Iruka giggled as he squirmed farther back in to the branches of the tree he had settled in. He knew from experience that this spot was excellent for hiding from his angry elders and right now he really needed a place to hide. He 'd set off a smoke bomb in class because Nobuyuki-sensei had been extra boring that day. Once he 'd escaped the classroom it had naturally followed that the twelve year old pulled as many pranks as he could around town before someone figured out it was him. Getting chased was fun. It meant that the grown-ups had to pay attention to him, even if just for a little while. Iruka liked making them search for him. Making them go through so much effort was the best part.

A rustle of leaves only a few trees to the south had him stifling his giggles behind a hand, hiding the wide grin on his face. No one had ever found him in this hiding spot and he was sure they wouldn 't now. He didn 't know what had made the hole in the tree but the way the branches grew meant that it was completely invisible unless you knew it was there. His small body was the perfect size for curling up in to it and disappearing while the adults went whizzing by, muttering angrily to themselves about whatever prank he had most recently pulled.

His smug thoughts were broken when a hand suddenly reached through his leafy cover, pulling aside the branches to reveal the mask of an ANBU agent. He gaped up at them in consternation. A grinning mask with painted streaks depicting a stylized dog stared back at him. Behind the mask, someone huffed irritably, then the hand not holding branches aside reached in to his hidey hole and grasped him by the scruff of the neck.

Iruka squawked indignantly as he was hauled out and held up in the air like a doll. Flailing his limbs did absolutely nothing to loosen the iron hold on him, so he went still and settled for crossing his arms and glaring. The ANBU chuckled but said nothing. It wasn 't a deep and scary laugh as one might expect of the demons that parents used to scare children in to good behavior. It was soft and slightly higher than was typical of a grown man. It made Iruka stop and take a good look at his captor.

The uniform was tight and minimal, showcasing the scrawny limbs and elongated torso of someone in the midst of a growth spurt they hadn 't fully completed yet. Messy hair spilled in every direction possible, swaying with the slight breeze and obscuring the edges of their mask. Under the armor flexed the muscles of someone who trained hard every day and had done so for a long time. One thing stuck in Iruka 's mind: this was not the body of an adult. His captor could not be much older than himself! Of course, as soon as curiosity took hold of his mind, his mouth followed behind at a mile a minute.

'You 're ANBU! How old are you? You can 't be older than me by much! I 'm Iruka. I 'm twelve. How did you get to ANBU so young? Will you teach me? You must know lots of cool tricks! I like playing tricks! Why don 't you say anything? Are you shy, ANBU-san? It 's okay, I 'll be your friend! How did you find me? Wait I know! You 're a dog so did you smell me? '

His flow of questions stopped at last when a gloved finger was pressed against his lips. He hadn 't registered how still the other boy was until he had suddenly moved and it succeeded in startling him in to silence. That was when he noticed how the finger against his lips was trembling.

Slowly, the older boy set him on his feet so they stood facing each other on the thick tree branch a dozen feet above the ground. Iruka watched as his captor lifted the hand that had held him to remove the porcelain dog mask. He gasped in delight as it was lowered. He 'd heard that ANBU were never supposed to remove their disguise. Then he groaned in exasperation when he saw that there was another mask underneath, this one formed of black spandex. One dark eye was staring at him in wonder, its twin held closed almost as if by the scar that ran through it. He 'd been right in his estimation of age. The boy that was awkwardly clearing his throat couldn 't be more than a few years above him.

His entire world was then turned upside down by the softly spoken words, 'Hello Iruka. My name is Kakashi. '

He watched, fascinated, as the world around him lit up with color. It looked as though beams of every color imaginable were spilling from the older boy 's mouth with each word, streaking away to find their places in the forest scenery. He remembered his parents, before they had died, telling him stories of the day they had met. They had told him he would know his soulmate the moment he met them because they would put color in to Iruka 's world. He hadn 't known what 'colors ' were. He 'd had no idea they were this beautiful.

'Wow, ' he whispered, watching the beams of color trailing off in to the air. His gaze snapped back to the eye that was watching him carefully. 'A soulmate. I 've got a soulmate! Hi Kakashi! ' Then he leapt forward to throw his arms around the boy, who caught him with a surprised grunt. He felt a hand hesitantly cradle the back of his head where it pressed in to the ANBU 's chest plate.

'Yeah. Hi. ' Kakashi, he decided, was slightly awkward. That was okay, though. Kakashi was his soulmate and Iruka already knew that he would love him with his entire tiny heart.