Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Naruto.
Rated M: Language...and other stuff.
A/N: Thank you everyone for your reviews, it makes my day everytime I get a new one. I stayed up till, looks at clock, 8am finishing this. Ignore the errors if you find any. Feedback is greatly appreciated.
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"Iruka!" The man pounded on the apartment door for the tenth time, "I know you're in there!" The entire night had gone sour once Iruka had realized the time, and again in their short 'relationship' Iruka had bolted. "So help me I will kick this door down if you do not answer it!"
He raised his leg after a moment's pause and had to stop mid-thrust as the door opened a fraction. The door was not locked? Feeling like a fool for yelling at an open door, he made his way into the apartment.
"Iruka?" He called out again. The lights were out, and a sickening feeling was creeping into his stomach. Something was definitely wrong. The home of Iruka and Kakashi felt disturbingly weird. Like someone had just died there. He half expected Kakashi to at least answer his calls, that pervert would never realize his boyfriend's cheating on him with me. But the fact that no one responded to his loud callings meant something had indeed happened to the couple.
As he neared the hallway he could barely hear the light sniffling rising in the air. He made his way to the room cautiously; he did not want to startle whoever it was. Nudging the door open with his foot revealed his 'lover' curled in his bed, quietly sobbing. The man's heart rejoiced.
"Iruka?" The chuunin snapped awake instantly, a small glimmer of hope crossed his face as his name was called, but frowned when he realized who was in the room. The other man ignored Iruka's brush off. "What happened here?" He could already guess what had happened, but he wanted a confirmation.
"You…were right." Iruka's whispers cracked horribly, so much that it was barely audible. "Kakashi left me."
"I always knew he would," The man whispered as he sat next to the defeated Chuunin.
"What do you know about Kakashi?" Iruka spat.
"I know that he does not appreciate you like I do, not if he let you go so easily."
"Shut up!" Anger roared into the already emotionally fractured man, "You weren't here! What Kakashi did was not easy, He saw us! And he left without doing anything to me, he was so nice…it was painful!" Iruka grabbed the other's shirt collar, desperately trying to get the other man to understand the situation. "I turned him back to ANBU! Do you know what that means?"
The other's eyes widened in surprise at Kakashi's actions, he never thought the Copy-Ninja would rejoin those ranks.
"It means he could die…and it's my fault," Iruka's grip loosened and the tears began to slip again.
"That was his choice," The other gathered Iruka and started to rub his back soothingly, "His mind was probably made up."
"I'm fine," Iruka pushed the comforts away. He rubbed the tears from his eyes and face, he felt like a child.
"Well at least we can start dating officially," He wouldn't let Iruka's cold actions dampen his spirits.
"No…" Before the other man could protest, Iruka continued, "I do not want to hurt Kakashi any more."
"Then why don't you try to getting him back?"
"Kakashi said to leave him alone…I can't," The tears were starting again, as was the smirk on the other man's face. "I wish I knew where he was… At least then I would know that he hasn't left for ANBU yet."
The man grabbed a cigarette from his pouch and lit it, "I can find him for you."
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"So…how long are you staying here?" Genma watched as Kakashi downed another shot of Sake.
"And then…" Kakashi's voice slurred, but it was still intelligible, one wouldn't know that he had consumed well past five bottles of the rice wine. "That old hag said I still had to wait till morning before I could go on any missions!" The good part was that his voice had some life in it once again.
When he had received a letter asking for a place to stay from Kakashi's Nin-dog, he hadn't hesitated to agree. It had been awhile since he had seen his friend, and he knew for a fact that Hatake wouldn't ask for a favor unless he really needed one. Genma knew how inseparable Kakashi was when it concerned Iruka.
So when Kakashi had shown up on his door, looking dead to the world, Genma had whipped out the alcohol. The man deserved the comforts of Alcohol at least, plus a stoic Hatake was never fun to be around.
"Answer the question Hatake," He poured another drink, "In retrospective; at least she let you back into ANBU."
"Yeah, yeah, my pale ass," Kakashi downed the beverage as Genma sighed. "Anyway, I'll be staying till I can get my own apartment." Kakashi had disposed of the shot glass, actually it was a tea cup, and had chosen to chug the bottle instead, "Not like I'll be using it all that often once the missions come in."
"I don't know, I use this apartment frequently enough." The blank stare coming from Kakashi caused Genma to sigh, "Don't tell me you forgot that I'm a squad leader for ANBU…"
"Is that so…?" Kakashi chugged down a few mouthfuls for Sake, "I can't remember the position you held since I left, oh well, must not have been very high up on the hierarchy if you've only made captain."
"I was not even in ANBU when you left…you baka." Genma sighed, Kakashi happily ignored the snipe as he reached for another bottle of Sake, "Che, like I'd want a lazy bastard like you on my squad anyway," Although the thought of the two of them on the same team wasn't that bad.
"Like I would want to be on your crap team," Kakashi flipped the other man off; he did not like being called a bastard.
"Good, you're useless anyway," Genma stuck his tongue out at the Copy-Ninja. A drunken Kakashi was definitely interesting.
"Least I don't look like a mule's ass!"
"That's not saying much considering you're butt ugly!"
"How would you know?" Kakashi scoffed, "You've never seen me without my mask." It was true, even now, when Kakashi was drinking with him, Genma could never get a glimpse of Kakashi's naked face.
"I know because you're the one that just got dumped!" Genma spat before he could catch the jest, Kakashi's expression turned to crest fallen, "I didn't mean that…" Sometimes Genma really felt like an idiot.
"It's okay, don't worry about it," Kakashi took long gulps from his drink. Then sighed when he realized that the bottle was empty.
"Want to tell me what happened?" Genma offered. Kakashi pathetically stared into the empty Sake bottle, ignoring the older man, hoping to find more of the precious alcohol left on the bottom, "No choice then," The special Jounin left the room.
"Genma…you drank all the booze!" Kakashi called after the man.
"I'll give you this," Genma said after a few moments passed, "If you tell me what happened tonight," The honey haired man held up a bottle of an expensive Sake brand, "It's imported from Tea Country, so it would be a fair trade."
"That's cheating…" Kakashi whined, it was a really good variety of alcohol, "Fine, you win, but I get a glass of that first." He reached for the wine, however Genma snatched it away.
"I'll serve the alcohol, you spill the info." All Genma needed was for the drunk to waste his precious Sake…he'd been saving it for a special occasion, "You're not getting more than three glasses of this, this costs half of my paycheck."
"I forgot you fight dirty," Kakashi huffed, but didn't hesitate to take the newly poured drink, "I left Iruka…because I do not deserve him…"
"Che, if you're going to be like that," Genma snatched Kakashi's cup, a feat he probably would not be able to do if the Sharingan bearer was sober, "You're going to have to be honest if you want this."
"I forgot how cruel you were…" Genma swore Kakashi was pouting, but couldn't tell because of that damn mask.
"Just tell me the truth and you'll get your alcohol back."
"But it is the truth!"
"Come on Kakashi," Genma scoffed, "You and I both know that is not true, Iruka is not the type to judge people like that. He falls hard, like you, he wouldn't leave you because of your self-pity."
"Damn you…" Bluffing wouldn't work on this one, "I don't know the truth of it myself," Kakashi's mood sobering up, "Why Iruka did what he did, but it had to be because of me, maybe he was mad that I had to take a lot of missions lately…or maybe he stopped loving me," Kakashi sucked his breath, like he'd just been stabbed.
Genma, too, held his breath, eager to hear what was troubling his friend.
"Iruka cheated on me," Kakashi muttered to himself. It hurt more to acknowledge the information than it did to dwell on, Kakashi realized, but it needed to be said. Then it would be real and not some messed up dream, "I must look like such a fool."
Genma settled the stolen cup down, shocked that Kakashi would admit what had happened, shocked that a mere Chuunin would betray the Copy-Nin's trust, and shocked by how defeated Kakashi looked.
There were many things that Genma did not know about his friend, but he knew that the silver haired man was capable of beating himself up for things that was not his fault. He also knew of the man's pride, although he was usually humble, Kakashi always held his head high. Being reduced to a state of an emotionless man to a pathetic drunk in less than ten minutes worth of drinking said that Kakashi was hurt. Hurt very deeply.
I'm going to kill that bastard… Kakashi, not sensing Genma's inner cursing merely stole his cup back and downed its contents.
"Anyway, it won't matter once the missions come in, I don't plan to be around Konoha…"
"Do you know who Iruka was messing around with?" Genma demanded that someone pay for the way Kakashi was hurt, no one would dare say that Genma was not over protective of his friends.
"Mah…" Kakashi reached for the Sake bottle, "That doesn't matter." The special Jounin snatched the bottle out of Kakashi's range.
"Tell me or no more drinks for you."
"Dirty senbon sucking cheater," Kakashi cursed the man in front of him, and weighed the options: either tell Genma who he lost Iruka to, or no alcohol. Wasn't it enough that he gushed out what had happened? Now he had to tell the identity of the man who had cheated with his former lover.
"Kakashi?"
"You win…again" Kakashi wanted his alcohol, damn it, "It was…"
The door bell rang, I'm going to murder whoever that is. Genma excused himself to answer the door, annoyed by the interruption.
Opening the front door revealed a tall man smoking a cigarette, his scruffy beard making his young face seem menacing. Okay…maybe I'll leave him alone for now, messing with other Jounins was tricky business, Chuunins and Genins were much easier to murder on the spot. And fighting this Jounin would be a problem, considering he was a combat expert.
"Yo, Genma, has Kakashi been around here?" The man smirked with his cigarette, "Iruka sent me to find him. I figured this would be his first stop."
"Yeah, he's here Asuma, but he is a bit drunk at the moment," Genma was about to escort the man in, but stopped as a kunai was hurled dangerously close to his face.
"You missed, Kakashi." Asuma grinned as he held the kunai above his heart, Kakashi's target.
"You made a mistake trying to find me you asshole…" Kakashi pulsed with angry energy.
Genma ignored the growls that was coming from the silver haired man and tried to focus on why he was attacking his fellow Konoha ninja. Kakashi rarely got pissed off at anyone, and judging on how he was snarling at the other man; Kakashi was furious. This made no sense to the special Jounin.
"Don't bite off more than you can chew dog boy," Asuma fell into a combative stance, stepping inside of the apartment at the same time, his signature weapons already on his knuckles. Genma was missing something.
"Say that after I send your ass to hell," Kakashi held out his fist and the chirping of birds filled the room. Genma was definitely missing something…
The possibility of Kakashi using his Raikiri on his fellow Konoha ninjas was void, unless… the internal clogs in Genma's brain meshed as he figured out why this was happening. Kakashi would never attack a comrade, and said comrade would never goad Kakashi in the first place. That is, unless they were both interested in the same person. Since when was Asuma gay? Genma idly wondered to himself.
"Die!" Kakashi roared, but stopped as he felt a sharp pain in his gut, "Wha…the…" Kakashi spat before he fell unconscious into the waiting arms of Genma.
"You're lucky he was wasted enough for me to get close enough to hit those pressure points Asuma," Genma sighed as hefted Kakashi into his arms.
"He would have lost anyway," Asuma chuckled, "Thanks for stopping him though, Iruka would have been pissed if I killed his boyfriend."
"Yeah whatever," Genma glared at the other man, "Sarutobi…you aren't welcomed here anymore."
"Because I started a fight with that drunk idiot?" The younger Jounin asked, curious as to why Genma was acting cold.
"Because you and Umino hurt someone I care about." Genma calmly approached Asuma, and calmly kicked the man, in the gut, and out of his house, "You can tell Iruka the same, kick him if you want." Then slammed the door as the other man rubbed his stomach painfully.
Genma sighed as he hefted Kakashi into a more secure position, "You cause me too much stress."
After some bouncing around his apartment, there were a lot of empty Sake bottles on the floor, one of those bottles being his prized imported wine, Genma was able to successfully make it to the guest room. He deposited the unconscious ninja onto the bed. He took off Kakashi's head band and jacket, but left the mask on. He was sure Kakashi would turn a Kunai on him if he sneaked a peek without asking.
Genma tucked the blankets closer to the, now slumbering, man, "I'm sorry…" He whispered into the other's ear, and lightly kissed the man's cheek. Genma ruffled Kakashi's head before creeping out of the room.
"Thank you," Kakashi's sleepy mumble carried in the air as Genma shut the door, the special Jounin heard the gesture.