My 13 - Ch 20

My 13
By Kitteh and NeoFox
Rating: PG - 15
Warnings: Language, violence, romance
Pairings: Sasuke x Naruto, Kakashi x Iruka
Disclaimer: Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto
Summary: After Sasuke's departure hope had nearly been lost. Days later it was Naruto's own determination to bring him back that allowed him a chance to train in the ranks of ANBU and earn him the title of Hunter-nin. Now a year later on a quest to find the one thing he lost he runs into a mysterious person on his twelfth mission. The few traits of Akatsuki are clearly seen, but it is not the eldest Uchiha behind the Sharingan eyes.
Beta: Kitteh and NeoFox

Chapter 20

Iruka was one of the few people at the academy that rarely got a day off to himself. It was why he always found himself over worked, but he never seemed to mind all that much. He enjoyed what he did and never complained to anyone. Of course it was his co workers that thought he deserved a break and with that knowledge he had been told he would be staying home for at least a day and someone would easily cover for him.

With nothing better to do, Iruka had kept himself at home for the day. He had no errands to run and he didn't want to bother Naruto and Sasuke, having found it best to leave the boys alone for at least a little bit. So far his mind had been all over the place with nothing to do while he lay upside down on his couch with his head hanging over the edge and his feet propped up on the back. He had been staring for hours at the flower he had brought back with him which had been the gift from Kakashi. It kept settled on his small table in front of him and didn't look half as good upside down as it did right side up.

There was a sudden knock at the door which was enough to startle Iruka out of his daze, causing him to fall to a heap onto the floor. Perhaps it hadn't been a good idea to lay upside down in such a way. The thought crossed his mind as Iruka stood up and shook his head, looking towards his front door. He brushed his hair aside before he pulled off the band he kept on his arm to tie it back as he walked near the door.

Answering the door it wasn't who Iruka expected at the door, not at all. A finger pointed right in his face in accusation, poking him right between the eyes.

"You were not at the academy!" Iruka received another poke. "You keep saying to visit you there- and when I do, you're not there!" There was another good many pokes after that. After Naruto rested his hands on his hips as he smirked right up at Iruka. "They told me they sent you home. Over worked and under paid. It seems you really are getting on in the years, old man." Naruto shook his head and tsked as if it were truly a sad ordeal. "Tch, soon they'll be retiring you before you know it."

Iruka had taken to rubbing at the abused spot on his face after he got over the shock of suddenly having Naruto as a visitor. The boy's words caused him to blink several times before he was actually quick on the defensive, "Wait just a minute. I'm not that old, Naruto." He rested his hand on the edge of the door to keep it open. He seemed to realize that it was indeed his former student at his front door and gave the boy a curious look. "Why were you looking for me?" He glanced around, but noticed that a certain person was missing. "Where's Sasuke?"

"Tch. Don't I feel appreciated." Naruto waved the questions off. "Don't worry, he isn't around. I let the dumbass sleep in." He was quick to cross his arms, going on the defensive as well. "And what makes you think I have a hidden agenda? You think I can't just visit my old teacher just to visit- without having a reason." He scowled. "I am not up to something! Don't look at me like I have a vendetta. I'm not here for a favour. No. Never." He tapped his foot impatiently. "Cuz I'm not."

"I, uh, never said you were." Iruka scratched the back of his head as he tried to figure out Naruto's reason for becoming so defensive. It was obvious that the boy was lying; Iruka just had to figure out the why. He rolled his eyes after a few seconds and dropped his hand only to place it on the back of Naruto's head, pushing the boy inside his home so he could close the door. "Get in here. If you came to visit then the least I can do is let you inside."

"Going! Going!" Naruto stumbled in. Of course the moment Naruto stepped foot inside he made a pest of himself. He'd visited Iruka's home plenty of times, but he still always had a desire to snoop around and poke his nose into everything there. Naruto paused in a few papers on a desk he'd been sifting through out of curiosity and gave a sniff-sniff to the air. "Hey, Iruka-sensei, it smells sweeter in here for some reason."

"Sweeter?" Iruka walked away from the front door to make his way back to the living room. He frowned as he watched Naruto look through his papers that were meant for the academy and wasted little time walking over to pick them out of the boy's hands. "These aren't for your eyes. They're private." He glanced around to try and figure out just what Naruto had meant before and realized it was the flower on the table that gave off the scent. He refused to let it be known though, and changed the topic to something else. "So, uh, how are you and Sasuke doing?"

Naruto made a face at being denied looking through what was already far behind him. "We're good. Yeah. Really good. Things haven't been better." Minus the confrontation with Kiba and comrades, but that was best left unsaid. Iruka would only worry or try to take some kind of action that wasn't already needed since Tsunade already knew. "Oh! We stole the Hokage hat and robes!" That was something definitely worth telling. Naruto proudly grinned at Iruka. "We slipped in and out without guard or Shinobi finding us. We managed to walk right into that old woman's room and yanked it right out of her closet." Naruto laughed boastfully. "It was about as easy as that one time I took the scroll before I became a Genin. Talk about lack of security!" Naruto pointed to his head. "Wore the hat, the robes- looked great! Ah man, you should have seen me, Iruka-sensei! I looked great. You would have been in impressed." Never minding that the hat kept slipping and the robes nearly consumed him; but Sasuke seemed to really like it, he couldn't keep his hands away.

Iruka had been busy placing the papers in a safer area of his desk, but his attention was once again captured by what he was hearing. "You what?!" He turned his head back around to regard Naruto with wide eyes. "Naruto, what in your right mind would tell you that was a good idea and make you think dragging Sasuke along was even better? He's on thin ice right now. You can't drag him around for your schemes." He shook his head and walked away from his former student to walk to the kitchen, intending to fix them both something to drink. "Really, I feel as if you're twelve and I'm scolding you all over again for something childish," he teased.

"Hey it's not my fault it was so easy." Naruto sniffed the air again. He shut his eyes and gave a sniffle here and there from side to side. What was that sweet smell? "If they guarded the Hokage's building better then I wouldn't get away with one of my crazy schemes." Where was it coming from? Naruto tried to follow the source with his eyes shut, lead by his nose. "Besides, I'm going to be Hokage anyway- so it's not like it's stealing." He breathed deep through his nose; closer now. "And when I'm Hokage I'm going to hire much more skilled guards to protect my ass from idiots like me." Naruto practically bumped face first into the source of the smell and gave a startled sound as he nearly toppled it over. It took some quick juggling but he managed to grasp the small vase with the flower in it. He blinked several times when he saw just exactly what he held. "A flower?" he murmured to himself. Naruto didn't think Iruka was the flowery kind.

"Well, either way, it still doesn't give you or Sasuke a right to just go in and take things that don't belong to you just yet, Naruto." Iruka made his way back towards the living room while he spoke with two glasses filled with lemonade he had made a few days ago. He was just about to speak again when he noticed what had Naruto's attention this time around and he stumbled on his words. He hadn't thought up a lie just yet and at the same time, it felt wrong to lie to Naruto at all. Instead, he ignored the situation for the moment and walked over to place the glasses on the table so he could snatch the flower away and set it back down. "You're nosey today."

Naruto blinked and squeezed his hands around the air where the vase had been. He looked up at Iruka with a wise ass smirk. "I'm always nosey." He gestured to the flower. "The flower is new. Didn't think you liked flowers." Naruto then went for the glass that was brought for him, picking it up to take a long gulp. "Ah! Refreshing!"

Iruka had to fight the urge not to go red in the face. It was a simple conversation. There was no reason for him to get flustered just yet. "It was a gift. I got it one day while I was teaching at the academy." His eyes moved to the flower once more and he found himself drawn to it just as he had been before Naruto had shown up. His hand reached out to touch a few of the petals before he was quick to shrug a shoulder and look back at Naruto as if nothing had ever happened. "Nothing unusual, really."

"Hmm. One of those snot nosed ninja-wannabes trying to score points with their teacher?" Naruto scoffed. "I never saw much point in doing that. It rarely worked for me when everyone had already decided they hated me." He shrugged. "So, which one of those little brats gave it to you?" He downed more of his lemonade.

"Th-that's not important, Naruto." Iruka grabbed up his own glass and took a few sips to hide his face as he tried to recover from his stuttering words. As soon as he set it back down he was quick to try and turn to boy's attention elsewhere since Naruto had come to see him for some reason or other. "Seriously, I doubt you came over to my house to rummage through my stuff. Unless of course you did. If that's the case I'm starting to wonder if it was a good idea to let you inside."

"Maybe." Naruto glanced around shifty eyed. "But no." He waved a hand for Iruka to calm down even though his old teacher was perfectly calm to start. "I uh, well," he glanced around before his eyes fell on the flower again, "y'know... Oh! It was that brat who idolizes me, right? He's the one that gave it. The old Hokage's grandson. Tch! As if he could win any favours with that purple weed." Naruto stuck his tongue at the flower, since it seemed to have done its work and won Iruka's good graces over.

"It's not really a weed." Iruka seemed put off because of Naruto's words against the gift Kakashi had given him. He thought the flower looked rather nice and still cherished it just the same as he did when he first received it. "It wasn't Konohamaru that gave it to me. Stop worrying over it, Naruto. Tell me why you came by in the first place." He settled back against the couch and forced himself to relax as he placed his arms behind his head.

Naruto tapped his fingernails on the glass. He was procrastinating and he knew it. But pestering Iruka about the flower was far better than actually breaking down and telling him why he was there in the first place; at least in Naruto's mind. "Then his stupid little posse? Seems like something they'd get together and do." Naruto took another sip of his drink. "I guess it looks kind of expensive. Never seen that kind of flower growing around the village. Hmf. Brats put a lot into their bribery."

"I-It wasn't them either," Iruka stuttered out once again. "It was just a gift, Naruto, that's all. A gift from a co worker." There, that wasn't far from the truth and at least Naruto would stop bugging him about the other children and give him some peace. "Really, I didn't know I would have to be interrogated in my own home and over a flower no less."

Naruto opened his mouth then closed it. He grinned and gave a shrug. "I'm curious. I can't help it." He hopped over to perch himself beside Iruka on the couch. "So, a gift from one of the other teachers at the academy? What for?" He blinked as his smile fell away. "I didn't miss your birthday again did I?"

Iruka dropped his arms and gave Naruto his full attention after that last remark. He was quick to reassure the boy, reaching out to ruffle his hair a little. "No, you didn't. It's not for a while, so you're fine. It was just something to show appreciation. Lots of people give others gifts for such a thing." He took his hand back and gave Naruto a small smile before he reached over to take his glass once again, keeping his eyes on the flower.

Naruto glanced at the flower too. Show appreciation? Right. Like the entire reason he was here in the first place. "Um... Hey, Iruka-sensei," Naruto tried to keep his voice casual, "you don't happen to have a recipe for the best onigiri in all of Konoha just lying around do you?" He shrugged as if it were of no real importance.

Iruka blinked over the rim of his glass since he had been busy drinking while Naruto had asked his question. Once he finished he set it aside again and was quick to shake his head. "Well, no, I don't have a recipe for the best onigiri. Still, that doesn't really matter. Anyone can make onigiri as long as they take the time to learn. It's not really that difficult. Why? Did you want to try?"

Naruto pursed his lips and stared as if Iruka had asked him a trick question. He was debating between honesty and continuing to lie through his teeth. He opted for the first. "Yes? Maybe. Sure. Alright. Okay. Yeah, if you're willing to teach!" He bounced on the couch excitedly.

Iruka gave a small laugh. "Okay, calm down." He stood up from the couch and stretched a bit, sitting the way he had earlier had caused a few kinks in his back. "You know, you could have asked Sasuke for help. He seems to like onigiri enough to teach you how to make it." Iruka blinked his eyes at what he just said and soon a small smile came to his lips once again. "Or, am I right in assuming that's exactly the reason you came here? Because Sasuke likes it?" He wasted little time walking to the kitchen, knowing that Naruto would follow.

Naruto slunk low. "...Maybe." He hopped up to perch on the counter as he watched Iruka acutely. "Or maybe I just want to make onigiri because I like onigiri too. Hmm! Maybe I just don't want to eat Sasuke's cooking anymore." He set his glass down to cross his arms stubbornly. "I can cook just as well as him. I, uh, just need to learn how to first."

"Oh? You're sick of Sasuke's cooking already? That's strange. You seemed to really enjoy it the last few times I visited the two of you." Iruka shrugged a shoulder as if it made no real difference, but still he continued to speak as he went around the kitchen getting things set up and putting on some water for the stove so he could begin cooking some rice. "You should let Sasuke know if you really don't want to eat anymore of it."

"Ah... w-well, y'know, I don't want to break his fragile little ego. You know how Sasuke can be." Naruto flopped down to sit properly on the counter as he watched Iruka. "I don't want him to get upset and cry like the woman he is." He lightly kicked his feet. "So let's just keep that between you and me." Naruto really did love Sasuke's cooking, it was wonderful to wake up in the morning and have something well worth eating being made for him, but he wasn't about to let that be known out loud.

"Fine, just between the two of us." Iruka poured in the rice he had stashed away in his cabinet and kept a watch over it, knowing Naruto was keeping an eye on everything he did. If the boy could pay attention to his training then surely he could keep an eye on a few minutes of cooking. "I thought you were supposed to keep an eye on him, though?" Iruka glanced over at his former student from the corner of his eyes. "Tsunade is okay with you leaving him alone while you learn to cook?"

Naruto scoffed. "What that old woman doesn't know won't kill her. Besides, I told you he's asleep. I left him a note saying I was going out shopping. He won't wander off into trouble. Especially with what happened yesturda--DAMNIT!" He didn't mean to spill that bit of information out. Iruka didn't need to know about the fight. He waved his hand. "Y'know, with ganking the Hokage robes and all. We're in enough trouble with that as it is, yeah. Totally." He tapped his feet together; oh look how interesting they were! Hello feet!

Iruka raised a brow. He knew enough about Naruto to know when to boy was hiding something and was quick to turn his head around a bit while he shot him a look. "That's not all that happened yesterday is it?" He looked back at the pot on the stove, but kept his eyes narrowed. "You're keeping something from me, Naruto. I doubt stealing the Hokage's robes would detour Sasuke from actually going outside of the house. So, spill it."

"Tch. It's Sasuke- everything makes him anti-social." Naruto glanced away. "Old woman gave us an earful and he took it wrong, like he always does." He snorted. "That's all. Nothing else."

Iruka gave a small sigh over the fact Naruto had gone back to the habit of blaming everything on Sasuke and nothing more. He turned his gaze up towards the ceiling as he tried to think over something that would get Naruto to open up a little more. Only one thing came to his mind, but it was the best he had. He pushed away his embarrassment and turned to face Naruto once again. "Mmm, Naruto. Let's make a deal."

Naruto gave a puzzled blink before he then eyed Iruka suspiciously. "Eh? What kind of deal?"

"Nothing horrible, so calm down." Iruka turned to pay attention to the rice once again, making sure it wasn't being over cooked. "I don't want you to ever feel like you should have to keep anything from me, but that means that the same should be said for what I say to you. So, here's the deal. How about I tell you a secret and in turn, you tell me something that you feel you can tell me." He reached across the counter for the salt so he could add a little to the water.

"Hm." Naruto's glass of lemonade suddenly became very interesting. "I guess." He swirled the drink around inside the glass as he gave it some thought. "But only if you don't freak out or give me one of your speeches. Last thing I need is one of your 'you should know better' lectures when I'm confiding in you." He glanced over the rim of the glass at Iruka. "Deal?"

Iruka seemed to think over what he had just been asked, but after only a few seconds he gave a quick nod. "Alright, I'm sure I can give in just this once." He pointed to the pot of rice. "Watch over that for a few seconds while I get a few things out of the cabinets." Iruka walked away, but as he did he continued to talk, "You were wondering about that flower right?" He stood up on a few of his toes as he tried to reach back to retrieve some things from a high shelf. "Well, I wasn't lying about it being a co worker that gave it to me, but it wasn't anyone from the academy. It was actually Kakashi-sensei." There was that cat out of the bag, but Iruka had said he would go first.

Lemonade came spraying out of Naruto's nose. He coughed a good few times. "K-Kakashi-sensei?!" He choked and grabbed his throat. "Oh god- the lemons! They burn!" He promptly fell off the counter into an ungraceful lemonade covered heap.

Iruka turned around as quick as he could while he tried not to drop all he had grabbed from the cabinet at the same time. "Naruto! Are you alright?" He stared wide eyed at the boy before he blinked his eyes a few times at what he saw. He walked over and deposited what he held onto the counter nearby before he bent down to help Naruto up, setting the glass, which was still in one piece, aside.

Naruto gave a few hacking coughs and wiped the lemonade flavoured snot from his nose on the back of his sleeve. "Ughhh. It burns." He wiped his eyes next, narrowing red eyes on Iruka confused. "Blehh. So- why the hell would Kakashi-sensei give you a flower? That makes no sense."

"Ahh, well, it's hard to explain." Iruka stood back up to place the glass in the sink. It also helped him avoid Naruto's eyes while he tried to fight his own flushed appearance. "I told you it was a gift. He had walked me home the night before while we talked over a few things and I wasn't really lying about it being because of the whole appreciation thing." Iruka had left out the part about the kisses. Naruto didn't need to know that.

Naruto stared at Iruka. "But... you and Kakashi-sensei hate each other. You never agree about anything. Every time I see you two together you're always arguing- mostly about me. 'He's just a kid!', 'Idiot, he's my soldier', 'Soldier? Children aren't soldiers!', 'You must be the idiot, he's not a child anymore'." Naruto licked the drip of lemonade that fell down his nose. "I'd expect a bomb not a flower." His eyes snapped wide. "Maybe the flower is a bomb!"

Iruka flinched as he turned the burner off on the stove. Everything Naruto said was true for the past experiences he and Kakashi had with each other, but lately everything had been quite enjoyable. "It's not a bomb, Naruto. Now come over here and pay attention." He picked the pot up to bring it over to the sink, placing the strainer nearby so he could drain the water out. "We've had our differences in the past, but lately we've been getting along much better. He's not that bad a person..." Iruka trailed off with those last few words.

Naruto slunk over and peered over the countertop. "Are you sure it was Kakashi-sensei and not someone cleverly disguising themselves as Kakashi-sensei?" He slunk lower down so only his eyes were seen. "Maybe you're a disguised nin! Iruka-sensei would never say something like that about Kakashi-sensei." He slunk lower as he looked around shifty eyed. "It has to be a conspiracy of some sort. Something like this would never happen. Ever."

"I think you're overly paranoid. Besides, I could say the same about you and Sasuke lately, but I don't." Iruka made sure most of the water was drained before he shook the strainer a bit and poured the rice into a separate bowl he had grabbed up from the cabinet before. "Kakashi is a good person. People can argue all they want over silly things every once in a while, but they can also speak as friends on a daily basis." Iruka shrugged a shoulder while he found himself smiling. "Besides, it wasn't hard to get into the habit of talking to him while you were away."

"Eh?! Talking?!" Naruto sprung up to stare shocked at the other. "You two have been talking?! Civilly?!" He scowled at Iruka scornfully. "You never told me you two were talking and acting civil around each other! And speaking as friends? Why was I not informed!" A finger came to point accusingly right in Iruka's face again. "You're not supposed to be keeping secrets from me!"

Iruka blinked down at the finger near his nose. "Well, I haven't exactly seen you in a while since I figured I would leave you and Sasuke alone for a bit. Not to mention I've been busy at the academy myself. I haven't had time to tell you, but, I just did." He smirked and turned back to what he was doing, washing his hands in the sink before he poured a bit of salt in them along with some seasoning. "Now it's your turn to tell me a secret." He picked up a bit of rice with his covered palms and began to form it into a familiar shape, making sure it became covered in the seasoning.

Naruto pouted at that, grumbling plenty. "Doesn't explain why he'd give you a flower. Isn't that what girls do? And you two certainly don't seem like the girly type." He waved a hand. "You two are crazy. Completely lost it- talking all civil, acting like friends and giving flowers." He swerved over to the other side of Iruka to watch him form the rice. "Are you sure it was Kakashi-sensei? Because I've never seen Kakashi-sensei give flowers to anyone. Even to people he got along with. He isn't exactly the giving people stuff type, not really." Naruto stared hard at Iruka. "Are you sure it isn't your birthday?"

"I think I'd be the first to know whether or not it was my birthday, Naruto." Iruka rolled his eyes while he grabbed up a piece of seaweed wrap from the small container nearby after he was finished with the rice. He proceeded to place it around the bottom of the small triangle he had formed and after he was finished he set it aside on a tray he had placed out. "Kakashi kissed me," Iruka mumbled almost too hard to hear. He ducked his head after the words and made quick work of repeating his actions to continuing making the onigiri.

Naruto was sure he heard absolutely wrong. It was too disturbing to be the truth. Iruka mumbled his words too much; he couldn't have said what Naruto thought he said. Perhaps he said 'Kakashi pissed me off' or 'Kakashi missed my head with a kunai' or 'Kakashi dissed me'. Yeah, 'dissed', that had to of been it. That had to of been what Iruka said. Naruto made a face as he leaned nearer and tilted his ear up. "Eh? Dissed? Kakashi dissed you? What'd he say?"

Iruka turned red in the face when he realized he would have to repeat himself. It only weighted his shoulders heavier with the shame his felt. He was beyond embarrassed over the entire situation. This wasn't the conversation he had hoped to have when he planned to share secrets. "No, Kakashi kissed me," he spoke a little louder while he continued on with his work.

Naruto gave a look of absolute horror. He stuck his fingers in his ears to try and clear them out, there must have been some build up. "I- I must need my ears checked- cuz that still sounds like you said the 'k' word with the other 'k' word, both in the same sentence." Naruto then hammered the side of his head as if he had water in his ears. "Y-yeah- I must have heard that wrong. Completely wrong. That can't be right. All the hidden villages of the world would be dancing around in pretty dresses holding hands while exchanging rainbow flower crowns and necklaces before something like that would happen." Naruto gave a loud laugh with a blank expression. "Promptly followed by the world imploding."

Iruka stopped what he was doing for a second and seriously thought about what Naruto just said. The entire scenario started to hurt his head a little and he promptly stopped to look over at Naruto with one brow raised. The entire time his hands didn't stop their work, moving in automatic motions by now. "Is it really that far fetched?" he asked in genuine curiosity.

That look of absolute horror came back to Naruto's face, only worse. He seemed frozen that way; the sounds of his mind shattering could almost be audibly heard from his trauma stricken mind.

Iruka frowned at the look on Naruto's face. He washed his hands as soon as he completed another piece of onigiri so he could shake the boy's shoulder. "Naruto, come on. Snap out of it. It's not that big of a deal, is it?" Iruka sighed and pulled his hand away to rub at his temple. "Although, I guess it is a bit of a shock."

Soon a long string of dramatized 'ew's left Naruto. He dragged his hands down his face at the sheer horror of it all. "My two teachers!" He threw his hands up to the sky; but there was no mercy to be found, on the ceiling. "Eeewww!" He jerked around to gape at Iruka. "That's, like-- like incest!" Naruto gestured around frantically. "Sick-- and wrong!"

"I-It really has nothing to do with incest at all." Iruka felt embarrassed once again. He had hoped Naruto would take things a little more calmly then this, but he had been mistaken. He suddenly felt very nervous to say anything else and tried to look elsewhere. He had nearly been finished fixing the food and decided that he had done enough. He picked up the tray and wanted badly to change the subject, wishing he hadn't even brought it up in the first place. "Here, I'm finished. Hopefully you paid enough attention. Try one."

Naruto made a strange gurgling noise, practically foaming at the mouth. He flailed a few times making many incoherent sounds as he did. He spun around and threw out his arms. "End of the world!" Naruto then fell over but not without nabbing one of the onigiri for the trip.

Iruka placed a hand on his hip as he stared down at his former student. "Really, I think you're over reacting about this. It's not a big deal, Naruto. So what if Kakashi kissed me? He's not all that bad a person. It doesn't even matter that we've both been your teachers." He turned to set the tray back down, nabbing a piece of onigiri for himself as well. "You and Sasuke never got along, but yet look at the two of you now." He smirked before he took a bite out of the bits of rice.

From below Naruto raised a hand and pointed up at Iruka. "Don't you taint what I and Juusan have with your insanity! I hope you know--- that I totally didn't admit anything between me and Sasuke just now!" Naruto sprung up from the floor, his face beat red. He shoved the onigiri in his mouth since he'd already done a good job of shoving his foot in there. Chewing thoroughly before he swallowed Naruto glared at Iruka. "It's best with fishies in the middle." He stuck his tongue out at Iruka while rice still covered around his mouth. "Don't compare your situation with mine. Mine makes more sense, yours- I think you and Kakashi-sensei have lost both your minds. I think you both need to jump in the oven, cuz both of you are half baked." Naruto furiously shook his head as he snuck a few more onigiri for himself. "So- so wrong. So gross. Ugh." He nibbled on either onigiri in his hand.

Iruka set his half eaten onigiri aside back on the plate. In a way some of the accusations hurt a little to have the one person he considered close family for the longest time to be spouting off such hurtful things, but that was just the way Naruto was. He was best at over reacting without listening to reason first and looking at his own situation. He was still coming to terms with it all himself. It was hard not to second guess with the current conversation. Iruka could only shrug a shoulder as he tried to drop the subject once again, pulling the boy's attention away and back to the food. "You should try to make one yourself. Get some practice in. There's still some rice left over. Enough for a couple of more."

Naruto looked to the rice and then back to Iruka with a worried frown. "You two aren’t d-... d-.... g-... guh!" He chomped on one of the onigiri. "Doing the 'r' word, are you? That would be just really weird. Like- having two older brothers going out." Naruto's eyes popped open wide. "Or two fathers." New horror crossed Naruto's face as he went slack jawed.

"We might be dating. I'm not really sure to be honest." Iruka soon realized just what he was admitting to and quickly shook his head. "I don't even know why I'm having this discussion with you, Naruto. I'm not even sure of any of this myself, okay? Don't worry about it. I shouldn't have even told you." He tapped his fingers on the counter for a few seconds mostly because of his nerves before he spoke again, "Just drop it, okay?"

Naruto made a long unsure sound. He stuffed what was left of either onigiri in his mouth and ate them with a fervor. "Well, if that masked pervert does anything questionable, you tell me and I'll put him back in his place!" He placed his hands on his hips and gave a sagely nod. "Kakashi-sensei may be an exceptional teacher, a close comrade, but that gives no excuse to take advantage of a good guy like you, Iruka-sensei." He wagged a stern authoritive finger.

Iruka halted in his tapping to look back at Naruto once again. He looked startled at first, but soon a small smile came to his face and he was relieved at the words he heard. "Hmm, yeah. You'll be the first I come to, Naruto. No questions asked." Since he was much more at ease he reached out to tug the boy over for a quick hug, ruffling his hair playfully while he did, before he pushed him over in front of the sink. "Now get to work. I want to see if you can do well enough or if I need to show you once more, and while you're at it you can hold up your end of the deal we made."

"Uh-- hmm." Naruto stared at the contents before him. He washed his hands and put spices in his hands like Iruka had, though perhaps too much, and then scooped up some rice to shape. "Well, uh, my end of the deal. Well, if we're talking secrets, I don’t know. I have quite a few. Don’t know if they're as mind crushing as the one you said. But you better have a few more secrets in your sleeve if you want to hear all of mine." He leaned back to look up at Iruka with a slight grin "Don't think my mind could break more than it already has, thanks."

"Well, you don't have to tell me everything. I suppose just something that you've been hiding recently." Iruka shrugged a shoulder. "That's what I did and that's what I intended." He reached over and picked a little more rice out of the bowl to add to the bit that Naruto had in his hand. "You had too much spice. More rice will even it out. You need to be careful of that." Iruka leaned against the counter to keep watch. "I didn't mean to give you any trauma. Sorry about that." He smiled nervously.

"A little too late for apologies, damage already done." Naruto tried to shape his rice into a triangle best he could while he thought of all the things that happened to him, and which would be the less traumatic for his old teacher. "Uhhh, one night I woke up and I couldn't find Sasuke anywhere. All my seals were broken around the house. And on the couch I found a letter that said 'don't panic' written by Sasuke. Tch, Konoha is too damn big a place to try and find someone. Didn't matter anyway, cuz he wasn't in the village anyway. Thoughtless bastard."

"He, uh, wrote you a note that said 'don't panic'?" Iruka thought it a little silly, but at the same time, it seemed like something Sasuke would do for Naruto. The teacher rested his elbows on the counter to watch Naruto a little better while he tried to listen in a little better to what he had just been told. "Why would he just up and leave like that? He wasn't planning to escape again was he?" Iruka's eyes narrowed a little. "Especially if he wasn't around the village."

Naruto shook his head as he took some seaweed for his oversized poorly shaped onigiri. He stuck his tongue out as he tried to get it to wrap just right. "He wanted some air, something stupid like that. Wasn't used to be so closed up all the time." Naruto paused to think over the memory. "Hmm... found him at Valley of the End," he admitted quietly. "I really thought he was trying to leave, especially when I found him there. But he was just lying on the ground like he was somewhere casual." Naruto scowled lightly. "I was really mad at him. Let him have it too. He insisted that he just ended up there unconsciously." He shrugged it all off. "So we just made some better memories there," he ended simply.

Iruka's breath had caught in his throat when Naruto had spoke of exactly where he had found Sasuke, but he managed to continue listening. He only found relief when Naruto finished speaking. Although, he still found the last few words a little strange. He couldn't imagine the two boys making any pleasant memories in a place where they had such a horrid battle between the two of them. "What kind of memories?" He allowed his curiosity to be spoken out loud.

"Here!" The onigiri was then offered up to Iruka with a pleased grin from Naruto. It might have been his first onigiri, lopsided at best, but he thought it was the best onigiri ever made by human hands.  "That we'd be each other's family from now on, of course."

Iruka stood up from his place near the counter and blinked in surprise after what he heard. He had always known that one of the only things that Naruto had ever wanted was a real family. He reached out to take the onigiri while he gave the boy a simple smile. He was happy for Naruto. Happy that he finally had someone else to call a family and happy that he and Sasuke could fill such a void for each other. He wasted little time taking a bite out of the onigiri that Naruto had worked so hard on and chewed thoughtfully on it for a few seconds. Although it didn't look perfect it was close enough to being just right. "Mmm, good job, Naruto."

"Thanks." Naruto grinned more, now completely pleased with himself. "I think it's the combo of spices you chose. Or maybe I always end up over cooking or under cooking the rice." He decided to try his hand at making another onigiri. "Told Tsunade. Hm, in so many words. Seems she already knew. Old people are so crazy." He narrowed his eyes. “‘When you've been in love you just see these things'- or something senile like that. Tch. Like it's anyone else's business."

Iruka continued to chew on the one bit Naruto had fixed up as he thought more on what was said. "Well, she wasn't lying. I've heard such a thing said once before." He remembered his conversation with Kakashi and smiled once more. "People that have been in love can see when others are in love, I suppose. It's just an easy thing to pick up on." Iruka blinked before he was soon grinning and turning his attention on Naruto. "So, hmm, does this mean you're admitting to being in love?"

Sqush; the rice oozed between Naruto's hands on the sudden tight grip he had on it. He hunkered down over the sink to hide the red embarrassment clearly bushing over his entire face straight down his neck. "Don't put words in my mouth, old man! You don't hear me asking you if you're in love with that masked pervert do you. Ch! You and your flower."

It was Iruka's turn to be embarrassed and he certainly was. Red painted across his face for a few seconds while he shoved the rest of the onigiri into his mouth to keep himself from speaking. He tried not to choke on it and made a lousy job of it. Once he tapped his chest a few times he was perfectly okay, out of breath, but otherwise okay. "It's a nice flower," Iruka defended weakly.

Naruto gave a hissed wicked cackle at the sink. He slowly and eerily turned to face Iruka and held up the heart shaped onigiri he made. "Sooo, Iruka-sensei," he spoke in a low devilish tone, "is it 'looove'?" He point-pointed to the heart shaped rice ball.

Iruka opened his mouth more then a few times, but no real sound came out. He looked back and forth between Naruto and the shaped piece of onigiri, feeling like he wanted to crawl in a hole and never come out. He tried to keep his composure, though. It was best if he fought back with his own words. "I guess it depends on your reaction to those kinds of words. You didn't fair so well to what I told you about a few kisses, you know."

Naruto stuck out his tongue in disgust. "It's 'a few' kisses now?" His lower eyelid twitched. "Ehhhh. Disturbing." He pursed his lips like a fish. "Hnnn. So. Kissing, eh? As in more than one, right?" He clicked his tongue. "Mask on or off?" he pried slyly.

Iruka seemed a little hesitant to answer, but he didn't really see the harm in it. Kakashi had never said he couldn't tell about what happened. "Yes, more then one and of course with his mask off. It would be rather awkward otherwise." Although, it wasn't unpleasant when he had been kissed while Kakashi still had his mask in place. "You're being nosey again."

Naruto made a dramatic wheezing gasp. He clutched his throat and feigned dieing as he held up his rice heart. "Nasty!" And just like that the show was over and he was peering at Iruka with a scrutinizing gaze. "So you've seen under the mask! What's under the mask? Tell me- I must know what's under the mask- tell me now!"

"No way, Naruto." Iruka grinned at the knowledge he had a one up on his student. "I'm not telling you anything about what I've seen. It's not polite to pry in on other people's business. Well, you know, aside from the things that you already know." He waved a hand. "Besides, if Kakashi wanted you to see then he would have shown you long before now."

"Eh? What kind of answer is that?!" Naruto leveled Iruka with a glare. "It's not like I really have a chance to see him with his mask down. He's always busy barking orders at me while I train. It's not like I can say 'Hey! Kakashi-sensei! Take off your mask I want to see!' right in the middle of training." Naruto tapped his lips as he gave that some thought. "Hmm, though I could tell him to take off his mask if I told him I couldn't hear him right with it on. Oh yes. That might work." He cackled deviously to himself as he moved to add the seaweed to his heart shaped onigiri.

"Well, Kakashi tells me that you haven't been around to see him much lately. I've had to let him know how you've been doing." Iruka watched to make sure Naruto was still doing alright with the food before he lifted his eyes back up to the boy's face. "I'm surprised that you've ignored him for this long. He's your teacher and he trained you. You usually report to him after you see Tsunade. It's not because of Sasuke, is it?" Of course Iruka was pretty sure it was. The talk he had with Kakashi made it at least a little certain.

"Ah... I suppose it is. And I guess that's why Kakashi-sensei hasn't stopped by my place to talk to me." Naruto shrugged. "Kakashi-sensei is disappointed in Sasuke and Sasuke is too disappointed in himself. Besides, I'm practically on vacation. I don't need to run off to training just so soon yet." He set the heart aside on the tray where what remained of Iruka's onigiri. "He seems to be keeping busy anyway." Naruto turned to smirk at Iruka. "So, what's under that mask? Does he have a reason for covering up his face? Is he really ugly underneath? Do you keep a barf bag handy after he kisses you?" Naruto feigned being sick, puffing up his cheeks like he was going to hurl.

Iruka lifted up a hand to swat Naruto upside his head. "I think that's quite enough out of you." He shot the boy a look for such talk before he shook his head and leaned over to inspect how well Naruto had done. "You've gotten the hang of it. You should be able to prepare plenty of it all on your own if you ever want to." He leaned back once more and picked up the one piece Naruto had made earlier so he could continue to chew on it.

"I hope so. Juusan is pickier than hell. But I really want to make him some onigiri. It's his favourite," Naruto quietly confessed while he dusted his hands off. "So if I don't make it just right, not only will it be insulting- but a dishonor!" He ripped off a piece of the onigiri that Iruka ate and picked up one that his teacher made. He bit into Iruka's to taste it and then bit onto his and made a face. "Too much salt." He hung his head. Then he was right back up again. "Does he have big sausage lips or buck teeth?"

"If you don't let it go then I'm going to throw you back outside and you won't ever learn how to cook this stuff." Iruka looked back and forth between his piece of onigiri and Naruto before a small devious look came over his face. "Either that, or I could let Sasuke know that you came to my home, wanting lessons on how to cook just for him. I'm sure he'd get quite a kick out of that."

"Old man, you play dirty." Naruto smirked and shrugged. "Fine. Have it your way." He set both pieces of onigiri down while he washed off his hands. "I'll just have to tell Juusan all about you and the masked pervert. I'm sure he'd get quite the kick out of that," he shot Iruka's words back at him rather casually.

"You actually think I didn't expect you to blab such a thing off to someone?" Iruka pushed away from the counter. "Please, give me some credit, Naruto. I know you a little better then that. At least I can trust such a secret with Sasuke. I'm certain he could care less about other people's personal lives since he has you to worry about instead." He finished off the piece of onigiri he held, but was quick to reach over and grab another one that Naruto had made. "And by the way. Kakashi isn't always a pervert," he mumbled quietly.

"Just wait until he reads that book to you," Naruto muttered back. "Ch. Fine. Don't tell me what's under the mask. But not telling me only tells me that there's something under there worth hiding." Naruto glanced at Iruka's face, blinking when he caught a weird look on his old teacher's face; did he look like that when he thought about Sasuke? A sly look replaced Naruto's expression. "He has a really big embarrassing birth mark! That's it- right?"

Iruka blinked a few times before he looked at Naruto as if the boy had grown a couple more heads. "W-What? No!" He let out a frustrated sigh and walked away to head towards the living room. "I am not having this conversation with you any longer, Naruto. How would you like it if I asked you personal things about you and Sasuke? I bet you would shut up then." He proceeded to flop down on his couch, still able to hear Naruto if the boy spoke since the rooms weren't too far apart.

"Pfff- I'm not the one getting flowers from an old pervert." Naruto followed out with one of Iruka's onigiri in hand since he preferred his old teacher's cooking to his own. "Hmm, but saying that only means you have more to hide. Never thought you had a wild perverted side yourself. But I suppose it's always the strict uptight ones that have the wilder sides." He munched on the onigiri talking with his mouthful, "He's got small lips, doesn't he! Thin and pursed like an old woman!"

"No, Naruto, and don't talk with your mouth full of food. It's rude." Iruka rubbed at the side of his head with a finger as he tried to fight the oncoming headache that Naruto's questions were causing him. "No matter how many times you ask me or whatever you decide to ask me, I refuse to tell you. Now just drop it, alright?" He gave the boy a stern look before he dropped his eyes to pay attention to the food in his hand.

"Hmm." Suddenly a terribly wicked grin spread right across Naruto's face; the fox had the canary. "Oh I know what'll get you to talk, Iruka-sensei. It'll make you talk, no problem." He made quick work of the rest of his food so his hands would be free. Quickly he made a few hand signs. "Sexy no jutsu!" There was a poof of smoke, but it wasn't the usual sexy female that Naruto transformed into, instead this time it was Kakashi-sensei, completely in the buff save for his mask and nothing but tendrils of smoke covering his dignity, not that it mattered much when everything else was so sensuously displayed in the slinky pose Naruto chose Kakashi to be in.

Iruka blinked a good many times, but it wasn't long before the onigiri fell from his hand to drop to the floor in his state of shock. His eyes soon shot wide open and his face became hotter then he ever remembered it being in the past. "NARUTO!" The boy's name was nearly screamed at the top of his lungs. He grabbed the nearest pillow off the couch and tried to bury his face in it, but that wasn't doing any real good since he found himself peaking past it. Instead, he hurled the pillow at Naruto to try and make him stop the transformation.

The farce Kakashi easily caught the pillow and hugged it close with a breathy sigh. "Eh?" Naruto seemed terribly good at mimicking Kakashi's voice, especially in such a breathy tone. "What's wrong, Iruka?" He trailed his fingers down the curved back of the pillow he held and toyed with the pointed end of it rather innocently which only made it just that much more suggestive. The fake Kakashi tilted his head down to rest a cheek on the lucky pillow, keeping his scar eyed winked close, his hair fell loosely down over his face and pillow since there was no hitai-ate to keep it up. "You seem kind of... intense."

"This is not happening to me." Iruka hid himself behind his hands since he was short one pillow. Of course it was harder not to peek when he had a better view between his fingers, but he had to remind himself that it was Naruto behind the disguise which forced him to shut his eyes as tight as he could. Still, it didn't keep the permanent red off of his face. "I'll throw the lamp at you next, Naruto, so stop it."

The show ended in a poof of smoke and it was Naruto who stood there again, laughing loud and maniacally. "Never figured you for a man's man!" He had to hold his sides he was laughing so hard. "Now you won't be able to look at Kakashi-sensei without thinking strange perverted thoughts!" He nearly fell over he was laughing so hard.

Iruka finally pulled his hands away from his face since he deemed it safe enough to do so and shifted around to look over the back of the couch with narrowed eyes at Naruto as the boy laughed at his misery. "Remind me again why I continue to let you into my home." He blinked as his former student only continued to laugh and soon got fed up enough to lean over and push at the side of Naruto's head so the boy was forced to topple over. "Hey, it wasn't that funny."

For the third time that day Naruto fell over onto the floor, a laughing, kicking heep. "You should see your face!" He pointed to Iruka's face. "So red! Oh man- I should have brought Juusan with me, he'd get a kick out of this! Hilarious!" He continued to laugh.

"Oh, yes, I'm sure he would have enjoyed that little show immensely," Iruka answered sarcastically. He tried to hide himself a little better behind the couch so his face couldn't really be seen. "Speaking of Sasuke. Don't you have somewhere you need to be? I taught you just as much as I can and I'm sure he's bound to wake up at some point." It was a much more polite way of telling Naruto to go home so he could be kept to his embarrassment alone.

"Oh that's right!" Naruto sprung up onto his feet from his hands, teetering on his legs when he was still hit with the giggles over the whole situation. "I'm going to borrow your spices and seaweed; I don't have any at home. And it's quicker than going shopping, heh, which is what I told Juusan I was doing." A bought of laughter escaped him and he nearly fell over in his steps.

Iruka wiggled his fingers a little as part of his reply while he kept his eyes on the giggly boy. "Sure, go ahead. I don't really need either all that badly. I rarely fix onigiri. You can keep both for however long you need." He continued to peer over the couch since it was his only shield. "If you don't think you have enough rice back home then you can borrow a bit of that as well. Just put some in a container and take it with you."

"Yeah! Sure! Okay!" Naruto sped up since he was practically given permission to loot Iruka's kitchen. He took the spices, the rice, and a few other things he wasn't suppose to but they looked yummy and or potentially yummy for Sasuke to make sometime. He stuffed a few instant ramen cups into his coat, since you can never have one too many of those. Once he was sure he was well stocked, he peeked in on Iruka. "Well, guess I better go before Juusan wakes up and thinks I've tried to escape too."

Iruka had gone about cleaning up the food he dropped on the floor and looked up once he was finished and Naruto was ready to leave. "Alright then." He stood from the couch and headed to the front door, opening it up for the boy since his hands were nearly full. "Come by again sometime when you have the chance. Both you and Sasuke. I'll fix the both of you dinner and we can all spend some time together, hmm?"

"A free meal? I'll be th-- oof!" Naruto staggered and blinked up when he'd walked into someone else. His eyes widened but soon a very sly wise ass smirk spread across his face. "K-Kakashi-sensei! We were just talking about you." The laughter threatened to come back full force again.

"Oh really?" Kakashi blinked rather startled himself to see Naruto in front of him. But soon he was smiling with his one visible eye as he ruffled Naruto's hair in warm greeting. "It's good to see you finally, alive and well."

Naruto held his breath to keep the laughter in, his nostrils flared but some giggles still managed to escape him. "Very alive and very well, Sensei." His cheeks puffed up and he had to bow his head since it was getting harder to keep the laughter down. Kakashi gave him quite the confused look.

Iruka had to stop himself from letting out the groan that wanted to escape. This was beyond awkward given the situation that just happened and Naruto was only making it worse. He reached out a hand to poke at the back of Naruto's head, encouraging the boy to move. "Ah, Naruto. Weren't you just leaving?" He tried so hard not to make it sound as if he were begging the boy to actually go.

"Y-yeah yeah, I'll go." Naruto bit his lip but the laughter was already escaping him. "T-try to keep it at least rated G, boys!" Naruto managed to get a hand free and pointed two fingers at his eyes and then jabbed one in accusation up at Kakashi. "I'm watching you." He then gathered up his things in his arms and marched off.

Kakashi raised a brow as he watched Naruto walk off before looking at Iruka with a helpless smile. "... Good to see Naruto is still his estranged energetic self."

"You don't even know the half of it," Iruka mumbled more to himself then towards Kakashi. He watched as Naruto left out of sight and turned his attention back on Kakashi. "Well, uh, come on in." Before the other teacher could really protest to his words, Iruka was already pulling Kakashi inside by the arm and closing the door behind the two of them.