Title: Clover
Author: SimpleInsomniac
Rating: K
Pairing/s: KakaIru
Words: 912
Summary: -TRANSLATION- Clovers are rare and not easy to find. Does that distinguish them from all the others? KakaIru, by yukiaoi
Disclaimer: It's very simple: is my name Masashi Kishimoto? No. Therefore, I do not own Naruto. Also, I do not own the plot; it belongs to the awesome yukiaoi
Clover
"If you find a four-leaf clover, it means that you'll find happiness." Iruka said suddenly. Kakashi did not respond. The masked-nin glanced at him curiously, waiting for him to continue.
"Sakura told me," Iruka explained, smiling at the pink-haired girl at the bottom of the hill. That pink-haired girl was kneeling down, searching with her head in the bushes, oblivious to the attention from the two shinobi relaxing at the top of the hill. "That silly girl, she wasn't paying much attention in class today…"
"Four-leaf clover, it's those weeds growing everywhere, right?" Kakashi asked. His gaze was also locked on Sakura.
Iruka stared, his eyebrows unconsciously knotting together in thought. "Yeah, but normal clovers only have three leaves. Four are hard to find… There isn't a guarantee that you'll find even one four-leaf clover in a huge field, let alone one patch of grass by the bushes. Depends on luck, I guess."
"You seem to know a lot about four-leaf clovers," Kakashi remarked. Iruka turned to look at him, a smile on his face.
"Sakura told me."
Four-leaf clover, something extraordinary hidden in the ordinary.
To find one in a sea of green is not an easy thing.
During class, Iruka tried very hard to concentrate, but his mind kept drifting back to Kakashi. He felt apprehensive and nervous. Today was the day of the copy-nin's mission. He had absolute faith in Kakashi's abilities, but he couldn't get rid of the uneasy feeling in his gut.
Why was his heart beating so quickly?
The bell rang, signalling the end of class, and the class full of thirty aspiring 'ninja-to-be's quickly scattered, leaving three people.
"Iruka-sensei! Let's go have some ramen! Ramen!" Naruto shouted enthusiastically, clutching at the hem of his shirt.
A black-haired boy paused by the doorway, one of the three students left in the classroom, turning around to stare at the loud blond. "Hn, dobe."
"What did you say?"
Iruka's racing heart calmed down. He smiled warmly at his two favourite students' constant bickering. "Sorry Naruto. I have something to do today. Maybe later, okay? My treat."
"Aww… You're no fun!" Naruto grumbled, his forehead creased in a frown. "See you tomorrow then, Iruka sensei!" The blond waved goodbye, finally leaving the classroom, running to catch up with Sasuke.
Iruka's mind cleared a little from the influence of his two students, but the feeling of unease remained, leaving a bitter taste in his mouth.
"Sensei!" Iruka turned around to face the owner of the excited voice. Sakura still hadn't left yet. She reached into her pockets and held out a four-leaf clover. "Look, Iruka-sensei! I found it!"
"Really?" Iruka watched as Sakura's face glowed red with pride. "How many did you find?"
"I stopped looking after I found this one," she blushed, feeling her face heat up even more with embarrassment. "For the happiness I'm looking for, one is enough."
Iruka didn't know how to respond. He didn't understand it, but he suddenly realized something that caused his head to spin.
In a sea of ordinary, will there only be one extraordinary? And himself, did he have the qualities to become the extraordinary one?
Even so, there were far too many ordinary compared to the extraordinary.
On his way home, Iruka's heart felt heavy. He's never felt this way before. He suddenly felt a cold shiver run down his spine. He instinctively turned around to defend himself from the unknown presence. However, in front of him was a familiar face. An extremely familiar face. Shocked still, he didn't know what to do.
Kakashi silently handed him a bouquet of four-leaf clovers. Iruka stared at the messy bundle of leaves, not sure how he should react.
"Not hard to find at all." Kakashi intoned, tilting his head towards the gift in Iruka's hands. "Found this many in just one afternoon."
"You go to do something like this, just before a mission?" Iruka questioned, unable to keep his voice from trembling, still not understanding what had happened.
Kakashi scrutinized Iruka's expression. "Just an experiment. Wanted to see if you were right," he shrugged nonchalantly.
He was, as always, too amazing. In front of him, Iruka always felt insignificant, unworthy of his attention.
"But a bouquet with only four-leaf clovers, it isn't that special now, isn't it?"
Iruka's eyes could not leave the jounin, and he found that his mouth was suddenly very dry. Kakashi's words struck his heart, blowing his mind away. As the impact of his words slowly faded away, he collected his wits.
It seems like everyone had a different definition of special and normal.
Watching the changes in Iruka, Kakashi didn't say anything else, waving goodbye to the chuunin as if nothing had happened. "Well, I'll be leaving then, Iruka-sensei."
The white-haired jounin took one more glance at the surprised, bewildered face of Iruka and his lips twitched into a small smile. He formed a hand sign and vanished in a puff of smoke.
It was only after a fair amount of time later than Iruka was aware of Kakashi's departure. Among the bouquet of four-leaf clovers, was a three-leaf clover.
A three-leaf clover among many four-leaf clovers, does that make it extraordinary?
The reason that four-leaf clovers represent happiness, is it because it's rare?
Now, happiness rests in his hands.
Iruka felt silly, and the other shinobi very childish.
But – silly or childish, a warm feeling spread through his chest. A safe feeling enveloped his heart.
A/N: This is my translation of yukiaoi's fic "Clover". It's a really amazing story, so if you know Chinese, you should go take a look! Otherwise, you're stuck with my lame version… -FAIL- Some parts sound a bit awkward 'cause my Chinese's a little rusty from lack of use, so apologies for that. Fic can be found at the link below. Remove spaces.
http: / www. fanfiction. net /s /2336229 /1 /Clover