Islands In The Stream

by grahamhannah53

Summary:

Kakashi is a legendary MMA fighter; Iruka is a reformed street kid who now works in the Konoha City School system. What do they have in common? If they’re honest, pretty much nothing, except the fact that ever since the day they met, their internal compasses have been fixated on each other— that is to say, they're soulmates who can tell exactly how far they are from one another at any given time.

At first, they try to make it work, but who are they kidding? Soulmates or not, their lives are just too different. At least, that's what Iruka keeps telling himself until he invites Naruto (and therefore Kakashi and the rest of Konoha) to visit his beach house. In hindsight, it might have been a mistake on Iruka's part— the island doesn't really seem to be big enough for both himself and Kakashi…

But hey, it's only for a week. What could go wrong?

Chapter 1: Prologue

Notes:

lets get this bread

After being on a plane for what seemed like forever, Kakashi was surprisingly less than thrilled to finally land and exit the plane. Sure, it was good not to be crammed into the middle seat between Sasuke and Naruto, who wanted to fight the entire time, but that was a cake walk compared to what awaited Kakashi when he got off the plane.

 

After all, it's not every day a man reunites with his ex-boyfriend and soulmate— completely and totally on purpose, no less—  after having been staunchly avoiding said soulmate for several years.

 

At first, the idea of a vacation at Iruka's had seemed relatively harmless— after all, Naruto and the rest of the gang were going to be there to distract Kakashi from anything Iruka-related, and Kakashi would only be staying for one week (as opposed to Naruto's two weeks) because of his match schedule— but as Kakashi felt the gaping hole of distance in his chest closing with every step he took, he was becoming exponentially less convinced that coming within a thousand miles of Umino Iruka was a good idea. 

 

Of course, Iruka would be nothing if not welcoming. Kakashi would be received with open arms just like everyone else— the light brush of coldness Iruka would show him would be completely imperceptible to anyone who wasn’t Kakashi. Iruka was a perfect gentleman, and this vacation was supposed to be a much-needed break for everyone. As painfully awkward, tense, and awful as it would undoubtedly be for Kakashi, he knew that Iruka would make it right. He always did

 

But Kakashi wasn’t sure if he wanted everything to be right. 

 

Since the day they met, nothing had ever been the way it was supposed to be. They fought, they cursed, they denied one another what they wanted most and left empty-handed from the treasure vault that their fucked up relationship could have been— and all for what? Fame? Fortune? Security? Did they either really have any of that? 

 

As Kakashi thought back to what they once had, he wasn’t sure at all. So why should they pretend everything was fine now when it never had been?

 

“Come on, Kakashi-sensei!” Naruto urged, pulling him by the arm. “I see Iruka-sensei! Let’s go already!”

 

Kakashi sighed, feeling the gap of distance in his chest finally close completely, and he was thrown violently into the past as his one grey eye met Iruka’s soft brown ones.

Notes:

today is my last day of being a teenager and the first day of college classes for my summer semester, and im posting fanfiction... what could possibbly be better?