Unfinished Solo Duet
Chapter Three
Someone Flying, Only Stolen

Kakashi sighed. Life was too complicated. Too much. Sometimes he wasn't even sure how he managed to get out of bed in the mornings. He just wanted to give up, lay there and rot. But something inside him wouldn't let him. He wasn't allowed to. Get up. Get out of bed. Get in the shower. Go. Live. It seemed a simple thing to do but it was so hard.

This... this thing with Sasuke was getting way too hard to handle on his own. He needed advice badly. There was only one person that he could think of that he could talk to. Iruka. Kakashi really needed the advice, but he was worried that Iruka would think he was sick and wouldn't want to be around him anymore. Kakashi had few enough friends as it was. Swallowing his worries, Kakashi decided to go talk to Iruka.

said Iruka, smiling at Kakashi from the other side of the table, what was it that you wanted to talk about?
Um... I'm... I'm in love with someone...
Iruka stared.
No. Way. Kakashi? The mysterious Always-Hiding-Behind-A-Mask-Or-A-Dirty-Book Kakashi is in love?! Is the world ending? Is it Armageddon?

Sorry. I know. It's still rather hard to believe. So, what's up?
What if... what if the person were younger than me?
How much younger?
About nine years.
Well, that's not so bad. That would make them nineteen. Iruka shrugged indifferently.
Kakashi turned his head away, What if they were one of my students?
Iruka stayed silent for a moment.
Well... that makes it a little different, but not by much.
What do you mean, not by much'?
Student/teacher relationships are actually quite common among shinobi.
What? I didn't know that.
It makes sense though, doesn't it? Teachers know their students better than anyone and spend a lot of time with them. It only makes sense that they might develop a little more than a platonic relationship. Especially if they do something big, like save each other's lives, or something.
What... what about male/male relationships?
Iruka raised an eyebrow, but looked slightly worried.
Before I answer that, who is it that you love?
... Sasuke...
Iruka gave a sigh of relief.
In that case, fine.
It was Kakashi's turn to raise an eyebrow.
What do you mean, in that case'?
Iruka did what he did best, blushed.
Ah, well... I just mean, if it were Naruto...
Naruto? Hang on, how come you know all this stuff about shinobi relationships in the first place?
Iruka blushed even harder.
I... I did background research, even asked the Hokage...
Oh, you mean that you and Naruto are-

That would explain a lot, said Kakashi with a grin, anyway, back to the point. What about male/male relationships?
Those are pretty normal, too. The majority of shinobi are male so it only makes sense that spending all that time together and helping each other on missions and stuff, that they would, well...
I get the point. So basically you're saying, I'm not a disgusting pervert?
I never said that. I'm just saying that you're not a pedophile.
Ah, well, thanks. Learned a lot. Have fun with Naruto! Kakashi got up to leave and Iruka blushed some more.
I'll ask Naruto about Sasuke, ok? The kid's actually pretty good when it comes to these sorts of things.

Don't mention it! called Iruka as Kakashi walked out.

The conversation with Iruka had calmed Kakashi down a bit and made him feel a little more reassured. At least, he knew that he wasn't about to try and cross some taboo. Over course, Sasuke showing any affection seemed to be taboo, so in a way, he was.
But how was he going to get Sasuke to love him? The only thing that Sasuke seemed to have a passion for was fighting. Fighting... Kakashi had an idea.

Lily: yeah, yeah, i know, a bit short. but to me this chapter ws sort of vital. i really think that these sort of relationships would make sense in the shinobi world, i was merely trying to explain what i saw.
Phantom: i think it makes sense.
Fly-Girl: hm? what? oh sorry, i was reading.
Phantom & Lily: -.-'