A/N: I'm terribly sorry for the amount of time you had to wait for this chapter!

I owe a HUGE thanks to Adamantyne for helping me out with this chapter. My guess is this would have never been published if she had not taken matters into her own hands xD

*If you haven't done it yet, don't forget to vote on the Anything Else? poll on my profile page*

The one shot Top Magician won has been published! If you wanna read it, it's called "Complications" ^^!

Chapter 25

My legs were stretched out and crossed under the table, one arm lying flatly on top of it while the other was supporting my lazy head as I read through the newspaper. Only one headliner had caught my attention that day, but I had never been one to skip articles just to come to the part that I really wanted to read. I had always had this habit of skimming everything through so I was sure I did not miss anything even if the rest of the stuff displayed on the front page had seemed rather boring or less harrowing.

I yawned before taking a sip of my morning coffee. The dark liquid was not going to help me feel more awake since Kakuzu had practically brainwashed Hidan into thinking that normal coffee was not good enough for him. He had said something like, "It can screw up your digestion and the constant adrenaline rush is not good for your body either," which explained why I was currently drinking that mood killing rubbish – or as you might know it; decaffeinated coffee.

A sigh escaped my lips as I turned another page. Kakuzu wanted us to start drinking green tea instead, but I was never going to let go of my loyal companion. Especially not after I had found someone to share my passion with. Hidan was about the only other person I knew who would rather enjoy a cup of nice, hot coffee than that poor, watery replacement. It was now a matter of principles. Kakuzu-sensei might have taken away my precious wonder drug, but I would never substituteit completely, even if it had lost its special ability. The power it had to keep me awake for an unnatural amount of time.

The longcase clock clanged, implying that Hidan had been away for over an hour already. He had gone to pick up Kakuzu from work and would probably be back within the next 30 minutes or so. Man, life sure could be boring even when living with someone else than yourself, but the focus of Hidan's attention might have been the reason why I felt that way. Two roommates had not been a part of the deal when I first moved in with him, but I should have known the two of them would grow together eventually. It did not seem like anyone beside me had noticed that they were inseparable or at least it did not look like it made a bell ring in any of our friends' heads. Kakashi had not even evinced that he had gleaned the obvious signals the rich kid and doctor sent. Could it really be that I was still the only one who knew?

I shrugged at my own thoughts, took a another sip, then placed the cup back on the table. The article I wanted to read had finally been reached. Hopefully it would be able to keep my mind busy now that I did not have anything or anyone else to entertain me.

"A young man was brutally attacked Thursday night in an alleyway just outside his own house. According to the police report, the 20-year-old man had been beaten badly from the stomach and up. He had also taken several cuts from an unidentified object. The police claims to know who the man's attackers were due to the noticeable symbol that had been cut into his arm.

"We suspect that a group who calls itself the Akatsuki is behind this. The symbol carved into the victim was seen on several other people that have been under the same treatment as this latest victim," said the police officer who is currently on the case.

The assaulted is the police's only witness to this newest incident. The man told that there were four men present during the assault, but one man alone took part in the actual attack. The latter is described as to be around 190-200 cm. tall with sharp teeth, dull blue hair and a rather muscular appearance. The second man should reportedly have short orange hair with numerous facial piercings. The attacked did not have a detailed description of the last two and could only tell that one of them were a man while the last was a woman. Accordingly to the victim, all of the assailants were wearing long, dark cloaks.

The head of the investigation warned, "The Akatuski is a dangerous group of presumably mentally ill young men and women. If you see any of their members, stay calm and walk away at normal speed. Making yourself noticeable by running will only encourage them to go after you (...) They are known to wear long, black cloaks with red clouds on them. Also, they are usually seen with some kind of jewelry, which is shaped as an inverted triangle with a circle around it."

The Akatsuki is so far accused of several unprovoked assaults and two murders seemingly without any motive. The police believe that it is a cult that gets its thrills by torturing people. They work in groups and mostly appear during the dark hours. Therefore the police advise against anyone walking home alone at night.

The victim is currently hospitalized with a broken rib and hand. He will be receiving psychological help to help him cope with his trauma before his release that is set to happen in a few days."

What kind of sick bastards would do something like that? The poor guy would probably not be able to walk the streets in a long time without being scared of meeting someone like them again. The article kind of reminded me of the similar incident I myself had taken part in as the victim. I never reported anything since I did not see any reason for it.Even with his motive, Shikamaru was most likely to be cleared of all charges. Besides, I guess it was just karma. I had been the one to assault him first, after all. And I was not afraid that those men would return. They only attacked me because they were paid to do it, so actually in a way, the situations were very akin. At least not when you looked at it in that way. He would have both mental and physical impairments while I was just barely injured.

Did that mean luck had finally struck me? Should I be happy that the roles had not been reversed? I mean, I was going to survive what I had been through. Even all the mental pressure the villagers had put me under. If things got worse, I could always move. Well, I probably would not, but I still could. The victim in the article would never be able to escape from the angst. He would probably always fear that no matter where he went, something kindred would happen again.

I shook my head lightly and rose from the chair, the paper still suffering under my tight grip. Sometimes I seriously considered to start looking at things on the bright side, but somehow I always managed to turn the situation into something bad no matter how much I wished to be more positive. Well, that was probably just how you got when having been through the things I had. I would end up as a grumpy old fart. That was for sure.

The house was calm and quiet as I walked through the hall to get to my room. It came to me as a revelation when I caught something out of the corner of my eye.

A painting.

A black and purple painting.

Slowly, I turned to face the enormous painting that decorated the first wall you saw when walking into Hidan's house, using the front door.

My eyes tardily dropped to the paper I was still holding onto. With slightly shaky hands, I opened it on the page where I had read about that assault.

"Also, they are usually seen with some kind of jewelry, which is shaped as an inverted triangle with a circle around it."

My slinky sight went to the bottom of the article. There was a picture. A picture of the symbol that had been cut into the victim's arm.

"It's the same," I mumbled to myself as I looked back up at the painting. My eyes jumped back and forth from the paper to the painting a couple of times to make sure that it was not just my mind that was playing tricks on me. I soon came to the conclusion that it was in fact not just my fantasy, but those two symbols were exactly like.

Why would Hidan have a symbol like that hanging on his wall if it was used by a group of psychopaths? Did the symbol have some sort of meaning for itself or could you call it their symbol and not just any symbol? Was Hidan secretly a part of this group?

No, what was I thinking? I could not compare Hidan to those people.

Still, regardless of how long I tried to convince myself that he was innocent, I found myself standing in his room in front of his wardrobe, wondering how long I had till he got back.

My hand reached out for the door handle on its own, but I managed to pull it back before I could rip the closet open. Iruka, stop this, what the hell are you thinking? Even if he is an Akatsuki, are you sure you really want to know? You would not be able to look at him in the same way again. I doubt you would even be able to be in the same room as him. Oh Kami, what the hell do I do?!

And with that, my body decided on its own. The door was open and there was no way back.

Do not try to fool yourself. You would not even be able to do any of those things as long as you suspect he is guilty. Just look through his stuff and then you can relax when you do not find anything.

I stood for a moment without moving out of the spot. My eyes not even daring to look at the coat rack. Before I had gotten to take even the slightest peek, I remembered something from the night where Hidan had told me about his parents.

Quickly, I looked over at the nightstand. The piece of jewelry I had seen was not lying there anymore, but that did not change the fact that it had.

The article said the Akatsuki wore jewelry with that symbol and Hidan had one of those. I was sure of it.

My eyes were the first ones to turn their attention towards the closet again, soon followed by my head. The rest of my body remained in place, facing away from the wardrobe.

"Fuck," I whispered, not being able to collect my thoughts.

There it was. The black coat with red clouds.

I had no idea for how long I stood gawking at it, but it must have been for while and apparently I had been so lost in my thoughts that I did not hear Hidan's car parking in front of the house nor hear the front door open or the sounds of someone walking up the stairs. Before I registered that I should get the hell out of his room, he and Kakuzu walked right in on me going through his stuff.

They both put on a muddled look as they watched me try to comprehend the situation I had gotten myself into. I felt how my palms slowly became sweaty, my heart pumping faster against my chest.

Neither of us knew what to say and I understood that under the circumstances it was probably me who should explain myself, but what should I say? I could not tell him that I thought he was a member of some group of freaks who tortured people. Should I play it cool? Run? What about Kakuzu, did he know he was dating a psychopath?

I stepped away from the closet and tried to look at Hidan like I was not about to piss my pants.

"I... I was just lo-looking for my jacket." It was a true fact that I had not seen my jacket in a while and that I had no idea of where it was, but what a pitiful excuse it was for poking about in his wardrobe. He would have to be an idiot to believe that lie.

Hidan raised an eyebrow as he walked up beside me to store his and Kakuzu's jackets. I was following his every move, making myself ready to flee if necessary.

"You forgot it in the car. I thought you knew?" I think Hidan noticed that my eyes were constantly jumping from him to the black coat in the closet because suddenly he looked at it before looking back at me. I swore I saw his eyes narrow in a knowing manner.

My eyes immediately looked at anything but him and the coat. They were restlessly looking for a spot to focus on, but it was hard when Hidan was staring at me like that.

"Hey, Kakuzu?" Hidan caught the tanned man's attention and he hummed in his throat to show that he was listening.

"Do you know how to get rid of blood stains?" My body froze instantaneously. Did he just ask that?

"What? Uh, sure I do. Why?" Kakuzu replied, obviously confused by the pale man's question.

"No reason. By the way, I have a small errand to run later tonight. I was wondering if you would join me, Iruka?"

I looked at Hidan. He was sending me some sort of smile if you could even call that sick lip twist a smile. I gulped carefully, but could not gain the courage to answer. My eyes were slowly widening.

"It's just a small trip to the village. You don't mind, do you?" He turned to face me properly and crossed his arms over his chest impatiently. A trip to the city at night. Alone with him. He knew I had been snooping around. I was positive that I was about to faint. At least I would if it had not been for Kakuzu.

The tanned doctor slapped Hidan in the back of his head, hard. Glaring at him with eyes that could kill. "Hidan, you asshole!" I had never heard Kakuzu use such a firm voice. Definitely not when his words were directed towards Hidan. He was usually so mild with him.

"Ouch, what the hell was that for?!"

"You know very well what that was for! How can you be so atrocious?!"

They screamed at each other for a minute or two before finally turning towards a very confused me.

Kakuzu was still staring daggers at Hidan while the silvery haired man was looking at me apologetically. I did not understand. I probably looked like one big question mark.

"I'm sorry, Iruka," Hidan muttered, bowing before me.

I blinked a couple of times. My eyes really needed that after having been widening for so long. "What are you apologizing for?"

"I'm sorry that I tried to scare you on purpose."

"Scare me? What are you talking about." I felt a blush rushing to my cheeks, but I did my best to keep it from surfacing. I was not scared.

"I saw the newspaper in the hall, I guess you dropped it or something? And when I found you rummaging through my stuff and you seemed to be particularly keen on my coat there, I kinda figured what you were thinking." … I was speechless. Had he purposely tried to scare the crap out of me by pretending to want to kill me? I agreed with Kakuzu then. How big of an asshole could you be?!

"So what is it you think that I'm thinking?" I asked carefully. Hidan raised a brow at me again.

"You thought I was some psycho killer, did not you? Well, I'm not a part of the Akatsuki so you should be safe," he laughed, but stopped instantly when seeing the displeased look on Kakuzu's face.

"Oh, so you're not a member of the Akatsuki, huh? Then what is that awful painting still doing downstairs?" Kakuzu asked accusingly, Hidan bringing his hand to the back of his head to scratch it insecurely.

"Sorry about that, Kuzu, I promise to take it down soon, okay?"

"Do whatever you want, but you know how stupid I think it is, right?"

"Right," Hidan tried to send the other a smile, but Kakuzu only went for the door dismissively.

"I'll go prepare the food. Zabuza should be here soon so why don't you tell Iruka all about it in the meanwhile?" The brunet did not wait for an answer and was out the door before Hidan even got the chance to reply.

I gazed at the platinum blond perplexedly. What were they talking about? I understood absolutely nothing.

"Geez, Iruka, I'm sorry about Kakuzu. He gets a little moody whenever Zabuza is visiting. But don't mind him, he's just nervous." Right now Kakuzu was of my least concern. I was actually more interested in what Kakuzu wanted Hidan to tell me.

We stared at each other for a moment. I had nothing to say and simply kept quiet, hoping that he would somehow get that I really wanted him to clear up things for me. When he did not speak, my eyes wandered back to the cloak behind him. If he was not an Akatsuki, then why did he have those things? The necklace, the cloak, the painting.

Hidan followed my gaze and looked behind himself, ostensibly getting back on track.

"Oh, right, I should tell you what this is all about. Mind if I do it quick, I need to talk to Kakuzu before Zabuza arrives." I shook me head. "Cool," he continued. "Well, truth is that I was once a member of the Akatsuki – not that I'm proud of it, but that's ancillary – and that's why I have the cloak and the painting, which I have to remember to take down because Kakuzu hates me for still having it up when I'm not even a member anymore. I just can't seem to pull myself together to take it down and it means a lot to me since it was a big part of me once and I can't help but be proud that I actually created my own cult, you know? So-"

"Wait. Can you go a little slower? I don't follow you. You mean you founded the Akatsuki?" He was ranting like crazy. There was no way that anything was going to be less confusing if he kept up that pace.

"Sorry," he said quickly, just to continue again at the same speed. "Yes, I founded it. I was young and stupid back then. I went kinda crazy after losing my parents and the friends I got myself afterward was not exactly the kind you proudly present to anyone. So I came up with this God called Jashin that was all about pain, basically. But then things got out of hand and some of the members started hurting other people than themselves and the other members and I just sort of dropped out after that since they were taking it too far for my liking. I did not create Jashin to hurt innocent people. I created him to deal with my own problems, well, I guess it was quite the alternative way of dealing with the pain I felt by the loss of my parents. No, wait, there are some people who hurt themselves physically to cope with emotions, right? What is it they are called? Uuh, I can't remember, but that's doesn't matter anyway. I'm not a part of the group anymore and I have absolutely nothing to do with them at all. Period."

Yet again I had to blink a couple of times to try and realize what he had just said. His story was beyond my wildest imagination.

"You... created a religion?"

Hidan nodded, still trying to catch his breath from his latest harangue.

"And you formed a cult that worshiped that fictitious God?"

I received another nod.

"But your fellow members took the self harm too far and then you quit?"

"No, not exactly. They probably took the self harm a little too far as well, but that's only because in order to hurt others, you must also be able to hurt yourself at equal strength. But we were only meant to hurt ourselves and each other and that's when Pain and me did not agree."

"Pain? Is that his real name?" It was a stupid question when you thought of all the other things Hidan had told me, but the strange name was about the only thing I could comprehend. Everything else was just too... weird?

"No, that psycho even changed his name. Pretty sick, huh? He was my best friend and he was even the one to officially welcome me into the Akatsuki."

"But... I thought you founded it?"

"Sure, I did, but everyone had to go through a ritual to become a full member. Even I had to. See this?" He turned his head and pointed at his left ear. That rip in his ear had bothered me ever since I had first noticed it. Was I finally going to get an explanation for it? "I had an earring there, but I made him rip it out."

I wrinkled up my nose in disgust. How could he let someone do that to himself? It must have hurt like crazy. "Why?"

"I had to come up with a concept for the welcoming ritual and I just said the first thing that came into my mind, which meant everyone had to do something similar that would scar them forever in order to become a member. I know, it's stupid, but as said, I was young and dopey."

"You're right. That is pretty stupid." It slowly felt like I could start to relax again. Hidan had been fucked up, but got over it as he grew older. That kind of story was very familiar to me.

"Yeah, but it's all past now. We were just a bunch of kids, trying to cope with our pain. I'm just glad I got out of there before it was too late."

"How did Kakuzu find out?"

He chuckled, "He had treated some of the Akatsuki's victims so he knew the symbol and when he saw it he started questioning me pretty heavily since he did not wanna be involved with an Akatsuki member, which I guess is pretty understandable. Especially when he's all about helping people."

"But aren't you blaming yourself for those people who died or was attacked by the Akatsuki?"

"Me? No, I did not kill anybody, they did. It's not my fault that they are stupid enough to believe in a God that an 18-year-old kid made up. In fact, I'm kinda proud that something I made became this big and that someone is actually worshiping Jashin. My ideals were nothing like the ones the Akatsuki live by now. If I had not made that cult, they would probably just have become a part of some street gang and end up beating up people anyway."

I could see the point Hidan was trying to make, but still, if I had been him, I do not think I could have pretended to have a clear conscience. I would always feel like I was partly to blame. But maybe it was necessary for him to think like he did in order to be able to live with himself. I felt kind of sorry for the guy. He had been through a lot and never had there been anyone to help him. At least it did not sound like that aunt of his had been very helpful to him. She had probably just let him stay with her to keep a clear conscience herself.

"Did you hear that?" Hidan's outburst dragged me back to reality from my flow of thoughts. "I think I just heard a car. It's probably Zabuza. Damn, now I don't have time to talk with Kakuzu! Hey, could you maybe stall him for me? It will only take a minute."

I nodded and sent him a small smile, wondering if our little conversation had not touched him one bit or if he was just pretending that it did not.

"Sweet. Hey, are you gonna watch American football with us tonight?"

"I might join," I answered as we made our way out of his room.

I could not exactly claim that I was thrilled by the thought of having to stall Zabuza nor spend the evening with him. The thought of being alone with that guy was actually more frightening than what Hidan had just told me. Somehow his Akatsuki background seemed like nothing compared to Zabuza. I just never knew what to say when he was around. And he did not talk much to me either – unless of course he was in a complaining mood. Oh well, what you are not willing to do for friends.

The evening went better than expected. Zabuza settled with screaming at the television instead of the rest of us, which was pretty uncommon and very fortunate since Hidan was about the only one who would not be on the verge of mental break down once Zabuza finished his daily rebukes.

During half-time, Hidan brought in another round of beers to celebrate that the team they were voting for had taken the lead. I still did not get which team were which and frankly I did not care all that much. American football and actually any sport in general had never really caught my interest. I was not sure what Zabuza's reasons for watching it were. I figured that Hidan liked it because he was half-American and had lived there for some time. But Zabuza? As far as I knew, there were not any Japanese or even Asian football teams. At least not any that had made it to the big league. He seemed to enjoy the violence, though, so that was probably why he chose to watch something like that over any normal Japanese sport. Maybe I was just being a tad too patriotic, but was not it better to support our own sports than America's? They had enough ass-kissers already.

Kakuzu agreed with me. Not for the same reasons, but it still counted. He just did not like the brutality of the game. It was pointless, he had said.

"Cheers!" Hidan exclaimed and touched bottles with Zabuza before sitting back down beside him on the couch. Kakuzu sat smiling in the arm chair opposite mine, taking a sip of his organic beer. Zabuza had already pointed out how gay he thought the kind of beer Kakuzu drank was, but the tanned man had only looked at Hidan who chuckled along with his friend. Both Kakuzu and me knew Hidan meant nothing bad with his actions, it was simply his way of interacting with Zabuza.

Nobody said anything for a moment so Kakuzu decided to try and make a conversation with Zabuza again. I was thankful to him. It was not like any of us enjoyed sitting in silence, watching the commercials. "So, has anything happened lately?" he asked and glanced at everyone though mainly the tall, pale man next to Hidan.

Hidan knew the question was not directed towards him so he remained silent while I just shook my head. Those two knew right about anything that happened in my life while I too knew what happened in theirs. Would be pretty empty talk if any of us answered. Only Zabuza would be able to gain something from the conversation then.

The tall man luckily did not fail to answer. Not that any of us had been worried that he would not have something to complain about.

"Two of my windows were smashed last night so I had to sleep with only a pair of thin chip boards covering them," he kvetched and crossed his arms, his stout remaining in one hand.

"Do you know who did it?" Hidan leaned back in his seat and looked at Zabuza with a raised brow.

"Probably some of those brats from the orphanage." He did not look very pleased when speaking that last word.

I could not help myself. "Why do you think that?" Everyone's attention turned to me. They probably never imagined that I would have joined the conversation. At least not at this early point. But I had never told any of them about my life story. If I had, they would know that I had a lot to say in this matter.

"That's the stupidest question I've heard in a long time. It's always them. They don't have any parents so there's no one to bring them up properly. No one to teach them right from wrong."

"Well, that's some assumption. Don't you think you are coarsening it just a tiny bit?" My voice was gelid and quizzical. I did not intend it to come out the way it did, but it was simply just too hard for me to hide my true emotions when it came to that particular subject.

"Pfft, don't you think you are just a tiny bit ignorant?" Zabuza mocked. "Everyone knows it's a fact that those kids can't control themselves. They are begging for attention and using all the wrong methods to get it. See, if it was up to me, those parasites would all be gathered on an island and then they could carry out their criminal deeds without us normal people having to suffer from it." The tall man laughed uproariously, making me want to slap him right on the nose.

"Hey, those children are no different from any other children!" I raised my voice greatly and pointed admonitory at Zabuza who just frowned and leaned forward in his seat to meet my warning glare. I noticed that Kakuzu was suddenly finding a great interest in fiddling with the sleeve of his shirt while Hidan was just gawking at us curiously.

"You sure are naïve, Iruka," he growled in a dangerously low tone.

"And you're a supercilious idiot." My choice of words seemed to take everyone by surprise and to be honest, I was a bit astounded myself.

"Oookay, I think you've both proved your points. Should we get back to the game?" Hidan asked and looked at both of us shiftily, but we did not even pretend to be listening to him.

My palms went moist and sweat threatened to appear on my forehead. Those were the first monitory signals, telling me that I should back down immediately if I did not want the quarrel to turn into something I would regret later. But I could not. Zabuza had no right to say such things. At least if he had, then I had the right to express myself freely too.

"Orphaned children has the right to be here just as much as anyone else if not more. Do you have any idea of what those kids are going through every single day of their life, huh? Oh shit, I forgot, you don't care about anyone else than yourself!" Zabuza lowered his head and looked at me furiously. If getting personal was the only thing that seemed to make my words come through to him, I was ready to label him anything regardless of how savage I had to become.

"I'm just looking out for myself. Besides, why should I be saddled with those children when the only reason why they don't have any parents to begin with are because no one wants them?" He was being harsher than usual. Or maybe not. It could just be that it felt worse when his judging words were literally directed towards me. It did not matter. I would not let Zabuza win this time.

I snorted at his anserine remark. "How stupid can a person be?"

"What the hell is your problem, Iruka? All I'm saying is that they do not belong here!" My eyes widened and I felt a pain in my mouth when I realized I was grinding my teeth. Blood was pumping through my vein faster than before. This was not good.

"What?!" I snarled, taking a step back when Zabuza rose to his feet to level with me. I had not even noticed that I had positioned myself in front of him. Kami, this definitely was not good.

"I said, they. do. not. belong. here." He was speaking slowly and clearly as if I was imbecile, needing everything to be cut out in cardboard.

"You don't belong here!"

"Guys, sit down, please," a small, annoying voice interrupted from the sideline. It was Hidan again.

A tremendous expand of my lungs occurred as I in- and exhaled menacingly. My mouth was watering. He had crossed the line. "Care to repeat that one more time?" I hissed through my teeth, staring at him provokingly.

"Is it even necessary?" he spat, glowering right back at me with those dark, blazing eyes.

I was seeing red and I could not stop my fist from hitting out at Zabuza. The smacking sound of flesh clashing with flesh rung throughout the living room and soon my body was forcing Zabuza's back till we both tumbled over behind the couch. The three-piece suite was then no longer an obstacle and we had the entire living room as our own personal wrestling ring.

"Say it again!" We got back up on our feet and Zabuza directed a punch towards my face while I was still trying to get a foothold, but he must still have been a little disorientated after that first blow because I only needed to jerk my head a bit to the side for him to miss.

I repaid the compliment by sucker punching his gut.

"Iruka, calm do-" I punched him once.

"You don't belong here!"

I punched him twice.

"Oh right, I almost forgot – you don't have any parents."

Trice.

"Loser!"

And another.

"Iruka, stop!" Hidan dragged me away from Zabuza.

"I dare you to say it again!" I screamed with closed eyes, fighting the best I could to get out of Hidan's firm grip. I was not very much aware of my surroundings.

"Calm down, damn it!"

"Zabuza, are you alright?!"

"Get him out of here, Kakuzu!"

I panted and taunted at Zabuza, not really noticing that he was not even in the room anymore.

"Iruka, stop it, calm down!" Hidan tightened his grip, but I finally managed to break free, stomping with rapid steps towards my room, still not actually registering what was going on around me.

oOo

There were a few knocks on the door before the person behind it cracked it open carefully.

I was standing with my back against the individual entering. Judging by the way the throat was cleared, I figured it was a man.

A moment went by without anything happening, but then someone lay their hand on my shoulder and I snapped, turning around on my heels and pushing the person away from me with such force that he stumbled backwards, falling to his bottom.

When I looked up at the man I had practically attacked, I finally returned to reality.

"Kakashi?" I whispered, staring at him without moving out of the spot. He got back up on his feet and did not complain one bit about my assault.

"Are you alright?" he asked when he walked up beside me.

I took a look around the room, having a bad feeling about the situation already after gazing at the first thing in my field of vision. A broken chair.

Kakashi immediately spotted the puzzled look I was wearing and again placed a hand on my trembling shoulder.

"Sit." My eyes glided back to the silver haired man in front of me. He was motioning for me to take a seat in probably the only thing that was not completely destroyed in the room.

I hesitated, but eventually did as told and I was soon joined by him.

A painstaking smile appeared on his face as he spoke, "Feel like telling me what this is all about?" His voice was so calm and caring. I could not help but stare at him, which I ended up doing for quite a while before finally giving him a small nod.

oOoOoOoOo

And then I returned from a less productive summer vacation!

I'm really, really sorry for keeping you waiting. I know, I'm a terrible author :(...
I'm no longer gonna promise you fast updates just because it's a promise that can easily be broken. But I'll definitely gonna try!

I'm finally feeling confident about Anything Else? again. Ever since Adamantyne and I read the entire story through, I started feeling less discouraged about the stories progress and my written language. Now, I'm not trying to pat myself on the shoulder, but last chapter's language was a huge betterment compared to all the other chapters. So now that I can see that I'm actually getting something out of writing this, my head is back in the game. Also, I've finally come to the chapters that I've been dying to write ever since the beginning of the story xD!

Be prepared - Iruka is about to reveal the story of his life!

Oh, and again, please vote on the Anything Else? Poll on my profile :D

Planning on writing an exclusive extra chapter with the winning characters once the story is done. So better vote if you have an opinion ;D

By the way, I think we should all show Adamantyne some appreciation by reading her story "No" - and "Problematisk" if you're Danish or don't mind reading through google translate (- we tried; it's actually a pretty good translation it came up with xD!)
I'm pushing her to finish one of the stories she's still writing so hopefully there will be more from her soon. I love her written language and she has a special talent for psychoanalyzing characters so you can always expect top stories from her. Unfortunately she's new to the Naruto fanfiction world and so she only has two stories (plus she deleted her wrestling stories -_-' so, yeah, her story list doesn't look like much, but it will sooner or later! Believe me, she really is an amazing writer!)

Hope this chapter was enjoyable enough. I'll return again ASAP!