A/N: Hello, everyone! So, vacation's going well. Felt like getting a little bit of writing in on an airplane, so here, have this present!
Anyway, I wasn't planning on writing anything steamy. It was going to be an easy-going, character building chapter. And then things got a little steamy...
Also, just in case it isn't clear, this is Iruka's POV. He refers to Ninja!Kakashi as Kakashi-san, and Other!Kakashi as Hatake-sensei. Cause, you know, Iruka is too polite to not use suffixes and stuff.
Let me know what you think, and concrit is always welcome!
Day 4
As they'd been doing for the last few days, they trudged through the forest.
Iruka's feet were light years past being simply sore, and he was almost certain Hatake-sensei was in a similar situation. Kakashi-san, on the other hand, looked like he was doing fine. If his crazy story was to be believed, this kind of work was probably a regular occurrence for him.
Iruka had to take a moment to remind himself that following an apparent crazy superhuman was better than his and Hatake-sensei's inevitable arrest and execution. He wanted to pull his hair out at the outrageousness of the whole situation, but instead sighed and continued walking.
The night after their encounter with the police, Hatake-sensei had run off, most likely to find his double. Iruka had reluctantly stayed awake, waiting for the man's return. It had been a good idea at the time. When the sun began to rise and he still hadn't come back, however, Iruka vividly remembered letting out a loud groan in frustration.
That was three days ago.
Iruka knew something happened between the two of them. He didn't know what, but it was something. Hatake-sensei felt lighter, somehow. Like he had a bounce to his step, like a weight was lifted off his shoulders. The new confidence was a very good look on him, Iruka thought to himself. And once the thought ran through his mind, he proceeded to banish it to the very depths of his consciousness.
Kakashi-san, however, was as stoic as ever. He'd expected that spending twenty four hours a day around the man would've made him open up, even if only just a bit.
During their lunch break that day, Iruka had even tried asking him a few questions.
"So do you have any hobbies? Things you like to do? Anything you want to do in the future?"
They'd seemed like innocent enough questions. He'd even run them Hatake-sensei to get a second opinion. What he hadn't been expecting was the typically stoic man's visible eye to widen, followed by the stark sound of laughter. He'd imagined the open smile hidden behind that damn medical mask that never seemed to leave his face. Iruka had watched, eyebrows furrowed in confusion, as the man had mimed wiping nonexistent tears away from his eye. After he'd seemed to have composed himself, Kakashi-san had surprisingly answered the questions.
"Things I like and things I hate… I don't feel like telling you that," he'd began with an inexplicable humorous undertone thick in his voice, "My dreams for the future… never really thought about it. As for my hobbies… I have lots of hobbies."
Ok, 'answered' was a strong word.
There had to be some sort of inside joke he hadn't been getting, with that kind of reaction from the ninja.
So Iruka had tried a different route. He'd asked about Kakashi-san's Iruka. To his delight, he'd gotten a much more serious answer this time.
As it turned out, the two men didn't actually know each other all that well. Ninja-Iruka was still a teacher, but he was something called a Chuunin, while Kakashi-san was a Jounin who occasionally dabbled with the ANBU. Perhaps different ranks weren't very friendly with each other. It all sounded a little too… militaristic for his comfort. Iruka, however, still wanted to give the other version of himself a mental high five for not being the lowest rank on the totem pole.
Ninja-Iruka was still a teacher, though he taught Ninja Arts instead of science. He could hear a strange sort of admiration in Kakashi-san's voice. The white haired man praised him for being able to handle any emotion or physical tasks that came his way, especially given that most of his students were less than eleven years old. He praised him for being able to always assert his individuality in a world where doing impossible things was nothing special.
It was fascinating to listen to someone talk about a different version of himself. Though it wasn't really himself, if he thought about it. Ninja-Iruka was his own person, with his own experiences, his own beliefs. Underneath the surface, they couldn't possibly be the same person.
Hatake-sensei then asked him about Obito.
Iruka knew only a little bit about Uchiha Obito. He had been Hatake-sensei's roommate during university. They had met their first year and had immediately hit it off. Both men had studied under Namikaze-sensei, but, if he remembered correctly, Obito had transferred after his second year. He'd wanted to live closer to Nohara Rin, who'd stayed back to study in Tokyo. The two were now happily married and were at an age where they were starting to think about children. Hatake-sensei even went into the city to see them on occasion. One could even say that they were best friends.
Something in the way Kakashi-san reacted to the name told him that Ninja-Obito had suffered a much different fate.
It took a little prying, but they were eventually able to get a small part of the story.
Kakashi-san and Ninja-Obito were on the same team growing up, but there was an accident when they were young. He didn't go into specifics, just that he wasn't able to save him. Which could only mean Ninja-Obito passed away. Iruka didn't miss the way Kakashi-san's hand rose to touch the scar over his eye as he told the story. It was a curiously specific reaction, and Iruka couldn't help but think that the accident was the cause for his scar.
Perhaps they got into some sort of knife fight with maleficent enemy ninja? It made his chest hurt at how young they were. No thirteen year old should ever be made to fight, let alone die like that.
He didn't pry any further.
They packed up their lunch, cleaned up any trace that they were there, and continued moving.
When it was finally time to settle for the night, Iruka and Hatake-sensei nearly collapsed.
They'd found a small cave to set up camp in. Kakashi-san had been very knowledgeable regarding caves that would be occupied by dangerous animals versus those that would be empty. It was the kind of knowledge that came from years of wilderness survival and it was times like these that he was grateful for the expertise.
The three of them had purchased sleeping bags the day before. A cover of sorts was very welcome in the damp cave, where the sun from the previous day couldn't warm the ground. Kakashi-san had left them in the temporary dwelling by themselves, heading outside to keep watch like he always did. That man was going to run himself ragged with how little he slept.
Iruka and Hatake-sensei sat on top of their sleeping bags, against the wall of the cave. While they were physically exhausted, they weren't ready to sleep just yet.
So they talked.
They talked about the situation they'd found themselves in, about things they'd missed about civilization, about what the future may hold. They talked about what they were going to do once they showed up at Namikaze-sensei's house as wanted criminals. They talked about how much they didn't want to get caught, and what they would do if they were.
"Hey, Iruka?" Hatake-sensei said. It never failed to make him all hot and bothered the way his first name rolled off that man's tongue. He could feel the start of a blush coming on and the intrusive thoughts making themselves apparent were too strong to suppress. The two of them were already sitting shoulder to shoulder, but Iruka's terrible, terrible mind absently wondered how it would feel for them to be even closer.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to stop the groan that wanted to escape from the base of his throat. Iruka knew that he had to keep calm and in control of his thoughts. It wouldn't do for something to happen while the man was sitting right next to him. But he was still young, inexperienced, and filled with raging hormones. It was difficult.
"Hm?"
"Do you ever wonder… what it would be like? If we were like Ninja Me and Ninja You?"
At that, Iruka most definitely squeaked.
He definitely had. Iruka could sense the admiration Kakashi-san had for Ninja-Iruka. Perhaps he was reading into the situation too much, but it had felt like a bit more than just admiration. But… he realized in that moment that he'd never actually felt quite that way about a man before. He'd had girlfriends, for sure, but they had consistently never turned into anything.
But something about the man sitting next to him made him feel more than he did for all those women. Iruka had realized his growing attraction not long before this whole mess started. Since they'd been on the road, constantly within arm's reach, it had festered and morphed into something unfamiliar, something intoxicating. The feeling wasn't necessarily unwelcome, but it made him feel like he was charting new territory.
Perhaps Hatake-sensei was reading into whatever this was the same way he was? Could that feeling of more than admiration possibly be what he was alluding to?
He reminded himself of the main reason of why he'd stopped himself before trying to create something between the two of them when his attraction first became apparent. They were teachers at the same school, and any relationship between the two of them would be very illegal. It would probably also cost them both their jobs.
Jobs, he then thought, that were more than likely already lost by now. Was there… was there really anything to lose?
Iruka took a deep breath, and then another before burying his insecurities to the lowest depths of his subconscious possible. With what he was positive to be a bright red face and his heart pounding in his chest, he prayed he wasn't misreading the situation and did what he'd only dreamed of doing in his fantasies.
He closed his eyes, leaned in, and touched his lips to Hatake-sensei's.
They stayed like that for a blissful moment and Iruka felt like the breath had been stolen from his lungs when Hatake-sensei pulled away.
It was his first time kissing a man. Or even thinking of kissing a man. Even though the mere touching of lips could barely be counted as a kiss. It had felt… nice. It was actually a little more than nice, Iruka thought, and he determined that he definitely wouldn't mind if it happened again.
But upon opening his eyes, he could see that the older man looked hesitant, that his face was colored pink with a faint blush. Hatake-sensei's eyebrows were hunched and his eyes didn't seem to be focused on anything. Iruka remembered then at that moment that, yes, there was something to lose if he ended up doing the wrong thing. His current hope was that he didn't just royally fuck up their relationship forever.
They stared at each other in near silence. The ever present buzzing of the cicadas echoed through the small cave, punctuated only by the soft sound of their hurried breaths.
"You know," Iruka said through his light pants, suddenly remembering the one reason that had always stopped him from acting on his desires, "it's not like we'll ever be teachers ever again."
Hatake-sensei, panting as well, seemed to contemplate that for a moment. Iruka didn't want to push the man into doing anything he didn't want to do. In fact, that was probably the last thing he wanted. In what was turning into a crazy adventure in which they were on the run from the law, Iruka was loath to force him to do anything.
But after a minute, just as Iruka was about to turn around, say 'fuck it', and go to sleep, he heard a quiet voice. Hatake-sensei, appearing to be deep in thought, whispered, "You know, I guess you're right."
Iruka closed his eyes again and a small gasp escaped. It felt like his heart was going to burst out of his chest when Hatake-sensei suddenly leaned in and he felt lips on his once more. Iruka let out a moan and kissed just a little harder, spurring the other man into action.
Hands gently pushed at his shoulders until he fell back onto the cave floor. Iruka could feel the pebbles pushing up against the back of his shirt as Hatake-sensei fell down with him. He moaned at the sensation of a warm body over his. It was sloppy and he barely had any idea of what he was doing, so he just kissed harder against the willing mouth above him. Iruka could feel himself growing warm at Hatake-sensei's newfound assertiveness. Because honestly? It was hot as fuck.
One hand moved to his hips as the other man's mouth devoured his own. He felt a tongue snake it's way into his mouth and he let out a small moan at the welcome intrusion. Could… could it be possible to get off from just making out alone? Eyes shuttering closed, Iruka contemplated the possibility as his hands found the waist above his own and latched on.
A small gasped escaped him and, as the other mouth moved over his, he contemplated the fact that Hatake-sensei seemed… experienced. Iruka head tilted back just a bit and he let out a moan at the mental image of the other man having done this before, with other men. He could feel a hand move up to his face and caress his cheek and another begin to rake through his hair.
A minute passed and after a particularly husky groan coming from Hatake-sensei, he unconsciously roughly rolled his hips up at the reminder of just whose warm body it was above his own. He could've sworn he felt something hard in the other man's pants, which only made him more excited for something more.
The action pulled a deep, throaty, desperate moan from the man above him. An incredible, indescribable heat flooded Iruka's entire body, making it all the more a shock to his system when Hatake-sensei lifted himself up just a touch. He whined at the sudden loss of contact.
"We can't do that here," he said quietly through his panting. Iruka knew he was referring to the previous hip grinding. His face was red and his lips were a little swollen. Iruka felt like his body was on fire at the knowledge of what he was doing to Hatake-sensei, that he could make the other man lose his composure like this. He could only imagined what he looked like himself. The man above him murmured, barely audible, "Not in a fucking cave, and not while Ninja Man's right outside."
Ok. So he didn't not want more. That was good information to store away for the future. Iruka quickly grunted in response, wanting to get back to the action.
"Do you want to keep going?" the man whispered, and fuck it all if Iruka couldn't hear heavy pants punctuating each word. Iruka nodded vigorously, groaning at the other man's concern, his thoughtfulness. He whispered a small 'yeah', anything to get the man to continue doing what he was doing.
Hatake-sensei's lips quickly found his once more.
And, ever conscious of the ninja standing watch nearby, they kissed on the floor of the cave as quietly as they could until the sun rose.
