Fishstick

A/N sorry this took so damn long, I'll try to be better next time.

---Ch 4---
Tenzou shrugged out of the sweat shirt and stretched before starting again on his training. He began with the usual kata and slowly worked through every stance and motion, stretching his muscles leisurely. He enjoyed his early workout; it gave him time to think about the things
he was too busy to consider during the day and too tired to consider at night. Sometimes he simply enjoyed the movements and the way the cool breeze brushed against his skin.

He had to admit however, that the last couple of weeks had been far less chaotic. Ever since the first day Iruka had helped him deal with his team's antics. The tan shinobi had a sixth sense about their mischief and was helping him aquire one. It consisted of some very simple principals. The first was that if you can't see them... then they're up to something. If they're quiet... they're up to something. And most importantly if they're being good... they've done something. This of course accounted for most of the time the kids were awake.

But, Iruka had explained that it didn't matter because his job wasn't actually to keep them out of trouble. Tenzou's job was to teach them why they should or shouldn't do something or failing this would make the consequence's suitably irritating that the genin simply wouldn't repeat the act. He was still having trouble understanding this concept.

Although, some of the punishments Iruka had helped him concoct had been entertaining. They didn't always seem to reflect on the crime but he'd only had to put up with them doing two or three things they shouldn't have, instead of the dozen they seemed capable of. And, while they were whining over dinner about the horrible things they'd had to suffer through, Tenzou spent his time ignoring them and talking to Iruka.

---

The kids were running through several training exercises after having completed their first mission that hadn't ended in them being punished for something, and Tenzou sat with his back against a tree watching them. It was a nice day and he was surprised at how well behaved the three kids had been today, but he wasn't about to tell them that.

The hours passed and the kids collapsed to the ground in an exhausted heap. In truth it was their first truly productive day and he'd managed to teach them to climb trees with their chakra. They were laughing and recounting all their screw ups in the exercise. All three burst into another fit of childish giggles when Asuma tried to stand up only to realize his legs had fallen asleep and promptly tumbled over.

"They're /almost/ cute when they're like this," Iruka said coming up behind him.

"Yeah, if it wasn't for the fact I know they're just trying to lull me into a false sense of security so they can do something that will give me gray hair." He smiled up at the tanned face of the other man.

"Hmm... too late for that. I think I see one right... here." Iruka reached out and deftly plucked a single strand from his head.

"Ouch." Not that it had actually hurt but still.

He watched as Iruka pretended to study the hair. "Hmm nope, guess not, my mistake." Tossing the strand aside, the younger man grinned and plopped down beside him.

"Looks like you actually wore them out," Iruka laughed.

"It won't last. Give them a few minutes to catch their breath, and they'll be ready for something else. Could be worse though. They could have Naruto's energy."

"Trust me, you have no idea. Compared to Naruto they're always calm." The conversation fell into their easy banter as they watched the three genin relaxing on the grass.

--------------

"Iruka-sensei's back," Asuma groaned half-heartedly.

"Probably giving away more of our secrets," Kawa said as she rolled over onto her stomach and propped her head up on her hands.

"He's evil. I swear he takes joy in ruining our fun." Aki stared at the flower she was holding above her head. Twirling it she plucked another petal off and spun it again, watching the sun glint through the gaps.

"Kakashi-san says he's trying to help and that we should try listening sometime." The young boy sighed and tucked his hands behind his head.

"Like Kakashi-san ever listens to him, maybe he should try taking his own advice, then maybe Iruka-sensei would be nicer since he wouldn't be mad at him all of the time." She plucked the remaing petals out and let them fall from her out-stretched fingers. Asuma reached out and snatched a few out of the air and proceeded to rip them up.

"He's the hokage, he doesn't have to listen to Iruka-sensei if he doesn't want to," the other girl said, plucking bits of grass from her golden-brown hair.

"I wish Iruka-sensei would go bother him instead of us for awhile. Tenzou-sensei doesn't pay attention to us when he's around, but Iruka-sensei always notices when we do anything." Aki muttered, letting her hands fall to the ground beside her.

"Too bad Kakashi-san won't send them both on a mission without us..." Asuma rubbed the remaining flower pieces between his palms until they stained his hands yellow.

"That'd be nice. Never happen though since the whole reason he assigned Tenzou-sensei to us was to ruin our fun." Kawa twirled the senbon between two fingers before sticking it between her teeth again.

"We /have/ to do something,"Aki whined, glowering over at the two men who were laughing at some joke one or the other had told.

"Yeah, but what?" Asuma gave her a defeated look.

"I have a plan." Her grin held some twisted resemblence of both of her parents.

"You always have plan." Kawa's eyes lit up with amusement and she tongued the senbon to the otherside of her mouth.

"Hmm... yes, I do. What /would/ you two do without me?" And then the three burst into a fit of laughter, momentarily drawing curious looks from their targets.

-------

"Kakashi-san, you /have/ to help us!" Aki whined as the other two gave pleading looks. "They're so mean, we never get to do anything anymore!"

"Hn..." The hokage seemed less than impressed by the whining as he continued reading a rather worn orange book.

"All we ever do is go on missions and train..." Kawa leaned over her dog's back, looking exhausted for a change.

"You're shinobi now, that's what shinobi are supposed to do. Why, exactly, do I /have/ to help you not do what you're /supposed/ to do? What you should /want/ to do?" It was obvious even to the kids that they were being patronized.

"We're tired of stupid D-rank missions and he won't let us go on anything higher. It's boring!" Asuma whined at his step-father.

"Maybe if you didn't give him such a hard time he would." The suggestion rolled off the silver-haired man's tongue wrapped in obvious amusement.

"He's such a stick in the mud though! And, he's only gotten worse now that Iruka-sensei's around." Kawa slumped to the floor and flopped backwards to stare at the ceiling. The pleading was going nowhere and she couldn't decide if Aki was ignoring the fact or just so sure of herself she couldn't see it.

"Meh, I don't see how this is my problem. After all if he's bothering you, then he's not bothering me." Kakashi still hadn't bothered to look up from his book.

"Because, it's your fault Iruka-sensei is always around. If you did your work maybe he wouldn't give up on you and come to annoy us!" Aki gave him a rather exasperated look, like she was talking to a three year old and not the hokage.

"ARGH! You are so mean!" The young girl yelled. "Fine!" She growled as she rolled her eyes. "What do you want?"

"What do you mean? Why would there be something I want, just because I refuse to help you three trouble-making genin get into more mischief?" Despite the bored tone and expression, the man did finally look up.

"Because, everyone wants something and if you didn't want anything you would have already given it away that we're here. Which, of course, would mean Tenzou-sensei and..." She dragged the name out as though it truly annoyed her, which it did. "Iruka-sensei would be here, and they would be making us scrub toilets or something equally vile."

"While telling you that if you can't stand to get a little dirty you'll never be able to last in the field," Kakashi added. "At least Iruka learned one thing from me. Give your underlings a reason for why they're entertaining you. It limits the whining."

"Yeah, now what is it you want?" The glare was about as effective on Kakashi as one of his dogs giving him that look when telling him they weren't getting a bath.

"I don't know... I just don't think you three are quite up for it." The skeptical tone grabbed the other two genin's attention.

"We can pull off /any/ prank!" They all but screamed in unison.

"Really... then I suppose getting Gai to wear pink would be an easy feat for you."

"Oh, yeah, beyond easy!" Aki glared. which might have been somewhat more effective if the man hadn't returned his gaze to his book.

"And, I want pictures." Kakashi turned a page and wondered if the kiddos really knew what they were promising.

"Deal! But get those two work-a-holic freaks off our backs." Kakashi decided they definitely had /no/ idea what they were getting into.

"Oh, well now /that/ will be easy." He waved a hand at them dismissively. "You can go now. It's getting to the good part."

The trio all but bolted for the door.