Disclaimer: not mine.

A/N: enjoy! Any errors, suggestions or comments then send them! And a side note, I love it when people copy and paste their favourite bits!

How Kakashi manages to get himself into these situations is beyond him sometimes. He looked upon the scrawny, undernourished and absent-minded so-called army he had been assigned to and realised that the king definitely didn't like him. He glanced over each of the 100 men he had been given to train and decided that he had his work cut out. He would actually have to put time and effort in! He was hoping to spend time with the prince his entire visit!

He looked over to the youngest Uchiha's army and saw that he had been given strong, well-built and well fed men with polished swords and armour. He even had some of the noblemen in his formation; the knight was almost certain that his own army didn't even have helmets. He knew they had swords; but wouldn't be surprised if they had wooden ones.

He saw Naruto across the mock battle field giving an inspirational speech and he silently begged that he wouldn't have to do that too.

The young men in front of him looked expectant, so he decided he might as well.

"I don't like you all very much-" he started.

Iruka had never felt so uncomfortable. His right cheek ached from the slap he had received from Orochimaru and he wandered if anyone would notice, he didn't own a mirror and so had no idea what he looked like. He hoped it wasn't purple; it felt like it was swelling.

He looked upon the training field from a small podium type-thing filled with soft chairs for him and the noblemen to observe fights or training on.

More of the knights had arrived from japan; a weapons specialist named Tenten had arrived carrying more boxes than a woman should; but refusing to give them to anyone. She had a pretty completion; rosy cheeks and pale skin, dark hair tied into two pleasant buns. She looked to young and sweet to know her way around a sword, Iruka decided.

A large boy name Chouji arrived and appeared to be Shikamaru's best friend of sorts and Shika happily followed the boy around; nodding occasionally at what the larger was saying.

3 siblings who were not from the place the others were; Sunagakure or something, he heard, had arrived. The eldest was a girl with dirty blonde hair worn in 4 different ribbons around her head. She had a long dress, not dissimilar from most of the other Japanese women who were in the castle, but the fabric was an interesting colour; it looked blue, in other lights black. The inside was red and Iruka wandered how a fabric could be one colour on the inside and another on the outside.

The middle sibling was wearing a strange combination of bandages, fabric, and purple paint on his face and had a large – well, Iruka didn't know what it was- could have been a vase wrapped in bandages, or even a person with that big tuft of hair hanging out at the top. He wanted to ask what the man was carrying but as he glanced upon the youngest sibling he decided to keep a distance.

The youngest was a short boy with fiery red hair; he had a strange marking on his forehead that Iruka had never encountered before. He wore robes that the prince had never seen; a large hat, not dissimilar to the one Naruto was wearing now, that was a foam-green colour. His robes cascaded around his short frame in whites and a similar green to the hat. Iruka was told by a guard standing next to him that the red-head was Gaara, a young boy who had taken the throne from his father after savagely murdering him. Iruka looked upon the young boy as the guard next to him explained the story of his life. The boy's father was a spiteful man and blames Gaara for the death of his wife; who had died in childbirth. Apparently, young Gaara had murdered his father when the man threatened to have his sibling's killed; and hadn't been gentle in doing so. There were many rumours about how the man died, the guard explained, some believe Gaara poisoned the man's tea, some believe he stabbed his father when he wasn't looking; and the most common was that the boy became possessed with anger and ripped his father apart.
The girl was called Temari and the other boy Kankuro. Iruka pondered on why he youngest would receive the throne; but decided against dwelling on it, he probably received it because he was the one who killed the man. As the boy came into better sight; Iruka noticed the large gourd on his back, it was nearly as big as Gaara himself.

Iruka lightly tapped the guard's shoulder that was next to him; he wasn't the one who had told him about the Suna family, which surprised him a little. The guard nodded, but didn't turn. "U-um e-excuse me G-Guard, why does he wear that urr-"

"I don't know, you highness," he replied. He turned to face the prince and visibly winced when he saw the man's face; the bruise was large, and he could actually make out a handprint if he looked hard enough. There were large purple blotches were the hand had hit harder around the man's right cheek bone. Iruka felt the eyes on his face and grew red; not from embarrassment, but from anger. He was 27 years old and wasn't allowed to change his bedding without getting a hit like a poor child in a workhouse. Which he would have enviably been if Orochimaru had not taken him in.

He pondered on this as he watched the armies become acquainted; he laughed to himself when he saw the poor shape of Kakashi's army and the extravagance of Sasuke's.

-000-

Kakashi's speech only lasted a few minutes, mostly pauses he added for dramatic emphasis. He spoke about how much they all needed to just "Eat something fatty" and "Bulk up" while sneaking glances at the noble prince upon his dais. Sure enough, the men grew agitated and asked to be disbanded. The knight waved them off and drew out his book as he walked over to the prince. He avoided looking anxious, hoping the book would hide that fact he could barely hold down a grin.

As he approached the platform the prince sat at he decided to admire the brunette from over his book; planning a strategy.

The prince sat on a plush chair; despite the soft duck-feather cushions he seemed very uncomfortable and shifted around like a child in a doctor's office. He was surrounded by guards and noblemen, a woman approached him with wild brown hair and red triangles on her cheeks; he knew her as Tsume Inuzuka, she wore an off-white gown and held a hand out to him and he awkwardly shook it. Kakashi laughed to himself; he first felt jealous as the woman approached, but he realised Iruka was either clueless on how to greet a woman or just wasn't interested. He saw the woman knit her brows in disappointment because the prince had not laid his lips on her hand; but she began talking to him anyway.

The knight approached slowly and watched, amused, as the prince blushed and tried to get a word in on the fierce woman's conversation. The prince turned his head to look at the blur of silver coming from the corner of his eyes. He saw Kakashi approaching with his book in hand and trademark mask.

Shika and Kiba watched form the edge of the field; joined by Chouji and a blonde girl with her hair in a long, blonde pony-tail who was one of the Konoha medics.

"He's got it bad," Ino stated, crossing he arms over her simple, above-the-ankle length dress.

The two men nodded slowly in agreement. The three's brows furrowed as Iruka turned slightly and a flash of purple was seen.

Kakashi physically stopped walking as he looked upon the man's purple face; his entire cheek was swollen and blotchy. His sharp and beautiful cheekbones were bruised from and obvious hit. The knight had never felt such intent to kill a man in his life; and he killed for a living. How dare Orochimaru lay a hand on Iruka at all! Let alone to harm! He noticed Iruka's eyes flick with something he didn't recognise and the prince bowed his head in shame. He must have looked so weak compared to such a strong knight.

"Prince Iruka," he said calmly; bowing his head slightly and placing his book in his pocket again. He winced and began walking again towards the man. He stood in front of him within touching distance; effectively blocking out the Inuzuka, and watched in amazement as the prince's cheeks darkened even further until even the guards around him started holding in their laughs.

"I think you owe me a tour," Kakashi stated, enjoying having this opportunity to have some alone time with the prince. Iruka, however, was not. He didn't want anything to do with this man who brought out strange feelings in him.

"This is hardly the time-"

"-Why do you address the prince with no title, Kakashi sir?" a guard interrupted, scowling at the knight.

"Because he had asked me to address him as such," he replied coolly, turning to face Iruka again and ignoring the guard's obvious displeasure. The guard, realising he wouldn't get a reaction from the knight turned to the prince and gave and angered look. Kakashi wandered why a mere guard would think he could have any form of power of the prince; wasn't the prince powerful enough to end the man's life with a click of his fingers? He allowed his eyes to scan over Iruka and noticed the man's fumbling hands and tear-filled eyes. Perhaps the guards knew the man was too timid to take action. "Continue please," he paused and made sure his eyes were visibly showing his smirk as he locked eyes with the guard "Iruka,"

"Iruka sire, you shouldn't allow such…" the guard sneered at Kakashi and the knight simply narrowed his eyes. "…Men to address you so simply,"

"I'm sorry I didn't think much of it-"

Kakashi cut off the prince's quick reply by holding his hand out in a expectant manner, Iruka looked puzzled at the gesture; what was he supposed to do?

"A tour for the guest?" Kakashi said simply, waiting for his hand to be taken. He watched with amusement as the prince struggle to find words and his mouth opened and closed over and over.

The knight rolled his mismatched eyes, "You take the hand Iruka,"

In a moment of unplanned and spontaneous emotions Iruka took the pale hand and was pulled away from the guards by the man. He wasn't sure of why he did it; and knew he would receive an earful for it later.

But to hell with it, he was in deep already!

Kakashi couldn't wipe the grin from his face if he tired; he felt the shocks of electricity he had read about and the sweaty palms in his books when he held the princes hand; this was what falling in love is supposed to feel like, and he was loving it. He always thought he would be terrified when he fell in love; but this was so much fun! He knew he shouldn't think of a prince in such a way and he couldn't ever justify it if they ever acted on these feelings; maybe they could just elope.

Iruka wasn't having such a good time; the knight was still holding his hand as he was pulled through the palace; he thought this was meant to be a tour, but the man seemed to know where he was going. His hands felt warm and his forehead beaded with sweat. This was not meant to be happening! What was this anyway? He felt his chest exploding and his breath caught every time the man's long, pale digits tightened on his own when he was pulled around a corner.

He made accidental eye contact with nobles as he was dragged around and closed his eyes in hope of blocking them all out. He briefly noted a warm breeze as they stopped walking.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in the gardens. He recognised this place as the small river that he had hoped to expand into the main garden; where he dreamed of frogspawn and children. Trees were on the other side of the small lake; they travelled around to two large oaks that worked almost as an entrance to the river, a small clearing of sorts. It was visible from the main gardens but you couldn't make out faces from it.

He looked at the knight and found he couldn't see him. A clearing of a throat caught his attention and he saw the silver-haired man sat cross-legged on the floor.

"Come join me down here Iruka, can I still call you that?"

Iruka nodded with his mouth still hanging open. How did he get here? Why did he do this! Orochimaru was going to murder him for this. He awkwardly placed himself a metre or so way from the man and looked out over the murky water.

"Did he hit you?" Kakashi asked in a strait forward manner; his lack of social skills coming in handy as he watched the man blush and failed to connect it with his forward question.

"I-I urr-"

"-So yes?"

"Y-yes… I-is it that bad?" the prince asked; gingerly reading up and placing a hand on his tender cheek; wincing to himself as a throbbing sensation started that he could feel against his hand and check.

"Yes! Haven't you seen it?" Kakashi said abruptly; not thinking it through very well as he often did around the prince. He thought about mentally punching himself, but saw Iruka blushing and almost physically patted himself sarcastically on the back; 'Well done, idiot, now you're turned on,'

"N-no… I don't own a mirror," the prince stuttered and Kakashi felt something pang in his stomach; he wasn't sure it was a reaction to the sense of sincerity the prince emitted; or sorrow that the prince didn't think he was beautiful enough for a mirror. He knew he could look at the man all day and still ponder on how he didn't think he was the most wonderful creature in the world. He decided to leave the complements out; he may be "socially inept" as Sakura had put it once, but he wasn't a total moron.

"Tell me the story of this place," Kakashi said, and Iruka realised when he said "tour" he actually meant a tour of the place's he didn't understand, not the ones he had spent the knight searching.

"I-it's just a lake in a clearing,"

Kakashi dead-panned and waited for an answer. He knew for a fact Iruka would like a place like this; since he liked the main gardens.

"W-well it's a little clearing with frogs in the water and birds in the trees, rabbits in the forests. There used to be deer but the hunters saw them one day."

"How did they find them?"

Iruka furrowed his brows as he thought of when the deer used to frolic around. Some were brave enough to come close to him to drink from the water.

"The nobles grew hungry for game," he spoke quietly. Kakashi sighed. This boy was so innocent, untainted and caring. He looked as though he was truly heartbroken over the loss of the deer.

"How old are you Iruka?"

"Twenty seven, yourself-f?"

"Thirty one, you look younger,"

Iruka blinked a few times, Kakashi was 4 years his senior? That didn't seem like all that much; he had expected longer.

"M-may I ask-"

"You may ask me anything you want Iruka,"

The prince let out a bashful smile and Kakashi felt himself swoon slightly; how could a man be so oblivious to his own beauty? "Umm ok, may I ask… why you provoke Orochimaru so much?"

Kakashi thought about it a moment; there were several reasons he didn't like the king. One, he let his kingdom that was once a prosperous and peaceful place perish in war, another; he seemed to pick favourites and then discard any other as though they were mere dirt. He also had… aggressive opinions about class and royal blood, he had a strange obsession for the young Uchiha that was almost obsessive and it had only been a few days, and he changed his bed sheets.

The final; he dared to lay his hands on Iruka.

"I don't find him a good ruler." He simply said, but he knew Iruka would enquire about why he thought this and decided to take the opportunity (if it arose) to shamelessly flirt; he hoped the man would blush again.

"Why though?"

Ahh, life was good. "Because he has hurt you, Iruka."

And there it was; the beautiful blush spread across the prince's face and accentuated the scar running across his nose that he acquired from the great war, he dipped his head and Kakashi saw the blush fade suddenly. He became worried the prince would say something to send Kakashi away or something. Iruka looked back up and Kakashi saw tears collecting in his wonderful brown eyes; like molten chocolate only more tempting.

"Do you think I'm weak?" Iruka stated voice full of malice and hurt. Kakashi frowned; that wasn't supposed to happen. "Too frail and fragile to protect myself from a hit!"

"No, not at all-"

"And now my face is like this!"

"There's nothing wrong with your face Iruka,"

"Then why does everyone stare at me all of the time; as though I'm escaped cattle!" the prince screamed; standing from his seated position and bunching his fists angrily by his sides as he turned from the knight to face one of the trees that created the arch.

"Because you have a large bruise—people will naturally stare Iruka,"

"But it was even before that, I'm scarred and they look at me as though I should be taken away because of my face!" he said through the tears that were spilling down his face. Kakashi wanted to hold him since it seemed like what he should do; but he knew the man wouldn't like that so he simply stood. What was wrong with a scarred face anyway? He had one, and although it got his fair share of looks it wasn't any more than his accomplices got in their armour.

"What's wrong with having a scarred face, Iruka?"

Iruka's eyes widened and more tears escaped; a pathetic sob escaped his throat when he realised he had offended the knight "n-no I didn't mean to offend you sir Kakashi!" he said quickly, turning suddenly to face the man and waving his hands in a defensive manner in front of him.

Kakashi dipped his head; this man was such a weakness to him and they had hardly known each other for more than a week. He wandered if the prince had any similar feelings towards him so soon; but it only takes a moment to fall in love, and he was pretty damn close. But he had never fallen in love; and he suspected that Iruka had never either. It probably wasn't smart to fall in love with someone so off limits as a first love, but he never really was any good at anything.

"It's OK; I know you don't mean it,"

Iruka sniffed and wiped his eyes on his sleeve absently. They stood for a moment like that before Iruka seated himself again; Kakashi followed.

"I'm s-sorry Kakashi sir,"

"Just Kakashi,"

The sat in a silence again, looking upon the water. A silence that spoke louder than words; a silence that seemed to gain more and more comfort with each passing moment. And sure enough, they sat like that for half an hour in each other's presence.

Iruka glanced around the trees and saw a marking on one of the further away ones. He squinted to read it and lifted himself to see. He walked away from the knight, who looked at him with curiosity, and reached the tree. It was a little further into the hidden clearing and Kakashi observed that people in the main gardens couldn't see them if they stood there. He followed the prince.

As he looked over the brunettes shoulder he observed the man's face first; a look of serene happiness crossed his face as he laughed slightly. Kakashi looked at the tree and read the carving engraved in a love heart in the bark.

Naruto+Sasuke

They laughed together for a moment as they looked at the names on the tree; trust them to stake their mark on each other in a place like this.

-000-

They talked idly of Sasuke and Naruto; conversation changing from subject to subject as the hours passed.

At 9 o'clock at night they found themselves sat observing the summer sun; still out at this time. They weren't hungry despite missing lunch and dinner, nor were they cold despite the increasing shadows.

A month passed, although it seems a long time it felt like hardly a week. Kakashi's army, as hopeless as it is, was making some sort of progress. They could lift the swords and shields now without toppling over.

Iruka often watched him training from one of the castle rooms or outside; but was often stopped by a guard since his presence wasn't needed. Once he had snuck out and sat behind a tree. He waved to Shikamaru, Sakura, Sasuke and Asuma when they saw him and made a sign of his finger over his mouth to say "Shh" so that they wouldn't tell Kakashi. He felt a little giddy at doing something like this; it reminded him of when he was a child and he played pranks, before he was beaten into line.

He watched as Kakashi set up a dummy made from wood and string; something he had obviously trained with himself. The army of 100 men looked upon him with utter confusion as he said something the prince couldn't make out and pointed to different places on the dummy.

Iruka admired the man's armour; thick steel with intricate designs wrapped around Kakashi, he didn't wear chainmail since he was only training; nor did he wear his helmet. He wore his silver shoes and some brown trousers and his mask; which Iruka now new smelled of mint and a strange earthy smell; since the knight was often in close proximity. Iruka looked at his weapon attached to his waist, a long silver sword in its simple black case.

Kakashi drew his sword and the 100-strong-army around him "oohed" and "ahhed" at it as the sunlight reflected off of it.

The prince's eyes unconsciously widened and his mouth hung open as all of the muscles on the knight's body flexed and he took a fighting stance and slashed his sword across the trunk on the make-shift enemy.

The top of the trunk slid off and hit the floor with a thunk; Iruka looked upon the trunk in two pieces as the knight started talking again and the army tried not to fix their eyes on his sword.

He tried to sneak behind the tree's a lot more after that.

The entire knight population in the castle was making progress; Shikamaru's team was highest on the blackboard in the weapons room for tactics –there were 4 categories, malice, archery, tactics and overall- but towards the bottom for the amount of dummies they had slashed. Kakashi and Guy were joint in malice; but Kakashi was just slightly better at the tactical side. Each of the sand siblings had equal malice to tactics; but Gaara exceeded his siblings. Neji was exceedingly good at everything, as was Kurenai and Itachi. Kiba and Naruto were struggling a little bit; but they were determined. Tsume was best at the brute force (if that was a category), not so much the tactics; similar to lee. Tenten's team was excelling in archery much faster than any other team ever had, and Chouji and Asuma's teams were what could be considered "average" considering not one of the knights themselves was even slightly normal.

However, Sasuke seemed to be avoiding more and more of the training sessions since Orochimaru's intentions became clearer. He often asked for protection from his brother or Naruto but found they could only do so much to another king without harming international relations. On several occasions Naruto and Sasuke skipped meals to avoid the snake-like ruler and Itachi had to give excuses. He made sure the excuses were especially explicit; that the two were making love or were bathing together, just so that the obvious relationship was thrown in Orochimaru's face. Iruka and Naruto often ate together; which meant he Naruto and Sasuke often ate together since the Uchiha always ate with his lover. Especially after Orochimaru's interests were voiced.

Kakashi and Iruka met whenever they could, and Iruka found he was infatuated with the man, and he convinced himself it was because he was lonely and Kakashi was someone to talk to; but his dreams were becoming involved. At night he saw the man above him, kissing his neck and jaw and whispering sweet words in the husky voice that Iruka tried not to drool over. He wondered every morning what the king would think of him for these thoughts and if Kakashi could see it in his face.

He told Kakashi of mischief and his parents and how he was not a noble blooded man. How his parents died and he was on battle field and his father shouted at him to leave the war scene before he himself was killed, before he was dragged away and never saw them again. He told him of how mischief was as a kitten and how he often slept next to him at night and he sometimes still reached out for him absently. He also (blushing the entire time) told him of his wish to teach someday. Kakashi didn't seem overwhelmed with shock; but inside he was pretty damned surprised.
He learned that Kakashi wore his mask because he looked a lot like his father and he didn't wish to be associated with him. He wanted to enquire why at first but found the man was cold towards the subject. A few weeks after the initial question was asked, Kakashi told him his father was a very famous knight and he was often mistaken for or compared to him. His father's name was "the white fang" and Iruka voiced his absence of knowledge of such a man. Kakashi openly smiled; allowing his eyes to visibly curve. Sometimes Iruka was too perfect.

Hinata and Kiba didn't eat at the table again; Kiba tried to sit with the nurses at one of the lower tables but had received a scorning from Orochimaru and his favourite medic Kabuto. So, they ate together in their room with Hana. Tsume chose to continue to eat at the table because she enjoyed arguing with Tsunade. Neji often sat at the table but didn't contribute; and preferred to sit in his room at dinner time because the music and feasts didn't sit well with him.

The new sand siblings didn't eat with the king either until Naruto managed to drag them to a meal once (Along with Sasuke). Gaara seemed to be able to stand sitting with the blonde, but took far more interest in the bowl-cut sporting duo. He has obviously never seen such strange men and asked them several questions a night and soon became a regular occurrence at meal times. Although, he didn't seem to enjoy having people come near lee, the youngest jumpsuit-wearing boy and openly growled at Orochimaru when he placed a hand on the boys shoulder.

Naruto had developed a habit of tackle-hugging the prince, something Iruka thought was a sign of friendship; and Orochimaru thought was a fault in the boy's brain.

The prince enjoyed watching Guy and Kakashi bicker and squabble like children in usual best-friend rivalry. It turned out they knew each other despite the distance between their nations. He often caught himself staring at the silver-haired knight, and on several occasions; found him looking back.

As the pair sat in the usual clearing, glancing upon the tree where Sasuke and Naruto's names were becoming more and more frequent; and some very explicit drawings were making their appearance, they spoke of the usual chatter.

But today; Kakashi was on a mission. He had decided a month of courting was long enough; he wanted to know what Iruka thought of a real relationship with him.

"Were your parents Japanese Iruka?"

"My mother, why do you ask?"

"Because you name "Umino Iruka" broken down as "umi no Iruka" means "sea dolphin" in Japanese,"

Iruka sat for a moment, puzzling over this; he had never known his name had meaning. He knew it was a strange name for someone born in Konoha, but he never thought much of it.

"…Really?"

Kakashi nodded.

"…does your name mean anything?"

"Yes, the name "Kakashi" is Japanese for "scarecrow" and "Hatake" means "farmland or field", so my name means "scarecrow in the farmland", cool eh'?"

"Scarecrow and dolphin…" Iruka unintentionally said out loud. He stopped smiling for a moment and, again, felt mortified. Something he felt a lot lately.

Kakashi was squealing inside; he said there names together in such an intimate way! He felt a pulling at his heart and knew that Iruka must have something for him; you don't spew something out like that for any reason. He smiled behind his mask and considered pulling it down to let Iruka see his face; and perhaps relieve the man's mortification, but he knew it would only make tension thicker.

"May I call you dolphin, Iruka?" he asked, fluttering his eyelashes slightly as if it would help.

"Wh-wont his majesty enquire-"

"Don't worry about that, it can be our thing!" he beamed, feeling like Naruto with such a wide smile across his face.

"I-I don't-"

"Great! It's nice talking to you, dolphin," he said with a grin; he was enjoying this far too much; they finally had pet names! "You can call me scarecrow if you like, or maybe shi', or Kaka? Maybe-"

"K-Kakashi, I won't c-call you t-that…" Kakashi looked at Iruka with a puzzled expression; he saw a blush adorning his scarred face and smirked behind the cloth of his mask.

"Why not?"

"B-because it's t-too familiar and-"

"Intimate?"

"Precisely, Kakashi,"

"What's wrong with us being intimate, Iruka?"

"W-well," Iruka thought about it for a moment, he couldn't deny the fact he was no longer bothered by the fact they were both male; Naruto and Sasuke didn't receive any discrimination for their open preference, and Orochimaru himself clearly swung for the other team, shown by his fondness for the young Uchiha. But that wasn't precisely the problem; the king had an obvious distaste for the knight, and he clearly wasn't going to produce heirs by himself; judging by his preference. Although, that hardly seemed to faze Naruto. "Y-you know why Kakashi!" he screamed, unable to voice his thoughts. He flailed his arms in the air and stood from his seat, making his way to the tree were Sasuke's and Naruto's names were carved. He braced a hand on it and placed his forehead on the rough bark to try and cool himself. He felt a hand touch his shoulder and another lay on his waist; he jumped and tuned abruptly only to be crushed to a tree by a –mask less- knight.

His mouth hung open as he observed Kakashi's smooth pale skin; the man had full lips and a strong jawline, unscarred skin except a small white line across his lip. His eyes seemed far more beautiful now they were against his pale skin; his mismatched orbs looked straight into the princes chocolate ones. Pale hand came to hold his over his head against the coarse wood of the tree; a grip firm but not painful.

"W-wha-"

"I'm afraid I don't know, dolphin, please educate me,"

"K-Kakashi I am a… a" he wavered, was prince even the right word for what he was? He hardly fitted the definition, peasant blood; he was basically a servant, beaten by the king and told what to do; disrespected by even maids. "…Prince! A prince! I cannot be involved with you like this!"

"Why not? Naruto is a king; Sasuke isn't even a legal knight and they are far more involved than us! I am a very noble knight, respectable and I want to be involved with you!"

"But why!" Iruka cried out, sobbing lightly as felt tears brimming over his eyes. "I'm not anything…" he let out a chocked cry and rested his head on a muscled shoulder. Kakashi felt his pony tail brush is cheek and he released the man's wrists. The prince's arms immediately rested around his neck and his own untied the tie holding the prince's hair up; he stroked his fingers through the soft brown strands for the first time as Iruka cried into his shoulder. He didn't even think much of it, just did what he wanted.

"You are far more than that to me, Iruka, I want to make you feel like mischief were here again; when you could stand this place,"

"I could never stand this place even if you and mischief were here,"

"Well then, we can leave this place someday,"

"Don't be stupid, if it was so easy I would do it myself."

"I'm serious, you and I can run away; you can teach and I can find some other work; we can buy a cat and a dog, lots of dogs, I like dogs. We could-" Kakashi blushed furiously "-get married, live in a house and you could plan the garden like you always wanted to,"

"It's all very cliché Kakashi, every single set of lovers make this pact-"

"Well, maybe we can be the first; I don't know if it occurs to you but were not exactly normal. You can come to japan with me and we can, y'know, elope!"

Iruka sighed. He had no intention of believing this crap. As much as it was everything he wanted; to live with a cat, dogs, Naruto and his friends; Kakashi…

"It would never happen, you are going to go to war soon,"

"I thought you would have more faith in me, I've been in far more fights than I care to list and have come out alive,"

"Well my luck has never been good!" Iruka cried out again and pushed against the strong chest in front of him suddenly. "It wouldn't happen! And my parents are here!"

"You parents monument is here; you'll find one in my own village, Iruka, we can visit it together and I can meet you parents,"

Iruka's arms strained as he pushed Kakashi away harder; still the man didn't budge and it only made Iruka feel weaker and weaker, his sense of thought and a feeling of numbness catching up with him.

Kakashi placed his hands over tanned ones on his own chest and sighed. "I always thought I was a rational person, Iruka." He growled, making the prince stop and lock onto his eyes. The younger unconsciously shivered at the aggression he saw pooling in the red and grey orbs. "But you've made me change; you've made me wish, made me plan, made me… Love," the prince gasped audibly and his lips began to tremble. "And I never thought I would do any of those things; you see, I'm a killer Iruka. A simple, disposable killer and I don't deserve you- but I'm going to have you none-the-less. Because for once I feel like if I don't have you I don't have anything,"

Kakashi leaned forward and captured the princes trembling lips in a soft kiss; Iruka stopped shaking as he felt lips pressed to his for the first time.

Next time: Iruka has to think things through; and Orochimaru has a gift for his prince.