Outside the courtyard, Naruto and Hinata stood straight, waiting for someone inside to open the gate.
Click.
The courtyard gate opened, and Kakashi's unmasked face appeared before them.
"Whoa! You're Kakashi-sensei?!"
Naruto's eyes widened as he stared at the handsome Kakashi before him, with his red lips and white teeth, and exclaimed in shock.
"Oh, it's you two."
Kakashi scratched his hair. It was a little damp, but that didn't matter.
"Of course it's me. Is something wrong?"
Kakashi knew perfectly well that Naruto was shocked by his unmasked face, but he didn't point it out.
He just wanted Naruto to say it himself.
"Ah, ah, what?!"
Naruto clutched his head and crouched down.
No, the sausage lips he had imagined, the puckered chrysanthemum mouth he had imagined.
They were all gone.
"Uh, is that reaction really necessary?"
The corner of Kakashi's mouth twitched. Was admitting that his teacher was a handsome man really so embarrassing?
He had received quite a few love letters back in the day.
Back when he was at the Ninja Academy.
Though he seemed to have thrown them all away.
Yes, there had been letters from boys as well as girls.
But the ones from boys had been more like challenges than love letters.
One particular Green-skinned Kappa, especially, had written Kakashi plenty of challenges.
His handwriting hadn't been pretty, though, and he had always written them on green slips of paper.
Kakashi had usually thrown them away after a glance.
"All right, Hinata, did you need something from your teacher?"
Kakashi looked at Hinata, who remained unfazed beside Naruto.
Hmm, Hinata's Byakugan seems to be able to see through my mask, after all. She probably saw my face ages ago.
Hinata nodded.
"We came to invite you and Yugito Nii to a feast, Kakashi-sensei."