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.
Kakashi limped into his apartment just past dark, his attention torn between the desire to murder Gai and plans to get revenge on a certain Chuunin teacher for ratting him out. The Copy Nin stripped out of his uniform and distastefully let it slide to the ground, trying to avoid touching any more of the soaked fabric than necessary. He grimaced at the disgusting plop the uniform made when it hit the bathroom tile. A normal challenge with Gai was bad enough. Why the man had suddenly decided that seeing who could kill the most snakes in the Forest of Death was an appropriate challenge, Kakashi would never know. It wasn't the snakes that bothered him, really – it was the blood and the guts. Gai had insisted on heads as proof. Kakashi shuddered as he stepped into the shower, and swore to himself that if he ever found out who had implanted that particularly stupid idea in Gai's head, he'd make what he was planning for the green-clad man seem positively friendly.
After a hot shower and a hotter meal, Kakashi's rage had dwindled to only mildly homicidal, and the majority of it was focused on the Chuunin. Gai could be forgiven – after all, he was just being Gai. Challenging Kakashi to do idiotic and dangerous things was simply what the Green Beast did, just as the Copy Nin himself showed up late to every appointment. As much as Kakashi might dislike it, he wouldn't hold it directly against the man, no matter how tempting it seemed. The real traitor here was one blushing, smiling, scar-nosed, doe-eyed Chuunin by the name of Umino Iruka.
Kakashi was man enough to admit that he might have had something to do with the situation. He could, magnanimously, admit that his actions in the classroom had perhaps been more childish than warranted. It hadn't been his fault that the lecture was so boring, but he probably could've handled it in a better way – he could even see how sending the clone in might have been seen as mocking. If he stretched, he could even see how the porn might have bothered the teacher. There were worse things for a child to see than a crossed out circle on the back of an orange cover, in Kakashi's opinion – especially children who were training to be shinobi – but he could almost understand how to someone as prudish as the school teacher, it might've seemed out of place. But none of those things even came close to the betrayal that was handing him over to Gai.
The plan started to form when Kakashi glanced at the calendar and noticed that tomorrow was a Saturday. For a teacher like Iruka, it'd likely be the only break he got – his day to sleep in, be lazy at home, and wake up past noon. It'd be the kind of day that he reserved for running errands, or reading a book that he'd been putting off all week because he'd been too focused on work. It was an understood if unwritten rule that for Academy teachers, Saturdays were sacrosanct. As Kakashi picked up his uniform, an evil grin settled on his features. He knew exactly what to do to get his revenge.
***
Six o'clock in the morning found Hatake Kakashi, elite Jounin and Copy Nin extraordinary, standing outside Iruka's apartment. He happily rapped on the door as he'd been doing for the last fifteen minutes, altering the rhythm and intensity of the noise enough so that the teacher wouldn't be able to just block it out and go back to sleep. Five minutes later the door swung open, and Kakashi smiled happily, visible eye curving up.
"Good morning, Iruka-sensei!" Kakashi chirped. Iruka groaned and stepped back from the door, leaving it open behind him. Kakashi toed off his sandals and shut the door behind him, then glanced at the teacher. He was dressed in loose pajamas that Kakashi bemusedly noted were decorated with dolphins. The Chuunin's hair was caught in a loose ponytail at the base of his neck, and chunks of it fell down to obscure a sleep-slackened face. There were dark rings underneath his eyes that looked entirely out of place on the tan face, and his eyes held the peculiar glaze of the sleep deprived. Kakashi grinned underneath his mask. Phase one of the plan was complete. Iruka gathered enough energy to sleepily glare at the Jounin.
"What are you doing here, Kakashi-san?" Iruka grumbled, tugging the blanket that had been trailing behind him closer. Kakashi smiled brightly in return.
"Why, I'm just visiting my friend on this wonderful Saturday morning!" Kakashi said happily, making sure to stress the day. Iruka groaned slid down against the wall, burying his face in his hands.
"This is your revenge, isn't it? It is. You're going to wake me up on a Saturday, not give me any coffee, and stand there wearing that damn smile," Iruka grumbled. Kakashi chuckled softly.
"Oh, this isn't my revenge, Sensei," Kakashi said. Iruka glared at him from one bleary eye, and Kakashi grinned back, unrepentant. Iruka sighed again.
"If this isn't it, what is?" the Chuunin asked. Kakashi shrugged.
"We'll get to that later. First off, what do you have for breakfast?"
Iruka stared at him disbelievingly, and Kakashi just smiled back until the Chuunin pulled himself to his feet and stumbled into the kitchen. The first thing Iruka did when there was start the coffee going. Fifteen minutes later and after three cups of pure, unadulterated caffeine, Iruka was looking vaguely more human. Ten minutes after that, he was almost back to the Chuunin Kakashi'd grown accustomed to – if you discounted the ratty blanket and the dolphin pajamas. Kakashi didn't particularly plan to.
After he determined that the entire thing wasn't a cruel joke and that Kakashi wasn't going to leave right after Iruka fully woke up, the teacher sighed and started fixing breakfast. He tossed a few pieces of fruit to the Copy Nin and nodded toward the knives. Kakashi sighed, but obeyed. He'd need the food as much as Iruka would, and, after all, there were worse things than slicing fruit. When they'd finished eating, Iruka disappeared back into his bedroom and came out minutes later, neatly dressed and showing no sign of the fact that he'd been woken up six hours earlier than planned. Kakashi just grinned and headed for the door, Chuunin following obediently behind him.
***
Kakashi took a rambling route through the village, utilizing a combination of roadways, alleys, walls, and roofs to lead the teacher to the training ground. At first he moved slowly for a shinobi, letting Iruka get his feet beneath him, then he slowly sped it up until he was moving at the quick but sustainable speed generally used for missions. Iruka kept up with him easily – more easily than he would've expected from a desk ninja – but without the speed that was usually reserved for the Jounin ranks. He moved as a Chuunin should: efficiently, swiftly, and without wasting energy.
Once in the forest the teacher made more noise, or perhaps Kakashi could simply hear it better without the bustle of the village around them. He could hear the occasional thunk of the teacher's sandal against a branch, the soft whisper of leaves, and the displacement of air caused by their speeding figures. Kakashi suddenly darted to the right and flipped down out of the trees to land in the middle of one of the more private training grounds. Moments later the Chuunin landed beside him, and Kakashi glanced over, pleased to see that the man wasn't even out of breath. Iruka watched him with wary brown eyes, and Kakashi smiled his crinkly-eyed smile before pulling something out of his pouch and dangling it in front of the teacher's eyes.
Iruka stared at the bell disbelievingly.
"Kakashi-san?"
Kakashi smiled happily.
"Well, Iruka-sensei," and he drawled the title, "since you felt the need to inform Gai that I needed some… remedial training… I thought I'd return the favor."
The teacher gulped, and Kakashi's smile widened. This was going to be fun. He jingled the bell provocatively, watching as Iruka's eyes followed the movement. After a moment Iruka glanced away, then sighed.
"Fine. Rules?"
Kakashi paused for a moment. Rules hadn't been needed the last time that he'd done this – his Gennin team had little chance of being able to actually harm him. Iruka, however, was a Chuunin – and even though he shouldn't be able to actually defeat Kakashi, the possibility of injury for them both was very real. Kakashi tilted his head to the side slightly, regarding the teacher, then made his decision.
"No lethal traps or poisons. Anything else is allowed."
The chocolate-colored eyes flicked back to his masked face, and Kakashi could almost see the calculations flash through the Chuunin's head. Eventually he nodded.
"Fine. When?"
Kakashi shrugged.
"Now works."
He expected a nod, or some kind of other acknowledgement of the match beginning. What he got was a leg sweeping for his ankles. Kakashi leapt over the leg reflexively, and caught the fist aiming for his head. With a quick twist, he flipped the teacher, and took the millisecond of respite to hook the bell next to his kunai pouch on his leg. He slipped into a fighting stance and blocked the next few blows that the Chuunin threw, watching the man carefully. It wasn't the response that he'd expected from someone like Iruka. From what Kakashi knew of his skills, he'd do best as a long-range fighter. Kakashi dodged a kunai and effortlessly slid away from Iruka's incoming fist. The Chuunin pulled back, but not quickly enough, and Kakashi shoved the man in the back, sending him sprawling.
It didn't make sense. Iruka's taijutsu wasn't his strongest suit – the teacher hadn't been lying about that. He was good enough to be a Chuunin, but not much else. He lacked the speed that was necessary for the art, and more than that, he didn't have the ingrained reflexes necessary to be a truly capable hand-to-hand fighter. His decision to engage Kakashi head to head showed a lack of analytical skill, something that didn't match up with everything that the Jounin knew about the sensei.
Kakashi's musings were interrupted by the sudden launch of a kunai for his head, and he caught it by the handle without thinking and sent it speeding back at the Chuunin. Iruka started to dodge, but not quickly enough, and Kakashi's eye widened – he'd had no intent of injuring the teacher. He jolted forward into movement, but not quickly enough. The kunai hit Iruka directly in the shoulder, and Kakashi panicked for a moment before the teacher disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Kakashi blinked, glancing down at where the clone had stood, then he scanned the area carefully. Everything was starting to come together. Taking advantage of the fact that Kakashi had little practical knowledge of his skills, Iruka had formed a clone to initially attack. It served two purposes – the first was to test Kakashi's reflexes and see exactly how serious he was about the training, and the second was to give the real Iruka time to hide and approach the fight in the way best suited to his skills. Kakashi smiled slightly underneath his mask as he saw the slight glint of light reflecting off chakra wire in the trees at the edge of the training ground.
He picked up the discarded kunai and sent it hurtling in the opposite direction of the teacher's hiding place as a distraction, then took the opportunity to take to the trees and reappear directly above the Chuunin. As he'd half expected by this point, Iruka was already gone, but the trap he'd prepared was left behind. It wasn't one of those that he'd used in the apartment, and Kakashi took a second to admire it. It was simple and effective, and that Iruka had obviously remembered Kakashi's fascination with his traps and had deducted that the Copy Nin would've memorized them said something.
The teacher was good, but not good enough. Kakashi maintained his vantage point until he saw a sign of movement off on the other side of the field, then cloaked his chakra and silently approached. He found Iruka surrounded by another group of traps and standing with the peculiar tension of hyper-awareness to his shoulders. The Copy Nin dropped down beside him and tapped the teacher's shoulder, then grinned.
"Yo."
Iruka's eyes widened and he brought a kunai up to slash at the Jounin, but Kakashi effortlessly caught his wrist and twisted it behind his back, digging his fingers in to make the teacher drop the weapon. When the kunai clattered to the ground, Kakashi loosened his grip slightly, but he still held onto the teacher's wrist.
"Maa, Iruka-sensei, I thought you'd take this seriously. You'll need to do more than wait for me to walk into your traps if you want a chance to get the bell from me," Kakashi told him. Iruka glared at him over his shoulder, then wrenched his arm out of Kakashi's grip. Kakashi frowned – the lack of verbal response wasn't like the teacher – then his eyes widened. He was in the trees again a millisecond later, and none too soon – the net of chakra wire clipped his foot as he left, and if he hadn't realized the trap when he had, he would've been captured. He revised his opinion of Iruka again as he watched the clone dissipate, and wondered if in this entire time he'd seen the real Chuunin.
He didn't have long to wonder, though, because then Iruka was on him again, moving faster than before. Kakashi didn't have time to do more than dodge the attacks and offer an occasional counter of his own, and he came to the conclusion that this version of the teacher was the real one seconds before his fist crashed into the teacher's chest, sending him flying. The man's back hit a tree with a solid thunk, but he was up again before Kakashi could respond, pressing the Copy Nin again.
Kakashi started playing with the Chuunin in earnest at this point, pulling his own blows in favor of landing open-palmed strikes against the man's chest, back, and even occasionally his face. At any moment, Kakashi could've ended the match, and he let the Chuunin know that intimately as he dodged every taijutsu attack, avoided every ninjutsu thrown his way, slipped past every hastily thrown together hindrance of chakra wire and explosive tags.
The Jounin started to lose track of time, lost in the sheer joy of the fight. Iruka was only a Chuunin, but he was bright, and had just enough of an edge of unpredictability to make the match interesting. Kakashi dodged a water jutsu and responded with a barrage of shuriken which Iruka blocked, but with more effort than his earlier movements. The teacher was tiring. Kakashi wasn't surprised – he'd been expecting it to come earlier. As skilled as he might be, Iruka was at heart a desk ninja. He wasn't accustomed to the constant strain that missions placed on the body, the strains that training could never accurately replicate.
Determined to end it, Kakashi flashed toward the Chuunin, showing his true speed for the first time. Iruka managed to dodge, but barely, and Kakashi caught at him again – but found himself holding a log rather than the teacher. Kakashi frowned and started pursuing the man in earnest. Moments later he had the teacher pinned against a tree, glaring up at him and panting for air. Kakashi smiled down at him.
"You're good, Iruka-sensei. I'll give you that. But not quite good enough, ne?" Kakashi drawled. The only warning he had was Iruka's smirk and a slight twitch of the body beneath his own, then he was strung up from the tree, dangling in a position much like the one he'd placed Naruto in when the blonde boy had taken the same test Kakashi was administering to his teacher now. Iruka smirked at him and reached out to take the bell from Kakashi's belt, then dangled it in front of the Copy Nin's nose.
"Obviously not, Kakashi-san. You really should've realized I was herding you, you know," Iruka said. Kakashi sighed at the teacher and glared up at the trap.
"How long?" he asked curiously. Iruka shrugged.
"Since I figured you weren't going to fall for the clones."
Kakashi blinked. "So the rest of the fight?"
Iruka shrugged again, a slight smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "A distraction. After I figured out that you weren't going to attack seriously, I knew that I had a shot. My only chance was to wear us both down and hope you'd be distracted enough by finishing the fight to not notice the trap."
Kakashi shook his head slowly, and Iruka grinned in return. "Want help getting down?"
The Copy Nin stared up at his suspended ankle, then sighed.
"Yes, please."
Iruka calmly sliced the wire holding Kakashi above the ground. The Jounin flipped so that he landed on his feet, and Iruka politely handed him the bell before sinking down to the ground. Kakashi considered the sweat-soaked man for a moment before flopping down beside him, and he tucked the bell back into his pouch.
"That was supposed to be my revenge, you know," Kakashi said somewhat petulantly. Iruka rolled his eyes at him.
"I know. Want another shot?" he asked. Kakashi shook his head bemusedly. They sat like that for awhile beneath the too-hot sun, and when the teacher's breath finally steadied, Kakashi glanced over at him.
"We should head back to the village, Sensei."
Iruka groaned closed his eyes, as if not looking at Kakashi would result in the Jounin going away.
"I don't want to. It's too hot to move," Iruka mumbled. Kakashi chuckled.
"What if I told you that I know of a spring about five minutes from here, ice-cold, complete with miniature waterfall?"
Chocolate eyes flew open and Iruka regarded him hopefully.
"Are you serious?" he asked. Kakashi nodded, then paused as if to think.
"You'd have to move, though. There is walking involved, after all, and I seem to remember you saying something about not wanting to do that…"
The teacher quickly scrambled to his feet, and Kakashi grinned beneath his mask. This might not have been exactly what he'd had in mind when he'd planned his revenge, but it'd been fun nonetheless.