A/N: Hi! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas -grins-

Thank you all for your reviews, I hope you will continue reviewing!

Ah, Kakashi-chan will be alright… I think… you'll have to find out -laughs Orochimaru style- Anyway, this chapter will not go according to the current Naruto manga, just so you know xD Well, not that it couldn't have happened in the time Naruto was gone.. -shrugs-

Mimihatake: lol, sorry, I don't really like doing Iruka's perspective xD I like Kakashi's better, and I think I write that one better too xD

Further more, I tried to make a kick ass Kakashi-fighting- and-kicking-butt chapter, but I don't know how it turned out o.o… lol, perhaps a bit boring? I have no idea. I'm bad at fighting scenes, so I hope this turned out at least a bit good xD

Ah, and a happy New Year everybody!

Enjoy!

Chapter 9

Infiltrate. Destroy. Leave. Don't get killed.

Those were the Hokage's orders, though the last one wasn't really that necessary. All the other Jounin had gone off on mission's as well so none was available, which forced the Hokage to use Kakashi, she had explained to him. It wasn't really weird either- he knew his 'vacation' wouldn't last that long, seeing he was the infamous Copy Nin.

He was rather bummed to hear this though- he was actually enjoying his time with Iruka and didn't want to do any missions, crazy as it sounds. Ever since he became a Chuunin, all he did was completing missions and reading his books- he never thought it would be any fun to 'hang out' with other people that much, though he did have several friends. Well, they were more or less acquaintances. He knew them by name.

Then his thoughts went back to Iruka- he was his friend. He cared more for him than he had ever cared for someone, besides Rin, the Yondaime, Obito and his father of course. But they had all died, leaving him all alone. For a while he felt like he was surrounded by darkness, his only goal in life completing his mission's and reading every single Icha Icha volume. And then he met team 7 and things started to get a bit brighter, even though they were a bunch of brats. He smiled at the thought of the hyperactive, blond boy, the pink-haired girl who only had eyes for Sasuke and last- the young avenger. They gave him a taste of friendship again.

And then he met Iruka. He had seen him at the mission's office a lot of course, but he never noticed anything truly special about him. He was good looking- nice face and a body to drool over- but he had never actually paid much attention to the Chuunin. Until that faithful day the Hokage gave him the Babysitting Mission (as he had called it). Then gradually the sun began to shine for him and he saw light everywhere he looked. He smirked slightly- perhaps that old woman had known this would happen? He shook his head at that thought- no, she wasn't that smart.

But still he was worried about what had happened the evening before- Iruka had been attacked because of him. And even though Kakashi decided he would protect Iruka, his Iruka, with his life, he was never certain the Chuunin would be safe enough. He did not want to get hurt again.

Shaking the thoughts from his mind, he jumped from tree to tree, going as fast as he could.

Rushing through the forest, he started thinking about his mission, that was important right now. "A lot is happening right now Kakashi, chances are a war might break out. We have to prevent that from happening, as our forces are not yet strong enough to withhold an attack- as you know, we lost many fine Shinobi during the Chuunin-incident, so we should take measurements. I have sent several people to investigate and gather information, and I was able to gain a lot. Everything became clear after receiving it, the attack on Iruka's class was most likely a stunt the Village of the Hidden Mist tried to pull off- they wanted to prevent the next generation of Shinobi. They are also trying to take out Jounin, especially you, which explains the sudden attack on you yesterday. It is of course not yet fully proven, that's why I need to send you on this mission. You need to infiltrate a building close to the border of the Fire Country, where several Missing Nin have been living. They have been hired by the Hidden Mist village, probably so that we could never truly prove that they are the ones responsible for these incidents. Anyway, you need to infiltrate the building and try to get information, either out of them or from papers or letters they have. Good luck on your mission, Hatake-san. And I'm sorry you can't enjoy your vacation anymore."

Kakashi cringed at the word 'war'- he had never liked them a lot. Probably because he had some bad experiences with them. He snorted at that thought; everybody had bad experiences with wars.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The next day

He should almost be there by now- the boarder was only a day travelling, if you would continue fast. He had quickly glanced over several plans of the building he needed to infiltrate and it wouldn't exactly be a problem- though they probably had a lot of guards out. Well, then again, maybe not. After all, they weren't exactly counting on anyone to find them, right? The building had been an old, small hospital for weakened Shinobi during one of the wars and had been abandoned for almost twenty years now- Kakashi was actually surprised it was still standing there.

"Ah, there it is," he muttered under his breath, settling himself behind a big bush about ten meters from the building, which seemed it would collapse soon. Not wanting to take any risks again, and not wanting to repeat his past mistake, he quickly lifted his headband and showed his Sharingan. He noticed a trap had been set not very far from where he was sitting- but it was very sloppy work. Kakashi didn't see any traps behind that, though there was one guard sitting in front of the entrance of the building. What a bunch of idiots, Kakashi thought. Were they simply stupid or was it meant to look that way?

He focussed and thought about his options. He could send a shadow clone out, in case there were any others, but then his presence would be known. He could of course throw a kunai at the shinobi sitting in front of the hospital, but if there are any others out there they would immediately know where he was hiding, so that was a big no. Closing his eyes and making a few hand seals, he produced five exact replicas of himself. This was probably the best method for him.

Two of the Shadow Clones crawled silently to another position. Kakashi then sent one of them out of the bushes to attack the missing nin. Grinning, the ninja simply remained in a sitting position, which made the real Kakashi smirk. Heh, so it was a trap, eh? The Shadow Clone didn't even came close to the shinobi, when three shuriken hit him, making him vanish with a poof. Good, Kakashi now knew where the other guards were hiding themselves and sent his other clones to the places where the shuriken came from, leaving the guard alone, who was still looking for the real person who wanted to attack them.

Three missing nin fell dead from the trees surrounding the hospital, alarming the other nin. Though it was already too late for him as well- a simple slice from Shadow- Clone-Kakashi's kunai sent him to the next world.

"What the-" the shadow clone exclaimed, before another shuriken hit him and with a small 'poof', he vanished. The real Jounin's eyes crinkled behind his mask as he finally jumped out of the bushes, hitting the other shinobi that had again given away their locations. Kakashi knew that this was the end of their ambush and casually walked to the building.

According to the Hokage's information, there were in total thirteen missing nin at this location. Kakashi had started to gather a lot of other little facts as well- the nins were at a Chuunin level, they did not have any high skills and they were not that smart, as they had put seven of their men outside, guarding the building. They should have simply put boobytraps around it and two look-outs on the roof. Not that it would help against Kakashi of course, but it would give him a bit of a challenge.

Crap, he thought, as he walked inside the building. There I go being arrogant and careless again, I should watch out. I have to get back to Iruka. His eyes widened as this thought roamed through his head- he has to get back to Iruka? He couldn't exactly comprehend this thought, and he didn't really have time for it either as he had to dodge a kunai-shower.

He only felt their presence just in time and easily dodged all the kunai's, before attacking the biggest nin of the lot. He was knocked out immediately, giving Kakashi the chance to kick the slightly smaller one, who was attacking him now as he thought he saw an opening. This was foolish of him- the Copy Nin easily pierced a kunai through his throat. Three to go, he thought to himself, as another missing nin fell to the ground. The attack was over again and he casually continued walking, searching for the others.

"Ah, there you are," he said cheerfully, his eyes crinkling again. He had found the room where the rest of the missing nin were- they were busy ripping apart several papers, letters and reports. They froze when they saw the infamous Konoha ninja. "Destroying the evidence are we? That's alright, I guess I'll just have to bring one of you back to my village," and with that, Kakashi ran towards them, throwing a couple of shuriken as a diversion. They easily dodged them, but this gave Kakashi a small opening to attack them properly- it didn't take very long until the battle was over. One ninja was unconscious and had been tied up, the others were dead.

As Kakashi was jumping from tree to tree with the man on his back, only one thought remained in his head.

Iruka would be safe for now.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The next day

"Yo," he said, raising two fingers up. Iruka jumped up from the chair he was sitting on- why couldn't the man ever use the door?

"Why don't you ever use the door?" He said, looking angrily at Kakashi, who merely scratched his head, pretending to look hurt.

"You're not even interested in how the mission went?" He pouted behind his mask, forgetting Iruka couldn't really see it. But the tone in his voice said enough as it was just as whiny as Naruto's.

"F-fine," he stammered, trying to keep himself from blushing. "How did your mission go then?" Kakashi's eyes crinkled.

"Can't tell you, top secret," he replied happily.

"You know, you really are an asshole," the Chuunin replied flatly. Kakashi chuckled.

"Thanks, I do my best," he walked stiffly to the couch and settled himself on it. Iruka went to the couch as well and sat next to him, watching the Jounin as he closed his eyes and sighed.

"You tired?" He asked.

"Yeah, I had to carry this big guy all the way to Konoha, he was really heavy," he sighed, rubbing his temples. Iruka hesitated for a moment, but then gave Kakashi a slight nudge.

"Sit on the floor between my legs for a bit," he commanded, which made Kakashi raise an eyebrow. Ah, being the naughty teacher, eh? Well, you won't hear me complaining, he thought as he obediently sat down on the floor. Iruka blushed heavily when he started to massage Kakashi's shoulders- it was a special technique which would stimulate the flow of chakra through the body and would give the Jounin a little more energy if done correctly. But it was a bit weird giving him that. Kakashi had to refrain himself from moaning when the Chuunin's soft hands started to gently touch him and he closed his eyes again. Not exactly what I had in mind… well, we have to start with something.

"You wanna get something to drink? There's a new bar opening in town, I wanted to check it out," he said, without even thinking about it. Iruka's hands were just so… mesmerising, he wasn't thinking straight. Iruka looked hesitant.

"Well, I'm… not a very good drinker. Actually, I never drink at all," Kakashi snorted.

"A couple of beers won't hurt you, come on!" Iruka doubted.

"Well… alright, I guess a couple won't be that bad," he replied finally.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A couple of hours later…

"Kakashi, I think that waiter put something in my beer," Iruka pointed out, while he swayed down the sidewalks of Konoha. He had been right when he said he wasn't a good drinker: he was completely drunk. Which made Kakashi smirk. And a smirking Kakashi was never good when one was drunk.

"Really? What did he put in it?"

"Alcohol," the other replied flatly, which made Kakashi chuckle. He didn't mind the fact he had to hold Iruka most of the way back home, not at all actually. The Jounin had been thinking of his options with the drunken Chuunin of course, he basically wanted to give into his physical needs. But could he really do that to Iruka? After all, it wouldn't be fair to him.

After a couple of minutes of walking, they finally arrived at the apartment building, which was quite an accomplishment, according to Kakashi. "Just stand there for a bit, Iruka," he said to the other man, pushing him to the door of an other apartment as he was trying to find the key of their door. In the mean time, Iruka was sure he felt something poking his ass. He looked behind, but didn't see anything, so he looked back at Kakashi. Then he felt something poking again, so he looked back again. And he still saw nothing.

"Kakashi," he said suspiciously. "Are you poking my ass?" The Jounin chuckled.

"No, I'm right here. How could I be poking you?" Even though I would want to. Iruka shrugged, before leaning against the door again. There it was again!

"I think this door is perverted…" the Chuunin finally concluded, before poking the door back, until Kakashi pulled him away from it.

"No, I think you were leaning against the doorknob," he said, refraining himself from laughing. "Here, sit down on the couch while I get some water for you. Boy, you're going to have a hang over in the morning…" Iruka nodded, not really knowing what the Jounin was talking about. He sat down and… he fell on the floor. Alright, who moved that couch? When Iruka saw no one standing there, he concluded that the couch moved by itself.

"I think my couch is possessed," he said loudly, standing up. Which was easier said than done. "Maybe I should throw it out of the window? He could kill us in our sleep," he continued thoughtfully, while pulling himself up from the floor again, as he had fallen back. He sat down carefully on his chair, he was really hoping there was no need of throwing that out of his house as well.

"Ah, don't worry, I don't think the couch can do any harm," Kakashi replied and gave Iruka the water before sitting on the couch himself. Iruka gasped.

"The couch likes you more than me!" The Jounin chuckled again. He hesitated for a moment- should he…?

"No it doesn't," Kakashi was slapping himself in his mind right now- why couldn't he control himself? "Come sit next to me, I promise you it won't move." Iruka thought about it for a moment, but then slowly stood up and walked towards the couch, almost tripping. He sat down rather close to Kakashi and drank up his water.

"Hm," he said. "This is some good water. Best water I ever had." The Jounin chuckled again- he was so cute when he was drunk. He should take him out to drink more often, actually, they had sake-night tomorrow, so perhaps he could take Iruka with him… and then Kakashi was pulled out of his thoughts as Iruka decided on resting his head against his shoulder. His shoulder. "Hm, you're soft." Kakashi had to fight back a blush as he gently wrapped his arm around the Chuunin. "I like water." The Jounin chuckled.

"Really? What else do you like?" Iruka thought for a moment.

"I like my couch. I like ramen," he stopped for a second, apparently thinking this question over once more. Kakashi knew what his next question would be, though he would let Iruka finish his answer first. "I like Naruto. I like teaching. I like you." Alright, this was starting to get interesting.

"Iruka, do you like men?" The Chuunin giggled. He giggled! Ok, so Kakashi had to admit it was rather cute when he did that, though the sound was a bit odd, especially when it came from the scary-but-yet-oh-so-adorable Iruka.

"Yes," he finally replied. If Kakashi didn't know any better, he thought his heart would explode. "I like you," he said once more before lifting his head up and gently kissed the bit of skin between Kakashi's mask and eye. The Jounin froze at this- what should he do next? He shouldn't take advantage of him, right? But Kakashi soon got his answer: Iruka had laid his head down on his shoulder again and was snoring heavily.