Sorry it took me so long, but this chapter took an eternity to write! I thought I would never be able to finish it! No wonder though: it's by far the longest chapter I've ever written. Over 11,300 f--ing words, all for your reading pleasure, ladies and gentlemen. In fact it was so long that after first posting it yesterday night, I decided to cut it in half this morning because it was honestly not pleasant at all to read such a long chapter. So the first half of it is here now, and I'll post the other half tomorrow - just to make the pleasure last a bit. Afterward, the story will be on hiatus - but you'll find more details about it in the author's comments in the next chapter. You guys better like it and leave lots and lots of comments!

And yes, Iruka is a bit immature in this chapter, but I really wanted it that way because I think it's more realist. No matter how mature someone is, there's always some moments - those moments - when he/she starts thinking like an immature jerk for no reason at all. That's what we call being human...

As usual, unbetaed and full of mistakes. If you feel like correcting them, go ahead and send me a review, I always appreciate it a lot. Sorry for that. Here's a small summary. Since I'm such a nice person.

Summary: Kakashi is feeling weird emotions when Iruka is around - emotions he can't understand or explain. Thinking that there is something wrong with Iruka, he decides to spy on the said man to discover the truth about his abnormal behavior. Eventually, Iruka finds it out and informs the Hokage about it. Feeling miserable after meeting with an hateful Iruka, the Copy nin goes out on a mission, but returns from it seriously hurt. And, surprise, the Hokage decides that Iruka is to take care of the wounded and sorrowful jounin until he feels better. At first Iruka can't forgive the man for what he's done, but after their Christmas party with Team seven, he starts seeing the man under a new light... In the previous chapter: Team seven tried to find a name for the two kittens Iruka picked up and Kakashi had some suggestions of his own...

So that's it. Thank you for your comprehension and support, you've been truly wonderful so far! And don't forget to leave reviews! You know how much I appreciate your comments ;)

Chapter 15

Of Porn Novels - Part II

Iruka stared at the board thoughtfully, frowning with concentration. He had been staring at it for the past fifteen minutes already and no solution came to his mind. If he moved his rook toward the king, he'd get eaten by Kakashi's queen. But if he didn't move it, he'd get eaten by his knight anyway. And he couldn't afford to have it eaten, since it was the only piece still protecting his king from Kakashi's bishop. Whatever he did, he was done for. Kakashi had him cornered. The brown-haired man stared with resignation at the left corner of the board, where his five white pieces stood pitifully, surrounded by a dozen or so of the jounin's black pieces.

Iruka sighed. Well, he guessed it was to be expected. He was playing chess against Hatake Kakashi, afterall. No matter how patient and skilled he was, he knew he had never really stood a chance against the genius to start with. The man inwardly sighed at the thought. It made him almost wonder why he had even bothered to start a chess game with the silver-haired man.

But of course, he had never dared to hope winning against Kakashi-sensei. Of course not. And it had never been his goal either; Iruka was only playing with the jounin to keep him busy, since the ex-anbu had been bored out of his mind for the past few days. Obviously, Kakashi was getting tired of watching movies all day long already, something that Iruka could easily understand since the movies he'd been allowing him to watch were not exactly the most...stimulating ones.

... Okay, okay, they were downright boring.

Not that Iruka would ever admit it to the silver-haired man. Hell no. And it was not like he was picking those movies because he likedto torture the jounin with them or anything, or whatever the Copy nin could imagine. The chuunin honestly thought those movies, no matter how depressing they were, were still better for him than those soap operas Kakashi had been watching. Or, as a matter of fact, than most popular and insipid American movies the walls of every video stores were filled with. Of course, Iruka couldshow him some of those average American movies filled with explosions, half-naked sexy women, macho men and easy and crude jokes, but then again Iruka didn't want the Copy nin to start imagining that the relationships and events displayed in those movies were representing accurately real life. He sure as hell didn't want to be blamed for wrecking up Kakashi's social conceptions more than they already were, thank you very much.

So, because average American movies were out of question and because of Kakashi's obvious lassitude, Iruka had decided to kindly put an end to those movie-sessions he had been forcing the jounin to go through for the past week or so. Out of either pity or sympathy for the man, he couldn't quite tell. Maybe that since they were on better terms than before, Iruka felt more generous toward the man. Or maybe he was just tired of hearing him sighing every ten minutes or so. Who knows.

As an afterthought, the fact that he had borrowed all the suitable movies at his local video store and had no idea what to make him listen to anymore may have influenced a bit his decision as well.

Which explained why he was currently loosing so badly against the Copy nin.

But it was true that they had been slowly but steadily getting on better for the past week or so. They talked a bit more than before, and not just about the supper menu. Two days ago, they had a discussion about the sand's latest known politic move and just the day before, they talked about Team seven. At first, they had talked about the teen's improvements and problems, but somehow they soon found themselves talking about more... intimateaspects of the teens' life. Iruka refused to think they had been gossiping - they cared about the Team 7, so it completely different. They merely had been exchanging thoughts about the young men and woman's maturation and slow entrance in adulthood, out of concern for them. Not simply to satisfy some kind of perverse interest for people's intimate life and the possible scandals they could find/create/spread about them.

Well at least, it was what it had been about on Iruka's part. And somehow the chuunin doubted that Kakashi was much of a gossiper himself, since he rarely talked to anyone when he wasn't forced to. Or when he wasn't bored to the point that it didn't matter much to him, Iruka guessed.

Iruka had been surprised to learn from the jounin that Sakura had been seen going out with Lee. A surprising, but definitely good news. They had both agreed that it was a good thing for the kunoichi - her long-lasting obsession with the Uchiha hear wasn't healthy at all for a girl of her age. Especially since Sasuke hadn't shown any interest in her in all those years; it was about time that she moved on. Not that Sasuke had ever shown interest for anyone anyway. Fortunately, back then Iruka had had enough common sense to orient their discussion to another subject before they started speculating on the raven-haired teen's love-life. It was a subject Iruka didn't want to bring up, even thought the traumatized teen's social development was concerning him very much, because he had always strongly disapproved of all those people who kept on speculating about the intimate aspects of the Sharigan bearer's life like it was a soap opera. In Konoha, gossiping about the Uchiha heir's possible love-life was almost a national sport, the potential revival of the Uchiha clan being an interesting politic notion for people who foresaw the future of the village as well as for people who desired to promote a blood alliance between their clan and the future reborn Uchiha clan - or at least that was the usual reasons people gave to explain their unhealthy interest for Sasuke, although most people admitted that the tragic story of his youth and his good looks did arouse more interest out of people than any politic motivation could. And it was especially true now that Sasuke had reached puberty and still didn't seem to show any interest in dating - some even went as far as to say that the dark-haired teen didn't show interest for the fair sex, period. And no matter how much those issues concerned Iruka, the chuunin refused to indulge, however briefly, into such shameful and doubtful speculations. Especially now that he knew how it felt to have every aspect of your private life discussed by countless people who thought of you only as a good match to bear their future children or take care of their daughters. Iruka could pretty well imagine how growing up and living in such a village, with his past, must have been a difficult experience for the Uchiha heir. No wonder the teen turned out to be such an asocial person...

At that thought, Iruka felt annoyed with all those inconsiderate gossipers. It was Sasuke's life and Sasuke's feelings they were talking of, not some kind of attraction in the local zoo, for God's sake! Not that people seemed to mind... Sometimes Iruka wondered just how cruel and egoist people could be.

During those discussions with the Sharigan user, the chuunin had been pleasently surprised to discover that Hatake Kakashi was able notto be an ass when he wanted to. Or maybe it was more accurate to say that except for when he said things that were so out of place it was shocking, the silver-haired man was mostly nice to be with. Obviously, Hatake Kakashi wasn't a bad guy. Anybody could see that. He just didn't know better about some things. Sometimes he reminded Iruka of some overgrown kid who hadn't been thought manners - it wasn't really the kid's fault he was so rude, but his rudeness was frustrating nonetheless. Iruka guessed it resumed pretty much his relationship with the elite jounin. The only problem was that Hatake Kakashi was not a kid, if his annoying dependence to porn was any indications. That, and Iruka's lingering resentful feelings toward the Copy nin for being stalked, which complicated things a lot. But he had learned to deal with his resentment, in his own way. You could say that he had mostly forgiven the man, even though it was an issue that still hurt him and that he refused to discuss. But Iruka would never admit it, not even under torture. It was a question of pride.

Well, okay, maybe not that much... But it was not something he'd admit willingly. Going like 'Oh Kakashi-sensei, I forgive you for breaking into my privacy and ruining my life for months even though you hadn't given me any kind of coherent explanation for it because I know that deep down, you meant no harm'. Yeah, right. Over his dead body.

Anyhow, the two men found themselves gradually getting more intimate as the days passed by. Which, even if he was reluctant to admit it, was a nice change for the chuunin, since he couldn't quite remember the last time he had a discussion that didn't seem forced with someone of his age. But at the same time, it peeved the chuunin to no end; of all the people he could have gotten a intimate with, it had to be the socially inept, stalking weirdo Hatake Kakashi. Lady luck had struck again, Iruka thought cynically.

And they were, by all means, not getting friendly; they were just on better terms than before. Period. And the fact that he was getting more intimate with the only man in the whole village he truly had something against was unnerving. But it was not like he could help it anyway. It just happened. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say it was just happening, because they were still hesitantly stretching the bonds of that strange new relationship that was building between them. Which was, he wanted to specify it once more, not of friendly nature. They were just more intimate, which was hardly avoidable since they had been living in the same house for more than two weeks now. Although Iruka admitted he had tried really hard to keep things between them as formal as possible, given their situation. But it appeared he had failed miserably.

Iruka personally blamed the kittens and Team 7 for it.

But even though they were on better terms and even talked together, there were still some things about the man's behaviour and point of views that would inevitably make him mentally twitch with annoyance and wish he could cover the man's mouth with dug tape. His total like of shame for reading porn in public, for example.

"For the fifth and last time, no, I won't let you read porn in my house," Iruka answered flatly as he frowned, still concentrating on the board before his eyes.

"But, Iruka-sensei..." the silver-haired man whined, "I received it weeks ago and I know it's there, waiting for me on the desk over there... But I can't read it. It's unfair!"

The chuunin remained silent, deep in thoughts.

"Please, Iruka-sensei..." Kakashi pleaded weakly.

"I said no," the brown-haired man said severely, finally moving his black knight on the right. "How do you think you could read porn anyway - you can't even move. You wouldn't even be able to turn the pages."

"F6 on F12 - Check. Well, you could turn them for me..."

"In your dreams," Iruka moved Kakashi's black piece into the previous position of his last remaining bishop and groaned.

"Or you could read it to me..." Kakashi proposed hopefully.

"Hell no. I am NOT reading you porn, Kakashi-sensei," the chuunin answered a bit more forcefully, feeling both annoyed and disturbed by the whole idea. Reading a porn novel out loud... He shuddered in disgust at the mere thought. Only the Copy nin could come up with such a suggestion and look at you with honest puzzlement when it was turned down.

"Why not? Those books are good, I'm sure you'd like them-"

"This is not the point. Even if I'd be a real porn addict like you are - which I am not, in case you haven't noticed - I wouldn't read those books out loud to someone else... That would be just wrong."

"Why?" Kakashi asked cluelessly.

"Why? You've got to be kidding me! Kakashi-sensei, reading porn is not something people usually do in public - it's - it's something more intimate, that you do alone when you want to jerk off in your room," Iruka said with exasperation, waving his arms in the air as he spoke. "Geez, why are we even having this discussion...?" he added to himself as he rubbed his eyes wearily, trying to chase away the annoyance and exasperation growing in him. Remember Iruka, he just doesn't know better... But somehow it seemed hard to believe for the brown-haired man that the jounin was this dense.

When he looked up, the chuunin was surprised to find the silver-haired man staring at him in silence. When he saw the blank look the ex-anbu was giving him, Iruka knew he had made a blunder. A big one.

"You masturbate when you read porn?" Kakashi asked with a mix of mild curiosity and confusion. At those words, Iruka felt something sinking in him.

Oh. God.

Iruka didn't know what he had been expecting, but he surely as hell hadn't been expecting this. He couldn't quite believe he was going to have to explain the real use of pornography to the obviously clueless jounin. It had to be a bad joke... Not that Iruka didn't know what to answer the man; he was teaching children and was no stranger to having to give some children whose parents didn't have enough common sense to do it properly - or to do it at all - the 'Talk'. Although explaining the mysteries of life, love and reproduction to a mildly shy and curious ten year-old and explaining them to a fully grown man reading porn as a hobby were two very different things.

God, he hoped he wouldn't have to actually give Kakashi-sensei the 'Talk'. Iruka fought back a blush of mortification at the mere thought. He dared to think that Jiraiya's explicit novels had at least enlightened a bit the genius jounin about what was sex so that he wouldn't be forced to through the basics with the man. Although he did hope that someone had had the common sense to give him the 'Talk' before he started reading those horrible books, as Iruka pretty much assumed that there couldn't be a worst way to learn how sex was like than by the hand of the legendary sannin, if the reputation of those books was any indication.

"I don't read porn, Kakashi-sensei, but yeah, that's what most people do with it," the chuunin answered patiently on a slightly encouraging voice he usually used when he wanted children to know that their question was not stupid and to encourage them to speak out their confusion. Not that Iruka wanted to encourage the Copy nin to ask him more embarrassing questions - quite the opposite - but his conscience wouldn't allow him to leave the jounin in the dark about such important and intimate things. It wouldn't be right.

"Oh..." the man said softly, his eyes shifting to the chess board thoughtfully. There was a short silence between the two men and Iruka started to feel a bit guilty and uneasy about the strangely dreamy and mildly confused expression on the Copy nin's face. He had wanted to help the jounin out and clarify things for him, but Kakashi seemed as confused as before instead...

"Isn't it why you read porn?" Iruka asked softly, hoping to encourage the older man to speak out what was bothering him. But as soon as the words were out of his mouth, the academy teacher realized he was actually asking about the self-pleasuring habits of the man sitting in front of him and had to fight a blush of embarrassment at that thought.

Needless to say, Iruka suddenly felt very uneasy - what if Kakashi misunderstood his motivation? It wasn't like he was truly interested in Kakashi's sex life that way or anything! He was not that kind of man! But fortunately for him, the Copy nin didn't seem to understand the hidden meaning of those words - or even to sense the man's distress - as he kept on staring thoughtfully at the chest board standing atop of his laps.

"...No," the jounin finally answered, frowning to himself.

That answer left the previously embarrassed Iruka a bit puzzled. Of course, given the man's reaction he knew he shouldn't have expected another answer, but this answer was just... strange.

It made Iruka curious.

Iruka felt a bit ashamed of his own sudden curiosity, but he couldn't help it. He had always wondered if Sharigan Hatake Kakashi was just as perverted as the rumor had it... Not that he believed rumors or anything, but it was hard not to notice the man was always reading porn in public areas, an habit of his that, of course, puzzled him just as much as it puzzled the rest of the Konoha community. It was only legitimate to wonder, in such a situation. It was not as if Iruka truly cared or was obsessed with it; he was just curious. Like he was curious about Genma's apparently very active sex life or about Ebisu's own half-secret perverse habits. Curiosity was not sinful or unhealthy - he knew it pretty well, it was one of the things he had to teach his students when they reached puberty. It was normal to be curious about such things. But of course, one always had to respect people's private life and keep that kind of curiosity for themselves - it was a lesson that was truly essential to teach kids in a ninja village, where it was so easy to spy on your neighbour and where people always feared to be spied on. Afterall, they didn't want Konoha's pre-genins to grow up into peeping toms and perverts; it would be undoubtedly unhealthy for their social development as well as for the harmony of the whole village.

Iruka was not a puritan, no matter what people seemed to think about him. Yes, Iruka was curious, and he was not ashamed of it. A tad shy about it maybe, but not ashamed per see. No, the thing Iruka was ashamed of was the fact that he was currently contemplating asking the Copy nin about his sex life. Him, Umino Iruka, a respected teacher at the ninja academy of Konoha, was contemplating using his position as a teacher and caretaker to pry out of a clueless and socially inept man information of private nature. Merely to satisfy his curiosity. God, he couldn't quite believe he was even thinking about it! It was just so... so wrong!

But of course, it wasn't just about his curiosity. Iruka also truly wanted to help the silver-haired man to figure out what seemed to trouble him and enlighten him about whatever the jounin had misunderstood about sex. The man was, what, in his thirties and he was still clueless about what was socially acceptable and what was not when it came to his and others' sexuality. It was just wrong. He only wanted to help him figure out a few things. Right?

... Who was he kidding, anyway?

The chuunin hesitated. He knew what he was about to do was bad. It was not that asking that question burning his lips was bad, but his motivation for asking this question was bad. No doubts about it.

Ahh, and the hell with it! He was 28, he was a ninja and he had never, not even once, tried to get his hands on information of such nature. He had always been the good guy. The guy people would could count on because they just knew he didn't have ulterior motives. Umino Iruka? Ulterior motives? Tch! He was far too innocent! Or far too nice! If Umino Iruka asked you something, it was necessarily because he needed to know it, it couldn't be because he was curious. If Umino Iruka bought you a drink, it was because he was feeling generous, it couldn't be because he was interested in you that way. If Umino Iruka was seen in an adult section of a library or a video store, it was because he was looking for a runaway student or because he was lost, it couldn't be because he wanted to be there.

If Umino Iruka was looking for a girlfriend, it was necessarily because he wanted to marry and have kids, it couldn't be because he just wished to get laid, nooo! Umino Iruka was far too nice for that.

Well he was tired of being nice already. And anyway, this was Hatake Kakashi. The guy who had spied on him for months. He knew everything there was to know about his boring private life. It wasn't like it was a bad thing if he used the man's cluelessness to learn more about him - he owed him that much. There no reason for him to feel guilty about being prying some info out of his stalker. Seriously.

"Then why do you read those novels?" Iruka finally asked, trying his best to sound like this was not the kind of question people usually didn't ask. Kakashi looked up and frowned, obviously seriously thinking the man's question over.

"...I guess I started reading it because it was a good distraction. It helped me to become more aware of my surroundings when I was busy doing something else, especially when fighting," the jounin said slowly and Iruka couldn't help but mentally twitch. Trust Hatake Kakashi to use pornographic novels as a mean of training. Which made him wonder just how young he was when he started reading those Icha Icha books, knowing that the man was a chuunin at six. The image of a silver-haired six year-old blushing like mad, his wide, shocked eyes running through the pages of the said book as he avoided kunais thrown his way made the teacher in Iruka mentally twitch again. "But then, I became accustomed to it after a while. I guess I'm still reading them because I've grown to develop a liking for them over the years..." the silver-haired man finished thoughtfully, and Iruka did his best to chase away images of a child Kakashi dodging kunais with a porn book in hands.

"So those books don't... turn you on?" Iruka asked, carefully choosing his words. He was feeling a bit guilty for asking in the first place, but then again the man's strange conceptions about sex were making him really, really curious and he couldn't resist asking.

Kakashi gave him a strange look, as if the notion that Icha Icha novels could stimulate libido was highly disturbing and slightly sick. The kind of look Iruka would give anyone who announced him that Uchiha Sasuke crossdressed at night. Or that the Hokage was hitting on him.

"Are they supposed to?" the jounin asked him, frowning suspiciously.

"Yes, they are supposed to. That's what porn is all about, Kakashi-sensei."

The Copy nin raised his thin eyebrow high, giving him a surprised look that Iruka imagined meant 'well, it sure does explain a lot of things'. Which, in Kakashi's case, was probably true. Somehow, the brown-haired man found this reaction amusing and even somewhat cute. But then, doubts clouded his mind and the academy teacher frowned, suddenly feeling more preoccupied than curious.

"But of course, you're no stranger to the concept of... arousal...?" Iruka asked him cautiously, worried that the man's sex life could be more wrecked up than his social conceptions.

Kakashi didn't need to answer; he gave the teacher a bored look that screamed 'well, DUH' and Iruka felt stupid for formulating his sentence that way; the man was reading Jiraiya's novels. Of course he knew what the words meant, he was bound to. But that wasn't what Iruka had meant to ask.

"I meant," the chuunin corrected himself, "have you ever felt it?"

"... Yes, of course I have a few times - wait," Kakashi paused, frowning in confusion. "Iruka-sensei, why are you asking me those things?"

"Ehh?" Iruka tried to sound innocent and mildly surprised. For some reason, the pace of his heart quickened.

"Aren't you usually shy to talk about your own sex life? Then why talking about mine all of a sudden?" the jounin asked suspiciously and Iruka felt like a child who had been caught with one hand in the cookie jar. He felt his cheeks getting warmer and looked away guiltily, shifting his eyes to the chess board with fake interest. Oh God, he hoped he wasn't blushing or looking too guilty; it would be a dead give-away.

"I was just wondering, that's all..." he answered in what he hoped was a casual tone, still faking interest for the chess game. When the silence stretched on, Iruka looked up and realized that he must have failed miserably to convince the Copy nin, as the said man was staring at him with narrowed eyes. Somehow, that deep, piercing look of his was making him anxious.

... He had a feeling this was going to go downward...

"... Wouldn't that be by any chance the kind of thing people usually don't talk about?" he asked slowly, eyeing the chuunin with suspicion. Feeling his cheeks heating up even more, Iruka's glance shifted once again to the chess game and the chuunin mentally swore. Damn, this was humiliating... He really hadn't thought the Sharigan user would figure it out so quickly. He guessed that, although Hatake Kakashi could be clueless about a lot of taboos and have strange social conceptions, he wasn't stupid either on the long run. That was really his luck.

"You could say that..." he admitted quietly, staring at his isolated king.

"Then why were you asking me all those questions? You... you tricked me into revealing you my sex life, didn't you?" Iruka didn't need to look at the Copy nin to feel the reproach in his eye.

"Well, tricking is a big word..." Iruka mumbled defensively, fighting back the guilt the man's words had stirred in him. And it was damn true: afterall, it wasn't as if he had forced the jounin to tell him his wildest phantasms or anything. And he had no reason to be ashamed to start with - not with what the Copy nin had done to him-

Iruka's chain of thoughts was broken when, to his surprise, Hatake Kakashi started to laugh. Looking up, the academy teacher stared dumbly at the silver-haired man, whose disconcerting gleeful laugh echoed through the silent apartment.

"Why are you laughing?" Iruka asked flatly, feeling a bit insulted for some reason.

"I-Iruka-sensei," Kakashi managed to say between his laughs, "you say that you don't like porn, but you do look like a pervert to me right now!"

"WHAT!" the teacher shouted, indignant. Iruka stood up and stared at the laughing man below him with indignant anger, his face now flushing from ire instead of embarrassment.

"Me, a pervert?!" the chuunin barked angrily, "Coming from a man who reads those books even in crowded market places?!" he added, pointing with disgust the orange pornographic novel lying innocently on the desk beside him.

"Well, I sure don't jerk off reading them," the reminded the academy teacher with a teasing voice, his uncovered eye glittering with amusement. Iruka caught on what the man was referring to and could only gape at him with incredulous anger. He wanted to say something, anything really, but the way Kakashi had turned his own words against him was so infuriating it left him empty, his mouth opening and closing stupidly in a fish-like manner.

"I-I don't!" Iruka finally protested indignantly, his hands clenching into fists, "I never said that!"

The chuunin's words only made the silver-haired man laugh louder than before and Iruka felt anger boil in him. How dared he!? How dared he making fun of him like that!? Using his own words to humiliate him like that! He, who had had only the man's well-being in mind! The unfairness of the whole situation was making Iruka so angry he wanted to strangle the jounin right on the spot. His hands twitched at the thought. The Copy nin must have felt the murderous aura the younger man was radiating because he at once tried to sober up. But for some reason, the jounin couldn't manage to stop laughing completely and ended up having a ridiculous fit of choked giggles instead. Which only enraged the chuunin even more.

Fuming, Iruka cleared the chess board silently and took it away with him, leaving the guestroom without looking back. He put the chess board away in the restroom and headed straight for his bedroom. The brown-haired man had to summon all his restrain to stop himself from slamming the door shut violently when he closed it; no matter how angry he was, he didn't want to give the Sharigan user the satisfaction of hearing him taking his frustration out on the door. Realising just how childish that sounded, even to himself, Iruka inwardly groaned and let himself fall on his bed heavily, glaring at the ceiling.

In the silence of the apartment, the chuunin could hear the chocked sound of Kakashi giggling silently in the guestroom and felt his left eye twitch with annoyance. He retracted any kind thought he could have for the Copy nin: Hatake Kakashi was a jerk!

Letting out a shaking breath, Iruka took his head between his hands and willed himself to calm down a bit. No matter of frustrating and unfair the situation was, it was not a reason to throw a fit, something the academy teacher admitted he felt very tempted to do. He was an adult, he was mature, he was not going to let Kakashi's tauntings affect him and he certainly dit not want to throw that pillow at the wall. No, he didn't. Really, he didn't. What was the point of tossing his pillow across the room anyway? It was just plain childish and he was, by no mean, childish. So no, he didn't want to throw his stupid pillow at the wall. End of the mental argument.

The chuunin sighed. Some part of him knew he had no reason to feel this frustrated. A bit annoyed maybe, but not downright pissed like this. The jounin had only been making fun of him and they both knew it was a joke. Plus, he was used to people's teasings: he was teaching children - God only knew how children could be mean to each others and Iruka knew from experience that their mean, raw and yet often shockingly truthful words could hurt adults just as well, if not more. Moreover, he spent an awful lot of time with Shiranui Genma, mission room duties obliged. He was no stranger to such teasings. Then why had Kakashi's words triggered such a strong emotion in him? No, he truly had no reason to feel this frustrated, Iruka had to admit reluctantly. He was being childish.

And, although Iruka didn't want to admit it, he kinda had it coming... Asking the Copy nin all those personal questions. Using the man's strange social conceptions to pry information out of him. Out of curiosity, moreover. Kakashi-sensei had been right: why asking all those questions about the ex-anbu's sex life when he himself was so shy and touchy when it came to his own sexual life? It was only fair that he got teased a bit for it. He tried to get something out of the jounin and got caught. And that was all there was to it.

Then why was he feeling cheated somehow?

Cooling down, Iruka did something he hadn't done in years. He pouted.

Why did other always seem to get away with their eccentricities and he couldn't? Of course, it had to come back in his face like that...! Why couldn't he be the one being selfish and making fun of others once in a while? It was plain unfair. Moreover, Iruka couldn't help thinking that it was low of Kakashi-sensei to have made fun of him like that. After what he'd done to Iruka, you'd think he'd let the man indulge in his curiosity. Even if Iruka's curiosity had been of a more... perverse mature than Kakashi's strange one had been. Either way, it was just unfair, Iruka decided, glaring at the ceiling. But he couldn't summon that hatred and anger he had felt minutes ago. He honestly didn't know if he was relieved or put off by his sudden lack of anger... Which was actually alarming, when you thought about it.

Sighing, Iruka mused about how the Copy nin always managed to arouse such intense emotions in him with so few words. Four or five words and hop! All the rationality and maturity he had won over the years as a men and as an academy teacher was gone and he was sent back to his teenage years - or even worst, to kindergarten. Pouting because it was unfair and wanting to throw his pillow across the room. Iruka wondered with exasperation why, why did the Copy nin always manage to do such things? Because there was no other explanation for it - his previous overreaction couldn't have possibly been caused by anything else. What else could make him so touchy...? No, Iruka couldn't see anything else. It was bound to be Hatake Kakashi's fault. Again, he felt tempted to add. Really, that man was a goldmine of problems...

Iruka's musings were interrupted when he felt a sudden tug on the sheets. Turning his head around, he saw nothing. Puzzled, the chuunin wondered if he hadn't imaged it when he felt it again. And again.

Somehow he had his little idea about it...

His little theory was confirmed when, after a good dozen of tuggings, Iruka saw two pointed grey ears poking out of the hedge of the bed. Smiling, he watched with amusement the two shaky ears slowly rising to reveal a very small, curious head poking over the covers. But before the poor thing could even get a good look at what laid atop of the thing he had worked so hard to climb, his little head disappeared and the academy teacher heard a dull 'thud'. Laughing softly, Iruka sat up and bent over the hedge of the bed to pick up the fallen kitten and put it on his lap. The little furball looked around curiously and went away to explore Iruka's bed almost at once, completely ignoring the man who had helped him out.

Iruka knew it wasn't exactly a good idea to get those kittens used to climbing into their beds, but he couldn't bring himself to care. The little furballs wouldn't be around for long anyway, so there was no point spoiling their fun. At least that's what he decided two days ago when he released the kittens from their washing-basket. Since they had started eating pablum - Iruka had henged himself into a blond-haired woman to buy it, since he didn't want people seeing him buying baby food, for obvious reasons - there was no need to handfeed them anymore, so there was no point keeping them in cage to be sure they were easy to find when he wanted to feed them. Instead he just made them pablum in the morning, early in the afternoon and just before going to bed and left it on the kitchen floor for them to eat whenever they felt the need to. And the kittens sure seemed to like Iruka's new policy, if the way they happily explored each corner of the small apartment was any indication. It was funny how the kittens could be found in the oddest places. For example, Iruka had to rescue the black-haired female the day before, who was stuck in the bath, meowing for help. Once again, Iruka had no idea how she managed to climb into the bath to start with, but he had stopped wondering about those kind of things. And in the morning, he had found the gray one sleeping in one of his sandals. It had annoyed a bit the teacher, since he had gone through the trouble of making them a comfty little bed with an old cushion and some blanket he didn't use anymore, but the kittens didn't even use it; they preferred sleeping in his shoes or on the bathroom carpet. Of course it was cute, but if he had known his efforts would be rewarded this way, he wouldn't have gone through that trouble for them...

Iruka sighed. He was growing far too fond of them. But he guessed it couldn't be helped; somehow they always managed to cheer him up whenever he saw them, even when they were in the middle of a mischief. Because it was not because they were still babies eating pablum and having some difficulty to run on their shaky legs that they couldn't do mischiefs. The gray-haired one seemed especially prone to it - no wonder Naruto liked him so much... That thought made Iruka a bit sad; the blonde teen liked the kitten - 'Hashi', he insisted - so much, it was really a shame he couldn't take him in his apartment because of his owner.

To Iruka's dismay, he'd had the kittens for nearly a week now and he still hadn't found masters for any of them. He wished he wouldn't have to advertize them - he wanted to avoid doing it until he wasn't left the choice anymore. He was not, by all means, going to give a reason to all those crazy suitors and random strangers to enter his apartment. Period. So Iruka firmly continued to think he'd find them owners sooner or later. He just had to be patient, that's all. Besides, it was not like taking care of the kittens was a disagreeable task for him. Well, most of the time it wasn't.

Strangely, such a thing could also be said about taking care of the wounded jounin, Iruka was surprised to admit. At that precise moment, the brown-haired man realized that he didn't think of taking care of Hatake Kakashi as a mean chore anymore. Sure, it was sometimes awkward and difficult to tend to the man's basic needs, but Iruka didn't resent taking care of the man anymore. The chuunin mildly wondered when he had started seeing things that way.

Kakashi's teasings and now this... They were definitely getting far too close, Iruka decreeted. He'd have to do something about it. Besides, he still needed to pay back Kakashi for his teasings. Because the jounin was definitely going to suffer for it - it was not because Iruka had it coming that it meant he was going to let the silver-haired man tease him without consequences. Hell no. He was Umino Iruka: he had a reputation to maintain here. If he started to allow people to tease im like that, where would it end? No, he was going to put an end to it AND avenge his hurt pride at the same time, he decided.

Oh yes, Kakashi was going to regret this...!

To be continued... tomorrow. Lucky you!