"Hee..?! What happened to you?!" A certain brunette exclaimed in disbelief as he stared at his best friends with a look that could be described as a mix of anger and worry; mocha coloured orbs locked onto the bandages covering the youngergirl's right eye, letting out a sigh of exasperation as he pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his at the shorter genin before him as well.
"Mou ii, 'Ruka. It's not that bad.." Taeru sighed. "Hora? See, I'm fine.." She whined, attempting to remove the bandages to further justify her point.
"Oi, don't do that! It's going to start bleeding again!" Iruka grabbed her hand quickly, a look of panic starting to form in his tan features. Even as the skilled shinobi that he was and should have been used to blood by now, found it highly unsettling to see his friend's pale skin marred with signs of battle.
Why, you ask?
He hadn't thee fainted idea.
"Maa, 'Ru. I'm fine," she chimed, lowering her after noting how tensed and jumpy he was. "There's nothing to worry about."
"Mattaku.. Sometimes it feels like I'm your wife, y'know that?" Iruka sighed, rubbing his now throbbing temples as he spoke and closed his eyes. "Well.." Taer started, but the death glare challenging her to continue made her think otherwise. "Mou ii, why do you worry about me so much anyway? Am I really that troublesome that I have to have someone watching my every move at all times?" The younger female looked away, twiddling her thumbs as she mumbled something incoherently.
"The villagers sure make it seem like it, and I can see how stressed nee-chan is even is she doesn't want to show it." Taeru muttered quietly, her lone, visible eye giving a sort of far away look as she glanced at the setting sun from the precariously perched position atop the Nidaime's head on the hokage monument, a place that she'd come to grow quite fond of in the short eight years of her life.
Iruka frowed visibly at her barely audible statement, avoiding eye contact as well as he pressed his lips together in distaste, though stilled eyed his best friend carefully from the corner of his brownish orb; both ninja remaining silent for the moment before the elder of the two spoke, pulling the shorter girl closer to him by her shoulders, realising how adorable her embarrassed face was at that moment, a light pink tainting his cheeks as well though was less noticeable on his tan skin rather than his smaller counterpart's nearly icy pale complexion, feeling grateful for that as she looked like a ripe tomato as that moment, forcing a soft chuckle out of him.
"What am I going to do with you.." The ten year old sighed, sounding much older than he actually was with the tone of his voice and choice of words.
"Mou, 'Ruka.. What's with all the sighing, huh? You sound like saru-ji!" Tae pouted, both her expression and what she just called the third hokage urging a cheerful laugh from the genin, merely shaking his in response.
"What!" She exclaimed in irritation, only furthering the older's boy's laughter.
"Nothing," Iruka shook his head once again with a smile, before continuing.
"Just the fact that we're even now." He grinning, pointing towards the scar over his nose, making the haired girl raise an eyebrow in confusion before a smile broke out on her pale face, laughing softly as well.
"Yeah, I guess we are, 'Ruka."
-Owari.