JIRAIYA THE FUNNY MAN
Down the main road where many people traveled about their day, many didn't see a older man in his mid-fifties as he bent over in a tea shop, a pad of paper with a pen in his hand, his wild white hair behind him like a lion's mane.
"I wonder what that old man had messaged me about?" Jiraiya mused under his breath as he exited the shop, mulling around the streets with no destination in mind. As his mind ran through no particular thoughts, the Toad Sage was pulled into reality when he felt a hand tug on his hair, turning around to see a young child not much older than less than a year old. "... Hey kiddo. You lost?" A child as young as this had no place to wander around alone unless he had been separated from his mother.
"I Pway wif Dada!" the little boy said, smiling widely. "I hide, he find!"
And with that, he actually managed to hide himself… inside of the man's hair. So the kid's parents, or at least one of them, was a ninja? He heard a soft giggle from inside his long white hair, and rolled his eyes. 'Kids…' "Hey now, who's your parents? I might know 'em."
"Satoshi! Satoshi, where are you?" A panicked male voice caught Jiraiya's attention, and he looked over, only to see Kakashi Hatake looking around with a panicked look in his eye. "Come on, game's over!"
"Dada no find here…" Jiraiya heard the little boy giggle softly, and after a few moments...
'This kid is Kakashi's brat!? How much did I miss when I was gone?' Jiraiya thought, shocked at the information as he looked down at the child, moving his own hair out of the way to get a better look. Now that he got a better look at him, the boy did share a lot of similar features to Hatake, but the pure white hair and ice blue eyes were undoubtedly from whoever the mother was. Looking back at Kakashi, Jiraiya saw that the headband had gone up and the Sharingan revealed as it locked on them… or really his son. 'Oh boy…'
"Satoshi! There you are; don't ever hide from me like that!" Kakashi said, panic clear in his voice as he seemed to ignore Jiraiya… even though his son had literally wrapped himself up in the man's hair.
"Funny man gabe me 'way!" Satoshi pouted, hitting Jiraiya's leg with one little fist… which didn't even hurt.
That seemed to snap Kakashi to who his son had used to hide behind. "Jiraiya-Sama! I didn't know you were in town; I'm sorry my son dragged you into playing hide-n-seek…"
"Aw, don't mention it. The kid didn't mean anything by it. By the way…. I'm sure there's quite a story behind this…" Jiraiya said light-heartedly, eyeing Satoshi and Kakashi shot a mild glare at him.
"Jiraiya, you aren't planning to use me and my wife for one of your books, are you?" Kakashi's Sharingan tomoe lazily spun in his eye, but that threat was enough to cause Jiraiya to back off.
"Easy there, Kakashi. I know better than to do that…." The sage had learned the hard way once not to involve a married woman in one of his earlier books, but that experience had been enough to scare someone like Jiraiya to not even approach married couples lest he wanted another black eye... "I'm just curious what kind of girl could have gotten Kakashi of the Sharingan to settle down and have a family, is all."
"Kashi! Did you find him yet!?" a feminine voice called out, as Aoi ran over to her husband through the crowded streets. "Satoshi! There you are, you had us so worried!" she scooped up her little boy, hugging him to her chest as she tried to calm herself down.
"Jiraiya, I'd like to introduce you to my wife, Aoi Hakucho Hatake. Aoi, this is Jiraiya of the Sannin… and my sensei's mentor." At this piece of information, Aoi's head turned to Kakashi in disbelief before looking at Jiraiya.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Jiraiya-San," Aoi said softly, smiling, "I do hope that Satoshi didn't cause you any trouble…"
"Oh, it's my pleasure, Aoi-san; anyone who can tame this wild dog is alright in my book… and the kid wasn't a bother at all."
"Well, I'd say he's more of a wolf," Aoi said, giggling. "He's my Okami."
"How did you two meet, anyway?" Jiraiya asked, curious to know the story. "I've never seen anyone like you around before…"
"Well, it's actually a rather long story…" Aoi said, as Satoshi kept reaching towards Kakashi, "One I think should be told elsewhere off the open streets.…"
"He could come back home with us; it's nearly time for someone to have their dinner, after all," Kakashi said, taking his son into his arms.
"'Ungy! 'Ungy!" Satoshi said loudly, giggling.
"I'm actually on a little business for the Hokage, but I'd love to take you up your offer afterwards." Jiraiya said, watching the happy family before him.
"Alright. Here's our address; just let yourself in when you want." Kakashi said, giving the Sage his address on a scrap piece of paper before waving as he and his wife left, his hand on the small of his wife's back as they disappeared from Jiraiya's sight…. For a moment, the man could mistake them for another couple Jiraiya had known…. White hair for red and silver for blonde as the smaller body waved at him and called him 'grandpa'….
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Kakashi was once again playing with his son in the living room when he heard the door open, but he was a little preoccupied with a pair of little hands that were working to uncover his face…
"Who's there?" he called out, even as Satoshi managed to remove his headband.
"Relax Kakashi, it's just me." Jiraiya said, appearing in the doorway into the living room as the Toad Sage looked at the scene with interest. "Do you always let your kid do that to you? Or is he smart enough already to outsmart his old man?"
"He's been doing it since he was three months old… he's just obsessed with my face, apparently…" Kakashi said, laughing as Satoshi started tugging on his mask. "Hey Satoshi, look who's here to eat dinner with us."
"Huh?... Funny man!" The child cheered, leaning backwards and somehow supporting himself only by his grip on his father's mask, which stretched a few inches away from his face. Then, without warning, Satoshi did indeed let go, scrambling out of his father's arms to run towards Jiraiya on his little legs, while Kakashi fell backwards onto the floor while holding his face, after his mask had very forcefully snapped back onto his face.
"Ow… that really hurt…" the silver-haired man groaned, wondering just how much bruising there would be after that…
"Hahaha! Looks like you defeated the Copycat, Satoshi!" Jiraiya praised, raising the boy above his head as Satoshi giggled.
"That was the first time that happened…" Kakashi groaned, not really wanting to get up. His face hurt too much. "He always pulls it down, not outwards…"
"If you boys are done working up an appetite, dinner's ready." Aoi said, watching them with an amused look on her face as she took her son from the Sage.
"...I don't want to get up…" Kakashi groaned, his hands still over the lower half of his face as he kept his eyes closed. "My face hurts…"
"If you don't get up, your food is going in the fridge... "
"Fine…" Kakashi said, forcing himself to get up, "... But I'm looking in a mirror first…"
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Thankfully, Kakashi didn't find any bruising on his face from the snap of the mask after Satoshi had let go of it, though it was a little red in some places. He joined his family and Jiraiya for dinner, and couldn't help but smile when he saw Satoshi's happy expression as he ate his meal off his small dog-paw patterned baby bowl.
"So what did the Hokage want to talk to you about?" Kakashi asked as Jiraiya had shrugged his shoulders.
"Oh, the usual stuff; where I'd been recently and what had been going on there. Things like that a spymaster like me knows. He also told me about you, though I had to tell him Satoshi had already introduced himself." Jiraiya said, laughing as he remembered the look on his old teacher's face when he told him that. Even though the old man wasn't the kid's biological grandfather, he sure acted like it as he proudly talked about Satoshi.
"Just so you know, Jiraiya…" Kakashi said, smirking up at the man, "Lord Third has already claimed the grandfatherly duties since Aoi's family lives further away." Jiraiya's head snapped back at Kakashi's smiling face, an odd look on his face.
"... so he did, did he?" Jiraiya wasn't really surprised since he knew his sensei had always loved children and his son had grown up and 'left the nest', nor was he terribly jealous since he was in no rush to be pushed with that kind of responsibility since his work as a spy master was dangerous work, but still…. Kakashi was one of one of Minato's students… so that made Satoshi kind've like his great-grandson…. And a great-great-grandson to that old monkey….
"Oh, and did you hear?" Kakashi asked, still smiling, "Just last year, the Hokage's son had his own child; Konohamaru if I recall correctly…"
"... I think sensei mentioned it….." Actually he hadn't! That conniving, old, smelly-!
"Funny man 'kay?" Satoshi asked innocently, his head tilted cutely to one side as he looked at Jiraiya with his wide ice-blue eyes as the Sage awkwardly ruffled his white hair.
"Yeah…. I'm ok, kiddo… just me being an old toad, I guess..." But after this, Jiraiya swore to himself that he would keep up with what was going so he wasn't humiliated as a fool by knowing nothing… And he had a lot he would say to his old teacher when he saw him next.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Thanks for letting me stay over for dinner, Kakashi," Jiraiya said, patting the silver-haired man on the shoulder before kneeling before the small child. "Keep your old man on his toes for me, ok Satoshi? I know I can count on you." Jiraiya raise the small boy over his head one last time before giving him to Aoi as he left, heading back to his hotel (he had turned down Aoi's offer for him to stay on their couch seeing as he had already paid for a room at a hotel).
"No problem, Jiraiya," Kakashi said, smiling at the man who had taught his Sensei, "You're welcome back here at any time."
With a wave of his hand, Jiraiya's form disappeared into the distance, the family going back once inside as they both readied their son for bed, who had been wound up from their visitor as Satoshi rambled on about the 'funny man with white fur' until he finally fell asleep.
"Finally… I thought he'd never go down…. Satoshi really seemed to like Jiraiya-san." Aoi said as she and Kakashi climbed into their own bed.
"I blame it on the hair; Satoshi hasn't seen anyone else with white hair besides you and the Hokage… Your father, too…"
"Yeah….Goodnight, Okami"
"Goodnight, Aoi."