Title: Seven Listen
Author: Sekiseishi
Rating: T
Pairing: Hatake Kakashi x Umino Iruka
Theme: Listen
c. Masashi Kishimoto
There was a specific time of day when everything was calm and quiet. There was also a specific time of day when everything was exceptionally noisy, and, unfortunately, he knew that time. He knew it well.
The students would yell and scream as the day drew to a close, throwing paper shuriken and bags of sand to the front of the room in an attempt to get as much aggravating in as possible before being let out to go to their respective homes.
Of course, he never minded. The paper and little bags of sand he did, but the noise was welcoming. For as much as he yelled, Umino Iruka loved the sound of excited children. To him, it meant that the village was alive and all was right with the world. Everything was in impeccable order and there would be one more night to rest easy.
When the children left, scrambling over desks and shoving through the small door to, eagerly trying to get out and play before the last rays of the sun died down for the evening, he smiled. He smiled as the few that had questions stopped at his desk and asked before running off like the others with a wave good-bye and 'See you tomorrow, sensei!'
After they were all gone, he would sit and try and imagine the noise they made before they left, if only so he didn't feel so very lonely, and his smile would fade. He would sit for an hour, sometimes longer, and grade papers in hopes that someone, one child, would come back with a group of friends to try and make trouble. It never happened, of course, and the terrible emptiness that made its home inside him settled in the pit of his stomach, content with staying there until he found something else to take his mind off the quietude.
When Kakashi entered his life all those long months ago, he thought he wouldn't feel so lonely anymore, that he'd have someone to talk to and listen to and overall be with. But the copy nin took up his title of 'shinobi' after Team Seven disbanded and went on more and more missions. Maybe he had his own troubles he didn't like to think about and that was his way of dealing with it. Or, maybe it was his own way of coping with the loss of his students. Iruka had never asked, believing the Jounin's business to be his own, even if they were lovers.
If the loneliness became too much, if it grew heavy and became despair and a pain in his chest, he would close his blinds to the oncoming darkness and turn on music, or a movie. Something loud to keep out the lazy noises of the night. Iruka had always hated the evening most. When all the citizens and shinobi left the streets to retire to their homes and families for the night while he was used to staying alone in an empty house with all the lights burning and artificial sound blaring. Sometimes Kakashi would come home early enough to find his lover curled on the couch, asleep with every light on and the television practically screaming at them, but he'd never asked why.
When Kakashi would come home, bloody and exhausted and smelling like he'd bathed in gore and dirt, Iruka would silently take his clothes and run a hot bath for him. Sometimes, while cleaning cuts and scrapes, and scrubbing someone else's blood from his lover's hair, Kakashi would begin speaking. He'd talk about anything that came to his mind. The weather, the latest book he was reading, Iruka's hair. And no matter how noisy it got, or how much he spoke of things he shouldn't speak of, Iruka wouldn't stop him. The voice was a welcome change to the quiet nights spent alone, hating himself for surviving only to be left unloved for so long; and Iruka could only listen as the pain in his chest became a different sensation.
A/N: I'm not sure if I'm happy with this one or not. Don't be angry if it's not what you expected, exams are almost over and my brain is pooped.
Love to my newest reviewers: necrophile, Freedomcomes, and happychica! Thanks for the reviews!
