Title: Fall

Author: BitterEloquence

Disclaimer: Dear Santa, all I want for Christmas is an Iruka and a Kakashi all my own. Do you think you can ask Kishimoto-san if he'd give them to me since I don't own them and I want to make every KakaIru fan's day on Christmas morning without getting sued. Love, Eloquence.


He was pretty sure this wasn't how things were supposed to work.

When the trite and old love song had cooed on the radio at night while he was grading papers about fools falling in love, Iruka was pretty sure that wasn't supposed to be taken as literal. The chuunin was pretty sure it was supposed to be more a figurative and conventional manner.

Too bad Hatake Kakashi never did anything in the conventional manner. The man rarely did things the way they were supposed to be so Iruka wasn't too surprised when the jounin went about love ass-backwards as well.

Looking back however, Iruka could only come to the sad conclusion that the only reason he'd ended up talking to Kakashi was because the jounin has fallen out of the sky and landed on him.

Okay. So maybe he had fallen from the roof above, but it had hurt all the same.

Of course, in order to 'make it up to him' Kakashi had invited him out for dinner and the two had discovered they had more in common then Iruka would have thought possible. Especially a mutual attraction he hadn't even been aware of when Kakashi saw him home and then proceeded to kiss the daylights out of him.

That had been it for him, the poor chuunin was a goner the moment Kakashi's lips had touched him and now almost three months later, the dark-haired man was bemused at everything that had happened.

Said jounin was asleep on his couch at the moment, the soft sounds of his snores rising as he waited for his lover to finish papers and the only sound in Iruka's apartment was the soft crooning of the radio in the background. As the love song finished it's bittersweet melody, Iruka came to the conclusion that he and Kakashi had indeed fallen in love.

Had fallen in a far more literal manner then he preferred, but had fallen all the same. To think that an elite jounin like Kakashi could fall from a ro-

Wait a minute. Why would a jounin as talented as Kakashi fall from a second-story roof? It mad no sense! Eyes narrowing then, Iruka turned his gaze to his sleeping lover and slipped from the desk to go kneel next to the couch. He took a long moment to just study to masculine beauty of Kakashi's face, his eyes traveling over that pale skin and the dark fall of those long lashes.

The jounin's mask had been pulled down so that he could breath easier in his sleep and his forehead protector lay sagging and limp in his hip where he'd placed it sleepily after sneaking into Iruka's apartment after his latest mission. Kakashi had barely even managed a sleep kiss before passing out cold two hours ago and Iruka had let him be. The faint shadows under Kakashi's eyes told Iruka just how hard the silver-haired had been pushing himself lately and he wanted his lover to be as rested as possible before he had to go out on his next mission.

Unable to help himself, Iruka reached out one finger to trace the old line of scar that sliced down his lover's face and traced it's mark of pain across his left eye.

The chuunin knew a little about how much this scar meant to Kakashi, what it reminded the silver-haired man of but Iruka didn't know everything. Not yet at least, only the things Kakashi wanted him to know. Hopefully in time, his lover would open up to him enough that he would learn the full story of Obito and what the young Uchiha had meant to Kakashi.

A pale hand rose to lightly trap Iruka's wrist in a soft grip, both eyes slowly starting to flutter open, the twined gazes of unsettling crimson and the dark orb of his natural eye a dizzying combination sufficing to say. The smile that curved Kakashi's lips was sleepy and sweet as his thumb stroked along the soft curve of Iruka's palm, the light scrap of calluses and scars causing the chuunin to shiver a bit. "How long was I out for."

"A few hours." Iruka smiled sweetly and lowered his lips to brush lightly across Kakashi's in a pleasantly soft good-morning kiss. His hand slowly eased it's way out of Kakashi's light grip until he was able to thread his fingers with the jounin's pale ones. The startling contrast of they skin was evident as rich honey and milk-pale fingers curved together in sweet intimacy. "So, I have a question." To pass the time, Iruka skimmed his thumb along the curve of Kakashi's thumb and the sleepy-eyed jounin blinked up at him with kittenish confusion.

"What kind of question?" There was a note of wariness in Kakashi's voice as his free hand rose to slide through Iruka's hair until he could get a firm grasp on the hair-tie holding those dark sable locks high on the chuunin's head in it's trademark bushy tail. Iruka didn't stop him though an exasperated light gleamed in those dark eyes. He knew how much Kakashi enjoyed his hair down because the jounin could play with it so he didn't protest. Just as the jounin didn't protest whenever the dark-skinned man pulled his mask down so he could flutter butterfly kisses and nibbles along his jaw for hours on end. It was a mark of symbolism in their relationship, a mark of just what they were willing to give up for the other and how much they were willing to share.

"Did you really fall off the roof that day? Because I'm finding it hard to believe that the infamous Copy-nin of Konoha was bested by a loose roof tile." Amusement had Iruka's lips quirking up into a sweet grin and he nuzzled Kakashi's cheek with feline affection. The soft rumble of the jounin's laugh could be heard in his ear as Iruka nibbled on Kakashi's earlobe playfully.

"Finally figured me out, hmmn? What can I say, I'm a fool that fell in love." Came that playful reply as Kakashi purred in delight much like a cat would as Iruka continued to nibble and nuzzle at his skin.

Fell in love?

Iruka drew back to eye his lover with narrowed chocolate brown depths then, suspicion gleaming brightly there as a decidedly put-out look appeared on his face. "How long were you awake anyway?"

"Oh for a while. Did you know you get the cutest little frown right there when you concentrate?" To demonstrate, Kakashi rubbed one fingertip between Iruka's brows where frown lines curved the flesh there faintly. "I love my frowny-Iruka. You're so cute."

Said 'frowny-Iruka' rolled his eyes heavenward and nipped at Kakashi's inner arm when it came into reach. "Jackass."

"Yep." Kakashi didn't even bother to deny it as he pulled Iruka in for a kiss and soon enough, the only sounds in the apartment were soft sighs of pleasure and gasps for air. The music continued to filter from the radio which now played a sweet woman's voice singing about how being in the arms of an angel would fly you away from here. But neither man noticed or cared considering they'd found their own little slice of heaven in each other's arms and didn't need an angel.


For Maldy who's been trying desperately to bring my muse back to life after killing it with picked of nekkid hairy Gai legs...shudders