"Kakashi!"
The silver haired boy turned, giving a questioning look. He was walking to the Hokage's tower to turn in the mission report from the day before. His teammates had filled it out, and they told him he had to be the errand boy. It aggravated him to say the least.
But now he let a small smile cross his face, and he gave a small wave. "Yo." He paused in his walking to allow the younger boy to catch up.
Iruka gave small pants as he finally caught up, and he grinned. "Hi!" He looked up at the taller boy. He fell into step with him as he started to walk once more.
"Did I get you into trouble?" Kakashi asked, mildly curious. He shuffled through his mission report silently, glancing at the child from the corner of his eye. Though, normally he wouldn't really care much if he had gotten someone into trouble, deeming it - oh so nonchalantly - that it wasn't really his problem. But, this was different for some reason.
Iruka shoot his head. "No. My dad said that it was good that I was talking to someone." He gave a small smile. Even if he didn't really seem like it, Iruka was timid, and preferred to play alone. Though he was really happy he met Kakashi, because now he had some to share things with.
"Good." Kakashi replied, and he gave a slight smile under his mask. He opened the door to the Hokage's tower, walking in. He listened as Iruka chattered away as they made their way to the mission room.
"Woah..." Iruka's small voice was a whisper, his chocolate eyes growing wide. The mission room was amazing! There seemed to be mountains of scrolls, and people busy doing lots of different things around the room, running between desks, and signing papers. He loved it!
He hadn't been paying much attention to what Kakashi was doing, and started to walk around the room, taking everything in. He'd really like to work here when he was a chūnin. Of course, he wanted to do missions too, but this would be interesting! He was so absorbed in the sight, that he didn't notice the other boy had finished what he was doing, and was now currently standing behind him, amusement dancing in his gray eye. As he turned, he smacked right into Kakashi's chest, rebounding two steps.
"Hey!" He yelped, rubbing his forehead, glaring half heartedly up at the other. He was laughing. LAUGHING. Iruka's lips formed a pout, and he scrambled to his feet.
"You jerk." He huffed, and stormed out of the mission room, hands balled into fists. That was not funny at all! Kakashi didn't have the right to laugh after he scared him like that!
"Iruka, wait-" Iruka didn't pause, though his pace slowed a bit, letting the chūnin catch up. He didn't know why he had, but he did.
"R...Ruru...Why'd you run away?" Kakashi asked, blinking a bit at the other, an ever so slight pant leaving his lips. Iruka was stunned at the pet name. No one had ever given him one before.
"What did you call me?" He asked, getting over his anger as curiosity crossed his features. Why did he suddenly get a nickname?
"'Ruru'." Kakashi repeated, and gave a slight smile that reached his eye. "It's fitting." He added, and rested a hand on the other's shoulder. Iruka gave a small giggle, and he hugged the ninja, nuzzling his face into the taller's chest.
"Thank you!" He chirped happily, and pulled back after a moment. "No one's ever given me a nickname before!" He clapped his hands together once, and grinned widely. That made Kakashi give a mental sigh of relief. He had though Iruka would get angry over such a dumb sounding name that decided to just pour from his lips.
"Hey, Kakashi?" Iruka asked as they walked towards the same area they'd been sitting in yesterday. It was still as shady and comforting as before.
"Yeah?" Kakashi asked, sitting down on the grass, and stretched. His gray eye flickered to the younger boy, wondering what he could want.
"Can I see your face?" Iruka asked, tilting his head a bit to one side. He wondered what Kakashi looked like. It seemed as if he never took that mask off. At first, Iruka thought that it was only for missions, but now that he saw him wearing it today, he wanted to know why, and if he could see what was under it.
"No." The reply was bristled, but soft at the same time. Kakashi didn't show anyone his face unless it was necessary. Which took a lot of convincing for it to meet that point. He watched as Iruka's scarred nose scrunched up a bit.
"Why do you wear it?"
Kakashi fell silent, and he glanced at the ground. Did he really want to answer that question? Did he want to bring up those painful memories? The look that the child was giving him made him feel like he had no choice. It seemed as if Iruka had some power over him already.
"If I tell you, will you tell me how you got that scar?" He retorted. It was an eye for an eye type of thing. He wanted something in return for his answers.
"Sure. Everyone asks about it at some point." Iruka replied, and settled down to listen to Kakashi's story. "But you go first!"
The silver haired boy took a moment to get his thoughts in order. "When I was little, my mother was very sick. She would seem paler than normal, with dark circles under her eyes and a very bad cough. At first, my father and I thought nothing of it besides stress, but the moment she fainted for no reason, we knew something was really wrong.
"No matter what we tried, she just kept getting worse and worse," Kakashi had to keep his voice even, and not lose his composure. He hated talking about this. Hated to even think about it. He let out a soft breath before continuing, trying to clear his thoughts of pain away. "…So all we could do was make sure she was comfortable. But every time I went to check on her, she told me to pull the neck of my shirt up to cover my face. She said that she didn't want me to get sick. So I did. And it became a habit even after she passed." He lightly brushed his fingers along his own jawline, frowning deeply. He kept his mother's dying wish to heart. Even if it was silly to do now.
Iruka listened, and he frowned softly. "I'm sorry..." He said gently, scooting closer to the other. He couldn't imagine what it would be like to lose a parent. His seven year old brain couldn't take it in.
There was a long silence between them, and neither could look at one another. It was as if Kakashi's stirred up bad water from the bottom of the lake. Though, when it was broken, it was broken by Kakashi himself.
"So, about that scar of yours?"
Iruka nodded, fingers brushing over it lightly. "Oh, right!" He smiled a little. "My mom told me this story when I was old enough to understand. But when I was able to walk around and think a bit wider, I found a stray kunai somewhere in the house. I had been playing Ninja with some other kids that day, and I wanted to play again. But I tripped, and the kunai cut me when I fell." He replied, and gave a sheepish smile at his own clumsiness.
Kakashi smiled a bit, and he watched Iruka. "I see." he said, lightly reaching out to touch the scarred tissue softly. He couldn't help but feel a bit smug as a red tint formed on the tanned cheeks of the child next to him.
Iruka lightly pushed Kakashi's finger away after it made contact for a few seconds, still blushing softly. He pulled his knees up to his chest, and his his face in them. He relaxed slowly as another silence fell over them. It wasn't awkward or overly emotional like the last, but a comfortable, cheery silence.
Iruka peaked out at the nin, and he gave a small smile. His eyes then flickered to the sky. It was starting to turn into hades of red, orange, pink and yellow as the sun whispered good bye and blew kisses out to it's subjects.
Iruka moved quickly, sitting on his knees, and he lightly leaned over, kissing Kakashi's cloth covered cheek softly. He was up on his feet in the next few seconds, and started to walk away briskly.
"I have to go!" He called, and broke out into a run, face flushing more. Why had he felt compelled to do that?
Kakashi was stunned for a moment at the feeling of the kiss, but he smiled a bit once Iruka had his back turned to him.
"Bye, Ruru." He called out. He'd see him later. No matter how embarrassing things got, he felt drawn to the boy, and he knew the feeling was mutual.