5 things (very short)
1.
Kakashi laid his hand gently(and awkwardly) on Sakura’s head. “You should be proud of yourself for making it this far. I know I am. And Tsunade—sama is too. Ignore the people who don’t care to know who you really are, okay?”
His voice was soft, but wasn’t full of pity like other people were. It was like he knew. He knew how it felt to be criticised. To be a failure. She didn’t know how to explain it, but she felt understood. She trusts the man with her life and she nods.
Kakashi—Sensei had believed her without a doubt in her potential, and she wasn’t about to let him down by stopping now!
2.
Naruto hadn’t remembered this until Tsunade had assigned Kakashi an Anbu mission out of desperation. Naruto was entering the room when he sees Kakashi put on the mask. “It’s YOU!” He gasped.
“Ah. Me…?”
One memory flashed in his mind, and soon another and another and another. Memories of an Anbu named “Hound.” Protecting him from the harsher villagers and gifting him small items on his birthday. Hound never spoke to him at all, never came close enough to touch him, but Naruto always knew when he came by to visit. He knew, because Hound had always listened to his rambles and when his birthday rolls around, there comes a small item that he had been gushing about for months.
The gifts stopped when he entered the academy, but he never truly forgot about the man who kept him safe the most. The other Anbu had always stayed away from him, Save for Cat—Yamato—taichou, now that he had found that out as well— Hound was the only one who truly looked out for his kid self.
3.
Sasuke didn’t have many fond memories of the village. He didn’t have as many fond experiences with Kakashi either. But there were a few moments in his childhood that stuck with him. That gentle reprimanding nature when he arrived to training with his head burning with a fever. It reminded him of his brother.
Sasuke had assumed that this gentle nature had disappeared—at least, he thought that Kakashi would never look at him that kindly ever again.
He was severely wrong. A much older Sasuke huffed fondly, looking back at his old memories. “You’re too soft, Kakashi.”
The rokudaime hokage only raised his eyebrow and kept writing. Though he did mutter a dry,”what?”
After the war and when he was imprisoned, the man visited weekly, most of the time on the other side of the bars to make conversation, but from time to time when Sasuke pretends to sleep, Kakashi had reached out beyond the bars and ruffled his hair, sighing deeply, “You brats are going to be the death of me. Am I cursed? Why do I still care for you? Why do I not regret it?”
Sasuke never mentions it of course, but he feels like the connection between him and his sensei grows strong like it had never been severed in the first place.
4.
Sai was a new team member, one that Kakashi had met far later than the others, but he treated Sai just the same.
It almost felt like he wasn’t a replacement. He knows that Sakura and Naruto don't mean it in a mean way, he is a replacement, but he has always recognised the word as disposable. That he could be thrown aside as his purpose disappeared.
But Kakashi stayed with him, with his horrible jokes and excuses. He had known his past and taught him colours and emotions. Sai found that Kakashi was a dark blue with a mix of grey, resembling a storm of sorts.
The man was patient in reminding Sai about teamwork and friendship. And when adversity came, he protected him just as much as the rest.
He awkwardly patted Sai’s head all the same as the others without fear and resentment, and handed him a pair of knitting sticks. “Another way to express yourself. You know, acquainting yourself with a stick that’s not used to kill.”
Kakashi found his empty cabinet getting full of trinkets given by his gremlin students.
5.
After the war, loneliness was all that he felt. Emptiness. Terror. Guilt. No one came to his rescue. And he hadn’t blamed them. He just felt… helpless. He was ROOT. ANBU for years and yet he had gotten captured so easily.
His power was to blame. And he had wanted to repent. But Kakashi refused to let him drown himself in work. Kakashi only smiled at him, “What kind of friend would I be if I let you fall like this when you had been there for me?”
Tenzo had tried to insist that it was different.
Kakashi shook his head.
“I don’t leave behind people I care about.”
Tenzo almost cried that day. Well— they both did, truthfully. Neither of them had been coping well with the war, but Kakashi held them together like a pillar.
Kakashi was there to remind him that he wasn’t Kinoe. He was Tenzo, Hatake Kakashi’s partner, Yamato, team 7’s captain. A part of the family instead of being just a replacement.