Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the characters.
Last time: Bath time fun . . . . but that was hours ago, before the owners got back and before our guys fell asleep on the bathhouse floor, ahem, naked and all cuddly and stuff. Erhm, oops—no wait, more like: shit!?
P.S.: Shizuka is a name that's is supposed to mean 'quiet child.' I thought it would be a bit funny to call her that, since Iruka wants her to 'be quiet, child.' Haha :) / Haru means spring up or clear up—thought it would fit since his presence in the story (meaning, reaction to Kakashi) clears up Iruka's puzzlement about his classroom in the morning.
Sorry-'nother one: Please note that while Iruka's attitude towards and treatment of Jiraiya may seem OOC, but don't forget, as funny and likeable Jiraiya is—he did ignore Naruto when he was his responsibility (as a God-father; Iruka knows what it's like to feel like you're all alone—he's an orphan too) and then he took him away for three years (that's really long for an over-protective nii-san, really) and exposed him to so many inappropriate things at a young age (Iruka does not approve of peeping! Especially in front of innocent (kinda—in his opinion anyways) twelve year-old boys!). Buuuut, it's not like he's holding a grudge or anything . . . . ;o
Hey, Natalie—no link to PM you even though you had your name on, so thank you here for your constructive criticism! Not a lot of people can critique work without sounding petty, so I'll try to address all of your points here:
1. Not sure if the Genma-bashing thing was negative or positive, so I don't know what to say—if you pity him, then if you continue reading I hope you might like what I have for him later;
2. I agree that Iruka's having it too easy, but that's 'cuz of the type of writer I am—it's not intentional per se. I am a frenzy writer, I have to get my ideas out as quick as possible or they disappear like smoke and writing out a plan doesn't help me. Once I'm done, I might go back hash out more details and edit (I don't now—too lazy :)). He will have to do a lot of work in his next week, though! And;
3. I don't agree that my version of Iruka is a 'secret badass,' and I'd like it if you PM'd me or reviewed again to let me know where in the story he's coming off as that—'cuz that is totally not my intention. I mean, I gave him baking as a stress-reliever! I meant to make him fun and flirty in his youth—If anyone can help me to portray Iruka more as the brat than a badass—then let me know where I can improve things! I like reading about badass Irukas' in other stories and may try to write one someday, but this Iruka of mine is too sweet and insecure to think of him as a badass, even a secret one!
Thanks again, Natalie and please PM me or review again—'cuz I don't have a beta and you guys (readers) are my only source of feedback :) Cheers, Chickie
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Poke.
Poke, poke.
Poke, poke, shuffle, shuffle.
"Hey, you!"
Iruka began to wake up, though he still felt very groggy. He was just alert enough to realize that he wasn't sleeping alone, he wasn't wearing anything and whatever he was sleeping on was hard and damp. So when he looked to the source of the voice, and saw a very recent Academy graduate, who also happened to be one of his students' older sister, he jumped about a foot in the air with a startled shout and tumbled over the side of the bath and into the water.
Kakashi was rudely awoken (if he did say so himself) when his yummy Ruka bolted out of his arms unexpectedly and as Kakashi was unceremoniously splashed, he mumbled a sleepy, "Whats'a matter?"
Iruka, spluttered indignantly as he tried to right himself in the water and then cover himself—though he was failing fairly miserably on both counts after his unexpected morning dunk. Noticing Kakashi stir, he hissed at him, "Would you give me a towel?"
Kakashi, with his brain still sleep-adled, didn't react right away and Iruka turned to the other occupant of the room, "May I ask what you're doing here, Shizuka-chan?"
As Shizuka began to explain that she was the owner's niece, Iruka only listened partially, but tuned her out enough to hiss at Kakashi again, "Kakashi, please get up, I need one of those towels!" He reached for the bunch of fabric around the Kakashi-sized lump on the ground, but came up short and he didn't want to risk moving and having, ahem, things popping up out of the only-waist high-ish water.
Shizuka, done with her explanation, looked back at Iruka. For a while, she said nothing. Then, to Iruka's chagrin, she opened her mouth and out came the dreaded question: "But what are you doing here, Iruka-sensei?"
Iruka turned twenty shades of red, though Shizuka wasn't paying him much heed, preferring instead to continue, "—cause you aren't supposed to be in here after hours and we open at nine o'clock, which is just in ten minutes and—"
"WHAT?!" Shizuka stopped her monologue, turning questioning eyes towards her brother's sensei.
"What's wrong, Iruka-sensei? Didn't you know what time it was?" She paused, then, "Oh! You must have to get to school!"
Iruka gave up trying to get help from Kakashi and decided instead to take out some of his frustration on the obnoxiously sleeping nin. As he aimed a splash at the bump-on-a-log, he asked Shizuka to get him a towel. She got back with it just as Kakashi jumped awake, and unlike Iruka, he just stood there—out of the water and still out of his clothes—as Iruka looked on in bewilderment and Shizuka in abject horror.
Finally snapping out of it, Iruka hissed, "Kakashi!"
"Huh?" Kakashi turned to face him as Iruka motioned at him.
Iruka turned to Shizuka and pleaded, "Would you please not tell anyone about this, Shizuka-chan? He's uhhhh . . . . usually not like this—he pays more attention most of the time." Iruka shook his head as Kakashi continued to stand there, apparently oblivious to everything.
This time, Iruka almost barked, "Kakashi!" Realisation dawned on him and he grinned sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck before picking up a towel and wrapping it around himself. Shizuka backed up, eyes wide and finally broke out of her daze, turning tail and running out of the room.
Iruka wrapped his towel around himself and came out of the water. "I am going to be so late." He sighed, bending to pick up their bathrobes, then pulling Kakashi to the change rooms behind him.
As Iruka collected his clothes and got re-dressed, Kakashi hummed a little song and kissed his brunet's temple. Iruka marvelled at him, then asked, "Why are you in such a good mood? We spent the night on a hard, wet floor and I'm going to be in so much trouble for being late! Do you know what my kids will do if I'm not there?"
Kakashi noticed Iruka's voice rising in what he assumed was semi-panic, so he patted him on the arm and said, "Don't worry, I'm sure it'll be okay. Tsunade likes you too much to be really angry and even if she is, she wouldn't kill her gaki's nii-san. Plus your children are some of the best trained, I'm sure they won't get into that much trouble!" He smiled cheerily at the end, finally pulling up his mask and waving at Iruka, who was still struggling into his pants. "See you later, ne, sensei?"
Iruka rolled his eyes affectionately when Kakashi waggled his eyebrows and grinned lecherously under his mask as he stressed the 'sensei.' Iruka quickly finished getting dressed as Kakashi pouffed away to who knows where.
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Iruka was certain he would have a no-good, rotten, lousy, horrible, awful bad day. Sure, he'd not only spent the night with Kakashi again, but they'd woken up together—which meant his silver-haired lover had stayed with him this time! Only, they'd spent the night on a cold, slippery floor and Iruka's back was definitely complaining. He sighed, hating how moments like this reminded him of how much older he was getting.
As he walked into his classroom, he was pleasantly surprised. Not a single paper or pencil was out of order and every last one of his students was sitting in their seats. A little suspicious, Iruka walked towards his desk warily, eyeing the ceiling above and the ground below where he was walking every step of the way.
"It's okay, Iruka-sensei, we didn't do anything bad today!" chirped one of his bolder students, grinning down at him from the ampi-theatre style seating.
Iruka nodded shortly, returning the grin with a small tight-lipped smile of his own, still leery of what awaited him as he set down his bag on the desk. Hmph. Today is the key word, there, kiddo.
Oddly enough though, his first hour of teaching went rather well, particularly since he hadn't had time to go over his lesson plan the previous evening as he'd been . . . . otherwise engaged. As he dismissed them for the morning recess, starved but glad the lesson had gone well, he noticed a shock of white hair at the classroom door. He sighed, knowing that the little peek of hair was too snowy-white to be his lover's. So he extended his chakra to explore his visitor. He sighed, not quite wanting to deal with that man this early in the morning.
Iruka followed the ids out the door, intending to go and pick up at least a cup of coffee from the teacher's lounge and he nodded at his visitor as he passed. "Well, are you going to follow me, or did you just come to stand at the door?"
"My, my, sensei! A little touchy this morning, aren't we?"
"Sorry, well sort of. I'm hungry and sore and—"
"Sore?" The other perked up visibly, then scrutinised Iruka. "You're—you're not doing the walk of shame, now are you, sensei?"
As Iruka ducked his head and blushed, without verbalising a response, the older man crowed triumphantly, then exclaimed, "You are!"
"Not that kind of sore! I spent the night on my back on the floor!" He slammed the lounge door open and stormed over to the coffee maker.
"On your back . . . . on the floor?!" The older man repeated slowly, then a grin stole over his face as he barked, "I knew it!"
Iruka spilled some of his coffee, then swiped at it angrily with a cloth, banging his mug down on the counter. He ground out, spitting each word with venomous purpose, "I. Did. Not. Mean. That. Like. That. It came out all wrong."
The white-haired man nodded, "I'm sure."
Iruka tossed the cloth into the sink with a resounding thwack. "Oh, what the hell do you want, you perverted old geezer?"
Jiraiya grabbed at his chest in mock hurt, backing away from Iruka, "You wound me, sensei! I'm a sensitive man, you know."
"Yeah, whatever. So, what do you want?"
"Well," Jiraiya put on an affronted air, "I was going to ask you out—but that was only until you were so rude! I think I'll go find someone a little nicer, Genma perhaps? I heard you were rather partial to him yourself."
"Do whatever the hell you want, you dirty old man. See if I care!" Iruka stomped up to him and poked him in the chest.
Jiraiya hadn't thought this would go very well, but seeing as how the sensei's grudge against him wasn't completely unfounded (though perhaps too strong); and how Sakumo's brat had asked for his help, he had decided to give it a try. Only, he didn't think Iruka would be this grumpy—at least he usually tolerated him (or pretended to) for Naruto's sake. It was too much trouble, and seeing as how Iruka would win either way, it didn't really matter if he went out with the other, now did it? Besides, Shiranui was far more androgenous in his looks—Jiraiya's decision had nothing to do at all with the fact that Kakashi hadn't let him watch last night. It didn't, not at all. Best not to poke a sleeping (or roaring) lion though, so he tried to appease Iruka.
"I see you're not having a very good day. But, ah," he raised a finger in the air, it looked as if he where about to have an 'aha,' moment when he smiled and continued, "Let's think of this as a pity date, shall we?"
"A pity date?" Iruka's tone went cold, "I don't need your pity date."
"Um, no. Oh, not you. I meant that I would go out with Genma as a sort of pity date, since I don't think we would get along very well, without, uhh, Naruto in the room."
Iruka looked up from the sink where he was cleaning his mug. His anger deflated and he continued apologetically, "I don't mean to be so rude, Jiraiya. I mean, I know I've made no secret about my opinion of you, but I also do know how much you've come to mean to Naruto. I would never do anything to hurt my little brother, I hope you know that . . . . And if that means learning to like his God-father, then I suppose I could try a little harder. But," he shook his head, "I really am having a rough day—I've had no breakfast and an awful crick in my neck and back. I'm sorry for taking it out on you, I had no right to do that."
Jiraiya smiled, then held his hand out to shake, grabbing Iruka and hugging him. "I'm glad we're making progress. After all, we're kind of like family now too, since we share a bond with our sunny blond. However, we're like the two uncles that get rowdy and fight at every family reunion!" He guffawed and clapped Iruka on the back hard enough to send him stumbling forward.
Iruka laughed at Jiraiya's metaphor for them, then coughed from the hearty slap, finally recovering to say, "I think I can live with that, Jiraiya, as long as you stick around for him this time."
"I make a lot of mistakes, sensei, but I don't make the same one twice." He patted Iruka on the back, more gently this time. "Enjoy the Hatake brat—I think you'll be nice together, good for each other and such."
"Thank you. And you enjoy your date with Genma. He's not that bad all of the time."
Iruka headed back to class.
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It was silent, dead silent as Kakashi approached and he wondered if something that morning had gone awry. He'd stopped in as soon as he was dressed, warning Iruka's little buggers that they'd better not set one foot out of line today or they'd have him to deal with (he only half meant it, but they didn't need to know that); before he'd pouffed away as suddenly as he'd appeared. Next, he'd headed over to the Memorial stone and stood there for several long hours, pondering his promise to himself not to mess up Iruka's bet by getting involved with him this early and becoming the jealous boyfriend. Oh, well, it's kind of too late now, anyways—it's not like I have good timing for anything else, either.
So, since he was planning on being centre stage now rather than in the wings, he decided that he might as well salvage the rest of the day for his sensei. Kakashi had headed over to Ichiraku's to pick up some lunch, since Iruka obviously hadn't had time to pack a bento at home. Now, as he peeked into the window of the eerily quiet classroom, he breathed a sigh of relief to see Iruka et the front reading scrolls while the students appeared to be writing some kind of a written test.
Kakashi opened the window carefully and heard Iruka admonish without raising an eye, "Whoever is doing that had better quit it before I give you a zero."
Kakashi grinned, catching a student's eye who'd looked up at the teacher when he'd spoken. He said, "But it's just me, sensei!" at the same time as the child exclaimed, "We didn't do nothin', promise! Don't get meeee!"
Iruka looked up, startled at the last little wail, then said, "Oh, it's you, Kakashi. Uhhh . . . . Kakashi-sensei." He covered his misstep forgetting an honorific in front of the students with a little clearing of his throat, then cocked his head and frowned, "What do you mean, 'get you,' Haru-kun?"
"Uhhhh . . . ." Haru glanced at Kakashi, then back to Iruka, "ummmm . . . ."
Iruka turned to Kakashi, a 'what-did-you-do-now' look on his face as he intoned, "What does he mean, Kakashi-sensei?"
Kakashi gulped, then held up his bags. "Nothing. I brought lunch?"
Luckily for him, the dinner bell rang (saved by the lunch hour!). The kids all looked ready to take off, then, at a stern glance from Iruka, they all thought better of it and each handed his or her paper quietly before heading out the door without running or jumping, pushing or hollering shouts of, "Woohoo!"
Iruka shook his head, smiling, and Kakashi pulled up a seat in front of the teacher's desk, sitting on it backwards and placing the take-out bag in front of his chuunin. "I come bearing ramen."
Iruka raised a hand to his cheek, cupping it through the mask. "I'm glad you're here."
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After a wonderful lunch, full of great food (in Iruka's opinion, anyways—Kakashi's dealing 'cuz he loves him) and no make-out sessions (Iruka has a hard limit—not in his classroom!) and playful banter—(they both thought it better to avoid those 'later' questions right now—when they only have a half an hour), Kakashi decided to hang around in his Iruka-watching tree outside the classroom, only today he didn't hide his chakra.
Every now and then, Iruka would send him smiles and Kakashi found he didn't even need to touch his book—not even once! Kakashi knew Gai was back early from his mission and Iruka had told him that Anko had moved up their date, so they had decided to spy on their friends (and if they just happened to cause a little mayhem, well, that would just be a bonus!), then head to Kakashi's, since he had most of the night free (well, actually, he probably should be reviewing lesson plans for his student teacher, but he wasn't about to tell Kakashi that).
Kakashi had insisted on sticking around, trailing Iruka through his shift at the missions' room desk, one of his 'dates' and then home, where he was going to pick up an overnight bag (yeah, that's right) to drop off at Kakashi's before heading off to dinner (a real date!), then to sneak around for a night of fun watching Gai and Anko.
Iruka was a little nervous spending the night at the silver-haired nin's home, but he sucked it up—last time was not going to repeat itself, he repeated in his head like a mantra. Kakashi himself was nervous, but for an entirely different reason and he wondered as he waited in Iruka's living room if the man would notice anything different. He hoped he did.
TBC . . . .
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Yay, another sleepover—only this time Iruka shouldn't be late for work!
Lucky you—I don't have anymore author's notes like the big ass one up top—don't you love it when I'm silent?
