AN: (beta'd) Finally, this is the last and final chapter. I debated which way i'd end this, and really, there were tons of ways I could have. But, as of now, I see the ending more fitting for the title, see it as a bit of irony. Again, if you favorited it, read it, alerted it, etc., REVIEW IT PLEASE! Even if it's to say, "I hated this, it was a piece of s! #. Sure, i'll fire you up, but at least you reviewed, and even if you just want to say, "I love it," something soft and sweet, i'll enjoy it =D Also, when/if you review, i'm not a stranger to critique, so if there's something you can tell me to make my writing better, then i'll enjoy it. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it:D
Also, to this person, " C4critic 10/3/13 . chapter 1
...Dafuq? I mean a boy getting pregnant? seriously, What the hell?! Even though it's just a story, That's just wrong... seriously it ruins a really good story..."
You reviewed just because you hated it, not because you wanted to criticize. I'll analyse your review and your absense of logic. In my summary, I have an Mpreg warning. So, with that being said, anyone who reads this story reads it knowing that it's mpreg, however, that's your biggest problem with it? If you knew it was mpreg, then why read it? IT wasn't as if I surprised you. Secondly, it ruined a good story? Going back to the whole mpreg point, THERE WOULD BE NO STORY IF IT WAS NOT MPREG! Obviously, you knew what it was going to be, so there was no way it could, "ruin a good story," if a the "good story" had mpreg in the summary. Honestly, were you just looking for something to hate on?
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OO
Remember Me
"Beep...beep...beep."
With each constant and piercing beep, Naruto felt as if a white hot knife delve deeper and deeper into his already battered soul. The image before him chilled him to the very bone.
Nearly completely cloaked in white, Naruto blankly stared at the figure that hardly reassembled his Sensei. He refused to associate this thinning and paling body with that of his vibrant Sensei. Iruka raided joy and love off of his very being, but not this thing that Naruto stared at, not this body that continued to wane away before his very eyes.
For hours, Naruto remained planted in a chair against the hospital bed, his voice long gone after the countless "I'm sorries" he'd blurted out. Now Naruto remained silent, eyes intently locked on the ghastly face of his sick teacher. They scanned for movement, for vibrancy, for life...
Behind him stood Sakura and Tsunade, what time they arrived exactly, Naruto didn't know, but they stood there behind him, silent and observant.
It only took a matter of moments before one of them spoke.
"Naruto," Sakura uttered quietly, "a lot's happened tonight with you and Iruka...we should get you home, you can come and see Sensei in the morning."
He made no movements, only stared at the body below him.
Sakura sighed behind him, walking towards him and placing a hand on his shoulder.
"He would be angry if he saw you now," she inclined, "why not_"
"Sakura, the last things I said to him...I practically said I hated him. And-and I was so close to apologizing to him...but...but," Naruto fought to hold his tears and keep his voice even, "what the hell?! When I get close, he's dying? What the hell's wrong with him!?"
"Poisoned," Tsunade said from behind the trio, "fast working and certainly taking effect."
"And there's nothing you_The best medic in the world_can do?" Naruto pleaded, eyes as wide as saucers staring pleadingly at Tsunade "please, help him!"
"Naruto, we've done all we can do, and up until recently, he was stable," Tsunade explained, "but when we came back, he wasn't doing well, at all. I detected a poison within his body, and everything i've tried either makes it worse or takes no effect."
"So what are you saying, there's no hope?" tilting his head in utter disbelief, eyes misting at the undeniable outcome.
Tsunade nodded, ushering the unspoken answer.
Naruto looked away from her, back towards Iruka.
"I didn't even get to say goodbye...I didn't even get to say a lot of things," he trailed off, "like sorry...for everything! For not seeing you a lot Iruka-sensei and for sometimes only speaking to you when I wanted ramen….or-or thankyou! I never got to say that to you either, but thank you for accepting me!" he was crying, his body trembling as an entourage of sobs erupted through his body, " and I love you_because I think that's one of the most important thngs you taught me_how to love!"
Hardened from years surrounded by death and warfare, Tsunade believed that her tears dried up decades ago, but she allowed herself to weep just this once. Iruka earned a place in her heart, defiantly more personal than the village as a whole. She looked over to Sakura, whose head remained downcast and face obscured by her pink hair. Her shoulders hunched as she struggled to breath. Tsunade could see the tears falling to the ground just below her. The dim lit lights of the room reflected scattered tears giving the illusion that diamonds littered the floor.
Death, in all of Tsunade's life, had never been this beautiful. She supposed that the scene, as gloomy as it appeared, fitted Iruka well. Someone such as him deserved truly to go in peace.
Not covered in blood and decapitated on a battlefield.
She gave them moments more to weep, before silently stepping behind them and grabbing their attention.
Placing her hands on their shoulders, they turned back towards her.
"He's not dead yet," she half-heartedly reassured, "we need to go, i'll send a medical team to revalute him, see if there's anything else we can do."
Naruto sniffed, shaking his head roughly, " I want to stay with him...you know, just in case he wakes up or...or."
"Naruto you don't need this now," sternly, Tsunade began, "you need to rest_Sakura, take him home."
"No!" he protested loudly, "I want to stay!"
"Stop being stubborn!" Sakura interjected, "Iruka-sensei would be angry if you just stayed here and tired yourself out!"
"I don't care what he thinks! Just leave me alone!" Naruto was balistic now, leaning over his Sensei's body and pulling him closer.
"Oh Naru_"
"We don't have time for this!" Tsunade shouted out of agitation, "Naruto_we have a lot to discuss_and I know that Iruka's….I know this is hurting you, this is killing you but you'll get over it. A ninja cannot constantly dwell on regrets and the past. Naruto, if anything Iruka would want you to know everything about Chris, he'd want you to know the complete truth!"
Sakura, despite her crying, perked up at this. So Chris? That was his name.
"But for now, "Tsunade continued, "go home and get some rest. If you refuse, i'll manually remove you myself."
He didn't want to, but Tsunade's warning was no empty threat.
"Fine."
"Sakura, see to it that he returns home, safely," Tsunade instructed carefully, "now."
Sakura nodded and took her friend by the shoulders.
"Come on Naruto, we can check on him in the morning," Sakura cleared her voice slightly, gently pulling Naruto away from the chair.
Naruto, at that moment, gave up. He knew that the moment he left, Iruka-sensei would leave him forever.
So this was goodbye.
Tsunade side stepped and allowed them to pass her. Head lowered, Naruto aimlessly allowed Sakura to pull him.
Then suddenly, quiet and almost inaudible, the three turned their heads behind them at the croak of Naruto's name.
"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto shouted as he broke from Sakura's grip and rushed back towards the bed.
Glazed eyes half lidded, lips slightly apart, Iruka ushered Naruto's name one more time.
"Yes! Sensei, i'm right here! I'm sorry for yelling, i'm really sorry!" He blurted,his tears spilling over "and thank you for everything! I love you so much," Naruto laughed as he scooped Iruka into a hug, "you're okay...you're okay."
"Let me through Naruto, "Tsunade instructed, her voice slightly bewildered, "Sakura, fetch a medical team."
"R-right," she stammered, surprised by her Sensei's sudden resurrection.
"Naruto…" he croaked again as his eyes fluttered, "t's o..kay. I-love you t-oo."
"Move aside!" Tsunade commanded, hovering her hands over Iruka. No way in hell should he have been speaking, the poison took an extreme effect on his body.
The medical team came and quickly filled the room, Sakura leading them all.
"Stabilize him," she instructed, " her, towards Tsunade."
They did as they were told.
"Uzumaki-san, we're going to have to ask you to move aside," one instructed as he pulled down the sheet covering Iruka. Naruto, eager for his Sensei to regain his health, did as he was told, moving near the wall and watching Tsunade, Sakura and the medics work. Sniffling, he held up the wall, a smile creeping on his face as he thought of the future and envisioned his new family. Iruka Sensei, Sakura and Chris. The perfect family.
And then, Iruka stopped breathing. A heavy feeling erupted within Naruto, and slowly, he felt himself die on the inside.
OOOOOOOOOOOO
"I didn't even get to say goodbye...I didn't even get to say a lot of things," Naruto?
"like sorry...for everything! For not seeing you a lot Iruka-sensei and for sometimes only speaking to you when I wanted ramen….or-or thankyou! I never got to say that to you either, but thank you for accepting me!" Naruto! Why was crying?
" and I love you_because I think that's one of the most important things you taught me_how to love!" Apologizing, he was apologizing? For what_no, also confessing_but why?
The pain subsided after a while, and Iruka felt the movement in his body slowly return to him. He estimated It would be another ten minutes before he could walk, but at least the pain left him. But then like a knife piercing his soul, the pleading of a boy filled his head_it filled the area around him.
Naruto called for him.
"Mizuki! I can hear Naruto," Iruka yelled to his friend, suddenly worried for his student's well-being, "He's crying, he's hurt, please, I need to help him!"
"I can here him too," Mizuki replied calmly.
"He needs me!" Iruka shouted, "send me back!"
"That's not up to me whether you get to live again, I already told you your fate," Mizuki retorted, "you can't go back."
"Like hell i'll just wait here and hear him cry! Mizuki, how do I get back?"
"My mouth is closed."
"Mizuki…" his voice rose an octave higher, "tell me."
"Nope, but, I can give you a hint.," he supplied, "what lead you here?"
"Damn, I don't know? I was waking, and floating and thinking and then I started remembering things and then it's like something_Ahh! My memories!"
"Close enough idiot, what else?"
Iruka thought and thought, something powerful lay behind those memories. He remembered Naruto and Chris. He remembered what the Hokage said just before Chris was born, about the seal.
"Love!" Iruka cried out triumphantly, "it's love!"
Mizuki nodded and gave a smirk, however, it melted into a frown, "The pain will come back, only for a while, but it will be excruciating like before. You won't be there for long, can't be there for long, your body's not strong enough anymore. You've only got a few seconds, a minute at the most. That is, if you can get there, if your memories are strong enough."
Eyes glued shut, Iruka began concentrating mid Mizuki's sentence.
He dug and dug into his brain. He searched for memories which contained the most love and used them as a channel.
"Hey Sensei...how ya doin?" a small Naruto stood on Iruka's doorstep, foot twirling and head down.
Iruka sighed as he leaned on the frame, "You want ramen, don't you?"
Naruto beamed, a smile stretching across his features.
"Yeah! Iruka-Sensei's taking me out for Ramen!"
"I swear, you'll milk me dry, won't you Naruto," he spoke as he began to walk out ( he already expected his student's visit).
"No, i'm just hungry, that's all!" Naruto replied happily, "when I become the Hokage, i'll pay you back ten fold, won't that make you happy Iruka- Sensei?"
"Dont' pay me back with money, just with your success and happiness, okay?" Iruka quickly corrected his student, "And i don't mind buying Ramen or anything else for you, as long as it's reasonable, it's okay."
A vein throbbed in Iruka's head, followed by the feeling of needles pricking his arms.
The memories were feeding him love, it was working.
"Naruto, why the long face?" absent from class all day, Iruka assumed that the blond would be here, swinging on the swing right outside of the ninja academy. He was by himself.
Naruto didn't meet Iruka's eye, he continued to stare down at the ground, tears misting over his eyes.
"Naruto_"
"If nobody likes me and if everyone always bullies me and i'm always alone, why was I created? I mean, doesn't something like me seem like a waste? What's...what's_Iruka-sensei, are you crying!? See, I messed up again, I'll get_"
Before Naruto hopped off of the swing to run and get help, Iruka seized him up in a bone crushing hug, pulling the boy to his chest and resting his chin on Naruto's head.
"Don't ever say that again," he instructed eerily calmly, despite the moisture that soaked Naruto's head, "Isn't me loving you enough? Naruto, we're both alone, okay. But we have each other, so for you not to want to live anymore...it hurts a lot. I know that the village gives you a hard time, I know they treat you like dirt, but it will get better Naruto, it will."
"But Sensei, it's_"
"Shh...shh," he silenced Naruto, readjusting his position so he stared intently into those large blue eyes, "I will be with you always…"
The pain spilled over, and had he not grabbed on to the memories as hard as he had, he was certain he would have passed out. But it was working, his body began to lift.
Thunder roared through the village as the storm raged on, and already the power of Iruka's complex had gone out completely. He lit candles and placed them in different places throughout his home.
Another rumble shook his house causing his things to tremble. It hadn't bothered him much, he'd grown used to it. However, the knocking on the door startled him.
"SENSEI! OPEN UP!"
"Naruto?" he said a loud, concern flooding his mind. The boy could be killed. or-or electrocuted. Running to his door, Iruka had no time to brace himself as a wet bundle of joy pounced on him.
"I'm so scared! Let me sleep with you, I don't wanne be at home by myself anymore!"
"Naruto, did you walk here by yourself," Iruka, slightly angered, asked the boy.
"I was scared!" he whined, refusing to let got of Iruka as the storm continued to rage on, "besides, you said i'll always have you."
"Then next time," Iruka kicked the door closed, "let me come to you, don't put yourself in danger by walking to my house in the middle of a storm, okay."
Naruto looked saddened, "I don't want Iruka-sensei mad at me."
"Ugh, i'm not mad..im just worried, that's all_I care about you, okay...now let's get you dried, i'll make you something warm to eat, okay? "
"Like ramen?"
"Yeah, like ramen."
He was so angry at the boy for endangering himself like that, so angry. It ticked him off more than anything, but the fact that his love and protection meant so much to the boy made his heart melt.
Now he was in the white abyss, spiraling out of control, floating into nothingness. He was almost there.
"Red hair…?" Iruka asked as he helped the baby to his chest, "whom in Naruto's family_ahh, Kushina."
"She was always fond of you, thought you were a cute kid," Sandaime spoke as he stared outside of Iruka's hospital window, "she's be delighted to see you holding her grandson."
"You think so," the boy reached up and grabbed Iruka's stray locks, they undid his hair for him after he passed out.
The small child yanked hard on his hair, pulling his head down as he did so.
"Ouch," Iruka giggled, attempting to pry one tiny fist open, "that hurts."
Tiny fingers wrapped around Iruka's larger finger and pulled them towards the baby's mouth.
"Hey, no!" he laughed again, wrestling with the baby's "iron" grip, "don't put my finger in your mouth."
"You know, you could keep him," the Hokage offered, "you'd be a good parent."
"He'd be safer with..normal people, not a ninja like me. He'd be a target," Iruka rehearsed carefully, "It's better this way."
The boy cooed as Iruka pulled him closer.
"I dont' want to give him away_I just, Naruto and everyone else...I have to make this decision, he'll be safer with a new family and new identity."
The Hokage nodded and allowed Iruka moments more with the red headed child.
He wondered what Chris would do now, if he and Naruto could finally be with each other. His creation was a cruel trick of society. Konoha needed a new jinchuuriki just incase anything happend to Naruto, so why not use the nine tails chakra against him? A cruel compromise indeed but it resulted in something beautiful. Iruka just hoped that Naruto would see through the forced conception and learn to love his son as a person rather than an abomination.
" Come on Naruto, we can check on him in the morning," Sakura...she was taking Naruto away.
The pain ignited throughout Iruka's body, and he used whatever chakra he had left to utter his student's name.
"N..aruto," his throat was on fire, but he needed to get Naruto's attention. He needed to tell him it was alright, that he wasn't mad at him for yelling at him, that he loved him just as much. But he didn't even have to strenght to tell him that. He could already feel a tug on his soul like earlier, so he called Naruto's name again.
He could hardly make out his student's face, his sight was dimming by the second. His hearing was waning as well, and if not for Naruto's eagerness to get his point across, Iruka would have gone completely deaf before the boy finished.
His voice was almost gone, he could feel this deteriorating feeling branching into his throat. He didn't have much longer.
""t's o..kay. I-love you t-oo." Instantly, something within Iruka snapped.
By now, medics had flocked him, but Iruka was no longer in his body. A rush of joy and happiness hooked onto his soul and lifted him up.
*Up he went through the roof and into the sky, and all at once, he could see so many different things. As he went faster and faster, he saw Naruto's life begin and end before his very eyes, he say Chris' life before his very life as well.
Up...He could see Tsunade speaking to Naruto about Chris, telling her why he was created and how.
Up...he saw Sai apologizing and Naruto forgiving him, both crying.
Up….he saw his own funeral, and as eerie as it should have been, he was delighted to see the amount of people that showed up. The entire village wore black!
Up…Sasuke returned to the village, not in chains though, not for long. Long ago did he abandon the Uchiha name, and now, he was just Sasuke. He was surrounded by friends.
Up...He saw Chris and Naruto standing by his grave, an exotic assortment of flowers in their hands as they placed it by the head stone.
Up...Up...Up he went as more and more images floated into his head, he saw his students again, he saw their struggles their losses, but he saw his lessons carried out by them each individually. He saw his memory living on to the next generation and the next generation…
"Seen enough," and that was Mizuki, leaning on a tree, his figure surrounded in a halo of light, "It's time for us to go now."
"Was that," tears had fallen from his eyes at the sight of what he'd just seen, tears of joy, "Was that all real."
Mizuki just smiled, "Supposed to be, but anything can change. But, for the most part, yeah, it's pretty much real."
Mizuki extended a hand and beckoned Iruka to come forward. Iruka jumped as he looked at himself, "Wh...what?! I'm glowing."
"You're dead," Mizuki replied as the light began to engulf the forest, "Now let's go. Besides, I want to see Tsubaki."
"Wait...before we do, why are you here, why didn't you just leave?"
MIzuki paused at this, closing his eyes to think and then opening them. "Purgatory_it's different for all of us, this was mine."
"To wait here until I died?" Iruka asked, "but why?"
"Let's just say, I owed you a debt. This is my apology for hurting you," he replied, "do you forgive me?"
"Of course I do!" Iruka hugged his friend, "You gave me a second chance, sorta...now, I guess it's time to go, huh? I'm gonna miss everybody, but something inside of me is telling me it's okay to go."
"Yeah, but keep in mind, you didn't see those images for no reason," the light was so bright that Iruka could no longer see Iruka's face, "Remember your promise to Naruto, you're not done with him yet."
Iruka smiled once more, "So what, am I a guardian angel now?"
"Something of the sort."
The light engulfed them both.
(I was just gonna end it here, but that would be evil)
OOOOOOOOO
Epilogue (of a sort)
Chris and Naruto gently lowered their heads at the gravestone, then, brought them back up as a breeze erupted through the orchard. Iruka, unlike the hero he was, would not have liked to be burried in the normal graveyard, at least that's what Naruto had thought.
After Iruka's death, his funeral arrangements had been left to Naruto. The boy found an orchard that had been long abandoned and decided to bury his Sensei there, he believed that Iruka would have loved the beauty and simplicity that surrounded the sleepy orchard. The birds chirped always, despite the weather, and during the spring a summer, the grass was a vibrant green and the sky above them was clear save for a few clouds. It seemed oddly familiar, and from a distance, Naruto could hear running water, though he never found the source.
Accepting that his Sensei had died had been hard at first. Not killing Sai had been harder. No one could blame Naruto though, Iruka had actually spoken before he stopped breathing. Naruto believed that, for a moment, his Sensei survived the corrosive poisoning. But Tsunade explained to him later that Iruka speaking to him was a miracle in himself, the poison killed him the instant he'd been infected with it, his mind was already gone. The hopelessness that hallowed Naruto had caused him depression for weeks, he'd see no one and do nothing. Had it not been for Chris and his friends Naruto would have killed himself.
Now five years later, the pain still hurt, but not as much as it had before. After Iruka's death, a string of events followed after, Sasuke returning being the biggest. The Avenger had ridden himself of his last name and decided to live only as Sasuke, not Sasuke Uchiha. Not only that, but he decided to open himself up to Chris rather than avoiding him completely.
He found out about why he was conceived, knew that the village created him due to the fact that he'd be a backup jinchuuriki just in case anything happened to Naruto. Besides, only an Uzumaki was powerful enough to contain the beast.
Naruto was happy that Iruka had taken hold of Chris' future and had secured him with a foster family. If he hadn't, then who knows what the village would have done to the boy?
"Ready to go back home Chris?" the redhead looked up at him with a smile on his face, "Uh-huh, are you coming with me?"
"Nah, not tonight, I have a mission tonight and your parents want you home early. But maybe tomorrow?" Naruto suggested.
The boy nodded, and his hair ruffled in the wind as another gust blew through the orchard. Naruto smiled down at his creation, once again fighting the urge to tell Chris whom he really was, to tell Chris that Chris was indeed his son, and that he was his father. However, for his own safety, he'd wait, just like Iruka-sensei wanted him too.
As they walked down, the falling leaves obscured their vision. Fall was just months away, and the green leaves of the orchard had already paled and turned vibrant shades of hot colors. And just ahead of them, Naruto could have sworn he'd seen a transparent figure.
Long brown hair, tan skin with a scar etched neatly across the bridge of the nose, he believed he saw Iruka smile. But then again, it was nothing new. He saw him all the time. Besides, dead or alive, a person like Iruka Sensei never left Naruto, his memory remained deep within his heart.
OOOOO
Let me just say, I had to put myself in teh mood for this. Originally, I planned for it to be longer, but, oh well. I listened to such sad song, like, "Remebering Sunday, " ATL, that was on repeat, "Terrible Things," Mayday Parade and Heaven by Bryan Adams, also a lot of Disney songs too.
I hope that wasn't entirely terrible, as hard as I tried I felt like i missed something. If you couldn't tell, I was trying to get rid of all the "to-be" verbs because my English teacher told me it would make my writing better, but it was impossible. I tried to do death the best way I could w/out making it too sad, and also, the orchard is supposed to Mirror the purgatory Mizuki remained on while waiting for Iruak, hence, Iruka is there waiting for naruto. I debated on whether inching in a kakairu, but went against it, it was better w/out that. No sequel, I dont' see what it would be...but anyway, please please please review, i'll guess i'll start the redo of "The Love that Binds Us," I've been getting ideas for that. Anyway, hope you like it, REVIEW! And God bless:D