A Flash of Pink

Kakashi breathed out slowly, his sharingan had memorised Iruka’s surprised face in minute detail and it kept replaying in his mind. All of the sordid things that he had drawn from the body servants diseased mind had faded leaving only his friends unguarded face. He was still shocked that he’d been able to access his sharingan in this transformed form, he hadn’t thought that he’d had enough chakra, but it had been worth it just for this memory alone.



Iruka had cast a little genjutsu over their small band of captives to make them believe that they were surrounded by Konoha ninja in order to keep them quiet whilst they awoke from the mind-control that they had been operating under. Kakashi watched as first awareness and then anger crossed many of the faces before him. Eventually one of the civilian fighters edged forward and indicated that he wished to speak with Iruka.



Kakashi watched from his position, slumped between his students in exhaustion, as their current sensei spoke softly with a few of their captives. He smiled, nodded and patted many a shoulder as he worked his way through the small group. Kakashi was hit suddenly by how he appeared to be both sympathetic and yet still commanding. It was an unusual talent and Kakashi wondered just how often Iruka had used that combination of sweet and salty with him.



After what seemed an inordinate amount of time Iruka clapped one of the men on the shoulder in a friendly manner and walked over to his ‘students’ with the man. Kakashi felt a twinge of something in his stomach watching them. Iruka introduced the man and explained that he knew where the girls were being kept and that he and his men would be happy to help escort them back to Konoha along with the servants. Iruka seemed very happy and Kakashi forced out a sickly smile in return.



The rescue of the girls was incredibly anti-climatic. They were being held in a jail-like facility built in to the side of the valley. They were all mal-nourished and weak with multiple signs of violent abuse. As they were helped into the light, which many of them had not seen in months, they gazed in open admiration at Iruka and Kakashi felt an irrational desire to shove them straight back into their light-less cells. Sakura was moving gently through the group of girls inspecting their injuries and healing anything significant.



Naruto, clearly confused, enquired as to when they should drop their jutsu. He was obviously anxious to get back to his real form. Kakashi smiled gently



“Now Naruto, do you really want to steal Iruka’s thunder? You know he almost never gets any outside missions. He’ll be a hero when we return but if people hear that you were there as well they might think that you had done it all and that Iruka hadn’t done anything at all.” He whispered conspiratorially to his student, vaguely worried that he’d laid the flattery on too thick.



Kakashi was concerned that if he himself, the copy ninja, transformed back to his real self then people would automatically assume that he had done all of the work, immediately dismissing Iruka from their thoughts. Kakashi was determined to see his friend rise up in the world and if all it took was living under this ridiculous jutsu for another week then so be it.



Kakashi ground his teeth together as yet another one of the girls latched herself onto Iruka to thank him profusely for their release, most of the girls had done so at one point or another, and Kakashi was just about ready to blast them all into oblivion. How dare they drape themselves all over his friend like that? Even though a part of his mind was telling him that there was nothing sexual about the way that the girls were taking the opportunity to personally thank their rescuer he was still feeling pissed off and jealous.



The green-eyed monster had its claws into him well and truly, he even recognised the emotion for what it was although he was still having trouble accepting it. Why should he feel jealous of the girls being able to drape themselves all over his friend like that? He could feel Iruka’s confusion at his strange behaviour as well as Sakura’s obvious amusement, Naruto thankfully was oblivious as usual.



He had never been so glad to see Konoha in his life! It had taken them three whole weeks to make their slow trek from the chateau back to the village. A ridiculous amount of time really but on the other hand the girls had all recovered from their injuries, with Sakura’s help, and were much healthier. Kakashi was still feeling agitated and jealous but he was refusing to let it affect him as much. He was a shinobi he could deal with anything.



They reported to the Hokage immediately and Tsunade took the girls, the guards and the servants into custody immediately and had Shizune begin preparing messages for their families. The Hokage interrogated them closely to extract every shred of information that they could remember, whether they thought it was important or not. Kakashi and his students offered up their bag of stuff to help fund the girls in their future lives.



Kakashi had been very tempted to deny all knowledge of their bag of goodies due to his feelings about the girls that they had rescued but he figured that his team would protest his change of heart. They had done this so many times, taken the valuables from the evil people that they had killed and given it to their victims, that it was a habit to do so.



When they were finally dismissed Naruto reappeared as his male self in a cloud of smoke and immediately asked Iruka for ramen. The teacher ruffled his hair affectionately and acquiesced, inviting Kakashi and Sakura along as his treat. Kakashi was tempted to refuse but the opportunity to spend some time with his friend won out. Iruka ruffled his hair as well reminding him that he could drop his jutsu now.



Kakashi’s hands trembled slightly as he undid the ribbon. It was an incredibly disconcerting experience, suddenly being a foot taller and feeling strong and masculine after spending so long as a weak teenaged girl. His mask was back as well thankfully and he ran his fingers over it an unconscious self-reassuring gesture as he blinked his single eye trying to adjust to mono-vision once again.



********



Kakashi’s behaviour over the last several weeks had confused Iruka at first until he came to the wonderful conclusion that the man was jealous. Jealous of the fact that the rescued girls all wanted to spend time alone with their rescuer, and it seemed that as the only adult they had all decided that it had only been Iruka who had freed them. He had in fact gently flirted back on occasion just to get a rise out of the pale man.



A jealous Kakashi was a delectable Kakashi. His face flushed a delicate shade of pink, he drew his lips into a grim line and his eyes flashed fire. It put a strut in his walk and stiffened his shoulders. Iruka could have ravished him every time. Strangely enough though Kakashi didn’t make any attempts to warn the girls off other than to glare at them. He also didn’t attempt to snuggle up to Iruka either which the chuunin had thought was very strange.



Iruka had never been so glad to see his village. Travelling with the rescued girls had been a slower affair than he had anticipated. They had been wounded and under-fed which meant they could only travel small distances every day although they had been getting stronger. Seeing the familiar faces of the gatekeepers had been heart warming, seeing admiration on their faces was a pleasant surprise, he hadn’t had this sort of recognition in a very long time.



The Hokage seemed to sense that something was amiss with her most famous jounin as soon as Team Iruka had entered her presence and she directed a fierce gaze at him which he completely ignored. As they gave their reports Iruka was surprised to see Naruto plonk the strange bundle that Kakashi and his students had collected at the chateau onto the Hokage’s desk. Inside were all manner of small, valuable items. Tsunade did not seem surprised at the plunder or the reason for its collection but Iruka was dumbfounded.



When they had been dismissed, Naruto had popped back into his normal form and glomped Iruka demanding a ramen treat. Iruka had also been missing his favourite meal and eagerly agreed looking to Kakashi and Sakura to see if they wanted in as well. Seeing Kakashi still in his female form Iruka frowned and reminded him that he didn’t have to keep up the pretence anymore, he was eager to see his favourite piece of man flesh again.



When Kakashi had raised his small feminine hands and untied the ribbon around this throat Iruka realised that he had made a grave error, he should have insisted on being alone with the man when he did this. Suddenly seeing the man of his dreams in the flesh after so long had nearly caused Iruka to cum on the spot. He had managed to control himself just in time and cast a tiny genjutsu over his groin to hide his rather obvious excitement.



Iruka cocked his head to one side, Kakashi was obviously having difficulties adjusting back to his real body. It probably wouldn’t be noticeable to anyone who didn’t know the copy nin as well as his team or Iruka. Smirking to himself he realised that he would be able to use this as an excuse to invite the man over to his apartment again. The scent that he had gone to so much trouble to get imprinted onto his sheets would surely have dissipated by now.



As the newly disbanded Team Iruka said their goodbyes after devouring their ramen Iruka turned to his friend and smiled gently.



“Kakashi, you can’t fool me, I know that you’re having a bit of difficulty adjusting back. I want you to come back to my place until you’re OK.”



Surprisingly Kakashi had declined but suggested that Iruka come back with him to his apartment. Iruka was momentarily stunned, Kakashi rarely invited anyone over to his apartment. Attempting to keep the silly grin off his face Iruka nodded happily, this was a very good sign, Kakashi obviously felt more comfortable in his own space. Hopefully this meant that the other man would come clean about why he was jealous.



Kakashi’s apartment smelt rather stale as the man opened the door and Iruka coughed. As he didn’t often go on long missions he had forgotten about this rather unfortunate side-effect. He wondered just how long it had been since Kakashi had been back to his apartment, he’d had the information gathering mission with Sakura right before they’d left on this mission. He doffed his sandals and hung his vest on the hook next to Kakashi’s and stepped inside, following the other man to the kitchen.



Kakashi started the kettle as he moved around opening the windows to air the place out, luckily it was still early enough in the afternoon that there would be plenty of time for the place to freshen up before bed. Iruka idly watched the man as he moved gracefully around. When the kettle whistled to say that the water was boiling Iruka realised that the other man had been fluffing about and that he’d become lost in his appreciation of the perfect male form in front of him.



Blushing slightly Iruka moved to make the tea, sugar for himself and honey for Kakashi. Feeling inexplicably awkward Iruka moved back to the table to find Kakashi just coming back from his bedroom. Iruka calmed down as they chatted softly over their tea, the big discussion could obviously wait until later. Their tea turned into saki and some dry biscuits that Kakashi had squirreled away in his cupboard and their talk became more animated and intimate.



Iruka smirked to himself as he showered and dressed himself in borrowed pyjamas. Kakashi had finally come clean about the strange behaviour that he had been exhibiting and asked for Iruka’s thoughts on the matter. He didn’t know why Kakashi had begun using him as a sounding board for all of the emotional things that he felt but didn’t understand, this time though he was grateful. It must have been difficult though to ask the man that was making you feel strange inside ‘why’.



As he walked out of the bathroom and into the only bedroom he had to restrain himself from ravishing his soon-to-be lover who was shyly lying in on one side of the single bed with the covers drawn back in invitation. He slid slowly into Kakashi’s bed and cuddled up, this was almost heaven, but heaven would have to wait until the pale man felt more comfortable. Reading porn relentlessly did not prepare you for a real relationship and Iruka was painfully aware that Kakashi had never been that close to anyone before.