Title: Dog Training

Author: Me

Pairing: Um. None. blinkblink

Summary: Iruka-centric. Oneshot? Potentially linked to other fics/ideas. Iruka meets Hana Inuzuka in the woods during her recess. They've both lost something important, and perhaps each can help the other heal.

Disclaimer: Naruto and all of its subsidiaries belong solely to Kishimoto-san. To my knowledge.

Laughter danced upon the wind as children ran about the playground. They yelled to one another while swarming the jungle-gym that stood in the middle of a sea of sand. Small would-be nin climbed to the top of the swings in an attempt to escape their comrades. Others whooped and hollered, flinging taunts at the kids below from their 'base' on one of the platforms. The Hunters glowered at their classmates above them before going in search of other targets.

There was the occasional flare of chakra and glint of steel from the edges of the playground as some of the more serious students practiced their newest skills. Targets ranged one side of the nearby Academy wall where a smattering of children threw kunai with ease, and varying degrees of accuracy, with the occasional instruction from the teacher overseeing the surrounding activity.

Nearby, a boy, only a little older than those playing, lent on one of the fence rails lining the playground's boundaries. The green vest and hitai-ate tied about his forehead marked him a Leaf Chuunin. He was slouched forward, chin resting in arms folded along the top railing as he stared at the jungle-gym. Glazed brown eyes scanned across the playing children as a heavy sigh issued forth from hidden lips.

Why…? But he aborted the thought as the tears he'd believed spent threatened to choke him once again. He couldn't even think of her, his teammate…ex-teammate, without overwhelming heartache. The pain, the betrayal. The sacrifice. They were too much to bear. He wasn't ready to face the reality of it yet.

A rustling of leaves drew the boy's attention from his morbid thoughts, and slowly he stood, head cocked as though to better hear. His patience was rewarded by a soft yip and what could have been words. Thankful for the distraction, he quietly worked his way into the trees following the soft noises.

"Fudge," said a soft, lilting voice. It was followed by a whine, and a quiet woof.

Coming around a cluster of trees, the boy found the source of the sounds. A young, dark-haired girl, and three small pups. The girl spun to face him at a growl from the smallest of the gray animals. The twin red marks on her checks said she was Inuzuka, the clan which worked so closely with dogs, and the pups gathered about her must be her partners. The boy stifled a gasp as pain lanced through his heart, and he was thankful that he recovered before she or her dogs took note. Momi…

Quickly, she hid her hands behind her back, "Who are you?" She asked with obvious suspicion.

With his arms held slightly out from his sides and a small smile upon his face, the boy stepped fully from behind the brush. "Well," he said speculatively, "I could be an enemy ninja trying to take out the Leaf Village."

"But your wearing our hitai-ate," replied the girl logically and with no little amount of confusion.

"True." The boy pursed his lips in thought, and lidded his eyes to look at the child before him through his lashes. As a hand came up to rub along the scar that ran across his nose, he tried to regain his composure. For a moment, when the girl first turned, he could have sworn that he was looking back through time into his gennin days, but the eyes were wrong. "But that could just be a trick," he continued. "To make you think that I'm an ally." A tense silence fell amongst the trees as even the dogs starred at him in wariness.

A grin broke out on the boy's face making him appear younger than he had just moments before, and he flopped down to sit upon the ground. "My name's Umino Iruka. You can call me Iruka. What's yours?"

The girl visibly relaxed, but she remained silent a moment more before responding. "Inuzuka Hana." She's cautious. Just like…His lip twitched slightly as Iruka cut off that thought.

"Hana?" The grin widened. "That's a pretty name. Do you write it with the character for 'nose' or 'flower'?"

"Nose," came the reply, but the suspicion was slowly being pushed aside by curiosity. If this boy had been an enemy like he claimed, wouldn't he have killed her already? But why had his mouth turned down like that when she'd said her name? And why did his eyes look so sad? They reminded her of Kaa-sans a couple months ago when her cousin, Toboe-kun, didn't return from a mission. Later she'd found her mother in her room sobbing silently into Kuromaru's ruff.

"Heh." Mirth danced with the hurt in the warm brown eyes, but the boy made no other comment. "And who are these guys," he asked, gesturing to the pups watching him from the girl's feet.

"Haimaru Sankyodai," Hana said proudly. "They're the only triplets in our clan."

"And all three chose you. That's quite an honor." The girl flushed, whether in embarrassment, pride, or a combination of the two, Iruka couldn't tell. "What are their names?"

She blinked, then pointing to each in turn she said, "Nezu, Gin, and Chiri." Was it odd that this kid was the first person Notclan to ask her that?

Arms propped on his knees, Iruka smiled. "What are you doing out here," he asked, glancing briefly at the tree behind the small quartet.

"Practicing," came the defensive reply.

"Really? What are ya workin' on," he asked genuinely curious, although he had his suspicions.

"Nothing." Hana looked down at her zori clad feet, and the smallest pup, Chiri, licked her pant leg comfortingly. Iruka's silence had her shifting uncomfortably before he spoke again.

"If you tell me what it is, I'll help you," he offered. The marks in that tree looked to be made by kunai, but why would she be practicing in the woods alone instead of using the targets like the other students?

Hope and disbelief filled her wide eyes when the girl looked back at him. Wariness crept into her dark eyes when she asked, "Why?"

"Because you remind me of…a friend." Iruka mentally kicked himself for treading so close to the chasm that gaped within him, and hoped the grin he plastered across his face would hide the darker emotions.

"What happened to him?"

Iruka grimaced and dropped his gaze to the ground between them. Apparently he was still worthless when it came to hiding his feelings if even this girl could see them. "She got hurt," he managed around the lump blocking his throat.

"Was it bad," she asked softly. Iruka didn't answer. It was all he could do to force his dry throat to swallow around the lump that seemed lodged in it. His shoulders spasmed in a silent sob that broke its way past his barriers. He was still trying to push back the memories that threatened to overwhelm him when he felt small arms wrap around his neck, and soft, furred bodies press up against him.

Briefly, he wrapped his arms loosely around the girl as he returned her hug, until the ridiculousness of the situation had him laughing and wiping tears from his eyes. Just look at him. Needing comfort from a mere child. Pathetic.

"So, what are you trying to do," he asked as he pushed Hana back gently.

Hana watched as the boy scratched each of the puppies. "I'm practicing something I saw one of my cousins doing," she stated, but then added bitterly, "it's not going so well."

"Well, what did he do?" Hana then described what she'd seen while secretly watching her cousin, Toboe. She had watched in awe as Toboe threw kunai at one target, but the kunai switched trajectory mid distance to hit an entirely different target dead center. "I've been trying to get it right every day since. I thought it was the way he was throwing, but…I don't think that's it."

Iruka smiled slightly. This could be easy to solve, so long as Hana's cousin wasn't using chakra strings. He wasn't much of a puppeteer, but…"Why don't you just ask your cousin?"

Hana looked away to stare fixedly at one of the oaks surrounding them. "He died."

Iruka's smile vanished. Way to put your foot in your mouth, Umino. "I'm sorry." Hana only shrugged and shifted uncomfortably, eyes still focused on the tree. Clearing his throat a little self-consciously, Iruka continued, "Ah…do you know if he was using any chakra when you watched him."

Hana scratched her thigh as she thought, then glanced down at the darkest of her pups when he began barking enthusiastically. Bark turned to yelp as one of the other two tackled the first.

"What was that about," he asked when the snarling quieted.

"Gin said Tomoe-kun did use chakra, but Nezu says that he didn't use it all the time. And Chiri here," she continued, poking the smallest pup with her foot, "says to leave him out of it. He was probably too busy sleeping to pay attention." The abused pup heaved a sigh of the greatly beleaguered, his head rising from his paws with the effort.

Iruka couldn't help but smile. "So how's your chakra control?"

"Decent," Hana responded. Her eyes narrowed. "Why?"

Ignoring her question, he asked another of his own. "And what do you know about ricocheting?" Iruka leaned back so his weight was resting on his arms as he propped himself up.

As she began explaining the basics of that concept, with some verbal stumbling, Iruka realized that he had his work cut out for him if he intended to keep his promise to this girl.

"Right," he began after Hana's knowledge of ricochets had run dry. He looked up at the sky, estimating the time by the sun. "Recess should be about over, so I can't help you much right now," instantly the girl's face fell, "but I can practice with you after classes."

"When I don't have a mission, that is," Iruka quickly amended. "And when I am gone I want you to focus on your chakra control."

"Why both?"

"Well, based on what your friends here have said, I think your cousin was using multiple methods to control his weapons, but we're going to focus on the two most basic." He held up a finger. "One is ricocheting a weapon off one or more objects before hitting a target, and the other," he held up a second finger, "involves infusing a weapon with chakra before throwing it so that you can manipulate in while it's already in motion. That requires some delicate chakra control. And this is going to be a lot of work to learn how to do both these things properly. Are you still willing to learn?"

The rising call of a blue bird had Iruka cocking his head, and Hana and the pups getting to their feet. "That's first call. Class is going to start soon," she continued, starting for the school as her pups bounded about her feet. Pausing she turned back to ask, "Should I meet you here after school?"

Smiling, Iruka nodded, "Yes." Her returning grin lit up Hana's face before she continued walking, her mind already on returning to this place later.

A thought that made the smile vanish as though it had never existed had Iruka calling out and scrambling to his feet just before Hana left the small grotto.

She turned back to look at him once again. "Yes?"

"I'm going to be talking to your instructor to let him know what we're doing." And maybe get some more ideas. I also intend to talk to your mom, but you don't need to know that, he thought, but didn't voice. "I also don't want you slacking off with your work. If he tells me your grades are slipping, then I won't be able to work with you on this anymore."

Hana's eyes widened momentarily before she nodded enthusiastically. "Yes!" She turned to leave, but paused as though she wished to say more, so Iruka waited patiently. "It's her."

"I'm sorry," Iruka said genuinely puzzled.

"My teacher. She's a woman."

A chill ran down Iruka's back. He was getting a bad feeling about this. "What's her name?"

A young male voice was heard yelling for the stragglers to hurry up. "Yoko-sensei," she said before running off.

"So the old bat's still alive." Iruka sat down hard. I thought she had at least retired. He gulped. Maybe this wasn't going to be such a good idea after all.

To be continued?