Chapter Text
Iruka stared down at the message he’d been sent, his orders staring up at him in stark black letters. Notification of Mandatory Residence Assignment, it said at the very top. That couldn’t be right, Iruka thought to himself, mentally tallying how many years it had been. Omega shinobi were only slated for mandatory residence after submitting deferred heat-share paperwork for five consecutive years, and Iruka had presented late, at age 15! That had only been… Oh. Right. Now that he’d actually taken the time to do the math, he realized it checked out. He was 20 now, and he’d never shared a rut with an alpha, so he really was up for a mandatory residence. He’d considered sharing a heat with Mizuki, back when they were dating, but it hadn’t worked out. It turned out to probably be for the best, as Mizuki was carrying around quite a few old-fashioned ideas about omegas and where they belonged (he turned out to be one of those people who expected omegas who were bonded to quit their jobs and raise a family. This might be okay for some omegas, but Iruka had no real desire to have a child of his own at the moment - maybe later, sure, but for now he preferred to nurture and support his students. Which he wouldn’t be able to do as a stay-at-home omega).
Of course, the whole mandatory resident system wasn’t much better than Mizuki in terms of its approach to omegas. Almost as old as Konoha itself, the mandatory residence system had been set up as a way to ensure that shinobi in the village never went too long without sharing a rut or a heat. Omegas and alphas could both get mighty twitchy if they didn’t share a heat or rut after a few consecutive years, and in rare cases this lack of physical coupling could lead to debilitating pain during a heat or rut, long-term chronic pain complications, high levels of stress and anxiety, even severe depression or mania - all of which created a significant hindrance to the demanding duties that shinobi were required to perform. In order to prevent these symptoms, Konoha had a system in place for all active Shinobi - this included Iruka, as he took missions during the summer, and also on the occasional weekend, if a mission cropped up that required a particular skill of his.
Mandatory residency had its own alpha equivalent - mandatory visitation. The idea was to collect all of the omegas who hadn’t shared a heat in the last five years, and require all the alphas who hadn’t shared a rut in five years to visit that space. Ideally, the alpha finds an omega they’re interested in, the omega shares this interest, the two share a heat and a rut (respectively), and they’re able to continue their work as shinobi without suffering the more extreme symptoms of long-term solitary heats and ruts.
On the surface, it might sound like a decent solution, but of course it was quite frustrating when one considered that, seeing as the only options were to “stay in a single location until you find an alpha to fuck” or “never go back to work”, many omegas just looked for the closest person who seemed remotely compatible and shared a heat or rut with them. To be fair, it was not as though there were a significant amount of shinobi who deferred their heat-shares and rut-shares for five consecutive years, but there were enough of them to fit in along with the regular customers at a local heat-house set near the Hokage tower - near the Academy, and Iruka was already trying to figure out how to sneak in without his students recognizing him. How embarrassing!
It didn’t help matters that Iruka certainly didn’t want to share his heat with anyone, and he knew that while technically anyone was allowed to use the heat-house, the people who tended to frequent there were also the sorts of people that Iruka tended to annoy, and be annoyed by in turn. Mostly because Iruka was a stickler for rules, and the Jonin that stopped by the mission desk often held his adherence to those rules in contempt. Iruka had the feeling that there might be some bad blood and mockery in store for him, as they’d likely see this as a prime example of hypocrisy - after all, the great rules-focused Iruka hadn’t followed the heat-share rule, so how dare he expect them to actually fill out their damn paperwork properly?
And really, that wasn’t a fair comparison at all, because filling out their mission paperwork was completely within their ability! It wasn’t his fault he’d been too busy to find anyone to share his heats with! After Mizuki, he’d been depressed, and then he’d started student teaching, and then he’d been given his own class, and now he was trying to handle the jinchuuriki kid, who for some reason had been placed in his class even though Iruka taught the top level class of pre-Genin and the kid clearly wasn’t at that level yet. Anyway, the point was that Iruka was busy, he didn’t have time to find someone to share a heat with! And now he was slated for mandatory residency, so if he wanted to get back to his classroom quickly, he’d need to find an alpha as soon as possible - within the first day, ideally within the first hour. He didn’t want any attachments, at this point it was just a matter of fulfilling a requirement so he could get back to his life.
He just hoped he could put up with the arrogance of the alphas he was sure to encounter long enough to consider fucking at least one of them.
Kakashi stared down at the bold letterhead and resisted the urge to sigh. Notification of Mandatory Visitation, it read, just like it did every year. Losing his battle with himself, Kakash sighed and balled up the notice, tossing it in the trash before flopping down on his lumpy couch. Ever since he’d been diagnosed with a hyperactive reproductive system - and no, it wasn’t a fucking joke, and yes, he was fucking tired of all the people commenting how it “must be nice” - his rut-share requirement had been adjusted in order to better regulate his hormone production. His doctor had said that the ideal solution would be to find a mate to bond with, as apparently this was the most effective form of treatment - his reproductive system produced too many hormones because apparently his body needed a mate. Not that Kakashi personally felt that way, his genes had just decided that all on their own. Because of it, Kakashi had to find someone to rut share with every year, and every year it got more and more exhausting to think about. It’s not that he hated rutting, per se, simply that he didn’t like not having a choice in the matter.
Plus, most of the time, the omegas he rutted with hated his scent, and it was never nice for one’s self esteem when you had to wear the same heavy-duty scent blockers you used for missions just to convince an omega to come to bed with you.
Groaning, Kakashi considered how pissed off the Hokage would be if he tried to avoid the mandatory visitation for another month or two. Then again, if he did, he ran the risk of a spontaneous rut - another wonderful feature of his hyperactive reproductive system, which meant that not only did he have to wear heavy-duty scent block to hide his scent, he also had to carry extra-heavy-duty suppressant pills in addition to the usual rut regulation meds in the off chance that his body decided that the middle of a mission was the perfect time to go into rut, despite being on rut regulation. There didn’t even seem to be any rhyme or reason to what caused the spontaneous ruts - at least, none that Kakashi or the medical ninja at Konoha Hospital had managed to find. It was just another weird feature of being Kakashi, and he’d had to learn to deal with it.
Groaning, Kakashi rolled over on the couch, burying his face in the back cushion. He was so tired of the stupid mandatory visitation system. Omegas were always afraid of him, hated his scent, and felt intimidated by him because of his reputation. He never enjoyed the rut shares, not beyond the physical release they represented, anyway. His doctor assured him that mating someone would help regulate the hormones, make his scent smell more neutral once the bonding hormones had a chance to take effect, and it would likely prevent the spontaneous ruts, too. But that was assuming that Kakashi was going to find an omega who would give him the time of day long enough to take that next step of actually mating. So far, he’d found none that could stand him for more than a single rut share - and as far as Kakashi had been concerned, the feeling was entirely mutual.
Still, he thought, wrinkling his nose against the back of the couch, better to get it over with. The sooner he could share his rut, the sooner he could forget about it for another year.
“Hello,” Iruka said awkwardly, walking into the public heat-house the night before his mandatory residence was due to start. He’d taken the week off of work, and didn’t want to risk his students spotting him. This seemed like the best solution to that particular issue - an extremely early check-in. “I sent a message earlier, asking about late-night arrivals?”
“You’re the mandatory resident?” the desk clerk asked, lifting a single eyebrow and giving Iruka a quick once-over, the look on her face indicating a certain level of interest that Iruka wasn’t completely comfortable with.
“Yes,” Iruka answered, trying not to look as uncomfortable as he felt.
The young woman at the front desk pulled open a drawer, withdrawing a few papers as she spoke. “It’ll cost you for the extra night,” she said, “The village mandate only covers six nights, so if you’re staying for seven you’ll need to pay for the last one.” She attached the papers to a clipboard, which she scooted across the counter to him. “If you wouldn’t mind filling this out,” she said.
Iruka nodded, picking up the pen attached to the clipboard, noting the price per night listed as he scribbled down the required information to check in, marking the box that was labeled mandatory resident with a small wrinkle of his nose. “Thank you for the information,” he said, noting that his grocery fund for the month was going to take a significant hit if he spent the extra night here. Oof. He scooted the completed form back across the counter. “And thanks for letting me check in so late at night.”
“You’re welcome,” she said blandly, looking over the form and nodding to herself before handing him a key attached to a simple keychain with the room number printed on it. “You’re in room two-fifteen. Down this hall, up the stairs, it'll be on your right.”
“Thank you,” Iruka said, taking the key and heading for the main hallway.
“Enjoy your stay,” the woman called after him.
Iruka wasn’t sure that would be possible, but he would at least try not to be miserable about it. “Thank you,” he replied, hefting his duffel bag over one shoulder as he walked. It wasn’t especially heavy as he hadn’t brought much with him. He would have brought even less, but he’d felt it was probably bad form to hang around in his shinobi blues, despite the fact that they were what he wore around the house ninety percent of the time, and what he wore outside the house almost every day. He only had a few casual clothes in his closet, so he’d packed them all - a pair of jeans, a pair of khakis, a few sweaters and t-shirts. He hoped they still fit, he hadn’t worn some of them in over a year.
He found his way to room 215 without difficulty, unlocked the door and let himself in. The first thing he did was pull out some chakra paper, the necessary seals already drawn across them. He placed one at every corner of the room, one in each corner of the window, and one on each corner of the door frame. They would provide temporary wards and keep the room from being invaded while he was out. Or while he was… ugh. Heat-sharing.
Temporary wards set, Iruka moved on to unpacking, hanging his few clothes in the closet before pulling out a ratty t-shirt and a pair of old shorts, worn to the point where they’d grown soft and comfortable. After brushing his teeth and taking a quick shower, he dried his hair and found his way to the double bed paid for by the mandatory residence fees. The mattress was hard and the pillow was even harder. Iruka didn’t like to think of himself as soft, he could sleep on the cold hard ground when a mission required it. Still, he already missed his own bed and pillow and he hadn’t even been laying down for five minutes yet.
With a sigh, he turned off the lamp at the bedside and tried to get comfortable. Tomorrow, he’d be going off his heat regulators and finding someone to share a rut with, so he needed to get some rest while he still could. If he managed to fall asleep at all, anyway.
On the morning of his mandatory visitation, Kakashi lay in bed feeling sorry for himself for approximately one hour. Then, he dallied around his apartment, making himself a cup of coffee, cooking a lavish breakfast and picking at it before deciding he wasn’t really hungry, re-reading his favorite chapter of Icha-Icha Paradise, watering Ukki-san, and dusting the windowsills. Eventually he ran out of stalling tactics. He was about an hour late to his appointment by now, so that seemed like a decent enough window of wasted time. Checking one last time to make sure his scent blockers were working, Kakashi made his way to the heat-house. Maybe if he was lucky, he’d find someone as soon as he walked in and he wouldn’t have to deal with a bunch of omegas who hated his scent but refused to have him when he went scentless.
When was he ever lucky, though?
Kakashi wandered into the heat-house, waving a lazy hand in the direction of the young man at the front desk - he’d been working here for the last two years, the same afternoon shift. Kakashi wondered if the gig paid well, or if the civilian just had no better options. It was a job, anyway. Kakashi wasn’t one to judge, considering his own rather bloody line of work. Checking people in and out of a heat-house seemed quite mild by comparison. “Yo,” he greeted, walking up to the desk. “I’m here for a mandatory visitation.” He patted his pockets, eventually finding the paperwork he’d been sent, handing it to the desk clerk. “It should be taken care of already.”
The clerk accepted the sheet of paper, glancing over it for several seconds before nodding. “Everything appears to be in order, Hatake-san.” He glanced up, and frowned a little. “Are you going to be wearing your gear during the visitation?”
Kakashi glanced down at himself, realizing that in his efforts to put off arriving on time, he’d never gotten around to changing into civilian clothes. Huh. That might scare off the civilian omegas. Then again, he tended to scare off omegas regardless, so what difference would a flak vest and shinobi blues really make? “Is there a rule against it?”
The clerk eyed him for a long moment, his gaze sweeping over Kakashi’s unkempt hair, his hitai-ate pulled down over one eye, his general disposition, and slowly shrugged. “There’s no rule against it, but - and don’t take this the wrong way, shinobi-san - you are planning on sharing a rut with someone, yes?”
Kakashi glanced down at himself, sighing internally. Planning on sharing a rut? Yes. Willing to put in the effort, just to be repeatedly turned down? Not exactly featuring in his plans. “This isn’t a problem, is it?”
The clerk shrugged at that, shooting Kakashi a sympathetic look. “It’s not a problem, shinobi-san. It just seems like maybe you’re putting in very little effort. It’s, ah, not a great look. That’s all.”
That was probably a lot more honesty than Kakashi deserved or really wanted from a front desk clerk, but he figured it was his own fault for asking. “Maa, I just thought that honesty is the best policy,” Kakashi lied weakly, scrubbing at the back of his neck, casting his gaze away from the clerk and scanning the corners of the ceiling like they might be hiding something before returning his gaze to the clerk. “I don’t have much of a personal life outside the job, so it seemed foolish to pretend otherwise.”
The clerk nodded sympathetically, though the look in his eyes told Kakashi that he didn’t really understand. “Well, we’ve got quite a few omegas in today, and several alphas here, too. You know the rules - no posturing, no fighting, no public displays. Keep it polite at all times, please.”
“Of course,” Kakashi replied, bobbing his head in a short bow of thanks. “I’ll just be going to the visitation room, then.”
“Enjoy your visit,” the clerk replied with a wry smile.
“I will,” Kakashi lied, turning and walking through the sliding door into a narrow hallway, making his way to the visitation room, where most of the unmated omegas would be, mingling and chatting with interested alphas. Ugh. He hated small talk at the best of times, and small talk with the intent to take someone home because he had a mandated rut share was definitely not the best of times.
As he stepped into the visitation room, he immediately picked up on a simmering tension in the room. Instinctively, his eyes darted around, noting with some surprise that there were quite a few vaguely familiar Jonin who happened to be here today. That was surprising, since most of them probably didn’t need to visit a heat-house to fulfill their duties. So why were they all here?
As if sensing his confusion, one of the Jonin caught his gaze and grinned. It was a friendly enough gesture, but that only served to confuse Kakashi further. It was rare for an alpha to be so welcoming to another alpha when they were vying for the attention of unmated omegas, even if this was a more neutral meeting ground than most. The Jonin - a fellow named Kanazuchi, if Kakashi remembered his name correctly - wandered over, clapping an overly friendly hand on Kakashi’s shoulder.
“Hey, Kakashi!” he greeted, a grin stretching almost uncomfortably wide across his otherwise unremarkable features, “I guess you must have heard about the sensei, too?”
The sensei? Kakashi blinked twice in confusion. What sensei? Why were there so many Jonin here for a sensei, this was a damn heat-house, not a school! What the hell was he talking about? Not wanting to betray his confusion, Kakashi simply inclined his head slowly. “Mm,” he said, a neutral response that could be taken either way.
This seemed to be enough for Kanazuchi, who laughed, once more patting Kakashi heavily on the shoulder. “Pretty hypocritical, isn’t it? Always harassing us about paperwork, just to find out he doesn’t even fulfill his own duties! A few of us heard about it and thought it might be fun to… ah… remind the sensei of his shinobi duties. You know. Like he’s always so quick to do at the Mission Desk.”
Kakashi began piecing together the clues he’d been given with that last statement, and he didn’t like what he was hearing. “You’re here to harass Iruka-sensei?” he asked.
“That’s what I said,” Kanazuchi replied, frowning in confusion. “Isn’t that why you’re here?”
Kakashi shook his head slowly, shrugging out from under Kanazuchi’s hand, still resting on his shoulder. “I came to visit,” he said. “Not bother a fellow hard-working shinobi.”
“Not even if he’s a hypocritical little shit?” Kanazuchi shot back, lifting an eyebrow. “Come on, the guy’s a self-righteous prick and deserves to be taken down a peg or two.”
Kakashi didn’t particularly like Iruka, but he also didn’t think the man deserved to be maligned by someone like Kanazuchi for simply following protocol. “I think you’re taking things a bit far, is all. If he’s here, he’s looking for companionship, not harassment.”
“He’s here because he’s a mandatory resident,” Kanazuchi shot back, “Because as much as he makes us fill out our paperwork, he apparently can’t be bothered to fill out his own.”
Kakashi stared back at Kanazuchi, now even less impressed with the situation. “You mean that you’re not only harassing someone who’s here to find a companion, you’re harassing a man who isn’t allowed to leave until he’s found a companion?”
Sensing that this conversation wasn’t going the way he’d hoped, Kanazuchi backed off a little. “Look, Kakashi, it’s just some harmless fun,” he said. “He’s just an annoying Chunin who always seems to have a kunai up his ass, and it’s nice to see him get his comeuppance for once. It’s nothing serious.”
Kakashi didn’t agree. He’d had his own hell of a time trying to manage his emotions about being forced to share his ruts even when he didn’t particularly like the person, and couldn’t imagine how it would have felt if he’d been forced to do so while also being verbally abused by the people he worked with for the apparently unforgivable sin of not wanting to heat share. “Yeah, well, if it’s nothing serious then maybe you should just leave,” Kakashi growled irritably, stalking across the room to the beverage station. He needed coffee, and he hoped that Kanazuchi would have the presence of mind not to follow him.
Once he’d picked up a cup of black coffee, he turned around to survey the room. It wasn’t hard to locate Iruka, now that he knew the man was here. There was a small group of about five jonin and three chunin alphas all crowded around a particular corner. Kakashi scowled. Talk about overwhelming a guy - and what was Iruka supposed to do with that, anyway? He couldn’t exactly find a partner to heat-share with when he was being bombarded on all sides by a bunch of assholes with nothing better to do than wave around Iruka’s sexual history like some sort of victory flag.
He didn’t particularly want to get involved, but it didn’t sit right with him, either. Sighing, Kakashi headed across the room to at least get an idea of what Iruka was dealing with. If the sensei needed bailing out, Kakashi would step in. He didn’t particularly like the Chunin, and he was fairly certain that the feeling was mutual, but that didn’t mean he wanted to see the man harassed for something that was, for most people, an intensely private affair. He wished Iruka all the best in finding someone to share his heat - it was an awkward experience, and Kakashi hoped it went easier for the teacher than it usually did for him.
As he drew closer, he was able to overhear snippets of the conversation, which seemed to be running along the lines of inappropriate evaluations of Iruka’s sexual prowess, tasteless innuendos, and general criticisms of Iruka-sensei’s apparent unwillingness to heat-share with any of them. Not that Kakashi blamed him - it was clear these alphas weren’t here because they were actually interested in a heat-share, they just wanted to embarrass the poor Chunin.
“Yo,” he said, stepping into the middle of the herd of alphas, “Iruka-sensei, I heard you were here too.”
Face bright red with what was either embarrassment or contained rage (and in all likelihood a little of both), Iruka stared back at Kakashi for a long moment before finally saying. “Yes, Hatake-san, I’m here too.”
“Did you get some coffee? Or are you a tea-drinker?” Kakashi continued, completely ignoring the irritated growls coming from several of the alphas on either side of him.
“I had some tea,” Iruka answered hesitantly, his red face slowly returning to its normal hue, though his expression was beginning to take on a look of confusion. “But I finished it about thirty minutes ago.”
Kakashi clucked his tongue disapprovingly. “And not one of these people,” he glanced from one side to the other, pointedly eyeing the group of alphas gathered around, “offered to bring you a refill?”
Iruka blinked in confusion. “Um. No, they didn’t?” he answered, sounding utterly baffled by the turn of events.
Kakashi clucked once more, shaking his head as if in disappointment. “A truly sad state of affairs, when an alpha isn’t even considerate enough to see to an omega’s comfort in a place like this.” He turned his gaze on the surrounding alphas once more, lowering his tone to something with just a hint of a growl. “One might even say it’s… disappointing.” He wasn’t about to get kicked out for starting a fight (the amount of paperwork he’d have to fill out was deterrent enough), but he knew how much power to put into his voice to make sure any other alphas in the vicinity knew he meant business. It was one of the few advantages of his hyperactive reproductive system - his alpha seemed to be quite intimidating when compared to the average, and it was easy enough to inform another alpha when they needed to leave. Which was precisely what he did now.
“Oh,” one of the alphas said, backpedaling quickly. “Sorry, Kakashi, didn’t realise you were, ah, interested.” Several other alphas nodded in unison, scooting back as well. A few more murmured apologies followed this revelation.
Kakashi watched the alphas take their leave one-by-one, his self-congratulatory attitude shifting to a state of confusion when he felt a poke in the center of his chest. He turned his gaze to Iruka, who was glaring at Kakashi with an incomprehensible ferocity, his index finger jabbing against Kakashi’s sternum.
“I’m sorry, Hatake-san, but just because you’re a powerful shinobi doesn’t mean you can lay claim to me like a piece of meat,” Iruka informed him, turning away from Kakashi to snatch up his teacup with a scowl. “I can get my own refill,” he added, shaking the cup pointedly. “If you’ll excuse me,” he snapped, bodily running into Kakashi, pushing him aside with his shoulder and storming across the room to the beverages.
Kakashi watched him go with interest. He had expected gratitude from the Chunin, maybe a small blush in response to his display that scattered the annoying alphas. Anger from the Chunin-sensei came as a surprise, and it made him wonder. Why would Iruka-sensei be so upset over Kakashi’s attempt to help? Frowning a little, he considered following the Chunin across the room. Or would that just upset him further?
“Sorry again, Kakashi,” one of the Jonin said as he took his leave, waving awkwardly before sheepishly leaving the room.
Kakashi grunted, not bothering to reply, his eyes still fixed on Iruka. What the hell was this Chunin’s problem? Kakashi knew that the man was skeptical of his ability to fill out a form correctly, but he didn’t understand what was so bad about chasing off a bunch of assholes who were just trying to make him uncomfortable. If Kakashi had been the one being harassed, he would have appreciated…
Frowning, Kakashi forced himself to stop and really think about the situation, coming to an uncomfortable realization. If someone had stepped in and chased a bunch of alphas off without checking with him first, he probably would have been irritated, too. Iruka was no Jonin, but he wasn’t helpless. He was a trained shinobi, he had a wicked tongue and a fiery temper to match. If he’d needed defending, he could have easily defended himself verbally, and any physical misbehavior in this heat-house would have been swiftly dealt with by the internal security.
Iruka was right to be frustrated, he concluded. Kakashi had walked into a situation and made an ass of himself, and then expected the Chunin to be grateful to him for it. There were probably better ways to disperse the alphas, instead of throwing his weight around, but Kakashi hadn’t bothered looking for one because he was too busy projecting his frustration at his own situation onto Iruka. Frowning thoughtfully, Kakashi watched the Chunin fill his teacup with hot houjicha tea. Maybe he should apologise to Iruka.
As if sensing his thoughts, Iruka glanced back over his shoulder at Kakashi, his scowl deepening.
Later, Kakashi amended his thoughts. Maybe he should apologise later.