Disclaimer: Nope, me no owny...but someday, once i get the mice working for me, then we'll see...
A/N- reviews welcome!
Naruto and Sasuke. They were on his mind quite a lot recently, especially with this strange growing fear he had that Sasuke was going to disappear one day. Leaving no trace of the brilliant, if not cold, student he had taught.
This feeling of dread was growing inside of him as he watched the two boys fighting become hurtful, coming close to sending each other to the hospital many times. And why, because they could not understand each other? However he had been watching them for many years now, watching them grow, both orphans, how they grew together.
Sakura and Ino would probably disagree with him, but he saw something between Naruto and Sasuke, something that could not easily be explained, but had the power to bring them together unconsciously, even if they were in the middle of a fight, searching for contact. Something that part of him wished he had, but at the same time feared.
That something gave him hope, that perhaps even if Sasuke did disappear into the night, the strange light that surrounded Naruto, would lead him back one day. It kind of reminded him of himself and possibly the most infuriating jounin in the village, but that was only if he really thought about it and he really chose not to.
His musing's were interrupted by a crumpled piece of paper, floating down to land on top of the paperwork on his desk. He recognised the messy writing immediately, inwardly sighing. He was too tired, he did not want to fight with him anymore, he just wanted to go home and sleep. Nightmares had been plaguing him for the past few nights, but he was never sure of whom they were about.
Iruka glanced wearily up at the jounin standing before his desk with a neutral expression on the masked face, then back down to the crumpled sheet of paper lying in front of him. Some of the words were illegible, but from what he could make out was that the mission was a success, even if there were small droplets of what appeared to be blood, dotting the paper.
There was a small patch of drying blood at the base of Kakashi's vest, which made him worry.
"If you're injured, you should go to the hospital, Kakashi-sensei." He murmured, signing the paper and placing it neatly in the folder, marked 'Hatake, Kakashi'. He did not need to look up; to know that a surprised expression had made its way onto the older mans face at his lack of yelling on his behalf at the state of the mission report.
"Maa, it's not my blood." Iruka glanced up, watching as Kakashi scratched at his wild silver hair in what appeared to be a sheepish manor. Not that Iruka couldn't see right through the act of course.
"You should get checked out at the hospital, Kakashi-sensei." He replied, returning to his paperwork. He may not agree with many of the mans ideas, especially where Naruto was involved, but he could see the bags underneath the one visible, bloodshot eye and how the already pale man, appeared paler than normal and while he was sure that he probably appeared with the same worn out expression, Kakashi had just returned from a mission and for some reason he found that he truly cared about the other mans health.
He looked up, noticing that Kakashi had not moved, thoughtful gaze trained on him. "Is there something wrong Kakashi-sensei?"
"No, nothing wrong." The jounin replied, distractedly, eye curving as he smiled through the mask. "Perhaps I will go get checked out, however you should return home and sleep, Iruka-sensei. I'm sure Naruto would be worried if he saw you like this."
As Kakashi disappeared in a cloud of smoke, Iruka was unsure as to whether be annoyed at the comment on his appearance or strangely pleased that the man apparently cared enough to mention it.
Iruka grumbled, shifting his books in a futile attempt to protect them from the rain pounding down on him. He wasn't even sure where the downpour had come from. One moment it had been a little cloudy out and the next it was literally raining cats and dogs!
His day had been on a downward spiral since the moment he had woken up…half an hour late for work on the day that he had a guest speaker coming in, and then the guest speaker hadn't shown up so he had been forced to ask Ibiki to speak with his class. He'd had at least five of his students come running out of the room in tears.
He hadn't thought his day could get much worse after having a few parents rant on about scaring their children, but it did. He was going to have to pull a double shift in the mission room tomorrow night, which meant he had only tonight to create a test for his class, his hair tie had broken, leaving his hair to stick to his face and neck in the rain, one of his students had lit his bag on fire, leaving his books unprotected, Naruto had to cancel their lunch plans for tomorrow, and he was pretty sure there was a leak in his roof.
So now he was trudging through the pouring rain, papers slowly becoming soaked and then of course there was the increasing chance that he was going to catch a cold.
The rain suddenly stopped its descent on him, as another body appeared next to him, an umbrella held above the two of them. Iruka faltered, glancing at the other person that had been so generous, only to discover he was obviously losing his mind as well.
"Would you like some help Iruka-sensei?" Hatake Kakashi beamed down at him, gracefully pulling his slightly soaked papers out of his arms, carrying them himself, holding the umbrella out so it covered both of them.
"Oh, um, if its not too much trouble." He mumbled, blushing slightly, as they continued walking in the direction of Iruka's apartment. He wasn't going to ask how Kakashi knew where he lived as the two men walked in a comfortable silence, the small building coming into view.
"Having a bad day?" He was slightly startled at Kakashi's question, catching on as the other man nodded at his lack of tie in his hair.
"Just one of those days. My guest speaker never showed up, so Ibiki ended up speaking with my class." Iruka wasn't sure why he was telling the other man this, but Kakashi seemed interested and he really wanted someone to talk to. "He ended up making a few of my students burst into tears, including this one that reminds me of Kiba." He chuckled lightly, surprised when the other man's laughter joined his own. "And then one of my students lit my bag on fire, except I remember doing the exact same thing to my teacher at the academy." He wasn't sure why he found this so funny all of sudden, but it certainly was now.
"Iruka-sensei, you were a rebel?" Kakashi faked shock, shifting the papers and placing a hand on Iruka's forehead. "Are you sure you're not sick?"
Iruka swatted away the hand, grinning, and his face warm from his blush. "Hey, I'll have you know that I was worse than Naruto!" Kakashi raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "It's true, I dyed one of my teachers pink once and another time…" He trailed off, realising they had reached his apartment. "Oh, I didn't realise we were already here. Thank you for the help and the company." Kakashi handed him the papers, careful to keep the umbrella above them until Iruka could get the door open. The schoolteacher turned, suddenly feeling the urge to invite the jounin in, he was having fun, which was ridiculous since last week all they could do was fight. Before he could say something however, Kakashi beat him to it.
"Would you like to go to dinner on Friday Iruka-sensei? I would enjoy hearing more about how you tortured your teachers." Iruka grinned, the blush back in full force.
"Of course, but its Iruka." Kakashi grinned back at him, stepping away from the door.
"As long as you call me Kakashi. I'll see you at seven then."
Iruka waved, waiting until the other man was out of sight before closing the door, and heading to his room to change out of his wet clothes. "See you then Kakashi." He murmured, for some unknown reason, happier then he had been in quite some time.
He leaned back on his couch, completely into the book he was reading. It was a good book too, just the right amount of action and drama. Perfect for a cold winter night like this. Except he lied when he said he was completely into the book.
His eyes kept drifting around his small apartment, lingering on odds and ends that had been showing up lately. Like the small orange book resting on his bookshelf, it had been rather embarrassing when Naruto had found it a week ago, and the blond had not fully believed that it was in fact Kakashi's, until the man had shown up five minutes later looking for it.
Photos of him and Kakashi now littered his walls, a spare pair of shoes two sizes to big for him was by the door, an Icha Icha mug in his cupboard, and there was even a spare toothbrush in the bathroom.
He hadn't even noticed these things until they had been pointed out to him, however, he supposed it made sense, what with Kakashi spending more time here than at his own apartment. It didn't even bother him, in fact it made him…he wasn't sure what it made him, but every time he thought about it, it sent these strange butterflies through his stomach. He'd never had a friend like Kakashi before; it was hard to believe that a few months ago they had been constantly getting into the most trivial fights.
His eyes settled back onto his book as he heard the window in his room slide open with a slight 'creak'. A small smile made its way onto his face as the 'intruder' padded down the hallway, depositing his shoes by the door. Iruka could hear him rifling through the fridge.
"You're out of cheese Iruka." Kakashi called from the kitchen.
"Bottom drawer. How was your mission?" Iruka called back, putting down his book and getting up from the couch. Kakashi straightened up from where he was looking through the fridge, parts of his ANBU outfit still on, bandages tied loosely around still bleeding wounds. Iruka was by his side in an instant, pushing him down into one of the kitchen chairs, inspecting the wounds. "What happened?"
"Just another mission, trust me, the other guy looks worse." Iruka sent him an exasperated look over his shoulder as he pulled the medical kit out from under the sink.
"Why didn't you go to the hospital?"
"It's not that bad, besides I knew you could fix me up just as well." Iruka smiled this time, pulling up another chair and gently undoing the bandages to clean the wounds. The room went silent as Iruka focused on fixing up his friend, Kakashi watching him carefully as he did so.
"There." He finally spoke, sometime later, tying off the last bandage. "That should hold, but we'll have to clean it again tomorrow just to be sure." He glanced up, eyes connecting with Kakashi's single visible blue one. The room suddenly seemed to heat up as he found himself unable to look away. "Um…" He cleared his throat, forcing his eyes away, busying himself with throwing out the soiled bandages. "What would you like for dinner?"
He felt more than heard Kakashi stand and head down the hallway to the bathroom, presumably to clean up. "Whatever you wish, Iruka." He just couldn't get the blush off his face.
He pushed the remaining children behind him, searching the classroom for any unguarded exits. The enemy ninja blocked the windows and the door near the front of the class. Three in total and while normally that would not have been too much of a problem; he had his entire class to protect as well.
How they had managed to slip in past all the other teachers was beyond him, but it didn't matter at the moment, what mattered was finding someway out.
"Which one of these brats is Konohamaru?" Iruka shifted, silently praying that his students would not do anything to give away where Konohamaru was.
"Leave this school now." He growled, hand moving to his kunai pouch. Perhaps if he could take out the man at the door, the kids could escape. Changing his tactics, he quickly created five shadow clones, leaving three to watch the kids, while his two clones headed for the two men at the window and he headed for the man at the door.
Before he could make it to the man, a strong force suddenly threw him to the front of the classroom. He hit the chalkboard with a crunch, his arms force up and behind him, by one of the men at the window.
"Nice try chunnin. Now, which one of these brats is Konohamaru?"
"Go to hell." He grit out, clenching his teeth, as his arms were forced higher.
"Iruka-sensei!" One of his students called out. He needed to get free and beat these guys before anybody was hurt.
"Now, now kiddies, you tell us which one of you is Konohamaru and we won't kill your teacher." He glared at the other man, now sitting calmly on his desk.
"Don't say anything, any of you!" He yelped as one of his arms was forced up, dislocating with a forcible 'pop'. Spots swam across his vision as he bit his lip, searching his mind for someway out of this.
"Now, tell us and we promise not to kill him." He sincerely doubted that they expected to get out of here alive. Breaking into Konoha's school? They were on a suicide mission, it appeared to kill Sandaime's grandson. He could not let that happen.
Ignoring the pain, he twisted his arms, embedding his kunai in the man's throat. A second kunai hit the man at the door in the shoulder. His left arm hanging uselessly by his side, he was knocked to the ground, hands wrapped tightly around his throat, squeezing the breath out of him. He could hear his students calling above the roaring in his ears as he struggled, fighting a losing battle.
The man's eyes widened suddenly, grip loosening as he slid forwards unmoving. Iruka shuddered, closing his eyes to fight off the exhaustion. Then the crushing weight of the man was pushed off of him as he was suddenly pulled into a tight embrace.
"Kakashi?" Silver hair tickled his nose, as he suddenly felt himself lifted up, blushing at being carried bridal style.
"Are you okay, 'ruka?" He nodded, suddenly tired, injured arm pulled tightly against his chest.
"The kids?" He struggled to see past the shoulder blocking his view of his students.
"They're fine. I'm taking you to the hospital." He grinned suddenly, resting his head on Kakashi's shoulder.
"Why is it that you'll never go to the hospital when needed, but I have to?" He didn't get an answer, not that he expected to, just letting himself enjoy the warm feeling spreading over him.
"You can stop hovering and come in." Iruka called from his bed in the sterile room of Konoha's hospital. A sheepish Kakashi entered, a slight blush peeking out from under the mask.
"How are you feeling 'ruka." There was that pet name again. It was defiantly growing on him, he decided, patting the bed next to him, inviting the other man to sit.
"Fine, my arms a bit sore, but they're releasing me later. Something tells me Genma and Raidou are never going to let me forget this one." He smiled, slightly confused when Kakashi suddenly laced his good hand with Kakashi's right one. "Kakashi?"
"A ninja's life is uncertain." He nodded along, unsure as to why the other man was quoting what he taught his students each year. "Which is why it took me so long to do this."
Kakashi leaned forwards suddenly, pausing in front of Iruka before gently pressing their lips together.
Iruka had realised not that long ago that perhaps he had fallen in love with the silver haired Jounin, but had chosen not to say anything, as he had been certain that Kakashi had not felt the same way.
Leaning forwards, Iruka returned it, opening his mouth to deepen the kiss. His arm was a sharp reminder of where they were as he regretfully pulled back, Kakashi half hanging over him.
"What time are they releasing you again?" Kakashi murmured resting his forehead against Iruka's.
"I'm sure they need this room for someone else right now." He grinned, allowing the other man to help him out of the bed, hands intertwined.