Obito has his hands on his knees and is panting while Rin, beside him, wipes sweat from her brow. Kakashi, for his part, has also pushed his limits today. However, the red flush that has surely colored his cheeks is hidden by his mask, as is the quickened movement of his chest by his loose shirt.

Minato surveys the three of them and smiles. "You did good today," he tells them, or, rather, Rin and Obito. Kakashi isn't learning much during these spars, simply training his muscles to know what his mind already does. "How'd you like to get BBQ?" he asks, only to add with a chuckle, "my treat, of course."

Kakashi looks at Rin and Obito. He can tell from the gleam in his teammates' eyes they are excited by the offer and more than happy to accept it. He's proven right in his assumption when Obito throws up his arms with renewed energy and cheers, "Wow, you're the best, Sensei!"

Rin, more subdued than their other teammate, but just as enthused, smiles up at the blond. "Thank you, Minato-Sensei," she says, bowing to him slightly. "I accept your kind offer."

Sensei laughs at her formality and pulls Rin under one arm and Obito the other. "Let's go," he says. He looks over his shoulder at Kakashi and winks, "You can pick the joint, 'Kashi. I'm sure you know an interesting restaurant or two."

He rolls his eyes. He'd never accepted the offer. Minato is manipulating him into agreeing by putting the decision on him. If he refuses, he upsets his teammates and, well, Kakashi actually cares about their feelings now. He gives a large, put-upon sigh, but does hurrying ahead of the trio and takes the lead. "I know this one place," he says after he wracks his mind for a BBQ place that exists at this point in time. "It looks like a dive, but you can't beat the amount of meat they give you for the price…"

-O-

They are seated in a booth towards the back of the tiny, dark BBQ place he has brought them to. Kakashi and Minato are on one bench, Obito and Rin the other. Like Kakashi said to them, the restaurant looks rough with its heavy use of dark wood and forest green paint on the walls, but when the waiter brings out the plates of heaping meat for them to cook on the little grill on the table, the unease around the corners of Rin and Obito's eyes fades and is replaced with excitement.

"Thank you!" Rin gushes at the waiter, a wiry pimple-faced teen.

He nods, a slight smile curving his lips. When he backs off a moment later to let them eat, Obito wastes no time putting half the plate of beef on the grill to cook. Minato laughs at him, but Rin puts a hand to her cheek and sighs.

"Some of us might have wanted to cook something too, Obito," she chides, though, she seems more amused than annoyed.

He grins at her. "I'm cooking for all of us! You can help yourself when it finishes," he assures her.

Rin picks up her chopsticks and flips over a piece of meat. "Don't mind if I do," she replies.

Kakashi shrugs and picks up his own chopsticks to flip another piece while Minato sips at his water and Obito puts rice on his plate from the large bowl the waiter had brought with the plates of meat. It doesn't take long for the meat to become ready and they divide up the selection between the four of them before starting another round to cook.

As Kakashi chews on a bite of meat, he feels a slight pain followed by an odd sensation between two of his incisors. He pauses in his chewing and realizes there is something else on his tongue not just meat.

"Kakashi?" prompts Minato-Sensei, staring at him.

He opens his mouth and reaches in. A moment later, he pulls out a tooth. "Oh," he says as he uses his tongue to explore the front of his mouth. He quickly realizes it's a lateral incisor he's lost. "I didn't know I was still losing teeth," he says, looking at his teacher.

Minato winces. "You are seven," he reminds him, eyes flickering to Rin and Obito who are staring.

He drops the lost tooth in a napkin next to his plate. "Right," he replies. "Seven."

"It's no wonder you didn't know," comments Obito around a mouthful of food. "If you throw out all of your teeth like that."

He blinks. "What else am I supposed to do with them?" he asks, tilting his head in confusion. "They're useless."

"My mom has a little box with mine," comments Rin as she dips a piece of meat in some sauce on her plate. "It is silly, I suppose, but she likes having them." She giggles into her hand. "We celebrated when I lost my last one."

"Oh yeah?" replies Obito, leaning in with interest. "What did you do?"

"Mom baked a cake," she says. "It sounds strange, but it was fun and made me feel pretty grownup!"

Obito grins. "No, that's fun!" he assures her. "After I lost all mine, My gran and Uncle insisted I go bury the jar I collected them in in the yard."

Rin joins her brows together. "Why?" she asks.

He shrugs his shoulders in a careless, jerky motion. "I don't know!" he rolls his eyes then and tells Rin, "They said something about how it's Uchiha tradition."

Rin returns Obito's roll of his eyes. "That's always what they say when they don't have a good reason, isn't it?" she says.

He sighs. "Yeah," he agrees. "But, whatever." He looks at Minato. "What did you do with your baby teeth, Sensei?"

The blond looks away. "Erh, I threw them out like Kakashi," he admits. "I didn't realize there might be a reason to collect them and no one said to…"

Obito sticks out his tongue. "That's not fun, Sensei," he complains.

Minato makes a helpless expression at the unimpressed Obito and Rin. "Sorry," he apologizes. He reaches over to pick up the napkin Kakashi placed his tooth in not two minutes ago. "We'll collect Kakashi's teeth," he offers. "I'm pretty sure he has at least a couple more to lose," he says, staring at Kakashi in a critical way that makes his finger itch to pull his mask back up. While he knows his teacher isn't scrutinizing him to see how much of Dad is in his face, it still feels like it. "When he loses his last one we can make a cake for him, like Rin's mom did for her, okay?"

Obito grins, apparently happy with the offer. "Yeah!" he says. Then, to Kakashi, he says, "If you want, I can help you knock them out some time to get the cake faster."

"Obito!" hisses Rin.

Minato laughs awkwardly. "That might not be a good idea," he comments. "We don't need you accidentally taking out his adult teeth while you're at it."

The boy slumps against the back of his bench. "I guess," he grumbles.

Kakashi chuckles into his fist before he smirks at Obito with his new, gaped-tooth smile. "Even without your help, it won't be too long," he says. "We spar a lot and are going to go on missions soon. I'm sure they'll get knocked out sooner rather than later."

Obito brightens at his declaration and Minato groans. It's clear he's not looking forward to the possibility of Kakashi letting his teammates and enemies throw fists at his face in hopes it will knock out a baby tooth. As for Kakashi, he doesn't care what sensei thinks. He's hopeful it will mean he won't have to put up with too many more of these annoying and weird holes in his mouth.

"What kind of cake do you like, 'Kashi?" Rin asks, entirely ignoring their teacher's dramatics.

Kakashi doesn't like cake. Sweets at all, really. For her, though, he will indulge in a little lie. He recalls Rin used to like citrus flavors. "Lemon cake," he answers her. She claps her hands while Minato blinks down at him, dismay replaced with surprise. His teacher knows he's being dishonest with Rin. Yet he doesn't seem to mind as the surprise fades and Minato leans back in his seat and grins smugly.

Apparently, he's proud.

"That's mine too!" she exclaims. She then sticks out a tongue at Obito. "I told you liking lemon-flavored cake isn't weird!"

Obito huffs and grumbles beneath his breath, "Kakashi is a weirdo. Of course he has weird tastes." Kakashi frowns at the boy, who appears to have realized his superior hearing caught his complaints if his reddening ears are any indication. Instead of acknowledging his mistake, he starts to shovel rice into his mouth.

Rin giggles at his antics and leans across the table to take Kakashi's hand. He stares at her with mild curiosity as she swears, "I'll make you the best lemon cake you've ever had when you lose your last tooth!" She grins widely and tilts her head at him. "Don't lose them all too quickly, though. It'll be hard to eat if your mouth is missing half of its teeth," she teases.

"Yeah, okay," he agrees. She's right about that. Eating the cake would be hard if he lets Obito and enemies take them out too fast.

Minato-sensei sighs his relief at his agreement. "You, Rin, are a boon," he says. "I thought I was going to have to spend our next training sessions protecting 'Kashi's face as I tried to make him see sense."

The girl flushes at the compliment and Kakashi puffs out his cheeks at his teacher. "Sensei," he complains.

The blond ruffles his hair. "You can't tell me I'm wrong," he insists. "Now, come on, eat up you three. We don't want my money to go to waste!"

Obito starts to shovel more food in his mouth and Rin picks her chopsticks back up. Kakashi continues to pout, but only for a moment because Minato-Sensei threatens, "'Kashi, I will feed you if I have to."

His teacher is joking, a look at his smiling faces tells him as much, but… there's something just steely enough in his blue eyes that Kakashi decides he isn't going to push Minato's patience. He starts to eat. Minato joins them a minute later, vibrating with silent laughter as he does.

Thank you for reading and let me know your thoughts!