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.
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