Author: Lily Kalanoa

Story: Desire to Believe

Genre: Naruto - drama

Rating: K/ pg 13

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my laptop, which put me into significant debt. All characters and series belong to their respective creators, I just like to torture them, heh heh.

Warnings: Nothing much, really.

Pairings: slowly growing Kakashi / Iruka

Summary: Iruka is twelve, the first Christmas after the fox attack and like the rest of the village, he just wants the holidays to be happy again.

Spoilers: Some for the fox attack, some for Kakashi's childhood and his father.

Author Notes: XD Next part of this little story! As I mentioned last time, each story will go up on each new post - this one happens to be four chapters. I hope you all like it, remember, this whole thing is the story of how Iruka and Kakashi grow to dislike each other and then (because we know I'm a sucker for happy sappy endings) how they overcome it and get together. Thanx go out to all my reviewers. I'm happy, I know some of these names XDD Hey Mikasamu! Hey Anise! I'm glad you all like the adorable Iruka - now on to the prankster XD!!

-o-o-o-o-o-

Story 2 – The Desire to Believe

Part 1 – Family

-o-o-o-o-o-

"This is getting ridiculous."

"That boy is going to get himself lynched if he keeps this up, especially right now."

"Please, you know as well as the rest of us that it's only this bad because the attack is so fresh in his mind."

Kakashi leaned silently against one of the wooden pillars that marked the start of the training ground, listening to his fellow jounin talking without comment until then. "I know what you're thinking, but we can't just let this go. Yeah, Umino lost his parents, but so did a lot of other people." Kakashi had been on his own for years now, he didn't see what Iruka's problem was. If anything, the boy should have been locking himself away and leaving everyone alone instead of bothering them.

"A few pranks are hardly a threat to Konoha, Hatake. What he's doing is bringing life back to this village. People are smiling again, kids are laughing. It's because of his jokes and pranks."

"Yes," another man cut in angrily, "pranks against school teachers and civilians and minor damage to property. He's gone too far targeting training shinobi."

Ibiki stepped forward angrily, taking charge of the situation and putting an end to the argument. "He needs to be caught for this one. He can keep making jokes and pulling pranks if that's what he wants, the benefits can't be denied, and he always ends up putting things back to rights regardless. But this time he needs to be caught and punished immediately." A ripple of agreement went through the gathered jounin, their heads bobbing up and down. Ibiki nodded as well. "All right, he's probably watching this from somewhere, but he's just a genin so he shouldn't be hard to find. Kakashi, you're his age, you get to catch him in the act." The masked teen rolled his eyes, but prepared to find the little prankster. "This won't work if he figures out he's caught and takes off. Akira, Michi, Ken, you're our fall men. Everyone else just stick around here and enjoy the show."

The three all groaned, but they prepared to trigger the trap just as ordered. Kakashi took off without another word, quickly searching the area for his target and the three went into the training grounds.

Not far away, binoculars held to his eyes and tele-zoom camera beside him, Iruka was waiting for his trap to be sprung. He'd spent nearly two hours setting it up and now all that was left was for his victims to appear. He saw the first man come into his line of sight. He turned, walking backwards to speak with his friends, another man and a woman, and Iruka grinned widely. Another step and . . .

The man paused and turned, apparently noticing the small tripwire. Iruka's grin grew; everything was going as planned. The three ninja spread out, preparing to set off the apparent trap without getting hit by it. Iruka couldn't hear what was being said, but he could imagine, any ninja would be muttering about the inconvenience in their training schedule. They'd want to get rid of the danger and go back to their routine. Little would they know that the initial and admittedly childish water balloon trap was merely a ruse, filled with harmless water, though in the cold winter air that was a pretty good prank on its own. Once they triggered it though, it set off a timer that triggered paint and feathers five seconds later. It was long enough that most ninja would consider themselves safe and return to at least inspect the fake trap, putting themselves in the strike area once more.

The woman paused, one hand going to her ear. Iruka blinked, frowning at the motion. The only ninja that wore earpieces when not on missions were top ranked jounin. But if that were true . . . Iruka spun, reaching for his camera and leaping to his feet. This trap was supposed to be for chunin or maybe a training team of genin; if those three were jounin . . . "Crap!"

Blocking Iruka's escape was one Hatake Kakashi, leaning bored against a tree and slowly pulling an earpiece from his own ear. "Sorry, but since I found you so fast, we won't actually be setting that off."

"Crap," Iruka repeated, glancing around for an escape. While his eyes were focused elsewhere, Kakashi moved forward, snatching the expensive camera away before Iruka could even notice the move. The brunette pulled away, eyes huge at the attack. "The hell? Give that back!"

"Nope."

Iruka blinked rapidly and frowned deeply at the other teen. "Give it back, that belonged to my dad."

"Still no." He dangled the strap by one finger, swinging the device from side to side. "If it's that important to you, you shouldn't risk it on stuff like this. I'm supposed to punish you for this prank. I think I'll just keep this."

Iruka jumped forward, trying to grab the camera back and failing as Kakashi easily avoided him. "Damn it, give it back to me, you jerk!"

"Make it to New Year's with no pranks and you can have it back, deal? It's barely more than a week, even you should be able to do that." Kakashi could see the other boy's fists shaking and if looks could kill, he'd be dead twice over by now, but after another minute, Iruka jerked his eyes away and brushed past the older boy angrily. Kakashi smiled, tossing the camera into the air and catching it. "See you later, 'Ruka," he called after the retreating boy.

It was hours later before Kakashi even thought of the other boy again. He was heading home after his briefly interrupted training and was passing by the school. The rubble had been cleared away long ago, but one wall was still no more than scaffolding and sheets of plastic, patiently waiting its turn to be rebuilt. The masked boy hesitated at the reminder of the fox attack and listened carefully for what had caught his attention. After barely a pause, he heard another quiet sob and oriented on the noise, making his way through the deserted schoolyard without a sound.

The source of the sobs was hunched over , curled around his legs and crying into his knees. Kakashi moved closer, frowning suddenly as he recognized the tousled brown hair. "Iruka?"

The teen's head shot up, eyes wide and telltale streaks running down his cheeks. Seeing Kakashi, he frantically passed his hands over his face in a futile attempt to erase the evidence despite the fact that his breath was still hitching badly.

With a little frown, Kakashi finished closing the distance between them, coming within reach of the boy. "I gave your camera to Ibiki. It's fine though, he won't do anything to damage it."

"What the hell makes you think this has anything to do with you. Leave me alone." Iruka was still wiping at his eyes, tears still leaking out. Kakashi's lips formed a thin line behind his mask and he reached out, settling one hand on the brunette's shoulder. Iruka pulled away violently and took a swing at the other boy, missing rather badly. "Don't touch me!"

Kakashi decided to move out of reach, but settled down onto the same porch Iruka was sitting on. "Well if it's not about me taking your father's camera, then what's wrong? Someone decide to turn the tables and hit you with itching powder?"

Iruka glared, not answering right away. Kakashi could see him trying to stay mad, grasping at the anger like a lifeline, but the tears were a slightly stronger influence. Finally he turned away, staring at his knees again. "Tomorrow's Christmas Eve."

Kakashi frowned, not quite catching why that would trigger this reaction. "So what?" he asked with a shrug.

Iruka's spine seemed to turn to water, his upper body falling until his chest rested against his thighs again. "It's the first Christmas since the fox attack."

Understanding hit suddenly and Kakashi turned his own eyes away. The first Christmas since Iruka had lost his family. When his father had killed himself, Kakashi had felt the same way, despite having been infected by some of the village's hatred for the man. That first Christmas had been hard; the masked child had ended up taking a mission just to get away for those few days. It made Iruka's anger about the camera make more sense, too. "Look, I'll talk to Ibiki-"

"I don't care about the damn camera," the brunette bit out.

Kakashi reached behind his head, ruffling his hair more and trying to think of something to say. "Well, it's not all bad. I mean, your parents probably saved a dozen lives at least." Hearing it out loud, Kakashi suddenly didn't think that would help the other boy's mood. "Um, and think about it! Look at you, shiny new headband, they got to see you graduate the academy! That had to make them happy, right?"

Iruka pushed himself up, glaring at Kakashi. "You're bad at this. Stop."

Kakashi gave a frustrated sigh. Why was it whenever they interacted, Iruka seemed to end up crying? "Well it was months ago, you gotta-" He forced himself to stop, certain that 'get over it' was not something he should say to the boy. Judging from the increase in the death glare, he'd been right. "I mean . . ."

"I didn't ask for your opinion, jerk. Just leave me alone." He curled into his knees again, ignoring Kakashi once more.

The silver haired teen sighed and climbed to his feet. "Well I'm sorry, all right? Try to look on the bright side, this will help make you a better ninja. At the very least you'll stop believing in Santa Claus." With a distracted wave, Kakashi turned his back on the other to leave.