A/N: Thanks for the reviews! You make me wanna continue writing this fic -grins-

Chibi Tuski Hikari: I shall do that btw! I didn't want to do it yet in chapter 7… but I think now would be a good time yah, I hope you're happy with that -laughs- though it is kind of mean to Iruka-chan… but njah, he gets to be taken care of Kakashi-kun, so if I were him, I wouldn't complain, ne? XD

This is a Christmas present from me to you, another chappie (at least, it's for the people who enjoy my story xD) and finally some fluffiness… though not much o.o… ! Oh joy!

Let's try it again then: Have a very merry Christmas and my you all get loads of presents! (especially Kakashi and Iruka plushies!) -pokes Chapter 7- yeah, I said that there too, but I didn't think of updating so soon T.T

Enjooooooooy -huggles everyone-

Chapter 8

Around the time where we left off

After two hours of heavy torture, Iruka and Kakashi decided to call it a night. Well, they had actually been wanting to get out of the house an hour before that, but Ibiki (who, strangely enough, had shown up as well) had threatened to use a special jutsu he used to interrogate prisoners- they quickly changed their minds. But, even the feared Jounin himself became drunk not too long after the threat so it was safe for Iruka and Kakashi to escape the party and head for home.

On the way, they didn't really speak a lot too each other as they still felt rather awkward about the former 'kiss'. Not that you could really call it a kiss- there had been a mask in front of Kakashi's face and of course the little fact that Iruka had missed the Jounins mouth. Still, they were afraid of talking to one another.

Kakashi didn't mind it- hell no, actually. It was actually from that simple kiss that he knew he was in love with the Chuunin. He had never had that felt this before in his life, but he was pretty sure that the feeling he had when being around him was love. But why did he have to fall in love with him? It had been fairly obvious that Iruka didn't like him, since he didn't want to kiss Kakashi. No, he definitely didn't love him back.

"So, did you get me anything for Christmas tomorrow?" Iruka joked- he wanted to break the silence as it was highly uncomfortable. Kakashi chuckled.

"Actually, I have," he replied, his eye crinkling. Iruka nodded.

"I did too." Again a silence. They were walking through the forest (Kurenai's house was located in the forest, just outside of the village), both of them looking at the ground- they apparently found the ground very fascinating.

"So, do you ever celebrate Christmas with others or by yourself?" Kakashi was the one to break it this time, though his voice did sound a bit weak. Iruka shrugged.

"No, I didn't celebrate alone," he replied, smiling. "I celebrate it with Naruto, but since he's not here… I guess it's you and me tomorrow. " They both went silent again and thought about team 7. Naruto had gone off with Jiraiya, Sakura was training with Tsunade and Sasuke… well, Sasuke was completely lost. There was nothing left of team 7 and they both knew it. For a while, they walked quietly again, thinking about everything that had happened- Naruto's name certainly did bring a lot of memories up, especially for Iruka who was starting to feel a little bit lonely. No, Kakashi is with me tomorrow. I won't be alone.

"Nice night," Iruka pointed out after a while, looking at the stars. They were walking on a small bridge, which hadn't been very stable for a long time, but was never actually repaired since nobody actually used it. It was sometimes used by small kids who wanted to take a shortcut into the forest to play and in Kakashi's and Iruka's case, they needed a shortcut to the apartment. The water beneath them was pretty rough and not very far from the little bridge was a waterfall. The water was also very deep, so if any of the kids should fall into the river it could be very dangerous. Kakashi merely nodded, before he felt something shooting right passed him. He quickly took a kunai out and threw it at the tree where it came from, not noticing Iruka who had fallen into the water after being hit by the shuriken.

A man fell from the tree, kunai sticking out of his shoulders- Kakashi couldn't see clearly if he was dead or not, but he had no time to worry about that as he noticed that Iruka wasn't standing next to him anymore. Panicking, he started looking in the water for the Chuunin, who had clearly taken that shuriken. After a couple of seconds, Kakashi saw something brown in the water, heading towards the waterfall.

"Iruka!" Kakashi yelled, but Iruka was unconscious and couldn't get out of the water himself. Kakashi quickly concentrated and tried his best not to let his emotions take control of him- he had to rescue him, he had to. He drew chakra to his feet, feeling the energy flowing, before dashing to the waterfall, not taking his eyes off the young man who was still passed out and probably wouldn't wake up any time soon, especially after crashing into a small rock (it certainly wasn't the Chuunin's lucky day). When he reached the point where Iruka was, he concentrated all of his chakra to the proper amount and jumped on the water, running towards the Chuunin and taking him out of the river.

He laid him down gently on the soft grass. Iruka was still breathing and started to cough up a lot of water, before passing out again. The wound from the shuriken looked pretty bad, but he would live. After examining Iruka for a bit, he decided to take him back to the apartment- he could treat him there and Kakashi figured he wouldn't enjoy spending Christmasday inside the hospital all day. Kakashi gently took the unconscious Chuunin in his arms and hurried back to the apartment. He never thought about the ninja who had attacked them.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The next day

Iruka moaned as he slowly opened his eyes with a stinging pain in his shoulders. He looked around and noticed that he was lying in his own room, but he really couldn't remember even getting there. He remembered falling into the water, but that had been it.

"Ah, you're awake," Kakashi walked into his bedroom, raising two fingers. Iruka had been sleeping soundly all night and he had managed to pull out the shuriken and bandage his shoulder properly. Iruka's shoulder would be alright and it would be safe for him to get out of bed, though Kakashi had thought about a bit of an evi- no, a brilliant plan to spend some time alone with the Chuunin. He simply would tell him that there had been poison in that shuriken and that he should stay in bed for the whole day. This would give Kakashi one whole day alone with him and he had a good excuse to touch Iruka, since it would be necessary to 'examine' his wounds. In his mind he rubbed his hands together and laughed evilly (Orochimaru-style!). "Here, I made you breakfast," he continued, handing Iruka a plate. Iruka took it gratefully, after his stomach started to rumble heavily. Kakashi chuckled slightly, settling himself next to the bed on a chair. Again, he had a nice excuse to watch him in his sleep, since he had been sitting in that chair for the whole night. "Let's take a look at your shoulder, it looked pretty bad yesterday. The shuriken probably had poison in it, but I managed to withdraw it all from your body so you should be ok- you are not allowed to get out of bed today though!" Iruka objected of course.

In the back of his mind, Kakashi was relieved Iruka was still alive and alright. After he knew for certain Iruka would be safe in his apartment, he immediately warned some of the other Shinobi's that there had been an attack- they did not find the man who was responsible for it. It was obvious he had been aiming for Kakashi, but instead hit Iruka- the Jounin honestly didn't want to get Iruka into any danger and he scowled at himself for not taking that shuriken for him.

Kakashi figured that it must have been a missing nin, hired by someone. It was probable that someone wanted Kakashi dead. Another one to add on the list, he thought lazily as he watched Iruka eating his food. He smiled at the Chuunin, who finished it so rapidly it kind of reminded him of Naruto eating ramen.

"Do I really have to stay in bed?" Iruka asked him, almost whining, after finishing his breakfast. He had his eyebrows raised. "I feel fine, my shoulder only hurts a bit," he continued, while blushing heavily when Kakashi started to feel around his shoulders a bit. His fingers were so warm and… comforting.

"Sorry, it can't be helped," Kakashi said eventually, enjoying the warm flesh underneath his fingertips.

"What happened then?" Iruka inquired. He remembered getting hit by a shuriken and was rather curious about the story. "I mean, who was the attacker?" Kakashi shrugged.

"No idea, but it was probably a missing nin who was hired. He didn't seem to be really skilled and he was gone when we started looking for him. I think I hit him in the shoulder, before getting you out of the water as you were unconscious, so I didn't have any time to go after him. Tsunade says someone is after me, probably one of the nearby countries wanting to take me out or something, she says." He sighed and reluctantly took his hands off the Chuunin as the 'examination' had already taken too long. "Merry Christmas by the way, you want to unwrap the presents? A couple of people had dropped off some gifts for you when they heard you were attacked yesterday and some of your students stopped by as well." Iruka raised an eyebrow.

"Wow, news spreads fast then," he replied. Kakashi chuckled.

"Yeah, I had to warn some people after you got attacked- they didn't get the man though. Anyway, I'll get the presents," he grinned at the Chuunin before walking out of the bedroom. About one minute later, he came back with about ten gifts in his hands. While he was gone, Iruka quickly took his present for Kakashi from under his bed and held it behind his back. "Let's start with mine first then," he threw a small box at Iruka, who caught it. Inside there was a kunai, only slightly longer and heavier than your regular one. "It's really handy when you have learned how to use that kunai, you can hit opponents more critical with it," Kakashi explained. Iruka smiled. It was pretty typical to get a weapon from the Jounin- actually, he hadn't expected anything else from him.

"Thanks, and here's mine, merry Christmas," Iruka said cheerfully, ignoring the pain in his shoulder when he gave his gift to Kakashi. He opened it curiously, with his heart thumping in his throat. Oh God, he thought to himself, if this keeps up, I'm going to be like Sakura whenever she sees Sasuke.

"Wow," Kakashi said, taking it out of the box. "I can't believe this! How did you get it?" His eyes were very wide at this point and he seemed to be in shock for a moment. Iruka scratched his scar, blushing.

"Well, I sent a letter to Naruto about it, and he sent this back to me," Iruka started. He really didn't mean on ever buying one of those disgusting Icha Icha novels, but Kakashi liked them, so he decided to try and get his hands on the most recent book that wasn't even out in Konoha yet. Iruka chuckled. "He also wrote with that 'Iruka-sensei, I can't believe you're a pervert like Jiraiya-sensei and Kakashi-sensei'!' So I have some explaining to do when he gets home." He said, but then lowered his eyes at the thought of the young boy and realised he really did miss him- even though he was loud and annoying.

"I think this is the best present anyone has ever given me," Kakashi said truthfully, hugging his new book. This cheered Iruka up a bit- Kakashi was really happy with his present and he certainly did remind him of Naruto when Iruka had given him his frog wallet two years ago. "Oh, you have to open the rest of the gifts," Kakashi said, taking his attention off the book and grabbing one of the presents. "Let's see, this one is from Gai. Oh dear, you really want to open that one?" Iruka chuckled, taking the bright green box out of Kakashi's hands and opening it.

When he took out his present, Kakashi couldn't control his laughter and Iruka flushed. The man had actually given him a green suit, similar to the one Gai and Lee wore. "Oh. My. God." Iruka merely said, raising an eyebrow.

"I know, I can't believe he actually gave you one of those!" Kakashi said laughing. "I mean, not that you wouldn't look sexy in them or anything, but still!" Iruka's eyes started to widen and his face started to redden even more. What did he say?

"What did you say?" He asked sharply. Kakashi's laughter started to fade and he pretended to look confused.

"I can't believe he actually gave you one of those?" He asked, though he knew damn well what it was Iruka was asking about- he couldn't believe he had actually said that out loud. Damn him. He wanted to die again. Iruka shrugged.

"No, after that," he continued. "You said something about looking sexy?" He became even more red- which was already almost impossible. Kakashi scratched his head, trying not to lose his cool.

"No, I don't recall saying anything like that," he said, obviously lying, though he hoped Iruka would drop the subject and continue unwrapping his gifts. Though Kakashi hoped he would unwrap him and have hot, steamy- he slapped himself inside his head again. What the hell was wrong with him? Iruka was wounded, he couldn't do anything and he had to stay in bed for three da- Oh wait, he made that up. Right. Well, he couldn't do anything, because the Chuunin wasn't gay. Yup. "Look!" Kakashi said quickly, before Iruka had the chance to continue questioning him. "There's a note from Gai with it. 'Dear Iruka-sensei, great teacher of my beloved students! I heard about the attack from my esteemed rival Kakashi-sensei and decided to give you something that would help with training! You shall have to get used to it for a while, but you will soon start wearing it even at nights! I also gave your student Naruto one of these, so you two will have matching outfits while training, like me and Lee! Greetings, Gai.' Kakashi briefly imagined Naruto and Iruka having the same haircuts and outfits like Gai and Lee had and chuckled, before taking the next present.

"This ones from Genma, hm… If you can't figure out what this is, you don't deserve to be a ninja," he said thoughtfully, looking at the very thin and pointy wrapped gift. Iruka laughed at Kakashi's comment and indeed- it was quite obvious what it was. Iruka quickly unwrapped the senbon en looked at it, one eyebrow raised.

"You know, I've always said to Genma that someday that thing will end up in his throat and that it would kill him," he pointed out.

"Oh, what does the note say?" He reached out for the little note that was still attached to the wrapping paper. "Iruka, this is my

lucky senbon. I've had it for almost three years now, and I hope it will help you! Good luck, Genma." The Chuunin made a disgusted face. "He had it for three years? That's nasty," Kakashi chuckled, before handing him the next package.

"From Asuma, probably a pack of cigarettes or something," he said flatly, while Iruka was opening it. And to his astonishment, Kakashi was indeed right about it. "Ah, let's read the note. 'Dear Iruka, here is a pack of my favourite brand of cigarettes, imported from some country in the East. I realise you don't smoke, but there is always time to start! And don't believe that crap that they write on the packages, like 'smoking kills'. Ninja's kill. Animals kill. Cigarettes don't kill! So enjoy them, Asuma.' Well, that was odd."

The next couple of gifts were from his students- Konohamaru had given him a couple of sunglasses, who probably belonged to Ebisu. Iruka grinned slightly at the thought of Ebisu running around his apartment, looking for his glasses- yes, he kind of did like Konohamaru's pranks. The next were from other students- a couple of drawings, a shurikenset from Tenten and some ointment from Hinata. Iruka smiled at each and every gift when he unwrapped them, missing Naruto more and more.

"Your students must really love you," Kakashi said softly, wishing he could have said it somewhat differently. Iruka smiled sadly again.

"Yeah," he replied. "I love them too, you know. They're really important to me, I don't think I would ever want to give up teaching. I met some fantastic kids while being a teacher." Kakashi nodded.

"Like Naruto?"

"Yeah," he croaked, trying to get his voice back again. "I really miss him," he continued eventually. The Jounin nodded again.

"I'm sure he misses you too, Iruka." They both smiled at each other.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

That afternoon

"No! No, no, no, no! Dammit!"

"Watch out, or I'll get you!"

"What? Where can you get me?"

"If I told you that, you would beat me…"

"Damn Iruka, tell meeeeeee!"

"No way," Iruka grinned at the Jounin, making his move. Yes, they had been playing chess all afternoon. And he was winning.

"Checkmate," he continued cheerfully, looking at the angry Jounin who was looking desperately at the chessboard.

"Damn," he grunted. "Come one, six out of eleven!" Iruka shook his head.

"Nah, I'm bored… let's do something else I can beat you with," Kakashi was about to protest to this when a bird tapped on the window. He moaned.

"I have a mission," he said to the Chuunin. "Though I don't understand why- it hasn't been a month yet. Probably urgent. You'll be fine by yourself, right?" Iruka nodded, watching Kakashi as he put on his vest and strapped his surikenholster around his leg.

"Be careful," he said, as the Jounin jumped out of the window.