Running Beneath The Blue

by Sunlight through Leaves

For Umino Iruka, birthdays were never anything special. For Hatake Kakashi, birthdays were the most special thing about a person’s life. Oneshot about the two as part of the Running series. [Kakairu]

Woot! I'm back! I promise that I will finish Running for Life soon, I just want to make sure I get a good ending, and so far, it's escaping me.

This is another one shot for the Running series. God, I'm stretching for titles, forgive me for that.

I'm not sure if I like this one yet. Eh. Whatever. Enjoy!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

For Umino Iruka, birthdays were never anything special. Even when his parents were still alive, they were all too commonly out on missions. One time they had been home on his birthday – at least that Iruka could remember – but the celebration had been a calm, family meal at home where they reveled in just being together for more than a few moments.

After their death, Iruka just did not pay attention to his birthday. Another birthday meant another year that his parents had been dead, and Iruka was trying too hard to forget.

OOOOOOOOOOO

For Hatake Kakashi, birthdays were the most special thing about a person's life. During his childhood, his father would always make sure Kakashi celebrated on his birthday, even if his father was not in the village. The tradition became so ingrained in Kakashi's mind that no year passed without some celebration of his birthday. Of course, in the more recent years, his celebration had been limited to ordering a fancy meal, pulling out his favorite copy of Icha Icha and forgetting about anything that would bother him either before or after that day.

That was, until Umino Iruka came into his life.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

"Maaaa, come on Iruka, spill it!" Kakashi was perched on the arm of the couch, Icha Icha tucked under his arm, attempting to pry information out of his lover. It was somewhat akin to trying to steal the Hokage's precious 'gamble' jacket while she was wearing it.

Standing at the kitchen sink, washing out the bowls from breakfast, Iruka pointedly ignored the Jounin and rolled his eyes at the soapy water, attempting to communicate to it just how silly he thought Kakashi was being. "It doesn't matter, Kakashi." He turned to stare Kakashi down, hoping to convince the other man to drop the topic. "There's no need for some big to-do for my birthday. I'm used to it just passing, and it would be really weird if I celebrated."

Kakashi pulled a face at the Chuunin's back as Iruka turned around. "What about presents? How can I call myself a good boyfriend if I don't get you anything for your birthday?"

Iruka snorted. "I'm not one of the idiotic damsels in your book; I'm not going to fly off the handle for not getting something."

About to slide off the couch, Kakashi opened his mouth to retort, but was silenced by a row of incredibly pointed teeth sinking into his thigh. "Pakkun!" He growled out.

"I don't think you should be bothering Iruka-kun anymore, boss. He already told you he didn't care about this birthday-thing."

"You…you…" Kakashi spluttered.

Iruka was watching the pair of them with mild amusement.

"You traitor!" The Jounin finally managed.

Pakkun hopped off the couch and trotted over to sit down, rather theatrically, on Iruka's foot. "What can I say? He's nicer, saner, and much better-behaved in public."

One of Iruka's eyebrows arched all the way up under his forehead protector. Kakashi seemed unable to process the information, but after a few more minutes, his jaw snapped shut with an audible snap, and he rose to his feet, dusting off his vest. "Well, I can see when I'm not wanted." He stalked off into Iruka's bedroom and made a point of slamming the door hard behind him. As the door closed, he heard an explosion of laughter – Iruka's deep chuckles and the coughing barks that Pakkun used to approximate laughter.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Kakashi flopped down on the bed, burying his face in the soft pillow. His own pillow, which was lying next to it, had been brought from his house. While he was paid slightly better as a Jounin, and therefore had a bigger house, Iruka's was decidedly neater, and after having almost been killed by a pile of dirty clothes that seemed to have mutated during Kakashi's absence, Iruka had – suggested – that they live in his place. Kakashi did not argue. However, a few things were borrowed from Kakashi's house, including the pillow that he was, at this very moment, shunning with all his might. He couldn't even remember how long he had had the thing, but it was now only scarce inches thick and was the consistency of a poorly packed laundry bag. Iruka had been trying to get him to buy a new one ever since he brought it in, but he was having much more fun stealing the Chuunin's pillow from him nightly.

As he pressed his face into the delightfully cushy pillow, Kakashi puzzled over strategies to convince Iruka to tell him his birthday – or to find it out through more covert methods. Though it may not have been important to Iruka, Kakashi could not imagine living with someone, being in love with them and not knowing their birthday. It just seemed to violate everything he believed about relationships, and he certainly was not going to let Iruka get away with it.

He lay there for a few more seconds before sitting up and smacking himself repeatedly in the forehead. Idiot! He berated himself – though of course he did not take himself very seriously – and slipped quickly out the window.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Naruto sat at the little table in his kitchen, chopsticks sitting on top of the instant ramen he was about to eat, chanting "Ramen, ramen, ramen." For those that did not know him, it would have been a little disturbing. For those that did know him…. Well, it was disturbing all the same.

As he picked up the chopsticks and prepared to dive in, and shadowy figure appeared out of nowhere onto his window sill, held up a hand in a jaunty wave and said, "Yo."

Naruto let out a surprisingly girlish shriek and proceeded to fall off his chair. "K-k-kakashi-sensei?!"

"Maaaa, Naruto." Kakashi drawled. "I've gotta question for you."

"You could have used the door! Or knocked!" Naruto snapped at him; Kakashi looked a little bewildered.

And at that moment, a second person chose to enter the room dressed in his typical outfit, but unwrapping a towel from his black hair.

"Good morning, Sasuke-kun." Kakashi was giving him a long appraising look.

"Hn."

"You…you had a question, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto broke the uncomfortable silence that descended on the room.

"Uhhhh…" Kakashi dragged his brain out of speculation land and back to the real world. "Yeah. Iruka's birthday. What is it?"

"Iruka-sensei's what?" The look on Naruto's face suggested that it had never occurred to him that Iruka might actually have been born instead of just appearing out of the mists over the Hokage mountain.

Kakashi swore under his breath, "Maaa, never mind Naruto-kun."

Outside, Kakashi perched on the roof above Naruto's window and planned out his next approach. Unfortunately – or fortunately, depending on how much he wanted to gossip with Iruka later - he could not help overhearing the conversation inside.

"What were you thinking, teme!"

"……"

"You could have stayed back there!"

"Shut up, dobe. The water's not working at my place and I really needed a shower."

"B-b-but…!" Naruto spluttered. "Kakashi-sensei saw you come out…. He must think…." He trailed off, and Kakashi could picture the kyuubi boy blushing furiously.

"What must he think, usuratonichi?"

"Stop calling me that, teme!"

"What are you thinking?" The emphasis was unmistakable, and Kakashi had to choke down chuckles, wondering if Sasuke just really enjoyed making Naruto feel that uncomfortable.

Naruto's response was less than understandable, and Kakashi shook his head, and then rose to his feet, making his way to the Hokage's office.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Kakashi beat a hasty retreat, trying desperately to avoid getting hit by flying books, chips decorated with ninja pictures and their information, and one very unlucky bottle of sake. Note to self: Do not, under any circumstances barge in and wake the Hokage while she's 'working.' In her defense, Shizune had tried to warn him, but he might have ignored what she had to say.

"What were you thinking?" Shizune had followed him out of the room and out of danger of flying objects.

"I just had a question." He paused to dust drops of sake off his sleeve.

Shizune folded her arms. "….?"

"I'm wondering when Iruka's birthday is." A lesser man would have quailed under the look Shizune turned on him. Of course a lesser man would never have approached the Gondaime to ask about something as trivial as a birthday.

He bent down to pull one of the chips out of his leg wrappings and so missed Shizune rolling her eyes at him. When he stood back up, the Gondaime's assistant palmed a small key into his hand before shoving him out the door, and whispering, "Come back tonight. That'll let you into the file room."

Kakashi winked his thanks at her and slipped out of the office and into the hall.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Several weeks later…..

A cool dusk had fallen over Konoha when Kakashi returned to his shared apartment. The key slipped easily into the lock, but he had to twist the handle hard and pull upwards on it as he twisted the key, and even so, it took him two tries to open the door. Iruka'd been meaning to get the lock fixed for several years, but had never gotten around to it. "I'm home!" He called out happily as he toed off his sandals in the entryway. He and Iruka had been together long enough now that he had forgotten what it was like to come home to an empty house.

This time, however, there was no response, and he worked his way through the house to the back porch to find Iruka leaning on the railing outside, watching the sun dip down behind the Hokage mountain. The Chuunin turned around and flashed him a bright smile.

Kakashi moved to lean on the railing next to Iruka and bumped him gently with his shoulder. "Watcha doin'?"

Iruka chuckled quietly, "Thinkin'." He adopted the same accent as Kakashi, teasing the Jounin.

His eyes wandered off in the same direction as Iruka's gaze, and Kakashi remembered watching a similar sunset in Wave, sitting on the dock. He remembered being so amazed by the way the colors refracted and scattered over the rippling water. There was something incredibly magical about watching the sun disappear behind an enormous expanse of sea. He realized, with a start, that he had never talked to Iruka about Wave. "Do you miss it?"

"Miss what?" Iruka looked puzzled.

"Wave." Kakashi continued to gaze out over the rooftops. "It was a beautiful place. There was something…something about it…." He turned to see a small, sad smile cross Iruka's face.

"I was too young when we left; I don't remember it. At least," He continued, "I don't think so. My mother used to talk about, my father too. They used to tell stories so often that I'm not sure anymore if I'm remembering things or if I'm just picturing their stories." Iruka paused again, running his finger over the railing he was leaning on. "I always wanted to go back."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Unfortunately for Kakashi, getting Iruka's birth date was the easy part. What was decidedly harder was trying to figure out what he should get the Chuunin for his first present.

He'd stopped for quite some time in one of the nicer weapon maker's shops. The beautiful kunai sets were perfectly balanced and decorated with the user's family crest. But it just didn't seem right.

After several more hours of searching, the Jounin finally wandered into the last shop he could visit, and – admittedly – the one that he should have started with. The old bookstore smelled strongly of dry, ancient pages, mixed with the smell of new books. He knew he should have come here first, Iruka read more than anyone he had ever encountered in his life, but therein lay the problem of shopping here. Kakashi had no idea what Iruka'd read, what he owned, and what he was interested in.

The Jounin ran pale, half-gloved fingers over the embossed spines of new books at the front of the store until he ran across one title. Blinking in surprise, Kakashi pulled the book off the shelf, curious as to what the title meant. Upon opening it, Kakashi knew that he had found what he was looking for.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The climb up the open stairway to his home seemed to take much longer than usual and was much harder than he remembered it being just yesterday.

Class had dragged out today, with most of the students failing to pay attention after the first two minutes. Iruka'd tossed them out of the classroom three times to run laps today, just to keep them awake. He'd remembered that it was his birthday that morning, when he'd crawled out of bed – barely avoiding the reaching hands of a certain perverted sensei who shall remain nameless – and noticed several aches that he could have sworn were not paining him when he went to bed that night. Fortunately, he'd forgotten about it almost immediately when Konohamaru, Udon and Moegi pounced on him on the way to the Academy, begging to find out when their next exam was going to be.

After the day, all Iruka wanted to do was collapse on the couch and watch some stupid horror movie for the rest of the night. Maybe he'd break into that container of Double Chocolate Mint Fudge ice cream that had been sitting in the fridge since Monday. The only thought that crossed his mind was that he was incredibly glad that it was finally the weekend.

Once he'd slipped through the door, he was a little surprised to see that Kakashi's sandals were not already in the entryway. Hmmm. Wonder where he is? But he knew that the Jounin would be back at some point tonight – he was probably off torturing his team – and so the thought passed quickly out of his mind, and Iruka collapsed, with a sigh of relief, on the couch.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

He'd forgotten how strange it was to wear normal clothes. Neither he, nor Iruka, bothered to change out of their uniforms at the end of the day. Once they pulled off the vest and leg wrappings, the black shirt and pants worn beneath those were as comfortable as an old pair of sweats, so both men just lounged around in those until it was time to go to sleep. But today, it just seemed important to dress in something else.

For that reason, Kakashi had to return to his jungle of an apartment, and was only just making his way back, Icha Icha in its normal place – in front of his face – but tugging at the end of the red scarf that was wrapped around his neck. Iruka's present was tucked under his right arm and bound in a bright, sparkly green bow.

When he reached the street below Iruka's apartment, Kakashi reached around to tuck Icha Icha into his back pocket, and then made his way up the stairs two at a time. Instead of letting himself in, he knocked out a rhythm on the door.

Kakashi swallowed a chuckle when he heard Iruka let out a drawn out groan from the other side of the door. The Chuunin pulled the door open with more force than was probably necessary and stopped dead when he saw Kakashi in the doorway.

The Jounin was dressed in a long-sleeved, striped shirt and a pair of worn, weather-beaten jeans. A red scarf was wrapped around his neck over his customary mask, which was in place as always, and his forehead protector was replaced by a soft black cloth that was tilted at a jaunty angle to cover his sharigan eye. Iruka's gaze raked up and down Kakashi's frame.

The Chuunin had to remind himself – several times – to stop drooling.

"Happy birthday, Iruka-koi!" Kakashi grinned happily, presenting the wrapped book with a bow.

"W-what?" Iruka stammered, turning a soft shade of red. "How did you….?" He took one look at the contrite expression on Kakashi's face, "Never mind. I don't want to know."

Kakashi slipped into the house and stepped out of his shoes, pushing the present into Iruka's hands.

"What is this?" Iruka queried as he made his way back to the living room, where the warm couch and an incredibly bad horror movie were waiting for him.

"Maaaaa, it's your birthday present; what else?" Kakashi beat him to the couch and pulled the Chuunin down next to him.

The color heightened on Iruka's cheeks. "Kakashi! You didn't have to get me anything!" He protested, but he was already running his hands over the wrapping paper, trying to puzzle out the nature of the contents.

"I know." The Jounin had already pulled Iruka's hair out of its ponytail, taking advantage of the other man's distraction. "But I wanted to." Iruka smiled shyly up at Kakashi and then turned his attention back to the package. Kakashi stretched out a hand and pulled the sparkly bow off the paper, before Iruka could discard it, and stuck in firmly on the side of Iruka's head. "Oi!"

Kakashi adopted an offended stance. "What? It's tradition!"

"I don't have birthday traditions."

After pushing gently on the bow to make sure it wasn't going anywhere, Kakashi leaned in and kissed Iruka's nose. "You do now."

Iruka smiled slowly and slipped his fingers under the edge of the wrapping paper. As the paper fell away, Kakashi watched Iruka's brow furrow as he read the title of the book. "Running beneath the blue?" He turned the heavy, coffee table book over in his hands, but there was no description on the back of the book. "Kakashi, what is this?'

The Jounin reached over and took the back cover of the book into his lap "Open it."

Iruka's mouth fell open in pure shock, and he raised a shaking hand to touch the glossy pages within the book. "Oh….Kakashi…..this is…."

The book was open to a two-page spread of an underwater photograph showing a beautiful barrier reef, fraught with multicolored fish. The center of the photograph showed an enormous manta ray blocking out the sun, so that it was backlit, positively glowing, with a few rays breaking through the water around its enormous wings.

"The man who took these," Kakashi told him as, together, they flipped through the pages of the book. "Is from Wave, and so did not have an opportunity to become a ninja, but he was able to master a water-breathing jutsu and enough chakra control to fix his feet to the bottom." He took hold of the book for a minute to flip to a specific page that he had memorized.

"This picture was taken by one of his assistants." Kakashi watched Iruka's reaction as the Chuunin took in the picture on the page. His eyes filled with tears, and his hand flew to his mouth. In that moment, Kakashi knew he had made the right choice.

The picture that held both of their attention showed the man who had taken the majority of the photos in the book. He was running along the surface under the water, looking like he was sprinting through a low gravity environment over the rippled, soft sand bottom. On either side of him – left, right and above – was a school of dolphins. The sun sparkled off the top of the water at the very upper edge of the picture. The man was grinning, one hand stretched out to meet the dorsal fin of the nearest dolphin.

Iruka sat for several minutes with his hand over his mouth, tears leaking from the very corners of his eyes, and then he flung himself into Kakashi's arms and clung to the Jounin like the world was about to end.

Kakashi ran his hand through Iruka's hair, while using the other hand to ease the book onto the coffee table before it got crushed. Then his attention turned to the paused movie on the T.V. across the way.

"What is this?" The Jounin pushed Iruka's head off his shoulder, being careful not to dislodge the bow, and pointed at the television screen.

Iruka sat up, wiping his eyes, and let out an embarrassed chuckle. "Attack of the Mutant Praying Mantises."

"Are you serious?'

"Shut up!" Then, when Kakashi got off the couch and started to leave the living room, he looked confused. "Where are you going?"

"It's your birthday. We're celebrating!" Kakashi watched the play of emotions across Iruka's face and, not for the first time, wished he could read the Chuunin's mind. "Maaaaa, I'm getting ice cream." His visible eyebrow rose when Iruka blushed furiously. "What did you think I was getting, Iruka-sensei?" The honorific was drawled out, and Iruka's blush deepened. He grabbed the book off the coffee table, opened it, and pointedly buried his nose in it.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Much later, as the movie started to draw to a close – after, of course, all the main characters had been slain by enormous praying mantises except for the boy and girl who had been skating around the issue of flirting the whole movie – the two shinobi were stretched out on Iruka's remarkably comfortable couch. Kakashi's long frame took over the whole length of the couch, and Iruka lay on top of him, his head nestled in Kakashi's chest, hips between his legs, and knees bent and hanging over the arm of the couch.

Pale fingers worked through dark brown hair in a rhythmic, calming motion. Iruka was half asleep, but Kakashi could tell from his breathing that the Chuunin was still, barely awake.

"When things calm down here," Kakashi stated quietly. "We'll go there, find the man who took these, and figure out how to do it ourselves."

Iruka pushed himself up a little so that he could look into Kakashi's face. "Really?"

"Really, really." He parried a phrase he'd heard Iruka use with Naruto on several occasions.

" 'Kay. Sounds good." Iruka snuggled back down into the Jounin's soft shirt.

Silence descended in the room, broken only by the screams of the hero and heroine has they tried to do away with the giant bugs by spraying them with hydrochloric acid.

Then Kakashi broke it. "I think Naruto and Sasuke are seeing each other."

"Hmmmm….what?" It took a little bit for the statement to sink in.

"I tried to ask Naruto about your birthday, and Sasuke was coming out of the shower…." The sentence did not need to be finished; the inflection in Kakashi's voice was enough. And even though Iruka was not looking at him, he could tell that Kakashi was leering.

"Well," Iruka said with an air of finality. "It's about time." He growled under his breath as his substitute pillow rumbled as Kakashi burst into laughter.

OOOOOOOOOOO

Yeah, so. Like I said, not sure if I like it, so I apologize if this has been a waste of your time.

Sunlight through Leaves

((More for Running for Life coming very soon, I promise))