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Iruka looked at his own face, contorted with lines that marked concentration.
“It says…Join as one to release the spirits back to their home,” Iruka heard his voice which sounded so foreign.
“What does that mean?” This stupid mask over his face was hot and scratchy, how did Kakashi deal with this all the time?
“I don’t know…”
They sighed and Iruka was ready to start banging his head against a wall. Well technically it was Kakashi’s head, but he was the one who was going to feel the pain.
They’d been sent on a mission to spy on Otogakure and managed to get caught in a trap. The trap swapped their consciousness into each other’s body and now they were struck trying to find a way to reverse it.
Iruka was feeling rather useless in Kakashi’s but somehow Kakashi had managed to make Iruka’s body work well enough to sneak in and find information on how to get them back to normal.
One of the guards had given him the scroll after he’d deceived him with a convincing genjutsu. It was not one of Iruka’s strongest skills, he was honestly pretty middling, yet somehow Kakashi had managed to make it work.
Iruka was trying to not be upset that Kakashi was better at being him than he was.
“Join as one…” Iruka muttered under his breath. An idea hit him, “No…it couldn’t be…”
“What? If you have the answer, share it,” Kakashi demanded.
Iruka felt his face melting from embarrassment.
“Iruka…” It felt so weird to be scolded in his own voice. Iruka had to take the hit to his pride so he could be himself again.
“I-uhh,” Iruka swallowed, trying to get his words to work, “I think it means sex.”
Kakashi caught his eye and they stared at each other for a long moment. Iruka wondered how red his face looked at the moment in Kakashi’s body. He was sure the red showed up better on Kakashi’s pale skin as opposed to Iruka’s own tanned skin.
Kakashi looked down at the paper and read it through a few times.
“Shit!” he cursed.
Iruka wasn’t sure whether it was because he didn’t want to do that with Iruka, or that he was bothered that Iruka figured it out first.
There of course was the chance that it was both.
“I’ve never…” Kakashi didn’t finish what he was going to say, Iruka watching as his face started to redden. It was most prominent around the scar across his nose.
“You’re not…” Iruka paused, debating whether to voice it.
“No, I’ve just never been with another man.”
Iruka nodded in understanding. It was a little strange to actually be the more experienced one here.
“It’s not too much different if you…uhh if you’re giving,” Iruka tried to find the best descriptive, yet not crude way to say it. Not that they wouldn’t have to be more comfortable with each other to do this.
“We should finish up here and then we can deal with this on our way back to Konoha,” Kakashi advised.
“Understood,” Iruka was certain he’d be useless until they switched back, but they didn’t have much else to do.
After another few hours of observation, they were able to start on their way home.
It felt weird to run in Kakashi’s body. It was like all of his proportions were off. The only good thing was it felt like it was easier to breathe as they ran towards Konoha. It made Iruka wonder how Kakashi was faring in his body.
As the sun began to set they managed to find a cave that was well obscured from the average passerby. It was easily defensible and a fire wouldn’t be obviously noticed from the outside. It was maybe the only thing that had gone right for them since they left Konoha.
They unpacked the necessities and started a fire, but then it went silent between them.
“How did you want to do this?” Kakashi asked.
Iruka huffed, “Well normally I’d at least like a nice dinner first.”
He thought it would lighten the mood, but Kakashi just stared at him with a blank expression that he wasn’t used to on his own face.
“I’ll be back,” Kakashi said before heading out of the cave.
“Kakashi wait, I’m sorry,” Iruka tried to call Kakashi back but he got nothing but the sound of fading footsteps.
Iruka sighed.
He sat down against a wall in the cave, resting on his curled up knees.
Iruka didn’t realize he’d fallen asleep until he woke to the sound of rustling near him.
His reflexes were faster in this body and he almost fell over when he tried to stop himself from running into Kakashi with a kunai.
“Sorry,” Iruka said, not sure if it was for almost running into him or for what he’d said earlier.
“It’s fine,” was all Kakashi said.
Iruka wasn’t sure whether he wanted to scream or cry at the clipped responses he was getting.
“I’ll go set sensors,” Iruka excused himself.
He left the cave trying to keep to the trees. Everything still felt off but he was able to do more than enough in this body to make sure they’d be protected through the night.
Iruka made sure to take his time while he was out so he wouldn’t have to go back to where he’d obviously upset Kakashi, turning their already limited conversation terse.
After everything was set up Iruka could only dally so long before making his way back inside.
Entering the cave Iruka first saw Kakashi huddled over the fire, then smelt the food that Kakashi must have been cooking.
Iruka walked over slowly as he watched Kakashi fill two plates with food.
“Good timing,” Kakashi said, handing Iruka a plate.
“What’s this?” Iruka understood that it was food, but he didn’t understand why.
“You said you wanted dinner first,” Kakashi reminded him.
“I-“ Iruka was about to say something but couldn’t stop himself from laughing.
Kakashi looked at him with raised eyebrows; Iruka wondered how emotive he’d be without the mask and covered eye.
“Thank you,” Iruka said when he was able to calm his laughter.
“You’re welcome,” Kakashi said between bites of his food.
Iruka sat down across from Kakashi and took a bite of the food. It was surprisingly flavorful for them being in the midst of a mission.
“This is amazing, Kakashi.”
“Thanks.”
With that it went silent again. Iruka felt discomfort in the emptiness of the cave. Still he assumed that Kakashi preferred it that way and let it be even though it ate at him.
“Iruka?” Kakashi called to him.
“Hmm?”
“Do you hate me?”
“What?!” Iruka was surprised at how loud the word came out. “Sorry.”
He paused for a moment before remembering that Kakashi had asked a question. “No, I don’t hate you, why would you think that?”
“The chunin exams, for one,” Kakashi reminded him, which made Iruka cringe that Kakashi still held that against him. “And the silence since we’ve been on this mission.”
“I thought you liked the silence,” Iruka replied confused.
Kakashi shrugged, “Maybe a little, but it feels so unnatural compared to how you are around everyone else.”
“I guess,” Iruka admitted, “as to your other statement, no, I don’t hate you because of the chunin exams. I was mad at you, honestly I still think what you said to me went too far.”
“Sorry,” Kakashi mumbled under his breath.
“But Kakashi, it’s been almost two years. And in the end you were right. They were ready for the exams, I just wasn’t ready to let them go. Naruto became too important to me, and I couldn’t look at him like a teacher or a shinobi, but saw him as a little brother.”
“You’re important to him too,” Kakashi said.
Iruka felt saddened by the reminder, it had been too long since he saw or heard from Naruto.
“So what did you want to talk about?” Iruka offered.
Kakashi shrugged another strange gesture to see on his body from this outside perspective.
Iruka let out a small laugh.
“Ok fine, how’d you learn to cook so well? I can’t cook to save my life.”
Kakashi smiled and started on his tale.
They talked for a few hours, more than Iruka had ever talked with Kakashi. He wasn’t so bad like this. Iruka wondered if being in someone else’s body made it easier for Kakashi to open up.
When it got to a natural lull in the conversation Kakashi seemed too tense almost imperceptibly.
“How do you want to do this?” he asked.
Iruka felt his face flush. He’d almost forgotten what they needed to do to return to their own bodies.
“Umm, why don’t we set up first.”
They split up, Kakashi went about cleaning up from their dinner while Iruka set up their bed rolls on top of each other for cushioning and pulled out a few additional necessities.
He watched the pale hands of this body as he removed his flak vest as well as his weapons and shoes. He sat down on the splayed bed rolls and waited for Kakashi to join him.
Kakashi also stripped down to just the basics and sat down by Iruka’s side, not looking at him directly.
“May I?” Iruka asked Kakashi, noting the mask over his mouth.
Kakashi nodded, “we can take this off too,” Kakashi tapped against the hitai-ate, “but you’ll want to keep that eye closed.”
“Ok,” Iruka pulled off the headband making sure to keep his left eye closed. It felt harder than it seemed, but maybe there was enough muscle memory in this body to help him manage.
Then he lowered the mask and leaned in towards Kakashi. It was a little weird at first, but as he got closer it was easier to ignore the facial features that were distinctly his.
They leaned in until Iruka closed the gap and kissed Kakashi.
It was small and tentative but as Iruka started to pull away Kakashi leaned in again and continued the kiss.
Iruka was shocked by Kakashi's sudden forthrightness, but if it was anything like their talking earlier he must have been waiting for Iruka to make the first move. A hand went to his head as Kakashi angled for a deeper kiss. Iruka moaned against him as he felt his body already starting to react.
It was all a little confusing but Iruka would admit he’d always had a small crush on Kakashi.
After the intense make out session Iruka pulled away panting for breath.
“I, uhh…” Iruka wasn’t sure how to word what he was thinking.
“Less clothes?” Kakashi offered
“Yes,” Iruka agreed.
At least if they were both doing it together there hopefully wouldn’t be a weirdness of consent. In a way they both needed to give consent for their mind and their body separately.
Iruka felt awkward undressing Kakashi’s body, but at least he wasn’t doing it alone or with someone else.
“Let me help,” Kakashi offered. He must have seen Iruka struggling.
“Sure…”
Iruka’s body tingled as fingers dragged against his skin to pull off his shirt.
After the shirt was off, Iruka tugged at Kakashi’s.
“May I?” Iruka asked.
Kakashi nodded.
Iruka pushed the shirt up, letting his hands run across the tanned skin. The difference in their skin tones fascinated him.
Once his shirt joined the pile, Iruka pushed up the headband from his face loosing the stray hairs that he used to always hate. As he looked at them now they didn’t seem so bad.
Kakashi put a hand to his hair and started pulling on the band slowly giving Iruka a chance to tell him to stop, but Iruka just nodded to give him permission to let his hair down.
Iruka put his hands on his hips, and Kakashi mirrored him. They both slowly pushed down their pants and underwear until they were completely naked.
They sat there a moment mostly looking at the bodies they were in, taking in the new views.
Iruka leaned in for a simple kiss.
“What can I do?” Kakashi asked.
Iruka shook his head, “nothing yet, but are you ok with this?” Iruka’s hand was hovering near his crotch.
“Yes, I trust you.”
Iruka’s heart pounded loudly at Kakashi’s statement. Trust. It was important and not something he ever expected to hear from Kakashi’s mouth. Technically it was Iruka’s mouth, but that's besides the point.
When he had control of himself again, Iruka grabbed the ointment he’d found in their packs and used it as lube to prepare himself. He tried to be extra careful with Kakashi’s body; if this worked like they thought then Kakashi was the one who would have to deal with the after effects.
He couldn’t stop himself from using his free hand to rub at his erection. It wasn’t quite the same shape or size but it was still enough the same that it reacted to the same stimuli.
“Iruka,” Kakashi whined.
“Hmm?” Iruka looked up at him, noticing he held his hands at his thighs not touching himself even though Iruka could tell his erection was getting painful.
“You should touch it,” Iruka offered.
He watched as Kakashi slowly explored his body.
Iruka continued stretching himself further, but he was getting to a point where he needed more than just fingers.
“Are you ready?” Iruka asked.
“Yes.”
Iruka laid down on the bed roll and Kakashi grabbed his thighs pulling them close together. Their erections stood tall next to each other.
Iruka handed the ointment to Kakashi, “Put this on, it’ll make it easier on both of us.”
He watched as Kakashi covered his erection with the slick gel.
Kakashi positioned himself at Iruka’s entrance, “Ready?”
“Yes.”
“Tell me if I should change anything.”
Iruka nodded, then laid back to let Kakashi have full access to his body.
Kakashi eased himself inside slowly, taking a pause any time Iruka made a sound. It wasn’t too bad but with Kakashi’s body being new to this, Iruka was glad for them to go slow.
Soon Kakashi was fully inside of Iruka and Iruka looked up to see his own face staring back at him.
“Ohh this is weird…” Iruka mumbled to himself.
“Iruka, what’s wrong?” Kakashi stopped.
“Nothing, let’s keep going.”
Kakashi nodded and started to move. Iruka tried to close his eyes and imagine Kakashi’s face instead, but it kept distorting in his mind. He couldn’t stop himself from opening his right eye and watching as he fucked himself.
“Kakashi stop, please.”
He felt Kakashi’s hips stutter to a stop as he pulled out as quickly as he could.
“Shit, did I hurt you?” He asked, looking rather worried. That was an emotion Iruka was more used to on his own face.
“No. You’re fine,” Iruka assured him. He was a little embarrassed to say what he was feeling. “I uhh, I can’t do this looking at myself.”
“Ohh, yeah it’s a little weird.”
Iruka leaned close to Kakashi and wove his fingers into the brown hair.
“It feels good,” he said before he closed the gap and kissed Kakashi.
They kissed for a bit, before they parted. Iruka gave one extra quick kiss.
“Ready to continue?” he asked.
“Yes,” Kakashi growled out.
Iruka shivered at the sound as it went straight to his groin.
He turned around and kneeled in front of Kakashi so he was now staring at a wall instead of himself.
Iruka felt as Kakashi ran his fingers down Iruka’s back, before entering him again, more sure than before.
“Mmmm,” Iruka moaned as he felt completely filled.
Kakashi gripped into Iruka’s hips and started to move. His thrusts grew harder and faster with each moment.
Iruka heard his cries echo through the cave with each thrust. He repositioned so he could use a free hand to stroke at his erection.
They moved against each other in a rhythm, getting closer and closer to the edge.
Iruka felt Kakashi begin to stutter against him. With one last thrust they came together.
Iruka’s vision narrowed and Kakashi collapsed against him, pinning Iruka down until he blacked out completely.
When he woke up the first thing he saw was grey hair in front of his face. That was a good sign.
Iruka heard Kakashi groan from beneath him.
“Sorry,” Iruka said as he moved to let Kakashi free.
“It worked,” Kakashi noted.
“Yeah,” Iruka felt off, not sure how he should feel about it all.
He started picking up his clothes and getting dressed as Kakashi did the same.
They say in silence for a long moment, Iruka not sure what should be said after what they did. Iruka played with his hair as he tried to think about what to say.
“We-“ “Iru-“ they both tried to speak at the same time.
Iruka couldn’t help the smile that formed on his face.
“You first,” Kakashi offered.
“I was just going to say we should talk,” Iruka said.
“Yeah, we probably should,” Kakashi agreed, “There’s something I should have told you before we did this.”
“Ok…” Iruka wasn’t sure how to feel about Kakashi’s statement.
“I like you, Iruka. I have for a few years now.”
“Years?” Iruka didn’t know what else to say to Kakashi’s admission.
“Heh, yeah. Somewhere between our discussions about Naruto, and your outburst about the chunin exams I realized I couldn’t keep my mind off you.”
Iruka was stunned.
“I didn’t want to say something earlier and make what we had to do any more awkward, but it didn’t feel right to keep it from you afterwards.”
“I…” Iruka paused. What was he supposed to feel? This made his already complicated feelings about this night and this mission get more jumbled up.
“I don’t need you to say anything, and you should take all the time you need to figure out what you need to, but it didn’t feel right to not tell you.”
Iruka nodded, not really having anything to add at the moment.
They pulled apart their layered bed rolls and Kakashi moved his to the far side of the room to give Iruka space. Kakashi put out the fire and laid down leaving Iruka to his own thoughts.
He’d liked Kakashi too, but not to the same degree as Kakashi’s confession. For Iruka it was much more of a crush, and maybe lust for Kakashi physically, but he’d never really thought of it as more than that.
Iruka got himself into his bed roll and tried to sleep but his mind was still racing.
Should he have known from how into the sex Kakashi had gotten? He’d enjoyed it a lot too, so what did that say?
If Iruka was home he’d be tossing and turning in his bed, but the bed roll kind of trapped him in a single position and he wouldn’t want to disturb Kakashi even if he could move.
Kakashi seemed to be able to sleep just fine, as Iruka could already hear a light snore from him. He must be trained to be able to fall asleep in any situation. Or…
“Kakashi?” Iruka called out in the cave.
There was a pause to Kakashi’s breathing.
So he was only pretending to be asleep.
“I don’t know what to think or how to feel, but I hope you don’t hold anything against yourself. We did something that was necessary to fix a problem,” Iruka said, hoping he was right about Kakashi not being asleep. “Honestly I’m certain you liking me helped make our situation easier.”
He waited for some kind of response but got nothing.
“I guess I just wanted to say goodnight.” Iruka felt defeated at the lack of response but maybe it was for the best. It gave him more time to figure out his feelings.
Iruka struggled all night to get any sleep. When he woke in the morning Kakashi had already helped pack up almost everything so they could get on their way.
Their breakfast of ration bars was in silence, and it was much the same for their journey back to the village.
Iruka was glad to be back in his own body again for this, but between his lack of sleep and Kakashi’s sore body they had to make a few extra stops.
They were closing in on the village with only a couple of hours left when they made their last stop.
Iruka felt like it was now or never.
He’d gotten a chance to sort out enough of his thoughts last night that he wanted to try talking it out with Kakashi before they got home.
“Kakashi, I…” Iruka wasn’t quite sure how to start, “Will you go on a date with me?”
Kakashi’s singular eye was wide and unmoving as he stared at Iruka.
“Look, I don’t know how I feel yet, but there’s something there. Maybe it’s friendship, maybe it’s more, but I’m interested in trying,” he paused, nervous that Kakashi wasn’t responding, “I mean, if you are…”
They stood in silence for a bit.
“Sorry, I-“
“I’d like that,” Kakashi cut Iruka off before he could say something stupid.
Iruka let out a sigh. It made him feel a little light headed so he sat down against a tree.
“Are you ok?” Kakashi asked. He came over to start checking Iruka out for a fever.
“Just tired I think,” Iruka said. It felt like his body was shutting down after the release of adrenaline. “I think I need a nap.”
Kakashi chuckled at Iruka and sat down next to him. He tilted Iruka’s head onto his shoulder, “Sleep, I'm not going anywhere.”
Iruka felt his blinks grow longer with each one and he grabbed for Kakashi’s hand before passing out from exhaustion.