By Little Spitfire
Summary: Naruto and Sasuke are to be raised by Iruka and Kakashi. Snapshots of their lives together as a family.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of Naruto. I just like to borrow them sometimes. No profit is being made off this result of me liking the idea of Iruka and Kakashi raising Sasuke and Naruto
The sky, once blue and clear, was now grey—not with storm clouds, but smoke and ash. Flecks of orange embers floated throughout the air, swirling before disappearing. He realized, a bit belatedly, that the roaring he was hearing was actually the building that he just came out of. The fire raked the walls, licking the roof—flames popping and crackling as they ate the wooden frame inside.
Quickly, Iruka kept the children calm as he herded them to the secret tunnels that led to the village's safety zones hidden in the side of the Hokage mountain. Another explosion made the ground tremble and he felt a little hand fist into his shirt.
Looking down he gently untangled Shino's fingers and held his hand.
"Yes, Shino-kun?" Iruka asked. "Are you okay?"
Shino nodded but pointed off to the side. "Sasuke is limping."
Iruka's eyes shot in the direction Shino pointed in and saw that though he was trying to hide it, Sasuke was indeed limping.
The teacher smiled reassuringly. "It's very good of you to look out for your comrades, Shino-kun. Why don't you go make sure Kiba-kun and Naruto-kun are listening to Kentaro-sensei and I'll go make sure Sasuke-kun is okay."
Shino nodded solemnly before racing off to where Naruto and Kiba were getting progressively louder.
Iruka quickly made his way to Sasuke's side and knelt down when Sasuke stopped walking. Iruka's Calm Teacher Facing a Crisis Face softened when he saw Sasuke's dark eyes glittering with unshed tears. A soft distressed noise escaped his throat and he brushed back Sasuke's dark hair off of his forehead.
"What happened, Sasuke-kun?"
Usually the dark haired boy would protest, insisting he was fine, so when Sasuke mumbled something about tripping over some debris in the hasty exit from the academy, Iruka knew he'd been hurt pretty badly. Looking Sasuke's leg over, he determined that the damage was a badly sprained ankle and a bruised knee. Not wanting him to agitate it any more, Iruka picked Sasuke up and carefully settled him on his hip before moving to catch up with the rest of his class.
Sasuke's head rest on his shoulder and he turned slightly to buss his mouth against the child's dark hair. If there wasn't a village emergency going on, Iruka might have taken the time to muse over how much more comfortable Sasuke had become around him and Kakashi in the past couple of months. He'd never have relaxed this much when he first came to them.
A displacement of air and the smell of charred wood and suddenly Kakashi was standing wearily next to them. His gaze slid from Iruka to Sasuke and Iruka realized that both of his eyes were visiable, Sharingan spinning slowly, headband pushed back into his hair. His gaze returned to Iruka nodding to Sasuke. "Is he okay?"
"Just a banged up leg. Once I can set him down, I'll be able to wrap it." Iruka answered, looking Kakashi over carefully. "What happened?"
"Mist again." They continued down the pathway. "The hard bit's over now. The Hokage wanted me to send the message along to the sensei that they should stay put inside the monument until further notice."
Iruka's eyebrow rose. "He sent you as a messenger?"
Kakashi's eyes crinkled, indicating a sheepish smile. "I may have volunteered intensely."
"Intensely."
"Yes."
Kakashi's hand found his and squeezed gently before letting go. "I have to go."
Iruka nodded and in a whirl of air Kakashi was gone.
Shifting Sasuke's weight slightly, Iruka ran ahead to walk closer to his students. As he once again met up with the rest of the class, he noticed something unusual. It was faint but it was there, and the more he focused on it, the more palpable the killing intent became. They were being followed. Two—no three—unfamiliar and threatening chakras were behind them.
Iruka did a mental head count of his students and shoved Sasuke into his Teaching Assistant's arms.
"Protect them. Get them out of here." He whispered.
Kentari-sensei took one look at his face and nodded, hurrying to rush the students further behind the Hokage Monument.
Iruka listened to them go even as he unsheathed a kunai and faced their followers. He didn't have to wait long for three figures to appear, weapons drawn. Iruka eyed them carefully and the battle began.
The enemy nin were finished. All that was left was clean up and Kakashi wasn't needed for that. He quickly teleported back to the Hokage Monument, hoping the uneasy feeling in his gut would go away. Seeing the students safe relieved it a bit, but when he saw that Iruka was missing, the feeling came back tenfold.
Locating and focusing on Iruka's chakra, a few hand signs and he was next to his lover, who was kneeling on the floor, one hand held to his bleeding shoulder, teeth grit and panting through the pain. Three bodies lay strewn across the tunnel floor, blood splashed everywhere and Kakashi was immediately at the other's side, helping him up and checking him over for injuries. The worst seemed to be the deep stab wound in his shoulder. It looked like a kunai have been thrust in deep and then twisted. The injury wasn't fatal but the blood loss very well could be, and Iruka already looked a little out of it and fighting to stay conscious.
"Kakashi." He ground out. "The students—"
"They're safe," Kakashi said succinctly and felt Iruka relax a bit. "Come on 'Ru. We need to get you to the hospital."
He gathered the Chunin in his arms and in an instant they were gone.
The building was busier than usual due to the influx of Shinobi wounded on the battle field, and many of the medinins were busy on the field themselves. However, once they stepped through the doors a nurse hurried over and led them to a room where a doctor rushed in to stabilize Iruka's injuries. She didn't argue when Kakashi refused to leave the room as she worked.
As soon as Iruka was pronounced stable, Kakashi sped off to collect Naruto and Sasuke from the holding area where the children were being held until family could come to get them.
As soon as he appeared he had to brace himself as a small body slammed into his legs. He picked Naruto up, gently hushing the crying boy as he walked over to a slightly limping Sasuke, who now sported bandages around his injured leg, and picked him up as well.
Settling both boys against his hips, he went over to the other academy sensei to sign them out. Holding Sasuke in one arm and balancing Naruto on his knee in a seemingly impossible way, he gave his signature while assuring Kentaro-sensei that Iruka was stable and would be fine with some rest.
Kakashi spared a glance around the room, noting that Sasuke and Naruto had been the last ones to be picked up. Good. The village had enough orphans already.
Clutching his children close, he disappeared leaving behind only a cloud of smoke.
"Kakashi-sensei," Sasuke's soft voice asked. "Where's Iruka-sensei?"
"He's resting for a bit." Kakashi answered, carefully looking at Naruto who was being unusually quiet. "We'll go visit him, ne?"
He felt Naruto's head nod against his shoulder and saw Sasuke copy the motion out of the corner of his eye.
It was past visiting hours when they arrived at the hospital, but Kakashi walked through the halls unbothered. The head nurse saw him as he passed the nurses' station and frowned a bit but didn't say anything. The hospital staff had learned long ago that Kakashi was not particularly concerned with the rules and would find his way to Iruka's room some way or another.
The two children in his arms were uncharacteristically quiet as he quickly walked up the stairs and into Iruka's room. The teacher was awake and apparently on some pretty good pain killers if the slightly unfocused look in his eyes was anything to go by. Fortunately he was in enough of the right mind to recognize them, and sat up, swaying a little. Kakashi set the boys down on the edge of Iruka's bed and sat himself down next to Iruka, allowing the other man to use his body to steady himself.
Surprisingly, it was Sasuke who crawled into Iruka's lap as soon as the man had settled himself against Kakashi's chest, and tucked himself into Iruka's arms. Naruto followed quickly after, lodging himself half in Kakashi's lap and half sprawled over Iruka's legs.
Iruka sighed softly, clutching Sasuke tightly and resting his free hand over Naruto's head, gently carding fingers through thick hair. He leaned more fully into Kakashi, turning his head to press his nose into the hollow of his throat. Kakashi wrapped his arms around all three of them, repeatedly pressing his lips to the top of Iruka's head. He listened to the sound of the three bodies breathing, noting when each one fell asleep and stayed awake, guarding his family for the rest of the night.
chapterfivefin.