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A New Friend

Prompt: Cats and Dogs/Safety

Words: 5,063

Characters: Hatake Kakashi, Pakkun, Bull, Bizuke, Tenzo

Hatake Kakashi was a name known worldwide. It was a name that caused fear among shinobi, and which was always followed by whispers of a thousand jutsu and the Sharingan.

At least, that’s how it used to be.

People still spoke about Kakashi, often, but never with the same level of fear.

These days when Kakashi heard his name being spoken in public it was usually followed by the words Sixth Hokage. There was still a hint of fear in some of those voices, but it was usually a name spoken with respect.

Respect for a man who’d once been a great shinobi, but now felt like little more than a glorified paper pusher.

“Halfway done,” Bizuke noted, a cheerful tilt in his voice as he nudged another piece of paper off the top of the pile, so it floated perfectly down onto the desk right in front of Kakashi. “And it’s only been an hour. You’re getting good at this, pup.”

“Speaking of getting good,” picking the paper up, he waved in toward Bizuke. “You’re becoming my number one helper.”

“Number two,” Pakkun called from his spot on the other side of the desk, his head perched on top of the pillow Shizune had bought for him so that he was, in her words, ‘comfortable while helping Lord Sixth get his work finished’.

“I don’t see you over here helping me conserve energy grabbing paperwork.”

“So much energy waisted reaching up and grabbing a piece of paper,” Pakkun responded with a tired grunt. “One would think you’d have more energy to spare without that stupid eye-“

“Pakkun…”

“Sorry, without the Sharingan,” the pug corrected himself, though Kakashi couldn’t help but notice the way he rolled his eyes as he did so. “why do you even need us here? All we do is sit around.”

“Would you be doing anything else back in the grasslands?”

Flopping over onto his back, Pakkun stuck his feet into the air. “Basking in the sun,” he answered with a happy sigh.

“Running around in circles chasing each other,” Bizuke added.

“Oh, taking a dip in the river!” Bull pipped up, his head lifting off of the ground while the other five hounds that had huddles around him in the corner of the room groaned.

“All of which you can do here,” Kakashi reminded them. “Konoha has a river.”

“It’s not as cool as the one back home.” Bull huffed.

“And there’s lots of space to run around.”

“With people everywhere,” Bizuke whined. “We’ve been kicked a few times by accident just trying to have fun.”

“And,” nodding toward the window he watched as all eight hounds turned their heads to look. “there’s lots of sunshine here. Too much, in fact.”

“That’s the problem with the sun in this office,” Pakkun sighed. “there’s no middle ground. Either it’s full blaze boiling hot, or there’s no sun at all.”

“I don’t control how the sun moves in the sky.”

“No, you don’t.” dropping onto his side, Pakkun sighed when Kakashi reached out and snuck a finger behind his left ear. As soon as he began to scratch Pakkun’s paws started kicking out in excitement.

“and here I thought you all liked to keep me company.”

“We do,” jumping around the pile of paperwork, Bizuke plopped himself down in front of Kakashi and gave one short bark when he reached out with his free hand to pat his head. “it’s just…not as fun.”

“As?”

“Before.”

Kakashi chuckled. “Trust me, you’re not the only one’s who think that,” retracting both of his hands he turned around in his spot and stared out the window overlooking the village.

Over the years Kakashi had done a lot of missions. He’d been one of the most active shinobi in Konoha’s short history, and now all he did was sit behind a desk filling out paperwork, attend meetings he honestly wanted nothing to do with, and went on short trips to other villages once every two months for Kage summit meetings.

It was a far more sedentary life. One which he still hadn’t grown accustomed to even after seven years.

“I wish I wasn’t stuck here,” he whispered as Bull got up from his spot and trudged toward him with all five other hounds following right behind. “there’s a lot of other things I’d rather be doing.”

Placing his head on Kakashi’s lap, Bull stared up at him with a look Kakashi knew all too well.

“You want to go for a run?”

Bull’s tail began to wage as soon as ‘Run’ left his mouth.

“Alright,” with that decided, Kakashi gave Bull one quick pat on the head before pushing his chair back toward the desk and standing up. Once he was up he locked his hands together and stretched them over his head, groaning when his back gave a satisfying pop. “We can race to the house, how does that sound?”

On cue, Pakkun’s tiny feet landed on Kakashi’s shoulder. “Is Gai home?”

“Of course,” Kakashi confirmed. “Which is great for you because I can’t be out too long. I still have-“he glanced back at the pile of paper on his desk. “All of this to finish today, plus a meeting this afternoon with the elders,” his least favourite part of the job. “Ah, anyways,” focusing back on the hounds he grinned. “I bet as soon as we show up Gai will want to go for a run with you.”

“Yes!” Bizuke hopped off of the desk and made a beeline straight for the window. “come on! We can’t waste any time.”

With more excitement than such a tiny body should be able to contain, Bizuke jumped straight out of the open window onto the ledge outside and immediately turned back to look at them. “Come on!”

“Bizuke,” Kakashi chuckled as Shiba, Urushi, Akino, Uhei and Guruko followed Bizuke’s lead and hopped out of the window one after another.

“What are you waiting for, pup,” Bizuke insisted. “Gai’s waiting for us.”

“And I’m as excited about that as you,” Kakashi agreed, though his excitement wasn’t quite as obvious as any of the hounds. “But that window won’t fit Bull. He has to go the long way.”

“Oh…”

“It’s ok,” dropping a hand onto Bull’s head, he lifted his other hand and gave the other six hounds a thumbs up. “You go ahead. We’ll catch up in no time.”

Uhei covered his mouth with a paw and snickered. “Is that a challenge, pup.”

Turning his back to the window, Kakashi waved them away. “Not a challenge,” he spoke as him and bull made their way toward the door, Pakkun still standing happily on his shoulder. “A promise. It’s easy enough to catch up to you.”

Pakkun groaned as soon as the words left his mouth. “Stop it.”

Glancing back at the window, Kakashi watched as all six dogs headed off in different directions, his challenge clearly accepted. “Bull, Pakkun, you ready?”

“Sometimes you really are the worst, pup,” Pakkun sighed as he jumped off Kakashi’s shoulder and bolted out the door.

“And the best,” Bull added, making no move to leave Kakashi’s side. “Should I stop the others from getting home first?”

“Don’t stop them,” digging a hand into his pocket, Kakashi grabbed one of the dogs treats he’d made sure to keep after initially summoning the dogs and tossed it to bull who wasted no time in catching and devouring it. “Just…hold them back a little.”

Once his treat was gone, Bull nodded his head. “On it.”

With his new goal and a treat to power him up, Bull bounded through the door. Kakashi’s secret weapon to ensuring that he wasn’t the last one home, and thus wouldn’t have to succumb to the hound pile that they all loved to treat him too whenever he lost one of their races.

Not that he had any sort of problem being jumped on by a bunch of adorable hounds who wanted to drown him in slobbery kisses.

Really, he just didn’t want them to have bragging rights over him. Not after all the work he’d put in over the years to improve his speed so that he didn’t lose to them every single time they had a race.

Sending Bull ahead to slow down the other hounds proved to be a waste of Kakashi’s efforts and a good treat. Not because Bull didn’t deserve that treat, or even because he wasn’t trying.

It just turned-out Bull didn’t need to help with distractions today because the other hounds were plenty distracted without him.

Akino was the first one Kakashi had found, his tail tucked between his back legs and head bowed as he received a scolding from Teuchi that no doubt had something to do with the spilled ramen Kakashi could see on the ground just behind Teuchi’s feet.

A responsible dog owner would go over and apologize for what had happened.

Thankfully, Kakashi was not the hound’s owner but rather their summoner and could simply ignore what was happening in front of him in favour of getting ahead of Akino in the race. Whatever he’d done to upset Teuchi was his issue to deal with.

Next was Bizuke, who didn’t seem to be in trouble with anyone but whom Kakashi spotted swimming laps around the Konoha river chasing after a duck. Kakashi wasn’t too sure what Bizuke wanted to do with the duck once he caught up to it. Whether this was all just a fun game he’d decided to partake in, or if he was trying to catch himself a mid race snack.

Either way, it was not Kakashi’s problem, so he continued forward while making a mental note to talk to the hound later about disturbing Konoha’s wildlife.

Uhei and Guruko were running around the training field in the centre of Konoha’s marketplace. Their barks had been what alerted Kakashi to their presence, and wanting to ensure that they were alright he decided to take a detour to check on them. Thankfully, the two of them seemed fine.

Unfortunately for them, they also seemed to have been spotted by Ibiki who was now using them to help his students improve their speed. That was Kakashi could gather, at least, as he sat on the fence watching the three genin tumbling after the two hounds. Hovering around just long enough for Ibiki to spot him, Kakashi waved cheerfully toward his friend before continuing his way.

There was no need for him to stick around now that he knew both hounds were safe and happily running circles around some new genin. It had been years since any of the hounds had someone new to test their speed against, and he wasn’t going to be the one to ruin that fun for him.

Running was important to the hounds.

Embarrassing bright eyed genin who assumed they’d have no issue catching them was an absolute necessity to their health.

Kakashi had almost reached his house and was confident that he’d managed to beat at least four out of his eight ninja hounds in the race, when something else caught his eye.

A tiny speck of white tucked away behind some boxes. Completely hidden away from civilians who were more concerned with their daily shopping and the current village gossip, but impossible for Kakashi to miss.

Coming to a stop, he turned toward the small stack of boxes that sat just outside the BBQ place that Asuma used to frequent with his students and examined it closely. The speck of white that had originally caught his attention seemed to be gone, but Kakashi knew that it wasn’t far away.

If he was patient and calm, it was likely to come back.

And it wasn’t long before his patience was rewarded.

On the left of the stack of boxes a small head poked out, white fur with a small speck of grey in the centre of its forehead. A cat, and one that had been living on the streets for quite a while judging by the small patches of dirt he could see on its head.

“Hello,” he smiled, chuckling when the scared anime ducked back into hiding. “Ah, I see how it is,” stepping forward, he stopped right in front of the spot where that tiny head had popped out and lowered himself into a squat. “Come on out, I’m not going to hurt you.”

Slowly the head came back out and bright green eyes stared up at him with a fearful expression. “It’s ok,” he promised, extending a hand out for it to sniff. “I’m a friend, I promise.”

Slowly it inched out of its hiding spot, its tiny skinny body becoming visible to Kakashi as it stretched its neck out to sniff his hand.

“You’ve been out here a while, haven’t you?” he watched as the cat sniffed each of his knuckles before finally accepting his offering and bumping its tiny head against his hand. Extending his fingers, he ran them over the cat’s tiny head. “You must be young. Under a year at least, which means you were probably born out here.”

Not an uncommon occurrence. Growing up Kakashi had seen his fair share of stray dogs and cats on the streets, though they were usually well cared for by the people who would happily offer them food and cuddles if they were to walk up to them while they were out enjoying their day.

Nowadays it was a little harder for people to notice strays. Partially because more people had moved to the village, causing it to grow to be twice the size of what it was when the fourth great shinobi war ended, and partially because there were more buildings and piles of goods and objects for animals to hide behind.

“You look like you could use a bath,” he expected the cat to back up at the word, and possibly even hiss at him. It wouldn’t be the first time in his life an animal had venomously opposed being washed with soap and water.

Akino was venomously against baths and often needed to be held down by Kakashi or Gai while the other one sprayed him down.

The cat didn’t back up, though. It just sat there staring at Kakashi as he pet it.

“Mmm, what do you think?” he asked, wondering what people would say if they saw the Hokage kneeling in front of a pile of boxes talking to a cat. Not that he cared too much about other people’s opinions, but he was certain it made for a rather interesting sight. “I have nice warm blankets at my house, and we can pick up some cat food on the way. Or, I could make some grilled fish for dinner.”

At the mention of grilled fish the cat lifted its head against his hand and let out a soft, happy meow.

“That sound good?” he couldn’t help but chuckle. Hatake Kakashi, Hokage of Konoha, making a grilled fish dinner for a stray cat.

Gai was going to tease him about it all night.

“Well,” retracting his hand, he turned it over, so his palm was facing skyward and watched the cat. “You want to come with? You can even lay on Bull’s head if you want. He’s a giant cuddle bug.”

Watching as the cat seemed to contemplate his offer, Kakashi chuckled when let out a tiny sigh before walking straight into his hand. He didn’t need to hear the cat speaking to understand what it was saying.

All animals, big or small, loved to cuddle. Even the most vicious animals in the world loved a good cuddle if it was with the right company.

“Trust me,” lifting his hand he watched as the cat’s tiny body relaxed into his hold and its little legs dangled in the air while it continued to stare up at him with those big soft green eyes. “You’re going to love it at my house. My husband has the softest lap, and there are tons of places around the house to hide away if things get over whelming. Everyone gets their own special meals too, though I guess this means I’m going to have to learn how to make cat appropriate food now.”

There was a lot he was going to have to do. First on the list was picking up all of the things required to ensure his new friend was healthy and well cared for. A simple task that involved one quick visit to Hana and a stop at the pet shop.

The downside was even with all the distractions that had pulled the hounds attention away from their race, it was unlikely that he was going to win. Even bull wouldn’t be able to distract all the other hounds from getting home before Kakashi did.

He would have to give them extra cuddles and treats, but as he stared down in those soft green eyes that looked up at him with cautious wonder, he knew it was a loss he would happily accept.

A simple race home. That’s all he’d planned on.

Get the hounds out of the office, allow them to stretch their legs, have lunch with the most beautiful man he’d ever laid his eyes upon and who’d, by some miracle of the universe, had agreed to marry him.

It wasn’t a lot.

At most he should have been gone for an hour before rushing back to his office to complete the pile of paperwork sitting on his desk for him.

That was not how Kakashi’s afternoon had gone, though.

Instead, he’d spent the last three hours getting his new friend checked up by Hana and then running around the village collecting all of the items she’d listed out for him as necessities for taking care of a cat.

Items that he had assumed would all be at the pet store, but instead had been scattered throughout the village.

A cat tree and litter box had been exactly where he’d thought they would be. In fact, they’d been the first thing he saw as soon as he stepped inside of the tiny shop that had been a part of Konoha’s market since he was a child.

The fresh fish for home cooked cat meals were of course not there, but rather at the food market where the shop keeper had made sure to talk up his latest supply of crane meat that had arrived from Kumo.

Next, he’d gone to the vegetable market to pick up some eggplant and other necessities. Items that weren’t necessarily for his new tiny friend, but which he knew the house needed if he wanted to make everyone a delicious, healthy meal when he finally arrived home tonight.

Once his arms were full of bags and he was certain he’d finished running around the village searching for items, he turned down the road and prepared to make his way home when a familiar voice rang through the air.

“Lord Sixth!” His skin crawled at the sound of the honorific, and before he could even turn to face the man who so rudely called out to him in a crowded street where all eyes were now on him, he could feel their presence directly behind him.

A heavy, overwhelming presence.

“Tenzo…”

“Don’t call me Tenzo,” his friend shot back, a refrained anger in his voice.

Standing straight, he lifted the front of his left foot and did a full one hundred and eighty degree turn so that he was staring into those wide, froglike eyes. Eyes that would scare a weaker man, but which earned his friend a bored sigh. “Don’t call me, that.”

“You are the Hokage,” Tenzo reminded him, as if it was possible for him to forget. “And as Hokage you’re supposed to be in your office right now speaking wi-“

Tenzo’s words trailed off as his eyes scanned over Kakashi’s body. His eyes stopped on his left arm, where in the bag full of fresh fish Kakashi’s new friend sat happily chewing on a salmon treat that the shop keeper had given him after watching Kakashi try and wrestle him away from a large chunk of salmon that he was determined to devour before Kakashi had an opportunity to cook it up.

“Is that-“

“A cat?” Kakashi finished for him, a smile stretching across his face as he watched Tenzo reach out and offer his hand to the happy cat for a sniff test. “I found it hiding in some boxes on the way home for lunch. I was just going to get it checked-up by Hana and pick up a few things before heading back to the office,” he held up both arms to show off the rows of bags he had hanging off them. “But gathering everything took a bit longer than I had planned.”

“A bit?” Lifting his eyes, Tenzo stared at Kakashi with the most unimpressed glare he’d ever seen on his friend’s face. “You’re an hour late to your meeting with the elders. Shizune’s in your office right now trying to keep them from making a scene in the village.”

“You should let them,” the glare shifted from unimpressed to annoyed at those words. “Really! If you let them cause a scene their blood pressure will skyrocket. Shizune’s always saying to Sakura that if she doesn’t keep her temper under control, she’ll die an early death due to high blood pressure.”

“If you’re hoping they’ll kill themselves, I hate to be the barer of bad news but if that was going to happen it would have happened when they first got news that you were going to be the new Hokage.”

Kakashi hated to admit it, but Tenzo was right.

Homura and Koharu were just too stubborn and inconsiderate to do him the favour of dying so he didn’t have to deal with them anymore. Lord Third was even more inconsiderate for being the one to make their placement as Konoha’s elder’s a lifetime position.

Even if he wanted to change the system, he had to wait for them to die unless he was willing to fight the fire dynamo, the elders, and countless others in the villagers who were content with the system the way it was.

“Well, I guess in that case I should go rescue Shizune,” holding his arms out toward Tenzo, he smiled. “Think you can deliver these to the house?”

“Do I get to take the cat too?”

“No,” taking the hint, the cat jumped out of the bag at that moment and climbed its way up Kakashi’s arm onto his shoulder. “But you can send the hounds back. They can keep him company while I’m stuck listening to the elder’s complain about the latest batch of changes I’ve decided to implement.”

That was the extent of the meetings he had with the elder’s these days. Either they wanted him to make changes, or to ‘keep to tradition’, or outright forget about the changes he was trying to implement because they were ‘too much too soon’ according to the two of them.

It never worked, though.

Regardless of how many times they stormed their way into his office demanding he change his plans and have some respect for the traditions of Konoha, he wasn’t about to slow down. Naruto was going to be ready to take the job from him in just a few years and Kakashi wanted to make sure he had good grounding to start on.

If that meant going down in Konoha’s history as the worst Hokage ever because of his push to turn Konoha into an economic village, rather than a village based soly on the strength of its shinobi, he was willing to take it.

“Oh, and tell Gai I’m sorry,” he added while transferring the bags into Tenzo’s hands. “I planned to spend lunch with him, but time got away from me.”

“As if that’s new,” Tenzo huffed. “Should I tell him to meet you at your office after for dinner? Knowing you, you forgot to eat at all while running around the village.”

On cue, Kakashi’s stomach growled loud enough that five people walking by them immediately stopped to look.

“Ya,” he chuckled. “Both of you, actually.”

Tenzo raised an eyebrow. “both of us?”

“Both of you swing by for dinner,” he clarified. “bring Sushi.”

“You want me to interrupt a date with you and your husband?”

“A date?” scrunching up his nose, Kakashi huffed. “it’s not a date. Lunch would have been a date, and it would have come with cuddles from the hounds, but I missed out on that,” something he’d have to make up to his husband tomorrow when he no longer had to worry about gathering supplies for the latest addition to their family. “No, this is just a hang out. Besides,” lifting his now bag free left hand, he pointed at the tiny white kitten sitting happily on his shoulder. “I know you want to get to know him. You’re a sucker for cats.”

“I-“Those large, frog like eyes widened in surprise. “You can’t just say that out loud, Senpai!”

“Don’t call me Senpai,” he clarified. “And why not? It’s true. The same can be said for Gai and his turtles, or Naruto and frogs, or-“

“You and dogs?”

“Well…yes,” he confirmed, though it felt weird hearing dogs as his chosen animal. It wasn’t dog’s specifically he liked, but his hounds. Other than them, he loved all animals equally.

Even tiny white cat’s hiding in piles of boxes.

“Six O’clock,” he clarified with a cheerful wave to send his friend off. “With Sushi and my husband.”

“You’re going to get your work done?”

“As much as I dislike my work at times, when have you ever known me not to complete it?”

He could tell Tenzo was thinking hard about it. The way his eyebrows furrowed toward the centre of his face, and that firm concentrated look that he always had when he was thinking deeply about something were a dead give away.

It didn’t worry him, though. His friend could complain all he wanted about his tendency to be tardy and his carefree attitude, but if there was work to be done Kakashi would make sure that it was completed.

Upon realizing this, Tenzo’s shoulders slumped and he let out an exhausted sigh. “You’re right,” he admitted, narrowing his eyes into a glare when Kakashi smiled. “don’t give me that. Your work might get done but you always manage to make it twenty times more stressful on me.”

Well, yes,” Kakashi confirmed with a cheerful note in his voice. “If I didn’t do that, what fun would anything be?”

“Fun?”

As soon as he saw the scary eyes coming out, Kakashi knew it was time for him to make his exit. So, with one last wave goodbye and a quick scoop of his tiny friend off his shoulder and into the safety of his hands, he made his exit.

Tenzo’s anger filled screamed chased after him as he jumped toward the nearest rooftop, but he disregarded them. Tenzo would get his opportunity to scold him later. It would be a welcome changed from the endless droning of the elders that he was about to subject himself to as a requirement of his duties as Hokage.

“Interesting, isn’t he?” he smiled down at the tiny cat now sitting in his hand while the wind blew through his hair. “don’t worry, you’ll get to see a lot more of him. He’s part of the family.”

A tiny, almost inaudible ‘meow’ was the only response he received.

“Kind of like a little brother,” he answered the question he’d assumed was being asked. It was the first question the hounds had asked him after they’d been introduced to Tenzo, after all.

‘What’s his role in the family?’

“And you’ll love Gai,” landing directly on top of the Ramen shop, he glanced behind him. Tenzo was no where in sight, so he clearly hadn’t upset him enough for him to chase after him, which was a good thing today. He’d left him in charge of all of those things he’d collected for his new friend, and he didn’t want any of it to go to waste because he’d decided to bully his friend.

Even if Bullying Tenzo until he exploded at him was one of his favourite pass times.

“Oh, but I forget,” glancing back down at the cat, he grinned. “I haven’t given you a name yet.” Staring up at him with those giant green eyes, the cat said nothing. He simply sat there in Kakashi’s hand waiting. “How about… Haru?”

The cat simply tilted his head and continued to stare at him.

“Right, terrible name. Well, I could call you Sakura. You have green eyes like her, but who knows how she’d take that,” the image of Sakura throwing one of her bone crushing punches straight into his stomach popped into his head, and immediately he dismissed that name. The last thing he wanted was a hospital visit because he’d accidentally insulted his precious student. Ever since he’d lost the Sharingan he’d found himself spending a lot less time in the hospital, and he was happy to keep it that way.

“Maybe, Yuki?” Hearing the new name, the cat closed its eyes and meowed in an affirmative, almost cheerful way. “Yuki,” he tested the name out once more, a smile stretching across his lips. “Ya, that’s perfect. Well, Yuki, what do you think about hanging out in my office while I deal with the elders?”

Another meow, this time a bit softer but no less cheerful in its tone.

“Great,” lifting his eyes back onto the path in front of him, he bent low and jumped toward the next roof. As the wind rushed against his face and Yuki’s tiny claws dug into his arm for support, he couldn’t help but smile.

His goal of beating the hound’s home may not have been achieved, but for once he didn’t feel disappointed in himself. He hadn’t failed to catch up to them, but rather he’d gotten distracted by something that was almost as exciting as being jumped on by eight excited blood hounds.

Something that he was certain the hounds would adore almost as much as he did.