Kakashi nodded at something Gai said as he walked with him down the path to Konoha’s Ninja Academy. Gai was going there to begin his first day as an instuctor. He was going there to fulfill his duties as Hokage and give the newest genin of Konoha his blessing.
And well, maybe steal a kiss or two with a certain headmaster in a closet or something.
Or in a classroom.
He didn’t get to see his partner often during the workday but when he did, he tried to make the most out of those small impromptu visits like this one.
“For Kami’s sake.” Iruka took two steps closer to Kakashi before performing a body flicker. Kakashi’s stomach flipped and his head rolled. The next thing he knew, he was being ushered off to a room to be examined.
He desperately reached for Iruka’s hand, having dropped it upon arrival. Grasping it he managed to drag Iruka along.
“Kakashi. You’ll be fine. Seriously. I’ll be here when you get out. Kakashi, hey.” Kakashi finally let go when he went through the doorway. Iruka stood there for a few moments before leaving to find the cafeteria to buy them both some dinner.
Kakashi watched Iruka interact with his student’s mother from his place on the rooftop. In the last week, since he’d gently carried his nearly catatonic partner to their bedroom and tucked him in, he took every opportunity he could to observe and see if Iruka was truly alright.
The next morning, Iruka had claimed it was just exhaustion from rowdy students. Kakashi doubted it. In all the years they’d been together—and the years they’d been friends before that—Kakashi had never seen Iruka in anything near that state! Even today, he’d forgotten his bento on the kitchen table.
Iruka always knew Kakashi was a good cook. He’d been treated to multiple delicious meals during their long relationship after all. And Kakashi prided himself on making them dinner whenever he had the chance to do so.
But that was before.
Now that he was retired, Kakashi cooked a little differently…
“Is that another bento from your man?” Anko asked pulling him out of his thoughts as she leaned across his desk. “Ooh…come on open it, I want to see what he did this time.”
Iruka sighed, he might as well see what intricate bento shapes Kakashi made this time.
Kakashi runs. If he’s quick, he has just enough time to run to the corner store and grab a bentō for Iruka. Iruka left the apartment this morning too fast.
He grabs the first one he sees that looks appetizing, and as he pays he resolves to be better and make Iruka’s bentō tomorrow. He flies across the rooftops and launches himself to Iruka’s classroom window. The students all stare as he opens it, sets the bentō on Iruka’s desk, and says, “Sorry for making a scene, but you forgot to bring lunch.”
Iruka sat patiently with two Bentos in his lap. He didn’t know how long it took for someone to be examined for a concussion but two hours was a little overkill in his opinion. When Kakashi finally emerged with his usual slouch and bored expression Iruka felt himself let out a breath of relief.
“All good?”
“All good.” Kakashi nodded his gaze dropping to the Bentos.
“About that date…” Iruka picked up the Bentos, “since you don’t like sweets. I was thinking we could climb the Hokage monument and try to see the fireworks from the festival?”
“I’d like that.”
Iruka fanned himself with the sensu in his hands, the Hatake crest clearly visible on it. Some of the visiting dignitaries raised their brows when they saw it while others simply nodded their heads politely or didn’t comment.
Not that many of them likely would anyway. In the sweltering heat of the summer festival, most people were staring jealously at Iruka’s sensu.
“You shouldn’t do that with them you know?” Kakashi stated, coming over, hands holding an ice cream cone. Iruka snapped his sensu shut and grabbed the cold treat.
“Then next time don’t hold a summit in the summer.”
Iruka seemed agitated now. He was normally smooth and calm when he interacted with the students and parents he met at Hanami. He had too many years of experience soothing agitated civilian parents over the safety of their children in their first few weeks at the academy. This parent shouldn’t phase him either.
He signaled the nearest ANBU to come closer.
“I want you to find out everything you can about that woman speaking with Iruka-sensei.” He commanded.
The ANBU was too good a shinobi to startle, but Kakashi could feel it nonetheless.
“Are you sure you’re alright?” Iruka asked, again. As they climbed up the mountainside soft petals drifted downward in a gentle breeze that built as they climbed. Even in the dark, it was breathtaking.
“I am.”
“It’s just,” Iruka bit his lip, “Two hours is a long time. And you freaked me out there for a moment.”
“Sorry.” They walked a bit further before Kakashi broke the silence, “Sakura was on duty. Not only had she figured out that I liked you, but she also pieced together that I wanted to invite you to the festival.”
Iruka laughed as he reached forward and plucked a few stray pink petals out of Kakashi’s hair. “Look at you,” he said amused, “you’re covered in these!”
Kakashi grinned back, eyes crinkling at the corners the only indication of his feelings. “Gai challenged me to a Haiku recitation contest.”
“At a hanami?” Iruka asked plucking even more petals from his hair. “And I’m sorry I missed that. Did Gai win this time? That puts him in the lead, doesn’t it?”
Kakashi huffed, crossing his arms. “Such faith,” he said acting put out. “I’ll have you know, I won this contest.”
“And now I will never live down the fact that I fell out of a tree because I got too nervous when I saw you,”
They came to the top of the monument. The village glowed below them.
“I find it hard to believe.” Iruka said as sat and started opening the bento, “That I could have that kind of effect on you.” He offered Kakashi one of the bento. Kakashi sat down next to Iruka and took the offered box.
“You have no idea the things you do to me.”
Iruka felt something starting to blossom in his chest.
Not two minutes after the ANBU disappeared, and at the very moment he was going to hop off the roof to join Iruka, Kakashi saw a glint; his instincts kicked into high gear and took over. Without conscious thought, he leaped over the crowd, dropped silently behind the woman, and pulled her into a hold meant to subdue her. He simultaneously pressed a nerve in her wrist and held a kunai to her throat. The petal-shaped knife she held clattered to the ground and her body stilled in a way that no civilians’ could ever manage.
Iruka opened his mouth to respond but the fireworks started. When the show was over both of them sat for a few moments enjoying the silence.
“Look up,” Kakashi whispered. Iruka turned his gaze upward before laying back. An ocean of stars stretched out before him.
“I always found stargazing to be more relaxing than flower viewing,” Iruka commented as Kakashi joined him.
“Maybe that’s because you work so much you only ever get time off at night.”
“Maybe. Maybe you’ll have to fix that by taking me flower viewing.”
“Maybe I will,” Kakashi said as his hand found Iruka’s.
Though Kakashi did not relax his hold in the slightest, the woman lunged toward Iruka. She didn’t, quite, escape his grasp, but she got close enough that her toe just grazed the skin on the back of Iruka’s hand.
He dropped faster than a chakra puppet with its wires cut.
A heartbeat later, several nearby shinobi converged on their location, fully armed and armoured despite the relaxation of Hanami.
“Hokage-sama!”
“I’m fine. You and you! Take Iruka-sensei to Emergency!” Kakashi commanded. He didn’t want to let Iruka out of his sight, but he couldn’t let go of the woman, either.
@13Bella : Congrats again on guessing the theme right!
Here is your drabble for the prompt “Cozy”
Iruka wrapped himself in his blanket and leaned until his back rested against Kakashi’s front. He then tilted his head up, looking at the man above him with a smile.
“Hey,” he greeted, his way of gauging whether Kakashi had returned to Konoha, to him, to Iruka his lover, after his latest Anbu mission.
Kakashi’s eyes crinkled and one hand came up to squeeze Iruka’s hip, pulling him closer, the other rising to cup Iruka’s jaw. Finally, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
