Yo. I very much love KakaIru, but there's a few things people do that irritate me. For one thing, Iruka is not a weepy uke. No, I don't care what you think. He's not.

Second, Kakashi is not a creepy stalker. Kakashi is a socially maladjusted child-prodigy who probably couldn't get a date to save his life. If anyone is initiating a relationship, it's Iruka.Y'know, kind, caring, friendly, out-going Iruka? Yeah. Not antisocial, kinda creepy Kakashi. Now, I love Kakashi. But he's creepy and kinda anti-social. So, yeah.

Anyway, Iruka knows Kakashi's a badass who can take care of himself. Kakashi is infamously capable. However, Iruka being the caring person that he is, I can see him worrying about Kakashi while knowing that he shouldn't. So, I give you the following: a hopefully IC KakaIru fic. Please tell me how I did. I want criticism very much, because it helps me get better.

Disclaimer: Masashi Kishimoto owns Naruto.

Warnings: Shounen-ai. Nothing else.

Iruka wasn't worried.

Well, okay, that was a lie. He was worried, and he hated it. Kakashi could take care of himself, and Iruka knew Kakashi could take care of himself, but...

But he was still worried. Images of Kakashi hurt--or, oh, god forbid, dying, his life pumping out in sticky red spurts from his slit throat or stomach--kept popping into his mind, distracting him constantly. More than anything, it was annoying, because trying to teach while thinking about your lover bleeding to death alone wasn't easy.

Iruka didn't like being worried about Kakashi. It was stupid, and he knew it was, because Kakashi was a jounin--and a genius to boot--and could take care of himself very well. Still, as much as he hated it, Iruka couldn't help but worry. He loved Kakashi, and Iruka always worried about the ones he loved.

Even years after they had graduated, Iruka found himself thinking about his students, about their lives, about how they were doing. Every time Naruto told him about another mission, he smiled and nodded and inwardly thanked every god he could name that the boy had come back, all the while marveling at how resilient Naruto was. No matter how hard the mission or how injured he was, the boy--no, he was a man now, and it was hard for Iruka to make himself remember that--always managed to come back grinning happily.

Of course, Naruto wasn't taking solo S-class missions. The very concept of a solo S-class mission was pretty nonsensical, considering that even C and B-ranked missions were done in teams. But Kakashi was strong, Kakashi could take care of himself, Kakashi wasn't going to get hurt.

Accidents happened. Accidents happened, and strong men ended up in the hospital covered in burns or missing limbs or laying in pools of their own blood on rooftops, sliced-up food for crows. Accidents happened, and bloodied dogtags came back instead of people, and then there were new names on the memorial and more tears and more heartache.

Iruka shook his head. He'll be fine. He's Kakashi. Sharingan Kakashi, Copy-nin Kakashi, the infamous Hatake Kakashi, the man who copied over a thousand jutsus, Konoha's most infamous genius...Kakashi would be fine. It was stupid to worry about him, and Iruka was not a stupid man.

Still, there was always that chance that something would happen. He might have gotten faulty information, or underestimated someone, or overestimated himself, or any number of things. While Iruka tried to convince himself that Kakashi was fine, the man could be lying dead in the forest, ripped clothing soaked in blood.

"Iruka-sensei?" The child's voice shocked him back to the present.

Smiling, Iruka turned to her and said, "Yes, Mika-chan?"

"What're you thinking about?" Wide blue eyes stared up at him inquiringly, and Iruka's smile widened. "You seem worried."

Iruka shook his head. "No, I'm fine. There's nothing for me to be worried about. Now, go home, and don't forget to practice your shuriken-throwing!"

Mika nodded and ran out the door with a cheerful, "Have a nice day, Iruka-sensei!"

Still smiling, Iruka gathered up his papers and began walking home. Really, there wasn't anything to be worried about.