Boom. Update.
____________
Chapter 2:
{Present day}
The rain still wouldn't let up. Kakashi lifted his hand, watching in a bored manner as the rain pattered down onto his gloved palm, the ice cold water trickling from his fingers.
"Rain...you never did like it, did you, Mayako?" He spoke, turning his head to the side as a young teenage brunette appeared before him, her figure flashing in the rain. "Are you cold right now, I wonder, Mayako?"
Mayako's shadow tilted her head to the side, a small confused smile twitching at her lips. She said nothing, however, just smiled sweetly up at the silver-haired Jounin.
"I seriously think I'm going insane..." Kakashi muttered, wanting nothing more to smack himself over the head, but knowing if he did, Mayako's image would vanish. "But if you were here, you'd say I am already insane, right Mayako?"
She brought a hand to her face as she giggled, but no sound came from her, proving to Kakashi she was just a fragment of his imagination, as always.
"Can you hear me right now, I wonder? Is this why I see you? Because you visit me?" Kakashi asked, shifting slightly from his uncomfortable position on the wet and cold stone.
Mayako frowned, her hand on her chin as she pondered his questions. At last, she nodded, smiling widely.
"Or are you just something my brain made, and you're only telling me what I want to know?"
Mayako shook her head sternly, narrowing her eyes at him.
"So...if you are really here..." Kakashi began, his eye softening as he looked back at her. "I'm sorry, Mayako-chan." He smiled, noticing that the shadow her saw was still the teenage girl he saw everyday when he woke up, due to her picture being above his bed beside the picture of Team Minato.
She pouted, not liking his choice of honorific. She never did like the fact that he was older than her.
He chuckled quietly, before his smile slipped when he realised she wasn't really there. Just a shadow of the past he regretted. And the past was in the past. That was where it would stay, unfortunately.
Speaking of the past, another memory began working its way into Kakashi's mind, to which he welcomed it happily to provide a distraction from the fact she was actually gone.
~~~
Mayako grinned, tugging the straps of her backpack and tightening them in one fluid movement as she skipped into step beside Minato, who seemed in just as happy as a mood, walking wide strides and smiling for no good reason.
"This is the first time I've been out of the village!" She said excitedly, looking up at her teacher. "Thanks for convincing dad to let me out, Minato-sensei!"
Minato chuckled sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. "Actually...keep your voice down. Your father doesn't know. I snuck you out for these missions, Mayako. I think you need team training to be honest, and your father never lets you out on missions anyway."
Mayako winked, tapping her nose. "Don't worry. I'll keep it a secret! Since I'm getting to go outside the village for the first time EVER!"
Kakashi sighed, rolling his eyes as he followed behind the two of them beside Obito and Rin. It had been a few months since Minato began making Mayako train with Team Minato, and she seemed to come out of her shell a bit more. Instead of the personality he had originally expected - which was quiet, easily irritated; basically a lot like him - she was loud, over-excitable, sarcastic, and also rather dirty-minded. She and Obito seemed to make the best of friends as they would constantly crack perverted jokes that Kakashi pretended he didn't understand. Minato would though, and shamelessly burst out laughing.
"D-rank are the most boring missions, you know, Mayako-chan." Obito complained loudly, dragging his feet as he followed Mayako and Minato as they exited the village without stopping to speak to the guards like they usually would. With Mayako being the Third's daughter, the guards would instantly recognise her, and make sure she had permission to leave the village if they saw her.
"So? I've never been on a mission." The brunette shrugged, turning her head over her shoulder to look at Obito's already tired face, just at the thought of grunt work.
"I'm just happy we have missions," Kakashi muttered, his hands in his pockets. "Otherwise, we wouldn't-"
"Get payed, we know." Obito finished, rolling his eyes. "Money isn't the most important thing in the world, you know."
"It's one of them when you live on your own. That means you have to buy the food you eat." Kakashi scowled at Obito. "But of course, you wouldn't know that. You have everything already done for you. Being a ninja is optional for you."
Obito's eyebrow twitched, but he said nothing, knowing family was a touchy subject for his teammate.
"Right then..." Minato said after a few minutes awkward silence. "Any assignments we're given, we'll have a game."
Kakashi's scowl deepened. It was ALWAYS games with Minato.
"Team vs team, since there's equal numbers for these missions." The blonde continued, to which instantly Kakashi and Mayako looked at each other. Minato noticed this. "How about Mayako goes with Obito for this exercise for once?"
"No." Kakashi answered for her, lifting his dark eyes to give Minato an unamused look.
Minato sighed, nodding and turning away. Kakashi was sure he saw the blonde rolling his eyes.
***
"Seriously? I can't believe we're having races over this." Kakashi closed his eyes, smacking a hand to his masked face. "We're cleaning out a muddy lake no one visits anymore."
"Come on, Kakashi. We haven't lost a game to those two yet. We can't start now!" Mayako said eagerly, dropping her bag to the floor beside a tree. She turned to look at Kakashi, putting her hands on her hips. "We clean this up, and it's done quickly, right? Sooner the better?"
He sighed, before nodding, walking over to the edge of the lake and staring down into its dark depths. "Chakra control should keep us above the water-"
"COWABUNGA!" Obito screamed, running past him - lacking his jacket and pants, wearing just his trunks and black undershirt - and jumped up high in the air, cannon-balling into the water.
Kakashi couldn't even get out of the way in time. The dirty water flew up over him, caused by Obito's antics, as usual. Kakashi's eyebrow twitched, soaked through, his hands balling into tight fists as he eagerly awaited for the Uchiha's dark head to pop up over the surface.
He did so a few seconds later, spluttering and shaking his head. "What the hell?! This water's dirty!"
"No crap." Kakashi scowled, making Obito look up at him and raise an eyebrow.
"Why are you looking so angry?"
"Because I'm about to snap a moron's neck!" Kakashi dived at Obito, his usually calm and collected demeanour slipping as he lost his temper for the first time in a few months. He did this every so often; let his anger at Obito build and build and build, until he just snapped and beat seven colours out of the Uchiha. Usually, his team would just let him get on with it too, due to the fact they knew they'd just get ignored and given the cold shoulder for months if they interfered.
They both disappeared under the surface of the water, Obito screaming and shouting as he was dragged under, flailing his arms around as Kakashi began attacking him.
"Kakashi! What the hell?!" Mayako cried, running towards the water's edge, but not making the same mistake as the silver-haired teen and keeping her distance from the splashing water that was flying in all directions now. "Chill! It's only water!"
"Mayako, just leave him be." Minato waved a hand at her from the opposite side of the lake, standing in the shallow water with his pants rolled up as he picked up pieces of rubbish from the water and threw it in a bag. Rin was doing the same beside him.
"But he's killing Obito!" She shrieked, throwing her hands forward to empathise her point as Kakashi and Obito appeared above the water for a second, with Kakashi's hands around Obito's throat, shaking the Uchiha back and forth, Obito not fighting back in the slightest, his arms flailing uselessly at his sides.
"Yeah, he does that. He never does actually kill him though,"
Mayako sighed, giving up on Minato helping her, and blew her fringe up in an annoyed manner. She stepped onto the surface of the water with her chakra keeping her above the water, and quickly headed to where Kakashi and Obito had disappeared under the water, scowling when she realised that she couldn't see them. "Nice, Kakashi. Nice."
She paused for a second, before rolling her eyes and diving under the water, disappearing from Minato and Rin's sight.
"Should we go help her?" Rin asked quietly, the splashes of Obito and Kakashi's fight heard distantly.
"Nah, leave her to it. She's stubborn, and won't stop until Kakashi lays off." Minato replied, shrugging and continuing to work.
She appeared again in a few minutes, dragging Kakashi back with her as he fought against her hold on his arms, wanting nothing more to actually kill Obito in those few seconds. Mayako pulled him up onto the bank, releasing him and dropping down onto her knees, breathing heavily, her long hair sopping wet as she snapped her head up to Kakashi.
"What the hell did you attack Obito for?!" She asked, glaring at him.
Kakashi closed his eyes, falling onto his back in the grass, feeling rather tired. It's not that fighting Obito worn him out; it was the fact he was fighting Obito in water. Kakashi wanted her to try fighting someone in water, then she'd realise how tiring it was. But then again, she wasn't even asking that.
"That moron had it coming to him." Kakashi slowly opened his eyes, but instead of being greeted by the sight of the blue, cloudless sky he'd expected, he saw Mayako's face hovering above his, her eyes narrowed at him. He glanced sideways out of the corner of his eyes instead of looking at her face, rather wanting to get out of the awkward situation.
"So you attacked him?" She asked, her hair falling over her shoulder.
"Yes." That roughly translated to, 'I regret nothing.'
"And now, kiss!" Obito's voice shouted from behind Mayako, followed by his own laughter.
Mayako's face slowly turned red, blinking down at Kakashi, before pulling back, shuffling away from him. "What the heck are you t-talking about, Obito?" She asked, gritting her teeth at him.
Obito - who was now standing in the waist-deep water, looking practically unharmed after the beating he just received - laughed again, pulling his goggles that were still over his forehead down around his eyes, giving Mayako a thumbs up. "We all know you wanted to!" He teased, diving under the water before Mayako had a chance to attack him this time.
Mayako's face remained red, glancing sideways at Kakashi before pushing herself to her feet, stomping off away from him with an irritated scowl.
Kakashi rolled his eyes, letting out a low breath. "Obito's a moron, but that was totally worth it." He smirked slightly behind his mask, folding his arms behind his head.
"Hey, Kakashi! Are you going to help at all here?" Minato's voice shouted, to which Kakashi blinked, coming back into reality.
He sat up, nodding and standing up, walking towards the water and sighing. He was already wet, so what was the point of chakra control now?
***
Kakashi sighed, dropping onto his bed, staring up at the plain white ceiling for a few moments, the only sound in the room the repetitive ticking of his alarm clock on his bedside. His mind pondered the events of the day, for some reason replaying the image of Mayako's red face over and over again. He didn't know why, but he was always going to remember that.
And he wanted to punch himself in the gut for saying so.
He closed his eyes, running a hand down his face. He was so tired, due to his fight with Obito, and also the day of D-rank missions. Usually, they wouldn't bother him, but with Mayako there, for some reason, it made him slower and to think less. He thought he should avoid getting himself into awkward incidents with that girl.