Chapter Ten: Somber News

"Iruka."

Iruka looked up from the chalkboard, turning to the ninja at his classroom window. "I'm in the middle of a lesson." He gestured to the students with his arm holding the book he was copying from.

"It's Naruto," Kakashi said.

Iruka's face fell, his worst fears being realized. The body of his mother wearing Naurto's face.

Kakashi caught the book before it hit the floor. Iruka felt himself leaving the classroom. He leaned against the wall, remembering how to breathe again. "What happened?"

"I didn't mean to scare you." Kakashi's hand was on his shoulder.

"Is he alright?" Iruka asked.

"He's with the Hokage now. The real me is with him," Kakashi shared.

"You're a shadow clone," Iruka concluded. Kakashi's clone nodded. There wasn't many reasons this would be happening. Someone close to Naruto's been killed. He thought the worst, Sakura, Sasuke, any of his former students. "Who?" He asked simply, knowing Kakashi's clone would know what he meant.

"Jiraiya-sama."

"No..." he breathed. Naruto would be crushed.

"I'm worried," Kakashi went on.

Iruka could hear his students on the other side of the wall. They weren't sitting quietly in their seats anymore. It was almost the end of their school day. Any minute now the bell would ring.

"The nine-tail's seal is weakening. If he loses it-"

"I know," Iruka said.

The final bell rang. Kakashi took a step back as students poured into the hall. Other teachers saw the looks on their faces and knew better than to interrupt.

The door to Iruka's classroom opened. "Iruka-sensei?"

Iruka smiled at the pre-genin. "You're dismissed. No homework tonight."

The boy relayed the message to his classmates loudly before running off so the teacher couldn't change his mind.

"He won't confide in you," Iruka told the clone.

He nodded. Kakashi and Naruto's relationship wasn't at all like Naurto's and Iruka's. Kakashi was a teacher he respected, but mostly disagreed with. Iruka was more like a brother or father figure, their bond was deeper. It was what Naruto needed right now.

"I'll talk to him," Iruka said. He was willing to take the burden of Naruto's pain, the way he took Kakashi's for him.

"Iruka," Kakashi stepped towards him. The halls were empty again. His hand slipped behind the teacher's neck and saw what was happening but didn't react. He was pulled against the clone's chest, the masked face over his shoulder. "No one knows just how much you care."

"You do," Iruka said back.

Kakashi's clone smiled behind his mask, stepping back, before disappearing.

Iruka found the teen wandering the street on his way home.

Even from a distance he could see his pain. Nauro's stride was slow, his head bowed. Iruka's heart broke for him. He needed to help Naruto out of this depressed slump. What would Naruto do for him?

"Yo! Naruto," Iruka smiled, placing himself in his path. "I hear you've been real active on missions and stuff. Everyone in the village is talking about you. Let's go somewhere and catch up! How about Ichiraku for some ramen?"

"No thanks…" Naruto said sadly, slipping his hands into his pockets. He stepped around Iruka continuing on.

Iruka's false smile faded. His arm fell to his side. Naruto's hurt was all too familiar. He turned watching him walk away. He wanted to reach out to him but he wasn't sure how.

A body came to a stop besides him. Iruka looked over, though he already knew it was Kakashi. Without exchanging a single word they started walking.

Iruka listened to the noise of the village around them and the sounds of their steps falling into sync. When Kakashi turned, he turned, he followed him to a building he knew of but had never visited.

Shinobi who were often on missions didn't have much of a home life. Those without families, which was a majority, rented apartments that were owned by the village itself. If one failed to come back it was other shinobi that went through the belongings, not villagers in case something classified was where it shouldn't be. It was also easier on them for financial reasons. Rent wasn't due the first of every month. It was based on a ninja's missions and role in the village.

Kakashi's apartment was small and mostly bare. He had a kitchen, a table with only one chair, a sofa, a few pictures, and a potted plant. Iruka could see through a doorway to a bedroom but turned back to the man locking the door.

Iruka watched him. The apartment was plain, simpler than his, but it was Kakashi's. He had let him in. This wasn't about sex, he wasn't using him as a coping mechanism, it was more than that.

Kakashi stepped towards him, one hand moving down his mask. He reached towards Iruka, the way his clone had in the academy hallway.

Iruka met him half way but dropped his head, stopping the anticipated kiss in favor of pressing his forehead against the other man's. "I love you," the words fell out of him in a way that he wasn't sure if had actually said them, just thought them.

A gloved hand slid behind the collar of his vest to hold his neck under his chin. He moved back, tilted Iruka up, and pressed his lips to his.

Iruka's hands latched onto the front of jonin's flak jacket. He poured himself into that kiss, worried he hadn't said anything or that Kakashi hadn't heard him.

"I love you," he said again.

Kakashi turned his head to the side and kissed him harder. His fingers opened the chunin's uniform and pushed it off his shoulders.

Iruka dropped his arms, the heavy material fell without protest.

Kakashi's body moved against his. One hand held the side of a tan face, the other the teacher's waist.

Iruka fell onto the sofa. He clung to the jonin pulling him with him. Kakashi kissed his cheek, his nose, his neck.

"I love you," he said again, desperate for an answer.

"I love you too, Iruka," Kakashi whispered against his ear.

Iruka curled his arms around the man, holding his chest to his, resting his head on his shoulder. They stayed like that, holding each other with soft kisses on the jonin's couch. Iruka saw the last few minutes of daylight disappear outside the window.

He frowned. "I'm worried about Naruto."

"I know," Kakashi said softly. After one final brush of soft lips he let go. He moved into the kitchen, turning on the lights, placing his vest on the back of the chair at the table.

"How did it happen?" Iruka asked. He wasn't sure if he was even allowed to know, but he figured Kakashi would tell him if he wasn't.

Kakashi opened a cupboard and found a pan, setting it on the stove. Iruka watched him move through his kitchen. "Jiraiya-sama was on a mission I had failed to complete a few years ago."

Iruka understood from just his tone what Kakashi meant. He was blaming himself. Kakashi's back was to him as he continued preparing food.

Iruka moved towards him. "Can you tell me more?"

Kakashi looked over his shoulder at him with a smile. "You really do care too much, Ruka-kun."

Iruka was taken aback for a second. He poked the jonin's shoulder roughly. "I just want to help."

Kakashi looked down at the pan again. "You can't take everyone's pain as your own, sensei."

"I can try," Iruka said softly. He leaned down, kissing the spot he had poked so rudely.

"It was an intelligence mission," Kakashi said, "in the village hidden in the rain. He came across the Akatsuki leader named Pain. He was killed in battle. His summons brought back intel on the leader and a coded message."

"Little exchange for a life."

Kakashi turned his head to look at him. It was a stare Iruka had never seen before. Kakashi's face was blank but it wasn't emotionless.

"What?"

"I can see your heart, Iruka."

He wasn't sure what that meant. His eyes narrowed, earning him a soft chuckle from the jonin and another kiss.

Kakashi moved to find a pair of plates. He set one on the table and then touched the back of his neck sheepishly. "Um, I don't have company often."

Iruka just smiled back at him.

They ate their dinner on Kakashi's coffee table in the living room, sitting on the floor. Afterwards Kakashi started to clean up. Iruka offered to help but he rebuffed him.

Iruka looked around, noticing the organization and cleanliness. It was a contrast to his own home. All the times Kakashi disappeared after sex started to seem more like a pattern.

He never really thought about it. Sex was messy, some people didn't care for that aspect of it. It never bothered Iruka but Kakashi seemed to be one of those people. Iruka paused, he was standing in the middle of a physical manifestation of Kakashi's wounded psyche.

He looked up at the clock on the wall. "It's late," he said passively.

Kakashi set the plates in the drying rack besides the sink and turned. "You can stay if you want."

Iruka looked out the window at the darkness of the village. "I'm worried about Naruto."

"Then go find him," Kakashi said kindly.

"You think I should? He didn't want to talk earlier."

"He might just need to listen," Kakashi walked towards him.

Iruka smiled at him.

The two left Kakashi's, going first to Naruto's apartment. There was no answer at the door. Kakashi came back from around the balcony entrance. "The lights are on but he's not here."

Iruka sighed. This late at night there was no place in the village to go. The only places open were the twenty-four hour convince stores. There was one about a block away where Naruto typically got his groceries. He supposed they could start there but he really didn't think they'd find him.

"You know him better than you think, sensei," Kakashi said, seeing the teen on the bench outside the store, looking out over the village. His head was down, he was holding a popsicle and crying.

Mourning didn't have to make sense to anyone else but the one feeling it.

Iruka walked towards him, stepping into the light of the street lamp. "Naruto…" He sat down on the edge of the bench. He needed him to talk, he and Kakashi had spent their lives repressing and fighting their feelings and little good it did them. He wanted Naruto to express his hurt safely. "I heard about Jiraiya-sama."

"I wanted him to keep watching over me." Naruto rubbed his eyes and then looked down at the ground sadly. "I wanted him to see me become the Hokage. But I only ended up showing Pervy Sage the worst, most un-cool side of me. I was…"

"Lord Jiraiya only had praise for you," Iruka interrupted. Naruto shouldn't be putting himself down, he had no reason to think that way. "He was always boasting about you," Iruka went on. "Saying you were like his own grandchild. He had faith that you were the one who would inherit his will." He looked at the blond sitting next to him. "And truly believed you would one day become a great Hokage. Jiraiya-sama will always watch over you. Even this very minute he's watching from somewhere. He wouldn't be happy seeing you sad like this. So…" Iruka stood looking up at the night sky, unable to see past the glow of the street lamp. "Be your usual self, the one he praised so much." He turned and knelt in front of the teen. "Don't stay depressed forever." He reached for orange the popsicle in his hand. "For Jiraiya-sama himself, one of the Legendary Sannin," he took it from him to break in two, he held a half out to him, "acknowledged you as his promising student."

There was a hint of a smile on Naruto's face as he took it. "Thanks… Iruka-sensei."

They were quiet a while, Naruto's shy smile turning back to his full happy self as he remembered his sensei fondly.

Iruka walked him back to his apartment where he parted with a smile and a promise to get ramen sometime soon.

Kakashi met him as he left the building. They started walking together. The streets were empty, it was the middle of the night. Street lights guided their way.

Kakashi's feet stopped, he turned to Iruka. They stared at each other a second, unasked things in the air. Iruka's lip twitched, unable to keep his face straight any longer, "we're going back to your place aren't we? My vest's there."

Kakashi seemed to chuckle with a small nod and started walking again.