Naruto came home in the clothes she left in and with a bag over her shoulder, which was more or less precisely what Kakashi had anticipated, but what he was unprepared for was the addition around her delicate neck. It stopped him in his tracks, his greeting dying on his lips. The shirt he'd been folding on the dining table fell from his hands as he stared, and he was vaguely aware Naruto had noticed he was reacting strangely, but she was wearing a collar.

Well—no, no, not really a collar, but close enough to it in aesthetics that his body wasn't getting the memo about the difference. It was a piece of lacy black ribbon tied flush around her neck—a choker, he'd heard people call it, such an evocative term—and it was simple and unremarkable, he knew that, but it was also alluring, and tempting, and he wanted to trace its edges with his tongue and lead her around with a finger hooked through it. He wanted—

"Are you okay?"

"What?" He finally tore his eye up to his girl's face, taking in her concerned blue irises for a fraction of a second before she brushed her fingertips across the ribbon and drew his gaze inexorably back to it.

"I said, are you okay? Are you looking at the necklace? Hinata gave it to me. Does it look weird?"

"It's cute." Was that him who said that? Who exactly had authorized his mouth to form those words? Kakashi had no recollection of doing so. But Naruto's lips were curving upward into one of those shy, sincere smiles that rended his heart and lowered his IQ.

Hesitantly, the girl reached into her pocket, withdrawing more lengths of ribbon from within it. There was a white one identical to the lacy scrap around her neck, and a shiny orange one, and a long, thin black one with silver tips… "She said they'll break before they hurt my neck, so they're safe in case someone grabs it. It feels kinda weird, but help me wear them to make Hinata happy, okay?"

Kakashi nodded, not trusting himself to speak, and he was glad he still had his mask on, having not bothered to lower it when he returned from his grocery run. As though controlled by marionette strings, he saw his hand jerk upwards, its destination Naruto's slender neck and the striking black lace which adorned it. He stopped himself abruptly, cleared his throat, and said in his best impression of normal, "Sure. How'd it go?"

The little blonde puffed out her cheeks, grimacing. "Fine, I guess. Everything they got me is… I don't know, small? They said it's because it'll be summer soon, and too hot to wear long sleeves and pants, but I'm still not sold on the whole wearing shorts in public thing." She caught him eyeballing the bag, curious, and smirked, though the expression faded into a more sincere smile as she asked, "You don't… want to see, do you?"

Damn him, but he really did. "I'm not disinterested," he answered stiffly, pointedly reverting his attention to a copy of the orange shirt the girl was wearing, folding it and setting it on the pile he'd made of her clothes.

Naruto snorted, and set the bag on the table in front of him. "You can just say 'yes,' sensei, I don't mind. It's just us, remember?" She said it like it fixed everything, like everything was safe if they were alone together. Like he could do or say or be anything he wanted when he was with her.

Kakashi wanted that, wanted her to feel safe, too, so he clenched his jaw and admitted softly, "Yes. I want to see."

She leaned into his space, smelling like tangerines and sunshine, and knocked their shoulders together, playful. "See, not so hard, was it?" she teased, and it set him on edge, but he tried forcing himself to relax. "Go ahead."

He obeyed her, tipping the large paper bag over and lifting it by its base so that everything tumbled out, the last objects a pair of white sneakers with black hearts on the outer side, near the ankle. He set them aside, though not before tracing the raised edge of one of the hearts with his fingertip, and began to sort through the clothes instead, laying out two of an identical short-sleeved shirt—one soft grey and the other black—as well as a white tank top patterned with little flowers and a… Hm. "What is this?"

With a frustrated huff, Naruto snatched the fabric from his hands, holding it up to herself in demonstration. "Ino called it a crop top," she explained, rolling her eyes. "It barely comes down to the bottom of my ribs. I have no idea why she thought anybody wants to see my stomach…"

Kakashi did. He really, really did, was staring at where the cream fabric cut off as he imagined her in it. It would fit her a little loose, and probably show the most tantalizing glimpses of her ribcage as she moved. He swallowed, and forced himself to look away, instead focusing on the final few garments. One was a pair of sky blue shorts—and really, they were rather short, Kakashi was sincerely surprised Naruto had even brought them home—and a pair of pale orange, high-waisted shorts with rather cute white buttons to hold them closed. He touched one of them, an intrusive thought about flicking it open for better access to her leaving him as fast as it came. Finally, he briefly examined the set of cute white socks she'd gotten, with little ruffles around the ankle. Once everything was laid out, he plucked the forgotten ribbons from the girl's hand and set them where he could see them as well.

"I'm proud of you," he said, and wasn't that just a bizarre thing to say? But she leaned into him with a little sigh that told him she wanted to hear it, and that was enough to discard his thoughts about why he'd felt compelled to tell her that.

Her tone was apprehensive, but with a touch of the self-deprecating humor she so often showed him. "Don't tell me that until after I wear them out of the house. You're gonna have to make me, you know that, right?"

Arousal pulsed through Kakashi like an electric shock, and he inhaled sharply through his nose. His mind was painting a beautiful, erotic scene for him, imagining her blushing and shy and begging him not to as he lead her by a leash and collar through town, showing everyone how cute she looked in her lingerie— He shook his head to dispel the fantasy, thinking vaguely that he'd never actually permit anyone other than himself from seeing her that way. He'd kill anyone who tried. He exhaled slowly, and looked warily down at the girl next to him, wondering if she had any clue at all how she made him feel. "You… want me to… make you?"

"Well, sort of, in the same way I wanted you to hold my arm still for the blood draw, which is to say, I really don't want you to, but I get that I have to do this, and it would be easier if you made me go through with it." Her shoulders sagged, and she gave him a helpless look through her eyelashes that sent his heart racing, and he was beginning to question the wisdom of studiously avoiding masturbating the whole time she'd been living with him, if he was so pent up that her pretty pout was making it this hard to think. "I ran into Iruka-sensei, and he invited me to dinner with his boyfriend again… Do you want to dress me for it?"

Kakashi's throat was dry, and he coughed to buy a moment to compose himself. He started to speak, but found he didn't trust himself to, and that if he didn't concentrate, his fingers trembled just slightly at the tips as he silently selected the orange shorts and the crop top, handing them to her. He watched her fingers curl in the fabric, watched reality set in on her as she looked down at it, sudden anxiety freezing her in place like a bunny staring down the jaws of a predator. "Go into the bathroom," he heard himself say, tone dangerously close to the one he used in the bedroom, but if she noticed the change, she didn't seem upset by it, too focused on staring at the clothes in her hands as though they might attack her. "Toss what you're wearing out into the hall, so that you can't change your mind."

"No surrender," she mumbled, distracted. "That's probably better." Her big blue eyes were full of uncertainty when they started up to meet his own. "Don't let me chicken out."

His eye slid shut as he smiled down at her. "Never."

…

"I'm not coming out."

"Maa, then you'll be late to your dinner."

"Just give me back my pants, sensei."

"No surrender, Naruto."

She huffed, and he heard her stomp her little foot on the tile through the bathroom door. Adorable. "I'm surrendering, sensei! This isn't happening. Nope! Can't do it."

"Doesn't sound very much like the Uzumaki Naruto I know's Ninja Way," Kakashi teased. He was leaned against the wall next to the bathroom door, arms crossed and eyes on the book in his hand, Naruto's discarded clothing next to his feet. They'd been going around in circles for a few minutes now, with little progress being made. "You have to come out. You told me to make you do this. I'm not giving in. There's no going back."

"But sensei, you taught us consent is revocable at any time!" she wheedled, making him snort, because yeah, he had taught her that.

"Naruto…" He pulled her name out into a drawl, trying not to let her hear his amusement. "We aren't having sex, you are putting on age-appropriate clothing and going outside in it. Plus, we negotiated this as consensual non-consent, and you have not used your safe word."

She groaned. "I don't have a safe word!"

"Maa, well, that's poor form on my part, but I didn't realize we were applying that sort of etiquette to this particular interaction." The metaphor was getting away from him. "C'mon, Naruto, baby steps. Come out of the bathroom."

"No."

Kakashi chewed on the inside of his cheek, trying to think of a new tactic. "It's just us," he tried, letting his words come out soft and gentle. "Remember?"

There was a long silence, in which he desperately wondered what Naruto was thinking. Was it the same thing he'd been thinking earlier? That making herself vulnerable to him was how she'd get him to be vulnerable to her? He heard the lock click, and turned his head to watch the doorknob turn slowly. With clear reluctance on her pretty, flushed face, she emerged, looking so—so delicate, and sweet, and— "Well? What do you think?"

It looked how he'd hoped it would. The pale orange shorts fit her perfectly, cinching in her tiny waist and covering her stomach well past her bellybutton, so that the loose-fitting shirt, although quite short, only revealed an inch or two of her skin. Her legs were long for her height, tanned and smooth and dainty, and his eyes caught on the edge of the fabric that covered the last three or four inches of her thighs. He'd never seen so much of her before, and it made him hungry to see the rest of her, to pull her towards him with fingers hooked under the waistband of that orange fabric. But she was looking at him, expectant and waiting for his appraisal, and he knew he wouldn't be able to keep it out of his voice, so he bought himself time by turning her around with a gentle grip on her shoulder. The neat bow of her black choker came undone easily, and his fingers were unsteady as he replaced it with the orange one. The feeling of pulling the ribbon flush against her neck and tying it was far too satisfying, even if rather than a knot, it was tied into a cute, delicate bow. It looked rather nice from the back, he thought, the bow framed by her twin braids, and—

"Sensei? Did you hear me?"

"Ah, what was it you asked?

She laughed as she turned around to look up at him, brilliant blue eyes sparkling from above her scarlet cheeks, and he felt the faintest trace of heat under his mask. "What do you think? Do you like it?"

Kakashi made himself nod calmly instead of wrapping her up in his arms and gushing that she was the cutest thing he'd ever seen. "Maa, very nice," he complimented neutrally, eyes on her pretty little neck with the smooth orange ribbon around it. He could probably come fairly close to encircling it with one hand… "Do you not like it?"

Looking down at herself as though she hadn't considered the question, Naruto pouted, tugging at the bottom of her shorts as though that would make them longer. "I just don't think anybody wants to see my ugly, skinny legs, or any part of my stomach or back," she argued, pressing her thighs together in a way that made his mouth feel dry. "You know?"

He didn't know, had no idea. He wanted badly to see them, and was enjoying the opportunity to do so far too much. "Your legs are—" Briefly, he struggled with the appropriate vocabulary, because the word that had popped to mind was lovely. "There's nothing wrong with them. They're normal legs."

"They're skinny and weird," she countered instantly, as though she were reading out a fact from a reference text, and he trailed his gaze up and down them, trying to see what she was seeing, but all he saw was something he wanted to put his mouth on. Quick little fingers darted up to his mask, startling him, and he was so preoccupied with pushing down his instinct to respond with violence that he just let her pull it down. "You're being honest, aren't you?" she realized out loud, studying him, and he froze, trying not to give anything else away. "You pervert, you like my legs."

His breath was caught in his throat, his body in full fight-or-flight, but— She averted her eyes, focusing back on her body and her clothing, and he realized belatedly that she was teasing him, or at the least, unconcerned with whether he found her legs attractive or not. It was such a fascinating response that his brain short-circuited and he said something stupid. "That doesn't bother you?"

The look Naruto shot him was calculating and brief, barely a flicker, but he was certain he'd seen it. "Why would it?" Her words were perfectly casual, flippant even.

Something had just been acknowledged, seen, and Kakashi was unsure exactly what it had been. So he didn't answer her, instead wordlessly handing her a pair of her new socks and the white shoes. He stuffed his hands in his pockets, watching her lean against the door jam to pull them on with an irritated look on her face. The overall effect was terribly cute, youthful and active and girlish. It suited her, and he pushed down an errant thought about seeing her naked aside from the little shoes with the adorable hearts on the sides. "You look nice."

"I feel like a stranger," she said, and he had no clue what that meant. "This doesn't feel like me."

"It looks like you. It suits you."

"Why?"

"It's… cute. And playful. And colorful. Like you."

Naruto studied his face, and he tried to suppress his instinct to wipe his expression blank. She didn't like when he did that, he could tell. "Okay," she allowed, quiet. A determined, apprehensive look came over her face. "Okay. Will you walk me to meet Iruka-sensei? I don't… I don't want to go out like this alone."

"Of course." Nobody would dare even to think about pinching at her or catcalling her if she was escorted by copy-nin Kakashi. They both knew that, he could see she understood the weight of his reputation in the way her shoulders relaxed even as she eyed him warily. "Have Iruka walk you home."

Hesitating, she nodded, then swallowed audibly. "It's time to go, isn't it?" At his affirmative hum, she balled her fists, scrunched her eyes shut, and set her jaw. "Fine. Take me outside."

"… Take…?"

"Push me, carry me, whatever, just make me leave the apartment. Please. Don't make me do it on my own."

His imagination was running away with a thought about throwing her over his shoulder, holding her in place with an arm locked around her knees and a hand on her ass. That wasn't exactly an appropriate response, though, so instead he swept her up into his arms like a bride, and within moments, he was locking the front door before setting her back down on the raised wooden walkway outside their apartment. She was stiff and wouldn't open her eyes, so he waited for her to gather herself, patient with his hands in his pockets. His chūnin neighbor gave them an odd look as he went by, but at Kakashi's casual upward nod, he clearly decided it wasn't his business and moved on.

Eventually, gradually, Naruto's shoulders unknotted and her fists relaxed. She shook herself out, like she was attempting a hard reset on her brain and body, and whispered fiercely, "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, I can do anything, and if anyone tells me otherwise, I'll kick the crap out of them."

Kakashi smoothed a hand over the back of her head and down one braid, tugging playfully at the end of it. "Maa, yes, that's the hard-headed, unpredictable brat I know. Are you ready?"

She rolled up onto her toes, eyes narrowed and distant. "Born ready," she breathed.

"So dramatic."

"Shut up, sensei, I'm—I'mclearly going through something!"