Chapter 18

Kakashi had not showed up for work the last couple of days and I was getting kind of worried. I knew I should not be, but I had not been able to help myself from checking his schedule, which hung in the back of the store right next to mine, when he had not appeared. I was right. He was supposed to work most of the days where he had not showed up. Tenzou had not talked about Kakashi's absence at all so I had no clue if he just did not show up or if he had a reason. Like if he was ill or something.

I wet the mop before running it over the tile floor once again. Some child had knocked over a bottle of red wine and I was struggling to get rid of the red stain it had left. Sometimes I wondered why mothers bothered to bring their children with them when they were going shopping. They were nothing but a big nuisance to them. Either they badgered their mothers for candy, toys and stuff like that or else they were making their mothers embarrassed by screaming, running around and knocking things over so that the mothers had to pay for even more things that they could have avoided to pay for if they had just left their children at home. Plus it would make my work a hell of a lot easier. Kami, I really hated children.

Children. I had not really wondered if I wanted children myself. I mean, I really did hate those creatures, but maybe it was just a phase? Was that not something everyone said right until they got their own children? It amazed me that a question as big as that had never really crossed my mind. I considered myself bright and enlightened, sometimes even philosophic, but apparently even I forgot to consider important things now and then.

25 years old, should I not be looking for a girl to start a family with by now? Maybe not, I had not even decided yet if I was into men or not. If I was, then I probably would not have to worry about having children since we would have to resort to adoption and those kinds of things.

After kissing Hidan, all I really knew was that I did not enjoy kissing just any man, which made me think that maybe I was not gay, but just bisexual or pansexual. I had become more and more content with the thought of kissing Kakashi and that I actually liked it. It could simply be that he was the only man that I was ever going to enjoy kissing, but I would not stop myself from exploring the gay thing further. I did not feel the need for it at the moment, though. I just wanted to find out what made kissing Kakashi different from kissing Hidan.

All of sudden my co-worker Shikamaru walked by and I asked, "Shikamaru-san, could you please get me some of that stain remover you always use?" but he walked past me like he had not even seen me. I could not figure out what was up with him. He had acted a bit strange recently. We never really talked, but lately it had felt like I was in a whole other dimension than him whenever we were around each other and I could not help but wonder if he was okay?

"Iruka-san," I looked up from the spot that I had rubbed roughly over and over again for the past few minutes without getting any real results out of it and saw Tenzou standing in front of me with that usual serious look on his face.

"What?"

"There's a woman waiting for you in the back. I said you would be there in five minutes when you get off," I raised a brow at him. A woman was here to see me? I did not really talk to anybody of the opposite sex so I honestly had no idea of who it could be.

"Who is it?" he shook his head as he turned around to leave.

"Not sure, just finish wiping and you're off," he walked away, leaving me wondering who it could be, though I did not intend on wondering for much longer and as soon as I had gotten the stain off – at least what was possible for me to remove of it – I hurried to the back where I immediately discovered who it was that was looking to talk to me.

"Anko-san, what are you doing here?" I asked surprisedly when I realized who it was. What could Anko possibly want to talk to me about? We had not exactly spoken before. The only connection I had to her was Kakashi.

Wait... could it be him that she wanted to talk to me about? Was it his absence? Had something happened to him?

"Hey, Iruka-san," she sounded a bit down, but I was not sure of how to interpret the tone in her voice or that sad face she wore. I did not say anything just waited for her to continue, "I don't know if you have noticed that Kakashi hasn't showed up at work for a while," I had noticed, obviously. What was it she wanted to tell me?

"I guess I have, why?" she glanced at the watch that hung on the wall beside us, shuffling on her feet.

"Well, I was wondering if you would do me a favor," a favor? What did that have to do with what she had said before? Without saying anything, I nodded with a raised eyebrow, making sure to signal that I was confused. She sent a small smile and seemed somewhat relieved. That was when I regretted agreeing to a deal that I did not even know yet, "Whew, thank you so much! You have no idea of how big of a burden you just took of my shoulders," it looked like she was preparing herself to leave, but before she could turn to face the door, I spoke.

"Uhm... What is it you want me to do?"

"Huh?" she sent me a puzzled look, "Didn't I tell you already?" I shook my head and she seemed surprised, "I didn't? Kami, I'm so sorry! I'm in a bit of a hurry, I have to catch a train that's leaving in a few minutes. I'll text you, okay?" she turned around on her heels, but I grabbed her wrist quickly.

She was not going to get away before she had told me what she wanted me to do. Because of the way she began the conversation, I figured the favor had to do with something about Kakashi and his absence and the way she acted only made me think that something serious had really happened to him. I could not wait for her to text me, not when she was here already. I needed an answer.

When she looked back at me, she appeared overwhelmed. Well, I could not blame her since I normally did not approach people this way. I was not so direct and did not normally take actions like this one. Hopefully I was not being too obvious.

"What is it you want me to do? You can't just come here and expect me to do something for you when we don't even know each other that well. The least you can do is tell me what it is," I stared into her widened gaze that slowly went back into a normal look.

"I don't have much time to explain so I'll make it short, okay?" I nodded impatiently before she finally gave me an answer.

oOo

When I stood in front of the door that would eventually lead me inside Kakashi's apartment, I took a deep breath and tried to think rationally so I would not do something stupid.

I attempted not to over think the situation since that could end up making matters worse or just make me even more nervous. It was the day after Anko had asked me to do her the favor and ever since I had wrenched the truth out of her, I had had a weird feeling in my stomach.

Carefully I knocked a few times on the door, patiently waiting for an answer. Only a few seconds went by before I heard someone that started rumbling around inside the apartment.

"You have to be careful, it is really contagious and I don't want you to get it as well! It's a pain. Just wait till you see Kakashi, then you'll understand what I mean," that was one of the things she had told me before leaving to catch her train. She would be away for three days including the day before, I didn't know where or why she was going, but apparently it was something that she had to do and so she needed someone to take care of Kakashi while she was gone. And that someone had to be me apparently.

I looked up and saw a feeble figure the same moment as the door was opened. A wave of shock swept over me. Anko had told me that his situation was bad, but I had never imagined to see Kakashi like this. He had huge, noticeable dark circles under his eyes, his hair did not point out in all directions as it always did, but hung lazily around his face. The look in his gray eyes fitted the rest of the description perfectly: dry and tired. On top of that, his skin was lighter than usual and you could just sense at the edge of the surgical mask he was wearing that his cheeks were flushed.

"Ka... kashi... san?" I whispered under my breath - on the verge of suppressing the sight of his ill figure just because it was messing with the perfect picture I had mentally painted of him.

"Iruka-san?" when he spoke it sounded like he was holding his nose and his voice was really hoarse like it would have been after a wild rock concert.

"I'm just here to check on you. Are you okay?" I knew it was a pretty lame question and hopefully he would not notice it or just pretend like I had not asked.

He did not step away from the doorway so I could get inside, which I found kind of odd.

"What," he coughed, closing his eyes tightly and quickly turning away from me, finishing his coughing fit before turning towards me again, now with water in his eyes, "What... are you doing here?" Why was he asking this? Anko had told him that I was coming, had she not?

"Anko-san asked me to check on you, I thought she told you?" He shook his head and coughed a few times. Anko had not overstated his case at all, he really was extremely ill, "Have you had anything to eat yet?" He shook his head again probably because his throat was too soar for him to speak, "I brought you some yogurt. Anko told me that you could not eat solid food at the moment," this time he nodded and he stepped away from the doorway so I could finally enter.

His eyes were following me like a hawk when I went inside and headed straight for the table by the couch. I placed the picnic basket, I had brought with me, on the table and started digging out a disposable dinner set. I had looked up 'kissing disease' the day before where Anko had asked me to visit Kakashi while she was gone and I had read that the virus spread via saliva so it was best if you did not eat from you everyday service. I had also gotten a lot of other information from what I had read so that I would know how to help Kakashi and what to expect of his disease. This time I had to pat myself on the shoulder for being so well prepared.

Kakashi walked over beside me and stretched his hands out towards the basket to help me with unpacking it, but I shook my head and held up one hand, "Sit, please," I asked him and he looked at me suprisedly, but did as I asked nonetheless, "I brought a few other things with me," I placed a bag of cough lozenges, some ice cream and a small plastic bag of red pills on the table, Kakashi watching everything with an intense look in his eyes.

"You didn't... have to do this," he sniffled and I could hear that he was straining himself just to get the words out.

"I'm doing Anko-san a favor and... you are... my friend," the last words were spoken with extreme care. He had referred to me as his friend before, but I still was not sure if it was okay for me to call him that. I glanced over at him from the corner of my eye. What I said did not appear to have a negative affect on him so I figured that it was safe to continue, "So... I'm just trying to be helpful."

I looked over at Kakashi who sent me a small, strenuous eye-smile, "Thanks... That is very kind of you," the illness did not stop him from being his polite usual self, which was comforting in a strange way.

"Oh, no need to thank me. This is what friends do for each other, right?" Kakashi did not answer, just kept smiling so I hurried on, "The lozenges and ice cream are for the inflammation in your throat and the pills are ibuprofen." Kakashi sent me a confused look and I realized it was the pills that made him confused, "Uhm, ibuprofen is an analgesic," he now looked even more perplexed than before, "painkillers?"

"Oh... for what?" he asked with that obviously ill voice.

"Didn't your doctor tell you anything about kissing disease?"

"Well... some. But I don't really remember much of what he said," I breathed out heavily, thinking that he should know how to treat his own illness. Not that you could really treat this, but you could ease some of the symptoms that came along with it. His lack of knowledge around this disease was probably the reason why he had gotten himself a cold on top of it all. His immune system was weak, he could catch about anything as long as he was in this state.

"I'm not an expert or anything, but you should take ibuprofen if you get a fever. It won't make it go away, but it'll soothe it," Kakashi chuckled, for some unknown reason, but his throat could not take it and he started coughing, "What's so funny?" He did not answer until he was done coughing.

"I just think it's funny that you work in a supermarket, but you sound even brighter than my doctor," I did not know if I should take it as a compliment or not so I just gave him a small smile as I poured up some yogurt for him.

"I'm gonna take off now. I'll be back tomorrow morning before work and if Anko-san hasn't come home yet, I'll come after work as well, okay?"

"Iruka-san, you really don't have to do," he coughed, "... do this for me. Anko is so overprotective, I can take care of myself," I was just about to answer him when suddenly his cell phone rang. He gave me a look that told me to stay where I was before he picked it up, "Kakashi," he said and coughed yet again, "Hey honey... You did? Oh, that's great!... Mmm... sure... Yes, he's actually still here. By the way, why did you ask him to come, I can take care of myself and I could infect him...but... okay. Iruka-san, she wants to talk to you," I send him a weird look as he passed me the phone. What did Anko want to talk to me about?

"Hello," I said unsure of myself when I had lifted the cell phone to my ear.

"Hey Iruka-san! I'm so, so, so sorry, but I have to ask you for another favor. Well, actually it's the same favor, it's just an extension of it," what was it? What was Anko up to?

"Uhm, sure. What is it you want me to do?"

"I got the part, but they demand that I stay here for the next week or else the part will be given to the next best. I'm really sorry, but could you please check on Kakashi the next week forward? The only way I can concentrate properly is if I know that Kakashi is in safe hands," a part? Concentrate properly? Where the hell was she and what was it that was holding her back? I wanted to ask her, but the time did not seem right. Besides, if I was going to check on Kakashi for the next week forward, there would be plenty of time for me to ask him what she was doing. She already sounded busy, I did not want to stress her any further.

"Well... Okay, no problem. But I don't know if it's okay with him?"

"Don't mind him, he just doesn't want to trouble you," unlike you, I thought to myself, but tried not to make it to obvious to Kakashi, even though he could not possibly know what our conversation was about, "But really, you would do me a huge favor if you would just check on him once or twice everyday so I don't have to worry that he is starving himself or something."

"I'll do it, don't worry."

"Thank you, Iruka-san, you are a real lifesaver! I knew I was right to ask you... What?" she yelled suddenly, "Oh, okay, I'll be there in a second!" my guess was that she was not talking to me since she kept on yelling, "Sorry, Iruka-san, I have to go now, but I'll be back as soon as possible. Thank you for everything! Give Kakashi a kiss from me, bye!" and then she hung up.

I glanced over at Kakashi who was eagerly awaiting for me to tell him what she had told me. Give him a kiss? She did not really mean that, did she? I was surprised that I would even think of doing it just because she asked me. Sometimes I did not think for myself. Kami, I was such a pushover. She even managed to make me promise that I would come back here for another week. Not that I had any business of my own to take care of or any friendships or any other relationships to work on. I guess looking after Kakashi was not the worst task she could have given me after all. I just had one other question: why had she asked me and not one of his other friends?

"So... what did she say?" Kakashi asked, scratching the lower part of one of his arms.

"She asked me to come and visit you everyday while she's gone," he made and unsatisfied sound in his throat and shook his head.

"You don't have to do that," he stated, but it sounded far from coldly.

"I said I would, so I'm gonna."

"Oh well," Kakashi got a weird and despondent look on his face, "You might as well just move in here for the next couple of days then," he coughed and looked at the yogurt in front of him.

"What, why?" Move in with him? Why should I do that? A lump began to form in my throat. How could he say something like that like it was not a big deal?

He glanced up at me and smiled, "If you insist on doing this, I insist that you stay here with me. It would be rude of me to let you go back an forth between my apartment and yours just because I'm ill. I'm not gonna let myself be that much trouble to you. If you stay here, you won't have to go back and forth and it is closer to work. The chances of you catching this illness might be a little higher if you stay here, but I don't think that it's gonna change much if you come here everyday anyway," it took him a long time to say everything that he wanted to say because he constantly had to stop to catch his breath or cough.

I looked down at the floor and scratched the bridge of my nose, "I don't know. You need lots of rest and... You know," I did not really know how to put it. I just did not want to be a burden to him.

"You and Anko planned this behind my back. I think I have something to say here too. Either you stay here or else I don't want you to check on me at all," I was not sure if I understood why Kakashi was offering me to stay, but I guessed that he meant to be polite and modest. Like me, he did not want to be a burden.

"How are you gonna stop me from going now and coming back tomorrow?" I would not give up that easily.

"I'll lock the door."

"Oh..." I still could not make myself look at him, especially not when he was sitting down and when he was ill. The idea of him having to look up at me just did not fit my picture of our relationship. I was not supposed to look down at him. It had to be the other way around.

"Besides, this is the only way I can pay you back for looking after me. I would rather see that you did not come here just to check on me, but if you are going to do Anko this favor regardless of what I say, won't you please just do this one thing for me? I'm sure it'll make things a little easier on you and don't worry, I'm not planning to have you look after me all day. As said, I can take care of myself," he sounded tired and almost resigned.

I took a deep breath and exhaled before answering. It would be easier for both of us if I just gave up now since Kakashi was determined and I had a feeling that the 'locking the door' part was not just a threat, "Okay," I wanted to say something like 'but I'll leave as soon as Anko-san comes back' or 'but I'll leave if I become a burden to you,' but I figured dropping the discussion was for the better sake. Besides, I did not want to sound ungrateful, whiny or too insecure of myself, I already sounded like that in most other situations. No need to underline it.

oOooOooOo

Noooo! I totally forgot to make Tenzou use a honorific with Iruka, I'm so sorry! Okay, I've edited all the chapters where Tenzou was addressing Iruka, hopefully I got them all.. And actually, I wasn't sure what honorific was the right one for Tenzou to use with Iruka. I read that some of the higher ranked in a firm called the lower ranked people kun and the lower ranked called the higher ranked dono, but the supermarket is very small and so is the village and given Iruka and Tenzou's relationship, I figured they would just use san with each other – even though Iruka only addresses Tenzou as boss. Hope it's not to wrong of me to use it like that – please, correct me if I'm totally wrong about this :S (Oh, and I haven't replaced the chapters yet where he addresses him without a honorific, but I promise to do it soon^^)

Jesus, it took me like forever to make write this chapter! I'm REALLY sorry about this delay :(! I promise, it won't happen again! I have easter break now so I'll not have anything to do for the next week (as far as I know?) so I have a lot of time to write on this story :D!

I'm not sure what to think of this chapter, but I didn't want it to follow the same pattern as always (action, no action, action, no action) so now you got "action" two times in a row without there being too much action in this chapter. I think the story have develop enough at this point for me to do something like this. Hopefully you agree^^ I bet you were (if you weren't already) tired of all the chapters that only contained Iruka's thoughts. Time for a change :D I'm not dismissing those chapters, though. Can't promise that there won't be any like that in the future. But let's just say that the story is finally picking up speed like a normal story should at some point :D..

Please review, I LOVE to hear what you think of the story and don't hold yourself back if you have any questions. I would love to answer them regardless of what question it is..

By the way, I tried make this chapter a little longer than my average chapters to make up for my delay. Hope it's okay with you^^

Until next time, see ya' :D!