A/N: This chapter was difficult to write because I didn't know how to approach it. I rewrote it so many times over the past couple of days that I was beginning to think this would not be posted at all this week. Although it was hard I want to thank those that have reviewed my story, story alerted and/or favorited it.

Lillia

DarkAngelJudas

LadyGhost92

panda6374

Lexi ann fox

MikaSamu

DoraMalena

It makes me happy that people are enjoying this as much as I am writing it. Thankfully I was able to update today. After that it'll be a little less frequent, but I will try my best to update as much as possible. Please enjoy this update and look forward to the next one.

Iruka couldn't decide if his ceiling looked more brown or tan. This might have irritated him, but he couldn't drudge up the energy for it. All of last night and into the morning, much to his displeasure, he had been sitting with Naruto talking about his next job. Why Naruto called it a job? He'll never know, but he would like to think that Kakashi wouldn't have appreciated someone referring to him as a job. Iruka didn't have to do it because he was asked. He genuinely waned to help the man. Well...he couldn't tell a lie. In the beginning he had been very very reluctant to help him, but after much convincing from Naruto (not that it was just Naruto that had convinced him), and some thinking on his part he had accepted. Iruka didn't really know how to go about it though. It would be a little strange if he suddenly engaged in conversation with the man without having ever talked to him in his life. Yes he had seen Kakashi more than once around the village, but it was so brief that one could call it a brush of the shoulder and no second glance.

Iruka sighed and turned to his left to find a more comfortable position to lie in. The sight of Naruto curled up in a ball on the floor made him squint his eyes in confusion. When did he get to the floor? Iruka laughed at his odd sleeping position. Not only was he sleeping strange, but the sight of his disheveled hair and slight drool streaming out of his mouth added to that innocent image. As he watched Naruto sleep for a little while he couldn't help but remember the conversation that had taken place not even a couple of hours ago

Flashback

"He's very sensitive."

"What do you mean." Naruto let out a shaky breath before continuing. "He doesn't like...physical contact." Iruka knew that something like that shouldn't be hard to comprehend, but he couldn't fathom anyone NOT liking physical contact. How was he supposed to comfort him then? Physical contact is the epitome of comfort. You can't comfort someone from a distance. Comfort invades personal space and people need that no matter how many times they deny it.

Iruka couldn't help but allow his eyebrows to furrow in frustration at that information. "Naruto..." He paused. He couldn't tell Naruto what was on his mind. The boy would utterly hate him if he decided to say what had been on his mind. "Iruka…" Naruto's voice sounded hollow as he spoke. "I'm sorry if I'm bothering you, but..it's just that I don't know what to do. Sakura-chan says that it may not be him that hates physical contact."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean…Well she said that it might just be the ANBU side of him that hates it. That…maybe he needs to separate his true self from his ANBU self." Naruto looked up at him with tears building up in the corner of his eyes. How could this boy care so much for his sensei? Yes, a student should have a strong relationship with their teacher, but he never expected it to be this much. Naruto was just a person that loved often. Iruka felt that because he wasn't loved as a child, he loves others as a way to make up for his loss. It made sense, but then, yet again, it didn't. Iruka now started to realize how much both males needed someone. Naruto and Kakashi needed someone to love him.

He could only do so much though. Loving Naruto was simple, but Kakashi? Who's to say the man won't reject him if he ever tried to show him any type of loving emotion. At that moment he realized how awkward that sounded in his head. No, he wasn't in love with the man. He didn't even have a strong like for him. It was just…strange. He didn't know how to explain his feelings on Kakashi. It was just a subject he wished no one would bring up.

Especially Naruto.

End of Flashback

Iruka realized that he never did answer if Sakura's "theory" was right or not. His answer would have been yes. It did seem like a possibility. But then he thought even more. No one could be that void of emotions. Yes ANBU were taught to suppress their emotions, and learn that they were only a tool meant to be used in war. But what happened to those emotions that they once did have. It couldn't have just escaped them into thin air. It had to go somewhere.

Now that he thought about it, Kakashi couldn't have bottled up his emotions that well. Although he can't recall a time where he let his emotions slip, he was sure that it would have happened at least once. Most likely by accident of course, but it would have still happened. Iruka didn't realize it, but the next forty minutes that should have been used sleeping, he was musing over that certain silver haired jounin.

Naruto had mentioned something about him losing weight. Was he bulimic? Anorexic? Was he a cutter? Did he like to harm himself? Was his past rough? The shiver that ran through his body at that thought made him freeze. How could he think like that all of a sudden? Of course that wasn't true. It couldn't be true.

His tiredness was definitely getting the best of him. He needed some rest and he needed it now. Rolling over yet again to try and find a comfortable position, Iruka closed his eyes hoping that sleep would take over.

The more he waited and thought about trying to fall asleep, the harder it became to actually do that. Growling at the lack of rest, Iruka through the warm covers off of his body and stood up. Making his way into the kitchen he made sure to avoid stepping on Naruto. It was very dark inside his house and the pulled blinds didn't make it any better as he almost stubbed his toe on a side desk. Iruka cursed as his foot brushed against the splintered door. He was seriously going to have to get that fixed later. Making it to the kitchen with little injuries didn't really go as planned. You would think that he had memorized his house already, but it seemed that tonight all the furniture thought it was funny to move around a bit. Finally arriving at the kitchen with a tingling elbow (he hit his funny bone on the stairwell), a slightly bruised ankle, and throbbing forehead, courtesy of the wall, Iruka finally got to brewing his tea.

Ten minutes later and he was sitting back on his bed with a cup of raspberry tea and a leftover dumpling from the takeout he had last night with Naruto. As he slowly sipped on the tea to savor the taste his eyes roamed over the objects in his room before resting on the figure that was now sprawled out on the floor.

A small smile graced his face as Naruto moaned and shifted in his sleep. Iruka would have laughed at the odd sight, but kept quiet not wanting to disturb him.

Iruka didn't know how long he sat there staring at Naruto's sleeping form, but he knew it was long enough as his unfinished cup of tea was now cold. Fatigue started pulling at his eyelids, forcing him to place his cup down and lay back on his bed. Putting the once forgotten covers back over his body, he snuggled into his pillow and slowly succumbed to the darkness.

He heard a faint voice calling his name, but he couldn't pick out who's voice it was. He deemed it as unimportant and simply ignored the now louder voice. "Iruka-sensei!" The person yelled. His shoulder started being pushed at, making a slight growl escape his throat. Whoever was pulling him out of this unconscious state was seriously going to get it when he decided on matching a voice with a face. "Come on Iruka-sensei. I'm hungry!"

Naruto.

That had been the person that had been bothering him to the point of sheer irritation. "Naruto." His voice sounded somewhat animalistic at this point. "Do me a favor and stop that." He hissed with as much anger as he could muster.

"Oh. Sorry." Naruto whispered. The shoving of his shoulder stopped instantly making Iruka almost want to sigh. Cracking open both eyes he was met with a mop of blonde hair and blue eyes. Iruka yelped and fell off of his bed and unto the hard floor. "Oops." That was all he could say. Naruto was lucky that he liked him.

Grunting a bit from the sudden impact of his back to the floor, he stood up on shaky feet. "I'm sorry Iruka-sensei. I-I was just hungry and thought that it would be alright to wake you." Big blue eyes stared up at him making a shiver run down his back. Naruto had the lightest blue eyes he had ever seen. He was lucky he could use it as a weapon, because right now it was working pretty well. "That's alright." He said, mentally cursing himself at his weakness. "Let's just get something to eat." Naruto grinned widely and nodded in satisfaction. Leave it to him to only have food on his mind.

His façade was harder than steel itself. It was something that he had built over the years to ensure that no one saw through his smile. Yes, sometimes his smile was genuinely there, but at other times it was fake. Fake because he didn't appreciate people meddling into his life and figuring out who he was exactly. His smile was the only side he wanted people to see, and he made sure it stayed that way. If anyone where to actually figure out who he truly was, Kakashi didn't know what he would do with himself. He wasn't ready for anyone to see who he truly was. That was why he wore a mask. He wore it to protect himself from people on the outside seeing the true him. He was sure that if they did they would be horrified. Horrified because of how ugly he truly was. His heart was ugly, his face was ugly, and everything about him was just…ugly. How could someone stand looking at him? Surely they saw that he was faking everything?

How could they be so…incompetent? No matter how many times he told himself that he didn't need anyone he knew it was a lie. He needed someone…anyone to help him. His heart was crumbling, his façade didn't seem like it could last any longer and fatigue was catching up with him.

Sleeping was out of the question. Why? Because every single time he slept he saw his true self. Locked inside of a cage in the back of his mind. He couldn't stand it anymore. Didn't anyone see him? Would he want anyone to see him? God he was so contradicting it was frustrating.

This was stupid. He shouldn't have even thought..even have asked it. But what's done is done. He couldn't go back on his word. He couldn't just take the words right out of the air and shove them back into his mouth. Once something is said you can never take it back. At the moment he was wishing that rule didn't apply to him. It was such a stupid request that he couldn't even believe he did it to begin with. Something must have brought his spirits down that day, enough to the point where he couldn't take it anymore, and asked him. Consequences were disregarded as he said those dreadful words. Why did he do it? Why? Why? Why?

"Dammit!" Kakashi punched a wall, not even caring that his bones crunched under the pressure. Blood started seeping out of his wound but he made no indication that he had even noticed. Even if he had he wouldn't have dealt with it. He liked the pain. He enjoyed it…savored it. That was the only thing that he was good at though. Inflicting pain upon himself and others. It was his fault that his teammates died. Even though it had been years since that fateful day he had gained the Sharingan, he couldn't bring himself to forget it. He would never let himself forget. He lived on for Obito. He lived on for Rin. They wouldn't want him to be depressed like this. Kakashi needed to forgive. To forget. But…he just couldn't. It was as if the memories were haunting him. A tear slipped out of Kakashi uncovered eye, jolting him out of his reminiscing state. Quickly taking his uninjured hand he swiped at the lone tear that traveled down his face. This was something that he was new to. Never again he told himself that he would shed a tear. Not for himself, and certainly not for others. But it was as if Sasuke's abandonment of the village triggered all of this. This was why he was so emotional. He never showed that he truly cared for his three students, but he wished he had. Maybe then he would have been able to prevent all of this from happening.

Everyone close to him always left. It didn't matter if they were close or acquaintances. They always left.

When would the sadness seep away? When would this pain gripping at his chest disappear? Would it ever disappear?

Kakashi didn't know what came over him, but he started punching repeatedly at the wall. Punch after punch, tear after tear, the sadness gripped at him harder and harder till the point where it became too hard for him to breath. He gripped at his chest trying to calm himself down, but the more he took in deep breaths the faster his heart seemed to beat. He was breathing to fast. On the verge of hyperventilating he fell to the floor, staring wide eyed up at the ceiling. This was just too much. He needed to sleep all of this off. Maybe when he woke up he wouldn't feel so…crappy anymore.

He didn't have to wait long as a few minutes later black spots started to dance across his sight before he passed out in a heap on his bedroom floor.

A/N: Was it too much? Give me some feedback here!