Inside on the Outside

I don’t own any of these characters…or Naruto
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Chapter 1 Dinner With Iruka

It was one of those days where the rain set a most melancholy mood. Anko watched the drops chase each other down her office window as she tried to concentrate on her paperwork. She wasn’t in the mood to work; however, she knew that the Hokage needed the stack of paperwork on her desk by 4:00 that day. She let out a long sigh and continued to scribble on the endless forms and student performance reports. The door on her office was open; there was barely a sound in the hallway. Anko figured everyone was either out in the field, away on a mission, or already in the comfort of their home. After a few more papers had made their way from her ‘to do’ pile to her ‘done’ pile, she heard footsteps outside. There was a knock on her door frame as Iruka popped his head into her door.
“Hey, you’re still working on those.” He asked.
“Yeah, did you complete all of yours?” she asked disgruntled.
“It took me all morning, but I finished 20 minutes ago. I just gave mine to the Hokage.” Iruka answered.
“I don’t believe myself, I usually pump out papers quickly, but today I am at a stand still. I need some motivation” Anko said dully.
“Okay, here’s some motivation, I’m leaving here at 4:30 today. I’m going out for tempura and a drink, come with me.” Iruka said.
“Well, I do like to eat and I do drink. Okay! I’ll come to your office once I’m done.”
“Great! See you later.” Iruka left Anko to her work. She had to admit, someone offering to eat with her was always an incentive for her to do anything. Anko always ate alone, went home to an empty apartment, and fell asleep in a lonely bed. It truly seemed as if Anko had no one. Certainly she had friends but they had lives of their own as well. She pushed the pencil a little harder as the rain still poured down outside.
By 3:47 Anko had ten papers left. That was plenty of time to complete the reports. She glanced over the next report. “Damn.” She thought to herself. She had to get a hold of Kakashi in order to complete the report. First, she picked up her phone and dialed Iruka’s office.
“Hey, it’s me. Is Kakashi still here?” she asked Iruka.
“No, he went home. You need him? I’ll give you his number.” Anko searched for a pen and took down Kakashi’s number. Anko hated when she had to make efforts to get her work done. She liked things in black and white right in front of her. At any rate, she dialed Kakashi’s number hoping he would pick up.
“Kakashi, hey, it’s Anko.” She said.
“Hey, Anko.”
“Listen, I’m filling out a report on Haruno Sakura. I don’t have a damn clue what she does these days. Is she on a mission or what?” Anko asked staring at her blank page.
“No, she’s at the hospital full time now. Hokage checks in on her and is overseeing most of her medical training. I’m a little bit hands free of her.” Kakashi answered. Anko was writing in all the appropriate blanks on her paper.
“Okay, thanks, that’s all I needed.”
“Sure thing, Anko, Talk to you later.” Anko said goodbye and hung up the phone. She finished the final papers in her stack and left her office to deliver them to the Hokage. After her task had been completed, she killed the lights in her office and walked down a flight of stairs to catch up with Iruka. Sure enough, he was sitting in his office waiting on Anko’s arrival.
“Hey, ready to go?” He asked her standing up and walking towards the doorway.
“Yeah, I’m starving.” She answered. He locked the door behind them and they left the academy. The rain was still coming down in heavy sheets, so they walked as closely to all the awnings as they could manage.
“Can you believe this? It’s done this all day.” Iruka said to Anko.
“Yeah.” Anko answered trying her hardest to avoid puddles beneath her. They arrived at their venue of choice and the shelter was more than inviting, they were both a little soaked as they walked inside. The place was crowded, probably because of the rainy weather and the impending 5:00 hour. They both sat at the counter. It wasn’t long before one of the waiters came up to them.
“What will you have?” He asked.
“Vegetable tempura, rice and a decantur.” Anko said. Iruka indicated that he would have the same.
“How was your day today?” Iruka asked.
“Shitty. I had too much work to do and I barely got any of it done.” Anko answered frankly. Iruka laughed.
“Yeah, I was pretty busy today.” They could hear the rain sill pouring outside. The waiter brought Anko and Iruka their sake. Anko quickly downed her first saucer.
“Man, that tastes so good. Sometimes I just like to drink until I’m numb, you know? It helps dull the pain.” Iruka smiled and looked at her.
“Actually, yeah. I do know what you mean.” Iruka stared into his sake saucer. Anko patted his thigh.
“Funny how it never goes away, you know? Every time, you think you’ve buried your demons they somehow come back to haunt you in a new form. I’m sorry, sometimes I get this way. Especially, on days like today.” Anko felt bad for blurting out things about her rather bitter outlook on life.
“It’s okay. We have a lot in common. We’ve been through a lot.” Anko smiled, but it was one of those sad smiles that said ‘yes you’re right, I only wish it hadn’t happened that way’. Their meals arrived quickly. “Itidakimasu!” Anko said and dove into her rice.
“Did you know Asuma and Kurenai were screwing?” Iruka ask breaking his chopsticks. Ankos’ eyes grew wide.
“Noooo! Are you serious!?” she took another drink of sake.
“Oh, yeah. That’s been a long time coming. Kakashi told me about it yesterday.”
“Damn, she’s been after him for at least two years.” Anko said.
“At least.” Iruka started into the vegetables. Not only were the jounins great teachers and skilled ninjas…they had another side as well. Once their instructing duties and mission duties were set aside, they hooked up, broke up, made up, made out, put out, undressed, got dressed, got caught, and got laid. It was nice being on the higher rung of the academy ladder. Even though Iruka and Anko were not technically jounins, they hung out with all the rest of them. Anko was no exception to the promiscuous rule; she had been with her share of them. She had been in Iruka’s bed only 2 weeks earlier.