Title: Train Me!
Chapter: Three
Rating: Pg 13 light cursing
Pairing: Naru/Kaka
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto… I just drool over him!
Summery: Before the final phase of the Chuunin exams, Naruto begs Kakashi for extra training and is denied! Naruto doesn't take it very well.
Even today, I am still not sure just how my teammates and I found ourselves so far from the village and so deep in trouble. One minute, I was worried about Sasuke and mad at Kakashi. The next instant, I was waking up on the ground from a jutsu.
Sakura and I where racing off as quick as a wink to find our idiot teammate, who had chased into the forest after Gaara.
It all happened so fast. Sasuke talked big and Sakura got pinned to a tree. The only way to help my team was to fight him myself.
I was petrified. The only thing that kept me going was the fact that my anger was greater then my fear.
As we fought, my teammates were left behind to watch from a distance. I did everything in my power to keep the damage away form them so that they wouldn't get hurt. It was not an easy task seeing how Gaara had morphed into a giant beast! One swipe of the arm would level a stand of trees.
I was forced to bring out the Frog Boss again…. Ok, so first I brought out his son, who I then had to save, but after that I brought out the Frog Boss Gamabunta.
He wasn't too helpful at first. He was even a little mad that I had called on him. The only reason that he helped me in the end was because his son stood up for me he claimed that he had come out for a stroll when Gaara picked on him and that I had saved him.
I wasn't going to argue if it got me help!
We fought very hard. Both of us were using up massive amounts of chakra. We literally destroyed the surrounding forest.
During the course of the fight, I learned just why this boy was so blood thirsty. He was just like me. He had a demon within him that wasn't even properly sealed. He had even been treated worse then I had. I always thought that if I had parents, then it wouldn't be as bad growing up.
Gaara's story proved me wrong. The only thing worse then no parents, was to have a father trying to kill you at every opportunity. He spent his life, being told that the only reason for his existence was to kill. How can he possibly be blamed for believing it?
The fight became less and less about helping my friends and more about saving Gaara's soul. Gaara was a creature that I could so easily become and that scared me spitless.
If I could save him, then my chances of resisting that path would become that much better.
I beat him, but I didn't know if I had gotten through to him. I passed out before his siblings took him away and Sasuke came for me.
I woke up later that day in the hospital. I hurt from head to toe; everything ached. The worst pain didn't come from my chakra exhaustion however. The worst of my pain came from my heart.
Coming back to haunt me, was the words that I had spewed out with so much passion earlier.
I dared to berate Gaara for not forming bonds with others when I had been given chance after chance to get closer to Iruka yet always shied away with the claim that I couldn't trust him.
I said that he ignored me on my birthday, but I am the one who disappears on that day to get away from the villagers. I claimed that he forgot me on other important days, but it was me who avoided him due to the fear of rejection.
It was my own fault that I was alone. I had a true friend just waiting for me to stop pushing him away and all I had to do was hold out my hand.
Removing the bandages and medical equipment was old hat to me, as was slipping out my window.
A glance toward the front door revealed Kakashi looking up at me. He raised a hand in greeting but I had more important things on my mind then dealing with him at the moment.
I dashed across the rooftops in a strait line for the academy. I had put off this conversation for so long that it would not be fair to delay it any longer then necessary.
I found my old teacher cleaning up remnants of the battle in the yard, just like I knew I would. He was so wrapped up in his task and thoughts that he didn't notice me for a while.
When he did, I found myself on my back with him on my chest.
"Naruto! Are you all right? How are you? I heard that you had been hurt!" He stopped hugging me long enough to get back up and began to shake me gently. "You should still be in the hospital young man! I am going to take you back there right now!"
He grabbed my arm and started to pull but I remained firm. "I had to talk to you." I whispered solemnly.
Having never heard such a tone from me before, it caught his immediate attention. He dropped my arm and stepped back to look at me. I kept my face shadowed by my bangs because I knew that if he could see my eyes, then I wouldn't be able to do this.
I took a deep breath and began. "When I first started at the academy, my teachers hated me." He started to protest but my upheld hand silenced him. "Let me say this." I pleaded.
"Go on." He murmured.
"When I started at this school, my teachers hated me. The other student's barely tolerated me. I was never taught anything of any value and always tested above my knowledge level."
I had to pause for breath. This was harder then I had thought it would be. "By the time a teacher who cared came along, I no longer trusted that any one would ever teach me. I kept waiting for the nice man to turn mean." I cleared my throat of the ache that warns you of future tears.
"The more he seemed to care, the more I became afraid of him. I thought that when he finally showed his true colors, he would be the worst of them all because he had started out so nice." I could hear Iruka breathing hard and forced myself to continue.
"When I graduated and Mizuki-Sensei tricked me, my kind teacher came to help me. He saved my life and filled me with hope. Not even the horrible secret that bastard told me, could dampen the joy in my heart from the knowledge that someone cared about me."
Iruka tried to reach out to me but I jumped back. I had to finish this first. "The next day, I got scared again. I couldn't let myself become close because of the fear of how much it would hurt to be betrayed. It wasn't fair to you and I am so sorry for keeping you at a distance Iruka-Nissan! I never meant to hurt you and I…"
Tears where pouring down my face and my voice failed me while two arms wrapped around me tight. Iruka cried into my shoulder as I held onto him for dear life. This was my first real hug and I was determined to absorb every second of it.
"I am so sorry!" I sobbed.
"No, you have nothing to be sorry for! I always understood Naruto. You are so very dear to me that it never hurt. I only ever wanted you to be happy and I was always glad for any affection that you showed me because I knew that it was real."
I don't know how long we stood there but I do know that a silver haired Jounin watched us from the roof the whole time. I didn't even care what he might have thought about all of this.
For once, he had nothing to do with what was going on and I could deal with him later. This was a moment only for my Iruka-Nissan and no one else!
At least it was supposed to be all about Iruka.
"What a cozy little scene this is." If you didn't know him as well as I do, you would never have detected the sarcasm in Kakashi's voice.
"Oh! Hello Kakashi-Sensei. What brings you here?" Inquired Iruka. He attempted to hide the evidence of tears on his face but failed miserably. I didn't even try.
Kakashi's single eyebrow rose in surprise at the sight, "What's wrong?" he asked more seriously.
"Nothing is wrong any more Kakashi-Sensei. I was just having a talk with my big brother here that was long over due."
My words threw the softhearted Chunnen into a fresh torrent of tears, which he tried to hide in the very manly form of ducking behind me.
Kakashi's jaw dropped under his mask. "Are you sure that everything is really all right?"
"Yes." I smile sadly. "Everything is wonderful between Iruka and I."
The flash of emotion in his eye was enough to tell me that he caught my underlying message. He stretched his hand out to me as though to touch my cheek but was stopped by the flying tackle I received from a Medic-Nin.
"What the Hell?" I screamed.
"Uzumaki-San! We have been looking everywhere for you. You must return to the hospital until a doctor checks you out." She lectured me, as I was drug away.
"Iruka-Sensei, help me!" I cried.
"Oh no. You have to take care of yourself Naruto." He ordered me. "If you have to, you might want to tie him down and maybe even sedate him. That was the only way that I could ever keep him in his seat for my lectures." He called out grinning.
"IRUKA-SENSEI!"
"I will come and visit you later!" was his happy reply.
'I TELL YOU THAT I TRUST YOU AND YOU INSTANTLY SELL ME OUT!" I screamed back at him.
"Yep!" Iruka called back. Then he addressed the Medic-Nin that had surrounded me, "If you don't take very good care of my little brother there, I will hunt you down and make you suffer," he promised.
With that promise hanging in the air, my struggles stopped. I could deal with just about anything when I felt that good.
