Chapter 10

As another month passed by, Kakashi thought that maybe he did not know him at all, this famous chuunin. He had seen him a little on the streets, but never went to talk to him. Yet, no more white haired chuunin - well, what seemed like white fair, he could not tell clearly, - followed him.

Kakashi snorted, burying his nose even more in his orange book - the latest edition he just had bought, - hoping the noisy Uchiha would leave him alone. "I won't be going out with him, this isn't possible for now, you stupid. You know why."

"They've come back to bother you?" asked a small voice. As Kakashi turned to the ponytail haired boy, he hid his surprise behind a face of annoyance. He was getting way too familiar with that young man to simply let him so easily get near him. Iruka sighed, scratching his scar as he looked at the ground. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?" asked Kakashi, his eyebrow raised.

He saw the chuunin frown, taking a long intake of air, his jaw clenching an unclenching. "I'm sorry for being an ass to you."

"Really?" He knew that it was childish, but he was angry.

The dolphin growled. "I'm sorry; you were right. He was a rebound! Happy?!" Iruka saw the jounin's stance relaxed, a smile visible behind his mask, and he fought even more to keep himself from hitting him. He knew, however, that his friend was listening, the orange book put back in its pocket.

"Maa, don't be that prickly, Sensei. I can see those fists you're readying there."

"Well, stop picking on me, you moron."

Kakashi chuckled, before regaining a serious expression. "Look, I'm sorry too."

Brown eyes widened. "What?"

"I can understand that I was also mean to you, Sensei." He saw Iruka shook his head disbelievingly, trying to find some words. Kakashi frowned. "You think that I'm too arrogant to know when I'm wrong?"

"Huh, no. It's... It's just that I'm surprised. I didn't thought that you would say it." In fact, he knew that the jounin was sorry, or else he would not have been standing in the snow alone on the last Christmas, waiting for him. Iruka had seen him go, had waited purposefully for him to make his leave before stepping to his memorial stone.

"Maa, give me some credit, Sensei. It's not because I'm a jounin that I would consider myself superior to you and say that I am right by all means."

Was there some pain in those words? wondered Iruka. The chuunin looked at him with soft eyes. "I know, don't worry."

And they said nothing more, simply enjoying each other's company. Because they knew somehow that there was still issues left, and they needed to work them out with time.

"Next time, bring the coffee," said Kakashi sternly. A hit on his shoulder and defiant eyes glared at him. He smiled. There were still some tension in the air, but they would work it out.

Crispy cold came back eventually, because the hot season could not stay forever, mused Kakashi as he took a sip of his mug. Each year he would wonder why he did not buy some better gears for winter, and each time laziness came to mind and that coffee won the fight.

"Your coffee's not bad. A little off, but not bad."

"Hey! It's been a while, you know," snapped back Iruka, glaring at the scarecrow.

Kakashi's eyebrow rose. "Really? The rebound guy didn't have coffee on morning?" he said, not thinking. And by the stiffness in Iruka's body, Kakashi knew he had been too privy. Why had he? He should not have been, he was not privy. At least, not supposed to. No?

Luckily to him, Iruka finally relaxed, looked away and sighed, but still answered. "Hum, no, not really. We weren't together in the mornings, and generally coffee was already done in the academy teacher's room when I arrived."

"Sorry," the silver haired jounin still said. He had to.

"Don't be," replied hastily Iruka. Even if the scarecrow tried to hide his inquiring look, Iruka had a glimpse of it. "I- He- We... I mean, it wasn't working, and I wish to talk about it." He didn't said the 'to you' that his mind screamed at him, but he had no doubt that, by the way he could not keep himself looking at the jounin, the one-eyed man already knew.

Still, an awkward silence set itself upon them. As Iruka was kicking himself for not being able to say what he wanted to say, Kakashi was kicking himself for being such an ass when his chuunin tried to be open about himself. Since when did they cared for each other so much through those almost three years?

It took another month before Iruka finally said that he was not able to talk about everything to Mizuki as he did when he was around Kakashi. That he had this angry chakra creeping around him, how he would make so many crude and mean comments on people from time to time when they were alone. Even his other friends did not have all this information - spiky and long brown hair he heard so much about. By the softness in the eyes of the jounin, the chuunin understood that it meant a lot to his unnamed friend.

And between all those explanations, they simply started to sit closer without thinking, without looking. Their fingers brushed more often when they gave each other their mugs, or poured for the other some more coffee. Somewhere between that, coffee would be changed to tea from time to time - the third was scrubbing off on him through their talking session, Iruka often said.

Through the time they spent fixing what had to be fixed, they still did not ask each other's name. Why ? Both did not know really. And did not want to find why. Added to that, they both let on the side the topic of the blond brat as much as they could either. But sometimes, Iruka could not let it go.

"You know, I teach the brat this year." He paused, and when he saw Kakashi acknowledge his words - still a little reluctant, - he resumed, "And I should not have been so judgemental on him. You were right on that one too."

"Maa, when am I not right, sensei?"

"Humph. I'm just letting you know, so you can boost that egotistical mind of yours, actually."

Smirking lips that could be seen through the mask and playful eyes stared at him. "No need hurting me. I'm sure he's not that much trouble, anyway." And the way Iruka blurted the next words took him by surprise.

"Excuse me! It's clear that you have no idea how boisterous this boy can be, how a pain in the ass he is and there's nothing to be done with it!"

"Now, now, sensei," Kakashi held up his hands in defense, "every kids once in a while can be bothering. It's must not be that bad."

The dolphin snorted loudly. "Huh, come back to me once you'll have a genin team." The silence he got back made him smile. "Still have not let a team pass?"

"No." The scarecrow scratched his nose momentarily. "Kids these days still haven't learn what teamwork is." And without wanting too, Obito and Rin came to his mind.

"Hmm. I'm... I'm trying to make them understand about teamwork." The jounin looked at his friend with surprise, and the chuunin hesitantly smiled back. "I don't think it's working, though. Just look at me, how far I got some things..." Iruka muttered, looking at the frozen-but-yet-not-white ground.

Kakashi eyes softened, and he would have wished that there had been no mask on his face that day for his chuunin to see his smile. Iruka eyes widened for a second when he felt Kakashi's hand rest gently on his forearm. "Thank you, Sensei. I'm sure you're doing a great job at it."

And the only thing the dolphin was able to answer with was a wide smile of pride. And a blush discerned only if you looked at the now white scar that crossed his nose, which Kakashi had no eye for that day, because the deep chocolate brown eyes shined with true happiness he had not seen before.

The snow tried to settle, but rain was nasty and kept it away from Fire country for some weeks. It had bothered Kakashi a lot, since cold and rain never mixed well, and his over cold body he had to drag between so many missions tired him to no end.

Iruka kept scolding him as if he was a little boy, but, in fact, he was glad for his sensei to be back. They could not see each other too often yet, since Kakashi was away repeatedly. Something was happening in Mist, and they could not tell. Some gathering, somewhere. It was well hidden, as everything related to ninjas should be. But something was also off, as everything related to ninja was way too often.

Kakashi shrugged, and rubbed his hands together, trying to feel his fingers again. A numbness grip on his kunai was all he got back.

"You should let your laziness away sometime," nudged Hayate. Raidou laughed back, glancing beside his shoulder at them.

"Keep looking out for enemies instead of bothering us, Hayate," said back the silver haired jounin in a lazy voice. Without seeing him, he knew that the sword user was rolling his eyes at him, before scouting around some more. Crouching on his branch, the scarecrow looked back at Raidou a few feet away from him. "Got something?"

"Only that something's wrong. Can't tell what. The ninkens got anything too?"

"Nope. Pakkun said that there's nothing to find with that mixing of cold and rain. Their noses are useless."

"Hn," was the only thing the scarred jounin said, scratching his chin. "The old man won't be happy to hear that."

"As if our Hokage should be happy to know that we're calling him an old man," came back Hayate again. What a nice use of shadow clones. "Anyway, it's been two weeks now that we're looking, and nothing. Missing-nins are quiet, things are stable. I say we go back home to heat up our asses, and get ready for the next chuunin exam now."

Raidou shuffled his hair, his head low. "I agree with him, Kakashi, even if it's 'cause he wants to go back to Yugao," added the scarred man, his face holding a tired but laughing smile. "However, it's your word. What're we doing ?"

The scarecrow said nothing, pounding both sides. It was true that their three men team was going nowhere, and they were not able to find anything as of sort to bring back to Sandaime. The lead the Intel team had found a year ago with the scroll he had stolen had vanished. It was weird, and something definitely was not working. They were going back and forth in this game, and yet, they could not pinpoint what it was.

He sighed. The other part of his brain told him that he had a Christmas to be with his chuunin this year, and it was near that date. Slowly, he rose with hurting, frost bitten knees and looked back at his team.

"There's nothing much to do anyway. We've looked and search to an extent that will make the leaf visible where we don't want it to be. Let's go home."

Hayate and Raidou looked at each other exchanging smirks, knowing that there was a reason for Kakashi to go back home. Hound would have driven them to an unbearable extent until they would definitely be sure there was nothing else, not just made assumptions of it.

"For shinobis, you guys are easily readable," muttered Kakashi who was already leaping form tree to tree in front of them.

Iruka took his seat beside Kouta-sensei, taking a sip of his tea - a strong tasting one, today. He did not know why he had been requested to this meeting, but waited patiently as the Hokage finished putting order in his papers. Kouta-sensei was reading his pad, absentmindedly taking sips from his cup as well.

"I am happy you could join us Iruka. I heard that you were doing very well at the academy."

"Thank you Hokage-sama. I am working at the best of my capacities," he answered, smiling timidly.

"You've made a lot of progress in three years, and Kouta-sensei and I wanted to give you more opportunities." Hiruzen took a puff from his old wooden pipe. "There is an opening in the city administration that might be interesting for you," he stated slowly. "We think that if you feel ready for it, you should be taking some hours at the mission desk."

Iruka said nothing, but his hands were shaking lightly. He dared not to look at anyone, and instead found the wooden floor very interesting.

"You don't have to give us an answer for now," intervened Kyoshi. "However, from my evaluation and from the progress you've made thus far, I am certain that it would help you greatly." Iruka knew that Kouta was expending his chakra to him, and he could feel it.

However, he was scared, scared when he would have to face other shinobis. What if they knew the truth, his mind kept telling him. Sure, his cemetery friend had understood, and the teachers at the academy had not been harsh to him, they were even very nice.

They could not always control the outcome of a mission... "I... I'll take it, Hokage-sama, Kouta-sensei," he heard his voice say. Could he really do it?

"Are you sure, Iruka?" There was concern in the eyes of Sandaime. When the chuunin simply nodded, he put his old pipe on his desk and pulled out a form and a pen. "Good. I will ask you to fill all the requested information here."

As the dolphin started to write on the paper, Kyoshi pressed on, "You won't be manning the desk full time. You will only do two to three hours a week for a start, and progressively, as we see how you're doing, we will adjust your schedule.

Don't worry," he added as he saw the chuunin giving him a nervous glance, "we won't be taking away the classes you have at the academy."

"Thank you," Iruka said, giving the filled form in the old hands of Sandaime. Finally looking at the wrinkled eyes of his leader, his hands gripped his pants forcefully. "I- I don't want to go back on the field, Hokage-sama... Unless it is absolutely necessary," he added rapidly.

Sarutobi smiled wisely, agreeing silently with Kouta Kyoshi who was nodding his head lightly. "We understand that much, Iruka. However, I can't say that you won't be ever called again to go on a mission."

Iruka let out a breath he did not know he was keeping. "I understand, Hokage-sama."

Crossing his hands on his desk, he eyed the form vaguely. "Since this is clarified, you will start in two weeks, and you will be teamed up with Shiranui Genma, a tokubetsu jounin. I will give you more information in our next meeting, as it was requested by Kouta-sensei." The Umino's brown eyes widened slightly, before a small smile graced his lips. "Do you have any questions?"

"No, Hokage-sama. Thank you for your consideration."

After bowing politely and exiting the office, Umino was flexing his hands to make blood circulating again. He had been nervous, nervous that his request would be denied. He knew that usually chuunins were not to stay so long at one place, but he had no desire to go back on the field.

"You did well, Iruka-sensei," softly said Kouta, cleaning his glasses with a part of his white coat.

Smiling timidly, Iruka scratched his scar. "Why, thanks to you, Kouta-sensei. It means a lot to me that you offered a second meeting, if I should be changing my mind in those two weeks."

And the greying man said nothing, simply smiled back, placing his glasses back on his nose, and left quietly.

"You sure he'll come, boss?" asked the pug unceremoniously, sitting on the cold brown ground.

It had not snow, in the end. And it was with a a pinch in his heart that Hatake studied the muddy frozen cemetery.

Kakashi grunted, ruffling his hair. "Yes, he will. It's not because he's late that it means he won't be here."

The ninken looked back at him as if he had grown a second head. "That's not because it's your case that he is the same as you, you know?"

"Whatever. Who asked you your opinion anyway?"

"Why would I be here, then?" came the sarcastic remark.

The scarecrow rolled his eye and counted to ten mentally. "Because you insisted to see him, since last time I didn't let you tell him merry Christmas. You're the one who said he smelled funny but was a nice guy."

"And he still smells funny..." grumbled the pug. Kakashi wondered idly if he his ninken was aware that he was waving his tail in such a 'dog' way.

"Sorry I'm late," breathed out Iruka.

"No problem, Sensei," said Kakashi happily, smiling. "I had Pakkun waiting with me, here."

"Oh, great! It's nice to see you, Pakkun." He smiled joyfully, kneeing in front of Kakashi's summon, bowing his head.

"Same thing here. You should bring me here more often, boss, there's finally someone nice to me!"

"Just tell him what you are here for," snapped the scarecrow. Iruka chuckled softly at their antics, the pug smiling and Kakashi hiding his face behind his hands.

"Merry Christmas, Sensei," barked happily the little ninken, his tail wriggling in a new fashion.

Iruka smiled tenderly, scratching his scar. "Well, thank you. Merry Christmas to you too." A sharp teeth grin, and Pakkun had already 'poof'ed out of existence. "He left in a hurry!"

"Yeah, I know," explained Kakashi, taking Iruka's hand to help him back on his feet, "he has pups to be with."

"Oh! I didn't know he was a father. I would have ask him to tell his family merry Christmas for me."

Kakashi gently squeezed Iruka's hand as the dolphin started to let his go. "No worry here, Sensei," he said in a voice he hoped was reassuring.

Iruka smiled timidly, wondering if Kakashi meant the hand or the pug's family. "Hum, you know... I've, huh, wanted to give you something for Christmas. No, no, don't be sorry if you don't have any. It's not something big, don't worry about it. Here."

And Kakashi watched Iruka slowly take his hand out of his, watched him slowly take off his red scarf that he wore each winter. He dared not move as Iruka wrapped up warmingly the scarf around his neck with trembling hands. Which hands he took firmly in his.

The ponytail haired man laughed nervously, and the scarecrow could see his brown eyes glimmering with tears. "'Karu gave it to me, and now, I want you to have it."

"Why?" whispered Kakashi, afraid to break the strange moment that was taking place.

Seconds passed by as Iruka seemed trying to find the right answer, bitting his chiseled lips. But no answers were taking form in his head, and his stomach was starting to make him feel sick from stress. Taking a small sharp breath, he dislodged his hand from Kakashi's until it touched the jounin's cheek, feeling him respond by pressing his cheek further in his hand.

His thumb slipped between the black fabric and the skin, and Iruka pulled it down the scarecrow's neck. Without thinking, he closed the gap that had diminished between him and Kakashi for his lips to touch his.

At first, the silver haired man did not react, surprised by the boldness of the young man. And, slowly, his own eyes closed from their own accord, his lips moving accordingly to the tentative steps of the chuunin.

Hot breath touch their skin as they parted momentarily, and Kakashi did not hesitate to kiss the chiseled lips again tenderly. His hand let go of Iruka's, moving to the brunette's hair, while his arm circled the chuunin's waist, holding him close. It felt right and good, his desire making himself known.

As the kiss became more heated, he felt hands on his torso, pushing him back gently. He broke the kiss with regret, and gave place to the chuunin. His face drained from every color as he saw the tears that streaked the tanned skin. "Are you alright?"

Iruka looked at the ground, rubbing his cheeks, before looking back at the handsome jounin."Yes... I am." He made a small watery smile. "It's just, it's overwhelming. I... It seemed easier in my mind, you know... this."

He said nothing, only nodded back. He did not know exactly how he felt: being happy for something that was so big for the man he liked, but at the same time he was afraid that it was maybe too much. He ruffled his hair, weirdly feeling the cold on his nose. "Look, take your time. Once you feel ready, I'll be here."

"I know," he answered quietly, squeezing Kakashi's gloved hand, turning around to leave. "Oh! And merry Christmas..." he started in a wobbly voice.

"Kakashi."

"... Kakashi."

"Merry Christmas, Sensei."

"Iruka."

Kakashi chuckled sweetly, before smiling. "Merry Christmas, Iruka-sensei." Kakashi watched his chuunin walk away, smelling the red scarf that would keep him from the cold as his mind reeled in the sweet scent.