Chapter 2

Early next day

When he had received news that the Third Hokage wanted to meet and "discuss" things, Kakashi knew it wasn't going to be anything good. It had been years since the last time Kakashi had a one on one with the Third Hokage. The last time they had spoken was when the Third Hokage tried to convince Kakashi to join the Root division of the ANBU, stating it wouldn't be something Obito and Minato would have wanted.

Kakashi had some notion about what the Third Hokage wanted to discuss. Kakashi's performance in his most recent missions for the ANBU had been less than spectacular. He was getting the missions accomplished but also taking a lot of damage to his body. On top of that, he recently failed his recent psychological checkup. If Kakashi had to be honest with himself, he knew that he was slacking. For someone with so much potential, someone who was sometimes referred to as a "genius," Kakashi's growth over the last couple of years as a ninja had become stagnant. The Third Hokage saw this and stated it was because Kakashi no longer felt deep bonds to the village. Bonds are the reason why ninjas push themselves to their limits. To be able to protect their loved ones and their village is the best way for a ninja to reach into their untapped potential. The Third Hokage believed the only way for Kakashi to grow as an individual and as a ninja would be by creating new bonds… by helping train the next generation of ninjas.

Kakashi spent the rest of the day locked in his apartment staring at his old team picture of him, Minato, Obito, and Rin. Even after taking some prescribed sleep medication, Kakashi still wasn't able to sleep at all that night without nightmares of Rin throwing herself in front of his chidori. He could still feel the moment his hand pierced through her heart. Then there was Obito asking Kakashi over and over again if they were friends or not. Kakashi never once told Obito he was grateful for his friendship and now it was to late.

Kakashi finally rolled out of bed and decided that he might as well start training early. He walked into his kitchen, quickly praying to Kami that he had some food in his fridge so that he could eat for breakfast. He was supposed to go shopping yesterday, but his meeting with the Third Hokage had triggered a depressive episode which caused Kakashi to lock himself in his apartment all day.

Kakashi opened his refrigerator to see it fully stocked with an assortment of proteins such as eggs, fish, chicken, a bowl of fruit, and some vegetables, in the bottom draw. There was even miso soup with eggplant from his favorite restaurant that was just a 10 minute walk on the outskirts of Konoha. Kakashi knew by now that Gai had restocked his kitchen.

Throughout the years, Kakashi never ceased to be amazed at how Gai always seemed to have his fridge stocked. Kakashi still didn't understand what he did to deserve all this effort from Gai. He barely treated Gai with respect. How many times had Gai tried to engage Kakashi in conversation and Kakashi straight up ignored him and did his usual "Oh were you saying something Gai" trick. Kakashi barely even treated Gai with respect. He openly made fun of Gai's eccentric personality and terrible looks. It was only two weeks ago when Kakashi ripped on Gai's caterpillar eyebrows in front of Asuma and Kurenai just to see how Gai would react in public to his harsh words. Gai responded with his usual good guy pose and commented how much he enjoyed Kakashi's youthful banter.

It didn't matter how much shit he put Gai through, the man just kept coming back. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact that Gai was so loud all the time. Every time he saw Kakashi it was the usual "My eternal rival where have you been?!." Kakashi remembered that time that Gai screamed so loud in excitement at seeing him for the first time in 2 months in the village that Inuzuka's clan, who had all gathered in the same restaurant as Kakashi and had been mourning the death of a family member, took to the ground and covered their ears in pain.

Kakashi wanted to thank Gai for cleaning his apartment and stocking up his fridge. The least Kakashi could do was do something for Gai maybe accept a challenge from him that was something other than rock-paper-scissor. So he set off in search of Gai, knowing that he would be at his favorite early morning training spot.

Gai was going through his usual warm up routine when he heard a noise. 'Ah so my delightful students have finally decided to take me up on my extra, early morning routine. By how light the steps sounded, it must be Tenten'

"I knew you would finally take me up on my challenge." Gai jumped up and hugged what he thought was Tenten.

"Gai, get off me or I won't stay and let you challenge me." Said Kakashi, unsurprised.

"Kakashi, my eternal rival what are you doing here!?"

'Sigh, this was a bad idea.' Kakashi had to admit that Gai looked a lot taller and muscular since the last time he saw him. Gai's shirtless body revealed a nice, chiseled chest with a few black hairs. His large facial features seemed more balanced and well-proportioned with his body. 'He's actually quite attractive now.'

Kakashi internally cringed at the fact that he just thought Gai was attractive.

At this point Gai had gone beet red from having Kakashi check him out for so long. "Kakashi is something wrong? You just keep staring at me."

"As a thank you for restocking my fridge. I have come here, to tell you that you can ask for something in return. I'm guessing that you will probably ask me to accept one of your dumb challenges."

Gai broke out into a huge smile upon hearing the news.

"So what will it be? Taijustu, ping pong, a race around the village. You can choose anything for your challenge. I'll give you some time to think about it. "

Then Kakashi thought to himself, "If I leave quickly and avoid Gai for a couple of weeks… I won't actually have to follow through on his promise." Just as he was about to disappear, Gai screamed for him to stop.

"Kakashi, what I want from you is to be able to take you out on a date," said Gai as he gave his trademark smile and thumbs up.

"What?" Kakashi was completely taken by surprise.

"You said I could ask something from you and that's what I did. Now if you will excuse me, my team is here and we really need to start our training session. I could pick you up at your place tomorrow at 7pm. Don't worry, I'll take you out to an unknown restaurant outside of the village so you won't run into any co-workers. If that works with you."

To this Kakashi could only nod his head in agreement, still taken aback at Gai's sudden bought of courage.

"Oh and Kakashi, you should try to close your mouth. It makes you look uncool with it wide open."

Kakashi could only nod dumbly again before disappearing. Soon he heard Gai's booming voice, screaming his welcome towards his youthful students. When did Gai stop being such a pushover?