By: Selim
Summary: When the newlywed Iruka wants to adopt a child, he meets a discriminated boy named Naruto with a dark past. Can Iruka and Kakashi obtain a small family with the boy, or lose him back to the boys original parents…
Pairings: Kakashi x Iruka, Sasuke + Naruto
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
Information of this fiction: This is a slight AU. Though it has to do with Ninjas, has Kyuubi, and both Kakashi and Iruka are at designated jobs in the manga, some things are different. Instead of 25, Iruka is only 22, and Naruto is 9 along with all the other kids he grew up with in the manga. Beware of OOCness, because there are so many characters, and the amount of manga I've read only introduced a few. Also, this is being beta'd now – just for y'all to know.
Thanks for reviewing (FF) IceNight009, Anonymous, Alaskantiger, Lil Saiyan, Buried Fairy Tale, Blackmoon13, Chewy-Chan, Flaming Beauty, FireieGurl, Hija Del Sucio, Kagime and the Owl, Baka angel neko, Silver fox aka Vash, Silvermane1, Briryan, Sapphirexkat2, Hitomi no Ryo, Gonrie, randomHime, wouldnt-u-like-2-no, Inoku, Zrina, Lucifersangel41, and Inuyashaismine
Children's laughter echoed across the small playground as the younger shinobi trainees ran around playing random games. Where some sat near the building and in random shady areas to read and catch up on assignments; others with more energy ran around, chasing each other in a messed up game of tag crossed over with hide and seek. These kids were various, from extremely plump to the skinny, but lazy. Children who would rather sit by themselves were joining in the game as they randomly ran around, yelling out orders for other kids to kept chase.
The name of the game was Missing Nin, a children's game loved by all children. Like tag where nobody wanted to be 'it', these kids didn't want to be the missing ninja, so the unlucky child was usually the slowest or not liked well enough yet. Like clockwork, Naruto was told to be the missing ninja since he was the new kid, and trying to make friends, Naruto quickly accepted the roll before taking off. All the other kids covered their eyes, counting to ten, before taking on the roles as play ANBU and Elite Jounin to chase after the missing ninja.
Rules for the game were very simple. The missing ninja could drag people to his team if they wanted to, but usually it was only the children that were best friends that truly wanted to stand up with each other as "missing ninjas". The missing ninja would flee for his life, running around the play yard. He would lose if one of the ANBU or Elite Jounin (the other children playing the game) caught them.
All this Iruka was aware of as he sat, eating his lunch carefully, watching Naruto run around. It didn't take long before Naruto grasped at Sasuke's hand and took off, setting fury into the hearts of all the girls. Like magic, all females playing (or weren't playing that suddenly joined in) doubled the effort to catch Naruto to save the daring Uchiha from the wrong. If Sasuke was angry about being pulled onto Naruto's side, he didn't show it as he laughed while being dragged up the largest slide.
One of the boys, a dark haired child bearing a stuffed dog, started to climb up the slide, trapping the two up on the top, and Iruka decided enough was enough. Standing up, he called out to Naruto to catch his attention and the boy glanced over with a large smile. "Come get your lunch Naruto before the bell rings!" He waved the extra bento box for added effect.
"Yay! Iruka's cooking!" Naruto squealed, sliding down the slide and crashing into the little boy climbing up. Behind him, Sasuke slide down, trying to wash the grin off his face as the children that had chased them all the way up the platform followed suit causing one large collision to come down the slide. With another squeal, Naruto, the dog toy boy, and Sasuke fell into the dirt and sand before Naruto crawled away and towards Iruka, still holding his first friend's hand. As they grasped Iruka's hand, Naruto turned to face all the kids. "Safe!"
"Not yet!" A little blonde girl screamed, thrusting a sandal into the sand. "Release Sasuke-kun you-!" She tried to decide the right words so the game didn't turn sour – especially not in front of the fake missing ninja's parent.
"You can have him." Iruka smiled, giving Sasuke a playful push towards the group. "Go play with them, Uchiha-san. I want to spend some time with Naruto." With a nod, the dark haired child ran back towards the kids. "Come eat." Iruka held up the bento box near Naruto. Tiredly, the boy slumped to the ground and whispered his thanks before he began to eat. Iruka relaxed his head into his palms, watching the children go back to playing, ignoring the noisy sounds of Naruto wolfing down his lunch.
After all but inhaling his lunch, Naruto glanced up, using the back of his hand to wipe his mouth. "The food tastes funny today, Iruka."
"Kakashi made it." With wide eyes, Naruto grabbed his throat and began to hack. "Oh stop that. It's not that bad. I had to eat the food he made when he burnt everything." With a quiet chuckle, Iruka closed his own bento meal. He had promised Kakashi he wasn't going to tell Naruto anything about his parents fighting for custody, though Iruka still felt that Naruto had all right to know. "Are you enjoying yourself?"
"Oh yes!" Naruto said with a mouth of rice. "School's so much fun, back at the Cave they didn't allow me to sit in for training or academic classes, I had a friend before who would teach me how to read and write outside of class because he didn't think anyone should be denied. I miss him. When the teacher found out he was helping me, he was punished. One day, people came looking for a son, and they pulled him out and worked their hardest to get rid of him. He was adopted that day. I'm glad."
"How about with Kakashi and me? Do you like staying with us?"
Curiously, Naruto glanced up at him, his head tilted to one side. "Of course. I love having daddies, even though it's weird." He closed his lunch lid and stood up. "I want to finish playing with Sasuke, okay?" Before getting a response, the boy ran back towards they play yard where all the kids were playing - or more precisely Sasuke, who was studying again.
Standing up, Iruka stretched his back; his arms rose high in the air. As he opened his eye, he caught sight of a well-dressed woman, in her late thirties, near the academy gates. Her dark brunette hair fell into her face as she wrote down what she saw before glancing back up at the children. His son. Narrowing his eyes, Iruka marched towards the gate, pulling on a stern teacher's glare. "Miss!" He called, catching her attention. "May I ask what you need?" He stared over his shoulder to all the children. Naruto was pulling on Sasuke's arm, trying to get the boy to play with him again.
"I can presume you're Hatake Iruka?" She stared him over with distaste as he nodded. "My name is Fujii Hana, I'm here to observe the interactions of the child, Naruto, while under the care of his prospective parents – that'd be you and your … husband. So far, I've seen nothing but trouble on both you and the child's behalf."
Pressing his palms into his hips, Iruka calmed himself. "What do you mean by that? We've only had him for a week; at this time we're all getting use to each other. Overnight, the perfect parent doesn't just come out."
"Naruto is a special case-"
"We all know he's not an orphan!" Pinching the bridge of his nose, Iruka sighed. "I'm getting tired of people reminding me of that, but all I care about is that he needs a family. I want to be that family; there should be nothing wrong with that."
Fujii snorted unattractively, her hand brushing hair from her face. "Hardly. He's special because he's the Kyuubi. He doesn't need a family, or love for that matter. He needs discipline, even death for all he's done to us."
"Kyuubi maybe," Iruka hissed, "but not Naruto. Naruto wouldn't hurt a fly. He didn't ask for the Kyuubi to be sealed in him, it just happened. He doesn't even know it."
"Kyuubi or not," Fujii growled, "he won't need two fathers. It's immoral to put any child in such care. The child needs a woman's touch to keep him in line, to learn right and wrong. To learn how to care, learn about family values and understanding. Two men cannot do these things, and it's only best for the child they'd be placed in the proper household with a mother and a father. Now, if you don't mind, I have other people to speak to than you." She walked past the gate and into the sturdy structure of the academy.
Taking a deep, sturdy breath, Iruka followed behind her and towards the kids as the school bell rang, signaling the end of recess. Like magic, Naruto ran to hug him, bringing along all his friends. Quickly, each one gave him a hug as Naruto introduced them quickly. The dog-plush toy boy, "This is Kiba!" The pink haired girl, "Heh, heh. This is Sakura-chan," the boy couldn't hide his giggle. Next was a lazy faced boy who looked like he'd rather be doing something different. "That's Shikamaru, he's really smart!" This followed by the plump boy who quickly hid a bag of potato chips he was bringing back to class. "That's Choji-kun." The other's who were playing with him had already headed off to class, excluding Sasuke who was waiting for Naruto in the back.
"Okay. It's nice to meet all of you," Iruka bowed. "Head off to class though, I don't want to be yelled at for making all of you late."
"Okay!" The group yelled at once before turning to leave. With a smile, Iruka watched his son leave. As blonde hair faded inside the building, Iruka felt sadness overwhelm him. That was the first time he'd known there was actually a social worker. Maybe it was true that they could lose Naruto. Upon calming his nerves one last time, Iruka turned to enter the building, in hope that working with pre-genin's would completely calm him.
A dozen hands shot into the air, waving enthusiastically to answer the question. The teacher was about to address one of the students who she thought was the first to raise their hand when a knock on the door sounded throughout the room claiming all the children's attention. With a glare towards the distraction, Hikari approached the door and threw it open, giving a glare at the messenger standing behind it. The other woman seemed to have no problem with the glare as she spoke loudly, and clearly. "I'm here to speak with a Naruto."
"Of course." Hikari turned to face her curious students. "Hatake Naruto? Take your things with you, class is almost over. Homework is to study up on your shuriken throwing, and have Iruka-san explain those vocabulary words with you. Have a good day, Hatake-san." Naruto smiled and ran towards the door. As it was shut behind him, the woman, who dragged him towards an empty classroom, snatched his hand painfully.
"My name is Fujii, to you." The woman said; her hands on her hips. "I'm your social worker; do you know what a social worker is?" She asked, sitting down across a table. Naruto took a seat, looking very confused. "That means I'm here to discuss with you complications in your home life, situations that have come up with your recent…adoption, and other problems. This meeting is mostly just to understand each other and see what you've been up to since going under the care of two men."
With a glance of confusion, Naruto rubbed his head shyly. "I kind of know all about social workers. Not much, but I can tell you this. I like Iruka-san and Kakashi-san."
"You call them by their names?" Fujii frowned, marking in a notepad. "Why don't you can them dad, or something like that?"
Grinning from ear to ear, Naruto moved around in his chair restlessly. "'Cause only one of 'em can be a dad. Even though Iruka-san acts all motherly I don't think he'd like me calling him mom. They haven't complained, so I'll keep calling them by their names until I can think of something to call Iruka-san."
"I see. So you consider Kakashi more of the word dad than you do of Iruka-san?"
Fidgeting, Naruto brushed his hand over the bump on his head, though the wound had healed (he was a very fast healer compared to the other kids) the swelling was still there. "I think of them both as my dad. Kakashi-san's really strong, but he's really strange. He's always reading books with big x marks on the back and making weird comments to Iruka-san. But I like him a lot because he acts like a kid, so he'll play a game with me if I ask enough, or he'll read me some of his weird books before bed. Iruka-san always gets mad when he reads those books, always saying he's going to burn them, but he never does. Iruka can cook, like a mom. He kisses my wounds and will make sure both Saiai and Yoshino are treated equally-"
"Saiai and Yoshino?" Fujii glanced up from her notes with questioning eyes.
Nodding, Naruto dug through his book bag and pulled out the two plush toy foxes. "They're Saiai and Yoshino. Iruka bought me Saiai when they first brought me home and Yoshino was a gift from Kakashi from some village of sand. I can't remember what he said the name was though." Subconsciously rubbing his head again, Naruto clutched both toys to his chest with his free arm.
Leaning forward, Fujii reached her hand over towards Naruto's head where the boy was rubbing his head. "What's wrong now?" She sneered, brushing her fingers against the lump, Naruto pulled away as though he'd been burned. "What happened there, Naruto?" She asked.
Quietly, almost voicelessly, Naruto told the woman about how he was trying to wake Iruka up so he could be soothed after a nightmare and ended up scaring the Jounin, causing him to be thrown across the room. "Kakashi said he was really sorry!" Naruto cleared up the act. "He says that I shouldn't surprise him like that because he does things like that to protect himself in his sleep."
With a frown, Fujii picked up her notes and prepared to leave. "Thank you Naruto, today's meeting has been very informative. I plan to see you again within the week, before the hearing."
"What hearing?"
"You mean Iruka-san hasn't told you? How interesting," she sneered before leaving the room and a confused Naruto behind. When she was gone, Naruto clutched his toys to his chest, tears in his eyes as he tried to sooth himself.
"Don't cry, kit. No one is going to take you away; none of those bad tales from the orphanage are true. They never take away children from happy families." A soft voice echoed in his mind, mellowed and emotionless. "If you love Iruka and the stupid Kakashi, then don't give up. They'd never turn you away, because they love you like I love you." The voice was followed by relaxing purring, a pitchy tune that hoped to be tranquil to the small boy.
"I know, Conscious-kun." Naruto whispered. "But I'm scared. What if I've already been a bad child and they don't want me anymore, and would rather trade me in for one of the better children at the orphanage?"
"What have you done to believe that? I think you've been nothing but on your best behavior, besides destroying Iruka's floor with your incisive drawings, but that's not reason to throw a child out like old garbage. Just be yourself, Naruto. Trust me; I'm here for you if they do get rid of you." The voice chuckled before becoming nonexistent.
"Naruto?" The classroom door opened and Sasuke's dark haired head stuck in to look around. "Class is over. Want to come over to my house and do our homework together? I can help you…" He whispered, a blush taking over his babyish face. "See, my big brother is on a mission and both my parents are working and I don't want to be alone, so can you come over?"
Nodding, Naruto stuffed his foxes back in his book bag. "Yeah! Let me tell Iruka-san first!" He took off out the classroom and up a flight of stairs to the Chuunin's classroom. He froze outside, hearing Iruka's stern voice flow steadily outside the door before rapping his knuckles against the wooden door. When granted entrance, Naruto slid the door open and look around before running towards Iruka to grab his leg. "Can I go to Sasuke's? Please, please, please?" the small boy whined. "We'll do our homework," he whispered.
Blushing, Iruka looked at the door as a Sasuke's dark head looked in and around the classroom before pulling out. "Okay…" Iruka whispered. "I'll come pick you up after school, don't misbehave." He pushed Naruto out the door before pecking the kid on the head before he took off out the door and after his best friend. "I'll check your homework when we get home, so you better actually be doing your homework!" And finally the classroom door was closed.