Written for the LJ community 101kisses themes #1, Starlight and#66, Between the sheets. Kishimoto Masashi owns the Naruto universe and its characters, not me. I'm just playing with them.

Notes: Yeah, I was trying to figure out a way to do the "between the sheets" thing without making it too sexual, and this ended up being it. A really steamy kiss, but that's all. There are two kisses because I used two themes in one story. This is "Part I" because there's a second part. That is all.

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Banner in the Stars

(Part I)

Two Konoha ninja sat by the dimming embers of a fire, listening to their two companions' snoring from behind them. Other than that, and the subdued popping sounds the campfire made as it died, the night was perfectly still and silent.

Kakashi leaned into his teacher's shoulder, sleep dogging the corners of his mind even as he fought to remain awake and alert. With a smile much warmer than the meager heat their fire provided, Yondaime reached around the boy's shoulders to draw him closer. They stared up at the sky, black above them and dotted with tiny pinpricks of light.

"Did you know," he said quietly, aware of Rin and Obito sleeping just a few feet away, "that the past Hokages were so honored by the gods that when one of them passed, their souls were cast up into the heavens to continue watching over their people?"

"That's dumb, sensei. There's no such thing as gods."

"Look at that cluster of stars over there."

"Here?" Kakashi pointed a little to the left of where Yondaime meant.

"No, over here." The teacher covered his student's hand in his own, guiding it to point to a spot in the sky. "Do you see them?"

"See what, sensei?"

"Ichidaime and Nidaime. The stars form the outline of them, sitting together, watching over us."

Kakashi snorted, withdrawing his hand – the heat from Yondaime's on his was getting just uncomfortable – and glancing away. "That's superstitious nonsense. It just happens to look like two guys."

"I like to believe in it, though," the older man intoned. "If I am great enough, if I do enough good in my life as Hokage, perhaps I can go there when I die, also."

"Why? It's not like you'd get to live forever or anything."

"When I am dead, Kakashi, who will care for you? What I want is not fame, nor eternal life, nor a place in the heavens for the sake of being there. What I want is to be able to always be there for you, watching over you."

A few moments passed in silence, Kakashi turning his face away. Yondaime thought he heard the sound of a sniffle. But that couldn't be: this was Kakashi, after all.

"…Kakashi-kun?"

"Don't talk about that. It's dumb. Let's just go to bed."

With no more words, Kakashi rose and headed toward his bedroll; Yondaime put out the fire and followed. Their sleeping bags were laid side-by-side, and Yondaime pulled the top layer of blankets back for Kakashi, his own bedroll untouched.

"You don't have to tuck me in," complained the boy bitterly. "I'm not a child."

Yondaime only smiled indulgently as he pulled the blankets up tightly under Kakashi's chin, so that no warmth would escape during the night.

"Well…if you're going to tuck me in, don't have to kiss me goodnight, too?" Kakashi asked petulantly.

He didn't seem to be expecting it when his teacher bent down and pressed a kiss gently to the corner of his mouth, lingering there for a moment. The contact broke, though, and Kakashi was careful to restrain the keening noise of disappointment that welled up in the back of his throat. Yondaime looked over to where Rin and Obito slept peacefully, as though afraid they might wake and witness this forbidden moment of tenderness. His gaze was turned back to his still-awake student by firm fingers on his chin.

"Is that really a kiss?" Kakashi asked coolly.

"I suppose not."

Kakashi leaned up to meet his teacher this time as their lips touched, and then parted. He curled his fingers in soft chunks of unevenly cut blonde hair, anchoring himself to the physical world for fear that his spirit might be all caught up and devoured by the heat and passion that he strived to match. Yondaime's teeth nipped his lower lip, but the kiss slid slowly away from his mouth, to his jawbone – and there, much to his dismay, stopped.

"I…we should get some sleep. Tomorrow we'll be assigned a new mission, and we have to be well-rested."

"Goodnight, then, sensei," Kakashi whispered, turning on his side and staring at his hands. Sleep found him somewhere in the middle of the night. When his eyes finally slid open again, the stars had faded from the sky, but a tingling song that sparkled just as brightly still flickered in his heart.

.o.o.

.o.

.o.o.

:-:light up your name on a banner in the stars:-: