Gifts (or Sudden Boxes)

Gifts

Alternative title: Sudden Boxes.

It started while he was training, about halfway through the summer months.

He was on his 673rd press up when it happened. He wasn’t really paying attention to his surroundings, just running through his regime in his head, mulling over what to do after his 1000 press-ups were done.

Suddenly, there was a box.

He nearly hit it with his nose.

Gai stopped and sat up, looking at the sudden box.

It was small, square and the exact same shade of green as his suit.

After glancing around, he picked it up.

It was unadorned and there was no note, so he opened it.

Inside, there was a single walnut-whip, perched on crumpled silver paper, lightly dusted with sugar.

Gai loved walnut-whips.

He glanced around again. No-one and nothing, just his usual training grounds, silent and a little dusty.

After performing the necessary poison detection rituals and finding nothing, he ate the chocolate, pocketed the box and went home, all training for the day forgotten.

~*~*~

Two days later, when he opened his front door, he nearly stepped on another sudden box.

Glancing around at the empty street (after all, it was five in the morning) Gai bent down to examine it.

This one was the exact same shade of orange as his leg warmers. He picked it up. It was both slightly bigger and slightly heavier than the previous box.

Closing his door and heading back to his living-room, Gai opened the box. He paused for a moment, staring at the single object nestled within, on a bed of crumpled silver paper.

Three single Forget-Me-Not blossoms were encased in a clear glass globe that glistened when the light hit it.

Slowly, he sank to the sofa, the box held open in one large, square palm.

Very few people knew that the Forget-Me-Not was his favourite flower. Most assumed it was the sunflower, the rose or the lily, large, vibrant flowers, to go with his large, vibrant personality. But he actually preferred the Forget-Me-Not, for its beautiful simplicity, that spoke volumes to the right person.

After carefully placing the small globe on the living-room windowsill, where the light could hit it, Gai sat and looked at it, his mornings training completely forgotten.

~*~*~

Another week passed, filled with boring missions, but without sudden boxes, and Gai began to think the random gift giving was over.

That was, until Lee handed him a shiny black box, tied with silver ribbon. When asked where it had come from, Lee simply grinned, shrugged and said it was special delivery.

Perplexed, his deep brow furrowing, Gai found somewhere secluded and sat down to investigate this latest gift. He placed the carefully folded ribbon in his pocket and then lifted the lid.

More crumpled silver paper cushioned a small jade bear, with diamond eyes.

Gently, very gently, Gai brushed calloused finger-tips against the smooth stonework.

A green bear? Obviously it was meant to be himself, the Green Beast of Konoha.

It was becoming fairly apparent, by this point, that he had an admirer. Precisely who it was though, was continuing to elude him. He was sure that if he kept his eyes open and thought about it hard enough, he’d eventually figure it out.

Well, that was the plan anyway. But not a single one of his female acquaintances was acting any differently towards him. Not a single one of them blushed, looked away or stuttered when they spoke to him. He knew Kunoichi had to be very good actresses, but this was a little too good.

When the sudden boxes and gifts came up on a night out with his fellow Jounin Team Leaders, the only reaction he got from Kurenai was a smirk and a request for detailed descriptions of each gift. Asuma simply laughed and Kakashi disappeared behind his ever-present Icha Icha Paradise, as if refusing to take part in the conversation.

Gai went home that night as confused as he had been before speaking to his friends.

~*~*~

It didn’t occur to him that it could be a man, until he spotted Shino being pressed up against a tree by Kiba. The two young men were so intent on what they were doing, that he managed to back out of the clearing again without them having had any idea of his walking in on them.

And that was saying something; he hadn’t exactly been being quiet.

As he made his way to the next training grounds along, Gai mulled it over and realised that of course. There were no women who knew him half so well enough to be able to pull off these perfect gifts.

He knew why it hadn’t occurred to him sooner – the only gay men he happened to know were all in relationships. He went through a mental check list as he performed his pre-training warm ups.

Iruka and Tenzou – still an item and apparently moving in together soon.

Kotetsu and Izumo – very together, had been since they were teenagers.

Genma and Raidou – tempestuous relationship, but he was pretty sure they were in an ‘on-again’ phase at the moment.

Personally, he was Bi-sexual – but again, few people knew that. Even fewer knew that he preferred men, in the long run. Though that didn’t really help with the identification process – anyone could assume.

As he was squaring up to the first training post, there was the sudden box. His body stopped mid-pirouette and he allowed himself to drop to a stand-still. He looked around and again, the training area was empty, not even a trace of chakra, familiar or otherwise.

He approached the box.

This one was tartan – stripes of green, orange, black and silver, wrapped with a red bow. It was much larger than all its predecessors, long, thin but not very deep.

Taking the box down, he weighed it in his hands. Moving back, he sat on the ground in the middle of the area and untied the bow, carefully folding it and placing it in his pocket.

Taking the lid off, he was entirely unsurprised to find a new set of leg-weights, nestled comfortably within the layers of crumpled silver paper. But, instead of the ‘strength’ and ‘determination’ that he had painted on his own, these ones had ‘love’ painted in kanji on each separate link.

He couldn’t help smiling as he swapped the weights and began training.

~*~*~

Three days later, he was sitting in his living room, staring at each of the presents, lined up on his coffee table. The closed boxes sat behind each of the gifts – except for the leg-weights, he was wearing those – folded ribbons carefully placed on top of the last two.

He was trying to figure out what had been bugging him since this had all started.

He had a feeling that the gifts themselves offered clues as to the admirer. He just couldn’t quite figure it out. So he was staring at them, allowing his mind to wander as he did so.

Obviously, the green and the orange could be discarded – and possibly the black – as those colours represented himself. But all that silver? And then the red?

He sighed and sat back, muscular arms folded over his breast.

Images played through his mind, of all the men and women he knew, but none of them seemed likely. Not at all. One image in particular, kept cropping up – Kakashi hiding behind his appalling book.

In a sudden fit of pique, he wished he could be quite so aloof. He launched himself to his feet and left his home, on purpose to find something to distract himself with. His feet took him to his usual training ground and he lost himself in physical exertion.

~*~*~

Another week passed and he limped home after a particularly gruelling mission. His mission-partner had gone on ahead to hand in the mission-report, so Gai headed home for a shower.

He entered his apartment, dropping items of clothing as he closed the door and made his way inwards.

He discarded the vest and rucksack under the coat-hooks, his shoes having been toed off on the doormat. His gloves and hitai-ite were dropped onto the coffee-table. The leg-warmers came off by his bedroom door, the weights taken off far more carefully and placed on his bedside-table.

He reached behind himself and unzipped the suit, slipping his arms out of the sleeves, letting them dangle from his waist as he entered the bathroom and studied himself in the mirror.

He was covered in bruises, cuts, fresh scars and one large blade-wound, where he had misjudged an attack – only by infinitesimal degrees though, in his defence. The field stitches would hold for now – he honestly couldn’t be bothered to subject himself to the hospital until he had showered.

He stepped back and slipped the rest of his suit and his underwear off, dropping them both into the hamper under the sink.

He relaxed with an explosive sigh as he let the hot water and steam caress his sore muscles. Placing his hands against the tiles either side of the taps, he lowered his head and let the stream hit the back of his neck, revelling in the feel of the hot water running down his body, each cut, tear and scar tingling as the water rushed over it, reminding him that he was indeed still alive.

After a few minutes, he blindly grabbed his shampoo and washed his hair. Twice. He then conditioned, rinsed and grabbed the soap – eager to get the grime of the mission off his body.

He took so long in the shower that his fingers and toes looked like shrivelled prunes when he finally shut the water off. He grabbed a hand towel and scrubbed his face before looking at himself once again in the mirror.

He felt much better now that he was clean, but there were things scratching away at the back of his mind already. Beginning to bug him. He shook his head and tried to pay no mind to the ghosts of his past.

Towelling himself off, he moved back into his bedroom.

There was another sudden box, right in the centre of his double-bed.

Right where it hadn’t been when he’d passed through the room.

He draped the towel over his shoulders and went to investigate. Sitting on the bed, still naked to the world, apart from the towel over his shoulders, he examined the glimmering silver box.

One eyebrow rose in enquiry; he lifted the lid and peaked inside.

Dog tags. On another bed of crumpled silver paper. Lifting them out, he found only one of the tags was marked – with his name, rank and number. The other was smooth, unblemished.

What a strange gift.

He lifted the chain of the tags over his head and dropped the cool metal against his chest. They looked alright there, so he nodded and went to get dressed.

~*~*~

Another two days passed, this time, enforced R’n’R with strict instructions to refrain from training his body for at least a week.

He found himself sitting in the living-room, fiddling with the tags at his neck and staring at the five empty boxes on his coffee-table. The Forget-Me-Not globe was playing pretty rainbow coloured lights against the far wall, as the clouds covered and uncovered the sun.

There was a knock at his door and he glanced over. A familiar chakra signature greeted him. He stood, strode over and threw the door open with a wide grin.

“Yo.”

Kakashi raised one hand in greeting and then slouched back down into his usual posture.

“Eternal Rival! I am glad you have visited! But what could have brought you?”

He motioned to let his fellow Jounin in. Kakashi unhurriedly toed off his shoes and then sauntered into the living-room. “Heard you were pretty beat up on that last mission. Came to see how you are.”

“Ah! I am fine, thank you, nothing my old body cannot handle!” Gai closed the door behind him and followed the silver-haired ninja.

Gai blinked. Sil… Silver… haired…?

Kakashi was standing at his coffee table, looking down at the boxes, one half-gloved finger trailed over the lid of the largest, “You still not figured out who the secret admirer is?”

Gai shook himself and smiled warmly. “I think I may just have done, Kakashi.”

Kakashi’s perpetually half-mast right eye widened slightly as Gai moved forward. Quietly, Gai spoke.

“It was the colours. I knew something was important about the colours. It’s been nagging me for weeks.”

Kakashi affected a bored expression, “Oh? So what did they mean then?”

Gai was within touching distance now, “It was so obvious, that my mind kept skirting the truth. They represent myself and the secret admirer. The fourth box shows them melded together, into one harmonious pattern.”

Kakashi nodded, “Seems a reasonable assertion.”

Gai stepped closer still, “It only just hit me now, who the admirer could be. The only person who could possibly know me so well, could possibly persuade Lee to help him, could possibly get the gifts to me without my ever noticing.”

Kakashi looked straight at him, “Oh? Who could that be then?”

Gai reached out and gently removed the mask from Kakashi’s face. Before Kakashi could make any move, he leaned in and brushed his lips against his rivals.

Kakashi grinned, “Took you long enough.”

~*~*~

It took three weeks and five dates to get where they now were.

Gai ruminated over the idea that they hadn’t really needed to date; they had known each other for many years, been Eternal Rivals for almost as long as they had been friends and knew the ins and outs of each others personalities almost as well as they knew their own.

But Gai, being who he was, had quietly insisted on officially dating. Kakashi, being who he was, had agreed.

For some reason – a reason that eluded Gai, mostly because he didn’t want to think about it too much (it seemed almost disrespectful to even contemplate) – Kakashi still surprised him with the occasional gift. A large orange box containing chocolate, here; a small green box containing vouchers for new weights, there. Kakashi even went so far as to buy him a relatively rare illustrated edition of ‘Icha Icha Paradise’. Which Gai found incredibly thoughtful, but also highly embarrassing (as he had first peeked into the green and orange box in front of his team.)

Only a few days into their new relationship, Gai had woken up to find his dog-tags not where he had left them the night before. Picking them up, he had found the second tag now adorned with Kakashi’s name, rank and number. Putting them back on that morning, he had been far more touched by that gesture, than by even the Forget-Me-Not globe.

Now, after dinner at a fine restaurant, an action filled movie and an invigorating run home, Gai found himself pinned to a wall in his apartment, while Kakashi proceeded to nibble his way down his throat.

It was rather extraordinary really.

And his brain functions seemed to be faulty, because if ‘rather extraordinary’ was all his brain could come up with at that moment, then something must have short-circuited it. Possibly the sharp teeth tickling his jugular.

Maybe it was the slightly smaller, slightly scrawnier, but still very pleasantly hard body pressing insistently against his own. When a hand moved down to roughly palm at his crotch, he decided thinking was overrated anyway and just went with the flow.

It was the work of but a moment to drop both their tops to the ground (contrary to popular belief, Gai did occasionally wear something other than his green suit – though the orange leg-warmers were still firmly in place) and the feel of Kakashi’s bare chest pressed against his own was intoxicating. A part of his brain went off on a tangent, wondering why he had waited so long to do this.

When nimble fingers began to undo his belt he pulled away, panting lightly and mumbled ‘Bedroom’ in Kakashi’s ear. With what appeared to be a delighted and thoroughly dirty smirk, Kakashi grabbed his wrist and veritably dragged him to the aforementioned room.

Once there, Gai pressed Kakashi against the door and mashed their mouths together in a passionate kiss, his fingers now working deftly to remove his lovers own belt. Blunt, square fingers ghosted over pale skin as Gai slowly dropped Kakashi’s trousers, underwear following seconds later. Glancing down, he was enchanted to find that his lovers hair was almost white, trailing from belly button (which he had an insane urge to lick) to balls.

Dropping to his knees, Gai roughly grabbed Kakashi’s hips to hold him still and buried his nose in the snow coloured thatch.

“Ah -- Gai--!”

He slowly dragged his tongue up the trail of white hair and lightly dipped it into the belly button, ignoring for the moment, the insistent erection bobbing against his chin. He tongued the indentation and surrounding skin for a torturously long time, delighting in the soft moans and gasps coming from above, before trailing nips and bites across the taut muscle of Kakashi’s abdomen, to suck and bite at a jutting hip.

Fingers carded into his hair, pulling gently at first, but as he mouthed his way down the crease of muscle, to the junction of thigh and hip, the fingers began to tug, the moans to become more insistent. But he did not give in – he simply moved over to do the same to the other side.

When he felt he had tortured Kakashi just enough, he allowed his breath to wash over the velvety smooth surface of his lover’s erection. Kakashi’s hips jerked slightly, but he held him still and gently dragged his tongue up from the base to the head, revelling in the sounds this produced above him.

He glanced up and caught Kakashi’s eye, holding his gaze as he opened his mouth and almost swallowed him whole. Kakashi’s eye rolled back and the back of his head hit the door with a thud as a groan escaped him.

Gai hummed his approval, dislodging another almost pained sounding groan from his Rival.

He loved doing this. The feel of foreskin moving almost fluidly with his thrusting tongue, the musty salty flavour, the solid yet velvety soft hardness, the pumping pulse he could feel with his tongue, his cheeks, his throat. He closed his eyes and sucked, hummed, thrust with abandon.

Until Kakashi nearly pulled his hair out in warning.

Gai opened his eyes, locked them again with his lover and continued. He swirled his tongue over the head in fast motion, then flattened it against the underside, thrusting it and sucking at the same time. Kakashi’s cheeks had gone a delicious shade of pink, his breathing ragged. The fingers in his hair tightened again and seconds later, to an almighty groan of pleasure, Kakashi pulsed into his mouth, coming so hard, he curled over.

Gai sucked and swallowed, milking the orgasm for all it was worth, before slowly sliding Kakashi’s now limp penis from his mouth. He wiped his mouth with a grin and climbed to his feet – Kakashi, now rather limp himself – draped his arms around his shoulders and pulled him in for a kiss.

This time, the kiss was slow, loving. The thought of sharing the musky, salty flavour of Kakashi’s come was a heady one, adding to the already overwhelming urge to ravish the other man.

Kakashi’s arms dropped and soon Gai felt his own trousers and underwear slip to the floor. Gai kicked his legwarmers off, hurriedly. Bodies now pressed flushed and naked together, they stepped out of their clothing and stumbled towards the bed.

With one strong hand in the small of Kakashi’s back, Gai lowered them both to the mattress, lips still locked together. After some quick manoeuvring, ending with him lying flush on top of his lover, between wide-spread thighs, he pressed his erection urgently against Kakashi’s swiftly re-hardening cock.

Fingers began to explore his back as he gently rocked his hips, holding himself up on his elbows. He released one arm, putting his weight to one side and brushed his scarred hand over the pale skin below him, none-to-gently tweaking a nipple as he passed – eliciting a wonderful not-squeak from Kakashi in the process.

His mouth found the pulse point on Kakashi’s neck and he sucked, visibly marking the pale skin as he slid his hand up a scarred and lightly hairy thigh, tickling the inner knee as he passed, before moving down the inner side, to wrap his fingers around the now solid erection.

Kakashi arched up into him, pressing their chests together again, giving voice to a low moan as he did. Gai shifted, let go and moved away slightly and dug his hand under the bed. A grey-black eye watched as he withdrew a half-used tube of lube, the normally covered mouth breaking into an erotic smile.

“Mover onto your side,” he whispered into his lover’s ear, and they shifted until he was spooned behind Kakashi. He pushed his thigh between Kakashi’s and lifted, until they both had one foot propped against the mattress. He wrapped his arm under Kakashi’s chest, palm flat against taut pectorals as he one handed-ly squeezed some lube onto his fingers.

Kakashi pressed backwards against him, sighing heatedly before murmuring, “Hurry, Gai – for Kami’s sake!”

Gai simply chuckled, dropped the open lube behind him and pressed a single finger against the hole presented to him. Kakashi wriggled adamantly, but Gai worked at his own pace and slowly slipped the finger in.

Kakashi sighed - or groaned, Gai wasn’t entirely sure about that one - and pressed against him again. He began to thrust, working the tight muscles carefully, before adding a second. This time it was definitely a groan. He scissored his fingers, stretching and softening the tight muscles.

When he added a third, Kakashi tried to smother a whimper. Gai chuckled lightly again and pressed urgent kisses to the back of his lovers neck, delicately nibbling on an exposed earlobe. Kakashi’s hips were thrusting in time with his fingers, pressing back as he pushed in, apparently trying to force them deeper and harder.

“Gai!” That was definitely a growl, “Gai – please!”

Gai removed his fingers, to a slight whine, and grabbed the lube – he spread a careful amount on his eager erection and pressed against the now ready opening. He grabbed Kakashi’s slowly thrusting hip to hold him still and pushed.

They groaned in tandem as he breached the tight ring of muscle and pushed deeper. Gai gripped hip and chest tightly, unconsciously holding his breath, feeling the tightness of the body against his own. He pressed harder, deeper, until finally, his hips connected with Kakashi’s arse.

He released the breath in a drawn out groan against the soft skin at the back of Kakashi’s neck. Kami – he was so tight!

“G -- Gai -- Fuck…” Kakashi shifted, “What have you been hiding down there?” mumbled with a hint of amusement.

Gai bit into the neck before him, “Nothing -- you can’t -- handle. I hope, Rival.”

Kakashi laughed softly, “You -- know me, always up -- for a challenge.”

When he felt ready, Gai withdrew slightly and thrust back in, rejoicing in the tremors that shook Kakashi’s body as he moved. He slipped his free arm up and grasped under Kakashi’s knee, lifting his leg higher, allowing for deeper penetration. They both groaned as he thrust in again.

Soon, Kakashi panting-ly ordered him to move. So he did. His thrusts became almost hasty as he moved harder, deeper. Their breathing became ragged, moans intermingling as the pleasure overrode both their senses. Gai mouthed at Kakashi’s shoulder, brow furrowed in pleasure, eyes closed. Without thinking, he bit into the shoulder and didn’t let go, biting so hard he nearly broke the skin.

Kakashi simply moaned, crying out as each thrust hit him deep inside. But it wasn’t quite enough for either of them. Gai pulled out suddenly and flipped his lover over onto his back. Hooking both knees over his shoulders, Gai thrust back in and leaned down to capture that pale, tempting mouth in a passionate kiss.

This was much better – now he could see the emotions cross Kakashi’s unhidden features, he could claim that mouth as his own, and he could hit deeper, more pleasurable spots deep within the pale body beneath him.

Kakashi’s fingers raked through his hair, tugging almost painfully, before finding their way to his shoulders and gripping hard. Gai leaned into the touch, arching his back and nibbling on a nipple just within his reach. The benefits of being a Taijutsu specialist meant that he could move his body in vastly interesting ways.

He snaked a hand down and grasped Kakashi’s cock as they kissed again. The smaller man moaned into his mouth and Gai gasped lightly as the inner muscles clamped around him deliciously.

He angled his hips and thrust harder, tugging on the solid length in his hand in time with his own rhythm. They neither of them lasted much longer. Short minutes later, Kakashi came in his hand, come spurting between them, smearing over both their bodies as they moved together, Gai’s name on his lips.

It was far too much to hear his name moaned in such a way and coupled with the rippling inner muscles against and around his cock, Gai was soon overcome by his own orgasm. It ripped through him, from the balls of his feet, to the tips of his ears and he rode the feeling, revelling in it, in the fact that it was happening with Kakashi.

When his heart race had returned almost to normal, he looked down at the man beneath him, only to find Kakashi leering at him.

“Gai, I really can’t believe we took so long to get around to doing this.”

Gai simply grinned and leaned down to kiss his Eternal Rival, Best Friend and now, Lover.

“Well, that simply means we have a lot of missed time to make up for!”

~Fin~