Chapter 2! Yay!
So I'd like to shout out to all the other college students out there like me who are pretty much getting raped by school. And boy do I mean raped. I mean, here I am doing homework for chemistry which is NEVER ENDING! God I HATE that class. But anyways, posting this new chapter makes me happy. I've started working on a third chapter, and probably my next update will be this weekend. *fingers crossed*
Thanks to everyone who reviewed my story! I'm glad you all enjoyed!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Never will, but I can still dream.
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Chapter 2: The Beginning of the End
Six thirty. Iruka glanced wearily at the clock. Normally he loved his job as the manager of the local bookstore, but today, all he wanted to do was go home and reconcile with Kakashi. He hadn't meant to blurt out what he had that morning, and now Kakashi was angry with him for reminding him of his past. He sighed. Kakashi's past was a taboo. He had learned of it purely by chance. But Iruka's past held much of the same emotion as Kakashi's past. It was these emotions and experiences that caused them to discover the Game and each other.
Iruka glanced at the clock again. 6:45. Another hour before they would even announce closing time. At least it was a Sunday night and the shop closed two hours earlier than usual timing. Propping his chin on his fist, he let his memories take over his mind. He could remember the exact time that their partnership began. They had been newbies in the Game. And the very first task to test each person's luck was a shooting game. There had been six of them that day. He could still remember the youngest one there, Naruto. The poor orphan had only been eleven at the time. But he was far from innocent. His bright blue eyes clearly expressed all the hurt and grief that he had suffered. Iruka himself was only 19 with Kakashi at the age of 20. He mused over the others who were present. Hayate, he had looked so ill that Iruka thought he was going to keel over before anything began. Itachi, cold and unapproachable; but Iruka had always been exceptionally good at reading people. Under that icy exterior was an adolescent who was just as lost and scared as anyone else.
And finally, there was Mizuki, his best friend, his brother. They had grown up together, children in the same orphanage. They played pranks together and were as happy as they could be for two orphans. But then, Iruka had been adopted by Sarutobi. After his adoption, he didn't see Mizuki for five years, but always kept an eye out for him. It was by pure luck that they both began attending the same high school. He remembered the day that he entered his first period math class and saw Mizuki sitting at a desk, The next scene was almost embarrassing when he thought back to it. He had pounced on Mizuki, not letting the latter even see his face before he strangled him in a bear hug. Elation couldn't even begin to describe the feeling that filled Iruka like a balloon. Of course, the caught off-guard Mizuki threw a punch at Iruka's stomach, effectively landing the both of them in the principal's office. But it was worth regaining his best friend.
Of course, Iruka thought sourly, good things never last forever. Life got harder after Sarutobi died. Iruka entered Konoha State with Mizuki, only to find by the end of his first semester that his scholarship was going to be lost because of the lack of funding. It had been Iruka's dream to become a teacher and the only way that was going to happen was after he got his Masters in Education. So he fell to finding odd jobs which managed to garner enough money to pay for the first semester of his sophomore year. Mizuki fell into the same situation. That was how they found the Game. They had no idea that one night at a seedy bar was going to change their future forever.
Their surprise when they found out that the shooting game wasn't something like shooting at targets, but shooting each other, was an understatement. They were in shock; no wonder it was going to pay them each ten thousand dollars, enough for room and board for a year. That was where he had met Kakashi and the others. Leaving was no longer an option since the only way to leave the Game was death. The task was set up so that everyone would stand in a circle, about twenty feet away from each other. They were all given a gun and at the count of three, they were told that they would have to shoot the person to their right. And the bullet had to hit the adjacent person. The goal was to survive the shooting. As they lined up in a circle, Mizuki stood to Iruka's left, and Kakashi to his right. Iruka sighed, he knew that he would survive. Mizuki wouldn't aim to kill, and he most definitely wouldn't be aiming to kill Kakashi. The rule was that they had to survive, not kill. Three, two-
"Excuse me sir," a girl asked, "can you tell me if you have 'Modern Warfare' in stock?"
"Of course, give me a minute," Iruka said politely, mentally chastising himself for daydreaming on the job. "We do have it in stock, if it's not on the shelves, it's probably in the backroom. Have you checked the shelves?"
"Yes."
"Then let me go get it from the back." Iruka left the girl at the customer service desk while he went to the back searching for the book she wanted. Who would think that this mild mannered manager killed people and was quite possibly an adrenaline junkie? If you had told this to Iruka seven years ago, he would've laughed his ass off. Seven years ago, the only thing that Iruka thought about was college, classes, and becoming a teacher. Nothing could stand in the way of his dream. Now at the age of twenty six, he knew how easily dreams could be lost, and knew how hard he had to fight to keep his hold on them. Grabbing the book that he was searching for, he returned to the desk to ring up her purchase. Glancing at the clock he sighed when it still read 7:15. Unbidden, the memories of that first task popped in his head.
Three, two, one. All Iruka could feel was incredible pain. Glancing at Kakashi, he saw that his bullet had grazed his hip, fulfilling his duty. But why was he in so much pain. He felt paralyzed, he couldn't move his arms of legs. But he knew that he wasn't dead, it hurt too much for him to be dead. Suddenly, his vision was filled with a masked face and one eye.
"Mizuki?" he croaked, the condition of his brother the only thing on his mind. He hadn't even registered yet that Mizuki had been aiming to kill.
"Dead." Iruka began to sob. The physical, emotional, and mental pain overcame him, and the last thing he remembered was a single blue eye peering at him with concern.
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Well, that's it for chapter two. I realized that it's kind of short, but hopefully I'll have chapter three up soon. But I make no promises. Unfortunately, college does come first.
Please READ AND REVIEW!!!! Thanks!