Title: Nine Formalities
Author: Sekiseishi
Rating: T
Pairing: Hatake Kakashi x Umino Iruka
Theme: Polite
c. Masashi Kishimoto
A/N: This one's to my newest reviewer: Deep Blue Dragon! It's exciting seeing new faces. X3 Also thanks to those of you who are sticking around: ZeldaFitz, Freedomcomes, MeeLee, Reily, necrophile, happychica, and, always, EoS!
The sun had long set, the room bathed in artificial light from lamps on the numerous desks. Papers lay in stacks on several of the oaken structures, most in the 'Unsigned' baskets. The trash bins scattered around the room were all completely full, some overflowing onto the wood floor. A stray fly, lost in the unnatural place, buzzed towards the lamp none-the-wiser about it's soon-to-be-crispy fate.
His mouth tightened, the other four people in the Mission's Office coughing nervously and scribbling furiously at unfinished papers. A ninja entered, handing his report to the closest office-worker with a bloodied hand. He swayed as he waited for the paper's evaluation and Iruka stood, scraping a chair over for the other to sit in. The blonde smiled gratefully and nearly fell into the seat, sighing wearily.
The other two shinobi in the room quickly evaluated the man's condition, noting that most of the blood was someone else's and that he was in no immediate danger from his wounds.
Iruka swiped a hand over his sore shoulder, trying not to make his discomfort obvious. He looked up and over at the clock on the wall, relieving some of the tension left in his neck from sitting hunched over his desk for the past ten hours.
Having finished all of his work, as well as the grading of the most recent tests (with less-than-pleasing results), he decided to go for a short break and turned to leave. Twenty hours into the day and the office was still, officially, open for another two hours.
Another ninja entered and Iruka paused, taking in the appearance of the bright shock of silver hair and the single, gleaming blue eye that curved upwards in an inverted smile.
The tension of the day faded into the background and the other shinobi stared at the on-time jounin, a little put off. It was a little strange that the man had gone on a four day, rank B mission to escort the daimyo of the Rice Country back to his home and had returned with nary a scratch, especially since Rice Country was Otogakure's home (or was, at least).
"Iruka," the man's smile was tangible in his voice and Iruka smiled back. "I'm back, and the mission went off without a hitch."
"I can see that," Iruka said, turning to go back to his desk so the jounin could take care of his report. Maybe he'd be able to spend his break stretching out his sore muscles ... in a much more fun way than he originally intended. "It couldn't have been that simple," he frowned as the other five people stared at them, wondering what was drawing their attention.
"Ah, you know I can't tell you anything about my mission in front of people," Kakashi set the stack of papers detailing his past four days on the other's desk, absently snatching a round paperweight and playing with it as Iruka read. "I can always give you a re-enactment later on."
The stares of the other's weighed heavily in the air and Iruka spared a glance at them as he read over the surprisingly well-written report.
"That could be arranged," he mumbled, brows furrowing as a small gasp sounded from Haruto's desk. "Where?"
Kakashi thought for a moment, hand on his chin as he looked at the ceiling, trying to ignore the other men's strange behavior: "How about my place? It's easier to maneuver in."
Iruka nodded: "Sure thing. Anything I should bring?"
"Maybe something to eat?"
There was a snort from another of the room's occupants and Iruka and Kakashi looked over. Iruka's eyebrow raised in question and Kakashi's eye showing a subtle hint of annoyance.
Not normally one to berate a fellow office worker, Iruka cleared his throat: "Something wrong?"
Haruto, Iruka's dark-haired, tanned neighbor chewed his bottom lip: "Well, you two are being a little ... friendly towards one another. Don't you think?"
Under his mask, Kakashi's face paled a little. Of course he'd been the one to initiate the rather intimate conversation when he'd used yobisute instead of keigo, and most of the things they'd said could be taken for planning a rather ... happy time together.
"Ah, of course," Iruka sighed, looking at Kakashi. "It's just that ..."
Kakashi cut in: "It's just that we've become good friends over the weeks we spend together hunting for a suitable ... partner. 'When the character of a man is not clear to you, look at his friends.'"
There was another snort and Kakashi gave a small chuckle: 'Brilliant move. Now I sound like an idiot.'
Iruka cleared his throat: "What Kakashi ... -sensei ... means to say is that he's been having some trouble finding a girlfriend and asked me to help. He always hides behind a mask, so he figured if-"
"If I was with someone like Iruka, um, Iruka-sensei that people would see that I'm really a nice guy and they'd have less trouble approaching me," the silver-haired jounin rubbed the back of his head, laughing and the tension in the room alleviated.
Iruka stood, gathering Kakashi's report and stuffing it into a drawer, which he locked to keep the papers from prying eyes.
"I think I've had quite enough for one day," Iruka announced with an exaggerated stretch, walking towards the door. "There aren't any more reports due in today, so you guys can go, too. If you want to, that is."
Kakashi waved at the remaining five and followed Iruka out the door.
Once they were a considerable way away from the building, Iruka slumped a little and pushed Kakashi's arm.
"You need to be more careful about that," he berated the other, pouting. "I don't think I can handle the pressure if our relationship gets out right now. Wait a few months at least."
"Ah, sorry," Kakashi grabbed the appendage and linked it with his own. "Dinner? I'll buy."
"Sure," the brunette smiled at his lover. "And, Kakashi?"
The jounin looked down at his small partner: "Hm?"
"'Knowledge without wisdom a load of books on the back of an ass.'"
It took Kakashi a minute to figure out what Iruka was getting at and he smiled, pulling down his mask to give the other a firm kiss.
"That's not nice," he replied, putting the cloth back up.
A/N: Wow, all of my drabbles seem to end up in a completely different pond than where I started. I need to see if I can get over there.
Two proverbs in this one:
'When the character of a man is not clear to you, look at his friends'
This one's kinda self-explanatory. And I explained it a little in the strangely silly dialogue.
'Knowledge without wisdom is a load of books on the back of an ass'
Don't be a hypocrite. The way Iruka said it, though, was intended to tell Kakashi to 'think' about what he's trying to say before he says it, or something to that effect. I know what it's supposed to convey, so it makes sense to me. XD
Yobisuke is saying someone's name with familiarity. Without the traditional ending. Family members, close friends, and lovers are the only people who use this. Or, if you're trying to be rude, but that's not the case here.
Keigo is a polite way of speaking used between acquaintances and friends (not close friends).
Yeah, I know this one's also kinda strange, but I really wanted to write a drabble concentrating on the intimacy between Iruka and Kakashi. Not the sexual intimacy, not yet at least. I'll probably do a full lemon between them and post in on my lj. Of course I'll give you a link.
Hope you all liked it. And thanks for all the reviews!