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Winter in Konoha was a miserable time even in a good year. It was too far north to be comfortable without a coat, hat, and scarf, but too far south to regularly get any decent snow. Mostly, winter in Konoha was just three months of wet feet, runny noses, and chakra concentrated in the toes until spring came.
The Rokudaime wanted to do something to break up the gloom and cold. The people of Konoha, shinobi or civilian, had been through too much. It had been a rough . . . Lifetime? Even after the victory in the Fourth War, progress on rebuilding was slow and the people were tired. Too many of them were still in Yamato's emergency shelters. They needed a reason to celebrate.
The problem was that Hatake Kakashi, Rokudaime Hokage of Konoha, had never been much good at planning celebrations. Or celebrating at all. Celebrations were things that happened to other people. And celebrations were planned by people who had a better understanding of what people wanted than he did.
Luckily, Hatake Kakashi, Rokudaime Hokage, had people who could watch his blind spots. So he summoned the most efficient, busy person he knew, because efficient, busy people could always be counted on.
And his help arrived, heralded by the strong smell of tobacco and a permanently tired resting bitch-face.
"Rokudaime, Iruka-sensei is here to see you, but he doesn't know why," Shikamaru said. "He's got Pakkun with him. He said Pakkun said it was urgent?"
Kakashi immediately shoved his work to the side of his desk so he could focus on Iruka.
"Maa, Shikamaru, just send him in. You know Iruka-sensei doesn't need to wait to see me."
The Nara clan head had the audacity to roll his eyes and mutter something about "absolute disasters," but he let him in. Iruka was holding Pakkun in his arms, no doubt keeping the ninken's feet off the cold wet of Konoha streets, but he bowed to Kakashi anyway before depositing Pakkun on the desk.
"Hokage-sama," he said. "What can I help you with? Pakkun said it was urgent. Is it Naruto? An academy problem?"
Kakashi pouted a little behind his mask. Iruka would call him Kakashi-san or even just Kakashi when they were sharing a meal, or watching a movie, or playing shoji together at his little apartment; once he had even called him 'Kashi' after they both dozed off on his couch after a very long day. But in public, ever since the hat, Iruka had stuck to calling him Hokage-sama.
Kakashi didn't like it.
"Yes, it's urgent, but no, nothing is wrong! I wanted to ask you about New Year's Eve."
Abruptly, Iruka's demeanor shifted. He rubbed at his scar, his eyes glanced at the windows, the doors, the corners where Kakashi's entirely unnecessary ANBU guards stood stone-still.
"Hokage-sama, is this really the right place to discuss New Year's plans?"
"Yes?" Why wouldn't it be?
He still looked uncomfortable.
"Okay. If you're sure."
"Excellent. Now, I've been thinking, and I think what Konoha needs is something to cheer people up this winter, like a nice bit of snow, but we can't summon snow, so what we really need is the chance to party. We need a festival, with food and drinks and fireworks. And maybe those goldfish catching games, if the water can be warm enough to catch goldfish but not cook them. You know. Lots to celebrate. But I'm not good at party planning, so I thought, who is the best person I know at getting shit done on time. And I thought of you."
Iruka looked at him, and his face had gone strangely flat from his previous fidgeting.
"You want me to plan a party. For the village. On New Year's Eve."
Kakashi waved his hand.
"Not alone! Not by yourself! You will have so much help. I've already got a committee picked out for you to use, and all the money we saved by minimizing my investiture ceremony can be put to this! And it's not like goldfish vendors have a lot of business this time of year anyway. I am sure you'll be able to get the goldfish very cheaply!"
"Hokage-sama, you didn't have an investiture ceremony. Tsunade-sama jammed the hat on your head, and Yamato-san kept you from leaving the office until you signed the paperwork."
"And now we have plenty of ryo to feed the village at this festival!"
"New Year's Eve is in three weeks, and you want me to plan a village wide festival with goldfish, for you, Hatake Kakashi, for, again, New Year's Eve?"
Iruka's face was now scrunching from flat to angry, and Kakashi knew he had to head off the shouting somehow before Naruto heard and accused him of trying to raise his precious Iruka-sensei's blood pressure. He shunshinned around the desk and took Iruka's hands in his.
"Please, Iruka-sensei. I know you can do this. I wouldn't trust the people of Konoha's happiness with anyone less."
Iruka's head tipped back when he looked at the ceiling and sighed, exposing a bit of his throat in a way that shinobi would only do with people they trusted, and Kakashi felt inordinately pleased with that, for reasons that he would never inspect, even in the privacy of his own head.
"Fine. Fine. I'll get the festival planned. But I need records on previous festivals, and an actual number for the budget for this by this afternoon."
"Done! I knew I could trust you, Iruka-sensei. All we need is some snow, and it will be perfect."
Iruka sighed again, long-suffering, before bowing and letting himself out.
Kakashi sat back down and smiled. This would be perfect. He was going to get a good grade in delegating, something that was normal to want and possible to achieve. And Shikamaru would certainly be delighted to do something as simple as running down numbers for him. Maybe he should assign Shikamaru to the festival committee as well. It would keep him from giving Kakashi looks when he caught the Hokage reading Icha Icha when he was supposed to be tackling paperwork.
🥂
Despite the fact that the man he was almost certain he had been dating for over a year was asking him to plan a village-wide event for New Year's Eve on short notice instead of asking him for input on any kind of romantic plans, Iruka wasn't actually upset about it. The village did need some celebration. And he was proud of Kakashi for asking for help and delegating instead of either trying to do everything himself or simply not doing anything at all.
And he definitely wasn't upset about the committee Kakashi had assembled on his behalf. Really. He wasn't. Even as he looked at the assembled shinobi around the conference table and resisted the urge to rub at his eyes in preparation for a headache.
There was Anko-chan, a good friend and excellent shinobi who, nonetheless, generally did nothing at festivals but drink beer, eat dango, and then weaponize the dango sticks.
There was Yamato-san, another excellent shinobi who was one of the few who Kakashi considered a friend, but who Iruka had never seen actually participating in a festival at all. Although it wasn't a well kept secret that Yamato spent considerable time in ANBU. Maybe he had some kind of logistics ninjutsu as well as the mokuton.
There was Asuma-san, still using his forearm braces and wearing a bandana over his ruined jaw. The man had barely survived an attack by the Akatsuki, was still struggling with his forced retirement and permanent injuries, and his days of enjoying anything as loud and raucous as a festival were long behind him. Even in the afternoon light, Asuma was squinting his eyes against the brightness.
There was Gai-san, still wheelchair bound, but as enthusiastic as ever. There was a shinobi who enjoyed himself at festivals whole-heartedly, and who would do everything in his power to make life better for the people of Konoha. But Iruka had his doubts about whether Gai was any better than Kakashi himself at the actual planning part of a celebration, and his shouted greeting was already making Asuma wince.
Rounding the group out was Shikamaru-kun, who looked as nonplussed as it was physically possible to be. At least he had a folder with some papers; hopefully the budget that Iruka had asked for. Well. At least motivating Shikamaru wouldn't be too difficult. Iruka would just assure Shikamaru that Iruka would keep close to Kakashi at the festival so he would have a few hours without having to keep an eye on him. And maybe suggest that an invitation for some Sunan representatives would not go amiss, in the name of inter-village cooperation.
Iruka put on his "welcome to the first day of school" smile, clasped his hands in front of him, and bowed.
"Good afternoon, shinobi, and thank you for your help. The Hokage has entrusted us all with his plans to give the village a celebration, and I know I can count on all of you. Now - does anyone know where to get goldfish? Or snow?"
The gleam in Gai's eyes shouldn't have been threatening, and yet -
"The rivers teem with carp! I am sure that I can catch -"
"Gai-sensei, no," Shikamaru said. "Iruka-sensei means little goldfish. The kind you scoop up in nets in the summer. Not koi."
Gai-san seemed disappointed by this, and Asuma was wincing again at the noise. Iruka made some decisions.
"Shikamaru - we're going to divide and conquer. We need budget for food and drink, for games, for entertainment, for fireworks. I know Kakashi sent you with budget figures. How much do we have for each?"
Shikamaru rattled off the total and some possible budget breakdowns.
"Alright, perfect. Gai-san - you are in charge of fireworks. Find someone who can get them prepared and see them set off on time. I know you know your way around Konoha in the wheelchair by now, and I have faith you can get this done in the next-"
"It will be done in three days, or I will scale the Hokage monument with my right hand tied behind my back!"
"Please don - oh, he's already gone. Anko-chan - you're in charge of drinks and alcohol. We don't have much time and a lot of suppliers will already have their stuff spoken for when the date is this soon, but I need you to get a few beer vendors and lots of juice and tea. Hopefully enough of the people of Konoha will already have their New Year's sake bought and they won't be relying on the village to provide the alcohol. Yamato-san, same instructions, but for food. We don't need festival food, we need it good and cheap and plentiful. Shikamaru - don't look at me like that - you are on decorations and publicity. Makes sure people know about the festival, and make sure that the emergency stores are open for the civilians to get decent winter clothes, because the Hokage is an unreasonable jounin who never actually pay attention to seasons thanks to his chakra stores. Asuma-san, I'd like you -"
"Don't, Iruka-kun. I can't get around fast enough to get anything done. I don't even know why I'm here. It's only because Kakashi wants me to feel useful -"
"Asuma-san, you do not need to run around Konoha or fight to be useful, and we aren't going to argue again about desk-duty versus active duty again. Kurenai loves you, Mirai loves you, and I love you , and you just have to accept that you are valued. I need you here, dealing with organization. I need you to keep me updated on everyone else's progress through the communication seals."
Asuma glared at him, but there wasn't much power behind it. Iruka was doggedly determined to make sure Asuma was still a part of the village even after his injuries, and he did need the help.
"What are you going to do then?" Asuma asked.
"I have the most important job of all," he said. "I am going to track down some goldfish for our Rokudaime."
If his idiotic, brainless, entirely-unaware-how relationships-work, probably boyfriend wanted goldfish at a hastily slapped together New Year's Eve festival, Iruka was going to get him goldfish.
🥂
Things didn't come together as smoothly as they would if the committee had three months instead of three weeks, but they still came together better than Iruka hoped. Anko had a love of bartering that proved to be essential to their success, as she was able to get quite a bit more liquor than Iruka had expected - enough to keep all the shinobi of Konoha pleasantly buzzed and the civilians this side of too drunk to function, at the Hokage's dime - which Anko decided to celebrate by bringing a case of her beer to the work room for everyone to share. This ended with Iruka moping on her shoulder, maudlin after his fourth beer, complaining that he didn't understand what Kakashi-san was thinking.
"He's giving me a job that should be an official's duty," he said. "Or the Hokage's partner, maybe, as part of public morale. And he's over all the time, still, making dinner or laughing at me when I try to do anything more than egg rice, and he calls me Iruka, but he barely touches me and we've never kissed. I haven't even seen his face. I don't know if he thinks we're dating or if he just thinks he can use me to get work done."
"The Rokudaime has spent too much time watching behind his back with the Sharingan to see what's right in front of him, Ru," Anko said. "You need to make him see. Use the festival for it. Show him what he's got in you. You can do it!"
Yamato, three beers in, not nearly as maudlin, but frequently muttering about sweet potatoes and bonfires and doing more math than seemed decent in public company, shocked Iruka by joining in their conversation.
"Anko-san is correct," he said, circling a figure on his tablet. "Senpai is a good man and deserves good things, but he has never had the opportunity to do much except be a soldier. And I know he admires you greatly, even if he is too thick to realize he treats you like a romantic partner in all ways but kissing. He may need it to be said directly to his face that you want a romantic relationship, officially. How many grams of sweet potato do you think an average civilian would find filling? And is yaki-guri acceptable as a desert dish, or should I revise the food offerings?"
"Yaki-guri is fine," Anko said. "Oh, or chestnut mochi. Iruka, you should put together a special picnic basket for the Hokage. Make it more like a date for your confession."
"I can't cook," Iruka said. "That' s no good. And even if I could, there's no time to cook between teaching, the mission desk, and festival preparation."
"Well, just walking the festival with him will be a good idea," Yamato said. "Especially if you can convince his ANBU guards to give him a bit of space. Senpai has been whining about them."
"He's the Hokage. Hokages get body guards. He needs to deal with it," Asuma said. "But I agree. Time and something to show you think of him romantically, Iruka-kun. That's the way to the man's heart. Not giving him more paperwork."
Asuma did not care for all the paperwork he had as part of the festival committee and continued to complain about his chosen job, but Iruka was in their work room often enough to see Kurenai and Mirai visiting him, bringing him soft foods for lunch and warm tea, both of his girls smothering him with love and affection. Kurenai-san even thanked Iruka for getting Asuma out of the house and working on something.
"He really needed this," she said. "He's a good father and a good partner, but he needs something to work on. Thank you."
Iruka was quick to say that she owed this thanks to the Hokage, but Kurenai laughed out loud at that.
"Kakashi never would have gotten Asuma to do this if you hadn't said yes," she said. "None of this festival would be happening if you hadn't said yes. Kakashi has always been a good shinobi, always been dedicated to Konoha, but he's not actually good with people and making them happy. He needs someone like you for this."
"Ah - thank you, Kurenai-san."
"Thank you."
When Gai met with success on his fireworks quest he - explosively - announced it to Iruka, although thankfully not in their workroom where it would trigger more than one headache, and possibly an ANBU investigation on what was making so much noise and smoke in the Hokage Tower. Iruka ended up apologizing to everyone on the street, civilian and shinobi alike, while Gai insisted that a small fireworks display was the perfect way to advertise for a much larger fireworks display at the festival.
"Although, esteemed Iruka-sensei," he said, loudly, as he always did, "I am somewhat shocked that Kakashi requested fireworks. He's never cared for them much. He says they're too loud for his ears, and he hates the smell."
Oh. Iruka hadn't known that about Kakashi. How had he not known that? And had Kakashi asked for fireworks, or had Iruka just heard 'festival' and thought 'fireworks' on his own? What had Kakashi actually wanted from this - a chance for Konoha to celebrate, yeah. But what did Kakashi want to do to celebrate? Goldfish? And he had mentioned snow. Goldfish and snow.
"Thank you for letting me know, Gai-san. I am sure that we'll be able to find some alternate
They were one week out from the festival, and Iruka had to make some adjustments, quickly.
He tracked down Shikamaru, who had been reluctantly but smoothly making sure that there were brightly colored coats available for all of Konoha's children and had crates and crates of bunting and lights for Konoha's streets. He was also reviewing some correspondence from Suna.
"Is the Kazekage sending any representatives for our little festival?" Iruka asked, and Shikamaru rolled his eyes.
"His sister is coming for sure," he said. "Troublesome woman. She's going to be in town for shinobi union business anyway. But Gaara and Kankurou may come as well. Apparently the Kazekage wrote Rokudaime specifically to find out if Naruto would be in the village 'to hang out because he is my best friend,' and Kakashi told me to come up with a way to tell him absolutely he would without implying he was keeping Naruto from missions just to make the Kazekage happy."
"Very good," Iruka said. "But I need to know; you've spend some time as Temari-sama's escort. She uses the wind - how comfortable is she with adjusting the weather?"
Shikamaru raised one dark eyebrow to look at Iruka, who did his best to appear the picture of innocence.
"Don't call her Temari-sama. It's weird. And I've mostly seen her decide to knock down an acre's worth of trees in one go," he said. "She doesn't care about things like growth rates or lumber. But I know she can direct the winds. What are you thinking, Iruka-sensei?"
"Let me add my own note to your letter, please. It's just something to make the festival special."
🥂
Three weeks and one day after the Rokudaime Hokage asked him to put on a village-wide festival, Iruka was wrapped up with a quilted coat over his clothing and a scarf around his neck, waiting at the entrance to the festival grounds for Kakashi-san with his committee. The council arrived first, with the Rokudaime walking behind them, Icha Icha in hand.
"Thank you so much for your hard work," one of the council members said to Iruka and the committee. "It already looks so splendid."
A few pleasantries and a long and involved promise to the ANBU that he would keep an eye on Kakashi if they just gave them twenty-five metres of privacy, and Iruka finally had some space with just him and Kakashi on New Year's Eve.
"It does look very good, Iruka-sensei," Kakashi said. "Not that I doubted you."
"Come and see what we've been working on," he said, and led Kakashi into the crowd.
There were streamers and banners and glowing lights and good luck tags bedecking the central square. There was a beer garden, and Kakashi indulged with two whole glasses of beer. Yamato had leaned hard into the roasted end of foods, and they got hot sweet potatoes out of the fire and chestnut soup for dinner. Kakashi was most excited about the goldfish for the kids to catch in nets, their little pools and the bags to carry them in all sealed with one of Iruka's special temperature regulation seals.
Kakashi won two, and cheerfully crowed about making Shikamaru write up an intensive care plan for them and tried to get Iruka to help him come up with farm-based names for them, as was Hatake clan tradition.
They walked and discussed goldfish and roasted sweet potatoes and the health of the village and their students, not quite hand in hand, through the people of Konoha. There was just one thing left to do - and Iruka had to convince Kakashi to double back to the stand making chestnut mochi to find Shikamaru "escorting" Temari while she had another serving.
"Temari-san," Iruka said with a bow. "It's time for that demonstration, if I could impose -"
Temari had cheeks full of dessert, but she nodded and accepted another stack of seals from Iruka.
"Give me twenty minutes," she said.
"Perfect. Kakashi - come on."
The Hokage looked intrigued and a bit suspicious, but he went along with Iruka anyway.
"Where are we going?" he said. "Gai's been talking about the fireworks for a week. I thought we'd stay to see it all."
"Gai-san also said you didn't enjoy fireworks," Iruka said. "So Temari-san has agreed to help me with a little bit of extra entertainment for tonight."
"But why are we leaving?" Kakashi asked, when Iruka led him out of the main square and back towards Hokage Tower. "I don't want to do any more paperwork. Why are we at the Tower?"
"Just look."
The seals and the wind chakra did what they needed, and, up on the top of Hokage Tower, Iruka got to see Kakashi's eyes widen in shock as a proper snowfall started, heavy and thick, but soft. It piled up quickly, thick enough to deaden some of the sound of the fireworks. The white coated the streets and the Tower, and it shone silver when it mixed in with Kakashi's hair.
"You made it snow?" Kakashi asked.
"Some seals and some weather work," Iruka said. "You mentioned snow a few times when you gave me the assignment, and I thought you'd enjoy it."
"I do. It's beautiful," Kakashi said after a few minutes. "Thank you."
"You know," Iruka said, going for conversational and relaxed but only hearing the stress in his own voice. "In a lot of places, New Year's Eve is a considered a romantic night. People spend time with the people they care the most about."
"Oh - no. Iruka, you're not - I don't mean to keep you from your loved ones. Thank you for the snow. You should go spend the rest of the night with the people you love."
He really was a dumb ass, this Rokudaime Hokage of theirs.
"I already am, Kakashi. We've been seeing each other for over a year now, and I don't know how you missed that," Iruka said, reaching for Kakashi's face to squish his cheeks.
"We have?" Kakashi asked.
"We have," Iruka said.
There was another few moments of silence, and then Kakashi asked, "Is this a date?"
"It is."
"Can I kiss you?"
"You can."
Kakashi swooped his mask down and finally kissed Iruka, on top of Hokage Tower, with two goldfish bagged in his hands and silver snow in his hair.
Maybe winter in Konoha wasn't so bad after all.