AN: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters, only my OC's…wait I don't have any OC's, they're all my co-authors *sigh*. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

Masked Affections

A Naruto FanFiction

Chapter 9: An Almost Adoption

"Oh." Sakura gulps.

"You were shivering." Kakashi explains simply.

Sakura blushes to match her hair, "Its okay…um…I should…probably work on breakfast…or something." She rushes up quickly, almost back to the window. She does turn back only to see a flush covering Kakashi's cheeks and it was almost as if his eyes had never wanted her to leave. "Kakashi sensei is there…something you want to say?"

"N…No I'm fine." He lightly stutters, thinking to himself, 'I sound like Hinata.'

"Okay." She shrugs and heads back inside, and Kakashi follows not long after, but ends up running into Naruto instead.

"You had a good opportunity up there." He scoffs.

"What was I supposed to do?" He calmly replies.

"You could have said something…I don't know," Naruto shrugs, "I really don't know much about women."

"I was…so embarrassed. I wanted to say something…but I was…afraid." Kakashi admits, "Nervous really."

"Wow… we really must be a bunch of fools if just talking to them has us worked up." Naruto chuckles.

"Hmph…I guess so." Kakashi scratches the back of his head, embarrassed.

"So I guess we should get breakfast." Naruto heads off to the kitchen and Kakashi follows. The twins are busy asking question after question about being shinobi.

After breakfast the twins parents finally return, "Thank you for watching our children. I hope they weren't any trouble."

"It was no problem, they are smart kids, and they could even be good Shinobi one day." Kakashi boasts, ruffling the boy's hair.

Their mother looks sharply at the children, while they look everywhere but at her, "Perhaps…thank you again for watching them. I'm sure you four have something to do."

"I mean what I say. They are smart, why this boy nearly beat me at shogi and I'm a Jounin."

"Maybe when they are older they can go to the academy." She politely smiles and Kakashi realizes who she is; the daughter of a shinobi he once knew who died in war.

"Of course, they would be older, more experienced then. Just remember what happened once won't always happen again."

"Hm….we'll see about that." She looks at her children, "I know they are talented, but they are also naïve."

"They will learn in time, if you took the time to nurse their curiosity." Kakashi argues.

"Once you're a father you will know that you won't want to put your children in danger Kakashi Hatake." She glares.

"I've seen friends die, do not talk to me of such pains. Just because these things happen doesn't mean you should restrain their given talents." He retaliates.

"If you want to train them so much, then why don't you take them!" She stalks off, unhappy. Her husband stands there, shocked to the core, "I'm sorry sir, I'm sure my wife means well."

"I understand." Kakashi calms, "Well we must be going."

As soon as they go outside the twins, come running out. "Please take us with you. Mother will never let us be ninja like you."

"What? You have a real family, wanting to protect you, and yet you want to leave that. I'm not like your real parents, they are." Kakashi replies, surprised.

They look down, "We do want to be ninjas…but if you don't want to teach us…" They begin to turn away when Kakashi stops them.

"That's not what I meant, but you must ask your parents about this."

"Do you really mean that?" They wonder.

"If you want it so bad, I see no reason not to oblige you." Kakashi smiles, his eyes crinkling. They hug him and run back to their mother.

Sakura raises an eyebrow at him, "How do you plan to do this?"

"Raise them as if they were my own, and train them like students, it's simple enough." He shrugs.

"Do you even have room for them in your apartment?" Sakura questions.

"I can easily find a new apartment." Kakashi points out.

"But what of their real family, or when you're on a mission, what will you do then?" Sakura worries.

"I'm not adopting them Sakura, just training them and taking them in for the moment." Kakashi explains.

"Do you know anything about kids though?" Sakura ponders.

"I could get help from a girl, making a mother figure. Would you assist me?" Kakashi lightly smiles, his eyes twinkling.

Sakura blinks, "Why me? I'm sure you could find any woman to fill in the position."

"You would be a perfect mother, besides you can heal them if they get hurt. And you're great at chakra control, which is good for young shinobi." He explains.

Sakura blushes, "I guess I can help you out."

Naruto leans in and whispers into Kakashi's ears, "I guess you didn't want to want to become a daddy with her huh?" Kakashi turns and glares at him, and Hinata suppresses a giggle.

The twins come back out with a couple of bags and tackle Kakashi over. Their mother follows behind them, "If they get hurt while staying with you, I will never forgive you."

"I will protect them with my life." A muffled voice says from the pile, but he manages to get up, laughing, picking up the twins, one in each arm.

"You better." Their mother glared.

"It'll be fun teaching them." He smiled, eyes crinkling as usual.

"Hm…well good luck." She turned back to her house, but then thought again, "Oh and another thing. You'd better keep your filthy books away from my children."

Kakashi lightly flushes, and the twins just look at each other, confused.

"We should get going. We have to see Lady Tsunade to report in. Besides we have to find you a new apartment and pick up things for the twins." Sakura motions and they begin to follow her back to the Hokage tower.

"So are you too going to give me any trouble?" Kakashi mildly chuckles.

"Yes they are…they're trouble makers." Naruto sticks his tongue out at them, and they return the gesture.

"So how old are you two?" Kakashi asks.

"We're both six." They smile.

"You were making trouble then too Naruto, so don't say anything." Kakashi chastises.

"Yes, that's true." Naruto admits, thinking back on his younger days.

Finally arriving at the tower, the twins are growing excited. They look at everything with wide eyes, and Kakashi leads them into Tsunade's office.

As soon as they enter she looks up from her paperwork, and her eyebrow raises at the two smaller members of the group. "You better have a good explain for this Kakashi Hatake." Tsunade taps her fingers quickly on her desk, her anger already beginning to boil.

Kakashi smiles nervously and Sakura gulps while both Naruto and Hinata slowly back out of the room.

AN: The title may be a bit of a give away, but oh well. At first it was planned to be an actual adoption, but I decided it'd be a little strange that their mother would agree that quickly, even if angry. So instead it's an almost adoption! It just makes much more sense. Also, if you haven't been, remember to review!

AN: Will Tsunade explode in anger? Will the twins' mother really let this happen? Will Sakura be a good mother figure? Where are Naruto and Hinata sneaking off to anyways? What will happen next? Stay tuned for the next installment of Masked Affections!