Kaza! or however you spell that happy word. So I got my reviews and the whiney child inside me is happy now. Here is the reward! xoxoxo to all my readers.

~(^^)~

"You're stupid!"

"No you're stupid!"

Naruto curled his fingers into a fist and put them on his hips, his bottom lip quivered and he put on his best wounded glare. "You're mean."

Sakura crossed her arms over her chest and stuck her tongue out. "You're ugly."

"Yeah you're ugly!" Ino pointed an accusing finger in the blond's face. "Stupid head why don't you just go away."

Sakura whirled around on her heels and stormed out of the lunch room, Ino moved to follow but not before giving the boy a powerful shove to his chest that landed him on his bum. The duo made their exit just as Sasuke returned, they paused in the doorway to bat their eyelashes and try to engage the brunette in a conversation. When they failed the girls rushed out in the hallway and down towards the playground where they could sit on the slide and giggle about all their fantasies involving the Uchiha.

By the time Sasuke made it to the table where the boy's always sat his friend was already back up and sitting in his seat. But his quivering bottom lip gave away that he had been tormented yet again. The Uchiha looked around but knew he wouldn't find the culprit, he had passed by the girls on his way in now that he thought about it. He dug through his lunch box until he found the napkin all the way at the bottom and handed it over the the blond. Naruto wasn't crying yet but he wouldn't be able to hold it back for much longer, that's how it always was.

"Are you ok?"

Naruto just nodded as he accepted the square tissue, he wasn't strong enough to use words without his voice cracking. He returned to his lunch hoping that he'd be able to hold his tears back. Sakura had swatted his sandwich out of his hand and it was now a goopy mess splattered across the tile, so he was left with his apple and pudding cup which he busied himself with devouring. He'd always had quite the appetite and whenever he was sad he ate twice as much, if that was possible. The boy's sat in silence, with no words or tears, until the bell rang and they had to go back to class.

"Are you ok?" Sasuke took the blond's lunchbox and carried it with his own as they walked down the corridor.

Naruto made no move to take it back, Sasuke always did this when he was upset, "Yeah." he rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Sorry."

"It's not your fault they're buttheads." Sasuke swung his lunch box and it hit Naruto on the hip, when the blond turned to ask why Sasuke just smiled. "But who cares about them."

Naruto smiled and wrapped his friend in a tight hug, he always knew what to do to cheer him up. "Thanks Sasuke!"

"Hey boys." Iruka was walking back from the courtyard where he had been watching the few kids that chose to go and play after they ate.

"Daddy!" Naruto made a beeline for the man and jumped into his arms.

"How are you two doing?" Iruka walked up to Sasuke, still carrying his son, and patted the brunette on the head.

Sasuke looked to his friend, asking with his eyes whether or not he could be honest, even though in his gut he knew he should. Naruto looked pleadingly, begging for him not to spill the beans. "Sakura was mean again." Sasuke blurted out.

Naruto frowned and tears began to well up in his eyes, "Nu uh!"

"Yes she did, she knocked his sandwich on the ground and I bet she pushed him too." Sasuke crossed his arms and glared at the ground.

"Naruto is this true?"

"It was an accident!" Naruto squirmed until his father put him down, "She didn't mean to I dropped my sandwich and then I slipped on the jelly."

"Naruto..." Iruka dropped down to his knee and looked the boy in the eye. "If she did something to you, you have to tell me or else it wont stop. Please be honest."

"I...I don't want to! She didn't mean it!" Naruto turned and ran, but not before he gave Sasuke a sour look and punched him in the arm as he went past.

"Naruto wait!" Iruka launched after his son, but even though his legs were longer the boy proved to be rather cunning in out maneuvering and hiding. "Naruto? Where are you?" Iruka poked his head into an empty class room but there was no sign of him. "Dammit."

Naruto crouched down low in the corner of the janitor's closet. He knew his father would have to go back to his class soon and that if he just stayed still a little while longer he'd be able to avoid everyone for at least another hour. He was mad, at Sasuke for telling, at his dad for not understanding, but mostly at himself for not being able to let go of the past. It had always been like this, he would get picked on by some kid that didn't like the way he looked or how he acted, and when the adults asked what had happened he knew it was pointless to tell, it would just get him in more trouble. He had tried it once, after a particularly painful encounter which resulted in a black eye and a sprained wrist, the headmaster of the orphanage had questioned him and he told his story. For a day he had felt safe but then when the adult's backs were turned...

Naruto winced at the memory, he still had scars on his back from where the rocks had cut him deeply and he'd had to get stitches. No one but the kids that had tortured him knew about that day, from that moment on Naruto had promised himself that he'd never snitch again no matter what. Just as he was starting to sink into the darkness of his thoughts the bell rang meaning passing period was over and everyone was back in their classes by now. He uncurled from the ball he was in and stretched his legs out, heaving a giant sigh of relief. He knew it was wrong to keep his sadness from his father but he just couldn't let Iruka into that abyss.

There was a knock on the door and the handle jiggled, Naruto pulled his knees back up to his chest and pulled his shirt up over his head to hide his hair. The door creaked open slowly and light seeped in, penetrating the shadows that had wrapped themselves comfortingly around the blond. The smell of stagnate mop water and cleaning fluids that had been building up when the entrance was sealed slowly began to decapitate the longer the door stayed open. Naruto kept his head down and his eyes shut, as if that would make him invisible, there was footsteps and then the door clicked shut, and then there was quiet. He counted to thirty-seven and looked up when he became too impatient to wait any longer.

"How come you're hiding?" Sasuke was bent down with his his hands on his knees and his face mere inches from his friend's.

Naruto hopped up to his feet effectively forcing the brunette back, "Because you told on me!"

"Nu uh! I told on Sakura!" Sasuke crossed his arms and stood his ground as Naruto released his pent up fury.

"I didn't want you to!" Naruto stomped his foot and flailed his arms in every direction. When Sasuke said nothing and didn't show any signs that he was going to apologize, the blond lashed out, striking the boy with a fist to the shoulder.

Sasuke stumbled backwards as his shoulder started tingling with the impact. He hadn't expected to be struck, Naruto had never been physical before. "Hey!"

"Leave me alone! You're going to get me in trouble!" Naruto shoved past his friend stopping only when he heard a splash and felt water sprinkle on the back of his leg. When he turned around he saw the Uchiha had fallen backwards into the mop bucket, he had such a look of shock on his face Naruto almost wanted to laugh. Almost, Sasuke's expression went from surprise to furious so quick Naruto gasped. The ice cold onyx eyes glared at the blond as their owner removed himself from the bucket. There was a moment in which Naruto didn't know if he was in the present or past, the look Sasuke was giving him was almost exactly like the looks he had gotten back at the orphanage. The first droplet that fell and burst on the floor was like an explosion that echoed through Naruto's ears. It was so loud, so deafening it left his ears ringing and he couldn't hear as Sasuke began to yell at him.

It lasted for at least five minutes as Sasuke hollered and waved his arms around asking the blond questions that got no answer. By the time his anger was fizzling out Sasuke realized something was wrong. Naruto was staring at the puddle that had formed around his feet, like he was afraid of it. He studied the hypnotized boy for a moment watching as his mouth opened and closed as if he were trying to talk to someone, his head shook back and forth ever so slightly like the person he was trying to talk to wasn't listening. The Uchiha took a step forward and the spell was broken.

Naruto crumbled to the floor having been ripped from his thoughts none too gently. He was shaking as Sasuke knelt before him and placed a hand comfortingly on his shoulder. Naruto gasped and crawled backwards to escaped the anticipated attack, when none came his wet blue eyes looked up and connected with the Uchiha's. "Sasuke?"

"It's ok. Want me to go get Iruka?" as much as he wanted to be able to take care of the blond Sasuke knew he wasn't what Naruto needed right now.

"No." Naruto stood up and dusted off the invisible dirt that clung to his shorts. "We should go to class"

Sasuke straightened his shirt but froze when his fingertips came in contact with his hem. That's right he was soaked with dirty water. "Uhm"

This time Naruto couldn't hold back his laughter, and before he knew it tears of joy were filling his eyes as he pointed and laughed his butt off. They made their way out of the closet and down the hall towards the nurse's office, hopefully she would have some spare clothes.

:3

Iruka couldn't believe he hadn't found his son, more than that he couldn't believe he was able to restrain himself from running out of his classroom and resuming his search. It had only taken two minutes, as he mispronounced each and everyone of his student's names, for him to realize there was no way he'd be able to focus. So he had assigned a group craft exercise and taken his seat at the head of the class. Now he was watching the clock anxiously, impatiently counting down the seconds. He sighed and let his head fall down to the desk top and heaved another deep breath.

How come no one had ever told him fatherhood would be so difficult? Kakashi had gone through the whole adopting thing but he always made it look so easy, of course he had complained sometimes about how Sasuke was too quiet but even that had stopped after a few months. And yet here Iruka was almost eight months into the relationship and he was still struggling to understand his kid. Maybe he should have looked into Naruto's past a little deeper, he loved his son no one would ever be able to argue with that, but now that he was in this situation where Naruto was physically running away from him rather than talking things through Iruka didn't know what to do.

His eyes darted back to the clock only to see that a mere three minutes had passed. His stress level was rising which subsequently made his 'I feel helpless' level rise. More than anything he wanted his son to come running through his door and jump into his arms, big blue eyes shining brightly and face cracking with that wide grin that lit up Iruka's world. Only slightly less than that he wanted Kakashi to show up and make him feel better.

A female student made her way up to the front to ask a question, Iruka tried to listen he really did but all he could here was Naruto's high pitched voice defended his guilty class mate. The girls' lips moved asking him again, but to the same result. Iruka shook his head sorry and focused as hard as he could to make out what she was saying. Turns out she was wondering if he was ok. He smiled reassuringly and nodded, she was a sweet heart. The little brunette skipped back to her desk and sat back down with her group telling them 'Iruka sensei is ok.'

The man stood and stretched his back, "Kids." everyone turned to look at him. "I'll be right back ok? Meko you're in charge." the girl stood up and saluted, Iruka laughed and returned the gesture.

He exited and looked up and down the hall, he had to find his son. Taking a few steps he froze, there was a giggle from behind him and it was familiar. Iruka whirled around in time to see a tuft of blond hair heading around a corner. "Naruto!" In his mind he had never run so fast, his sneakers squeaking as he tuned the corner quickly and darted in the direction he assumed his son had gone. There was another laugh but this one didn't belong to his child, it sounded like Sasuke. If Naruto wouldn't listen maybe Sasuke would. "Sasuke! Come here!"

A few doors opened and some fellow teachers poked their heads out wondering what the fuss was about. Iruka waved their questioning glances off and continued on in his pursuit. Just when he thought he had lost them Sasuke took a step out into the hall and cocked his head as Iruka ran by, his mind rushing to quickly to process that he had found what he was looking for. He took a few more steps before it hi him and he spun around to stare at the young Uchiha, blinking a few times to make sure he was seeing right.

"Iruka?"

"Where Naruto?" the brunette advanced on the boy anger bubbling up in throat, he wanted to scream, if Sasuke knew where Naruto was why wasn't he sharing his information?

"Daddy?" Naruto came out behind Sasuke and waved like nothing had happened.

"Naruto..." Iruka burst out in tears all his worries and rage disappearing in a heart beat, in that moment all that mattered was seeing his son in one piece, and talking to him. "Where did you go?" he wrapped his arms around the blond and sobbed into the top of his head.

"Sorry." Naruto let out a small whimper as he was squeezed. The guilt was slowly building inside him as his father cried, his tears wetting his scalp. "Sorry." he glanced nervously at Sasuke, though not sure what he was looking for. He saw the brunette give a small smile and for some reason it suddenly felt ok, like he wasn't in trouble and he could let it all out. Father and son cried, their emotionally pained sobs filling the hall ways. Sasuke watched as Naruto let it all out, he didn't know why Iruka was crying but it seemed like the pair had a lot of problems that needed working out.

Iruka finally stopped when he realized that the soft gasps filling the hallway weren't his alone. "It's ok baby boy. I was just worried." he held his son at arms length and looked the blond over, "Are you okay?"

Naruto nodded and wiped a stray tear from his father's face. "I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it." Iruka smiled softly and embraced his son once more. "It's ok, we can talk when we get home. Alright?"

"Ok" Naruto offered a weak smile, he still didn't want to let his dad in but maybe it was time. He turned and grabbed Sasuke's hand. "We have to go to class."

"Oh no! So do I!" Iruka leapt to his feet and took giant steps back towards his class, hopefully everything was still in one piece. "Come on!" he looked back to make sure the two were following him. For the first time he realized that Sasuke was not wearing what he had been that morning. "Sasuke?" Iruka took in the too small navy blue school tshirt that exposed his pale mid drift and the unfortunate pair of orange and yellow plaid shorts. "What are you wearing?"

Ok so I tried to end it on a smile. and I just thought I'd let you know that I have finally figured out how to bridge the gap between now and the future! I am sooooo happy about it. and thank you for al the reviews! they keep me going, and just like last time I'm going to hold the next chapter hostage until my demands are met muahahaha!