Candy Hearts (Kakashi Hatake x Iruka Umino) (Valentine's Day 2019)

2/9

Kakashi Hatake was confused as he walked around the Leaf Village, looking for three of his Ninken, who were nowhere to be seen. Typically, he would arrive home and find all eight of them doing their own thing, but over the past few weeks, they'd been absent more and more. Sure, they always came home at some point during the night and were allowed to do what they wanted most of the time. They were safe and that was what mattered, but Kakashi was curious, and after rereading every book in the Makeout series a good three times that week, he had nothing better to do than look for them around the village.

Plus... Part of him wanted an excuse to visit Iruka. The brunette was probably still at the academy despite the schoolday being over, so he thought he'd stop by with the excuse of asking Iruka if he'd seen any of the missing Ninken.

When he did get to the academy, he was surprised to see Iruka sitting on the wooden swing tied to the tree near the back of the building, no other than Bull, Urushi, and Pakkun with him. Pakkun, the smallest of the three, sat in Iruka's lap, while the other two laid with each other at Iruka's feet. The brunette was lightly stroking Pakkun's fur, occasionally reaching into a paper bag that sat next to him on the swing to pull out a treat for each dog.

It was cute, really, but Kakashi was also somewhat confused, so he approached Iruka with a wave, standing in front of the brunette and his dogs. He looked down at where Pakkun rested in Iruka's lap, raising his eyebrows.

"Pakkun, there you are. I was wondering why you weren't at home. Bull and Urushi, too... Is this where you've been recently?" Kakashi questioned, though he was blatantly ignored by all three hounds.

"Hello, Kakashi! How are you?" Iruka greeted him, sheepishly taking his bag of treats and pushing them into one of the pockets of his Chunin vest.

"I'm well, just curious as to why my Ninken are here."

"Oh, haha... Well, the kids really like them," Iruka explained, nervously running a hand through his ponytail and averting his eyes. "They started coming around every once in a while a few weeks ago, so I feed them and let the kids pet them while I'm teaching. Sorry about that."

"I don't really mind, so there's no need to apologize, but I knew Pakkun had been gaining weight recently and I was wondering why, so I'm glad that I have an answer."

"Hey! Only me?" Pakkun questioned, hopping off of Iruka's lap and onto the ground, circling Kakashi's feet. Urushi and Bull remained in place, Bull even rubbing his face against Iruka's clothed leg. "All of your other Ninken have been hanging around Iruka, too, Kakashi."

"How did this even start?"

"Bisuke and I were passing by the academy one day and Iruka saw us and gave us a few pieces of steak from his lunch," Pakkun muttered, making Iruka sigh.

"Ah, way to rat me out, Pakkun." The younger man stood up, Bull and Urushi doing the same.

"I don't really mind it."

"By the way, Kakashi, what brings you here?" He questioned, tilting his head before reaching down to pet both of the dogs that sat next to him. "Just looking for the pups, or...?"

"Nah, I just came to say hello. I don't have much to do in the upcoming days, so I've been bored."

"Well... If you don't have anything to do, would you like to come to my place for dinner tomorrow? Maybe bring the pups along and I can make something for them, too."

"I'd love to," Kakashi answered, glad that his mask covered most of the blush on his cheeks. "We'll be there."

"Alright, well, I have to get inside and grade papers, but I'll see you tomorrow at eight?" Iruka questioned, smiling. Though his eyes appeared to be so dark that they were almost black, when they were in the sunlight like this, the numerous specks of gold and brown were brought out, and Kakashi thought he could drown in them.

"I'll see you then. Happy grading, Iruka." Iruka nodded before walking away, and for a moment, Kakashi kept his eyes trained on Iruka, waiting until the brunette got back into the academy building with Bull and Urushi before turning to the three behind him. Though they were hidden decently, the one thing that gave the two children away was the sight of the Third's grandson's blue scarf peeking out of one of the tree branches and the barely audible whispering of no other than the redhaired girl that he constantly hung out with.

"Konohamaru, why are you eavesdropping?"

"Gah!" The dark-haired boy exclaimed, quickly climbing out of the tree with Moegi rushing to follow him. Once they were both on the ground, the redhaired girl stood behind him, nervously pulling on his arm as he pointed at Kakashi. "Moegi, we've been caught!"

"Konohamaru, you didn't have to say anything! Iruka-Sensei isn't even here to protect us!" Moegi exclaimed like she was frightened, though Kakashi only stood there, exasperated as he raised his eyebrows in confusion. "Why don't we run?"

"What do you two think I'm gonna do, attack you?"

"Maybe," Pakkun spoke, walking over to Kakashi and laying at his feet. "You can be scary sometimes, Kakashi."

"Why were you eavesdropping on us?" Kakashi questioned, though he was already sure that he knew what the answer was based on Iruka's class's reaction was to his presence just a few days prior...

"Iruka-Sensei, I didn't know you had a boyfriend!"
"Iruka-Sensei has a boyfriend!?"
"Hey, isn't that one of the genin team's teachers? Maybe we'll get him when we graduate! He looks cool!"
"He's big brother Naruto's teacher, Kakashi! I think I saw them walking home together just yesterday!"
"You think they live together? Oh my God, are they married!?"
"What? But they don't have wedding rings!"
"Well, duh! Of course they aren't wearing them- they're ninjas! They could lose the rings!"
"Yeah, you know how much money jewelry is?"
"Iruka-Sensei and Kakashi, sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-"

Yeah... That had been a mess.

"Well..."

"Let me guess, you two and the rest of your class are still under the impression that I'm dating your teacher just because you saw me helping him with the decorations for your class party the other day? So, now you're spying on us to try to confirm your suspicions."

"What?" Moegi asked, seemingly confused as she crossed her arms over her chest and gave him a quizzical look. "No, it's not just because we saw you helping Iruka-Sensei, it's because-"

"No, don't rat out big brother Naruto!" Konohamaru scolded, stomping his feet on the ground.

"Of course he has something to do with this," Kakashi sighed, both amused and annoyed. Naruto had been off training with Jiraiya for almost two years now and hadn't been in contact with anyone, so this little notion of Kakashi and Iruka must have somehow been instilled in Konohamaru's mind by the chaotic blonde before he'd left. "What did he tell you?"

The redheaded girl went to open her mouth, but before she could speak, Konohamaru quickly cut her off and grabbed her hand.

"Nothing, haha! Let's go, Moegi!"Oddly enough, the girl nodded, and with that, they were running away from both Kakashi and the academy. "C'mon!"

"That was weird..." Kakashi muttered, watching the backs of the two mischievous children as they continued to walk away. Pakkun was still waiting by his feet. "Guess I'll go home, then."