safety [Kakashi Hatake x OC]

twelve

Naruto plummeted towards the ground below. There were no trees to break his fall, and he wasn't trained enough to figure out how to keep himself from getting seriously injured or nearly dying. He was falling from the highest point in Konoha.

But as soon as he disappeared from the ledge, and released a loud yell of shock, Eri declared, "I've got him," and leapt from the cliff after him.

She formed a hand seal, solidifying the air around her toes and kicking off of it to propel herself downward faster to catch up to the boy.

Once she reached him, she yelled over the wind, "Grab onto me!" then straightened herself land more solidly. The blonde did just as she said and latched onto her leg, hugging her thigh and wrapping his own legs around her booted calf.

One after another, she created invisible clouds at her feet, slowing her down ever so slightly with every step. The concentrated force from the gravity of falling off of the extremely high cliff made it harder to slow down, but they were in a better position than when they initially fell.

She jumped from invisible cloud to invisible cloud, making sure that they wouldn't hit the ground too roughly.

Finally, the last cloud evaporated just above the grass, releasing their support. There was still a harsh force on her ankles once they landed, but her jutsu certainly softened how bad the fall could have been.

The leg that Naruto was clutched to collapsed, his weight bringing it to the ground as she sighed in relief.

"Are you okay?" Eri asked quietly.

"You saved my life." Naruto was sobbing dramatically, refusing to let go of his tight hold on her leg.

"Well, we're safe now." She assured, pinching his orange jacket to see if he'd potentially let go, at least slightly.

But to no avail.

She heard a sound and looked back up at the cliff to see a cloud of dust spiraling down towards the them. When it got closer, the dust dissolved and the man causing it slowed until he reached the clearing where they were.

"Are you two okay?" Kakashi asked, catching his breath from the vertical sprint.

Eri nodded and beamed with pride, revealing a hint of the quirkiness she had revealed only to him.

"That's good." The white-haired man stated casually, although he was genuinely relieved. His focus then turned, however, to the quivering, typical overconfident boy clutching on to the woman's leg.

The darker side of Kakashi couldn't deny that he also had a particular desire to touch her so familiarly, but that was also the less gentlemanly thing to do. So, he pulled on the boy's hood. "Oi, Naruto. You're fine." He said in a stern voice.

"Kakashi-sensei, Eri-san is my savior." The blonde muttered through dramatic and unnecessary tears.

"Yeah, you should thank her." Kakashi suggested, unsuccessful in trying to pry the genin from Eri's leg.

"Thank you, Eri-san."

"Yeah, no problem." The woman forced an awkward grin, her eyes closed and twitching slightly with discomfort. "It's okay to let go now."

When he didn't let go - again - his teacher lost his patience. He pulled out the novel that was always tucked inside his vest pockets and thwacked the almost theatrical boy on his head, shocking him into releasing Eri as a bump welled on the top of his head.

"Kakashi-sensei..." Naruto whined.

"It's not polite to try to feel up a woman, especially when she just saved your life." The older man scolded, then said, completely unfiltered, "Leave that kind of stuff to the adults."

"Hey!" Eri protested, folding her arms over her chest with a pout.

He merely smiled mysteriously as Sakura and Sasuke came running up to them from the more conventional way down the mountain.

"Eri-san! Are you okay?!" The pinkette yelled worriedly, not seeming concerned at all about her teammate that fell first.

"Ah, yeah." The woman said, then blurted out, "Until your teacher suggested copping a feel if the circumstances are right."

"That's out of context." Kakashi defended.

"Kakashi-sensei! You're such a pervert!" Sakura started to fume, but there seemed to be something in the back of her mind that she wasn't saying out loud as she flicked her green eyes towards the stoic and particularly gloomy boy beside her.

The silver-haired man sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets, knowing this was an argument he would not win. "Well, I won't deny it."