AHHH It took me such a long time to update!!! How can you ever forgive meeee? CANARYwolf is sorry :'( Oh right,
Disclaimer: I don't own anything in the world.
Good. Please don't hate me for taking so long! Here it is, anyway.
Oh, an obento is a packed lunch ^.^
Kakashi: Aged 6
Naoki stretched and took a sip of his coffee. He hadn't been able to sleep the night before and at five a.m. had finally given in and got dressed again. A small tapping of feet on the stairs told him that Kakashi was awake.
"Kakashi? You're up early!" He called as the child himself made an appearance at the door. Kakashi didn't respond, but sat down opposite him at the table with a bowl of cereal, "Are you excited about today then?" Naoki tried again, and the silver-haired genin answered with a withering look,
"Hn." He muttered, and Naoki just smiled, and then stood up,
"You'll be off in a minute, yeah?" Kakashi replied with a nod, and Naoki went to a cupboard, opening the door and rifling through a jumble of things. Kakashi watched him wordlessly as he found what he was looking for and pulled out a tattered grey bandana. Naoki brought it to the table and set it down in front of him, looking at his face for any reaction. Kakashi looked away,
"No." Was all he said,
"Kakashi-!" Naoki sighed as the youngster stood up, scraping his chair along the floor,
"You can't avoid all memories of your father for ever!" Naoki muttered, shaking his head, and Kakashi surprised him by meeting his eyes for once,
"I can try." He stated grimly and left the room to get ready.
Kakashi was six, and as he had promised, he was ready for the chuunin exams. Naoki had argued furiously against letting such a young boy take part, but Kakashi had been adamant. The Hokage had resigned to Kakashi's will, telling Naoki aside that if the boy failed it would be a good learning experience for him.
Naoki put the finishing touches on Kakashi's obento and folded it up in a blue cloth, before slipping Sakumo's mask furtively into the recesses of the pouch. Kakashi returned and eyed Naoki suspiciously and the man wordlessly handed him the obento. He had thought that Naoki would want to talk more, but instead the teacher patted him on the head, murmured a few words of encouragement and didn't even see him to the door.
Kakashi left, feeling small. As soon as he was far enough away from the house, he opened the obento and let the mask fall to the ground, sighing. He walked a few paces on, then ground to a halt. Glancing back at the mask, lying in the dust of the deserted street, Kakashi returned and picked it up slowly. He shook it and then thoughtfully turned it over in his hands. Checking that no one was around, he tied it over his nose and mouth, and then carried on walking self-consciously. At a bridge, he peered over the side and looked at his reflection in the water. He bit his lip and looked again, before resuming his long stride, his eyes cast down.
Kakashi met his team halfway to the examination halls; two teenagers and their sensei, placed with Kakashi at the last minute because one of their team had fallen ill and the kid hadn't had anyone to go with. All the children his age were still barely able to use even one jutsu, let alone be genin ready to take the chuunin exam. He nodded to them and the sensei, an older woman from the Hyuuga clan, widened her eyes slightly at Kakashi's appearance in his father's mask. His teammates were two girls, unnerved by a child taking the exams and disdainful of his abilities, which they had seen so little of as they had only had a week to train together. In silence, they carried on to the exams.
The Hokage looked up; the current head of the interrogation squad, a fierce man with bandages crossing his face, was standing silently, waiting to be acknowledged.
"What is it?" the Sandaime sighed, pushing aside a pile of paperwork. The man stepped forward,
"You asked me to report on the chuunin exams so far. In particular, Hatake Kakashi."
The Third Hokage nodded thoughtfully,
"Yes, yes I did. So…?"
"He passed the first round. It is unclear how he managed to answer all the questions correctly, but he did."
"He does live with Naoki… and the tenth question, how did that go?"
"More teams than average failed that question, but that Hatake kid… just sat there. His teammates were on the verge of quitting, I think, but they managed to pull through."
"When is the second test?"
"Tomorrow, nine o'clock."
"Thank you. Please report to me again tomorrow."
The proctor left with a bow and the HJokage's eyes narrowed. He stood up and walked to a filing cabinet, pulling out the 'Hatake, Kakashi' file. Looking at it for a few minutes, he shook his head and put it back slowly and sadly.
Kakashi arrived home quietly and attempted to sneak past the door to the living room.
"Kakashi? You're home?" Kakashi rolled his eyes as Naoki came out to the door, quickly pulling off the mask before the man saw him wearing it.
"Yeah…" Kakashi turned to look at Naoki, who grinned,
"How'd it go?" Kakashi shrugged,
"Passed." He muttered, and tried to walk on,
'But that's brilliant!" Naoki cried, pulling the boy by his arm into the living room and sitting him down, "I've just finished baking some celebratory cakes, you just have to have one!"
"Don't you have any work to do…?" Kakashi murmured as Naoki bustled off,
"Hey! I heard that!" The teacher called as he came back in, bearing a tray full of steaming cakes, "Have as many as you want."
Kakashi sighed, but then took two and began to eat slowly. Naoki watched him for a second and then drew in a deep breath,
"I… heard from your sensei… you wore a mask to the exams." He said slowly, and Kakashi kept on eating,
"And?"
He asked after a minute, and Naoki smiled in happiness when Kakashi
wasn't looking,
"No reason, no reason!" He said in a
sing-song voice, and took a bite of cake,
"So what was the exam like then?"
"Boring."
Kakashi said quickly, and Naoki laughed,
"Yeah, I bet. Come on,
Kakashi! That's the chuunin exams you're talking about!
Did they do it with the nine written questions and then the optional
tenth question again?" The kid nodded, and Naoki smirked, "Yeah,
that's how it was for me. I'm glad you passed, kid." The man
ruffled Kakashi's grey hair and stood up, "Now, don't stay up
too late! Next exam's a whole lot harder, okay?"
"'Kay." Kakashi said in a small voice, and stood up as well, tugging on Naoki's sleeve, "Will… will… you help me train?" He finally blurted out and Naoki grinned, stretching his arms up,
"I'm not gonna go easy on you!" He threatened, and led the way outside.
Ah, that was a long time coming! In the next chapter, I'll actually write about the exams- you won't have to hear about it third person ^.^ Now you all know what to do- review!
