Author: Bitter Eloquence

Pairings: Kakashi/Iruka

Notes: Brought upon by Crack Bunnies that were brought to life with the sudden realization I had that no one ever seems to use doors in Konoha in the Naruto Fandom.

Reviews: Please? I've got a closet full of Plot Bunnies that will chew through the wood in order to devour what is left of my sanity and brain.

Ye Olde Disclaimer: I'm not Japanese. I'm not rich. Do you really think I could have created something as kick ass as Naruto? I didn't think so. Please don't sue because all you'd get are my rabid Plot Bunnies and maybe a night shiny penny if you were lucky.

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Iruka's night had gotten worse…..

"Umn...where are we, Kakashi-sensei?" Iruka looked decidedly wary and uncertain as they found themselves outside of an apartment that was definitely not Iruka's. The jounin grinned beneath his mask, the expression mostly hidden save for the curving of that one visible eye into a happy crescent. One dark brow rose as the shorter man eyed Kakashi much as one would eye a particularly dangerous animal whose chances of attacking were unknown.

"We're at my apartment of course." Kakashi stated simply as he handed the umbrella to the suddenly flustered looking Iruka. The chuunin's eyes had bugged out a bit and he fumbled with the umbrella as Kakashi drew out his own set of keys and unlocked the door. A tiny flare of annoyance curled in Iruka's heart as Kakashi opened the door wide
enough for him to slip in and the jounin flicked on a light that flooded the
small entryway with a pleasant and inviting light.

"I err...I think I'm okay actually, Kakashi-sensei. I've taken up enough of your time as it is, please excuse-" Iruka found his way barred by a sleekly muscled forearm as Kakashi turned to look at him with a suddenly serious and dark eye. Even with most of his face
hidden, the sudden intent and almost intimidating aura that pulsed from the jounin had Iruka fighting back a flutter of nervousness.

"Don't be stupid. You're locked out, soaking wet and it's going to get very cold tonight. I'm not going to let you spend the night outside where you'll get sick." Iruka's eyes narrowed fractionally then as he fought with his common sense on whether or not to pick a fight with Kakashi. The man's slightly heavy-handed methods irked him faintly and
Iruka's lips parted to speak when a cool fingertip pressed into them.

He hadn't even seen Kakashi move but suddenly, that air-chilled finger laid softly across his lips, the warmth from them faint but still present. It didn't compare to the heat suddenly flooding Iruka's cheeks however as he jerked back in surprise. "Your lips are turning blue, Iruka-sensei. Don't be an idiot and come inside before all the heat escapes."

And with that, Kakashi all but yanked the shell-shocked Iruka inside so he could shut the door. "You need a shower and something warm to eat in that order." Still slightly befuddled, Iruka was a little slow on the uptake as Kakashi dictated what he was to do. When the chuunin didn't move, the silver-haired man knelt with a growl and started on the leg-wrappings. With the touch of Kakashi's fingers to his legs, Iruka snapped out of his daze and jolted a bit.

"I can do that!" In his haste to step away from those slender fingers, Iruka ended up smacking into the wall and he hastily started on removing his sandals. The jounin bestowed yet another flat expression upon him before climbing sleekly to his feet with all the lithe grace of a hunting cat or a wolf. His own sandals were removed to join Iruka's before he stepped up onto the hardwood floor led into the main part of the apartment. It wasn't particularly large or sumptuous but it seemed to suit the basic needs of a man who was used to spending most of his life outside and anywhere but at home.

"Bathroom's that way. You'll find towels in the cupboard and I'll dig up some clothes for you to wear." Kakashi steered Iruka towards the bathroom, the gleeful smile on his face hidden by the mask and those damp locks of silvered hair. Iruka shot him a mildly annoyed look over one shoulder and Kakashi just grinned cheerfully at him. "I'll have
some warm food by the time you get out. Do you like soup or are you just a ramen kind of man." Amusement kindled in those dark eyes then, the faintest creasing at the corner betraying Iruka's amusement then as a smile curved the edges of his lips.

"I'm not Naruto. I don't eat ramen three times a day." Iruka snorted softly but allowed Kakashi to lead him to where the bathroom was. Before entering the bathroom however, Iruka paused and shot an unreadable look over his shoulder once more. "...thanks." With
that, the door slid close. Kakashi's happy, stupid smile melted away to be replaced by one that was downright feline in nature. As he heard the water turn on, the lanky jounin walked away as he dug out a set of keys from a pocket in his flak-jacket.

They were tossed up in the air with a merry jingle and cling of metal, the small plastic ramen bowl on it flying through the air only to be snagged by a gloved hand. The smile that curved Kakashi's lips was downright devilish as he eyed those stolen set of keys. "No, thank you, Iruka-sensei." Those words were purred softly to himself as he stuffed them back into his pocket and walked into the kitchen to start on the soup.

A part of Kakashi reminded him that taking things was wrong. No wait...he was a ninja, that wasn't right. Getting caught at taking things that was not his was wrong! There was no moral dilemma there thankfully. So why had he taken Iruka's keys instead of returning them to the wet and soaking chuunin? He'd like to think he'd feel some
shred of guilt if the man managed to get sick because he'd been trapped outside in the cold but Kakashi had doubts about that. They said that if you were an Anbu, you had to sacrifice the important parts of your soul like your conscience and humanity, something that Kakashi had learned at a young age to be all too true.

Perhaps that was part of the reason he found Iruka so fascinating, the man expressed his emotions so freely and fully. It was like watching the dust devils he'd seen in Wind Country. You never knew what direction it was going to flow but you were drawn to it all the same. Because they looked so harmless in their innocuous manner and seemingly harmless size, one never realized how dangerous they were until you managed to get touched by it; then you were sent flying through the air to land dazed and confused as to what had just happened. To a man like Kakashi whose heart and soul had to become cool and dark in order to survive, the easily riled chuunin burned like a flame.

Kakashi watched him in his joys and sorrows and felt envious of his freedom,
of the sheer amount of life radiating from him. Much like a moth he was drawn to that flame even though there was a chance he was going to get burned once again. Iruka had burned him before yet he was still attracted to the scarred man.

It was driving him crazy that the chuunin seemed utterly oblivious to his plight too. Sometimes they were as friendly and intimate as old friends and other times, Iruka was short and hot with him. If the jounin hadn't been such an emotional retard, he would have recognized the fact that Iruka was nearly as unsettled by Kakashi as he was by
the chuunin. The silver-haired man was so used to driving people away and keeping them at a distance that the habits of his past were ground in bone-deep and he often found himself saying something monstrously cold or flat without even realizing it. Then it was stated and he watched the light fade from those beautiful brown eyes only to be replaced by hot anger or rage…..then he felt like kicking himself.

All Kakashi really wanted was for Iruka to look at him and possibly see past the pervert and the bastard. Because if Iruka could do it...if Iruka, the man who'd seen past the kyuubi in Naruto to realize there was such goodness in the boy, then maybe there was some hope for Kakashi and his soul after all? Trying to shake off his somewhat dark
thoughts, Kakashi turned his attention to making the warm soup for Iruka. His keen ears could hear the dark-skinned man in the shower as

the chuunin's feet squeaked along the tile or when Iruka fumbled with the shampoo bottle with chilled fingers to drop it...and the mental images that was brining up was affecting the jounin more then Kakashi was willing to admit.

He had been lusting after Iruka for a while now and he'd begun to think that he'd go insane from sheer frustration...well...that or kill someone, whichever came first. And who would really blame him in is poor hormone frustrated state for pouncing upon the chance to get Iruka home and wet...er...no, that wasn't right. Well….that wasn't the main reason he'd stolen the keys when he'd seen them laying in a puddle by Iruka's foot. That was a definite bonus but not the real reason. Nor was the slim chance that he would be able to sweep the chuunin off his feet and into his bed either...it made a lovely fantasy and one he'd relish for a while but the real reason had been he simply wanted to spend time with the skittish Iruka. And if he had to kidnap the stupid man without the chuunin realizing it, then so be it! Itwasn't like Kakashi was going to loose a minute of sleep over that.
He'd buried his conscience and morals a long time ago and like that trite and old adage, all was fair in love and war.

Behind Kakashi, the shower cut off as Iruka found himself somewhat warmer and thankfully clean. The mud had been bothering him almost as much as the chill water to be honest. He'd found a towel in the cupboard like Kakashi had said and after ringing his hair to get the last of the excessive water out, the tanned man lightly dried himself off before wrapping the pale towel around his waist. A critical look was given to
the mostly fogged and hazy mirror and Iruka looked himself over for any unseen wounds or scratches that he might have picked up while sloughing through the mud. As expected, he found a bruise beginning tocolor the backside of his arm near the elbow from where he'd smacked into a sharp rock in his embarrassing spill earlier.

Even in the fog-choked mirror, Iruka could clearly see the various scars covering
his body, some old, some new. He was a warrior and had been so since childhood. It showed in his body and in the scars on his heart and soul. Each blemish held a story and a memory. Most were bitter and sad though some brought a smile to his face. None were quite as new or vicious as the one crossing his back however. The wicked line of
scartissue slicing between his shoulder blades from where Mizuki's weapon had pinned him had a chill running up his spine when he caught sight of it in the mirror. He'd come close to death that day, closer then he had in years to be honest and was still mildly surprised at the detached sort of realization he'd been willing to accept his fate.

People said that when a person stares death down eye to eye, that is when you get to test their true mettle. That was when you get to see what they are truly made of. Of course, the people that said they didn't understand the way of the ninja, didn't know what it was like to be shinobi. A ninja could face death with each mission they take it was part of the risk of living the lives that they did. Obviously life-defying situations didn't create good people however because look at the psychopaths that had come from their own village. Orochimaru or Uchiha Itachi were not good men in any way shape or form. Sure, they'd
stared death down but that didn't make them any less evil. So if you couldn't test the value of a person in their courage under fire, how did you determine if they were flawed or not?

A troubled look overcame Iruka's face then as he considered the dark trail of his thoughts. He'd thought he'd known Mizuki, had thought that he'd understood the other man….thought he'd known the gentle kindness of silver-haired man's heart. He'd been wrong about him just as he'd been wrong about a lot of people in his time. What if he'd done something more about the gathering darkness in Sasuke then just make note it and put it into his file? What if he'd actually tried to intervene and help the boy? Would he still be following the path he had chosen for himself? What of Naruto? There were too many doubts, too many questions that haunted his heart and robbed him of sleep.

It had been a year since Naruto had gone off to train with Jiraiya and it cut at Iruka's heart like a knife to not know how his young friend was doing. Naruto had become the little brother he'd never had and when the blond had left, Iruka had been forced to keep up a smiling façade of calm contentment. People had asked him how he felt about Naruto leaving, had tried to cheer him out of his 'non-existent' depression. That had been when Iruka had learned how best to mask himself behind that cheerfully bashful smile. Sure, inside his heart had twisted in his chest as it broke a bit more with the news of Team
Seven's break-up and subsequent loss of two of it's members. But he hadn't dared let anyone else know that. Because if Iruka-sensei, dear sweet, levelheaded Iruka-sensei lost it, then surely they were all screwed, right?

He shouldn't have taken it as hard as he had actually. Iruka knew this yet it had still hurt; and with a frown, he stared to comb his fingers through those wet locks of dark sable hair. A teacher knew they were bound to loose some of their students. Whether it is to death's
embrace or to something else, the life of a ninja was a harsh one. They died quickly and early save for the few who were tough and smart enough to survive. "Geh…stop it." He commanded himself with a scowl into the foggy mirror. Annoyance and self-disgust glinted there in Iruka's eyes as he glared at his own reflection and the sheer futility
of his thoughts had his back stiffening with disgust. The chuunin wasn't sure why his mood was so morose right now. Perhaps because tonight had simply highlighted the sleeping fears he had about his own abilities as both a ninja and a teacher? Who knew... All Iruka did know was that if he stepped out of that door in his current state, Kakashi would pester him until he either snapped or stormed out of the apartment to escape the jounin's all too sharp and intuitive questions.

Resigning himself to facing Kakashi's somewhat odd and warped sense of humor, Iruka made sure the towel was tight around his waist before opening the door to the bathroom. Immediately, the cooler and less humid air in the rest of the apartment washed over him and he fought back a shiver before peeking out to look around for Kakashi. The other
ninja glanced up from the grilled-cheese sandwiches he was cooking to grin at the hesitant looking chuunin. "You said you had some clothes?" All Kakashi could see of that wonderfully delicious form was that uncertain face and shoulders. Those dark strands of sable hair clung to Iruka's cheeks and neck in sleek tendrils that had Kakashi wanting
to trace every inky line with his lips.

"I did?" A comical widening of that one visible eye and Kakashi rubbed the back of his head with his free hand. "I got distracted contemplating the woeful life of an egg and it totally slipped my mind…." He had not forgotten of course, but he wasn't going to tell
Iruka that. If he had gotten clothes out for the dark-haired man, all Kakashi would have seen of Iruka would be that one brief flash of skin and that would have had the jounin pouting all night long. "I'm err…sort of busy right now just go in and grab something." A gesture of one pale hand indicated the dresser that lay in sight of the kitchen.

"You're going to be late to your own burial aren't you." The chuunin muttered to himself as he held the towel close with a cautious hand.

"Only if I can help it!" Came Kakashi's far too cheerful reply as he reminded himself not to drool too much when he watched the dark-haired man stalk into the bedroom. A feline grin of pure shameless contentment curved those masked lips as Kakashi slyly watched the pure moving beauty that was known as Iruka. Kakashi knew there truly was no hope for him when he came to the conclusion that all he wanted was to start at one end of the chuunin and work his way up as he tasted each and every inch of that tan and lean form.

"….Which drawer?" Iruka glanced over his shoulder to pin Kakashi with a curious look and he blinked in confusion. The look Kakashi had been giving him had been decidedly feline and predatory in nature. It left him feeling vaguely uneasy to be honest. Uneasy and….something else…something he couldn't put his finger on.

"Hmmn? Oh...the bottom one…." The silver-haired man had the presence of mind to wait until after Iruka had turned away to grin with devilish delight. Unbeknownst to Kakashi, his toast began to burn. The elite Copy-nin didn't notice however as he all but rubbed his hands together with gleeful anticipation as he waited for Iruka to retrieve the clothing. The chuunin was thankfully unaware of Kakashi's secret delight however as he knelt on the floor to eye the drawer. Even with Kakahi's permission, he wasn't very comfortable digging through someone else's drawers….especially Kakashi's! Who knew what he'd find in there…

The scent of charred bread finally reached Kakashi's nose and with a curse, he yanked the skillet from the stove with a caustic look down at the smoking remains of what was once supposed to be grilled cheese. He poked at the sandwiches in a testing manner only to see just how charred the one side of the bread was. Ehhhh….who ever died of extra-carbon? Seeing that Iruka was woefully indecisive, Kakashi abandoned the ruined food and walked silently up behind the chuunin. As Iruka turned to speak, he found himself looking at Kakashi's knees and blinked in surprise before peering up at the jounin who now towered over him. "Umn…Kakashi-sensei?" An unreadable look flashed through the Copy-nin's eye then, that one visible orb gleaming with many secrets as he stared in fascination at the beautiful sight at his feet.

And with that, he felt his tenuous control snap.

With the grace of a panther, Kakashi knelt down in front of Iruka and a pale hand reached up to tangle in those chilled and damp locks of rich sable. Confusion filled Iruka's face as he stared up at the jounin in open befuddlement. Kakashi didn't even seem aware of that
baffled look as he moved closer, his hand curling at the base of Iruka's neck. The tanned man finally seemed to realize the danger he was in as the jounin tilted his head back to meet that suddenly hot and desire-filled dark orb. "I think I should do this while I still
have you held captive." Came that mysterious murmur then and the wariness curling to life within Iruka sprung to full alert as the silver-haired man lowered his cloth-covered lips to the warm tiers that all but begged to be kissed. The strong and unmovable grip of those pale fingers in his hair held Iruka trapped as Kakashi kissed him. Not that he was moving of course. Actually, he was pretty well frozen in place as the sluggish crawl of his thoughts slowly started to trickle into his brain.

The fact that he hadn't been socked into next Tuesday delighted Kakashi to no end and Iruka should have known better then to give even an inch with the perverted jounin. Because if you gave Kakashi an inch, he'd take a mile. Having met no real resistance, the
silver-haired man slanted his lips across the chuunin's with a mental cry of dismay at finding his way blocked by his own mask. He wanted to tastethose soft lips that hung parted with shock beneath his. The damp warmth of Kakashi's breath seeping through the thin material as he groaned softly into the kiss seemed to awaken Iruka however and the
sensei shoved Kakashi back then with a gasp.

Kakashi also learned that Iruka had a wicked left-cross as the chuunin punched him across the jaw for his troubles. "What the hell was that!" Iruka it would seem; was trying to see how many shades of red he could turn as he scrambled to his feet. He clutched his towel frantically almost as if he expected Kakashi to pounce him and eyed
the fallen jounin with a wide-eyed and panicked look. Kakashi sat back on the ground and massaged his jaw with a faintly menacing narrowing of that one visible dark eye.

"That, Iruka-sensei was called a kiss. Are you sure you should be teaching kids if you don't even know the basics of the birds and the bees?" Now deep down, Kakashi knew better then to tease Iruka when he was riled up like this but he simply chose to ignore that and as the chuunin's eye's widened in shocked outrage, he simply grinned that stupid jester's grin and prepared to move. Sure enough, Iruka, driven a bit farther then his normally logical brain was capable of comprehending had moved to attack the seated jounin with an enraged growl. Kakashi's hands formed seals almost faster then Iruka's eyes could keep up. "Kagebunshin no jutsu." Iruka's eyes widened then as the jounin replicated himself even as he evaded the wrathful chuunin's punch. Despite having heard the words, the chuunin saw no new Kakashi-clones and that could only mean he really was in trouble. With a laugh, Kakashi grabbed onto Iruka's wrist and yanked him off balance by pulling the other man into his chest. Those strong hands moved to grab both wrists and try though he might Iruka was unable to break the jounin's hold. It wasn't surprising considering the differences in their strengths but all the same. It was….galling…..

"Are you going to calm down now?" Kakashi asked mildly, that single visible dark eye gleaming curiously down at the flushed and angry Iruka. He had to move his leg out of the way when the chuunin moved to step on his instep and with a sigh, he just wrapped his arms about Iruka from behind, trapping the other man's hands and arms to his own
chest as the silver-haired man stood carefully with the flailing and struggling Iruka
squirming the entire way. "Careful, you're about to loose your towel."

No one could ever accuse Kakashi of being a nice person. He had his own sense of personal honor, but it just didn't tend to coincide with what most other people viewed as right and wrong. Of course, Hatake Kakashi was not above using complete and utter mortification to get his way either.

At those chillingly mild words, Iruka froze in his struggles and uttered a highly un-masculine squeak as he went as limp and still as a dead fish in Kakashi's grip. The aforementioned towel was just barely clinging to lean hips, the wet folds of terrycloth having been untucked in a dangerous manner to hang precariously crooked about
Iruka's hips. Mortification glowed almost as brightly in those velvety dark eyes as his cheeks and he tried to yank a hand free to keep it from falling completely off. Kakashi chuckled quietly to himself as the enraged chuunin went still. If he were to be honest with himself, he'd acknowledge the fact that this was far too much fun. Well...for him at least, Iruka didn't seem to be appreciating the joke all that much because as some of the embarrassment began to drain from him, Iruka turned his head to glare hotly up at Kakashi.

"Let me go." He managed; his voice dropping to near sub-zero temperatures then as he tugged at his hands, trying to uncross them from his chest so he could grasp for last slipping bit of decency he had to protect himself from a professional pervert like Kakashi. The silver-haired jounin was very careful to keep his head to the side of Iruka's lest the unpredictable man decided to snap his head back in an attempt to break the jounin's nose. Of course, this also presented him with the perfect opportunity to breath in the delightful mixture of scents rising from Iruka's heated and flush skin. Kakashi could smell the
faint trace of his soup on Iruka's skin and the breath of scent from the shampoo Iruka had used when he nuzzled the delicate skin beneath the chuunin's ear.

When mingled with the rich hints of spices and musk that made up the dark-haired man's already spectacular scent, it had the jounin tightening his grip reflexively about Iruka. There was something decidedly erotic about smelling his shampoo and the scents he was used to mingling with Iruka's; it almost made him think that Iruka was wearing him and that had heat pooling dangerously low in Kakashi's belly. Only years of iron-willed control and practice kept his lust in check then and he closed his eyes to simply enjoy this stolen moment. "Let go of me, Kakashi-sensei….."

Iruka wasn't comfortable with the sensations that were stirring within him. It was making him face things he was far more comfortable not facing and he tried once more to tug himself away from Kakashi's grip. There was no violence in his movements however and it had the Copy-nin raising his face from the crook of Iruka's neck to peer at the chuunin
with an odd look on his face.

"I want to but I can't….." Came that husky whisper then, the unreadable look in that one visible eye strangely hazed and almost soft. Iruka was used to seeing sharp cynicism or an apathetic flatness to on Kakashi's face and seeing that unnamable emotion had him almost as uncomfortable as having the jounin's arms wrapped around him. Iruka
was only able crane his head around to a certain angle in order to catch sight of
Kakashi but what he saw didn't exactly calm his nerves. For a long moment, the two men stood there still and silent.

The tension building between them was thick and palpable in the air and it had Iruka's breath catching in his throat. This was ridiculous really, he wasn't some star-eyed kunoichi who was supposed to loose his head and swoon
at the feet of some debonair shinobi. For one thing, he wasn't female and for another, Kakashi was anything but debonair. In Iruka's opinion, grabby and perverted suited him a lot better at this particular moment!

Kakashi smiled to himself as he watched the play of emotions across the chuunin's face and in those expressive dark eyes. Shock was foremost on the surface of those chocolate pools but he could also see confusion, surprise and something else…something that had Kakashi's heart lightening a bit.

It was desire, albeit a confused and befuddled sort of desire but desire all the same and Kakashi wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Iruka's scar was a good way to decide his mood, he'd decided. If it was pale and stark against his face, he was angry but if it turned as red and hot as the rest of hia face, Iruka was dying of mortification in that moment.

The scar was bright red at that moment, Kakashi was happy to note.

"Don't say such nonsense." Iruka growled and tried to elbow Kakashi. And much to the chuunin's surprise, he felt his sharp limb dig into the jounin's vulnerable ribs. Who knew who was more surprised, Iruka in the fact that he'd managed to land a blow on the elite ninja or Kakashi in that Iruka had managed to catch him right in the diaphragm, thus driving all the air from his lungs for a moment. Iruka was gifted with the bug-eyed looked of shock that was almost comical on the jounin's normally passive features and he tried to escape once more only to get grabbed back into that lean and hard form.

"See…." A soft pant for breath as Kakashi heaved those words out and adjusted his grip to make sure Iruka couldn't repeat that move. "That's why I can't let you go. You'd probably kill me." Those words had a slightly menacing narrowing of dark eyes then as the sable haired man glared dangerously up at Kakashi.

"Keep this up and I will." The chuunin growled softly and Kakashi's eye curled upwards into a more familiar affable look.

"Ahhh, there's the fiery Iruka-sensei we all know and love. Promise not to kill me if I let you go?"

"I promise." Iruka drawled then, a note of dangerous sarcasm filling his voice as the chuunin tried his best to look intimidating. He didn't do a very good job of it apparently because Kakashi just grinned like an idiot and slowly let his arms fall. In that moment,
Iruka spied the forgotten clone walk out of the bathroom with what could only be his clothes bundled in his arms. Shock had Iruka's jaw dropping then, the sight of the clone cheerfully waving at him with its stolen bundle of clothes before darting from sight had a pole-axed expression crossing the poor bedraggled chuunin's face.

"H…Hey!" Iruka made a move to chase after the other Kakashi only to have his wrist captured in a steely grip and he whirled back to Copy-nin with another wrathful look on his face. "What the fuck is your problem?" He swung again and the impact of his fist hitting Kakashi's hand had pain jarring down his arm as the jounin's pale fingers curled tightly around his own in a grip that was just a shade this short of being crushing. Pain had Iruka's eyes narrowing as a grimace threatened to overcome him but he fought it back. Kakashi's face was oddly grim then and sad, the joker having melted away to reveal the deadly potential of the famous Sharingan Kakashi.

That clenched fist was forced downwards with a smoothness of ease that made it almost appear as if Iruka wasn't even resisting. The differences in their strengths was terrifying and a curl of fear slowly flickered to life in Iruka's heart. "Stop this, Iruka-sensei. I'm not going to harm you so please stop trying to attack me." Kakashi's voice was cool and devoid of emotion, the lack of light in that one visible eye chilling in its starkness. And as quickly as he'd grabbed Iruka's hand, Kakashi's fell away to leave the chuunin free of
his grip.

"Then what the hell do you call this?" Feeling like a trapped and cornered animal, Iruka backed away from the grim-faced Kakashi until he felt the sharp bit of the dresser press into his lower back. A hand had reflexively come up to rub at his aching fingers though even through the haze of anger, Iruka thought he saw a flash of…guilt? Sorrow? Some unnamed emotion flash across Kakashi's face before he looked away.

"I'm trying to keep you safe from yourself. If you'd gotten your clothes back you'd have just rushed back outside and gotten sick or something." It hurt. Why did it hurt so much? Pain was something Kakashi was used to feeling, something he'd learned to control, to channel to his advantage on the field. For a shinobi, pain could be your friend. It kept you sharp and alert, it let you know that you were still alive and that there was still some soul left in you. Physical pain he could deal with but this…this was something unfamiliar and he didn't particularly care for it.

"I don't understand you. Why can't you just come out and say what you mean instead of playing these games…." Iruka suddenly felt…exhausted. Emotionally, physically, it didn't really matter. As if that last burst of anger had drained his emotional reserves, his shoulders hunched and he carefully tucked the towel back around his waist with a
sigh. "I don't understand you…" Those words were sighed softly, almost inaudible even. It was only Kakashi's keen sense of hearing that allowed him to pick out those quiet words.

"Yeah well….I don't understand you either so we're even." The jounin stalked over to Iruka and it was only the chuunin's sense of pride that kept him from retreating as the silver-haired man reached around him to gain access to the middle drawer of the dresser only to pull out a pair of drawstring pants. "Get dressed and then get something to
eat, Iruka-sensei. I imagine my toast is completely beyond ruined at the moment." The joking light had left Kakashi's face and he seemed…tired perhaps? Iruka couldn't gauge the man's expressions very easily unfortunately because of the mask and his mysterious nature so all he could do was watch the taller man walk back towards the kitchen. Kakashi paused at the doorway of the bedroom and shot a look over his shoulder. "Just promise me you won't try to go out there tonight? I'll behave myself but I don't want you to make yourself sick just because you're disgusted by my presence." With that, the
silver-haired jounin stepped out of the bedroom to give Iruka his privacy.

"……I'm not disgusted by your presence." Whether Kakashi could hear him or not was uncertain and Iruka wasn't too sure he wanted the jounin to hear him anyway.