Found You

A/N: I WANT REVIEWS. Not of how the story’s progressing, but of your favorite moments! The ones that stick out most! I need accurate critique, and I want to know what makes you people like this fic. Thank you.

Tenketsu = the chakra holes by which the Hyuuga Clan’s Juuken attacks the chakra circulatory system. With over 360 points, it only takes 64 to render a person completely inert.

Lemon: Yes. …Sort’ve. I dunno.
Pairings: Subtle Neji x Lee, Top Rookiecest


Disclaimer: I totally own Sasuke’s little manbriefs. Less-than-three~!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Never Hold Back

“I see Sasuke-kun isn’t with you…”

Out in the woods, under the canopy and away from ANBU’s eyes, Orochimaru waited for his parcel. A parcel that obviously had not arrived, because Kabuto was here in silver vest and black pants and one of those gaudy clay masks. By himself..

He made no excuse, lifting the happily-painted mask and looking back the way he had come. What expression he had was altered by the sun in his lenses. “I failed. Kakashi-san anticipated me. Maybe if I hadn’t held back…”

“Leafs can be meddlesome when there’s more than just one. He would have alarmed the rest.”

The fact this man wasn’t upset with him put him on edge. “Is it alright to leave him here, then…?”

Giving a shrug, the serpent smiled and leaned off the bark. “Perhaps not. But it’s a bit early to make a scene for something that already belongs to me. I’ll have him soon enough…” At the prospect, his tongue flicked out to dab the corner of his mouth.

Kabuto put hands to his hips as he flashed a mild grin. “I hope it doesn’t compromise you, that Kakashi-san knows I’m a spy?”

“You make it sound like he can do anything about it… Heh. Whatever. I’m going back to Suna.” Turning, he pulled hands from his pockets. There was an itch in his pants, dried salt and sweet that he hadn’t bothered to change out of since his encounter in the back room of the tower. “He’s such a naughty boy. Thinking my Sasuke-kun belongs to him.”

Sparing a blink, he looked back to his commander in a small shock. “Is that why he was so protective?” Kabuto could think that, for the sake of a victory, a man like Kakashi would be willing to let one of his own get scraped in the process.

Reptilian lips, thin and pale and cold, spread wide over razor teeth, allowing the dead color of his tongue to brush them. “History likes to repeat itself. You wouldn’t believe how my… old comrades can get when their pupils were at stake. Teaching them so many things besides ninjustu.”

“I suppose strong bonds are necessary in a village like this.”

“It’s wonderful,” he chuckled. “A formality to enjoy each other. No wonder I grew tired of it.” Oh, he remembered vividly the days of his youth, when Jiraiya hardly knew what to do with him. Hardly anything except enjoy him, and be enjoyed by him.

And with Kakashi delving in to the texts of that man, he need only pick a fantasy from his own days and expect those two to fulfill it.

…It was going to be a long month.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“So, you asked that little pervert to escort him?”

“I figured you wouldn’t pick him up here in the open… Naruto’s usually on time, but…” Kakashi’s eye didn’t once drift away from the youth in the bed. Ever since the preliminary fights had ended, he had been here.

As much as he didn’t think one of Orochimaru’s men would be stupid enough to try twice in the same day, he couldn’t help but feel… responsible. There was another topic at hand, however, and he forced himself to concentrate on that. “…I couldn’t just tell Ebisu-sensei of course. He might get… stupid. But at least out there, while you wait…”

He didn’t need the jounin to finish, wiggling his fingers lecherously. “I can research,” the Sannin cooed. Noticing that the young man wasn’t in a mood to be amused by him, he sobered and rested hands on his hips. “I should get going, then. Take care of that one, hm?”

Kakashi only hummed an affirmation, arms not unfolding and expression lost under mask and hair. When the sound of geta drifted away, his attention grew heavier on the steady, distant, rise and fall of the chest in the covers.

Sasuke was still here in the ICU, but now in a different room while the mess of Kabuto’s escape was cleaned up. It wrenched at him, knotted his chest, to listen to the swift beep of the respirator, matched by foggy puffs against the plastic mask. An Uchiha left so helpless to not fend off their attacker…

…He couldn’t stand the sight of it. With a sigh, he slid out of the window, closing it behind him and making his way to the entrance. By now, the lot of genin must have made it out of the exam area, and this would be their first place to check.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Maybe he should have a drink. He had been considering it for the last hour or so. More than that, but that was how long he had been staring at the Ichiraku sign, debating. If he tried to find Gai, he would no doubt be celebrating with his own team, and the jounin didn’t want to intrude.

“…Kakashi-san?”

Silver hair stirred, glancing to his shoulder to watch the chuunin approach. Iruka still didn’t know what to do around him. When it was strictly business, turning in reports, it was easy.

Now, he only scratched the back of his head timidly, a wobbly grin making it to his features. “What… are you doing here?”

“Thinking.”

“I…. I see.” Not sure what to do with himself, and especially his hands, he blushed as eyes lowered. “I couldn’t… find Naruto’s team anywhere. They must be exhausted after the exams. Do… you mind if I ask how it went?”

Kakashi’s eye folded in to a smile when the wet brown eyes lifted to him. “I mind.”

Shoulders dropped, letting go of a breath. “Oh…”

“It kind of went both ways. A long story.” So as not to drop his venomous stare on the teacher his gaze drifted back to the sign. “…I need a drink.”

Catching on, his own eyes rested on the ramen stand. “Usually I eat with Naruto. But, it’d be a waste to just go back home. Maybe…?”

He didn’t have any energy to argue. “You’re buying.”

Iruka grinned sheepishly. “I always do.”


Sigh… So his former students were driving this man to drink. Be it, it was only one bottle. …For now. He cast a weary smile to his own scarred reflection in the broth. “I see… So he simply left for training. That’s good.”

“I don’t think Sakura will be taking it well. …Being by herself.”

Blinking, he stared over to Kakashi for answers, who only glared off at nothing over a saucer that had yet to tip its contents to the masked lips it perched on.

Drinking on an empty stomach was asking for trouble.

By the looks of it, the guy was begging.

“What… do you mean?”

It wasn’t until he had downed the saucer that he treaded in to that thorny mess. White clay chinked lightly in touching the wood, speaking slowly as sake burned on his throat. “…Sasuke’s in the hospital.”

“What? But--! He… didn’t look that beat when I saw him.”

Orochimaru was a matter meant for only jounin, ANBU, and the Hokage. To worry this guy would be needless, and reckless. “Well… stuff happens I guess. The prelims weren’t exactly easy for any of them.”

“But…! He could have died!”

…This was killing his buzz. Fast. His heavy blue eye grew even heavier. “…Could have. Didn’t.” He hadn’t intended to get drunk just so he couldn’t shake his guilt. Quite the opposite. Nothing ever went according to plan.

Chopsticks clacked the table when Iruka stood on his fists. “That’s not the point! They’re you’re responsibility, aren’t they?!”

Releasing a sigh, he reached out to pour another serving. “They have to take responsibility for themselves sometime. They knew that when they came in to this exam.” His nose itched with heat, and the skin on his cheeks was pleasantly warm, but it was starting to give him a headache, this and arguing with the other man. “Why don’t you think about what they want for once? You’re being childish.”

Lips thinned, taking in a breath in preparing to yell at him. He had a comeback. Oh, he did! It just… slipped his mind. That’s all. Vehement, he sat down again, too angry to eat. If it hadn’t been for other instances, Iruka could easily blame the callous tongue on being drunk.

“…So are you…” he grumbled pathetically, taking the boiled egg to his mouth and chomping it angrily. “Meanie.”

“…Yeah,” he agreed quietly, taking another speedy gulp from the saucer.

~*~*~*~*~*~

For some reason, he couldn’t shake the pressure in his chest. It had been a long time since he had felt it. …Years.

…Decades. The anticipation of wanting to see someone.

No doubt magnified by how heavy he had slept. Getting to his apartment was a blur, but if Iruka ever mentioned taking him home he wouldn’t contest it. Without being so drunk he would never have been rested enough to confront this place again.

He hated hospitals. They could barely make him stay when he had to be here, so to come by choice two days in a row was devastating. The only saving grace to coming here was that, when he peeked through the window, Sasuke was off of the respirator. Asleep, but breathing on his own.

As least, he hoped he was asleep. Surely if the was awake, he would have pulled off the medical seal on the upper half of his face. He was corrected when he got a sandal on the linoleum, stalling in his breath at the voice behind him.

“You’re late.”

Shoulders dropped, smiling to himself out the window. As feeble and drained as the sound was, it proved that Sasuke had no ambition of dying soon. “Is that so…? I’m flattered you were expecting me.” …Really, he was.

Choosing not to answer that, silence took over as the jounin made himself comfortable against the wall. Then, he hated to hear the whine in his own voice. “…I don’t wanna be here.”

Arms folded, taking in the tiny figure that hardly made a hill in the sheets. “I know. But these are the consequences of your actions. Going all out means everyone else has to take care of you, mm?” He knew very well Sasuke was in no mood or condition to be lectured to, and before the boy could really fuss or say anything about it he approached the side of the bed and dropped his hand on to swept, black hair. “You should take advantage of it. I hear the nurses really like taking care of you. Be good or I’ll tell them you need a sponge bath.”

That kept him quiet.

Deep down, he knew the air was saturated with his own regrets. Most of the reason Sasuke said nothing was because he didn’t have the energy; the rest was that they could both tell the jounin… really needed to talk to someone, and not have them talk back. Needed someone to simply listen.

It irritated the genin that his teacher could just as easily gotten a dog.

Although…

…He did kind of miss what little physical affection passed between them in heavy times like this. To get pets for just being there was a fair deal, and it wasn’t like Kakashi was unpleasant to listen to. The only torture about it was that he was stuck here, and wouldn’t be able to do anything even if he did want to shut the man up.

“Iruka-sensei was worried about you guys. But then, he kind of worries about everything, doesn’t he.”

It wasn’t much of a question, both of them knew, so Sasuke didn’t answer. Paper strained as he worked his head, intent to look at what he couldn’t see. Long fingers in his scalp stopped him, the exertion creating a heavy sigh. “What about… the third exam…?” There’d be all kinds of hell to pay if, in just getting there, he missed it entirely due to his injuries.

Silver lashes fell over the depth of his blue eye, warmed with more than the leftovers of his hangover. While it should have made him heartsick to hear the pathetic inflections and the desperate way his student held on to his voice, it was warming to know that the Seal could not dig too deeply in such a state. Or maybe it did, and that was why the genin’s recovery was so problematic.

“It’s in a month.”

Whatever effort the Uchiha had been saving to rise from bed tumbled away at that. Fingers sank deeper. “…That idiot better have…”

“The first fight is him against that Hyuuga kid.”

Kakashi could feel the disappointment radiating from him, and he didn’t know whether it was from not being able to face the other Top Rookie himself, or that Naruto wouldn’t be his opponent off the bat. His brow lifted at hearing what it was really about.

“Nn… He won’t have anything left when it’s my turn.”

Which reminded him… The more grim side of why he was here. “You think he’s got a chance?”

Though Sasuke had not once seen Neji in action, those eyes were trouble. An indignant snort scratched his throat, pain mingled in the twist of grinning lips. “Not at all.” But, that idiot had more than just the first fight at stake. He wouldn’t lose.

Naruto was the kind of guy that would eat his own ass when it was being handed to him, for victory by grossness, if not to simply mock their efforts.

They both knew that.

“About that… Your fight won’t be a cakewalk, either.”

“…Says you.”

Defiant as always. Despite himself he smiled in to the mask The Curse wasn’t effecting him so much to cause a drastic change in his demeanor. Cheekbones flared at the breath his Top Rookie exhaled when he pulled away from ebon strands, and the way his weakened body tensed with attention to keep track of where the man drifted through the room.

Popping a clasp at his chest’s scroll pouches, he freed one as the storage closet’s door opened. Inside, blue and white raiment were there. “When you’re good enough, we’ll start your training.”

Paper crackled at the shift of his head, disappointment trickling through his tone. “…I’m fine.”

“The doctor’s saying you won’t be ready to leave for another two weeks.” He knew the boy couldn’t see the smile of his eyelid, but he gave him that anyway. “It’d be nice if you could prove him wrong and all, but I don’t want you leaving here until you’re ready.”

“I’ve been ready,” he snipped tiredly.

“…Sasuke.” Sandals clapped the plastic floor on his return to the bed, in no hurry to get there. When he did, he’d like to think the child gave some kind of soothed noise at the return of fingers to his scalp. “Don’t act tough. It’s cute an’ all,” he drawled, noting the way pale skin colored at the statement.

“…But if you fall behind because you’re not fully healed, your training will stop.” An affirming grip settled in raven tuft, thumb running the marked paper where his student’s brow should have been. “No ifs, ands, or buts. I find you slacking off because of your injuries, it’ll be pointless. It will stop, and you won’t be ready for the exams at all.”

From the way Sasuke only silently listened, the line of his lips sober and thinned, he was doing his best to take the warning seriously.

“The next time I see you…” Kakashi slowed his demands, letting them seep in as his fingers slid away. “I won’t hold back.” Sliding his weight in to the window, he stared out over the courtyard. “There’s directions in your gear pouch. Pack light.”

In the absence of the jounin’s presence, Sasuke was once again left to himself. Himself, and the sterile smell of medicinal, the black expanse of vision that was sourced by paper, the itch of the sheets of a stiff mattress, and a promise.

That guy was finally starting to act like a teacher. His recovery the next couple of days would be… bearable, with that idea.

In a place like this, he could not bring himself to sleep. For the sake of that, he would make himself.

~*~*~*~*~*~

This village was full of idiots. Infested with them. Worse, one of the largest of them was on his team. Gai, in the sake of team spirit, was scheduling visits for them and while he had no great objection to visit TenTen, who consoled herself in defeat by a vastly superior opponent (and a major bitch – this kind of ‘girl-chat’ really fascinated him in some way, so vicious with themselves), he did have a supreme objection to visiting the other one.

The other one that was such a wreck he still had not woken up from his injuries. Well. So long as the flamboyant Green Beast said nothing, maybe it wasn’t so bad. Opalescent eyes lidded at taking in the extensive amount of cast and bandage that comprised the other boy’s lumpy presence in the bed.

It was devastating to the team morale, as far as their teacher was concerned, that the Sand hadn’t batted an eyelash in crushing them. Crushing Lee.

To say the least, Neji was affronted. Some stranger from a strange village had left a strange boy such a mess. A strange boy who crushing the ego of was his business and his alone.

His visit was mandatory. The when of that was another matter. So when he was scratched, scuffed, and foul with a day’s training he had returned to the estate, groomed himself, and come here to the hospital after the evening meal. Now he loomed over his teammate, watching the perpetual scowl of pain on his bizarre features.

That look, which Lee had given him during the exam… It haunted him. Neji pulled up the guest chair, sternly watching him sleep with hands meshed in the valley of spread knees. A look he had never seen on that ridiculous face of his. In the middle of his glorious exhibition, the Green Beast had spared him that.

And he knew. That attack had been meant for him. But in order to confront him in the finals, he wouldn’t be able to hold back. Not like in his own fight against that worthless heir of the branch family.

She was a few rooms down, not yet off of the respirator lest her weakened heart collapse. Without someone proficient enough to see her charka channels and accurately guage her physical distress, they had to work blind.

In a small way, Neji was delighted that Hiashi-sama had taken no action against him, and had not offered even a branch member’s eyes to assist them. He had yet to visit, and had made no demand on the family to do so.

In the confidence of silence, he crafted a grin and rose. “It looks like hard work still doesn’t change fate. Fool.” No argument. No hysteric flailings. No fists and kicks and VOWS OF YOUTH.

Teeth clenched, jaw winding. He turned with a small humph, approaching the door. In a small way, he had been hoping…

…In some tiny way, that… If an idiot so brash and stubborn as that one would have been able to prove it.

That hard work could conquer fate. Because, if even a loser like him could do it, then it had to be said, there was no doubt he, who was a genius, could conquer it as well.

How disappointing. The naked tips of his fingers closed around the door handle, pulling it shut behind him before shuffling down the hall. Motion in the window of a door he passed caught his peripheral gaze, coming to a stop outside. Beyond the glass, a porcelain figure wrapped in numerous bandages was pulling on a dark shirt. When the red and white crest declared itself on the figure’s back, opal eyes narrowed.

Sasuke stiffened, hairs on the back of his neck standing long before the door opened, and long after it shut. Then, he only proceeded to step in to his shorts.

Himself, he couldn’t remember being so petite at that age. As far as the physical presence of Uchiha went, from what he had heard, they were usually more intimidating. Had it not been for the motion, Neji was slightly put off by the idea he had not sensed the other boy at all.

And by how delighted he was to see the arrogant little prick wagging his ass around in clingy black… whatever those were. Boxers? Briefs? They were nice, is what they were. Catching the other in such an inappropriate state gave him a smug turn of lips plumped with noble heritage.

“You tarnish what it means to be a Top Rookie when you’re caught with your pants down.”

With eyes too keen he watched the smaller boy twine the finer muscles of his jaw, then simply continue to saddle the gear pouch on the back of his hip. He turned, taking his time to sit down on the rumpled sheets of the hospital bed, and it was that kind of motion that told Neji…

“You’re going to ignore me?” Smirking, hands found his hips. “If I attacked you now, there wouldn’t be any chance for you, in that condition.” At last, a response. Coal eyes ticked with agitation, flicking up to the older genin. The Hyuuga took note that the other boy didn’t appreciate his weaknesses being pointed out. “Perhaps you shouldn’t.”

What a child. Alabaster features slackened when the Uchiha’s tenor drifted in to the evening air of the sterile room. “What’s your problem with me? I don’t even know you.”

…Even Neji didn’t know. Presented with that, he stood there in mute perception and waited. Waited and watched while the other boy wrapped his shins in body tape.

“If you’re just gonna stand there and gawk like a fangirl, and not stop me, you may as well leave.”

Deep almond brows knitted angrily. He had come here on the high ground, and the Uchiha had made a landslide right under his feet with that air of his. “You’re going to train?”

Sasuke didn’t look up from his task, only giving a supremely sardonic, “Duh.”

With that invisible chakra of his, the boy could very well leave through the front door and no one would notice. That distortion in his features remained when the crest of raven hair slid past him for the door. Slowly.

“…Uchiha.”

A sigh, glaring to his silhouette on the door. “What now?”

“You won’t get far like that.” He glanced over his shoulder to the other form that made no effort to reject the comment. “You might even collapse before you escape the grounds.”

“I really don’t care to hear ho—“

“If you sit down, I’ll help you. …If it’s a matter of honor you’re worried about – I don’t attack helpless children that can’t defend themselves.” Not when they weren’t related to him.

By far, Hinata-sama was far from defenseless. She was privileged and schooled in every means to fend him off. At that point, he was simply better than her.

It took a moment, but as they stood there with their backs to each other, Sasuke eventually shuffled himself to the visitor chair and eased himself on to the poor cushion.

In some bit of triumph the Hyuuga boy smirked, watching him the entire way until he followed, taking kneel at his feet and claiming up one of the sneaker’d feet. The soles were thin enough that chakra could pass to stick to things, so flowing such a thing back through them could be no trouble. Milky eyes constricted and forged pupils from their depths, tunnels of energy surfacing on his skin. Reflexively, when Sasuke attempted to summon the Sharingan to watch what was taking place, a surge of pain numbed its way through his shoulder.

The tiny flinch wasn’t missed, and while the eyes didn’t focus on him, Sasuke knew the other was watching him to speak like that. “I wouldn’t do that again. For the heir of a genius clan, you can’t tell when your own body is ready to betray you.” While he spoke, fingers drifted the rubber sole, exposing vulnerable tenketsu to bursts of his own internal energy.

Satisfaction painted his lips when the boy that owned that foot jumped, nails digging in to the corners of the armrests. One by one, each jab at chakra made him squirm and chest tighten, breath shorten, and Neji prided himself to bring such wonderful misery in to the other body, working silently with a perpetual little grin.

When it was all over, and he was sure the other boy had been subjected enough to his ‘healing’, he afforded a glance up to the Uchiha’s face. The only thing staring back at him was a wrathful pair of inky eyes over flushed cheeks. Had the color not been there, he might have thought there was no effect at all. “Do you need a moment, Uchiha?”

Sasuke wanted to strangle him. There wasn’t anything healing about being stroked at the feet and feeling it in his bones, all the way up to his zipper. White knuckles didn’t yield the armrests as the taller brunet watched him with concealed mirth.

Neji had to be flattered by the lack of exchange. It was different, compared to how Lee always had a retort for everything, and when he ran out of hardly-clever things to say he turned to the nonsensical. All in all, that boy was a pain, so he took his pleasures in being able to drag the green ego through the mud. With this one… there was something in coal eyes he could often identify in his own pearlescent ones. Could think, at least, it existed mutually between them, that they had something in common; an idea that anyone in this village was like him he often wretched to consider, save now.

Those were eyes that had no bottom, and while every Hyuuga owned that – his own White Eyes the brightest and clearest as some would think – these were the blackest and deadliest.

A shiver ran through him to think he would face the true eyes of that bloodline. And at the same time, there was a fear in him. Back in the forest, there had been a chakra he had not recognized. Dormant now, he did not want to think of confronting that in the finals.

“You seem angry. Are you going to break my arms, too?”

That statement disrupted everything, Sasuke’s frustration crumbling at the memory of what he’d done. So lucidly aware of what he’d done, and while he knew that wasn’t the real him, he wasn’t disgusted by that power. Crafting a stable breath he smirked.

“…No.”

“Mercy for me, then?” The idea ticked him, eyes narrowing as he lifted to his feet. What an ungrateful boy.

“…No.” That same mild word, leaning to regain himself. Now, there wasn’t that overwhelming dizziness, and out loud he would never attribute it to that treatment. Giving one sandal a tap, then the other, he made his way for the window. “…I don’t have to do a thing. That idiot’s going to wipe the floor with you.”

Neji did not enjoy repeating himself, but… “Excuse me?”

Neither did he, but he could make an exception as he hoisted the window and slid in to the open space. “You’re excused. The only one allowed to beat that loser in to the ground is me.” Chancing to glance over his shoulder, deep eyes glittered with a sick amusement. “He’d die before he let you win.”

Just for that… Fists bunched, tape between his fingers groaning. Just for that, he was tempted to call the nurses. Make the other boy’s escape impossible. Level-headed judgment won, miffed as he squared his jaw and only looked on to the shadowy blip taking across the moonlit rooftops.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

With any luck, Sasuke was still two days from getting out of bed. His recovery rate back in the Wave country, his chakra system a mess and his muscles in fit because of that, it had still taken a while even with the spectacular rate. Fortunately, their mission was to stay and guard Tazuna until the bridge’s completion, which had been nearly a month. To recover from absolute exhaustion, especially with the Curse Seal crippling his development…

What training he had in mind would have to be half-again harder, and again for their time constraint. Pebbles slid away under his hand, powdery eye squinting against dust falling in to white lashes.

Out here, this was where he had done his own training. It was private, and not a soul for miles. Not even birds that would feast on heat-extinguished carrion. Here, he could make sure they weren’t interrupted, unless they went over a mile away to the river.

Dammit… He should have been at the top by now. Falling behind, slacking off in his own training. Kabuto’s abilities had proven he had been taking it easy. It was worse, now, tendons straining and joints aching in the whole of his hand as he lingered in thought. This activity should have been clearing his mind, but it was turning out to be more muddled than usual.

At this rate, he would tote a wicked sunburn the rest of this month.

Sandaime had told him, back when he had first resigned to becoming an instructor, that he would develop a favorite student, and that it would have a good chance of blinding him. Back then, even with no experience he had owned no doubt. As a teacher in such a position he’d had no experience; as a student receiving such attention… he had suffered.

There had been some fear in him, to take up a team and become vulnerable like that. With his hitai-ate down as it was, he was already half-blind. It wouldn’t take much.

For that, he worked twice as hard, or at least he thought he did, to make sure that he didn’t let his favorite get cocky and jeopardize his team. In some small way, he owed the crybaby that much.

His faded blue disk shrank when the next outcrop of rock gave way under his foot. Shimatta!

Uchihas.

Always causing him trouble just thinking about them. There wasn’t that much further to go. He could make it, if he could just…

If only he could use both hands. And then, it would defeat the purpose of it all. But he could still…

Internal senses focused around a knot of energy behind his eyes, stressing that forward with all the attention he could in dangling there so high up. Kai…! Life poured in to him, constrained potential springing free with a burst kick of his feet, launching up to the next, safest part of ledge. That much closer to the top.

It had been years since he had needed to delve in to that area of his own mind, heaving a stilling breath as he dipped his head in to the shade. He’d earned that much.

…It was the middle of the day. Why was there shade? He was almost afraid to look up, but when he spotted taped shins, his eye kept climbing. Past spotless white shorts and the fists planted in their pockets, the deep blue shirt that stirred and lifted off a pale belly in the high wind, and in to gust-mangled black hair that surrounded a smug grin.

Sasuke was rather proud of himself, to be able to say everything with just, “Hey.”

Kakashi was rather sick with himself, to be able to only say, “…Hey yourself.”