Chapter 7 - Getting Promoted - The Chunin Exam

(AN: Thank you to Frankiegirl2020 for reviewing! This next chapter is a few years later, Kaida is now 17, Iruka is 19 and Kakashi is 21. It's 11 years since the Nine-Tails attacked. Also, romance is brewing, prepare for indecency and lewd… things? Not quite yet, but soon, just a little warning, also some language issues. Enjoy, and review!)

"You what?"

Kaida shouted at her best friend, who now looked sheepish, a blush spreading underneath the thin scar across his face. Iruka, looked down, a small smile itching it's way into view.

"I can't believe you sometimes, honestly, of all the stupid things to do, why this?"

"Well… it seemed like a good idea at the time-"

"Great, pull that one on me now-"

"Hey, I was only trying to be nice. I thought you wanted to be a Chunin?"

Kaida paused. Since Kakashi had become Jounin, both Iruka and her had felt a little left out, but the scars from after her last exam still haunted her. Iruka had been through the exam, and passed… she didn't want to be left out anymore, but she wasn't too sure if she could do it.

"Yes… I do, but… Iru-chan… I'm, I guess, kinda… scared."

She stood nervously in Iruka's kitchen, her gaze on the floor, staring at nothing. He walked over to her from the door. Taking her in his arms he kissed the top of her head, finally taller than her, and waited for the three little words he knew she would say.

3... 2... 1

"I hate you."

"Nah, you love me really. Look, I know you'll do fine, you'll pass for sure! Everyone's always asking why you haven't taken the exam. You can't stay a Genin forever you know?"

"Yeah… Iru-chan? Will you… um… help me with my training? I miss your um… criticism… that you have for my fighting techniques."

"That and your hair!"

Iruka laughed as his best friend punched him in the shoulder, hard, and backed away, hands raised in defence.

"Okay, calm down… Of course I'll help you, that's what friends are for, right?"

"Iruka… you're the best! Just make some time for me with that new project of yours."

"Project? Oh you mean Naruto? He's not a project, he's a child… one hell of a child at that. Last night he managed to get his ramen in his underwear… still not sure how he did that…"

Iruka frowned, a soft smile on his face, lost in thought as Kaida gazed at him from the oven. She pulled on the singed gloves and rescued the dinner Iruka had been trying to prepare, a non-ramen related meal for once. She placed it on the counter and attempted to salvage as much as she could.

"You should let me cook something for you guys. You can't cook for shit! What was this meant to be again… looks like something Hana would feed her dogs…"

Iruka smirked and rolled his eyes, taking plates out of the cupboard near the fridge-freezer. He set them on the table, and Kaida set the … food? In the centre.

"Naruto! Food!"

Shouted the young man. The short blonde tyke dashed through the door, grinning ear to ear. At 11 years old, he was enough of a menace to be considered a bad influence, but still cute enough to get let off with most of his pranks. He sat at the table, reached across the gap towards the dish fresh out of the oven. Iruka just moved, unthinking, and pulled the dish away from Naruto. It burned his hands, and he couldn't hold back a gasp of pain.

Kaida rushed him to the bathroom where she put his palms under cold water.

"I'll take you up to the hospital after we've sorted out the boy, okay? You need to eat too, before you go, you never know how long they'll keep you there."

Iruka nodded, his teeth gritted. Returning to the living-room/diner, Kaida served out three portions of food, Naruto practically inhaling his, and waited for Iruka to be ready. He emerged from the bathroom just as Naruto was leaving, out the back door to play… by himself.

"Come on, sit, let me see."

Kaida's voice was soft, caring. She stood and beckoned Iruka closer, he complied. Taking up his usual seat, he held out his palms for her to see, she pulled a bandage from the small medi-kit at her waist, and wrapped them up carefully. Then she sat next to him, holding up chopsticks. Iruka blushed at the intimacy of the scene, Kaida did too… which wasn't helped by the sudden appearance of Kakashi Hatake.

"Well, isn't this romantic? I didn't know you were this close."

"Shut up Kakashi. He burned his hands and can't eat. We aren't like that."

Yet even as the young woman said those words… she wished they weren't true. She and Iruka, they'd been so close for such a long time now… it was only natural to want more… right?

Iruka, as calm and collected as he seemed to be on the inside, fought with himself for control. If Kakashi hadn't arrived just then…! Not turning round he continued to look at the girl next to him. Looking after him from the day they met, he couldn't deny the thoughts and dreams he woke up to in the night anymore. He wanted her. She had to be his… he needed her. But she didn't think of him in that way, and so, had never told her… for two years, tormented by her presence, her sweet scent, her soft touches as she greeted him… he knew he was becoming a little obsessed. He just couldn't help it. He loved her, and she would never know.

Leaving a rather peeved Kakashi to baby sit, Kaida walked Iruka to the hospital. She waited in the lobby, the uncomfortable chairs giving her back pain. She was there for three whole hours… what was taking them so long?

Walking down the corridor, she stopped outside the room Iruka had last been in, upon opening the door she saw no one. She stepped inside to check behind the door, just in case, and was rewarded by it shutting locked behind her. The lights flickered. In the corner of the room, the curtains near the examination bed wavered, like someone was standing behind them. She pulled them back, and screamed.

Iruka, his eyes rolled back into his head as he plummeted towards the ground… dead…

Kaida reached out to him, he was so cold… this couldn't be happening.

A thought occurred…

Concentrating her chakra, Kaida released herself from the Genjutsu she had been trapped in. Standing over her was the man who had cast it.

"How did you know?"

"His hands… they weren't burnt anymore… you should make sure to take in all the details before casting Genjutsu."

Standing, she saw Iruka in the corner, smiling widely.

"I knew you could do it."

"That was a test, wasn't it? For the exam?"

Iruka nodded and the man left them alone.

"What did he show you?"

Iruka asked only out of curiosity, and was stunned by the answer he received.

Pressing her lips to his in a fierce bout of passion, Kaida wrapped her arms around Iruka's neck, holding him closer. She opened her mouth a little, letting in his asking tongue, letting him feel her warmth. She returned his exploring with a little of her own. She moved from his lips, to his neck, kissing, nipping and biting. She sucked gently on his skin, feeling his back collide with the wall, and then sucked a little harder, hearing his breath come faster. She moved her hands to his chest, and slowly, pulled away.

"I thought I lost you for a moment there."

She breathed, eyes half lidded, her breath in small pants. He lowered his lips to her ear and whispered to her.

"I'm not going anywhere. I promise."

Two weeks later...

Standing at the gates of the Forest of Death, Kaida wondered how on earth Iruka and Kakashi had done it. The written exam had been fricking horrible! How she passed that she'd never know. And now…?

The number 12 loomed in front of her. Her two team mates, younger than her by a few years, looked just as nervous as she felt. Iruka had wished her all the luck in the world as he'd kissed her goodbye that morning, but she didn't think his luck was going to last.

The Earth scroll was tucked safely in her clothes, her being chosen to carry it as she had the most experience. The gate opened, and they stepped through, heading towards disaster.