Bathhouse revelations

Chapter 12

“Good afternoon.”

“Good afternoon.”

“It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?”

“Indeed.” The reply was so flat it would have disheartened even the most courageous men. The jounin hesitated a bit, but decided to try his luck nonetheless.

“It’s the perfect day to got out with friends... or with a lover."

“How fascinating,” came the sharp retort and the man gave a start when his interlocutor forcefully stamped the mission report he had been handed. “Thank you for your hard work. Next!”

Umino Iruka watched the stunned and mildly put off jounin leave the mission desk as another one soon replaced him, looking a bit too enthusiast.

“Good afternoon, sensei!”

Greeting the jounin machinaly, the brown-haired man inwardly sighed. How he was tired of all those people who kept on being friendly with him all the time in hope of hearing some information that could help with their bets! Hadn’t they figured out already that they were not going to get anything out of him? Or were they just plain desperate for more rumors to spread around and discuss? Because they hadn’t had much to talk about lately... not since Kakashi’s departure nearly two weeks ago.

Soon after his last meeting with the jounin at the academy, Team seven was given a nine-days mission to escort some diplomats to a nearby city. They had come back a few days ago, but the silver-haired man had to leave again almost at once – an urgent mission, the chuunin was told. Either way, he hadn’t seen any of them for nearly two weeks now and the rumor network had long worn out all there was to say about him and Kakashi-sensei, thus explaining gossipers’ obvious restlessness state. That thought procured the chuunin intense satisfaction; served them right for being too curious to begin with!

Not that Iruka was happy about Team seven’s prolonged absence. He was starting to feel a bit lonely without Naruto and, even if he was reluctant to admit it, without his strange yet endearing teacher and team leader. Their absence was starting to affect the academy teacher’s mood - especially since he was surrounded all day long by all those annoying people. Iruka had thought he would be stronger than that and that he wouldn’t let it affect him, but the truth was that having to be constantly in presence of those far too curious villagers while he had nobody to confide in made him feel both bitter and morose for some reason. He guessed that in that sea of condescending villagers who cared less about him than about what they could learn from him, the presence of people who truly cared was more important for him than ever.

Moreover, the academy teacher was impatient to meet again with his favorite ex-student for other reasons. Ever since they had that discussion at the ramen stand, Iruka had been worrying about how things were going to turn out for the blond-haired teen and he was waiting eagerly for any news of him. He hoped that things were going smoothly between Naruto and his raven-haired best friend... Oh, how he wished he knew what was going on between these two! His discussion with the sixteen year old had been on his mind for days and he kept on hoping he hadn’t made a mistake by telling Naruto about Sasuke’s possible feelings for him. And Iruka felt that he needed to find out what had happened, out of curiosity almost as much as out of worry for his favorite ex-pupil and his rival.

Some part of him felt guilty and mildly shameful for thinking so much about the teenager’s love life; wasn’t he a bit like all those gossipers, feeling curious about something that really wasn’t of his business? Of course not, the brown-haired man thought at once, pushing his doubts aside; his situation was completely different, since he cared. He honestly cared about Naruto, that was why he was so curious to begin with. It was different when you cared, he firmly believed.

But that treacherous voice reminded him again that some of those gossipers he hated with so much passion also cared about him. All those people who had protested against his dismissal cared about him. His coworkers, no matter how infuriatingly speculative, cared about him. His students and ex-students cared. Parents cared. His neighbours cared. The Hokage cared.

Naruto cared.

Kakashi cared...

Which did not stop them to bet on him, he thought darkly. Except for Kakashi-sensei, of course, but all the others had. Even his students. Yes, his students. Which reminded him to kill Genma for letting seven year-olds put their pocket money in his betting pool - seriously, just how irresponsible was that man?! If he even put his hands on him, the senbon user was going to regret ever being born... And that was a major understatement.

But anyway, how could people bet on their loved ones’ private life? It truly was beyond the chuunin’s understanding. When you cared about somebody, you were supposed to support them, not to speculate about their life and bet money on it! Or even to openly comment their ugliness and happily argue about who was going to be the ‘bottom’ in their relationship! Iruka grimaced at the remembrance of that disturbing and insulting piece of conversation he had overheard recently while he was buying a milk litter at the local store. Really, if Naruto was to ever go out with Sasuke, he would make sure that nobody made such rude and insulting comments in the blonde’s hearing range, even if he had to cut a couple of tongues on the way. Even if they wanted to get a reaction out of him, such comments were beyond the limit of decency...!

Sighing, Iruka tried to chase those annoying comments away from his mind. Maybe it had something to do with the chuunin’s lack of experience and uneasiness in that area, but speculations about his sexual life always affected him a shade more than the others. He knew he shouldn’t care about those more than he cared about whatever other stupid comments and mean speculations he happened to overhear on daily basis, but when he heard people make less than polite comments about him obviously going to be the “submissive” one in their relationship in such a way that it left no doubts to what they were referring to, Iruka couldn’t help but feel a bit hurt and insecure deep down inside. He knew it was stupid of him, but he couldn’t help it – the prospect of doing what they were referring to was making the slightly prude and inexperienced academy teacher uneasy.

Shaking his head, Iruka pushed away his doubts and fears; he did not need to care about these things yet, since he wasn’t in a relationship with the silver-haired man for the moment and didn’t even know if he wanted to go out with him to start with. So worrying about such stupid things was both pointless and idiotic.

Time passed by. Iruka mechanically approved the mission reports that were handed to him and coolly brushed off the hardly innocent comments he received from the nins queueing to give him his report, as he had done almost every day for the last two weeks. Everything was set up for him to have another long and unpleasant shift at the mission room, he thought gloomily as he watched the clock. Three hours left before the end of his shift. That thought made the chuunin sigh wearily. At least after that, he’d be able to hide himself home and try to forget how pathetic his life was starting to become lately... Which meant another evening spent correcting homework, watching insipid shows on television and eating chocolate to soothe his loneliness. To think he was looking forward to that... It was really pathetic.

Maybe it was time for him to go out a bit and try to cheer himself up. Do something, see people. Go to the movie theatre and have a drink somewhere... But as soon as that idea came up, the brown-haired man pushed it aside morosely; he was so not going to get himself drunk in a public area when most of the village was waiting for a chance to make him talk a bit about his love life. That was not even an option.

Then, maybe he could rent a movie and grab some alcohol on his way home... But then again, drinking alone at home probably was in the top five of things one should not do to forget their loneliness. So drinking was out of question, period.

Just as the chuunin gloomily thought that he was once again going to have a boring and pathetic excuse of a day, life proved him wrong as a blond-haired young man entered suddenly the mission room. A smile at once reached Iruka’s face at the sight of his favorite student making his way to the mission desk to see him. But as the blonde approached, the brown-haired man’s happiness to see his favorite ex-pupil was soon replaced by mild surprise and worry since the teenager standing in front of him looked upset. Not the kind of ‘broken heart’ upset though, but rather the ‘scandalized and twichy’ kind of upset, to Iruka’s relief - he preferred dealing with an aggressive and irritated Naruto than a sad one; at least he knew how to deal with the first one. But even as he told himself that, Iruka could not help but worry for the blonde and wonder what could have possibly happened for him to look so irritated. He hoped it had nothing to do with the things they had discussed on their last meeting... But Iruka wasn’t fooling himself.

“Hi Naruto,” Iruka greeted the teen as he mechanically filed the mission reports he had been given.

“Hi sensei,” the young man smiled at him, but his smile looked so forced that it looked painful.

“It’s good to see you again; I haven’t seen you in a while.”

“Oh, yeah... Sorry I haven’t been around much lately.”

“It’s okay, I understand,” Iruka reassured him honestly. Naruto was a growing young man after all; it wouldn’t be healthy at all for him to spend too much time with a chuunin in his late twenties like himself. And he could guess that after what he had learned, the teen had been quite busy trying to figure out where he was standing with his best friend and his not-yet girlfriend. But still, Iruka had missed the lively teenager’s presence more than he cared to admit.

“Do you think we could see each other?” the blonde asked suddenly, his voice strangely pressing. Iruka blinked at the unusually forceful invitation, surprised and slightly worried by the plead his ex-pupil’s voice.

“Sure,” the chuunin said slowly. “We could meet after my shift’s over, let’s say at six at Ichiraku’s?”

“No!” the teen answered forcefully and the chuunin stared at him openly, his eyebrows raising. Naruto must have noticed how strange his outburst was sounding because he then grimaced lightly.

“I mean, maybe we could try another place? We’re always eating at Ichiraku’s.”

The blonde had tried to say it casually, but Iruka wasn’t fooled. Naruto, not wanting to eat at his favorite ramen stand? Wanting to try another place? There was something wrong there. But at the sight of the insistent look the young man was sending him, Iruka decided to avoid speaking out his mind for the moment and question the teen later instead, when they would be in a more intimate ambiance. They agreed to meet at the entrance of the mission room at six o’clock and then Naruto stormed out of the room, leaving the chuunin puzzled and mildly worried.

Obviously, there was something bothering the blonde. Maybe those questions he needed to answer to were upsetting him... But somehow, Iruka found highly unlikely that those questions alone could irritate Naruto so much. No, the young man’s agitation was probably due to a confrontation he had with someone - a rather rowdy confrontation, if his ex-student’s aggressiveness was any clue. And somehow, Iruka had a pretty good idea who that person was.

That thought alarmed the chuunin more than anything else; he hoped his revelations had not messed up Naruto’s friendship with the raven-haired teen... Anyhow it was too late to think about that, the chuunin realized – whatever happened happened, and what he needed to do now was to try to repair the damage and give the best advice he could to the obviously upset teen. Thinking it all over and worrying himself sick over assumptions until his shift was over was pointless, so he forced himself to push those thoughts away and went back to approving mission reports mechanically. But somehow, he couldn’t help but constantly watch the clock to see how much time was left before his meeting with Naruto, feeling both curious and apprehensive to finally know what the teenager’s strange behavior had all been about.

It was almost a relief for Umino Iruka when the 4 o’clock rush finally arrived, as he was so busy he hardly had time left to feel anxious or worried. Nin succeeded one another to hand in their reports and before Iruka knew it, it was already 5:40 and the rush was over. Sighing, the chuunin started to mentally prepare himself for the discussion he was going to have with his ex-pupil, although to say the truth, he had no idea what kind of advice he was going to give to Naruto if he had, as he believed, a fight with Sasuke... But as Umino Iruka mused about it, life once again proved him that he wasn’t done having surprises for the day as the Copy nin suddenly entered the mission room.

His clothes were dirthy and torn at several places and his hair had never been messier, but when his uncovered eye met with Iruka’s, the tired jounin smiled, his eye curving up happily and somehow, the chuunin couldn’t help but smile back at him, feeling oddly happy to see him again. There was no doubts about it, he had missed that masked smile.

The Sharigan user walked up to the desk and stopped in front of him, all the eyes in the mission room unsurprisingly following him with uttermost attention.

“Good afternoon, Kakashi-sensei,” Iruka greeted him politely, and the jounin’s eye curved up again as he handed him his mission report.

“Yo.”

Trying his best to remain focused, the brown-haired man rapidly went through the jounin’s report. “This seems to be in order,” he said quietly as he approved the sheet, looking up at the silver-haired man with a smile. “Thank you for your hard work.”

The Sharigan user nodded, but remained silent and stared a bit awkwardly at the chuunin; Iruka was under the impression that the jounin didn’t want to turn around and leave yet, but obviously didn’t know what to say either. But soon enough the man’s dilemma was solved as another nin entered the mission room and headed to Iruka’s desk to hand in his mission. Seeing this, Kakashi curtly said goodbye to the chuunin and left the mission room, much to everyone’s disappointment.

As the newcomer handed his mission to Iruka, the brown-haired man could not help but feel strangely annoyed at the clueless stranger for ruining his moment with Kakashi. And by the sour looks most of the mission room was sending him, he was not the only one to feel a bit resentful about it. Obviously, the silver-haired man wanted to say something to the chuunin, but now they would never find out what it was all about... But some didn’t seem to mind much; a few people in the mission room were already starting to gang up and whisper together, obviously speculating about the lack of interaction between Kakashi and him. What a bunch of vultures, really...! They could at least go elsewhere to gossip like that!

Inwardly cursing his bad luck, Iruka wished he had said something else than his usual polite crap to the jounin as he approved the mission report in front of him – he hadn’t seen him in two weeks, he could have at least said something nice. Not that it would have changed anything, but still... The chuunin thanked the nin for his hard work and watched him head for the door sullenly. To think that only hours ago, he had wished nothing more than to see Naruto and his famous teacher again... But somehow his previous encounter with the agitated blonde and the Copy nin left him with a bitter taste in the mouth. Naruto being upset and Kakashi barely talking to him... that wasn’t exactly what he had in mind when he had thought of meeting again with them.

Going back to his work reluctantly, Iruka tried to think about something to say to Naruto when he would meet with him in fifteen minutes, but he wasn’t able to concentrate on his meeting with the teenager anymore. Somehow, he kept thinking about his meeting – if it could be called a meeting – with Kakashi, their short discussion replaying constantly in his head. And it was especially hard to concentrate with all those goddamned gossipers, whose excited whispers kept on getting louder and louder all the time, the buzz of their conversations getting on the brown-haired man suddenly sensitive nerves. Looking up at them to tell to send them a severe look, Iruka was mildly surprised to discover that nobody in the room was paying attention to him, their avid eyes glued to something that seemed to be on the other side of the mission room door.

Following their glance, the academy teacher was surprised to see no other than Hatake Kakashi standing casually outside the mission room. But he was not alone.

On the other side of the mission room door, Hatake Kakashi was talking with a pretty raven-haired kunoichi. And by the way the said kunoichi was playing with her hair seductively, they were not talking about mission-related stuff.

Iruka stared at the duo in silence, feeling oddly blank for some reason. But soon enough, his surprise was replaced by heartfelt disapproval.

Of course, Iruka was not surprised to see the silver-haired man being wooed. Kakashi was bound to be popular with women; he was an elite jounin, he was cool, he was mysterious, and although his mask hid most of his facial features, he was a well-shaped and good-looking man. He was bound to be popular with women. And that dark-haired kunoichi surely enough was not the only woman in town trying to get on Hatake Kakashi’s good side. There was nothing surprising about it.

Frowning to himself, Iruka tried to go back to work and forget about the seductive kunoichi hovering around the Copy nin. Which proved to be quite difficult, as everybody around him seemed to be speaking of nothing else. The academy teacher could feel the gossipers eying him once in a while, obviously trying to see if the flirty woman’s presence was affecting the chuunin and, in some’s case, wondering if their money was still safe. But Iruka refused to look upset. He did not want to give these jerk the satisfaction of knowing this was affecting him – and anyway, why would he be upset? It was not as if he was jealous or something. Kakashi and him weren’t officially going out and Iruka wasn’t even sure he wanted to go out with him to start with, so it was perfectly right for this woman to woo the silver-haired man if she wanted to. Plus, Iruka knew that Kakashi’s heart already belonged to him. He truly had no reason to be jealous. He just thought that such an open display of interest coming from the dark-haired woman was not appropriate – and especially not in front of him and a room full of gossipers.

Looking up at the clock to see how much time was left before the end of his shift, Iruka could not help but send a glance toward the mission room entrance, and he looked just in time to see the kunoichi wave good bye at Kakashi as he walked away. His eyes lingered on the woman and for the first time, he had a good look at her.

When he had first seen her, he had thought she was pretty. But on a closer look, Iruka had to admit that ‘pretty’ obviously was not the most appropriate word to describe this woman. With her long, slender legs, her generous and firm breast, her smooth-looking skin and her beautiful amber eyes, she was definitely more ‘gorgeous’ than ‘pretty’. Somehow, the sight of her made Iruka’s stomach churn. He stared at her beautiful smile and could not help but wonder just how the Copy nin could find him attractive when such gorgeous woman were at his feet...

And then, the woman looked around and their eyes met. At once, her soft expression turned into a haughty one and she stared at him defiantly, as if daring him to even think he stood a chance against her. The eye contact lasted for only a second, yet the message couldn’t have been clearer and Iruka felt her disdainful gaze pierce his heart like an ice shred. With one last challenging look, the kunoichi turned on her heels and walked away, but Iruka’s eyes followed her as long as they could and as he watched her walk away, the chuunin felt anger and bitterness roar in his chest. His mind protested against the blast in his self-esteem that woman’s stare had caused; how dared she to look down on him like that? It was not because she was downright gorgeous that she had the right to act so disdainfully toward him! That double-faced bitch, as if she had a chance to win the Copy nin’s heart with such an attitude! No matter how beautiful she was, Kakashi would never fall for somehow so superficial and disdainful.

But no matter what he told himself, Iruka had to admit one thing: he was so out of this woman’s league it wasn’t even funny.

As he stared as the mission report pile in front of him, Iruka realized one thing. He was jealous. Thre was no point trying to deny it anymore, the sudden frustration and insecurity he felt at the sight of that woman could mean nothing else.

Jealous. Jealous of someone who was trying to stir romantic feelings in the Sharigan user. Jealous at the sight of a potential rival... At that thought, Iruka suddenly felt peace wash over himself, as if a weight had been removed from his shoulders.

Because at the moment he had least expected it, he had finally found the answer he had been looking for.

As Iruka started distantly at the crowded street the black-haired kunoichi had disappeared into, he was far too conscious that all the gazes were now on him, every gossiper in the mission room trying to see through him. Obviously, they were wondering if the chuunin was going to accept defiantly the woman’s blatant challenge or if she had succeeded in shaking, if only temporarily, the brown-haired man’s confidence. But to the general consternation, the chuunin’s previously blank features slowly turned into a smile as he spaced out.

Yes, a smile.

And not the type of evil smile that every academy student in the village had learnt to fear. No; it was a content smile. The brown-haired man looked honestly happy.

With stupefaction, the whole room stared at the content-looking chuunin as he gathered his belongings, preparing himself to leave. Obviously, Iruka’s smile was throwing everybody off; how could he smile after getting so disdainfully challenged by the kunoichi? How could he look so content about having a beautiful and sexy rival? Did he lose his head or what? Iruka could almost feel those questions fill the air of the tense mission room as he closed his briefcase, feeling highly amused for some reason. In the end, they got what they had been looking for – hadn’t they all been trying to find something to gossip about? Hopefully, that was going to make hem busy for a while.

Ignoring the puzzled gazes on him, the smiling brown-haired chuunin headed for the door and quietly left the mission room under the stare of a dozen baffled nins, feeling strangely happy with his exit.

--

“So, what’s going on?”

Iruka was walking down a small, quiet street alongside his favorite ex-student. The sun was sending its last beams of light on the Konoha village, making it look ablaze under the soft orange light. After they had eaten at a fairly good yakisoba restaurant in the 3rd district, Iruka had taken the agitated teen downtown for a walk, hoping that moving a bit would calm him down, or at least stimulate him to talk, something he had been looking very reluctant to do. But they had been walking for over one hour now and the blonde still did not look like he was about to open up and say what was obviously on his mind any time soon; he kept on frowning with irritation, ruminating silently to himself, exactly like he had done at the restaurant. Whatever what was bothering the teen, it was obviously important; Iruka couldn’t remember Naruto ever clamming up his anger like that and if the young man wouldn’t say what was bothering him already, Iruka was going to get it out of him one way or another. Because it was obvious the his ex-pupil needed to talk about it, even if he didn’t seem to want to – just the fact that he had asked to see Iruka with such haste was proving it.

At those words, Naruto unsurprisingly remained silent, staring darkly at the ground before his feet as if it was the cause of all his problems.

“Come on, I can see there’s something bothering you. What happened?”

Once again, the question was answered by a heavy silence and Iruka inwardly sighed. This was going to be a long night... But at least, the teen had not even tried to deny that there was something wrong – it was already a start, the chuunin thought with optimism.

But suddenly, Naruto looked up at him with an unreadable expression on his face.

“Iruka-sensei, can I spend the night at your place?”

Iruka stared at his ex-pupil, astounded by the unexpected request. “What?”

“Can I spend the night at your place,” Naruto repeated the question and the chuunin stared at him some more as he slowly figured out what that request meant.

When he didn’t immidiately answer, Naruto looked annoyed. “Can I, yes or no?”

“No,” came the flat answer and the blonde gaped disbelievingly at the academy teacher; obviously, he had not expected Iruka to refuse.

“What! Why?”

“Because avoiding Sasuke is not going to solve your problem,” Iruka answered severely and at those words, the teenager froze.

“What makes you think I’m avoiding him?” he asked defensively and Iruka rolled his eyes.

“Come on, it’s obvious. First you don’t want to eat at Ichiraku and then you bring me at the other end of the town to eat at some random restaurant that happens to be very far away from your place, Ichiraku, the mission room, your ususal training spot and the Uchiha compound. And to top it off, you want to stay at my place for the night – something somewhat suspect for a sixteen year-old.”

That enumaration did nothing to improve the young man’s mood, his face scowling darkly at the street below his feet. He angrily kicked a stone in his way but once again said nothing.

“Won’t you tell me already what’s going on? I can’t help you if you clam up like that.”

At those words, Naruto seemed to calm down a bit, looking slightly shameful. He opened his mouth to speak, but then he grimaced and closed it again, looking bitter. Then, he started to speak with agitation.

“You want to know what’s going on? Well, I don’t know what’s going on. I have no freaking idea what’s going on! Everything’s so messed up in my head... And that’s Sasuke’s fault! I told him I wanted things to be simple, but he had to complicate everything!”

“Nothing’s simple, Naruto,” Iruka sighed truthfully, and the teen looked put down.

“... He’s still a jerk.” the blonde mumbled childishly.

“Who’s a jerk?”

Both men turned around, but it was futile – they both knew very well to whom that low, sarcastic voice belonged. And sure enough, Uchiha Sasuke was standing a few feet behind them; only, the amused smirk that usually graced his handsome face when he made that kind of comment was strangely absent. Instead, the Uchiha heir was staring at them with cool anger, and Iruka knew when he saw those cold, angry eyes that things were going to get ugly. As to prove him right, Naruto stiffened beside him at the sight of his best friend and rival, his whole being suddenly radiating hatred. They stared at each other for a short while, but then Naruto turned on his heel and started to walk away. Before he could make more than three steps, the raven-haired teen was beside him, grabbing his arm forcefully.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

His voice was a mere whisper, cool and sharp, and Iruka then realized that the Uchiha was not just angry, he was downright pissed. The blonde slowly turned his head around and stared at Sasuke dangerously, the air around him crackling with chakra aggressively, but the teenager did not look impressed. Iruka started to back away, anticipating the heated confrontation that was about to take place; he did not do so because he was scared or nervous, but rather to let more space for the two teens to settle their disagreement their way. Such a gesture could have seemed strange to someone who wasn’t familiar with the twisted relationship the two young man shared, but Iruka knew that the only way for them to make up was to fight – verbally and/or physically – until either exhaustion or the intervention of the Hokage herself. Whichever happened first.

“Let me go,” Naruto growled dangerously, but Sasuke’s grip on his best friend’s harm seemed only to tighten.

“Like hell I will,” the raven-haired man hissed angrily, “I’ve been running through the town looking for you for two fuckin’ days.”

“Then get the clue already and leave me alone!”

“Dammit Naruto, I already said I was sorry! What do you want? That I buy you flowers and chocolates?! That I beg on my knees?!” Sasuke snarled angrily and the teen remained silent, looking angry after himself for not being able to answer his rival’s question. Iruka stared at the scene with mild surprise; their row was taking a direction he had not expected. Flowers and chocolates? What was the meaning of this?

“I don’t even understand why you’re making such a scene! You’re overreacting,” the teen had said with annoyance and the words were not even out of his mouth, Iruka knew he shouldn’t have said that.

“Overreacting? You say I’m OVERREACTING?!” Naruto burst out, completely out of himself, pulling himself out of the other teenager’s grip.

“Damn yes you are!” Sasuke shot back angrily, his voice slowly raising.

“Well if you hadn’t been such a complete inconsiderate ass to start with, it wouldn’t have even happened!”

“I-already-said-I-was-sorry,” Sasuke muttered between clenched teeth, obviously trying to remain cool and controlled.

“Then stop being an ass and be nice for once!” Naruto yelled at the top of his lungs.

“Nice?! I WAS nice!” The raven-haired teen yelled back, self-control completely forgotten.

“Oh you were?!”

“Yes, I was!”

“You goddamned molested me!” the blonde shrieked angrily and Iruka froze, staring at the teens blankly. Molested?! Whoa-! So they were...?

In front of Naruto, Sasuke straightened indignantly. “Molested you?! I barely touched you! I put my freaking hand on your knee! And then the next thing I knew, I had your fist in my face! You were the one who said you were okay with this!” he accused Naruto sharply and the blonde looked upset to be reminded. From his corner, Iruka stared at the shouting match with bewildered eyes, barely believing his ears. Naruto and Sasuke, doing... these kind of things already?!

“Yes, I said I was!” he said defensely, “But-but not so fast!”

“Not so fast?! I touched your fucking knee, I didn’t grab your ass! Stop acting like a scared virgin, for God’s sake!”

Naruto took a step back, as if he had been hit, and blushed furiously.

“Like you aren’t a virgin yourself, teme!” The blonde shot back angrily and it was Sasuke’s turn to flush with anger and embarrassment, his pale cheeks turning into an interesting shade of pink.

“Shut up,” he hissed venomously.

“Oooh, did I hit a nerve?!” Naruto taunted the other teen with triumph. “Would the prodigy Uchiha Sasuke be a mere hormonal, inexperienced teenager in the end? Falling off your fucking high up now, aren’t you?!”

“I said SHUT UP!”

“Would you guys please find yourself a room?”

That last quiet sentence startled the three men; they all had been so engrossed with the row that they had failed to notice that they was a newcomer standing a few feet away from them and listening to them intently. At once, both teenagers’ and Iruka heads snapped around to where the voice was coming from, and it was with surprise that they all stared at a very bored-looking Hatake Kakashi slouching nonchalantly against a nearby wall.

“I hope you realize that you can be heard up to the 6th district. Not exactly the best way to keep a relationship secret, if you want my advise.”

That last sentence seemed to hit the two angry teenagers, who suddenly looked highly self-conscious and mortified of their previous outburst. While Naruto’s face blanched comically at the realization, the raven-haired young man just froze on the spot, looking strangely twitchy and Iruka had the distinct feeling that Sasuke was contemplating how many people he would have to kill to eliminate everyone who had overheard their embarrassing argument. He must have come to the conclusion that they were too many because he suddenly frowned and took Naruto’s wrist into his hand firmly and quickly walked away, pulling a mortified and mildly reluctant-looking Naruto behind him. Iruka watched them quickly disappearing into the darkening streets of Konoha, feeling still bewildered by the whole scene that just took place under his eyes. When Naruto had asked to see him, he had thought he was prepared to hear anything, but obviously he had not been prepared to this. Naruto going out with Sasuke... the chuunin had thought of it as a possibility, but he had imagined that it wouldn’t happen before another couple years – they were still too young, weren’t they?

But Iruka had to admit that no, they were not too young for this. They were sixteen year-old; at that age, more than half of their graduation class were into serious relationship or had had sex experiences, or both. No, they were definitely at the right age for doing such experimentations. Yet the brown-haired man could not help but feel strangely uneasy with the notion of the two rivals doing such things together. Maybe his uneasiness was due to his own lack of experience in that field; knowing that Naruto, who he had taught when he was still a kid, was already experimenting with Sasuke made him even more painfully self-conscious of the fact that he had never ‘experimented’ himself. That thought left him with a strange insecure feeling he had never quite felt before and that scared him more than anything else. Especially in the light of his evolving relationship with Kakashi-sensei...

Iruka chased those treacherous thoughts away; those were not things he would need to think about before a while.

Shaking himself out of his reverie, Iruka’s eyes went to the Copy nin standing a few feet away from him. To his surprise, the jounin was staring at the place where his students had disappeared into, a strange nostalgic glint in his uncovered eye. Realizing he was being stared at, Kakashi’s attention went to the chuunin and his eye curved up into a fake smile.

“They’ve grown a lot, haven’t they?”

That small but true sentence brought a nostalgic and mildly sad smile to the brown-haired man’s lips. “Indeed, they have,” he agreed quietly. They stared at each other for a while, an easy silence stretching between them, and then Iruka slowly started to walk away. And just as he had thought he would, Hatake Kakashi quietly joined him and they started walking together in the mostly deserted and darkening streets of Konoha. As they walked, neither of them spoke for a long while – they shared an easy, companionable silence and were content just to walk side by side and enjoy each other presence. And it only strengthened Iruka’s resolve.

His thoughts drifting back to the alley the had just left, Iruka chuckled quietly and the silver-haired man looked up at him curiously.

“Doesn’t it seem a bit unreal?”

“What?”

“Sasuke and Naruto,” the chuunin explained simply and Kakashi laughed quietly.

“I know what you mean. I can’t say I haven’t seen it coming – with Sasuke throwing those jealous tantrums around, the clues were hard to miss. Yet I can’t get used to the idea of the two of them going out together.”

“My thoughts exactly.”

“But they are at that age already, aren’t they?”

“I guess so. They’re not genins anymore...” Iruka sighed. “Sometimes I wish they still would be.”

“So do I. At least, it would be easier to stop Sakura from skinning alive Naruto when she learns the news.”

Kakashi had said the last sentence on a whiny voice, but his whine was ruined by the obvious amusement hidden behind those words and Iruka laughed.

“You mean Sakura AND the rest of Sasuke’s fanclub.”

“Oh no I don’t. I like living too much to mess with those; Naruto will be on his own for that one.”

“What a courageous and caring team leader you are,” Iruka smirked and the jounin shot him mock annoyed look. Then, he sighed a bit sadly.

“I just hope their relationship will not become as public as ‘ours’. I wouldn’t want them to got through what you had to in the past weeks,” the jounin said very quietly, his words barely hiding the unspoken helplessness and culpability he felt and Iruka felt his heart beating faster in his chest.

“You shouldn’t worry about me,” the chuunin answered as quietly, “I’m stronger than that.”

“I know.”

Both men then came to an halt as they reached Iruka’s apartment building. Iruka couldn’t believe he was already home – he felt like they had barely walked more than ten minutes, but he knew they must have been walking for over half an hour. Awkwardly, the two men stared at each. In front of him, the jounin seemed to grow more hesitant and embarrassed by the second and it was not without some amusement and mild annoyance that Iruka watched the silver-haired man stare at the dust bin over his right shoulder nervously. But Iruka wasn’t nervous. In fact, he felt abnormally calm and serene – he couldn’t quite tell if it was because he now knew what he wanted or because he felt right about it, but it didn’t matter much to him anymore.

“It’s a pretty night, isn’t it?” Kakashi finally said in an attempt to sound casual, and Iruka nodded silently. And then, there was a shy silence.

“So...” Iruka said after a while, “Do you plan on asking me out anytime soon?”

With some amusement, Iruka thought he couldn’t have gotten a funnier reaction out of the man. The jounin’s visible eye widened so much it seemed to be about to pop out of its socket as he gaped blankly at Iruka. Then, his mostly hidden face seemed to set into fire as he blushed furiously and he looked down at the chuunin’s vest, fidgeting nervously in an hilarious imitation of a shy twelve years-old girl asking out her long-time crush.

“Y-Yes! I mean - Uh, that is to say... If you want, we could, er... eat out together... or something,” Kakashi babbled nervously, “O-or maybe we could... go se a movie if you prefer – or, or just hang out, really-”

Iruka never found out what the Copy nin was about to add because he couldn’t hold his amusement in anymore and burst out laughing, his powerful laugh echoing through the silent and deserted street. Kakashi’s shoulders fell and he gaped at the laughing chuunin in such a distraught way that the brown-haired man forced himself to stop laughing.

“Sorry for that,” he apologized, his lips still twiching with amusement, “but you were just so –cute-, I couldn’t help it.”

At the open teasing, the silver-haired man seemed to relax a bit, but at the same time, he looked mildly annoyed.

“I’m not cute,” the jounin said in such a sulky way that Iruka could not help but grin again.

“Uh-uh.”

“I’ll have you know that I’m very manly.”

“Of course.”

“And I was not stuttering like some lovesick ten year-old,” Kakashi added defensively with the same sulky voice, “That was manly stuttering. It’s completely different.”

“Obviously.”

There was a short silent and Iruka was under the impression that the sulking jounin wanted to bang his head against the nearest wall for making such a pathetic exhibit of his lack of social skills and embarrassment in front of his crush. It made the chuunin smile. To think that only a week ago, the thought of him having so much influence on the Copy nin was scaring him... Now, the only feeling the sight of the hesitant and nervous Sharigan user stirred in him was fond amusement. When had he grown so fond of Kakashi-sensei?

At that precise moment, Iruka knew that if he did not watch himself, he would end up falling in love for the silver-haired man. But it didn’t matter anymore – he had already made his mind about it.

“I’m free on Sunday night; let’s meet here at five – and do not be late,” he said simply to a mildly bemused-looking jounin.

“O-okay.”

“Great,” Iruka answered warmly, flashing his brightest smile to the ex-anbu before turning around and walking to his doorstep. As he fished his keys out of his pockets and opened the door, the chuunin could feel Kakashi staring at him from the place when he had left him, obviously stunned by the turn out of their weird discussion. As he opened the door, Iruka looked back at the astounded jounin.

“So, do you want to honor my humble apartment with your manly presence for a cup of tea?”

From afar, Iruka could see the jounin’s mask stretch into what he could guess was a wide, happy smile and his low, rich voice broke the silence of the quiet evening.

“I would love to.”

THE END

there shall be an epilogue