Warlord

Chapter Sixteen

Kakashi and Asuma flopped into their chairs, neither catching the pointed looks directed their way as Iruka carefully pulled out a chair and helped Kurenai into it before gracefully sliding into his own.

“Sarutobi Asuma,” his wife began in a venomous tone of voice as he lifted a piece of meat to his mouth, “What do you think you are doing?”

“Eating?” he queried around his mouthful.

“Guests first,” she hissed as she slapped him hard, making him drop the food he was holding and look at her in astonishment.

“Yes dear.” he said dejectedly, looking abjectly down at his plate.

“Whipped.” Kakashi stated with a huge grin.

“Like you’re any better,” the scribe muttered under his breath, wiping the smile off the warlord’s face and replacing it with a anxious look. “Kurenai everything looks wonderful.” he complimented as he gracefully served Kakashi and then himself. “So, what names were you thinking about for the baby?”

“Well, for a boy we’ve decided on Hiroto. But if it’s a girl,” here Asuma frantically began mouthing the word no and waving his hands back and forth, slowly trailing off as he observed the look on his wife’s face, “it will be either Aoi or Junko. . . you do know we have a fifty percent chance of having a girl, don’t you Asuma?” she finished with the arch of a delicate brow.

The general mouthed ‘save me’ to his friend. “Yes dear, I know, you made that point very forcefully just last week.” he replied in a pained voice as he rubbed his shoulder, remembering just how she had driven that particular idea home.

“So Kakashi,” she began, rounding on her guest, “how did you and Iruka meet?”

“Well,” he began around a large mouthful of food, “Rai and Asuma and some of the guys took me to the market to buy a pleasure slave, they said I needed to loosen up.”

“Don’t talk with food in your mouth.” the scribe hissed.

“Yes ‘ruka.” the warlord said absently as he took a mouthful of water to wash his food down and wiped his mouth before continuing. He paused however, cocking his head to watch the scene playing out across the table with growing horror.

“You didn’t,” Kurenai hissed, punching him under the table, “corrupting poor Kakashi like that.” She turned to the man in question with a huge smile, “Please continue, I’m so sorry for Asuma’s interruption.”
“Umm,” the warlord began hesitantly, “well . . . I didn’t really want a pleasure slave, so I bought ‘ruka instead. He’s a scribe,” Kakashi continued earnestly, “and really smart, he helps me with my paperwork.” Iruka broke out in a wide smile at the compliment, warming the tall man’s heart.

“Anyway, the more time we spent together, the more I began to care for him, although I didn’t realize it at the time . . .” he trailed off, not sure how much he should say about their relationship.

“Iruka, you’re a slave?” Kurenai asked in surprise.

“Not any more, ‘kashi freed me, and I chose to stay with him.” the scribe replied mildly.

“How romantic.” Kurenai gushed, “It’s just like a story from one of my novels. The dashing warlord frees the wrongfully enslaved princess and they live happily ever after.”

“‘ruka’s not a princess,” the warlord remarked earnestly, “he was a duke . . . before his family sold him and stole his inheritance. We’ll be fixing that.”

“‘kashi,” the scribe began anxiously, “you don’t need to bother with any of that, you have much more important things to spend your time on.”

“Nothing is more important than you.” Kakashi answered seriously, “I will restore what was stolen from you.”

The sultry look the scribe aimed his way had the warlord twitching in his chair, ready to just snatch his lover and head home. Kurenai’s voice finally broke through his lustful haze and he turned to look at her.

“Kakashi . . . Kakashi, hello, is anyone home?” Their hostess asked as she waved her hand in front of the warlord’s face.

“Yes, Kurenai, I’m . . .” his voice broke and he practically squealed “sorry.” as a strong foot began inching its way up his thigh.

“I asked if you and Iruka were free next Saturday, we’re having one last party before I have the baby.”

“We’d be delighted Kurenai.” the scribe answered cheerily, taking pity on the now dumbstruck warlord as he slid his bare foot across a prominent bulge, agile toes wrapping around and squeezing gently, causing Kakashi to gasp and nearly choke. “What time.” he blithely continued, even as he ground hard into the now dripping length, before starting a teasing light up and down slide.

“Seven o’clock . . .” she began before she was cut off by her husband, who was studying the warlord curiously.

“Say Kakashi, everything alright?” The general inquired anxiously, “You look a little faint. Kurenai, I told you all that talk about babies was enough to make anyone sick. Here, let me help you outside for some air.”

The warlord almost passed out when Asuma’s hand wrapped around his forearm. The last thing he needed was to stand up and flaunt his little problem in Kurenai’s face. She was scary even before she got pregnant, and now her mood swings were a thing of legend.

“No, no I’m fine.” he squawked, waving his arms frantically, “I was just . . .” he searched his mind frantically for a worthy diversion, “thinking about how strong women must be to go through delivery, yes, that’s it.” he finished with a satisfied nod of his head.

“Iruka,” Kurenai said as she turned to face the scribe, a serious expression on her face, “you don’t know how lucky you are to have someone who can empathize with what others are going through.” She cast a dark glare at her husband, “Some people,” poking Asuma hard enough to crack a rib, “think everything’s a joke.”

“Now Kurenai, I’m sure that’s just his way of trying to put you at ease.” the scribe soothed, making Asuma look at him in a new light, “You’re really being too hard on him. It’s obvious he’s crazy about you.”

“Now,” Iruka continued as he rose, “you sit there and relax while I clear this table and bring in desert, it’ll only take a moment.” He gracefully gathered the dirty plates and headed for the kitchen.

Kurenai’s voice rang out “Leave the dishes in the sink, Asuma will do them later. He needs to get into practice doing chores for after the baby comes.”

Iruka did as he was told and returned a few minutes later with a large chocolate cake, noting the kicked puppy expression on the general’s face and suppressing a laugh. He was glad Kakashi had gotten him to come, this was more fun than he could remember having in a long time.

Soon they had finished their cake and Iruka was thanking Kurenai for a wonderful evening. Kakashi rose in a daze and clasped forearms with an equally shell-shocked Asuma, “See you in the morning for training.” he muttered.

“Aaaaa, I’ll need to work out the kinks, I see a night on the couch for me.” the general replied, “See you then.”

Kakashi merely hmmm’d as he took Iruka’s arm and steered him outside, grateful to have survived the evening and eager to get home and pay his lover back for the little stunt he pulled during dinner. That thought in mind he pressed a kiss to the top of the scribe’s head and quickened his pace, not wanting to waste any more time.