Chapter Nine
Kakashi was getting some funny looks. The woman standing at the other side of the launderette kept shooting him death glares as her gaggle of children sped around her ankles. It could have been because he was sitting on top of a violently vibrating washing machine whilst reading porn, but he couldn't be sure.
"What you reading?"
Kakashi lowered his book and peered down at the tiny person who had asked the question. The boy had to be about six years old, with a wide, innocent smile and unnaturally big blue eyes.
"A book," Kakashi replied.
"What's it about?" the little boy asked. He had the longest eyelashes Kakashi had ever seen, they brushed his cheeks when he blinked.
"It's about what mummies and daddies do when they're alone," he said.
"Hiro!" the woman with the death glares marched towards the little boy and snatched up his hand. The look she shot Kakashi could have scorched through solid steel, and she gave one last scathing look to Icha Icha before tugging her little boy away from the nasty porn reading masked man.
Kakashi chuckled and waved to the little boy who was smiling back at him over his shoulder. The vibrations of the washing machine were travelling up his spine. It was relaxing actually, like a massage. He could feel the tension in his back being vibrated away.
He went back to staring at the pages of his book and ignoring the looks that that woman was giving him. He had been getting dirty looks since he was five years old, if she was trying to get him to put his book away she'd have to try a little harder than that. Of course, if she just came out and asked, he would tuck his porn away and behave like a fine upstanding citizen, but it wasn't like her kids had any idea what his book was actually about.
He looked up again when he heard the door to the launderette open and the noise of the marketplace trickled inside. The door clattered back into its frame as Genma stepped into the building.
"Yo," Kakashi waved his book in Genma's general direction and went back to reading. He noticed Genma striding purposefully towards him out of the corner of his eye, but he ignored him in favour of his porn. If Genma wanted something, he'd have to ask.
"I want to talk to you," Genma said once he reached the jounin. Kakashi looked at the other shinobi over the top of his book, it was then that he noticed that something was slightly off with Genma. For a start, he wasn't sucking on one of his senbon. Instead the thin metal needle was tucked behind his ear.
Kakashi lowered his book and peered curiously at the senbon. There had been someone else who stored senbon behind their ears, someone Kakashi had known once, but the memory was like smoke curling through his mind. Intangible.
Genma was frowning. It wasn't an angry frown, more like a contemplative one. He looked a little tense. Kakashi thought about offering him his washing machine.
"Have you heard about Gai?" Genma asked without looking Kakashi in the eye.
Kakashi suddenly felt cold. Gai's name was like a shard of glass imbedded in his flesh. He raised his book again and hid behind it. He didn't want to talk about Gai.
"He was poisoned," Genma went on, "do you know who did it?"
Kakashi sighed behind his book, "no."
For a few minutes the only sounds were the laughter of the children at the other end of the room and the humming of the washing machines. Kakashi let his eyes roam over the words on the page but they weren't sinking in. He had been trying to get Gai off his mind all day, he was determined not to care. But it wasn't working. Gai was the one constant in Kakashi's life. Despite everything that had changed, despite everything they had lost, Gai was always there, always the same. The spandex loving fool had somehow managed to become Kakashi's rock, and the worst part was that Kakashi's didn't know how he had managed it.
"How was he poisoned?" Genma asked suddenly, knocking Kakashi's train of thought sideways.
Kakashi lowered his book slightly and watched the other man. Genma was purposefully not looking at him, which was odd, because Genma was never skittish about eye contact. There was a shadow over Genma's features that had nothing to do with the lighting of the room.
With the air of a condemned man, Kakashi pushed himself off the washing machine to stand next to Genma.
"It was absorbed into his blood stream through his skin and clothes," he replied quietly, "it was in his attacker's saliva, he spat it at him."
Something flashed in Genma's eyes. For a split second Genma looked straight at Kakashi, their eyes met and Kakashi almost took a step back. It was as though Genma's eyes had frosted over with something cold and hard and utterly unyielding.
"Genma…"
"Where?" Genma ground out.
"What?" Kakashi blinked. Genma was known to swing through moods like a teenage girl, but Kakashi couldn't recall if he had ever seen him angry before. Really angry. He had seen Genma sulky and surly, but never quite as angry as he looked right then.
"Where did it happen?" Genma asked, louder and more forceful than before.
"I'm not sure," Kakashi replied, trying to soften his voice into something that might make Genma calm down, "his team were on their way to Otafuku Gai but I don't know…"
Before Kakashi could finish his sentence Genma had turned away. He didn't simply walk out of the laundrette, he stormed out and left a rippling wave of killing intent in his wake.
The smaller children playing across the room burst into tears. The door crashed back into its frame once Genma had stepped outside and Kakashi could only stand there, trying to work out what had just happened.
oO0Oo
The Mizukage would be drinking tea in his private chambers around now. He always drank tea in the afternoon, usually chamomile, usually with honey, and usually with Shinichi.
It wasn't that he was feeling homesick, he'd been away from Hidden Mist for far longer before. He had just come to the sudden, violent realisation that he would never drink tea with the Mizukage ever again. There were a lot of things that he would never do again, and the loss was a lead weight in his chest.
He wasn't an idiot, he knew what he had done. He had become a missing-nin; he had abandoned his village; he was a traitor. That should have made him feel something. Guilt maybe, or regret. But he felt nothing but sad nostalgia each time he thought about how his life had been.
There was a squirrel that lived in the tree in Shinichi's yard back at home; it would poach seeds from the birdfeeder on Shinichi's porch whenever it thought no one was looking. There would be no one to fill the birdfeeder any more, Shinichi wondered if the squirrel would starve.
It was odd to think that he would never again set foot in his house. When he had left, he had assumed he would be back eventually, that yet again he would have to scrape out the mould from the fruit bowl and open every window to get rid of the stale smell. He wasn't actually sad. In fact, just thinking about the place he had once called home put a slight smile on his face. It was like reminiscing about happier times, thinking back on the past with quiet fondness. He had long since come to terms with the fact that he would never go back, but he was at a loss as to how to go forwards. He was stuck; he had hit a dead end. He didn't know what to do about the Copy-nin.
With a sigh, Shinichi stepped out into the hallway and headed for the staircase. He had a sudden craving for chamomile tea with honey. The aroma of tea was winding upwards through the floorboards from the teahouse below, and he could plan his next move sitting at one of the tables downstairs just as easily as he could alone in his room.
"It belongs to one of your guests…"
Shinichi paused at the top of the stairs to listen to the voice that floated upwards from the teahouse. Sakura was directly below him, he recognised her voice.
"Alright Sakura-san," the old woman who owned the establishment replied, "I'll see to it that he gets it."
Shinichi very nearly vaulted down the staircase. He dropped onto the bottom step and swept round the corner and into the teahouse as naturally as was possible. Sakura whipped her head around to look at him when he emerged; she was holding the garish red umbrella in her hand and was in the process of handing it to the old woman when Shinichi smiled at her.
"Good afternoon Sakura-san," he nodded in greeting as he moved towards her.
"Shinichi-san," she smiled back, "I just came to return your umbrella."
"I can see that," he held his hand out and waited for Sakura to place the curve of the handle into his palm, "would you like to have some tea with me? I was just about to order something to drink."
"Oh, I shouldn't really," she shook her head, "I have to be back at the hospital soon so I don't really have the time."
"Surely you have the time for one cup?" Shinichi gave her the most pathetic look he could muster, the look that always caused Zabuza to give in and let him stay up a little bit later when he was a child.
The look was nowhere near as effective now that Shinichi was an adult and his puppy fat had burned away, but Sakura quirked her lips in amusement and nodded anyway.
"Alright," she smiled, "one cup."
"Let me guess," the old woman mused as she looked at Shinichi, "chamomile," she turned to Sakura, "and peppermint tea."
Sakura nodded, and, ever the gentleman, Shinichi led her towards the table in the corner and pulled her chair out for her. She didn't appear to notice the gleefully smug grin on Shinichi's face.
"You look a little tired, Sakura-san," Shinichi said, injecting his voice with as much concern as he could, "it must be difficult working in a hospital."
"Mm, I guess so," she sighed, "I mean, I enjoy it but… it's difficult when someone you know becomes your patient."
Her brow creased slightly, and she blinked as she looked away. Shinichi could practically see the weight sitting on her shoulders, and ever so slightly, he leant towards her with a sympathetic expression.
"Is there something the matter, Sakura-san?"
She looked surprised for a moment, like she had just remembered that he was sitting there.
"Oh, no, not really," she said with a small smile, "it's just that… my friend's jounin sensei was admitted the other day."
"Is he alright?" Shinichi asked, wide eyed and as innocent looking as he could make them appear.
She sighed deeply, "I don't know. I'm sorry, I'm not really supposed to talk about it."
"I understand," Shinichi replied. He didn't really care one way or another, he just needed to make Sakura comfortable with talking to him, she was the only source of information on the Copy-nin that he had.
"I just…" she caught her lower lip between her teeth lightly before she continued, "I couldn't stop thinking about Kakashi-sensei," she said, "my jounin sensei, I mean." Like Shinichi could forget that.
"Why?" Shinichi asked, trying not to sound as riveted as he felt.
She shrugged and chuckled self reproachfully, "it's silly really, I kept trying to imagine what Lee, the friend I mentioned, what he must be feeling to have his sensei injured like that. Then I couldn't stop thinking about how I'd feel if it had been Kakashi-sensei rather than Gai-sensei."
The old woman shuffled across the room towards them, holding a tray with their tea balanced upon it. Despite her wobbling gait, she held the tray surprisingly steady.
Sakura thanked her with a beaming smile as the tea was placed on the table between them. Shinichi quickly poured Sakura's tea for her, and it hit him suddenly that if he were at home, he would be doing this for the Mizukage. The thought resonated through him with an uncomfortable pang.
"Are you alright Shinichi-san?"
Shinichi looked up at her and smiled, "yes. Sorry, I drifted off for a second there."
Sakura smiled and lifted her cup to her lips to blow across the liquid.
"I hope your friend's sensei will be alright," he said, trying to get the subject back onto Kakashi, "is your friend close to his sensei?"
She chuckled softy, "he idolises him. Even wears the same clothes and everything."
"What about you?" Shinichi asked, "are you close to Kakashi-sensei?"
Sakura's face fell, "no, not really. I don't think anyone's close to Kakashi. I… I don't really see him very often. I saw him when we'd finished treating Gai-sensei, I think he wanted to see Gai, he'd been waiting all night with Gai-sensei's students anyway."
"Really?" Shinichi asked breathlessly, and then coughed to cover up the desperation he had heard in his own voice, "so he's friends with your friend's sensei then?"
Sakura shrugged and took a sip of her tea, "they're Eternal Rivals."
Shinichi must have made a confused expression, because Sakura glanced at him and started laughing.
"Don't ask," she grinned, "they have these stupid challenges. Like rock, paper, scissors. Gai-sensei keeps a tally of who's in the lead. I don't think Kakashi-sensei takes Gai very seriously, but he accepts the challenges so I guess they must be friends."
Shinichi was cackling madly on the inside. He could have launched himself over the table and hugged Sakura, but they were on the right subject and Shinichi wanted to milk Sakura for all she was worth, so he sucked in a calming breath and smiled sweetly.
"I would have thought someone as famous as your sensei would have lots of friends."
Sakura frowned, her lips turned downwards at the sides, "fame doesn't get you friends, it gets you fans," she said disapprovingly, "but enough about all that, we keep talking about me and I hardly know anything about you."
Shinichi managed to keep the smile on his face as he ran through a host of back-stories in his head, something convincing that he could tell her. All the while the new information he had just acquired was stewing pleasantly in the back of his mind.
Finally, he was getting somewhere.
oO0Oo
"It's a genjutsu," Konohamaru hissed, "has to be, Iruka-sensei is trapped in a genjutsu."
Hanabi rolled her eyes. She would admit that there appeared to be something wrong with Iruka-sensei, he had been staring out of that window for far too long, but there was no jutsu of any kind involved. In fact, it looked like Iruka-sensei was daydreaming.
"Maybe it's an impostor," Moegi squeaked as she leant across her desk to confer with the other two dunderheads that she called friends, "I bet it's Shikamaru-sensei, he used to just stare off into space like that. Maybe he's using a henge."
Konohamaru shook his head, "no, it's a genjutsu. They've trapped Iruka-sensei in a genjutsu so that they can take over the village."
There was so much wrong with that observation that Hanabi's head was spinning. She didn't try to correct the moron though, she was actually rather interested in what he would do. Konohamaru was certainly not the sharpest kunai in the pouch, but he could be mightily entertaining when left to his own devices.
Still, Iruka-sensei's behaviour was worrying. He was usually very alert, but he was well and truly away with the fairies this time; it wasn't very responsible of him as a shinobi. A shinobi should be aware of his surroundings at all times.
She was a little disappointed in her teacher.
"Don't worry," Konohamaru said in an attempt to placate Moegi, "I'll free him from the enemy genjutsu."
"How?" Moegi asked.
"I think pain is the best way to break a genjutsu's hold," Udon put in, but Konohamaru wasn't listening, he was scrunching up his essay into a ball and staring intently at their teacher at the front of the classroom.
There was no time for Hanabi to stop him, even if she had been so inclined. Konohamaru launched the ball of paper across the room, and it seemed like every pair of eyes in the class were fixed on the arc that the paper made through the air, sailing straight towards Iruka-sensei's face.
Had she blinked, she would have missed it. The entire class gasped when Iruka-sensei's hand snapped up and caught the ball of paper before it smacked him in the face. The impressive part was that he hadn't even looked, he was still staring out of the window. It was like his hand had moved of its own accord.
Maybe Hanabi had been wrong to feel disappointed in her teacher.
Iruka-sensei flicked his wrist, and the wad of paper flew back from whence it came. It hit Konohamaru square between the eyes, causing the idiot boy to fall backwards in his seat in surprise. He clattered to the ground, flailing wildly with indignation, just as Iruka-sensei turned his attention back to his class.
"For that, Konohamaru," Iruka-sensei intoned calmly with a disappointed sigh, "you can clean up the room after class."
"What?" Konohamaru jumped up to his feet, eyes narrowed angrily at his teacher, "but I just saved you from that genjutsu! You should be thanking me!"
Iruka-sensei rolled his eyes in exasperation, "what genjutsu?"
"The genjutsu you were trapped in," the boy replied with a pout as he set his chair the right way up.
"I wasn't trapped in a genjutsu," Iruka-sensei said firmly as he rose from his seat, "what are you talking about?"
Hanabi decided that it was time to take pity on Iruka-sensei, "you were daydreaming, Iruka-sensei," she said.
Iruka-sensei blinked in her direction, his frown dissolved from angry to confused.
"You were, Iruka-sensei," Midori called from the back of the classroom, "you were staring out of the window with a blank look on your face for a really long time."
Iruka-sensei swept his eyes over the classroom, and then looked back towards the window, a pained look of incomprehension on his features.
"I wasn't," he said, "I wasn't daydreaming, I was… thinking."
No, he was daydreaming, Hanabi knew the signs. She had seen Hinata daydream enough to know the difference. Iruka-sensei's face had gone all slack, his eyes had glazed over, he had even been smiling slightly. He had been in a completely different world, but if he wanted to make out that he had been 'thinking' then who was she to argue?
"What were you thinking about?" Konohamaru demanded, folding his arms across his chest.
"About… doujutsu," Iruka nodded at his own words, "we're going to start studying doujutsu, so could anyone tell me what doujutsu is?"
Hanabi hissed under her breath and shifted a little further down in her seat. She was the only doujutsu user in the class, so naturally she would be put on show for everyone to gawk at in the name of education. Maybe Iruka-sensei would conveniently forget that she was there.
Udon jabbed his hand into the air.
"Yes Udon," Iruka-sensei smiled.
"Doujutsu is an ability found inherent in the eye," Udon said, as though he were reciting the definition from a text book, "like the Byakugan and the Sharingan."
And right on cue, every eye in the room was suddenly on Hanabi. She glared across the classroom at her teacher, trying to scorch holes in his head with her eyes, while she simultaneously tried to will herself into invisibility.
"That's right," Iruka-sensei clapped his hands loudly, giving Hanabi an apologetic smile as he tried to draw the class's attention back to him, "doujutsu usually relies on the unique genetics of the user. Byakugan is the blood inheritance limit of the Hyuuga clan, and the Sharingan is the blood inheritance limit of the Uchiha clan."
"What about Kakashi-sensei?" Konohamaru quipped.
Iruka-sensei faltered. If Hanabi hadn't been glaring at him at that specific moment, she would have missed it. At the mention of Kakashi-sensei, Iruka-sensei's heart literally sped up. She could see it.
"Uh… what about him?" he asked warily.
"He has a Sharingan doesn't he?" Konohamaru frowned, "but he's not an Uchiha."
"How does he have a Sharingan then?" Midori asked.
"Um, no, no he's not an Uchiha," Iruka-sensei said, "but he does have a Sharingan. However, we're going to start with the Byakugan today since we have a Hyuuga in our class…"
Hanabi's death glare of doom took on whole new proportions. Fortunately she was saved, by none other than Konohamaru.
"Have you seen it, Iruka-sensei?" he asked, his eyes wide and his voice slightly breathless.
"Seen what?" Iruka-sensei said, looking even more uncomfortable by the second.
"Kakashi-sensei's Sharingan eye," he said, "have you seen it?"
Iruka-sensei licked his lips and rubbed the back of his neck, "well, yes I have…"
"What did it look like?" Udon blurted out as he leant eagerly across his desk. Hanabi settled more comfortably into her seat. If the rest of the class kept asking stupid questions, then she wouldn't have to get up and perform like a monkey at the zoo for everyone.
"Well, it was… um…" Iruka-sensei looked at the floor, and his eyes glazed over again, just like they had when he had been staring out of the window. Hanabi sat up a little straighter in her seat and peered at her teacher curiously. She had a sneaking suspicion that she knew what Iruka-sensei had been daydreaming about.
"It was…" Iruka-sensei went on, "it was red. Now if Hanabi could just…"
"RED?" Konohamaru cried in outrage, "that's it? It was red? Give me a break! What did it really look like Iruka-sensei? My uncle says that to look into the Sharingan is to see death! Did you see death?"
"Was it scary Iruka-sensei?"
"What does death look like Iruka-sensei?"
"Sharingans are red?"
"How did you get him to show you Iruka-sensei?"
Hanabi smiled slightly to herself and rested her chin on her hand. It looked like she wouldn't have to parade her bloodline limit around the classroom after all, and watching Iruka-sensei get all flustered and flushed was actually quite entertaining. The rest of the class didn't seem to realise how fast Iruka-sensei's heart was beating, or how his body temperature had risen slightly as he was hounded with questions about Kakashi-sensei, but Hanabi noticed, and she thought she knew what it meant.
She would have to do a little investigating.
oO0Oo
It was bugging him, the memory that he couldn't quite latch onto. Kakashi felt like he was missing something important, something obvious. Genma's anger, and the senbon that he had resting behind his ear, it had reminded Kakashi of something, but he couldn't think what.
If he stopped trying to remember then the memory would probably come to him. But he couldn't let it go. It was important, he knew it was.
"Oi!"
Kakashi halted and looked across the street at the boy, Konohamaru, who was pointing directly at Kakashi.
"Yes?" Kakashi asked. What was the kid doing still hanging around the Academy? Classes were well over by now, surely. In fact, Kakashi had been counting on it; he was on his way to Iruka's house to return his clothes, which were pinned snugly under his arm.
"Can I see your eye?" he asked loudly as he marched across the street, away from the Academy and towards the jounin, with a determined glint in his eye. The boy was covered in a fine white powder, which Kakashi recognised as chalk dust when the kid was a little closer.
"How about… no," Kakashi said cheerfully.
"Why not?" the boy cried, "you showed it to Iruka-sensei!"
"Sarutobi Konohamaru!" Iruka's voice blasted out onto the street. Even Kakashi winced at the sheer volume, but Konohamaru looked positively stricken.
Kakashi looked over the boy's head, and watched the schoolteacher approach them with fury raging in his eyes, "leave Kakashi-sensei alone! And don't think you are getting away with that stunt, the only reason you aren't hanging from the Hokage monument by your toenails is because the medics told me not to exert myself!"
Somehow, Iruka managed to make Konohamaru look ashamed, frightened and thoroughly concerned all at the same time.
Amused, Kakashi looked from the student to the teacher, and chuckled lightly.
"Sorry, Iruka-sensei," Konohamaru held his hands up in surrender, "sorry!"
Iruka clucked angrily and crossed his arms, "good, now stop harassing poor unsuspecting jounin!"
Konohamaru 'meep'ed and dashed off before Iruka could say anything else. Kakashi wasn't sure if he should laugh or step away from the angry schoolteacher, but as soon as Konohamaru sped away, Iruka smiled at Kakashi.
"Sorry about that," he said cheerfully, "we've just started studying doujutsu, he was just curious."
Kakashi just nodded, he couldn't seem to find his voice. Konohamaru wasn't the only one dusted in chalk. Iruka's uniform was sprinkled with the powder, and there was a layer of white on his cheek. Kakashi didn't know what to make of it, he didn't know what he was thinking. But Iruka just suddenly seemed so very… cute. The chalk dust on his face was kind of charming. He had no idea what he was doing, his hand just moved of its own accord, and then he was brushing the chalk dust off Iruka's cheek with his fingertips.
Iruka's skin was soft.
And warm. Because he was blushing.
Kakashi snatched his hand back and felt heat rise up his neck and into his face. What the hell had he just been doing?
"You have… err…" he pointed to his own cheek to emphasise, "chalk…"
"Oh," Iruka breathed and smiled adorably, "thank you." He rubbed his hand over his cheek, brushing the dust away. "That's the last time I make Konohamaru clean the chalkboard, I should have known better."
Kakashi could only nod. His fingertips were tingling.
"Well," Iruka sighed and smiled, he looked a little embarrassed, "I um… I'd better be going… um… do you…"
"Do I what?" Kakashi asked, he was surprised by how quiet his voice sounded.
"Do you… oh, um, never mind…" Iruka chuckled, "I'll just…" He started to move away, and as the space between them began to grow, Kakashi felt a terrible crushing desperation that made him reach out and grab Iruka's bicep, just to make him stay.
Iruka blinked in surprise, but he had stopped moving at least.
Kakashi had no clue what he was doing, all he knew was that everyone left, everyone left him behind one way or the other, both metaphorically and literally. For some reason he couldn't watch Iruka walk away; he knew it was uncalled for, but he felt oddly content whenever he was around the chuunin, even when he was feeling awkward and out of place, he felt welcome. There weren't many people who made him feel that way, and he didn't want it to go.
"I…" Kakashi swallowed, "I have your clothes."
Iruka looked down at the uniform pressed tightly into Kakashi's side under his arm, and he smiled.
"Thank you," he said, "I have your clothes. I mean… not with me… they're at home… but…" he scratched his head and the red hue to his cheeks returned, "you could come back with me, to get your clothes."
Kakashi loosened his fingers from around Iruka's arm, but his hand didn't want to move away from the firm muscles he could feel under the sleeve of Iruka's uniform. He simply nodded, with his hand resting lightly upon Iruka's arm, feeling slightly anxious, but more than slightly giddy.
Iruka didn't move. Neither did Kakashi. It struck the jounin that it must look a little strange, for the two of them to just be standing there, stock still, looking at one another, with Kakashi's hand on Iruka's arm.
There was a prickling on the back of his neck, tickling up his spine. Kakashi flinched slightly when he recognised the feeling, they were being watched.
He turned to look at the girl standing further down the street. Hyuuga Hanabi was watching them intently, with the smallest of smirks.
Kakashi dropped his hand from Iruka's arm and smiled at the schoolteacher.
"Shall we go then?" he said.
oO0Oo
There was an echo of Kakashi's fingertips lingering on his cheek. The touch had almost been a caress, it had stolen all of the air from Iruka's lungs. He didn't know why Kakashi had done that, Kakashi's fingertips on his face had seemed far too intimate for two men who hardly knew one another, but Iruka couldn't help but want Kakashi to do it again.
He took the clothes from Kakashi hands and led the way to his house. His mind was swimming, but he felt blissfully content. They were walking along in utter silence, but Iruka felt no need to speak. He was comfortable as he was, just walking with Kakashi.
He knew that his thoughts had been drifting to the jounin far too often lately. He couldn't seem to help it, his mind always travelled to silvery grey hair and mismatched eyes. He didn't know why, at first he thought that it was simply curiosity, just benign interest. But he couldn't kid himself anymore, there was more than curiosity threading through his insides. Something warm and consuming that danced whenever he was near Kakashi. He didn't have a name for the feeling yet, but it wasn't mere curiosity.
"Are you alright Iruka-sensei?"
Kakashi was looking at him worriedly. It amazed Iruka that the man could express himself with only one eye visible, but he could certainly see concern in that eye, as dark and fathomless as the night sky but filled with worry.
Knowing that Kakashi was actually worried about him made Iruka feel like he could take off and fly home. He smiled gratefully and shook his head.
"I'm fine," he said, "why do you ask?"
Kakashi shrugged and slid his hands into his pockets, "you looked very serious all of a sudden."
Iruka didn't know what to say, he could hardly tell Kakashi what was on his mind, that he was worried that his thoughts about Kakashi were beginning to become inappropriate. They hardly knew each other, and Kakashi was his comrade, his superior, yet Iruka could barely get his mind off the jounin.
Kakashi stopped suddenly, Iruka took another step forward before he realised that the jounin was no longer beside him. He spun around, gripped by a thoroughly inappropriate fear that Kakashi was about to make one of the outlandish excuses that Naruto had told him about and take off, leaving Iruka to wish him back.
"Are you hungry Iruka-sensei?" Kakashi asked.
"Huh?"
Kakashi nodded in the direction of the Ichiraku Ramen Stand, his eye curved in amusement.
"Oh," Iruka breathed when he realised what Kakashi meant. He wanted to have ramen with him. Kakashi really wanted to have ramen with him, he hadn't just said that back at the hospital to save Iruka's feelings.
Iruka smiled, suddenly insanely happy, "I'm starving," he replied.
With a tilt of his head, Kakashi beckoned Iruka towards the ramen stand. Iruka followed him, as though inexplicably drawn to him. He couldn't have gone in any other direction apart from towards Kakashi even if he had wanted to. There was an invisible pull dragging him closer. Like gravity.
"I haven't eaten here in a while," Kakashi sighed nostalgically.
"You eat here?" Iruka blinked in surprise, he couldn't remember seeing Kakashi at Ichiraku, surely he would remember seeing him there.
"Only when nosy genins are trying to catch a glimpse of my face," Kakashi smiled.
Iruka nodded, remembering Naruto's tale of "The Plan" and how it had gone hopelessly pear shaped.
He dropped his uniform onto the counter and slid onto the stool beside Kakashi as Teuchi, the owner of the stand, turned to greet them with a generous smile. His smile widened when he noticed Iruka, and he looked approvingly at Kakashi.
"Iruka-sensei," Teuchi nodded in greeting, "nice to see you again, and you have company!"
"Oh, this is Kakashi-sensei," Iruka said, embarrassed for some reason, but a little proud at the same time. He wanted Teuchi to think he was friends with Kakashi, he was friends with him, wasn't he?
"What can I get you?" Teuchi asked as he leant onto the counter eagerly.
"Pork ramen for me," Iruka replied.
"Miso ramen," Kakashi said, just as Ayame appeared from out back. The young waitress looked flustered, and a frown was creasing her features. It looked like she was bout to start yelling at Teuchi when her eyes fell upon Kakashi.
Kakashi didn't seem to notice, but Iruka certainly did. Ayame's eyes widened, her cheeks became tinted with a pink flush, and before anyone could say anything she had dashed out back again.
Teuchi chuckled and shook his head as she ran away, muttering something good humouredly under his breath that Iruka couldn't catch.
"That was odd," Iruka murmured.
"Hmm?" Kakashi looked up at him, "what was?"
"Oh, nothing," Iruka replied, "I was just talking to myself."
"That's the second sign of madness, Iruka-sensei," Kakashi warned.
"Huh?" Iruka frowned, "what's the first?"
"Hairy palms," Kakashi replied flatly.
Iruka blinked, then looked down at his own palms curiously.
Without warning, Kakashi burst out laughing. Not just an amused chuckle, but rolling laugher that shook his shoulders. Iruka hadn't been expecting it, but he liked the sound of Kakashi's laughter, it was infectious.
Then he remembered that Kakashi was laughing at him, and he placed his palms back down onto the counter and narrowed his eyes at the jounin, even though a smile was trying to break out across his face.
"I can't believe you looked," Kakashi sighed once he had stopped laughing, "I'm sorry Iruka-sensei, I just never expected you to fall for that."
Iruka bit his lip in an attempt to stop smiling and huffed indignantly, but that just earned him another chuckle. It had been pretty funny, he knew his palms weren't hairy so why the hell had he looked?
But it had made Kakashi laugh. Really laugh. That in itself was worth any embarrassment. It had brought a warm glow to Iruka's body, he'd like to hear it again.
Ayame appeared again; she sashayed up to Teuchi and knocked him out of the way.
"I'll finish their orders," she said sweetly, but in a way that left no room for argument. Iruka did a double take. Her hair was much neater than it had been moments ago, and her uniform looked cleaner, he was sure there had been stains on the clothes she had been wearing before. And was she wearing lipgloss?
Iruka wondered who she was trying to impress, then she glanced surreptitiously at Kakashi, and a pretty blush made its way across her cheeks. Iruka didn't have to wonder then, he knew, and he suddenly wanted to grab Kakashi and drag him far away from Ichiraku.
But Kakashi hadn't seemed to notice.
"Here you are," Ayame announced as she placed Kakashi's meal down in front of him with a demure smile.
"Thank you," Kakashi smiled, and Iruka gritted his teeth when Ayame actually batted her eyelashes.
"Ahem!" Iruka coughed pointedly, still waiting for his own ramen. What was Ayame playing at staring at Kakashi like that? She hadn't even glanced in Iruka's direction, her gaze was firmly fixed upon the jounin's masked face.
Kakashi pulled apart his chopsticks, and Iruka realised… she was waiting to get a glimpse of his face!
Iruka's hands curled into fists on the counter. He felt angry on Kakashi's behalf, who did Ayame think she was? Iruka had always liked her, but right then he could quite happily have poured that ramen over her head.
Somewhere in the back of his mind he realised he was overreacting, but he brushed the thought aside and opened his mouth to give Ayame a piece of his mind on respecting other people's privacy.
Before he could utter a word, Teuchi grabbed the girl by the shoulders and ushered her towards the back of the ramen stand, "don't you have work to do young lady?"
"But I…
"Out you go," Teuchi practically shoved her out the back of the stand and out of sight before turning back to Iruka and producing his meal. "Sorry about that. Girls eh?"
Iruka just grunted and snapped his chopsticks apart before he turned to Kakashi. He wanted to apologise for Ayame, but when he looked he was too shocked to speak. Kakashi's bowl was empty, and he was patting his stomach in appreciation.
"You… you're finished already?" Iruka goggled.
Kakashi nodded, "it was very good."
"Are you nuts?" Iruka asked in shock, "you'll choke if you eat that fast! Or at the very least give yourself an acute case of indigestion!"
Kakashi simply chuckled and leant onto the counter, "I was hungry."
Iruka rolled his eyes and decided that the eating habits of jounin were none of his business, "it would be quite a way for the great Copy-nin to die," he said as he began to tuck into his own food, "to choke on ramen."
Kakashi just smiled, watching as Iruka slurped his ramen.
After a couple of minutes Iruka stopped eating and looked at Kakashi. The jounin had been watching him eat, not simply a casual glance now and then, but with an intensity that he would probably dedicate to learning a new jutsu. It was unnerving to be the object of Kakashi's close scrutiny, especially when he was slurping noodles. Iruka fought the urge to squirm and licked his lips nervously.
Kakashi blinked and looked away.
"Um, Kakashi-sensei," Iruka said softly, hating himself for what he was about to say, "you don't have to wait for me to finish. If you have other things to do…"
"No," Kakashi replied suddenly, "I um… I don't have anything else to do. And I don't mind waiting."
Iruka nodded, relief flooded through him. As uncomfortable as he felt to be watched while he ate, he did want to spend time with Kakashi. He wouldn't mind spending all of his time with Kakashi. There was something about the other man that made Iruka feel… important. He didn't know why, but whenever all of Kakashi's attention was focused on him, Iruka felt like he was the most important person in the world. He was used to being no more than a chuunin, just a schoolteacher, nothing special. He wasn't particularly skilled or powerful, he was simply average. But he didn't feel average when he was around Kakashi. It was as though Kakashi himself didn't think Iruka was average, and just knowing that Kakashi thought better of him made Iruka feel better about himself.
Kakashi must have realised that Iruka felt a little uncomfortable being watched so intently, so he picked up one of his chopsticks and began twirling it around his fingers, watching the movement with a lazy eye. Iruka turned his attention back to his meal, when he caught sight of Kakashi's expression out of the corner of his eye. Kakashi's was frowning, scrutinising the movement of the chopstick as he spun it between his fingers.
The chopstick stopped moving suddenly, Kakashi held it between his fingers, his eye had widened as though in sudden realisation.
"That's it," Kakashi whispered to himself.
oO0Oo
He had thought he was dying. It had been cold, the ground had been wet, and Kakashi had been convinced that it was the end, he was going to die at the grand old age of eight.
Blood had been oozing out of his abdomen, he had been stabbed, and he could only wonder if this had been how his father felt when he thrust the blade into his own belly.
The enemy ninja had been walking towards him, and Kakashi couldn't move. He had been separated from his sensei in the attack, he didn't even know if the man was still alive. They had been vastly outnumbered, the Yellow Flash had simply given the scroll they had been sent to retrieve to Kakashi and told him to run.
But they had caught up with him, and he didn't know if it was because they had defeated his sensei or if they had just managed to slip past the man, but Kakashi hadn't been able to believe that the Yellow Flash was dead. The Yellow Flash couldn't die, he simply couldn't, there was no room in Kakashi's brain to even contemplate it.
Just when Kakashi had been convinced he was about to die, that the scroll would fall into enemy hands, he had heard a woman's voice ring out through the trees.
"Back away from the munchkin, and you get to keep your balls."
Kakashi had pried his eyes apart to look. She had been standing a few feet away from him, smiling sweetly at the enemy shinobi, with a senbon tucked behind her ear. She had winked at Kakashi, right before taking the senbon from behind her ear and twirling it between her fingers, so fast that it was just a blur.
The memory dropped into Kakashi's head as he was twirling his chopstick. Shiranui Maiha, who kept her hair pinned up with poisoned senbon and always wore one behind her ear. She looked exactly like Genma, her son.
Kakashi suddenly remembered how she died, he remembered Genma's anger, his questions earlier that day. The killing intent radiating off him as he walked away.
"I need to find Genma," Kakashi said as he dropped his chopstick, before he does something stupid.
He slid off the stool and spun out onto the street.
"Hey!" he heard Iruka call after him, "wait!"