Hello, children! Welcome to my newest fanfic, Trails of a Tear. This is my second legitimate story that I've written, so I hope it's not too bad X) Reviews are always welcome whether good or bad, in fact they are encouraged! Enjoy!

Warnings: Nothing scandalous in this chapter, after all we're just starting out. In fact there's not going to be much citrus for a while, I'd like to make things happen at a normal pace. I think Kakashi and Iruka need a bit of time to get used to the idea before jumping into bed with each other…but it shall happen eventually! For now, enjoy the pre-yaoi goodness :)

Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me. I simply manipulate its characters to do my sinister bidding. Muahaha…

Chapter 1

"Iruka, for the hundredth time, Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke are my subordinates now and it is my decision whether to enroll them in the Chunin exams. I appreciate your concerns, but they are not going to influence my choice."

"But – "

"That's the end of it. Now if you don't mind, I have some important business to attend to." And with that Kakashi vanished into a puff of smoke.

"Probably going off to read your porn," I muttered angrily, kicking at a rock on the street before me. "The jerk, thinking he's all that just because he's a Jounin." I heaved a great sigh, resigning myself and heading back to my apartment. With stacks upon stacks of papers to grade my bad day only held the promise of getting worse. How could he do this to them? I wondered for the thousandth time, They're just kids and the Chunin Exams are positively brutal. Nothing good will come of this, they could even…I squashed that thought immediately, not allowing myself to even think the word. No. They were promising students, I had to believe in them. Even if one is a hyperactive knucklehead, one is a genius who as good as he is thinks he's better than is realistic, and the other is a girl who squeals if a bug crawls across her desk and is too wrapped up with puppy love to care about her future. Another sigh. Way to be supportive and optimistic of your past students, Iruka.

Yawning, I stuck my key into the lock and turned, pushing my door open only to be all but attacked as I stepped inside.

"Iruka!" Someone blurred before me and I felt a vice like grip tighten around my waist as someone threw their arms around me. My breath wheezed out and it took me a moment to recover. Yeah, some ninja reflexes you have. However there was only one person it was likely to be.

"Anko," I greeted the purple haired woman tiredly, "What are you doing in my apartment?"

"Waiting for you, silly!" She grinned brightly, pulling away, "What else would I be doing?" Oh, I don't know, stalking me? Lately Anko seemed to have developed a bit of a thing for me. Well, that was putting it mildly. Anko had developed a major thing for me and wasn't afraid of making it known. In fact she'd been quite aggressive about it, having already asked me out on several dates. I'd accepted the last couple out of pure politeness and unfortunately she'd taken things the wrong way. A couple nights that from anyone's standpoint would have been viewed as platonic and friendly had resulted in her belief that we were only a step away from being officially together. She'd even been spreading the nonsense around.

"You didn't have to break into my apartment in order to see me," I stated, my normal manners a bit worn after the day's events.

"Well I also wanted to see what it's like where you live," she shrugged happily, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"Right," I said, restraining myself from putting a hand to my newly throbbing temple, "Of course."

"Now I was expecting to come here and say your place needs a feminine touch, but it looks like you've got that all taken care of, little dolphin." She continued obliviously and I wince at the nickname I despised wholeheartedly.

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh, come on," she snorted, "This place hardly looks like your typical bachelor's pad." The apartment entered into my living room and I looked around at the cushy, light blue couch, the glass coffee table, the plants taking up a couple of corners and the rocking chair that had belonged to my grandmother. A few paintings hung on the wall, but all I could see was an apartment styled to my taste; there was nothing distinctly feminine about it.

"I don't know what you mean," I frowned.

"Well for starters, your place is spotless! No single straight man has an apartment this clean."

I felt the blood rise to my face. "Are you suggesting – "

"Calm down, 'Ruka," she waved a hand at me, "I know you're plenty straight. Otherwise I'd have to give up, and that's not something I do easily," she winked.

I bit my lip to keep from snarling and counted to ten silently. "Can I offer you something to drink?" I inquired, letting the hospitable side of me that my parents had drilled into my skull when I was young take over.

"Do you have any sake?"

I blinked. "Anko, it's barely four o'clock."

She grinned. "So? It's never too early for a nice glass of sake."

The throbbing in my temples increased to an all over ache. "I'm afraid all I have is tea and milk. There might be some juice in there as well."

"Alright, I'll take some tea." Despite her avid interest in me and my growing desire to spend some time alone with a hot cup of tea and the papers I had to grade, Anko wasn't actually that bad of company. She was spirited and intelligent, not to mention beautiful, and there was really no reason I shouldn't be equally interested in her. There were certainly plenty of other men my age that were, I should have considered myself lucky. However, I didn't find myself in the least bit attracted to her. After all, dating wasn't exactly the first thing on my mind. The whole grow up, find a soul mate, have kids thing just wasn't appealing to me; especially since I could at any day be killed and leave those kids in the exact situation my parents left me. I shuddered at the thought of leaving another child to grow up with such pain.

"Iruka? Dolphin, are you listening to me?" I snapped out of the daze I hadn't noticed I'd fallen into.

"What? Sorry, I got distracted…"

"Obviously," she rolled her eyes. "What are you thinking so hard about? Could I possibly hope it's me?" Her smile turned mischievous and I felt a slight blush color my cheeks at her obvious implications.

"Ah, actually I was just remembering how many papers I have to grade. You see I had the kids write an essay about the difference between a simple cloning jutsu and the shadow clone jutsu, analyze and compare difficulty levels and techniques and – "

"I'm gonna stop you right there, 'Ruka," she laughed, holding a hand up, "I didn't know you had so much on your plate, I'll leave you to it."

"Oh, you don't have to go." Please. Please go.

"I insist. I wouldn't want to distract you from your job." She got up and headed towards the door. "But I'll be seeing you," she said sinisterly before disappearing. I allowed myself to indulge in a small smile. One sure way to get rid of Anko was to bring up anything academic related. She'd hated the academy enough while she was in it she had no desire to hear about it now that she was done. It made her attraction to me, a teacher, a bit ironic actually.

I stood, stretching, and went to make myself a piping mug of green tea, grabbing my school bag and settling down on the couch to grade, carefully making sure I had a coaster for my mug of course. I winced immediately as I pulled out the first essay. The author: Konohamaru. Sighing, I prepared myself for a long night.

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The first rays of the sun woke me that morning instead of my alarm and I yawned and stretched blissfully, wiping a bit of drool off my face. It's probably a good thing I don't have a girlfriend, I thought as I did so, Or this would be horribly embarrassing in the morning. Pleasantly surprised, I noticed that I had actually gotten all my grading done the previous night and hadn't even drooled on the essay before me. Always an early riser with no hope of going back to sleep for the couple hours I had remaining before school I put the papers away and took my now cool mug back into the kitchen to wash. Half an hour later I was freshly showered and dressed with nothing to do. That was when I noticed the knot of tension in my neck and winced as I tried to stretch it out. The idea came to me immediately, realizing exactly what I did when I was stressed. Of course I usually went at night when I could bring flowers, but I'm sure my parents would appreciate the visit even if I didn't bear gifts.

The day promised to be a hot one, the air already warm as I made my way through the quiet town, the only people out and about being a few sparse shop owners preparing to open up for the day. My favorite bakery was already wafting delicious smells from its windows and door and my stomach rumbled. If I hadn't already promised Naruto I'd take him to Ichiraku that night I would stop and treat myself on the way back, but unfortunately I was living off a teacher's salary. The forest around the clearing where the memorial stood was quiet and serene as usual and I was about to approach the purple stone when I paused, noticing a figure was already there before me.

I could see his face from where I stood but I didn't need to; the hair was identifiable enough on its own and I clenched my teeth in annoyance. Brilliant. Kakashi. Just what I need first thing in the morning. It wasn't surprising to see him there, most every shinobi in the village had lost someone they cared about in action. The few who hadn't were incredibly few and far between, as well as extremely lucky. I didn't know Kakashi's story, but I assumed it was similar to everyone else's. As much as I disliked the guy, though, he deserved his time at the memorial undisturbed as everyone else did. I stood silently, ensuring that I went unseen. After a while my legs began to get tired but Kakashi hadn't moved a muscle.

As the time neared when I was supposed to be at school I was about to approach, Kakashi or no Kakashi, but then I saw it: a lone tear trickled down the visible side of his face and I gasped in shock. Kakashi? The great copy ninja? Crying? Suddenly that face snapped towards me and next time I blinked there was a warm presence behind me.

"You tell no one," Kakashi's voice hissed in my ear, and then he was gone.

Severely shaken, I made my way to the memorial. Certainly I hated the man currently for allowing my dear students to participate in something so dangerous as the Chunin Exams, but even I couldn't help but feel a lurch of pity for the man. Of course if I ever said that out loud he'd kill me without a second thought, but still. Now I knew the great Kakashi could feel like any other.

And chapter one is finished! Reviews do make me a very happy girl, so don't hold back! Bye now!