Disclaimer – Shhh! looks around, then slowly hides behind sofa
Warnings – This is KakaIru, which means shounenai (boy love) yaoi (guy on guy sex). Get that? SEX. Between GUYS. Just letting you know.
Hey, guess what! Still a possibility of blood, but not as much as I originally thought, and not enough to make anyone throw up. So it's all good!
CONGRATULATIONS! To Kishaa, who managed to be the 100th reviewer! Yay!
On with the story! :D
You guys will love this . . . Naruto POV!
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Time passes so quickly when you're enjoying yourself. A bowl of ramen seems to disappear in seconds, a hot summer day with friends fades in your mind almost as if it never happened . . . so I was surprised to find myself being shaken awake by Iruka in an amazing car I can't remember falling asleep in, seemingly moments after I first got in it, gawking at its awesomeness.
"Naruto, wake up! We're in Toyama." Iruka called softly, and I mumbled something about sleeping longer. "I'll make you ramen."
"Ramen!" I was out of the car so fast my world went dizzy.
"Whoa there, Naruto-chan, not so fast."
"Hey! You're the girl here, you pervy Cyclops!" I swung round to face stupid Kakashi, sending my slightly more stable world spinning again.
"Kakashi, stop antagonising Naruto. Naruto, stop responding." Iruka glared at both of us from his place by the car.
"No fair!"
"Very well, Iruka-kun, I'll leave Naruto be for now. We have much more important things to do, anyway." I glowered angrily at Kakashi as he ignored me and walked towards Iruka.
"Would you like some help walking, Iruka-kun?" On no he didn't! Anger flared up in me. Why couldn't he just leave Iruka alone? Why did he keep playing these games with him?
"Yeah, Iruka! I'll help you!" I raced round Kakashi and ducked under Iruka's arm, pulling it round my shoulder. "Lead the way then, Kakashi-hentai!" I grinned falsely up at him, my happy mask perfectly in place.
"Naruto!" Both Kakashi and I ignored Iruka, staring at each other, challenging each other. His grey eye was so unrelenting, it was hard for me to look- No! I am Umino Naruto, and I do not surrender! Luckily for me, though, at that moment Kakashi smiled, his one eye closing. "Of course, Naruto." And he turned and began walking down a road.
The lack of 'chan' at the end of my name surprised me so much that Iruka had to push me forward to get me to start walking. I shook my head, pulling me out of my shock, and looked around as we walked.
Kakashi's amazing car was parked on a busy road right behind us, and I suddenly realised that the sound of cars passing reminded me so much of Tokyo that I didn't even bother to notice our surroundings. We were walking down a pretty path with trees either side, leading away from the road. We turned round a corner about 50 yards down the path, and both Iruka and I stopped to gasp.
Before us lay a beautiful traditional single family detached Japanese house, with a large, looming gate and a well tended front garden behind it. We looked at each other, then the house, then at Kakashi. He couldn't really be sending us to live here?
"So boys, here it is. Kibō House, your new home."
I continued gaping.
"You're kidding, right? You're really gonna let us live here?" Iruka voiced my thoughts perfectly.
"Well, there is one thing you don't know about this house . . ."
"It's haunted, right? It would have to be for you to just let us live there!" I burst in.
"No, but there is one thing you'd have to live with . . ."
Iruka and I raised our eyebrows, and said at the same time, "which is?"
Kakashi smiled happily again. "Me. This is my home."
Oh hell no!
I looked desperately up at Iruka, begging him to say no with my eyes. Please may this all be a bad dream!
Iruka shook his head tiredly. "Kakashi-san, we will stay the night, but I will have to speak with you about this. You never mentioned living with you would be part of our living arrangement."
I supposed that was alright, so long as we left the next day.
Kakashi nodded his head. "That's reasonable, Iruka-kun."
Agh, this Kakashi-teme was really getting on my nerves! Reasonable my ass! Iruka-sensei will run you down so hard you won't even know what-
"Ouch!" I looked up whilst rubbing my head. "Why, Iruka-sensei? What did I do?"
Iruka looked sternly down at me. "You weren't listening again!" He sighed. "Never mind. Kakashi-san, would you mind showing us to our rooms? I'm still tired and hurting from yesterday."
"This way then, Iruka-kun."
We part hobbled-part limped after him as he opened the gate with a remote that appeared from his pocket. "Sorry we had to walk, but when I first started designing the house I wanted to be away from the traffic on the road. The trees give a lot of privacy, too."
Neither of us bothered to reply. I was too busy staring at everything, the flowers, the fountains, the elegant curves and structure of the building before us. And elegant is certainly a word I never thought I'd use. At one point I slipped carefully out from under Iruka's arm simply to touch the things I saw – the water, the petals . . . what a beautiful garden!
I was itching to have to care for the flowers – clip the weeds, water the roots, remove the dead leaves and petals . . . it was a secret of mine (though it definitely isn't any more) that I was very fond of gardening. It was my favourite hobby.
"Come on, Naruto!" Iruka called me, and I spun round to see I had run off to the side of the house and could barely see him. Whoops.
"Coming, Iruka!" I yelled back, and raced off down the path, careful not to trample on any flowers as I made my way back to the main house.
"So you like the garden, then?" Kakashi asked me, smiling – but this time it seemed different . . . that time, the smile looked as if it were real. But, me being me, I dismissed it.
I nodded so hard my neck hurt. "Yes!" I beamed up at him, forgetting everything but the pretty flowers.
Kami, I'd live with Kakashi if it meant having a garden like this!
. . . I did not just think that. Nope! Didn't think it! No way! Nope.
Yeah, I did. So what? I can ignore it. Kinda.
"Let's have a look inside, then, Naruto?" Iruka asked me, smiling down at me with his happy brown eyes.
"Okay." I lost some of my joy then, but I still remained excited.
It didn't take long for Kakashi to show us round the house. It was pretty normal, you know, for a really rich dude and a traditional Japanese house. Oh, except for two rooms. What was in these two rooms? No idea.
"You can go anywhere in the house, but not in these two."
"Why? What's in them?" I asked curiously.
"Naruto! Don't be so rude!" Iruka scolded.
"It's fine, Iruka-kun. These rooms are my bedroom and my office, and I value my privacy. I hope you like your rooms; they're not very made up – I wasn't expecting new residents – but you can add to them if you like."
And when I saw my room, I guessed that maybe Kakashi wasn't so bad. I mean, a bad guy wouldn't give a kid he didn't know a gigantic room with a flat 60 inch 3D TV, a fish tank of exotic fish trailing along the entire length of one wall, an XBOX One and Kinnect and PS4, a king sized bed, a built in wardrobe, an old fashioned writing desk . . . wow, even in my thoughts I ramble.
Long story short, living in that room – even being in there for 10 minutes – made me feel like a really rich and really spoilt kid. Really spoilt. And I am not complaining, but it just felt . . . strange. Behind the initial excitement was this nervousness, this anxiety, about – Kami, I don't know what about. Moving? Leaving my average world behind?
Iruka saved me from thinking about it when he came into my room half an hour later. Kami. My room. This was all going so fast.
"Hey, Naruto." He sat down on the bed and I sat up from my vertical position above the cover.
"I've been thinking about . . . where to send you to school. Now, before you say anything! Yes, you do have to go to school in this area. Luckily for you, you can go to which ever school you want to go to, but you'd have to start on Monday . . . five days from now."
"What? Are you serious, Iruka? After everything that's happened you're giving me five days?"
"I start work on Friday, Naruto. I know it's gonna be hard, going to a new school, especially with all we've been through recently, and that's why I just came to an agreement with Kakashi."
My anger simmered down, and I squinted my eyes cautiously at Iruka.
"What agreement?"
"Well, I know how much you don't like – well, any of this, and that you seem to be getting along with Kiba, so I asked if you could go to a school that was off of the pack's territory. And if you couldn't do that, if you could instead go to the school Kiba's going to."
"And?" I admit, I was excited. Kiba seemed pretty fun to hang out with, when he wasn't insulting how short I was.
"And, it turns out both Kiba and Lee go to a school off the pack's territory, and Kakashi doesn't mind if you study there."
"Seriously?" That was the best news I had heard since thinking Kakashi was going to kill Iruka.
"But, how far away is it if it's out of the territory?"
"Well, apparently the territory only runs over half of the Hida Mountains to Toyama, and the school is just outside of town. It would only take half an hour maximum to get there in the morning, and you can get a school bus there."
This was sounding better and better. Which is how I knew that something was up.
"Okay, what's the catch?" Iruka baulked, not expecting me to catch on so quickly.
"Well, it's . . . see . . ." He sighed. "It's a rather rich school, a private school, and it would require quite a bit of money to pay for each month."
"We haven't got any money!"
"Not now, no, but with the job Kakashi's given me we can pay for it on our own!"
"And until then?" I knew he was hiding something from me.
"Kakashi would pay for a month."
"What? No! I'll go to normal school!"
"I know, I don't like it either – Kakashi learnt that the hard way." A tick appeared above Iruka's eye as he remembered the moment. "I want you to get the best education you can whilst we're sorting this out. Plus, the further away from the pack you are, the less I'll worry."
I still wasn't too keen on the idea.
"Please, Naruto? We'll pay Kakashi back, I promise. Besides, the baka owes us for messing up our lives."
I laughed then. "Okay, Iruka, I'll go. But if we haven't got the money in a month I'm going to a normal school and getting a job to help you out!"
Iruka laughed at me. "Alright, my brave soldier. Thank you. Now, how would you like Kakashi's gardener to show you round the back garden?"
My eyes widened. "There's more?"
He smiled. "Of course."
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Iruka POV again! What? It is his story.
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I lay in silence, my eyes staring at the ceiling but not seeing a thing. I was thinking, as many sleepless nights before forced me to do. There were many thoughts passing through my mind; too many to recite them all. It's amazing how fast the brain can act; how quickly your own mind leaves you behind.
I sighed, turning over on the soft mattress, pulling the silk cover with me. Even my own, peaceful time had now turned morbid. I had finally stopped asking why – why Naruto and I? Why did such things always happen to us? - and had just started accepting our situation.
Sure, I would never be happy with the cards we were so cruelly and forcefully dealt, but if I could begin to accept it, life would be so much easier and uncomplicated for Naruto. No matter what, I had to think of what was best for Naruto. He was my responsibility.
An owl hooted outside my window, and I turned my head, startled. An owl? In a town like Toyama? I frowned. Was human kind really destroying our world so much that such a wild, proud creature had to revert to living in a garden to survive?
Forced to follow the rules of another to live. Hmm. Sounded familiar.
I got out of bed and crept to the window. The room Kakashi had given me was just the same as Naruto's, except there were no game consoles and the walls were painted blue, rather than the cream wallpaper with orange swirls in Naruto's room.
I thought back to what Kakashi had said earlier that day. "I hope you like your rooms; they're not very made up – I wasn't expecting new residents". Kakashi had said this with his eye curved and mask stretched over his sheepish grin. Not made up? They were perfect for a 12 year old boy and a 27 year old man.
I shook my head as I leant on the window sill – a ledge intruding into the room, big enough to sit comfortably on, high enough to easily lean your elbows on. Kakashi. What a strange, infuriating man. Hostile one second, normal another, and speaking confusing riddles with no regard to personal space the next. He . . . confused me. What was it about him that sent my gut twisting and my palms sweating?
There was no use following that train of thought – it only led me in circles. I tilted my head forward, defeated, and felt my hair brush my face irritatingly.
I pulled a hair tie from around my wrist and wrapped my hair up in a loose pony tail. Kakashi had given it to me earlier that evening, with a one eyed smile and a "your hair seems to be agitating you." How right he was. I hardly ever had my hair down – except in those last four days, that is.
He had given me the silvery silk pyjamas I was wearing then, too, with a promise that my belongings – along with my truck – would arrive in the morning. I sighed again as I returned to my leaning position, staring out at the orange glow of the town illuminating the dark night sky. It must have been past midnight.
I had asked Kakashi when – and if – I could return to my apartment in Tokyo; to gather my personal belongings, I claimed. I wished that I hadn't. Kakashi had promptly extracted the address of my old home out of me, to, as he put it, 'send his men to get everything.' I was such an idiot! Now Naruto and I would not be able to return there when we left.
I pulled myself up to sit on the ledge, and pressed my hot forehead against the cool glass. I smiled grimly at the distorted reflection presented to me. Kakashi. That name just kept popping up. Would I have no peace from him? What did he want? What did he plan to gain by haunting my every move, my every thought?
I snarled angrily, to my own distraught surprise. I was not, by nature, an angry or violent person. Sure, assholes at work or Naruto breaking my rules – honestly, how hard are basic house rules to follow? - got me angry, but a man that wasn't even there? No; especially not one that was attempting to be kind.
In my surprise at my own angry behaviour, I threw my upper body weight backwards, away from my glaring, cold image. "Whoa!" I yelped in an instinctive panic as nothing but air met me, and I tumbled over the sill and onto the floor, banging my head and upper body on the previously soft carpet.
"Owww . . ." I moaned, lying immobile for a few moments, trying to make sense of the suddenly very big room.
"Iruka?!" A voice called from outside the room, and within seconds a figure with a white, pointy mop on its head appeared. "Iruka? Are you alright? What happened?"
"Huh?" I stared in confusion at the mop. Why would someone wear a mop on their head? Wouldn't it scratch their scalp?
My world shifted, and suddenly I was sitting upright, leaning against a strong, naked chest, with my head leaning on an equally naked shoulder. "Wha?" I asked, thoroughly confused. Why was I sitting up? Hadn't I been lying down?
"Stay still, Iruka. I need to check if you hit you head." A large, pale hand softly brushed against my scalp as my vision slowly cleared.
"Kakashi?" Of course it was Kakashi! A mop! Ha! Whoa, I think I did hit my head. "Ouch!" Kakashi probing hand pushed against a very sore, and suddenly very painfully obvious bump on the back of my head.
"Damn it, Iruka, I leave you for five minutes . . ." Despite his angry words, his tone was . . . concerned? And his hand much more gentle as he pushed my head back and looked into my eyes, opening them wide with his calloused fingers.
He sighed (in what? Irritation? Relief?) and his hands left my face, pulling me closer against him, all the while wrapping his arms around my shoulders. "No concussion. Just a bruise." He chuckled. "Only you could knock yourself out on a window sill."
I was beginning to regain my coherency. "Hey! I did not lose consciousness!"
He snorted. "You came pretty damn close to it, you clumsy lump."
I raised my eyebrow at him. "Did you just call me a lump? Seriously?"
He laughed, a low, contagiously happy sound, and pulled me closer, burying his nose in my neck so that I could feel his chest vibrating. That's when I noticed two shocking things; one, he only had silk pyjama bottoms and that annoying mask on, and two, he was definitely not wearing a bandanna. His left and normally obscured eye was on show, if closed.
I could not see his face, and, curious over his eye - as well as a little uncomfortable with the close contact - , I pulled back. He looked down at me, and my own eyes widened in surprise. A long, dark scar started just below his cheek bone and ended millimetres above his eyebrow.
All humour left his face as I stared – perhaps rudely – at his scar. "Kakashi-san . . ." I started, unsure what to say. He looked away, and began to rise to his knees, ready to leave. "Wait!" I spoke before I even made a conscious decision to do so, and, in the same manner, my hands cupped his cheeks, turning his face towards me.
What am I doing? I thought as I gazed into his lonely grey eye, while his left remained closed. Well, too late to stop now. I traced his scar with my thumb, following its every contour with my eyes. Was this why he hid his eye? Was he ashamed of his scar?
A sharp, almost physical pang slivered through my chest at the thought of this strong, beautiful man having to hide behind a mask, too ashamed of an injury to ever let his face be seen. My justification for calling Kakashi either of those things is that I had just hit my head and . . . well, I've always been passionate about things like 'physical flaws'.
Either way, I felt sorry for Kakashi, even wanted to comfort him as his widened eye stared at me in shock. "Hmm." I said, then smiled at him. "We match." I removed my left hand from his unblemished cheek and traced the scar running across my own nose at the same time I traced his.
His eye softened, the creases and lines on his face smoothing out, making him look so much younger. "Yes", he answered gruffly, raising a hand to hold against mine on his cheek. "We do." He smiled underneath the mask and standing up, pulled me to my feet.
"I think it's time this clumsy lump went to bed." And, true to his word, one struggle into the duvet and one aspirin (courtesy of Kakashi dashing into the kitchen) later, I was off to sleep, not even aware of the hold I had unknowingly instigated on Kakashi's wrist as I faded into dreamland.
I blamed the drugs.
What else could it have been?
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AwesomeNumber-Fan: MWAHAHAHAHA, what you don't know Iruka, what you don't know . . .
Iruka: I DO know that this is your shortest chapter. Ever.
Greytail17: The things we will do with what you don't know . . . :D
Kakashi: . . . Who are you and how did you get in here?
AwesomeNumber-Fan: Kakashi! This is Greytail17, my new beta, remember?
Kakashi and Iruka: eyes Greytail17 warily
Greytail17: Uh . . . I love you guys?
Kakashi: Welcome to the KakaIru club, my friend.
