Kakashi shook his head, raising a hand as if to bar the apology from settling. He dipped his head again, chopsticks gathering up grains of rice ready to relay to Kakashi's mouth, but he dawdled for a moment in thought.

"I should have let you know how important you are to me long before now," Kakashi said finally, keeping his tone conversational and his eyes averted as not to make Yamato uncomfortable. "I know that. I should be treating a lot of people better than I have been, but you in particular. I'm sorry for that."

He stabbed a piece of cucumber with the end of his chopstick, absently. "And I'm sorry that Gai gave you such a hard time over our fight. I should have given you both a little more light on the situation."