Monday was Memorial Day, and Kakashi spent it, per usual, at the memorial. The distraction of Sandaime's party, good though it was, had left Kakashi to angst over the entire three-day weekend with his memories. He didn't eat at all, and his sleep was disturbed with dreams of memories rather than dreams of worries about the kids. When he came to school Tuesday, he was haggard. Iruka and Gai both talked to him between classes, Gai because he knew about what military holidays did to Kakashi and Iruka because he was finally starting to figure it out. Asuma graced team time with pizza, and, being his first meal in almost four days, Kakashi ate ravenously.

"Field Day," he said finally, after his third slice. "The Student Council has great ideas but not necessarily finances; the eighth grade, if you recall from last year, doesn't do a lot of buying." He pulled out Sakura's notes and tossed them onto the table they were eating around. Iruka picked it up and started leafing through it.

"A lot of this is in-house stuff, then," he said.

"Exactly," the Scarecrow replied. "I talked with the cafeteria last week when I was hiding all those cakes, and they've already placed the orders for the pies, and they've been slowly stock-piling the sandwiches. When they realized how little money they had, Neji really started nickel and dime-ing what they had. There's going to be an inflatable obstacle course and a slide, and the rental of the DJ/karaoke team and their equipment. The rest are scheduled, simple games. Announcements will be done through the PA system so everyone can hear it - in theory, at any rate - and it will all be ignored while the kids go off to do their own thing. I hear a few of the eighth graders are going to bring their guitars, so we might had some kind of impromptu jam session or rock off."

"Three legged race, pillowcase race, pie eating contest," Kurenai listed off as she tread through. "Who's bringing in the hula hoops?"

"That would be Gai."

"Indeed! Enclosed in my closet in my room is more than just my coat and weights for sports, indeed, I have a plethora of hula hoops and other gymnastics equipment!"

"He's exaggerating, of course," Kakashi said glibly. "He has the hula hoops, Asuma has all the board games, and the gym is going to provide some mats.

"This is actually pretty well organized," Asuma said. "I'm surprised the eighth grade was able to manage this. They all hate each other."

"Two reasons," Kakashi explained, "One: it's Field Day. It's a sacred ritual, and not even the eighth grade is going to mess it up. Two: the secretary is Sakura."

"That's right, I keep forgetting," Asuma said. "Are there any other seventh graders in the student council?"

"Not really, at least nobody brave enough to make an effort, and they're on the other team."

"And the field trip?" Gai asked. "How do preparations fare?"

"We're all set," Asuma said, grinning. "We got the last of the slips this morning. All that's left is making the announcements in the morning reminding them to dress appropriately and to bring money to buy their lunch or bring it themselves."

"Same goes for Field Day," Iruka said. "Remember last year when they forgot, and everyone was dressed in bikinis and swim trunks?"

Everyone but Kurenai shuddered.

The science teacher ran her hand through her thick tresses. "I don't know how we're going to get any work out of them for the next two days."

"We'll manage," Kakashi said. "We always do."

Thursday dawned bright and sunny. The thermometer by Kakashi's kitchen window was already well past sixty, and promised a day that would flirt with eighty, perfect for outdoors activities, as the weatherman happily chirped. The sun glinted repeatedly off of the ice crystal ornament hanging off his rearview, and as Kakashi parked under a tree in the parking lot and stepped out of his car, breathing in the last traces of tree pollen and its scent of spring, he could only feel Good Things.

It was a pseudo half day; the first four periods were needed to set up the track field directly behind their school, and Kakashi and the rest of his team were thankful they only had two periods to teach. Even early in the morning, the entire student body was abuzz about when the got outside, what they were going to do, etc. Prep arrived, and Kakashi hid himself deep in the bowels of the library to do some reading while he had the chance. Fourth period, SSR, Kakashi knew better than to try and maintain silence. He just sat at his front desk as everyone continued babbling about Field Day. Some had, apparently, snuck out the previous period to oogle whatever was out there. Sakura answered questions as best she could when they realized she knew what was to come, and, surprised at her sudden popularity, didn't quite know what to do with herself until Sasuke started throwing covert glares when the other students got annoying.

"Would all volunteers for Field Day please report to the gymnasium for assignments."

And that was how it started. Twenty minutes later they called the school out by grades. Kakashi hung back at first, as did Asuma, to make sure they'd shaken all the kids out of the rooms. The teachers each had assignments, too. The computer teacher, for example, despised the sun and had volunteered to help guard the school and kick kids back outside as she found them. Technically, Kakashi was in charge of supervising the karaoke stand, but he knew for a fact that the DJs knew what they what doing and had no intentions of interfering.

Once he and Asuma were certain the school was empty, they wandered into the cafeteria. Tables had been set up and four lunch ladies manned the thinning student population as they grabbed their sandwich and condiments that were on display. Kakashi grabbed some sliced peaches and an egg sandwich and a bottle of water before turning around and grabbing an apple, too.

Stepping out of the back of the gym and into the sun, Kakashi took a moment to adjust his vision as he saw the track field.

Two thousand students were filling it out, massive clumps in certain areas while the random kid flittered about, others in smaller clusters while still others were crowding around various activities. The teachers were all sitting around the gym, happy at any distance they had from the students as they had their own adult picnic area. There was already a veritable mob around the karaoke station already, and the music was playing on full blast, deafening the kids near it but barely heard across the field. Munching on his sandwich, Kakashi made his way down the small hill, watching as several students spread out beach blankets or just stretched out on the grass and enjoyed the sun. It was an amalgamation of the four grades, and it took a while to pick out his students.

The first set he spied once his feet hit the track itself. He had taken perhaps three steps before wandering off it and back up the hill, where, stretched out on a blanket, Shikamaru lay with his legs crosses, on of them bobbing up and down. The Scarecrow bent over into the boy's field of vision, and he scowled.

"Do you mind, sensei?" he asked. "You're obstructing the view of the clouds."

Kakashi looked up. "There aren't any clouds."

"There will be in about twenty minutes."

"Hey, Shikamaru!"

Chouji appeared and quickly sunk onto the blanket with his best friend. "I was able to grab the last bag of chips, want some?"

"I'm good for now," the Nara boy replied. "Wake me when the clouds start showing up."

"Okay. Hey! Shino! Come have a seat with us!"

Kakashi let the two, now three, boys to their own devices as he wandered back to the track and started making a circuit. Halfway through the turn he saw the eighth graders with their guitars, in addition to some seventh graders from the other team and, oddly enough, Ino. They were just warming up for now, so Kakashi left them alone. The inflatable obstacle course already had a long line of students waiting their turn to run through it, and Kakashi spied Tenten and Neji from the eighth grade in line, tall trees in the sea of fifth graders they were amidst.

Further down the straightaway he saw the relay race. Currently, Kiba was carrying a petrified Hinata around a cone before another pair, Naruto and a sixth grader, cut in and the pair took a horrible tumble.

"Naruto!! Come back here so I can take a bite out of you!" Kiba howled before his face changed and, "Ah!! Hinata, are you okay?"

But the grey-eyed girl couldn't reply; she was clutching her sides from laughing so hard.

Moving on down the track, Kakashi saw a large mob of students just talking, and as he hit the other turn, he started to hear the music from the karaoke. Wandering over, he saw Rock Lee with the mike, singing what sounded vaguely like "Man, I Feel Like a Woman." He couldn't be sure at first because he was so horribly off key, but as he got closer he realized the entire mob of students were singing along, on full volume no less. Navigating through the crowd, he checked in with the DJs, the slots were already half full with names and songs. Willing to try anything once, and thrilled at the idea of torturing the students, he signed his name, along with a few others, for the last slot for the longest song he could find.

That taken care of, now he had to find said people. He finished coming around the bend and saw Iruka sitting amongst a large crowd of special ed students, most of whom he didn't recognize.

"Yo!" he said over the din. The karaoke music could still be heard. "How good are you at singing?"

"Terrible, why?"

"I just singed us up."

"Kakashi, you didn't!!"

"I did," he said with glee.

"I hate you."

"Not nearly as much as you love me," he replied.

"I love you too!" a girl said, throwing her arms around Iruka. There was a chorus of "Me, too!"s and all the students were soon wrapping around the special education teacher.

Passing by a trashcan, he tossed the wrapper of his sandwich and peaches before biting into his Macintosh. He rounded back to the straightaway of the track, and he found Sasuke trying, and failing, to avoid the gaggle of girls that were following him. Feeling gracious, he called out, "Yo! I was just looking for you. Come with me."

Sasuke did so, and the girls quickly departed.

"You must hate days like this," he said.

"Hn."

"Sullen to the last, I see," he said lightly. "Let's see if we can find a safe hiding place for you." He wandered up the hill and to the teachers, where he saw Asuma and Kurenai chatting on the end of a table full of teachers. "Yo!" he said lightly.

"Hey, you enjoying yourself?" Asuma asked.

"Thoroughly," the Scarecrow replied. "How good are the two of you at singing?"

Asuma paled. "You did not just sign us up for that karaoke thing, did you?"

"Last song of the day."

"I hate you!"

"Iruka said the exact same thing," the English teacher replied. "How well do you know Bohemian Rhapsody?"

"I love that song," Kurenai said. "This'll be fun!"

"See?" Kakashi said. "You should learn from her example. Where's Gai?"

"Probably out amongst the competition," Go-sama said sullenly. "I can't believe you're making me sing."

"Oh," the science teacher said, "Get off yourself. You're going to enjoy it and you know it."

News delivered, Kakashi wandered back down the hill and took another bite of his apple. "So," he said to Sasuke, "what do you like to do when you hide?"

"I don't know," he replied. "I usually just go somewhere quiet."

"Kakashi-sensei!"

The pair turned around to see Sakura running up to them, panting. "I finally found you!" She paused, trying to catch her breath. Finally, she said, "I've been looking everywhere for you. The three-legged races are starting in ten minutes, and Gai-sensei wants to challenge you to the race. He's already found a partner in Lee-kun and is shouting about how you won't be able to. Oh, hi Sasuke-kun," she added, smiling at the boy.

Sasuke sensed the impending doom, but Kakashi and already clamped a hand on his shoulder. "I've got my partner right here," he said happily, "just let me finish my apple and we'll be right there."

And so, ten minutes later, Sakura was tying Kakashi's left let to Sasuke's right, the boy glaring murderous daggers at his teacher, while next to them Gai was making loud proclamations about beating Kakashi. "I'm going to murder you," the boy next to him said.

"You're going to lighten up," Kakashi said, patting Sasuke's shoulders. "I know it's possible for you to smile, and it's past time you did. Look at these two, over here," he added, seeing Naruto and Hinata come up on their other side. The Hyuga girl was blushing furiously. "They're having the time of their lives, right?"

"You got that right, sensei!" Naruto exclaimed, tightening his headband. "I am so totally going to beat you, Sasuke-teme!"

To this, the boy leveled a healthy grin. "You have to catch me, first," he said.

Ah, much better.

The day was very warm, and bright, and Kakashi didn't really feel like holding back, and neither did Sasuke. The pair wiped the floor with any an all competition, from the three-legged race to the pillowcase race to the relay race to the egg-carrying contest to the water balloon volleyball. Chouji beat them both in the pie-eating contest, but that was expected. Over the next several hours, Kakashi and Sasuke made several tours around the track, watching as Shino lectured on the ants that were crawling on the blanket he was on to a snoring Shikamaru. Ino and the other guitar players were having an impromptu concert as the wandering middle schooler heard them and started gathering. Ino was, of course adoring the attention. Kiba and Chouji had gotten water balloons from somewhere and were pelting them at any and everybody that wasn't a teacher. Sakura, her duties complete, was picnicking with Hinata and Tenten and (interestingly given Hinata was there) Neji, and the karaoke was still filled to bursting with singers. Kurenai had found a nice sun-warmed place on the inflatable slide, manning it by sitting on the warm plastic, her bare feet nestled deep in the safety netting at the base of the slide. Kakashi went down twice, Sasuke once and headfirst no less. Asuma, after the pie contest, was seen chasing several students around for whatever reason, and Gai made regular appearances to challenge Kakashi to some ludicrous contests.

It wasn't long before the day was winding down, and Kakashi slowly gather up his team for the karaoke. Sasuke, now smiling openly, had appeared with the rest of his team, and several other seventh and eighth graders to watch.

"Behold! I shall sing louder and better than you Kakashi to once again take the lead against you."

"Just try not to break the mike," Asuma complained. Iruka was just scowling while Kurenai was taking deep breaths and singing the scale, warming up her voice for the song.

The DJ signaled the start, and after the introduction came:

"Is this a real life...

"Is this a fantasy...

It was the only two lines that were sung perfectly in synch. Gai, focusing on volume more than anything else, spent most of his time screeching at the top of his lungs. Asuma and Iruka were trying to sing, but neither knew the words, even with the teleprompter, and kept messing up or missing a beat. Iruka, erstwhile worker that he was, got more and more frustrated until he just gave up and started lip-synching. Asuma meanwhile kept throwing glares. Both of these stopped, however, about halfway through the song as the two started enjoying themselves. Asuma stepped back a bit and started playing air guitar - a feat nobody knew he could do, and Iruka soon followed up with air drums. Kurenai was actually singing, and was perhaps the only one who was any good at it. Kakashi meanwhile, would deliberately flip words around to throw off Gai, who was left suddenly wondering why it was easy go and easy come instead of visa versa.

The seventh and eighth grades were clapping to the beat, pointing and laughing and cheering the teachers on, catcalling and whistling when Gai's voice cracked or Kakashi mispronounced Beelzebub. The song ended with an uproarious cheer, the two grades rushing in on the teachers.

Not long afterwards the bell rang, signaling the end of the day.

Friday also dawned bright and cheery, and after all the fun he had yesterday, Kakashi was happier than he had been in months. He actually skipped down the halls, eliciting several stares from students and faculty alike before he wandered into his homeroom, Iruka having already opened it.

"Sensei, I have to call my mom!"

"I forgot my suntan lotion."

"I forgot my shades!"

"I forgot my hat."

"I forgot my camera!"

"I forgot my bathing suit!!"

Kakashi sighed. Kids!

He stepped out into the hall and raised his voice. "Any an all students that need to call a parent to get something they forgot, please come to my room and line up at the front desk." He wandered back in and waited as easily two-dozen students pounded up to him. He let them go in pairs and threes to go to the office. Technically, students could use the phones in the rooms if they knew how, but Kakashi was never fond of the idea and so kicked them to poor Shizune. He called the office after he sent out the first two, Naruto and Chouji, to let her know and to apologize for it. She didn't seem to mind at all, saying she had plenty of phones.

"Sensei, were are we supposed to meet?"

"Homeroom first, and then we'll take you to the buses," he said for the hundredth time.

Everyone was in shorts, denim or khaki, with light shirts. The girls on occasion sported the strings of a bathing suit around their neck or under their sleeves. Shades and hats abounded, the boys with baseball and the girls with something fancier. Sakura had a straw hat with a silk cherry blossom on it, toting a large whicker bag that no doubt held her lotion and lunch and other amenities. Three or four parent chaperones had already arrived, and Kakashi kicked them to their appropriate homeroom.

The bell rang for homeroom, and Kakashi took attendance quickly, folding up the piece of paper and tucking into his wallet for later use. "You're going to the buses by homeroom," he explained. "While I doubt any of you will wander off between here and there, we're going to take attendance again when we get on the bus - and with three homerooms per bus that will take a while. I expect you to be quiet so everyone can be heard when they say 'here.' We're going to do this again when we leave, so remember to look for me in order to get into the right bus. Are we clear?"

"Yes, sensei! Can we get going now?"

The Scarecrow grinned. "Remember to be quiet in the halls, or so help me you'll spend the day here and not with us."

Threat in place, his homeroom walked silently down to and then past the main office to the large double doors, where Iruka was already standing, holding them open. Four Greyhound buses stood waiting for them, and Kakashi calmly walked up to the front bus, tucking himself into the front seat with Asuma as he watched the kids filter into the buses. The volume was already rising to deafening pitch. Kurenai soon followed suit with her class, and once everyone was seated Asuma got their attention. Kakashi gave his attendance sheet to the math teacher, and waited until role call was done. "Everyone here?" he asked.

"Yep."

"Good." Kakashi stepped off the bus and went to the next, where Gai's booming voice was taking role.

When finished, Gai turned and gave a flashing grin. "My rival, all youths are present!"

Kakashi nodded and went to the next bus, comprised entirely of the other team, and then the fourth. Once everyone was accounted for, Kakashi went back to the lead bus. "Let's get started," he said happily, and the driver put it in gear as the buses rolled out of the school parking lot. The teachers all stood in their seats and glared appropriately at the students until the pulled onto the highway. Kurenai and Asuma immediately disappeared into their seats, pulling out music and a sudoku book respectively. Kakashi wandered up the aisle for a bit before finding and empty seat and took that, pulling out his beloved book. He tugged himself into a slouch, and it wasn't long before the din of the students fell away and he was immersed in the world of his favorite book.

It was a little over two hours to drive to the amusement park. When they pulled up, Kakashi and the students swelled out of the buses. A teacher from the other team had been smart and brought a megaphone, using the oversized cone to get the student's attention and put them in their assigned groups. It took perhaps twenty minutes for them to get processed, stamped, and into the amusement park, but once that was complete the day officially started and the seventh grade of Konoha Middle School went to town.

Kakashi gathered his group at the cotton candy stand and simply said, "Be here by quarter of three - that's two-forty-five - or we leave without you. Dismissed."

And they all disappeared. Well, almost all of them. Three particular students hung back before walking up to him. "Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said, "Do you think we could spend the day with you?"

The English teacher could only grin.

The four of them decided to take turns picking rides, and after a quick round of rock-paper-scissors, Sakura got to pick first. Frowning, she decided on the Ferris Wheel first. Kakashi quickly bought a map, and the three of them used the wheel and the map to determine the best course of action. Naruto, who chose next, wanted to go immediately on the roller coaster, but Kakashi pointed out on the wheel that there was already a huge line, and that they wanted to economize their time. The young blond finally decided on a different speed ride, and by the time the Ferris wheel was over, they'd had a route planned on their map.

It was quickly found out that Sakura didn't have the stomach for the more adventurous rides, a source of great frustration for her, but Kakashi more than made up for it, because while the boys went on the big-boy rides, the English teacher stayed with Sakura and offered a colorful audio commentary of what the boys were most likely thinking at different points. He made his voice nice and squeaky for Naruto, and deep and gloomy for Sasuke, and soon the girl was in complete hysterics, clutching her sides in laughter. It made the boys curious when they got off their rides, but Kakashi could only grin blithely, and Sakura couldn't repeat any of it without becoming incoherent with laughter.

The slower paced rides turned out great, however. Sakura and Kakashi had both decided on the merry-go-round, and they went on it twice to annoy Naruto and Sasuke. The water rides were great fun, and after riding around in the plastic log, Naruto spied a shoe floating in the water. When they got off the ride they walked around and, after some creative fishing, were able to skim it out. Not sure what to do with it, they gave it to the ticket booth; Kakashi suggesting that with some salt it would make a great soup. It was about then that Naruto's stomach growled, and looking at his watch they all decided it was time for lunch.

The section on the map that said Concession Stands, they all agreed, should have been rewritten as Restaurants. Hot dogs was the meal of the day, everyone with different toppings: ever eccentric Kakashi with relish and ranch dressing he'd grabbed from another stand, Sasuke with just ketchup, Naruto with mayonnaise and bacon bits, and Sakura with mustard. This was in addition to the jumbo sodas and the extra large plate of fries. Even with an empty pit like Naruto it took them over an hour to eat. The Scarecrow just closed his eyes and listened as the three of them gossiped.

With great glee he listened to them wondering if he was awake, Naruto planning on pulling some kind of trick, but just as he was inches above the Scarecrow's head with the ketchup bottle, Kakashi snapped open his eyes and told them that was enough of that.

"You were awake the whole time?!" the blond asked incredulously.

"Of course. Couldn't you tell?"

To give themselves time to digest, they walked around the park for a while, pausing as they ran into another set of students or to take pictures with Sakura's camera. In a similar vein, they found a photo booth and the four all piled in to take pictures. Naruto and Kakashi had silent contests to see who made the best face, but ultimately Sasuke had won because Kakashi had made a teasing remark about him and Sakura. It irritated Naruto to no end when the photos came out and he realized this, and demanded a rematch, which Sasuke flatly refused to do.

Finally, the rollercoaster line had thinned, and they all got in line to go on it. Sakura was determined to at least do this, and she shuffled in next to Kakashi while the attendant fastened the safety bar.

"Are you sure about this?" Sasuke asked from behind.

"This is worth feeling queasy over," she said, a nervous but otherwise bright smile on her face.

"Well, it's a wood rollercoaster, that should help," Naruto offered from in front.

The slowly started rolling and clinking their way up the forty-five degree incline, and Sakura unconsciously grabbed at Kakashi's hand as color drained from her face.

"Sakura, don't look directly ahead, look sideways, and focus on the other side of the park; it might help."

"Okay, senseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeii!!" They shot down and everyone started happily screaming. Naruto had his hands up and flailing, laughing and giggling all the way. Bobbing up and down, spinning and whipping this way and that, Kakashi could hear very little because Sakura was screaming in his ear, repeating, "Oh my GOD!!" over and over.

When the ride was over, the boys immediately helped Kakashi with pulling Sakura out. Her face was as green as her eyes, and her legs held her weight for all of three seconds before she sank to the ground and she started retching. One of the attendants was very helpful, ushering the four to a more private place for Sakura to be sick and offering a paper bag - whether to gag into or breath into Kakashi wasn't sure.

Sasuke ran to the concession stands and came back with ice cream to help settle her stomach, and the four of them sat on a bench and people-watched with their cones in hand.

"That was so stupid!" Naruto was shouting to Sakura. "Queasy is one thing, you didn't say you were going to get sick!"

"I didn't think I was going to," Sakura muttered, a hand holding her abdomen while she leaned back on the bench.

"You two can scold her later," Kakashi said lightly, "This is about having fun, remember?"

Naruto and Sasuke refused to go on another ride for an hour to make sure Sakura was feeling better, and finally they swallowed their disgust and offered to ride the merry-go-round again to make up to the rollercoaster gone wrong. Both Sakura and Kakashi silently agreed to be completely obnoxious about it.

In no time, it seemed, that two-thirty rolled around, and Kakashi guided them back to the cotton candy stand and they began waiting for the rest of the group to show up. They did in pairs and threes, and by two-fifty, Kakashi had the same number of heads he'd had at the beginning; and so he lead them back to the buses (which were now stifling after sitting out in the sun for so long). Asuma was already there, filing his kids in.

Once everyone was loaded in, Kurenai took attendance and everyone was present. Kakashi made his way down the buses to check. It was in Gai's bus that he saw at least one head missing: Iruka.

"Where is he?" he asked the Green Beast.

"Two students from the other team are not here," he replied. "He's reentered the park to see if he can find them. A boy and a girl."

"Do you want me to go in looking for them?"

"And risk you getting lost in the bowels of such a place?" Gai asked, "No, Iruka knows one of them, he'll know where to look."

And so the wait started. The other buses had perfect attendance, and so he merely waited in the front of his bus, keeping his eyes on the entrance. It took perhaps twenty minutes, and he could hear the kids in his bus wondering what had happened. But finally, Iruka came storming out of the amusement park, face black as a thundercloud, as he ushered two shamed students in front of him. Kakashi nodded his head but he doubted the special education teacher saw him as he followed the students up into the bus. Entering his own bus, Kakashi could see through the windows the sharp gesticulations of Iruka as he no doubt scolded the hell out of the two students.

The ride back was blissfully quiet. The energy of the day slowly seeping out of the students as they happily recounted events to each other and gossiped. Team 7 was sitting around him, and he closed his eyes and half dozed to their melodious voices. With the late start they would be back in the school parking lot a little before six, and Kakashi would make the generous announcement to remind them that finals started Monday, enjoying the looks of shock on their faces to tide him over for the weekend.