Naruto Oneshots + Imagines

Antagonistic (Kakashi Hatake x Iruka Umino) (NSFW)

~

Iruka Umino had what most would call a crush. He, however, would call it a burden.

A burden that he was reminded of every day.

Kakashi Hatake was beautiful- much more than Iruka was by a longshot, hence why he hadn't said anything about the feelings he'd been holding in for the past four years. He didn't think he had a chance, and there was no point in him wasting time on someone he had no chance with... Or, that's what he told himself. He still pined regardless.

The Jonin was mysterious, confusing, and a bit quirky- all the qualities that drew Iruka in for whatever reason. On top of that, Kakashi cared about the village just as much as he did and was passionate about his work despite all of the pain he'd been through because of and during his career. Occasionally, Kakashi would express a sense of humor that Iruka had found himself loving- painfully dry and sarcastic, but amusing nonetheless, and on the rare occasions when Iruka had needed it, Kakashi had always had his back.

So, despite the fact that his feelings haunted and taunted him when he was curled up on the admittedly lonely couch in the living room at night, switching between grading papers and thinking about how Kakashi would never love him back, seeing Kakashi was arguably one of the best parts of his day.

Most of the time, he only really saw Kakashi when he was running the mission desk or when he was with Naruto, but sometimes he'd see the silver-haired man on the street. Luckily for him, this was one of those times.

Or... He thought it'd been lucky. Thinking back on it, that had been a foolish assumption. Almost nothing involving Kakashi Hatake was lucky, after all.

Iruka had been walking back to his apartment after a long day of teaching at The Ninja Academy, unsurprised to see how empty the streets of the residential areas were. It was mid-afternoon, so most ninjas were still working, and a lot of their children were just now returning home from school. The occasional civilian lingered, but aside from that, things were quiet.

That's why he was a bit surprised when he saw Kakashi walking in the opposite direction of him, hands shoved in his pockets instead of holding a book like they usually were. That surprise was replaced with realization when he remembered that Kakashi had been working with his Genin and doing D-rank missions, which would explain why he wasn't all that busy, clearly taking a stroll through the village.

As he usually did, the Chunin decided to say hello to the former Anbu member.

"Oh, Kakashi, hello-" Iruka grinned, holding a hand up to wave at Kakashi, only for the older man to walk right past him, not even offering so much as a bat of his charcoal-hued eyes in the brunette's direction. The Chunin stood there, frozen, feeling both awkward and a little dejected as both his smile and his hand fell. Kakashi had noticed him and he knew it- they were the only two on that dirt road, it was midday, and his voice had been clear enough for anyone in the area to hear. Plus, it was Kakashi, who could notice anyone anywhere, even if they were trying to hide from him- which Iruka obviously hadn't been. So, Kakashi had ignored him. "Oh, okay then... Maybe he's having a bad day. Wonder what that's about."

With that, he sighed and allowed his eyes to fall shut as he pushed his hands into the pockets of his uniform pants.

What a weird interaction... It'd look weird if Iruka continued to stand aimlessly in the middle of the street, though, so after a few seconds of remaining where he'd frozen minutes before, he gathered his composure and continued en route to his apartment.

~~

Thinking back on it, Iruka should've been able to notice the not-so-subtle shift in Kakashi's behavior before things got really bad.