Falling Rain

            A single fat drop of rain fell from the skies and landed with a plop on Umino Iruka’s head. The chuunin paused, looked around, but saw no other rain drops.

            “Kakashi.” He called ahead to his companion. “Maybe we should find some shelter. I think it’s starting to rain.”

            The jounin looked up at the dark clouds that stretched across the sky far beyond their obstructed view from the floor of the forest.

            “I think we’ve still got time. You want to get home tonight, don’t you?” The Copy Nin asked.

            Iruka was about to respond, but Mother Nature decided to handle the issue herself. Thousands of droplets of water fell all at once, hissing as they whispered past leaves and branches before splattering on the ground. It felt as if the sky itself was falling down.

            “Still got time, huh?” Iruka asked with a raised eyebrow. He wouldn’t have normally spoken that way to a superior ranked ninja, but the two of them had been on a mission together for a whole week, and Iruka had just about reached the limit of what he was willing to put up with. The fact that neither had had much sleep in the past two days didn’t help matters, either.

            “Hey, we can keep going. This rain shouldn’t slow us down too much.” Kakashi insisted. Iruka resisted the urge to throw something at him. The man just couldn’t admit when he was wrong.

            “Kakashi, these documents we’re carrying can’t get wet. We need to find some shelter before they get ruined.”

            Iruka still wasn’t sure why the Hokage had sent an elite jounin and a chuunin sensei together for a routine scroll delivery. Sure, the documents in Iruka’s pack were vital to Konoha’s national security, but the job itself was easy enough for a genin. Even sending just one of them would have been overkill. Tsunade was plotting something- Iruka was sure of it.

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            Kakashi cursed at the falling rain. ‘This is just what I needed!’ he thought sarcastically. ‘Another chance to look stupid in front of Iruka.’ Why had the rain had to come right after he said they had more time? Were the heavens conspiring against him?

            It would’ve been bad enough to look foolish in front of any ninja from the village, but doing so in front of Iruka was a double blow for Kakashi. Their week spent together on this mission had only confirmed Kakashi’s suspicions- that he was head-over-heels infatuated with the chuunin sensei. He had been trying all week to impress the other man, with his shinobi skills and his encyclopedic knowledge, but the younger man always seemed to find the flaw in his logic, or something would happen to make Kakashi’s foot fly right into his mouth.

            It seemed quite fitting to the jounin when Iruka found a shelter from the rain that Kakashi completely overlooked. That was just how his week was going. And to add salt to the already gaping wound in his pride, the shelter wasn’t even a barely-distinguishable cave or an out-of-the-way ledge from a cliff. The shelter Iruka found was a shed, sitting right off the path, as inconspicuous as Gai-sensei at a funeral. Kakashi still wasn’t sure how exactly he’d missed it, other than the fact that it seemed too obvious to look for some place out of the rain right there on the path. Common sense wasn’t his forte, ok!

            So here Kakashi was now, dripping wet and standing outside of a moderately sized shed with the object of his secret affections, feeling quite stupid.

            “I’ll get the lock.” He told the chuunin, hoping to redeem himself with the minuscule task.

            “No need. See, the door isn’t locked.” Iruka pointed out. Each word was like a little kunai stabbing into Kakashi brain. Damn it, why hadn’t he noticed that the rusty combination lock wasn’t fastened?

            The Copy Nin made the executive decision to not speak for the remainder of the night. At least if he wasn’t talking, he couldn’t say anything stupid.

Right?

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Iruka looked around the small shed as the two ninja entered. It was a pretty good find, if he said so himself. It wasn’t overly spacious, but it wouldn’t be too cramped with the two men. There was no hope for a fire, though, as the little building was made of wood, and there didn’t seem to be any electricity, so it would be getting cold and dark very soon, but it was dry, and thus a vast improvement to their previous surroundings.

The rain beat against the roof in a melodic way, and the only other sound was the creaking of the dusty old floor beneath their feet as they walked along.

            The shed was clearly abandoned, and had been for a long time. There was a thick coat of dust on the walls and floor, and there was nothing being stored but a few rotting planks of wood, some rusted bent nails, and a holey blanket that looked like it had been used to cover furniture while painting in its previous life. The scene was, all in all, rather depressing. There were even marks on the wall where shelves must have pushed against it. Iruka was sure if Naruto were with him, he would insist that the place was haunted, and start jumping at every little sound. Iruka was lucky his companion wasn’t superstitious. At least, Iruka didn’t think Kakashi was superstitious.

            “Hey, Kakashi, you don’t believe in ghosts, do you?” He asked lightly, hoping to fill the uneasy silence.

            “No. Why? Are you scared of the dark, Iruka-sensei?” the older man teased.

            “No. I was just thinking about Naruto, and how freaked out he would be by this place.” Iruka replied.

            Kakashi walked over to the door frame and crouched down, back facing Iruka. What was he doing?

            “Oh, this place isn’t so bad. I’ve stayed in worse.” The silver-haired shinobi stood up and wiped his hands together to remove the dust. Where he’d been crouching there was a rectangle drawn in the dust. Inside was written the word, “WELCOME”.

            “Oh, a welcome mat. How homey.” Iruka remarked.

“Just something my genin sensei always did.” The Copy Nin replied. Kakashi wasn’t so bad when he wasn’t acting like an arrogant know-it-all. Maybe their stay in the shed wouldn’t be so bad.

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            Kakashi wondered what the etiquette was about stripping out of one’s wet clothes when alone in close proximity with another ninja of the same sex. None of his Academy classes had ever addressed this issue- it was always just, “Shared bodily heat can ward away hypothermia”-, and in his past experiences, there had always been at least two other people, making the situation slightly less awkward. Was one allowed to shed clothing, or did one have to endure uncomfortable wet clothes for the entire night. Were there special rules for if one person found the other person in question attractive?

            Kakashi stood in the corner of the shed, contemplating the moral dilemma and feeling miserably cold and damp, until Iruka saved the day once again. Without any apparent agonizing, Iruka unzipped his vest and pulled his shirt over his head. Kakashi eagerly rid himself of his shirt as well. He stripped off his dripping hitai-ate along with it.

            Kakashi was sure it was against the unspoken ninja code of conduct to stare outright at one’s half naked companion, so he took stealthy glances as he and Iruka worked together to rig up a clothesline out of chakra thread. They each jammed a kunai into the wooden walls of the building and tied the string around the hilt, stretching the thread across the room and to the other kunai. Once the line was steady, they wrung out their sopping shirts and draped them over the line to air out.

            Shirts might be acceptable, but Kakashi was still ambiguous about the issue of pants. Could he hang them up to dry, or would that make Iruka uncomfortable? Would the chuunin interpret his actions as a proposition? When Kakashi got back to Konoha, he was going to insist that someone write a handbook about this awkward issue.

            Oblivious to his internal strife, Iruka unwrapped his leg bandages and removed his pants. Kakashi wasn’t sure whether to sigh in relief or gasp at the sight of Iruka in his boxers, and the unintended combination of the two came out sounding like a strangled sob. Iruka turned and gave him a funny look.

            “Are you ok, Kakashi?” He asked.

            Kakashi flushed. “I’m fine.” The jounin fumbled with the clasp to his pants and stripped quickly to avoid looking at Iruka.

            Great. Now Iruka probably thought he was crazy. Or a pervert. The jounin was sure he didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of impressing Iruka now. If only he hadn’t messed things up, this could’ve been the break he’d been looking for: they were alone together, in the dark, half naked, and it was getting colder. It was in their training to use body heat to stay warm, and Kakashi knew he had an attractive body that might be able to catch Iruka’s eye if given the chance.

            Now, though, the situation didn’t seem like some dreamed up ideal. In fact, it was making Kakashi feel queasy with dread. He was sure he was sweating, despite the cold. The sound of erratic breathing filled his ears, and he realized after a confusing second that he was hyperventilating. ‘Slow, easy breaths.’ He coached himself. ‘Take it easy.’

            The gasping breaths slowed down, but Kakashi’s heart kept racing with nervous anticipation.

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            Iruka was vaguely aware of Kakashi’s strange behavior, but he ignored it for the moment and attended to the documents they had been sent to deliver. He checked to make sure the water repellent case had protected them sufficiently before storing them away. Then he picked up the ratty blanket from the floor and flicked it in the air a few times to get most of the dust off of it. He dried his body off, before tossing the blanket to his companion.

            Kakashi looked flushed, and when the blanket landed over his head, he didn’t respond at first. Iruka pulled the blanket away and the jounin blinked at him.

            “Here. Dry yourself off.” Iruka instructed, this time handing him the blanket. Kakashi took it mechanically and dried his face, then his arms, chest, back, and legs. The blanket left a smear of dust on Kakashi’s chest, so Iruka reached forward and wiped it away with his hand. Kakashi flushed deeply and began to stutter something.

            “Kakashi, are you sure you’re feeling ok?” Iruka asked slowly. He examined the Copy Nin’s face. Although he had just dried the skin there, his forehead had little beads of water dripping down it.

            “Are you…sweating?” Iruka asked. Kakashi shook his head vehemently.

            “Kakashi, this is serious. You might have caught a fever.”

            “We were only out in the r-rain for a few minutes.” Kakashi protested.

            “Yes, but we’ve been running non-stop for two days. Not getting enough rest can weaken your immune system.” Iruka pointed out.

            “Two days is nothing-” Kakashi started to say. Iruka groaned in frustration and cut him off.

            “I’m not saying you’re weak, Kakashi. I’m saying you’re sick.”

            “I’m not sick.” Kakashi growled.

            “Oh, so you’re going to tell me there’s some other reason you’re flushed and sweating right now?”

            “…yes.” Kakashi admitted in a low voice.

            Iruka waited for the explanation.

            “…well?” He asked at last, when it became apparent Kakashi wasn’t going to volunteer the information.

            “I…I’m allergic to dust.” Kakashi stated. It was painfully obvious that the man was lying, but Iruka had to wonder why. If the jounin said he wasn’t sick, Iruka was prepared to believe him, because he counted on Kakashi to be professional enough to admit, being that it could affect the mission. There must be another reason.

            Was Kakashi uncomfortable being alone with him? But why would he? Unless…did he know? Iruka thought he’d been discreet. Then again, Kakashi was an elite jounin, and they had their ways of finding out things. It made sense. Kakashi had found out that Iruka liked other men, and being alone together in such a state of undress was making him uncomfortable.

            ‘It’s a shame he’s a homophobe.’ His rebellious mind thought. ‘He’s got such a nice body, and he’s really not so bad when he isn’t trying to prove he’s better than me.’

            Well, if Kakashi wasn’t comfortable being around him, he’d just have to bear with it for one night. It was cold, their clothes were wet, and there was only one blanket, one that Iruka was planning on sleeping under, whether Kakashi slept there with him or not.

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            Kakashi pulled at his wet mask, wishing that the last hazy rays of sunlight that had managed to penetrate the dark clouds would just disappear so he could take the thing off under cover of darkness. He was sure his cheeks were going to be wrinkled up and pruney like fingers after a long swim.

            The jounin turned as he heard clothe ripping. Iruka tossed him a strip of the dusty blanket.

            “You can cover your face with that until your mask dries.” The chuunin advised. He turned around so Kakashi could take off the mask, and kindly refrained from commenting about how the dusty rag had suspiciously little effect on the Copy Nin’s ‘allergies’.

            There was an awkward silence then, as the two men sat on the floor of the shed, clad in dripping wet boxers. Kakashi fell back on his resolve not to talk, because silence was better than making an ass of himself.

            Iruka eventually got up and walked over to his pack. He bent down (Kakashi made a noble attempt not to stare, but it wasn’t like he had anything better, or indeed anything else at all, to do, so his eyes did inevitably wander) and pulled something out of the bag. He came back over to Kakashi. Holding up his prize, a normal ball-point pen, Iruka flashed him a victorious grin.

            The sensei held out his tan arm and drew four lines on the underside, two horizontal and two vertical, right above the blue network of veins at his wrist. He held the checkered wrist out to Kakashi and offered then pen to him with the other hand.

            “X’s or O’s?” He asked. Kakashi stared blankly for a moment. Iruka chuckled in disbelief.

            “You mean, you don’t know how to play tic-tac-toe?” He asked. Kakashi couldn’t meet Iruka’s eyes with shame. Did the chuunin try to make him feel completely inadequate, or was it just something that came naturally to the brunet?

            Iruka talked him through the simple rules of the game and held out the arm and the pen once more. Kakashi had to wrap his fingers around the wrist to steady it as he drew an x in the top right corner. He tried to ignore the pleasant warmth of Iruka’s skin against his own.

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Twelve rounds of tic-tac-toe later, neither had won a game and Iruka was starting to run out of room on his arm. He didn’t want to stop playing, though. The light was holding out, and Kakashi was just starting to relax a little around him. The man had even made a joke (“We’re gonna have to start writing on me soon; I’m so pale the ink will show up even when it gets dark.”), which wasn’t overly funny, but lightened the mood considerably.

The chuunin made the shift from left arm to right, and was proud to see his ‘O’s were only a little shaky for having been penned with the wrong hand.

“There’s a game…with dots…and lines.” Kakashi told him lamely after round fourteen ended in another draw. “My teammates used to play it sometimes. Do you know how to do that one?”

“Can you tell me a little more about it?” Iruka asked. He got the feeling that the jounin was opening up to him, that there was some underlying test here. Kakashi’s eye drooped considerably when Iruka answered him.

“Not really. I never played with them. I just thought you might know what the game was.” There he went again, acting infuriating. Why couldn’t he just admit he was a little disappointed, instead of acting like everything was fine and he didn’t care. Iruka snatched the pen out of his grip and drew a square of dots with his left hand.

“Does this look familiar?” He asked. Kakashi’s eye widened. The silver-haired man nodded excitedly.

“How do you play?” he asked. The man was bouncing up and down eagerly. Iruka thought he looked like an anxious puppy.

Iruka made a single line from one dot to another. “It’s easier to play with two colors, but the game can still work like this. We take turns connecting dots. The point is to finish as many squares as you can, without letting the other player make squares. If you finish a square, you write your initial in it and go again. When all the dots are connected, the game is finished and whoever has the most squares wins.”

Kakashi took the pen. “Sounds easy enough. I don’t see why Rin used to get so frustrated over this game.” He muttered to himself.

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Three rounds of the dot game later, Kakashi had learned what Rin had found so frustrating about the game. He had lost miserably all three times. It was that rule about ‘finish a square, go again’ that got him. Iruka would finish one box and then he was free to take over practically the whole board in one fell swoop. Kakashi was almost relieved when the light faded and the ink became indistinguishable from Iruka’s dark skin.

Then he remembered that lone blanket, and exactly how little clothing they were wearing.

Iruka shifted beside him, and Kakashi listened nervously as he heard cloth rustling. The chuunin stood up and hung his damp boxers on the clothes line. Kakashi could just make out the faint outline of his naked body. The jounin made no move to strip.

“Kakashi, you need to get out of your wet clothes, or you really will get sick.” Iruka warned. Kakashi swallowed and fingered the waistband of his wet shorts. Was this how enemy nin felt as they were being led to execution? He thought that as a high ranking shinobi, he should have merited some dramatic theme music to accompany his doom.

Damp cotton slid down his hips, down his legs, and pooled at his ankles with a nearly inaudible whisper. Kakashi cursed his pale skin. Looking down at it, it practically glowed in the dark. The jounin was sure Iruka would be able to see every piece of him when he looked over. His stomach began that nauseas churn once again.

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All of the effort that Iruka had put into filling Kakashi with calm had been wasted. The man was huddled in the corner, and from what little Iruka could make out from his blurry silhouette, he was covering himself. Was he afraid Iruka was going to check him out? Even if Iruka was that intrusive (which he wasn’t), it was far too dark to make out anything other than the most basic shapes.

“Kakashi, please come over here.” Iruka begged. “We’ve only got one blanket, and you’re going to freeze if you don’t get under it. I promise I don’t bite.”

The chuunin wouldn’t have expected a higher ranking shinobi to follow his orders, but the Copy Nin inched over like a whipped dog, eyes trained at his feet. Iruka lay down on the rough wooden floor and waited for the other nin to follow. Kakashi lowered himself onto the ground and immediately rolled over so his back was facing Iruka. The chuunin shook his head silently and tossed the blanket over both of them. He turned his body away from Kakashi, hoping that the other shinobi wasn’t feeling too uncomfortable.

But when the sensei shifted a little to find a position that wouldn’t leave him with cramps in the morning, and his backside brushed up against Kakashi’s, the older man shivered. ‘It’s a shame.’ He told himself as he settled down into sleep. ‘It was kind of cute how excited he was about those games. I wouldn’t have minded getting to know him a little bit better.’

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Kakashi didn’t know how he was supposed to sleep with Iruka right there beside him. He could think of a thousand things that could go wrong. He could start talking in his sleep and reveal all his secrets to the other man. He could have one of those dreams. He could wake up in the morning and find himself wrapped around the other man. He could snore, or drool, or kick, or grind his teeth, or sleep-walk, or pass gas, or practice jutsu, or *yawn* hog the blanket, or sneeze on him, or…

Kakashi drifted to sleep, still thinking about all the things that could go wrong.

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Iruka woke up with pale arms draped around his hips, a hard piece of flesh digging into his back, and the distinct feeling that he’d jumped to the wrong conclusion about why Kakashi had been so uneasy the night before. ‘This makes sense, too, I guess. At least he’s not a homophobe.’

Working his way out of the jounin’s vice-like grip was a little difficult, especially since he was trying not to wake Kakashi as he escaped. The situation would be much less embarrassing if he could just get free and pretend he had never noticed Kakashi’s…problem.

Iruka bumped back against Kakashi’s chest as he struggled against his arms, and the Copy Ninja was jarred awake instantly.

“Iruka…huh? Oh, oh shit!” Kakashi cursed as the situation dawned on him. “I…umm…I can explain!” the poor man offered, still frozen in his spot, his arms wrapped around the chuunin.

“I don’t think this really requires much explanation.” Iruka informed him. Kakashi hung his head in embarrassment, and Iruka felt the brush of silver hair against his neck. He decided to throw the man a bone.

The ball-point pen from last night was within his reach, so Iruka stretched out and grabbed it. He uncapped it and lifted Kakashi’s arm from its position on his waist. He wrote a short message on the unblemished skin on Kakashi’s forearm, before he released the captive limb for Kakashi to snatch back.

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Kakashi finally recovered the necessary brain cells to free himself from Iruka and retreat to the other side of the shed once his arm was released. He read the words that Iruka had written on his skin and froze.

‘You should ask me on a date.’ The black ink advised. Kakashi read it again, to make sure the message hadn’t magically changed. The words stayed blessedly the same.

“…I-Iruka? Would you…would you like to…g-go…” Kakashi’s voice faltered. He started again. “Would you like to goonadatewithme?”

Iruka pretended to consider Kakashi’s request, and for a heart-stopping moment, Kakashi was sure the message was a joke, and Iruka was going to say no.

“I don’t think I’m busy. Tonight?” Iruka asked. Kakashi nodded, before he realized Iruka wasn’t looking at him, politely preserving his modesty.

“Yes. We can go see a m-movie, or get dinner, or-“

“Have mind-blowing sex.” Iruka finished for him. Kakashi’s brain stopped functioning for a moment.

“Mind…blowing…?” He mumbled.

“Sex.” Iruka repeated. “Unless you don’t want to.”

“No!” Kakashi shouted. “We should…have sex. A lot.” The Copy Nin looked away. “We could right now.” He offered quietly.

Iruka stood up, keeping the dusty sheet wrapped around his waist. He sauntered over to the clothes line and began pulling his clothes off of it. Kakashi turned and focused on the pattern of the wooden walls as the chuunin dressed himself.

“We can’t do that. I know you’re a pervert, but I’m not the sort of guy who has sex on the first date.” Iruka joked. He tossed Kakashi’s still damp clothes over to his corner. The jounin pulled them on.

“But the second date is ok?” Kakashi asked. He slipped his sandals on and packed his things back into his satchel.

“Of course.” Iruka told him. The chuunin tucked the documents into his pack and the two were ready to leave the shed. The rain had stopped outside, leaving only muddy trails and soggy leaves on the forest floor in its wake. The two shinobi stepped out of their shelter.

“Besides, I wouldn’t want to do you on that rough floor. You’d get splinters.” Iruka said. He strode down the path with an air of victory, leaving Kakashi stunned in his place.

“Do…me?” The jounin whimpered. What was he getting himself into?

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 (part 2: Splinters)

AN: Yep, here’s a first for me: first IruKaka fic. Did you notice the change in the line breaks? That made me happy. Go get ‘em, Iruka!