Author's Notes

- Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed Show and Tell and Tied With a Bow and everything else I've written :)! Ya'll are the reason I keep on trucking!

- I just want to tell all you wonderful people to check my profile from time to time, because I keep an updated list of links for fanart and new stories that are related to the TI universe ( I have a universe!) but not posted here. Especially be on the lookout for smuttiness ;)

- For FuyunoAkegata :) Jam and Jelly, baby!

- Thanks to everyone who reads this mess XD!!!

Special Notes

- Make sure to check out FuyunoAkegata's link on my profile page. Her story ' Me In Honey' is listed there and her other writings can be found on her homepage :) Fuyu is working in the TI stuff and this first piece is excellent! Be on the lookout for more of her work !!!

Story Notes

- This occurs several months after the events of Show and Tell. For anyone trying to keep track, it's late summer/early fall, the begnning of the school year.

Warnings: NO ANGST xD, Coarse language, malexmale sexual dialogue, biseinen-ai, etc.

Disclaimer: Naruto and its characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

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Odd Admiration

Chapter 1

" I'd call that duress."

The first night had been the worst. It went something like this;

" How come you wear that mask?"

" Are you a cyclops?"

" Whatcha readin'?"

He spent the evening dodging unintentionally invasive questions and wildly off target shuriken. Ten year olds , he learned, were notoriously erratic beginners.

The second night had been better. It went something like this;

" Uh..."

" Mmm..."

" ... "

The silence was thick with fear and awe at his mighty persona and the kunai stayed in the general area of the targets. Eleven year olds, he learned, were easily impressed by celebrities.

The third night had become a belligerent mixture of the previous two. Comments were flung at him with cocky impudence, silence was accompanied by calculating stares and weapons came at him at a fairly predictable rate. Twelve year olds, he already knew, were dependably hostile and unimpressed by everyone.

I take it back. This is the worst night. " And what did I do to deserve this torture?"

" You put a hickey on the back of my neck so all my students could see it every time I wrote on the board."

" Oh... yeah."

The silver haired jounin mentally flinched as he dodged another round of ill aimed shuriken by simply stepping out of the way. It was the sixth time in twice as many minutes. The weapons flew between himself and his brunette lover, thudding into the thick canvas mats on the wall behind them. Kakashi was thankful for the gymnasium's padding; otherwise, someone would have had one helluva spackling job on their hands.

Iruka didn't even twitch as the shuriken passed mere inches from his left side, simply addressing their owner in his encouraging teacher's voice. " That was good, try again, Rinmei. Please remember the target is that way."

The young blonde girl nodded as she ran to retrieve her sharpened stars. " Yes, Iruka-sensei."

Kakashi waited until she had taken her place back in line with the rest of the snot nosed br- uh, students who were practicing their throws, then reclaimed his place next to Iruka. This sucks. I can't believe Iruka forced me to be here. His gaze wandered around the room, briefly resting on the few students who were at the back of the gym reading up on healing jutsus. So far they had been the most well behaved, i.e. quiet. Even the two Inuzuka dogs, tan and black hound pups, lay at their mistress's feet; mouths opening for nothing more than wide yawns.

" I didn't force you." Iruka smirked.

Kakashi returned his attention to the brunette and didn't even try to feign surprise, he knew the other man could read him like an open book with transparent covers and bold type. Steely gray sloped to display his covered pout. " You said I'd have to go three whole nights without you if I didn't come. I'd call that duress. "

" No, that was simply stating a fact. " The brunette's smirk turned to a more neutral expression as a wild maned boy came trotting up to the two adults. Iruka stopped him before he got within an arm's length. " Genji-kun, I don't care how long you've studied that jutsu, you are not going to try it indoors. Now get back in line before you lose your place." The boy looked completely crestfallen, but did as he was told. Iruka turned back to the jounin. " He thinks he can perform fire jutsus."

" He's Raidou's oldest nephew. I've seen them training together, maybe he can." Kakashi threw out, baiting. He wanted to see how riled he could get the academy sensei while in front of his students. An exercise in patience on Iruka's part. I'm just helping him train. Hehehe...

" Oh, I know he can physically manifest flame." Iruka waved permission for the next line of students to step forward and take aim. " He simply doesn't have the ability to control it. And I really don't want to deal with a raging inferno. It would look bad on my record. "

The jounin snickered and ducked beneath four kunai headed for his face. This is getting really old. He straightened up and shot a withering glance at the other man who blatantly ignored him while humming quietly. Kakashi's expression softened as he listened. That's a new song. I've never known someone as into music as he is. It's so... endearing.

Kakashi thought back over the previous two nights as he watched Genji and his cohorts step up to the firing line. When his lover had told him that school was on a short break, the jounin had been ecstatic. It had been over half a year since Iruka had taken his ass on top of the Hokage Monument. The Copy Nin had valiantly been making up for lost uke time with the school teacher, requesting as much time off from long term missions as possible. For " training", as Kakashi had explained to the Hokage; if Tsunade was aware that said " training" involved meals in bed, long hot baths and extraordinarily passionate rutting with a well regarded chuunin ( and Kakashi was pretty sure she was aware) then she refused to let on. He did actually spend time at the ANBU practice grounds while Iruka was in school, knowing he couldn't avoid the deep cover missions or reconnaissance much longer. There simply weren't enough experienced shinobi to fill the work orders. And he had something very important to stay alive for now, no slip ups allowed.

So the scarecrow was kept close to home. Kakashi took full advantage of the time spent with his sweetly scarred dolphin, always conscious of the fact that he would eventually have to resume his long distance and long term missions.

So when Iruka had announced the mini holiday, Kakashi had the entire five days planned within seconds. We were going to sleep in, have incredibly hot sex, eat lunch, have incredibly hot sex, take a nap , eat dinner, shower and then have incredibly hot sex. Repeated until 'Ruka had to go back to work or I got drafted to an S-rank. It was going to be so awesome. Unfortunately the well laid plans were interrupted by the silver haired man's predilection for marking his lover in visible places. Iruka discovered the glaring hickey on the last day of classes before break and instantly made the decision to have training lock-ins, one for each of his upper classes, the ones that were learning how to handle weapons. Iruka had three of these classes. Three loud, drooling, snotty nosed, insanity inducing classes. So, naturally Kakashi had refused ; no proper jounin would spend his free nights teaching a bunch of pre-genin brats how to throw kunai. He'd have been more inclined to lecture the younger ones ( cute little ankle biters between 6 and 9 years old) on the history of Konoha or ... arithmetic. Sigh.

One hour after the dolphin left their flat the silver haired man swore silently at the empty bed, packed his basic kit and headed towards the Hokage's complex in the middle of town where the community training gymnasium was located.

He had spent his last two nights surrounded by minors with the central figure of all his sexual fantasies only a glomp away; perverted paybacks of various positions constantly thrummed through his head. I could bend him over that weight bench and... or he could bend me over that weight bench and- He was shaken from his heavenly hentai thoughts by a windmill shuriken screaming towards him. Luckily he had caught the movement in time to catch the weapon between his first two fingers. Kakashi raised an irritated brow, dropping the huge star to the floor with a loud metallic clang. It's that blonde, again.

" Alright, Rinmei-chan." Iruka's voice was heard loud and clear though he had neither raised it nor lost his calm tone. Teachers were the masters of projection, or so Kakashi had been told ( he certainly never went out of his way to practice that skill). " Since you're determined to take on Kakashi-sensei I think it's only fair that everyone have a chance." He stood next to the jounin, hands on hips, stern expression on his lovely face. Iruka had made his announcement as though he were meting out a pop quiz and Kakashi had assumed the students would react accordingly.

Instead the little nose miners let out an enormous cheer that shook the rafters and scampered towards the two men. Kakashi was bombarded by giggly squeals and adolescent threats. They want to fight me? Shit. His dismay didn't show beyond his mask, years of training taking over.

Of course, it didn't fool the brunette. " Not up to it, 'Kashi love?" He muttered through a grit teeth smile.

" Hn. " The jounin mumbled his non committal response. Kakashi slouched forward, shoving his hands into his pants pockets as he listened to Iruka quieting the class.

" Everyone settle down and take a seat on the bleachers in alphabetical order and , yes, that is the order I call role." The sensei aimed at one of the bigger boys whose mouth was wide open with the unasked question. While the children arranged themselves along the far wall, the two shinobi held a quiet conversation.

" Do you really not feel well, 'Kashi?" came the concerned voice, chocolate eyes wide and anxious. " I know they've been running you ragged and -"

Kakashi couldn't repress a small chuckle at the sudden turn around in the teacher's attitude. " 'Ruka, I admit I'd rather take a whole slew of S-rank missions than have to teach these hellions on a regular basis. I couldn't do it and you're more the man than I for being able to and not go insane, " He swayed to the left , pushing his shoulder into the smaller man's, enjoying his delicate blush. ", but if you can wrangle these kids just three days after being poisoned then I think I can handle a little sparring after two months of light duty. Besides, I'll be damned if I'm gonna let a bunch of brats think I can't handle 'em."

The smile that bloomed on Iruka's face nearly melted Kakashi where he stood. Kami, I 'd let these punks practice chidori on my ass just to keep getting that smile.

" So you will actually pretend to engage them?" The younger sensei sounded leery. " You won't pull out that book and barely give them a glance while you dodge every move? "

" What makes you think that?"

" You patronized Team 7 in that manner. " Iruka nodded to a small girl who seemed to have caught his attention. Watching her scramble up the steep seats, he continued speaking to his lover. " They won't learn anything, or want to learn anything, if you don't actively fight them."

Sighing in a most long suffering way, Kakashi pulled a hand from his pocket and extended a pinky finger. " I , Hatake Kakashi, promise to use the best of my abilities to spar with the youth of Konoha."

" You sound like Gai-sensei." Iruka chuckled , but locked pinkies. " Thanks, though. I appreciate it." The class was beginning to calm down, the dozen children more or less lined up on wooden planks. Their sensei turned to address the group of fidgeters. " We are going to play tag. " There was a chorus of groans, but the academy instructor ignored them. " but with a few different rules." He had their full attention now. " The matches will be one on one, a student versus Kakashi-sensei. Each match will be timed for five minutes. Each fighter will be given a flag. " The brunette pulled two long strips of cloth from a vest pocket, bandages from the healing studies center. He reached behind the taller man and shoved one end of the bandage half way down the back of the jounin's pants. Kakashi did not miss the mischievous glint in the brown eyes or the slight groping he received as Iruka removed his hand. " Your goal will be to capture your opponent's flag before they get yours."

" So how is this different from regular tag?" The blonde, Rinmei, raised her hand, kunai spinning on her index finger. Kakashi was seriously beginning to not like the girl.

" First off , Kakashi-sensei will be handicapped. "

This got more moans from the children and the mentioned jounin, as well. Kakashi muttered just loud enough for the shorter man to hear. " I thought you wanted me to ' engage' them. "

Iruka ignored him, too. " He will be restricted to defensive taijutsu, no weapons, two ninjutsu and one basic genjutsu per match. Students are allowed any weapon in their arsenal and any form of jutsu covered in class. If you've been studying a particular jutsu outside of school, you're welcome to try it. BUT, " Iruka's words hardened and his expression displayed that he was not to be screwed with. " students and sensei alike will not perform any moves meant to injure."

A covered ear perked up and Kakashi raised a brow. No way will I be able to stay awake if they aren't even going to try to take me out. He sidled closer to the other man and made a show of taking in the kids' disappointed faces. " Awwwww, Iruka-sensei. I'm a big boy, I can take a few fire jutsus."

" Thanks for reminding me. No fire jutsus for those of you who think you know them. That goes for anything else that could bring the roof down on us or the floor to swallow us up. Keep that in mind."

" Awwwww, man!" Students and jounin whined in chorus. Kakashi could tell the combined nagging was wearing down the dolphin's resolve.

Iruka threw his hands into the air, definitive sign of surrender. " Fine, fine! If Kakashi- sensei wants to risk dismemberment then so be it, but -"

" That's a lot of ' buts'." The scarecrow leered.

" Nothing fatal. Aim to incapacitate, not to kill. I mean it. " The golden skinned shinobi gave his final command and everyone in the gymnasium could tell that he wouldn't relent any further.

Twelve pairs of thoroughly cowed eyes faced the two ninja. Kakashi never failed to be impressed by the respect the students gave Iruka, wished desperately that he could have garnered such a precious thing from his own genin team two years ago. Stop feeling sorry for yourself, Hatake. You know those kids thought the world about you... at least two of them did. He abandoned the depressing line of thought and concentrated on the cute way his lover's scar shifted on his nose as he spoke.

" Can anyone tell me why we are playing tag in this fashion?"

A hand shot up from the middle of the row. " To teach us strategy. "

" Correct, Genji-kun. This exercise is meant to test your strategic skills. That means less is more and I will be awarding points according to that guideline. " Iruka's beautiful smile was back in place as he swiveled his head to address the jounin. " Well, we seem to have the entire gamut amongst your competitors, Kakashi-sensei; from your staunchest underage rival all the way to your greatest admirer. " A blush exploded across his face, the scar fading to nearly white against the rosy stain, as he whispered. " Barring me, of course. "

Kakashi winked at his adorably flushed lover and then cringed inwardly. Just what I need; Gai-sensei and fangirls in training. Wonder which is which. He scanned the row of twelve year olds, gauging their expressions for signs of challenge or adoration. Mostly challenge. Should be interesting. He had just made it to the end of the bench where the small girl from before sat when the other instructor began. Kakashi's attention faltered and lazily decided to focus on Iruka's words. Or rather the way his tongue would peek out every now and then to wet his lips. Oh, the jounin had such plans for that slip of pink the first chance of alone time they got.

"Alright, let's get started. " Iruka gestured towards the first person seated on the bleachers. " As luck would have it, Akane Rinmei-chan, you're up first."

Kakashi moseyed towards the other end of the room and readied himself for a very long sixty minutes.

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tbc