@scnsei asked: iruka kissing kakashi's cuts/bruises after he heals him !
Healing had always been a difficult process for Kakashi. He was a menace to medical nin and hospital staff alike, and rarely consented to necessary treatment unless it was entirely beyond him to treat it enough for survival. Lacerations would be endured or treated to field stitches, injuries would be patched to a subpar standard, just enough to keep him moving, and chakra depletion would be endured with grit teeth. There was only one he had permitted to treat him and she was long gone, nothing left but a memory and a medical kit he still carried on every mission.
Well at least it had been that way. Until Iruka.
Whereas most touch felt cold and clinical, his was infused with a warmth that seemed to creep into Kakashi’s very bones, startling life into tired joints and allowing unbidden thoughts to slip in that maybe he should let himself be cared for just a little more. He had not meant to make a habit of it, to start expecting the treatment, but from the first time he had felt the sensation it had felt safe. Back then he had dropped himself on Iruka’s doorstep with little more that a “how are things sensei?” tone deceptively light for a man drenched in his own blood and still badly injured.
Lips against his shoulder along the line of a jagged gash drew him from his thoughts, and a gentle smile curved onto his lips, hidden beneath the mask. He tipped his head to the side just fractionally, enough to rest it against Iruka’s own, the silent movement a gesture of affection. He was not yet ready to raise his voice, to throw words into the quiet while his mind still lingered in the space of the mission - as was so common after an S-Rank - but it never seemed to matter. He felt Iruka move rather than saw it, the kiss landing on the vicious bruise just below his nape, and recalled the moment he had received it. A startling blow from a bō staff -that he had only just managed to deflect the worst of - had knocked the wind out of him, left him choking for air briefly with only instinct helping him move before the situation got worse.
He blinked, realising Iruka’s attention had shifted, another scar this time from an errant kunai that he couldn’t recall the details of. It got foggier with each kiss, the clarity he’d had where senses were alert fading in favour of the comfort of care exuding from the man behind him. He lost track of time between the attentions and the exhaustion finally permitted to seep into his bones, exposed eye closing and attention drifting before he let out a quiet sigh.
His hand shifted then, fingers seeking Iruka’s own, lacing with those that held so much care, touched him with such gentleness and he squeezed gratefully, the unsaid thanks for being such an anchor in these moments permeating from the very gesture. Slowly he raised his other hand to tug his mask down enough till it gathered at his neck and tipped his head back, gaze finding Iruka’s own. He smiled again, a softness to his expression as he leant up, feeling the brush of Iruka’s breath against his lips until he closed the gap between them in a gentle, delicate kiss. It wasn’t an extended affair, the touch almost barely there before he shifted back again, but the smile lingered as did the clasped hands as he leant his weight against the other. There was a small sigh again, the very sound of it stilted with rasped tones, before he raised his voice and uttered his first words since returning.
“It’s good to be home....”
