Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Mission Iruka ❯ Kakashi's Report ( Chapter 2 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

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Mission Iruka
Chapter 2: Kakashi's report

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Kakashi stopped on a roof and pulled out his book to think. That woman was definitely up to something. She wasn't really worried about Iruka... was she? But, that would probably mean she was worried about him. He'd been so careful, though. He put up with Gai's challenges; okay, so they were generally entertaining, if just to see what the man would do if he lost. Besides, Kakashi let him win the ones he'd given himself ridiculous 'if I fails' to. I mean, some of the things the man came up with just weren't possible or practical. It didn't require him to go out of his way, and it was amusing to see how much he could annoy the man by 'ignoring' him. Kakashi let Genma and Raidou drag him out for sake. So it didn't hurt that Genma had a good sense of humor and thus, Kakashi didn't mind listening to his stories. It was fun even if he didn't contribute much to the conversation.

And then, there was always Asuma and Kurenai. Though, that was more of Kurenai's doing. She didn't really ask. He'd been out of the hospital a day after awakening from the jutsu Itachi had put on him, and she'd just kind of dragged him out for food with her and Asuma, whom she claimed was just coming along to help her keep him from falling over. He really wasn't /that/ weak after the incident. And then, she'd just kept dragging him along about once a week. When he'd teased her about Asuma always coming along, she made a bored remark about how she didn't want anyone getting the idea she was on date with Kakashi. So, for what it mattered, he had friends.

They weren't close friends, and he'd never even had them over, but that didn't bother Kakashi. He didn't want close friends. He'd been fairly close to Sarutobi-san; and, before that, he'd been in ANBU, and he'd been busy. Did the fifth question his loyalty? That thought bothered him. Jiraiya trusted him as much as Sarutobi-san had. Too bad he wasn't here to set Tsunade-san straight. Kakashi scratched his head. Oh well, he'd play her game and go make friends with the young sensei.

'Well I should probably turn in my report,' Kakashi smiled. He could have given it to Tsunade, but it had slipped his mind. It was late afternoon on a weekday, so Iruka should be there. See, he was being efficient; it'd give him a chance to evaluate his target... and maybe ask him to dinner. 'It's a mission; it's work. I'm being a good shinobi. Really.' He told himself.

Kakashi stopped by the dango shop and ordered tea and Mitarashi Dango. He wrote his report, methodically misspelling words, leaving out details, and smudging the ink. Then, he rubbed some sauce on it, dripped a little tea on it, wiped it with his napkin, and crumpled it. He spread it back out, looked at it, made a little tear in it, and shoved it haphazardly in his pocket. Iruka was going to lose his mind. Kakashi sipped his tea, ate his Dango, and headed to the mission room, grinning.

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Iruka stared at the paper, then back at Kakashi, then at the paper. Iruka could feel the vein in his head pulsing. Kakashi-san couldn't actually believe this was acceptable. This was the worst report Iruka had ever seen. Even for Kakashi, this was bad. Half of it was covered in... in who knows what, and the other half was so illegible, he couldn't make out more than a few words. He looked back up at Kakashi. Kakashi had his nose buried in /that book/! The sight of it was enough to make Iruka lose his mind.

"Kakashi Hatake! Get your nose out of that trash! You can't honestly think I'm going to file this report?" Iruka was standing now, and his hand hit the paper in front of him. He stared at Kakashi, daring him to say otherwise.

"Huh?" Kakashi looked up with that bored, slightly confused look.

"I can't even read this! Not even the kids at the academy turn in papers this badly written, and this..." Iruka took a breath. "Disgusting!"

"Oh, I'm sorry." Kakashi grinned, his eye turning up in its infamous crescent smile. "You see there was this little old lady and..."

"I don't care!" Iruka interrupted him. "You're not leaving here until you rewrite it! Properly!" Iruka picked up a clean piece of paper and a pen. "Here." He shoved them at Kakashi and pointed at a chair beside him.

Kakashi stared at the paper and pen for a moment. Iruka glowered. Kakashi took the paper and pen and sat down. Iruka continued to stare at him until he picked up the pen waved it as if to say, 'see I know how to use it', and started to write.

Iruka sat, took a deep breath, smiled, and looked up into the face of a rather terrified little old woman. Iruka cringed inwardly. "How can I help you?" Iruka tried to keep his voice friendly, really he did.

The woman stared at him a moment. "Uh, I'm sorry, I forgot something. I'll come back later." And, as quickly as she could, left.

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Kakashi wrote his report, but only when Iruka was looking. The rest of the time, he read his book. This was fun. He continued to write the report, badly, but not as badly. After all, he didn't have dango or tea handy, and Iruka was watching. He did manage to smear some of the words and, of course, he threw in several misspelled ones. He let it take hours. Eventually, the mission room emptied of non personnel. Genma, Raidou, and Iruka picked up their papers and filed them. Iruka walked over to Kakashi and held out his hand. Kakashi looked up at him, looked back down at his paper, finished the sentence, and handed it to him.

Iruka's eyebrow twitched, but his voice was level. Mostly. "Three hours and you barely managed to write a page? It's not even done right!"

"I wouldn't want to keep you." Kakashi offered, knowing it would push Iruka's buttons.

Iruka ripped the paper in half, picked up another clean sheet, and handed it to Kakashi. "Don't worry about it, you're not." Iruka got that determined look on his face. "I have some papers to grade. You can finish your report while I grade them." Iruka smiled as though he thought he'd won. Kakashi didn't smile. But, he wanted to.

"Iruka, Raidou and I are gonna head out. We'd stay and keep you company, but it looks like you have some." Genma smiled. Kakashi smiled back. He really did love Genma's sense of humor.

"Alright, Genma, I'll see you later then. And, don't keep Raidou up too late, he has watch in the morning."

"Hey, he's the one keeps me up. I don't know where you get your ideas, Iruka." Raidou smiled and shook his head from behind Genma.

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Iruka picked up his bag and set it on the desk, then pulled out a stack of papers and his grade book. "I mean it, Kakashi, we're not leaving until you get it right." Iruka sat down and started grading the day’s tests.

He was about a third of the way into the stack, when he thought he saw Kakashi reading that infernal book again; but, when he looked up, it was gone. About two thirds of the way into the stack, he was sure he saw it again, just inside of his peripheral vision, but again, when he looked over it was gone. He was halfway through writing his lesson plan for the next week, when he saw the flash of orange again. Iruka didn't look up this time, just snaked his hand out and snatched it.

"Hey, I was reading that!" Kakashi snatched at his book and missed.

"You're supposed to be writing the report!"

Kakashi was standing beside him before he could blink. "Give me my book back."

"Write your report." Iruka said, turning his chair to look up at Kakashi.

"I'm not one of your students."

"With that writing, maybe you should be." Iruka glared at the copy nin.

"Give me back my book." Kakashi's face was oddly calm, challenging.

"No."

"Is that a challenge?"

"I'm not giving it back." Kakashi leaned in his face inches from Iruka's. Iruka swallowed. "No."

"Tell you what, if you give me my book back, and help me write the report, I'll put my book away."

"You don't need me to help you. I know you're a genius, Kakashi-san."

"I get bored. You can talk to me."

"I need to finish my paperwork."

"I'll buy you dinner after we're both done." Iruka's stomach growled at the mention of food.

"Fine. But, only because you're the reason I haven't had dinner."

Kakashi smiled at him then, still mere inches from his face, and even with the mask he could see it. Iruka's stomach dropped out from under him. 'I'm just hungry.' The blush that crept up his cheeks said otherwise. Kakashi stood back up, still smiling, and walked the few feet back to his chair. Iruka's stomach returned to its proper location.

"So, how was work?" Kakashi asked, sitting down. Iruka let out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

"Uh, it was okay." Iruka started back on his work. The conversation was awkward at first. Iruka couldn't really believe the ex-ANBU could really want to hear about his day. But, Kakashi seemed to be paying attention, and even laughed a couple times when he told him some of the things the kids did. So, eventually Iruka relaxed.

"Here," Kakashi held several pieces of paper out toward Iruka. Iruka finished writing his thought down then looked up.

"You're done?" Iruka was surprised the jounin had finished before him. He took the papers and looked them over. It was perfect. "I should try this with Shikamaru. He's almost as bad as you." Iruka chuckled.

"I don't think it would work with Shikamaru. Although, I doubt he would leave out anything important, or turn in a report that was unacceptable simply because it's less trouble for him to do it right the first time." Kakashi smiled. "Now, finish up so we can go get some dinner."

"I still can't believe you finished all that before me." Iruka grinned and started back on his work.

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Kakashi arrived back at his place sometime past midnight, after dropping Iruka off. He'd had fun, and not just while he was teasing Iruka. It'd been nice talking to him. Still, it was a mission, and the chunin hadn't said anything about Naruto all night. It made Kakashi wonder if maybe the Hokage was right. Naruto was like a son to Iruka, maybe he was worried about him. Kakashi wasn't going to bring him up yet, though. He didn't want Iruka to think he was trying to pry the information out of him. He'd wait until Iruka mentioned him, or it became obvious the man really was avoiding the topic.

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