Title: On the Road of Life

Claimer/Author: This story is written by and belongs to Emmy Kay.

Pairing: Iruka, Kakashi

Summary: Romance. Kakashi finds something. Kakashi/Iruka.

Disclaimer: Naruto and all affiliated characters belong to Kishimoto Masashi. This story is written without permission and for personal/fan/nonprofit entertainment purposes only.


Note: short fill for a prompt from the kakairu kink meme.

Prompt: Kakashi is strolling along the road of life when he stumbles across this: (image of Iruka sleeping outdoors, artist is ju-ra on the kakairu-only tumblr, posted on August 6, 2011). Whatever is a Copy Nin to do?


It was like a joke. Kakashi had been walking in the grey pre-dawn, minding his own business, when he stumbled over a pair of sandals. They weren't even his sandals. Indignant, he righted himself immediately, and looked around for their owner.

There, an arm's length away, mostly hidden by a small rise, he saw something. Cautiously, he approached. He was inwardly swearing at himself. If he had been this careful from the beginning, he wouldn't have tripped in the first place. He blamed exhaustion at the end of an interminable mission, details of which he didn't have the energy to even think about. He hadn't slept properly for the better part of a week, choosing to travel at night. He didn't know how he was going to put together a coherent report. But the Sandaime had demanded to his presence the moment he returned to the village, tardiness was unacceptable. He had been expected back two days ago.

Someone lay asleep on the practice field, and except for the lack of footwear, he was wearing almost all of his fieldgear. Leaf hitai-ate, standard issue shirt, pants and leg wraps. A chuunin? It was chilly this morning. Where was his flak jacket? A genin, then. Had this person fallen asleep, worn-out from training? Was he going to rise early to practice? Was he waiting for somebody? Had that person failed to appear?

Sunlight cleared the little rise, dew sparkling with the dawn. Light shot across the sleeping figure, the different densities almost making it appear as if he were sleeping underwater. The radiant early sunshine illuminated the brown hair, the soft cheek, the straight back, the long legs, touching him as tenderly as a lover's hand.

Kakashi had been a killer, a deadly stalker of men, a creature of darkness for so many years that most of his superiors and nearly all of his peers thought he was incapable of recognizing beauty and grace and delicacy. In this moment, they were proven wrong.

Without thinking, he emptied the contents of his flak jacket into his pants pockets. He slid it off his shoulders. Carefully, he lowered the garment across the sleeping body. The sleeper stirred, curling around the jacket with a grateful murmur.

For a moment longer, Kakashi looked down at the sleeping form. He knew he should go.

The sleeper stirred again.

Kakashi silently fled, knowing his footsteps would disappear with the dew. He wondered if the Sandaime would ask why he was late. Perhaps, just perhaps, Kakashi would reply that he had been strolling along the road of life when he came across something - someone - wonderful.