Previous Chapter

Iruka sat down carefully and tried to hide the wince that followed. Genma’s eyes narrowed from his seat next to Iruka.

“I thought you weren’t seeing anyone.” The threat in Genma’s voice was probably justified.

“I’m not. I was with Kakashi last night.”

Judging from Genma’s growing frown, that was probably not the right thing to say.

“Training,” he added quickly and glanced around the room to make sure the jounin wasn’t anywhere nearby in case he misspoke again. Genma had a tendency to be rather explosive when he got angry. “We were fighting until sundown out in the forest. He actually expected me to be able to hit him. Me! Versus the infamous Copy Nin.” After last night he sorely wished he could hit Kakashi. Nothing would be more satisfying right now that a solid punch, right in Kakashi’s jaw, though he’d need the element of surprise to pull that off.

At least the budding attraction he’d held for Kakashi was definitely squashed. Mostly. The jounin was possibly the most infuriating person he knew, aside from Naruto. Another torturous night of fighting until sundown and he could definitely say he was no longer attracted to Kakashi. In other words, in three days, after their next scheduled training session. Kakashi had better not be late this time.

“You give yourself far too little credit, Iruka. You’re a good fighter.”

Iruka glared. His bout with Kakashi had proven just how good he was. “I haven’t fought anyone over the age of sixteen since the Chuunin exams, when I was sixteen.”

“You fought Mizuki.”

Iruka frowned and stared at the table. In the back of his mind he could still hear Mizuki’s voice, taunting Naruto, trying to get the scroll from him. “And we all know how that ended,” he drawled out slowly. That battle had been one of his greatest failures. Instead of him saving Naruto, he’d been saved by the kid. A twelve year old had taken down someone he’d barely managed to scratch.

No wonder Tsunade thought he couldn’t take care of himself.

Genma clapped him on the back, unfortunately hitting one of the spots where Iruka had impacted with a tree last night. “Well, look at it this way, you’ve got Kakashi training you. If you can hit him, you can hit any of us.”

“That’s a big ‘if’ there.”

“At least it’s something worth trying for.”

Iruka sighed. “Yeah, at least I’m trying.”

*****

Kakashi stared at the bowl of kiwi on his counter. They didn’t go bad this fast, did they? He’d bought them for Iruka, but there’d been leftovers and now he was stuck with a bowl of kiwi. Maybe he could give them to Iruka, sort of as an apology for pushing him so hard last night. Would Iruka take that wrong? It was training. It was supposed to be hard. He probably should apologize for the things he said, though. That’d been… mean. True, but still mean. Honestly, twigs?

If he’d been from a rival village or a missing nin or someone actually trying to kill Iruka, the chuunin wouldn’t have lasted five minutes. Hell, Iruka probably wouldn’t even have known he was being attacked before he died. Iruka couldn’t have known it was Kakashi the whole time, and yet he kept pulling those stupid tricks and running around to avoid attacking. To be fair, those tricks might have worked on other opponents. The fact that Naruto survived battle after battle was somewhat testament to that. Not every enemy was as strong as Kakashi. Scratch that. Few enemies were as strong as Kakashi.

Against an unfamiliar chuunin, Iruka would have shined. Against a jounin, he would have survived. It was those familiar ninja that worried Kakashi a little, though the fact that he was worrying at all was somewhat disturbing.

What was going on with him recently? Buying kiwi and training chuunin schoolteachers. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this social with someone he barely knew. Admittedly they did have common friends, which made Iruka a friend by extension. And it was kind of nice talking to someone so different from the ninja he normally associated with. And the few bites he’d had of the kiwi after Iruka had insisted he try it were good.

Kakashi glared at the bowl of kiwi. It didn’t take a genius to figure out where his thoughts were taking him.

“Shit.” The word echoed in his empty apartment.

With one last angry glance at the kiwi, Kakashi grabbed a bag.

*****

It shouldn’t be this hard to find pens. Unfortunately, he needed red pens and the storage closet at school was empty, as it usually was less than five minutes after being stocked. He didn’t quite feel like rummaging through another teachers desk. He knew the kinds of traps they used and Dai-sensei was particularly mean. He probably had all the red pens.

Iruka had a back-up supplier. There was a shop, nearly on the edge of the village on the complete opposite side as the Academy, that stocked red pens. Said shop was currently closed, like most stores after sundown.

“This is what happens when I let Genma talk me into ramen before shopping,” Iruka muttered to himself as he riffled through the selection of pens at the third convenience store he’d been to that night. He wasn’t even really sure what part of town he was in, but he had grading to do tonight and that required red.

Would it really be that unprofessional to use blue?

Konohamaru was in his class. He needed red.

“Need help finding something?”

Iruka blushed. He must look a little crazy, going through every stack of pens on the shelf. Maybe he should have just asked. He straightened slowly and turned.

Okay, he definitely should have asked if this was the kind of help he was going to get. He smiled slightly, his blush already deepening as he looked over at the rather handsome man standing next to him. Long blonde hair pulled back in a bun, stunning blue eyes, and a rather muscular physique hidden behind a plain white shirt and khakis. The stranger smiled at him.

“Looking for something in particular?”

“Uh-um-well…” Yes, Iruka, great time to develop a stutter. He laughed nervously. “I was trying to find a red pen, actually.”

“I don’t think they carry those here, but…” The man picked a thin orange box off the shelf. “…would a red pencil work?”

Colored pencils. He should have thought of that.

“Y-yes, thank you.” Iruka accepted the box from the stranger and grabbed a second just in case. His gaze travelled over the blonde again. He shouldn’t. He really shouldn’t. It was a bad idea and Genma would yell at him and Kakashi… Kakashi was a bastard who’d left him bruised in twelve places and in need of a new jacket. “Um… do you work here?”

The man laughed softly and reddened slightly. “Truthfully, no, and you’re probably thinking I’m a little weird for approaching you like that, but honestly… I just wanted an excuse to talk to you.”

Iruka’s blush was not going away any time soon. “I… thank you. For your help, and…”

The stranger smiled brightly. Iruka pushed the part of his brain that kept telling him how bad an idea this was out a proverbial window.

“I-I’m Iruka, by the way.”

“Yukio.” The blonde glanced down at his watch. “I don’t suppose you’d like to go grab a cup of coffee? I know a place nearby that stays open pretty late.”

It was getting rather dark out. He had papers he should be grading. Iruka looked down at the colored pencils in his hands and then at Yukio. He really shouldn’t.

“A-alright. Though… I can’t stay too long. I have papers to grade. Hence the red pens.”

Yukio winked. “I guessed. Well, it was a near tie between schoolteacher and editor, but I was close.” He half-bowed and gestured towards the check-out counter. “Let us not tarry then, dear schoolteacher. Coffee awaits.”

Iruka laughed out-loud as he was herded towards the counter. He could tell this was going to be an interesting night.

*****

Iruka was still laughing, though quietly this time, as he finally made it back to his apartment, two hours later than he expected to be home. As he climbed the steps up to his apartment, he couldn’t help but replay parts of his conversation with Yukio. The jounin Yukio, he’d learned, who loved comedy and poetry and was very good at making Iruka smile. So good that Iruka hadn’t even hesitated before agreeing to meet for coffee again over the weekend.

He paused as he pulled his keys from his pocket. There was a plastic bag half-full of kiwi hanging from his doorknob. Iruka lifted one handle and glanced inside. No note, though he had a fairly good idea who had left them here. He wasn’t quite sure why. Did Kakashi just not want to keep them? He hadn’t really struck Iruka as the fresh-fruit kind of guy, though that brought up the question of why Kakashi had bought kiwi in the first place if he wasn’t going to eat them.

Pulling the bag off the doorknob, Iruka quickly unlocked the door and headed inside. It was late, and he had papers to grade. The kiwi went on the counter, the colored pencils on the coffee table along with his satchel. He walked around the living room, flicking on lights as he went, before heading into the bedroom. His uniform jacket, brand new as of this morning, was carefully folded over the back of his chair. The rest of his clothes ended up in the laundry basket as he changed into his pajamas – a simple oversized white t-shirt and baggy gray sweatpants.

Bare feet padded along the wood floor as he headed back into the living room, pointedly ignoring the kunai marks in the bedroom door. He sat cross-legged on the floor and pulled out his students’ papers. With a red pencil in hand, Iruka started to read the first essay.

His eyes kept wandering away from the paper. Halfway through, Iruka finally gave up with a sigh. He stood and crossed the room. Minutes later, he returned to his grading with a plate, a knife, and a bowl of kiwi.

Next Chapter

Previous Chapter

“Ah! Iruka-sensei, there you are!” An unfamiliar girl leaned against the doorway to Iruka’s classroom, breathing heavily. She was young, a chuunin most likely since Iruka knew most of the current genin from the Academy.

“Can I help you?” Iruka tapped the students’ homework against the desk, aligning all the papers into a neat pile before sliding them into his satchel.

The girl seemed to catch her breath after a moment. She stepped into the room quickly and held out a folded piece of paper. “Kakashi-san asked me to deliver this to you.”

“Oh.” Iruka took the paper slowly. Hadn’t Kakashi said he was going to meet Iruka personally after class?

The girl saluted sloppily, a slight grin on her face, and left. Iruka unfolded the note.

Running late. Meet me here. Kakashi. A rough depiction of the village filled the bottom half of the note, though only the major landmarks were noted – the Academy, the memorial stone, and the mountain. There was an X over part of the forest surrounding the village.

“Well, at least I know he thinks enough of me to be late, just like with everyone else,” Iruka muttered to himself. He wondered if he had time to stop by his apartment quickly. It was on the way, and he’d been planning on asking Kakashi anyways since he hadn’t wanted to bring his equipment to the class. There was no telling what his adorable brats would do if they’d somehow gotten their hands on his weapons.

He left the Academy at a light jog. If he hurried, he wouldn’t be too late. A quick jump brought him on level with the edge of the Toumo’s shop. He waved briefly at the shopkeeper as he caught the roof ledge in one hand and flipped up onto the rooftop. Iruka took a brief second to get his bearings and then he was off, hopping from rooftop to rooftop. A faint smile crosses his face as he ran. It’d been a long time since he’d had any need to hurry like this. He’d almost forgotten how much fun this could be, with the village spread out below him and the wind rushing across his face.

A running jump had him sailing through the air over the street. It only took a tiny bit of chakra for his feet to find purchase on the side of the railing. He quickly climbed over, letting the chakra fall away as he settled onto solid ground once more. Iruka dug his keys out of his pocket with a smile. One good thing about working with children, he certainly wasn’t out of shape.

His bag hit the couch with a light thud as Iruka started tucking the weapons spread out on the table into their respective places. Ninja stars went into two pouches on the back of his belt. Kunai slipped into hidden pockets all over his clothing – up sleeves, inside his vest, into the tops of his boots. Thin filament wire was slipped into a tiny pocket on the inside of his shirt cuff, imperceptible to anyone but him. Smoke bombs were tucked into a large pouch at his right hip, medicine pouches and bandages went into the large pocket on his right leg.

Iruka ran his hands over his clothing and double-checked that everything was in place before locking the apartment door on his way out. Despite the fact that he was about to have his ass handed to him, possibly multiple times, he was actually looking forward to this a bit. It had been a very long time since he’d had a chance to spar with someone above the age of sixteen.

He reached the edge of the forest in minutes, not even half an hour after they’d originally planned on meeting. Hopefully Kakashi was still late. He’d hate to have to make Kakashi wait for him. Maybe he could leave his weapons in the teacher’s lounge, sealed in a drawer. There was a chance the kids wouldn’t get to them that way, at least not with a teacher watching.

The woods were quiet, not unusual for the area around a ninja village. Aside from a few birds, nothing living tended to stray this close to civilization, though right now even the birds were scarce. Iruka moved quietly towards the general area Kakashi had indicated. He followed what was probably an old deer trail, or maybe even the path Kakashi himself used whenever he came out here to train. The forest grew darker around him as he walked, leaves overhead blocking out the majority of the sun.

Minutes passed in silence. He could no longer see the village, or much beyond the path he was on. In the distance, a raven cawed. Iruka mentally counted his kunai while his fingers tapped in time to his breaths.

There was something in the woods. Iruka scratched his arm and dislodged a kunai into his palm.

He got five more steps down the path before the person moved. Iruka caught a glimpse of green, white, and red moving down from his left. He dodged rather than attacked. They were still within the city limits, so it could be a student or someone passing through. The dagger in the man’s hand said he wasn’t just passing through, the red and white mask said ANBU.

It didn’t take him long to put two and two together. He staggered back a step as the masked figured lashed out. “K-kakashi?”

The man didn’t even pause in recognition. Iruka jumped to the side to avoid another slash. Did they have any former ANBU who had become missing-nin? There was the possibility that his opponent wasn’t actually ANBU, just wearing the mask. Iruka knew at least seven places that sold similar mask or masks that could be altered, and there were even more such shops during festivals.

Wood chips flew below his feet as the dagger briefly lodged in the tree Iruka had been standing on. He bounced off a tree on the opposite side of the path, sending a kunai sailing towards his attacker before spinning off to another tree. As expected, he missed, but it accomplished his intention of letting the man know he was no longer willing to play. Assuming, of course, that this man didn’t actually intend on killing him. He was slowly starting to doubt that assumption, just like he was starting to doubt this was Kakashi.

The dagger almost caught him in the leg. Iruka ran up a tree. His attacker followed, finally seeming to grow serious in trying to hit Iruka. It was obvious the man was holding back, though if this wasn’t Kakashi he didn’t understand why. A real ANBU wouldn’t have given him the chance to defend himself. He might not even have known the ANBU was there before he’d died, though he liked to think he was at least a bit more observant than most.

If this was sparring, it was far deadlier than any Iruka had ever participated in outside of his training for the Chuunin Exams years ago. Iruka dodged again, bare seconds faster than his opponent. He had a choice to make, and quickly. If this was Kakashi testing him, then he didn’t want to go all-out to avoid hurting Kakashi. If it wasn’t, he had to or he was going to get killed as soon as whoever it was behind the mask decided to stop playing.

If it was Kakashi, he’d fought far deadlier foes than Iruka, and therefore if Iruka did manage to hit him it was because Kakashi let him.

It wasn’t much of a decision after all.

Iruka jumped and rolled, discretely gathering twigs in his hands as he fell off the path several feet from his attacker. He kept his lips concealed as he sprang to his feet, the twigs changing into kunai in the shadow of his open vest. His attacker was three steps away. Lunging back with a loud cry, Iruka threw the illusionary kunai in a wide pattern, forcing his attacker back long enough to pull out five real shuriken.

If this was a rogue ANBU attacking him, then he didn’t stand a chance on his own, which mean in order to live – game terms or not – he had to make it back to the village. The village which was several yards away through the woods, then the clearing beyond it, then past a couple streets until he could get to someone that could actually help him. And, of course, there was the strange man who just happened to be between Iruka and the way back to the village.

He was going to have to be creative.

Iruka jumped onto the nearest tree and ran up. Predictably, his attacker followed, matching Iruka’s pace effortlessly two trees away. He waited until they were nearly to the top, where the branches grew thinnest before he pulled two kunai from the back of his vest and threw, aiming not at the fake ANBU, who dodged predictably, but at the branches around him. The ANBU leaped and Iruka fell, letting gravity carry him out of close range. Wood fell with him. Iruka brushed one branch with his fingertips and brushed it with his chakra, marking it for future reference.

His attacker was waiting for him below, the sharp metal of two kunai – probably Iruka’s own – flying up to meet him. He jumped back towards his original position and threw the branch in his hand, followed by five more shuriken. The ANBU dodged them all, letting the branch sail back towards the village as Iruka had intended. He pulled a handful of smoke bombs from the pouch and threw them, covering the entire path with smoke.

Quickly, Iruka changed his trajectory by bouncing off the tree next to him, pushing himself towards the village. Jutsu rolled nearly-silently from his lips as he switched places with the branch and switched their appearances simultaneously.

Flying through the air as a branch reminded him of running through the village, like he was the single spot of calm amidst the chaos around him.

Then the tree branch in front of him morphed into an arm holding a dagger and he dropped unexpectedly, caught not by the blade but by the crook of his attacker’s arm applied directly to his stomach. Iruka hit the forest floor gasping for breath. The dagger slid into its sheath and Kakashi raised his mask as he squatted next to Iruka.

“Not bad for someone who almost let a rogue ninja murder him.” Kakashi’s face seemed stuck halfway between a smile and a frown. His lips smiled but his eyes nearly glared at him in displeasure. “At least now I know where Naruto learned that particular trick.”

He didn’t have to ask what trick. “I knew it was you.” It wasn’t a good excuse, but it was all he had. And, he’d been right, even if he’d had his doubt. No need to mention those to Kakashi, however.

“The whole time?” Kakashi was calling his bluff.

Iruka shrugged. He didn’t think Kakashi would want to hear his logic, that if Iruka had been fighting someone actually trying to kill him, he’d have been dead long ago.

“You were holding back,” Kakashi accused.

“So were you.”

“Yes, well….” Kakashi’s words died off with a glare. The jounin stared at him for a minute before offering his hand. “Come on.”

Iruka let Kakashi pull him to his feet. His chest hurt, but not enough that it was more than a minor distraction. He’d functioned with far worse before.

“I should probably be grateful that you fought back at all,” Kakashi groused as he moved along the path, picking up fallen weapons. His smile was slowly changing into an angry frown. “Hell, I wonder, if I’d come at you looking like one of your exes, would you have just let me kill you on the spot?”

“Hey!” Iruka gripped the kunai he’d just plucked from a tree trunk tightly. “I’m not fucking suicidal.”

Kakashi turned quickly, both eyes blazing. Iruka took an involuntary step back. Here was the ANBU hiding behind Kakashi’s smiling face. “Then why the fuck did you-” Kakashi’s mouth snapped shut, and suddenly he was back to normal, though still obviously annoyed. “I’m sorry.” The apology sounded strained, but it was more than Iruka ever would have expected. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

Iruka kept his eyes on Kakashi as he bent to pick up two of his shuriken. Kakashi’s words had stung, mostly because they pointed out flaws in himself that he’d been trying to ignore for years. He turned away from Kakashi to scan the nearby brush, trying to see where the other three from this set had landed.

“No,” Iruka admitted softly, “you’re right. Mostly. The type like Maki… well, give Maki another week or two, and I wouldn’t have gone down without a fight. When I fall for a guy, I fall hard, but even then, they only get one chance to knock me around before I wise up. There’s never a second time.” He spotted two shuriken under a bush. As he squatted down, he saw the third hiding in the leaves. “But the other type, the ones where we just didn’t click so we mutually called it quits…” Iruka glanced over at the jounin and almost forgot what he’d been about to say.

Kakashi was watching him intently, not even bothering to look for fallen weapons anymore. And the expression on Kakashi’s face… was something Iruka didn’t want to think about right now, because it was too close to pity and something else. He wasn’t going to think about it.

“If it was one of them,” Iruka forced himself to continue, “or even one of my former students or a friend, like Genma or…” His eyes seemed drawn back to the silent jounin. “…you… If any of them seriously tried to kill me, I’d be dead before my mind even finished working through the fact that they’d drawn a weapon on me. And I don’t think I could fight back, because the thought of hurting someone I care about is far worse to me than the thought of being physically hurt myself.”

“And that’s why we’re here.” Kakashi pulled the mask off with one hand and hung it on a branch off to the side of the path. “Now, you’ve got five shuriken stuck in trees over there,” Kakashi pointed, “and four kunai there and there.” A slow smile grew on Kakashi’s face. Iruka had a feeling he wasn’t going to like what Kakashi was about to say. “Gather them up and then we’ll start again, and we’re not stopping until either you scratch me or it gets too dark to see.”

Iruka resisted the urge to groan. This was karmic revenge for all the times he’d kept his students practicing the same drills over and over until they got them right. He plucked the first of the shuriken from the tree Kakashi had indicated.

“Oh,” Kakashi’s voice carried through the woods, “that trick with the twigs was cute, but from now on, if you’re trying to hit me with anything, it had better be a real weapon.”

Iruka did groan then, inside his head at least. This was going to be a long evening.

Next Chapter

Previous Chapter

Iruka’s day had gone from bad to… strange. He glanced quickly around the apartment, trying to find something that might help him start up a conversation. There was nothing. Aside from the couch he sat on, the room contained a heavily dented wooden coffee table and two more padded chairs. That was it. No books, no pictures, nothing. Even the walls were plain, still in the basic white the apartment had probably come in. That left Iruka with only one thing to focus on – Kakashi.

“I… um…” Why was Kakashi offering him kiwi? How did Kakashi even know he liked kiwi? But, more importantly… “Why aren’t you wearing your mask?”

The jounin smiled at him. He had a really nice smile without that mask. “It is my apartment. Seems a little silly to wear it around the house.”

“Oh.” That made sense. “I-is… is it okay that I…”

Kakashi blinked at him and rolled the kiwi between hands. “…that you…?” The kiwi sailed briefly into the air before Kakashi caught it again. “Oh!” Kakashi’s smile widened. “Is it okay if you see me without the mask?” He started to scratch his head with the kiwi, paused to stare at the kiwi and then shifted it to his other hand. “Yeah, as long as you don’t tell Sasuke and Naruto about it, I guess it’s okay.”

Jounin were a strange lot. “Um… okay.”

“Good.” Kakashi nodded. “Well, I should go…” He waved his hand towards the kitchen. “Do you want…” Kakashi looked down at the kiwi in his hand then tossed it into the kitchen. It bounced off the wall and landed in the sink. “I’ll get you another one.”

“Ah… Thank you.”

Iruka wondered if Kakashi’s offer of dinner and kiwi had anything to do with last night. The jounin had never given him a second glance before yet here he was offering one of Iruka’s favorite fruit and cooking him dinner. Maybe it was just pity. From what he’d heard, Kakashi was a nice guy… sort of, lateness and teasing of students aside.

“Do you want something to drink?” Kakashi called from the kitchen. Pots clattered as Kakashi rummaged in his cabinet, one stray pan rolling awkwardly across the floor. It toppled as soon as it hit the living room carpet.

“Yes, please.” Iruka shifted on the couch. Should he get up or did Kakashi want him to wait?

“Hmm. I have water and…” The refrigerator door opened and Kakashi stared inside for several minutes, squinting slightly. “…beer.”

“Water is fine. Should I-”

“No, I’ll get it.” Kakashi waved a hand. He pulled a glass out of the cabinet and filled it from a pitcher from the refrigerator. “Here.” Kakashi smiled brightly and held out both the glass and a kiwi.

“Thank you.” Iruka glanced at the fruit. He took a sip of water and set both aside. Kakashi was back in the kitchen, stirring something in a pot of the stove. The groceries were still spread across the counter, though at least out of the bags. Kakashi seemed to just be using things as he needed them without bothering to put anything away. “Are you sure you don’t need a hand with anything? I mean… I could at least help you put away the groceries…”

Kakashi scratched the back of his head with the handle of a large wooden spoon. “Well, if you really want to, I guess.”

Iruka was across the room in three strides, relief washing over him at the prospect of doing something useful. The groceries seemed to be sorted in two groups, with almost a full foot of counter space separating the groceries near Kakashi with the ones he’d segregated. The lone group seemed to be standard items – milk, eggs, instant ramen, and the like.

“Um, do you need these?” Iruka pointed at the far group.

Kakashi glanced at each of the items, then down at the paper in front of him. “…No.”

“Right. Milk in the fridge?”

At Kakashi’s nod, Iruka picked up the container and started to walk around the jounin. He’d taken two steps towards the fridge when suddenly Kakashi dropped the spoon and turned, grabbing the milk from Iruka’s hand.

“Ah… I had better…” Kakashi backed towards the fridge, smiling awkwardly. “…never know how dangerous it might get in there…” He gestured with the milk jug, though Iruka wasn’t quite sure what the gesture was supposed to mean. It seemed halfway between throwing and swimming. Kakashi turned quickly. The refrigerator door opened and shut in seconds. The milk was gone from Kakashi’s hands.

Iruka bit his lip to keep from laughing. His curiosity was piqued. How bad could it possibly be?

“Could you pass me the eggs?” Kakashi held out a hand, the other holding onto the refrigerator handle securely.

A smile threatened as Iruka passed over the carton. He reminded himself that it was bad to laugh at your host, even if they were being insane.

The door opened and shut again. Kakashi stepped away slowly, his eyes trailing over the ingredients still left on the counter, obviously wondering if anything else needed refrigerating.

“Sugar?” Iruka held up the bag and wondered if there was anything in the cabinets that Kakashi was afraid of as well.

Kakashi pointed to a cabinet in the far corner.

As soon as his back was turned, Iruka let a smile break out across his face.

*****

Iruka was laughing at him. Well, not laughing aloud, but Kakashi definitely had the sense that he was amusing the teacher. At least it was better than Iruka still being depressed. It had been rather weird dealing with a quiet Iruka last night. He imagined it was something like if Naruto had refused ramen, it was just… wrong. He didn’t know Iruka all that well… or at all really, but he still knew that last night’s Iruka had been wrong.

He was starting to see now why Raidou and the others thought Tsunade was going to send Makitomo out of the village.

“Where do you want the ramen?”

That was a very good question. Where did he usually keep it? The pot on the stove bubbled happily. A couple more minutes until the pasta was done, he imagined. Kakashi toed open the cabinet to the right of the stove. Two packages of instant ramen sat on an otherwise empty shelf.

“Um, I think that’s it.”

Out of the corner of his eye he could see Iruka’s lips twitch up in that polite not-smile as he bent to store the recently purchased ramen under the counter. Kakashi smiled and absently stirred the sauce. At least the recipe Toumo had given him was simple enough. Boil pasta, boil the broccoli, mix a few things in a smaller pot then throw everything together. He could handle this.

“I think the sauce is starting to burn.”

“What?” Kakashi looked down quickly. He poked the white and green mixture with the spoon. It did look a little brown around the edges.

Iruka was suddenly very close, leaning over the stove right next to Kakashi. His smile when he looked up at Kakashi was brilliant. “I thought you promised not to burn anything.”

“Ah, well…”

The spoon was taken from his hand. Iruka scraped the sides of the pan as he stirred the sauce. “Do you have a colander?”

Kakashi glanced between the chuunin pressed against him and the food on the stove. “Um… shouldn’t I…”

Iruka blushed suddenly. He was across the room in an instant, hovering at the edge of the kitchen. “I… ah… I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have, I’m just used to…”

There was that wrong Iruka from last night, the one that wouldn’t meet his eyes. Kakashi smiled as wide as he could and waved a hand. “Nah, it’s fine. I would have- well, I did burn it, so it’s a good thing you caught it.” He wasn’t helping. Iruka still looked nervous, like he’d done something wrong. What had cheered Iruka up before? “Ah… I promise not to burn anything a second time.”

That earned him a faint smile.

He needed something to distract the chuunin. “Ne, Iruka, can you set the table? There’s plates up there,” he pointed to a cabinet, “and silverware in the drawer below.” Iruka didn’t say anything as he moved to gather the plateware but he lost a touch of his nervousness.

Kakashi smiled. He wasn’t doing too horrible at cheering Iruka up.

*****

Iruka stared at the food on his plate. First kiwi and now this. He blamed Toumo. The grocer must have said something. That, or maybe Genma had a hand in it. There was no way Kakashi could have guessed two of his favorite foods on his own.

Kakashi was staring at him.

He averted his eyes and shoved a forkful of pasta in his mouth before he said something stupid. Being here… it was far too much like a date for his comfort. Though, considering his recent dates, this was actually far more pleasant. Maki… Maki hadn’t really liked to go on dates, or do much of anything together really. Looking back, that was probably one of the largest signs that his relationship had been doomed to fail. Maki was the type that spent most of his time away on missions and most of his time in town in bed.

He was starting to wonder why he’d even liked Maki in the first place.

“Ne, Iruka-sensei.”

Kakashi’s voice snapped Iruka from his thoughts. The jounin’s stare made him blush.

“Y-yes, Kakashi-san?”

Kakashi twirled his fork between his fingers. His plate looked barely touched. “Just tell me to bugger off if I’m being too personal but… why did you never test to be a jounin?”

Iruka slowly put down his fork. He could feel his blush taking over his face. To a powerful jounin like Kakashi, it must look weird for him to have stayed a chuunin so long. “I… ah… well, I like teaching and I like the children, even if they do drive me mad some days but…” He lifted his eyes slowly from the table, almost afraid of the expression he’d find on Kakashi’s face. Wrongly afraid, it seemed. There was no pity there, or censure. Just… curiosity. The truth slipped from his lips accidentally. “I don’t like hurting people. I can, when I absolutely have to, but… I don’t want to, and I love teaching too much to ever give it up.”

“Ah.” Kakashi nodded once and said nothing. Iruka waited, half-expecting Kakashi to laugh at him or say he was a weak ninja.

No words came.

After a few minutes passed, they both started to pick at their food. Kakashi seemed distracted. He’d stop every few bites, fork still in mouth or hanging loosely from his fingers, to stare at Iruka before turning back to his food.

“You know,” Iruka jumped slightly as Kakashi’s voice shattered the silence, “there’s nothing wrong with being a chuunin teacher. After all, I figure it’s thanks to you that Naruto turned out as good as he did, and there’s all those other kids that stumbled out of the Academy with them.” Another forkful of pasta plunged into Kakashi’s mouth.

“I… thank you.” Naruto was… well, Naruto. Iruka hoped he’d had a positive effect on the boy, but his achievements were Naruto’s alone. The talent had been in there all along, he’d just had to learn how to use it.

“And,” Kakashi continued, “there’s nothing wrong with not wanting to hurt anyone unless you have to. I think the rest of us just forget that sometimes.” Kakashi’s eye seemed to stare right through him. “Is that why those things keep happening?”

“I… um…” Iruka was at a loss for words. He knew better than try to play dumb, but he also wasn’t quite sure he could bring himself to talk about it with someone he was barely even acquainted with. How much did Kakashi know? Had he only heard about Makitomo or had someone told him about the others as well?

From the way Kakashi was staring at him, he wasn’t going to be able to get Kakashi to drop the subject.

Iruka sighed and fidgeted with the end of his ponytail. “That’s mostly it. Tsunade… Tsunade ordered me to learn how to… well, fight back, I guess, though I already know how to fight I just can’t fight someone I care about, which means I just have to stay celibate I guess and…” Iruka glanced over at the jounin. “I don’t know why I’m telling you all this, I mean, you probably don’t care and-”

“What if I helped you?”

“What?” The train of Iruka’s thoughts derailed with a loud explosion.

Kakashi leaned across the table and smiled widely. “I’ll help you. We can practice together. I mean, if you can fight me, you can fight anyone in the village.”

Him… versus the infamous copy nin… This had to be some kind of joke. “I-no-I… I can’t… it… we…” He trailed off into a strange string of guttural negations.

If anything, Kakashi just smiled wider. “Come on. It’ll be fun?”

Jounin really were insane. “F-fun? But-”

“Excellent!” The smile Kakashi was wearing looked positively deranged, though Iruka was fairly certain that was just a trick of his imagination. “Are mornings or evenings better for you?”

“E-evenings…” Why was he answering? He shouldn’t be going along with this. He was going to be killed on their first day. Schoolteachers and copy nin absolutely should not be sparring.

“Perfect! I’ll meet you after school in two days. Now, how about some kiwi?”

He couldn’t argue with Kakashi’s smile.

Next Chapter

Previous Chapter

Iruka glanced warily at the clock. Fifteen minutes until the end of his shift and he couldn’t stop fidgeting. Of course that had a lot to do with Tsunade standing in the doorway behind him, her foot tapping out a faint staccato as she waited. Waited for him, to be exact. He wasn’t sure how much she knew, or how much Genma and the others had told her. Not that it wasn’t damn obvious. Iruka bit his lip to stop himself from cursing.

He was an idiot. A complete, fucking idiot. Why did he keep falling for the same stupid shit over and over again? And it always ended like this. Well, not exactly like this. The repair bill for his apartment was going to be slightly larger than normal. He wondered if she knew… she always knew. The carpenters had probably given her an itemized list of every wall that was dented, every door off its hinges. He’d hidden the bruises on his wrists, but his face… there was nothing he could do about his face.

The tapping stopped. Iruka pinched the bridge of his nose. At least he hadn’t had to deal with Maki yet today. The string of jounin and chuunin that had been following him all day might have had something to do with that.

“Iruka-sensei,” Tsunade’s voice came from right behind him, “may I have a word with you in my office?”

“Of course, Hokage-sama.”

Iruka stood, eyes downcast, and followed Tsunade to her office. Wood scraped on wood. Tsunade’s fingers danced on the edge of the chair until Iruka sat. He couldn’t hide his wince.

Tsunade leaned back in her chair and stared. “What happened?”

He leaned forward, putting a little distance between the back of the chair and his bruises. “It’s not-”

“Iruka,” Tsunade cut him off, her eyebrow arching. “Don’t give me excuses that it’s not Makitomo’s fault. By your version, it’s never their fault. Just tell me what happened.”

This must be what his students felt like. He sighed. “We… argued. I think he might have been a little drunk and he… got mad. I left after he started to cool off.”

“You missed the part about being thrown into furniture and raped.”

Iruka paled, subconsciously tugging his sleeves down. “I… he didn’t…”

“Don’t lie to me!”

His jaw snapped shut. “It wasn’t as bad as that,” he whispered. “He hurt me, but I don’t think he meant to go that far.” He kept his eyes down. If he looked up… he wasn’t sure what kind of expression Tsunade would have. He didn’t want to know. The last thing he wanted was another person pitying him.

“No offense, Iruka, but you’re not exactly impartial in all of this. I’ve had numerous reports of what happened. Your neighbors heard the fight. Genma and the others saw the bruises. The carpenters assessed the damage.” Tsunade’s voice dropped slightly. Hearing the pity was almost as bad as seeing it. “Whether or not you think it was bad, I cannot tolerate this kind of behavior in one of Konoha’s ninja.”

“But…” He still felt like somehow it was his fault.

Tsunade sighed. “Iruka, how many times do we have to go through this? You know I won’t think any less of you for what happened. No decent ninja would.” The front legs of her chair hit the floor with a loud thud. “But this… habit of yours… I know you don’t intend it, just bad luck really, but… Iruka, look at me.”

Slowly, Iruka looked up. There was that pity, tainting the line of Tsunade’s mouth and practically pouring from her eyes.

“Somehow, this has to stop. You have friends, Iruka. Trust them. I don’t care if you have to resort to a background check on every guy you even think of sleeping with. Or, better yet, fight back. I know you can. You could be a jounin in your own right if you had the ambition for it, and yet you let them-”

“Stop it!” He was shaking. He wasn’t quite sure when it’d started, or how to get it to stop. “I know, already. I know that I’m a stupid idiot when it comes to falling in love and somehow I seem to keep getting it wrong, but I don’t know how to get it right. Makimoto was great, really great and then all of a sudden he goes mad as soon as he finds out he’s not the first guy I’d ever slept with. I thought he knew. I didn’t even do anything wrong and yet somehow I hurt him.” Iruka stood, placing both his hands flat on the Hokage’s desk. “How am I supposed to predict that!? And Andou before him, how was I supposed to know he was going to get some weird notion that I was cheating on him with Anko? I mean, if I’m being fucked by a guy, with a long history of being a bottom, how does that equate to suddenly taking an interest in sleeping with women?”

He belatedly realized that he’d started shouting. Tsunade leaned forward slightly, their faces bare inches apart.

“I don’t care how much you love the bastard. Next time your lover drops off the deep end, he’d better be the one in need of medical attention, not you.”

“But, I can’t fight someone I-”

“No excuses. You’re a ninja, dammit. Act like one.”

Iruka sank back into his chair. He wasn’t sure what to say. This strange confidence the Hokage had in his fighting ability was almost worse than the pity. At least the pity he’d had practice dealing with. “Y-yes, Hokage-sama.” What if he couldn’t defend himself? Would he be facing disappointment the next time Tsunade called him into her office?

Tsunade settled back into her chair and crossed her arms. “You’re dismissed.”

“Y-yes.”

The chair almost tipped over as he stood. Iruka hastily caught it, setting it upright before quickly leaving. Tsunade didn’t understand what she was asking of him. It wasn’t that simple. There was a huge difference between fighting someone for a mission and fighting someone he actually cared for. It’d be the same if he suddenly had to spar with Raidou or Azuma. Friend or lover, it just wasn’t in him to harm them.

Iruka wished, not for the first time, that love was a simpler thing.

*****

Kakashi turned the page of his book and tried to look as inconspicuous as possible. It wasn’t strange for a jounin to be hanging out near the Mission Room. Not strange at all. Okay, so maybe a little strange, since the Mission Room was closed which meant he wasn’t waiting for a mission, he was waiting for a person and… Dammit, he was being obvious.

He closed his book with a snap. The novel disappeared into his uniform as he glanced around. There were food stalls still open, but if he was already eating then that kind of ruined the point of asking Iruka to dinner because then he’d have eaten twice and while he was pretty sure his stomach could hold that much food, that would give Iruka a reason to say no out of politeness sake. Which meant he was left with either standing around and being so obvious about his intentions that the entire village would have it figured out in under an hour and then Iruka would know, or… or he could go buy… something.

His options: bookstore, weapons shop, or groceries. Kakashi chose the grocer and very deliberately started examining tomatoes, occasionally squeezing one to test the ripeness.

Iruka was certainly taking a while.

A shadow fell over Kakashi. He looked up, smiling behind his mask as Juniaki Toumo glared at him, the burly former-ANBU’s muscles not at all concealed by the thin t-shirt he wore.

“Are you hear to buy something or are you so hard-pressed for a date that you’ve settled for molesting produce?”

Kakashi was very glad his mask hid the look of surprise on his face. He had the feeling he was about to be thrown out of the shop if he didn’t explain himself very fast. Toumo had been ANBU. He’d understand.

Glancing quickly side to side to make sure there was no one in earshot, Kakashi leaned forward. “I’m waiting for Iruka-sensei.”

Toumo’s demeanor changed instantly. The man actually smiled, something Kakashi was fairly certain he’d never seen before.

“Well, in that case, you should be over here with the kiwi. He likes those.” Kakashi was propelled quite forcibly towards the fresh fruits. A shopping basket was shoved in his hands.

“I… um… thank you?”

Toumo clapped him on the shoulder, nearly knocking Kakashi into a stand of oranges. He’d have to keep in mind never to piss off Toumo. The man could have probably broken a few ribs just by hugging too hard.

“Not a problem. I hear that Makitomo fellow’s heading out of town soon.”

Kakashi frowned slightly. Was he the only one in town that didn’t pay attention to Iruka-sensei’s love life? “That’s what Raidou said.”

Toumo just nodded and absently wiped off a shelf with the corner of his apron. “Never did like the kid too much.” Kakashi refrained from pointing out that Makitomo wasn’t that much younger than Toumo. “But Iruka,” Toumo smiled again, white teeth flashing, “he’s quite the catch. Comes by here a few times a week, sometimes just to say hi. Ah, if only I were younger…”

Kakashi wasn’t quite certain he wanted to picture Iruka and Toumo together. That thought was just… weird. “I see,” he said instead and picked up a kiwi, squeezing the fruit lightly. It seemed fresh. “So… kiwi?”

The shopkeeper gave him a quick once-over before nodding slightly. “Aye. Do you cook?”

“Um… a bit.” He knew enough to feed himself on more than just instant noodles and rice, though he couldn’t really remember the last time he’d actually gone to any sort of effort over it.

Kakashi suddenly found himself with two bags full of groceries, a slightly lighter wallet, and a hastily scribbled recipe on the back of his receipt. Toumo’s timing was apparently perfect. Iruka was just stepping out of the Academy as Kakashi finished paying. Toumo shoved him out of the grocer’s shop hard enough that he almost lost a couple kiwis down the street.

“Oh, Iruka-sensei, fancy running into you here.” Kakashi put on his brightest smile as he stumbled upright.

Iruka was staring at him, his face a strange blend of emotion running from surprised to terrified.

Kakashi forced his grin wider and held up his grocery bags. “Would you like to join me for dinner? I seem to have bought a bit too much, but Toumo started talking about this pasta dish that sounded good and then… well, you can see what happened?”

He could almost see the thoughts running through Iruka’s head. The chuunin hesitated, glancing between the bags in Kakashi’s hand and the shopkeeper behind him. “I…”

“I promise not to burn anything.”

Iruka’s shoulders visibly relaxed. Kakashi would have to remember that phrase, as it seemed to be the key to switch himself from threatening jounin to non-threatening unskilled chef in Iruka’s eyes.

“I… I guess. If I’m not imposing.”

“No, no,” Kakashi gestured towards his apartment with a plastic bag. “You’re helping me, really. I hate seeing food go to waste, and I have this problem where I tend to forget about leftovers and then they start growing in my fridge and occasionally they steal a few kunai and…” Iruka was looking at him as if he’d turned green and said he liked to wear dresses. He shrugged. Jounin were known for being somewhat insane. “Breakfast can be quite a battle some mornings.”

“I can imagine.” Was that a smile tugging at the corner of the teacher’s lips? Mission cheer Iruka up, underway.

His first thought was to ask Iruka if he was feeling better. That thought was quickly discarded. The last thing Iruka probably wanted was to be reminded of Makitomo. He settled for a safer question.

“How are classes going? Got any more little Naruto’s running around?”

Iruka groaned. “Thankfully, no. He’s one of a kind, though there is Konohamaru and his friends, but they’ve started to behave at least a little bit after Naruto talked to them a few months ago.”

Kakashi laughed at that. He could just imagine what Naruto must have said to them. “Well, Naruto practically worships you, and Konohamaru worships Naruto so it fits, I guess.”

“I almost wish Naruto hadn’t spoken to them. Konohamaru’s misbehaving was somewhat easier to deal with than walking into the classroom to find thirty-two apples on my desk.”

“At least you had a good supply of apples for a while.” He tried to picture that many apples that would be… and how they would have stacked that many on a desk.

Iruka’s smile turned rueful. “I appreciated the thought, but it was my birthday and they thought that was how old I was.”

He winced. “Oh.” How in the world had the brats come up with that number? Iruka looked like he was barely out of his teens sometimes.

They’d reached Kakashi’s neighborhood, a fairly quiet part of town that housed high-ranking jounin and more than a few ANBU, though only a handful of people knew that. Lights shone in a few windows, but for the most part the buildings were dark, their inhabitants off on missions or simply out having fun while they had the chance.

“This is it.”

Kakashi preceded Iruka up the stairs, shifting the bags into one hand as he dug out his keys. A few muttered words disarmed the traps around the door.

“Pardon the mess. I haven’t really been around much recently.”

“Ah.” Iruka toed off his shoes at the entrance and glanced around. The apartment was dark, a bit of light shining through the curtains in his kitchen to make out vague furniture-like shapes.

“Here.” Groceries shifted as Kakashi flipped on the light switch and kicked the door closed at the same time. His shoes hit the wall with a dull thud.

“Is there anything I can-” Iruka cut off as Kakashi pulled down his mask. He smiled at the chuunin on his way into the kitchen. Strangely, Iruka blushed.

“No, just have a seat while I get dinner started.” Kakashi’s back was to Iruka as he set down the groceries but he could hear Iruka landing on the couch with a soft thud. Half the fun of wearing a mask all the time was the strange reactions he got whenever he went without.

He remembered the fruit as he was emptying one of the bags. Kakashi picked up one of the brown fruit and turned.

“Kiwi?”

The look of surprise on Iruka’s face was more than worth the price of dinner.

Next Chapter