Teachers and their Pets

Chapter 23

The next day

Never, in all his life, had Asuma been so thankful for Gai's inane ramblings. Right now the Sarutobi was thanking God for the bushy browed man's presence. He didn't even want to dare consider how much more awkward the situation would be without him.

As if desperate to torture himself, Asuma had met up, as usual, with the other Jōnin at the Ai bar. Of course, this was normal; there was nothing odd about that. There was one huge issue however and that issue was Kurenai. She wasn't acting out of sorts, indeed she seemed to be taking great care to be acting as normal as possible. But that was just the thing, she wasn't, and if she was, Asuma was worried about his mental health. Throughout the entirety of Gai's many -many, many, many- stories, Kurenai had watched Asuma, her scarlet gaze only flicking away when the bearded man managed to rouse the courage to meet her eyes, and that wasn't very often.

The Sarutobi felt like he was being judged…and judged hard. He was aware that he was going to have to come clean eventually, as far as Kurenai knew, he didn't know about her knowing…it was all so complicated. Asuma almost wanted to bang his head on the table. He loved being with Ino, he loved Ino, and he loved himself when he was with her, happy and content. What he did not love, however, was the vast amount of difficulties that had come with being with her; Kurenai staring into his very soul was one of those issues. The raven haired woman had not told anyone else, Asuma was sure of that. But still…she didn't seem to be taking the whole situation in her stride. Or perhaps he was reading far too much into it? Perhaps Kurenai would be behaving like this even if he'd left her for someone she did not know, someone who was not his former student? There was a small pit in opening up in his stomach that made the Sarutobi doubt these withering hopes.

Still, it wasn't like anyone was forcing him to come out with it anytime soon. He and Ino would tell the people they needed to tell first and then-

"Sakura and I are dating."

Silence.

Asuma turned, slowly, almost too scared to move his head, to look at Kakashi. The Copy Ninja looked perfectly sangfroid, apparently not worried about how his friends were going to react, and they were reacting.

Gai stopped short in the middle of whatever he was saying, his eyes widening a fraction and his finger -which had previously been pointing in the air, displaying his triumph- drooped. His mouth also dropped open, resulting in the man simply gawping at his rival. Kurenai looked more disturbed than Gai; she had sat up slightly, her elbows resting on the table, her arms tucked under her chest. Her large ruby eyes were wide, almost comically so, and Asuma cringed as he saw them dart his way for one second before returning to Kakashi.

The silence stretched on for a few harsh moments and then Gai opened his mouth again. "What?" He did not sound angry, just extremely bewildered.

"Dating?" Kurenai spoke now and, if Asuma concentrated, he could sense a ghost of anger flitting in her tone.

Kakashi, for his part, was still maintained his composure. He met both Might Gai's and Kurenai's eyes in turn. "Yes, Sakura and I are in a relationship."

"Sakura…Haruno?" Gai checked, obviously half wondering whether he'd interpreted his friend's words wrong. Surely the man could not be talking about his former student. That just didn't make sense.

Asuma felt the insane urge to bolt as he considered the fact that, no; it really did not make sense. Not to the outside world anyway.

"That's right," Kakashi inclined his head at Gai. "I thought I should tell you."

The silence descended again before, once again, Might Gai broke it. "Wait, let me get this straight," he leant his arm over the table, dead straight, one finger pointing at Kakashi. "You are in a relationship with a student."

"Former student." Kurenai quickly put in and Asuma's brow scrunched. He looked to her, slightly confused, and she gifted him with a small smile.

Perhaps Kurenai was more understanding than the Sarutobi had thought. The man suddenly felt a small beat of guilt; he hadn't been good to her. Not really.

"Yes," Kakashi nodded at Kurenai. "Former student. And let me just assure you that nothing untoward happened while I was her Sensei. These feelings we have for each other are still very new."

"I…" Gai's finger drooped again and he stared at Kakashi hopelessly. "I don't know what to say."

"Perhaps this is one of those moments where you don't need to say anything." Kakashi suggested.

Gai looked rather bewildered by this thought, but he did not say anymore. He looked over, however, when Kurenai opened her mouth.

"Do you love her?" As she said this, her eyes flickered over to Asuma.

"I do," Kakashi said. "Very much."

Gai's eyes moved down to the table as he rolled all these new developments around in his head.

"And you?" Kurenai looked to Asuma who stiffened immediately, bringing his shoulders in tight. "Do you love Ino?"

Gai began laughing at this. "Haha, yes! That's right Kurenai, we're all in love with our students!" He grinned widely. "That's the way we should be treating this! With good humour! I for one don't have an issue with your relationship Kakashi, as long as you-"

"I am."

At Asuma's words, Gai went immediately quiet. He's gaze snapped away from Kurenai and onto the Sarutobi.

"Seriously?" He squeaked.

"An unhappy coincidence," Kakashi said, casting a wan smile at Asuma from behind his mask. "Or perhaps a happy one…I suppose it depends on how you look at it."

"When?" Kurenai questioned, her burgundy eyes soft and yet firm still.

"Recently," Asuma replied. "I…We fell in love recently."

"Wait," Gai did a comical double take and then looked from Kakashi to Asuma. "You're in a relationship with Ino? Your student?"

"Well, she's not my student anymore," Asuma replied, his mouth turning down as he realised how lame that sounded no matter how true it was. "But…yes."

Might Gai's eyebrows disappeared into his hairline before he turned to look at Kurenai. "What's next? Are you going to reveal to us all that you're in love with Hinata!?"

A small smile slipped onto Kurenai's face as she looked down at the table, her back straight. "Despite how much you guys would like that, I'm afraid I'll have to reveal that no, I am not in a relationship with Hinata."

"Or Kiba? Or Shino?" Gai checked.

"No." Confirmed Kurenai.

Gai turned to look a Kakashi and Asuma again. "But you two are in love with your former students?"

"Yes." Kakashi replied, his voice lilting slightly.

"And the Hokage knows about this?"

Kakashi looked to Asuma and the pair exchanged a look.

"Yes." Repeated Kakashi.

"What about the girls' parents? Their team mates?"

"Naruto knows," Kakashi said, one of his silver eyebrows rising as he spoke. "And he did not take it well."

"Ino's parents, uh, know." Asuma confirmed, his voice gruff as he stared down at the table.

Gai, seemingly satisfied, sat back, looking at both men opposite him with a bemused look.

"You pair of knuckleheads." He commented after a short while, shaking his head disparagingly.

The tone was not too derisive however and, suddenly, Asuma felt as if a rather large weight had been lifted off of him. Next to him, Kakashi distributed the tiniest of nudges. Maybe they could all get through this afterall?

Later

When Kakashi entered his house, closing the door behind him, he was met by the sight of Sakura sitting on his couch, stuffing ice cream into her mouth while her brilliant green eyes scanned a medical book at a rapid pace. If any other woman was in her place, Kakashi would have most likely felt a thrill of fear. However, when it came to Sakura, all the man felt was a calming, warming, sense of happiness.

He moved towards her and cocked his head to smile when she raised her head and beamed at him.

"Guess what." He said, seating himself next to the girl and pulling down his mask.

Sakura's grip on her book dropped and she turned her full attention onto the man, smiling sweetly back at him. Kakashi was pretty certain that if anyone saw the way they were looking at each other, they'd be sick. Honestly, he hadn't ever felt like this. If he dwelled too much on the feelings, perhaps he would become worried, but as of right now, all the man could focus on was the fact he adored Sakura and, for some reason, she seemed to like him back. How wonderful and weird life could be.

"What?" Sakura returned, wiping some chocolate away from the corner of her mouth with her thumb and shuffling closer to place a kiss on his jawline.

Kakashi brought one of his hands up to stroke the girl's hair back, his smile content. "I told the others about us."

"The others?"

"Asuma, Gai, Kurenai." Kakashi returned.

Sakura's eyes widened slightly, but she did not look worried. Instead, slowly, a smile -coy, shy- stretched across her face.

"Really?"

Kakashi leant forward and kissed her on the forehead. "Yes. Is that ok?"

Sakura closed her book and smiled down at the cover. "It's…it's great," she returned. "I mean, it feels really…official now."

Kakashi toyed with her a strand of her hair, leaning back into the sofa and smiling at her. "As opposed to before right? When you were just using me for sex."

Sakura brought her book up and slapped the man lightly on the arm. "You're so rude," she shot back, though she was still grinning. "Pervert."

Kakashi grabbed her book and flipped the pages, ending up on a page on the anatomy of the male genitals. "Says the one," he returned. "Have I caught you reading dirty books Sakura?"

Sakura rolled her eyes and snatched the book back. "You wish." She retorted.

"Maybe." Kakashi returned mildly, and then he placed his arm on the girl's shoulder, pulling her in to rest against him.

Sakura reopened her book and began perusing the pages, aware of Kakashi reading over her shoulder, tracing patterns into her skin.