The Greatest Thing You'll Ever Learn – Chapter 54: Tell Me

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return."

A/N: As of 22:50 on the sixth of December 2011, we have four hundred and ninety (490!) reviews on TGTYEL. That means that it's likely a reviewer from this chapter or the next will be getting that special all-holds-barred oneshot for review number five hundred. And by 'no-holds-barred' I mean within reason…If you really, really want me to write a fic about the graphic murder or necrophilia or bestiality or something, I'll do it. Hell, I've written about graphic (and by graphic, I mean I described in very, very explicit [2 paragraphs. Long ones] about the removal of a human eye, followed by the removal of skin, internal organs, limbs, implied necrophilia and then lots of lovely, psychotic murder! ItsnotafantasyIpromise~ Hehe, just kidding! It's what I intend to do with my life! I want to be a doctor, and a whole 1-2 years of medical school is cutting up dead bodies :D which is a major highlight for me. Seriously, it's my incentive to actually try in chemistry. Just think of the corpses, and you can do anything! Yeah, and now I've finished sounding disturbed and unbalanced, I only have two kind of preferences for the oneshot: 1) Preferably, pick a fandom I'm familiar with. I'm pretty familiar with all the big ones, but more obscure ones I'd have to research and that takes a while, and I'd have to read/watch the series to get my characterisation right. It's more convenient for both of us if we don't. 2) No mpreg. I can't write it without the little scientist in my head protesting very, very loudly that it is in no way biologically possible, which can be really, really detrimental to writing. So there you have it…good luck to whoever wins it. You'll probably know either tomorrow or the day after, depending on how good you all are at reviewing :3 Song of the chapter is '

This is thinking/dreaming.

"Anything in italics and quotes is written stuff…kukuku…"

This is regular story.

This is author's note.

This is title

Warnings: Nope, no sex here. Totally not, since it would be very countable as 'random, unplotful sex', which I am trying to avoid. Also, it doesn't fit with the mood of the chapter. Mood is very important in creating a sex scene, as I'm sure you're well aware of. "…Draco didn't go back into Hogwarts, instead he drove the car into…the Forbidden Forest!" is not the most mood-setting sentence ever. And then about four lines later they're screwing. Gotta love 'My Immortal' xD (or should that be 'My Immoral'? xD)

Disclaimer: Not mine, and neither is 'My Immortal', and for good reason. Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto, and definitely not me because Kishimoto is an established mangaka and I am a teenage girl. 'My Immortal' is supposedly the property of Tara Gilespie, who, although being a teenage girl, is completely retarded and not me.

ON THE BASIS PEOPLE DON'T READ MY A/N's: Here be a reiteration of the oneshot rules. Review #500 gets a oneshot. Because I'm boring. 1) Keep it to a fandom I'm somewhat familiar with, and 2) no mpreg. I don't write that stuff ^^

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Don't tell me if I'm dying

'Cause I don't wanna know

If I can't see the sun maybe I should go

Don't wake me 'cause I'm dreaming

Of angels on the moon

Where everyone you know never leaves too soon

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During the journey back home, I was too quiet. I knew I was being too quiet; normally, we'd have some kind of conversation about our day, our jobs, current events, usual conversation topics, but today I was deathly quiet. Most questions were answered with a nod or a shake of my head, or a mumbled 'yes' or 'no'.

There was no physical way to avoid Kakashi when we were in such close proximity, but I could keep my mind off him. Instead of talking, I was going through lists in my head. Before, I had listed Shakespeare's female villains, but no more sprang to mind. I supposed I could name male villains, but they were more obvious, therefore less distracting. Instead, I settled on naming Jane Austen's villains.

George Wickham, from 'Pride and Prejudice'.

I kept my eyes fixed on the road in front of me, watching as the moving car swallowed up the dark grey road surface. Dark grey, almost black in the low light, just like Kakashi's eyes. Or would be like both eyes, if one wasn't-

Mr. Willoughby, 'Sense and Sensibility'.

I had spent my lunchtime voluntarily supervising detentions, many of which I had set. It felt like more than half of the students I taught had been thrown into detention. Mostly, they just sat down and got on with something productive, although one or two couldn't help but pass notes. Maybe I had been too hard on some of them; I couldn't not punish them for neglecting to do homework, but maybe if it was because of their snooping into my personal life I could be a little nicer. Maybe a stern talking to would be better. Talking and explaining a problem or situation was always better than-

Arguably Emma herself, in 'Emma'.

"We're predicted more snow tonight," Kakashi said, drawing my attention. His head was turned a little to look at me, observing my strange behaviour. I could see confusion in his eye, and I hated that I wouldn't do anything to relieve it. "If we can't drive into school, will you be okay to walk? We'll probably have to leave some things at home, and just take the essentials,"

"John and Isa- Ah, yes, that's fine," I winced at my own slip-up. That was meant to be John and Isabella Thorpe, but I wasn't mean to say it out loud, making it even more obvious that my mind was elsewhere, and occupied with something completely irrelevant. I hoped my answer was enough to cover for my obvious rudeness.

"What was that? John and who?" He asked. I winced again; more lies. Just another one to add to the pile, I supposed.

Again, for what seemed like the hundredth time that day, I considered just spilling everything. I knew I had no idea what I would actually say, and even if I planned it it would come out as something entirely different. And even then, no matter how long I planned my question I could never predict an exact response.

But maybe it was a good thing, denying my own curiosity. It was probably a good life lesson.

"No one, don't worry about it," I dismissed, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible even though a hundred similar emotions broiled underneath the surface.

I wondered if Kakashi actually had some kind of mystical extra sense that allowed him to read my mind; it was the best explanation that I could come up with for the silence that filled the car after I spoke. It would explain a lot, but somehow I doubted it. It was just that I was painfully obvious to read because I was a terrible liar.

My eyes dropped to my knees, a hand reaching behind me to tighten my ponytail. Maybe heavy snow wouldn't be a bad thing. Tsunade used any excuse to shut the school to avoid paperwork, so I wouldn't have to go into work with Kakashi. I frowned; how long did I intend to avoid him for? Today was sort of failing, since I didn't have a choice but to be around him and awkwardly try not to speak, and exactly the same thing was likely to happen tomorrow. How long could I keep it up for before I caved? If it meant preventing the fallout from Mizuki's scheming from affecting both of us, it was indefinitely.

Half out of desire to fill the silence and half because I was quickly running out of Austen's antagonists, I switched on the radio. Immediately, the presenter started babbling about fresh snowfall and another predicted temperature dip. I shivered pre-emptively, though some distant region in the back of my mind conjured up images of sitting by a warm fireplace, wrapped in a blanket with Kakashi, surrounded by sleeping dogs. If it wouldn't have attracted unnecessary attention, I would have hit myself for being such a ridiculous romantic. For one, neither of us had a fireplace.

We pulled up into the car park attached to the flats and made it inside in record time. Although it could have been my imagination, brought on by the report on the radio, it felt colder, but I refused to check the sky for snow clouds. If it snowed, it snowed.

I wanted to make a remark about the sky, or the weather, or about work, just so my voice would be heard out loud. It was almost childish, basically ignoring Kakashi. But besides actually talking about Mizuki's phone call, and by extension asking about what happened to his eye and it's relation to Akatsuki, was the exact opposite of what I wanted to achieve.

First, I would be giving in to Mizuki. I couldn't forgive him for his acts at work, and I wasn't about to do anything he said just because he wanted me to. Although it was childish, it was also kind of logical; he hated me, and wanted me to suffer. Doing what he said would cause me to suffer, so I just wouldn't do it.

Second, I would possibly be hurting Kakashi. If Mizuki was feeding me a pack of lies, then it was fine to completely ignore whatever he said. If it was true, and asking questions would bring up a painful topic for Kakashi, then I didn't want to ask the question. Although I was curious about what had happened to his eye, I wasn't going to destroy our relationship over it.

Third, I would probably be damaging our relationship. After fighting through my own mentality to get to where we were, I wasn't about to throw it all away just because of one stupid mistake. I liked what we had, and I didn't want to call it off.

I flinched as I realised trying to avoid Kakashi had probably done just as much damage.

I unlocked my front door, trying to keep my face as neutral as possible. My fingers fumbled awkwardly with the keys. After nearly dropping them twice, I finally got the door open, pushing it back with a little too much force to be completely natural. Kakashi followed me inside, bags of work deposited by my kitchen table as usual. Inhaling deeply, I turned to face him.

"Thanks for helping me with my bags, but I really need to get some marking done and-" I started.

"Tell me what's wrong, Iruka," One of his hands reached out to hold my wrist, just firmly enough to indicate I wasn't escaping easily. "Really, just tell me. Whatever's bothering you, just say it outright and talk to me," A hint of desperation leaked into his voice. I felt another stab of guilt at it; it was my fault, all of this. If I just told him everything now, then we could move on.

"S-seriously, it doesn't matter," I protested, at myself as much as him. Even if it did matter, I had to make it not matter. Kakashi's past was interesting, but it wasn't all-important. I could live without knowing it.

"It apparently matters enough that you won't speak in full sentences to me, or have a conversation with me. Have I done something to upset you?" He asked, stepping a little closer. I couldn't bring myself to meet his eyes.

"No,"

"If you don't tell me, we can't fix it," He pointed out.

"There's nothing to fix, I promise. I just need-" to ask you a very intrusive question that could potentially wreck our relationship based on the prompting of my very unreliable former colleague. I paused, taking a deep breath, looking at the floor. "I need to catch up on my marking, and you're really distracting. So please, can we maybe talk later or something? It's really nothing serious,"

"Fine, if that's what you want," He let go of my wrist, and stepped back. "Later,"

I couldn't help but feel my heart wrench a little as he walked away.

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A/N: So, Iruka's a moron. Which we all knew. Although all is not lost, since we have [spoiler spoiler spoiler] coming up soon! Hehe, you're gonna love [spoiler spoiler]. [SPOILER NO JUTSU~!]. Reviews make my life happy! Also, if you get #500, you get a one-shot. If you love me, you'll do it. If you love my writing but consider me to be an egotistical bitch, you'll do it. If you want some free yaoi of your own devising (or my devising, if you just give me a prompt), you'll do it. So do it! Review :3