| [Oct. 19th, 2013|04:18 am] |
Naruto shook his head against Kakashi’s stomach—and then kept doing it, turning over to press his face into Kakashi’s shirt, like a pup-summons finding a sensation it enjoyed. Kakashi fought not to laugh as Naruto accidentally tickled him. “No you wouldn’t,” Naruto said, muffled. “Good ninja don’t fall over.”
Tell that to the demon-queen he’d landed on.
Actually, counting the number of times he’d tumbled down inside a mountain, he’d fallen over a lot this week.
In most circumstances, Kakashi liked to be honest with Naruto, but sometimes it was nice to let the shine of hero-worship linger, just a little. “Yeah,” he said, and caught Naruto’s head between his hands, stilling the shirt-rubbing. “Come up here, Naruto-kun.”
Naruto tipped his head, then clambered in a clumsy four-legged scramble up Kakashi’s body, settling on Kakashi’s chest. “Yeah?”
Kakashi eased himself away from the wall, which was putting a crick in his neck, and pulled two of Ryouma’s pillows over, re-settling himself flat. The moment he was properly horizontal, Naruto seized his chance and flopped, draped over Kakashi like a small, tired starfish. Kakashi rubbed his hand down Naruto’s back, and, for the first time in a week, finally felt like he’d stopped running.
“We’re not gonna tell your dad this,” he said. “But I’m glad you made a jailbreak.”
Naruto gave a sleepy snicker and tucked his head against Kakashi’s shoulder, curling his fingers into Kakashi’s shirt. “Imma sneaky ninja, too.” He yawned. “‘m glad you’re back.”
“Me, too,” Kakashi said.
Minato was still mid-crisis, he hadn’t seen Rin yet, Team Six was splintered and problematic, and the second Kakashi closed his eyes, he knew he was going to see civilians dying in the dark. But Naruto was close and safe, and Kakashi mostly didn’t hurt anymore, and somewhere down the hall Ryouma’s biggest issue was pantsless regret, so it wasn’t all bleak.
Though, technically Kakashi was still in the wrong room.
But he was comfortable, and Ryouma owed him some sleep. And at this point, Kakashi didn’t intend to be moved without a crowbar. Hazily, he tipped his chin up and watched the chakra-butterfly dance around the ceiling, listening to the slow rhythm of Naruto’s breathing, and let himself drift. |
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