Verbatim (Kakashi Hatake x Iruka Umino)

Chapter Eleven

Kakashi Hatake was a bit bothered as he walked by the side of his best friend, Might Guy. Their friendship was peculiar, but it managed to work, even if Kakashi wasn't always the most open about how much Guy's companionship really meant to him. He'd simply ran into the other Jonin while on a stroll through the village, and unsurprisingly, the ravenette had insisted on walking with him.

Guy being Guy was rambling on about this new workout plan he'd started recently, Kakashi half-listening as he stared down at his book. He was rereading the entire Verbatim series, so he had the first book in his hands, eyes running over every little word.

For whatever reason, the book had been bothering him. Maybe he was trying to distract himself from what had happened with Iruka a few months before, or maybe he was just fixating on it to cope with the million other issues he'd tried so hard to repress over the years. At this point, he figured it was rather unhealthy, but there was only one aspect of the entire situation that was really bothering him...

Who was the author? The fourth book was bound to come out in the next few months, and he still had no idea who it was despite the book having become so prolific within the adult fiction community in the village.

"Guy, you're smart," Kakashi started, effectively cutting off the other man's prolix speech, but only earning a smile and raised eyebrows from the slightly shorter man.

"Oh? Are you about to challenge me?" Guy questioned, seeming excited as he crossed his arms.

"No, I was just about to ask something," Kakashi sighed, closing the book and slipping it into his back pocket before scratching his clothed neck. Guy had been a fan of the series for a good amount of time, too, and for as obnoxious and dumb as so many people perceived him to be, he was actually quite intelligent, so him having answers to Kakashi's questions didn't seem like it was too ridiculous of a possibility. "For whatever reason, Verbatim has been on my mind recently. Not just the fact that I like it- that part's obvious- but the author, I mean... I've just had this weird feeling of me having to find out who it is, and I don't know if it's just curiosity or something else, but... Do you have any idea? I know you've been reading it, too."

"I'm afraid I don't!" Guy answered, looking up at the sky. "I mean, we could narrow it down, of course! Thinking about it logically, they're probably at least a Chunin based off of their extensive knowledge of ninja laws and Jutsu. In fact, this may be bold, but I'd say they are a Chunin! All of the missions that are described in the book seem to be around B-ranks, no?"

"Yes, that is true..." Kakashi thought about the plot of the book, a lot of which surrounded around Kujira and Shirogane's work as ninjas in a village that was clearly based on the Leaf Village. In terms of missions that were described throughout the plot of the three published books, none of them had ever been anything especially serious in comparison to what Kakashi usually had to deal with as a Jonin. Instead, these were mostly escorting or doing odd jobs for people, maybe even acting as bodyguards for low-profile travelers- At most, a couple of them were A-ranking, but even that was a stretch. "That'd make sense. What Chunin do we know who would write something like that, though?"

Right when Kakashi started to run through the list of all of the Chunin they knew, he saw more black hair and another green jumpsuit in the form of a blur that was approaching them at a rapid pace- AKA, the excitable pride and joy of Might Guy, his star student, Rock Lee. The younger ravenette was practically buzzing with enthusiasm as he moved to stand in front of them, staring up at Guy.

"Oh, Lee! Hello!"

"Sensei! Race me to the Hokage Rock!"

"It seems we'll have to continue this later, my eternal rival!" Guy turned to him, giving a wave before he and Lee were off, already almost out of Kakashi's sight in a mere second.

"Goodbye!"

Kakashi didn't even speak, just standing there, dumbfounded until he returned to his initial train of thought.
The Chunin they knew.

Kotetsu and Izumo popped into his head, and inevitably...

Iruka.

He sighed at the thought of the brunette, unsure of exactly what to think about the younger man. They'd slept together a few months before- whether it be due to strictly the alcohol, Kakashi's pent up feelings, or something else, he wasn't sure. He'd wanted to talk about it the morning after, but Iruka had work, and they never got the chance to have an actual discussion about the encounter. So, really, he had no idea... Maybe Iruka had just intended for it to be a one night stand, but after a good ten years of them knowing each other? Why hadn't be made the move earlier?

He and Iruka hadn't hung out much before that had happened, but now, it seemed like he was seeing the Chunin less and less. Was Iruka avoiding him? He supposed it would be reasonable- Maybe Iruka saw it as a drunken mistake, or maybe he thought that the things Kakashi had said to him during the act were far too intimate, but... When they saw each other, Iruka acted as friendly as usual, and he was pretty upfront, so if something was wrong, wouldn't it have been brought up by now?

Shaking his head, his mind went back to Verbatim, and he realized that his and Guy's walk had actually led him to the local bookstore. He raised his eyebrows upon seeing the box that had been left out front, knowing exactly what it was.

Due to Verbatim's increasing popularity, it had sold a lot of books, so more of them had to be shipped and stocked regularly, as Kakashi had seen that morning. Since he was a regular, he was quite friendly with all of the workers, and the teen boy who had been stocking the books had told him all about it. The box sitting on the ground in front of the store looked a little sad all by itself, but Kakashi found his eyes widening when he realized that there was a label on the lid.

Verbatim books One, Two, and Three for stock in handwriting that looked oddly familiar.

He approached the box, looking down at it curiously. If he wanted to find out who the author was, then...

With a sigh, he quickly summoned one of his Ninken; a terrier by the name of Guruko who, like the rest of his dogs, had a phenomenal sense of smell. Upon being summoned, Guruko stood in front of Kakashi, tail wagging.

"Guruko, could you do me a favor and track where this box came from?" Kakashi asked, pointing at the box. The terrier gave him a quick nod before approaching the box and sniffing all around it, then began to walk in the opposite direction.

Kakashi followed, unable to help but think that this route seemed familiar. For whatever reason, he hadn't been able to figure out where they'd been heading until the building was within his sight.

Guruko led him to a place that he'd been thinking about for the past few weeks.

Iruka's apartment.

When they reached the building, Kakashi could only stand there aimlessly.

"Kakashi, hello!" To his surprise, no other than Iruka Umino was briskly climbing down the stairs, a small clank echoing around them with every collision of the brunette's sandal-covered feet and the metal material. Finally, he got down to the concrete, walking towards Kakashi with a grin. He must've been in a good mood, and Kakashi tried to act like he was, too, despite the confusion that was currently clouding his mind. "What are you doing here?"

"Nothing much, just taking Guruko for a walk," He lied, trying to act casual as he pushed his hands into his pocket and changed the subject. "Where are you headed?"

"Just to the academy, I forgot some papers that I have to grade," Iruka spoke and gave an apologetic smile, and then a wave. One of these days, Kakashi thought that the Chunin's smile would kill him. "So I've gotta go and get them. Have a good evening, Kakashi."

"You, too..." Once Iruka was out of earshot, Kakashi looked down at his ninken with confusion on his mask-covered face. Guruko looked confident as always as he pointed at Iruka's apartment, but... Kakashi wasn't sure. Was it really someone in there? Could it have been Iruka? "Are you sure this is the right place, Guruko?" Almost as if to say stop being in denial, I know what I'm talking about, Guruko scoldingly pawed at the Jonin's clothed leg and whined. "Right, right, I trust you, but... Huh." He blinked, turning and walking away from the apartment with the terrier following behind him.

What a coincidence...