#kkir25

Prompt List: 25 Days of Kisses

Merry Christmas!

Kiss Kiss Fall in Love ch. 25 - Sandyclaws68

Prompt List: 25 Days of Kisses

Kiss Kringle - Dilly-oh

Prompt List: 25 Days of Kisses

“Dammit, Kakashi, hurry up! We're going to be late!”

Kakashi came into the bedroom where Iruka was tying up his hair in what they jokingly referred to as “the formal ponytail” (in reality a proper topknot), still in his bathrobe. Iruka scowled, meeting his husband's eyes in the mirror. “You're not even dressed yet!” he all but yelped.

“Stop fretting, 'ruka,” he said with a smile. “We're not going to be late because we're not going anywhere.”

One of Iruka's hands slipped and a thick lock of auburn hair fell from the knot, dropping down to his shoulder. The burnished color stood out brilliantly against the midnight blue of his formal haori, drawing Kakashi's eyes like a magnet. That look may as well have been an intimate touch.

“Wha. . . What do you mean?” Iruka stuttered, feeling rather breathless. “We promised Shikamaru and Temari we'd attend their New Year's Eve party.”

Kakashi stepped close and took hold of that lock of hair, letting it glide between two of his fingers. “You promised,” he said. “And the next day I took it back.”

Iruka dropped his hands and let all of his hair fall. “Why?” he asked, knowing he sounded vaguely petulant, but he had been looking forward to this party for weeks.

“Iruka,” Kakashi began, voice dropping to a husky growl. “All year long I've shared you with other people. On your birthday it was Naruto, Sakura, and the rest of their gang. On Founder's Day it was the entire village. My birthday? Pretty much every person of any consequence whatsoever in the Land of Fire. And the least said about Christmas the better!” He pushed his hands into his husband's hair and cradled his face, angling it just right. “Can't I have just one holiday to be with you, and only you?”

“Kakashi. . .” Iruka breathed. His heart felt almost too full at the romantic declaration. And when Kakashi's thumbs started to stroke across his cheeks his breath caught on a near-whimper. “Kiss me, please,” he gasped out.

It was a gentle contact, at first. Light, almost teasing. But when Iruka let his tongue flutter across the seam of his husband's lips it became much, much more in a gratifyingly short amount of time. And Kakashi's kiss swallowed the chuunin's groan as their bodies came together, hips colliding with a wonderful friction.

Iruka slid his hands inside the bathrobe and across the plane of Kakashi's chest, grinning against the other's mouth when the muscles jumped under his touch. Kakashi retaliated by dragging his lips down and suckling gently at the soft skin on the underside of Iruka's chin. His hands dispensed with the haori; the soft whisper of silk as it hit the floor barely audible above their increasingly strained breathing.

“You're overdressed,” Kakashi whispered as he made short work of the sash on his husband's kimono, Iruka groaning at each inadvertent brush of hands on his growing hardness.

“Bed - Ahhh! - 'kashi. . .”

Kakashi didn't reply with words, just fell back onto the bed, bringing Iruka with him, straddled across his hips.

**~**~**~**~**~**

At ten minutes to midnight they rose from the bed, wrapped themselves in blankets, and made their way to the garden. They sat on their favorite bench, the one that offered a wide view of the village all the way to the Hokage Mountain, Iruka settled sideways on Kakashi's lap, head tucked comfortably under the other man's chin. It was a clear night, and they could easily hear the revelers in the village center counting down. When the first fireworks lit up the sky Iruka lifted his head to meet Kakashi's eyes, one hand cupping his chin.

“Who the hell broke into my apartment,” Iruka thinks to himself as he creeps in through his front door, “and covered the ceiling in mistletoe?”

His first thought is Anko. She’s broken in before to steal all his toilet paper because she’s weird like that and thinks it’s funny (it’s not).  He’d retaliated with breaking into her place and stealing all of her feminine hygiene products, after which she apologized and they declared a truce. But a glance towards the liquor cabinets scratches that idea. The bottles haven’t been ransacked, still full and sealed firmly shut, so it definitely wasn’t her.

Who else? Naruto, maybe?

Iruka glances at the lower cabinets and quickly discards that notion. Nope, not him, either. Ramen is untouched. Negative on the Naruto. Besides, he’d have pulled a much more immature prank, like putting dog poop in his stocking or something. It’s happened before.

Kami, it’s like a carpet up there. His entire ceiling is a sea of green, peppered with spots of red from the berries, the mistletoe hanging from every square inch of space, swaying like tendrils of a rain forest. Iruka admits he hung the one above the front door as a joke, but he’s not laughing now. He hopes he won’t lose his security deposit over this.

Cautiously setting his shoulder bag down, he reaches up to touch one of the hanging plants. They have a strange, almost nonexistent buzz of energy to them, but otherwise seem harmless. Annoyance wins over caution. Iruka tightens his grip and pulls.

Nothing happens.

“What the-”

He yanks this time, hard. Still nothing.

“That won’t work.”

Iruka freezes, blinking. Then he glares over his shoulder at Kakashi, who is leaning against the doorframe, smirking triumphantly behind his mask.

“Did you do this?” he demands. Kakashi looks wounded.

“Iruka, I would NEVER-”

“Then who the hell-”

“I had the dogs do it for me.”

Iruka has to sit down or he’ll do something stupid, like break Kakashi’s legs.

“You had the ninken stick chakra-infused mistletoe all over my ceiling,” Iruka states slowly, still trying to grasp the sheer idiocy of the situation. “…WHY?”

“Why do you think?” Kakashi replies, then pulls his mask down and puckers up.

“You get plenty, Kakashi,” Iruka growls out. “What’s so special about a mistletoe kiss?”

“They taste like Christmas.” Kakashi doesn’t even flinch at Iruka’s murderous scowl. “C’mon, Iruka. A kiss, and I’ll take it down. I promise.” He bats an eye at him flirtatiously. Iruka would tell him how silly he looks doing that if he wasn’t already busy fuming with rage. After a long, drawn-out pause, during which he has an internal debate over his choice of significant other, he lets out an angry huff, crosses his arms, and stands up.

“Get over here.”

Iruka forces himself not to head-butt Kakashi in the face and instead settles for an angry peck on the mouth. Kakashi grins happily, reaches up, and rips off one of the bunches of hanging mistletoe. One.

“You said you’d take them down.”

“I said I’d take IT down. One, not all. I’ll take one down for each kiss.”

“For EACH- can’t we just have sex?” Iruka bursts out, exasperated.

“No, that’s cheating. It has to be a kiss, ” Kakashi says firmly. “…But it wouldn’t hurt-”

“Kakashi, so help me, I will deck your BALLS-”

“Calm down! What’s a couple…HUNDRED kisses?”

“WHAT’S A COUPLE HUNDRED PUNCHES-”

“Iruka, I don’t understand. I was trying to be-”

“Destructive? Ridiculous? Annoying?? Because it’s working!” Iruka shouts, exploding as he reaches the end of his rope, which, frankly, ran out about an hour into his shift at the mission desk. Friggin’ Genma was sure as hell getting slapped with another sexual harassment complaint, and Kotetsu had shown up late, half-drunk on eggnog. “Look at my ceiling, Kakashi! It’s a mess! I could get evicted for this! The last thing I want to do right now is give you a kiss!”

Kakashi has visibly deflated under the verbal assault, his shoulders slumping in on themselves and eye falling to the floor. Even his hair seems to have wilted. He’s silent for several moments after the outburst before finally answering in a quiet voice.

“…Sorry,” he mumbles. “I didn’t know you’d get so upset. You’re right, I went too far. I…I’ll take them down.”

Iruka watches him turn away without another word and begin ripping down the mistletoe, a pit opening in his stomach. He doesn’t know how to handle this Kakashi. Never does. He tries to ignore the guilty feeling bubbling in his gut, instead reminding himself that he has every right to get mad and yell over something like this. Kakashi was in the wrong, he was being absurd and silly and completely out of line.

When suddenly it hits him.

Oh. OH.

This is Kakashi’s way of being romantic.

No, it isn’t a candle-lit dinner, or a walk under the stars, or even a simple bouquet of flowers. It’s a roomful of mistletoe and mess and a pain to clean up afterwards and a promise of a thousand kisses. And it’s a hundred percent Kakashi.

Iruka feels like a lump of coal.

“Kakashi.” Iruka’s voice is soft as he reaches out and touches his shoulder. The Jounin stops his efforts but doesn’t turn around, back still stiff and tense. “I’m sorry for yelling. It’s just…been a long day, at the classroom and the work desk, and I…I took it out on you. That was wrong of me. I’m sorry.” Kakashi still hasn’t turned, instead idly playing with a strand of mistletoe in his hands. Iruka clears his throat. “So anyway, tell me…do longer kisses count for more than one mistletoe?”

Kakashi finally looks at him, the twinkle back in his eye, which crinkles as he smiles.

“…Depends how long it lasts, I suppose.”

“Tell you what.” Iruka pats his shoulder gently. “I’ll go change out of my work clothes, and then we’ll find out, alright?”

Kakashi nods eagerly, and Iruka grins, heading down the hall towards the bedroom.

He opens the door and freezes.

Spread out on the bed is a pair of tiny red shorts, made of some satiny, silky material, and a Santa cap made of the same material laying beside it. It doesn’t take him long to figure out who it’s meant for.

Christmas Eve was always a festive occasion in Konoha. Most of the shops and restaurants stayed open until at least midnight, creating an almost street carnival atmosphere in the main shopping district. There were games and contests of strength, free candy for the children, and magic reindeer food that would soon adorn almost every roof in the village.

But the highlight of the celebrations was the spectacular party held every year in the Hokage Tower. The doors of all of the large assembly rooms were thrown open, making the entire bottom floor of the building into a series of interconnected chambers, each one decorated in a different theme based on a Christmas carol. There was plentiful food, more than plentiful booze, music, dancing, and enough revelry to make even the most overly hardened shinobi smile.

Iruka was not an overly hardened shinobi. But he wasn't smiling, either. It was the first Christmas since Kakashi had become Hokage and as his chief aide Iruka had been in charge of all of the preparations. The food, the drinks, the decorations, the Christmas tree – even the massive pile of presents for the children of the village. Everything. It had been one of the most stressful undertakings of his entire life, and he had a few white hairs to prove it.

Even now, with the party in full swing, he couldn't relax. His overly organized nature – what Kakashi often called his control freak tendencies – wouldn't turn off. As the man's husband he wanted everything about this party to add lustre to Kakashi's tenure as Hokage so he was kept busy, bustling back and forth between the kitchens, the bar, the reception rooms, even checking that the bathrooms stayed clean and stocked with necessary supplies. If he had slowed down at all he would have noticed that the caterer kept glaring at him, the head bartender looked fit to kill, the custodial staff was reduced to angry mutterings, and his personal ANBU guard seemed ready to drop with exhaustion.

“Iruka-sensei.”

The quiet voice behind him stopped Iruka in his tracks as he was on his way to the storeroom to check on the supply of champagne. When he turned around he was surprised to see Gai; the lack of vocal volume, capital letters, and flowery speech had thrown him off. The jounin was out of his wheelchair, walking with the assistance of a cane that was, unsurprisingly, a bright shade of green.

“Gai-san,” Iruka acknowledged him with a nod. “Is there something you need?”

Gai shook his head, the tiniest smile tilting his lips. “I was just in the Holly & Ivy room,” he said, smiling growing a little wider. “I believe the Hokage is looking for you.”

One hand flew to his head, smoothing back stray hands of hair and making sure his ponytail was still neat and properly tied. Then with a murmured apology Iruka hurried off, making his way to the room that Gai had mentioned. But there was no sign of a shaggy head of silver hair. There were a number of familiar faces, though, and Iruka made his way through the crowd to where two of them were standing.

“Hmmm, yeah, he was here a bit ago, and he was definitely looking for you,” Genma said in response to Iruka's question. “I think he said he was. . .” He reached out and tapped Kurenai's shoulder. “Where did Kakashi say he was going when he left?”

“The White Christmas room,” Kurenai replied. She smiled at Iruka. “You should hurry; he seemed like he needed to speak to you urgently.”

But Kakashi wasn't there either, and Ebisu and Raidou sent him to Winter Wonderland. Again, no Kakashi. Kotetsu opined that he might have gone on to Blue Christmas, but Izumo was certain the Hokage had mentioned Let It Snow. Frustrated, Iruka slipped away from the crowds and into a empty, and blessedly silent, corridor. Once there he focused his senses until he could detect Kakashi's chakra, then made his way to Deck The Halls.

He stood in the doorway, scanning the room, and feeling a niggling disappointment when he couldn't find his husband. But then a pair of warm, strong arms wrapped around his waist from behind and one hand pointed up. Iruka lifted his eyes and was unsurprised to find a large arrangement of mistletoe hanging directly above his head. He smiled, leaning back against the hard body behind his and covering Kakashi's hands where they rested at his waist.

“It was on purpose, wasn't it?” he murmured. “That entire wild goose chase you had our friends orchestrate.”

The fabric of Kakashi's mask rubbed against Iruka's cheek as he nodded. “Well, you wouldn't slow down and relax. I had to corner you somehow.”

Iruka turned around to face his husband. “Under the mistletoe?” he asked with a smile. “How very cliché, Kakashi.”

Kakashi rubbed their noses together. “It worked, though.” Even through the mask his grin was visible.

“Oh, definitely,” Iruka agreed as he hooked a finger in the bright red mask.

It didn't happen often, but there were times when the only person suitable for a particular mission was Umino Iruka. The combination of his warmhearted personality and skill in diplomatic maneuvering made him the ideal choice whenever a light touch was required. But even when she had little choice Tsunade disliked sending the teacher out for extended periods of time, if for no other reason than Iruka's absence caused a sulky Kakashi.

Using sulky to describe one of the deadliest shinobi in all of the Five Nations might strike some as odd, but those people weren't looking at him at that moment. Even from behind her desk and through his mask Tsunade could see his pout, and when she held out the mission scroll he looked at it with disdain.

“Not one word, brat,” she said, pre-empting any comment he might make. “It's a quick, four hour delivery run to the manor where the Daimyo is spending Christmas, and he specifically asked for you.”

Kakashi slouched forward and took the scroll from her. “But -”

“No buts,” the Hokage barked out, then a smile softened her face. “You'll be back before him, as long as you get moving. And by get moving I mean leave. Now.”

It took just over an hour to get there, and then another hour spent in mindless small talk with the Daimyo. Even with all of that he was ahead of schedule, so Kakashi took his time on the return trip in the hopes that he might connect with Iruka outside the village gates. The younger man had been gone for over a month, and some reunions were best conducted in private.

But luck wasn't with him, and he walked through the gate feeling even more irritable (and yes, sulky) than when he had left. It had been a simple C rank mission so he could have left the report with Izumo and Kotetsu, but the crowd of people outside the guardhouse convinced him otherwise. With a sigh he turned away and headed towards the tower.

“I've been gone for five weeks and this is how you greet me when I get home?”

Kakashi's head snapped up and his shoulders straightened at the sound of that voice behind him. “You dislike public displays of affection,” he said.

Iruka grinned and executed a textbook perfect Body Flicker, reappearing directly in front of Kakashi, who still had his back turned to the guardhouse. “I'm willing to make an exception in this case,” he whispered before tugging the mask down and kissing the jounin for all he was worth.

Wolf whistles and cat calls erupted from the people gathered just inside the gate, a cacophony in which Izumo's and Kotetsu's voices were the loudest.

Prompt List: 25 Days of Kisses