Author's Notes

- Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed :)!

- Pimping! Fuyu no Akegata who writes many incredible pieces within the TI-verse and without. She's wonderful, check out her stuff and leave great reviews! Also Jam and Jelly, who has supplied her fair share of plotbunnies and carrots! Also check out her stuff and leave geat reviews!

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

Story Notes

- This is an edited version. My profile has link to the uncut (SEX) version.

- 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. And a few months before Fuyu's " Between the Journey and the Rest".

Warnings: Coarse language, malexmale sexual dialogue, biseinen-ai, yaoi, etc.

Disclaimer: Naruto and its characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

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Odd Admiration

Chapter 7

"So we should hurry, huh? "

Kakashi had been right.

Iruka had soothed the upset child by the time the jounin had returned with Genji, the golden eyes half lidded and her hand weakly making one sign over and over again. Iruka smiled as the boy took his cargo and Toranoko instantly stilled. " Are you okay, Genji-kun?"

" Yes, sensei." The little brunette nodded and eased his friend back into her sleeping bag, laying down beside her. Ko-chan immediately flung one arm over the boy, snuggling flush with his body and sound asleep within seconds. Genji also closed his eyes and his breathing evened out soon after.

Their sensei had stood a moment looking down at them. Kakashi had watched the chuunin as he did so, thoughts as wild and foolish as his feelings for his beloved.

He would've made the perfect father. If he didn't already have a hundred brats each school year to worry about, I'd adopt one for him.

Then Iruka had returned to his bedroll, stretching out and resting his head on a spare blanket. He smiled at the jounin still staring at him. " You need a pillow?" The soft whisper managed to be both flip and sincere all in one breath.

Kakashi grinned under his mask, quickly settling down on the floor perpendicular to his lover, laying his head on Iruka's stomach. The gentle rise and fall that accompanied the chuunin's breathing lulled Kakashi to sleep...

... when he awoke, Kakashi first noticed that his pillow was gone, then the fact that the gym was filled with late morning sunshine, and that a pair of green eyes were staring down at him from under an unruly thatch of crimson. What the...

" Iruka-sensei! He's awake!" Kenshin called out over his shoulder. The boy turned back around to face the jounin, a finely arched eyebrow aimed at the silver headed man. " You missed breakfast, you know. Iruka-sensei took us outside to eat under the trees. "

Sitting up, Kakashi yawned so big he thought his head would split in half, idly scratching at his jaw line through the mask. " Uh huh."

" Me and Akinori-kun jumped in the piles of leaves and Iruka-sensei made us rake them back up."

" You know, you're awfully chipper for someone who slept less than 4 hours sitting up against a pile of wood and steel and then had field rations for breakfast. " Kakashi drawled, gazing solemnly at the child standing over him. I can function after a night like that, but I am never chipper unless Iruka and a full course breakfast are involved.

" Iruka-sensei says it's because I'm full of the Spirit of Youth ." Kenshin's smile faltered and a thoughtful expression replaced the carefree look. " I don't really know what that means, though."

Oh kami, he's quoting Gai. He's going to psychologically scar these kids. Kakashi silently bemoaned his situation, once again in the spotlight with a youngster needing an explanation. " Well, you see..."

Apparently the gods had seen fit to give the jounin a reprieve. Before Kakashi could fumble through another awkward conversation with a pre-teen, Kenshin lost interest and darted off to join some of the other boys in a game of shinobi hide-n-seek. He noticed Ko-chan sitting by the bleachers, engrossed in one of at least three dozen scrolls laying haphazardly around her, bare faced and seemingly unaffected by the night terrors of only hours ago.

" Hungry?" Kakashi looked up into the lovely scarred face of his lover, Iruka approaching him with a ration bar in one extended hand. The chuunin was smiling brightly, as usual. " I managed to save you a ration bar, the kids love these things. Akinori-kun put away seven before I could set a limit." Iruka chuckled as he crouched down.

The jounin accepted the foil wrapped package, fingers just brushing the golden skin as he took the bar. " That'll change once they've had to live on them for a few months. You could've gotten me up when you got up." Kakashi pulled the shiny paper apart at the seam and smiled when he found a Stone protein bar inside. They tasted so much better than the Leaf standard issue rations.

Iruka apparently saw the happy glint in his single eye. " I had some from all the hidden villages, just to show them what they can expect when scavenging on a mission. I know you like the Stone rations best... and so does Akinori-kun, now. I had to literally pry that out of his hands." The brunette cast a quick glance over the gymnasium, checking on his students. " I didn't see any reason to wake you up yet. You looked so comfortable and I know you haven't had much sleep lately."

" But it looks bad for a jounin to sleep in when pre-genin are up and bouncing off the walls."

" I told them that the earmark of a good senior shinobi was sleeping in whenever possible."

Kakashi couldn't help but smirk at that, recalling all the times the chuunin had berated him for sleeping late, but he didn't challenge his lover. He accepted it as the gift that it was and chomped on his breakfast, face hidden by Iruka's crouching form. Mmmmmm, tastes like berries. Wonder if 'Ruka has any more of these at his flat.

He had just swallowed the last bit of chewy goodness when a general uproar came from the other side of the gymnasium. The dark mask was pulled back into place and Kakashi peered around his lover to see Sakura standing just inside the wide font doors, the pink haired chuunin surrounded by Iruka's oldest class. The students were all clamoring for her attention, from Rinmei's emphatic gestures towards her oddly styled hair to Kenshin's oddly possessive position at the older kunoichi's side.

" Kenshin-kun has something of a crush on Sakura-san." Iruka had apparently caught the jounin's curious glance. " He tends to claim her when she stops by."

Sakura turned her pale green eyes towards her elders and waved cheerfully, unperturbed by her redheaded guardian. " Good morning, Iruka-sensei! Kakashi-sensei! Sorry I'm a bit late." She managed to work her way over to the bleachers amidst the group of hyper pre-teens, tossing her overstuffed bag onto the bottom row of wooden seats. " I ran into Kiba-kun on his way to the hospital. He broke his ankle jumping from some girl's bedroom window, running from her father. I had to cover his tracks to give him enough time to escape. " The pink hair swung around her face as she shook her head. " He should know better than to mess with the daughter of a jounin who works under Morino-san. Gonna have something broken off one of these days."

The older shinobi chuckled. Kakashi lazily rolled to his feet, the academy sensei standing as well and pulling another ration bar from his vest pocket. " No problem, Sakura-san. This is the last one, don't let Akinori-kun get it. " Iruka threw the bar like a kunai, his aim just as accurate as if it was a weapon, Sakura snatching it out of the air with ease. " Kakashi-sensei and I are going to be straightening up the infirmary and replacing the supplies we're using for the lessons. " He pointed towards the piles of bandaging and balms and splints on the fold out table. " That should be more than enough to get you through the demonstrations. Oh, and Toranoko-chan has been reading up on some of the advanced chakra healing techniques so I'm sure she's full of questions this morning."

The dark headed child immediately exploded into sign, hands moving rapidly through the complex shapes and Sakura appeared to be reading them flawlessly as she responded in her joyful voice and her own hand signs.

The scene sparked a memory in Kakashi as he and the chuunin exited the gym and headed towards the infirmary. " Hey, Iruka. Last night, Ko-chan was making a sign that I didn't recognize."

Iruka turned curious eyes on the jounin. " When was that?"

" When I came back with Genji-kun. She was making this sign over and over." Kakashi imitated the odd finger movements as best he could and dragged his hand back and forth across the middle of his face.

A grin was the brunette's immediate response. " That's her pet name for Genji-kun, it's shorter than signing his name in full. " Iruka gave a better performance, explaining the two separate gestures. " It's a loose version of the signs for 'dog' and 'eyes', basically it means 'puppy eyes'; for her, Genji-kun's eyes are his most outstanding feature. She has short forms for almost everyone. " The chuunin laughed lightly and stuck his hand over his own face on the diagonal, covering his mouth and right eye. " This is your sign when she's not being formal, and this is mine. " Iruka splayed his fingers atop his dark crown and then swung the hand down to slash one finger over his horizontal scar. He stuck his hands into his pockets as they continued down the empty hallway. " I'm sure she signed properly when she was conversing with you yesterday. The short forms are for casual conversations with friends and family."

The brunette took a right turn into a brightly lit hallway, the walls lined with childish finger paintings and slightly more mature ' When I grow up I want to be...' drawings. Kakashi found it amusing to see the crudely drawn shinobi, a few hokage, and even one of himself, complete with silver hair and orange book. Iruka continued talking as he pushed through two sets of doors. " And Genma, dear kami. He uses, and teaches her as he does, so many unflattering and perverse short forms it's like an entirely different language."

They entered the infirmary, making a beeline for the large supply closet in the back. Iruka swung the door open and ushered the older shinobi inside. Kakashi looked around the shelving crowded room, noticing the gaping holes where the supplies had been stocked, his mind still focused on the conversation even as the heavy door shut behind them. " That's a good thing to have between them, though. They can communicate with each other without an enemy's knowledge, it's a great tool. She should teach it to all her teammates in the future." He shimmied his way through a narrow row of cases filled with bandaging, sneaking a few rolls into his vest. Running low at home.

" Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of. Do you know what her old short form of Aoba was?"

" Uh, sunglasses?"

Iruka shook his head, stopping in a bit of space between some balms and a refrigerated case. He curled the fingers of one hand, bringing them to his groin and making an unmistakable jerking motion.

The dark mask moved with Kakashi's laughter. " Something tells me that's Genma's short form for a lot of people."

" Not funny. See, she just picked that up from Genma because he wasn't paying attention. He still doesn't understand that kids are much more observant than he thinks and they are true copy nin; instant mimicry." Iruka grumped slightly, picking up a clipboard and scanning the handwritten rows. " And yes, he uses that quite a bit, but it's nothing compared to his old short form for you. "

" What does he use for-umphfff!" The kiss was unexpected, and yet not. Kakashi knew Iruka would intentionally bait him at times, getting him riled up just so the chuunin could silence him with lips and tongue, a much beloved game between them. When it ended, the jounin slipped both arms around the younger man's waist, keeping him from pulling away, not that there was much room to.

" He doesn't use it anymore, at least not often. " Iruka smiled sweetly, his own embrace tightening.

" Mmmmm." Kakashi was no longer concerned with the senbon shinobi. He had a lovely chuunin in his grasp and a semi-private space and a need that had been building over the past three nights. " How long will Sakura-chan's lesson last?" He could feel his mask moving as he spoke, the dark material still hooked over his chin.

Iruka's smile grew. " Not sure, and she may need something from here that I forgot, so she may run in to grab extras. "

" So we should hurry, huh?" The silver headed man leaned forward, pushing his lover against the nearest shelving unit full of small glass bottles, Iruka's back colliding with the edges. Kakashi's hips ground lightly into the neighboring swell. " But I promise to make it good, despite the time constraints."

Deep throated laughter answered. " You always do, 'Kashi love."

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Kakashi watched as Iruka rubbed his wrists for the twenty-seventh time since leaving the supply closet ( after a short recovery time followed by thirty minutes of clean up) , the bandage restraints having chafed the brown skin. The sight left the jounin with mixed feelings. On one hand, he felt bad about injuring his lover even in such a small way. On the other hand... I marked him as mine. Every time he looks down, or feels that little sting, he'll remember that I was the one who put it there. And everyone else who sees it will know that he's MINE. And anyone who sees this hickey adornign my temple will know that I'm HIS.

They both reeked of eucalyptus ointment.

As soon as the two men entered the gymnasium they were bombarded by an assortment of sights and sounds, all shocking yet enormously hilarious.

Sakura stood in the middle of the huge space, a young boy dangling from each of her outspread arms, her fists clenched in their collars. " Stop it, you two!"

" But he touched you!" Kenshin screamed out, frantically grasping for his katana but unable to pull them from the twisted harness on his back due to the kunoichi's hold on his shirt. He settled for aggressive kicking, emerald eyes flashing dangerously. " He grabbed your hand!"

" She doesn't belong to you, you redheaded freak!" Akinori yelled back, fists swinging, dark hair waving as he tried to escape the young woman's grip. " And I was just trying to show her something!"

That sparked another wave of furious struggling as the rest of the class took up defensive positions around the trio. Genji was closest, looking ready to jump into the fray at the kunoichi's notice, hands already twisting into a length of chakra infused rope. He was standing protectively in front of a wide eyed Ko-chan, a smile quirking the corners of her bare mouth.

" I see everything is going as expected." Iruka mumbled quietly.

Kakashi stood back as his lover charged forward, rescuing the older girl, reprimanding the culprits, taking charge of the situation. The small limp in his gait wasn't even noticeable, unless one was looking for it. The jounin's single gaze took in the entire scene, absorbing it, letting it sink into his memory.

Little moments like these...

Kakashi stuck his hands in his pockets and smiled brightly behind his dark mask.

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Owari