I know it's been a while since I've written Naruto but I'm back to it. I came up with this story last night and decided I definitely want to write it. It contains one of my favorite characters so I couldn't resist. I'm not giving away the pairing(s) as of yet. I want it to be a surprise.
The title isn't set in stone yet. I'm not sure how I like it with the story. It works well for what I have in mind so far but it might change. As for the warnings, I will add more after I post chapter two because again, I want it to be a surprise! I will change the summary as well.
"Mommy, is Daddy gunna get here before my baby brother?"
"Of course he is sweetie. Daddy wouldn't miss it for the world." Kushina reassured her five year old son, Kyuubi.
"Good. Cause Daddy can't miss Naruto getting here!" The boy said as he put a hand on his mother's pregnant belly.
A nurse entered the hospital room and frowned. "Is your husband not here yet?"
"No. He's not." Kushina said as she focused on her breathing.
"Would you like to call him?" The nurse asked. Kushina nodded as she tried not to scream through a contraction.
Once the contraction passed, the nurse punched in the dial-out number on the phone and handed it to the woman in labor. Kushina quickly dialed her husband's cell number and anxiously waited for him to answer.
"Hello?" Came a male voice on the other end of the line.
"Minato Namikaze! Where the hell are you?" She shrieked into the phone.
"Oooooh, Mommy said a bad word." Kyuubi murmured to his mother. She gave him a little smile before turning her attention back to the phone call.
"I'm sorry hun, but traffic is terrible. I should be the— get the fuck out of my way asshole!— I should be there in ten minutes." He told his wife.
"You had better. Kyuu is terrified you won't get here to see his baby brother being born." Kushina said through a deep breath.
"Can I talk to him?" Minato asked.
"Kyuu, you want to talk to Daddy?" She asked the small redheaded boy.
"Yeah!" He shouted and ran around to the other side of the bed.
"Daddy?" Kyuubi spoke into the phone.
"Hey Kyuu. I will be there before Naruto is born. I promise." He stated.
Kyuubi hopped excitedly in place. "Then I can play with him and be the best big brother ever! We can play hide and seek and cars and spacemen…"
Minato pulled through an intersection when his light turned green as he listened to his son prattle off a list of things he planned on doing with his new brother. He was so preoccupied with Kyuubi's excitement that he didn't notice the big SUV coming from his left that ran the red light.
There were the distinct sounds of twisting metal and shattering glass. "…and we can color pictures… Daddy?" Kyuubi asked. "Daddy? Where'd you go?" He turned to his mother. "Daddy went away. There were crashy sounds and he stopped talking."
Kushina's eyes widened as she snatched the phone from her son's hand. "Minato?" She shouted. She heard a soft moan of pain and tears started building in her eyes.. "Minato?" She asked softer than before.
There was a ragged breath and then, "Love you… Kyuu… and Naru" The line went dead.
The same nurse from before heard Kushina's shout and ran back into the room. "Is everything ok?" She asked.
"Please take my son to the hospital daycare center." Kushina said, staring off into nothing.
"But Mommy, I have to wait for Daddy so that Naruto can come!" The five year old protested.
"Don't worry Kyuubi; you'll be able to see your brother as soon as the doctor says it ok." She murmured, eyes still unfocused.
A tear slid down her cheek as she watched the nurse take her son, kicking and screaming, from the room. If only either of them had known it was the last time they would see each other.
~!~
"Stupid Naruto." A six year old Kyuubi whispered into the dark. "Mommy and Daddy would still be here if you were never born." He said to the sleeping one year old baby.
Something shiny in his hand caught the light coming in through the window. It was a knife. Somehow, the young boy had managed to sneak into the kitchen and back out without getting caught.
"I'm gunna make you ugly. No one wants an ugly baby." He said as he climbed over the side of the crib. "Then when I get 'dopted and you don't, I'll never see you again."
The knife easily pierced the soft flesh of the infant's face. Blues eyes popped open as the baby began to wail in pain. Cries from three other orphaned babies joined in a moment later.
Kyuubi dragged the knife over his baby brother's face, making a straight line across the top of his cheek. He quickly added two more below it before moving on to the other side.
Just as he finished making the sixth cut, several pairs of hands grabbed him and pulled him away. The knife fell from his hand and landed next to Naruto's head.
"What are you doing to your brother, Kyuubi?" An angry voiced yelled as the boy kicked out at the person holding him.
"I hate him! He took Mommy and Daddy away from me!" The redheaded boy screamed, limbs still flailing. The adults in the room were surprised by this outburst. None of them had ever realized he felt that way about his brother.
Kyuubi suddenly felt a stinging pain in his right shoulder. He looked down to see a syringe pushing medication into his arm. A few moments later, his eyes drooped and he passed out.
The workers and orphanage directors agreed to keep this incident quiet. They knew Kyuubi wasn't a violent boy and they didn't want to keep him from a loving family he still deserved.
However, they decided that the boys wouldn't be adopted together as they had originally planned, not wanting to split up the only family either of them had. Clearly, Kyuubi harbored ill feelings for his brother.
Kyuubi was adopted six months later.
~!~
"Iruka, I'm home!" Thirteen year old Naruto shouted as he kicked off his shoes and dropped his bag on a chair near the door. Upon receiving no answer he yelled, "Iruka, where are you?"
"Kitchen." Came a hoarse reply.
Naruto walked into the room to see his foster father sitting at the table with red, puffy eyes, like he had been crying.
"What's wrong, Iruka?" Naruto asked, putting a hand on the man's shoulder. He picked up a piece of paper from the table and handed it to the blonde. It was damp in places and the printer ink had been smudged here and there.
He quickly read through the letter, eyes widening and tearing up the farther he got. "They can't do that!" Naruto shouted as he finished reading. "They can't take me away just because you work at a school with kids that have criminal records. It's not your fault they transferred you!"
"Apparently they can and they're going to, Naruto." Iruka said with a defeated sigh. "I already called social services about it and they said it's too dangerous for you to continue living with me. If one of the students decided to break into the house they could hurt you."
Naruto's legs decided they couldn't support his weight anymore and he fell to the floor. "But you're my dad." He whimpered. In the three years that Naruto had lived there, it was the first time he had ever vocalized that he saw Iruka as his father.
"Oh Naruto." The brunette whispered as he dropped to his knees on the floor. He pulled the boy to his chest and held him as they both cried.
"I wish I could have adopted you right from the start." Iruka whispered into Naruto's hair sometime later.
"But you couldn't because you don't make enough money." Naruto finished. It was a conversation they had had before. "When are they coming for me?"
"Sunday at 5pm so we have the weekend to pack your stuff." Iruka replied, a few more tears leaking from his eyes.
"But I don't want to go." Naruto cried as a fresh wave of tears shook his body.
"I know. I don't want you to go either. But I promise, I'll come see you whenever I can and you can visit anytime you want. The door will always be open for you." Iruka said quietly, trying to hold back his own sorrow.
Later that night after they had gone to bed, exhausted from the emotional day, Naruto snuck out of his room to the front door. He didn't want to leave Iruka but he was not going to go back to the orphanage.
Naruto took out the note he had written, saying he'd be back in a while once things had died down, and put it on the end table where they kept keys and wallets. Then he put his own house key over it. He took a last look at the only home he'd ever had and quickly left before he could change his mind.
~!~
"Calm down, Iruka." Kakashi said to his long-term boyfriend. As much as he loved the man, Iruka could be a little too much when he went into mother hen mode.
"You're telling me to calm down? My SON is out God knows where, doing God knows what. He could be dead or worse!" The brunette man shrieked as he stood up from the couch. The sky outside was already darkening. Naruto had been gone for nearly 24 hours now.
Kakashi pulled his hysterical lover back down, wrapped his arms around him and sighed. "I'm sorry. I'd probably freak out too if it was my kid." He said softly.
Iruka sniffled and said, "No you wouldn't. You'd be out there knocking down every door in the city until you found him. Then, after you made sure he was alright, you'd kick his ass for doing something as stupid as running away."
"You're damn right I would! Doesn't he know you could get arrested if you fail to hand him over?" Kakashi asked angrily.
"Of course he does. I think Naruto's just more afraid of going back to the orphanage than anything else." He replied.
"How long would it take for him to be put in another home?" Kakashi asked as he soothingly rubbed his lover's back.
"I don't know." Iruka said. "I was his first foster parent. No one else would take him. He was just too loud and obnoxious or he'd scare them by saying he put the scars there himself, that social services lied about it being an accident when he was a baby."
"What if… would I be able to take him?" The older man asked.
Iruka sat up so he could look Kakashi in the face and asked, "You'd really do that?"
"Of course I would. I love you and it seems… I've grown fond of the kid too." He said with a smile.
"I love you!" Iruka shouted as he pulled his lover into a bone crushing hug.
"If you're happy, I'm happy. But this might put a damper on our plans of moving in together." Kakashi mused. "Why don't we already live together?"
"Because you didn't want to live with a certain blonde ball of sunshine that always seemed to be on a sugar high." The younger man replied.
"Oh right. So… where do you think said brat is?"
"I… have absolutely no idea." Iruka said, slumping in sudden depression.
"Sure you do. You know him better than anyone. Just think about it. Where would you go if you were running away?" Kakashi asked.
"I'd go to your house, duh."
"Why?"
"Well…" Iruka thought for a second. "Because I love you. You understand me and you're my best frie— Sasuke!" He shouted as he jumped up from his seat.
"See, I told you, you know where he is." Kakashi said, his eyes crinkling in amusement.
Iruka rolled his eyes and said, "Whatever. Just come on." He grabbed Kakashi by the sleeve and pulled him out the door to his vehicle. He started it and nearly peeled out of the driveway in his haste to get to Naruto.
By the time they reached the Uchiha mansion, Kakashi had a death grip on the 'oh shit' handle and the center console. He was shocked that, not only did they not get pulled over, but that they made there alive. Iruka was like a mother bear protecting her cub.
At the door, Iruka jabbed the doorbell with his thumb, repeatedly, until a teenager, though older than Naruto, answered it.
"Itachi! Please tell me Naruto's here?" His eyes darted around the room behind the boy, searching for any hint of blonde.
"Up the stairs, second door on the left." Itachi explained as he stepped aside to the let the frazzled man in.
Upon reaching said door, Iruka froze when he heard Naruto's voice.
"… hurt him. I just don't want to go back to that place."
A pause and then another voice said, "I know you don't, on both counts. Maybe… maybe I could talk mother and father into being foster parents for you."
A sniffle. "Thank you, Sasuke." Then there was silence.
Iruka thought that Naruto might have started crying, he knew how emotional the boy could be, so he quickly turned the knob and pushed the door open.
Iruka froze again. Sasuke and Naruto were sitting on the bed in the corner, kissing. Their eyes were closed and they were too wrapped up in each other to notice the two men that had walked in. A throat was cleared and the boys flew apart.
"Iruka!" Naruto shouted, rubbing his elbow where it had hit the wall. "How'd you find me? Did Itachi call you?"
"You had me worried sick! I can understand why you ran away, Naruto, but we could have worked something out." The man said, ignoring the blonde's questions.
"How? As long as you work at that school, I can't live with you. And you can't quit just because of me." Naruto said.
"Well, if you would have stuck around a little longer, you would have heard about the solution we came up with." Iruka said, hands on his hips.
Naruto's deep blue eyes widen in hope. "Really? I can keep living you?" He asked.
"No." Iruka stated
Naruto opened his mouth to protest but he was cut off.
"You'll come live with me." Kakashi said from behind Iruka.
Naruto shot up from the bed and launched himself at the silver haired man. "Thank you so much, Kakashi." He said, crying into the man's shirt.
Once they were back in the car, Iruka brought up what they had walked in on. "So… do I need to give you the birds and the bees talk?" He asked.
Naruto smacked a hand over his face. "No, Iruka. I know all about sex and I don't plan on having it until I'm at least fourteen." He replied, his birthday being only a little more than two months away.
"Sixteen." Kakashi stated. "If you're going to be living in my house, you'll wait until you're at the age of consent."
"I'd prefer if he waited until I was dead." Iruka grumbled.
"Whoa, let's not carried away now." Naruto said, waving his hands wildly in front of his face. "I can wait until I'm sixteen. I can compromise."
Iruka groaned and would have dropped his head against the steering wheel if he hadn't been driving.
"So then, are you and Sasuke dating?" Kakashi asked, changing the subject.
Naruto stared out the window at the light rain that was now sliding across the glass. "Not really. We've kissed a few times but that's it. Itachi walked in on us once though and he gave us the whole sex talk. He was very… descriptive." Naruto said with a slight shudder.
Kakashi turned an amused smirk to the blonde boy seated behind Iruka. "I'm guessing he told you about some of his own experiences." He stated.
Naruto shuddered, again, and quickly changed the subject, again. "So how is this gunna work?" He asked.
"Kakashi will have to file to become a foster parent." Iruka started. "And I'm not going to lie to you; you might have to stay at the orphanage for a while. No longer than a week hopefully and that's only if we can't convince them to let you stay with me until the all the paper work goes through." He explained as he parked in the driveway and switched off the ignition.
"What about you, Iruka? What are you gunna do here all by yourself?" He asked, worried about his foster dad.
Iruka turned in his seat, smiled and said, "Well obviously, I'm going to be staying the night at Kakashi's house more often. I'll probably find a smaller and cheaper place close to his though, since I would be spending a lot of time there."
"Ok. Let's go inside now. I'm starving!" Naruto announced loudly. Both men in the front seat chuckled before following the blonde into the house.
If anyone can guess the pairing(s), I'll give you a cookie!