A/N: Sorry for keeping you wait, this chapter came out really short but I'm just a terrible tease and don't want to publish the good part ;w; Thanks to everyone who encouraged me to continue this via the reviews, I love you! I hope it was worth waiting, just a slight spoiler - WorldTravel in the next chapter! I know that judging by it's lenght, this should have been posted earlier(I think? 5 days passed xD) but I've been occupied with school AND a new story! If you want to, you can check it out later, it's another AU, about demons and will be named "Forever in the Demon's claws" but I'm still not sure if I should publish it or wait some time more...Well, enough with the talk, enjoy!~

"So?"

"What?"

"Don't you know? People usually go to parties to get to know each other better. Tell me about you?"

"O-oh...well,what do you expect me to tell you?"

"Anything, everything? We've got the whole night free."

"But didn't you say that you came here to see 'a certain person'?

"Yeah, well, do you remember how I described that...'certain person'?

"You said that he was nice, with brown hair and eyes..."

"And why did you remember that?"

"Umm, I guess it just reminded me of myself? I don't know about the 'being nice' part but I have brown hair and eyes, too. "

"Exactly."

"Eh?" Iruka asked, feeling confused.

"I came here to see you, Iruka." Kakashi answered with a grin.

"O-oh..." The brunette's face reddened. "Is it that fun to tease me?"

"Wha-No, I mean yes but don't take it like that...I'm not usually like this...usually. I really wanted to know more about you. It's just that...well, it's really rare for someone to start a conversation with me so I thought that we could become friends." Kakashi said with a hint of sadness. 'Or maybe even more?' he wanted to add but he knew that it was too early. He wasn't sure in his own feelings too.

"I'm totally fine with that, at least there will be someone who doesn't hate me in our class."

The silverhead chuckled. "Now, I'm listening."

"Um..let's see...My birthday is on the 26th of May. I live alone, I don't have any relatives either. In my free time...well, you probably already know, I read books. Sometimes I go to the park for a walk to clear my thoughts and..yeah, there's nothing exciting in my life. You probably know most of the things since we're in the same class."

"Ne, I've always wondered, what kind of books do you read? And don't think that I don't know anything about real literature just because I always have one of Jiraya's pieces of art."

"Actually, my favorite is written by him too." Iruka admitted and then added "And no, it's not a part of the 'Make Out' series." when he saw that Kakashi was about to say something, making the silver-haired man pout.

"Hmm...you mean the one about the ninja?"

"Yeah, The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Ninja, it was his first book and it actually became the reason I'm so much into reading. I read mostly about ninja and dragons."

"Woah, you're not the person everyone sees you as. You know, everyone thinks that you're reading about some boring stuff for school."

"That's because you guys are too quick to judge!" Iruka frowned.

"True, we're not as clever." Kakashi admitted.

"Now that you mentioned 'clever'...tell me about your shogi game with Shikamaru. You know, it's not like he gets beaten every day. And at shogi on top of that."

"What do you mean? No special method and all, I just did it. And I wasn't really trying since I wasn't in the mood for such a game. You didn't think that I cheated, did you? And how do you know about that? Everyone who saw promised not to tell anyone else."

"It was pretty hard to ignore all of the noise behind me." Iruka said with a flat expression.

"So you were there? Oh, right, we were supposed to have a class with Mr. Hyuga..." Kakashi chuckled.

"You had a hand in it, didn't you?"

"Maybe."

Iruka continued, not really surprised "Back to the subject, if you really did beat him only with pure skill, how come your grades are worse than Mizuki's?"

"Ugh...it may sound really, really weird but...I guess it's a way to keep my best friend's soul next to me, the 'always-being-late-by-at-least-an-hour' is his thing too..."

"Best friend? You mean Gai?"

"No, there's just no way you know him anyway."

"I guess I shouldn't question it." Iruka said when he noticed the brief pause in which Kakashi went into his own world of thoughts and seemed uncomfortable to talk about it.

"It's not that I don't want to tell you...But everytime I remind myself of that day...I can't help but wish I had died back then."

"I don't insist to hear it so you can just change the subject."

"Hmm, I think that I should tell you. One day, when I was young, probably around 13, I was out with my karate team - Obito, Rin and Minato-sensei. Obito was a stupid, irresponsible kid at a first glance but he truly loved his friends and was really kind-hearted. We always argued and didn't admit our best-friend's relationship so we claimed it as a rival's one. Rin was a nice and clever girl, she was strong too. Obito was hopelessly in love with her but never had a chance to tell or show her. And Minato-sensei...I couldn't imagine a better teacher than him. He was caring and always managed to teach us the things that seemed impossible. He was like a father to me, he even pulled me out of the darkness in which I fell when my biological father died. But that day went completely wrong. We were out to celebrate another victory but then, the sunny weather turned into a storm. We were in sensei's car, driving to the BBQ restaurant. He was a perfect driver so everyone trusted him. But the wind managed to take down some trees. In the end we got hit by a falling oak and were transported to the local hospital. I was the only one who still had a chance to continue living. But something had gone wrong with my left eye while they were getting me out of the car, which was burning by the time. With his last breath, Obito, who was in the next bed, offered his good eye, the left one, his right side of the body being completely crushed. During the surgery, which was unbelievably successful, that eye turned into a crimson colour but it didn't affect my vision in any way so it was fine. Well, this is it, long story - short."

Iruka seemed stunned. He didn't know about this and somehow regretted for making the silverhead tell him all of this. It must have been painful.
"Is this why you...hide your left eye? So that people wouldn't question you?"

"Partly. Also, I don't want to be reminded of that day every time I look into the mirror."

"I think that now it's my turn to tell you about my parents. I won't get much into details. I was only 8 back then. It was the weekend and we went out for a family picnic. The day was going so well until we arrived home. Everything was turned upside down. We were being robbed. We managed to get home while the thieves were not done yet. But exactly that was the bad thing about it. The robbers weren't unprepared and had guns. That night was the first time I saw fear in my father's eyes. It wasn't fear for his own life though. It was for mine. In the end, they were both shot in the head but I somehow got out of there alive, though I had fainted. The bad guys probably thought I was already dead because they had injured me. But I was a stubborn kid so I didn't, I survived. One of our neighbours saw me and saved my life. But it was too late for mom and dad. I woke up 4 days after they had died. Since then, I've been living alone. And that's why I've always been reading after that. I escaped reality that way. I guess you can call me a coward because I deserve it. Up until now, nothing changed. I can't even confess to the one I like..."

"Then I should be called a coward too. Since the incident, I never let myself love again. I was too scared. Because everything I had once loved was harshly taken away from me."

"I was never given the chance to love."

"I ca-" Kakashi started but was interrupted by loud laughs and splashes. Both looked at the direction the sound was coming from.

"What are they doing?" the brunette asked.

"Hmm, I didn't know that there was a pool party too..." the silver-haired man trailed off when he noticed that the other tensed. "What's wrong?"

"N-nothing...are you...going?"

"Aren't we?"

"Well..."

"Iruka, can you swim?" Kakashi guessed, grinning at the flushed face.

"Not r-really...at all..." The other admitted, embarassed, blushing even more when the other started laughing. "Hey, it's not that funny!"

"No, no, it's just that," he couldn't stop giggling, "it's just the irony."

"Huh?"

"Your name, Iruka Umino...It means 'dolphin in the sea', doesn't it?" the silverhead asked, still chuckling.

"Oh, please no. I'm sick of those sea jokes since elementary school." Iruka complained. 'At least I made him happy after that talk...'

"Ah, sorry, sorry. Still, wanna go down? I'm not much into swimming either, even though I can, so I won't leave you alone."

"I d-didn't mean it like that, that's not the problem! And you probably shouldn't stick around me much."

"Why not?" Kakashi tilted his head in a way a dog would.

"Well, you know, you're popular and being around me..."

"Will ruin my reputation? I would be glad to be honest, I'm tired of this 'fame'. And don't even think about this. Now, c'mon, let's go down." the pale man pulled Iruka with him, before the other could protest.

"Okay then, if you're sure."

A/N: Bam, cliffhanger :^)
I have no idea when the next update is coming and all but don't expect it as soon as the previous updates, I have some problems in my family and...yeah, I shouldn't talk about this now so, R&R and see ya in the next chapter~

-Blur