Rubble

Disclaimer: This is a purely fan-made piece that is using the world and characters from Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto and is made entirely for enjoyment. No financial gain has been made in the making of this piece. All situations, plots, and other parts have been constructed by me and are my own creations

Summary: Kakashi tries to put things back into order. Sequel to 'Fallout', but hopefully can be read alone.

Author's Note: Alternate universe, and possible out-of characterness. Un'beta'd.

Constructive Criticism is always welcomed

Published: 25 August 2010

Rating: T

Kakashi took a deep breath before he knocked on the door. This was the last person on his list, and then he could go home and read his—

Iruka opened the door and Kakashi felt his brain implode a little.

The normally perky and tidy pony was sloppy and hair fell even more in front of the thick-rimed glasses. The vest was old and very thin. The tight jeans had holes in them.

Oh, sweet gods above, Iruka should not be allowed to wear tight jeans with holes in them.

It looked like Iruka had been cleaning his house or doing something else equally menial.

With a sort of anticipatory dread, Kakashi knew that he was going to have a domestic fantasy tonight. Probably was going to have a lot of them in the future, if he wanted to be honest with himself because even though it was wildly inappropriate and unprofessional, Iruka looked devastatingly hot right now.

Damnit.

But if there was one thing that Kakashi had been getting good at, it was ignoring his body's reaction to Iruka until he was in a private spot.

And he was not going to try to touch that warm brown skin that he normally didn't get to see.

"Kakashi...what are you doing here?"

The tone wasn't exactly hostile, but it wasn't pleasant, either.

Kakashi pulled himself together. "I'm visiting everyone to see how they're doing and to let them know how things at the store are going. Tsunade has decided that not only can we not afford to sit idly by while we wait for the store to be repaired, we can't let people see us being brought down by such low tactics. She's decided that we'll reopen the store in two weeks, as soon as the roof and walls are fixed. I'll have a schedule by the end of tomorrow and I'll be e-mailing it out."

"And you couldn't call me about this because...?"

"Tsunade was very clear on making sure that I see everyone. Something about making sure it looks good for the press." He didn't add that he would never turn down an opportunity to see Iruka and if he had to drive to everyone else's place first, then so be it.

Plus, there were those patches of soft skin showing and it would take a hell lot more than gas and the rest of his employees to stop him from stopping by Iruka's to see that extra bit of flesh.

A small part of his brain noted how sad and pathetic he was settling for so little—it wasn't even close to seeing anything X-Rated.

If only Iruka wasn't so hot and smart and hot and interesting and hot and passionate and h—

"Good press."

Uh-oh, that was the famous flat 'Angry Umino' tone of voice. It was probably time to cut this visit short, especially since it wasn't looking like he was going to get invited in to Iruka's place.

"I wasn't really paying attention to what she said exactly, so I might have missed a few of the finer points of what she was saying, but that seemed to be the gist. So, now I can go and tell her that everyone's looking mostly okay—"

Iruka took that moment to roll his eyes and slouch against his doorframe, thumb in a belt loop. It caused the slimmest strip of skin between the hem of the shirt and those sinful pants to appear.

Kakashi felt the rational part of his brain die a little more and knew if didn't get out of there right away, bad things were going to happen.

He didn't know what he said to get out of there, but he had the faintest recollection of there being something about the death of Skippyjohn Jones, great egrets, Jiraiya's newest book, volcanoes, and the price of peas in Persia making an appearance in his escape speech and Iruka's stormy face before he managed to get to the safety of his car.

Well, that could have gone better, but it also could have gone a lot worse. Kakashi counted himself lucky that he got out without incurring Iruka's wrath and decided that he needed to get out of the public eye before he embarrassed himself further.

Immoral and wrong as it was, he had some new fantasies that he was going to have to explore now.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Kakashi didn't know what he had done, but he rather wished he could figure it out so he could apologise to Iruka and get the man to stop making his life miserable. The tacks and screws in his chair aside, he was rather tired of the exploding pens, untraceable beeping things, cayenne pepper and sassafras bark in his coffee, all his Icha Icha books magically reappearing under the construction workers' saws, the Elmo ringtone on his phone, Clique screensaver on any computer he signed into, and the faint smell of old Limburger cheese in his office chair.

The return of the kohl and skinny jeans on Iruka weren't helping matters at all.

And he knew that he was falling back into old patterns, but every time he saw that perfect ass in that tight denim, the only thing that kept him from going over the and getting slugged for feeling up said perfect ass was reciting the company's policy on appropriate dress and sexual harassment.

He didn't have the time to be losing productivity, not with half of his store under serious construction because some asshat didn't like the fact that they were more popular with customers than they were and angry customers who didn't like construction on top of all his normal duties. On top of all that, the Suna store—furious over being duped—now were being very serious about making some sort of partnership with Kakashi's store, meaning more meetings with Tsunade and that little former psycho genius child after hours.

His temper was getting shorter by the day and he found himself going back to nitpicking everything Iruka did.

That was the point that he knew he had to do something about the situation.

It burned him to do it, but he wasn't getting things done and at the rate he was going, Iruka was going to have an iron-clad lawsuit against him in a week. And he still wanted to go farther in the company, so he couldn't keep things the way they were.

He took a deep breath and decided to be the bigger man.

He changed his availability so he couldn't work the evening shifts that Iruka worked. As much as he hated the opening shifts, he knew he couldn't be around the gorgeous children's lead any more. He made sure that Asuma knew that for no reason should he be scheduled any weekends Iruka was working. Anytime his hours overlapped with Iruka's, he locked himself in his office and refused to deal with humanity.

And it seemed to work. His productivity rose, and slowly, evil things stopped happening. Sure, not seeing that perky ponytail and that cute scar was a let-down, but this way, he was keeping his job and not being sued.

Unfortunately, it seemed the rest of the store didn't appreciate what he was doing for them. Anko, Kurenai, and Raidou tried to stage some sort of 'intervention' or something. He locked himself in the cash room and didn't come up until he was sure they were gone. Gai put on his 'serious face' and attempted to have a discussion about Kakashi's Disappearing Youthfulness and the Pains of Unrequited Love and blah, blah, blah. Kakashi turned up his music and went back to getting the tills ready for the morning. He was also pretty sure that Shikaku and Inoichi were behind the exception forms that kept finding their way into his office. And since Chouza kept baking notes into the treats he offered Kakashi, Kakashi was avoiding him as well.

It didn't help when the lower echelons of the store started in on things. The two stooges that carpooled with Iruka would try to trick him into going into the broom closet where Iruka was. Gemna kept trying to show him a tape that he had gotten—Kakashi didn't want to know where the man had gotten a wire—which he claimed had PROOF that Kakashi should hear.

Things were not only getting to be ridiculous, they were getting out of hand. And if there was one thing Kakashi need right now, it was for his co-workers and subordinates not to be conspiring against him. There was simply too much to do.

Maybe if he withheld a paycheque or two...

He got a hard stare from Tsunade the next time she came to the store. "You look like shit. What the hell's wrong with you?"

"Nothing," he muttered darkly. "Where are this quarter's reports?"

"Bullshit. I haven't seen you look so rotten in years. What's going on?"

"Nothing."

"That cute bookseller that you're hot for turned you down, didn't he?"

"No."

"Did you even ask him?"

"No, and I'm not going to. Don't start."

Tsunade gave him a long look. "You know, those rules were put in to stop favouritism and sexual harassment lawsuits. I don't think anyone here would report you if you did try for him."

"Odd that this coming from the woman who won't give her crush the time of day, isn't it."

She glared. "I was trying to help out your pathetically empty life."

"My life isn't empty and didn't you want to talk about things like sales and shrink and pay roll hours and things like that?"

"He might say yes."

"He's more likely to punch me in the face because he hates me. Manga shrink has gone up again; I think we need better security tags in the books."

"He doesn't hate you."

"Yes, he does. I think we need to tag more than twenty-five percent of the books. It's expensive, but it will hopefully cut down on the amount of merchandise walking out the doors. Plus, as long as we're fixing the store, we might as well update the E.A.S. and get—"

"Okay, brat, I'm going to say this once and then we can go back to all that boring paperwork crap you're so obsessed with because you aren't getting any; you should talk to him. Maybe even over dinner and a movie and hotel room. It might get you out of this funk you're in."

"We should also update the return policy and train more people in to help stop some of the return fraud."

"Well, for the record, I tried." Tsunade rolled her eyes and grabbed at the papers in front of Kakashi. "Now what's this about the return fraud?"

xXxXxXxXxXx

Kakashi felt drained by the end of the meeting, mentally as well as emotionally. He could feel Tsunade's judgement weighing heavily on him and he really was too tired to have to deal with that right now. He only had an hour left; he could go home and forget that the universe hated him and liked to taunt him.

The light in his office was on—not a good sign because he knew he had turned it off when he had left. The faintest smell of pencils, ramen, and sun-warmed grass wafted out and he knew his day was about to get a lot worse.

"What are you doing in my office?" He asked as he walked in and put the paperwork down on his desk. He was pleased to note that he didn't sound slightly hysterical and lustful when he spoke, only bored and a little annoyed.

Big brown eyes looked up at him. "I think we need to talk."

"So talk. Make it fast, though. I have a lot to do today."

Iruka sighed and pushed his glasses up with a sure finger and the simple gesture made Kakashi's heart speed up, just a little. "I'm not stupid, Kakashi. I know you're been avoid me like the plague."

Kakashi snorted slightly. "Contrary to popular belief, everything is not always about you, Iruka. In case you didn't notice, I'm trying to manage a construction crew on top of my usual duties."

"Don't be such a dick," the younger man snapped. "Just because you don't know how to handle your attraction to me doesn't mean that ignoring me is going to make it go away!"

He shut his eyes briefly and knew that Iruka would be blushing right about now. "Whatever my inclinations towards you may be, they have no bearing on the fact that I have a lot to do and you're not saying anything productive right now. So if that is all you have to say, please come back at a later date—a much later date—and I'll be happy to discuss my so-called avoidance of you. Now let me get some actual work done, please."

Iruka balled his hands into tight fists. "Damnit, stop being such a child! We can discuss this like rational adults!"

He could still smell Iruka and if he didn't get out of the small office soon, he was going to act on that enticing, magnetic scent.

"Whatever you say. But if you excuse me, some of us actually have work to be doing." He headed for the door, probably a little faster than was believable, but desperate times called for—

Iruka grabbed his arm. "You're not going to run away again! We need to—"

The warmth—combined with the scent and everything else—caused something in Kakashi to finally snap. Before he knew what he was doing, he had Iruka pressed up against the copier and under his mouth.

He tasted better than Kakashi remembered and he felt so right that Kakashi couldn't stop himself from flickering his tongue over those pretty lips. Why hadn't he done this sooner—

He yanked back. Fuck. Oh fuck. God fuckingDAMN it!

He was so out of bounds and so over the line of what was appropriate it wasn't even funny.

Goddamn it, where the fuck was his self-control?

He turned to glare at Iruka, but felt his brain start to get soft as Iruka's wide chocolate eyes stared at him. His cheeks were pink and his lips were slightly parted in surprise.

Kakashi was reaching to crush Iruka back against him when he realised what he was doing. With a curse, he moved swiftly towards the door. "Get out of my office," he said, not caring who saw him making a beeline for the cash room. He really didn't want to find out what he might do next if he stayed around Iruka.

He collapsed in the chair the moment the door shut behind him and for a moment, all he could think about was Iruka. Gorgeous, hot, passionate, fiery Iruka. He couldn't decide if the man was the best thing or the worst thing that has ever happened to him.

Then reality settled back in.

He could kiss his job goodbye if he didn't do something drastic quickly.

He sighed; he had always feared that it would come down to this. He had hoped that he would be able to rise above this—this-this thing he had for Iruka, but now he knew it was hopeless. This meant he only had one choice.

He had the first draft of his request for a transfer done by the time his shift was up. He could have a copy finalised by the time he opened the next morning.

He had worked hard to get this far and he was not going to let his little infatuation—or a lawsuit—get in his way.

He hoped Iruka could forgive him.

x Fin x