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The grass was dry. The sky was blue. The breeze is tender and warm. Birds flew past in the sky and settled on branches, and Guy pointed each them out by name –he’d learned it from Genma, apparently. One was a bull-headed shrike, and Guy didn’t have to identify that one –he barely held back Kakashi from telling that old story again. Flower petals and leaves fluttered down, and Kurenai turned the flutters into hurricanes –her genjutsu was truly one-of-a-kind. Asuma tried to show off his own hurricanes, a flurry of real wind and smoke –everyone agreed that Kurenai’s was cooler, even Asuma.
They laughed so hard that they fell to their backs, then sighed in contentment. Kakashi and Guy started a sudden competition to see who could keep a leaf up for longer just by blowing a straight stream of air upwards at it. Kurenai and Asuma joined in, and this time, Asuma beat them all soundly. When they tried to argue that wind style was cheating, Asuma said he already lost to Kurenai’s genjutsu just earlier. Filled with a childish determination, Kakashi and Guy scrambled for a match where each other their specialties would give them an edge over the other three, too.
It was fun.
It was rare for the four of them to get chances to go on nonchalant little dates like this. Technically, Kakashi’s relationship with Guy was just as much a secret as Kurenai’s relationship with Asuma, but double dates like this were possible exactly because of the mutually assured destruction of either couple spilling the beans.
So, Kakashi and Guy would pretend not to see Kurenai laying in Asuma’s lap while he played with her hair. Asuma and Kurenai would pretend not to notice Kakashi feeding Guy and letting his fingers linger at his lips a little longer than necessary. Stolen kisses and open flirting went unremarked on, aside from little taunts and teases.
This pleasant picnic was a luxury, and they could only hope it went undisturbed. As shinobi, they could only try.
So, they did.
They brought snacks, tea, beer, and homemade food. They talked about everything under the sun except for missions. They talked about Asuma’s shogi matches, about Guy’s radio calisthenics, about Kurenai’s burgeoning garden, about Kakashi’s questionable books. They talked about every active rumor in their village about them, and a few that weren't. They just tried to be normal, just try to be carefree couples in the park enjoying a nice day.
But of course, that tempted fate, and of course, four new birds arrived. Guy didn’t have to name these. Everyone knew who they were.
They each received their missions from the messenger birds. Missions set worlds apart from each other, and without a fight, they each said their goodbyes and prepared to leave.
Because their lives were not their own.
They weren’t ordinary people at the end of the day.