Disclaimer: I do not own any of the mentioned characters or places.

Warning: A hint of Kaka-Iru. No like? No read.

Here is the first chapter of my first fanfic. The story is taking place just after the chuunin exam, however it might not exactly reflect the manga series… Oh well, hopefully it works anyway! Enjoy and review please :)

Summary: Aftermath of invasion by the Sound village…

Hard times were on the village again. Most of the center of Konoha was ravaged in the fight between the Sound nin and the Konoha defenders, roofs ripped out from the houses in explosions, windows and walls shredded by shuriken and splattered with blood stains. It was a massacre of a battle, but at least now the village was safe. And the price of its safety was death of many jounin and chuunin, and the greatest loss of all - the 3rd Hokage.

Iruka-san was walking down the street towards the city hall bearing an arm-full of report scrolls. Seeing so much death and destruction was putting nails through his heart. This village was more than just a place where he grew up. After the loss of his parents his life has become a lonely place, and only the support and love of Konoha's people brought him out again and made him feel like a part of something bigger. Konoha is his hamily, and Hokage is... was... almost like a father. Iruka squeesed his eyes shut, to keep the burning tears within.

"Iruka-sensei!!" a shout brought him to a stop. He turned around. "Ohayo, Naruto-kun, Sakura-chan!"

"Ohayo Iruka-sensei," blushed the girl. She was carrying a bunch of cloth, probably to be used for bandages.

"Iruka-sensei, we are helping to restore the village!" the blond boy enthusiastically exclaimed. "Watch this!" quickly forming the seals with his hands he shouted "Kage bunshin no jutsu!" and BANG there were now ten Naruto standing around Iruka. Immediately they rushed to the rubble on the street and energetically started to clear it out. One of the village women jumped with a yelp at seeing the replication and dropped the bag she was carrying.

"You idiot!" roared Sakura and walloped the nearest Naruto on the head. Iruka chuckled, looks like things were returning to normal.

This was just one of the things that Iruka loved about Konoha. No matter what trouble happened, the villagers would always stand up, shake the dirt and pain off and build a better life.

"Iruka-sensei, have you seen Kakashi-sensei? We haven't seen him after the end of the fight..." said Sakura. This has brought another pang of pain to Iruka's heart. Iruka and Kakashi have knows each other for a few years but have only started to communicate a year or so ago. As well as teaching, Iruka worked at the mission center, handling the reports. Being quite shy and withdrawn when not with his young subordinates, he tended to keep to himself and do this job quietly. One time, when checking over a Rank-D mission report from one of the jounin, he noticed some doodles in the margin. Looking closer he realised that doodles actually illustrated the mission report and quite comically described the way the jounin's team handled a search for a missing cat. The comical illustrations made Iruka laugh out loud, causing other nin in the room to stop and look at him. Iruka blushed furiously and glanced at the jounin who appeared to be chuckling behind his mask. The doodling jounin was Kakashi, and from that day he made a point of putting something in his reports to make Iruka react.

This has started a strange kind of friendship between the two nin. Occasionally they would get together for a bowl of Ichiraku's ramen, or just sit on some high roof watching the sun setting into the endless forest around the village. Iruka would laugh about his students who could be little devils and would make his day a nightmare given half a chance, and Kakashi would talk about his own three troublesome genin.

"Sasuke's situation is going to get him grief in the future," Kakashi was saying. "He just can't let go. He can't or he won't, either way its not going to end well. There is more to life than revenge, if only he would see that." Iruka was surprised and warmed to find out that Kakashi was so insightful and caring about his students. Kakashi's students for some reason always ended up in some kind of mess (like that time with the poisonous bush... or the mud incident... or those insects) which always made Iruka flare up and rant his usual lecture on responsibility etc. at which Kakashi always laughed and said that he is entitled to some fun too. Also, he claimed, it would make them stronger and better ninjas. The idea of Kakashi finding his underling's troubles entertaining was disturbing Iruka's sensei sensibilities, except that he knew that it was just a front.

Its at those times that Iruka noticed that his feelings towards Kakashi have changed into something more. Every time they would meet, Iruka felt warm and comforted by his friend's presence, and when Kakashi was away on his missions Iruka felt that there was something missing from his life. This feeling has disturbed him, so he tried to put it away, lock it inside his heart, but the more he pushed it away, the more it hurt. He was sure that Kakashi did not return his feelings and at any rate was too horrified at the idea of Kakashi's potential disgust to ever try and find out. So that's how it was until now...

As the village invasion broke out, everything was happenning in the mad rush. Every ninja knew what to do in case of invasion, so as soon as the signal was given, together with other chuunin Iruka was busy rounding up the kids from the academy and getting them to the designated shelters. Thankfully they managed to get to safety without encountering the enemy nin. Throughout the entire invasion Iruka was busy organising the escape, supervising the youngsters and keeping them calm, and only after things have calmed down it hit him. Kakashi could be dead. He could be dying right now. Even being one of the best ninjas in the village, he could have been overwhelmed, tricked... Iruka choked at the thought, images of the lifeless masked figure lying in a pool of blood flashing through his brain made him stagger...

"Iruka-sensei?" Sakura's voice broke through the memories in Iruka's mind. He shook his head to clear it. 'Calm down, all's well now, calm...'

"Are... you... are you ok?" Sakura's face was looking up worriedly at her sensei paled face. "I am fine Sakura, thank you for asking", he replied with a smile. "I haven't seen Kakashi-sensei yet either, but I am sure he is well. In fact, I am on my way to the mission centre now, and when I see him I'll be sure to tell him that you guys are worried!"

"Arigatou, Iruka-sensei!" beamed Sakura and rushed off to help Naruto.

His heart pounding against his chest, Iruka quickened his steps to the mission centre...