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Iruka was so tired. After a long day at the school and even longer night working at the bar his feet were tired, his stomach was empty, and he had a terrible headache. Iruka was ready to go home, eat, and sleep until noon since he had the next day off. Knowing that his home was calling Iruka picked up the pace in excitement.
Iruka only lived about thirty minutes from the bar so he walks to and from to save money. It was a safe neighborhood for the most part and in all the years he’s lived there Iruka never had an issue getting from point A to point B to point C.
The night was the same as usual when he gets off late. All the shops were closed, the park was silent, and as he passed the school (marking the fifteen minutes he had left til he was home) Iruka felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise. Something felt off. It was as if he was being watched. Iruka subtly looked around him, taking notice of anything that seemed out of place. Coming up the way, was a person shrouded in shadows standing in front of the alleyway next to the Yamanaka Flower Shop. The only light Oruka could see was the red tip of a cigarette the person held down by their hip.
Iruka’s not sure why but something did not sit right with the situation. They were the only two people on the street as far as Iruka could tell and normally it wouldn’t be a problem but something screamed danger. Iruka did not make it to the ripe age of thirty to ignore his instincts, so he slowed down and pulled out his phone. As Iruka dialed up Anko’s number, he crossed the street while keeping an eye on the stranger.
As Iruka finally passed the other, he sped up to a fast walk praying that his best friend and neighbor picked up. She did not. Her phone went to voicemail so Iruka quickly left a message asking for her to call him back as well as the situation and where he was at. As he hangs up, iruka looks behind him to see the mysterious person has friends and they’re all following him. He notices that they’re all fairly large dirty men. With a gasp Iruka runs. He may not be in the best shape but Iruka could run for fifteen minutes if his life depended on it probably…hopefully.
Iruka can hear the men running after him, so he pushes himself faster. Iruka passes Ichiraku Ramen, marking ten minutes to his building. The men get closer as Iruka begins to slow. He looks around in desperation and thankfully sees a group of people walking out of The Green Beast & Silver Wolf gym. With a burst of adrenaline Iruka bulls straight into the white hair man wearing a mask. The man doesn’t budge from his spot despite the speed and force that Iruka slams into him. Any other time, Iruka would have wondered in appreciation at the man’s obvious strength. Iruka feels a burning sensation over his heart when the man steadies him with hands on his hips. He figures it’s just from sprinting for five minutes straight.
“I am so sorry but these four men have been chasing me home since Yamanaka’s shop and you guys are the first people I’ve seen and I won’t make it home because I am not a runner please don’t let them take me.” Iruka says in a rush, while wrapping his own arms around the other man and placing his face into the other's chest while trying not to die from lack of oxygen.
“Relax, you're safe now. The others are gonna handle them. Do you need me to call anyone for you?” The masked man asked while slowly rubbing Iruka’s back. Iruka shakes his head in lieu of answering, talking more than he already had was not on the table at the moment.
Iruka is not sure how long they stand there in each other’s arms. Could have been minutes or hours, he wouldn’t have been able to tell anyone if they asked. All he knew was that he was exhausted, the man felt nice and warm and safe, and smelt good. His chest was also still faintly burning.
The sound of feet coming closer made Iruka tense up. “None of that. It’s just my friends coming back. You’re still safe. You’re ok. It’s all ok now.” Iruka eased his tense muscles again.
“Iruka?”
At the sound of his best friend's boyfriend's voice, Iruka releases the masked man quickly and turns around to see Ibiki staring at him in concern. Iruka quickly runs into Ibiki’s arms, his chest immediately stops burning. Ibiki holds Iruka for a minute before pulling away slowly.
“You alright?”
“Honestly right now? No, but thanks to you guys I will be.”
Ibiki does something with his face that could be a tiny smile or a grimace. Iruka’s never been good at telling what the man did was his facial features but Anko loved him (never mind they were soulmates) and that was enough for him.
Iruka looks at the Ibiki, finally looking at what he was wearing. He had on a loose T-shirt and basketball shorts. His fully bloomed flowers on his chest on display proudly for the world to see. The Carnations were a mixture of light and dark shades of red, with a few smaller white ones incorporated into the shades of red. His platonic soulmate's flowers were also on display. It was weird for Iruka to see from the usually closed off and stoic man. It made Iruka sad to think that out of his closed group he was the only one without a romantic soulmate. He had sunflowers wrapped around his left leg reaching up to the right of his navel that bloomed yellow when he met Anko years ago and Hydrangea that turned blue when he found and adopted (unofficially at the time) Naruto that wrapped around his right arm down to the left of his navel. Iruka’s had colorless orchids over his chest that came down and mixed with the other flowers. He’s still waiting to meet the person who would make the flowers bloom in color.
A throat clearing breaks him out of his mental downward spiral.
“Come on, Anko would kill me if we didn’t walk you home.” Ibiki says while looking up at the other three men. “Guys this is Iruka Umino. Anko’s best friend. Iruka, these are my friends. The one with the unfortunate haircut and all green is Maito Gai, the one with brown hair is Gai’s husband Yamato, and the man you were clinging to is Kakashi Hatake.”
Iruka bowed slightly and cleared his throat before speaking. “It’s a pleasure to meet you all. Thank you for helping me.”
The man in green, Gai, whispers loudly how great it is to meet Iruka before going off on a tangent about youthful passion and energy or something. Iruka lost track after the first sentence. His husband sends a smile and a wave to Iruka before he sighed in amusement before whispering something into the other’s ear. As the two whisper to each other, the masked man, Kakashi, steps forward with his hands in his pockets, his stare intense as he looked Iruka in the soul.
“Yo. What’s your favorite color?”
The out of pocket question makes everyone stare at the white haired man.
“Pardon me?” Iruka asked, looking around at the other people in confusion. When no one answered the unspoken question he turned back to Kakashi.
“What’s your favorite color?”
“Uh… Purple?”
“Oh cool mine too. We must be soulmates.” As Kakashi says as he pulls down his shirt showing off his very wonderfully defined chest. His flowers, Peonys, are in full bloom. Causing the other three men to gasp in shock. Iruka looked from the chest to Kakashi to the other men and back to the chest.They were a beautiful pink shade that somehow complemented the milky skin instead of looking horrible on him.
“Huh?”
“Did you not feel the heat on your chest when we held each other in the dim moonlight?” Kakashi asked.
“One I don’t think these lights count as dim moonlight. Two I did but I just assumed it was from running a marathon-”
“You ran for what like five minutes? The flower shop isn’t very far…” Ibiki states absentmindedly, his eyes still on Kakashi’s flowers.
“NEVER YOU MIND THE DISTANCE!” Iruka turns to yell. He turns back to Kakashi, he was gonna tell him there was a mistake, Iruka wasn’t his soulmate but thought about the others reaction and decided there was no harm in checking. Iruka unzipped his jacket and lifted his shirt to take a peek. Sure enough the once blank flowers were now in full bloom. The color was a pale pink that somehow went with the other flowers in a colorful bouquet. Iruka was stunned. He looks up at the other. Iruka wasn’t sure how he knew but he could tell that Kakashi was smirking underneath the mask.
“Hello.” Kakashi said cheekily.
“Hi.” Iruka responded in awe.
A few minutes of quiet staring, neither breaking eye contact. Iruka heard the others take a few dozen steps back to give them some privacy.
“Hey Kakashi?” Iruka breaks the silence.
Kakashi hums and tilted his head in question, not unlike a puppy would when a person speaks to them.
“Did you really tell me we were soulmates with a cheesy, terrible pick up line?”