What is it with Cats and Dogs?
Chapter 2
Kakashi leaned against the wall, listening to the thunder and rain while he watched Iruka eat while reading over the papers and marking them with the feared red pen. The men had put off all household and work duties until nearly eight-thirty (it was now ten), and Iruka had a minor fit when he remembered that he had to have the papers graded by six in the morning. But, when Kakashi had asked if he would rather just skip their 'time' together, Iruka smirked and shook his head.
Both men jumped when they heard a child's humming voice floated through the door.
Kakashi blinked and threw on a shirt, slowly opening the door while looking around for anything that would tell him if the sound was part of a trap.
"Hello."
The jounin looked down to see a little girl of about five staring up at him, a ragged doll clutched to her chest. There was a violent rumble from the sky and the soaked child flung herself at Kakashi with a shriek of fear. Iruka looked up at his husband, and then back at the little girl, who was still clinging desperately to Kakashi's legs as he tried to close the door.
Iruka stood and pulled a towel from a closet and gently pried the girl from the white haired ninja who still looked stunned that the child had decided that he was a safe place to hide during a storm. Sitting down with the child in his lap, he turned to his husband and told him to run a bath. When Kakashi was gone, he smiled at the little girl and checked her over for injuries.
Three things struck Iruka as strange. First, this child wore a plain grey smock and pants that were fraying at the edges. Second, across the bridge of her nose and over her cheekbones were strange twisting tattoos similar to the tattoo on Neji Hyuuga's forehead. Third, she had slit-like pupils similar to a cat's.
The child's triangular face also reminded him of a cat. The child was thin and boney, but appeared to be otherwise healthy. When he took her into the bathroom and told her to take a bath to warm up, she looked lost. As Kakashi turned to follow his husband out into the living room to discuss what should be done with the little girl, she flung herself at him and pulled on his hand like she wanted him to stay. When Iruka came back to see what was wrong, the girl snatched his hand too and pulled.
"You want us to stay here while you bathe?"
The little girl nodded vigorously, and then screamed again as thunder rolled.
"Okay. We'll stay. Now, get out of those and get in the water."
The child obeyed and was soon happily sitting in the water, playing with her doll. Iruka and Kakashi weren't sure if the girl could talk, but Iruka finally addressed the child as he would his youngest students.
"So, do you have a name, little stray?"
Kakashi chuckled at the name, agreeing that the girl did look a bit feline.
"Urako."
"And how old are you, Urako?"
The child smiled and watched the water drip off her fingers before answering.
"Five."
"Where are you from?"
"Nowhere."
"Where's your mother? Your father?"
"Gone."
Both men raised their eyebrows and shrugged. By the look of her, she had no family, and she obviously liked both of them… Iruka's eyes slid out of focus as an idea hit him.
"If we go to the Hokage, do you think he would let us adopt her?"
At the word 'adopt', Urako looked up and smiled at the two men. She held out a hand and made a grasping motion toward the towel that Iruka still held. The man pulled the girl out of the tub and wrapped her tightly in the towel and toted her into the bedroom that he shared with Kakashi, searching for a shirt for the girl to sleep in.
As Iruka dried the child's hair and gave the girl one of Kakashi's shirts, he smiled and examined her. She really was cute, and seemed to be intelligent despite her mostly mute behavior. The would have to ask the Hokage, but he could already feel himself falling in love with the child, and he could see it in Kakashi's eye too.
"Now, to bed, Miss Urako."
The child yawned and picked up her doll and made herself comfortable in the guest bedroom, the large bed dwarfing it's small inhabitant.
Kakashi smiled as Iruka sat to work on the papers again, both men smiling and wondering what kind of parents they would be.