Bleep Bleep Bleep Bleep Bleep Bleep
"Urgh…" Was the only sound that escaped the drowsy brown-haired chunin as he rolled off of his stomach and onto his side to bash the off button on the alarm clock perched awkwardly on the edge of a low shelf next to his bed. The luminous green numbers read 8:15 and the date next to it said it was Sunday. Sunday 20th October to be exact.
Groggily he pushed himself up with his left arm, his
other hand rubbing his dark brown, sleep filled eyes as he blinked
the cloudy haze of slumber from them. It took him a little while to
get the hang of where he was, he'd rearranged the furniture in his
bedroom the previous day after a rather strange conversation with a
friend of his about how the way you have your home set out can change
how you feel. Fang Shooy? Fung Shoe? No, Feng Shui. That was it. Load
of absolute rubbish he'd thought at the time, but seeing as he'd
finished all his paperwork earlier then he'd expected he would of
and lacking anything else to do he'd thought why not try it out? If
nothing else it'd be nice to have a slight change of scenery.
After
the gap in time of wandering between sleep and wake he turned around
on his bed and slid off of the soft mattress and stretched. Yawning
slightly and once again looking around at the re-ordered
surroundings. He sighed quietly to himself before disappearing off to
get dressed.
Around half an hour or so later Iruka was stood in front of his bathroom mirror, he had only just pulled his bushy brown hair up into its usual pony tail and was currently tying the knot in the fabric of his headband that held it onto his head. After he'd adjusted it slightly to make sure it sat right on his head he poked the large scar that ran across his nose and cheeks. How he hated the damn thing.
He didn't care much about his appearance really, nor the scar. It was just when it was so obviously well… there. Like when he looked in a mirror or a window or anything else like that that it bugged him. It wasn't exactly a subtle scar, or one he could cover. At least not without ending up looking like a failed version of Kotetsu at any rate. But, as he always reminded himself, no one had commented on it since his days in the Academy where it had caused a fair bit of taunting and ridicule from his fellow ninja candidates, at least until the Nine Tail attack at any rate. That had stopped all bullying amongst the children his age and older. Just about everyone had lost someone, and so realised that teasing those who had also lost a great deal wasn't something to be done. But that wasn't the point, the point was that he still had the scar and he knew people noticed it before anything else really. However, he couldn't dwell on that. It wasn't something he or anyone else could ever change. Not really. Once again he made a slightly frustrated sound and walked out of his home. Promptly shutting and locking the door behind him.
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Meanwhile a couple of streets away from Iruka's a young Jonin was sat out on her house's doorstep, her purplish hair shining softly in the early morning light. She was sat with one leg curled around underneath her, almost acting as a cushion between her and the concrete step, and the other on the same step as the rest of her, with the knee tucked up close to her rather large chest. Which seemed to be on the verge of falling out of the navy blue dressing gown she was wearing. Beside her was a bottle of deep violet nail polish minus the top and a large, fluffy, black cat with big golden eyes whom was watching Anko paint her nails with his large lamp like eyes.
As she carefully stroked the vanish covered brush over her toenails she sang softly to herself, as she always did when left alone. It wasn't really something she was comfortable doing around others; in fact it was about the only thing. But nevertheless it was just something that made her awkward, not because she was dreadfully tone deaf, as most people would expect, but for another reason she had never divulged to anybody.
"Sparkling
angel, I believed you were my saviour in my time of need. Blinded by
faith I couldn't hear all the whispers, the warnings so clear. I see
the angels; I'll lead them to your door. There's no escape now, No
mercy no more. No remorse cause I still remember…" Came the
lyrics mellifluously from her lips. The melody was soon broken by the
sound of a soft mew from the cat beside her as he spied someone
walking past the door, something that was a rare occurrence for the
time of day. Even in a town as busy and the Hidden Leaf Village. Anko
looked up in time for the dawn's early light to catch her seemingly
infinitely deep brown eyes, causing them to sparkle.
"Oh, hey
Iruka." She greeted casually, looking back down at her toenails
again after realising who it was. He'd become a rather regular
appearance around there on this time on a Sunday recently, not that
Anko minded. He was someone to talk to for a brief while, even if it
did interrupt the precious time where she could simply be her real
self rather then who everyone saw her as.
After having walked
the short distance from his house Iruka had stopped just opposite the
Hatake residence, and on the doorstep, as always, he mentally added
with a faint smile gracing his outwards appearance, Mrs Anko Hatake
was sat on the front step painting her nails. The smile grew even
more, almost breaking into a full-blown grin, as she greeted him.
Almost getting lost in her beautiful eyes in the split second she was
looking at him.
"Hello Anko." He replied, stretching the side
of his face with a single finger and smiling at her. Internally he
was amazed that he'd managed to keep so, well not cool, but at
least un-idiotic, for so long around her. Usually he fell apart
around women who even slightly intrigued his interest. And this
woman, Anko, well… He was fairly certain if it wasn't love it was
a good enough imitation for him. "You alright?" He asked, tilting
his head slightly.
"Yeah, I'm fine." She replied, nodding
her head gently as she carried on painting her toenails violet.
"You?"
"I'm good. Is Kakashi back yet?" Iruka inquired,
trying his hardest to actually sound interested.
You see,
contrary to popular thought where the name 'Kakashi Hatake' is
synonymous with 'honourable sensei and ninja', Iruka has
discovered through Anko that the Copy Ninja's record wasn't as
pure white as his hair. He frequently came home late, drunk, high or
even not at all. And on the odd occasion he did return home on time
he was usually drunk out of his mind and looking for a fight,
something that he could find all too easily in Anko.
Iruka knew
full well that he couldn't even imagine trying to take on Anko in a
real ninja struggle, he'd get his ass kicked so hard he'd be
tasting the soles of her sandles for the next year or so. But he also
knew that out of the two of them Kakashi was the stronger, both
physically and mentally. He's seen Anko 'not crying' over a few
nasty names that Kakashi had thrown her way in a temper tantrum.
Proving further Iruka's belief that Kakashi simply didn't deserve
Anko. He doesn't appreciate her for who she is to him, just what
she is to him: An easy fight and an easy fuck.
"No, he's
not back yet." She sighed, replacing the top on the bottle and
screwing it back into place. "I hope he's alright…" Anko
added on quietly as she twisted a finger into her purple
tresses.
"I'm sure he will be." Iruka said comfortingly.
"It's a C-rank mission with his squad, I doubt anything
horrendous will of happened to him." He said putting a hand gently
on her shoulder and smiling encouragingly.
"Yeah, you're
right." She nodded, turning her head upwards to look at the chunin;
a smaller version of her trademark grin resting upon her lips.
Once
again Iruka's heart felt like it'd skipped a beat. How he loved
to see her smile, to see her happy, unfortunately that was a sight
that was becoming less and less common recently, much to his dismay.
"Of course I am." He chuckled, patting her head playfully and
ruffling her hair somewhat.
"Hey!" Anko laughed, trying to
flatten it again. "You mess it up too bad and it might try to eat
you you know."
"Scary hair."
"You have no idea my
dear Iruka. You have no idea." She smirked running a hand through
her hair. "Now, don't you have somewhere to be or are you just
out to annoy me?"
"Yeah, I'm on my way to pick up the
paper. That's all. Guess I should be going then?"
"Most
likely, I should really go get dressed." The purple haired woman
commented as she stood up, picking the bottle of nail varnish up and
slipping into her robe's pocket. "Come on Neko." She said
softly to her cat companion, gently pushing him indoors with her
foot. "Nice talking to you Iruka." Anko nodded as she turned
around to pat him on the head with a small laugh before disappearing
into her house, leaving Iruka stood alone on the deserted street.
