DAY 8
Iruka Gets Dumped
Iruka spent all night going over the two dates that he had with the ramen girl. It was strange. She didn't seem to like him all that much. In fact, she seemed rather distracted while she was with him, but then again maybe she was just really shy. He wanted to see her again, but they had already had two dates in two days and another one now would be too soon.
The next day, Iruka contemplated dropping by the ramen stand after work to see his potential paramour, but his reservations continued. `Hmm, we've been out the past couple of days. Maybe I should give her some space. But if don't drop by to say "Hi" maybe she'll think I'm not interested. But if I do drop by, I might be pressuring her. I think I'll drop by to see Ino first…'
Luckily for Iruka, his former student was monitoring the flower shop again. She was humming and spritzing the chrystanthemums. "Hello, Ino-chan," he said in greeting.
"Ah, Iruka-sensei. How nice to see you again. Do you need more flowers? Your package plan has expired you know."
"Yeah, well, I was wondering if I'm overdoing it. You know, too much pressure."
"Pressure? Sending flowers is pressure? Please! Women love getting flowers! It doesn't matter whom they're from."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means…it means if the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, the way to a woman's heart is lots, lots, lots more flowers!" `Mom's going to be proud of my sales pitch!'
"Sigh, well, I sent her all those flowers, but I don't think it's going well. We've been out twice in the past two days. I'm wondering if I should drop by the ramen stand today or give her some space."
"Of course you should go see her! It's not like you're stalking her or something. Women don't want men to play hard to get. They want men to worship them! Trust me. Now if you think another bouquet is overwhelming, I suggest a single perfect rose…"
-...-...-...-...-
Earlier that day, Ino's rival in love, Sakura, dropped by the ramen stand to inquire whether there was any progress with the lazy jounin. "So how's it going with Kakashi-sensei?" she asked the ramen girl who was cleaning the countertop as part of the morning preparations.
"Sigh, it turned out that Naruto thought I was interested in Iruka-sensei so that's why he asked me out. But there's still no sign of Kakashi-sensei at all. Is he on a mission?" Ayame asked hopefully.
"No, he's been around." Sakura thought about the situation and added, "Just give it up. It's obvious that he's not interested. You don't want to cling to someone who doesn't want you. I mean, how pathetic is that?"
`Take a look in the mirror, barnacle girl!' But Ayame said defiantly, "He just doesn't know yet that he wants me. I'm determined and I can do anything with determination. Taste how great my ramen is now!" Though there was still no sign of Kakashi, Ayame was determined, and with determination she could accomplish anything - even get a date with Kakashi!
"Well, quite honestly Iruka-sensei is the better choice. He's very good with kids. I remember in the Academy he would make us laugh and his lessons were always interesting and fun compared to the other instructors. He obviously likes you so that's definitely a plus."
"Yeah, yeah, I've thought about all that already, but I don't care. I want Kakashi only. I'm going to have to break up with Iruka-sensei."
"Well, good luck with that. I tried twice with Kakashi-sensei so it's up to the two of you now." Sakura was ready to wash her hands of the whole would be affair. Couldn't the ramen girl see it was futile? All Kakashi-sensei cared about were his "Make-Out" books.
Ayame had decided last night that it just wasn't fair to lead Iruka on or to use him to make Kakashi jealous. He really did deserve better. That night, as soon as Ayame saw Iruka walking toward the ramen stand, she took a deep breath and even before he greeted her, she said quickly, "I'm sorry, Iruka-sensei, I'm afraid there's been a misunderstanding."
"A misunderstanding?"
"Yes, you're a great guy and all, but…I'm in love with someone else."
"Someone else?" He was so stunned that all he could do was repeat her words.
"I'm in love with Kakashi-sensei."
"What!"
"I think Naruto must have misunderstood my father."
"I…see," he said slowly. `Naruto, I'm going to kill you. I don't care if you have a legendary fox demon within you. There must be a way. Poison, poison should work. I just need to get some arsenic or cyanide or strychnine or ricin or digitalis or all of them…and put it in your ramen! Sigh, but I can't blame Ayame for falling for Kakashi. He is really cool.' "Well, I hope things work out for you. At least we had some fun, right?" `I can't believe how much I spent on those stupid roses! Good thing I didn't let Ino sucker me again.' "But just remember that wanting something and having it are two different things," Iruka said wisely.
"Umm, what's that supposed to mean?"
"You'll find out." `I'm not sure, but I need to say something cool and save face.'
"So, umm…what do you know about Kakashi-sensei?"
`I can't believe how she's trying to use me…but I'll help her since I'm such a great guy.' "Well, not much really, he's not terribly social. He's only a year or so older than I am, but we grew up in different circles, so I don't really know him personally. Let's see, he became a chuunin at 6 (he soooo likes to remind people of that fact). Naruto's is his first genin team. He flunked all the previous teams because they failed his test, which was rigged for failure. Umm, he's known as the copy-nin because of his sharingan…"
"His sharingan?"
"Yeah, the eye he has covered up. It allows him to copy his opponents' techniques. He's copied over 1000 jutsu (he soooo likes to remind people of that fact). Umm, that's about all I know really." `He's also an arrogant bastard who likes to read perverted books, but you'll find all that out soon enough.'
"Thank you Iruka-sensei, you're such a great guy! The ramen's on the house today!"
-...-...-...-
Kakashi Orders Ramen
Another beautiful clear night in Konoha, the moon and the stars were out, not obscured by any annoying clouds. It was a perfect lovers' night. But unfortunately for the ramen girl, her love life was nil.
It was near closing time with Ayame manning the ramen stand by herself. She mindlessly wiped down the counters and tied the garbage, while her father was in the back straightening up and preparing for the next day. Ayame found it was better to tune out the world and not think at all rather than think of Kakashi and be depressed. She was just about to take off her work robes when she saw Kakashi heading her way. He was reading his little red book by the light of the moon.
"Good evening Kakashi-sensei!" Ayame said with her most pleasant smile. She could feel her heart pounding. This was what she had been waiting for.
"I think I'll have the House Special ramen for take-out please," Kakashi requested while still trying to read his book by the lights over the counter.
Ayame was completely flustered since they had run out of the official House Special ingredients, the soup was now cold, and the noodles had been sitting out for hours. How could she prepare her perfect ramen for her perfect man? But she was determined!
"Yes, please have a seat Kakashi-sensei," she said while running to the back. Ayame saw her father just about to sit down, finally, for his late dinner. She grabbed the bowl from under his chopsticks without explanation and quickly threw in whatever toppings remained. (House Special usually means leftovers anyway.)
"What the hell? Where's my …" Her father came out front, saw Kakashi, and immediately deduced why his daughter was behaving so erratically.
"Here you go Kakashi-sensei. I hope you like it. I've greatly improved my cooking this past week."
"Umm, I ordered it to take-out." He lazily looked up from his book.
"Oh, well it's such a beautiful night, why don't you eat here."
"Aren't you about to close up?"
"Oh, no, it's fine." She was dying to see his face again!
"Well, it's late, I really should be going. Please wrap it up for me to go."
Ayame tried to think of another argument, but couldn't, so she poured his bowl into a take-out container and threw in some extra condiments and utensils into the bag. `Is this all he's here for? Just ramen? Not to ask me out?' she wondered.
"Here you go Kakashi-sensei," she said while smiling and trying to make eye contact.
Kakashi hardly looked at her as he took the bag, gave her the exact payment and continued to read his book.
As the lovesick girl watched her obsession walk away, a sudden desperate madness overtook her and she started to follow him.
"Where are you going?" her father called out.
"I'm going to find out where he lives."
"You're really losing it. Maybe you should just go for Iruka-sensei. He's not Kakashi, but…sigh…guys that cool are usually trouble."
"I don't care. I have to have him!" Ayame hurried to catch up to the retreating figure.
-...-...-...-
Ayame did not return home till well past midnight. She could not sleep at all and lay awake with relentless thoughts spinning in her mind. `Why? Why hasn't Kakashi asked me out? Sakura said he's free. Unless…unless he doesn't like women…but that's impossible!' But after hours of analysis, Ayame realized she had been handling it all wrong. `He likes assertive, aggressive women, that's what Sakura said. That means I have to ask him out!'
It was finally beginning to dawn. The sun rose into the sky like a poached egg rising to the soup's surface. The obsessed young woman had developed another plan. `I don't know much about being a shinobi, but I'm determined toask him out!'
Ayame had the day off so she made her way to Kakashi's abode as soon as it was light. Last night she had followed him home at a distance, but was too shy to say anything. She just watched as he entered the building, stood staring up at his apartment for some time and then returned home.
His light was still off. It was possible that he had left already. After all, many shinobi worked very early schedules. But Ayame was determined and she had nothing better to do. She waited for a couple of hours before she saw him exit the building. `I'm not ready yet. I need to get up my courage first. I'll just follow him for a while.' She decided she couldn't just go up to him and declare her love. Instead, she stalked him.
Kakashi walked slowly while reading another one of his little red books. Somehow he managed to avoid bumping into anything. Ayame followed him but kept out of sight as best she could. Soon she found herself by the shinobi memorial. She watched patiently, waiting behind a tree as Kakashi just stood there, apparently thinking, for over an hour. `He must be thinking about all the friends and comrades he's lost over the years. How honorable…and sentimental,' she thought as her love for him deepened further.
Kakashi finally moved. Quickly this time since he was apparently late for something. Ayame couldn't keep up, but she followed him in the general direction of the training grounds. Suddenly a stray shuriken whizzed by her ear! She ducked behind a tree then peeked around. Kakashi's genin team was in the middle of training while Kakashi sat in the branches right above her - reading his book.
It was now well past her lunchtime, which was brunch for most people, and Ayame was starving, but she waited until the team finally broke for their lunch. They all went in separate directions (actually, Sakura doubled back and followed Sasuke), Kakashi left the training area and headed towards town. Ayame followed discreetly, albeit with a rumbling stomach.
She followed him to a small sushi restaurant, currently empty since it was also well past lunchtime for most people, where he ordered a bento box. He carried it over to a table in the back corner and sat facing the back so no one could see him eat, plus he held his book in front of him. Though tempted to go in, Ayame waited outside the restaurant, trying to gather her courage to ask him out. `I think I can, I think I can, I think I can…'
Meanwhile, Kakashi ate his lunch and thought, `She's pretty good for an inexperienced civilian. At least she's dressed in plain brown robes. The idiots on my team tried to follow me in their regular clothes, bright orange, red, blue - what a bunch of bozos. Maybe they can take lessons from her.'
Ayame summoned all her courage, took a deep breath and entered the restaurant. She ordered the extra large lunch special bento box then looked around casually. "Oh, hello Kakashi-sensei," she said as if she were surprised to see him there. But Kakashi had already finished eating and stood up to leave.
"Hmm? Oh, hello," Kakashi said pleasantly and turned to the door.
"Are you here alone?" `I think I can…I think I can…I think I can…'
"Yes, I'm about to leave."
`Do it! Do it now! Or regret it forever!' Ayame took another deep breath and without looking at him said, "Umm, if you're not doing anything tonight, would you like to accompany me to a movie?"
Kakashi said nothing but just scratched his head as though seriously thinking about it.
"My treat," Ayame offered.
That seemed to spark a response and Kakashi finally nodded.
"Can you meet me at the theater around six?"
He nodded again.
"Is there any particular movie you want to see?"
His response was immediately, "Make-Out Violence!" even though he had seen it ten times already, but hey, she was paying!
-...-...-...-
Ayame arrived early at the theater. She waited patiently while trying hard to ignore the itching all over her body from her kunoichi outfit, which felt as if it shrank after washing. Kakashi was late. The movie had already started when he finally arrived.
"Sorry I'm late, but don't worry, we just missed the opening credits." Kakashi was in a hurry now and quickly entered the theater without holding the door for Ayame - she nearly walked into it as it closed.
The movie had been for few weeks now, but it was still crowded. Luckily, they found some seats near the rear. During the movie, Kakashi appeared to be transfixed. Ayame paid little attention to what was happening on the screen. (Something about a sadomasochistic relationship between this easygoing guy and a rather crazy, violent woman. They broke up and got back together repeated throughout the movie.) Instead, Ayame glanced at Kakashi every few seconds. She saw his mouth moving in rhythm with the characters' lines. `How many times has he seen this trash? Is this what he likes in bed?' she wondered.
Ayame waited for Kakashi to make a move like placing his arm around her shoulders or holding her hand, but he didn't seem to remember she was there at all. He just stared at the screen, rarely blinking. After the movie, and all the credits, Kakashi abruptly got up to leave. Ayame hurried to follow him.
"So that was a…an interesting movie," Ayame said, trying to start a conversation.
"One of my favorites," Kakashi said, almost to himself.
"So, uh, you've read the whole series of books?"
Kakashi nodded. He kept his hands in his pockets and walked quickly in front of her.
"So, uh, you want to get a bite to eat or some drinks? I could use something besides ramen."
"Actually," Kakashi started to say, while scratching his forehead protector, "I have an early day tomorrow so I really should get going."
"Oh, well, okay, um, I'll see you later then…"
Kakashi gave her a wave and ran off, without offering to walk her home.
Poor clueless Ayame sighed, `He's so shy, what a sweetie.'
-...-...-...-
News in Konoha always traveled fast. And nothing was more interesting than the love life of Konoha's number one bachelor Hatake Kakashi, except of course a real invasion by Orochimaru and his Sound ninja.
By the next morning, Kakashi's genin already knew of his date with Ayame, but they said nothing to him about it, knowing how Kakashi was an expert at ignoring their questions. After the day's mission of fixing broken fences and digging ditches while their sensei took a nap, Sakura and Naruto lingered together to discuss Ayame's romantic predicament while Sasuke, finding the whole situation incredibly inane, went off on his own. Normally, Sakura would have hurried after him, but this situation with the ramen girl was getting serious.
"So the ramen girl likes Kakashi-sensei and not Iruka-sensei?!" Naruto was horrified! "Argh! What have I done? Iruka-sensei's gonna kill me!" Despite Naruto's lower than normal number of brain cells, he astutely decided to avoid Iruka for a long while until he calmed down. "What's the matter with that ramen girl? She should go for Iruka-sensei. It's obvious he's the better choice!"
"Well, the heart wants what the heart wants, there's no rationale for it," Sakura said wisely.
Naruto, in a low voice, but not low enough, muttered "Yeah, like you and Sasuke."
Sakura hit hard him on the head. "What was that?!"
"Nothing! I just said Iruka-sensei is such a great guy."
"Yeah, but look at it this way, she promised to get me a look at Kakashi-sensei's face."
"Really?" That thought was enough to make Naruto seriously contemplate switching sides. "Maybe we should both help her. Like you said Sakura-chan, the heart wants… whatever."
The two duplicitous teammates then made their way over to the ramen stand to see how Ayame was (not) progressing. They hoped that if things worked out with Kakashi, the ramen girl would arrange it so that they could finally see what was truly under Kakashi's mask.
"So have you gone out with Kakashi-sensei yet?" Sakura asked Ayame, even though everyone already knew that they had.
"Oh yes, we went to a movie yesterday," Ayame answered.
Naruto had to have his input. "Let me guess, Make-Out Violence?"
Ayame turned red and nodded.
"We've decided to join forces to help you," said Sakura encouragingly.
"With Kakashi-sensei or Iruka-sensei?" Ayame asked hesitantly.
"Whom do you want?"
"Kakashi of course!"
"Are you sure? He's incredibly weird and Iruka-sensei is such a great guy!" said Naruto, who despite his desire to see Kakashi's face, refused to give up all hope on his favorite teacher.
"I'm determined to have Kakashi-sensei, no matter what! So do you guys have any plans?"
"Well, you already went to a movie. What's next?" asked Sakura.
"I'm waiting for him to ask me out. If not, I'll ask him out again."
`What? She asked him out? How shameful for a woman to ask a guy out! How desperate!') Sakura nodded and said, "I have an idea that should work out for all of us…"
-...-...-
