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Chapter 5; Retirement
Kakashi came home from the hospital on Thursday. It was raining, so the transfer was rather quick, no parading through town in a wheelchair, as much as Naruto had hoped, there was simply Iruka settling Kakashi in the chair, the older man's legs propped on the foot rests, toes bare and oddly dumb looking protruding from the ends of casts, holding the light pack that held his medication, spare clothes and that damned orange fleece blanket with the Icha-Icha logo printed in a slightly lighter shade on it, that he'd insisted Iruka go home and fetch not long after the teacher had appeared the Saturday before, 'Because it's a proven fact that bright colors and familiar items help speed up recovery time!'
Iruka hated it when Kakashi spouted fact amid his thinly veiled sarcasm.
As soon as Kakashi was settled, grumbling that he was feeling a peculiar draft, and was Iruka sure the sheet was completely covering him back there? Iruka smiled and kissed the top of his head. Focusing his energy, syncing it with Kakashi's, he teleported them right into their living room.
The Pack was there, the newer members leaping around barking loudly and laughing. Kakashi pushed them away gently saying over and over that he was OK, and dammit Chohiro, that had better not be a piddle under the coffee table!
The little dappled wiener dog tucked his tail, large brown eyes wide and mournful, and he puffed away in a flash of smoke.
Iruka chuckled and pushed Kakashi toward the bedroom, ignoring how the man leaned far to the side, still calling instructions to his dogs over his shoulder, waving his hand around and twisting his other arm in its sling, trying to get the larger dogs to save him from what could only be an unsavory and entirely too boring convalescence locked away in the bedroom.
Iruka already had the bed turned down, numerous pillows stacked strategically on the mattress in a pattern he knew Kakashi liked to sleep in… Mainly imitating a staple with his arms and legs out.
Though for someone who normally loved staying in bed for hours with his lover, Kakashi was being rather objectionable.
"But, Ruka! I've been in bed for a WEEK already! Isn't that long enough?" He whined, grabbing at things trying to distract the teacher.
"Sakura said you were to stay in bed until Tuesday and let your chakra recover. She only let you come home early so she could have a valid reason to keep Naruto out of the hospital and out of her hair."
Kakashi groaned and went limp, which didn't help Iruka in his endeavors to move his lover from the chair to the bed one bit. "Which means that by lunch time, the apartment will be swarming with Anbu and Uzumakis…"
"Yep."
Raising his hand weakly and letting it flop about on a limp wrist Kakashi hissed out in a distressed, almost nonexistent feeble voice. "Get me to bed… I'm too delicate to handle this madness."
Iruka almost dropped him his laughing fit was so intense. And he ended up holding Kakashi under the arms, the man's plaster encased right leg still on the foot rest, Kakashi's behind on the floor.
"Your bedside manner leaves much to be desired, Ru…"
Kakashi was still grumbling when Iruka managed to get him into the bed, making sure his legs were arranged in as comfortable a position as he could get.
Kakashi's right leg was fully casted, from foot to hip, a fracture in his femur and two in his tibia. His left leg had gotten off easier, a rather simple break between knee and ankle. Not as bad as it could have been, but bad enough.
For a long few minutes Iruka sat at his hip staring at him. Relieved and still slightly disbelieving that it was over. Kakashi had officially retired.
No more sleepless nights, no more sitting by his hospital bedside while his lover barely clung to his life.
Kakashi looked up at him with a sour, pouting look on his masked face, his lower lip poking out the dark fabric comically. "Why are you crying… You're not the one who was dropped on his sore ass."
Iruka chuckled under his breath and wiped his eyes; "And why, exactly is your ass sore? I know for a fact it's not my fault."
"You try staying in bed for a week, your ass'll get sore too. And this damned cast is causing me to chafe… Maybe you should get Sakura-chan to heal me and then we—"
Iruka was opening his mouth to speak, but at that moment there was a knock on the door.
Kakashi moaned loudly pulling the blanket over his eyes; "Tell them I'm dead!"
Patting his lover's uninjured shoulder, he stood and walked to the front door, pausing long enough to take a deep breath, and push those thin graying wisps of hair behind his ear.
The door was no sooner unlocked than Iruka found himself surrounded, tiny arms squeezing around his knees and hips, squealing little voices.
"OJIICHAN!"
His heart swelled and he touched each head fondly then looked up into a broadly grinning face.
"How is the Old Man, Iruka-sensei?"
Naruto, oddly enough, hadn't really changed that much over the years. Save a greater sense of paranoia and responsibility.
His height had evened off at just an inch below Iruka's own. He was slender but well built. His hair grown longer and pulled back at the nape of his neck. He'd traded in his all orange suit for Jounin blacks, a red and black long coat, and almost always wore a white belted tunic Hinata had made for him with thin orange flames around the cuffs.
He was still loud and at times could be dense, but he'd grown considerably, into a well rounded competent man.
"Naruto, don't just stand there blocking the doorway, I'm sure these nice young men would like to get out of the rain." Hinata lifted a dainty little hand and flipped his ear.
He winced, cupping a hand over the spot and pouted at her. "Yes, Ma'am…"
Hinata, Iruka decided. Had changed the most.
Since the loss of her father in the final battle, she'd lost that tentative, self conscious streak. Not to say she still wasn't shy, because she was. But she was also a strong woman who wasn't afraid to stand up for those she loved. She could be quite intimidating when she needed to be. And other times, like now, she could be the calm, sweet mothering type that had the whole village eating from the palm of her hand.
The five Anbu guards near them in their rain cloaks shifted uncomfortably on their feet scratching their necks.
There were only four people in the whole village who dared push their Hokage about; Hinata, Sakura, and the two men who lived in this very apartment.
And Hinata was the only one he listened to without grumbling or threatening.
Naruto stepped inside when Iruka and his burden shuffled backward, and kicked off his sandals, offering Hinata a hand to balance her (as if she needed it) as she removed her own, offering to hold the baby she had in her arms.
As the Anbu filtered in one by one, Iruka turned his attention to the brood still clinging to him, giggling whenever he tried to move.
Over the last eleven years, since their marriage, Naruto and Hinata had had eight children. Most of them multiples; two sets of twins, a set of triplets and then their last, Hinata had ushered Naruto to the hospital for the procedure* herself after she'd discovered the pregnancy.
The eldest twins, nine years old, were Amaya and Atsuko. Identical girls that looked almost exactly like Hinata, save their vulpine grins and energetic attitude. Iruka shivered at the idea of having them in his class.
Next, at six years old, were Izumi and their first son Yuki. Izumi was a very pale child with the classic Hyuuga looks, and she also the most timid of the Uzumaki family. She usually hid behind her mother's or her father's leg, but her brother had been born with Naruto's outgoing attitude and oddly enough, bright red hair.
After the birth Kakashi confirmed that this trait wasn't unusual, since Naruto's own mother had sported that same color, and that this explained why all the children had been born with Byakugan, because it was dominant in their genetics.
And then, at three years old, there were The Triplets.
Katsumi, Hotaru and Hitomi. Katsumi took after Hinata in every way it seemed, save her since of humor, that child underneath her timid mask, was a prankster that made Iruka proud. Hotaru was Katsumi's partner in crime, and though she was a little slow at times, she took to things very quickly. And then there was Hitomi. Who, by some odd genetic fluke, had been born with Byakugan, like all her siblings. But her eyes were not the usual pale lavender, but bright, bright blue.
And last, but certainly not least, was the six month old Yuudai. A plump little pink cheeked baby with bright blonde hair.
Iruka was glad Naruto could make so many shadow clones sometimes. Because taking care of eight children was hard. He was sure Hinata appreciated all the help.
"Ojiichan!" Yuki pulled on his shirt, grinning widely up at him. "Ojiichan, look what I can do!"
Naruto turned, teeth bared, eyes wide and rolled up to the whites; "YUKI, NO!"
POOF!
From the bedroom Kakashi heard someone choke followed by a few loud thumps and childish giggles, and Naruto groaning loudly.
"W-when… W-what!" Hinata stuttered quickly and not a second later there were loud, sharp slapping noises.
"Ow, OUCH! Hin- OUCH! Hinata-chan! OW!"
"Don't you 'ow' me! Where did he learn that!"
"He must have picked it up off the road of life!"
Kakashi heard Iruka growl deeply, and suddenly children were laughing loudly and Naruto was whining.
"OW! Not you too, Iruka sens- OUCH!"
One of the hooded Anbu slipped into the room and Kakashi blinked at him, watching with detached amusement as the smooth Sheep mask lifted to reveal Naruto's worried face.
"Do you think they'll be more angry when they find out that Konohamaru taught it to him, or that they're beating up a modified shadow clone."
"You have to teach me that jutsu sometime… It could come in really handy."
Naruto beamed; "It's saved my ass a couple times already!"
"I'd switch back awful quick if I were you though, weren't you telling me just last week that Hinata's pinches were the only thing you'd come across so far that could pop them?"
Glancing out the door at the ruckus, Naruto made a blur of hand signs and Kakashi was alone in the room again.
"Yuki-chan, please don't do that jutsu, I thought we talked about this…"
"But Kono-sensei said you taught him when he was my age."
Naruto sighed audibly. "I knew that would come back to bite me in the ass… I knew it."
Hinata sighed her voice conveying much annoyance, but also much love. "Naruto…"
Iruka clapped his hands; "Well… Who wants Mochi? The Ninkin said I was to make some special."
"ME!" "OJIICHAN, I WANT SOME!" "ME TOO!" "ME! ME!"
"You made mochi, Iruka-sensei?" Naruto's voice sounded quite chipper now.
Oh, how Kakashi envied his ability to be completely defeated one moment, and on top of the world the next.
He shifted, nestling down amid the blankets and pillows, sighing in a deep way that only someone who was smugly comfortable can manage.
His comfort though, was short lived, because a few minutes later, almost like a cartoon, or a Three Stooges film… Little heads popped around the doorframe staring at him with pinched, silent mouths and pale luminescent eyes, bits of mochi and sweet bean paste stuck to the corners of lips.
Kakashi feigned sleep, head turned to the side, face slack beneath his mask, breathing slow and even.
Six sets of little feet padded quietly across the floor.
They get quieter every time…
Their chakra flickered wildly with emotion and Kakashi couldn't help but grin, his attempts of keeping a straight face foiled by harmonizing giggles and the tingling sensation of little fingers creeping closer and closer to his face.
At the very last second before those sticky little fingers could catch the fabric of his mask, Kakashi opened his eye; "Maaa, It's not nice to sneak up on sleeping old men… Especially sleeping old men who can't defend themselves against mini-nin."
Izumi gasped and darted away, Yuki waved his arms chasing after his twin; "GAH! I TOLD YOU HE WAS AWAKE!"
Katsumi poked out her tongue and propped her little fists on her hips. And Atsuko piped up with a sweet dimpled little smile; "Ojiichan wants to know if you want some tea and mochi."
"Yes, please."
The throng fluttered away on soft little feet, leaving Kakashi alone—Well, not quite alone.
Hotaru was climbing up onto the bed by his feet, pushing the blankets up to his shins and poking at his casts with the deftness and curiosity of any three-year-old.
"They hurt?"
He grunted and tilted his head to look at her.
She looked up, pushing a lock of shoulder length hair behind her ear gazing up at him with pale nervous eyes; "Do your legs hurt terribly?"
"Ah… They ache a bit."
She nodded and counted his toes, silent for a few moments. "When I shut my finger in the door once it hurt terribly." She held up her finger for his inspection. "Otousan kissed it better though… It doesn't hurt now." She smiled brightly and her head turned to the side in that sweet innocent way of hers; "Should 'Tousan kiss you better, Obaachan?"
Kakashi had never liked the nickname, but seethe about it in private he might, he would never tell them to stop… It was better than 'Kaka-jii' any day in his opinion.
"No, 'Tousan doesn't need to kiss me better," He chuckled. "I don't think it would work on me anyway… He's not my 'Tousan."
She nodded and was quiet for a few breaths; "I'm glad you're OK, Obaachan… I miss you when you go away." She counted his toes one more time, a compulsion he'd noticed she had picked up from overhearing Naruto greeting people.
Whenever the blonde commented on someone's return from a dangerous mission, or when seeing them for the first time after a while, he would say; 'Still have all ten fingers and toes? AH, good then, no harm done!'
He watched her for a while counting each way she reminded him of Hinata, each way she reminded him of Naruto, and each way she reminded him of Minato-sensei and Kushina… Then mentally shaking his head, because despite the similarities, she was indeed her own little person, just like all of Naruto and Hinata's children.
"'Taru, 'Tousan is going to eat your mochi!" Hitomi shouted desperately.
The girl gasped and leapt from the bed, feet thudding as she ran down the hall, pointing emphatically with a little pale finger. "BAKA! BACK AWAY FROM MY MOCHI!"
Settling deeper into the bed, Kakashi found himself smiling as his eyes drifted shut.
Maybe retirement wasn't such a bad thing…
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* 'The Procedure' = Vasectomy
F) Amaya 9 = night rain
F) Atsuko 9 = kind child
F) Izumi 6 = Fountain
M) Yuki 6 = Snow
F) Katsumi 3 = Victorious beauty
F) Hotaru 3 = Lightening Bug
F) Hitomi 3 = Pupil (of the eye) Beautiful Eye
M) Yuudai 6 months = Glorious Hero
Otousan or 'Tousan = Father, Dad
Ojiichan = Grandpa
Obaachan = Grandma
Kaka-jii = Old Man Kaka
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