The Only Thing I Need To Hold Dear

By: Kaki-kun

Wheeee! So many nice reviews in such little time:D Thank you all reviewers! # gives reviewers Kakashi and Iruka plushies # Yayness!

Well, for one last comment: be prepared for anything, since I love throwing people off guard. ;D Hope everyone likes surprises...

----NOTE:

I've changed the plot around a little bit so there's a much better chance of myself staying interested in updating. Very very sorry reviewers for taking so long to update!

Disclaimer: don't sue, 'coz my money isn't worth your time. of course for the rich bastards out there, I suppose any form of money is good for you leeches.
I dun own Naruto, k? Or else I would keep Kakashi to myself and sell Sasuke, Sakura, and the others on ebay. Except Gai, Itachi, and Naruto, 'coz they're not so bad either. : p

Key:
'...' Thoughts
"..." Speaking
... Stuffness

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The gentle winter breeze blew by the small village of the leaf. The sakura trees, no longer filled with fragrant pink colors, swayed with the cold forewarning. Animals made their last preparations for the season approaching ahead- squirrels buried nuts, birds began to fly south- preferably to the land of mist.

The artic wind blew by Iruka, sending shivers up and down his spine. He looked up at the building and examined it. The bar didn't seem like any kind of whore house from the outside, but it didn't look all that fancy either. He found the appearance and textural design to make it look...crusty.
Iruke shook his head and walked in.

"This better be important Mizuki..." Iruka muttered aloud threw chattering teeth while taking a seat on a stool. The bartender came up to him.

"So what'll you be having?" Iruka smiled politely before explaining he was waiting for a friend. The bartender nodded and left to another customer. Iruka examined the internal design this time. Different colored bottles lined the walls behind the bar, a few evergreen tables were set up away from the stools on the other side of the room. A fairly small tv hung from the ceiling across the room where a man in a brown jacket was watching the weather. Four males were playing a card game at one of the tables, once in a while lighting up a cigarette and making idol chit-chat. The oak wood walls had small, detailed designs circling the room, sometimes being interrupted its path with a window.
He found it pretty bland. Sort of like certain cereals- you're hungry enough to eat it but really wish it had more flavor.

But hell, it's a bar. It's better than what Iruka had always pictured it: people swinging about intoxicated, beating the living shit out of each other while yelling incoherent things.

Iruka must have missed happy hour.

An hour had passed by and still no sign of Mizuki. A lot of more people had began to come in with friends to have some drinks. The smell of alcohol was starting to become stronger.

Iruka sighed heavily and looked back at the door when something silver caught the corner of his eye. Iruka looked over at the man sitting next to the window, the moon beaming from the window and reflecting off of his silky hair which settled in random directions. The person's head turned toward the window while buried in his arm on the table, making it hard for Iruka to get a look at his face. Iruka glanced at the red swirl mark on the side of his sleeve. 'He's a shinobi...' He thought to himself.

Having nothing better to do, Iruka decided to keep his mind busy while waiting for his ignorant chum to return from his mission by trying to determine some things about the silver-haired shinobi seating only a stood away from him. 'Hmmm...I'd say he is about my age...and around six feet, somewhat taller than me...' The bartender placed a cup and a bottle of sake down in front of him. The man continued to sit there. 'Is he even awake?' Iruka pondered. The shinobi took out one of his arm from supporting his head and grasped the cup. The liqor began to swirl around in the cup on its own, Iruka knew better that the man was making it do that with chakra; finally, after a while, the man pulled his head out revealing blue material his sleeve was made of wrapped around his face in a mask. He kept his focus straight forward, with no expression on his face at all, leaning his head on his hand like he couldn't hold it up for more than a few seconds.
Iruka examined what he could see of the shinobi's face, he found it fairly plain, but felt compelled to figure out what the mask was about. Was there something he was trying to hide? The teacher shook his head, starting to feel a bit nosy. Details were good to pay attention to in life, but he might have been overdoing it.

After a few more minutes of staring off into space, the shinobi moved his hand supporting his head up to the face mask. He gently slid the soft fabric off his face and brought the drink up to his mouth to slug down the sake.

Iruka glanced back over to the stranger he had been observing only a few moments ago when his mouth dropped open, eyes widened, and a red tint spread across his scarred face before immediately putting his hands up to cover his mouth. His eyes followed the stranger's perfect nose, down to his lips, then finally sliding down his still unexposed neck.
'No wonder he wore a mask! He's beautiful!'

(A/N: OH YEAH! :) That's right, we KNOW what you did last summer-er what's under that mask! Inner beauty radiates, Kakashi-kun, it cannot be tamed by cruel cloth! BWAHAHAHAHAHA! Aren't I right Kakashi-fans! XD Alright, this is the end of our emergency broadcast system test...or, emergency fangirl sqabble rant...;p heeheehee...)

Iruka nibbled on his lower lip while intently watching the silver-haired nin's move back down from leaning back.
Flags suddenly went up in Iruka's mind when he was brought back to reality. 'Oh man...I just thought that guy was gorgeous...of course he is but...that's not right! I don't even know the guy!' He bit his tongue to prevent himself from wailing in frustration or smacking himself over the head.

While Iruka held his inner struggle, the man had finished the drink and placed his mask back in it's proper place. He looked over at Iruka and raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

Iruka had moved and sat right down next to the man without ever realizing it until he looked back up to him. Iruka let out a startled yelp, almost falling off of his chair. HE regained his balance and looked back up at the handsome stranger, face red with embarrassment.

"Um...hello?"

"Yo." Iruka sighed before putting his hand behind his head while chuckling nervously.

"...You're a shinobi too right?"

"Yeah," He stated. Iruka finally noticed his headband covering his right eye, but decided to dismiss it for the moment.

"Chuunin?"

"Jounin." Iruka sweatdropped.

"I'm sorry, you looked around my age so and since I'm still a chuunin I thought...I'm sorry."

"It's alright. You seem a little old to be a Chuunin though." The man pointed out while looking threw the bottom of the glass cup. It hit Iruka like a ton of bricks, because he had failed the jounin tests. Probably because he wasn't interested in becoming one, but nonetheless it wasn't good for his pride.

"I'm…actually a teacher at the academy...by the way, I'm Umino Iruka." He smiled feebly as Kakashi glanced back over at him.

"Hatake Kakashi. That's…nice..." Kakashi said, his attention starting to drift away again, toward the window. A bell rung in Iruka's head.

"Kakashi, the copy ninja Kakashi?"

"Yeah," He said in an incredibly sharp but blunt tone. Iruka searched for more subjects that hopefully didn't make him seem like he was prying into things.

"It's sad about the infamous Uchiha clan was cut down to incredibly small numbers last week..." Iruka paused to give Kakashi time to say anything if he wanted to. When he didn't, he continued. "It's a shame...the school lost two students, and the one Uchiha prodigy remaining probably will never be the same..." Iruka paused again, this time to think over some things. The scarecrow finally said something when Iruka's pause grew longer.

"Hmmm...I wasn't here for it, was on an A class mission near the border of the Leaf and Mist. Just got back from an…escort mission..." Kakashi worded escort carefully, still not wanting to acknowledge that he had to take a C Class mission. It hurt his ego a bit that a Jounin-- a former ANBU such as himself had to take on a mission in reserve for a Chuunin or Genin. Kakashi poured another drink from the bottle and held it in his right hand.

"Ah. I haven't had a mission for a month, it seems like a long time." Iruka smiled while brushing away a stray hair. "I'm always busy with those kids. They're such a hassle..." He looked up at the ceiling, mentally connecting the knots, trying to form some kind of imaginary constellation in the wood. "But I love teaching kids. I have great hopes for all of them to become excellent men and women of the village." Kakashi stared empathetically as he made the liquor swirl in the cup with chakra again. Iruka looked back at Kakashi, but the scarecrow righted himself and turned back toward the dolphin.

"You want a drink?" He offered calmly.

"No thank you, I'm just waiting for my ignorant friend to meet me here after a mission." Iruka smiled, finally feeling like he was acknowledged by the scarecrow 'as worthy to talk to' or 'maybe I'll attempt to talk like I'm interested'. "And I don't drink." He finished, not quite sure if his previous response actually answered the question.

"Neither do I normally," He stated then slipped off the mask and took a slug in such a swift movement Iruka couldn't catch a glimpse of him without the mask this time. Iruka stared at his superior, frowning in confusion.

"Uh, so if you don't drink, why are you?" Kakashi shrugged and pushed the glass away. "Well?"

"Alright, I sometimes have a few drinks with friends or maybe a glass of wine once in a while.

"So why are you drinking here alone?" Kakashi smiled and scratched his mask a little on the bridge of his nose.

"I'm not alone. You're here right?" Iruka blushed a bit and felt his heart pound harder in his chest. "...And there are those men over there. Plus the bartender." Iruka face faulted, the nice little feeling in him ruined. Kakashi smirked deviously under the mask, somehow, Iruka managed to catch it.

"Very funny," Iruka muttered sarcastically. "So really, how come?" Kakashi sighed and rubbed the counter with his finger, feeling the smooth glass-like surface.

"Well...my friend passed away recently..." The scarecrow kept his head down morosely.

"Oh… I'm sorry..." Iruka looked away now, feeling bad he was now officially prying in the jounin's life. He scratched the back of his head, searching for some token of apology, and turned back to Kakashi. "Hey, how about I buy you a drink instead then?" The teacher gave a weak smile back, afraid he was about to be told off.
Kakashi looked back up to him with apathy in his features. 'Wow, what an easy guy...' The Jounin smirked. 'Might as well make him regret it...' Kakashi grinned under his mask.

"That would be nice."

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Oh Kakashi-kun, don't make Iruka-chan broke! ;;; lol, well, that's it for this chapter! Please review, flamers have no lives and they can just stuff it! ;p