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Iruka had never thought much about the summer festival his village held every year, but it felt... strange now.
Up until he was six, his only true understanding of the war was that it was the reason that his parents were away so often, why the earliest memories he could remember clearly were of learning what he could or couldn’t say and what he should or shouldn’t do if something happened to him when they weren't there.
Even now, Iruka still didn't completely understand the long glances shared between his parents or why the quiet in the mornings after some missions felt so wrong. But now that he was a little older and knew how to listen a little bit better, the fact that the village could still celebrate the setting of the longest sun of the year even in the midst of a war made Iruka look at the faces around him differently.
Was this the Will of Fire? To continue to hold onto hope for another year, another beginning even when the world seemed to crumble past the walls around the heart of the village?
Iruka couldn't help his small grin. No wonder his parents were so proud. He heard it from them all the time, but it was nothing compared to seeing it with his own eyes.
Sitting on a stool outside of his mom’s small food shop (“When you get older, Iruka dear, you’ll need something other than training to occupy yourself, too.”), Iruka swung his legs as he watched the stream of people flow by, their wooden geta creating trails in the ground with each step. In the darkening cover of the sky, the lanterns hanging overhead along the streets illuminated them, its warm lights dancing across their smiling faces and dipping into the folds of their yukatas.
He himself was dressed in his dad’s old deep green yukata from when he was younger, tiny white swirls decorating the ends of the sleeves like the ripples of the ocean.
There was a little problem, though. Just a teeny-tiny one.
With a huff, Iruka picked at his sleeves in annoyance. Apparently, his dad had really, really long arms when he was a kid. Why didn’t he think to tell him when he first brought up the idea? Now he was stuck in this endless loop of pushing them up only for them to fall back over his hands again!
Mournfully, he looked at the sweets displayed out front.
How was he supposed to eat them without smearing chocolate all over his clothes and getting scolded again? There was no way he was going to ask his mom to feed him either! He had been seven for well over a month now, and that meant he was a big boy. His pride would never allow it.
Still, Iruka pouted to himself. This sucked.
He had just resigned himself to starving to death when something flashed in the very corner of his eye.
Something silver.
Iruka whipped his head around with a gasp so quickly that he had to pat himself down to make sure that he wasn't going to crumple off his stool from accidentally snapping his neck. But the moment he was mostly sure he was alive, he was on his feet in an instant, heart pounding.
Bursting into the shop with a loud crash that startled both him and the customer currently ordering, he quickly kissed his mom on the cheek and spewed out all of his excuses in a fierce jumble of words before dashing back out, leaving his bewildered mom with a dust outline.
Iruka squeezed his way through the crowd, yelling out harried apologies as he shouldered a few people out of the way. It was justified, okay? His dad would make him find everybody and force him to apologize on his knees later when he came back from wherever he got called to, but this was more important than worrying about that!
If that really was Kakashi, then he couldn't lose him!
With one last squeeze, Iruka popped out the other side with a wheeze and aching shoulders. But there was no time to waste and he’d hardly caught his breath before he was swivelling his head around in a stellar imitation of a crane from his parents hometown to look for the telltale pompously silver hair that only belonged to one equally pompous jerk.
Then he saw him.
And it really was him because Iruka would recognize him anywhere. He could barely restrain the giddy excitement starting to bubble inside of him as Iruka began his mad dash through the streets once more.
Except this time, he had a clear target to aim for.
In the time since Iruka had last seen him—a month now—, it looked like Kakashi hadn’t changed at all. Sure, the dark blue yukata was different, but that was about it. He still had that dead-bored look in his eyes, and his hair was still a spiky mess, and his face was still covered by a mask. Which was fine. Iruka hadn’t changed either.
But when he got a little closer, he inhaled sharply.
No, the change wasn’t in Kakashi.
The change was that this time Kakashi had friends with him. Real, physical friends. As in living people who breathed and had free will.
Iruka never thought he’d live to see the day where Kakashi had more friends than him. Not that Iruka was trying to imply that Kakashi was incapable of making friends. He was sure that underneath that really mean and cold glare of Kakashi’s, he was a rather nice guy. Or at least, that’s what he hoped since he was close to Minato-sama (ack, Iruka still wasn’t used to calling him that even in his head but Iruka knew that only calling someone by their title was solely reserved for bad guys and Minato-sama was anything but bad) and Minato-sama was a really nice guy so it was only right that his student was, too!
Still, somewhere inside of Iruka was completely flabbergasted at the sight of the two—two!—other kids beside Kakashi that weren’t clones, laughing and poking fun at each other. How did a jerk like Kakashi manage that?
So, he did the only thing he could think of. He kept running.
“Hey!” he shouted with a grin as they turned to look at him in surprise, waving an arm in the air as he neared, “Kakashi-sensei!”
Iruka was only so far now so he leaned to slow down.
It didn't work.
His eyes widened as he continued skidding forward despite his efforts to dig his heels into the ground and he cursed his wooden shoes for having absolutely no grip. Crap!
Kakashi and his friends were getting closer and closer, but Iruka couldn’t stop and they seemed to realize it, too. Their eyes went comically wide and Iruka would have laughed if he wasn’t so busy trying not to scream as he prepared for impact.
I’m going to die, Iruka thought breathlessly, I’m going to die and my parents are gonna be the ones who carve ‘idiot’ next to my name on my gravestone!
Another thought popped into his mind and his face dropped in horror. I’m going to die with less friends than Kakashi!
Before he could ask what he had done in his past life to have such a miserable end, Iruka crashed in Kakashi and then the air was being crushed out of his lungs, ripped away in a strangled gasp as they stumbled backwards. The grunt above him was the only warning he got before cold hands were digging into his arms and he was swinging through the air, world spinning around him.
A second later, he was trying his best not to throw up his lunch when he abruptly landed back on ground, feeling like he'd just been hit with a wall. He might as well have been with the way his knees buckled. But before he could dive headfirst into the dirt, a hand steadied him. Somehow, he managed to gasp out a quick thanks as he tried to catch his breath.
Once Iruka was safely out of the potential death zone, he threw the three a sheepish smile.
“Sorry. I couldn’t stop in these shoes,” Iruka said, rubbing the back of his neck.
Then his eyes shifted over to Kakashi in worry. “Sorry, Kakashi-sensei. Are you okay? I didn’t hurt you or anything, did I?”
Kakashi scoffed, looking down his nose at Iruka as he straightened out his clothes. “You couldn’t hurt me if you tried. And don’t call me that.”
"Wha—? Hey, what the hell is that supposed to—!”
"Ahem!"
A loud cough cut him off and Iruka whirled around in surprise to meet the scowl of the boy who'd been with Kakashi. Heat crept his neck. It was one thing to pick a fight with Kakashi, it was another thing to pick one in front of his friends!
“Are we missing something here? Since when did Kakashi know anyone other than us?” he demanded before Iruka could apologize, folding his arms across his chest. His yukata was rumpled where it was tied like he couldn’t be bothered to fix it, but Iruka stiffened. He'd recognize the Uchiha crest anywhere.
Crap, if he seriously pissed him off—
("Don't get into trouble with the major clans, son. You don't know what they can do without—")
The girl beside him grabbed his hand with an imploring look, her short brown hair brushing against the purple marks on her cheeks. “Obito…”
Iruka held his breath, watching with wide eyes when the Uchiha—Obito, apparently—softened slightly, a strange blush dusting his cheeks when she let go of his hand a beat later with a smile. Still, he didn’t back down even as Kakashi shot him a disgruntled glare, returning it with equal fervor.
“Okay,” Obito said after a moment, “but don’t you think it’s weird that this kid is familiar with Kakashi and he hasn’t even mentioned him? He's a total ass, we should've found out by now!”
Iruka choked on his exhale. Okay, clearly he had been dramatic for no reason. A clan kid was still a kid, right? If they could both agree that Kakashi was a jerk, then there was nothing to worry about as long as Iruka didn't stir anything else up. Hesitantly, he decided that he liked him.
Across from him, the girl opened her mouth to what Iruka guessed was to defend Kakashi (as if he needed anything of the kind) before pausing upon second thought. There, a small dip formed between her eyes as she chewed her lip.
“Huh. When you put it that way, Obito, you’re right,” she said, looking between Iruka and Kakashi contemplatively. “It is a little strange.”
Kakashi's eyes narrowed in clear exasperation. “We're not familiar. There's nothing strange about it."
All the excitement that had driven him here in the first place got stomped right there and then. Iruka twitched. Did this guy really hate the idea of being associated with him that much? Fine! Then Iruka was going to make this really hard for him!
“Uh, yes we are,” Iruka said loudly, “you taught me how to throw a shuriken last month and you almost attacked my dad.”
"You—!"
“Kakashi did what?” Obito shouted.
It was so loud that it caught the attention of a handful of passersby and Iruka gaped as they stopped to stare and whisper.
When he said he was going to make it hard for Kakashi, he didn’t mean grabbing the eyes of a bunch of strangers! That wasn’t in the plans at all! Not that he had an actual plan, but—oh whatever! It didn’t matter!
Iruka glanced at Kakashi and felt a slight twinge of guilt at the discomfort in his stony stare. He didn’t mean to do that!
Awh, he’d have to make it up to him later… Iruka gnawed on his lip. Would food do? Everybody liked food, right? He wondered if Kakashi liked sweets. If not, he was sure his mom would still have some onigiri left over…
Wait. Did Kakashi even eat? Surely he did.
…Right?
Iruka nearly jumped when the girl tugged at his hand. She flashed him a small smile before nudging both Obito and Kakashi.
“Hey, why don’t we move somewhere a little quieter?” she suggested softly with a meaningful glance towards their audience.
Kakashi and Obito shared a venomous look before turning away from each other with a loud scoff, noses turned up in matching contempt.
Jeez. Iruka could almost see the sparks.
The girl only seemed to take in stride, though. She just smiled brighter before taking off in another direction with Iruka in hand, Obito and Kakashi begrudgingly trailing behind.
There wasn’t much Iruka could do but to let himself be led through the crowd even if it embarrassed him to no end that he was being pulled along like a little kid—by an older girl he didn’t even know the name of no less! Iruka had never been so grateful that none of his classmates lived around here. His head already hurt just thinking about how they’d react.
Ooo, Iruka has a girlfriend! they’d jeer and Iruka would probably break down crying and then punch someone and get punched back twice as hard before going, Shut up, I’ll hold your hand next!
They stopped in front of a quiet food stall.
No later than they had stopped, Obito was already back to grilling Kakashi, his face all screwed up as he demanded answers, completely undeterred by Kakashi’s glazed over eyes. Kakashi couldn’t have looked more fed up giving half-hearted answers (read: one syllable noises) and Iruka giggled despite himself.
The girl seemed to share his sentiment and laughed behind her other hand.
“They do this all the time. It’s a wonder they get along at all, but I wouldn’t have it any other way." She said it with a small shake of her head, but it was clearly fond, her gaze warm as she watched the two fight.
A long beat passed before Iruka froze. Wait, was she talking to him?
A glance up confirmed that she was indeed looking at him and he clammed up, face flushing. How was he supposed to respond? Could he talk informally? Surely he could, right? She was a friend of Kakashi’s and the way Iruka spoke to him was—uh.
Okay. Maybe he shouldn’t do that right away.
Still, time was ticking even if her face (strangely sweet now that he was actually looking) was still anything but impatient. Iruka wasn’t going to be rude and make her wait longer just because he was nervous.
“But wouldn’t they be fighting less?” he finally managed with a stiff glance at the pair.
Iruka's nerves turned out to be for nothing. The girl’s face lit up, eyes curved up in a way that could be described only as the beauty of the kind, soft and gentle and unbelievably fond under the lantern lights. Iruka wondered if anyone had ever asked her that before.
“I think that’s just how they know how to talk to each other. Obito picks a fight and Kakashi indulges in him a little. It’s how they work.” She gave him a knowing smile. “Say, it’s a bit like you and Kakashi, isn’t it?”
Iruka startled slightly and looked down at his feet in embarrassment. If the girl (argh, he still hadn’t gotten a name yet!) hadn’t disliked him before, she was definitely going to now!
“Oh, we're not... we’re actually really not that close at all,” he admitted with a wince. “I was just doing that to bug him.”
Iruka braced himself for a cry of outrage but it never came. Instead, her hand shot up to muffle a snort and his head snapped up at the sound. Watched her press her lips together to stifle her laughter.
“Oh, you two really are alike,” she giggled. The hand holding Iruka’s squeezed gently and a lump formed in his throat when the other hand came up to pat his hair reassuringly. “I think you and Kakashi are going to be just fine,” she said warmly and oh. She had dimples.
Strangely enough, it settled something inside of him. What a weird feeling it was to look into the face of someone you'd only just met, to hear their words and think, I trust you.
“Hey!” The scandalized shout ripped through the air and Iruka jumped before whipping around to glare at the source: Uchiha Obito. The Uchiha glared right back, an accusing finger pointed at him even as he turned to yell right into Kakashi’s face. “Kakashi, your kid is stealing Rin from us!”
Kakashi planted a hand in Obito’s face and shoved him away with an icy glare, ignoring the other’s pained yelp. “Get away, you idiot! He’s not my kid!”
“Yeah, I’m seven!” Scowling, Iruka shook a fist at Obito, his previous note to himself to not cause trouble completely escaping his mind in righteous indignance. “And my name’s Iruka! Umino Iruka!”
“How was I supposed to know?” Obito complained, rubbing his nose woefully. “You never told us!”
What? But— “Kakashi-sensei knows my name!”
“Huh? Kakashi, damn it, why didn’t you introduce us?”
Kakashi gave him a withering stare. “I didn’t want you two to meet in the first place, Obito.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Iruka and Obito shouted incredulously.
Silence.
Awkwardly, Iruka shared a look with Obito, mouth still half open. The sound of people rustled softly in the background for a long beat before they burst out into laughter.
Rin joined in right after, her shoulders shaking in mirth in between scolding them for arguing again. Stick in the mud that he was, Kakashi just shook his head. Iruka was pretty sure he even heard the muffled sound of ‘idiots’ floating out from under his mask, but that just made him laugh harder and his ribs ache. He was so busy trying not to keel over that he nearly missed the shadow falling over them as a familiar voice joined in.
“Ah, my precious students are getting along without me!” The warm voice chuckled behind them. “Today really is a good day.”
No way.
Heart beating in his throat, Iruka whirled around.
No way! Iruka sputtered in surprise, eyes wide. “M-Minato-sama?”
And there the man stood in all of his glory with the lights dancing across his eyes and a smile playing on his lips. A deep blue striped yukata replaced the standard uniform Iruka had last seen him in and immediately he felt a flush creep up his neck. He couldn't believe that he got to see him in something so casual! Him!
At Iruka's exclamation, his eyes lit up impossibly brighter. “Iruka-kun!” he exclaimed, “You remember me!”
Iruka could only stare as disbelief flooded through him. Remember him? Iruka shrieked in his mind. Of course I do! Him remembering me? That’s the shocker!
Then he realized exactly what he was doing. Before Iruka could start panicking again because this was the second time that he was taking forever to answer the man, Kakashi came to his rescue with a... yawn?
Iruka could cry. He never thought that Kakashi would ever help him again after last time, but maybe he had really judged too quickly and the other was—
“Who could forget your awful hair, Sensei?”
—absolutely no help.
Iruka almost choked on his own spit. He should’ve known! Iruka groaned softly, his hope harshly snuffed under Kakashi’s foot. What a way to kick a guy while he was down. Besides, it wasn’t even that bad, just—stylistically wild.
To his credit, Minato merely clutched dramatically at his chest.
“Always one to get straight to the point, Kakashi,” he sighed before turning to Rin and Obito. “But surely the rest of my dear students don’t agree, right? Is my hair really so bad?”
Iruka felt his stomach drop in apprehension as they shared a mischievous glance before they shook their heads.
“No, Sensei—,” they said together and stupidly, Iruka dared to hope again, but then they grinned cheekily and Iruka knew that he shouldn't have bothered when they finished with flourish, “—it’s even worse!”
Minato must’ve taken his stricken expression as one in his defence because he let out an exaggerated hmph! at his students and took Iruka’s hand, tugging him out of Rin’s warm grasp.
“Let’s go, Iruka-kun,” Minato said, turning his nose up at the rest of them. “We’ll leave these mean students of mine and get some snacks while we’re at it.”
Everything in Iruka's body screeched to a halt.
Hold on. What?
He looked down and promptly felt his brain explode. Holy crap. That was Minato-sama's hand. Holding his. As in making contact with Iruka's with his own. Did his face just blow up, too? He was pretty sure it did. There was no other plausible explanation for why his face felt so hot. Everything was tingling. Was that normal? Who was he kidding? Minato-sama was holding his hand! Iruka was going to die!
Dazed, Iruka couldn't even feel his legs when he automatically moved to catch up to Minato's significantly longer strides when they started to move. In all honesty, he couldn't feel much of anything other than the primal urge to scream. In a good way, of course.
Did that make him any less glad when three sets of footsteps followed soon after? Absolutely not. Iruka didn’t know what he would do if he passed out in front of the legendary Yellow Flash without back-up even if he really only had good faith in one person to not hurt him either accidentally or purposefully in the process.
Still, it took a minute or two for Iruka to feel vaguely settled. When he did, though, he almost wished he hadn't.
Even with his change in attire, Minato attracted the looks and whispers of all those who got caught by the webs of his presence as he passed by. That subsequently bled onto him, the prey wrapped up in the heart of it all. It was all that Iruka could do to keep his head bowed and focus on mapping out the ground with the clicks of his tongue.
He swallowed thickly. He never did get used to getting stared at.
("Keep your head low whenever you have to, Iruka. Always be careful of attention you haven't earned.")
“Minato-sama,” Iruka said hesitantly to distract himself with the nerves of talking to the man instead of the eyes on him, the lesser of two evils, “do you like sweets?”
Actually, scratch that. Minato-sama didn’t even qualify as one of the evils, Iruka thought when the man’s gaze dropped down to him and suddenly the stares felt muted when compared to his.
“I do,” he said with a smile. “Would you like to go get some?”
Letting out a breath of relief, Iruka pulled ahead slightly and nodded, pulling Minato along by the hand. Like this, it was almost easy to let the tension bleed away when he asked, “Can we go to my shop? There was some mochi in the freezer earlier that I didn’t get to yet.”
“Of course,” Minato agreed easily. A moment later he tilted his head, a curious expression on his face. “Hm. I never knew Ikkaku-san owned a sweets shop.”
“Oh, that’s because it’s actually my mom’s! And it’s not always open because they’re usually on missions, but since today’s the festival she made sure she was free.”
“Ah, I see…” They made it a few more steps before Minato leaned down just enough for his next question to be for Iruka’s ears only. “I hope you don’t mind me asking, Iruka-kun, but your mother’s name is Umino Kohari, isn't it?”
Iruka blinked before lighting up. “Uh-huh! How’d you know?”
“I ran a few missions with her when I was younger.” Moving back, Minato covered his face with a hand in embarrassment. “I can’t believe I never connected the dots until now. You have her face and everything!”
Iruka grinned. “But my dad’s eyes, right? That’s what everybody says.” He paused. “Wait, missions?” he demanded excitedly as he whirled around, paying no mind to how he just barely avoided crashing into a pole.
He half-heartedly noted that the other three had disappeared before turning his attention back to the man. “Do you have any cool stories, Minato-sama? Is Mom super strong?”
A smile tugged at the man’s lips again. “That’s right, Iruka-kun. And to answer your question, yes, she is. She saved my skin quite a few times when I was in a pinch that even I couldn’t handle alone back then,” he said and then his gaze went a little misty, his smile slipping.
Something uneasy stirred in Iruka.
He had the same faraway look that his parents wore sometimes when they were remembering something from a really long time ago. Iruka’s nose scrunched up and he yanked on the man’s hand before he got sucked away in his memories. He really hated that look. It always made his parents sad and if it looked wrong on them then it had no place on Minato-sama's too-young face.
Making up his mind, Iruka reached for Minato’s other hand and squeezed both of them between his.
“Really? How?” he demanded loudly if only to make sure he had his complete attention, trying his best to sound excited.
It must have worked because the look faded and the blue cleared of its haze as Minato blinked rapidly. Catching himself by the rim of the net, as Iruka’s parents would say and Iruka watched the gentle curve of his lips reappear with almost overwhelming gladness when he suggested asking Iruka's mom to help with the story.
In all honesty, Iruka didn’t really want the story anymore, but he couldn’t exactly refuse it after making such a big deal about it. He just hoped that his mom would spot that look and spin the story into a joke.
Iruka sighed as he pulled Minato along by the hand again. Why were adults so complicated? Maybe he shouldn’t become a shinobi if this was how weird everybody turned out.
Quick as the thought came, Iruka flushed incredulously. What was he talking about? Minato-sama wasn’t weird! He was super awesome and cool and strong and had even more awesome jutsus under his sleeve than his dad and it was just an added bonus that he was pretty, too, and really nice and—
Iruka’s face blew up, heat rushing from the roots of his hair all the way to his toes.
Wailing to himself, Iruka shot off even faster. Scratch that, Iruka didn’t even need to become a shinobi to be weird!
Minato blinked in surprise when they suddenly accelerated in speed before breaking out into delighted laughter as he indulgently allowed Iruka to lead him through the busy streets. How enthusiastic! He couldn’t believe that Ikkaku had managed to keep such an energetic son from his knowledge, much less one so clever! The next time he ran into him, he’d definitely ask to exchange stories.
Watching Iruka weave through the crowds, Minato dared to label the warmth inside him as affection. No matter how hard Iruka had surely tried, he couldn’t completely erase the wisps of worry clouding those big brown eyes of his. Cupping both of Minato’s hands in his tiny ones hadn’t exactly been subtle either.
Minato scratched at his cheek. He must be losing his touch if even a seven year old could pick up on his melancholy. It was either that or he had a future in interrogation and Minato would rather not think about bright, smiley Iruka in such a dark place. Absently, he made a note to work on his acting later.
Besides, from the looks of it Iruka had more potential in hit-and-runs.
The kid was quick and lithe, diving through any available space with ease, slipping in between people like water. And—much to Minato’s amusement (and mild concern)—if there wasn’t enough space, he made more.
Thankfully, Minato didn’t need to apologize for Iruka’s—ahem—unconventional ways of getting past more than twice. The people in this part of the village seemed used to his antics and unconsciously made room for them, so it was only really the ones from outside of this neighbourhood getting tripped up.
Therefore it wasn’t really Iruka’s fault, right? It wasn’t like he was being quiet about his presence and they were a shinobi village after all. If they couldn’t hear a tiny torpedo coming their way, that was their problem.
Or maybe Minato was just getting soft in his ripe old age of twenty-one. Making excuses for a young rowdy kid was not a good look for him, no matter how cute said kid was.
Minato sighed.
Oh dear. He was never going to hear the end of this when he got home.
Panting, Iruka finally skidded to a halt in front of his shop. Before he could work himself into a knot over debating what he should do, he dropped Minato-sama's hand in favour of diving for his mom behind the counter who made a noise of surprise as he caught her around the waist in a fierce hug.
“Mom! Did you miss me?” he asked, grinning up at her.
His mom nodded gravely as she brushed back the strand of hair that got dislodged by his hug. “Oh, yes,” she said with a mock frown, “Terribly. Especially when my boy runs off on me without warning.”
Iruka opened his mouth to protest that he had given her a warning, but his mom continued with an exaggerated sigh before he could. “But! I suppose I’ll forgive you this time since you’ve finally brought friends here.”
Turning, she bowed her head politely in greeting. “Minato-san, it’s good to see you again. Unharmed, too,” she teased.
Minato bowed back with a soft chuckle. “Likewise, Kohari-san. Believe me, I’m just as surprised as you are.”
Iruka watched the interaction with fascination—because wow, was it weird to know that they knew each other like this!—before he belatedly realized what his mom said and let out an offended squawk. “You say that as if I have no friends!”
(So what if it was kind of true and he only hung out with his classmates during school? She didn't have to say it!)
His mom looked away from Minato and laughed, patting his head apologetically. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry dear. Your new friends. Now what would they like?”
Slightly appeased, he remembered why he dragged the man here in the first place. Fortunately for him, his mom had just given him an amazing out from asking for the story.
“I told Minato-sama we had some mochi in the freezer,’’ Iruka said.
“Mhm, we still do. And the rest?”
Iruka made a puzzled face. “What rest?”
Just then, a pathetically sad voice warbled next to his ear and Iruka almost screamed in alarm before Obito's voice spoke.
“Iruka, did you really forget us so quickly? I thought we made a good impression!” Obito sniffled, slinging an arm around Iruka’s shoulders and he squeaked in surprise as he was pulled roughly against his side.
It was like something finally clicked into place. Now he could feel Rin’s and Kakashi’s presence on either side of Obito and Iruka twisted in his grip to look up at them with wide eyes. He hadn't felt them pop back at all!
“When did you guys get here?” he asked, “I thought you stopped following two streets back!”
Rin turned to Kakashi expectantly, but he made no move to speak, gaze fixed forwards. Sighing softly, Rin turned back and smiled. “Just now," she answered. "We made a quick stop before we caught up.”
Iruka squinted at them suspiciously before relaxing. “Okay,” he said easily, “Want anything?”
Obito turned to look at Rin and after a moment of eye twitching, he shrugged. “We could use something sweet, but I don’t know about Kakashi.”
The gap of silence after was clearly meant for Kakashi to fill in, but it only stretched on awkwardly in the wake of Kakashi's strange lack of response. When Iruka had first met him, he had been quick to shoot back a reply, but now he seemed so out of it, staring off into the distance.
Scowling, Iruka turned to see what he was looking at. "What are you—"
The words dried up in his mouth. His mom?
But before Iruka could even guess at why, Kakashi spoke up for the first time since Iruka had last seen him twenty minutes ago.
“I don’t like sweets," he said slowly as he looked away. "I’ll just get some onigiri later.”
"That won’t be a problem. We still have some in the back, so feel free to help yourself!” Iruka’s mom laughed and waved him off, but something was telling him that this wasn't right. The feeling only grew when Kakashi glanced back only for the both of them to instantly drop their gazes.
There was no room to question it, though, when a customer cleared their throat behind them and Iruka knew that he wasn't going to get an answer now when his mom knelt down in front of him.
“Iruka, could you tend to your friends while I manage the rest of our customers?" she asked, eyeing the rapidly growing line. Then she broke out into a grin and turned to stage whisper in his ear. "The back bar is free if you’d like some privacy!”
Holding back a sigh, Iruka nodded and plastered on a grin. “Okay! I know where everything is anyways.”
She kissed his head and smiled. “Thanks, dear.”
She stood up and blew out a tired breath. “I hate to be so rude, but we’re so busy today and his father got called away an hour ago,” she explained ruefully, brushing her apron off.
Minato-sama waved his mom’s concern away with a sympathetic look. “It’s fine, Kohari-san. I’m sure Iruka-kun is more than capable of helping us out.”
The last part came with a wink and it was almost embarrassing how quickly his worries flew right out of his head. Did Minato-sama just compliment him? He did! That was a compliment!
Lighting up, Iruka slipped out from under Obito's arm and gestured for them to follow as he slipped inside, already bouncing on his feet. “I am! C’mon, you’re gonna love the back bar.”
Iruka wound around the tables to pull the blue curtain at the back to the side.
“Go, go, go!” he laughed. He loved doing this! “It’s awesome!”
Iruka let the curtain flutter back in place once they all ducked through, giddy with anticipation. One… two… thr—!
Obito burst back out from the curtains and Iruka hardly got the chance to screech before he was being hauled through by the shirt and Obito was shouting into his ear.
“You get to see this all the time?” The Uchiha demanded and if his eyes weren’t bursting with stars of excitement Iruka might’ve been scared, but they were and he could only laugh harder as Obito shook him like a box of cold rice. “How could you hide this from the village? From me? I thought we were having a moment before! Iruka!”
Behind him, Iruka could vaguely make out the shape of Rin shaking her head fondly. “Obito, don’t shake him like that! It’s not his fault that we didn’t know about this place,” she admonished lightly.
Obito froze, eyes wide. “Oh—whoops! Sorry, sorry! Are we good, Iruka?”
Brain-rattling wasn’t a strong enough description for what happened to his head when Iruka jerked to a stop. If he was in a daze for the next three days because of his brain bouncing around unattended in the walls of his skull like a lonely marble in a jar, he knew exactly what caused it.
Then a thought occurred to him. He couldn't study if his head wasn't screwed on right!
“All good!” he said with a grin.
Now that he could see clearly, he could see Minato and Kakashi standing off to the side, looking over the barrier between them and the outside world where the sun set between the mountain peaks every night during the summer. Below laid the forest, stained in hues of red and orange, the ocean rippling like a flame off in the distance over the cliff side.
Iruka might have thought that it was the best view in the village, but in that moment he thought that maybe the kiss of dying sunlight on the soft edges of their faces, pooling in the folds of their clothes like tiny pockets of fireflies to be saved for later in the dead of night, was just a little bit better.
As if on cue, Minato turned and smiled and Iruka felt his cheeks flush as his eyes widened above his tightening lungs.
“It really is a nice view, Iruka-kun,” he said, gesturing outside. “I can see why this would be a great place to open a shop. If not for the food then the scenery.”
Iruka managed to stare for a solid while longer before he realized what he was doing and furiously shook his head.
“Y-yeah!” he laughed awkwardly, scratching at his scar before straightening up in an attempt to look normal. “Uhm, what should I get all of you? For food?”
Kakashi’s judgmental stare told him that he was wholly unsuccessful (as if he had any ground to stand on! that's right, he wasn't going to forget today!) but Iruka ran away the moment that he got the orders so that wasn’t really his problem anymore!
(Oh, who was he kidding? It was totally his problem. Iruka was never going to sleep peacefully ever again. He dragged a hand over his face in despair. Why the heck did he laugh like that? Was he some kind of crow?)
Iruka was torn between dawdling in the kitchen to recover and getting Minato-sama and his team their food as quickly as possible, but after hovering over the dango that both Obito and Rin for a concerningly long time, he sucked it up and grabbed everything. Mochi, dango, onigiri—yep, everything was all good. Even if he was pretty sure Minato-sama had only agreed to share the mochi with him because Iruka had made a fool out of himself.
Settling everything on a tray, he hurried back because it was time to face the facts—he wasn’t getting his pride back. He was going to carry this humiliation until the day he died.
Taking a deep breath, Iruka ducked back under the curtain with the food.
Much to his relief, in the time that he had been getting dessert and onigiri, everybody else had settled onto the stools that had been pulled out from under the bar. Like this, they didn’t tower over him nearly as intimidatingly. Nobody ever looked scary balancing on a stool.
Calling out a greeting, Iruka walked over to take a seat before realizing that he couldn’t without dropping everything on the floor.
Just like that, all the embarrassment came flooding back and his face got hot.
“Uhm,” he stammered, peering up at Minato with exactly zero eye-contact, “Can you help me? With the food? I… can’t sit if both my hands are—you know… Please?”
Instant mortification crashed over Iruka. What the heck! Iruka! Stupid! How could you ask him to do that for you? The Yellow Flash! Minato-sama! Mom’s going to kill you! She’s going to be like, ‘Iruka, how dare you be so rude! You should be able to do this by—’
A warm hand rested on his head and then Minato was smiling down at him like the sun, chuckling lightly as he took the tray from Iruka’s hands. “Of course.”
Iruka gaped. What the heck. This was the best day of his life.
Snapping himself out of his stupid stupor, Iruka managed a somewhat coherent thanks as he climbed on the stool between Kakashi and Obito. It didn’t escape his notice that Rin was next to Minato, Kakashi on her right.
He suppressed a snort as he reached for a piece of mochi. She must’ve finally gotten tired of them fighting and—
His grab was a failure.
Iruka snagged at his sleeve instead of his much-needed sweet and he made a noise of annoyance. He pulled back the green fabric with his other hand and grabbed the mochi. He went to pop it into his mouth, but then the sleeve slipped from his hold and over his hand. Again.
His eye twitched. Seriously?
He struggled with his sleeve some more and sank further and further into despair when he felt his treat begin to melt between his fingers. Iruka was exactly two seconds away from punching himself in the face in an attempt to drop the rapidly melting mochi into his mouth when Kakashi let out a heavy sigh beside him.
Iruka looked at him worriedly. Even if he was a jerk, Iruka still liked him enough that he wouldn't go back on his word of making it up to him for earlier.
“Is there something wrong with the onigiri, Kakashi-sensei?” he asked, his melting treat retreating to the back of his mind. Crap, did Kakashi actually not like onigiri and was just saying it? “I could probably find something else if you—’’
Iruka cut himself off with a strangled noise when Kakashi grabbed his arm (ugh! why were his hands still so cold?), glaring through half-lidded eyes.
“Stop talking,” he snapped as he yanked Iruka’s sleeve up, deftly folding the fabric. “Your onigiri is fine. Your lack of common sense, on the other hand, is not.”
Iruka watched dumbly as Kakashi pinched the folds together with a hand as he produced a pair of magnets(?) from the pouch hanging on his yukata’s sash, all while muttering increasingly rude comments about stupid Academy kids.
Iruka couldn’t even bring himself to be offended by the insults clearly aimed at him even though they definitely weren’t true (he could do the timetables! Very well in fact! He had basically mastered everything up to ten except for eight and maybe seven!). He was too busy staring at Kakashi pinning up his sleeve with a click as the magnets stuck together.
They were shaped like dolphins.
Kakashi dropped his arm a second later like a burning log (did he think that Iruka had germs?) and for a moment they just stared at each other. Well, Iruka stared with his mouth hanging open while Kakashi looked like he wanted to be anywhere other than there, but the thought was there.
Finally, Kakashi had enough.
“What are you staring at?" he snapped, "Eat that mochi before it fuses with your skin. And give me your other sleeve.” He held out his hand demandingly.
“Why should I?” Iruka snapped back, but jammed the melted sweet into his mouth and offered his other arm anyway. He scowled. “You’re so bossy, Kakashi-sensei."
Kakashi rolled up his other sleeve, cold fingers brushing against his skin. Iruka grimaced and wondered how he became a shinobi with such poor blood circulation in his hands.
“Don’t call me that,” Kakashi said. Then he pinched his wrist and Iruka yelped. “And stop squirming.”
Iruka shot him an affronted glare. “Me? Stop squirming? You’re the one with the stupid cold hands! It’s all your fault!”
“If you didn’t have such ill-fitting sleeves then there wouldn’t exactly be a problem, would there?”
“I didn’t ask for your help!”
“No, but that dear Kakashi-sensei of yours noticed that you needed it anyways and made us wait while he went shopping," Obito interjected cheekily, chewing on his stick of dango as he slung an arm around Iruka's shoulders.
Kakashi shot daggers at his teammate as he clicked the magnets together and dropped Iruka’s arm. “Shut up! You wanted to buy something for Rin and your grandmother, too. Don’t act like it was all me!’’
Obito turned such an alarming shade of red that Iruka could feel the heat pulse on his own face. “Stupid Kakashi!” he shouted, shoving a finger in his face as he jumped off his stool. “Don’t say that!”
“Then stay quiet!”
“Fine! Then I’ll just keep the image of you fussing over the dolphin or the cute little puppy magnets to mysel–armgh!”
Iruka yelped as Kakashi lunged over his head with vengeance. Obito’s sentence was cut off by a muffled shout of alarm as his stick of dango jammed its way back into his mouth and he jerked back with a choke.
“Not. A. Word,” Kakashi hissed.
Obito hacked the stick of dango out and narrowed his eyes as he turned on Kakashi. “I was enjoying that, you bastard!”
He launched himself at Kakashi and Iruka vaguely registered a presence beside him before he was pushed into a pair of warm arms. He blinked as they settled him snugly in their lap.
In front of him, Minato-sama was attempting to pull Kakashi and Obito apart without pulling the hair out of their heads. Iruka stared in horror. Did he have to get his mom? Or the police? Was he currently witnessing an attempted murder?
Iruka froze.
Wait. If Minato-sama was there then that meant…
“Rin-san!” Iruka flushed as he looked up at her, floundering as he tried to figure out how to get down without accidentally grabbing her or breaking a bone. He gasped. Oh no, his mom was going to skin him alive for sitting on a girl without asking! “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to!”
Rin laughed at his red face and tucked her hair behind her ear. “It’s okay! I don’t mind, Iruka-kun. I’m just glad I don’t have to break those two apart again. And it’s just Rin.”
Iruka's eyes widened before he looked away, fiddling with his now pinned back sleeves. “Ah, okay... then it’s just Iruka.”
“You got it!”
They watched in silence as Minato-sama scolded Obito and Kakashi for tussling again (“Really, boys? In Iruka-kun’s mother’s shop, too! You couldn’t have even jumped over the barrier and wrestled it out there? Where is your spatial awareness? You nearly knocked the food off the table!”). By the end of it, they looked properly ashamed at the largest capacity of their abilities—which were on varying ends of the line depending on who you looked at.
Resting against him, Rin's shoulders shook with stifled laughter.
Deliberately not thinking about how her laugh rippled onto him, Iruka blinked up at her in confusion. “Huh? What’s so funny?”
“Nothing, nothing,” she said, clasping a hand over her mouth. Iruka didn't know why she bothered when her eyes showed just as much as the delighted curve of her smile. “It’s just… Today worked out alright in the end, hasn’t it?”
Iruka thought about that for a moment before a wide grin stretched across his face and he nodded fervently.
“Yeah!” he said, beaming. “It has.”
Pinned onto his sleeves, the dolphins winked up at him from under the rippling waves of the setting sun in the sky.