Title: "Crush"

Status: OneShot

Fandom: Naruto

Characters/Pairing: Kakashi Hatake, Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha

Disclaimer: Copyright Masashi Kishimoto; no copyright infringement intended.

Rating: T

Genre: humor, pre-slash, fluff

Warnings: unbeta'ed, mild language

Summary: Naruto has a crush, Sakura is crashing, Kakashi is a bowling pin and Sasuke is as cool as a cucumber. What else is new?

Note: Based on the theme prompt "black ice."

Crush

Even in the depths of winter, snow falling was almost unheard of in the Land of Fire. But temperatures dropping below zero and rain freezing overnight? That happened often enough to be a nuisance for a certain jounin-sensei and his hyperactive, hormonally challenged charges.

Like today, when a simple D-rank mission demanded that they go shopping for groceries.

"Woah!"

Kakashi sighed and braced himself for impact, and not a moment too soon.

Naruto crashed into him with a muffled 'umph'. Kakashi felt baggy plastic bags hitting his legs and cold hands digging into the rim of his flak jacket. He gently swayed forward, giving just enough under Naruto's momentum to spare him some nasty bruises.

They stayed like that for a moment, Naruto pasted to his back, carrots and eggs nearly spilling on the streets; people stared at them and giggled. Luckily, Konoha's civilians were used to a lot of weird 'ninja stuff' going on around them.

Kakashi kept his nose firmly buried in his Icha Icha book. And he most certainly did not shiver when hot breath tickled his neck as Naruto balanced on tiptoes to steal a glance, before he pushed away.

"Sorry, sensei!"

"Naruto, you learned tree and water walking just fine. Could you please apply that knowledge before I feel even more like a bowling pin?"

Naruto swerved around him on the black ice and gave him a brilliant grin. "But it's way more fun like this!"

Before Kakashi could start in on a lecture he was far too lazy to give anyway, a pink blurr slid past them at top speed. Innocent bystanders jumped aside with far less grace then the Red Sea parting before Moses, but at least that picture coming to mind fit the Christmas spirit that Konoha so sorely lacked these days.

"Kyaahaahaaaah!"

Kakashi felt an eerie sense of betrayal as a sweat drop slid down his temple. "Et Tu, Sakura?"

Naruto snickered. "She's aiming for Sasuke-teme. See, sensei?"

They watched as Sakura careened straight for Sasuke who had walked ahead to buy some apples. The Uchiha took one look over his shoulder and neatly side-stepped; stoic expression firmly in place as she crashed head first into a dumpster.

A sudden idea brightened Kakashi's mood. "Nee, Naruto, does that mean you were aiming for me?"

Naruto bristled like an angry cat, which did nothing to hide his fierce blush. "Kakashi-sensei, how can you ask something like that with such a creepy look on your face?! You're worse than ero-sennin!"

Kakashi watched as he dashed off to help Sakura, not skidding around thanks to the perfect amount of chakra Naruto had gathered at the soles of his feet, and grinned. How cute. Kakashi shrugged and went back to his serious reading. After all, it wasn't that big of a deal, hell, he had had a crush on Minato when he was that age; it would pass.

Of course, not knowing that Naruto had vowed to 'seal the deal' before he made Hokage, his students feelings were easy for him to dismiss. However, knowing Naruto, Kakashi wouldn't know what hit him.

As they say: ignorance is bliss (until it comes back to bite you in the ass).

The End

R&R