DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto or anything with Naruto...except the stuff I bought at the store...by which point those belong to me, because I paid for them fair and square...6.6..so yeah.

FOT: This was inspired by some events that are currently happening in my life, so it just semmed appropriate to call it "If only love were easy". and I'm sure some of you guys have gone through or have thought the same way Kakashi has.

Now on with the story! Please review.

IF ONLY LOVE WERE EASY

by

FairyofTwilight

At first he wasn't sure what it meant. No, that's a lie. He knew what it meant; he just wasn't sure how to explain it. Saying, "I love you and it terrifies me" didn't seem to be the proper way to put it, although that's exactly how it felt. But it definitely sounded better than "I love you. I love you so much it makes me want to run and hide." Although that's more of what he wanted to do. At the same time, he just wanted to say, "I love you" and share a deep kiss. If you felt you loved someone, you tell him or her, don't you? That was how the rule worked, right? He wasn't really sure. He had only heard stories.

They knew each other for over a year. They had been dating for almost a year. They had learned a lot about each other during that year. This was the furthest either of them had gone with another person. Iruka had been very solitaire during his adolescence, having lost both his parents. Kakashi had been solitaire throughout his life, barely making friends after losing a teammate. They both kept close friends, but friendship is all that ever came out of anything.

Kakashi learned that Iruka had held a short grudge against Naruto after his parents died. But he was quick to remember the child had nothing to do with the fox. There was no way that a newborn could understand what was happening. When he realized that Naruto would have to face the world alone, Iruka decided it was too cruel a fate for someone who hadn't done a thing to suffer. Since then, he decided to be Naruto's friend and family, even if he would end up being the only family Naruto had. He was grateful that it wasn't so. Naruto has a large family.

Iruka learned that Kakashi carried his guilt with him with his fallen comrade. If it hadn't been for that incident, Kakashi probably wouldn't have changed. He often found himself wishing it had been himself who had died. He had lost many important people in his life. He made a vow for that not to happen again, hence his tough standards with his students.

They both learned more about each other just by looking at what the other did on their dates. When Kakashi took out his book, he paid a bit less attention than he would when he wasn't reading his book. But he was always on his guard…except when he was musing about something.

When Kakashi was late, it was with reason. It always took him a while to be fully awake. The walk to wherever he was going was all part of the process in becoming fully awake. Yet, he was always on his guard…unless what was going to occur wasn't dangerous, by which point, let it happen. Iruka didn't believe it until he saw it for himself one Sunday morning.

Even though some people thought of Kakashi as a pervert, who would grab his butt at will and steal kisses as he pleased, he was actually really respectful. If Iruka told him to stop, he would, regardless of the circumstances.

The first thing Kakashi realized was that Iruka trusted easily, but once that trust was misused or taken for granted, it took a lot to rebuild it. Once it was shot, the bullet took forever to dig out.

He noticed Iruka was fascinated by the oddest things on slow days, like rolling a scroll back and forth to see if it would bob a bit the same way a bottle of water would or if it would glide smoothly the same way a ball did.

Iruka was a bit of a hothead and rather strict with his students. At one point, Kakashi stopped by the school and noticed that Iruka was making his students run laps.

"And you can't stop running until I get tired!" he had yelled.

Kakashi sneaked up behind him, tapping his shoulder gently. "What did they do?"

"One figured out how to make a water balloon look like my chair. They filled it with yellow paint. The three of them thought they could sneak out of class after that, but I caught them. I said KEEP RUNNING!"

"At least they're learning something they think is useful."

"Yeah. I won't tell them this, but that was hilarious. They got me."

That day he learned he liked hearing Iruka's laugh. He slowly came to realize that he more than just liked Iruka, but was starting to love him. They weren't even sure when exactly they started dating, they just did. And it terrified him. He slowly started to grow distant from Iruka. He was afraid of getting attached, then being disappointed.

He wasn't really terrified of what would happen to him. In fact, he was much more terrified of what would happen to Iruka. If Iruka would have broken up with him, he figured he'd just continue acting like he didn't care what happened in his love life, as if it was just something else that wasn't meant to happen. In fact, that's what he thought was going to happen in the first place. He was amazed that they had been dating this long. He thought Iruka would have gotten irritated with him. He didn't want anything to happen to Iruka.

He shook his head, barely realizing he had been standing in front of Iruka's door for the past 15 minutes, trying to figure out if he should knock or not. He made his conclusion: He could easily say "Iruka, love you so much it terrifies me to the point that I just want to run and hide, but not before stealing a kiss." But that sounded much, much worse. Yet, even with these thoughts in his head, he still managed to keep a pensive expression. He made up his mind.

He knocked on the door lightly, aware the window was open, but refusing to invade. He hated to admit it, but the last time he was musing, he had been caught in one of Iruka's traps. much to his embarrassment, it was a kid's trap. Apparently some of Iruka's students had been trying to play pranks on him on Holidays, so Iruka took it upon himself to make it into a lesson. Iruka never let him forget.

He knocked a second time, and a tired Iruka opened the door. He had woken up a few minutes before. His hair was loose and scattered liberally across his shoulders. Kakashi was never aware of how long Iruka's hair was.

"Kakashi, you're here this early? The world's not going to implode is it?"

"Not until Naruto declares he hates eating Ramen," he stated, smiling a bit. "May I come in?"

Iruka let him and offered him tea and something to eat, out of which Kakashi chose tea. He felt if he ate anything, his stomach would get rid of it immediately. He followed Iruka into the small kitchen, noticing he had disturbed Iruka's breakfast. He quickly apologized for it, but Iurka shrugged it off. He couldn't help himself as he did a quick observation of the room. His eyes drifted to the box of instant ramen on the counter.

Like teacher, like student he laughed inwardly. His attention was caught as Iruka placed the cup in front of him. He couldn't help himself when he started fiddling with it after taking a tentative sip. Iruka picked up on it instantly, placing his own cup down. He didn't smile; after all, he was also feeling fidgety around Kakashi.

"What's wrong?" he asked, his teacher's instincts coming in quick.

"Hm? Why?"

"You fiddle around with whatever's in your hand whenever you're worried about something."

He couldn't avoid it anymore. He looked at Iruka, who was in the same position he would get with his students. It was the same one that said he had his full attention on the speaker, no questions. Kakashi let out a big sigh, walked around the table and pulled Iruka into a hug, much to Iruka's surprise.

"I love you," he let out. "I love you so much. It took me a while to realize it, but I really do. I've lost everyone that's important to me. I have plenty of people who consider me a friend and who I consider a friend, but this is the first time I've loved someone beyond a friendship. Because of that, this doesn't scare me. It terrifies me. I have no idea what to do. I don't know what's going to happen. All I know is, as much as it scares me, I really love you. And I care so much for you."

Iruka couldn't stop himself as he let out a short laugh. Kakashi pulled away, noting that Iruka was turning a light shade of red.

"So this is what it's about. I thought you were getting bored of me. But this explains it. I thought I was the only one that was having those problems."

Kakashi just stared at him, his eyes giving away how nervous he was. He didn't even notice that his legs gave up on him and now he was sitting on the floor. Iruka leaned forward, gently running his hand through Kakashi's hair. He didn't wait for a response before he pulled down Kakashi's mask to kiss him.

"I love you, too. It scares me, but I also love you. Let's see how far things go, okay?"

Iruka didn't wait for Kakashi to respond. He knew Kakashi was still stupefied over his previous response. He was already on his way to school when Kakashi appeared in front of him, catching him off guard for a long an involved kiss. He teleported quickly, leaving Iruka with an extremely red face.

Iruka was glad that his students didn't question why he was glowing with a smile, especially after he declared they wouldn't have a test after all.

Kakashi was glad team 7 was too busy training double time, having declared the world was going to implode due to his earliness, to notice that he was glowing as well.

Hitomi: You broke away from Digimon?

FOT: yes. I have Kakairu and I need to share my Kakairu stories with the other Kakairu fans.

Hitomi: 0.0

FOT: what?

Please Review..