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“None of this makes sense,” he said in a tone of barely contained desperation.“Oh? You don’t think so?” Kakashi asked, turning his head inquiringly.Yamato was aghast. “You show up on my doorstep, in the middle of the night, because your dogs want to sleep in my apartment.” A gust of wind blew harshly at him, the cold biting at his skin. He just wanted some sleep.“They’re lonely.”“Is this a typical scenario for you?” Yamato asked rubbing his stinging eyes with the bottom of his palms.“They have the most effective puppy eyes,” Kakashi said dipping his head in a show of defeat, “I had no choice.”“There are eight of them! How can they even get lonely?”Kakashi looked up perplexed, “Tenzo, I expected you of all people would understand. One can be amongst thousands and still feel lonely.”“Ah-- well-” he stammered for words until he felt a cold nose press against the back of his hand. Uhei was looking up at him woefully, his auburn ears laid back.Yamato faltered.“Fine,” he sighed. “You’re allowed to stay here for the night- but just one!” he added unconvincingly while leaning down to scratch at Uhei’s burnished fur. The dog raised his white snout and gave his palm a playful lick in response.All the other dogs yapped happily and pushed through the door. New smells encouraged them to walk in and out of any room they could find. Yamato was, luckily, too engrossed in paying attention to Uhei, to notice when one overly-excited dog tail sent a kitchen chair clattering on the ground.Only Kakashi entering his apartment managed to finally pull him out of his dog-petting haven. Quite rudely in this sense.“Wh- Senpai? You’re staying too?”“I thought that was implied,” the Copy-nin answered loudly from the kitchen. “You have any food? I’m feeling peckish.”Yamato shut his eyes and took a breath of cold outside air. This was fine. Nothing he couldn’t handle. It was alright. It was fine.“Fine,” he murmured involuntarily as Kakashi walked back out into the hallway, not having found anything consistent to eat. Yamato would have actually bothered to buy anything other than yogurt packs and grains, if he’d known that several unfed mouths would barge into his home. ‘You’re the host. Can’t leave your guests displeased now, can you?’ a voice in his mind that sounded awfully similar to a certain smug Copy-nin berated him.“You say something?”Yamato took another breath of air before turning. “No, I--Oh for Kami’s sake Senpai, please put your shirt back on. Or at least let me close the door before you start traumatizing me.”He was one of the few privileged to have seen Kakashi’s face before, but because it was such a rare occurrence, it still managed to delightfully take his breath away time and time again. He fought to quickly get himself under control.“Oh, but how will everyone know about our new-found love if we don’t let them see?”Even though he had heard the deadpan tone Kakashi had used, Yamato could not stop the shiver of dread that crawled down his spine at the idea. He hurried to shut the door – well, slam, really.“Come on Tenzou, there’s no need to be so dramatic. I just wanted to take a shower,” Kakashi said walking away, but not before Yamato caught a hint of a smile on his bared face.He was enjoying this, the bastard.Even though the situation can’t be helped, he might be able to avoid Kakashi’s endless teasing if he falls asleep before the shower turns off. What a good, reliable plan--that gets blasted out the window as soon as he enters his bedroom.On his bed lie eight dogs, curled up in different stages of sleep.“Would any of you have enough mercy to confess the actual reason for which you decided to invade my home?” he asked in a theatrical severe tone.“You have soft sheets,” Bisuke answered as Yamato awkwardly climbed on the bed to sit between the canines. Guruko was insistently rubbing his muzzle on the bed in confirmation. Looks like he won’t be getting a truthful answer tonight.“At least none of you are blanket hoggers, right?”“Shiba is,” Uhei admitted while sniffing at the snoozing grey dog, “but he won’t be tempted to do it if he’s kept warm enough at night.”Resolving to make the best out of the present situation, Yamato traded his pillow for Bull’s warm side and pulled Shiba next to him. The dog seemed to acknowledge the movement but did not open his eyes. He snuffled at Yamato’s arm and laid his head on it to sleep.When Kakashi returned, he was dressed in only his undershirt and black pants. His face was covered once more.Yamato groaned despairingly, “Please tell me you won’t add to the pile. My bed might actually break.”“It won’t,” Kakashi answered cheerfully. “And I can’t leave my poor pups alone. What kind of father would I be then?”“One with friends, probably,” Yamato grumbled unhappily and turned his back to the other man.“Hm? But I do have friends,” he retorted while leaning over to scratch every canine’s ruff. If Yamato felt a hand softly linger on his head, he made no sign to reveal it.“Well,” Kakashi continued, “don’t mull it over for too long. It might give you bad dreams you’d be happier without.”Yamato huffed in agreement.“Keep in mind that happy pups and happy kohais result in a satisfied senpai.”“Can you stop trying to subtly manipulate me, and just go to sleep, Senpai?”No voice answered him, but the side lamp was turned off, enveloping the room in darkness. Yamato relished in it and allowed the soft sounds of breathing to lull him into a deep sleep. He woke up with the feeling of something heavy pressing on his chest. When, at last, he managed to compel his eyes to open, Yamato was greeted by Shiba’s grey snout puffing softly at his face, still sleeping.The dogs had adjusted during the night – so much so, that from what Yamato could see, Bull had turned on his back, leaving Yamato's head to rest on Akino’s scraggy stomach instead. Shiba had, obviously, decided to clamber on him, and that might be Urushi whose half of the body had slipped to the floor? Yamato could only see his mousy back legs sticking up into the air, so he couldn’t be sure.Kakashi was sound asleep, eyes hidden from volatile sun rays by his arm. That was odd. Kakashi always woke up at first light.Yamato worked to shift Shiba off of him without waking him up. He half-managed it - the dog opening one eye slit to gaze at him, and grumbling in a tone that Yamato perceived more as pleased, rather than irked.He focused on distributing his weight so as not to stir any other slumbering body, and slipped out of the room as swiftly as he could.Yamato managed to act disinterested when he sighted Pakkun entering the kitchen in search of a snack, but promptly posed the ‘why’ question again while heading to close the door.Pakkun evaluated whether to make a run for it or drift toward the all too inviting bowl of food that had caught his eye.He knew it was a ruse. Kakashi had left a bag of dry dog food at Yamato’s house months ago, knowing they’ll be around often and long enough for the ninken to need it.The mokuton-user, though, had been a cheater; using the freely offered treats in order to get information out of sweet, innocent and vulnerable canine.No wonder Kakashi got along so well with him.“Boss had a rough night,” he resolved to answer, giving in to the dizzying wishes of his stomach. “You were his go-to.”Yamato took this piece of information in stride, dropping a beef bully stick in Pakkun’s bowl in sign of thanks. That’s why Kakashi had overslept.But this wasn’t the only thing bugging him.Kakashi had been lonely. An unfortunate reality, but one that Yamato would unquestionably aspire to change.He turned around and set out to make some coffee. Years of experience had taught him exactly how Kakashi liked to take his morning beverage.He had often toyed with the idea of writing a biography on the Copy-nin. He could not help wondering what critics would say when they’d see that the whole book was filled to the brim with unusually detailed examples of one Hatake’s quirks.Objective people would never be able to understand how a man who takes his coffee darker than night, is also the type of person who spontaneously decides to have a full-blown sleepover, complemented by a puppy pile, after one too many nightmares.Experts would think of Yamato as either a genius or a mad-man, but he wouldn’t mind. Close relation to Kakashi tended to have this result on people, he knew all too well.Yeah, Yamato would write a truly unbelievable biography of Kakashi.