Disclaimer - I don't own Naruto or any of the characters from the original series! Okami Etsu and the Onizuka's are mine however - so please ask nicely before borrowing! Any characters and situations herein are purely fictitious, and any similarity between those and persons living or dead is coincidental.

Sooooo... First Naruto fanfic! Only my second fanfic - so please be nice! I do welcome constructive criticism as I am not an expert on Naruto or Japanese culture!

Edited and updated April 2017 - some minor changes have been made but nothing major! Mainly just me tweaking things a little...

Meeting

Iruka footed his way confidently up through the trees that surrounded Konaha determined to put some space between himself and the rest of humanity. The attack that had killed Lord Sandaime was still fresh in everyone's memory, and Iruka doubted he was the only one struggling with the aftermath of fighting. Even with Lady Tsunade as the newly appointed Godaime Hokage life was still in the process of settling down. The past week had dragged on abominably, with too many excitable students at the academy and tiresome shinobi in the missions room. Some alone time was very much overdue.

He halted, rolling his eyes in annoyance at the sight of a kunoichi sitting to the side of the path examining her leg. He veered off into the trees... Normally this part of the forest was deserted... Wait, she'd been examining her leg like it was - injured? Iruka backtracked and took a closer look. Sure enough, there was blood all over her leg. Well, he couldn't just leave without checking that his comrade didn't need assistance... He sighed and strolled in her direction. She was slim and well muscled for a kunoichi, with broad shoulders and messy, brown hair scooped up into a high, looped ponytail. She looked to be the same height as him, unusually tall for a woman, the uniform she wore had obviously been altered to fit her slim figure. She also looked vaguely familiar... His mind whirled... What was the betting she'd immediately recognise him? And he had no clue as to what her name was!

'Good afternoon Umino-san.' She smiled happily up at him with melting brown eyes. Iruka's stomach gave a very funny twist.

'You, um, want a hand? With that? Your leg I mean?' Iruka blushed. Damn it! She knew him! And he was sure he knew her from somewhere!

'Nnnnn... Well if you don't mind?' She handed a roll of bandage up to him and watched quietly as he knelt down to look at the injury.

'That looks nasty.' Iruka hummed thoughtfully. 'You should probably go to the hospital or something.'

'Not much point. I do this so often I'm practically a pro at patching myself up!' She laughed. Iruka chuckled, she reminded him of a girl that had been in the same class as him at the academy... The one with no parents...

'Okami Etsu? Etsu-chan?' Iruka looked hard at her. She'd been a gangly, uncoordinated klutz at the academy, and had been bullied without mercy by their fellows. He seemed to remember she'd had no friends either.

'Haha! I wondered if you'd remember.' She smiled bewitchingly at him.

'You've changed a lot.' Iruka noted bluntly. Damn! When did she get so pretty?! He carefully applied the bandage to the injury, chancing a glance at her face occasionally. She seemed pensive, sad almost, but whenever she spoke she smiled so warmly. He tied the bandage off neatly and rose to his feet offering Etsu his hand.

'Thank you so much, Umino-san.' Etsu gripped his hand trustingly and stood up. 'Guess I'll be seeing you then.'

And with that she was gone; leaping into the trees and speeding toward the village. Iruka watched her go curiously; he hadn't realised she qualified as a ninja, matter-of-fact... He couldn't ever remember seeing her around the Mission's Room. He shook his head, he probably wouldn't see her again for another ten or more years.

Iruka finally trekked back into town some hours later, tired, but more relaxed after his long excursion away from the hubbub of the village. He really didn't want to cook tonight so he headed in the direction of a small takeaway. As he passed one of the village's many grocery stores he heard annoyed mutterings at something that had obviously just occurred. He looked curiously across, only to find Etsu sitting in the street a little way away. Iruka's eyebrows raised slightly, it looked like she'd taken a tumble after buying groceries. He frowned, it didn't exactly seem like an accident. Tins and packets lay strewn everywhere and no one seemed willing to help the ever cheerful Etsu pick them up. He walked over and bent down to pick up a tin of pineapple rings. Etsu glanced across in surprise.

'Oh... Hello again, Umino-san!' Etsu smiled warmly as she chucked the last of her tumbled shopping into a bag and stood up. Iruka noted she was still wearing the bandage he'd applied that morning, he held out the tin. As Etsu took it from him, Iruka came to the firm decision that he'd quite like to be friends with the kunoichi... Kami, most of his class hadn't kept in touch anyway and that suddenly seemed a great loss. Especially since most of them had survived their careers thus far.

'Look, why don't I give you a hand home with that lot?' He motioned to the heavy shopping bags. How on earth did she expect to tote all of them home alone? There were far too many bags for one person to carry... 'Then I'll treat you to dinner out?'

'Oh...' Etsu blushed. 'Well actually my dinner is already cooked Umino-san, but thank you so very much for your kind offer.'

Iruka looked askance as she sketched a bow to him and picked up the bags to continue on her way. He shook his head slightly - how was dinner already cooked when Etsu was in town?!

'Etsu-chan! Look, that's too much for one person to carry. I want to help.' Iruka rubbed the back of his neck as he trotted after her.

'Oh... Ok... But only if you're sure Umino-san.' Etsu blushed again. 'My house isn't too far from here.'

They walked in companionable silence as Etsu led the way to her home. Still, Iruka couldn't help but notice the black looks people gave her as they passed, some even shoving roughly past her. Etsu however, seemed oblivious to them... It looked to Iruka, like she was all too used to it.

Etsu's home was in the outskirts of one of the poorer areas of the village. A high wall ran round what looked to be a complex of old fashioned buildings with green tiled roofs; Iruka's eyes fairly popped as Etsu led the way through a wide entrance-way, the gates of which stood open. Directly in front of them a small shrine sheltered a statue of a fierce looking wolf spirit; the fresh offerings of red rice suggested that the shrine still saw regular use amongst the locals. Etsu shot him a nervous glance as she sensed his wariness. A narrow path to the right wound its way past a jumble of well kept cottages and small gardens, whilst on the left an old building rose majestically from its surroundings. Iruka couldn't guess at its original use, it certainly didn't look like a house, there again it didn't seem to fit the description of any other kind of construction he was used to.

He trotted to keep up with Etsu as she led the way down a central path that led to the principal building within the compound. The smell of herbs filled the air, wafting from the large herbariums that littered the compound. Smaller buildings lay off the path, a few shops, more houses and what looked like stores. At the end of the path, a light shone brightly from a sprawling two storey building nestled in the shadow of its much larger neighbour. It was to this light Etsu headed like a moth to a candle flame. Iruka was surprised to say the least, he'd imagined dropping Etsu off at an apartment building.

'Umino-san?' Etsu rocked nervously back and forth at the edge of the garden surrounding the house. 'I know it's very forward of me, but would you like to come in for some tea?'

'Sure.' Iruka smiled, the take-out wasn't exactly going anywhere and from what he'd seen Etsu was not well liked. He wondered about this as Etsu traipsed up the pathway to the house, unlocked the door, and showed him into the hall. After removing their sandals, Etsu led the way down the corridor to a large and well appointed kitchen. A glorious smell wafted from the oven and freshly baked cakes were set out to cool on the side. Iruka gave the cooling cakes a puzzled frown... Why so many when Etsu obviously lived alone and apparently still had no friends?

'If you'd just put the shopping on the table Umino-san.' Etsu smiled as she switched on the kettle. Iruka's stomach growled audibly.

'Hnnnnn... Sorry.' Iruka rubbed his stomach, somewhat flustered by the embarrassing noise.

'If you're hungry, you're welcome to stay for dinner.' Etsu replied nervously as she fiddled with the teapot. Did she really have so few visitors that he made her nervous? Or was it that he was a grown man and she lived alone?

'Only if it's not going to cause you trouble.' Iruka smiled. That seemed like a good answer. He noted the small smile that played around the corners of Etsu's mouth. A real smile, so different from the fake ones he'd seen earlier.

'Oh, it won't!' And the fake smile was back again, the one Iruka was beginning to identify as the expression she used to mask how truly unhappy she was.

'Well, what is for dinner? If you don't mind me asking?' Iruka paused, hoping he hadn't been too abrupt. 'It smells delicious.'

'Oh, it's a casserole. Nothing much really, I can cook much better things, but I wasn't expecting company.'

Iruka frowned slightly at Etsu's words... She wasn't expecting company... More like she never had company...

It turned out the casserole not only smelt delicious it tasted good too. Etsu had begun to relax a little by the time they sat down to eat and Iruka got just a tiny glimpse of the real Etsu. The insight only made him wonder more about the villagers' genuine dislike of Etsu, she was kind and caring, a gentle, warm personality that seemed to shine from within. He couldn't fathom what she had possibly done that would cause such behaviour... Iruka made a mental note to ask the Hokage about it on the morrow.

After a pleasant couple of hours Iruka excused himself on the grounds that he had marking to do. The smiling mask covered Etsu's features as she wished him a safe journey home and good night. Half way to the main path Iruka turned and looked back at the young woman standing in the doorway.

'Etsu-chan? What about meeting up again? Maybe tomorrow?'

The resulting smile was definitely genuine.

Here ends Chapter 1...

*Etsu is based on a character from my own fantasy work - who is also very tall for a female!

*Etsu is overly polite at this stage - she's not well liked and I wanted to try and emphasise that in the way she talked. She refers to Lady Tsunade as 'Godaime-sama' and her comrades by their family name and 'san'.

*The compound and buildings are based on Japanese villages and architecture respectively, but are fictional.

Hope everyone enjoyed - please review! I love reviews! I live for reviews! Yes I know I chatter a lot and my writing style is probably atrocious... But hey! ^_^