A/N: 12 reviews... that's over 10... Not a high number, but good enough for me to continue:3 Well... here's le next chappie! Thankies fer le reviews, you guys!
Haha... I, at first, started out (in the first chapter) writing this in Kakashi's POV... but, then I erased it all, started over, and changed to Iruka's POV. I found that it's a lot more convenient... XD
Disclaimer: I dun own le Naruto series
XXX
Iruka was on his way to the academy. He was so preoccupied trying to think of ways to get Kakashi to stop loving this 'other guy'. He growled through his clenched teeth and decided to look around for some male nin that Kakashi could have possibly fallen for. Much to his surprise, when he looked up, he had just caught a glimpse of Kakashi rounding the corner in front of him.
He perked up with a smile and ran towards the silver-haired jounin.
Iruka slowed to a fast walk when he reached the taller nin's side and put on his prettiest smile.
"Ohayo gozaimasu, Kakashi-sensei!" He greeted casually. Kakashi looked down to him and smiled back wearily behind his mask.
"Ohayo..." The jounin sighed and looked back to the snow-covered road in front of him. He glanced down to Iruka, noticing he didn't have anything out of the ordinary that would keep him warm for the winter season. Kakashi closed his eyes and took off his scarf, wrapping it around Iruka's neck slowly. "Y'know... you go around without any warmth and you're gonna catch a cold, Iru-kun..." He whispered. Iruka blinked, blushing wildly.
"Heh... I guess I wasn't thinking this morning..." He replied, hugging the scarf around his neck, taking in every delicate whiff of Kakashi's remaining fragrance.
After a couple steps of awkward silence, Kakashi spoke up.
"Ano... Iruka-san?"
"Yeah?"
"Uh... I just wanted to thank you..."
Iruka looked puzzledly up to the jounin.
"Thank me? For what?"
"For telling me to go and get advice from someone... I guess I had more problems than I wanted to admit..." Kakashi whispered, looking sadly at the snow-frosted pavement beneath his feet. Iruka stopped walking and stared at the jounin, who stopped after a couple more steps and looked back to the chuunin. Iruka smiled.
"...did you get advice from someone?" He asked, making sure he wasn't revealing anything about it being him that gave the jounin the advice.
"Yeah... Really useful advice, too... I think I'm going to take it..." He said slowly, and turned to keep walking. Iruka perked up and caught up to the jounin, puffs of white breath emitting from his mouth.
"What're you going to do...?"
"...I... I'm thinking of going back into the ANBU..." Kakashi said quietly.
"Eh!-?" Iruka came to a halt and stared wide-eyed after the jounin. "What?... but...why?" He asked, completely baffled. Kakashi stopped and turned back to Iruka with a sigh.
"Here... you have to be anywhere specific?"
"Well... The academy doesn't open for another hour... and Shikamaru could handle my classes if I'm not there... why?"
"Good... come on..." Kakashi walked to Iruka, grabbed him right above the elbow, and drug him into a nearby tea parlor on the side of the road.
XXX
Kakashi took a long sip of his hot chocolate, his mask completely off and a new scarf around his neck. Iruka watched him curiously, a steaming mug of raspberry cocoa in his mittened hands. The two were in a cozy booth, one opposite the other, in a small parlor filled with people trying to get away from the chilly winds of winter. As the jounin slowly set his cup down, he started off with his explanation.
"...I want to join the ANBU again because it keeps me away from kids, who remind me of Obito and Rin... and it keeps me occupied...so I don't think about-" Kakashi stopped there, not daring to say the next word and avoided eye contact.
"Who...? Think about who?" Iruka pursued. Kakashi shot Iruka a glance.
"Who said it was a who?" He asked suspiciously. Iruka blushed and immediately took a long sip of his steaming raspberry cocoa. "That's what I thought..." Kakashi growled.
"Kakashi..." Iruka started slowly, after putting his cup down. "...you know you can tell me anything..." He whispered quietly. Kakashi looked up and met the chuunins' eyes. Two chestnut brown eyes stared sorrowfully back into one crimson sharingan and one glistening silver.
Kakashi looked to the side once more.
"...there's nothing to tell..."
Iruka sighed and leaned on the table, resting his chin in the palms of his hands
"If you don't have anything to talk to me about, then you can always come to me just to have someone to be with... I promise, I'll always be there for you..." Before Iruka had time to realize he was saying these words out loud, he had said them. He blamed it on his psychiatric instincts. Kakashi looked up to him and the chuunin blushed wildly. "Er... wh-what I mean is-"
Kakashi got up and slyly slid himself into Iruka's side of the booth, corning him to the frosted window. It looked almost like London outside, it was so beautiful.
"You won't die on me... will you, Iruka-kun?" Kakashi asked. Iruka blinked. He didn't know what to say. But, those two pleading eyes were just begging him to reassure the jounin. His bottom lip quivered slightly with confusion.
"I..."
Kakashi would've cut him off with a kiss right there, but, much to his dismay, the jounin suddenly remembered the advice 'UI' had given him, and looked away.
"Never mind... I guess I should be getting to meet with Naruto and Yamato, anyways..." He whispered and got up from the booth. "I'll pay..." He added, getting some yen from his pocket and placing it on the table by the tab. Iruka blinked. He should have stopped him. That's what he wanted to do. He wanted to yell out to him. Call him back, kiss him, even! But all he could do was watch as the silver-haired nin trudged wearily out of the parlor.
Iruka sighed as the familiar tinkling of the bell above the door met his ears and got up from the booth. Ever so slowly, the chuunin started on his way to the academy.
XXX
It had been a long grueling day for the chuunin. The academy students were even harder to control today. But, as he knew all too well, today still wasn't over, even though it was nearing midnight now.
The chestnut-haired dolphin growled to himself as his monitor flickered to life and the familiar Christmas-themed desktop came into view. Iruka liked to set his backgrounds according to either the holiday or what month/season it was. Currently, it was December in Japan, so he knew in three days, Christmas was around the corner. He knew he still needed to buy presents for everyone. Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, Moegi, Udon, Konohamaru... the list went on and on. But, there was one person at the top of his list that he could never forget. And that person was Kakashi.
Iruka smiled as he snuggled Kakashi's scarf. He still had it wrapped around his neck. He remembered he had run into the jounin at the end of the day and how Kakashi had politely told him to keep it. He slowly smelt his scent. The fragrance was still slightly there, to his pleasure.
Suddenly, he remembered he was supposed to be doing his job so he could get to bed. He sighed and double-clicked on his internet shortcut. A proverbial homepage popped up and his eyes briefly scanned the page. He clicked inside the browser, as usual, and went to his email. After a couple seconds, he had just opened up the first email to find something that sparked his interest.
"Kakashi-kun..." He whispered to himself, blushing slightly. "He wrote back..."
Dear UI,
I'd like to thank you for your help so far. It's very greatly appreciated. Umm... I have a couple more things to ask you, though...
I'm thinking about rejoining the ANBU forces from when I was little. It would let me get away from the kids and it would keep me occupied, so I wouldn't have to think about the one I'm in love with. Speaking of which...
I almost kissed him today... It was kind of awkward... I was telling him about how I finally got advice from someone and I got a little jumpy from his innocent expression and his all-around cuteness... I really, really think I love him! But... I've NEVER been gay before in my ENTIRE life! Can I like one guy without being gay?
-Scarecrow15
Iruka smirked to himself. This was his chance to break Kakashi's "other lover" and him up! The chuunin was quite jealous that Kakashi had told someone ELSE about his problems and that he trusted someone else enough to almost kiss them!
"I must do something about this..." Iruka growled and got typing.
XXX
A/N: Er... I'll update soon... sorry it was kind of short... I'll be sure to do a longer chapter next time! I sort of gotta go to bed now... Ja! (Review please, and I will continue when I reach 20 reviews!)
