Categories > Anime/Manga > Naruto > Teaching
They were just driving. There was no real destination in sight, although 'officially' they were checking out colleges.
At night Gai would sleep in the back, his sprawling football-large body taking up all the room of the two seats and them some. Kakashi with his skinnier runner's frame stretched his long legs up onto the dash of the passenger's side and dozed in the seemingly impossible position.
Sometimes Kakashi would crawl over the stick-shift and pile of maps that never did any good or got any use to wake Gai with a few whispered words and rough touches. Their grunts and gasps always managed to fill the silence.
On bad days they would lapse into silence as Gai drove, the soothing hum of the engine and the radio keeping them moving passed the ever-changing landscape that flowed by Kakashi's mis-matched eyes as if it was like a never-stopping river.
On good days the sun was shining and Gai's bass voice would mix with the songs on the radio, occasionally electing a tenor accompaniment when Kakashi didn't have his silver hair out the window like a dog. When it was nice out (or just not raining) they'd put the top down.
---
They were the odd pair in their class, the jock and the genius, both studying to become teachers. Hatake's eye-patch and near-constant bad romance novel always elected rumors, not to mention his attractiveness to women coupled with an apparently permanent single status. Gai had only got into the teacher academy on a sports scholarship, or rather multiple sports scholarships: one for every sport he played, which was many. And yet, they took their work seriously (or at least got it mostly done) and managed to stay at the top of the class.
when they joined a school for gifted students together, no one questioned their unity. Everyone at one time or another had experienced Kakashi's fierce, sharp-bladed anger, and none of the hurried, smiling apologies from the gentle giant would remove the chill that the blue eye would cast.
No one, of course, saw the other eye, permanently blood-red and stigmatized.
---
"I will fail them, the way I failed Obito, Rin and Sensei."
"Now, now Kakashi-sensei..."
But Gai could tell Kakashi had his look on, and it would be no use trying to convince him. Sighing, he clapped one large hand on the other teacher's shoulder and pulled him into an awkward sideways hug. It was quickly released, but had its desired effect. Kakashi pulled on a half-smile enough to convince anyone who didn't know him too well that everything was fine.
Through that, he managed to say: "We are tools, are we not? It's easier to be a tool when you don't have to deal with hormonal teenagers."
And he pushed past Gai and left the room to go find his advisees before Gai could remember that Obito had never made it to hormonal teenager.
He hated it when Kakashi did that.
Gai had asked his new advisees to meet him on the roof - an appropriately Hip, Modern and Cool place to be - but he had to take a few moments to collect himself before going up. He could only hope that his eternal rival could find a reason to save himself in these kids.
---
"...But Kakashi..."
"Pleeeaaaaase?"
It hadn't taken much for his Eternal Rival to wear Gai down. He was a always a little weak when Kakashi actually showed affection for anything other than himself, and didn't like to discourage the Youthful Feelings, but a /dog/...
And then Kakashi had looked up at him with a big, sad blue eye and stuck his lower lip way out. "Please, please, please, Gai, I promise I'll take care of him and he'll sit in the back with me and I'll even feed him some of my food - please!"
As it was Gai's car, it was his call, and although he had seriously enumerated all the problems involved with taking care of a Living Creature when they were continually on the move in a car, but everyone concerned seemed to know that Gai was going to cave in the end. The volunteer was preparing a box for the animal to be taken in, the dog itself was looking up at him with a pitiful expression on it's cute little face and Kakashi...
"Okay," he sighed, closing his eyes and mentally marking one more notch for Kakashi in the Grand Scheme of Things. It only took a moment for him to get back into the swing of things. Striking an Energetic Pose, his eyes blazed with Youthful Passion and Energy while Kakashi carried on helping the volunteer crate the poor neglected animal and completed signing the forms of acquisition.
He really was quite cute, when they finally set him in his box on the back trunk of the car. He had been picked up off the street despite being so young, and had a aggressive air that disappeared quite quickly when someone challenged it. A little pug, who Kakashi quickly dubbed "Pakkun", though from where Gai had no idea. He wouldn't question it.
The dog didn't really like him that much, but took to Kakashi immediately, as if sensing his new owner's tendencies to act like a dog himself.
It was worth the work to see Kakashi's eyes filled with a kind of light and fondness. Maybe they were a step closer to healing.
At night Gai would sleep in the back, his sprawling football-large body taking up all the room of the two seats and them some. Kakashi with his skinnier runner's frame stretched his long legs up onto the dash of the passenger's side and dozed in the seemingly impossible position.
Sometimes Kakashi would crawl over the stick-shift and pile of maps that never did any good or got any use to wake Gai with a few whispered words and rough touches. Their grunts and gasps always managed to fill the silence.
On bad days they would lapse into silence as Gai drove, the soothing hum of the engine and the radio keeping them moving passed the ever-changing landscape that flowed by Kakashi's mis-matched eyes as if it was like a never-stopping river.
On good days the sun was shining and Gai's bass voice would mix with the songs on the radio, occasionally electing a tenor accompaniment when Kakashi didn't have his silver hair out the window like a dog. When it was nice out (or just not raining) they'd put the top down.
---
They were the odd pair in their class, the jock and the genius, both studying to become teachers. Hatake's eye-patch and near-constant bad romance novel always elected rumors, not to mention his attractiveness to women coupled with an apparently permanent single status. Gai had only got into the teacher academy on a sports scholarship, or rather multiple sports scholarships: one for every sport he played, which was many. And yet, they took their work seriously (or at least got it mostly done) and managed to stay at the top of the class.
when they joined a school for gifted students together, no one questioned their unity. Everyone at one time or another had experienced Kakashi's fierce, sharp-bladed anger, and none of the hurried, smiling apologies from the gentle giant would remove the chill that the blue eye would cast.
No one, of course, saw the other eye, permanently blood-red and stigmatized.
---
"I will fail them, the way I failed Obito, Rin and Sensei."
"Now, now Kakashi-sensei..."
But Gai could tell Kakashi had his look on, and it would be no use trying to convince him. Sighing, he clapped one large hand on the other teacher's shoulder and pulled him into an awkward sideways hug. It was quickly released, but had its desired effect. Kakashi pulled on a half-smile enough to convince anyone who didn't know him too well that everything was fine.
Through that, he managed to say: "We are tools, are we not? It's easier to be a tool when you don't have to deal with hormonal teenagers."
And he pushed past Gai and left the room to go find his advisees before Gai could remember that Obito had never made it to hormonal teenager.
He hated it when Kakashi did that.
Gai had asked his new advisees to meet him on the roof - an appropriately Hip, Modern and Cool place to be - but he had to take a few moments to collect himself before going up. He could only hope that his eternal rival could find a reason to save himself in these kids.
---
"...But Kakashi..."
"Pleeeaaaaase?"
It hadn't taken much for his Eternal Rival to wear Gai down. He was a always a little weak when Kakashi actually showed affection for anything other than himself, and didn't like to discourage the Youthful Feelings, but a /dog/...
And then Kakashi had looked up at him with a big, sad blue eye and stuck his lower lip way out. "Please, please, please, Gai, I promise I'll take care of him and he'll sit in the back with me and I'll even feed him some of my food - please!"
As it was Gai's car, it was his call, and although he had seriously enumerated all the problems involved with taking care of a Living Creature when they were continually on the move in a car, but everyone concerned seemed to know that Gai was going to cave in the end. The volunteer was preparing a box for the animal to be taken in, the dog itself was looking up at him with a pitiful expression on it's cute little face and Kakashi...
"Okay," he sighed, closing his eyes and mentally marking one more notch for Kakashi in the Grand Scheme of Things. It only took a moment for him to get back into the swing of things. Striking an Energetic Pose, his eyes blazed with Youthful Passion and Energy while Kakashi carried on helping the volunteer crate the poor neglected animal and completed signing the forms of acquisition.
He really was quite cute, when they finally set him in his box on the back trunk of the car. He had been picked up off the street despite being so young, and had a aggressive air that disappeared quite quickly when someone challenged it. A little pug, who Kakashi quickly dubbed "Pakkun", though from where Gai had no idea. He wouldn't question it.
The dog didn't really like him that much, but took to Kakashi immediately, as if sensing his new owner's tendencies to act like a dog himself.
It was worth the work to see Kakashi's eyes filled with a kind of light and fondness. Maybe they were a step closer to healing.
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