I think for a moment then gently stick my fingers through the bars, he wraps his own around them and I have to fight my grin.
He can't live without me.
Weeks pass, the Chunnin exam comes and goes, and every Friday he comes to visit.
He thinks he's alone, but he doesn't feel the OTHER. It started following him after the exams. A chakra presence muffled and controlled. I can hear it. Just like I could hear the Kyuubi's harsh buzz, the Uchiha boy's velvet purr, and the splashing that is Iruka's.
This one is the soft susurrus of wind over tall grass. I don't know who it is, but I know they follow my Iruka. But I'm not worried.
I'm as necessary as the air he breathes.
But it seems he is living off something other than air.
His visits become less and less frequent.
When he talks a name seems to pop up more and more often.
Kakashi.
Is THIS who follows my Iruka? This Kakashi whom he speaks of obsessively? I point this out and I can feel the man blush, even here, in the bright white.
"D-don't be silly! I'm not obsessed. Not like Kakashi with his books anyway, do you have any IDEA what he was reading? In front of my class of rising genins no less, it's-"
That disgusting Icha-Icha-Paradise series. He's been through this rant before. Two visits ago. It's beginning to grate on my nerves.
Kakashi never stood up for Iruka.
Kakashi never brought Pizza for a long night of grading.
Kakashi never…wanted Iruka.
But maybe he does. Because,
Kakashi ALWAYS shows up after classes.
Kakashi ALWAYS Shows up during dinner with the Brat.
Kakashi ALWAYS hands in his reports to Iruka, and only Iruka.
And Kakashi will forever and always be the name I hate, even more than that damn demon fox.
Because he's trying to take my Iruka.
He nearly succeeds.
Nearly.
A year and a half later and I'm lucky if Umino comes to see me even once a month.
But I keep waiting in the white, slowly going out of mind. And he returns.
He cannot live without me.
I don't know what that…MAN has done, and I don't care.
All I know is Iruka is hurt inside, and tanned fingers are slipping through the bars on my small window.
I smile and twine them with my own.
After all…
A Dolphin cannot live without water.
(OWARI)
AN: phew, sorry 'bout that. It just popped into my head. While I was thinking about Mizuki, after all Mizu is water, and Iruka is dolphin…Coincidence? I think NOT!
Mizuki's in a white room because darkness is a ninja's friend. I was debating having a window looking outside but no, so the rooms all white except for the small barred window in the door.
Oh and Ru Kun the reason Iruka has Senbon is related to the vial of poison, after all he has to have SOME surprises right?