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((Part 3 of the short fic 'Caring'… Ages stand thus; Naruto 17, Iruka 30, Kakashi 30. It is early June.))
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Chapter 12; Caring— Part 3
Despite what so many thought, Iruka was not a prude.
He enjoyed rather lascivious behaviors on occasion, gossiping with fellow chuunin, as well as a few jounin (mainly Kakashi and Genma) as well as meddling in others personal lives. And, as such, he had known, for quite a while now, that there were three people in Konoha who had rather large crushes on Naruto.
The first was a chuunin, about three years older than Naruto, named Bo.
Bo was not his real name. Bo was his nickname, stemming from his choice of weapons.
A large, thick weighted redwood staff, that Iruka had been unfortunate enough to walk in on him once, years ago, PLAYING with.
Other than that one incident, (which Iruka overlooked, because he knew how frustrating it was to NEED, and not have anyone to ease it, knew that sometimes, you just had to do it or you would just go mad,) Iruka thought Bo was a nice kid.
So, he approached Bo on Wednesday evening in the mission room, smiling as he handed in a report for a commissioned tutoring session with two pregennin whose parents didn't think had paid enough attention to Iruka during the school year before, and felt their new teacher wasn't giving them the discipline and structure they needed.
Iruka liked seeing the twin boys' faces when he got to show them that the 'stupid-sensei' they'd practically ignored the year before, was not stupid, nor was he weak.
Iruka was so impressed with the results he wanted to use the lesson plan he'd constructed for the two boys on his students this year, because in a single week he'd seen a massive improvement in focus and execution that he'd not experienced before.
"Hello, Umino-san… Are you sure you're not on the wrong side of the desk?" Bo smiled at him.
Iruka made small talk with him while the younger man read over his report, and subsequently read over the form asking for an amendment to his school year curriculum.
Forms stamped and slid into their proper folders and boxes, Iruka set his jaw and leaned forward, hands propped on the counter, voice lowered.
"Bo, you know Naruto, correct?"
The young man's face heated. "Yes, what of him?"
Iruka looked at the clock, "Why not take your ten minutes and come have a chat with me."
Bo nodded again and called over his shoulder that he was going to stretch his legs and get some coffee.
Vaulting over the counter, he shoved his hands into his vest pockets and followed Iruka from the room.
There was a small balcony just down the hall from the mission room, facing away from the village proper, and angled so that the only view one had was a sheer rock face and a small courtyard behind the building, that was most usually overrun with squirrels and birds that liked to swoop down and steal your lunch.
Out here, on this balcony, Iruka explained to Bo what had happened, and what he was intending to do. And last, why he needed Bo's help.
Bo was a social person, also he was a kind person who couldn't hold a grudge even if you put it in a bucket and taped it to his hand.
"He's never been on a date before, never had a girlfriend, or a boyfriend, and I thought of you, because you're a rather logical person."
Bo nodded, yawning; "You also know that I'm not going to hold it against him if he makes an ass of himself." Bo smiled and a thin scar stretched pale on his cheek.
"Exactly." Iruka smiled himself, and leaned over the railing, watching a few people mill about in the courtyard fighting off squirrels and birds.
Somewhere in the background of village noise, he could have sworn he heard Gai-sensei shout something about the power of youth and intuition, but it was all rather normal, so he paid little attention to it.
"I also know that you're not going to force him to do something he's not ready to do." Iruka said, almost in a whisper.
Bo glanced from the corner of his eye at the older chuunin.
"I…" Iruka paused, took a deep breath, and started again. "I don't want Naruto to be hurt, or inadvertently hurt someone else… He's had enough of that in his lifetime, and I just want him to feel normal and un-pressured with this. He's done nothing but train and fight since he was a small child, he doesn't know how to interact with someone on a personal level as equals."
Bo nodded. "He's a smart guy, Iruka-san."
Iruka tried not to laugh.
Bo chuckled; "You know what I meant. For his age, he is very wise… But wisdom and energy have little to do with social skills."
"Exactly."
Bo was silent for a few minutes, picking lint from his pockets as he leaned his back against the rail. Tilting his head and shielding his eyes, staring up the front of the Hokage Monument and giggling at a few bird's nests he could see built in nostrils.
"Okay, Iruka-san… I'll help you… But I'm not promising I won't give him a crash course in casual social etiquette."
"Just don't scare him off…"
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Two days later, Iruka cornered Naruto at the ramen stand, grabbed him by the ear, and dragged him halfway across town.
By the time they arrived, Naruto had twisted and writhed until his ear was swollen and red, and tears rolled down his cheeks.
He pouted comically when Iruka shoved him forward into the shop and instructed him to pick out an outfit to wear on their date that night.
"But, I don't need new clothes, Iruka-sensei… I just bought some four months ago!"
"Yes, and look at your feet."
Naruto glanced down and winced at the considerable gap between the ends of his trousers and the wrappings on his legs.
And then, to drive his point home, Iruka grasped the young man by the shoulders, lifted his arms out to his sides and tugged on the hem of his jacket as it rode halfway up his stomach, and dusted his cuffs emphasizing the fact his sleeves were also too short.
"W-when did you get so short, Iruka-sensei?" Naruto's eyes widened and he put a hand on his own head, leveling it out toward Iruka's eyebrows.
"Still think you don't need new clothes?"
Blushing, Naruto hung his head.
Taking into account his limited budget, since most of his paychecks went to weapons, food and the like, Iruka steered him toward the back of the shop, and the discount racks, then fussed, growled and threatened when Naruto just plucked random items off the racks and tossed them over his arm.
"W-what's wrong with this one?" Naruto sounded on the verge of tears, holding up a brightly floral pattered shirt with lace on the cuffs. "It's fancy."
Iruka slapped a hand to his forehead, cocked his hip outward and tapped his foot on the ground while he tried to reign in his emotions. "Naruto… I don't think even Gai-sensei would wear that."
Naruto blinked, and actually took a moment to look at the shirt, "You're right… It reminds me of something out of Jiraiya-sensei's books… Maybe, Kakashi-sensei would like it!"
Iruka felt something in his head pop, and he thudded his fist against the blonde's head.
Two head thumpings later, Naruto had disappeared into the fitting rooms and Iruka was angrily searching through the racks, the hangers screeching against their rails as he looked for something in Naruto's size.
The blonde was not quite his height, and only slightly smaller around than he was, so when in question, Iruka held trousers up to his own waist.
"Iruka-sensei?"
Glancing up, his blood running cold, Iruka found himself face-to-face with Sakura over the top of the rack.
She was smiling nervously, her eyes wide and green. She had her hair pulled back into a short French Braid and over her shoulder Iruka could see Ino and a rather flushed looking Tenten.
Ino was pulling things off racks and holding them up to the shorter young woman… Neither of them looked happy… In fact, Ino looked a tad panicked.
"Iruka-sensei… Can you give us a hand, please?" Sakura was speaking softly, which was somehow frightening, but Iruka nodded, tossed the stack of trousers and shirts over the door into Naruto's stall, and followed the pink-haired young woman to the other side of the store.
It was only as he was turning the corner around a rack of feminine cut vests, that Iruka noticed what was amiss.
Many many years ago, when he was being fostered by Sandaime-sama and his wife, Iruka had discovered he had a gift. A subtle and seemingly wonderful gift to be able to look at someone, and just KNOW—
Iruka had only to look at Tenten's left wrist and his hands slapped up over his mouth, words and breath hissing out like an angry cat.
"You're PREGNANT!"
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Iruka has a lot on his plate in this little ficlett :P
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