Chapter 7

And The Story Starts...!

There were so many of them…! Which ones to choose? He sure didn't know. Hell, he didn't know why he was here to begin with! He sighed, rubbing absent-mindedly his neck.

"What are you looking for, Iruka-sensei?" a young blond woman asked him curiously from behind the sale counter. There was a familiar air about her somehow... Oh, yes, he remembered. Yamanaka Ino. He had taught her a few years back, she had been in Naruto's class, if he was not mistaken. Time passed by so fast...

"Hn, actually, I don't even know myself," Iruka explained with a sloppy smile, scratching the bridge of his nose nervously. "There are so many species here... I'm afraid I'm a bit lost in all these flowers...!"

"I take it that you don't buy flowers often then! Who's the lucky girl, Iruka-sensei?" the blonde asked him, her big blue eyes gleaming with curiosity.

"Heh? Oh! No, no, it's nothing like that!" the man hurried to explain to the obviously disappointed girl. "I'd like to buy flowers for... somebody who's been hospitalized."

"Oh, I see. You're looking for something that will express your attachment and wish your friend a rapid recovery, isn't it?"

"Erm... No, not exactly. We're not... well... Hn, I just want something to brighten up his room a bit," Iruka explained hesitantly.

"Is that so? Then you'd be better off with colourful flowers. Do you want any help to choose them?"

"Ah, thank you but I'd prefer looking around on my own..."

The blond teenager nodded and went back to the book she had been reading before. Iruka was glad she had left him alone: he had never enjoyed being followed around by a seller when he was purchasing something - he always ended up feeling guilty if he didn't buy anything. On the other hand, he felt totally at a loss in front of all those rows of flowers... Maybe he should have accepted her help, after all...

She had said colourful flowers, heh? He looked at the vividly pink lilies in front of him and inwardly winced. Those were colourful enough... But somehow it seemed wrong to give a man pink flowers. Same thing for purple... Blue did not seem bright enough and red was totally out of the question, he thought as he rapidly passed in front of a bunch of crimson roses. He didn't want Kakashi to imagine he had gotten himself an admirer or anything! He just wanted to brighten a bit his lonesome and gloomy room. Maybe he could buy him something orange or yellow. Yes, yellow sounded good. So he looked for yellow flowers.

Ten minutes later, Iruka was leaving the flower shop with a small and simple bouquet of lively yellow flowers. It wasn't the most beautiful one, nor did it smell particularly good, but it was a nice little bouquet nonetheless. It was a bright Sunday afternoon and, he had to admit, the weather was rather nice for winter. Iruka could feel the soft heat of the sun on his tanned face, warming him from the cool air outside. It felt nice. It was the kind of day you wake up on thinking that nothing wrong could happen to you.

Iruka took a big breath, bracing himself, and made his way to the hospital to visit one sick jounin. It had been three days since his first visit and he had come back to check on Hatake Kakashi twice since then. He didn't know exactly why, it surely wasn't because he cared for the other man or enjoyed his company - he kept sleeping the whole time. Maybe it was because he felt guilty about his previous behaviour toward the jounini. Maybe. Or maybe it was just because he secretly wished the man would wake up so he could finally apologize to him and be able to go back to his life and stop feeling guilty about what he'd said. Namely, he wanted to clean his conscience. To be able to inwardly hate the man for what he made him go through without feeling remorse about it anymore. He had prepared himself for it and he knew what he would tell the silver-haired man when that discussion would occur. He learned it by heart. He even tried to think of every reaction Kakashi-sensei could have and what he could possibly reply to him. But, knowing the jounin, Iruka was sure he would find a way to astonish him anyway, no matter how mentally prepared he was.

The brown-haired man entered the hospital and was greeted by the middle-aged healer nin watching the entrance.

"Ah, Iruka-san. You have come to see Hatake-sama again? And you even brought him flowers? How nice of you," she told him with a pleased smile.

"Thank you, but I'm not sure he's able to fully appreciate it in the state he's in," Iruka joked half-heartedly.

"Oh, you don't know? Hatake-sama woke up yesterday night." Iruka felt his heart tighten painfully in his chest.

"R-really?"

"I heard so. The Hokage said he would need a lot of rest though. If you're lucky, he may be awake right now."

"Oh... That would be great," Iruka replied with a forced smile as he headed for the jounin's room silently. To tell the truth, he did not think it was such a great thing at all. No, he didn't. He had thought himself ready to confront Kakashi when he woke up, but now that the fateful moment was about to take place... he felt anxious. So anxious that his throat felt dry and his chest painfully tight. He told himself it was stupid to get so upset over it - all he had to do was to apologize for punching him and leave. It wasn't a big deal. Just apologize and leave. And he couldn't care less about what that weirdo thought or said afterward. He would have apologized and that's all that mattered. Yes, that's all that mattered...

All too soon, Iruka arrived in front of the jounin's room. He stood there, staring at the door a bit anxiously. Would Kakashi-sensei be awake? Hesitantly, he tried to sense the chakra waves in the room to see if he was awake or not.

The brown-haired man was surprised to discover that the jounin was alone in the room. Wasn't someone supposed to watch over him...? But of course it made sense: if he woke up yesterday, the Hokage came and probably got all the information she needed out of the wounded nin by then. So there was no point watching over him anymore. For some reason, Iruka felt a bit sad for the jounin.

Iruka focused on Kakashi's chakra flow. It was very perturbed, but the rhythm seemed to be one of an alert man. So he was awake... Iruka sighed, resting his forehead on the wooden door. Stupid heart that kept on pounding so hard in his chest...! He had no reason to be nervous, he just had to apologize and take his leave... Besides, he had already come too far to possibly back down now. As an afterthought, the chuunin gazed at the eye-burning yellow flower bouquet he was holding in his hands and he grimaced. He hadn't intended to let Kakashi know he bought him a bouquet in the first place. He just wanted to leave it there anonymously while he was sleeping so the jounin wouldn't feel too lonely in his empty room when he woke up, but it seemed fate had wanted otherwise... Damn. Why did he even buy him that stupid bouquet to start with? He hoped Kakashi wouldn't imagine he cared or something...

Bracing himself, Iruka softly knocked on the door.

Hn? What-?

He could feel sunlight pouring over his face, burning his closed eyes through heavy eyelids. What? Why was that light disturbing him again? He felt so tired, he just wished he could sleep in his bed some more... Just one hour or two... The brats would have to wait just a little bit more for him...

Wait. Was he really in his bed? His bed didn't smell like that... The bed he was lying on had a strangely familiar but not pleasant scent... He knew that neutral smell far too well... It was the hospital's.

Then it all came back to him. He relaxed a little in his white bed, sighing. Back at the hospital again, huh? That was just his luck... Well to say the truth, he had it coming this time. Kakashi tried is best to forget Tsunade's harsh words when he previously gave her his mission report, but they kept on coming fast and thick to his still sleepy mind. Of course, she had been right: it had been careless and unprofessional of him to try carrying out that mission in both his physical and mental state. He had been reckless, exhausted and unfocused... More unfocused than anything else, in fact. And he knew it. If his mind hadn't been elsewhere, he surely enough wouldn't have fallen for those missing nins' trap. To think that he almost lost his life to a handful of jounin-ranked missing nins, what a shame... That wasn't like him at all. At least he successfully killed them all, but the state he came back in spoke a lot... Before he felt asleep, he vaguely remembered Tsunade telling him something about blown up chakra channels...

Blown chakra channels... He really did push himself too far this time. To think that if it hadn't been for Iruka-sensei passing by, he would be dead...

Iruka-sensei. That name brought a lot of mixed feelings to his pained mind and heart. He could feel his chest clench painfully at the thought of their last encounter... The hurt look in his eyes, the bitterness of his voice... He remembered them far too well.

It was his fault. He was the one who upset the plain, normal sensei so much with his twisted ideas and his clumsy and tactless words. Kakashi swallowed painfully. Why was he feeling do upset over the whole thing? Why did he care so much about what Umino Iruka thought of him? He had already hurt people's feelings before, he had already been yelled at before, but it had never affected him so much. Maybe it was because Iruka was such a good and caring person... He did not deserve to have his life perturbed by a social havoc like him, after everything that he'd done for the village... But somehow, this chain of thought didn't seem to ease his tortured mind: on the contrary, he only felt guiltier.

He did not understand why his plan had backfired at him so badly. He had tried to be truthful with the chuunin. He had thought back then that Iruka deserved that much. That he would want to hear the truth and not some sloppy lies. That it was the right thing to do. He did what he thought was the right thing to do... right? Right?

Just then, a soft knocking on the door startled him. Healer nins usually didn't knock before entering. Who could that be? Whoever that might be, he didn't feel like seeing anybody right now. He wanted to be left alone. Especially since he didn't have his mask on and didn't even have the strength to pull the blanket over his wounded face to cover it. He felt naked and weak and didn't want anybody to see him in that state.

Kakashi remained silent, hoping to be left alone. The visitor behind the door knocked softly again.

"Kakashi-sensei? Can I come in?"

Kakashi felt his chest tighten: it was Umino Iruka's voice! At once, he started panicking. Iruka-sensei, standing outside the door? That couldn't be! It couldn't! He was really the last person he wanted to see right now... He wasn't even sure he could look him in the eyes...! Oh, of all people, why him!?

But before Kakashi's chain of thoughts could go any further, he heard the door creek open. At once, without even thinking, he closed his eyes and faked being asleep. He stayed still and tried to slow down his agitated pulse to give the man the impression he was truly sleeping. A small voice in the silver-haired man's head was telling him he was a coward, but he couldn't care less. He desperately didn't want to have to confront the chuunin again. Not so soon. Not before he figured out why he had messed up so miserably the last time – one mess was enough, and he didn't want to accidently hurt the man again.

At the doorway, the chuunin remained silent, obviously staring at the bed-ridden man. To the jounin's utter disappointment, Umino Iruka did not turn around and leave as the man expected him to. Kakashi heard him close the door behind him silently and felt something sink lower inside of him. Then, he heard Iruka's footsteps crossing the room toward the window. There was a soft rustling sound, then the chuunin slowly walked around his bed and sat on the wooden chair beside his bed that the guard had used to watch over him. Silence ensued.

...Surely enough, the chuunin wouldn't wait for him to wake up, would he? That was bad... Kakashi could feel his skin princkle under the other man's intense gaze, utterly uncomfortable and humiliated to be seen in such an embarrassing position - and by Iruka-sensei, of all people. It made him feel even weaker and helpless. He wanted to hide, hide under those stinky white blankets and never come out again. Never let the chuunin's eyes wander on him again... bear the sight of him again...

Kakashi didn't understand what the man was doing there. Why would he want to see him anyway? He made it quite clear he hated his guts after what he'd done-

"Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi's heart skipped a few beats when he heard his name out of the brown-haired man's mouth - it was a miracle he managed not to let it show. After a few seconds of silence, he heard Iruka sigh.

"Do you intend to fake sleeping like that for a long time?" the chuunun asked him flatly, a tad of exasperation in his voice.

Kakashi felt his heart tighten painfully in his bandaged chest. Damn. Why did it have to happen to him? Now he would have to confront the chuunin... and he wasn't ready for it. He doubted he would ever be, in fact, but still, the prostect of talking with the academy teacher again was unnerving... His heart was pounding like mad and his throat raw with nervousness. He didn't know what to tell him: he didn't want to hurt the poor man again. If only he could keep on faking sleeping... But it wasn't like he had the choice anymore. Unwillingly, he opened his mismatched eyes to stare at the ceilling, carefully avoiding the younger man's eyes.

"Was I so obvious?" the jounin asked quietly on his usual unconcerned tone, his nervousness well-hidden behind his usual mask of nonchalance. Iruka didn't answer. The room was oddly silent for a moment, as both men seemed reluctant to speak up.

"Thank you for saving me," Kakashi said quietly after a while, not exactly knowing what to say - or even what reaction he was hoping for as he said those few words. Somehow, his words of gratitude didn't provoke any kind of reaction from the visitor, who remained silent once again.

A tense, uneasy silence soon installed itself between them, making the silver-haired man feel even more awkward. Was he supposed to say something else? But he couldn't think of anything to say - or at least, nothing intelligent... After what seemed like an eternity to Kakashi, the academy teacher broke the silence, finally speaking up quietly but on a firm tone.

"I wanted to apologize for hitting you the other day," the jounin heard Iruka say. His head sprang toward Iruka's face, surprise written on his bandaged features. What? Iruka-sensei was apologizing to him? Wasn't he the one who was supposed to be frustrated here? Wide-eyed, the jounin stared at the chuunin's face, trying to figure out what his unexpected attitude held. Iruka's head was slightly turned away from him, his dark eyes firmly set on the jounin's bandaged right hand, staring at it as if they couldn't truly see it. Strangely enough, the chuunin's face was blank, devoid of expression, which was highly uncharacteristic of him. He had learned at least that much in all those months of spying...

"I understand that you have some..." the brown-haired man continued, choosing carefully his words, "unique social conceptions and that you probably didn't intend to insult me. I was under the impression you were making fun of me and I now realize my actions were not... appropriate," There was an awkward pause, Iruka's eyes still resting on Kakashi's hand. "But don't get me wrong: I still haven't forgiven you for stalking me. I just wanted to clarify it."

The jounin blinked blankly. Oh. Figures. That was to be expected. But somehow, Kakashi couldn't help but feel his heart sink even lower at those words. In the end, Iruka still hated him and he had wanted him to know about it.

"... I see," he answered quietly, setting his gaze back to the ceilling. And the uneasy silence came back. The chuunin had said what he had to say and was about to leave him alone again. Not that he minded - having the brown-haired man so close to him only reminded him how much he loathed himself for hurting the nice and caring man. He was happy the academy teacher was leaving; he would be able to go back to brooding over his mistakes alone once again...

But Iruka wasn't leaving.

...Why wasn't he leaving already? There was nothing else to add. Why wouldn't he leave him alone to brood in peace?

But Iruka wouldn't leave. Was he waiting for Kakashi to add something? Was he even supposed to have anything to answer back to this? Did he say something wrong or what? But he nearely didn't say anything at all...! What was he expected to do? He wished he had a clue what was going on in the academy teacher's head at the moment...

They both jumped when they heard someone snickering quietly at them. Kakashi turned his eyes toward the entrance of the room to see a smirking Tsunade leaning on the doorframe, an indescribable flame burning in her cunning hazel eyes - she was giving him that look again. As if she understood something he didn't. And, Kakashi thought ironically, she probably did - she always did. Damn perceptive old woman...

"Hokage-sama!" Iruka cried, as surprised as him by the woman's presence.

"You guys sure make a strange sight together. Why the funeral ambiance? Are you mourning or what?" she asked lightly, walking in. There was a very short awkward silence and Iruka looked away, obviously uneasy.

"Maa, we're in a hospital," the jounin explained lazily, only too happy to be a little distracted from the other's man presence. The blond woman approached him.

"How are you feeling, Kakashi?"

"Fine."

Of course he was fine, he was so doped up he couldn't even feel his limbs anymore. Who wouldn't be? Just then, Iruka got up and bowed stiffly at the Hokage.

"You probably have important things you need to discuss with Kakashi-sensei, Hokage-sama. I will-"

"Oh, by all means, stay Iruka," she cut him off. "I wouldn't want you to shorten your visit for me. I just dropped by because I hadn't had the occasion to discuss Kakashi's treatment with him yesterday night."

Iruka sat back hesitantly, a light disappointement showing on his tanned face. Tsunade's eyes shifted to the jounin.

"As I was telling you before you fell asleep on me yesterday," -there was a small pause for good mesure- "you overworked your chakra reserves and blew up three major chakra channels. You also had a few serious injuries, but we took care of them and they will be totally healed within a few days. Unfortunately, things won't work out so easily with your channels," she added reproachfully. Kakashi felt mildly indignant at her tone: as if he screwed them up on purpose!

"There's no way even for me to fix your channels. All we can do is to wait for them to heal naturally. But we'll use everything at our disposal to insure the healing process works out fine. More importantly, you'll have to rest a lot if you want them to mend properly," she continued on a strict tone. "Of course, all chakra use is absolutely PROHIBITED until then. FORBIDDEN! Have I made myself clear, Kakashi?" the blonde woman asked authoritatively.

"I'm not deaf," the jounin sighed. It would be a very, very painful stay at the hospital...

"Don't joke around with this, Kakashi!" Tsunade scolded him. "If your channels don't mend properly, it'll affect your chakra flow and you might not be able to use chakra for the rest of your life."

"I know."

That answer met with a serious silence. "Good. You'll stay bed-ridden until they are mended. You will be given a medication specially made by me that will facilitate the natural mending of your chakra channels. The downside of that medication is that it will paralyze most of your body muscles. You might be able to move a bit your head and your facial features if you're lucky enough, though. Anyhow, you'll have to stay here at the hospital for the whole duration of the treatment; you may return home afterward."

"How long will that treatment last?" Kakashi inquired at once.

"At least 20 days." The jounin seemed perturbed. He shifted in his bed, obviously trying to sit up.

"No way in hell I'm-!"

"I'm afraid you don't have a choice," the Godaime cut off him sternly, pushing him back on his bed.

"But!" he looked away from Iruka, ashamed of the words that were already forming themselves in his raw throat. "You know I can't stand this place...! I'm NOT going to stay here for three fucking weeks!" he argued heatedly.

"Oh, believe me, you will," she replied sternly, almost daring the younger man to say otherwise. "I know you have issues with hospitals, but you should have thought about this before launching yourself into that stupid mission, kiddo. You know that if there was any other way around it, I'd more than gladly bend to your request-" she stopped on her train of thought, suddenly thinking about something. Whatever it was, it couldn't be any good for him because her lips were twisting themselves in a disturbingly evil smile, her eyes gleaming with a cleverness he had long learned to dread. No, that couldn't be good... Not good at all...

"Now that you mention it, I think I could grant you your request," she smiled evilly at him. Kakashi was already starting to regret having asked her anything to begin with. "Iruka!" she shouted as she sprang around toward the silent man, who gave a start on his chair. "You'll be in charge of watching over Kakashi until he can return home."

There was a stunned pause, then...

"WHAT?" both men shouted at the smug-looking Hokage, utterly astounded, eyes popping out of their sockets. No way! S-she must have been joking, right? She wasn't serious! She couldn't be serious...! She was pulling a joke on them, she couldn't possibly want to...!

"H-Hokage-sama, you can't be serious...!" the brunette said weakly, voicing out Kakashi's thoughts, his complexion suddenly much paler than usual.

"Why, yes I am," she replied with a smirk. Iruka gulped. Kakashi, on the other hand, could only gape at her, totally thrown away by her decision.

"Hokage-sama, I-I'm sure there are people more suited for such a task than I am..."

"Probably. But I asked you to do it."

"But-"

"No 'buts' Iruka," Tsunade shot him back strictly. "Those are my final words."

"You can't-" the jounin managed to say hoarsely.

"Please reconsider this, Hokage-sama-"

"Stop whining already," she brushed off their complaints severely. "I gave you an order, Iruka. As for you Kakashi, I want to remind you that you're the one who insisted to be sent out of the hospital."

Kakashi could only stare helplessly at her, too stunned to even think something to answer back, his naked mouth open ajar. Of course he had wanted to be removed from the hospital, but he hadn't...! He never wanted things to turn out like that! She couldn't be serious! It-it must have been some kind of twisted nightmare, it couldn't be possible! This couldn't be happening!

"But..." Iruka started off weakly, his voice shaking ever so slightly, "I have other responsibilities...!"

"Which will be taken care of by someone else," the woman replied simply to him. "The winter holidays start in five days. I'll have another chuunin finishing the term with your class until then." Iruka could only gape at her helplessly like a fish out of the water.

"Hokage-sama..." Kakashi managed to choke out, a silent plead in his desperate voice. She sighed heavily.

"Are you grown men or what? Don't tell me you can't put aside your differences for a couple of days?" Her question was rewarded by an awkward silence, both men looking away, knowing only too well she was right.

"You see? This is exactly why I decided to set you up together in the beginning," she explained to them. "So you could work out your little misunderstanding. You need to-"

"Little misunderstanding? You call it a 'little misunderstanding'?" Iruka said crossly. "He stalked me for months-"

"Umino Iruka." Tsunade warned him. "You are not a child, you are a ninja. And I can't accept, as the leader of this ninja village, to have such tension between my soldiers. Moreover... You, who have Naruto's best interest at heart, should understand more than anybody else why you need to keep a good relationship with Kakashi."

Iruka looked down at the floor, his jaw and fists clenched so hard that it hurt and swallowed down the bile he had been about to spit at her. Kakashi gulped nervously at the frustration the other man was radiating, some part of him wondering why the floor wasn't burning under such intense gaze.

"You will be taking care of Kakashi as you have been asked to," The Hokage ordered him in a slow and powerful voice. "Have I made myself clear, Iruka?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama," the other man whispered calmly, his gaze never leaving the ground.

"Very well. You can take your leave now. I will contact you tomorrow to give you further information about your mission."

Iruka didn't need to be told twice: he turned on his heels and left the room in a hurry, not saying a single word. The room felt strangely empty and silent after his departure, leaving Kakashi staring blankly at the door he had last seen the man walk through. Kakashi let out a shaky breath. That was a real nightmare! Minutes ago, he had been scared by the mere thought of facing the chuunin, and now he would have to be under his care... For weeks? Oh, what had he done to deserve something like that? How could Tsunade do that to him...? How could she do that to them...?

"Why 'd'you do that...?" he muttered helplessly, his voice shaking with emotions he didn't understand.

"Kakashi, believe me; I have your best interest at heart."

"Then why...? You know what happened. You know he hates me..." the wounded jounin whispered miserably.

"It's not that simple, Kakashi," she sighed. "He's got his pride. Give him some time," she turned her hazel eyes to his mismatched face, a small apologetic smile appearing on her suddenly tired features. "This discussion must have exhausted you, Kakashi. You should rest now."

Slowly, the Godaime made her way to the door. As she was about to exit the room, she paused at the threshold and looked back at the window mysteriously.

"Besides, I'm sure he doesn't hate you as much as he lets on." And, without another word, she left and closed the door behind her.

Kakashi was left alone in the sun-bathed white room, dreadful thoughts swirling lazily in his head, already apprehending the days that were to come. His heart ached at the very idea. Umino Iruka and him, caught together in the same house for nearly three weeks… Seconds passed by painfully slowly as his tormented mind could not find rest in the prospect of what was awaiting him. Twenty days with Iruka... He could already see the coldness in his eyes, hear the bitterness in his voice, and feel the harshness and the repulsion of his forced touch on his skin... The Hokage was wrong for once; Iruka truly did hate him, he knew it...

He stared at the window, gazing at the clear blue sky scoffing at him. How could the weather be so nice on such a miserable day? It almost felt insulting to see the sun shine with such strength when his world was slowly collapsing...

That was when a spot of yellow caught his eyes.

Yellow flowers.

To be continued