NOTES: Thanks to my betas, Ashcat (here at ) and txilarLJ; they are brilliant and helpful. Thanks also for your comments so far! I really appreciate them. This version is edited from its LJ equivalent, in terms of the rating.

Chapter 2: The Measure of Emotion [edited version]

Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love.
-Albert Einstein

For most of his teen-aged and adult life, Iruka had no intention of being in trapped in a relationship with anyone; he had small flings with a few individuals, both ninja and civilians, and had made sure to extricate himself carefully before any of them became fully mired. Iruka simply didn't have the mind-space to deal with something like that; also, he rather thought that most persons didn't take the time to see past his infamous temper.

On top of that, it took constant vigilance to keep his secret as such: a secret.

...which didn't explain the fact that he was currently involved with the Copy-nin. If he had been told this before the Chuunin Exams, Iruka would have laughed himself silly. When Kakashi no Sharingan had approached him a few days after that heated meeting, he had received such a glare from Iruka that he had stopped in his tracks, rubbing the back of his head.

"Maa, sensei," he had said with a self-deprecating laugh and Iruka narrowed his eyes. "I just wanted to ask you if you would have lunch with me."

"Why, Kakashi-san?" Iruka asked in cool tones. "So that you can remind me that my students aren't in my classroom any more?"

"Well, yes," Kakashi admitted, with no hint of shame.

Iruka entertained visions of calling up columns of water to drown the bastard, but he had more control than most people gave him credit for.

"Also," Kakashi continued in his careless drawl, "I would just like to have lunch with you, if you would give me that pleasure."

Mystified, Iruka had agreed, thinking that they would meet at Ichiraku's. His perplexity deepened when Kakashi led him to a secluded area near Training Field 5... at night.

"I thought we were going for lunch," Iruka said as he picked his way through the gloom. His eyesight was good in the dark, and it seemed that Kakashi's was as well, because he made his way to a round clearing with ease.

"Lunch in the day is sometimes boring," Kakashi answered dismissively. "Here we are." There was a blanket on the ground, laying flat where the grass had been tamped down.

Iruka removed his sandals and knelt on the blanket, watching as Kakashi rummaged through a woven basket and handed him various boxes. It was only when he noticed the beams of silver light streaming down on them, that he realized what this was.

"Oh... a moon-viewing party. Very romantic," he muttered and then blushed to the roots of his hair when Kakashi gave him a long, considering glance.

"Yes. I thought you would like it." Kakashi sounded very off-hand, as if he really didn't care if Iruka liked it or not, but Iruka's ears were trained to hear that what was not said.

"I do like it. I suppose this is an apology for being absolutely disgusting to me," Iruka sniffed and then smiled when Kakashi burst into very loud laughter. Iruka had never heard him laugh before; it was a full, strong sound and he found he liked it very much.

"You can call it that. I also just wanted to talk to you."

"Why?" Iruka asked as he inspected the little sausages and rice-balls.

"You're interesting." The expression in Kakashi's visible eye was amused when Iruka turned an incredulous gaze to him. "You're the reason why I accepted Naruto on my genin team. You've taught the jinchūriki... and you're special to him. And I've come to realize that Naruto is a little dense--"

"Hey," Iruka warned, but he was smiling.

"--but he is an excellent judge of character."

Iruka couldn't help himself. He beamed on behalf of the boy in whom he believed in, even when no-one else didn't.

Kakashi said slowly, "It made me wonder... what is it about you?"

"There's nothing much," Iruka forced through tight lips, hoping his chakra wasn't spilling over with his surprise. Who knew what that Sharingan could figure out? Kakashi's stare was heavy on his face and Iruka looked away, concentrating on the food.

"Can we eat, Kakashi-san?" he said lightly, hoping to force the conversation to less troubled waters. "This all looks very good."

"Ayame made them," Kakashi, very mildly, a gloved hand moving up to pull down his mask.

All through their meal, Iruka kept his gaze averted so that he wouldn't catch a glimpse of Kakashi's face; but he could feel Kakashi staring at him the whole while.

*

Because Kakashi wasn't normal, his whole method of courting was a little unbalanced. They simply continued to eat together, talking about a range of topics; sometimes, Kakashi would bring back a small trinket for Iruka when he and his genin team returned from a mission, but Iruka thought they were token acts of friendship. He himself gave gifts in return, like a fancy calligraphy brush for Kakashi's birthday.

"Thank you but... you have seen my handwriting, haven't you, Iruka-sensei?" Kakashi asked as he looked doubtfully at the fude.

"This will help you make it better," Iruka told him. "You'll save our eyes in the Mission Room."

"Ah," Kakashi said, tucking the brush into a pocket of his vest. "Then I will treasure it always, Iruka-sensei, since it is to your ocular glory."

Iruka had actually giggled at that, tickled at the solemn tone and the teasing twinkle in Kakashi's eye.

Iruka had no idea he was being courted, though, until Genma said, "Look, are you going to give Kakashi some ass soon? Because I'm tired of him talking about you nonstop in the bar."

"Genma!" Raido had said, and had given Iruka an apologetic nod of his head. "Please excuse his crude ways, Iruka-sensei." They had been standing outside the Mission Room; Iruka had just gotten off duty and some of the jounin, as their wont, were still hanging about.

"What?" Iruka stared at them, then shook his head, walking off to the filing room. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You'll probably find out soon," Genma drawled and then coughed loudly as Raido elbowed him in the ribs.

Iruka had to stew over this for four more days, until Kakashi returned from a mission. He waited a day after Kakashi handed in his report with a smile, ignoring Genma's waggling eyebrows, before paying the Copy-nin a visit at his flat. Kakashi seemed surprised at his presence at the front door, but invited him in; when Iruka walked into his apartment, he found all the dogs piled up in the living room.

"Hey, there," Pakkun said lazily from atop the pile of warm, wriggly fur.

"Hello." Iruka smiled as Guruko scrambled towards him, licking his hand happily when Iruka knelt to greet him. Sometimes, after he and Kakashi had lunch, they walked with the dogs. Guruko seemed to have taken to him more than the others, and tended to keep close to his side as they ambled.

"Is there something you needed?" Kakashi asked and Iruka turned; Kakashi was standing very close to him, dressed simply in a sleeveless black undershirt with an attached mask, and a loose pair of grey trousers. "Apart from spoiling Guruko, that is."

"I... wanted to talk to you," Iruka said, rising to his feet. "Privately," he added, knowing that eight pairs of canine eyes and ears were locked on them. Kakashi twitched his finely-made shoulders in a non-shrug, and then snapped his fingers at the curious ninken.

"Bye, sensei!" Guruko called as he puffed out of sight with the rest of the pack.

"Now, what is it that you--"

"Are you courting me?" Iruka blurted out and then went red as Kakashi stared at him incredulously. Wonderful; he'd managed to make a friendship awkward in a single sentence. "No, I thought not either. I'm sorry to take up your time, Kakashi-sensei, so I'll just be on my way."

He was almost at the door, speaking as he tried to make his escape when Kakashi reached out and wrapped his gloved fingers around Iruka's wrist.

"Do you find that idea... disagreeable?" Kakashi asked in a very polite tone. "Because if it is, I'll stop."

Iruka gaped at him; he hated gaping, it made him look like a goldfish, but he couldn't help it right now. "You are?! Courting me, I mean?"

"Courting is a really old-fashioned term," Kakashi mused, thumb rubbing absently on Iruka's pulse, which started to race. "But quaint. I like it. Yes, that's what I'm doing."

"Oh." Iruka looked down at their hands, where Kakashi's pale fingers contrasted with the darker tone of his skin. "I... okay."

"Is that an Okay, leave me alone you crazy jounin? Or, okay, you might be a crazy jounin but I think I like you back?" Kakashi was smiling, or his visible eye was, but it was the kind of smile that a person had when they're expecting to be disappointed. Iruka didn't like disappointing people at all. On top of that, he wanted Kakashi, and the sudden intensity of the feeling was overwhelming. He twirled his hand so that he was gripping Kakashi's wrist instead, and squeezed lightly.

"How about, okay, but when are you planning to kiss me?" Iruka said and bit his lip shyly when desire lit in Kakashi's eye.

"Next Monday, at five forty-five in the morning," Kakashi answered promptly and Iruka laughed.

"You have this all planned out?"

"Yes. No matter how my handwriting looks, I can be very organized." He sounded so smug, that Iruka laughed even harder.

They did indeed kiss at five forty-five on a crisp Monday morning. Iruka waited on the roof of his apartment building, getting to his feet when Kakashi materialized in a puff of smoke beside him. He stepped towards Kakashi, closing his eyes and tilting his head expectantly. He felt Kakashi's arms wrap around his waist, tugging him even closer and then warm lips pressed against his. Kakashi started out slowly, almost hesitantly, as if testing what Iruka might like. Iruka put his hands up, cupping Kakashi's cheeks, feeling the faint hint of stubble. He smiled a little as he parted his lips and felt Kakashi's tongue slide in to curl with his own, before retreating so that Iruka could follow with his own tongue.

It was like sparring, only far far better.

Kakashi drew back a little and whispered in his ear, "Tuesday, eight in the night."

"Alright." Amused and his eyes still tightly closed, Iruka went back to the extremely important task of kissing.

It turned out that Kakashi plotted out everything like that: Wednesday at three, a late lunch then a kiss; Thursday at seven, walk with Iruka to school and then steal a kiss. He was more of a control-freak than Iruka ever could be, but instead of being annoyed, Iruka kind of found it endearing, and he understood the reasoning behind it. Kakashi's life could go awry any second on a mission. To exert this kind of command over his personal relationships was just a viable option, like reading his Icha Icha so that people wouldn't talk to him all the time. It was always an amusing surprise to see how much civilians wanted to talk to Sharingan no Kakashi; the people of Konoha were very territorial of their local heroes, and were determined to interact with them as much as possible. On top of that, Kakashi was actually very shy (a fact that Iruka found immeasurably cute), and didn't know how to talk to people if they weren't speaking about weaponry and missions and killing people. Iruka sometimes had to translate the muffled mumblings emanating from behind his orange book, grinning at the starstruck expression on the faces of Kakashi's fans.

Iruka, for his part, didn't mind the whole control thing. He knew he projected an uptight persona, but that was just a mask of his own; his easy assent obviously threw Kakashi at first.

"Friday, nine in the night, I want to touch you all over," Kakashi said casually one evening after they kissed, apparently just to unbalance him.

After he managed to stop blushing, Iruka said, "I think I would enjoy that," and smiled triumphantly as Kakashi's exposed cheek went red. That whole Friday, Iruka had to struggle with his own distractedness, knowing that his students would pick it up just as surely as sharks could sense a drop of blood in the water. He increased his yells and glares by 53%, and by the end of the day was satisfied that they had both learned something and retained a healthy respect of their chuunin-sensei. He hurried home, stopping only briefly at the Mission Room to make sure that everything was going well.

"We're fine!" Izumo yelled at him when he peeked through the door at the long line of waiting shinobi. "What, you think you're the only one who can manage duty around here? Go away!"

Iruka escaped, pleased that Izumo wasn't taking any crap from anyone, just as he did. He had asked for time off on this day specifically for Kakashi, and he was going to make it good. He almost ran the whole way to his apartment, closing the door behind himself with a gusty sigh, before racing for the bathroom. He made sure to give his hair a good scrub and soaked for a long time in the tub, trying to relax and not think about what might happen later in the evening. Cladding himself in a comfortable cotton yukata, he went to hunt up a bottle of sake that had been gifted to him from a student's parent. After a moment's thought, he put together some tea things... just in case Kakashi was in a tea sort of mood.

He was laughing at his own nervousness when a hint of controlled chakra and a knock on his door signalled Kakashi's arrival. He hurried over and yanked open the door, eyes widening at Kakashi's dark and elegant clothing. He looked unusually regal with those long, loose sleeves and the high collar, and his single eye tracked the lines of Iruka's body from his bare feet to his loose hair.

"Iruka-sensei," he said in a very low, almost reverent voice and a shiver crept up Iruka's spine. He bowed formally, to hide his burning cheeks.

"Kakashi-san," he answered with the same level of politeness, lifting his head and smiling as he stepped aside to let Kakashi in. All through the rest of the evening, as they knelt at the low table and had tea and then some sake, they treated each other with that odd brand of courteous detachment. There was something almost ritualized about it, and it made Iruka's skin tingle to know that while they were talking civilly to each other, Kakashi's eye was locked on his face, his fingers lightly stroking Iruka's ever so often as their hands rested close together.

It was probably the most arousing hour Iruka had ever been through, and none of their clothes had been removed as yet. By the time he was at the sink, rinsing the small, delicate cups that had belonged to his mother (and had miraculously weathered the Kyuubi's attack), Iruka was trembling slightly in anticipation. When, as he was carefully packing the sake set, he felt Kakashi's fingers brush at the nape of his neck, Iruka felt as if Kakashi's hand had been there all evening, and so was completely unsurprised. His hair was moved over one shoulder and Kakashi's mouth breathed warm air against his skin.

If Iruka had even the faintest inkling that Kakashi could be this way, carefully sensual, he would have done this a long time ago. Kakashi's hands travelled down his sides, lightly tickling, and Iruka arched his back, smiling when he felt Kakashi's erection against the curve of his ass and simultaneously heard Kakashi's low groan.

"Are you sure you want to stop at just touching me?" Iruka breathed out, tilting his head so that Kakashi's mouth could slide up the curve of his neck.

"Are you up for giving me more, sensei?" Kakashi rejoined in a murmur and suckled on his earlobe.

Iruka would have let Kakashi take him right there against the sink, but he had some brain-cells left, so he took Kakashi by the hand and led him to his bedroom.

*

The slender dragon coiled in its cave, idly watching the water lap at the opening. It shifted on its pile of branches and leaves, which it had spent so much time dragging in, making a comfortable nest. It turned its head, nudging a stick into place and peered at it for a long moment before it decided that the stick was just fine where it was.

A booming sound ripped through the air outside, and the dragon lifted its head in surprise. It waited for a few beats, then flinched as another boom sounded. Cautiously, it slipped out of the nest and padded towards the mouth of its cave, peering out. Light; there was bright blue light right across the wide lake, and the dragon slipped into the water, gliding quickly to the source of the light. It felt no fear, just a growing sense of excitement.

It finally arrived at the massive, glowing ball that hovered just a few feet above the surface of the water, almost blinding in its intensity. The blue dragon circled underwater, gazing up at it through the rippling surface. A jagged arch of light surged out, and there was that powerful boom again.

As the water-dragon began to swim up, the brilliant blue light faded; another dragon twisted in the air, with a strong, long silver body and a glorious mane. The water-dragon had never seen a dragon that belonged to the air before, a being of clouds and lightning and thunder; a feeling akin to fear began to ripple down its back. It was about to hide, to go back to its lonely cave, when the bright eyes of the silver dragon landed on it.

Silver splashed down into the water, and Blue tried to recoil, but felt something tug on its tail. It looked down, and blinked at the silver tail coiled around blue-grey fins. It didn't hurt at all; Blue had thought that this dragon would have harmed it in some way, but it didn't.

Shyly, Blue twisted around the other dragon; this air-dragon was strong and good, and Blue knew that it would make a wonderful mate. The air-dragon hesitated and Blue began to pull away, rejected. Oh... it already had a mate.

In a flash, Blue found itself coiled tightly with the air-dragon, spinning in the water. Blue nipped at the column of Silver's neck, and Silver rolled them both to get a deep breath of air, before releasing Blue and dashing away. It rose out of the water, side-winding above the surface in its natural habitat and Blue chased it, remaining in the lake of course. Blue streaked after Silver as if they were both hatchlings at play. Now and again, Silver would dip into the water, wrapping around Blue affectionately, before darting into the air again.

This fun went on for awhile, until Blue went back to its cave and Silver followed. Blue showed it the nest, and Silver poked at a few leaves, but left most of it just the way Blue had made it. That was good. Silver rubbed its long body against Blue's, their scales shifting with every movement, and Blue allowed Silver to mount, pushing inside Blue's ready entrance. Blue's eyes were half-slitted, watching Silver's claws dig into the rocky earth of their cave as they mated.

Silver clamped onto the back of Blue's neck with powerful jaws as it thrust deeply; Blue shook it off, and bucked wildly as it felt a heated wetness flood inside. Silver's claws scrabbled on the ground, then they were both still.

Silver went to guard the entrance to the cave when it finally removed itself from Blue, and Blue curled into their nest to sleep.

Iruka blinked open his eyes; what a dream. As a child, he often dreamt of Blue. His mother had told him that this was just a manifestation of his nature, his mind trying to work out the two halves that made him whole, human and dragon. Blue aged as Iruka did, going in his dreams from hatchling to young dragon to a fully-grown being...but this was the first time he had dreamt of another dragon. That wasn't so surprising, in any case. It was probably inevitable that his mind would translate the sex with Kakashi like that for Blue, and it was obvious that Silver was an attempt of his subconscious-dragon trying to assimilate the fact of Kakashi's presence.

He smiled to himself, wriggling a little in his bed as he listened to the water splashing in his bathroom. Last night, at the risk of sounding totally cliched, had been amazing. And for their first round, he had been inside Kakashi; he hadn't expected things to go that way and had been utterly surprised when Kakashi had rolled them so that he was underneath Iruka, parting those long legs with a sly grin.

"Sensei first," he had told Iruka, who had wasted no time in exercising that privilege, watching Kakashi's half-lidded eye.

Then, in the still hours of the early morn, Iruka came awake at the sensation of fingers probing him. He hummed sleepily; his body was relaxed, still a little wrung out from the sex before, but willing for a long, slow session... which was exactly what Kakashi gave him.

It had been deliciously slow and yet over far too soon in Iruka's opinion; even now, the air was still heavy with their combined scents and Iruka wallowed in it, waiting for Kakashi to come out of the bathroom. He thought about joining him, but he felt too lazy, too sated to move.

A moment later, the bedroom door slid open and Kakashi stepped inside, rubbing at his hair with a borrowed towel, another towel wrapped tightly around his hips. He glanced at Iruka, apparently checking to see if he was awake and grinned when he found that Iruka was smiling back at him.

The Sharingan was wide-open; Kakashi's grin began to fade. He said, in a low tone: "Sensei. There's something odd about your chakra."

Iruka hoped that there was only puzzlement on his face, because he felt the bottom fall out of his stomach. His seal; he must have done something to it unconsciously last night... or even this morning, during that dream about Blue and Silver. Right now, his water-dragon chakra was probably shining in his human-chakra; Iruka reached into his mental core and swiftly readjusted the seal, hiding his true nature again. He had kept this secret for so long; Mizuki had found out when he had been sneaking around protected records in his search for the Scroll of Seals. Mizuki had bribed and harassed him; when Iruka finally refused to retrieve the Scroll for him, Mizuki had gotten Naruto to do it. He had denounced Iruka as 'weak', but it was not because he had thought that Iruka was physically frail. He said so because he claimed that Iruka wasn't using his dragon nature 'properly'.

Iruka never wanted to know what Mizuki thought was the 'proper' use of his true form. He fought to keep it hidden and under control, thereby comprehending (if only a little bit) Naruto's struggle with the fox-demon. He wasn't sure how Kakashi would react to the truth... but there was no way he was going to take that chance.

"Hmm. It looks normal now," Kakashi mused and frowned heavily.

"Maybe your Sharingan is a little tired... you know, from doing all that recording last night." Iruka brightened his smile and prayed that the sight of him sprawled enticingly in bed was enough distraction. Kakashi's heavy gaze, both red and normal, slid over Iruka's bare body.

"I just took a bath," he pointed out, stepping towards Iruka as if he was being reeled in. Relieved, Iruka went up on his elbows and parted his legs.

"You can take another."

"I have a mission scheduled," Kakashi said, but he was kneeling between Iruka's legs. Iruka sat up and quickly divested him of the towel.

"You can make this quick," Iruka told him, pulling him down. "Can't you?"

Of course, because he was the Copy-nin, Kakashi could.