A.N.: This is nominally the third part of a trilogy starting with 'Naruto in Summer', and then continuing with 'Kakashi in Winter'. You should read those two first to fully understand just what's going on in this story, but it can stand on its own if you're willing to overlook a few oddities.
I do not own "Naruto", nor any of its wonderful characters, but if I did, you know that this would be canon, and there would be no Sensei Sasuke (is very pissed off by him), or no unfortunately-named kid called Boruto. (None of Naruto's offspring should ever be around the verb 'to bore'.)
A.N. End.

THERE IS A SEASON

The golden shimmer of the Hiraishin dissipated around Naruto, leaving him just inside the front door of the quarters he shared with his silver-haired husband. As Hokage, he'd been entitled to stay in the fine suite of rooms set aside for the leader of the village in one of the safest and most secure sections of Konoha, but he and Kakashi hadn't wanted to be in the same rooms that Sarutobi-sama and his family had occupied, that Tsunade had lived in before giving up the hat. They'd wanted to make their own home.

This place, just big enough for the two of them, had become that home. Sparely furnished, simply decorated, full of the things that made it just their own; it was their refuge. A sanctuary made up of everything that was Naruto and Kakashi as a couple, despite the ANBU that continually surrounded them and were constantly looking in on them. Here were Naruto's plants and there were their souvenirs from various missions, a bookshelf for Kakashi's collection of 'literature', a framed, signed movie poster featuring Yukie Fujikaze...those were the splashes of their story that told the tale about who lived here.

Naruto and Kakashi Uzumaki Hatake lived here. Loved here.

As he kicked off his sandals and stepped up into the front hall, Naruto paused long enough to glance at the small sand sculpture from Suna, and the water-smoothed rock beside it from the Land of Whirlpools; souvenirs of missions and histories past that were placed on a table nearby. He smiled at seeing those visible memories, and inhaled that scent of the familiar surroundings—that smell that was a product of his and his love's—and he felt right again, as if the tensions that had been tearing them apart were finally going away. Kakashi had been choking under the limitations that came with being the Hokage's husband, he could see that now, and the rules hadn't given his love the space to be free. Naruto had chafed at the way the jounin had continually tried to escape the village on missions even though they were forbidden to him.

He'd been hurt, because it had felt like his husband had been trying to get away from him. Deep inside, he knew that wasn't true, Kakashi had always just needed to be who he was, and now Naruto thought he might have the solution to their problem, thanks to a good and faithful friend.

Straining his senses a bit, he searched to be sure that Kakashi was home, the stroke of that white chakra over his own making him smile as he was assured that the other man was. Naruto dashed into the living room, his blue eyes full of eagerness. "Kakashi!"

His gaze darted this way and that, hoping to spot that lanky form, but there was no sight of his husband in their living room, nor their kitchen, and his heart, so full of anticipation to see the other man, felt like it fell to his feet that Kakashi wasn't immediately there when he wanted him to be. Walking a bit further, he was able see through the big windows that lined their living room and right out onto their shady terrace. There was no sight of the silver-haired man there either, but, all of a sudden Naruto's heart lifted from his toes and zoomed right back to its proper place behind his ribs, for what he was seeing on the terrace told him that Kakashi had been thinking about him today, too.

"Aww..." A moment later and he was standing with his nose pressed against the glass, looking out at all of his plants that, up until today, had been languishing inside their home waiting to be put outside. Every year since they'd moved in here his husband had always done that for him. It had become a part of their ritual as a couple that every spring Kakashi moved all of the houseplants outside for the summer, groaning exaggerately over the weight of every one, and complaining that he would be 'too old to do this job next year'.

This year, however, the first day of spring had come and gone and the plants had stayed where they were. Every time he'd seen them there, Naruto had gotten a little teary-eyed and a little more upset, but now they were where they were supposed to be; the cacti out in the sunlight, the palms in the shade, and other, tender plants tucked here and there amidst the established greenery of their garden. The brightly coloured pots he favoured adding to the generally chaotic but relaxed air of the terrace. "Aww...Kakashi..." He sighed, fingers touching gently against the glass.

Heat kindled low in his belly as he turned from the window. His skin and things that hadn't been touched in weeks and weeks tingled in sensual anticipation as he finally went towards their bedroom, a single needful thought propelling him across the living room and down the short hall that led to the place where he hoped to find the man he loved.

"Kakashi?" The door was ajar, and he pushed it all of the way open, bending his neck to peer into the semi-darkness of the shaded room. "You in here?" Gratitude slid out of Naruto on a sigh as he saw that long, lean form laid out on their bed. Narrow, pale feet, the only skin that he could see, glinted in the gloom, and the green lump of a discarded vest decorated the polished wooden floor along with black ribbon of his husband's headband. As Naruto got closer to the bed he could hear the soft susurrations of Kakashi's breathing, and just slightly—ever so slightly—smell the tang of sake in the air.

Naruto's heart sank once more as he considered that his husband might be still so angry with him that he'd gone out to get drunk, and all of the happiness and eager anticipation that had been warming inside of him began to disappear. Before he could become utterly despondent though, he thought of his plants having been moved out into the sunshine and the air, and the smile that had faded from his face came back again, if only a little hesitantly. Moving closer to the bed, his bare feet making no sound now on the thick carpet the Raikage had sent them for a wedding present, Naruto paused when he could see all of the other man, that lean form stretched out over the dark blue comforter, his blue eyes scanning over his husband to see just how drunk the man might be. "Um...Kakashi?" He tried, wondering if the silver-haired man might be awake enough to hear him. "Kashi...?"

All of the hopes that he'd had blooming inside of him when he'd left his office were teetering just on the edge of falling into disappointment, but if he'd learned nothing else from being the Hokage, Naruto had learned to be patient—to wait and to find out all that he could before he rushed to judgement. Patience... That was something else he'd learned belatedly from the fight he'd had with his husband; an important notion he'd only just relearned today.

Clenching his fists, he let the rest of his senses stretch out, slipping his focus from the inert body of his love so that he could understand more of what he was seeing. His very sensitive nose had confirmed the presence of sake, but it wasn't as strong as he'd feared it was when he'd first come into the room. There wasn't any of that rasping, wet breathing that occurred with a real drunk, and if Naruto remembered rightly from the mumbled words they'd kind of exchanged this morning, Kakashi had been meeting up with Gai today and...he sniffed again...and obviously that hadn't happened.

No smell of manly essence of Green Beast anywhere on his husband's clothes.

Drinking alone?

Blue eyes closed in rejection of that thought as Naruto's stomach clenched inwards over a suddenly painful vision of that. He shook himself, heat spreading over his cheekbones in denial of that image, of his love sitting alone at a bar and drinking until he was soused...that wouldn't be his Kakashi would it? He forced his eyelids open to stare at the recumbent figure on the bed, snoring so peacefully away. Cool, strong Kakashi. The most awesome-est Shinobi ever, and the man that made him melt like an ice clone under the Suna sun. He didn't do stuff like that.

Did he?

Fuck.

Tentative footsteps took him closer, his senses still stretched, his heart thudding just loudly enough in his ears that some of the ambient sound around him faded away. It was on Naruto's lips to whisper his husband's name again, but a shift in that long, lean form distracted him, and he watched with worried, hungry blue eyes as Kakashi rolled over onto his back and threw a dark-clad arm over his face. Damn. There was so much that he wanted to say to the other man. So much that he had to apologize for, and to ask for apologies back, but in this moment he just wanted to look...to let his gaze eat up the view of the man that he loved.

It didn't really matter if Kakashi had gotten a bit drunk today, not in the long run of things. All that mattered was that the man had come back home to him, and that he'd remembered to put Naruto's plants out finally...had unbent enough to do that for him. And didn't that qualify as an apology in its own way?

He pondered that question as he began to take off his clothes, the white, flame-marked robe sliding from his shoulders to pool on the soft carpet. "Kakashi?" Naruto murmured softly, continuing on around to his side of their bed, leaving drips of coloured clothing on the rich, textured green of the rug to sign post his passage. "Are you awake?" Heat was beginning to rise in him, and he could imagine the coolness of his lover's flesh against his own, that nascent hunger rising higher, flushing under his skin. "Love?"

On his pillow was a clay pot with a small cactus in it...one that he'd admired in the window of the Yamanaka flower shop just last week. They'd only been walking there together because they were both headed in the same direction, and it had turned into a march of silence and regret, borne as far as the forking of their ways which hadn't too far beyond the store itself. Despite his truculence, Naruto had been distracted by the sight of the fuzzy white head of the cactus, and had stopped to stare at it, his first instinct to share with the man at his side just how excellent it would look out on their terrace, and just how beautiful it would be when it bloomed. Kakashi had barely spared a glance for this discovered treasure, and that had hurt Naruto at the time, but right here was proof that his husband had seen more than he'd thought that day.

As he always did. Eyes the colour of the sky closed as he let the good memories of their marriage fill him. Why had they spent so much time arguing over nothing instead of talking about it like they should have been? "Because he's so stubborn." Naruto said to the room, and laughed quietly. "Because I'm so stubborn."

Picking up the cactus, he set it on his side table, not wanting it, or he and Kakashi to be injured by it being in their bed. That done, he unwound his leg wrappings and undid his pants and dropped those, too, and crawled naked and hoping onto that occupied bed, settling down on his hip to lovingly run his gaze over that sprawled form that he loved so well.

"Kakashi?" His gaze travelled down to where the loose overshirt Kakashi was wearing had rode up, exposing the tight black fabric that clung to the toned torso beneath. There was a lot to be said about that singlet that his husband wore under his uniform top. The clingy, black fabric that hugged to every muscle and curve was sexy, and Kakashi looked sexy in it for all that it covered his pale skin and the bottom half of his face. Naruto wanted to touch it and feel the firmness of the hard, muscular body beneath, and he wanted to lay his cheek upon it and listen to the sound of his love's heart beating. "'Kashi?"

The frosted haziness of sleep slowly slid away from his slightly pickled brain, leaving images of tanned skin, and bright hair that shone like a beckoning sun against the melting hoar of drunkenness in Kakashi's mind. He twitched, his toes curling in the coolness of the room, and sensed a presence to his right that drew him slowly towards it, the chill of his skin responding to the aureate warmth so close to him. As if from a distance, he heard his name softly whispered, and that too, drew him closer, until his long fingers wrapped around the taut curves of yielding flesh, and he knew the name of the only one that he could be so safe with when he wasn't fully aware.

"Naruto."

Finally a response from his husband, and Naruto slid closer, touching where he had wanted to touch. "'Kashi." He replied, ducking down, heat spiralling up from within.

The raspy whisper of his name coaxed a dark grey eye to open just in time for Kakashi's mouth to be taken in a kiss, and he was quite satisfied to let his love have him, submitting to all that his husband wished to do to him after so long without. It was erotic fairness to let Naruto wipe the taste of rice wine from mouth and replace it with his own. "Hahh...'Kashi!"

A smile curved his ravaged lips as he looked up and their eyes locked. The warmth of the love that he found in that gaze changed his smile to a very focused smirk that faded as he realized the true honesty of what he was holding in his arms.

"I'm sorry..."

"I'm such an idiot, Naru."

"You bought me a cactus! Guess what?!"

"I love you... What?"

Laughter shook the both of them—a blessed, stupid, beautiful laughter full of apology and acceptance that had Kakashi rolling his love over and pinning him comfortably beneath him. "What?" He asked again, wondering just what Naruto had wanted to tell him. Trying to coax out a reply, he kissed that warm, yielding mouth again, and then continued to ply his lips over every inch of the sun-struck skin that he could reach, glorying in the way that that muscular form squirmed beneath him, arousing them both more.

"What?' The jounin repeated again, tipping his head back and groaning as his husband distracted him by slipping a hard thigh between his legs to rub against his groin.

"What what?!" Naruto was far too busy trying to remember how to breathe to even try to make sense of what his lover was saying to him. He mumbled incoherently as cool hands traced over his skin, dipping into crevices and sliding over muscles in an exploration that seemed to draw all of his blood along after it. "Hmm..." Breathing out a sigh, he arched upwards under his lover's weight and kissed Kakashi in return, licking an earlobe into his mouth to suck enticingly on it. "What was that?"

It couldn't possibly as important as what they were doing right now, could it? Whatever his husband had to say to him?

Having Kakashi's hands on him again, stroking over his heating skin, the dip of that silvered head as a tongue laved over his nipples making him squirm and rub his thigh a little harder against his lover's growing erection... What could be more important than the way that they were finally communicating with each other again? The nip of sharp teeth over those sensitive buds made him cry out. "Gah...fuck!" His head whipped back as he arched upwards, offering more of his eagerly straining body for his husband to abuse.

Somehow his husband's clothing had disappeared and Naruto had no memory of pulling or tugging, or of the particular misery that was trying to remove Kakashi's leg wrappings. They were just naked together all of sudden, and he cried out as his love's cool flesh slid over him, the sweat beginning to gather between them like a meltwater slick. "I've missed you so much." He moaned, applying his lips to hard pecs and tiny, appreciative nipples, sucking them until he heard Kakashi groan. "Missed this..."

Rolling him over, Naruto reversed their positions, putting his husband on his back. He straddled Kakashi, his golden skin making a sensuous contrast to the pale, ivory hue of his love's as he folded his legs up to either side of slim, but powerfully muscled hips. This brought two rather interested parts of their anatomies together in a very meaningful way, the clear evidence of their rising attraction to each other caught between them.

Hissing out a breath, Naruto gazed down at the man beneath him, his possessive blue eyes taking in the wanton flush of blood that was heating his husband's cheeks. He revelled in that view, for he'd been the one to put that colour and warmth there after so long, and he enjoyed the clamp of those long fingers on his hips as he was forcefully repositioned. "Not doing that anymore." Kakashi hissed back at him as he arched upwards, making Naruto cry out in pleasure as their groins rubbed together. "Never gonna be without you again."

Such reassuring heat surged through him at those murmured, determined words that he nearly collapsed over his lover, so bad was Naruto's need to kiss him. Their lips met in a slow tangle of wet and soft and slippery muscle that stole Naruto's breath away so much that he barely registered one hand leaving its grip on his hip to go fishing underneath a pillow.

"You were hoping?" He whispered when the kiss ended, eying the bottle of fragrant oil that had emerged before applying himself to sucking black bruises into the pale skin of Kakashi's neck.

"For a thaw." Kakashi replied hoarsely as he popped the cap from the bottle with one callused thumb. "I was desperate for some sunshine in my life."

Just as desperate as his sunshine had apparently been for him. He couldn't help but glory in the way that Naruto eased forwards and arched his back, parting those taut, round butt cheeks for his slicked hands to explore. "Kami, you're sexy!" The compliments growled out of him as he met that heated blue gaze, a smirk spreading over his lips as he teased that ring of tight muscle for the first time in a long while and made his love gasp with pleasure. A moment later, though, and he was yelping as a particularly sharp canine nipped at the flesh of his collarbone as Naruto reprimanded for his impatient caresses, and Kakashi couldn't help but wink at his husband, his smirk widening. "I've missed you so much. He murmured, his grey eye glinting with hunger. "I've missed this so much."

Gently, gently, he smeared the oil round and round that sensitive opening, awakening it after so long a hibernation, teasing the nerves and nudging those tight rings of muscle into relaxing for him. Naruto moaned for him, pushing back to welcome him in, those cerulean eyes of his half-closed. There was an expression of such intent enjoyment there that Kakashi had to gulp back his hiss of wonder at the sight of it, his arousal soaring in reaction to seeing that needful look on his love's beautiful face. "Ah, look at you." He murmured, sharing a gasp with his husband as his finger slid in to the first knuckle. Tight, slick heat surrounded that finger, giving him a very good idea of just what it would feel like to slide other parts of himself inside of there, and the heat that had risen inside of him flooded to scorch under his pale skin. "You make me want to take you until we're both screaming."

"Oh, yes please!" Naruto groaned, wriggling over his husband's body, rubbing their erections together as he sought to have more of that battle-callused finger inside of him. "More, 'Kashi, more!" It had been too long, and he was literally aching to have his husband back inside of him again. Muscles that had tightened up were loosening, and erotic memories of love-making past were tugging at him to have all of that again, so he made no protest at all when his husband nudged a second finger into his aching opening.

Heat flushed through him, pink rising up under his golden-toned skin as he leaned over his love and kissed him, sucking on Kakashi's tongue when it rudely invaded his mouth. This was the kind of invasion that Naruto liked though, and his moan vibrated between the two of them as they kissed hungrily, a rhythm slowly developing between them as long fingers began moving in and out...in and out.

Ah, the noises his love made as he slowly prepared him, the sounds that sizzled like lightning over Kakashi's nerve endings and set him to panting hard. A whispered profanity escaped him when a hand as hot as the Suna sands wrapped around him and Naruto stroked him in time to the wanton, stretching thrust of his fingers below. They arched and bucked together on their bed, finding that perfect beat, the desire to be inside of his husband driving him mad, and he could tell that Naruto wanted is just as badly as he did by the way he was so restlessly pressing back and back, those smooth muscles greedily pulsing.

"Have to have you." Kakashi murmured, angling upwards to capture a gasping mouth and kiss his lover deeply. "Have to have you now."

He had no intention of leaving this room until they were both completely exhausted, and, as he rolled his hips up one more time for friction, he heard his love make that adorable growl of his that meant he agreed with him. Blue eyes that had begun to glaze over with pleasure suddenly regained their focus, and the desire that was in them was aimed down at him, demanding that Kakashi give Naruto all that he needed...as if he could do anything less. That demanding need called out to the jounin, speaking erotically, sensually to his own.

"Yeah..." Naruto exhaled a long breath and reached back, a tanned impatient hand swiping at the fingers in inside of him because he wanted more than just that. Squirming, laughing with nervous anticipation, he raised himself up to give his husband room, waiting impatiently as Kakashi slathered gleaming fingers over his erection to make it ready. He trusted his lover as he was shifted into place. Adored his husband as the burning turned sweet and his body welcomed Kakashi in, and he lost himself in the rush of pleasure as he filled and plundered and treasured with hands and lips, and cock.

Writhing there on their bed, Naruto and Kakashi rediscovered a rhythm that had been lost to the enmity between them. Their sweat poured like rain from their skins as they moved together, the room heating, the covers torn from their bed as claws flashed and rended, shreds falling like wind-riven leaves to the floor. This wasn't enough—it couldn't be enough, and they called out for each other, barely able to hear their own voices as their hearts thundered loudly in their ears, closing out the world around them.

There was just Naruto. There was just Kakashi, and this was the storm between them, crackling and destroying, and creating anew.

"Love, love..." Naruto moaned, whimpering as the tumult began to fade, the heat and the electricity dwindling down to a sparking fizz. He fell over his husband's body, taking refuge in the coolness of his jounin's skin against his own super-heated one.

"My own." Kakashi replied hoarsely, taking them both onto their sides to ease in the parting.

"That was..."

"That was..."

Naruto giggled, and it was like carnal candy to Kakashi's ears, making his cock twitch where he was still sheathed in slick heat, making blue eyes open in response to flash heated sparks at him, an answering lightning strike of arousal. "You've destroyed the comforter." He pointed out, glancing around them at the pieces of cloth and stuffing that decorated their bed.

"Again?! And I liked that one, too." Soft, swollen lips pouted, and the silver-haired man had to kiss them, a sweet frisson of desire going through him as he recalled just how recently those lips had been begging him to do more wicked things to their owner. "Yep." He smiled. "We'll just have to go shopping for another one."

Kami! The desire to just roll his lover over and do it all again was gripping at the back of his brain, tugging at his reason and insisting that he do just that. From the way that Naruto was touching him, he knew that his husband would have no objections...he hadn't even wiggled off of his softened shaft yet, and those slick muscles down there were caressing him needily.

"Hmm..I guess so." Naruto drew little patterns over pale skin, lazily drinking in the echoes of the pleasure that were still trickling through him. "Although I vote we do that later...much later."

"How much later?" One grey eye widened curiously as that desire began to climb through Kakashi again, his internal sexual barometer responding to the pressure that was spreading in his lower belly. "A lot later?"

"Yeah...a lot." That golden head nodded at him, darkened stormy eyes glinting at him from behind the gilded crescents of Naruto's lowered lashes. "Maybe tomorrow?"

"Mmm.." Kakashi murmured, pushing his husband over onto his back. "Maybe tomorrow afternoon."

They'd been waiting for this for just too long.

-0-0-0-

"What was it that you wanted to tell me before we were so delightfully distracted?" Tracing callused fingertips down over soft golden skin, he turned to peer at his lover where he was snuggled into his side. They were cuddled together under the only semi-decent blanket they had left, and even Kakashi was slightly sore, so he was being extra careful with his husband. Granted, Naruto did have Kurama to heal him, but the demon often left aches like these alone just because he could. "You'd started to say something to me and this happened." It had happened multiple times in multiple locations, and not just their bedding needed replacing now—they'd have to shop for a new chair as well.

"Hm, wha?" Was the thoughtful reply to his question, a sleepy face rubbing warmly against his shoulder.

"You said...and I quote: 'You got me a cactus?! Guess what?' What what were you talking about?" It always amused Kakashi to watch Naruto think. The way that his beautiful face scrunched up as he concentrated, and the twitch of his perfect nose...he was just so cute he was irresistible. The sight of him thinking now made him groan in adoration, and it also made him very aware of just how tired he was and of how tired Naruto must be, so he contented himself by kissing the still flushed forehead under messy golden hair while he waited for his love to work it all out.

"Oh, yeah!" Rolling more on top of his husband, Naruto inched his body up over Kakashi until he was looking down at him eye to eye, a sudden sweet bolt of heat going through him as he took in the appreciative look in that one of grey as he arrived at his destination. Apparently his lover had liked his precipitous slither, so Naruto made a mental note to do it again another time.

"Shikimaru needs a new I & A instructor for the ANBU and I recommended you."

Instantly, Kakashi's first thought was to say no, and he opened his mouth to do so only to find a wonderfully aromatic hand over it to stop him. He licked that hand, enjoying the taste of it.

"You'll get to scare the crap out of the new recruits on a daily basis." Naruto sang to him, his sky blue eyes alight with a naughty, knowing gleam. "And try to kill them all at least once a week."

Tempting...oh, so tempting. And his husband knew it. The jounin had to admit that it was an idea worth thinking over.

Kakashi lay still under the weight of his love's body with that tasty hand still over his mouth and did try to think about it, trying to ignore the way that Naruto was squirming with anticipation for his reply. Infiltration and Assassination would be a good fit for him, and he'd enjoy doing it...scaring some newbies every day...and trying to kill them weekly. He wouldn't miss those missions out of the village so much if he was doing that. Plus, it would keep his skills sharp. Only the best Shinobi got to apply for the ANBU.

Damnit! Naruto knew him too well! When he'd made up his mind he nipped at those fingers, neatly drawing one into his mouth to suck on. The yip of surprise that earned him made Kakashi grin, and, with a powerful, tricky surge of movement, he over-turned Naruto, pinning his husband back possessively to the bed.

"I agree." Forestalling the explosion of enthusiastic delight with a deep kiss, he began a slow, sensual rock of his hips right against the cradle between his love's thighs, holding Naruto still beneath him with the intensity of his gaze alone. "You know that means I'll be burning a lot of adrenaline all day long, right?" He purred, the look of bewilderment on that slowly flushing face tickling Kakashi inside. "And I'll be wired when I come home, and looking to burn off some steam?"

"Ye-aaahhh..." Came the slightly hesitant, breathy response, as if his blond was coming around to an understanding of how all of that energy might be burned off.

"Or, I might just come up to your office to see you. You know, to hand in my reports?" Kakashi's smirk was widening as both horror and arousal flashed in those blue eyes. "Imagine what Iruka will say when I tell him that it's all your fault."

The horror outweighed the arousal then as Naruto went as white as the proverbial snow trying to picture his former sensei's face if he walked in on that. Iruka had a formidable temper, and a dedication to instilling good manners in everyone, so Kakashi had no trouble imagining what would happen if his former teammate did walk in on them indulging. Even he didn't want to risk the big shouting head of doom, but he did so like to tease Naruto, for he got such interesting reactions.

Like the wash of adorable terrified pink that was colouring his husband's normally golden skin right now.

"You'd better not!" Naruto managed to gasp, his heart thudding up in his ears with fear of the retribution they'd suffer at the hands of his assistant. "You...you..."

His husband began to move over him, distracting him from his thoughts with more physical things. It was then that Naruto realized that Kakashi would never do what he'd just suggested he'd do, and he began to breathe easier, letting the heat building back up between them soothe away his fear. "You...you are so awful." He groaned, warmth curling around low in his stomach, his hips jerking up instinctually to get more of that delightful friction. "You...you..."

"You and me..." Kakashi took up, his lips curving up in an approving grin as things began to melt and rearrange between them once more. Condensation was forming, and what had been soft and quiescent was becoming firm and demanding. Soon liquids would be appearing, salty and bittersweet. "Seems we're starting early. You'll help me burn off some of this energy...won't you?" He groaned, bending down to kiss sweet lips that opened for him, stabbing in his tongue to drink deeply from heady heat.

Despite past tempests and their disagreements, despite the knowledge that there would be more storms and more misunderstandings, they knew that this was the home they had created together. A place for their two hearts to be together. A refuge where they could share their need for each other and their love. Like the seasons that changed and faded and changed again, they would fight and they would love, but this tempest had taught them one thing for sure. More important than the fight was the love, and they loved each other too much for this estrangement to ever happen again.

Stormclouds might loom again over their relationship, but Kakashi made himself a promise that they would only be the kind brought by the fierce passion of mutual need. The kinds of clouds that the sizzled with sparks like those they were creating right now, clouds that thundered as their heartbeats sounded together and they gave into this most essential need between them.

On the longest day of the year the icy white of the Hatake chakra flashed and the golden heat of Naruto's roared, and a sweet spring rain began to fall.

The End

A.N.: Much thanks to my wonderful beta Aozoran, who is a talented writer all on her own. I couldn't do it without you, sweetie. Thanks so very much!