Chapter four: Confession
Iruka yawned, leaving the unmarked tests in favour a stretching and returning some feeling to his legs for a moment. The chuunin stalked over to the kettle and boiled some water for tea. He leant against the counter and ran a hand over his face. Stray strands of hair were hanging over his eyes, and instead of just brushing them aside, he took out his hair tie and slipped it around his wrist.
He raked his fingers through his chestnut brown hair. With a sigh he poured the water in a cup for his green tea. Taking the cup in hand, Iruka sat back down at the kitchen table and started marking again. He was halfway through the tests and he was fed up with them. The chuunin had a fleeting thought that he might just as well pass them all, sparing him the trouble of marking. But, that would be a bad idea in the long run.
Iruka held the cup to his lips and enjoyed the tea at a leisurely pace. His days were busy, doubly so with a jounin trotting behind him everywhere he went. Between the Academy and his shifts at the Missions Office, he barely had time to check up on Kakashi. The silver-haired shinobi was healing well, but Iruka had a feeling that the Hokage would keep him from any missions for some time to come.
Glancing at the clock, Iruka put his cup down. Maybe it was time to call it a night. The chuunin was obviously not going to return to marking so he might as well get some sleep. Standing up, he set his cup down in the sink and proceeded to turn off the light when a light tingling sensation passed over him. His body froze in place, his senses alert. He wasn't alone.
Iruka heard something by his window. Dressed in a t-shirt and sweatpants, his weapons pouch was in his room and the nearest weapon was a kitchen knife. The chuunin silently walked backwards to the sink and felt about for the said knife. His fingers grazed the grip and he immediately curled his fingers around it, holding it at the ready in front of him.
The latch to his window was being picked at. The brunette stalked over to the window as silently as he could, pressing himself against the wall, waiting for the person to pull back the curtain. All Iruka could hear was his pulse thundering in his ears and the sharp click of the latch as it opened up. The window was opened and a gloved hand pulled the curtain aside. Before the intruder could set a foot on the inside, Iruka had lunged out at them, pinning the person to the floor and holding the knife up to their throat.
It took the chuunin a moment to take in the sight before him. Hatake Kakashi, the infamous Copy Nin was pinned to the floor, with a knife to his throat. Iruka didn't move, even after he had identified the intruder.
"What are you doing breaking into my place in the middle of the night?" he asked, drawing back, freeing the jounin's hands and relieving the pressure from his throat.
Kakashi knew he was being talked to, but the initial shock of being taken by complete surprise for the first time in years, was taken over by the appearance of the sensei straddling his waist. It was nothing special, but Iruka had his hair down, something the jounin had never seen the chuunin do in public. The dark waves of his hair framed the sides of his tanned face and fell to lightly rest on his shoulders, and with that knife he held in his hand, made him look all the more sexy in Kakashi's eyes.
"Maa, I was bored and couldn't sleep," he said, not making a move, in case it would cause Iruka to move from his current position. "I came by to see if you were awake."
"It's the middle of the night. What made you think I would be awake at this hour?"
"Well, you're an Academy teacher and you do shifts at the Missions Office, so I assumed you would be up marking either tests or redoing mission reports." Kakashi found it was worth all the trouble of breaking in when Iruka blushed down at him when the chuunin finally realized what he was sitting on.
Iruka said nothing and got off of the jounin in a fluid motion. Sighing, the chuunin sat down at the kitchen table, taking his red marker in hand. He might as well get it over with, now that he was wide awake again.
"Maa, Iruka-sensei?" the said man did nothing more than 'hn' and continued marking. "How many missions have you been sent on?" Kakashi sat down on the edge of the table, the only part that was not littered with paper.
Iruka lifted his head from the papers, a frown creasing his brow. The question came out of the blue and the brunette was suspicious about the jounin's mind in asking it. He answered the question on the less.
"288 D-rank, 183 C-rank, 90 B-rank and 12 A-rank missions, adding up to a total of 573 completed missions."
The jounin shrugged a shoulder, his back to the brunette. "And in the last year?"
Iruka wondered what Kakashi wanted to accomplish from his questioning. "None, I have been busy at the Academy." He said. "Kakashi, what is this all about?"
The silver-haired shinobi slid off the table and turned around to face the tanned chuunin. He leant forward, pressing his hands flat onto the table and looked Iruka hard in the eye. "You completely masked your charka, making it seem non-existent. I didn't even know you were waiting for me to get inside, and not to mention the traps. Those traps are more complex than that done by an ANBU, and trust me; I've seen plenty of those." Iruka's frown deepened. "You would be a much greater asset to Konoha by doing missions and from what I have seen; you are more than capable of it."
The chuunin huffed out hot air that had collected in his cheeks. "Teaching the children to become shinobi is more important." He met Kakashi's glare.
"Are you afraid of something – is that why you won't leave your little comfort zone?" the jounin asked, seeing a small glint of emotion in the other's russet eyes. "Our comrades are risking their lives while you sit here behind the village walls too afraid to protect something important." Kakashi saw he hit a nerve on that last one.
Iruka abruptly stood up, making his chair scrape across the wooden floor. "What makes you think you can just go and assume that I'm afraid of something?"
"Because I can see it in your eyes!" the jounin yelled at him, hands clenched at his side. "What is it – are you afraid of death, is that it?" Kakashi felt his stomach churn at the thought. He had lost so many of his friends and loved ones, but he wasn't going to cry in a corner about it.
"You know nothing about me!" Iruka slammed his palms onto the table, causing papers to flutters to the floor. "Do you think I want to sit around while my former students – my little brother go around fighting in a war where they could die at any given moment?" Iruka paused, his breath a little ragged from his shouting. "I'm not some coward that will cower away in a hole while others risk their lives. I sit here because I have no other choice!"
Kakashi narrowed his eye. "What do you mean you have no other choice?" The chuunin gasped and quickly tried to control his erratic heart rate.
The brunette lowered his head; waves of his chestnut coloured hair fell in front of his face. The older man tried to see the emotions that were playing across the tan, but he could not see beyond the thick curtain of hair.
Iruka looked up at Kakashi again, a calm expression in place. The jounin saw doubt in those hazel orbs and sighed, running a hand through his hair. The damage was done and now he had to try and selvage the situation.
"You doubt yourself don't you?" the silver-haired shinobi carefully watched the chuunin. "You're afraid that you are not strong enough to protect everyone, afraid that someone will die on your watch." The brunette gave no reply, but stared at the floor. "You are a talented shinobi and Konoha could use you."
Iruka said nothing and left the room, shutting himself in his bedroom. Kakashi wanted to stop him, to catch his wrist as he passed by but let him go. The jounin knew there was no way he was going to be able to get anywhere the rest of the evening. He put on his shoes and left through the window, closing it behind him. Kakashi decided that he would just apologise the next morning when he saw the chuunin again – that was if Iruka did not make a point of avoiding him.
XxxxX
Iruka stood there, with his back pressed to his door, listening to the older man walk about his apartment and then heard his window close, guessing that Kakashi had left. The brunette stayed there for a few more minutes before throwing himself onto his bed. He hugged a spare pilled to his chest, sighing out into the feathers.
He couldn't believe how stupid he was to let that little piece of information slip his tongue. It was probably the worst thing that he could have let slip… well, maybe the second worst. Iruka let go of the pillow and threw himself on his back, staring at the ceiling.
The chuunin thought about the argument that had just come to pass and he knew Kakashi right in questioning him about it, so there was no real reason to blame the jounin for anything.
"But I had to throw a little fit like a toddler," Iruka said, snaking his arm over his eyes. But he was so angry about the assumption that older shinobi had made. Is that what everyone thought, he asked himself.
Sighing he turned over to his side, trying to sleep but only managed a fitful sleep that only last a few hours. Waking up for what seemed like umpteenth time, Iruka got up and decided to get ready for the day ahead.
His shower was short and dressing seemed like a chore. Iruka made his bed, smoothing out any creases in the cotton sheets and cleaned his room methodically. In a way, cleaning always seemed therapeutic, like it had a calming affect on the chuunin's busy mind. Once everything was folded and put in its place, Iruka went to the living room, his spirits dropping at the sight of test papers scattered about the floor.
The brunette proceeded to pick them up, thinking back to the argument he had had with Kakashi. It was sort of a routine that the chuunin would appear at the silver-haired shinobi's apartment to make breakfast for the two of them, but he wondered if Kakashi was up to seeing him again.
Iruka tapped the papers neatly into place and put them in his satchel. He needed to apologise to him anyway and Tsunade did tell him that the jounin was his responsibility until he was fighting fit. He knew that Kakashi still some trouble moving about. Iruka slung the satchel over his shoulder and put on his shoes and locked his door behind him.
The sun was rising up by the time the brunette reached Kakashi's apartment. The chuunin took out a spare key the older man had given him and opened the door. Iruka nearly went into cardiac arrest when he saw the silver-haired shinobi awake and in front of the stove with nothing but a pair of pyjama pants riding low on his hips.
"Maa, good morning, Iruka-sensei," Kakashi said, looking over his shoulder, smiling behind his surgeons mask. "I was beginning to wonder if you were coming today, especially after what happened last night." He flipped over the fish he had in the pan. "I hope broiled fish with okayu* and nori* is alright."
Iruka was speechless. Kakashi had gone through a lot of trouble to make the breakfast and there was no way the chuunin would stay mad at the man after all his effort. The table was already laid out with the okayu and nori, along with two plates and glasses.
"I didn't know you could cook."
The jounin gave a nervous laugh, rubbing the back of his neck. "I can't, this is all compliments of Sakura. She left a few minutes before you got here and truth be told the only thing I did was cook the fish." Taking the said fish, Kakashi put the two broiled fish into a plate and laid it down on the table. "Please, sit."
The brunette complied and sat down, looking at the wonderful breakfast in front of him. "Well, either way it looks wonderful. Thank you." He offered a small smile to the jounin before he took his chopsticks in hand. "Itadakimasu." Iruka took his fish and some of the okayu and two nori put them in his plate. He loved the fish, it tasted so refreshing. As per usual, he kept his eyes down cast, allowing Kakashi as much privacy as he could.
"You don't have to look away, you know," the jounin said after he finished his meal. "It just makes it awkward."
The chuunin smiled, looking back up. Kakashi put his mask back in place, but it didn't bother him. Who he was underneath the mask had nothing to do with the brunette. "Well, thank you for breakfast." He said. "You can go shower while I clean up."
The jounin did not like the idea of Iruka cleaning up the mess he made, but he agreed in any case. He left the brunette to clean to his hearts content, skidding away to his bathroom. Kakashi opened the shower knobs and slid the glass door wide open. He stepped out of his pants and removed his mask, stepping into the hot spray of water.
Kakashi could still see the hurt and doubt that his words had cause Iruka in his mind's eye. The brunette had the talent to be a good shinobi, something more than an Academy teacher; he just needed to prove it to him somehow. The jounin was thinking of various plots and schemes, but each of them seemed either too drastic or would take too much effort on his part. Dropping the issue, he started to worry that the relationship they had built was now all in flames.
Kakashi ran his shuriken calloused hand over his face. There was no way he could even call it a relationship. Currently it was all one-sided. The jounin got to know Iruka better; he got to see his raging temper and tranquil smiles. Kakashi was sure that if he did not have feelings for the man previously, he was sure that after a month in the chuunin's care, he was definitely falling for him now.
The only problem was actually expressing his feelings.
Sighing in defeat, he got out of the shower and dressed in his uniform, pulling his mask up and tilting his hitai-ate over his left eye. Well, he had an entire day – well, maybe more – to think of something. Kakashi joined Iruka in the living room. It was still early; they still had an hour before the chuunin needed to be at the Academy.
"Well, if you're done, we can get going," the brunette said, taking his satchel in hand. "I need to be there earlier to finish marking the tests I missed out on last night." He brushed the jounin and waited for him outside.
Kakashi followed suit, locking the door behind him. The entire walk was accompanied by a stiff silence. The jounin sat down in one of the desks and took out his Icha Icha and began to read. Time seemed to skid by as children started to trickle into the class. The silver-haired shinobi closed his book and put it back in his pouch, standing up to walk over to Iruka, who was finishing with the last of the test.
The brunette put the papers away in the top drawer and got up from his desk, standing in front of the blackboard. He waited for the class to settle down before he spoke. "Because today is such a nice day, we will be spending the majority of class today outside." The children cheered. "But I want you all to behave, otherwise we will come right back inside and continue with the history of Konoha."
The class of pre-genin listed to their teacher like little puppies. Kakashi sat near them on a bench in the cool shade of a tree. The morning had gone by in a flash as the jounin watched Iruka instruct the children in the proper use of a kunai. He found it cute, the way the brunette's eyebrow twitched when he was asked a stupid question and the way he gave a small smile when one of the children got something right.
The chuunin-sensei called them all to attention. "Alright everyone, gather round!" he yelled out to the pre-genin scattered across the field. "Now I want you all to partner up and practise those taijutsu stances and moves I taught you a few weeks ago."
"But Seeeeeeenseeeeeiii," one pre-genin whined. "We don't remember what you showed us. Can't you just show us again?"
Kakashi sat upright, a malicious smile threatening to break his face in two. "Come on, Iruka-sensei, let's have a little spar to show these brats what taijutsu really looks like." The jounin got up from the bench and strode over to the tanned chuunin.
Iruka looked at him in disbelief. He, Hatake Kakashi, want to fight a chuunin Academy teacher. It hardly seemed fair in the brunette's eyes.
"It'll be fun," the jounin said. "After all, you did manage to tackle me to the ground once already, who's to say you won't get it right a second time round?" Kakashi eyed the chuunin, wondering how he would respond.
"I want everyone to stand on the far side, by the benches," Iruka said, accepting the older shinobi's challenge. "You should all stay there until, Kakashi-san and I are done." The children scampered off, eager to see their sensei fight.
Kakashi faced Iruka, his hands deep in his pockets. Pitting a jounin against a chuunin was hardly fair, but the silver-haired shinobi wanted to see what the brunette was capable of.
Iruka let out a long breath before get stood in an offensive stance. The jounin smiled, rotating his shoulders. He also took an offence, but was soon making his way towards the chuunin with the speed and grace he was known for.
Kakashi leapt up a few feet away from the brunette, bring out his right leg. Iruka narrowly made it in time to block what would have been a bone crushing kick to his ribs. The jounin was on his feet again, following up with another kick aimed at the chuunin's right shoulder.
Iruka stepped back, feeling the force of the kick swipe past him. The brunette crouched and swept hi legs out to try and upset the silver-haired shinobi's balance. Kakashi leapt up in the air, seeing an opening that could end the match immediately. The chuunin straightened himself, bringing the heel of his palm up to Kakashi's chin as the jounin was coming back down.
The Copy Nin flipped himself to land back on his feet. He never expected the chuunin to show him an opening on purpose, or that the brunette could put so much strength behind one blow. The jounin stood up as he watched Iruka get back into stance. Kakashi was grateful for the hours he spent sparring with Gai, learning his taijutsu, but the one the chuunin used was unknown to the jounin.
Kakashi came at Iruka again, raising his fist to strike the chuunin's jaw, but the brunette stopped the blow with his hand and proceeded to hit the Cop Nin. Kakashi used his free hand to block, slamming the fist away to the side, causing Iruka's balance to shift. Taking the opportunity, the jounin kicked the brunette in the gut.
Iruka felt all his breath leave him. He staggered backwards, switching his stance for a more defensive one. The older shinobi came at him in a flurry of punches, of which the chuunin's could either block or evade. Iruka knew he would not last long if he did not do something to turn the tables.
The chuunin grabbed Kakashi's right fist, and pulled him in closer. Taking advantage of the other's surprise, Iruka struck the jounin's lower abdomen, stomach and chest, jolting Kakashi's body with each hit.
The silver-haired shinobi let out a low grunt, his breathing a little hard than it needed to be from fighting a chuunin. Iruka was truly surprising him –he was far better than the jounin had initially thought- with his strength and agility.
Kakashi glanced over at Iruka. The tanned chuunin also had laboured breathing, but he held his ground. The jounin could feel the bruise on the underside of his chin starting to swell.
But the fun was far from over.
The jounin ran at Iruka, doing a set of low kicks that the chuunin blocked and evaded by jumping back – just like Kakashi wanted. The Copy Nin trapped one of the brunette's legs with his own, stopping him from moving. Kakashi stuck at Iruka's shoulder, feeling the chuunin's collar bone break under the thick flak jacket.
Iruka stumbled back letting out a sharp gasp at the pain that blossomed in his left shoulder. He knew that blow had to have broken something. The chuunin felt his back touch a tree. This made the chuunin realize just how far into the field they have fought. Iruka looked over Kakashi's shoulder for a second; his students were far away on the other side.
Kakashi pinned the chuunin to the tree, leaning in closer to the struggling brunette. Iruka shifted against the other's relentless grip, trying to break free but stilled when he felt warm breath mist over his neck.
Iruka blinked and saw how close the jounin really was. A bright blush swept over his tanned cheeks. Kakashi was very close, his body almost entirely pressed against his. Iruka gave a small squeak when Kakashi tilted his head to the side, bringing his head closer to the chuunin's.
The silver-haired shinobi wanted to do so many things to the younger man he had pinned to the tree, but he knew that if he did do it then he might get Iruka fired for public indecency in front of his class. Kakashi knew that if that did happen then the adorable brunette would never speak to him again. But, he thought it was too good of an opportunity to waste.
Kakashi shifted his weight to the other foot so that most of his own body was covering Iruka from view. The said brunette could only hear his erratic pulse beating in his ears. Kakashi let go of Iruka's hands and rest his palms to press beside the brunette's head on either side. The silver-haired jounin watched Iruka for some sign of resistance or disgust or anything, but when the chuunin stayed still, his blush deepening when Kakashi brought his right hand to his face, pale fingers brushing against the hem of his mask.
"K-kakashi… what are you doing?" Iruka asked in a feverish whisper, his pulse skyrocketing.
"Hn, well, something I wanted to for a while now." And I got to kill two birds with one stone today, he added as an after thought.
He got to spar with Iruka; almost getting his ass handed to him – though he would never admit it, not even to himself – and now he had the brunette backed up against a tree, blushing and all to himself. Kakashi curled his fingers into the black material of his mask and pulled it down to rest just under his chin.
Iruka gasped at the sight of the pale skin underneath the mask. The chuunin let his eyes roam over the exposed face in front of him. Kakashi had a strong jaw, soft looking lips that he had the desire to run his fingers over and a slightly crooked nose from countless time of being broken and reset. Kakashi's chin was starting to form a bruise and swell, but Iruka thought it only made him look even more handsome.
Soft lips brushed over the brunette's, finally pressing onto them in a light kiss. Iruka never thought that Kakashi – THE Sharingan no Kakashi would kiss him. The chuunin had always wondered how the older man would taste, but it was not a taste he was experiencing as much. The silver-haired shinobi had a scent of late autumn on his skin, along with a faint scent of herbs. To Iruka, it smelt like heaven, and he tasted those scents on the jounin's lips- not even knowing how that that was possible.
Kakashi drew back; the chuunin opened his eyes that he did not know he had closed in the first place. A bright blush dusted over Iruka's cheeks. The jounin smiled softly, placing a small kiss on the younger man's nose.
"I was actually stressing on how I was going to try and confess to you, but I guess I kind of acted on the spur of the moment." Kakashi let out a nervous chuckle, putting his mask back in place.
"Confess?" Iruka repeated.
The jounin had a pink tinge on his cheeks that was hidden underneath his mask, but it failed to help quell the sudden surge of nerves. "Ahaha… well," he started, rubbing the back of his neck. "I've liked you for some time and when you started to look after me, my feeling got more serious. But… I had no idea how to tell you."
Iruka was about to say something but Kakashi was suddenly pulled back. The chuunin wished he had something to hide behind. In front of him stood Tsunade, holding Kakashi by the collar, her eyes ablaze.
"You two get your asses to the hospital this instant!"
The jounin and chuunin did a transportation jutsu, reappearing in the Godaime's office. Tsunade was behind them. She pushed each shinobi to a bed and forced them down.
"Strip brat," she focused on Kakashi first, wanting to do a check-up on the chuunin afterwards. The jounin did as instructed. "What in Kami's name were you two doing, fighting against one another?" Tsunade felt along Kakashi's side or broken bones and was satisfied when it was only bruising.
"Ah, well…" Kakashi trailed off, not wanting to tell her about the real reasons he did start the fight, or how it ended.
"It was just a little demonstration to show the children how important taijutsu is to a shinobi, as well as showing them how to use it properly." Iruka quickly filled in.
Tsunade sent him a glare. "I doubt twelve year-olds need to know how to break bones and beat each other to death." Tsunade finished healing Kakashi and then told him to get up. "Okay, now scat."
"What?" The jounin still wanted to talk to Iruka and maybe pick up where they had left off.
"You know I have repeating myself." She said, ready to throw him out. "Scat."
Iruka smiled. "It's fine, I'll just catch up with you later." Kakashi looked at him, his eye softening a fraction and the left at the chuunin's request.
"Okay, do you know a jutsu that I haven't heard of yet?" Tsunade asked when the jounin closed the door behind him.
"Huh?"
"He listened to you," she said. "The brat immediately gave me lip when I told him to do the exact same thing."
Iruka blushed, knowing the only reason the Copy Nin had listened to him was because of the kiss earlier. "No, sorry, there is no jutsu involved."
Tsunade sighed, wishing she had that kind of power over the silver-haired shinobi – heck she was the Hokage and he was still quite the rebel when it came to some areas. "Well, in any case," she walked to her desk, opening Iruka's medical chart. "Take off your shirt so that I can examine you."
Iruka sighed. The brunette was surprised how quickly a month had flown by. He tugged his shirt off over his head, throwing the article of clothing down on the floor. Iruka sat on the bed patiently, wanting the whole check-up to end.
"From the swelling on your shoulder, I'm guessing the brat broke something," Tsunade walked over to her patient.
"Yes, why collarbone was broken, but its fine now." Iruka looked away from the Godaime, not wanting to meet her gaze.
"You mean you healed it?"
And so the questions began. "No, it healed me."
"So you can't use the charka for yourself?" The chuunin glanced at Tsunade. She moved around the bed and put a cool hand in between Iruka's shoulder blades, tracing the warm skin.
"You know I can, but I choose not to." He hated the check-ups and he knew that Tsunade was going to thoroughly interrogate him now that he healed Kakashi.
"Look," she said, walking back around the bed to face Iruka. "I'm tired of you keeping things from me – don't even try to deny it." Tsunade took a deep breath. "You took in Naruto, so why leave him to be trained by Jariaya when you are a jinchuuriki yourself?"
Iruka let out a quiet laugh, his shoulders shaking. "It's because I'm a bit more than that, Tsunade-sama."
And cut. That's it for chapter 4. So, Kakashi finally got to tell Iruka how he felt… well, sort of now you all know Iruka's little secret. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. This chapter is of lesser quality, 'cause I'm sick and too tired to proofread anything.
Well, there is something I want to ask all of you. After watching an 8min remake preview (Which got cancelled) for Ai no Kusabi, The Space Between, (if you guys don't know what it is, look it up, it's yaoi at its best, and I mean, come on Blondies rule the world in the story) and reading snippets of the first volume, I was hit over the head by a plot bunny to write a KakaIru AU. So, the question is, should I wait until I'm further along with this story before I write a new story? I would really like to know what you guys think.
Thank for the people who reviewed the last chapter and please, review so that I can know what you think of this story, because I'm no mind reader. Sorry, I cannot reply to reviews, because I don't have internet at home and use that of my friends and the school internet.
*okayu – Kind of a rice porridge
*nori – Dried seaweed rolls with soy bean sauce.
I'll see you all next time!