They're meant to be broken, right?

Author: Bitter-Eloquence

Disclaimer: I've begged, pleaded and even offered lint but alas, I still don't own Naruto.

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It was a peace offering.

A silent plea for forgiveness and understanding.

Iruka could only wearily stare at the steaming bowl of beef ramen sitting hot and enticingly inviting as steam wafted upwards to catch his tired attention. For a moment, he was confused as to how the noodles had gotten into his apartment and onto his kitchen table. It was a testament to just how exhausted the chuunin was that his normally sharp mind had to stumble over the question for a moment before he glanced around cautiously. Because let's face it, despite Naruto's dearest hopes, ramen does not just fall from the sky! Thus, the somewhat crabby Iruka found himself creeping through his apartment in search of a hidden intruder instead of sampling the somewhat tempting ramen sitting on the table. It was late at night, midnight had come and gone without him even noticing between his duties in the mission room and grading his schoolwork. The past month or so had been somewhat trying for Iruka and he'd found himself unwilling to come home to his suddenly empty apartment. He'd continually found reasons to stay at the school long into the night whether it be taking on extra shifts in the mission room or grading papers at his desk rather then at home as he was more inclined to do in the past. However, home just hadn't felt like home lately and he had a certain silver-haired pervert to thank for that.

Who would have thought that he'd become so accustomed to Kakashi being in his life that he'd noticed it at such a base level when he was separated from the jounin for a mere month? The other man had been out on an extended mission for a small eternity now and Iruka found himself anxiously biting his lip every time a casualty report came in. How was he to know that the devious scruffy-haired Copy-nin would insinuate himself into his life as slyly and seamlessly as a thief sneaking through the night? He'd been ambushed really, had never seen this coming. One day he'd been happy, content and endlessly single and the next he'd found himself entangled with the mysterious entity known as Hatake Kakashi.

Iruka looked around his apartment cautiously and upon inspection of the front walkway, discovered an extra pair of sandals in a size that was not his own. He mentally chastised himself for not noticing in the first place and blamed it on the exhaustion that had its claws firmly curled into his mind. The sight of those extra pair of sandals had Iruka perking a bit and hope stirred in his chest as he hurried through the apartment to his bedroom. Sure enough, seated with all the lazy indolence of a feline was Kakashi grinning like a loon. Iruka's eyes widened slightly at the sight of the silver-haired man sprawling across his bed. Those previously dull and listless brown eyes lit up with delight as a happy expression flit across his face before he crossed the few feet separating him from the bed. "Kakashi!" Came his relieved cry as he all but pounced the other man, arms wrapping about him in a tight embrace to send them both tumbling across the bed. Iruka had a moment to relish the wide-eyed look of shocked surprise fill Kakashi's unmasked face before his body connected with the other man and they both went spilling. A laugh rumbled deep in Kakashi's chest then as he pulled his lover close and an affectionate nuzzle found Iruka's neck.

"Missed me, eh? I made you dinner, did you see it?" Iruka nodded and nestled into Kakashi's body as his hands moved over the pale-haired man in search of injuries. Kakashi stifled something that sounded suspiciously like a giggle when Iruka's hands danced along his sides and his hands rose to catch those wandering hands in a loose grip. "Stop that. I'm fine I promise." His lips sought out Iruka's for a soft and tender kiss as long pale fingers threaded between Iruka's to lightly push them away from his ticklish sides.

"Hmph." Not about to be mollified, Iruka...pouted. Yes, pouted. Kakashi grinned mischievously then and nuzzled at Iruka's neck, the warm wash of his breath across tanned skin causing a different and far more mature expression to race fleetingly across the scar-faced chuunin's face.

"So did you eat your dinner like a good little boy?" Kakashi's lips quirked up at the corners as a smirk fought to surface on his face. Amusement gleamed sharply in those miss-matched eyes.

"And if I didn't?" Dark chocolate eyes gleamed mischievously then as Iruka tried to tug his hands out of Kakashi's grip so that he might...reacquaint himself with his lover's body.

"Then you don't get dessert." A suggestive wiggle of those surprisingly expressive eyebrows then as the jounin grinned unrepentantly at Iruka then as his eyes narrowed.

"Well you do still owe me a birthday gift; don't think you're getting off that easily." Sly amusement touched Iruka's voice then as rich chocolate brown eyes narrowed fractionally in a mock threatening expression.

"I know. What do you think the Cool Whip is for?" That had Iruka pausing then, a blush creeping across golden-brown cheeks before a shyly wicked grin slowly blossomed to life on that handsome visage.

"I don't know I guess you'll have to show me."

"I guess I will."

And out on the dinner table, the bowl of beef ramen grew cold and untouched as Iruka brought one of his cardinal rules. The next day, when Naruto learned his teacher had broken rule about eating dessert before dinner, the poor man thought he would never heard the end of it. Kakashi didn't stop laughing for a week.

Of course, some rules were meant to be broken, right?

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A/N: Forgive the OOC and just general fluff of that fic. It was an answer to a drabble challenge on the KakashixIruka ML I'm on and obviously it's not quite drabble…cough I'm long-winded, sorry! hides! But anyway, it wasn't meant to be serious or anything other then pure unadulterated fluff.