Chapter 3

Kakashi soon blinked, realising that not only was Iruka not eating, but the boy was staring up at him.

“Nani?”

“Aren’t you having any?”

“I’m not hungry Ru-kun.”

“You can call me Iruka if you want.”

“No, I prefer Ru-kun, thank you very much.” Kakashi chuckled, and Iruka pulled the steaming ramen bowl towards him. “And I insist that you call me Ka-kun.”

“O, hai.” The dark blush that rose to his cheeks was priceless, and Kakashi made sure to memorise every detail of him. It was strange, but he found himself staring at the boy quite a lot in the short time he’d known him. “Itadakimasu!” Iruka picked up his chopsticks and started to wolf the bowl down. Kakashi just smiled and watching him, only to blink as the bowl clinked to the table, empty.

No way, this kid can’t be human and eat so fast! Reminds me of Kyu-

“Gochisousama.” Iruka placed his chopsticks in the bowl, and pushed the plate of cookies between them. “Want one?” his cheeks were already flushed, his gaze shy.

“No thanks.”

“Sure?”

“Hai.”

“Positive?”

“Yep.”

“They look good.”

“I’m sure they are. Eat them and tell me afterwards.”

“But if you want one, you should have one.” Kakashi just barked a laugh, and ruffled the top of Iruka’s head. Iruka pouted, waving his hands up to try and stop him. “Nani?!”

“I’m not taking my mask off, you curious little pup. So eat your cookies and simmer.” Iruka pouted even more, blushing furiously at being sussed out.

He was in a strange house, with a strange man, and he didn’t even know what he looked like with that mask on and one eye covered.

In any normal kid’s head, alarm bells would be going, excuses would be made, and he would be home as soon as possible.

But Umino Iruka was no normal kid, so he just ignored it for now.

Besides, it’s not like he had anyone to go home to…

Again, he got that ‘being watched’ feeling, and looked up to find Kakashi happily watching him. Again.

“Hn.” He moodily chomped into a cookie, only to moan and sag in his chair.

“Good?”

“Hai!” Iruka furiously ate his way through them, not catching the amused looks Kakashi was giving him.

At last he finished all 12 giant chocolate chip cookies, unable to resist even one of them, and held his glass of milk before him on the table.

“I’ll get the bed ready.” Iruka blinked up at him, and cocked his head to one side, all the question he needed. “You intended to sleep here, ne?”

“…well…” Iruka frowned, and turned his glass on the table.

That’s right, I didn’t tell Kakashi-san why I came here. He just welcomed me inside and…and hasn’t stopped being kind to me.

“…you’re alone?”

When Kakashi asked that, he sounded so pitiful, so raw and broken, it hit Iruka hard. It was almost as if Kakashi was alone too.

He must be lonely, in a big place like this without any friends or family, or anyone to at least talk to.

That has to be it. He let me come inside because he wants someone to talk to. Iruka beamed his best smile, hazel eyes bright and wide.

“Hai, I’d love to sleep over if you let me, Kakashi-san.”

“What do I have to do to get you to just call me Ka-kun?” Iruka blushed and chuckled. “And you can stay as long as you like.” Kakashi laughed with a curved eye, and started to turn in the doorway.

“Really?” Iruka got up, eyes questioning. Kakashi paused, and nodded without turning in the doorway. “You can stay as long as you like, Ru-kun. For all eternity, if you so wish…”

Kakashi was gone, and Iruka just gaped after him.

He’d never had an open invitation before.

Wait…did Kakashi just leave me alone?!?!

“KAKASHI!!!!” Iruka bolted out of the kitchen, round the corner and ran smack bang into a firm back. Kakashi craned his neck over his shoulder and blinked down at him. Iruka knew he’d appear pathetic like this, like before in the hall, but he would not be alone. Not in a haunted house! “I, erm, I’ll help.” He squeaked, and blushed at the warm smile to Kakashi’s eye. “You said that we’d be safe if we were together, so-”

“Forgive me, Ru-kun. I shouldn’t have left you alone.” That's what he'd told the poor boy to calm him down. he'd have to play along, for now. Iruka just pouted a blush, and looked away childishly.

“I just didn’t want anything to happen to you, that’s all.”

“Of course!” Kakashi laughed, and ruffled the boy’s hair.

“Hay!”

“That’s what horses eat.” Iruka reached up, trying to get Kakashi’s larger hand out of his hair, as his ponytail was starting to sag with the nuggy he was receiving.

“No fair! Give up!” Kakashi laughed, his eye curved, and he added his other hand to Iruka’s hair, loving the way the boy seemed torn between shouting at him, and laughing his head off.

Kakashi froze, pulling his hands back, as Iruka’s hair tie fell out and his rich chocolate hair fell around his shoulders, feather light and shimmering. Kakashi stared down at the boy, who was now squirming to locate his hair tie, a little too frantically, and didn’t see the light blush rise to Kakashi’s cheeks through the mask.

He’s so…beautiful…

With his hair down, you could have mistaken Iruka for a pretty little girl at a passing glance, with his big hazel eyes, shoulder length hair and bottom lip nipped between his teeth nervously.

It was enough to make Kakashi want to run his hands back thorough his hair, to see if it was really as soft as it looked.

It was only when he saw the bitter look on Iruka’s face, did he blink out of it.

Iruka scowled, furiously fingering his hair back, holding it behind his head as he finally found his bobble by his feet.

“You don’t have to stare.” He spat, fumbling to be angry and do his hair at the same time.

All his life, Iruka had to put up with being teased for his femininity. Apparently he had a chibi-kawaii baby face, big beautiful brown eyes and long ‘girlie’ hair.

It was the whole reason people started calling him Iruka-chan in the first place.

And having someone as cool as Kakashi stare at him like that…

Iruka looked over Kakashi again, his tight black trousers, black tank top clinging to his athletic, toned body and rippling abdomen, his bare biceps on show, his left one outlined with a bold swirling leaf tattoo, a tribute to just how masculine he looked, with his unique silver hair spiked to one side, his face hidden mysteriously by a mask and one eye by a head band. Even the eye you could see looked cool, so dark and fathomless, yet had that all-knowing twinkle to it…and something darker…

And then there was Iruka, skinny little 13 year old boy, in denim dungarees and a white T shirt, long brown hair and hardly any muscles on him at all.

Yes, it was definitely a put down to have someone who was everything Iruka wished he was, look at you stupefied like that.

He grumbled, sulking as he tied his hair back and looked off to one side.

“What if I wanted to stare at you?” Iruka blinked, and looked up at him.

“Oro? Why would you want to?”

“Because.” . Kakashi chuckled, and curved his eye as he cocked his head to one side, and pointed upward. “I appreciate pretty things. Come, I’ll show you.” He twirled on his feet, and put his hands in his pockets, leading the way. Iruka followed him, and cocked his head to one side, his arms folded.

...did he just call me pretty?

Iruka fumed, and stomped his foot.

“I’m not pretty!” Kakashi stopped in the hallway, and looked over his right shoulder, showing him his curved eye.

“Yeah, and I’m a raving bisexual.” His sarcasm was clear, and Iruka blushed awkwardly.

That wasn’t something you just say in front of a 13 year old boy. True or not.

“…erm…are you?” Iruka didn’t even know why he asked that, and immediately shoved his hands in his pockets, and looked away. “Gomen, I-”

“Nah, I only swing one way kid.” Iruka blinked, and looked up at him. but Kakashi had already started walking off to where ever he was going. Iruka hurried after him, wondering if he dared asked which way he swung…

It’s obvious. He’s got to be straight, right? He’s too cool and manly to be gay. Iruka blinked. Not that I would care if he was gay or anything. I’m straight too. Iruka pursed his lips together, and shuffled after him, brooding to himself. That’s why I’m here. To prove to Kenji that I’m was straight.

That way, he’d be his friend.

He watched the ripple of Kakashi’s shoulder blades as he walked behind him, neither saying anything, until Kakashi turned and walked them into a bedroom.

It was silver and green for as far as Iruka see, as he adopted the gaping fish expression.

A vast, plush, shaggy silver carpeting beneath his feet, a raised futon, dark mahogany wood with thick green drapes veiling a large, cosy silver duvet cover and pillows. There was a large dark mahogany wardrobe, dressing table, and cabinet at the other side of the room, but the glass windows in it had been blacked out with sandy coloured boards.

What’s he hiding in there…

“You can sleep here tonight, Ru-kun.” Iruka immediately yawned, and stretched his arms up in the air.

“Arigato, Kakashi-sa-” Iruka blinked up at Kakashi, who had his arms folded over his chest, and his brow raised over his visible eye. “…Ka-kun. You’re not going to ever let me call you Kakashi-san, are you?”

“Nope.” He chuckled, his eye curved, as he pointed to the side of the bed. “Your bag is there, get changed. I’ll just go lock the doors.”

“Right…about that…” Iruka laughed nervously. “I thought I was entering an empty haunted house, so I don’t have a change of clothes. I thought it would be warmer in my sleeping bag to stay dressed…so…can I sleep in your bed like this?”

“Iie.” Kakashi placed his hand on Iruka’s head, and smiled down at him. “I’ll get you something to wear, ok?” Iruka beamed, and nodded up at him.

“Arigato.”

“Daijoubu, it’s my pleasure.” Kakashi walked over to the wardrobe, and sifted through something, as Iruka sat on the soft silver duvet, and pulled off his socks. “It’s going to look like a tent on you, but put this on.” Iruka barely had time to look up, before he was engulfed by something he could only identify as white.

“Aaa! Ek, is it possible to drown in laundry?” Kakashi chuckled at his joke, and Iruka continued to thrash for freedom, laughing on the bed. Iruka gave up, and flopped on his back, whimpering comically. “Kaaa-kuuuuuuun. I think I’ll just stay like this for a while…” Iruka closed his eyes and relaxed. This bed feels like silk…like I’m hovering on silk…

“Ha! I think not! You’re taking over half the bed like that!” Iruka raised a brow, and saw the outline of a hand reaching out to him. a fist grabbed the ‘thing’ over his face, and pulled it back.

Iruka resumed his earlier gaping fish impression.

Kakashi had removed all his clothes, and now had a large silk black sleeping yukata falling off one of his muscular, creamy shoulders, revealing one of his pumped biceps, that happened to don the bold leaf symbol. It opened over his front, showing such a Herculean torso…Iruka gulped. Firm, flat pecks, rippling tonned abdominal muscles, resembling more of an eight pack than a six pack, and the slender black belt tied low down his hips, but hid his navel downwards.

Iruka’s face was as red as a beetroot, his lips pursed, and hazel eyes wide.

This man is a god.

It made him look scrawny in comparison. “Ru-kun?”

“I think I’ll chest now. Rest! I meant rest! I’ll rest now!” Iruka squeaked up at his face, and gulped.

He’d removed his mask and head band.

His jaw was just as defined as it looked through his mask, no stubble in sign, an angular nose, a dark onyx eye…and a deep crimson one.

Iruka could stop staring at it, absolutely hypnotised.

He had one black, and one crimson eye. It had three black teals in it, and there was a long, thin scar from above his left silver eyebrow, through his eyelids and half way down his cheekbone.

“I have decided to show you my face, like no one else has ever seen it. And lived.” Iruka’s lips trembled. His eyes were wide open, and Kakashi had leaned forward. He pressed his hands to either side of his head on the bed, bringing his bare chest close to the boy’s smaller frame, and his nose inches from Iruka’s. “It is because I have seen something in you, which I haven’t seen for thousands of years. I intend to treasure it, and so, I trust you.” Iruka gulped loudly.

Why couldn’t he stop looking at Kakashi’s lips when he was talking to him?

Thousands of years? He’s exaggerating, right?

“…I…”

“You know, you’re a hypocrite.” Kakashi chuckled, and Iruka was blown away by his amazing smile. It creased along his lips, and his scar even moved with it.

“I, Nani? Nande?” (I, what? why?)

“Because I’m not allowed to stare at you when you look pretty, but you’re staring at me right now. And you think I’m pretty right now, don’t you Ru-kun?” Iruka blushed even more, if it was possible, and gripped the duvet beneath him.

How did he get into this situation again?

Laid on a bed, which was not his own, with the most attractive man in the world covering him. It can’t be natural to be that good looking, can it?

It certainly isn’t fair

“Y you what?”

“You think I’m pretty, don’t you? Isn’t that how young boys describe people they find attractive these days?”

“N no…w we s s say they’re…cute…”

“So ka…” Kakashi smirked, and winked at him with his crimson eye. “Then, Ru-kun, I think you’re very cute.”

Iruka squeaked in the back of his mouth, lips pursed together now.

Was this some sort of confidence boosting thing? He saw the older boys at school tell each other if they look hot before they go off to chat up a girl…so was this that? A man to man ego stroking thing?

It was the only explanation Iruka could come up with. As obscure as it was.

“…Arigato…”

“Do you think I’m cute, Ru-kun?” His nose brushed with his by accident as Kakashi moved to kneel on the futon as well, and Iruka bit his lower lip.

This was a cruel overload for a hormonally unstable 13 year old boy.

“Hai.” He squeaked again, and thought he’d have a nose bleed all over Kakashi’s creamy pale chest. I’m straight, I’m straight, I’m straight! He kept repeating over and over again to himself, and resisted the urge to sigh loudly with relief, when Kakashi lifted away from him.

“I thought you might, Ru-kun.” He whispered, and crawled over to the other side of the immense silver futon. Iruka snapped up, and stared as Kakashi laid himself down on his side, his head resting on his hand, elevated by the elbow pressed into the pillow beneath it, and his other hand patting the bed next to him. “Hurry and get changed Ru-kun. You look ready for that chest-oh-rest.” Iruka bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from screaming in embarrassment, grabbed the white thing Kakashi had placed next to him, and scuttled off the bed, and round the other side of the bed, where the green drapes hid him from Kakashi, and vice versa.

At this point, in the mind of any slightly normal kid, alarm bells would be ringing right about now. But Iruka wasn’t like a normal kid, and suppressed the annoying buzzing of ‘danger, danger, molestation and paedophile ahead’ in the back of his head.

Kakashi’s nice to me. No one has ever been nice to me.

Iruka pulled off his white tank top and dungarees, opting to keep his pants on, and folded his clothes on his bag. He then looked to the white thing, and discovered it was another yukata, but soft cotton, and far too big for even Kakashi.

Iruka looked closer, and pulled what looked like a silver hair from it. But…it looked like a dog hair. Iruka shrugged, waved it in the air once, and couldn’t find anymore hairs. He slid his arms into the sleeves, which trailed around his ankles, and wrapped it around him tightly, finding no belt.

Iruka hopped over to the bed, feeling like he was doing a sack race on sports day, and bounced onto the bed. He laughed, and turned to face Kakashi, who was smiling that amused smile again.

“Nani?”

“You. You make me smile.” He chuckled, and spooned an arm around Iruka’s slim, albeit lumpy waist due to the tightly clumped yukata. Iruka struggled at first, but as soon as he came back to front with Kakashi, a strong around holding him close, without trying anything, he relaxed. The warmth of Kakashi’s body behind him made his eyes droop, and he finally realised just how tired he really was. “Sleep, Ru-kun. I’ll watch over you.”

“…all night?”

“Hai. All night.”

Iruka yawned, and snuggled back against Kakashi, slipping away into a deep sleep.

I’ve never felt so warm…so safe…not since momma…Mmmm…

Iruka sighed, and his breathing levelled off, unaware of Kakashi as he waved his hand over Iruka’s head, and his hair tie vanished. It as then, that Kakashi took the opportunity to finger through Iruka’s thick brown, father soft locks, playing with one between his supple fingers.

“…It has been some time since I last had a companion…Ru-kun. Would you? Wold you by mine if I asked you?” Kakashi whispered, and smirked. “That is, assuming, I give you a choice…” Kakashi licked his lips, rested his face on his pillow close to Iruka’s head, and basked in Iruka’s scent. "It seems, life has suddnely gotten interesting...let's see if you'll last, Ru-kun..."