Chapter 9
Kakashi had returned from a month-long ABNU mission, and as usual, his first job upon returning to the village was to check up on Minato-sensei's daughter. Mission report came after. At this point, the Hokage had accepted that routine for what it was.
Looking for Naruto wasn't hard, even though she liked to play hide-and-seek with the village shinobi after her usual pranks got caught, they were mostly during the day. In the evenings once the sun was down, it was normal to see her in her apartment or at Ichiraku's, inhaling ramen just like her mother did.
He let Pakkun locate her scent and followed it to the upper-middle-class civilian society in the east of the village. It was unusual enough that his speed increased as he looked for the blonde-haired girl.
When he did find her, she was talking to a girl her age with green eyes and striking pink hair, both of them laughing and walking. Kakashi's eyebrows raised in surprise, he hadn't seen Naruto with a friend before. But he was glad, that she had someone who would talk to her. As they reached the house he supposed was the other girls, Naruto seemed hesitant to continue the journey, Kakashi understood the situation, of course he did.
Children are innocent and don't need big reasons to make friends, but their parents won't necessarily be the same, not towards the Kyuubi Jinchuriki.
He eavesdropped on their conversation as Naruto ultimately convinced her friend to postpone their plan of a 'sleepover'. But before she could leave the door opened and another boy, around ten years in age came out. He seemed to recognise Naruto and offered to walk her home, which was another surprise to Kakashi. The boy was obviously an academy student judging by his chakra reserves, and probably knew about the Kyuubi (or what the civilians seemed to think about the Kyuubi).
Then came out the person who he assumed to be the two children's mother, and Kakashi finally saw the reaction most people had towards Naruto. Fear, hesitance, dislike. The blonde boy picked up on his mother's attitude along with Naruto who'd bid hasty goodbyes and ran away. Kakashi sent Pakkun after her to see that she reached her home while he stood hidden observing the family. There was a small fight (if you could call it that) before the boy too left in anger and headed straight towards a training ground.
His curiosity piqued but he was already late for his mission report, he went to the Hokage's tower to finish off his job. Since the Hokage had retired for the night, he submitted a written report to the front desk before changing out of his ANBU gear. Once done, he made his way back to the training ground, albeit at a leisurely pace.
Once close enough, he could hear the...creative language flowing from the child's(!!) mouth. Naturally, Kakashi wouldn't be Kakashi if he wasn't being an asshole, so he silently shunshin'd behind the blond and raised his right palm in greeting, "Yo!"
'Good reflexes' he noted absently as the little ninja turned to face him with a glare, holding his probably injured hand.
"What the fuck, you clown," he said and Kakashi paused. He'd been called a lot of things, both titles and terms alike- Kakashi of the Sharingan, Copy nin Kakashi, Friend killer Kakashi, or, the masked dude, the lazy pervert, perpetually unpunctual ninja. But 'clown' was a new one. Not very creative to be honest, he'd give it a 4/10.
"What's an academy student like yourself doing making explosions this late at night?" He questioned with his eye-smile intact, posture loose and unthreatening, the very image of a lazy unbothered guy.
"What's it to you old man?"
"Old? Mind you, I'm still a teenager," he replied while crossing his arms.
"White hair, droopy eyes, bent spine, sloppy posture..." the younger started listing with an unamused expression. "And your face is covered, probably to hide your ugly ass wrinkles." he finished.
Kakashi rolled his eye as he waved his hand. "Ma ma, don't hurt a man's self-esteem like that chibi-kun."
"Don't call me that you extra!" the boy snarled in irritation which made Kakashi perk up more.
"What's your name then, chibi-kun" he repeated with a constant smile, feeling his amusement grow as the other became more annoyed.
"It's Haruno Katsuki, no need to tell me yours you ancient twerp with paintbrush hair looking ass," he snorted before turning around to walk away.
Kakashi stood there a moment to register the name, ah, the new explosion bloodline holder, Haruno Katsuki.
This time he'd give the boy's creativity at names a solid 8.
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Bakugou half expected the weirdo to follow him home, but luckily for him, no one did. At least he hoped, he wasn't good enough to spot him appearing behind him at the ground so he couldn't be sure.
He could make out in one minute the type of person paintbrush hair was. Talking to him would make Bakugou more and more irritated and the older would get more and more sadistic pleasure out of it. He'd only lose brain cells trying to talk to him.
His day had been enough of an experience without adding another weirdo to it. He was tired goddamnit. And his hand hurt like hell. He wanted to go home and use the medicine he'd gotten from Orochimaru to numb the pain, but going home also meant seeing his mom again. He could only hope she'd come around in the future, because Sakura seemed to be good friends with Naruto already.
He sighed silently and opened the door to his house, the place quiet. Everyone had probably already retired to bed. He took a banana from the fridge and went up to his room, hungry after the impromptu workout session.
Applying the gel-like substance to his injured hand carefully, he waited for the pain to come down to a tolerable level before eating his fruit and setting up his bed. It was past his usual bedtime and he was tired enough to fall asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.
The next morning, after freshening up, he joined his family downstairs for breakfast, it was a working day for everyone except Sakura, and since the whole family was home they'd have the first meal together before heading to their own destinations.
"Good morning, Katsuki!" his father said jovially from the table where he was making his morning coffee.
"Morning dad, morning mom, Sakura," he greeted back as he took his own seat and served himself breakfast.
"GOOD MORNING KATSU-NII!" Sakura replied making him wince at the volume early in the morning.
"Guess what, guess what!" she continued, to which he raised an eyebrow.
"What's made you so happy today?"
"I'M HAVING A SLEEPOVER WITH NARUTO NEXT WEEK!" she shrieked in excitement, the happiness clear on her face as she drank her milk.
Bakugou turned to look at his mother who was in the kitchen brewing her own cup of jasmine tea. "That's really great, are you not inviting Itachi's brother too?" he asked, turning back to his sister.
"Nooooo no no Katsu-nii not him," she whined, earlier excitement replaced by an expression of reluctance. Her expression was funny enough to make the three of them laugh at the youngest in their family.
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After the two elders had left for work, Bakugou packed up his bento and books for the academy, before returning to the living room. The babysitter was in the kitchen cutting apples as Sakura talked to her. Once she saw Bakugou she ran to hug him goodbye.
"Did you get mom's permission for a sleepover?" he asked as he hugged back.
"Yep! Yep I did," she answered and looked up at him. Seeing as he didn't say anything she continued, "Mama asked me how I became friends with Naruto yesterday after you left so I told her about those meanies from the park and how Naruto sent them away and that we play in the park. Mama was quiet for some time but then she said I should invite my friend for a sleepover! Only on the weekend though so it's still far away." she pouted at the end and Bakugou smiled.
He knew his mother would understand eventually, but he didn't expect her to take the first step so soon. It was good though, that she was at least open to having Naruto in their house.
"Well, you better tell her when you see her at the park in the evening huh?" he ruffled her hair and picked up his bag, heading to the exit. "Bye Kura-chan," he waved at her before closing the door behind him.
It was only two weeks until the next year of the academy started, when Sakura and Itachi's brother would be starting their formal schooling. It would most probably be his last year at the academy as well, after which would come graduation, then teams, then missions. He desperately hoped to be in the same team as Itachi (not that he'd say that loud) unlikely as it was. He had a whole year to worry about this though, so for now he was just going to continue building up his strength.