Thank you all for participating in our recent challenge!
It’s time to announce our next event, and it’s our biggest one yet!
Get ready for KAKAGAI MONTH!
We know our community can show up and show out, so we’re hosting a WHOLE MONTH dedicated to our favorite ship!
THEMES & PROMPTS
Each week will have an overall theme, along with prompts to further spur your creativity! You can create fanworks that align with the theme only, the prompts only, or both! They can be literal or loose, long or short, whatever you want, however you want, as long as it’s in celebration of our favorite lil guys. 🥰
Please make sure you use the below tags on your works to get captured in this event:
#kkgimonth25
#kkg(theme)week (example: #kkgthroughtheagesweek or #kkgpassionweek)
Standard guidelines/rules apply from our previous events, but of course we will post them here on the blog in the days to come!
As always, please feel free to message us with any questions, and get excited for even more KakaGai!!!
I've been way too busy to do every day of this event, but I do have a little fake dating fic to contribute! Content warning for under age drinking, but not in a very intense way.
---
“Did you want to sleep with him?” Kakashi asked.
A thrill of uncertainty shot through Gai, a strange mixture of trepidation and excitement. It was a festival night, late into the evening, and the crowd had become rowdy as the families with children peeled away one by one, leaving only merry adults and the shinobi odd teenager who was technically considered adult enough to do as they liked. As a chunin and an orphan, Gai easily qualified, and at seventeen, he was already as tall as any of the other men around. Unlike the friends he had come here with, he passed easily through the merriment without a second look.
The specter of the Jonin who had just moments earlier pressed his suit on Gai lingered over the conversation. Once he’d been meaningfully ushered out from the alley, Kakashi had quickly turned his focus on Gai. Kakashi’s anger was a cold frost over his already chilly disposition—at first Gai wasn’t certain exactly why he was angry. And then he’d realized.
“…No,” said Gai after too long of a pause. A part of him was mourning the opportunity to get some Life Experience, but the wiser parts of him knew that having sex in a public place with a stranger was the kind of thing only a reprehensible pervert would do.
Kakashi obviously wondered if Gai was some kind of reprehensible pervert, and was possibly even now downgrading Gai’s respectability stats in his head. Gai rushed to undo the damage.
“Clearly that man had lost sway of his good sense,” Gai said, “what with the alcohol, or the hour, or some youthful impulse—”
“Youthful, huh,” Kakashi said. He looked Gai up and down like he wasn’t sure he could trust him anymore.
“I mean, I would never, ever, certainly not!” he stammered, flushing. “Might Gai is an upright gentleman! Such lewd engagements are beneath me, Kakashi! Obviously!”
“Right,” Kakashi said, in much the same tone, although there was a barely detectable thawing. “Well, I guess you’re too youthful for your own good, Gai. Apparently there’s a certain type who gets the wrong idea.”
Gai swallowed. “The idea that, that I’m…”
“An easy target,” Kakashi said, which was a relief, since Gai thought he was going to say something much worse. Still…
“I am not a target, Kakashi! I’m a chunin!” Gai puffed himself up.
“And you’re seventeen, and you’ve been drinking,” Kakashi said, scathingly. “You had three rounds of sake in the last hour. What would your father say?”
Irritation that Kakashi was talking down to him again warred with the heady feeling of having apparently been watched by Kakashi, for at least an hour. Why? Why was he watching Gai, when he could be down here with him, by his side, indulging in the same youthful misadventure?
“My father would say I was living my youth to the fullest,” Gai said, although he really was not sure. He crossed his arms, digging in his heels. “And you turned down my invitation to live it with me, so I don’t see what business it is of yours!”
“Oh, my mistake,” Kakashi said, dryly. “I’ll let the next forty year old pervert with a thing for teenagers stick his hands down your jumpsuit, then.”
Gai’s stomach did something unbearable, like it was flipping and catching fire all at once. He felt a bit faint.
“Clearly you need supervision,” Kakashi said, apparently taking Gai’s silence as tacit repentance. “Drink or don’t drink, it’s not my problem. The trouble is, men like that are going to think you’re drunk and available.”
“But I am available,” Gai pointed out. “Not—not for that! But I have yet to be spoken for by any of the fine men of Konoha, and—”
“So we’ll just pretend like we’re an item,” Kakashi says, dispassionately, “to keep freaks like that from taking advantage of you.”
Gai’s mouth popped open and closed a few times.
“It’ll be easier to keep an eye on you up close anyway,” Kakashi said, “especially if you’re going to keep making irresponsible decisions.”
He stuck out his hand. Palm out. His face and body were a little turned away, impatient. Gai stared at his hand uncomprehending.
“Um,” Gai said.
The fingers wiggled. Kakashi lifted his visible eyebrow. “Well?” he said.
Gai’s breath caught, his heart thumped wildly as he reached out. Kakashi’s hand was cool and gloved and white in the thin illumination of midnight, and when Gai took it, it closed more securely around him than any lock.
“Right,” Kakashi said. “So. Dango stall?”
They went to the dango stall. Kakashi’s hand remained tightly clasped around Gai’s for the rest of the night, while his single eye glowered lazily over the crowds. Gai remembered almost nothing of the night—his brain was too full of crackling spun sugar to conceive of much anything beyond Kakashi’s hot and slightly sweaty hand.
--
Half a year after the confusing evening in which Gai did not get the chance to explore the springtime of his budding sexuality but did get to monopolize Kakashi’s attention for a whole three hours until the summer festival finally shut down, the Gai who departed from the Akimichi clan Moon Viewing party in the bright October night was a little wiser and a little less impulsive.
Though he’d stayed out late, much later than he usually cared to, and accepted the good luck toast that Choza-sensei had procured for his old genin team—which he and Genma and Ebisu had accepted in the spirit of youthful bonding—he was well aware that he was pushing his luck. But the night was so bright and fresh, and the moon was so beautiful, and Gai felt stirred by the desire to be around others. Not to go home yet to his quiet apartment, but to remain in the warmth and the sound of human voices.
He was just considering whether he ought to go any further, standing before the door of the bustling tavern, when he felt the displacement of air. In a whirl of dust and leaves, Kakashi appeared at his side.
“Really?” he said, without looking at Gai. “You’re going to do it again? Some dirty old man is going to eat you alive in there.”
Gai side-eyed his rival, thinking quite a lot of things very quickly indeed.
“Oh, Kakashi,” he said, putting all his flair for the dramatic into it, “I am so inspired by the night and the joyous atmosphere of this festival! How I wish to celebrate it to the upmost! And yet, how can I protect my honor from the rapacious desires of so many strangers?”
“Hmph,” Kakashi said, lifting his chin. “Fine. I’ll pretend to be your boyfriend again.”
“Oh, would you?” Gai gasped. He took Kakashi by the hands and hauled him in, clutching him close. Kakashi turned pink on every visible millimeter of skin. “Kakashi, what an excellent friend and comrade you are!”
“I, um,” Kakashi said. He was staring down at their hands, like he couldn’t quite look away. “Yes. Any time.”
People confessing their feelings for him was not a new occurrence for Kakashi.
Ever since he was a kid he’d had various people, sometimes complete strangers, approach him while he was walking around the village and declare their admiration of him and ask him out on a date.
No matter how many people he said no to, there always seemed to be someone else ready to pounce on the opportunity to ask him out.
Someone who thought the answer they received would be different even though Kakashi had never done anything to suggest that he returned the feelings they claimed to have for him.
The worst part was that they didn’t always wait until he was alone, and if his friends were there to witness him turning down another potential suitor they always had an opinion about how he handled the situation.
Nine times out of ten their opinion was that he was too harsh, crushing the person with his cutting response. He didn’t understand why he should be gentle though. When he was gentle people assumed he was just being shy and would get pushy, and they’d only really leave him alone when he reverted back to his harsher response to their advances.
Still, when one of his friends was with him to witness someone asking him out, Kakashi tried his best to start off with a gentle response. Then at least if the person didn’t take the hint he could defend himself by saying he had tried.
Today was a perfect example of one of those moments when he had to think carefully about his response. The suitor, a woman that stood just as tall as him with long brown hair and fierce eyes, had approached him while he was walking around the village chatting with Gai and had passionately declared her love for him while presenting him with a gift. A brand new book that he had been eyeing in the bookstore for the last few weeks but had refrained from buying until he read at least two books from his ‘to read’ shelf at the bottom of the small bookshelf in his apartment.
His hand itched to reach out and accept the gift, but to do so would be to accept her request for a date.
No book, not even Icha Icha, was worth going out on a date with someone he wasn’t interested in.
“No th-” he paused, glancing to his left where Gai stood watching the scene unfolding in front of him. If he wasn’t careful with his words Gai was sure to give him an earful after the girl left. Even if she took the rejection gracefully and simply walked away Gai would still give him a piece of his mind, and that was guaranteed to ruin their hang out.
So rather than giving his preferred response, Kakashi shifted gears and choose one of the gentler one’s that he’d gone over with Asuma and Kurenai to ensure it was a friend approved rejection.
“I’m sorry.” he continued, pocketing his hand so that he didn’t reach out to accept the book that she was still holding out to him. “I’m not really interested in dating anyone right now.”
It wasn’t completely true. There was one person he could think of that he would be willing to date, but to admit that would be risking the friendship the two of them had.
That was something Kakashi couldn’t do. Their friendship was precious to him and he wouldn’t allow anything, not even the deep feelings that had blossomed over the years into a deep passionate love, would get in the way of that friendship.
“Really?” she dropped her hands so they hung to the side, the book now clutched in her right hand and resting against her leg. “Why not?”
He blinked, her question taking him by surprise.
No one had ever asked him for an explanation before. Angry, dejected, even slightly annoyed. Those had all been responses he’d received to his refusal to date any of his previous suitors.
But being asked ‘why’ was a new one.
“I just…i’m not…” panicking he found himself debating making a quick exit. The only thing keeping him from going through with the plan was Gai standing right beside him. He didn’t want to cut their hang out short just because someone asked him a question.
A question that he should be perfectly capable of answering.
“You can’t answer me?” she pushed, her expression growing more annoyed with each passing second. “You say no to everyone who asks you out, you know that right? Every single person, and you don’t even have an excuse?”
“I’m just very busy.”
“So is every shinobi,” crossing her arms over her chest she sighed. “Really, you can’t even entertain a first date? Have you even ever had one of those? A date?”
“Well…no.”
“And why? Because no one is good enough for you? You’re so-”
“Whoe,” Kakashi interrupted her. “I do not think that. I’ve never thought that.” If anything, it was the complete opposite. Everyone was too good for him. They deserved better than a broken man who couldn’t promise that he would be emotionally open and available to them.
Especially when his heart already belonged to someone.
“Then what is it?” she insisted, her eyes burning with fierce determination as she stared him down. “Why can’t you even entertain a single date with me after I went through the effort of talking to your friends and picking out a book they all told me you’d been eyeing.”
At the mention of his friends Kakashi turned to Gai, who responded to his inquiring glance with a simple shrug of his shoulders. Clearly by ‘friends’ she meant someone else.
“By friends do you mean-”
“The spiky blond haired kid and the pink haired girl? Yes,” she confirmed, frowning when Kakashi sighed. “They said they were your friends. I asked them when i saw you speaking to them.”
“They are…kind of…” the thought of his precious students meddling in his love life, again, brought on a headache even greater than the one he got whenever they were arguing. “Those were my students.”
“Students, friends, same thing,” she dismissed his correction with a wave of the book. “Were they right about you liking books?”
“Well, yes.”
“Then their information helped me out, and yet here you are still saying no to me.”
“It’s just-”
“Am I not pretty enough?”
“No, that’s not it!” panic began to set in as she continued to grill him.
“Then you must not think I'm smart enough,” she decided. “But you’re wrong there. I am very smart. I know I could keep up with you in a conversation if you’d give me a chance.”
“I didn’t say you weren’t smart,” the more he argued the more he could feel his energy seeping away. If this kept up he was going to be too tired to do anything else for the rest of the day which would put a huge damper on his plans. “Listen, this isn’t about you. I’m just not-”
“Interested in dating right now,” she repeated his explanation back with annoyance dripping in her words. “Are you ever going to be interested in dating, or are you waiting to turn down all of Konoha before you die a hero’s death in the battle field?”
“I-”
“He’s already dating someone,” Gai spoke up, earning himself a bewildered look from Kakashi.
“Dating someone?” the girl raised an eyebrow, clearly not believing Gai. “If that’s the case why wouldn’t he just say so? Save everyone the trouble of thinking he’s single?”
“Kakashi’s a private man,” wrapping an arm around Kakashi’s shoulders, Gai pulled him tight against his body. “He doesn’t like other people knowing about his personal business, and most people,” he added with a stern note in his voice. “Accept his rejection with grace.”
Rather than taking the judgment with graceful defeat, the girl stood her ground and stared at Gai with those fierce eyes of hers. “It’s unfair to let people think they have a shot,” she fired back with just as much anger as she’d been throwing at Kakashi for the last three minutes. “Actually, it’s downright rude. If he’s dating someone he should just say it.”
“I did mention he’s a private person.”
“That sounds like a bluff to get rid of me.”
“It’s not.”
“Then who is it?”
Seeing another endless argument beginning to unfold in front of him, Kakashi took a leap of faith and placed his right hand over the hand Gai had hanging over his shoulder. Understanding the assignment immediately, Gai intertwined their fingers together without a second thought.
“Oh…”
“Gai’s right. I prefer to keep my personal life private, so if you could keep this,” he nodded toward their interlaced hands. “A secret between us, that would be appreciated.”
Understanding what she was being told, she let out a tiny gasp. “I…I'm so sorry,” she apologized. “I just thought…I've heard so many stories of people being turned down by you and i was anxious about asking you out so when you gave me that poor excuse to turn me down i just…got so angry.”
“You’re not the first person Kakashi has upset with his poor choice of words,” Gai tried to comfort her, laughing when he was rewarded with a sharp glare from Kakashi. “My rival is good at a lot of things, but being open about his life is not one of them. It can cause a bit of trouble at times, but,” he turned his head so he was looking at Kakashi, his eyes sparkling with such joy that Kakashi found himself looking down at the ground just so he wasn’t overwhelmed by it. “It’s also something I can't help but love about him.”
‘Something I can’t help but love about him’
Kakashi’s heart skipped a beat when he heard those words, and now they’d infected his brain. The rest of the conversation drowned out behind them, simple background music to something so much more beautiful.
Something he wished he could hear a second time, or a third, or maybe for the rest of his life.
They were such beautiful words and he hated that they were said to defend a lie.
‘They’re not real’ he reminded himself while trying not to let the disappointment at that reality completely drown out the joy he’d felt at hearing them. ‘He doesn’t mean that. This is just so she’ll leave me alone.’
Sinking further into Gai’s side he lifted his head just enough for his nose to brush against the scratchy fabric of that obnoxious green jumpsuit Gai always wore. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling, yet he couldn’t help but smile when it happened.
“Kakashi,” Gai’s voice called out to him, pulling him back to reality. Raising gaze to meet Gai’s he tried his best to ignore the butterfly’s that started flying around in his stomach when he saw those soft black eyes staring down at him.
He was a grown adult acting like a teenager in love.
“She’s gone,” glancing to the side he frowned when he noticed that what Gai had said was true. The girl who just minutes ago had been grilling him relentlessly about his inability to accept a date was suddenly gone, leaving in her place nothing but an empty space.
“Oh,” he began to pull away, certain it was what Gai wanted now that they were alone again. Before he could get far though Gai’s arm tightened around his shoulders, holding him in place. “Uh, Gai?”
“We should do something,” his friend insisted while his lips stretched out into one of those brilliant smiles of his. The ones that always managed to make the world seem a little brighter no matter how bad things got.
Relaxing into Gai’s hold, Kakashi hummed in agreement “Like what?”
“Sushi,” Gai declared. “A proper date.”
Kakashi blinked.
He was certain he’d heard Gai wrong. Certainly his friend hadn’t meant to say that.
“A date?” he repeated, kicking himself immediately for saying it.
Gai might not have meant to say it, but Kakashi couldn’t help but wish he’d allowed himself to live with the dream that it was real. That Gai, with his beautiful smile and bright personality, wanted to go out on a date with him.
Kakashi.
The one person in all of Konoha who didn’t deserve the unwavering attention Gai always seemed to give him.
“How else will people believe that we’re dating? You don’t think she’s actually going to keep that to herself, do you Rival?”
Thinking about it, Kakashi nodded in agreement. Regardless of his request to be allowed to keep his private life to himself, it was highly unlikely that she would be able to keep such interesting gossip to herself.
Konoha’s top two shinobi dating? That was something anyone would want to tell their friend, and that friend would tell their other friend, and so on until all of Konoha knew.
By providing a quick escape from an awkward situation Gai had placed himself in the centre of Konoha’s gossip vine. The only options they had now were to come clean with the truth or go ahead with the lie and it seemed like Gai had already made up his mind about what he wanted to do.
“Are you sure?” he asked cautiously. “I don’t want to be the reason you can’t get another date. I appreciate what you did, but-’
“Nonsense,” Gai insisted. “I would be a poor rival if i let you stand there being grilled. Besides, dinner with my greatest rival isn’t new.”
“But this isn’t the same. If people find out and see us they’ll expect… well…”
“Hand holding?” squeezing Kakashi’s hand Gai laughed. “Or perhaps kissing? Maybe they’ll expect that, but that would be silly. Kissing would require you to take off your mask and everyone knows you’re not going to do that in public.”
“Still, isn’t there anyone else you’d rather spend that time with? Someone you like?”
His heart ached at the thought of Gai loving someone else.
Gai staring at someone who wasn’t him with those beautiful black eyes. Uttering those soft ‘i love you’s into someone else’s ear.
The thought tore him apart, but he wouldn’t be the one to deny his rival such beautiful pleasures. Just because he couldn't allow himself that small happiness didn’t mean he had any right to deny it to Gai.
Even if seeing the man he loved so completely and hopelessly loving someone else would hurt almost as much as burying his father, Sensei and friends.
“Rival,” Gai spoke softly, his eyes focused intently on Kakashi. “There is no one in this world I would rather spend my time with.”
Staring back into those eyes Kakashi found himself looking at something he’d never thought possible. Something that he was certain would never have existed in those eyes he adored so much.
Love.
Unrestrained, complete love.
A love that was directed at him.
“Oh…” squeezing Gai’s hand, Kakashi ducked his head into his shoulder in a desperate attempt to hide his emotions. It wasn’t that he didn’t want Gai to see how he was feeling about this revelation, he simply couldn’t handle the overwhelming emotions that washed over him.
In response, Gai rested his chin on top of his head and chuckled. His laughter vibrated through his shoulders in just the right way for Kakashi to feel it against his forehead.
“I love you.”
“What was that, Rival?”
Moving back, Kakashi lifted his head and stared straight into Gai’s eyes. “I love you,” he repeated without Gai’s shoulder muffling his words. “I just thought i should say that before we go to dinner.”
Thoroughly embarrassed by his sudden admission, Kakashi released his hold on Gai’s hand and turned away from him. “Sushi,” he declared, fighting to keep his voice even while his systems were flooded with emotions that he had not been prepared to deal with today. “Lets go to our favourite spot, ok?”
When he didn’t hear a response from Gai he risked a glance back at him. What he saw was the most amazing thing he could ever dream of witnessing.
There Gai stood with his mouth agape staring at Kakashi. No words came out of his mouth even when Kakashi tried to comfort him with a smile. He simply stood there staring for a solid two minutes until Kakashi turned back to him.
Reaching out with his left hand he gently cupped Gai’s chin and pushed it up so his mouth closed once again. “Sushi?”
Shaking his head, Gai grinned that brilliant grin of his once again. “Sushi,” he agreed. “And Rival?”
“Hmmm?”
“I love you too.”
Turning his back to Gai once again, Kakashi smiled to himself. His heart beat a little faster and he felt like he was floating on air as he began walking away, but he couldn’t let Gai see the way his eyes sparkled with joy at hearing those words.
If he did, Kakashi would never hear the end of it and he’d already been through too much for one day.
Gai was just going to have to wait a bit longer before he’d be allowed to see just how happy those words made him.
Here we are. Another year, another new batch of genin.
I know you’ll tell me to go easy on them this time, but I hope you can understand why I can't in good conscience do that.
Too many kids get sent out into the world unprepared for what they’re about to face, and I know that no matter how hard I might try to be, I won't be there to protect them all the time. The least I can do is make sure they’ll have each other’s backs when I'm not around. If i can’t trust them to do that, then i can’t let them loose into the world.
Too many people have lost their lives before they even really started because someone decided that they were ready to face the world as a shinobi. The truth is, they weren’t ready.
So many of us weren’t ready when we were made shinobi, and I can't be one of those people who turns a blind eye to a team that won’t have each other's backs when it could cost someone their lives.
At the very least i want them to have some room for growth as a team. Maybe if Minato-Sensei had failed me and Obito-
Well, there’s no point in dwelling in what i can’t change. I might get an ear full from you and Lord Third when all is said and done, but that’s better than being the reason a kids life is cut short before their next birthday.
Still, who knows. Maybe this batch will surprise me. We’ll have to wait and see.
If they do manage to surprise me and pass i’ll pay for the dango next time we get together. Consider it my way of celebrating.
Wish me luck,
And try not to scold me too much if they fail. I never said this was a job I would be good at.
Teaching is a job made for a kind hearted person like you, not someone who’s better at killing than they are at nurturing the minds of the next generation.
I can only do my best with the experience and skills I have, and I'm not sure either of those point to me being a good Sensei.
Still, if that’s the road Lord Third thinks I should be on I will try my best not to fail at it completely.
Kind regards,
Kakashi
He’s already standing on the window ledge preparing to jump down when the door to Gai’s apartment swings open. Caught in the act, Kakashi stares at his friend like a dog caught with a mouth full of food he should not have.
“Rival,” Gai smiles at him. “You know you can stay, right?”
“I know,” feeling a little awkward, Kakashi glances down at the street below. There were people walking by, but it would be easy enough for him to avoid them when he jumps. “I thought you were out training with your genin.”
“I was,” slipping his sandals off, Gai made his way toward the window slowly. “Leaving me another letter?”
“Maybe?” it felt weird being called out on it, but there was no point in him denying it. The letter was sitting on top of Gai’s bed so he could easily see it and even if it wasn’t, this was the standard by now.
Ever since he’d left that first letter years ago, back when he was still a part of Anbu, he’d come into the habit of doing the same every time he went on a mission. There was no real reason behind it, but it made him feel better knowing Gai would have something to read while he was gone.
A reminder that he wasn’t going to go chasing after death.
“I uh-” Gai came to a stop in front of him, that beautiful smile still stretching across his lips as he watched Kakashi. “I should go.”
“You should stay.”
“I need to go meet with my new student.”
“Oh!” Gai’s eyes widened for a split second and then softened into a fond expression. “Be kind to them, alright?”
“Well,” nodding toward the bed he watched as Gai finally looked over. As soon as he noticed the letter his smile softened. “Dango after?”
“Of course,” grinning, Gai stretched his right arm out in front of him and lifted his thumb, giving Kakashi that picture perfect ‘Maito pose’ he’d learned from his papa. “You’ll do great, Rival. I believe in you.”
Hearing those words Kakashi couldn’t help but smile. There were few people in the world he cared to hear support from, yet hearing those gentle words from Gai never seemed to fail in making him feel like he could succeed.
Like maybe, somehow, there was still hope for him in this world.
“Later,” giving his rival a small goodbye wave he leaned back slowly until gravity pulled him off of the window ledge. There was still a lot for him to do today, including possibly failing his Sensei’s son after he’d finally graduated from the academy, but with Gai’s smile fresh in his mind he was certain he could face anything the world had to throw at him.
Note: this will be about a five part post/five chapter story on ao3, so please be patient with me as i slowly post it
Gai,
I haven’t been the best friend these last few years. I know you’ll try to tell me that it’s alright, or that I had my reasons, but that doesn’t excuse me. I’ve ignored you, avoided you, and failed to do anything that a decent friend would do.
I’m supposed to be your friend, and friends don’t do those things to each other, even if our lives feel like they’re falling apart.
I want to make it up to you. I know it will take a long time to properly fix this, but i still hope that I can start when I get back from my next mission.
I’ll pay for dango if you meet me outside the shop. Before i get back to the village I'll make sure to send Pakkun ahead to let you know I'm on my way, just like I used to when we were younger.
Before everything fell apart.
Of course, if you’re on a mission of your own I'll understand. We’ll just have to see if we can figure out a way to meet up when we’re both in the village. If, however, I've ruined any chance at maintaining this friendship, I understand. I just hope you can find it in you to meet with me this once so i can apologize in person.
You deserve that at the very least.
If I'm being honest, which i do try to be with you even when i can’t be with others, I hope my past mistake of trying to push you away have failed.
I thought it would be safer to keep you at a distance. To protect myself from the pain of possibly losing you.
But the pain of losing one of my most precious friends because of my own actions hurts even more than that dull ache that was left in my heart after Obito, Rin, and Minato-Sensei’s deaths.
I hope I'll see you at the dango shop. If not, I want you to know that even at my darkest, I could always see your smile shining through and guiding me back to Konoha. Sometimes it was the only thing that kept me going even when I was exhausted and injured.
The ever bright beacon leading me back home.
It might seem cheesy, and maybe a little unfair for me to say it when you have every right to hate me, but I can’t risk never seeing you again without you knowing this.
Kind Regards,
Kakashi
The letter sits on Gai’s bed with a single beautiful purple water lily sitting beside it. Kakashi doesn’t hang around long after setting it down, making a quick exit through the bedroom window.
Just as he jumps off the ledge the distinct smell of fresh cut grass mixed with that musky wood that lingered in the dango shop filled his nostrils. He turned his head just in time to catch sight of Gai’s apartment door swinging open, but before Gai could become visible the window disappeared from his view.
There’s no guarantee that Gai will read the letter he left for him, but Kakashi hopes that if he does he will choose to meet with him. If he could see Gai’s smile even just one more time he knew that everything would be alright.
There was nothing in the world that could dampen the warmth that he felt deep inside his soul when he saw that smile. It was a feeling he’d been clinging onto for the last few years even while trying to distance himself from Gai” and his other friends, but which he’d denied himself for so long that the residual feeling was beginning to fade away.
He wasn’t lying when he said Gai’s warm smile was what always led him back home to Konoha even in his darkest times. What he’d failed to mention, and which he’d never mention if he could avoid it, was that after going so long without seeing Gai in person he was beginning to forget what his smile looked like.
He could still feel its warmth burning deep inside of him, but the visual was no longer attached to it. No matter how hard he tried, it was slowly becoming a struggle for him to pull up the image of Gai’s handsome face in his mind.
It was a precious memory. One that he was beginning to lose.
One that he couldn’t lose, no matter what. Without it there to guide his way he was certain that he’d find himself on a mission with nothing to drive him forward anymore, and the day that happened would be the day he failed to return.
Glancing back up at the window ledge he’d used for a quick escape just moments ago, he sighed. There wasn’t much he could do now except go on his mission and hope that Gai would agree to meet him.
Still, he wished he could see him now for just a moment.
Long enough for him to commit Gai’s face to memory all over again, and to remind himself that there was something to return home to. Someone who, he hoped, still wanted him to come back alive and well.
It was early. The sun was just barely peeking through the trees, greeting the day with its bright rays and warm embrace.
Kakashi had just managed to extract himself from his sleeping bag. A task made almost impossible to accomplish when a rather grumpy Jolteon decided she wasn’t finished sleeping and planted herself on top of him.
After putting on his shoes and apologising for the fifth time in two minutes Kakashi unzipped the tent door and stepped outside. Immediately he was struck by the overbearing heat of the sun beaming down on him.
Still, even the looming possibility of a sunburn couldn’t dampen Kakashi’s spirits today.
Today was going to be perfect. It had to be.
He’d planned it all out in his head, going over every little detail ten times before deciding he was satisfied. Gai and him had agreed that there would be no training or sparring today.
It was their chance to just hang out and relax.
A real, proper date day for the two of them. The first they’d have since they’d confessed their feelings for each other just over two months ago while facing down the possibility of the world ending because of a perfectionist villain who thought the world had lost all of its beauty.
It wasn’t the end of the world though, and after everything had settled the two of them had talked about what they’d said in that terrifying moment when the end loomed over their heads.
They hadn’t had time to plan a date right away. With the gym challenge still ahead of them neither of them had wanted to put their training on pause. Especially after they’d already lost two weeks of training because of Team Flare and the near extinction of the world.
Once they’d secured their eighth gym badge, earning their spot in the Kalos league tournament, Gai had jumped at the opportunity to ask Kakashi out. He’d phrased it as a celebration, but Kakashi could see from the way his friend was avoiding eye contact and the nervous smile that looked so foreign on his face that it was more than just a celebration Gai wanted.
It was a date, and Kakashi had waited four days while they journeyed back from Snowbelle city to Lumiose so that they could spend the day exploring Kalos’ biggest city. Something they hadn’t been able to do much of since their arrival, even though they’d already been in Lumiose three other times.
“Kakashi!” Gai’s cheerful voice called out to him, his bright energy easily outshining the sun itself. “You’re finally up.”
“Finally?” he sighed, afraid to ask how long Gai had been waiting for him to get up. Most days Kakashi would be up at around the same time as Gai so that they could train together, but today he’d decided to allow himself to sleep in.
They weren’t doing any training so he wasn’t in any particular rush to wake up.
“I’ve been up for an hour already,” Gai announced proudly. His arms were stretched over his head, meaning that despite their agreement not to train today he had gotten up earlier than Kakashi specifically to train.
Another clear indicator of this small betrayal was Hitmonlee laying on the ground looking like he’d just been through the work of his life. Clearly ‘No training’ meant something completely different to the two of them.
“As soon as we get into Lumios we’re going to a pokemon centre so you can shower,” he declared. As much as he adored Gai, the thought of walking around a crowded city with someone who was drenched in sweat was the least attractive thing he could think of. “And you’re lucky I'm awake now. If Jolteon had her way we’d still be in the tent sleeping.”
Taking that as her cue, Jolteon trotted over to Hitmonlee’s side and crawled onto his body. Now pinned to the ground, Hitmonlee lifted his head to examine the situation. All he could do was watch as Jolteon made herself comfortable in her new spot and laid down so her head was resting comfortably on her front paws and her eyes were glued on Gai.
She didn’t need to be able to speak for the two of them to know what she was saying with her gaze. Gai was the cause of her rude awakening and as punishment she was going to prevent him from claiming any of Hitmonlee’s attention.
A price Hitmonlee seemed all too happy to pay for his trainer as he laid back down and accepted his fate.
“A great start to the day,” Gai laughed, seemingly unbothered by Jolteon’s choice to commandeer his pokemon as a new nap spot. “Shall we head out soon? We can grab breakfast in Lumiose once I've had that shower.”
Thinking it over, Kakashi nodded. “I’ll start tearing down the tents,” he declared, glancing toward Jolteon. “That gives you around ten minutes to nap, so enjoy it.”
Responding with a board yawn, Jolteon closed her eyes. A silent acceptance of the time limit Kakashi had given her.
“Alright, while you take care of the tents I will-”
“No way!” A voice cut through the air, pulling Gai and Kakashi’s attention away from their conversation and to the main road. There they saw a girl around their age standing with her eyes fixed on Gai. “It can’t be, i must be dreaming,” rubbing her eyes quickly she looked at them once again and beamed. “It is!”
With that she charged forward, a trail of dust kicking up behind her as she raced toward Gai. When she was close enough she came to a screeching halt, stopping just a few inches in front of Gai and staring straight into his eyes with such unrestrained excitement that Kakashi was surprised she didn’t explode in front of them.
“Hello,” Gai waved at her happily while ignoring the extreme lack of space she was providing him. “My name is-”
“Maito Gai, champion of the Unova league tournament,” she finished for him while her entire body shook with excitement. “I’d heard you were in the Kalos region but I never thought I'd actually run into you. At least not until the league.”
“Is this going to take long?”
“Kakashi!” Gai glared at him.
“What? We have plans today.”
“Oh, I was hoping that we could have a battle,” the girl asks, earning a glare from Kakashi for her brave request. “I want to see just how strong you are. And your pokemon,” she glanced around, eyes locked on Hitmonlee who was still laying happily on the ground being used as a bed for Jolteon. “Oh how rude!” she announced, her excitement shifting to annoyance as she stormed over to the pair and reached out for Jolteon.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Kakashi warned, but she ignored him and proceeded with her ill-fated mission. Having tried his best to deter her, Kakashi sat back and watched the chaos unfold.
As soon as her hand grazed Jolteon, jerking her out of her slumber, a sharp glare greeted her. For a moment she paused, seeming to rethink her actions. Apparently not the brightest though, she puffed out one cheer and glared at Jolteon.
“You shouldn’t be sleeping there,” she announced with a firm voice. “Hitmonlee is not a napping spot.”
“Actually, he quite likes it when she uses him as a bed,” Gai corrected her, chuckling when she turned that force glare toward him. Apparently unwilling to stay mad at the man she looked up to, she quickly redirected her anger to Kakashi.
“Is this your Pokemon?” she demanded, not bothering to wait for his response before beginning to berate her. “Have you taught it no manners? It shouldn’t be using another pokemon as a bed. Especially not Gai’s partner.”
“She,” Kakashi corrected her, noticing the way Jolteon’s eyes narrowed when the trainer referred to her as ‘it’. “And why shouldn’t she? What right do you think you have to tell her what she can and cannot do? She has known Hitmonlee and Gai longer than you.”
“It’s rude!”
Kakashi shrugged his shoulders. “She’s a rather rude Pokemon most days. You get used to it.”
“A little like her trainer,” Raising an eyebrow, Kakashi glanced over at Gai. A smile tugged at the edges of his lips when he saw his friend snickering at his little jab.
“Anyways, I'd leave her alone,” he continued. “Hitmonlee doesn’t mind, and the only thing you’re going to get out of trying to move her is a fun little trip to the hospital.”
“Your Pokemon is so poorly trained that it would attack me? Do you have no control over it?”
“I’m about the only one who has any control over her,” he enunciated the pronoun. A firm and final reminder to the trainer to keep her own rudeness in check. “And even then there’s limitations. She’s a Pokemon, not an object.”
“It’s your Pokemon. If you can’t control it-”
The sound of crackling lightning filled the air. Jolteon still hadn’t gotten up from her spot, but upon hearing the trainer referring to her as ‘It’ after a second reminder she’d decided to take matters into her own hands.
Before the trainer could realize what was about to happen she was struck by Jolteon’s thunder shock, the electricity coursing through her body. There was no doubt in Kakashi’s mind that Jolteon was holding back her power. She was trying to teach the kid a lesson, not kill her.
Seeing the attack coming to an end he watched as Jolteon settled her head back on her paws and closed her eyes once more. “Now,” he gave a playful smile, certain that the trainer who now stood there with her lavender hair standing up in all directions and her body twitching involuntarily had learned her lesson. “Shall we try again?”
Once she regained control of herself the girl shook her body off and glared down at Jolteon once more. “Rude,” she grumbled under her breath before looking back at Gai, clearly done with trying to stick her nose into Jolteon’s business. “I want a battle!”
“Stupid.”
“Kakashi!”
“She got herself electrocuted and then challenged a champion level trainer when she has done nothing to prove she’d even worth wasting your time over.”
“You’re being rude. She could be a great trainer.”
“And she could also be a crappy one,” he insisted, ignoring the glare he was getting from Gai’s fangirl. “It doesn’t matter either way. We said no training or battling today, remember?”
“We did…” Gai agreed, though there was a hesitation in his voice that Kakashi didn’t like at all.
“You are not backing out on that deal, Gai. Today’s supposed to be a relaxing day.”
“And why do you get to decide that?” the girl huffed, pulling the attention back onto her. “Besides, what right do you have to act like i’m not worthy of a battle? What have you done to earn the right to hang out with Gai for an entire day when he clearly wants to battle me?”
“Other than winning the Alola league?” the way her jaw dropped to the ground was satisfying for Kakashi. He usually didn’t like having attention drawn to him, but he wasn’t one to ignore his own capabilities.
Especially when someone wanted to try and act like he wasn’t worth Gai’s attention.
“You said you know me,” Gai continued for him, his expression calm but calculating. “If you watched my battles you must have watched my interviews, correct?”
Her eyes lit up with excitement once again. “Every single one of them!” she announced proudly. “My favorite was the one you had after beating your friend Rin in the finals! It was such an amazing battle the two of you had and the respect you had for her was amazing. Clearly someone could learn from you.”
Her last few words were followed by a sharp glare directed at Kakashi.
“Of course he respects Rin. She’s great with her Pokemon and a formidable opponent.”
“O-oh?” she blinked, clearly taken aback by his comment. “You know Rin as well?”
“Ah, I see,” Gai nodded his understanding. “He wasn’t in Unova with us, so it’s understandable that you wouldn’t recognize him by looking at him,” finishing, Gai turned toward Kakashi and grinned. “This is Hatake Kakashi, my eternal rival.”
“R-rival!?” The girl’s jaw once again hit the ground, though this time she seemed to recover a little quicker. “Wait, the rival you always talked about? The one you said you were sad wasn’t able to compete with you guys but wished luck in his own challenge in…”
“Alola, yes,”
Focusing her attention back onto Kakashi, the girl scanned her eyes over him as though she were examining him. “No,” she muttered. “That doesn’t make sense. You said your rival was amazing.”
“He is.”
“How can someone who can’t even control his pokemon be so amazing?” she huffed. “Do his pokemon even listen to him in battle? No, I don't believe it,” she shook her head. “You must be talking him up. There’s no way this guy is the great rival you always talk about in your interviews.”
“He is.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Then I'll prove it,” the relaxing date he’d planned crumbled away with those words, but Kakashi couldn’t stand by and let someone suggest he wasn’t capable of guiding his pokemon in battle or that he wasn’t exactly who Gai said he was.
He wasn’t, of course. There were a lot of his flaws that Gai left out when he talked about him to others, though he never failed to call those same flaws out when it was just him and Kakashi, but no one else needed to know that.
“Eh? What are you saying? I didn’t come here to battle you.”
“Yet, here we are,” Kakashi shrugged his shoulders. “You want to swoop in and ruin the first real date I have planned with Gai, then you have to deal with the consequences.”
“Date?” realizing what he’d said, Kakashi suppressed the urge to crawl back into his bed and go back to bed. Today was not going the way he had planned at all, and now he’d gone and embarrassed himself.
“Never mind that,” he continued, trying his best to keep the embarrassment from showing on his face. A task that proved to be incredibly hard when he glanced over at Gai and saw him smiling that soft, sweet smile that always made his knees go weak. “If it’s a battle you want, you can have one. With me.”
“But i want to face Gai,” she pointed at Gai as if her words weren’t enough to make her point clear.
“Then we’ll make a deal. If you win, which you won’t-”
“Kakashi…”
“We both know she won’t win so what’s the point of sugar coating it,” taking a pokeball off of his belt he held it up in front of his face. “Anyways, as I was saying. If you win you can have your battle with Gai. But if you lose-” he lifted his eyes toward the sky, carefully selecting an appropriate punishment for this giant waste of his time. “You…can’t challenge Gai again unless you reach the Pokemon league-”
“What!?”
“I’m not done,” lowering his gaze back onto her, he watched as she glanced between him and Gai. it didn’t take a genius to tell that she was starting to question whether this was a battle worth having. “You also have to bring a treat for Jolteon to the league as an apology.”
“An apology,” her nose scrunched up in a look of disgust. “Why would I apologise to her? She’s rude!”
“And you don’t think you were rude for waking her up and trying to grab her off of her napping spot?” he fired back. “The least you could do is apologize with a nice pokepuff.”
“Jol!”
“See?” he smiled at Jolteon’s addition into the conversation. “She agrees with me.”
Thinking it over, the girl suddenly smacked her hands against her cheeks and let out a loud cheer. “I can do this!” she announced proudly before staring directly at Kakashi. “I’m going to win! Nothing can stop me.”
“Do I get a choice in the matter?” Gai asked, rolling his eyes when Kakashi gave him a rather unimpressed look. “I was looking forward to a battle.”
“You can have a battle with me tomorrow,” holding out his pokeball, Kakashi watched as the girl chose a pokeball off of her belt. “I want to make this quick though, so it’s going to be a One Vs One. agreed?”
“Agreed,” she nodded. “Now get ready to eat my dust. Go Garvantula!”
Kakashi’s hand tightened around his pokeball when he heard the name of her pokemon. He’d just made a big deal out of looking down on her, and her she was pulling out a spider pokemon.
A spider electric pokemon, no less.
It was a double whammy of insult.
“Kakashi…” Gai called out, his voice dripping with worry.
“I’ll be nice,” he responded, though he was certain Gai could hear the slight waver in his voice as the giant tarantula like pokemon appeared in front of him.
‘You can do this, Kakashi. It’s just a pokemon. A giant, pokemon with eight creepy legs, but still just a pokemon’
“Jol!” Looking back he saw Jolteon staring at him with her large brown eyes. She was still lying comfortably on top of Hitmonlee, her eyes fixed on him. If she could speak he was sure she’d tell him to take a deep breath and focus on the fight.
As always, Jolteon had his back.
“Alright,” closing his eyes he drew in a deep calming breath and relaxed his fingers around the pokeball. “Heliolisk, I'm leaving this one up to you.”
At that he threw his pokeball into the air and watched as it opened up, emitting a bright light that quickly took shape in front of him. Once the light dissipated, Heliolisk shook itself off and stared at the opponent standing in front of it.
“Alright, one Vs one, Garvantula vs Heliolisk,” taking up position in the middle of the field, Gai grinned when both trainers looked his way. “Hatake Kakashi vs … uh…” he blinked, and at that moment all three of them realized that the girl hadn’t once introduced herself.
A fact that made her blush as soon as she realized. “Oh, i’m so sorry,” the apology was directed toward Gai, but Kakashi accepted it nonetheless. “My name is Yugao.”
“Yugao,” Kakashi repeated, the name sounding far nicer than the girl in front of him seemed to be. “Are you ready?”
Smiling, Yugao nodded. “I’m going to win this,” she announced. “And then i’m going to face Gai in battle!”
“In that case, Heliolisk,” Kakashi smiled when his pokemon looked back at him. “Let’s start off with a nice simple bulldoze.”
Taking the cue, Heliolisk jumped up into the air and slammed back down on the ground, its energy splintering down into the ground and causing the ground between it all the way up to Garvantula to start breaking up.
Before Yugao had an opportunity to respond to the attack, Kakashi called for a mud-slap, which hit garvantula directly in the face.
“Two moves,” he called out, holding up two fingers for emphasis. “Is that all it’s going to take to beat you?”
Puffing out her cheeks, Yugao shook her head. “Not a chance! Garvantula, use sucker punch!”
The image of the giant spider charging straight toward him sent shivers down Kakashi’s spine. No matter how many spider pokemon he faced he never seemed to get used to the creepy way they moved.
“Helolisk, dodge,” he called out, refraining from cringing when his pokemon followed the order effortlessly and moved out of the way, leaving Garvantula charging toward Kakashi without anything between them.
“Garvantula!”
“Fire punch!”
Redirecting itself, Heliolisk came charging up behind Garvantula. Yugao called out an order for her pokemon to dodge, but before it could even turn around the fire punch connected against its back and smashed it against the earth while the fire burned its skin.
Kakashi’s skin crawled when Garvantula let out a high pitched squeal of pain.
“Garvantula!?”
Rushing over, Gai took a quick look at the situation before lifting a hand into the air. “Garvantula is unable to battle!” he declared. “The winter is Heliolist and Kakashi!”
Yugao’s shoulders sagged. “I barely did anything…”
“You’re facing a champion,” Kakashi reminded her. “I wouldn’t let it get you down if i were you.”
“But-”
“If you do, how are you ever going to get stronger? If you dwell on every loss you’ll never push yourself to keep training, and you’ll never reach a level where you can face me or Gai in battle on even ground.”
“Still.” lifting her pokeball, she sighed. “Garvantula, return.”
Watching as the spider pokemon was recalled, Kakashi breathed a sigh of relief. It was nice not having to look at the thing anymore, though he was certain it would find a way to haunt his nightmares for the next two or three days.
“You could always try again,” he suggested, trying to focus on anything other than the feeling of something crawling under his skin.
“But you said-“
“That you couldn’t face Gai until the leaque, yes,” he confirmed. “But i didn’t say anything about a remstch against me.”
Yugao’s eyes went wide with excitement. “Really?”
“I’d like it if you put up a but more of a fight next time,” and didn’t use the spider pokemon of my nightmares “but if we run into each other again, i wouldn’t say no to a rematch. As long as you’re not interrupting a date.”
“I won’t,” she promised without hesitation, and then dove a hand into her backpack and came out with a small container. “I was saving this for garvantula, but i’ll get another one at the pokemon centre. You can give this to jolteon!”
Blinking, Kakashi took the container from her slowly. “That’s quite the personality change.”
“I’m sorry,” she bowed her head low. “I shouldn’t have been so rude. I just saw Gai and- well…”
“He does have that effect on people,” smiling, Kakashi looked over at his rival. “Worst of all, he attracts some of the rudest people this world has to offer.”
“I’d argue, but some days Rin is just as bad as you,” Gai sighed.
“You love us.”
Smiling, Gai nodded, “I do,” he confirmed. “More than you could ever understand.”
Clearing his throat, Kakashi found himself feeling thankful for the mask he wore over the bottom half of his face. It hid the blush he could feel radiating from his cheeks perfectly. “Anyways,” he looked back at Yugao. “The next time we see each other again i expect a more interesting battle, got it?”
“Got it,” Yugao bowed once again before doing a one-hundred and eighty degree turn and waving back at them. “See you later, Kakashi-Senpai!” She called back to him before running off.
“Did she-“
Stepping up to Kakashi’s side, Gai watched as the girl ran off back toward the main path with a new sort of pep in her step. “Well, that’s an interesting turn of events, rival.”
“Don’t-“
“I got a fan, and you got a-“
placing a hand over Gai’s mouth as gently as he could, Kakashi muttered a soft ‘shut up’ under his breath. The last thing he wanted to hear was the words he knew Gai was about to speak.
The words that would confirm that, despite his worst attitude, he’d found himself with another person who looked up to him as a role model.
As if it wasn’t enough for Tenzo to have such bad taste in role models, now someone else felt the need to join him in referring to Kakashi as ‘senpai’.
“I don’t want to think about it,” he decided, determined to wash away all thoughts of Yugao until the next time they saw her. “Now enough messing around. It’s almost eleven and I still haven’t had breakfast, come on you two,” he called out to Jolteon and Hitmonlee and watched as they turned their heads to him. “We’re behind schedule. If we want to get to Lumios today we need to pack up quick.”
“You’re really in a rush today, Kakashi,” Gai chuckled.
“We had plans today,” seeing a smirk spreading across his rival’s face he rolled his eyes. “Plans, which I would like to remind you that you were willing to toss to the side for a battle with a stranger.”
“Kakashi, you know how much I like battling.”
“And training,” poking Gai in the centre of his chest he cringed when he felt the sweat that had soaked into his shirt. “One nice date, that’s all I asked for.”
A proper, real date.
No pokemon battles, no training.
Just the two of them enjoying each other's company.
“I should have known better.”
“We can still have our date,” Gai tried to assure him, but it did little to ease the disappointment Kakashi felt at his ruined day. “Kakashi i-“
“Never mind that,” turning away from Gai, he started making his way back toward the tents. “I should have known better. Battling is in your blood, and mine too.”
It’s what made them such exceptional trainers.
Trainers who had become Champions.
“We’ll just have to change plans,” stopping in front of the tent he looked back over his shoulder at Gai who stood there staring at him. “You pay for breakfast and then we’ll have a battle of our own.”
“I can pay for- wait,” Gai shook his head as he processed the rest of Kakashi’s words. “A battle? But I thought you didn’t want to have any spares today.”
“I thought i didn’t, but is it really ‘us’ if we don’t have a spar?”
“What about our date?”
“That is our date,” he chuckled as Gai’s eyes sparkled with excitement. “Well, that and breakfast. Loser will have to pay for dinner.”
Turning back to the tent he smiled when he heard Gai celebrating behind him.
When they’d agreed to the date he’d thought it had to be perfect. Something sweet and romantic like the dates the characters in his books went on. Quiet dinners, sun set conversations, walks around the town.
It had all sounded so wonderful to him, and it still did.
But now he knew a date like that would be missing something. It would be wonderful, but also a tad bit boring.
A date for him and Gai, if done right, needed to have a spar.
There was no way around it.
The two of them lived to battle, so it only made sense that they incorporated that into their first date, and possibly every date Kakashi was lucky enough to convince Gai into in the future.
“Don’t think I'm going easy on you though,” he said without bothering to look back at Gai. “I’m going to win that spar, and you’re going to have to pay for dinner.”
“Not a chance,” he could imagine the brilliant smile stretching across Gai’s face as he accepted Kakashi’s challenge. “I’m going to win, Rival, and for once in your life you’ll be paying for dinner.”
Chuckling, Kakashi continued on his path to the tent.
There were still things for them to do before they could head to Lumios city, but he was excited.
Today was the start of something new. Something he’d only just started imagining for himself when he first laid eyes on Gai back in Cyllage city, and which only became a true possibility when he got up the courage to ask Gai out in Snowbelle city just before they stepped into the gym to earn their final badge in Kalos.
Even if the day was starting late due to their little interruption, it was still going to be perfect.
How could it not be? He was going to be spending the day with Gai after all, and every day with Gai was already perfect.
Gai was going to ask Kakashi for a date. This was a decision he had made just a few hours ago after some time of careful consideration. See, his rival and him had shared a couple of… intimate moments during the last couple of months. Not much, mind you, just two kisses and —in the heat of the moment— some wandering hands over the other’s body. Needless to say, Gai had not allowed it to go any further —even if some parts of his anatomy wanted to argue against it—, and shortly after the Hatake had run away.
Which was the same that has happened after each and every time they got close.
Of course, he was a patient man and could understand the hesitation of his friend, but ignoring his own feelings was beginning to be too hard. So, even if he knew the chances of success were rather low, he was going to ask Kakashi for a date.
“Yosh! Now I just have to think about the perfect moment to do it!” he exclaimed in the silence of his own home.
The house his father had left for him was far away from the main part of the village, which allowed him to be as loud as he wanted without annoying any neighbors, something his team had joked about becoming a problem once he moved into the chunnin building. That would have to wait a bit, though, since he wanted to invite Kakashi to a nice place and that implied using part of his savings. But it was totally fine! His rival deserved only the best, after all.
“You’re thinking too much about it, Gai” Genma sighed the next day while they trained together. “That’s my honest opinion.”
While he spoke tiredly, his teammate jumped backwards to avoid his hits, senbon moving in between his lips. Gai followed carefully each movement, knowing that in any moment the weapon could be thrown in his direction.
“But I’m not!” he complained, attempting a round kick on him. “A first date must be perfect!”
“According to whom? I know more horrible first dates than good ones” Genma huffed. “You should ask Asuma about it.”
“B-But… Kurenai always speaks fondly of their first date!”
“Yeah, because with time the embarrassment transforms into a funny memory” his friend chuckled. “Seriously, Gai, just invite him to dinner and see how it goes from there.”
“And what about...?”
“No flowers, no poems” Genma cut him. “I can’t believe I have to tell you this, Gai. Are you sure you know the Hatake well enough to even like him?”
“Of course I do! We’re eternal rivals!”
Even if they were talking, their hits didn’t stop and Gai internally celebrated when his kick got Genma in the gut with enough strength to send him to the floor.
“I win!”
“Yeah, yeah…” his teammate coughed. “It would be strange if you didn’t, this being a taijutsu match and all.”
“I’m sure that with enough training you could reach my level at hand-to-hand combat, my friend!”
“Sure…” Genma rolled his eyes accepting the hand Gai was offering to lift him up. “Anyways, follow my advice. Don’t go too big on the Hatake or he will run away, just like when you two…”
“SHH!” his hand slapped against his friend’s mouth in a quick movement. “Didn’t I tell you that was a secret? Kakashi probably doesn’t want anybody to know!”
That comment made Genma frown and angrily remove his hand away.
“Honestly, Gai, if he doesn’t want for it to be public, then you shouldn’t bother” the other boy huffed.
“But keeping a relationship secret is normal! Especially while tensions in between villages are still high.”
A hand came to rest on his shoulder, and when his eyes met Genma’s, he saw on them a determination that was normally reserved for real battles.
“We both know that’s not what you meant” he said. “Don’t settle for anyone who is ashamed and not proud of being with you, Gai. You know better than that.”
He had to look away after a few seconds, nodding silently. He was not ashamed of himself —he had come very far as a shinobi!—, but he was well aware of what people in the village still said about him. Sometimes it was difficult to keep believing in himself when his father was not there anymore to push him forwards.
A new clap on his shoulder brought him back to reality.
“Well, I have to go now” Genma said. “But listen to my advices and, if he says ‘yes’ to the date, remind him that I’ll chase him down if he doesn’t fulfill your expectations.”
“Genma!” he exclaimed, looking back at him in surprise. “You should not make such a threat against a comrade!”
“He’s just a fellow shinobi, you’re my teammate and brother in arms” his friend shrugged, walking away. “See you!”
He disappeared before Gai could complain anymore, so instead he was left there in the middle of the training ground, alone with his thoughts.
Finding Kakashi was easy enough, as Gai seemed to have a sixth sense to detect where his rival was most times. The Hatake walked alone, as usual, dressed in his shinobi clothes and with a serious expression on his face, but by his manner of walking it didn’t seem as if he was in a hurry to get somewhere. Which was perfect for the taijutsu master.
“Rival!” he called. “Wait up!”
In the past, Kakashi would have done just the opposite, disappearing in front of him and forcing Gai into a chase. Lately, however, his friend had just started to stop dead when he called his name.
“Hi, Gai” the Hatake said with a tired tone. “I’m sorry, but I’m not in the mood for one of your challenges.”
“Oh, that’s fine, rival!” he beamed with a smile. “I actually wanted to talk, that’s all.”
“To… talk?” Kakashi’s right eyebrow had lifted, looking at him with a mix of confuse and amusement. “That would be a first.”
“Don’t try to act so cool and aloof, rival, I’m sure we have talked as normal civilians before!”
The inquisitive eyebrow maintained its position.
“Well, maybe not, but that’s because challenges are way more interesting!” he complained, huffing. “Anyways, this is important. Perhaps you would like to go somewhere, um… more private?”
Up until now, they had been standing to the side of one of Konoha’s busiest streets, which made difficult for them to have a serious conversation without an eavesdropper. His suggestion seemed to have an effect on his friend, as Kakashi’s manner changed and he turned more serious, nodding quietly.
He jumped away first, the Hatake following easily behind until they were in a small park several streets away. It didn’t have a playground, but instead a couple of big trees that blocked the view from the buildings around them and offered some shadow. The place was empty, which also ensured the privacy Gai assumed his friend would like.
“So? What is that you wanted to talk about?”
He swallowed his nerves away. A Maito never backed down!
“It’s a question, actually” the taijutsu master clarified. “I… I wanted to know if you would like to go on a date. With me.”
In front of him, Kakashi just blinked, as if waiting for something else to come out from his mouth. After a couple of seconds, he seemed to realized that was about it.
“All this secrecy… To ask me on a date?” the Hatake questioned, shifting the weight on his legs.
“Well, I thought you’d appreciate the privacy, rival!” he exclaimed, noticing just after that his tone was too high. “Besides, I didn’t want to invite you on a first date in the middle of a busy street.”
“Wait, what do you mean ‘first’?” Kakashi huffed. “Have you forgotten how to count, Gai?”
He was pretty sure the answer to that question was ‘no’, but then again the expression on his friend’s face told him it may be ‘yes’.
“Uh… I don’t think so?” he babbled, blinking a couple of times. Then, he let out a stressed laugh. “I mean, I would have realized if I had been in a date with you before, rival!”
“Apparently, you wouldn’t” the Hatake pointed out with a sigh, although his manner had suddenly shifted. He looked somehow… nervous. “I mean… What about last week’s dinner at BBQ? And before that, in Ichiraku? I thought that had been our first date.”
“I… Uh… What?!” Gai mumbled, trying to sort out his thoughts. “But, that… I thought you invited me to dinner because you owed me from previous challenges!”
“Since when do I fulfill that part of any challenge?” his rival huffed, half-annoyed and half-worried.
Kakashi did have a point there; anytime he would lose a challenge in which he had to pay the food after, he would never follow through.
“Are you…” the Hatake hesitated just a moment, changing his manner for one just slightly more aloof. “Does that mean you’re also not counting the kisses we shared?”
Just the mention of those made Gai blushed furiously. He had never imagined his friend would be the one bringing them up.
“I do!” he exclaimed. “Of course I do, rival! But I just thought… Well, you ran away after each time!”
The other young shinobi looked at him as if he was stupid. Which he was starting to feel as, at that point.
“Gai, after the first kiss we had to return to the village to give a report, and you were called out to another mission” he deadpanned. “By the time you came back, it seemed like nothing had changed and you didn’t want to know anything about it. I just guessed you felt the same way as I do a couple of weeks ago, when you kissed me again, and just after an ANBU came looking for me. It’s not like I didn’t want to acknowledge it.”
Gai blinked. Once.
Twice.
I just guessed you felt the same way…
He opened his mouth. Then closed it again.
“Besides, I don’t know what you think of me, but I don’t go around putting my hands under the shirt of each person I see…” the Hatake half-joked.
The blush came back. The amount of blood in Gai’s face was not making it easy for him to think clearly. At the moment, all his brain cells seemed to be fixated in bringing him back the memory and feeling of his rival’s hands slipping under his shirt.
It had happened just two days ago, when Kakashi had oddly —although apparently it was not odd anymore, as that has probably been a date as well—, accepted his invitation to spend the afternoon together. Some training after and the two of them lying side by side on the training ground, the Hatake had turned around to lay closer to him and touched him softly. Another team had appeared a couple of seconds after, so the interaction had stopped abruptly and each one had gone their way for a very well-deserved shower.
“I do!” he babbled a moment after, which only brought a confused expression to his rival’s face. “I mean, I do feel the same way!”
“Oh” the Hatake said, for once speechless and… was that a blush coming up from underneath his mask? “That’s… Good. Yeah.”
“And I think highly of you, rival! Never doubt it again!” Gai continued, uncapable of stopping himself. “I just wasn’t sure if you did, or you would like to be in public with me, or if you…”
“Wait, what?” his friend interrupted him. “Why would I have a problem with being together in public?”
Taken aback, the taijutsu master had to swallow his own saliva and brush the back of his neck before finding the right words. Or the closest thing to that.
“I-I mean… You’re an elite shinobi, Kakashi” he tried to explain. “And I’m… well, just another jounin that…”
“Stop right there, Gai” the Hatake intervened once again. “You’re not ‘just another jounin’, you should know that already. Surely the Hokage knows it, and whoever goes against his words is just stupid. If anything, you should be the one worrying about going out in dates with a ‘friend-killer.”
“Rival!” the taijutsu master growled. “I told you to never use those words to refer to yourself again! You are an amazing shinobi and friend, your team was lucky to have you and—”
If anybody would have told Gai the events that just took place would happen, he would have laughed loudly and then complained about joking with things like that.
His honest and tearful discourse was interrupted by a mouth colliding with his. And this time he could feel the lips of Kakashi against his own. Gai’s eyes opened widely as he was kissed by his eternal rival, mask folded around the Hatake’s neck. His body, however, seemed to be ready enough to react without any instruction from his brain, as a second after his eyes closed and he pushed slightly forwards. This was his third kiss, so he knew it would not be perfect, but as his lips moved timidly against Kakashi’s mouth, a warm feeling filled him deep inside.
The other two times his rival and him had kissed, it had been electrical. Almost a lustful reaction in a moment of tension. This time felt different. There was no electricity around them, but something softer.
He decided this was his favorite kiss so far.
“Let’s make something clear” the Hatake said against his lips when they separated. “I do like you, and we have been in four dates so far, understood?”
The taijutsu master just nodded, the temptation to lean in again to share another kiss almost too strong to contain.
“Good.”
As fast as Kakashi had taken his mask down, it was up again and covering his face from the world. Gai had seen it in a couple of occasions, but never had the opportunity to properly appreciate it. He hoped one day he could.
“Being that way, rival” he said, coughing to regain some self-control. “Would you let me invite you to a fifth date?”
“Only if you pay” his friend said. “You owe me, after all the headache you just gave me.”
Gai laughed loudly.
“Of course, rival!”
There were more things he wanted to talk about. Especially now that it seemed like Kakashi did not have a problem with talking about their relationship. Assuming they were in one.
Huh.
Maybe that should be a question for later that day.
titsay
kianamaiart
andulkaphoto
prguitarman
gamechangershow
tangentwithtanner
