Iruka dismissed his class and sat slowly on his chair. Two months of pregnancy and he was already feeling it; his stomach had grown enough for him to start buying larger clothes, so he could hide it from people, and now he was having morning sickness, not to talk about the extreme fatigue he felt. He tried to control his temper and keeping himself calm, but it was impossible. As much as he tried, in the end of the day he would always find himself yelling at someone. And it wasn't just the kids at the Academy pushing his wrong buttons, there was Kakashi too. Whenever he met with the silver-haired jōnin, they would always ending up arguing.

Iruka shook his head, pushing the image of the copy-nin in the back of his mind. He picked up the stack of assignment to begin grading it, when his eyes caught sight of the man standing in front of him.

"Hello, Iruka-sensei!" The man greeted him with a smile.

"Good morning, Yamato-san." Iruka looked up at him rather annoyed. "Can I help you?"

"Well Iruka-sensei, I came here to apologise." Yamato said, rubbing the back of neck. "I know it's a little bit late to do this but I really didn't know how to approach you before. I shouldn't have done what I did and now because of me you and Kakashi-senpai…"

"Yamato-san," Iruka cut him off sharply as he stood up and grabbed his things to leave. He was feeling tired anyway, he wanted to go home and rest. "You knew Kakashi was a married man, but you still..." He took a deep breath, realizing he was getting mad, and all he didn't need right now was stress. "…you know what? Forget it. Just save your breath. Me and Kakashi were through even before I caught you with him. So you don't need to apologise, because even if you guys didn't do anything, I still would put an end in our relationship."

Yamato winced at Iruka's voice. It was full of hurt and pain and anger at the same time. "I'm really sorry Iruka-sensei"

"There's nothing to be sorry about, Yamato-san. Now if you…" Iruka's voice trailed off. He felt a sudden pain in his stomach.

"Iruka-sensei? Are you alright?" Yamato asked and Iruka could feel the concern in his voice.

"No" He menaged to answer. The pain was overwhelming. He put his hand on his stomach and tears began to come up in his eyes as he leaned himself against his desk for support.

"Iruka…" Iruka heard his name being called out by someone, but it wasn't Yamato. It was Kakashi. He knew that voice too well. He tried to look at the jōnin but he couldn't see anything, his vision became blurred.

"What are you doing here? What did you do to him?" Iruka heard Kakashi say.

"I didn't do anything senpai, we were talking and then…"

Iruka couldn't hear the rest of Yamato sentence. He felt himself being lifted before everything went black.

…

Iruka woke up feeling slightly dizzy. He drew his hand on his forehead and noticed that his hitae-ate was gone and his hair was down. He looked down and saw that his uniform was replaced by a hospital gown. He shifted on the bed, trying to sit up, but two hands grabbed his shoulders and keep him down. The pain he'd felt on his stomach had receded and was nothing more than a slight pressure against his belly.

"Iruka, don't strain yourself." It was Tsunade. She looked worried at him, but Iruka somehow felt that there was more than worry in her eyes. "Lay back down, please." Iruka obeyed, slowly laying back down. "Can you remember what happened?"

Iruka looked at her puzzled. He couldn't remember how he got in the hospital. All he remembered was him talking with Yamato, then the pain on his stomach and then darkness. Iruka put his hand on his stomach when it hit him. "The baby...is it okay?…"

"Yeah, she's fine." Tsunade said with a smile.

"She?"

"Yes, it's a girl. I just found out about it when I did some tests on you to see if everything's okay with you and the baby."

Iruka looked down at his slightly round belly. He couldn't help but smile. "A girl?!" He whispered to himself.

Just before Tsunade could open her mouth to speak again, she heard the footsteps along the corridor outside. Hiashi Hyūga came into the room. "Iruka-sensei."

"Hiashi-san." Iruka inclined his head respectfully, but then frowned. "What are you doing here?"

"Iruka," Tsunade looked at him with concern. "The tests I did to you showed me something that really worries me, that's why I called Hiashi here. Please let him examine you."

"Why?"

"Just let him, okay?"

Iruka nodded, still not understanding why. He hoped everything was fine with his baby.

Hiashi stood in front of him, scanning over his body using his Byakugan. He looked over at Tsunade with a stunned look on his face. When she had called him for help and told him about Iruka's pregnancy, he couldn't believe at first, but now he was seeing the little life growing inside of the chūnin, it was incredible. He never thought it could be possible. A male, pregnant!?

He saw the chakra pathway system in the baby's body. Amazing, he thought.

"Well?" Tsunade broke the silence.

Hiashi sighed. "I can see her chakra."

"You-you can?" Iruka asked. "It's only two months, it's hard to detect the baby's chakra..."

"It's not." Tsunade sighed, folding her arms across her ample chest. "Iruka, your pregnancy is not like the others, not only because you're a male but also because it's the result of a Jutsu." she explained. "As you already noticed, your stomach is getting bigger each day. Though you're only two months pregnant, the baby is developing very fast."

"And that's bad because..."

"You see, Iruka-sensei." Hiashi said. "you know, Chakra is created when two other forms of energy are moulded together, physical and mental energy!? These two energies becoming more powerful will in turn make the created chakra more powerful..."

"Get to the point Hiashi." Tsunade glared at him.

"Your mental and physical energy are there, Iruka-sensei. That is what is left. Whatever Jutsu you did, seems to have taken a lot out of you. But the strange thing is," Hiashi looked at Iruka and sighed. "It's like you're not producing anymore energy, like it has stalled itself." Iruka looked up, he'd taught about chakra a lot, and new almost everything about it. What Hiashi just said would never be possible. "And the only chakra left in your body is being transferred to the baby's body. No wonder she's growing so fast."

Iruka's frown deepened. "How...?"

"We don't know yet, but it needs to be stopped, because it's not only your chakra that she's absorbing but your vitality as well. That's why you've been growing weaker and more tired each day. Normally you gain weight during pregnancy, but you're losing it. If it keeps like this..." Tsunade bit her lower lip before continuing. "Iruka, you can die during childbirth or after it."

It felt as though Iruka's blood had turned to ice. "And is there anything we can do to stop it?" His voice shook.

"Right now, there's only one solution," Tsunade pursed her lips. She looked at him with compassion but did not shy from the truth. "interrupt the pregnancy."

The chūnin stared at her, his heartbeat thundering in his ears. His hands went straight to his stomach. "No…I…don't...I can't..."

"I know Iruka. You don't have to decide this now." Tsunade said softly. "You're going to be release tomorrow. Then I want you to go home and think about it. But remember, you don't have too much time."

Kakashi found himself in Konoha's ninja bar. The place was popular because of the open layout, cosy seating and well thought out lighting (subtle but not dark, giving privacy while not putting the nin on edge).

He was huddled in his normal booth, the one in the very back that looked out on everything, but was hard to see from the rest of the bar. So the copy-nin could remove his mask and drink like a normal person, as he could clearly see when anybody started toward his table.

He saw his kōhai coming towards him. Kakashi quickly tugged his mask up. Yes, he did sleep with Yamato, but the younger ANBU didn't know how he looked like. No-one did. Only Iruka. He'd never kissed Yamato, because he meant nothing to him. But why couldn't Iruka understand that?!

Yes, he was stupid and insecure. They were fine. Iruka worried himself sick whenever Kakashi went out on missions and the copy-nin felt wanted. Iruka smiled when Kakashi came back and he felt better, no matter what had happened before. But still he'd betrayed the chūnin.

They'd been together for 3 years already when Kakashi noticed that he'd changed. He came back to the village and had to see his chūnin. Not wanted to see him but had to. Kakashi had to see him happy, had to make him smile, had to see him every day, had to have him around as often as possible, and that frightened the silver-haired man. He was a ninja and he wasn't suppose to feel fear. He wasn't suppose to feel anything or show weakness.

And it all happened when Iruka had started to become everything to him. The young, innocent, cute little academy teacher he'd thought was smitten for him in some kind of puppy love was on his best way to become the centre of Kakashi's life. And the jōnin didn't want that. He didn't want to be that close to Iruka.

And that was the moment he started to regret about everything. He wondered why he proposed to the younger man and why he wanted to build a family with him. He didn't want Iruka to be one of his precious people. In the end they all left him and he didn't want that. He thought if he cheated, Iruka would leave him, would stop loving him and he would stop seeing the young teacher as his everything.

He was stupid, he knew it. He realised that he didn't want Iruka to leave him, he wanted the chūnin to stay by his side no matter what. But it was too late. Because the day he'd realised that, Iruka had caught him with Yamato.

"Rough day?" Yamato asked sympathetically, noticing how exhausted his senpai looked as he sat across from him.

"You don't even know." Kakashi sighed.

"Is Iruka-sensei still mad at you?"

"Somewhat." Kakashi let out another sigh. Saying that Iruka was mad at him was an understatement; the chūnin hated him. No. Hate was too good of a word. He despise him.

"Why don't you give him some space?"

"Huh?" Space? Yamato was suggesting him to give Iruka's some space? For what? So people would think that they were in bad terms again and give the impression that his chūnin was single. No way in hell he would do that. "Look Tenzō, if you have nothing good to say, don't say it at all. This is all your fault to begin with." He growled.

"Excuse me?" Now it was Yamato's turn to growl. "I respect you a lot senpai,, but you have some nerve to put the blame of your mistake on me. WE both hurt Iruka-sensei. I really don't know what I was thinking when let you fuck me. Iruka is right, you really are an asshole." Yamato stood up but was stopped from leaving by Kakashi.

"Okay. I'm sorry." The Jōnin said apologetically. "I'm really tired. I just want to make things right with Iruka again."

Yamato let out a big sigh before sitting down again. "It's okay." He said "and when I said that you should give Iruka-sensei some space, I didn't mean it in a bad way, senpai." He explained. "Iruka-sensei doesn't seem fine, you saw what happened today. You heard the Hokage. Iruka has been under too much stress. And it is no good for his health...it's the kids at the Academy, the ninjas at the Mission Desk, now you. He needs some rest and time."

Kakashi didn't say anything at first, he knew Yamato was right. He was being selfish. . "So what do you suggest Tenzō?" He asked almost like a whisper.

"I don't know...like I said, give him some space and prove him that you changed. That the Hatake Kakashi he fell in love with is still there. Make Iruka-sensei fall for you again."

"And how do I do this?"

Yamato almost rolled his eyes. Honestly, Kakashi could be a genius in the battlefield, but when it came to feelings and socialising, he was an utter idiot. But of course he wouldn't say that out loud. Well he couldn't blame the man. Kakashi didn't have a life other than receive orders and kill without asking. "Well…Iruka-sensei will be released from the hospital tomorrow. Why don't you go there and ask him to go to a picnic with you to relax. Don't talk about the relationship, just ask him how he is, about his day. Try not to argue with him."

Kakashi arched one silver eyebrow, "A picnic?" It wasn't a bad idea. He could do that.

"Okay senpai, I need to go now." Yamato said standing up and Kakashi got the message. Yamato was being summoned. "Excuse me" His kōhai said politely as he exited, leaving Kakashi with his thoughts.

Kakashi looked down at the beer bottle he was holding. He remembered the first time he went out with Iruka. In the beginning he didn't want anything serious with him, but as their first date went on he felt more and more captivated to the young teacher. Iruka was honest, serious and too gentle for a ninja. He was big and soft-hearted and the way he talked about Naruto and his other students just made the copy-nin smile.

Iruka made him feel human. And he wanted that. He wanted someone to remind him why he should fight and come back safe to the village. He wanted the tanned man, to stay beside him everyday, waiting for him when he got home from a mission; he wanted Iruka's warmth and kisses. Oh, those kisses; Kakashi had to confess that he wasn't a person who liked to kiss too much, but with Iruka was something else. He just couldn't get tired of kissing that beautiful and sweet mouth.

Kakashi groaned, closing his eyes. This time he really fucked up. But he would make the chūnin love him again.