To Be Alive At All Is To Have Scars (Kakashi Hatake x Iruka Umino)

Chapter Six

While Iruka is elated to visit Guy in the hospital, find out he's safe, and see that he's finally found his soulmate in Yamato after years of searching, he has to admit that seeing Guy and Yamato practically beaming at each other all afternoon was like a punch in the gut. Iruka knows full well that it was foolish of him to sit and wait for his soulmate all of these years instead of pursuing a real relationship with someone else, but he chose to be optimistic and hope that he'd find them and have something genuine like his parents had. Now that he's almost thirty and still terribly, painfully single, watching everyone around him get into relationships and fall in love, he realizes that his choice is biting him in the ass.

A little dejected, Iruka wakes up and brings his lesson planning books with him to go to Ichiraku. He doesn't have any missions right now and school is going to start back up in a month or so, so he needs to get his lessons together to be prepared, and he's low on groceries too. He may as well go and eat a good meal.

On his way to Ichiraku, with his pen tucked behind his ear and his books clutched close to his chest, Iruka catches sight of Kakashi. The man is about to walk past him with his infamous copy of Icha Icha in hand, but then, he pauses and looks up at Iruka. Iruka sees a hint of a smile underneath his mask and stops.

The way Kakashi looks at him... It's different than it used to be. It's warm and familiar and something else that Iruka can't quite put his finger on. Iruka's heart skips a beat. Before he can get a hold of himself, he drops all of his books on the ground. Kakashi rushes over to help him pick them up, much to his surprise.

He swears that every time he sees Kakashi, the crush he's developed on the Jonin gets even worse. Kakashi hands his books back. Iruka takes too long to grab them, but when he does, their fingers brush and electricity sparks through his finger tips at the contact.

Briefly, he's reminded of that spark he felt with Sukea on that night at the bar, but he quickly shakes his head to rid himself of the thought. He'll probably never see that man again, anyway.

"Kakashi-"

"Iruka-"

They both speak at the same time, only to stop so the other can finish, though they both remain silent for a moment after that.

Iruka has had hookups here and there, and he's had the occasional small crush or fling. He's just never tried dating. He never thought he deserved it before. After all, he always figured that betraying his soulmate by getting into a committed relationship would be cruel. But, it's been over two decades and it doesn't seem like he's going to find his soulmate anytime soon. There are plenty of people who get with a partner that isn't their soulmate, and there are plenty of people who never find their soulmates and are happy anyway.

Doesn't he deserve happiness, too?

Maybe... For once, he should act on one of his crushes, and even if it doesn't work out, he'll at least be able to say he had the experience.

"Kakashi, do you... Want to grab lunch?" Iruka asks, his cheeks burning bright red. "I was just- I was on my way to Ichiraku anyway, and I figured you could use some company, and it's always awkward to go eat by yourself, and- and, uh-"

"Yes," Kakashi says, perhaps a little too enthusiastically. "It'll be my treat."

"Oh," Iruka smiles, taken aback. Any time he's tried to connect with Kakashi before, the man has always casually blown him off, come up with an excuse to leave, or coldly denied him. This is different. He briefly wonders what could've happened to Kakashi lately to make him so open to the invitation. "Okay, then."

"I'll carry your books for you," Kakashi insists and practically snatches the books out of Iruka's hands.

The two quickly walk to the ramen stand together and sit down on their own respective stools. Kakashi orders for both of them, which is surprising, because Iruka has no idea how the man even knows his usual order.

"I'd like to get to know more about you, Kakashi," Iruka says as Kakashi sets his books down in between them.

"And I would love to get to know everything about you, Iruka," Kakashi responds. The smile under his mask has turned into a large grin. "So, tell me, what's your ideal date?"

It's safe to say, Iruka doesn't get any lesson planning done that day.