sure to make it the best we can. Don't worry, we've had lots of practice so it's safe to eat," Sasuke assured. He too came into the apartment and followed his rival into the kitchen. Kakashi very slowly turned to the last, most obvious culprit of the group.
"Where did you get my address?"
"I talked to none-of-your-business. They were very helpful," she answered cheekily. She also let herself into the apartment and set her plastic bags onto the counter. He watched in hopelessness at his team raided his kitchen for cooking supplies and other things they might need for whatever the hell they were doing.
"Hey, sensei," Naruto called, "how do you work your oven?"
"Get out of my house."
::
He should've known better. Really. Since it was technically an off day for all of them, Sakura found an even greater reason to not listen to him and urged her boys to continue without listening to a word their sensei said. When it came down to listening to either him or her, the choice was obvious. And always would be.
But that didn't mean they could crash at his place for the night.
Dinner was actually quite nice, much to his surprise, when they made salt-broiled saury with a side of miso soup with eggplant (he didn't complain when they made his favorite dishes) and followed it up with sponge cakes for dessert. Afterwards, they played some old movies on his TV until Naruto and Sasuke fell asleep on his couch.
He considered kicking them out, but they would probably find a way through the window or trigger all his traps while trying.
"So why aren't you asleep?"
Sakura tilted her head to look at him. "Hm?"
"You already invaded my apartment and took over my kitchen and my couch," he pointed out, "and as the tyrant you are, I expected you to declare victory. Is it that you don't want to sleep or you can't?"
She gave a humorless laugh and swung her legs off the armrest and onto the ground. Propping her cheek with her palm, she regarded the man she knew years and years ago with eyes that appeared too tired to keep going on. "You ask a lot of questions. Did you know that?"
He glimpsed at the clock sitting above the TV. 11:59 pm.
"No one's ever told me that before. Perhaps it's because I tend not to associate with others," he said. "But you knew that. I don't know why, but you do. You always seem to know something everyone else doesn't."
Day 7: Wednesday
From her silence, he could see an unnatural guilt in her eyes. It didn't matter how many jokes she made or every comment she quipped to deflect attention away from herself, whatever she was trying to hide would always show itself at the end of the day.
It was... familiar. Her suffering and everything she would never tell a soul. It was the same look he saw in himself when his father committed suicide, leaving his only son to find his lifeless body curled up on the floor in the middle of the night. It was the same look he saw in himself when Rin took death in his place. It was the same look he saw in himself every day of his ANBU life, wondering who he would kill next and if he'd ever forget what happened to him.
All those years of pain and the inability to forget, he saw in this ten year old girl. She carried an unfathomable weight no one else knew of, maybe because no one else could see. But he did. He knew it was there because he saw it for himself.
"How many people have you lost?" he asked, voice no higher than a murmur. Sakura turned her gaze to narrow on Naruto, an empty smile growing on her face at the sight of drool trickling down his chin. Then she looked at Sasuke who looked as prim and proper as he did when he was awake.
"I don't know," she said. "I don't like to count."
With nothing else to say to her, he retired to his room knowing that he wouldn't be the only one to stay awake the rest of the morning.
Thursday
At noon, Kakashi went to the Hokage Tower to tell Dan something of utmost importance, knowing exactly how it would play out. He would knock on the office door twice and let himself in. A few pleasantries would be exchanged before Dan would go on to ask why he had come.
"I'm here about my team," Kakashi would say. The Godaime would grow confused and ask if he was displeased with his genin and if he wished for a change of status. Kakashi would shake his head no and surprise his superior and his niece, but not as much as he would with his request.
He would ask to make the assignment official, where the graduates wouldn't be called Team Kakashi any longer. They would be called Squadron Seven only after he'd help them grow into the shinobi they were always meant to be.
"Why?" Dan would ask, astounded that things had taken such a turn. Kakashi would then give a shrug of his shoulders and then look out the window.
"Because no matter what happens, we'll always be a team," he would answer. But when it did happen, he would never admit to wanting to make himself better after seeing how much happier he could be.
::
Aw, everything's happy!
...
For now.
::
EDITED 2/5/18