They were late.
Kakashi had been bugging the mission desk for the past two weeks about any mission that would take him anywhere near where Iruka, Naruto, and Shino had been sent, until Tsunade had banned him from the room and threatened to take him completely off the active duty roster. So the jounin had taken to wandering around the village aimlessly, making numerous stops at the front gate to question any teams coming in or going out.
The prolonged absence of Iruka and Naruto had made Kakashi seek out Neji more and more often, until it was more uncommon not to see the two together. He couldn't stand the lack of any sort of news coming in about Iruka's team, and didn't let his thoughts wander about what could have happened… and he had been in ANBU and could imagine a great many things. The dog tags never left his possession; either he kept them in his pocket or wore them, but they were always with him no matter what.
But now, Kakashi sat on his couch, trying and failing to focus on his book. It was the first gift he'd gotten from his secret admirer… from Iruka. His dogs lay around the couch, keeping him company until Neji was supposed to arrive. But even with the light snoring of the snoozing canines around him, Kakashi was still antsy and fidgety.
Neji walked to Kakashi's apartment deep in thought. It wasn't like Naruto to not have sent him word of anything. Toads would occasionally pop up when Naruto was away on long missions to let him know it was taking longer but there had never been this long without word. Refusing not to trust in Naruto and his teammates ability to stay alive, Neji arrived at Kakashi's and knocked on the door. Wondering where they are now.
As he walked into Kakashi's home Neji sighed. "You would think I was an emo brat from the way I have been acting." Gracefully sitting on the couch, Neji rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I should be use to the waiting. Naruto has to become Hokage soon. Him being out of the village for long periods is driving me up the wall."
Kakashi nodded sympathetically, setting down his book and pulling out the dog tags again, just to hold them, as though holding them meant bringing Iruka and his team back sooner. He leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees and running his thumb over the words.
"From what I can gather, Iruka rarely leaves the village on missions unless it demands his specific skills. But after this, I don't know if I could handle him going off again, not knowing where he is, what's taking him so long, if he's even safe." He sighed heavily. "Oh, I'm sure they're perfectly fine, because if anybody had the balls to lay a hand on either of them, the other would rip them apart. And they've got Shino." Even though he spoke firmly, his hands tightened around the dog tags almost painfully.
"Did you know that Shino and Ino are an item?" Neji inquired. "She apparently has been driving the T&I department spare. None of them have ever been late before. The Hokage is being particularly quiet about whatever their mission was, and handed it out directly."
"I don't know if that means I should be relieved or annoyed." Rubbing his nose bridge again, Neji wondered where they were. Pulling dog tags out of his shirt with a ring that hung with the dog tags. The ring was silver and gold twisted together. "Uzumaki and I have plans so he better hurry. I have a week long mission coming up. If he isn't back by then...No they'll be back by then." Smiling at Kakashi he sighed. "Oh how I have fallen." Shaking his head he leaned back on the couch.
Another week passed. Kakashi was slowly going insane, spending hours just pacing in either his apartment or Neji's. He wasn't eating well, was training far too much, and it had gotten so bad that Gai had finally refused to train with him at all, and his other friends had taken to keeping an eye on him so he wouldn't just make a clone and train.
So he stopped trying to sneak off to train, and just spent his time with either Neji, Genma, or Sakura, just trying to distract himself from the thoughts plaguing his mind.
"If this goes on for much longer, I'm going to lose my mind," he commented dryly, glaring at the ground under his feet as he stood in front of the memorial stone.
"You weren't even official and you care this much? I hate to see what you are like when you do become official." Ino scoffed strolling out of the treeline followed by Neji.
"So any word from anyone?" Ino looked at both men expectantly. "Nothing huh?"
With a sigh, Ino collapsed to the ground in front of the memorial stone. "Being realistic..."
"Shut up, Ino. Don't even go there if you don't intend to die right now." Neji's voice was strained. "Statistically we all know so just don't even mention it to make yourself feel better."
"Like we all aren't thinking about what we'll do if..." Ino started but stopped herself. "You are right. I should have more faith. They would go to war over each other in a heartbeat. That is what I am afraid of."
Kakashi didn't even bother looking up. "They're fine," he said hollowly, not moving from his position at all. "They're just late. If I can be late, why not them? They're fine, they're alive, and they're going to come home. Just late…"
Even in his head, he didn't believe it. It had been a long time… Naruto would always hurry back to Neji, and Shino to Ino. But Iruka… Iruka didn't know if he had someone to hurry back to or not. That's what got Kakashi. Iruka had gone off on that mission and didn't even know just how deeply Kakashi had come to care for him.
A/N: Sorry it is short but I was reading over it and realized that I had stretched a little too far with something and I didn't want it to be completely out there anyway. Give it a day or two and I should have another chapter ready.
