A/N: this was for LJ contest with the theme "Death".
My fairytale ending
"Mother, Father, please tell me…what's the point in me living?"
It's late in the night. No one is awake but one chuunin. Standing before the memorial stone, the man stared down at the names of his parents with sadness and desperation.
"I'm not strong enough to helping dangerous missions, my students are growing up now so they don't need me to protect them anymore, and…" He paused, ashamed of his next reason. "-And I have no one else to live for." He choked out, pressing a fist to his mouth to hold back a sob.
"Do you wish for a solution, young man?"
Surprised by the stranger, Iruka jerked around to see a mysterious gentleman wearing a trench coat and a top hat.
"W-who are you?" Iruka demanded quietly.
The stranger ignored it. "Do you wish got a solution to your troubles?" he asked again, his voice low and soft.
Iruka watched the other warily. The rational side of his brain was telling him to walk away now but somewhere deep inside him he felt compelled to listen to the man's offer.
"Do you…do you really have something like that?" he asked in a whisper, his doe-brown eyes pleading. "Are you serious?"
"If that is what you desire, I do." He nodded.
Iruka bit his lip, contemplating on what he should do.
To risk or not to risk?
"I do. Please."
"Very well." The gentleman reached within the long folds of his coat and pulled out a small vile with neon-violet liquid. "Take this and you will find what you have been missing."
The next morning, Kakashi casually walked down the empty streets of Konoha. It was his usually time for his daily visit to the memorial stone. Just as he was about to arrive, something caught his attention.
Looking up from his erotica novel, he saw a person sitting next to the stone, most likely sleeping against it. Kakashi frown in disgust.
"Probably a drunk." He said to himself, pocketing his book as he reached the stone. "Oi', old man, it's disrespectful to use someone's tombstone as a pillow."
When the person didn't so much as a stir, the jounin became annoyed. Knelling down on one knee, he took hold of the sleeping man's shoulders in an attempt to shake him awake.
"Oi', wake up! Huh?" he paused his shaking when he suddenly recognized the identity of the drunkard. "Iruka-sensei? Is that you?"
He and the young chuunin still aren't in friendly terms with one another. Gingerly, he let go of the shoulder.
"Ma, Iruka-sensei, what are you doing sleeping out here?' he asked politely, keeping his annoyance out. He'd expected an equally polite and cool response. But when the younger man started to slide off the stone and landed ungracefully to the ground did the Copy Nin sensed something's wrong. "Iruka-sensei?!"
Grabbing the sleeping man's face, he gasped at how cold his skin was. Panic sets in him as he touched his bare throat. There was no pulse.
By noon, everyone of Konoha had heard about the death of Umino Iruka. After examination of the body, doctors informed that there was nothing they could do. Looking over the memorial stone, an Anbu discovered a small vile nearby the body and ruled the case suicide by poison.
Everyone was affected. The villagers, friends – both close and acquaintances, students – old and present, everyone who knew the kind brunette.
Iruka's burial was scheduled two days after his death. Until then, his body would be placed in a secret chamber with purifications to let his soul rest in peace.
On the night before his burial, he got a surprise visitor.
"Yo…Iruka-sensei." The lone ninja greeted awkwardly as he stepped in the holy room. He glanced around at the traditional décor. "Wasn't expecting me, weren't you? Well, that makes the two of us. Heh. I know we've gotten off on the wrong foot but I really want us to be friends. Kind of late now, huh?
"It's just…I'm not really good with human contact. Hardly a surprise. I don't have any experience in…communication. It's actually find it easier to talk to the dead. For me, at least." He paused as if waiting for the late chuunin to accept his explanation. "What's worst is that talking to you is the hardest. You're different than others. How you treat me.
"While others see me as a high title, most sees me as a threat but you…you see me as everyone else. Maybe a little more annoying than most but equal, none the less. It made me…happy. I felt…normal. Like a human being, someone who's normal with emotions."
The room fell silent as he stopped. Kakashi raised his head to look at the peaceful face. The same face that smiled to elders, scowled to misbehaving children, and frown annoyingly at him. Now no more.
Standing up abruptly, the silver-haired jounin leaned close to the unmoving man, his eye showing a wavered of emotion.
"Look, Iruka, what I'm trying to say is…is that…that you…that you're…" he stopped as if struggling to get the words out. He pulled down his mask and without hesitation, finished. "You're important to me."
Finally saying what he wanted, he softly placed his lips over his. The kiss was light, barely brushing against his lips, but the affect he got from it was electrifying. He felt as If a fierier whirlwind erupted through his body, waking every nerve and cell in his being.
After what felt like a life time, Kakashi pulled away, strangely breathless. He gazed down sadly at the lifeless face, wishing he could stare at the wide, brown eyes just one more time.
Suddenly, dark lashes slowly fluttered open and stared back at him with a sleepy yet anticipated gaze. Pale-blue eye locked with doe-brown eyes.
"Kakashi…-san?" Iruka murmured softly, his tone hinted confusion. "Is that you?"
After a full minute of staring in shock, Kakashi stiffened, rolled his eyes to the back of his head and dramatically fainted on top of him.
"W-what the –oof! Kakashi-san? Kakashi-san, wake up!" the smaller man tried to shove the heavy ninja off of him. "Dammit. Can someone help me? Anybody?!"
A while later, the whole got the biggest shock of the lives when the suppose-to-be-dead Iruka walked down the street like a zombie in white funeral robes dragging an unconscious Copy Nin.
The spectacle caused a big scare, disturbance and amusement. Many hours of explanation, medical help and damage control later, Tsunade grabbed Iruka along with Kakashi to her office for interrogation. By then, Kakashi was awake and all ears.
"I told you already, I was not trying to suicide myself!" Iruka puffed his cheeks in frustration. "I met this strange guy, we talked and he gave me some weird potion and I fell asleep after taking it."
"But you died for three days." The Fifth Hokage countered. She held up a folder and flipped through the pages. "Tests showed that your heart stopped beating, your brain shut off and all your organs stopped functioning."
Iruka had nothing to say to that. The older woman just sighed and sat down on her chair, exhausted.
"Anyways, the good news is that you're alive and we can put this all behind us. You may go now." She waved them off. Just before Iruka went through the door, she stopped him to say, "It's good to have you back again, Iruka-sensei."
He was surprised then broke out a wide smile. "Thank you, Hokage-sama."
The pair walked down the street together in silence. Nodding politely to passing people who stopped to confirmed that the chuunin was indeed alive. When they are finally alone did Kakashi broke the silence.
"Iruka."
As if prepared for confrontation, the chuunin replied with a readied, "Yes, Kakashi-san?"
"What you said, about the man who gave you the potion," he started, turning to look at the younger man's expression. "Was that true?"
Iruka sighed in exasperation. "Yes, Kakashi-san, all of it is true."
He fell silent again. And then dared to ask.
"Iruka-sensei?"
"What now?"
Kakshi took a deep breath before asking, "Why did you take the potion?"
The stopped the school teacher in his tracks and he turned to see the younger man looking away with a shameful expression.
"I…I can't tell you." He finally said.
"Why not?"
The chuunin fidgeted under the other's intense gaze. "B-because it's embarrassing…You'll laugh at me."
Confused, he gave the brunette a strange look. "I won't laugh at you."
"Yes, you will!"
"I won't!" he emphasized. "Just tell me."
"…..You promise you won't laugh?"
He nodded. "I promise. Ninja's honor."
Iruka argued with himself for a moment before sighing in defeat.
"The man said…if I take the potion…I would meet my…true love." He muffled the last part with his hand, his tan face darkened to a blush. He was expecting Kakashi to smother a giggle at least but heard nothing.
"Why?"
"What?"
"Why do you want to find your true love?" he repeated.
"Doesn't everyone?" he joked lightly. When Kakshi didn't laugh, Irua shifted nervously. "I just felt that…recently I realized that my life isn't heading anywhere. I'm not getting any younger so…I wanted to…give meaning to my life." He let out a bitter chuckle, scratching the back of his head. "And I was stupid enough to actually believe the guy who could've been an assassin. Some ninja I turned out to be."
They continued in silence until they've reached his apartment. Opening his door, Iruka turned to bid the jounin farewell but was cut off by another question.
"Do you still believe it?" Kakashi asked.
"Believe what?"
"That the potion brought you to your true love?"
Iruka remembered that during his dreamless sleep, he felt a warm voice calling to him and the bright light that woken him from his slumber. And greeted him was the face of an angel that is Kakashi. Turning his head away, a dark blush painted on his cheeks. "I- uh, can't say."
"I do."
Before Iruka could registered his meaning, he was pressed against the wall, his chin caught by two pale fingers and a pair of lips covered his. Like before, the kiss was soft but the response they felt was greater than ever. It was like a storm of emotions churning between them causing a chemical combustion.
When the pair parted, both were flushed in the face, dazed in the eyes and out of breath.
"When I saw you lying on the bed, all white and lifeless, I felt…an emptiness…in my chest that told me…living is meaningless now." Taking the small tan hand into his, Kakashi held it against his rapidly beating heart. "Umino Iruka, would you accept me…as your true love?"
Speechless, Iruka gazed up at the vulnerable face. The same face that has been hidden for years from prying eyes now revealed as an innocent newborn and the same mismatched eyes that are always emotionless or dangerous now glowed with fear, grief, anticipation and…a little bit of hope.
Looking down at their hands, Iruka used his free hand to pull one of Kakashi's hands off…and placed it over his own heart, He smiled lovingly up at the surprised jounin.
"I do…as long as you accept me.
"…I do."
Their wild hearts steadied into one joined beat that played a beautiful love story.
THE END
The man in the trench coat tipped his top hat as he watched the pair embrace each other. He smiled and turned his gaze towards a pair of young teens arguing loudly to each other. His next project.
"Everyone has a love. They just need a small guidance."