Written for the LJ community 101 kisses theme #2, Four of diamonds. Kishimoto Masashi owns the Naruto universe and its characters, not me. I'm renting them in exchange for what's left of my soul.

Notes: This is just a little thing that I came up with, because it's kinda hard to combine cards and kissing. Heh.

Lucky Charm

Kakashi only knew one card trick, but he thought it was the greatest thing in the world when he first learned it. The trick involved splitting a deck in half, asking someone to look at the top card of the bottom half, and then, without saying what it was, put it back. Then, the deck would be shuffled, and supposedly that card would rise to the top.

The first time Yondaime was roped into playing this game by his student, he noticed that the topcard's corner had been ever-so-slightly cropped, to make it distinguishable from the rest of the pack. He hadn't said anything, just slid the card – the four of diamonds – back onto the stack with a smile and watched Kakashi shuffle it back in, expertly. Sure enough, the same dog-eared card resurfaced for the end of the trick. Kakashi held it up, looking sly.

"Is this the card you had?" he asked smugly.

"You got me," Yondaime admitted with a grin. "That's pretty amazing. Where'd you learn that?"

He could tell that Kakashi knew there was no way he'd fallen for the trick, what with the card's corner cut off and everything, but Kakashi didn't call him on his bluffed amazement. "Tsunade-baachan. She loves cards."

"Yeah, I know." As it went, Yondaime had actually probably won the funds for about half the furniture in his bachelor pad off Tsunade's love of cards and gambling,combined withher horrid luck.

"You want to play again?"

Not often was Kakashi so enthusiastic about something non-training related, or so relaxed, so Yondaime readily agreed. Again the card was the four of diamonds, and again Kakashi 'psychically' turned it up sucessfully at the end of the trick.

They stopped in favor of training after about the fifth round, but Yondaime asked to see the trick again the next time he saw Kakashi on a non-training basis. Kakashi proudly repeated the previous weeks' performances each time them metup after that, complete with the four of diamonds coming up each time.

"It must be good luck, this card. It keeps showing up," Yondaime noted, half-serious.

"Yeah, I guess." With a half-smile, Kakashi put his card deck away.

The next time Yondaime saw the four of diamonds was when he was leaving to battle the kyuubi. Kakashi met him at Konoha's gates, right arm still encumbered by a sling, the fading injuries of their last mission. His face was solemn, aging him further than even the last two years had.

Yondaime had made many goodbyes in his years as a shinobi, and then as a man. Women had pleaded with him not to go. His father gave him a distantly approving "Good luck" in whatever endeavour he was about to undertake. He realized now, that in seven years of training this boy, he had never had to really separate from Kakashi for any significant length of time. Everyone said something at a moment like this. What would Kakashi's parting words be? He couldn't imagine.

"…I want to be with you."

"You…what? Kakashi-kun, you're injured. I want you by my side in this as much as you want to be there, but you can't –"

"That's not what I meant."

"I don't understand, Kakashi-kun."

The boy drew a deep breath, reaching inside his jounin vest. What he withdrew was obscured by his hand, but Yondaime was watching his lips anyway as he said the next words: "I want to be with you. When you come back, I want to share my life with you. I need you, Yondaime-sensei."

They embraced, and Kakashi pushed what felt like a slip of paper into his hand. When Yondaime looked, his palm cradled a four of diamonds, one corner sliced off, and a hole punched at the top through which a chain was threaded.

"It must be lucky, you know?" stated Kakashi, quietly. "Please wear it. Come back safely."

"I will. We'll talk more when I get back. That's a promise."

Kakashi's good eye smiled above his mask. "Yeah. A promise between men."

--

Standing atop the rise, overlooking the battle ragin below, Konoha's Yondaime Hokage pulled a tattered playing card from underneath his trenchcoat.

"The four of diamonds, huh. Watch over me, Kakashi, and wait for me to come back."

He didn't need luck when he had so much to protect.