He was not sure what he was searching for but he knew when he found it. He saw Iruka, framed by darkness on all sides, sitting on a park bench under a lantern whose light had yellowed with age. It looked to him as if the street was a stage and he was the hero out there.
What a sight, Kakashi almost felt guilty interrupting such a scene. He sat without a word and the usually polite man did not so much as glance at him in greeting. He only brought a smoldering cigarette to his lips and drew in slowly.
"What a disgusting habit, sensei," he murmured, features curving pleasantly.
Iruka said nothing in response. He squared his shoulders against the cold and allowed the smoke to curl from his lips, back through his nostrils.
Kakashi pushed again, "Those things will kill you."
"You're funny," Iruka's smile did not reach his eyes. His voice was controlled though not enough to conceal a raw edge, "But not in the way that you think."
"That awful, is it?"
"Not as awful as it could be," he answered simply. "I always knew burying students would be an unpleasant business."
"Do you want to talk about it?" Kakashi offered.
"Not particularly."
Kakashi fell silent. In the conversation's lull he found himself studying the sidewalk and meditating on the insistent buzz of the light bulbs in the street lamps. It was the best he could to distract himself from thinking too hard about the way Iruka held his cigarette like a soldier or the way the full moon softened the angles of his face.
He looked up to see Iruka frowned down at an empty metal tin, "I appear to be out of matches."
"Allow me."
Kakashi took Iruka's dying cigarette from his fingers and, pulling down his cowl, put it to his own lips. Protected behind the shelter of Kakashi's hand Iruka leaned in and lit his second off the first. Kakashi caught himself watching the reflection of the embers in Iruka's dark eyes before Iruka could notice.
"What are you doing awake, Kakashi-san?"
"That's a good question," he mused.
Iruka snorted, "What a cleverly circuitous response. You have a talent for saying nothing about yourself."
The chuunin set in motion all at once. Before Kakashi knew what to think Iruka's lips were locked over his. He cursed himself for being unable to contain an appreciative hum at the bitter taste of smoke in Iruka's warm mouth. Experimentally, he settled his hands in the small of Iruka's back and drew him closer. But, just ask Kakashi started to appreciate the movement of the school teacher's strong body under his touch he broke away.
"In other ways you're an open book," Iruka concluded, rising from the embrace and smothering his abandoned cigarette underfoot. "Try not to lose too much sleep."
He left Kakashi alone with the sleeping city, unable to shake the notion that he was dreaming or forget the feeling of Iruka's hands up under his jacket.
