Tea
A/N: For anyone who understands such nonsense writing, I give you much thanks.
It's really hot in Iruka-sensei's study. The clock's ticking real slow, and it feels like everything's underwater. Like that time when there were lots and lots of bubbles. Not the kind in Iruka-sensei's bathtub. It was more like a frothy, bubbly whirlpool. Submergence, and that feeling of breathing cold air through your nose while chewing mint. Yea, that time underwater was real cold, but there was this strong feeling of slowness. Like you wanna sleep, but you're awake, and everything's all sluggish.
Anyway. Weather report says it's supposed to be like, the hottest day in Konoha right now. Something about a heat wave and a cold front and some other stuff. So even though it's this hot, Iruka-sensei's not turning on the air conditioning.
See, Iruka-sensei used to turn on the air conditioning. That's probably why it's so weird to have it turned off. Especially on a day like this.
Iruka-sensei says he's getting old. That's why he likes it warm. Except maybe he's wrong about him being old, since around town there's old people fanning themselves and sweating like crazy... Then again, almost everyone's in their air conditioned homes.
It's not hot or cold, though, in Iruka-sensei's study. There's this feel of scorching heat, but then inside, there's like, this kind of warmth. You can say it's like the green tea Iruka-sensei's drinking. But he's not finished it now. That means the cup's still kind of hot and there's still some tea left.
You can kind of tell the time through Iruka-sensei's green tea cup, when he's drinking it. It's pretty funny, but he drinks tea in the morning, afternoon and at night. Then you kinda peer into his drinking cup, and sometimes there's this ring around the inside. That's how you tell the time. So in the morning, the first ring? That means he's showering, and then that would mean it's breakfast time.
The second ring's when breakfast is done and it's back in the study since sensei's cleaning up the kitchen.
You can tell when he's real mad, since you can hear him from upstairs. But usually, he's real quiet, and when he's yelling, it's about "idiotic, chicken-brained jounin, argh". And then you can almost hear him pulling his hair out.
So anyway. Sensei usually doesn't finish his tea in the morning so he goes to dump it all out. But the cup's still warm, and the tea's still warm too. It's kinda like how I feel everyday. There's this... presence inside of me. And it's kinda lying dormant, but it's there. And I feel warm all the time. Sometimes that feeling of warmth gets too strong and I like lying on the floor. That's when everything cools down a bit.
Iruka-sensei comes in at that time sometimes, when it's feeling real cool and nice on the floor. Maybe he thinks it's weird, but that doesn't matter, since it's Iruka-sensei.
Yea, so, afternoon? When it's afternoon, sensei makes two cups. The first one has no ring. Iruka-sensei just kinda has no time to drink that one since he gotta go to work. But then when I look at that burning cup, it's kinda like the feeling I get when I... feel powerful, I guess. Like there's something inside me, trying real hard to get out. And then there's this energy comin' out everywhere, and that's when I get real scared sometimes. Scared 'cause I might lose myself. But whatever. That's not really the feeling of right now.
While the cup's kinda warming up, sometimes I take a little sip, since hey, maybe I'll like it if I drink a little everyday, but I'm always wrong. Green tea tastes sorta gross. And then there's stuff in it. Like, leaves. And stuff. So that's gross too. Leaves tastes the worstest. And yea, Iruka-sensei crosses that word out sometimes since "it's not a real word, Naruto, how many times do I have to tell you?" But it is a real word. When I become Hokage, it's gonna be a real word.
Then the scariest time comes and that's the time when that cup goes in the sink. That's 'cause I get this cold, chilly feeling. It's 'cause when the cup and the tea kinda turns cold. Always makes me wonder if my body's ever gonna turn cold too. Then will that burning thing inside me turn cold with me? And then it's scary, but not scary because there's never been hot tea inside a cold cup. So I'm scared, but also not scared 'cause I have this feeling that the burning will stop when I turn cold.
So after the scary time, it's back in the study, and there's sakura petals everywhere 'cause Iruka-sensei always leaves that big window open. That's when the vacuum cleaner turns on, and it makes weird noises when it sucks up a ton of Iruka-sensei's papers.
Yea, so after that, it's detention time when Iruka-sensei comes home. It's also the time when he salvages all the papers and uncrinkles them with his magical sensei tricks. But Iruka-sensei's real nice, so detention time is really just no ramen until dinner. And then that's the time when Iruka-sensei makes his second cup of green tea.
This one still has the tea bag still in it, since he didn't have time to use a strainer. That means Iruka-sensei's working on his school stuff, and you gotta be real quiet, or else you'll bother him. Yea, so the first ring on this one's when Iruka-sensei's napping.
That's the try-to-sneak-around-Iruka-sensei's-table-while-he's-napping time. It's real fun unless he wakes up when you kinda spill ink on his lesson schedules. He just wakes up and looks at the stain for a while, and then drinks this huge gulp of tea. That's the second ring. And that means it's play-tag-with-Iruka-sensei time.
So in the end, sensei doesn't really win that game, and he goes back to work. He doesn't really finish the tea either, and it goes in the sink, with the other three. One's half full, one's full, one's empty and then the new one's just barely three quarters full. Then again, it might be 'cause the fractions are a little off. But then, it's just really normal for the cups to be those numbers. Since Iruka-sensei does this almost everyday.
Maybe I do stuff everyday too. Like, repeatedly. It's something that's done over and over and over again that no one really remembers that it's been done, 'cause it's been done so many times over again.
Anyway. The last time's dinner time, and dinner time's always special 'cause dinner's ramen. And then when Iruka-sensei is really, really, really nice, or when it's a really, really, really special day, I get to have four bowls. And then that last cup of green tea's finished after the meal.
That one doesn't go to the sink until morning though, 'cause while the fourth bowl of ramen's being finished, Iruka-sensei sorta drifts into the study again. And it's like... well after the ramen, I go into the study and then it's like... it's like something I can't really describe. But it's this really nice feeling. It's always a nice feeling with Iruka-sensei.
A light kinda bathes Iruka-sensei's face with this pure white colour, and he's fallen asleep. And there's something shiny on his cheek, but what he's carrying is the green tea cup from dinner.
When I pick it up, it's empty, but the cup's real warm. 'Cause Iruka-sensei's been warming it up, 'cause everyone has some kinda heat. Anyway. I guess that's the feeling I feel right now. That cup? It didn't have a ring. It was warm with Iruka-sensei's warmth. And you know the dregs? Like the tea stuff left behind? It was still there.
I don't know, but I feel real happy here. Even with the burning inside of me sometimes. But even when there's the burning, I feel like the dinner time cup, where Iruka-sensei'd kept it warm. It was empty, but not quite empty.
Anyway.
The window's all open, and there's this really huge sakura tree outside. And then beside it, under it, around it, is like, twenty million bajillion lights, and they kinda twinkle, hiding behind the long grass. And they kinda move around like they didn't get enough sleep. Or like they're crying, or like they don't have anything to say, but they wanna say something so they're moving. In that slow, sleepy rhythm.
It's really hot in Iruka-sensei's study. The clock's ticking real slow, and it feels like everything's underwater. Like that time when there were lots and lots of bubbles. Not the kind in Iruka-sensei's bathtub. It was more like a frothy, bubbly whirlpool. Submergence and that feeling of breathing cold air through your nose while chewing mint. Yea, that time underwater was real cold, but there was this strong feeling of slowness. Like you wanna sleep, but you're awake, and everything's all sluggish.