Dirty Little Secret

CHAPTER 10



The following weeks were hell for the former jounin. Or more likely, a confusing, distracting mixture of heaven and hell. Hell, because after the episode at the market the rumours about his failure ran even wilder and people began to look at him openly with disapproval and accusation, even if only a few actually voiced their displeasure at him. However those who did, said things that cut deeply down to the bone – things that were so similar to the things his father had to endure that it was downright unreal sometimes. The cold, calculating, sarcastic part of Kakashi’s mind amusedly thought that he should have taped such rants the first time around years ago and now he could just play them and spare everyone the time and energy to cuss at him – but the rest of him wanted to apologise and beg for forgiveness for his own arrogance.



He began staying in the office for longer and longer hours, fearing to go outside – while he had no doubts that he could defend himself from a physical attack – Kakashi wanted to avoid further verbal confrontations at all costs and walked back home when it was already dark and the streets had long been abandoned.



He knew that Naruto couldn’t really do anything about his current predicament, short of giving a public speech and order everyone to leave his assistant alone – and that would be just pathetic. Both the Hokage and Kakashi knew that the latter had very little pride left and that such an action would just trample that remnant into the ground. So Kakashi kept quiet and endured, all the while wondering if his father had felt the same. When things became too much, he visited Tenzo – despite their earlier argument during the mission, the young man just couldn’t stay angry at Kakashi for long enough so as to deny him anything. After those visits, the older man went home feeling refreshed and with focused mind.



Still, his father hadn’t had Naruto – and that was the reason why Kakashi characterized those weeks as part heaven – because the blonde made him feel useful. Like he wasn’t a relic that wasn’t needed by anyone. The Hokage listened to his opinion and more often than not took what Kakashi had said into consideration before making his final decision. Together, they began to clean the mess that was Konoha – painstakingly slowly, but the progress was obvious.



And so it happened that one warm autumn evening, after they had finished working, Naruto looked at his assistant and said tentatively:



“Would you like to come at my place and have dinner?”



Kakashi blinked at those words as he turned to the blonde.



“Naruto-sama, you can’t cook. Other than ramen, that is.” He quickly added as the Hokage frowned at him.



“You’ll cook.”



Kakashi shook his head and the blonde quickly added:



“I noticed that lately you’re working late, and you have grown even thinner than before. Your Hokage is worried about you. Humour him.” He said, adding a typical Naruto smile, the kind of which Kakashi hadn’t seen in years – charming and bright enough to light up the room. It reminded him of Obito’s smile so much that the older man realized he couldn’t say no when faced with that smile.



“Alright, alright. But I am NOT washing the dishes afterwards.”



Naruto rolled his eyes.



“I have a washing machine."



Kakashi snickered and muttered:



“Lazy bum.”



The walk to Naruto’s home – a small but clean house with a pretty garden at the back was uneventful – not so surprising really, since no one would dare to harass Kakashi in Naruto’s presence. Still, the older man felt almost pathetically grateful to blonde for it.



The place was surprisingly orderly inside, well-cleaned and brightly lit, with a small but functional kitchen and a living room that doubled as a dining-room. Kakashi assumed that the door at the back of the latter led to the bedroom.

He followed the blonde into the kitchen and sat down on a high barstool behind the kitchen counter as Naruto rummaged in the fridge.



“Cook me sukiyaki?” the blond called with his head still stuck in the fridge, voice slightly muffled.



“You don’t want ramen?”



Naruto turned around and grinned mischievously:



“I think we established that I can cook ramen myself.”



Kakashi nodded and walked up to the faucet and washed his hands, then began unwrapping the ingredients and ordering them around his working spot. Naruto watched him with an oddly focused expression on his face. As the older man began to cut the meat, the blonde got up from his chair and moved behind him – he had grown tall enough to look over Kakashi’s shoulder – and looked down at his assistant working.



“You need to cook the meat first.” He murmured softly in Kakashi’s ear and the older man almost jumped.



“I thought you couldn’t cook.” He said.



“I lied, actually.” Naruto’s warm breath tickled his ear. “I was just curious to see you cook – I don’t think I’ve ever seen you do this – and, as you said, I am a lazy bum.” He chuckled at the last words but did not move away from Kakashi.

“Cut it into smaller pieces – I like it better like that.” The Hokage said, voice going down to a breathy whisper.



His broad chest was pressed to Kakashi’s back but otherwise he wasn’t touching him – even so he was deep into the former jounin’s personal space and he was trapping him against the counter. The position made the older man feel strangely excited and uncomfortable at the same time. Still, he couldn’t ignore an order from his Hokage, so he obeyed, shivering minutely every time Naruto’s warm breath tickled his nape.



Suddenly, Naruto’s surprisingly large hand covered his, strangely void of any calluses or roughness – the Kyuubi took care of those – and began to guide his movements as he cut through the meat.



“See?” whispered Naruto. “Like that, sensei.”



The blonde hadn’t called him that in a very long time and its sudden use startled him.



“Hokage-sama, what are you doing?” he asked softly.



“Showing my sensei how to cut my dinner.” Was the calm, self-assured answer. The hand that covered his did not withdraw.



Kakashi knew that he should be freaked out at this odd behaviour, but frankly, Naruto was acting in a way that he couldn’t help but like – just like he liked it when Tenzo told him to clean his shoes and then stayed and watched him do it.

Still, this was Naruto and not Tenzo. Tenzo he trusted in all possible ways while Naruto was uncharted ground. Still, it had been Naruto who trusted in him when no one else would – the fact that he failed that trust was another matter altogether – it was Naruto who trusted him again to make him his assistant and who was one of the two reasons why he was still sane after all he had gone through. So, he didn’t protest when the blonde’s other hand came to rest on his shoulder.



“See?” the Hokage said softly. “They’ll get cooked faster this way.”



He continued to give Kakashi’s instruction during the whole cooking process, more often than not guiding his hands when he decided he needed to, talking to the older man with a soft, gentle voice, right in his ear.



When the last of the ingredients had gone into the pot, Kakashi was so lulled by Naruto’s actions that he felt almost lethargic from relaxation and when the blonde withdrew he shuddered at the sudden cold that hit his back.



Dinner itself passed uneventfully – the odd behaviour that Naruto had demonstrated earlier seemed like a distant, odd if pleasant dream – they talked about the village, about Gai, about Iruka chasing the newest troublemaker in the Academy all around Konoha because the brat had laced his tea with a laxative - and promptly laughed even harder at the poor teacher’s expense when Naruto told him that he had been forced to abandon the chase in favour of looking for the nearest public restroom. They laughed the hardest when the Hokage recounted that the prankster had been punished to clean the Academy’s toilets for a whole month all by himself.



Finally, as Naruto was seeing Kakashi off to his front door he got that focused, odd look on his face again and said with the same soft voice as before.



“You did well today.”



He sounded like Tenzo after he had left one of his vibrating toys inside Kakashi for hours and the older man had managed to control himself well enough so as not to finish.



That tone coming out of Naruto’s mouth went straight to his cock and he flushed crimson, embarrassed both at his reaction and at his assumption that the Hokage meant it in the same way as Tenzo did. Surely he was imagining things and he could only pray that his slacks were wide enough so Naruto wouldn’t notice anything.



He must have been right about Naruto because the blonde grinned at him right after that and said loudly:



“We should have dinner together again sometimes, Kakashi-sensei. You’re an awesome cook!”