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“I am,” Kakashi announces to the world as he flops over onto the couch, “never going to be a teacher.”
The world, cruel, horrible place that is, laughs at him. And by the world, Kakashi means Rin, who is enjoying her day off by ploughing through chore after chore. Because Rin isn’t the worst, though, she comes to sit over by the couch and Kakashi lifts his head obligingly so that he can rest it on her lap instead.
Rin runs a hand through his hair, carefully teasing out the knots. Despite the fact she hasn’t been at the hospital all day, the scent of the hospital—antiseptic and blood—clings to her, regardless of the scent dampener that they all use when they shower. “Did you meet your students today?” she asks, tone leaving no room for negotiation.
Of course, Kakashi, being Kakashi, still tries. He hums. “Minato-sensei is looking pale,” he says, instead. “Have you asked him about his diet lately? It’s not good to subsist on paper and ink.”
Rin tugs on his hair and Kakashi yelps, lifting an arm up to bat at her hands. “Hey!”
“If you saw Minato-sensei today,” Rin says, as if she’s done nothing wrong, “then you had to meet with him. The only reason you’d meet with Sensei would be because you got your student forms today, correct?”
Grumbling under his breath, Kakashi only speaks aloud when Rin tugs at his hair in warning. “You don’t have to be so mean,” he says. “And yes, I met them. They’re…” he trails off, unable to describe the feeling in his chest.
His students had been small. Tiny, really. They’d yelled and screamed and waved their arms. They wore bright clothes and had never seen a battlefield in all of their lives. They were peacetime Academy Students.
“Ah,” Rin says, voice soft with understanding. “It’s like that then, is it?”
“You shouldn’t read my thoughts,” Kakashi says with a pout. “That’s just rude.”
“It’s not mind reading when I just know you that well, is it?” Rin asks with a laugh. “I don’t think there’s any kekkei genkai that can read minds either. The closest thing would be the Sharingan, and we know all about that from Obito anyway.”
Kakashi hums and silence falls over the apartment once more. It’s easy to relax, here, because it’s home and so is Rin. Eventually, though, Rin disturbs the silence. She never really has been one to let problems lie, not when she can attempt to find a solution. Much has changed since their childhood, but that hasn’t.
Even though Kakashi doesn’t look at Rin, he can sense her gaze. He sighs, long-suffering, and says, “I don’t know how to teach peacetime kids. Like—they don’t even know how to climb a wall with chakra; or how to use anything but the academy basic three; or how to get along without fighting! How am I supposed to teach them?”
“Is it really that dire?” Rin asks, before continuing without waiting for Kakashi’s reply. “You’re a genius, you can figure something out. Besides, you can start by simply throwing them at the library or setting them tasks and forcing them to help each other. All your kohai can help too.”
Kakashi imagines throwing his three, very loud, very noisy, students at Yamato and imagines his kohai’s face. “That would be mean,” he says, smiling, and Yamato is due back in Konoha in a few days. He’s sure his tired kohai would love a break after an exhausting mission.
“Well, I mean, there’s always Sensei, do you remember when Minato-sensei brought his sensei in and-”
Whatever story, and possible blackmail, Rin wishes to share is interrupted by Obito, who enters the apartment like a whirlwind. His weapon pouch is thrown unerringly into a basket in the hallway before he flops on top of Rin and Kakashi.
Needless to say, they end up tumbling off the couch and into a rather messy pile on the wooden floorboards. At the bottom of the pile, Kakashi groans and his back cracks. Rin grunts a complaint and, a second later, sends Obito flying with a sharply placed elbow. Ever since Rin learnt where everyone is ticklish, she’s used that knowledge for her own evil gain. Not that Kakashi’s down much different, to be fair.
“I heard,” Obito says, and he’s returned with a gaze that sees right through Kakashi, “that someone has a crush.”
The words leave Obito’s mouth and there is silence, except for the wind that makes the kitchen curtain flutter.
Kakashi doesn’t let Obito speak another word.
Slamming forward, one-hundred-and-fifty pounds hit Obito—who weighs a good bit more—and tackles him down to the ground. Obito squawks, and it’s like they’re kids again, rolling across the floorboards and trying to get the upper hand. Kakashi gets a knee on Obito’s back, who bucks him off and manages to dig his fingers between Kakashi’s ribs. Naturally, Kakashi takes his revenge by yanking on Obito’s hair, who pulls on his ear in retribution. The fight ends when Kakashi gets a hand over Obito’s mouth, uncaring as the other slobbers all over him. Kakashi’s grown since he was a child—he’s not going to reel backwards in horror just because his teammate has no manners and licks him.
“So,” Rin says, leaning forward and towering over them, “going to tell me the gossip Obito?”
At this angle, Rin is nothing more than a dark shadow with glowing eyes, the light outlining her. She looks more like a demon than anyone else Kakashi has ever met.
Obito lays a genjutsu over Kakashi, which takes him a few seconds to break. By the time he does, Rin and Obito have taken to the couch, leaving him laying spread out on the floor.
He really needs better friends.
“I can’t believe this!” Rin says, and she grins at him. Kakashi narrows his eyes at her, upside-down, and refuses to get up. “You have a crush!”
Kakashi is a grown-ass man. He doesn’t have crushes. He tells his genin teammates this, but they seem to have become deaf in their old age.
“And an Academy teacher!” Rin continues. “Just when you need help teaching.” Her gaze switches over to Obito. “Have you heard his teaching woes?”
Obito laughs, loud and abrasive as always and sounding like a kami-damn mountain goat. “I’ve seen him drinking his woes down at the pub when I got off-shift yesterday.”
“Oh? Is that way the laundry hasn’t been done?”
Abruptly, Kakashi remembers the drinking session that Genma has forced him into, as opposed to completing his chores, having decided to do them after meeting his students for the first time. He… regrets that now.
Swallowing, he says, “I’ll do them tonight.” An idea crosses his mind and he shoots up, standing. “In fact, I’ll do them right now!”
Rin’s gaze grows sharper and Obito’s smile is like a tanto to Kakashi’s soul. “Or,” Rin says, all sugary-sweet, “you could sit down and tell us all about your crush.”
It’s not a suggestion.
Kakashi sits down.
“So,” he says, grumbling, “there’s this Academy teacher called-”
“Umino Iruka!” Obito says gleefully, because some of them really haven’t grown out of their child mentality and it shows.
Kakashi frowns at Obito and Rin, helpfully for once, elbows their friend so that he shuts up. “Go on,” Rin says. “Tell us all about this… Umino-san.”
“He’s just. Someone I know,” Kakashi hedges. “But if I was, say, to like him, that would be our business and ours alone.”
Rin and Obito exchange a look. Obito’s grin widens and Rin’s eyes soften. “You really do like him then,” Rin says, and she sounds satisfied as she says it.
A blush grows on Kakashi’s face as his cheeks heat up. Begrudgingly, he admits, “Umino seems… kind. He gave me some advice before I met the students. Said I could call on him if I never needed help.”
“And!” Obito adds, grin growing, and Kakashi narrows his eyes in warning, “You’ll never guess what Kakashi did upon meeting Iruka!”
“I am going to murder-”
Of course, Kakashi never gets a chance to finish his sentence because, gleefully, Obito interrupts him.
“He missed a step and face-planted!”
Rolling his eyes, Kakashi gives up on his friends as they both fall prey to laughter, cackling like they’re hyenas. He really needs better friends.
“You’re a jōnin!” Rin shouts, howling, and has to lean on Obito to keep herself from falling off.
Kakashi smiles to himself, unable to help himself. No matter what he might say, he really couldn’t ask for better friends.