So I desperately needed to re-write this, hope you enjoy ~ KM

No Replacement Jutsu

The pair moaned as their tongues battled for dominance.

One of the older man's hand snuck up to remove the hair tie from his younger lover's hair, allowing the dark locks to fall and frame his face. His other arm pulled the younger closer to his body, resting in the small of his back.

The brunet gave up the battle allowing the elder to take control of the kiss as he looped his arms around their neck and buried his fingers in the short pale hair.

"Iruka" the fair haired man gasped as he paused momentarily for breath.

The younger man froze beneath him and in the moment it took him to realise what he had done the brunet man had pushed him away and left him alone on the sofa.

"I'm sorr…"

"Don't worry about it." The younger cut him off as he slipped on his flack and turned towards the door, "see you around Kakashi…-san."

"Please Shi…" Kakashi started but the other had already left the apartment and closed the door behind him.

"Shikamaru is that you?" Yoshino asked as she neared the bottom of the stairs after hearing the front door open.

"Hn." Was all the reply she got followed by an agitated sigh.

She found her son lying on the large cream couch in their living room staring at the ceiling with glazed eyes.

"It is nearly midnight, what happened? I thought you were staying with Kakashi-san tonight." She rambled as she moved to sit next to him, tightening her gown and rubbing her eyes.

"Sorry for waking you Okaa-san." Shikamaru replied turning to face his mother.

"What happened?" Her voice much sharper than she was expecting. She loved her son, she would love to have grandchildren but her sons happiness was enough for her but if something had happened. She sighed quietly when she got no response and placed a hand on his leg.

Like all Nara males Shikamaru was adept at masking their feelings behind the combination of blank and bored expressions. But like most of the women in the family she had learnt what to watch out for to indicate the true feelings.

After a long moment Shikamaru looked at his mother properly, his hair back in its customary style. "Nothing, just a misunderstanding." He gave a weak smile trying to shake his mother off, "go back to sleep…" he trailed off under his mother's fierce gaze.

"Don't give me that Nara Shikamaru, something has happened and it has made you upset, I haven't seen you like this since Asuma and Sasuke, what is it?"

The young man looked away; there was no way to escape her now. He let out a deep sigh, "He called me Iruka, that's all, it's not a big problem I was just too tired to deal with it tonight."

"Shika…" a warning tone escaped his mother's lips.

He slumped further in his seat, damn that troublesome woman for being able to read him like a book, "I just don't know what to do, it's been five years since it happened and we have been together for, what a year and a half now? Yet he still slips." He looked up; his mother motioned for him to continue.

"When Iruka-sensei died Kakashi-san was a mess, he had lost the only person he had let into his world after his genin team…

_ _ _FB_ _ _

"Shikamaru, I need you to take this mission. You are the only one I can trust to do what we need; his life is resting on your shoulders. The fate of the village may also be…" she trailed off, her amber eyes sad.

She looked older now, the stress of the job starting to show along with her lack of chakra reserves for herself. She spent most of the day in the hospital healing, they had lost a few dozen shinobi and one of the elite had lost his world. This was definitely not one of the perks of the job.

Shikamaru sighed wishing that the good humoured Hokage was back, but this was no time for jokes. The village needed all the available jounin to be on top of their game and one in particular needed to be brought back from the edge before he caused any destruction.

He nodded to the blonde and turned to start his search for the last Hatake.

...

It wasn't long before Kakashi was put back on track thanks to Shikamaru making sure that the right people were around the jounin.

The village was accustomed to seeing the two jounin wandering around together, Kakashi with his nose between the orange sleeve of Icha-Icha and Shikamaru with his hands deep in his pockets watching the clouds above.

They both had a lot to move on from and they learned to support each other.

...

"Shikamaru, Asuma wouldn't want you to be like this. Not any more" Kakashi said sitting next to the Nara who had withdrawn from the world two days previous. The anniversary always caught him off-guard as Shikamaru would disappear from his life and be a shadow of himself for weeks after.

...

"Kakashi!" Shikamaru called out as the man was about to jump, "please don't run from this. Naruto needs you. Don't push people away again you are only hurting yourself more." He pleaded, his blond friend needed his mentor, his friend to be there, "I know it is hard, he should be here but he isn't. Don't let Naruto loose anyone else, especially today."

...

They had both failed the last Uchiha, "I should have been there for him from the beginning." Kakashi berated himself. "I should have been there at school for him" Shikamaru countered, "I should have been stronger, pulled together a better team, stopped him at all costs for Naruto's sake." "There shouldn't have been a need to stop him." Kakashi said firmly, frown fixed in place, "but we can't change what happened now we can only hope that the next time he calls for help we will be there." He smiled and placed a hand on Shikamaru's shoulder, finally ready to leave the guilt.

...

"Shikamaru, stay with me?" Kakashi asked one evening after their usual game of shogi.

The younger smiled slightly; their relationship had started to change a couple of months ago when Kakashi had started to remove his mask around the Nara. It was still a shock to them both but they were getting used to the new boundaries when Kakashi had one evening kissed Shikamaru as he was leaving.

"Are you sure?" he asked, partially out of the politeness his mother had drummed into him and because he had known the scarecrow long enough that this could still be something he thought he should do rather than what he wanted to.

"Yes." Kakashi was watching him, eyes scared of what the Nara's reaction might be and cheeks dusted pink.

Shikamaru smiled and removed his flack again before walking to stand in front of the visibly relieved Kakashi taking a moment before leaning up to kiss him, both of them ready for what this new relationship was offering.

The ex-ANBU knew it would be hard for them both but they could take on the world together.

_ _ _/FB_ _ _

…and it took so long to get where we are now that I don't know what to do when he throws it back in my face." The young man finished upset with his own reaction to Kakashi rather than the older man.

Yoshino gathered her son in her arms, "I'm sorry Shikamaru," she whispered, "I know I promised but I can't sit here and watch him hurt you like this. Sharingan-Kakashi or not I am going to give him a piece of my mind."

As Yoshino started to move a sob emanated from the dark corner next to the door, "I'm sorry" a cracked voice said barely above a whisper.

In a moment the matriarch was up stalking towards the pale haired shinobi in her house, "You heartless man!" she shouted, "how could you? After all Shikamaru has done for you! After all he has been though and put aside to be there for you!"

Her anger came out in a cold hard slap across the mas covered face.

"Okasan!" the younger man almost shouted as he stood from the couch, "leave him, it will only make it worse."

His mother took a calming breath before levelling a glare at Kakashi and swiftly storming out of the room, "I won't be far away" she called as she moved into the kitchen.

"What are you doi…"

"I am so sorry Shika-kun. I don't want to live in the past anymore, will you please forget what happened? I don't know what would happen if I lost you too." The elder pleaded still hiding in the corner of the room. His nervousness was almost palatable.

"Listen to yourself! How many times have you said those same words? How many times have you told others to move on? You don't take your own advice and dwell in the past so why should I forget Kakashi-sempai?" the Nara spat.

"Shika please don't call me that." Kakashi whispered almost growling.

"Too late sempai, you started this. I have had enough, there is no jutsu that can bring him back and I am not a replacement. Every time you say you want to move on we end up covering the same ground." Shikamaru fumed, his face no longer the passive indifference it usually was, "just because you are Sharingan-Kakashi doesn't mean you can get your way."

Shikamaru watched Kakashi as he moved further into the room, his body sagged and head down looking lost in the space around him.

"I know," he eventually whispered, "I know I have said it before and I know I haven't changed. I can't because every time I try I end up pushing you away and without you I am lost. I am so sorry. Iruka wanted me to move on and I have failed him. You wanted me to move on just like you have and I have failed you too." He sighed and looked up at Shikamaru with his lone grey eye.

"I truly wish to move on but only if I am with you. I can't do this on my own. You are not a replacement for Iruka; even if that was what the Hokage has been intending when she gave me to you as a mission. You are so much more than that, I'm sorry Shika-koi."

Kakashi stepped closer to the younger man, tears brimming over from his exposed eye. He tentatively wrapped he arms around the quiet Shikamaru resting his chin on top of the younger man's head as it rested in the crook of his neck.

"I need you Shikamaru, I know I should have tried harder but I can't do this without you." He muttered as Shikamaru lifted his head and rested their foreheads together, "I love you."

Shikamaru watched Kakashi as the weight of those words settled in on his shoulders. He knew Kakashi meant it; he could hear the rapid heartbeat of the older man and see the pink blush seeping over the edge of his mask. After a moment Shikamaru replied his mind settled on the only logical path.

This time there was no battle for dominance.

Yoshino smiled and headed back upstairs for some more rest, her son would be ok for now.

When she reached her bedroom she saw her husband asleep taking up most of the bed. She sighed, a small smile gracing her lips, "how can a jounin sleep though that?" she muttered as she slipped in bedside him.

"They don't" Shikaku grumbled as he pulled his wife towards him, "but they do know when the situation is being handled" he added before she could shout at him for not joining her downstairs and kissed her on the top of her head as she rested on his chest.

Yoshino hummed closing her eyes, "lazy-ass" she murmured but smiled as he chuckled and held onto her.