Irukashi

Chapter One

"Irukashi? Where are you? If you don't get your behind back here in one minute, I'm going to –" the voice cut off, stopping the threat, leaving it hanging in the air. The half-angry, half-worried voice belonged to a tall man with skin tanned from long hours training outside. His brown hair was pulled up into a ponytail at the crown of his head and he had a long scar crossing the bridge of his nose set under brown eyes. His hitai-ate with the leaf village symbol adorned his forehead. The man let out a soft growl and looked around once again.

Another man, silver-haired and pale-skinned despite all of his own time in the sun, walked down the path towards him. His hitai-ate was drooped across one eye and most of his face was covered with a black mask. An amused expression shone from his visible eye as he walked up to stand next to the tan man.

"Did you lose her again, Iruka?" The man known as Iruka merely growled in response, his eyes flicking back and forth among the houses, searching for something. "How many times do I have to tell you that we really should put a leash or a tracking chip on the girl?" He chuckled lightly, a teasing lilt in his smooth voice. Iruka turned on him, glaring.

"Are you going to make fun of me or are you going to help me? I really don't need your teasing or your sarcasm, Kakashi; I need to know where she is!" Kakashi chuckled again, seemingly taking no offense to Iruka's venomous words, and wrapped his arm around the tan man's shoulders.

"She'll probably show up again in about five minutes or so Iruka, don't worry. She probably just saw a butterfly or something of the sort and decided to chase after it. You know that." Iruka sighed and nodded reluctantly, worry still etched into his features despite Kakashi's reassurances.

"Yes, I know. But there have been all those reports about bandits and rogue shinobi smuggling themselves into the Village and Irukashi is a very pretty girl, especially at her age, not to mention she is notorious for her kind and gentle nature that someone could take advantage of. And –" he broke off in a heavy sigh, his shoulders slumping forward. Kakashi put a calming hand on his shoulder and chuckled softly.

"You always seem to forget that we trained Irukashi ourselves, Iruka. Don't worry, she'll be just fine. She knows her way around the neighborhood better than I know the back of my hand!" Kakashi's eye tilted up into a slight u-shape, making it appear like he was smiling even though you couldn't see the set of his mouth. "That was an impressive rant, by the way. Have you been practicing?" Iruka snorted, shoving Kakashi's arm away with a sour expression.

"Hey! Iruka-papa!" a voice called the two of them to attention. Both men turned their heads towards the sound and the tension in Iruka's shoulders relaxed. A young woman with very fair skin was walking down the small path leading up to their building. She had brown hair pulled back into a ponytail at the nape of her neck so that it hung down her back slightly. The edges of her hair held a silvery sheen that gave the young woman a unique, beautiful appearance. Her eyes were a light brown that sparkled slightly with content. In her arms she held a paper sack, filled to the brim with groceries of all sorts. She walked quickly over to them.

"Iruka-papa!" she smiled softly, coming to stand in front of the tan man. "I noticed that we were out of food again, so I ran to the grocery store for a few minutes. You should leave me a note or something when you notice we're getting low, okay?" Her eyes trailed over to the silver-haired shinobi and a stunning smile broke out across her face. "Kakashi-sensei! Hi! What are you doing back so soon? I thought you had a mission!"

"Well, Irukashi, I finished up with that mission this afternoon. And then Tsunade-sama read over my records and ordered me to take off tomorrow because I've been working too hard." Irukashi laughed softly, the sound like bells tinkling softly in the breeze.

"Again, Kakashi-sensei? You really need to start taking optional vacations! We don't want you getting stressed out, do we Iruka-papa?" She smiled over at the tan man. The expression on his face, however, made the smile disappear almost immediately.

"Irukashi," he began in a low tone, "how many times have I told you that you can't just go running off like that without telling me? Did you even think of the consequences that could have fallen upon all of us if someone had seen you? What were you thinking?" Irukashi's brown eyes narrowed at him and a frown marred her features.

"I was thinking that I didn't want you to starve!" she retorted tersely. Before he could respond, she continued "Pardon me if that's some new sin that I'm unaware of! Goodness, Iruka-papa! You and Kakashi-sensei have trained me to know how to protect myself against any number of enemies! That includes some sort of bandit or rogues that you think might attack me or kill me or whatever! You know, if you'd let me out of the house for more than five minutes at a time, instead of keeping me locked away inside like I'm some prisoner, then maybe I wouldn't want to run off so often!" People were starting to come out of their houses to find out what all the racket was about. Kakashi mentally cursed the curiosity of the human race and grabbed both Iruka and Irukashi's shoulders, using a displacement jutsu and getting them all inside the apartment that Iruka and Irukashi shared. None of this seemed to faze either of the quarrelers, much to Kakashi's disappointment.

"Irukashi! You know better than to speak to me like that! You know the only reason we keep you inside all the time is to protect you!" Irukashi's glare darkened fiercely and Iruka took a step back in surprise.

"Protect me? Protect me from what! People! I need interaction, Iruka-papa! Books can't satisfy a girl's desire to meet the people that inspired them! I want to meet all of the people you and Kakashi-sensei talk about! Like that Naruto boy o-or the new hokage, Tsunade-sama! The Third was the only person other than the two of you who knew I was alive and you were so busy protecting me that you didn't even let me go to his funeral!" Tears leaked out of her brown eyes and she wiped at them angrily, turning her face so that she wasn't looking at either of them. A soft sigh escaped Kakashi's concealed lips and he leaned over next to Iruka's ear.

"You know Iruka, she has a point. A few of them, actually. We should introduce her to Tsunade at least. It hasn't been right of us to hide her away. And I'll take her training with Naruto, Sakura, and Sai. That's only four more people that know about her. If that goes well, we'll go off of that. And we don't have to tell the kids all the details about where she came from. Tsunade, though, has to know. She won't judge her, Iruka, I promise." Iruka hesitated visibly and then sighed, nodding his agreement reluctantly. Kakashi patted his shoulder in thanks. Iruka turned away and crossed his arms over his chest, sulking. Kakashi rolled his visible eye and turned to Irukashi.

"Come on, Iru-chan, dry your tears. Tomorrow, Iruka and I will take you to meet Tsunade. And then I'll get a mission for my team and you can tag along. How does that sound?" Irukashi's eyes lit up and she wiped the tear remnants off of her face.

"Really, Kakashi-sensei? Do…do you mean it?" she asked slowly, unsure. Kakashi chuckled softly, ruffling her hair gently.

"Of course, Iru-chan! Have I ever given you any reason to doubt me?" Irukashi shook her head slowly and then scowled slightly.

"No, Kakashi-sensei, you haven't." She jerked her head over to where Iruka was standing. "But he has." Iruka threw his hands in the air, frustrated. Kakashi laughed and ruffled her hair again.

"Now, now, Iru-chan, be nice. So, what were you going to cook for dinner?" Irukashi's brown eyes lit up instantly and she hugged Kakashi tightly around the middle. Giggling happily, she picked up her bag of groceries and sped past both of them into the small kitchen.

"It's a surprise, Kakashi-sensei!" she called over her shoulder before disappearing. Kakashi chuckled softly and turned his attention back to the still-sulking Iruka.

"All you have to do is know exactly how to deal with her, Iruka. You'll get the hang of it eventually." Iruka's shoulders slumped and he let out a sigh, nodding slightly.

"You always tell me that and it has yet to happen. You're just better with her than I am." Iruka's face slowly changed into a grimace. "Are you sure that you're doing the right thing by taking her on a mission with Naruto? I'm not saying that he's not a great kid or anything, but after Sasuke left he got…different. And Sai? Do you really want him reporting Irukashi back to ROOT? Danzou can't find out about her!" Kakashi patted him on the shoulder gently and shook his head.

"I told you, Iruka, I'm not telling Sai, Naruto, or Sakura about her past. Calm down. She'll be fine. I'll watch out for her. And besides, you have other things to worry about. Don't you have a field trip with the academy kids planned for tomorrow?" Iruka groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose to fight back an imminent migraine. Kakashi chuckled softly.

"All right, all right Kakashi, I trust you. Though I believe between trusting you and taking care of Irukashi, I'll die a very young death." Kakashi started laughing and Iruka couldn't help but join in. Irukashi walked in at that time, brandishing a wooden spoon threateningly.

"Do I have to remind you every night to go wash up before dinner?" Kakashi held up his hands in surrender and hurried back to the bathroom Iruka followed him, still laughing.

When both of them returned, their dinner was already sitting out waiting for them. Irukashi was sitting on their window seat, only showing part of her face as she looked out the window.

Sitting down, Kakashi called over to her "Irukashi, come away from there. You'll start up those rumors that we have a ghost in the building again." Irukashi rolled her eyes but obediently came away from the window and over to the table. She then turned her brown eyes up to Kakashi curiously.

"Kakashi-sensei? What is Tsunade-sama like? Is she anything like how the Third was?" she asked softly. Kakashi pulled his mask down and smiled at her. Irukashi smiled back. She loved it when her Kakashi-sensei took off his mask. It made him look so much less mysterious.

"Well, she was the Third's student, so he had a really big influence on her, I suppose. She's more of her own person. She is far and understanding, but you shouldn't make her mad, I'll warn you about that now."

"Ah, so what you're saying is that she has a temper just like Iruka-papa?" Irukashi asked with a sideways glance at Iruka, whose fork was poised to enter his mouth. He dropped the fork back onto his plate and gave her an exasperated look while Kakashi bit back a laugh.

"Yes, she does have a dangerous temper, Iru-chan." Kakashi's visible eye sparkled in amusement as she looked back over at him. "But it's a far cry worse than Iruka's." Irukashi's eyes widened in shock and horror and neither Iruka nor Kakashi could hold back their laughs.

"All right, Irukashi. You need to start eating so that you can get to sleep. You're going to meet your hokage tomorrow, so you'll need to be well-rested."

"Yes sir, Iruka-papa," Irukashi murmured obediently, beginning to eat. Kakashi smiled, leaning across the table to ruffle her hair before starting to eat his own food.

"So, other than scaring the pants off of Iruka today, Irukashi, what did you do to keep yourself entertained?" Irukashi smiled over at him and, in between bites, began telling him about her day.

Soon, all three of them were finished with their meals. After the men patted their stomachs and complemented Irukashi on her meal, Irukashi stood and began to collect all the dishes. Iruka put a hand on her arm and she stopped, looking over at him in confusion. Iruka smiled softly at her.

"I'll clean up tonight, Irukashi. You go ahead and get ready for bed." Irukashi's brown eyes softened and she leaned up and kissed him on the cheek.

"Thank you, Iruka-papa. You're the best." Iruka's own brown eyes softened and he stood to begin gathering up all the dishes. Irukashi walked around the table to a still-maskless Kakashi and kissed him softly on the cheek as well. He smiled and pressed his lips to her forehead.

"Goodnight, Kakashi-sensei. Goodnight, Iruka-papa. See you in the morning."

"Sweet dreams, Irukashi," they chorused as they watched her walk down the hallway that separated the bedrooms from the rest of the apartment. Iruka sighed, picking up his gathered dishes.

"I hope that you're right about Tsunade, Kakashi. I don't want this to upset Irukashi. I don't know what we'll do if Tsunade decides to send the ANBU or anyone else after her." Kakashi smiled slightly, pulling his mask up once again.

"Well, here's what we'll do tomorrow. I'll go in first and explain the severity of the situation. Surely she'll understand. And if she doesn't, I'll take Irukashi on the longest mission ever and you can contact us when everything has calmed down." Iruka sighed.

"Then we'll just pray that she understands. Have a save trip home, Kakashi. See you in the morning, bright and early if we know anything about Irukashi." Kakashi nodded his acknowledgement. The next time Iruka blinked, Kakashi was gone. Iruka sighed once more and took the dishes back to the kitchen.