Disclaimer: I own nothing but the general plot and OCs

Here we go. A bit of Genma for you. I really liked writing from his perspective and focussing on Kakashi, rather than writing as Kakashi or Gai and focussing on Sonaru.

Also I split this in half so there's definitely another Genma chapter coming up, either next chapter or the one afterward.

Also I'm aware that this chapter is super reflective on the past and not a lot happens, but I sort of carried away with Genma pov because he's currently one of my favourite headcannon characters.

Thank you so much for awesome reviews, as well as favs and follows! Let me know what works, or what doesn't work for you, as well as any prompts for scenes you'd like to see.

Chapter 31 - The Devil In Disguise

As they approached the gates of Konoha, Genma gave a relieved sigh and shot one more half hearted glare toward the leader of the now completed mission. He hadn't had a mission with Kakashi that lasted more than a day in years now, but he didn't remember the man being so unapologetically sly in forcing them back to Konoha immediately after the documents they had been tasked with stealing were apprehended, rather than allowing him at least a few hours of rest first.

Throughout the whole mission, despite the consummate professionalism Kakashi had displayed, as was expected of him, Genma knew him well enough that he could see the subtle signs of urgency in their pace. He hadn't spent a whole lot of time with his fellow shinobi since they served as guards to the Hokage together, but they had met up enough that Genma could unhesitatingly still claim Kakashi as amongst his handful of close friends, alongside Asuma, Raidō, Aoba, Iwashi, Ebisu and Gai. Genma suspected it was whatever had drastically changed Kakashi's life a year or two ago that was putting the extra burst of speed in his steps.

He had watched Kakashi when he had joined Anbu as a far too serious, almost uptight, young man with a string of tragedies behind him and an edge of weary melancholy to his every moment. The boy's main saving grace had been his complete dedication to his Hokage, and his willingness to go above and beyond to save his comrades.

Even back then Kakashi had been aloof, and despite working closely with him for years, Genma had still felt like there was a barrier between them by the time Kakashi got more involved in Anbu. When Minato had died, it was like what little passion Kakashi had left to actually live was drained from him. Genma had been too busy in his own grief to even attempt to help, and with far too much work on their hands immediately following the Kyūbi attack, it hadn't even occurred to him that he had barely seen Kakashi for more than a few minutes at a time until a year had passed, and Kakashi had already moved on to a different squad.

Despite the brief glimpses he tended to get of Kakashi - barely enough time to greet him and assess how he had changed since he last saw him- it was all too clear to Genma that with Minato's death, something fundamental had been lost to the man. Or perhaps it was more like Kakashi had given up on something important. He was more closed off than ever, he treated everyone around him as an impersonal colleague even when they had served by him for close to a decade.

He was reasonably personable, not standoffish or inexcusably rude. But what little of the soft underside that Kakashi had allowed people access to before was gone completely. He was still recognisably himself, which was enough to allay the concerns of anyone who didn't know him well. But for those few who were close enough to him before death consumed the happiness in Kakashi's life, it was obvious that Kakashi wasn't coping with his grief. He was still running from it years later, as it continued to consume him the longer he ignored it.

But as long as he refused to leave Anbu, there was nothing Genma or Gai or anyone else could do about it. It was painful and saddening to watch as Kakashi slowly and systematically dismantled his heart and spirit, hollowing himself out bit by bit, all but killing himself while he still lived. Anbu was hell on the psyche after too long, and anyone who had been part of it for any length of time knew there were only a few types of people who stayed in it for more than five years.

(The ones who needed the anonymity to get any sort of freedom. The outcasts of the village, or the ones with traditional clans who stifled any sort of true individuality, or the ones with their reputations too tattered to work but too skilled to prevent from working.)

(The ones who had something wrong with them on a human level. The ones that looked at comrades and enemies alike and saw only a bag of blood and bones, who were always just a wrong moment away from giving into whatever disturbing urges they joined Anbu to temper, the ones who were like rabid dogs on a leash and one could only hope they were obedient enough never to slip the collar, the ones whose best way to go was in a blaze of blood and death on the battlefield, who everyone quietly sighed in relief when they were gone because terrible things had been averted.)

(The ones who just wanted to die an honourable death, preferably sooner rather than later. The ones who had been stripped of everything they every had that had made them want to get up every day and keep going. The ones who had given up on life, on themselves, but knew themselves to be too valuable as tools of the village to fully give up on breathing just yet.)

It had been painful to watch Kakashi work himself to death deliberately, and so to Genma's shame, he didn't. He turned away, and stopped thinking of Kakashi too often. He stopped seeking him out, knowing that Kakashi wouldn't come and find him, and only kept tabs on him through the infamous Jōnin rumour mill. He kept half an ear on the reputation that Kakashi grew and grew and grew until he was infamous beyond the walls of Konoha outside of his connection to the White Fang, or to Minato, and he was spoken of with respect and hero worship inside of Konoha, no longer associated with Rin, or Obito, or the 'disgrace' of his father. But otherwise, Genma turned away. He left Anbu, as much as someone ever left Anbu, and was never assigned an Anbu mission with Kakashi again.

The only one who never gave up on him was Gai. Genma had known if anyone was going to succeed in keeping Kakashi alive, despite not being a part of Anbu himself, it was the bull headed, obnoxiously cheerful, challenging, unstoppable Gai. Part of him thought Kakashi didn't deserve Gai, when he wouldn't even call the man his friend. Part of him was thought there was no one a bastard like Kakashi deserved more than Gai.

Regardless, Genma was mostly resigned to losing Kakashi to Anbu, either through his death or by the man losing what little of himself was left and becoming a cold, heartless killer with that animal mask practically fused to his face. And then all of a sudden, without warning, he was back out in the field as an ordinary Jōnin, and he had left Anbu.

Even still, he didn't seek Kakashi out, with every Jōnin being run ragged at the time thanks to the complete annihilation of the Uchiha clan, and bit by bit more shinobi who had all but retired being called back out to serve Konoha. It had taken a few months before Genma had a break enough to even think of Kakashi, and it was only when a few Jōnin in the Jōnin lounge commented that they were surprised he wasn't being put on the A and S rank missions, considering his skill, experience and reputation.

Almost everyone noticed it fairly quickly after that; Kakashi was taking missions every single day, and working from morning to evening, but he never took A or S rank missions, and he never took overnight missions. Some suspected he had been severely injured in Anbu to the point that it hampered his abilities and that was why, some suspected he had done something to make the Hokage suspicious of him and was being watched carefully. Some particularly far fetched Jōnin talked of a woman he had at home and wanted to get back to.

One thing no one did was ask him. He was still the aloof and emotionally closed off man he'd ever been, and although the infuriating arrogance he'd worn as a child was no longer around, personal questions directed at Hatake Kakashi was a masochistic exercise. He himself only took a couple of missions with the man, but it was obvious to Genma that something had changed, drastically, in Kakashi's life.

Initially he just put it down to mental and emotional effects of leaving Anbu, combined with some time having passed since Minato and Kushina's death, until he was casually approached by a slouching and lazy looking Kakashi, asking him in his exasperating manner if he wanted to get a drink. Genma, baffled and slightly wary, agreed, knowing that he had an ulterior motive because Kakashi always had an ulterior motive.

Except apparently his ulterior motive was to talk about Minato and Kushina, and their time serving as Hokage guard together. It took Genma far too long considering his profession, to realise that this was Kakashi getting closure. It just... wasn't something he had ever seen Kakashi do. The man practically carried his grief and guilt and mourning around with him like an addiction. Nevertheless, deep down he was incredibly glad for the man, and was more than happy to reminisce as he got shit faced, despite Kakashi never actually drinking with him. Of course the bastard always left him with the bill, but on the upside, he usually managed to chat up and take home something pretty by the end of the evening.

A couple times he made the mistake of trying to set Kakashi up with someone, when he'd had one drink too many, but Kakashi was as always, despite the perverse enjoyment he got from causing outrage with his porn reading habits, far more of a gentleman than Genma. Or he had way too many hang ups surrounding actually having sex with a woman off missions. He was never quite sure which one it was. Either way, he learned his lesson eventually with that one kunoichi and his poisoned senbon... he mostly pretended that didn't happen.

From what he had been able to assess of Kakashi, he was tired, and overworked, but he seemed more settled somehow. It was difficult to put his finger on it, but the man just came across as stable in a way he never had before. Not so lost on a personal level. Genma had had hopes that the trend would continue, and as the year went on, it did.

Until suddenly he stopped working altogether. Kakashi had been a shinobi younger than any of them, and he had worked pretty much non stop since his was a few years out of diapers. Kakashi was a shinobi in a manner that not many people were. It was absolutely unquestioningly fundamental to who he was. Most people he knew had at least had something resembling a childhood before they became Genin - they had an identity that had mostly formed before they were sent into the field. But not Kakashi. To simply... stop taking missions was the antithesis of who he knew Kakashi to be.

It was, beside the paperwork and a ton of issues, the whole reason Kakashi refused to take the position of Hokage - the inability to take missions without causing international incidents. More than that, though, was the fact that he all but disappeared for months at the same time. Genma barely caught more than a few glimpses of him during that time, and although it wasn't the same as when Minato and Kushina died, or even after his team mates died, there was a weight to him. It was like he was simultaneously burdened and hopeful. Lost and purposeful. Tired and energised.

He would have asked Asuma of his opinion, except the bastard had had one last falling out with Sandaime and had gone off to serve as guard to the Daimyo in rebellion. He had barely said goodbye, and had left behind a very dissatisfied Kurenai, from what he had heard, who their friends suspected had been involved with Asuma, or at least something close to being involved.

As it was he wasn't particularly close to Kurenai, who disapproved of the fact that he had a sex drive and was more than happy to listen to it, and the fact that he had a morbid somewhat inappropriately timed sense of humour. He wasn't likely to go to her for suggestions, and the only other person left who kept in frequent contact with Kakashi (besides Tenzō, but he had just been promoted to Anbu captain and was far too busy already) who he knew was Gai. Truthfully, Gai was just about the most accurate barometer one could find on the mental state of Hatake Kakashi, so when Genma noticed that Gai was not only not particularly worried, but fully involved and supportive of whatever it was Kakashi was doing, he butt out and withheld his curiosity.

Of course, that didn't prevent other shinobi from wondering about the man - after all he was one of the most recognisable faces (face masks?) amongst their numbers, and had a very strong reputation. People wanted to know what he was up to that had him taking no missions and barely seen in public. When he was put down on the roster for Jōnin Sensei, a lot of shinobi were shocked - Hatake Kakashi and kids had never been a thing that had gone together. It was so absurd to imagine such a battle worn, experienced, deadly man in charge of three little fresh faced bright eyed Genin, teaching them the way of the world, that Genma had laughed.

They didn't pass his test, unsurprisingly, considering most shinobi who knew anything about him were aware that being a teacher responsible for even one vulnerable, unskilled, naive, time consuming life was probably one of the last things Kakashi wanted. Just before being Hokage. But it did answer the questions a lot of people had been asking. Giving Kakashi kids to look after was clearly an attempt at opening him up to others more, tempering him a bit, tying him emotionally to the village again, giving him something to protect, and preparing him for Hokage. It was obvious the Sandaime was done letting Kakashi run away via an overwhelming number of missions, and was very skilfully manoeuvring him into a position where he could then retire without worry before he died of old age, or got old enough that he got slow and slipped too much as leader of the village.

Or at least it answered the questions of the shinobi who didn't think to look deeper. There were always rumours and gossip flying back and forth amongst the shinobi forces of Konoha. There were ways of disseminating classified information without actually sharing it, and the discerning shinobi knew how to interpret the information to separate fact from fiction. Rumours about top Jōnin like Kakashi - especially aloof bastards like Kakashi - were common, particularly in the Jōnin lounge. But sometime after Kakashi as good as disappeared, Genma and some others noticed that rumours surrounded the scarecrow were not only increasing in number, but in their unreliability.

For a year, rumours about Kakashi flew back and forth, none of them could be traced back to a source and none of them with proper evidence. The whole thing stank of the sort of expertly crafted bullshit Kakashi would pull. If there was one thing the man excelled at, it was screwing with people's minds, time away from Anbu hadn't diminished that, but only added an infuriatingly playful element to his mind games. The sort of ridiculous rumours being spread about him had the scarecrow's sense of humour written all over it. This sort of calculated spread of incorrect information told the top shinobi one thing; Kakashi had something to hide. He was working to prevent something from getting out, by hiding it amongst the ridiculous gossip and automatically destroying any sort of credibility the truth would have if it got out.

Genma was incredibly curious- of course he was, anything that Kakashi put that much work into hiding had to be big, but he figured either it would eventually come to light by itself, or Kakashi would let him know. Pushing for his secrets would be as pointless as trying to see his face without his mask.

So when Kakashi turned to him, once they'd debriefed, suddenly losing all urgency that had caused him to push Genma to make it back early, and walked Genma back to his apartment 'considering it was on his way home anyway', with such a blatant lie, Genma figured it was just best to give in and see what endgame was as fast as possible.

They made their way to his home across the rooftops, and as they got close he could see unusual activity around the building. To his angered dismay, someone had pranked Genma's whole apartment building and heavily trapped every window and door in the place. A team of Jōnin were dismantling the traps bit by bit, but he was told it would take until the evening until he would be able to get into his apartment.

Genma turned to Kakashi, a blank look on his face.

"Seriously?"

Kakashi blinked innocently, his whole expression radiating 'who me?' "Maa, Genma, what are you implying?"

Genma sighed, and carefully suppressed the urge to try and wrap his hands around Kakashi's neck, knowing he probably wouldn't succeed, and would be left feeling more frustrated, "I know you have something to do with this, Kakashi. You've never offered to walk me back to my apartment before."

"I'm offended you think so low of me, Genma. How could I possibly have anything to do with this? We've been on a mission for days, and we even got back before intended," he chided, perfectly expressing wounded defensiveness. It would have been convincing if Kakashi was ever that genuinely expressive of his emotions.

Genma just stared at the man.

"I hate you," he deadpanned.

The bastard physically staggered back, making a pained noise, "I see how it is. My own friend... turning his back on me because of baseless suspicions. What have I done to deserve this? I thought- I thought we had something special."

Genma was momentarily blind sided by Kakashi outright stating they were friends like he never had before. Usually the man was so allergic to emotional attachment he wouldn't apply that word to people he genuinely cared about and had known since he was a child. The pause that having Kakashi use that word gave him, meant that he wasn't mentally prepared to object when Kakashi suddenly perked up.

"I know! To make up for my clearly lax behaviour as your friend, if you're so quick to suspect me, I'll make you dinner. Come on you can spend the rest of the day at mine, seeing as your own home is out of the question."

Before he knew what was happening, he had been hooked by the elbow and shunshined over to a section of Konoha that he wasn't even aware Kakashi lived in. Figuring protesting at this point would be a waste of time, Genma heaved a sigh, gave Kakashi a resentful glare, and asked commented with a hint of bite still in his voice, "I wasn't aware you'd moved."

Kakashi eye smiled, "yup." Like it wasn't a huge deal that he'd moved after living in the same sparse box apartment for over a decade, from a shinobi apartment building, to a mainly civilian area when Kakashi had always seemed repelled by any long term exposure to civilians.

Genma sighed again, giving his neck a scratch so that his hands didn't give in to the urge to punch Kakashi in the eye smile, "fine, let's take a look at whatever secret that you've been hiding from the world."

From the look of the apartments, a secret lover or wife was appearing more and more likely, and as both men made their way into the building and up the stairs, Genma tried to imagine what sort of woman could put up with someone like Kakashi long term. Half the guy's appeal to women was his mysteriousness, and Genma knew any woman who got close to the scarecrow to unveil that mysterious allure would figure out pretty damn quick that Kakashi was not only damaged, but a really shit at social situations, complex emotional understanding, and transparency, alongside basically anything that was required in a healthy functioning relationship.

And yet he acknowledged, as he glanced at Kakashi from the corner of his eye, that the man was more grounded and content than Genma had ever seen him. He seemed, dare he say it, happy. A little weary, but happy. It had been clearly noticeable when Kakashi finally starting showing his face again in the previous few months and spending time with his friends. Something, but more likely someone, had given Kakashi his life back- or more accurately, given Kakashi the motivation to seize it. He looked healthy, like he had purpose again, and just overall good. Genma figured whoever she was, Kakashi had somehow managed to find an angel with infinite patience and understanding. Or a demon in disguise who was worse than Kakashi.

And then Kakashi stopped outside of his door, unlocked it, and opened it, "tadaima! Subaru? Tenzō?"

They both took their shoes off, as Genma looked around curiously. The place was homely, and comfortable looking. It was fairly clean and tidy, with the just the odd jacket, or rumpled blanket or stray book here and there to show it was occupied.

"Okaeri!" Came muffled from somewhere in the apartment, way too high pitched and young sounding. There was a thump from the other side of a door near the kitchen, and Genma's brain stopped working as soon as he realised the footsteps were far too light and close together as they approached.

The door opened, and a pale shock of hair peeked round it, attached to a tiny, round, mask covered head, on top of a tiny dinosaur onesie wearing body. The purple red eyes widened as they landed on both Genma and Kakashi, before a disturbingly recognisable eye smile worked its way onto the mini Kakashi's face.

"Tou-san, you're back early! Tenzō-oji went to fetch Gai, because he was needed for a mission."

With that the tiny Kakashi slipped from the doorway with surprising speed, running and launching off the ground, only to be caught in the scarecrow's arms. It was with a shocked disbelief that Genma realised Kakashi was wearing his own eye smile, and was holding the kid close. Kakashi whose prolonged physical contact with other people was rare and generally under duress. Happily holding (hugging?) a small mini tiny version of himself and eye smiling. And not a fake eye smile that was capable of expressing a thousand things other than good humour, but a genuine, eye crinkling, face stretching smile.

Genma saw the comfortable, relaxed hold he had, the protective posture, the pleased expression, and then saw the mini version of the exact same thing looking back at the scarecrow.

"When he gets back, Tenzō says he's going to look into making the exploding kunai a real thing! If we get it right the metal fragments could be really deadly," the kid chirped excitedly.

What. The. Fuck. Was. Happening.

Was he having some sort of bizarre dream? Maybe he been caught by a slow acting hallucinogenic on the mission. Or maybe Kakashi was fucking with him again, and he was in a genjutsu. He subtly tried to break the genjutsu only for nothing to happen, and then pinched himself. When neither worked, he realised this was probably real, desperately scrambled to get his thoughts together and opened his mouth to say something intelligent.

"What the fuck, Kakashi, you have a son?!" The words came blurting out of his mouth before he could stop them. Having them out in the open made it all feel a little more real, but also a hell of of a lot weirder. Hatake Kakashi, trickiest bastard he had ever met who he hadn't tried to kill, was a Dad. There was a mini Kakashi running around. There were two of them. Oh no. This was the best and worst thing that could possibly happen to the shinobi of Konoha.

The only way this could get worse was if there was a mini Gai running around alongside him.

Kakashi turned to him like he wasn't shattering Genma's basic understanding of the man, and mini Kakashi turned to look at him too, a curious expression on the boy's face.

"Genma, this is Subaru, Su-chan this is Genma, a friend of mine." Two identical eye smiles were directed at him, and Genma felt his whole body twitch.

"Hi, Genma-san! It's really nice to meet you. Tenzō-Oji said that you know a lot of poisons and that I should ask you about them, because he's teaching me how to make traps. Will you teach me about them? Please?"

And then suddenly there were eyes and it was so much worse than the combined eye smile, because they were wide and adorable and pleading and Kami Kakashi's kid looked so cute, and Kakashi's face hadn't moved a muscle yet somehow it had all of sudden become incredibly threatening, and Genma knew if he said no to Kakashi's kid and made him cry it would be the last fucking thing he ever did.

Genma realised, then, that this was why the scarecrow bastard had chosen to introduce him to his vulnerable, probably shinobi in the making, possibly blood thirsty little child. Genma was going to be free labour in teaching the boy how to survive to adulthood.

Genma looked the bastard straight in the eye.

"I hate you," he deadpanned.

So for Genma's pov do you want me to continue on immediately after where I've finished the chapter, or have a space in between Genma's chapters for a little bit of a break in time?

Do you want Genma's outside perspective to be a semi regular thing?

He's a hell of a lot easier to write than from Gai, so if you're looking for a pov that's not Kakashi's or Sonaru, since they're both obviously very caught up in their own situations, it'll be easier for me to do it from Genma. It could give a better idea of what other people think of the whole thing.

I do intend on having Genma get to know and befriend Subaru, but I'm going to always try to make it fairly obvious that he's Kakashi's friend more than he's Subaru's mentor or friend.