Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was a cold winter day as Asuma sat with Genma and Kurenai after school. They had spent all day inside studying jutsu and the history of Konoha. Due to the heavy snow they’ve had the last few days, outdoor training has been temporarily canceled. School had let out about ten minutes ago and few people remained in the classroom, most having run to the warmth of home first chance they got. Asuma and Kurenai were standing around Genma’s desk as Kurenai attempted to convince him to go get snacks at the convenience store down the street with them.

“Please Genma? It’ll be fun! And if you come with us I’ll even buy yours.” Kurenai bribed as Genma chewed on a piece of wheat, the picture of unbothered. 

“Hey! How come you never offer to pay for me?” Asuma complained with a frown and Kurenai turned to him with a huff.

“Because you’ll come with me no matter what. I need Genma to come with us or my mom won’t let me go!” Asuma’s cheeks flushed at her comment and he chose to look annoyed as he crossed his arms and looked away. “My mom thinks it’s not safe for me to go walking around alone.” Genma finally spared her an irritated look puffing air through his nose.

“Asuma’s going with you, why do you need me?” Genma complained and Asuma couldn’t help but agree. He had asked her the same question when she told him they had to wait for Genma. Kurenai sighed dramatically as she leaned against Genma, shoving him slightly to the side.

“Becauussee last time my dad saw me out alone with Asuma he wouldn’t stop bothering me about it and kept asking a bunch of annoying questions like if I liked him or not.” She drawled and Asuma felt his face somehow grow redder. “If you come with us he can’t accuse me of trying to date boys before I’m old enough.” It seemed Genma decided to have pity on him as he sighed and stood up pushing Kurenai off him as he did.

“Fine, but you better be paying.” Kurenai nodded quickly with a smile as she looped her arm with Asuma’s. He jumped at her sudden closeness but forced himself to relax. It was well known amongst their class that Kurenai was a naturally touchy person. As Asuma looked towards the door, it was then he noticed Kakashi still hovering towards the entrance. Huh, that’s odd. He’s usually the first one out. Kakashi always avoided them if he could despite their best efforts to befriend him. Kakashi was the youngest person to ever attend the ninja academy at age 4 and was already in the same class rank as Asuma and his friends.

It still amazed him how his dad could let a literal toddler do shinobi training. Everyone in their friend group had unanimously decided that it was officially their job to look out for him any way they could. Though if he was being honest Kakashi did a pretty good job looking after himself. Despite his age (and size) he was one of, if not the best kid in their class. He once overheard his dad call him a certifiable genius. Which is why he found it so odd he hadn’t left yet. Kakashi left everyday almost directly after class, where he would then run outside to meet his dad who picked him up. 

“Hey, what’s up with Kakashi?” Asuma voiced, causing his two companions to direct their attention to the door. He watched as frowns overtook their faces at the sight of the small boy. 

“Is he…having trouble with his coat?” Kurenai ventured after a moment of them all shamelessly staring. Upon closer inspection, sure enough Kakashi was messing with the buttons on his coat. Though he didn’t seem to be making any progress. Asuma didn’t need to see his face to tell he was getting frustrated. 

“Uh, what should we do?” Asuma asked after another moment of them sitting in silence. He felt Kurenai shrug from beside him. He turned to look at Genma hoping he would have a better idea only to see a look of determination cross his face. “Genma?’ Asuma prompted when Genma suddenly started walking straight towards Kakashi. “Wait, Genma don’t-” His warning was entirely discarded as Genma kept walking. Does he have a death wish? Everyone knew that when it came to Kakashi you should never offer your help outright, To do so would be suggesting he needed help which was of course ridiculous. He may only be 4 but the kid could be downright viscous if he thought someone was doubting his ability. Despite Genma being well aware of all these things he confidently strutted right up to Kakashi. 

“Yo, Kakashi-Kun” Kakashi paused his fiddling with his coat to glance up at Genma. He scowled at him through his mask as though the greeting had personally offended him. “Do you need help with your coat? You’ve been messing with it for a while.” What was he doing?! Asuma thought panicked. Kakashi’s scowl deepened as he huffed defiantly, 

“I can do it by myself!” Kakashi practically hissed at him, though Genma’s stance didn’t change as he quirked an eyebrow at him.

“You sure? I saw your dad waiting by the gate. If you take too much longer he might get worried.” Kakashi froze at his words. He glared at Genma for a minute longer before huffing again looking at the ground.

“...I can’t get the buttons done.” He admitted quietly after a moment or two. Genma just took it with a nod. Asuma resisted his urge to gasp as Genma proceeded to not get stabbed by the tiny ninja. He spared a glance at Kurenai to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating this whole thing. Kuernai had her own mouth gaping slightly as she stared at the scene with equal shock. Safe to say she saw it too.

“Would you like some help?”

“...yes please” Genma quickly reached over and began messing with Kakashi’s coat. Admittedly the coat was rather large on the small boy, stopping just above his knees. Genma clicked his tongue as he began doing the buttons.

“No wonder you couldn’t do it. These buttons are huge. How’d you even get it on?” Kakashi scuffed his foot against the floor as he avoided Genma’s gaze. 

“Tou-San did it for me.” Genma hummed as he finished the buttons and moved on to fixing his collar and hood, even going as far to readjust his scarf. Genma had always been the most tidy of all of them when it came to appearance. 

“How’s that? Good?” Kakashi gave a tiny nod and looked like he was about to walk off when Genma noticed he had left his boots untied. “Hey, hold on. You’ll trip over your laces if you don’t tie ‘em first.” Kakashi looked down at his feet and quickly shoved the laces inside his shoes, turning to finally leave the classroom. Genma grabbed him by the hood forcing him to whip back around in annoyance. 

“Hey-!”

“Do you not know how to tie them?” Genma cut off his protest as Kakashi bristled at the comment. When he refused to answer, Genma sighed and leaned down so he could reach Kakashi’s feet. As he pulled the laces back out, Kakashi traced his movements with his eyes. “Ya know, if you don’t know how to do something you can just say so. We’re not gonna make fun of you or anything.” He reassured and Kakashi once again stayed quiet. When Genma went to do the other shoe Kakashi reached down to stop him. Genma paused looking at him with a silent question. 

They all watched as Kakashi examined his newly tied boot before he grabbed the laces of the other one. It took a bit longer than Genma but he had managed to tie it on his own. He straightened back up satisfied with himself as Genma nodded in approval.

“Not bad, you learn quick.” Though it was difficult to tell when his face was always obscured, even they could see the way he preened at the praise. Kakashi moved to walk out the door and Genma didn’t grab him this time, he did however call one last thing to him though. “If you ever need help with something like that you can always ask me. I don’t mind, plus a shinobi should always know when to ask for help.” Asuma tried not to flinch at Genma’s pure audacity as Kakashi paused without looking back. Just when they thought he was going to ignore him completely he gave the tiniest nod. Kakashi bolted out the door and the three of them turned to the window to see him run to Sakumo who in turn lifted him onto his shoulders.

They sat in silence for several minutes, nobody daring to move, afraid they would shatter whatever twilight zone they’ve clearly found themselves in. “Well do you guys want to get food or what?” Kurenai and Asuma both jumped as Genma suddenly spoke and they turned to openly stare at him. “....What?”

“Dude! Are you insane?”

“How’d you do that?”

They both shouted at the same time as Genma tilted his head as though they were the weird ones. “What do you mean? He looked like he was having trouble so I helped him. It’s not a big deal.” He shrugged them off, shoving his hands in his pockets as he started walking towards the door. Asuma and Kurenai shared a look before quickly running after him.

“Not a big deal? Had either of us done that he would’ve threatened to stab us when our backs were turned.” Asuma argued as he and Kurenai moved to walk in step with Genma out of the academy. He leveled Asuma with a dry look as if calling him dramatic but he didn’t amend his words. He was speaking from experience, thank you very much. Kurenai was quick to agree, bobbing her head up and down.

“He’s right, I tried to help him grab a book off the top shelf once and he told me to watch myself during training.” She shuddered slightly at the clearly unpleasant memory as Genma shrugged.

“Maybe that’s because he knows you guys see him as a baby.” He offered and they both frowned at him.

“Yea, but you do too.” Asuma shot back and Genma stopped walking to smile at them. He hummed in what sounded suspiciously like amusement before he kept walking offering no further explanation. 

Chapter Text

When a month came and went without a similar occurrence, Asuma began thinking it was just a fluke. The event had become widespread throughout the class and half of his friends didn’t believe them and thought they must have imagined the whole thing and the other half were moderately terrified by the story and didn’t want to accept it. It just seemed so far-fetched. After a while they came to the general consensus on whether it happened or not, it was clearly a one time thing. Kakashi had just been in a good mood and decided to have mercy on Genma. That’s all. That is until one particular Friday evening in the school library. 

They had all been assigned a book report on one important Konoha figure. They had been given a bunch of rules about the restrictions on who they could choose to prevent everyone from just picking a popular jonin or the Hokage to avoid doing research. Pretty much the whole class was in the library looking for references. Asuma was looking through the ‘historical heroes’ section with Genma and Raidou when they saw Kakashi staring straight up a few shelves down. He wasn’t moving, he was just…staring. 

“Hey, what’s he doing?” Asuma asked, nudging Raidou in the arm. Raidou looked over somewhat annoyed at where Asuma was gesturing. He looked just as confused at the scene as Asuma felt. After a minute Raidou just shrugged, going back to examining the two books in his hands.

“How should I know? He’s probably just trying to read the titles or something.” Asuma frowned as he squinted at the smaller boy. It didn’t look like that’s what he was doing, his eyes were more or less focused in one place. It was then he remembered the event that happened with Genma a few weeks prior. Asuma gave a smirk as a simply wonderful idea was born and he carefully sauntered over to Genma’s side of the self where he had his head buried in a book called ‘The heroes of the 2nd Great Shinobi war’. “Hey, Genma” Asuma whispered, tapping him on the shoulder. Genma looked up with a raised eyebrow and a very clear ‘What do you want?’ face. Asuma was more than happy to elaborate. “You should go see if Kakashi needs something.” He suggested and Genma blinked at him unimpressed. 

“Why don’t you?” Genma countered, completely missing the point and Asuma rolled his eyes. How can he test this clear supernatural phenomenon if Genma didn’t cooperate? (Also he’s bored)

“Because I value my life?” Asuma offered in explanation and Genma was unmoved. “Besides, he likes you better. Look,” He redirected, wrapping an arm around Genma’s shoulders to turn him towards the other side of the room where the young Hatake was still standing stock still, staring straight up. “He's been like that awhile.” He tacked on knowing Genma would be interested if he made it seem concerning. Sure enough, it worked as Genma frowned deeply, closing his book. Genma only stood still for a minute before gently shoving his book into Asuma’s hands.

“Hold this for me.” Genma ‘asked’ already moving towards Kakashi, determined. Well this should be entertaining.  Asuma thought excitedly, shamelessly watching with apt attention. If the strange phenomenon happened again he’d now have Raidou to act as another witness that Genma was in fact a ‘Kakashi whisper’ and clearly had some secret kekkei genkai that allowed him to act that way towards him without receiving immediate repercussions. If it didn’t and Genma got taken out by righteous 4-year-old fury then that would be funny too. Anything was better than book searching. “Yo, Kakashi-Kun” Genma greeted, causing Kakashi to finally break his gaze with the shelf to look at the older boy. The greeting also caught Raidou’s attention as he too looked towards the interaction. Good. Wouldn’t want him to miss it. 

“What?” Kakashi demanded annoyed rather than returning the greeting. Genma wasn’t offended and just kept going. As though he didn’t know what true fear was.

“What’re you staring at?” Genma questioned point blank, tilting his head back to try and see what could have been holding Kakashi’s attention so intently. Kakashi in turn bristled, crossing his arms over his chest in what was supposed to be an air of defiance but came off more self-conscious.

“Nothing. Just deciding on a book.” Kakashi answered lamely, looking back up as well at the book wall. Genma didn’t seem satisfied with the answer though as he cocked a brow at the prodigy. Probably because it was a total dodge. Asuma thought, taking a subtle step closer so he could better hear the conversation. Raidou saw this and sent him a scolding look for eavesdropping but apparently hadn’t noticed he’d done the exact same thing. 

“Usually doesn’t take you this long.” Genma pointed out which was true. Usually Kakashi somehow had his assignments figured out before school even let out. Or before the teacher even finished talking. “You sure you don’t need anything?” Despite having seen it happen before, Asuma was still thrown by Genma’s blatant audacity in addressing the situation. A quick glance at Raidou showed he was now fully enthralled. Rather than scream that he wasn’t a child who didn’t need help or attempt to inflict bodily harm onto him should he dare to suggest such a thing again, Kakashi just puffed his cheek, a light blush coming to his ears before he pointed up.

“I can’t reach it.” Kakashi stated simply, huffing in clear frustration. Genma suddenly nodded in understanding as he gestured towards the higher selection of novels.

“You mean the books?” Genma clarified and while Kakashi looked embarrassed he still gave a tiny nod as he continued. Asuma glanced at his friend again when he heard him make a choking cat kind of sound and saw him openly gapping as Kakashi continued not to get upset. Asuma couldn’t help the smug smirk that came over his face. That’s what you get for not believing me. He’d like to see him try to doubt him again after this.

“I could get it myself but last time I used wall walking on the shelves Ayumi-San yelled at me.” Kakashi complained with a mumble and Genma huffed a laugh. Ayumi-San was the school librarian and also a total witch. It was very obvious she didn’t particularly like children and was always yelling about them all being too loud or messing up the system of the books. She’s probably especially hard on Kakashi since he’s so young. ‘Libraries are not a place for child play.’ Was one of her favorite sayings.

“I’ll bet.” Genma said with a small smile towards the younger. “Want me to grab it for ya?” Genma offered easily and Asuma nearly blew his cover at Raidou’s expression. It was hilarious. Is that what we looked like? Asuma briefly wondered, considering how he and Kurenai would’ve probably looked to passers-by. Kakashi hesitated and Asuma stiffened, thinking this might be it. His weird patience has run out and he’s going to snap and go feral, but that didn’t happen. Kakashi just looked away before giving another very small nod.

“‘Konoha’s Greatest Battles’” Kakashi recited the title and Genma nodded as he got up on his tiptoes to search the upper self for the requested item. No wonder he couldn’t get it. Asuma thought as he saw how Genma just barely managed to snag it by his fingertips. Plus Kakashi was kinda short even for his age. Not that Asuma would ever dare say that. At least not where he could hear. He’s not as brave(Stupid) as Genma. The brown book was thick and heavy as Genma carefully handed it to Kakashi who had to hold it with two hands.

“You got it?” Genma checked as Kakashi shifted it around so he had a better grip. The comically large book somehow made Kakashi look even smaller and even Asuma had to admit it was kinda adorable.

“Yes.” Kakashi stated firmly once he had it situated. He turned to leave towards the check out as he now had what he needed but paused to give a very small, very quick bow of thanks towards Genma. “Thanks” The word was more or less blurted before Kakashi quickly left, probably to start and finish their latest assignment in record time. Genma didn’t stare in awe or really react at all and merely shrugged before walking back to pluck his book back out of Asuma’s hands.

It went easily sense his grip had all but gone slack. Raidou still hadn’t closed his mouth either. Still scary. Asuma decided as he tried to figure out whatever the secret to Genma’s invincibility was. Apparently the amazement didn’t fade seeing it a second time. After a full minute of their silent gawking Genma looked up from his book annoyed. 

“What’s wrong with you two?” He drawled bored . How anyone could be bored after that anxiety inducing show he has no idea. This seemed to be all Raidou needed as he finally sputtered back to life.

“You just- How’d you- What?” Raidou rapidly started and broke off completely lost and Genma scrunched his face up in confusion. Raidou didn’t elaborate but did seem to have some kind of epiphany as he abruptly grabbed Asuma’s shoulders to yank him to face him. “Sweet Kami, you were telling the truth?!” He shouted, realizing his and Kurenai’s tale hadn’t been as exaggerated as he assumed. His raised voice of course summoned Ayumi-San from the depths as she quickly popped around the corner with a glare.

“Shh!” She hissed warningly, a finger raised to her lips and Raidou flinched as he released Asuma to give a quick apologetic bow. Ayumi still had a sour expression but returned back to wherever she was before. Once she was gone Raidou jumped right back to the subject at hand.

“I don’t get it, how’d you do that?” He whispered to Genma, now mindful of volume, and he merely shrugged.

“It’s really not that big a deal.” Genma dismissed, deciding this was indeed the book he needed as he tucked it under his arm and grabbed his discarded school bag from the floor. I disagree. Asuma thought bitterly. 

“But when we ask him stuff like that he just gets mad and we’re doing the exact same thing!” Raidou whisper-shouted, clearly having trouble processing. Genma just shrugged loosely, swinging his bag over his shoulder and walking away. Shattering their entire world view. “But- He-?” Raidou continued turning to Asuma for answers that he didn’t have. The first time’s always the hardest. Asuma mused, laying a comforting hand on Raidou’s shoulder. 

“I know buddy.” Asuma sympathized and Raidou finally stopped muttering incoherently trying to make sense of the situation. An impossible feat as it couldn’t make sense. For some unknown reason, only Genma was allowed to help their youngest classmate safely. “It’s not fair.”