Chapter Text
“Hold still.”
Iruka suppressed a shudder. The sensation of something gliding across his lips mingled with the rhythmic pull on his hair, the steady whisper of the brush. His scalp tingled; his pulse thrummed beneath the calloused hand holding his jaw. Somewhere close by, a bed creaked.
Why was he doing this?
Iruka’s eyes fluttered open. A mistake because now he caught a glimpse of Gai-san’s tongue poking out of the corner of Gai’s mouth even as Gai drew back a little, lipstick still poised, to survey his handiwork.
Because he couldn’t make tokubetsu jōnin unless he finished at least one S-Rank.
“You have to do the corners, Gai,” Kakashi-san said, his voice drawing Iruka’s gaze past Gai to the mirror, where it met Kakashi’s single dark eye and the blood red of the exposed Sharingan. From somewhere beyond the wall came dull thud and a muffled whimper. Cheeks burning under the powder Gai-san had so carefully applied earlier, Iruka looked down at the long, wide sleeves hiding his coyly folded hands.
Because he wanted to be stronger for Naruto.
“Open your mouth a little, Iruka-kun.”
He did as he was told and his eyes fluttered shut again. In the next room, someone moaned.
This time, when Gai-san dabbed the lipstick against his soft flesh, Iruka had to actively fight the image of Gai-san’s tongue floating up in his mind. Gai-san’s hands smelled like chamomile, his breath like peppermint. They warmed Iruka’s face.
There was a click behind him as Kakashi-san set down the brush and started to go to work with his hands, sliding his fingers into Iruka’s hair and pulling gently. He’d used his Sharingan to copy the movements of one of the women when she’d done up her hair and now he was replicating her complicated style.
“Keep your eyes closed,” Gai-san instructed.
Because this monster needed to be stopped.
The feather-light touch of the brush like butterfly wings on his eyelid.
Something thudded again.
Iruka’s toes clenched inside the tabi.
“You’ll go with him when he asks you to,” Kakashi-san said. His breath caressed the shell of Iruka’s ear, sending shivers down his spine. “That’s all you have to do. Wait for him to approach you. Smile. Go with him.”
“Understood.”
“Remember, you’re the bait. We’re the hook.”
Doesn’t the bait get swallowed in this analogy, Iruka thought as he slowly opened his eyes. Gai-san was staring at him, his face flushed with pride.
“What do you think, Rival?”
“Hmmm, not bad… But you look a little pale, sensei. Having second thoughts?”
Iruka took a moment to study his reflection in the mirror. Long lashes and lush lips, the powder on his cheeks nothing like the chalk dust usually clinging to his fingertips. “No, I’m fine,” he said, thinking of the dead young men, not that much older than Naruto. “I’m ready.”
He hadn’t expected Kakashi-san to touch him again now that they were finished, so it came as a surprise when he leaned closer and put a hand on Iruka’s shoulder.
“Good. Don’t worry. We won’t let anything happen to you, sensei.” His voice was low and intimate and the strength and determination behind it raised the hairs on the back of Iruka’s neck.
“Iruka-kun, I promise you that we will protect you with our lives!” Gai-san had taken hold of his other shoulder.
His heart pounding frantically, Iruka stared at his own reflection. He was smiling.