Disclaimer

I do not own Naruto.

Summary

Life is hard for a chunin like Iruka. Grading tests, not killing students and sending ninja out on missions to their deaths. It's even harder when he has to take care of a jounin turned three year old chibi.

Sequel to Plastic Ponies.

Author's Notes

Hey, guys, I know I promised two whole chapters before I went back to school, but it turns out I just cannot provide the goods on time. Again.

Man, I am horrible

On another note, I am informing those few people that I am not really following the Naruto storyline as some assumed. Sasuke is obviously still in the village, and other people who should be dead aren't. Simply because the writers keep killing off the characters I like. Like Hayate. He was sick like me!

Another chapter in two weeks, pinky promise.


"Iruka-sensei. Iruka-sensei…"

A soft, deep voice made Iruka open his eyes slowly, blinking up at a face he knew but didn't. Mismatched eyes stared down at him filled with life, hidden in the depths a feral sort of air. Planted firmly next to his head, which was still lying on the pillow, was a hand that gripped the sheets lightly.

"There you are. I was beginning to think you were never going to wake up."

The brunet could only watch as a fully adult Kakashi leant down to nuzzle against the side of his face. Within a moment, the other man had lied down next to him; his body laying flush against the smaller one. Iruka attempted to ignore the warmth growing in multiple parts of his body, a light blush taking hold of his features.

A pair of muscled arms wrapped around his waist, drawing attention to Iruka's nightwear, which was still only a pair of boxers. Struggling, he managed to withdraw his body from the hold. "Kakashi-san, what are you-"

"Why the formalities?" The jounin chuckled, sending a pleasant shiver up Iruka's spine. Soon afterwards a pair of lips, no longer covered by thin fabric, brushed against the base of a tan colored neck while a pale hand snaked around his waist to press flat against Iruka's stomach. "Or is this one of your games?" The pads of flesh said against the skin followed by a small nip of sharp teeth.

"You're so cute when you act like this." Kakashi whispered into the nape of Iruka's neck, his breath warming the spot for a moment as the jounin shifted into a relaxed position. "Sensei." Iruka's title sounded like a sin when rolled off the grey haired man's lips.

Kakashi sighed and pulled the smaller male closer to his body, his free hand moving through brown locks at a languid pace. "I thought about you when I was on my mission." Iruka stiffened at the smooth voice murmuring into his ear, wondering why his brain wasn't setting off alarms and why his heart refused to slow down.

"Kakashi-san," The chunin blushed again at a slight tightening around his waist, feeling a set of perfect abs ripple against his back for a moment before stilling. "What are we doing?" Iruka asked, trying to understand what was going on in his bed.

"We're being happy." Iruka could feel the smile briefly against his shoulder, "You said yourself that that was the reason we had to be together." The chunin suppressed a cry of outrage, instead fisting his hand into the sheets in front of him. "And I wasn't one to argue, especially after you kissed me under an umbrella without my consent in front of the whole village." Iruka took a quick breath, swallowing the snort that threatened to erupt from his mouth.

"Besides," Kakashi sighed again, his hands threading together in front of Iruka's stomach, his pale skin highlighted by the moon in the sky.

"I love you."

The chunin could no longer stop his movement and so he squirmed violently around so he was facing the grey haired male, hands pressed against a smooth chest and ready to lecture the older man for throwing around words he himself didn't know the meaning of. It was then that he noticed something wrong. The bottom half of Kakashi's face was blurred, as if someone had been drawing the jounin and had forgotten to finish.


Iruka awoke with a start to the sound of rain hitting his windows and his right palm itching slightly. Rubbing the back of his hand over his eyes and sitting up, the chunin glanced at his clock and was surprised that it was already nine in the morning and no one had called, knocked, barged in, or attacked his house. Perhaps Tsunade told the village to leave him alone on his little vacation.

Swinging his legs over his bed, he stood slowly and walked towards his kitchen. 'I wonder where the brat is?' Iruka thought sluggishly as he moved closer to the front of his house, having finally noticed that the little boy was not with him when he awoke. 'Maybe he ran away…that would be nice…' He finished wistfully, ignoring a small pang in his chest at the mention of the boy leaving him. Suddenly, the dream from the night before hit him like a ton of bricks.

Leaning against the wall, he threaded his hand through his hair, resting it at the base of his neck. He blushed and withdrew his hand from that spot, rubbing it against his boxer shorts before pinching the bridge of his nose. 'Why am I dreaming, even thinking of these sort of things?' Iruka thought furiously, pushing off the wall and continuing on his way to the kitchen.

The chunin teacher paused again before the doorway, his thoughts swimming in a futile effort to try and understand what was going on. 'Yet…it seemed familiar…' Iruka shook his head at this concept and turned into only lit room in house.

He smiled in a bemused sort of way as he spotted the young boy of his current thoughts sitting at his table reading the paper spread out in front of him. Kakashi chewed on a piece of toast, his mask surrounding his throat in a sharp contrast, as he looked over the comic section in all seriousness.

"Good morning, Kakashi-kun." Iruka said as pleasantly as he could as he walked in, smiling wider when he noticed a pot of coffee already made. "When did you wake up?" He asked over his shoulder as he poured the beverage into a 'world's greatest teacher' mug, one of the many he received every winter and birthday from well meaning students.

The boy grunted and finished the piece of toasted bread, "At five-thirty." He brushed his hands over the front of his shirt to remove the small crumbs. "I did training." He said simply, shrugging.

Before Iruka could ask what training Kakashi did, he was interested in what the young genius did in comparison to his academy students, the sound of thunder suddenly clapped over the village, shaking the windows in their panes. Scratching his scar in contemplation, the chunin strolled into the living room while holding his steaming cup of coffee.

"Kakashi-kun, how long has it been raining like this." Iruka said, sipping his beverage as he watched the black clouds move across the sky.

The boy shrugged and chewed on a new piece of toast, no longer reading the comics and now silently examining the older man standing across the room. After a moment of study he stood and walked over to Iruka, his eye watching every movement the relaxed man made.

Swallowing his coffee, Iruka lifted his hand and placed it on the boy's head, frowning at the stiffness he found in the boy's frame. "Well, Kakashi-kun, looks like we can't play outside today." He chose to ignore the boy's eye roll at the obvious statement, "And since I don't think we should stay inside all day, we'll go to the store."

Nodding, Iruka walked back into the kitchen, trusting the boy to follow. "I don't know how you could do any sort of training in this weather, it can't be good for your health." He opened the refrigerator and glanced at the insides, making a mental list of the food he had to purchase.

Standing up, Iruka stared at the small boy, frowning again when he noticed the mask covering the pale features. Leaning back against the counter, the chunin studied Kakashi for a moment. He narrowed his eyes when he spotted a guarded look from the child watching his own observation.

"Kakashi-kun, we're going to the grocery store. Can you go get ready?" He pushed off the flat surface and walked past the boy, refusing to let a shiver travel up his spine at the blank look that followed him. "I'll see you in a little bit…" Iruka trailed off when Kakashi didn't move from his spot.

The boy frowned and sniffed, a small sound coming from his mouth as he walked quietly to his room, leaving behind a mildly shocked Iruka. The sensei blinked for a second, his brain wrapping around the new information that had assaulted his senses. Without a moment's hesitation he picked up the phone and dialed a number he knew by heart, waiting for the line to connect. It seemed Kakashi had entered the angry stage that most children went through in their pre-teen ages.

He would need as much backup as possible.

----------

"Ano, why do you need asparagus?"

"Naruto, it's very healthy for you." Iruka put an extra bundle of the vegetables into his basket to spite the blond.

The younger teen snorted and hooked his arm through the lank one of Sasuke's. Looking up, he pouted until the dark haired male sighed and tilted his head slightly to brush a kiss over the other's head. The bright smile was reward enough for the stress this whole trip was causing the Uchiha.

"See?" Naruto smiled cheekily at Iruka, "Sasuke agrees with me. Asparagus is disgusting! You should buy more ramen, I don't know anyone who doesn't love it."

The Uchiha sighed and wondered for the fifth time in the half hour why he was here, taking a quick glance at the smaller male who was lagging behind the small company. A pale eye glared at him before closing it in slight distaste as the rest of the group made their way down the packaged goods aisle. It seemed Naruto had worked his charms on his old teacher yet again.

Sasuke turned back to Iruka, who was refusing to buy fifteen boxes of ramen, and raised his eyebrow in consideration of talking. He grunted when neither of the others turned from their argument. "Iruka-sensei. Do you know Kakashi has been following us purely on chakra for the last twenty minutes" He said in a bored manner, choosing to ignore the venomous look that flashed through Kakashi's, now open, eye.

"Come on, Sasuke-koi. That's silly. Kakashi-sensei can't do that stuff yet. He's still a little kid." Naruto continued to look at the varieties of dried noodles.

Iruka, on the other hand, place a foam cup back on the shelf, ignoring a certain person's yelling at the action, and turned to the grey haired male. "Kakashi-kun," He frowned when the youth refused to look at him. "Kakashi-kun, is that true?"

Finally getting a small nod in response, Iruka sighed and moved into another aisle. 'This means Kakashi is getting older...' He thought silently to himself as he glanced at the copy-nin from the side. 'He has to be at least twelve now.' The chunin frowned as he wandered into a line for checkout.

"Iruka-sensei? What's wrong?" Naruto said quietly, his arm still wrapped around Sasuke's in a half embrace. "Are you sad about the rain? Don't worry!" He grabbed Iruka's basket and began to unload, grimacing at the various fruits and vegetables, "I heard from a very reliable source that it might snow in a couple of days." He winked blatantly at Sasuke, who was obviously the 'source' of said information.

"And we always get together when it snows." The blonde grinned brightly, grabbing Sasuke's hand, "And the snow festival! The old hag promised if we got snow that we could have a festival!" He laughed and gave the Uchiha a hug, ignoring the cashier who was trying not to faint.

"Yes, yes, Naruto. And we can build snowmen, and have snowball fights." Iruka handed over a couple of bills, "But that is in a few days, and I have groceries now." He held out a bag to the blonde, "So you might as well help out."

Naruto laughed and let go of Sasuke, grabbing a bag and peering at the contents. "I am so happy I don't' have to eat this junk." He said, grimacing as a few drops of rain fell onto his face by rolling of him and Sasuke's shared umbrella.

"Naruto, I don't care what you think about the vegetables." Iruka shot a frown at the younger male as he pulled out a head of lettuce, showing that he actually did mind. "Besides, you aren't going to be eating it." He removed the lettuce from the teen's hands before it went tumbling to the ground and most likely into a puddle.

The blonde laughed and bumped arms with Sasuke, who appeared to be carrying most of the purchases in one hand. "Yeah, Kakashi-sensei has to eat that stuff." He nodded his head at the health food, tongue coming out in disgust, "I feel sorry for you." Naruto called over his shoulder with a smile.

A moment passed before he turned back, a huge grin plastered across his features while his eyebrows furrowed together. "Ah…Iruka-sensei?"

The brunet sighed and stopped walking, turning to face his past students with a small smile crossing his features, "Yes, Naruto?"

"Did you tell Kakashi-sensei to go back to the house?" The fox vessel said quickly, a word or two jumbling together. He seemed to shrink into Sasuke's side, huddled under the umbrella as he tried to hide from the narrowed gaze of Iruka.

"No."

"Well, he isn't exactly…here." He said bluntly, though it seemed as if he had tried to soften the blow.

A few moments passed in silence as the trio stared at each other, Iruka's eyes widening every second, Naruto staring at said widening and Sasuke starting at the ground. Tumbleweed could have rolled across the street and not have appeared out of place, except that the rain ruined the desert motif.

When no one said anything for over a minute, Sasuke grunted lightly in the back of his throat and flinched somewhat when two pairs of eyes focused directly on him. "Naruto and I can put the food away." He reached his hand out into the rain for Iruka's bags, already feeling the flesh cooling from the falling liquid.

Before he could refuse the offer, Iruka thrust the bags into the waiting arms of the Uchiha and sprinted down the road, his umbrella closed and clasped underneath his arm.

'Now, if I was a brat Kakashi, where would I be?' He thought frantically as he ran back into the grocery store, smiling in response to the workers' waves. Making a few seals with his hands, he sent out a quick chakra burst. Frowning when nothing came back in the building, except for civilian energies, he focused on a strong blip coming out side in the rain.

Swearing softly to himself, Iruka opened his umbrella as he hurried outside. Not that it helped, since he was already drenched from his sprint back to the store. Quickly approaching the source, he frowned when he saw smoke rising lazily from underneath a different umbrella. 'Great. If he's started smoking I am going to kill him!'

The murderous thoughts halted, though, when Iruka had to suddenly stop to avoid barreling head on into a body that was definitely not Kakashi. Instead of gray hair and a moody attitude, a pair of eyes glanced down at him with a cigarette clamped firmly between a pair of teeth.

"Hey, Iruka-sensei." Asuma took another long drag from the cigarette before dropping it on the ground. "I thought you were on forced vacation from the Hokage." He said before pulling out another stick and placing it in his mouth, not lighting it for a moment.

Panting slightly, Iruka allowed the moist air to fill his lungs before letting it out in one breath. "I was looking for Kakashi-san. He went missing I think a half an hour ago." He frowned when the jounin looked unconcerned, his hand patting down his pockets.

"Any idea where he might have gone?"

"Lots of places, but they could all lead to dead ends." He responded, finally finding his pack of matches and lighting the cigarette. Pausing to suck in a lungful of nicotine, he finally turned both his eyes onto the chunin. "Kakashi was always a strange kid, really quiet. He didn't tend to stay where there was a lot of people."

Feeling as if he was forming an ulcer at that very moment, Iruka huffed and crossed his arms, umbrella balanced precariously between his neck and shoulder. "Where can he be now, Asuma? He is only around twelve years old, maybe older. He can't have just run off somewhere!"

The older male shrugged, letting a mouthful of smoke float out from between his lips. Tilting his umbrella to avoid any water falling on his cigarette, Asuma brushed his hand through his hair. "The war was happening around then, I think." Another puff of smoke, "So he's probably hanging around at the mission room, waiting to be assigned an assassination or something."

Iruka nodded and ran off without saying goodbye to the smoking jounin, closing his umbrella when it forced him to move at a slower pace. It was only when he was a couple of blocks away that the other man's words finally sunk in. 'Great, now I'm dealing with a jounin kid who's going to try and kill me in the middle of the night, with war experience.

'At least I know where he is now.' Iruka thought as he paused in front of the huge building he was well acquainted with. Feeling out of place without folders or any other type of work, he walked up into the building and onto the floor he knew missions were handed out. Most of the time, he was handing out the missions, so there were no doubts that he could have made it to the room with his eyes closed.

"Hey, Iruka! Didn't except to find you here!" Genma said, leaning on a desk as he talked to one of the workers, who happened to be a pretty woman. "I thought the Hokage forced you to finally take a vacation?" He chewed on his senbon needle, cocking his head to the side.

"Yes, Genma, I was on vacation starting yesterday." Iruka pried apart the room using his eyes alone, knowing most of the hiding spots. He used at least one every week attempting to avoid Tsunade. "Have you seen any peculiar looking teens lurking around here?"

"You lost Kakashi? Man, I cant wait to tell him that when he gets back to normal!" Genma said, waving his hands in the general direction of the door as an oblivious Raido came walking through.

Attempts at being subtle never seemed to work for Iruka.

The heavily scarred man blinked for a moment, not understanding what was going on. He wasn't paid to understand what the people exactly did in the mission room when they weren't handing out missions or looking over reports. Raido just came for the coffee and gossip. And for picking up files the Hokage needed or wanted.

The special jounin paused when Genma swung an arm over his shoulders, hand clutching a paper cup filled with tar-like liquid. "What do you think Kakashi will say? Guess, Raido-chan!" The last part was said in a singsong manner, which Raido refused to answer to.

Iruka growled at the higher-ranking men as Genma continued to laugh, and Raido attempted to inhale his coffee. "Listen, if you're not going to help me, I'm just going to leave." The chunin said, his voice accidentally slipping into teacher mode.

Genma stood with his mouth gaping like a fish and the special jounin shot Iruka a smile. "Iruka-sensei," He paused, smiling wider when the blond next to him didn't butt in with his own remark, "We received word from the ANBU a few minutes ago concerning a young male that looks like a replica of a certain copy nin.

"Tsunade-sama sent me down here to inform you, in case you came to the mission room in search of Kakashi." Without further pressing from Iruka he continued, "He should be near the academy, to my knowledge.

"Be careful, Iruka." Raido said as the chunin turned to leave, "Kakashi is very dangerous. Especially now, if he's over thirteen." The words, 'he's an ANBU now' were left unsaid.

Again without saying goodbye, Iruka raced from the building. Of course, it wasn't until he was outside did he notice that it had started to rain harder and that it was absolutely necessary for him to actually use his umbrella for its main purpose, protecting him from the downpour.

Struggling in the mud for a minute or two, Iruka smiled when he saw that school was still in session. Some rooms were filled with children staring gloomily outside, while other classes were practicing in the mud and rain as advanced training. Only those who were outside mucking around in the sludge knew that hot cocoa was going to be served as soon as they walked back in, something unheard of in real missions.

Standing in the rain, wondering if he had been led astray by another jounin, 'Maybe I should stop trusting that bunch?', Iruka felt a chakra presence nearby. Turning his tree, he thought he saw a body leaning against the tree. Walking, and even with the rain blocking most of his vision, the chunin felt a rush of warmth flood his system at seeing Kakashi safe, though soaked through.

"What's wrong with them?" The whispered words were almost drowned out by the sound of rain hitting the ground and the fabric covering the bottom half of his face.

Iruka tilted his head to the side, relaxed at last after finding his charge. "Nothing is wrong, Kakashi-kun. Why did you run off?"

"I'm not a child." Kakashi said, his voice already a few pitches lower than his voice in the morning. Even his stance was different, guarded and prepared for anything that could, and would, be thrown at him.

He jerked his head in the direction of a couple of children. They were laughing after one had tackled the other into a puddle filled with mud. "They act as if the village is safe. Why aren't they getting ready? I see kids who are almost my age still here."

"Why shouldn't they be?" Iruka asked, though he knew the answer before it even left the younger man's lips.

"The war."

Iruka sighed and moved so that his umbrella was finally covering the teenager. "Kakashi-kun," He ignored the glare from Kakashi at the title, "I think we should be getting back to my place before you catch something." He finished quietly, watching with a slight smile as some children jumped in a puddle, ignoring their teacher's pleas to come back inside.

They walked back in silence, ignoring the rain and each other as they moved closer to the chunin's home. Iruka unlocked the door quickly and quietly and moved in as he removed his shoes, balancing on one foot as Kakashi brushed past, while throwing his umbrella against the wall.

"I'm going to check to see if Naruto and Sasuke put away the groceries and if you want anything I can-" Iruka looked up in time to see the door at the end of the hallway close, the back of Kakashi's head was the last thing visible.

Feeling put out, Iruka stood and walked into the kitchen, glancing to make sure there weren't any evident bags still on the counter before flopping down in a chair. It was only when he felt something warm and wet brush against his leg did he look down, finding himself staring into a pair of green eyes.

"Pickles-chan, did you sneak in?" He asked the calico, picking her up and feeling her begin to purr. She was a stray that had somehow turned Iruka's house into her own home over the last year, sneaking in and out while he wasn't paying attention. "Of course with Tootsie-chan away you think you can just waltz in and own the place, yes?" She simply nuzzled into his chin as an answer, aggressively getting the pets she felt she deserved.

"Let's get to sleep." Iruka said, placing the still wet cat onto the ground and walking towards his room, smiling as she followed him, jumping onto the bed before he had even changed. The cat watched him as he walked around the room, eyes alert as she prepared for a blow that would never come. She was still scared of human beings, but she did enjoy the comforts that came with it.

"You can only stay because it's raining." Iruka said as he rolled onto his stomach in an attempt to relax. He smiled when he felt the small weight climb onto him, spreading her furry weight across his back. "Pickles-chan," Iruka grinned at Naruto's strange name for the cat, "Tomorrow you're going out."

"After breakfast."

Iruka groaned as he felt the feline knead into his right shoulder, little pinpricks from her nails keeping him from falling into sleep immediately. "All right, you can stay until Kakashi-kun finds out I have a cat again in the house." Pickles stilled and let out a yawn, relaxing and falling asleep.

Of course, speaking about Kakashi aloud, in his bed, made Iruka think about the morning. And the blood drained from his face as he thought about what had happened the morning before. 'It won't happen again, it won't happen again, it won't happen again…'

Iruka repeated the phrase until he finally fell into a, hopefully, uneventful sleep.


Author's Notes

This chapter was a single day in one post, longer than my usual chapters by a little bit. I cut out a couple of details simply because I wanted to get to the next few days.

I like a teenager Kakashi, and Sakura does too. If you know what I mean.

;D

And with that tasty little tidbit to mull over, I hope you review!