Title: The 20 Truest Things
Author creepycrawly
Character/Pairing/Group Umino Iruka and Hatake Kakashi
Rating Um...Pg-13?
Disclaimer/Notes/Whatever Mine? No. I wish. Oh, how I wish...
This was born as part of the 20Truths Community on Livejournal. I'm kind of addicted to these, and have many of the bloody things in the works. This one was my first, and is also one of my OTPs. So it's really close to my heart.
As an explanation for 20 Truths:
20 Truths is a community built on the beliefs of its authors. Weselect Characters(like Uchiha Sasuke), Pairings(like Umino Iruka and Hatake Kakashi), or Groups(likethe Uchiha Clan). Then wewrite essays in the form of lists. These listsare twenty things that we believe to be the truth. Some are purely fanon, some seem extremely canon. It's all up to the author. Anyway, Ihope this explains a little. Pleaseenjoy!
1. Kakashi wasn't ready to graduate at age five. He wasn't ready to become a chuunin so young, nor a jounin. He sure as hell wasn't ready for ANBU.
They took him anyway.
2. Iruka wasn't ready for his parents to die. When he graduated from the Academy, he still wasn't ready to deal with their deaths. When he joined Interrogations, he wasn't prepared for the hell he found there.
That's why he teaches.
Children are safe.
3. Despite the nin-law of 'be prepared', no ninja is ever really prepared for any of it. No child is ready to graduate. No genin is ready to have another's life on their shoulders. No chuunin is ready to kill. No jounin is ready to die.
No ANBU is ready to live.
The 'Special' Ranks aren't ready to live, either.
4. There i is /i such a position as a Special Chuunin. There really is such a thing as a Voluntary Demotion.
They invented both for Iruka.
5. There i is /i such a thing as being to smart for your own good. There really is a point at which being so intelligent is a bad thing.
They realised both with Kakashi.
6. There is such a thing as a common-law marriage among nin. There really is a point at which someone becomes your legal second-in-command.
They say it's when you have your first panic-attack over the other.
Or when ANBU sedates you. Which ever comes first.
7. That is why Iruka no longer has to snoop to find out just what the hell ANBU and Tsunade and everyone are planning. They tell him what's pertinent to Kakashi; he can figure the rest out on his own.
Even if they didn't, Kakashi would probably tell him.
Probably.
8. That is why Kakashi now knows that Iruka ranks him on the nin totem pole. To tell the truth, he actually wasn't too horribly surprised to find out that the man could be Hokage if he wanted.
Kakashi's kinda grateful that he doesn't.
9. Kakashi loves the pictures Iruka's students draw, especially the ones of them together. He loves the little crayon reminders that sometimes, with some things, Iruka's emotions are patently visible to everyone except Iruka himself.
They remind him of why he fell in love with the chuunin in the first place.
10. Kakashi laughed when he found Iruka's collection of dirty manga. He laughed even harder when he found the doujinshi. He nearly peed himself laughing when Iruka came home to find his lover surrounded by the evidence of i his /i perversion.
Iruka's knowledge of kink and willingness to experiment shut Kakashi right up.
11. There's a picture Iruka drew hanging in the living room. It's of the two most beautiful people Kakashi has ever seen. Iruka drew it when he was twelve, as part of his therapy for his parent's deaths.
When Iruka explained this, he cried.
It was the first time Kakashi ever saw him cry.
12. The second time he saw Iruka cry, it was his fault.
Kakashi wanted to kill himself.
13. Of course, Kakashi wanting to kill himself was the entire reason Iruka was crying in the first place. If he tried it again, it would be very, very painful.
Iruka swore he'd make damn sure of that.
14. The day Kakashi tried to die, Iruka spent the day (and night) by his side, holding his hand in a grip so tight the muscles in his right hand began to cramp.
His left was busy all day and all night.
Iruka didn't sleep.
15. The next day, Iruka's efforts were displayed in a picture of the most beautiful person Kakashi has ever seen. He nearly cried when he realised it was how Iruka saw him.
Iruka communicates his feelings in art, not words.
16. Kakashi knows why. He knows why Iruka memorises everything, why he never turns in a lesson plan. He alone knows why Iruka has them write their reports in Tracker's Hand Kanji.
It's easier to memorise, after all.
17. Iruka can't read.
For him, the letters just don't cooperate.
18. Kakashi couldn't draw if his life depended on it. On the missions where his life really does depend on it, he's got a plan worked out with Tsunade and ANBU.
They send Iruka with him.
19. Iruka once thought children were safe. Then he met the Uchihas and the Hyuugas, and thought he knew how screwed up they could be. Then he met Naruto and the rest of the monsters, and he realised how wrong he had been.
He never regarded children as safe after that.
He realised he was too emotionally invested in them.
20. The first time Kakashi saw Iruka cry, he was explaining his parents' deaths.
The second time, he was very nearly dead.
The third time didn't hurt nearly as much as the first and second.
The third time Kakashi saw Iruka cry, he'd just asked him to marry him.
Iruka said yes.
AN: Had way too much fun writing that, I did! Now I need to go write some more...these things are addictive!
AN: This is the original posted at www. livejournal. com/ community/ 20truths on 21 December, 2005 at 1.49 pm EST. I fixed a few things (FanFic doesn't accept the same taggings that LJ requires) but I may have missed some. If you notice anything, please comment!