Kakashi’s breath was deep and even, keeping his mind focused and calm. For the first time in hours, the only pain he felt was from his hands. He took the moment of peace to pray Iruka was safe. He didn’t want to think about what these people could do to his love; they’d managed to capture him after all.

He flexed his arms experimentally; this was the first chance he’d actually had to test his bonds. His elbows were bound together while his wrists were attached to a small metal bar, keeping them separated. It was an ingenious method, rendering his arms completely useless. His fingers had also been broken, preventing any jutsus. Kakashi took another calming breath – he was in serious trouble here.

There was the shuffle of footfalls behind him and Kakashi focused on the noise instantly. After a moment, the ninja stepped into his field of vision, looking calmly at the bound jounin. “And how are we feeling?”

Kakashi said nothing, face perfectly calm. The ninja frowned at him. “As long as you remember what we told you. If we find out any of the information you gave us was wrong, your little teacher will feel the consequences.”

They’d been watching him for a while now, Kakashi knew. Long enough that the man they sent in already had a nearly flawless henge and knew a good deal of his mannerisms. Long enough that they could get in and go unnoticed for quite some time, at least long enough to get close to Iruka and threaten his life. Without Kakashi’s help, they would not have gotten much further than that, so they had ‘encouraged’ him to give them more details.

Kakashi was willing to die to protect his village. He knew Iruka was as well. But this was more than that, if he merely told them nothing or something obviously wrong, the agent would be killed and these people would just try again, maybe go after someone else. So he’d given them information, the truth in many cases, though he’d had to wait through their persuasion long enough to make it seem plausible. He prayed Iruka was all right. He prayed even harder that the teacher was smart enough to notice the little inconsistencies his ‘lover’ would be doing and saying. And he prayed the teacher would know enough not to endanger himself or the village.

-o-o-o-o-o-

The alarm went off just as it was programmed to and Iruka rolled quickly, silencing it with barely a thought. He blinked for several moments, bleary eyes struggling to focus on the numbers and hazy brain remembering that, yes, he really did have to get out of bed now. He sat up, swinging his legs over the edge and shivering slightly as the warmth of the blanket faded. He yawned widely and stood, only then noticing his bed was empty.

Iruka blinked, trying to remember why that felt wrong. Yes, he remembered Kakashi had come home in the middle of the night. Had he left again once Iruka had fallen asleep? The teacher frowned, he really didn’t think Kakashi would do that, but he must have. Maybe he’d taken the Jenny threat seriously and had gone to finish his mission report. Shaking off the feeling of unease, Iruka stood and went to the kitchen to get some breakfast.

Warm miso soup and hastily prepared rice balls and Iruka was on his way to class. The morning air was cool, the chill of winter starting to invade late fall. The slight chill affected Iruka more than the muggy days of summer did, sapping his energy. Winter always drained him, the bleary landscape dragging his mood down. It wasn’t that late yet, the trees still sporting their colorful leaves. October was only just ending, but Iruka could feel winter sneaking up on him.

“Iruka!”

The teacher paused, turning at the rough voice. A smile split his face. “Morning, Tohiro.”

The man jogged the few steps to catch up to the other teacher. He spoke slowly, his voice a strange whisper, a testament to a bad injury a few months back. “I hear that thing got back last night.”

Iruka shook his head. ‘That thing’ was Kakashi and the two men’s hatred was quite familiar by now. “Yes, he’s home again. Why?”

Tohiro shrugged. “Just breaks my heart that he wasn’t killed, you know, the usual.” The man shot Iruka a little smile, letting him know he wasn’t completely serious. “Send him my way next time I’m on desk duty, would ya? The Inuzukas need help cleaning.”

Iruka laughed a little. “I’ll make sure he gets the message.” The two spent the rest of their walk in mindless chatter, commenting on the weather and the progress of the various classes of young ninja. When they finally reached the school gates, Iruka smiled and held the door for the other man. “I’ve got to set up for a weapons demo today, I’ll see you later Tohiro-san.”

The man nodded. “See ya ‘Ru-ah! Iruka.”

The slip actually made Iruka smile. No one in the village used that particular nickname anymore except by mistake, it had spread that he hated it, though most still remained unawares to the reason why. Tohiro knew, which explained the small amount of panic that made the man duck his head and hurry away, but aside from the occasional slip, he pretended none of it had ever happened.

Iruka froze suddenly, smile draining away along with the color in his face. He hadn’t even noticed last night when Kakashi had muttered the name, but now it turned his stomach. His mood plummeted, even knowing it had to be a simple mistake, as he stalked to his classroom. After so long without seeing the silver-haired man, it wore on Iruka to have his homecoming tainted by something so stupid. Setting up for the day’s lesson, Iruka struggled to put it out of his mind.

By the time lunch came around, Iruka had successfully forgotten the incident. He sat behind his desk as he finished the lecture he was giving. At this point, the children were staring at the clock, barely listening to him, and no one noticed when their teacher paused mid-sentence. There was no sound, barely a flicker in chakra, but Iruka could feel his lover suddenly materialize beneath his desk. He struggled with the lecture, trying to finish without letting his children know anything was out of the ordinary while his mind chased several ideas around as to why Kakashi had decided to pay him a visit.

The bell toned and Iruka finished his sentence, nodding at the children that they could leave for lunch. He didn’t stand, doing what little he could to keep Kakashi’s presence a secret. The children left in a miniature hurricane and Iruka tensed, feeling hands on his thighs. The door closed behind the last ninja-to-be about the same time the teacher’s fly was tugged down. Iruka pushed back from his desk almost violently, glaring at the impish look on his lover’s face. “What do you think you’re doing!” he hissed angrily.

Kakashi took hold of the chair, pulling it forward again until the teacher’s waist was within easy reach again. One hand stayed on the piece of furniture while the other went to Iruka’s fly again. “I waited until they were gone.”

Iruka groaned a little despite himself. It had been two weeks. “Kakashi-“ he warned, but it held little threat.

The masked man leaned forward, nuzzling the obvious proof that Iruka was enjoying himself no matter what he actually said. “I just thought, since I got home so late . . .” he trailed off, tugging his mask down and giving the teacher a firm lick before pulling up to look him in the eyes. “I even filed my mission report, so I get bonus points, right?”

Iruka was having a very difficult time thinking straight. He couldn’t get out a coherent answer before the silver haired man descended on his lips, drawing him into a breath-stealing kiss. Long fingered hands began to wander, carefully slipping beneath cloth without actually removing anything to dance and scrape over the teacher’s chest. “Ka-kun,” Iruka gasped in the few seconds his lips were freed between kisses. “My kids.”

The other didn’t respond, melding their lips together once more. He avoided Iruka’s rapidly growing erection, but kept his hands moving over his chest and back, ensuring that the erection was, indeed, growing. After ten minutes of this, Iruka was moaning against him, hands traveling over his body in an attempt to incite the same response. It was then that Kakashi pushed his chair back, disentangling from the teacher.

Iruka squeaked at him in open disappointment. “What-“

“I should let you eat before the little monsters come back,” the other said with a grin, pulling his mask back into place.

Iruka frowned a little, his brow knitting. “Wait, what? You’re leaving?”

He leaned forward, planting a masked kiss on the teacher’s cheek. “You keep telling me to. This is your school after all.” His hands were still tracing patterns, on top of his shirt this time. “I’ll see you after class, ‘Ruka. We can continue this then.”

With a sudden pop and a breeze, he was gone, leaving Iruka to gasp in the empty room. Groaning again, the teacher lay his head on his desk, breathing deeply to try and calm down and quickly fixing his pants. It was going to be a long, long afternoon.

It was a full hour before Iruka realized he’d done it again. He was writing on the board, his back to the students, when he simply stopped moving. Kakashi had called him ‘Ruka again. He’d been thoroughly distracted and hadn’t noticed until now, but he had.

“Sensei?”

Kakashi wouldn’t do that. He knew better. He was almost more likely to talk about Mizuki with Iruka than use that nickname and now he’d said it twice in twelve hours. Iruka’s eyes narrowed, running over what he knew of the man’s mission and for the first time in close to a year he wished he still worked the missions’ desk regularly. He’d gone to Snow Country, but it hadn’t been that dangerous. A rank, but that was just because there were other ninja involved, possible attacks, and it was a one-person job.

Behind him the children were shifting restlessly, confused at their teacher’s behavior. “Sensei?”

Iruka felt his brow crease and he quickly finished writing. “Everyone copy this down and then write me a one page paper on the weapon of your choice.” A chorus of groans, but Iruka barely noticed, still focused on his boyfriend’s odd behavior. Kakashi was normally almost neurotic about making sure Iruka didn’t get caught up in memories of the past. He wouldn’t use that nickname so casually without a reason. Appear in his classroom for an unexpected make out session and then leave him wanting? Yes, that was exactly like Kakashi, but the name wasn’t.

Terrified by the frown creasing Iruka’s face, the children wrote out their essays in silence. They listened attentively and without a sound for the rest of the school day.

-o-o-o-o-o-