Chapter 23

After being without work for nearly a week, I had decided to take a walk in the park and get some fresh air so I could clear my mind and figure out where my life was currently headed. That did not turn out to be such a good idea, though. I had met a bunch of prejudiced people off all ages and they all had their own way of dealing with me. The oldest of them were trash talking me in groups, but they were not whispering, they made sure to talk loud enough for me to hear what they were saying. Youngsters and people around my age snickered and giggled loudly whenever I passed their way, while the youngest group, who had not learned how to discretely tear people down mentally, were yelling stuff like, "butt pirate" and "sausage jockey" at me. Everyone was very mature about it, as you can see.

I tried my best not to get myself worked up over the majorities bias, but it was hard when I did not have anybody to support me. If I occasionally passed by someone who did not give me the look or whispered something to their friend or yelled something at me, it did not make much of a difference anyway because I knew what they were thinking: they would rather pretend like I did not exist.

It did not get any better when I finally came back home. Someone had painted "FAG" with big red letters across my door. The funny thing about it was that I did not actually get mad over the word they had written, but in fact I got angry at whoever did it because now I would have to pay for the damages they had done, with money I did not have, before I had to move out of my rented apartment.

And just when I thought that things could not get any worse, I discovered that my coffee machine had broken down. I gritted my teeth and closed my eyes tightly. "Calm down... Calm down, Iruka." I kept telling myself that for a minute or two before I was calm enough to look at the broken coffee machine again without feeling like throwing it out the window. It was not like I was going to have any use of it anyway once I was forced to move out of the apartment. A cup of coffee was a benefit of luxury, which I soon would not be able to afford anymore.

I did not plan on going through a sucky day like this one without even getting one cup of coffee so I put on my shoes again so I could go buy some Nescafe even if it did not taste as good as real coffee.

But when I flung the door open irritably, I almost walked right into Hidan.

"Hidan-san, what are you doing here?" I asked with a raised eyebrow, not stepping away from the doorway nor letting go of the door handle.

"I-I just came to see how you were doing. That's all," he said carefully and scratched the back of his neck. Hidan seemed a little tense, but I could not figure out what was wrong with him.

"I'm fine, why?" I asked confusedly. He looked at the entry door that opened inward before looking back at me and I slowly began to understand what he was getting at.

Hidan looked down at the floor and muttered, "Actually... I'm here to apologize."

"Huh, apologize for what?" He lost me there. I thought he came to ask me if the rumors were true or something like that. But apologize? What the hell did he have to apologize for?

"I'm sorry that I got you into this mess, Iruka-san. I confronted Shikamaru about it as soon as I found out, but he would not change his mind. I'm so sorry. It's all my fault. You losing your job and the rumors. If I had not kissed you that night, none of this would have happened! Please, forgive me." He bowed deeply and did not look up at me.

At first, I did not know what to say. He had completely caught me off guard with his apology and quite frankly I had no idea of what to answer.

"Uhm..." I started. "This isn't you fault, Hidan-san. I... Uhm." I was not comfortable with saying it aloud and especially not when Hidan was right in front of me. "I was the one who kissed you. Remember? This is my own fault."

His head shot up and he looked directly at me. "Don't say that! I was the one who got all flirty with you and it's my brainless cousin who got you fired!" It looked like he wanted to grab me and shake me till I agreed with him. But he remained relatively calm for now.

I sighed loudly and shook my head. There was no sense in what he was saying. "You can't be serious? Just because you encouraged me doesn't mean that I suddenly lose my free will. It was my own decision and I have to take the consequences that come along with that decision. And that brainless cousin of yours can think for himself too, you know? You can't take responsibility for what he did."

"I know, but I still feel like it's my fault! Isn't there anything I can do to make up for it?"

I laughed at his comment. "No, unless you can conjure a rent-free place to live up or make it start raining with money, I don't think there's anything you can do." Hidan suddenly got a weird, concerned look on his face.

"Are... are you getting kicked out?" Guiltiness was written all over his face. I tried not to appear too annoyed.

"Isn't that obvious? I won't be able to pay rent without a job." What I said made me wonder for how long I would actually be able to stay in the apartment without paying. Since it was almost the 1st of the month, I would probably get kicked out before my birthday. Not that it actually mattered. I did not do anything important on my birthday anyway.

All of a sudden it looked like a bright shinning light bulb appeared over Hidan's head and a wide smile spread across his face. "Why don't you just move in with me? I have plenty of room!" I knew he was just trying to be helpful, but I could not help myself from glaring at him. Considering what he added afterward, I figured my message came across. "It's nothing permanent of course. Only till you find a new job." He took a second to think everything through before continuing, "But don't expect that you can live with me for free. If you clean the entire house once every week and whenever it's dirty, I can pay you for that. And you can live with me as my maid," he said, trying to sound firm, but the smile ruined his not so serious attitude. His offer did not sound particularly flattering. Especially not the "my maid" part.

I knew he was only trying to make it sound like I was not a charity project, but when it was as obvious as it was that that was what he was doing, I had a hard time imagining that I could ever accept his offer. I liked being able to take care of myself and I did not feel the need to burden others with my problems.

"So, what do you say? It could be kind of fun to have a roommate," he said, looking like an expectant child. That was when I realized that this was not just all about charity.

"I just tend to get a bit lonely when living in this big house all by myself." I remembered what he had told me that night at his party. This was not just about charity. Hidan was lonely and this was his chance at changing his situation into the better. I felt kind of sorry for him, but I still did not feel like just accepting his offer just like that.

"I don't know about this. Is it okay if I give you my answer later?" Hidan did not seem too thrilled about my current answer. In fact, he actually seemed rather disappointed. I did not like to be the one to put out those bright Christmas lights in his eyes, but I just did not like the idea of accepting his rather generous offer.

"Oh, sure. But don't decline just to be polite. I really wanna make up for all of this." I did not want to get into an argument with him so I pushed past him and locked the door after me.

"I would have invited you in, but I was on my way out. I'll see you later and thanks." I left the apartment complex before Hidan and walked with long, rapid steps so he would not catch up to me immediately in case he was going to follow me. He did not, though, and I went to buy instant coffee without any further trouble.

My earlier working place had the cheapest instant coffee in town and at the moment I should not be spending more money than necessary, but I figured I would not be welcomed very well if I went there so I went to a small, private kiosk instead.

The man who owned the shop charged way too much for the coffee, but at least he did not give me as dirty looks as I imagined I would have gotten at the supermarket.

On my way back home, I decided to take another way than I normally did just to avoid human contact. I had so many things that I needed to think over and I was afraid that all the stress would drive me insane. I just needed some closure. I needed to know what was going to happen.

For so many years everyday had looked alike. There was rarely anything out of the ordinary that happened. But lately my life had changed. First, it changed to the better, but then all of a sudden I stood in a worse situation than I did before. No job, soon no apartment either, a bad reputation and on top of all of that, I was beginning to feel that I was not in control of my own feelings anymore. I had thoughts about Kakashi in a way that I should not and other than that I got angry when someone confronted me about it. I was becoming my old self. How could I feel attracted to him when I did not want to think of him in that way? And was it that obvious to everyone? But why did it bother me that people knew about my presumably true feelings? How could I let myself get so much out of control?

I had walked in my own thoughts for several minutes and did not notice anything weird until our steps were no longer in unison. Someone was following me. Carefully, I looked over my shoulder, seeing three men in big winter jackets with their hoods on.

That's strange. Why would they walk around in such warm jackets during springtime?

I listened carefully as one of them whispered something to the others, but I could not make out what they were saying. After that, they gradually increased their pace and out of sheer instinct, I started walking faster too so they would not come up beside me.

Was it me they were after? No, that would not make any sense. Why would they be after someone like me? I did not look like someone with lots of money, I would not be worth robbing. I also did not carry anything of importance or anything expensive, only a glass jar of instant coffee – that alone said a lot about my money situation. No, it was not me they were after. I was just working myself up over nothing again. Even though, I still could not help but wonder if it was a wrong observation or not that they constantly increased their pace whenever I did it too.

My body began to feel warmer, but not because of excitement, it was more likely the adrenaline that rushed through my body that was heating it.

A small lump formed in my throat. Do not run, do not run, I kept telling myself and closed my eyes for a few seconds to collect my thoughts. Okay, Iruka, this is stupid. Why would anyone want to attack you? You don't not have any actual enemies. Do you? If I was to be attacked, was it just a coincidence that I had recently been labeled gay? What was it they wanted from me? Teach me a lesson... or maybe... kill me? It was not like it was unheard of that gay people got killed merely because of their sexual preference. But was I to become one of them?

I kept coming up with all sorts of reasons for their presence without even knowing if they actually wanted anything from me. It just seemed to fit. I was walking alone, we were walking in an almost deserted area and I had a rumor of being something that many people did not approve of. It was a never ending discussion between my logical sense and my paranoia. I could easily argument for and against the chance of them jumping me, but of course I would never reach a conclusion by just thinking. They needed to take action... No, I needed to take action. I was not scared of them.

In a split second, I stopped walking. I did not turn around, I did not say anything. I just stood there.

My concerns were then confirmed. They had stopped walking too.

"You've got to be kidding me," I whispered under my breath and started sprinting without a warning. They copied my movements just as I expected.

I began to sweat and pant pretty quickly, but not because I was running as fast as I could, but because I was terrified. I wanted to look over my shoulder and see how close they were, but it was not necessary because I could hear their steps behind me. They were close and I did not need to risk anything by distracting myself by looking back. It was what all the main characters in movies did and they always end up tripping themselves or something like that. But this was not a movie. This was real life and unfortunately for me, I had to realize the ugly truth – I could not out run them. I was too slow.

Suddenly a hand slammed down on my shoulder and I was pulled back with a jerk and pushed into an alleyway where I was pressed up against a dirty wooden wall, one man on both my sides were pinning both my arms to it, the third man standing in front of me. When my left hand hit the wall, I accidentally let go of the jar of instant coffee and it fell to the asphalt and shattered.

I wrenched the best I could and tried to kick them, but they just dodged it and kicked me back in return for my resistance and lay more pressure on my arms; they were probably going to bruise, but that was of my least concern at the moment. What they were about to do to me was going to be far worse than just small bruises on my arms.

"I don't have any money on me so piss off!" I shouted in the leading man's face. He just raised an eyebrow at me and laughed slightly.

"So... You think it's money we're after, huh?" Actually, I did not think it was money, but I just did not know what else to say and maybe if I could get them to talk I could get some kind of an idea of why I was here with them. "We're not after your money. In fact we are getting paid for just being here with you."

"Yeah, we have a message from our friend whose nose you broke," the man on the left hissed near my ear and pressed my arm harder against the wall so I could not help myself from closing one eye in pain.

Their friend whose nose I broke... Shikamaru? Did he pay them to... attack me?

"Don't think we're going to go easy on you just because you're a queen," said the man on the right. Great, I could not even get around that rumor when being jumped.

I looked at the man who spoke last with narrowed eyes and bit the inside of my cheeks in anger. "What are you waiting for then?" All three seemed rather surprised that I was not going to put up much more of a struggle. "Just get it over with so I can go home, please," I snarled and looked the one in front of me in the eyes. I was being dead serious. If I could not get around this, they might as well get it done quickly so I could move on with my life.

The grip around my arms loosened a little and all three men looked at each other in astonishment. "Well, haven't heard that one before. You're a brave one, aren't you?" he snickered, only making me even more angry. That degrading laugh, it made me want to kill him right there and then.

"I never expected something like that from a fag," the one on the left grinned and chuckled viciously. At that point, I did not care who was attacking who anymore. I could not hold myself back.

I jerked my right hand away and it slipped away from the right man's hold easily. While they were busy making fun of me, they were not actually paying any attention to me. This was my chance. I just needed one shot. Just one to try and get this feeling out of my system once and for all.

"I said, what are you waiting for?" I shouted and punched the man on my left right on the jaw so hard that I could feel how it almost dangled out of place. Of course neither of them were really happy about my action and they stopped laughing at me immediately, jumping me instead.

I was overpowered from the very beginning and lay on the ground within a few seconds. They let several punches rain on me and they kicked, cursed and spat on me. They sure were not holding anything back any longer. The only thing I could do was try and protect my face with my sore almost numb arms.

"Hold him," one of them said and the other two did as they were told. I peeked out from under my eyelids to see what the man was planning on doing. He was walking over to the place where we had stood before and he stooped to pick something up. I did not realize what it was until he stood over me with one leg on each side of me, squatting down till he almost sat on my stomach. My eyes slightly widened.

He looked at the piece of glass he was holding between his fingers, examining every possible side of it.

"You should not forget who you are," he smirked and grabbed the bottom of my shirt, pulled up and wrapped it behind my head so I could not see what he was doing. I had a feeling, though, that this was not going to feel pleasant.

When the glass touched my chest, my whole body shivered and I started wrenching desperately to get out of their grip, but I could not get away and I was not able to stop myself from screaming in agony when he pressed it down my chest, spelling the horrible three lettered word out loud as he cut it deep into my skin. It was stinging like a paper cut and burning like a flatiron at the same time.

oOo

About two and a half hours later, I was walking down a stone path I barely knew. My white t-shirt was soaked in blood on the front and there was still clotted blood under my nose and the small amount that were smeared around my face.

I was not about to die or anything, but I was beat and my mind was tired. When I had gotten back to my apartment after taking a good beating from those "mercenaries," the landlord had been standing outside my door and was about to throw a letter through my letter box.

"Oh, you are here." the landlord looked at me from top to toe and wrinkled up his nose in disgust. I was pretty sure that it was clear to him what had happened, but he did not give a damn, just continued, crumbling up the letter "You don't need to read this then, I can just tell it straight to you. I want your out and that's pronto." My day could not get any better than this. How did he even know that I had money problems?

"But I have enough money to pay for rent for at least another month and I paid for this month already so you can't kick me out until the end of the month," I said logically and glared at him.

The shorter man just shrugged his shoulders. "I don't care. You can have some of your money back for this month. I already have another tenant so you can't stay here anymore."

"What? You can't do that!"

"Well, I am." I looked at him despairingly, he was avoiding eye contact. I finally understood what was going on. This was not about money. This was about my newly gained gay reputation.

I sighed loudly and shook my head lightly, "How many days do I have?" I asked carefully.

"Zero."

"Wh... Bu... Where the hell am I supposed to go? What about my stuff, I can't take it all with me now?"

The landlord waved his hand indifferently while turning away from me. "Not my problem. You're allowed to go in and take all the stuff you can carry with you now. The rest will be stored on the attic and you can come and get it later." He was already on his way down the stairs when he looked back at me over his shoulder and said, "Return the key to me before you leave." He did not give me any choice. I had been kicked out of my own apartment for being gay. What was wrong with people now a days?

And suddenly I was standing in front of a huge house, knocking on the door, but not getting an answer. I sniffled and looked up at the tall door, adjusting the shoulder-strap of my bag with one hand so it would not slide off my shoulder.

Maybe this was a sign that it was wrong of me to show up on his doorstep and beg for a place to stay. Sure, he himself had offered that I could stay with him, but it still did not feel right to be there. But then where should I go?

I stood gazing down at the ground for another few minutes, but when no one came to answer the door, I figured it really was a mistake to come there and decided to go somewhere else. Where to go, I had no idea, but here was not the place for me.

Then, all of a sudden, I heard a loud splash from the backyard of the house and it sounded like someone was laughing as well. That laugh could not be mistaken – it belonged to Hidan without a doubt.

I shuffled on my feet for a moment, thinking whether or not to go back there. I thought through all of my options. There was not really any. I could not go to Kakashi's place. Not matter what that just was not an option. I did not have any other friends or family to turn to and Hidan was the only other person I was on good terms with who I also kind of considered my friend. I could either choose to be sleeping outside or ask Hidan if I could stay at his place for a while until I found something else. I did not really have anything to lose besides from my pride, but at least I would have a place to stay.

I walked via the stone path to the backyard of the house, finding Hidan standing in a pair of black and dark blue swim shorts by the pool. He was looking down at someone who I did not recognize at first, but when he got out of the pool and walked up close to Hidan, I recognized him as the doctor from the hospital. The one who had treated Kakashi. Kakuzu, right? What was he doing here with Hidan? I was not sure of how they would react to my presence so I decided to play a waiting game before making my next move.

It was hard to make out what they were saying and I could only hear a few words once in a while, but nothing that made any sense when heard out of context. Hidan stood with his hands on his hips and Kakuzu with his arms crossed over his chest. At first, it seemed like they were talking about something serious, but then a small smile started playing on Hidan's lips and he stepped closer to Kakuzu who immediately looked down at the ground, the tanned man blushing slightly.

Hidan then turned his back towards the other man who grabbed a bottle of sunscreen and soon after started spreading the creme over his back. When he was done, Hidan turned to face him again, placing his mouth right beside Kakuzu's ear and whispered something to him

The situation seemed rather odd to me, though, I guessed helping out with protecting someone else from the dangerous UV rays of the sun was not that weird, but I had not seen nothing yet because suddenly Hidan's arms slid under Kakuzu's and behind his wet back, gliding down until it reached the edge of his red swim shorts. Kakuzu jumped when Hidan's hands dug under the fabric and grabbed a handful of his ass without any warning. Hell, I even jumped in surprise when I saw that. What was he doing?

Kakuzu blushed madly and looked away from Hidan, but that did not seem to change Hidan's plans. He pressed his bare chest up against Kakuzu's wet and naked upper body and Hidan lowered his head towards Kakuzu's shoulder, gently placing a few fleeting kisses on it.

I had to place one hand in front of my mouth to stop myself from saying something out loud. Why was Hidan coming on to Kakuzu so strongly? Was there something between the two of them? At least that would explain what the doctor was doing at Hidan's place in the first place. But Hidan only did guys for fun, right? He had said so himself. Then why did this seem more serious than just a simple flirt? They were seeing each other in private for crying out loud!

Kakuzu squealed when Hidan's hands slid away from his ass – one hand stopped when reaching the deepest part of Kakuzu's back while the other continued up until reaching his short, soaked hair – Hidan looking him right into his eyes, their faces only being inches away from each other.

I could not stop my cheeks from flushing. I felt like such a creeper when standing there watching them like they were performing some sort of live porn.

Hidan did not seem to have a problem with his own actions. Kakuzu, on the other hand, seemed a little nervous, but it did not look like he was not enjoying Hidan's sensual touch.

They smiled at each other. Hidan smiled his usual confident smile while Kakuzu's was more careful and innocent, almost child like. They leaned closer to each other and slowly pressed their lips together. When tongues started getting involved, it all became too much for me and I backed quickly. I was not supposed to see this. That much I understood.

I was just about to make my escape when I took a step back, hitting something behind me, which caused me to lose balance and fall right into a huge pile of cardboard and Styrofoam boxes. They could not possibly have avoided hearing the loud sounds from my clash with the boxes. I had given myself away and now I would not only be known as a super homo, but also a creepy peeping Tom.

I was struggling to get back up on my feet when Hidan shouted, "Who's there?" Soon both he and Kakuzu stood right in front of me, looking down at my beat up figure.

"H-Hey, guys," I said, trying to act cool and like nothing had happened. This was really embarrassing, just like that time at the laundromat with Kakashi. Why was I so clumsy?

Hidan looked at me with widened eyes. He had frozen unlike Kakuzu who immediately rushed to my side and carefully helped me back up onto my feet.

"Are you okay, what happened?" he asked hurriedly. I rubbed my back with one hand and glanced shiftily at the concerned tanned man to the stunned pale dude.

"Argh, nothing, I'm just clumsy," I replied, trying to get out of having to answer what he was actually asking.

"I-Iruka..." Hidan could not finish whatever it was he was trying to say. He was just staring at me intensely for some weird reason. I could not figure why he had frozen up like that all of a sudden.

"Iruka-san, you are seriously injured. This isn't just from falling into a few boxes. Were you in a fight or something?" Kakuzu started checking me like it was perfectly normal to examine a stranger you had only met once. But I guess that was just a doctor thing.

"No, I'm fine. Don't worry." I tried taking a step away from Kakuzu, but he just matched my move and suddenly grabbed the edge of my shirt and nearly pulled it over my head when he removed it from my stomach and chest to see what had caused the dark red spots on the front of my shirt.

I could only just look over the edge of the shirt, which Kakuzu was holding in front of my face. He immediately looked up at Hidan who looked from my chest to Kakuzu. Their expressions were a mix of fear and pity.

oOo

I sat in the kitchen on a chair by the dinner table with one arm resting on the table and the other hanging loosely down my side. Hidan was still looking at me in that weird, scared way and it was impossible for me to figure out what was going through his mind. I never thought that it would be possible for a human to see this, but it actually looked like he was having some kind of flashbacks. He was so distant.

Kakuzu left the kitchen to go to the bathroom to get some peroxide and cloths to wash me up. I stayed back with Hidan who was focusing on the wounds on my chest.

"Pretty impressive, huh?" I said sarcastically and managed to make a small chuckle in my throat. He finally made eye contact with me.

"Who did this to you?" he asked with difficulty. My guess was that he had a lump in his throat – why? - I did not know.

"I told you already, it doesn't matter," I said flatly and wished that he would just let it go already.

"Don't say tha-"

"Doesn't matter," I repeated and shot him a short and warning glare. I did not feel like talking about it. Hidan finally seemed to understand that I was not going to say anything as long as he tried to push me into doing it.

We sat in silence for a moment, but I just could not take it and felt like I had to say something and so I looked at him teasingly and asked, "So, what's with you and that Kakuzu guy. You seemed to be getting along pretty well." Hidan looked at me in astonishment and I was surprised to see his cheeks turn pink.

"Y-You saw that... didn't you? Well..." he stammered and looked away from my gaze, a small, shy smile appearing on his lips. "Well... It's nothing. We were just playing around." They were "playing around," but not in the way Hidan was implying that they were.

"I thought guys were only for the fun stuff. It didn't seem like that was all you were doing with that guy," I raised a brow and sent him a wide smile. He just kept looking away from me. That was answer enough for me. "So... What made you change your mind all of a sudden?"

He bit his lower lip and it looked like he was trying to think carefully about his reply before answering. "Well... You know we exchanged numbers, right? That day at the hospital." I nodded when he glanced at me. "Uhm... Well... Not long after that, he asked me out on a date... And... I... I accepted."

"Why?" My questions seemed to make him a little uncomfortable. Not in a bad way, he just became a little shy and unsure of himself.

"Because I have never been asked out on a date by a guy before so it was just different. I normally don't go on dates with men, but.. Well... Kakuzu just seemed different from both the guys and girls that I'm used to being around so I just went along because I thought it could end up becoming a fun experience."

"And then you fell in love with a dude just like that?" He looked at me like I was some kind of idiot and if it was not because I was hurt to begin with, I'm sure he would have hit me hard on the shoulder.

He tsk'ed and sent me a smile, "I never said that I was in love? We're just... Well... dating? Kinda."

"Kinda? Where do you think it's leading to or rather, which turn do you wish it to take yourself?"

"I don't know? I'm just gonna wait and see what happens. I think I like him more than most girls I've ever been with, but I'm not sure if I would be willing to go into a real relationship with a guy. I'm just afraid to hurt Kakuzu since I think that he is putting a lot into this. It was him who contacted me first, after all."

"Well, I don't know him that well, but he seems like a great guy. I'm sure whatever you choose it'll be for the best." We smiled at each other and he nodded agreeably.

"Hopefully... But... Iruka-san. Could you please not tell anyone about us?" he asked, fiddling with his fingers in his lap.

"I guess, how come?" In a way, that was a stupid question. He had seen what kind of problems being gay, or at least having people think that you were gay, had caused me and he probably just did not want the same to happen to him or Kakuzu. Though, Kakuzu seemed to be the only one here who was content about who he was. Maybe that was why he had appeared strange to me the first time I met him. He had these weird, feminine, smooth movements. Unlike Hidan and myself, Kakuzu knew what he were and who he was. As Hidan had said it, it was Kakuzu who asked Hidan out, after all. Did he have one of those so called gaydars all gay men claimed to have? I laughed mentally at the thought – maybe then he could tell me if I was gay or not.

"I don't really care what people think of me, but... I don't want Zabuza to know. Not until I know if this is serious or not. If it is, I want to tell him myself." I had heard something about Zabuza being picky about his friends and he was kind of unpredictable and had strong beliefs about certain things, including gay people. If the two of them really were best friends, then it was not hard to understand that Hidan would rather bring him the news himself.

"Don't worry, I'm not gonna tell anyone." He sent me a short, insecure smile and then looked away from me. We both went silent.

When Kakuzu returned, he removed all the blood from my body, disinfected the wounds and checked my nose, jaw, ribs and chest. He told me that I should be okay. My nose was not broken nor did my jaw and ribs seem to have taken damage and the wound did not need stitching or anything like that. He did point out, though, that the wounds were so deep that they were definitely going to scar.

I stood in front of the mirror in one of the bathrooms of Hidan's house, looking at my upper body. Forever scarred, I thought to myself, tracing one finger over the stinging skin on my chest.

Fag.

oOooOooOo

Phew, this chapter got long xD But I guess I owe you that for making you wait so long for it. Excuse of the day: I got so far behind with my homework that I was on the verge of getting kicked out for good – two years of (semi-) hard work would be wasted! I had to pull myself together and get everything done (actually, I was forced to do so since I wasn't able to avoid writing prison for the first time in two years -_-') But now I only have one essay left to make this year and I'm not behind with it... - yet xD... So I'll finally have time to write again!

Not proud of this chapter in anyway. Don't know if it's the stress that have caused me to become this bad at writing, but something must have happened 'cause I'm never satisfied with anything I do anymore. I said it before, though, and I'll gladly say it again: I did my best. If my best wasn't good enough, then I just have to work even harder.

Nonetheless, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I promise Kakashi action in the next chapter + Iruka's lifestory within the two-three next chapters. Now you have something to look forward too, hopefully xD. The next chapter will be up as soon as possible! I won't make you wait this long again and that's a promise *thumbs up, Gai smile*