Iruka was sitting quietly in the mission room waiting for his shift to end. He wasn't exactly staring at the clock...OK maybe he was. It had been a long day and he really wanted to go home, kick off his shoes and take a nice long shower. He loved teaching but dodging shurikens and kunai all day from a surly group of nin-wannabees could get tiring. 5 minutes left... Iruka groaned, feeling the presence before the door opened. Why, why tonight did he have to deal with the irritating silver haired jounin instructor of Team 7. Iruka groaned again. He had yet to get over Kakshi's verbal slam at the chuunin exam selection.
"Yo Iruka sensei.", chirped Kakashi as he flowed through the door.
"Good evening, Kakashi sensei.", he said stiffly.
Iruka held out his hand without looking up, waiting for the expected mission report. A few seconds elapsed before he looked up. "Do you have a report to file, Kakashi sensei?", his hand still extended.
"Don't you think it's a bit rude, not even looking up Iruka sensei?"
Iruka glared up at the jounin who was standing before him with no report in hand. Feeling a bit foolish with his hand still extended, Iruka quickly placed it back on the desk blushing just a tiny bit. "OK if you don't have a report to file, what can I do for you Kakashi sensei?", he said with the irritation becoming even more evident in his voice.
"Still upset about the chuunin exam?"
Ignoring the question, Iruka began packing up to leave. If Kakashi had no report to turn in and wasn't going to tell him what he was here for, Iruka wasn't going to waste time waiting. "I need to get out of here and you are apparently not going to elaborate as to your business here tonight, so I'm leaving." Iruka stood up and headed for the door. Kakashi quickly stepped in front of him, blocking his exit. Iruka found himself face to face with someone he wasn't comfortable being in the same room with let alone six inches in front of. "You know I did come in here for a reason. You might want to find out what that is before leaving."
"Since my shift is over and you don't seem to want to share that reason, I see no reason for me to wait. However if you would care to share with me how a lowly chuunin such as myself might be of assistance to an elite jounin of unquestionable judgement, then I would be happy to assist you."
"That was a bit harsh. "
"Well...?", Iruka glared with as much malice as he could muster.
"I thought maybe we could grab a sake and talk about Naruto. I mean he does see you as kind of a father and there was an incident.."
Iruka's breath caught in his throat as his irritation was replaced by fear.
A bit suprised by the obvious depth of Iruka's reaction, Kakashi quickly said , "He's fine."
Iruka stepped around Kakashi and opened the door, looking back over his shoulder. "Coming?"
Iruka started walking in the direction of his apartment. He didn't look at Kakashi as he said, "I really don't feel like going to a bar and I do have sake back at my place. Let's have this discussion there." No response. He could still feel Kakashi next to him so he just continued walking towards his apartment. They arrived fairly quickly since it was only a few blocks away. As they climbed the steps, Iruka started to realize just how tired he was. It had been a very long day and he was beginning to wonder if it would ever end. For Kakashi to come to him about Naruto did concern him but he trusted Kakashi's reassurance that the boy was fine. As he entered the apartment he quickly kicked off his shoes and pointed to the living room, directing Kakashi to grab a seat while he dug out the sake.
Kakashi watched Iruka rummage around the kitchen, grabbing a bottle of sake and a couple glasses which he carried back to the living room. Iruka couldn't help giving a quick longing glance at the shower at he walked past, shoulders noticeably beginning to sag. He really was exhausted.
Kakashi, noticing the glance and taking a bit of pity on the poor chuunin said, " You know I will wait if you want to take a couple minutes and freshen up before we get into this." Iruka looked up sharply, not quite sure what to think of the jounin's comment. Kakashi raised one eyebrow and shrugged, "You look tired." Although he didn't quite trust the jounin, he had nothing to hide and really didn't feel too concerned about any snooping that might take place while he took a much needed shower. Iruka placed the glasses and bottle on the table in front of Kakashi and headed for the bathroom.
Ten minutes later Iruka returned, feeling a whole lot more alive with sixteen hours of dirt and sweat removed. Kakashi was still seated in the same place on the couch sipping on the glass of sake he had poured. Iruka joined him on the couch and grabbed the glass of sake that had been poured and waiting for him. Iruka glanced at Kakashi waiting for him to finally tell him what was on his mind. Kakashi just stared back at him taking another sip of sake. "Well..?", Iruka prompted.
"Actually, I lied. I was intrigued when you questioned the readiness of my team at the chuunin exam selection and I wanted to get to know you better. " Kakashi watched Iruka closely for any reaction to what he had just said. Iruka slowly stood up and walked over to the door which he opened. He proceeded to stand there holding the door open and glaring at the jounin. Kakashi took another sip of sake and sank deeper into the couch. Realizing that trying to get the jounin out of his apartment if he didn't want to leave was going to be virtually impossible without help and being way too tired to deal with the whole situation, Iruka slammed the door, shut off the lights and stalked off to the bedroom. Taking a couple seconds to place a light seal around the bedroom door to alert him if anyone tried to enter the room and climbing into bed, falling asleep almost immediately.