Looking back later, Kakashi could see bright points in the darkness of the invasion. One beautiful night he took Iruka to a favorite spot of his, a hammock hung in the forest, between two trees in a small clearing. They spent the night awake, looking at the stars, talking of their dreams. Gradually talk faded in favor of touch. As their clothes melted away like snow, they memorized the feel of each other's bodies, learned the many scars they each carried, and ingrained the smell of the other deep into their senses.
They didn't make love that night, but Kakashi could clearly remember the night they did for the first time. He had joined Iruka for a casual dinner of ramen and then followed him back home, where Kakashi teased and bugged Iruka until the teacher put down the papers he was trying to grade and tried to kiss the copynin into good behavior. The plan backfired, though, as lust caught them both in its whirlwind. No papers were graded that night and neither of them got much sleep, but the next day Kakashi couldn't stop whistling and he was only an hour late for the meeting with his team, scaring them into uncharacteristically good behavior.
While under the influence of Itachi's Tsukuyomi, Kakashi tried to ignore the pain by focusing on his memories of his time with Iruka. He tried to remember, had they run through the forest the other night or over the rooftops? What did Iruka order when they went to the out of the way restaurant on the edge of town? If he focused hard enough, he could almost smell Iruka's clean scent, feel his fingers running through the chocolate brown strands of hair. The memories kept him sane enough to make it through the torture and when he finally gave into exhaustion and succumbed to the darkness, Iruka's face was the last thing that went through his mind.
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For Iruka the memories were different, though no less treasured. He would find himself thinking of a dinner they had shared where they both told jokes and funny stories until they couldn't eat for laughing. Or the night they had run further than usual, going to a moonlit lake on the outskirts of the village. They had gone skinny-dipping in the cool water, playfully splashing each other and kissing, staying in the water until their hands were pruned like those of old men.
The night they first made love was a special memory, but Iruka also loved the time they spent an entire day in Kakashi's apartment, exploring all the many ways to give each other pleasure. They ordered food in and lounged naked on Kakashi's futon, playing multiple games of chess until the urge for sex overtook them again. That night they soaked in the bath together and fell asleep with their hair still damp, brown strands and silver tangling together on the bed.
While he was at work, Iruka was usually too busy to worry about Kakashi. The students needed him to be there for them. But when a stabbing pain shot through his head and the chalk dropped from suddenly nerveless fingers, Iruka knew that something had happened to Kakashi. Shaking off the feeling, he finished his lesson, bid the children goodbye, and barely made it to the staff bathroom before losing his lunch in a wave of nausea.
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Kurenai decided to check on Kakashi one more time before she left the hospital. There was nothing she could do for him, but it didn't feel right, just leaving him there, unconscious.
As she approached the door to his room, she saw that it was slightly ajar. Looking in, she noticed a figure standing on the other side of the bed, obviously having just entered from the window. Her fingers twitched toward her kunai, in case it was an enemy looking to make short work of a helpless ninja.
The figure leaned forward slightly and the light glinted off a Leaf village hitai-ate. Kurenai relaxed a little, but still wondered what the person was doing there. Was it a friend of Kakashi's? If so, why didn't they come by during normal visiting hours?
A hand reached up and pulled down Kakashi's mask. Kurenai gasped in anger. Those bastards! She knew a number of nins in Konoha were eager to get a look at Kakashi's face, in fact had wagered quite a large sum of money on whether or not they would be able to do so (Kakashi had told her that he had good odds that they would never succeed), but she never thought they would stoop so low as to sneak up on him when he was in a coma. However, just as she was about to enter the room to stop the person from taking advantage of Kakashi, the stranger did something wholly unexpected—they leaned forward and kissed the copynin on the lips.
Kurenai froze in amazement. The idea of Kakashi having a lover wasn't stunning, per se, but if she had been asked about the type of person Kakashi might pair up with, she was sure she would have said female, at least. But when the stranger in Kakashi's room had leaned forward, Kurenai had caught a glimpse of dark brown hair pulled up in a ponytail, framing a face with a familiar slash across the nose. It could only be Umino Iruka. She couldn't have moved if she had wanted to. She just watched as Iruka pulled back and ran his hands tenderly over Kakashi's hair, brushing it off his forehead.
How long had they been together? She tried to remember if she'd seen them out together and realized that she could recall them having dinner together more often. She had even mentioned it to Asuma, but the two of them had assumed that the two men were dealing with another Naruto issue. Never would she have guessed that it was something more.
As she stood watching through the crack in the door, Kurenai saw Iruka climb onto the bed and stretch himself out along Kakashi's side. She looked hard at his face, but couldn't see tears. He seemed sad, but determined. He rested his head on Kakashi's shoulder and wrapped his arm around the unconscious man's waist. Closing his eyes, he squeezed gently and whispered something Kurenai couldn't hear.
Shaking herself out of her daze, she slowly, quietly closed the door. Some things were meant to be private. She would ask the nurse not to disturb Kakashi during the night. Iruka would probably be better medicine for him than anything the medical nins could offer. Smiling, she headed for home and Asuma.