The Tempest

Iruka is 16 and has just passed the Jounin exam. A sudden return of people from his past turns his life upside down. Can the Dolphin and his Scarecrow hold on throughout the storm?

Pairings: Kakairu (Irukaka) (and others. I dunno yet.)

Iruka's first thought as the water ninja walked in through the gates was:

This is not happening to me.

Well…technically, that was his second thought. His first thought was:

Oh, shit.

The crowd that had gathered to watch the unusual sight – (Water-nin? In Fire country? Apparently not here to start a war? Wow!) – was impressive. Iruka waved a hasty goodbye to his 3-man team (all new Jounins – Anko and Genma were the other two in the team) and began to struggle through the crowd, who were all pushing to the front.

He ran to the town square, where the Hokage was waiting regally, pipe in mouth, and climbed a tree. Straddling a wide branch he watched and listened from a safe distance. He could hear snatches of conversation and strained his ears, leaning forward perilously on his branch.

'He…came…very young. We…find…prince.'

The head water-nin's voice was loud, but not loud enough. The wind rustled the village's famous leaves one last time then blessedly died down.

Iruka swallowed. Aargh. I am so fucked!

He could hear every word of the Hokage's answer.

'How interesting. We'll do all we can, of course-'

Not if I can help it, thought Iruka darkly.

'-but you say he was 'lost'? How very unusual. And how unusual that you have not come looking for him before..'

'Ye..yes.' The water-nin's face was obscured by leaves, but Iruka could practically taste the man's uneasiness.

Iruka grinned to himself. He knew what the Hokage was doing – he himself had been on the receiving end of that particular stare many a time before. It was extremely unnerving.

The Hokage must really not like this guy.

Aaargh! First new story typed in a long time! Please review, but don't bother going to my other stories, they're…well….crap. Yeah. Anyway:

This is an AU story, so Iruka-chan and Kakashi-kun are going out. Also, Iruka is a Jounin with Kakashi, but as to whether he's in ANBU…not sure yet. Oh, and Kakashi and Iruka are the same age, with Scarecrow-boy a few months older.

Review if ya'll don't understand anything, but seeing as this is only a first chapter, it should all resolve itself in the end.(one hopes..)