AN: A snippet which started to evolve into a story right after writing the Balance. Let's see what will happen with it, reviews and suggestions are always welcome for the plot to evolve. Not aiming to write a chapter for each day, but we'll see. Enjoy enjoy!
Disclaimer: I'm not Kishimoto. Therefore these characters are not mine. And water is wet.
Also, the credits for the cover image go to HALCO/Chikadoh. Upper image is from the story 'Neko Ni Nare' and the lower from 'Moshimo Kimi Ga Naku Naraba'.
Day 1: Worlds colliding...again.
As the morning came the people in the Hidden Village of Konoha started their daily routines as usual. Some were getting ready for their early missions, kissing their loved ones before taking off, some were practicing their Vigorous Springtime Of Youth by running 30,000 laps around the village by using only three fingers from both hands, some were nursing the mother of hangovers with a plethora of dango...
..and some were being rudely interrupted by ANBU while enjoying their sinfully soothing morning tea (while wearing nothing else than their boxer briefs) before setting off to deal with a hoard of pre-adolescent troublemakers who knew twenty ways to kill an opponent by using their pen starting with their left index finger but still didn't have the damnest clue on how to spell 'bunshin no jutsu'.
One more snort from the ANBU on the right and he'd experience the 'Pen Penalty N.o 21'.
They told him to wait before Shizune-san would call for him. Nursing his already chilled tea he sat down on the small couch in the corridor and gave a long, silent sigh. Kami knew what Godaime had in store for him when it was only six thirty a.m. With any luck she'd be either drunk as skunk, sinking in the aftermath of being drunk as skunk and being overly emotional, again, or having one hell of a hangover and, being the inventive sadist she then was, inclined to inflict collateral damage on one of her favorite desk chuunins. Which just happened to be him. Again.
Being in close work relations with the Hokages had its downsides apparently.
"Maa, Iruka-sensei? They called you out here as well? What did you do, set Ebisu on fire...again?"
Hangover it was then.
"Morning, Kakashi-san," Iruka said with much less smiling than the copy-nin was used to. The silver-haired ninja cocked his head to the side to give a better look at the slightly rumpled-looking sensei. Iruka looked well-rested, granted, and had his hair up as usual, granted, and was glaring at his seemingly very cold tea at the moment-
Ah.
"May I wonder what happened to the 'good' part in your morning, sensei?" Not that anybody ever needed to know, Kakashi had already second thoughts about asking the now even more so annoyed teacher the said question, which now hung heavily above them. Outsiders may not have noticed anything going on with the seemingly innocent question, but these two knew better. Ever since Naruto had left to train with Jiraya-sama, the two men had become well acquainted despite their rather...colorful encounters. Violent and volatile would hit closer, though. They had settled their arguments on the chuunin exams ages ago but that didn't lessen their enthusiasm to grate on each others nerves. It actually became the main ingredient in their communication. It amused Kakashi to no end to discover what kind of man Iruka was under all the hyping his blonde student made sure to give every time anyone mentioned the brown-haired chuunin. The said chuunin, who was merrily crackling his china in his tightening grip as we speak, had turned out to be a rather compatible opponent when it came to tongue lashing and impressively inventive when it came down to makeshift weapons. After getting pinned to the wall with exactly twenty pens in exactly twenty seconds from exactly twenty feet counted from the teacher's desk ('Pen Penalty N.o 43'), Kakashi knew he had found the nerve he had been looking for.
And he did his best to hit that nerve.
"ANBU," came the growled response as the faint sound of wailing porcelain filled in the blanks.
"..Ah. Well, you do know there's a water boiler down the corridor, don't you? Unless this is some new blend you're trying now?"
All the time.
The dark look on the tea-deprived teacher's face would have made even Zabuza consider turning into philanthropist, but then again Iruka knew the man next to him lacked in all fields of normal social communication, or being just plain ignorant when the bastard chose to. Nothing a decent kick in the head couldn't remedy.
"..No, Kakashi-san, I didn't, and it's not." It wasn't Iruka's intention to accuse the other man for his shitty morning, but if the one-eyed nuisance offered his ass to be handed back to him, he wasn't against the fun. He still had his own ass hurting from their previous session. Now he was presented with two options, though. He could either go and get his fix of morning tea before turning berserk at Tsunade-sama, who apparently took her sweet time before calling them in, or indeed turn berserk, not against their Hokage but the sorry-for-being-genius-asshole who was acting far too chipper for his liking. Way too chipper in fact. Too chipper for Kakashi at now six fifty-five in the morning-
...Ooohhhh.
Kakashi didn't like what he saw on the other man's face. That look was a prelude for something very uncomfortable for him, and he knew that the teacher knew that he had a reason to fear that look now. That look was the bane of every student, subordinate, colleague and enemy nin ever getting a glimpse of it.
The look of 'I just realized you're missing something'.
He really should have slammed his fist in the ANBU's face as his first thought had been for that morning.
"They took your porn, didn't they?" Iruka couldn't help the wide grin spreading on his face. The indignant blush on the uncovered cheek made his morning. Elite jounin his chuunin ass, everybody knew how to get the lazy man to move even an inch against his will in the morning. After Iruka had snuck into the man's house a couple of months ago and locked the prized book collection into a rather plain coffin with no seams, no lock, no key and with a good jutsu on it and then left a note that it was good to exercise Kakashi's deduction abilities once in a while, all the shinobis present in the village at that moment had the privilege to witness a phenomenon later labeled as 'Lightningwave'. Some of the buildings still had scorch marks on their walls on the spots where the rather homicidal jounin had set his foot on his mission to find and kill the fucker who had just made his merry way into copy-nin's own personal Bingo Book. By the time he had found the culprit he had already calmed down, but that didn't last long after they found out just how good ammo against Kakashi the sneaky sensei had actually provided for the whole village. Which others were more than happy to apply whenever the situation called for it. Apparently this was one of those. Again.
"They'll be dead by noon. I'll get you some tea, sensei."
"Kakashi-san, Iruka-san, Tsunade-sama would like to see you now," Shizune said as she peeked behind the big doors to see what she feared was chaos and havoc. She had heard about these two men from other shinobi during the time she gathered their information for Tsunade in order to give the new Hokage all the intel needed on her shinobi when she started. As the time went by, the escapades where the names of these two were present hit frequently her radar and for the first time in years when working with Tsunade she really doubted the sanity of her friend and leader. They would soon have two corpses in their hands if Hokage-sama really was having her way with these shinobis.
What she actually saw made her doubt her doubts, though. The said men, both not so happily called from their homes, were sitting side by side on the couch and chatting in a manner that suspiciously sounded...friendly. And that wasn't the only thing that caught her attention. Surprisingly enough Iruka had a new simmering tea cup in his hands as Kakashi flipped nonchalantly the pages of something that looked almost like a...nude calendar? The men glanced up from their conversation and stood up, Iruka sipping down the last drops of his drink and Kakashi handing the small calendar back to the teacher. Shizune felt her jaw drop. That was Iruka's calendar?
"You'll thank me later, Shizune-san," Iruka grinned as the men walked past the stunned woman into their Hokage's office. After the Icha Icha Confined! incident it became a habit of his to carry around the seen small calendar to soothe the older shinobi, especially in cases when it wasn't Iruka who had picked on the man's porn. He liked his head enough to keep it intact. Not that he ever had the calendar when working in school, he had standards. Plus Kakashi knew where he kept it in case of emergencies such as the current one they had in their hands. Again.
The men stepped to their Hokage's table and shared a rather puzzled, brief glance.
Tsunade was...smiling.
Hell, she was radiating. "Good morning to you two. Iruka-sensei. Brat."
"Morning, Hokage-sama," Iruka smiled as Kakashi chose to rely on a small grunt. A grunt that turned into a low growl as the man spotted that damned little coffin next to Tsunade's desk. As if sensing what Kakashi was thinking, Iruka stepped a little bit more away from the disgruntled man. There was no way in hell he would step between an Icha Icha deprived pervert and the keeper of the man's collection, Hokage or not. She had ANBU for that kind of heroism. Iruka decided to have a word with Tsunade after their meeting, because as fun as it was to observe the man losing it every time someone even pointed a box towards his books, they might soon have a mental breakdown in their hands if she didn't stop messing with the man's porn. He wasn't too keen to witness how many lightning bolts Hokage's building could take.
"I'd like to see you try that, brat," their leader said as she glared expectantly at the copy-nin over her desk, snapping both of the men in front of her back to attention. "Moreover, I have a mission for you two." The confused silence that followed her announcement was not expected, though.
"...Us, Hokage-sama? Wouldn't it be wiser to have another jounin with Kakashi-san? Our skill levels are too different to benefit anyone, plus I still need to go to work today since..I..um.." the practiced complaint died in Iruka's throat as they watched the grin on Tsunade's face grow with each passing syllable. This occurrence was new for both of them and they didn't know what to make of it. By now Kakashi would have agreed with the tanned teacher, their missions have always been way too different to even compare plus their skills were indeed nowhere near par. Not that they haven't worked on that factor the last months-
Wait.
Suddenly the situation made sense for both of them and as they looked at each other they knew the other had got the same thought now running loose in their minds.
Busted.
"I see you both caught on what I mean. Good. Saves me the trouble then," Tsunade chuckled and tossed a scroll for both men while taking a better seat in her chair. "This mission is very different from the average rating. Not that I doubt either of you to accomplish it well."
"What does the mission has to do with us, Hokage-sama?" Iruka had to ask before opening the scroll, not that Kakashi had any qualms with that since the nosy man seemed to have read through the first three paragraphs already.
"Research."The amber eyes glinted with delight.
"More like guinea pigs if you ask me..." Kakashi muttered behind the scroll. Now Iruka had to find out where he was getting into. Tsunade observed with growing amusement as her two favorite subordinates read their assignment, shook their heads and read it again before exchanging more or less disbelieving looks, with more or less blushing cheeks.
"..You..you want us to move in together?" Iruka couldn't believe this. Surely the Hokage knew about their encounters? They'd kill each other within the first day!
"If that's the only concern then I'm more than pleased with your reaction, Iruka-kun," their leader purred with a grin bigger than Cheshire cat's. The following combustion of the tanned cheeks reached new records in Kakashi's scale. Plum seemed to suit the tan features quite well apparently.
"Why us?" Kakashi didn't find it hard to live under the same roof like Iruka did, but concerning the rest of their assignment...well, that was a whole new different matter.
"You figured it out yourselves already, brat." Godaime took a sip of her drink. "I've been given information on you two seen together on the training grounds two times a week, sometimes even four times a week if given a chance. This has continued for some time, am I correct?" The men nodded their confirmation. "And you reduce the use of your chakra when you spar, correct?" Again a slightly more wary nod. "Well there you have it. Only this time you would be training everyday for a month and interacting between yourselves only, as I would be the one controlling the levels of your chakra reserves. As it's written on your scrolls, the whole point for this mission is research. I bumped into interesting information about developing different fighting skills when shinobi trains without their chakra. Since you two have already started with it I figured it would be beneficial for the whole village's training program if this small mission would actually produce any significant results." At that point she waved at Kakashi who was already pondering what she was missing. "I know about Gai and Lee and believe me, those two are being studied as well, but they have a different starting point since they've been without certain skills their whole shinobi careers as you two on the other hand are both fully capable shinobi who also represent different ranks. In that case even if brat would get bored to death this method might be highly valuable to Iruka-kun."
She never thought it possible to get a synchronized eye-roll from these two.
"In any case, the instructions for your tasks are in the scrolls, you'll get escorted to the house by ANBU and I'll visit you every three days to check on your scores and manipulate your chakras. Any questions?" As she reclined in her seat, Tsunade gave a brief look at both of them. They would both benefit her research, especially Iruka since the man has really taken far too few missions in Sandaime's time, and even though Kakashi was already superior both in physiology and stamina, the Godaime had a feeling the tanned sensei has found ways of getting on the same level with the village's genius. There was simply no other explanation for the two men to train so eagerly every week, especially for Kakashi who already had Gai of all people to keep him busy outside missions.
"When do we leave, Tsunade-sama?" Iruka had a sinking feeling he would be indebted to Shikamaru until his early grave. That boy would grow to hate him.
"The moment you get your bags packed and shifts worked out, sensei", came the happy response.
Apparently Shikamaru wouldn't be the only lucky one.
"So."
"So."
"That does look like a nice house."
"As in 'Nobody hears your screams', eh?"[1]
"Kakashi-san!"
"Maa, joking, joking. But you've got to admit, it's her we're talking about."
"True, but I hardly think Tsunade-sama would sabotage her own research, Kakashi-san."
The flat look on the lone eye was more than enough for an argument.
Even the ANBU next to them seemed to agree with the older man.
Iruka could feel his ears heat up when facing the tough audience for his hypothesis. "...Much at least?" Oh who was he kidding, that lady would have used them as gambling chips long time ago had it been legal!
The ANBU gave a thorough check of the house before nodding their goodbyes at Kakashi and vanishing out of sight. As they entered the house, Iruka wondered for a brief moment if the older shinobi would teach him that trick. He would be one step closer then at driving his class up the walls. Not to mention the troublemakers in the mission room. Speaking of which...
"It seems we have to share the bedroom, sensei."
Iruka glanced up at the rather blunt statement when taking off his shoes. He took both his own bag and the bag they got from Tsunade with him and stepped further down the corridor where he heard the other man hustle in one of the rooms. There were only three doors in the corridor and in the end a rather large open space kitchen with necessary items for cooking. Iruka gave the kitchen a brief look before stepping in to the room closest to the kitchen and he saw Kakashi making his bed already in one corner of the said bedroom. He noticed the futon presumably meant for him still rolled on the other side of Kakashi's, with some linen folded next to it. With a small huff, the teacher let his bags hit the floor with small thumps before starting to make his own bed on the opposite side of Kakashi's spot.
The sudden tense silence was unnerving for both of them. When finished, Kakashi plopped down on his bed and observed as Iruka did his best to concentrate on folding his sheets in immaculate manner rather than sharing any thoughts on the fact that they, the infamous pair of walking destruction, were going to share every aspect of their living for one month. Kakashi felt he had to take the teacher's mind elsewhere, that pillow was mere hair spread away from getting incinerated under the dark glare set upon it.
"I mean really, we've both been on missions where one needs to sleep close to other teammates. It isn't that bad, right? At least she gave us separate beds this time." At that Iruka's ears perked to give their attention to the man sitting on his mattress.
"What do you mean 'this time'?"
"Asuma and way too much body hair. Don't ask."
With that sentence and the howling laughter following it the uneasy tension that had secretly built up between them vanished with no trace.
After Iruka had finished making his bed and unpacking his bag, not to mention rolling his eyes at Kakashi's thin travel-sized Icha Ichas with folded centerfold pictures of each position described in the texts (the paperback versions were ridiculous enough!), the men decided to explore their new accommodation for the coming month before starting with the official part of their unusual mission.
The two doors next to their bedroom were the toilet and the bathroom. It had two shower stalls with thin stained glass wall between them, for which Kakashi was grateful to Tsunade. The porn tragedies aside, she was also a Hokage who respected her shinobis' quirks and secrets and did her best to make them enjoy their job. Kakashi made a mental note to thank her for that when he'd see her again. While the older ninja mused on the small gestures from their leader, Iruka had already spotted a cabinet holding their towels, bathrobes and bathing supplies, not to mention a rather sizable first-aid kit accompanied with a jar full of painkillers with Iruka's name on it and a thin shower mask with Kakashi's initials. She knew her shinobis, alright.
Their next investigations left the kitchen cupboards raided of coffee and tea that were put on the counter right next to the coffee maker and water boiler which were also promptly put to use the second they found the wall socket for them. From the kitchen was an entry to the small garden behind the house with a high fence wall surrounding the area as well the whole house, creating a modest gate at the front. The men noted that nobody had the chance to see into the house from the street-level.
Nor to the outside from the house.
"That's rather..efficient." Iruka had to admit, he was curious to find out whom this house belonged to before them or was it really built for their mission. "Not that it would stop anyone entering here. At least anyone smart enough to just jump over it." Iruka took a sip of his tea and turned to look at the pensive Kakashi next to him. It seemed the man had spotted something.
"You have a point there, sensei. Unless.." Kakashi fingered his coffee mug in deep thoughts as he strolled across the lawn to get a closer look on what he suspected was a seal on the fence. He knew he had it nailed the moment he spotted the faint trace of chakra on the fence. That meant they had sealed themselves in the house the moment the ANBU had closed the gate behind them.
No one would hear their screams, indeed.
"It feels like Tsunade-sama's chakra. I wonder how it would react to ours," Iruka muttered suddenly behind Kakashi's shoulder. The man had somehow managed to sneak up on him while he pondered on their options, and Kakashi felt his neck prickle on the sudden intrusion of his personal space but decided to concentrate on the man's words. He touched the fence with his fingers and felt the chakra hum around them.
"It feels like it's accepting mine, so it wouldn't be a problem for us to leave here if the situation called for it. She really is something, that woman," Kakashi chuckled and gave a wink over his shoulder, getting a similar chuckle as the response.
"Well she wouldn't be our Hokage if she wasn't, Kakashi-san," Iruka replied as he turned to walk back to the house. They still had the most important room of the house unexplored, and frankly he was getting anxious of starting their task. He felt the silver-haired man follow him when he stepped back on to the small terrace with two sliding doors leading to the space which was the whole purpose of their mission. He pulled the doors open and gave a once-over on the sight greeting them as they stood on the threshold. The training space was ascetic and consisted of the tatami matted floor and the walls surrounding them, one of them having two pairs of sliding doors. Iruka pulled the doors open and they found both their bedroom and bathroom behind them. Not only was she considerate, she was also practical. Iruka turned to give a wide grin at his current mission partner, who seemed to catch on his next thought.
"Well, should we start the mission then, Kakashi-san?"
Iruka opened the bag Tsunade had given to them before sending them out of her office and pulled out a notebook containing their instructions for their chakra use. While the teacher sat to read, Kakashi took time to examine the vials and syringes held in a small box found from the bag. He took it to the counter next to the fridge and as he came back Iruka was already waiting him with two pieces of paper in his hands.
"You may want to read the text as well before we do the seals, just to check if I had it right," Iruka said as he offered the book to Kakashi who read it through while Iruka held the papers in his hand. The copy-nin nodded and tossed the book aside, then he took one of the papers and gave it a brief scan with his sharingan.
"You had it right, sensei. These do resemble the ones we make when we spar. How she ever found them out is beyond me, but at least it's easier for us to do them and also to trust that they work. Do you want to do me first?" The mischievous grin on the tanned face wasn't the answer he was after, though.
"Are you sure you don't want to cuddle first and see where that leads?" Iruka knew he was being a prick here, really, but a good shinobi never disregarded an opening when they saw it and they were acting a bit too professional for his taste at that moment. Plus the look on that lone eye was worth it. Although the moment the gray eye turned from sheer shock to shocking leer he knew he may just pay for his loose tongue.
"Maa, I didn't take you for a cuddling type," the older man all but purred as he took a few steps towards the teacher who was now growing slightly nervous on the sudden twist of events. "But I'm not entirely against the new lessons you could teach me if you..insist, sensei." Aaaand there was the plum tone again. He was getting good at making the tan man blush. Iruka stuttered and gave him the fiercest glare one can muster when glowing as a red beacon. Then he all but slammed the needed hand seals together, crushed the paper in between his hands to imprint the needed sign on it and lastly whammed the seal against the surprised Kakashi's chest, feeling it embed itself into the man's system under his hand. Then he snatched the second paper the other was still holding and repeated the process on himself save the whamming part. After the seals felt being activated they examined the glowing spots in their chests for a while before they settled on faint gray blue hue. Kakashi raised a wondering eyebrow as the glow faded away and they felt the heaviness of their bodies catch their consciousness without their chakra.
"That little, huh. This'll be interesting, neh?"
Iruka gave a pensive nod. He'd never tried fighting the other man with this little amount of chakra, truth to be told the experience was new for them both. Did Tsunade really think they were that good opponents for each other? He didn't doubt that he wouldn't manage to give Kakashi some hard time, he had already surprised the man a few times during their past training sessions, but to actually offer some good workout to a man who was above him on almost every level there was concerning battle situations, that was a whole new matter he didn't feel like achieving easily.
"Don't look so insecure, sensei. I wouldn't have spent my time on you if I didn't enjoy our sessions, you know. After all, I have Gai to vent my excessive energy on." The low voice snapped Iruka out of his musings and he was greeted with a smiling lone eye. He felt the sheepish smile creep on his face and felt an urge to scratch the scar on his nose. He'd been caught. Kakashi hummed and turned to pick up his sparring gear, giving the teacher time to compose himself again. Iruka was grateful for the small gesture. A total dickhead and wisecrack aside, Hatake knew when to say the right things. And when to keep that loud mouth to himself.
They changed their clothes in the bedroom in comfortable silence, both keeping their eyes to themselves. Iruka knew it wouldn't do to sneak any peeks at Kakashi's face, and frankly he didn't give a flying fuck what the older man looked like. It wasn't any of his business if the other had over-sized plushy lips or buck teeth under that black mask, as the blond mayhem described once with so great enthusiasm and level of concentration Iruka had to wonder where that had been all those years he had the boy in his class. He looked at the shadows they created against the wooden wall, his own with a pointy bush on top of his head and Kakashi's with unruly mess of hair 'Or maybe even fur if you pushed your imagination a bit further' shaking as the man in question pulled up his sweatpants. Indeed. Just a man. Would Iruka be able to actually beat the man Kakashi would be without his chakra, moreover his Sharingan?
"Are you doing okay there, Iruka-sensei?"
Iruka blinked and realized that he'd been staring the older man's shadow for a good while. He could feel the heat rising to his cheeks as he rapidly pulled up his slacks and tied them on his waist before risking a glance at the presumably smirking, annoying jounin's face. He wasn't disappointed.
"I can see the gears turning quite a bit in that head of yours. Saw something interesting to cause that?" Kakashi had his eyebrow raised and Iruka could see the wide, lop-sided smirk stretch the fabric of the mask.
"Oh take a hike you bastard, your ego is the last thing to need any more boosting."
"How cruel, Iruka-sensei. What makes you think I wouldn't be suffering from a childhood trauma resulting in weak self-esteem?" Iruka could hear the amusement dripping on each word from that irritating mouth. Never before meeting Hatake had he wished so much to find a scroll with a muting jutsu in it. Then again, it wouldn't be the same without that snippy commenting grating on his nerves all the time. He gave a long sigh and rolled his eyes.
"The moment you have low self-esteem is when Orochimaru acquires people skills and Ino decides that she'd look good bald. Come on, we have only one month. Might as well really use it like Hokage-sama meant it," the teacher snapped and walked briskly back to the training room as Kakashi made his contribution by nodding lazily and dragging his feet for extra effort as he meandered behind the sizzling sensei. Wonder what's up with his system now..did the ANBU take a piss in his tea as well? Kakashi glanced at the dark-skinned man wearing his familiar black slacks and black tank top, the fabric pulling over taut muscles as Iruka lifted his hands to tie his hair up more properly, the teacher seemingly lost in thoughts. I wonder how in hell he's still allowed to be around children with that temper...or that foul mouth. And then he accuses me of being bad influence...that hypocrite..
Nevertheless, Kakashi was actually quite happy with the sparring routine the two of them had established over the couple of months before this silly research mission. Iruka never held back, which meant that Kakashi wasn't allowed to take it all easy either. That and the man in question was indeed a very, very capable chuunin, as far as the last match counted. The usually gentle sensei could really deliver some mean kicks, not to mention the ever present perfect timing in everything. A small chuckle at the mental image of Iruka training with alarm clocks around him escaped Kakahi's masked lips before he could prevent it, gaining the attention of the target of his musings from the stretches the brown-haired man was performing after he'd set the found alarm in twenty minutes.
The teacher raised a wondering eyebrow at his chuckling counterpart, as if measuring if the jounin had lost it for real this time and he should run for it. "What?" Iruka warily stood back up and looked over at the older man. Kakashi's eyes turned into happy crescents and he chuckled some more. Well, that was new.
"Just wondering which road of life to pick this time so that I could give you back what you gave to me the last time we matched, sensei," Kakashi answered with far too pleased voice. Iruka was already on the edge considering he'd be spending a month with a man he got along with usually for only five minutes before unleashing things not suitable for minors nor adults and secondly he was away from the academy and kami knew what destruction awaited him there when he got back. Unless he got beaten to a bloody pulp by Kakashi before that. Either way, he still wasn't all happy with the current arrangements.
"Are you done then?" The chuunin asked and gave the happy jounin a once-over with his dark, now calculating eyes. It never ceased to amaze Kakashi how those eyes could turn 180 degrees in mere seconds. Kakashi nodded, wondering what the tricky teacher was planning. Iruka flashed him a bright, sharp smile. "Well good."
The next thing Kakashi knew was that the second the warm breath of the other man ghosted against his ear his hands reacted on reflex, blocking the first kick aimed for his torso. He stepped a few feet back and dodged down from the second kick, going for Iruka's other leg with his own low spin kick. The teacher regained his momentum on time and hopped up away from the imposing limb, only to receive a full blow on his back that sent him flying in the air and landing on his bare feet some feet away from his opponent. He spun around just in time to block the second attack from the pale man as the older shinobi aimed for his chest for taking the air out of his lungs. Iruka grabbed the strong arms and twisted them crossing over each other, holding the pulling and resisting arms in his infamous iron grip known by every student (and fellow shinobi on very, very trying days) that were unfortunate enough to get acquainted with it. The men observed each other over their struggling hands, two dark brown orbs against one cold gray.
The small, passing glint in the narrowed gray eye was all the warning Iruka got.
Kakashi pulled a bit back, not paying any attention on his awkward position, and gave a nasty kick to Iruka's side. Then to his other side. Iruka growled low in his throat, knowing exactly where things would lead if he'd let go of the now even more struggling pale arms. Iruka's own legs tried to block the kicks but some of them made still contact with his already bruising skin since he didn't have the same range as Kakashi did as he had to keep his balance point low in order to keep his hold on the other man. Kakashi continued his merciless kicks at the teacher's sides, his narrow eye following constantly the small winces twisting the tanned face. He knew Iruka was stubborn as hell sometimes and would hold his ground even if it was killing him (quite literally also, if the rumors he heard about Mizuki's attack on Naruto years back were anything to go by). To his surprise though he suddenly felt being pulled forward with a strength he'd only seen glimpses occasionally and with his other leg still in the air for the kick he lost his balance and couldn't prevent falling for the pull. The second his mind caught with Iruka's plot the teacher had already twisted their arms apart on their sides and was aiming a cruel knee at Kakashi's diaphragm as he pulled the older man down to meet it. He felt the air leave him as the contact was made, not once but twice, before Iruka let go of his arms and pushed him up with his own hands before marking the pale body with a series of accurate punches. The last blow sent Kakashi sliding down on the floor and he was heaving for breath as his body stilled on the woven mats. Iruka stood still, panting heavily and holding his sides in agony. He felt his legs tremble slightly and small dots appeared in his vision, but he knew they were far from finishing. That was only the warm-up for the arrogant jounin.
"You know, you could have considered taking some acting lessons while in ANBU," Iruka said in between his pants as amusement pulled his lips into a small grin. Honestly, jounin and their sense of drama...
As if on cue Kakashi stopped heaving and stilled for a moment. Then the silver-haired head lifted up from the floor with sheepish grin. "Didn't fool you for a second, eh?"
"With all the faked asthma acts I've witnessed over the years from my students I'd say your performance really isn't fooling anyone." At least I hope nobody's ever fallen for that. Can't be too sure about Naruto though...
"And here I thought I'd awaken the caring sensei who'd nurse me back to my feet..." Kakashi grinned wider, not that Iruka saw the difference due to the mask, as he slowly rose back to his feet, the cold gray eye glinting with excitement and playfulness many would never witness. "You know, kissing it all better and so forth.."
Iruka snorted with wry smirk forming on his face. "In your dreams, pervert." Then he winced as the throbbing pain once subsided came back with reinforcements. It seems his ribs had taken a decent shock as well. Kakashi looked at him with concern from his side of the training room.
"Did I go too far with the kicks?" The jounin asked with small amount of worry in his voice. It wouldn't do to hurt Iruka too much when it was only for warming up, apparently they still needed to work on their strength balance for the sensei to be able to enjoy these sessions fully as well.
"No, you were just very accurate with them. Just give a moment." Iruka took a slow breath in and held it for a few seconds before exhaling. "Alright, nothing feels to be broken so I think I'll just get few dark bruises from it." He smiled assuredly at the older man who was still observing him like a worried pup. Too bad for him.
He knew that small frown and what it meant. Iruka plunged himself at Kakashi and the silver-haired shinobi blocked five punches, three spin kicks and threw a somersault over the teacher's body as Iruka was going for a low kick. As Iruka spun back to his feet Kakashi was already delivering his own assaults, making the sensei take steps back as his pace increased for a moment, his footwork picking up a notch and the accuracy of the kicks and punches sharpening all the while. To his pleased note it seemed that his opponent had already anticipated the changes and was doing his best to keep up, blocking fervently and even trying to deliver his own attacks. As he made a sharp jab at Iruka's shoulder the teacher dodged while bending backwards, then deliberately dropping on the floor on his hands and swinging his both legs up to meet Kakashi's chest, sending the man staggering back from the impact. Iruka lifted himself rapidly from the floor, hopped up and delivered an upper-cut kick on Kakashi's shoulder, making the man fall on his one knee from the power behind the kick. Before Iruka had landed back on his feet, though, he felt a strong grip grabbing his other ankle and the next thing he saw was the wall advancing rapidly towards his flying body. He spun in the air and met the wall with his feet, feeling his muscles scream in agony as he bent his knees and tried to hold up his stance in order to bounce back at Kakashi, who seemed a little impressed as he watched Iruka change his flying motion into attacking strength as the tanned body launched itself back from the wall and was next to him in an instant. He stepped to the side for dodging the oncoming assault but hadn't taken into consideration how well teachers have learned to improvise while working with their students. Against Kakashi's beliefs that he was going for a mere strong punch, Iruka wrapped his arm around the man's chest, that way stopping his upper body's movement while his legs still continued their way past them before he twisted his lower body upwards, taking Kakashi with him in his still ongoing motion momentum and pulling the man's upper body backwards, right where he wanted him. Iruka's legs drew an almost full circle in the air before making contact with Kakashi's both shoulders and wrapping themselves around his neck. Then Iruka yanked his legs back while letting go of the others body, (he was only fighting with the man, not killing him. Yet at least.) and finishing the motion as his feet slammed on the floor with his opponent's head between them. His hands grabbed hold on Kakashi's feet and kept them in place against floor, bending the pale body in quite an impressive arc. They stilled their fight for a moment, both trying to grasp what the hell just happened.
"...Maa, I never guessed you'd be so flexible," Kakashi commented while he made a mental note to check on academy's curriculum to see what was it that they taught to kids nowadays as the basic acrobatics.
Not to mention the mandatory stretches assigned for their teachers.
"First time for everything, I guess," Iruka panted while the small euphoria from their activities fuzzed his head. He had actually nailed Kakashi. The Kakashi. The Hatake Kakashi-
"Fine, fine, yes you had me there, could we proceed before it'll all get stuck into your head that you've nailed me for once?" Was it him or did the copy-nin actually sound like he was sulking? Iruka blinked as what the man had said registered in his mind. How the hell did he-
"I can feel that giddy grin of yours against my thigh."
"...Oh. Sorry." He quickly checked if he had accidentally drooled on the other man's dark blue sweatpants while spacing out for a second. That would be embarrassing. The alarm broke the silence with its' beeping, giving the clear signal to the men to stop for a small rest before taking part to the second phase in their research.
"Really now, Iruka-sensei, if your students could see you now-"
"Just put that damn thing in already and get on with it, asshole."
"I thought you'd be prepared for this, considering it's part of your job description-"
"My job description doesn't include an apparent sadist who indulges himself with fellow man's agony and all but drags this out as it could be done in mere five minut- AGH! FUCK! You PRICK! THAT HURT!"
"Maa, maa, putting up some tolerance-"
"SHUT UP!"
"..."
"Not so fun to be on the receiving end, eh, Kakashi-san?"
"..."
They sat on the small terrace, both immersing in their dinner they cooked together as thoughtful silence reigned in the impromptu household of the two shinobi. The first samples for their research being put into the fridge for Tsunade's visit, they were both slowly realizing what it was they had indeed agreed to. Iruka gave a brief glance at his bandaged thigh and then at Kakashi's and before he knew it a small laughter escaped his lips when he spotted the grumpy frown on the other man's masked face. The glare he received didn't do anything to lessen his spontaneous hysterics and to the older man's absolute mortification the teacher fell down on the floor with gales of laughter taking over his body, his dinner forgotten. Known for his reputation as a patient professional, the man of thousand jutsus decided to wait for the tanned man to gather his wits enough to explain himself before ramming a hefty raikiri up in that trembling ass. The minutes passed and the hysterics died, leaving a panting Iruka wiping the tears from his eyes so that he could see his now cooled dinner in order to continue eating. He gave a few awkward coughs as he sat back up, not daring to cast any looks at the ominous aura gathering just three feet next to him.
"Care to share what amused you so much to make you lose it in front of your superior, sensei?"
Scratch being cooled, his dinner was pure ice now.
"Sorry, Kakashi-san, I'm just very tired due to our day and it's only afternoon." Oh well, he didn't even try to hold his poker face here. "Besides, you have to admit we do look hilarious with these odd healing bandages around our thighs and wearing these ridiculous half-trousers and jackets they gave us for the sample taking" Iruka chuckled as he motioned at the bright green bandages around their legs and then their gray pants, them being made of thermal fabric in order to keep the muscles warm while taking the samples and consisting of boxer-style upper part with two detachable trouser legs, the other being taken off of the leg where the blood sample was taken from. The jackets they both wore were made of the same fabric with sleeves designed for similar purposes as the trouser legs.
The gray eye inspected the grinning teacher with unreadable intentions and for a moment Iruka thought that he had indeed crossed some invisible line between their amiable squabbling. The low grunt forming into a chuckle proved him to be wrong with his worries as the uncovered eyes turned into amused crescents. However, that chuckle had a dark tinge in it.
"I suggest you lay off your dinner for now before our second match, sensei."
"Why so?"
"You'll throw up."[2]
[1] Ah, well, you know the drill. Very classical phrase in all of its forms. And always so fun to mess with. Too bad it wasn't mine to create.
[2] Just had to make a small hommage for Naruto's first scenes with Kakashi-sensei giving their instructions for the survival test. Priceless.
AN: Anyhow, read, review, throw a bone or two. Next chapter is on its way.~wink~