A/N: This is the first one shot in my collection – Family Above All - of independent short stories. Further information at the bottom.
Complications
Iruka turned the curved bottle in his hand a few times while wondering how it could be that he was still all by himself. An audible hiccup forced its way up his throat; he had probably been drinking too fast again. Without thinking further about it, the brunet took a firmer grip around the white ceramic container and poured himself another cup of the slightly transparent liquor.
The one man show who was sitting at the bar harrumphed as he demonstratively smashed the small cup back down at the bar counter, waving the empty alcohol vessel back and forth in the midair. The bartender instantly interpreted Iruka's gesture as a sign of wanting a refill so he snatched the bottle out of the brunet's hand. That would be the last refill the bartender was going to give him without commenting on how much he had drunk already.
Those women at the bar were emasculating the academy teacher. Not that they were doing it on purpose, but Iruka had tried everything to woo every single women there that night. At least the ones he did not see as being out of his range to begin with. But none of them had responded to his flirting. He did not consider himself bad at expressing his feelings, but apparently it was impossible for both the female citizens and kunoichi to see him as more than just the sweet and innocent academy teacher who helped with keeping the village safe and educate their children so that they would someday become strong and known shinobi too.
Iruka could not help but think that maybe his ninja rank had something to do with their rejections as well. He was just a piddling chūnin, nothing to write home about. Girls only had their eyes on jōnin rank ninja or higher since they were the pride of the village – the popular ones who got all the attention because of their abilities, broad knowledge and battle experience. How was he supposed to go up against someone like Asuma Sarutobi, Inoichi Yamanaka and even Shibi Aburame? He could only imagine how crazy and fixated the girls would have been on the Fourth Hokage if he had still been among them. That man had the looks and strength to satisfy a woman in any possible way.
A small sigh escaped the brunet's lips as he admitted defeat. How he had come to think that he could actually randomly pick up a decent woman just like that? It was simply too far-fetched.
"You wanna what?" the Fifth Hokage asked with amazement affecting her response.
"I want to adopt a child, Lady Hokage." Iruka was still bowing for his superior when repeating himsef for the third time.
Tsunade thought that the chūnin's request came very suddenly and needed a moment to comprehend what exact kind of permission it was he was asking for. She looked up at him with a suspicious twinkle in her eye with the corner of her lips curled downwards.
"Why do you wanna do that all of a sudden? Aren't the students assigned to you satisfying enough?" The teacher shook his head and got eye contact with the older lady who was still sitting behind her desk.
"This has nothing to do with my students or my job in general. It's a personal matter."
"Really?" He nodded and Tsunade had to do her best not to start prying. She could not figure out why Iruka would want to adopt a child when he seemed to hold his students just as dearly as any normal father held his own son or daughter.
Unfortunately for her inner gossip girl, those things were none of her business and since she was the Hokage, she would have to keep their interaction formal and professional. Iruka was probably one of the shinobi with most respect for the Hokage and she sure did not want to ruin that.
The brunet stared at her with impatiently awaiting eyes and she finally snapped out of her interior conflict. "You do know the rules of adopting a child, don't you?"
Again he nodded. "Yes, I do, Lady Hokage."
"So you also know that I do not approve of single men or women when it comes to adoption?"
"Yes." The brunet tried to keep a straight face. He did not want his Hokage to see that he was nervous. "I thought that maybe because of my position as an academy teacher you would make an exception for that particular rule." Tsunade raised an eyebrow at that, but did her best not to sneer at the chūnin.
"Do you even know why that rule exist?" she asked degradingly.
"Yes," he answered for the third time in a row. "It's to make sure that the family will be able to provide the child with what he needs and bring it up properly."
The young looking woman leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms over her heavy armed chest. "You're right." she paused. "Well... partly," she added, receiving a confused look from the brunet across her. "Two people are most likely to make more money than only one, plus they would have more time for the child all together and as they say, two minds are better than one, but that isn't the point. The point is that an orphaned child needs a reliable, normal family. Especially because that child has already tried living without any parents at all. A family consists of at least three people; parents and a child. Your experience as an academy teacher might make up for some of the things the child will miss when only having one parent, but your knowledge will never replace the physical presence of that extra person. At least not fully."
Iruka blinked a few times in astonishment over the surprisingly specific and long answer he had gotten from the blonde.
"Even if you are good with children and if I don't doubt the slightest bit that you're up for the challenge, I will never make an exception to that rule. I could go into further details about why this rule is so important, but I could go on for hours and since this isn't up for discussion anyway, I don't see any point in continuing this conversation. Besides, if I let you do it, I can only imagine how many complaints I would receive from the other people I've already declined because of that rule. I'm busy enough as it is. Anyhow, you're dismissed."
Iruka gritted his teeth. Just the memory of the Hokage's straightforward rudeness made him want to throw the solid sake bottle in his hand directly into the wall. She had made him sound like some child who could not think for himself or who did not think things through before making a decision. He had felt so stupid in her presence.
He tipped the bottle in his hand, but was surprised to discover that nothing came out of it. Without even noticing, he had emptied yet another bottle while rethinking the incident at the Hokage's office.
"Another bottle, please!" the academy teacher shouted to the bartender, placing the vapid container next to all the others.
"Don't you think you've had enough?" the bartender asked, exchanging glares with the brunet he stood before.
"I'm not paying you for counseling," he stated flatly and snorted before turning his attention away from the dark haired man, not looking back at him until he heard the sound of another bottle being placed in front of him.
The brunet grabbed the bottle and drank straight from it brutishly. There was no way he was going to give up on adopting a child just because of some stupid rule. He would find a way around it. But first he. had.. to...
… Iruka felt a soft material underneath his body. He quickly opened his eyes to locate himself. A breath of relief escaped the teacher, which gave the room a mitigated atmosphere. He was home in his own bed, but how he had gotten back, he could not remember. Actually he could not remember anything after that last bottle of sake.
He pulled the sheets over his head when a beam of morning sun blinded him. That was when something struck him as odd. The sheets. They did not have that usual flowery essence they got from the detergent he used. There was a tenuous scent of something else. It was a familiar smell, but apparently not familiar enough for Iruka to pin point where it came from.
As if there was nothing strange about the sheets unexplainable change in odour, Iruka pulled the sheet away from his face again and sat up in his futon, yawning loudly in the process. A tickling feeling ran down his inner thigh and he stopped his yawn abruptly to check what was going on under the sheets.
"I'm... naked?" he said out loud, trying to remember the last time he had slept naked since that was a very rare occasion that only occurred right after... sex? Iruka put on a puzzled look. Had he had sex without even being aware of it? He looked at the other side of his double futon. It was messy.
If he had had sex, it would explain why it looked like someone else had been sleeping in his bed with him, why he was naked and why the sheets smelled funny. But still. Could you really have sex during a black out?
A self satisfied smiled climbed his lips as he thought further about his possible achievement. Maybe he was better at that flirting thing than he had first thought.
"Good morning!" a cheerful voice exclaimed in delight as the door to Iruka's bedroom swung open. The brunet's eyes was immediately directed to the doorway where a tall, pale, silver haired, fully dressed, face-partly-masked, laid back with a half ass attempt to appear interested in others while always wearing a phoney blissful smile on his face, using that one up-curved eye as his signature expression, one hand in the pocket standing, reading perverse porn books while walking, sarcastic and complacent, muscular though still slim, forever late arriving man stood with a tray of breakfast.
Iruka was so very close to dropping his jaw right there and then. What was Hatake Kakashi doing in his apartment? Or rather, why was he bringing him pancakes with syrup and juice in bed? The chūnin did not speak one single word because they simply could not get past his dumbfounded lips.
"I would join you for breakfast, but I have a small errand to run this morning so you'll have to enjoy the meal by yourself. Oh, and eating those pancakes are at your own risk. See you later, Iruka!" Kakashi burbled without taking one short break to stop for air. The brunet did not get to respond to this because even before he could react, the jōnin had placed the tray in his lap and leapt out of the already open window.
"... What the?" Iruka whispered under his breath, still trying to figure out just what had happened.
oOo
It was a typical day in the Hidden Leaf Village. At least when it came to the weather. There were a few clouds in the sky, but not enough to cover the bright sun that shone like it was appearing on the sky for the first time of its existence. It was a warm day, yet not clammy at all.
Iruka walked with his head down, his eyes staring intensely at the ground as he walked through the woods. The brunet did not normally walk like that on such a beautiful day, but that day he did because he was still wondering about the incident that had occurred that very same morning.
As he approached the memorial stone, he looked up, his eyes falling on a hunched man standing in front of the monument. For a second, Iruka considered hiding behind one of the trees in the woods, but as soon as he discovered who it was that was standing there, his feet got a mind of their own and led him right to the masked man.
It took the silver haired jōnin a moment to even register that someone was standing beside him, or maybe that was just what he wanted it to look like. He was a ninja after all. He was not supposed to be so easy to sneak up on. Playing pretend seemed to be that man's favorite mind game.
"Hey," he said, his one visible eye smiling at Iruka.
"Hey," the brunet replied before they both looked down at the memorial stone, their movements being nearly in-sync.
None of them said anything for a long while. The silence was uncomfortable even if Kakashi did not seem like he found it so. Iruka was not as good as he at putting on masks when he was not happy, but somehow it was not that hard to read Kakashi's expression either, even if he was just smiling as always. In a way, the silver haired man appeared a little uneasy.
"Thank you for last night," Kakashi said suddenly, not having given Iruka a warning before he spoke.
The brunet's gaze froze for a second, but slowly he regained his composure. "About that," he started, still not daring to look at the man beside him. His eyes tardily crossed his parents name, which were engraved in the black stone. "Uhm... could we talk about that somewhere else?" he asked cautiously.
An awkward vibe was sent from Kakashi to Iruka, but the smile remained on the collected jōnin's face. "Sure."
They walked along each other till they were a reasonable distance away from the memorial stone. Iruka felt like the stone served as a mouthpiece for his parents, which was why he always talked to them like they could actually hear him as soon as he stood in front of that peculiar stone. He did not want his parents to hear that next conversation. Especially because he himself did not know what it would turn into.
Kakashi's gaze locked to Iruka's form. Apparently he was set on making the situation even more uncomfortable for the chūnin.
"What... Uhm," The academy teacher could not seem to find the right words. Being tongue tied was practically not a possibility in his world. He always knew what to say. But not at that moment. "What exactly h-happened last night?" he wanted to slap himself across the face for stammering.
"You don't remember? Well, that kinda hurts," Kakashi chuckled awkwardly, but did not seem like it hurt at all.
"No, that's why I'm asking." Iruka thought that would have been obvious, but either it was not or else the jōnin was actually trying to avoid answering.
"Well, I found you dead drunk in a bar and helped you home." Iruka sent him a distrustful look.
"And what happened when we got home?" An incredibly inconvenient muteness wrapped around them tightly till Iruka felt like he could not breath because of the intensity of the awkwardness. After a while, Kakashi tipped his head a tiny tad to the side, his smile growing even bigger pari passu with the falseness of it.
"We..." he held a short rhetorical pause, only making Iruka grow even more concerned and more annoyed with him at the same time. "... slept together," he finished, not changing his stoic expression, though Iruka could have sworn he saw the jōnin's eye twist slightly with discomfort.
That was not what Iruka had wanted to hear. In fact, it was the one thing he had been afraid of hearing ever since he had woken up that morning.
"Oh Kami," the brunet whispered under his breath resignedly and clutched to his face with one hand.
Kakashi did not say anything. He just kept smiling while watching the chūnin who was desperately trying to cover the embarrassment that was finding its way to his tanned cheeks.
"How could I let something like this happen?" Iruka spoke his mind out loud and did not even care if Kakashi was listening in on his private thoughts or not. Not for one second did he consider if his reaction was hurting the other man.
"For the record, it was pretty good." Iruka scowled at the silver haired deviant from between his fingers. The brunet knew he could not hold his fit of anger back much longer. He was on the edge of exploding.
"Why did you have to drag me into your sick, perverted fantasies? This would've never happened if you hadn't interfered!" he shouted and shook his head shamefully.
Kakashi's expression then finally changed. He raised a brow at the shorter man and stuck one hand down his pants' pockets. "What are you talking about? You were the one who seduced me. And what wouldn't have happened if I hadn't interfered with your what? You mean you wouldn't have stopped befooling yourself if I hadn't interfered with your genius plan; the plan where you told yourself you were straight and then tried to find a woman you could adopt a child with? Is that what you meant?" It was like Kakashi was a whole other person. He was actually expressing something else than fake happiness.
Iruka did not take time to understand what it actually was Kakashi had just said, but answered right away instead. "Wow, wow... what? How do you even know about that? I didn't tell anybody I was trying to adopt. And will you stop talking that nonsense. I not trying to fool anyone, I am as straight as can be!" The first part of Kakashi's speech had been so overwhelming that he had focused on the rest, the first part only being a blurry memory in his overloaded mind.
"Oh yeah, how come you've never been interested in women until now that you need one for a special purpose?" Kakashi did not bother answering Iruka's first question. It was of no interest to him. They both obviously focused on two different things in the conversation.
The chūnin looked at the silver haired man in surprise. "What the hell are you talking about? I've been with women before!"
"That wasn't what I was saying or implying. I simply said that you never seemed to have any interest in dating women at all until you needed one for something that had nothing to do with actually being together with them in a real relationship. You were gonna use that woman to get that child you wanted!"
"So what you mean is that all of a sudden I'm subconsciously into... men?" It took all Iruka's strength to say that last word.
"No, you are into men whether you like it or not. That's what I'm saying. You can't fool yourself anymore, last night proved that to me. You know what you want, you're just afraid to come get it!"
"Since when did me wanting to adopt a child turn into a question of my sexual preference?"
"Since you finally exposed yourself to the question of who you should build a family with."
"No, it was never about that? Don't you get it, I meant to use whoever I found just to get what I wanted! That's all there is to it. I wasn't looking for a life partner, I just wanted to adopt a child!" Iruka had not meant to make himself sound like such a douche bag who was just going to use any woman for his own personal agenda, but Kakashi was just making him so angry. He could not hold himself back. The jōnin was not going to turn the conversation into something Iruka did not want to consider. But why was he even getting so worked up about it? Could not he simply tell him that he just wanted a child and nothing more without getting all riled up? Why was this question of him being straight or not nagging him so much? If he was not, then that was all there was too it. He did not need to defend himself. He could let Kakashi think whatever he wanted, as long as he knew himself what he was. Right?
"You're the one who doesn't get it. The very fact that you just wanted to find someone who you could merely make use of instead of finding someone you actually liked is because somewhere you know that you would never find a woman that you would actually want as your partner. You also know that without a woman, you won't be able to have a child and that's why you're turning to adoption. Isn't a family what your really aiming for?"
"Stop it, Kakashi! I wanted to adopt a child because I wanted to help at least one child who had been through the same shit that I have. I wasn't looking for a relationship at all!" Kakashi clicked his tongue in annoyance and finally tore his eyes off the brunet to Iruka's relief. His stare had made the chūnin feel so tense.
"Whatever," was the masked man's short reply. That made Iruka even more perplexed. First Kakashi was fighting to convince Iruka that he was gay for no apparent reason, but suddenly it seemed like he did not care anymore. What was going on with that man. Why did he even care?
"What?" Iruka asked, being almost out of breath from the quarrel.
"I said whatever. Do what you want."
"Huh? Kakashi, you're such an asshole!" Iruka hissed through his teeth. Why did he always have to act so cool. Sure, he had lost his temper and Iruka had never seen that before, but now he went right back into being his old none-caring self.
"Well, at least I'm not the one living in denial. See ya' and good luck with the adoption." He sounded genuine even though there was still that hint of indifference in his voice. Iruka wanted the fight to go on, but Kakashi was already trudging off.
The brunet settled with following the jōnin with his eyes as he disappeared into the woods. Who was he to ask those questions anyway? It was none of his business. Although now that he had put things into perspective for the chūnin, he could not help but think his words through over and over again.
His plan had in fact been finding a woman just to use her for his own covet. The truth was he never really did pay any attention to woman. Not until that night and it was for the wrong reasons. But he just had not thought about it before. Why was it they did not interest him? And yes, Iruka did want a family. He knew that helping a child in need was not the only reason why he wanted to adopt. He did indeed have a burning wish of becoming a father. But then why was adoption the first thing he had thought of? Would not you normally start getting a certain interest for woman once you began considering starting a family? Iruka had not. Not even for one second had he considered finding a woman to fall in love with and get his own child with. Was he really just fooling himself? But could you fool yourself for your entire life? Was that even possible?
And what was the him-seducing-Kakashi-and-not-the-other-way-around part all about? Had he led Kakashi on?
The tanned man rubbed his temples In confusion. There were too many questions wrestling around in his head. Questions which he did not know how to answer.
"Why does he even care? It's not like it has anything to do with him anyway," the teacher snorted as he began walking back home. He would rather just forget about the whole thing. His focus needed to stay on the target. Getting a child.
oOo
"Man, Kakashi, how could you let yourself lose your composure like that?" Genma asked with his hands placed judgmentally on his hips.
"Yeah, like trash talking him is gonna get you anywhere," Raidō added.
Kakashi stirred the green tea in his cup with a silver teaspoon. He agreed with what his friends were telling him. With an almost soundless sigh, he answered, "I don't know. It's just... I can't help myself when I'm around him. Especially not after that night where he made me think that I actually had a chance. But it doesn't matter 'cause I've probably seen the last of him."
"You're actually very talkative today, did you notice that?" Genma chuckled, trying to get the silver haired man on other thoughts.
"Didn't you notice that he's always talkative when the conversation revolves around himself?" Raidō said with a raised brow.
"Oh yeah, that's right. I almost forgot." They both laughed quietly, but the jōnin sitting at the table did not seem to find it as amusing as they did.
After a moment of silence, the two tokubetsu jōnin decided that it would be better if they just let the other man be for the time. It had been a few days already since the academy teacher and his encounter, but yet he was still down about it.
"See ya'," they yelled in unison as they walked out the door of his apartment.
Kakashi's life had continued as normally. The only thing that had changed was that he found it a bit harder to put on that fake smile whenever he needed it and it was all Iruka's fault.
The jōnin got up from his chair and threw the tepid tea out into the sink and placed his cup on the kitchen counter before deciding that he was going to call it a day. He had been on a very tiring mission so sleeping did not sound all that bad to him. Especially because he would not have to think about a certain chūnin while sleeping.
He walked up into his bedroom and opened the window, enjoying the fresh air that hit his masked face. Those nights were too hot to sleep without having the window open, but Kakashi did not mind having to sleep with an open window at night even if it was not hot as hell. In fact, he liked it best that way. It felt freeing.
With small steps, he turned away from the window to undress himself, but he only got to zip his flak jacket half down before he turned around in a split second, holding a kunai to the neck of the intruder.
"Iruka?" Kakashi said surprisedly and took a step back, removing the kunai. "What are you doing here?" When Iruka stepped closer and grabbed the zipper of Kakashi's flak jacket, he could have sworn he was dreaming.
The jacket was brushed off his shoulders and down to the floor with ease. Yes, he must have been dreaming. there was nothing telling him that it was reality.
The chūnin held onto the bottom of the older man's shirt as he pulled it over his head, exposing a pale, defined chest. The brunet stepped closer, touching Kakashi's thorax as he kissed the side of his neck, the taller one tilting his head back to make it easier for Iruka to work his magic. At the time, the man with the silvery hair did not care if it was a dream. He let himself get lost in the moment.
Tanned fingers worked their way down Kakashi's torso until they hit the edge of his pants. The chūnin then pushed Kakashi down into a sitting position on the bed. He watched as Iruka got down on one knee in front of him, taking off the other man's sandals and slowly making him free from his wrappings. Every time Iruka's hand or fingers grazed Kakashi's legs as he loosened the white strapping, it sent electric jolts from his legs and up his inner thighs.
"Iruka," he whispered with closed eyes, not wanting to open them again if it was just to discover that Iruka was merely a product of his lively fantasy.
He felt someone tugging at his pants and so he placed his hands on the mattress to push himself upward, allowing the brunet to pull of his blue uniform pants.
Kakashi found himself being pinned down by the other man, not even registering when that had happened, but it did not matter to him because suddenly the tanned man pressed his soft lips against Kakashi's no longer fabric covered ones. He then opened his eyes and pushed Iruka off him angrily.
The two of them stared at each other for a second before Kakashi chose to finally tell Iruka why he should not look so surprised.
"You've been drinking." That smell of alcohol was not to be mistaken for a dream. Iruka was real. Very real.
"Can you blame me?" the other asked, not moving out of the spot. Kakashi looked away from him, not wanting to look at the face that made him feel so angry, but at the same time had the power to make butterflies run wild inside his stomach.
"Why are you here?" the silver haired man asked, ignoring Iruka's question. When he looked back at the chūnin, he saw that he was miserable.
Iruka's gaze had dropped to the floor. He was so confused. He had no idea of what to do. "I..." he paused for long time without looking up. "I did not dare to face you sober." That sentence caught Kakashi's attention. "You were right about me... at least I think you were. I don't even feel like a know myself anymore. Not after that speech you gave me. It's your fault I'm so confused, I just wanted to find out what it is I really feel."
The man on the bed kept staring, awaiting for Iruka to say something more. Something he could respond to.
"Everything was fine. Why did you have to come and make me all confused again?" Iruka sounded so despondent and sad.
"Again?" Kakashi asked quietly.
"All those feelings I had back when Mizuki and I were just kids, they came rushing back to me. It's your fault. I had worked so hard to forget about them and to stop them from ever surfacing again. But you ruined that." He certainly took his time pointing out that it was Kakashi's fault he was suffering.
Kakashi had never doubted his theory about Iruka, though. He had hid the truth from himself and apparently it was not a lie when people said the truth hurt to realize.
"Mizuki would never understand. He would have laughed at me if I had ever told him how I felt. And then you came and made me all confused. What is it you want from me? Do you want me to suffer? Is that why you're torturing me?"
"Iruka, calm down." Kakashi could barely believe that Iruka was standing there, talking so openly about how he had felt about Mizuki. But on the other hand, it was quiet believable since the goof had gone and gotten himself drunk just to gain courage enough to face him. Of course he was pouring it all out on him. After all, the silver haired jōnin was the reason why Iruka could not hold his feelings contained anymore. He had pushed him to the very edge of break down. Would the brown haired man be able to handle it if the other told him that he was in love with him? Probably not. It already looked like tears of frustration had worked their way to his bewildered eyes.
"How did you even know? How did you know when I didn't even know it myself?"
"I already told you why. Anyway, how doesn't matter anymore. Not when you know. Sit down." Iruka did as he was told and sat down beside Kakashi. The silver haired man put a hand on the other man's shoulder for comfort. He was not the best at those things and he did not exactly know what he was supposed to do or say in those kinds of situations, but for Iruka, he would give it a try.
The brunet calmed down little by little. When he could finally speak without gasping for air, he locked eyes with Kakashi properly for the first time during their encounter. "How did you even know yourself?" Iruka asked nervously, his voice still a little shaky from all the yelling.
"Me? Well, I caught Genma and Raidō doing some questionable stuff to each other and I just sort of figured it out from there myself."
"Wait, are they?" Kakashi nodded. "Are there others?"
"Not that I know of. It's just us."
"Oh... That most have been kind of hard being the only one left without someone to love." Kakashi could not help but smile when Iruka said that. Good old, caring Iruka.
The pale man stared into the others eyes for a moment. "I'm sorry I took advantage of you. I was just so... well... happy when I thought I had figured out that I was not the last one left."
"But didn't you say I led you on?" Iruka was a little confused.
"You did, but you wouldn't have if I hadn't come to you first."
"Maybe." Iruka's eyes could not find rest in Kakashi's. They were jumping from one place on his face to another. Studying his maskless face. "Do you regret all this? That night and the morning after?" Iruka's voice was small. Kakashi had to strain himself just to make out the words he was speaking.
"Are you sad I did those things?" the jōnin asked softly, as always avoiding to answer the question himself.
Iruka looked down at his lap. "I don't know," he whispered and sighed quietly. How was he supposed to know when he did not even remember?
The brunet felt a hot breath approaching and when he turned his head to look at Kakashi, their noses touched. Iruka was scared, but at the same time, he did not feel like pulling away. Actually, after staring into those gray orbs for a moment, he could not help but lean forward and carefully capture the silver haired's lips with his own. Kakashi made a funny, satisfied sound in his throat when Iruka applied more pressure.
A hand slowly moved up to free Iruka's hair from its ponytail prison and he ran his fingers through the hair that came down and cupped the chūnin's scarred face. Their lips parted and tongues met halfway. Kakashi cautiously pressed Iruka's body down the mattress and placed himself on top of him.
"Ngh... Ka-kashi," Iruka moaned when the other man's hand ran over his groin. The brunet did not know what he was doing there and why he was agreeing to do those things with Kakashi without putting up a fight. Somehow it just felt... Right?
Their bodies worked on their own, taking whatever they wanted from each other. It did not take long before Iruka's hands were running up and down a sweaty back, Kakashi moaning all sorts of stuff into the brunet's ear that only made him want to put his claws into the pale man and hang onto him forever. They both moaned out loud as Kakashi thrust a little harder than before, Iruka's legs sliding up the other man's thighs and further up, allowing him to enter even deeper.
It was a lie. Iruka really was denying himself the truth even after going that far with Kakashi. He did know why he was there. He was there because he wanted to be there. Because this was what he had always wanted.
At first, the fight they had had a few days before had seemed completely out of context to Iruka, but all of a sudden he understood. He had been blind; not noticing the other's feeling. The usual observant teacher had been careless enough to hurt him. But now that he knew, he would never do that again. At least not on purpose.
"I don't regret anything," Kakashi whispered, a small smile forming on Iruka's lips. A smile caused by his aficionado's words, but also at the gentle pain his body felt because of him. Iruka finally felt – what was the word? Happy, perhaps?
1 month later
"What are you two doing here?" Tsunade asked crossly as she looked up from her sake bottle. It had been the perfect day off right until those two showed up.
"We want to adopt a child," Kakashi said, wearing a serious face for once.
"What?" she asked in astonishment and rose to her feet in the blink of an eye.
"Together," Iruka added, his slightly trembling hand reaching for Kakashi's.
Tsunade's nose winkled up in disgust. Why the hell had not the First Hokage written in the rules of adoption that only straight couples were allowed to adopt. Why? And why did Iruka have to go and get the one person who was able to twist any word into his will. If she did not say yes, she would never get that annoying jōnin off her back.
Revenge was needed for her soul to be able to rest peacefully again and that was why Tsunade could only think of one person she would let the unusual couple adopt. Shizune could already tell who the vicious Hokage had in mind, but she did not like to admit it.
His name was Uzumaki Naruto.
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A/N – I finally pulled myself together to get this one shot written for the contest winner: Top Magician. Her specifications were: KakaIru, GenRai and breakfast in bed with the mention of pancakes. Hopefully I managed to mix your wishes in well enough :)! You really gave me a hard time with those specifications, though, because my mind was constantly working around the most cliché storylines ever and since I didn't want to make anything too cliché, it took me some time to figure out something else. I'm crossing my fingers here, hoping that I somehow succeeded.
As mentioned at the top, this one shot is a part of my new collection of independent short stories. I have yet to name the collection, but the working title is: Family above all. As the name implies, this collections overall theme will be family.
What these independent short stories have in common is that Iruka and Kakashi are Naruto's adoptive parents, which means I'm not always gonna focus on Kakashi and Iruka's relationship. The next short story I have in mind is focusing on Naruto as a teenager and it will be NaruSasu. So if it isn't obvious, this is also collection of yaoi stories, though it's not the overall theme and I can't promise that Kakashi and Iruka will actually be together in all of the stories and Naruto isn't necessarily gay since only Kakashi and Iruka are required to be or have been together according to the restrictions of this collection. If people are up for it (once I have a few more stories for the series) I might agree to expand the series and add some none KakaIru-Naruto to the collection since, after all, the theme is Family Above All. Could be convinced to try and focus on some other characters and there family issues. But that's not relevant at the moment.
If you are interested in this new collection of mine, there will soon be more information about it on my profile.
Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed yourselves :)!