The Assassin and the Dolphin

Author: jabotus

Rating: T

Pairings: Kakashi x Iruka

Warnings: AU – yaoi (two guys in a relationship), OOC

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Pirates of the Caribbean

'…..' - thoughts

A/N: If you haven't seen PotC: At World's End, go right now! Otherwise, sit back and enjoy this next chapter. I hope this makes up for the previous chapter which was rather OOC.

Chapter 14

After a dinner of cooked and fresh fish – Sasuke refused to let his share be cooked – Sakura had left, Iruka and Sasuke went about cleaning up while they and Naruto listened avidly to one of Kakashi's stories.

"So there I was on a deserted island with no supplies. I walked into the jungle to look for food when a dark skinned man jumped out in front of me."

"Was it a leprechaun? I've heard about them! Was he wearing green?"

"Ah…I think leprechauns are in Ireland. Anyway, although I couldn't understand him, I guessed I was to follow him when his friends showed up brandishing spears. I was led to a small village. Once there, they saw how tall and handsome I was, so they made me their king…"

"Liar!"

"And were you there to say this didn't happen?"

"If they made you king, why would you leave?"

"As it so happens, I left because they were going to eat me. And my team showed up."

"I've heard this story before."

Sasuke chuckled, "You're just now catching on? He's been feeding you a subplot of the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie."

"Really?" Naruto fell silent as he thought this over. Then as if a light bulb went off, his eyes lit up with understanding. "Liar! I knew it all along!"

"Yeah right," Sasuke mumbled.

"You guys watch movies?" asked Kakashi.

"Who doesn't?" Sasuke replied.

"If there's a good movie out at the cinema, Sakura insists on taking us to see it." Iruka clarified.

"Do you have any real stories?" Naruto pleaded with Kakashi.

"Nah, not really."

"What about your scar and red eye? How'd you get them?"

"Do you really want to know?" There was a mischievous glint in Kakashi's eye.

"As long as the story is better than your last attempt."

"Ok. About five years ago I was Ireland when I saw a rainbow. I thought what the heck and began to follow it. After walking for hours upon hours, I finally reached the end of the rainbow. As I stepped into the rainbow, I saw a sign. The sign read, 'The pot of gold is at the other end. Too bad Sucker.' Signed 'The Leprechaun.'

"You….you….you liar! You didn't even say anything about your scar."

"Oh I didn't. That's from when I tripped on a tree root while walking to the end of the rainbow. The blood from the cut drained into my eye and dyed it red," was Kakashi's response.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "You expect me to believe that?"

"You believed his other 'story'," Sasuke reminded him.

"Hmph."

"Naruto?"

"I don't want to hear any more of your lies."

Kakashi lowered his voice, "It's nothing like that. I want to ask you a question." Maybe now was his chance to finally get an answer.

Naruto's eyes narrowed a bit, making him more like the Naruto from the dream.

"I just wanted to ask about the change since you went through it."

"I was an infant. I don't remember it."

"Yes, but I still think you can answer my question."

"Then ask it already."

"I was wondering how the person breathes underwater before their gills develop." This question earned him a raised eyebrow and a corner of Naruto's mouth lifted into a smirk.

"Why do you want to know?"

Kakashi should have known the kid would make this difficult, but still Iruka wasn't answering this particular question either.

"I figured it would have to be similar to the way Iruka was able to get me to this underground cave. I don't exactly breathe water that well and I've heard the tunnel is rather extensive."

Naruto glanced over at Sasuke and Iruka who were caught up in their own conversation. "Well…Iruka had me promise not to tell you, but…" Naruto leaned forward and gestured for Kakashi to lean closer as well. "…he didn't say I couldn't show you." Then moving faster than Kakashi expected, the blond closed the distance between them and kissed him, open mouth.

Warm air filled his lungs and then spread from there to his entire body. The chill he'd felt earlier vanished, but left his skin tingling. Kakashi had never felt anything like it before.

Naruto pulled back with another smirk. "Merpeople magic. Keeps you warm in frigid waters as well."

Kakashi blinked, too surprised to speak, and then seeing the teen looking past him and grin, Kakashi turned to follow his gaze. They'd been caught.

Iruka was looking as stunned as Kakashi felt. Sasuke looked ready to kill and Kakashi was reminded of what Sakura had told him about Sasuke still being in love with Naruto.

"We're leaving." Sasuke stomped over and grabbed Naruto by the ear.

"Ouch! Teme, let go of me!"

"Dobe." Naruto was obligated to keep up with Sasuke so his ear wouldn't be ripped off. Sasuke paused at the edge of the pool.

"What's wrong with you Sasuke? It was only a ki…" Sasuke shoved him hard in the chest so he fell backwards into the water.

With an angry glare, Sasuke turned back to Kakashi. "Stay away from him," he warned. Then he dived into the pool. Neither boy resurfaced.

After a few long awkward moments, Kakashi found his voice. "That was…unexpected." Iruka wouldn't look at him. He was pretending to find things to rearrange. That wouldn't do.

"Iruka?" Iruka ignored him. Was he mad too?

"It didn't mean anything." No response.

"Naruto was only demonstrating how you brought me here when I was unconscious." 'Great, just great. Now I care if he's upset with me,' Kakashi thought as he studied the dolphin. 'It really is too late for me, isn't it? I'm already falling.'

Kakashi crossed the cave to where Iruka was trying to avoid him. 'If he's mad, why doesn't he just leave?'

"Iruka?" Kakashi grasped the merman's arm causing Iruka to turn his way for a moment, but Kakashi caught sight of something before Iruka looked away. The merman was…was blushing? Iruka wasn't mad, he was embarrassed! Kakashi chuckled.

"You don't have to rub it in," Iruka muttered.

"Rub what where?"

"Ahh! Don't start that again!" Iruka shoved Kakashi away from him, but Kakashi wouldn't let go that easily.

"I think you owe me."

"Owe you what?" Iruka stopped struggling, but wouldn't meet his eyes.

"For one, it's your fault for not telling me which resulted in Naruto kissing me."

"Two," Kakashi whispered while inching closer to the still dolphin. Iruka smelled of the ocean and Kakashi breathed it in. The ocean had always hypnotized him. "You kissed me without my consent."

Jerking his head up, Iruka opened his mouth to protest only to find Kakashi's lips pressed against his. Taking advantage, Kakashi quickly deepened the kiss, his tongue diving into the merman's mouth, exploring and memorizing the taste of Iruka that was all his own.

Iruka moaned and leaned into him. His body temperature was lower than a human's, but Kakashi barely noticed. The rush of warmth from Iruka was a thousand times stronger than what he felt when Naruto briefly kissed him. Kakashi's hands moved to Iruka's hips, pushing up the other's shirt, his hands brushing against the skin flaps of Iruka's gills. Flinching Iruka pulled away.

"Did I…?"

"No, not that," Iruka rushed out, "have to breathe."

"I thought you had backups." Since Iruka had said he hadn't hurt his gills, Kakashi took the opportunity to brush against them once more. It was a strange feeling. Iruka shuddered under the administration. 'Most be overly sensitive there,' Kakashi thought.

"Those only work when I'm under water."

"Mmmm. Maybe we should try a change of scenery then."

"What do you…?" And just as Sasuke had done moments earlier, Kakashi shoved Iruka into the water before stepping off himself.

The rush of cold water hit him like a train and stung every inch of his skin. Taking a few seconds to orientate himself, Kakashi then opened his eyes to look for Iruka. The water was darker than he'd expected. In the heat of the moment…passion, Kakashi had forgotten there was no sunshine to illuminate this pool. As it was, he couldn't see anything at all. So maybe this was not his best idea… A hand seized his wrist and he could imagine the disapproving look on Iruka's face. Kakashi would have laughed if he hadn't been underwater.

Relying on his other senses, Kakashi felt the water stir and then a semi-cold body pressed against him. The change had taken place already. Though he couldn't see it, he felt what had to be part of Iruka's tail press against him. A stirring in his groin reminded him he hadn't had sex since before his last assignment some three weeks ago. Damn, why did he have to be right about this being a turn on?

Feeling arms go under his armpits, Kakashi realized Iruka was going to haul him out of the water. Not yet. Kakashi's hands followed the arms to the shoulders and one hand followed up to Iruka's neck. He pulled Iruka's head closer to his and then clumsily searched for his mouth. When their lips finally met, Iruka's mouth opened and another rush of warm breath swept through Kakashi. If he had thought it was good on land, it was nothing compared to when swimming in frigid waters. The warmth spread from his lungs to his entire body, chasing away the cold. His lungs welcomed the oxygen which seemed to be in endless supply. This was magic. This was addicting. He wondered if kissing Iruka would always be like this.

And then Iruka pulled away again, and he was being hauled up to the surface. As soon as they broke through, Iruka pushed him away. Now that he could see again, Kakashi noticed Iruka was red as could be.

"Idiot. Are you trying to reopen your stitches!?"

"If I was, it was worth it."

Iruka tried to act indifferent, but failed miserably. "You should get out before you get sick."

"Actually I feel quite warm right now." And he did. Kakashi knew the water temperature should be sending him into hypothermia as it had two days ago, but felt as if he was in a heated pool.

"It's not going to last."

"How long?"

Iruka shrugged, "Ten minutes, probably less."

"Ten minutes? Time enough to explore." Kakashi took a lungful of air and sank back under the surface. He heard Iruka shout his name but the water filling into his ears distorted the sound.

Kakashi's shoulder was not nearly as bad as it had been and the exercise would be good; loosen up the stiffening muscles. Telling himself he wouldn't be in the water long, he just wanted to find the tunnel entrance. It would be difficult though since he'd have to search blindly for it in the dark. He was confident if something should go wrong, Iruka was somewhere nearby and he trusted the merman to not let him drown.

Flipping around, Kakashi swam downwards. It took quite a long while to reach the bottom of the pool. At any other time, he would have run out of oxygen and given up, but with the merpeople magic, or whatever it was, Kakashi felt like the oxygen in his lungs would last for hours as long as he didn't let any water in. When his hand hit something hard, Kakashi stopped to feel the surrounding area. It was smooth rock so that told him the entire pool is inside the cave.

Righting himself, Kakashi then walk/swam in one direction over the bumps of the cave floor until he reached a wall. Then with one hand up against the wall he began searching for an opening with his hands, as his eyes were useless here, and moved steadily in one direction. So absorbed in his task, Kakashi was caught off guard when cold fingers wrapped around his wrists. For a second, he thought of the possibility of dead creatures haunting the water, but then berated himself for those thoughts. The fingers closed around his wrist and tugged him away from the wall. Giving in, Kakashi allowed Iruka to lead him. It was hard to tell how far they moved when Iruka stopped and guided his hand back to the wall.

Kakashi wasn't sure, but it felt as if the water here was moving. Stretching out his hand, he felt against the wall once more until he found the opening in mere seconds. So Iruka had figured out what he was searching for. Who knew how many circles he would have made trying to find this opening considering it couldn't be more than two feet in diameter in what must be a huge underground body of water. And he still didn't know how far the tunnel exit stretched out.

Knowing Iruka could see him, Kakashi nodded his head. Though he felt fine, he didn't want to risk running out of time so he began swimming up. It was only as Kakashi felt something swoosh by him in the water did he realize Iruka was trying to avoid hitting him with his tail. Recollecting some documentary on dolphins he'd once seen, Kakashi was aware that dolphins were very fast swimmers and able to leap out of the water at surprising heights. In order to do that, there tail muscles were extremely powerful and to get hit by one even accidentally would probably leave a quite a bruise.

A few moments later, Kakashi broke through the surface again and gulped in fresh air in a reflexive habit, only to realize he didn't need to. Iruka appeared a few seconds later.

"Are you satisfied?"

"Hmm, not quite yet." Kakashi tilted his head to the side and appeared to be examining his stitches. "But I think you may have been right about my stitches…"

Alarmed Iruka swam closer. 'How gullible,' thought Kakashi. As soon as Iruka was within reach, Kakashi grabbed his shoulders and drew him close once more. And kissed him.

It wasn't as intense as it had been underwater, but it was still very nice. Iruka's hands pressed against his chest and shoved him away.

"Bastard!"

"We both know you liked it." Kakashi said smugly as he pulled himself out of the water. His shoulder protested against the strain, but he'd been in worse pain before and stuck with nurses who were nowhere as cute as Iruka was, especially when embarrassed.

Iruka didn't follow. Kakashi began stripping out of his wet clothes quite aware he had an audience. Iruka muttered something about privacy and ducked under the water. Grabbing a towel and drying off, Kakashi wondered if he'd push Iruka too far, too soon. To him, it had only been a few really good kisses, but for Iruka… If he'd scared him, it wasn't intentional. It was just the way Kakashi was. He had never been in a real relationship. Sometimes he slept with the same person more than once, but most of the time, whenever he got an itch, he went to a bar and found someone, male or female – it didn't matter which – just as long as they didn't expect anything more than scratching that same itch.

Whether Kakashi was going to stay here or not, it wouldn't be right to treat Iruka as a one-night stand. Iruka deserved better than that kind of treatment. The merman had saved his life and for some bizarre reason liked him; trusted him even. Kakashi didn't want to betray that trust…not if he could help it.

And besides just because it looked like Iruka had the same anatomy as a human out of water, didn't mean it was so.