Hello all! I'd like to say THANK YOU to all my readers. :3 You guys rock! I love all the positive feed back I'm getting from each of you! It makes me want to TYPEE! I promise for a TON of chapters before the end of September, I'll be bored with a computer (With dial-up, mind you xx) so I'll get to typing our lovely flash backs. And also… How do you reply to comments! I feel like such a noob asking that… But still! And yes, all the flashbacks will tie together in the end. So if it doesn't make sense… Good! XD Anyway, BACK TO HARD LIFE! (It's the longest chapter yet!)
"Poor guy," Kakashi grumbled from his perch, shifting down to let his legs hang off the edge of the branch, "Those little monsters must be driving him crazy…" And as it turned out, they were. Walking back into the kitchen from his wild goose chase, it only took Obito a second to realize what had happened and was pulling on his hair as he stared in anguish at his missing orange juice. Kakashi, though he felt sorry for the other, couldn't help but laugh a little at the look of pure surprise on the Uchiha's face. Frowning deeply, Obito slumped forward and leaned onto the counter. Just as the silver haired boy was going to leave, the sound of heavy foot steps in Obito's home caught his attention. Looking back into the window Kakashi saw as a flood of Obito's siblings mowed through the kitchen, toppling the Uchiha over.
"D-Damn brats!"
The sun was setting as Kakashi, along with Genma, returned home. As soon as Genma stepped in, he felt a blast of freezing air brush over him, causing the older Jounin to shiver. Blinking as Kakashi seemed completely unaltered by the frosty gust, Genma's toothpick nearly fell from his open mouth. Flicking on a lamp, Kakashi turned to the other and said "Feel free to make yourself at home," as he bent down to open a chest of drawers to grab a new set of clothing.
Genma stared blankly at the other for a moment, deciding it was best to not ask questions about the home's temperature. Making his way to Kakashi's bed, the Jounin sat down and wrapped his arms over his chest, rocking and rubbing himself to regain warmth. Oddly enough, although the home was cold, his breath was not visible.
Before long Kakashi was finished, a messenger bag slung over his shoulder filled with two sets of clothes, one for the next day and one for the club. Might as well look good as he was seen out on the town. "Hnn," he growled to catch Genma's attention "Let's go." The other gladly hopped up, shivering, as his chest was open to the cold air once more. Kakashi cast Genma a puzzled stare, "What's wrong? You look cold." He said, bouncing from one foot to the other.
Genma blinked and growled "I am cold. What's wrong is how you don't notice." He snorted, smiling to his younger friend.
Waving a hand in the air, Kakashi hummed "Doesn't feel cold to me."
Genma just sighed, shaking his head as he set off towards the door "Well, whatever. Let's go." The jounin rubbed the back of his head, still confused over the home's temperature.
As Kakashi opened the door and stepped outside, Genma sighed with relief, hugging himself "Thank God I'm out of that freezer." Kakashi frowned and contemplated bashing him on the side of the head with his bag.
"All right, all right. Enough jokes," Kakashi chuckled "I know my house is cold… But I never thought it would be that noticeable."
Strangely enough, the Yondaime and Rin had said the same things. 'Turn up the heat,' 'You'll freeze to death if you keep this cold in here,' and other things like that. But before Obito died, no one said anything. Kakashi was going to go over this a bit more when he found that he had been lead straight back to Genma's in his little daydream. The other stood proudly in front of his home. It was far off on one side of Konoha, in a fairly wooded area. It was so much bigger than Kakashi's little box, but then again Genma had someone else with him.
Large wooden doors lined one side of the home. Possibly the living and dinning areas. The rural home was longer than it was wide; maybe two rooms wide, four rooms long. Off the back of the home there was an open bath and above that was a loft. Genma pointed a finger up to the attic "That's where we'll be staying," he said, wrapping an arm around Kakashi's shoulder.
Shrugging off the arm, Kakashi looked for an entrance to the home. He didn't need Genma hanging onto him like that when they walked inside. Just as Genma was about to lead his guest indoors, a door on the side of house slid open, framing the figure of Genma's mother. Like her son, she too had a long toothpick in between her teeth and a bandanna tied over her hair. Though her brown locks were longer than Genma's, and her obvious feminine features (Such as her bust and large hips) were there, they look a lot alike, almost too much alike.
Leaning onto the door frame with her arms crossed, she smiled at the boys "Welcome home," eyeing Kakashi, a wryly grin appeared on her face "I like your little boy friend here, Genma." Kakashi blinked and looked up at Genma for a moment, as if waiting for him to deny anything of the sort.
But the other only laughed, wrapping an arm around Kakashi's waist "You think so?" he smirked. If Kakashi wasn't so confused he might've punched Genma in the side and broken a chair over head.
Genma's mother laughed "He is quiet the cute little squirt if I must say so myself." She smiled and stepped aside, ushering the boys inside. Weaseling out from under Genma, Kakashi followed slowly, as if afraid that someone else would appear out of nowhere and hit on him. The inside of Genma's home was a lot like the outdoors, very traditional. Bold walls against white paper doors and tatami mat floorings. Each room had an array of lamps, all of which gave off a warm glow. Genma seemed like the person who would enjoy such a calm and relaxed environment.
"Genma," his mother said from the door as she shut it, "Why don't you take…" she paused, glancing at Kakashi.
Quickly catching her message, he replied with his name. "Oh, yes. I'm Hatake Kakashi, ma'am."
She nodded "Well then, Genma, why don't you take Kakashi up to your room. I'm sure he'd like to set his stuff down." Quickly and almost automatically, Genma nodded his reply and ushered Kakashi down the home's long hall to the back. As they neared the back of the home, the younger Nin caught a whiff of an animal. It wasn't to bad; it had been quarantined into a small closet near a flight of stairs to the loft. Scrunching his nose slightly as his passed the closet, Kakashi glanced up to the one leading him around and asked with an aloof tone "You got a cat, Genma?"
"Yeah," he laughed, surprised at how observant his friend was "…Is it that obvious?" Genma frowned "I just got this new kind of litter the other day…" Genma sounded almost worried. Which was strange for a guy of his composure.
Kakashi smiled, "No no, I can just smell things a lot better than other people. It's probably not apparent at all to others." He looked back to the closet as they began climbing the stairs. The whole back portion of the home was like a large closet. If you opened one door to the back, there was a flight of stairs in the middle of the room, a door to the outdoor bath on the opposite wall and on the left was the closet with Genma's litter box. The top of the stairs lead straight into the ceiling. Closer inspection revealed a latch and door to the loft. Pushing it up over his own head, Genma poked into his room and climbed all the way out, holding his door open for Kakashi to step in.
This room was much like the rest of the house, bold colors, rural look, but Genma's lighting was better. Along with his chest of drawers, television and futon, Genma's room was small and cozy. Nothing was cluttered or dusty, everything there had function and meaning. There was an AC window unit in one of the two wide casements in the room. From the corner of the room, behind the futon, sleepy mewing caught both of the teens' attention. From under the covers awoke a nasty little thing. Kakashi blinked once or twice to see if he was only pretending to see that thing as a cat.
The animal looked either like a really big rat, with its long snout and rounded ears, or a small fox… A fox, that is, that had been stepped on one to many times. Apart from the cat's bow legged walk and it's murky yellow eyes, it's fur looked a lot like a ring of hair you'd find on a shower's drain. Her coat color was hard to place, so many different colors and shades speckled her fur. It was quite a sight. Genma waltzed over to his pet and scooped it up into his arms, nuzzling the hairy mass. "This," he said, petting the cat's narrow head "Is Memeru." The cat cooed at its name. Kakashi gave Genma an odd look as he shoved the cat in his direction. Laughing, Genma said "Come-on, she isn't that bad." Kakashi begged to differ.
"She won't… Shed on me or anything?" Kakashi asked, opening his arms slightly to grab the cat.
Genma shook his head, shoving Memeru into Kakashi's arms. "Pretty sure she won't." Kakashi clutched Meru in his arms awkwardly, her legs sticking up in the air as Kakashi tried keeping her away from his black clothing. Surprisingly, Memeru was incredibly soft. Genma continued to pat the cat's head while she was in Kakashi's arms, causing her to purr. The younger Nin shifted the cat around in his arms to enable her to craw up on his shoulders.
"She's really soft, do you brush her a lot?" Kakashi asked, scratching her back as Memeru settled around his neck.
"Nope," Genma said, turning around to begin yanking out extra blankets from a closet on one side of the wall, tossing them onto the floor beside his television.
For a while either boy stood in silence, Kakashi petting Memeru and Genma busying himself with arranging a bed for Kakashi on the floor beside his own. After sometime, Genma stood with his hand on his hips and said "You can sleep on the bed if you want, I don't mind sleeping on the floor." Kakashi looked up and shrugged.
"No problem, I can sleep on the floor, it doesn't bother me." He was still petting Genma's cat, which had sprawled out on the bed beside him where he had sat down.
Genma hummed, sitting down beside Kakashi and continued "Your choice I guess… And yeah, if you get to cold at night, feel free to wake me up and I'll turn down the AC." He could feel Kakashi tense up slightly as he sat down beside him. Smirking, Genma decided to press his luck. Causing Memeru to jump off the bed and hop down the stairs, Genma brought a hand onto Kakashi's chest, pushing him down onto the bed. Rolling over to the center of the mattress, Kakashi looked up at Genma, blushing lightly under his mask, "H-hey! Get off me!" he growled, voice wavering.
Pinning his arms down by his side, the other Nin leaned down to come face to face with Kakashi. Sitting beside the other, rather than on top of him, Genma said, "You need to loosen up. Being tense all the time is bad for your health." He pressed his toothpick against the side of his mouth, as to not poke Kakashi in the face with it. Kakashi continued to stare up at the other in silence, unable to form words. It had been a long time someone had been this close.
Frowning slightly, Genma asked, "What is it, Kakashi? Cat got your tongue?" Kakashi pressed himself against the mattress, trying to shrink under the other, but Genma merely brought one leg over Kakashi's chest, now fully on top of him. Smilingly slyly, Genma whispered "Now, time to get rid of that mask… Hmm?" Leaning closer to the other, whom was still dumbfounded by Genma's shear ability to make him fret, Genma was going to bite onto the edge of the mask and pull it down and off Kakashi's face. But…
"Genma, before you go and snog poor Kakashi, I need you to know that I won't be able to cook tonight." Genma mother had popped in from under the door into Genma's loft. Sighing, the older Nin let go of one of Kakashi's arms, bringing his hand back under his chin "Sure thing. We got it." The silver haired jounin turn his head to the side to look at Genma's mother.
Smirking as she slipped back under the trap door, she said once more "If you're gonna start anything just try and keep it down…" She winked at Kakashi and was gone. Kakashi turned back to Genma, who went back to chewing on his toothpick. Rolling off him onto the floor, Genma clicked his tongue a few times to bring Memeru back from were ever she had settled.
"Hum…" Genma said, chuckling "Now I'm not in the mood." He turned back to Kakashi, who was still sprawled out on the bed. "I wasn't gonna do anything to you if you didn't want me to," he smiled, punching Kakashi in the shoulder ", you don't have to put up with any of my crap."
Kakashi turned to look over at Genma, face flushed "Really?" he asked, voice still a little shaky.
Genma placed a hand on his heart and raised the other (Which had Memeru in it) into the air "I swear, and if I do anything you don't like, I give you permission to hit me, slap me, punch me, or whatever else you can think of." Kakashi snorted.
"Then may I break a chair over your head if to ever decide to try and wrap an arm around me again?" Kakashi asked, rolling over onto his side, finally getting back his sarcastic tone.
Genma nodded "If you can find a chair that is."
It wasn't long before both boys had grown tired, beginning to nod off as they watched one of those late night sitcoms that could never get the prime time spot. Genma was lying down on his bed; a lamp on the nightstand beside him had been switched on, allowing him to read. Curiosity got the best of the younger Jounin, and he rolled over onto his back to sit up, asking, "What do you got there, Genma?"
Genma laughed "I don't think you'd like it…" He flipped to the next page in his book "Besides, if you did like it, it wouldn't give a good name."
Kakashi looked closer, leaning into the light to read the cover. "Icha… Icha…" he started, unable to read in the dim light.
Genma smiled and brought the book back into the light "Icha Icha Paradisu. It's a porn novel." He went back to reading "But unlike most… It has plot."
Kakashi blinked "Porn?" he broke out into a grin "You're a pervert?" he crossed his arms and smirked.
"Of course not," Genma laughed, "I'm just exploring new reading material, that's all."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say." Kakashi groaned, "It's still porn no matter how you put it." He glanced around the room a bit, pondering over going back to watching his show. After a minute or two, Kakashi finally piped up "Do you have volume one."
Clamping his book shut, Genma grinned widely, laughing "I knew you couldn't refuse it," he stood up and headed towards his closet, opening it to grab a card board box, "I just kneeew it." The box contained a large number of orange colored books, the latest novels at the top. Sifting though the box, Genma eventually grabbed the first few books and handed them to Kakashi. "I suggest you come to me if you ever want to borrow some, they're pretty hard to get at our age." Flipping through the first few pages, Kakashi nodded and soon the two went back to their silence.
It wasn't long before Kakashi had nodded off to sleep, book still in hand. He had been leaning against Genma's bed, catching the lamp's light onto his book as he read. It wasn't until Genma noticed Kakashi had been on the same page for the past ten minutes when he realized Kakashi had passed out. Chuckling as he pushed Kakashi forwards onto his own bed, Genma got up to move Kakashi closer to the center of his guest bed. He slept like the dead, breath barely noticeable. Genma smiled as Kakashi's hand grip at his sleeve as he tried pulling the covers back over Kakashi.
Standing up to head over to his AC unit, Genma cranked it up as high as it could go. He had himself a nice little plan. Walking back to his own bed as the machine began to hum, Genma crawled under his own sheets and fell asleep in nearly no time at all.
After a few hours, the younger Jounin woke up and shivered madly under the covers. 'Damnit Genma … He purposely turned the air down just so I'd get cold.' The Jounin rolled over in his covers, pulling the blanket close to his chest to warm up. No luck. Even his own house wasn't this cold. Remembering what Genma said Kakashi frowned. 'Like he'd even listen if I woke him up…' After failing to make himself any warmer, Kakashi reluctantly crawled over to the opposite side of the room towards Genma. As quickly and quietly as possible, Kakashi slithered under the covers coming off the bed.
Laughing quietly, Kakashi grumbled "The bastard's got an electric blanket… I should've known," and lied down next to the other. Genma was close to the wall, but the two were still very crammed in the twin bed. Kakashi wasn't even able to reach both arms behind his head to relax. Through the warm blanket, Kakashi felt Genma shift around next to him and turn over to face Kakashi as he woke up.
Smirking, the older boy said "Pssh, I knew you wouldn't be able to stand my freezing room without me." Genma chuckled as he moved forward to touch noses with Kakashi.
Blushing, Kakashi moved back a bit, nearly falling off the bed, "O-of course I can't. It's below zero in here and you're the one with an electric blanket." Reviving his cocky attitude, Kakashi leaned in again, knocking foreheads with Genma "I bet you purposely turned down the air just to make me climb into bed with you…"
Genma shrugged, one corner of his mouth frowning, "It worked... Didn't it?" Kakashi merely snorted as a reply.
"This is some of the crap I refuse to deal with." Kakashi frowned, hands brushing against Genma's chest as he crossed them over himself.
"Hum… No fun," Genma said, sitting up "I'll turn off the air then, but it'll be a while till the room heats up again." Kakashi shrugged, pushing him up and out of the bed.
"Just go turn it off you retard." He grumbled, bringing a hand to the side of his face. As fingers hit cold metal, Kakashi realized he had forgotten to take off his forehead protector. Feeling a bit self-conscious as he undid the tie on the back of his head, Kakashi removed the cloth around his head to uncover his new eye.
As Genma headed back, he didn't even miss a beat, "Want me to put that back with your stuff?" he asked, reaching out for Kakashi's forehead protector. The younger Nin handed the other the bundle and Genma leaned over towards Kakashi's bag, tossing lightly to let it land atop the messenger bag. Slinking back into his own bed, Genma couldn't help but look at Kakashi's new addition. Catching Genma's gaze, Kakashi looked down at his feet, wondering if removing his forehead protector was a good idea. Bringing a hand to Kakashi's shoulder, Genma gave it a tight squeeze and said, "I know you miss him…And his gift is nothing to be ashamed of."
Kakashi looked up, his miss-matched eyes locking with the other's calm ones. He smiled slightly under his mask and reached his arms around Genma's neck, bringing himself into the other's chest. "I just wish I had listened to him…" Kakashi was thankful for Genma's shelter, hopefully he wouldn't take it the wrong way.
Wrapping his own arms around the younger teen, Genma pulled him in closer. Though he wasn't able to grasp how Kakashi might've felt, knowing that it indeed was his fault for the failure of a mission and the death of his teammate, Genma did know how it felt to lose someone close. "Shh." He cooed, resting his chin on Kakashi's head "I know that you might feel the need to keep to yourself after losing someone so close." Though Genma didn't know of Kakashi's relationship with Obito, he did know that the two shared a bond as teammates. "After my father died, Mom was never open to anyone but me for a long time." Kakashi gripped Genma a little tighter, pulling on the fabric of Genma's shirt "But soon, she realized there was no point in sulking over what you couldn't change, and she once again opened her arms to others." He laughed slightly "I'm sure she'll stay single for the rest of her life though. She likes playing around with people now, rather than making a relationship." Kakashi nodded, forehead hitting against Genma's collarbone.
"I understand." Kakashi said against Genma, who squirmed slightly.
"When you talk against my shirt, it tickles." Genma smirked, ruffling Kakashi's hair absentmindedly. The younger Nin smiled, hugging Genma closer as he fell asleep once more. Letting go of the other to let him roll around in their small bed, Genma watched silently as Kakashi eventually became eye level with him. In no time, the older boy fell asleep gazing at the deep scar over Kakashi's red eye.