Disclaimer. I do love these guys, even though they're not mine. They belong, or should belong, totally and exclusively to each other.

Chapter 1. The Cave.

What the…?

Shit!

Now Iruka knew he was definitely, totally, fucked. It had been rotten damn luck, running into an ambush on his way back from delivering a message to Hidden Sand. A chuunin with a team of three genins. Hadn't taken him long to work that out. But he had felt he had a decent chance of beating them, especially since he'd managed to get to a really good defensible position in this cave, but just now he had felt the unmistakable sensation of someone jutsuing into position behind him.

He froze, waiting for the attack. Shifting some of his focus from the two men at the cave entrance (hadn't he already killed two?), to the expanse of blackness behind. Nothing. Masked chakra, this was worse than he feared. There must have been a jounin with them that he'd missed, he was quite sure none of those he'd fought so far were capable of this level jutsu.

Well if this was the end then the least he could do was take as many of them with him as he could. He stepped forward towards the light of the setting sun, using his dark colouring to his advantage as he merged with the shadows of the cave wall. The chuunin was advancing too, soon he could see him quite clearly. He noted with satisfaction the wound he had inflicted on the man's upper right arm, a slice almost completely through the muscle, slicing it from the bone. The sides of the wound were pulled apart, red and shiny like the petals of a tropical flower, but with surprisingly little blood. That arm must be almost useless. He struggled to remember which hand the man had been holding his weapon in when he'd cut him. Please let him be right handed.

Hopping up to a ledge high on the side of the cave, he leapt down, curving his sword through the air as he went. One clean sweep to the neck should finish the job. His blade hit wood. A substitution jutsu. Stupid stupid to be taken in by such an elementary trick, one that any of his students could have done, all because of his 'glorious last stand' mentality. Before he could recover the genin had a kunai at his throat and he could feel the chuunin advancing from behind. Well, it had always been his karma to be stabbed in the back.

As he braced himself for the blow there was a bright flash from inside the cave and a loud shrill screech. With a look of terror that Iruka hoped he'd never see again, the genin dropped the kunai. And, reflexes working at double speed, he took his chance, slashing him through the ribs and into his liver. The youth slumped to the ground, gushing crimson blood like a draping of red silk. Iruka turned to see the chunin. He had a hole blasted through his chest and there was a matching hole in the tree beyond. Surely it couldn't be…?

Using every once of awareness still within his capability Iruka turned back to the cave and started to feel his way into it. It was dark, in fact it more than dark, it was a fucking black hole. Like being inside a box lined with black velvet. If only he could come up with a decent fire jutsu. But he was lousy at fire jutsus, especially when he was nervous like this. Water was his element.

Stop, get a grip. You're letting your mind wander all over the place. Just find out who the hell is back there.

He dropped to his hands and knees, to ease the spinning vertigo, and crawled forward. Glad that the painful roughness of the floor provided some sensation in the silent blackness. When he reached the back of the cave he sat down and turned around again. Night was closing in fast and the cave entrance was visible as little more than a smudge of grey a hundred or so yards distant. There was no sign of anyone or anything anywhere in the space between him and it. Then he heard a voice, the barest whisper but as clear as a siren in the silence.

"Keep it down will you? You're flaring much too bright, we don't need to offer a welcome light."

"Kakashi?" It had been unmistakable. Tamping down his chakra obediently, he crawled over to the source. His hands found hair first, then a cold metal headband, and finally a cloth covered face. Pulling the fabric down he planted a kiss on the other man's lips. He didn't respond and Iruka realised with horror that what he'd taken to be effective chakra masking was near fatal depletion.

"God you're spent. Go to sleep before you fucking die on me."

"You too, need you sharp tomorrow. Should be safe 'til then"

Iruka wanted to keep watch over his sleeping lover, but he was exhausted too, and Kakashi would know the best way to handle the situation. So he maneuvered his body to rest the other's limp form nested against him and fell asleep almost at once.

He woke up with him in his arms, not understanding at first why he was so damned uncomfortable. Then he remembered, the ambush, the cave, Kakashi. At least the copy nin's chakra was registering at readable levels now.

The sun had risen, reducing the darkness at the back of the cave to a near total gloom.

"What are you doing here Iruka?" A husky voice asked.

"What am I doing? Me? What the hell do you think you were doing jutsuing behind me like that when I was in the middle of a fight? What would you have done if I'd just come back here and killed you, I might have you know, just as easily."

"Died."

Iruka shook him by his shoulders.

"Don't you dare fucking joke about it." Iruka was crying silently into the silver hair tickling his face. Shocked and frightened, knowing that that's just what he would have done, should have done, if he hadn't thought the situation hopeless.

"Aah, Ruka stop. Hurts. Weak."

Iruka climbed over him so that he could see the other man's face, although he couldn't make out much more than a pale shadow.

"I'm not joking, if you'd killed me I would have died. Might have to yet."

There was a long pause, Iruka refusing to believe what he was hearing.

"I can't let them take me, you know that. I won't ask you to kill me, I can do that myself, but you will have to dispose…"

"No!" Kakashi felt a soft mouth clamped onto his, shutting him up.

The younger man held the kiss as long as he could before breaking away, gasping for air. "No one's going to die. Not while I can still fight. Who were you running from anyway?"

The silver hair shook a little, rustling against the stony ground.

"Dunno, never seen them before, but they came at me out of the mist. Lots of them. Copied ten new jutsus, good ones."

"Sharigan overuse."

The bushy hair twitched again. "Yeah, as soon as I uncovered the eye they just threw jutsus at me, dozens, all at once. Only lasted about thirty seconds, then I felt my knees giving out and used my last bit of energy to jutsu away."

"Not your last energy, what about…"

"Hmm, the chidori. Don't know where that came from. I just saw you about to die and pow! Got one last shot off."

"How long before you can walk?"

"A week at least, but they'll have tracked me down long before that."

Iruka sat up, adjusting his weight to find the least uncomfortable position on the uneven floor. "Just how did you end up in this cave Kakashi?"

"Safe, I focussed on being safe. I didn't know where the hell I was or where I could go so I just opened my mind to take me to the safest place I could reach and let it happen."

"And you landed in a fucking battle, great instincts."

"I landed with you Iruka, that's my safest place, next to you."

In response the other man leaned down and combed his fingers through the wild silver mop then lifted Kakashi's head onto his lap.

"You bet it is." He said grimly.

"So who chased you into this cave? Kakashi asked again.

"Stone, an ambush. I'd just delivered a message to Hidden Sand, they must have thought I was still on the way and that they could take it from me. Either that or it was just bad luck."

Kakashi's voice contained an angry growl. "Tsunade sent you to Sand on your own? That's jounin's work!"

Iruka shook his head, although he knew it was true. "She didn't have anyone to spare, you're all out doing more important stuff."

"Yeah, running around in those damn marshes, chasing rumours. So she pulled you out of the academy instead. Who's teaching your classes."

The teacher couldn't suppress a hint of despair. "Naruto."

Kakashi exploded in laughter, his whole frame shaking uncontrollably. "Na… Naruto! I have to be there for graduation, there'll be a whole line up of sexy no jutsus. I'll take Jiraiya."

Iruka slapped his cheek gently. "Be serious. You said they would track you down, how soon."

His voice became grim again. "They didn't follow my trail or they'd have been right on top of me, but they must know that I couldn't get very far, they'll keep expanding the circle until they get here. I didn't have the chakra to go much more than a mile, so they'll probably be here within a day."

"Then eat something and we'll leave now, I'll carry you."

"Iruka! I'm dead weight, how far do you think you can get?"

Iruka sounded like the stern teacher he could be. "As far as I need to. I'm not leaving you Kakashi so don't even suggest it."

The copy nin matched him, the voice of command. "I'm the jounin here, it's my decision."

He got a flare of anger in response. "Cut the crap Kakashi, you can have me tried for treason when we get back. I'm going to see what I can do about those corpses. If they know who you are that chidori hole is as good as a neon sign."

He unwrapped a ration bar and pressed it into the other man's hand, before lifting his head off his lap, standing and making his way to the cave opening.

The genin he'd killed less than twelve hours before had already become mottled and purple and there were blow-fly eggs crusted around his bulging eyes, mouth and open wounds. Iruka wrinkled his nose at the smell that was starting to permeate the area then dragged him over to the chidoried tree. That had to be eliminated too. It took him almost an hour, longer than he would have liked, to gather the other corpses under tree and pile them with brush. Now he needed a flame, damn.

He went back into the cave and found Kakashi asleep with the untouched bar still in his hand. Kneeling beside him, he gently touched one of the pockets on his jacket.

"What are you doing Iruka?"

The teacher blushed. "Er, looking for matches?"

"And why the hell would I have matches?"

"To start a fire?"

"Use a jutsu, the seals are…"

"I know what the damn seals are." Iruka snapped. "I teach them remember. I'm just not good at fire jutsus.'

Kakashi's voice was quiet and calm. "Then perhaps you should be the one to carry matches."

Iruka knew the sarcasm was there even though he couldn't hear it. He bristled with indignation. "It was a straight message run, I didn't expect to be making bonfires out of corpses."

There was a long moment of uncomfortable silence before Kakashi spoke. "Iruka come closer." The man's voice was no more than the faintest whisper. "Put your face next to mine."

Iruka lowered his face onto the other's so that they were touching, then felt the lips under his press a centimeter closer and open into a kiss, then fall back again.

"That's all I've got right now but it's all yours. You've done a lot of things you're not good at recently, you just completed a jounin level mission, you'd have defeated that ambush team alone if I hadn't rattled you and you just defied your field commander. So now go out there and start that fire."

Iruka grinned, then made contact again, this time deepening the kiss into a long slow smooch. He pulled away, broke a piece off the ration bar in Kakashi's hand and dropped it into his mouth, which was still hanging open as if begging for more.

"Eat. You can sleep while I carry you."

The fire started at the third attempt. By the time he had Kakashi hoisted on his back, secured in a sling made from his blanket, like a baby, and was running towards home it was blazing fiercely.

"Are you sure you can handle this?" The copy nin breathed in his ear.

Iruka snorted. "Come on Kakashi, it's not as if it's the first time I've had your weight on my back."

The older man smiled lecherously and nestled his face into the nape of his lover's neck while he enjoyed, as always, the flexing of Iruka's firm muscles under him.

No, and I just hope it won't be the last.