Author's Note: I'm not that good at writing romance, if you've noticed. For "Breathing in Snowflakes", the story itself is not primarly centered around romance. The main action is Iruka's condition and then the side plot with Hanare. That being said, I mused about the idea of making this romance, but it's not really romance. Okay, it is, but it's not the main plot. There is plenty of side romance between the two that add to the suspense and the second plot, but not the main one. And when I say romance, I don't mean that kissing, huggy, etc., no...because I think there are enough of those. I want to stay away from making this a cheesy story. It's almost a forbidden romance, BUT, it won't ruin the story. The story also switches from Point of Views. The next chapter will be Iruka's point of view. It'll probably be, Iruka, Kakashi and Naruto.

The primary tags are going to be adventure, angst, drama and then romance. Don't worry, the two will eventually get together, but not right off the bat.

Summary: AU. Kakashi, newly elected Hokage of Konoha learns that the Title isn't all about sitting down and sending ninja to do your work for you. With an arranged marriage forced upon him, it doesn't seem like things could get worse, especially since his heart lies somewhere else. However, with a strange new enemy looming over the ninja world, Kakashi might not be able to rest so easily. Now he is faced with protecting Konoha, his fiance, and the one he truly loves, Iruka. Can he balance all these things, at the same time and most importantly, will he be able to let Iruka go and choose the right path?

Pairings: KakashixOC, KakashixIruka (later), NarutoxHinata, SakuraxLee, NejixTenTen, InoxSai...may've missed some.

Warnings: AU, I mean anything can happen now have you read the latest manga chapter? So if you see dead characters, that aren't supposed to be alive...then, it's just a forewarning. Don't hate!

Chapter One: Half a Man

Kakashi

He was already used to it, or at least he should have been, by now. Being forced or walking into something he wanted to take absolutely no part in. However, as usual, he didn't have the willpower to say no and eventually he subsided to the will of his superiors. He would tell himself, that the things he did were for the sake of the village and that he should be proud of them, he should be proud of himself. But at the end of the day, Kakashi found his reflection mocking him. His conscience would whisper terrible things in his ear, most often, calling him "Half a man.".

A man could make his own decisions. It would say. Even if he was going against the village, after all, that's what your dad did.

Kakashi had taught himself to cast the voices out of his head. He didn't like to think of his dad, especially at times like this.

The White Fang, a proud ninja of Konoha, slowly met his demise for going against the villages orders. No one got to experience that better than Kakashi. He didn't like coming home every day to see Sakumo passed out with beer bottles around him. He didn't like to see his father slowly dying from the inside out for going against the village and doing what was right.

In all honesty, Kakashi wanted to avoid that kind of self destruction himself. So when he just said "yes", to everything, things would be okay.

Up until now.

The first major thing that Kakashi was forced into, was becoming the Sixth Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village after the fourth Shinobi war. Perhaps he was drunk at the time, or that voice in his head had just left him, but he didn't really think of the responsibilities that he'd have to carry. He didn't think, that accepting that role would either change his life for better, or for worse. Much worse.

It didn't hit him until perhaps, days before the ceremony, that he had made a mistake and this is how he knew how. He thought of the one person in his life that he wanted to please the most, and that was his father, Sakumo Hatake. Would sitting in the Hokage's desk, wearing that garb and hat make the man he once called father happy? Would Sakumo be smiling down at him?

The answer was simple, no.

The village had wronged the Hatake family, it had wronged Sakumo. No matter how Kakashi looked at it, becoming Hokage was a terrible way to honor his dead father.

But Sakumo was dead? Was he not, did his opinion really matter? After all, Sakumo was nothing but a drunken failure. Kakashi didn't have to go out of hi way to please a man he wasn't even proud of.

No, Sakumo was nothing but a selfish man who was afraid of his crashing image. A selfish man who left his own son to fend for himself.

He was nothing but, half a man, and for years, Kakashi would force himself to believe that.

The second major thing Kakashi was forced into, and the thing he regretted the most, was being forced to marry the princess of the Fire Country. The Daimyo's daughter, princess Urami.

The woman herself was only a few years younger than Kakashi, and she was beautiful. She had long flowing blond hair. It was said to be softer than the finest silk. Her face seemed like it was carved from pure china, as it was flawless. Her eyes were as blue as the evening sky, and perhaps the most beautiful in the land. She wore an expensive pink kimono that flowed in the wind like an outside banner. All this was equipt with her angelic appearance.

She truly was beautiful.

However, Kakashi did not feel an ounce of love for her (he kept this to himself of course.). No, his eyes had been set on one person for years, one person of the same gender. And that was the lowly chunnin, Iruka Umino.

He wasn't sure if Iruka felt the same way for him of course, it was all a huge guessing game. For years, he'd muse on the idea of being with the younger man, holding the younger man, etc., but in the end was it worth it? Kakashi made all the fantasies of the two in his head, but what was the point if he'd never tell Iruka how he felt?

Again, the voice in his head came back to insult him.

You should've told Iruka you loved him years ago, now you're stuck in this position.

But it's not like he could do anything.

In the position Konoha was in now, it would not be the central power unit of the Fire Country unless, the Hokage had a direct alliance with the Daimyo. So whether he wanted to Urami or not, he had to. He had to also put behind his foolish emotions for Iruka. He hardly knew the chunnin and the only times the two talked or had time to talk was when regarding Naruto. Seeing as Naruto was grown, it didn't seem like Kakashi would have any more conversations with Iruka.

So there, things were made much easier for him. And besides, he didn't have time to worry about his tragic love life.

There was a wedding in three months, a village to bring back up from it's ashes and paperwork. Kakashi was probably booked for the rest of his life.

The sun had barely risen that morning, yet Kakashi found himself woken by stress. To ease his mind, he stood up from his bed and walked over to the window.

Already, before sunrise he saw villagers restoring their homes. There were young children at play, running around the rebuilt streets.

The Hokage couldn't help but smile at how peaceful everything seemed at the moment and he only hoped to keep it that way.

He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples before turning around and heading to the washroom. As usual, he would pass his fiance, Urami's room. She was sleeping, just as an angel should, covered in nothing by beautiful white. A white kimono, white sheets, white everything. He managed a soft smile before he vanished down the long corridor and into the washroom.

It had become a chore, for Kakashi not to look at his reflection in the mirror. He would only wash himself, and do whatever he needed to do, quickly. Wasting time had become part of his past, after all, he had more than enough work to do.

So putting on his casual ninja wear (not the Hokage garb) and his headband, he left the bathroom and began his day.

For nearly three hours, Kakashi had been sitting at a desk glaring over two large pieces of paper. The first one held the death toll while the second one held the names of those who were injured. Luckily, the names on the second list far exceeded those on the first list. However, he had to remind himself that no matter how short the Death Toll was, people had still lost there lives.

On that list, inevitably was Lady Tsunade. Next to her name was a small note, which at the time, Kakashi bypassed. He placed the list on his desk and threw his head back.

"Maa...so much work to be done." He said louder than usual.

"Well, isn't it great that you have someone to hold your hand through it." Kakashi brought his head back up and looked towards the entrance of the room. There, standing in the doorway with a beautiful white kimono was Urami. Her hair was tied up in a perfect bun and her face was coated with makeup.

"Urami." He spoke with little emotion. "I didn't see you there." He beckoned her in the room. She ran over to Kakashi and jumped on his lap, throwing her arms around his neck.

"In three months Kakashi, we'll finally be together, happily." She kissed his cheek.

"Yeah..." He replied without much thought.

Happily...yeah right. He thought, wanting to push her off. Her perfume was giving him a slight headache.

"Kakashi, since we are engaged, why not take off your mask? So I can see your face?" She held so much enthusiasm in her voice, but Kakashi declined.

"Later, Urami." There was a fake smile beneath his mask. "After the wedding."

She pouted as she jumped from his lap and walked over towards the window. She sighed when she looked outside. "What a pitiful village." She spoke. "When I'm done with it, it will be so much better."

Kakashi didn't want to know what she had in mind.

She then walked around the room, nearly tripping over the boxes and large stacks of paper. Kakashi inwardly laughed at how clumsy she was. For someone so angelic, she had the grace of a newborn calf.

"My my, Kakashi, you do have a lot of work on your hands." She joked.

"It would be amazing if you could help me." Kakashi added.

Urami only laughed. "That's not my job and neither is it yours! You should have a servant do the job for you. I think I'm going to see if this village has any good breakfast restaurants and after that, I'll go shopping. You are free to join me, and after that, we can discuss the wedding."

Within seconds, the princess was gone and took her scent with her. She left Kakashi in his office with a mess.

He had a slight mental argument with himself before getting his lazy ass out of his chair, and attempting to sort out the boxes and large stacks of paper.

For twenty silent minutes, he only sat in the center of the room with paper surrounding him. Sitting there, with boxes and papers in no apparent order, Kakashi had no idea what to do. He wanted so badly to shred every single piece of paper but something told him that that was a bad idea. In anger, he found his solution by gather paper and placing it in boxes with little space left.

"I heard Kakashi-san, that you had become Hokage. It's just a shock to see it with my own eyes." Kakashi whipped his head around, there standing in the entrance was someone who Kakashi actually wanted to see. Standing there with a cane in his hand, and a smile on his face, was Iruka.

"Iruka Sensei." Kakashi stood up with his one visible eye wide open. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm the Hokage's assistant, and I guess that makes me...your assistant. You knew that." Iruka smiled and walked over to Kakashi. "And it seems that you have a lot of work on your hands."

"Oh yeah...I," Kakashi hardly remembered seeing the younger man sitting at Tsunade's desk whenever he walked into the office. However, Iruka was there and now that Kakashi thought of it, he saw Iruka more times than he thought. Now, it seemed like he would be seeing him every day.

Oh joy.

"You go ahead and sit back down." Iruka said. "I can see you've tried to sort things out, but I think you made them worse."

"I'm sorry_"

"It's fine, I like doing stuff like this! Trust me." Kakashi watched as Iruka struggled to kneel down. However, he worked quickly and with ease as he took papers out of boxes and put them in their proper stacks.

"Your leg." Kakashi pointed out. "Are you sure you should be sitting like that."

"It's fine." And again, Iruka smiled.

"So, you were injured?" Kakshi pressed on the subject.

"As you can see, yes. But it's not as bad as it was during the war." He shrugged. "And I see, everything is going well for you. Becoming Hokage, that's a great honor."

"Yeah." Kakashi lied to Iruka, just like he had to everyone else. However, it seemed like the young chunnin saw past his facade. "Up until now, I haven't really worked for a Kage who was entirely happy with his or her job." Iruka sighed. "I would figure that you'd be the last to be happy, or completely happy."

Kakashi laughed. "Is that so?"

Iruka nodded. "But I guess that's just me."

Kakashi shook his head. "No Iruka Sensei, you are right."

"I am_"

Suddenly, Urami bursts inside the room, interrupting the two. She held shopping bags full of expensive merchandise. "Kakashi, who is this?" She asked rather impatiently, looking down at Iruka. "He looks like a gypsy almost, doesn't he?"

"My name is Iruka Umino, I am the Hokage's assistant." Iruka spoke kindly, ignoring her insult.

"Well, obviously, you haven't been doing your job." She spat. "Look at this place, it's a mess. I only wonder if your home, is the same way."

"With all do respect," Iruka grabbed his cane and stood up. "I've been in the hospital for a serious injury."

"Well that is no excuse. Kakashi deserves the_"

"Urami." Kakashi had enough. "While you are here, I expect you to respect my comrades."

She was silent for a while and then laughed. "Oh deary me, forgive me. I didn't know you were his comrade, um...Iruka?"

"It's fine...and you would be_" "My fiance. Princess Urami, of the Fire Country." Kakashi spoke and much to his surprise, he saw the look of shock than sadness, in Iruka's eyes.

"Yes! We're getting married in three months." Urami added. "It's a big honor, you know."

"Yes." Iruka sighed. "I should get going then. I think it's best to leave you two here alone."

"That would be great." Urami added. "Please make haste."

Iruka bowed to the couple before leaving and Kakashi couldn't help but feel his heart ache just a tiny bit. He watched as Iruka vanished and he only hoped that he hadn't hurt the younger man as much as he thought he did.

So tell me what you think. I'm kind of nervous about posting this story. Depending on the feedback I get, I may just take it down or leave it up. Anyway, I hope you guys like it!

I don't own Naruto or any of Masashi Kishimoto's characters.