A/N: The idea is mine but I own no one (or anything else really) boy x boy love.
Sasunaru, kakairu, and others….
Chapter 1: The Minor Fall
"What can we do? There must be something we can do!" The ebony-haired goddess cried, her pale ivory hands clutching at the sides of the ornate cradle that hosted her most precious bundle – no longer welcomed.
"I'm afraid not Mikoto-san." Arashi replied softly with a grim shake of his head. "We're too late, he's mortal now, and no longer allowed here."
"You! This is your fault! How could you let this happen?! Why didn't you protect him?!" Mikoto screeched turning her angry glare to the blonde, who immediately shrunk back.
"Enough!" The raven-haired god intervened. "Arashi-san did all he could do, that is all we could ever ask of him. Now isn't the time for blame, we need to plan, what should be done with our son now that he's mortal?"
Mikoto turned to face her equally pale husband, "Where, where will he go? A god made mortal because of bitter fate, spiteful jealousy! He doesn't belong among those mortals, but here at our side, as is his birth right! No, I will not lose him!"
"Stop being foolish, think clearly now, you've already lost him! He is mortal now, destined to be killed, his soul collected by our eldest, his own brother, who is now being groomed for the very deed! But at least take comfort in this, it his own kin that will give him safe passage to the other world, to where we cannot follow. You know we cannot restore his immortality unless it has been justly won! He must earn it himself, we cannot offer too much aid and tempt the others to say otherwise, but we can do this, set him in his mortal life, make sure that he is well cared for in their presence and raised well, so that someday he'll have it restored! We can only hope for this now, that what made his body mortal could not corrupt his soul, if he is truly descended from us, it will surely show, until this we can only think of keeping him happy in what little time he has left."
"Is that all? We can only give him this one favor, but being his parents, abandon him for want of others?! Let him into that mortal world among their greed and hate, and hope and pray that he is bestowed mercy, that death- oh death- our other son, that very one being groomed so- does not steal his soul before he is even old enough to prove his worth?!"
Both husband and wife seemed ready to spring on the other, torn and hurting as they both were over what they felt was the inevitable loss of their youngest son.
But a messenger god soon burst into the room, his urgent news only briefly dispelling the tense atmosphere.
"Arashi-sama! Arashi-sama! It's Kushina-san! The village is being attacked!"
There was only a flash of yellow to signal their friend's departure, leaving the divine couple to settle their dispute alone.
****
Arashi appeared in a yellow-flash among the rooftops of the distressed village of Konoha. Immediately the weary shinobi turned to the golden-haired god hoping he would be their savior.
But instead Arashi demanded to know where his lovely mortal wife was. Kakashi, a silver-haired demi-god who had been his pupil stepped forward, promising to lead the way, and not long after the golden-haired god found himself in a small room, his wife surrounded by nurses as she lay dying in her bed.
He rushed to her side, desperate to save her, but they both knew that he was already too late.
Still she smiled at him, happy to be in his presence at least one more time, "You came."
His heart tugged painfully, but still he returned the smile if only to ease his own pain. "Of course as soon as I'd heard." His gaze then turned to her flat stomach and he felt the pain increase tenfold, "And – and the baby?" He asked, fearful that he might have lost his family in one fail swoop.
Her smile grew wider and she nodded to the nurses, and they immediately helped her sit up, while one quickly left the room and returned with a small clothed bundle in her arms, before placing them in the golden-haired god's arms, careful not to meet his eye.
"It's a boy," Kushina said softly, "I named him Naruto."
But Arashi could not tear himself away from the sight of the young demi-god, his beautiful blonde son, with eyes like the sky, a keepsake from his mother.
"He's perfect." Arashi finally managed to say and was once again rewarded with the brightest smile he'd ever seen.
"Take care of him, you'll take care of him won't you, and this village, his home?"
And the golden-haired god turned in time to see the anxiety and fear in those sky blue eyes.
He leaned down, careful not to upset their son, to kiss her forehead, "Of course."
And even in death her final smile, filled with love and relief, made his heart jump and reminded him why he'd fallen in love his wife in the first place.
None of the mortals in the room noticed or saw Madara enter, they didn't see as he looked towards Arashi, a fellow god, with apologetic eyes before tugging on the chain linked to Kushina's body to pull her soul cleanly away from her body.
She stood bravely, like she had been in life, and continued to watch him even as she was being led away, and Arashi didn't look away until she was completely out of sight.
"Arashi-sensei, we still need to protect the village." Kakashi's voice broke through his thoughts and brought him back to the present.
"There's still a lot of damage, and we can't fight the Kyuubi of on our own…I was able to hold him of for a while, but he's too strong for me sensei."
And Arashi understood that of all the people in the village Kakashi was the only one that even stood a chance against the demon, but he was still young, only ten years old, he had not reached his full potential, and he was only a demi-god so it was also likely that he could be killed.
It was up to himself to stop the demon. He handed his son to one of the nurses, "Evacuate the hospital get everyone to higher ground, or to the safe houses, make sure my son is safe and I'll protect the village." Immediately the staff scurried to follow his orders.
"Kakashi lead me to the front lines." And without further notice the two were off in a flash.
***
After several agonizing hours Arashi realized there was only one real solution, he'd avoided it because he'd promised Kushina to care for their only son, but he'd also promised to protect the village.
There was really no choice.
"Kakashi, bring me my son." The silver-haired ANBU was startled for a moment, he hesitated, unsure how safe his sensei's son would be while they fought, then deciding to trust his sensei's judgment he sped off.
***
Immediately Arashi sprang forward, "Where is he?!"
Kakashi looked at his sensei with sad eyes. "…I'm so sorry sensei, after the blast, when you fell unconscious we all looked for him, but…there were no signs."
***
Arashi moved frantically through the destruction on the streets looking for the son he'd cradled in his arms only a few hours ago.
Everywhere there were people bleeding and trying to move through the rubble, perhaps looking for precious belongings or perhaps looking for lost loved ones.
Then he heard the soft voice of a child, hidden behind the trees and rubble of what used to be a building.
He couldn't explain what it was about the child's voice that made him stop, especially when it was almost drowned out by the sounds of others, screaming and crying, and the sound of crackling fire and shifting debris.
"Hey don't worry, I'll take care of you, I'll be your nii-san and you'll be my family, it doesn't matter about all the others, they'll ignore us, but we'll have each other."
The child was young, a few years younger than Kakashi, with black hair, tied up messily, and tanned skin hardly visible underneath all the dust, and a pinkish scar that went across his nose.
"I don't know why they left you there all alone, but I got left alone too, so don't cry, I promise, we won't be alone anymore."
And that's when he noticed the small whimpers being emitted from a dirtied familiar blue bundle had slowly subsided.
"Hello there."
The boy finally noticed him and fumbling with child like gusto, he held a kunai awkwardly in front of him, in imitation of defense, probably like he'd seen his parents or teachers do, and his free arm had tightened around the bundle in his arms protectively.
"Who-who are you?"
Arashi smiled, seeing this child trying to protect his own from someone he believed to be an enemy, someone who was obviously exponentially stronger than himself, reminded him of Kushina, and his promise to her.
He crouched down so that he was relatively eye level, and gently reached out to lower the boy's hand.
"Hey, its okay, my name is Arashi, Arashi Kazuma, what's your name?"
The boy dropped the kunai, and used his free hand to wipe away the tears that had been previously falling. Then looked up as bravely as any seven year old could and answered.
"My name's Iruka, Iruka Umino."
"And what's that you have there."
Once again the boy got defensive, "This-this is my little brother, I found him, he-he was crying and nobody wanted to help…so I, I decided 'cause he's like me, 'cause we both got left behind, my parents didn't come back from-from the front either, but if I take care of him we won't have to be so lonely 'nymore."
Arashi smiled "That's a big responsibility, don't you think? Are you sure you can do it?"
Iruka's face became decidedly determined, "Yes."
"And does he have a name?"
Iruka faltered, nodding vaguely before he replied, "He does, but I- I don't know what it is."
"Then I guess this would be a good time to tell you that his name is Naruto, and I'm his father."
Iruka looked startled and then tears began to gather in his eyes again.
"D- Does that mean that I can't take care of him?"
"Well about tha-"
"Sensei! I looked everywhere but I couldn't fi-" Kakashi cut in but stopped abruptly when he spotted the younger boy only a few feet away.
Arashi watched amused as his student became suddenly shy and blushed underneath his mask.
He remembered that look on Kakashi's face, it was similar to his own when he'd first spotted his wife, and it had been the same for all the other gods and goddesses who'd found their other halves. They were both still very young but he could tell by the way the younger boy had turned to look at the elder with curious big brown eyes that in several years his feelings would surely be returned.
And he saw the perfect opportunity to help his poor student out.
"Actually Iruka-kun, I won't be able to take care of Naruto-chan, would you like to help me out?"
The boy brightened and nodded his head enthusiastically, "Uhn!"
"Then you'll need to be strong, I can help you with that if you promise to help me raise and protect Naruto-chan, are you ready?"
Iruka thought for a moment, and Arashi was once again amused when his eyes flickered to the elder boy, before he shook his head in affirmation.
Arashi realized that granting the boy immortality, which he could do in this situation because it was honorable in the eyes of the gods for a mortal to try to defend the life of a demi-god when they were in a weakened state, was probably not the best idea.
One, because granting the boy immortality would make him a god and mean he would have to go back with him and he really wanted someone who would be able to stay in the village and take care of his son.
Two, immortality meant the boy would never be able to visit the underworld unless he was a death god, which he wasn't, and that meant he would never be able to see his parents again, which he didn't think the boy wanted.
And three, his rank would most likely hinder Iruka's relationship with Kakashi especially since they needed as much contact now as ever to start developing their relationship.
So he decided to keep a balance of the two and made Iruka a demi-god.
The process was simple, and after a second it was over, the only sign of the change was the slight shudder Iruka gave.
He opened his eyes then looked at Arashi almost petulantly, "Is that it?"
And Arashi responded the way anyone should in that situation – he laughed.
"Ne, I guess I made the right decision then in choosing you Iruka-chan."
He turned then to his young former apprentice to speak, "Kakashi-kun, even though I made Iruka stronger, he's still very young, and I don't know if they will believe him, that's why I'm putting them in your care now Kakashi-kun, even though Iruka-chan will be taking care of Naruto-chan now, he'll still need you to look after him, and you'll be my witness, I want Naruto-chan to be put under Iruka-chan's care, can you do that for me Kakashi-kun- you have to make sure to tell Sarutobi-san?"
Kakashi's face turned serious then, the way it always had before an incredibly important mission, and he knew that now more than ever Kakashi understood the gravity of the situation.
"Understood."
And Arashi smiled in relief, he could no longer ignore the calls for him to return to his place in the sky, it was no small task granting a mortal immortality or even semi-immortality, and it was a jealously guarded right therefore although it was in the power of any god to do so once they had done so with out first getting the blessings of the other gods they would be forced to defend what they'd done, and if their reasons fell short they could both be severely punished. He had to leave now so as not to anger too many before he even had a chance to begin his defense.
"Very well then, I'll trust them to you, I must be going now Kakashi-kun."
And he was gone in a yellow flash.
***
Yeah okay, that was something else, I've kinda had this idea on my mind for a while (especially since we started reading epics in my class, so please excuse the incredibly formal speech on that part, and also the bad grammar/spelling mistakes, I was just a little to lazy to go back and check it =)
Hope you enjoyed it and drop me a line (by review =P) anytime you want!
(I also take constructive criticism so long as you aren't a complete a-hole about it).