CHAPTER 3......

Disclaimer: me no own naruto....*sighs* never will.....*sobs* if i did,would ino be alive? no! so there...i obviously don't own it....

ok, anyway...the story is taking a slightly darker twist....and it shall remain darker for a few chapters...and there will be smutty goodness to come (tho not quite yet) so you r warned! Thank you Panda-chan for the letter! This chapter was originally only one part but hey, what can I say? (hehe I rhymed) anyway...now! on to the story! There is a time skip here so please bare with me....

_______Last Time________________________________________________

"I was going to tell you before Kiba pounced on you. I've been given legal custody of you. As of today...." He paused and gave the wide eyed blonde the first genuine smile in three weeks. " You are legally my son."

_______________________________________________________

Lights flashed with bright multiple colors as the music blared. Drums began vibrating the air with a hard rhythm as his heartbeat synchronized with the steady constant beats. Soon guitars raised the sound a few notches as they joined. A keyboard in the distance acknowledged the call and answered with its own version of the melody. And just like that, he could no longer hear the music. He had become the music.

The tall lean figure moved in perfect rhythm and harmony as the sounds vibrating the air moved through him. This was his moment. His chance to live. To shine.

The room fell away for an instant and all that remained were him and the beat. The living moving sounds of the instruments. And then as instantly as it disappeared, it rushed back, giving him a heady rush as the crowd began to scream.

Behind the mask, the performer smiled.

One beat...two beats....three beats....

And he began to sing.

________{*}_______

"N-no." The single word was whispered to the suddenly chilly, eerily silent air.

He stared in disbelief at nothing in particular. This was not happening. The note he had been holding crumpled in his sudden death grip. Tears sprang unbidden to his eyes, his mouth became a firm line, jaws locked in place. A nerve just below his left eye twitched slightly. This could not be happening.

It had been perfect. Everything. Two years had passed since Iruka had adopted him, and now he had a dad, and a not so little, little brother. And that creep that had been his foster father had been put behind bars.

Two years and he'd learned to open up. He had begun to play sports, his favorite being soccer. Though he had no idea why. He had come to love and accept his new family....even the pervert of a best friend to his dad: Kakashi. The guy really was weird. But...he finally had a life for crying out loud!

"I don't want to! This isn't...it can't....I don't want to!" He screamed.

From his vantage point on the kitchen counter, Naruto easily surpassed his adopted father's height by a good four inches. And he used it unashamedly as he crossed his arms and glared, eyes narrowing on the brunette. "You can't make me! He can't control me anymore! Don't ask me to do this! You can't!" His voice cracked with the force of his emotions.

"Naruto, please! You know I wouldn't ask you to do this unless I felt it was necessary..." Iruka gazed at his oldest son with questioning eyes as realization dawned on him. "You do know that, right?"

He couldn't shake the growing panic he felt as the blonde remained silent for far too long.

Seeing the horror growing on Iruka's face with his realization, mixed with his concern and fear, Naruto growled and jumped down from the counter. He murmured a, "Yeah, whatever." And ran up the stairs as fast as his legs could carry him.

He couldn't face this. Not now. He needed to think, alone. Away from the fear and concern that was evident in those chocolate eyes. Away from the arms he wanted to hold him. Away from....everything.

A second later the sound of a door slamming echoed through the otherwise silent house quickly followed by ear-shattering...silence.

Iruka sighed heavily and leaned against the counter. He had to do this. He was very aware of Naruto's reasoning behind his resistance. He knew he was asking a lot. From both Naruto and Kiba. He also knew that no matter what, they had to do this. He had to get them away from here.

'Still....' He thought, rubbing his suddenly aching temples. ' I can't push him too much, or else I'll lose the trust and love it took me so long to gain from him....What am I supposed to do? I can't just sit here and wait until...'

His thoughts trailed off as a hand gripped his wrist gently, stopping his motions. " If you're not careful, 'Ru," the man paused to pull his hand away from his head." you'll put a hole in your head with all that rubbing." The man frowned and tugged carefully until Iruka turned somewhat reluctantly to face him.

A sigh escaped trembling lips as he allowed himself to be distracted. " Kakashi...."

His eyes dropped to the floor. Glaring at the tiles as though they could swallow him whole, Iruka tried, albeit unsuccessfully, to free his wrist.

Seriously, didn't Kakashi realize how much he didn't need this right now? He could not afford to be distracted. He had to think, to plan. And Kakashi was not helping him. Why, for once, couldn't the infuriating man go away?

He was holding on to his control and sanity by his fingertips. He couldn't deal with his friend now on top of everything else. He would lose it, he just knew he would.

"What's wrong, Iruka? I heard Naruto yelling. And Naruto never yells. Especially at you. So I know som-"

Iruka cut Kakashi off with a strangled sound as he jerked his hand free, the force making him stumble back slightly. "Everything's fine! It's fine! How'd you get in anyway? It's common courtesy to knock you know! Why are you even here?!" He knew his voice was several octaves higher than it should have been, but he didn't care at the moment.

The silver haired man tilted his head slightly as he studied the state of his friend. Iruka's face was tinted red, though whether it was from his anger or from his panic Kakashi didn't know. Several strands of hair were beginning to fall free of the normally neat pony tail he always kept it pulled back in. His chocolate colored eyes were slightly wider than they should be and Kakashi could swear he saw tears beginning to gather there.

Kakashi frowned and watched as his friend did the one thing he had never thought he would see: he fell apart.

Iruka slid to his knees as his shoulders began to shake. "I...I don't know what to do!" He dropped his face into his hands as tears rolled down his cheeks unbidden. " It wasn't supposed to happen like this! This was never supposed to happen! I c-can't do anything! I....I just..."

"Iruka, calm down. Kiba called me. I came over as soon as we hung up. Kiba let me in. He said something was wrong but he didn't know what. You are scaring him. And worrying me. Now tell me what's going on." Kakashi managed to say all this in an only slightly raised voice, for which he was extremely proud of himself.

Iruka was trembling uncontrollably. He still couldn't bring himself to say what had happened it seemed, but Kakashi watched as he pointed hesitantly to a crumpled piece of paper lying in the middle of the kitchen floor with a shaky hand.

With a grace he rarely used, Kakashi walked the short distance and crouched down as he retrieved what looked like the remains of a badly abused letter. Carefully smoothing it out as he began to read the words printed there, the usually carefree man paled considerably. It took only a second however before a look that could make even the most cold hearted murderer want to pee his pants in fear settled easily onto his face. This was bad.

When he spoke, his voice was calm. And all the more deadly because of it. "I see."

That was it. Two words. But those two words were enough.

The silver haired man glanced up at his life-long friend and frowned. The sight that met his eyes broke Kakashi's heart as he moved easily across the floor and settled himself on his knees beside the sobbing Iruka.

He didn't say anything. Honestly, what did one say in this kind of situation?

Without really thinking about it, Kakashi did the only he could do. He slid his arms around Iruka's shaking form and held him tightly against his chest. They stayed like that for what seemed like hours before Iruka finally began to calm down somewhat.

Kakashi frowned when he felt Iruka try to pull away from him, the younger man still trembling slightly. " Iruka, please. You can't carry the weight of the world on your shoulders. Especially not alone. Don't push me away. Not now. Let me-"

His words were cut off by the hand that had suddenly covered his mouth.

"It's ok, Ka'shi. I...I'll try to remember that...." Iruka didn't look at him. He couldn't look at him. His hand slid back down as he shyly gripped the front of Kakashi's now soaked shirt. There wasn't much else he could do with his hand in the position he was being held in anyway....and he was reluctant to move from the comforting embrace. The admittance to that made a hot blush slide across his face. Iruka could only pray that Kakashi didn't see it.

The moment was interrupted however when a solemn faced blonde cleared his throat from the doorway. Both men looked up; one with concern and the other with fear.

"N-naruto....I..." Iruka's voice faltered. What was he supposed to do? Supposed to say?

In the heavy silence that followed, even Kakashi became slightly nervous. It was obvious neither were willing to speak about what had transpired between them. Neither willing to admit that this was reality. That it was happening to them. That Naruto was, once again-

Kakashi cut his thoughts off abruptly. He refused to think of that. Right now, figuring out what they were going to do was priority.

Iruka nearly jumped as, after what seemed like an eternity, Naruto finally broke the silence.

"Don't say anything, just....." Naruto leaned heavily against the door frame and raked a hand through his hair as he sighed. It was painfully obvious he was struggling with his words. "It's fine. I...I trust you. So... if you think that this is necessary, then,..." His voice trailed off as his eyes lifted to meet the gaze of the man he had come to love and respect. The man he had proudly called his dad for the last two years. He didn't finish his sentence, didn't need to, because the message was clear in the azure depths.

"Thank you, Naruto."

_______________{*}_______________

Kiba snarled under his breath as he held the crumpled letter in his fist. He was on his hands and knees, fighting the urge to retch once again. The thick bile rose in his throat as he tried to calm himself down.

He had spent ten minutes digging in the trash to find it, seeing as how his over-protective father had refused to let him see it. And Naruto... Well, his brother had been unnaturally quiet and had kept to himself since the letter's discovery.

It was almost as though the last two years had never happened. All the light had drained from his eyes, and the usual happy expression had been replaced with a solemn mask. A mask Kiba had hoped to never see again.

He had known that there had to have been something in the letter that had set Iruka into near hysterics and made Kakashi get all pissy. But he had never expected this. He had thought he could handle it....

But he wasn't handling it. Gasping, Kiba forced himself to stand. His weight fell heavily against the wall at his side as dark eyes narrowed dangerously.

'No one is gonna touch my bro. Or my dad. No one.'

Fighting back the unreasonable urge to punch something and another snarl that threatened to erupt from his throat, Kiba looked back to the piece of paper in his hand. How could something so small and insignificant destroy what little happiness they had gained?

Closing his eyes for a moment to regain some resemblance of control, Kiba ripped the offending paper into shreds and watched as the tiny remnants of the life-altering note fluttered harmlessly to the ground.

Only slightly satisfied with his work, Kiba pushed himself off the wall and made his way back into the house. He was exhausted, but he knew that nothing he did would allow him to sleep tonight. Not with the words from that letter burning brightly in his brain.....

Naru-chan,

You've been a very naughty boy, Naru-chan! I see you have a new family? A fag for a father and a mutt for a brother. Will they taste as good as you, Naru-chan? Will the mutt scream as loud as you did? Will the fag enjoy my touch and beg for more? I remember when you begged for release, Naru-chan. Do you? I'm coming for you Naru-chan. I'm coming to get you back. You belong to me. Only me!

____________________________________TBC

ok! that was....um,....dark.....

anyway! next time...

Chapter 3: Reunion... pt2

oi! and i have nothing against gays (im writing a yaoi story for crying out loud) just needed the note for the occassion....everyone happy now? good! and thank you, panda-chan, for writing me the lovely...erm...deaththreat kinda thingy! AGAIN! couldn't do it with ya! lol