SILENT ALL THESE YEARS
Prologue: Catfish Bend

It was the day before he officially became a student of the Ninja Academy. His parents (his mother, in particular) had withheld his entry a term earlier because he, along with a significant amount of children his age, had caught an epidemic. It left new furrows on the graveyard ground, but he was lucky enough to have escaped with only a high fever, and a sniffling nose.

He was walking along the Catfish Bend, the large creek that ran through Konohagure, and he was waiting for his father. True to his name (a little unusual, his parents' friends would say once in a while, considering that the village was located in a mountainous, forested area), he had an affiliation with water, often feeling the calmest when he was ankle-deep in a pond, or strolling by the banks of a river.

It wasn't exactly surprising, because he had been born to his parents when both were on a mission to the Wave country, his mother forced by her condition to spend nearly two years and a half in a small Wave Country village to recover from both the mission and the pregnancy.

His first memory was of the smell of the sea, and the sound it made as it crashed against the breakers outside their window. It would be the memory of this sound that he would call up in his mind the moment he drifted off to sleep. He would be surprised, a few years later when his family had moved back to Konohagure, how the village he lived in smelled like pine and rain and mountain flowers. The freshwater brooks smelled like grass and cold earth, not salt and seaweed.
He had a few of those mountain flowers clutched in his small fist now. It was customary to have a spray in the house whenever there was a family member who had arrived home from a long mission. His mother knew where they grew, and made it a point to have fresh ones for his father, and vise versa.

Today, he wanted to be the one to greet his father. Excited as he was for his first day of school, he had impatiently waited for his father to come home after three months. A renowned team leader even among Jounins, Umino Unagi was always called on long-term missions in countries far from Konoha. He was also a man of his word, and he had promised his son he would be present for the first day.

Catfish Bend extended further up the mountain ranges, opening to a large lake. He had often wandered off by walking beside the flowing water, without telling his mother, being the curious boy that he was. He never strayed beyond the rice field that bordered the Konoha village, however, turning back when the sun started to set.

The sun was setting, there were a few nins patrolling, or working at the field, but no father. Sighing, impatient (he always was full of pent up energy), he decided to climb a tall rock, which allowed a view that extended up to the edge of the terraced slope.

He looked up, mildly surprised to see that somebody else had taken his spot.

"You shouldn't be wandering around the borders on your own. It's not too safe."

He squinted against fierce orange light, vaguely making out the silhouette of a boy, probably not much older than he was, sitting cross-legged, back to him.

"You're not even a student-shinobi yet. How do you think you can defend yourself?"

It was extremely rude for the other boy to speak to him without turning his face; but he was curious and surprised how the latter knew he was not a student yet?

He tried to climb up the rock, but a very subtle movement from the other boy sent him the unspoken message that the rock was not his territory. His mother had taught him to read charka, or spiritual energy, and to recognize how it conveyed the unsaid.

He was certainly not one to be bullied around. He was about to open his mouth in reply when the stranger spoke again.

"Ayame. You must be waiting for your father."

Iruka blinked once, and looked down at the bunch in his hand, wondering how the other knew what sort of flowers he had in hand without turning his head.

"Hey I-" He began, but again, he blinked, because where the strange boy had been sitting a while ago, was only an empty outcropping of rock. Curious, he was about to amble up, when a very familiar-and very long-awaited-voice from the far end of the field called his name.

The older Umino was casually leading his team of four across the paddies, while his younger son, streaking excitedly through the watery fallows, lunged at him in a flying tackle, and was now hanging happily from his father's neck.

"Iruka, what are you doing here?" Despite the gruff chiding, he knew his father was very glad to see him. "It's not particularly safe for you to be so close to the borders of the village."

"I came to welcome you, dad," was the reply, big brown eyes glazed over with awe and respect for his father. "Thank you for coming." He held out the mountain irises he had in his hand, and his father gently tucked them in an empty compartment in his vest.

"I hope your mother has cooked enough for a village, I'm starving," Unagi set his excited son on his shoulders proudly. He gestured to his similarly-weary looking younger chuunin charges. "Oi. My treat. You all look like hell. Come on over for a bite, won't you?"

Relieved and grateful smiles lit the young chuunins' faces, and Iruka was very pleased with the respect and high regard his father commanded among people who worked under his authority. At the back of his mind, he wondered if one day he would be accorded the same respect, admiration and fondness from those who would be under his charge as well.

Of course, I have to be a good student first.

As his father herded his team back through the main trails that led to the heart of Konoha, laughing and talking with his team, Iruka had the sudden urge to look back.
Still in the same place he saw earlier, now growing dimmer and more indistinct because of the falling dusk, the same boy sat, cross-legged and thoughtful on the rock. Iruka squinted, but all he could make out was a partially-covered face, and pale, pale hair that might have been platinum blonde, or gray. He blinked once, and then the figure disappeared as suddenly as before.
He frowned, wary and confused, definitely feeling silly. He thought he was seeing things. Iruka turned back too soon, failing to catch his gaze returned to him from behind the rock.

All through that night, vigilant like a watchman, the figure sat in the same position, keen eyes trained forever towards the border, also waiting. The small bunch of irises lay limp and wilting at his side.

My first KakaIru. This pairing has me hooked like a maniac on crack. My day doesn't start or end without reading or viewing a set of KakaIru pics, or fics for that matter. I want to do something a little different with their relationship, so as long as my plot kitty doesn't run away, this might be a lengthy one.

1 Unagi means "eel". ;; I figured, if Iruka was named after a sea creature, his dad ought to be, as well. For consistency's sake.

2 Ayame means iris. Or mountain iris. At least, according to my friend Goukii. points accusing finger Also my allusion to the first-ever ninja thing that got me hooked to ninjitsu in general: Tenchu.

3 Umm, I need beta readers. :"D does a Hinata fails I think my grammar isn't too bad, but I need someone to help me check for frayed ends in both syntax and plot conceptualizing. Contact me at pirateburnatyahoodotcom onegaishimasu.

BGM: "Dolls" by Jeanne da Arc