Iruka, 15, Chuunin (mission desk/does missions); Genma, 21, ANBU/Jounin; Kakashi, 17, ANBU/Jounin.

tap-tap-tap

Visitors were rare, and those who did stop rarely knocked. Kakashi noted that it wasn't Genma's chakra signature and continued cleaning his weapons in the hopes that whoever it was would just go away.

tap-tap-tap

Apparently not. The teenaged assassin slunk toward the door, kunai in hand. He was wearing only a gray pair of pajama pants and felt overwhelmingly exposed when he realized the person on the other side of the door was a jounin of equal level. Grabbing his mask off of the small table beside the door, he deftly slipped it over his head. His hair was wet, and his skin blushed pink from a scalding shower.

The light patter of drops on the windowsill hinted at continuing rainfall.

tap-tap-tap

Kakashi opened the door slowly. "Raidou-san?"

"I, uh, we need to talk." The scarred man stared at the ground, hands in his pockets.

Kakashi stepped away from the door, turning his back on Raidou, who hesitated before entering Kakashi's apartment. He left his shoes next to the door, neatly beside his host's, and took a seat on a couch indicated by the silver-haired young man.

Kakashi disappeared for a moment, returning from the kitchen with tea and cups on a tray. Pouring Raidou's and placing it before him, he asked, "What can I do for you, Raidou-san?" He kept his voice even, neutral, and nearly polite, skirting the edges of etiquette with stiff formality. He wouldn't have bothered with anyone else, but Raidou's rank was currently higher than his own. Kakashi resumed his seat at the squat table, carefully starting to pack up his cleaning supplies and kunai.

"I think...there's something I can do for you..." When he paused, Kakashi glanced pointedly at Raidou's untouched tea, reminding the man to take a first sip. Then, as if the heat of the liquid loosened his voice, the words spilled out of Raidou's mouth: "I think you should know the truth about Yondaime-sama."

thwack

Raidou followed Kakashi's gaze, twisting around toward the wall behind the couch and the kunai embedded mere inches from his throat.

"Don't mention him again." Kakashi stopped packing up the assorted rags and bottles and, instead, resumed his cleaning regimen despite the presence of his guest.

"Kakashi-san, I wouldn't have brought it up if it weren't an important matter."

The older jounin watched the younger pick up another kunai and twirl it lazily in his hand. "Hmm." The taut, wire-stiff set of Kakashi's back betrayed his underlying fury.

Taking the lack of protest as permission, Raidou began.

"You see, I was on guard duty..."

He told Kakashi everything he knew. His sensei's pleading and Sandaime's refusal. The choice the blond faced; the decision made. Most of all, he was relieved to finally tell Kakashi that the Fourth had been forbidden to see him, that he hadn't chosen to abandon his student. The knowledge had been working at Raidou for nearly four years and finally--Finally!--it had found its outlet. When he was finished, Raidou slumped, visibly drained, and sank into the couch.

Kakashi stared at the man before him. At some point during the telling, their tea had gone cold. The patter of rain had strengthened to a thunder-punctuated downpour. He couldn't say when, but Kakashi had jumped to his feet, hanging on every word that fell from the penitent man's tongue. He didn't ask why Raidou had waited so long to tell him; he knew duty would demand the strictest silence.

Kakashi's slender fingers wrapped tightly around the kunai in his hand, white knuckles straining with the strength of his grip. His lips parted, and the question he needed to ask above all else rose from his chest: "Who told him? Who told Sandaime about me and sensei?!" It was not a yell--in fact, Raidou would be hard-pressed later to recall if Kakashi's voice had even risen above a whisper--but it carried the weight of years. Of loneliness. Of loss and pain and, above all else, anger. Cold, heavy anger that seeped into Raidou and froze his voice and mouth so thoroughly he couldn't answer. Had he the means, in that moment, he was certain he would have given Genma over without a second thought.

But he didn't, and Kakashi sensed it as a hesitation. An indication that Raidou knew, that he was protecting someone...

thwack, thwack--

When the third kunai didn't hit the wall, Kakashi peered hard at Raidou. The man's stricken face was quickly draining of color. His features danced between pain and disbelief, settling somewhere in between, a pitiful look that reminded Kakashi of Obito.

The sound of his own kunai clattering to the tile floor jerked Kakashi back to the present as surely as a physical blow. The red bloom on the front of Raidou's shirt was blood, and it was growing. In silence, Kakashi stepped forward to examine the wound. Grinding his teeth, he placed one hand on either side of Raidou and used the Sharingan to initiate a transportation jutsu.

While the sudden appearance of two jounin in the hospital emergency room might have taken some of the medic-nin by surprise, the sight of blood soaking the material at Raidou's side sent them into action. Soon the jounin were ushered away to a patient room, and the bleeding stanched. To the inquiry, "Please, tell me what happened," Kakashi found himself at a loss for words. As he opened his mouth to mutter some kind of improvised lie, Raidou spoke up, instead: "Training accident." The kunoichi asking the questions nodded and smiled before leaving the room, gently shutting the door behind her.

"Training accident," Kakashi repeated.

"Get out." Kakashi didn't respond to the muttered words and Raidou repeated, more forcefully, "Get out! I'm sorry I tried to do the right thing, dammit. Just get the hell out of here, now!"

Kakashi couldn't think of anything to say to that. Raidou had every right to be upset, after all, he supposed. The man could have told the medic-nin Kakashi had attacked him, another Konoha ninja, injuring him in an act of outright treason. Raidou hadn't. The least Kakashi could do was leave without a fight.

Standing, he nodded to the injured man, then disappeared with a light puff of smoke and the vague scent of sulfur.

Iruka stood in front of the small medicine cabinet mirror, his tan face sickly in the grey-green florescent lighting.

He traced a finger across his scar. It had been an accident; his parents had told him the story of how Genma's cries had bordered on hysteria when he saw Iruka bleeding in his bassinet. It had been his own kunai that had cut the baby, and Genma had promised through his sobs to protect Iruka "no matter what" to make up for it.

He always had.

Iruka used the scar to remind him of his friend when he was lonely. Absently, he traced it again, eyes following the movements in the mirror. Somehow, the habit wasn't nearly as comforting now.

Glaring at the image before him, he tried to discern what was so very wrong with the thin, graceful nose, the high cheekbones, and dark, almond-shaped eyes that stared back at him. Lost in thought, he jumped at an abrupt burst of lightning and thunder.

Iruka hated being alone in the old house when it was so miserable outside. Glaring at his reflection, he couldn't stop the sardonic smirk that surfaced as he mumbled, "Inside, outside; it's all the same. Mizuki didn't want me, not really, and Genma...and Kakashi--I doubt he even knows I exist except as the annoying desk chuunin, if that."

He turned to leave the room, flipping off the light and taking a step out of the door, but when he thought about venturing back into the emptiness of the rest of the house, Iruka faltered and backed up. Sliding down the bathroom wall to the hard stone tiles below, he closed his eyes. His last thought before sleep was that he might need to consider selling the house and moving into an apartment, something smaller, less empty. Some day.

The sound of the rain softened to a dull thrum, and Iruka finally found sleep.

When Genma stopped off at Kakashi's and found no one there, he wasn't really worried. When he didn't find his partner at the memorial or sitting on the crumbling edge of the Hokage monument, he began to wonder. When he couldn't detect Kakashi's chakra anywhere nearby, he decided to start a systematic search: mission room, Hokage office, guard duty, hospital...

The medic-nin had nodded and pointed him across the hall to a bland patient room, but inside, he hadn't found Kakashi, only Raidou, with a very strange story.

Now, Genma cursed under his breath as he tried to move closer while still remaining hidden in the bushes. Kakashi was there on the training field, exactly as he expected, but the scene before Genma was anything but ordinary.

Kakashi stood in the rain wearing only a pair of gray pants, face-to-face with a clone henged to look like the Yellow Flash. The clone leaned forward and kissed Kakashi's cheek before stepping back and taking a defensive stance on the other side of the practice ring. The silver-haired jounin's skin glowed, even in the wan moonlight that peeked between rain clouds, and Genma watched, mesmerized, as the two specters sparred. Each time Kakashi landed a hit on his sensei's image, it popped away into nonexistence, immediately replaced by two identical henged clones. The number he faced grew exponentially as Kakashi slipped and spun in the mud, taking out many at once. The beauty of the movements--of Kakashi's body, more exposed than he'd seen it in months--held Genma enthralled, until a glint of red caught his eye. With a shock, he realized that Kakashi's Sharingan was exposed. Fuckin' overkill. Is he tryin' to drain his chakra?

Genma's surprise must have relaxed his control on his own chakra, because the cloned Yellow Flashes disappeared in a single pop that left the clearing deathly quiet except for the constant drumming of the rain. Kakashi glared toward his hiding place.

"Come out, Ma-kun. I know you're there."

Stumbling out of the underbrush, Genma stopped a few paces from his partner. "What's going on?"

"Go home, Genma."

The image of Kakashi driving his heel into the face of a Yondaime-clone kept Genma's feet rooted to the spot. Maybe it was time to get those feelings out, whatever pent-up emotions Kakashi had left over from his sensei's betrayal. Genma remembered with disgust the way the blond had taken advantage of Kakashi and used him. Bile rose at the back of his throat, and he spit to the side, eyes never leaving Kakashi's. "Do ya hate him, Kakashi?" It wouldn't do to let on that he already knew.

The pale boy--in that moment, truly only a boy--arched a brow at Genma, but the facade had cracked slightly at the words.

"Yondaime-sama. Did he...did he do somethin' to you? Things...to you..." With each word, Genma took a step closer. "He's dead now, so it's okay...He won't do anything el--!" He had half-way expected the sweeping leg that banged into the backs of his calves, but the impact still came as a shock.

Genma rolled, dodging a kunai on luck alone. The next barely missed as he danced away, landing a shove at both of Kakashi's shoulders that sent the smaller nin tumbling backward in the slick mud. It was a feint, and Kakashi rolled into a crouch, changed direction, and jumped back toward his partner. Genma still managed to fend off the attack, but he was finally certain that Kakashi was trying to kill him.

The katon jutsu Kakashi called up was the only thing that saved Genma in the end. It barely singed his sleeve and grazed the skin below, but it also depleted the last reserves of Kakashi's chakra, leaving only enough to keep his body animate. The young man collapsed onto all fours just out of arm's reach from Genma, who was sitting on his knees in the mud. For a while, it was just the rain between them, washing away the grit from their bodies, the evidence of their fight.

Without preamble, Kakashi crawled through the mud and murky pools of rain, dragging himself head-and-shoulders into Genma's lap. Genma stared, unable to process the unthinkable--that Kakashi wanted comfort, finally--then wrapped his arms around the boy's trembling body, scooping him further onto his lap.

Kakashi's voice barely carried above the rain when he whispered, "Ma-kun...he...he..."

Genma stroked Kakashi's wet hair and glared over Kakashi's shoulder at the forest beyond, muttering through gritted teeth, "What'd he do to you?" He braced for the flood of emotion, the confession and wracking sobs as Kakashi related the story of his rape at the hands of the future Hokage...anything other than the broken sound that escaped Kakashi's lips before his usual stoicism slipped and he broke down completely.

"Nothing! Nothing, when I longed for it more than anything. Just...just once, I thought he loved me, too. But then, he refused to see me, and I thought...but Raidou says he was ordered...so now...now I know he...and I loved him, Ma-kun...I loved him..." The words ran out of Kakashi like the blood that trickled from the gash on Genma's cheek: a long stream of pain.

Something cold and sharp withdrew deep into Genma, settling itself around the base of his spine, freezing him from inside out. Kami-sama...what did I do... He tried to speak, whether to confess or console, he really couldn't say, but for once he found himself speechless. The weeks of surveillance boiled to the surface of his memory, the things he'd seen and disregarded as perfunctory while watching the pair: shared food and inside jokes, the way they laughed during taijutsu practice when they finally collapsed together from exhaustion, the smile only the Yellow Flash seemed able to bring to Kakashi's face, the way they had finished one another's sentences and sometimes hadn't even seemed to require words...

Genma pulled Kakashi closer to his chest, arms against the bare flesh of his shirtless torso, willing any warmth left in his body to move into the boy to whom he'd done so much wrong. He buried his face in Kakashi's hair, a pale cheek flush with Genma's chest, and breathed into his scalp, his mind screaming I'm sorry! with every exhalation. Kakashi shifted, moved, looked up into Genma's face and hesitated just long enough for Genma to part his lips in question. Then, Kakashi rose up, brought their lips together, and knocked Genma to the ground in a single fluid motion.

Kakashi's lips were fire against Genma's chill. They moved along his jaw and neck, coaxing the warmth back into Genma's numb mind, branding the skin along his shoulder and collar bone, tasting sweat and dirt, ignoring the grit and the tang that might have been blood. Feral teeth grazed Genma's adam's apple. Kakashi's tongue flicked into Genma's ear before seeking his mouth once again. Stubbled chins bumped as they kissed, and the prickly sensation registered at the edges of Genma's mind as they lay together in the mud of the training ground, an odd contrast to the softness of the rain and the ground and each other.

The boy's hand fumbled toward Genma's belt, but the older jounin stopped him. It was one mistake he wasn't ready to make, not when he owed Kakashi so much more. "Later," he whispered, and offered a hand to Kakashi, pulling him up off the ground. Kakashi dropped the hand as soon as he stood, and started walking away through the rain in the vague direction of his home. With a steadying breath, forcing back the part of him that wanted to return to embracing and holding Kakashi, Genma followed, shadowing the boy in case he collapsed, staying just behind until he was safely inside the apartment.

Two weeks later.

Two shadows passed without notice between buildings, onto roofs, into a window. Slipping between panes of darkness amidst the sleeping populace, the targets never opened their eyes.

The dog hung back behind the rat, wondering, not for the first time, what was happening inside the man's head. His distraction could endanger the mission.

His worry became reality when two tall shinobi burst into the room. They eyed the bodies, and then the Leaf-nin. Their own hitai-ate glinted in the moonlight, drawing the eye, making their movements harder to track. Before the dog knew what had happened, he'd blocked the attack on the rat and shoved him out the window, following a moment later, the beginnings of a new scar on his upper arm.

It wasn't what he had planned. It wasn't even something he had considered.

Sleeping with Kakashi...sleeping with...Kakashi...

It wasn't what he'd planned.

The mission had mostly been a success. Another multi-assassination; a quick trip to Rock and back. There had been a lot of blood and running, after the fall through the window, and in the end Genma wasn't sure exactly how they'd escaped capture.

He should have expected something that night. It seemed like nothing had gone right for Genma since his mission with Iruka; everything was conspiring against him. At least, it's what he told himself when Kakashi crawled into his bedroll in the middle of the night. There were no words, not in the beginning, just Kakashi pressing himself against the length of Genma's body, his arms snaking around the older man's waist, hips thrusting slowly...There may not have been any words spoken, but Kakashi's body begged Kiss me. Fuck me. Love me. There may not have been any words, but Genma's body relinquished control almost immediately, a resounding Yes! torn from his own trembling and thrusting. When they were close, so close that their need superseded most thought, a single shred of control held tight in Genma's mind, and he moved Kakashi, bodily, positioning him between his own legs. "F-fuck me, Kakashi..."

Kakashi had leaned down and kissed him, simultaneously slipping aside layers of clothing, and then Genma's breath was taken away by the sudden fullness of Kakashi entering his body. Genma reveled in the pleasure laced with, and almost descending into, pain. He grunted, spreading his legs wider, raising his knees higher, making room for Kakashi's hips to find their angle, and taking the brunt of Kakashi's frustrations.

It wasn't what he'd planned, but Genma saw it for what it was: redemption. For Kakashi. For Iruka. No one would violate Kakashi again; no one would hurt him again. He couldn't bring the Yellow Flash back, but he could at least give the boy something else on which to focus his affections.

Genma took a deep breath in between thrusts, his mind flicking to a certain tanned chuunin momentarily, before Kakashi resumed pounding him down into the ground. He was betraying Iruka again, but it was too late to turn back--Genma could only fix one mistake at a time.

He felt his back arch uncontrollably, his body reacting to the physical stimulus, loosing his need messily all along his stomach, catching him off guard. Kakashi continued briefly, then thrust deep. His fingers dug into Genma's hips as he called his name into the night.

"Min-a-ato!"

His name.

Genma hadn't expected it, and it hurt like hell.

It wasn't what he'd planned, but, he thought, perhaps, it was what he deserved.

Lying together afterward, cleaned and clothed, legs tangled beneath the blanket, Kakashi had mumbled into Genma's shoulder, "I wonder...if I'll ever know who...told Sandaime..."

One year later.

Iruka, 16, Chuunin (mission desk/assistant sensei); Genma, 21, ANBU/Jounin; Kakashi, 18, ANBU/Jounin./b

It was near dawn when Genma and Kakashi finally reached the borders of Fire Country. They'd made good time, and the familiarity of the forest set them at ease. Relief settled into the space between Kakashi's shoulder blades, glad to see that, for the first time in weeks, Genma's smile was genuine.

"Hey, Shi-chan," Genma stretched his arms above his head, working the muscles of his back and shoulders, "It feels sooo fuckin' gooood to be back in the village. Doesn't it?" He poked his lover, who leveled a gaze that clearly threatened pain if he repeated the act, which he did. Kakashi rolled his eyes and kept walking.

They stowed their ANBU gear and entered the village at the rarely used western gate, nodding to the two chuunin posted in the guard house. Rice paddies gave way to fields, which abutted the older estates, and a bit further along, they could see the smaller houses of the village proper. Passing a large, two-story home situated in between, Genma's feet simply stopped moving.

Kakashi waited patiently.

Eventually, Genma opened his mouth. Closed it. Looked at the For Sale sign posted in the yard. Opened his mouth again. "Iruka..." Kakashi continued to wait for any forthcoming explanation, but when it was obvious that Genma wouldn't be offering it, he tugged at his partner's elbow and started toward town. Genma fell into step beside him, his gait a bit less confident than before. "Iruka's house is for sale?"

Kakashi ventured, "Iruka?" He wondered at the melancholy smile turned his way, but didn't comment.

"Iruka's...was...my friend. Grew up together, though he's younger than you. He's a chuunin, tan, sometimes works the mission desk--"

"The one who likes to yell?" Many jounin claimed the lower-ranked shinobi wasn't to be taken lightly.

Genma clicked his senbon from one side to the other and back again. His hands were shoved into his pockets to hide the way they trembled as he mulled over his options. It was the first time Iruka had ever really come up. To be honest, Genma had been avoiding the subject for years. After his...big mistake...they still weren't speaking, at least not like before. They were barely acquaintances anymore. Genma was supposed to be protecting Iruka.

And what a fuckin' awesome job I did.

Realizing he'd been silent for far too long, Genma nodded and gave a hollow chuckle, "Yeah, heh, that's him."

For a fleeting, panicked moment, Genma had considered confessing Iruka's feelings to Kakashi, asking him to at least meet the chuunin and help him put an end to his childish crush. He'd opened his mouth, the words poised on his tongue, but they had died in an ash-tasting choke as he slammed his mouth shut again. He couldn't tell Kakashi something like that. He couldn't send him to Iruka, who was sweet and warm and so very open and would pull Kakashi in like a moth to lantern light. One smile would banish Kakashi's darkness.

Until a few years ago, he might have been happy to help. A year ago, he might have been able to manage the loss. But, now, he was finding he didn't want to give Kakashi up. Ever. It was selfish, he knew, but Genma chose to remain silent on the subject, ignoring the clench of his chest.

Instead, he continued his previous line of thought. "Anyway, that's...that's his house. I pretty much grew up there. It's hard to imagine anyone else livin' in it." In fact, it felt utterly wrong to consider it, but there was nothing he could do. Genma forced his smile to return and shrugged as they started to walk again. "Want some ramen when we get to town? Or how 'bout some okonomiyaki?"

"You should just buy it."

"What?" Genma gaped as if Kakashi had just told him he should just defect to a foreign village. Just stay out of it, Kakashi.

"You should buy the house. If it matters so much."

Genma immediately found the fault in his partner's logic: "But it's just me, and the house is fuckin' huge. I can't afford that, and even if I could, who'd wanna live alone in a--"

"Who said alone?" Kakashi cut a sideways glance at Genma, a smile partly visible, outlined beneath his mask.

"You'd...you wanna live together? You wanna--"

"Mmm."

"I'll...I'll think about it," Genma mumbled and started

And he would. Just not that day. By force of will, Genma pushed all thoughts of Iruka and his house to the back of his mind and focused on putting one foot in front of the other.

Two weeks later.

"Wh-what...?" Anyone who knew Iruka, or had faced his wrath, could see that his temper was boiling just below the surface.

"Iruka-chan..." Izumo put a hand on his friend's back. "Why are you--Ow!"

Kotetsu glared at Izumo. "Shut up. Don't be an idiot. Iruka, ignore him and everyone else. Look at me." The tan chuunin sitting beside them was still staring straight ahead, across the room, at the knot of jounin talking in the corner. Kotetsu grabbed his head and tried to force him to turn away. "Look. At. Me."

Ignoring his friends' efforts to comfort him, Iruka stood, still staring. "How long?"

"Iruka...don't do this to yourself. They're just--"

"How long?!" Some of the jounin and chuunin in line turned to gape, fully aware that an outburst from the tanned man might warrant returning later. When he realized Kotetsu wasn't going to answer, Iruka glared, hopped over the desk, and crossed the room in a handful of steps, the other nin parting to allow him through. "Genma!"

"Iruka..."

"Come with me." He grabbed the older man's shoulder and dragged him out into the corridor. Realizing most of the others were probably listening, he kept going, pulling Genma up the stairs and out onto the roof. "ANBU-sama--" He made a quick bow to the stationed guard; Raidou, if he were to guess. "--may we talk up here without bothering you?" A nod from the masked ANBU granted Iruka permission. He punched Genma hard across the face.

"What the hell, Iruka!"

"You...you...y-you...and Kakashi..." He wasn't crying or whining. Iruka's voice only trembled with anger kept barely under control. "You knew that I..."

"Iruka, I'm--I'm sorry."

Iruka's fists clenched at his sides, and Genma closed his eyes, braced to take the hit that never came. When he looked again, the chuunin was gone, and he thought he heard the distinct sound of laughter muffled behind the ANBU's mask.

"Dude, what am I doin'?"

More laughter, though very nearly sympathetic in its gentleness followed Genma back down the stairs and into the mission room. When he reached Iruka's desk, the tan chuunin appeared composed and normal. "Hello, jounin-sama, here is your scroll."

Genma took it and frowned. "Wait, Iruka, can't we--"

"I'm sorry, jounin-sama, but I'm extremely busy at the moment."

Genma's frown deepened, and he peered at the fine wrinkles of tension on his friend's forehead. "Iruka, what can I do...?"

Iruka stared up at him a moment longer before turning to the next nin in line. "Welcome back. Thank you for your hard work."

There was a broken quality to the words that tore at Genma as he quickly left the room, the building, the village, and made his way toward the training grounds. He was probably the only person who could detect the tremble in Iruka's voice, but that knowledge did nothing to absolve Genma's conscience, knowing he was also the cause.

Three more weeks passed.

When the house still hadn't sold weeks after going on the market, Iruka tried not to be discouraged by the lack of interest. He couldn't blame people for wanting to live closer to the center of town. He, himself, had found an apartment not far from the academy where he would be teaching the next year.

The mission desk was slow, no one waiting in line, just a trickle of returning nin coming to turn in reports, so it was no wonder Iruka was shocked out of a daydream when Genma got impatient and tapped him roughly on the shoulder. "Yo, Iruka."

"Um, yes, may I help you?" Politeness. Coldness. Complete detachment.

Silence.

"Shiranui-san?"

When Genma found his voice, it was choked and distorted, unwilling to adapt to the drastic change in the friend he thought he knew. "Iruka...your house..."

"Yes?"

"It's for sale."

"Yes.

"I'd...I wanna buy it?"

The chuunin's eyes widened just slightly, his mouth drew a line and then curved into a tight frown. "You'll pay cash?"

"Of course." His side pouch was stuffed with both his and Kakashi's halves of the purchase price. He still couldn't believe Kakashi had convinced him to do it.

"Fine. Take the money to Sandaime-sama's assistant. She'll hold it for me and make sure the transaction is in the register. She also has the key. The house is empty, so you can move in whenever you'd like." Iruka's eyes lingered on Genma's face a moment longer before turning toward the pitiful stack of scrolls beside him. "Now, jounin-sama, I have work to do. If that is all..."

Genma sighed and muttered, "Yeah, Umino-san. That's all."

Six months later.

It was wrong, dangerous, but when he'd seen them, Iruka couldn't help but stop. He wasn't even supposed to be on that side of town, but a student had needed tutoring...and...it was on his way home...

Iruka's heart burned in his chest, tears hot behind his eyes, as he watched Genma and Kakashi through the wide front window. They were only talking, but the gentle way Kakashi touched Genma's shoulder, the lean in Genma's stance as he moved closer to Kakashi...they were things shared privately between lovers...and Iruka's loneliness intensified as he remained frozen, standing on the outside looking in.

He couldn't pull himself away when they kissed, hands grasping and groping, devouring one another, silhouetted in the warm glow of the kitchen lights. Genma turned away from Iruka, slipping out of his tight black t-shirt, and Kakashi's mouth moved to the hollow of one exposed shoulder.

A tingling sensation came over Iruka, and though Kakashi's lips never faltered, kissing and licking, his mismatched eyes were diverted, looking out the window at the chuunin. Iruka stood fully exposed on the wide open sidewalk, held mesmerized by Kakashi's glare.

With a sudden gasp, Iruka bolted.

Inside, Genma asked, "Kakashi, what're you doin'?"

He mumbled into Genma's shoulder, "Thought I saw something. It was nothing."