Chapter Text
The first to notice the Wolf ANBU is Sarada. (At least, she’s the first to be this close to him. Before the rumors).
She remembers it pretty clearly, when her mom got caught up with work and asked uncle Kakashi to look after her. It was probably Sarada’s first exposure to one of the Hokage’s biggest duties: paperwork. Her mother had brought her books and toys to entertain her while Kakashi worked, but Sarada found herself more intrigued by looking around the Hokage office. So, she leaps out of the chair that was larger than her anyways and paces around the circular room.
The portraits of previous Hokage, the massive stacks of paperwork, and some of the equipment within it. So this was what it was like.
“Uncle Kakashi,” she wasn’t sure if she should use Rokudaime, “Is being Hokage mostly just paperwork?” Kakashi stops writing.
He smiles, small wrinkles under his eyes, “Maaaa- it’s not that bad, most of it is just skimming. And if you’re like me and already read a lot, it gets a little bit better.” He sounds drained and Sarada really doubts his words. “Can I help?”
“There are a lot of big words,” he says, his finger on his chin, as if he’s thinking. There's something playful in his tone now. Kakashi still smiles at her and gently says, “Don’t worry about all of this now, you’ll have to do your fair share when you become Hokage.”
Sarada smiles. It makes her happy that the sixth Hokage acknowledges her dream, and encourages it. It’s then that she notices the ANBU in the room. He’s tall, muscular with white splotches on one side of his arm (paint?), and hair whiter than Kakashi. If Kakashi’s hair were comparable to silver or gray rocks, this man’s hair would be comparable to snow. She can tell that behind the mask, the ANBU stares at her. With what emotion, Sarada can’t tell. Kakashi notices that her gaze is focusing on the ANBU and he makes a small, amused sound. “Ah, I never did introduce you,” he says, “This is Wolf, my ANBU guard.”
As if there were some sort of inside joke she was missing, he says, “You should introduce yourself. I’m sure you have much in common.”
Wolf’s head snaps at Kakashi, and it looks like he’s glaring at him behind the mask. All he does though, is give a small, nervous wave at Sarada. She waves back.
“Why does the Hokage need a guard?” She thought they were supposed to be really strong.
Kakashi shrugs.
“Why not?”
She pouts.
Sarada doesn’t miss the fond look that Kakashi gives to Wolf before he says, “Sometimes, it's just nice to have a friend.”
Ah. So that’s what it was.
Wolf seems to visibly react to this, his shoulders relax for a second and he almost seems to look at uncle Kakashi with some sort of incredulity. (As much as he could behind a porcelain mask). Then he coughs and Sarada can tell the man has a raspy voice. Or maybe he’s just sick and clearing out his throat. Kakashi doesn’t seem to mind, only giving him another fond glance before turning to Sarada.
“Why don’t we go get something to eat?”
She pauses.
“But you still have work.”
“I’ll just leave it to Wolf.”
At this Wolf actually starts to sputter before muttering something that sounds like a mix of “baka” and “Kakashi.” It doesn’t sound malicious, rather it sounds more… affectionate.
Kakashi only smiles, “It’s important to have something to eat to replenish your energy. We’ll only make a small stop to grab something for lunch and then come back here.”
Sarada smiles and nods at that.
Kakashi steps out from behind his desk and the two (three, because Sarada’s sure Wolf was following) of them begin their lunch break.
The sun is a little bit harsher than she remembers. Uncle Kakashi keeps his hands in his pockets a lot, but he reaches out to hold hers as they cross the street of busy people. His hand is larger than hers and he has to lean down a little to meet hers.
Uncle Kakashi gets quite a lot of stares from those around him (of course he does, he’s the Hokage). Sarada looks behind her and she spots Wolf, who’s carefully trailing behind them, albeit on rooftops, behind walls, and through sneakier methods.
She waves at him when she notices, and he does a little nervous wave back.
When the two of them are at the restaurant and Kakashi is ordering take-out, Sarada tugs on his vest. “Can we get something for Wolf as well?”
He smiles with his eyes again (but Sarada is sure his lips have turned up as well). “Of course.”
Sarada doesn’t know if Kakashi knows that Wolf is trailing them. He has to know right? Because Wolf is his guard, but Sarada also doesn’t know if he was being serious or joking about making Wolf do his work now.
They walk back and Sarada turns to find Wolf again, only to see that he’s not there. A part of her is kind of disappointed. Maybe he went back early?
(No, because before they go inside, she swears she sees Wolf on a rooftop).
When the two of them get back, Wolf is in the same spot as he was before. Like he had never moved or followed them.
Kakashi portions out the lunch and offers something to Wolf, who doesn’t know how to react. “It’s okay,” he coaxes, “You can keep a secret right Sarada?”
Sarada, with a mouthful of food, nods. Her curiosity has peaked and she’s decided to look at what lays behind Wolf’s mask. Wolf looks a little bit embarrassed, and she wonders if he’s nervous. There’s a silence and Sarada doesn’t know if she’s saying the right thing, but she adds, “It’s okay! I won’t tell a soul!”
At that, Wolf seems to look to Kakashi for approval. Kakashi gives him a nod and Wolf allows the mask to move to the side of his head. Sarada can see the man clearly now, one of his eyes is pure black (like hers), and the other is similar to papa’s.
“Are you related to papa? You have the same eye,” she asks. Sarada begins to regret it the way Wolf tenses. (He never does give her an answer though).
One side of Wolf’s face is scarred and Sarada wants to ask about it. She refrains, remembering the way he flinched at her previous question. The three of them continue to eat their food. At some point, Sarada finishes and begins to admire the office again.
There’s a shelf of books and despite having some of her own, she goes for the big ones on the shelf. Sarada is reaching for one, on her tippie toes as Kakashi talks with Wolf, softly laughing at something Wolf says. At the sound of Sarada’s grunt, Kakashi quickly notices what she’s doing and tells her, “You’ll want to ignore the books on that shelf, Sarada, most of them use a lot of big words.”
Sarada pouts.
“I know a lot of words, Uncle Kakashi! Don’t worry, I can read them!”
There’s a look of panicked urgency that flashes across his face for a second, and Wolf snaps at him, “Don’t tell me you brought your collection here.”
Kakashi, looking as if his life just flashed before his eyes, says, “Well it does get kind of boring in the office.”
“What are the books about Uncle Kakashi?” Sarada asks.
Wolf snorts and pokes Kakashi’s cheek playfully. Kakashi looks really nervous now as Sarada has finally gotten a book in her hands, all she needs to do is pull it down. Wolf finally sighs and tells her, “They’re really boring, kid. Not worth the time of someone as smart as you.”
“But Uncle Kakashi said they have a lot of big words,” she retorts.
“Really big, boring ones.”
His voice is a little raspy, but there's a fondness to it. Kakashi only sighs in the background, and makes a gesture to show that Wolf has wounded his heart. Nevertheless he says, “Wolf is-” he hesitates and with the most defeated tone, he admits, “...Right.”
Wolf’s shoulders are twitching and there's a smile on his face that barely contains his amusement at Kakashi’s defeat. He lifts his hand and ruffles Kakashi’s hair, whose head is held in defeat. Kakashi soon lifts his head back up and says, “Why don’t you read the story book your mother brought? I’m sure Wolf would like to hear it.”
“Which one?”
Kakashi shifts in his seat, and Wolf asks, “Which one is the most interesting?”
Sarada smiles and picks a fairy tale. She reads it to them and there’s a genuine look of interest on Wolf’s face.
At some points, Kakashi looks at him and Sarada can see something in his eyes. She isn’t sure what it is, but she understands that it’s something warm.
After a while, her mother comes to pick her up.
Her mother and Uncle Kakashi talk for a little bit, she hurriedly thanks him and he gives her a pleasant, happy look. “It’s no problem, Sakura,” he sounds happy and fond of her, “Sarada’s a good kid.”
Sakura gleams, as tired as she is, “I’m glad. You don’t mind doing this again in the future, do you?”
“Not at all.”
Before Sarada leaves with her mother, she waves a kind goodbye to uncle Kakashi and Wolf.
“Bye uncle Kakashi! Bye Wolf!” Both of them wave back at her and bid them farewell. Her mother raises an eyebrow at that, but sighs and says, “Just don’t be a bad influence on her.”
(It only serves to fuel Sarada’s theory that Wolf and her father have some relation.)
-
After that, there are other times when Kakashi babysits Sarada. It’s just, most times, he comes to their place or she spends one or two hours at his home. She still wonders about Wolf and asks Kakashi once, “Where’s Wolf? Is he not your bodyguard anymore?”
“Maaa, he’s on vacation right now,” he answers lazily, not even looking up at his book.
“Oh.”
Somehow that’s a disappointing answer to her.
She doesn’t know why.
Are they not friends anymore? (They probably are, but the nonchalant way that Kakashi answers does worry her, even a little bit. And it’s not even her friendship!)
They looked… like they liked each other (cute together).
When she leaves that day, Sarada notices a distant person on a roof and sure enough, it’s Wolf. Did he come back from his vacation? Or was he there the whole time? There are too many questions. Did Uncle Kakashi know? Maybe he didn’t, because why would he lie to Sarada?
Sarada comes to the conclusion that Wolf has decided to guard Kakashi in his own time, regardless of if he has a vacation. She doesn’t exactly know why, but she thinks it might be a sense of duty (the softer, romantic side of her wonders if Wolf cares for Kakashi more than he thinks. She pushes that thought aside pretty quickly, but it still lingers in her brain).
-
The most notable time she encounters Wolf is when she runs into Kakashi at a tea place. He’s sitting there by his lonesome and doesn’t seem to notice the very obvious Wolf in the background surveilling him. (Or if he does, he doesn’t acknowledge it outright)
“Uncle Kakashi!”
Wolf is sitting at a table behind Kakashi, who has his back turned to Wolf. There’s a cup at his table as well, but it’s still steaming. As well as a comically large, unfolded newspaper that Wolf seems to try to hide behind. But why’s he still guarding Kakashi? Isn’t he retired now? Shouldn’t Wolf be guarding the current Hokage?
Her and Kakashi catch up a little bit, and he looks happy. Sarada asks him, “Is that Wolf over there?” She points behind him, but when she looks up, Wolf has disappeared.
How-!?
Kakashi gives a slow, soft laugh. He’s older now, but the creases under his eyes have gotten better. Perhaps retirement has given him a much needed rest from the paperwork duties of the Hokage. “Wolf should be guarding Naruto right now. If you want to bother him, I’d suggest going over there,” Kakashi gives a closed eyed smile, and sips from his tea, with his mask on. (How he does that is an absolute mystery to Sarada, but this is the same man who reads pervy literature in broad daylight without a book cover). Sarada finds his answer odd, because Wolf was just there a second ago, but there’s really no proof of Wolf having sat in that chair now, because the tea and newspaper are gone too. Did she imagine that? Maybe some unconscious desire to see Wolf (someone who is close to the Hokage, and could be related to her father) made him appear as a figment of her imagination.
No, no she didn’t.
-
The next time she sees Wolf is when he’s holding a bouquet of flowers that looks far too messy to be from Yamanaka Flowers. They’re all sort of mixed matched flowers, a lot of colors that she's unsure would go well together. It’s still cute though, and Sarada wonders who the lucky person is. She wants to go talk to him, to get some answers, but she isn’t sure how to approach him.
“Uhm- Wolf?”
He turns around. Wolf looks nervous, his hair has stayed white and Sarada can’t tell any signs of age from his arm. The white splotches are still there and she wonders if maybe they aren’t paint.
“Do you remember me?”
It takes a while for him to respond, but there’s no doubt he remembers her.
“Yes.”
It’s small, short, curt confirmation and she can’t help but smile.
“Are those flowers for-”
(“Kakashi,” goes unsaid. Because at this point, many people are aware of the ANBU that follows the retired Rokudaime around like a lost puppy. The Konoha rumor mill has been abuzz with theories for a long time. Sarada really doesn’t subscribe herself to any of them, except for the most tame one being that Wolf has a crush on Kakashi. And that they are close.)
Wolf doesn’t say anything, but she thinks he knows. And she wishes him good luck, because if the last few times told her anything about her uncle, it's that despite all of the erotica he reads, he is still a very dense man.
They part ways, but later she sees Kakashi walking around with several small flowers in his hair looking relaxed, but also in a much more joyful mood.
-
(“Oh Wolf? Yeah, I saw him earlier. We’re still friends Sarada, don’t worry,” Kakashi’s eyes do that thing where they crinkle and it’s easy to tell that he’s happy. She doesn’t know if Wolf told him, but from how Kakashi refers to Wolf as “friend” she gives a mental sigh. He seems unaware, but very happy. Maybe it’s not one-sided then. Maybe Kakashi is just really, really clueless.)