Disclaimer: Honey, if I had enough money to buy an anime enterprise, I'd be on the beach enjoying life instead of resorting to writing fanfiction as an escapism mechanism. So, no, I do not own Naruto.
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Last time: Genma pissed Iruka off by telling him he couldn't seduce anyone because he's just not sexy. Iruka, awesome as he is, obviously comes up with a plan. Oh, Genma, you poor, poor bastard.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock, knock, knock.
Blam, BLAM, BLAM!
"Genma, open the door, dammit!" Iruka put his hands on his hips and tapped his foot impatiently. "Genma, you ass, open the—" as Iruka raised his fist to bang on the door again, he was cut off as the ass in question opened the door.
"Whayya wan?" Iruka rolled his eyes. Genma never was that eloquent first thing in the morning.
"Look, I came to—" again, Iruka was cut off.
"Pologise t'me?" Genma scratched his belly, "S'okay, I understand. So, how 'bout you buy me lunch to make up for storming out last night?"
Iruka stood. He stared. Genma scratched his belly again and leaned against the doorframe. "Well?"
"You have got to be jackshit kidding me!"
"I do?" Genma cocked his head to the side, confusion etching his features.
"I came over here to tell you that you're wrong. It is NOT me who would be alone without you. You chased me around the mission room for years before I went out with you and in all that time, you were alone! I am as good-looking as anyone else, and a lot nicer than you!"
"You were alone too, Iruka. Or do you not remember that? I took pity on you. . . . It was mercy flirting and by the way, I could have gotten anyone I wanted."
Iruka looked away, only slightly, with a light, almost imperceptible blush dusting his cheeks. "Yeah, Genma, I was alone. But, I just, it's just that. . . . Well, I was fine alone. I chose to be alone. I don't have to be; it's just that, well, the person I actually want to. . . . Well, I just. . . . It was just better, you know, better to be alone than to. . . . you know." He sighed as he trailed off.
"So basically, what you're saying is that there was someone, you just couldn't get them. Right?"
"That's not! I—"
"Told you, Ru, you just don't—" at this, Iruka had enough. The shy demeanour immediately vanished and he poked a finger into Genma's bare chest.
"Now, you listen here, you!" He punctuated the end of the sentence with a few hard jabs into Genma's chest. "I could have gotten him if I," his shy demeanour surfaced, if only for a minute, but disappeared just as quickly. He straightened up and drew his hand back. "I can get anyone you could and I'm here to prove it. I don't like to involve others in my problems, but you've got another thing coming if you think I'm gonna just roll over and take you back. Name your target. Anyone. Then we'll have a week to seduce them. Get them on a date with you and you win. If I get a date with them, I win. Deal?"
"That's it? I could bed anyone in this village in a day! That's not even a challenge for me. But you? Well. . . . " Genma gave Iruka the elevator eyes, then scratched his belly again.
"Cut the shit, Genma, is it a deal or not? The only rule is that you can't really hurt anyone. Like I said, I don't like involving others in my issues."
"Hmph. Have it your way, Ru. Just remember, if we go through with this, I ain't taking you back. 'Sides, you're too soft. Who cares if they get hurt? Maybe they shouldn't let themselves get taken in." He scratched his belly again.
"I wouldn't want you back anyway, Genma. I don't even know why I went out with you in the first place." Yeah, you do, you were tired of being lonely, of him not noticing you. You settled. Iruka sighed, "And I care if they get hurt. The people of this village are my friends."
Iruka sighed again and started to walk away. "Let me know when you decide on the first target, Genma," he called over his shoulder wearily.
"Hmph, whatever." Genma scratched his belly again. At his disrespectful words, though, Iruka snapped back around.
"You know what? It is NOT just 'whatever'!" He slammed the door open with his palm, then leaned in towards Genma, "And stop scratching your damn belly like a disgusting pig!"
Iruka grabbed the knob and slammed the door, storming out of the apartment building again. He sighed as he thought back over their conversation.
Mercy flirting? The hell it was, Genma! And. . . . And I could have gotten his attention. I just. . . . He sighed wistfully and shook his head. He glanced up the road a little, past his own chuunin apartment block, past Genma's tokubetsu building and towards the jounin complex. It's better this way. . . .
Iruka shuffled some papers on the mission desk. After such a long night fighting with Genma, then again earlier this morning and a whole Saturday morning in the missions room, he was ready for a break. Filing the pages away, he stood and placed a "Next Line" placard on his desk. He reached down and gathered up his bento box. He'd better hurry, if he only took half an hour for lunch, then skipped his break, he could leave a little early.
As Iruka turned away from his desk and headed towards the shinobi staff lounge room, he heard the light shuffle of feet behind him and the gentle clearing of a throat. Resigned, he sighed and turned around. "I'm sorry, Shinobi-san, but my station is temporarily—oh! Kakashi-sensei!"
"Maa, Iruka-sensei, you know I almost always hand in my reports to you. You can't just leave me here!" Kakashi practically wailed the tail end of his lament, waving a filthy sheet of paper in the air.
"Yes, Kakashi-sensei, I do realize that you often hand in your, erm," Iruka studied the soiled parchment, "reports to me. However, I was just—"
"But it'll only take you a minute, sensei, I promise. I did better this time, look!" Kakashi proudly presented the page to Iruka. Iruka sighed. Then he considered his options for a minute, coming to the conclusion that it was probably better to deal with the wayward jounin himself and have it done right than to leave him to someone else and have to clean up the mess later.
Decision made, Iruka sighed again, placed his bento to the side and pulled out his chair again. "All right, Kakashi-sensei, let me see."
Kakashi smiled brightly under his mask. "I didn't even let Pakkun help this time!"
"Mmhmm." Iruka perused the sheet efficiently and noted several small mistakes. He pointed them out to Kakashi.
"But—"
"No buts, Kakashi-sensei, please just get it done." Iruka pushed the page back across he desk and nudged the pen towards the jounin.
Kakashi regarded him for a minute, indecision on his features. Then he nodded and picked up the pen, pulling the sheet to the end of the desk. He bent and corrected his mistakes, then handed the pen back to Iruka and smiled.
"All done?" Kakashi queried. Iruka looked over the sheet and nodded. He brought his stamp out of the top drawer and stamped the sheet.
"All right, Kakashi-sensei, you're all done. Konoha thanks you for your service." He placed the sheet in an in-tray and stood to go. Turning and reaching for his bento box, he missed the little wave from Kakashi as he headed off.
"Gai."
Iruka glanced up from his lunch. "Gai?"
Genma nodded. "I thought I'd go easy on you. The first target is Gai. He probably hasn't gotten any in a long while; I mean, look at him! So, Gai."
"Gai-sensei is very kind Genma, you should not be so hard on him."
"Hmph. Yeah. Well, one week, right? Good luck. You'll need it."
TBC. . . .
Umm, I know I'm a dummy, but I'm new to posting, so any help would be appreciated. Here's my stupid question: do I just add author's notes to the end of a chapter or is there a special section where I can do that?
