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Sorry for the wait... Again. I had surgery and am only now getting around to picking up where I left off before. ANYWAY, I hope these chapters make up for my absence.
AGES: Naruto 21, Iruka 35, Kakashi 35. It is mid summer, nearing Kakashi's birthday.
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Chapter 11; Suicide King
It wasn't often that Iruka got missions outside of the village.
It wasn't entirely unheard of, but it wasn't a terribly common occurrence either.
Kakashi had been gone for a week on his own mission, and wasn't due back for another five days, so Iruka didn't think anything of accepting the scroll from Tsunade. Bowing politely, and vowing to return in short order.
The mission was simple. A rather unasuming 'B' rank mission escorting the dignitary of a small country to the north home from a peace conference after his previous escort, a Suna-nin, had come down with a nasty case of appendicitis and been hospitalized.
Relations with Suna had improved exponentially since the end of the war, and it wasn't uncommon to see a nin from each country enjoying lunch or a pot of tea together in either village.
The Kazekage even spent two months out of the year 'on Reconnaissance' in Konoha.
Iruka thought it was a rather formal excuse for Gaara and Naruto to spend a few weeks wreaking havoc on the unpopulated Konoha countryside during their little 'sparing' sessions.
But, then again, Iruka also thought it was good to see the deadeyed little boy he remembered from the fateful chuunin exams so many years ago, smiling, laughing, and acting like a teenager (despite the fact they were both now into their twenties.)
There were five years of leeway Iruka allowed when it came to the two of them, although, sometimes he felt like bashing their heads together and telling them to act their ages.
As Iruka was packing to leave, there was a knock on his door. He lifted his head and watched as the door opened, his throat constricting when he recognized the two young men he'd just been thinking about. Covered in dirt and mud and stray leaves.
Gaara was supporting Naruto with an arm around his waist, and the blonde's face was ash white, eyes wide but unseeing.
Immediately, Iruka thought the worst. "What happened!" He darted forward, momentarily forgetting his mission and guided Naruto to a chair.
Naruto muttered something, but all Iruka understood from it was one word.
"…Dead."
Numbness swept over him. And in his mind's eye, Iruka saw a detailed, brilliant image of Kakashi, waving nonchalantly over his shoulder as he walked through the gates, saying he would be back in twelve days, and he'd bring Iruka that imported tea he liked.
Cold weight filled his stomach and Iruka rocked back onto his heels, a hand going to his mouth in disbelief.
Dead?
"It was terribly bloody, Iruka-sensei." Gaara said nodding quickly, his browless forehead wrinkled up in surprise. "I think those poor gennin will be scarred for life!"
Iruka felt the world spin, and he dropped back on his behind in the floor with his hands over his mouth, mind filled with horrid violent images of Kakashi mangled and slowly dying.
He pictured the lives, from that moment forward, of those poor gennin who'd witnessed it. Pictured his own life without the man he loved, and it just didn't seem possible, too ugly and empty and—
Dead…
Iruka groaned, hands tangled in his hair, rocking back and forth in disbelief, horror and—
"T-that p-poor ch-chicken!" Naruto sobbed face buried in his hands.
Iruka felt every muscle in his body, from his feet upward roll and tighten like stone. His mind suddenly gone blank and white.
Slowly, he peeked out from between his fingers, eyebrows up, unblinking.
"Chicken?"
Gaara nodded vigorously, "Naruto and I were showing a few gennin kunai throwing techniques, and one of the blades I deflected went wild and hit a chicken… It was terribly pathetic."
"P-p-poooooooooooor chiiiiiiiickeeeeeeennnnnnn!" Naruto practically oozed into the floor and lie there on his face sobbing into the rug.
Iruka remained motionless, seeming to be eerily calm and relieved in Gaara's eyes, the teacher's brown orbs locked on the back of the stricken blonde's head, hands still cupped over his face.
"Naruto…"
"Y-yes, s-s-sensei?" He hiccupped, lifting his face from the carpet eyes large, bloodshot and wet.
"I'm going to count to three…"
Two nations away Kakashi was sitting in a tree with one of his teammates paging idly through a novel while they waited for their scout to return.
Everything was quiet.
"Hey, Kakashi-san."
He grunted, not looking up from his book.
"I bet my girlfriend is fixing dinner right now… It's probably sweet rice and pork with sesame sauce… That's her favorite. She must have made a cake too. She always has cake waiting for me when I return…" The young man sighed in an utterly smitten way, "She'll have a piece with her tea. Then she'll probably go to bed and curl up on my pillow to sleep and dream about me."
Kakashi grunted noncommittally.
"Hey, Kakashi-san…"
Another wordless noise.
"What do you think your lover's doing right about now? Waiting by the window for you to return?"
Kakashi glanced up, staring outward at the trees, released a sudden almost insane peal of laughter, and returned to his book without batting an eye.
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I don't even know… XD
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