Genre: Romance, drama.
Rating: PG - R
Pairing(s): Kakashi/Iruka
Warnings: Possible spoilers up to episode 106 of the anime. A fair dose of angst and fluff to be expected, also some lame attempts at humour.
Disclaimer: Not mine. Hatake Kakashi, Umino Iruka, all other characters and the village of Konoha were created by Kishimoto Masashi. I'm just borrowing them for a while.
Summary: Kakashi finds out that Iruka isn't a dolphin only by his name...
Status: Incomplete.
"blah" - speech
'blah' -thought (most of the time)
kakairukakairu - change of scene or POV
Iruka offered him a small smile. "Good evening, Kakashi-sensei. Beautiful night, is it not?"
Chapter Two - Truth Unveiled
Kakashi tried desperately to get his brains to work, to think of something even remotely intelligent to say as a response, to tell his blood to stop flowing to inconvenient areas. In other words, he was trying to cover up how much the dight of the object of his daydreams there in front of him in that undressed state was affecting him. Miraculously, the Jounin succeeded.
"Indeed it is, Iruka-sensei," he said finally, after the silence had stretched for over a minute. "You couldn't sleep, either?"
His voice betrayed nothing; he managed to keep his usual bored tone intact. The silver-haired shinobi was actually quite proud of this achievement. Iruka was still watching him, as if evaluating, clothes momentarily forgotten. Then, suddenly, he smiled, and shaking his head reached for the pile. Producing a clothes article after another he dressed quietly, turning back to his companion only when done. Kakashi violently squashed a twinge of disappointment - the rational part of his mind told him that the younger man could very well catch a cold if he stayed undressed for too long in the cool night air. The Jounin also decidedly ignored the voice in his head that suggested he could warm up the brunette.
"Ah... You could say so, yes. Although this was more out of habit than due to insomnia, something I started doing in my younger years," the Chuunin replied good-naturedly, hoisting his bag onto his shoulder as he spoke. Kakashi blinked in mild confusion. The air about the brunette had completely changed in a matter of seconds. He covered up his surprise swiftly and hummed thoughtfully. "Swimming before going to bed, seems like a fairly good idea. Maybe I should try it myself tomorrow night."
Naturally, Kakashi had other motives than just using up energy in order to get sleep. He hoped to meet Iruka alone again and get to know the younger man. He became, however, further confused by the fleeting expression of panic that settled on the attractive features of the brunette before being replaced by the wary politeness he usually showed Kakashi. The Jounin couldn't help feeling a bit hurt.
'He's hiding something...and I want to know what it is!' he thought, his mind made up. Hatake Kakashi, Copy Ninja Extraordinaire, was going to find out the secret his crush held. By going for a late night swim with said crush.
kakairukakairu
It would be serious belittling to say that Umino Iruka was slightly distressed. Indeed, a better way to describe his current state of mind would rather be 'extremely nervous'. The brown-haired Chuunin was on his way to the river again, fervently hoping that Kakashi had forgotten about his idea the previous night or at least wouldn't be arriving for the next couple of hours. Iruka wanted to enjoy the short moments he had in his dolphin form, dammit, and there was no way he would let the overly curious, Sharingan-wielding Jounin see him in it again!
He sighed, squatting down and kneeling in order to place his bag on the ground, then stood back up and began to undress. Really, sometimes he just wanted to scream at the unfairness of it all. 'Why,' he thought for about the millionth time in his life, 'did my parents have to go and choose a life on land? And as ninjas, of all things! How ironic. Because of that, their son is practically a were-dolphin. And here I go again, complaining about things that can no longer be fixed.'
Sighing again, then casting his worries off for a while, Iruka carefully slipped into the bluish-gray dolphin skin and plummeted into the river. Another moment of freedom, another moment away from the cold, cruel world of humans. Yes, he loved Naruto like he would love a son of his own, but sometimes it all just felt to be too much for him to bear. He really wished that his parents hadn't chosen a life on land over a simpler, if not safer, life in the ocean. Or at least would have had sense enough not to make children. They had moved to Konoha years before Iruka was born, only changing back to their dolphin form every few weeks. His mother was in her human form when giving birth to him. And that was the mistake they made.
Iruka swam like it was his last chance to do so, his last day alive, hell, his last anything. He wanted to get rid of this bitterness - every single time he blamed his parents for his situation, he ended up being overwhelmed by guilt. It felt like he was betraying their memory. They had given their lives to protect Konoha, to protect him, and he sure as hell wasn't going to forget that. Lost in his thoughts and the heavenly feel of water around him, Iruka didn't notice Kakashi's presence until it was almost too late. When he did, he repeated his actions from the previous night; turned tail and fled.
This time, however, he wasn't that lucky.
kakairukakairu
Kakashi blinked. Once. Twice. No, he wasn't hallucinating, the dolphin-like creature still moved swiftly under the surface. The Jounin tensed, ready to give chase, and so he wasn't left behind when it again turned and headed back. This time he was sure to conceal his presence like only an elite shinobi like himself could. When the creature came to a halt, he hid behind a tree and waited. He nearly held his breath as the water's surface was breached by what looked like a...human head?
Kakashi couldn't, despite years of training, stifle a startled gasp as he regocnised Iruka's features. Fortunately the Chuunin seemed to not have heard it. He watched in fascination as the younger man peeled oof the skin of the dolphin-like creature, folded it, and placed it inside his bag. 'So this is what you didn't want me to know... But what exactly is this?'
Suddenly, Iruka's head snapped in his direction. The brunette's eyes were wide and...fearful? Kakashi began to swear under his breath and nearly choked when he heard the Chuunin's voice. "I know you're there, Kakashi-sensei. Please, come out." The tone was soft and oddly resigned, barely louder than a whisper. After a brief moment of hesitation, the silver-haired man walked up to Iruka and looked him square in the face.
Iruka cleared his throat. "I guess you'll be wanting an explanation," he said, in that same resigned tone, and continued before the Jounin had a chance to interrupt. "I'm sure you've heard the selkie legend at some point or other in your life. Well, my parents were of a people similar to the selkie, only they were dolphins.
"For some reason, they chose a life on land, moved to Konoha and became shinobi. Because of this, when I was born, my existence was mutated. I am neither fully human nor one of the dolphin people, but rather something in between. You could say that in a way I'm a were-dolphin, because I can only put on my skin on the nights of a full moon. I was born in a dolphin form out of a human womb, and my skin immediately peeled off, growing along with my body and only regaining its power once every month for the time span of two or three nights. There is my story, are you happy now, Kakashi-sensei?"
The brunette's tone had grown sad, bitter, and the last syllable was nearly bitten out. Kakashi winced That the younger man had had to live like that... He seemed so vulnerable, now, sitting there with his knees drawn to his chest, still fully naked, deep brown eyes filled with frustrated tears and grief and bitterness and pain. Nothing like the cheerful, temperamental Academy teacher he was during daytime, and still all the same. For once in his life, the genius Jounin was left without words. So he took the only course of action he could think of, and one which he would feel quite a bit of guilt for later on.
Kakashi kneeled down in front of Iruka and kissed him softly, tenderly. Then, making use of the younger man's shock, the Jounin gathered him along with all of his things and took him home.