OK ,so, I probably should have abandoned this fic by now, but I haven't. For those of you with the patience of saints, here it goes again. Poor souls, I've abused you almost as much as Umino at this point!
Chapter Ten
Beginning with the breaking of dawn the next morning, Mizuki staked his new claim again without giving any opportunity for second thoughts. It would be a mistake to ask for permission; it had to be clear that physical intimacy was now an expected part of their relationship. A relationship which now would have a clearer definition. They were not just good friends and they were not now going to be just buddies with infrequent, incidental benefits. Iruka waffled in his affections at times and that was going to stop, period. They were going to be committed completely now, as lovers should be.
And, of course, the sooner his young partner accepted that they were lovers in every way, the sooner they could progress into adding elements back into the act that Mizuki sorely missed.
In the weeks that followed, he had to take his opportunities whenever they presented themselves, because there were plenty of days when they would have to be apart. It was incumbent upon Iruka to begin taking missions of greater chunin-level difficulty and duration in order to round out his field experience.
It soon reached the point where Iruka could sense the change in atmospheric pressure in a room when Mizuki's thoughts were about to turn into action. The predictable pounce would come a few seconds later. Sometimes, it was exciting; sometimes it was painfully welcome if just for the company when he was feeling isolated or unsteady, as he still did fairly often during his off-duty hours without work or training to busy his heart and mind. Just a few times now, it had touched him with resentment and dread, because 'no' was not an answer that he could give without causing more problems than it was worth, and it felt belittling to have to give in whether he really wanted to or not.
Masato had arranged for him to stay on at the apartment even though he had stopped using it as an excuse to drop in and keep an eye on him some time ago; the sensei privately declared the intervention in the troubled boy's life to be a success. Now Iruka's attitude was positive, he was doing very well in his training, and the official reports of inexplicable after-hours injuries had nearly dried up completely. To maintain this healthy balance, they extended his stay in the apartment on the condition that he continued to spend his downtime from missions at the academy assistant-teaching. Now sixteen, Iruka had a taste for adventure, and getting out of the village to flex his abilities held a lot of appeal. On top of that, he had the opportunity to witness other shinobi as they plied their craft – and of the many that he experienced missions with, not many chunin possessed the level of intensity and self-confidence that he saw when he teamed up with Mizuki.
Mizuki had been taking more solo missions, since his constant complaints about his regular team had finally gotten his point across. He rarely went with them anymore; but he had made it clear that partnering with Iruka was fine. He loved it when their mission was brutal and risky; his ego hit a high-water mark when he was showing off in front of those big brown eyes. Just getting outside the village boundaries with his partner of choice was a secret thrill; deep inside, he was the only one who knew of his plan to steal away, to leave for a mission like this and never have to return. He still made some effort at staying in line and went through the motions of applying to move up in rank; but he was growing less and less enamored with the idea of landing his spot among the elite jounin 'haves' and more enthused about being a 'have-not'. It was the jumping-off point for taking his partner and leaving the style-cramping Konoha lifestyle behind.
As invigorating as it was to get out and away, it still irritated him to no end when the mission itself was somewhat less exciting.
"This would be unbearably boring with any other teammate but you," Mizuki purred, pulling the last cord down to finish setting up the tent.
"It's been interesting, at least I thought so," Iruka said, leaning down to blow on the start of their campfire until the sparks grew in to a small flame. "And we did well! We got everything and in just half the time they projected. They'll be surprised when we're already there to turn in our reports tomorrow."
"Eh. I hate it. Infiltration work is too nit-picky and tedious. I say, grab one of them by the throat and shake until he talks. Now that's an efficient way to gather intelligence." He sat next to Iruka and slipped his arms around him, earning him a mildly annoyed look for interfering with his ability to move. If anything, Mizuki gripped him tighter.
"You're not thinking of playing hard-to-get, are you?" the older shinobi growled in his ear. "Because hard is what you're going to get. We should get started now."
Iruka squirmed, shaking his head. Mizuki was always on him lately, trying to start something hot and heavy. Behind closed doors it was all well and good; but out in the field it just wasn't prudent. Over a relatively short period of time, their relations had quickly morphed into something extremely personal and darkly private. Iruka wanted very much for it to be their secret; but as far as he could tell, Mizuki seemed to wish that they could perform the act in public. "Come on, knock it off, won't you? At least wait until it gets completely dark."
"I don't want to wait too long. Every day, baby, we need to connect every day we can, because we don't always get the chance."
"What was that?" Iruka pushed away carefully, cocking his head to one side. "I heard something."
Mizuki suspected it was just an excuse and gave him a distrusting look, but then he detected movement as well. It was near the path they had deserted for their campsite, wisely hidden by setting up deeper in the thick screen of the overgrown stand of young trees. Iruka killed the fledgling fire even though it was masked from view and they crouched down, creeping under cover to check the pathway unseen.
Two of the men who used to be in Mizuki's first training group were going by; one had been a fellow student, the other a leader. One was full jounin, the other at high chunin level now. His large hands itched to challenge them.
"Ah. False alarm. They're Leaf," Iruka whispered as he backed down, relieved that they weren't a threat, and to see that they were continuing on their way. Neither of them offered to reveal themselves to their passing comrades, coincidentally here in the same space so far from home.
They watched the men move by, shouldering heavy packs and moving at a brisk pace.
"Imbeciles. They never even sensed us," Mizuki growled irritably in Iruka's ear from behind, slipping rough hands around his waist and groping abruptly.
"Damn it," Iruka hissed, grabbing the large wrists. "They're still too close. Knock it off!"
Muzuki was already annoyed at seeing the jounin, and this disobedience touched off the towering chunin's dark temper. He stopped his pawing bid for attention and instead brought both hands up to clench fiercely around Iruka's neck, spinning to throw him off balance and down to the ground without letting go.
Iruka managed to remain silent, the lungful of breath knocked out of him was the only hint of sound as he ripped at his assailant's wrists, confused as always when things became intense and physical with between them. His body responded in arousal yet again, to his shame.
"Gods, you're a perverted, filthy animal," Mizuki panted in a husky, low snarl, leveraging down with his larger frame to press against the struggling boy and grind into the hardening groin with his own. "You piss me off on purpose just to force me give it to you hard. I hate it when you play me like this. If you want me to hurt you, all you have to do is ask. I can't believe how you love this so damn much."
"I can't help it," Iruka breathed harshly, relishing the painful grip constricting his throat in spite of himself.
"I know that. I know," Mizuki said, easing back from anger, pleased at the confession of desire he'd extracted with his dominant, sadistic manipulations. These things went much better when he kept his head and calculated his moves; the danger of going too far was always there, part of the thrill, but not a risk to be taken lightly. "I'll never tell your secret, Ru-kun, and I'm not afraid to give you what you need. You know I'll do anything you want and I won't breathe a word of it. It's just for us to know. We're the only ones here now. This is no one else's business."
They ended up in the tent moments later; the brutal relations went on until darkness had fallen completely and blood began to splatter the tent wall. Mizuki was working up to his third climax, but still, his partner had not come.
"It's not enough? Does it need to hurt more, Ru-kun?" growled Mizuki deep in his throat as he hammered in to his partner. "Talk to me!"
"M-more," Iruka gasped, at once physically thrilled and shamefully terrified, still new to the twisted things his body seemed to require most of the time before he could find release. Blood was getting in his eyes from a cut that had opened up on his brow, the result of a right cross thrown at some point when he bitten back in reflex. "It has to be more."
"Filthier, sicker, more pain…?" Just the sound of Iruka's strained voice, forced to vocalized things he was ashamed to admit, was pushing Mizuki near the edge again. He wanted them to start coming together, they had fallen into a pattern where it took fisting or pure abuse to get Iruka off. Mizuki supposed he was being too romantic, but he wanted them to come at the same time at the end. They should only come locked together in deep, physical connection.
"Pain." Almost to low to hear, but it was the right response.
"And more," Mizuki grinned, locking his fingers around the neck that was so vulnerably arched back, the tanned body straining in the attempt to further expose delicate tissue to a more vigorous assault. Bloody trails had smeared under his pawing hands everywhere, and illuminating these erotic visuals was so much more important than the caution he should have used instead, leaving the lantern turned up to its brightest setting, unmindful of the disturbing silhouettes it was casting on the khaki walls. He dug in his fingertips and nails to add stinging highlights to the painful grip he applied, cutting off the airway and getting an immediate reward from the tightening muscle around his rock-hard cock.
In the moment of losing consciousness from lack of air, Iruka's orgasm filled his entire existence and seemed to last until he was nearly turned inside out.
Watching his partner's face as it succumbed to lack of oxygen, thrown back helplessly with each impact as his body was impaled with brute force, drove Mizuki into throes beyond any he had fantasized about before. It left him collapsed and spent, sliding on the slick hot coating of sweat, ejaculate and blood that had built up between their bellies, and he had to catch his own breath before he could begin working on Iruka to restore his respiration.
A hard double-handed slam to the solar plexus did the trick, the resulting compression and rebounding expansion of the lungs moving air out and in and restarting the natural reflexes for breathing. A dazed state of afterglow enveloped the younger man as oxygen hauled him back up into consciousness; in the torrent of mixed emotions that followed their activities, the sense of relief that it was over always dominated the lot. Mizuki snapped off the lantern without making the effort of a dismount and both of them fell into sleep still dirty and entwined together with an iron grip.
They had not enjoyed as much privacy as they had thought. Once the activity in the tent stopped with both souls within still alive, and the detectable amount of blood spilled was clearly not life-threatening, the shinobi 'imbeciles' who had seemingly passed them without notice moved away to discuss what they had observed.
"I don't like either one of them," Asuma sneered. "And I don't have any truck with them. My duties aren't even in the village anymore. Butt out, so they're into dirty shit. So what? Let it go."
"Touji's an adult, and he's been hanging over Iruka since he was a little kid, Asuma. He shouldn't be using him, hurting him like that. He's too young and inexperienced to be asking for that kind of action. What if it's a jutsu he's putting on him?" Hayate frowned, still uncomfortable and worried by what he had witnessed. "Mizuki has a reputation for violence and intimidation."
"You heard Umino asking for it – he's willing, he's pretty much of age, and he's nobody. From what I heard, he's studying to be a damned schoolteacher. So who the hell cares? They probably all have repressed urges, jacking off under their desks. I hate that smug attitude you all have. He's lucky he found somebody that'll do him before he goes full-time at the academy and can't get a date with his own hand. I wouldn't fuck the little wimp with a stick if he paid me."
"You shouldn't be so obvious, Asuma. Your dad cares about him because he cares about all the people in the village, and he just gave him a little extra attention because he lost his family and had such a hard time. It isn't personal. You don't have to be so jealous." Hayate had been teaching for nearly a year now, long enough that he was used to letting the put-downs about the job just roll right off his back; but this tirade of Asuma's was more than just prejudice against a profession.
"Shut up! I don't know where you even came up with that idea. Quit yapping about things you know nothing about."
"Well, then, you won't mind if I tell your father about this."
"About their sick little game? What the hell's wrong with you? You'd seriously bother a Hokage with gossip about smut between two chunin rejects?"
"Maybe."
"Find somebody else to escort you back with that scroll when we're done, then. I have to get back to my station with the Guard anyway. You want to stir things up in Konoha, then do it. I couldn't possibly care less. I don't know if I'm ever coming back to that stupid village again anyway."
"Asuma, come on. Don't be that way. We've done a fair share of tent-surfing in our day. It's usually pretty hot stuff. But this wasn't, it was different, I didn't feel like a voyeur. It felt sick, like witnessing a crime."
"I just thought it was a waste. Those two couldn't even arouse my attention. I think working at the Academy has softened your brain. You should drop it, Hayate, but I know you probably won't. So do whatever you want, just don't bother me with it. Crap, here I was hoping for a nice diversion and all I get is irritation."
Hayate dropped it to keep things civil for the sake of the retrieval mission they were on, but he was not convinced to let it go completely. He and Iruka were close in age, but miles apart in maturity, and the thought that the kid was in over his head refused to go away.
The careful, tentative inquiry Hayate made afterward was addressed to someone well below the Hokage. Since he was one of the rare friendly acquaintances of the anti-social Ebisu-sensei, it seemed like the right source to go to - after all, the man was a specialist tutor and learning director for the Academy. He was surprised at the negativity that his gentle overture received, just by mentioning Iruka's name. It seemed that Ebisu disliked Iruka nearly as much as Asuma, making a snide comment about less-able ninjas watering down the quality of the education offered at the pre-genin level. Hayate reconsidered and said nothing of the incident, deciding that his intervention would likely do more harm than good.
And Asuma had made a good point later, after his irritation had lessened. If Iruka was doing what he pleased, Hayate would look like a nosy old woman for pointing it out. And on the other hand, if the dark-eyed chunin was revealed to be incapable of managing his own bedroom activities, he might as well pack his bags and go volunteer as farm labor. There would be no respect for him from anyone after that came to light.
In the end, Hayate decided to mind his own business. Watching Iruka smiling, shouting instructions and dashing energetically with the students through the trees to teach chakra-assisted climbing later that same week, it didn't seem like he was any the worse for his extra-curricular activities. There was no visual evidence that anything had happened to him, so he had obviously been healed afterward. He was a shinobi after all, and surely he could take care of himself.
Although he had filed it in the back of his mind under 'things you'd really rather not know about seemingly normal guys,' it always popped into his head when he saw the brunette. And it still rankled him every time he saw Touji.
O0o0o0o0o0o
They once again passed over Mizuki when jounin selections were made. He still had issues with reliability. Reports from the veterans they sent him out with still made troubling reference to his lack of ability to distinguish between situations that required deadly force and those that did not – deadly force was his overwhelming answer to almost every situation. He had an innate bloodlust that, in spite of ongoing training to bring it into line, continued to get the best of him in the field. And now, his very latest mission had gone sour, and not only had one of his old teammates wound up dead, the body had been left behind. A retrieval team had gone back for the lost soul, and Mizuki had been placed on hiatus from missions to allow him to deal with the loss – while the review panel failed to determine whether he had undue accountability in the death.
His last application actually came back 'denied' with a footnote advising him to consider where his talents might be better suited. It suggested that a career counseling session with Moreno Ibiki about the interrogations field might be in order. That just about put Mizuki over the top; working under a guy whose specialty included constantly looking for signs of treason or disloyalty was completely out of the question.
Finally convinced that they were closing the door on his promotion for good, he refocused. It took considerable swallowing of his pride, but he did it - he applied to assist at the academy. If he wasn't to make jounin, he already knew what his next real move would be. But he had to be realistic. As much as he would have loved to drop the whole charade and walk away immediately, there was much more to do if he was to make sure that he didn't make that move alone. He needed to cement his partnership with Iruka even further. What better way to direct someone else's thinking than to be together all day and all night, adding the bonding element of teaching together side-by-side?
That old pervert Masato would be easier to keep an eye on. Iruka's relationships with the other academy staff members could be monitored closely as well. It would have been annoying to have to divert so much of his time and effort from his goals in life into controlling Iruka, had those two things not become nearly one and the same. The freedom to do whatever he pleased only took shape in the plural form. Without a partner, Mizuki would be forced to interact with others eventually to deal with his irresistible urges. That would not play out well for him at all as a man determined to desert a village so temptingly ripe with unwitting victims.
Iruka was completely surprised but pleased to hear that Mizuki was thinking of becoming a sensei. He was doing very well at it himself, and once he had enough time under his belt as a chunin, he would be able to take the test to become a full-fledged teacher. He had been warned by Masato-sensei that they would want him to have substantial mission experience first so he had gone all-out taking as many different assignments as he could, packing in at an average year's worth in just nine month's time. The days flew by and the missions were a kick in the pants.
Only a small percentage of his assignments teamed him with Mizuki now. Mission work was varied and challenging. He escorted, infiltrated, and battled through B ranks, working up now to an A rank here and there. Some B's went A fast; for the mission he thought of as his personal best, he'd even fought and won single-handedly against an unexpected two-man team of jounin-level opponents to successfully retrieve a kidnapped royal seamstress. The feedback on that mission report boosted his confidence more than he would have thought possible.
He was assigned with a number of different teammates, people who wouldn't have spit on him if he were in flames before. But now, as equals and bound as mission partners by the shinobi code, he worked with them easily enough. Their professionalism called for them to reserve judgment until seeing him in action, and they seemed to find him reasonably capable and even likable, although a few of them only acknowledged him grudgingly even after he'd more than proved himself.
It gave him pause more than once, reflecting on the path he was taking. Mission work was a far better fit than he would have suspected. He thought the violence would be more disturbing but in reality, it was thrilling to be on the edge of life itself, surviving by taking the lives of others for a just cause. A few of the A-ranks he went on involved multiple deaths, and he produced his share of the carnage, participating without flinching afterward when they burned the bodies and personal effects of the defeated rogue nins. He felt accomplished, although he took no joy in the killing itself, and sensed that his experience was pretty much the same as the other shinobi he was teamed with. So why was he so different, so NOT to be a jounin, when the rest all seemed to be destined for that station in life? Mizuki's declarations about the corrupt nature of the promotions seemed to ring true after all. Nothing in his performance was lacking when he was called upon to do his part. While he made a conscious effort to look on the bright side, to concentrate on the natural affinity he had for teaching, it still sewed the seed of doubt that somehow he had been tripped up purposely somewhere along the way.
Through the missions he made a few casual friends outside the Academy, something he had no clue how to deal with. Life was opening up for him, and it seemed that every new day brought a wider, brighter horizon.
Mizuki put up a supportive, happy face, while bitterly noting the way that this new, wider world was leaching away some of the hard-won dependency and bringing greater risk to that singularity of affection his Iruka had for him.
Intimacy was a regular occurrence, it the sense of frequency; but with each successive interaction, regularity in the sense of normalcy slipped yet another notch. As Iruka's guard dropped, his malformed responses strengthened, and Mizuki molded their desires together carefully in the form of his strongest addictions. He taught Iruka to embrace the type of relations that fired his loins; guilt and shame at their perverted activities cause the younger man to blame himself for the unhealthy direction their sex life had taken, and to breath not a word of it to anyone.
Iruka's indebtedness to his partner for keeping that dirty little secret spilled out into their relationship as a whole. The more unique and interdependent their give-and take became, the less likely it was that Iruka would even begin to consider finding someone else or leaving for freedom's sake. Mizuki had not harbored desire for any other outcome except total togetherness until death. He sensed from the beginning that Iruka was not so irrevocably committed, but time had been slowly making up for that gap.
Bruises and soreness sometimes lingered or escaped the healing afterward, and with his close associates growing in numbers, someone might start counseling Iruka if they grew concerned. Mizuki, as always, banked heavily on Iruka's flat-out unwillingness to share his dark secrets with others. He really couldn't afford to have that change; to have those associates develop into true pals and confidants.
Over time, the mission-experience requirements had been met, and Iruka's adventures were winding down in favor of more time in the classroom. Time in the village provided for more opportunities for togetherness and intimacy, but unfortunately, it also meant time among the other instructors the morning after, and as a result, more chance that someone would detect something amiss in Umino's personal life worth commenting on.
As with everything else in their relationship, Mizuki took it as a challenge and rose to it in fine style. The older shinobi responded to this latest threat by snuggling into his mate's psyche even further just by easing off on his indulgences.
Moving away from the overt acts that Iruka knew were abusive and unhealthy was a relief; it had been eroding his self-esteem further every time he lost control and asked for such shameful treatment. His only consolation was that Mizuki patiently indulged him and never hesitated, never seemed to be shocked or disgusted. It seemed unimaginable that anyone else would have been half as understanding, trustworthy and supportive. Iruka tried to please him as well, and forced himself to ignore the occasional tension that filled him when Mizuki made certain deep noises in his throat. It came out of nowhere, the panicked feeling of wanting to fight loose and flee, sometimes right in the middle of the most intimate, exposed positions and activity. It made it confusing and difficult; he was the one that had the perverse desires; if anyone, Mizuki should have been the one to be leery.
Things between them followed a natural progression; they had been together, living for one another, for so long that continuing to grow together was the expected course. They spent many of their off hours just hanging out and they had their fights; Mizuki was touched off by the oddest things, and Iruka had his own very impressive temper tantrums, rare but solar in their intensity. But neither of them had any interest in dragging out disagreements, and overall, they got along. And now they were going to be able to share their work lives, as well.
xxxx
Mizuki punched Iruka square in the right shoulder blade in friendly aggression, rocking him forward with the force of the blow. The smaller nin had to slap a hand on top of the books and papers he had balanced in the other arm to keep the momentum from taking them out of his grasp.
"Have a good one," Mizuki guffawed as he passed by, amusing himself with his accidentally-on-purpose overly hard hit.
"Buzzard," Iruka smiled. He was used to rough treatment and disregarded that element of their exchange; the playful attention still pleased him and reminded him of his luck to have such camaraderie.
Mizuki winked and kept going, heading out to his classroom, brushing past Hayate with an obligatory glare of recognition as the smaller man continued in the door to the staff room.
Hayate and Iruka nodded and smiled in silent hellos.
"Won't be much longer before the exams. You nervous?"
"A little. But I feel good about it. I've studied about as much as I can. I've put in the paperwork early in case there's something I'm missing to qualify for it. Masato-sensei gave me the pre-test already. I guess there's not much else I can do but wait."
"You haven't heard? I'm glad I caught you, then. The aides that are taking the test are getting together next Wednesday after school for an informal review. I'm going to be there as the instructor; I got the same kind of help when I was preparing for my exam, so now it's my turn to return the favor. You should come, Iruka. There are always a lot of questions, and things get covered that you might not have realized would be on the exam. It won't be a drag, either – everyone contributes food and drinks for a little get-together afterward so when the serious study is over it tends to be a nice little mixer for the candidates. Of course, the big blowout party comes after the testing, when you don't need to keep your wits about you so much."
Iruka was gung-ho right up until the party part. He was a little uncomfortable with the idea, and he was quite sure Mizuki would hate it.
"Uh…well, I'm not sure if Mizuki…"
"Hold on now, no offense, but this is restricted to just those who are qualified for the next exam. Mizuki doesn't have enough time under his belt assisting in the classroom to take it this time."
"Oh." Iruka paused, considering. He could find a reason to slip away as soon as the partying started; and it was important to show that he was a team player with this group. The teaching staff had a camaraderie all its own, different but just as important as the trust and loyalty among shinobi while on missions. While Mizuki would probably not want him to go, he felt that he could not afford to be rude and turn down this invitation.
"Thank you, Hayate-senpai. I'm honored that you thought to include me."
Hayate grinned and placed a warm hand on Iruka's shoulder. "I'm really glad that you're coming. Everyone really enjoys your company, Iruka, it should be very beneficial and we're going to have a great time."
The wince was barely detectable when he applied friendly pressure to the spot he'd seen Mizuki punch moments earlier. If he hadn't been looking for it he wouldn't have noticed; but there it was, and it told him just how hard that blow had been. In spite of his smile, his brow knit at the thought; Iruka's expression when Mizuki hit him that hard was all wrong. He should have turned around and decked him. Instead, he had looked like the guy had just done him a favor.
He kept his hand there and rubbed in a casual, supportive gesture, and watched the brown eyes flash guiltily to the doorway. Worried that they would be seen touching, he suspected.
Iruka's expressive eyes were something he had to actively shield all his life to hide his thoughts and emotions. In mission mode he did it automatically, put on his game face and never let it break. He had a bit of a game face he cautiously wore in public as well; but he sometimes dropped his guard around a handful of people he liked now, and Hayate was one of them. It happened unexpectedly, and he wasn't even sure why he was willing to take this new risk.
Deep inside, the unfamiliar urge to connect with people in a normal manner was pushing out without waiting to be recognized intellectually. It drove him to be more honest, to open up without assuming that bad things would happen, to learn the give-and-take between people who allowed one another in their confidence.
It was nothing like the requirement for him to drop all defenses that Mizuki demanded. When he was alone and in private with his partner, he was supposed to be open, honest and unguarded, and it was not a request. It was no easy task, no matter how long he had complied up until now; it still required the complete short-circuit of all of his natural instincts for self-preservation.
It was another factor in that nervous glance at the door.
Hayate waited a few more seconds before breaking contact. Iruka had not flinched again or moved away. He wondered if that represented a little defiance, an unwillingness to be cowed.
"I should get going. I need to set up the targets for both classes today," Iruka said.
"Yeah, I should catch up with my aide before the kids get in."
They both set out into the crisp morning air to start their tasks for the day.
When that Wednesday rolled around, Iruka brought his contribution of food to work with him in the morning and placed it in Hayate's storage cabinet for safekeeping. After spending the night taking the brunt of Mizuki's displeasure at being excluded from the study session, it would just be asking for trouble if he had to leave to go by home to pick it up later. Somehow, he suspected that he might not make it to the event if he ended up alone with Mizuki today.
He would sure be glad when the exam was over. It was an irritant to the larger shinobi, and anything that irritated Mizuki worked unfavorably for Iruka. The dip in income over the next year, when Iruka would be expected to take far fewer missions, was a source of grumbling as well. But, as Iruka had pointed out, when Mizuki became an instructor, he would be similarly restricted, so it was actually a good thing that their appointments would be staggered instead of both of them living on reduced income at once.
Mizuki didn't act angry at lunchtime; instead, he sat closer than usual to the wary brunette and placed an arm around him in thinly disguised possessive threat to the others. Iruka grew angry but suppressed it, merely leaving the lunch area early to monitor the kids to conceal his annoyance. They were supposed to be staying subtle about their relationship; Mizuki's move was about as subtle as a brick.
Hayate observed them without giving away his interest. Everything he saw concerning the two of them confirmed his suspicions from spying on their relations back when he and Asuma came upon them out in the field. Iruka had been Mizuki's manipulative since he was quite young; he had been raised into the relationship by the older, cagier nin, and he while he was clearly going along willingly, a part of him still resisted, as if he still recognized on some level that this was not in line with his natural desires.
And Hayate, like most of the others, just flat-out did not like or trust Mizuki.
Classes were dismissed, the kids were gone, and the aides were filing noisily into the corridor, locking up rooms, bidding the sensei they assisted goodnight, and heading off to gather their contributions to the evening's festivities.
Iruka was waiting, starting to wonder exactly how he was going to shake off Mizuki, who dogged his shoulder silently. Hayate stepped up to give things a little push in the right direction.
"Help me get a few things from my classroom, all right? We're set up for the multi-purpose room, but I need to take the overhead and some worksheets. We'll need the cart." Hayate looked up at Mizuki with a pleasant smile. "You get out of this one, but before you know it, it'll be your turn. It's important to do this review close to the exam date. Well, we need to get to it. See you tomorrow."
He hooked Iruka's elbow and took him into his classroom to gather the projector and supplies on the cart, ignoring the death-glare that his abrupt dismissal earned him. It had the desired effect, though. The white-haired thug left abruptly as the door fell shut in his face.
He fully understood instantly why the food had been stored there when Iruka took his contributions to the feeding frenzy out of the cabinet and placed them on the cart.
Hayate had to ask himself again why this was any of his business. Once again, he really couldn't come up with an answer. Well, at least, not one that wasn't a bit self-incriminating. His main reason was that he really liked Iruka. When they spend what little time they had together alone and uninterrupted by certain parties, they seemed to connect on a very comfortable, personal level.
It gave him more than a few second thoughts about how things would be if Mizuki wasn't in the picture. Thoughts drifted into his head when he saw the cheerful scarred face, revolving around how much better off the brunette would be with someone less abusive and dominant. It wasnt that he was physically attracted to his colleague; the connection was more in the vein of friendship, a friendship that the platinum-haired shinobi blatantly conspired to make virtually impossible.
Iruka's partner was suspected of one of the highest crimes of distrust and treason. Hayate had been on the panel that reluctantly accepted him into the aide program in spite of the recent, unproven allegation that he had snuffed a fellow shinobi in the field rather than make the effort to assist him in getting back to the village when he was injured during a mission. It was not a life and death situation; it was merely a matter of convenience and cold-blooded disregard for a shinobi's life.
As far as Hayate could tell, the preponderance of the evidence pointed to Mizuki's responsibility for the vile act. In fact, the sole argument in his defense was the resistance of the panel to believe that a native shinobi would do something so heinous without provocation.
Hayate was convinced of his guilt beyond a doubt, reasonable or otherwise. He had cast one of the two dissenting votes that hoped to keep the troublesome giant away from the kids, and there was no doubt that he did worry for Iruka sometimes. Privately, even Asuma's attitude had changed a bit after learning of the accusation against Mizuki. The man he was accused of killing so easily during their mission was a respectably strong and able shinobi. It suggested that the deviousness and ability to overwhelm Umino might not be as much of a reflection on the younger man's poorer abilities as he had thought.
It wasn't like Iruka was the only ninja in Konoha history who had been subjected to unnatural events in his formative years that had altered the course of his personal development. Some of the greatest heroes and some of the most dangerous enemies had been reared right here under less than ideal circumstances. The idea of intervention and closer scrutiny of both Touji and his younger partner came up before the panel but had been tabled for the time being. Sarutobi sided firmly with the idea that Iruka was not to be found guilty or suspect by association, pointing out that his track record since enlisting with the academy staff was spotless.
Iruka had been approved for the exam in the end, unaware that he and Mizuki had been at risk of being washed out of the program completely.
The brainstorming and studying finally ended when the question and answer session petered out, and breaking out the food and drink brought out a torrent of socializing. Iruka intended to leave right away, but got caught up in a side discussion about managing the student population during emergency conditions, a subject that caught his interest right away. He had misgivings about the way things had been handled during the Kyuubi attack, and he had strong opinions that he felt compelled to share.
A drink was shoved in his underage hands as his conversation went back and forth, and before long he was seated among the others comfortably as the subjects changed to everything else under the sun. Laughing and talking, the time slipped away unnoticed, and before he realized it was growing late, the partygoers were yawning and stretching and making comments about getting up the next morning.
He helped with the clean-up, as much to postpone the inevitable as anything else. Yumi stayed to help as well; Hayate waited patiently to lock up when they were done. When the three of them walked out, two men stood in stolid silence in the pool of light from the streetlamp, arms folded and starting hard.
"Yumi-chan," the dark-haired jounin called in a low voice, sounding none too pleased. The kunoichi blushed in embarrassment and bid the other two goodbye.
"Over here," Mizuki called to Iruka, slightly louder. He and the jounin exchanged looks and stepped forward to take possession of their partners.
"You didn't have to wait for me," Iruka offered, a bit mortified.
"I just thought it would be better this way," Mizuki said mildly. "You don't want any unpleasantness just before your exam."
Iruka gave him a questioning look.
"Nikaido-san seems to think you're a rival for Kumichi-chan's affections," Mizuki said, tipping his head in the direction of the unhappy jounin.
Iruka blanched. "There's nothing going on. Yumi's a friend, that's all."
"Oh, I told him. But I thought I'd stay just in case; she did stay late with you after the others left, and that didn't look very good. He's been known to cause trouble. I figured an extra level-headed witness might balance things out."
"Whoa. Well," Iruka berated himself for the resentment he'd felt at seeing Mizuki waiting for him and making him feel watched and controlled. He had just been looking out for him. "I've heard that he can be a real hothead. I hope you convinced him."
Mizuki pulled Iruka into a tight hold and planted a very long, demonstrative kiss on his lips.
"If I didn't, that should," Mizuki murmured, lowering a big paw to squeeze his ass. "Or this."
"Mmph!" Iruka pulled away, trying not to make a scene. "Enough! Not here!"
Mizuki grinned; looking back over Iruka's shoulder, he saw that Yumi had paused in demanding to know why she was being escorted to stare at them, and her chastised would-be paramour was staring as well. Direct hit, Mizuki thought. Yumi did like Iruka, he was absolutely certain of it. She didn't like Nikaido much; he knew that, too, although the jounin didn't seem to, refusing to give up on the pretty, curvaceous kunoichi. Now that the predatory female had seen a proper demonstration, and was educated as to the fact that Iruka would not be hers, now or ever, all was well. The annoyance of waiting for the little study party to break up had been well worth it. "Come on, I think I just saved you some trouble; let's go and you can show me a little gratitude, hmm?"
Iruka elbowed the taller nin in the ribs playfully and they took off, scarcely noticing that Hayate had taken his time locking up to watch their little interactions and shake his head in concern.
tbc