Thank you for your lovely feedback! It made my days go by very quickly and the writing go smoothly. I appreciate the fact that people took the time to read this story and then go the extra effort to make a comment.
Disclaimers/Warnings: If you've read this far, you know it's shounen-ai (IruKaka, with a hint of SasuNaru), some very mild language. Big big FLUFF ahead!! Get out the peanut butter, you can feed your entire town.
If I owned Naruto, there'd be a lot more dirty Kakairu action, oh well!
Sugoi --amazing, wow
Chapter Three: The Person I Come Back To
Kakashi's interest was piqued. This was more like it! Now he'd finally get some answers about what was troubling his friend. He was certain that it was a romantic problem, especially from the way Iruka had blushed like mad earlier. In all these years, this was the first time he'd ever heard of Iruka having feelings for someone. He'd gotten used to being just the two of them, and he had absolutely no idea who the teacher could be interested in. What kind of woman would he like? Someone studious and kind like him, probably. His curiosity wasn't to be satisfied any time soon, however, because right after saying he had something he wanted to talk about, the chuunin had clammed up, leaving the two men to walk in silence through the village.
Kakashi was surprised by a tiny flare of jealousy at the thought of his friend finding love. He'd had the dolphin to himself for years, only sharing with Naruto for the chuunin's attention. He hoped it wouldn't all change between them because of a woman. Who else was he going to tease? And even though professionally they were at different levels, Iruka-sensei could still give him a pretty good spar if he asked nice. And the man could cook! No more free meals and good conversation without some disapproving female looking over their shoulders. A woman would storm right in and upset the delicate balances of their lives! Any woman nice enough for Iruka wouldn't like Kakashi at all, that was for sure.
What nice girl would let the pervert-sensei into their polite world? This was serious.
He grabbed the shorter man's arm and halted their progress. Iruka faced him with a questioning look.
"Ok, this is going to sound random, but...Promise me that things won't change between us." Kakashi's usually laid-back expression became intent. Iruka's jaw dropped slightly in confusion. Did he already know what Iruka was going to tell him? Was that a warning? How...? He felt his stomach take a slow roll of anxious dismay.
"Wha...What do you mean by that, Kakashi-sensei?" Kakashi stepped closer and slid his hand up to grasp Iruka's shoulder in a firm grip, causing the younger man to suck in a quick breath at the other's nearness on the dark sidewalk.
"I mean, whoever she is, don't let her get in the middle of our friendship. I don't want to lose you the way Asuma disappeared after he and Kurenai got together. I've seen it happen too many times. It's hard enough as a ninja to keep friends; you know this lifestyle doesn't exactly embrace emotional ties or longevity," he stated quietly.
"You're the only person I have to come back to from a mission," his voice softened as he considered the significance of the statement. "I'd hate to lose that." He dropped his eyes to the man's chest as he realized how that sounded to his own ears. It was true. Seeing Iruka's cheerful face always had a calming effect on him, even after the most harrowing of missions; his unquestioning acceptance made the older man feel like a human, no matter what he'd done in the name of duty. Their friendship was the one constant in his life besides Naruto's eternal love of ramen.
Iruka's heart was in his throat at Kakashi's unexpectedly revealed feelings. He was important to the man he loved. Lightness swept over him as he replayed the words in his head. Maybe this wouldn't be so painful after all. There was hope to be had. He placed one of his own hands on top of the one on his shoulder and tilted his head up to try to see Kakashi's face more clearly.
"You won't ever lose me, Kakashi-sensei. You're very important to me as well. I promise you that no woman will ever come between us," he finished the sentence with a tiny grin, knowing too well the truth of his words. Definitely no woman involved. The jounin's gloved hand was solid under his own, and radiated heat even through the fabric that covered it. They smiled at each other almost shyly for a moment before Kakashi gave him a light punch on the arm and turned away.
"So, um, what brought that on?" Iruka questioned casually as they began moving again in the direction of the restaurant. "It's rather unusual for you to just start sharing your feelings like that. Usually we talk about missions or training or something. Politics. Sports and manly things. Not emotions." He could have sworn he noticed a pinkness at the edge of Kakashi's mask, but there wasn't enough light to be certain. The jounin cleared his throat and looked around to see if anyone was watching.
"Well, you see...it's kind of ridiculous actually." He laughed in an embarrassed way.
"Try me." Iruka grinned.
"See, uh, now don't laugh. I kind of started thinking about this woman that you're in love with and then I started thinking about how someone you like would probably be nice and then she wouldn't want me around and how that would pretty much suck...Women usually mess things up between friends. I just didn't want her getting in the way of that. I like it the way it is." Iruka's eyes widened. That sounded like...
"You were jealous!" he said, amazed. A jealous Kakashi? Over him? Sugoi.
"Hn. I guess it could look that way," Kakashi muttered.
"Only if you have your eyes open!" Iruka retorted. "You thought I'd just dump you for some girl? I hope you think better of me than that!"
"Hey, that's not what I was saying, baka! I meant that women get it into their heads sometimes that a man's old friends should just wither up and blow away so they can have his whole attention. I thought you might be caught in her wiles and forget about me. Oh, forget it. Pretend I never said anything." Kakashi sighed in exasperation.
"I'm not going to forget it. You were jealous because you want me all to yourself," Iruka's grin stretched over his entire face, crinkling up his eyes with glee. If only!
Kakashi gave the younger man a light whap upside the back of his head and snorted.
"Well, there was more to it than that. I wanted to get the ball rolling on this talk we're going to have later. See, I was doing that thing where I share something, and then you share something, then me, then you...Sakura told me all about friendship and how it works a few years ago."
"You're taking advice from a girl who regularly got into fistfights with her own best friend over a boy? The one that tried to beat her best friend into a coma because she'd touched Sasuke-kun's hair?" Iruka raised an eyebrow at the thought.
"They got past that though." Kakashi shrugged.
"Only after they both ended up in the hospital that time and Sasuke finally told them about his true feelings for Naruto to keep them from killing each other in intensive care."
"But they got past it eventually. And even through all that hair-pulling and name calling, they still cared about each other when it came down to it."
"True. But really. Sakura?"
"Well, what she said made sense, don't you think? Sharing, blah blah blah, feelings, blah blah blah..." He grinned at the chuunin beside him as they entered the restaurant at last. "Oh," he whispered, "If you ever tell anyone what I just told you, I'll probably deny it to my last breath. The great Kakashi does not DO emotions!"
"Uh huh." Iruka rolled his eyes behind his friend's back as they found a booth. "I've seen you get weepy at the end of another installment of Icha Icha Paradise when you know the next one won't be out for another month," he teased.
"Well, hell, that calls for crying! What's a man to do without his porn?" Kakashi looked at the chuunin in feigned astonishment at the thought of a porn-less man.
"Um, he could get a life?" Iruka grinned down at the menu as he perused the selections. For once they had passed up Ichiraku for an actual sit-down restaurant. Nothing fancy, but the setting was still a little more adult than their usual fare.
"Gee," he remarked. "I hardly know what to order. I'm eating out and it's not ramen! Choices, choices..." He looked up at his dining companion and blinked. The silver-haired man was mere inches away, said hair almost tickling Iruka's face as he leaned over the table to see the other man's menu.
"Hey, yours has different stuff than mine. I think I got the lunch menu." Kakashi tossed his own menu aside and scooted over to Iruka's side of the booth to share. Iruka's entire side tingled at the heat coming from the other man's body pressed up next to his. Kakashi had no sense of personal space, which made it difficult to concentrate but generated wonderful material for fantasies. Iruka's eyes began to drift shut at the sensations but willed himself to keep the blissful look from his face. He struggled to continue the conversation through the distraction of Kakashi's firm thigh touching his.
"I take it your mission was successful?"
"Huh?" Kakashi didn't take his eyes from the menu, absorbed in the array of items.
"The mission you mentioned returning from? I assume it was successful?"
"You know what they say about 'assume'. Hehehe." Kakashi slid his eye to the side to grin at Iruka. Iruka shook his head at the asinine joke.
"Well, you're in one piece and I didn't get any bad reports in the mission room, so in this case I think I can assume correctly." Kakashi was struck by inspiration.
"Were you worried, Iruka-sensei? That's so sweet!" Kakashi leaned his head on the teacher's shoulder in a snuggly move and sighed in a girlish tone.
Iruka was frozen to his seat in shock. 'What do I do? Act natural, damn it!'
"You ass," he muttered, attempting to shove the silver-haired man off of him. Kakashi latched on to him with both arms and held tight.
"Oi, Iruka-sensei. Don't be so cruel! It's already started! Don't let her tear us apart!" he cried, voice rising and catching the attention of their nearest dining companions. He grinned like a maniac below the mask, enjoying Iruka's raging blush and expression of dawning horror. The man's ears were going to catch fire any minute. Kakashi sniffled, pretending to cry, thereby drawing even more attention to their booth.
"What's her name?!" he demanded in a mock-hurt tone. "The least you could do is tell me the name of the whore that's taking you away from me!" Kakashi tossed his head with dramatic flair. The people at the surrounding tables didn't even pretend to look away; all were simultaneously fascinated and horrified at the spectacle. Iruka struggled in the tight hold, face aflame and temper rising.
"Let go of me right now, Kakashi-sensei!" he whispered furiously.
"Oh, come on, Iruka. I was just getting warmed up here!" Kakashi leaned his head in so they were only inches apart, breath tickling the tender skin under Iruka's ponytail. "Play with me," he whispered teasingly.
It was more than the chuunin could take. It was so close to one of those fantasies he'd had, caught up in Kakashi's embrace, whispering fabulous things into his ear with emotions on the rise, among other things. But this, this was too much for one poor man to take. He broke one arm free and swung a shaking hand over to point straight at Kakashi's nose.
"Stop. It. Right. Now." The command was clear. Kakashi's visible eye narrowed in consideration. Yep, he meant it.
"Sorry," he apologized sheepishly. "I was hoping the Surprise Embarrassment no Jutsu would work on you."
"You should be sorry," Iruka snapped, wriggling the rest of the way out of the other man's hold. "Back. Go back over to your side of the table." Kakashi pouted and resisted moving.
"But you're nice and warm," he whined, snuggling up to Iruka's side once more. "It was damn cold out there on that mission. I froze my ass off for a week!" The chuunin raised an eyebrow.
"It was only four days. Autumn just started. We haven't even had a frost yet."
"Yeah, well...it was still cold and lonely. And you're warm!" He batted his visible eye at the younger man in an effort to look cute. Iruka sighed and gave up. Puppy dog eyes still work even when you can only see one of them.
"Fine. Just keep your hands where I can see them," he replied, meaning the complete opposite. Kakashi's grin returned in full-force. Lose the battle, win the war, ne?
"Soooooo, Iruka-sensei. Who is she?"
"You honestly think I'm going to tell you after that little stunt you just pulled?" The waiter interrupted them to take their order, distracting the scarecrow only momentarily from the subject at hand. He took no notice of the man's curious stare at the two snuggling ninja.
What was so weird about snuggling ninja?