Title: Precious People
Author: Ashley
Summary: "Forget the tea," Kakashi whispered, "I just want to go lay in bed with my precious people." Sequel to Precious Person
Genre: Family
Disclaimer: I don't own the sandbox, I am just playing in it.
Warning: Blatant yoai.
Pairing/Characters: Kakashi, Sandaime (mentioned only), Naruto, Iruka
Rating: K+
Authors notes: I can't begin to tell you how unhappy I am with how this sequel turned out, but my friend insisted it was great. I hope you enjoy it! It's been almost four years since Kakashi found Naruto on his birthday being comforted on the street. Unbetaed, all mistakes belong to me.
Kakashi climbed into the house through the lounge room window, and took great care to be as silent as possible. He knew Iruka and Naruto would be asleep, and he didn't want to wake them. He set his rucksack down beside the couch, and shucked his flak vest off and dropped it down as well. His Hitai-ate, legs bindings, weapons pouches, Kunai holder, and thigh wraps followed after his flak vest and Kakashi knew he was going to catch hell from the temperamental Chuunin in the morning. He was so exhausted, he just didn't care.
Leaning heavily against the wall, Kakashi slowly and quietly made his way to the kitchen, bypassing the tea kettle and filling a pot with water instead. He didn't want the harsh whistle of the kettle to wake the small blonde, who wouldn't be able to fall back asleep because of excitement that Kakashi had returned after a little over a month away, or the brunette, who would certainly kick his ass across the entire Hatake compound for waking Naruto.
Kakashi leaned against the counter while he waited for his water to boil. He had ended up taking in two orphans instead of one. Iruka had moved in with them to help, and surprisingly the arrangement worked well for them all. They all knew each other's pain, all three of them orphaned, and helped each other. They worked well as a cohesive family unit, and they were precious to him. Kakashi had known the young brunette would become a precious person the night he found him comforting Naruto, he just hadn't realized how precious. While he was lost in thoughts of the past, exhaustion and stress finally hit Kakashi, and he felt his knee's give out underneath him. He knew he was going to hit the floor, and he knew it was going to hurt like hell when his battered body met unforgiving tile. He closed his eye and held his breath, waiting for the impact.
Instead of meeting cold tile the Jounin met warm arms that wrapped around his torso carefully, and Kakashi looked up into warm mahogany eyes and a gentle smile. Iruka pulled Kakashi to his feet and guided him to a chair at the table.
"You should have gone straight to bed, Kakashi," Iruka admonished quietly, subtly checking the older man for injuries. Finding none, he straightened and moved to the counter to finish preparing Kakashi's tea.
"I didn't want to wake you, I'm sorry." Iruka turned and raised an eyebrow at the silver haired Jounin.
"You woke me anyway, so the point is pretty moot," the younger man chuckled. "But, if you had come to bed you would have woken Naruto up. He couldn't sleep, and I didn't expect you back until morning so I let him into bed with me." Kakashi smiled and nodded, knowing how the young boy was plagued by night mares and would often crawl into bed with one of them.
But it wasn't until Iruka had turned eighteen earlier that year, that the two men had started sharing a bed. After the first night of Naruto crawling into bed with them, Kakashi had invested in a larger bed. Kakashi climbed to his feet, and shuffled over to Iruka so he could wrap his arms around the young man that had captured his heart. His other precious person.
"I love you, 'Ruka," Kakashi muttered, nuzzling his nose into loose brown hair. Iruka sighed happily and returned the embrace.
"I love you too, 'Kashi," Iruka leaned into Kakashi's solid chest, and held tightly to him to keep him supported.
"Forget the tea," Kakashi whispered, "I just want to go lay in bed with my precious people."
Kakashi had never expected to fall in love with the chuunin, and he had never imagined the chuunin would love him back. But as he was led to their bedroom, and both Shinobi crawled into bed, he knew he couldn't have been happier. That things couldn't have worked out better if he had planned them that way.
Iruka leaned over Naruto and pressed a gentle kiss to Kakashi's lips, and they both settled down peacefully. Naruto rolled into Kakashi's warmth, and the Jounin wrapped his arms around him, pulling him close and kissing his forehead.
"You made it back in time for my birthday, Kaka-nii," Naruto whispered sleepily, sighing as he rubbed his face on Kakashi's shirt.
"Of course I did, otouto." Kakashi smiled at Iruka who was watching the heart-warming scene with a serene smile. Iruka leaned forward and kissed the back of Naruto's head and the three drifted off into a peaceful sleep.