Ends and Beginnings
Disclaimer: This is a purely fan-made piece that is using the world and characters from Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto and is made entirely for enjoyment. No financial gain has been made in the making of this piece. All situations, plots, and other parts have been constructed by me and are my own creations
Summary: Kakashi is leaving the store. Sequel to 'Rubble', but hopefully can be read alone.
Author's Note: Alternate universe, and possible out-of characterness. Un'beta'd.
Constructive Criticism is always welcomed
Published: 11 January 2011
Rating: K+
Iruka took a deep breath and knocked. When no-one answered, he fought the urge to run back to his car and drive as fast as he could back to the safety of his home. He sternly reminded himself that it was for the best of the company.
Besides, it was sort of his fault that Kakashi was requesting a transfer in the first place.
He found his stupid brain going back to the memory of Kakashi's kiss. Iruka had never been kissed like that before—like he was so beautiful and so amazing and so irresistible that Kakashi had to kiss him. He could feel all the want and agony and hunger trying to get out in every movement of his boss's body, even though the kiss had been sweet and utterly brain-melting.
And the whole thing had left him an absolute mess. He couldn't stand Kakashi—something that was mainly the older man's fault—but to be desired so strongly...it wasn't exactly something he could ignore. He had never felt so wanted before and it seriously was leaving him a wreck.
But Iruka was determined to mature about the whole thing (even if Kakashi refused to be) and since the store needed Kakashi, he was going to put aside all his emotions and make Kakashi talk to him like a rational adult.
If only the fucker would answer his damn door...
Iruka knocked a bit more firmly and wondered if Kakashi was out or just ignoring him. He certainly wouldn't put it passed the asshole, especially with the Dr Jekyll/Mr Hyde thing he had going on recently.
Ten minutes later, the jerk still hadn't answered the door and Iruka's knuckles were beginning to hurt. He sighed; maybe he was going to have to try later.
As he started down the walk towards his car, Kakashi's classy car turned the corner. He slowed down and made himself turn and head over to the garage as Kakashi pulled in.
"I thought you had better things to do than harass me; apparently, I was wrong." Kakashi said dryly as he grabbed a bag of groceries.
"We still need to talk."
"I thought we already had this conversation."
"Leaving the store isn't 'having this conversation'! Locking yourself in the cash room because you won't be mature enough to talk this out isn't 'having this conversation'!"
"Iruka, what do you hope to accomplish?" Kakashi sounded tired as he opened his back door. "I was under the impression that you don't particularly care for me."
"Well, you're an asshole to me," Iruka said, a bit taken aback and then his brain caught up to his mouth. "I didn't mean to say that!"
"Freud would have something to say about that."
"Shut up!"
"Gladly. Now go run along and buy yourself a nice ice cream and leave me alone." The thin man shoved a fiver at Iruka.
Iruka jammed his foot between the frame and the door. "Not until we've discussed this like PROPER and SENSIBLE adults!"
"There is nothing to discuss. I'm removing myself from a bad situation, end of subject. Please take your foot out of my doorway so I can shut it."
"A 'bad situation'?" Iruka nearly shrieked. "I am NOT a 'bad situation'! Just because you happened to have the exceptionally good taste to like me and the inability to express that attraction in a healthy, mature way—"
"My neighbours are going to call the police if you don't keep your voice down and I'm going to call them if you don't remove your foot."
"We are going to discuss things and I am not going ANYWHERE until we do!"
Kakashi sighed deeply. "You hate me and this is how you're going to torment me until you get your way, isn't it?" He stepped back ungraciously and gestured sharply. "Start discussing so I can get rid of you."
Iruka glared at him, but stepped into the sparsely decorated house. "Look, transferring stores is only going to hurt ours. Everyone knows the reason that we've done this well is partly because of you and—"
"I'm not transferring stores."
"You're not?" Iruka blinked, momentarily derailed.
"No."
"Oh. I had heard…well, never mind that. Forget that I said that part—"
"Jiraiya has offered me a very lucrative position as editor and promoter for his series."
"What?"
"Jiraiya has offered me a—"
"I heard you." Iruka hoped he didn't sound panicky or snappish. "Are you…you're not planning on taking it, are you?"
"Whether I do or not is none of your business."
"But the store—"
"I've thought about what impact my decisions will have on the store. Your input on the matter will not sway my choice. It's my life and I will do what I think is best for it and you will have no bearing on that decision." Kakashi held up his hand to silence Iruka. "And that is that. I don't know what you hope to accomplish by coming here and harassing me—"
"I'm not harassing you! You've been trying to get away from me and I think that this is such an extreme step—"
"Iruka, what do you want from me?" Kakashi asked wearily. "You say you want me to leave you alone and when I do, you come and seek me out and refuse to let me be. I've tried doing what you want and it's gotten me nowhere. Let me do what I want and just let me be."
Iruka bit his lower lip. "I…I was under the impression you wanted to move up the chain of command at our store—in the company," he finally said. He decided that it might be better if he didn't examine the other parts of Kakashi's little speech until he got home—or into his car, failing the first option. "I just don't understand why you're planning to drop everything, especially since you've worked so hard to get to where you're at now."
"People change. Situations change."
The déjà vu must have hit Kakashi the same time it hit Iruka; Kakashi had said something similar the day the store got blown up. From the look on his face, it wasn't exactly something he wanted to be remembering.
"Anyhow," Kakashi recovered first. "It's not like I'm 'dropping everything'. It's simply a different path than you thought I'd be taking. You don't know me from Joe Blow on the street, so you wouldn't have the slightest idea which route I'd take. And if you're quite finished 'discussing', please go away."
"But Tsunade—"
"Is sad to see me go, but agrees that it's an opportunity that I can't turn down."
"That's it? You're just going to up and go?"
"I still don't see why any of this matters to you; with your adamant dislike of me, one would think that you'd be happy to see me gone."
"You're not thinking about the whole picture!" Iruka waved his arms around a little bit.
"No, I think you're not seeing the whole picture." Suddenly, the silver-haired man was looming over Iruka. "I've worked with you for a long time and last week, I crossed a line. I am not going to work in that kind of environment any more. I've already been considering other possibilities for a while and this is the golden one I think would be stupid of me to refuse. Your…feelings on the matter have no bearing. Now, if that's all, please get out of here."
Iruka opened his mouth and shut it again. He fumbled for a proper response, but with his boss—soon to be former boss, he corrected himself—standing so close to him, it didn't look like one was going to be found. And it didn't help that his brain took that moment to replay what had happened last time Kakashi had stood this close to him…
"I think," Kakashi said, very softly, "you need to leave now."
"I…" Iruka wanted to take a step back, but there was a counter or something behind him. He couldn't get away.
The silver haired man stared deep into his soul for a moment, then abruptly, stepped back. "Go away, Iruka. You don't even know what you want, so stop trying to tell me what I want."
Iruka drew himself up to his full height in indignation. "I know exactly what I want and how dare you—"
"No, you don't. You don't know if you want to punch me in the face and never see me again or if you want me to push you back against the wall and ravish you until you can't walk straight anymore."
Iruka did another guppy imitation. "I…uh…" Now the image was in his head and it didn't seem to want to go anywhere in the near future. Damn his overactive imagination!
Kakashi had this knowing look on his face and it infuriated Iruka. He balled his fists, pushed his less-than-pure thoughts away, and glared.
"Of course, I could…help that decision along." Kakashi beat Iruka to the punch, stepping in close again. His single blue eye glittered.
Iruka's jaw muscles quit working and the first image was back—and this time, it brought friends. He wasn't sure that he could have moved, even if he wanted to.
"I think I've made my point." Kakashi smiled a bright, cold smile and turned away, going back over to put his groceries away. "Now please do me the favour of figuring what you want somewhere else. Get out of my house and don't let the door hit you on the way out."
Iruka managed to close his mouth and—stop thinking about THAT!—slowly inched over towards the door. He desperately tried to think of something to say—preferably something sharp and cutting and smart—but as his brain seemed to be caught on a loop, it didn't look like it was going to happen anytime soon. "I…uh…I think…that is…it's a mistake…I mean…see you…'bye!"
With that show of intelligence and his mortification plastered all over his face, Iruka fled.
In his car, Iruka let his head hit the wheel in front of him as he groaned. Of all the times to have his overactive imagination act up…and he still hadn't managed to shake the images from his head. It was embarrassing!
Besides, he reminded himself sharply as he started his car. You hate the guy. He's a jerk-wad of the HIGHEST degree. Stop envisioning things that will never happen!
Now if only it really was that simple…
xXxXxXxXxXx
Anko sidled u to him. "Did you hear?"
"Hear what?" Iruka didn't look up from his zone maintenance.
"Kakashi's leaving the company!" Anko grabbed the personal scanner out of his hand. "This could be your chance! Since he's not going to be working here anymore, he's not going to be bound by those stupid 'no fraternisation' rules! You two can now fuc—"
"Anko, not only are we at work, we're in the Children's Department. There are—surprise, surprise!—children in the Children's Department. Could we please not discuss this here? Or ever again?"
The purple-haired woman snorted loudly and made a face at a shocked customer. "Whatever, you prude! It doesn't change the fact that his hang-ups will be out of the way and you two can finally do what nature intended that you both do ages ago!" She held his scanner out of reach. "So what are you waiting for? GO! Get into his pants! Make his day and I'll bet he makes yours, if you know what I mean!"
Iruka sighed. "Anko…would you please let me go back to work? I don't get paid enough to have to listen to you and if you don't go away, there WILL be a repeat of the Noodle Incident."
She turned a funny shade of puce, and shoved the scanner at him. "You're making a mistake, let me tell you!" She yelled as she ran as fast as she could the other direction. "AND EVERYONE AGREES WITH ME!"
Iruka twitched a little and rubbed the bridge of his nose. It seemed that it was going to be a long day.
By the time he clocked out, everyone who was working in the entire damn store—including the people from the coffee shop—had asked him if he had heard the news about Kakashi. The brave wanted to know if this meant he was going to do anything about it, the stupid asked if they were going to start dating now. Asuma had politely—but firmly—asked him to stop retaliating; too many people were requesting to leave their shifts early from the trauma.
Iruka sat on his worn couch and tried to pretend that he didn't need to address the problem of Kakashi. Kakashi was an asshole and Iruka was just fine with the fact he was gone.
Of course, judging recent events, Kakashi probably had been a bastard because then he didn't have to worry about Iruka ever developing reciprocating feelings. And since he apparently had something against dating co-workers—as a personal preference, not just because the company strongly discouraged it—it most likely didn't give him a reason to be anything more than an ass.
Stop justifying his actions! Iruka angrily turned on his telly. And stop bringing those images up! I'm not going to think about THAT!
Of course, telling his evil brain not to think of something was a guarantee that it wasn't going to stop.
Iruka sighed. Perhaps it was time he sat down with himself and had a long talk to figure out exactly what he wanted.
xXxXxXxXxXx
Kakashi didn't look pleased to see him. "What do you want at this god-awful hour?"
Iruka scowled. "It's two in the afternoon!"
The taller man made a show of pretending to think about it. "Nope, still too early to deal with you. Please take your foot out of my door so I may slam it in your face."
"Look, I don't want to fight with you. I…I did a lot of thinking last night—"
"That must have been a novel experience for you."
"Shut up and let me finish!" Iruka took a breath to calm himself down and pushed his glasses up. "I did a lot of thinking last night…and I think that…well, we started off on the wrong foot. Maybe…maybe we could start again and see if we couldn't be friends."
Kakashi gave him a hard stare. "Friends."
"Well, at this point, I sure as hell don't think you're even qualified for that much, much less for anything more." He cringed. "I didn't mean it like—"
"Yes, you did. Don't lie." The older man stood quietly in the doorway for a moment. "You want to try and be…friends."
"Uh…yes?"
"Because you enjoy being in the company of an 'asshat that would make Satan look like a great boss'."
Iruka felt his face get very hot. "Uh…well…this is what I mean about us not being on the right foot. I…haven't always been fair to you."
"According to popular opinion in the store, I should be the one saying that."
"As much as that is true, I'm trying to be diplomatic. Can we start over and just see where it takes us?"
For a moment, Iruka thought that Kakashi was going to say 'no'. The man finally sighed. "I suppose we can try." He didn't sound very enthused.
Iruka decided to take it at face value. "Good." He stuck out his hand. "I'm Iruka."
Kakashi gave him another long look and gingerly shook the proffered hand. "Kakashi."
The shorter man smiled slightly. "May I come in?"
Slowly, Kakashi stepped back and let Iruka in.
x Fin x