Cyclamen
Disclaimer: Though some of the ideas are mine, I do not own the characters or main plot of Naruto.
/Kyuubi speak/
'Thought'
Flashback
Iruka wasn't much for holding his liquor, but he had the amazing ability of never getting a hangover, the next morning he was headache free- and the only problem seemed to be where the hell did he leave his shirt?
He stepped through his practical apartment, promising himself he'd clean the kitchen of beer and sake later, and tripped over something furry.
"What the…" He stared blankly at the snoring mass at his feet, and then realization dawned on him. "Kiko, you fat cat, you climbed in through my window didn't you?" The mass looked up at him blankly, then started purring as though upsetting Iruka was all good fun.
"Whore," Iruka wasn't afraid to call the obese monster what it was, sneaking into his house like that. Didn't it belong to Akiro's mother or something? What the hell was its problem? "Attention slut," he mumbled as it climbed into his lap on the floor.
He stared at it for a second, the tabby made him worried, "Bloody fuck! The kiddo with whiskers, oh for gods sake, I hope he didn't freeze to death."
He spared a pat to Kiko's head before turning to run out the door, still without a shirt, the wretched fat cat fell off his lap giving a drawn out hiss
Akiro looked towards the old building. I strange smile was plastered across his face, the orphanage was getting rebuilt, and the orphans a better place to live. He remembered his days there, getting yelled at for everything he did, not being allowed to do anything fun, being punished just because he wasn't adopted- like he wasn't being punished enough being abandoned.
He'd heard good things though in recent years, how ninja and civilian teachers had banded together to work with the children there, about the better health care and trained medicals available just in case.
He frowned as his workers got in mock fight during their break, punching each other in the shoulder with such zest, he sighed. Well things weren't exactly perfect, bitches were still bitches, he thought to himself as the old woman named Jun-san walked past, her eyes trained to glare at him.
"Jun-san, what a pleasure! You might not remember me, I'm Akiro, I-"
"Yes, yes, I know who you are- you used to belong to the orphanage next door, always trampling drunk through my garden with that boy, Umino. Congratulations, I see you've turned your life around, even after your mother was a drunk and your best friend a delinquent."
Akiro may have grown up, but he still struggled with whether or not to chuckle, he remembered the good old days- getting drunk with Iruka, trying to be ninja, arguing with social services about his situation with his mother. "Hey, that trampling drunk turned into a high ranked construction worker."
"There are ranks for mixing plaster?" The woman lifted her head in an attempt to appear taller, as though she might still be able to intimidate the full grown man.
"Hai, I oversee government buildings such as the Hokage's Tower and whatnot, and the drunk delinquent I used to hang out with became a teacher at the ninja academy. We're all grown up," Akiro smiled in an easygoing manner, if he could just say one small thing to tick her off it would be worth all the putdowns she could ever think of.
"I see that, I'm glad to see you didn't get killed in prison."
'Okay, prison is a bit of a stretch, it was only three years in juvy.' "It wasn't that big of a deal, I served my time and my record was cleared." Akiro was starting to get defensive.
"Oh, that's funny, I thought kidnapping had greater consequences." The old woman pushed, noting the anger that crossed the man.
"You don't know the whole story…"
The woman turned, her teeth showing in a crooked smile. Akiro thought about calling out to her, thought about telling her that it didn't matter that he'd kidnapped the boy because he had healed fine and the orphanage didn't want him anyway, thought about telling her that he and Iruka were the only ones that had given a damn back then, but he didn't.
It really wasn't that big of a deal, kidnapping Naruto.
"Move the fuck outta the way!" Asuma flinched as he saw the chuunin barreling past him, his notorious hair whipping around him as he screamed profanity and knocked over a few barrels of trash. Sometimes Asuma wondered what his father saw in him.
It wasn't that he didn't like Iruka, it just seemed that at times Iruka hid his good side a little too well, not to mention the various fights and misdemeanors Iruka had always gotten himself into- now he was flying around shirtless scaring the public.
Asuma would have laughed, but it stopped being funny when the kid started getting into drinking as a daily habit. It was too often that Iruka got called into the Hokage's office to be talked with about his "issues".
Asuma knew that liking Iruka and trying to help him was a tiring job, if his father's stress and increase in lectures wasn't enough of a hint.
Asuma watched as Iruka ran in the direction of Konoha's orphanage, 'No way Iruka would ever go back there if he could help it…"
What I really want to do, is write a fic where everyone is connected, and Naruto is smack-dab in the middle!
If you comment, I'll love and obsessively internet-stalk you…
-Alika613