Title: "Sunshine"

Status: OneShot

Fandom: Naruto

Characters/Pairing: Naruto Uzumaki, Kakashi Hatake

Disclaimer: Copyright Masashi Kishimoto; no copyright infringement intended.

Rating: K

Genre: gen, fluff

Warnings: unbeta'ed

Summary: Naruto watched the clouds drift by and if he blushed a little, well, there was no one there to see it...

Sunshine

It had taken a while for Naruto to notice. And yeah, a ninja needed to be vigilant at all times, yadda yadda. But still, baa-chan had given him the day off from training, - well, she might have actually threatened bodily harm if he didn't take a break for 24 hours - so it was totally fine to be absorbed in cloud watching, right?

So Naruto had stared up through the canopy of swaying leaves overhead, how they drifted on the summer breeze that smelled of flowers. The sounds from Konoha were muffled, but children were laughing and someone trained with shuriken.

Some time later Kakashi had shown up in a puff of smoke and plopped down beside him with a cheerful "Yo!" that crinkled his eye; nose buried in his smutty novel. Naruto had nodded once, shifted sideways on the overgrown tree trunk, and then ignored him. The moss was moist underneath his fingers.

He had been in a pleasant stupor, lulled by his own steady pulse and deep breaths, and no thoughts beyond fluffy white clouds, a blue sky and the blazing sun.

But now it was getting really obvious that he was mistreated as a prop-up of sorts. Naruto felt a muscle starting to tick in his jaw and narrowed his eyes. He tried to pull himself together and endure, but just like an explosive tag, he never lasted long before the inevitable explosion.

He turned to shout at the lazy jounin. "Kakashi-sensei - !"

Naruto shut his mouth with an audible 'click' and blinked. He could feel his expression soften at the sight: Kakashi had slumped to the side, leaning heavily on Naruto's shoulder, Icha Icha held with loose fingers in his lap. He looked relaxed, the shadow less deep under his one visible eye. Naruto strained his ears to hear his calm heartbeat; his chakra aura was placid too.

Some silver strands tickled Naruto's nose and he could smell a faint whiff of herbs and the metal of Kakashi's hitai-ate. This was rare, seeing his sensei rest peacefully. Well, seeing him sleep, period.

Naruto grinned. His fingers itched to rise and take this great opportunity to get a look at his face beneath that black cloth mask of his...

Nah, he wouldn't do that.

Naruto sighed and carefully raised his arm, relatively confident that Kakashi wouldn't stir awake at the movement since his presence obviously counted as familiar instead of dangerous, to accommodate him better. Kakashi tensed for a second as Naruto's hand came to rest on his flak jacket, but relaxed again.

"There. That's more comfortable, right, sensei?" Naruto muttered to the sky, not expecting an answer.

Although it was hot even in the tree's shadow and the warm, breathing shape at his side didn't improve matters, Naruto had the feeling he could sit like this for a long, long time and feel at peace.

If he blushed a little at the thought, well, no one else was there to see it.

The End

R&R