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In an apartment complex in the Village Hidden in the Leaves, the Seventh Hokage stood in a hallway pounding on a door. The door, and the unit it led to, belonged to Hatake Kakashi. Said ninja had maintained the residence despite having another apartment in Hokage Tower. Naruto said it was because his old sensei was too lazy to move the rest of his things into the new apartment. Tsunade reminded the hyperactive blond that one day he may find it nice to have a residence of his own that was away from his workplace.
“Kakashi-sensei!” Naruto bellowed. “Open up we need to ask you something!” No sooner were these words shouted that the blond began his knocking anew.
“Naruto,” his dark companion said over the noise. “The man has sensitive hearing, no need to let the whole complex know we’re here. I’m sure if he’s in there he heard you.”
“Then why doesn’t he answer?” Naruto asked, the onslaught on the door momentarily forgotten. “He would have said something if he’d planned on leaving the village.”
Sasuke rolled his eyes, “I don’t know, maybe he-”
Just then the door cracked open revealing the head and part of the shoulder of the last Hatake. He wore only his black undershirt, leaving his arms bare. His headband was off and his hair looked more tasseled than usual, as if they’d roused him from sleep. Or…
Sasuke’s eyes widened slightly and then narrowed suspiciously. Naruto, oblivious to this, brightened when the door opened.
Kakashi stared out at them through the small gap with an exasperated expression on his face. His breathing was carefully controlled. “What is it Naruto?”
“Hey sensei. Why’d it take you so long to answer? We-” Naruto paused because Sasuke had kicked him in the shin. Naruto turned and looked at his friend but dismissed the warning glance the brunette was attempting to give him; so many of Sasuke’s expressions looked exactly alike.
Kakashi stared at his grown students. He deadpanned, “is that what you came to ask me?” There was no humor in his eyes.
“Ah, no, we were going to ask-” Naruto stopped again and turned to glare at Sasuke. “What was that for?” He’d received yet another kick to the shin, harder this time. It wouldn’t even have a chance to bruise but it was still irritating.
“Naruto,” Sasuke said firmly. “I think we’d better go. You can ask Kakashi about this tomorrow, or the next day maybe.”
Naruto frowned, turning his whole body so that he was facing his friend. He crossed his arms in front of him. “I thought we’d agreed that it was best to finish this tonight? It was your idea!”
Sasuke gritted his teeth in frustration, the blond was missing the point. “I know that but I don’t think it’s a good time.” Over Naruto’s shoulder, Sasuke was watching a tick develop in their sensei’s eyebrow. It was becoming rather disconcerting. “We should go, now.”
The emphasis made Naruto frown. There was something he was missing, he just couldn’t figure it out. He opened his mouth to ask when a new voice rang out from within in the apartment.
“Naruto, you’d better get out of here or I will personally throw you out!” The silence after this screamed statement echoed out the door and down the passage.
Naruto whirled around at the sound of the familiar voice, his eyes the size of saucers. Kakashi carefully wiped his face clean of expression. He stared at the pair with blank eyes as a blush developed on Naruto’s cheeks. He glanced at Kakashi’s appearance again with new understanding. Sasuke mentally face-palmed.
When the orange Hokage spoke again his voice was unusually high and quiet, “sorry sensei.”
Said sensei didn’t acknowledge this, he just kept staring at them, waiting for them to leave. Sasuke grasped Naruto’s coat sleeve and began pulling him in the right direction. Killing intent began leaking into the hallway and the men retreated from the unfriendly chakra that was radiating from within the apartment. The blond stumbled but caught himself and began to walk, rather quickly, toward the exit. Sasuke was right at his side.
“We never speak of this,” Sasuke muttered to his companion as they made their hasty departure.
Naruto nodded. “Yeah.”
Behind them they heard an apartment door close more forcefully than was entirely necessary. Both men breathed a sigh of relief as they reached the relative safety of the stairs.
Naruto asked, voice still a little shaky, “did you know Mei was in town?”
“No.”
Author’s Note: I wrote a version from Mei’s point of view for my own reference. I’ll include it here if anyone is interested in reading it.
A pounding sounded on the door followed by a shouted summons. Kakashi sighed and hung his head. He slowly withdrew his fingers teasingly from Mei’s bare skin. The action drew forth goose bumps and a high sound from the kunoichi’s throat. It, however, was not a whine. Mizukages do not whine.
“Ignore them,” Mei pleaded in a whisper. Kakashi was already standing up, flicking his untidy hair out of his eyes.
“Can’t,” he replied, snatching a sleeveless shirt from a chair and pulling it over his head. “It’s Naruto, he’ll bust down the door.”
Mei dropped her face onto the couch, grumbling into the cushions. “Just get rid of him,” her muffled voice said.
Kakashi threw her a smile before pulling up his mask. The knocking continued as the Sixth Hokage crossed his apartment.
The retired sensei opened the door and confronted his students. Mei looked up and blew her thick hair out of her eyes. She could at least enjoy the view from her side of things.
What followed was a conversation that was more of the boys talking and less of them leaving than Mei would have liked. By the third exchange Mei was drumming her fingers on the cushions. Her patience at an end, she openly threatened the sitting Hokage, which didn’t bother the diplomatist as much as it probably should have. To hammer the point home, she leaked a little malevolent chakra to show them exactly what she thought about their continued presence.
Moments later Kakashi closed the door and returned, giving her a mischievous look. “Was that necessary?”
“Letting the entire village know that I’m here and, in particular, relaxing unsupervised in your apartment? Probably not.”
“You’re not completely unsupervised,” Kakashi protested, sitting down by her side.
Mei snorted, “I don’t think you count as an appropriate chaperone.” She reached out and pulled him to her, fingers slipping his mask down.
“If you say so,” the Hatake replied, his lips tracing her collarbone and then working up her neck.