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They were merely children and teenagers – young soldiers, thank you very much – but if they raised their dissatisfaction with their lives to older shinobi they would only be laughed at. After all their lives were simple at their core – go for a mission, don’t get killed and do what you are asked to do, go back to the village. File report, go for a training. Train and study, and then go for a mission, don’t get killed-
Rinse and repeat. Why not give the routine some fun and do things a bit differently?
The idea was silly to tell the least – but nobody from their teams really had anything against it. Besides, it could be fun to do even just for reactions of their teachers. In the end nobody remembered who came up with the idea, but they all agreed to swap their outfits for a day.
‘Oi, Kakashi’ Obito looked at his younger teammate with a grin; Kakashi was putting Obito’s googles on his head. ‘You know what it means?’
‘No?’
‘You’re swapping clothes with Rin!’ His smile grew even wider. Kakashi turned to look at her and nodded.
‘I am fine with that change’ he decided and put the googles on to look at his friends through the orange lenses. His teammates only laughed at his reaction.
‘Well, I’m glad you like it’ sighed Rin, pretending to wipe sweat off her forehead. ‘I’ll help you with the face paint tomorrow.’
‘Sounds good.’ He looked between them. Everything was tinted orange. ‘Take spare clothes and come to mine?’ he suggested. Maybe he did have a lot of issues with Obito during missions, because the git refused to follow directions and the rules, but in their free time he was not half bad. And it was a chance to spend some more time with him, even if the only person he was interested in was Rin and Kakashi did not even had half a chance- ‘I’ve caught too many fish to eat by myself.’
‘Hm, yeah, it would be easier that way’ agreed Obito. ‘But I’m not coming unless you’re making dinner!’ He smiled proudly, puffing himself up.
Kakashi scoffed, crossing arms on his chest.
‘I wouldn’t even let you anywhere near my kitchen!’
‘Good! I don’t want you to stab me because I touched your stuff!’ He patted him on the shoulder. ‘I’ll grab my things and head to yours! Rin, do you want to come with me?’
‘We can all go together’ she noticed. ‘We’re all heading to Kakashi’s in the end, there is no reason to split.’
Obito smile faded for a second and he exchanged looks with the other boy. He raised his eyebrows a little. Kakashi pressed his lips in a thin line, looking away. He had seen that look enough times to know what his crush wanted him to do. Fine.
‘You can go ahead.’ He pushed his hands in the pockets. ‘I have something to do anyway.’ Without waiting for a response, he turned on his heel and marched away.
‘Oi!’ laughed Uchiha. ‘Give me back my googles!’
‘No.’
‘You’ll get them later’ chuckled Rin, patting him on the shoulder. She grabbed Obito by the arm, pulling him with her.
Uchiha– that stupid, stir fried baboon – obviously wanted to be alone with Rin and since he already invited them for a sleepover, he was not going to sabotage the evening with Obito sulking about Kakashi daring to tag along on the way to his own home. He could definitely try to have a good time, right? Maybe it would even work out and they would have a nice evening together. He would just have to cook something tasty, and the fish he caught would not go to waste. He should have a deck of cards stashed somewhere too.
He quickly dealt with shopping, but instead of going straight home, he stopped off at playing grounds. He was feeling odd, any remains of good mood he had that day just evaporated the moment Obito was very much obvious about not wanting Kakashi around.
He clenched his fists. Now that he was thinking about it, it was actually stupid he invited them over… Why even bother since they would end up fighting anyway? Kakashi accepted long ago that they had that kind of intense and a bit annoying dynamics – especially since nine out of ten times they did not fight for real, they were just annoying each other for fun. Nonetheless, it made him feel weird that day. Well, more weird than usual…
He took the googles off with an angry huff and tossed them to the ground. Staring at them, he tried to convince himself he should not destroy them just because he was upset. He was not even half surprised when he heard a familiar voice calling him – Gai would always somehow find him. He must had some kind of special sense to know when Kakashi was agonizing in his own thoughts.
‘Oii! Rival! Why the long face?!’
‘You can’t see my face.’ He squinted at Gai, who was running up to him. ‘And its length is rather average.’
‘Kakashi’ he huffed a laugh, stopping in front of him. He looked down at his Rival, who was sitting on the swing. He glanced at the discarded googles and picked them up, probably assuming his friend accidentally dropped them. ‘It’s a figure of speech!’
Kakashi only blinked at him.
‘What do you want?’
‘Ah! I was just jogging by!’ He smiled at him proudly. ‘And noticed you sitting here, all grumpy! Maybe a spar would lift your spirits?’ He gave him a thumbs up, smiling. He gave the googles a curious look, frowning a little. They were Obito’s for sure.
Kakashi shook his head, looking away.
‘No.’
‘You always say that!’ he cried, tossing up the googles just to catch them again.
‘I’m not in the mood.’
‘That’s why I’m suggesting! I can see you’re sad!’ He sat down on the next swing. He hung the googles on his neck. ‘Or we can talk! If you’re down, maybe a heart to heart would help?’
Kakashi frowned at him, puzzled.
‘I’m not hugging you,’ he said slowly. Gai laughed, shaking his head. ‘And I thought you’d insist on that stupid spar.’
‘And I will, but thought I’ll ask first just to keep you on your toes! So, what’s up?’
Kakashi shrugged again, unconvinced. He tilted his head to look at the sky.
‘I was thinking about stuff.’
There was a moment of silence.
‘…Did you have another fight with Obito?’
Kakashi groaned and pressed both hands against his face.
‘He’s so stupid. And no! It’s just… I invited them over today for a sleepover since we’re planning to swap clothes tomorrow, no? Obito of course had to want to go only with Rin, and he’s so obvious that he doesn’t want me around when she’s there too.’
‘Did he tell you-‘
‘He did tell me some time ago when we were arguing… I’m in the way, and I make him look stupid in front of her, and that I know that he likes her and whatever, so if I could just remove myself from time to time so they can have a moment!’ he spat out on one breath and just panted for a moment, worked up. ‘I just. He made the face so I left.’ He kicked his shopping bag. ‘I had to buy some things anyway.’
‘That was fast’ mumbled Gai, raising his eyebrows. He did not expect Kakashi to actually share what was bothering him. ‘That’s mean! Feeling unwanted is awful!’
‘Even I think it’s mean!’ he complained. ‘I know that he doesn’t know about the ugh, but damn, can’t he be nicer about it? Like he can’t just ask her to hang out with him instead of making me feel like a burden when we meet up for team training or after missions.’
There was a moment of silence.
‘That sucks,’ commented Gai eventually. ‘Third wheeling is awkward on its own, but if he straight up told you? Yikes.’ He made a face.
‘And I’m the impossible to be around, can you believe it? I’ve never told anyone to bugger off because I wanted to be alone with Obito.’
‘…I mean, everyone knows he’s sweet for her, but I don’t think nobody but us is aware about you and Obito, you know?’
‘It doesn’t matter,’ he murmured, kicking the sand. He looked up again; it was slowly getting dark, there were no kids on the playground for quite some time. ‘Word of advice- If you’re ever going to have a crush on someone, if you even think about it?’
‘Yeah?’ He glanced at him curiously.
Kakashi stared at him without blinking for a longer moment.
‘Don’t. It’s not worth it.’
‘Not worth what?’
‘The- the drag of it! The UGH!’
Gai could not help but laugh and shake his head.
‘There’s a lot of the ‘ugh’ in your case!’
‘It’s even worse when you’re crushing on a boy!’ he whined, letting his head go limp and fall back dramatically.
Gai just looked at him, swinging.
‘I’m not sure if it’s the crushing on a boy, or just crushing in general,’ he admitted with a hum. ‘Or maybe it’s just you two?...’
‘Whatever! What matters – it sucks. I don’t recommend. Just- just skip it, believe me. It’s dumb, distracting and annoying.’ He waved his hands dismissively and sighed. ‘I just hope it ends soon. If not, there will be blood.’
Gai dug his heels in the ground, stopping the swing. He stared at his Rival, frowning.
‘I think there is something you could try! He still doesn’t know, right?’
‘And he won’t,’ he noticed firmly. ‘He’s not into guys, we’ve been over this. I’m not telling him.’
‘That’s exactly why you should tell him! You should muster your courage and confess!
‘What’s the point?’ he snorted. ‘He’ll tell me to piss off anyway.’
‘And that’s exactly the point!’ He stood up from the swing. ‘You should tell him knowing and expecting rejection! Because he will reject your feelings, obviously, he’s in love with someone else! But that’s exactly what you need, Rival!’
‘Rejection?’
‘A closure!’ he corrected him, clenching his fists and staring into space. He huffed a loud breath. ‘It will allow you to finally be at peace with your heart! You’ve done what you could have done! You pined for him for- for quite long! And now you’ll finally tell him how you fell, he’ll tell you to forget it, and then you can move on!’
Kakashi answered with a blank stare. He wanted to say it’s a ridiculous idea, but there was some logic there, right? It sounded fair. And possible. It sounded so stupid it could actually work – it could be one of Gai’s moment of stupidity which turns out to be wisdom in the end.
‘So. If I tell him, I’ll just move on and he won’t annoy me anymore,’ he summarized, mostly to himself.
Gai deflated a bit, frowning.
‘I mean. Not immediately, no? I think? It’s… It’s a process, right? And it will be taking another step! You’re stuck now, you have to do something! What’s the worst that can happen?’ He made another wide gesture.
‘Bloodshed.’
Gai pressed his lips in a thin line. He tilted his head to the side.
‘…True, but! It’s not like you’ve never beaten each other up, yes? It’s just another Tuesday! You’re good at sparing, so it’ll be easy for you!’
Kakashi nodded, squinting at his friend.
‘Yeah, that’s true actually. I can always beat him up when it goes wrong.’
‘That’s not what I… But it’ll work!’ He gave him a thumbs up, smiling proudly. ‘That’s the spirit, Rival!’
Kakashi nodded again, standing up.
‘Okay. I’ll tell him,’ he decided. ‘Not today, obviously, but I’ll tell him.’
Gai put hands on his shoulders and gave him a squeeze, grinning.
‘I’m rooting for you, Rival! You’ve got this!’
‘Give it back.’ He pointed at googles.
‘Oh, I forgot to ask about it-’ He put it on Kakashi’s head. It was a bit askew. ‘Alas! I’m going back to training, and good luck to you, Kakashi!’
‘I can use it,’ he sighed, picking up his shopping bag.
‘See you tomorrow!’
Kakashi only nodded. He watched him jog away and with a sigh, he finally went home.
‘It’s so weird’ commented wide-eyed Ebisu, staring at Genma. He slowly shook his head. ‘I can’t believe I’m saying this, but… Gai, this green thing actually suits you. You don’t look bad in it.’
Both Gai and Genma laughed in response.
‘I told you my youthful jumpsuit is great!’
‘And I have to agree.’ Shiranui sounded surprised. ‘I feel so fast in it! So flexible!’ He started slowly jogging in place, making his friends chuckle even more. ‘I’m the fastest man alive now. It’s like I’m not even wearing anything, but in a good way! Like a second skin, you know? I even checked, this thing is squat-proof! You can’t see through it!’ He stopped running and looked at himself. ‘Unbelievable. Don’t get me wrong, it’s the last time I’m wearing it in public, but Gai, I’m not giving it back to you soon! I have to check out how training in this feels… In the middle of the night, preferably, so nobody would see me…’ He picked on the bandages wrapped around his hands. ‘But mate, I won’t make fun of your outfit ever again. This shit feels nice.’
‘Finally someone gets it!’ With a happy smile, Gai gave Genma thumbs up. He ended up in Ebisu’s usual clothes for the day. ‘No seams, no tags, nothing pinches and nothing tugs! Ebisu, dear friend, I can see now why you’re so unyouthfull most of the time. I’d be grumpier too if I was looking at the world through black lenses!’
‘…My eyes are sensitive to light,’ he noticed with a frown. ‘It’s not exactly a choice.’
‘I didn’t say you’ve chosen it! I only said I understand your attitude!’
‘I must say you look very comfy in my jacket.’ Genma grinned at Ebisu too. ‘How’s the senbon?’
‘Annoying. I’ll stab your butt with it at some point.’
‘Remember, you have to keep it in your mouth the whole time!’
‘I know.’ He made a practiced gesture of fixing his sunglasses, but his fingers did not find them. It caused a small round of giggles. ‘Ugh. The choker is the worst. It’s choking me-‘
‘As it should I guess,’ noticed Gai. He squirmed, trying to somehow move away from the tag on his shirt. The suspenders were pressing on his shoulders no matter how loose he put them on. And the bandana around his head. He was uncomfortable in that outfit, but he was not going to back down! Not ever and not as the only one! If only the pants did not feel that tight around his waist- ‘It’s a choker for a reason.’
All three ended up laughing. Ebisu gasped when he noticed Rin walking towards them from behind a corner. She sped up, seeing them too.
‘Oh, Team Minato!’ He raised his hand in greeting.
‘Ooooi!’ Rin was waving at them, smiling from ear to ear. ‘Look! I’m from Uchiha clan today!’ She turned to point with her thumbs at the emblem on the back of her shirt. Soon after the real Uchiha was right next to her in Kakashi’s clothes (or actually his own clothes picked to recreate his friends usual outfit – Kakashi’s wardrobe was too small for him). Gai eyed him warily, trying to convince himself that it was alright. Different – odd, weird and uncomfortable – and so, so stressful, but still alright. It had to be.
‘Obito! Are you on time because you’re dressed as Kakashi today?’ Genma could not let this one slide.
‘No,’ he snorted, walking up to them side by side with Rin. ‘We had a sleepover at his place. He said he had too much food, but he probably wanted to make sure we won’t be late.’
‘That you won’t be late,’ corrected him Ebisu.
Gai was quiet, looking Obito up and down. His palms were trembling, so he hid them in his pockets.
‘You have no idea how weird it is to have almost all face covered,’ snorted Uchiha. ‘So sneaky! So mysterious! Everything that Kakashi is!’ He abruptly assumed a battle pose. ‘I’m ready to kill, boss everyone around and be an argumentative tit!’ He unsheathed Kakashi’s sword, mimicking a whooshing sound.
‘You know I can hear that, right?’ said his voice from behind them. Kakashi joined the group before anyone managed to ask why he was not with the rest of his team. He finished fixing one of the long stockings Rin lend him for the day. ‘Break my tanto and I’ll break your neck.’
There was a long moment of silence. Everyone turned to openly stare at him – he sniffed in response, not returning any of the looks.
‘Your face fell out,’ noticed Ebisu eventually, pointing at him. His comment earned a round of laughs.
‘Rin doesn’t wear a mask.’ He looked at Gai and waved at him. ‘Yo, Gai.’
‘Uh- Hi, Rival! You look… Very much different! Nice in a skirt!’ He chuckled nervously. Everybody looked different. Everybody. Now it was Kakashi who had purple face paintings… Oh, yes and the mole… And he had the scar from the cleft lip he used to have… Not to mention he had a face! A little pale (with a very silly looking tan line) and tired looking, but still a face!
Gai knew his Rival had a face, but the second he looked away, the image had no sense in his head. He really should not panic, at least not at the moment. He could be stressed later, but he was for sure feeling like sweating at the very moment. His palms were already moist – he wiped them on his pants and hid them again, forcing a steadying breath out.
Kakashi hummed, looking down at his clothes and ignoring the chuckles of his friends.
‘I don’t think I’ve worn pink before.’
‘It suits you,’ croaked Genma in between chuckles. He threw his hand around Gai’s shoulders.
‘The best part are the openings.’ Kakashi pointed at the sides of the skirt. ‘I didn’t expect it to be that comfortable. And the socks!’ He turned around, making a twirl. ‘I’m feeling cute.’
Rin hid her giggle behind her hand.
‘You can have it if you like it so much,’ she noticed, fixing her googles.
Kakashi looked up and squinted a little, but the rest of his face did not move.
‘I’ll think about it. I was wondering if I should sew one for myself.’
‘You can sew?’ Ebisu raised his eyebrows, his gaze mostly focused on Kakashi’s long, pointy canines.
‘How else do you think my pack got their clothes?’
‘Who do you think patches up our clothes on and after missions?’ added Uchiha, amused.
‘…I didn’t expect that.’
‘Nobody does.’ Obito slowly nodded. ‘Kakashi’s full of mysteries…’
Kakashi elbowed his ribs, but his face did not even twitch with a smile despite his eyes having the familiar amused glint in them.
‘What? You are!’ laughed Obito.
Ebisu rubbed his eyes, closing them tight for a longer while.
‘Alright, enough. It’s time,’ said Kakashi, fixing the knot holding his skirt in place. He nodded his head to the side, commanding everyone to follow him. All six hurried off straight to The Desk to receive their mission instructions. Just as predicted, Kakashi was appointed the captain – his promotion to jounin was just a formality at that point, but he still had to wait for the exam. It was going to be held in two months, so he was taking every opportunity to read some more to prepare himself for the theoretical exam. He had one of the books in his backpack as well.
The mission was a B rank. They had to locate and deal with a group of rogue shinobi terrorizing a small town in the land of Fire. It was merely a day and a half away from Konoha. Since they did not know how many people were in the group, all six of them were being sent. Kakashi was appointed the leader since nobody with higher rank was present, and he had the longest experience as a chuunin.
Kakashi summoned Pakkun to alert them of anything they had to stay away from, especially unplanned fights with enemy shinobi in the Land of Fire. After all, Konoha was in the middle of the war and they still had to response to calls from surrounding towns. The Village needed money from such missions to patch up its struggling funds. Blood of its soldiers was not the only high price paid for unending battles and years of military conflict.
Despite most likely being able to deal with small groups of Iwa shinobi, Kakashi was not going to waste their resources and energy on unplanned fights.
Thanks to Pakkun and his great sense of smell, they managed to dodge danger four times. Detours elongated their journey, but it was a small price to pay for reaching their destination unscathed.
Kakashi did not want his precious ninken to grow too tired, so when they stopped for the night, he summoned the rest of the pack as well. It would allow Pakkun to rest while the remaining seven ninkens were keeping their noses and ears out for anything suspicious. Eight pairs of noses and ears were better than one to keep the enemy at bay.
With confirmation of nobody in their proximity, Kakashi allowed a small fire to warm up their dinner, but he put it down right afterwards and covered it with sand before they went to sleep.
The dogs woke them up a few hours later. A group of unknown people was heading in their direction. Only half awake, they fumbled to gather their belongings and cover up any traces of their presence.
‘Are we being followed?’ Genma rolled up his blanket and tried to push it back in his backpack.
‘I hope not,’ Ebisu winced. ‘It would complicate things.’
‘It can be just a coincidence,’ noticed Rin, picking up the few of her things she took out from her bag for the night. ‘We weren’t followed during the day, they might just be headed in the same direction.’
‘Technically, they can be from Konoha,’ added Kakashi. He hurriedly fixed his clothes and retied his headband he took off for the night. ‘We might just not know their scents. Either way, we’re going.’ He looked around, but the darkness of the night made it difficult to see anything. ‘Ready? Nothing left behind? Move.’
Gai did not say anything and hurried with the rest of the group. He was being unusually quiet for the whole day as well, but nobody paid much attention to it. At least he did not have to explain he was feeling like he either tore his skin off – the tags, Ebisu why you kept the tags on your clothes?! – or bit his nails until they bleed, or he would go insane.
He settled on biting his nails.
Since they were in a rush, hours on the road obviously had to make him sweat as well. Gai was sure he would climb walls if there were any around him. He was almost painfully aware of every fiber of clothing, every crease and drop of moisture. Not to mention everybody was somebody else on that mission, so he would not even know who he’s really talking to, getting all mixed up-
There were moments when panic was dangerously rising in his chest, but each time he somehow managed to calm himself. Just breathe, he would tell himself, in and out. Everything was fine, it was just another mission. They were all his friends, and everybody knew about his issues, it would be just all right. In and out, focus on the steps.
Obito squeaked and managed to only yell ‘watch out!’ when he broke a string activating a booby trap. Shurikens and kunais with explosive notes fell at them from all directions.
In the blink of an eye all six young shinobi had kunai’s in hands and they scattered around, deflecting what they could and trying to get out of the range of explosions. The dogs run straight to the ground and underneath it.
The noise created by the trap was deafening.
‘Everyone alright?!’ called Kakashi from behind a tree trunk he crouched to shield himself. He peeked from behind it, trying to see through the smoke. ‘Team Minato?!’
‘Good!’
‘Fine!’
‘Team Chouza?’ he demanded in the next second, warily looking around. He could not hear anything, not even birds.
‘Ebisu and Genma fine!’ answered Shiranui, helping his teammate up from the ground.
‘I’m fine too,’ added Gai, wiping his forehead. He picked Ebisu’s glasses and put them back on his face.
‘Anybody hurt?’ When met with no answer, he let out three short whistles, sending his dogs away. ‘We’re moving in pairs in line! That rumble alerted everyone within miles, we have to get out from here now!’
‘What about-‘
‘Rin, you’re with me. Genma, you’re with Gai. Obito and Ebisu in the end. Move!’
They hurried off.
‘What about Pakkun?’ called Obito.
‘I sent them all away. It’s too many of us now!’ He turned to look at Rin. ‘Is he fine?’ he asked, lowering his voice.
‘Nothing I’d noticed.’
Kakashi only nodded in response. Uchiha had this stupid habit of hiding wounds from them. The last thing he needed was a teammate who was hurt and decided to keep it to himself.
‘Obito, toss me the tanto!’ He caught it in the air. Should they had someone on their trail, he wanted to have his sword back.
Their bad luck did not end with the activated trap. With summons or not, they had no way of knowing that the group of enemy shinobi had tracking abilities. Unfortunately their enemy picked up their track immediately – they were not far in front of them, judging by some of the shoes traces on the trees and the ground, they were going after kids. It only made it easier for them – after all, adults run faster than a bunch of brats with leaves on their foreheads.
Ebisu alerted the rest of his team the second he noticed someone was on their track and that they were close - close enough to be heard.
Kakashi gritted his teeth and gripped tightly his father’s sword. They were already caught. They could either keep trying to run in vain hope they would manage to lose them without losing themselves in the darkness – but it was no use since they caught up with them that quickly, they were obviously faster – or to turn and face them. Neither was his preferred choice, they had places to be and a mission to do, it would be another delay. A battle meant wasted time, possible wounds – even deaths – and more breaks (another delay) to patch them up. But if they just kept running it would turn into a war of attrition.
In the end, they had only one option.
‘We’re fighting!’ he yelled over his shoulder and took a sharp U-turn on the next branch he landed on. Rin followed his lead, turning around over her right shoulder.
Both groups clashed hard with clang of weapons and flying sparks.
Kakashi needed light to see who they were attacking, not every one of them could rely on scents alone-
‘Obito!’
‘On it!’ Uchiha bent over and dodged the man he bumped into; gathering chakra in his chest, he quickly produced a series of seals and exhaled a ball of fire in the air above their heads. The heat burned leaves and branches, some of them caught fire and a small breeze dancing in the air nursed it to grow bigger, bringing more light to the scene.
At least they were six against six, Kakashi thought, swiftly taking his surroundings in.
Uchiha send another fireball flying to feed the burning branches and give one of the enemy a scorching lick on his back. Genma jumped out of the way in the last second and tossed handful of shurikens to at least try to push his opponent a step back straight into the fire.
Repetitive whooshing alerted the Konoha shinobi to give Gai more space – he took out his tonfa. With a cry, he jumped at one of the Iwa soldiers who was just about to send something towards Kakashi. Gai could not make out which seals he was making, but it did not matter if he stopped him-
Kakashi clashed with opponent twice his size who was also armed with a sword. Their blades were colliding with loud, metallic sounds and sheaves of sparks. Kakashi’s tanto – the White Fang – was shimmering white with every pulse of chakra he was sending through it to make it sharper, thinner, faster-
Just once, he was telling himself, he needed to get him just once.
Ebisu jumped over them in fast retreat to form seals and spat out a stream of fire at the man at his heals; he was very determined to catch Ebisu’s leg with a kusarigama he was holding. On their left, Rin took a dive aiming at tendons on the enemy kunoichi legs she just thrown off with her genjutsu for just long enough to strike.
Genma pulled his opponent to the ground where he used an Earth Release technique. He hid behind the wall and used the opportunity to sneak around it and fire his shot from behind; they both attacked half blindly, cutting the air with kunais.
The shimmering light from flames of Fire Release died too soon – the darkness of the night once again enveloped the scene. Both sides were attacking half blind, trying to be faster than their opponent, to block the attacked based on the whooshing of air around the blades or blunt eds.
Kakashi was shouting orders at everyone, calling to get back if they were going too far or strike with one formation or another as much as he could with his limited view on the situation. Being obviously the leader, he caught attention of the Iwa shinobi just like he hoped he would. If they were more focused on taking him down to stop him from barking out commands, the rest of his teammates could take them-
Rin and Obito focused on one target when Kakashi was doing his best to not be sliced in half while fighting two adversaries at once. Judging by the noise, Gai’s weapon reached its target’s skull not long after. Good, it was working. He was being obnoxiously loud – an easy target in the darkness, his tanto was shimmering too, so the Iwa shinobi of course would start from him. His teammates knew his exact position and could see where he was hitting-
Another fire release illuminated the scene once more – Ebisu spew more fire from below, revealing one of the Shinobi sneaking up on Rin.
‘OBITO!’ yelled Gai, turning towards them just so but he could not get there in time, blocking his opponent kunai with one of the sticks of his weapon. ‘Behind you!’
Uchiha turned on his heel and confused faced exactly nothing. At the same time, a long blade cut through Rin’s side. It was not deep enough to deal grave damage, but painful enough to make her let out a surprised, choked scream and fold in her knees. Obito was next to her in a second, Genma jumped out of nowhere to fall on the man who attacked her, toppling him over with his momentum.
‘GAI, WHAT THE HEL WAS THAT?!’ yelled Kakashi. His voice cracked, but nobody paid no mind to it. He could not rush to their medic’s side, he was occupied with two adult men charging at him with their full force. He winced when his short sword clashed again, sending sparks.
‘I meant… SHIT, I meant Rin!’ Gai dodged a kick and turned to get back into fight, trying to ignore the cold shiver that slowly run through his body. He messed up. He messed up bad, how could he forget- But it was dark, and he only saw the fire glimmer in the googles, of course he thought it was Obito!...
‘I got you, guys!’ called Genma over his shoulder. He hit the man he was sitting on square in the face with a blunt end of his kunai. ‘Obito!’
‘I got her!’ He crouched next to Rin to help her with wrapping the wound in any way he could.
‘No, just- Just cover me, I got this!’ she pushed him away. ‘Focus on the fight and stay close to me!’ her voice was tight from pain, but firm. She reached to her side to check on the cut. She needed to know how deep it was, how much time she would need to close it-
Eventually, they managed to get through the enemy. Panting, covered in bruises, sweat and blood, they hastily grouped up and without waiting for the Iwa shinobi to come regain consciousness or wrap their wounds, they run for their lives.
Obito and Ebisu helped Rin up (she was positive the kunoichi she got would not be able to run soon with her Achilles tendons sliced in half), so she would not have to run on her own. It allowed her to keep working on healing her side. Kakashi was still fuming when he ordered everyone to stop and get a breath after running blindly away from the scene. He turned and marched straight at Gai, who did not even manage to raise his hands to shield himself. He pushed him hard, almost making him fall hard to the ground. He stumbled backwards.
‘What the hell was that?’ hissed Kakashi walking up at him again. His hands were shaking and he was so furious he barely managed to speak.
‘I’m sorry!’ Gai found his balance again. ‘I didn’t mean to- Shit, I thought he was behind Obito! I couldn’t see anything!’ He rose his hands, trying to explain himself. ‘I didn’t mean to put anyone at risk!’
‘Nobody could see anything and yet you’re the only one to made that mistake! She could have been killed! Are you mad?! To get our only healer hurt like that?!’
‘I didn’t mean to!’ he screamed back and angrily wiped his face, because his eyes almost immediately filled with tears rolling down his cheeks. Everything was in the way, he was exhausted mentally, he wanted to scream and tear his clothes off. The explosion of adrenaline caused by falling into the trap only made everything worse, and if it was not enough, he could have had his friend killed-
‘I don’t care! Use your brain, dammit, the only thing you had to do was to call out to Rin if you couldn’t reach her! When you have a healer in your team, YOUR RESPONSIBILITY IS TO KEEP THEM SAFE! I don’t care if you’re used to it or not, it’s the basics!’ He scoffed in annoyance when Gai sniffed loudly. ‘Of course you’re crying now! Go and mope about it because you messed up big time! That’s the only thing you’re good at! I just can’t believe it!’ he exploded and stormed off, huffing angrily. His face was flushed and his sharp canine got stuck on his lower lip, but he did not even notice. ‘I can’t deal with it right now, just… Get out of my face!’
Gai pressed his lips in a thin, trembling line and crouched down, grabbing fistful of hair. Kakashi was right. His stupidity could cost Rin her life. He could get her killed because he was a pathetic clown that could not even make sense of faces. Just because his teammates were dressed different than usual-
His breath became ragged and shallow. He curled up in himself even more. That… Damn clothing was also still in the way, the tag was biting and itching, the waistband was digging in his stomach and even now the suspenders were suffocating him. His heart was pounding in his ears, the muffled words of his friends talking around him were completely incomprehensive to him and he was high on adrenaline, shaking all over his body.
Genma exchanged looks with Ebisu and scooted closer to Gai.
‘Hey, breathe,’ he said quietly. ‘Rin’s fine, it wasn’t even that deep of a cut. It’s fine.’
‘It’s not!’ he choked out. ‘He’s right, so what she’s fine now? She could have been killed! The next time we might not get lucky!’
‘But she wasn’t! And don’t worry about the next time until it happens, yeah? Come on now, he’d yell at anybody just the same for any other fuckup, you know him,’ he chuckled, giving him an energetic pat on the back. He glanced at Kakashi, who was angrily walking in circles and popping his knuckles. ‘You know the gist, shinobi rules and whatever, don’t let the medical shinobi get hurt in any way… He’s just freaking out over the rules, as always.’ He put his arm around his shoulders and gave him a squeeze. ‘We’re all worried about Rin, but he has his issues, you know that,’ he added, lowering his voice.
‘I hate this stupid mission. The clothes are awful. I’m uncomfortable, I can’t stop feeling everything that’s touching me, and everything is touching me. Even my hair’s in my face and I want to rip it out-‘
‘Woah, calm down here,’ Genma butted in again. ‘Take that off…’ He yanked the bandana off of Gai’s head and pushed the suspenders off his shoulders as well. ‘And that too. And unzip the pants, I’m not doing that for you.’
Gai made a sad, humming noise in response and popped the button open.
‘What’s up in here?’
Ebisu crouched next to them as well.
‘A little too much of everything I guess,’ Genma grinned. ‘Nothing we can’t handle. You wear shitty outfit, my friend.’
‘Excuse you, look who’s talking,’ he scoffed. ‘He’s just not used to normal clothes.’
‘Because they suck,’ groaned Gai, wiping his face again. ‘I’m losing my mind here, I don’t get how can you just… All those tight things, digging in everywhere,’ he managed, his breath still labored.
Hearing approaching steps, Gai’s teammates looked up to stare at Kakashi. He approached them with a kunai in hand, not even sparing them a glance. His unmoving stare was focused on Gai.
‘Woah, Kakashi-‘ laughed Genma nervously.
‘The tag’ he answered shortly, reaching to Gai’s shirt. He lifted the collar and cut off the tag from the inside of the garment before anyone managed to react. He put it in his pocket and glared at Ebisu.
Gai exhaled loudly, reaching to feel the shirt around his neck and finally – finally – nothing was there. More tears rolled down his cheeks.
‘I’m not going to ask why you’re a psychopath and don’t cut them off,’ huffed Kakashi.
‘Between us two, you’re the control freak,’ answered Ebisu, raising his eyebrows.
Kakashi only pressed his lips in a thin line, deciding to not answer. He fixed his gaze on Gai’s forehead and cleared his throat to get his attention. The boy looked up, his chin was still wobbling and he had to strain himself to actually focus on his Rival.
‘I forgot something,’ said Hatake flatly when the other boy looked up at him. ‘You’re not the only one at fault.’
‘What?’
‘I… Made a mistake. I forgot an important detail about your thing with the…’ Kakashi gestured at his face. ‘The faces. I should have remembered the reason why you called out to the wrong person. I didn’t pay attention to my surroundings closely enough. I messed up as your captain.’
There was a moment of uncomfortable silence.
‘That’s all.’ Kakashi turned on his heel and walked away to join Obito and Rin – he had to make sure she was alright now that he let some fume out and told Gai what he had to tell him.
Genma turned slowly to Gai, who was staring at his Rival’s back.
‘Did he just… Admit to being wrong? Publicly?’
‘As he should,’ grumbled Ebisu. ‘He did yell at him in public too.’
‘I still think I hallucinated.’
Gai only sniffed and wiped his nose, his lower lip trembling. He stood up and followed Kakashi to check on Rin as well.
She smiled at him when he joined the team Minato. She pulled him down to sit with them.
‘Thank you for trying to warn me, Gai.’
‘I didn-‘
‘You did,’ she interrupted him firmly. ‘We all know about your face blindness, alright? It’s okay, we knew about it and we still swapped our clothes.’
‘That’s kind of dumb of us,’ agreed Obito. ‘I still don’t get how you don’t get faces, it’s so weird!’
Kakashi squatted next to him, chewing on his lip.
‘I did move away a bit when you called Obito’ added Rin. ‘I just wasn’t fast enough. I’m… Well, to be honest I’m used to be watched more closely in battle.’
‘Yeah, when we train with Minato-sensei we were always focusing on keeping Rin safe, our every formation has that in mind.’ Obito nodded, crossing his arms behind his head.
‘We’re working in a team and every mistake is a group mistake.’ Rin smiled at Gai and patted him on the shoulder. ‘So chin up! Your mistake is like, just a sixth part of it! Besides, I already healed it. It was just a surface cut, nothing serious.’
Gai sighed loudly, wiping his cheeks for the last time.
‘Thank you,’ he said quietly. ‘I’m lucky to have such understanding and great friends!’ He turned to Kakashi. ‘For the record, I’m not crying only because you yelled at me!’
‘I heard,’ he answered shortly. He reached for the tag and gave it to him. ‘Just stick to the jumpsuit, at least on the missions. You’ve been weird since we left the Village.’
Gai made a face.
‘I’m never wearing anything else ever again,’ he swore solemnly, making his friends chuckle.
‘Good. You’re looking so different it’s weird.’ Kakashi scrunched his nose. ‘And, uh. You are good at other things than crying too.’
Genma dropped both arms on Kakashi’s shoulders before Gai found his words to answer.
‘Don’t strain yourself with long apologies, captain, you’re clearly struggling.’
‘Shut up.’
‘You shut up. Don’t run your mouth like that, yeah? Scared or not.’
‘I wasn-‘
‘Yes you were’ Genma smacked him and dodged Kakashi’s elbow. ‘It’ll be code red for you the next time.’
Kakashi scoffed.
‘I’d like to see you try.’
Genma bent down to speak closer to Kakashi’s ear.
‘Gai’s our friend too, and I will make you regret your choices if you make me.’
‘Oi, Genma’ Gai smacked his friend. ‘Thanks for that, but he apologized and I don’t need you beating anyone for me!’
‘Of course I don’t! You’ll do it yourself.’ He winked at him and straightened his back with a sigh. ‘So, a little something and we keep going? Captain?’
There was a moment of silence.
‘Yeah. We can rest some more and then we’re back on the road.’ He stood up. ‘And Genma?’
‘Yeah?’ He grinned.
‘Give him back his clothes.’