Thank you for reviewing! So... here it is- the final update. And, I have to say, I love how it's turned out. When I first got the idea for this... at least a year ago, I discounted it immediately because I didn't think I was good enough to actually write it. I thought I would botch it up and somehow turn it into one of those cheesy things where Kakashi has never seen Iruka before in his life, but five minutes after meeting Iruka completely changes everything, and then BAM two seconds later they say they love each other, cue happily ever after sunset. And now that it's ended, I think that I managed to do the subject justice and that I somehow actually did end up being good enough to pull it off. I think Fate has ended up of one of my very few stories that I am actually proud of.

As always, I love all you guys for reading and reviewing, and I hope I've made it worth your while. So, for the last time- hope you enjoy!

Kakashi was gone for four days, and by the last one, Iruka was so worried he almost couldn't go into work.

He wasn't ready for missions, he kept thinking desperately, he had only just gotten back from that last one, what were they thinking, letting him go out there again- and how could I push him to it? How could I be so STUPID?

...Okay, so, maybe it had actually been a couple of months since Kakashi's last mission, and he was probably in the best physical condition of his life- Iruka had never seen him looking as healthy and rested as he had these past several weeks- but... mentally... well, maybe it had been longer than Iruka could count since he'd actually worried about Kakashi's mental state- but that didn't mean he was well enough for a mission!

Or, maybe Kakashi was perfectly fine to go out on mission work, and Iruka was just worried about nothing.

Which was most likely.

But I'm still the reason he's out there in the first place! If it weren't for me, he wouldn't have asked for a mission!

When Kakashi got back, Iruka would firstly, apologize, and then, secondly, swear that it had all been a drunken mistake and that he felt absolutely nothing for him (as if mere words could salvage the situation), and then, he was going to beat the man silly for thinking running away was the best option and tell him if he ever took a mission to get time to think about something again, he could just find somebody else's couch to sleep on.

"Baka!" he muttered aloud, jamming the key into his door with a frustrated slam. Stupid... overconfident... egotistical... moronic... baka!

I am going to kill that-

"Iruka."

Iruka gasped.

Of course. He'd been so preoccupied with what to do with Kakashi when he got home, now that he was, he was frozen mute and stupid.

The jounin had been waiting for him, standing silently in his living room with his arms crossed and mask, surprisingly, down. After all the worrying he'd done, to see him standing there right as rain was a bit of an annoyance, and Iruka found himself looking anxiously over him for signs that he might not be well. But he appeared absolutely fine- even his uniform was in perfect condition, with the only exception being a small grass stain on his upper right arm. He searched Kakashi's face for signs of exhaustion but found nothing except for an anxiety akin to his own, teeth gnawing into his lip and uncovered eye narrow and worried.

"Ka- Kakashi," he stammered. "...You're back."

Kakashi nodded shortly and didn't say anything else, leaving Iruka fumbling for something to say. Apologies, reprimands, threats, they all fled from his mind the moment Kakashi was actually standing in front of him, leaving him standing and blinking stupidly like some kind of Iruka shell. He opened his mouth, then shut it again and swallowed, staring expectantly at Kakashi, because it looked like he had something to say.

The jounin paused, then took a deep breath, visibly steeling himself, then met Iruka's eye and moved forward until they were so close it took all of Iruka's self control not to turn and run.

He's going to say he hates you. What kind of an idiot just off and gives a drunken kissing confession to their best friend like that. Stupid, stupid Iruka. Stupid, stupid, stupid...

"About... what happened before." Kakashi coughed uncomfortably and scratched the back of his head. "About that. I- I mean... if you would have me, that is..." Kakashi paused, then shook his head, closed his eye, and took another deep breath. "Iruka, I... thank you."

And then, the jounin kept his eye closed and leaned down to return a kiss almost four days late.

Discussions took place that night, long ones, back and forth over what had happened and was to happen now. But, when it came down to it, Iruka was just too relieved to continue any such serious talks then, and Kakashi was still wound up from his mission- and, a little tired from rushing back home, which Iruka had amusedly scolded him for- they decided to postpone those talks for another day.

That night, while they waited for sleep to come, they spoke or kissed a little, shy, tender displays of intimacy that Iruka never would have believed possible from the perverse Copy nin. The intervals between such moments began to lengthen, though, and finally, it had now been quiet again for a period of minutes. Iruka's eyes were half shut as he began to absentmindedly trace patterns over the back of the jounin's scarred hands. He cleared his throat when he felt sleep hovering on the edges of his consciousness, somehow dredging up the energy to speak to ask the question he had been most concerned for. "How was your mission? ...Are you okay?"

It took Kakashi a few moments to reply, and when he did, his voice was slightly confused- if also heavy with sleep. "How do you mean?"

"Well, this was your first real battle since..." He shrugged barely, self-explanatorily. "I know that you've really just been lazy and enjoying a well-earned vacation, and that's why you're not back at work yet, but... it also wasn't a lie that you weren't..." he coughed awkwardly, "mentally fit for jounin work. ...So..."

Kakashi smiled again, an easy, relaxed expression with no hint of tension or deceit. "It wasn't at all as mentally traumatic as ANBU work, if that's what you mean."

"It's not."

"Yeah, I know." The jounin sighed, and his hand twitched slightly in Iruka's. "...It went... well, I suppose. It's the first time I've fought as myself in over ten years. Not Hound. It's certainly not how I remembered it being."

"How so?"

"For one, I'm a lot bigger now."

Iruka could just picture the jounin's childish grin, and he chuckled into his pillow before Kakashi continued.

"Hound... he didn't get to fight... thinking about other people. When I was Hound, you didn't exist, Iruka. Nothing else matters but the mission. Fighting as myself is different. I can care about something other than the mission and my team. I- ...that's... that's what Obito always wanted, I think. And Rin, and my sensei. Even- even after what I did- on my last mission, I think that... if I can keep fighting and- and living as Kakashi, and never Hound, never Hound again, then maybe- maybe I can make up for... everything I've done wrong." Kakashi fell silent for a moment, then sighed. "I hope I can. But, even if I can't... thank you for helping me learn how to be just Kakashi. I feel like I've done more as just myself in these six months than I did with ten years as Hound."

Iruka didn't speak when Kakashi fell silent. Such displays of emotion and his past were difficult for the jounin, he knew, and there was no need for him to ruin the moment by speaking and trying to convince Kakashi that he didn't have to make up for any of the work he'd done in ANBU. That was, after all, a work in progress. And Iruka didn't know if he would ever succeed in that- but he was starting to think that that was okay.

Because Kakashi got more secure in himself and happier with each passing day, and that was all Iruka could really ask for.

It was the fate of all ANBU to break the way Kakashi had. That or death was in the future of those masked, soulless soldiers, and there were no exceptions. Because, no matter how hard the operatives tried to suppress it, or how hard their commanders tried to ignore it, they were human underneath it all, and a human spirit could not handle the atrocities they saw and committed.

But Kakashi had defied the expectations of what was to happen next. Of what was to happen after those floundering operatives broke. He struggled against what he'd been taught nearly all his life, beginning to truly question the idea that any shinobi could ever be treated as a tool first, and person second. And instead of his life becoming a wasted has-been for Konoha, he patched himself back together, he got stronger, and he lived on.

Iruka smiled when Kakashi snored softly in his ear. He laced their fingers tighter together and closed his eyes. He had never loved someone like he loved Kakashi. He had never loved someone like Kakashi before, either, never known someone like this strange man who still defied even Iruka's expectations day after day after day.

That was part of the intrigue, he supposed. But he figured he would have a long time to get to know him better, and somehow, Iruka doubted that he would ever truly understand the mental intricacies and the multitude of idiosyncrasies that made up his favorite jounin, but that was okay.

He loved him anyway.