Rather than doing my taxes, I did this.
Meh...
Same disclaimers and warnings apply, see previous chapters for details.
Midnight Confessions Chapter 3
~~~***~~~
Iruka took a final sip of his tea and stared at the residue left on the bottom of the cup. He only had two servings of his strongest tea and yet he still felt tired. Looking back to his "guest", he found the older man giving him a narrow-eyed stare. It was really hard to decipher the other man's true emotions with that cloth covering most of his face, but at least he could venture that it wasn't the same amused expression as before. With a sigh, Iruka began to gather the empty cups onto the tray and stood from his position on the table.
"I'm sorry. It's getting late, and I'm probably boring you with my blabbering." Iruka let out a forced laugh to break the mood. "I'm sure you'd like go home but here I am, keeping you hostage while most likely forcing you to listen to something that is probably none of your business."
Kakashi's frown dwelled deeper as he could almost see Iruka begin to replace the walls within himself. Sure he had felt a bit uncomfortable when the young man just freely opened up to him like so, but that feeling was rapidly dispersed when he found himself amused at the different side of the quiet teacher. Perhaps what the younger man needed was a little push to continue.
"Don't stop now, sensei, it's was just getting good. I promise I'll go to bed after the bedtime story, really!"
Iruka couldn't help but chuckle at Kakashi's whiny and childish tone. As he set the tray in the sink, and ran a bit of water over the dishes, Iruka sighed and shook his head. He knew he had already said too much. This was why he refused to become a jounin: He knew he was too emotional, and that could be his undoing. Iruka hadn't wished to say much to the silver-haired man, but the idea that someone was just willing to listen to him made him bear out his secrets to him. That was dangerous in his line of work and it could make him easy prey against the village.
It also proved to be dangerous to his self. To say so much was to impose trust to the older man. He knew now that trust should be given out in discretion in the future.
From the looks of it, he really needed to work on that in the future.
Well, he couldn't take back his words now, but perhaps he could prevent anything else being said. Walking back to the main room, Iruka leaned against the protruding wall and folded his arms in front of him. He gave the other man a placid smile, trying to falsify the same humor that was just given to him.
"No, I think I've said enough. Heavens forbid Naruto should find out about this. After all, this is great blackmail material, don't you think so? It just might give him an excuse to do worse pranks with the reason that if his former sensei could do it, then I didn't have the right to yell at him for his own pranks. No, Kakashi, I think we should stop now. I think you should leave now. I hope you will do well and not mention any of this to anyone, thank you."
There was no crinkle to the younger man's eyes to show that the smile was real. If anything, the smile just looked like a stretch of muscles on an overly expressionless face.
"Why sensei, that could almost pass as a threat." Kakashi gave the other man a slightly dangerous stare. Inwardly he was joking, but perhaps intimidation would force the other man to continue.
If there was anything Kakashi hated the most was to leave a good story unfinished.
Iruka's arms dropped in surprise. His fight earlier with the other man proved he was unmatched against the jounin. Of course he had been furious and lacked focus at the time, but he had noticed the severe gap between their skills. It would not be a good idea, at the moment, to have the other man against him. Composing himself out of the shock, Iruka gave a soft chuckle to try to break the tension he felt.
"No no no! It's not like that. Think of it as in exchange for the drink." Iruka chuckled nervously, reaching back to scratch the nape of his own neck.
"The tea wasn't that great." Kakashi deadpanned, causing the other man to freeze up. Kakashi was glad for the mask at moments like these; it hid the slight smirk he got from the other man's response.
Iruka blinked at the other man, but since he couldn't identify any jest coming from the masked man, Iruka had to take the man seriously. Clenching his eyes shut, Iruka began to blame himself for his blunder. Turning away, he scowled mostly to himself in frustration.
"Fine, do as you please. I knew better than to say too much in your presence. You have quite the reputation of having a quite sadistical sense of humor. I suppose I deserve this." Iruka sighed, resigning himself to his fate.
Kakashi's smile faded slowly as the silence progressed. Hadn't Iruka said something earlier about disliking the way adults took things too seriously? With his newly acquired "good mood" blown out the window, Kakashi let out a long suffering sigh at the fickle man before him.
"The day people begin to assume your actions, is the day you begin to get slightly predictable. That doesn't go well with my mysterious persona." Kakashi pushed himself away from the table and stood, slowly walking towards the teacher. "Though I can understand why you don't trust me, frankly I wouldn't trust myself either, but there's something more to this isn't there, Iruka-sensei?"
Iruka looked up briefly at Kakashi, giving a slightly puzzled expression at the other man's words, but then looked away as the older man approached him. Although it wasn't as powerful as the sharigan, the other eye made him feel just as uncomfortable and slightly fearful. He had also heard of the other man's uncanny sense of insight and deduction. All in all, this did not bode well for the teacher.
"Could this have anything to do with Mizuki?" Kakashi smirked at the slight flinch from the teacher. "Ah... now I see. I had thought it was a bit weird you would open up to someone you hardly knew, especially when that person had been annoying you to the point of frustration earlier."
Kakashi began to pace in front of the younger man, almost seeming like a jackal analyzing it's prey. It couldn't have been more right.
"The fact that it was me must say something about the situation. Are you this open with Naruto? Perhaps I remind you of Mizuki, is that it?" At this Iruka's head dropped as he tried to hide his expression from the other man. Biting his lip in frustration, Iruka silently pleaded to the other man to cease his torture. Alas, Kakashi still continued his torment, approaching the other man face to face, then began to speak in a cold but calm manner.
"Tell me, what is it about me that would make me similar to Mizuki? I think I have the right to know why you look at me with the utter most hate at one point, and then with complete trust at another."
For a long moment, Iruka stayed silent, his head still dropped to his chest.
"You're right. I had no right to treat you like that, and I apologize. It is just... you... you looked too much like him that it hurt. Though the style is different, the color of the hair is the same... so is the carefree and slightly amused tone of your voice. It's the little things mostly, but it's just too much for me to bear." Iruka sighed and slid himself down the wall and brought his knees to his chest. "I couldn't stand looking at you without thinking of him. It's just too confusing. With you, I see the friend I've had for years and almost naturally say things I wouldn't tell anyone else, but then I remember the hurt he caused me.
"That place in the woods, where you found me earlier, was where it all happened. It happened just a few days ago. In fact, it was the same day Naruto graduated. All I could remember, while standing there, was how angry I was that Mizuki would do this to me... for me. After being tended to my own wounds, I pleaded to Hokage-sama to grant me a few moments to speak to Mizuki. I just had to know why, after so many years, why he would destroy our friendship with that betrayal."
Iruka lifted his head up to finally make eye-contact with the jounin. The young teacher's eyes were already slightly red from the stream of tears coming out from within the lids. The dark, watery, russet orbs expressed a maddening amount of pain, confusion and slight anger that caused the older man to step back in surprise.
"He told me he did it because he couldn't stand to look at me with my so-called 'lonely eyes'. He said he hated the fact that he knew I would go home and cry myself to sleep at nights, and then act as if nothing was wrong the following morning. He couldn't understand how I could tolerate Naruto when he knew that I knew that inside the boy was the cause of my pain. He thought... that if he could get rid of the poor boy, it would make me happier.
Seeing Kakashi's wary stare caused Iruka to sigh and huddle himself closer, wrapping his arms around his knees and clasping his forearms tightly, making him look like a small, vulnerable child, rather than the determined, expressive adult that he was.
Kakashi couldn't help but worry at that dead tone he heard from the once emotional sensei. What added to the worry were the now equally dull and despondent eyes that stared back at him. Personally, he had no clue what to do with Iruka. Kakashi understood that he wasn't a social individual, and ironically, Iruka would have been the best candidate to help in these types of situations.
Kakashi just wasn't the type to go all mushy and give hugs or anything like that. Still, it didn't mean he would just stand there uselessly. Crouching down to the other man's level, Kakashi circumspectly and slowly placed his gloved hand over Iruka's shoulder, ready to snap the appendage back should the man try to bite him or slice it off.
"Iruka-sensei...?"
"Leave."
Kakashi displaced his hand away from the other man's shoulder and sighed. Iruka's voice was muffled but the tone wasn't hateful as he had expected to be. Rather it was more exhausted and apologetic, despite the sharp command.
"Please leave, Kakashi-sensei. I don't think I can stand looking at you any longer. I have no doubt that you are a good man, and you would be a wonderful teacher for Haruna-chan, Uchiha-kun and Naruto. However... please don't approach me again. It's nothing personal. I simply need to get over this quickly and I am useless to anyone right now this way. I will be fine. I've managed before, so you do not need to worry about anything."
Kakashi's uncovered eye seemed to start twitching visibly at this point. At first he had felt a pang of ache from the other man's words. Something about rejection does that to a person. However, as Iruka rambled on, Kakashi couldn't also help but grow a bit frustrated at the younger man.
If there was another thing Kakashi hated, were pity-parties.
With a growl, Kakashi reached over and grabbed the young chunin from the shoulders, rapidly lifting him to his feet. Iruka couldn't help but squeak out in surprise at the sudden action. Quickly regaining his wits, Iruka looked up to glare at his aggressor, only to receive a similar glare in return. Iruka clenched his teeth in anger at the other man. Inwardly he couldn't help but grin at the childish victory he gave himself when he proclaimed to himself that at least his teeth could be seen.
"Listen to me, Iruka." Kakashi began, his tone cold, unemotional and slightly intimidating. "We all have our problems, we all carry our own pain on our shoulders, but we all get over it. I'm not Mizuki, so get that through your thick skull. You say you can't stand to look at me because I remind you of him? Well, I can't stand to look at you while you act like a spoiled, stubborn child. You're a teacher, damn it! Haven't you learned anything about keeping your emotions in check at all costs?"
Iruka stared in slack-jawed disbelief at the older-man's harsh words. Pulling his forearms up, Iruka quickly slipped them between Kakashi's own arms and, with a sudden snap, he broke Kakashi's grip on his shoulders. It cost him a slight tear on the shirt, but the younger man needed to be free of the other's grip.
"You're wrong, Kakashi-sensei." Iruka gave a mocking smile at the taller man, adding a venomous tone to the silver-haired man's honorific. "While it is true that every one of us has our own pain, I don't think we all had gotten over it. It's merely pushed aside, bottled up, or masked over. The human body can only contain so much before it bursts. I simply choose to let my own pain out now before it gets stronger and too hard for me to handle. THAT! That is something I have taught all my students."
Taking a deep sigh, Iruka dropped his angry expression and looked back at the jounin. Iruka's expression was a bit softer and he looked at the other man sympathetically. "I am still within my time to grieve, the wound is recent, and dealing with it now will prevent any backlashes in the future. I don't want to find myself breaking down in the middle of a class because somehow, something reminded me of one of the many things I try to forget. I've tried that path before and I didn't like it. You may carry that mask, but it doesn't hide everything. You still grieve for your losses. To you, your wound is as open as a picked scab with barely enough time to seal over."
Iruka didn't register the impact as hard bone thwacked itself onto his cheek. The only clue the chunin had that he was hit, was when he had suddenly lost his balance and was thrown harshly to the ground. Looking up in disbelief, Iruka saw Kakashi towering over him, the other man's fist clenched tightly before him. Kakashi's shown eye seemed to be ablaze with a medley of emotions; from shock, and anger to even fear.
Lowering the shaking fist to his side, Kakashi kept his glare at the man beneath him. Although the eye was still blazed with fury, the silver- haired man's tone seemed to betray the emotions as he spoke with a slightly humored tone.
"It's not polite to make assumptions about strangers, Iruka-sensei. Again, you hardly know me, so I would implore you to leave your speculations to yourself."
Iruka pushed himself against the wall as he stumbled back to his feet. Exhaustion was taking a huge toll on him at the moment. Despite the growing bruise on the side of his face, Iruka gave a soft smile to the other man.
"Ahh... that is true, however, I am no stranger to that expression. Those eyes become quite familiar to you when they are all you see before a mirror."
Kakashi's fist tightened again, but unlike before, it managed to stay at the jounin's side. With a turn of his heel, Kakashi stuffed his fists into his pockets and turned away from the younger man.
"Good night, Iruka-sensei." Without another word, the jounin disappeared, leaving a puff of smoke at his wake.
Shaking his head, Iruka turned and swayed as he faltered his way to his own room, ready to sleep till mid-afternoon tomorrow. With fatigued and trembling fingers, he stripped himself of the majority of his clothing, only leaving himself bare in his boxers. Kneeling down to the futon, Iruka crashed down at the cushion and sighed deeply.
"Next time, I think we should lay off the caffeine."
~~~***~~~
You know, this could be a good ending for the story.... Nah, there are still more than three pages left of ideas to go.
Anyway, I'm glad people are enjoying this. For a while I was worried that I was making these guys OOC. So far, the only complaint I had was of Iruka in the first chapter, but I hope this chapter explains why Iruka went all homicidal. XD
As for Mizuki? Gods I agree! Didn't anyone else see the way those two interacted in the beginning of the first episode? The tender words, the way he seemed to know Iruka-sensei...The way Iruka spoke to him in respect while during the exams. Watching that epi again made me gush in fangirly bliss. XD
Next Chapter: Iruka recounts his first meeting with Naruto. Probably more humor and more action and lot less blabbering.
Thank you for making it this far. ^_^ Remember! Reviews are a good way to feed your authors! XD
Midnight Confessions Chapter 3
~~~***~~~
Iruka took a final sip of his tea and stared at the residue left on the bottom of the cup. He only had two servings of his strongest tea and yet he still felt tired. Looking back to his "guest", he found the older man giving him a narrow-eyed stare. It was really hard to decipher the other man's true emotions with that cloth covering most of his face, but at least he could venture that it wasn't the same amused expression as before. With a sigh, Iruka began to gather the empty cups onto the tray and stood from his position on the table.
"I'm sorry. It's getting late, and I'm probably boring you with my blabbering." Iruka let out a forced laugh to break the mood. "I'm sure you'd like go home but here I am, keeping you hostage while most likely forcing you to listen to something that is probably none of your business."
Kakashi's frown dwelled deeper as he could almost see Iruka begin to replace the walls within himself. Sure he had felt a bit uncomfortable when the young man just freely opened up to him like so, but that feeling was rapidly dispersed when he found himself amused at the different side of the quiet teacher. Perhaps what the younger man needed was a little push to continue.
"Don't stop now, sensei, it's was just getting good. I promise I'll go to bed after the bedtime story, really!"
Iruka couldn't help but chuckle at Kakashi's whiny and childish tone. As he set the tray in the sink, and ran a bit of water over the dishes, Iruka sighed and shook his head. He knew he had already said too much. This was why he refused to become a jounin: He knew he was too emotional, and that could be his undoing. Iruka hadn't wished to say much to the silver-haired man, but the idea that someone was just willing to listen to him made him bear out his secrets to him. That was dangerous in his line of work and it could make him easy prey against the village.
It also proved to be dangerous to his self. To say so much was to impose trust to the older man. He knew now that trust should be given out in discretion in the future.
From the looks of it, he really needed to work on that in the future.
Well, he couldn't take back his words now, but perhaps he could prevent anything else being said. Walking back to the main room, Iruka leaned against the protruding wall and folded his arms in front of him. He gave the other man a placid smile, trying to falsify the same humor that was just given to him.
"No, I think I've said enough. Heavens forbid Naruto should find out about this. After all, this is great blackmail material, don't you think so? It just might give him an excuse to do worse pranks with the reason that if his former sensei could do it, then I didn't have the right to yell at him for his own pranks. No, Kakashi, I think we should stop now. I think you should leave now. I hope you will do well and not mention any of this to anyone, thank you."
There was no crinkle to the younger man's eyes to show that the smile was real. If anything, the smile just looked like a stretch of muscles on an overly expressionless face.
"Why sensei, that could almost pass as a threat." Kakashi gave the other man a slightly dangerous stare. Inwardly he was joking, but perhaps intimidation would force the other man to continue.
If there was anything Kakashi hated the most was to leave a good story unfinished.
Iruka's arms dropped in surprise. His fight earlier with the other man proved he was unmatched against the jounin. Of course he had been furious and lacked focus at the time, but he had noticed the severe gap between their skills. It would not be a good idea, at the moment, to have the other man against him. Composing himself out of the shock, Iruka gave a soft chuckle to try to break the tension he felt.
"No no no! It's not like that. Think of it as in exchange for the drink." Iruka chuckled nervously, reaching back to scratch the nape of his own neck.
"The tea wasn't that great." Kakashi deadpanned, causing the other man to freeze up. Kakashi was glad for the mask at moments like these; it hid the slight smirk he got from the other man's response.
Iruka blinked at the other man, but since he couldn't identify any jest coming from the masked man, Iruka had to take the man seriously. Clenching his eyes shut, Iruka began to blame himself for his blunder. Turning away, he scowled mostly to himself in frustration.
"Fine, do as you please. I knew better than to say too much in your presence. You have quite the reputation of having a quite sadistical sense of humor. I suppose I deserve this." Iruka sighed, resigning himself to his fate.
Kakashi's smile faded slowly as the silence progressed. Hadn't Iruka said something earlier about disliking the way adults took things too seriously? With his newly acquired "good mood" blown out the window, Kakashi let out a long suffering sigh at the fickle man before him.
"The day people begin to assume your actions, is the day you begin to get slightly predictable. That doesn't go well with my mysterious persona." Kakashi pushed himself away from the table and stood, slowly walking towards the teacher. "Though I can understand why you don't trust me, frankly I wouldn't trust myself either, but there's something more to this isn't there, Iruka-sensei?"
Iruka looked up briefly at Kakashi, giving a slightly puzzled expression at the other man's words, but then looked away as the older man approached him. Although it wasn't as powerful as the sharigan, the other eye made him feel just as uncomfortable and slightly fearful. He had also heard of the other man's uncanny sense of insight and deduction. All in all, this did not bode well for the teacher.
"Could this have anything to do with Mizuki?" Kakashi smirked at the slight flinch from the teacher. "Ah... now I see. I had thought it was a bit weird you would open up to someone you hardly knew, especially when that person had been annoying you to the point of frustration earlier."
Kakashi began to pace in front of the younger man, almost seeming like a jackal analyzing it's prey. It couldn't have been more right.
"The fact that it was me must say something about the situation. Are you this open with Naruto? Perhaps I remind you of Mizuki, is that it?" At this Iruka's head dropped as he tried to hide his expression from the other man. Biting his lip in frustration, Iruka silently pleaded to the other man to cease his torture. Alas, Kakashi still continued his torment, approaching the other man face to face, then began to speak in a cold but calm manner.
"Tell me, what is it about me that would make me similar to Mizuki? I think I have the right to know why you look at me with the utter most hate at one point, and then with complete trust at another."
For a long moment, Iruka stayed silent, his head still dropped to his chest.
"You're right. I had no right to treat you like that, and I apologize. It is just... you... you looked too much like him that it hurt. Though the style is different, the color of the hair is the same... so is the carefree and slightly amused tone of your voice. It's the little things mostly, but it's just too much for me to bear." Iruka sighed and slid himself down the wall and brought his knees to his chest. "I couldn't stand looking at you without thinking of him. It's just too confusing. With you, I see the friend I've had for years and almost naturally say things I wouldn't tell anyone else, but then I remember the hurt he caused me.
"That place in the woods, where you found me earlier, was where it all happened. It happened just a few days ago. In fact, it was the same day Naruto graduated. All I could remember, while standing there, was how angry I was that Mizuki would do this to me... for me. After being tended to my own wounds, I pleaded to Hokage-sama to grant me a few moments to speak to Mizuki. I just had to know why, after so many years, why he would destroy our friendship with that betrayal."
Iruka lifted his head up to finally make eye-contact with the jounin. The young teacher's eyes were already slightly red from the stream of tears coming out from within the lids. The dark, watery, russet orbs expressed a maddening amount of pain, confusion and slight anger that caused the older man to step back in surprise.
"He told me he did it because he couldn't stand to look at me with my so-called 'lonely eyes'. He said he hated the fact that he knew I would go home and cry myself to sleep at nights, and then act as if nothing was wrong the following morning. He couldn't understand how I could tolerate Naruto when he knew that I knew that inside the boy was the cause of my pain. He thought... that if he could get rid of the poor boy, it would make me happier.
Seeing Kakashi's wary stare caused Iruka to sigh and huddle himself closer, wrapping his arms around his knees and clasping his forearms tightly, making him look like a small, vulnerable child, rather than the determined, expressive adult that he was.
Kakashi couldn't help but worry at that dead tone he heard from the once emotional sensei. What added to the worry were the now equally dull and despondent eyes that stared back at him. Personally, he had no clue what to do with Iruka. Kakashi understood that he wasn't a social individual, and ironically, Iruka would have been the best candidate to help in these types of situations.
Kakashi just wasn't the type to go all mushy and give hugs or anything like that. Still, it didn't mean he would just stand there uselessly. Crouching down to the other man's level, Kakashi circumspectly and slowly placed his gloved hand over Iruka's shoulder, ready to snap the appendage back should the man try to bite him or slice it off.
"Iruka-sensei...?"
"Leave."
Kakashi displaced his hand away from the other man's shoulder and sighed. Iruka's voice was muffled but the tone wasn't hateful as he had expected to be. Rather it was more exhausted and apologetic, despite the sharp command.
"Please leave, Kakashi-sensei. I don't think I can stand looking at you any longer. I have no doubt that you are a good man, and you would be a wonderful teacher for Haruna-chan, Uchiha-kun and Naruto. However... please don't approach me again. It's nothing personal. I simply need to get over this quickly and I am useless to anyone right now this way. I will be fine. I've managed before, so you do not need to worry about anything."
Kakashi's uncovered eye seemed to start twitching visibly at this point. At first he had felt a pang of ache from the other man's words. Something about rejection does that to a person. However, as Iruka rambled on, Kakashi couldn't also help but grow a bit frustrated at the younger man.
If there was another thing Kakashi hated, were pity-parties.
With a growl, Kakashi reached over and grabbed the young chunin from the shoulders, rapidly lifting him to his feet. Iruka couldn't help but squeak out in surprise at the sudden action. Quickly regaining his wits, Iruka looked up to glare at his aggressor, only to receive a similar glare in return. Iruka clenched his teeth in anger at the other man. Inwardly he couldn't help but grin at the childish victory he gave himself when he proclaimed to himself that at least his teeth could be seen.
"Listen to me, Iruka." Kakashi began, his tone cold, unemotional and slightly intimidating. "We all have our problems, we all carry our own pain on our shoulders, but we all get over it. I'm not Mizuki, so get that through your thick skull. You say you can't stand to look at me because I remind you of him? Well, I can't stand to look at you while you act like a spoiled, stubborn child. You're a teacher, damn it! Haven't you learned anything about keeping your emotions in check at all costs?"
Iruka stared in slack-jawed disbelief at the older-man's harsh words. Pulling his forearms up, Iruka quickly slipped them between Kakashi's own arms and, with a sudden snap, he broke Kakashi's grip on his shoulders. It cost him a slight tear on the shirt, but the younger man needed to be free of the other's grip.
"You're wrong, Kakashi-sensei." Iruka gave a mocking smile at the taller man, adding a venomous tone to the silver-haired man's honorific. "While it is true that every one of us has our own pain, I don't think we all had gotten over it. It's merely pushed aside, bottled up, or masked over. The human body can only contain so much before it bursts. I simply choose to let my own pain out now before it gets stronger and too hard for me to handle. THAT! That is something I have taught all my students."
Taking a deep sigh, Iruka dropped his angry expression and looked back at the jounin. Iruka's expression was a bit softer and he looked at the other man sympathetically. "I am still within my time to grieve, the wound is recent, and dealing with it now will prevent any backlashes in the future. I don't want to find myself breaking down in the middle of a class because somehow, something reminded me of one of the many things I try to forget. I've tried that path before and I didn't like it. You may carry that mask, but it doesn't hide everything. You still grieve for your losses. To you, your wound is as open as a picked scab with barely enough time to seal over."
Iruka didn't register the impact as hard bone thwacked itself onto his cheek. The only clue the chunin had that he was hit, was when he had suddenly lost his balance and was thrown harshly to the ground. Looking up in disbelief, Iruka saw Kakashi towering over him, the other man's fist clenched tightly before him. Kakashi's shown eye seemed to be ablaze with a medley of emotions; from shock, and anger to even fear.
Lowering the shaking fist to his side, Kakashi kept his glare at the man beneath him. Although the eye was still blazed with fury, the silver- haired man's tone seemed to betray the emotions as he spoke with a slightly humored tone.
"It's not polite to make assumptions about strangers, Iruka-sensei. Again, you hardly know me, so I would implore you to leave your speculations to yourself."
Iruka pushed himself against the wall as he stumbled back to his feet. Exhaustion was taking a huge toll on him at the moment. Despite the growing bruise on the side of his face, Iruka gave a soft smile to the other man.
"Ahh... that is true, however, I am no stranger to that expression. Those eyes become quite familiar to you when they are all you see before a mirror."
Kakashi's fist tightened again, but unlike before, it managed to stay at the jounin's side. With a turn of his heel, Kakashi stuffed his fists into his pockets and turned away from the younger man.
"Good night, Iruka-sensei." Without another word, the jounin disappeared, leaving a puff of smoke at his wake.
Shaking his head, Iruka turned and swayed as he faltered his way to his own room, ready to sleep till mid-afternoon tomorrow. With fatigued and trembling fingers, he stripped himself of the majority of his clothing, only leaving himself bare in his boxers. Kneeling down to the futon, Iruka crashed down at the cushion and sighed deeply.
"Next time, I think we should lay off the caffeine."
~~~***~~~
You know, this could be a good ending for the story.... Nah, there are still more than three pages left of ideas to go.
Anyway, I'm glad people are enjoying this. For a while I was worried that I was making these guys OOC. So far, the only complaint I had was of Iruka in the first chapter, but I hope this chapter explains why Iruka went all homicidal. XD
As for Mizuki? Gods I agree! Didn't anyone else see the way those two interacted in the beginning of the first episode? The tender words, the way he seemed to know Iruka-sensei...The way Iruka spoke to him in respect while during the exams. Watching that epi again made me gush in fangirly bliss. XD
Next Chapter: Iruka recounts his first meeting with Naruto. Probably more humor and more action and lot less blabbering.
Thank you for making it this far. ^_^ Remember! Reviews are a good way to feed your authors! XD