Disclaimer: If I owned the world, I still wouldn't own Naruto, because the lawyers I'd need to use to purchase the rights to the series with would be suffering in a nuclear winter. Or dead. Or robots.
First Kiss
-5. Character Death-
A/N: Don't kill me! The character died for a good cause...
***
"Umino! Dispel the genjutsu, then follow me," Kakashi called out as he kicked an enemy ninja rushing towards them out of the way. Iruka swiftly did as he was instructed, and easily kept up with the jounin, which impressed the older man as he was quite proud of the past week of training he'd been doing to increase his speed and agility.
Iruka caught an oncoming nin by the collar of his shirt and flung him towards a group of guards, effectively bowling them over, as they rushed past the entrance that now stood open.
"Watch out for the trap," Kakashi said unnecessarily as the chuunin leaped over it with ease.
"More enemies," Iruka said, his brow knitted in concentration as he launched at the oncoming men, taking out a few in the front with a single kunai, before knocking out the rest with a flurry of kicks, aware of Kakashi slaughtering a second group of chuunin nearby.
"I thought you didn't like killing people?" Kakashi asked, as Iruka slashed a blade across an enemy's abdomen, splaying blood across the ground.
"I don't. This hardly counts," said Iruka with a grimace as he disboweled another nin before the two men hurried through another set of doors.
"This is it," Iruka said reverently, roughly healing some of his more serious wounds and checking his equipment.
"I'll take out the boss, you stay behind and heal me," said Kakashi firmly, leaping ahead.
"What?? I'm not going to just sit behind and throw chakra at you while you take all the damage!" Iruka scowled, following the older man.
"Just stay back, Iruka!" Kakashi said with a growl, trying to sprint away but to no avail, as Iruka easily caught up.
"This is my mission too, Hatake," Iruka said stubbornly.
"You're just a chuunin, you'll get us both killed," Kakashi said roughly, dispatching the last of the small fries as they got closer to the arena where they knew a group of high level jounin lay in wait.
"You're just one jounin, you won't survive more than a minute," Iruka retorted, keeping up with Kakashi despite his protests.
"I'm stronger than you, you know that. I also need you to survive so you can deliver the scroll, Iruka," Kakashi said in exasperation.
"You'll get offed before you even kill a single one of them if you go in alone!" Iruka argued. "What, you think they'll just let me skip ahead after they've gotten rid of you?"
"It'll do just as much good if we both died," Kakashi retorted.
"Neither of us will die if we worked together," Iruka said with a scowl, "You're the one who's all anal about teamwork. Work with me on this, okay?"
Kakashi scowled at the shorter man, before he gave in with a sigh, "Fine, but if we both die, I'm blaming you."
"If we both win, I'll take all the rewards," said Iruka with a tight grin as he pushed open the heavy doors to the final chamber, and the two men stepped inside to face their fate.
"I still think you should have stayed behind to heal," Kakashi piped up as he rushed towards the group of unsuspecting jounin in the centre of the hall, managing to get within a few meters before they attacked. Iruka kicked one of them aside as he blocked a blade that was aimed straight at Kakashi's neck.
"Don't be ridiculous, Hatake. Admit that I was right," said Iruka, quickly dodging a line of attacks from one of the jounin.
"You weren't right, I could take these guys out and even deliver the scroll on my own," said Kakashi stubbornly.
"Yeah? You really think so?" Iruka said darkly, a growl in his voice as he blocked yet another attack aimed straight at the stubborn jounin's skull.
"Yeah. Too easy," said Kakashi with a scoff.
Iruka felt his nerve snap.
"Fine, let's see how well you do," he growled. He stopped all movement, and gave a final, furious glare before one of the enemy jounin sliced a blade clean through his neck.
"Hey! That's not fair!" Kakashi called, a hint of panic in his eyes as he managed to dodge a frontal attack but at the expense of a kunai in his back, "That's childish, Iruka, and you know it!" Kakashi yelled grumpily, jumping up, momentarily out of reach as he tried to rethink a strategy now that Iruka got himself killed. He leapt back in a second later with a formulated plan, leading the enemy jounin towards the corner of the room and closing them in so they weren't as spread out, and this way he could attack them more or less one at a time.
"Ha! See, I'm doing pretty well on my own, Iruka-sensei," Kakashi gloated, finally managing to kill one of the four jounin, and a second one closely after, but his health was too low, and he knew that he wouldn't be able to survive past the third guy, who had a very large sword and a bizarre hairstyle, so you knew that he was powerful.
Not that Kakashi could talk.
Suddenly his eyes widened as he felt soft hands on his abs, gently sliding upwards under his vest to his chest, as another hand glided over his neck, up to his face, pulling his attention away from the battlefield. His mind instantly clouded over as the delicious warmth closed in, soft lips brushing against his own, warm breath tickling his lips as Iruka pressed himself against the older man, sliding his tongue into Kakashi's mouth, the corners of his lips curling upwards at the deep groan from Kakashi's throat.
The chuunin finally pulled away a few minutes later, smirking at the blush on Kakashi's cheeks, and the clouded look still in his eyes. Kakashi finally snapped out of it as he stared at the flashing words on the screen:
Game Over.
He scowled deeply.
"You, sir, are a sore loser," Kakashi said, staring angrily at the flashing words on the screen while his character's body lay mangled besides Iruka's as the screen slowly started fading to black.
"Kakashi, we've played Shinobi Ages with Naruto countless times already, haven't you gotten sick of it?" Iruka sighed, stretching luxuriously, his spine clicking a few times as a reminder that he'd been hunched before the TV for hours.
"No I haven't," Kakashi said stubbornly. He quietly admired the caramel skin of Iruka's navel that slowly revealed itself as the chuunin stretched.
"Well, I have. It's got some pretty cool physics, and the real time wounds are great, I'll admit, but you kind of get sick of bowling over groups of enemies using another enemy after doing it for the umpteenth time. Can't we play something else?" Iruka asked with a sigh.
Kakashi glared at Iruka silently, causing the chuunin to examine the older man in curiosity.
"Kakashi…are you still blushing?" Iruka asked, disbelief and amusement in his voice. Kakashi's scowl deepened as he turned his glaring eyes at the ground.
"That was our first kiss," he muttered angrily. Iruka couldn't help the chuckle that escaped his throat at the jounin's sentiments.
"What, it wasn't good enough for you?" Iruka teased.
"You used it to distract me in order to prove a point. It was a formulated tactic. It wasn't meaningful or anything," Kakashi said sulkily. Iruka could practically see the pout forming. He sighed and scooted closer to the older man, who looked away in stubborn anger.
"Then I'll try again," said Iruka, gently cupping Kakashi's face in his palms and turning the handsome face towards his once more as he leaned in, a soft smile on his lips at the light blush on Kakashi's cheeks, and pressed his lips tenderly against the jounin's. He placed small, chaste kisses against the soft lips, his fingers trailing down the face that was so rarely revealed, across the firm definition of Kakashi's neck and shoulders, before sliding down the strong back as his lips parted with a tiny groan as Kakashi's tongue shyly ventured forwards.
Iruka sucked the warm tongue into his mouth and gently suckled on it as he brought his hands up under Kakashi's shirt, kneading into the taught muscles of the older man's back, gently caressing old scars and savoring the little moans that he was rewarded with as Kakashi pressed in closer, pushing Iruka down on the floor so that he lay on his back as Kakashi gently nibbled on Iruka's lips. Eventually, after Iruka planted one last, small kiss on the corner of Kakashi's lips, the two men parted, both breathless, their cheeks dusted red with pleasure.
"Was that better?" Iruka asked.
"It would have been an amazing first kiss," Kakashi retorted stubbornly, but his eyes were still cloudy and his breath ragged.
"How about I make it up to you with many more?" Iruka asked, his hands lazily trailing up and down Kakashi's spine as he laid pressed beneath the jounin's firm body, his cheeks burning at the feeling of Kakashi's hardness pressed against his hips, his own not so discreet either.
"That might make me feel a little better, yes," Kakashi said, a small smile on his lips as he leaned in, lightly licking the tip of Iruka's nose.
"I thought you wanted to play Shinobi Ages?" Iruka teased as Kakashi rested his forehead against his own.
"I was getting bored of that game anyways," Kakashi mumbled, before pressing his lips against Iruka's for another first kiss.
***
A/N: I think this would count as both parties winning, so Iruka gets all the rewards *cookies for Iruka!* (Iruka: Woo!)
And no, of course I wouldn't do REAL character death. Psh. Happy endings ftw! XD
Any gamers out there might understand some of Iruka's frustrations at being told to hang back because of their lower levels when playing with higher leveled teammates. Or maybe not. Personally, I quite enjoy cowering behind tanks, sponging exp and chucking in a potion from time to time, but I hear that the braver members of geekdom actually like the action of battle…go figure.
Hehe, by the way, I've always kind of really liked the idea of Kakashi and Iruka sitting on the floor in their old vests and sweatpants playing video games and arguing about tactics…