Chapter 16

Gardening.

Maaa, you're authoress is exhausted, but figured she'd make her lazy ass post this up before it pass out and forgot to post completely.

Enjoy the chap.

….

Iruka hummed happily, swinging his legs slowly as he gazed up at the sky.

It was late afternoon and the sun was out, shining down and warming the earth, a light breeze was playing in and out of the willow tree, making the branches sway.

After their relaxing morning and a simple lunch Ibiki had said he needed to catch up on the gardening, which had been neglected in his absence. Since Iruka didn't have to go anywhere and Kakashi, supposedly, was the same (they didn't really believe him, but if Tsunade killed him it was his own damn fault) both had volunteered to help.

Ibiki had gladly accepted in an 'I'll never turn down voluntary slave labor' kind of way and had sent Kakashi off to clean the pond while Iruka had started weeded the flower beds.

After a few hours Iruka had finished the weeding and had retreated to the swing under the willow tree, letting it sway soothingly as he watched Kakashi, muttering curses in the old wave dialect he'd taught him, as the Jounin drenched himself yet again.

The copy nin had given up on staying dry a while ago and was now standing in the middle of the pond, wet jeans rolled up to his knees and shirt abandoned on the grass, as the Jounin cleaned algae from the pond sides. Despite all appearances Iruka knew Kakashi was actually enjoying himself immensely, especially since he could complain about the task later.

Ibiki had been lumbering around, checking on trees and plants, watering where needed, and spreading fertilizer. Now he was pruning the hazelnut tree, a calm, peaceful look on the scarred face that would have most of his employs fainting in shock.

Iruka though he looked gorgeous.

Smiling the chuunin leant back; hands wrapped loosely around the soft ropes, and tilted his head back. Gazing up at the sky through the waving willow branches, little steams of sunlight finding the scarred face.

At the feeling of a gaze on him Iruka glanced over to see Ibiki staring at him, an odd expression on the scarred face as he watched the chuunin swing gently. Iruka sent him a soft smile which was returned before the Jounin went back to pruning – when a loud yelp followed by a splash had both men looking over at the pond. Where Kakashi had once again managed to drench himself.

Kakashi was on his back under the water, knee caps peeking out over the rippling water as the Jounin surfaced, spewing out a jet of water from his mouth when he did. A good deal of gagging and sputtering followed this.

Ibiki and Iruka both watched the scene in silence for a moment before glancing at each other and bursting into laughter. Kakashi glared at them from his still sprawled position in the pond.

"When I said clean the pond, Kakashi, I didn't mean with yourself" Ibiki chuckled before wondering back into the house while Iruka hopped off the swing and moved to help Kakashi up.

Kakashi grumbled as he stepped out of the pond, water streaming from his hair which was actually tame for once, lying flat on his head and hanging on into both eyes "We just had a shower, I didn't need a bath too!"

The words were growled out but said with a smile, showing Kakashi's good nature toward the whole thing. Iruka smiled and was about to reply when a wave of chakra rippled around the garden and both he and Kakashi were covered in smoke.

Kakashi growled and grabbed Iruka, pushing the younger man behind him –almost sending him into the pond in the process - as he whipped a kunai from his pocket. Taking a defensive stance, ready to protect to the death.

Iruka rolled his eyes. Kakashi obviously hadn't recognized the chakra signature. This was going to be interesting.

"Boss! You ok?"

"Your chakra spiked and we- OW! GURUKO THAT WAS MY EAR"

"Well what's your ear doing under my paw Bis?"

"You bastard that hurt!"

"Who was the moron who used all this smoke?"

"Not me!"

"Guruko did it"

"Nu-uh"

"WILL YOU ALL SHUT UP?"

Silence reigned at the sound of Uhei's voice. In the pack full of male mutts, Pakkun may have been the oldest and Bull the biggest, but the bitch had all the power.

Kakashi had fallen silent too, but for a different reason. The grey eye was twitching uncontrollably as the smoke cleared, revealing all eight of his rowdy mutts in a disarray around the garden. Guruko had tripped over Bisuke who in turn had fallen into Urushi who looked less than thrilled about being squished into a patch of freshly fertilized marigolds.

Akino had landing in the oak tree and lost his glasses, Shiba seemed to have landed in the tree too, but had failed to hold on and was now laying daze at the bottom. Uhei and Bull where sitting calmly in the middle of the clearing, ignoring the rest chaos around them (well, Uhei was shaking her head and Bull simply looked bored) Pakkun had ended up in the pond.

Kakashi loved his pack, no matter what he said about them. They were precious to him and if anything happened to them he would react the same way if someone had hurt a member of team 7. They were his family, in a strange twisted way, unfortunately, like in all families; there was that odd balance between love and hate.

The pack would always protect Kakashi, just as they would always ridicule him when they weren't in a life threaten situation (sometimes they ridiculed him then too) so, though Kakashi wasn't unhappy to see his pack, it's safe to say he didn't really want to see them right then.

Kakashi twitched once more then slowly put the kunai away, switching to crossing his arms and glaring death at his dogs who were still trying to right themselves. "Just what do you mutts think you doing?"

All the dogs froze, glancing over at their master before Uhei snorted. "Helping you. Your chakra spiked, we thought you were in trouble"

"Ya, and why are you wet?"

Kakashi sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. Iruka snickered, leaving him to deal with his pack while he fished Pakkun out of the pond. The pug whimpered as he was hauled from the water by gentle hands and promptly set about drying himself on the grass as soon as his paws hit ground.

"Should I have brought more towels?"

All eyes turned to Ibiki as the big man stepped out from the house, a fluffy blue towel in hand and a bemused expression on the scarred face.

Kakashi huffed. "No, the mutt can fend for himself"

Still smiling uncertainly Ibiki nodded slowly before moving closer, handing the towel to Kakashi who accepted it gratefully. Quickly setting about rubbing himself dry, making his hair stick back up in the process. That made Ibiki smile for some reason.

Pakkun finished shaking off the water by Kakashi's feet, the black pug eyes finally refocusing now that he was rid of the evil water (Kakashi only bathed the pack twice a year due to the fact it always turned into a battle. None of the pack liked getting wet. Ever) they turned upward, following the line of Ibiki's big legs and torso until the pug was craning his neck to see the scarred face.

The black nose crinkled curiously.

"Boss…"

Kakashi paused from shaking water from his ear and glanced down at the ninken. "Yes Pakkun?"

"Why is the Bear here?"

Both Kakashi and Ibiki choked at the same time for different reasons. Ibiki in surprised while Iruka suspected Kakashi's was in horror. The younger man was simply amused. And people though Naruto was bad when it came to giving people nick-names.

"I- well, its-"

"I'm here because this is my house Ninken-san"

The pack tilted their heads curiously at Ibiki's respectful answer.

"Your house?" Pakkun glanced around, approval and respect filling the droopy face as he expected the parts of the garden that didn't involve big vats of water.

"Mmm, and if your bothers would be so kind as to get out of the marigolds I would appreciate it" Ibiki's lips twitched when Bisuke and Guruko gave him whimpers of apology as they slunk out of the bright orange flowers.

Shaking his head Ibiki moved to the oak tree and gently pulled Akino from the branch, setting him down before fishing the dog's glasses from the bush and handing them back to the ninken, who took them in his mouth.

Ibiki then moved to Shiba, who was still lying winded and slowly set the dog upright, rubbing slow circles on the mutt's tummy until Shiba was once again breathing right. The ninken gave the big Jounin a weak smile and lick before trotting slowly over to the rest.

The big man then returned to the other two still standing by the pond and the noisy pug sitting at Kakashi's feet. There was a curious, thoughtful look on the droopy, whiskered face. Stopping in front of the younger Jounin Ibiki's brow rose slowly.

"'The Bear?'"

Kakashi suddenly became very interested in drying his arms.

Pakkun however ignored his master's obvious distress. Instead he leant in, taking a deep whiff of Kakashi's scent before going over to sniff Ibiki. A look of pure confusion on the pug's face.

"Boss…."

"What Pakkun" Kakashi snarled down at the pug, adding a glare for good measure. Pakkun simply raised one puppy brow.

"Why do you smell like Morino?"

A mallet smacking him on the top of the head would have hit gentler than those six innocent words. What little colour Kakashi had drained from his face and he was left gaping. It didn't help when the rest of the Pack gasped and ran forward, all seven of the dogs running circles around the two Jounin, sniffing.

Pakkun sat back, a weary, hopeless expression of his face as he shook his head at Kakashi. "I told you to go talk to him, pup, not mate with him"

Ibiki's jaw dropped, Kakashi started sputtering and his knees almost gave out while Iruka burst into gales of laughter.

The pack turned to the chuunin, just noticing he was there as they gasped in delight and let up on their examination of Ibiki as they ran over to Iruka, pulling the young man to the ground so they could cover him in puppy affection.

Pakkun went to looking at Iruka, to looking at to Kakashi, to looking at Ibiki and back before freezing on Kakashi. The droopy face becoming more confused by the second until the black eyes were in danger of crossing.

The other dogs were fairly close behind, as by now they too had recognized the scents mixed on Iruka's own clothes and body. They fact they had all washed their clothes in Ibiki's washer and both Kakashi and Iruka had used the big Jounin's soap added to it.

It was Bisuke who broke first.

"Kaka smells like – and – Ruka too – like mates – when – what – HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?"

Iruka chuckled and pulled the hyperventilating dog to his chest. "Because it is, Ibiki and I are both Kakashi's mates now"

Kakashi sent Iruka a weak smile while Ibiki mouthed the word 'mate' silently behind him, an extremely bemused look on the scarred face. All eight dogs turned to the young sensei, a similar confusion on their face.

"Humans can do that?" Guruko tilted his head to the side like that would make the whole thing make sense.

Iruka just grinned. "Well, it's not very common, but yes"

"But-"Shiba tilted his head too. "How do you know who's the bitch and who's the alpha?"

Iruka chuckled while Kakashi slammed a hand back over his face and Ibiki's jaw dropped again. Luckily Iruka had been around the Pack enough to know the word 'bitch' in dog language was not an insult, especially when a ninken or and Iunzuka said it.

Smiling Iruka reached over to pet Shiba on the head. "Human's don't really use that system Shi, so none of us really are"

"Oh" Shiba leant farther into the touch. "Weird"

Iruka grinned as the rest of the pack crowded around from their share of attention. Kakashi sighed and flopped down to the ground next to the chuunin, towel hanging around his shoulders as he too reached out to give the ninken some petting.

Ibiki simply smiled before wandering back to the hazel tree to finish his task, Bull immediately following him, examining the big Jounin with avid curiosity that turned to delight when Ibiki began tossing a tree branch for him to chase.

Pretty soon Ibiki was throwing tree limbs of various sizes for each dog, resulting in a chaos as ninken scrambled every which way, trying to find their own special stick while heeding Ibiki's pervious request to stay out of the plant beds.

Kakashi and Iruka sat back, watching the fun while enjoying the sun's warmth. Kakashi humming as he lay back on the grass, arms folded behind him.

"Mmm, I could get used to this"

Iruka glanced over at the mumbled words and smiled. Leaning over he pressed a kiss to the copy nin's brow before getting up, about to go inside to make them all a drink when Kakashi gasped, shooting out a hand to grab the slender wrist before Iruka could leave.

"Ru- I almost forgot-"

Iruka tilted his head and looked down at the older man, stepping back slightly so he was once again close. "Ya?"

Kakashi blushed, quickly letting go of the others wrist and shaking his head. "N-never mind, it's nothing I-"

Iruka felt his eye twitch. He grinned mischievously before he threw himself into Kakashi's lap. "Kaaaassshhii. What? You can't say 'I almost forgot' then play it off. Whatcha need?"

Kakashi was still blushing and was also flustered due to the fact he now had a lapful of playful chuunin. Iruka was trailing soft, teasing kisses over the pale face and neck, exploiting the fact Kakashi couldn't resist such treatment for long.

"I – I – Ahh, I have somet- something to t-to give you"

Iruka gasped and pulled back, bouncing slightly. "A present? For me?"

Kakashi chuckled at the younger man's over eager response and nodded. Reaching out for his discarded shirt he searched through the pockets before pulling out something small that glint in the sunlight. Before Iruka could get a good look at it Kakashi pulled him forward and hooked the thing around the dark neck. Leaning away slightly he straightened it, smiling and nodding, pleased with the result.

Canning his head to see the thing now hanging around his neck, Iruka carefully lifted the silver chain away from his chest until he could clearly see the small trinket attached to the end. A small piece of uncut blue stone was encased by little threads of silver, showing off the gleaming edges.

"It's a sapphire" Kakashi gently reached out to touch the stone held in the dark hand. "It was my mothers. I wanted to give you something to show you – well– "

Iruka smiled, leaning forward and wrapping his arms around the older man. "I love it Kakashi, thank you"

Kakashi smiled back before claiming the small mouth in the long kiss. Iruka was flushed and grinning when they pulled back, he planted one last sweet kiss over Kakashi's left eye then pulled himself up from the ground. The sapphire gleaming as it moved over the dark skin.

"Ru – umm"

Iruka glanced back at his lover who had yet to move from the ground. "Yes Kashi?"

The blush was back, full force. Iruka always found it amusing that Kakashi teased him about blushing all the time when he did it just as much. Though Iruka didn't have a mask to hide behind, like Kakashi usually did.

"I- Uh, well, my father had a necklace too and – uh – well – do, do you think-"

Iruka crossed his arms, raising one brow as he waited for the Jounin to stammer his way through the question. "Do I think what Kakashi?"

Kakashi gulped. "D-do you think I should give it to Ibiki?"

Iruka froze, his mind taken a moment to process the unexpected words before he gasped and threw himself back into Kakashi's arms, kissing him hard. Kakashi was panting and looking decidedly pleased when he pulled back. "Is that a yes?"

Chuckling Iruka gave the thin lips one last lick before climbing back up and giving Kakashi the brightest smile he could manage. Then turning he headed back to the house, planning on what to make them for dinner and rounding up a few dogs to help him in the task, Bisuke, Uhei and Shiba all following him instantly.

The other pack members went back to Kakashi while Bull stuck by Ibiki, 'helping' the big Jounin as he turned over topsoil. Ibiki was ignoring the big dog who was digging a huge whole in the yard and occasionally hitting him with dirt. Kakashi hand to hand it to the guy, he had patience.

Laying back down Kakashi closed his eyes, soaking in the feelings. His pack playing like puppies – not weapons – around him, the smell of honey suckle, herbs, flowers and freshly turned earth, The sound of the breeze, running water and Ibiki's low, throaty humming.

Kakashi smiled, sun warming his bare face. He could get used to this.

….

Hello darlings! So there was no more smut in this chapter, sorry, but thanks KakashiXIrukaLover and the rest of you wonderful perverted dears I have started working on a few bonus chapters at the very end of the story dedicated to glorious smut! So that's something to look forward to.

Please review if you loved the puppy love!