KakaIru Fic - A Birthday Present Chapter 3

and more!

Chapter 3


*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

“Thank you for bringing her home, Iruka-sensei, Kakashi-sensei,” a tall woman, looking very much like an adult Sakura, bowed her gratitude to the two men. She then took Sakura in her arms, holding the girl in a mother’s loving embrace.

Iruka gave her a wistful look, “You’re welcome, it was our pleasure, Mrs. Haruno. Good night.”

“Good night.” Sakura’s mom closed the door.

Iruka glanced at Kakashi and saw the older man looking at him. He had to fight the blush that threatened to rise to his face and swiftly distracted himself.

“Has Sasuke let up on Naruto yet?” Iruka asked Kakashi, while carefully looking at the two genins.

“He‘s still holding on with all his strength,” Kakashi said dryly. “How are we planning on separating them?”

Iruka chewed on his lip as he thought. While he knew the addresses of his former students, due to needing to send reports home, he’d never actually had to visit Sasuke’s house. On the other hand, he did have a key to Naruto’s home, given to him by Naruto so he could water his plants whenever the boy was away in a mission. With it they could just visit Naruto’s house and leave both boys there. The problem, arose from having to separate Sasuke from Naruto, and both of the boy’s reactions when they woke in the morning if the teachers failed to split them.

Iruka explained that to Kakashi, who laughed at the image. “It would give me the opportunity to get more blackmail material.” Kakashi’s eye turned up, happy and sparkling.

Iruka couldn’t help but laugh at Kakashi’s joy at getting something on his students. He shook his head and followed beside him as the jounin sped up, eager to get his pictures. They swiftly arrived and entered Naruto’s home. Inside, Iruka nearly cracked his head against the floor as he tripped over some scrolls when he tried to find the light switch.

With the light on, the two ninja’s quickly and safely navigated to Naruto’s bed room. Kakashi settled both boys on the bed and pulled out his camera. He snapped away like a person possessed. Iruka, smiled at the maniacal look in the man’s eye and sat down on the foot of the bed. He slowly took off each of the boys’ shoes and outer gear. He made sure to take off their forehead protectors and keep each pile separate, so when they boys woke they’d be able to distinguish whom owned what.

Watching Iruka’s actions, Kakashi suddenly got an idea. If Naruto and Sasuke could sleep while being manhandled then it would be rather easy to move both into ‘interesting’ positions.

“What are you thinking?” asked Iruka, wondering at the speculative look in the man‘s eye.

Kakashi held his index finger up to his mask to silence Iruka. He crept up on the boys and shifted them around. He set Naruto so he sprawl on top of Sasuke, with his arms wrapped around the dark-haired boy’s waist and his mouth pressed against the other’s cheek. He took several pictures of this adorable scene from various angles before shifting them around again.

Meanwhile, Iruka had his face hidden in his hands, trying desperately not to laugh or scold Kakashi for his actions. He felt guilty on what he witnessing being done to an unsuspecting Naruto and Sasuke but he was also enjoying the fun Kakashi was having. Iruka consoled himself with that thought that he would offer to buy both of the boys ramen at some later date as an apology. Though he’d never tell them why he was doing so.

He peeked through his spread fingers to see Kakashi taking pictures of a Naruto that was sitting on Sasuke’s lap. Sasuke’s head tilted forward of if he was kissing the top of Naruto’s hair and the blond boy was snuggled under Sasuke’s chin with a hand loosely holding onto the brunet’s blue shirt. He knees were tucked in and his free arm curled around Sasuke‘s waist. During all the movements Sasuke still maintained his tight grip on Naruto.

Emotionally caught by sweetness of the scene, Iruka could stand no more, “Enough, Kakashi.”

Reluctantly, the jounin snapped one last picture and moved the boys apart on the bed. Iruka tucked the blankets up to the boys chins before tiptoeing out of the room. Kakashi was already outside and leaning against the wall. His exhaustion and sleepiness had returned with a vengeance.

Iruka stopped in front of the jounin. In concern he asked, “Are you alright, Kakashi?”

“Tired,” was his reply.

It was a good thing that Iruka was standing so close to Kakashi because after saying he was tired the jounin began to fall to the ground. A quick acting, and bewildered Iruka caught the other man. By Kakashi’s soft deep breathing, Iruka realized the other man had fallen asleep.

He just stood there, stunned, with his arms holding the object of his desires and affection. He slowly sank to the ground, and pulled Kakashi onto his lap. He remember his brief fantasy at the ramen shop. He breathed in the scent of Kakashi’s hair. The scent was purely Kakashi, since ninjas had the habit of using scentless soaps and shampoos so they didn‘t give their position away to sensitive noses.

He slowly petted the soft silver hair, intrigued the lack of hair gel to create the spikes. He wondered in Kakashi used some sort of hair jutsu to make it so gravity defying. His hand drifted down to the mask, and remembered the dream of peeling it back, kissing the man and telling Kakashi how he felt. Hovering over the black mask, Iruka was torn. He had been dying forever to know what lay beneath the man’s mask but now that he had the opportunity he hesitated. The vulnerability the jounin was exposing to Iruka made the school teacher want to protect him. He didn’t want to take advantage of Kakashi.

Iruka dropped his hand to his leg and closed his eyes to block the captivating view of Kakashi in his lap. He knew that if he exploited his advantage, saw the other’s face without his consent and the jounin found out about it then there would never be any trust between them. He could satisfy his curiosity and potentially lose the other man forever. Or he could resist the urge and be patient that one day Kakashi would willingly lower his mask so that he could see all of the man without any barriers.

Iruka tried to image how he would feel to have Kakashi unmask himself for him. He could see the silvered hair man slowly reach up and pull back the black material from his face. His eyes would be smiling and glowing with emotion. Then he’d see the man’s entire face.

Breathing out and shaking, Iruka opened his brown eyes to stare at the ceiling. He’d felt so much joy at mentally seeing Kakashi lowering his mask with his own hand, that now he knew that he would be happier to just wait until Kakashi decided to reveal himself. Iruka could never make himself steal the man’s privilege to decide who to share himself with.

Iruka thought, he would just have to wait until the man was willing to trust him enough. Iruka looked down and swiftly dropped a chaste kiss below the jounin’s visible closed eye. He then pulled the other man over his shoulder and stood up. As he walked out of Naruto’s house, he visibly staggered every few steps. Kakashi was a lot heavier than he looked, thought Iruka in amazement. If had to be all the muscle he felt under the man’s uniform.

Iruka shifted mental gears and tried to figure out what he’d do with an unconscious gorgeous jounin. He manfully ignored the lechery parts of his mind that were willing to offer several ‘helpful’ suggestions. He could try to take Kakashi to his home, or rather he’d would, if he actually knew where it was located. Or he could take Kakashi to his own home, like they’d joked about earlier today. And, irregardless of his earlier comment, the only way his bed would fit two people was if they were laying atop one another. Iruka wasn’t willing to test the boundaries of his self-control by spending the night so close Kakashi. He could give the older man the bed and collapse on the couch. He wouldn’t have the best time sleeping or feel terribly rested the next day but at least temptation would be out of reach.

He was lucky that his class tomorrow was primary lecture, and with a small demonstration near the end of class. He had a feeling if he had to show some complex move he’d make a fool of himself before all those kids. And the little hellions would never let him forget it.

He opened the door to his house while using his other hand to hold Kakashi in place. Iruka walked swiftly to the bedroom, carrying Kakashi was making his shoulders ache, and gently set the jounin on top of the bed. He did the same thing he’d done for Sasuke and Naruto. He removed all the outer gear, carefully setting the flak jacket with the scroll holders next to Kakashi so the other man would have easy reach if he happened to awaken some point in the night. He also removed the sandals, and inner jacket. He left the man clad in his pants and black inner shirt. And of course the mask.

Iruka debated removing the forehead protector with the Konoha leaf sigil. He knew that Kakashi wore the protector in that fashion to hide the Sharingan eye and prevent the overload of information that having it constantly exposed would do.

After finding out who would be taking Naruto as a jounin instructor, Iruka has spent a lot of time talking to various chunin and jounin that knew the man. He had even made a point of asking the Hokage about Kakashi. He had learned a lot of interesting things, though nothing too personal from all those sources. Iruka had also learned about the Sharingan eye implanted Kakashi’s left eye. And how when the jounin had first received it he’d nearly gone insane with from the constant flow of information, and the way the eye could see below the surfaces of most facades. Apparently, those with Uchiha blood also had their brains wired in a specific way that allowed to use the Sharingan without being driven mad by it. It had been something that hadn‘t been known before, since Kakashi was the first recipient of a transplanted Sharingan. It had been pure luck that Kakashi turned out to be one of the few non-Uchiha to have a similar mind to a member of that clan. Had the man been any different then he would not have survived the surgery. Only by covering the Sharingan whenever it was not in use did Kakashi prevent his descent into madness. It was after learning this that Iruka began to admire Kakashi even though he still hadn’t met the man. The strength of will shown in staying sane under such harsh conditions took his breath away.

Iruka shook himself out of the memory and remembered that he had a black silk scarf, given to him as a gift a few years ago, and thought that it would be perfect to cover the Sharingan eye.

It took Iruka just moments to find it. Swiftly, he replace the protector with the scarf. Now Kakashi would be more comfortable in his sleep. He set the forehead protector on top of the flak jacket and walked out of his room, careful to silently close the door behind him.

Yawning, feeling immensely tried by the small roller coaster of emotions that he’d dealt with, Iruka walked over to a closed door and pulled out a spare blanket. He undressed, being careful to leave his weapons within easy reach and stretched out on the couch. For once, he thanked whoever had seen fit to make him an average height, because on the couch only his feet dangled off.

With one last yawn and a sleepy look towards the closed door that let to his bed room, Iruka drifted off into a dream-filled slumber.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

The next morning when Sakura woke up she was bewildered over how she ended up in her own room and wearing her favorite pair of pajamas. The last thing the pink haired girl remembered was eating the ramen that Iruka-sensei had bought for the whole team. She didn’t have any memory of going home.

She grimaced in disgust at the feel of fuzzy film over her teeth.

“Oh, yuck,” she said, and hurried towards the bathroom to brush her teeth. As she went through the automatic motions of cleaning her mouth, Sakura’s mind drifted to yesterday and the situation with Iruka-sensei and Kakashi-sensei. Her green eyes lit up as she also remembered her idea for getting the two men together. Inner Sakura did a quick dance of joy.

She had to go talk to Sasuke and Naruto.

She quickly finished her teeth and ran to her room to get dressed. She spent only half an hour getting ready, and considering that she was planning on seeing Sasuke that day, that was a very fast dressing speed. Still running she went to the kitchen to grab a piece of toast. She chewed the toast quickly, nearly choking on it, as she screamed goodbye to her mom.

As Sakura headed towards Naruto’s home, she rushed by the few people who actually enjoyed being awake at such an unholy early hour of the morning.

Outside the door of Naruto‘s home, she paused to catch her breath and look tidy. Then she knocked. She frowned when no one came to answer the door. Sakura knocked with more strength. Still no one came. Finally her patience snapping, she began to furiously pound on the door.

“Wake up, Naruto!!! Wake up!” she yelled. “Damnit Naruto!!! You‘re the one that asked for help in the first place!!! WAKE UP!!!!”
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Inside, a still sleeping Sasuke and Naruto vaguely heard the first knock on the door. The sound pushed them out a pleasant dreams and with each consequent knock they grew more and more awake. Until Sakura’s fierce screaming made them open up their eyes.

They woke to find each other no more than a couple of inches away. Ebony eyes and pure blue eyes widened in shock, both boys leapt apart and screamed!

“Aarrrgggh!!!”

“Aarrrgggh!!!”
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Outside the house Sakura’s jade green eyes widened as she heard twin screams from inside Naruto’s home. She frantically began looking for a way in. Focusing her chakra towards her feet she ran up the wall to find an open window.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

“What are you doing here?!” yelled Sasuke and Naruto at each other.

Naruto looked around desperately and yelled, “This is my room, asshole!”

Sasuke gave the unfamiliar room a bewildered look. He yelped, “What am I doing here?!”

“That‘s what I want to know!” Naruto yelled back.

“Shut up!” Sasuke glared. “I‘m trying to think!”

“Good luck,” snorted Naruto.

“Last thing I remember is eating ramen,” Sasuke said coldly, ignoring the blond. He had backed up into a corner away from Naruto and was tensed to move if the other boy made any threatening move. Not that he would blame him if he did, thought Sasuke, considering he was in Naruto’s room without his consent.

The word ramen sparked a chain of memories in Naruto.

“Oh yeah,” Naruto said. “Iruka-sensei offered to buy us ramen. I remember eating 2 bowls!” Naruto’s drooled over the memory of the most delicious food in existence.

“I also remember feeling sleepy,” Sasuke said, trying not to make a disgusted face as Naruto’s drool began to drip onto the blankets.

Naruto snapped out of ramen heaven, “So we must have fallen asleep.”

“And either Kakashi-sensei or Iruka-sensei took us to your home.”

“And,” Naruto said softly, “Iruka-sensei has a key, so he can get in without any trouble.” Naruto jumped to his feet and glared at the ceiling. He shook a fist in anger.

“Just watch them wait, I‘ll get them for leaving you here!” Naruto plopped back onto the bed and crossed his arms. He scowled as he plotted ways to have revenge on both teachers. He wouldn’t let them get away with this.

Both boys jumped as the bedroom door burst open with a bang and Sakura stood there, staring at both of them. Her green eyes took in the undressed state of her teammates and the obviously slept in bed. Her quick mind came to the fastest, most logical conclusion of what the boys had been up to.

“Sakura!” said Naruto in panic. He shot Sasuke a desperate look before turning back to Sakura. He frantically waved the his arms in front on him as he watched Sakura’s face get dark and scary. “It‘s not what it looks like.”

“Naruto,” intoned Sakura in a deathly voice, “What were you doing to Sasuke?”

“Nothing,” squeaked the blond. Sasuke just looked as cool and detached as ever.

Sakura formed a fist with her right hand and used the left to crack her knuckles. Inner Sakura was giving bloody suggestions on what to do to Naruto for spending the night with Sasuke. She advanced on the blond boy, who looked frantically around to find an escape route. The only window was ‘conveniently’ blocked by Sasuke. The brunet closed his eyes as if in deep thought, though in reality he didn’t want to see a strong ninja get massacred by a girl. Even if she was a tough ninja in her own right.

“It wasn‘t my fault,” wailed Naruto, in one last futile attempt to dissuade his homicidal teammate.

Once again the peace and silence that reigned early in the mornings of the Hidden Leaf Village was shattered by screams.

Minutes later, Sakura sat outside in the living room on a chair. She was carefully wrapping her right hand in medical bandages and ignoring the blond boy on the floor who continuously moaned in pain. Poor Naruto, had vividly colored lumps and bruises all over his face, even his ‘whisker’ scars weren‘t visible under all the damage.

Sasuke, finally getting tired of Naruto’s complains, reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a medicinal cream used to prevent infection and accelerate healing. He silently handed it to the other boy, who upon receiving it, looked extremely startled.

“It will make you heal faster. Don’t waste it,” said Sasuke. He returned to his seat near the open windowsill and went back to staring outside.

By the time Sakura had finished the first aid to her torn knuckles, and Naruto had spread the cream on his wounds, the girl’s rage had all but vanished. During the bandaging she’d had time to revert to her earlier mood and idea for getting Kakashi-sensei and Iruka-sensei together.

“I think I have the perfect gift for Iruka-sensei,” she finally spoke, breaking the silence that had befallen the room.

“Yeah?!” screamed a happy Naruto. He seemed to have forgotten about his earlier plans to get back at the teachers for leaving Sasuke with him all night. “What?! What?!” he asked eagerly. “What is it? Is it food? Will he love it? Can we go get it know?” With each question the noisiest ninja in the village grew louder and bouncier. He was incapable of retaining his excitement.

“Idiot,” interrupted Sasuke, “Let her speak.”

Naruto stuck his tongue out in retaliation for the insult. It nearly drove him crazy to admit it to himself but Sasuke giving him that medicine made him feel more forgiving to the boy’s insult.

Not bothering to be subtle, Sakura asked both boys, “You guys know that Iruka-sensei is in love with Kakashi-sensei, right?”

In his shock, Sasuke lost his balance and fell out through the window.

Naruto’s eyes rolled back and he swayed as if he’d keel over in a faint at any second.

Sakura gave Naruto an annoyed look and then yelped as she noticed the lack of Sasuke in the room.

“Sasuke!” she screamed and ran over to look out the window. Sakura looked down and caught a heated glare sent up to her by Sasuke. The boy was attached feet first to the wall of the house. He had used his quick reflexes to turn so he would be facing in the right direction while simultaneously concentration his chakra to his feet. He walked up and climbed back inside. He gave Naruto a worried glance. Neither of his teammates noticed Sasuke‘s expression. Sakura was still annoyed at the blond and returned to glaring at him.

Naruto was sprawled on his back, dazed and confused. He stared at the ceiling as if he’d never seen such an amazing sight. Over and over Sakura’s question circled his mind. He couldn’t believe it. Iruka, the only person who’d ever paid attention to him as he grew up over the years, in love with Kakashi?

“But they have nothing in common!” protested Naruto.

“How can he, and him?” Naruto waved his arms in the air as if trying to force his thoughts into visual shapes. “What would Iruka see in him?”

“Other than he‘s a strong ninja, extremely loyal to his fellow ninjas and this village, and good looking as much as we‘ve seen?” asked Sakura. She shrugged, “How would I know? I haven‘t asked him. Love works in mysterious ways.” She snuck Sasuke a look.

“But-,” Naruto said as he pushed himself to his feet to look at Sakura, “Kakashi is always late, he always lies about why, he’s always wearing that mask so he could be really hideous, his sense of humor is just too weird and from reading that book, he‘s also got to be a total pervert!”

Sasuke silently agreed with Naruto. He really couldn’t see what the school teacher would see in someone as odd as Kakashi. However, Sakura’s observational skills and logic reasoning surpassed his own. So if there was any one who would be able to see something developing between the two men, it would be Sakura.

“You don‘t believe me?” Sakura was dismayed. She didn’t think that the boys wouldn’t believe her about what she had seen.

“It‘s not that I don‘t believe you,” Naruto tried to reassure her, “It‘s just that I‘m having a really hard time imaging Iruka-sensei in love with anyone! Let alone Kakashi-sensei.”

“Oh,” Sakura tried to think of plan. “What if-,” she said hesitantly. “What if I could show you what I saw? How I see the teachers interacting, would you believe it then?”

“I think so,” Naruto agreed. He looked over to see Sasuke back on the windowsill and staring outside. “Hey, Sasuke! What do you think?!”

“I think we should trust our teammate, dobe.”

Sakura’s eyes filled with pink hearts at the expression of trust from Sasuke. Inner Sakura began cheering and waving fans in absolute joy. The pink haired girl’s face took on a blissful look as she silently planned her wedding to Sasuke and the names of all the children they’d have.

Sasuke slowly inched away from her.

Naruto just sulked, so he didn’t notice how the brunet had moved to put him between Sakura and himself. Once behind his blond shield, Sasuke relaxed.

“I still like to see some proof,” muttered Naruto. His words snapped Sakura out of fantasy world where she had been counting her number of grandchildren.

“Actually,” she admitted, suppressing the urge to snarl at Naruto for interrupting her lovely daydream, “that wouldn‘t be a bad idea. We should follow both of them whenever they interact, so you guys can see what I mean. Also, I really want to be sure. So I want your verification.”

“You want us to follow Iruka-sensei and Kakashi-sensei around,” Naruto’s voice was full of disbelief. “Kakashi-sensei is a jounin! And Iruka is chunin. Both are higher than genin! Do you really think they wouldn‘t notice us stalking them?!”

“For once the idiot is right,” Sasuke said. “If we did that and they caught us what would we say to explain ourselves? It‘s not like we could tell them the truth.”

Sakura’s head drooped forward. She hadn’t thought of that. And it would be disastrous if the older ninjas noticed what they were doing. It would spoil everything that she was planning.

“Unless,” Naruto said. Sakura’s head snapped up in hope. “Unless, we can tell them something else. Something like that we‘re following them as a training exercise. To practice our ability to sneak around, and after ninja that are have more training and experience.”

Sakura beamed at the blond. “That‘s perfect Naruto!”

The boy blushed at her rare praise. He shot Sasuke a look to see if the boy had noticed but Sasuke’s face was as implacable as ever. Naruto’s blush turned to a flush of anger at the way the other boy ignored his great idea.

“So if we do agree with your assessment, what do you have planned?” asked Sasuke. “And how will that help in getting Iruka-sensei a birthday present?”

“Well,” said Sakura, while Inner Sakura rubbed her hands in anticipation, “I was thinking that we could….”
*-*-*-*-*-*

Suddenly, the bright morning of the village was interrupted for the third and final time as two male voices shouted in disbelief, “YOU WANT US TO DO -WHAT?!”
*-*-*-*-*-*