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

Wow, sorry this took so long, and it's a little shorter than usual, but I've been really busy.

I just finished work, and I'm taking vacation before I go back to school, so expect another chapter in the next week at least. Because I feel like trying to finish this story as a whole before Christmas. So I can start other…"awesome" things.

Also, all questions you guys asked me will be answered in the ending Author Notes. Hope you like them.

;D

(D: Mah, I break pages! D:)

Humming softly to himself, a catchy song that Sakura was always singing under her breath, Iruka stepped out from his shower. He grabbed a towel and pulled his hair back in an attempt to wring the excess water out. As he was reaching the end to the song, where he always messed up, Iruka felt small pinpricks on his ankle.

"Pickles-chan, I'll be out to feed you in a little bit. You can last that long, right?" He asked the calico on the ground, not even looking down to make sure he was correct in his assumption. After all, who else would be sneaking in on him showering except his female cat?

Pulling up a pair of boxers he had remembered to bring in with him, Iruka looped his towel around his neck and finally glanced down at Pickles, who was now pacing in a circle. "Let's get going, since you're obviously fading away to nothing." The cat gave a sneeze and scurried out the door when the chunin opened it enough.

Trying to follow, Iruka was pushed to the side as a body moved past his own. Blinking for a moment, he had to regain his bearings before he identified the sound coming from inside his bathroom as someone emptying their stomach. Iruka pushed his hand through his wet hair, leaning against his hallway's walls trying to comprehend what was happening before pivoting on his foot and walking towards his kitchen in hopes of getting a cup of coffee and waiting for Kakashi to appear for questioning.

"You've got nothing to eat."

His head snapped towards the small pug sitting on his table, whose ugly, squished face was frowning in his direction. Scowling as he pulled out a chair, Iruka watched the pug as it continued to glare back at him.

"Where did Keibi go?" He asked while looking around the room as if hoping the guard Akita Inu would suddenly pop up.

Pakkun scratched behind his ear with a grunt, "That idiot is back with the rest of the pack like he's supposed to be." He yawned and shook his head, "I don't know why he wasn't listening to Kakashi, but I guess we all have our little quirks.

"Now when are you going to feed me? I know that pup isn't going to, too busy with other things at the moment."

Iruka followed the canine's eyes as they rested on the bathroom door, where the sound of Kakashi dry heaving continued to echo weakly from the other side. Standing up from where he was sitting, the chunin opened up his fridge and found a couple of containers of old ramen, which he promptly chucked into the garbage, and some other foodstuffs.

He whipped around when he heard the front door click shut, but Pakkun shot him a look that warned him not to follow. "Leave the kid alone for a while, Iruka-sensei." The pug said, little brows furrowing, "He needs to figure some things out this morning, but he'll be fine. He always is."

Iruka was silent as he arranged the sandwich, slapping a few pieces of just-turned bad meat along with wilted lettuce. He would have to go shopping soon, but his thoughts still remained on a single question, which slipped past his lips unbidden. "Does he do that often?"

The pug sighed and his small form seemed to shrink, "Kid thinks he needs to keep his weight down so he can be a better ninja." He said sullenly, glancing morosely at the plate Iruka placed in front of him, "He does it whenever he deems it necessary."

Before Iruka could rush out the door, find Kakashi and knock some sense into the late teenager, Pakkun stood on the table and gave a small growl. "Don't bother him. Kakashi has a way of learning from his mistakes, no matter how badly he comes out after making them."

"Do all you guys say that?" The chunin said as he washed some of the dishes in the sink, wrinkling his nose at some of the pieces of food that were still attached to the surfaces. "First Keibi, now you. Did Kakashi just make bad decision after another, acting like a blundering fool?" Iruka asked, laughing quietly at the image conjured, but sobered quickly when he noticed the Ninken wasn't joining in.

"Iruka-sensei, the brat has gone through a lot of things and most of them ended badly." The beady, black eyes regarded the man seriously, "You better not be another mistake for him to add to his tally, or else you'll be sorry."

With that final word of caution, the canine disappeared with a pop, leaving Iruka alone with his thoughts and another dish to load into the dishwasher.

(D: Mah, I break pages! D:)

"Hey, duck-butt!"

Sasuke turned at the insult to his hairstyle, he couldn't help that it stuck up that way, but it was too late to realize his error when a fistful of snow was launched into his face. Wiping it away with a quick flick of his wrist, the Uchiha glared at Kiba, who was riding Akamaru and laughing out loud at the mess he had made of the other's head.

Of course, this lapse in attention meant that Lee could do a fantastic move of acrobatic glory and pelt fifteen snowballs at the other boy. After this, the Gai-wannabe took shelter behind a large snowdrift, giggling to himself. Every once in a while he would peek over his fortress of solitude, wondering if Kiba would know that it was he, Rock Lee, who had been the machination of the other's downfall?

Since he was concentrating on the Inuzuka clan member, and not his back, he did not notice the ominous shadow drift over his hiding spot from behind.

"Oh, Lee-kun? The green-clad teen turned and was assaulted by the vision of beauty and pink, forcing him to blink back the tears that sprung to his eyes. "I just wanted to tell you something..." Lee nodded at the girl's inquiry, staring avidly at her lip-gloss covered lips.

"You're dead!"

And then Rock Lee got what was coming to him, a snowball thrown at point blank, forcing him into a sloppy backwards somersault. Except the humiliation of being taken down by Sakura wasn't finished, because then she and Tenten tied up said boy and started shoving snow down into his snow gear.

"I am slightly horrified at what I'm seeing right now." Iruka said, clutching a cup of cinnamon cider in his hands. "Is this what you guys do all the time, or is the snow a new reason for you all to act like toddlers?"

Naruto shrugged and slurped loudly at the ramen bowl balanced on his lap. His hair was still damp, he having been one of the first casualties of the snow war, and he had changed into an extra pair of clothing he had left at Iruka's a few weeks ago. When the last noodle disappeared he sighed and leant back, finally choosing to respond, "Nah, Iruka-sensei, I think we're all going a little crazy because there's snow."

The kyuubi holder suddenly jumped up and stretched, "I have to go shopping and get a kimono for the festival!" Without a backwards glance he raced off to save Sasuke, who was fighting off Neji, who had somehow trapped him up in a tree.

Watching his past students congregate into a cluster of warm bodies before they all headed off into the shopping district of Konoha, Iruka sighed and leaned back against the wall of his house. His thoughts turned to the winter festival that was being held in honor of the first snow, held whenever it happened, since snow and cold weather of any sort in the fire village was very rare.

'With just my luck, Kakashi will be changing back a day or two before the festival is actually in swing, so that way I won't have to worry about him getting me in trouble.' Iruka ignored the small shard of something that seemed to lodge in the back of his throat when he thought of the jounin being full-grown and leaving.

Pouring the rest of his drink in the snow, which was almost three feet tall, he turned to go into the house and promptly stumbled over a sniffling lump right in front of his door. The white puppy stared at him for a moment with two different colored eyes, the thick fur ruffling in the brisk wind and the black ears swiveling this way and that, before crouching down further, its tightly coiled tail shivering slightly.

"Ohayoo gozaimasu, sensei-sama." The dog's head lowered even more, "My name is Ooyuki. I was wondering if you knew where my Master went?"

Iruka stared, trying to figure out why Kakashi would have a puppy like this, before bending over to pick up the ball of fluff. The chunin sighed when he caught sight of his wet front; he had somehow fallen into a huge drift of snow, and resigned himself to taking a hot bath sometime later that day. Then he grunted and gave a little curse when Pickles tried to trip him, a retribution for letting her outside in this bad weather.

"Kakashi left early this morning, I'm sorry I can't help you." Iruka said breathlessly as he flopped down onto the little step, peeling off his wet clothes and boots. Glancing to the right, and seeing the puppy shrink even smaller, a sick little jolt went off in his heart. "If you want, you could stay here and wait for him to come back?"

A brief pause and the puppy nodded solemnly, giving a quick shake afterwards that almost toppled it. "Desu, sensei-sama. That would be much appreciated." The small canine stumbled over its large feet as it turned to walk deeper into the house, its body still hunched over as if preparing for an attack at any moment.

Taking a few steps, and over taking the little canine, Iruka felt his body relax as soon as he walked into the kitchen, his safe zone. "Do you need anything while you wait for mast-Kakashi?" Iruka blushed as he thought about what he almost said, washing his cup in horrified silence.

"I shall be fine." The puppy said, collapsing underneath the table, focusing its bi-colored eyes on the chunin as he paced around the room. "Master shall return shortly and then I can go see him." Ooyuki's head lowered to rest on the two small paws held primly in front of its body.

The two sat in silence for a while, Iruka nursing a new cup of coffee in an effort to fight of the fatigue that suddenly hit him. It was when he was taking another small sip, it was quite hot, and when a sharp yip caused him to spill it over the paper he had been reading.

"Sensei-sama? Master is back home, but he doesn't feel…right." The puppy said anxiously, grabbing a mouthful of Iruka's pants and tugging him over to the hallway.

Pushing open the door slowly, and waiting for a kunai to be lodged in his throat, Iruka sighed when he noticed a lump lying on the bed. Stopping to pick up the puppy, that was whimpering loudly now that it saw its master, the chunin crept over to the prone body, hoping that his breathing wasn't too loud.

The pale light from the afternoon sun floated through the hastily drawn drapes, twinkling motes floating lazily, though a few swirled in tight circles from Kakashi's obvious teleportation jutsu. The jounin himself looked unremarkable, dressed in his normal uniform while sprawled out across a bed that was not his own. In fact, the only things that seemed out of place were the clenched hands of the man, creating small, permanent crescent marks on each palm.

Spotting this, and being naturally curious of the man, Iruka took a couple more steps forward with Ooyuki clamped to his chest, ignoring the little pants of the puppy as he tried to struggle from his grip. Only when the small canine nipped him on his arm did Iruka finally let go, watching in fascination as the animal stumbled over the covers.

"He feels bad." Ooyuki said, rubbing his body over the only visible skin of Kakashi's body, near his eyes. A blue eye with a yellow trained themselves on the only other living thing in the room. "You have to help Master. The others are all gone, sensei-sama."

Sighing, he couldn't say no to the puppy, Iruka moved the rest of the distance to the bed, sitting down on the mattress after a moment of debate. "Do you know what is wrong with him?" He asked, dragging his eyes away from the pale eyelashes that rested gently against the tops of white cheeks.

"No." The puppy sighed and sat roughly onto its back legs. "But you have to know. You are a human."

Groaning at the shimmering eyes that were aimed at him, the chunin leaned over to push Kakashi onto his back. Giving a gasp at the sheer weight of the other man, he was taller than Iruka and more muscled, the brunet finally flipped him over, lying sprawled over his body as he heaved in a couple mouthfuls of air.

From his new position, Iruka could see suddenly why people would want to see underneath the mask. If the man's face was this beautiful close up, and covered, he could barely imagine what he would look like without the black cloth shielding the rest of his face. Taking a few more second before he sat up, the chunin blushed when he noticed that his traitorous eyes lingered at bit too long for comfort on the other's lips.

The puppy stared at him, understanding in its eyes, before standing and giving a little shake. "Now that I know Master is back, I can return to the others." Ooyuki gave a small bow, little nose pressing against the sheets for a second, prior to shooting a wink and obnoxious grin to Iruka as he disappeared.

Paling at the look the small canine gave him, Iruka turned back to the bed to find a pale blue eye staring at him. Ignoring the thought in the back of his mind, wondering how Kakashi's eye color seemed to change with his emotions, the chunin leaned onto one hand so he could be closer to the prone man.

"Are you alright, Kakashi-san? One of your Ninken, Ooyuki, said that you weren't feeling well?"

The single eye focused on Iruka for an instant as it scanned the room, finally halting its wanderings to stare dully up at the ceiling.

Blowing up a puff at the fringe of hair in his eyes, Iruka prepared himself to deal with a stubborn, possibly sick, jounin. "You left quite early this morning, and I don't know where you went, so I don't know what could be wrong with you."

The chunin academy teacher let a small grimace cross his features when he noticed Kakashi didn't even acknowledge his brief statement. His eyes lowered back onto the other man's face, tracing the few thin scars the crossed the bridge of the other's nose. "Kakashi-san? I need you to try and tell me what's wrong. I can't help you if I don't know how you feel. And the Hokage would get very angry if I don't take proper care of you, Kakashi-sa-"

He paused when two fingers pressed firmly, but softly, against his lips, forcing him into silence. The single eye, now darkened to a sleet gray, seemed to attempt to try and explain something to Iruka; the other man's lips were moving underneath the mask faintly. "Just call me Kakashi." The faint voice said, betraying how unwell the man felt at that point in time.

Then, as quickly as Kakashi seemed awake and lucid, it was suddenly lost as the jounin went limp on the bed.

Confused at the lose of the heat on his mouth, and blushing at his train of thought, Iruka shrugged off the arm that had landed as a dead weight on his shoulder. Tingling at the feeling that he was about to do something wrong, the chunin leaned closer to the jounin's face and could literally feel every inch that separated them.

"I only need to find out what's wrong with him. Nothing else." Iruka muttered quietly to himself as the hand he wasn't balancing on lifted to rest against Kakashi's forehead.

Finding it a bit warm, but not too much so, he sighed in relief and ran his hand down the side of the other's face, marveling silently at the paleness. Stopping in shock, Iruka pulled his hand back and stared at it in confusion. 'What am I doing?' He thought in despair, continuing to shoot looks at the sleeping jounin.

'I should go and try to find my winter kimono. Get Kakashi out of my head.' Iruka nodded and moved to get up but paused when a hand grabbed his wrist. Turning, and trying to stop the frantic pounding of his heart, Iruka felt himself tense when he noticed that Kakashi was still asleep, acting on his instincts.

Tugging gently at the other appendage, a sinking feeling slowly rose.

But before he could act on it, Iruka was pulled down and yanked against a broad body. Even with all the fabric in between them he couldn't help but squirm as he felt the heat creep through his thin shirt. And the movement just caused Kakashi to drag him closer.

'This doesn't mean anything.' Iruka thought, feeling his lack of sleep from the last week finally catching up. He stifled down a yawn and let himself snuggle against the jounin's chest, glancing up to see the underside of Kakashi's face. 'I'll just explain to Kakashi what happened and he'll understand.' The chunin sighed and tried to ignore the way his body fit perfectly with the others.

'He better wake up quickly…' Iruka drifted off into a light nap, attempting to take no notice of the way his heart seemed lighter and yet fuller at the same time.

(D: Mah, I break pages! D:)

Author's Notes

pringlebunny - My favorite fic? One I could recommend the most, eh? I think it would have to be any type of fic that is well-written and has a great plot. It doesn't matter to me if it's AU or not, I love them all.

biacebaolck – Mah, questions all about fanfiction, I should have guessed. Oh well, I might as well answer. I first started writing fanfiction when I was twelve, I think, a horrible, really horrible, Yu-Gi-Oh fic. It was so bad I took it off since I didn't plan anything after the 3rd chapter. Improving was just to keep writing, no matter what. My "writing process"? D: I think of an idea, tinker with what characters would go best in the situation, then plan out what I was to happen at the end of the fic. Everythign in between is filled in at some point during the writing. Not that scientific or well thought-out, eh?

Jazz-jazz011 – Pairings? Uh, in the Naruto fandom I can't get enough of SasuNaruSasu, though there really aren't a lot anymore. Thus why I'm going to be writing one, only you didn't hear it form me. Also, GenmaRaido and AsumaKurenai are some of my other guilty pleasure.

kattmad – My favorite Naruto character is a tie between Hayate Gekko and Ibiki Morini, why I like them I don't really know. I squee like a fan-girl whenever they come on screen, leading to looks form the surrounding people watching. I just want to give them hugs!

shuichi'sgirl – Oh! Your question makes me blush! As for who would be seme? I don't think they would fight about it, per se, but make a compromise and…share? Iruka could "boss around" Kakashi during the day, aka fussing about his health, making lovely-dovey cuddles during the day, making him shop for groceries together while holding hands. Meanwhile Kakashi gets to have fun during the off-hours. Can anyone say acting out Icha-Icha scenes, including outfits:D

Chippy teh squirrel – I first got into yaoi at a young age, around eleven or twelve when I stumbled upon a HarryDraco fic. I couldn't stop blushing! As for KakaIru, I always knew they were a pairing from the first time I saw them, again, more blushing. D.C.1 stands for DreamChaser, my nickname. The 1 is because wouldn't let me have it without the number. XD

Ice Dragon3 – Yes! And easy question! I love you! My favorite animal in the whole world is sheep. They're so floofy and I just want to own a herd of them:3

Akai1506 – You flatter me so much when there are so many authors that write so much better than me! But to answer your question, I started writing a long time ago, to fill up time instead of being bored. My "style" is to make up a plan, follow it slightly, and write what I think would seem the most realistic course. I try to be most true to the characters when I'm not writing AU.

just a rambling romantic – I love your name! Haha, okay, the names of my characters? Well, all the cats in this story are based on my actual pet felines. Yes, I have a cat named Pickles. As for the other names…um, basic Japanese words that stand for what they do/are related to. I'm not that creative. :D

All right, that's it. Go review. Ask a question, and I'll answer it through the respond system for reviews.

And be ready for something by next Sunday. D: