Chapter 25: Healing
"I can't believe we're back to this." Kisame rubbed his head trying and quell a rising ache, he never had anyone put him through so much trouble. He watched from against the opposite wall as Itachi held the half sleeping Konohamaru up right on the couch. "I've never seen somebody with so many goddamn problems."
Kisame had to wait about an hour until Konohamaru inevitably fell asleep again, someone as weak as he was was bound to do so some time, until he got Itachi to do this. And Itachi of course agreed, having the distinct certainty that it wasn't just curiosity, though Kisame would never admit it even to himself, that drove Kisame to ask him to do this for the second time.
Itachi lifted Konohamaru's chin softly with one hand, the other mounted on his shoulder shaking him lightly. "Mmm..." Konohamaru stirred slightly and slowly opened his eyes, and they immediately met with Itachi's darker ones, ones that seem to be glowing in an unusual red, ones that now held a strange design that they never held before... "..." Konohamaru's eyes widened almost as if in shock, but any surprise quickly left him and his eyes crept down until they were half lidded and dazed, holding little life.
"How the hell do you do that?" Kisame could never understand it.
"What did you want to ask him?" Itachi asked.
"Yeah, I have really good question." Kisame folded his arms and walked with heavy steps toward Itachi. He leaned forward over Itachi's shoulder and looked Konohamaru directly in the eyes. "Why won't you eat?"
Konohamaru didn't have any reaction this time, he didn't even move, proof he really was in a state of hypnosis. "...I can't."
Kisame repeated the question, or was about to anyway, but Itachi shook his head and prompted him to wait.
It was a few seconds before Konohamaru spoke again, his face still holding the same sleepy look and his eyes steady with the same wonton gaze. "I keep seeing them... I can't stop thinking about it."
"Thinking about what?" Itachi asked.
"Ebisu, Grandpa, Mom and Dad." Konohamaru said. "They died and... it was everywhere, it was all over me..."
"What?What was all over you?"
"Their...blood." Konohamaru told him "I can still taste my Mom's and Dad's from when Orochimaru..." The boy's voice trailed off and he sat dormant, staring forward with out even the slightest change in his eyes when recalling the painful memory.
"I get the picture." Kisame said, "You can stop."
Itachi nodded, lifting his hands off of Konohamaru's shoulder and then closing his eyes. Whatever hold he had broke after that, Konohamaru shuttered and his eyes widened with what ever sudden surprise he had before, "...!" Tears formed in his eyes and images flooded in his mind that he had been successfully not thinking about all morning. The boy fell on to his side and could do nothing more but curl into a ball loud as sobs forced themselves out.
Itachi and Kisame gave knowing glances to each other, both holding the same thought.
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"You really think it'll work?" Shikamaru leaned curiously over Lee's shoulder beside a fixated Naruto with an interest, feeling the chill drifting in from the Uchiha dining room into the living room. "You haven't had any medical training."
Lee sat on the ground with his legs crossed in the center of the room, they had cleaned up the debris and broken fragments of damaged objects leaving the room clear and almost clean in appearance, it would have been had the holes not been in the walls and the breaks in the floor boards. Sasuke sat beside him in a similar position, his eyes fixated on Lee with fascination. "It works with plants." Lee said, holding Sasuke's arm stretched out before him and studying a gash across his bicep. It had stopped bleeding yesterday and had been cleaned, only Sasuke hadn't taken the time to bandage it. "Shouldn't it work on humans too?"
"Plant cells and animal cells are two different structures." Shikamaru told him. "The same technique might not apply."
Lee reached behind him and retrieved the familiar and seeming very healthy sapling mounted in the potting soil. It was held in a capsule that looked more like an overturned jar, he quickly lifted the glass top off and laid the plant in his left hand, feeling the familiar pain of it's roots digging into his palm. "Alright, let's see." Lee pressed two fingers horizontally against the stem and closed his eyes, his face didn't become remotely strained or even a single twinge of concentration came into his expression. He was completely calm as a light green aura started to glow softly over his body.
Lee held his free hand over the unhealed wound on Sasuke's arm, from there it was simple to him, creating and stimulating cell growth was almost like second nature, a task as simple as thinking a a certain thing. "?" Sasuke lent down for a closer look as he saw the wound seemingly bubbling with new growths until the wound closed completely, though a scar was left behind. "T-That's amazing."
Lee pulled Sasuke's arm closer and looked down at as if he couldn't believe that he had actually done it. "It worked? It worked!"
They were interrupted by the sounds of the door being forced open and the sounds of the wooden structure, half off it's hinges, dragging across the ground. Iruka came half nervously into the living room, "That door needs to be replaced too..." Then he stopped and looked around with at the room's appearance. "W-What happened here?" Iruka hadn't been here since they all separated the day before, so he was surprised when he walked into find a whole new set of damages to the large house. But then he realized that Lee and Shikamaru had already told him about these. "Oh...nevermind."
"Iruka!" Naruto ran over to the man and hugged his waist tightly. "Your ok!"
"Ow." Iruka winced when Naruto's arm tightened over the wound on his left side.
Naruto quickly eased up."Sorry."
The snow covered man shook the cold substance off of his boots and loosened his jacket slightly. "Naruto, Sasuke, I was worried about you guys. I'm sorry I couldn't make it sooner but there was work." Iruka's tone hardened a bit when he spoke of that, rubbing his neck uneasily. "It's chaos out there."
Naruto looked at the man suspiciously, then quickly he unzipped Iruka's blue jacket and lifted up his shirt intrudingly, exposing the man's bandaged torso. The white fabric was soaked with red liquid. "Your in even worse shape then before."
"I'm fine, you look..." Iruka tilted his head to the side questioningly and examined Naruto, though cleaned up slightly wearing his favorite orange shirt baring the leaf insignia and black pants, with bruises and cuts from yesterday he looked..."You look rough."
Naruto smiled impishly and rubbed his nose with his index finger. "Heh Heh, it was worth it."
Iruka walked past the couch and into the more open area beyond it then he remembered. "Sasuke, are you alright?"
"I'm fine." Sasuke said, a standard reply.
"Well at lest both of you are." Iruka folded his arms and studied the damages around him, "Oh man, I never thought they'd come here, If I had known that I would have stayed and-"
"Iruka." Sasuke passively lifted his hand and shook his head. "It's not your fault, Konohamaru would have run off anyway even if those guys hadn't taken him. He wanted to warn his grandfather... Have you heard anything about him?"
"No." Iruka shook his head disappointedly, "And I take it you guys didn't either...We'll I'm sure he's alright." Iruka slipped his hands into his pocket and let his head fall back absentmindedly, staring at the ceiling. Then a look of realization or remembrance came on to his face and he looked back down at Lee and Shikamaru. "Oh, Lee, Shikamaru, Gai is looking for you two."
"Gai-sensei? Is he alright?" Lee asked.
"You can go see for yourself, he's at home...You know the way don't you?" Iruka asked.
He didn't get an answer, that was never a good thing when answer wasn't given to a question like that. That made Lee worried. "Yeah, I know the way." Lee quickly stood to his feet and bolted hastily to the door with a pang of worry.
"Lee, wait up." Seeing that he was being left behind, Shikamaru quickly went after him.
Naruto and Sasuke watched the pair leave, still with a strong interest in how Lee was able to heal Sasuke. "Oh man, I should have gotten him to do Iruka." Naruto said, disappointed that he realized that too late.
"Do what?" Iruka sat down beside Naruto, feeling a small relief of the tension of trying not to aggravate the laceration on his stomach while standing.
"Lee can heal people, it's really cool." Naruto leaned forward and looked at Iruka's stomach with discontent. "Uh...Maybe you should go to the hospital, that looks really bad."
"Don't worry about me. Besides, all the hospitals in Konoha are full, There are people in far worse shape."
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"Wow Gai-sensei, I'm really sorry." Lee, the one one from the future, leaned against the open hood of Gai's car and stared at the contents. He was waring a thick green coat and matching hat heavy enough to bare the freezing air. Gai, being the car enthusiast he was, had taught Lee a considerable amount about them over the years, so Lee had a basic sense of what was wrong. "I can't believe all of this happened. I wish I could have helped."
"There was nothing you could have done." Gai reassured him. He set up in an empty parking garage not too far from his home, since his garage wasn't large enough to do everything he needed to. Lights were mounted on the ceiling running off of a small generator, but they were weak, too weak to really see anything in detail, so they also used flashlights. Gai had an abundance of tools with him, it looked as he was ready to take the whole car apart.
"Maybe." Lee sulked. "But next time I'm gonna be there."
"Don't feel bad, there was no way you could have done anything in that Blizzard." Gai shut the trunk of the stalled Car and walked over to the hood where Lee was waiting. He was visibly slower in his movements, his back and chest still felt burning hot, almost as if it was still on fire. They had stopped bleeding at lest. "Besides, it's not all bad."
"How can you say that?" Lee dropped his head with a deep sigh. "Look at what happened to you. Look at what happened to your car! Look at happened to everybody, what could possibly be good about this?"
"Well." Gai smiled lightly to himself. "I get to overhaul this car."
Lee lifted his head and looked at Gai questioningly, then he smiled. "Gai-sensei."
"At lest your optimistic."
Lee and Gai both looked back at the new voice, Kakashi stood there with a small smile on his face. He was bundled up this time, waring a rather thick coat and scarf. "Kakashi." Gai's smile grew larger. "Are you alright, you were in bad shape yesterday."
"Me? You were worse off then I was." Kakashi leaned against the driver side door , watching the other man with interest. "Should you really be moving around?"
"Sure, why not." Gai leaned against the grill of his car, pausing as Lee positioned the flashlight over him. "Besides, it hurts when I lay down."
"Hmm..." Kakashi began to wonder how much pain he'd caused him when he'd left him in the back seat yesterday. "I'm going to find Iruka, you need a balm or something." With that thought in mind, Kakashi walked outward in to the shadows and seem to all but disappear past the darkness.
"Hey Gai sensei." Lee lifted himself on to his toes and balanced over Gai's shoulder with the flashlight. "My Bike, when your finished with this can you help me fix it?"
"Sure Lee."
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"B-But I don't wanna go." Konohamaru shook his head stubbornly, but it didn't seem to matter either way.
Itachi stood over him with the same indifferent expression he always carried, none of Konohamaru's stubbornness seemed to be working. "You can't stay here."
"Why not?" Konohamaru pushed himself upright on the couch where he had fallen asleep, rubbing his eyes, already a tent of red from crying.
"Because you can't hide here." Itachi said, "This is my hiding place, not yours."
"But where am I suppose to go?" Konohamaru dropped his head and fell forward, resting his elbows on his knees.
"You have friends." Itachi snorted. "Why don't you want to go back to them."
"It's not about them." Konohamaru wined. "I...I just don't wanna go back, I'm not ready yet."
"I know you, You'll never be ready."Itachi folded his arms. "People's reaction to what happened to you is a minor annoyance, you'll live."
Konohamaru's head sunk even farther down, he didn't want to leave, he really didn't want to leave. He liked Naruto and Sasuke, he really missed them, almost enough to go back. But here he felt safe, here he was allowed to dwell without interruption, Kisame was too prideful or embarrassed at the thought to really say anything to him and Itachi either didn't care or just didn't say anything.
Right now Konohamaru couldn't tell if Itachi just got sick of him or was making face up to the situation, Itachi was confusing that way, but it really didn't matter right now. Either way he was leaving and Konohamaru still didn't want to go. "Please...just a little longer?"
Itachi sighed, looking back down at the boy with indecision in his eyes. "...No, you can't keep running."
"..."
"Go home."
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"Lee, Shikamaru." Gai pushed himself up just enough to see over the elevated hood of his car, another smile coming to his face. "Your alright? I was worried about you guys."
"Gai-sensei!" Lee, the one from the past, promptly ran up to Gai and threw his arm around the man's waist in a tight hug. "Your alright! I heard you got hurt really bad! I was so worried!" Since Gai wasn't at home they looked around, and found him here.
Shikamaru scratched his head and looked away in with slight amusement. 'Lee..."
Gai winced, his smile weakening a bit. "Take it easy Lee, your stronger then you look." He said with slight pride as he planted his hands on the boy's chest and pried him away.
Lee promptly let go and stepped back, rubbing his head nervously. "Sorry...are you ok? You look like your in pain."
"Nothing but a flesh wound."Gai waved dismissatively, though the areas Lee had squeezed now held a throbbing pain from the pressure...
Lee naturally moved to his future counterpart. "Lee!"
"Lee!"
Shikamaru's amused smile grew into near laughter when he saw the two greet each other, he walked over to the two Lee's with a familiar sense of confusion growing in him. "It's been a while, or so it seems."
"Shikamaru." The future counterpart nodded in agreement. "I missed a lot, I wish I could have been there."
"Why weren't you." Shikamaru asked. "If you don't mind me asking."
"Nah, it's ok." The boy nodded, becoming a bit dishartened at the subject. "I had to go out of town, for a funeral."
"Oh, I'm sorry." Shikamaru said soberly.
Lee shook his head and lifted his hand dismissatively. "It's alright."
Gai pushed himself up off of the grill of the car he leaned against and knelt down beside a large tool box, digging through it carefully. Lee, the one from the past that is, studied every one of the man's movements carefully, and with all of his experience with battle he could tell when someone was in pain. "Gai-sensei, are you really ok?"
"Don't worry about me I'm- Eh?" Gai looked back in mild confusion when he felt the frozen air of the open parking garage hit his back as Lee abruptly lifted his shirt up from behind. "Wha? Lee what are you-"
"Oh...this looks pretty bad." Lee said, looking over the bruises and burns that covered Gai's back from the day before. "Hold on, let me try something." With a hopeful idea forming in his mind, Lee reached into his pocket and took out the sapling, slowly removing the glass case that covered it.
"What are you doing? Try what? Lee-" Gai flinched and bit down on his bottom lip when he felt a stinging pain from the pressure of Lee's hand pressing firmly against his back. "Owwww, Lee!"
"Please, just trust me." Lee slid the plant into his palm and winched when he felt the roots seeping past the bandages and into his palm, sliding inanely into the muscles and vines his arm. "It'll feel better, I promise."
Gai looked back over his shoulder and watched questioningly when he saw Lee's body start to glow with a green light. "?"
"Whoa!" His future counterpart looked on in awe, leaning over the other Lee's shoulder and looking over him with a child like interest. "That is so cool! What is that?"
Shikamaru wasn't quite as excited as the other Lee, but he still held the same awe he had when Lee first woke him up at 3 in the morning to show him his new ability to use Chakra. He still wasn't sure how it worked, which made it even more amazing to him. "Not completely sure yet."
"Ahhhaa..." Gai let out a clinched breath when he felt the pain fading as new cells replaced the damaged older ones. When Gai looked back again, all of the burns were completely gone. "Wow Lee, that's amazing, How did you do that?"
"I don't know, It just sorta came to me." The boy smiled, gently shifting the leaves on the plant in he was holding. There was something different about Gai's wound from Sasuke's, there were a lot of dead and damaged cells, he had to remove them to stimulate growth of the healthy ones. All of it seem to just come to him, when he touched Gai he felt what should have been there and what was, and could easily promote what should have been there.
Lee slipped his arm around Gai's waist and pressed his against the man's chest. Gai could clearly could see what was happening this time, "Wow..." Lee's fingers glowed the brightest out of all of his body in a radiant green, it was similar to watching a ripple through water, outward from the boy's fingers, healed, normal flesh spread, eating away the bruised, burned and scabbed skin. "Lee...this is the most amazing thing I've ever seen."
When he felt the task was done Lee let go of the older man and and let his body fall weakly on to his back with a tired breath.
"Uh, Lee?" Gai turned around and knelt on the cold concrete ground over the fallen boy. "Something wrong?"
"Nah...Just a little tired thats all." Lee had no idea doing this would tire him out so much until a sudden wave of fatigue washed over him. '?' He looked down curiously at at the plant in his hand, it was a slightly duller then before... He had expended all of it's Chakra, it was tired, so was also. It seemed manipulating plants was a lot less energy consuming then healing, good to know. "I'll...be fine."
Shikamaru and Lee's reincarnation stood over him, watching his eyes drift close and his consciousness fade more and more with each word he spoke until he blatenly fell asleep right there on the ground. The Lee who still remained awake poked at the other boy with his finger, but he got no response. "I guess something like that takes a lot out of you."
"I guess it does." Shikamaru agreed.
"Well after all that's happened I'm sure he deserves a rest." Gai delicately slipped his hands behind Lee's back and picked the boy up, setting him down softly against the wall in front of the car. Then with his new found health he stood up strait and stretched his arms above his head. "Alright, let's get to work."
Shikamaru sat down beside the sleeping Lee and watched the future counterpart and Gai.
Lee nodded."Hai, Gai-sensei."
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"I'll be back." Zabuza said simply. He slipped on his black coat and zipped it up, reaching over to Kakashi's night stand and slipping a remote device into his pocket.
Kakashi leaned against the wall of his bed room and watched the other man with clear interest. "Where are you going?"
"Nowhere." Zabuza told him in his usual, private way. The man stood to his feet, looking around one last time to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything.
"Your pretty well equipped to be doing nothing." Kakashi smirked, "Would this thing happen to involve death? I see grenades."
Zabuza just smiled with amusement at Kakashi's accusation. "You worry too much."
"You didn't answer my question." Kakashi pointed out.
Zabuza leaned forward and pressed his lips to Kakashi's with a firm, quick kiss. Then he pulled back and began wrapping his familiar bandages around his mouth. "I guess you don't get an answer." He called back, opening the door, pausing to tighten the binding around his mouth and nose, and the shutting it behind him.
'I wonder what he's gonna do...'
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"Geez Sasuke." Naruto slumped down on the couch beside Sasuke, he let his head fall back against the cushion and folded his arms, a slight look of concentration coming on his face. "You have to lighten up."
Sasuke's eyes shifted toward Naruto with an acknowledging look, then focused back on the wall. "You reading to much into this."
"Come on Sasuke, you haven't moved or done anything all day." Naruto leaned towards Sasuke and nudged him slightly with his elbow.
"Look around Naruto, there's nothing to do." Sasuke replied.
"That's not what I mean." Naruto shook his head. "You've been sulking around all day."
"No I haven't." Sasuke denied.
"You can't keep worrying about him." Naruto finally said. "He's been through a lot worse."
"Your not worried about him?" Sasuke looked away, an accusing tone in his voice.
Naruto's eyes inanely looked in the opposite direction also. "Yeah but..."
"You can stop worrying then."
"?" Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other with slight confusion at the new voice, was that... both of them looked back and found themselves face to face with Konohamaru. The two nearly reeled back in surprise. "Konohamaru!"
Konohamaru usually would have smiled at their reaction, but he didn't quite feel like smiling lately. "I'm glad you guys are alright." He said genuinely.
"A-are you alright?" Naruto abruptly jumped over the couch and grabbed Konohamaru, throwing his arms rightly around the boy. "I was soooo worried about you!"
Konohamaru didn't try to pry him off, he just stood idly, happy to have someone he knew so truthfully worried about him. He'd grown to hate the fake compassion he always got when something happen, which seemed to be frequently throughout his life, from people whom he didn't know. Or just as bad a moment's sympathy, entailing that look of pity, people who just felt sorry for him. "Naruto."
Sasuke knelt down beside him, though he wasn't nearly as excited as Naruto, his eyes held a look of concern that was definitely notable. "Konohamaru, what happened?"
"Orochimaru..." Konohamaru stared at the ground, trying to force himself to speak about the what happened in a manner that would involve him remembering or thinking about as little of it as possible. "He...He..."
Sasuke laid a hand on Konohamaru's shoulder and shook his head, before the boy could even get a few words out he knew Konohamaru would have a problem with talking about this. "You don't have to say it." He didn't, Iruka had already told them the news about Konohamaru's grandfather.
"Yeah..." Naruto's embraced tightened around Konohamaru, he didn't know what else he could to do. "Just take it easy, you don't have to tell us right now."
"..." Konohamaru became quiet again, he didn't feel like talking, that was the only certainty he had about himself. Other then that he didn't know what he wanted to do, he wanted to be alone, he didn't want any attention, but even in that he had the desire not to be alone, to be around someone. He wanted to be close to his friends, he was always safe with them, he always was able to run away to them when ever he wanted to get away.
"So, what are you going to do now?" Naruto asked.
"I don't know." Konohamaru gently loosened himself from Naruto's embrace and sat down on the couch, right now he just wanted to do nothing, he was tired. He wasn't sleep nor was he fatigued, he was just...tired.
Naruto and Sasuke gave each other a silent look to each other and sat down beside him. "What should we do, he's really out of it..." Naruto leaned towards Sasuke and whispered quietly in his ear.
"I don't know." Sasuke whispered back, he wasn't good with this type of thing.
"Should we ask him what happened? Maybe if we ask him we could figure out... something." Naruto said hopefully.
Sasuke glanced over at Konohamaru staring lifelessly at the wall and studied him before responding. "...Nah, he's not ready yet."
"I guess." Naruto agreed, he didn't like the idea but he understood it.
Konohamaru felt a sense of content in himself to have friends like these. He wasn't deaf, he could hear them, and Naruto was never good at being inconspicuous. They were trying to find out what happened in the interest of helping him, not in the interest of curiosity like it was with other people. Every time something happened, every 2 years at lest or so it seemed, the pity sympathy came from people who only felt sorry for him at the moment or the concern that only came with the interest of getting something whether it be information or otherwise. That was never the case with Naruto and Sasuke.
"Naruto, Sasuke." Iruka pushed his way through the damaged front door rather loudly and came into the living room carrying a bag, a heavy one by the looks of it, and two cans of varnish. "It's gonna be a lot of work but me and Asuma...will..." Iruka's voice trailed off as soon as he saw a third body among Naruto and Sasuke, then dropped everything all together when he realized who it was. "Konohamaru!"
Iruka ran over to the boy and stood over him with an relief he couldn't describe. "Konohamaru! Are you alright? I was so worried about you? Where were you? I couldn't find you anywhere yesterday! I-"
"Iruka calm down." Sasuke said, trying to ease the man's frantic words.
"Yeah, he's alright..." Naruto nodded."...more or less."
Iruka rested his hand on his chest and took a deep calming breath, forcing his racing mind to steady. "Sorry, I'm just so glad he's safe." Iruka looked among the couch for a place to sit down, though there was no room left between the three boys for him to fit comfortably. So without a second thought he slipped his hands under Konohamaru's arms and lifted the small body up, Before Konohamaru could say anything he found himself in Iruka's lap with the man's arms firmly around him.
And he had no protest to it at all, he just curled up in the man's hold and laid his head on Iruka's chest It made him feel better, it made him feel just as safe as when Kisame had done it. All he wanted to do now was lay in this embrace. 'Iruka...'
"Konohamaru." Iruka looked down at the boy, speaking in a soft, much calmer voice that only he seemed capable of making. It was almost like one of a parent, something Konohamaru was sorely laking right now. "What's wrong?"
"My grandfather is dead." Konohamaru spat bitterly, a strong sadness making his voice shaky when he spoke about it.
"No, I'm not talking about that." Iruka said, having some knowledge of something deeper.
Naruto leaned forward and looked directly at the man with an interest, his grandfather was just murdered in front of him by his decidedly worst enemy, what else could be worst then that?
"What are you thinking about?" Iruka asked.
"My grandfather is dead." Konohamaru repeated.
Maybe Iruka was reading too much into it, what else would Konohamaru be thinking about?
"...And my mom's dead, and my Grandfather, and Ebisu." Konohamaru started, maybe there was more to this then Naruto and Sasuke first thought. "That bastard Orochimaru...he keeps killing every body...and I'm afraid..."
"Your afraid of Orochimaru?" Iruka asked.
"I'm afraid...that he's gonna keep killing everybody." Konohamaru curled up miserably farther into a ball and wrapped his arm around Iruka's, hugging it close. "He keeps going after you guys, and I'm afraid...I'm afraid he's going to kill you guys too." Tears formed in his eyes and a small sob force it's way through his throat, he couldn't stop himself from crying at the thought. "I-I don't want you guys to die!"
"Shhh..." Iruka buried his hand in Konohamaru's hair and gently rubbed the area soothingly, it seemed to have the desired effect. "Don't worry about that, we're not going to die."
"I didn't think my grandfather could..." Konohamaru looked up at the man with teary eyes, his voice almost pleading for what he spoke of not to be real. "They tried to kill him before, I was there 2 of the times. He was really tough for an old guy, I...I thought that he would get through this, just like before..."
"I'm sorry..." Iruka sighed. "But it's going to be alright, it wont happen to us, I promise."
"Ebisu tried to protect me." Konohamaru clinched his eyes shut and curled even farther as if trying to hide. "He protected me and he got killed!"
"..."
"Maybe if I get away from you guys for a while you have a better chance." Konohamaru sighed. "I...feel like everybody around me dies."
"I'm know it's hard." Iruka said. "But... you can't think like that. I'll only make it harder for you."
"I know but... I can't." Konohamaru sighed.
"Yeah, it's really hard at first but it'll get better." Iruka told him. "I felt just like that after my parents died, and when I thought like that it only made things harder."
Konohamaru sniffled slightly and lifted his head slowly, just enough to see the man's eyes. "What happened to your parents?"
Iruka looked down at the boy questioningly, he hadn't expected that question. "Hmm?"
"Yeah Iruka." Naruto chimed in argeeingly. "What happened, you never told me."
"I know." That's what Iruka was going for.
"Iruka, can you tell me?" Konohamaru asked.
Well, the inquiry had stopped Konohamaru from crying, Iruka guessed he could relive that memory if it would help him. "Alright...well...where do I start..." Iruka paused for a moment to think about it until he had his bearings. " Oh yeah... it was about 18 years ago."
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