Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the characters used in this work of fan fiction.
Warnings: Eventual Kakairu (which means male/male romance), possible future smut that will be posted elsewhere and crosslinked - R rated versions of chapters will be provided here. Rating of fic will rise to M in later chapters.
The mission room was full again, and Kakashi looked over it with a lazy, bored eye. Too many shinobi were gathered around the desk for him to see who was manning it, so he slipped into one of the lines and studiously ignored everyone in favor of reading his book. After fifteen minutes of waiting, he got close enough to see that the Chuunin woman from the other day was there, along with two men he didn't recognize. The Copy Nin shrugged and turned to walk away, but was stopped by a man with honey-colored hair.
"Headed out already, Kakashi-san?" Genma asked, and Kakashi shrugged.
"Maybe. Why?"
Genma shrugged. "Seemed like you were looking for someone."
Kakashi considered him for a moment over the edge of his book. The tokubetsu Jounin had a reputation for gossip, and it was possible that he'd have some idea where he could find a certain Chuunin – he had dinner plans to make, after all.
"I was looking for Umino Iruka," Kakashi said, and Genma let out a low whistle.
"Iruka-sensei? THE Iruka-sensei?" he asked, voice tinged with more than a little awe and fear. Kakashi raised a brow at the man, who was looking at him with an expression that could only be described as disbelieving.
"Something wrong with that?" Kakashi couldn't quite keep the note of irritation out of his voice, and the tokubetsu Jounin stiffened a little.
"Not really. It's just – if you're sniffing around for what I think you're sniffing around for, you've got the wrong guy." Genma sounded slightly nervous, and Kakashi found that intriguing.
"Oh?"
Genma nodded, and leaned in, lowering his voice. "Trust me. You don't want to go there. After what he did to my senbon…" Genma's eyes went dark as he apparently slipped into an unpleasant memory. When a heavy hand landed on his shoulder, he nearly jumped out of his skin, and whirled around to face a glaring Raido. Kakashi watched with amusement.
"What kind of stories are you spreading this time, Genma?" the heavily scarred man asked. Genma adopted an expression that would've been more at home on a puppy.
"Nothing really," he said. Raido looked skeptical.
"Uh huh. So you just happened to run into Kakashi-san on his way out. You weren't interrogating him at all. And you certainly weren't hunting for gossip," Raido said. Genma whined.
"But- but- he's trying to date Iruka-sensei!"
At that, Raido buried his face in his hands.
"Please God, tell me you didn't tell the senbon story again."
"But they were flavored! All of them! All differently! I didn't know if I'd get grape or barbeque next! It drove me crazy!" Genma yelled.
"You deserved it."
"I did not! All I did was ask him out."
"Genma, saying 'Hey Sensei, I bet that desk would look better if I was fucking you on top of it, wanna try it out?' is not asking someone out. It's sexual harassment," Raido told him. Genma pouted.
"But-"
"No buts. If Kakashi-san is interested in Iruka-sensei in that way, what you should do is smile and wish him good luck. Not try to frighten him away."
"But he's straight!" By this point Genma sounded like a petulant child, and Raido pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers.
"Turning you down does not automatically make someone straight," Raido informed him. Genma looked mutinous, but Raido ignored him to instead focus on Kakashi.
"So. You're interested in Iruka-sensei?" he asked. The Copy Nin shrugged.
"Yes, but not in the way you're thinking," Kakashi said. Raido nodded.
"He's probably still at the Academy now. If you head out now, you'll probably get there before lunch," Raido told him. Kakashi nodded and turned to leave when he heard Raido call his name. He turned and raised a brow, waiting.
"He likes beef ramen," he said, and Kakashi nodded again before heading off to pick up lunch.
***
Iruka was good with children. Somehow, Kakashi knew he shouldn't have been surprised by it – after all, the man was a teacher. It was hard to reconcile, though, with the bursts of temper and pure mischief he'd seen from the Chuunin. The man seemed entirely too volatile to be a teacher without killing – or at the very least, strangling – one of the horde of pre-Gennin brats currently sitting in his classroom. Sure, they may have seemed innocent on the surface, but Kakashi'd had too much experience with Sakura's dual personality to believe the sweet smiles.
Apparently, Iruka had had the same experiences, because he scowled at the class and quickly barked off of a threat of a quiz if they didn't behave. The smiles slipped into sullen frowns, and Kakashi saw a slingshot slip underneath a desk, where it couldn't launch the loaded spitball at the Chuunin. Iruka turned back to the lecture, and when the sighs of boredom turned into sleepy yawns, he stopped and looked at his class. Suddenly he grinned, and the children awake enough to see that grin perked up.
"You're right. This is boring. Who wants to go have weapons practice instead?" Iruka asked, and the cheers were nearly deafening.
Unfortunately, weapons practice was apparently held outside, dangerously near the tree in which Kakashi had been hiding. He shifted uncomfortably and wondered if he should use some kind of genjustsu to hide his presence, then decided against it and focused on regulating his breathing and blending in to his surroundings. It seemed to work at first, because Iruka focused on giving a short speech about proper shuriken usage – then one of the aforementioned weapons came suddenly speeding at Kakashi's head.
The Jounin reflexively caught the small missile, then tensed when he realized what he'd done. The lack of a thunk into wood had given his position away as surely as if he'd announced his presence. Kakashi set the bag down in the branches and, with a sigh, dropped down from the tree to see Iruka glaring at him. He scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
"Um, hello, Iruka-sensei?" Kakashi asked, and Iruka sniffed, then turned to look at his class.
"Alright, kids! I'm sure that you've heard of Kakashi-sensei before, right?" Iruka asked with a grin, carefully stressing the title. Kakashi shot him a look that clearly said 'I'm going to kill you for this later' as thirty mouths dropped open and sixty beady little eyes focused on his masked face. One of the children flashed a grin and leaned back, pointing at him.
"Hey, I know you! You're the guy who teaches Naruto-niisan!"
Kakashi sighed and scratched the back of his head. He'd been identified as many things before – Sharingan no Kakashi, the Copy Nin, the son of the White Fang – but this was the first time he'd been recognized for teaching a fashion-impaired brat.
"Ah, yeah. I guess," Kakashi said, and the kid drew himself up further.
"I'm going to be the next Hokage! Well, after Naruto-niisan."
Kakashi stared at the brat, eye flickering to take in the children flanking him. One had a drippy nose and the other, a girl, had spiky orange hair pulled up into pig-tails that made his own gravity-defying hair look positively normal. They were nodding in concert with everything the goggle-wearing boy was saying, and Kakashi had a brief mental image of Naruto at the same age, with Sakura and Sasuke actually agreeing with him instead of calling him an idiot. A shudder went down his spine, and Iruka clapped his hands to draw attention to himself.
"That's right, Konohamaru-kun. Kakashi-sensei is Naruto's teacher. He's also one of the finest Jounin in all of Konoha, and today, as a special treat, he's going to be helping us learn how to throw shuriken!"
Kakashi looked at the tanned man skeptically. "Um, Iruka-sensei, I'm not sure-"
Iruka turned to look at him, and his smile was frightening. "I'm sure you'll do fine, Kakashi-sensei. After that incident with the carrot, I'm assured of your skills with small projectiles."
Kakashi gulped, and Iruka transferred his glare to the children.
"Now class. The chance to get taught by an elite Jounin isn't one that comes along every day, especially not one of Kakashi-san's caliber. I'm sure that you all want a chance to get taught by one of Konoha's greatest shinobi, don't you?" Iruka said. Most of the class chimed their agreement, but some still looked skeptical, especially Konohamaru. Iruka looked at his raised hand for a moment, then nodded.
"Yes, Konohamaru-kun?"
The boy didn't look at his teacher, instead choosing to glare at the Copy Nin. "Are you really as good as Iruka-sensei says you are?" he asked disbelievingly. Somewhat bemused, Kakashi nodded.
"Prove it!" Konohamaru said, crossing his arms over his chest. Kakashi glanced at Iruka, who nodded slightly, then shrugged. It wasn't like he had anything better to do. He pulled five shuriken out of his weapon's pouch and started them spinning on his fingers, deliberately keeping it slow enough so that the child's eyes could follow the movement. When Konohamaru had almost fallen into a trance, Kaakshi let the missiles fly all at once. The breeze from the shuriken stirred the boy's hair, and the weapons embedded themselves in the tree behind him with a satisfying thunk. The boy blinked, then turned to look behind him, and saw the outline of his spiky hair perfectly traced by the shuriken currently stuck in the wood. His eyes grew wide and for a second Kakashi thought he'd start crying, but then he broke into an enormous grin.
"Cool!"
After that Kakashi had the attention of the entire class, most of whom were staring at him with thinly-disguised hero worship. He sighed, threw a baleful glance at Iruka, and drew another shuriken from his pouch.
"Alright. Who can tell me about the basics of throwing shuriken?"
A little Hyuuga girl raised her hand, and Kakashi nodded at her.
"It's all a matter of technique. You have to be careful about how you hold it, and let go when the balance is just right. You shouldn't throw it too hard," she said, and Kakashi nodded again. It was fairly similar to what Iruka had already told the children, and he fell into repeating the rest of the dark-haired teacher's lecture almost automatically. The theory behind weapons applications was generally the same across the board, and despite Iruka's promise of a special lecture, what he told the students was probably exactly what they would've heard from their normal teacher. Despite that, they hung on to his every word.
When it came time for actual practice, Kakashi gained a whole new respect for Iruka. More than one child attempted his trick with multiple shuriken, but it was only after Konohamaru tried for four at once that Iruka started shouting. He firmly banned all use of multiple weapons, and the class looked mutinous until Kakashi stepped in.
"He's right. You need to fully master using one shuriken at a time before you can add on more. Even I don't usually use more than three at a time." The explanation seemed to mollify them slightly, and practice started back up again, though with considerably less misguided shuriken this time. Iruka generally stayed back and Kakashi glanced at him before going through the groups, stopping here and there to correct a pose or demonstrate the proper grip. After an hour had passed, most of the students were at least somewhere near the target, and when Iruka called for a lunch break, there were considerable groans.
"Don't worry, kids. I promise Kakashi-sensei will come back to teach you more at another time. Won't you, Kakashi-sensei." It wasn't a question, but Kakashi nodded his assent anyway, all the while trying to conceive of some way to get away with never teaching the brats again. He'd thought it was hard to deal with his three, but they'd already been Genin, with at least a modicum of skill and discipline. These…children…were completely wild, and Kakashi wondered more than a little about the sanity of allowing them anywhere near weapons. The children seemed mollified by Iruka's promise and Kakashi's apparent assent, and they ran off to the classroom to gather their lunches. Iruka grabbed Konohamaru by the back of the collar as he dashed by, and stuck out his free hand.
"Give them. Now," Iruka said, and Konohamaru rolled his eyes before digging a variety of shuriken out of his clothes and placing them in the outstretched palm of his teacher. Iruka set him back down and Konohamaru stuck his tongue out at him, then turned to Kakashi.
"I hope you come back soon, Kakashi-sensei. You're a way better teacher than Iruka-sensei," he sniffed. His two goons nodded in agreement, then all three left. Kakashi was stunned for a moment, then he glanced at Iruka out of the corner of his eye, worried about the Chuunin's reaction to the callous statement. To his surprise, the younger man was barely holding back a laugh.
"Iruka-sensei?" Kakashi couldn't keep the concern out of his voice or off of his face, and at that, Iruka stopped trying to hold it back and burst into laughter. Kakashi scowled at him.
"I didn't tell them anything you wouldn't have," the Jounin said, and at that, Iruka started laughing harder. He leaned back against the tree Kakashi had been hiding in and covered his face with his hands until the laughter subsided. The teacher looked at Kakashi with a grin, and Kakashi felt his own lips twitch slightly in response.
"I'm sorry, Kakashi-san, but that's what makes it so funny," Iruka explained. Kakashi paused for a moment, then noticed the slightly mischievous tint to the grin Iruka was wearing, and his eye grew wide.
"You little… you planned this, didn't you?" Kakashi asked, and Iruka held his hands up in the air as if to say 'not me!'
"Kakashi-san, be reasonable. How could I have known that you'd be spying on my class today?" he said. Kakashi narrowed his eye at him.
"That didn't stop you from taking shameless advantage of it. You knew how they'd react."
Iruka grinned and shrugged, unrepentant. "So what if I did? It got them to learn the lesson, didn't it?"
Kakashi shook his head. "You could've just taught them yourself. They would've learned the same things."
Iruka's smile grew. "Ah, but I am not the great Hatake Kakashi."
Kakashi snorted and shook his head again. He'd been duped. Completely and utterly duped, and by a Chuunin no less. The little brat had planned the entire thing, from hyping him up to the kids to the demonstration with the shuriken to Kakashi teaching the exact same thing the Chuunin would've in the first place.
"You, Iruka-sensei, are manipulative."
Iruka smiled brightly. "I know. Isn't it great?"
Kakashi tried to keep his glare in place, he really did. But it was hard when he was faced with sparkling brown eyes and that grin, and eventually he let the glare slide away, and ended up chuckling softly instead.
"Yeah. It is."
They looked at each other for a moment, then Iruka glanced away, a slight blush on his cheeks.
"So. Ah. Why were you here?"
Kakashi blinked, then glanced up at the tree.
"Ah yeah. Right. I, ah, brought you lunch," he explained sheepishly, scratching at the back of his head. Iruka looked at him in surprise, and Kakashi shrugged. The Chuunin's brows drew together slightly, as if he wanted to question it, but he didn't. Kakashi waited for a moment, and when the teacher didn't say anything, Kakashi climbed the tree and grabbed the bag still sitting there. He dropped down effortlessly beside the teacher, and held the bag out. Iruka hesitated for a moment then took it. Their fingers brushed slightly, and Kakashi held his muscles tense to make certain he wouldn't flinch at the contact – or, even more likely, lean into it. Iruka looked embarrassed for a moment, then glanced down into the bag.
"You brought me ramen?"
Kakashi rubbed at his ear.
"Eh, well…"
Iruka sunk down to the ground and pulled the insulated bowls out. He handed one to Kakashi then opened the other, inhaling the steam and sighing contentedly.
"Thank you. This is exactly what I needed," Iruka said. Kakashi held his own bowl awkwardly for a minute, then followed the teacher's lead, opening it and starting to eat. Iruka finished the lunch with the speed that only comes from hunger, then leaned back against the tree with a sigh. Kakashi glanced over at him, and Iruka's lips suddenly quirked up in a smile.
"So. Are you planning to kill me for making you teach the kids?"
Kakashi frowned slightly beneath his mask and tilted his head to the side as if considering it.
"Maybe. It depends on if you do it again," he said. Iruka laughed.
"I probably will," he said, and Kakashi shrugged.
"Maa. Can't be worse than Naruto," he said, and Iruka snorted.
"Obviously you haven't met Konohamaru before today," he said.
"I'll live, Sensei," he said. Iruka looked at him consideringly for a moment.
"Are you busy tonight?" he asked. Kakashi shook his head, and the teacher smiled.
"Come by my place for dinner. I get off work at eight," he invited. Kakashi looked at him for a moment.
"I thought it was my turn next?" he questioned, and Iruka shrugged.
"I figure the lesson and the lunch made up for it. Besides, don't you think it's about time we stopped counting?" the Chuunin asked, and Kakashi smiled.
"Yeah. It probably is," he said.
"So I'll see you there?" Iruka questioned, and Kakashi nodded slowly. Iruka smiled at him before tucking the empty bowls away in the bag and standing. He took the bag with him as he headed back into the classroom, and Kakashi simply sat in the grass, staring at the school. After a long while he pulled himself to his feet and headed off to the memorial stone.