Iruka/Reader
It was three hours until sunset and you were getting ready for your first date with Kakashi Hatake. He had been your comrade for a long time and you found yourself catching feelings towards the silver-haired ninja. You weren’t sure if he had shared those feeling so you had taken the initiative and asked him out on a date to which he obviously said yes, well ‘sure’ was his exact response. You just brushed it off as his personality. He was always so calm and collected in any situation. You hadn’t really specified a place to go but you had just told him to come by around 7:00 which was half an hour away, but knowing Kakashi, he would definitely be late.
“(Y/N)-Sensei! (Y/N)-Sensei!” You heard Naruto yell as he ran through the front door of the house you shared. Ever since you first met Naruto, you had taken to him. You hadn’t seen Naruto in a while because you had been on so many missions, so you were quite excited to see him.
“I’m in the kitchen!” You yelled back with a smile. Footsteps sounded and Naruto slammed into you, almost knocking you over with a huge hug. “Hey bud!” You greeted and hugged him back.
“You have to see this awesome new jutsu that Pervy-Sage taught me! It's so cool and I’m one of the only people who can use it!” He jumped up and down with excitement pulling on your arm.
“Okay, okay but it had better be fast. I need to finish getting ready.” You chuckled as Naruto practically dragged you outside.
“Don’t worry (Y/N)-Sensei! It’ll be quick cuz Iruka-Sensei is gonna take me to Ichiraku Ramen!” Naruto sang.
“Oh, Iruka is here?” You asked surprised as you rounded the bend and exited the house.
“Yeah, I promised Naruto that I’d take him out for ramen.” Iruka said and gave you a wide smile which you returned happily. Iruka had been your friend for some time now and you had helped him teach the kids on a handful of different occasions. You held Iruka in the highest regard, as he was the man who gave each new shinobi in Konoha a solid foundation to build up their skills once they became Genin. It was actually helping Iruka with the students that had introduced you to Naruto. He was nine at the time and a handful so you knew how hard Iruka’s job could be. “You could come too if you wanted (Y/N).” Iruka offered.
“She’s busy tonight!” Naruto said loudly and you blushed.
“Who’s the lucky guy?” Iruka asked.
“Oh, um, it’s Kakashi I guess.” You said with a smile.
“Kakashi-sensei?! Why him?” Naruto complained.
“Why not?” You questioned.
“Cuz he’s not the right guy for you.” Naruto started, “Clearly it should be Iru-” Iruka cut him off.
“Uh, I think we should let (Y/N) finish getting ready.” A deep blush surfaced on Iruka’s face as he said goodbye and led Naruto away from the house. You were sure that your blush was just as deep as Iruka’s as you walked back into the house. Hmm, Naruto didn’t show me his jutsu, you thought as you looked yourself over once more, excitement welling in your stomach. You were finally going on a date with Kakashi! You were feeling confident that it was going to go well. Looking towards the clock you saw that it was already ten minutes past seven. He was already late. A shard of doubt surfaced in your mind, maybe he wouldn’t show. You dismissed it right away. Kakashi was known to be over an hour late for his own group training sessions so you weren’t too worried.
“He’ll show, I know he will.” You said absentmindedly as you started to clean your house. Since you had been gone for so long, Naruto had run of the place, save you asking Iruka to check on him to make sure he didn’t burn down the house. Naruto and Iruka also shared a similar bond to the one that you shared with Naruto. To Naruto, Iruka was his father figure, the first person who actually paid attention to him and helped him learn and grow. I guess that made you the mother figure, so you could see why Naruto would want you and Iruka together. Dismissing the thought, you rummaged through the refrigerator and threw out all of the outdated food that Naruto had left there, rolling your eyes at the sheer amount of rotten food that was in the fridge. Next, you moved to the upstairs of the house. This was the first time you had been home since your mission so you were surprised to see that your bed was unmade. Naruto must’ve been sleeping in there. The thought warmed your heart. You knew how hard it was for Naruto when you left for long periods of time. He knew that you would always come back but there was still that lingering doubt that comes with being alone for so many years.
Once you finished cleaning both Naruto and your rooms, you glanced at the clock that read 8:40. Your heart sunk. Maybe he’s just extra late today, you thought as you walked back downstairs and looked out the window to see the sun setting. Biting your lip, you took a deep breath and decided to wait another twenty minutes for him. You sat down on the couch and turned on the television and waited. You flipped through the channels looking for anything that would take your mind off the problem at hand. Eventually, you picked an animal show. You started at the television blankly, not paying attention to anything the lady was saying hoping that in the next twenty minutes Kakashi would show up.
You stared at the clock. One more minute. Just as the second hand reached the twelve the doorknob jiggled. Hope sparked in your chest as you jumped up in anticipation. The door opened.
“Wow that ramen was great sensei!” Naruto exclaimed as he came through the door.
“You’re going to make me broke you know that…” Iruka’s voice trailed off as he saw you standing by the couch with disappointment clear on your face.
“(Y/N), you’re back early.” Naruto greeted, oblivious to the feeling of disappointment that was hanging in the air.
“Um, Naruto you have a long day of training ahead of you tomorrow so maybe you should go to bed now.” Iruka suggested to him hoping that Naruto would agree.
“That’s a great idea Sensei! I need to train to beat Sasuke!” Naruto said excitedly. “Goodnight (Y/N)-Sensei!”
“Night.” You replied feebly. You and Iruka stayed silent until you heard Naruto’s door shut.
“He didn’t show, didn’t he?” Iruka asked quietly. You nodded. “That bastard. No wonder why he’s always single. Tomorrow I’ll make sure to go over there and-” You cut him off.
“No Iruka its fine. It wasn’t like he was the one who asked me out. I asked him out so I guess it's not as bad.”
“If he didn’t want to go with you then he shouldn’t have said yes in the first place.” Iruka said, still sounding angry. “But are you okay (Y/N), that should’ve been the first thing that I asked.” He said and approached you.
“Yeah, I guess.” You replied looking away from him. “It’s whatever.” Iruka sighed.
“If you wanted,” He said slowly, “I, uh, could take you out, you know, to make up for what that idiot Kakashi did. I know a good place where we could go.” You thought it over for a little bit and then decided that it was a good idea. You hadn’t been out in so long – save for your mission but that didn’t really count – that it would be nice to spend some time with Iruka.
“Sure.” You replied simply.
“O-okay.” Iruka said, sounding very surprised. “Follow me.”
Iruka led you through the darkening forest as you approached the spot where Iruka wanted to take you. It was a broad clearing in the middle of the trees with a large tree in the middle and a small clear pond beside it.
“Iruka this place is beautiful!” You exclaimed as you walked towards the pond. By now the sun had set and the stars had come out.
“I like to come here to clear my mind or think about things as well.” He replied, following close behind you.
“Which one was it today?” You asked.
“The latter…” He trailed off. “Here I’ll show you my favorite spot.” Iruka grabbed your hand as he led you to the middle of the clearing. “Here lay down with me.” He said and pulled you down with him. “This is where I like to gaze at the stars from.”
“So, you come here when you think?” You probed, trying to figure out what he was thinking about. He gave no hints. You studied his facial features as he gazed up at the heavens: his defined cheekbones, his charcoal eyes, his scar. His eyes flicked towards you. “What are you thinking about?” You asked. He responded with another question.
“What are you looking at?”
“You, obviously.” You replied. “Quit avoiding the question.”
“Did you like Kakashi a lot?” He asked out of the blue.
“Well, I, not really, well I did like him, but I guess not that much. I thought that maybe if I put myself out there and ask him out then maybe he would like me but apparently, that didn’t work out.”
“So, you’re not really too broken up about it then?” Iruka pried.
“Where are you going with this Iruka?” You enquired.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about what Naruto said before we left.” He started, “About how he thought that you and I should be together. (Y/N), I know this might not be the best time but I need to tell you that I do like you, a lot, and I’d like to be more than just friends.” He finished, face flushed red. You stared at him not knowing what to say. You hadn’t even considered Iruka as an option for you as he was always so busy with the kids. More than friends… You thought about Kakashi and the feelings you had for him to see if you still got that feeling of butterflies in your gut like you always did when you thought about the renowned copy ninja. All you felt was disappointment. You should have realized that Kakashi wasn’t as into you as you thought he was. Thinking back to when you asked him out all the signs were there. He hesitated when you asked then only replied with a reluctant sure. He could’ve at least said no and that he wasn’t interested instead of leading you on, but that was in the past and now you had to decide what to do in this moment.
“Iruka,” You whispered as your eyes meeting his, anticipation flickering through the depths of his dark eyes.
“You don’t have to decide right away (Y/N), I don’t want to pressure you especially with what happened with Kakashi. We don’t even have to start out dating we could just spend more together, you know, to get to know each other better than we already do.” Iruka babbled, nerves surfacing in his voice. You actually liked the sound of that; hanging out more before getting serious. “(Y/N)?”
“Sorry,” You apologized to him, “I think I would like that a lot Iruka, I mean the spending time together.” His face fell and you realized that he thought you meant only friends. You grabbed his hand. “I didn’t mean only stay friends, I meant that we should hang more and move onto being...” You trailed off as a large smile surfaced on Iruka’s face which made you laugh.
“Oh good, I was pretty worried at first.” He said sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head. “I-I’m glad that you agreed.” He blushed deeply.
“You know, you look so cute when you blush.” Iruka’s blush deepened and you giggled. “But Iruka, thank you, really,” You said becoming serious, “You’ve made this night so much better.”
“It’s really no problem (Y/N). I’ve been meaning to bring you to this spot and this seemed like the perfect time. I know how much you love looking at the stars.” The both of you looked towards the clear sky to view the millions of beautiful stars.
“This is really amazing Iruka!” You exclaimed excitedly. You had always loved star gazing because it reminded you of your father. When you were a child, he would always take you out to mount Konoha to watch for shooting stars. He was the one who taught you about every constellation, every planet, every major star, so it meant a lot to be out here again, even if it wasn’t with your father.
“I’m really glad you like it (Y/N).” Iruka beamed. You scooted closer to him so that your shoulders touched. It was nice to be able to be this close to someone for once. Sighing, you laid contently beside Iruka and gazed at the stars in blissful silence.
After gazing at the stars for what seemed like hours, you finally decided that it was time to head home. Stretching, you turned to Iruka to tell him that it was time to go and noticed that he was fast asleep. You smiled gently at the peaceful ninja, not wanting to wake him up. You gently laid your head down on Iruka’s chest feeling the rise and fall of his breath. He stirred briefly as you listened to the beating of his heart.
“(Y/N),” Iruka murmured in his sleep. You smiled and lightly ran a finger across the scar that spanned his face in hopes of gently waking him up.
“Hey, Iruka, wake up.” You whispered and poked his cheek.
“Mmm, how long was I asleep?” Iruka groaned.
“I’m not too sure, but I need to get home before Naruto notices that I’m gone.” You answered, still leaning on his chest. When Iruka realized that his faced flushed.
“Oh, uh...” Iruka trailed off not knowing what to say.
“A little flustered?” You asked with a smile.
“Yeah, a little bit.” He confessed looking embarrassed. You gently placed a kiss on Iruka’s cheek and got up, offering him your hand which he took with a smile. Lacing your fingers with his, you silently walked back to the house.
Once you made it back to the house, you saw that all the lights were on. “Oh great, Naruto’s awake.” You complained.
“I could just walk you to the door if you’d like.” Iruka replied turning to leave.
“No, no it’s fine Iruka. He’ll be so excited.” You smiled and opened the door to see Naruto fast asleep on the couch, obviously waiting for you to come home.
“Naruto must really love you (Y/N).” Iruka observed as you tried to wake up Naruto.
“He loves me just as much as he loves you Iruka.” You replied honestly. “Naruto wake up, I’m home.” Naruto stretched and gave you a lazy smile.
“I was wondering how long you and Kakashi-Sensei would be.” He mumbled and sat up. As soon as he noticed Iruka standing beside you, he jumped up now fully awake. “Wait, you were with Iruka-Sensei!?” He exclaimed jumping up and down with excitement which made both you and Iruka smile. “You two are together?! When will you be moving in Iruka-Sensei? When’s the wedding?”
“Woah, woah, slow down Naruto!” Iruka interjected.
“We’re just spending more time together to start with Naruto. No need to get so excited.” You answered.
“Well then why are you two holding hands?” He questioned, eyes squinting suspiciously. You looked down to your entwined fingers and quickly let go of his hand. “I see how it is,” Naruto said with a sly smile.
“Okay that’s enough of that!” You announced. “You should head back up to bed Naruto.”
“But-”
“Now!” You exclaimed.
“Fine.” Naruto gave in and made his way back upstairs. You turned back to Iruka who was chuckling.
“I told you he’d be excited.” You laughed. “It’s pretty late Iruka, you could stay here tonight if you’d like.”
“Oh, I don’t want to impose.” He replied.
“Don’t worry about it Iruka, you can sleep in my bed and then I’ll just sleep on the couch.”
“No, no I can sleep on the couch (Y/N).” Iruka said firmly.
“Well, I’ll go and get your bedding then.” Once you came back you made his bed while he got ready for bed.
“Thanks.” Iruka said as you finished making his bed. You turned around and he was right behind you.
“Iruka, I’d like to say thank you again, and I’m really glad that you told me about how you feel.” Wrapping your arms around his neck, you gave him a tight hug. He was surprised at first but then tightened his arms around your waist.
“I’m happy too.” He whispered into your ear. Letting go of him, you stood on your tip toes and planted a sweet kiss on his cheek.
“Goodnight Iruka.” You said and smiled as you headed to your bed, contented to know that Iruka was downstairs.