Summary: In which Kakashi meets Kurama and develops a crush.

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Kakashi stares at the new stranger his father brought home with him, hidden between the darkness of the door and the hallway. Dark red hair, and equally dark red eyes of the colour of blood, tanned skin, lean and muscular build, and he's tall. Well, shorter than his tou-chan, but still tall.

He narrows his eyes at how comfortable the stranger is around his father, and his father's smiling and laughing along with him. Sakumo usually never smiled or laughed, unless it's Kakashi, so this stranger must be making him happy enough to do so, too.

Smiling to himself, Kakashi turns to take a step away, away from his father's current happiness and guest, and–

CREEK!!!

His foot immediately steps on a loosened board, and he freezes. Voices stop talking, and Kakashi can hear footsteps coming, thumping along. They step closer and the door swings open, red eyes looking down at him. And he can see all the confusion and anger swirling inside, before they soften.

"Oi, squirt, what are you doing outside the door?" the new stranger asks, raising an eyebrow as he squats down to meet Kakashi's height.

"Kakashi?" Sakumo asks, peering over the stranger's shoulder and looks at him. Kakashi flinches, and looks down at his feet. Startling the stranger is one thing, disappointing his father is another. "Weren't you in bed?"

"I-I was...." He fumbles around his words, not knowing what to really say. "B-But I saw you and him talking and... And..."

"You need to work on suppressing your chakra in the shadows," the stranger bluntly says to him, and Kakashi gaps at him, his mouth hanging open behind his mask. What is the stranger talking about? He suppresses his chakra just fine! "You suck at it. I could sense you even through the hashirama wood, and that's supposed to be wood that suppresses chakra even more. Hatake, what are you even teaching him?"

"My teaching skills are fine," his father protests, making a small frown grace his features, but his eyes glimmer with amusement. "You should worry about yourself, Kurama, especially when you get a student."

"Fuck that," the stranger snorts. Turns to Kakashi, ignores tou-chan's protest of "Language, Kurama," and announces, "I'll be coming over tomorrow to teach him."

They both gap at him with open mouths. "Excuse me?" asks Sakumo incredulously.

"I'll be teaching him tomorrow," the stranger repeats. "Name, brat?"

"My name is not brat!" Kakashi protests immediately, offended at the new nickname the stranger gives him, it sounds even worse than Obito's. "My name is Hatake Kakashi!"

"Good, Uzumaki Kurama," the stranger introduces himself finally. "I'll come by at three tomorrow. Sounds fine with you, Hatake?"

His father makes a strangled noise, as if this isn't a good idea at all, but Kakashi isn't listening to Sakumo's floundering. He's staring at the stranger who manages to make his father go all embarrassed and.... Weird. And Kakashi knows he never does that before.

Kurama nods, as if agreeing to Sakumo. "I'll take that as a yes," he grunts, before twisting around to walk to the door. How he leaves is filled with grace and feline as Kurama walks himself out the door with a slam behind him. "See you two tomorrow."

Both son and father stare at the door, before looking at each other. "Tou-chan," Kakashi begins seriously. "I think I like like him."

The beginning of wheezing and choking from his father doesn't even dampen his current mood.

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So, of course, little Kakashi would grow a crush on Kurama and actually start plotting about how to marry him, while Sakumo would wonder how the hell did he even raise his child?

Not in a good way, of course!

Terms:
Tou-san - Father
Hashirama wood - Fictional term; The wood that the Shodaime Hokage (First Hokage), Senju Hashirama, had created from Mokuten

Read, review and enjoy!