Disclaimer: Naruto and all it's characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto-sensei, not me!
Warning: Yaoi!
Kakashi woke up the next afternoon with a groan. He had a furious head ache. Blindly he searched his bathroom cabinet for some aspirin. He sighed in relief when he found them. He walked into the kitchen as he put them into his mouth and grabbed a glass of water. Gulping it back and setting it back onto the counter he grumbled. There was a knock at the door. 'I've certainly become popular since I got injured.' He thought cynically, pulling his mask up.
"Yo." He greeted as he opened the door. Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke were standing there.
"Kakashi-sensei. Tsunade-sama said you should be better by now." Sakura stated with an authoritative tone.
"Oh? Well, I'm not."
"She also said that you were supposed to be training us, no matter what you say." Sasuke added. Naruto shouted his affirmation.
'Shit.' He scratched the back of his head. "Ah, well I should try and work out my muscles."
Kakashi trained his students while resting under a nearby tree to keep up the pretense of still recovering. He gave orders once every so often, hardly paying attention to his students. He had his mind on the night before. He'd been so close. He drifted between reality and memory, blissfully unaware of Gai walking up to their training area.
"Kakashi-san!" Came his booming voice. Kakashi leapt up. "I will still continue to pursue y-mnnf."
Kakashi had clamped a hand over Gai's mouth. His eye was wider then normal, panicked. He whispered fiercely, glancing over at his team who'd stopped and stared at the spectacle. Their faces spoke of puzzlement.
"Let's talk somewhere where they won't hear us." Kakashi demanded, Gai nodded with his usual enthusiasm. They went into the woods far from their team, they'd been left with strict orders to stay where they were and continue training. Kakashi knew they'd be followed anyway. Gai started saying love poems and Kakashi wanted to bolt. He took a lazy stance instead. "Gai, I'm training my students." Gai stopped abruptly and frowned.
"So Gai was the one!" Naruto whispered to his team mates, they were in a nearby tree.
"The one what?" Sakura asked, Naruto chuckled nervously.
"I forgot. The other day, I was over at Kakashi-sense's with Iruka. We were having supper and these flowers arrived for Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto said. Sasuke and Sakura stared at him dumbfounded.
"Are, are they...uhm..." Sakura dared to ask the question, "Are they...together?"
"No." Sasuke said firmly, they gaped at him for a moment before looking the way his finger pointed. Kakashi and Gai were obviously not together. Before them Kakashi was pulling Gai along with his leg, Gai had grabbed onto it and was wailing for him not to leave. Kakashi's face was of pure annoyance.
"I told you I like someone else!" Kakashi said, stopping his attempt at escaping. There would be no point if Gai was still on his leg. The three genin in the tree gasped, while trying not to gasp and give their location away. Kakashi liked someone? Was that even possible?
"Is it...what I saw yesterday...?" Gai cut himself off, for fear of Kakashi's wrath, he did have some sense in him.
"Yes. And you said so yourself, you can't compete, so stop." Kakashi replied. Gai slowly picked himself off the ground. He hugged Kakashi, who cringed.
"I hope you're happy together." Gai sobbed and Kakashi grimaced further. He awkwardly patted the Green Beast's back.
The three genin in the tree heard an almost inaudible gasp from behind them. They turned sharply. Iruka stood there, gaping at the scene before him. Gai hugging Kakashi. Though he tried to cover it up, the three genin caught a strange expression on his face. Iruka shook his head and coughed.
Kakashi jerked his head at the sound. His gaze landed on Iruka and his eye widened. "Gai-san, I'm sorry." He said, for Gai but more for Iruka. Iruka's expression softened into a smile. It was a beautiful smile, Kakashi would have sighed if the situation were different. Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura noticed it was similar to the smile he had whenever his students did something to please him, yet it had a wistful quality to it. "Iruka-sensei, yo."
" Hello Kakashi-sensei." Iruka's smile was bright, reaching up to his eyes. He couldn't explain why he was so happy, but as soon as Kakashi confirmed he was only letting Gai down, politely, his shock at finding them hugging was gone. It was replaced with happiness, a lightheartedness he couldn't explain. "You have an audience."
"Hmm?" Kakashi looked into the tree to find his team sitting there, looking shell shocked. Kakashi blanched. They'd been watching! He should have known, but Gai was such a loud distraction. "Er, Gai-san, you can get off me now." He jabbed the other man a few times in the shoulder. Gai slowly pulled away from Kakashi, he did a nice guy pose.
"I will see you around, my eternal rival!" He declared, tears glistening in his eyes. He ran off with a wave to the others. Kakashi rolled his eye.
"Kakashi-sensei! Who's your girlfriend?" Naruto hollered from the tree, grinning.
"I don't have one." Kakashi replied, his bored tone laced with annoyance.
"Boyfriend?" Sakura pitched in. Naruto and Sasuke looked at her funny.
"...No." Kakashi regarded her suspiciously. What did she know? Iruka chuckled, and patted his former students' heads.
"Leave him alone guys. He hasn't started dating the person he likes yet." Iruka flashed Kakashi a grin. The silver haired man smiled back, a fluttery feeling overwhelming him, the implications of that sentence coming from Iruka were so very nice. Iruka moved in front of the silver haired man, ushering the genin to go back to the training grounds. Kakashi made a face at the teens, almost imperceptible with the mask but they caught the meaning.
"Kakashi-sensei you bastard!" Naruto hollered pointing an accusing finger at the jounin. Iruka shoved him.
"I need to speak with Kakashi-sensei, go. And don't think I won't know if your eavesdropping!" He said with his teacher voice of doom. The three teens cowered and went back to their training.
"So, what did you want to speak with me about?" Kakashi asked, nervously scratching the back of his head.
"Oh, Tsunade-sama said you were better and asked me to make sure you were out training your team. Are you really feeling better?" Iruka asked, tilting his head to per up at Kakashi innocently.
"Ah, well I'm still really sore, but other then that I'm great." Kakashi shrugged, silently hoping Iruka would buy his lie.
"Oh. Then maybe I should tell Tsunade-sama. If, well, if she um...I could always continue to come over everyday, to check up on you...if...if you want." Iruka coughed and scratched the bridge of his nose, turning away.
"That...ahem...that would be great." Kakashi smiled disarmingly, "I really enjoy your company."
"Oh, I feel the same." Iruka smiled brightly. Kakashi blushed faintly, feeling like he could turn into a puddle right there. "So I'll tell Tsunade-sama you're still sick, and I'll see you later, I have to get to the Academy."
"Alright, thanks. Don't be late!" Kakashi called to the now retreating teacher. Iruka looked over his shoulder, his eyebrow raised.
"That's you! Idiot!" Iruka yelled back. He quickly ran to the Academy. He knew he wasn't going to be late but he liked having a reputation for being early.
After school Iruka gathered his things and headed home to drop them off. After freeing himself of his books he dashed to the Hokage's office. He found himself standing in front of Tsunade while she sat at her desk with a self satisfied smirk. Iruka didn't want to know. They greeted each other and Iruka cut straight to the point.
"I checked up on Kakashi-sensei and he is doing better, but he's still recovering. We agreed that I should continue to check up on his progress." The teacher stated firmly.
"Oh? Just what I would have told you to do. Good work Iruka-kun." She grinned at him and made a waving motion with her hand. "Thank you."
"Right." Iruka bowed and left, feeling much lighter. He walked briskly to Kakashi's apartment and knocked boldly on the door. Kakashi opened it slowly at first but then almost flinging it open when he saw who it was.
"Hello Iruka-sensei, come in." Kakashi made a sweeping motion, directing the teacher into his home.
"Hello Kakashi-sensei, thank you." Iruka inclined his head to the jounin and slipped off his sandals and vest. Kakashi directed him to the couch where a couple extra cushions had been set. The coffee table held a bowl of popcorn and some cups and a bottle of soda as well as another bag of chips.
"Sit, sit." Kakashi just about pushed the other man onto the couch, set up the movie and giddily turned off the lights. "And now we press play."
Kakashi sat on the couch, carefully sitting as close as he could to Iruka without being suspicious. Iruka shot the jounin a strange glance before turning to the television and getting lost in the story. Kakashi spent most of the movie watching Iruka out of the corner of his eye, studying the intent look on the teacher's face. Iruka was the type to stay silent through a movie and become lost in it to the point that he barely noticed what was going on around him.
Kakashi smiled softly at the teacher, slowly and silently slipping his arm behind Iruka. He watched the screen, knowing a sad scene was coming up where the main's character's love interest would die. Iruka sighed sadly, feeling for the character. Kakashi placed his arm around the chuunin's shoulders, Iruka barely even noticed. He leaned into the comforting touch and resting his head on Kakashi's shoulder.
Kakashi's heart was racing. He tried to keep his breathing normal and enjoy the moment. He felt like he was about to melt, his mind had probably already done so. He turned his head toward Iruka and gently kissed the top of his head, through the mask of course. Iruka didn't even flinch, but actually snuggled closer to the silver haired man. Kakashi could have sworn at that moment his heart was about to burst.
All to soon the movie was over and Iruka snapped back to reality. He reached up to rub at his eyes, to find Kakashi's arm around him and that he was leaning against the older man. He jerked out of the embrace, blushing intensely.
"I'm sorry, I must have gotten caught up in the movie." Iruka looked away sheepishly.
"No problem." Kakashi took in a deep breath, subtly and smiled. "I don't mind."
"Alright." He glanced at the clock, "Should I make some dinner or would you rather go out?" He asked.
"Let's go out." Kakashi replied quickly, Iruka nodded thoughtfully, "Ichiraku?"
"Sure." Iruka grinned and slipped his sandals and vest back on. Kakashi followed suit. They exited his apartment, Kakashi decided it was an opportune time to start a tickle fight. Iruka dashed ahead of him. "Gyah ha ha ha! Kakashi-sensei!"
"I've got you now!" Kakashi leered, pushing Iruka up against a wall and launching a full assault on the chuunin's ribs.
A little ways down the mostly deserted road Tsunade was walking home, she paused a minute to watch the two shinobi having a tickle fight. She shook her head with a laugh. "Still sick indeed."
And there you have it! Chapter 8 is finally done and I'm only a day late! Muahaha! Tickle fights are fun, especially if you're the one tickling! I really hope you enjoyed that chapter! Please REVIEW!
This chapter was beta read for the majority but then Tishi started ignoring me...so the last part is not beta'd! Bleh.
Yay.