A shinobi is a high school student like another - 19

Beta by Nine Tailed Vixen - thanks a lot!

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I'm lucky I've got classes only in the morning on Wednesday. I very much doubt I could have done the whole day in the half-zombie state I was in.

An hour before the end of the classes I was sprawled on a table in the library with an eye on Itachi who was working a bit further, the rest of me working on doing its night again. The dream had woke me up at an hour not suited for waking up, and no matter what, I could not go back to sleep afterward. And I still had bits of the dream in the back of my throat. It was the end, especially, which was bothering me; going like that into the inferno... bad pun, but it was the kind of thing I was very not hot for.

I don't like dreaming all that much. It makes me want to go to Rin.

Don't believe I was only sleeping on my table. I was thinking too. I was wondering with the all trouble, why the rest of the Fugaku Uchiha family wasn't under surveillance since the beginning just like him; why Itachi was in a public school; what the heck those assassinations attempts really meant...

A familiar presence stepped into the library, and went straight for me. Iruka... I had seen him only briefly this morning; we hadn't had the time to say anything while passing past each others into corridors. At the same time, I was a bit apprehensive at the idea of speaking to him - I was determined not to lie to him. That was leading me to ask myself a lot of questions. I barely knew the guy, and though...Maaah, too many questions.

Iruka sat beside me... and got up straight back to kiss me. I needed a second to digest the surprise.

"mmm... 'Ruka!" I exclaimed in a low voice - try it one of these days, it's harder than it seems. "What the...?"

He sat back, a smile tugging up the corner of his lips. "It's not like anyone's going to see us here. I... excuse-me for yesterday."

"Huh? Excuse you for what?"

The librarian, the cross of an old mouse and a mole, hissed a "chhhhhh" indiscreet at all from behind her desk, far, far away over there, behind rows and rows of forgotten books. We immediately shut up by habit, and I suddenly remembered why I almost never went here, even breathing was too loud for her.

I suddenly had an idea worth of a genius' one to get my head back straight on tracks and spend some time with Iruka. And hey, I'm supposed to be one. "Iruka, how about you come with me for lunch at Rin's?"

"Rin?"

How to explain Rin... quickly, otherwise we're still there tomorrow...

"Er... How to say it...? A friend who plays more or less big sister, even mum? I'll use the time to give you your sweater back," I said with a wink, while un-sprawling myself from the table to show him the tribal dolphin exposed in the opening of my jacket.

Itachi hadn't moved from his table.

"Wasn't she on the picture? Brown hair, square cut?" asked Iruka.

"Yeah, that's her. And then at noon, Rai' shouldn't be there..." I thought out loud. I wanted to keep my resolution of letting them have space - but if he wasn't there, no need to bother.

"Rai'?"

Oops, teach me to think out loud. The bell at the end of class rang, and Itachi took his time to take his things properly before leaving the library. I ended getting up too, following the high school flow and following him as a shadow, all the while keeping on chatting, Iruka beside me.

"Rai' - Raidou, that's his real name... He's her official boyfriend; since the time they were all mushy around each other..."

The face I pulled drew a smile from Iruka - and he wasn't looking too hot; he was drawn and his eyes were a bit too dark. Zabuza stepped out from a class further down, and his stare met mine, giving me an tiny indication. He was taking his turn tracking down Itachi from there, even if the guys from the other team assigned to watching over him shouldn't be far from the exit. I didn't see them, but at the same time, those guys were absolute professionals at discretion.

"Oh, wait a second," Iruka suddenly said.

He more or less left me in the middle of the exit portal crowded with high school population, and went toward a darker part of the growing crowd... Ah, okay, he was going to warn his cousin - I wasn't about to complain if it could avoid me a scene like last Sunday one's... Well, it's true I had learned some tidbits and stuff, but it had only lead me to have more questions - questions I couldn't really ask Iruka right now.

I sighed. Asuma, cancer stick between his lips, waved at me before Kurenai walked to him.

Iruka was coming back toward me when a vigorous tap on my back  forced me to take a step forward in order not to end sprawled on the cold hard floor.

"You're getting soft Hatake!" observed a very energetic girl's voice. "Come to see me one of this days..." she drawled, then the voice's owner strolled past us to go to Kurenai and Asuma while waving and smiling with a bit too much teeth to my tastes.

Iruka froze. "Who was she?"

"Ah, er..."

How do you say to the person you're sleeping with that the person he just walked past is your former human pillow? Don't think we had stood like sticks in the middle during that time - we had begun to walk, and to go toward the less scenic places of Konoha, in the direction of Rin's building.

"Don't tell me she's your ex?"

Well, if he says it, I don't have to say it... right? I must have pulled a strange face, 'cause he pulled one too, his eyes suddenly going wide.

"How did you manage to go out with Tatsuki Arisawa?" he said, accenting the name. I could almost hear the 'THE' before her name.

Phew, I wasn't me the problem, it was Tatsuki's fame - Tatsuki, as known as my ex, but also almost-killer and almost-professional karateka haunting the high school karate's club and the principal dojo in town. She's fun, but she can get downright scary - she's really good at what she does...

"Kurenai threatened me...?"

No need to give you a picture, the travel to Rin's was spend explaining in details the hows and whys of me and Tatsuki, which could be explained very simply : Kurenai threatened me. And alcohol. I'm realizing I know quite some girls who are a bit...scary? Neurotic?

The conversation died out when we went through places really not all that known. And seeing as we hadn't taken the bus, there was time to notice all the details. That doesn't mean it was bad places, or dangerous ones, not at all, it was even places less dangerous than in front of the high school, but it wasn't really the kind of places you would see on tourist advertisements.

I understand Iruka wasn't looking too hot seeing the neighborhood - I think I would have already fled, me, if the guy I was seeing was taking me in a quarter like this one. But I'm not crazy either, the building is at the border between the non-scenic places and the underground - and the underground, I wasn't about to go in with anyone. And lets get real, the streets behind the harbor may seem normal at first sight, but I would never go there without uniform and mask, or without a knife in hand.

The building came in sight, fortunately, its facade still as dirty, still as grey under the winter sun which hadn't risen at all this morning. I climbed the few steps leading to the glass door, and one of the ladies working in the hall smiled at me when she recognized me behind the glass.

"Kakashi?"

Iruka had stayed at the bottom of the steps, an eyebrow frowned. I turned toward him and smiled in what I was hoping to be a reassuring manner, adding a head gesture to it toward the door.

"Rin lives and works there - c'mon, come before you freeze to death."

He stretched a corner of lips in a half smile before climbing to me - it was really cold out there, even too cold for snow to fall again. We stepped in, I saluted the lady with a nod before sneaking to the kitchens, where Rin had to be at the hour seeing the loads of people in the corridors - cold has the tendency to gather people in warm place.

However, as we were going further into the building, I couldn't miss to notice Iruka's hand at his temple and his frowning face.

Kitchens looked like a battle field - or like an emergency service a Sunday evening, depending on which TV show you're addicted to. So Iruka and I stayed in the door threshold. I spotted Rin on the other side of the room - and my pant's leg was suddenly and inexplicably gripped and the corresponding pocket thoroughly searched. Rin was there before us a blink of an eye later, relief written all over her face.

"Kakashi, saints be blessed, you couldn't come at a better time - look after Naruto for me while I finish putting the service on track."

"I wanted to abuse your cooking at the beginning..."

She smiled with just the eyes, knowing how I work since the time she knew me - I was going to her mostly to be fussed over, and it was one of her favorite hobbies. She slightly inclined her head, as if to see over my shoulder.

"And who's that charming young man behind you?"

Iruka raised his head from the surprised attention he had put into trying to understand what the blond brat was doing exactly still clutching to my leg, and blushed a bit. A call coming from the recesses of the kitchen hindered Rin from interrogating us yet.

"Just go on, my door is open - I'm coming."

I would have liked to move right on the spot if the leech known as Naruto had deigned cooperated. But no, the very stubborn kid - I won't go wondering where and who this character streak was coming from - stayed there to clutch my leg firmly, look at Iruka.

"Who are you?" he ended by blurting. I'd like to mention that Sensei and Sara do their very best to raise their kid, but that unfortunately, with the time said kid spend in all the HQ's legs, their very best goes generally down, especially in the good manners' domain.

Iruka smiled - or did what could pass for a smile, his glazed eyes and the hand pressing his temple were enough to tell me of his real state. "My name's Iruka - you're Naruto, aren't you? Nice to meet you."

"You're a friend of Kakashi-nii?"

I couldn't refrain from rolling my eyes before their exchange - Iruka was always staying, in a rather non-understandable manner, polite, charming and smiling before any interlocutor, even when he was having the mother of all headaches. As for Naruto, once he started to ask questions, there was no known way to stop him - and I was under the suspicion Iruka was going to experience it soon.

"Hey ladies, how about we continue introducing each other elsewhere?" As if to confirm my wanting to climb up to Rin's, one of the kitchen workers came to try to pass by the door we were mobbing - Iruka and Naruto had no other choice than to follow me. Well... Iruka followed me, Naruto was dragging me by the pant leg and I had no other choice than to follow the move.

As soon as we stepped into Rin's apartment, Iruka spotted the bathroom, and excused himself, closing the door behind him. I heard the sound of water running a few seconds later. Naruto had left my pant for the action figures dejectedly lying at the foot of the messy bed. I didn't have to worry about him for now - the person I was worrying about had currently locked himself. And the reason why he had locked himself was sitting on the floor busy playing with pieces of plastic.

"Naruto, eh, Naruto," I said, crouching down to his level, my bag dropped unceremoniously, "how about we play a game together?"


"Yeah, a game, a game!" he said enthusiastically. "What is it?"

"You remember what your dad taught you? You know the trick of controlling your energy and keeping it inside? You do it until I'm gone, and if you hold it, you win a meal at the Ichiraku, all right?"

He vigorously nodded, and folded all his little face in a funny way to show his concentration. I opened my left eye for a tiny second, and I could already notice Naruto's chakra moving and reentering the brat. I rose without adding anything more, and went to the closed door behind which Iruka had retreated - even if I doubted distance was of little help there. I was hoping the 'game' I was making Naruto do would tone down the pain.

I put my hand on the door. The sound of water running had stopped. "Iruka? Can I come in?"

There had no answer, but I pushed the door open anyway. Iruka was leaning against the sink, his untied hair hiding his face. And then he faced me - he was looking worse than this morning.

"Better?" I said to the silence, before mentally hitting myself.

He nodded before taking a deep breath, and going through his pockets to find a tie. His bag was lying at his feet.

"I'm sorry," I blurted out.

He turned toward me, and confusion was clearly written all over his tired face.

"Er? Sorry about what?"

Naruto had gone back to his normal behavior of game behind, no caring a second of what was going on between his 'nii' and the smiling guy who had came with him, hitting his actions figures ones on the others with loud noises of explosions and others battle-related sounds.

I made a move of my hand and head, including Iruka, the sink and the whole building and which could probably have meant everything and nothing, but that I was hoping to be understandable anyway. Yeah, and the marmot fold the chocolate into the aluminum sheet*, that's well known...

However, Iruka managed to catch what I wanted to say.

"Sorry about the headache?"

I nodded.

"It's..."

Iruka shook his head before beginning again. "Don't be sorry for everything happening. It's not as if you were provoking it..."

So little he knew... I don't know what to do, what to say - I could tell him everything right there, give him my theories, and explain what I was - what we were - I could...

Who was I trying to convince here? I'm not ready to tell him. I know I'm getting attached in a worrying manner, and that more the time will pass, more the shock of revelation - buh, sounds like a tabloid - will hurt on each side, and that the feeling of betrayal will do nothing to help things out and...

My brain went into a rarely used mode : the 'panic-goes-'round' mode. It happened in half of a second.

Iruka smiled - and this expression made every little lines I knew to be lines of pain disappear.

"But," he said," maybe I'm going to have to be sorry about that."

He kissed me, his skin was too cold against mine, and I felt like I tasted the pain always hiding in him. At least my brain was out of the 'panic' mode - I'll let you guess where it was going.

Naruto was still playing in the other room.

The door opened, giving way for Rin's footsteps. We separated, panting a bit.

"Don't ever be sorry about that...," and I kissed him again on his parted lips.

We got out, Rin, and Naruto who wanted to help, were already in the kitchen. I let Iruka go first.

All right, the question was now, how to manage for Rin, first, don't tease me (us) about that since she couldn't not have understood what happened in the bathroom, and second, don't give the information out. I wouldn't please me if my boyfriend was the next big topic of the HQ gossip vine.

Wait a sec...

My boyfriend? ... Holy freakin' shit.

...yeah, My boyfriend.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO End 19th part OoOoOoOoOoOoO

*Yeah, and the marmot put the chocolate into the aluminum sheet, that's well known... That refers to a TV ad for the Swiss chocolate Milka that was pretty popular some two years ago in France - and it passed down into the familiar language. There was a guy who had seen the marmots working for Milka putting chocolate into aluminum sheets, and nobody believed him.

I'm a bit anxious to know why I've had two reviews for the last two parts. Is it that bad? I'd really love to get some feedback for this one. Thank you.


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