AN: Mature stuff is on the way. Enjoy.
Day 12: On the appropriate use of evasive tactics
It is said that one can measure their opponents in the physical battle based on the feel of their attacks. [1] It is also said that one can deceive the enemy with their act, if both the warrior's mind and soul were used correctly in the performed ruse; if the individual, with his whole being, believes in the executed deception.
As his right foot hit the ground, Iruka spun on his heels and dashed away from the pale hands that made a grab at him, the darker man's legs carrying him swiftly out of attack range before turning his body around and stopping to a halt in a low crouch, his body bent over widely standing legs, with him facing his pursuer.
Furthermore, it is commonly known that shinobis are the masters of both accurately evaluating their chances and deceiving their enemies in the art of concealed warfare. Sneaky opportunists, one could say.
The dark eyes drilled in the figure of the quickly advancing opponent who was already on his tail, and as the older nin made a fake move first to the left and then lunged at him, the teacher set his balance point low, solidifying the crouch by pressing his heels and toes to the mat below, and prepared to meet the dangerous and lithe body with his own.
When two of the same profession meet, however, the game could become more than just an extreme game of tag for seizing the opportunity to slash the other's throat before the other manages to fatally injure one's own body.
For the silver-haired man to suddenly skid to a halt and surge to the right, thus changing his momentum from straight assault to one that came from the side, was just for the man being plain ignorant towards the unsaid and non-existing rules in their match in Iruka's opinion, and a dry smirk twisted the sun-kissed lips as the chuunin caught on the other's plan.
It could become a game with their very philosophical and physical existence and identity at stake.
Before the jounin could tackle him to the ground from the side, Iruka took a few rapid steps away from the assault route and rounded the man in an instant, thus seeming to surprise the attacking shinobi (if the blink in the narrow gray eye was any indication). With a quick punch at the jounin's back, he sent the other man stagger on the mats and stop with the unfinished strategy. Slowly, the silver-haired head turned and the lonely eye gave him an unreadable look over the finely sculpted, darkly clothed shoulder. The sharp, almost steely glint in it was throwing Iruka's body into high alert, since the current look was usually meant as a brief warning for the other. The look he was given was something they had realized to have developed together during their irregular sparring days, and what they actively used to keep the other informed on the situations during their matches. Calmly, Iruka felt his leg muscles flex and fists to curl themselves ready as his brown eyes fixed themselves on the silver-haired copy-nin, hoping that the inner turbulence he was experiencing wasn't visible in his dark orbs. Saying that he was feeling a bit nervous over the first match for the day was a serious understatement. The infuriating Sharingan user had yet to answer his question about the issue of misplaced underwear, never mind the other more unsettling subjects he didn't even get to bring up before the whole interrogation situation had been thrown out of the immaterial window due to the unexpected turns of events. Then again, he wasn't sure if he wished to breach the subject the second time. Annoyed with himself, Iruka couldn't decide if the ANBU had interrupted them with good or bad timing, since at that time he had already been willing to lose the control of his body as he had lost himself into the arising sexual desires towards the copy-nin. On the other hand, the chuunin wasn't sure if he even wanted to take the particular train of thought on what actually could have happened if the armored assassin hadn't stepped into the scene in that moment.
The men fell still and shared a silently challenging look, and the small silence that had wrapped itself around them intensified during each passing minute as they measured one another. As the unwritten protocol was, Kakashi was the first to bring out the subject, the gray eye hard and piercing as it gave the chuunin's defensive stance a slow once-over.
"Your fighting is off today, sensei."
Despite of his intuition warning him that something was very, very badly off in the older man's remark, a small, taunting grin pulled the full lips as Iruka nibbled the offered bait. "I would have to say the same about you, Kakashi-san." A silvery eyebrow was cocked in a nonchalant manner to question the said notion, and being one to face the given challenges with delight, Iruka straightened himself, shifted his weight on one leg and the skilled hands were lowered from blocking the blows to rest on the narrow hips. "The match has lasted fifteen minutes already and neither you nor me has actually landed any hits on the other if the just happened smack on the back didn't count. Even Konohamaru would realize that there's something odd going on." With that the dark eyebrows frowned. "Is there something that I should know about, Kakashi-san? You've been on the edge ever since the ANBU visited us." Not that he was doing any better with the anxious feelings twisting his gut whenever he had reached the silver-haired nin's sleek body within the hitting range, but the older nin could survive without that tiny detail.
Kakashi gave the younger man a sharpened glance. The chuunin was hitting the nail on their subject with a bit too impressive accuracy, but the pale nin knew what he'd get as an answer should he question the younger shinobi too much. Then again, he wasn't regarded as an S-class jounin for his good looks only. An unreadable and lazy shrug met the other man's dangerous speculations, and to emphasize the oddity of the question, more precisely to throw the other off the scent in order to gain more benefit for himself, the jounin stretched his arms above his head and gave a slow stretch both at his back and front.
The oddly evasive way Iruka turned his eyes away from him was an interesting observation.
Putting the noted action aside for later perusal, the jounin tilted his head after the stretch and gave his silvery hair a pensive, deliberately hesitant scratch while he gave a passing look to the outside scenery. The wary glance from the brown eyes wasn't neglected by his senses. "Maa, it might actually be good that we'll take it slow today, since you've been just recently healed and all that."
An amused snicker escaped Iruka's mouth before he could smother it, and the dark eyes gave a slightly mocking look at the jounin across the room. "This is the first time I've ever heard you pull that excuse, Kakashi-san. Or were the times when you snuck out of the hospital in order to spar just an exception in the crazy jounin codex?"
The mismatched eyes turned into happily smiling crescents. "You know how seriously we jounins take the rules, sensei." The beep of the alarm drowned the low chuckle that left the chuunin's smiling mouth, and as the jounin observed the joyfully grinning tan man, a passing wave of warmth nudged his side for a fleeting second. Then the Sharingan user stepped to the ringing alarm and shut it down, picked up both the forgotten tea cup and his Icha Icha from the floor and turned to walk past the younger man. "Let's have something light to eat, neh? That might help with the second match. Plus it would be wise to stretch before that." As Kakashi on his way to the terrace offered the cup to the dark-skinned man, their fingers brushed ever so lightly against each other.
If a sharp jolt of an electric pulse ran through their arms at that exact moment, neither of them showed it in any way.
Although both sensed the suspecting looks they sent at each others' backs as Kakashi stepped to the terrace and meandered his way to the kitchen.
"I can carry my own plate, Kakashi-san." The poorly disguised sliver of a whine made him smirk.
"Without a doubt, sensei. But I'll still carry it for you, so if you just moved to the side it would be easier to make it to the spot without losing any food, thank you", Kakashi gave the chuunin a bright wink as he strode back to the terrace with Iruka following close behind his back, and the low rebellious muttering about stubborn high-ranks which was apparently meant for him to be heard made the hidden lips spread into a wide grin. "Besides, now that your hands are free you can bring my coffee on your way." As he heard the chuunin turn fluidly on the deadly heels and stomp hastily back to the kitchen, the copy-nin gave a small, relieved huff at his brilliant distraction tactics. The tight grip he had had on the plates relaxed a bit as the hot shivers running down his spine and hips lessened when his distance to the short-fused shinobi grew for a blissful moment. That was a bit too close call for his liking, and not knowing if the other had sensed anything made his already tense mood to gain darker layers. He couldn't risk it for the other to spot his discomfort, since he was sure the chuunin was still harboring ill thoughts towards him due to his past foolish acts on the man's watery element. The tan nuisance was sure to use that knowledge to gain leverage in their situation, and he would be a fool to think it would bode anything good to him. To make his situation even more fun, having spotted the way the full lips had been pouting as he had walked past the younger man had made his legs to wonder if, instead of walking to their regular spot on the terrace, he should have just turned around and made the mocha-colored chuunin bump into his lips.
Even a second longer with that particular torture of those thoughts going around in his head and the academy instructor would have gotten a good eyeful either on the ceiling or the floor for presumably very satisfying forty minutes.
"I assume that you intentionally didn't brew yourself any coffee." The teasing voice made the gray eye look back at the kitchen door, and Kakashi saw Iruka stand in the doorway with a playfully accusing look in the dark eyes as the man took a sip from his steaming tea.
A sheepish, albeit a bit smug smile made its way to his hidden face. "Maa, the road of life makes one do strange things. But now that you noticed it I'm sure that you'll do everything you can to fix the outrageous grievance that dares to oppose the success of our mission, Iruka-sensei."
The eye-roll was worth it. "Lazy bastard." And with that remark the chuunin shook his dark-haired head with an exaggeratedly heavy sigh and made it back to the kitchen while muttering something about Shikamaru being obviously exposed to too many lazy shinobis at younger age, the richly ringing baritone laced with warm humor the chuunin had apparently meant for Kakashi to spot.
The fish tasted way better now.
"You're running out of coffee, Kakashi-san", Iruka noted as he sat down next to the jounin and put the steaming hot black drink close to the man who had, by the looks of it, already eaten his sandwich. A sneaky pro, indeed. "There's hardly any left in your tins."
"Ah. I guess I need to order them to bring me more, then", the smoothly resounding drawl mused and the jounin took the given coffee in the pale hands as Iruka concentrated on his light snack.
He could hear Kakashi take long gulps, even imagine the mask being pulled down for a few seconds per sip, but he forced his eyes to stare forward towards the sunny yard and the village visible behind the high fence wall. He may have seen the man's heavenly body up close and gloriously naked, but there was no way in hell that he'd endanger his health any more than he already had by trying to steal a glance at the man's lower face. The strong jaws slowed over the munching of the fish sandwich while the dark brows furrowed.
Since when had he gotten interested in the copy-nin's face?
"You know, given that we've shared the same house for over a week now, I'm impressed that you've been so considerate, sensei."
As usual, the elite had to be too perceptive for his own smug good. While reigning in his initial desire to clunk the arrogant bastard with his plate, and hence letting the man know that he was hitting the target dead on, Iruka turned to give an innocently questioning glance at the grinning man, as if he didn't have the faintest clue on what the jounin was implying. More than anything, he was all ready to push the man to actually say the hinted words out loud. At least then he would have a more solid reason to excuse himself. "'Considerate' how, Kakashi-san? If I'm not mistaken the last three days do make the scale tilt towards a rather different definition when it comes to the way I've acted around you." What the defining words were, though, were best to be left unsaid.
"Maa, but seeing that you were knocked out for two out of those three days, I'd say that it evens the scores a bit." The jounin turned his head to give a cheeky grin at the chuunin next to him, but surprisingly he was greeted with suddenly blank features of the other man, and for a brief moment Kakashi wondered if he had forgotten to pull his mask back up. Since he could feel the cloth against his cheeks, the absurd option was swiftly ruled out, but it didn't help to explain why the younger man was suddenly becoming slightly paler than usually. As the full lips opened to form what seemed like a hesitant question, a very distant thought started to nag in Kakashi's mind, which usually meant that he had forgotten something important, and whatever it was, it had something to do with the sensei who was currently struggling to find suitable words.
"...I slept for two days?"
The thick, tense silence that dropped on their shoulders made Kakashi wince as the sudden illumination on the subject gave him a slap on his forehead. Of course. With all the strange things happening to them, he hadn't remembered to inform the teacher on the rather important facts concerning the previous days, and apparently the academy instructor had assumed that he had been out of it for only one day, just like the last time. The jounin felt like punching himself, and the keen stare in the dark eyes made him consider giving the chuunin a permission to deliver a second hit as well. Elite cell leader his pale-skinned ass, he was becoming as dense as one orange Uzumaki. With a small, silent sigh, Kakashi turned to fully face the other man, and gave the chuunin a hopefully sympathetic look with his eyes. "...Yes, sensei. Two days."
Whatever he had been expecting as the response to his words, the pensive, almost absent hum that was heard from the chuunin wasn't even hitting close to it. The dark eyes gave a couple of blinks before turning their focus on the tea cup resting in the immobile, tan hands, and as he took in the teacher's posture's gradual shift from energetic and strong to slightly uneasy and stiff, Kakashi could feel his whole body to turn restless, his instincts fighting against the control he had on them as he resisted the urge to move closer to the thoughtful man. He didn't feel any tremors traveling on his skin at that moment, and he didn't feel the need to stir any more trouble in his system than he had already.
"..Your stance says that there's something else to it as well, Kakashi-san."
The unexpectedly strict notion threw Kakashi's inner battle through the fiery loop of the ex-ANBU's priority scale, and the jounin snapped his attention back to the man sitting next to him, only to be greeted with steel-hard and sharply looking pair of dark brown eyes. Also judging from the way the teacher's mouth had set itself into a narrow line crossing the tan features, Kakashi knew he shouldn't hesitate too long with his answer.
He was given a subtle warning after all, just like the chuunin preferred.
The lightning user gave the mug in his hands a long look, and was grateful for the small pause the teacher granted him with in order for him to form the best reply for the man's inquiry. Knowing that his time was limited, Kakashi gave the young man a passing glance before turning the gray eye to watch over his beloved village. "..It's alright. I would be feeling on the edge too if I had found out that I had lost two days out of my life. Then again, after losing a few weeks, two days do feel quite insignificant." Not paying attention to the penetrating look he felt on the left side of his face, Kakashi went forward with his words. "Tsunade-sama said that your heart had stopped for a second, sensei. That's all she told me concerning the condition you were in." The barely concealed gasp of shock didn't go unnoticed. "..She also said to have found an anomaly in one sample."
"..An anomaly?" The baritone was quiet and careful, as if the teacher was afraid to set something off.
Kakashi gave a curt nod. "Yes. Apparently the trials for this mission aren't over yet." A pale hand was lifted to silence the bubbling question on the other's tongue. "She didn't say what it was, not even when I was visiting her just now, so I'm assuming that they're still working on it. She'll tell us when she knows for certain what it is." In other words, when she would have the time to do so. Jiraiya's letter had become their first priority the second they had understood what the codes had withheld, and should the situation start rolling forward sooner than expected, Kakashi knew what he had been signed for.
In that case there would be a rather long break in his sparring schedule with the bipolar sensei.
The softly murmured words he received spoke volumes. "..I see."
On the deceivingly light note, the following uneasy silence that patted their shoulders was an uninvited guest for both of them.
Accompanied with a hint of a shrug, Kakashi turned his attention once more on the silent chuunin next to him, and the lightly smiling pair of mismatched eyes nullified whatever words they both held on their uncharacteristically shy tongues. "I don't know about you, but I have a feeling that Tsunade-sama wouldn't take it lightly to see two of her soldiers sitting and chatting over an illegally long coffee break by the time they should have beaten themselves for three rounds already, Iruka-sensei."
They held each other from the shoulders as they were bent down from the waists and kept their backs straight while facing the floor beneath their shaking feet. The pale hands rested on the tan, broad shoulders that twitched and bunched under the jounin's firm grip, and the slightly panting, a bit flushed face of one academy teacher was directed towards the floor as the younger nin held his eyes closed against the sharp waves of pain that seemed to have fun at the man's expense more than was necessary.
The sadistic nature of their Hokage was clearly something to be both respected and feared in the future.
The only problem in their current situation when Kakashi was concerned wasn't that his hamstrings were clearly planning a mutiny or that he was quite tired due to a couple of nights being shot to hell, but that he had been struggling for good ten minutes to avoid embarrassing himself with a completely different matter. He could feel the licking jolts of electricity roam over his shoulders and upper back, the former Hound futilely trying to mentally block them from infiltrating his lower regions in order to restrain a certain area of erectile tissue from pointing horizontally in his sweatpants. Having to listen the quite appealing sounds coming from a man whose rather memorable body parts he had had the questionable joy to get closely acquainted with wasn't also helping to keep the insides of his boxers in check.
One more moan from the chuunin and he couldn't promise anything.
Not that Iruka could help it, since the small, pinching pulses of electricity dancing on his nipples and naval area were making it harder to keep the blood from heading to the direction it wasn't supposed to go when one was meant to only stretch before getting one's ass whooped in the next twenty minutes. A low, pained moan floated through the air in the training room, and full lips were bitten and twisted as yet another groan escaped the sweating throat. The dazed eyes were squinted shut when a new shiver of electric current licked its torturous way up on Iruka's inner thighs and gave a positively scandalous petting to his buttocks. He could only hope that the older man took his actions and sounds being the result of mere muscle pain rather than the another kind of ache accumulating in his body.
On the other side of the outstretched hands, Kakashi was more than ready to kill whoever had written the cursed scroll that had become the fundamental outlines for their torturous mission when the familiar, alluring scent pushed itself up into his nostrils and made him choke a sneeze.
It was going to be a long day.
They observed each other from the opposite sides of the room, the fiery brown piercing the deceivingly bored gray, and heavy breathing echoed in the confined space that already carried a tangy scent of sweat in the air. The narrow rays of sunlight filtered in the room, the bright lines coloring both the tan and pale skin with yellowish tint.
Slowly, Iruka bent his knees while pulling his shoulders straighter and keeping his arms relaxed yet ready for either blocking or assaulting, whichever came first. By sliding his legs on the tatami, the teacher set himself facing the stilled copy-nin with his right side turned at the jounin, the dark eyes being kept on the masked man. Before he could launch his thought attack, though, a pale hand rose to halt his feet on the spot.
"Let's try an other method for a change, neh, Iruka-sensei?"
A perplexed blink met his suggestion. "Eh?"
"Maa, let's face it sensei, it's been ten minutes and neither of us have gotten even close to the other's bell. Not that I doubt that we couldn't do some damage from twenty feet away from each other, but since we have no weaponry in our use I could, with some level of certainty, declare that we're being as effective as nicotine patches are with Asuma", Kakashi said and gave a happy smile at the bemused teacher.
The masked man had a point, Iruka could give him that, but that didn't lessen the healthy doubt he felt while looking into the rather smugly curving mismatched eyes. The genius bastard had thought about something again, and concerning the past events, Iruka wasn't all too keen to probe the question of what it could be. He hadn't stayed alive this long by sticking his curios nose in every bait of information he was thrown at with. Particularly when it was done by an S-class assassin whose grin was becoming more and more visible underneath the dark mask.
"Toss me your bell, sensei."
Now that was new. A cocky eyebrow rose slowly to challenge the demanding tone Iruka was given, and the mission room worker couldn't help keeping the lopsided, mischievous smirk from spreading wide on his lips. "Saa, not that I wouldn't give you points for creativity in this case, but that sounded awfully like an attempt to win this match with a rather unusual way, Kakashi-san. Have you been talking with Shikamaru again?"
The quick, positively baffled blink that the jounin gave him was making it hard not to burst into gales of laughter, but as the day felt inclined to do its best to make their interaction as absurd as possible, a rumbling flow of chortles was suddenly heard beneath the stretching mask fabric on the jounin's face as the older man's stupefied look dissolved into happy laughter shaking the sweaty, pale upper body of the ex-ANBU. Seeing the other male lose it was the last nail on Iruka's slipping poker face, and for a moment the training room echoed with booming laughter mixing with the beeping of the alarm as the two highly trained and equally distressed, tired, mauled, harassed and hormonally confused men relieved some of that pent-up stress in a very un-shinobi-ish manner. The Council would have a ball with their hysterical example of potential mental breakdown if the old geezers ever had been permitted to get a glimpse of their future mission report.
After collecting their breaths and Kakashi having shut off the alarm, the two shinobi shared an amused look, the unsaid offer of truce being accepted by both parties. Quickly, Iruka opened the knot on the red thread and then tossed the bell to the older man, the chuunin observing interestedly what exactly the other had in mind.
As he caught the bell in his pale hand, Kakashi gave a victorious smirk. "Maa-"
"It still doesn't count as a win, Kakashi-san", came the quick scold from the other man, even though the smiling eyes were humoring his efforts.
"Always having so high sense of morale, sensei..." A chuckle escaped the masked lips as Kakashi tossed the bell lightly in the air before snatching it back into his hand and then tying it on the backside of his sweatpants.
"I work with thirty bloodthirsty pre-genins for five days a week. Give them even one unfairly achieved score and that'll be the end of me", Iruka chuckled and gave a dismissive shrug at the slightly worried look the other gave at him over the dark mask. Then he watched as the jounin securely attached the bell on his back, and the dark eyebrows rose on the tan forehead. "What on earth are you up to?"
A snort met the chuunin's question, and the mismatched eyes curved in delight. "Still not getting what I'm after, sensei?" And with that, without further warning, the jounin turned around and struck a pose with his hip thrust to one side. "Tell me, what would you say it looks like?" Kakashi's voice was all but innocent and the small silver bells chimed on the copy-nin's leisurely executed movement when the older male swayed his hips as the twirled around, the jounin being very much aware how his body looked like as he slowly set his weight on one leg and gave the other man a rather fetching version of a shinobi equivalent on contrapposto [2] when their eyes met once again.
If the tan chuunin didn't catch on the blatant show of his physical traits, the man was either in heavy denial or completely oblivious to what he just did. Hell, he could have sworn to feel himself blush a bit at his obvious flirting.
The only question was...what to do if the man caught onto him and acted upon the revelation?
Then again, on a closer look the specific dilemma wasn't so unexpected. Kakashi still couldn't decide if the stunt the kohai had pulled with his interruption was better or worse for their situation that morning, because at that time he had been all too ready to grab the tanned demon and make a good use of their kitchen counter as the seductive scent had taken over his nose yet again. Furthermore, also remembering how he had felt when he had spied on the interaction between the two men in the kitchen and had seen that damned little wooden box to change the owner before seeing the look that was given to him as the stupidly brave kohai had taken the liberty to intrude the volatile chuunin's personal space, the silver-haired lightning user had to admit that the conflicts he felt in his actions were only a logical conclusion from his current state.
When the compelling view of one firm and perfectly proportioned backside of the arrogant elite nin was registered in his internally caterwauling mind, Iruka found himself concentrating hard on keeping an eye contact with the man and forming words with his tongue in order to keep himself from licking provocatively his suddenly very dry lips. Kami that man did evil things to his self-restraint. "I have to agree, those pants do give you an extra pound, Kakashi-san." Iruka knew he was being cheeky again, and that insulting the other man was far from what he would rather be saying (preferably with his tongue pushed down to places even the man who invented the move of 'Thousand years of pain' would be surprised to get explored), but as the delicate nature of their morning collision had it, the academy sensei was ready to do all he could to throw the manipulative bugger off the scent before his internal desires could grow out of hands due to the mental images that were rapidly surfacing in his mind based on the lewd associations happening with the word 'pound'. Despite the carnal lust promptly taking over a few sections of his brain, he could see the calculating look passing the gray eye, and it would take a dead fool to fall for that trap.
After all, he took a pride in being a fast learner.
Kakashi had to admit, he was now very tempted to pull out the bathroom scale and prove the cheekily grinning little fucker wrong on his weight issues (he was doing just fine with his charts, thank you), but, truth to be told, he had been missing their routine of getting on each other's nerves on daily basis. "Hurting words, sensei." A countering grin tugged at his lips. It seemed that the man had chosen to ignore his flaunting and the chuunin might have gotten him there with that snippy jab, but he was going to make that smirk disappear from that tan face by the end of the day. "But, as much as I'd like to continue this discussion with you, we still need to get some other results than my ideal weight from the day." With that the pale-skinned jounin took a defensive posture with his knees bent and fists lifted to cover his torso, the gray eye narrowing into a challenging smile. "Since now I have both of the bells in my possession, it's only logical that I would be the prey in this game, correct?"
Iruka gave a contemplating frown at that, grateful for the older man to tactfully steer the conversation away from the distracting dirty topics. So it was what he had suspected it to be. "It does seem like it, yes. But where exactly does that leave your battle strategy? If I'm the offensive, then does that mean that you fight only with the defensive styles?"
After a fleeting second of consideration, the silver-haired head gave a small nod. "Something like that."
Iruka resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. He could almost taste the impending migraine. "But that's not how it goes in a real situation. The defensive can also turn into offensive if given the chance. Even the genins know that, at least in my class."
"Then shouldn't you push me into a situation where that doesn't happen, neh?"
Iruka gave a suspicious frown. What was he being baited for now? "Well, true, but-"
"Then let's just give it a go and see where that leads, shall we?" If the jounin had meant the words as encouragement, the flat, almost exasperated tone that contradicted with the smiling eyes spoke for a whole another story.
Despite the crawling sense of alarm that took over Iruka's intuition on the copy-nin's seemingly flawless brainstorming and the unsettling eagerness the man displayed for trying out the new method, a fully wide grin spread itself on the sun-kissed lips. "What's this, the infamous chronic latecomer of thousand jutsus is getting impatient?"
"Maa. If you don't come after these bells in five seconds then I'll make you the prey, sensei", Kakashi said, and as the words were out of his mouth, he became also informed on how low purr he had dropped his voice all of a sudden. Ah hell.
On his side of the room, Iruka felt a tremor of heat travel down his body on the man's smooth voice, and the dark eyes narrowed into a penetrating look challenging the gray one. The probability for the jounin to catch onto his growing, albeit still dodgy lusting after the man was diminutive, but a valid concern nevertheless. If the man had noticed how his body had acted the previous hours, it was sure to bode more than just trouble for him. What was more alarming, though, was the increasing amount of flirting in which he seemed to be engaging himself when dealing with the pale-skinned bastard. Sure, they had always hid the double entendres and bad pick-up lines in their tongue-lashing, but he was neither blind nor deaf not to notice the blatant change in the nature of those usually harmless jabs, at least from his side. Regrettably, he also knew for certain that the older nin wasn't as inept in social communication as the bastard always conveniently made it appear. He just had to play it to his benefit as soon as he had figured out what exactly counted as an advantage in their strange game. Pushing aside the swirling doubts and theories in his mind, Iruka gave the waiting copy-nin a sharp look. "Saa, let's see how you enjoy being hunted then, Kakashi-san."
The steel-hard glint in the gray eye was all he needed to permit his body to attack.
Light as a feather, the tan legs carried the chuunin to the awaiting opponent and with a fluid move, Iruka dove down and delivered a low windmill kick at the jounin, turning his spinning body on his hands and already calculating his next move, ready to block the possible cut from above should the man manage to fend off his kick. The flicker of a shadow and the chimes of the silver bells traveled above him as the man of thousand jutsus jumped over him and landed on the other side, the jounin already retreating to safer distance as Iruka stood gracefully back up and took a moment to assess the situation. A tan hand rose to rub a tickling spot on his clavicle area and discarded the dying jolts of electricity that were prickling the tan skin under the dark clothes. It appeared that it wasn't only the jounin's good evasive tactics that might give him considerable trouble during the present match.
"We didn't set the alarm, sensei."
He could only too well sympathize with the jounin's past homeroom teacher.
Holding in a tired groan at the snickering jounin, Iruka strode to the alarm, picked it up, set the time while giving a rather pointed look at the innocently smiling silver-haired man and put the small device down leaning against the wall. As soon as the mocha-colored hands let go of the ticking thorn on his tan side, the teacher's feet left the matted floor and he dashed at the other man, the chuunin knowing that he didn't have the luxury of time for what it came to their clashing elements. If he wished to avoid the impact that seemed to be somewhat unavoidable every time the older man was too close or touched him, the snatch for the bell had to be quick and precise.
Just like the copy-nin's kills were always said to be.
Kakashi watched the tan man coming at him, and as he carefully set his muscles to dodge the obvious strategy the other had decided to try on him, the copy-nin felt the short hairs on his neck stand on their ends for some reason. His body was warming up for something more than just a match, and the jounin was both reluctant and interested to see where that specific phenomenon would lead. He resisted the desire to open his Sharingan as he dodged away from the attacking teacher, sending the man diving past him and then following keenly how the tan legs fluidly continued the interrupted momentum to the right as the persistent chuunin decided to circle him once more. There was something in the other man that tried desperately to catch Kakashi's attention, but his mind had already been set into mission mode and he had narrowed his concentration down on the possible attacks the cinnamon-colored man should lash out at him. His body was exhausted, which was something he grudgingly had to admit, since he hadn't slept much during the last couple nights for reasons he never thought he would encounter when it came to having a mission with the quick-tempered academy instructor. However, it was possible that being tired could also be related to the odd occurrences happening with his lightning throughout the day, so as much as he would have loved to jump for the first chance of getting a long nap and getting rid of the unwanted sensations distracting him all the time, he was also curious to see if he could manipulate the recently happened events for his own benefit. He had been trained better than to blindly follow the temptations of his body, after all.
The only problem for the whole thing was, though, that due to the increasing incidents caused by their unpredictable elements, he could not be sure if the strangely changing sensations in his body were the result from that or from some completely different phenomenon when regarding his ambivalent relationship with the tanned firecracker. He had gotten sexual reactions out of the younger man, true, but only in situations that he himself had initiated, furthermore by using his lightning. Therefore there was no saying that, whatever it was that he was experiencing, his currently surfacing feelings towards the other male would be reciprocated.
Facing the opponent without confirming the intel was considered the stupidest thing to do for a shinobi, and Kakashi wasn't one to act recklessly when it came down to his private life.
The shift of air caught the jounin's attention, and mostly on reflex his arms blocked yet another attempt of stealing the bell resting against the joint of his thigh and hip, and the narrowed eye met the stubbornly glaring brown ones for a passing second before Kakashi's focus reeled sideways as he turned quickly on his heels to shield the other bell from the hand that had snuck up on him from behind. It was time to get back on the track, apparently.
The copy-nin was spacing out again, Iruka was sure of it. Only this time he didn't see it necessary to let the given chance slip from him as he had the countless times before. It was an opportunity he had to take in order to gain the advantage, no matter how much he detested foul play. Once again being blocked, the chuunin hopped away from the older man and assessed his next move, his temper slowly growing frustrated as every single attempt had proven fruitless against the crafty jounin. The man hadn't even hesitated in his defense, which, quite frankly, should have been obvious since the man was labeled as a genius. Besides, as the silver-haired prick had showed him during the passing days, one needed only a sliver of chance in order to turn the tables. The last two traps the man had set for him to set off were saying enough.
The man knew exactly how to play his opponents to gain the upper hand.
A low growl escaped Iruka at the memory of how he had been humiliated and deceived by the cunning man, and suddenly, as if the darkening thoughts had triggered a couple new nerve connections in his brain, Iruka felt his body to fill up with a foreign feel of flowing energy. After just a quick inhale, Iruka plunged himself again at the older man, his hurried pace bringing him almost nose to nose with the surprised-looking jounin, and in order to corner the man, the teacher quickened his steps and rounded the man first from the other side, then the other, his sharply snatching hands searching for the possible openings in the other's defense. The silver-haired nin fell in step with him, dodging and dancing away from his hands every time he thought he could touch the glinting goals, the pale, well-trained body bending and twisting in ways Iruka had apparently forgotten the other being capable of performing. Kakashi was more than just well-trained, he did acknowledge that fact, and wasn't certainly letting him go easy with his task of getting the bells. His left hand shot out to reach for the bell bouncing behind the jounin's back, but a cut from pale hands struck at his wrist from his blind point and forced him to pull back and then reach for the other bell while the jounin's defense was still concentrating on the other. Pushing away the hot pulses of electricity dancing on his skin on the spots where the other had hit, Iruka made a quick jab with his right at the bell hanging on the front of the jounin's pants, all the while forcing the jounin to step backwards towards the training room wall. As yet another blocking hit smacked against his skin and a heated ache took over his groin, Iruka knew that he had reached his limits and thus retraced his steps in order to gain a longer distance for a quick catch of breath and to discard the sudden wave of want forming in his body, the scheming mind of his already scanning through tactics in a hurry to find a more suitable approach for the situation.
The match had lasted no more than eight minutes and he was already doubting the success of his strategy.
On the other hand, the strong, strange urge he currently had circulating in his central nerve system was...invigorating.
The sharp jingle of the silver bell cut through the air and Kakashi stared in open bewilderment at the tan hand that was holding one of his bells, and the victorious, almost feral grin stretching on the tan face. When had the chuunin even moved? Quickly, the jounin's frozen muscles set themselves back into action and the ex-ANBU ran a few steps away from the chuunin. While the scorching hot spike of arousal died from the right side of his hips, Kakashi pierced the smugly smiling younger shinobi with a stern look. The gray eye bored into the blazing brown, and a tremor of unease prickled his skin at the darkly burning intensity he was given by the chuunin's eyes.
This was new to their game.
His ears caught on the sound of the running feet before his eyes even realized that the tan man had moved from his previous spot, and just narrowly the jounin managed to duck down to avoid the wide swing given by the sinewy, honey-toned hands. Kakashi served the man a low spin kick, making the assailant hop away from him and that way getting a second to gather his thoughts. Something had happened to the chuunin during the last three minutes. Something that was making the man faster and more accurate-
A roughly cutting kick sent him flying to the wall, and for a short moment, the air was cut off from his lungs. Through the loud thrumming inside his slightly hurting head, the jounin barely caught the words that were pointed at him from close proximity.
"Saa, Kakashi-san...didn't they teach you to pay attention at your opponent?" The mellow, warm baritone that caressed his ear had an odd edge to it, and before Kakashi could get a look at the chuunin whose sweet-smelling breath he could suddenly feel against his masked face, a pair of strong hands grabbed a hold on his singlet. "Why don't you let me show you what happens when one sleeps in my class, bastard!" The voice of the teacher rose into an indignant shout, and before he understood what was happening, the silver-haired shinobi's vision tilted upside down as he was picked up and thrown over the other's shoulder.
The jounin spun in the air and landed on his feet, skidding along the matted floor, his mind whirling with valid options to either win or intercept the match that had suddenly taken a turn into something else. Not that his body agreed with the alarmed mind, as his muscles felt like melting with heat and the jolts of pleasure pinched every single crook there was in his lithe form, most of the sensations concentrating on the area where the tan hands had touched last. Without even thinking about it, the copy-nin suddenly realized him having plunged at the assaulting man, hence cutting short the other's attack, then taken a bruising hold on the younger man's shoulders during their abruptly changing momentum and effectively forcing the struggling shinobi with the scarred back against the wall. As the men fell still over their suddenly changed dispositions, through the adrenaline that was making his mind hazy, Kakashi noticed his gray eye being only two inches away from the dark brown ones, his lips hovering only a breath's width away from their trembling counterparts, and his chest flush against the taut, tense body in his steel-hard grip. For half a second he could feel the heat from the other's body and the intoxicating scent from previous times to caress every exposed part of both his body and soul, all he would need was to lean in-
The lust-filled, albeit highly alarmed shout was all he managed to hear before a sharp blow of icy water hit him squarely on his upper chest, the power behind the impact feeling as if he had been hit by one of Kyuubi's tails, it making him fly a good twenty-five feet across the room from the tanned man before landing on his back with a loud crash on the matted floor and sliding a few feet further before stopping sprawled on the tatami mats.
Heavy panting echoed through the thick, stunned silence in the training room, and as he greedily gulped for air with his hurting lungs, Kakashi had a hard time to gather his focus on anything, the surrounding noises incomprehensible due to the high-pitched tinnitus [3] that had taken over his sensitive ears, and the angle of his own body feeling ridiculously absurd to him. Drunk from the lack of oxygen, the jounin painfully slowly managed to roll on his aching side and focus his eyesight enough to catch a glimpse of the chuunin sliding limply down against the wall, the pained expression on the younger nin's face taking away his focus from the flushed cheeks adorning the sun-kissed features. The teacher slumped leaning heavily against the wall, and to Kakashi it looked like he wasn't the only one who was currently fighting on getting enough air into his lungs. It also seemed as if the panting chuunin was in some sort of pain, if the tight hold the man had onto his ribs was anything to go by. Kakashi couldn't blame him for that, though, as a violent jolt of sharp pain pierced his chest and made him curl into himself. A low growl of pain escaped his grimacing lips, but luckily the ache didn't carry the same level of agony as he had experienced during his first collapse. He might even survive through the day, then.
"...Ka..Kakashi-san..? Are...are you...alright..?" The quietly spoken, if a bit breathless words snapped his attention back to the other man still slumped against the wall. The chuunin had opened his eyes, and the look in the dark orbs was unreadable with a tense edge to it.
To be completely honest with himself, Kakashi felt a tiny flutter inside his gut at the sliver of concern he could detect on the younger man's words. After all that had just happened, the academy instructor was still prioritizing his well-being over the man's own? A small, self-depreciating smile stretched itself on the masked lips and the jounin's eyes curved into what he hoped to be positive-looking crescents. "Maa, I've had worse fights." A quiet chuckle shook his aching shoulders, making him wince a bit. "Still alive, sensei. It takes more than a cold shower to get rid of me."
To his surprise, a relieved look passed the dark brown eyes and the almost unnoticeable tension melted away from the heavily breathing man's posture. "Can you...stand up on your own...?"
Kakashi gave the given question a moment to consider the intention behind it. Deeming it way too troublesome to risk riling up the heaving sensei so shortly after such a strange match, Kakashi gave the man a curt nod. "I'll be fine. More importantly, how are you doing?"
The tiny blush that spread on the horizontal scar made the silvery eyebrows rise a bit. "It...might me a good idea to go to bed earlier today..I..I'm feeling quite tired, to be honest." A trembling, tan hand rose to scratch the light pink nose, and the hesitant glance the chuunin shot to the side before giving the jounin another look was enough to tattle Kakashi that something was held from him concerning the other man's condition. "..I'll go and shower." Surprisingly swiftly, the tan body lifted itself on shaking legs and the chuunin strode quickly to the bathroom doors, the odd actions only serving to increase Kakashi's curiosity on the oddly behaving man.
Now what was this, then?
As the sliding doors clicked shut after the fleeing teacher, the jounin shifted to lay on his back, the gray eye giving the ceiling above a contemplating look.
Neither of the men had registered the alarm that had been beeping for the past ten minutes.
Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit...
Tan hands trembled uncontrollably as they stripped the shivering tan body from the soaked training gear, pulling the sweaty and wet tank top roughly from covering the muscular chest before clumsily fighting with the sweatpants' strings. A small whimper left the fervently bitten lips as the hastily lowered fabric brushed against the eagerly pulsing hot flesh, causing a fit of tremors rake throughout the quivering muscles of the cinnamon-colored body. The moment both the slacks and the almost ruined boxers pooled around his ankles, Iruka stepped out of them with one foot and tried to kick them further away with the other in order not to get them any more soaked than they were already. Not having gained the full control on his rebelliously uncooperative muscles, the hastily executed move made him stumble in his steps and the tan body collided with the wooden shelves behind him, making the things kept on them fall and clutter to the floor. Blindly, Iruka made a grab for the items in order to prevent them from falling, knowing that the silver-haired bastard could show up at any second if he made any odd noises, it being something he really couldn't afford right now.
Not until the major erection he presently sported had subsided, that is.
It had already been a pain to hide the proudly attentive length from the older nin's perceptive eyes as Iruka had fled to the bathroom, and the mere thought of the pale-skinned asshole seeing him in his current state was almost enough to make his strained nerves explode.
What the hell had even happened out there? At first he was making a strategy to get the frigging bells and the next thing he knew he was trapped between a very solid and inviting wall and an attractive male body. The only thing he did recall was that something heavy and scalding hot had lurched inside him the moment he had felt the clothed lips close to his, and that he was suddenly knocking the jounin off him with his element. Again! He would die of dehydration if those things kept on happening to him!
Suddenly something liquid sploshed over his fingers that fumbled with the dropping objects, and as he hastily righted the fallen item and his spinning mind registered the soft click of the cap as it was closed, only then actually realizing what it was that he had spilled, his whole body froze on the spot and the breath was caught into his throat.
Greeting his wide eyes was a sight of three, tan fingers glistening with the one and only oily substance that had made his life a living hell for the past few days.
Not only that, but it was also doing horrible things to his self-control at the very moment, the sudden burn of sinful, overwhelming pleasure tingling all over his wet hand and directing its attack straight to his already vivid groin section. Staring at the gleaming fingers in a loss of ideas on how to proceed from there, the tan throat swallowed thickly at the sight on how the drops of oil traveled down his palm.
….He should wipe it off...
Momentarily, a flash of electric blue light blinded his vision, and the full-lipped mouth had to bite on tan knuckles in order to smother a mewl that threatened to climb its way out of his throat as the chuunin's mind was briefly assaulted by heated memories that were shameless enough to mix themselves with his darkest wants that had lingered in the periphery of his currently crumbling mind, waiting to pounce the helpless victim in their weakest moment.
..He really should...
The trembling bottom lip was worried between the strong teeth and the dark-skinned man gave the closed bathroom doors a hesitating look, contemplating the utterly suicidal nature of his next move, but when the burning in his lower body only increased by the sinful sight of slick fingers presented to his dazed eyes, the sensei gave in to his relentlessly throbbing arousal. Quickly, the tanned legs carried him under the shower head, but instead of turning the shower on, one honey-toned arm was raised to lean the body's weight against the tiled wall and slowly, ever so slowly, the chuunin moved the oiled fingers to caress his backside while he took a wider stand on the tiled floor. The dark eyes slid shut on the scorching heat taking over his hips and Iruka had to bite his other hand's fingers to hold in the rising moan as the first digit circled his tight ring of muscles, teasing him into a frenzy when the sloppily smeared oil felt to set his skin on fire. A breathless gasp was heard in the tiled room as the first finger pushed inside him, sending images of silver hair and pale skin flash before Iruka's tightly closed eyes.
Oh how good he had felt in his body as the jounin had pushed him against the wall, how the gray eye had bored into his very soul and made him want to do such dirty things to the man holding him...
A stifled groan dropped from the lightly panting mouth, and Iruka swallowed a moan when the second finger joined its companion, the tan hand picking up speed with its penetrating movement.
..How close the masked mouth had been to his...
The hardened length leaked a drop of pre-cum from its slit that made him stare at his straining manhood in hypnotized manner, the darkened head of his cock demanding attention he could only dream the witty, masked mouth giving to it, the lewdly speaking tongue licking and lathering his weeping erection, the deep, rumbling voice humming around him and shooting his mind to hell as he would watch the jounin suck him.
...All it would have required was to lean in..to taste the scent of dark coffee that always teased him in the jounin's breath...
The room tilted beneath his shaking legs as the fingers brushed against the spot that made his vision dive head first into a clear blue wave, forcing him to search his vanishing balance by gripping the tiled wall desperately with his other hand as the other pleasured him beyond common sense. The only problem was, no matter how deep he reached, no matter how hard he pushed, he kept only teetering on the edge, missing the peak of satisfaction whenever he felt the tightening in his groin telling that he was close. Why didn't it go away? Why wasn't it sufficient?! A frustrated growl erupted from the taut, broad chest and the movement of the fingers became more frantic, more passionate, the panting mouth silently praying his iron control to just let go for once as the dazed mind of the chuunin sensei drifted into dirty fantasies involving one remarkably well endowed copy-nin and his willing tan ass, the feel of his fingers morphing into something longer and thicker sliding in and out of his greedy passage. The supporting hand was pushed off the wall and lowered to slide over his generously leaking shaft, earning a rumbling purr resounding through his arching body as his head fell back, the swollen lips opening into a silent moan of ecstasy as the first, firm strokes caressed his twitching cock-
The dazed, dark eyes snapped suddenly out of their blue-tinted haze when Iruka's ringing ears caught on the sound of footsteps stopping just behind the bathroom doors that led to the training room, making freezing coldness of fear wrap itself around his skipping heart as the all too familiar presence washed over his over-sensitive skin.
No, no, no, not now-!
It was also at that second that his thrusting and stroking fingers found the right spots all at the same time.
Oh kami-sama-!
Carefully, the sliding doors opened and Kakashi gave the bathroom a testing peek. The jounin had spent a few moments laying on his dripping puddle of scattered thoughts on the matted floor, the vigil genius mind trying to find him valid points for entering the bathroom after the chuunin without getting kicked out in a quarter of a second. Or jumping the man's bones the very moment when he would see if the chuunin's body had any tan lines on the bronze-colored skin. Either way, the situation required delicacy he knew he possessed as much as Kotetsu and Izumo did whenever the two numbskulls were in the same room, so after a couple of minutes pondering the dilemma, the jounin had decided to rely on the unbeatable yet rarely used strategy of infiltration and intelligence gathering they were all taught when learning the secrets of their sneaky profession.
Sometimes the direct approach was better than the vague one.
Some even stayed alive to tell the tale after doing that.
The sound of shower greeted his keen hearing and the gray eye gave a quick look at the shower stalls, spotting the target of his unconventional tactic washing himself with vigor that he didn't think anyone else except Gai could perform without hurting themselves fatally in the process. Then again, there were only so many surprises one man could handle in one evening.
Silently, Kakashi stepped into the room and shut the sliding doors behind him. The pale hands peeled off his once again wet clothes and then the jounin pulled on the showering mask, noticed the haphazardly discarded clothes of the other man, quirked an eyebrow at the various objects he was fairly sure that didn't belong on the floor, and then headed to his shower stall while giving an appraising yet scrutinizing look at the rather fetching-looking morsel of dark-skinned eye-candy, feeling a tug of heat tickling his gut as there were no tan lines in sight. However, the air around the showering chuunin felt a bit off for some reason, and while he turned the faucets, the ex-ANBU could swear that his nose caught on a sliver of some odd yet familiar, muffled scent wafting in the steamy air. Now why did that scent put an alarm ringing in his head?
"I thought Tsunade-sama told us to take separate shower turns, Kakashi-san."
The irritated note in the said words made Kakashi glance at the shadowy figure on the other side of the opaque and steamy glass wall, and a lopsided grin splayed itself on the pale, hidden lips. "Maa, indeed she did, but you wouldn't be so cruel as to risk your teammate to catch a cold in his wet clothes, would you, sensei?" The aggravated muttering was more than welcomed to him. It seemed that he wasn't going to be kicked out of the shower. Yet at least. The voice of the older nin took on a more challenging note in his next words. "Besides, after what you did to me a couple of days ago I hardly see it appealing to offer you any more opportunities to disrupt my showers, sensei."
A dry snort met his musings. "I won't participate in an already doomed conversation as you know it very well, Kakashi-san. The days in the mission room should have taught you that."
"Ah, but knowing and obliging are two very different things, sensei, you of all people should've learned that already." Kakashi couldn't help keeping the sly smile off his face when the glass wall gave a miserable gonk as a tan hand lightly smacked the smooth surface, leaving a faint hit mark on the moist wall between them. Time to charge. "Fair enough, how about explaining to me what happened just now?"
The stricken silence that greeted his question was almost screaming in his ears through the shower's white noise.
"...What do you mean what happened?" Feeling his heart halt with a heavy thump, Iruka couldn't believe his rapidly heating ears. He could have sworn to have washed the evidence of his release sufficiently away before the unnervingly observative jounin had entered the room, moreover using a good amount of both shampoo and shower gel should have covered the musky scent from the masked nose. The dark eyes gave a withering scowl at his slowly subsiding erection, just daring his physiology to start a second round while the other man was still only a couple of feet away. He was already having his hands full on keeping himself from not reaching down there and succumbing to the nagging feeling of giving just a couple more strokes to finish himself off properly.
That and also keeping both his feet and imagination from wandering to the other side of the glass wall...
"I'm referring to what happened during the match. Your fighting had been off for the whole day, but suddenly it all seemed to change somehow. Did you notice any oddities concerning your previous performance?"
Now Iruka felt completely lost with their current topic. Finally, the minuscule portion of his brain that wasn't absorbed with the dilemma of misplaced hormonal hurricane, set the light on in the other sections of his mind and kindly reminded him of the past few hours that had happened before he had went and written his name on Tsunade's black list of medical equipment abusers. After his mind was picked up from the gutter where it had fallen, the chuunin felt a dark, tense tic on his brow.
The genius sure could pick his moments to question his team members.
Then again, at least he now knew where they stood for the time being. "I have no clue on what happened, Kakashi-san." Technically, that wasn't a lie. "I guess my element decided to have some fun on our expense." To Iruka's dismay, that was more than just a high possibility at the current moment.
Kakashi gave a frown at that. He had suspected as much, with his element being an active pain in his ass for the whole day, but the answer was still too vague for his taste. "Could you describe it a bit better? Anything that could have caught you attention?" Scrubbing the shampoo on his scalp, the jounin closed his eyes and listened to the pensive humming coming from the younger man's side. The tan teacher was seemingly reluctant to share his observations with him, and he couldn't judge the man for that. The temperamental man had all the reasons to be careful when dealing with him after what he had caused to happen to the chuunin's body.
Although, Kakashi did understand the teacher's problem in voicing out the occurred event as well. Whatever it was that had happened in the passing few minutes was something neither of them had anticipated, for that they both seemed to agree, but the surfacing questions that had hit him on the head as he had laid on the damp tatami were also making his whole being restless as he tried to find a suitable way to word out the actual problem he was facing.
How exactly did one breach the subject of being aggressively rejected after subconsciously trying to molest an other male against the nearest wall?
Hell, with all things considered, Kakashi wasn't even sure if the sudden urge to slant his lips against the other's had even been unintentional enough to be labeled as 'subconscious'. He could pretty much guess that if his libido had had anything to say to it, it would have all but screamed for wicked intentions towards the man he had been holding for just a moment in his grip.
Iruka shook his head, the brows furrowed in deep concentration. Now that he knew what the older man was after, he could participate better in their game of revealing things without revealing himself. "I'm afraid I couldn't grasp it so well to distinguish any specific features in it. It was an elemental occurrence, for that I'm sure. At least that's what I can remember of it." A tan hand was lowered from his washed hair to twist the taps while the chuunin struggled to dig out more details from his chaotic memories while at the same time reminding himself of their past situations and holding his tongue on certain issues he wanted to sort out by himself before literally offering any more of his ass to the bastard. "Then it all just..I don't know..somehow intensified, if one should use a word for it."
The chuunin's choice of words snatched Kakashi's full attention. That was a rather unusual way of putting it compared to the other possibilities when describing the battle situations. " 'Intensified'? "
A tan finger rose to scratch the nasal scar, and Iruka gave the showering shadow next to him a sidelong glance, calculating the steps he needed to reach his towel while preserving the illusion of collegial modesty. If there even was anything left for him to maintain after what he had learned concerning the past days, that is. "Yes. Intensified. As if I had more chakra in my use all of a sudden, to put it simple." Except that it clearly wasn't chakra that had made it happen. Gingerly, he made the first steps towards his towel hanging on the rack on the opposite wall.
A thoughtful hum resounded from Kakashi's throat as the speculative words from the younger man kicked in a few gears in his head. There could be a chance of having their chakra involved in this? The gray eye narrowed on the barrel of possibilities that was ignited in the silver-haired nin's mind. "What do you think about the blue color?"
With a smooth move of trained hands, Iruka toweled his hair dry and then wrapped the towel around his narrow waist, the prudish teacher letting out a quiet sigh of relief as he wasn't any longer in the immediate danger of exhibiting more than he wanted to the older man. Safe for now. Then the dark eyes gave the showering man behind his back a glance through the gleaming white tile next to his head. "The blue color?"
Giving a nod he knew the other would sense, Kakashi closed the shower and raked the pale hands through his wet mane. "If I remember correctly, that's the only connecting thing that we both desribed to Tsunade-sama when she asked about our first encounter with the elements, and if I'm not mistaken, that same color is also connected to the other stuff circulating in our pathways." The former ANBU kept his keenly looking eye on the wet tiles in front of him, not really sensing the cool air brushing against his light-toned skin as he was currently concentrating on the new ideas that popped up in his mind. What was it that Tsunade had said about the possible triggers...?
The widening, dark brown eyes kept their focus on the bleary reflection on the tile's flat surface, and Iruka resisted the urge to slap his head as the realization dawned on him. Despite using the possibility of chakra as a bait to lure the jounin off his scent, the man was actually hitting a point there. "...That's true." Abruptly, without giving his brain enough time to tell him why it really wasn't such a good idea, Iruka spun around on his heels as his mind's archives burst into life and he started to browse trough every odd event that had led them to their present situation. "How had we missed that before? That's an obvious point we should-"
The shocked stare from the gray eye wasn't alone in its contradicting feelings.
While preventing an internal explosion from happening in his limbic system, Iruka turned his back to the bare-assed jounin, hoping fervently that the pale man took the hand that rose to take a firm hold on the bridge of his nose as a gesture of distress and embarrassment rather than an attempt of calling off the threatening nosebleed. There was only so much physical temptarion a man could handle after coating his inner walls with the chakra-infused massage oil. The skin on his overheating neck prickled at the keen look he felt on his stiff, scarred back, and the sudden flare of an electric current traveling up his calves made his muscles twitch in agitated manner. This wasn't good. He had to redeem his position before the perceptive asshole could start thinking that there were more things happening with him than his element acting all wild and irresponsible. "Could that also share a connection with the anomaly you said that Tsunade-sama found in our samples? Shouldn't we contact her about this?" An internal curse was hissed at the hesitant tone in his voice. If the former ANBU hadn't realized what was happening to him, Iruka was sure that the man would now be able to connect the dots. Sensing the man's body approach him from behind, a sullen, heated ache started to take over his restless muscles despite the desperate attempt to keep his feelings at bay. It seemed that his body didn't comprehend why it wasn't given the permission to turn around and start the second round with the exquisite, pale body it could feel stopping behind the stiff, tan back. The dark eyes narrowed their focus on the wall of white tiles expanding in his field of vision, and the strong jaw set itself into a tight grit. He would not yield to the pale-skinned asshole, no matter how much his drooling mouth appreciated the idea of getting on his knees on the wet and cold bathroom floor.
Fire and iron.
Fire and iron...!
Out of nowhere, a pale arm stretched over the tan shoulder, sending a sigh of minute tremors tickling over the honey-toned skin, and grabbed the second towel that hung on the rack on the wall in front of the tense chuunin. "Maa. That's certainly something to consider, sensei." The smooth, low voice resounding from behind his back was as teasing as ever, but felt to withhold a layer that sounded more like a shinobi concentrating on solving the new problems in their mission parameters rather than a man being set out to seduce his mission partner. Iruka's keen ears picked the sounds of hair being dried up and the towel being draped over the muscular frame, and as the other's heavy presence vanished from his skin, the chuunin risked a glance at the retreating, pale back. The map of faded scars expanded over the taut muscles, and the broad shoulders carried on a posture of an experienced fighter. "We can contact her tomorrow, see if she has any news and if we could help her with this bit of information. Good night, sensei." With that, the bathroom door to the corridor opened and the jounin stepped out of the bathroom, and when the click of the closing door reached his ears, Iruka let out the breath he had been barely able to hold in.
The sudden opening of the door was almost enough to make him jump out of his skin, and the wide-eyed chuunin sensei spun to meet whoever it was that had tried to make him lose a few years out of his life. The brightly smiling pair of mismatched eyes was an unexpected and unnerving sight to greet him from the crack of the door, and Iruka already set himself ready for a some kind of confrontation.
"Ah, by the way. Nice hair, sensei." And with a suggestive wink, the jounin closed the door once more.
Stunned, Iruka stood still in complete silence that took over the ascetic bathroom. His hair? As the cinnamon-colored ears picked up the older man's movements in the house around him, a tan hand was tentatively raised to run through the damp hair, searching the reason for the jounin's offhand comment. Iruka was sure that he had washed it, he had never before even used that much shampoo as he now had in order to discard the smell of sex that had felt having burned itself onto his skin, so having the subject of his confused feelings comment on his disheveled hair was more than just baffling to him. The wave of warmth that had punched him on his stomach at the wink he had been given wasn't also helping in putting his thoughts back on track, and a troubled sigh left the full-lipped mouth. He was attracted to the man, that much he had already figured, but the chance of it happening due to his misbehaving element rather than him getting emotionally attached to the eccentric assassin was a possibility he didn't know how to approach, moreover getting enough courage to go through all the other facts that were making him doubt if he really had what it took to complete the mission that had been entrusted to them by their Hokage.
Nor did he expect to face the fact that he had forgotten to take off his hair-tie while washing himself.
His forehead would learn to despise the hard surfaces of their household.
[1] In one episode on Naruto Shippuden, Naruto says something like that along the lines.
[2] An Italian term that means counterpose, one of the most traditional poses a live model can perform when referring to the canon of the art history. Also the most basic one which the ones studying live model drawing actually encounter as one of the first poses. As for using the Italian term instead of its English counterpart..well, one learns to live with certain terms, and using other ones just make it sound very silly.
[3] Speaking of silly, had a hard time to believe several dictionaries telling me that this word is the same both in Finnish and in English. Bastards are laughing their asses off somewhere...
