Disclaimer: Not mine. Please don't sue.

A/N: Recently I've been having issues getting anything to come out properly on paper, otherwise there wouldn't have been such a long wait in between. Also, this one is more silly than anything because I couldn't make it serious no matter how hard I tried. I will have a more serious version up sooner or later. (I'm still not entirely satisfied with this… Agh)

Notes: Sakura is about 14 in this one, and it's during the two year break.

Thanks to: iLychLuna, December Jewel, Taste of Fire, Eralda, blackestfaery, and everyone who read (over 200 hits!). I'm really glad you guys liked it. All the positive feedback is great, and seriously made my day.

Summer Days

For a period of about two weeks when they were younger his three students had obsessed over what was under his mask. He pretended not to notice (it was too much fun watching them plot), but it amused him. After a while they lost interest, but the memory still brought a smile to his face.

Thus, it did not surprise him when, one hot summer afternoon after their ritual sparring session, Sakura brought it up again.

They were sitting in the shade of one of the large trees, his vest had been discarded long ago, and Sakura was fanning herself with her headband.

She glanced at him several times out of the corner of her eye. "It's hot today, isn't it sensei?"

"Hn," Kakashi agreed, concentrating on rolling up the sleeves of his dark shirt and not on the heat.

"It has to be the hottest day of the year so far," she continued brightly.

"Most likely."

"And the humidity! I wish it would rain." She sighed, looking up at the cloudless sky.

A nod.

There was a pause, then- "I don't know how most Jounin do it, wearing black all the time. I'm surprised more of them don't collapse from heatstroke!" A note of frustration crept into her voice.

Kakashi shot her an amused look. "I didn't know you cared so much. Have you talked to the Hokage about these concerns of yours?"

Sakura scowled at him. "Yes, I have," she retorted. "She's considering banning masks during the summer." She stuck her tongue out at her teacher.

Chuckling, Kakashi leaned against the tree and closed his eyes. "So that's what this is about. I never would have guessed," he teased. "I think ANBU would have problems with this mask ban, however." He opened his eyes again when he felt Sakura watching him.

"Don't you ever take it off?" she asked curiously, previous irritation discarded. The headband she'd previously been fanning herself with forgotten on the grass beside her.

"Only when I sleep and shower," he replied.

Sakura wrinkled her nose. "You didn't need to tell me that," she accused.

He chuckled at her apparent distaste. "You did ask."

"What about when you have colds?" she demanded. "Doesn't your nose run-?"

"All the time."

"And how do you-?"

"Very quickly." He watched as she tilted her head to the side. "Have all your questions been answered?"

"Not really," she confessed with a shrug. "I do have one more question, though. Can I see you without your mask on?" Saying it as a joke, she was surprised at his next actions.

Wordlessly, Kakashi reached up and pulled the dark cloth from over the bottom half of his face. Contrary to the buckteeth or fish lips Sakura's teammates had imagined, he had a strong jaw though his features were boyish, and he looked no older than twenty-five. Altogether this had a rather charming effect, and Sakura found herself wondering why he wore the mask at all.

"That's it," she said incredulously, shaking herself out of her thoughts. "That's all there was to it?"

"That's all there was," Kakashi agreed. "Satisfied?"

"Well, it was a little anticlimactic," she admitted dryly. This caused him to smile, and, seeing it without the mask for the first time, Sakura couldn't help but smile back.

He stood and offered her a hand up before pulling the mask back over his nose. "Considering it's the hottest day of the summer, would you be up for some lemonade? My treat," he offered.

"Only to stop you from dehydrating," she conceded with a roll of her eyes.