A/N: Just so everyone reading this knows, I tend to get distracted while writing and go slightly off-topic, so if you find any weird, unfinished thoughts, let me know and I'll do my best to fix it. Again, I don't have a beta, ad while I think I get along pretty well without one, it's always nice to have someone to sew up loose ends and whatnot. If anyone's interested, let me know. If not, well… then you're stuck with my sloppy plotline. (:
I apologize for the lack of length, as well as the time it took me to update , but you get what you get :P I'm just tired... Finished with finals, at least :D
Kakashi was bored out of his mind. Weren't young, healthy children supposed to be loud and energetic? So far, his new adoptive son had done nothing but sit quietly on his couch. Tsunade had said that Sasuke was quiet and well-behaved, but a mute, child-shaped statue was overkill. The pale-skinned, dark-haired boy hadn't said one word in the five days he'd been in Kakashi's presence.
His name was Uchiha Sasuke, and he was five years and two months old. He was small for his age, and had two wide, coal-colored eyes that seemed to absorb everything around him, letting no light escape from their depths. Said eyes were currently watching his newly-appointed guardian as the silver-haired man threw together something for the two of them to eat. The boy had been orphaned two years ago and had been placed in three foster homes since that time, all of which had sent him back to Konoha's Home for Children within three months. Kakashi was told that the boy had a sad and tormented background, but he wouldn't be getting the details for another week or so.
"Sasuke-chan, do you like broccoli?" Kakashi asked, turning to face the child. Sasuke blinked at him from his perch on one of the kitchen stools and shook his head 'no'. "Well, you need to eat some sort of vegetable, and I don't know which vegetables you like, so you're going to have to tell me. If not, then you'll have to have broccoli," the twenty-seven year old told the boy. Sasuke just stared at him and shrugged. "Broccoli it is, then…" Kakashi pulled a stalk of broccoli out of the refrigerator and began to chop it up into smaller chunks for the stir fry he was trying to put together without anything catching on fire.
He had just taken the pan of food off of the stove burner when his phone rang. The shrill shriek startled Sasuke, who scrunched his face into a worried, upset expression and put his hands over his ears. Kakashi cursed under his breath and hurried to pick up the receiver. The noise really bothered the five-year-old, and Kakashi was hoping he'd become desensitized to it soon, but so far there'd been no progress.
"Hello?" he greeted, putting the phone between his shoulder and cheek so he could move the food from the still-hot pan he was holding onto plates before the food burned.
"Hatake-san, this is Umino Iruka," a hesitant male voice came through the telephone. Kakashi grinned.
"Iruka-chan, how nice to hear from you! Have you reconsidered my-"
"Actually," Iruka interjected, "I'm calling because I heard that you adopted a child. I meant to call a few days ago, but I didn't have your number, so... Anyway, is this true?"
"Yes, actually. I decided I needed to take some responsibility in my life, and what better way to be responsible than helping out the community and taking in one of Konoha's many orphans? It's just my way of doing my part for our wonderful city," Kakashi told the younger man. He turned and gave Sasuke a smile through his mask, but the young boy responded with an uninterested stare.
-.-
"And… how is it going so far?" Iruka asked, worriedly twirling his phone cord between two fingers.
"Splendid, I must say. He's a quiet boy, but very well-behaved. And he's had no objections to sleeping on the floor in the kitchen-"
"You make him sleep on the floor?" Iruka screeched, horror-stricken. Kakashi's merry laugh rang through the phone line.
"Of course not, 'Ruka-chan! I was only joking. He has his own room, a nice bed, and plenty of toys, I promise," the older man snickered. Iruka huffed. "Did I ruffle your feathers, 'Ruka-chan?"
"Enough, Hatake-san. I'm just making sure everything is alright. I am a psychiatrist, you know. I just think it seems as if you made this decision to adopt a child rather abruptly," the brunette explained. He was pacing around his home office, and would probably end up tangled in the phone cord by the end of their conversation.
-.-
"I assure you, Iruka-chan, everything is fine. Sasuke is a little different, but he's a very nice boy, and I think we get along rather well," Kakashi said as he placed a plate full of fried meat, peppers, and broccoli in front of the five year old. Sasuke picked up a pair of chopsticks and began to eat.
"Sasuke, his name is?" Iruka asked.
"Yup, Uchiha Sasuke," Kakashi confirmed.
"Hatake, Uchiha Sasuke is a new patient of mine I'm supposed to meet next week. A little five year old boy," Iruka said quietly.
"Hmm? Oh, Tsunade told me that Sasuke would benefit from some counseling, so I set up an appointment. You're the psychiatrist he's going to see?" the masked-man played the oblivious card. He heard Iruka sigh on the other side of the phone.
"Kakashi-san, are you sure a psychologically troubled child is the right thing for you right now? Troubled kids are a lot of work, and can be very difficult to handle. Not to mention he needs a stable environment that he feels he's safe in-"
"Iruka, it's fine. He seems perfectly normal, just a little quieter than most children. Now, if it's alright, I'd like to eat dinner with him, so I'm going to let you go. I'll talk to you when we discuss Sasuke's counseling, okay?"
"What? Wait, Hatake-san-"
"Goodbye, Iruka-chan!" Kakashi cried, then pressed the disconnect button. After a few seconds contemplation, he pulled the phone's wires out of the phone jack. Iruka was likely to call back again, and he didn't want the phone's ringing to disturb Sasuke any further. He sat down next to the child, taking a peek at the boy's plate. Sasuke was eating his food in a little pattern: first, he'd pick up a piece of meat, eat it slowly, and then scoop up a few peppers. Once those were chewed thoroughly, he's choose a piece of broccoli, eat that without complaint, then start his process over again. Kakashi raised a curious eyebrow, but shrugged it off as he turned to his own meal.
The next morning, when Iruka got to work, the first thing he did was find Uchiha Sasuke's file. He wanted to get a jump-start on Sasuke's treatment, since the boy would surely need it after spending a week in Kakashi's presence. Tsunade, who often called on him to counsel a few of the children when the Home could afford it, was supposed to fax the boy's entire file to Iruka's office within the next few days or so, and Iruka had heard the boy's history was a frightening mess, which made the brunette man all the more worried about Sasuke being in Kakashi's custody. He truly didn't understand how Tsunade could have approved Kakashi as a fit guardian for such a troubled child.
Iruka didn't mean to be… uncertain in Kakashi's ability to care for a child, but in the amount of time he'd known the silver-haired man, he'd never seen one ounce of responsibility or sense of direction in said man's life. He worked at a small, shabby bookstore that made most of its profit from selling dirty romance novels and racy magazines, as well as X-rated manga and anime products. Kakashi himself sat behind the counter and read those dirty romance novels; Iruka knew this because Mizuki, an old co-worker, had dragged him into the shop on more than one occasion.
In fact, now that Iruka thought about it, that was how he and Kakashi met. He and Mizuki had been on their way back from a lunch break one random work day a few years back- before Naruto was a part of Iruka's life- when Mizuki had spotted the newest edition of one of his favorite series in the window of the small shop. He had pulled Iruka in after him, but had soon disappeared down on the other cluttered aisles, leaving Iruka to stare in horror at the many breast-filled covers presented to him. The brunette had stumbled to the front of the little store in hopes to find refuge from the influx of flesh-filled images, only to collide with the back of a tall, silver-haired man.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going," he had stuttered, a fiery blush crawling up his neck.
"Oh, no worries," the man assured him as he turned around.
The first thing Iruka noticed was the mask. What person in their right mind wears a mask covering the majority of their face? Especially in Konoha, considering the sunny climate.
The second thing to catch Iruka's attention was the porn in the man's hand, flipped open to a page near the end of the colorful novel. A page with a very… ahem… graphic illustration on it.
A vein promptly popped in Iruka's forehead.
"Well, aren't you cute!" the creepy pervert had exclaimed. "What's your name, cutie?"
"None of your-"
"Iruka-san, where did you- oh! Kakashi-san, how are you?" Mizuki greeted as he sidled up to his co-worker and apparent friend.
"Ah, um… Misuko, was it?" this Kakashi replied. Mizuki smiled.
"Mizuki, actually. We met as Asuma's barbecue a few months ago," the shorter grey-haired man supplied. Kakashi's visible eye crinkled in a smile.
"Ah, yes, it's good to see you again. I was just getting to know your friend here."
"Yes, and we have to being going now. So sorry, goodbye!" Iruka cried, grabbing Mizuki's hand and running out the door.
"See you around!" Kakashi called after them.
And that was how it all started. Since that day, Kakashi seemed to be everywhere. And the silver-haired man's fixation on Iruka had managed to grow into a crush of epic proportions. The man popped up when Iruka least expected it, and tried to win his affections with bouquets of flowers, candies, and other lovey things. Once he'd even tried to serenade the brunette, but only succeeded in getting them both thrown out of the restaurant Kakashi had followed Iruka into. Chasing after Iruka seemed to be the only thing Kakashi took somewhat seriously, if the amount of time he spent following the other around as anything to go by.
Iruka groaned, running a hand over his loose bangs. He was in for a lot of work.
Sasuke stood beside the tall man that was now his guardian, looking at the school apprehensively. Kakashi-san said that they'd wait for the rest of the children to go inside before they entered, so Sasuke wouldn't get caught up in the fray. Sasuke didn't want to go to school with the other children. He could learn on his own, by reading books. But Kakashi-san said that he'd like this school, and that he'd make lots of friends. The five-year-old turned his eyes down to the pavement, scuffing the toe of his shoe against a small crack.
He'd rather not make any new friends. He didn't want to talk to anyone, least of all other boys and girls. He wanted to go back to Kakashi-san's apartment.
But now his new guardian was leading the way to the school entrance. The hoards of noisy children had all gone inside, so it was a bit quieter now. Sasuke obediently followed Kakashi into the building.
The walls inside the school were painted in a multitude of colors. Large blobs of what seemed to be farm animals were randomly placed on one wall. They weren't very good, Sasuke thought. He could draw better farm animals. He glanced at another wall. This one was painted to look like an ocean, with a big blue whale that was squirting water from the hole on top of its head. The whale actually looked like a whale, unlike the supposed sheep and cows on the other wall.
"Do you like the pictures?" a voice asked. Sasuke jumped, startled, and spun around to face the voice. A woman with black hair and red-brown eyes smiled down at him. He watched her carefully. Sometimes people that smiled were faking it. "You must be Sasuke. I'm Ms. Yuuhi, your new teacher," she told him happily.
Sasuke glanced up at Kakashi, but the masked man was busy writing something on a piece of paper. The boy turned his attention back to the woman, only to find himself suddenly face to face with her. He backed away quickly. He didn't want her to be so close. He didn't want to be here at all.
"Come on, Sasuke-chan, let's go to the classroom. All of your new classmates are waiting to meet you," Ms. Yuuhi said, holding out her hand for him to take. Sasuke blinked at it, not wanting to take her hand but not knowing if he had a choice.
"Eh, I don't think he really likes being touched," Kakashi suddenly came to his rescue. The silver-haired man gave him a crinkled-eyed smile. Ms. Yuuhi raised her eyebrows.
"Oh? Alright then, that's something we'll work on," she told them as she stood up. "Come on, Sasuke-chan, let's go." She motioned for him to follow her down the hallway. He moved a meter or so down the hallway before he turned back to look at Kakashi. His guardian urged him on with a smile and a motion of the hand. Sasuke glanced at Ms. Yuuhi, then back at Kakashi once more before he followed his new teacher to the classroom. She led him inside and announced their arrival. Fifteen or so pairs of big, childish eyes turned their attention to him. A few mumbles echoed through the room, along with a handful of whispers.
He didn't want to be here.
A/N: Again, sorry for whatever weird sentence structuring I've got going on in here, as well as my messy topics.
Also, yes, it's all a mix of Japanese and American 'culture' or whatever. "Ms. Yuuhi" as opposed to "Yuuhi-sensei" because I wasn't really thinking when I wrote the last chapter (I write these at like 3am). Just go with it (:
Hope you enjoyed (:
-bgirl