Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Indecent Exposure ~ A Naruto Fan-Fic (K/I) ❯ Chapter 8

Indecent Exposure

A 'Naruto' fan-fiction by Ookami Kasumi

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~ Eight ~

 

Iruka's first morning jog with the weights was grueling. He couldn't quite do his entire route, never mind the full three circuits he normally made. It hurt too damned much. In fact, when he finally made it to class with only five minutes to spare, it still ached.

 

The first punishment he handed out was to make Konohamaru fill one of the four blackboards with lines, "I will not throw kunai in class," from bottom to top, and each character upside-down. When the boy was done writing, he was groaning about his back and arms almost as much as Iruka.

 

His children were angels for the rest of the day.

 

Pleased that they'd behaved, and just a touch guilty for assigning such a nasty punishment, he let them make more explosive tags. The last hour was spent sitting on the grass with his back against a tree watching his kids setting off their sparklers.

 

By the time he began his mission desk duty, the ache still wasn't completely gone and it made him irritable.

 

The ninjas visiting the mission room were particularly quiet that night.

 

Iruka meditated before he began his nightly exercises to keep his thoughts clear. However, when he started to fall asleep, it occurred to him that Kakashi still hadn't shown up.

 

An extremely vivid dream woke up in the middle of the night. Swearing a blue streak beneath his breath, mindful of the apartment's thin walls, he changed the sheets, and his boxers -- again.

 

Iruka's morning jog with the weights wasn't quite so bad. He was able to complete his whole circuit -- but only one. This time, he remembered to take a couple of painkillers, and to bring the bottle to school with him in the pocket of his flack jacket.

 

Iruka threw himself into his class work, grilling and drilling his thirty little monsters with threats, bribes, and outright guilt-trips in preparation for the exams the following week. During recess, he called a special 'sensei' meeting with the six leaders of the study-groups to coach them on how to help the slower students in their groups.

 

Unfortunately, the little study-leaders had all learned the hard way that threats only went so far.

 

Sitting cross-legged in a circle under one of the big trees on the playground, Iruka sighed and prayed for patience. "Moegi, threatening to set him on fire will only make him too scared to think straight."

 

The little pig-tailed blonde girl scowled ferociously. "I can't get him to think at all!"

 

Iruka smiled. "You have to make him want to think. Have you tried bribery? I'm pretty sure he likes chocolate Pocky."

 

One of the other little study-leaders raised her hand. "Popsicles work for my group!"

 

Moegi scowled. "I don't wanna give him a whole box of Pocky every time he gets something right! My allowance isn't that big."

 

Iruka bit the side of his cheek to hold back a chuckle "How about one stick per right answer?"

 

Moegi grinned. "Oh, I know! I'll eat a stick for every wrong answer he gets!"

 

Another one of the little study-leaders put up his hand. "I do that with mine, only its chocolate caramels!"

 

The Hyuuga, Hanabi lifted her chin, her pale eyes scanning her fellow senseis. "I use blackmail. If they don't get it right, I give away one of their secrets."

 

The rest of the study-leaders stared at her in awe.

 

Iruka lifted his brow. "And when they do get it right?"

 

The little Hyuuga smiled. "I tell them a secret."

 

The five other study-leaders scowled. "Whose secrets?"

 

Hanabi crossed her arms and smiled even wider. "How much is the answer worth to you?"

 

Iruka rolled his eyes. One could definitely tell that she'd been brought up among the leaders of a politically manipulative clan.

 

That night, during mission room duty, Izumo and Kotetsu had the desk on the right, the slightly scruffy Shimon and goateed Iwashi had the center desk, and beside the bespectacled Mozuku, Iruka was stationed at his least favorite desk, in his least favorite seat, on the far left by the corner windows.

 

A lot of ninja traffic came through the room's many windows, which was to be expected. However, they seem to prefer entering via the window right next to that particular seat. Iruka found it extremely annoying. During lulls in business, when Iruka liked to correct his class's homework papers, the window-hoppers created a breeze that tended to whisk any papers Iruka happened to be correcting off the desk and onto the floor.

 

To deal with the annoyance, Iruka had once hung a sign on the window, 'Work in progress. Please use other window.'

 

The window-hoppers had countered with a sign taped to the outside wall beside the window. 'Warning: Irate Iruka. Enter at your own risk!'

 

Shortly after discovering the other sign, Iruka accidentally spilled an entire gallon or two of extremely fine-grade knife oil across the windowsill then down the outside wall of the window he'd rather they didn't enter. He then spilled another gallon or two down the window beside it as well. The rest of the windows were perfectly clear for hopping.

 

Alas, the oil was strangely difficult to see. Probably because of the subtle henge that happed to be covering the body-length spills. Needless to say, many ninja ended up slipping rather nastily before either trying one of the other windows, or simply taking the four flights of stairs. Many more decided to wait until the next night, when Iruka was off duty.

 

The mission room staff was greatly amused.

 

Unfortunately, the Hokage Tsunade was not. She did not take well to her hospital staff fixing broken bones and nasty scraps for injuries not directly related to missions. Once his mission duty was done, she called Iruka into her office and gave him her opinion of the situation -- loudly, and at length. Iruka was then encouraged to help her clear one whole two-foot stack of paperwork from her desk as an apology.

 

Iruka didn't get to bed until very late that night. He also began carrying two bricks in his book bag to use as paperweights.

 

The only upside to that particular situation was that the corner window suddenly became a hop-free zone, except for certain high-level jounin. Kakashi-sensei in particular continued to prefer using the window closest to the desk -- especially if Iruka happened to be sitting there.

 

That night, while sitting with his class's quizzes pinned under the two bricks, Iruka found himself staring out that window for no particular reason he could think of. Even worse, every time a hopper came through one of the other windows, he kept feeling this odd pang of disappointment.

 

Determined to get over the odd funk he'd fallen into, Iruka pasted on a smile and joined in on rumor swapping with Mozuku and Shimon. Apparently, Gai-sensei had been seen in a restaurant wearing something other than his green spandex, and in the company of none other than the Mitarashi, Anko. Strangely, she had also been wearing something other than her trademark wire net -- an actual dress, if that could be believed. It had looked suspiciously like a date.

 

Iruka was just as surprised as Shimon and Mozuku, but that was because he happened to be very familiar with Anko's fondness for some rather extreme forms of bondage. He hadn't thought Gai-sensei would be the last person even slightly interested in anything close to Anko's taste for...recreational entertainment.

 

About an hour later, Genma came in with his forehead protector tied on backwards as usual, and a senbon between his teeth, but he also wore a grin so wide it nearly split his face.

 

Iruka briefly wondered if the special jounin had been hanging out with Gai-sensei.

 

Genma moved off to the far right side to lean against the wall by Izumo's desk, but his gaze, and his grin was focused on Iruka.

 

Iruka wasn't sure if that was a good thing, or a bad thing, but he smiled and nodded anyway.

 

The chuunin team standing before Iruka's desk finished collecting their mission papers and moved off. They were replaced by a jounin with a mission report to turn in -- and so on, and so forth... A full twenty minutes passed before Iruka's half of the desk cleared of ninja.

 

Genma about bolted to Iruka's chair and grabbed Iruka's hands. His voice was low, but his happiness was very apparent. "Thank you! Thank you so much!"

 

Iruka stiffened only slightly. "You're welcome, um, for what?"

 

Genma leaned close. "Anko set me up with someone!"

 

Iruka smiled in relief. "Oh, she did? That's fantastic!" And it was. With Genma otherwise occupied, that was one less reason to look over his shoulder on his walk home.

 

Genma released Iruka's hand to practically dance in front of the desk. "Oh, Gods, he's so gorgeous and fantastic! I can do all kinds of things and he just begs for more! He loves it! Really, really loves it!" He abruptly dropped his elbows on the desk to bring his face very close to Iruka's and whispered. "You'll never guess who!"

 

Iruka leaned close to whisper back. "It's better if I don't know. I don't want to accidentally reveal it and hurt his reputation."

 

Genma's smile fell. "Good point." His smile kicked back up half a notch. "Still, I don't think he'd mind if you knew since it was your recommendation to Anko that got us together."

 

Iruka leaned back. "I'd rather not, really." The knowledge might forever change how he interacted with them, and that could be bad, especially during a mission.

 

Genma's smile faded again. "Anko showed me the letter." He shook his head. "Damn, I had no idea how good a friend you really were." His gaze came back to Iruka, open and a touch misty. "And I'm sorry, really. Anko explained a little. I had no idea that...that had been used as a punishment by your jounin instructor."

 

Iruka widened his eyes to appear a little fearful, and a touch shocked, but the heat filling his cheeks was very real. He ducked his head just a little and peered up at Genma. "I thought I'd...gotten over that, but..."

 

Genma patted his arm and smiled a little crookedly. "It's okay. I understand now." His smile widened. "And I'm perfectly happy with...him. He's so fucking gorgeous, and he's thrilled with me! He loves what I do to him!" His grin became ungodly wide again. "I can't wait to go on a mission with him."

 

Iruka smiled bright and true. "Sounds like you'll make a great team."

 

Genma grabbed Iruka by both hands and shook then hard. "Thank you! Thank you for everything." With that, he whirled away and practically danced out the door.

 

Iruka smiled. He loved happy endings.

 

Mozuku leaned closed to Iruka. "What was that all about?"

 

Iruka schooled his expression into one of mild amusement and waved his hand negligently. "Oh, Genma just has a new boyfriend."

 

At the far end of the room, Izumo stood up from his desk. "No way...!"

 

Kotetsu spared a glance for his friend then stood up to frown at Iruka too. "Isn't Genma into playing with...?" His hand flashed and a senbon appeared in his fingers. "You know...recreationally?" He flicked his fingers and the needle disappeared.

 

Iruka blinked. He'd had no idea that the elite chuunin had known about Genma's...proclivities. "Um, yes?"

 

Kotetsu exchanged a glance with Izumo and they both shuddered.

 

His glasses gleaming under the fluorescents, Mozuku leaned close to Iruka to whisper. "So, who is it?"

 

Iruka raised his brow. "Think carefully. Do you really want to know who Genma plays with?"

 

Mozuku's gaze slid to the side, clearly thinking as advised.

 

Iruka leaned closer. "Now consider this. How would you feel about him if you had to go on a mission with him -- knowing that he likes to play with Genma?"

 

Mozuku's eyes widened dramatically. He winced. "Um, I think I see your point."

 

Iruka nodded. "That's exactly why I told Genma not to tell me."

 

Mozuku straightened and blew out a breath. "Smart man."

 

Iruka nodded, then raised his hand. "New topic! Does anyone know who...?" He threw out a random jounin name. "...Is sleeping with?"

 

That conversation kept all of them occupied for the rest of the shift.

 

~ * ~

 

The following afternoon, during his lunch break, Iruka visited the Yamanaka flower shop.

 

Mrs. Yamanaka was more than happy to take Iruka's order to deliver a full bouquet of violet roses to Anko. They were Anko's personal favorite. Mrs. Yamanaka was also happy to add a small personal note from Iruka.

 

"You have no idea how happy you've made me. In gratitude ~ Iruka."

 

From the confectioner's shop, two doors down, he sent Anko a box of dark bittersweet chocolate truffles. The purchases were expensive, but definitely worth it.

 

When he got home after teaching that night, Iruka discovered Anko's little thank-you note in the little violet dish etched with roses on his dresser.

 

She'd thoroughly appreciated the roses and the chocolates. Finding his stalker someone to keep him occupied was the least she could do for her little brother. "Oh and did you know that your special deliveries sparked a rumor that you and I were seeing each other?" She then went into exquisite detail on exactly how that rumor had been squashed only two hours later -- by Ibiki.

 

Apparently, Ibiki had found the one passing the rumor and had...spoken to them; a conversation that Anko gleefully relayed, practically word for word.

 

Iruka rolled his eyes. Only Anko would be thrilled to have such a jealous boyfriend. At the same time, he was utterly relieved that Ibiki knew good and well that he and Anko had never seen each other as anything other than siblings. Few people scared the living piss out of Iruka. Ibiki was one of them.

 

Anko's note included a small personal thank you letter from Genma's new love. It seemed that the man had despaired of ever finding anyone capable of delivering the heights of intensity that he needed to satisfy his soul, and apparently his body.

 

"Genma's recommendation was a god-send. With profound respect ~ Maito Gai."

 

Iruka promptly banged his head on his dresser in a feeble attempt to erase the name from his memory.

 

~ * ~