Har – my first attempt at any kind of creative writing. The last time I attempted to write something was in a free moment during an English lesson about six years ago. This whole thing is more of a test to see where my mind can take me, so none of it, apart from the main theme, is planned.
Disclaimer – not mine. I don't own Naruto. Pfft.
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The day before had been rough, a cold, wet, windy start followed by a less then amenable day at the academy. Due to the awful weather the future shinobi had arrived in dribs and drabs, slowly filling up the classroom, a couple of them looked a little worse for wear and Iruka's carefully planned lesson started to look doomed. The rest of the day wasn't much better, sneezes every couple of minutes punctuated the atmosphere, making teaching hard. By the time the day was out the nin-cum-teacher had managed to get through just over half of what was originally intended, all he wanted to do was go home, soak in a long hot bath then retire to bed. Unfortunately this wasn't to be, Iruka had to man the mission room again, upon arriving it became apparent that there was an awful lot of work to be done and they seemed to be short staffed. Indeed they had been, several of the nins which helped man the position were off on missions or elsewhere detained, adding insult to the injury of teaching interrupting brats Iruka had to pull a double shift. When he arrived home he was totally exhausted, flopping heavily into bed, not even noticing present company and falling straight asleep.
Today seemed much more promising, low shafts of light from the morning September sun permeated the slit left between the two curtains, having not been properly drawn the night before. The mellow beams softly illuminating the bedroom, catching dust particles flitting lazily around in the warm air currents, created by the falling rays.
Iruka shifted slightly, stirring to meet the new day, the dark chuunin had slept like a log, not surprising considering the frightful day he had had previously. Not yet opening his eyes Iruka breathed a long deep lungful of air and exhaled it slowly, attempting to wake up his pleasantly dull senses. He was warm, snugly wrapped up in a silky soft duvet lying in an almost freshly made bed, he could sense the presence of his lover next to him, still sound asleep, breathing slow and constant. Finally acknowledging his surroundings from a sleep fuzzy brain Iruka smiled to himself, glowing with content at his good mood. Deciding now would be a good time, Iruka opened his eyes, quickly shutting them again, the room was brighter then expected, squinting he resumed his previous actions letting his eyes become accustomed to the sun lit room. Iruka then turned slowly over onto his right side, from his previous position on his back, moving to face his lover. His eyes graced over the person beside him soaking up the view like desert parched sponges suddenly thrust into the ocean, the sight was mesmerizing to Iruka, he blushed, grinning like a school girl. Although they had been together for almost a year the sight of a peaceful and sleeping Kakashi never ceased to amaze Umino Iruka, heck the sight of Kakashi at all made Iruka go weak in the knees.
Kakashi was lay on his back, just like Iruka had been a moment before, his mask was off revealing well defined features, the hitai-ate which usually covered his left eye wasn't there either, replaced by a softer much more appropriate version. Iruka had suggested this some time ago, the metal plate of the hitai-ate wasn't really suited to sleeping in at all according to Iruka and he had proposed making some versions of the head protector out of the same oh-so-soft material Kakashi's masks were made from. The result had been more of an eye patch rather then a hitai-ate without metal, the idea was to provide a more comfortable garment for sleeping in, but Kakashi had adopted to wearing the thing all the time when not on a mission. Iruka was most pleased with this as it allowed him more visual access to the beautiful face. This morning though Kakashi was more notably awe inspiring then usual, the light filtering across the room was creating a soft hue around Kakashi and against his pale skin tones made him look almost angelic, it was no surprise then that Iruka was continuing his transformation from slightly pink to a dark shade of rouge, still grinning.
The Chuunin stayed watching the view for what seemed like a small lifetime, in reality it was more like five minutes, but time was not important, Iruka could have stayed engrossed for all eternity. He had refrained from touching the sleeping Jounin, tempting though it was, and let him sleep until he was ready to wake up. Iruka didn't have to wait long however as Kakashi twitched a little in the same way the teacher had done just five minutes before. At this subtle invitation of sorts Iruka took full advantage of the situation and moved closer to the "angelic" sight and deftly planted a light kiss upon the other mans lips, soft and warm. Again Iruka blushed.
"Mmm" Kakashi mumbled deeply from his still sleepy state.
"Good morning" replied Iruka still just a whisper away from Kakashi's face.
Iruka then lent in and provided Kakashi with another latch on reality, this time Kakashi responded slightly pressing back into the soft embrace. Shielded from the sunlight by Iruka's body Kakashi opened his good eye and smiled peacefully up at the beautiful sight that greeted him. Iruka had moved slightly away to let the other man be able to focus on something other then a blur, noticing Kakashi's response he blushed, again.
To Kakashi, Iruka was as beautiful as Kakashi was to Iruka. That dark skin, those dark brown eyes which seemed to go on forever and the long tied back dark brown hair which was now loose, falling delicately surrounding those perfect rose tinged cheeks. In Kakashi's eyes Iruka was cuteness personified and was always capable of catching his usually rock-solid persona totally off guard, simply by eliciting the smallest of smiles, leaving him vulnerable. Normally this would have worried the high level shinobi, anything capable of creating an imbalance in his concentration was a danger to him and to the city he was bound to protect. But strangely enough it seemed to make him more determined towards the safety of Konoha, just knowing what he was protecting inside.
The smile on the pale mans face broadened causing his visible eye to scrunch up in that familiar way. Kakashi then sat up, pulling a pillow behind his head manoeuvring Iruka to sit facing him at arms length. This was one of the reasons Kakashi had to wake up in the morning, so every single day he followed a similar routine of placing Iruka a couple of feet away from him and then just look on in perfect bliss. The Sharingan eye uniquely possessed by the Hatake had scanned over Iruka countless times, memorizing every single last feature of the other mans body. This however didn't compare in the slightest to the real thing, even though the Sharingan was capable of making carbon copies of the original. Iruka had just learned to live with this strange behaviour, although admittedly still slightly perplexed as to why Kakashi did this every single day. After soaking in the view for a few more minutes Kakashi moved, arms out stretched towards Iruka and pulled him into a tight cuddle, wrapping his arms ravishingly around the other mans back, holding them both close, arms slowly moving around feeling the contours the shoulder blades created in Iruka's back. Slowly releasing Iruka, Kakashi moved away dropping a light kiss on his partners nose, this had the usual affect of making Iruka blush yet again.
"Good Morning" Kakashi then replied back, somewhat delayed from Iruka's original greeting.
Both men were totally naked still facing one another on the generously sized bed, getting up Iruka walked over to the door of the bedroom and unhooked a pair of dressing gowns throwing one in Kakashi's general direction, whilst slipping into his own. He then walked out of the bedroom, visited the bathroom and then proceeded towards the kitchen to start breakfast. The apartment the two men dwelled in was nothing special, two bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen and a living area, all furnished to provide a warm welcoming atmosphere. This was important to Iruka as he was always having visitors in one form or another (although mainly comprising of Naruto) wanting anyone to feel at ease in the unfamiliar surroundings. Iruka's feet patted gently against the floor of the kitchen as he moved around, opening various vesicles, the fridge and cupboards to come up with some idea of what to make for breakfast.
"Hey Kakashi" He shouted out in a questioning tone "Wha'dya want for breakfast"
Kakashi had not given this any thought, Iruka usually prepared the first meal of the day and anything the Chuunin produced was always more then acceptable, he usually liked the surprise. Iruka didn't normally ask him anything to do with breakfast, he normally just made something, and it seemed slightly out of character.
"Anything's fine" came back the slightly house muffled response "your cooking's always great".
This put a smile on Iruka's face, but it didn't offer any help as what to make. Returning to the fridge he had a second look around and noticed a few things he had not before. Fry up was decided upon at noticing the sausages, Iruka then quickly turned to the other cupboards in the room producing pots and pans and placing them in their respectful places. After a few minutes the apartment was filled with enticing smells wafting about reaching Kakashi as he was making his way towards the kitchen. He sidled into the room in his usual lazy manner drifting towards a still cooking Iruka, wrapping his arms around the other mans waist fusing the two together.
"Mmm, something smells good" he spoke out nuzzling his face into the smaller mans neck.
"It's nearly ready, all that's left are the eggs and they will only take a couple of minutes. Would you mind setting the table please?" replied a whisking Iruka.
"Grrmrmm" responded Kakashi as he reluctantly released his hold, doing as instructed.
After a few minutes, and several attempts from Kakashi at distracting Iruka they were both seated at the table opposite each other with two plates of steaming food in front of them.
"Itadekimasu!" Iruka said cheerily just after he sat down.
Both smiled at each other then began to devour the small feast before them. As predicted earlier by Kakashi, Iruka was distracted, a few days from now the older man was going to become just that little bit older by a calendar year and Iruka still hadn't managed to work out what to get. It was driving him crazy. Why was it so hard to decide, or even come up with any ideas Iruka thought, that would be good enough? They had known each other for a couple of years now before they had been lovers, yet he still didn't have a clue what to get. Of course Iruka knew precisely why it was being such a difficult task, he obviously couldn't just buy some standard boring present reserved for friends to show you appreciated one another, nevertheless it was still harder then expected. It was Kakashi's first birthday since they had been together, almost their one-year anniversary too and Iruka wanted it to be special. Iruka was lost in thought and hadn't noticed Kakashi calling his name.
"Iruka" - no response.
"Iruka" - again nothing.
"Hey Iruka" Kakashi repeated a third time in a slightly raised tone of voice
"Huh? What?" the slightly lost man replied, confused as to the nature of Kakashi's
outburst.
"Something interesting going on inside that head of yours you're not telling me about?" Kakashi playfully responded to his partner's obviously befuddled reply.
"Oh erm..No not really" Iruka said half stuttering and blushing hard, realizing he'd zoned out for a minute feeling terribly embarrassed due to the reason why.
Kakashi got up from his seated position, untangling his feet from Iruka's, which had somehow managed to get locked together without either of them playing any conscious effort to do so. He picked up both now empty plates and placed them along with the other crockery into the sink, switching on the water for a few seconds, allowing them to soak.
"As I was going to say" Kakashi chimed in, making sure he got Iruka's attention this time. "I've got to meet up with Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura this morning, after yesterdays training I wanted to meet up with them to get in some further practice".
He had been teaching his apprentices how to mould Chakra around a shurikan prior to launching it, giving it extra speed as it exited the hand, whilst also providing a degree of control to its direction, mid-flight, from the energy placed within the weapon. This had not been as easy for them to grasp as he had originally intended, but on thinking it through realised he was expecting a little too much from them. It was a fairly dangerous exercise, requiring absolute control of ones Chakra, if done incorrectly the shurikan could swerve off course and then explode. The ball of chakra placed in the weapon had to be perfectly stable otherwise the outcome could be impeding rather then beneficial. If trained enough the chakra infused within the weapon could be maintained until contact and then used to inflict a small localized wound in the opponent, usually this wasn't major but it did cause significantly more pain, hopefully giving you more time to prepare your next move. It was a technique worth knowing. Sakura as expected had managed to get the basis of the technique sorted within a few minutes, but due to her limited chakra had trouble maintaining the control over a long distance, loosing any authority over the shurikan when it became more then few feet away from her. Naruto was the exact opposite, he could fling the weapon out and control (if that was the right word) it far better then Sakura could. However Naruto's precision at this was distinctly lacking, he could throw the weapon, accelerate it to enormous speed and make it explode on contact, but his aim was terrible. Sasuke had faired much better then the other two, he could maintain control over a reasonable distance, whilst increasing the speed of the weapon, but he couldn't manage to create any kind of explosion on impact. They still needed more work with this and to get the most out of it, Kakashi needed to be present.
"Oh, Ok" Iruka replied, still half distracted. "When do you think you will be back?"
"Hard to say, it all depends on how well the three improve. But I should be back before dinner"
Iruka nodded in response and Kakashi waltzed out of the kitchen towards the bathroom. He turned on the shower letting the water run for a few minutes till the temperature stabilized before finally adjusting it to comfort, removing his dressing gown and stepping in. Firstly placing his head under the stream of warmth getting his hair soaked through. This caused the normally silver locks to turn a far deeper shade of grey then you would have thought from looking at his hair, then changing position to allow the water to skim over him warming his body. Kakashi let out a long sigh, what was bothering his little Ruka so much? It wasn't normal behaviour for the darker man and it slightly worried him. Kakashi decided to leave the issue alone for now, it could just be some simple thing that only would have worried Iruka and would blow over in a couple of days. He washed himself thoroughly, switched off the running water and stepped out of the shower, towelling himself down before moving into the bedroom, towel about his waist.
Iruka had moved from the kitchen to the bedroom after having washed up the crockery used at breakfast, still lost in torment. He sat himself down on the bed and continued to think hard about suitable offerings he could make, one idea followed another, pushed away by another. Nope he concluded, those wont do. He had intended to get a shower himself but realizing it was still occupied waited patiently in their room. Kakashi emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later, hair and body half towelled try with the same said towel tied about his waist. Iruka loved this look and just watched attentively as Kakashi worried the closet that housed their clothes.
"Bathrooms free" the pale man spoke breaking the interlude.
"I can see that" A happy Iruka responded, still admiring the view of his lover dressing himself, although still with an element of a troubled mind in his voice.
Kakashi decided Iruka wasn't going anywhere for the time being and finished dressing himself, ending with his normal hitai-ate, retrieved from his beside table, sitting the protector in its usual lopsided position covering up the Sharingan. He quickly glanced at his reflection in the nearby mirror, nope he hadn't forgotten anything. A few months ago Kakashi had forgotten a scroll and had returned home to collect it. Iruka had surprisingly been at home too, as soon as he had stepped through the door, Iruka had pounced, ripping away his facemask as they fought in a passionate kiss for a few minutes before being released. Iruka just smiled behind pink cheeks and strolled out of the door. Kakashi had then found the forgotten item, pocketed it and left the house, the woman across the street just stopped and stared open mouthed, the pale man then realized what was wrong, quickly going back inside he looked in the mirror and there it was, his face in all its glory, in his haste he had not remembered to put his mask back on. Vowing never to let this happen again, Kakashi now regularly checked his appearance, just making sure it was still there.
Happy now he was set to meet team seven, he turned around to face Iruka, who was still sitting there slumped over looking very quiet. Kakashi walked in close, crouched down till his eyes met Iruka's and pushed him back onto the bed, forcing Iruka down onto his back with a small bounce. The action had caused Iuka's dressing gown to loosen around his body, revealing most of his chest and stomach, whether or not this was Kakashi's intention would never be known but he took full advantage anyway. Standing up and then lowering himself over Iruka (whilst lowering the mask) he began to place small wet kisses along the dark skin, moving his way up from the mans navel. He stopped mid chest, darting to the left, then to the right, gently nipping on Iruka's now somewhat sensitised nipples, producing small moans from his now less distracted lover. Resuming his work Kakashi continued along the remainder of Iruka's upper body sliding a moist tongue up and over his neck and chin slowing as he reached expectant lips. Toying slightly he danced his tongue over the swelling flesh, teasing the man below, it had the desired effect. Iruka flung his arms around Kamahi's neck and pulled the rascal in, whilst simultaneously flipping them both over, positions reversed. Iruka now in control of a surprised Kakashi let loose a small chuckle with a grin upon his face, lips still locked. The kiss became more frantic as tongues threatened to tie themselves into knots, skin becoming flushed and damp with sweat. Before anything else could develop Kakashi, now back on top he realized, pulled himself away, both catching their breath.
"I'll be back later" he said breathlessly arranging one last kiss on the bridge of Iruka's nose where the scar bisected his face.
The pale man was then gone, checking his face in the mirror once more before soaring out of the bedroom window to the street below. Iruka just lay there distracted, but for an entirely different set of reasons, his mind still catching up to what had just happened.
Kakashi landed with a silent thump down in the street below, wondering as he walked whether or not his plan had worked, if it had succeeded or failed didn't really matter, the pale man had enjoyed himself nonetheless.