A big thank you to Kagaya who has been very supportive with me in this chapter (and upcoming ones too). Not only has she helped me out of my slump, but she's given me a little push here and there to improve my writing and character descriptions. Wah! Thank you!
It's back on a roll, peeps! Enjoy!
JU-ON 8Iruka brought a hand to his face, just as the door slammed shut with the last child all but running out of the classroom. It's been a rough day for him, and his lack of sleep and tension welling up inside him was taking its toll on his teaching abilities. His temper overrode his rational thinking and calm handling of mischief in class and the pounding headache he had was not helping either. He was so tired and so sleepy, and yet he didn't want to sleep in fear of what he might see and feel. He knew that the past few days were hectic for him and the children were sitting rigid as stones in their seats, some even being dragged to the academy by their parents or elder siblings. Apparently, some of the bold children were putting up a fight at home to not attend classes. He already sent one of the children home crying after he yelled out of control when a bunch of them were making too much noise at the corner of the classroom, upbringing insulted as well. He knew, sooner or later, the parents would be coming in to give him the talk.
He rubbed his temples briefly and turned towards the door, heading for the men's washroom and went about relieving his bladder. All the anger sessions in class tensed his insides so bad that everything was contracting twice their speed. A sigh of relief escaped his lips as he headed for the sink, turning the tap on and pumping some of the liquid soap in to his hands. Mechanically rubbing his hands together, he kept his eyes at the foaming suds, inhaling the clean scent shakily, when a coughing fit attacked him. He rinsed his hands quickly and brought one of them to his mouth, as the familiar taste of copper tainted his tongue. It was almost like a routine now. He coughed the spit, red splattering the white porcelain sink. The coughing eventually subsided, leaving him out of breath and his heart pumping fast. He swallowed shakily and splashed water all over the sink, washing away all traces of his blood. When he washed his hands, he used more soap this time.
A debate started in his mind. He wondered if he should approach the Hokage with his problem, thinking that perhaps she could give him some form of medication to help with his sleeping disorder and this sickness that was wearing him down. It'd been nearly a week since he had any form sleep without waking up in cold sweat or a coughing fit and most of them were caused from fainting. He was beginning to doubt himself if he could keep up the façade of being okay for long. Sooner or later, someone was going to notice. Shaking his head slightly, he turned the tap off and shook his hands dry. He froze when he felt cool air caress his neck, then his hands. Instinctively, he looked behind to see if someone had entered and, much to his chagrin, he found the washroom's door closed.
Fear gripped him, because it only meant one thing. He looked up at the ceiling slowly, and his eyes widened, as his hands gripped the sink tightly to keep his balance. The lights flickered rapidly, causing the corners of the washroom to conjure up dark and eerie shadows. Dark black straps started to extend from the ceiling, pooling in to a mass of black on the tile floors, like some mad jungle vine. There was a faint buzzing sound from the electricity being played with, a rhythmic hiss that could have been mistaken for heavy and angry breathing. His gazed dropped to the long mirror and he came face to face with his reflection.
No, not his reflection.
He came face to face with him. The other person, who was now grinning widely, a set of white enamels flashing, red irises gleaming in the flickering light.
"Kill him! Kill him! You vowed to kill him!" The grin stretched even wider, and Iruka saw a glimpse of red gums amidst the flickering lights. "Iruka! Kill him! Kill him!"
Iruka grounded his teeth together, the black straps now crawling towards his feet. "Shut up." Iruka hissed, glaring at the reflection. "You're not real!"
"Kill him!"
"Shut up!"
"Kill him!"
"SHUT UP!" Iruka brought his fist to contact with the mirror's surface, a loud crash sounding throughout the entire washroom, as shards or glass spilled all over the floor, and all that was left in front of him was the empty plain rust tinted white tiles. His breathing evened, as the lights returned to its normal glow. Like nothing happened, he turned on his heel and walked towards the door, leaving a trail of bloody drops all the way to the classroom, courtesy of his bleeding hand.
Upon opening the sliding door, he found himself surprised to see the Hokage waiting for him inside, a frown on her beautiful features, eyes hard and quite disappointed as she looked at him.
"I was waiting for you." Tsunade said.
"I – I – Good afternoon, Hokage-sama. Why didn't you summon for me? I could have come to you right away." Iruka said, his politeness kicking in.
"A spur of the moment. I bumped in to one of the parents on my way to the mission room. We need to talk. And what did you do to your hand?" She motioned to his bleeding hand, which now left a very bloody mess on the clean floor. "Come on. Let's get that treated."
"Yes, Hokage-sama. Thank you." Iruka said, dipping his head in a bow of politeness, before following Tsunade towards her office.
XXX
Tsunade had him sitting on one of the stools in her office, his hand on top of a clean white towel that she spread on her table, while she picked out the pieces of glass from his hand with a pair of tweezers. Two cups of warm tea were brought in by one of the office helpers earlier, and Iruka was quite content with just staring at the gray cup, not wanting to meet Tsunade's gaze.
"You sent one of your students home crying today, didn't you?" Tsunade asked, picking out another large glass piece and placing it in to the small plastic container beside Iruka's hand.
"I'm sorry."
"I have nothing against it, because I remember going home crying more than once during my first few years in the academy." Iruka felt his cheeks redden with shame. "But I never went home crying because my teacher insulted me and my family for something irrelevant like borrowing a pencil from my seatmate." Iruka wished he could just die at that moment. "I've never heard such a complain, especially one directed towards you."
Iruka, if possible, hung his head even lower. "I – I am very sorry. I didn't mean to say such harsh words." Iruka said sincerely and it was true. Now that he thought about it, he felt horrible for the child. It was the stress and the day was just going from bad to worst and it was the children who were at the receiving end of his wrath. It was unfair on their side.
"Is something bothering you Iruka?" Tsunade asked, as she picked the last piece of glass and performed a few seals, a green glow emitting from her open palm, as the wounds on Iruka's hand began to disappear.
"Umm – well, no. No, nothing really. It's been a horrible day." Iruka said, but his face didn't go well with his words. Tsunade tossed the bloodied towel in to the nearest bin, along with the disposable container filled with glass pieces.
Tsunade raised an eyebrow, which he ignored, as he stared at his healed hand, quite amazed by her work. "Really." She said sarcastically.
"Really." Iruka nodded, all previous thoughts for asking help from Tsunade completely forgotten. Asking help would mean putting Kakashi in to trouble along with himself, because of the nightly activities. It would also mean, though he wasn't very sure, having Naruto distanced away from him. Last thing he wanted was to have Kakashi get in to trouble and for Naruto to be kept away. Surely, he would be able to handle that.
Tsunade pushed his teacup towards him. "You're looking a bit under the weather. Have you been sleeping properly?"
"You can say that." Iruka said, taking his cup and mumbling a thank you. He took a light sip of the warm tea, and immediately regretted it. The warm sensation that filled his stomach triggered several simultaneous twists in his guts, making him whimper. The porcelain cup crashed to the floor, breaking in to large solid pieces with a loud echoing tink. His hands came up to his mouth, stopping the nauseous feeling that he was suddenly feeling. Tsunade turned to look at him, eyes widening, as she caught sight of red drops escaping the gaps in between Iruka's clamped up hand.
"Iruka!" She gasped, rushing up to him and kneeling beside him. "What is this?"
Iruka gagged violently, huge amounts of blood gushing out his mouth and on to the spilt tea on the floor. His vision began to blur horribly until he felt himself falling forward to unconsciousness.
"Iruka!"
TBC
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