Kakashi found Naruto backed up against a wall, holding the hand Neji wasn't trapping him with and whispering rapidly.

Neji dropped his other hand to cup Naruto's cheek, and murmured something back.

Kakashi backed away and pretended to have seen nothing.

Naruto, of course, noticed that Kakashi was more withdrawn that evening. He paused in making dinner and settled on his partner's lap.

"Kashi?"

Kakashi shut his eye and sorted through Naruto's scent until he found the traces Neji had left. His hand curled into a fist.

"Kakashi? What's wrong?"

His prince wouldn't do that to him. He knew that. He knew there was a perfectly reasonable explanation. But Kakashi didn't want to hear it, because then his fury at the way Naruto had just let Neji touch him wouldn't be justified. Even if Kakashi didn't feel like there was any excuse.

Naruto leaned in and rested his head against Kakashi's shoulder. He ran his fingers up and down Kakashi's chest soothingly.

Kakashi did not want to be soothed.

He couldn't reject his prince.

Kakashi let himself maneuver Naruto's neck so that he could kiss along his prince's jaw.

"Kashi. You have to tell me."

"Mm."

"No." Naruto pulled away. "Kakashi, I can feel how unhappy you are. Tell me what's wrong."

"I saw you and Neji. In the hall."

"Oh, Kashi," Naruto breathed. "You know I'm yours."

"You let him touch you."

Naruto set his forehead against Kakashi's. "I'm sorry. That was stupid of me. I wanted to refuse him gently, but I shouldn't have done it that way. I never would have if I'd realized you wouldn't like it."

"I want to be angry."

"Are you?"

"Yes. At you and Neji and myself."

"Yourself? It was me who messed up."

"I shouldn't be so dependent. If you didn't want me, I'd be. I'd."

Kakashi couldn't finish the statement. He kissed Naruto lightly.

Naruto kissed him again after he'd drawn away. "Would you survive me dying?"

Kakashi's entire body spasmed in rejection of the idea, but he gritted his teeth. "Yes."

"I'm glad. But let's not go dying on each other, alright? Or leaving. Or changing our minds. Or anything."

"I didn't plan on it."

"I planned against it, in fact," Naruto joked. His smile fell away and he stroked Kakashi's face. "Do you need a full report on what happened with Neji? You can get mad again and yell."

Kakashi wanted to be good and say that he didn't. "Please."

"Okay. Dinner first so we don't have to get up later?"

"Yes."

-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-

Jiraiya finally cornered Kakashi while Naruto was away enjoying a mission alone with Sasuke.

Going to the hot springs with the old lecher was a terrible idea. But Kakashi could admit that he was interested in what Naruto's godfather had to say.

"Want to take a little peak over the fence? Naruto will never know."

"He'll know," Kakashi countered. His prince had ways.

Jiraiya let the grin slip from his face.

"He's very attached to you."

"It's almost like we're in a committed relationship. Oh, wait."

"I know, I know. I won't try to split you two up. What I want to know is how much influence you have over his decisions. Apparently, he's going to be the next Hokage."

"He didn't tell you that while you were dragging him across the continent?"

"Of course." Jiraiya frowned. "I thought he was optimistic."

Kakashi waited.

"How much of what he's doing right now is you pulling the strings?"

"He's on a mission with Sasuke, so I assume they're both using what I taught them, if that's what you mean."

"You know it isn't."

Kakashi sighed. "No one pulls Naruto's strings. He's the one that has us all dancing to his tune. We can only be glad he is a kind and benevolent dictator."

"I don't believe you."

"I'm exaggerating. But my point stands."

"He's fifteen."

"And Gaara's Kazekage."

The two men sat in silence while Kakashi decided how to get Jiraiya to back off.

"You know that old tradition of claiming?"

Jiraiya soured. "I already know."

"You may know, but you don't understand. That's reasonable. It's not your tradition." Kakashi held up his wrist, showing Jiraiya the wide, twin scars. There was currently a second bite layered over them. "This shows I belong to Naruto." He tapped his neck. "Naruto has a similar mark right here. That shows he belongs to me. My mark on him means that I exist for him. I work toward his goals and I make decisions based on what he would want. It is the highest honor, as it means that I am privy to those goals and desires." He tapped his wrist. "His mark on me means that he acknowledges that I am devoted to him. He plans with the assumption that he has my complete loyalty, and accepts responsibility for my actions and well-being. ANBU tattoos perform a similar function, to a lesser extent, with loyalty being directed toward the village."

Kakashi let his arms drop back under water.

"That sounds more … imbalanced than I'd heard."

"You thought they signify commitment to romantic entanglement, I assume. Some marks do. Ours don't."

"So if you were to, say, betray the village. He would be considered responsible, according to you?"

"If I were to do that, yes. Because I would either be working under his orders or under an outside influence which he failed to protect me from."

Jiraiya sighed. "That sounds like the Daimyo's vassals."

"If that helps you understand."

"You don't pull his strings. He pulls yours."

The corners of Kakashi's mouth twitched upward. "More like I happily pull my own strings at his direction."

"Do you have any loyalty to Konoha anymore, or is Naruto all that's in your head?"

"I would choose Naruto over Konoha, but Konoha over anything else. And given that Naruto was abused by this village for over a decade and retains his loyalty to it, I don't see there being a conflict of interest. I believe Sasuke feels similarly, if you would like to report that to Tsunade-sama, as well."

"Sasuke. You think there's any funny business going on between the two of them?"

"If there was, I wouldn't tell you without their permission," Kakashi pointed out. The thought had occurred to him, of course. But that pair communicated mostly through significant looks and sheer willpower. Kakashi was the one that got whispered endearments and gentle touches.

"If there was. So there isn't?" Jiraiya chuckled, somehow making the sound condescending.

"Is that a jealous silence I hear?"

"No. Is there anything else?"

Jiraiya sobered again. "You picked up those 'traditions' from being in that crowd. I can't believe the old man would have had Naruto around them enough for that."

"It would only have taken a few curious questions to the right nin."

"So you don't know? How can you be sure the two of you are on the same page?"

Kakashi didn't deign to answer before he left.

-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-

Naruto squirmed beneath him, gasping. "Kakashi. Please. Oh, Kami. Please."

Kakashi lowered himself to his elbows and kissed his mark on Naruto's neck.

"Kakashi!" Naruto arched up, fingers digging into Kakashi's biceps.

"Over now, my Naru." Kakashi ran fingers through Naruto's sweaty spikes of hair. "You okay?"

Naruto took a few deep breathes. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm alright." He wiggled again. "Just don't stop."

Kakashi chuckled and let all his weight rest on one arm so he could run the other hand over Naruto's bare chest. He peppered his prince's face with kisses.

Naruto came back to himself enough to search out Kakashi's wrist and dig a thumb into the scars. Kakashi moaned.

"Can you imagine if Baa-chan heard you make a sound like that?" The boy giggled.

"Never mention the old woman during sex again. For the sake of my sanity."

"Jiraiya would probably describe it for his next book."

"That's worse!"

Naruto laughed and kissed Kakashi until they'd both once again forgotten anyone but each other.

Hope that fluff made you smile, dear reader. Never fails to give me the warm fuzzies when I reread to tinker.

Originally there was another chapter featuring some Naruto/Sasuke (and a tiny bit of NaruSasuKaka), but I decided that that didn't really flow with the fic. If you'd like to read it anyway, it's available on my tumblr.

Naruto's perspective is currently in the works and about 30% complete. I write as I'm inspired, and I haven't seen a lot of leader!Naruto lately, which is the focus of that fic. Feel free to PM me recs :)

Thank you for reading!