Gundam Wing Fan Fiction / Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Red and Blue Makes Purple ❯ Iruka ( Chapter 11 )

A/N: Barely over a week until fall quarter is over and I can say goodbye to ‘intro to business.’ Than the gods. Next time a take a business class, it won’t be distance ed, that’s for sure. Feh. Anyway, newest chapter is finished and here for your viewing pleasure. Hope you like it. Read and review!

“Red and Blue Makes Purple”

Chapter Eleven

Iruka

Heero awoke slowly, his mind fuzzy. That in itself seemed odd. One of the first things he’d learned from his training was how to be instantly alert upon reaching consciousness. Memories started to slowly trickle in, and he forced back a growl. Duo was missing and they’d drugged him!

As he pushed his fury down enough to pay attention to his surroundings, he heard Relena’s voice speaking to him frantically.

“-reason to keep you here! You would have more likely gotten into an accident or shot someone than helped Duo when you’re like this! Quatre and Trowa were sent out to the cabin, and they’ve already reported in. Duo’s okay, but there’s been a problem and-”

He cut her off as he abruptly sat up, his eyes snapping open as he grabbed her wrist. “What problems, Relena?”

The former queen gulped at the intensity of his stare. “They didn’t say, only that it was weird and Une should sent a diplomatic team, a chainsaw, maybe the Maganacs… and that Duo likes the watch you gave him.”

Sifting though the information given to him, he raised an eyebrow. “A chainsaw?”

“Apparently the road is blocked,” she said meekly. “You’re a lot calmer than I thought you’d be.”

“I don’t want to be sedated again,” he said, pushing off the blanket someone had spread over him. “How long was I out?”

“About nineteen hours,” Relena said after a moment’s calculations. “It’s nine at night now. And unless you want Quatre going zero on your ass, I’d suggest holding off until morning. He was just going to sleep when he called.” At Heero’s look, she smiled sheepishly. “Pagan says I spend too much time around Duo.”

“I’ll start making the arrangements,” Heero said. He stood up, grabbing the Preventor jacket someone had taken off him and pulling it back on. “Have you already sent the report to Une?”

“As soon as Quatre hung up on me,” she said with a nod. “She’s arranging the team, and the Maganacs are on standby. All you need to do is get the chainsaw. Oh, and Wufei’ll be coming as well.”

“Then he can bring the chainsaw,” Heero said. He tossed a set of keys to Relena. “Lock up when you leave.”

“Where are you going?” she asked, jumping to her feet.

The grin he tossed her over his shoulder was eerily reminiscent of the man he was chasing. “To grab a helicopter.”

-

Iruka couldn’t breath. The boy in front of him had to be some sort of illusion, or even a ghost. He couldn’t really be standing there, alive with his team as though he’d never been gone. His stunned brain completely by-passed the long braid and kimono, and even the color of the eyes, and locked onto messy blond bangs, whisker marks, and the single necklace that hung around his neck, unnoticed by the confused wearer. Naruto, the boy he’d considered as his brother, or even his son, was back.

It was with the speed of a desperate shinobi that he leapt forward and gathered the teenager into his arms, tucking a blond head under his chin as tears threatened to fall. “Naruto, welcome home.”

Trapped in the embrace, Duo froze, mind and heart arguing on whether to return the hug or pull away, maybe shoot. But then the man spoke and, against his will, he found his body relaxing. Welcome home. It felt right.

“Not the dobe, eh?” he heard Sasuke say from being him.

Without moving away from the scarred man, Duo pulled his gun from where he’d stashed it in his obi and aimed it unerringly at the black-haired snake-boy. Sasuke, remembering what had been said of the weapon’s effects, moved out of the way, blinking as the barrel followed his progress.

But Iruka had heard, and pulled away to hold the blond at arms’ length. Now he noticed the differences, small as they were. “You’re not-”

“They saw I am, my memory says I’m not,” the boy said, gaze meeting his steadily even as small layer of shame tried to hide there. “This body agrees, and so do…” Iruka smiled encouragingly at him, urging him to continue. “So do my visions. Did- did you ever treat the boy who looks like me to ramen?”

Iruka’s heart skipped a beat. “Many times. It was his favorite food. But if you aren’t Naruto, then who are you?”

The boy smiled a bit bolder at him. “Maxwell Duo, at her service. I may run, and I may hide, but I will never tell a lie.”

“Umino Iruka,” the teacher said. “I teach at the shinobi academy. Naruto was one of my most troublesome students.”

“I’m sure all of my teachers would say the same about me,” Duo said, now grinning. “Howard too. And J definitely. He’s the one who started calling me Shinigami during the war, but that’s Pestilence for you.”

Iruka turned to the rest of team seven. “What happened with the Kyuubi? I was charged with keeping the students safe, so couldn’t get out there.”

“Well, he wasn’t attacking for one,” Sakura said, hands linked behind her. “Just a little lost. For another, you just hugged him.”

Brown eyes were wide as they turned back to the nervously smiling Duo. Then he switched his stare from his eyes to his kimono and back. After a moment, he stepped forward, a hand under the blond’s chin forcing him to look up. “Were you always human in your visions?”

Started by the action and the question both, Duo froze for a minute before mentally cycling through his memories. “I- I’m not sure. Mostly, yes, but there were two… There was one where I might have been in that fox form, and I could feel such a power in the other. I could see the fox form, and a blond man standing on a toad… I was about to take his soul in exchange for something. Why?”

Iruka was about to explain when a hand laid heavily on his shoulder. He looked up into Kakashi’s one visible eye. “Perhaps we’d better not discuss this out in the streets. We were about to go each at Ichiraku’s. Would you care to join us, Iruka-sensei?”

Seeing the other’s logic, Iruka nodded. “Of course, Kakashi-san.”