Title: Shouldering the Blame, Chapter 1
Rating: PG-13?
Pairing: Kakashi/Iruka Iruka/Kakashi I like my boys to switch xD
Status: WIP, but hope to finish soon... yes, I know you've heard that from me before, lol.
Summary: Kakashi returns from a mission; Iruka patches him up and fluffiness ensues. Kinda…
Genre: WAFF, fluff, fairly mild angst (it always slips in there if I'm writing Kakashi, doesn't it?) HC
Warnings: biseinen ai, coarse language and provocative conversation, medical imagery, blah blah blah
Disclaimer: I asked Kishimoto-san for several shinobi for my birthday… I kinda conveniently forgot to put them back when I was done… So technically they aren't mine, but I think they have a lot more fun with me…
Author's Notes: Thank you to Hatochan, the reason I started writing again and the reason I continue… This occurs just before Hato's Playing Doctor, but works better if you read it after hers. After discussing what we've managed to figure out from the time line a bit more, we decided this and Playing Doctor occur about 6 months after Kakashi and Iruka's wedding mentioned in Hato's Along the Way: Ch.10 – Prancing, so they are married and living together in a house, now. Also check out Jam and Jelly's stuff on and her LJ, and yay! you can legally read my stuff now… grin :) Happy Birthday, dear. Oh, and a shakujo is a weapon, a sort of staff, parts of it often bound in metal, with metal rings on it… if you are familiar with Miroku's staff from InuYasha, you know what I mean… if not, Google can provide you with much better definitions than I ever could :) And yes, this is based on my famous/infamous wasp sting incident from a few months ago, lol
Look for her Playing Doctor on AdultFanfiction net... Playing Doctor is fairly explicit, guys. DO NOT read if you're not legal... or if you can't handle some kinkiness...
Kakashi trudged slowly through the gates into Konoha. He had just completed a mission and could hardly wait to get home. Tonight, his trademark slouch was far more genuine than assumed. He took the most direct route back to their home, not even stopping to drop off his report, as the mission was not deemed critical. He was so tired, he almost wished he still had his own old, lonely, near empty apartment which was closer, but he knew Iruka would hurt him (or even worse, withhold sex) when he found out. His love had no patience when it came to Kakashi's habit of ignoring mission injuries that would send most shinobi willingly to the medic-nin, and an injured wrist could never be shrugged off as minor to Iruka. Also, current SOP stated all after hours mission returns were required to report to either the missions desk or the personnel listed as their primary emergency contact.
Kakashi understood the rationale behind the order, even agreed with it, but tonight it was nothing more than an inconvenience. He debated releasing the jutsu immobilizing his injured wrist, but he was so close, now, the extra energy was probably better expended protecting his hand. There was no way Iruka could say he had willfully ignored his health and well-being this time... He had managed to complete the mission with a minimum of lost time and a minimum of injury. Tsunade couldn't yell either, because he had managed to make it home without totally depleting his chakra reserves.
He'd be fine after a good night's sleep, a shower, and a hot meal, not necessarily in that order. He wearily walked down the path and fiddled with the lock, weariness and exhaustion overcoming shinobi grace and reflexes as he tried to open the door left-handed, only to have it open from the inside. He almost stumbled into the teacher as he lost his precarious balance when the supporting door moved. Fortunately, this was enough of a routine that Iruka was easily able to react and catch the toppling jounin.
Iruka whisked away vest, shoes, mask, and hitai-ate before guiding the silver-haired man to a seat in the kitchen. Kakashi opened his mouth to speak, but Iruka shook his head, performing his own injury check. He felt his lover's head and peered closely into each eye, fingers lingering over a slightly grazed eyebrow before assessing the only mildly lowered chakra level. Swift brown fingers felt across collarbones and ribs before Kakashi was able to bring his right wrist up for Iruka's inspection.
Kakashi actually blushed. "Three enemy shinobi. I defeated them, but I umm, well, I hit my wrist on a rock. Banged it up good. I promise I took care of it... really. Used a jutsu to immobilize it. Everything else is minor."
"We'll see about that, Kakashi." Iruka's hands hovered over the injured arm. "You'll have to teach me this one once you've healed. You're lucky you didn't make it worse performing the seals, though. It's broken, you know." Iruka fought back a smile at the look of dismay on the older man's face. "Fortunately, it appears to be a small break. A clean one, too. Your jutsu did a good job immobilizing it. This was yesterday?"
Kakashi nodded.
"It did an effective job keeping the worst of the swelling down, too. It might have something to do with the constant chakra flow around the joint." Iruka continued studying the hand.
Kakashi let himself be lulled by his lover's soothing voice.
"This is quite clever, actually. I'm a bit surprised you managed to come up with it." Kakashi just nodded again, and Iruka smiled. He really is tired. He never even noticed that one… "There's minimal chakra drain with this jutsu, too, since it basically just keeps your own chakra flowing continuously over the part to be immobilized. If you'll release it, I'll heal it for you. No use sending you to the hospital when you're this tired for something I can take care of myself."
Kakashi slowly released the jutsu and immediately felt Iruka's chakra easing away the pain and stiffness in the joint. He removed Kakashi's gloves and examined both wrists closely, evidently satisfied. "Well, that was easy enough. What else?"
"A few assorted scrapes, cuts, and bruises. I took a few senbon to the neck and shoulder. One of the assholes was trying to herd me towards his buddy with the shakujo. Guess senbon were all he had left in his bag of tricks. They weren't even poisoned. Maybe they were just trying to slow me down enough so they could get away. A few managed to make it past my vest, though. I couldn't avoid the whole spray of them. I twisted to keep them from going into the nerve cluster and that's when my wrist hit the rock. I put them in my pack after I pulled them out of my vest and shoulder. Looked like a damned porcupine. It's nothing serious… really."
"I'll decide that. I've seen your 'nothing serious' before. Hold on here for a second while I heat your dinner. I know, nothing heavy, but you need something... " Iruka placed a small pot on the stove. "Ok, let's go love. I'll check the rest of your wounds in the bathroom and get you into a hot shower. Any twinges in that shoulder? Fever, chills, nausea?"
Kakashi shook his head. "Was dosing myself with antidotes for most of Grass's poisons before I left the borders, anyway."
"Just lean on me, Kakashi. Yes, I know you can make it yourself, but it doesn't hurt to accept help when it's offered, does it? Just lean against this wall while I turn the water on."
Kakashi complied, unable to do anything else, in fact, surprised and a bit unwilling to admit how much Iruka's interrogation and the short walk from the living room had actually taken out of him. He sagged a little more against the wall, closing his eyes, listening to the sounds of Iruka readying the shower and bath.
"Almost done, Kakashi. Kakashi?"
"Hmm?" Kakashi sounded so drowsy.
"Are you okay?" Concern tinged the chuunin's voice.
"Yeah. Fine. Just tired. Side effect of the jutsu. Doesn't drain chakra, drains stamina."
"Kakashi, how far away were you?" Iruka knew his partner and his habits well. He had to ask.
"Not that far," Kakashi insisted.
"Kakashi…" The name was drawn out a bit more than normal.
The jounin winced at the tone. "A day away," he admitted.
"Kakashi…" Iruka's eyes narrowed.
Damn, this is worse than trying to pull something over on Namikaze-sensei or JiJi… Kakashi sighed. "A day away… at ANBU pace." He saw Iruka's eyes narrow more. Uh-oh…how am I going to talk myself out of this one? "Look, I know, it was a strain pushing that hard on the return trip, but even you will agree I needed to get the wrist looked at… The longer I took coming back, the greater the chance of running into another group of hostile shinobi. Should I have chanced that? Or chanced having to release the jutsu and injure myself further performing seals or using taijutsu? So, actually, I was being responsible…" Is he going to buy it?
Iruka didn't want to admit it, but Kakashi had a point. He might not want to, but he had to agree, it did make sense. He wondered if he had finally lost it, agreeing with one of Kakashi's wild proposals, but then he remembered that with Kakashi each behavior might be logical in and of itself. It was the combined effect that would drive him crazy each and every time, the outrageous progression of logic that made sense only to the man's own brain. Iruka had long ago ceased to even attempt to unravel the intricacies of Kakashi's thought processes. It hurt his head to even try.
"Be fine after I sleep," Kakashi mumbled.
"I suppose so," Iruka agreed reluctantly. He hated to think of Kakashi still out on a mission with the wrist injury. All it would take would be a single misstep or a moment's hesitation on his part to turn the simple injury into something much worse. Iruka refused to even consider the alternative. He would deal with that particular hardship if and when the time came, no use dwelling on it until then. That last thought, however, added an extra measure of tenderness to Iruka's touch.
He carefully eased the shirt from the hunched shoulders and pulled it over the muddied silver head. Maybe Kakashi actually had told the truth this time. None of the wounds looked particularly bad, and he was actually willing to sleep, this time. He stripped the rest of the clothes from the tired man and pulled Kakashi into the waiting shower. He worked up a lather, spreading it efficiently over the pale body, occasionally lingering over and caressing a scar as he remembered the injury associated with it in vivid detail. Kakashi made it through each one of these injuries, so why should I worry about a few scrapes and bruises? This time there's no need for him to lie to keep me from worrying or because he knows there is another important mission waiting that is best suited for him to take, or because he simply thinks it's something too minor to be bothered with. He really didmake it home safe and sound this time.