Here's chapter three, finally. Again, sorry for any delays, but I've been painting my room and it was a helluva lot of work... took forever... But my computer's finally hooked back up and I was able to finish this chapter. This one ended up being a bit longer than usual. Enjoy.
And again, check out the playlist I put together (if you can get it to work on your computer; sometimes it doesn't). The link is in my profile.
And yes, this chapter is also based on an Oasis song. I like Oasis, and the song fit.
Okay, then, enough rambling... On with the story!
Disclaimer: I own nothig except the specific situations in this work. I especially don't own the song.
----------------------------------
Backbeat the word is on the street
That the fire in your heart is out
I'm sure that you've heard it all before
But you never really had a doubt
I don't believe that anybody feels
The way I do about you now
-Wonderwall, by Oasis, copyright to them.
-
Kakashi awoke the next morning with a sore back and an even sorer ego. It wasn't much of a confidence booster to be locked in a cage like an animal. Especially when you'd done nothing to deserve such treatment. He sat up gingerly on the roughly-built cot, stretching his limbs in a cat-like fashion.
Ouch.
His back cracked painfully with the movement, and his head pounded due to a slight case of dehydration. Kami, get me outta this hell...
"Kakashi? You awake yet?"
Or send Iruka, that works too.
A grin spread across his face at the sound. So he wasn't lying last night, was he? He really was gonna come here first thing...
Ignoring the pain in his back, he sprang off the cot and walked to the bars of his cell. Walked was really a relative term, though. Kakashi thought he might describe his motion, upon looking back at it, as something between a carefree slouch and a hurried dash whose urgency was trying to remain hidden but which showed anyways.
Iruka met him at the bars, a small smile on his face and a hand raised in greeting.
" 'Morning, Kakashi."
"Hey!"
Hm... That might have sounded just a little bit too enthusiastic... Iruka didn't seem to notice, however, and continued speaking.
"I talked to Hokage-sama this morning. After she got over the fact that I was bothering her at five o'clock in the morning, she told me that Ibiki-san was scheduled to question you at nine o'clock."
It just went to show how fucked up shinobi life was that Ibiki had scheduled interrogations.
"Great... What time is it?"
Kakashi made a serious effort not to sound as enthused as before.
"It's seven-thirty. You've still got awhile."
"Oh. Damn."
"Yeah, well... I did bring you some breakfast."
It was just then that Kakashi noticed the brown paper bag that Iruka held at his side. Iruka continued.
"Normally, I'd imagine that they would object to me feeding one of their prisoners pastries in the morning, but I think, considering the circumstances, they might make an exception..."
Hang on. Did I hear correctly? He has... pastries...
Kakashi's hand darted out instinctively, and Iruka chuckled, handing him the bag through the bars.
"You can have all of them. I already ate."
Bag in hand and grin on face, Kakashi dropped to the ground, sitting cross-legged on the cold floor. He turned his back to Iruka, not to be rude, but so that he could take off his mask to eat.
Iruka, of course, would understand. He always did.
Kakashi tore into the bag with ferocious hunger; he had, after all, just gotten back from his mission last night and was now realizing that he hadn't had a bite to eat since his last energy bar nearly twelve hours ago.
He wondered briefly how Iruka had know that his favorite food was raspberry danish before stuffing his mouth full. He made a contented sound something between 'mmm' and 'ahh' and ate for a good ten minutes before finally slowing to the point where he could speak between bites.
"Iruka, you are a savior sent by the great Kami... How the hell did you know I love danish?"
"I dunno. You just seemed like a danish kind of person."
Kakashi did notice the stifled laughter coming from Iruka's direction but said nothing. He was hungry, and didn't care if it was amusing to an onlooker to watch him eat.
Finally, he crumpled the now empty bag, pulled his mask up and turned around. Iruka was now seated as well, leaning his arms on his knees. He had a small smile on his face that looked suspiciously like a smirk.
"What's so funny?"
Kakashi already knew the answer, of course.
Or, at least, he thought his did. Iruka was simply amused by how fast he'd eaten...right?
Iruka burst out laughing, raising a hand and gesturing to Kakashi's head, unable to control his uproarious laughter.
"You... you've got... raspberry... on your forehead...!"
---------------------------
The interrogation with Ibiki was not a picnic, to say the very least. Ibiki had this uncanny ability to make even he, Hatake Kakashi, shrink back in fear like some weakling civilian under attack by a rabid squirrel.
It started with Ibiki being nice, so nice, that it gave Kakashi the strange vibe that the niceness was not going to last much longer. And it didn't. As soon as Kakashi so much as sank back into the chair, the interrogator's eyes narrowed and his gaze sharpened, focusing right into Kakashi's visible eye.
The effect was unsettling, at best.
Kakashi really didn't like feeling uncomfortable like that.
They had even confiscated his Icha Icha, so he couldn't even comfort himself with that.
It seemed, however, that Kakashi ended up saying all the right things, and was released without much more hassle, and a heartfelt apology from the Hokage, who also told him with a smirk that Iruka was waiting for him outside.
Kakashi wondered why she was smirking like that. He'd had enought unsettling looks for today, thank you very much.
Iruka was, in fact, waiting outside, leaning up against the side of the building with what looked like a worried expression on his face.
It never ceased to surprise Kakashi why anyone would bother worrying about him. But Iruka always did, and for some reason, it felt pretty damn good.
He walked over, and upon hearing the footsteps, light as they were, Iruka turned to face him with a grin spreading across his expressive features.
"Yo." Kakashi raised a hand in casual greeting.
"Hey! How's it feel to be outta there, finally?"
"Maa, it was only a day, 'Ruka-san. I'm fine."
Althought there was a strange tiredness seeming to plague him all of a sudden.
"You look exhausted, Kakashi-sensei."
"So do you," he countered.
Iruka rolled his eyes and smiled. Kakashi felt something weird, deep in his stomach, at seeing Iruka's smile again, even though it'd only been a few hours since they last met. The feeling confused him, and he shrugged it off in order to avoid looking like an idiot. He slouched over to Iruka's side and joined him in leaning against the wall, hands in his pockets.
"Hungry?" Iruka suddenly spoke, breaking the slightly awkward silence that had fallen.
"Uh, yeah, I guess... The danish is starting to wear off..."
That must be where the tiredness is coming from, then... Hunger.
"Come on. We'll go get ramen."
Kakashi shook his head and chuckled. Iruka and Naruto really were two of a kind. But he followed Iruka away from the Hokage's tower and towards the Ichiraku ramen stand anyways.
He was feeling really, really tired all of a sudden, though...
Really tired.
It almost felt like...
He stumbled abruptly, and the ground rushed up to meet him. Great, real graceful for a famed jounin. Real smooth. The world started to black out on him.
Ah, that was where he knew the feeling from.
Chakra depletion.
-------------------------------------------
Upon waking, Kakashi found himself in a strange bed.
Which, naturally, caused him to tense up and reach for a kunai, because he was ninja and waking up in a strange bed was rarely a good thing when one follows that career path.
He was completely ready to spring from the bed, ready for action, with kunai in hand and with killing intent that was liable to get him out of practically any situation.
But he soon found that springing anywhere was very out of the question, seeing as how he couldn't barely move his body. Oh, yeah. The chakra depletion... Must have been from those handcuffs being on all night. In any case, he wasn't going anywhere fast. He decided to just take it slow, and began to sit up gingerly.
After taking a moment to clear his vision after the blood had rushed away from his head from sitting up, Kakashi took a look around at his surroundings. The room was that of a typical nin's home, sparse and conventional, with little decoration to speak of. In fact, Kakashi would have taken it for his own had it not lacked the smell of dog hair and dust that his apartment had. Rather, this particular living space smelled clean and homey, and very, very familiar. He just couldn't place the smell...
He dragged himself out of the bed and out of the tiny bedroom, finding himself in the modest kitchen of the apartment. Here, he saw only more cleanliness, although there were a few pictures hanging on the walls and a couple of stacks of papers on the small table.
Kakashi was already starting to get a pretty good idea of who the apartment belonged to.
One, it was really clean.
Two, there were school papers on the table, ungraded.
Three, there were pictures of Naruto, and a genin team that contained a very familiar looking young ninja, with a brown ponytail and a mischievous grin spread across his tanned-looking, scarred face.
But perhaps the biggest clue that he was in Iruka's apartment was that the whole damn place smelled exactly like him. It was actually really comforting for Kakashi to be around. Relaxing, almost. It felt like he should be here, like a real home. But, of course, he didn't live here, and he was sure Iruka didn't want him to hang around too long...
Where was Iruka, anyways?...
Kakashi took one more glance around the extent of the room. He could see no one, and the bathroom door was open and the room dark inside. Oh, yeah, it was Friday. Iruka had afternoon classes to teach today.
Wait, didn't that mean... If it were Friday, Kakashi himself was... he glanced at the clock... five and a half hours late to train his team!
Oh, man Sakura was going to have a...
Oh.
Yeah.
He didn't have a team anymore.
Exhaling tiredly, Kakashi sank into a kitchen chair for a moment and clunked his head down on the hardwood surface of the table. He sat like that until his neck started to ache, and then sat up, looking across the table he sat at, it's surface near gleaming with cleanliness. Man, Iruka really was as neat as he always looked. Or maybe he was just never home...
A piece of paper he hadn't noticed before lay at the edge of the table, and Kakashi could see writing running up and down the sheet in neat kanji. He reached over and grabbed the sheet, bringing it closer so that he could read it.
Kakashi-san,
I had class today. I'll be back by three, I get off early on Friday afternoons. If you get this note, please stay put! You're in no shape to be walking anywhere right now. Get some rest, and I'll bring you something to eat when I get home.
-Iruka
He decided to do as he was told; Iruka did promise him dinner if he stayed... And he couldn't pretend his friend wasn't right; he was barely able to stand up straight, let alone walk all the way home by himself.
WIth a small smile on his face, he made his way to the bedroom (Iruka, like himself, seemed to be lacking a couch), and fell back on the futon, making himself comfortable and falling asleep almost instantly.
----------------------------------
Again, his reaction upon waking up in the strange bed was that of any good ninja, but this time his anxiety was short-lived and soon replaced by a feeling of comfort and relaxation.
After yawning and stretching in a way reminiscent of a cat, Kakashi dragged himself out of the comfortable bed and headed out of the room for the second time that day. He could faintly hear the scratching of a pen on paper coming from the kitchen; Iruka was home. He grinned despite himself.
Iruka was indeed seated at the kitchen table as Kakashi meandered sleepily in. He saw the table, littered with papers, some with red marks and others that had yet to be read over by Iruka. There were take-out containers stacked at one end, as well. Ramen, by the looks of it.
Kami, is that all the man eats? And I wondered where Naruto picked that little habit up from...
"Yo," he greeted, smiling beneath the mask that was still in place.
"Finally awake, I see." Iruka turned in his chair and laid down the red pen he'd been using. He gave Kakashi a small smile.
"Apparently I was suffering from chakra depletion..."
"And you of all people should know better than to ignore the symptoms when you feel them."
Uh oh.
Kakashi knew that tone.
It was Iruka's 'I'm the teacher, so you better well listen to me or else...' voice. It was scary. Kakashi did not like it.
He paled, and shrank back into the doorframe a little.
"I, uh... Well, I..."
"Whatever. Just come over here and eat something, okay?"
Kakashi grinned sheepishly and sat himself down in a chair. Iruka handed him a container and some chopsticks, which he ripped open and snapped apart eagerly. The foam package held a steaming portion of chicken ramen, which happened to be his favorite kind.
Is that man psychic or something? He knows everything I like... I kinda feel bad, like I don't know him at all, comparitively...
Kakashi decided that it didn't really matter, however, when his stomach told him that if he didn't eat that ramen right now, he just might pass out from hunger. He turned in his chair and yanked down his mask, beginning to eat ravenously from the steaming container. He heard Iruka eating behind him.
Probably pork ramen.
...Hey, I guess I do know something about Iruka after all...
He then decided that it was pretty pathetic that the only thing he really knew about Iruka, personally, was that he liked pork ramen best.
He also decided that he would like to get to know more about him, ASAP.
Because, for some reason, Kakashi felt happier around Iruka. Happy, carefree, calm, relaxed. He found himself wanting to see the man every chance he got. He missed him when he was not there with him.
That had to mean something. And Kakashi wanted to know what.
-----------------------------------
After they'd finished the ramen, Kakashi glanced over at the clock and decided that it was about time he got heading home. Iruka insisted on seeing him home, claiming that in his condidtion, he shouldn't even be walking anywhere by himself. Kakashi, of course, did not complain. Any extra time with Iruka was good, in his opinion, though he still hadn't quite figured out why that was.
But he would. He was Hatake Kakashi, after all, legendary ninja. There was NOTHING he couldn't do!
Except interact socially... Which may prove to be an issue here...
They walked side by side, now, down one of the more crowded streets in Konoha, due mostly to the time; five o'clock happened to be 'rush hour' in the village. Kakashi's gait was a bit slower than usual, which was saying something since he usually meandered calmly, in no sort of rush whatsoever. Iruka kept pace with him, watching him carefully out of the corner of his eye, probably searching for any signs of collapse or something.
Kakashi couldn't really blame him; he had, after all, collapsed on him earlier that day... He shuddered at the embarrassing memory.
As they were passing through a particularly crowded area of the street, a ninja, probably chuunin, brushed none-to-gently past Iruka, and Kakashi clearly heard his muttered "Watch it, fag." Kakashi narrowed his eyes in anger, but Iruka shot him a sideways look that clearly said 'Leave it alone.' He obeyed, though not happily.
Iruka seemed to be trying to ignore the problem and act mature about it. Iruka's shoulders straightened and he held his head high, not slouching in the least and making full use of his height and size, both of which were fairly formidable, so as to seem unaffected by the jibes.
That would be how Iruka would respond, now that Kakashi thought about it. He would face it rationally and maturely, even though neither were going to make the jeers go away.
The incident repeated itself several more times that evening, happening so often that Kakashi had to wonder just how many people had heard about the mission room incident. It seemed like half the village had already spread the news around.
The next time that Iruka was insulted openly, however, it was by a group of about three chuunin, all of whom smirked and jeered at him cruelly. Iruka's tough resolve seemed to finally start to falter, his cheeks gaining color and his shoulders slouching down a bit at the remarks. Kakashi saw it all, and couldn't do nothing any longer. He tossed a friendly about Iruka's shoulders, and he shot the darkest glare he could manage at the group. They shut up almost immediately after that.
Kakashi smiled.
He liked his reputation.
But he'd just now decided that what he liked even better than his reputation was being close to Iruka like this. Even if it was just a casual arm about the shoulders, a normal action for two friends such as they, he enjoyed it even more than just talking to Iruka, and that was saying something. For something to make him happier than talking to Iruka, it had to be pretty good, because nothing else had managed to do it yet.
He kept his arm there, and was happy to see that Iruka made no motion to move away from it.
Kakashi thought that, maybe, he was starting to understand just what it was that made him like being around Iruka so much.
And he really liked the conclusion he was coming to.
He wanted to say something to Iruka, but found himself not able to find the words.
He remained silent for the remainder of the walk.
And later that evening, was cursing himself for doing so.
Damn social ineptitude...
----------------------------
And all the roads we have to walk are winding
And all the lights that lead us there are blinding
There are many things that I would
Like to say to you
But I don't know how
Because maybe
You're gonna be the one that saves me?
And after all
You're my Wonderwall
----------------------------
That's chapter three for you! Hehe... Kakashi is so clueless sometimes...
Please review! I've been seeing a lot of alerts and favs for this story, but I only got two reviews for the last chapter. Please, if you like it enough to fav or alert it, drop me a line! I wanna hear what you liked/hated about it!
Next chapter: Chasing Cars
