Disclaimer: Naruto does not in any way belong to me, it's the property of Kishimoto, etc. Likewise, KHR! does not in any way belong to me, it's the property of Amano, etc.

Learning Curve

04.

Ryohei leaves after healing Kakashi and Obito's wounds, shouting something about seeing them later. Kakashi ignores his words with the ease that he'd managed to tune out Ryohei's loud lecture about boxing and how extreme a sport it was.

Tsuna ambles in afterward, his hair still slightly damp. He casts a critical eye over them. "I guess you can stay here for today," he remarks. "It will take at least a day to get you uniforms for school, and you can spend the day getting used to this dimension."

He sounds very calm and reasonable about this. Kakashi has to wonder what kind of experience Tsuna has with dimensional displacement. Or maybe he is just this freakishly zen about everything.

"School?" he asks blankly, starting to wish that he'd paid Ryohei's parting words a little more attention.

"We're not staying here," Obito says at the same time, considerably more aggressive.

Tsuna blinks, gazing between the two of them before settling on Obito. "Reborn told me you were stuck here," he says.

Obito scowls. "Ridiculous. We can use Kamui-"

"'We'?" Tsuna interrupts, raising his eyebrows.

Kakashi had been wondering the same, though he hadn't wanted to ask.

Obito inhales sharply, his jaw setting as a furious expression appears on his face. "Now that I've rested and recovered, there's nothing stopping me from leaving," he snaps.

"You can't go back," Kakashi says. "I tried to use Kamui, Obito. It didn't work."

Obito spares him a brief glance, before his attention seems to focus inward.

Tsuna busies himself with packing a book bag, apparently unconcerned.

After several long moments, Obito's gaze sharpens again and he glares at Kakashi. "This is your fault," he hisses.

"No fighting, please," Tsuna puts in mildly, even as he glances at the watch on his slender wrist.

"We sent each other here," Kakashi reminds him.

"Trash," Obito snarls, possibly to Kakashi or maybe to the room at large, before he stalks out.

Reborn, the little demon, is leaning against the wall opposite the door. "You want to leave?" he asks, uncrossing his arms. "I think you know that I can't let you on a rampage."

At least, Kakashi thinks, Obito doesn't try to dispute Reborn's ability to keep him there.

"I'm not going to go out and kill people," Obito snaps.

"I don't trust you," Reborn says.

Obito makes a derisive noise, as if to say that he doesn't need Reborn's trust.

"If you want to leave the house, I got uniforms for the two of you." Reborn tosses a bundle of clothes at Obito's feet, then to Kakashi.

"Already?" Tsuna asks, though he doesn't actually sound terribly surprised. "Enrollment-?"

It's a plain white shirt, the same as Tsuna's wearing, and grey slacks, Kakashi sees.

"I took the liberty of asking Hibari to push their applications through," Reborn says, a little smugly. "And they'll be in the same class as Ryohei and Hibari. I think it should be fine, don't you?"

"I'm not going to school," Obito says, sounding almost scandalized at the prospect. Shinobi learn everything they need in the Academy, or on the field; higher education is the almost exclusive purview of civilians. Wealthy civilians. Shinobi have little need for it.

"Not dressed like that, you're not," Reborn agrees. "Do I have to dress you myself?"

"Try i-" Kakashi presses a hand over Obito's mouth and beams his best smile at Reborn.

"I'm sure we can manage, Reborn-san. Perhaps a little privacy..?"

Reborn narrows his eyes, but his mouth quirks up in amusement. "I'll be waiting outside the window if either of you try to escape," he informs them, turning on his heel to hop down the stairs in about three bounds.

"You have about five minutes. Tardiness is frowned upon," Tsuna tells them earnestly. "Even for new students. Especially since Reborn called in a favour with the head prefect."

"Head prefect?" Kakashi repeats. Then, "Never mind, Tsuna-san. You can explain the relevant details on our way to the school, can't you?"

Tsuna nods. "I'll get you something to eat while you're changing." He shuts the door behind him, leaving Obito and Kakashi alone.

Obito elbows in the side, hard.

Kakashi staggers away, wincing.

"Don't touch me again," Obito says coldly, picking up the bundle of clothes and stalking to the corner furthest away from him.

Kakashi bites back a sigh, absently wiping his palm on his pants.

"And stop watching!" Obito snarls, glaring over his shoulder.

Kakashi blinks, but turns away. If Obito wants to change in the corner, without looking at him - or Kakashi looking at him - well, Kakashi can grant him that modicum of privacy.

The clothes are strange, the fabric thinner than Kakashi's used to and the slacks have no pockets. Where is he going to hide his projectile weapons? he wonders wryly, even as he sets aside his katana. It feels wrong to be unarmed - usually he has at least a kunai - but what good would a blade be against a gun? Reborn had proven how badly overmatched he and Obito were in this dimension - even if he was far from the norm.

After a little debate, he decides to keep his face mask on; unless Reborn or Tsuna asks him to take it off - and even then he'll probably argue - it's going to stay that way.

He's a little surprised at how well the clothes fit, but Reborn did have a discerning eye about him. Perhaps Kakashi shouldn't have been surprised that the child would guess his measurements so accurately.

There remains a thin strip of cloth that he has no idea what to do with. It's not a belt, and he's fairly certain that he'd seen an identical garment tied around Tsuna's neck earlier.

Obito makes a wordless noise of disgust and stalks over to the door. The strip of red cloth is looped around his fist - apparently he couldn't figure it out either.

"What," Obito snaps, his shoulders tense. Kakashi wonders where the confident megalomaniac went.

"Couldn't get it either, huh?" Kakashi says lightly, holding up the cloth.

Obito's eye narrows. "Obviously." He opens the door and walks away.

Kakashi falls into step beside him, resolutely ignoring the irritated glare this action earns him. He can't help but notice the darker skin of Obito's right arm - it's the same as the strangely pinched skin on the right side of his face. Kakashi had assumed it was scar tissue, but his arm is unblemished - it's just a darker shade than Obito's Uchiha-pale skin. The contrast is even more obvious on Obito's neck without his high collar to disguise the jagged line where dark skin meets paler.

Some kind of skin graft from where Obito's body was crushed by the rocks all those years ago? But that didn't explain why his arm was fully-functioning instead of a twisted ruin...

"Oh, you must be Tsuna's new friends~!" a woman says, peering through the doorway leading to- the kitchen, Kakashi sees. Tsuna's stuffing a piece of toast into his mouth at the table. He assumes the woman is his mother - their facial features are rather similar, and she has the same wide, innocent-looking eyes.

"It's so hard to keep track of them all," Tsuna's mother continues. "Why, even five years ago Tsuna was a no-good loser... But he's so popular now, it does a mother's heart proud." She beams at them.

Kakashi sees Obito sneer out of the corner of his eye, and he jumps in before the Uchiha can say anything. "Ah, that's right. We just met Tsuna-san recently, as it so happens. I'm Hatake Kakashi, and this is Uchiha Obito - it's a pleasure to meet you, Sawada-san." He bows to her.

"My! So polite, and so handso-"

"Mom!" Tsuna says, a strained smile on his face as he walks up to them. "We've got to get going, or we'll be late." He hands Kakashi and Obito two pieces of toast each and hustles them out the door.

"Bye, Tsu-kun! Have a good day!" his mother calls, leaning out the door and waving at them.

"He even got the shoe size right," Kakashi says bemusedly.

Tsuna nods. "Reborn's good with details."

Obito says nothing, though he somehow manages to convey his disdain through eating his toast.

"So, who is this head prefect?" Kakashi asks. "And what is a head prefect, for that matter?"

"Hibari Kyouya. He's- well, we work for the same organization. The head prefect is like..." Tsuna frowns faintly, trying to figure out how to explain. "The head of the Disciplinary Committee. Prefects are below teachers in terms of authority."

Kakashi nods slowly, filing the information away.

"Except, in Hibari-san's case, it wouldn't be wrong to say that he is the highest level of authority at Namimori High."

Kakashi frowns.

"So you're saying that stupid kid indebted us to the most powerful person at your school?" Obito asks, not sounding terribly pleased by the prospect. Kakashi agrees with that sentiment.

"Exactly," Tsuna agrees. "And Hibari-san is... very strict." He casts a critical eye over them. "Oh, you didn't put your ties on."

Kakashi holds up the strip of red cloth.

"Yes, that. Also, you'll have to take off the mask. Hibari-san doesn't tolerate dress code violations."

Kakashi loops the... tie around his neck, beneath the collar of his shirt, but the knot that Tsuna has made in his is beyond him. Tsuna stops, and quickly knots it for him. A moment later, he does the same for Obito.

"I'm sure we'll be able to work something out," Kakashi says with a smile.

Tsuna looks at him doubtfully. "Hibari-san won't hesitate to hurt you," he warns him as they start walking again.

"For something as trivial as a dress code?" Kakashi asks skeptically. (In hindsight, he'll decide that he should have realized none of Tsuna's acquaintances were approaching normal, even if he'd only met Reborn and Ryohei at that point.)

Tsuna nods with obvious reluctance. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

Kakashi smiles. "Thank you for the warning, Tsuna-san." He's confident he can take anyone who's actually eighteen, anomalies like Reborn and Tsuna himself aside.

Tsuna frowns at him, but says nothing more on the subject.

"Getting that bastard to take off his mask is like pulling teeth," Obito says.

"Ah, I've been meaning to ask, actually," Tsuna says, taking advantage of the opening. "How do the two of you know each other?"

Obito stiffens. "None of your business."

Kakashi shrugs, not too keen to delve into the matter himself. He'd told Reborn as much as he was willing to divulge the night before, and considering Tsuna knew about Kakashi's failed attempt to use Kamui, Reborn must have related what he'd said to the teen.

"I guess it's a little early in our acquaintance to be asking such personal questions," Tsuna concludes, unbothered by their reticence.

Which implies that he won't be letting the issue go, not permanently, anyway. It also suggests that he intends to keep Obito and Kakashi around, despite knowing next to nothing about either of them.

Kakashi doesn't know what to make of him. He occupies the rest of the walk with taking stealthy bites of the toast, but he's pretty sure that Tsuna catches a few glimpses of his face anyway. Ah, well.