"I can't believe you're still reading that," Sakura teased, her feet rolling side to side where her ankles were crossed in the seat beside Kakashi.

He glanced up from over the top of his book. "This isn't the same one you so thoughtfully critiqued, Sakura-chan."

Shaking her head with humored disapproval, her eyes dropped back to her own book, highlighter poised in one hand over the text. "Really, though, is there any difference?"

Kakashi's sleepy eyes only drooped further. "Once you read this series, you'll see the character development and nuanced writing style in all its glory."

"Don't count on it." She wrinkled her nose, smiling. "The mystery is gone, anyway."

"Suit yourself." Kakashi reclined further into his seat, stretching his legs across to set his feet by Sakura. Since Naruto had opted to ride at the front of the horse-drawn carriage—a stipulation for formality's sake, which was at once a luxury and an exhaustingly slow nuisance—the two of them had much more room to lounge inside, along with the added benefit of having their eardrums still intact.

"You sure you wouldn't rather read this? I have the first book of the series with me."

"No thanks. This at least is anatomically realistic." She carefully drew lines of green highlighter over the page of her medical textbook, adjusting for the slight rocking of the carriage.

"Mah, Sakura, relax for a little while. We're on vacation."

"First of all, we're on a mission." Her foot nudged his side, though she didn't look up. "But if you insist on calling this a vacation, then that means I'm allowed to spend my time however I see fit." Her highlighter repositioned to point at his own book. "Just like you are."

"Mm." Fair point. At any rate, she clearly meant business; he wasn't about to mess with that. They went back to their respective readings without another word.

"HA!" A loud shout sounded from outside, breaking the silence like a slap. "YOU LOSE! It was that bird like half a mile ago!"

"How many times do I have to tell you?" came the quieter, more muffled reply, thoroughly exasperated despite it being the first day of their trip. "The point of I Spy is to describe something we can both see."

At the same time, both Kakashi and Sakura sighed under their breath.

"It would have been nice if Naruto had brought some reading material," she mumbled, shaking her head, "if only for poor Daisuke-kun's sake."

Kakashi hummed his agreement, but he didn't feel quite as bad for their chuunin driver. Daisuke couldn't have been much older than his other two teammates, and given the kid's passive personality he was most likely some kind of lap dog for Tsunade.

The gesture wasn't one Kakashi could say he appreciated, and it perplexed him in the smallest way—if she had to keep tabs on him outside of Sakura's reports, she really didn't trust him, which made him wonder for the thousandth time why he was the only viable candidate for her job. He shrugged it off, however—had the situation been reversed, he definitely would expect Tsunade to make a run for it, because she would have the second she was past the gates.

Kakashi was a different kind of man, however. He was at least going to wait until there was a proper opening before making his escape.

"I think you're just a sore loser, dude," Naruto taunted from the front of the carriage. "Yamato-taichou always guesses right, even when we're running."

"Yeah, well, good for whoever they are," the kid said plainly, obviously not used to Naruto's unique charms.

"Whoever they are?" Naruto was absolutely baffled. "Holy shit, dude, Yamato-taichou is the best team leader of all time." A pause. "No offense, Kakashi-sensei!"

Kakashi looked up to find Sakura mashing her lips closed, trying not to laugh, and the effect was contagious. "None taken."

There was some loud clunking as the cart jostled, and in an instant Naruto appeared in the open windows, arm looped through the panes to keep himself upright. "Where is he these days, anyway?"

"Uh, not sure." Kakashi set his book in his lap and tried to remember the last time he'd heard anything about Yamato. It'd been a good while.

"Well, he should be on this mission instead of…" Suddenly aware of himself, Naruto craned his neck to peek at Daisuke, but seemed satisfied with whatever he saw. "Anyway, I miss him. He's so chill."

"He's so nice," Sakura contributed, finally looking up from her reading. "Every time he comes to the hospital, he lets his team members get healed first, and then he brings me takeout for lunch as thanks for taking care of them."

"You should've seen him when I joined ANBU. He took me out for ramen and ice cream, and he bought me a new set of kunai. Oh, and some new underwear." Naruto gave her a suggestive look. "Black boxer briefs, for extra sexiness."

"Or to match your uniform, you idiot," she said, pinching his arm hard enough to draw out a yelp. "Remember when he took us to that onsen for Sai's birthday?"

"God, that was so fun." Pinch long forgotten now, a dreamy sigh escaped him. "The sushi there was so fuckin' good, too."

For a long, awful moment, Kakashi felt like shit. He knew he wasn't like Yamato—kind, generous, good at remembering important things—but that knowledge didn't help much when he considered their praises. Yamato had been their team leader for one mission, but Kakashi had known them for almost a decade, and yet he wasn't sure he even knew when any of their birthdays were and never seemed to be there for the big events. To his credit, he'd been away much of the last two years, but on the other side of that same token, he couldn't remember if he had gone out of his way to buy them gifts or treat them to anything. Ever.

He neatly filed those thoughts and feelings away for another time—not only did he find them uncomfortable, but perhaps they could be of use at some point in the future. If he were good at anything, it was strategizing.

"Is food all you think about?" Sakura chided with a laugh, already knowing the answer.

"I can't help it! I'm hungry!" Naruto leaned outward, arching his neck to look around front again. "And if someone would stop for five minutes, we could finally get something to eat!"

"Sorry," Kakashi could hear Daisuke say, either tired or nervous or a delicate combination of the two. "But the next village isn't for at least another hour, even on foot."

"Ugh. This is stupid as shit. Yamato-taichou wouldn't stand for this…this…malnourishment." Grumpily, Naruto hugged the side of the carriage, hair catching some of the wind while they kept moving.

"Knowing him, he probably would have packed sandwiches or something."

"Don't even talk about sandwiches right now, Sakura-chan. My stomach is about to eat itself." A miserable gurgle, loud enough to hear over the clopping of the horses, punctuated his statement.

"Come sit down and read or something. You know, distract yourself so you don't die of starvation." She arched a playful pink eyebrow at Kakashi. "I'm sure our esteemed team leader could lend you some Icha Icha for a few hours."

"Hell no. I'd rather keep playing I Spy with that loser up front."

Kakashi scoffed under his breath at that. "I'm disappointed in both of you," he drawled, flipping to the next page in one smooth flick.

"We could play Go Fish," Sakura suggested, already reaching into her pack. "I brought cards."

"Are you really gonna stop studying for that?" Naruto opened the door from the inside and swung himself in, plopping down on the other side of her legs by Kakashi.

"Like I could concentrate with you whining for the next hour." She tossed the pack of cards to Kakashi, who deftly caught them in his hand. "Shuffle those, please."

He set his book down on the bench beside him—it was too bad, too; he was just getting to the juicy part. Then he did as she asked and dealt the cards between the three of them, reasoning that a few rounds to pass the time couldn't hurt anyone.

.

.

.

"Sakura-chaaan!" Naruto wailed, weaving mostly unsuccessfully through people in the street as he walked backwards and flapped his hands out toward Sakura. "Just fix them already! I can't even pick up a skewer and they hurt. So bad. Please?"

She chewed this over for a few moments as they strolled down the main road of town. Daisuke had moved a noticeable few inches away from her, eyes wide and glued the limp, swollen purple fingers on Naruto's un-bandaged hand, all set in slightly odd angles.

"You'll heal quickly enough," she finally said. "Besides, they're probably just bruised."

Kakashi chuckled but not loud enough to encourage her. "If you don't heal him, you'll have to feed him."

"Nonsense." Her face was full of mock sweetness, her tone dripping with the same. "There are two other perfectly capable ninja here to do just that."

He laughed again, mostly to himself, tickled by Naruto's obvious upset. "Daisuke-kun, I leave it to you."

"Me?" The already pale ninja blanched even further. "But—but I have to go and feed the horses, Kakashi-san…"

"Aw, come on," Sakura sang, retaining the same faux politeness. "What's one more animal?"

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto half-groaned, half-screamed. "I'm sorry, okay?!"

"Sorry for what, exactly?"

Kakashi almost kept walking when she slowed to a stop, but decided to stay for the show. Naruto looked a little worried at Sakura's expectant expression, his arms hanging like boiled noodles moving gently back and forth at his sides.

"I won't call baa-chan a big titty bitch anymore, okay?" he mumbled from the side of his mouth.

"I didn't even hear you say that," Sakura said, blinking a few times. "But—anyway. What else?"

Naruto thought for a few seconds, then sighed, embarrassed. "I'm sorry for calling you ugly when I didn't win. You're really pretty and beautiful and I love you a lot."

"And?"

"And...uh...sorry for using some of your textbook pages as toilet paper." He fussed at the back of his head with the heel of his palm, spiking his bright hair to an even messier degree.

"And?"

"And I'm sorry the most for calling you a sad excuse for a medic. I was just messin' with you." He sighed impatiently, legs bouncing where he stood. "Can you please just heal my fingers up now?"

She stood there for a moment, mouth pressed into a hard line, and then seemed to give a little. "I'll see what I can do. You know, since I'm a sad excuse for a medic and all."

"Okay good."

Sakura's fists went to rest at her hips. "There's one other thing you have to apologize for first."

Immediately overwhelmed and frustrated, and probably tired from wracking his brain so much, Naruto's back hunched to an almost unnatural degree. "What now!"

"Nothing." She grinned like a cat, satisfied, just a little victorious. "I just wanted to see what else you could come up with."

"You're mean," he grumbled. As usual, the sentiment didn't stick—he moved forward to lean over Sakura with his elbows on her shoulders, his height seeming to swallow her, and Kakashi was momentarily startled by the sight. He could still remember when Sakura was the tallest of his three students. "I'm starving. Can we finally get some food now?"

"Um, sorry to interrupt," Daisuke suddenly piped up from behind her, "but I'm going to go…uh…wait with the carriage."

"You don't want to eat with us?" Sakura asked, now with more genuinely interest.

"I'll just grab something small. I'm not very hungry." He was backing away, slowly, inch by inch, and Kakashi smiled to himself.

"We can bring you back something, if you want."

"Really, it's fine. I promise." Daisuke waved, running an awkward hand through his hair, halfway turned to walk back the way they came. "I'll meet you all back there."

"Okay then." Sakura waved back, then shrugged Naruto's arms away to grab one of his gnarled hands, inducing a short, pained screech of protest. "Don't worry about us. I've got these two."

That seemed to be all the chuunin needed to hear; he nearly broke into a ran the second she said the words, trotting through the small crowd down the main road.

Naruto cast a suspicious glance at the retreating figure. "What do you think that weirdo's up to?"

"I think he's a little scared of us," Kakashi replied, not bothering to mask his delight at the kid's absence. Perfect.

"Have a little sympathy, guys," Sakura chided, hand glowing green with chakra where it held Naruto's, and started walking again. "It's not easy dealing with either one of you, let alone at the same time."

Kakashi chuckled and followed, falling into step behind them as Naruto complained about her logic and dodged some loading carts passing by. While there wasn't much going on around this relatively small village as a whole, the main street buzzed with activity. There were stands lining the road, some full of handmade pottery and clothing, some with bunches of dried flowers hanging from their signs, some with steam rising from where dumplings and fish cakes were being cooked by little old ladies.

He wasn't sure exactly where they were—most small villages, no matter the country, tended to share the same features and qualities—but there were elements of their surroundings that hinted they were closer to the border, if just by a bit. There were more fish in the open markets here than in Konoha, and the air was thinner, cooler, with a very faint brininess at its edges. He wondered exactly how close they'd gotten to the coast.

When Sakura ducked into a small restaurant, Kakashi pulled his map from a pocket inside his flak vest, twirling it in his fingers as the three of them sat at a table by the window.

"Oh," she said, standing up, "I guess we're supposed to order at the counter. What do you guys want?"

"Uh." Kakashi glanced at the menu on the board across the room, his eyes immediately landing on the biggest text. "Somen."

"Okay. Naruto?" When she looked to find him squinting almost comically at the board, she finally let go of his hand, which was now back to a normal color. "Actually, never mind—I probably have a good idea."

His childlike grin stretched over his face. "Heh, I guess you do."

"Sakura," Kakashi called when she stepped away. "Can you get them to point out where we are?"

She only stared skeptically at the map he was extending toward her. He resisted the urge to give her one of his infamous eye smiles.

"I just want to see how far we've gone. Not traveling on foot tends to throw me off a little."

She seemed to buy that. Mostly.

"Sure," she agreed, lingering for a second before she took the scroll and went to join the small line of customers.

"Ahhh." He glanced across the table to find Naruto, chin cradled in his newly healed palm, eyes closed as he faced the open window beside him where a breeze passed through. "Feels kinda good outside."

"Hmm," he hummed in reply, feeling the short wind settle over his own heavy eyelids.

"I wish we didn't have to ride in that stupid-ass carriage. I just wanna run." Despite Naruto's relatively calm expression, Kakashi could feel his leg bouncing restlessly beneath the table. "This is way more boring than you said it was gonna be, you know."

He held his gloved hands in front of him, feigning innocence. "I made no promises."

"That's not even true! You said if I was bored I should come with you!" Naruto's tone went pouty and sour in the exact way it used to when he was twelve. "If it's gonna be like this the whole time, then you owe me some fun, sensei."

Perfect, Kakashi thought to himself again. Things seemed to be lining up just right. It was time to pull out the big guns.

"Have you ever been to the beach, Naruto?"

He thought about that for a moment, not seeming to take note of the subject change. "Nuh-uh. Or at least I don't think so." He squinted out the window. "Ero-sennin might have taken me once to look at girls, but I don't really remember…"

"Well," Kakashi drawled, tracing a ring of leftover condensation on the table, "do you want to go?"

Naruto stared at him as if he'd grown another head. "To the beach?"

"Yup."

"…Now?"

"Yup." At Naruto's panicked glance toward the counter, Kakashi added, "After lunch, I mean."

"Oh, okay. Then yeah. Hell yeah." As quickly as he warmed up to the idea, however, Naruto cooled down considerably, dark golden eyebrows furrowing his forehead. "What about Sakura-chan, though?"

This newfound sense of responsibility in his former student, however small, was so new to Kakashi that he wondered if the shock would ever wear off. "What do you mean?"

"Like…did she say it was okay?" He scratched the back of his head. "Does she even know?"

Kakashi's eyelids drooped. This whole not-being-as-easy-as-he'd-thought thing was becoming a rather unsavory trend.

"Don't worry, Naruto-kun," he said jovially, turning his eyes up into half-moons instead. "I'll figure something out."

The excitement finally made its way into Naruto's expression. Thankfully he was still easy enough to convince when it came to the usual mischief.

"Damn, sensei," he practically cheered, teeth glinting when he smiled, "I love when you get all sneaky like this!"

Kakashi leaned back against the booth. "I do my best."

"Whatever you're talking about, I'm already doubtful." Sakura slid into the seat beside Naruto, unrolling the map to spread it out over the table. "Here you go."

Kakashi appraised the map and found where it had been marked with their current location. It seemed they were almost halfway between Konoha and the coast, which was essentially where their country's border met with Water's. Apparently the carriage was faster than he'd been thinking—though it wasn't nearly as fast as going on foot. If they left within the hour and ran the whole way, they'd probably make it to the coastal towns by nightfall or shortly after.

"Sakura," Kakashi began, still looking at the map, "have you ever been to the beach?"

"I have, actually…once, when I was little. It was pretty nice."

He glanced up to find Sakura pensive. His expression was the same dry, straight one he usually wore, but the second she noticed his eyes on her she narrowed her own back at him.

"Ohhh no. No."

Kakashi raised his eyebrows at her, trying to emulate one of his dogs.

"No, Kakashi. We're not going off course."

He looked to Naruto, who took a second to get the hint but immediately made his own puppy-dog face at her, eyes wide and blue as his arms wrapped around one of hers. She stared back for a full minute, her eyebrow twitching hard enough to move her forehead seal, and then let out a resounding sigh.

"God damnit."

.

.

.

One bowl of ramen, two servings of somen, and three shadow clones later, they were headed to the coast full speed ahead. Daisuke, none the wiser, was still driving the cart to the southernmost point of the country, on his way to catch a government-mandated boat that would take them straight to the outskirts of Kirigakure. Kakashi wasn't sure how long their kage bunshin would last as a cover—maybe an hour at the very most—but it would be long enough to make a successful getaway.

Naruto spent his energy hollering and backflipping through the trees, while Sakura, for the most part, was more inclined to enjoy the freedom in silence. Either that or she was pissed at them for dragging her into their scheme. But something in the way she held herself, all loose shoulders and light steps, let Kakashi rest a bit easier.

It took all afternoon and part of the evening, but the sight of the forests gradually thinning was a welcome one, and the tinge of thick, salty air lingered over them despite the sun having been down for about two hours. Once he spotted the crudely made wooden sign stuck at a fork in the path and could just barely hear the sounds of the ocean in the distance, he knew they were in the right place.

It was too dark to see any of the shoreline once they made their way into town—most people kept their lights off or curtains drawn at night to prevent any sea turtles or other animals from washing ashore, and the city regulations seemed to be the same in that regard. But the cool temperature, intensely pleasant after a day of running in the summer heat, and the crisp scent of the sea were enough to make the effort worth it.

They found a hotel easily enough; there was an old wooden inn at the end of a row of shops about a block away from the beach which thankfully was still open at this hour. Naruto could hardly contain himself as the deep roar of the waves grew louder with each step forward.

"C'mon," he kept saying, nearly panting with excitement like one of the ninken, "let's go check it out! We spent all day rushing to get here, so we might as well enjoy it."

"You won't be able to see anything," Sakura reminded him with a laugh. "Plus there's hardly any beach to walk on with the tide this high."

"Not to mention we're relatively close to Whirlpool," Kakashi added, hands in his pockets and legs feeling strange in their stillness after so many straight hours of motion. "The riptide here can be deadly."

Naruto, now dejected, took to trudging into the inn, sliding the front door back with slumped shoulders. "You guys are boring. Seriously."

Kakashi patted his head like he would a golden retriever. "It'll still be there tomorrow, Naruto."

"Yeah, yeah."

He entered the hotel lobby after them, which was hardly big enough to hold the three of them, let alone be considered a lobby. It was only a wood-paneled hallway with a counter, really, dimly lit by a yellow bug light and surrounded by bulletin boards overloaded with crinkled flyers and coupons. A tan, sun-spotted woman sat behind it reading a newspaper with a pen in her mouth. Behind her was a rainbow of cheap beach equipment hanging from the ceiling.

"You three sure are late getting in," she greeted from her post, glancing at them from over her reading glasses. "What can I do you for?"

"Do you have any rooms available?" Kakashi asked, walking a few steps to lean against the counter and fish out his wallet. There was plenty of cushion in the budget for them to each have their own.

"Yeah. One."

Oh. The slight surprise must have shown on his face—he heard her chuckle knowingly.

"Sorry, hon. You hit us in the middle of our busiest season." The woman swiped a key from a holder on the wall, the only one still on its hook, and twirled it on her finger. "This should be big enough for all of you, though."

"We'll manage." They were active ninja—they'd surely shared tighter quarters than a single hotel room, if not with each other then elsewhere. He handed her enough cash for the deposit, which she took in exchange for the keys. "Thank you."

"Need any help with your luggage?" she asked, and all three of them paused. He heard a small smack and turned to find Sakura with her palm on her forehead. Naruto stood behind her, face scrunched, sucking in air through his teeth.

"Oh." Kakashi laughed sheepishly, scratching behind his ear. "I think we forgot our packs..."

"That's…probably being generous," Sakura countered, mumbling expletives to herself. "I don't know if we thought that far ahead."

"Here," the woman smirked drolly, pulling out a package of new toothbrushes and toothpaste from a drawer. "This happens more often than you'd think. There are plenty of shops on this street with some good cheap clothes and things, but they won't open 'til the morning."

Naruto ambled up to the counter, staring with intent at the toiletries. "I call the blue one."

"I've got some yukata back here too." She was already rummaging through a bin set beneath some folded beach chairs. "They're a little worn out, but they're cleaner than what you've got on."

Kakashi subconsciously brushed at his sleeves, rolling them up to his elbow in neat folds. Running at top speed through the forest meant any part of him was fair game for wood chips, pine needles, and tree sap to get stuck on. He picked a few leaves out of an otherwise oblivious Naruto's hair before the woman turned around again, sliding a stack of dull, folded cotton robes toward them as well as some pilled white towels.

"There's some shampoo and soap in the bathrooms," she said. "Girl's washroom is on the third floor, boy's is on the fourth. The hot water's only on for another twenty minutes so you'd better go on and head upstairs."

"Thank you so much." Sakura took the items into her arms with polite embarrassment. Kakashi and Naruto followed her dutifully, walking up the staircase to the left of the counter.

They found their room on the second floor. Despite the hour, the hotel seemed rather upbeat, the halls barely lit but full of noise from muffled conversations and laughter behind each door. Their corner seemed a bit quieter, perhaps because it was at the end of the hallway.

Sakura went ahead to shower and left the two guys to scope out the room, which was about the same size as Naruto's bathroom back in Konoha. The walls were a faded neutral beige; the furniture consisted of a nightstand, a light fixture on the ceiling, a generic picture hanging a bit crookedly on the wall, and a not-quite-king-sized bed in the center—or, rather, filling almost the entire space. There was only enough room to step around it. It would have been a stuffy little closet without the screened window on the opposite wall, propped open to circulate the air and let in the refreshing sea breeze.

"Well, this is…cozy."

"You got that right." Naruto jumped onto the bed, reclining onto the quilt-covered mattress. "You can sleep on the floor, Kakashi-sensei."

"What floor?" He put his foot into Naruto's side, only stretching the wide, toothy grin on the kid's face. "Don't get too excited. Sakura and I get first dibs."

"Says who?!"

"I don't recall you getting promoted to jounin," he drawled, moving to shed his vest, gloves, and pack by the nightstand. In fact, he couldn't remember if Naruto had taken the chuunin exams either, but that wasn't all that important.

"I'm in ANBU!" Naruto sat up, reclining on his elbows. "Doesn't that count for anything?"

"Sure it does." Kakashi took off his black sweater, then pointed to his tattoo. "Seniority rules."

He flopped back onto the bed, settling onto his stomach with a long groan that reverberated off the walls. "I'm gonna go ahead and fall asleep. You can't stop me—AH! What the fuck?!"

Kakashi chuckled, whirling the towel around his fist. Anything could be a pretty effective weapon when one was resourceful.

"Let's go shower. You're getting the bed dirty."

"The only thing dirty here is you, you old bastard." Rubbing his butt with a pronounced pout, Naruto grabbed his robe and towel and trudged out of the room.

Kakashi unfortunately got to the men's washroom after Naruto—since there was only one shower stall, he caught the tail end of the hot water stream. He'd endured worse conditions than a little cold water, though, so it wasn't that bad. Without air conditioning in the hotel it was actually a relief.

He toweled himself dry afterward, put on his undershirt—a necessary provision, of course—and underwear—he was glad he'd thought to store an extra pair in his flak jacket—then slipped on the yukata, a faded green garment that was thinning at the elbows and hips where the obi tied. He padded down the stairs and through the hallway back to the room, expecting to find Naruto ready to exact his revenge for earlier.

Instead, all Kakashi found was him lying face-down in the middle of the bed, snoring softly, while Sakura was situated on the left by the lamp and reading a rather tiny book. Her hair was wet, the damp tendrils in a loose braid over her shoulder. She turned to find him standing at the end of the bed and suddenly she snorted.

"Nice outfit."

He frowned mildly. "We're wearing the same thing."

"You have that undershirt thing on, though. It looks kind of silly."

When her attention went back to her book, he went and did some fuinjutsu, putting seals on the window and door just in case. "It's practical."

"Practical my ass. Naruto's going to try and peel your mask off the first chance he gets." She scribbled a note in the book. Did she ever stop working?

"And you aren't?" He sat on the edge of the bed, leveling a dry stare at her, and she rolled her eyes without even having to look.

"I have more important things to worry about. Like making sure we actually get to Kirigakure." She paused to write more. "And making sure you get your job." Another pause. "And keeping mine in the process."

"Don't worry about all that." His hand waved flippantly. "Tsunade will pin anything that happens on me."

That earned a smirk from Sakura, as he knew it would. "Well, you've already got one demerit. Are there any more nefarious plans I should know about?"

"Just getting a nice tan, as far as I know."

"With that thing on?" She nodded her head in his direction, indicating his mask. "I bet you have a really bizarre tan line by now."

"I have lots of bizarre tan lines," he retorted, wiggling an eyebrow for effect. "If you're lucky, you might see some while we're here."

She reached over to flick his arm with the eraser end of her pencil, her mouth curving into a puckered smile all the while. It was a playful look—pretty cute, even, he'd admit—but her bangs hid most of it when she went back to her reading. "I think you've read enough Icha Icha for today. Go to bed."

"Doctor's orders," he sighed, pretending to be scolded. "Goodnight, Sakura."

"Night."

Kakashi moved to the other side of the bed, sliding on his back over the top of the covers beside Naruto. The room was warm but calm and quiet, save for the deep snores by his ear, and he found himself falling asleep even with the lamp still on.

.

a/n: I'm ALIVE! (barely! ! !) it's been a busy few months so I'm sorry for the lapse in updates.

I'm titling chapters now, so that's a thing. this entire fic is essentially one big inside joke between me and my pseudo-beta/butt buddy scrungie so the titles probably won't make much sense, but...yeah. not making sense seems to be a theme with this fic.

life is really hectic right now, so I can't make any promises about when I'll update. just know that I will eventually. reviews and comments are appreciated as always and I love all of you who do.