Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Mission Iruka ❯ Just another night ( Chapter 12 )

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

Disclaimer: I haven't won the jackpot so until I do I can't buy Kakashi... but if I ever do Kaka/Iru will be canon.

Music same as last night because I find it amusing to irritate my hubby who is threatening to sedate me.

Although now I own Shiori even though she is a bitch and Nanashi who is almost lovable. Maybe I'll use him again sometime.

Probably the least cheerful of all my chapters.

Mission Iruka
Chapter 12: Just another night

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Iruka found himself in Kakashi's kitchen for the sixth time in less than a week, and he was pretty sure he'd be there the next night. He leaned on the counter watching as the silver-haired man chopped vegetables.

"You know what they say about feeding strays," he chuckled. He felt oddly at ease as he realized eating dinner over at Kakashi's had become routine; more so than having ramen with Naruto had been.

"Oh? And what do they say?"

"You shouldn't, they'll never go away." Iruka reached out to grab a mushroom and had his fingers smacked with the flat of the knife.

"If you eat all the mushrooms the soup will turn out wrong," Kakashi scolded. "And why shouldn't I feed strays? After all you can't eat ramen every night no matter what Naruto says."

"I can... cook," Iruka tried not to laugh at his words.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "You call what you do cooking? Maybe you should start working with Tsunade developing new poisons."

Iruka laughed. "I'm still warning you. You shouldn't feed strays." He was amazed at how quickly the friendship had formed. A slight feeling of dread rose in him at the thought. 'I wonder if he'll still want to be friends after my prank... maybe I shouldn't. I could just make them go away.' He forced himself not to frown. 'No he deserves it. He picks on me often enough if he can't take a joke...' Still the dread coiled within.

"Perhaps I don't want you to leave." Iruka's stomach lurched and a blush crept up his cheeks. "After all who else would I torment? Nobody turns quite so many shades of red."

Iruka frowned. 'Oh heck yeah he deserves it.'

"Now do me a favor and get the bowls out."

He slid around the counter to get the bowls. "I wish you'd at least let me help."

"You'll ruin my soup and then we'll have nothing to eat. And worse, that would mean we'd have to go out. I don't like going out."

"It would do you some good. Maybe you'd stop being so anti-social. Of course a few people might die of shock if you did."

"See, I'm saving lives by staying in."

"'Kashi, ever the considerate one." He set the bowls down on the small table and turned to see Kakashi dropping vegetables into the soup. He reached over and snatched another mushroom.

"I saw that."

"No, you didn't."

"So, how many stacks of homework do you have to grade tonight? Poor kids. You're going to make their hands fall off at this rate."

"I only have a small stack tonight. We're getting ready for a test. And maybe I just don't want them to be like a certain person who can't write a decent report without me standing over them. I'm merely trying to save myself future work. Who can blame me for that?"

"Such a selfish, lazy sensei," he tsked. Iruka snatched another mushroom and got a mock glare as Kakashi turned to grab more for the soup. He tried his best innocent look before chewing. Which caused the other to roll his eyes and shake his head slightly? "If it turns out bad..."

"It won't. Nothing you make turns out bad. Besides 'Kashi I think you've been compensating for my vegetable theft." Iruka wondered when he'd started calling him that but he couldn't remember the exact moment. He did, however, remember that Kakashi had looked at him oddly the first time he'd said it. He hadn't said anything so Iruka assumed it was okay. Still, when they were anywhere else he didn't use it. He smiled to himself as he snatched yet another mushroom.

"You know even if I am compensating and I'm not saying I am... as many of those as you're stealing I'm starting to wonder if you're eating more of them because you think I'm compensating and there for negating the effectiveness of my supposed compensation."

"Mmm... I think the answer is supposed to be no. However that was rather confusing for us non-geniuses."

Kakashi grabbed the last of the vegetables and dropped them in. "It'll be another half an hour. I'll help you with your work while we wait."

"Promise not to make them look like your reports?"

"I make no such promises."

"I suppose but try not to draw in the margins this time."

"What? You don't think they like my art?" Kakashi feigned being hurt.

"I wouldn't know I had to go through and cover them up. I don't need Icha Icha artwork on the homework papers of 11 year olds."

"You covered them up? They were educational!" Iruka sighed.

" 'Ruka, I really don't think they're properly educated if they don't already know more than my little pictures could give away."

Iruka's breath caught. 'Ruka?' That was the first time Kakashi had called him that. His stomach fluttered like there was a small humming bird inside it. It took him a moment to realize he was staring. Kakashi had picked up his bag and was staring at him.

" 'Ruka are you okay? You look like you just swallowed a bug." Iruka blushed.

"I just.. I don't want you corrupting their innocent minds. Besides some of their parents see their work and that can only go badly." He shoved the small bird down and tried to ignore it. Kakashi was just trying to mimic what he'd done. 'He's just trying to do what he thinks a friend would do. What he thinks I expect him to do,' He told himself firmly. The blush stayed and a slight smile twitched at the corners of his mouth.

They sat and graded the papers and Iruka only had to black out one tiny little sketch when they were done. Kakashi took the bowls, which had been filled and emptied in the hour or so they spent going over the papers, and set them in the sink. Iruka yawned.

"I should go. It's late and I have to teach in the morning." Iruka frowned. He didn't want to leave but he knew he had to. It was getting late and by the time he got home it would be even later. He hadn't gotten there until after 8 to start with and it almost 11 now.

Kakashi frowned at him. "You could stay."

"I can't. If I don't get to bed soon I'll never manage to get up." Iruka tucked the papers and away and stood up.

"Thanks for dinner 'Kashi. See you tomorrow?" Kakashi nodded and rose to see him off.

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Kakashi shut the door and turned to go finish cleaning up. He felt a little disappointed and wondered if he hadn't been clear. No, he shook his head, Iruka simply wasn't interested and had been polite enough to pretend he didn't realize what Kakashi had asked.