Name: Ito, Kyoharu (last, first)
Nickname: Kyo-chan
Age: 23 (Iruka: 23)
Looks: angled black hair, green eyes, lightly tan
Personality: Honest, Caring and sometimes a little clumsy.
"Hey, could I have another one of these?" you asked, holding up your newly emptied glass to the bar tender. Your eyes had a glazed look to them, your smile was off from your usual one, and your voice was very slurred.
The bar tender took your glass from you and raised an eyebrow. "You sure you want another?" he asked.
You giggled. "Of course I do, silly. I just asked for another, didn't I?"
The bar tender knew it was better to just give you another glass than to argue. After refilling your cup he handed it back to you.
You took the glass, raising it in a sort of informal toast to him and got unsteadily to your feet. A man brushed against your shoulder, spilling your new drink all over your shirt.
"Watch it, bitch," the man said.
"Wha'd you call me?" you spat back icily despite the strong slur to your speech.
"You heard me, bitch. Now move it."
"Make me." You stood your ground next to the large man.
In the distance, someone began chanting and the others, noticing what was going on began chanting too. "Fight, fight, fight, fight!" they chanted, their voices a strong roaring.
The large man came in at you with a hook to the head. You ducked – even intoxicated you were still an alright fighter – and gave him an upper cut to the stomach. He staggered back, clutching his stomach. You cracked your neck menacingly and started in again, but the bar tender threw himself between the two of you.
"OUT!" he commanded of you. "NOW!"
"Why should I?" you questioned. "He started it."
"Kyoharu," he said threateningly.
"You know my name." This stuck you as funny that the bar tender should know your name and you started laughing uncontrollably.
The bar tender took this opportunity to steer you out. The door slammed behind you and you staggered away, still laughing.
A few minutes later your laughter subsided, but your walking abilities had only gotten worse. You were now using the wall of the street to keep you upright.
"Kyo-chan?" a voice called from behind you. "Kyo-chan, is that you?"
You turned around and began walking towards the speaker. You couldn't make out his features from this distance – it was actually a rather short distance, but your eyesight wasn't that good while intoxicated. About half way there you tripped, but, instead of hitting the stone street beneath you, fell into the warm arms of the person who had been calling your name.
"Kyo-chan! Are you alright?" the speaker asked worriedly.
You looked up into the speakers face and saw spiky, dark brown-black hair, black eyes filled with concern, and a thin, yet very prominent scar stretched across his nose.
"Iruka-kun. What are you doing here?" you asked, the goofy grin still on your face.
"Are you alright, Kyoharu?" Iruka asked more forcefully.
"Hunky-doory, Iru'-kun," you slurred.
Iruka scrunched up his nose. "Have you been drinking?" he questioned.
"Maybe I had one or two." You pulled a bit out of Iruka's grasp so that you were still supported, but were in a more upright position.
"Kyoharu, are you drunk?"
"No I'm not." You pulled away, offended, but collapsed again.
Iruka caught you again. "Yes you are."
"No I'm not!" you denied.
"Yes you are! Your breath smells heavily of alcohol, your speech is slurred, and you can't even hold your own weight or walk in a straight line."
"Fine, maybe I'm a little drunk."
"A little?"
"Well, I'm not that drunk."
"Of course. And Kakashi isn't that obsessed with Icha Icha Paradise." Iruka rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, that's right!" you agreed, not catching the eye rolling.
Iruka let out a sigh. "Come on, let's go. We can't just stand here all night." Iruka started to walk while still supporting you.
The two of you walked for a while until you reached his house. Iruka steered you through the door way and your forehead creased. "This isn't my house," you told Iruka.
"I don't trust you not to go do something stupid if I leave you alone at your house, so you'll stay here tonight." Iruka let go of your waist where he had been supporting you and leaned down to put you down onto the couch.
You plopped down and yanked Iruka's arm, pulling him down too. Iruka was seated on the corner of the couch between you and the arm rest. You leaned over him, placing one arm on the arm of the couch and the other on this other side, trapping him.
You leaned in so that your mouth was only a few centimeters from his ear. "You're really handsome. Did you know that?" you whispered into Iruka's ear quietly and planted a kiss on his ear lobe. You trailed you kisses up his jaw and to his mouth, but he didn't kiss you back. You took your right hand, the one that had been on the arm of the couch, and started sliding it up his shirt, kissing more fiercely.
"No!" Iruka said forcefully and pushed you back. "Kyoharu, no. You're drunk. You'll feel differently about me in the morning." He swung his legs over the side of the couch and got up leaving you there. He left the room and returned a minute or so later with a bundle of sheets, a pillow, and a glass of water. He put the glass on the table next to the couch, placed the blankets where he had been seated and put the pillow on top of them. Moving to the side of the couch, he pulled a lever and the couch folded down into another bed.
You fell over backwards, having been leaned heavily against the back of the couch. "I'll still like you tomorrow, Iru'-kun. An' the day after that an' the day after that. An' you're really pretty and your eyes get all sparkly when you're happy. It makes your whole fast light up."
Iruka said nothing and simply left the room, leaving you there babbling to yourself about all of his wonderful traits. You just lay there for an hour or so, saying every little thing that you had ever thought about Iruka, not noticing that he had left. As the time went on your eye lids began to droop; lower and lower they fell until you had finally passed out.
A few moments later Iruka came out of the next room where he had been listening to you talk. He picked up the blankets and covered you with them so you were comfortable. He sat down on the edge of the bed and stroked your hair, your cheek. "Why can't you be mine?" Iruka asked quietly. "Why?" He had pondered this for ages, ever since the two of you attended classes together at the academy.
Begin Flashback (From Iruka's Point Of View)
"Ohayo!" the little girl said to her new class. "My name is Ito Kyoharu and I'm ten!" She held up all ten of her fingers to show her age. The other students laughed at her childish behavior and so did she. "My momma and papa and me just moved here two days ago," – she held up two fingers this time – "from Suna. That's all."
"Alright then, Kyoharu. If you would find yourself a seat…" the teacher instructed.
"'Kay, 'kay!" the girl, Kyoharu – wasn't that a boy's name? – pranced up the isle to the seat next to me and plopped herself down in it. She gave me a bright smile and I decided right then and there that one day she would be my girlfriend. Simple as that.
The other students started whispering to each other as soon as the teacher had turned his back to them and had started the lesson. I caught snippets of what they were saying.
"Why did she sit there?" one girl asked her friend.
"– parents killed by the Kyuubi," another was saying.
"Freak."
I was used to people talking about me by now. My parents had been dead for over a year, but the pain was still great in my chest. I glanced over at Kyoharu – I was positive that was a boy's name by this time – to see how she was reacting to the whispers. She didn't seem to notice. She had a notebook out and was taking detailed notes of everything Sensei said. She was literally holding onto his every word. She seemed completely oblivious to the other student's whispers.
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"Can I sit with you?"
I looked up to see the face of Kyoharu looking down at me. She was holding a bento lunchbox in her hands. "Sure."
"Thanks!" she said smilingly. "My name's Kyoharu," she told me.
"I'm Iruka."
"That's a nice name. Iruka." My name sounded like a prayer upon her lips.
"Hey, Kyoharu-chan? Could I ask you something?"
"Sure!"
"I'm not trying to be rude or anything, but isn't 'Kyoharu' a boy's name?"
"You're right, I do have a boy's name. Papa wanted me to be a boy really badly, so he decided to name me Kyoharu after my great grand-daddy. Could I ask you something now?"
I nodded my head and took a bite of my lunch.
"Why were all of the other kids whispering in class today? I know it was about you."
I turned slightly pink. Why did she have to ask me that? Now she'd never want to be my girlfriends. "My parents were killed by the Kyuubi last year," I mumbled.
"Well that doesn't explain much of anything," she said and opened her bento.
"It doesn't?" I asked.
"No, just because your parents died, I'm sorry for that by the way, it doesn't give then an excuse to hate you."
I just stared at her. This girl didn't care. And her reasoning for why the others shouldn't care was so obvious.
"So anyways," Kyoharu continued, "do you want to me my friend Iruka-kun?"
"Yes!" I cried joyfully. "I'd love to!" 'And I love you.'
End Flashback
"Good night, Kyo-chan," Iruka whispered and pressed his lips softly against your forehead, then drew away and went to get ready for bed himself.
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Your eyelids fluttered open and blinked, taking in your surroundings. It was Iruka's house. You vaguely remembered your activities of the previous evening. You'd gone out, gotten drunk, got kicked out of the bar, met up with Iruka, and ended up here. You tried to remember what had happened after your arrival, but no matter how hard you concentrated the memories wouldn't come to you.
Looking around you noticed a glass of water and an ibuprofen pill on the table next to you. You popped the pill into your mouth and swallowed it down with the water. You then lay back down and put the pillow over your head to block out more of the light from the room. After a while the ibuprofen started kicking in, which minimized your headache.
Pulling the pillow away from your face, you sat up slowly and glanced around the room again.
Click. The door swung open quietly and Iruka walked in balancing a pile of papers.
"Morning, Iruka-kun," you murmured.
"Good afternoon, Kyo-chan," Iruka replied. "How are you feeling?"
"Eh, I've had worse hangovers. Thanks for the ibuprofen by the way."
"No problem."
It was strange. Iruka was purposely looking anywhere as long as it was away from you. And it was kind of obvious that he was doing it. A thought crossed your mind at his odd behavior. "Iruka-kun?" you asked slightly nervous.
"What?" He was now looking at a point that was obviously about six inches above your head in attempts to make it seem as though he were looking at you.
"Um… did I say anything… weird… or embarrassing last night? To you?"
Iruka instantly turned bright pink and turned away and crossed into the kitchen to prepare lunch.
"N-no," he stammered.
'Oh, Jashin. It must have been pretty bad for Iruka to be acting like this.'
"Iruka. Spill. Now."
"You didn't say anything!" he snapped flustered.
You got up from the couch and walked into the kitchen. Glowering at the brunet, you grabbed his ear and twisted it slightly. It was a technique that worked on the academy children (and still on Naruto for that matter) and it seemed only likely that it would work on Iruka in this state.
"Ow! Let go, Kyo-chan!"
"Tell me what I said first!"
"No! It's, it's, too embarrassing for me to repeat," he stuttered.
'Aw, shit; not good.'
"Tell," you commanded as you twisted his ear more.
Iruka twisted to follow his ear. "Ow! Ow! Quit it, I'll tell you! Just let go!"
"Tell me first, Iruka."
"You said you liked me a lot!" Iruka blurted out before he could stop himself.
You sprang away from Iruka, releasing his ear in the process, and clasped for hands over your face. Your face was a fiery shade of scarlet. "I- I- I," you attempted, but couldn't find the right words.
Iruka's face turned an ever brighter shade pink. "S-so you were telling the truth?" he murmured.
You nodded your head about a fraction of an inch; this was too embarrassing. You'd never meant for Iruka to find out about your mondo crush on him like this.
"Then. Then was everything else true?"
"Probably." Your voice was barely a whisper in the wind, it was so quiet.
"You, you said that, um, when I smile, my eyes, they, um–"
"—make the whole room light up."
Iruka's blush intensified. "You used 'sparkle' last night."
You pulled your hands away from your face and blurted: "Will you go out with me, Iruka-kun?"
Iruka looked taken aback. "What?" he asked dumbfounded.
Your heart lurched in your chest. "I have to go," you murmured and then dashed for the door, a tear trickling down your cheek.
You raced down the stairs leading down from Iruka's apartment, the miserable feeling of rejection fueling your steps.
"Kyo! Wait!" Iruka called after you, but you kept running.
You heard a smattering of footsteps behind you and then a hand grabbing yours, pulling you back.
"Let me go, Iruka," you said as another tear fell and pulled at your hand.
"No; listen to me, Kyo," he commanded and grabbed at your other hand. "I really like you, Kyo. I just wasn't expecting for you to ask me out like that and I'd love to go out with you. I've wanted to go out with you since the first day I met you," he said in one breath.
"Really?" you replied hopefully.
"Really," Iruka confirmed.
"Akk!" he cried out. You had been slightly over-zealous in your hug and had ended up causing Iruka to stumble, which caused you to stumble, which caused the two of you to wind up having falling down in the middle of the street.
Your arms were securely latched around Iruka in a vice grip-like hug and he hugged you back.
Iruka stared at Konohamaru.
Konohamaru stared at Iruka.
Iruka rubbed at his temples. "Remind me again why you have detention, Konohamaru."
"Because I was late today and yesterday and the day before that."
"And remind me what you're going to do tomorrow."
"I'll be late!"
Iruka let out a sigh. "If you want detention you will. I on the other hand don't want to sit around here for an hour with you after school every day."
"Why? You used to sit with Naruto every day. And you usually sit with me every day."
'Until he ran away at least,' Iruka thought to himself.
"I'm sure you have better things to do than come to detention by yourself every day."
A knock came at the door.
"Come in," Iruka replied tiredly.
"Hi, Iruka-kun," you said blushing slightly.
'God; we've been dating for months. Why do I still blush?'
Iruka's face turned slightly pink a little too.
"You forgot your lunch."
"Thank you, Kyo-chan."
Leaning up on your toes you pressed your lips to Iruka's.
"EWWW!!! Fine! I'll come on time tomorrow! Just stop kissing, it's gross!" Konohamaru cried in disgust.
"I'll see you later," you said flirtatiously and slipped out the door leaving a very pink Iruka in the classroom.
Drifting from the room you could hear Konohamaru's cry: "EWW!!!"