"A child?" Yamato asked incredulously.

"Yeah, we will get paid for having him of course." The silver haired man turned to walk out of the room, signaling that, in his opinion, the conversation was over.

Yamato grabbed his shoulder and turned him around, "It's a child, Kakashi! A human being and now you want us to take care of it?" When he received nothing but a bored look from Kakashi, he continued, "Knowing you, I'll be the one doing all the work. What the hell were you thinking?"

"They'll drop him off tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Yamato looked dumbfounded, "But … Can't you tell them we don't want him? We can't host a kid for crying out loud!"

"They'll drop him off tomorrow," Kakashi repeated. "We should probably get a bed and some clothes or something. He's 8, do you think we need something for him to play with?"

"How on Earth did you convince them to give you that child? You don't know the first thing of raising it!"

"Yamato? Do you think you could buy something for him? You're really good at things like that."

Yamato's mouth dropped open.

"You always know what things to buy and what's nice and cheap at the same time. I couldn't do it, I have no sense for such things. We're obliged to have him now anyway. I'm sure you'll make a great father."

Yamato watched his housemate walk out of the kitchen and after a few minutes he finally mustered the strength to close his mouth. His thoughts were in great disarray, he could not possibly imagine how this could work out, but ever since he had moved in with the masked genius, he had learned to accommodate quickly to his strange ideas. He was right, though, Kakashi, he was clueless when it came to shopping and cooking and just about anything domestic.

Yamato sighed and grabbed his wallet.

When he arrived home that evening, he was carrying bags of clothing, which he sincerely hoped would fit, various kinds of food that he hoped the child would like, a teddy bear and a Gameboy. He had also ordered a bed that the storehad agreed to deliver the next morning. He had had to bribe the manager to agree to deliver it on a Saturday. What he did not do for Kakashi …

He walked into the living room and hauled Kakashi to his feet and snatched his filthy book out of his hands.

"Now that I've bought everything it'd only be fair if you readied his room."

"We don't have a spare room," was the masked man's ingenious response.

"Did you ... How'd …" Yamato tried. "He's going to get your room, it's not like you ever use it anyway."

"He's not getting my room. Forget it!"

The brunet stared at him in disbelief for a moment before taking on a stern expression, "You get that room ready and you do it now. Where the hell were you going to put him anyway? It's a child, Kakashi, not a dog that just needs a basket on the floor."

Kakashi looked after the younger man as he disappeared in the doorway. When he heard a door slam shortly after, he laid down on the sofa again and continued his reading.

Yamato was distraught, to say the least; he had hoped that Kakashi would be more serious about this. He knew that his friend was not as oblivious as people often thought, but sometimes he really did not think things through. He wished that he would wake up in the morning and realize that this had all just been a dream. That thought lightened his mood a bit and he soon went to bed: hoping against hope that his wish would come true.

Kakashi set to work in preparing his room for the kid; he hoped that Yamato had remembered to buy a bed since the only things in the room were a closet, a book case and a floor lamp. He assumed that they would check the environment before handing the child over, but he hoped that they would not expect everything to be perfect on such short notice. He emptied the room of his own stuff and started putting the clothes in the closet and put what few ornamental objects he could find around the house in the book case – along with a couple of books which he was fairly sure was suitable for children.

The door to the bedroom was locked. He knew what that meant. It meant that Yamato was royally pissed and that he would have to sleep on the sofa. To his relief, Yamato had remembered to put his pillow and comforter on the couch. As he lay there and tried to sleep, he felt a gnawing sensation in his stomach. He imagined that it was guilt – he had felt it several times in the past. Maybe he should apologize to Yamato or tell him the reason of this sudden arrangement.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki!" the little blond boy bellowed.

The tan man accompanying him looked slightly uncomfortable and gave Yamato and Kakashi a strained smile.

"I'm Iruka Umino," he said formally.

The three adults shook hands and presented themselves, meanwhile Naruto was investigating his new home.

"Well, you've probably noticed that he's got a lot of energy, but I'm sure you'll find a way to put it to good use."

Kakashi made an uncommitted noise in the back of his throat, earning a nudge in the side from Yamato that made him look up from his little orange book.

"Yeah, I'm sure we will. So …"

An uncomfortable silence fell over them, the man from the orphanage shifted nervously from foot to foot.

"Uhm …" Iruka began. "We've already explained to him that you two are in a homosexual relationship."

Yamato choked and started coughing loudly; Kakashi's book fell to the floor, his mouth dropping open.

"Well, you are a couple, aren't you?"

"I wouldn't exactly call us a couple," the silver-haired man drawled. "More like fu-"

"Should we go inside?" Yamato asked loudly, effectively drowning Kakashi's next words.

"I'd like to. I hope you don't mind if I take a look around?" Iruka asked.

"Of course not." Yamato silently prayed that Kakashi had hidden all his adult material that was usually strewn all over the house. When he had woken up that morning, he had found Kakashi's room cleaned and tidied, it even seemed like he had attempted to make it cozy.

Yamato gave Iruka a guided tour around the house and every room was inspected. The smile that had been plastered to Iruka's face faded immediately when they arrived at Naruto's room.

"Where is he going to sleep?" he asked suspiciously.

"He's … " Yamato wondered why he was suddenly so nervous. He did not even want the kid so why would he care if Iruka deemed them unworthy to take care of a child? "The bed is coming later today. It was on a bit of a short notice, but I managed to persuade the shop to deliver the bed today. I'm sure it will be here soon."

Iruka raised an eyebrow, but said nothing further and began looking through the closet.

"I hope the clothes fit," Kakashi, who had remained quiet through the whole thing, finally spoke up. He looked at the man with the ponytail and then at Yamato. He could see how nervous he was. It was typical Yamato to be so concerned about everything. Kakashi was certain that he would not mind if Iruka decided not to let Naruto stay, but Yamato was always worried about people's impression of him. A quality that had bothered him at the beginning, but as time had passed, he found that it usually made him look good too. Not that he cared, though …

"Well, he does have some clothes from the orphanage, I'm sure it won't be a problem," Iruka said absentmindedly and went to inspect the bookcase. He took out a couple of the books and flicked through them.

"Well, everything looks fine as long as the bed arrives soon." Iruka shot a look at Yamato.

"It will," he assured him.

"Good, I have a few bags of his belongings in the car. Make sure to put it in his room."

"We will," the duo answered in chorus.

After the two plastic bags had been placed in Naruto's room, the three was once again standing awkwardly in the hall.

Iruka cleared his throat, "Well, if there's anything – anything at all – you have the number to the orphanage."

Yamato and Kakashi nodded.

"Also, I'm only volunteering at the orphanage so I work at the public school that Naruto is attending. I want you to know that I intend to keep a close eye on him and see if he's doing well."

Yamato gulped and felt rather stupid for doing so. Who did that man think he was? He needed to get down from that high horse of his or Yamato was not sure if he would be able to restrain himself.

"I'm sure you will see that everything will go just fine. There is a reason that he is living here and not somewhere else, I'm sure you know that." Oh no, it was never good when Kakashi wore that overly sweet smile for people. If Iruka noticed the slightly wry tone to Kakashi's response, he did not show it.

"Anyway, we will be in touch with you in around a month if nothing comes up. Take good care of him."

Kakashi could not quite place the emotion swimming in the teacher's eyes, but he did notice that his voice was beginning to sound a bit husky.

"We will, have a good day," Yamato said. He kicked Kakashi's foot gently to get him to focus on the conversation at hand.

"Good day, Iruka," he said politely.

"What are we having for dinner?" the blond boy asked excitedly.

Kakashi looked down in the pot of what was supposed to be some kind of casserole. It was rust-colored and did not exactly look fantastic. It had looked much better on the picture, but he figured it was at least edible.

"We're having rice with a casserole of chicken and beans." Yamato smiled insecurely.

For once they had decided to try and make use of their kitchen and not just order take-out. They were now parents and needed to move into unfamiliar territory and what better step to take than that to some culinary experience. It did not turn out as successful as hoped, though, but everybody made mistakes, right? Besides, it had been really nice to finally spend some time with Kakashi. He had been so busy with work the past few months and some days they had not even seen each other.

"It looks gross. I wanna have pizza." Naruto wrinkled his nose.

"It's gonna taste great," Yamato said enthusiastically. "Just wait and see."

As they sat at the table, Naruto was telling about his 'super fantastic freaking awesome day' at school where Iruka had let them play some fun game in gym class, though the tale was interrupted several times when Naruto felt the need to comment on the two's lack of cookery skills.

He had settled down in his new house within the first few days of his stay and both Yamato and Kakashi had been surprised at how open he was about everything. He was quite a handful but in the week he had been staying with them, they had already managed to make somewhat of a routine. Yamato and Kakashi would go to work and the one who was off first would pick up Naruto from school and help him with his homework. Then it would be dinner time and afterwards they would relax and clean up the house. Naruto was like a whirlwind and everywhere he went there would be a trail of stuff he had left behind.

"And then Sakura almost fell down this big bar, but then I ran right up to her and catched her an-"

"Caught," Yamato interrupted.

Naruto stared at him quizzically.

"'To catch' is called 'caught' in past tense," Kakashi explained.

Naruto snorted goodheartedly, shook his head and continued, "I catched her and then she blushed and I think she would have kissed me, but then that Sasuke guy came along and stole my moment. I hate that guy, he always gets all the girls and he's so …"

By then, Kakashi had stopped listening, he was pretty sure that he had heard it all before. The little guy could go on about Sakura and Sasuke, her subject of admiration, forever. He glanced over at Yamato, he seemed to be listening to Naruto's story. He was glad that he had Yamato to help him. First of all, his hours fit a family life better and on top of that he had the patience of a saint.

"Why don't you just get it over with and ask her out if you like her so much?" Yamato's voice was a little louder and a little sharper than necessary and it dragged Kakashi back to reality.

Somehow, Naruto managed to pick up on the sudden change in mood and shut his mouth immediately. He stared at Yamato for a second before hopping off his chair and running out of the room. Kakashi could have sworn the boy had tears in his eyes.

"What the hell was that about?" Kakashi asked, his eyes still looking in the direction Naruto had disappeared.

"I dunno, guess I'm just a little stressed. I'll go after him."

Kakashi stopped Yamato before he could get up from the chair. "No, let me."

As he knocked on the door to Naruto's room, he was surprised to realize that it was not so much Naruto's well-being he was concerned about as it was Yamato's. It was very unusual for him to be so irascible and especially not toward a child.

He tried to open it, but it was locked and it made him think back to what Yamato had said about not leaving the key in the door because kids were inconstant.

"Naruto, would you open the door, please?" he asked in the sweetest voice possible.

"Go away!"

Kakashi heard him throw himself on the bed and it sounded like he threw something at the wall.

"Naruto, please open the door. He didn't mean it like that, he's just tired."

Fuck, the little guy was crying now and rather loudly too. Kakashi walked into the kitchen. He needed Yamato's expertise on this whether he wanted to give it or not.

"He's locked himself in his room," Kakashi stated, knowing that Yamato would get the hint.

"Told you not to leave the key in."

"I think we should get him out of there. He's crying."

"Oh."

Yamato was no longer rinsing the dishes, he was just staring blankly out the window.

"I don't know what to do about it," Kakashi admitted.

Yamato hummed and pushed past him and twenty minutes later Naruto was out of his room and playing cards with him.

"I owe you an explanation," Kakashi said a couple of days later after Naruto had been put to bed.

Yamato, who had been wrapped up in paperwork, looked up for a second to indicate that he was listening.

"You know what I told you about my old boss, Minato?" he began. "He and his wife died and left a son behind. That was Naruto. His godfather, some bloke called Jiraiya, was out of the country and so he was put in an orphanage."

Yamato shifted in his seat, but he kept his nose buried in documents.

"Well, Jiraiya recently came back and was nowhere near thrilled that the boy'd been put into care, but he has something big going on so he didn't want to drag him into it, and then he asked me if I could … you know, take care him in."

Kakashi opened his book and began to read, waiting for his words to sink in.

Yamato was surprised that Kakashi finally decided to tell him the reason for his sudden adoption. He had known it had something to do with his work, but had not expected it to be something personal to him. He knew that Kakashi had thought very highly of his old boss and that it had been a defeat when he died. Kakashi was a very private man, though, which might have something to do with his position in the secret police force, and basically everything Yamato knew about him was something he had guessed off the little hints the other man would drop from time to time. For him to say something that was most likely confidential was very anomalous.

"You didn't even think about me when you agreed? We do live in the same house, you know. I just don't see why you didn't at least tell me earlier."

"That's what's got you all pissy? That I didn't tell you?"

Yamato looked Kakashi over, the man was not even joking when he asked that.

"What the hell else did you think it was? God, you can be so stupid sometimes. I'm practically a parent now!"

"So? Didn't you always say you'd like to have kids? I honestly don't see the problem here. I mean, he can be a handful sometimes bu-"

"He's not the problem, you are!" Yamato yelled, he clamped a hand over his mouth and lowered his voice. "You never ask me about anything, you always think I'll just go along, but this…"

Yamato started pacing the living room in small circles, shooting annoyed glances towards Kakashi.

"This was big and you just did it without even sparing me one single thought. You need to stop being so self-centered all the time!"

Kakashi got up from the sofa, he wanted to put his arms around Yamato and make him understand how everything worked, but he was not sure how he would react to it. They were both agents of great magnitude, hardened by several years in the force. Both of them had advanced fast and were some of the youngest to ever attain the positions they had. Therefore, their relationship was not one of love declarations and cuddling and so emotions were something they rarely spoke of.

"I felt like I owed it to Minato's kid."

Yamato stopped dead in his tracks and looked over at Kakashi.

"I'm sorry," Kakashi said and put his arms around Yamato and kissed him.

Yamato drew his head back, eyes widening for a split second. "What are you doing?"

"Hm? I'm just trying to be nice, that's all."

"Sure you are."

"Of course. Anyway, I'm a bit tired, think I'm going to bed. You coming?"

Yamato stepped out of the embrace and shook his head, leaving Kakashi standing with his arms still awkwardly in front of him.

"Oh, well. Goodnight then." He turned around and shrugged.

Yamato sat down by the desk once again, "Goodnight. I'll be done in 10 minutes, see you in the bedroom then."

Yamato winked and Kakashi's face lit up.