"Jutsu'd, technically," Kakashi drawled, swinging his head up to regard the latest obstacle between him and a future containing five blissful minutes in a warm shower. Tsume's eyebrows snapped together with an almost audible click. Kakashi dismissed Kuromaru entirely, focusing on the next rung up on an increasingly annoying ladder.

Your average shinobi didn't pick alpha fights with other shinobi. Fights, maybe, establishing a different kind of hierarchy. Where pride was the prize, not pack and safety and a life lived unmolested.

Inuzuka were not your average shinobi. Neither was Kakashi. And he was about ready to grab Tsume and Ryouma both and initiate videotaped throw-down if he had to. They both bore his bite-mark on their throats, admittedly for entirely different reasons. He'd saved their lives, brought them home, guarded them for a week--

And been guarded.

And none of this really related to the wire around Kuromaru's jaws, beyond the fact that he was irritated.

"We were having a philosophical debate," he said shortly, which was the adult version of the genin's post-fight excuse, I fell down. "Do I need to remove both of you just to shower in peace?"