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"Then I issue a challenge!! First person to make it back to my house is the winner!!"
Kakashi sighs, shielding his eye from the glare of the setting sun as he glances back at the entrance to the admin building. "We only just got back, and you want to do that?"
Guy grins widely. "Of course I do! My blood is still pounding through my veins! Why not celebrate being alive with a test of stamina?"
"I guess so," says Kakashi, subtly stretching his hamstrings. He doesn't bother pointing out that Guy has the obvious advantage in the destination being his own house. Kakashi knows the real way Guy wants to 'celebrate being alive', and he isn't going to go making the other man self conscious about it.
That doesn't mean he can't try making it a little more interesting, though. And there is something he wanted to try...
"But it's not much of a challenge, is it? Getting to your house. I say we up the ante a little. See who can get there first blindfolded."
Guy looks surprised for a minute, then a dazzling grin spreads over his features. "Just what I'd expect from my rival! All right! Are you ready to count down!"
Kakashi smiles and pulls his headband down over both eyes.
Time to head to Guy's house.
*
Kakashi lands on the verandah rail outside Guy's house just as he hears Guy's fist slam into the front door with a bellowed "Kakashi!!"
"You win this time, Guy." Kakashi pushes off the rail to stand next to the other shinobi. "You're closing the gap."
Guy chooses to close the gap between them in a different way, tugging Kakashi in close and pressing him against the front door. Kakashi opens the door behind him, pulling them both neatly inside and making sure it is shut before Guy gets his mouth on him.
The world isn't what it used to be, the Leaf in particular having changed under the new dual leadership, and there's no real need to hide, but there is still always going to be a part of Kakashi that draws a thick black line between his public and private life. He's tried to explain it to Guy, but Guy has a very different understanding of 'privacy' and 'decency', so when it comes down to it, it is still Kakashi's job to make sure they don't give the neighbours a show.
"Is this okay?" Guy is rumbling, biting Kakashi's ear. Kakashi shivers and pulls his mask down, then turns to catch Guy's lips.
"Yeah," he says, pausing for breath. "Yeah, but let's keep the blindfolds on."
Guy makes a deep, pleased sound and crushes Kakashi into the floor.
*
There is always this moment, right when Guy bottoms out inside him, deep as he can go, that Guy will pause and stroke Kakashi's hip, waiting for a signal. Kakashi doesn't need that moment. He dips his spine, pushing back, and Guy obligingly starts to thrust.
There is nothing on this planet like getting fucked by somebody so in tune with their body. Without his eyes, the world is dark and close and there is nothing but that. The ache in his knees, the sweat between his shoulder blades, Guy's harsh sounds, it is all drowned out by the hot sliding in his ass. Guy is pulling almost the entire way out with every thrust, steady, measured, fast, slamming all the way back in, Kakashi not even trying to meet him. He just breathes and takes it. Kakashi drifts through the pleasure. Orgasm seems distant. That's fine.
Kakashi presses his chest to the floor as Guy screws his hips in tight, cock sliding even deeper, and Kakashi can't swallow the sound.
Guy groans and starts fucking faster. "Don't hold back," he moans, "give me all you got..."
Burning hot hands on his hips and that relentless slamming deep inside him and Kakashi knows he could, let it go in the dark on the floor with Guy.
*
Kakashi pulls his back trying to twist into a position Guy wanted to try, and they end up lying on their backs on the linoleum for a breather, blindfolds tossed to the side.
"I'm so sorry, Kakashi!! I thought the race would be sufficient warm up!!"
Kakashi smothers a smile. He has to be careful without his mask. "Don't worry about it."
Guy launches into a ridiculous speech about how amazing Kakashi is, and this time Kakashi doesn't bother to hide his smile.
Kakashi's place is a strange place to visit.
Most of the house is so tidy you'd wonder if anyone even lived there, but then some rooms are an abomination. His tiny laundry, for example, and the small storage room near the kitchen. His bedroom, every other week.
Guy knows this because every time he goes to Kakashi's house to use the dryer it's absolutely disgusting. Guy's own house is spotless from top to bottom, something he takes pride in. And not spotless because it's empty, no. Guy's house is full of proud souvenirs from interesting missions, prized weapons, and inspiring pictures of carp leaping up waterfalls. Well, maybe sometimes Guy will leave a sock jauntily tossed on the floor in celebration of the recklessness of youth, but other than that, his house is very clean.
Kakashi's laundry is foul. Full stop. There are weird grey mouldering things all along where the wall meets the floor (well, the layer of grime that does the floor's job) and there are piles of clothes caked in sweat and blood and god knows what else stinking so bad it half makes Guy want to screech and shrink into a ball and half overwhelms him with nostalgia for his old dojo changing room. Staying in here is quite a challenge.
Guy jerks up so quickly he almost hits his head on a shelf. He should challenge Kakashi! Divide the room in half and see who can finish cleaning theirs first! Yes!
Guy wrinkles his nose as he empties the lint basket on the dryer. Whoa. This hasn't been done since last time he was here. And once Kakashi has cleaned, maybe he'll be more amenable to selling. It will be so much easier to take care of the idiot if he would just move in already.
There's room in Guy's house for the few things Kakashi really does treasure, he knows what they would be and he's already pictured exactly where he will display them. And he will. Guy has never given up on a dream before.
In the past it had been difficult to accept 'no' from Kakashi, not when in anything else the two of them would always push until the other burst through their maximum potential. Guy loved and counted on that.
Maybe then he shouldn't have been so surprised that while he had held passionate beliefs about the (vigorous and frequent) role sex should play in the life of any red-blooded male, Kakashi had challenged it. It was an eye opening, life changing lesson. Guy wanted to cry thinking about what a spectacular rival he had.
That didn't mean Kakashi always said no. It did mean he was never the one to ask, though, and it did mean that Guy still hadn't learned how to settle the jittering in his stomach while he waited for an answer.
"Sure," said Kakashi, stretching languidly and dog-earing his page. "Come here, then."
Guy went, gladly, wholeheartedly.
Today Kakashi was sweet and sure under his hands, today was a day Guy marvelled at how a shinobi who had seen so much could still hide softness like this somewhere.
With Kakashi twisting and rocking in his lap, mouth open and wet and gasping, Guy could do nothing but only clutch him and drive up hard as he could to meet him halfway.
Guy swings an accusing finger at Kakashi. "You know full well that Lee's taijutsu is better than all three of your students combined! And skilled as Uchiha may be with wires, he's no Tenten!"
They won't mention Neji.
"Still," says Kakashi, picking at his nails, "two thirds of my squad became Hokages. So."
Guy yells loud enough to startle all the birds out of the nearby trees.
"And I'm not moving in with you," Kakashi adds, before flitting away.
Kakashi pulls the futon up over his head and sniffles. He feels over-warm and claustrophobic. Guy grabs a corner of the futon and tries to yank it down, but Kakashi has it in a steel grip.
"Come ooooon Kakashi, come and play!" His high voice drills into Kakashi's aching head.
"We're too old to play."
"I meant train! Come and train! Obito and Ebisu are already down there!"
"Sorry, Guy, I'm just not feeling up to it today."
Guy stops tugging.
There is silence.
Kakashi peers out of the blanket, warily. The giant googly stare of Might Guy looms right in his face.
"Wow, Kakashi, you really do look sick! I don't think I've ever seen you without your aura of cool, ha ha!"
Kakashi rolls over.
"No! Kakashi, you know I was joking! You always look cool, you infuriating devil!"
Everything sucks.
"Kakashi!! Speak to me!! Live!!! Live!!!"
Kakashi exhaled deeply, his throat stinging as he does so. "I'm not dying, Guy. It's just a cold. I'll be better with a little rest, that's all."
"Just some rest??"
Kakashi doesn't actually know. He hasn't had a cold this bad in a long time. And unlike before, it isn't like he has anyone to--Well, he'll manage. His head is foggy and heavy and it is too hard to think.
Guy stares at him for a moment, reading something in his face, before grinning wildly and punching the air. "Don't you worry a hair on your head, my dear friend! I'll help you! Wait right here! Oh well, of course you will, ha ha haa!"
An hour later, Kakashi is being force-fed soup that Guy's mother had apparently whipped up, half the bottles in the chemist dumped all over his legs.
"I can feed myself," Kakashi gripes, but that just sends Guy off on a speech about the beauty of friendship and the fragility of a young sapling and other weird things so Kakashi only opens his mouth obligingly and lets Guy take care of him.
The worst part is when Guy tries singing him a lullaby, but all in all it really isn't bad, not at all. It is actually kind of nice.
It isn't until the next day, when the woolliness in his head has subsided some, that Kakashi realises he hadn't been wearing his mask the entire time.
There is this off-kilter panicky feeling he always gets when he thinks about people seeing him bare like that. But for the first time, something fierce burns in his gut, some hatred of that reaction, some guilt that he doesn't understand.
He promptly buries it, though.
There was a time when Kakashi was perfectly content with spending his days doing missions and reading porn novels. Those things fulfilled him well enough.
He liked his reputation as a casual and detached, yet deadly dependable jōnin. It made him vaguely uncomfortable thinking about anyone getting close enough to pick at his seams any futher. He'd loved and lost and that was enough.
He still is content with just those things, to be honest.
However, he can't pretend that, after he caved and took on his genin team, after all the things he's learned since then, after everything he has shared with Guy, he hasn't been happier in decades.
But.
"I need my privacy," says Kakashi, but Guy doesn't get what this has to do with moving in together. He can respect boundaries! It's on his honour!
"What if I wanted to go around stark naked at home," says Kakashi, but Guy doesn't see why that's a problem. He quite enjoys the male form.
"I can't," says Kakashi, and it's the same tone he uses when he's pushing Guy's fingers away from his face, and it starts to make sense.
Dear diary,
I think I'm making progress! Today, Kakashi-sensei came to me and we hung out. He ignored most everything I said, but made comments whenever opportunity arose for him to insult me subtly!
I think we are on the fast track to becoming friends! Since coming to this village, I've learned that no one makes friends here unless they are a massive dick. I will keep trying my best!
Yours truly,
Sai
Guy sighs noisily into Kakashi's neck. His whole body is still buzzing and warm from the orgasm, but not just that. Something has eased up in his chest, things feel right again somehow. It's been way too long since they've even just spent time together.
"You all right there?"
Kakashi hums in reply, stroking Guy's back carefully. There's come going flaky all over his chest, but he's lying there, content, like he doesn't even notice. The sight makes something passionately warm flip in Guy's gut.
"I'm serious," Guy pushes. Things have been kind of strange between them, lately. Usually, backing off is what fixes the balance, not ruins it. He's not sure what he did wrong. "Are you sure that was okay?"
"Look...," begins Kakashi, sounding tired, and Guy feels nervous. "I've told you. If I say yes, it means yes, you don't need to second guess me." Guy stays quiet, running his fingers through Kakashi's hair. "...I guess I don't blame you, though, after this week. Sometimes I'm hard to deal with, aren't I? I do understand."
"No! Kakashi, don't even think that. Yes, there are challenges! And in our lives we face all sorts of challenges, but we always face them together and we always come out on top. That's all there is to it." He can't find the words to explain better, so he tugs Kakashi close and kisses him hard instead.
Long minutes later, Kakashi breaks away, panting slightly. "Hang on, Guy." Guy bites his jaw. Not like anyone will see! "No, really. Listen."
He looks dishevelled, off balance, but glowing, attractive as all hell, and it really has been too long... But Guy forces himself to still and listen.
"Guy. I want to thank you for sticking by me. No, stop. Listen. I'm always glad that you take what I say as seriously as you do. But sometimes... sometimes I'm not happy with myself, and I don't just want to lie back and let it control me, I do want to change."
He says this so calmly, but Guy swallows thickly, his eyes prickling. He's always counted on Kakashi to push him, help him be better, stronger, sharper, and he's always gone above and beyond to return the favour. He's definitely on unfamiliar terrain in this area, but that's never stopped him before.
"It's confusing for me too, just... don't give up on me, old friend," whispers Kakashi, and Guy hugs him fiercely.
"Does this mean you'll move in with me?"
Kakashi's chuckle is a little wet.
"Yeah, all right."
The truth is, Kakashi has seen more than his fair share of change in this world. He's lived through two world wars, and has seen Hokages come and go. He generally sees himself as pretty good at going with the flow.
He still actually isn't prepared for moving house, Might Guy style.
His house is torn apart and shoved into boxes in a whirl of shouty energy. Nothing gets broken, happily. Despite stopping to snack on the cold onigiri and chilled water Kakashi had left in an icebox, the two of them are glowing with sweat by mid afternoon.
Lee had showed up to help them move some of the heavy furniture. Kakashi's couch is better, and he wants his own bookshelves of course.
"And the bed, please, Lee."
Guy is silent. Lee doesn't seem to notice, or if he does, he is perfectly tactful.
"Sure thing, sensei! I'll have it over in half the time I took with the washing machine or it's a hundred laps around the block!"
"That's the spirit, Lee!" Guy's chuckle sounds natural. Maybe it is, he had been incredibly happy at the prospect of owning two washing machines.
After loading Lee with most of the dismantled bed, the three set off with the last of the boxes.
Guy and Lee fill the air with lively chatter. Kakashi watches the small stones on the road.
*
Later that night, Kakashi stands alone in the old study room Guy had cleaned out in a hurry, surveying his neatly-made bed. There are still trash bags and piles of junk in the corner, but that can be dealt with later.
Kakashi hears the click of the bathroom door, then footsteps down the hall. A pause, then the sound of Guy shuffling into his own room and shutting the door.
Kakashi stands for a while, studying the tree outside. Then he quietly and calmly makes his way to Guy's room.
Guy is loudly pleased to see him, his whole face lighting up. There is something softer behind that, though.
I wouldn't have minded if you didn't come tonight, says his dramatic yawn, as he not-so-subtly flips his covers open.
I know, says Kakashi's footsteps on the floorboards, taking the invitation.
*
They cuddle all night. They both snore horrendously. It's exactly what Guy had been dreaming of. Kakashi had never really had dreams like that, but he feels something soak down into his bones, something warm and easy, like he hadn't known anything could be.
They spend the next day cleaning Kakashi's empty house.
The living room ceiling turns out, surprisingly, to be white. Kakashi walks back down the wall and slides down with his back against it, legs sprawled in front of him. He is grimy and his skin feels gritty with dusty sweat. The house is spotless, though, finally.
He has a moment to breathe and take in the empty air, the squares of sunlight on the walls.
Guy bursts through the doorway and flops down on the bare floor close by, rattling on about the horrors of the laundry tiles. Kakashi reaches out and rubs a streak of dust from the other man's cheekbone, but the rant doesn't even pause.
"And I am never letting you designate cleaning jobs again! A lesson well learned, my dearest rival! Of course you'd be dastardly enough to give me the laundry, you sly devil!"
"Thanks, Guy."
Guy's grin is tired, but in Kakashi's experience those are all the more blinding.
"Any time. Now let's go home, a shower sounds amazing right now. How should we decide who goes first?"
Kakashi tangles his fingers in Guy's sweaty hair.
"What if we had one together?"
He hopes Guy isn't too tired.
It's not the first time they've fucked in Guy's bed, and definitely not the first time he's stayed the night. It feels different anyway. This is it, you're here.
Kakashi feels Guy's thumb twitch against his hip, then those big calloused fingers tighten and curl as his warm solid form presses in closer.
Different, but not really strange.
"How are you feeling?" Guy rumbles, forehead against Kakashi's shoulderblades.
"Fine," says Kakashi, turning around in Guy's arms to meet the kiss waiting for him there.
Their lips break apart. "You up for another round?"
"Yeah."
A few years ago this might have been strange, not that he could pinpoint the moment things had become different. If he had to, though. Well, a lot had changed since the day he had become 'Kakashi-sensei' to those stupid, cute kids.
He hisses through his teeth as Guy pushes a finger inside him, where it is still slick with lube, then drags it almost entirely out. Guy tugs at the puffy sore rim of his hole, forcing it to gape. Kakashi sucks in a breath, relaxing his muscles as Guy massages him, not letting up until the sharpness sinks into an ache.
Then again, there is something inexorable about Might Guy.
"Yeah?" Guy asks, withdrawing and coming back with even slicker fingers.
"Yeah."
Being watched so intently always sends little prickles down Kakashi's spine. Maybe some fight-or-flight response ingrained in him when he was small, maybe remnants of the old compulsion to cover up, even though he's been okay with Guy for a few years now.
That level of concentration has benefits, though. Guy is stroking up inside him, right where it feels good. Kakashi is sweating all over again, reigning in the urge to hold his breath and bear down.
Then Guy licks a stripe up his cock and. Well.
Nobody would ever accuse Might Guy of lacking enthusiasm.
It's almost overwhelming, that sudden powerful attention to his cock, a little too good too fast. Kakashi feels his chest start to squeeze a little. It's just one of those things. He grits his teeth and breathes in through his nose and digs blunt fingernails into Guy's shoulders.
Guy's answering hum vibrates through his dick, makes his ass clench around the fingers still holding him open. Everything feels too tight.
Guy's hand scrabbles for his, tugs his wrist down to rest on his own head. The look in his eyes as they flick up is clear. Kakashi holds his breath and grips onto Guy, the thick hair between his fingers damp with sweat.
He pushes on Guy's head experimentally, and then again, and his cock slides deeper down Guy's throat. It tightens around him in spasms, and something slashes in Kakashi's gut.
"Hang on, stop," Kakashi chokes out. "Stop."
Guy pulls off wetly with a cough and wipes his chin before cupping his hand over Kakashi's cock, pressing it gently to his stomach, a comforting pressure.
Kakashi touches Guy's mouth, wipes at it with a shaking thumb. He clears his throat.
Guy waits.
"Okay, I'm okay. Just, more slowly, yeah?"
"Of course," said Guy, voice awkwardly rough, and kisses Kakashi soundly.
They stay like that for a while, kissing slowly. Guy's body pressing between his open thighs is an anchoring weight.
Kakashi grinds up, still hard, feeling warm and loose and happy.
"All right," he says, as Guy sucks on his neck. "How about you put your fingers back in."
*
Kakashi pants and smiles over his shoulder, twisting himself back on Guy's cock. Guy grins back and thrusts harder.
Those little bitten off moans, ah--ah--ahh, are driving Guy crazy, he wants to fuck faster until they all blend into one needy little whine. But he can do that another day. Today is about slow.
Slow, deep slamming--Kakashi dips his spine to meet him better, bunches those clever, strong shoulders--what a great view. But.
Guy pulls out and tugs Kakashi down the sheets, rolling him on his side easily and pulling one leg up to rest on his shoulder.
"I don't know if I stretch that way," Kakashi warns, eyes dancing, but he is already twisting to get his hips higher. Guy pushes his fingers in, lining up.
"Let's find out together!"
Kakashi snorts, and lets out a breathy sound as Guy slides home, both of them slowly shifting to find a rhythm.
The look on Kakashi's face when he is being taken hard like this is. Well, it is probably one of Guy's most favourite things in the world. Knowing he is making such a famous, deadly man slack with pleasure makes him so happy he can't hold back his loud groan.
Kakashi's eyes slit open at the sound.
"I want to kiss you," Guy confesses.
"Mm, come here then."
Guy bears down, feeling Kakashi's leg slide off his shoulder, and meets his open mouth.
There is a heart-stopping moment of hope when Sasuke makes it to the edge of the cliff, right on top of the Shodai Hokage's statue, but in seconds Naruto is skidding to a halt where Sasuke had just stood as the other boy leaps off and lands with a smart thwack on the head of the other statue.
Kakashi watches as they stare at each other over the gap stretching between them. He's standing with the huge crowd of surviving ninja that are forming a solid line a distance behind the pair. They are all bone tired, many injured, many more grieving, but they are all here to see this last thing through for Naruto.
"SASUKE!"
The accused stares back, face blank, but Kakashi can tell from the angle of his body that he is preparing to bolt.
"Stop running, you bastard, it's over! Now all I'm asking is that you come home--"
"I can't believe you're still this fucking naive!" Sasuke's fists are balled up by his sides. "You don't even know what you're asking! You think it's that simple? Here's 'simple'! You win! Go be Hokage! But I'm not building a whole life from scratch just so you can count me like some prize, just cause for whatever reason you've decided I'm the symbol of family or bonds or something else just as misguided. Anyone can be some fucking symbol, go project it on somebody else, I don't care--"
"ARE YOU DONE!!"
Naruto is shaking with rage. Sasuke goes still, but his hands don't unclench.
"Is that really what you've thought this entire time? That you're just some symbol to me? I thought first class ninjas didn't need to speak to understand each other!"
Sasuke tips his chin up dangerously, but Naruto jumps in first.
"FINE. If you really need to hear this in front of all the ninjas on the goddamn continent...!"
Naruto scrubs his hand through his hair.
"Guess what, it's because I happen to like your stupid face! And I want to wake up every morning knowing I'll get to see it sometime that day! Because you're the strongest, smartest, craziest, most dedicated, passionate person I've ever met! And I want to push myself every day until I'm your equal, until you look at me like you want to push yourself to be my equal back!
"Because... you're a force of nature," Naruto yelled, swinging his arm up to stab a finger at Sasuke and leaving it there, "and I think someone like you could change the world, if only somebody stood by your side and held out their hand to you!"
At this, Sasuke's expression went slack.
"Because I know your entire life, you've carried everything on your shoulders. It's like all of ninja history conspired to fuck you over from birth. And you've always felt like you had to face it all alone. And. I always. I would go to the ends of the earth... to make sure you never had to face a battle alone, that you'd always have somebody to help shoulder any weight."
Naruto's face is glowing, but he soldiers on.
"And you don't have to build anything from scratch, I'll be there." His hand was still outstretched.
And then Sasuke is in the air, heading right for Naruto.
Several courses of action flash through Kakashi's mind and he twitches, even though his chakra is exhausted.
And then their hands touch, and then Sasuke is crashing into Naruto from the sky like a tonne of bricks and the two almost fall over. Kakashi watches Sasuke's face get squished into Naruto's shoulder, watches Naruto realise he is squeezing Sasuke to death under his arm. Kakashi watches them bicker like they're still twelve--"Why did you yank me, moron", "I didn't yank you, you crashed into me!"--before one of them makes a choking sound that comes dangerously close to a sob. It might actually have been Sasuke.
Kakashi feels knocked entirely off balance, weightless inside his chest. It's--they're.
Sasuke peers over Naruto's shoulder, and Kakashi watches the two of them tense up. Naruto wasn't exaggerating, all the ninjas left on the continent really are watching.
Then Sakura is barrelling out of the crowd, tears streaking down her face, charging towards them. Naruto lets out a whoop and pulls her in.
Like it was some kind of signal, everyone starts drifting closer, gathering around them, a babble of sound rising up. Kakashi finds himself being pushed and tugged by various members of Naruto's apparently greatly extended family until he's right by his little students, though they're not really so little, the three of them dirty and sweaty and bloody and suffocating under Naruto clinging to them like he never wants to let go.
He did it, Kakashi thinks. But of course he did.
"We can both be Hokage," Naruto is saying.
"There can't be two Hokages," Sasuke is arguing back. Sakura is crying on his shirt.
"Who the hell says! If anyone has a problem, I dare 'em to take us on together."
Kakashi still doesn't think he can speak. He's watching the expression on Naruto's face. Suddenly it kicks in--pride, swelling up inside him so blindingly powerful he has to scrub at his eyes.
That's when Naruto notices him.
"Kakashi-sensei!! Kakashi...sensei..."
For some reason this is what tips Naruto over the edge. Big fat tears go rolling down his face.
"Don't get your snot on me," Sakura croaks, getting snot on Naruto.
"That was some speech, Naruto," Kakashi says, looking up at the clouds.
Rivalries sure are a funny thing.
The first tinges of sunset are already streaking through the sky outside. Kakashi yawns and turns another page. He could get under the blanket. Maybe in another chapter. This is getting saucy.
"Hey," he says, sensing Guy in the doorway.
"Hi," Guy replies, clearly keyed up. "Uh, you wanna. You know." He waggles his eyebrows.
"Nah. Not today."
"Understood!"
They give each other a supremely cheesy thumbs up, and Guy strokes a lock of hair away from Kakashi's face with with a big gentle hand before leaving.
When Kakashi looks up again, there's a steaming cup of tea on the little table beside him. He picks it up, feeling the warmth seep into his fingers. He can hear Guy counting and thumping in the kitchen, probably doing push-ups.
He lets the sound wash over him as he sinks back into the pillows, picking back up where he left off.
Kakashi steps into the room and is immediately assaulted by a happy roar. Everyone is crowded around the long, low table which is loaded with meals already.
"Kakashi, you're late!" chirps Sakura, flushed and flailing in his direction.
"Ha!" yells Naruto, before Kakashi can answer. "Let me guess, got lost? No!" He claps a hand over one of his eyes. "A young lady asked me to get her cat down from a tree~"
Sasuke, sitting beside him, surreptitiously moves Naruto's glass away from his waving arm.
"How did you know," Kakashi says, airily, and goes down to sit by Guy.
Guy grins widely, slinging an arm around his shoulder and launching into a long speech about how happy he is that Kakashi came, how proud he is to be celebrating the first of his students to take on a genin team, and how magnificent he finds the passing of the torches...
Kakashi secretly loves the way Guy talks. Guy should be a writer, seriously, his prose would be excellent. If only he'd read more, Kakashi has so many recommendations.
"Thank you for coming tonight, Kakashi-sensei!"
Lee is leaning over the table to smile at Kakashi from Gai's other side.
Sliding free of Gai's arm, Kakashi smiles back (he notes Shikamaru and Tenten monitoring Lee's glass from opposite sides of the room). "Congratulations on your new team, Lee. Teaching is full of challenges, but I'm sure you will rise to meet them."
"I will do my utmost best! Do not worry, I will make sure to serve the next generation of our village in return for all it has given me!"
"Of course you will. You did have an amazing sensei yourself, after all."
Lee and Guy both blink at him, before identical sets of tears well up in their eyes, and then he finds himself being aggressively hugged into the ground by a mass of green spandex.
Everyone around the table breaks out of their smaller conversations to watch, and by the time Kakashi is being wrestled back into a sitting position by Guy, everyone is laughing.
The entire room goes quiet when all of a sudden it's apparent that Sasuke is laughing too. Kakashi watches his little student trying and failing to hide behind his hand, then watches his face get squashed by Naruto's palm as everyone erupts into laughter again at their Hokages, before returning to their conversations.
Sometimes Kakashi wishes he knew how to phrase what he wants to say to Sasuke. Something like, I'm so glad you let yourself have this. Maybe, let's never waste it.
He feels Guy's warm hand cover his own down between them on the floor.
Kakashi is lying on a giant branch that's thicker than his whole body by several times over, feeling the coolness of the bark soaking into his back. Above him the canopy winks with bright points of sunlight, below him everything is dark and green.
Sitting up, Kakashi stretches, almost enjoying the ache in his muscles. He's been training for almost a solid week alone out on the cliffs, sharpening his edges after such a long break. He's sore all over, but also quietly pleased that he isn't more so. Kakashi's generation may have already passed down the mantle, or however Guy would put it, but he's still glad to know he's got bite.
Time to head back, he thinks, testing the grip on his shoes. He can see Guy's blinding grin in his mind's eye. He better steel himself for a bone-crushing hug.
There's a smile stretching across his lips without his permission.
Yeah, time to head home.