Kei-Kei Yuki: So this next few chapters are going to be fillers until before going back to canon, cause I want a bit more bonding going on. So if you have ideas, please share them! Please!
Beta: Ana-DaughterofHades
Drabble Twenty-Seven
Mourning and Aftermath
Sasuke sat at the kitchen table, eyes on Naruko who stood in his kitchen, contemplating the blonde's behavior over these past two weeks. After Naruko's battle with Gaara, it was Kakashi-sensei who informed them of the Third Hokage's death. Sasuke would never forget the crushed look in the blonde's eyes.
"J-Jiji?" stuttered Naruko, big, fat tears pouring down those scarred chubby whiskered cheeks. The sight honestly broke Kakashi's, Sakura's, and even Sasuke's, though he concealed it, hearts.
Silently crying, Naruko was brought into a warm hug by Iruka, sharing the girl's pain as tears slid down her own cheeks. To everyone else, the Third Hokage was their respected and powerful leader, but to these two orphaned girls, he was more like a grandfather figure. Exiting out of the hospital room with Kakashi and Sakura, Sasuke took one last glance at Naruko before he left.
On the day of the funeral, instead of standing with her team, Naruko stood beside Iruka, holding a sobbing Konohamaru. The rain made it hard for Sasuke to tell whether or not Naruko was crying, but her azure eyes stared mournfully at the Third Hokage's memorial picture. Sasuke honestly hated funerals due to how much it reminded him of that nightmarish night that happened years ago.
It took another week before Naruko finally returned to normal and came barging through Sasuke's front door. Without even greeting Sasuke, she went straight to his kitchen. After removing her jacket, she tied her favorite orange apron around her waist. Sasuke watched as Naruko took a deep breath and pumped her fist into the air. "Alright, let's get to cooking!" Sasuke watched as Naruko skillfully diced tomatoes and cooked the rice.
When his mind suddenly flashed back to the battle between Naruko and Gaara, the unsettling feeling Sasuke felt in his chest had him turning away from watching Naruko. 'Just when did that dobe... get so powerful?' Sasuke asked himself, conjuring an image of Naruko walking ahead of him, reaching his hand out to her, but no matter how far he stretched, attempting to reach her, she continued walking.
Sasuke did not like the sinking feeling that suddenly filled his gut from the thought of Naruko leaving him behind. 'No way am I going to allow that idiot to surpass me! I must grow stronger, 'cause if not...' Sasuke's old self would've finished it by saying how he needed more strength to defeat Itachi and avenge his clan yet this time it was different.
Deep down, unaware to even himself, the lone Uchiha couldn't bear the thought of Naruko leaving him behind. Throughout the majority of their young lives, those two had been grouped together, two complete opposites that could never be separated. At least that was how things used to be as Sasuke regarded Naruko with a hard stare.
Since their days in the academy, Sasuke had always one upped Naruko, and there was no way he was going to allow that dobe to leave him in the dust now. If anything, it was going to be the other way around, Sasuke guaranteed it! After all, out of all people, Naruko picked him to be her rival and there was no way he was going to let her down.
"Tada, Naruko Special Onigiri with tomato filling~!" Naruko presented him a plate of freshly made onigiri served with whatever Sasuke had in his fridge to drink.
"Ew! Gross! Really, teme? Freaking tomato juice?!" exclaimed Naruko, glaring at the can of tomato juice she just took a drink out of.
"It's good for your health and suits my taste buds just fine," Sasuke calmly answered, taking a bite out of his onigiri and was very satisfied with the savory taste of the rice and tomatoes. He reached out to drink from the can of tomato juice Naruko took a sip from as he wasn't going to let it go to waste.
"It's disgusting! I'm going to make my self some ice-tea." Grimacing to get the taste out of her mouth, Naruko went into the kitchen. Sasuke was in a very good mood, thanks to the delicious onigiri cooked by Naruko. After taking another sip of his tomato juice, the lone Uchiha suddenly realized that he had shared an indirect kiss with Naruko of all people and started to choke.
When Naruko returned back with her ice-tea, the blonde was greeted with the sight of Sasuke red-faced and choking. "Oi, teme, what the heck just happened?" Naruko rushed over and offered her assistance, unaware that she was the one at fault for Sasuke's condition.
Iruka was walking down the street, carrying bags when she bumped into a familiar face. "Ah, Iruka-sensei." Standing in front of her was Kakashi, reading that perverted book of his with a look of surprise from running into the woman.
Staring at the man in front of her, Iruka was reminded of when this man had come to her aid when ninjas from Suna had invaded and disrupted the Chunin Exam.
Kakashi, on the other hand, was thinking back to how quickly the woman understood the situation at hand after he saved her. Along with her proficient skills when it came to protecting the lives of her students when they were placed in danger while under the genjutsu that she woke Naruko and Sakura from.
"It is my duty to make sure all children and civilians are evacuated to safety first. Even though I don't like you nor this situation, I trust my students and I trust you to be able to handle things here, Kakashi-sensei," Iruka told him before leaving to serve her duty to her village.
"I didn't think I would run into you here out of all places, sensei."
"I could say the same to you as well, Kakashi-sensei."
For a while both adults simply stood there in the middle of the street in awkward silence, not knowing what else to say. But Iruka suddenly spoke up first.
"Let me treat you somewhere!" requested the woman, surprising Kakashi yet again as he accepted her invitation. Through his years of observing the woman who was the guardian of his deceased sensei's daughter, Kakashi had expected Iruka to take him to Ichiraku Ramen, but the woman had taken him to a nice and simple restaurant that was nearby.
After taking a seat and having their orders taken, Iruka explained her reasoning for treating him to dinner. "I want to thank you for coming to my rescue and... to make up for the way I might've treated you before the Chunin Exam. Naruko thinks very highly of you and so I'm sorry." Kakashi couldn't help but find Iruka's flustered expression as she tried to apologize somewhat cute.
The chunin academy treacher certainly had a sort of charm to her that could make others become attracted to her. A thought which didn't settle well with Kakashi. Even though Iruka was unaware of it, since the day she first took in Naruko, Kakashi had always been watching over the two. When he saw how affectionate and kind Iruka was towards Naruko, treating the young jinchūriki as if she was her own family, a spark of warmth touched Kakashi.
Kakashi didn't have the best life as despair tended to follow him everywhere he went. After Obito, Rin, and Minato died, Kakashi's life became empty; there was no light or even hope for him. So he decided to stay a solitary figure for the rest of his life, vowing to watch over his late sensei's daughter from a distance. Only to still be amazed that out of all the people in the village, the Third Hokage excluded, it was this young chunin who was kind enough to separate the Kyubi from Naruko and actually forged a bond with the isolated child.
By all rights, Iruka had reasons and could've treated Naruko like everyone else, but she didn't. She sparked hope into not just Naruko but Kakashi as well. He grew protective of the two girls, always watching them from a distance. "Sensei, I completely understand your reason, painful as it was, it showed how much you truly value your students," said Kakashi which brought forward a small smile from Iruka.
"True, but... if there was one thing I learned from that invasion, it is that they are no longer my students but instead are true shinobi. Even Naruko has grown a lot. Maa, it seems like yesterday that I was chasing her around the village for graffitiing the Hokage monument." Iruka sighed melancholy that made Kakashi want to cheer the brunette up.
"Maa, Naruko has definitely grown a lot, but she still has plenty more to do. The shinobi life is filled with many hardships and during those times she is going to need you the most. Despite all the people in Naruko's life currently, she will always love you the most," Kakashi told Iruka, easing the woman's worries concerning the young blonde as Iruka felt touched by what Kakashi said to her.
Iruka was once a lonely soul, but then Naruko was introduced and life suddenly took on a whole new meaning. She loved the blonde dearly like family, but recently, ever since Naruko graduated from the academy, Iruka realized how lonely her life was without the blonde. Iruka wasn't quite ready to let Naruko leave her nest, still seeing the knucklehead as her adorable little sister.
Cupping the jonin's hands, Iruka smiled at him and said, "Thank you." Kakashi was happy to see a smile return to Iruka's face, noting that she always looked better when she was happy.
Later that evening, after escorting Iruka home and carrying her groceries inside her apartment and wishing her well, Kakashi stood outside Iruka's apartment complex. Peering up through her window, he watched Iruka undo her ponytail that held up her brown locks. There was no telling how long Kakashi stood there watching Iruka, only taking his leave when the woman disappeared.
End of Drabble Twenty-Seven