Iruka looked down, avoiding Kakashi's eyes, and plucked little balls of fuzz from the blanket he was sitting on. "Sorry," he muttered.
Then a feeling of rebellion rolled over him and he looked up sharply. "You could have just told me".
Kakashi shrugged. "I could have. It would have taken you far longer to get this far though."
Iruka rolled his eyes, ignoring his lingering unease. "How would you know?"
The jounin's eye crinkled and all traces of the cold, efficient killing machine subsided. He stretched out his hand and Iruka cringed slightly when it dropped onto his shoulder and then slid down his arm. It was a completely innocuous touch, but Iruka had to suppress a shiver all the same.
Kakashi's hand lingered on his elbow. "Does it make you nervous when I touch you, Iruka-sensei?"
The hand slid from his elbow across his chest to his other arm, leaving a trail of tingling warmth behind.
"Does it make you uncomfortable?"
Iruka swallowed and lowered his eyes again.
Kakashi's finger flicked his nose as he pulled his hand back and Iruka jerked away, startled.
"Does it ruin your concentration, sensei?" Kakashi said with a lazy grin.
Iruka felt heat rise to his face and half-heartedly tried to smack the jounin with a pillow. "Ass," he muttered.
So maybe Kakashi was right, maybe he had learned faster this way, not distracted by thoughts of the jounin poking, prodding and petting him. Iruka cleared his throat and wracked his brain for a neutral conversation topic. Grasping at straws he brought up something that had crossed his mind the evening before. "I think we should create some signals."
Kakashi's eyebrow rose. "Signals?"
"A code of some sort to communicate with Pakkun"
"You've got some suggestions?"
Relieved that Kakashi seemed willing to drop the awkward subject Iruka started with his first idea. "Well, he can sense where I'm at approximately. Maybe my location in relation to his own body could tell him something?"
Iruka tension eased bit by bit as he and Kakashi discussed several ways for him to relay short messages to the nin-dog while Iruka was 'out'.
Kakashi finally halted their discussion by declaring that it was getting late. He deposited Iruka back at his own building. Tomorrow, the jounin said, they would resume their training and have another spar in the evening.
oh joy
The next morning, after they installed themselves in their usual places on the bed, Iruka crossed his arms and looked Kakashi in the eye determinedly. "I'm staying to watch this time."
Kakashi snorted.
Iruka decided to take it as permission.
Kakashi rolled his eye and made a shooing motion with his hand. "Go."
Moments later Iruka hovered in the middle of the room looking at his own body and the jounin sitting in front of it.
It was strange to see someone poke and prod him and not be able to feel anything. After a while even the faint pulling sensation disappeared.
Things got a lot harder when Kakashi started with the kunai. Soft pinpricks at first, until finally the jounin increased the pressure enough to break the skin. Iruka's body tried to pull him back in at that but most of the time he managed to fight it.
Over the next few hours Iruka's arms slowly turned into a bloody mess as they practised. He felt proud when even a shallow cut across his entire lower arm didn't cause him to break his jutsu anymore.
Kakashi seemed pleased too. He finally put the kunai aside, took Iruka's left arm between his hands and-
Whoah
Iruka was pulled back into his body so fast he was left dizzy and disoriented. He took a gulping breath and tried to stave off sudden nausea. "What did you do?" He asked when he thought he could speak without puking.
Kakashi looked mildly bewildered at his sudden 'awakening'. "I tried to heal you." He took Iruka's hand again and Iruka felt a pleasant warmth throughout his entire arm. The wounds on his arm healed quickly and some dried up blood was all that remained from their hours of training.
"Go out again," Kakashi said, "there's something I want to try."
Iruka obeyed and watched curiously as Kakashi simply put his hand on Iruka's. All was fine until suddenly, just as abruptly as before, Iruka was jerked back into his body.
They tried eleven times before Kakashi gave up.
Iruka sat quietly on the bed while Kakashi held his arm and pensively rubbed his thumb up and down on the underside of Iruka's arm.
Finally the jounin dropped the appendage and stood up. "I think this jutsu of yours is disturbed when someone tries to influence your chakra somehow."
Iruka frowned. "Is that a bad thing?"
Kakashi seemed to think about it. "Not exactly bad,"he answered, "unexpected though. It would have given us an advantage if you could stay 'out' if we were captured. Then again, I would expect the enemy to use physical violence first anyway, which should already warn you something is wrong."
The jounin dropped down on the bed again. "Try again, one more time. I want to test something."
Iruka closed his eyes and did as he was told. He watched from a small distance as Kakashi gave the slightest tap against the skin of his wrist. This time he was able to fight the pull, but just barely.
He waited a few moments to see if Kakashi was going to do anything else. When the jounin didn't move he retreated back into his body. "That worked," he said.
Kakashi nodded. "We'll use this as a sign. If you feel this while we are in the field…something is wrong. You'll retreat enough to see what's going on and you'll alert Pakkun if necessary."
Iruka nodded.
Kakashi stood up again and walked to the door. "I have some things to do. I'll be back tonight. We'll spar."
Iruka winced mentally. He was still sore from their last match and he wasn't particularly looking forward to a repeat performance yet.
After the jounin left, Iruka looked around. There really wasn't much to do in one room, so he decided to take a nap. Better to be rested for their fight tonight. Kami knew he needed the advantage.
He slept until something woke him up. Dinner.
After he ate he did some gentle stretches to warm up for the fight later. He was going to try to get at least two good hits in this time.
Now if only the jounin would get here…Iruka was getting a little sick of waiting.
The sky outside slowly turned darker but the jounin didn't appear. Iruka sighed and stared morosely out the window at the pale half moon. He was annoyed but not really surprised. He'd heard so many stories from Naruto and Sakura about their jounin-sensei and his strange propensity for making them wait...
It wasn't until after midnight that Iruka realized the jounin really wasn't coming and even though he hadn't really been looking forward to having his ass kicked again, he still felt strangely disappointed. It was the feeling he got when he'd made plans to go out with someone and they cancelled at the last possible moment. With his plans for the evening gone, he simply didn't know what to do with himself.
Finally he turned of the light, dropped back down on his bed listlessly and pulled up the blanket to cover him.
Recognizing the signs of his owner settling down for the night, Kuma jumped unto the bed and nestled down at his feet.
Iruka turned restlessly. Sleep wouldn't come.
His thoughts turned to his parents…to his mom especially. It was truly painful to realize he'd known so little about her, but the more he thought about it the more comfort he found in knowing he shared her gift. This ability, his ability, was something only the two of them had and in some ways he felt more connected to her now than he ever had before.
He would make them proud. Serve his village the best way he could. He would follow the path Sandaime had set him on, because the more he thought about it, the more he realized that the third had done everything in his power to keep Iruka safe so maybe, one day, he would follow in his mother's footsteps.
The next morning the sound of the door opening woke him up. He blinked in the early morning sunlight and turned his head. " You're la-"
He fell silent when instead of Kakashi Genma walked through the door with an annoyed looking Pakkun at his side.
"Good morning, Iruka-san," the pug said pleasantly.
Iruka rubbed the sleep from his eyes and sat up against the headboard. "Morning Pakkun, Genma-san".
Genma studied him intently. "Good morning," he finally answered.
An uncomfortable silence fell over the room after their short exchange.
Finally Iruka awkwardly broke the silence. "How have you been Genma-san?"
"Good."
"I'm glad."
"…"
Iruka wiggled his blanket-covered toes near Kuma's nose and watched him bat at them. "I was expecting to see Kakashi-san," he said when the silence lingered again.
The senbon shifted in Genma's mouth. "He had some business to attend to," he said at the same time Pakkun answered, "He was sent on an emergency mission last night."
Iruka watched as the pug and the senbon-chewing jounin glared at each other.
After a few tense seconds Pakkun walked over and jumped unto the bed. "We'll be training together today Iruka-san."
"I'll be outside if you need me," Genma said, turning abruptly and leaving the room.
Iruka blinked. That was weird.
He turned his attention back to Pakkun when a small paw poked his stomach. "Focus, Iruka-sensei. Or we'll never master our signalling code. Now I sense you best when you are near my ears, so I suggest my left ear for signalling 'Get help' and my right for the need to retreat".
Alright guys, I know it isn't much, but hey, it's a start right? I think it's been about a year and a half since I updated this fic. Sorry about that. It's hard to get back into the story after such a long time but please bear with me.