Corn Fields and Coral Reefs
see original summary, disclaimers, and warnings on the first chapter
Chapter #4
Kakashi sighed, he really was not that good at dealing with people...well making them feel inferior and pissing them off were not good people skills. Why couldn't he get though to the younger boy? It wasn't like Kakashi hadn't lost someone too to that dammed fox. But still it was kinda frustrating, and as Kakashi sat lost in his thoughts, a light snoring came from beside him. Iruka apparently had fallen asleep.
He turned his head to look at Iruka, wondering for a moment how someone so adamant about not sleeping on the ground could have fallen asleep in a graveyard so easily. Then an idea came to him, and he smiled to himself, reaching down to pick up the prone boy.
Some time later
Iruka awoke to the sounds of birds chirping loudly overhead and groaned, turning over to reach up and shut his bedroom window...only problem was that all his hand met with was air.
He waved his hand about, searching for the window, but after about a minute he was forced to open his sleep filled eyes to see what was going on...and came face to face with what looked suspiciously like a caterpillar crawling on a leaf. ...There were no trees beside his bedroom window...and why was his bed so lumpy? Rolling over, Iruka's blurry vision met with a green canopy of tree leaves with blue sky poking though. 'What the hell?' He thought.
Blinking with bewilderment, he sat up and rubbed the back of his head where several rocks had decided to take residence in his hair, and looked around him. He was totally alone in a clearing somewhere...he really had no idea where he was at all. 'Wha...how did I get here?' he wondered to himself, his brain still foggy with sleep
Standing up to look around, Iruka could see nothing but trees, bushes and grass. 'This can't be good...' Iruka thought and began to panic a little. 'Okay...think, Iruka think!' he mentally scolded himself, 'What happened last night? ...Umm, I was at Mom and Dad's grave...Kakashi was there...oh what else...wait! Maybe Kakashi decided to be an ass and abandon me in the middle of the forest!'
"Damn you, Kakashi!" He cried to the trees.
"Huh? What did I do?" Kakashi's voice said from behind him, making Iruka jump and land on his ass as he spun around too quickly. "You should really learn to lighten up, a good ninja can't have high strung nerves all the time you know." Kakashi advised, and Iruka grabbed him by the front of his shirt.
"Aah, Kakashi, where the hell did you take me?!" he demanded.
Kakashi blinked at the younger teen holding on to the front of his shirt. He had a genuinely confused expression on his face...well at least Iruka thought it looked genuine. Kakashi could just be playing with him mentally. "Why, the forest, of course." He said simply, "That's where I was taking you yesterday, but you had to go and fall asleep."
Iruka stared at him, feeling like his mind was going to break from the stress of it all. Or at least he was going to crumble into dust right then and there. "Wh-why?" He asked, his grip on Kakashi's shirt loosening.
"I told you yesterday, you need some training." Kakashi answered. "Besides, I figured that since you fell asleep in the graveyard you'd gotten over your fear of sleeping outdoors." He shrugged.
Iruka let go of Kakashi's shirt and fell to his knees, he no longer had the energy to fight with his tutor. He couldn't even gather the energy to make some witty retort at the silver haired 17 year old. Kakashi squatted down in front of Iruka and patted his head like some kind of dog.
"That's a good Iruka." He cooed.
Kakashi must have been some kind of mind reader, but that gave Iruka back his energy.
He slapped Kakashi's hand away and stood back up, glaring at him. He knew there was no way he'd be able to find his way back home without help, and the only person around was Kakashi. "Fine." He said, crossing his arms over his chest. "If I do this training of yours will you take me home?" he asked.
Kakashi grinned beneath his mask, "Why certainly!" He said with enthusiasm. "Now to start your training, I want you to go find yourself breakfast." He said happily, and turned away to disappear into the foliage.
Iruka stared at the spot where he'd last seen Kakashi, 'I'm never going to get home, not for a very, very long time...' He thought miserably 'I might as well build a house out here and become a hermit."
He stumbled into the bush, then stopped...knowing him, he'd get a few steps in, get turned around and be lost in there for the rest of his pathetic life. He had to find some way of getting back to the clearing when he was done looking for food...if there even was any food in the forest. "I'm going to kill him..." Iruka muttered under his breath as he dug in his pockets for something he could use
After finding his pockets empty Iruka sighed, 'well I'm already lost, and if Kakashi wants to see me alive again, he can just bloody well find me himself.' With those thoughts in mind, Iruka went in search of water. People could live for a while without food, but water was another story. Besides, there might be fish in the water that he could catch.
He wandered aimlessly though the trees, and the forest slowly became thicker the farther he wandered in. At length, however, his straining ears heard the sound of water running, and he headed in the direction he thought it was coming from. Hey, if he had actually found a stream this soon into his training maybe there was hope for him yet, he thought, and he broke through the trees rather unexpectedly.
He stopped and stared down into the black abyss that had just revealed itself at his feet. Far, far below in the chasm, Iruka could barely make out the river that flowed at its bottom. He sighed and let his legs give out from under him. Life sucked. After a moment of self-pity, Irukas stomach growled, telling him that if he didn't get moving to find something to eat he wouldn't be happy at all.
Forcing himself to his feet, he wandered along the side of the cavern, looking around, hoping to find at least something to eat, or maybe a way down to the water...if it was the only water that was there he should be able to get to it somehow. Something red caught his attention as he walked by, and he turned his head to find a bush full of red berries growing almost on the edge of the cliff face.
He knelt in front of the berry bush and looked at it uncertainly. He'd never seen these kinds of berries before and had no idea if they were edible or not...damn it, he should have paid attention when the instructor was talking about edible plants!
Iruka picked one of the berries and looked at it, which was pointless since he didn't know how looking at it could tell him if it was poison or not. At last, he decided to throw caution to the winds and eat the berry. He was just about to pop it into his mouth when a hand grabbed ahold of his wrist. "I wouldn't eat that if I were you." Kakashi said into his ear.
Iruka jumped and looked up to find Kakashi standing over him, and it was his arm who now held onto his wrist, holding the berry just out of reach of his mouth. "Why not?" He asked, looking at it. It didn't look too dangerous to him.
"Well if you want your insides to melt and die an extremely painful death, go ahead." Kakashi answered, and Iruka dropped the berry as if it was red hot.
Iruka's face had turned an interesting shade of blue in Kakashi's opinion. Seeing his obvious distress from almost eating a poisonous berry, Kakashi had to chuckle "Actually, you wouldn't have noticed the effects until after the second day of fever." he told Iruka, still chuckling to him-self.
Iruka didn't know if he should be glad for that little bit of information, or kill Kakashi for even mentioning it. At the very least he was grateful that Kakashi had stopped him before he'd eaten something that could have potentially ended his life. Then another though occurred to him and he looked at the silver ninja suspiciously. "Hey...how did you show up at just the right time to stop me?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.
"Uh...good timing?" Kakashi suggested hopefully.
"B.S." Iruka growled at Kakashi, "You've been following me."
Kakashi laughed and rubbed the back of his head, "So I was, so I was."
Iruka groaned and hung his head, life was hell. Kakashi patted Iruka's back sympathetically, "Well don't worry, there's a lake not too far from here. You had good sense to look for water, only the source is wrong. Don't feel too bad about it."
Iruka, however, could not possibly have felt any worse. Even if he did think that this whole dumb 'training' thing was stupid, it bothered him that he had so thoroughly screwed up in the first hour of it. What was he, the worst ninja in history? He grumbled and followed Kakashi through the woods, staring at the ground, feeling rather dejected.
It didn't take Iruka long to lose sight of Kakashi again, considering he was looking at the ground and not watching where Kakashi was leading him. He looked around, and suddenly realized he was alone. Feeling like smacking his head against the nearest tree Iruka resisted the urge to do so. 'Okay, it's not like I didn't learn some skills before mom and dad died...' actually, back before he'd lost his parents he had been an excellent student... even though that was hardly the case now.
'Okay...' He thought to himself, and looked down at the soft ground, 'tracking...dad and I used to hunt all the time, this is no different.' he knelt down and touched the ground, looking for Kakashi's footprints, but there were none around. Deciding that he had strayed from Kakashi somewhere along the line, he simply followed his own tracks backwards, keeping a sharp eye out for a second pair of prints.
After a moment of back-tracking, Iruka found the second set of prints, they were very light. In fact, if he had not been following his own tracks back, he would have missed them entirely. Iruka followed Kakashi's tracks, noticing other signs that the ninja had been that way, small things, but he was actually very proud that he could find them. It occurred to him after a few minutes that Kakashi probably wasn't hiding his trail on purpose, and that the skills had most likely become second nature to the silver haired ninja.
As he followed the tracks, he quietly thought to himself about this Kakashi person. He was very mysterious...kept his face covered all of the time, and Iruka wondered what the bandage on his head was for. Also, if his track hiding skills were any indication, as well as his reputation in the village, he was an extremely skilled ninja, even though he was only two years older than Iruka...well maybe a little bit less than two. His thoughts were interrupted, however, when a shadow fell upon the footprints he was staring at. He looked up to find Kakashi standing in front of him, looking slightly surprised to see him there.
Standing up straight, Iruka couldn't help the small smile that twitched at the edge of his lips, he had not expected Kakashi to come back and look for him, but he was pleased that he had showed the older ninja that he could do something.
Kakashi coughed and cleared his throat, "Well, I see that you're not as hopeless as I thought you were."
"Haha, that's right, I followed your trail so easily." Iruka placed his hands on his hips and smirked.
Kakashi rolled his eye in obvious exasperation. "That doesn't help the fact that you got lost in the first place." He answered, and pushed Iruka ahead of him. "Just keep going that way."
Iruka stuck his tongue out and marched ahead of Kakashi, but still felt proud of himself for the first time in a very long time.
Kakashi shook his had and smiled under his mask, Iruka was just full of surprises apparently. After being alone with his grief for so long, Iruka was not now alone, even though Kakashi knew he got under the kid's skin constantly. He figured it was a better choice then ignoring Iruka altogether.
By the time they reached the lake he had mentioned, Kakashi made sure to wipe any smiles off his face. It wouldn't do to let Iruka know that his carefully constructed persona might be peeling slightly with the surprising spirit Iruka was showing. He'd expected him to be totally stubborn or totally depressed. Maybe his unusual method of teaching actually worked...
Then again, Kakashi was the only person the boy could associate with right now... well, that was mainly Kakashi's doing, but Iruka didn't seem to have any friends, nor was he particularly loved by the teacher...more than likely, Iruka tried to get under their skin all the time just for the sake of a little attention.
Iruka stood beside the shore, looking out over the lake, and for a moment there he actually looked content.
Kakashi stood and watched him for a moment, not wanting to disturb what little peace the boy had...at least not before he started his actual training. He watched as Iruka looked down at the ground, then bent over and picked up a flat rock off the ground. "I wonder if I can still do this..." Iruka said to himself, then hurled the rock into the lake. It skipped twice then dropped into the lake with a little splash.
Iruka sighed. "Nope, apparently not." he muttered to himself, and Kakashi cleared his throat, which caught Iruka's attention. Iruka blushed a little with embarrassment as he had forgotten that Kakashi was standing right behind him.
"Well, Iruka, how do you plan on getting breakfast?" Kakashi asked lazily, as if he didn't think Iruka could think of anything.
"What, me?" Iruka pointed to himself, confused. "You saw what just happened, I'll get us both killed."
"Well as long as you remember what those berries looked like you'll be fine...and besides, there is other food here other than plants." Kakashi responded.
"You mean I have to hunt by myself?" Iruka complained, and Kakashi yawned, flopping down on the ground and leaning against a tree.
He plucked a long blade of grass and chewed on the end of it, stretched out lazily and closed his eyes. "Do whatever you like." he answered. "Just wake me up when breakfast is ready."
Iruka couldn't help but stare at Kakashi in disbelief, how in heaven's name was he going to get food for them if he had no tools...or anything for that matter. Sighing, he began to walk along the water's edge, since at least this way he wouldn't become lost. After a while, a crow cawed loudly overhead...if Iruka had a bow and arrow, they could have had roasted crow for breakfast...somehow he was glad he didn't have a bow and arrow.
Something splashed on the still surface of the water and he looked out at the lake...there was obviously fish in there but he had no fishing pole or bait in order to catch them. His stomach growled angrily. Man, would a fish taste real good right now, though, he thought to himself. He looked at the water desperately for a moment, then an idea came to his mind. It wasn't, perhaps, the best idea he'd ever thought of but if it worked, he'd be able to eat.
Feeling self-concious, Iruka looked around...not like there was anyone there, but he looked anyway before stripping down to his boxer shorts. He was about to go into the water when he stopped, realizing something...he was out in the wilderness all alone... except for Kakashi, and he didn't have a change of clothing. That included his underwear. Iruka cringed at the thought of going around in wet shorts from swimming. That did not sound like fun.
Feeling utterly exposed, even though the only things that could see him right now were forest creatures, Iruka carefully pulled off his boxer shorts and placed them on the pile with the rest of his clothes. He quickly ran into the water, in an attempt to hide his nakedness from the world, and swam across the lake a ways, searching for a spot where there might be fish.
Kakashi sat up and stretched as his stomach growled. Iruka had been gone a while, and in light of Kakashi's softer side, he was a little worried that the dark haired boy had gotten lost again. Getting up, he dusted off his pants and headed off in the direction Iruka had gone to find food. He figured he might have to do the foraging at this rate if Iruka couldn't pull off something edible.
He yawned once more as he walked easily along the edge of the lake, and put his hands behind his head in laziness. Even though he was worried, he didn't want it to look that way when he actually did find Iruka. Happening to glance down, something caught his eye, and he stopped to get a better look at what it was. Leaning forward a little he suddenly realized that it was Iruka's clothes...and they were very obviously not on his person.
Kakashi's first instinct was to blush at the obvious explanation to Iruka's clothing mystery. That being he was running around here naked. 'Why the hell is he running around naked in the forest?' Kakakshi's mind demanded. The blush deepened as more thoughts entered his perverted mind, most of them fueled by the perverted books that he so treasured. Trying to keep his thoughts away from the perverted ones, Kakashi was startled when a loud splash and a 'whoop' of victory came from his left.
His head snapped over almost unconsciously to look at the source of the noises, and blushed even more as he spotted Iruka floating there holding a wriggling fish in his hands. "Yeah I actually got one!" Iruka cried, congratulating himself on a job well done.
Kakashi blinked, then his one visible eye went wide, he was very, very glad for his habit of wearing a mask, for it hid his red face as he flushed for some reason. It wasn't like he han't seen another naked male before...come on, they had public baths back at the village. But the sight of Iruka...naked Iruka...caused butterflies to invade Kakashi's stomach, and all the blood to rush to his face.
Reaching up to pull his mask a little higher up on his face to hide any visible redness that might be seen, Kakashi decided he had to do something before Iruka climbed out of the lake in all his...well nakedness. He cleared his throat and Iruka glanced up to see him. "Oh, Kakashi, look, I caught a fish!" Iruka cried happily, totally unaware of the turmoil going on in Kakashi's mind.
Kakashi nodded, trying to think of something, then it clicked, "That's good, now why don't you catch about 3 more and we can have a decent breakfast?" Actually, it was more like brunch now but who cared? Iruka tossed the fish to shore and dove under the water, obviously having a grand old time swimming around in the buff.
Kakashi watched the water where Iruka had disappeared for a moment without realizing it, then with an extreme show of will power wrenched his eyes away and instead focused on the fish flopping on the shore. Reaching down, he picked it up and decided he could keep his mind occupied by preparing it for cooking while Iruka was down there getting more...
He located a large flat rock not to far away, dusted it off, and pulled out a small throwing dagger and began gutting and cleaning the fish. All the while, he was trying to keep his mind on the FISH and not swimming with the fishes in the water nearby. Kakashi felt his ears go warm this time when he thought of Iruka in the water...swimming ...naked... he was so confused. 'Why the hell am I thinking of HIM, and like THAT of all things?!' He demanded of himself.
TBC...
Hmm…what are these evil thoughts that are plaguing Kakashi? More importantly…can Kakashi keep his mind out of the gutter? …umm, probably not…and how will Iruka survive Kakashi's special tutoring? Now that is an interesting question…keep reading and find out!
Thanks to all you reviewers! We will now answer some of your questions, yay!
Although Kakashi's gutter mind might put Iruka in a French maid apron…I really don't think he could get the dolphin to go along with it '
Sorry that chapter 3 was a little sad, but hopefully this one will make you happy again
Please review! Let us know what you think
see original summary, disclaimers, and warnings on the first chapter
Chapter #4
Kakashi sighed, he really was not that good at dealing with people...well making them feel inferior and pissing them off were not good people skills. Why couldn't he get though to the younger boy? It wasn't like Kakashi hadn't lost someone too to that dammed fox. But still it was kinda frustrating, and as Kakashi sat lost in his thoughts, a light snoring came from beside him. Iruka apparently had fallen asleep.
He turned his head to look at Iruka, wondering for a moment how someone so adamant about not sleeping on the ground could have fallen asleep in a graveyard so easily. Then an idea came to him, and he smiled to himself, reaching down to pick up the prone boy.
Some time later
Iruka awoke to the sounds of birds chirping loudly overhead and groaned, turning over to reach up and shut his bedroom window...only problem was that all his hand met with was air.
He waved his hand about, searching for the window, but after about a minute he was forced to open his sleep filled eyes to see what was going on...and came face to face with what looked suspiciously like a caterpillar crawling on a leaf. ...There were no trees beside his bedroom window...and why was his bed so lumpy? Rolling over, Iruka's blurry vision met with a green canopy of tree leaves with blue sky poking though. 'What the hell?' He thought.
Blinking with bewilderment, he sat up and rubbed the back of his head where several rocks had decided to take residence in his hair, and looked around him. He was totally alone in a clearing somewhere...he really had no idea where he was at all. 'Wha...how did I get here?' he wondered to himself, his brain still foggy with sleep
Standing up to look around, Iruka could see nothing but trees, bushes and grass. 'This can't be good...' Iruka thought and began to panic a little. 'Okay...think, Iruka think!' he mentally scolded himself, 'What happened last night? ...Umm, I was at Mom and Dad's grave...Kakashi was there...oh what else...wait! Maybe Kakashi decided to be an ass and abandon me in the middle of the forest!'
"Damn you, Kakashi!" He cried to the trees.
"Huh? What did I do?" Kakashi's voice said from behind him, making Iruka jump and land on his ass as he spun around too quickly. "You should really learn to lighten up, a good ninja can't have high strung nerves all the time you know." Kakashi advised, and Iruka grabbed him by the front of his shirt.
"Aah, Kakashi, where the hell did you take me?!" he demanded.
Kakashi blinked at the younger teen holding on to the front of his shirt. He had a genuinely confused expression on his face...well at least Iruka thought it looked genuine. Kakashi could just be playing with him mentally. "Why, the forest, of course." He said simply, "That's where I was taking you yesterday, but you had to go and fall asleep."
Iruka stared at him, feeling like his mind was going to break from the stress of it all. Or at least he was going to crumble into dust right then and there. "Wh-why?" He asked, his grip on Kakashi's shirt loosening.
"I told you yesterday, you need some training." Kakashi answered. "Besides, I figured that since you fell asleep in the graveyard you'd gotten over your fear of sleeping outdoors." He shrugged.
Iruka let go of Kakashi's shirt and fell to his knees, he no longer had the energy to fight with his tutor. He couldn't even gather the energy to make some witty retort at the silver haired 17 year old. Kakashi squatted down in front of Iruka and patted his head like some kind of dog.
"That's a good Iruka." He cooed.
Kakashi must have been some kind of mind reader, but that gave Iruka back his energy.
He slapped Kakashi's hand away and stood back up, glaring at him. He knew there was no way he'd be able to find his way back home without help, and the only person around was Kakashi. "Fine." He said, crossing his arms over his chest. "If I do this training of yours will you take me home?" he asked.
Kakashi grinned beneath his mask, "Why certainly!" He said with enthusiasm. "Now to start your training, I want you to go find yourself breakfast." He said happily, and turned away to disappear into the foliage.
Iruka stared at the spot where he'd last seen Kakashi, 'I'm never going to get home, not for a very, very long time...' He thought miserably 'I might as well build a house out here and become a hermit."
He stumbled into the bush, then stopped...knowing him, he'd get a few steps in, get turned around and be lost in there for the rest of his pathetic life. He had to find some way of getting back to the clearing when he was done looking for food...if there even was any food in the forest. "I'm going to kill him..." Iruka muttered under his breath as he dug in his pockets for something he could use
After finding his pockets empty Iruka sighed, 'well I'm already lost, and if Kakashi wants to see me alive again, he can just bloody well find me himself.' With those thoughts in mind, Iruka went in search of water. People could live for a while without food, but water was another story. Besides, there might be fish in the water that he could catch.
He wandered aimlessly though the trees, and the forest slowly became thicker the farther he wandered in. At length, however, his straining ears heard the sound of water running, and he headed in the direction he thought it was coming from. Hey, if he had actually found a stream this soon into his training maybe there was hope for him yet, he thought, and he broke through the trees rather unexpectedly.
He stopped and stared down into the black abyss that had just revealed itself at his feet. Far, far below in the chasm, Iruka could barely make out the river that flowed at its bottom. He sighed and let his legs give out from under him. Life sucked. After a moment of self-pity, Irukas stomach growled, telling him that if he didn't get moving to find something to eat he wouldn't be happy at all.
Forcing himself to his feet, he wandered along the side of the cavern, looking around, hoping to find at least something to eat, or maybe a way down to the water...if it was the only water that was there he should be able to get to it somehow. Something red caught his attention as he walked by, and he turned his head to find a bush full of red berries growing almost on the edge of the cliff face.
He knelt in front of the berry bush and looked at it uncertainly. He'd never seen these kinds of berries before and had no idea if they were edible or not...damn it, he should have paid attention when the instructor was talking about edible plants!
Iruka picked one of the berries and looked at it, which was pointless since he didn't know how looking at it could tell him if it was poison or not. At last, he decided to throw caution to the winds and eat the berry. He was just about to pop it into his mouth when a hand grabbed ahold of his wrist. "I wouldn't eat that if I were you." Kakashi said into his ear.
Iruka jumped and looked up to find Kakashi standing over him, and it was his arm who now held onto his wrist, holding the berry just out of reach of his mouth. "Why not?" He asked, looking at it. It didn't look too dangerous to him.
"Well if you want your insides to melt and die an extremely painful death, go ahead." Kakashi answered, and Iruka dropped the berry as if it was red hot.
Iruka's face had turned an interesting shade of blue in Kakashi's opinion. Seeing his obvious distress from almost eating a poisonous berry, Kakashi had to chuckle "Actually, you wouldn't have noticed the effects until after the second day of fever." he told Iruka, still chuckling to him-self.
Iruka didn't know if he should be glad for that little bit of information, or kill Kakashi for even mentioning it. At the very least he was grateful that Kakashi had stopped him before he'd eaten something that could have potentially ended his life. Then another though occurred to him and he looked at the silver ninja suspiciously. "Hey...how did you show up at just the right time to stop me?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.
"Uh...good timing?" Kakashi suggested hopefully.
"B.S." Iruka growled at Kakashi, "You've been following me."
Kakashi laughed and rubbed the back of his head, "So I was, so I was."
Iruka groaned and hung his head, life was hell. Kakashi patted Iruka's back sympathetically, "Well don't worry, there's a lake not too far from here. You had good sense to look for water, only the source is wrong. Don't feel too bad about it."
Iruka, however, could not possibly have felt any worse. Even if he did think that this whole dumb 'training' thing was stupid, it bothered him that he had so thoroughly screwed up in the first hour of it. What was he, the worst ninja in history? He grumbled and followed Kakashi through the woods, staring at the ground, feeling rather dejected.
It didn't take Iruka long to lose sight of Kakashi again, considering he was looking at the ground and not watching where Kakashi was leading him. He looked around, and suddenly realized he was alone. Feeling like smacking his head against the nearest tree Iruka resisted the urge to do so. 'Okay, it's not like I didn't learn some skills before mom and dad died...' actually, back before he'd lost his parents he had been an excellent student... even though that was hardly the case now.
'Okay...' He thought to himself, and looked down at the soft ground, 'tracking...dad and I used to hunt all the time, this is no different.' he knelt down and touched the ground, looking for Kakashi's footprints, but there were none around. Deciding that he had strayed from Kakashi somewhere along the line, he simply followed his own tracks backwards, keeping a sharp eye out for a second pair of prints.
After a moment of back-tracking, Iruka found the second set of prints, they were very light. In fact, if he had not been following his own tracks back, he would have missed them entirely. Iruka followed Kakashi's tracks, noticing other signs that the ninja had been that way, small things, but he was actually very proud that he could find them. It occurred to him after a few minutes that Kakashi probably wasn't hiding his trail on purpose, and that the skills had most likely become second nature to the silver haired ninja.
As he followed the tracks, he quietly thought to himself about this Kakashi person. He was very mysterious...kept his face covered all of the time, and Iruka wondered what the bandage on his head was for. Also, if his track hiding skills were any indication, as well as his reputation in the village, he was an extremely skilled ninja, even though he was only two years older than Iruka...well maybe a little bit less than two. His thoughts were interrupted, however, when a shadow fell upon the footprints he was staring at. He looked up to find Kakashi standing in front of him, looking slightly surprised to see him there.
Standing up straight, Iruka couldn't help the small smile that twitched at the edge of his lips, he had not expected Kakashi to come back and look for him, but he was pleased that he had showed the older ninja that he could do something.
Kakashi coughed and cleared his throat, "Well, I see that you're not as hopeless as I thought you were."
"Haha, that's right, I followed your trail so easily." Iruka placed his hands on his hips and smirked.
Kakashi rolled his eye in obvious exasperation. "That doesn't help the fact that you got lost in the first place." He answered, and pushed Iruka ahead of him. "Just keep going that way."
Iruka stuck his tongue out and marched ahead of Kakashi, but still felt proud of himself for the first time in a very long time.
Kakashi shook his had and smiled under his mask, Iruka was just full of surprises apparently. After being alone with his grief for so long, Iruka was not now alone, even though Kakashi knew he got under the kid's skin constantly. He figured it was a better choice then ignoring Iruka altogether.
By the time they reached the lake he had mentioned, Kakashi made sure to wipe any smiles off his face. It wouldn't do to let Iruka know that his carefully constructed persona might be peeling slightly with the surprising spirit Iruka was showing. He'd expected him to be totally stubborn or totally depressed. Maybe his unusual method of teaching actually worked...
Then again, Kakashi was the only person the boy could associate with right now... well, that was mainly Kakashi's doing, but Iruka didn't seem to have any friends, nor was he particularly loved by the teacher...more than likely, Iruka tried to get under their skin all the time just for the sake of a little attention.
Iruka stood beside the shore, looking out over the lake, and for a moment there he actually looked content.
Kakashi stood and watched him for a moment, not wanting to disturb what little peace the boy had...at least not before he started his actual training. He watched as Iruka looked down at the ground, then bent over and picked up a flat rock off the ground. "I wonder if I can still do this..." Iruka said to himself, then hurled the rock into the lake. It skipped twice then dropped into the lake with a little splash.
Iruka sighed. "Nope, apparently not." he muttered to himself, and Kakashi cleared his throat, which caught Iruka's attention. Iruka blushed a little with embarrassment as he had forgotten that Kakashi was standing right behind him.
"Well, Iruka, how do you plan on getting breakfast?" Kakashi asked lazily, as if he didn't think Iruka could think of anything.
"What, me?" Iruka pointed to himself, confused. "You saw what just happened, I'll get us both killed."
"Well as long as you remember what those berries looked like you'll be fine...and besides, there is other food here other than plants." Kakashi responded.
"You mean I have to hunt by myself?" Iruka complained, and Kakashi yawned, flopping down on the ground and leaning against a tree.
He plucked a long blade of grass and chewed on the end of it, stretched out lazily and closed his eyes. "Do whatever you like." he answered. "Just wake me up when breakfast is ready."
Iruka couldn't help but stare at Kakashi in disbelief, how in heaven's name was he going to get food for them if he had no tools...or anything for that matter. Sighing, he began to walk along the water's edge, since at least this way he wouldn't become lost. After a while, a crow cawed loudly overhead...if Iruka had a bow and arrow, they could have had roasted crow for breakfast...somehow he was glad he didn't have a bow and arrow.
Something splashed on the still surface of the water and he looked out at the lake...there was obviously fish in there but he had no fishing pole or bait in order to catch them. His stomach growled angrily. Man, would a fish taste real good right now, though, he thought to himself. He looked at the water desperately for a moment, then an idea came to his mind. It wasn't, perhaps, the best idea he'd ever thought of but if it worked, he'd be able to eat.
Feeling self-concious, Iruka looked around...not like there was anyone there, but he looked anyway before stripping down to his boxer shorts. He was about to go into the water when he stopped, realizing something...he was out in the wilderness all alone... except for Kakashi, and he didn't have a change of clothing. That included his underwear. Iruka cringed at the thought of going around in wet shorts from swimming. That did not sound like fun.
Feeling utterly exposed, even though the only things that could see him right now were forest creatures, Iruka carefully pulled off his boxer shorts and placed them on the pile with the rest of his clothes. He quickly ran into the water, in an attempt to hide his nakedness from the world, and swam across the lake a ways, searching for a spot where there might be fish.
Kakashi sat up and stretched as his stomach growled. Iruka had been gone a while, and in light of Kakashi's softer side, he was a little worried that the dark haired boy had gotten lost again. Getting up, he dusted off his pants and headed off in the direction Iruka had gone to find food. He figured he might have to do the foraging at this rate if Iruka couldn't pull off something edible.
He yawned once more as he walked easily along the edge of the lake, and put his hands behind his head in laziness. Even though he was worried, he didn't want it to look that way when he actually did find Iruka. Happening to glance down, something caught his eye, and he stopped to get a better look at what it was. Leaning forward a little he suddenly realized that it was Iruka's clothes...and they were very obviously not on his person.
Kakashi's first instinct was to blush at the obvious explanation to Iruka's clothing mystery. That being he was running around here naked. 'Why the hell is he running around naked in the forest?' Kakakshi's mind demanded. The blush deepened as more thoughts entered his perverted mind, most of them fueled by the perverted books that he so treasured. Trying to keep his thoughts away from the perverted ones, Kakashi was startled when a loud splash and a 'whoop' of victory came from his left.
His head snapped over almost unconsciously to look at the source of the noises, and blushed even more as he spotted Iruka floating there holding a wriggling fish in his hands. "Yeah I actually got one!" Iruka cried, congratulating himself on a job well done.
Kakashi blinked, then his one visible eye went wide, he was very, very glad for his habit of wearing a mask, for it hid his red face as he flushed for some reason. It wasn't like he han't seen another naked male before...come on, they had public baths back at the village. But the sight of Iruka...naked Iruka...caused butterflies to invade Kakashi's stomach, and all the blood to rush to his face.
Reaching up to pull his mask a little higher up on his face to hide any visible redness that might be seen, Kakashi decided he had to do something before Iruka climbed out of the lake in all his...well nakedness. He cleared his throat and Iruka glanced up to see him. "Oh, Kakashi, look, I caught a fish!" Iruka cried happily, totally unaware of the turmoil going on in Kakashi's mind.
Kakashi nodded, trying to think of something, then it clicked, "That's good, now why don't you catch about 3 more and we can have a decent breakfast?" Actually, it was more like brunch now but who cared? Iruka tossed the fish to shore and dove under the water, obviously having a grand old time swimming around in the buff.
Kakashi watched the water where Iruka had disappeared for a moment without realizing it, then with an extreme show of will power wrenched his eyes away and instead focused on the fish flopping on the shore. Reaching down, he picked it up and decided he could keep his mind occupied by preparing it for cooking while Iruka was down there getting more...
He located a large flat rock not to far away, dusted it off, and pulled out a small throwing dagger and began gutting and cleaning the fish. All the while, he was trying to keep his mind on the FISH and not swimming with the fishes in the water nearby. Kakashi felt his ears go warm this time when he thought of Iruka in the water...swimming ...naked... he was so confused. 'Why the hell am I thinking of HIM, and like THAT of all things?!' He demanded of himself.
TBC...
Hmm…what are these evil thoughts that are plaguing Kakashi? More importantly…can Kakashi keep his mind out of the gutter? …umm, probably not…and how will Iruka survive Kakashi's special tutoring? Now that is an interesting question…keep reading and find out!
Thanks to all you reviewers! We will now answer some of your questions, yay!
Although Kakashi's gutter mind might put Iruka in a French maid apron…I really don't think he could get the dolphin to go along with it '
Sorry that chapter 3 was a little sad, but hopefully this one will make you happy again
Please review! Let us know what you think