AN: Prequel to Reflections and Children of the Ookami. Since their first real interaction at the Chunnin Exams, Kakashi has been attracted to Iruka. He doesn't know why as Iruka doesn't seem a particularly powerful ninja, but he is determined to have him. When he discovers something about Iruka's past, his determination only grows. KakaxIru. FLUFF! Requested by SunMoonKitsune. REMEMBER: READ, REVIEW, REPEAT!
Before It All...
Kakashi was sitting in the tree just outside Hokage Tower, his one normal eye narrowed in concentration as he stared in through the window that peered into the Mission Room. His legs were crossed beneath him, one hand resting on his knee while the other held his chin in its palm, elbow pressed into the opposite thigh. In his lap, his usual book was left, forgotten. The strange Jounin's mind, no his entire being, was focused on the single person that inhabited the Mission Room at this time of the afternoon, when most others went to lunch.
Iruka Umino, a most singular person indeed. He was sitting at the main desk, sorting through the reports that had been handed in that day. His long hair was tied back as always and he was scratching at the scar over his nose. Dark eyes flitted back and forth as he read the scribbled scrawl that even from this distance Kakashi could recognize as his own. The thin lips pulled into a scowl as Iruka held the scroll up higher, squinting to try and make out what he had written. Kakashi watched as the man swore under his breath and, after rolling up the scroll with care, tossed it into a pile especially reserved for his own indiscernible writings. There was even a sign that sat on the pile that read something to the equivalent of Kakashi's Illegible Rambling.
Suddenly, his attention was drawn once again back to the single form as Iruka rose to his feet and stretched, shifting the muscles through his back and across the shoulders. Kakashi watched as he dropped his hands to his sides, setting them on his hips as he looked around the room. Leaning forward, the Jounin let both of his hands drop into his lap.
Suddenly, Iruka stilled and, whipping around, fixed his brown eyes in a fierce glare. Storming over to the window, he threw it open and leaned out, snarling.
"Kakashi-san, what the fuck was that report? I told you to write it correctly last time!"
"But Iruka-"
"No! You will not talk you way out of this one. Do it again or I swear I am going to tie you to a tree and have my class use you as target practice!"
"But-"
"Now!"
The window slammed shut as Iruka turned and stalked away, hands clenched at his sides and hair swinging as he stormed out of the Mission Room. Kakashi stared after him for a moment before sighing.
"Feisty," he muttered to himself. "Why didn't any of his students pick up on that? Naruto could have used it."
With another sigh, he vanished from the tree and reappeared in his tiny apartment, looking around for any of his dogs. Only Pakkun was there, sleeping on one of the few cushions that Kakashi kept. The dog growled and muttered in his sleep, rolling onto his back as Kakashi sat on the seat next to him. Leaning on the table, he set his chin atop the uneven, unpolished surface.
"Pining again?" Raido asked as he stepped around the corner from the single bathroom, leaning against the doorframe.
"Why do you always have to sneak into my apartment?" Kakashi asked, frowning.
"Because you always set up new traps. It's too fun not to," Raido replied. "I've heard rumors that you were watching the teacher again."
"Genma is a gossip," Kakashi muttered as he finally raised his head.
"It wasn't Genma."
"Izumi?"
"No, never."
"Kurenai then."
"No."
Rolling his eyes, Kakashi asked, "Asuma?" (1)
When Raido didn't reply, Kakashi turned and leaned back against the table, crossing his arms over his chest. He scratched at the edge of his hitai-ate, where the fabric touched his face and, even after all of these years, occasionally itched.
"There's been quite a lot of gossip about you two lately among the Jounin," Raido continued.
"Us two? I'd hardly consider us a pair to be talked about," Kakashi said.
Raido rolled his eyes and shook his head. "If Asuma is talking about it, you should be concerned. The man never talks about anyone, especially not you, other than those few drunken stories."
"I have an interest in Iruka Umino, yes, but nothing like you're thinking."
"Don't lie to me, Kakashi! You like him?"
Kakashi shrugged, giving in a bit to his old friend. Raido smirked and nodded, crossing his arms to match the white-haired Jounin. He fixed Kakashi with a knowing stare.
"He's strange," Kakashi began. "He's a teacher, only a Chunnin, barely powerful enough to even perform C-class missions."
"And?"
"And yet, he has everyone's respect. His students seem to love him, especially Naruto as you probably know."
"I've heard about that. It's practically legend around the village."
Kakashi nodded in agreement. Everyone knew Naruto and, by extension and the number of times they had been seen together when Naruto had been living them, their close relationship was almost as famous as the young Genin's attitude.
"He's the only one that Naruto listens to, even a little. He doesn't take my advice at all nor anyone else's, but Iruka's… that's completely different," he continued.
"I've only talked to him a few times, but he seems to have a good head on his shoulders. Overly practical maybe," Raido said.
Chuckling, Kakashi made a motion to write in the air. "He yelled at me today because apparently my reports aren't up to his standards."
"Your reports aren't up to anyone's standards, but your own," Raido complained. "They're ugly, crude and horribly written. I'm surprised the man hadn't threatened you earlier."
"He said he'd use me for target practice if they don't get better."
Raido nodded in approval. "Perfect. There's no other use for you!"
"Shut up."
Kakashi uncrossed his arms, fidgeting with one of the kunai that he usually kept on him. Raido, knowing his friend's usual habits, ignored the slight movements and waited for him to continue.
"I have no idea why I like him."
"That's helpful. A good start, Ka-"
"He's weak, annoying, proud, and so seemingly happy in his life that I don't know why he's a ninja at all. He never leaves the village and spends all of his time with children. It's strange," Kakashi said.
Raido was silent for a moment as he thought. "I don't know either of them or anyone from their class really, but I heard Genma talking about his one friend."
"Iruka has a friend?"
"Had is probably more correct. He's another Chunnin, Mizuki something. Apparently Iruka saved Naruto from him before his graduation, when Naruto tried to steal one of the Hokage's forbidden scrolls."
Kakashi frowned. "I heard about it, but I didn't know they knew each other."
"Best friends since childhood apparently. Mizuki's parents helped him a lot after Iruka's parents died, or so Genma told me. The story goes that Mizuki told Naruto about the scroll to take advantage of him someway. Iruka stopped it, got stabbed in the back, both literally and figuratively."
In a flash of anger, Kakashi snarled, "And what happened to this other Chunnin?"
"Mizuki? He's still a ninja, but was locked up for a while after that. Since then, he's been on parole. It's been nearly two years, but even Tsunade is unwilling to let him back onto active duty," Raido explained.
"That's not surprising. He's practically a traitor, trying to give away a forbidden art."
"There's something more to it though. Tsunade won't tell me, I'm just a guard after all, but I have heard her mention it to Shizune. Something else happened between Iruka and Mizuki, something really bad."
Hearing a slight rustling, Kakashi glanced down to see Pakkun sitting up on the cushion, his ears slightly perked. His face was in its usual unreadable position, mouth turned down and eyes wide.
"You know anything about this?" Kakashi asked him, a slight growl in his voice.
"Maybe, but I don't know if I should say," the small dog said.
"We're all gossiping about it anyway. Add in your two cents, Pakkun," Raido laughed.
The dog growled under his breath, thinking before he straightened up and settled himself.
"That other Chunnin, the gray one-"
"-Mizuki?"
"Yeah. He and Iruka were together before."
"Together?" Kakashi asked, raising one eyebrow. "You mean as in-"
"-Mates? Sort of. I went with you once to the Mission Room, after we got back from the Land of Water. I could smell Mizuki on him, that weird intimate smell that humans that mate have, but there was blood too, a lot of it," Pakkun continued.
Kakashi's eyes widened in shock. He knew the mission that Pakkun was talking about, a B-class that had quickly escalated into an S-class as soon as they'd crossed the border. Asuma had been injured and so the report had fallen to Kakashi. Pakkun had gone with him to turn in the report, a bit nervous as it had been his first S-class mission despite the years he'd spent with Kakashi.
"There could be plenty of explanations for that," Raido said. "Iruka may not go out on missions, but he does work with the students. Accidents happen."
"Blood mixed with the smell of sex is rarely accidental, especially when the smell was as heavy as that," Pakkun snapped. "I watched them together sometimes, well Iruka really, long before Boss became interested. Mizuki was a bastard."
"And you didn't think to tell anyone?" Kakashi snarled.
The dog fixed his master with a glare and, raising one paw, tried to slap at his leg. "I did. I told the Third Hokage-"
"-And not me?"
"Boss, you didn't give a fuck then. Why would I have told you?"
"And when I did start to give a fuck?" Kakashi asked.
"Well, it was over and had been over for a while. The Third Hokage has forbidden Mizuki to go near him and Iruka no longer smells bad. It's Iruka's issue now and I had no real right to tell you!"
Snarling, Kakashi jumped up and started to pace, thoughts wild. He searched his mind, trying to remember the Chunnin that both Pakkun and Raido seemed to know of. Kakashi rarely paid attention to the younger generations, preferring the company of his few friends – in those rare times he wanted it. If Iruka didn't work in the Mission Room and hadn't approached him at the Chunnin Exams, he would barely know who the black-haired man was.
"Fucking shit!" he cursed, suddenly disappearing in a cloud of smoke.
He reappeared on the rooftop of one of the tallest buildings in town, walking carefully but skillfully along the center beam as he glanced back and forth, from left to right in search of any gray-haired ninjas that he did not know. When he didn't find any, he would hop to the next building and commence his search again. Occasionally, he would find one, but ruled each of them quickly out.
To old.
To young.
Barely a Genin.
Could he be on a mission?
No, probation, remember?
Finally, long after the sun had set and the night had settled in, Kakashi found a man of the perfect age and of gray hair in a back alley. As Kakashi approached, he could smell the heavy odor of alcohol and eyed the younger man who laid in a puddle along a pile of old crates. Stopping in front of Mizuki, he glared down at the man.
"W-what the fuck do you want?" Mizuki asked, glancing up at the cold-faced Kakashi. "M-message from the f-f-fucking Hokage?"
"No, I'm not here because of her. I'm here because of you," Kakashi replied.
"Hm," the man muttered, taking a sip from the bottle that rested in his hand before listlessly tossing it away. "Then what do you want?"
"I heard what you did to Iruka," Kakashi said.
Groaning, Mizuki let his head drop back against the wooden slats of the nearest crate. "Fucking Iruka. I didn't know you knew him. Did he scrape together some sort of payment for you to kill me? Uh, no. That's not like him. He's too nice, the fucking idiot."
"Hey," Kakashi snarled, kicking at the man's foot, "I still want to talk to you."
"Why?" Mizuki whined.
Kneeling down, Kakashi leaned in closely and, slowly and with care, lifted his hitai-ate, revealing the single red eye cut through with a thin scar. He watched with pleasure as Mizuki recoiled slightly, gulping at seeing the swirling red eye. Grabbing the front of his soiled shirt, Kakashi pulled Mizuki up and off the crate, their noses an inch apart.
"Like I said, I heard what you did to Iruka and yet, you're still here. Why?" Kakashi asked.
Mizuki rolled his eyes. "F-fucking Iruka. He told someone about us and somehow the Third heard it. Fucking pig. I t-told him that I didn't do anything, but the old man wouldn't listen to me. It was aaaalllll Iruka's fault and he knew it! That's why I'm fucking here. He told the Third to keep me as a ninja, but he has forbidden me from all of the fun parts!"
"Well, I'm going to change that. It seems to me that Iruka was too nice to you so, I have a proposition."
Kakashi snatched the hitai-ate from around Mizuki's neck, to where it had apparently slipped from his forehead. Letting Mizuki fall back against the crate with a careless slam, he held up the faintly shining metal and, retrieving a kunai, slashed straight through the middle of the swirling leaf that symbolized their village.
"What the fuck are you doing?" Mizuki cried when he noticed what the older man was doing.
Throwing the now slashed hitai-ate back at him, Kakashi grabbed the front of his shirt again and pulled Mizuki back up into the air. He snarled in the man's face and spit, laughing inside when Mizuki blinked wildly, his drunken eyes fighting to focus.
"Now, you are going to leave Kohona."
When Mizuki tried to argue, Kakashi shushed him and continued, "Shut up. You are going to leave. You'll be a missing nin and I never want to see you, hear of you or even smell you ever again. You know who I am and you know about my dogs. I will know so don't try to sneak back. Got it?"
Mizuki groggily nodded.
"Repeat it," Kakashi purred, his red eye memorizing the terrified, drunken look on the other man's face.
"I-I am to l-leave and never come back and if I do, you'll know."
With a crooked grin, Kakashi threw him back down against the wood and stood up. He turned away for a moment before turning back, looking down at the man as he struggled to stand up. Pushing his sandal-clad foot down on the nearer hand, Kakashi gritted his teeth and stomped, grinning under his mask as he heard the familiar snapping of bones. Mizuki let out a howl as Kakashi disappeared, returning to his apartment with an intense feeling of satisfaction.
He noticed that Raido was still there, sitting on the cushion that he had vacated. His eyes silently asked the question that Kakashi had more than anticipated.
"I'll have to check on him tomorrow, just to make sure he's really gone. Maybe I'll break his other hand when I'm at it. Or one of his ribs. I'm sure he'll be fine moving around with the broken rib."
The following afternoon was the one that changed Kakashi's life forever. He was sitting in his usual tree outside the Mission Room, having moved from his spot outside the Academy as Iruka went about his duties, shifting from job to job as he did almost every day. Kakashi hadn't even brought his latest Icha Icha book with him, too engrossed in watching the dark-haired man as he worked.
Just like the day before, after finishing the final report, he tossed them aside and stood to stretch his arms over his head. Kakashi practically drooled as he noticed the Chunnin's shirt. It was a little small, revealing the tiniest hint of tanned skin along the small of the man's back. He mourned silently as Iruka's arms dropped and that shred of skin was once again hidden.
Then, the same as the day before, the window was flung open and Iruka leaned on the windowsill. He was frowning, staring at Kakashi as the white-haired Jounin stared back. With a sigh, Iruka straightened and, climbing onto the windowsill, leapt over to the tree branch with ease. Kakashi stared with one wide eye as Iruka sat down beside him, folding his hands in his lap.
They sat in silence for a moment before Iruka said, "Mizuki's gone and Pakkun thought I should know that it was you."
"Oh," Kakashi said stupidly, unsure of what else to say. He scratched at the edge of his mask sheepishly.
"I don't know why you did that," Iruka said slowly, shrugging a little, "But thank you, Kakashi-san. It… means a lot."
"Why didn't you have him exiled when-"
"-I still cared enough then," Iruka said, "After a while, I just wanted him gone, but I'd already asked for him to be kept in the village and didn't want to bother Tsunade any further with it."
Kakashi snorted and shook his head. "You're too self-sacrificing, Iruka."
The Chunnin blushed, a splash of red growing across his tanned face.
"Well, thanks anyway. It may not have seemed like a lot, but it really was."
"You don't have to thank me," Kakashi replied. "You really don't."
Iruka's blush grew only deeper and wider. Entranced, Kakashi leaned in a little, eyes following the curves of his nose, cheeks, and lips and, in a fit of spontaneity, lifted the hitai-ate that covered his second eye. Despite never having seen it before, Iruka didn't seem at all shocked by it, tipping his head to one side slightly.
"I'm sorry that he did that to you," Kakashi murmured. "All of it."
The flush instantly disappeared as Iruka paled and pulled away, his spine straightening and his shoulders tense. Kakashi's heart dropped and he reached for the other man, setting a hand on his shoulder. Iruka stilled, but shifted closer when Kakashi's arm wrapped around him, pulling them together. Settling against the older man, Iruka set his head on Kakashi's shoulder, snuggling closer. Kakashi rested his own head against Iruka's, letting his eyes drift closed.
"I don't like to think about," Iruka said quietly.
Kakashi hummed in agreement. "I have things that I don't like to think about, too."
He could practically hear the smile in Iruka's voice when he said, "Well, that certainly makes two of us, huh?"
Look Mommy, I wrote a fic that did not have smut in it and was FLUFFY! Are you proud of me? Now, back to smut.