Escort

XIV

Shigure stared at the broken man he knew to be Hatake Kakashi. He sat on the roof of the inn that the pair from Konoha were staying in, arms wrapped around his knees, staring off into space. Shigure knew that look, knew it well because his father had oft worn the same expression after Shigure’s mother had died. It was the look of rejection, of a great soul would that wouldn’t soon heal. He and Mayuri had come as quickly as they could when the alarms went off, signaling chakra use. Certainly, they had thought the worst, but to learn that Kakashi and Iruka had had a fight – now that was a bit disconcerting. He waited until Kakashi noticed him to approach and Shigure sat down beside the older man, staring off into the distant part of Iiga.

“What happened?”

Kakashi’s lips thinned. “We had a fight.”

“I can see that,” Shigure replied a bit dryly. “How did this fight happen?”

“I told him he might be pregnant.”

“I see.” Shigure fell silent, humming quietly. “You told him what happened from a jounin’s perspective instead of a man’s.”

“Is there a difference?” Kakashi asked. A pause, then, “He said he hated me.”

“My father thought there was a difference. My mother was mortally wounded during a job. She told my father what had happened as a shinobi. They fought until she felt death creeping upon her and then she told him as a woman, as a wife who loved her husband. His last words to her were ‘I love you’.” Shigure said softly. “This is why we’re also human besides killers, Kakashi-san, why jounin are given such respect. Because as such we jounin are meant to kill, to protect and serve. We are left to pick up the pieces of our broken psyche, left to separate the human from the monster and that’s why we need our precious people, why we need love.

“We’re too dangerous to become cold, unfeeling machines. We need that humanity, those feelings of want and love, because without them, we’re nothing. No one should hear the words ‘I hate you’. Those words are meant to destroy and to kill. But I don’t think Iruka hates you,”

Kakashi looked skeptical. “He said it,”

“He was upset. Wouldn’t you be, if you found out you might be pregnant with man’s child, when you’re a man yourself? Or perhaps he was angry because you baby him.”

“I do not.”

“You came all the way from Konoha, unsummoned, to bring him back with or without his consent.”

“He needs to be where I can protect him,” Kakashi replied.

Shigure sighed heavily. “Listen to yourself. Does Iruka really need protecting?”

Kakashi glared at Shigure, but his heart knew the boy was right. He’d been pushing too hard, been ignoring Iruka’s own feelings about this situation. This had been Iruka’s chance to show his peers he was just as good as everyone else and Kakashi had gone and ruined it because of his stupid paranoia. He remained silent but Shigure new the answer anyway. The younger man got to his feet and stretched.

“Think about it Kakashi-san. Iruka is strong. If he wasn’t, he would’ve been dead long before now, wouldn’t he?”

“Then how do I fix it?”

“Apologize. The rest happens after that.” Shigure replied with a smile before he disappeared into nothingness, not one hint of chakra or burning ozone betraying his movement. Kakashi sighed heavily and stared out at the setting sun. Apologize. It seemed so much easier said than done. Iruka could hold a grudge, Kakashi knew, so would he even listen?

Well try, his subconscious supplied. There was no harm in that. Kakashi teleported off the roof and into the hallway, shoving his hands into his pockets as he walked toward the room Iruka had been placed in. He paused as the door opened and Mayuri slipped out, the girl smiling at him as she passed. So the two had gone to try to play peacemaker, huh? Well, Kakashi mused, it was now or never. He eased the door open and slipped inside, aware the lamps were throwing his shadow toward Iruka instead of away. The brunette sat on the couch, hands covering his face, shoulders shaking with sobs. Kakashi felt as though he were violating the moment of Iruka’s solitude, but there would be no second chances if he left now.

Like a man this time, Kakashi thought, not a jounin. Slowly he approached Iruka, sitting beside him and putting an arm around the brunette’s shoulders. Iruka tensed, knowing exactly who it was who was trying to comfort him. Slowly, he raised his head, looking at Kakashi out of the corner of his eye. The silver haired man took a deep breath and pulled his mask down, revealing his face to Iruka. The action struck the brunette profoundly, and tears jumped to his eyes again.

“I’m sorry, Iruka,” Kakashi said after a long while. “I’m sorry for treating you like a child. I just… it’s hard to explain. I want to be near you, all the time, I want to protect you, but it seems I can’t even protect you from myself. I feel whole when I’m with you, happy. I don’t want to watch you get hurt or die and… and I guess what I’m trying to say is… is that I love you.”

Iruka was silent, staring at him openly, tears making their slow journey down his face. Kakashi turned him, wiping those tears away.

“And,” Kakashi continued, “and if you still want to hate me, I’ll be okay with it, and if or when our baby is born I’ll be right there to help. I promise okay?”

“Kakashi,” Iruka whispered, “You’re babbling… and I’m not pregnant. Mayuri checked for me.” He offered the jounin a recently bandaged finger. “The chakra blood test was negative.”

Kakashi let out a sigh of relief. He supposed that shouldn’t be the right sound – not at this point – but he couldn’t help it. Children at this point in his life could be a detriment to both him and Iruka, and – truth be told – he didn’t know the first thing about caring for a baby. Genin were different. They, at least, didn’t cry when they had to go to the bathroom or when they were hungry. Iruka looked away from him and for a moment Kakashi wondered if he was going to cry again. Iruka had a contemplative look on his face, staring at the wall opposite where they were sitting, hands folded in his lap. Kakashi shifted, pulling Iruka closer as he pushed closer to the chuunin. He settled his head against Iruka’s cheek. Iruka pushed against him, not to force Kakashi away, but to get even closer, Kakashi realized. He was vulnerable, his jounin paranoia was saying. He was left in the open, unarmed and now, he had his lover—woah. Kakashi’s mind stuttered to a halt.

“Lover?” Kakashi voiced after a long moment. Iruka glanced at him and then away, blushing.

“If you’d like,”

Kakashi felt a grin bloom on his face. Lover. That word implied so many things; Iruka was his and only his, Iruka was claimed and no one else could have him. They could live together, eat together, maybe even train together. Of course, he’d go easy on Iruka because he wasn’t as skilled as Kakashi was. Well, he’d go easy at first because he knew Iruka was terribly stubborn and until he succeeded or passed out, Iruka would keep going until he succeeded.

“Lover,” Kakashi said again, tilting Iruka’s head back to steal a kiss. “My beautiful Iruka,”

“I’m not beautiful,” Iruka replied after the kiss broke, cheeks flushing red and scar going pale. Kakashi chuckled.

“Yes you are,” Kakashi purred. He pushed Iruka down onto the couch and hovered over him, teasing his neck with kisses. “Let me show you just how beautiful you are.”

Iruka’s face became beet red as Kakashi leaned down to steal kiss after kiss, one hand support him by Iruka’s head while the other delved into Iruka’s kimono, touching soft flesh, married by years of scarring. Experience, Kakashi corrected himself. Scars were a ninja’s experience, no matter what rank they were. Iruka arched against Kakashi’s mouth, gasping when the jounin bit his lower lip and made an annoyed noise when Kakashi’s tongue delved inside to taste that warm cavern. Kakashi’s thumb and index finger silenced any protest Iruka might have given when they encircled a nipple and teased it to a tight bud. Iruka made a mewing noise at that, another as Kakashi’s teeth found his pulse.

“No marks!” Iruka managed to gasp out and Kakashi only chuckled.

“Who’s here that’s going to see, Ruka?” Kakashi replied, using the name of Iruka’s other persona. The chuunin stiffened beneath him and glared, but Kakashi knew how to handle just a gaze. He tweaked the nipple he’d been teasing and watched Iruka’s eyes roll back into his head with pleasure.

Kakashi and Iruka came to a compromise a moment later, stating that bruising was okay so long as the marks were not visible. Kakashi understood the practicality as bruises could hinder movement or give away important information, such as the fact there was a lover – however fickle the relationship was – involved. So Kakashi kept his bruising centered on Iruka’s chest and stomach, while Iruka chose to bit at his shoulders, leaving him a bit sore, but unmarked. Kakashi pulled at the obi Iruka wore around his waist until it came free, and his hand slid down the brunette’s chest to open the kimono. The sight of Iruka – naked, hair unbound and flowing freely to brush his shoulders – was about the sexiest thing Kakashi had ever seen. Only pale scars broke tanned flesh, and even then there weren’t too many on his front side. Kakashi kissed and suckled each one anyway, lavishing his lover – God! He loved that word! – with attention. In return, Iruka petted his hair, his face, kissing everything and anything he could reach, making adorable sounds Kakashi promised he would not call mewling no matter how much like mewling it sounded. At least out loud.

Kakashi shifted, grabbing Iruka up against him as he sat back on the couch, forcing Iruka’s legs around his waist before he forced himself to stand, carrying Iruka to the bedroom and the bed. Iruka clung to him panting as Kakashi moved his hips into Iruka’s with each step, tossing his chuunin onto the bed and climbing over top him just to pin him down. The silver-haired man drank in the sight of his beautiful brunette, studying and imagining. Suddenly, he found himself on his back with Iruka over top him, working furiously to get Kakashi naked. After fighting back his instinct to snap Iruka’s neck – because Iruka was only riled, he told himself, not because Iruka wanted to hurt him – Kakashi helped him little, rather enjoying Iruka’s franticness in trying to get to the skin beneath the clothes. God, this was better than the porn in Icha Icha. No, Kakashi thought as he gasped when Iruka’s tongue flicked out against his navel, better than every single Icha Icha in existence.

In the end, he helped Iruka with his pants, and soon they were pressed against one another, stroking and petting and kissing. Kakashi’s cock was straining for attention by this point, and Iruka’s was decidedly begging for it too. Monkey see, monkey do, Kakashi decided and he wrapped his hand around Iruka’s length, slowly stroking as he watched Iruka shudder and mewl.
“C’mon, ‘Ruka.” Kakashi prodded, taking his suddenly shy chuunin’s hand in his free one, wrapping that soft hand – a teacher’s hand, with calluses from pencils and pens and very few kunai – around his straining erection. Slowly, Iruka began to imitate Kakashi’s movements and moaned deliciously when Kakashi’s thumb ghosted over the head of his penis. Kakashi in turn shuddered when Iruka did the same thing and picked up his pace a bit, pulling Iruka closer to him and whispering all sorts of love and promises to him. Iruka only mewed in reply and his free hand sought Kakashi’s clutching so tight Kakashi thought he’d lose feeling.

But it was his favourite response, because he could feel the emotions coursing through Iruka by his grip and knew beyond a shadow of a doubt how Iruka felt about him. He hadn’t noticed before because he’d been perfecting his selfish jerk jounin persona, but this time he saw and swore to protect Iruka – even from himself. At the present moment, though, Iruka was his victim and he was going to take it as far as he could. He rolled them so he was over Iruka, who was on his back, which left Kakashi between Iruka’s legs. His chuunin was watching him, chest rising and falling in rapid succession, so Kakashi leaned down and placed chaste kisses on Iruka’s sternum as his fingers gripped his hips and pulled him up so Iruka’s weight was mostly on his back and shoulders when his knees were hooked over Kakashi’s shoulders.

Kakashi dipped his head down, determined to make Iruka enjoy this penetration, to make the ghost of Iruka’s – Ruka’s – rape just a bad memory to be forgotten. Not that Iruka remembered anyway, but if he thought about it, this would give him something to compare his “memory” to. Kakashi lapped at Iruka’s entrance, watching his chuunin arch and writhe beneath him at the feel of Kakashi’s tongue against his skin. Just when Iruka thought Kakashi was done, when he thought Kakashi would –just get on with it!– he felt himself breached by something warm, wet, and wriggling. Kakashi had wormed his tongue inside of him, tasting his insides. That was Kakashi’s –tongue–. Iruka just about fainted from that fact alone. Kakashi made an attempt to thrust his tongue into Iruka but decided against it, instead teasing his chuunin with the muscle before he pulled it out, replacing it with two of his fingers. Iruka about arched off the bed, crying out for him.

“That’s it Iruka,” Kakashi purred. “Feels good, doesn’t it?”

“Y-yeah,” Iruka managed to choke out between thrusts, fingers digging into the bed sheets. Kakashi smiled.

“Makes you forget, doesn’t it?”

Iruka blinked at him confusedly for a few moments before his eyes shot wide and he sat upright. His forehead cracked into Kakashi’s nose and the jounin quickly pulled back, cursing.

“I’m sorry!” Iruka cried. Kakashi waved his free hand, before he pulled his fingers from Iruka’s body to touch his nose.

“It’s not broken – hey! Wait! Where are you going?”

Kakashi surged up off the couch as Iruka rolled off it, hurrying to the closet to pull out clothes.

“Yukari,” Iruka said, “she’s still being held by Yutenji.”

Kakashi groaned, putting his hands up at Iruka’s glare. “All right. We’ll finish the mission.”

“Of course we have to finish the mission!” Iruka growled. Instantly, Kakashi was taking hold of him, pressing him against the wall, mouth at his pulse.

“I meant we’ll finish it after we have sex, Iruka,” Kakashi purred.

“Oh,” Iruka shook himself and pushed the silver-haired man away from him. “Stop it. I promise, once we get back to Konoha, I’ll do whatever you want, but until then finish this mission without sex.”

“No sex?”

“No sex.”

Kakashi whimpered. Too bad for him Iruka was immune to the puppy-dog eyes. Such immunity could only be built up with years of teaching pre-genin brats, Kakashi thought, fighting not to pout. Pouting didn’t work either.

“Mission,” Iruka said with a certain finality. “Then I’ll make Icha Icha look like a fan’s attempt at a bad fan fiction.”

Kakashi thought he might have an orgasm right there and then. As he watched Iruka dress in a pretty amethyst kimono, he knew for a fact he wanted to stay with this man forever.

And it wasn’t just because of that Icha Icha promise.