A Stupid Favor

Day Zero - Afternoon

"I'm not staying in the hospital for two days," Kakashi said stubbornly.  "I'll be fine."

Tsunade clicked her tongue.  "Go ahead.  Find the door," she said.

Kakashi made a face, bit his thumb, and dragged his blood across his summoning contract.  He planted both his hand and the contract to the ground with a petulant, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

He could hear Tsunade smirking.  "How's that working out for you?"

Kakashi barely resisted the urge to tell her to shut up.  So his chakra pathways had been temporarily blocked off to his eyes; there was no reason his summoning shouldn't have worked.

"I told you," she said, amused at his frustration, "we had to temporarily bind your chakra.  I meant everywhere."

"Well, you do it, then," he said, thrusting his bleeding thumb at her.

"Not a chance," Tsunade said.  "I'm motivated to get you to stay in the hospital, remember?"

"Well, what if I had someone who was willing to help me, then?" Kakashi pressed.

"Like who?" Tsunade asked, sounding thoughtful.

"Gai," Kakashi said instantly.

"Just got sent on a week-long mission two days ago."

"Yamato."

"Also on a mission."

"Asuma."

"On vacation."

"Kurenai?"

"Also on vacation."

"...Yūgao?" Kakashi tried, beginning to reach desperation.

"On call.  And before you say it, no.  If she were called in and you needed help, you'd be a sitting duck."

"Fine," Kakashi agreed grouchily, since she was right.  "...Genma?"

"On call."

"Raidō."

"On call.  Face it, brat, you have to stay in the hospital.  It's just two days."

"Thank you so much, sensei," came the faint sound of a woman's voice from somewhere far away.  "We very much appreciate your coming by to say hello."

"Of course.  I'll have one of Kuri's classmates bring his homework by tomorrow," a familiar voice floated down the hall.

"Iruka-sensei," Kakashi said desperately.  Ordinarily, he never would have suggested the (cute, but Kakashi wasn't about to admit it) Academy teacher, but desperate times and desperate measures, and all that.

"...Excuse me?" Tsunade asked.

"Iruka-sensei," Kakashi repeated, beginning to seriously reconsider even as the name escaped his lips.

"Last I heard, you two had a hissy fit during the Chūnin Exam recommendations six months ago and haven't had a civilized conversation since," Tsunade said dryly.

That wasn't, strictly speaking, correct.  They had spoken here and there, and, okay, Iruka had mostly shouted and scolded, but they didn't argue.  That was... well, mostly civil, wasn't it?  However, after the Chūnin Exam recommendations and Kakashi's subsequent, rather unpleasant realization that a) he had a massive, squishy crush on Iruka-sensei and b) it was not reciprocated, he had spent a frankly embarrassing percentage of his time in Konoha strategically avoiding the teacher.

"Ask," Kakashi insisted anyway.  Two days with nothing to do and no one to talk to sounded horrifying.  If he had been tired and could have slept, or if he could have read, it would have been fine, but with nothing but Sharingan memories to keep him vigil through two days...?  Even the embarrassment of having to ask Iruka to take care of him sounded less traumatic.  "Please?"

He heard the clicking of her heels on the floor and then the door sliding open.

"Iruka-sensei!  Do you have a moment?"

"Yes?  Tsunade-sama?" Iruka's voice came, drawing closer with every syllable.

"Someone has a stupid favor to ask you."

Shifting cloth and more clicking of shoes said Tsunade had come back into the room, followed by another person, whom Kakashi assumed was Iruka.

"The brat either needs to stay in the hospital or to have a babysitter for two days," Tsunade said bluntly.

"Hah?" Iruka asked uncomprehendingly.

Kakashi smiled as charmingly as he could.

"Hello, Iruka-sensei," he said with a cheerful little wave.

"No, he can't see that," Tsunade said, presumably at something Iruka had done.  "That's the thing.  He's–"

"Completely blind," Kakashi broke in cheekily.

"And functionally chakra-less," Tsunade added.

"What?" Iruka asked.

"He got hit by a jutsu that was attacking the chakra pathways around his eyes," Tsunade explained.  "We had to bind his chakra pathways to prevent the damage from spreading, and I temporarily shunted the chakra away from his eyes so I could undo the damage.  The only problem is, we need to give it two days to heal before I can go in and undo the chakra seals again."

"I... see," Iruka said faintly.  "But... I don't think I'm the most well-suited to this, ah... job.  What if something were to happen?  I'm just a chūnin."  He didn't sound like he had any embarrassment hidden within the words.  Interesting.  "Besides, I'm not even available during the day because I have class.  Surely there must be someone better?"

"If you were to do this, I wouldn't mind getting your class covered for two days.  It'd be easier than trying to get anyone else," Tsunade said.  Hissing cloth said she had shrugged.  "And frankly, he'd be safer with you than he would be here in the hospital."

...Interesting.  Unless something had changed with ANBU's schedule, they still probably had someone swing by the hospital several times a day.  Admittedly, it wasn't terribly often, but still....

"But..." Iruka said, sounding conflicted.

"It's alright," Kakashi said with a small sigh, resigning himself to two unpleasant days in the hospital.  They would pass, ultimately.  He could manage.  He pasted a smile onto his face.  "I thought I would ask.  Thank you anyway, Iruka-sensei."

"Wait, it was your idea?" Iruka asked.  He sounded like he was frowning.

"Yes?" Kakashi said, not sure if that was the answer Iruka wanted to hear.

There was a moment of silence.

"If you're sure," Iruka said slowly, "then I suppose I could...."

Kakashi perked up despite his best intentions.  "Really?" he asked.  "I don't mean to make you feel pressured."

"No, I mean...."  The sound of a shrug.  "If you think you can put up with me for two days."

Kakashi smiled.  "I'm sure we can make things work."

"Al... alright," Iruka said timidly.  "Well... um... okay, then."

Iruka, it turned out, was prone to getting distracted by greetings from others as he walked through Konoha.  Kakashi marvelled at the sheer number of people Iruka seemed to know.  It was like every person they passed said hello and had some tidbit to offer or ask.

It also quickly became self-evident that the easiest way for him to guide Kakashi was by holding Kakashi's elbow.  This gave Iruka the ability to drag Kakashi out of the way of running children on more than one occasion.

"I figure it's best that you stay with me at my place," Iruka said awkwardly as they walked.  "I mean, unless you prefer for us to stay at your place.  I'd need to stop at my place to get my things anyway, though.  It's close by."

"My place is pretty small," Kakashi admitted.  "Yojohan¹.  I'm... not sure there would be space for two people.  It wouldn't be very comfortable, at any rate."

"Ah.  My place it is, then."

They finally arrived at Iruka's apartment building.  It was, indeed, quite close to the hospital, presumably chosen for its proximity to the Academy.

"Okay, there's a step up about half a step in front of you," Iruka warned.

They made their tedious way up the stairs.  Kakashi stumbled at the top of the first flight of stairs, trying to go up when there wasn't another step, and Iruka barely caught him.

They slowly got the hang of it.  Iruka warned Kakashi when he had reached the last step, and Kakashi counted nineteen steps between flights, filing the information away for reference.

Iruka lived on the third floor.  He led Kakashi down the walkway and helped him find the doorframe to hold while Iruka dug out his keys.

Kakashi toed his sandals off in the little entryway, and Iruka helped him step up the half step into the rest of the apartment.

Iruka gave Kakashi a quick tour – if Kakashi kept his left hand on the wall, he felt in order the kitchen, a pantry, a closet, a bathroom, a bedroom, the peripheral wall of the living room, the dining room, and the front door again – and helped Kakashi settle down at the kotatsu in the living room.

"I'm going to make a pot of tea," Iruka said.  "Do you need anything?"

"No.  Thank you," Kakashi said gratefully.  "I'd offer to help, but...."

"Don't worry about it," Iruka said, his voice going in the direction of the kitchen.  "You're my guest.  I'm going to fill my kettle now."

He continued to narrate everything he did just before doing it.

Gradually, despite the unfamiliarity of the apartment, Kakashi found himself relaxing.  The way Iruka announced every movement put Kakashi unexpectedly at ease, relieving him of having to attempt to interpret every little sound he heard.

Iruka went into the bedroom, still narrating, to change the sheets on his bed for Kakashi.  Kakashi tried to protest, saying he didn't mind sleeping on the floor, but Iruka merely ignored him and continued to narrate what he was doing as he was doing it.

He made his way back to the kitchen to steep the tea.

Once the tea had been poured, he brought it out to the kotatsu and poured Kakashi a cup.

Kakashi fumbled for the tabletop.  Immediately, he felt Iruka's warm hands envelop his own, guiding his hands gently to the mug of tea.

"Why did you agree?" Kakashi asked, tipping his face toward the mug as if he could see it.  "To take care of me for two days.  Babysit me."  He made a face, but even he had to admit that the choice of words wasn't totally off the mark.

"Because you asked, Kakashi-san," Iruka said, sounding surprised.  "You've helped me many times in the past.  Why wouldn't I help you?"

Kakashi grimaced.  "I can think of a pretty good reason or two."

"You mean the Chūnin Exam recommendations?" Iruka asked quietly.

Kakashi made a sound of acknowledgement.

Iruka was quiet for a moment.  "I'm sorry I was so rude to you and dismissive of you and what you had to say," he said softly.  "I was surprised and spoke out of turn, and I said things I shouldn't have said.  I know you were right."

"Ha...h?" Kakashi asked, totally perplexed by Iruka's response.  "Wait, but...."

"Please forgive me for my rudeness," Iruka said, his voice suddenly coming from somewhere near the floor.  Was he... bowing?  "It was wrong of me."

"That's not what I was saying at all!" Kakashi protested.  "I thought you've been angry with me over what I'd said to you!"

There was a long, painful pause.

"I admit that you said some things that hurt me," Iruka said quietly.  "But it was no excuse for my behavior towards you.  I admit that I was angry and hurt for a lot of that day, but I realized that... well.  I haven't been angry since."

"Then... why don't you talk to me?" Kakashi asked a little more plaintively than he'd meant to.

"I thought you didn't want to talk to me," Iruka said with surprise.  His voice had returned to the height that suggested Iruka had straightened up again.  "And I... didn't really know what to say," he admitted shyly.

"Neither did I," Kakashi admitted in return.  "I have to admit, though, I'm glad you aren't angry with me."

"Because it meant you got to leave the hospital?" Iruka teased, not unkindly.

"That, too," Kakashi acknowledged.  "But also simply because I prefer being on good terms with you."

"Oh," Iruka said, surprised.  "I prefer being on good terms with you, as well," he said, and Kakashi could hear his smile.