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Author of 7 Stories |
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or anything that has to do with it. I don't write this for profit. I write this purely for my and your entertainment. The only thing I do own is some copies of the Naruto profiles and a sound-ninja headband because I'm that much of a dork.
Pairings:There is no set pairings for this fanfiction. If you want to see it as Iruka/Kakashi or Kakairu, then be my guest. But that isn't the intention of the story, but that doesn't stop you from reading it this way. So anyone wary of a reading a slash fic, this isn't one. But I can assure you, I have no issues with the slash-fictions myself.
Rating: K Might have very mild swearing during the course of the story. No real mature themes.
Note: This won't have any intentional spoilers. If you read something that you think may be a spolier, than I apologize. This isn't supposed to be in any definate time-line, just a random story in the Narutoverse.
Chapter 1 Summery: A very interesting beginning to what seems to be an even stranger day. A lot of things just seem to be going wrong, and all Iruka wants to do is sit back and have a normal day. And he really doesn't appreciate being treated like he was some sort of problem...
- Chapter 1 -
Circumstances
The wind that came between the blue curtains was a little short of being completely annoying. The wide-open window was doing nothing to help the wind that seeped through the navy fabric that framed the opening. As another gust came through it in an icy wave, snow trailing on the edges of it, it was no wonder that the tanned naked back of the Chuunin that lay there prickled up in uncomfortable goose bumps.
A groan in protest of the cold that feathered across his bare flesh, and Iruka turned over in his dosing state. It took another small howl of wind, enough to push the curtains open and let in some flakes of snowy white did the Academy teacher move to do something about the wind that threatened to cover his room with snow.
Iruka pushed himself up, regretting with a shiver the decision he made with sleeping with the window open, and the curtains closed; and without a night-shirt or a comforter no less. He remembered, rather vaguely, as he sauntered across his room and reached to shut his window, that the night before had some how felt excruciatingly hot. Hence the circumstances... but...
He shut the window with a click, locking it shut so that none of that freezing air could weave its way through any loose cracks. Now that the wind was gone, Iruka was aware that his room was still several degrees colder than he much liked in the mornings.
He glowered at his clock when he also realized that the prospect of going back to bed was nil, and that it was only ten or so minutes until it would be screaming at him to wake up and get ready for his day in teaching little demonic children how to throw kunai properly. Mind, Iruka loved the little devils, bless them, but it was hard to be anything more than peeved with the day when he awoke as rudely as that.
Another groan and it had nothing to do with the time or the weather this time around. His hand navigated to his stomach, and his brain perked up and handed him the memory of the night before, and how his stomach was threatening to wrench itself out of his body only a few hours before he went to bed. He looked down at the tanned skin beneath his browned hand, and wondered why his stomach still seemed to be in the mind to protest for no good reason.
He wondered what he had done to upset it, he hadn't eaten anything usual as of late, and he was always sure to stay clean so that he couldn't get any colds or pass any colds to or from the academy children. Well... it didn't seem to be as bad it was the night previous, and just seemed to be in a sour state, reminding him a bit bitterly of the night before.
At least, Iruka thought a bit positively, he hadn't vomited. It just seemed to have been hollow threat of a pain, without any actions to follow through. Besides... he didn't feel, and he hadn't felt nauseous.
The pain ebbed away, and he breathed a small sigh. The day seemed to be showing that it was certainly going to be an interesting one. But Iruka wasn't going to let anything stop him from teaching his students on the last day before their small break; just a three-day one, not including the weekends when the little tykes didn't usually come to class. That meant, five blissful days without grading, marking, or planning anything to do with his class. Five days that he was going to roll and relish in, thank-you-very-much.
So; no matter if his stomach gave small innocent protests here and there, or if he was a bit more chilled than he liked that morning, he wasn't going to miss this last day. And neither were they.
Well, Iruka thought, pulling at the tight tie that had been holding his hair in since the night before, I'd better get ready then.
- - -
When he made the suspicion that the day was going to be an interesting one, Iruka realized that he really wasn't joking with himself. Not only had the day turned out to be interesting, it was just plain downright bizarre in his books. And at the moment, he struggled at the front of his class, trying to figure a way to resolve the strange situation that had been dumped in his lap rather unexpectedly.
Just as his day started, it was all because of that snow. The very same culprit that had skated across his back, un-welcomed, that morning was now piling outside relentlessly as if it has something to prove to someone. And the fact that it was doing so was the very reason why Iruka found himself with twelve more people than he should have in his class room.
He looked over a the three sodden Jounin that stood off to the side of his classroom, Gai still had snow covering his shoulders, and his vibrant leg-warmers seemed to have caught more than their fare share of the white precipitation. Asuma was leaning against the wall beside the others, snow over his shoulders, in his hair, and was dripping down the sides of his face. The last of the three Jounin was Kakashi, who stood, rather lazily, and didn't seem to care at all that icy rivets of water dripped off of him as the snow melted.
And that was just the Jounin. Iruka didn't need to look at their teams too long to see that they were freezing, and by the way that Naruto was chattering he must have been dunked in head first. Alright... after he got his first note of business done, he'd have to remind all of them that they could do a simple justu like Sasuke had to just dry themselves off.
He cleared his throat, finally, after a moment or two of silence that had followed after Asuma had pulled him aside for a moment or two explaining their situation. "Alright," he spoke to his class, "it seems that there is going to be a further change in plans."
The class was already very aware of that when the nine Genin appeared, let alone the three Jounin. And understood fully that their presence alone meant that something was going to change.
Iruka just continued speaking, "Our guests here nearly got caught in the sudden blizzard," he explained, gesturing to the window which only showed a curtain of white, nothing more. "And here was the closest and only place they could go without freezing to death."
Despite himself, he gave a short laugh. The idea of Kakash-sensei or any of the other Jounin's freezing to death in something as laughable as this blizzard was just... just... funny. And he didn't really laugh; more light a very short chuckle. But that was enough to elicit a cleared throat coming from Kakashi's direction and a raised eyebrow. That was enough to get him back to what he was saying before he short pause.
"Anyway, the snow is far too high for any of you to go home at the moment. We'll be getting it cleared for you soon, and I'll be sure to find a way to inform your parents that you'll be late. But I am pretty sure that they'll all be understanding."
A student put up his hand.
He pointed to him. "Question Ikuko?"
Ikuko gave a frown, "Iruka-sensei, all of the other students are gone. And so are all of the other teachers," there was no denying the hint of a whine on his voice. "Why do we have to stay?"
Iruka knew that this was coming. Ikuko wasn't much of a trouble-maker, but he was the first to complain when he had to join the class's group punishments when the situation called for it. He already had a retort ready he had been anticipating the complaint for that long.
"Well, because 'all the other students' didn't misbehave in class. And do things that I explicitly told them not to do," Iruka countered, with his trademark authoritative and lecturing tone. Ikuko, who had actually done some of the mis-deeds that day, sunk into his seat.
Another voice piped up, "We're gunna tell on you." Ah, another one of the defiant ones. Akita wasn't one to back down as easily as Ikuko did.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Jounin giving rather confused glances, and even some of the Genin that were sitting in the very back rows. This just helped for Iruka's grin along a little further.
"Oh? Your parents? What for pray tell? Hmn?" Iruka retorted, hands on his hips and the smirk that he knew damn-well that he was going to beat this.
"You kept us in!" Akita continued to complain, "And now we'll have'ta stay in 'cause of you Iruka-sensei!"
Iruka held back a laugh. "Oh, I see. I see. So... are you saying that you're going to tell your parents that I came up with an elaborate plan to keep you all after school and make it blizzard outside and get you stuck here for a few extra hours? Ever thought that if I ever did that, that I probably wouldn't be joining you? Much less three Jounin and their respective teams?"
Akita fell silent, suddenly realizing the stupidity of his statement and he sunk back into his seat much in the same way his friend had a few minutes before.
"See? I thought so."
A chuckle from across the room, and it wasn't one of the students or the teams of Genin. Iruka looked up to see that the culprit was in fact Kakashi, who thought the situation was more than a little amusing; as did Gai and Asuma it seemed. Iruka just cleared his throat at that, and raised his eyebrow at Kakashi. Who, stopped, but the grin of the humor was still evident in his up-turned eyed.
Iruka looked away from the Jounin and back towards his class, his hands on his hips clearly asking if anyone else had any more complaints, considering the situation, for him. He surveyed them all. Good, it seemed that all of them understood that their teacher had little or no fault in the fact that they were there.
"Maa," a hand raised, a finger-less gloved one. "Gai, Asuma and I are going to go and see what the weather situation is, now that we've warmed up." Kakashi said, already getting right a direct to the point, and well aware that the rest of the class was looking at him now.
Iruka nodded. "Thank you Kakashi-sensei, Gai-sensei and Asuma-sensei."
Kakashi waved him off, and made a gesture to the Genin who were making movements to follow, for them to sit back down. Asuma and Gai followed him out the door as it slid shut.
Well, their presence being gone, he found the situation to be far less awkward. Now most of the people in the class were either students of his, or former students of his. The quick glance he gave in Naruto's direction, gave him the small amount of confidence he needed to get going with the stressful situation. The blond was giving him a rather wide smile now that his shivers had subsided.
He reached over to the chalkboard and picked up a piece of chalk. "Alright. I'm going to show you how it's going to work until your parents get here."
A collective groan.
Iruka's hands already were finding themselves back at his hips. "Oh, come now. You know that this isn't like any normal situation. And I have a responsibility right now as your guardian since your parents aren't here."
"What about the other sensei's Iruka-sensei?" Spoke up one of his random students.
Iruka decided not to notice that they spoke out of turn and responded, speaking to the whole class since most of them seemed to be wondering the very same thing as her. "They're going to have their hands full with the teams, and could be called out at any time if the situation gets any more serious."
"But-" Iruka began again, scratching the bridge of his nose in thought. "-as long as we're all here now, I was wondering if our guests will help us have some fun?" He looked over to them hopefully. "Would you?"
The students exchanged glances with each other, as well as the Genin. Shikamaru sighed and put his head on the desk, Iruka didn't need to hear 'this is troublesome' escaping his lips to know that it was being said. Sakura's eyes lit up, Sasuke looked as indifferent as ever and Naruto looked ready to take the challenge. But before the rash blond could speak, it was the mini green-monster that spoke first.
"Iruka-sensei! I would be honored to help you teach the youth of today!" Lee spoke out standing up, his hand up eagerly, and there was no denying the determined look blazing in his youthful round eyes.
Iruka couldn't help but give a light chuckle at that. "Ah, Lee. Thank you. I appreciate it. But you can stay sitting you know." His eyes scanned the rest of the Genin. "Well? It'll certainly be better than sitting there all day."
"Of course we'll help! This is going to be fun, isn't it Sasuke?"
"Whatever."
"Oh man! This'll be so cool! It'll be like having my very own team! This is my chance to show Kakashi-sensei that I know how to lead and teach and it'll just be another step towards becoming Ho-"
"Naruto!" Iruka cut him off.
The blond fell silent.
"Okay, okay. It seems like most of you are willing enough to participate. But I hope everyone will help. I may not be your teacher anymore, so I can't tell you to do anything. But this is going to be about teamwork, isn't it?"
The Genin finally all nodded and Iruka allowed himself a grin of triumph. Them all working together on an activity would relieve even more of the stress of the situation and make it easier to manage. It was even better that it seemed by the looks of it that his own students were excited of the prospect of having the Genin teach and work together with them.
"Excellent," he said, turning around and putting the chalk to the chalkboard. "Now I think that we should-"
The classroom door opened loudly, Iruka's sentence dieing mid-way and he turned to look who had entered the classroom. A silver-haired Jounin was looking at him in particular, peering around the corner of the door.
Kakashi spoke, "I need to speak with you outside Iruka-sensei," he said, a bit casually, but his only visible eye showed that it was more important than idle chatter.
Iruka blinked, and he saw that some of his students exchanged confused glances, some with worried ones. What could that scary Jounin want with their Iruka-sensei? Did their sensei really do something wrong? Iruka looked at then rather flatly. Where did these kids get these ridiculous ideas?
Kakashi cleared his throat.
"Ah," Iruka put down the chalk on the chalk-board's ledge. "I'll be right back. You better be on your best behavior when I'm gone. All of you." He walked towards where Kakashi was at the doorway, but never let his gaze fall from the children. "Or Kakashi-sensei will give you a good talking to when we get back."
Kakashi paused, giving Iruka a funny look, then realized how the children seemed to snap-up into shape with that said. He then looked over at the children who were looking at him rather mortified and smiled. A shudder filtered through the classroom at that.
Iruka passed Kakashi while this transpired, and when the door shut behind them, and it was dead silent on the other side of the door, did Iruka fold his arms and speak. "So. What is it?"
Kakashi's hands moved to his pockets. "First. Let's get something clear."
Iruka blinked.
"Don't use me as a threat again to get your students to behave," Kakashi said, his voice rather plain, but there was something behind it that spoke that he wasn't joking around. "You know that feeding fear into fellow ninja is not only damaging, but they're children and can be hurt by this."
Iruka shifted a bit. "That wasn't my intent Kakashi-san, I wasn't trying to feed fear into them. I never even said it even once until tod-" He was cut off. Okay... that was a lie, he had used it before... a long time ago though...
"Doesn't matter.Don't do it again. We don't need them to be afraid of the very people who might be fighting to save their very lives. Understood?" Kakashi pressed. His voice was still rather emotionless, but it was that frank emotionlessness was what drove the point home, and Iruka couldn't help like feeling somehow akin to a child being scolded after doing something very wrong, and knowing it.
He shifted again, and looked straight at Kakashi when he spoke. "Yes sir."
Kakashi watched him for a moment, as if examining the truth to the statement before brushing past him. "Good. Follow me."
That little encounter seriously brought down Iruka's mood some how. He honestly didn't mean any harm by it. Truthfully, he thought that Kakashi would find it a bit amusing, and thought he had until he received the small lecture from the Jounin. Somehow this made Iruka a bit mad, but bit it back. He knew what he did wasn't completely right, but the frank seriousness wasn't something he thought he deserved either. So he decided to just... forget that it happened, not do it again, and just continue on.
Iruka tested to see if Kakashi held a lasting grudge and spoke. "So... what did you want to show me Kakashi-san?"
Kakakshi stopped, one of his hands jammed into his pocket the other was pointing towards the window. "Look."
Iruka turned, and he was completely and utterly surprised.
"We're going to be here for more than a couple of hours sensei," Kakashi explained casually. "And I don't think we're going to get 'unburied' for a while. Teams will be digging out the important roads first, and setting up jutsu so it doesn't get blocked again. Not to mention that they have to un-dig the medical core and other very important things. It'll be a while before they get here. Especially since nobody is really supposed to be here."
Iruka shifted again at that. But he spoke. "Excuse me for saying this, but can't you and the other Jounin clear all the snow up so that we can take the students home?" A valid question...
"No."
...Or so he hoped.
And before he could ask 'why not;' Kakashi responded to his mental question. "Asuma, Gai and I have been training very hard with our teams all day, not to mention I just came back from a B-ranked mission as did both Gai and Asuma. We don't have the time, nor the energy to dig up this much snow," he gestured towards the window.
And again, Iruka couldn't help like he was being put on the spot-light for this. He was beginning to get the feeling that he was irritating Kakashi. It wasn't like he was trying to piss the Jounin off. He was only asking a simple question, and he wasn't excluding himself from that equation.
"What if I helped along with your team-members? I'm sure that if we worked together we could get everything that needed to be cleared dug-up and the children can go home without worry to their parents," Iruka offered.
"No means no, Iruka-sensei."
Iruka opened his mouth to protest of why but the look the Jounin was giving him made him shut it again.
"Don't you understand that we might be too tired to? If we all had the energy to dig up this much snow to begin with, then we wouldn't even be here with you Iruka."
Iruka held back the urge to ask Kakashi what bit him in the ass. But because he felt that somehow he was at fault he just nodded. "I apologize Kakashi-sensei. Do you have any idea how long we will be here?"
Kakashi thought for a moment. "I'd say definitely overnight."
Over... night? Iruka thought that late that evening at the most but overnight? Surely there wasn't that much snow. "Are you sure...?"
"It's going to continue to pile on the hour Iruka. I wouldn't be surprised if we were still here come this time tomorrow afternoon," Kakashi explained, looking out the window at the swirling white that seemed to take a note and consume literally everything in it's path. Leaving now semblance of any definable shape outside; other than white, of course.
Oh great... This was just fantastic. There went his first night of being completely alone and without responsibility. But he didn't let it show on his face. He already seemed to be doing enough wrong that day, he didn't want Kakashi to make wrong assumptions and scold him for something else.
"Well... that's going to push my plans back for several hours. Possibly cancel them..." Iruka found himself saying out-loud scratching the bridge of his nose in thought.
Kakashi showed mild interest, but his hands remained firmly in his pockets and he continued to face the window, but his only visible eye was looking at the academy teacher. "Oh? Plans?"
Iruka didn't even realize that he spoke out loud, and he hoped he didn't say anything else. "Ah, I was going to see if the Genin teams could show my class the basics. I thought it would be more educational coming from someone only few years older and still is acquainted with learning in the Academy..." His kept his gaze firmly on Kakashi, who was still peering into the swirling-white.
"And were you going to ask me?"
Iruka felt another pang. Damn. He never even thought of that. He just made the assumption of... Nothing was quite going right at the moment, now was it?
Iruka spoke again, "I was going to inquire to everyone if I could have borrowed their teams."
Kakashi nodded, and he turned, smiling. "I don't mind. They'll need it for sure. I'll see if we can arrange for something later," he offered.
Iruka sighed to himself inwardly, and smiled at Kakashi. "Thank you. I'd definitely appreciate it, and I know my students will as well." He paused, and looked out at the snow. "But first... we have to make arrangements. Like where they're going to sleep, what they're going to eat and all the organization concerning that..."
"Ah. True. True."
"Most of the school is locked up by now. I don't have my usual ring of keys, but I do have a few of them. One of them is to one of the large gyms. I think we can use that..."
"That sounds good," Kakashi said, and he turned away from the window and began walking down the hallway and back towards the classroom.
Iruka followed, and resisted calling out for him to stop and where did he think he was going, and if the perverted Jounin was going to help. He knew that wouldn't help himself at all, and it was just his frustrated mind speaking. He matched steps with the Jounin, looking over at him.
"I'm going to gather my team and the others. And see what we can do so we can set this up quickly. You keep the little brats entertained until we figure everything out. Okay?"
Iruka nearly gaped at the man. Sure he was a higher-ranking ninja and a very popular Jounin, but that didn't mean he could come in and order him around. Another part of his mind grated irritably, of course it did, and he was. The angered thoughts deflated when he realized that it wasn't the kind of situation to be arguing over who got to say what. Jounin were trained to handle strange situations with ease, and it was probably better that Kakashi and the other Jounin lead the show.
If it were any other circumstance he probably would have protested more. But he didn't and merely nodded.
"Good," Kakashi said, smiling at the academy teacher with one up-turned eye. And he opened up the classroom door and walked in.
Iruka followed and immediately went towards his post at the front of the classroom. The students looked up eagerly to the person who walked in first, assuming it'd be their teacher and not Kakashi. But it was indeed the Jounin, and he paid them no mind at all, much to their relief, as he beckoned his and his comrade's teams.
The door slid shut, and Iruka cleared his throat. "Alright class," he said, giving a brief look to the doorway were the Genin had left. "It seems that we're going to be staying here a lot longer than we originally anticipated."
A collective moan from the class. If only they could coordinate like that less on their moaning and complaints and more on their teamwork and planning.
He looked rather pointedly at the two boys who complained earlier and who had moaned the loudest of anyone else. "And if you want to go tell your parents that this is all my fault-" Which Iruka couldn't help but start to think it was, "-Then fine. But I'll expect you to write a two-thousand word essay on just how your teacher from the Village Hidden in the Leaves managed to make its now for his own 'evil purposes', you understand?"
That shut those two up before they could make another sound and they both in unison turned their heads away from Iruka, arms crossed.
"That's what I thought," he said, a grin sliding up his face again along with a few snickers from their classmates.
He took a breath, and picked up the chalk once more. "Alright. Now that that has been settled we need to see what we can do to help with-" his words skipped a beat mid-sentence as his stomach did the equivalent of cursing his name, "-setting up for the over-night stay..." His words trailed.
The pain disappeared and his students exchanged odd and concerned glances. Iruka was very glad that he wasn't with Kakashi when his stomach sent a reminder that it was still pissed with him.
"Iruka-sensei... are you okay?" One of his female students piped up.
"Ah yes... Yes. I'm fine. Just got something in my throat mid-speaking, that's all." He gave a short laugh and cleared his throat for effect.
The students still stared at him, and he was sure that he must have gone pale at the sudden twinge of pain in his stomach, hence them all staring at him like we was about to keel over and die. But the pain was gone, his stomach called a truce and Iruka clapped his hands together to get his students' attention.
"Alright! That's enough. I'm not going to drop dead. Now, we need to set up this classroom. Everyone split into threes and the rest of you will-"
- - -
Iruka was standing off to the side of the large gym, his arms were crossed, and he was looking over with a pleased expression at the students and Genin that were practicing exercises. The sleeping bags and mattresses that everyone was going to need for the night were off to one corner of the gym, piled neatly, ready to be used when all of the students were called to bed.
Everything and everyone was actually ordered and working smoothly. A blessing, and it was thanks to the three Jounin and their teams that most of this managed to work out. He actually had done... nothing... They had done all of the work, and Iruka was the one sitting behind watching as they prepared everything. The only real thing that he did was give Asuma the ring of keys when he asked for them, and cleared up his classroom.
He looked over with crossed arms at Naruto giving his 'students' some demonstration of what looked like to be some sort of flying-side-kick. It looked alright, and he let it pass for the time being before he moved onto Shikamaru's group who seemed to be learning the art of, he stared for a moment, just... sitting there... He sighed, that would have to be remedied soon. He moved on to Lee's group to see what he was infecting their poor minds with.
A voice came from behind, nearly scaring the wits out of Iruka. "I see you're pretty protective."
He put a hand to his heart. "Kakashi-sensei... if you do that again my students might not have a teacher to be protective over them."
Kakashi shrugged, but a grin was evident.
"May I ask what you need?" Iruka inquired as he turned his attention back to Lee and Gai who seemed to be trying to force his students to wear the green spandex... Where the hell did they get the smaller versions of that?
"I heard from one of the little squirts-" Iruka turned and scowled at that. Kakashi was un-phased as he wasn't looking. "-that their 'dear Iruka-sensei' looked like he was going to fall over dead on them."
Iruka blinked. Oh gods. Which one? He didn't look that bad. And it was just a momentary twinge. Nothing like the night before, and look, he was alive now wasn't he? They didn't need to talk to Kakashi of all people about it. Actually, that could have possibly been the worse person for them to go to in the first place. Gai would have ranked second, he would have been howling something about youth. Asuma was the most sensible of the bunch...
"Well," Kakashi continued, almost as if he and Iruka were on the same wave-length, "I heard it from Naruto, who heard it from the squirt who seems to hero-worship him."
Oh,now it made sense. Iruka turned back to the elder Jounin. "I'm fine Kakashi-sensei. Nothing is wrong, and nothing was wrong. And whatever seemed to be bothering me that it made me look like I was going to 'die' is gone now."
Kakashi's eyebrow raised, "Oh?" Why the hell did it look like he didn't believe him? He had been feeling rather great for the past couple hours...
"Yes. So I'm perfectly fine. Go tell Naruto and Konohamaru that I'm not ill. Since I'm sure they are dying to hear that their teacher isn't about to keel over dead anytime soon. So you can quit acting concerned."
Kakashi smiled almost sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "Ah... so you figured me out..."
Of course he 'figured Kakashi out'. He never saw Kakashi as being the type to go out of his way and ask a basic strange or a Chuunin how he was on the basis of a small child wondering. Naruto could be rather forceful when he wanted to be... And he and Kakashi never had been on great terms, just because of his over-protective nature over Team 7, and most particularly: Naruto.
"Uh huh. And right now I have to go and drag Gai-san and Lee from my students before they traumatize them for life." He jabbed a finger towards the group. A few of the students were scrambling to get away but Gai had one under each arm and the other was being held by the scruff of the neck by Lee.
Kakashi followed his gaze and nearly laughed. "I dunno... Maybe it's good for them. Students need a little terror once and a while. And the green-beast of this village is pretty harmless."
Iruka couldn't help what came out of his lips, "I don't want to feed my students fear, Kakashi-sensei." He turned. "Excuse me."
That didn't make Kakashi leave him alone though. The Jounin went right on and followed him, and he didn't seem to be particularly cheery anymore. Iruka wanted the silver-haired ninja to leave him alone. He didn't appreciate his company at all, he didn't from the beginning, and he didn't now. And he certainly wasn't later.
Kakashi was about to heatedly respond to what Iruka said when Gai spoke up loudly, cutting him off before Kakashi could even take a breath.
"Ah! It's the youthful Iruka-sensei!" he exclaimed loudly, "and my eternal rival!" The children that were still under his arms stopped beating at him for a moment to look at the two new intruders.
Kakashi and Iruka shared the same flat expressions, but Iruka spoke. "Put them down Gai-sensei."
"Ah whatever for Iruka-sensei? I'm merely teaching them some of the ways of youth! And what better than in their very-own youthful uniform!" He gestured to the only member of the group of students that seemed to have willingly put that thing on.
"I have no problem if they do it willingly," he had to wonder who would do it willingly aside from Gai and Lee, "but you can't force my students to do anything they don't want to. Now put them down."
Kakashi spoke instead of Gai, still heated because of Iruka's earlier comment. "Well, when they get into teams of Genin on their own, assuming that they will even get into a team of Genin on their own, they'll have to do plenty of things that they don't want to do. Maybe you should start teaching them that, hmn?"
Iruka bit his tongue and frankly ignored the Jounin. "Put them down Gai. Teach them some other youthful method of yours. Other than something that will very possibly scar them for life."
Gai had stopped, and not because of Iruka's serious and berating tone of him capturing the little students. But at rather Kakashi's biting tone at Iruka. It was a very obvious hint that he was pointing at the teacher that he wasn't doing a good enough job at teaching. He looked back at Iruka and gave him a huge and very toothy grin. "Of course Iruka-sensei!" He set the children down. "There are many other youthful things that we can teach them, right Lee?"
"Yes Gai-sensei!"
Iruka nodded in approval and brushed right past Kakashi who didn't take too well to him being completely ignored by the teacher. And he found Kakashi following him again to the spot where he was standing before. And he couldn't see anything now due to the Jounin was standing right in front of him.
Iruka cut off the Jounin before he could speak, which he knew probably wasn't the best idea in the world. But he did so anyway.
"Can I ask what we're doing concerning food for the students? I've only seen preparations for sleeping arrangements," then he complimented, "which has been very helpful Kakashi-sensei. I appreciate it. I don't think I could have done it alone and even with my whole group of students."
The steam in Kakashi's boat seemed to have tapered, but his response was still a lot curter than it usually would have been. "Asuma and Gai will be working that out."
Of course. He wasn't going to get any say in it. "May I make a suggestion?"
"Hmn," a non-committal sound. He'll take that for a yes.
"We do have a place where we keep things like rations and things so that the students will get used to eating that kind of food. Where we keep that we also have other foods for when we have the 'sleepovers' here at the academy. I'm sure there must be something useful between those two things."
Kakashi nodded. "We already found that room, Iruka. There was nothing much there. And I don't think a ration bar will last for at least three solid meals."
Iruka snorted, and crossed his arms. "What? Don't you Jounin do that all the time on your A-ranked missions? I figure that this could be some good practice for them in learning how to deal with certain situations." Iruka wasn't really taking about the students anymore...
Kakashi made a sound, and he was definitely glaring at Iruka now. But Iruka held firm, probably the home-turf made it easier for him to be able to stand up to Kakashi like this.
"That may be true, but you don't want to make them ill Iruka," Kakashi insinuated, clearly stating that Iruka mustn't have cared enough about his students to mind at all, which was a low blow.
Iruka's teeth grit, but he said not a word.
Kakashi then said in a much more casual tone. "We'll have the food handled. You keep watching the children, Iruka-sensei."
Most importantly... enjoy!
(And... No Flaming. If you do so, I will send the Green-beast of the Village Hidden in the Leaves after you. And force you into bright-green spandex.)
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