Chapter 22!
Title: "Parties and Partings"
Disclaimer: I own nothing!!
Note: Sorry, if I kept you waiting too long, YukiGakamo1… lol :)
BTW: Your very very welcome, chasity! :D
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Everything was silent except for the faint roaring of the crowd out in the foyer.
I looked at the person in the doorway…
Iruka-sensei…
"Oh, um sorry Kakashi… I didn't know you were-…" Iruka-sensei started to duck his head to the floor and back out of the doorway, like he was trying to give Kakashi-sensei some privacy… until he saw my dress.
"What?" I heard Iruka-sensei ask himself quietly.
I realized it must've been too dark for him to see me clearly at first… but that cover didn't last long.
"Sakura?"
My heart started pounding… Should I say something? Should I pretend like I wasn't there?
"What's going on?" Iruka's voice got a little louder…
I glanced over to Kakashi, he was looking at the floor, his eyes narrowed with concentration.
"Why are you two in he--…." He started asking like he already knew the answer.
But I couldn't hear his voice finish that sentence. Kakashi's lips crashed onto mine.
My eyes widened with shock…
What is he doing?!
He started kissing me so desperately, his hand on the back of my head pushed me too close to him.
I didn't hear anything come out of Iruka… I couldn't even see him.
Kakahsi-sensei broke the rough kiss for only a second…
"Resist…"
He kissed me even harder, making my lips hurt a little, but broke away a moment later…
"Fight back…"
He kissed me again, even more forceful this time.
I couldn't keep up with his lips.
I felt his hand clutch my hair aggressively.
"Push me away!" He whispered with an urgent wispy voice before pulling me into another violent kiss.
His hand grabbed the back of my dress, tugging at it.
He leaned me farther onto the table.
He pressed against me like he never had before.
I still had no idea what he was trying to do… it was so hard to think straight when Kakashi was acting like this, and especially when I was worried about what Iruka-sensei was thinking.
My brain suddenly scrambled and reset when I felt Kakashi's tongue push into my mouth without warning.
I let out a loud whimper of surprise.
Now I wanted to push him away.
But I didn't have a chance to; he was already off of me a moment later.
"Hatake!" I heard the angry of voice Iruka-sensei call out Kakashi's last name violently.
I heard the familiar sound of a fist punching against someone's face.
My eyes adjusted to the scene a moment later.
Kakashi was slightly crouched, rubbing the right side of his face.
Iruka-sensei was a few feet away from him, holding his fist tightly, looking a little out of breath. He was staring at Kakashi like he was crazy.
"What the hell do you think you're doing, Kakashi?!" I flinched at Iruka's voice… I had never heard it get so angry... Even when someone in our class had done something dangerous on the obstacle course, he wouldn't ever get this angry.
"Just teaching a student a lesson…" Kakashi's voice was a little slurred, his tone sounded cocky.
"What the hell does that supposed to mean!?" Iruka yelled increduloulsy.
"I only wanted to see what it would feel like…" Kakashi's 'drunk' voice was so arrogant.
Iruka took a couple staggering steps away from Kakashi, as if he was disgusted.
"Stop acting like you're drunk!" Iruka yelled. "I've seen you drunk, but you've never done anything like this before!!" Iruka quickly lifted his hand in my direction.
He looked at me for a second, his eyes seemed apologetic… almost pitiful. Like I was a victim.
I suddenly realized what Kakashi-sensei had been trying to do.
He wanted to lie and put on an act… he was pretending that he had been attacking me…. So that I wouldn't get in trouble.
I felt a frustrated anxiety grow with a squirming sensation in my stomach.
After a second Kakashi stood up straight.
"Why were you doing that to Sakura?!!" Iruka asked even louder.
I worried if anyone in the foyer could hear him.
My palms were sweating now, I clutched onto the table, trying to calm myself down so that I could catch everything that was going on.
"This doesn't concern you…" Kakashi admitted the act to Iruka… His voice was back to normal, but he sounded solemn.
He turned to Iruka-sensei, flashing a glare at him.
Iruka definitely didn't like that look.
I saw Iruka raise his fist for a second punch.
I immediately pushed myself away from the table.
I ran to Iruka-sensei, my arms wrapping around his bicep, trying to make him stop.
"Sakura?" Iruka suddenly called my name, Kakashi looked down at me while recovering from his grimace… he had expected that second punch.
I was still having trouble breathing.
I felt a thick, acidy feeling course through my body as my apprehension over this situation grew.
"This isn't his fault." I said quietly. Holding Iruka's arm tighter, trying to make him listen to me. "He wasn't the one who started this…"
"Sakura, don't…" Kakashi called out to me weakly. He took a step towards me, but Iruka whipped his head towards Kakashi sharply, as if warning him not to get any closer to me.
"It's all my fault…" I admitted little more clearly, trying to get Iruka's attention again.
Thinking back to how this all started… it really was my fault. But either way, I wasn't going to let Kakashi take this all on his own.
Iruka-sensei slowly lowered his arm… I let go of it.
"Sakura… you don't know what you're saying." Iruka-sensei talked to me like I was that 12-year-old again.
"Of course I know what I'm saying!" I said a little loudly towards the floor. "This is all my fault… so don't treat Kakashi like he's the only one who did something." I looked up at Iruka… trying to see what he was thinking. He was only staring at me with wide, confused eyes.
He looked like he was stunned silent.
"Sakura… that's enough…" Kakashi suddenly walked in between me and Iruka.
Iruka didn't even move to stop Kakashi as he got closer to me… he must've really gotten a shock from learning that whatever was between us, didn't start tonight…. And definitely wasn't a drunken mistake…
Kakashi-sensei's hands landed on my cold shoulders, pushing me away a little.
I had to say something first.
I knew he was only going to try and push me out of this.
"You can't take everything on by yourself!" I used words he had told me so long ago… hoping they'd reach him better.
He was quiet for a second.
"I have to, this time…" He looked down at me, his hand moving to the side of my neck gently.
There were so many different sides of Kakashi, so many things he was capable of… I could barely keep up.
"I can help you…" I tried to argue back, grabbing his hand, but I couldn't find the right thing to say.
"Please go to the after-party with Naruto and them…" He leaned down to my ear. "I'll come pick you up as soon as I'm able…." I gave him a questioning look.
How is he so sure that they'll even let him see me again?
"…Don't worry, I'll take care of this…." And his hands left me.
The last thing I saw was Kakashi grabbing Iruka-sensei's arm, and dragging him out of the room, heading back towards the foyer, and closing the door behind him.
I was left in the room… completely stunned by what had just happened over the course of two minutes…
I wanted to follow after them… but I felt like this was an adult matter now… like it had to be talked out between those two old friends…
My stomach still felt acidy from the anxiety…
Yet I felt a little better after he told me not to worry…
I slowly walked over to the table, listening to the lonely sound of the clacking of my heels after every step… I knelt down to the plastic, strawberry red mask on the floor. Picked it up and straightened some of the feathers.
I tied the string around the plastic and held it tightly in my hand.
I left that room, planning my way to Shikmaru's house.
I felt a little like I was missing something.
Like I was emptier than before.
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Kakashi squeezed Iruka's arm tightly, hoping that it was hurting him a little.
He was dragging Iruka towards the foyer's thinning, shuffling crowd.
Everything was getting louder and more hectic as they got closer to the mob.
"Kakashi!" Iruka spoke up. "We really need to have a talk abou-…"
"Not now." Kakashi practically snarled over his shoulder.
With a tug and a push, Kakashi flung Iruka in front of him and towards the crowding group of Jounins.
"Ah, Iruka! You're finally back!" Tsunade yelled above everyone else.
She must've sobered up in the past few minutes… probably preparing herself to get drunk again.
"What took so long?!" She inquired bossily.
"Uh…er…" Iruka suddenly couldn't look the Hokage in the eye… he couldn't even say anything.
Kakashi knew that by forcing the gentlemanly Iruka into public, he wouldn't be able to spill such devastating drama, and would become practically tongue-tied if he was asked about it.
Kakashi was happy that he knew his friend so well.
And that he wasn't above using Iruka's weakness for his benefit.
"I was hiding too well for him." Kakashi spoke up, using his lying abilities to plaster a fake smile onto his recently re-masked face.
Tsunade smiled back.
"Well, we'll deal with your persecution later, Kakashi. But now that everybody's here… why don't we get going!!!"
Lady Tsunade yelled with a voice that never seemed to grow tired.
The pink-faced Jounins yelled and cheered, following her example.
"Okay, Move OUT!" She ordered finally.
The whole group started migrating quickly.
Iruka shot a glance at Kakashi… he was definitely upset… and probably knew why Kakashi had pushed him in front of everyone so hastily.
Kakashi's fake smile faded when their glares met.
There was definitely going to be a talk later on…
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"Come on, Kakashi!" Tsunade encouraged loudly.
The restaurant was bustling with excitement.
It had been a while since everybody had been so lively, especially with new enemies of Konoha appearing left and right… but now they were completely free from responsibility, and having a fun time acting crazy.
After a considerable amount of time, everybody had decided to sit at a single booth, connecting two tables together, and many had to borrow chairs from different tables.
Right now everybody was looking at either Kakashi or Gai.
Gai was staring at Kakashi, sparkles of competiveness sprouting from his bobcut… Kakashi was less than enthusiastic.
Even though it had been a while since they left the Main Hall, Iruka was still glaring at Kakashi with the same intensity, if not more, from when they first left.
It was really bothering Kakashi…
He was immediately distracted when a large clay sake bottle landed heavily onto the table in front of him.
Tsunade slammed it down with just enough force to keep it from breaking.
"Drinking conteeeeeest~!" She announced happily.
Everybody cheered in reaction.
Gai pulled over his little glass to the bottle, tipping it over slightly, filling the glass to the rim.
Kakashi saw a little glass, identical to Gai's, flash in front of his face.
Shikaku Nara was handing it to him, grinning widely with a slightly drunk-red face.
"This is your punishment for being late Kakashi!" Tsunade added when she saw Kakashi's obvious hesitation. "If you don't enter this contest, you'll be committing a crime!" Lady Tsunade threatened Kakashi with the law.
She was technically right… if a Jounin were to disregard the Hokage's authority during a mandatory meeting… it was against the law.
Kakashi took the glass slowly, grimacing.
Cheers could be heard from the street.
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"I loooove you, Baaaaabyyy~!" Naruto sung at the top of his lungs, peeking at the brightly flashing screen for more lyrics, clutching the miniature microphone in his hands.
Everybody laughed as he ran out of breath for the last note, his voice squeaked out as much as he could.
Karaoke was the activity now… we had already eaten, sat around, played board games (Shikamaru beat all of us), and shared mission stories…
Karaoke was always enjoyable… you could act stupid, and nobody cared.
I watched as Sai stood up to take his turn, he flipped through the song choices nonchalantly…
I wondered why he agreed to it…
Maybe he actually likes karaoking?
I smiled at the idea that even the strangest of us could find some sort of common ground…
I loved being here, with everyone… feeling their joy, their excitement… it was so much fun…
But…
I couldn't forget what happened in that meeting room.
But, thankfully, I remembered Kakashi's words more clearly.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of this…"
I wouldn't worry.
If he's confident that he can fix this…
Then I can enjoy myself till he comes to get me.
I checked the clock.
It had been nearly an hour and a half.
Everything seemed alright.
But a part of me wanted time to go by faster…
… I really wanted to see him again.
Sai finished his short little, soft song…
He actually had a really nice singing voice.
"Why don't we go outside and light a bonfire!" Naruto sat up from the sofa, sharing his random epiphany loudly.
We all just stared at him for an awkward second.
"We do have a fire-pit outside…" Shikamaru added.
And everybody was up and about, trying to figure out which way was out, and where this fire-pit was.
We were all scatterbrained and tired, but we still had some energy left for a bonfire.
Everybody shuffled around, Naruto screaming about where he could find some wood...
I smiled… finding it very strange that I felt like smiling…
If this had been a day ago… I would've been fretting, worrying, and wondering, chaining myself to the wall to stop myself from tracking down Iruka and explaining everything.
...
...
I've changed, haven't I?
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"Sorry to interrupt… but we're closing for the night…" A shy waitress said quietly towards the rowdy group of Top-Jounins, a little scared to look any of them in the eyes.
She was right to be afraid.
All the previous cheers were lost when several of them started grumbling loudly.
"I guess the meetings over…" For the first time in a while, Tsunade actually talked with a normal voice. Everybody stopped complaining and started slowly agreeing that they had to either get home to their wives, or to check on their kids, or that they really weren't looking forward to the hangover they're gonna get in the morning.
Everybody started to stand from their seat, leaving half-eaten food, and half-drunk bottles on the table… Gai was still drooling onto the tabletop, out cold from too much alcohol.
Kakashi stumbled a little when he tried to stand up.
He had always held his liquor well, but he was feeling a little more than shaky right now.
His head buzzed lightly, his eyes weren't adjusting properly.
He leaned his hand on the back of his chair for a second, trying to let the blood reach his head after standing up too fast.
"Here, I'll give you a hand, Kakashi…" That voice… he knew that voice well..
Why did an untitled red flag go up in his brain when he heard it.
Why did he feel like he should be running away from that voice?
He felt someone pick up his arm, holding it tightly in their hand.
It kinda hurt.
He slowly but surely walked towards the exit, getting a little help with balance from the hand gripping his arm.
Kakashi glanced over to the person helping him.
Black hair, a scar stretching across the bridge of his nose.
It was Iruka…
As they stepped across the threshold, the cold night air suddenly rushed over Kakashi's face.
Memories came back when the wind hit his skin.
Kissing Sakura…
Getting punched…
Yelling…
Kakashi heard a chorus of 'byes' as everybody either teamed up to go in a general direction, or went off alone towards their houses. Kakashi saw that Gai was getting a similar type of help.
"Wanna come with us?" Shikaku offered Iruka…
"No, this guys pretty messed up… he should go home." Iruka said the last part a little seriously, looking back down at the slightly slouching Kakashi.
Everything suddenly came back…
Everything that happened.
Everything that they said.
Kakashi felt so much more sober now… but still wobbly.
Iruka drug Kakashi by the arm down the street.
"Iruka…" Kakashi tried to get his attention.
"Shut up." Iruka said harshly. That was new.
"If you have something to say… just say it!" Kakashi nearly shouted, tearing his arm out of Iruka's grasp.
Iruka turned around to look at him.
"I have a lot to say… but I can't see how it could get through to you if you're already acting like an idiot when you're not drunk!" Iruka almost yelled.
Kakashi knew that they shouldn't be too loud, he glanced around them.
Everything was deserted.
How late was it?
"What do you mean by that?" Kakashi asked, feeling more than a little frustrated, but trying to remain calm. He already knew what Iruka meant, but he needed to hear it.
"Don't you remember what I walked in on?!... Don't you remember what you were doing with… Sakura…?" His voice suddenly got quiet. Iruka checked over his shoulder for anyone.
"I remember everything." Kakashi admitted, his anger growing a little, but still waiting for whatever Iruka was getting at.
"What's wrong with you!?" Iruka raised his voice again when he saw that Kakashi wasn't visibly ashamed of himself. Iruka's voice sounded so unnatural with that tone. "She's too young!... I've known her since she was five! She's like a daughter to me!... And you first met her when she was twelve! She's only sixteen now! She hasn't even started living her own life yet!"
Kakashi flinched at the words and numbers that had been haunting him for a while, as they were now being shouted at him.
"She's Sakura!" Iruka finished listing the major reasons why this relationship was so abnormal. "What's wrong with you?!" Iruka repeated that question.
"That's right, she's Sakura… and don't you think I've already asked myself that question a hundred times, too?!" Kakashi was yelling now, too.
"She isn't somebody you can just fool around with!!"
"That's not how it is!" His voice sounded a little desperate now.
It was strange how these two, usually calm and gentle people, could get so angry at each other.
Iruka took a step back, a little shocked at Kakashi's desperate reaction.
Kakashi took a deep breath. Trying to let the cold, night air calm him down.
"Don't you think I know she's too young? Don't you think that I know how I'm probably only going to mess up her life before it even begins?..." His voice was hushed. He looked down to the ground.
Silence took over as Kakashi tried not to think about how horrible it was to say these things.
Iruka took a step forward ahead, the gravel crunching under his dress shoe.
"Do you… really love her?" Iruka had trouble asking that question.
Kakashi hesitated for only a second, not really wanting to talk about this.
"It happened before I could stop it." He admitted calmly.
Iruka stayed quiet.
Kakashi looked up at him.
It was evident that Iruka was thinking really thoroughly about what he should do.
"Was it true?" Iruka asked out of nowhere.
"What?" Kakashi was a little nervous.
"That she started this… relationship?" Iruka sounded a little awkward with that last word.
Kakashi knew that this was his chance… Iruka was probably checking that Kakashi wasn't the one who drug her into the relationship agianst her will.
"… She was the first one who showed her feelings." Kakashi confirmed formally.
"Are you sure?" Iruka gave Kakashi a testing stare.
Kakashi thought back to that rainy day, under the tree, her crying face… her quivering lips kissing him through his mask.
"Very."
Iruka shifted on the spot a little.
"I don't want to ruin everything for you guys… and I don't want her to suffer whatever gossip would come of this if everyone found out…" Iruka sounded like he was listing the cons of telling the truth to everyone. "But, I don't really care about you, though…" Iruka shot up a half-serious glance at Kakashi.
Neither of them knew if Iruka was joking or not.
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I sat on the edge of the veranda watching the crackling fire.
Ino was a couple feet down the veranda, sitting next to Sai.
She was trying to start a conversation.
I didn't disturb them.
The bonfire was burning a little wildly, Naruto kept trying to jump over it.
I felt like yelling out at him to stop it whenever he ran towards it and sprang off the ground and over it.
He stopped on his own when he noticed that the bottom of his dress shoes were a little charred.
He freaked out about it for a few good minutes, I laughed at him as he was shoving his shoe into Lee's face trying to exaggerate the situation.
Lee just decided that everything would be settled with an arm wrestle… his thought process always led back to competitions somehow.
Hinata was drinking tea on the sidelines, her bare arms covered by Naruto's white suit jacket. She was smiling happily towards the exuberant Naruto who ran to her to brag when he won against Lee.
Lee chased after him for a rematch.
Shikamaru and Chouji just sat by, talking about random things, looking at the sky.
I looked up, too.
The orange glow from the fire made the night sky look a little purple. There were so many stars.
I felt like I could watch the heavens forever… or at least until Kakashi finally came back for me.
He was taking longer than expected.
I tried to push it out of my mind like I had before.
The sliding door behind me rattled open.
Somebody was probably coming back from getting a snack… but I noticed that we were all out here anyways.
"Kakashi-sensei!" I saw Naruto suddenly stand up and start running excitedly towards me… or towards the man behind me. "What're you doing here?!" Naruto yelled out even though he was only a couple feet away now.
Everybody else looked over, too, a little confused.
I guess they weren't expecting a Jounin to come by.
I felt a smile spread across my face when I heard his voice.
"Just came to see if my students were behaving themselves." He sounded like a real teacher in that moment.
"We're not doing anything dangerous." Naruto grinned, walking back to Hinata and Lee, obviously forgetting his fire-jumping phase.
"Good, cause I know Tsunade was giving out alcohol to minors…" Kakashi explained a little further.
"Is it still illegal for minors to drink if the Hokage gives it to them?" Ino asked that random question mostly to herself.
"I really don't know…" Kakashi answered with a small-talk voice.
I felt his eyes on me.
I heard him take a few steps.
I could see him walk over to the post next to me, he leaned against it.
We were silent for a few seconds.
I wanted to say something… to look at him… but I couldn't bring myself to do either before I heard him whisper.
"I'll leave right now… meet me in the street in about five minutes."
I checked if Ino heard… she was too busy talking with Sai.
"Okay…" I answered, trying to hold back this stupid smile.
A moment passed… all I could hear was the fire crackling and a couple of voices talking softly.
"Well, I guess I'll be going…" And he was gone from my sight.
"Bye, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto waved, still hyper.
"Bye…" I whispered.
The door rattled shut behind me.
So that was what he meant by 'picking me up'?
I took a moment to think about how well he always planned things.
But my mind didn't travel far from that big question.
How did he manage to fix everything and make it here?
………………….
"Bye, everyone!" I waved at everybody, feeling a little guilty after they had all complained about me leaving early.
I told them my mom gave me a curfew.
Saying that made me feel a little bit worse.
I picked up my mask from the side-table I had set in on, and walked out of the house, thanking Mrs. Nara for letting us stay here for our after-party.
She smiled a hard-creased smile. I could tell smiling wasn't her usual thing.
I walked out into the street, passing through the wall-gate of Shikamaru's house.
He must actually be rich or something.
I couldn't think about that right now... I didn't have to think about anything else when I knew Kakashi-sensei was around.
I started looking around, expecting him to turn the corner or come walking down the street.
I felt a hand grab mine from behind.
He immediately started running.
I caught up with him easily.
I found energy that wasn't there before.
Whenever he did this… just grab my hand and start running, I always felt so happy… like we were running away from everything…
I felt so happy… so relieved… he was still here with me… still free to be with me like this.
I reached my other hand to hold his.
He tightened his grip, as he usually did.
I suddenly noticed from the blurry buildings rushing passed us that we weren't taking the route to the bridge.
"Where are we going?" I asked over the rushing wind in my ears.
"With half of Konoha out and about this late, the bridge isn't safe anymore… We can't afford to take any more chances…" He said a little seriously.
"So where are we going?" I asked again.
"I know a place."
My heart felt like it was floating again.
I didn't care where we were going... just as long as I was with him, everything would be alright.
At least that was what I thought until we made a sudden stop in front of our destination.
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