Chapter Text
To give Iruka some credit, the festival looked beautiful. You could see your decorations being put to good use, brightening up the village and bringing smiles to the people who noticed. You smile, feeling pride in your hard work.
“You made those right?”
You see Kakashi pointing at the flower decorations you made at one of the food stands.
“Yeah! How did you know?”
Kakashi smiles. “I can tell.”
You blush. “How?”
Kakashi pauses. “Your matter manipulation looks so…complete? And I also know damn well that Iruka couldn’t have gotten all of these decorations in time.”
You laugh. “That’s true. It took me forever to make all of them.”
“How long?”
You hum. “Like two days? One to make them and one to paint them all.”
Kakashi raises a brow. “Wouldn’t that take a lot of energy? Your powers have to be used sparingly right?”
You sigh. “Yeah. And I also needed to help set up this morning.”
He looks at you with a hint of concern. “You must be exhausted.”
“Why do you think I took a four-hour nap before coming here?” You chuckle.
“What did Iruka say?”
“He was the one that asked me to do all of that. I couldn’t say no.”
“Why not?”
“...I’ve wanted to be better friends with him since Naruto transferred to your team.” I gesture to the three genin walking far ahead of us. “I was feeling his absence ever since and I know he had too. I’m not very good at making friendships so I thought that my acts of service would help with that. But it only made me more tired and irritable. Perfect for making friends.” You end sarcastically.
“So did something happen between you two?”
You rub the back of your neck, embarrassed. “Yeah…I blew up on him after he accused me of not helping at all with the festival prep this morning. I regret it but he kind of deserved it.”
Kakashi chuckles. “Your outburst seems perfectly reasonable.”
“I guess but I should have handled it better. I have an issue with my temper sometimes.”
Kakashi hums. “Well, knowing Iruka, your outburst may have shaken him out of the nervous spiral he gets into when it comes to these things. That’s usually the reason for his own irritability.”
You pause. “Huh. I think you’re right.”
Before you can say anything further, you hear yelling in front of you.
“(Y/N)-SENSEI! KAKASHI-SENSEI! OVER HERE!”
You see Naruto waving his hands in the air to get your attention while his teammates embarrassingly hide their faces.
You laugh and the two of you walk up to the trio. “What’s up Naruto?” You ask.
“Can you paint my face? Please?” Naruto clasps his hands together, pleading.
You look at the booth you were all gathered around to see the booth unmanned, seemingly on break for lunch.
“Ah…sorry buddy. Nobody’s here right now.”
Naruto almost cries. “Oh, come on! There’s paint and brushes! You can totally do it!”
You hesitate. “I don’t know. These aren’t my supplies.”
Naruto quite literally gets onto his knees in front of you. “Pleaseeeeeeeeee?”
Your face twitches in annoyance. “Okay! Fine. Sit down.” You point to one of the two chairs.
“YES! Thank you (Y/N)-sensei!” He happily plops onto the chair.
“Alright, what do you want?”
“I want a cool fox!” His eyes light up with excitement.
“Alright. But you have to hold still.” You pick up the brush and get to work.
~
After several minutes of Naruto trying not to move, you finish and give him the mirror that was at the booth. “What do you think?”
He looks into the mirror, seeing the bright oranges and yellows that flowed out of his eyes and the black whiskers on his cheeks that were just extensions of his already existing ones.
“I love it! Thank you!” He gives you a big hug.
You hug him back, smiling. “You’re welcome.”
Sakura suddenly steps forward. “Uhm…can you also paint my face too, (Y/N)-sensei?”
You look at her in surprise before recovering and smiling. “Sure. What do you want?”
She takes a seat in the chair. “Maybe some flowers?”
“Okay. I can do that.”
After a couple of minutes, you give the mirror to her. “What do you think?”
She stands up and takes the mirror and sees the Sakura flowers on her face, starting from the top right and fading into the rest of her face.
She beams. “They’re beautiful! Thank you!”
“You’re welcome.” You start to stand up before you hear someone clearing their throat. You look to see Sasuke looking at you shyly, stepping forward.
“...Can I get something too?”
You try to hide your surprise as best you can. You feel like if you don’t, he’d retreat like a wild animal.
“Sure! What would you like?”
Sasuke blushes slightly as he sits down in the chair. “...Lions please.’
“Alright.”
After a bit of time, you finish and give him the mirror.
He takes it and sees his reflection. Two lion heads are painted menacingly near his eyes, with their fur fading into the rest of his face.
He looks up at you and gives you a small smile. “Thank you.”
You smile back. “No problem.”
“Kakashi-sensei! You should get something too!” Naruto exclaims.
“Oh, I don’t know Naruto. You guys can look cool enough for me.”
You smirk. “You know that he isn’t gonna stop until you get something.”
Kakashi deflates slightly and sighs. “Okay okay.” He sits down at the chair after Sasuke leaves.
“What do you want?”
“Hmm…surprise me. Not anything too big though.”
You laugh. “Don’t worry. There isn’t much space to work with.”
You lean in to start but start feeling a bit flustered.
“Was he always this pretty?”
You blush and shake your head, painting a tiny black paw print on his exposed cheek. “What the hell are you thinking?!”
You step back and give him the mirror.
“W-What do you think?”
He takes the mirror and inspects his cheek. “I like it. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome!”
“Do you want something too?”
“Uh…sure?”
Without warning, Kakashi takes the paintbrush from your hand and leans close to you.
“Hold still.”
You internally scream as you feel the cold paint on your skin and look at Kakashi’s concentrated face.
“There. What do you think?” You’re handed the mirror and you look at your face. A tiny red heart was painted onto your left cheek.
You blush as you snicker. “Wow so artistic. You should consider painting as a profession.”
“Okay, laugh it up. I think it’s pretty fitting for you.” He stands up and offers his hand to you, helping you up from your chair.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Kakashi smiles. “You wear your heart on your sleeve.”
~
You all continue walking around the festival, looking at the different sights and eating all of the food at every stand. You still try to decipher Kakashi’s words from earlier.
“My heart on my sleeve? What does that even mean…”
Before long, the trio runs off and you and Kakashi lose them.
You sigh. “Well, we stayed together longer than I thought we would.”
Kakashi chuckles. “Since they’re not here, we can go at our own pace.”
“Thank god. My feet are starting to hurt.”
“Want to sit down?”
You groan. “Please.”
You both go into a small clearing overlooking a nearby river, in direct view of the setting sun.
“Wow…it’s beautiful…” you mutter.
You both sit and you sigh with relief.
Kakashi looks at you. “When are you planning on going home?”
You yawn as you stretch. “Mm probably in an hour or two. Why?”
“Would you have time for dinner?”
You look at him in shock. “Y-Yeah! Sure.”
You both stand and go to a nearby restaurant. When you walk in, you see many people already seated and eating. Must be because of the festivities. You both get seated and order your food.
“So how’s Naruto doing?”
Kakashi sighs. “He’s improving but still has a lot of work to do. But even so, I’m planning on nominating all three of them into the Chunin Exams.”
You blink. “Wow. That’s quick. But I’m sure that if you’re confident in their abilities then they will be just fine.”
Kakashi huffs. “Thank you but I’m confident that Iruka will feel differently.”
“Oh yeah. He’s extremely protective of the rascal. But he’ll understand and see what you see eventually. So don’t worry.”
“I hope you’re right. I don’t want any tension between us.”
You hum in agreement, still feeling guilty about this morning.
Kakashi notices, but before he can say anything else, a woman comes up to our table.
“Excuse me~ Are you Kakashi Hatake?” The woman had a slightly revealing red dress on, heavy but well-applied makeup, and a sultry voice to match.
“Yes. I am. Do you need something?”
The woman giggles. “I was just wondering if I could get your number. You look really handsome and I wanted to shoot my shot.”
Why did your heart sink?
“Ah, I’m sorry. I’m not interested.”
The woman’s eye twitches. “C’mon. We don’t have to be committed. We can just have some fun just for tonight~” She winks.
“As I said, I’m not interested.” Kakashi looks a little irritated at this point.
She huffs. “Fine. You don’t deserve me anyway.” She storms off.
You both sit in silence for a bit before you speak up.
“...That probably happens often, right?”
Kakashi looks up at you, slightly embarrassed. “Yeah…I’m sorry about that.”
“Oh don’t be. It’s not your fault.”
Just then, the food arrives, breaking all of the remaining tension.
~
You walk out of the restaurant, feeling stuffed.
“Man that was good. Thanks for taking me.”
Kakashi smiles. “Thanks for paying. I can’t believe I forgot my wallet.”
“It’s okay. Things happen.”
Kakashi chuckles. “I promise to return the favor.”
You wave your hand. “Don’t worry about it.”
When you look up at the sky, you can see the stars twinkling above you, leaving you marveled.
“(Y/N)-SENSEI! KAKASHI-SENSEI!” You jolt out of your trance to see Naruto running towards you.
“Oh shit-”
“Oof!” You feel him run into your stomach for a big hug, almost toppling you over. You regain your balance and hug him back.
“You okay buddy?”
Naruto looks up at you. “Yeah! Today was so much fun!”
You laugh. “I’m glad. But I think it’s time for you to get home.”
Naruto pouts. “Aww, but I don’t wanna.”
“Well, you have to. How are you going to wake up on time tomorrow?”
Naruto huffs and looks down at the floor.
“Hm. Okay, how about this? We can have a sleepover tonight. My place.”
He looks up at you in shock before beaming. “Really?! Just like we used to?”
You smile. “Yup. So go home and bring your stuff and come over to my place okay? Don’t forget anything.”
“Okay!” He takes off in the direction of his apartment.
You turn back to Kakashi to see him faintly smiling. “Want a walk home?”
“...Yeah. I’d like that.”
~
You both arrive at your apartment door.
“Thank you for walking me home.”
Kakashi smiles. “It was no problem. Have fun with your sleepover.”
You sigh. “I’ll try.” But your weak smile gives you away. “Thanks for today. To be honest, if we didn’t hang out, I would’ve just gone home.”
“Oh? Wouldn’t you hang out with the other jonin?”
“Ah…I’m not particularly close to them.”
Kakashi smirks. “And we are?”
You freeze. “No! Well not no but we’ve talked a lot recently and we were with Naruto so-”
He laughs. “I’m just teasing. I understand.”
You huff. “Don’t do that.”
“I’m sorry. But your reaction is too good.”
You roll your eyes as you smile.
“Well have a good night. See you tomorrow?” Kakashi looks…hopeful.
“Yeah. See you tomorrow.” You shut the door.
“Fuck. What is wrong with me?”