Roses {Kakashi Hatake}

17. Bonding

"Fire Freckles and Kakashi-chan, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G," Naoki sang all too loudly for Akahana's liking while they were making their way back to the village.

"Naoki, one of them is going to have to confess first," Mako reasoned.

"It doesn't seem like either of them will anytime soon," Shibi said, stating the obvious.

Naoki ignored both of their comments and continued singing off-key, "First comes love.
Then comes marriage."

Akahana didn't say anything,looking away from the boy like she didn't even know him. Her cheeks were so red, she'd make a tomato look pale.

Mako turned to her, "Don't worry too much about it, Aka-chan," he said. He then looked her in the eyes, "But he does have a point... It's actually quite tempting to sing along."

"Don't!" she told him, "I never asked for the entire world to know!"

"Then comes baby in the baby carriage," Naoki kept singing happily with his eyes closed.

Someone kill me please... Akahana couldn't help but think when he kept refusing to stop and decided to sing the whole song over and over again. She truly did care for her teammate very much but she currently wished for him to be knocked unconcious.

"You know what you have to do to make him stop," Shibi told his student, "Though it might make it worse."

***

Kakashi couldn't believe Minato had started telling him to confess, he always wanted to believe it was only going to be his friends who would tease him about it.

"Kakashi, it's not that hard," he told the silver haired boy, "Look at me, I'm married to the woman I fell in love with and we're expecting our first child."

Kakashi averted his gaze, "But you could be her prince Charming when she was a damsel in distress."

Minato shook his head, knowing how Kushina would react. She wouldn't exactly like the way Kakashi was talking about her; she'd never admit to being a damsel in distress or even accept it when someone said so.

"Besides, the worst she can do is reject you, right?" Gai butted in, "You'll still be friends if she does."

"Which she won't," Kurenai assured the boy who was starting to look even more stressed with each passing moment, "Trust me, she's head over heals for you."

Minato and his friends continued to tease him, until Kakashi was growing annoyed, "Alright, I'll tell her," he said.

"If you promise not to fail as miserably as last time," Asuma stated. He then pointed into the distance, "Oh look, there she is."

Kakashi gulped and made his way to the girl, who was currently walking alone towards her apartment, "Hey," he greeted.

Akahana looked at him in surprise, not having expected to see him right where she was walking, feeling her cheeks burn once again. Stay calm, Akahana, you're going to tell him how you feel and you're going to be fine, she told herself.

"Oh, hi," she uttered, "Didn't expect to see you in this particular place." She smiled, trying to hide how embarrassed she felt, she already screwed up. Great job, Akahana, you just had to ask the obvious...

"I was strolling when I saw you," Kakashi stated, attempting to remain calm, "How did your mission go?"

His plan was to start off with a normal conversation, eventually turning it into a deeper conversation and then he would confess.