| [Oct. 19th, 2013|04:10 am] |
And Kakashi had been gone for the better part of a week.
They were probably lucky Naruto had only set the kitchen on fire, not the whole village. Or made an escape attempt sooner.
Kakashi tightened his hold, rubbing one hand up and down Naruto’s spine. When the first hiccup broke through, choking a sob into a tight squeak, he gently loosened Naruto’s death-grip and coaxed the boy down into a more comfortable seat, tucked between the open circle of Kakashi’s legs. Naruto cuddled in, getting slime and snot all over Kakashi’s clean shirt, which was still miles better than demon rot. Kakashi leaned down, resting his masked mouth on the top of Naruto’s head.
“I’m sorry, Naruto-kun,” he said quietly.
Naruto hiccuped and sniffled. “I had nightmares,” he said, muffled against Kakashi’s shirt. “You got eaten. An’ only stupid Turtle was there when I woke up.”
“I thought Turtle was your favorite?” Kakashi said.
“Turtle says goodbye when she leaves,” Naruto said, with a kid’s easy ability to flip opinions at speed. “An’ she gets me cereal when we run out. Wolf never does.” He twisted around in Kakashi’s arms, raising a tear-streaked face. “But I’ll trade her if you come instead! You can be my guard since you’re ANBU now, right?”
Argh. He’d known that was going to be an issue.
“We’re just rookie ANBU, Naruto-kun,” Ryouma said from the bed, when Kakashi didn’t have an immediate answer. “You don’t get promoted to Hokage’s Guard until you’ve been in for a long time without messing up.”
Naruto made a sound of great offence. “Niisan doesn’t mess up.”
“But I’m still a rookie,” Kakashi said, which was a sentence that felt odd in his mouth. “And I have to pay my dues first.” He bounced Naruto a little, seeing if he could win a laugh. “Like fighting giant bugs.”
Naruto giggled and clutched at him—victory! “Giant bugs in the Forest of Death!” he said, still a little soggy-sounding. He scrubbed both hands over his face. “Tousaki-san told me. Can I come next time?”
Kakashi raised an eyebrow.
Ryouma winced. “I kinda let it slip when he asked about my sword. Kid doesn’t miss much, does he?”
“It’s like he has ears,” Kakashi said dryly, and poked Naruto in the stomach. “When you can hold a sword without falling over, Naruto-kun, you can go hunting with us.”
Naruto’s eyes narrowed. “Tanto,” he haggled.
“Longsword,” Kakashi countered.
Naruto despaired. “I’ll have to grow forever.” His eyes lit on Ryouma, who was watching proceedings with much less tension in his shoulders now the crying had stopped. “How’d you get tall?”
“I ate all my food,” Ryouma said, amused. “And other people’s.”
Given the curry in Ryouma’s bowl had almost entirely vanished, Kakashi could believe that.
“Oh,” said Naruto. He looked down at the floor, where his plastic container was half-tipped and abandoned. He bit his bottom lip. “I spilled mine.”
Kakashi’s uneaten food was set safely to one side, offering an obvious solution, but he preferred giving Naruto the tools to fix his own problems. And since Ryouma was right there, and Kakashi owed him revenge for that Katsuko-in-the-shower comment…
He tipped his head down level with Naruto’s ear, and whispered, “I’ll distract Tousaki-san, and you liberate his curry. And wipe your face on his shirt, too.”
Naruto’s face lit up with the internal glow of diabolical glee. “Okay!” he whispered back.
Ryouma gave them both a wary look. “What’s going on?”
“Naruto-kun wants me to show you his favorite trick,” Kakashi said. He twisted two quick seals, using Naruto’s body to hide them, and lifted his hand. “Take a look.”
Blinding light blazed like sun-spots between his fingers, casting hard black shadows across the walls. Ryouma flung a hand up over his eyes. “Hey—!”
Whooping like a banshee, Naruto shot across the room and tackled him.
Which, okay, had not quite been the plan, but that worked, too. |
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