Son of Fang

Creativity

I ran towards Kakashi's house. I'd woken up a bit late, but that was ok. The weekend had finally arrived.

I slowed down walking up to the door. I knocked gently and waited. Sakumo gently opened the door.

"Hello, Shiro." He said with a smile. "Kakashi isn't out of bed yet, but you can come in and have some tea if you'd like. He should be up at any minute now."

"I'd love to have some tea with you!" I said with a smile.

We walked inside quietly. I sat at the table waiting. Sakumo sat down our teacups plus an extra one for Kakashi. He filled the cups before sitting down.

"So, you've been doing well in class?" He asked. "I've watched you train with Kakashi. You're the only one of his friends that can keep up with." Sakumo sipped his tea. "You're going to make for a great shinobi."

"You really think so!" I asked trying to stay quiet.

"Of course. Once you refine your chakra you'll be on Kakashi's level." He leaned close. "You may even surpass him." He whispered with a smile.

My eyes widened and my jaw dropped. The sound of light footsteps came from behind me. I turned to see Kakashi in his pajamas rubbing his eyes. He looked at me surprised. He turned his head looking at the clock.

"I woke up late." Kakashi stated. His voice was raspy from just waking up.

"That's ok, son. You've been studying hard all week. You need your rest." Sakumo said gently.

"Good morning, Kakashi!" I said cheerfully.

"Were you wanting to train today?" Kakashi asked me.

"Actually I wanted to do something different today." I told Kakashi.

"Are you sure? We should be training." Kakashi said surprised.

"Kakashi it's ok to take breaks from training." Sakumo said setting his teacup down. "Go have fun."

"Let me get dressed." Kakashi said returning to his room.

Sakumo sighed. "I wish he'd spend more time having fun. He constantly worries about getting stronger."

"I know." I said looking at the table. "That's why I wanted to do something different today."

"I know you are young, but you are very smart." He sighed and stared down at the table. "Shiro, if something ever happens to me... promise me you'll be there for Kakashi and take care of him."

"Of course, Sakumo!" I agreed. "Kakashi and I are bestfriends forever! Besides you're strong. Nothing will happen to you!"

"Ok, I'm ready to go." Kakashi said walking out of his room.

"You should eat before you leave, Kakashi." Sakumo said gently as he went to the kitchen. "Have you had breakfast, Shiro?"

"Yeah, mom made egg buns this morning." I answered.

Sakumo sat down onigiri for Kakashi and poured him some tea. Kakashi sat down and ate quickly. Something about Sakumo seemed off.

"Done! Let's go Shiro!" Kakashi said standing quickly.

I stood up walking out of the house with Kakashi. We waved goodbye to Sakumo and Kakashi closed the door. Kakashi held my hand as we walked to the pottery shop. We walked to the back room and I got us some aprons.

"What are we doing?" Kakashi asked curiously as I put an apron on him.

"We're going to make some art!" I answered excitedly as I tied the back of his apron.

"I've never made art." Kakashi replied sounding a bit nervous.

I got my step stool so I could grab a couple of blocks of clay from the shelf. I put one on each side of the table. I went back and grabbed two more smaller boxes.

"That's ok. It's really fun!" I explained as I put a block each on the two pottery wheels in the back. "Come on. Sit here." I instructed him.

Kakashi walked over as grabbed us each a bowl of water. He got up on the stool watching me prepare our clay. I sat on my stool and explained the process of making a tea cup.

"That sounds hard." Kakashi said confused.

"It's not that bad. Besides if you get confused you can just watch me." I said smiling a reassuring smile.

I turned on my wheel and got to work shaping the clay. Kakashi watched me looking a bit impressed. I finished my tea cup noticing he hadn't even started. I got to wash my hands. I came back and scooted my stool next to his.

"Here I can help you if you need me to." I said hopping up on my stool.

"Ok." He replied still nervous.

He turned on his wheel and pulled his maskdown. He copied my movements with ease. He was almost done when he accidentally pressed a bit to hard on the inside causing the cup to turn into more of a bubble shape. Kakashi quickly pulled his hands away. He sighed letting his head hang. I put my hand on his back gently.

"You did a great job! You almost had it first try!" I reassured. "It may not be a teacup but it would make a really cool vase!"

This seemed to cheer him up. "You think so?" He asked looking up at me.

"Of course! Dad makes lots of bubble vases! He always sells out of them too!" I explained.

I got up and removed the pieces from our wheels. I carefully placed them in one of the kilns before turning it on. I walked to a stool on one side of the the table.

"This one is a lot easier." I explained as Kakashi went to his stool. "We're just going to make pendants. You can make any shape you want. I needed to come here today because my butterfly shaped necklaces sold out again."

"I can make any shape I want?" Kakashi asked seeming a little more excited.

"Mhm. Just remember we'll have to poke holes in the top so we can put the on necklaces." I replied smiling.

Dad walked in surprised to see us. "How long have you two been here?" He asked.

"Not too long. I tried to teach Kakashi how to make a teacup on the wheel." I told dad.

"Yeah, but I messed up." Kakashi frowned.

"He accidentally made a bubble vase instead." I explained. "Now we're going to make pendants!"

"Well if you decide to sell them you'll get some of the money so make sure to make plenty of them!" Dad informed Kakashi before going back out to the shop.

We started working on our pendants. Kakashi seemed to be enjoying this much more than making the teacups. I was mostly making butterflies.

"Shiro." Kakashi said waving me over.

I walked over to see what he was working on. I put my hands up on the table to get a better look when I accidentally stuck my thumb on one of his circle pendants. I pulled my hand back quickly. I'd left a thumb print on the piece.

"I'm so sorry." I felt awful for ruining his piece.

"That's ok." Kakashi said leaning over hugging me. "I can always fix it." He reassured.

He showed my the dog he'd just finished. I complimented how good it was and returned to my spot. We continued working making pendants until we made about 20 each.

I put mine in the kiln showing him how they should be placed. Kakashi took his to the kiln while I cleaned up the work areas. Dad brought us food sitting it on the table. We sat eating side by side while our pendants baked.

After they were done I let Kakashi get his first. He went to the table and started painting. I joined him at the table. Eventually we got them all painted. Dad came to help us put them on necklaces once they'd dried.

Kakashi let dad keep most of his in the shop to sell. He'd made a lot of kunai, shuriken, and dogs. He seemed really pleased with himself.

"Can we do this again soon?" Kakashi asked happily.

"Of course!" Dad answered. "I could always use the help!"