Chapter 2 - Help Needed
Iruka sighed miserably. He didn't want to think about the incidents in the days after that, because that will only send another wave of shiver down his spine.
"Yo, Iruka-sensei." Iruka jumped at the voice beside him and instinctively reached for his kunai, preparing to stab the next person who's going to bother him. He turned and found himself looking at a masked face, the single visible eye curved in amusement.
Iruka heaved a sigh of relief as he put away his kunai. This person is definitely not one sane jounin. But at least he hadn't been insane enough to come pestering him for nothing. Though in the back of his mind, Iruka wished he had. Going to the ball with the copy nin would definitely be more enjoyable than any of the others.
Iruka mentally slapped himself. 'Now where did that come from?'
"Hi, Kakashi-sensei." Iruka managed a smile, blushing slightly when he noted their too-close-for-comfort distance. Kakashi looked at him concerned.
"You look tired, Iruka-sensei. Haven't been sleeping well?" Iruka sighed for the nth time that day and shook his head dejectedly. Kakashi patted his shoulder sympathetically. Iruka shiver a little at the contact.
"It must be tough teaching those kids isn't it? I can't even handle three of them. But you have to handle a class full of them."
Iruka sighed again. If only Kakashi knew that his source of problems wasn't the kids.
"Are you looking for Tsunade-sama?" Iruka looked up and nodded hesitantly. Then he looked at the jounin.
"You are looking for her too?"
"Yep. I need to make a report for the mission." Kakashi smiled. "But don't worry about it. You go on ahead first. I will come back later. I need to look for someone else first." With that, the older man turned and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Iruka stared for a moment before making his decision.
Tsunade looked up from her pile of paper works when she heard the knock on her door.
"Come in."
She waited for a moment before the door was pushed open slowly and she found herself looking into the despondent face of her favourite chunin.
"Iruka? What's wrong?"
"Tsunade-sama, do you have some time that I can talk to you?"
Tsunade gestured for Iruka to sit down. Then she pushed her papers aside and waited for the man to speak.
"It's like that, Tsunade-sama. I need a solution for a problem that I am facing."
Tsunade's eyes widened. But she motioned for Iruka to continue.
Iruka bit his bottom lip nervously before he poured out his woes from the past few days to the blond lady in front of him. Tsunade listened in shock, surprise, amusement and annoyance. She made a mental note to send all her jounins and chunins to the psychiatrists for a check.
"And I guess the final straw came when Genma showed up in the middle of last night in my room and tried to tackle me. I only managed to get away when Anko showed up as well and got into a brawl with him." Iruka buried his face into his hands. He had never felt so ridiculous in his life before.
Tsunade folded her arms and leaned back in her chair. "So, why don't you just pick one and I'm sure the rest will leave you alone."
Iruka looked uncertainly at the blond. "I can't." His voice was so soft that Tsunade almost did not hear him.
"Why not?"
"Well, you see, Tsunade-sama, there's an old saying about the Masquerade Ball." Tsunade arched her eyebrow in curiosity as Iruka continued.
"Oh?" Tsunade frowned. She had heard of that, but she didn't pay any heed to it and she can't really recall what it is.
"They say that, whoever you bring to the ball that night and leave with you when the party ends, that person is your destined lover and the two of you will be bound by fate." Iruka felt himself blushed in embarrassment when the older woman tried to stifle her laughter.
"And you believe that?"
"Well, Asuma brought Kurenai to the ball last year and shortly after that, they got together. The year before, Kotetsu and Izumo went together and they are a couple now." Tsunade's eyes widened at that little piece of information. "And before that, during one of our earlier years, Mizuki brought Tsubaki to the ball and they are now engaged."
"But Mizuki is in jail now."
"That's true. But their engagement still stands."
Tsunade sighed as she looked at the forlorn man. "And there's no one that you like enough to bring to the ball?"
"Not exactly. There's someone I would rather go with than all the others." Iruka's mind strayed to the silver-haired jounin and he blushed slightly.
"And who would that be?" Tsunade smirked.
"Erm… Well…" Iruka stammered. "It doesn't matter, Tsunade-sama. Right now, I need a solution to keep my sanity for the next three days before the ball."
Tsunade drummed her fingers against the wooden surface of her desk as her brows knitted together. She thought for a moment before she stood up and leaning over, placed a comforting hand on the younger man's shoulder.
"I will think of something, Iruka. If worse come to worst, I will assign an escort for you. I will send for you when I've got a solution. I'm sure I will have one before the day ends."
Iruka stood up and bowed politely. "Thank you for your time, Hokage-sama."
Tsunade watched as the man stuffed his hands into his pocket and walked out the door. She sighed exasperatedly before calling for Shizune.