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virtualcarrot · 8 days

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[KKIR] Modern AU - Teaching Pains Pt9

Part 8

The fight is over as soon as it begins. Kakashi kicks the dropped knife so far that it ricochets, dazes Mizuki with a second slam into the locker, and flings him to the ground.

By the time the teacher thinks to struggle, he’s already pinned down with his arm twisted back and Kakashi's leg over his shoulder, socket straining and ready to pop if he so much as twitches in the wrong direction. He settles for hurling curses and threats, which he finds them all entirely indifferent to with no blade wielded as incentive.

In truth, the hardest part is resisting the urge to check on the injured. Gai ducks for a roll of packing tape from Iruka’s classroom, and they make short work of wrapping Mizuki’s arms and legs with the whole roll’s worth, slapping a couple of pieces to his mouth for good measure. Only once they're done securing him does Kakashi finally deem it safe to look away.

Iruka’s on the floor, looking faint with relief and likely also pain, if the way he’s holding himself against the wall is any indication. His hair’s a mess, his clothes rumpled. A mean looking bruise’s already purpling on the side of his face.

Naruto’s completely unharmed, for which Kakashi feels a rush of dizzying gratitude.

Gai gets his attention with a touch to his shoulder, the phone in his other hand already dialing emergency services.

“I’ve got this. You go check on them,” he assures with a jerk of his chin at the shaken duo sitting on the floor.

For good measure, he also gives a reassuring thumbs up. He then proceeds to drag Mizuki’s trussed up body across the floor to give them all privacy, perking up at a greeting on the other side of the line.

“Ah yes, hello! And a good evening to you! I’d like to report an incident…” Kakashi hears him say before tuning out the one-sided conversation and making his way over in the opposite direction.

Naruto’s eyes go wide and shiny at his approach, in a way Kakashi can’t help but ruffle his hair for.

“It’s over, you’re fine,” he says with what he hopes is a reassuring smile, crouching to their level.

Naruto returns it with a wobbly one of his own and scoots aside to make room for him.

This up close, there's an unmistakable small cut to Iruka’s upper lip. Kakashi's hand reaches out seemingly without a conscious thought. He watches it land on the unharmed side of Iruka’s face, thumb drawing gentle, barely-there swipes against the peak of a cheekbone.

Then the enormity of the events catch up to him and he bows under their weight until the hairs strayed from Iruka’s ponytail brush against his own forehead.

“What the fuck, Iruka,” he murmurs shakily in the soft place between them.

Iruka’s skin is warm and slightly clammy, his breath short against Kakashi’s wrist, his lips too dry from the exertion. His eyes flutter shut when Kakashi runs his thumb along the edge of the old scar across his nose.

He also looks tired and wobbly, in the ways of the tail end of an adrenaline rush. Kakashi allows himself a few more seconds of indulgence and pulls away.

“As you said, it’s over,” Iruka whispers.

“How are you?” he asks.

Iruka gives a one-shoulder shrug then pulls a face like he regrets the gesture. “Hurt. But not in any danger.”

At this point in the evening, Kakashi’s gone from sharing after-work drinks with a friend to watching a colleague pull a knife on people he’s grown disturbingly fond of. It’ll take more than that to reassure him.

He narrows his eyes. “Hurt where?”

“Urh. All over, I guess. My leg. My chest,” Iruka replies, moving his hand from his knee to his midsection. He hisses at the motion and clasps his sides with a grimace.

For a moment, Kakashi sees it all over again, the shape of the knife pointed at Iruka, Naruto wrestling behind him, terrified his teacher might die for him, and Iruka, bargaining for their lives.

The blade was already out when Kakashi caught the scene.

“Did he stab you?!” he asks, urgently moving Iruka's coat out of the way to check under.

He must have been too abrupt about it because Iruka winces, wrapping his fingers around Kakashi's wrist.

“No,” he says, catching and holding Kakashi’s gaze. “From the bookshelf. It fell on me.”

Little fist tightening around Iruka’s sleeve, Naruto gives a small nod of confirmation. And well, Kakashi did wonder what could have caused the headmaster’s office to fall into such disarray.

Seemingly satisfied with his slump of relief, Iruka releases him.

Kakashi may have overreacted.

He scratches his cheek. “Ah. Yeah, I saw. Quite the mess, that,” he admits, distracted by a darker stain under the folded edge of Iruka's coat. He frowns and brushes it, moving feather-light this time. “What's this, then?”

Naruto peers over with a worried frown, while Iruka proceeds to clumsily pat himself down, and then his coat. He pulls out a bundle from an inside pocket, mashed beyond recognition. From the furrow of his brows, even he seems to have trouble identifying it.

Then he huffs sheepishly.

“Ah! I think it’s the cake I put aside for Naruto. Never got to give it to him.”

Naruto promptly bursts into tears.

By the time they finally hear approaching sirens, Iruka’s sideways hug has done wonders shutting off the waterworks. Gai throws Mizuki over his shoulder and they all stagger downstairs, though Kakashi would be hard pressed to say whether Iruka or Naruto is clinging the tightest to the other.

Ibiki greets them in the front yard with his arms crossed and a foreboding stare.

“What have you done, now?”

It's unclear which of them he's actually addressing but before they can figure it out, Gai drops Mizuki at his feet like a proud hound presenting its catch and Iruka gets whisked away towards the ambulance. While two police officers go through the trouble of getting Mizuki out of the packing tape and into the patrol car, it falls to Kakashi to give Ibiki a summary of the events Iruka recounted while he hugged a sobbing Naruto to his chest and pretended his ribs didn’t hurt.

By the end of it, Ibiki looks entirely unimpressed.

“I’ll have to talk to the kid,” he says.

“Not right now, you won’t,” Iruka retorts from inside the ambulance. His scowling face peeks out while a long-suffering paramedic follows after him with her stethoscope. “His legal guardian isn’t here and also it’s late.”

Even from his heights of intimidation, Ibiki doesn’t seem inclined to argue against Iruka’s bullheaded protectiveness. He heaves a sigh.

“I want him at the station, first hour tomorrow morning,” he begrudges.

Iruka pulls a face, though it’s unclear whether that’s from Ibiki’s words or the paramedic releasing his arm so he can cover himself up. A massive bruise is already darkening his ribs. Kakashi can’t help a twinge of sympathetic pain.

“It’ll probably be in the afternoon,” Iruka says, adjusting his rucked up shirt back into place with clumsy tugs. He sounds just contrite enough to be polite, but not so much that it might hint at any leeway to change his mind. It’s a tone that Kakashi is at once painfully and hilariously acquainted with.

Ibiki doesn’t seem unfamiliar with it either, because he growls: “ fine ,” and leaves it at that.

Appearing satisfied, Iruka turns to Kakashi, seeking his eyes from afar, and drawing him in just as easily.

“Hey,” Kakashi says once he's within speaking distance, leaning against the ambulance door. His own voice comes out embarrassingly breathy but Iruka’s face softens in kind, so he figures it’s all right.

“Hey,” Iruka echoes with a faint smile. “Could you keep an eye on Naruto? Maybe even take him back--”

In the ambulance, Naruto jumps off the seat he had laid claim on, flailing distressingly close to the fancy equipment on the walls. “What, hey, no, I’m staying with you, Iruka-sensei, you can keep an eye on me!”

“Kid,” the paramedic says, steadying a hanging tube with a spark of exasperation.

“No! No, Iruka-sensei, I’m not leaving you, you can’t make me!” Naruto yelps, all but climbing over the medical kit to get to Iruka, who reaches out to grab his hand in a stern hold.

“Naruto,” he snaps, just sharp enough to break through the haze of panic. “I need to get my chest checked. There’ll be doctors, we’ll all be too busy.”

“Please, Iruka-sensei, I’ll be so good, I won’t make any trouble, I swear!” Naruto’s eyes well up in that way Kakashi knows Iruka’s tend to mirror. “I need to make sure you’re okay, it’s my fault--”

Having reached Kakashi’s side, Gai calls for his attention with a silent pat to his shoulder. He drops his car keys from an open fist, leaving them swinging from the keyring around his finger.

And well, if Gai’s offering…

“Naruto,” Kakashi says, pitching his voice loud and clear enough that Naruto looks up from Iruka’s reassuring petting of his hair. They both look equally blubbery.

Joke’s on Kakashi for finding it endearing, he supposes.

“How about we meet Iruka at the hospital, uh? Gai’ll drive us,” he proposes, and purposefully doesn’t expand on the unhinged quality of Gai’s driving.

That seems to do the trick. The paramedic gives him a look of jaded gratitude, Iruka agrees, and soon after the doors of the ambulance close.

Naruto watches it drive away with a trembling lip. Yet it’s with surprisingly dry eyes that he turns a scowl on Kakashi.

“You better keep your word,” he warns.

Even the sight of Gai’s old, beat-up Alto Works doesn't discourage him. He clambers up to the backseat and crosses his arms.

‘’So? What are you waiting for?!”

He's not looking anywhere near half as self-assured around the time Gai screeches to a halt in front of the ER. Kakashi watches him stumble out looking distinctly greener than before.

“Very spirited kid, that one,” Gai says while they watch Naruto lean against a tree to ground himself. “Very youthful.”

Recognizing it for the approval that it is, Kakashi huffs, clicking out of his car belt. “Yeah.”

“Should I come with?”

“Nah, we’ll be fine. But Gai? Thank you. I appreciate it.”

Gai rewards him with a thumbs up and a gleaming smile. “It’s nothing that my Esteemed Rival wouldn't have done for me in return.” He pauses. “Also you can take the tab next time we go out.”

Bullying his friends into paying for him is usually one of Kakashi's hobbies, but that seems a fair price to pay. He nods with a parting pat to the top of the car and pulls away, because Naruto’s recovered enough that he’s expressing his impatience anew.

“Come on, what are you doing , Iruka-sensei’s waiting for us!”

Inside, the receptionist gives them the number of a hallway, where they’re given new contradictory directives, until they’re finally sent back to a waiting room because apparently Iruka’s going through a scanner. Naruto looks so lost and wan at that knowledge that the last nurse they asked for directions puts a hand on the top of his head.

“Your…” She trails off, seeking Kakashi’s gaze. “Brother? Cousin?”

“Teacher,” Kakashi provides.

To her credit, she barely raises an eyebrow. “Your teacher isn't in any imminent danger. We just need confirmation.”

Because it’s long past dinnertime and none of them has eaten, Kakashi gets them both a sandwich from the vending machine, and then a third one for Iruka just in case. Naruto eyes the ham with distrust, claims he isn’t hungry, and ends up finishing the other half of Kakashi's after he's done with his own. The sandwiches are alright, as far as vending machine fares are concerned, but rising nerves are coiling in Kakashi's stomach the longer they wait to hear from Iruka, and also in spite of the mask the hospital smells are ruining any appetite he might have left regardless.

Naruto’s dozing off against his shoulder when the nurse comes back to get them. They find Iruka struggling to get his arms inside his coat while another nurse tries to help him.

“--late already, you could just spend the night here,” the nurse is saying.

“I appreciate the help but I can't, I have to--oh, Naruto!” Iruka says, the tired lines of his face pulling into a smile.

Apparently it's all Naruto had been waiting for, because Kakashi narrowly manages to catch him by the back of his coat before he flings himself against Iruka’s bruised ribs.

“Iruka-sensei, Iruka-sensei, are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Iruka says with a chuckle, until Kakashi’s insistent look drives him to elaborate. “Two cracked ribs, a knee contusion and a very mild concussion. Nothing that some rest, ice and a few painkillers can't cure.”

The brave face he's putting on seems to reassure Naruto, but Kakashi hears it for the understatement that it is. It’s a relief, then, when Iruka answers his look of sympathy with a good-humored wince over Naruto's head. Good. He'd hate for Iruka to have unrealistic expectations of the weeks to come. Best to brace for them fully informed.

“Daikoku-sensei agreed to let you sleep at my place,” Iruka tells Naruto once he's done getting dressed. He's bundled his sweater vest in a hand, likely not having found the pain worth putting it back on. “He'll pick you tomorrow.”

Naruto, it’d seem, had already decided the sleepover was going to happen, with or without consent, because he doesn't bother looking any way about that information.

It's well past midnight when they're finally free to go. Kakashi hails them a cab that they all pile into, lets Iruka give his address, and tries not to get lost in thoughts of tragic what-ifs during the ride.

They're halfway up the stairs leading to Iruka's floor when Iruka jolts against his side, bringing them all to a halt.

Kakashi steadies him with a grip of his waist. “Are you alright? Did I hurt you?” he asks, but Iruka only shakes his head, flustered.

“You paid for the--how much did the cab cost?”

They both stare at him, Naruto from where he’s been leading the way up the stairs with Iruka’s keys, and Kakashi from his careful press against Iruka’s side.

After long seconds of disbelief, Kakashi motions Naruto to go ahead. The kid obeys without any argument. Even his seemingly boundless reserves of energy must be longing for a safe place to rest and refill.

Free from any other witness to the fact, Kakashi presses his nose against Iruka’s temple.

“Iruka,” he murmurs, mindful of the slight tension that runs against him, “you’re a moron. You’re very smart, but you’re a moron. Alright?”

About a floor and a half above them, Naruto’s receding footsteps come to a stop. There’s the jingle of a busy keychain followed by the characteristic clinking of someone testing unknown keys against a lock.

With a sigh, Iruka angles his head until his nose brushes Kakashi’s.

“Alright”, he whispers back.

Something in Kakashi’s throat goes tight, then. It remains so all the way until the final landing.

#kakairu #kkir #umino iruka #hatake kakashi #naruto #fic : naruto #my scrawl

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