夢 - 2021 rewrite

はたけカカシ

Raideshi, despite his years of experience, was an easy case for Kakashi.

It was in his way of staring at Kakashi's team, working together and shouting points at each other, for a second too long; his way of chuckling at the orange book covers as Kakashi pulled them from his back pocket (saying, ha, that one's a funny one, but the end's a real twister); his way of letting slip a sliver of advice a little too specific (like, how's your ninken, pakkun? has he been to the vet this month? or are you sure you're ready to go? did you check your oven? or hey, before you meet your genin, why don't you borrow these earplugs); and the wistful sense of empathy he carried that resonated a little too much with his own.

And it only took two weeks of sitting beside each other on the green and beside the stone, sharing peaches and apples from the morning market, meeting Kakashi's dogs in his apartment with pigs in blankets as a treat for Kakashi to figure out--that is, the difference between him and Raideshi.

"You know, I thought that after you found me out, all those years ago," Raideshi said under the tree as the three kids trained, for the umpteenth time before the Chunin Exams. "that you'd at least ask me a question about what happens. Why I'm here. Why I'm talking to you, you know?"

"Hm," Kakashi responded, snapping the red book shut. "I guess, yes, I could ask a question. But I know me. And I don't answer things a whole lot."

"Hm, okay," Raideshi nodded. "Woah, look at that trick. Sasuke turned his wood sword into a torch." And the two raised heads from their juice pouches and their red and orange pages to see said boy, waving his fire hazard around, towards the cautious Hideki (who initially gave Sasuke that wood sword, in preparation of their training).

"I should probably tell him to stop."

"Yeah, that'd be nice."