Note- WE'RE BACK! So sorry for talking so long, The computer wizard finally came home and fixed MY Computer! Computer wizard being my brother… Eimaj: He fixed mine too.....then I had to spend weeks getting everything back on it.
MN: Oh well, hope you enjoy this chapter!
see original summary, disclaimers, and warnings on the first chapter
Last time....
"I'll be back after school, then." Kakashi assured him, and disappeared in typical Kakashi fashion, to go home and rest just like he promised Iruka he would.
And now....the new stuff!
Looking up, Iruka's eyes widened as the bully from earlier leered down at him. "Hey, Iruka." That did not sound like a friendly hello to Iruka if he had ever heard one. Taking a step backwards, he bumped into someone behind him. That 'someone' caught a hold of his shoulders, squeezing them painfully. "Where do you think you're going, little Iruka?"
"I-I was just going inside..." Iruka tried to explain himself, feeling totally terrified by the looks on the boy's faces. What had he done this time? They seemed more angry than usual...somehow he knew this was going to be much worse than just having his head dunked in a toilet.
"Change of plans." The head bully said darkly, and the one holding onto Iruka's shoulders picked him up off the ground.Iruka opened his mouth to shout a protest, but another bully stuffed what smelled like an old sock into his mouth and tied it in place. Iruka nearly gagged on the smell alone as yet another person pulled his shirt over his head and tied his hands together. As he tried to squirm free of his captors, something hard connected with the back of his head and once again Iruka saw stars and went limp.Iruka opened his eyes slowly, and closed them again against the glare of the sun overhead. His head throbbed painfully and he couldn't even remember where he was or what he had been doing."Heheh, he's awake, boss." A voice spoke up from somewhere near him, and his blood ran cold. The bullies."Did you have a nice nap, Iruka?" The head bully's head came into Iruka's field of vision, but it was slightly spinning and off balance.Iruka still had the disgusting gag in his mouth, so he couldn't talk, and his hands were still bound behind him. But when a cold breeze blew across his bare skin, Iruka realized they had taken his shirt, pants and footwear, leaving him only in his boxer-shorts. Iruka blushed crimson form embarrassment as well as anger. Then they paled dramatically as the 'boss' laughed and kicked him in the stomach.Iruka winced as the wind was knocked out of him, and tried to roll over, desperate for air.
"Where do you think you're going, little girl?" The bully asked maliciously, and kicked him again, this time in the rib area. Tears of pain rolled down Iruka's face...he was so helpless, he couldn't fight back, he couldn't even call for help."Oh look, he's crying." another bully sneered down at him.One of the larger bullies knelt down, grabbed Iruka by his topknot and pulled him up so that he was eye level with the bully's evil smirk. "Poor, poor little Iruka, your boyfriend's not here to save you this time." Iruka winced as the bully slapped his cheek none too gently. He was so afraid, this was not like the other times the bullies had gone after him. He didn't understand what he could have done to deserve this kind of treatment at all. He wanted to ask them...but his mouth was still gagged with the horrible smelling sock so he just closed his eyes and summoned up all the courage he had to try and survive this...although he had a gut wrenching feeling that he might not. He couldn't, however, stop the tears that now flowed from his eyes like tiny rivers of pain."What's wrong, little Iruka? Did your boyfriend break up with you?" he asked, and his face twisted into something ugly and full of hate and he threw Iruka back down to the ground.
Iruka didn't see the kick coming until it was too late. Groaning in pain, he curled into a ball, trying to protect his abused stomach. "You little slut!" "Whore!" "Faggot!" Iruka tried to block out the words, he didn't know why they were calling him these things. They hurt almost as bad as the kicks and punches that the bullies dealt him. He wanted to protest, to fight back but he was too weak, to pathetic to even take care of himself. By now, the whole group had to be kicking him, as blows came from all sides, and as much as Iruka tried to roll into a ball and stay in one spot, he felt like he was being tossed around like a soccer ball. And still the words were flung at him, and those possibly cut worse. He didn't understand any of this...he wanted Kakashi to come again, but somehow he knew that wasn't going to happen.
Kakashi yawned and stretched, he hated to admit it, but Iruka's suggestion to sleep seemed to have done the trick. He felt much more in control of himself then he had earlier with the soccer ball incident. He actually managed not to blush when he remembered the kiss, with a little bit of guilty pleasure. Pulling himself back to the present however, Kakashi sighed as he remembered that he was supposed to have a chat with Iruka's teacher soon. It was most likely about why Kakashi had kidnapped Iruka for 5 days without telling anyone.Slipping out of bed, he pulled on his clothes, including his mask, and pulled the headband over his eye again...it felt right that way. Tucking his hands into his pockets he left his home and slowly headed off in the direction of the school. He'd probably be a little late again, but everyone was used to that by now.Kakashi walked lazily towards the teacher's office, seeing that it was after school now and that was the most likely place to find any teacher. Before he even got to the office however, the door burst open and Iruka's teacher came out and spotted him. Kakashi wished he knew the guy's name; it would be nice to call him something other than 'Iruka's teacher', but Kakashi didn't care that much to find out."You!" Iruka's teacher pointed at him like he was accusing him of something. Kakashi blinked and looked behind him...nope, no one there. Looking back at the instructor he blinked again.
"What?" he asked.
"What did you do with Iruka?" the instructor demanded."Huh? I didn't do anything, I ate lunch with him then went home." Kakashi answered, starting to wonder if this guy's marbles were all there.Kakashi concluded that the man probably was missing half the bag when he turned to the wall and began smacking his head against it. That in itself would have been painful, but to repeat the process, Kakashi didn't want to think about it. "Umm, where's Iruka?" he had to ask, knowing that the boy was very particular about being on time. In fact, he should have been there scolding Kakashi for being late.The instructor turned back to Kakashi, a large lump on his forehead where he'd smacked himself with the wall. "He's not here!" He answered, his arms flailing wildly.Kakashi's one visible eye narrowed as the beginnings of worry began to tug at his heart. "What do you mean?" he asked quietly."He never came back from lunch!" The man was obviously having some kind of panic attack because he went back to bashing his head against the wall. Seeing as he was not going to get any help from the man, Kakashi took off towards where he had last seen Iruka. He saw nothing unusual under the tree where they had shared lunch. Tracking the younger boy's footprints in the grass, Kakashi followed them to the garbage can. Some larger feet were mixed in with Iruka's, then Iruka's prints just disappeared altogether. The ground was shuffled up as if there had been a struggle.Now Kakashi was really worried...he had to find Iruka and he had to find him now. Trying not to give in to the worry and panic that was rising in him and turning his stomach into a million tight little knots, he followed the sets of prints that walked away from the trash can. All the while hoping that Iruka might be at the end of them and that he wasn't in too much trouble.The trail of footprints led him deeper into the forest, behind the school where more advanced ninjas practiced training. Sometimes the prints would become muddled when it appeared something heavy was being dragged on the ground. But that in itself made it easier to see. Whoever these people were, they weren't skilled ninjas. He pushed further into the forest, trying to at least keep calm enough to be able to fight if he had to at the end of the trail. At last he broke into a little clearing, where the ground had been completely disturbed, as if something big had happened there. And lying off to the side was the motionless form of Iruka, his topknot loose, bruises all over his body.Kakashi felt his face grow cold and the pit of his stomach tightened into a horrible knot. His feet could not carry him fast enough to Iruka's side. Kneeling next to the boy, Kakashi cut his bonds and ripped the gag out of his mouth. Iruka was unconscious, so Kakashi gently placed a hand under his bruised naked shoulder and sat him up. A small groan escaped Iruka's lips as Kakashi moved him.He held Iruka's head up carefully, worried that something might be broken, or he'd make it worse if he moved him too much. Iruka's eyes opened the barest sliver, but they seemed glazed over with pain. "N-no more..." Iruka muttered almost unintelligibly. "Please..." His eyes slowly closed again.Kakashi looked franticly around the small clearing for Iruka's clothing. It wasn't exactly cold out, but Iruka was shivering, probably going into shock. What he found were some tattered rags that were the same colour as Iruka's shirt and pants. Kakashi gently laid Iruka back down on the ground and, seeing no other option, pulled off his own shirt and pulled it over Iruka's head. "Shhh, shhh, Iruka." Kakashi tried to reassure the boy when he whimpered. "It's okay, I'm here."
Iruka's eyes opened again and he turned them towards Kakashi. The pained look in them almost killed Kakashi right then and there, and his stomach constricted into an even tighter knot.
"Kaka....shi..." Iruka said, as if he only barely realized he was there."Yes...yes it's me..." Kakashi answered through the lump in his throat. "I'm here, you'll be ok, I promise."Kakashi almost panicked again when Iruka sighed and went limp in his arms, but the shallow breathing was enough to reassure him that Iruka had just passed out again. He tugged the shirt around the boy, then - as gently as he could - picked Iruka up. Iruka's face looked pale as death beneath the blood and bruises. With him firmly in his grasp, Kakashi sped off towards the school, it was closer than the hospital and they could call the hospital from there.
The teacher had finally stopped beating himself up against the wall when Kakashi burst in, carrying a half naked and very bruised Iruka in his arms; breathing heavily from the exertion of carrying him the whole way as fast as his legs could carry him."Wha..." The instructor stared, but Kakashi would not allow any slacking."Call a doctor!" He exclaimed, and when the instructor didn't move, he added "NOW!"That shocked the instructor out of his numb state, and he took off for the phone while Kakashi kicked open the door to the nurse's office and as gently as he could placed Iruka onto one of the waiting beds. The nurse had apparently gone home for the day, so Kakashi grabbed a cloth and dampened it with water to wash the dirt out of Iruka's cuts and bruises.As he gently dabbed at one nasty cut in particular, he found his gaze moving from the task at hand to Iruka's face. He was still unconscious, but despite the bruises and cuts, he looked almost like he was sleeping peacefully. Kakashi sighed as he felt the now familiar warmth rush to his cheeks. Whatever control over his emotions he'd had when he'd woken up was now completely shot to hell."Damn it, Iruka." He muttered, gently rubbing the cut clean. "Who did this to you...?"
But Iruka was still unconscious and couldn't give him the answer, which frustrated Kakashi to no end. Sighing, he removed the shirt he had covered Iruka with so he could get at the injuries underneath, and Iruka moaned as Kakashi gently cleaned the boy's stomach of blood and dirt. There was a very nasty set of bruises under all the dirt and blood, and Kakashi feared that Iruka might have suffered internal damage. 'Where the heck is a doctor when you need one?' Kakashi wondered, doing his best to clean Iruka up. Whoever had attacked him had done so with an incredible degree of savagery, and Kakashi couldn't understand why anyone would want to hurt Iruka like that.At last, footsteps could be heard running up the hall and the instructor, with a doctor at his heels, burst into the room.The doctor all but shoved Kakashi aside to get to Iruka and the silver haired young man moved to the other side of the bed, trying not to panic as the doctor checked Iruka's head for a concussion. Iruka groaned a little as the doctor pulled one of his eyelids open and flashed a light into it. Talking the groan as a good sign the doctor moved on to checking the rest of the boy. Kakashi had to turn away when the doctor removed Iruka's boxers, he had not even considered checking down there. He had only assumed that since he still had them on that the bullies had not bothered down there. Kakashi closed his eyes as his mind pictured Iruka without his boxers on. He was going to get another nosebleed, and then what would he do? He punched at the wall in an attempt to get out his pent up frustrations and feelings, and the instructor walked over to him with a strange look on his face. "Are you ok?" he asked, obviously thinking Kakashi had lost it...and he was the one with the lump on his head from beating himself up with the wall.
Kakashi sighed and nodded his head, but he could not look at the instructor. Instead, he chanced a look at Iruka's prone body and was thankful to see that the doctor had him covered up with a thick blanket. The doctor turned to Kakashi and the instructor, and while he did not look happy, he also was not panicking, so Kakashi took that as a good sign.The doctor pulled out a small pad of paper and wrote something on it. "He's bruised up pretty badly." He explained. "But at this stage I don't see any signs of any serious internal injuries." Kakashi breathed an audible sigh of relief. "He's going to need round the clock care, so either someone will have to take him in to watch him, or he will have to be admitted into the hospital...does he have any family members who can take care of him?" Kakashi and his teacher both shook their heads a little stupidly at the question. Sighing, the doctor rubbed his temples, "Does he have any close friends?" This time Kakashi looked at Iruka's instructor; he had only known Iruka for a week, and there might be someone else the kid looked up to...as much as Kakashi didn't like the thought.The instructor shook his head sadly. "He doesn't have any friends at school that I know of." he answered. The doctor sighed and started to put the pad back in his pocket. "Well then, I'll have to call the hospital and get him admitted.." he said.Kakashi looked down at the prone Iruka, then imagined him waking up alone in a cold hospital room after an ordeal like he'd just had. "Wait..." He spoke up, and the doctor stopped.
Kakashi was ever so glad for his mask, it made looking mature and impassive very easy. "I have a spare room in my apartment, and I wouldn't mind looking after Iruka." The teacher looked skeptical, but the doctor looked a little more relieved. "But you've only known Iruka for a week..." the instructor started to say but Kakashi held up his hand. "I've been instructing him for the past five days, and I'd like to think we have become friends in that time." he explained.
The instructor didn't object, and after a few moments the doctor smiled, and pulled his note pad back out. Ripping the page off that he'd written on, he handed it to Kakashi. "Here's a prescription for some painkillers...he will probably need them when he wakes up." The doctor explained, and Kakashi took the piece of paper silently. "He should probably just eat soup or something easy on his stomach."Kakashi nodded his head, and the instructor sighed a little "I'll arrange for some transport for Iruka." he muttered and left the nurse's office. The doctor went to the closet and pulled out some hospital pj's and placed them on the bed beside Iruka, "When he wakes up, get him to change into these, he shouldn't be out too long anyway." Kakashi nodded his head again and the doctor left, leaving Kakashi alone with the unconscious Iruka.Kakashi sighed and rubbed his temples in exasperation. He must be some kind of glutton for punishment or something...now Iruka was going to be at his house...for who knows how long. He could just picture himself going slowly mad with no escape from these cursed feelings. Looking down at Iruka, he sighed again and stepped forward towards him, standing over his sleeping form.He smiled a little as he looked down at the sleeping boy, he couldn't help it, Iruka looked so innocent while sleeping. Sighing, Kakashi sat down on the bed next to him and brushed a stray hair out of Iruka's eyes. Acting completely on impulse, he lowered his mask for a brief moment and kissed one of the few un-bruised spots on Iruka's face, just above his left eye. Iruka stirred, and Kakashi drew back quickly, replacing his mask.He pulled up the mask just in time to hide his furiously blushing face as Iruka opened his eyes and groaned, blinking, then turning his head to look at Kakashi. His eyes were no longer glazed over and had their normal shine to them. "Kakashi..." He said, and Kakashi felt his face grow even hotter. "I had a nice dream..." Iruka said in a quiet voice.Kakashi smiled and brushed Iruka's hair back, "I'm glad your dream was nice, considering what happened to you in reality." he said, and watched as Iruka's peaceful expression disappeared as he remembered what happened. Kakashi knew it was cruel of him to reminded the boy of his ordeal, but he didn't think it was a good thing if Iruka pushed it to the back of his mind to forget it. That usually only made it worse as time went on.Kakashi watched him sadly for a moment, and at last ventured to speak. "How do you feel?" he asked gently."...sore..." Iruka answered miserably. Kakashi sighed inwardly. Of course he was sore...something very very bad had happened to him."Can you sit up?" Kakashi asked, and picked up the hospital pajamas that the doctor had left. "You need to get into these so that the instructor can take you...to my house." He told Iruka, hoping he wouldn't hurt himself too much trying to get up.Iruka gasped in pain when he tried to sit up and rolled onto his side, clutching his stomach. "I-I feel like I'm going to throw up." he said through gasps of breath. Kakashi slipped his arm under Iruka's bruised shoulder and helped him to sit up, and once up, his green tinged face faded to a very pale complexion. "The doctor said there were no internal injuries...but he didn't say anything about the muscles." Kakashi said, sounding a little angry.Iruka didn't say anything as Kakashi complained about the uselessness of doctors these days, and picked up the pajama top. Iruka took it and tried to get it on, but winced in pain when he tried to bend both arms at once. Kakashi sighed, and took it from him. "Here...let me help." he said quietly and very gently...almost tenderly, he helped Iruka to slip into the pj top, then buttoned up the front.As Kakashi fumbled with the buttons, Iruka trembled a little, he felt so weak and pathetic. Not to mention humiliated...he couldn't remember how Kakashi had found him but after what the bullies did, Iruka was sure he had been a sorry sight. Not that he wasn't a sorry sight right now, even after he had been cleaned up and taken care of. He hung his head as his shoulders began to shake with silent sobs. Kakashi at last finished with the last button and looked up to see Iruka's tears start to fall. "Iruka?" he asked, unsure of what he should do, or what he should say. He had the biggest urge to just gather him up in his arms protectively.Iruka wiped at his eyes angrily. "I'm crying again..." He choked out. "Why am I so pathetic?"
Iruka didn't seem to be expecting an answer though, because he turned his head away from Kakashi in shame. "I'm pathetic and worthless!" he cried, his voice thick with misery. And anything that Kakashi could have said, he wouldn't have listened to at this point in time. Kakashi sighed and looked down at his hands, "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you, Iruka." he said, feeling even more guilty by the second.Iruka didn't answer, and Kakashi didn't look up. "I'm sorry..." Kakashi continued. "That I didn't teach you how to defend yourself...maybe if I had spent more time paying attention to what was happening to you then...never mind I'm just sorry." He hung his head, expecting Iruka to explode at him in anger...he had every right to.But there was no explosion of anger or pointing fingers of accusation. After a moment, Kakashi looked up and saw Iruka looking at him with such a pained expression on his face that for one brief moment, Kakashi thought their friendship was completely gone, never to return again. But Iruka reached out to him and clung to his arm, burying his face in the crook of Kakashi's neck, sobbing.Kakashi was shocked for a moment that Iruka had grabbed onto him, but he quickly made himself recover, and reached his arms around to comfort the boy as best he could. Iruka heaved with sobs, and Kakashi had to put away the thoughts that swam in his head about how he loved the smell of dirt in his hair...Iruka needed someone right now and he was not going to give in to his irrational thoughts, he was going to help him.After a few moments, Iruka's hysterical sobs ceased, and with a little help from Kakashi, who tactfully turned his head away, Iruka managed to get into the rest of his clothing. It wasn't long after that when Iruka's instructor came back. Kakashi suspected the man had been waiting outside the door for Iruka to calm down."Are you ready to go?" The instructor asked, and Iruka rubbed at his eyes to hide the fact that he had been crying."Go where?" he asked. He hoped they weren't taking him home...he didn't think he could sit there alone with what had happened."Kakashi-san has agreed to take you in for the time being." His instructor explained, and Kakashi looked away, feeling embarrassed, and fearing Iruka would refuse.But whether Iruka was glad not to be going home, or to someone else's home he did not know. He didn't exactly jump for joy, but he was at least able to offer up a weak smile. Then another thought occurred to him, 'What if I'm some kind of a burden on him? Is he doing this out of guilt? Or did the instructor blackmail him into it?' Iruka had to stop there, he was getting a headache.
"Can you walk?" The instructor asked, and Kakashi glared down at him, preparing to say 'Of course he can't walk! What are you a moron?!', but he was stopped by Iruka's voice. "I...I can try." he said bravely, and Kakashi could only gape at him. How could he possibly say he was weak and pathetic...to Kakashi he seemed strong.Iruka clenched his teeth as he tried to stand on his own two legs, his knees wobbling like a new born calf. He was able to make his stand for about a second, maybe two but who was really counting? Gasping with pain, he slumped to the floor, and if Kakashi had not been there to catch him Iruka probably would have suffered the concussion that the doctor was worried about.
Iruka winced, and forced a smile. "Heh...I guess I can't." He said. Kakashi turned around so that his back was facing Iruka and said a little more gruffly than he intended:"Get on.""Wha..." Iruka started, but Kakashi interrupted."Get on, I'll carry you." He said, and after a moment, Iruka wordlessly obeyed.Once Iruka was in place, Kakashi followed the instructor out of the room to the awaiting ride, a rickshaw driver who was tapping his foot impatiently, waiting for his passengers to settle themselves. Kakashi made sure Iruka was comfortable before signaling to the driver to go. Iruka winced in pain as the wheels went over little bumps and cracks.After the longest ride of either boy's life, the rickshaw at last reached Kakashi's home, and, using the same piggy back system as before, Kakashi carefully and slowly walked to his front door and carried Iruka inside. His house, he realised with some embarrassment, was a complete mess...apparently his mind had been so preoccupied, he'd forgotten to clean...or maybe he was just lazy.But this didn't seem to be a problem with on, he was 15 and lived alone. Kakashi sighed at the mess but made his way through the disaster area with minimal effort. Kakashi was glad that he never really used the spare bedroom for anything except his books...and no, not the kind that he was always reading, those had a special place under his bed in a loose floorboard...okay, he was paranoid but who cared.Pushing books aside to make a path to the bed, Kakashi revealed the mug of his dog Pakkun, who looked up at him with indignation. "So now your bringing boys home are you?" the dog asked, and Kakashi glared at it. He was starting to seriously regret the day he taught the thing to talk.Kakashi coughed and ignored the comment, but that was fine, Pakkun had plenty more to say. "You've been gone five days, and then out of nowhere you show up with some poor kid?" Iruka stared down at the dog in bewilderment as Kakashi continued to ignore it. "What did you do, kidnap him? And by the way you're out of ...well, everything. What's the big idea of leaving me with no dog food for 5 days?"Kakashi continued to ignore the dog as he placed Iruka on the bed and reached over for the blanket folded at the end. He unfolded it to cover Iruka up with it, and Iruka, who was watching the dog, tugged at his arm. "Uh...Kakashi..." He started."Not now!" Kakashi growled, even though he hadn't meant to be short with him. "But..." Iruka began, and Kakashi stopped as he felt something bite into his ankle. Cursing, he reached down and grabbed hold of the dog. "Goddamnit Pakkun!" "The least you could do is say hello." the dog said, sounding like some kind of housewife. Kakashi sighed, "Hello, Pakkun, I'm home." he said in a dull voice. Iruka blinked, but decided not to say anything. He had never heard a dog talk before and his brain was not in the best of states to comprehend anything that complex.
"That's better." The dog wagged it's tail, and turned it's head to look at Iruka. "Who's the kid?" It asked. "Don't tell me you've taken to kidnapping children now...""I am not kidnapping...!" Kakashi sighed and used every ounce of self control not to yell at the dog in front of Iruka. "This is Iruka, he'll be staying with us for a few days so you have to be nice." This last word was said in such a way that it told the dog there was no room for arguing.
"What, you think I'm not nice?" the dog asked, then wagged his tail as if he was innocent. Kakashi sighed and put Pakkun down, then turned to Iruka. "Are you hungry at all? I can make...get something if you are." Iruka shook his head 'no' and laid back, closing his eyes "J-just maybe some water." Kakashi was silent for a moment, then he said "Ok..." and left the room to get Iruka a glass of water. The dog followed him out, leaving Iruka alone for the moment.
"So what IS with the kid?" Pakkun asked Kakashi as he rinsed out a glass."Just shut up..." Kakashi growled, and filled the glass half full with water, then carried it back into Iruka's room.Iruka was lying back in bed, his eyes closed, and Kakashi smiled. The other boy was asleep. Placing the cup of water down on the night stand beside the bed, Kakashi quietly left the room and closed the door after him, only to have Pakkun give him a look that implied that he did not believe in Kakashi's good intentions in the least."What?" Kakashi asked, his momentary good mood at seeing Iruka so peacefully asleep ruined. "Don't give me that look, dog.""Can I help it if I think you're starting to go crazy?" The dog asked, continuing to give him the skeptical look."Too late for that." Kakashi answered with a wry smile, then opened a cupboard, dug out a tin can, and took all of the bills that were in there, stuffing them into his pocket.
Kakashi looked at the clock on his wall, it wasn't too late, the stores should still be open, and he really needed to restock his empty cupboards with something a bit more substantial then dust. "Watch Iruka while I'm gone," He told the dog before Pakkun could protest...or even ask for a treat to be brought back for him.Practically slamming the door behind him, Kakashi shoved his hands in his pockets and walked lazily to the grocery store near his home...he thought it had a pharmacy in it and he still needed to get Iruka's painkillers. He took a deep breath of clean air as he walked, trying to relieve some stress. Even the dumb dog could see something was wrong with him.It didn't take long for Kakashi to reach his destination, and being lost in his own thoughts only made the walk seem shorter. Grabbing a hand-basket, he grabbed the essentials as he made his way to the pharmacy. It didn't take long to fill out Iruka's prescription and he went back to shopping for some of the more tastier essentials and instant foods, and maybe one or two candy bars.He was pondering at the candy bar isle over what kind would suit Iruka (he already had one for him and a treat for the dog in his basket), when something frightening exclaimed from behind him "AHA, there you are, Kakashi!!!"The frightening thing, of course, revealed itself to be Gai when Kakashi reluctantly turned around. "What do you want, Gai?" Kakashi asked, exasperated. He really didn't have time for this idiot right now.Pointing dramatically at Kakashi, Gai said just as dramatically: "I CHALLENGE you, Kakashi!!!" Kakashi looked around the store where a few passersby looked at Gai oddly, "What, right now? I'm kinda in the middle of something." Kakashi answered as if bored and turned back to the candy. He was down to two choices.Gai stared at the back of Kakashi's head, his entire being radiating with determination and anger. "Damn you Kakashi! What can you possibly have to do that's more important than fighting with ME?" He cried dramatically, his eyes burning."Hmmm...maybe this one...but does he like caramel....?" Kakashi was mumbling to himself, completely ignoring Gai."KAKASHI! As my rival, you must accept my challenge!" Clenching his fists, Gai's eyes streamed with tears.After a moment, Kakashi turned back to the green clad big eye browed crying ninja. "Hey, Gai... which do you prefer, the Kit-Kat or the Skor bar?" Blinking in confusion, all Gai could do was point to the Kit-Kat. "Ah, thank you." Kakashi said, tossing the Skor bar into his basket and putting the Kit-Kat away."B-but I said..." Gai stuttered pathetically."Let's see...milk...eggs...prescription...soup mix... Think I got it all." Kakashi said, then walked away from Gai completely.Pakkun nudged the door open with his nose, the boy Iruka was still sleeping apparently. Quietly picking his way across the floor, Pakkun jumped onto the end of the bed to get a better look at him. Wrinkling his nose, the dog tried not to sneeze, Iruka smelled like dirt, sweat, blood and antiseptic. And from the bruises on his face, Pakkun figured the boy had been in a fight.
Remaining where he was since the smell of him at the moment was almost overwhelming, Pakkun watched him sleep for a little while. He didn't see anything special about the boy...he just looked like a regular kid who'd gotten into a fight, but he'd felt the vibes coming off of Kakashi like water.What did Kakashi see in the boy...? Oy, this was too much thinking for the small dog. Seeing that Iruka wasn't going to go anywhere soon, Pakkun laid down at Iruka's feet and closed his eyes. Almost instantly, he was snoring away, much more loudly then one would expect from such a small dog. Iruka groaned a little, then opened his eyes, careful not to move his aching body too much, and was able to look at the source of the loud snoring.Iruka listened for a moment...the rest of the house seemed totally silent, although it was hard to tell through the loud snores of the dog. Iruka raised an eyebrow, wondering how such a small animal could make that kind of noise. Sighing and turning his head the other way, he spotted the water class lying on the bedside table, presumably left by Kakashi.Clenching his teeth, Iruka tried not to groan or curse as he reached for the glass of water. If possible, he seemed to hurt more now than he had when Kakashi had put him to bed. Once the glass was in hand, Iruka could only take a few sips to settle his stomach which was protesting every move he made.He sighed and struggled just as much to put the glass back as he had to pick it up in the first place. Sliding back down into a reasonably comfortable position on the bed he sighed heavily. Now he was totally useless...he couldn't even manage to pick up a glass of water without almost killing himself. Thinking he already must be a nuisance to Kakashi, he wondered how angry the older boy would get when he found this out.Kakashi seemed to be all stressed out over something, and Iruka didn't really think it was him. 'We've only known each other for a week and for most of that he tried to teach me stuff...lot of good that did...' With those bitter thoughts, Iruka pulled the covers up to his chin, 'I'm a child, a useless child. I can't even get past the basics, and Kakashi's only two years older than me...well, okay one year, really ...and that makes it worse'Pulling on the blankets to cover his head, he tipped the little dog over, who awoke with a snort. Blinking sleepily, the dog looked up to find Iruka was hiding under his covers for some reason. "Hey, something wrong?" He asked, taking the few steps up to Iruka's head and poking his nose under the blanket.Iruka turned to see the dog's head under the blanket, his eyes were bright as he tried to will the tears away. He didn't want anyone to see him crying, not even Pakkun. Pakkun sensed the boy's distress but didn't go away as Iruka would have probably liked. Instead, the small dog crawled under the blanket and actually cuddled up to Iruka, minding his bruises of course. Iruka, though he was stunned for a moment, at last hugged the dog to him, accepting the comfort that the furry talking animal offered. It didn't make him worry any less, but it made him feel slightly better. The peace only lasted for a moment however, before the door angrily slammed open and two pairs of footsteps could be heard entering the house. Shocked, Iruka let go of Pakkun, who bounced off the bed barking like he was going to take the intruder's leg off...hey, he was still a dog at heart. Kakashi's angry voice could be heard telling the dog to shut up and for 'Gai' to go away. Iruka huddled down in bed, when they had been in the forest, Kakashi had played the part of instructor as well as friend, but that had not really shown Iruka his bad side and he was worried.
He listened nervously as Kakashi's angry voice filtered back to him...he was obviously very angry about something. Something slammed onto the table, and an almost familiar voice cried in an extremely loud voice: "Kakashi, I insist that you accept my challenge!!!"There was a hollow 'thunk' and Iruka had a bad feeling that Kakashi had hit whoever it was that had been speaking. "Be quiet you moron!"After a few moments of silence, Iruka saw Kakashi poke his head into the room, and sigh as he saw Iruka looked no worse for wear...although his eyes were rather wide and fearful. Kakashi actually smiled beneath his mask and stepped into the room, closing the door behind him. "How are you feeling?" He asked, as Pakkun disappeared into the kitchen."Aaargh, Kakashi, how dare you...!" The guy's voice cried from outside of the room, then there was the sound of total commotion from the kitchen. Kakashi's smile disappeared, and he groaned a little, made his way over to Iruka's bed, pulled a chair over and flopped down on it, holding his head in both hands. Those two would be the death of him one day, he was sure of it.
Seeing Kakashi's distress, Iruka was going to say something, but the door was suddenly thrown open and Gai stood in the door way pointing at Kakashi, challenging him again. Ignoring Gai completely, Kakashi held up Iruka's prescription, "Here you are," he told the boy, "You should probably take one now, then I can make you something to eat."Gai stared at them for a moment, then burst into a new barrage. "Why do you always ignore me?!" he cried, pointing, and of course, Kakashi ignored him. Iruka couldn't help but stare however, as he took the bottle of pills from Kakashi. It was that green guy from before.
Gai blinked, as if just noticing Iruka, and zipped over faster than the speed of light. "And why is HE here?" He asked, pointing to Iruka. Iruka blinked as Gai pointed at him, not understanding why this green guy was so upset that he was there. "Kakashi, what is this kid doing here? What have you done to him you hentai reading pervert?!" Gai demanded in his loud voice. Iruka blushed, he was a little annoyed that everyone seemed to either be calling him a kid or treating him as one...well, he could understand that he was weak, but did they have to keep pointing it out? Kakashi's usual mask of boredom cracked slightly and a vein appeared on his temple, indicating that his patience was very rapidly running thin. "I didn't do anything to him, moron." He answered very slowly."Liar!" Guy cried, pointing at him. "Look at all these bruises!" He grabbed Iruka's arm and held it up for all to see. Iruka winced at the pain of having his arm forcibly moved when it was still so sore."Gai, you dumbass!" Gai blinked and looked at a rather scary looking Kakashi. Kakashi rarely lost his cool and right now he was mad...Gai may have been loud and painful to look at, but he wasn't that dumb. Sensing Kakashi's killing aura, he made a strategic retreat out the window. Kakashi sighed as Gai ran away, when he was in a better mood, he could use that to torment the green ninja. Turning back to Iruka, he took the abused arm in his hand, examining it. Iruka watched as Kakashi took care of his ills...again, and, coming to a quick conclusion, snapped his arm away from him, disregarding the pain it caused him.Kakashi seemed somewhat surprised and looked up, to ask what was wrong, only to find Iruka looking at him with angry, hurt eyes. "Iruka?" he asked, wondering what he'd done."I'm not a child you know!" he cried a little more hotly, and turned his head away form Kakashi's confused face. "I'm 15, almost 16, Kakashi. And by your reputation, you're 17. S-so I'm not a kid." He couldn't keep the last little tremor out of his voice, he hurt all over and he had not meant to yell at Kakashi, he felt bad that he had, but Iruka had been alone for some time now, plus he had been feeling rather odd lately...and with the bully's mental attack he couldn't help but feel that he was as they said.Kakashi was silent as Iruka got it all off his chest, and he sighed and sat down on a little empty spot on Iruka's bed. "Damn it..." He muttered, and Iruka stole a small glance at him. "I knew it, I'm no good at this being around people stuff." Kakashi said, and sighed, turning his head to look at Iruka. Iruka blushed a little and turned quickly away, trying to make it look like he was still angry. "Look..." Kakashi started, trying to gather his thoughts. "I know you're not a kid, ok?" he said at last. "I'm just worried about you, and that's a bit of a big deal for me." Kakashi looked away to hide the blush on his cheeks, that was the closest he'd have ever said to show he cared about Iruka. "I don't have many close friends, Gai's apparently my rival, but that hardly means I want to spend any time with him." Iruka found himself blushing as Kakashi talked, he felt ashamed that he had mistaken friendship for pity."But..." Kakashi continued, and sighed again. "I guess I have been acting a little overprotective..." he added. 'Why does this kid make me worry so much?' he asked himself, and he shook his head. "Look, from now on, you're the boss, ok? Just tell me what you want me to do and I'll do it...I just want you to get better." He hung his head. The dog sitting on the ground in front of him had that look in his eyes, and Kakashi knew what it meant. Kakashi, apologizing to someone? That was so non-Kakashi like that it wasn't even funny.
Before the dog could open its mouth and say something, Kakashi used his foot to prevent that. Iruka looked up when he heard a surprised squeak from the floor but forgot about it when Kakashi handed him his water. "I'll have to make dinner, anything you would prefer?""Umm..." Iruka stuttered. "My stomach kind of hurts so...um...soup?" he suggested, and Kakashi reached over to pat him on the foot, but reconsidered and just shoved his hands in his pockets. "Soup it is, I'll bring it when it's done." He told Iruka and left. Iruka clutched the blanket tightly and stared at the door Kakashi had just exited, feeling very strange, and very guilty for feeling strange.Kakashi sighed as he milled around the kitchen preparing the soup. He was a little worried about what Iruka said, Kakashi knew he wasn't a little kid even though he had an innocent face and the most adorable eyes he had ever seen…he stopped those thoughts before he could obsess over them...it wouldn't do to serve his guest burnt soup at all. He sighed again as he stirred the soup, and Pakkun hopped up on the counter and sat down, looking at him pointedly."Have you completely lost your mind?" The dog asked, and Kakashi tasted the soup and added a little more flavoring to it."Not completely, but I'm getting there." Kakashi answered at length.The dog sighed. "Geeze, you're fawning over the kid like you're in love with him or something." the dog complained.Kakashi glared at the dog then turned back to the soup. "I have no idea what you're talking about." he said, trying to ignore the annoying little voice in the back of his head. His dog him a skeptical look which Kakashi ignored too, and stirred the soup. Pakkun eventually gave up and left him alone.Kakashi stared at the soup, and despite the old proverb of 'a watched pot never boils' it finally started to bubble, and little waves of steam came up from it. Deciding it was done, Kakashi reached over and turned the burner off, then put some of it into a bowl for Iruka. Placing the bowl on a plate and throwing a few crackers on it, he carried it to Iruka's room, the dog watching him all the way.
TBC… Gasp! What could happen now? …and yeah that's kind of an evil cliff hanger…but don't complain! It's longer than the others hope your happy.
Eimaj: It's too long....this thing took me five days to edit! Five days!
MN: ....whatever, I know I'm happy, I have my computer back! Muahahahahahah!… sorry…
P.S. The thing decided to take away all the paragraphs so I had to go through and try to put spaces between them....I really hope I got them all, but don't be surprised if there were a few stuck together