Chapter Six: Dwelling on the Past
"Do not dwell in the past; do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment."
- Buddha
Iruka sat calmly in Sandaime's office drinking tea with the Hokage. He was smiling at him, asking after Naruto, commenting on a recipe that Iruka had made recently. Then they had even spoken genially a little about the weather. Iruka was patient. He would wait for the Third to bring up Ryuu. It wasn't like Iruka wanted to bring up the damned dragon. It was Itachi's silly idea to out his summoning ability. He still wasn't sure how he was going to explain it all but he was always good at thinking on his feet and he would just figure it out as he got to it.
"I'm sure you know why I called you here, Iruka." Sandaime said after there was a small lull in their conversation.
Iruka nodded and took a sip of tea.
"Itachi-san has informed me of your summon and I'm disappointed that you felt you couldn't share this ability with me." Sandaime began.
"I'm sorry for the deception." Iruka sighed.
Sandaime waited for Iruka to explain himself.
"I believed I would be a target. That it was a forbidden ability. I didn't want Ryuu taken from me." Iruka sighed again. "Childish fears I suppose, but I was younger."
"May I meet Ryuu?" Sandaime asked.
"Of course, Hokage-sama." Iruka smiled happily. Then paused and looked to the Hokage in warning. "He is a little…ahh…colorful though."
"Colorful?" The Hokage raised an eyebrow.
"Cheeky and impudent." Iruka suggested. "And slightly ill-mannered. I have tried to instill him the proper respect for the Hokage's position but…he is….well, he is Ryuu and I believe he may have been treated as a God for a while at some time in the past and I think that went to his head. You'll see what I mean."
Iruka took out a kunai and kicked his thumb, then: Bird. Dog. Bird. Monkey. Ram.
With a pop, Ryuu appeared floating above the Hokage's desk. "What now, Dolphin? I was sleeping!"
"Hello Ryuu, I would like you to meet someone very special-"
"Well, I already met cool Weasel. And injured Tiger. And I don't want to meet that stupid-." Ryuu started.
"Damnit Ryuu, stop being a jerk!" Iruka stood up and yelled at the dragon, shaking his fist. The dragon merely puffed out a few smoke rings in his general direction.
"This," Iruka smiled and gestured formally, "Is someone very important to me. This is Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage of Konoha. You may call him Hokage-sama." Iruka paused and held his hand up to forestall the dragon that looked like he wanted to interrupt. "And yes, you MUST call him Hokage-sama." Iruka turned to the Sandaime who was staring up at Ryuu with a little smile and touch of wonder. "And Hokage-sama, this is Ryuu-san."
"Technically it's Ryuu-Sama the Great, to you kid." Ryuu groused.
"Ryuu!" Iruka growled.
"I'm over five hundred years old. There are war scrolls written about me. Battle poems written in my honor. Mortals tremble at my presence. Mountains quake at my fire. Clouds part before my flames." Ryuu said in all seriousness, although this time that he said it, it was without all his usual pomp and circumstance…and if Iruka squinted at him just right he almost believed him. Almost. Wait…Nahhh. He couldn't be telling the truth about all that stuff, could he? Because what would a being that strong be doing with a little chuunin like him?
"Is this why you wanted to talk to Hakate-san about?" Sandaime asked him. "You had questions about summons?"
Ryuu snorted indelicately and made an in inappropriate gesture. Luckily the Hokage was looking at Iruka and not at the dragon.
"Yes, Sandaime." Iruka nodded. "Although Ryuu isn't really what I like to think of my summon. He is my friend."
"Excuse me?" The third looked confused.
"Well, I suppose technically he is my summon. But as I'm sure Itachi mentioned in his report I don't like to think of Ryuu as my property. He is a friend, a partner. I summon him out and ask if he wants to work with me. I would never use him or exploit him. This is also part of why I haven't brought his existence to light before now. What need did an academy sensei have for a dragon? But, well, an ANBU might."
The Hokage seemed lost in thought, staring at Iruka and the dragon.
"Itachi tells me nothing but praise for you and your…creative interrogation methods." Sandaime stated, changing topics suddenly.
Iruka smiled brilliantly. The Hokage frowned.
"Should I continue to keep Ryuu a secret or is the proverbial dragon out of the bag? I haven't had him meet Naruto yet because…well, you know Naruto can't really keep secrets well." Iruka bit his lip.
"This is a shinobi village and everything said in this meeting is completely classified, as well as your last ANBU mission." The third said with finality. "That said, this usually means everyone will know by next Thursday." He winked at Iruka, and then smiled up at Ryuu. "But I wouldn't go walking around with a dragon through the village square. That would frighten the civilians, you know."
"I like you Hokage-sama, but I'd lose the hat." Ryuu said.
"Ryuu! Be respectful!" Iruka yelled at the dragon, then turned to the Hokage and bowed.
"Of course I wouldn't do that. But at least I don't have to keep him so shut off from the world. And I can bring him out in my missions for assistance if it is the type of mission that calls for it." Iruka grinned, looking over at Ryuu, who had been listening with interest, who was being mostly good with his typical verbal diarrhea. Probably because he had promised him a whole suckling pig if he behaved. Stupid dragon.
A few days later, Iruka dropped low to a crouch and rolled, evading a particularly vicious thrust from Itachi's katana. "Ahk!"
They were sparring in their usual spot, field number twelve. They preferred it because it was close to the Uchiha compound as well as Iruka's apartment, and it had a lot of tree terrain.
Itachi had taken over training of Iruka after a particular mission when he had noticed Iruka had lost a fight with his wakizashi blade. He would've died if it hadn't been for some quick thinking and a toss of a kunai. The very next day Itachi had started a new training regime for him.
Iruka stated that his moves were exactly text-book perfect. Which they were, but Itachi had argued that enemies hardly came at one just like text books predicted, and that he needed practical experience and a lot of it. Iruka could not deny that he had very little practical experience with blades. He certainly had very little of it as an academy sensei. His hands were now covered in lots of little kicks but he was getting better. A lot better, actually. They had been training for about three hours every morning for the past two weeks when not away on missions and it was really improving his skills.
Itachi paused and tilted his head. "You know, I had a thought last night actually."
"What?" Iruka said, rocking back on his heels.
"Maybe if you used two blades instead of just one? I thought you might want to see if you liked it…" Itachi reached for a blade that Iruka had not noticed strapped to his side. Iruka looked at it with interest. Unlike his own which was just black and rather plain. This was another wakizashi blade, slightly longer that his own, with a black and red handle. The hilt was set with the symbol of the Uchiha fan. He looked up at Itachi questioningly.
"Is it yours?" Iruka asked.
"Yes, but I do not favor the blade as you do. I prefer the katana." Itachi shrugged, looking away and patting his hair in some sort of reflexive, unconscious gesture. "You can have it if you want."
"Thank-you very much, Itachi." Iruka said thickly, blinking. "I will cherish it." This was…a very nice gift. One of the nicest he had ever received. He attached it on the other side of his waist, so that he now had a wakizashi on each of his hips.
Iruka slid the second blade out of its sheath and now stood ready changing his stance slightly, now that he had two blades. He remembered back to his text books that he had memorized for fighting while dual-wielding. Having an eidetic memory as pretty nice sometimes, he thought to himself. It didn't guarantee you that you were better at anything, but at least he could remember what he was supposed to do.
As he jumped from a branch and just barely narrowly missed Itachi's blade, he laughed. Then Itachi reached over and touched his forehead. Then he was suddenly dropped into a genjutsu; Itachi's attack – his dusk crow genjutsu. He had never been on the receiving end before, but Naruto had. During their sparring Itachi would occasionally throw various bits of ninjutsu or taijutsu to keep him off balance while fighting. He was bombarded from above by crows; mercilessly they came at him from every direction. He bit his lip and simultaneously jumped away from the branch he knew had been standing on before the attack. Reflexively he held out his arms, and his blades for another attack even though his mind was now clear of the damn birds.
"Stupid birds!" Iruka growled. "Always with the damn birds, 'Tachi…!"
Quickly, Iruka modified a genjutsu of his own on the fly and worked his way through the branches of the trees towards Itachi, chuckling. Truly, the man shouldn't be advancing towards him. If anyone knew anything about his pranks, he wouldn't be coming any closer…
Iruka paused and looked up at Itachi through the trees, catching his gaze then he had him in his ensnared him in his own little bit of genjutsu. He watched Itachi's eyes close and body actually fall to the ground, about eight feet down. Oh, damn, he rather thought he would've gotten out of it by now. Wait, maybe this was some part of the training. Iruka sat on a branch for a second and watched as Itachi lay on the ground and twitched, caught in his genjutsu, arms flailing about. He jumped down lightly, picked up Itachi's own katana, very purposefully putting aside all thoughts that this was the very blade that had ended his life months ago. Iruka walked over to Itachi holding the blade to his throat lightly just in case it was a trick, part of the training. But he didn't spring awake, suddenly alert.
Itachi was still caught up in Iruka's hastily little put-together genjutsu. Well, truthfully, most of it was something he had been waiting to use during an interrogation mission, something he had been creating as part of very advanced genjutsu. It involved the dark and lots of hairy, slavering spiders crawling over your naked body while you were tied down. But he had improvised and tacked on something at the beginning where it felt like you were falling so that Itachi wouldn't immediately bite out of the genjutsu. And apparently he hadn't. Crap, he felt terrible now. This was just supposed to be a fun spar. He reached over and practically sat on the younger man, trying shaking him awake. He pinched Itachi's arm painfully. His face pressed close to his.
"'Tachi!" Iruka yelled anxiously. "Wake up! I'm sorry!"
Groggily the Uchiha blinked and looked up at Iruka, fear still lingering in his eyes. Iruka smiled down at him and brushed the hair off his face. "I'm so sorry, 'Tachi…I shouldn't have used that genjutsu. When you used your dusk crow genjutsu…I just attacked back. I'm so sorry." Iruka leaned down and hugged him instinctively.
Itachi looked a little confused and blushing slightly. "It's okay…it was very good work. Very well constructed." He shivered a little at some memory. "I don't like spiders."
Iruka nodded and didn't laugh. "I don't think anyone does. That's why I chose them for it. It is something I've been working on for…the torture and interrogation part of our missions. I'm so sorry 'Tachi. I never should have used that during sparring. That was unpardonable."
Itachi held up his hand and looked like he was going to touch Iruka's cheek, but instead flicked his forehead. "Dobe, as Sasuke always says." Itachi smiled faintly. "I believe started it with my 'damn birds', right?"
"And please don't call me 'Dobe'. I really don't want us acting like Naruto and Sasuke!" Iruka groaned.
"But aren't they best friends, too?" Itachi asked softly.
"Yes, but then you're making me Naruto. I don't want to be Hokage…and my whole world does not revolve around ramen! And you're more talented, funny and better looking than Sasuke." Iruka said, looking down at Itachi, hoping for smile.
"Better looking than Sasuke?" Itachi said with a laugh.
"You have seen his hair, right?" Iruka said.
Itachi did indeed smile somewhat and reached up to pat his hair in that way he sometimes did.
"And you're funny! I think you're up to what…eight jokes now? You're well past Shisui." Iruka added.
"Granted you don't really see much of my cousin." Itachi added.
Iruka realized now he was still mostly sitting on the younger man, and he flushed in embarrassment. "Gomen." He stood and scratched his scar. "How is Shisui doing?"
"Quitting." Itachi said, sitting up and dusting himself off, looking around. Iruka handed him his katana, Itachi accepted it and he sheathed it. "My father offered him a position in the Konoha Military Police Force and he accepted."
"Good for him!" Iruka said happily. "He is excited about this, right?"
"I believe so." Itachi said.
Iruka looked down at his watch, it was getting late. Maybe they'd had enough for the day. And after the genjutsu goof, Itachi should probably just relax.
"Hey, why don't you go get Shisui and come by to my place for a party for your cousin? I'll even see if Genma wants to come?" Iruka offered.
"I'll invite him them." Itachi nodded. "What time?"
"How about eight o'clock?" Iruka said, and paused, his hand resting on the hilt. "And thanks again for the blade. I love it." He disappeared with a little swirl of bubbles.
Later that night Iruka dressed into some casual jeans and a tight black v-neck t-shirt. He knew he looked good. He wasn't trying to look good for anyone in particular, but it was always nice to know you looked good. Ryuu was in the living room watching some ridiculous reality TV-show. How he could watch that stuff, Iruka had no idea. Iruka had made some simple sushi, set them out on a platter and picked up quite a few bottles of good sake.
Iruka sat on the couch, waiting for his guests. He had about fifteen or so minutes until they should start arriving.
Ryuu sighed and looked over at Iruka. Smoke curled from one of his nostrils. "You know when he finally does come back it's not going to be the same, Dolphin."
"You don't know what you're talking about, Ryuu."
"How could it possibly be the same, Dolphin?" He repeated.
"Because…" Iruka started. "I'm the same."
"No you're not."
"But…"
"No, you are different. You do not have the same job. Your day is completely different. You look different, you have different experiences. You have a different goal. You have a purpose, Dolphin." Ryuu said, sounding disturbingly serious for once.
Iruka froze on the couch, swallowing painfully. Would it really be that hard to recapture it? That impossible?
"Love is…like lightning in a bottle, Dolphin. You just can't recreate it. It's magic. It's not a jutsu you can recreate. He is years away from the same person you fell in love with. You, yourself, are years away from that person. You are different people now. You are only setting yourself up for hurt. And I don't want you to get hurt."
Iruka wanted to cry. He turned and looked at the dragon who was trying very hard to actually be nice for once. "No, Ryuu, you don't understand. He really does love me. You know all of this. We were together for years!" Iruka knew his voice was starting to come out slightly strangled sounding, and rising in octaves.
"Dolphin, that man did love you, of that I do believe you. But I want you to be happy now, that is all. I will say nothing more on the matter except to say this: I believe that humans have the capacity to know great love in your hearts more than once in life." Ryuu then turned back to the TV and for all intensive purposes appeared to be very interested in watching his reality-TV.
Iruka looked away from the damn dragon and brushed away the tears that were spilling on his cheeks. Meddling creature. When Kakashi finally returned…he'd show him!
There was a knock on the door and Iruka shook off the melancholy and mentally prepared himself for a party.
He opened the door and spied Itachi and Shisui.
"Hooray! Congratulations, Shisui!" Iruka said smiling at the man.
Shisui nodded and smiled. They entered; Itachi looked around Iruka's apartment with curiosity but Shisui's eyes bugged out at the form of Ryuu.
"Ahh…Iruka…what is that?" Shisui said, standing in a subconsciously defensive posture. "Please tell me that's a potted plant that you've henged…?"
"You've sort of met him before. That's Ryuu!" Iruka said cheerfully. "Ryuu, this is Shisui-san! He is Itachi's cousin."
Ryuu waved his wing at Shisui. "Hey, Weasel's cousin. Congratulations!"
Shisui made a sort of strangled snorting noise and looked around the room in a panicked way. He looked at the normal, calm way Itachi and Iruka were just standing there. "Is this a prank? I thought you said he was a chihuahua?"
"Well, I kind of lied. He's actually a dragon." Iruka said as if that was completely normal. "Would you like some sake? I also made some sushi if you'd like. Nothing fancy."
"I wish you'd stop telling people I'm a chihuahua. It's a blow to my ego, Dolphin." Ryuu said with a voice that implied he was pouting.
"It would take a jackhammer to chink away at your gargantuan ego, Oh Ryuu-sama the Great!" Iruka snickered.
There was another knock at Iruka's door and he opened it to find Genma and Raidou. He let them in and introduced them around. Of course Raidou was visibly shaken by the sight of the dragon, but it was obvious that Genma had prepared him beforehand and after awhile he took it in stride. Everyone at the party was jounin's after all, and bat-shit-crazy was pretty much standard affair. Iruka turned off the TV and turned on the music. It was a party after all. Soon the sake was out and flowing and everyone seemed to be having a great time. Even Iruka was having a good time, after four drinks his stupid conversation with the meddling dragon was even dulled to the point he could almost forget it.
He was walking past his front door into the kitchen when he thought he heard a knock on the front door. He opened it and spied Asuma-san standing outside, hands in his pockets, smiling sheepishly.
"Ahh…yes?" He smiled broadly. It was so nice to see Asuma alive and in the flesh. It was the first time he'd seen him since he'd been back. He knew the man was alive, sure, but it was nice to see him – for some reason their missions had never matched up and they had just kept missing each other through the village. And at this point in life were not friends really. "How can I help you Asuma-san?"
"Well…I heard music and well…it sounds like you're having a party?" Asuma scratched his head, behind the kerchief on his head.
Iruka smiled. "Would you like to come in? My best friend's cousin, Shisui, was just assigned a very good position Konoha Military Police Force and we're having a little party for him. But there are other jounin's here you might now. There is sake and I made sushi." Iruka didn't wait for a response. He reached for his arm and pulled him in.
"Who's your best friend?" Asuma looked at him curiously.
"Itachi!" Iruka said in a voice that said it should be obvious. Of course, at this point Iruka had quite a few drinks.
Asuma started laughing as he let Iruka pull him forward. Iruka pushed a cup of sake in his hand. "And you must meet Ryuu first."
"Who's Ryuu?" Asuma said.
Iruka laughed. "He's my summon."
There was much laughter in the apartment; Raidou was over on his cell phone, calling his friends trying to get them to come over. Iruka paused, wondering if he should stop him. Did he really want to have a big house party? He took another sip of sake, and realized yes, he did. He wanted to have some fun. He was going to start working on some of his goals very soon and this would be a very fun to have a little break first.
Asuma was then standing in front of Ryuu, blinking and drinking his sake. He kept poking the dragon and telling him to drop the henge.
Izumo, Kotetsu and Iwashi showed up soon after Raidou's call, and Iruka gracefully led them into the living room and they met Ryuu and soon they actually started playing a game of monopoly with him. Asuma drank another cup of sake and still refused to believe it. Well, until Ryuu belched and there was some fire and Iruka yelled at the dragon and had to put out some fire with a quick thinking water jutsu. Damn meddling dragon.
Kurenai showed up with Yugao and Hayate. Iruka smiled at them and opened the door wide. At least they had brought food. Iruka grabbed one of the strawberries off the platter they brought. He caught Itachi's eye across the room. He smiled at him and winked as he ate the strawberry. The house party was nice but he kind of wished he was just talking to him.
When Anko, Tsume and Ibiki showed up he knew he had officially made some sort of house party history for Konoha. This was boarding little bit on the insane, he thought to himself. Iruka rooted around in the refrigerator for some more food to put out for the guests. He found some left over bentos that he had been saving for his dinner tomorrow and he set them out on the counter, and removed the empty sushi platters from earlier.
Music raged on and he could see Shisui talking to Hayate and he could see Ryuu in the living room, talking to Izumo about something, gesturing wildly. Figures. Ryuu would probably get along well with Izumo and Kotetsu…they all had the same maturity level.
Iruka downed another cup of sake and meandered his way through the party, trying to find Itachi. He wasn't in the living room. Or in the kitchen, or on the rooftop terrace. He walked over to Shisui who was now talking to Anko.
"Hey Shisui!" Iruka said, slightly unsteady on his feet. "Hope you're having fun…Hey…Where's Itachi?"
Anko looked at Iruka and laughed. "Are you drunk Iruka-kun, you're so cute! And I love Ryuu! I can't believe you've hidden such an asset all this time!"
"Ryuu is not a tool to be used!" Iruka snapped at Anko. "He is my like a partner, a teammate, my friend."
"Someone is grouchy when they're drunk." Anko said reaching over to pinch Iruka's cheek.
"More like horny." Iruka muttered.
"Ha ha ha!" Anko laughed. "Are you propositioning me, Iruka-kun?"
Iruka raised an eyebrow, very Uchiha-like. "Honey, I don't swing that way."
Anko peered at Iruka inquisitively. "I had no idea you were so much fun, Iruka!"
"I'm all that and a ball sack." Iruka said pithily.
Asuma had come over at the tail end of that conversation and burst out laughing. "You're too much Iruka!"
"Maa…what can I say…you've gotta look underneath the underneath to see the real me. And most people never do!" Iruka sighed dramatically, well he tried to. But he was drunk and everyone else was, so he wasn't sure how well the effect went over or if anyone even picked up on it.
Iruka walked over to Shisui and put his arm around him. "Congratulations. I'm happy for you, man. You have a good stable job now. Be happy. Meet a good woman. Go forth – populate the world with little angst-filled Uchiha babies."
"That is the single weirdest congratulations I have received. Yet oddly I'm touched." Shisui laughed.
Iruka waved his arms around…"Okay everyone…party's over! Everyone go home! It's past three in the morning. I'm tired. I'm drunk. You're all drunk and probably tired. Go home! If you don't want to go home, find someone else's home to go to and go there. But you can't stay here!"
After they all filed out Iruka turned off the lights, his eyes drooping closed. Ryuu smiled at him with an odd look, but disappeared with a loud pop before he could ask him what the look meant. He was too drunk to care. He sighed happily. The party had been fun. But he was so tired. He wished he could've said goodbye to Itachi but I guess he had left earlier during the party. Too bad.
Iruka stripped down to boxers and crawled into his bed, already half asleep. His drunk and sleep fused body realized the bed was lumpy. Like…there was a body in his bed. He blinked and moved the covers aside.
"Oh, there you are, 'Tachi." Iruka smiled and yawned. "I was looking for you."
"You were?" Itachi asked nervously, he had a book covering his face. It looks like reading? Had he come in to Iruka's bedroom to read during the party? Aww…that was kinda boring, Iruka thought. He took the book from Itachi and held it up to the light to see what the title was. Advanced genjutsu techniques. Wow, exciting stuffs. He tossed the book over his shoulder onto the ground.
Iruka turned the light off and lay down next to Itachi, Gah he was so freaking tired and drunk. "Yeah, 'Tachi. Wanted to talk to you. You're my best friend. It was boring at the party with you." He yawned again and pulled the covers up. "Are you drunk at all?"
"A little." Itachi admitted.
"I'm totally trashed. I's can barely thinks." Iruka closed his eyes. "Shisui seems happies."
"He is. He has wanted the position for a long time. My father wanted it for me, but…I-"
Iruka turned on his side and smiled sleepily at Itachi.
"'Tachi…nothing against your cousin or you father, but I think you too brilliant for the Konoha Military Police. I means you can't ANBU forever, but…" Iruka scratched at his scar.
"I know what you mean." Itachi said softly.
"''Tachi…can we go sleep now? I'm so dired and trunk." Iruka blinked slowly, and then drifted off into the inky blackness.
...
A/N: Please Review: ^_^