[FIC] When Words Aren't Enough - chapter 3
Title: When Words Aren’t Enough
Summary: Konoha, Center for Sight & Hearing Impaired, has always been close to Iruka and now he works there as a part-time teacher. One day he meets a strange man, Kakashi, who lost his hearing in an accident many years ago. To mix things up, Tsunade-sama has come up with a dreadful auction to increase the Center’s next year’s budget. With a dread of losing dear Konoha, everybody in the staff has to participate, even her herself.
Pairings: KakaIruKaka as the main, some others if you use imagination
Rating: Normal - if that's rating...
Disclaimer: Kishimoto owns them, thus worship him
A/N: *drools over her new Naruto-DVDs* I'd totally forgotten how cool Sandaime's fight with Orochimaru was. Not to mention Kakashi's nigthmare with Itachi. *.*
Kakashi walked languidly underneath the autumn colored trees of the small park, holding three different leashes in his glowed hands, the bare fingertips feeling the worn leather against the calloused skin. In front of him seven canines walked in perfect harmony, the difference of sizes and colors’ earning some bewildered faces from the few people passing by. The small pug that was resting comfortably on his shoulder might have also had something to do with it, though. The white cane was tucked on his grocery-filled backpack; the black handle peeking behind Kakashi’s other shoulder.
The silver-haired man was mulling over his schedule for the next few days, not exactly paying attention to the road he was walking on, trusting his dogs and the familiar route. He had his annual doctor’s appointment in next week’s Thursday - they’d poke and probe him again and tried to figure out the reason behind his left eye. It took maybe an hour or so, but at least it would be a whole year of freedom after that. Asuma had phoned yesterday and asked if Kakashi was interested going to a bar with him and Kurenai this weekend. Then there was also his next assignment, where he was supposed to make three-part article about three different extreme-sports Jiraiya had himself chosen to do. His job was to observe and write everything down, before turning it into a slightly humorous analysis just how the famous editor-in-chief would survive from bungee-jump, freefall and rock-climbing - of course of the instructors of those three chosen sports happened to be quite attractive young women.
Kakashi was roused up from his musings when the dogs suddenly pulled their leashes, turning his attention back to the present. The visible eye widened as it landed on a dog that was almost same size as Bull, maybe even bigger since the teenager who was sitting on its back didn’t even touch ground with his feet. The silver-haired man frowned as his dogs tried to go and inspect this large canine - he could feel Pakkun placing its front paws on his shoulder as it tried to stand up. The dogs were probably whining and yipping out of curiosity, so Kakashi gave a short order, which decreased the pulling and any odd noises immediately.
Turning his attention back to the dog and the teenager, Kakashi caught something bright orange behind them and only now he noticed the other boy. As soon as his eye fell on the bright blond hair, recognition surged through him. It was the kid from Konoha, the one Iruka had hugged so lovingly. The boys were talking animatedly, maybe very loud, because the dog’s size couldn’t be the only reason why people were staring at them.
If he’s here, then maybe…
Kakashi turned his head around little bit, the visible eye scanning the darkening park. But only people he could spot were one old couple and a group of little kids at the swings, their parents sitting close by. But no scar-nosed part-time teachers. Shame. The masked man sighed. Of course the chances to see the tan man like this were almost none, but still Kakashi couldn’t help to feel the tiniest bit disappointed. After all, it was partly Iruka’s fault that he’d been forced to go shopping with Jiraiya. A quick shudder ran down the silver-haired man’s spine as the memories of the day before yesterday surfaced.
As Kakashi walked closer to the two teen, the huge dog also noticed his small pack; its tail started to wag excitedly almost immediately.
“I’m telling you, dude, she totally has hots on meeeeee!” Kiba’s last word stretched into a surprised yelp, when Akamaru suddenly sprang somewhere on his right. Only years of experience of handling huge dogs and the strong hold he grabbed from large canine’s thick neck fur saved the brown-haired teenager from falling down on the ground.
“Oi, Kiba, where you’re going?” Naruto yelled in confusion, when Akamaru jumped, carrying the tattooed Inuzuka boy away.
Nine tails wagged in excitement as the canines sniffed each other and soon once neatly organized leashes were tangled with multiple pair of legs and paws - and strapping effectively Kiba’s legs against Akamaru’s sides.
“Shit, sorry for my dog, sir!” Kiba apologized and then growled at his huge pet, “bad dog, Akamaru, bad dog!”
Despite the slouched way the lanky man held his body, the dark eye was staring sharply at the mess before him, while the pug on his left shoulder wore an expression that could be described only as an irritation as it watched the other dogs. Kiba - raised in a family that had been breeding and training dogs almost decades - found this so interesting that he actually missed the fact the lower-parts of the man’s face was covered by a mask.
“What the heck you are doing, Kiba?” asked Naruto’s baffled voice as the blonde boy caught up them, the sky-blue eyes widening almost immediately. Unlike the dark-haired teenager, who was so easily distracted by anything that was canine, Naruto wasn’t so easy - unless it was ramen. Ramen was the best thing in the world, after Iruka, of course - so his eyes fell immediately on the masked face and the weird, bush-like hair.
Sensing the open staring, Kakashi lifted his gaze to the boy, the dark eye meeting the blue ones. The masked man took a good look of him, noticing the whisker-like markings on the cheeks, brightly yellow hair and the brightly colored clothes he was wearing. The body language was rougher than the dark-haired man’s but not as clumsy as Kakashi had first thought. Though, it was still but entirely different from Iruka’s fluid movements; this boy was a total opposite to the scar-nosed man and especially inclothes (how on Earth the kid was able to wear so much orange?). And he didn’t see any resemblance in their faces or other kind of details that would make them relatives.
So what was the connection between them? Unfortunately that was a bit of information he hadn’t dare to ask from Jiraiya, certain that it would give out too much of the truth behind his sudden interest on the Center- really, he’d already done this year’s worth of shopping and who knew what Jiraiya might want him to do next time.
Unbeknownst to Kakashi, the teenager trapped on his dog had continued to talk at him:
“Um, sir, can you help me here?” Kiba asked, scratching the back of his head rather sheepishly. But as the tall man ignored him, looking at something behind him, Kiba started to feel ticked off. “Oi, I asked you a question!” he raised his voice, near yelling, but the silver-haired man didn’t even budge.
“What are you looking at?” Naruto asked, also ignoring Kiba, eyes narrowing as the staring continued.
The masked man’s eye crinkled. “Sorry, but you looked familiar,” he said lightly, before turning his attention back the trapped boy, “and you can stop the screaming, which I believe you’re doing. I’m deaf.”
The shocked look that crossed both of the boys’ faces was quite amusing, especially when the dark-haired one started to babble something and move his hands in a clumsy attempt of sign language - Kakashi wasn’t sure, but he got the vague impression the tattoo-cheeked teenager was apologizing or something similar to that. The visible eye widened, though, when the blond boy reached to punch his friend on the shoulder, successfully interrupting the other boy. Taking no notice of the clear what-the-fuck-was-that-for?-look the whisker-cheeked blonde started to express himself with a fluent sign language:
‘I’m sorry for the dog-boy here, sir, but we didn’t know you were deaf. I mean, you’re dogs aren’t carrying any vests and there isn’t any other identification for being hearing or sight impaired.’
Kakashi knew that the kid had point - Tsunade had preached about it many times. ‘I have my cane right here’, the silver-haired man blankly pointed the cane behind his back with his thumb. ‘How do you know sign language so well?’ he asked and this time he did it with a smile so innocent as one wearing a mask could muster.
‘Oh, my father works at this local Center, maybe you’ve heard Konoha?’ Naruto told straight away, not even stopping to think about, ‘I help him there, the dogboy, I mean Kiba also volunteers there. His family raises dogs for hearing and sight impaired.’
Father, eh… Kakashi thought, mulling over this new and interesting tidbit of information. ‘Really would’ve never known,’ he answered, feigning his surprise easily, before glancing at the mess of dogs, ‘but I would appreciate if you’d help me to untangle my dogs.’
“Oh, sorry!” Naruto yelped out loud, and Kiba, who had been staring at the “finger-talk” like he called the sign language, visibly jumped at the blond’s sudden yelp, “oi, dogboy, don’t just sit there, move your ass!”
“What the hell? In case you haven’t noticed, foxface, I’m kinda stuck here!” Kiba snapped back, pointing his words by struggling against the leashes, “so shut up and help meeewww!“
A big wet tongue cut the indignant teenager in the middle of his rant, one big lick covering most of Kiba’s face as Bull decided to ‘kiss’ him. Kakashi found it hard to smother his chuckle as he stared at the horrified expression on the boy’s face, while Naruto, well, he just failed. The blond boy was happily laughing his ass off, earning some death glares from Kiba.
Few moments later, when Naruto finally stopped laughing and started to complain about his aching cheeks and sides, Kakashi choose the moment to gain both of boys’ attention again. With a slight blush Naruto rushed to help. It took some twisting and lifting, but soon all eight canines and one wet cheeked teenager were free.
“Thank you and goodbye,” Kakashi said out loud, ready to continue his way to home, when somebody suddenly grabbed his arm. As the silver-haired man turned around, he was surprised to see Naruto holding a piece of paper in his free hand that the boy was offering for him.
“We have a charity event soon at the Center, come and visit there,” Naruto said, his smile so wide that it was beyond Kakashi how he managed to do that.
Silently, the masked man took the flyer, stuffing it in to the pocket of his jacket, before turning his back to the boy. The sun had slipped behind the horizon during this little incident, the street lights providing the only light as Kakashi finally reached to his apartment. He pushed the button for elevator, which thankfully came fast, and the silver-haired male ushered the dogs inside. It was a bit tight squeeze, but luckily he and the pack had had plenty of practice, so everybody found their places around Kakashi within seconds. Except for Pakkun and Bisuke that were held by masked man, being the smallest ones of the lot. But as soon as the dogs were freed from the leashes behind the closed door, they scrambled all over the apartment.
Only now Kakashi turned his attention in to the flyer Naruto had given to him, the brightly printed letters and big, stylized leaf-symbol faded for the back-ground.
Welcome to Konoha’s Fifth Annual Charity Event 27th September - Foods and Games For Everybody and Later the Evening, Our Special Auction Just For the Adults. Doors Open at 15 hours. Come and Enjoy!
A fleeting thought flashed through the pale man’s mind as he stared at the piece of paper:
Better start saving some money…
** ** **
“I’m home!” Naruto yelled.
“Don’t slam - “
Too late, the door slammed close so loud that it rattled the few frames in the kitchen.
“ - the door…,” Iruka sighed, placing the last dishes on the table for late dinner, before returning to stir the cooking meal. “What took you so long? I thought you were supposed to meet Kiba and that’s it,” the dark-haired man asked as Naruto appeared in the kitchen, sniffing eagerly the delicious smell of home-made ramen. A fond smile crossed the man’s lips as Naruto almost plastered himself on the older man’s back.
“Aww, Iruka, leave the cross-examination later, I’m hungry,” the blonde boy whined, peering excitedly at the huge pots and the steaming contents, “besides, it wasn’t my fault, Kiba himself got messed up in some weird, mask-wearing old man’s leashes.”
Iruka, startled by those words, turned to look at this foster-son. “Weird mask-wearing old man?” he asked, hoping his voice sounded casual, because his insides were suddenly engaged into a vigorous dance of anticipation. Iruka knew he was probably too optimistic, but come on, how many people out there wore masks in public. Unless they are burglars, a comical picture flashing through his mind, before fading away like random thoughts do.
“Yeah, and you know what? He was also deaf, which we didn’t know first. We were almost yelling, before he had the guts to inform us that we can stop that, because he can’t hear us. I mean, the guy has like eight dogs, but none of them wore any special vests and even his cane was nowhere to be seen. How the hell we were supposed to know he was hearing impaired?!”
The dance moved up to his heart, now hammering against his ribcage as he turned back to the cooking. “I don’t know,” Iruka murmured and the blond boy thought he was agreeing with him, continuing his ramblings about this weirdo, but instead Iruka’s mind was reeling. Damnit! Why didn’t I go with Naruto today like he asked? I could’ve seen Kakashi or even talk to him again.
Lately there had been two things bothering Iruka’s mind and one of them was Kakashi or, more specifically, what the mysterious man was doing to his body. The vivid, eh, wet dreams - Iruka could feel himself blushing - had occurred two more times after the first one four nights ago, leaving him mostly embarrassed with a sticky mess in his pants. The second thing was the business card laying on his night stand. It was already 6th of September, only two days left before this so called dinner was supposed to happen and Iruka had been holding his cell phone in his hand couple of times, wondering whether he should call Kabuto or not. Iruka had been raised up to be polite, and being polite meant he should inform this man that he wasn’t going to come.
That he was more interested in another silver-haired man.
Iruka frowned at this piece of realization. What was with him and fair haired men? First Mizuki, now Kakashi and Kabuto. All three men had pale, silvery hair - well, Mizuki’s color had been more to blue, but still, whitish. The wrinkles on the tan forehead increased as his mind wandered forward. Now that he thought about it even more, all his crushes in the past had been to men and women who were more or less blonde. And the older Iruka got, the blonder they got.
This one made Iruka chuckle actually. Maybe, when he would be around forty, he would fall for a man with completely white hair like Jiraiya. The tan man shook his head, a smile still stretching his lips and Iruka started to scoop the ramen into the large bowls.
“Dinner’s ready!”
At least he should make the phone call today, otherwise it would be too late.
** ** **
“Excuse me, Yakushi-san.”
Kabuto raised his eyes from the papers Orochimaru had sent to him, mainly details about future problems they had in their newest interest. His secretary, Karin, pushed the glasses higher on her nose as she stood at the door. Despite her young age, she was an excellent secretary, who knew when to turn a blind eye and keep her mouth shut.
“There’s a personal phone call on line 2. The caller identified himself as Umino Iruka and he wants to speak with you about some meeting. Should I pass him through or not?”
Finally… “Put him through, I’ve been expecting this call,” Kabuto informed and picked up the speaker, while Karin disappeared outside. He waited for few seconds for her to connect the lines, before the familiar ‘beep’ informed him that the connection was made. “Yakushi Kabuto speaking.”
“Ah, hello, this is Umino Iruka” a slightly tentative voice informed, a polite tone that fit perfectly for the man Kabuto had seen at the Center.
“Umino-san, I’m pleased to hear from you,” the glass-wearing man was careful to sound as charming as possible since their first meeting had probably made a rather unsuitable first expression. So it was very important to make amends very quickly, although Kabuto was slightly disappointed that the scar-nosed man had waited this long before calling. “I presume you received my invitation? I hope you don’t mind that I chose Butterfly, but I didn’t think anything else would be appropriate enough.”
“Yes, actually that is the reason why I’m calling, Yakushi-san - “
“Please, let’s not be so formal, you can call me Kabuto, Umino-san.”
“Um, yes, Kabuto-san, about that,” Iruka paused at the other end, relaxing more on his bed while the splashing of Naruto’s so called shower acted as a back-ground noise, “I was rather surprised about the whole thing, especially the fact that you searched my address.” The frown creased on his forehead and Iruka didn’t even try to cover the dryness of his last words.
“Ah, I’m terribly sorry if I offended you by doing so, but didn’t think the situation was appropriate for asking that,” Kabuto explained smoothly, deliberately stalling the other, “and, if you excuse me for saying this, Umino-san, I was rather charmed by you so I wanted to immediately know more. Thus my rather bold move.”
There was a short silence, but soon the older man was clearing his throat. Kabuto smirked slightly at the pause. One of the important things he had had to learn while working with Orochimaru was to throw the opponent - or in this case, the prey - off by doing some subtle flattering. It worked with everybody from high leaders of the companies to delivery boys with important manilas - and it seemed that Umino Iruka was no difference.
Or so he thought.
The answer Kabuto received wasn’t the one he was expecting for.
“Bold move or not, I still feel rather uncomfortable about it, Kabuto-san.” Iruka’s tone was stern, slipping not so accidentally to his teacher-voice that was reserved to discipline sometimes rowdy students - blindness or deafness didn’t matter in this case, because Iruka had also adapted his body language to mirror his speaking tone. “As a matter of fact, I was merely calling here to inform that I’m not available for that evening.”
“Excuse me?” Kabuto blinked. Was he getting dumped already?
“I’m very busy on that day and probably have to work late in the night so I won’t be able to come and meet you, Kabuto-san,” Iruka replied calmly. It wasn’t really a lie, he was supposed to clean the house and it would take at least three hours - maximum.
“Ah, maybe another time - “
“I’m very sorry, but I have decline also from that.”
The tsunami that was Naruto stopped splashing and the door of the bathroom opened. It was time to finish the call and salvage what was left of the hot water.
“Umino-san - “
“Have good evening, Kabuto-san, and I hope you find somebody else for the dinner,” Iruka made sure that his fake smile sounded as real as possible, before pressing the end-button. “Naruto, there’s better be some hot water left!” he yelled, discarding the phone on the bed.
Kabuto blinked rather stupidly, speaker still in his hand as his mind tried to realize what had just happened. But no matter what, it was there, the simple answer.
He had been dumped.
Dumped.
By a part-time teacher.
Ever so slowly, Kabuto’s shoulders started to shake. The shaking moved upwards, pale lips twitching until the silver-haired man couldn’t stop himself. Soon a low laughter resonated through the office as the pale hand settled the speaker down.
It seems that I’ve miscalculated you, Umino Iruka-san, Kabuto thought, more bemused than irritated. A faintly sadistic smile graced his young face as Kabuto pushed his glasses back to their place. Thank you for that…
The papers on the polished desk rustled slightly, the logo of Konoha’s crossed over by an angry red pen.
** ** ** ** **
A/N: Sorry for the late update! I try to be faster next time!! *on her knees*
Edit: (5.6.2011 as in June) I've cleaned this chapter, too. Hopefully it's much better to read now. :)
- Senna-chan
Summary: Konoha, Center for Sight & Hearing Impaired, has always been close to Iruka and now he works there as a part-time teacher. One day he meets a strange man, Kakashi, who lost his hearing in an accident many years ago. To mix things up, Tsunade-sama has come up with a dreadful auction to increase the Center’s next year’s budget. With a dread of losing dear Konoha, everybody in the staff has to participate, even her herself.
Pairings: KakaIruKaka as the main, some others if you use imagination
Rating: Normal - if that's rating...
Disclaimer: Kishimoto owns them, thus worship him
A/N: *drools over her new Naruto-DVDs* I'd totally forgotten how cool Sandaime's fight with Orochimaru was. Not to mention Kakashi's nigthmare with Itachi. *.*
Kakashi walked languidly underneath the autumn colored trees of the small park, holding three different leashes in his glowed hands, the bare fingertips feeling the worn leather against the calloused skin. In front of him seven canines walked in perfect harmony, the difference of sizes and colors’ earning some bewildered faces from the few people passing by. The small pug that was resting comfortably on his shoulder might have also had something to do with it, though. The white cane was tucked on his grocery-filled backpack; the black handle peeking behind Kakashi’s other shoulder.
The silver-haired man was mulling over his schedule for the next few days, not exactly paying attention to the road he was walking on, trusting his dogs and the familiar route. He had his annual doctor’s appointment in next week’s Thursday - they’d poke and probe him again and tried to figure out the reason behind his left eye. It took maybe an hour or so, but at least it would be a whole year of freedom after that. Asuma had phoned yesterday and asked if Kakashi was interested going to a bar with him and Kurenai this weekend. Then there was also his next assignment, where he was supposed to make three-part article about three different extreme-sports Jiraiya had himself chosen to do. His job was to observe and write everything down, before turning it into a slightly humorous analysis just how the famous editor-in-chief would survive from bungee-jump, freefall and rock-climbing - of course of the instructors of those three chosen sports happened to be quite attractive young women.
Kakashi was roused up from his musings when the dogs suddenly pulled their leashes, turning his attention back to the present. The visible eye widened as it landed on a dog that was almost same size as Bull, maybe even bigger since the teenager who was sitting on its back didn’t even touch ground with his feet. The silver-haired man frowned as his dogs tried to go and inspect this large canine - he could feel Pakkun placing its front paws on his shoulder as it tried to stand up. The dogs were probably whining and yipping out of curiosity, so Kakashi gave a short order, which decreased the pulling and any odd noises immediately.
Turning his attention back to the dog and the teenager, Kakashi caught something bright orange behind them and only now he noticed the other boy. As soon as his eye fell on the bright blond hair, recognition surged through him. It was the kid from Konoha, the one Iruka had hugged so lovingly. The boys were talking animatedly, maybe very loud, because the dog’s size couldn’t be the only reason why people were staring at them.
If he’s here, then maybe…
Kakashi turned his head around little bit, the visible eye scanning the darkening park. But only people he could spot were one old couple and a group of little kids at the swings, their parents sitting close by. But no scar-nosed part-time teachers. Shame. The masked man sighed. Of course the chances to see the tan man like this were almost none, but still Kakashi couldn’t help to feel the tiniest bit disappointed. After all, it was partly Iruka’s fault that he’d been forced to go shopping with Jiraiya. A quick shudder ran down the silver-haired man’s spine as the memories of the day before yesterday surfaced.
As Kakashi walked closer to the two teen, the huge dog also noticed his small pack; its tail started to wag excitedly almost immediately.
“I’m telling you, dude, she totally has hots on meeeeee!” Kiba’s last word stretched into a surprised yelp, when Akamaru suddenly sprang somewhere on his right. Only years of experience of handling huge dogs and the strong hold he grabbed from large canine’s thick neck fur saved the brown-haired teenager from falling down on the ground.
“Oi, Kiba, where you’re going?” Naruto yelled in confusion, when Akamaru jumped, carrying the tattooed Inuzuka boy away.
Nine tails wagged in excitement as the canines sniffed each other and soon once neatly organized leashes were tangled with multiple pair of legs and paws - and strapping effectively Kiba’s legs against Akamaru’s sides.
“Shit, sorry for my dog, sir!” Kiba apologized and then growled at his huge pet, “bad dog, Akamaru, bad dog!”
Despite the slouched way the lanky man held his body, the dark eye was staring sharply at the mess before him, while the pug on his left shoulder wore an expression that could be described only as an irritation as it watched the other dogs. Kiba - raised in a family that had been breeding and training dogs almost decades - found this so interesting that he actually missed the fact the lower-parts of the man’s face was covered by a mask.
“What the heck you are doing, Kiba?” asked Naruto’s baffled voice as the blonde boy caught up them, the sky-blue eyes widening almost immediately. Unlike the dark-haired teenager, who was so easily distracted by anything that was canine, Naruto wasn’t so easy - unless it was ramen. Ramen was the best thing in the world, after Iruka, of course - so his eyes fell immediately on the masked face and the weird, bush-like hair.
Sensing the open staring, Kakashi lifted his gaze to the boy, the dark eye meeting the blue ones. The masked man took a good look of him, noticing the whisker-like markings on the cheeks, brightly yellow hair and the brightly colored clothes he was wearing. The body language was rougher than the dark-haired man’s but not as clumsy as Kakashi had first thought. Though, it was still but entirely different from Iruka’s fluid movements; this boy was a total opposite to the scar-nosed man and especially inclothes (how on Earth the kid was able to wear so much orange?). And he didn’t see any resemblance in their faces or other kind of details that would make them relatives.
So what was the connection between them? Unfortunately that was a bit of information he hadn’t dare to ask from Jiraiya, certain that it would give out too much of the truth behind his sudden interest on the Center- really, he’d already done this year’s worth of shopping and who knew what Jiraiya might want him to do next time.
Unbeknownst to Kakashi, the teenager trapped on his dog had continued to talk at him:
“Um, sir, can you help me here?” Kiba asked, scratching the back of his head rather sheepishly. But as the tall man ignored him, looking at something behind him, Kiba started to feel ticked off. “Oi, I asked you a question!” he raised his voice, near yelling, but the silver-haired man didn’t even budge.
“What are you looking at?” Naruto asked, also ignoring Kiba, eyes narrowing as the staring continued.
The masked man’s eye crinkled. “Sorry, but you looked familiar,” he said lightly, before turning his attention back the trapped boy, “and you can stop the screaming, which I believe you’re doing. I’m deaf.”
The shocked look that crossed both of the boys’ faces was quite amusing, especially when the dark-haired one started to babble something and move his hands in a clumsy attempt of sign language - Kakashi wasn’t sure, but he got the vague impression the tattoo-cheeked teenager was apologizing or something similar to that. The visible eye widened, though, when the blond boy reached to punch his friend on the shoulder, successfully interrupting the other boy. Taking no notice of the clear what-the-fuck-was-that-for?-look the whisker-cheeked blonde started to express himself with a fluent sign language:
‘I’m sorry for the dog-boy here, sir, but we didn’t know you were deaf. I mean, you’re dogs aren’t carrying any vests and there isn’t any other identification for being hearing or sight impaired.’
Kakashi knew that the kid had point - Tsunade had preached about it many times. ‘I have my cane right here’, the silver-haired man blankly pointed the cane behind his back with his thumb. ‘How do you know sign language so well?’ he asked and this time he did it with a smile so innocent as one wearing a mask could muster.
‘Oh, my father works at this local Center, maybe you’ve heard Konoha?’ Naruto told straight away, not even stopping to think about, ‘I help him there, the dogboy, I mean Kiba also volunteers there. His family raises dogs for hearing and sight impaired.’
Father, eh… Kakashi thought, mulling over this new and interesting tidbit of information. ‘Really would’ve never known,’ he answered, feigning his surprise easily, before glancing at the mess of dogs, ‘but I would appreciate if you’d help me to untangle my dogs.’
“Oh, sorry!” Naruto yelped out loud, and Kiba, who had been staring at the “finger-talk” like he called the sign language, visibly jumped at the blond’s sudden yelp, “oi, dogboy, don’t just sit there, move your ass!”
“What the hell? In case you haven’t noticed, foxface, I’m kinda stuck here!” Kiba snapped back, pointing his words by struggling against the leashes, “so shut up and help meeewww!“
A big wet tongue cut the indignant teenager in the middle of his rant, one big lick covering most of Kiba’s face as Bull decided to ‘kiss’ him. Kakashi found it hard to smother his chuckle as he stared at the horrified expression on the boy’s face, while Naruto, well, he just failed. The blond boy was happily laughing his ass off, earning some death glares from Kiba.
Few moments later, when Naruto finally stopped laughing and started to complain about his aching cheeks and sides, Kakashi choose the moment to gain both of boys’ attention again. With a slight blush Naruto rushed to help. It took some twisting and lifting, but soon all eight canines and one wet cheeked teenager were free.
“Thank you and goodbye,” Kakashi said out loud, ready to continue his way to home, when somebody suddenly grabbed his arm. As the silver-haired man turned around, he was surprised to see Naruto holding a piece of paper in his free hand that the boy was offering for him.
“We have a charity event soon at the Center, come and visit there,” Naruto said, his smile so wide that it was beyond Kakashi how he managed to do that.
Silently, the masked man took the flyer, stuffing it in to the pocket of his jacket, before turning his back to the boy. The sun had slipped behind the horizon during this little incident, the street lights providing the only light as Kakashi finally reached to his apartment. He pushed the button for elevator, which thankfully came fast, and the silver-haired male ushered the dogs inside. It was a bit tight squeeze, but luckily he and the pack had had plenty of practice, so everybody found their places around Kakashi within seconds. Except for Pakkun and Bisuke that were held by masked man, being the smallest ones of the lot. But as soon as the dogs were freed from the leashes behind the closed door, they scrambled all over the apartment.
Only now Kakashi turned his attention in to the flyer Naruto had given to him, the brightly printed letters and big, stylized leaf-symbol faded for the back-ground.
Welcome to Konoha’s Fifth Annual Charity Event 27th September - Foods and Games For Everybody and Later the Evening, Our Special Auction Just For the Adults. Doors Open at 15 hours. Come and Enjoy!
A fleeting thought flashed through the pale man’s mind as he stared at the piece of paper:
Better start saving some money…
** ** **
“I’m home!” Naruto yelled.
“Don’t slam - “
Too late, the door slammed close so loud that it rattled the few frames in the kitchen.
“ - the door…,” Iruka sighed, placing the last dishes on the table for late dinner, before returning to stir the cooking meal. “What took you so long? I thought you were supposed to meet Kiba and that’s it,” the dark-haired man asked as Naruto appeared in the kitchen, sniffing eagerly the delicious smell of home-made ramen. A fond smile crossed the man’s lips as Naruto almost plastered himself on the older man’s back.
“Aww, Iruka, leave the cross-examination later, I’m hungry,” the blonde boy whined, peering excitedly at the huge pots and the steaming contents, “besides, it wasn’t my fault, Kiba himself got messed up in some weird, mask-wearing old man’s leashes.”
Iruka, startled by those words, turned to look at this foster-son. “Weird mask-wearing old man?” he asked, hoping his voice sounded casual, because his insides were suddenly engaged into a vigorous dance of anticipation. Iruka knew he was probably too optimistic, but come on, how many people out there wore masks in public. Unless they are burglars, a comical picture flashing through his mind, before fading away like random thoughts do.
“Yeah, and you know what? He was also deaf, which we didn’t know first. We were almost yelling, before he had the guts to inform us that we can stop that, because he can’t hear us. I mean, the guy has like eight dogs, but none of them wore any special vests and even his cane was nowhere to be seen. How the hell we were supposed to know he was hearing impaired?!”
The dance moved up to his heart, now hammering against his ribcage as he turned back to the cooking. “I don’t know,” Iruka murmured and the blond boy thought he was agreeing with him, continuing his ramblings about this weirdo, but instead Iruka’s mind was reeling. Damnit! Why didn’t I go with Naruto today like he asked? I could’ve seen Kakashi or even talk to him again.
Lately there had been two things bothering Iruka’s mind and one of them was Kakashi or, more specifically, what the mysterious man was doing to his body. The vivid, eh, wet dreams - Iruka could feel himself blushing - had occurred two more times after the first one four nights ago, leaving him mostly embarrassed with a sticky mess in his pants. The second thing was the business card laying on his night stand. It was already 6th of September, only two days left before this so called dinner was supposed to happen and Iruka had been holding his cell phone in his hand couple of times, wondering whether he should call Kabuto or not. Iruka had been raised up to be polite, and being polite meant he should inform this man that he wasn’t going to come.
That he was more interested in another silver-haired man.
Iruka frowned at this piece of realization. What was with him and fair haired men? First Mizuki, now Kakashi and Kabuto. All three men had pale, silvery hair - well, Mizuki’s color had been more to blue, but still, whitish. The wrinkles on the tan forehead increased as his mind wandered forward. Now that he thought about it even more, all his crushes in the past had been to men and women who were more or less blonde. And the older Iruka got, the blonder they got.
This one made Iruka chuckle actually. Maybe, when he would be around forty, he would fall for a man with completely white hair like Jiraiya. The tan man shook his head, a smile still stretching his lips and Iruka started to scoop the ramen into the large bowls.
“Dinner’s ready!”
At least he should make the phone call today, otherwise it would be too late.
** ** **
“Excuse me, Yakushi-san.”
Kabuto raised his eyes from the papers Orochimaru had sent to him, mainly details about future problems they had in their newest interest. His secretary, Karin, pushed the glasses higher on her nose as she stood at the door. Despite her young age, she was an excellent secretary, who knew when to turn a blind eye and keep her mouth shut.
“There’s a personal phone call on line 2. The caller identified himself as Umino Iruka and he wants to speak with you about some meeting. Should I pass him through or not?”
Finally… “Put him through, I’ve been expecting this call,” Kabuto informed and picked up the speaker, while Karin disappeared outside. He waited for few seconds for her to connect the lines, before the familiar ‘beep’ informed him that the connection was made. “Yakushi Kabuto speaking.”
“Ah, hello, this is Umino Iruka” a slightly tentative voice informed, a polite tone that fit perfectly for the man Kabuto had seen at the Center.
“Umino-san, I’m pleased to hear from you,” the glass-wearing man was careful to sound as charming as possible since their first meeting had probably made a rather unsuitable first expression. So it was very important to make amends very quickly, although Kabuto was slightly disappointed that the scar-nosed man had waited this long before calling. “I presume you received my invitation? I hope you don’t mind that I chose Butterfly, but I didn’t think anything else would be appropriate enough.”
“Yes, actually that is the reason why I’m calling, Yakushi-san - “
“Please, let’s not be so formal, you can call me Kabuto, Umino-san.”
“Um, yes, Kabuto-san, about that,” Iruka paused at the other end, relaxing more on his bed while the splashing of Naruto’s so called shower acted as a back-ground noise, “I was rather surprised about the whole thing, especially the fact that you searched my address.” The frown creased on his forehead and Iruka didn’t even try to cover the dryness of his last words.
“Ah, I’m terribly sorry if I offended you by doing so, but didn’t think the situation was appropriate for asking that,” Kabuto explained smoothly, deliberately stalling the other, “and, if you excuse me for saying this, Umino-san, I was rather charmed by you so I wanted to immediately know more. Thus my rather bold move.”
There was a short silence, but soon the older man was clearing his throat. Kabuto smirked slightly at the pause. One of the important things he had had to learn while working with Orochimaru was to throw the opponent - or in this case, the prey - off by doing some subtle flattering. It worked with everybody from high leaders of the companies to delivery boys with important manilas - and it seemed that Umino Iruka was no difference.
Or so he thought.
The answer Kabuto received wasn’t the one he was expecting for.
“Bold move or not, I still feel rather uncomfortable about it, Kabuto-san.” Iruka’s tone was stern, slipping not so accidentally to his teacher-voice that was reserved to discipline sometimes rowdy students - blindness or deafness didn’t matter in this case, because Iruka had also adapted his body language to mirror his speaking tone. “As a matter of fact, I was merely calling here to inform that I’m not available for that evening.”
“Excuse me?” Kabuto blinked. Was he getting dumped already?
“I’m very busy on that day and probably have to work late in the night so I won’t be able to come and meet you, Kabuto-san,” Iruka replied calmly. It wasn’t really a lie, he was supposed to clean the house and it would take at least three hours - maximum.
“Ah, maybe another time - “
“I’m very sorry, but I have decline also from that.”
The tsunami that was Naruto stopped splashing and the door of the bathroom opened. It was time to finish the call and salvage what was left of the hot water.
“Umino-san - “
“Have good evening, Kabuto-san, and I hope you find somebody else for the dinner,” Iruka made sure that his fake smile sounded as real as possible, before pressing the end-button. “Naruto, there’s better be some hot water left!” he yelled, discarding the phone on the bed.
Kabuto blinked rather stupidly, speaker still in his hand as his mind tried to realize what had just happened. But no matter what, it was there, the simple answer.
He had been dumped.
Dumped.
By a part-time teacher.
Ever so slowly, Kabuto’s shoulders started to shake. The shaking moved upwards, pale lips twitching until the silver-haired man couldn’t stop himself. Soon a low laughter resonated through the office as the pale hand settled the speaker down.
It seems that I’ve miscalculated you, Umino Iruka-san, Kabuto thought, more bemused than irritated. A faintly sadistic smile graced his young face as Kabuto pushed his glasses back to their place. Thank you for that…
The papers on the polished desk rustled slightly, the logo of Konoha’s crossed over by an angry red pen.
** ** ** ** **
A/N: Sorry for the late update! I try to be faster next time!! *on her knees*
Edit: (5.6.2011 as in June) I've cleaned this chapter, too. Hopefully it's much better to read now. :)
- Senna-chan