Helpful note: Disclaimer & warnings are in the first chapter
~o0o~
Kakashi is leaning against the kitchen counter and looking impatient. He looks at the microwave clock for the umpteenth time and grumbled. It's been a whole hour and neither Naruto nor Sasuke have returned. He's already gone through so many teabags he's going to have to buy Iruka some new ones later. Not to mention his one too many trips to the bathroom. Lucky for him Iruka remained asleep. He contemplated just leaving, but he told Naruto he would watch over the sensei. And it's still too early for Gai to make his second visit. Basically, he's stuck.
Kakashi steps into the kitchen's doorway and leans against it and stares down the hallway.
To the right wall of the hallway are Iruka's bedroom door and a small storage closet. At the end of the hall is the bathroom. Now to the left of the hallway is a single sliding door. The structure around the sliding door looks newer than the wall itself. Maybe it was recently remodeled?
Kakashi remembers Naruto living with Iruka while Sasuke courted the blond since the Uchiha's return to Konoha. Of course, now that Naruto is married to Sasuke there's no reason to keep a spare room for Naruto. Could that room had been Naruto's? Kakashi wants to take a look, but should he? It wouldn't be right to sneak around someone else's home. But he is a ninja and ninjas do snoop around, in a stealthy manner of course.
Kakashi shrugged, one quick look wouldn't kill him. He hopes.
Kakashi quietly makes his way into the hallway and stands before the sliding door. He places his hand on the handle and gives a small tug. To his surprise, the room isn't locked or guarded with chakra. He slides the rest of the door open and steps in.
Kakashi sucks in a breath with surprise, "Well what do you know…"
It's a training room with a traditional style to it. The center of the wood floor is covered with a dark blue mat with the Leaf emblem in a dark silver color. A large mirror takes up the whole right wall. The left wall hangs many scrolls that show the art of all kinds of ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu. Amongst all that, there's a larger scroll in the center that shows the human body and all of its chakra points. The opposite wall to the door has a large window with dark blue curtains spread open to let some sunlight in. But the window looks to be tinted so it will be hard for outsiders to look inside. There's a seal written on the glass, probably for security purposes. It's understandable since that same wall is decorated with all kinds of weapons. Some of those weapons look antique and priceless, while others look newer and expensive. In every corner of the room are tall bamboo trees in large glossy blue vases. Then there's the wall where the door stands.
"Whoa…!" Kakashi is astounded.
This wall is decorated with many framed photos on either side of the door. They are pictures of Iruka, his family, and relatives. Apart from the photos with Iruka and his immediate family; the rest of the pictures look really old and worn out. All these photos; it's probably the whole Umino bloodline. Kakashi never knew Iruka had such a large family.
The photos are also puzzling. None of the Uminos look like ninjas, but regular civilians. The only ones that wore the Leaf's headband are Iruka's parents. And yet, with such a large family, Kakashi wonders where they could possibly be. To the best of Kakashi's knowledge, Iruka is the only Umino in Fire Country. Unless they had all passed away or live in another country making Iruka the last of the Uminos in Konohagakure.
He's not surprised to find a few pictures of Naruto and Sasuke on the wall. After all, they are loved by Iruka like a real family. He's somewhat baffled when he sees some pictures of Gai and his parents. Some pictures are even of Gai and Iruka together when they were kids, teenagers, young adults, and surprisingly even more recent ones. Well, they are childhood friends and care about each other like brothers.
Kakashi can't help feeling a pang of jealousy at their closeness. It's sad he can't be as close to Iruka as Gai is.
Kakashi continues browsing through the photos. He smiles now and again at every photo he sees of a young Iruka. 'You made one adorable kid, Sensei…' Kakashi thought.
Seeing the photos of Iruka's parents, Kakashi can now understand the teacher better. Iruka received his strong handsome features from his father, but his mystifying wild and dark beauty from his mother. But the teacher's cuteness is part of his own natural charm.
After having fed his curiosity, Kakashi didn't want to further invade the sensei's personal life anymore. He will leave to fetch Naruto. The blond and his spouse are really more suited to stand in his place. "I am nothing but a-" Kakashi suddenly halts in his steps and looks back at the picture wall with a startled eye. He gasped, his jaw hanging loose. He quickly pulls up his hitai-ate to make sure he isn't seeing some sort of illusion. "It cannot be…" his trembling hand takes hold of a specific picture frame from the wall. "It cannot be…" he repeats again.
What Kakashi is holding, what he is looking at; a photo of a young Iruka Umino and Obito Uchiha hugging each other.
Kakashi's sharingan quickly sweeps over the wall of photos. At a closer look amongst all the pictures, there are lots of photos of Iruka with Obito. Some pictures are of Obito with his family. Other pictures are of the Uchihas standing with the Uminos.
'How can this be…?' Kakashi didn't know Obito and Iruka knew of each other. 'Were they related to each other…?' No, that can't be it. Kakashi is certain Iruka doesn't possess the Uchiha bloodline. Then that only left one conclusion, 'They were friends…' And by the looks of some photos, they had known each other way before the Academy. 'They were also childhood friends… Just like Gai and Iruka…' His heart thumps slowly with hurt. His soul is feeling dark and heavy.
Kakashi carefully hangs the photo back in its place. He stares at the photo, engraving the picture into his mind forever with the help of the sharingan. By the look of their ages, that photo was taken before Obito had died. Obito looks so happy hugging Iruka. The closeness of the boys makes Kakashi wonder how much more does Iruka know about Obito than he does.
Kakashi recovers the sharingan while smirking at Obito's smiling face, 'Lucky bastard, even you became friends with Iruka.' Rather than still feeling sad, Kakashi can't help feeling jealous of his deceased friend. The pain in his heart is becoming more prominent. Kakashi quickly makes his way out of the large room. He doesn't like these emotions he's feeling. And it hurts too much to keep looking at all those pictures. All those photos are more evidence he will never be part of Iruka's inner circle of family and friends.
Kakashi needs to leave. He doesn't want to be so close to Iruka and have him out of his reach. For Kami sake, Kakashi didn't understand why life continues to be so cruel to him.
Kakashi arrives at the front door and reaches for the doorknob – Pop! – came a noise from Iruka's bedroom. The jounin faces the hallway and stares at the bedroom door. Silence follows and Kakashi slips out a kunai from his pouch. He stealthily makes his way past the living room, past the kitchen, into the hallway, until he stands before the bedroom door.
Kakashi can faintly hear some rustling inside the bedroom. He softly knocks on the door, "Iruka-sensei, are you alright?"
There's a sudden jolt of chakra coming from the bedroom the jounin doesn't recognize. Kakashi swings the door open ready to kill whoever has trespassed. He scans every inch of the room with his eye. There's no one, but there had been someone because a small puff of dispersing smoke is over the bed.
Kakashi is pissed. Who would dare attack Iruka in his state? Kakashi expands his chakra around the room. Whoever they were, they are skilled, because Kakashi can't sense a trace of chakra left behind from the intruder. All he can sense is the sleeping chuunin's own serene chakra.
Kakashi blinks a couple of times, 'Sleeping… chuunin…?' Completely forgetting about the intruder, Kakashi's mind finally registers where he is standing and who he is looking at.
To the left wall is Iruka sound asleep in his full-size bed. Covered in a dark-blue comforter and resting his head upon some light-blue pillows. The teacher's chest heaves up and down as he breathes raspy through his mouth. His cheeks are a little flush probably from the fever. Iruka's ebony hair is spread open and looks as if it hasn't been brushed for a while. The teacher looks so much younger than his age indicates.
Kakashi's eye softens as he stares at the sleeping chuunin and he can't help the smile forming behind his mask. He's a bit startled when his heart unexpectedly gives a loud 'thump'. He places his right hand over his heart while looking baffled, 'What was that…?' He shakes his head trying to refocus and tucks away his kunai. He forces himself to look away from the chuunin to look around the bedroom instead.
The bedroom is a good size and colored with the same earthy tones as the rest of the house. A glass sliding door is on the opposite wall of the bedroom door with long vertical blinds pulled open to let some sunlight in. The glass door leads to a porch and a private green and colorful garden. There's a closet door on the right wall. And to the right of the closet door is an old and interesting oil painting mounted on the wall.
The painting is a majestic looking wolf with golden-brown fur and white markings. Uncharacteristically, the wolf possesses a pair of large white wings with golden-brown tips to every plume. The winged beast is lying over a patch of grass with a full moon and starry night sky in the background. The beast isn't particularly posing in the painting. Instead, the winged beast is affectionately lapping at a human baby lying between her massive forelegs. The child is probably months old with a little patch of white hair and ice-blue eyes. The child looks so small and defenseless compared to the enormous winged wolf. But the child looks extremely happy and protected in the wolf's embrace. At the bottom of the painting, there's a silver plaque attached to the border that reads: "First Born".
'What a strange painting…' Kakashi thought.
This painting compared to the sword in the living room, Kakashi wonders about the Uminos fixation toward winged wolves. He makes a mental note to ask Naruto about that painting one day. He's certain Naruto must have asked Iruka about the painting, seeing how curious the blond can be.
Other than that, there's a dresser drawer to the left of the bedroom door. There are flowers, balloons, get-well cards, and stuff animals on top of the drawer and some on the floor for lack of space. The finishing touch is two small bedside draws on either side of the bed. The right drawer has a small shaded lamp and the other drawer has two picture frames and a cooking magazine.
'What the-?' Kakashi walks up to the left bedside drawer and takes one of the picture frames in hand. He looks at the sleeping chuunin with surprised confusion then back at the photo. 'Why does Iruka have this picture here?'
Kakashi doesn't understand. The photo is a copy of Kakashi with his newly appointed Team 7 all those years ago. He understands the reason for the second photo sitting in the drawer. It's a picture of little Iruka with his parents. But why would Iruka keep this photo near him when Kakashi is in it? It would make more sense if the picture is only of Team 7. But why this photo? Doesn't Iruka hate him?
Iruka moans painfully and squirms underneath the sheets.
Kakashi is about to race out of the bedroom thinking the chuunin has awoken, not realizing he's still holding onto the photo. The last thing he wants is for Iruka to catch him inside the bedroom without his consent. But the Copy-nin freezes when he sees the chuunin's flushed face and sweaty forehead. "Your fever is coming back…" he sets the photo frame back in its place before he slips off his left glove. Kakashi placed his cool palm against Iruka's forehead, "You're burning up."
With jounin speed, Kakashi retrieves a basin with cool water and a hand towel from the bathroom. He sets the basin on the left bedside drawer, pushing the two photos and magazine close to the edge. He removes his other glove before soaking the towel in the water and wringing it dry. Kakashi sits on the bed to Iruka's left and begins to gently wipe the chuunin's face. The sleeping chuunin sighs with content but continues to squirm underneath the bed sheets. Pale, sick, runny nose, and sweating, but Kakashi can't stop himself from thinking Iruka still looks adorable.
Kakashi slips down his mask revealing his handsome face. He removes his hitai-ate and placed it on the bed. Kakashi opens his left eye to reveal the slowly spinning sharingan. The blood-red eye records the sleeping chuunin. He wants to add this moment to his collection of memories forever. Kakashi doesn't want Iruka ill and in pain, but he can't help appreciating the situation just to be near Iruka like this and gaze at the sensei to his heart's content.
Kakashi looks back at the picture sitting in the drawer. 'You told me with such hate how you feel about me… and yet…' he looks back at the sleeping teacher. 'You keep a picture of me so close to you? You are so vexing, Sensei…' Kakashi delicately brushes away a few strands of the sensei's hair from his sweaty face. He continues to wipe Iruka's feverish skin with the cool towel. Kakashi smiles at how the teacher leans into his touch and relaxes further, 'Please tell me why you hate me… Tell me and I promise I'll fix it. Please tell me…' After a moment, Kakashi sighs disappointedly and leans away from the chuunin when no response is given. Not that he was really expecting one, but he had hoped.
Kakashi slumps and releases another heavy sigh. In so little time Kakashi has learned many surprising things about the teacher. He's starting to hate the fact he really doesn't know much of Iruka Umino as well as he wants to. Within the course of an hour the Academy teacher has been pulling out one surprise after another and he isn't even awake.
Kakashi stands before the glass sliding door looking out toward the garden. The sun will set within half an hour. Four hours have gone by now and neither Naruto nor Sasuke have returned. Kakashi closes the blinds before looking back at the moaning, sweating, and squirming chuunin. Pakkun is lying next to the sensei offering some comfort. The Copy-nin hopes Gai will be showing up soon because Iruka's fever hasn't gone down.
Kakashi did manage to keep Iruka's temperature down to an unthreatening level. Earlier he had filled the tub with cool water and dipped the teacher in the tub with clothing and all. He may be known as one of Konoha's so-called perverts, but he wasn't going to risk his life by undressing Iruka. If Iruka ever finds out Kakashi had seen him in his birthday suit, the temperamental teacher wouldn't hesitate to kill him. And if Iruka couldn't kill him, he's certain Naruto, Sasuke, Anko, Gai, and etc. will.
After that scenario, Kakashi had his nin-dogs dry and re-dress the Academy teacher. The nin-dogs are experts at it since they've dealt with such situations with Kakashi countless times.
Iruka suddenly releases a torrent of coughs and wheezes.
Kakashi is quickly by Iruka's side holding the teacher upright and patting the teacher's back. His other hand glows with healing chakra as he smoothly runs his hand in circles over the chuunin's chest. His healing chakra offers some relief to the sensei's lungs. "Easy now, Iruka-sensei. Try to control your breathing." He isn't even sure the ill teacher understands him.
"Boss, he's not doing so well," Pakkun said with a little whine. "I can smell his temperature rising."
"Dammit," Kakashi cursed under his breath. He gently lays Iruka back down in his bed and leaves the room. "I'll be right back," he tells Pakkun.
Kakashi steps into the kitchen and finds the medicine bottles Gai had left on the rosewood tray. One bottle is the antibiotics and the other the fever/pain reducer. Kakashi grabs the fever/pain bottle. He reads the instructions and glowers. The medicine is supposed to be taken every eight hours. If Kakashi recalls from the time Gai was here till now, it's too soon for another dose. Would three hours ahead be too soon?
"Boss!" Pakkun barks distressfully from the bedroom.
"Screw it!" Kakashi opens the bottle and takes out a pill. He fills a glass with water and hurries to the bedroom. Kakashi sees Iruka struggling to breathe through his coughing fit. He sets the glass down on the drawer with the pill. Kakashi sits Iruka upright and helps soothe the teacher's lungs with his healing chakra again. Once the teacher calmed down Kakashi offers the pill to him, "Take this, Iruka-sensei. It will help."
The teacher's eyes are half open, but unfocused. He doesn't respond to the jounin's help.
"There's no other way…" Kakashi slips the pill inside Iruka's mouth with his fingers. He grabs the glass of water and takes in a large gulp without swallowing it. He turns back to Iruka and flushes, 'Forgive me, Sensei…' Kakashi tilts Iruka's head back as he dips closer. He presses his lips to Iruka's, spreading the teacher's lips open with his tongue. He slowly transfers the water into Iruka's mouth. He uses his tongue again to push the pill further in. Kakashi uses his free hand to massage Iruka's throat to coax the teacher to swallow.
Even though the jounin is being helpful without ulterior motives, he can't help pleasurably savoring the Academy teacher's unique taste. Iruka tasted like miso soup, but with something sweet added to the mix. It's quite addicting.
Startled at first; Kakashi unintentionally moans when Iruka's tongue rubs against his. The jounin considers himself an experienced man in the art of kissing (and other things of the sort), but this… The way Iruka is innocently rubbing his tongue against his; it sends a shiver up and down his spine like an electric current. His skin heats and brakes into goose-bumps when the teacher's lips and tongue suck the water out of his mouth along with his breath. When the teacher releases a breathy moan, something hot begins to coil in his lower stomach. Kakashi loves the heat emanating from Iruka warming his very bones. The teacher's scent is becoming more intoxicating and driving him crazy. The jounin can feel his heart pounding and his fingers itch to touch the chuunin more. Kakashi's mind is going blank and turning to mush.
'What the fuck are you doing?! Pull away, Hatake! Pull away!' he tells himself, but for the life of him, he can't. He didn't want to. In the back of his mind, the infamous jounin is starting to believe there is another reason why he's so attracted to Iruka Umino.
Pakkun stares at the smooching couple with a shocked look. Their scents indicate they are going into heat, but this isn't right. Iruka is sick and delusional. And Kakashi is being a stupid bastard for taking advantage of the situation. The pug growls at the jounin, "Bossss!" Pakkun then furrows his brow sensing a strange aura starting to emanate from within the chuunin. "Uhhh, Boss?"
Kakashi continues to indulge himself with the teacher completely unaware of the danger arising from within Iruka. The transferring of water has now turned into a smoldering kiss. He keeps the sharingan open recording this blissful moment. The jounin feels his skin tingling, his blood boiling, and his toes curling. Never has Kakashi felt this way or has anyone ever made him feel so insatiable. His body begs him to claim the chuunin, but Kakashi scarcely resists such a need. Iruka then makes a sound Kakashi has never heard before in all his life. Iruka released a throaty purr and Kakashi loses to his primal instincts. Kakashi growls possessively into the kiss as he presses the chuunin down against the bed.
Pakkun gasps seeing something dangerous awaking within the Academy teacher, "Boss! Look out!"
"Gahhh!" Kakashi cried out when something stabs the side of his stomach. He's forcefully thrown back and crashes against the dresser drawer. All of the get-well gifts fall and scatter around the Copy-nin. The jounin hunches over with pain. He places a hand over his wound and feels something wet. Kakashi looks down and sees a large gash on the side of his stomach. If it wasn't for the blood gushing out he could probably see inside himself.
Kakashi looks up and his eyes widen. A sweating, hyperventilating, dishevel Iruka Umino is kneeling over the bed with a glistening black-blue power violently lashing and swirling around him. What both eyes are looking at is not chakra, but something else. In Iruka's right hand, the teacher holds some sort of weapon similar to a sword. But this sword looks to be black solidified water with a blue sheen. Kakashi can see his blood dripping down the black-blue blade onto the bed sheets. Then there are Iruka's eyes, his usually deep brown eyes are now smudged with amber and glaring like a savage animal.
Kakashi squirms from the intensity of those eyes. He doesn't know why, but looking at the teacher in this state gave Kakashi a sense of déjà vu. "Iru-"
Iruka growls inhumanly, "How dare you touch me. You are NOT Obito!" The chuunin charges, ready to kill the Copy-nin without a second thought.
Kakashi would have moved to save himself, but Iruka's words have rendered him motionless. 'Obito…? Obito Uchiha is… Iruka's unrequited love?!'
Something collides against Iruka throwing the chuunin's killing blow off course. The black-blue blade pierces the dresser drawer instead but grazes the jounin's left arm. Kakashi painfully wakes up from his stupor and placed his right hand over his new bleeding wound. Kakashi sees the deadly sword pinned to the drawer before it quickly melts into water and spills over the floor and the get-well gifts.
"Iruka-sensei, don't do this!" Pakkun barks.
Kakashi sees his nin-dog standing over the chuunin's body. It had been Pakkun who had saved Kakashi by knocking away the teacher.
Iruka growled at the pug before violently slapping the dog away. Pakkun yelps and crashes against the opposite wall.
"Pakkun!" Kakashi cried out. Hearing another growl, Kakashi looks back to Iruka. The chuunin rises to his feet. Another black-blue blade swiftly reappears in Iruka's hand as he approaches the Copy-nin.
Iruka looms over the jounin and holds the blade over Kakashi's head, "Unforgivable…"
"Stop!" there's a flash of movement and someone grabs hold of the chuunin from behind. "Hold it right there, Iruka!" Gai bellowed.
Sanity quickly returns to Iruka and the amber to his eyes vanishes into full dark brown. Iruka's arms and body go slack within Gai's embrace. The black-blue blade in Iruka's hand also melts into water and spills over the floor. Iruka looks up at the jounin and blinks a couple of times, "Wha… Gai? What's going on?"
"I'm not sure, Iruka, but you were about to kill one of our fellow men," Gai said.
"Eh?" Iruka responds so ineloquently. The jounin gestures the chuunin to look below him. Iruka looks to the floor and his eyes bug out, "Hatake?!" Iruka's surprise expression then turns into a glare. He points at the Copy-nin angrily, "What the hell are you doing in my bedroom?!"
Kakashi is starting to feel faint from all the blood loss. But he still smirks, "Maa… just doing my good deed for the day, Sensei."
Iruka's glare turns to concern seeing the Copy-nin going pale, "Hatake?" Iruka gasped finally noticing the wounds on the jounin and the blood pooling under him. Iruka quickly kneels before the silver-head jounin. His hands frantically hover over the silver-head man, too afraid to touch him. "Oh Kami, I'm so sorry. Kakashi, hang on!"
Kakashi smiles hearing and seeing Iruka getting worried over him, "That's nice…" He's losing conscious and his vision is going dark. 'More importantly… Who or what exactly is Iruka Umino?' is Kakashi's last thought before he passes out.
Thanks for reading! (^_^)/
p.s. Sorry I was being unkind to Kakashi again. I promise things will get better for him... eventually. (¬_¬)