AN: Drabble written for the Naruto500 challenge bloodline limits. A bit of self-doubting Iruka and some Genma/Iruka fluff. Yeah, I know. Weird pairing. But I love Genma and I love Iruka, so nyeh to you who don't like it : ( (and cookies to those of you who do :D)
Word Count: 576
Disclaimer: Not mine, please don't sue me.
Iruka's not special like Kakashi or Sasuke or even Neji. He doesn't have any special jutsus that can't be mimicked or stolen. He wasn't born with any special bloodline traits, he wasn't born with any special features and he wasn't born with any special skills to grow into and master over time. He wasn't even born with enough strength to gain these things on his own. All he was born with was a couple of loving parents that just so happened to disappear right in front of his eyes an an insatiable urge to never let any suffer like he did. Which, in it's own rights, was a certain kind of strong in itself, but it was nothing terribly remarkable.
Iruka would never amount to anything more than a chuunin academy teacher, he would never reach jounin and he would never ever reach anbu. And, having no special jutsu to call his own, it was amazing he amounted to anything at all in a fight. What amazed him even more, however, was that an anbu, a special jounin like Genma could give two craps past a mission report about him. It always made his thoughts stop dead in their tracks when that crossed his mind. Why would he care? How could he care? There were so many better than him, so many born better than him. Iruka was not special, and Iruka would never be special, but Genma seemed to like him anyways.
How it had started, Iruka couldn't say. It might have been right before the chuunin exams when Iruka had shyly given Genma his condolences. Hayate was a good ninja, Iruka had never been close, but he knew what it was like to lose someone. And maybe it was that mutual understanding that drew Genma to him.
It hadn't been a bonding experience, that was too formal a term. But it had been when Genma had first learned of Iruka's self proclamation. It was undeniable that he had started finding excuses to visit the teacher after that, and soon enough he was inviting Iruka out to lunch, and then dinner and then to maybe something more. And Iruka, being Iruka, of course couldn't say no, because Genma was a nice fellow, albeit a bit odd, and he had seemed so sad after Hayate's death, even if he didn't show it to many people. And sad was something that just didn't sit well with Iruka, so he and Genma managed to shack up, so to speak. The fact that Genma showed him any emotion at all was an accomplishment. Ninja didn't show emotion, especially not Anbu, but this didn't faze Iruka. He was just another average, middle class nin. There was nothing special about him.
And he expressed this to Shiranui Genma. Several times. Every time it overtook his thoughts, in fact. Which was fairly often. Genma just stared at him, shifted the senbon in his mouth and grinned. "You're an idiot, Iruka,"
Iruka was everything that Kakashi wasn't. Sasuke, Neji, bloodlimits, special moves, special people, special powers. They worked for what they were, but they were born with the ability to work. Iruka was born with nothing, lost everything and gained back what he could through sheer strength of mind and will and body. And he did it for others and he did it for himself because he never wanted to see someone suffer. And that was a strength that even Anbu could admire.
AN: yeah, just another drabble from me :( I write too many drabbles and not enough real fics. Ah well. I've still got more to upload, too. Review please?
