Kakashi was slouched with his hands in his pockets, and looked up when Iruka opened his door, out of habit giving him a cursory once-over. Evidently a hot bath and good night's sleep in a proper bed were all it took to make Iruka look more himself--which relieved Kakashi, though it didn't show.
"You had quite the welcome yesterday, I thought you might sleep in," he said genially, with only a hint of teasing on 'quite'. The drinking and flirtatious hair-touching with the pretty samurai, and making out with the winged demon for all to see? Oh yes, Kakashi had not failed to notice. The latter had rather perversely amused him at the time, but having overheard their conversation, he realised he was probably obligated to set Iruka straight before he did anything unwise
( ... )
Reposted cause I hate it when I use the same word too often >.<scarysenseiJune 24 2010, 13:40:01 UTC
Iruka stepped out of the door and locked it. He had heard Kakashi's inflection on "quite", and was attempting not to rise to the bait. He's joking, he told himself. Just joking. Still, he felt he couldn't let it go without saying something..
"I'm not- not usually like that, you know," he said. "I wasn't myself yesterday. It still feels like a surreal dream, to be honest. I don't know that I'm really here or not.."
As he spoke he glanced around himself, taking in the corridor with it's paintings and wall hangings.
"D'you know.." he said, looking at a portrait of an old man, "I might almost say that that picture just- oh!" The old man had just stood up with a grunt and left the frame. Iruka stared.
"I can see I've got a lot to learn about this place," he said in amazement. "The more you teach me, the better."
Kakashi made a noncommittal sound as he turned to watch the painting as well. "The paintings move," he pointed out, unnecessarily. "As do the suits of armour, and the staircases. You'll want to be careful on the latter, it can occur quite unexpectedly."
While the Slytherin common room and dorms were dank and dreary in Kakashi's opinion, those of Hufflepuff, which were also housed in the dungeon level of the castle, were somehow warmer--the cheery yellow hangings probably helped.
Connected to the Hufflepuff common room was an impressively large 'food libraries' a former prefect had installed--that is, a fully functional grocery store.
"This is the Hufflepuff food library. You may help yourself to anything you see," he said as they made their way past the aisles of food. "At no charge," he was careful to add, watching Iruka out of the corner of his eye. "So have you received your payment yet?" His teasing was much more pronounced now. 'Wasn't himself' indeed. Iruka wasn't getting off that easily.
Iruka made a mental note about the staircases, but his attention was elsewhere. He found that as he and Kakashi moved through the common room, more of the paintings were moving. The people in the pictures appeared to be able to walk through into any painting next to them. Iruka was fascinated.
"I'll be careful," he answered as they entered another room, which was full of food. Iruka's stomach made an unhappy noise at him as he remembered he hadn't eaten since the morning of the day before. He wondered for a moment how the castle could afford to feed them for free, then decided it was probably magic. He paused to look at a shelf of the food. Some of it was.. odd, to say the least.
He rolled his eyes surreptitiously at Kakashi's question. Honestly. "No. No, I haven't. Have you eaten?" I don't really want to talk about that. Now that I think about it, it was probably a very stupid thing to do..
There was no hiding the grin in his voice. "You sell yourself too cheaply. You should have held out for more."
There was a more subtle change in his tone as well--something a little more serious than teasing...
He meandered a ways down the aisle, looking over the packages and choosing a bag of regular, non-wizarding gummy worms. He tucked them away in one of the pockets of his flak jacket. They looked interesting, even though he didn't usually care for candy. "I've already had breakfast," he replied as he returned to where Iruka was. Sobering, he realised Iruka probably wouldn't tolerate much more teasing and that he should get to the point. He would be made Hokage the next time he was returned home--a chilling thought--and moments like this were good practise at being the dour leader he'd have to become. He could be an ass sometimes, but his heart was usually in the right place. Just another lesson he'd learnt the hard way
( ... )
Iruka opened his mouth to give a scandalised reply along the lines of 'what do you mean, sell myself' but then thought better of it. Kakashi was right - he'd kissed a man for money. If that wasn't the selling himself, nothing was. He hung his head in embarrassment.
"I hope you don't think badly of me," he said quietly, but he knew that Kakashi probably thought he was totally unprofessional. No ninja, no matter how tired they were, no matter if they'd just come from a battle, should have reacted like that. Iruka was ashamed of himself.
He glanced up as Kakashi spoke again. "What do you mean?" he asked, horror dawning on him. "He lied to me?" Should have seen that one coming, Iruka, said a voice inside his head. You pride yourself on reading people, but you're not so good at it after all. A handsome man comes along and flirts a little and your training goes right out the window. Some ninja you are - you didn't even learn from your mistakes with Mizuki? Pathetic.Iruka clenched his jaw. "You must think I'm a pretty terrible shinobi,"
( ... )
"He may not have intended harm," offered Kakashi diplomatically, but he didn't hide his skepticism. "Perhaps he only wanted to kiss you, and needed an excuse." He didn't think Iruka was especially gullible under normal circumstances, but he was attractive, and naturally that would lead to certain kinds of attention, good and bad. It wasn't his fault.
"But if you were to go out to meet Smaug--that's the dragon in the woods--and expect to bargain with him..." He shook his head. "A being who's probably more powerful than the Bijuu? He does what he wants, and doesn't seem inclined to honour agreements unless he feels like it."
He was surprised that Iruka even cared about his opinion, and was quiet for a long moment, recalling when Iruka had sought to comfort him the other day in the Sorting Room--that had also surprised him. Finally he reached up to rest a hand on the other man's shoulder. "I don't think less of you because someone took advantage of you. And some good came from it--now you know why you need to be more careful here."
As Kakashi spoke, Iruka picked up a juicy red apple and a small carton of milk, which he pocketed. He snorted derisively, shaking his head at what Kakashi was saying. "Yeah, right." I should have known something was off the minute he acted flirty. A good-looking guy looking to get close with me? Like that'd happen.His head snapped up at the mention of Smaug being more powerful than the Bijuu, and he actually felt the blood drain out of his face. "More powerful than-!" He had a sudden image of himself placing a chest of gold before a dark mountainous form, then being crushed beneath a talon. He felt sick and closed his eyes for a second, then focused on the sound of his heartbeat to ground himself and opened them again. "What should I do?" he asked, surprised that his voice didn't shake. "And you may not think less of me, but I do. I shouldn't have had to have a warning to be careful here. I should have done it automatically." He paused at the touch to his shoulder and his gaze flicked up to Kakashi. The touch made him feel warm
( ... )
It was difficult to accurately gauge the kind of strength that Smaug and the other two dragons of Hogwarts possessed, but from what Kakashi had sensed it was easily on par with--maybe even greater than--the overwhelming power of the Bijuu, especially the dragon in the lake, so he felt it was a fair assessment and in no way an exaggeration.
And it was why he was determined to not let Iruka go out to meet one. Alone, at any rate.
"What you should do," he replied lightly, letting his hand slip lower to take Iruka by the elbow, "is not dwell on what you should have done. It won't change what is." He gave a light pull at Iruka's elbow to urge him on, then started heading for the exit that led out into the hallways
( ... )
Iruka felt the hairs rise on the back of his neck when Kakashi didn't remove his hand from his arm. He stepped after Kakashi at the tug to his elbow, wondering why the man hadn't simply started moving away, expecting Iruka to follow him. Not that Iruka was complaining.
..Which didn't mean that Iruka was attracted to Kakashi, not in the slightest. It was just that he had noticed when Kakashi had been around back in Konoha that he tended not to touch people, and him touching Iruka right now was a significant friendly gesture, and Kakashi was talking to him so he'd better listen.
"What?" he said, then his brain caught up with him. "Oh. Yes, you're right. I'll try not to think about it more."
I really need to pay attention when he's talking. I must sound stupid to him. Not that I care how he thinks I sound, it's just I'd like him to have a good opinion of me as a shinobi. Yeah.Iruka was slowly realising that when it came to Kakashi, he thought in circles and he STILL wasn't listening properly. It was a good thing that almost every
( ... )
Hogwarts hadn't changed Kakashi, exactly, but it did allow him to indulge certain desires more frequently than he would have in Konoha. It was nice, knowing no one here would give a damn if they noticed him going just a little out of his way to initiate physical contact with someone. Iruka's lack of complaint or comment on said contact he just took as subtle encouragement
( ... )
Iruka wasn't sure why Kakashi was touching him. He might have thought it was accidental, but a Jounin would never be so unaware as to touch someone accidentally - hell, even Naruto had enough body-awareness to keep from bumping into people. Iruka wondered if he ought to move away, but found he didn't want to. It was nice to be next to Kakashi. He was his only link to Konoha.. and he made Iruka feel odd. Nice-odd. It was a feeling he'd had before, a long time ago. It reminded him of Mizuki as a child, and how they spent all their time together. Iruka ignored the bittersweet feelings as best he could, as he did with all thoughts of Mizuki, but there was something in the back of his mind trying to tell him something...
I'd protect you with my life. Iruka felt a smile tugging at his lips. "I don't doubt it," he replied. "He'd say the same to me if I let anything happen to you. I'll - I'll do my best to protect you, too." This sounds a little.. um."Speaking of uses for the gold," he said, changing the subject, "if I get a wand at the
( ... )
The mun apologises for this getting so long!Iruka offering to protect him as well was a bit strange, Kakashi thought, for reasons that had nothing to do with their respective ranks. Maybe because that sort of sentiment was so rarely directed at him, since most people probably thought it would be insulting his skill as a shinobi to imply he needed help
( ... )
Okay I admit it. I was getting tired of the clichéd "NOT crushing on Kakashi-san" Iruka. Oops? XDscarysenseiJuly 13 2010, 00:06:13 UTC
Don't apologise for awesomeness :D
If Iruka had known what Kakashi was thinking, he'd have been shocked. Partly at the thought of insulting Kakashi's success as a ninja, which he certainly hadn't meant to do, and partly at the thought that Kakashi was obviously not told "I want to protect you" very often. As far as Iruka was concerned, even if Kakashi was Hokage-level, it shouldn't mean that nobody thought he should be protected. Even the strong needed protection. (He'd also have been a little annoyed at the insinuation that he didn't care about Kakashi, because he did. In a manly, trying-to-ignore-a-crush way.)
Back in the real world, however, Iruka didn't know what Kakashi was thinking. He was relieved to find that he wouldn't have to pay for the wand straight away, but the quip from Kakashi about reimbursement made him simultaneously embarrassed and ashamed.. and some other emotion that he tried to convince himself had NOTHING to do with Kakashi, which manifested itself as a curl of heat in his stomach and a delicious shiver up
( ... )
Iruka becoming more self aware is a very good thing. ;)kakashi_jouninJuly 15 2010, 09:29:30 UTC
It didn't help matters that Kakashi himself wasn't certain whether his flirting with Iruka was serious or just meaninglessly playful. But the more Iruka reacted favourably (or at least didn't react poorly), and seemed to almost welcome the attention, the easier it was to decide--he liked this strange new turn their friendship was taking. Even if nothing serious came of it, he enjoyed feeling like they were really relating to one another in ways they hadn't before.
It wasn't as though he had any intention of jumping Iruka--it wouldn't do to rush things so inelegantly. But if his advances continued to be welcomed in that endearingly awkward way of Iruka's, chances were there'd be some rather interesting developments before the day was out
( ... )
I think I spend too much time in hypothetical situations. "Maybe he'd do this! We'll never know.."scarysenseiJuly 16 2010, 03:31:33 UTC
Sorry, posted too earlyIruka's reaction to Kakashi jumping him would certainly have been interesting, although less likely to lead to sex than the mun would hope. But what'd have been good for Kakashi was he was certainly likely to be endearingly awkward. And annoyed
( ... )
"You had quite the welcome yesterday, I thought you might sleep in," he said genially, with only a hint of teasing on 'quite'. The drinking and flirtatious hair-touching with the pretty samurai, and making out with the winged demon for all to see? Oh yes, Kakashi had not failed to notice. The latter had rather perversely amused him at the time, but having overheard their conversation, he realised he was probably obligated to set Iruka straight before he did anything unwise ( ... )
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"I'm not- not usually like that, you know," he said. "I wasn't myself yesterday. It still feels like a surreal dream, to be honest. I don't know that I'm really here or not.."
As he spoke he glanced around himself, taking in the corridor with it's paintings and wall hangings.
"D'you know.." he said, looking at a portrait of an old man, "I might almost say that that picture just- oh!" The old man had just stood up with a grunt and left the frame. Iruka stared.
"I can see I've got a lot to learn about this place," he said in amazement. "The more you teach me, the better."
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While the Slytherin common room and dorms were dank and dreary in Kakashi's opinion, those of Hufflepuff, which were also housed in the dungeon level of the castle, were somehow warmer--the cheery yellow hangings probably helped.
Connected to the Hufflepuff common room was an impressively large 'food libraries' a former prefect had installed--that is, a fully functional grocery store.
"This is the Hufflepuff food library. You may help yourself to anything you see," he said as they made their way past the aisles of food. "At no charge," he was careful to add, watching Iruka out of the corner of his eye. "So have you received your payment yet?" His teasing was much more pronounced now. 'Wasn't himself' indeed. Iruka wasn't getting off that easily.
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"I'll be careful," he answered as they entered another room, which was full of food. Iruka's stomach made an unhappy noise at him as he remembered he hadn't eaten since the morning of the day before. He wondered for a moment how the castle could afford to feed them for free, then decided it was probably magic. He paused to look at a shelf of the food. Some of it was.. odd, to say the least.
He rolled his eyes surreptitiously at Kakashi's question. Honestly. "No. No, I haven't. Have you eaten?" I don't really want to talk about that. Now that I think about it, it was probably a very stupid thing to do..
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There was a more subtle change in his tone as well--something a little more serious than teasing...
He meandered a ways down the aisle, looking over the packages and choosing a bag of regular, non-wizarding gummy worms. He tucked them away in one of the pockets of his flak jacket. They looked interesting, even though he didn't usually care for candy. "I've already had breakfast," he replied as he returned to where Iruka was. Sobering, he realised Iruka probably wouldn't tolerate much more teasing and that he should get to the point. He would be made Hokage the next time he was returned home--a chilling thought--and moments like this were good practise at being the dour leader he'd have to become. He could be an ass sometimes, but his heart was usually in the right place. Just another lesson he'd learnt the hard way ( ... )
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"I hope you don't think badly of me," he said quietly, but he knew that Kakashi probably thought he was totally unprofessional. No ninja, no matter how tired they were, no matter if they'd just come from a battle, should have reacted like that. Iruka was ashamed of himself.
He glanced up as Kakashi spoke again. "What do you mean?" he asked, horror dawning on him. "He lied to me?" Should have seen that one coming, Iruka, said a voice inside his head. You pride yourself on reading people, but you're not so good at it after all. A handsome man comes along and flirts a little and your training goes right out the window. Some ninja you are - you didn't even learn from your mistakes with Mizuki? Pathetic.Iruka clenched his jaw. "You must think I'm a pretty terrible shinobi," ( ... )
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"But if you were to go out to meet Smaug--that's the dragon in the woods--and expect to bargain with him..." He shook his head. "A being who's probably more powerful than the Bijuu? He does what he wants, and doesn't seem inclined to honour agreements unless he feels like it."
He was surprised that Iruka even cared about his opinion, and was quiet for a long moment, recalling when Iruka had sought to comfort him the other day in the Sorting Room--that had also surprised him. Finally he reached up to rest a hand on the other man's shoulder. "I don't think less of you because someone took advantage of you. And some good came from it--now you know why you need to be more careful here."
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And it was why he was determined to not let Iruka go out to meet one. Alone, at any rate.
"What you should do," he replied lightly, letting his hand slip lower to take Iruka by the elbow, "is not dwell on what you should have done. It won't change what is." He gave a light pull at Iruka's elbow to urge him on, then started heading for the exit that led out into the hallways ( ... )
Reply
..Which didn't mean that Iruka was attracted to Kakashi, not in the slightest. It was just that he had noticed when Kakashi had been around back in Konoha that he tended not to touch people, and him touching Iruka right now was a significant friendly gesture, and Kakashi was talking to him so he'd better listen.
"What?" he said, then his brain caught up with him. "Oh. Yes, you're right. I'll try not to think about it more."
I really need to pay attention when he's talking. I must sound stupid to him. Not that I care how he thinks I sound, it's just I'd like him to have a good opinion of me as a shinobi. Yeah.Iruka was slowly realising that when it came to Kakashi, he thought in circles and he STILL wasn't listening properly. It was a good thing that almost every ( ... )
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I'd protect you with my life. Iruka felt a smile tugging at his lips. "I don't doubt it," he replied. "He'd say the same to me if I let anything happen to you. I'll - I'll do my best to protect you, too." This sounds a little.. um."Speaking of uses for the gold," he said, changing the subject, "if I get a wand at the ( ... )
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If Iruka had known what Kakashi was thinking, he'd have been shocked. Partly at the thought of insulting Kakashi's success as a ninja, which he certainly hadn't meant to do, and partly at the thought that Kakashi was obviously not told "I want to protect you" very often. As far as Iruka was concerned, even if Kakashi was Hokage-level, it shouldn't mean that nobody thought he should be protected. Even the strong needed protection. (He'd also have been a little annoyed at the insinuation that he didn't care about Kakashi, because he did. In a manly, trying-to-ignore-a-crush way.)
Back in the real world, however, Iruka didn't know what Kakashi was thinking. He was relieved to find that he wouldn't have to pay for the wand straight away, but the quip from Kakashi about reimbursement made him simultaneously embarrassed and ashamed.. and some other emotion that he tried to convince himself had NOTHING to do with Kakashi, which manifested itself as a curl of heat in his stomach and a delicious shiver up ( ... )
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It wasn't as though he had any intention of jumping Iruka--it wouldn't do to rush things so inelegantly. But if his advances continued to be welcomed in that endearingly awkward way of Iruka's, chances were there'd be some rather interesting developments before the day was out ( ... )
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