It was still dark when Hatake Kakashi awoke, the last hour of darkness before dawn. He lay still feeling for the disturbance that had roused him. Not a threat, just some slight feeling that things were not quite right. He reached forward and pulled the blue cover over the shoulders of the man lying next to him. So that was it. The discomfort from the chill had caused a slight ripple in Iruka's chakra that he'd detected even in the depths of sleep.

Of course the teacher's feelings had always been easy to read. It was one of the things he loved most about him. Well one of the things he loved, there were so many that he'd be a fool to try to rank them. He snuggled a little closer resting his nose in the crook of the other man's neck, against the firm smooth muscle of his shoulder. Iruka shifted slightly in his sleep, increasing the contact automatically. They were together, life was good.

All his sweetest times had been with him. Stolen kisses behind the file racks in the mission room when he'd just returned safely. Saturday afternoons with the kids, feeding them ramen, teasing them mercilessly and watching Iruka glow with pride at the progress they were making. Sunday mornings when they had a whole day of nothing but each other's company ahead of them. But best of all were the nights they spent together. That's when he would make his lover tremble and gasp with spasms of ecstasy, worshipping his golden brown body with every part, every fibre of his own. Together they could reach that place where their souls blended into one, touching and completing each other at levels few would ever know. His pleasure was Iruka's pleasure, all made so much more exquisite by knowing that Iruka felt exactly the same way. Life was good, love was good, and he loved this man from the bottom of his heart.

Iruka had become stronger too, bolder. Kakashi liked to think that his influence had played a part and it was true that he had led him to discover and unlock pleasures in his body that he might never have otherwise found. But he knew that love, that magnificent beast, was the true reason. It had quickly infected Iruka with its wildness, making him overcome his anxiety, natural at the start of any new relationship, to become a more demanding and assertive lover. Willing to take the lead in some of Kakashi's more outrageous fantasies. Sometimes demanding the lead in fantasies of his own. But even with a whip in one hand and a kunai in the other, his sweetness, kindness and gentleness shone through. Disarming him just as surely it had disarmed Kakashi, his helpless victim, lying naked and chained beneath him. Iruka never hurt him, it was all play. Just as Kakashi had never hurt the other man. Never, from that first time when he'd promised him pleasure without pain. Their love had blended them to the point where neither could hurt the other without doing irreparable harm to himself.

The first grey streaks of dawn were forcing their way into the sky, signaling the inevitable end of another wonderful night. It was time for him to go. To drag himself from the sweet cocoon of Iruka's bed and Iruka's presence and go home. He should have left hours ago. His own apartment was starting to feel like a hotel. An impersonal soulless place to keep his clothes, store his weapons and to return to just frequently enough to claim that he still lived there. Maybe the time had come for them to acknowledge their togetherness. To stop pretending that they had lives separate from each other, beyond the demands of their separate duties.

He sat up carefully, trying to avoid waking his sleeping lover, barely moving the covers as he pulled himself from under them. But Iruka was a ninja too. He rolled over and opened his eyes.

"You're leaving?" There was just a hint of pout on the sweet scarred face."

Kakashi didn't want to leave, he never wanted to leave. "Yeah, big day today, lots to do."

"Will I see you again tonight?" He heard the need in Iruka's voice, under the sleepiness.

It made him pause, one long lean leg already stretched out of the bed. Maybe now was as good a time as any. "How would you like me to come back every night?"

Iruka jerked upright and stared at him, eyes round, almost black, in the dim light. "You mean…"

Yes that's what he meant. "Yeah we should move in together, it would save me a lot of running around."

"Are… are you sure that's what you want?" This time the emotion in the teacher's voice was plain and clear. Doubt. Doubt that he would give up his independence?

He'd always been a loner, even as a child. Relishing the quiet calm of his solitude, the freedom to keep his own eccentric hours, his own eccentric habits and the liberties that came with being answerable to no one but himself. But that was before. Before Iruka. Now, when they were together, he felt a peaceful contentment that calmed his soul the way no mere quiet could. When he was away he counted the days, the hours until he could be with him again. And he even ate regular meals at regular times, wore warm clothes in cold weather and promised not to take unnecessary risks, because he wanted Iruka to be happy. He lived to make Iruka happy, he would die to make him happy and he would kill anyone who threatened his happiness.

"Yeah, I'm sure." He already had.

"But… but won't you want to have children someday?"

"No."

Hell no. Genius and madness were kissing cousins and his bloodline had suffered from far too much of both.

"Will you?"

He asked the question cautiously, keeping his voice neutral. So this was his sticking point. Iruka was a born nurturer, a natural parent. Was it fair to ask him to give up any chance of fatherhood? Kakashi knew that the monster was a creator much more than a destroyer, that love's power to create was its greatest strength. But love between two men, no matter how true, how complete, and how natural to both of them, could never create a child. How safe was it to defy the beast's most basic urge?

Iruka shook his head. "I already have children. As many as I can cope with," he lowered his eyes and a blush darkened the skin above his scar, "sometimes a lot more."

Well it was a good answer but he had to be sure. Kakashi looked at him closely, analysing every detail of his face with the sharigan, searching for doubts, uncertainties, even unconscious ones, especially unconscious ones. When he saw none he leaned over and kissed him. A kiss full on the lips. Not the kind of kiss he wanted, but that might lead to… other things, and he really didn't have time.

Now to dress and hurry to the monument. He had a lot to discuss with his old friend.

"So we'll see each other later today, we're still working on the chuunin tests remember. And today's our half anniversary, we'll have a lot to celebrate tonight."

Indeed he did have a lot to celebrate. It was the beginning of a new era, one as a lover in a whole new sense of the word. A life's partner for the rest of his life, and for the first time in his memory, he really cared how long that might be.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

A loss of contact made Iruka stir. It was so slight that had the movement been a sound it would have been inaudible, but that contact was the most precious thing in his life. He turned to face the direction that, until a moment before, had been a source of comfort and warmth. Kakashi was still there. On weekdays he usually left a few hours before dawn. To prepare for the day? Do something, heavens knows what. Naruto complained about his chronic lateness all the time so something must fill those missing hours. Maybe he just needed time alone.

"You're leaving?"

Of course he was, he always left. Iruka chastised himself for feeling this twinge of disappointment. A year ago he would have been content with a single glance from the man and now he resented him leaving his bed less than an hour short of a full night. A glorious night, they all were. Was he really so greedy for the man's love and the pleasure he brought him that was unwilling to let him have a life beyond the things they did together in these blue sheets?

"Yeah, big day today, lots to do."

Well that was true. It was a busy time of the year for everyone. Particularly since Hidden Leaf was hosting the chuunin trials soon. As one of the chuunin committee members he had a lot to do too. It would probably be a good idea to get there early and start on some paperwork. But a long day of work deserved an evening of rest and recreation.

"Will I see you again tonight?" Although he was already fairly confident of the answer Iruka still couldn't resist asking.

That was one thing, the only thing, that Iruka could be sure of. That Kakashi would come back. He still didn't really understand his lover, maybe he never would completely, never could. The man was too veiled and the layers of his personality too complex. But he was sure that Kakashi would always come back. The jounin's mind might be a closed book, but he had opened his heart to him and Iruka knew by now that his place in it was secure.

"How would you like me to come back every night?"

He sat up suddenly, that had got his attention. Come back every night? As in here? Make this his home? Live together in one apartment, one address, one bed. "You mean…"

"Yeah we should move in together, it would save me a lot of running around."

His heart missed a beat. Oh god, he must still be asleep and dreaming. He couldn't believe what he'd just heard. To be Kakashi's fuckbuddy was one thing, a really wonderful thing. But to be the acknowledged lover and partner of Sharigan Hatake, that was incomprehensible. So far beyond anything that he had ever hoped for that he sat stunned, trying to pull some sense out of the air sparkling around him.

"Are… are you sure that's what you want?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

The answer was so quick, so glib. It just couldn't be that easy. Kakashi was the last of the Hatake geniuses, son of the White Fang of Konoha. He had a bloodline to continue, a legacy.

"But… but won't you want to have children someday?"

"No."

There was a finality to the word that left Iruka speechless. It took him a moment to realise that Kakashi was still talking.

"Will you?"

Well that was easy to answer. "I already have children. As many as I can cope with, sometimes a lot more."

It was true. Sandaime had entrusted the future of Konoha into his care. Every one of the little leaves was his child just as much as they were their parent's. In some ways more. Where their parents had created a child, it was for him to create a ninja. And his academy students were ninjas first, children second. It was his job to pour his knowledge and his skill into them, so that they would be properly prepared for the shinobi life, be able to fulfil their duties for their village. And to live to tell about it. Few parents were required to be as strict, as dedicated, and as brutally loving as he was. Naruto was almost a full time job by himself, and he wasn't even really his student anymore.

He could see the sharigan whirring, glowing faintly in the dim morning light. He was held, transfixed by its power. His heart sank. Was this some kind of test? Did Kakashi really want them to live together or was this just some cruel Hatake mind game to check out… what? His loyalty? His love? Suddenly the whirring stopped. Kakashi had closed his eye. As Iruka was pulling his senses back into some kind of order, Kakashi kissed him.

Then he was speaking to him from the other side of the room.

"So well see each other later today, we're still working on the chuunin tests remember. And today's our half anniversary, we'll have a lot to celebrate tonight."

If it was a test it seemed he'd passed.

Six months, half a year, all of a lifetime. Before Kakashi he had been living but had never been fully alive. When he'd first developed his stupid crush on him so long ago, from the few times he'd seen him in the mission room, was it because he had seen this reality underneath? Had his heart known what his mind would never have dared to consider?

That it was their destiny to be together all along.