A/N: Read everything before you start freaking. This is, and always will be, a Kakashi/Iruka story. Bland girl is just a plot device. Calm down and breathe.
Theme of jealousy. ;-D There's some denial there, too. Both are still sort-of in the stage of, 'good friends, totally nothing else going on here'...
Disclaimer: Blah-blah-blah, you know the drill. Don't own, don't profit, don't care. Does anyone check this stuff? I really wonder.
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What Kakashi saw next caused him to stop and notice Iruka in a whole new light. Not that he'd ever really admit it unless under torture. Maybe not even then. Because the Copy-Nin wouldn't ever think he'd succumb to something like jealousy.
Iruka was perhaps a rough twenty feet ahead of him, partially hidden by the heavy crowd of the weekend markets. He was easily discernible nonetheless by his distinctive chakra flare, bright in the midst of civilians.
Kakashi had always instinctively muffled his, a self-preservation technique as his own signal was much stronger calling beacon when left unchecked. Iruka, while strong of mind, with a Will of Fire burning brightly, had a naturally muted aura of chakra that Kakashi would have liked to describe as pale green or yellow. It wasn't garishly powerful, but held a semblance of soft wickedness that seemed like an intense energy of its own.
Sensing the other's chakra was nothing surprising enough to halt movement on its own, but what Kakashi saw somehow angered and scared him all at the same time. What was worse was that he didn't know why he felt like that.
All he saw wasthat Iruka was wandering through the markets with another woman. She was touching his arm and smiling and laughing, doing nothing wrong in the technical sense of the word, but Kakashi rejected her actions anyway. Why?
His reaction was childish, irrational, and perhaps a tad possessive. He consoled himself that it was merely because Iruka was the first someone he'd met in a long time that held decent conversation and made him laugh. Kakashi didn't like to share, but he'd have to tolerate it since Iruka wasn't property to be handed around.
The man was perfectly allowed in his own right to take a woman out on a date. A woman who was currently resting her hand on his arm and smiling in a not-so-friendly manner and kept sighing and giggling like some cheap—. Kakashi paused and scowled, unintentionally frightening some of the more sensitive civilians walking past him who could feel the dark intent rolling off his shoulders in waves.
No. No slandering someone of potential interest to Iruka. He's a friend, who deserves happiness... JUST NOT WITH HER! Taking a deep breath, Kakashi stopped his line of thought and instead analyzed the source of his discomfort.
Wait, no. Discomfort was the wrong word. Being tied up and whipped in enemy territory was discomforting. Having a medic take off his mask while under anesthesia was even more so. This woman was more of an irritation. And a bland one at that.
Black hair, pale skin, skinny build of a civilian: all up a rather mundane-looking woman. But Kakashi didn't think that Iruka felt the same; not with the way he was smiling at her. Innocent smiles that made the corner of his eye raise upward and his entire face beam. Kakashi's hand itched to grab a throwing star, and hurl it between the pair, but he had more than enough self-control to stop himself.
His entire body literally twitched, however, when the woman threw back her head and gave out a shrilling laugh that showed all of her teeth. The noise was screeching to Kakashi's more sensitive ears, but the teacher merely smiled some more, and moved a few feet to the next stand.
Her smile is ugly, Kakashi found himself thinking immaturely. His hand had moved halfway to touch his own face before he hurriedly set it back into his pocket.
Kakashi was fairly sure he had a nice smile. He couldn't be sure, of course, not being able to view his face with the detachment of a third-party member, but in the brief moments he'd unveiled it for some reason or another, people seemed reasonably swooned.
Another touch to the hand, yet another laugh—this time, a quieter one from Iruka, and Kakashi narrowed his eye. Worried whispers from around him started to filter through his clogged brain, and he recognized that it was about time he moved. Without warning, he jumped onto a rooftop and continued watching.
It was strange. When something hurts, there was usually two distinct reactions. The first, and more common option was to remove the pain, to get away from the source. The second was to tough through it and keep on going. Usually, the jounin chose the first, only pressing into the second option if forced or if using the agony as penance.
Seeing Iruka with someone else hurt, but he didn't stop and turn away, as easy as it would have been to do. He just sat and kept watching. The action was one part addictive, one part compulsive, and one part insanity. Maybe two parts of the last one, he mused offhandedly.
For some reason, something twisted and clenched in his gut as the woman brushed against Iruka as they looked at various pears. While the teacher was paying the vendor for two juicy pieces, the woman eyed him in a hungry way that instantly set Kakashi on the edge.
Juice ran down Iruka's chin as he bit into the ripe fruit, and Kakashi swore to every god that he thought could exist that if that girl licked it off—like she was clearly thinking of doing—then he couldn't be held responsible for murder. Well, today, anyway.
"Pretty lady!" A street vendor cried out enthusiastically above the din of the markets as the pair passed his way. "Buy a clip to get the hair away from those beautiful eyes!"
Beautiful eyes. Perhaps that's what Iruka liked. Kakashi only had the one. And not even that. It was gray and dull; essentially, it was his father's. The other was Obito's. And it was scarred. Not that the good teacher had ever had the misfortune to see it.
Blinking in rapid succession, Kakashi rubbed at the eye beneath the forehead protector, suddenly irritated as if it didn't like how it was being thought of. It wasn't the first time it'd happened, strange as the idea was. Unfortunately for him, there wasn't exactly prior knowledge on the procedure for him to fall back on.
Looking down at the pair once more, he noticed with a start what they were wearing. Fixated before on the situation and their actions, he'd barely paid any attention to their attire. Iruka looked attractive out of his usual ninja garb; black skin-tight turtleneck and stone-washed denim jeans with little frayed scratches up and down the legs. Were those superficially added in for that "artistic" touch, or did Iruka get them in a fight?
More than half of Kakashi's wardrobe had little tears and rips in the fabric in one place or another, and whether it came from fights with enemy-nin or his dogs scratching his leg mattered little. Kakashi had little to no patience with patching up clothes that would inevitably end up torn once more.
The girl, he noted with a slight brush of disdain, was donned in mock-ninja uniform, the current trend in Leaf's civilian fashion circles. It was ridiculous to most ninja, especially kunoichi, who found it utterly amusing of how technically incorrect the clothes were.
To the eyes of a novice, they could pass for ninja, but they weren't real ninja clothes. There were no hidden pockets for weapons, no places to hold scrolls, no allowance for wide upper body movement, the colours too garish for camouflage or undercover work, and, as Kakashi heard it from Kurenai, arterial blood was near impossible to wash out of it.
Anko deftly added to that conversation a list of other bodily fluids that weren't machine washable. It was surprisingly long, and to this thought Anko only shrugged and explained she had a lot of time to experiment and test the material out. Kakashi wisely refrained from asking for details.
So, no. The mock-ninja garb was nothing more than a weak civilian attempt to copy-cat the village's elite. Some were flattered, some were offended, most amused, but all agreed it was rather stupid to buy ridiculously high-priced fakes when the real thing was so much better.
Iruka was better than that. Kakashi was sure he could get a lot of proper ninja asking for a date, so why'd he settle for this wannabe?
Kakashi was now irrationally frustrated. He was a leader, a captain, a man with a plan: he didn't just like frustration—he loathed it with a passion. The feeling of irrationality, while familiar, today just added to his annoyance. He roughly ran a hand through his hair, wiry and wild; not that he'd ever really bothered trying to tame it. It was scratchy and dry and was as different as possible as his father's surprisingly smooth and soft hair.
Kakashi watched them wander the market appearing to be a rather happy pair until they walked out of sight. The jounin was not the one to doggedly stalk his friends without good reason, so he let them go with a strange ache of discomfort rolling around him. Sitting back, his arms propping him on the tiles of the roof slightly damp and slippery from the rains, he stayed in silent contemplation for a long while.
When he finally got to his destination, no-one believed him when he excused his lateness with, "I was busy watching a witch trapping a good man in her grasp and spent my time debating whether he wanted to be freed or not."
No typical smile of amusement graced his face when the word "liar" was shouted out at him. Not that anyone could really tell with his mask.
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The moon was full and the sky startling clear without clouds; perhaps the first clear night since in a week.
"I starting to think that you wouldn't come." Iruka smiled at him and moved across to make room for Kakashi. They were on the roof again, about to share tea and stories. Kakashi was late, and while his reputation preceded him, he made an effort not to be late for Iruka. Not today, however; so it was understandable that the chuunin felt he'd spend the night alone. He would never know how close Kakashi was to staying at home, but in the end, the jounin couldn't help but come out.
"How was your day?" Kakashi asked as he took his cup, giving one brief trademark smile that didn't feel real enough before quickly looking away.
Kakashi was going through the motions, really. He didn't inflict any more or less emotion into his tone than usual, but the younger man cast a critical gaze over him nonetheless. Under his watch, Kakashi's skin broke into goosebumps, but he displayed no real visible adverse reaction. Maybe because it's nice to be watched like that. Kakashi wondered whether it was a sign of insanity to tell his own thoughts to shut the hell up so vehemently.
Shaking his head in response to the silent question, he motioned for Iruka to answer. Kakashi was in no mood to confess that he watched Iruka on his date. Then again, he wasn't keen on hearing the chuunin ramble on about the spark in his love life.
"I had the most awful day."
Well. That was unexpected. Kakashi's lone visible eyebrow rose critically while he tilted his head indicative of disbelief. Go on, was implied and the chuunin sipped his rapidly cooling tea before continuing.
"I woke up late, ended up having no groceries to cook food, and then remembered that I had a parent/teacher meeting halfway through the day, which I then had to reschedule from the Academy which I forget was undergoing brief renovations for the demolished west wing. Damn student teacher let the pre-genin play with the exploding tags. Proper ones, mind you! The idiot." Iruka paused in his tirade to take a breath, ignorant of or ignoring the growing smile on Kakashi's face.
"Anyway, I decided to take the parent shopping with me, multi task and all. Normally parent/teacher interviews aren't too bad," sighed the chuunin tiredly, "but I got this civilian parent—single, mind you, she wouldn't stop stressing that—who kept interchanging between blatantly flirting with me and demanding that I keep her son away from the, and I quote, 'sharp, pointy objects'!"
It was far too late for Kakashi to get a grip on himself and stop his uncontrollable laughter. In the clear night it sounded loud and strangely pure with happiness, if that made sense. He'd been worried over nothing! Granted, he was grateful that he didn't go ahead and do anything stupid like barge in and interrupt the 'date' or cold-shoulder the chuunin, but still, it was pointless, meaningless worry that had him tied up in knots for the better part of an afternoon.
"Keep laughing and I'll tip this pot of tea all over you!" Iruka's voice made it perfectly clear that it wasn't an empty threat, although there was the familiar warmth of humor flavoring his tone.
"Okay, okay." Kakashi muffled his mirth, but was unable to rid his face of the smile.
"Stop smiling like that!" Umino seemed torn between annoyance and his own smile tugging at the corners of his lips. He seemed perfectly able to control his face for the most part, but the light sparkle in his eye gave away his hidden laughter.
"How can you tell that I'm smiling?"
"I don't need to see your face to know when you find something particularly humorous, Kakashi."
"Come on," Kakashi pressed. "It's pretty funny. The cliché scene where the single parent hits on the single teacher? Icha Icha Tactics has that very plot line!"
An odd sounding snort escaped Iruka, one part disbelief another part humor. "I really appreciate you comparing my life to a porn book, Kakashi."
In a teasing voice, Kakashi countered, "Sarcasm isn't a pretty mask, Iruka."
"Then you must be hideous," laughed the younger man as he refilled their tea cups. Kakashi merely rolled his eye in response. "Let the record stand that my day didn't end like the bloody book did."
"Grateful or wistful?" Kakashi almost smacked himself as he asked, but he didn't take back the words.
"What? That I didn't bed the parent of one of my students?" More sarcasm.
"What else?" A tint of curtness made its way into his voice, and Kakashi tried to soften it, but it was too late. Thankfully, the younger ignored it. The jounin had no doubt that it was noticed, however.
"Grateful. I don't need the headache of the controversy, not to mention she isn't my type."
A rumbling hum of interest filtered from Kakashi. "What's your type then?"
"Well, first off, I'm into men, so there's that, I guess." Only a blink passed in response in the first moment. Iruka had his sexuality listed in his folder like most ninja, noted as bisexual though leaning towards men, so it wasn't overly surprising to Kakashi.
It was, on the other hand, rather extraordinary that Iruka would choose to voluntarily share that information with him. Homosexuality was gradually being more accepted in the Leaf village, but there were deep-rooted bigots who couldn't think otherwise and those who felt it was unnatural and devastating to a culture that needed to retain bloodlines.
Clearing his throat, Kakashi grinned and said, "Yeah, I agree that'd put a hamper in her seduction plans."
Iruka's small smile was noted by Kakashi, who had apparently exuded an acceptable reaction to the news.
"Sushi?" Iruka offered as a side thought. As the jounin nodded, a plate of sliced sushi rolls seemed to pop into existence.
Critically eying the plate, Kakashi just picked up the wisps of teleportation smoke. "You summoned the food from scrolls?"
Shaking his head, Iruka laughed. "No, just summoned it up from the fridge downstairs. It's surprisingly easy."
Shrugging, the other just drank some more tea before digging in, feeling nicely buoyant in the clear air with good conversation, good tea—and apparently good food. The Copy-Nin relished in the smooth texture and light tang of soy. "Fresh fish?"
"Caught by the meditation waterfall using kunai and chakra strings. It's good fun," Iruka nodded enthusiastically. "I'll take you there one day and show you how to catch the biggest ones."
There was the briefest of pauses in Kakashi's chewing, not that Iruka would see it—his gaze politely averted as they ate, allowing his mask to drop minutely longer than he usually would allow it.
What Iruka said spoke of a promise planned for the future. In a world of constant life or death, a comment was very rash. Who's to say he wouldn't die tomorrow? Who's to say that Kakashi himself wouldn't die tomorrow? Who said that they'd still be friends? It sent his thoughts swimming on various tangents, before he swallowed heavily and responded.
"Sure. And I'll take you in the Forest of Death and show you how to catch some of the less venomous snakes and make the most wonderful stew you've ever eaten."
Ninja dishes were nothing if not slightly eccentric, and Kakashi couldn't help but be happy of that fact from Iruka's blinding smile.
At this point, Kakashi knew that what he shared with Iruka was worthy enough to get incredibly jealous over, but he still didn't know just how important it was. Not just yet.
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A/N: Real life is eating my soul, so I apologize for the late update. 25th review came in and reminded me and forced me to kick my ass into gear as soon as I got the chance.
I like the dialogue part near the end the most. I'm not entirely happy with the first part. I was trying to make him subconsciously compare himself to the woman, yet I kept tying his looks back to his father accidentally. Urgh. Oh well.
Silly Kakashi. Thinking that him and Iruka are just friends. *Giggle-snort*.
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