Kakairu's alpha/beta, mating hunt, Kakashi yearning, thoughts where:
Kakashi knew he had a partner; he had smelled him once, he had been in his partner's arms. But Kakashi hadn't seen his face, his voice was muffled, and his scent... The scent that instantly recognized that person as his, vanished in the cold winter wind.
At that moment, Kakashi was at the top of a tree, arms behind his head, eyes closed in rest, and only his sense of smell and hearing alert to his surroundings. It was the night of the mating hunt. Kakashi was too old for such juvenile urges, but he applied every year, not to chase after a potential partner, or an existing partner, he was there as a guard; anyone who tried to forcibly mark someone without consent would be immediately erased by the guards.
He had another reason to sign up every year. Every year he hoped to smell that scent again, he hoped that in that chaotic race and confusion of smells, he would find the one he was looking for.
Right there, in the spot where he was. Kakashi let his mind drift back to that winter morning.
At the time he was still Hound, and although Gai, Asuma, and Kurenai asked him to leave ANBU, he couldn't stop. The only thing that brought relief to his mind was hard, constant work.
That morning he was returning from a solo mission, which had lasted longer and encountered more enemies than expected. Obviously, he had completed the mission successfully, although he could barely feel his body now. His chakra was almost depleted, His vision was impaired by bleeding on his forehead, and the sleepless nights were finally taking their toll. Hound no longer had the strength to travel through the trees; he dragged himself forward, his feet sinking into the soft snow.
He could already see Konoha in the distance, but wondered if he would be able to get through the gates. That's when he tripped and decided that resting for 5 minutes in the soft snow wasn't such a bad idea.
Hound couldn't tell if he'd closed his eyes two minutes or two hours ago when he heard footsteps slowly approaching from behind him. Purely instinctively, he pulled a kunai close to his chest.
"Wait, I won't hurt you." The voice behind him said in a muffled tone, the person was probably wearing a scarf.
"Your head is bleeding, I can barely sense any chakra in you. If I didn't have my location, I wouldn't even know you were here."
The person was speaking hurriedly, but little of it made sense to Hound. He knew he was bleeding and exhausted, but this person couldn't possibly know where he was. He was using what little chakra he had left to remain hidden.
Hound immediately felt hands on him, and suddenly a relief and rest in his body. "I know a little bit of medical ninjutsu, but enough to ease your pain and fatigue," the person said as they continued to tend to Hound.
"I need to see the wound on your head." Hound felt the warm hands that had cared for him move to the mask and knew he would have to stop this stranger here. The penalty for seeing the face of an ANBU was death.
"Don't do that," Hound said, grabbing the person's wrist quickly, still with his eyes closed.
It was at that moment that he felt... From the wrist he held between his fingers, he smelled a faint fragrance of books, ink soaking paper, and plum blossom.
It was like a unique detonation in his senses; Hound felt as if his body and mind floated and were relocated again. He didn't open his eyes; he didn't want to miss a single moment of that scent.
"You smell like plum petals," Hound said in a warm voice, his Alpha practically wanting to roll in that scent. He felt the person startle.
But just as he was about to bring his wrist closer to the mask to try and feel it more, a cold, snow-laden wind swept past them, carrying away the sweet and inviting scent.
"Hound-san, I need to go. Please go to the ANBU doctor immediately."
Hound wanted to ask the person to wait a little longer, to stay with him a little longer. But he understood the situation they were both in. Normally, one didn't help the ANBU, the assassins of Konoha, and he didn't even know if that person was actually a Konoha ninja. He only knew that the person with the most incredible scent he had ever smelled had risked so much to help him.
And that's how he let YOUR person slip through his fingers.
As soon as he regained his Chakra, he spent days patrolling Konoha, hoping to catch a whiff of the scent of the person who helped him again. But soon the frustration of not being able to find it began to consume him.
So the months passed, he left ANBU, and started as a jounin in the village. But he never smelled books and plum blossoms again.
His last hope of finding him was the mating run. Obviously, he wasn't going to sign up to be one of the runners, but that didn't stop him from being one of the guards. That way he could search for the scent more openly, and if he happened to find his person, well, nothing would stop him from running away too.
"You should sign up to hunt too, my mysterious rival. I've never seen shinobi sign up to be guards of their own free will," Gai said the first time Kakashi signed up.
"Perhaps i'm also going as a guard to look for something" Kakashi said simply, letting Gai begin the torrent of questions he wasn't going to answer.
It was almost the end of summer; the hunt was always held in the summer, when the heat and the effects of the wine intensified the smells in the forest. Years had passed since their meeting on that snowy morning. And years had passed since Kakashi had been searching for the lovely scent of books and plum blossoms.
He had already decided that, as soon as Naruto returned from his training with Jiraiya, his students would be old enough to participate as well, and he would stop registering to be a guard for the hunt. This caused a bittersweet feeling in his chest, but he couldn't keep chasing the ghost of a scent forever.
The memory of the scent had already faded from his sense of smell; he only had the recollection, which was also becoming blurry.
He was snapped out of his thoughts by someone calling him from under the tree.
"Kakashi-san, you can leave your post now. The hunt is over and the couples who formed are already returning to the village."
Kakashi simply jumped from the tree and stopped in front of the Chunin messenger who was calling him. He noticed that the man was wearing a mask covering his nose. He must be either an Alpha or an Omega, the scents of mating were everywhere in the forest.
"Thank you for your work. I'd better head back to the village for the festival; the betas will be entering the forest soon."
Always after a hunt, a group of betas would venture into the forest to search for alphas or omegas who had gotten lost or been knocked out by the guards. They would also disarm the protective seals. And it was better that they were betas, they wouldn't be affected by the smells.
Kakashi waited for the Chunin to leave so he could take a deep breath and release his scent, which he had been holding back. The job of guarding wasn't difficult, but controlling his own hormones was a bit of a drag.
In an instant he heard shinobi running through the trees, and judging by the lack of scent, those were the betas. He needed to leave the forest to be able to enjoy some of the festival, before only the drunks remained, and the new and old couples celebrating their unions. He was looking forward to a hot meal and beer, maybe chatting with the other jonin before heading home and leaving behind another summer.
Another summer without the person he was looking for.
He decided to walk back; it would give him more time to think about the person who smelled of plum blossom. He had already decided that this would be the last summer he would look for him, but that doesn't mean it made it any easier to leave a potential partner in the past.
As he took his first steps back, something stopped him. It was just a faint trace of that scent, but Kakashi was certain he smelled it again. The feeling of fullness was the same as the first time, and his alpha growled for the first time in a long time.
Kakashi returned to the tree he was in, but could only smell his own scent. He climbed back up the tree, almost despairing at the thought of not being able to smell it again. But he smelled it again, and the scent (even though faint) almost made him fall from the tree.
With his mind racing faster than on the battlefield, he identified where the scent trail was leading, a sensing direction opposite to his own, deeper into the forest. Kakashi began running through the trees; he had to be quick, as the scent had already disappeared in several sections by the time he arrived.
With his heart racing, he finally managed to see the person meters ahead of him. It was dark, so he couldn't identify them at first. Kakashi preferred to conceal his chakra and scent, after all he didn't want to scare him, and he also wanted to know who he was before approaching him.
The other Shinobi seemed to think he had lost his pursuer, so he slowed down and climbed down from the trees further ahead.
Carefully maintaining distance and discretion, but without losing sight of him, Kakashi reached the spot where the shinobi had descended and remained observing from the trees. The place was an outlet of water from a small pond; the person finally emerged into the open area of trees, and Kakashi managed to see him the moment he stepped out into the moonlight.
Slender body, brown hair and eyes, a scar above his nose... Iruka... Umino Iruka.
Breathing heavily, and feeling like he was about to leave his body, things started to make sense in Kakashi's head.
All this time he thought he was looking for a strong omega scent; but in reality he had been smelling the timid and faint scent of a beta. Betas were only able to emit their scents if they were stimulated by the hormones of their own Alpha or Omega mates. Kakashi had never let his scent roam freely around the village, especially not near the betas. Iruka had echolocation, which is why he had found him so many years ago in the snow.
With a feeling of euphoria, he watched as Iruka knelt by the water, removing his gloves. From so far away, he couldn't smell anything, and the beta placed his hands in the water, washing his wrists. He wanted to wash away his own smell. Kakashi could hear Iruka's heart racing as he continued to check his own scent; The jounin heard his own heart race (even faster) as he watched the chunin open and remove his green vest, and then lower the high collar of his shirt. But before Iruka could wash the back of his neck, Kakashi hugged him, his chest against Iruka's back, one arm around his waist, the other around his wrist, and his nose buried in Iruka's neck.
"I finally found you," Kakashi said in a hoarse voice, feeling Iruka shudder against him.
"Wait, who..." the teacher said as he tried to break free. But Kakashi held him tighter.
"You smell like plum petals" Kakashi said, bringing Iruka's wrist close to his nose. Even though it had been washed, he would make that beautiful scent emerge again.
"Hound-san?" Iruka spoke with a sigh, calming down a little.
Even uncertain, the teacher slowly began to turn towards the face still resting on his shoulder, sniffing his wrist. Iruka's eyes widened when he recognized the copy ninja embracing him.
"Kakashi-san? Was that you in the forest in winter" It wasn't a question.
"Finally. Hello my dear," Kakashi said as he turned Iruka to face him, finally able to properly observe the other's beautiful brown eyes and that lovely blush on his face. And now, up close, he could smell Iruka's scent intensifying.
"You didn't contact me. I tried for months to investigate an ANBU called Hound, but I couldn't find anything in the files. I started working at the missions desk hoping to find out who Hound was" Iruka said, sounding desperate. And in truth, he was; he didn't know if he wanted to hit Kakashi or finally succumb to the alpha's scent.
"You didn't make it easy for me either, my dear. I couldn't see your face that winter, I didn't recognize your voice. And I spent years thinking I was looking for an omega, but actually, its scent was so strong because it was my hormones inducing it."
"You looked for me? All these years?" Iruka asked uncertainly, but looking at him steadily.
"My dear, I come to this forest, I'm a ranger every summer, just hoping to find you." Kakashi didn't want there to be any doubt that he wanted Iruka.
"I never understood why I could only emit a scent that winter... And now?" The professor seemed genuinely confused, and that warmed Kakashi's heart. Iruka wasn't hiding from him.
"That day, in the snow, i couldn't hide my scent, i couldn't open my eyes. And a few minutes ago, you passed through the area where I had just released my hormones, that must have made your body react again... Just for me."
"I've been waiting for you." That was all Iruka said before Kakashi growled again, pulled his own mask down from his nose, and buried it once more in the professor's neck.
Now seated on the forest floor, with Iruka in his lap, he had no restrictions. Kakashi released his scent even more, drawing Iruka's scent to the surface; And when she smelled the scent of ink on paper, books, and plum blossom in the air around them, her still-covered mouth began to leave small kisses on the beta's skin.
Kakashi's hands moved calmly across Iruka's back, while he felt the Chunin's hands tighten around his arms. The scent completely overwhelmed him; it was different from what he smelled in winter. Here, in the hot, humid summer, it seemed to intensify, clinging to his skin and covering him.
"Your scent, only your scent can make me go into the rut, baby"
He felt Iruka sigh at the nickname, and tighten his arms around him, when Kakashi felt... the slight sway of Iruka's hips in his lap. The jounin glanced quickly up to see Iruka biting his lower lip, pupils dilated, sweat glistening on his skin, and the messy ponytail.
"Fuck it, I tried," Kakashi whispered/growled as he finished lowering his mask and took Iruka's lips for himself. It was the second detonation in his senses.
If there was anything capable of driving Kakashi even crazier than Iruka's scent, it was his taste. Even trying to keep the alpha calm, those lips would be his downfall, the downfall of both man and beast. Iruka's lips were soft and warm, he could almost taste the plums on the tip of his tongue, the beta's sighs between kisses were delicious; And Kakashi knew that the warm skin on his fingertips would be marked by the force with which he held him.
He wasn't going to stop; he knew there was no turning back from that point.
Iruka's head was spinning; he couldn't form a coherent thought, from discovering that Kakashi was his Hound, to being cornered by an alpha hungry for him. He felt his body could withstand anything Kakashi gave him, his own scent rising as Kakashi's strong sandalwood scent made him bloom.
"I feel you," he heard the alpha say as he trailed his lips down his neck. "Fuck, knowing that scent can only come from mine, that only I can feel you blossom. You were made for me, my dear"
Iruka could only groan at the alpha's words; his body was being crushed so firmly against Kakashi's that he couldn't tell whose heart was beating between the two.
The moment Kakashi resumed devouring his lips hungrily, Iruka felt for the first time in his life... a dampness between the cheeks of his backside. His eyes widened; he didn't know this was possible. It wasn't much, not enough to trickle down his legs, but it was impossible for it not to be what he thought it was.
When Kakashi noticed Iruka's body lock against his, he pulled away from those beautiful lips and stared at the beta, who was panting and wide-eyed. And when he sniffed the air between them... There was no doubt that the beta was wet.
He looked at Iruka in equal shock, but let out a growl that shook both their bodies and he went back to attacking the teacher's neck.
"Are you ready to have me, my dear? Because I don't think I can hold back from now on."
And Iruka was ready; he would belong to Kakashi from that moment on. But his mischievous nature wouldn't stop him from playing around a bit with an alpha like Kakashi.
Placing a hand on the jounin's chest, Iruka pushed him lightly. "I'm ready, but I won't make it easy for you, alpha."
Kakashi watched the beta of his dreams give a small, mischievous smile as he ran his hands over his shoulders and slowly swayed his hips again, eliciting a growl from the alpha.
"It's almost the end of summer, if you want to mark me, you need to do it the right way, alpha." And Kakashi knew perfectly well what the insinuation was.
"You're afraid you won't be able to catch me, alpha," Iruka teased, still rocking in Kakashi's lap.
"On the contrary, my dear! Because if I have to hunt you down, know that I won't stop until I have you here on the forest floor, covered in my scent, marked by me, stimulated by my knot."
Iruka shuddered, but with anticipation.
With heavy eyes, Kakashi watched as the Chunin stood up from his lap. He stopped in front of him, took off his sandals, and loosened his ponytail, letting his hair fall freely.
Damn it, Kakashi thought, he wanted to pull Iruka back onto his lap, but he was hypnotized. Iruka was like a deity.
"You know the rules of the hunt! I have a five-minute head start, and you can't use your shinobi skills. You need to come to me using your instincts, alpha." Iruka said, provoking the jonin.
"Leave a trail of your lovely scent in the forest, my dear. And I will hunt you all night if I have to."
Giving Kakashi a quick peck on the lips, Iruka turned and started running into the forest while laughing.
Kakashi felt euphoria as he watched his partner's back disappear, yet he could still sense his presence.
Closing his eyes, for the first time he let the Alpha take control. He had always maintained control, afraid of what might happen. But now was the moment he knew he wouldn't be able to control himself.
When he opened his eyes, both were red, and he stood up in all his glory, also throwing the green vest and sandals along with Iruka's things.
Alpha straightened his shoulders and let out a howl towards the sky; it was a warning to everyone in the forest and the village. A warning that the last hunt of the night was about to begin; no one should interrupt unless they wanted to die.
At least, both man and beast agreed on one thing. They would only leave that forest that night, with their mate marked on their arms.
Wow This turned out to be bigger than I expected. But I couldn't stop writing. I hope you like it.
Sorry about my English, it's not my native language, but I can make the necessary corrections. No beta.
I didn't plan a part two for this, and I've never written lemon in my life either. But now I'm seriously considering doing something with this idea...
