26. Shifty (Kakairu)

Iruka's first clue that something was amiss was the scent of clean that hit him when he opened the door to his apartment. Being a male ninja living in a small place with another male ninja, his apartment never smelled nice, or even looked nice, for that matter. Which lead him to his second clue: the apartment was spotless. There was not a single kunai out of place, and not a spec of dust to be seen. Something was very wrong.

Upon further inspection, he could detect (under the scent of clean) the smell of dinner. Not just the ordinary ramen, either. He slowly snuck into the kitchen where he found Kakashi leaning against the counter with his eyes closed, the newest volume of his novels closed and resting on the counter next to him. There was definitely something wrong with that picture.

"Kakashi." He spoke softly, so as not to surprise the other ninja. "Is there something wrong?"

Despite Iruka's effort, Kakashi jumped at his voice and almost fell over. "Ah! Iruka, you're home early!" his voice was panicked.

Iruka raised an eyebrow and stepped closer. He asked again, "Is there something wrong?"

Kakashi looked flustered, his eyes shifting around the room, landing on anything except Iruka's face. "No, not at all! What would be wrong?"

Still suspicious, Iruka pursued his interrogation. "You cleaned the whole house," he stated blandly, nodding toward the sparkling counter tops.

"So?"

"And you're cooking dinner."

They stood for a moment, facing off (Kakashi had finally let his gaze land on Iruka). The tension soon became too much for Kakashi. "I'm sorry! I came home an accidentally knocked that statue of the hokages over and it broke and I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, it just happened, I know you loved it, can you ever forgive me?" The man was a mess.

It took Iruka a few moments to decipher what had just been spoken. At first he was angry. That was his favorite item in the whole apartment, and he did not think that he could acquire another. But his anger slowly faded as he looked over at Kakashi.

Reaching out with his hand, Iruka patted Kakashi's shoulder. "It's ok," he said, taking a step closer. "It was just a silly piece of stone anyway."

Looking up through shaggy bangs, Kakashi asked meekly, "You sure?"

"Of course!" Iruka scoffed, pulling Kakashi into a little hug. "Besides, it got this pigsty cleaned up a bit!" They both chuckled.

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only one thing needs to be stated here, one thing that only one or two people will understand...

kakashi: tricky me, tricky me.