Warnings: Mentions of M/M sex and lots of swearing in this chapter

The pair reached a small village by nightfall, deciding that they would stand a better chance of gathering information if they were well rested. So, they got a room at a local inn, and climbed the stairs in awkward silence. When they reached the room, Kakashi flopped face-first on the bed closest to the door. Gai raised an eyebrow. "Tired?" he asked, teasingly.

"Shut up," Kakashi muttered into the comforter. His voice, though not cold, showed the strain of the awkward journey here.

Gai sat down heavily on the other bed. "Look, I know you said it would go back to normal when we got home, but if you keep acting like this, I don't see how it can," Gai said sadly, his voice quiet but he knew the other man had heard him.

Kakashi lifted his head from the comforter just enough that he could turn his face to Gai. "What are you talking about? I'm always like this. I'm just an ass."

Gai sighed heavily. "Yes, you always say stuff like that, but… I don't know, you just say it differently normally."

Kakashi rolled over and sat up, running a frustrated hand through spiky silver hair. "We had sex, Gai! What the fuck do you want me to say? You fucked me! And to make matters worse, I still have no idea why I let you!"

Gai looked down at his lap, his blush intensifying. He tried to think of something to say, but he didn't know how to handle this situation. He remembered the last time he'd had this conversation with someone, a girl who had been more drunk than she had wanted to be and ended up in his bed. Fortunately, she had been relatively easy to calm as Gai didn't actually remember her name, so he had just said that he wouldn't be able to tell anyone anyway, and she had accepted that and left.

But with Kakashi, he knew it wouldn't be that easy. For one thing, they were both confused about why it had happened in the first place. Neither of them were gay, nor had they ever felt an attraction to each other before. For another thing, Kakashi's pride was hurt after having let another man, especially his friend and rival, dominate him and take him. Finally, both of them had regained most of their memories of that night, and it was hard to forget how much they had both enjoyed it. But Gai refused to allow this to come between them. Between Lee and Kakashi, Gai wasn't able to decide which one meant more to him. He was not about to let a night of drunken sex take away one of the most important people in his life. "Can we please just forget this?" Gai asked quietly, pleading with his friend.

"You think I haven't tried?!" Kakashi yelled, staring incredulously at Gai. "Do you honestly think I want to remember what it felt like to have you inside of me?! You think I don't want to forget how I moaned like a whore while you fucked me? How I begged for you to go harder, or deeper? How I enjoyed letting you pound me into your mattress so hard I saw fucking stars?! I came from you fucking me in the ass!" Gai cringed. This would be more difficult than he expected, and he was quickly running out of options on ways to handle it.

Gai's eyes were directed resolutely at his feet. "Well, if it will help, I'll let you…"

Gai was cut off when a familiar orange book slammed into the wall right where his head had been just a second before. He shot Kakashi a startled glare, only to see the jonin glowering at him, stunned. "How the hell do you think that is going to help?"

Gai shrugged hopelessly. "I don't know… I just want things to go back to how they were before."

"Yeah, well, they can't!" Kakashi yelled stubbornly.

"Why not?" Gai asked, desperately.

"Because… they just aren't the same."

Gai made a noise of frustration. "And why the hell can't they be? Why can't you just see it as the drunken mistake it was and move on?"

"BECAUSE I LIKED IT!" Kakashi yelled. "AND BECAUSE EVERY FUCKING TIME I LOOK AT YOU, ALL I CAN THINK IS THAT I WANT YOU TO DO IT AGAIN! I FUCKING WANT YOU, GAI!"

Gai's eyes widened as he stared at his friend in shock. He sat there in stunned silence for several minutes, staring at the silver-haired ninja who looked horrified at what he had just admitted as his chest heaved in the aftermath of his furious outburst. "You… you want me?" Gai asked, in the tiniest voice Kakashi had ever heard him use.

Kakashi sighed in defeat, running a hand through unruly silver spikes in frustration. "Yes." It was all he could say. He had just ruined his closest friendship with the man who had never given up on him, all over one stupid night that said man considered to be nothing but a mistake, that Kakashi knew he should consider a mistake as well. But then…

"Oh, thank God. I thought it was just me," the Beast muttered. Kakashi's head snapped up from where he had been staring at the floor so fast he swore you could hear it.

"What?!"

Gai blushed. "... did I say that out loud?"

"Yeah." The two sat in awkward silence for what felt like an eternity, before Kakashi quietly broke the silence. "Did you mean it when you said it was a mistake?" The uncertainty and insecurity in his rival's tone nearly broke Gai's heart.

Gai considered that for a moment. "Well, I mean, neither of us is gay, so it had to be… right? I mean, we probably just thought that we were with someone else and one thing led to another and…"

Kakashi looked like he was on some of trail of thought. "I don't think so…" he said slowly.

Gai looked up at him, his shock evident on his face. "What do you mean? Did you plan…"

Kakashi quickly cut him off, startled. He knew that his friends thought he was a hopeless pervert, but was minorly offended that Gai thought he would take advantage of his drunk friend and seduce him. "NO! I would never in a million years have planned that! Until it had already happened, I had never even considered that it was something I may ever want." Gai let out a sigh of relief, his heart starting to feel guilty for jumping to conclusions and clearly offending his friend. He opened his mouth to apologize, but Kakashi was already speaking again. "It's just that… well, it seems too illogical for it to have been a mistake to us at the time. There's too many inconsistencies."

"Like what?"

"Well, for one, how many times have we gotten drunk with each other and NOT had sex? It's happened A LOT over the years, and we've never woken up together before, so that has to mean something about that night was different, right? And for another, I don't think it was possible for us to have mistaken each other for someone else. I mean, like you said, we're both straight, and sex with a woman is VERY different than sex with a man (not that I ever knew how much before that night), but both of us jumped in and did it the way two guys do. I mean, obviously, it was different for me, since I had never… been penetrated… before." Kakashi shuddered lightly at that as he gestured vaguely with his hands to give them both someplace to look other than at each other. He still couldn't believe he had let Gai inside of him. He sighed before continuing. This was a very awkward conversation, and it would have to get a lot more awkward before he was done. "But, it also would have been very different for you. I mean, for one, I distinctly remember you… using your mouth… on me before that. Not to mention, you… prepared me… appropriately… for two guys… doing what they do…" He spoke slowly and awkwardly, clearing his throat uncomfortably before finishing. "Which obviously is not necessary when a guy nails a girl."

Gai nodded solemnly. He understood where Kakashi was coming from, as he distinctly remembered watching and tangling his fingers in spiky silver hair as he was serviced, as well. He didn't know what to say to that, so he didn't say anything. "Plus," Kakashi added, even more quietly then before, as though he was ashamed of the words he was about to speak. "We used each other's names… there was no way we thought the other was anyone else."

Gai jolted a little at that. He hadn't remembered calling Kakashi's name, or hearing his own. Then again, he trusted Kakashi not to lie to him, and trusted Kakashi's Sharingan to remind the man of exactly what happened. After all, it had gotten him out of even more tight spots than Kakashi, as he tended to have a temper when he was drunk. "We did?" he asked, his stomach jolting a little.

Kakashi nodded slowly. "Yeah, I remember screaming your name when I…" He trailed off, his cheeks tinting a bright red. A flash of memory suddenly appeared before Gai. A sliver of moonlight illuminating the silver-haired man, watching his lips move in fascination as Gai's name tumbled out of them, part of a mantra the man kept repeating. Gai blushed even harder than Kakashi when he realized the other things he had been saying. The memory of his best friend begging him to come in him was now forever implanted in his mind. He buried his face in his hands, finally agreeing that nothing could ever be the way it was.

"So, what now?" the spandex-suited jonin asked his friend. When Kakashi's response never came, Gai heaved a sigh. "I mean… do you think… should we…" He let off with a sigh, not knowing how to phrase what he was about to say.

Kakashi looked at him with one eyebrow raised. "Spit it out, Gai." His voice was dry, but his heart was pounding anxiously.

Gai stared determinedly at his lap while he stuttered out his thought process. "Well, I was just… just thinking that since we both seem… interested… I mean… shouldwetryitagain?" he blurted.

Kakashi's eye widened in shock. "You… you want to do it again?"

Gai blushed furiously as he nodded almost imperceptibly. "I mean, how else are we going to figure out what… what this actually is?"

Kakashi considered that for a moment before sighing. "Yeah, I guess you're right…" Gai gave a determined nod and stood, swiftly closing the distance between the two ninja. He had a finger inside the Copy Ninja's mask before the other even realized he had moved. Damn, he was fast. Kakashi's hand caught Gai's wrist in a death grip. He gave a short, unamused chuckle. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he asked dangerously.

Gai swallowed thickly at Kakashi's tone. "Well, I can't kiss you with your mask on…" he mumbled, not making eye contact with the clearly angry ninja.

Kakashi's grip slackened as his eye widened. "Wait, you… you want to do this now?!"

Gai nodded, still staring resolutely at the floor. "Well yeah… I mean, you're my best friend, and I want this sorted as quickly as possible…"

Kakashi shook his head slowly, trying to process what had been about to happen. Again. "Look, Gai, I agree that we need to deal with this, but I… I just can't right now. Things are still too confusing. Can we just get this mission done, and then we'll decide what to do about it when we get back to the village?"

Gai gave a resigned nod, and turned to go back to his bed. He stripped down to his boxers and as he pulled the covers over his head, he could swear he heard a whispered "I'm sorry," from the occupant of the other bed.

It had been almost a week since Gai and Kakashi had returned from their mission, and they had yet to talk about what they were going to do. If he was being honest, Kakashi would have to admit that he was avoiding Gai, despite the Beast's never-ending efforts to get him alone. It wasn't that Kakashi didn't think the issue needed resolved; it was just that he didn't know what to say to the man, what to do about the situation. He wasn't exactly someone who was in touch with his more emotional self, and Gai very much so was, so he was a little nervous about what the other man's reactions to the conversation would be. Plus… he was afraid of what would happen to him if they found a mutual attraction and it didn't work out. After all, Gai was one of the few people he had left, and though it was hard for him to communicate how much the Beast meant to him, he didn't know what would happen to him without his rival's insistence on being paid attention to.

Kakashi also found himself wondering what would happen if his students learned what had happened between him and Gai. Sakura, being the empathetic person she was, would probably say he should go for it if that was what made him happy, though she would wrinkle her nose at the thought of them together. Naruto, on the other hand… Kakashi sighed. No, the obnoxious blond wouldn't take it well at all.

Kakashi observed the boy in question as he watched his former student slurp down his third bowl of ramen. The boy paused when he felt his sensei's eyes on him. "Yeah, Kakashi-sensei?" he asked, setting down the empty bowl.

Kakashi looked at the boy for a long moment before speaking, phrasing his words carefully. "Naruto… what do you think of me?" he asked, trying to keep his face neutral.

The boy's face paled and eyes grew wide. He looked shocked and appalled, and though confused as to why, it was hard for Kakashi not to laugh at the ridiculous expression. "Why are you always so creepy, Kakashi-sensei?" the boy practically yelled.

Kakashi looked confused, but eventually dismissed the blonde's odd behavior with a shake of his head and a chuckle. He reached for his wallet, and Naruto quickly shot up. "Oh, no you don't! I'm paying for myself!" Naruto yelled, throwing money down on the counter and running out. Kakashi watched him incredulously before sighing and following the boy. He wondered what was up with him tonight.

Naruto walked down the dark streets of Konoha, kicking a small rock out in front of him before catching up to it and repeating the action, muttering about creepy old men and pervy sensei's. He turned down a dark alley, crying out in shock and stumbling to see the crinkle-eyed smile of his teacher at just his face height right in front of him. He yelled in surprise and ran back into the street, watching his teacher warily.

Kakashi sighed. "Naruto, what is wrong with you tonight?" he asked, genuinely starting to feel concern for his student's strange behavior.

"You're the one being strange!" the boy yelled, pointing an accusing finger at his sensei.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't wanna be on a date with you, Kakashi-sensei!" he yelled. It was Kakashi's turn to get wide-eyed.

"What are you talking about, Naruto?" he asked, looking up and down the street at the strange looks they were getting after Naruto's thoughtless outburst (not that he hadn't gotten used to Naruto's complete lack of tact or subtlety, but this could seriously hurt his reputation.)

Naruto shuffled further away from his teacher uncomfortably. "Well, you invited me to dinner, and you were gonna pay without even trying to trick me into it… and then you asked what I thought of you… I thought you were hitting on me," the blond mumbled, embarrassed.

Kakashi raised his eyebrows at his overreacting student. "Naruto, I'm 14 years older than you, and your teacher to boot. I'm not about to start hitting on you, ever."

Naruto rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Sorry, sensei. I guess I got a little carried away." He chuckled embarrassedly.

"I'd say so," Kakashi said drily, raising an eyebrow at his student.

Naruto allowed himself to straighten up, looking at his teacher in all seriousness now. "So, then, what was all that about?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi sighed again. "I just… I don't have many people in my life that I care what they think of me, but you're one of them. I want to be a good teacher to you, and to Sakura." Kakashi looked down at the ground while he talked. He hated having deep conversations. He looked up at Naruto now. "I just wanted to know how you felt about me, as your teacher," he clarified.

Naruto blinked a few times. "I think you're a great teacher, Kakashi-sensei." He watched the man shuffle uncomfortably for a minute. "Is everything okay, sensei?"

Kakashi fought back another sigh. "It's just… when someone chooses the life I have, being alone all the time, sometimes people like to start… unfavorable rumors." Kakashi chose his words very carefully. "I've been hearing some such rumors lately, and it certainly isn't the first time I've heard them (though it was the first time they'd been true, he thought to himself), not even the first time I've heard these specific rumors, but… they've never bothered me before. I've never had anyone in my life that I actually worried what they would think of me if they heard these rumors, if they believed them to be true. But now, my life has changed, and I do worry what some people think of me." He gave Naruto a meaningful look. "You are my student, and you matter to me now, and I do care what you think of me, Naruto."

Naruto just stared thoughtfully at his sensei for a while, until Kakashi got uncomfortable making eye contact and looked down at his feet. Suddenly, there was a second pair of shinobi sandals standing right in front of his. His eyes raised to Naruto's bright smile as the boy placed his hand on Kakashi's shoulder. "Kakashi-sensei, I know it may not always seem like it, but I really do respect you. I always have. And nothing will ever change that, believe it!" The boy finished his promise with his trademark wink, his free hand giving Kakashi a thumbs-up.

Kakashi shot Naruto a relieved smile. "Thank you, Naruto," he said quietly. The boy nodded happily and turned to head home. Kakashi watched him go, thinking of his sensei. 'You really would be proud of him, Minato-sensei,' he thought to his memories. 'He really is something else.'