Title: Flirting with Danger
Claimer/Author: This story is written by and belongs to Emmy Kay.
Pairing: Iruka, Kakashi
Summary: Humor/Romance. Iruka is the unwitting master practitioner of Flirting no Jutsu. It's driving Kakashi crazy. Kakashi/Iruka. Crackly.
Disclaimer: Naruto and all affiliated characters belong to Kishimoto Masashi. This story is written without permission and for personal/fan/nonprofit entertainment purposes only.
Note: a filler for a prompt on the kakairu kink meme on LJ. Set before the Land of Waves arc.
PROMPT: So I was thinking what if Iruka constantly flirts but never knows that he is flirting. So I really want a Kakairu fic where Iruka flirts with everyone of course Kakashi gets all jealous and all.(and maybe the only person Iruka doesn´t flirt with beside Naruto would be Kakashi)
It started with a little gift.
A genin, whose team had just returned from their first mission, had shyly placed a bag of hard candy on the table with her team's report. "Thank you very much, Iruka-sensei," she lisped, blushing bright red, bowing deeply. "I very much appreciate all your teaching. It came in handy today."
"Aki-chan, you're welcome. You were always a pleasure in class," he smiled at the young teen, who flushed harder.
Aki's jounin sensei, Daiki, caught Iruka's eye. "She is very promising, Iruka-sensei. All thanks to you."
Iruka's low laugh caressed the ear of everyone lucky enough to be within hearing distance. "I just laid down the building blocks for her natural talent to grow on. It is truly due to the ability of her jounin instructor that her talent is developing so well."
Daiki's ruddy complexion darkened while he looked down and shuffled his feet. "Aww, Iruka-sensei, it's all you, really." The battle-hardened jounin bashfully peeked up at Iruka in hopes of hearing more.
Iruka's warm glance took in the rest of the genin team. "And you, Toru-kun and Hito-kun, take good care of each other and be good shinobi like I know you can."
"Yes, sensei," they chorused, nudging each other as they stepped away. Every single member of the team peeped over a shoulder as they walked out of the missions room, hoping to capture one more glance of Iruka Umino. Or, gasp, maybe have him grace them with one last smile.
The line in front of Iruka Umino at the missions desk was always the longest, but nobody minded waiting. His pleasant personality, sympathy and kind words always made the wait worthwhile. His combination of physical attractiveness (that is to say, he was attractive but not intimidating, cute but not cloying, and walking that fine line of being masculine enough to be manly, but not enough to be alarmingly MANLY, unlike some very particular green-clad jounin), approachability, good manners, and genuine interest in the people around him gave him a huge, if very quiet and polite, following.
Plus, he was completely and totally adorable when he was enthusiastic about something - like completely filled-in forms with all the schedules and worktables attached in the proper order (and discussions of improving them), philosophical debates about homework that improved student performance that did not include the question of "are we going to be tested on this?", excellent penmanship, the nature of chakra manipulation, trap building (the more complex the better), the possibility of a ramen museum coming to Konoha, and grammar (including uses of the sadly obscure interrobang).
The followers agreed - the scar across the nose seemed only to underline, instead of detract from, his allure. His manner of scratching it only drew forth sighs, and the occasional lightly lustful thought about orally pleasuring it. But mostly, he was looked at with pure admiration untainted with coarse carnality because, really, what chance did any single person have to attain such perfection?
Kakashi and his genin team entered the room just as Daiki's team left, rosy from their encounter with Iruka, and like everyone else, took a place behind Iruka's line.
The next person in line was Genma. "Hey, Iruka-sensei - is there anything you want me to bring back from my next mission? Like more candy?"
"Ha-ha," Iruka laughed. "You don't like candy, Genma-san? That's okay. You don't have to have any."
Genma's eyes widened, the senbon in his mouth slipping, barely caught when he began to pout. "Really? You're so mean, Iruka-sensei."
Iruka was unmoved. He dealt with the cutest, most manipulative hellions ever spawned on a daily basis. Still, he tried to be very pleasant about the whole exchange.
"Here's your mission," Iruka said, handing out the missive. "I think the Sandaime picked it out just for you."
"Yeah, right," Genma said, huffing out a breath.
"It's true," reassured Iruka. "I helped, of course," the chuunin said, slanting his eyes downward and then up again, impossibly dark eyelashes fluttering to great effect.
Helplessly, Genma's ears pinkened. "Really?"
"Uh-huh, but just a teeny-tiny bit," Iruka nodded, his ponytail bobbing jauntily and yet, so sincerely. "It takes a very good ninja to be able to do the kind of job you do, Genma-san. Everybody knows it. Truly."
"Aww, thanks, Iruka-sensei."
"Don't thank me, just do a good job for Konoha, please?"
"You bet," Genma said, chest puffing.
Iruka reached across the table and seemingly patted Genma's calloused, scarred hand. While those nearby looked on with great interest, it was Genma who flushed with pleasure as he revealed that Iruka had indeed given him a piece of candy.
Kakashi stood in line with Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto, waiting, like everybody else, to receive their mission for the day. He should have realized this was a strategic mistake.
Naruto was not so much waiting as he was fidgeting. The fidgeting got worse and worse and more exaggerated until finally, he burst out, "I can't stand it anymore, Kakashi-sensei! The lines are just too long! When are we going to be able to get a mission?"
"All the lines are long, Naruto," said Sakura, glumly looking around the room.
"This is the dumbest thing ever!" Naruto shouted. "I don't know why the one morning Kakashi-lazy-bastard-pervy-sensei shows up close to on time, the lines are so unbelievably long!"
"Shut up, dummy," Sasuke said, hands jammed into his pockets.
Kakashi felt eyes looking at him in a most annoyed way. Dang, he thought, uncomfortably. This looks bad. Someone was going to take him to task for being unable to rein in his team. "Now, Naruto - "
"This is boooorrrrring!" Naruto went over to the wall and began kicking it, for no good reason at all. Then he picked up some loose scrolls and began banging on every horizontal surface available like a marimba player gone wild.
"Naruto!" Kakashi grabbed the back of the orange jumpsuit, "Quit it!"
"Naruto - " Iruka called, waving them forward, ahead of a very long line. The tension in the air, held in check by the idea of fairness of the wait (because everybody was here to see Iruka and they all had to wait their turn), began to rise.
Kakashi made a break for the front of the line, only to be halted right near the front by a massive hand. "Oi!" said the next person in line, a broad-shouldered, red-haired kunoichi with an impressive axe holstered on her back. "I'm next!"
Iruka looked up at her and said, his brown eyes melting like the highest grade dark chocolate procurable to gods and men, "Please, do you mind very much waiting a few minutes? You're next after them."
"Promise?" she gritted out, small, hard eyes glinting like newly knapped obsidian.
"Cross my heart," Iruka said, making a small, quick "x" motion across his sternum. "Pretty please?"
She subsided entirely, a little quirk on her lips. "Just for you, Iruka-sensei."
"I know, hon. I appreciate it so much." He touched her hand, and offered her a piece of candy, which she took.
"Kakashi-sensei," Iruka said flatly, turning back to the team in front of him. He handed Kakashi a scroll, and at the last minute, dropped it before it could reach Kakashi's hand. "Sorry."
"Iruka-sensei," Kakashi replied. "It's okay - "
Iruka had already started to look through his list of available missions, oblivious to Kakashi's words.
"-I'll get it." Kakashi snagged the scroll and stood up, and found that the red-haired kunoichi had already nudged by him to speak with Iruka. She leaned forward to chat with Iruka, whose twinkling gaze was already engaged as she spoke.
"Hey, Iruka-sensei - what's our mission, huh? I hope it's a great one - like saving Konoha from fire-breathing dragons!" Naruto stood shaking with excitement at the very idea.
Sasuke rolled his eyes, and Sakura hissed, "Shut up, Naruto - the Sandaime is right there!"
Naruto ignored his teammates. "It better not be like that crappity mission we got yesterday - cleaning! Like people really clean things! Who cleans? Why you always give us crap missions, sensei? You give me nothing but crap all the time crappity -"
It was widely conceded that Iruka Umino did have a bit of a temper. But this was put down as part of his relatable persona - didn't everyone have a bad day at some point? And with some of the demented freak-show misbegots he had to teach (Naruto, everybody's looking at you), it was a wonder the man had a tenth of the compassion he regularly showed. The real secret that Iruka Umino's following maintained was that while Iruka was cute and pleasant in his everyday manner and squeeably adorkable when happy and excited, he was frickin' hot (like flaming great fireball, chidori lightning-style, makes-sand-into-sheets-of-glass-on-contact no jutsu hot) when he got angry. But he was so scary when he was angry nobody ever tried to push that button more than once. Except Naruto.
Iruka raised his voice, and it was as if the light in the solar system had dimmed. "NARUTO!"
No one knew quite how he did this - Iruka moved so fast - but he managed to reach across the table (which was very wide), grab Naruto's collar, and enunciated, "You best be quiet or you won't get any candy. Ever. Again. From. Anybody. Ever. Never. NEVER. You hear me?"
Eyes wide, Naruto nodded. "Okay." Irrepressible, he asked, "Can I have a piece now?"
"Sure," Iruka said, acting like nothing happened. "Here you go. And your mission is to help a few visiting dignitaries do their packing and sightseeing. You'll help them carry money and belongings around town."
"C'monnnnn, Iruka-sensei..."
Sternly, Iruka said, "Naruto, you are a representative of Konoha. By acting like that you embarrass yourself and Konoha. And you embarrass me, who has tried to teach you something."
Naruto looked up, his eyes wide and little moist. "I don't want to embarrass you, sensei..."
Iruka sighed, a tired little sound after the thunder that had erupted from him. "Naruto," he said, softly. "It's not all bad. Do a good job and I'll meet you for ramen later, okay?"
Immeasurably cheered up, Naruto nodded.
"Don't give the clients a hard time. You hear me? Try your hardest."
"Okay. But only for you, Iruka-sensei."
Iruka gave Naruto a fond knock on the head and let him go. Iruka also handed some candy to Sakura and Sasuke, who politely thanked him.
When Kakashi reached for the candy, he saw that the bag was empty.
He looked up to realize that he had lost Iruka's attention completely. Iruka was chatting to the fearsome kunoichi, leaning towards her, smiling. She was giggling like a tween pre-genin at something he said.
And she was opening the last piece of candy and putting it in her mouth.
That was supposed to be his, dang it.
Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke were sitting in the waiting area of a very exclusive shoe store, watching bemusedly while their clients had shoes brought to them in a different area of the store, and watching those very shoes leave again, a small percentage which ended up next to them to carry, along with the bags and boxes the couple had acquired already today.
After looking around to make sure Kakashi was firmly embedded with the clients in their private room, Naruto asked, "Sakura, is it weird that Iruka-sensei is nice to everybody but Kakashi-sensei?"
Sakura had been fantasizing about the shoes in front of her, knowing she might never again be allowed within those hallowed halls of commerce. At the question, she halted, her eyes rolling to one side while she thought about it.
"Iruka-sensei's not very nice to you," Sakura said, thinking about the morning's outburst.
Naruto bounded up, angry. "He is too! He's going to take me out for ramen later because I have been awesome today!" Softly, in the whine of shame, he added, "I sometimes forget myself, that's all."
Sasuke said, briefly, "Iruka-sensei is very nice to Naruto." The lacing of jealousy in his voice was so delicate, the other two didn't notice. "Iruka-sensei is himself around Naruto - like the way family is."
There was a pause.
"So, Sasuke, you see what I mean about Iruka-sensei and Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked.
Sasuke tipped his head in a nod. "It is weird."
"You saw it too, Sasuke?" Sakura turned to him, eyes wide. Naruto had seen something she hadn't?
Sasuke grunted. "You know that thing that girls do that is supposed to make boys like them? But it's actually really, incredibly, unbelievably annoying?"
"Like what?" challenged Sakura.
Naruto grinned. He said, pitching his voice high, "Oh, Sasuke, what great hair you've got. Oh, Sasuke, can we get lunch together? Oh, Sasuke, let's sit next to each other - " and he mimicked the grabbiness of young fangirls with deadly accuracy. He fluttered his eyelashes. He played with his hair. He pouted.
Sakura felt shame root her to the floor, unable to look away from Naruto's demonstration. "I don't do that." Do I?
"Oh, no," Naruto said, trying hard to placate, "but, ah, Ino does. Yeah, that's right. Ino."
"She does, doesn't she?" Sakura said with a nod, relaxing.
"Anyway," Sasuke continued, "Iruka-sensei actually does it with everybody - and everybody likes him for it. He's the ultimate master of Flirting no Jutsu - he can make anybody do whatever he wants them to and they don't mind. Maybe that's why he sits at the missions desk with the Sandaime. But he doesn't do that with Kakashi-sensei."
Naruto added, "Kakashi-sensei didn't even get a piece of candy."
Sakura thought a moment. "Why wouldn't Iruka-sensei want Kakashi-sensei to like him?"
The three sat, pondering, unaware that Kakashi had been standing at the door of the private room, shamelessly eavesdropping.
Kakashi sighed inwardly. Things were getting bad if his 12-year-old genins had noticed the state of affairs between Iruka and himself. It had been going along for a while now - amping up since he had to report to the missions desk everyday with Iruka's favorite former student.
The ignominy of it. The number-one, all-time champion, uncontested master of Flirting no Jutsu of Konoha didn't bother with him, Kakashi of the Sharingan, the infamous Copy Ninja.
In the depths of his anguish, Kakashi had made the internal argument that it should be Iruka who crushed on him. Everybody else crushed on him, flirted with him, made no bones about wanting to be with him. Kakashi knew he was a sexy sexy mofo, by all measures theoretical and empirical. After all, he was Kakashi of the Sharingan Hatake, jounin, ex-ANBU, master of a 1000 jutsus. Plus, he wore a mask and his hitai-ate was slanted across his face with the perfect measure of come-hither mystery. He had everything to make any nin quiver in their sandals!
Aside from Iruka Umino, that is.
But it was that particular person, a simple chuunin, who had captured his attention. Iruka, with the dark eyes and the bright smile and the generous nature who captured the heart of everyone around him, with that ineffable charm and that effably great ass. Kakashi could just about feel the beginnings of the sweet violin music that began every time he thought about Iruka. Well, the thoughts about Iruka that didn't have a thumping soundtrack that included a heavy bassline, saxophones and the machine that made that 'chicka-chicka-wow-wow' sound. (Kakashi's educational background did not include musical training. His experience with it came mostly through the soundtracks of porn and big budget dance musicals (which his jounin sensei enjoyed nostalgically - something about what his jounin sensei had adored.))
Like every other creature in Konoha that breathed oxygen and carried a pulse, Kakashi had a crush on Iruka Umino. Really bad. So bad that if it got an iota worse, he'd be breaking into the academy to slip little heart-shaped notes into Iruka's locker and not caring who saw. The content of said notes would consist solely of their interlocking initials drawn in glittery pink marker.
Kakashi wasn't a big fan of yakking in general, and never about his feelings. He was a nin of action, not talk. He found he often said the stupidest dumb-mouthing jack-assery possible in stressful or emotional situations. That's why he was so rarely on diplomatic missions - he'd almost prefer to kill somebody than fumble through all the niceties. (And there was that incident where he almost did kill somebody on a diplomatic mission. But the Sandaime had dispatched Iruka immediately to smooth things over. Apparently, Iruka had done a great smoothing job. He had brought back the treaty with a number of concessions, gotten some gifts and a casually meaningful invitation to come by the diplomat's place to see his etchings at a later, unspecified date.) Plus, Kakashi was lazy. He'd be happier if things got resolved without any input on his part. That's probably how things had gotten so bad.
Anyway, there it was. An awkward situation laid bare. By Naruto, no less. Things would have to get settled now, before they got worse and he actually was moved to use that glittery pink marker he had purchased last week. Or kill somebody. Either way, it was a plea for help. Dang it.
That evening, Team 7 returned to deliver their mission report after a very trying day.
They came in to find Iruka sitting in a virtual bower of flowers next to a heaping pile of candy boxes. Kakashi noted the development with amusement. When he made his way up to the front of the line, he said, "I would have brought you flowers, if I had known this was an occasion."
"As you can see, I don't need your flowers," Iruka said, colorlessly polite.
"But how you'd get so many, sensei?" asked Naruto, wide-eyed.
Iruka laughed his heart-warming, ear-caressing laugh and told them the story of the genin Aki, in a sweetly relatable way. Then some, ahem, admirers had decided to continue the gift-giving. While Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke all enjoyed the story very much, they felt they should have probably brought back a little token for Iruka at some point and made mental notes to remember to do so in the future - at a time when it might make them look good.
"What will you be doing with them?" Kakashi gestured to the pile.
Like flipping a switch, Iruka answered in the same neutral tone with which he had spoken to Kakashi earlier. "Someone is on their way to pick it all up - I've donated them to the hospital and the orphanage."
"That's very generous of you, Iruka-sensei. Perhaps I could help you," Kakashi leaned forward on the desk, dropping his voice slightly, the better to utilize his sultry tones.
"No need." Then Iruka said, in his best government official pro forma voice, "Thank you very much for your hard work, Hatake-san." He stamped the mission sheet and shuffled it into the proper in-tray.
Kakashi waited while Iruka visited companionably with Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke, asking them how their day went, what parts of the mission they found interesting, did they like having lunch at that fancy new restaurant the clients took them to? Then Iruka got up, and without another look at Kakashi, put a little placard in front of his seat. "This position is closed. Please move to the next available station for assistance." He walked around the desk, chatted with Naruto, and the two of them walked off together, joking, bumping elbows, teasing. Having fun.
Kakashi looked at their backs moving away from him in disbelief. He started to steam. How could Iruka waste ten minutes joshing with any warm body in the vicinity and yet not give Kakashi the time of day? (Him! Sexy mofo of the Sharingan! He even used his infallible sultry tones!) The hell -?
He turned back to Sakura and Sasuke. The two were giving him what might have amounted to pity smiles. "We're meeting at 5 am tomorrow," he said. He'd show up at 9. No, 10. "Don't eat breakfast." That'd teach them to look at him like that.
"What about Naruto?" Sakura asked.
"One of you tell him."
"Who?" Sasuke wanted to know.
"I don't care." That got the two of them swapping looks of concern. Dang it.
As for what he would do with Iruka - well, that would wait until tomorrow. Best to deal with this without his genin team around. He was a calculating genius. He'd figure it out.
It was a very busy morning.
Iruka always was surprised at how busy the weekend mornings were, even though the Sandaime would not be in. It's like everynin in Konoha wanted to get to the missions desk before Iruka's shift ended. But that couldn't possibly be the reason why so many people lined up coincidentally with his schedule (which was prominently posted in the hall outside the rooms). Perhaps all those shinobi wanted to get their work out of the way at their earliest convenience. Yes. That must be it.
Three-quarters of the way through the shift, Iruka felt a distinct change in the room. Something was odd about the chakra mix. Someone was becoming visible - but had been waiting the whole time? It was weird. There was no way that sort of thing was necessary. Mid-way through his conversation with the ninja he'd been about to give a mission to, Iruka looked up.
Kakashi Hatake was barreling down the length of the room, looking furious. Looking like a massive thundercloud sent on the blast furnace winds of hell. Like he could kill somebody.
He planted himself in front of Iruka, slammed a hand down on the desk (which knocked over a few potted plants and a pen and pencil set and some of the latest flowers and candies from Iruka's admirers) and yelled, "You are a little - little - flirty - flirting - little flirtacious - flirting slut!"
"What?" Iruka jerked upright in his seat, transfixed by the accusation. And his mouth, deliciously, dropped open.
Kakashi folded his arms across his chest, feeling like he'd made his point. "You heard me."
"I'm not a - a - " Iruka couldn't bear to repeat the word. "You cannot go around calling me names! Especially at work!" he hissed, angrily. "Besides, I'm just being pleasant! There's nothing wrong with being pleasant! Some people around here could do with being more pleasant!" When Iruka was riled, he was hot, but what Kakashi had said got him really really mad. Hence, Iruka was gaspingly hot, tear-inducingly, mouth-wateringly hot - pure capsaicin 16 million Scoville units burning hot. Kakashi mentally noted this particular look, as it was a keeper. But he had an issue to resolve and would not be distracted.
"You're 'pleasant," Kakashi lifted his fingers and scratched the air, forming air quotes, "to everybody in town except me."
"Just because I enjoy people's company and I let them know it does not make me a - a - you know!" Sputtering. "If you don't like the way I treat other people, maybe that's about you and not about me!"
"Nope," Kakashi said, infuriatingly. "It's you. You are a flirty little flir -"
"Yes, yes, I heard you! You don't have to repeat it. Everybody in the building heard you!" Iruka reddened. He paused, hearing the rumblings.
People in the line were talking, their postures tense. "Did Kakashi say what I think he said?" "If I didn't know any better, I'd think Kakashi is jealous!" "Is somebody giving our Iruka a hard time?" A few jounin approached the desk. "Is there a problem, Iruka-sensei?"
"Oh, no, no. Everything's fine! I'm just about to take my break." He reached for his little sign and placed it down at his seat. "Uh, let's take it outside, okay?" Then he grabbed Kakashi's arm and yanked him into the hall.
The moment they cleared the doorway, Kakashi pounced. "What the hell is going on? Do you not like me? All frickin' morning I've been watching! You don't smile at me like you do every other person - from the Hokage down to the kid who delivers the newspapers."
"I KNOW!" Iruka seemed startled by the confession. Deflating, he said, "Yes, I know. I'm very sorry. Really really sorry. I'll try to be better." He tilted his head up and smiled, but it was more an awkward display of teeth, like what one does at the dentist office because one has realized that one has spent way too much of one's time eating bonbons and enjoying oneself and nowhere near enough time flossing.
"You know?"
"Yes, I know I'm not, uh, quite myself. Around you. I'm sorry because it's probably very awkward - but it's really awkward for me too. I don't like being - uh - like that with anybody. You know, unpleasant. I like being pleasant."
"You mean flirty."
"I mean pleasant."
"Flirty."
"Pleasant. Nice. You should try it sometime."
Kakashi abandoned that line of argument, realizing, like the genius he was, it wasn't about to yield any results. "Why, then, are you so 'unpleasant' to me?"
"Because," Iruka was wringing his hands now, mortified, looking anywhere but at Kakashi. "Because."
"Because why?" asked Kakashi, pressing, dropping his voice to sultry tones. He could feel the impending portent of the next words.
"You just make me so nervous," Iruka blurted. "I try very hard not to express anything. Maybe that makes me seem uncaring or cold. I don't mean it."
"Why would I make you nervous?" This whole conversation, Kakashi had been incrementally moving forward into Iruka's personal space.
"Because." Then very softly, Iruka whispered, "I like you." When he finally looked up, he found himself staring directly into Kakashi's uncovered eye, the words hanging around them like little iridescent heart-shaped soap bubbles. And in a world where Iruka's blushes were justifiably celebrated for their shell-like delicacy, there came forth a whole new level of pink blooming across his cheeks. A level Kakashi could only catalogue as "Iruka pink cutely sexy oh hell confession-time completely forgiveable." Followed immediately by the thought, "Thank the gods nobody else has seen this, otherwise I wouldn't be able to beat them off with a stick."
"Why couldn't you tell me? You were killing me with that coldness. You're pleasant to everybody but me. I'm crazy about you but you don't do anything but look at me with eyes of doom and turn all pale and nervous."
Pause. "Sorry?" Pause. "You like me?" Hopeful, with a little bit of fanboy squeal mixed in. "Really? I was afraid to tell you - because you're so mysterious and sexy and masked."
Kakashi nodded. That statement was so obviously true, he couldn't dispute it.
"Everybody has a thing for you - I thought I wouldn't have a chance. Anyway, you didn't really act like you liked me. You'd just stare at me. I thought you hated me," Iruka finished, wincing.
"I stared because I don't have the words. I'm terrible with them. Look - I don't like you." At Iruka's crestfallen look, Kakashi hurried to finish his thought. "I'm crazy mad bonkers about you. You're the most adorable thing on two legs I could imagine."
"Oh. Oh!" Iruka smiled, genuinely, shyly. "So, what're we going to do? Ah - mrph!" He grabbed the front of Kakashi's jacket as Kakashi brought Iruka in to a deep embrace, pulled down his mask and laid an enormous smack on his lips.
And when they came up for air, Kakashi gave Iruka a grin, his eye crinkling at the corner. "That's what we're going to do. A lot."
Iruka quite happily agreed.
With a dreamy sigh, Iruka leaned against the wall. His heart was thumping in his chest, his lips slightly swollen from the pressure of Kakashi's kisses and his head was buzzing with dreams.
He watched Kakashi dash off to meet his genin team (he suddenly remembered he had to meet them to tell them he wasn't going to meet them, then he was going to prepare for their evening date).
Regaining some of the awareness of his surroundings, Iruka realized he was clutching something - probably pulled out of Kakashi's vest during their tight clinch. He opened his hand to reveal a heart-shaped note with the initials IU and KH intertwined, wrapped around a glittery pink marker.
A/N
The ramen museum is a reality: Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum is a food amusement park located in the Shin-Yokohama district of Kōhoku-ku, Yokohama, Japan. (The "u" in "Raumen", referring to ramen, is intentionally spelled that way.) (wikipedia)
interrobang = a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question. (dictionary dot com) (I really do feel the interrobang deserves a renaissance because I would use the crap out of it.)
Little iridescent soap bubbles to brukleflesche - who shows me where I've gone so terribly wrong.