Cherry Popsicle Blues

They sat down in a shady spot on the riverbank, far enough from the village centre for the general construction noise to sound dull and remote, like the waking world might sound to someone still caught in a dream.

Kakashi closed his eye for a moment and breathed in the smell of the river and the grass – and the smoke and ashes. He wrinkled his nose; clearly they weren't that far from the construction workers after all. The workers were doing their best, clearing away the lingering signs of destruction, rubble, bloodstains, glass shards and any other unpleasant reminders of Pain's attack, as fast as they could, but they were only human, and the devastation had been total.

He sighed and looked over at Gai, who'd stretched out in the grass and was still rubbing his belly. Big, warm circles; the skin of his own stomach prickled. Kakashi firmly pulled his thoughts and gaze away. Strangely light-headed was how he felt all of a sudden, vulnerable.

It had been a long, weird day; that was all, Sasuke, then bringing back the captured girl, being nominated for the position of Hokage, the race, Gai giving him flowers, not becoming Hokage after all, and then the eating contest.

That was probably it, an overdose of sushi. Kakashi smiled – was this what Naruto had felt when he'd finally collapsed after they went back to get Kiba and the others? Relief…

Kakashi shook his head, cleared away some of the cobwebs from his mind. He was slightly overworked it seemed. It had been a little much.

With a sigh, he let himself sink into the cool grass, let himself feel the soft ground beneath him, the gentle breeze stirring his hair.

Next to him Gai burped.

"Feeling better?" Kakashi asked, turning on his side to get a better look at his suffering rival. At least his face wasn't the same colour as his spandex anymore. Plus, his belly looked almost normal-sized again.

"I shouldn't have had that extra-large breakfast this morning…"

"You challenged me to a race and an eating contest after you had a big breakfast?"

Why was he even surprised? Of course he had, he was Gai.

Kakashi allowed the uncharacteristically carefree laughter that was building within him to bubble up and fall from his lips in a light chuckle.

"You lost two challenges in one day, Gai-kun, how will you ever catch up to me again?"

Gai rolled on his side with the speed and grace of a pregnant manatee; then he pointed awkwardly and accusingly right at the tip of Kakashi's nose as if it had offended him somehow.

"I will win the next three challenges in a row! It's as easy as that! If I don't, I will do 3000 back flips!"

Kakashi wrinkled his nose. "Don't do that, you'll throw up."

"I'll do a hundred more for every time I throw up!"

"That… only makes it worse, Gai."

And yet, Kakashi couldn't really stop smiling. He cast a quick look at his bouquet of flowers – he'd had one of the guards hold on to it for him and had retrieved it when he'd left with Gai. Now it lay in the grass next to him; he'd wrapped some wet napkins around the stems, but he still needed to get them into a vase soon.

Flowers… Gai had surprised him with that gesture. It seemed so…

He turned back to Gai, who looked at him thoughtfully, his impressive brows furrowed, the unmistakable sign that he was conflicted about something.

"Aren't you disappointed?" he blurted out finally, the words coming out fast and forceful as if they'd had to fight their way through his teeth.

"That Tsunade-sama isn't dead?" Kakashi shot back, cocking his head and succeeding in bringing pleasant blush to Gai's cheeks.

"That's not what I meant! You know what I meant! About not becoming Hokage." Gai sobered on those last words; Kakashi could tell that he cared, really cared about this for some reason.

The answer, though, was still absolutely obvious to Kakashi; he didn't have to think about it at all.

"No."

He studied Gai's face then, watched surprise and doubt subtly transform his expression, watched his eyebrows rise and his eyes widen, and caught himself thinking that Gai was far more attractive than people gave him credit for.

"I always thought becoming Hokage was the dream of every child in the whole Land of Fire," Gai said, strangely subdued.

Kakashi shrugged lopsidedly. "I'm not a child anymore." A note of regret had slipped into his voice, but it was too late to take it back now.

"It's not childish! It's a dream well worth fighting for!"

Gai was still so easy to upset, so quick to jump to the defense of dreamers everywhere. The fire in those eyes –

"I know, but it's not my dream," he said gently. And then, to dissolve some of the tension between them, and, inexplicably, inside him, he added, "Besides, if I became Hokage, what would happen to my rival? How would he be able to surpass me then?"

"I'd find a way!" Gai balled his fist, all fired-up, "There has to be something beyond Hokage! That's what I would become! It'd be a challenge!" He grinned that winning, pinging grin of his, and Kakashi felt some of the tension melt from his own body in response.

He found in that moment that he could play this game for a very long time, maybe forever.

As long as he could look at Gai's smiling face like this, as long as long as he could feel blades of grass tickle the back of his neck, as long as he could feel the sun on his skin.

"And what would that be?" he drawled, a twinkle in his eye.

Gai pouted, his lower lip jutting out. Clearly, he had absolutely no clue.

"Hmmmm…" Trying to buy time, obviously.

"Well, there's always the daimyo," Kakashi suggested. "But the title is hereditary; you'd have to marry a daimyo's daughter…"

"That wouldn't really be an accomplishment," Gai, who – much to Kakashi's amusement – seemed to be taking the whole thing quite seriously, said critically.

"Depends on the daimyo's daughter, I think."

"You're making fun of me!"

"Hm, maaaybe," Kakashi couldn't quite keep the smirk off his face – and he knew Gai could tell even with the mask - , so he turned and looked at the clear blue sky instead of his rival. Clouds drifted past at a snail's pace, appearing big and solid despite their actual intangible, quite fleeting nature.

He felt pleasantly warm but slightly dizzy, almost tipsy, topsy-turvy.

Stealing another sideways glance at his rival told him that Gai had rolled onto his belly and was staring uphill intently.

Kakashi looked back up at the sky, the moving clouds, thought about the ground moving ever so minutely beneath him, listened to the river flowing past, thought about time passing, and then he thought, suddenly, painfully, War. War is coming.

"There is something else, Gai," he said softly, quickly, focusing on an especially big sheep-shaped cloud of pure innocent white, "I don't want to be your superior; we're equals: I don't want that to -."

"Popsicle stand!" Gai yelled, pointing uphill.

"EH?!"

"They're selling popsicles over there!" Gai had already jumped to his feet and was searching his vest for money. "Do you want one?"

Kakashi sat up, annoyed and somewhat embarrassed, not that he had any reason, since Gai obviously hadn't listened to a single word he'd said.

"What are you, five?"

"Do you want one?"

"No, thanks," Kakashi answered in a manner as dignified as possible; Gai, though, didn't even wait for him to finish the sentence, off he took in hot pursuit of his icy treat.

Minutes later he returned victoriously, brandishing a red cherry popsicle and grinning like a maniac. Kakashi sighed; the moment was gone. Maybe it was for the better.

"We should go," he said. They were expected at the Hokage Tower, he was sure of it. The jounin would all have to make an appearance, even if it was just to be sent away again; they had to check on their Hokage, that was their duty.

Kakashi got up and picked up his flowers as well. Carrying them around was slightly awkward, but he didn't want to leave them behind. He liked them. Gai had given them to him. Those two facts he left in a backroom of his mind, blissfully unconnected.

Gai just nodded and gave his popsicle a long, and – or so Kakashi thought – ridiculously obscene lick before putting it in his mouth and sucking.

Great.

They walked in nearly complete silence, interrupted only by slurping noises from Gai that Kakashi could really have done without – he was sure they would haunt his dreams for years.

It didn't help that he could only think about how Gai's mouth would taste like cherries right now, which made him think about the things he could have said—

But there was no point in thinking about that so he shook his head and walked faster.

Kakashi clutched his flowers, feeling cool water soaking into his glove, and marched on ahead.

Surprisingly, Shizune was among the guards in front of the Tower. She waved them over happily, radiating pure joy in a way Kakashi hadn't seen her do ever since the attack. For the last few weeks she'd been quiet and withdrawn, focused solely on caring for Tsunade.

It was as if she, too, had miraculously reawakened.

"I'm sorry, but Tsunade-sama can't see visitors quite yet," she announced cheerfully. "I will tell her you came, though."

Gai bowed formally and Kakashi was about to do the same, but Shizune beamed at him in a way that he found a little disturbing.

"That's really thoughtful of you, sempai," she said, holding out her hands as if she was about to receive a present.

Kakashi followed her gaze down to his right hand.

The flowers.

She thought he'd brought them for Tsunade.

"Ah." He couldn't not give them to her, could he?

She was frowning slightly already, her smile starting to look strained.

Reluctantly, he placed his flowers in her hands, but when she wanted to take them, he found that, somehow, he'd forgotten to let go. His resistance made her grimace and pull harder until he finally remembered how to command his fingers to loosen their grip.

"Thank you, sempai." She bowed hastily and retreated, giving him one last suspicious glance over her shoulder, as if she was afraid he had lost his mind and would come after her.

Kakashi sighed; he actually felt bereft.

Unable to bear the sudden emptiness of his hands any longer, he shoved them into his pockets, then looked over at Gai, who seemed to have forgotten all about the flowers already.

He sighed once more for good measure and turned around, heading towards the tent he currently called home.

After two steps, Gai caught up to him, slung one ridiculously strong arm around his shoulder and said, in what to him was probably a gentle, comforting voice, "I think you would have been a great Hokage!" right into Kakashi's ear, almost deafening him in the process.

It wasn't exactly what he'd wanted to hear from Gai, but it meant something nonetheless, though not as much as the arm around his shoulder and the way the heat from Gai's body seeped right into his.

"Thanks."

Gai grinned

"Anytime," he said.

End.

A.N.: There's a slightly different, darker version of this story at my LJ (link to my LJ in my profile) .

Why does that second version exist? Because it may or may not set up a longer AU series, but mostly because I felt like writing it.