Of Dogs and Men

Author: remthedogsitter

Rating: R (to be safe)

Summary: (AU-ish kakairu) Going home from a mission Iruka suddenly finds himself responsible for a litter of seven puppies surrounded by mysterious circumstances, will he be able to find out where they came from in time before their real owner comes looking for them?

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or their characters in any shape or form

A/N: woohooo awkward moment!

Chapter 11: Recovering

Iruka contained himself from shifting uncontrollably as he stood in the Hokage's office for debriefing. At the speed they took to get home as early as possible they got back to Konoha in half the time and Kakashi was still unconscious in intensive care. The seven pups were in the room as well, sitting on their haunches and trying to look behaved, they lost a lot of what he could say was their puppy fat. Their fur was tangled and dirty, a few blood stains here and there, leaves and twigs sticking out from places, in other words they looked like shit and he couldn't really say any better for himself. He just finished an intensive report on the 'beast' complete with an elaborate illustration and specifications of the abilities he witnessed on their mission.

"As far as we could tell Hokage-sama the place was abandoned, Pakkun informed me at the most it could have been a week since it last saw contact from the outside world or humans at least." Iruka said mechanically. "More of the valuable items like the cadavers of ninja with bloodline limits were also gone as well as the more intensive documents of the research."

"Well done Iruka-sensei." She praised looking over the other pages of the report. "What happened to the beast then?"

"We left him mortally wounded in our escape and he didn't give chase." He said dryly recalling their leave of the pup that was left behind. She nodded approvingly.

"I will be sending a team there soon to gather intel. If Orochimaru has technology like this it wouldn't surprise me if he has something worse up his sleeve." She commented noting thar what Kakashi had seen before seemed to have changed dramatically with the chunin's report as a comparison. "Especially with monster like this." Her face twisted into an expression of disgust, he remembered he used to have that same expression for Naruto.

He knew what she was talking about and he could feel his temper again but he forced the thought out of his mind as the pups' chakra were poking at him worriedly. He consoled himself that she didn't know, for now it would be best to believe that hopefully now Shinjiru would be better off. The pup was alive at the least he could tell, and moving far far away.

"Oh and Iruka sensei I forgot to mention." She looked at the pups warmly. "I'm happy to welcome you as new members of the village, wear you hitai-ate's proudly."

The pups barked their approval and wagged their tails, the more playful of them coming up to her to be petted. "Be careful to keep you chakra adaptation skills a secret though, Kiba, Tsume, Shizune, myself and you are the only ones to know. If the elders find out they're bound to want to take advantage you as a new weapon. Talking is fine and other basic ninken skills, you can still take them to class for lessons and such with your students... what I'm saying is be careful."

Iruka watched her pick a few leaves out of Kaimu's fur "But you on the other hand can come visit me for lessons, wont want those medical skills going to waste. And another thing, would you want to take on the mission of taking care of the brat?" she asked with an expression he couldn't quite place.

He stared at her for a few stunned moments before hastily bowing "Of course, it would be my pleasure."

Iruka read the note from Shizune again, a medical report vaguely outlined and what he needs to do for the jounin's care. From those few months of being trapped and the continuous chakra drain cause a severe case of muscle atrophy and the man might need physical therapy depending on how he feels when he wakes up. He wouldn't be able to grip things properly, walking itself was in question but movement wasn't totally lost, from the harsh demands and condition he was exposed to he lost a lot of muscle mass and control. The chunin looked up from the note, the pups were gathered around Kakashi sleeping on the futon and he felt them carefully channelling their chakra as their bond accommodated another being. Tsunade seemed to agree with this method, taking an interest in how the pack was able to 'share' chakra in a continuously flowing bond. Kakashi's ninken were out hunting and when Iruka went to sit next to Kakashi the pups scattered and excused themselves from the room eventually.

"Hey." Iruka said quietly, touching the sleeping man's hair tentatively. The only light coming from a crack in the door and there was the sound of claws clicking against the wooden floors as the pups were shuffling around. "Hurry up and wake up ok? The pups and Pakkun and the others are worried about you. Shizune-chan and Tsunade-sama said I should fatten you up and take you out into the sun more..." he began drawling on and on until he heard a small grunt followed by a groan.

Kakashi blinked slowly, letting his good eye wander to judge where he was until it rested on Iruka's face hovering him. He groaned again and Iruka reached for the water he kept on the table next to all the medication.

"You're safe at home Kakashi-sensei." He said quietly, helping the man sit up and took care not to bump the IV drip. He looked away when the man pulled the mask from his face and helped his hand lead the glass to his lips. Iruka put the glass away when the jounin was done and sat next to him on the bed.

"How are you feeling?" he asked just as quietly not really expecting an answer. The copy nin just curled up and scooted closer to him near his knee, resting a hand on his thigh. "Iruka, please don't tell me I'm dreaming." The man rasped, his grip tightening slightly on the fabric of the chunnins' sweatpants, his thin from was quivering from all the exertion.

"You're not dreaming." Tentatively he placed a hand on the man's head and the quivering calmed.

"The mutt used me for genjutsu practice." He said dryly, his voice seemed to be coming back. "Sharingan and Byakugan combination shouldn't be possible."

Iruka shook his head. "Hush now enough of that, aren't you hungry?" he used his teacher tone.

"I've been thinking about your cooking to keep me sane." Kakashi said tiredly and rolled over to get deeper into the sheets. "Sleepy."

"I'll make something for you for later then." He ignored that comment, unsure if he was going to take that statement seriously.

It's been a week since Kakashi arrived home and started putting on weight. It been eat and sleep as Iruka would sometimes watched man's sleeping form, thin and no longer built as he had observed before. The body turned to eating itself to survive and if Kakashi wasn't as fit as he was he wouldn't have held on to life for as long as he did.

A thud jolted Iruka out of his dream, instinctively he reached for a kunai he kept near by and stiffened. The pups were out with Pakkun and the others for the night and he and a recovering Kakashi were alone in the house. The chunin stood up and cautiously made his way to the next room to see the white haired man sitting on the floor catching his breath, it seemed he was making his way to the bathroom. Who do you hold on for Kakashi or are you just so stubborn to just let yourself die. He remembered the rumors from a few years before, that Kakashi was stuck in extensive care for a week because of an incident that happened on the way home from a mission, they say it was self inflicted.

He remembered that time really well, the time before Kakashi left for that mission. He went to a party hosted by the mission room, everyone drinking like there was no tomorrow. He wasn't one for crowds and took and armful beer cans with him before heading up to the roof.

When he saw the familiar mess of white hair Iruka almost doubled back thinking he was getting so intoxicated he was seeing things. The chuning shrugged at the thought of going back to the room which was starting to become 'touchy' and he would rather not wake up with a hangover in someone else's bed like what happened last time.

Kakashi merely looked at him with a raised eyebrow, it seems the jounin had the same idea and was munching on a tray of chicken of wings and nursing a can of beer. He motioned for Iruka to sit next to him and the chunin complied, not really thinking. Iruka didn't even notice the man's mask was lowered.

"I don't see you at these parties often Kakashi-sensie" he slurred finished off his nth beer, he stopped counting at 15.

"Hokage-sama said it would be good for me." He shrugged.

Everything that happened after that Iruka couldn't really recall aside the few glimpses of white flesh grinding into him, sloppy and just as slurred as he was talking then and the words he heard in Kakashi's voice brimming with need "I don't kiss" when he tried to bring the man's face close to his.

He woke up the next morning in Kakashi's bed with the note on the bedside "Thanks for last night, I'm leaving for a mission lock the door on your way out." The note wasn't signed. That was a few years ago.

Wordlessy Iruka snaked an arm around the man's waist and helped him go the short distance to the bathroom and watched as the door filled with a sterile looking light closed. He tugged at his loose brown hair in frustration at a memory that was making a beeline south and making his boxers tighter than he would like.

Iruka didn't comment at the sound of Kakashi's chopsticks falling onto the plate for the fifth time. The copy nin couldn't grip properly enough that whenever he tried using the chopsticks his hand would shake with the effort and just drop it. The man stopped for a moment and glared daggers at the plate and the traitorous chopsticks, ignoring the spoon and fork that Iruka purposely had put on the tray as well. He made an excuse to check on the pups to let the man eat at his own pace.

"Hows the boss?" Pakkun asked over his bowl of Donburi, the pug was looking a little fatter now with the extra meals the chunin has been preparing over the last few days.

"He attempted the chopsticks today," He looked through the freezer "Didn't go so well." He grinned when he found what he was looking for, Ben and Jerrys a pint of mint chocolate brownie and a pint of strawberry cheesecake. Iruka took some spoons out of the drawer and left Pakkun to his other helping of liver cookies he prepared as puppy treats for tomorrow.

"Kakashi-sensei?" he poked his head in, juggling spoons and the pints of ice cream that were making his hands numb.

The man was sitting in front of the opening sliding doors, he was staring into the night with the little fireflies flying about, tray by his futon forgotten.

Iruka sat beside him and handed him the mint chocolate brownie as he started on the strawberry cheesecake. Kakashi wasn't wearing his mask at some point he just started to forget to pull it up and the last time the chunin asked the copy nin dismissed it by saying he should at least be comfortable in his own house. They ate in silence and at the corner of his eye Iruka watched the man lick his spoon in a certain way, they were sitting so close to each other.

"How'd you know this is my favorite flavor Iruka-sensei?" the jounin grinned cheekily looking at him. "Stalking me now are we?"

The chunin grinned back even though the other still looked worn at least his humor was coming back. "Heh shame on you for not noticing, jounin-san. " He chuckled stuffing another spoonful of ice cream in his mouth. "What you gonna do about it?"

Without missing a beat Kakashi piped "This." And closed the space between them, their lips meeting. Both Kakashi and Iruka's eyes widened at the realization of what just happened.

Shit.

A/N: review if you likey this chapter! :D it took a while so I hope it was worth it.