Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Faint ❯ Part 15 - Rejecting? ( Chapter 15 )

This is not the beta-read version. Will be replaced ASAP.

I have no excuse, and I won't give one.

Ja!

FAINT 15

Genma shifted in his sleep and mechanically tightened his hold on the person in his arms, only to feel a soft pillow instead. His eyes snapped open and he sat up, looking around the now empty room. A blue blanket pooled around his waist as he finally realized that it was the thing that kept him warm. His head was also on a pillow and his forehead protector was lying beside him.

"Iruka?" He called out and noticed the few stray lights of sunshine penetrating through the gap of the two drawn curtains. He sensed no chakra in the house, so he got up and pulled the curtains apart. He winced as bright light hit him in the face and he noticed the sun was really high in the sky. "Shit! What time is it?" He hissed and looked around the bedroom for a clock and found one reading one PM.

Genma let out a string of curses that was sure to make Iruka cringe as he went about checking every room in the house only to find it empty. He barged out of the small apartment and headed for the academy. Classes went out at two, so Iruka would still be teaching. He ignored the calls of his colleagues and best friend and stormed towards the general direction of Iruka's class. He didn't bother to knock and found himself staring wide eyed at Asuma, who was scribbling something on the board while the students copied it in their study scrolls.

"Where's Iruka?" Genma hissed, glaring at Asuma.

Asuma blinked a few times before shrugging. "He resigned his position as a teacher this morning. Haven't seen him since then."

Genma cursed out lout, making the young ones inside gasp in horror as he slammed the door shut. He made his way to the Hokage's office, blinded by worry for the young chuunin. Just last night he was in such a horrible state and now he was out and gallivanting around. Genma had to keep his attitude in check. He knocked on the door three times and waited for Tsunade's reply before barging in.

"Genma. You don't look very happy." Tsunade said, a smirk on her face.

"Where's Iruka?" Genma hissed, but Tsunade said nothing and went about stirring some tea in the cup in front of her. Genma gritted his teeth and slammed his fists on the table. "Damnit! Where is he?" Genma started a little bit when Tsunade's palm came in to contact with his cheek. Tsunade really had a bad temper and wouldn't hesitate to vent out her frustrations on anyone. The joys of being a Hokage. Or maybe it was just Genma.

"Watch your mouth or else!" Tsunade snapped.

Genma rubbed his painful nose and cheeks that were now slightly red from the slap-punch that Tsunade gave him. "Sorry." He mumbled, staring at his toes. "I'm just worried."

"He's a grown man, Genma. He can take care of himself." Tsunade pointed out.

"But last night!" Genma reasoned.

"He's on a mission, Genma. He quit being a teacher and he's now an active chuunin." Tsunade said. "He won't be around all the time now. He'll be fine. Iruka is not a weak person. I thought you knew that."

Genma wanted to counter the Hokage's words with what he witnessed the previous night, but found it futile. He merely nodded, apologized and left the office.

Since that day, he barely saw Iruka anymore.

"It's as if I don't know him." He mumbled, staring at the darkening sky.

XXX

Genma was walking home after a mission. It's been roughly nine months since he last saw Iruka. Iruka, or so he heard, was busy hogging up all missions that involved leaving the Fire Country. He was so obsessed with missions that even some of the jounins and chuunins were given a long holiday due to little missions coming in. Genma only saw him a few times from a far off distance and was never able to pursue him because he had his own duties to take care of.

It had been a long tiring night and he was finally home after a weeklong mission that involved under cover work and information gathering. He was hungry, sleepy and he did not want to do paperwork the next day. He had mountains of them to do and in times like these did he wish he had his own genin teams. He found out that Naruto left the same day he found out that Iruka resigned his position as a teacher. Kakashi had been slightly depressed and worried at the same he seemed to have been in a bad mood.

"That was a long time ago." Genma whispered, approaching a corner that would lead him to his block. "Sometimes I feel very old." He mumbled and took a turn only to collide with something rather painfully. He had to grab the edge of wooden fence that lined an empty lot that he was walking by. "Hey! Watch it, you punk!" He snapped.

"Sorry. I'm in a hurry."

Genma's eyes widened. "Iruka!" He stared at the figure standing up from the rather painful collision and dusting off his clothes. "W- What - Iruka!"

Iruka looked up and his eyes widened a bit. But Genma felt all speech leave the tip of his tongue when he caught sight of Iruka's appearance. Iruka looked thinner, tired, pale and very worn out. His eyes were just screaming `stress' and his shoulders were slightly hunched from over work. Even his duster-style ponytail looked limp.

"Shiranui-san." Iruka managed to say out, before his lips curved up in to a polite smile. "Forgive me. I didn't see you. It is my fault. I wasn't looking to where I was going. I should have sensed -"

"Where have you been?" Genma asked desperately. "Look at yourself! You're so stressed out!"

"Well, I have been doing missions lately. Haven't done them in a long time."

"That's not the point!" Genma snapped. "D-Do you know how long I've tried tailing you and trying to get in touch with you? I was worried about you! That night - that night when you were in the bathtub and - damnit! Why didn't you come and see me?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Iruka said stubbornly, narrowing his eyes. "Please, Shiranui-san, I have a mission to accomplish."

"Drop it."

"What?"

"I said drop the mission. There are lots of other shinobis that are already complaining about having nothing to do because Iruka-sensei has been hogging all the missions." Genma said. "So drop it."

"Give me one good reason on why I should listen to you." Iruka said seriously, shifting his weight to his other leg.

"Look at you!" Genma said exasperatedly. "Did you look at the mirror lately? When was the last time you slept properly? When was the last time you had a decent meal? When, Iruka? Nine months ago?"

"That's not a good reason." Iruka said and side stepped away from Genma to continue on his way.

"He's won't come back because you ask him to." Genma called out and Iruka stopped in his tracks, fists clenching. "He left on his own! He went to find his own way in life! He made his own decision! You can't change it even if you do find him."

"I can at least try!" Iruka said, voice slightly trembling. "No one else would go look for him! Well I am!"

"It's not that!" Genma said desperately, turning around facing Iruka's back. "It's not that! He left on his own Iruka!"

"Because I wasn't there for him enough!" Iruka turned and snapped, eyes burning with anger, despair and sadness. "I was so busy with my own problems that I ignored him! Don't you understand? His team hates his guts! I was not there when he needed me the most! Don't you understand?"

"No, you don't understand!" Genma snapped back. "It was bound to happen sooner or later! The Hokage knew that! Why did you think she allowed him to leave? So that he could take a jolly picnic outside the country? She knew! Kakashi knew!"

"And none of them even bothered to stop him!" Iruka screamed.

"Because they couldn't even if they tried! He's a stubborn brat! He wouldn't listen, one way or the other! He didn't even listen to you!"

"Because I wasn't there!" Iruka screamed out.

"You were there!" Genma snapped back. "You were there, Iruka! He loves you! Don't you get it? He needed to find things out on his own! You can't be there for him twenty-four-seven! He's growing up! When will you understand that?"

"He's alone! He is alone!" Iruka snapped back.

"So are you." Genma said in a calmer tone. Iruka stopped talking at stared at him wide eyed. "I told you before that he loves you. He wouldn't have left that forehead protector in your care if he didn't. Anybody who sees him with you could tell that he loves you as his guardian. It practically flashing in their faces." Iruka didn't reply. "I told you that he loves you, remember? On that night." Genma approached him and was about to touch him but Iruka stepped back. Genma caught him in his arms and hugged him. "I also told you that I do too. Remember?"

"I have a mission to do." Iruka said quietly. "Let me go, Shiranui-san."

Cold.

Genma felt hurt twist in his chest. "Do you even care?"

"I have work to do." Iruka said in a low voice, cracking. "Please let me go."

Genma turned him around so that Iruka was facing him, and stared deeply in to Iruka's eyes. He looked so tired and all of a sudden he looked so old. Genma once knew Iruka as the clumsy chuunin who apologized for even the smallest thing like if he suddenly dropped your pen or pencil on the ground. He would smile politely, laugh at a corny joke just so that you wouldn't feel offended and guided youngsters well as if they were his own children. But now, the Iruka in front of him was just a ghost of the one he once he knew. Or thought he knew.

He let got of Iruka and took a step back. "I once knew a chuunin named Umino Iruka. He was fun, sweet, kind and obnoxiously polite." He gave him a sad smile. "Now I'm looking at him and I feel -" Genma turned around, feeling very hurt. He just confessed and the person he confessed to didn't even care. The saying was true then. Rejection is painful. "I feel like I don't even know him." With that said, he walked home, and only then did he realized that his cheeks were wet. "So it rained." He whispered to his home.

But there was no raindrops falling from the sky.

TBC

I love this chapter! This is SO my favorite!

Poor Genma!