~The Night Before Love Blossomed~
After Kakashi left the hospital, he only had one thing on his mind, a nice hot shower. When he buckled into the seat next to his dog the thought was still on his mind. When the dog suddenly told him to stop the car and pull over or he would piss in the car, things changed. He let the dog out to go do his business in the small expanse of grass, while he leaned back in the seat and contemplated his students. Naruto seemed upset but he would be better soon, Sasuke still disconcerted him though. Then he thought of how Sasuke's father must have reacted which led to Naruto's Parent and his eyes shot open. The voice of the school president, Tsunade, filled his mind.
" Kakashi you have to call that lecher I'm not dealing with him!" He checked his pocket for his cell, but remembered that one of his other dogs had turned it into a chew toy a few days ago. It didn't really bother him that much, not many people knew his number, but now he had to visit his old friend, personally.
His knuckles had just bounced back off the door in a standard knock when it was wrenched open and a disgruntled face ushered him in.
" Two guests in one night I am so flattered." Jiraiya mumbled as he walked back into his home knowing that Kakashi would enter and close the door himself. " Come into the kitchen I've got someone here who wants to see you!" He called.
Kakashi paused in the middle of taking off his shoes. Someone who wants to see him? The only friends he had had left a long time ago. His socks padded softly on the wood when he stepped up the small landing, walking past the old sofa and television set and into the light of the kitchen. He shook his head; if he had another guest he could have left more lights on.
Jiraiya and another man sat at the table, and the younger one stared for a second, stood up presenting a pleasant smile. Kakashi knew who it was, a friend from high school, even after so many years it was easy to identify him.
" It's been a while, hasn't it Hatake?" He asked walking toward him.
" Yes, it has Umino." They shook hands and went to sit at the table. Jiraiya cleared his throat and shot a glare at Kakashi,
" Iruka here, came to ask about Naruto, and he makes me wonder, sensei, how something like this could have happened." He glanced heatedly at him, " For someone who has been trained in several different kinds of combat and more could not even protect his students?"
"Jiraiya Sama -" Iruka tried to placate him.
" I'm not done yet! I expected that he would be perfectly fine in your class but I was wrong."
" Jiraiya Sama I honestly did not believe that anyone was in serious danger." Kakashi explained feeling as if he were a kid again.
" You've gotten soft since you started teaching or have you forgotten?" This time he turned his attention to Iruka and pointed at his face, where a long horizontal scar stretched across his nose and stained both cheeks. Kakashi's eyes followed the scar and to his surprise a light blush formed on his friend's face.
" Um, I don't really want to bring up the bad things in the past right now." He said looking away from Kakashi and over toward the counter behind him. " How about I make some tea?" He asked hurriedly rising and opening some cabinets at random. Kakashi scratched his chin watching Iruka's back as he shuffled around, they had already pretty much told each other everything when they were boys, practically growing up together, and this was the first time that Iruka seemed to be hiding something from him. Granted they hadn't seen each other in years, maybe that is why he did not wish to speak more openly with him. Jiraiya let Iruka scramble around searching for tea to occupy himself, he knew why the brown haired man wanted to create some distance between himself and his once upon time, best friend.
However, he did not want to let go of the issue, Naruto was hurt by Sasuke, the son of Fugaku Uchiha, things were happening again, perhaps this time someone would be caught. He pulled his chair closer to Kakashi to continue what he had begun,
" Kakashi, please don't tell me that you still believe Fugaku to be innocent?"
" I have no reason to think otherwise." He growled back.
" Just because Naruto's father trusted him, doesn't mean that you should, furthermore, the man standing behind you is proof."
" The night that Iruka's parents were killed it was dark, Jiraiya, even he said that he did not remember any features of the attacker." Iruka slammed a mug down on the counter, his brown eyes flashing with hurt.
" Please let's not talk about this!" He shouted, while still sounding as polite as possible. Kakashi was again taken by surprise, Iruka had been much more calm the first time that he had described his parent's death to him.
" I'm sorry Iruka but I must explain some things to Kakashi." Iruka sighed and returned to the table, he let the mug stay where it was.
" Weren't you ever curious about how Naruto got those marks on his face?" He asked.
"It was because of the car accident right?" Kakashi answered looking back and forth between Jiraiya and Iruka.
" No, they are far too precise." He shook his head slowly and leaned his elbows on the table. " They were cut into him, like my scar." Iruka ran a finger over his scar and closed his eyes. " Do you remember Hatake, what I told you the man said before he made this?" He paused looking straight at him, " He said, 'I don't kill children' and he cut me as a warning of some kind." Kakashi stood up so fast that his chair fell down. He swung around to face Jiraiya,
" They were murdered!" He hollered. " You knew the entire time and you never told me!" His chest heaved and he looked back at Iruka with blazing gray eyes, " You're telling me that whoever, took away your family, also killed Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina!" He wanted to punch someone or- he looked down at the chair and slammed his sock covered foot down on it, snapping the supports of the legs and deftly demolishing it.
" You're paying for a new one." Jiraiya stated not moving from the table. Kakashi wordlessly studied the mess he created and pulled his foot out from the minor wreckage. Yes, he had definitely turned back into a child, throwing such a temper tantrum; even Iruka gawked at him with round brown eyes. Kakash's shoulders relaxed and his breathing evened out. He scratched the back of his head turning to Jiraiya.
" Do I really have to pay for this?" He asked. Jiraiya gave a snort in reply. So Kakashi dragged another chair over and sat down, wondering how much it would take from his paycheck.
He took in a calming breath and glanced back at his friend, " Let's say, hypothetically, that Fugaku did do all those things, what can we do about it?"
"Nothing." Iruka whispered. Jiraiya shook his head sternly.
"There is something that you can do Kakashi, if you listen to me very carefully."
" What?"
" You can keep a sharp eye on my little imp and Uchiha Sasuke."
"I will." He said solemnly.
~The Present~
Naruto rolled down the window from the front seat of the stranger's car. He laughed while he watched the trees go by. Well, she wasn't technically a stranger right? He turned to look at the nurse who offered to drive him home, his old self, his straight self, would have been whooping and ecstatic that a pretty woman was giving him a ride home. Now he only felt gratitude toward her. She looked back at him and asked, " Do I turn here?"
" Not yet it's just a little ways ahead, I'll tell you when."
" All right," She smiled. " I can't believe I'm actually going to see the great Sage!" She exclaimed.
" Uh it's not that exciting." He grumbled. He was also a little mad that she had not offered to take him from the goodness of her heart, but to see "the sage", oh well he probably would have done the same thing if he wanted to see someone really badly. They parked as close as they could to the house while the nurse got out and went around to the side of the car to grab his crutches from the back seat. She quickly opened the door for him and handed them to him one at a time. " Ugh these are so annoying." He moaned.
" You'll get used to them." She smiled and followed him to the front door. He leaned one crutch against his side, while leaning all his weight on the other crutch and one leg as he banged on the door shouting,
" Let me in you perverted toad!" The nurse gasped at him and the door swung open to show a beaming Jiraiya who pulled Naruto into a hug.
" Be quiet imp!" He shouted into his ear smiling even more broadly. The nurse did not know quite what to expect, but a man with red tattoos on his face and a huge white mane, was not it. Naruto pulled back standing on one foot and looking for his fallen supporters. She handed him the crutches and stepped back outside. Naruto introduced Jiraiya to the nurse, and he eyed her, giving Naruto a nuggie and saying something like, you sure know how to pick 'em, which made Naruto blush furiously. He collapsed on the couch in relief when she left.
" So Naruto how are you holding up?" He asked noticing how Naruto was resting his foot up on the coffee table in front of the couch.
"I'm doing all right." He said closing his eyes.
" It sure seems like it, what with you bringing home such a fox."
" Hey it's not like that she just offered to take me home, that's it."
"Uh huh." He wagged his eyebrows at him.
" Jiji um . . . " He opened his eyes looked at him briefly before looking at his foot concentrating.
" What is it?" Jiraiya asked sensing the change in Naruto's behavior.
" Um, I . . . no never mind it's not important. " He closed his eyes once more. Jiraiya did not want to push him but he did join him on the couch.
" Why don't you help me with my new book?"
" Nah, I'm not interested right now."
" But the main character has blond hair, clear blue eyes and- "
" Okay count me in!" He grinned. " So what do you have so far?"
" Not much actually, I was sort of hoping you could fill in some things and we'll just bat around some ideas."
" Sounds good."
" So the protagonist falls in love with a woman with bubblegum pink hair." Jiraiya congratulated himself on trying to wheedle out Naruto's opinion of a girl like Sakura.
" Ew no, how bout blue.
" Blue?"
" Yeah a deep, shadowy, blue so dark that it's almost black like the ocean at night."
" Wow that's almost poetic."
" Heh, thanks I guess."
" So he falls in love with the girl when he meets her by throwing himself in front of a bus to save–"
" A kitten, a pure white kitten with pitch black eyes."
" I was going to say her, but that works too." Naruto's eyes remained closed but he took the small pillow out from behind his back and hugged it. Jiraiya continued, " He saves the cat but only narrowly because he causes the bus to crash into a building. Everyone is okay, but the quick turn it took made the girl's head slam into the window, and you can see blood smeared on the window and dripping from a cut on the side of her head-." Naruto gasped and opened his eyes.
" Jiji can we finish this some other time?"
" Sure that's fine."
Naruto carefully moved his injured foot and grabbed his crutches hobbling to his room without a backward glance at Jiraiya.
" Black hair and eyes eh?" He murmured to himself watching his son's retreating figure.
~ • • ~
Sasuke's morning was hell. His brother halfheartedly drove him to the therapist that the school's psychiatrist had recommended. The person at school was a man who was fond of wearing sunglasses indoors and this girl wasn't much better. In fact in some ways she was much worse. She insisted that he refer to her by her first name, Karin, and she did not even try to hide the fact that she was constantly trying to strip him of his clothes with her eyes. He looked out her window and waited for her to start asking the questions. She remained silent simply staring at him, usually he could ignore such looks but this morning it only aggravated him. He turned his black eyes on her dark rimmed glasses and smirked,
" Am I that captivating?"
" Yes quite." She answered giving a sickly sweet smile.
" Would you stop staring and get on with the questioning?" He demanded. Needless to say it was the longest hour of his entire life.
He got back into the car with a deep frown causing Itachi to chuckle. He looked up in astonishment, when was the last time that he had heard his brother laugh?
" You look like a child that just dropped his ice cream cone." He said, then in a more serious tone. " I take it she wasn't very helpful?"
" No, she just wanted to get into my pants."
" That's the price of being beautiful." He said looking at himself in the rear-view mirror.
" You are having way too much fun at my expense." Sasuke glowered.
" You should be glad that it turned out this way, you will have a much easier time keeping things from her."
" That's true. " his little brother mused. Itachi told him that he could return back to his apartment if he wished, because their father did not need him and he could spend the weekend however he wanted. Sasuke was so happy that he lost his annoyed frown, but still with a calm exterior he nodded his head and asked to be taken to his apartment, which was more of a home to him than that other house could ever be.
The two brothers parted without any goodbyes, and he ambled up to his room. He glanced at the clock on the oven and let out a sigh. Naruto must be sleeping now, he thought and he remembered how Naruto constantly complained about his 11:00 classes saying that he could never 'concentrate right' close to lunchtime. He opened his refrigerator and pulled out some plain yogurt and a bottle of water. He wasn't that hungry at the moment, but he smiled as he imagined what Naruto would say about what he was eating, "That's barbaric! " or "Where's the meat or noodlely goodness? You need more carbs!" They had recently spoken on the phone, too early in the morning in fact, but he felt like he already missed his loud obnoxious habits.
~ • • ~
Naruto lay on his bed gazing at the ceiling, so much for the catnap he wanted to be taking. That story really freaked him out, thinking of blood, how a person can vanish in the blink of an eye, how your life would never be the same if it happened. He did not want to think on it but he could still picture the gun pointing at the most precious thing in the world to him. And it still infuriated him. Really, if he really cared for Naruto like he said he did, he wouldn't have tried to keep himself away from him forever. But, maybe if they do get together he could help him through whatever it was that he was going through. He closed his eyes in determination; yes he will do whatever it takes to bring Sasuke back into the light.
~ Reunion of Sorts~
Monday morning everything was the same, and yet different. Sasuke had to admit that sitting in the desk that he had been in when his little 'plan' backfired, was eerie. The classroom was empty and the board had a foggy white feel to it, no one had bothered to wash it. It was peaceful, he almost didn't want his classmates to arrive, but then as if on cue Naruto came in preceded by the sound of crashing crutches and then one thump, his head was down and had not noticed his presence yet. When he finally looked up and saw him, that wondrous smile was the last thing that the gloomy boy had expected to see radiating toward him with genuine warmth. He clomped faster shouting in jubilation, " Sasuke!"
He felt his mouth open to answer but not a sound was made, still his whole body seemed to be pulled by that voice. He was up and walking before he even noticed that his desk was behind him. Naruto looked so happy, overjoyed even, why? , And then he was falling, one crutch got stuck behind a desk leg, and in his haste the rest of him propelled forward nose-diving into Sasuke's chest. He immediately grabbed Naruto by the shoulders to steady him, his cerulean eyes looked up into jet-black ones and their mouths were barely a breath apart, the blue eyes shuttered and he watched him lean closer, No! His mind panicked and he pushed that brightness forcefully away from him. Naruto flew backward and his buttocks landed none too gently on the tiled floor, he gazed up at Sasuke in utter bewilderment. Then he straightened his leg out, grinding his teeth to stop himself from showing any signs of pain in his foot or otherwise.
"Are you okay?" Sasuke asked hesitantly.
"I'm fine!" He yelled furiously, eyes scanning the floor searching for his crutches. Sasuke took a step toward him reaching out, " Don't touch me!" He screamed.
" Naruto, I'm-"
"You're what! You're sorry?" He snarled glaring passionately. " For what!" he stormed just getting warmed up, "For being the most confusing, big-headed, frozen, bastard I've ever met!"
"Let me help you." He said evenly, but the dark pools of his eyes were pleading. Naruto stretched out his hand and grabbed Sasuke's holding tight and pulling him down with all the strength he could muster from his position. To Sasuke's dismay and Naruto's pleasure he face planted right next to him. He groaned and turned with a deadly glare that quickly morphed into his usual smirk when he saw Naruto's mischievous grin.
" So how does it feel to be off your damn pedestal?" He asked with raised fair eyebrows.
" I think you broke my nose."
" I think you broke my ass!" His eyes bulged as he realized what he just said, " Uh that didn't come out right." Laughter bubbled up from both of them and they did not notice when their teacher crept in and stood right beside them.
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AUTHOR'S NOTE: I want to give a big thank you to my reviewers. . . PlantLover and ashwolf44. . . they are the only reason this story continued!! I decided to send them a huge gift basket tied in blue and orange ribbons and filled with a ton of fluffy things. . . ( if only I could)
Yes, and now for the apologies I am so sorry for the extra long wait on this one. I just got distracted and disheartened and that is a very bad combo! Also there may be another even longer wait because I am traveling soon.
Notes on story: Okay first of all I introduced Iruka yaaeeey. Second of all my version of Kakashi is straight, so I must apologize, again, to all the KakaIru fans. However, if I get enough flames and angry protest I can let my preferences slide. ( on my profile you can see that I ship Kakashi and Sakura)
Kudos to all the people that knew right away why Iruka was acting "strange" around Kakashi- I'm so mean for making him have a one-sided love!!!!!
I hope that everyone will continue to follow this story!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and leave reviews if you have any questions,comments, concerns, or a blinding rage that Iruka may end up lonely . . .