I Like You (Kakashi Hatake x Iruka Umino)

Chapter Four

They'd been walking for about a day with hardly any rest, occasionally talking back and forth when they finally reached a good spot- one of the many forests that made up the areas between The Leaf and The Sand Village. It was best for them to stop now, eat a decent meal, and rest before they got to a spot where it was only sand.

"We should probably camp out for the night and get some rest. I'll set up the tent if you start the fire and get dinner cooking."

The area they were in was actually quite nice, the trees around them providing some shade that sheltered them from the scorching heat and humidity. The forest floors were lush and grassy, and it smelled like fresh rain.

"Sure," Iruka took the large bag he'd brought off of his shoulders, gentle setting it on the ground and pulling a few things out of his bag- a water bottle, packaged ramen, and a pot. Setting those down on the ground, he walked up to a dead tree and broke down some of the branches for firewood, then used some stones in the surrounding area to create a makeshift firepit, that of which he quickly lit with a small fire style Jutsu. "Things will be harder on the way back since we have the scroll to protect, so it's important that we rest while we can."

"You aren't wrong..." Kakashi mumbled, quickly taking the packed tent out of one of the two bags on his back and setting it up with ease a few feet away from the fire, thankful that it was rainproof when he looked up to see that what parts of the sky weren't blocked from sight by the trees were covered in grey clouds. Upon noticing that, despite it not having started raining yet, he thought he heard a boom of thunder. "Oh no. It's gonna start raining soon."

"I'll try to hurry up," Iruka held the pan in one hand right above the fire to heat it up as he poured some water into it, which was followed by the ramen noodles, as the water had quickly begun to boil. "Put on my rain jacket if you don't have one, I don't want you to catch a cold."

Kakashi smiled at the gesture, but shook his head and chuckled as he took Iruka's bag, as well as both of his, and put them in the far corner of the large tent before coming back out and moving to sit next to the younger man on the ground.

"Nurturing as always, I see, but no need to worry. I know how to pack a bag, and I figured it'd rain at some point, so I brought my own."

"Right..." Iruka murmured, pulling some wrapped, plastic chopsticks from his vest and handing a set to Kakashi, taking a set for himself as well. He used his own set to mix the seasoning into the ramen before taking the pot off of the fire and setting it between them. "Anyways, dinner's ready. It's nothing fancy, but it'll work."

"Thank you."

With that, they began to eat, neither of them really bothered by the fact that they were eating out of the same container since they'd already swapped spit before. Thinking back on that...

Kakashi let out a sigh as he swallowed a bit of the chicken flavored noodles, thinking back on the other night. After meeting with The Third Hokage, they'd went their separate ways for the night, and then met at the village gates in the morning and left. Due to that, they hadn't been able to finish what they'd been about to do on Kakashi's couch before Pakkun had interrupted them, and that was mildly annoying.

He was a bit frustrated, honestly- not even sexually. For whatever reason, he was just upset that he hadn't been able to hold Iruka in his arms a little longer.

And he knew that was weird, but he didn't dare think on it for too long in fear of the revelations he might come to if he did.

"Oh. We should probably get in the tent, Kakashi. C'mon," They had almost finished the noodles anyways, so Kakashi couldn't say he was bothered when Iruka grabbed his hand, interlacing their fingers. With his other hand, the brunette pointed up, and that's when Kakashi noticed that it had started pouring rain. He allowed Iruka to pull him into the tent, both of them practically tumbling inside, the Chunin zipping the front of it shut. "I'll wash the pot out when we wake up in the morning."