Chapter 21

I felt kind of strange when being at work that day. It all started with Tenzou asking me if I knew anything about Kakashi and his condition. To that I had answered that I was taking care of him at the moment and that he was slowly starting to get better, but that he should not expect him to come back to work anytime soon. Tenzou knew that I was his only possible connection to Kakashi of all the employees since he had seen us speaking together before when being on breaks. I found it weird that he had asked me about Kakashi, but it was not really that that bothered me, though, it was how everyone else acted throughout the rest of the day.

My co-workers had been giving me these weird looks all morning, but neither of them seemed to want to approach me so I had no idea what all those long stares were for. Even some of the customers had been queer around me when I had sat behind the desk and no one really contacted me if they needed help. They all went to Shikamaru instead or someone else if he was not available.

When I got off at 12:00 o'clock, the things that had happened – or should I say the things that had not happened – at work kept on bothering me. Even when I returned to Kakashi's place, I couldn't seem to shake the thought of it away. What was they were staring at? Was it all just my imagination? At least it would make more sense if it was so. It usually only took one look from one human being to make me feel like I was the center of Earth since I was not used to getting much attention from any of the customers or my co-workers for that matter.

It was probably just me after all. I had dealt with paranoia all of my life and I was getting pretty used to it. I knew just how to get my mind off things... If your answer is clean, then yes, you are correct. I was going to clean Kakashi's entire apartment. He would not be able to make much of a distraction for me anyway since he was taking a nap on the couch.

I began my cleaning with opening all the windows in his apartment so we could get some fresh air in there. It was not cold outside, but it was a little windy so after just a short while, Kakashi started shivering in his sleep. The poor idiot had not covered himself with his duvet and he was just lying there shirtless as he had done most of the time during my "visit." It seemed like he was freezing so I took his duvet, which hung over the backrest of the couch, and placed it over him. At least now I would not feel bad for getting rid of the stuffiness that had taken over his entire apartment lately.

I quickly figured that it was probably smartest to save the vacuum cleaning for last since I did not want to arouse Kakashi. So first I tidied up the living room and kitchen. When there was finally orderly enough for me to actually clean the objects in the rooms, I found a cloth and started dusting off everything. First the living room, then the kitchen. It did not take me long to remove the dust from those two rooms, but when I was done, I found myself standing in front of Kakashi's bedroom door.

Iruka, you cannot go in there. A bedroom is one of the most private rooms of a house! I told myself, but of course I would not listen to the more sensible side of my brain. A part of me wanted to get in there and clean because cleaning was just a fetish of mine and I could not stop myself when I had first started. Everything needed to be clean or else I would not be able to sleep properly at night. But a part of me, the snoopy part, also wanted to check out if he had any exciting stuff in there.

I had only been in his bedroom once and it had been dark most of the time so I had not been able to take a good look around yet. But now was my chance. Kakashi was asleep and his bedroom stood unguarded, almost begging for me to enter. When I could not hold myself back anymore, I tiptoed inside, crossing a boarder I was not really allowed to cross without permission if I had to be ethically correct. I had an excuse for being there, at least, even if it was not a good one.

Once I had gotten inside, I went on with the cleaning, carefully examining everything that I dusted off. There did not appear to be anything of my interest in there, not until I outdid myself, getting down on all four and looking under his bed.

It was very dusty under there, you could easily tell that Kakashi did not make a forever alone party out of cleaning like I did. But what I found under the bed got me too curious for me to keep my hands for myself. I pulled out an open, medium sized cardboard box and took a look inside without thinking any further about what I was about to do. This was Kakashi's private life that I was carelessly stomping across because of my own selfish and prying reasons.

The box was filled with books. At first, that kind of surprised me. Kakashi did not seem like the reading type, but once I discovered that they were all rated mature, I put two and two together. I just did not understand one thing; why was not the cover looking like something that was supposed to catch the attention of horny men? Books like these usually had a cover like that, did they not? These were orange, green and blue and decent dressed men and women embellished the front of the books.

Maybe the content was not as smutty as I had first thought?

With a positive attitude towards the books, I picked one up and flipped it open. Okay, now I had to admit that I had been completely wrong when actually thinking that Kakashi could be a person who read decorous porn. This was not nice at all. It was dirty, no, just plain smutty and perverse. And the pictures. What the hell was that couple even doing in that position?

I flipped the book around to try and find out how the portrayed intercourse was supposed to function, but I could not figure it out. How was he supposed to reach hers... with his... when he stood like that? I knew Kama Sutra was supposed to be complicated, but could this even be considered Kama Sutra or was it a whole new style that only contortionists and ballet practitioners where able to perform?

I wondered if Kakashi had ever tried any of that himself before?

"Iruka-san, why didn't you wake m..." I looked over my shoulder quickly, seeing Kakashi standing right behind me. I could tell that his mouth was wide open behind the surgical mask. He had an almost terrified look in his eyes. "W-what are you doing?" he screamed, to the best of his ability, in horror, his whole face turning completely red.

I had definitely been caught with my hand in the cookie jar. What should I do? No matter what I said or did, he would know that I had been snooping around in his room. Would it be best to come up with an excuse or pretend like I had not done anything wrong?

"Is this stuff even legal in Japan?" I laughed, trying to act cool while beaming him a wide smile. My hands slowly began to become sweaty. I had no idea of how he was going to react.

"W-Well..." he stammered, but shook his head, presumably changing his mind on what to answer. "What were you even doing under my bed?"

I came up with an answer quickly, but before saying anything, I turned around, pretending to read his filthy porn while waving the wet cloth around above my head. "What does it look like I'm doing? Your house must be paradise for dust mites."

"Hey, don't read it!" he said, walking up close behind me and snatching the book from my hand. "It's private!" I turned around and raised one brow at him. I could not really tell if his face was red due to embarrassment or if he was furious. I wanted to gulp, but I was afraid that he would notice. I could not shift into another character now, it was too late.

"Geez, sorry. Didn't mean to embarrass you." Kakashi seemed surprised to the fact that I had just said that aloud.

"I'm not embarrassed," he muttered under his breath and looked away from my gaze, making it obvious to me that his flushed cheeks, at least the part of them that I could see, surely were caused by embarrassment.

He walked past me, his eyes fixed on the cupboard box. Squatting, he dropped the book back into the box and pushed it under his bed again.

"Thank you for cleaning," he said and trudged out of the room without another word. I was not sure of what kind of impact this incident would have on our relationship. It bugged me a little that he had caught me looking through his stuff when I had just started to get the feeling that we were both more comfortable around each other than before. All the jokes and rude comments created a kind of friendly atmosphere.

I figured Kakashi would want to be alone for a while so I finished dusting off everything in his room before walking back into the living room just to discover that Kakashi had jumped back under his duvet. Did it really bother him that much that I had found out about that little "hobby" of his? I could not help myself from thinking that it could be fun to make a joke out of it, but I was not entirely sure yet if that would be such a bright idea.

It took me a few hours to clean the whole apartment, including the bathroom. Gosh, Kakashi's bathroom had nearly been worse looking and smelling than a boy's comfort station. But now that it had been under my care, it was not all that bad looking or smelling anymore, if I had to say so myself.

Kakashi did not do much that day besides from sulking in front of the television, although he pretended like the earlier happening did not bother him. His poker face was not good enough to hide that, though.

When he finally went to the bathroom to get himself ready for bed, I stood in the middle of the living room, being in two minds about whether or not to pull a prank on him. I looked at the door leading to his bedroom, smirking at the thought of my own viciousness.

10 minutes after, Kakashi came back into the living room, finding me lying on the mattress on my belly with a book on my pillow.

"What are you reading?" he asked as he walked over by me and stooped to read along. I glanced up at him over the edge of my reading glasses, he was turning red again. "I-Iruka-san! I told you not to-" He was just about to rip the book out of my hands when he started coughing uncontrollably.

He kept on coughing for a long time and he ended up having to place his hands on his thighs so he would stand more steady.

I chuckled and tried to come with a smart remark. "If you keep on coughing like that, you'll end up-" Kakashi beat me to it when he suddenly started gagging, though this time I was prepared for it. Quickly, I got up from my bed, grabbed the bucket I had placed beside the couch already the first night and handed it to Kakashi, who pulled down his mask immediately and threw up into the bucket. I looked the other way as soon as he had led his hand towards his mask. I desperately wanted to see what was under it, but something still kept me from taking advantage of the ill man.

When I figured he was done puking, I turned my attention towards him again. He stood with his back turned against me. He did not trust me as much as I thought he did after all. It hurt a little, but I guess I could understand that he was just being careful not to reveal his secret.

"Let me take that," I said and took the bucket from him. He covered his face with one hand.

"Thanks," he muttered into his hand, which muffled his voice. I went to the bathroom where I flushed the vomit down the toilet and cleaned the bucket before walking out again so that Kakashi could go inside and brush his teeth without having to worry if I was looking at him or not.

I placed the bucket beside the couch again and took my cell phone that lay on the coffee table to check the clock. It was around the time where Kakashi's condition usually got worse. I sighed and put down my phone on the table. I might as well get ready for it, I thought to myself as I went into the kitchen to get Kakashi some Ibuprofen and a glass of water, but as I stood there, I suddenly got the urge for hot chocolate.

Kakashi had already returned from the bathroom when I came back with both my hands full. I gave him one of the cups of hot chocolate. "Here's something for your throat," I said and placed the medicine, the glass of water and my own cup of chocolate on the table. "But remember to drink the water too. It might counteract your night sweats." Kakashi nodded and lowered the cup to his lap. It was probably still too hot for him to drink and it could just end up doing more damage than good to his sensitive throat.

I took the book that still lay on my pillow before sitting beside Kakashi on the couch. He glared at me, but I pretended not to notice. Luckily, he seemed to have calmed down.

"Why are you even reading it?" he asked irritably and I answered without looking at him.

"It's actually pretty interesting... And I like the pictures," I teased and to my amusement, it was just the right button to push.

Kakashi snorted, "Did you ever consider what I do when reading those?" I knew he was just trying to gross me out so I would not want to steal his books again, but since I saw right through him, I just played along.

"I have a pretty good idea. But, hey, aren't we both men?" I flashed him a smile resembling one of Hidan's confident and infamous teeth-smiles. My attitude and answering back did not seem to thrill him at all. He was getting desperate.

"Just be happy that I'm too ill to even think of doing it while you're here."

"You don't suppose that I'm gonna do it for you, are you?" Kakashi's eyes widened and he leaned a bit away from me.

"What?... No!" he exclaimed, sounding almost fearful.

"Good 'cause I'm not. Who knows, maybe I'll end up borrowing one of your books and take it with me the next time I go to the bathroom." At that moment, I knew I had won. Who is looking all grossed out now, huh, Kakashi?

But all of a sudden, Kakashi said something I had not seen coming. "Why would you do that? You're not into that kind of stuff anyway." I stared at him for a short moment. Was he on to me? What exactly was it that he was referring to?

"What do you mean?" I asked carefully, not to give myself away.

"I think you know what I mean," he could not look me in the eyes.

"No, I don't." I was not even sure if I actually wanted to hear what it was he was thinking about me.

"You know... My books involve men and women... together."

"Yeah, so what?" My body was beginning to tense up. I had a feeling that I knew where the conversation was headed, but I could not let my guard down or start acting differently. I tried to laugh it off.

"It's straight porn," his fingers started playing with the cup in his hands nervously.

"Just what are you implying?"

"Nothing," he said quickly. "Just forget it."

"No, tell me!" Now I was the one getting frustrated.

"I'm sorry!" he shouted as loudly as his lungs and throat allowed him. "I just thought you were gay after seeing you with Hidan!"

"Why would you think that I'm... Wait, what?" What was he talking about? Had he seen me with Hidan? But we had been in his room and the door was closed and...

"That night at Hidan's party, me and some other guy went to find Hidan after you had left me hanging at the pool, but when we finally found him you were there too and you two were all over each other..." Kakashi paused. That feeling of being watched had not been for nothing that night after all. So Kakashi and some guy had been watching us apparently. Well... This was awkward. Neither of us dared to look at each other. I was too stunned to speak. I just could not believe that he had seen us. "Besides, you've sent me all these mixed signals the last couple of days. What was I supposed to think?"

I closed the book and placed it in my lap with my hands on top of it. Those things he talked about was all accidents, I would be able to explain my way out of them. But Hidan. How was I supposed to explain my way out of that one?

An awkward silence fell upon us once again. None of us said anything for a long while. We both seemed to have switched into some kind of standby mode.

Kakashi slid off one of the strings that was holding his mask up and held it out to the side facing towards me, like he had done it whenever we drank tea together, so I was not able to see his face while he sipped of his cocoa. The slurping sound he made only made the situation even more awkward.

He put his mask back on. I fidgeted with my fingers, avoiding Kakashi's eyes that tried to make contact with mine when I stated, "I'm not gay," stressing the last word.

"I just thought-"

I cut him off quickly. "I'm not." I did not feel any need to clarify the statement. I could understand why he assumed that I was playing for the wrong team, but it was not true and therefore I could not have him think that. At least I did not think it was true... Okay, maybe a little... No. No I was not gay... Not yet. Damn, I was confusing myself! Why did Kakashi have to sit there and look so innocent and guilty at the same time? He was messing with my head!

I took the book from my lap and finally let my eyes meet with Kakashi's.

"So, how did you get your hands on books like this one?" My question made an unnatural turn in the conversation, but I figured we would not be able to move on until one of us manned himself up and changed the subject.

"Huh? Uhm... I-I know this guy who imports them to Japan from other countries that are allowed to publish this stuff... I could get one for you if you like?" I found the question rather odd. Especially since he had just accused me of being gay. Well, he had sounded rather unsure of himself when asking. Though his explanation did indeed answer a lot of questions that I had raised because of the books. The word import explained why it was all written in English and I had a feeling that I now knew what he had been doing outside the laundromat that day when he had received a suspicious package. Judging by the size and shape of the package, it could easily have been a book that he had gotten from the mysterious man.

"No, thank you, I think I'm good here," I said and opened the book again. "So, what's your favorite scene in this one?" It felt very weird to ask such a question and Kakashi seemed to think so too, but he leaned closer and began to turn pages nevertheless.

oOo

I woke up to the sound of chirping birds and Kakashi snoring. I had a slight headache and I had a feeling of not knowing where I was. Slowly, I tried to sit up, but something prevented me from it. When looking down at myself, I discovered that I was not lying on my mattress, but on the couch. My legs were pulled up close to my chest and Kakashi lay behind me with his head on my hip, one hand resting on my leg and his legs dangling from the edge of the couch that obviously was not big or long enough for two men to lie on it at the same time.

When had I fallen asleep? The last thing I remembered was Kakashi and me sitting together, reading that disgusting book of his. I had noticed that Kakashi's other hand, which lay in between my legs, was still holding onto the book even though it was hovering above the couch, but I still did not remember falling asleep.

Kakashi grunted, dropped the book on the floor and pressed my leg against his chest when I tried to move away from him. He probably thought that I was Anko.

I paused and took some time to study his sleeping form. It was a cliché way of thinking, but Kakashi did look peaceful when lying there like that. There were only a few signs of slight movement under his eyelids and it looked like his lower face was twitching behind the mask. He was probably dreaming.

Suddenly, it started raining, the force of the rain drops hitting the windows of the house gradually increasing. I did not move out of the spot for a minute or two, only sat there in that uncomfortable position, watching the calming yet exhilarating shower.

I looked down at Kakashi again, he was still clinging to my now numb leg, the heat generating from his chest warmed my calf. It was a little cold that morning so I was happy that Kakashi had somehow managed to get himself tangled up in his duvet.

When craning my neck, I was able to look at the almost transparent plastic cup Kakashi had drunken cocoa of the day before. He had not drunken much of it and I figured it had something to do with his obsession of being healthy. He had probably only consumed some of it to be polite. Coming to think about it, I had not even asked or considered if he wanted some. I just made another cup, automatically assuming that he would want some as well.

His condition must have been improving since the cup of cocoa was not the only thing still left standing on the table. The pill and water were there too.

I figured it was time for me to get up because I would not want Kakashi to wake up in this position. He would probably misinterpret it. So I grabbed the hand that was lying on my leg in order to remove it, but as soon as I attempted to swing my legs over the edge of the couch, Kakashi started moving around, opening his eyes soon after. The first thought that ran through my mind when Kakashi's eyes locked with mine was, gosh, he looks cute when waking up, but reality soon struck me and I realized that I was staring at him, which seemed to make him freak out on the inside.

His eyes glided down my arm and did not stop until he reached the end of it. We were practically holding hands.

Quickly, I pulled my hand away from his and we both sat up with a jerk, our cheeks blushing within a few seconds. I imagined our reactions looking anime-like, which was a funny thought, just not when being in the actual situation yourself.

We sat silent for a long time, the only thing slightly breaking the silence being the heavy rain that was pouring down outside the apartment.

oOooOooOo

New chapter! Yay or nay :o?

I'm so happy that it didn't take me forever to update this again, hopefully you're happy about it too^^

I don't really have anything to say this time so I guess all there's really left to say is: I hope you enjoyed it! It'll be awesome if you would tell me what you think of it :D!

See ya' next time!