Free Fiction Friday 2: Intervention Part One (A Naruto Fanfiction)

Welcome to my second week of posting for http://www.freefictionfriday.com!

This week I am sharing the first part of a piece of fanfiction I wrote several years ago. The whole story is a bit over 5,000 words. I will continue the story over the next several weeks. It is set in the Naruto manga/anime universe and features Iruka (http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Iruka_Umino), Kakashi (http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Kakashi_Hatake), and Yamato (http://naruto.wikia.com/wiki/Yamato). Yup, it’s a polyamorous romance. This piece contains no real plot spoilers for the series, and can be understood without knowing anything about the series.

Categories and advisories: for this section, all you need to know is that the story features gay men, some of whom are in relationships with each other, and some of whom are open to the idea of polyamory.

Potentially unfamiliar terms: Jounin is the rank of ninja that Yamato and Kakashi are, while Iruka and several briefly mentioned characters are chuunin, the rank below.

Disclaimer: Naruto, the world, and characters, belong to Masashi Kishimoto and I made no profit from the writing or posting of this piece.

 

Please also note I wrote this two and a half years ago, and have greatly improved in my writing skills since. However, I decided to leave it as is for now rather than give it an overhaul.

 

Without further ado, here is the first part of Intervention.

—

Iruka had a problem.

 

Well, technically, he had two problems. Said problems were named Kakashi and Yamato.

 

He had no personal quarrel with either man. They got along well, and chatted at the bar sometimes. He enjoyed both of their company.

 

Nor did Iruka have any professional issues with either of the jounin. Yamato’s reports were always pristine, and Kakashi’s had actually improved significantly over the past few weeks. Kakashi had even been turning reports on time, for once.

 

No, the problem was that Iruka was desperately in love with not just one, but both of the other two men.

 

It had taken him years to realize how deep his attraction to Kakashi ran, and soon after, Yamato had entered the scene. Iruka quickly found himself fascinated by Yamato, and had developed a crush on him as well, which soon became much more. He finally had to resign himself to the fact that yes, he was in love with Yamato as well as Kakashi.

 

And of course, it just had to be that, by the time Iruka had admitted this to himself, neither of the other men were single anymore. In fact, Yamato and Kakashi were in a relationship with each other, or so Iruka was nearly convinced.

 

The pair had not come out publicly as a couple, but the signs were there. Working in the missions office, at the seat of the rumor mill, Iruka had to suffer through mutterings about Yamato and Kakashi. The other ninja talked about how close the two had been seated at lunch, or how easily they had been laughing together, leaning into each other, after returning home from a successful mission. The two men weren’t kissing or holding hands in public, but they were definitely acting more than just teammates. In fact, Kakashi and Yamato were behaving similarly to the way Izumo and Kotetsu had been right before the two chuunin announced their relationship on a particularly crowded night in the bar. Said announcement had come in the form of a seemingly sudden passionate kiss between the two, which had been met with hoots, hollers, and applause by the patrons. A few people had grumbled at having lost their wagers in the betting pool, having been convinced that Kotetsu and Izumo were best friends, teammates, and nothing more. Iruka had been smiling then, but he would not have been able to react the same way if the two had been Kakashi and Yamato.

 

And it could be Kakashi and Yamato any day now. The thought made his chest tighten uncomfortably. Of course, over the last few weeks, a betting pool had been going for how long the two would take to go public. Iruka hadn’t made a wager; it would have been too painful. But he needed to know for sure whether Kakashi and Yamato were together, so that if they were, he could get over them. He was being realistic; there was no use pining over someone who was taken. If they were indeed together, he would just have to deal with it and move on. If they were to go public and be more affectionate in front of others, it would at least provide for more eye candy for Iruka, if he couldn’t have either of them. He was a practical man. But he couldn’t take this uncertainty any longer.

 

It was time for an intervention.

 

Naruto’s birthday provided the perfect opportunity. The blond was happy to accept Iruka’s offer to treat him to ramen, as usual. What was different this time, however, was that Iruka invited Kakashi and Yamato to join them in the birthday celebration. Both men had accepted, and dinner was spent mostly with Naruto babbling excitedly about his date with Sakura earlier in the day. When the meal was over, and Naruto had waved goodbye, Iruka steeled his nerves and asked Yamato and Kakashi if they would like to come over to his apartment for drinks.

 

He didn’t know what he’d been expecting. But there was something about the way how each of them agreed readily which made Iruka feel confident. He could do this.

 

Soon they were sitting down at Iruka’s kitchen table, drinking sake. There had been a lull in the conversation, so Iruka put down his cup and took a deep breath. He met the eyes of each of the other two in turn before speaking.

 

“I suggest you either confirm or deny the rumor that you two are together,” he said matter-of-factly, his tone not betraying his nervousness.

 

Kakashi choked on his drink, and put his cup down. Yamato pounded Kakashi on the back, and Iruka noticed a blush creeping up Yamato’s cheeks.

 

When Kakashi stopped coughing, he and Yamato shared a look.

 

“Well, I suppose now is as good a time as ever to tell him,” Kakashi said with a small laugh.

 

Yamato nodded, and then looked back to Iruka with a smile.

 

“Yes, we’re together.” Kakashi said.

 

Iruka’s heart sank in disappointment. He had still been holding on to a shred of hope that everyone had been wrong, that Kakashi and Yamato were just teammates and friends. But now that both men were in his apartment, and Kakashi had admitted it, Iruka had to face reality. And he would be strong.

 

Iruka cleared his throat, looked at each man in turn, and smiled, though it barely reached his voice. “Well then. Best wishes to you both. You should go public though, everyone is -”

 

It was Yamato who cut Iruka off. “Wait,” he said. “That’s not everything.”

 

Iruka looked at Yamato in confusion. How could there be more to it than the fact that the two men were together? That was simple enough.

 

The lovers exchanged another meaningful look.

 

“We’ve been waiting to tell everyone because of you,” Kakashi said.

 

Iruka blinked, confused. “Me? What do I have to do with it?” He nervously picked up his cup and sipped at his sake.

 

A blush darkened Yamato’s cheeks once more, and he looked over at Kakashi as if urging the other man to continue.

“We like you, Iruka.” Kakashi said simply.

It was Iruka’s turn to choke on his drink, and after a short coughing fit, his eyes flitted between Kakashi and Yamato. There was no mistaking what Kakashi had said, but Iruka still couldn’t help but ask, “What?”

Yamato nodded. “It’s true. We like you, and we have been trying to figure out how you felt about each of us…” he cleared his throat. “We want to be with you, we just didn’t know how to approach you about it.”

 

“It’s not like it’s common for a couple to ask someone else to join them,” Kakashi added. “We didn’t want to make it seem like we were just picking you up, that you were easy or anything. That’s why we haven’t told anyone yet. We were… hoping you would want to be with us, and then we could go public all at once, together.”

Iruka was rendered speechless for a few moments, his mind reeling with the idea. Both Kakashi and Yamato looked at him with concern before he was finally able to speak. All that he managed to croak out was, “Seriously?”

To be continued…

—

I hope you enjoyed what you read so far of this story! I will be posting the next part next Friday. Please comment if you’d like to share your opinion!

 

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