Kakashi's alcohol level was high enough that he could have fed a few homeless people with his blood. He had bought a few bottles of Hayman's at a gas station at midnight and had spent the past few hours with them on a park bench until the birds had woken up and the first early risers had reminded him that there were people who had a normal daily routine. How he had survived the way from his beloved bench to the Kent without accidents could easily become the subject of an interesting documentary, because the closer he got to the broken glass doors, the more staggering his gait became and his mind ran into his long-awaited bed with every metre he managed.

However, when he turned the corner and spotted a green and black lollipop under the canopy, his body stopped any form of movement. His vision blurred unnecessarily and he narrowed his eyes briefly to check if he really saw what his gin-impregnated brain thought he saw. But it was indeed Gai who stretched his legs in the early rays of the sun, jumped on the spot a few times and then started jogging in his direction. At first, he had lowered his eyes to the concrete, but when only three metres separated him from Kakashi, he looked up and stopped, sliding. "Kakashi.." he said in surprise. "Where do you come from? We wondered where you went."

Kakashi grimaced. "I fucked a dripping wet pussy half the night." Gai blinked puzzled. "What, have you suddenly become my father and want to tell me where I have to be and who I have to fuck?!" In his head, it hadn't sounded so slurred. He rammed his hands into his trouser pockets, not hitting the slits on his first attempt and therefore probably looked like a completely incompetent loser, and wanted to stand up more imposingly, so that the few centimetres difference in size between them would not be noticeable, but his brain had not expected the sudden upward jolt and signalled to him by means of an awkward sway, that he should rather let that be. "I can be where I want and fuck whoever I want! It's a fucking shit's business to you!"

Gai looked at Kakashi so unnecessarily worried that Kakashi could have vomited, and raised his hands in reassurance. "Hey, I don't want to tell you anything," he said gently, no, not gently, fucking pitiful. There came the vomit. Kakashi was just able to bend over, otherwise his palatable stomach contents would have hit his T-shirt. "Oh shit," he heard Gai mutter, then he felt two warm hands on his shoulders, holding him tightly so that his body would not fall victim to the swell of his sense of balance. Kakashi knocked them away. "Don't touch me, you fucking poof.."

"Kakashi.." Gai sighed and let go of him again. "Can you perhaps accept my help? Just asked nicely."

"Pfah," Kakashi spat with a fine drizzle of gin and stomach acid. "Why do I want your help, eh? What for?!"

"You're completely drunk. Let me at least take you upstairs, then I'll be gone again, but in the end, you'll fall and break your neck on the stairs. Do you seriously want to peg out in the Crescents like that?"

Hearing the word "peg" from Gai's mouth almost caused Kakashi to send a second gastric load after the first. "Why do you even care what's going on with me, you wanker.."

He saw a blur as Gai shrugged. "Just cause you're my best friend and I'm worried about you."

"Best friend.. And why don't we hang out together anymore, eh?" Kakashi swung his arm through the air, whatever that gesture meant. "That's right, because we no longer ARE friends. Because you're a bloody fucking shit son of a bitch. Sorry, Sayuri, but that's the way it is. Your son is a fucking poof who takes advantage of people because he's horny for dicks."

Gai was silent for a moment that felt like seconds and minutes at the same time in Kakashi's head, so it could just as well be that he wasn't silent at all and answered directly. "Kakashi, now that I finally have the opportunity to talk to you, I want to tell you something: I'm sorry for what I did back then. I didn't mean to hurt you with that."

Kakashi snorted at this ridiculous statement. "If you don't want to hurt me, why do you make out with some strange boy, huh?!"

It was clearly confusion that settled in Gai's features, even Kakashi's last active brain cell could decipher that. "What do you mean by that?"

"Nah," Kakashi said in a tone as if he had to explain to a borderline stupid toddler what a sheep was, "yesterday in the Kitchen, you made out in public with this ugly, small, certainly badly smelly guy. EVERYONE could see you!"

Now this broad-nosed facial expression in front of him changed to anger. "So what? I have no problem with that. As if someone was still sober enough to care. Besides, there is no one in my environment whose opinion interests me, for whom such a thing would be shocking news. Kina knows I'm gay, dad knows it, mum knows it."

"Aha, so your oh-so-great family knows that you're a poof. It's great for you that the whole world is coping with it so wonderfully."

"It in fact does not," Gai replied angrily. "I AM careful with it. For example, I wouldn't tell your father."

"And why not, eh? Is yours so much better than mine?"

"Only you can answer that question, but I know how Sakumo feels about homosexuality, Kakashi."

"What, do you mean to say that my father is a poof?! My father is a good man who knows what's right!" Kakashi roared and wanted to attack Gai, but Gai dodged his pitiful attempt light-footedly, grabbed Kakashi's wrists, came very close with his face and said calmly but firmly, "No, Kakashi, I'm not saying that Sakumo is gay. Only I see how much he frightens you, and I don't want to put you in danger by telling him the truth."

"Tha, what truth..?" Kakashi had actually wanted to sound indifferent, maybe pissed off, but not desperate.

Gai's eyes flipped back and forth between Kakashi's. There was something in them that rammed a stake into Kakashi's stomach. He swallowed more stomach acid, blinked a few times and finally gave up staring, every insult evaporated, the hatred turned into resignation. At first it was only his gaze that leaned on Gai's shoulder, then his forehead followed. He lowered his eyelids and listened to Gai's deep, warm voice as he murmured, "Kakashi.. It's really okay if you hate me. I can bear it."

"I don't hate you," Kakashi breathed tonelessly. He rolled his forehead restlessly around on Gai's collarbone. "Gai.. I miss you.." Gai took a noticeably deep breath and let go of his wrists. "I miss how we used to be.. I miss my best friend.. my only friend.. But.." Kakashi's fingers carefully clawed into Gai's sleeve. "But it will never be the same again.. It can't.."

After a silent while, and this time Kakashi was sure that no one had spoken, Gai said quietly, "I'm sorry, Kakashi. I didn't want to break us. I should have known that you wouldn't be able to handle it, but that moment somehow guided me and I finally wanted to be close to you in the way I've wanted for so long. I didn't mean to take advantage of you. I should have been smarter."

"It's not just your fault," Kakashi whispered back. "It was both of us."

Another silence, this time a little shorter. "Maybe it won't be the same as it used to be, but.. do you think we can start something else?" Gai asked hesitantly.

Although the alcohol stuck the cogs in Kakashi's brain like tough paste, the only correct answer formed in his mouth. "I don't know.."

"Okay." This large, reassuring hand caressed the back of his head. "May I at least take you upstairs now?"

An approving roll. Gai laughed with a growl, lifted Kakashi's forehead from his shoulder, and squeezed under Kakashi's left arm in a fluid motion so that he could support him. This actually very short, but very stirring conversation had chased the last will out of Kakashi's legs. Gai struggled to drag him up the eight stairs to the Hatakes' flat, barely able to shovel one index finger free to ring the bell. Nothing happened for a few seconds, then footsteps approached and Sakumo appeared in the doorway. He crossed his arms and said in a clearly reprimanding tone, "Ah, did my son have a drop too much again?"

Kakashi had to fight this screeching urge to spit in his father's face for this remark. He threw his head back and groaned annoyed.

Gai jerked Kakashi's upper body higher again. "Yes, a little. It was a long night. I just wanted to make sure he ended up in his bed and not under the next car."

"That's very prudent of you, Gai," Sakumo praised and stepped aside so that Gai could pull Kakashi past him down the hallway into Kakashi's room. He dropped him onto the bed, where Kakashi greeted his pillow with a grateful groan, and the world around him got the push it needed to spin like a merry-go-round. Gai slipped the chucks off his feet and heaved his legs onto the bed. "So, now sleep off your intoxication, Kakashi."

That familiar, pleasant scent of curd soap moved away from him, but he didn't want him to leave. He reached out for the green spot on his retina and pleaded with a blocked jaw, "Gai.. wait.."

The green came closer. He reached for it until he got hold of the fabric and clawed into it. "Don't go.. Please stay with me..."

Gai laughed above him, forced Kakashi's finger to let go of him, and folded his hands on his chest as if he were a corpse. "Man, Kakashi, you're just as clingy when you're drunk as you used to be."

"Yes, I guess he is," Sakumo's voice wafted against Kakashi's ringing ears with a subliminal sneering giggle. He had completely forgotten that his father was also in the room. "Whenever I had to pick him up somewhere, he hardly wanted to let me go. The boy had always wanted to cuddle as a child. Noriko wanted to buy him a stuffed animal so that she didn't have to be used for snugging all the time. Without her, he could never fall asleep well, he always needed something in his arms. I don't know who he got it from."

"Why didn't he get one?" Gai asked. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I don't want to criticize your parenting methods, but just after.. well.. after her death, that would have been quite good, wouldn't it? I once read that it helps the psyche of children who have gone through a traumatic experience if they can physically cling to something. Prevents the fear of loss or something."

Kakashi turned his head on the pillow to counteract the roundabout.

"Kakashi had to learn to toughen up back then," Sakumo explained cold-bloodedly. "He shouldn't remain a whiny boy forever. If I had only coddled him, he would never have become a man."

"Hm," Gai said. "I'll go then, I don't want to disturb you."

"Oh, you don't disturb. How are you? We haven't seen each other for ages."

"Yeah, good so far. The training is pretty exhausting for me."

"What are you training for?"

"For the church's donation marathon. The sponsor, the Meelam, gives more money the more runners make it faster. Currently, I'm at just under three and a half hours. If I keep that, I'll throw a whopping five hundred pounds into the pot. But dad is confident. When we started training, I barely managed under five hours."

"Wow, that's very impressive. And then for a good cause, very strong that you are so hard at it. But I remember that you used to like to do sports, didn't you?"

"Yes," Gai said and laughed briefly. "I had slight problems with my weight as a child, so I asked Kakashi to remind me of my muffin top so that I would always have an incentive to get rid of it."

"And you did it with flying colours, I have to say. Compared to before, you're really fit now."

"Thank you, I'm happy if it stands out. Then the hard work is worth it. I'll probably never get close to Kakashi's body, but I'll try anyway."

"It's probably just the genes," Sakumo replied reassuringly. "He got this good metabolism from me. I never had any problems with that, I could eat whatever I wanted, and I never gained weight or lost a lot of muscle once I had it. Since Kakashi has been playing rugby regularly, he has also become much more athletic, which can be seen in his arms and especially his legs. A good sprinter. If he were to start strength training, he could be properly defined and would keep a six-pack forever without doing much for it."

"Enviable."

"Yes, it certainly is for many men. But even if it will be harder for you, keep this rivalry. A good incentive can take you very far. Are you two friends again?"

"Uh.. No idea. Well, we had a pretty big fight, but we're in the process of getting it out of the way."

"Well, that's good news. If you like, you are welcome to eat with us again. You are welcome here at any time."

"Yes, thank you, Sakumo. I'll see when I have time."

A door lock clicked, Kakashi rolled onto his side, grunted strainedly and disappeared into the slime of the drunken dream world.

Gradually, Kakashi stirred again. His skull thumped loudly and there was a furry film on his tongue. When he tried to moisten his mouth by smacking, he tasted his own alcohol vomit and grimaced slightly choking. A few blinks later, he saw himself lying on his bed in a twisted position, his arms unhealthily bent and his head next to the pillow with his left temple against the wall panelling. It took him several attempts to straighten his spine halfway, moaned brightly and wiped his eyes with his cool hands. He hadn't had such a brutal hangover for a long time.

He sniffed loudly, looked at his alarm clock, which showed shortly after five, and slowly straightened up. The hard jeans waistband pressed into his stomach, wherefore he opened the button and zipper and thus gave his roaring stomach at least a little more space. For a small eternity, he just sat there, questioning every decision in his life that had brought him to this point, and half-heartedly vowed never to drink so much again. At an uncertain point, his memories smeared into a single lump of colourful dough and he couldn't quite say which of the indistinct shreds was reality and what was a fever dream. His last clear images took place in the pink light of the Kitchen where he had talked to Kina. Or less talking, more flirting. They had arranged to have sex, right? Today.

Carefully he lifted the rubber of his boxer shorts and looked at his limp cock, which lay just as tired as he was in the comfortably warm cave. No shadow was visible on the shaft. The rubber snapped back onto his skin, Kakashi pulled his T-shirt over his head with crunching joints and inspected his other injuries. He hadn't treated the bruise on his stomach as meticulously as the ones on his face, but even this spot had also become smaller and outlined in green and yellow. His shoulder was also declared healthy after a few controlling turns. Cheers to good healing flesh.

Groaning and coughing, he struggled out of bed, replaced his jeans with comfortable sweatpants and put on a fresh T-shirt that didn't smell of cigarettes, weed, sweat and vomit. He stuffed the clothes he had worn into the laundry basket and carried it to the bathroom, where he filled and turned on the washing machine, emptied his bladder and then freshened up to some extent.

He went into the kitchen, dug bread and toppings out of the fridge and prepared a quick meal so that he had a basis for ibuprofen in his stomach. He spread two of the slices of bread with Branston Pickle, put cheddar and freshly cut tomatoes on top, closed them and did the same with two other slices, on which he added horseradish and roast beef. He wrapped the finished sandwiches in bread paper, put two new slices on the toaster for himself and in the meantime, while the bread was getting crispy, he knocked on Sakumo's bedroom door. "Dad?" he asked before he opened.

Sakumo was in a similar situation to Kakashi just a moment ago – legs and arms stretched out from him, his spine slightly twisted, his T-shirt worn-out, his underpants wrinkled and slipped, so that the flaccid penis peeked half out from under the waistband, the heavy smell of stale air, cigarettes and alcohol hung in the room. Next to him on the rumpled blanket lay Noriko's urn. This was not a sleeping position, Kakashi could judge that much. "Shit," he muttered, hurried to the bed and poked his father in the upper arm. "Dad, wake up!" Sakumo just grumbled in his slumber. "Dad! You have to get up!"

Sakumo mumbled something that sounded like "Leave", waved his hand and rolled onto his side.

"You're a really stupid wanker," Kakashi growled and put him back on his back. So that he didn't have his father's cock in view all the time, he pulled up his underpants a bit, and then gently slapped the flat of his hand against his cheek. "Dad, wake up now! You have to go to work!" He repeated the blow, this time a little harder. Sakumo's eyelids lifted a crack, his eyeballs were badly reddened. "Dad.. Please, get up. If you don't go to work, they'll kick you out."

"Kakashi.." it came hoarsely from Sakumo's throat. "Don't treat me like a frail man.."

"I'm not supposed to treat you like that?! Then don't get drunk when you're on shift in the night!"

"At least I wasn't suspended for my own stupidity.."

As if his father now seriously wanted to have a discussion! Kakashi breathed calm, swallowed his anger and pulled Sakumo up. "Come on, Dad, I need to sober you up."

"Leave me alone, boy.."

Kakashi let go of Sakumo's arm, which crashed into the mattress with a dull thud. "Do you want to lose your job?! Okay, then please, get a good night's sleep! But I don't want to let that happen. This job is important, dad! You know how difficult the job market is. You can't be left without income again. I can't feed us both from my salary. So please pull yourself together now, dad. I want to help you, okay?"

Sakumo still made a dissatisfied sound, but he pushed himself up with difficulty and allowed Kakashi to support him into the bathroom. There Kakashi undressed his father, helped him stand in the shower tray and turned on cold water. Sakumo screamed briefly and wanted to flee, but Kakashi held him in the icy jet and waited until his vision had cleared up a bit. Shivering all over, Sakumo ran his hands over his face and through his wet hair, shook his head and turned the tap back on his own. Kakashi handed him a towel. Without a word, Sakumo rubbed himself dry, groped back to his room, naked and barefoot and with the towel wrapped around his neck, and Kakashi took care of topping one of the toasted slices of bread with ham.

The creaking of the door ledge to the hallway announced Sakumo, who was standing in the frame fully clothed and with tousled hair. Kakashi pressed the sandwiches for the breaks into his hand, Sakumo clamped the loose slice of bread between his teeth and without saying a little "Thank you" or "See you tomorrow", he rushed out of the flat.

Kakashi sighed and started to make his own sandwiches, but before he could even dip the knife into the jar of tartar sauce, the bell rang. Surprised, he went to the door, almost expecting to have to hand over the house key to his father, but at the sight of Kina's petite figure in the hallway he blinked puzzled. "Hey," he said.

"Hi," Kina grinned, pushed Kakashi aside and allowed herself in. She had already disappeared halfway into the door to his room when he said, "I just wanted to make myself something to eat."

"Ah." With that, her raised leg rowed around and she marched straight ahead into the living room, sat down on one of the chairs, pulled up her left leg and rested her head on her hands with a mischievous grin.

"What?" Kakashi asked amusedly and turned his attention back to the tartar sauce.

"Nothing," she purred.

"But that sounds different."

"Mh, yeah ok, you got me. I was loitering at our apartment door the whole time, waiting for Sakumo to finally leave. I didn't want to meet him, you know?"

"Why not?" Kakashi's voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"Because he's an ass. I've never liked him. And I didn't want him to know what we were up to. I'd like cheddar and ham."

Kakashi grinned to himself. "Yes, milady." On another slice of toasted bread, he slapped cheddar and ham. "But tell me.." he started in his Sukea tone, put the plate with Kina's bread on the table and continued with a wink, ".. what are we up to?"

There she was again: the shy Kina, who got blotchy cheeks when talking about sex. She preferred to eat her food instead of answering Kakashi.

Kakashi laughed dirty, because he knew exactly what was going on inside her head, and fetched his own bread from the counter, with which he sat down opposite Kina. "Before we start this, I want an explanation from you."

"Mh?" Kina said with hamster cheeks and looked up.

"Why are you hanging out with Anko?" As a precaution, he clipped two painkillers out of the blister and bit into his salami bread.

Kina chewed extensively, swallowed and rocked her knee, whose foot rested on the seat of her chair, back and forth. "I can imagine why you want to know that. But Anko is cool, you know? She's not like the others."

"Like who?" munched Kakashi.

"Like those cunts," Kina expanded her statement. "Don't be mad at me, Kashi, but I told her a little something."

Kakashi was panting with his mouth full. "I thought so." He washed down his bite and the pills with a sip from his glass of water. "She apologized to me yesterday for last Saturday."

"Oh crass? I didn't know that. I only knew that she realized how shit that action was."

"And so you're gossiping all over the place that I had involuntary sex with four girls, huh?" Kakashi tried to sound as little reproachful as possible.

Again, Kina's knee bobbed nervously. "No.. Honestly not. She came up with it on her own. I only talked to her about what the boys did to you. She was with me for half the day yesterday and we talked a bit about everything, including this thing. She went straight to the phone and called Genma to break up with him. She says something like is not okay and she doesn't want to be with a guy like that."

"She mentioned that. But isn't that an exaggeration? Because.. Well, honestly, Genma didn't even do anything," Kakashi admitted.

"Really?" Kina blurted out. "But you said the three of them attacked you!"

"He was there too, right, but it was mainly Obito and Asuma. Genma even tried to stop them just before Dai and Gai showed up."

"Hm," Kina said. "I'll tell her tomorrow, because she actually likes him very much, there's pure chemistry between them." She giggled. "This is real young love, as you know it from movies."

"And Rin?"

Kina's expression became bitchy at the mention of this name. "What about her?"

Kakashi smiled slightly. He thought it was really cute how she got so involved in this topic. "Have you also talked about her?"

"Mh.. Yeah.." Kina admitted. "I didn't tell her everything, don't worry, but I may have briefly mentioned that you two had an affair. She was shocked. Well, almost. She suspected it a bit, based on the way that bitch was constantly pining at you, but she didn't know that there was really something going on between you. But I didn't tell her you were in love with her, I swear!"

"Were?" Kakashi asked with a raised eyebrow. "How do you know that I am not still in love?"

Kina choked on a crumb. She half rattled across the table and when Kakashi started laughing at her reaction, she threw a middle finger after her spit. "Fuck you! To fool me like that, honestly," she said with a gag.

Kakashi continued to giggle, his hand in front of his mouth, and watched as Kina carefully wiped up the spray of saliva with a napkin. "Sorry, but I had to check your loyalty with your gossiping."

A second middle finger on the part of Kina. "Lick me. I say Anko is cool. If I had a bad feeling about her, I would never have talked to her about it. And anyway – this shit princess deserves every hate in the world." She pushed the used napkins next to her glass of water and continued to eat.

"Okay, you've convinced me, you don't like her."

"Absolutely right and justified."

"Have you ever been in love?" Kakashi asked, wondering himself about this sudden interest.

Kina put the rest of her bread back on the plate, wiped her fingers on her pants and crossed her arms in front of her shin. "Crush, yes, but never in love."

"Who do you have a crush on?", Kakashi probed and didn't notice the embarrassed expression on her face at first.

"On you, Kashi."

Kakashi stopped chewing and looked at Kina with widened eyes. He forced the contents of his mouth down his throat, drank again and murmured, "Really..?"

"Yes. I mean, why not?" Kina laughed insecure, clearly avoiding Kakashi's gaze and nibbling on her bread again, of which only the edge was left – and she never really wanted to eat it. "We get along well, you're super nice, and you look bombastic. Honestly, when I showed the girls at the Albion a picture of you, you know, where we were with Gai in the Aaben and watched Indiana Jones, they asked me why we weren't a couple. They all thought you were hot as hell. And I felt that way, too. You're Kakashi, how can people not think you're horny?" Her knee rocked again, making Kakashi clear her nervousness at admitting it at all. "I would have liked us to get closer much earlier, but I never dared to say anything."

"Why not?" Kakashi asked. His heart was beating up to his throat. He never expected this conversation to go like THIS.

"Wellll," Kina grizzled, sighed heavily and swept the grains together on her plate. "I just didn't think you could like me that way. You never looked at me as if you wanted something from me. And I didn't want to give myself false hopes by telling you and maybe you just call me pretty out of politeness or something, because you would never hurt my feelings in this regard. No idea. Besides, I didn't want to break us."

This phrase touched on something in Kakashi's memory that Gai had said to him this morning. And that's when he remembered that he had talked to Gai at all. And about what. He didn't know what exactly drove him to do it, but he asked, "What do you think about Gai being gay?"

Kina was taken aback. "Why do you want to know?"

"Oh, forget it," Kakashi said quickly, stood up and rinsed their used plates.

"I don't care at all," Kina continued to talk in his back and Kakashi stared at the tiles on the wall above the sink while mechanically scrubbing the sponge over the wood. "He told us all last week when mum dropped me off here. But honestly, it wasn't a shock for me. I kind of always knew that, you know? Maybe there's a telepathic, cosmic, magical, or whatever-I-know-what connection between us because we shared the same uterus for nine months, but deep down I just knew it. Anyway, then he's gay, who cares. That doesn't change the fact that he's my little brother. So well, actually big brother." She laughed, but Kakashi didn't reciprocate. "But why do you ask?"

"Just because," he lied, turned off the tap and put the plates on the draining rack.

"What do you think of that?"

Kakashi dried his hands in the tea towel and turned around. "I don't care too."

"Really? Or are you just saying that?" Kina's eyes narrowed scrutinizingly. "I've noticed that you call him 'poof', Kashi, I'm not stupid. He told you too, didn't he? Did you argue about it?" When Kakashi was silent and only looked at the check pattern of the tea towel, she got up and came around the table so that she could stand right in front of him like a grumpy garden gnome. "That's it, wasn't it? He told you and you insulted him. That's why you don't talk to each other anymore, because you DO care. You condemn him for it. But as I said, Gai is still the same person as before, his sexuality does not change that fact. I still love him."

"You have to say stuff like that, he's your brother."

"Nope, I don't have to. I could also hate him for it, or be disgusted by him, consider him inferior or whatever. I know enough people who would react like that and do it. And even though I sometimes feel such negative things for him, because he's my brother and a boy and often enough a stupid idiot, he's still just that – my twin brother, a normal boy and a teenager who sometimes does stupid things. Only that now I definitely know and not just assume that he is not into girls. Who cares?"

"Your parents, perhaps?" Kakashi probed.

"Are you dumb? You know our parents. Mum waved it off as a trivial thing and rather mobbed at him that she almost missed her train because of such a small news, and dad cried how proud he is of his son for this courage to fully commit to who he is."

"Don't they want him to be normal and lead a life for which he is not condemned by society?"

"Kashi," Kina giggled, "are you trying to convince yourself that you could still be friends with Gai even though he's gay?"

"Huh, no, why do you think that?", Kakashi went straight into defence mode. "No matter what you say, I just can't ignore it."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm a guy," Kakashi stressed. "He has a cock, I have a cock, he likes cocks, I don't. That's just a problem."

"Oh man, honestly, Kashi," Kina sighed and tilted her head. "Did he ever do anything that had anything to do with cocks?"

A volcano exploded in Kakashi's neck. He ran his hand over it and muttered, "No.."

"Well, then," Kina nodded proudly, as if everything had been settled. "He only told you because he trusted you enough, not because he wanted something from you."

"You don't know." He should better stop before he blundered.

"Yes, well, that's right. No one will ever know but himself. But Gai is still the same Gai as always, you don't have to be afraid of him." She let her lips pop briefly. "Tell me, completely different topic, I know, but would you happen to want to go to Hawick with us? Then you and Gai could discuss your problems, dad can show you this new recipe he found the other day, nan and granpa would also be happy to see you again, and we.. Well, we can do stuff. So, it would really be like it used to be and you have all the time in the world to get used to Gai and his powdery fairy dust again. A bit of shock therapy and a lot of chickens."

Kakashi uttered an "Mh", the tonality of which he could not determine himself. Such an offer sounded appealing. He hadn't seen Gai's and Kina's grandparents since the end of secondary school and a two-week farm life was better than anything that awaited him here, but he strongly doubted that Madara would let him spontaneously travel for a fortnight. Their next appointment was already set, he couldn't cancel it, otherwise he would have ruined sex for 7,500 pounds. "I'd like to, but I can't."

"Why not?" Kina asked immediately. "We're on vacation, and I've just listed all the cool things that are waiting for you. Don't you want to know how Phoebe is doing?"

At the thought of the completely crazy silky chicken with the white fuzzy head, Kakashi had to grin briefly. Since it had hatched from the egg four years ago, it had taken a particularly great liking to Kakashi – Gai and Kina had liked to joke that the hen recognized Kakashi as a mother because of the similar hairstyle. For one summer, that baddle had followed him every step of the way, even squatting on the windowsill in front of Gai's and his room at night and constantly pecking at the glass, so that the boys had hardly found any sleep. Phoebe would certainly be happy about his return, should she still be alive and not have long since ended up in the soup. "Yeah, sure, I don't want to let my fans down. But I still have to work," Kakashi swindled emphatically. "I've only had a few days of vacation now, and tomorrow I'll start again. And I can't leave my dad alone."

"Your father is a grown man," Kina replied a little snooty.

"Yes, but he just hasn't been doing very well lately."

"Does that have something to do with his hand? What happened there?"

"I can't tell you, but that's exactly what it's all about." To ease the tense mood a little, Kakashi sneered, "Besides, I can't stand two weeks of idyllic loneliness with Gai's existence as a poof, in the end he's trying to get at me."

"Ah, pf, now you're just bullying him out of spite, aren't you?" Kina said, rolling her eyes. "Man, Kashi, he's still your best friend."

"Only he's gay now," Kakashi noted.

"Right. He's gay, put up with it, like all of us. I also love him with gayness. And I won't let you tell me otherwise, about how shit it is and so on. For me, this actually only has advantages, because I can ask him for his opinion on boys. I wonder if we're into the same type."

Kakashi could assure her that the two were into him, but he didn't want to. Kina's vehement words had relieved him strangely, yet they referred to Gai and no one else. Instead, he took the opportunity to steer the mood onto completely new paths, still completely untouched on this early evening, and purred, "What's your type, huh?"

Kina's cheeks turned pink. "Oh God, uh.. well.. Taller than me.."

"That's not difficult."

She punched him against the upper arm. "Charming.. Pretty smile.. Eyes that can eat me up.."

"Mh-hmm?" Kakashi said with a crooked smile, bit his lower lip, wrapped the tea towel around Kina's neck and slowly pulled her forward. "And further?"

Kina gasped, obviously aroused. "Uh.. Pleasant smell.. Strong arms.. A gentleman with a dark side.. And most importantly, he has to kiss well." Towards the end she had become quieter and quieter and her gaze had become more and more obscured the closer their faces had come. Kakashi breathed his lips onto hers, which caused a barely audible smack. "Kina, is there a chance that I'm just a little bit like your type?" he murmured almost tonelessly.

"Yes," Kina whispered, cupping Kakashi's forearms.

Kakashi let go of the tea towel, it slid to the floor. At the same time, he dug his hands into the soft, long hair at the back of her head and pushed his hips forward a little until his crotch hit her stomach. "And is there a possibility.." he whispered, taking her short gasp with a kiss, ".. that you want to sleep with me?"

Jerkily, she stood on her toes, pressed her privates a little higher against his thighs, grabbed him by the neck and squealed aroused, "Yes, fuck, Kakashi, I want you to sleep with me."

Kakashi kissed Kina very slowly, almost deliberately, so that she gasped impatiently, clawed into his forearms and continued to stand on her toes to press her pelvis against his, but she tipped forward slightly and literally fell into his arms. Kakashi laughed harshly and embraced Kina's torso, which was quivering with arousal. "Hey, titch, you don't have to attack me, I'm not going to run away from you."

"Mh," Kina grumbled and dug into his T-shirt. "I just want you so badly. Let's finally get started."

Kakashi gave her a little smack, but moved away from her slightly without letting go of her. "Kina, why do you want to rush this?"

"You're making me way too horny with your fucking provocative manner," she explained as if it were a matter of course.

"Kina.. I told you that the first time is special. If you want me to just fuck you and that's it – ok, then be honest and we'll do it that way. But my first time was.. To put it mildly: pretty shitty. In retrospect, I would have liked more passion and accommodation. Rin treated me like I was just a dick, nothing more."

Kina knitted her brows. "Can we agree not to mention this name anymore?"

Kakashi snorted with a smile. "All right. But do you understand what I'm trying to explain to you?"

"Yes.." she nodded a little more reservedly. "You don't want me to regret it afterwards."

"Exactly. For most of us, the first time is not something they like to remember because it hurt or there were no interpersonal bonds or they didn't talk about their needs." Kakashi gently stroked his thumb over Kina's side. "I know that, and I don't want you to feel the same way. In addition.. Well.." He laughed awkwardly. "You've seen that my cock isn't necessarily small and I don't want to hurt you with it. So: Do you just want to fuck quickly and get it over with? Or do you want to think back to your first time and find it good?"

Kina's eyes already told him the answer, but she said shyly, "The second option."

"Okay," Kakashi whispered and kissed her carefully again. "Then let's slow down, shall we? We have the whole night just to ourselves."