AN: I just wanted to offer a warning to those reading this story before you actually start this chapter. This will be my first piece that goes beyond mere fluffiness to something much more adult. And, much to my surprise, it begins in this chapter. While I did tame it down and confine it to a vague paragraph, I wanted to warn anyone not wanting to read something of an adult nature, here's your chance to stop. (Though, I don't know why you should since it is being submitted with a Mature rating.)

This bit is much tamer than my smut normally is, and much more cleaned up. What comes later won't be. You have been warned.


Kakashi woke the next morning before the sun had even risen after a night of fitful sleep. Rolling from the bed, completely unrested, he walked into the bathroom. He stopped at the sink, letting the motion activated lights slowly brighten until he was able to see himself in the mirror above the sink. He stood staring at himself in the mirror, remembering the feeling that had filled him when he had that bastard pinned to the wall the night before. He knew in that moment that he could easily and happily kill him just for having touched Sasuke. Now, in the early morning hours, he knew that if Sanari were standing before him now, he'd feel the same. It wasn't anger that drove him, it was fear. He was terrified that he was going to lose Sasuke when he'd only just found him.

Cursing, Kakashi spins around and grabs his robe. He pulls it on as he moves quickly through his bedroom. Stepping out into the hall, he pauses just long enough to belt the robe closed before heading off to the room he'd had made up for Sasuke. He stops outside the door, one hand on the doorknob, the other laying flat against the wood. He closes his eyes and leans his forehead against the door. Behind his closed eyelids, he sees the same images that had haunted his sleep the night before: Sasuke laying in the alley, battered and bloodied. Dead because Kakashi had arrived too late to save him. Shuddering, Kakashi turns the doorknob and carefully pushes the door open.

Stepping into the room, he pushes the door mostly closed behind him so that the light from the hall didn't wake Sasuke. Moving across the room, Kakashi stops at the side of the bed, looking down at Sasuke's sleeping form. He was sleeping in a pair of pajama pants that Kakashi had had bought for him, the top that went with them was laying on the floor at the foot of the bed. Sasuke had apparently had a night of restless sleep of his own because the blanket had been pushed off the bed as well, and the sheets lay twisted under and beside him. He was sprawled across the center of the bed at an angle, one arm flung up over his head, the other stretched out beside him. Kakashi's gaze travels up Sasuke's form stopping to watch the rise and fall of his chest. It takes several minutes for the sight to comfort his fears away before his gaze starts to travel up again. Kakashi smiles at the tousled black hair that had fallen into the boy's eyes, and without thinking he leans down and carefully brushes the hair back from his eyes.

Standing up again, Kakashi steps back and whispers, "You're safe now Sasuke, and I promise you I'll keep you safe from now on. And I promise myself as well," he adds after a moment.

Turning, Kakashi walks silently out of the room, closing the door carefully behind him. He forces himself to start walking down the hall. Part of him wanted to turn around and go back in the room, not wanting to let Sasuke out of his sight, but he wasn't willing to give in to that desire, giving irrationality a foothold in his mind. Walking back into his room, he closes the door behind himself and walks straight into the bathroom. He pulls off his robe and hangs it up once again before stripping out of his pajamas and tossing them absently into the clothes hamper in the corner. He moves automatically across the room and turns the shower on. He adjusts the water, feeling tension building in his body, and thinking a hot shower would be just what he needed to wash away the tension and fears that still clung to the edges of his mind like cobwebs.

Kakashi steps into the shower, letting the hot water sluice over his body, pulling a deep sigh from him. Leaning forward, he presses his hands against the cool tile of the shower wall, letting his head hang forward so that the water beat at the back of his neck and down his back. He closed his eyes and was immediately assailed by the images of his nightmares from the night before. Cursing he forces the images from his thoughts, replacing them with images of the peacefully sleeping Sasuke, using them as a shield against the dark thoughts. The longer he stood in the water with images of Sasuke sprawled across his bed, the more the tension built in him. Lifting his head, he lets the water splash over his face for a moment before he drops his head forward again.

As a small smile slips onto his face, Kakashi finally manages to clear his mind enough to know what that building tension was. Opening his eyes, he looks down the length of his body. Shaking his head, he closes his eyes again and gives over to the thoughts that were slipping in. Dropping a hand from the wall, he wraps it around the hardened length of his shaft and begins to stroke slowly, the first electric tingles of pleasure making him shudder as his breath catches in his throat. He lets the breath out in a shuddering sigh as he begins to stroke the length of his erection faster, his mind feeding him images of Sasuke, some real and remembered, some made up and desired. Panting and moaning, it doesn't take him long to reach the peak of his pleasure, and throwing his head back, Kakashi cries out Sasuke's name as his seed splashes across the wall in front of him.

Dropping his hand away from his softening shaft, Kakashi chuckles breathlessly as the tension bleeds away. Standing upright, Kakashi begins to wash himself, smiling lazily, content for the first time in a long while. The tension that he'd been aware of, as well as tension that he hadn't even realized he'd been carrying around for the last few months was finally gone. Grinning as he rinses soap from his body and shampoo from his hair, Kakashi thinks, 'Maybe having Sasuke close to me all the time now will help keep the tension at bay. Or maybe it will make it worse. Maybe it was just the sight of him laying half naked across the bed like he was that caused this tension. I don't think I mind that kind of tension though, as long as it doesn't happen too often.'

Chuckling, Kakashi turns the water off and steps out of the shower, grabbing a towel and beginning to dry himself off. He moves through the rest of his morning ritual with a smile on his face and humming a happy tune absently under his breath. When he arrives in the kitchen happy and smiling, his cook looks at him, grinning. She motions him to the table in the breakfast nook, then goes back to work. When she brings his breakfast and sets it in front of him a few minutes later, Kakashi sits back and waits for the questions he knew were coming.

"I know you brought those boys home with you last night. I expect they'll be up soon and looking for something to eat, so I've prepared enough for them as well, though I don't know what either boy likes. You're not sleeping with them both are you, you devil?"

Kakashi gives the plump old woman a shocked look, pressing one hand to his chest as though his heart pained him. "Why Ms. Mimi, how could you accuse me of such things?" Kakashi laughs at the look she gives him, then shakes his head and takes a sip of his coffee before he answers honestly. "I'm not sleeping with either of them. Each boy has his own room. Naruto is Sasuke's best friend, and he's staying so I can keep him safe from that asshole that beat up Sasuke. He showed up again last night and nearly killed Sasuke." Kakashi shudders at the memory and turns his face into the warm glow of morning sunlight that flooded the breakfast nook.

"Both boys are ok though, aren't they?"

Kakashi looks back at the older woman and smiles, nodding as relief washes over him. "Yes, I got there before he could do anything to Sasuke. And since I brought Naruto home with me, he never had a chance to touch him."

Seeing the serious look on the cook's face, Kakashi braces himself for the next question he knew was coming, knowing that this would be the hard one. "Didn't you say that Naruto was in love with Sasuke too? Isn't that going to be hard on him? Watching you and Sasuke I mean."

Kakashi leans back and takes up his coffee cup again and sighs. He takes another sip of the coffee before he answers, giving himself time to think. "You're right of course, and I'm going to do everything I can to make this as easy on both boys as I can. I'm not going to do anything blatant in front of Naruto, I don't want to rub his nose in it, but living in the same house, this is going to be hard. I'm thinking I'll help him find work, then I'll set him up in an apartment nearby. The only problem then will be convincing Sasuke to stay here with me and not follow his best friend."

They both look up when a bleary eyed Naruto walks into the kitchen, looking much worse for wear. The cook leans over Kakashi and murmurs, "I don't think that will be a problem. The boy will love you soon enough, I guarantee it." Standing up, the portly woman moves across the kitchen, taking hold of Naruto and leading him to the table and sitting him down, already fussing over him. "You're nothing but skin and bones! I'm going to have to fatten you up. Here, have some coffee, that'll get you going," she says as she shoves a coffee cup into his hands.

Kakashi chuckles and starts to eat his breakfast, watching Naruto sip at his own coffee and pick at his breakfast, his appetite seeming to grow as he woke more completely. When he no longer looked so bleary, Kakashi sat back from his breakfast and grabbed the paper from its place next to his plate. "You look like you didn't sleep any better than I did last night. I hope the room was comfortable enough for you."

Naruto looks up from the food he was not ravenously eating. "Huh? Oh, yeah, it's great. I'm just not used to such a soft bed at night. The shelters sure don't have anything that nice, and the place me and Sasuke were staying in was even worse. It's just gonna take some getting used to, and I don't think I mind that at all. Thanks again for taking me in, man. I was thinking though, as much as I like it here, and as much as I appreciate what you're doing for me, maybe I'd better get my own place. I'm going to go out and find myself a real job and save up some money to get a decent apartment. I'm not gonna stay in a shit hole hotel like we were in before."

Kakashi lifts his eyebrows as he peers at Naruto over the top of his paper. Slowly he folds it and sets it back on the table, looking at Naruto seriously. "You don't have to do that you know. You can stay here as long as you like."

Naruto just grins at him and shrugs. "Sure, but I don't want to be in the way. Besides," he continues, cutting off Kakashi's protests, "I'm not some kid anymore. I should be out on my own, and I kinda like the idea of having my own place, you know?"

Kakashi narrows his eyes at the boy, but doesn't comment on it, letting him have his excuses and his privacy. Leaning back in his chair, he drinks he last of his coffee, then smiles at Naruto. "Well, like I said, you can stay here as long as you like. As soon as you're ready though, I'll help you find an apartment nearby so you can come visit with Sasuke any time you like."

Naruto shrugs and grins at him. "Sure, thanks. I'm going to be a kept man, except I'll never find my way into your bed. That spot is already reserved for someone else. And no matter how big your bed is, there won't be room for three."

"Won't be room for three in whose bed?" asked Sasuke as he strolled into the kitchen, looking perfectly rested, if a bit nervous.

Naruto grins and shakes his head. "Wouldn't you like to know? Bet you'd like to be part of a threesome!"

Sasuke makes a face at Naruto and reaches out to swipe at him, though the blonde haired boy easily dodges. Sasuke glances across the table at Kakashi and smiles. Unexpectedly memories of Sasuke sprawled across his bed, and what that vision had led him to do fill Kakashi's mind and he's forced to shift himself into a more comfortable position. He picks up his napkin and drops it casual across his lap, then takes up his paper again as a distraction and smiles back at Sasuke. "Good morning Sasuke, I hope you slept well."

Sasuke shrugs and smiles ruefully. "Yeah, it was almost like it used to be when I was a kid." Frowning, Sasuke ducks his head and visibly collects himself before lifting his head again. "Thanks for taking us in, and thanks for the clothes, they fit great."

Kakashi nods and turns his attention to Naruto, distracting himself from the thoughts that seemed determined to plague him. "I know that the ones we gave you don't quite fit right because they were made for Sasuke, but I was an idiot and didn't think about Sanari coming after you because you're Sasuke's friend, so it didn't occur to me until last night to ask you to move in here with us. I wasn't prepared for you like I was Sasuke." Kakashi ignores the look he was getting from Sasuke and smiles at Naruto. "We'll remedy that today. We'll go out and get you some clothes of your own. And I think we should get you each a nice suit for job interviews."

"A job," Sasuke cries. "That's exactly what I need! Hopefully this time I can find a decent job that isn't gonna lay me off after a couple of months."

Kakashi glances at Sasuke, pretending not to notice the flush. He chuckles at the look Naruto was giving him, then lifted his paper and began trying to read as Sasuke started on his own breakfast. Feeling pressure against his leg under the table, Kakashi lowers his paper just far enough to peer over the top and finds Sasuke staring at him, a look in his eyes that almost made Kakashi think that the boy knew what he'd been doing in the shower earlier, and what he'd been thinking. Grinning behind the paper and feeling himself flush, Kakashi winks at Sasuke, making the boy grin, then lifts the paper and resumes reading, finally able to concentrate on what he was reading.