Tripwire

Part II


Summary- He would have mentally berated himself for being such a sorry excuse for a ninja, but Gai's lips on his silenced all coherent thoughts. Warm lips moved against his, not experienced by any means, but earnest. Sweet. Terrifying.

Disclaimer: You know the drill.

*^*^*^*^* signals beginning/end of a flashback
********* signals time passing

*^*^*^*^*

"Good afternoon, Kakashi," Gai greeted enthusiastically. As usual, he was bedecked in a green spandex leotard that left little to the imagination. Kakashi really wished that someone, preferably not him, would sit Gai down and give him a long, heartfelt talk about the dangers of spandex. Not only did it scare small children, but it made Kakashi edgy. He could see too much.

Kakashi grunted absently, turning the page of his Icha Icha book. Sooner rather than later, Gai was going to tell him what he'd come for whether Kakashi prodded him or not. Gai Maito was not one to be diverted by a little thing like silence.

"Gah, such coolness." He sat on the bench next to Kakashi. "You do infuriate me sometimes."

"Really?"

"You did it again."

"Did what?"

Gai glared at him. Kakashi saw it over the rim of his book. "Never mind." His mood changed abruptly, the wide smile returning. Gai could change moods faster than anyone he'd ever seen. When his face fell, it fell from the top of a mountain to the bottom of a ravine. "Do you know what day it is, Kakashi?"

"Tuesday, I think."

Gai glared at him meaningfully again. "No, Kakashi. You know what I mean. It's the perfect day for a challenge between old rivals. The sky is blue, the trees are full of leaves, and I'm feeling particularly youthful."

"How unfortunate. I'm feeling old today. Come back tomorrow."

"Would you put that obscene excuse for a book down for a minute? I'm trying to issue a challenge."

Kakashi partially obliged by lowering the book enough to look at Gai. "First of all, Icha Icha is not an obscene book. There is a plot to all the sex. And second, it's my turn to issue the challenge."

Gai flashed Kakashi his Crest smile. "I take it that means you're up for it, then."

Kakashi uncrossed his legs and stretched languidly. "Well, it's not like I could have escaped." He regarded his options thoughtfully. What could they do this time? Kakashi didn't feel like sparring or running. He didn't feel like moving really. It was his day off. So the question was, what could he make Gai do?

A wickedly brilliant idea struck him like lightning. He almost smiled under his mask, the little Kakashi in his head rubbing his hands together deviously. Why hadn't he thought of something like this sooner?

"Okay. Here's my challenge." He flipped his beloved Icha Icha closed and handed it off to Gai. He wasn't done reading it yet, but it was an old volume. "Read that by sundown today."

Gai looked down at the book in his hands like it was a germ infested carcass that would kill him if he held it too long. Kakashi grinned happily to himself. To date, Gai had never turned down a challenge. But he’d never been issued a challenge quite like this. For all Gai's passionate declarations about youth and love, he hadn't done a lot of things youth did. He was a twenty-nine old virgin. By choice, nonetheless. He'd sworn off sex for the sake of Konoha.

Kakashi laughed at declarations like that. He understood Gai's desire to devote himself completely to the safety of Konoha. He loved the village just as much. But to say that celibacy was for the good of the village was ridiculous. In order for a ninja village to survive there had to be children. Ninja married in the interest of providing the village with future ninja just as much as they did for love.

Of course, if Gai was gay then that was an entirely different story. Then it would make more sense to swear off sex. Gai insisted that he liked women, though. Kakashi didn't believe him, but that just made him think Gai was even more insane for intentionally swearing celibacy.

"This book?" he said incredulously.

"Uh huh. That book. By sundown. And if you can't do it or if you can't finish." He grinned again. "You have to sleep with me."

Gai's jaw dropped so fast that Kakashi thought it might come unhinged. "I have to what?"

"Have sex with me," he clarified slowly, as if explaining the birds and the bees to a kid who's just caught mommy and daddy in the act. Kakashi reveled in the shock on Gai's face. His facial expressions were comical.

"I'm not having sex with you," he hissed.

"Then I suggest you read the book," Kakashi said helpfully.

Gai turned the book over to read the summary. He wrinkled his nose in distaste. "What if I refuse the challenge?"

The brilliant thing about this challenge was that Kakashi would win despite the outcome. If Gai accepted the challenge and read the book then Kakashi would have successfully gotten him to read a perverted book. If Gai turned down the challenge, then Kakashi would record this day as a monumental victory. After all, Gai Maito never turned down a challenge. Kakashi didn't even ponder the last option. If Gai decided to accept the challenge then he was going to win, Kakashi was sure of that. There was no way Gai would let himself get roped into having sex.

Kakashi was willing to bet that Gai would be reading the book.

"That's your choice, Gai. Of course," he added sadistically, 'you'll tarnish your perfect record." Kakashi leaned back contentedly and let his words sink in.

Gai looked troubled. A storm of conflicting emotions crashed around in his skull. What was more important to him: his vow to Konoha or his flawless record? He never turned down a challenge. His Manhood would be jeopardized. He also didn't want to read a dirty book.

Shit, Gai thought sourly. He was caught between a rock and a hard place.

*^*^*^*^*

"Well, I'll be fucked," Genma cursed disbelievingly. "You're telling me he lost the bet?"

Kakashi sighed and rolled his eyes. "Wish it were that simple." Maybe Kakashi should have known better. Dealing with Gai was always difficult. It gave Kakashi a headache. He went to drink some sake, but the bottle was drained. He glared at it as if it were the cause of all his problems.

"He won?"

"Yeah, he won."

Genma quirked an eyebrow. "You slept with him voluntarily?"

"Well, yeah. But no." Kakashi was still trying to decide that himself. "It's complicated."

Genma rolled out of bed buck naked with his cigarette still in hand. "I’ll be right back. I think this story is going to need more sake." Kakashi followed him moments after. He was hungry. His food was at home on the stove, cold by now.

He knew exactly where Genma kept his food, more specifically, his snack food. Kakashi had a craving for something salty, and the chips were in the farthest cabinet to the right, behind the health food that Genma didn't eat. Iruka gave it to him a year or two ago.

They made an interesting sight, two stark naked jonin rummaging around in a kitchen, one with a fresh bottle of sake and the other with a bag of potato chips at one in the morning.

"What flavor is that?"

"Barbeque."

"Yum. I'm suddenly hungry too."

They settled back in Genma's bed comfortably, the open bag of chips on the pillow between them. Genma washed away a mouthful of chips with some much needed alcohol. "Okay. Complicated story."

*^*^*^*^*

Gai burst through the front door of Kakashi's very small apartment, an accusing glare marring his usually pleasant features. He did not look happy.

Must have finished Icha Icha.

Kakashi was at the stove in the corner of the room he liked to call the kitchen. It was more of an alcove, really, but Kakashi wasn't particular. His apartment was too small to be particular. The living room was the kitchen and the kitchen was the bedroom. Labels were useless.

"Hello Gai," he greeted pleasantly. "Want some dinner?" Yes, he was going to pretend that nothing was wrong, that Gai wasn’t shooting him a bitchy look that rivaled Sasuke's.

"No, Kakashi. I do not want dinner." Damn, that was almost a snarl. Gai had a lot of different emotions, none of which he ever felt the need to conceal. He did the exacted opposite of conceal. He exaggerated. For Gai, a successfully opened jar was cause for a grand celebration of his youth. When a cat died, Gai shed tears for the loss of beauty. But anger? That was something new to Kakashi. "I want you to make amends for doing this to me."

"Doing what? Making you read a book? You could have turned down the challenge."

Gai threw his mighty arms up in the air. "Oh, you knew I wouldn't turn it down. I never turn down anything."

"Yeah, you are a bit of a masochist that way."

"I'm not a masochist. I know my limits. And I read your stupid little book. And you're right. There is a plot."

"I told you. . . ."

"But you didn't tell me this would happen," Gai said, emphasizing the abnormally large the bulge in his pants. Kakashi looked down at it with shock, repulsion, horror, amusement, and curiosity. But mostly shock. His plan hadn't entailed Gai getting a hard-on from reading the book. He'd always assumed that Gai was *asexual*. Apparently, he was wrong.

"Biology is supposed to tell you that would happen," Kakashi shot back cooly, though he wished he were as calm as he pretended to be. Spandex left nothing to the imagination. "Didn't you pay attention in the academy? We had sex ed."

"Yes, I know. But this has never happened before."

"Never?" Kakashi had hard-ons a lot, at least one a day. He was a guy. These things just happened.

"Never. And it--won't--go--away." Once again, Gai pointed to his erection for undue emphasis. Once again, Kakashi cursed the evils of spandex. "It's been like this for hours."

"Hours?" he repeated incredulously. "Why didn't you. . ."

"I tried drinking tea, exercising, taking a painkiller. . ."

"A painkiller?" This was getting too weird. What kind of nut tries to get rid of an erection with a painkiller?

"It hurts."

Okay, the naive kind. The Gai kind. The kind who obviously was not very in tune with his body. Thirteen year olds knew what to do by instinct. Was Gai born with some kind of genetic defect?

Huh, maybe Tsunade ought to study him.

Gai was still just standing there, looking expectantly at Kakashi, holding him responsible for his hard-on and demanding he do something to fix it. Gai had obviously never masturbated before if he thought drinking tea would help it subside.

A sinking feeling in his chest temporarily panicked him. Gai didn't know what masturbating was. Kakashi was the only person around right now. He would have to be the one to tell him.

No. No way. He wasn't doing that. Kakashi wasn't embarrassed about sex. He told Sasuke all about sex with all the dirty details, although that had mostly been to tick him off. This was different. Gai was in the middle of a crisis situation that he had caused, however unintentional it had been. He was technically responsible for helping the poor guy out.

But did he have to be so fucking clueless?

"Gai, sit down for a minute," Kakashi requested. "I think you and I need to have a talk."

*^*^*^*^*

"You seriously had a sex talk with Gai?" Genma blew smoke into the air. "That's more than a little fucked up, you know."

"Trust me, I know." Kakashi was solemn. Genma was morbidly curious. "I was there."

"That still doesn’t explain how you had sex with him, though," Genma mused. "Masturbation isn't sex. It's not even a worthy substitute."

"He wouldn't masturbate. Flat out refused."

"Dumb ass."

"Yeah," Kakashi groaned in remembrance. "That goes for me too."

*^*^*^*^*

Gai's face wrinkled in disgust. "I'm not going to *touch* it."

"You make it sound like its going to bite your hand off. Your dick is not evil, you know."

"It's not exactly angelic either." He glanced down at the body part in question like it had betrayed him. "It just does whatever it wants."

Kakashi adjusted his forehead protector with a mixture of frustration and bemusement. Gai's naivety was endearing in a way, cute even, the way his lower lip quivered in acute confusion. At the same time it was annoying. He was making this way too hard. All he needed to do was grab hold and give it a few vigorous strokes.

Huh, he felt like masturbating now.

Gai had a nice body under that jump suit. He could see the outline of abdominal muscles beneath the tight suit. Hefty package too.

Maybe he should just service him really quick and send him on his merry way.

Whoa. Bad, naughty thoughts. About Gai. Gai who wears green spandex and has a soapbox dedicated to the Powers of Youth, Love, and Beauty. Gai who he convinced that luck was a skill. Gai who needed a hair cut and a pluck and didn't want to touch himself.

Gai his friend.

Kakashi sighed. He could just tell Gai to go take a cold shower. There was no guarantee that it would work. It had already managed to hang around for a few hours. Gai must still have Icha Icha thoughts running through his head. Well, it was a vivid book.
"Alright. I think I can help you." Kakashi stood up and held out his hand. "Come here."

"What are you going to do?" Gai asked eagerly now that an end to his pain was foreseeable. He had no idea what Kakashi was about to do. Kakashi wasn't sure it was such a good idea himself.

In a sequence of fluid motions Kakashi pulled up his forehead protector, pulled down his mask, and pulled Gai into him, lip to lip. He had soft lips.

*^*^*^*^*

"Wow. You really did have sex with Gai." Genma rolled the words around on his tongue. Sex with Gai. It was something of an anomaly. "You had *sex* with Gai."

"Stop saying it. I'm not proud of it."

"What, was he a dud?"

"No. But it was awkward." Kakashi rolled onto his back and threw his arm over his eyes. "So freaking awkward."

*^*^*^*^*

"Relax," Kakashi tried to soothe as he coated his fingers with vanilla scented lube. Sex could be so fun. "I'm going to try to make this hurt as little as possible, but you have to work with me."

"Hurt?" Gai was alarmed, bolting upright in the bed. "You didn't say it was going to hurt."

Kakashi pushed him back down, ignoring sputtered protests. "It won't hurt much." He shoved Gai's legs up near his waist, rubbing his inner thighs in a comforting motion. "Trust me, okay? I'll be gentle."

Slowly, trying hard not to scare him, Kakashi placed a finger at Gai’s puckered entrance and rubbed gently, teasing the tight ring of muscle. Gai sucked in a breath. "Relax," he insisted as he slipped his finger inside. Gai’s entire body stiffened, his muscles pushing back. He hissed, squirming against the intrusion. "You okay?" Kakashi ventured. "I don't want to hurt you."

Gai took a deep breath and gave Kakashi one of his wide grins. It was mostly an act. He was trembling. "Of course I'm okay. I can handle a little bit of pain, Kakashi."

"Yeah, I know you can." He moved his finger in a circular twist, searching around for Gai’s prostate and loosening him up at the same time. Gai's breathing came in pants soft like satin. He really was much better looking without the jumpsuit. Gai was all smooth, tanned muscle, taunt and tuned like guitar strings. The occasional scar marred his complexion, but all shinobi had scars. There was no such thing as a perfect ninja body. "But I'm still going to be careful."

There. Gai's body suddenly arched off the bed as a moan dragged from his lips. Never let it be said that Gai wasn't a human being. He had needs just like everyone else. He'd just needed someone to help him figure it out.

*^*^*^*^*

It just got more awkward after that. Kakashi was afraid of hurting the man and Gai just lay there not doing anything to help him out. Sex was a two person act, but Gai was too nervous to realize that.

Gai had come too quickly. Kakashi hadnt come at all.

"No wonder you came to me. Sounds like a disaster."

"Try catastrophe. I'll never be able to look at him the same way again. Genma, I've seen under the jumpsuit. I can never go back."

"Aw, poor baby." Genma waved the bottle of sake in front of him, the liquid inside sploshing temptingly against the potted walls. "Care to drink your sorrows away?"

Kakashi pushed the bottle away irritably. "Is that all you ever think about? Alcohol and sex?"

"Hey, you're the one who came to me wanting a good fuck," Genma shot back with a scoff. "Don't go all saintly on me. You couldn't pull it off to save your ass." He took a swig of liquor himself, noting that he was starting to feel tipsy. Raido was so going to tan his hide tomorrow.

"Dammit Genma, I've got a real problem here. Do you think you could actually help me?" Kakashi didn't like asking people for help. He was mildly angered by his inability to handle his own personal life, but he did *not* know how to undue the damage he'd done.

Genma shrugged. "So you fucked Gai. What's the big deal?" Gai needed to get laid anyway. Being a virgin at his age wasn't healthy. "Just don’t do it again."

Kakashi's voice dropped to a tone just above a whisper, like he was afraid of someone overhearing. Or maybe he was just afraid. "He thinks we're dating, Genma."

He blinked owlishly. "Dating? What the hell gave him that impression?"

"Romance novels."

*^*^*^*^*

Gai was more relaxed than Kakashi had ever seen him. He was lying on his back with his eyes closed, mouth slack. Kakashi would have been happy for him if his penis wasn't still painfully hard. Gai would probably freak out if he reached down and jacked himself off so he decided that he should just wait until Gai left.

He swung his legs over the side of the bed and reached for his boxers. As he was pulling them on, Gai rose up on his elbows. His normally pristine bowl cut was tousled with sweat. "What are you doing?" he said confusedly.

He looked up, startled. It had been a long time since anyone asked him that question."Getting your clothes."

"Why?"

"You have to go."

Gai seemed appeased for the moment, but as Kakashi was pulling up his pants, he asked a question that almost made Kakashi fall over. "Aren't boyfriends supposed to stay the night?"

Good thing he was a shinobi, otherwise he would have fallen on his ass. He came dangerously close anyway. He opened and closed his mouth like a fish out of water. Boyfriend? Oh no, no no no *no*. Not good. Gai was obviously confused. "Gai, I'm not you boyfriend."

"Of course you are," Gai exclaimed. Kakashi could feel a speech coming on. "We have made love together." There it was. "Our relationship has evolved from esteemed rivals to something far more beautiful. From here on out, we shall celebrate the Power of our Love together!"

Kakashi searched desperately for Gai's jumpsuit. Where did the damn thing go? This wasn't a big room.

"Imagine our life together."

"You swore off sex," Kakashi reminded him hastily. "Remember that?"

Gai climbed out of bed and walked over to Kakashi. "I remember," he said solemnly. "And I'm not talking about sex. I'm talking about Love."

Kakashi snorted. "Gai, I don't love you. I slept with you. It's not the same."

"But if two people have sex, then they should be in a relationship. That's the way it works in books, movies."

"This isn't a movie. We aren't dating." Aha, in the corner. The suit was draped over the chair. "I don't date at all." He swore it off, categorized it with illegal drugs, too addictive, too dangerous. Too much for him to take.

"Can't you change your mind?" Gai reached for his hand, catching Kakashi off guard for the second time in five minutes. He would have mentally berated himself for being such a sorry excuse for a ninja, but Gai’s lips on his silenced all coherent thoughts. Warm lips moved against his, not experienced by any means, but earnest. Sweet. Terrifying.

"You have to go," he whispered, pressing the jumpsuit into Gai's arms.

"I'll come see you tomorrow," Gai promised. Kakashi pulled the mask over his face hurriedly, not wanting to bury himself deeper. He didn't answer.

*^*^*^*^*

No amount of sake was enough for this story, Genma decided. "Damn. You really do have yourself a problem."

Kakashi shot him a hot look. Genma smiled weakly and shrugged. "I don't know if I can help you with this. What do you want me to do?"

"Kill him. Make it look like an accident."

"In a village fool of ninja?" he scoffed. "That's a laugh. ANBU would be after my ass within a matter of hours."

"I have to get rid of him." Ideas began running through Kakashi's head rapidly, images flashing at random through his brain. Gai buried up to his neck, Gai tied to a tree, Gai stranded in the middle of the sea in a boat with no oars, Gai kissing his neck, tongue darting out to lick at sweat. . .

No, wrong kind of imagery. Though he did enjoy homoerotic. . .

"You could just throw the guy a bone and take him out on a date."

Was he crazy" "Are you crazy?"

"No. I'm trying to help. You can't get rid of Gai the normal way. He already puts up with you as the ass you are."

"Then how is taking him on a date going to solve anything?" Kakashi was very close losing him temper and it was hard to conceal his mounting agitation without the mask. "That's going to make it worse Genma."

"Calm down, Casanova." He snuffed out his cigarette and stowed the lighter in the bedside drawer. "If you admit you're dating him then you can break up with him. Simple as that."

Kakashi snorted. "Bull shit. Gai doesn't exactly take no for an answer." He rubbed his temples, feeling the earlier migraine return with the force of a sledgehammer. A frozen sledgehammer. "Why did I have to have sex with him, Genma? Why didn't I just send him away to take a cold shower?"

"Maybe you like him," Genma said casually. The thought of Kakashi liking someone was foreign to him, but weirder things had happened. Like the incident with Hayate patrolling the forest a couple years back. The medic-nins laughed their asses off.

*^*^*^*^*

After a nearly two hours silence between the pair of shinobi, Hayate shifted and yawned dramatically. He and Genma had been crouched in the bushes for far too long, waiting for the rest of the patrol to return.

"Bored, Hayate?" Genma teased as he tongued the senbon in his mouth.

"I was bored an hour ago. I'm beyond bored now." He yawned again. "How long until the others get back?"

"Dunno. Another hour maybe."

Another shift and a yawn from Hayate. "We should have offered to take first patrol. We're going to have to walk around in the da. . .ahhh!!" He cut of with a sudden yelp and scrambled away, groping his ass. On reflex, Genma turned to the assailant and shot his senbon.

Silence all around.

While Hayate was rubbing his tender ass, Genma smiled at the assailant he'd brought down. Lucky his aim was off, otherwise he would have missed the little devil. "Congratulations, Hayate," he cheered as he held up the attacker by it's striped tail. "You just survived a raccoon assault."

*^*^*^*^*

Thinking about Hayate was painful. He had to stop doing that. Especially when he was in bed with other people.

Again, Kakashi snorted, dismissing Genma completely. "Trust me, I don't like Gai. Not like that."

For some reason, Genma was relieved to hear that. Wrapping his head around the idea of Kakashi and Gai as an item was, well, odd. Distressing.

Distressing?

Well, duh. It was Gai. Konoha's Green Beast. Of course *that* was distressing.

"I can't believe how badly I fucked things up. I'm supposed to be a genius." Kakashi reached across Genma’s body for the sake. He smelled like oranges and salt, Genma registered. He always smelled like that. Must be a cologne of some kind.

Kami, he smelled good.

"Friends aren't supposed to have sex with each other."

That snapped Genma out of his reverie. He turned immediately to stare at Kakashi, not quite believing what came out of his mouth. "*We're* friends, Kakashi. *We* have sex all the time." More often than not, really.

"It's different with you," Kakashi said with a shrug. "You're a friend and a fuck-buddy. You already know that this is going nowhere."

Since when was there a difference? "Oh, sorry. I hadn't realized that having sex with you would place me in a different category from the *rest* of your friends," he said sarcastically. He was mad, and he knew it, but he wasn't exactly sure why. Definitions had never bothered him before, but he didn't like being called a fuck buddy. He didn't like it at all.

Kakashi eyed him critically. "You're mad at me," he said disbelievingly. "Why the hell are you mad at me?"

"Nothing," Genma snapped. Angry because he was angry at Kakashi for calling him something he knew he was all along. Angry for some reason he couldn't place. "Forget it."

"There is something wrong with you tonight. What are you getting so worked up over?"

"I said forget it," he said sharply. "Your fuck buddy is going to sleep now."

"Fuck, Genma. You know you're my friend."

"Right. And so is Gai. I'm just a different kind of friend. The kind you don't have to worry about hurting." Genma turned his back on Kakashi, pulling the quilt up under his chin. He didn't need this right now. It was late, he was tired, slightly drunk, and damned if the whole room didn't smell like him.

'Genma. . . ."

Silence from the brunette. The brunette he'd somehow hurt, though he wasn't sure how. Genma knew how this worked. It was just sex. No strings. No pain.

"I'm sorry, okay? Come on, Genma, be reasonable. You and Gai aren't the same and you know it. I don't have to worry when I'm with you. You don't ask for something I can't give. With you, it's okay if I'm
with someone else for a night."

"You're never with someone else for a night," Genma mumbled, the realization just dawning on him as he spoke. They used to trade stories about sexual escapades when they got together. Lately, Genma had been the one with all the stories, and Kakashi was doing all the listening.

*^*^*^*^*^*

Friday nights in Konoha were lucrative for the local bar owners. Civilians went out to celebrate the weekend and the shinobi went out for some well deserved relaxation time.

Genma was on his third cup sake. He was feeling pleasantly buzzed and very congenial. It was a great night to be alive with a gorgeous, sometimes scary brunette with a reputation for kinky bedroom antics, something that Genma would attest to personally.

Anko flashed him a toothy grin, pouring herself another glass of sake. She was a little past buzzed, moving into a zone Genma liked to call mildly tipsy. "I'll telling you, Genma, this guy was a sexual
g--o--d. Did something to my clit that I can't even begin to describe accurately. It really is possible to swirl and suck at the same time."

"Way to make a guy feel inferior, Anko. I've done plenty of good things to your clit."

"Not like he did." She glanced at him sidelong, eyes smouldering with lust beneath her lashes. Her grin was lecherous. "Wanna practice with me? Maybe we can figure out what he did?"

Kakashi watched the pair talk from across the room. He was settled in a booth with Asuma and Kurenai, feeling like a third wheel. They denied that they were romantically involved, but Kakashi didn't buy it. No one else did either. You could see it in the way the looked at each other.

Anko dropped off the stool, sidling herself between Genma's open legs. Kakashi could plainly see the outline of her breast beneath the mesh. For missions, she wore the trench coat. For a night out, she went into full slut mode, mesh shirt, short skirt, deadly-looking leather bitch boots up to her knees. Sexy, if Kakashi was interested in women at all.

Now Genma, he could stare at Genma for a long time without getting bored. Tonight his ninja attire was traded for a pair of loose fitting black pants and a charcoal grey fitted tee that emphasized all the right muscles. Not that there were any wrong muscles on Genma's body, but that shirt was doing a lot to turn him on right now. His brown hair was hanging loose for once, the hitai-ate looped around his waist instead of his head in it's usual bandana style. The senbon was set between his teeth, glinting silver whenever he moved languidly against Anko. He radiated sex.

And Konoha's biggest female slut was between his legs like she owned him, her mesh-covered breasts plastered against his chest.

Genma could do so much better than Anko Mitarashi.

Kakashi excused himself from Kurenai and Asuma's company. The couple smiled at each other knowingly, catching onto the possessive quality of his gaze.

Anko's hands were all over Genma's body, brushing over nipples as she told him all about the things he could do to her. Kakashi didn't feel bad about interrupting them. In fact, it felt good.

"Yo, Genma," he greeted, raising his hand in a half-assed wave.

Genma looked over. His body language was relaxed, but his grey eye was intense. Predatory. Genma felt the skin of the back of his neck prickle pleasantly. There was something in him that liked the feeling of being possessed, taken by another man. Anko had her body all over him, thigh rubbing against his manhood, and it was Kakashi that he wanted.

"I didn't know you were here," Genma said in return. *I would have come right to you* he added silently, communicating it with his eyes. Anko was a good lay and all, but men and women weren't the same in bed. He wanted it up the ass tonight.

"Yeah. I'm leaving now anyway." *Come with me and I'll screw you into the mattress so hard you won't be able to walk for a week.* "Early day tomorrow."

"Too bad. You want some company?" He de-tangled himself from Anko's groping hands, much to her disappointment. "You know, on the walk home?"

Anko's hands went to her hips, glaring at Kakashi the thief. He glanced back cooly, feeling smug. "I'd love some company."

*^*^*^*^*^*

"I've been with plenty of people lately," Kakashi retorted.

"Oh yeah? Just last week you came after me while I was with Anko. You could have had anyone else in the bar and you pick some one who's already occupied."

Caught or not, Kakashi grew defensive. It was true. In a moment of weakness, Kakashi had acted overly possessive of someone who didn't belong to him. That was one of the rules to having a sex-buddy; do not get so attached that you're offended when a partner is busy. They were not exclusive. There had been no reason to swipe him from another girl's arms.

Still, it was Anko. He was a better lay than Anko any day of the week. He'd been doing Genma a service
by extending the invitation and now the ungrateful prick was throwing it his face.

"You didn't exactly protest, Genma. You came with me willingly."

"You were eying me up in that *way* you do."

"What *way*?"

"Like I'm dessert." Like he was the hottest thing on the face of the earth. Like he was the only person in the room worth his time. Like he was. . . like he was. . .

His.

"You *are* dessert." Dessert, dinner, lunch, and breakfast. Genma was enough to satisfy all of his hunger pangs.

Come to think of it, what had happened to the rest of his fuck-buddies? He hadn't been with one of them in, well, months. Five months in total. Five months of only Genma.

"Yeah, well I'm not *your* dessert." Genma didn't like the road they were heading down. This was more than a disagreement, it was a goddamned fight. Over what, he didn't know, but there it was. They thought they knew, but apparently they'd established different parameters somewhere down the line. Friend, fuck buddy, there shouldn't be a difference and yet there it was to *Kakashi*. He wasn't acting as if Genma and Gai were on the same level, as if Genma was a different kind of friend just because they slept together while Genma had never seen him as *anything* other than a friend. The bastard.

"I never said you were." That would be possessive of him, like Genma belonged to him. Genma didn't belong to him and he could go with Anko or whoever the hell else he wasn’t because he didn't have prior claims. It was one slip-up, one tiny bout of momentary jealousy.

No, that wasn't right because Genma didn’t belong to him. He couldn't be jealous. Not of Anko. Not of a woman who meant nothing, who was just a slut willing to take a tumble.

She was Genma's friend, though. One of Genma's fuck buddies.

Oh shit. He'd put Anko and Genma in the same category. That wasn't right. That wasn't fair. That wasn't the way it was supposed to work. Gai was Kakashi's friend. Genma was Kakashi's fuck buddy.

Genma was his friend too. He was both. Gai and Genma were the same, right? It was just the sex that was different, but that didn't make *them* different.

"Then next time you see me with someone else, take your libido somewhere unoccupied," Genma said as he rolled back over to face the silver-haired jonin. "Take it to Gai. He's your boyfriend now, after all."

"Fuck, Genma. I don't like him like that," Kakashi almost yelled. It sounded twice as loud in the silence that followed. Genma had his eyes closed, pulling all of his thoughts together. This night was turning out to be more than he could deal with. He should have just gone out, then he wouldn't have this headache, wouldn't feel the ache clawing at his stomach, letting him know that something wasn't right, to run before something bad happened. It was the same sense he used on missions, a sixth sense that warned him that he was about to walk into a trap, of a possible tripwire in the bushes. To turn back before it was too late.

*^*^*^*^*

"That was disgusting," Genma proclaimed as he wiped his chin clean of the cum dribbling down. "I'm never doing that to you again."

Hayate grinned down at him and laughed "I can't believe you swallowed. It was your first time going down on a guy. I would have understood if you’d spit it out."

"No way. In for a foot, in for a mile." Genma crawled up the bed, looming seductively over his brand new and first ever boyfriend. "Can I fuck you now?"

"Not until you answer a few questions of mine." Hayate sighed as Genma nibbled on his neck, trying to distract him from talking. "They're important questions, Gen."

"Can't they wait?" he asked, lips brushing against the scar on Hayate's neck as he spoke.

"No, they can't."

Genma sighed and sat up obediently. "Make this quick. I'm horny and you are just too tempting." He smirked when Hayate shivered a little. Dirty talk was a turn on of his too.

"Okay. In all the years you've been doing guys, you've never deep throated any one until tonight."

"Yeah, 'cause it tastes gross."

"Not the question." He pushed a renegade strand of hair out of Genma's face. "The question is, why'd you do it to me?"

The gentle hand on his skin nearly made him blush. Dammit, he wasn't a genin, here. When was the last time he'd blushed? He looked up at the ceiling, down at the comforter, the rough, scared skin of Hayate's knee, anywhere but his face. He knew how Hayate was looking at him. "Maybe I like you a little," he mumbled self-consciously. Curse these infernal things called crushes. He was too old to have a crush.

Hayate "hmmed" thoughtfully. "So then what took you so long to say yes to a date?"

This time, he did look a Hayate, at that gaze he knew was there. Hayate looked at him like he was the only person in the world that mattered. "Cause I like you a little," he managed to whisper.

Hayate pressed his lips against Genma’s eyes, bright despite the dark bags beneath them. Genma kissed back contentedly, still amazed that he had someone like Hayate, someone he'd always liked but never considered a relationship with. Until now."Let's get some sleep," Hayate said as he pulled away reluctantly. Now that he finally had Genma after chasing the promiscuous man for years, he didn't even want to sleep."I have a meeting with the Hokage in the morning. The genin will be back from the Forest of Death by tomorrow."

*^*^*^*^*

The scene played over his closed eyelids like a scene from a movie, burned there permanently. Kakashi was there too, with that predatory look in his eye, a moment where he fell asleep naked on the couch. And those eyes of his, those gorgeous, mismatched eyes.

The eyes of a friend.

The eyes of a friend who slept with someone else for the first time in five months.

The eyes of a friend who called him a friend *and* a fuck buddy when he'd always assumed they were the same thing.

"Then why did you sleep with him?" Genma asked softly.

Kakashi opened his mouth to speak but the words were caught in his throat. Maybe if he could explain it to himself, then he could explain it to Genma. But right now, he just didn't know. And when in doubt, lie. "I was just helping him out, Genma. He was in pain."

"So you send him home to jack off. You didn't have to fuck him, Kakashi. You didn't have to fuck him."

"I can fuck whoever the hell I want," he retorted hotly. Genma had no right to tell him what he should or shouldn't do. "I can fuck half of Konoha if I want."

'Right, just not your friends." Genma said as he stared up at the ceiling. Hayate was on the ceiling, there with Sasuke, Obito, Sakumo, the Fourth. All the people they had lost pressing down on them, compressing his chest with a heavy weight. Dead, all of them. Even Sasuke would be dead soon. "Look, I think you need to straighten things out, Kakashi. Figure out your definitions and tell me what I really am to you, your friend or your fuck buddy. *I'm* going to sleep."

Genma turned his back on Kakashi, unable to take the weight settling on his chest, choking him. 'You do that," Kakashi said as he lay down. "And think about why you came with me that night. Maybe you're confused too."

He was right. Genma was confused. He was so confused it was painful, the way his head was spinning, stomach twisting. Where had they gone wrong? When had it happened? When had it turned into more than it was supposed to be?

*********

Genma groaned inwardly the moment he woke up. He had a headache, the alarm was too loud, and the bed was vacant. Kakashi was gone. He reached over and slammed the alarm, almost knocking over his lamp. The apartment was quiet. Sighing, Genma got out of bed and padded into the bathroom to take a shower A long shower with hot, hot water.

The shower was already wet. Kakashi had used the shower before he left. It was unusual for Kakashi to wake up so early in the morning, but Genma wasn't surprised considering the circumstances. It was a wonder he'd even stayed until morning.

He dressed in a hurry, eager to get the hell out of the house. Raido would be ecstatic if he showed up early. Might as well do something to please someone. It would make up for his sporting a slight hangover.

As he was tying his hitai-ate, the smell of tea and rice reached his nose. His stomach heaved for a second, but calmed down. Tea would do him good. But who had. . .

Kakashi. He was still there. Cooking in his kitchen like he belonged there. He knew where all the spices were, where the towels were kept, where chopsticks were.

Kakashi was at the table, scooping rice into two bowls. Genma steeled himself and entered the kitchen, willing himself to act like nothing was wrong even though everything was so screwed up now. He didn't know where they stood. So he ate his rice and sipped his tea in silence. Nothing to say.

"I borrowed a pair of your pants," Kakashi informed his formally. "I think they're clean."

Genma took a quick look at them. "Those are yours," he said after he swallowed. "You left them here last time you spent the night." Just last week.

"Huh," Kakashi replied absently. "Thought they fit too well to be yours."

Not only did he know where everything was in Genma's kitchen, but he was leaving his clothes there too. "You also left a kunai here. It's in the drawer by the couch." Clothes and weapons. Next thing he knew, one of his Icha Icha books would be there.

No wait. He’d already done that.

"I'll grab my stuff when I leave."

Leave. Genma didn't like the idea of him leaving. He didn't like the idea of him staying and he didn't like the idea of him leaving and he really didn't like the idea of him dying. Like Hayate had died before they'd even began.

He didn't like that he was scared of the past.

"You can leave it here, you know. It's just a kunai. You have plenty."

Kakashi did have a lot of kunai. More than he needed really. He could leave one at Genma's place. It wouldn't kill him. Then again, maybe it would. Because that's how it started. You gave everyone a piece of you until you gave away too much. "Friends don't kiss and cuddle," Kakashi reminded him in answer. "Friends drink sake and compare scars."

"We kiss and drink." Genma'd seen all his scars.

"Not that kind of kissing." Don't kiss unless you're expecting something more. That was how it worked. That was how it always worked.

"Yeah, but friends don't have sex."

No, friends didn't have sex. They weren't supposed to have sex, they weren't supposed to get so attached that it hurt when someone wanted to walk away. Friends weren't as hard to lose as people you fell in love with. So, Kakashi had drawn an imaginary line somewhere along the way, dividing his friends from his fuck buddies. No, more than that, dividing his friend from his fuck buddy. Dividing Gai from Genma when there shouldn't have been a difference. They were both his friends.

Except for the sex. That's what had happened. That's where it went wrong. When he'd mixed the definitions, he'd lost them both. "You're right. Friends don't have sex."

Genma’s heart sank through his chair and melted through the floor, seeping into the cracks of the earth. "Yeah. I know." He gulped down the rest of the tea and stood up abruptly. He wished that Gai had never challenged Kakashi. He wished that he had gone with Anko. He wished, desperately, that he didn't see Hayate and want Kakashi when he closed his eyes. "I should get going. Raido is waiting for me. Thanks for the tea."

*Damn this whole thing* Kakashi cursed as he watched Genma walk away, just like everyone else had. Walking away from him to the afterlife, to Sound, to a place where shame did not exist. He saw them all
when he closed his eyes.

Well fuck, he'd screwed this up enough already. What was one more alteration to a definition they never knew anyway?

"I'll leave the kunai," a voice close to Genma's back. Genma stopped dead in his tracks. Kakashi was behind him with a hand on his waist. The mask was down. It had been, Genma realized, all through breakfast. The scar across his eye had been visible the entire time. Why hadn't he noticed until now?

"Okay," said Genma. Kakashi's breath was hot on his ear. "That's okay."

Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. Kakashi didn’t believe in "will be" anymore. But he could believe in maybe.

The world moved in slow motion as Kakashi turned Genma in his arms. The world spun around, sideways and upside down as their lips moved closer, magnetically polarized by what they could give and what was left to take. The world stopped as they kissed, breaking all the rules.

He still smelled like oranges.

He tasted like rice and tea. Old. Familiar. His tongue probed Genma's mouth, finding familiar nerve endings and sweeping over every single one of them. He touched all the spots that had Genma gasping for the breath he lost somewhere, flung into the far corners of the room, drifting up to the ceiling.

"There weren't supposed to be any strings attached," he murmured against Genma's lips.

"It was a tripwire, I think," Genma murmured back. "We both missed it."

He pulled back a little, just enough to look down into Genma's golden brown eyes. Genma met his mismatched ones fervently, memorizing the way his eye lashed shrouded the red and grey. "Kissing is for boyfriends," he said as if he were crazy. Or the world, he wasn't sure. "Boyfriends kiss and cuddle. Friends drink and compare scars." That was how it had always worked.

"No," Genma corrected with an ironic smile. That was how it had never worked. "We've got it wrong. Boyfriends drink sake and fall asleep," he ghosted his lips over the scar on Kakashi's cheek, "after they've kissed their scars."

Kakashi smiled too. "That tickled, you know."

Genma did it again, chuckling when Kakashi wriggled away. "Go to work," he admonished. "You're probably late now."

"Yeah. Raido's gonna kick my ass from here to Suna. Some things never change, huh?"

"Yeah." His clothes had been here all along, after all. "Try and come back alive, okay?"

"I always try," Genma promised as he laid a light kiss on Kakashi's lips. That was the rule. Don't kiss unless you're after something more. "Try and be here when I get back."

"I'll try."

As Genma walked out the door, Kakashi knew that he'd try his damned hardest to come back. And that made all the difference. For the first time, someone leaving might come back to him. *That* he had no doubts about. Maybe he8d come back alive, maybe he wouldn8t. Maybe they'd be okay.

Maybe was enough for him. It was all they had.


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