So. Premise! The genin teams get caught in a weird trap shortly before the Chūnin Exams and travel back in time to like six months post-Nine Tails Attack on Konoha. While the village superiors are trying to figure out how they ended up in the past, they get introduced to their young teachers. The moment below is one between all of the teachers after their first meet-up with the students.

"Hey, you didn't have to be so rude," Asuma mutters to Kakashi.

The younger boy scoffs at his chastisement. "Whatever," he grumbles, picking up his pace and getting a few steps ahead of the rest of them.

Asuma frowns, unhappy with his comrade's flippancy. Kakashi might technically be his superior as a more veteran jonin but sometimes Asuma forgets. Kakashi is far from childish but he can be so moody and when he acts like this it reminds him all over again Kakashi is a kid.

A pretty young kid who still needs guidance. From older, wiser shinobi like Asuma's dad or Genma's teacher Chōza. Probably now more than ever since the Yondaime is gone. Except none of them seem interested in stepping up.

Asuma balls his hands into fists. He wants to believe it's just the times that stop them. Their village is still in the midst of recovering from the Nine-Tails Attack and elite jonin like Dad and Chōza are needed elsewhere to bring their village back to full strength. As much as he wants to believe that he's afraid they're never going to notice how much Kakashi (and the rest of his teenage comrades) needs their help.

So it will be up to them to try and teach Kakashi (and each other) how to be functional, respectable people. What a daunting task. Asuma is sure they're going to mess Kakashi and each other up a lot along the way.

Asuma muses at least it seems like they don't do too badly on that front. Dad gives them students in the future. You only get those if you're at least a halfway competent adult who can not only keep yourself alive but others too.

"Those were your students back there," he scolds Kakashi as he catches up with him. "If you keep acting like a complete brat you're going to hurt your future-selve's relationship with them."

Kakashi rolls his visible eye. "Seriously, whatever," he sneers. "From what we saw today it won't even matter. They'll likely be dead soon anyway."

Asuma is washed over with horror. It quickly turns to anger, however. Because what the Hell. Those kids don't deserve to be dismissed like that. To be treated poorly because Kakashi's decided they're no good after spending a few hours with them. Even more so because a future version of him saw something in those kids.

They aren't worthless no matter what Kakashi thinks now.

"What the fuck is wrong with you!" he shouts, grabbing the younger boy by the shoulders and shoving him into the thick base of a nearby tree.

"Asuma," Kurenai calls, appearing at his side, tentative fingers pulling at his sleeve.

He shakes off his teammate. "No!" he snarls at her, making her step back. Returning his attention to the apathetic boy in his grip, he shakes him. "What is, Kakashi?" he demands. "What is with your attitude? You always have been a little tetchy but you've become an absolute bastard since the attack."

Gai comes between them; one hand on Asuma's chest and the other on Kakashi's. "My friends—"

He shifts his hold on Kakashi and uses one hand to shove away his fellow shinobi. "No, Gai, I want to know!" he yells at him. He looks over at the others, Kurenai, who continues to watch warily, and Genma and Ebisu. "Don't tell me you guys don't want answers too?" he demands.

Asuma thinks of the kids (who are basically Kakashi's age but all still genin) they left to sort themselves out back on the training field while they went to make reservations at the only hot pot place that's still standing from the Nine-Tails Attack. "I saw one of his students, the girl, blink back tears from how harshly he spoke to her!" he tells his friend as he recalls the bowed head of the pink-haired kunoichi and the frantic way her blond teammate danced around her, trying to comfort her.

"We do, Asuma," Genma says around his senbon. He shifts from foot to foot and looks away. "Now just doesn't seem like—"

"Then when!" he breaks in, voice still raised and impassioned. He gestures with his hand and tells them, "I'm tired of being mindful of his feelings. We've been doing it for years and it hasn't changed a thing." He whirls back around to give his full attention to the boy he still has pressed to the tree. "So what is your problem, Kakashi!" he demands.

Kakashi narrows his lone eye. Then, before Asuma can do much more than reach for a kunai, Kakashi is free of his hold and has him shoved against the tree instead. "I don't think I'm the one with a problem, Sarutobi," he growls. "Other than the fact no one ever leaves me alone," he grumbles, glaring first at him, and then the rest of their fellow jonin.

Asuma refuses to be intimidated. To be cowed. "I don't believe for a second that's the issue," he argues."What is it? Your dead parents? Teammates? Teacher?" he asks and Kakashi flinches. He pushes Kakashi off him and rises to his full height. He practically towers over Kakashi as he spits, "Newsflash, Kakashi! You're not the only one who's lost people! Gai doesn't have parents anymore either! My mom died in the attack and so did some of Ebisu's friends! Kurenai lost an uncle and two cousins in the war!" He knocks Kakashi back a step. "Losing people isn't a reason to be an asshole!"

Kakashi's eye is wide as he stares up at Asuma. It's an odd look on his face. It's rare to get him to emote more than anger, boredom, and annoyance these days. Asuma's all but forgotten what surprise looks like on Kakashi. The boy ducks his head and mumbles, "That's not why…"

Gai brushes shoulders with Asuma and he turns his head to see his friend's face is animated with desperation and hope. "Tell us why then!" he begs.

Kakashi continues to stare at his feet, form trembling minutely.

Asuma grabs Kakashi's chin and forces him to meet his gaze. "Come on, tell," he insists.

Kurenai gasps at his behavior. "Asuma, please, stop!" she cries as she falls in with them and pries his hands off Kakashi. "This isn't—"

"You wouldn't understand even if I did tell you!" snarls Kakashi as he jumps back. He'd probably have fled altogether but Genma and Ebisu noticed him shift and now flank him on either side. He won't get away now without a fight. Which he won't do. Not here, not now. Kakashi isn't totally feral and doesn't hurt comrades outside of spars.

"Try us you brat!" Asuma challenges. "All we've ever tried to be is your friend and you treat us like crap for it!"

Kakashi shakes his head violently. "I don't want friends!" he shouts. "I'm sick of friends! Teammates, teachers…" he trails off and Asuma's breath catches in his throat. He swears he can see the ghosts of the people they've lost flicker across Kakashi's dark eye. "I don't want any of them anymore!" he declares, vehement.

They're all staring uneasily at each other, at Kakashi. They're more than a little afraid, uncertain. It's clear now there's a lot more behind Kakashi's cold behavior than they've previously believed. Kurenai takes a tentative step toward the younger boy. She doesn't touch him, but she makes sure her voice is warm as she asks, "Why not, Kakashi?"

Kakashi's eye is so large and his body tremor has become stronger. It's a testament to his will he's still standing steadily on his two feet and not on his knees. "All they do is slow me down, g-get in the way…" he whispers.

Asuma and his friends have been taught all their lives to look underneath the underneath. Kakashi is giving excuses. Excuses that if you really pay attention to, you can find the real answer in. Kakashi doesn't want friends because he's afraid. Afraid that he will lose them by being too slow, by putting a Chidori through their chest.

Kurenai sighs and with slow hands gathers Kakashi's face in a feather-light cradle. "Kakashi, you know we don't think of you as a Friend-Killer, right?" she asks in a soft murmur.

The boy's brow furrows. He searches first Kurenai's face, then Asuma's, next Gai's, Genma's, and finally Ebisu's. "Why not?" he asks, perplexed, incredulous. "I did kill them," he says.

Asuma feels both cold and hot all at once. He's horrified. He's furious. He doesn't know how to react. Except to argue. "No, you—"

"I did!" yells Kakashi, no longer still but animated and positioned for a fight. He raises his fists and cries, "I failed them! I wasn't there when they needed me and they died for it." Voice cracking, he declares, "I was a bad friend and it killed them all!"

"Kakashi…" Asuma whispers while, at the same time, a crying Gai throws himself at Kakashi.

Unsurprisingly, the boy bucks in the hold. He squirms and kicks and demands, "Let me go!"

Gai does not. He holds stronger, tucking Kakashi's head beneath his chin as the boy starts to scratch at any skin he can get to. "Rival!" he pleads.

Kakashi doesn't listen. "Let me go, Gai!" he howls. "Let. Me. Go."

"Ooph!" Gai yelps after Kakashi headbutts him in the nose.

Using Gai's surprise to his advantage, Kakashi breaks from the older shinobi's hold. Ebisu and Genma make a valiant effort to try and snag the boy but he's too fast. He's gone before he or Kurenai can even join in on trying to catch him.

"Shit," swears Genma and he bends his knees like he has every intention to take off after Kakashi.

Asuma's gut tells him it's a terrible idea. "Don't chase him!" he demands.

"What?" says his friend, looking at him in surprise.

"It won't help," he says as he sighs. With fumbling fingers, he reaches into the pocket of his vest for a cigarette. "He gave away more than he intended I think. He's afraid," he explains as he lights a cigarette.

As he begins to smoke it in an effort to calm down and think straight the others exchange uncertain glances. "What do we do then?" asks Ebisu.

"Go to lunch," replies Asuma after he finishes a drag.

Kurenai furrows her brows. "Without him?" she asks. She looks away, tone worried, she murmurs, "I don't know that will go over well with his students."

It won't. Kakashi was a terror earlier but before he went and opened his mouth they'd given him such moon eyes. He knows they like their teacher. "We can lie," he suggests. It's second nature in a lot of ways to do so. It won't be hard. "He's one of the village's top shinobi. Surely they'll believe a story about him being called away to help with a task or mission," he says.

He's sure the kids will grumble and whine but they won't disbelieve them. Kakashi showed them, and the rest of their future teams, he earned his rank.

"I hope you're right," Gai says with an oddly solemn expression. "They might be just genin but…" he trails off and rubs his chin. "They seem pretty perceptive."

"Come on, Gai," says Genma reaching out and slinging an arm around his teammate's shoulder. "We can fool some kids," he declares with a smirk.

Gai returns the smirk. "It will be an excellent challenge," he declares.

They all laugh. Then, Kurenai, sobering, questions, "Who'll go find Kakashi later?"

Predictably, Gai perks up."I could—!"

"—I made this mess, let me fix it," breaks in Asuma. He tilts his head and smiles at Gai. "It's the right thing to do."

Kurenai's fingers slip around his wrist and squeeze it. "Are you sure Asuma?"

He nods and forcefully relaxes his shoulders. "Yeah. How hard will it be? I'll apologize for pushing him, then I'll tell him no one has any hard feelings, and invite him to come out with us the next time we hit the bars."

Ebisu scoffs. "He's going to decline," he says, certain, with a frown.

"Of course he is," agrees Asuma with a laugh and smile. "Even if we go to a shinobi hangout the bartenders aren't going to pour shots for a fourteen-year-old," he jokes.

"Then what's the point?" complains Genma, joining in with his teammate.

He breathes in a puff from his cigarette and then exhales the smoke through his nose. Isn't it obvious what the point is? He looks to Gai and Kurenai hoping to commiserate in frustration with them. He winces when he sees they look just as lost as Ebisu and Genma.

Maybe it's not obvious why he'd invite Kakashi to hang out with them?

Asuma takes a moment and struggles to find the right words to explain. He drops his cigarette and stomps on it. Finally, he gestures for the others to come into a huddle. Reluctantly they comply. Once he can stare at all of their faces at once he begins.

"Look, we know he doesn't want friends," he says. He waits and Kurenai and Genma nod. Gratified to see the four are following, he goes on, "I don't think we're going to change his mind on that right now. What Kakashi needs from us is to still offer it though. Kakashi is scared now but he won't be forever. He's a brave kid."

"My rival is indeed courageous," agrees Gai, expression speculative as he taps his chin with a thumb. "Very well Asuma we will follow your lead."

"Yeah," echoes Genma and Ebisu, Kurenai bobbing her chin alongside the boys.

He can't help but flush a little at their confidence. "Thanks, guys."

Genma thumps his back. "No problem."

As they fall out of their huddle and restart on their path towards the village Asuma muses on his future search for Kakashi. It won't be a challenge to track him down. Kakashi has a couple of favorite spots to be these days. Asuma will check the Memorial Stone first. If Kakashi isn't there he'll go to Rin's grave. He'll be at one or the other. Hopefully, his time reflecting will make him receptive to an apology.

This one will stay a one-shot. I just wanted to write this sort of story and the scenario I came up with let me do it.

Thanks for reading and please let me know your thoughts!