Disclaimer

I do not own Naruto or any of the characters from Naruto.

Summary

It all began with a harmless joke on an unsuspecting chunin. Nothing bad was supposed to happen, really, and Kakashi was supposed to go scot-free. Instead he got saddled with the finished problem: One super-cute Iruka chibi.

Author's Notes

I AM SO SORRY! The thing is, school just started for me and I am taking too many hard classes, like usual, my musical is starting up and my foot is STILL broken. It has been a frustrating month so far, and I feel as if I didn't do that good of a job on this chapter. So, if you are a nice reviewer, please be gentle when you review for this chapter. Thanks.

The street seemed to be deserted. Not a sound was heard in the abandoned roads of the ninja village of Konohagakure, everyone had left to sleep, or go on duty, a while ago. This was the time when the town of action and death filled with killers could be confused with any other small village.

Silence was what was revered at this hour. Nothing could be seen in the pitch black of night, the sun had set an hour and a half ago behind the memorial mountain. The last thing silhouetted by the dying rays was a couple very much in love walking along the head of the first hokage. They didn't seem to notice how close they were to the edge.

Children were tucked into bed and their mommies had kissed them good night, hoping they wouldn't wake until the first light so they, too, could get some sleep. Partying at clubs, older sons and daughters danced the night away and waited until curfew to make an untimely appearance. Waiting for them to arrive were their fathers, who took this time to read the paper and find out what they were missing in the outside world.

The parental head of the family met their lateness with a raised eyebrow. Let the mother deal with them. With that in mind he let the sighing offspring pass by unscathed, allowing them to think they had beaten the man, at least until he got scolded at not disciplining them. Might as well stay up another hour.

All seemed to be at peace. Everything was back in place and accounted for, and at the beginning of the day the whole of it would fall apart and resume the chaos that was life.

But what's this? A sniffle was heard as a figure came into view. The small feet dragged themselves on the sidewalk as if there was no more fight in the little body. A topknot sagged in silent defeat. Someone had been…

Forgotten.

A pale hand twitched in its sleep, looking for a kunai to throw and kill an imaginary enemy. When a scream wasn't heard, as was custom after the weapon was thrown, a blue eye opened slowly. It cleared rapidly when noting was recognized, pupil dilating to take in the most details before the person was killed.

Kakashi braced himself for the attack from the enemy, his body going tense, when his brain finally decided to kick in to remind him where he had fallen asleep. Groaning to himself, the jounin sat up and massaged his temples from an oncoming migraine and swung his feet over the side of the bed.

Then the details about his mission hit him full force.

"Why did I agree to do this?" Kakashi groaned, standing up to wander out of Iruka's bedroom. "I never have to do assassinations on the weekend…" He sighed and walked into the kitchen, noting that is was almost midnight. Stifling a yawn, ninja's were not supposed to yawn, he wrenched open the refrigerator and grabbed the milk.

Then he did the unspeakable among men. Something so horrible, that they only did it when they knew they could get rid of the evidence. The copy ninja Kakashi drank out of the carton.

And almost choked on the liquid when the doorbell rang, shocking him and alerting him that someone was outside.

Placing the container back in the fridge, and pulling his mask back up, he sauntered over to the doorway. 'Who could it be? Who could it be?' He sang in his head as he moved to the entrance.

Suddenly he stopped. What if it was a lady caller? That thought made Kakashi nearly decide against opening the door. But then an evil thing crossed his mind. If it did happen to be a woman, he could just… Pretend that Iruka was in the house with him.

Chuckling to himself he congratulated the pure malevolence of his thoughts. Again he stopped right before the door, his hand almost on the doorknob, 'But what if it's Kurenai?' Even the mere thought of the other jounin made his skin crawl.

Shaking his head, he opened the door and found Naruto frowning on the stoop. Kakashi felt confusion at seeing the boy so late, but before he could answer, sniffles made his head jerk back in surprise.

'What is Naruto doing?' He thought, turning a more scrutinizing gaze on the blond only to be met with an even more intense glare. Then his ears helpfully informed him that it was so quiet it couldn't have come from the loudmouthed ninja, and that it was coming more on his right.

There, in all his miserable glory, stood and crying Iruka who was holding onto Naruto's hand like he was afraid to let go. Instead of leading him in, like Kakashi expected his student to do, he simply let go of the child's hand and nudged the chunin forward with a free foot.

"You caused this problem." His eyes blazed with an unknown ferocity at his teacher, only seen when the fox spirit took over. "Fix it."

He then turned and left the house, closing the door after him and leaving the two teachers behind in the now oddly quiet room of the house.

Kakashi glanced down at the still whimpering boy. He somehow felt that he had to comfort him, but bit back the urge to pick up Iruka and cuddle him to his chest. That would be most un-ninja like.

He settled for the next best thing. He walked back into the kitchen and grabbed the box of cookies he had seen previous to the introduction of the scared Iruka, and squatted next to the chibi. "Want a cookie?" He muttered, shaking the box next to the child.

Iruka pouted as he opened the box cautiously, reaching a small hand inside and pulling out a chocolate chip cookie. He nibbled on it cautiously, glancing out the corner of his eye every so often, as he toed his sandals off onto the rough woven mat near the front door.

After that was done, and two more cookies disappeared, the child stood up. Brushing off the crumbs so they wouldn't follow him around the house, Iruka walked straight past Kakashi without looking at him. He crawled onto the couch and sat, staring at the wall angrily.

Kakashi followed Iruka, unable to keep his curiosity at bay. It had gotten him into many, many problems that he couldn't get out of, and this was slowly turning into one of those times.

He was aware that what he was doing was probably suicide in the minds of many ninja's. Not surveying the situation at hand. Strike one point. Allowing emotions to rule your decisions. Strike another point. Walking straight up to the target without using stealth. Strike three points.

Kakashi sat down on the couch that was now next to him, aware of the small body moving away to another cushion. "So… What happened?" A simple question that could be understood from the very tiny to the old and gnarled, that was mainly everyone; at least, everyone but the little chunin.

He just turned his head and sighed before leaning his head on the armrest. Obviously, he wasn't going to talk to the older ninja until he was good and ready to.

'Frustrating little!' Kakashi thought as he quelled the urge to strangle the child here and now. 'He wants you to do this; he's trying to get on your nerves.' The rational voice in the back of his head told him, redirecting his anger at the other person to something more useful and constructive.

The copy ninja picked up a piece of paper on the table and ripped it to a smaller size and began to concentrate on his folding. After a few moments he had created a beautiful piece of origami that any person would be happy to receive. He then placed it gently on the couch next to Iruka, as close as he dared anyway, to make sure that the figure was in the child's peripheral vision.

Brown eyes slowly shifted to glance at the figure and the small hands itched to pick it up and examine it even closer. Iruka turned and glared at Kakashi though his hands grasped the paper shape. "It's pretty. Thank you." He replied in a stiff manner, confusing Kakashi even more so.

The last time he had seen Iruka was only a while ago. What could have changed the chunin so much that he was thanking Kakashi for a simple origami piece? It had to be big whatever it was.

"Iruka?" Kakashi began, mentally sighing when the child didn't turn away, "How old are you?" He asked, thinking that at any moment the boy was going to revert back to his cute adolescent form.

Iruka blinked, "I'm ten…" He responded, placing the little paper dolphin on the table in front of him. "But everyone says I look younger…" He mumbled the last part, obviously embarrassed by his confession. The now older boy pulled his feet under him and watched the little porpoise, as if expecting it to move by some sort of magic.

Kakashi stared at the child finally understanding: Iruka was getting older everyday. With that in mind, the ninja stood from the couch and wandered into the kitchen. After seeing the time, which he deemed unsuitable for a child to be awake at, he turned around to tell Iruka it was time to go to sleep. Only to find nothing in the room he just left.

Scratching his head, he never did figure out how that kid disappeared so fast; Kakashi didn't see the shadow until it was too late.

"I win!!" Iruka screamed in his slightly squeaky voice while attacking from behind, toppling over the man who he vaguely remembered from a long time ago. "Now you have to answer a question." He pronounced happily as he dragged the man into the bedroom, hopping onto the bouncy mattress.

The copy ninja's one eye narrowed in disbelief, "Why do I have to listen to you?" He growled, standing with his arms crossed and trying to do the infamous, 'I'm older than you and so I must be smarter' pose. "You're only a little kid and I have more important things to do than answer your dumb questions." Kakashi continued.

Only when the tug on his sleeve was persistent did he look down, and see the biggest smirk on the chunin's face. This smirk was not the one that the elite jounin pulled often enough when making fun of Naruto or Sasuke. No, this was the type that meant pure torture. At least, that's what Kakashi thought but it was replaced quickly with a frowning pout that would melt the hearts of mother's worldwide.

Glancing up from under his eyelashes, and with his chin propped up on his hands, Iruka sighed mournfully. "It's a game." He explained slowly, like Kakashi was one of those children who didn't grasp something until it was spelled out for them. "You have to catch the other person before they catch you and if you're the first," he gestured to himself, "Then you get to ask a question.

"If the other person answers correctly, they get to ask a question. But if you think they're not answering truthfully…" His pout deepened and Kakashi again, wondered what he had gotten himself into. "Then they have to do something for you!" His smile brightened the room. "Anything." The temperature suddenly dropped ten degrees.

Kakashi shrugged and sat down onto the bed, making sure that he wasn't too close to the child. You never could know what those kids were going to drag you into. "So all you're going to do is ask me a question?" He laughed softly; ruffling the ponytail and making ends stick out from the elastic band, "Fine. Shoot."

Iruka growled and pushed his hair down with a free hand while his other went on the mattress to keep his balance. After a moment his eyes return to their normal position, he thought with his eyes cross-eyed, and he cleared his throat. "My question to you is what your name is?"

'Ha, one question that's safe!' The older man said in his head as he struggled to keep a straight face. "That's pretty hard. Are you sure you don't want to go easier on me?" The boy shook his head from side to side, almost falling off the bed from the motion. "I think it is Hatake Kakashi."

The boy cocked his head to the side, like a puppy looking out a pet store window, and crawled towards the man. "I wish I knew who you were…" He huffed, falling onto his backside in a crossed leg sitting style. "Oh well, it's your turn now. Ask me any question." his past thoughts all but forgotten.

"Okay!" Kakashi clapped his hands, trying to ignore the disappointment that Iruka didn't remember him, and thought up a quick question to fire back. "Where did you get your scar?" This was going to be interesting no matter what was the answer.

Iruka looked up to the ceiling in contemplation, as if trying to remember himself then flopped onto the pillow in back of him. A forced smile crept across the chunin's lips. "Mommy said never to touch the swords. They were daddies and I wasn't big enough to hold them, so I had to stay away until he came back from his mission.

A silence followed and Kakashi was about to see if the boy was asleep when the child suddenly continued, "But he was always gone for so long…I wanted to be able to use them so when he came home I could show him I was old enough, to be able to go to the academy and become a jounin.

"I want to be somebody strong, like him." Iruka finished with a hushed sigh, melancholy expression coming to rest on his still young face. He hugged a pillow to his chest, lost for a moment in his own thoughts, before asking his next question to Kakashi, "Kakashi-san? Why do you wear a mask?"

Truthfully, the copy ninja had been expecting this question since the beginning of the conversation, what with the black fabric covering almost half of his face. "Well, to tell you the truth…" He stopped for dramatic silence, "I was born with it."

If pigs could fly, Iruka would have seen one zooming past his window that moment. Instead the chunin raised an eyebrow and shifted his weight, clearly unimpressed. "Whatever you say, Kakashi-san. But since I know you're lying," A pointed glance at the older man who had on a fake shocked face, "you have to do what I ask."

The sureness in the statement made Kakashi balk for a moment, there was only so many things a kid could think of that were torturous, right? Right?

Setting his face into a mask of steel, the jounin prepared for his just desserts. 'Maybe it won't be so bad…' He wondered while Iruka thought up something good, 'I mean; the worse thing that he can punish me with is cleaning his room. I mean, he's only a kid and they aren't that creative.'

He was so engaged with his thoughts that he didn't hear Iruka's demand until the boy pulled on his sleeve. "What did you say?" He asked politely as he could, as if hoping to wear down the youth.

"I said: Take off your mask." Iruka kindly informed the man, sitting back with a smirk on his adorable features. "It can't be that hard. You just reach back and undo the knot." When Kakashi didn't comply immediately, and being the impatient person that he was, Iruka stood up on the bed and walked towards the dazed man.

"It's easy." He wrapped his arms around Kakashi's head, ignoring the indignant jounin for a moment, and quickly pulled the knot open. Stepping back to survey his handiwork, Iruka smiled in his certain way. "Why do you wear your mask, you're not that ugly!"

It was the way it was said, in such disbelief that made Kakashi bristle, "You thought I was going to be ugly?" He exclaimed, forgetting about the fabric pooled around his neck.

"Not really. I wanted you to have half your face burned off and the rest mauled by a bear."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"

Iruka sighed and shook his head, "Exactly what I said. I wanted your face to be really ugly… I'll never understand the vanity issues of you adults." The chunin sat onto the mattress with a sigh, looking at the wall with more interest. "Your girlfriend is probably as disappointed as me."

Kakashi balked, this was a side of Iruka he hoped he'd never have to see again, "Why would my girlfriend be disappointed? I think any girl who saw this face would be happy!"

A snort, "Yeah, if they're into that whole 'I think I so beautiful that the world doesn't deserve to see me' thing. If I ever get a girlfriend I'm never going to be weird like you, I'll be nice and courteous and she'll love me for it. Just like mother said I should be around girls."

"If you're going to be mean like that they I'll just put it back up." Kakashi huffed, pulling back up the fabric only to be stopped by a smaller hand.

The child smiled, "I'm sorry Kakashi-san, and I shouldn't have made fun of you and your girlfriend. You can leave your mask down and I promise not to make a big deal out of it again." He sat back down on his ankles and a pensive look came onto his face. "I wonder what your girlfriend is thinking about right now. Do you think she's worried, Kakashi-san? I know I would be worried about you."

He blinked in a confused manner; he didn't understand the second meaning to what he just said. "It's your turn to ask a question." He reminded, yawning and revealing how tired he was at the moment.

"Who do you like?" It was the only thing he could think of, but of course this was from a ten year olds perspective and there was probably nothing to worry about. Besides, Iruka had just made fun of Kakashi's face; it was the least he could do to repay the embarrassment.

Iruka blushed deeply and a little 'eep' came from his mouth as he ducked under a blanket. A muffled sound came from underneath and Kakashi knew that he was saying something at least.

The ninja unfolded his own legs and stretched his body the full length of the bed, giving the mound that was Iruka a poke. "I didn't hear what you said. You're going to have to speak louder."

A head popped from under the fabric and Iruka stuck out his tongue before sighing, "Her name's… Do I have to?" He groaned as if it was the end of the world when Kakashi nodded in apparent glee. Before another sound came out, Iruka froze, his eyes widening to a frightening degree.

The pure terror on the child's face let Kakashi know that something was horribly wrong. He edged forward on his elbows and gathered the still small boy to his chest, feeling the tension through his thin shirt. "Are you okay, Iruka? What's wrong?" He murmured urgently when the body seemed to go into shock.

He shook the child slightly and waited or a response, as trained, and panicked when he didn't receive an answer at once. Pursed lips moved and nothing appeared to come out, but when the jounin tilted his head he caught a few words here and there, hushed as if the child himself was frightened of what he was whispering.

"Gone…both had to…Demon fox…Protect…Why did…leave me…"

A shiver went down Kakashi's spine at the muted words, hugging the boy closer to his front. It was a time that he himself had tried to block out, so horrific that no adult who witnessed it wished to keep it in his or her mind. The only thing he could do to comfort the youth was to hold him and to make sure he wasn't alone right now.

Instead of pulling away, like Kakashi believed Iruka would do, the chunin burrowed deeper into his chest. As if pushing his head harder against the wall of muscle in front of him would make the images go away. Make the past vanish into darkness again. Force the expressions of terror to flee from his mind.

And so, on the fourth night, slowly bordering on the fifth, an innocent child grew old enough to remember that he was abandoned in the world and that his mommy and daddy weren't around to protect him anymore.

Umino Iruka turned eleven.

I feel so bad now…

Next chapter, no idea. All I know is that it's going to have the words "forehead" in it, somewhere.