Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ I'll Cover You ❯ Finale B ( Chapter 22 )

tsukiraven: Here it is… the moment you've all been waiting for! Could it be? Is it possible?

 

Yes it is! The denouement of I'll Cover You finally arrives!

 

And I still don't own it. Yet.

 

I'll Cover you; Chappie 22.

 

Please... Let me hold you one more time.

 

You're so dumb... But I love you anyway.

 

 

Iruka was wasting away. Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura knew it. Tsunade and Raven knew it. Hell, even Iruka himself knew it. He wouldn't leave Kakashi's room, no matter the circumstances.

 

One day- two week after his talk with Iruka- Naruto was back at the hospital, team and lovers at hand. Sakura worriedly clutched one of his hands while Sasuke held the other. Sakura carried a large bouquet of colourful flowers.

 

“Naruto... There- has there been any change? About Kakashi-sensei?” Sakura asked nervously, shifting her weight between her feet.

 

Naruto shook his head. “No, nothing about Kakashi-sensei.” The unsaid `Nothing about Iruka-sensei, either.' Hung in the air. Wearily, Team 7 made it's way towards the hospital.

---

A knock heard on the door knocked Iruka out of his reverie. He jumped, a little guilty for allowing himself to drift off. Setting Kakashi's hand gently down on the bed, Iruka stood and made his way over to the door.

 

“Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura,” Iruka said, a little surprised. “I didn't think you were coming back until next week. What brings you here?” His three former students shifted nervously under Iruka's not-quite-suspicious scrutiny.

 

“Iruka-sensei,” Sasuke began slowly. “We just wanted to--"

 

“Iruka-sensei!” Naruto shouted suddenly. “Would you take me out for Ramen?”

 

Iruka blinked. “What? Naruto, you can't honestly expect--"

 

“Come on, Iruka!” Naruto pressured, dropping the respectful suffix and surprising Iruka into silence. “We can go out for Ramen and then we can go to the training field or something! Yeah, we'll make a day of it! You can't stay here, Iruka!” Naruto shouted, his cheeks flushing and eyes shining with unshed tears. “It's killing you!”

 

Iruka remained silent. After a few moments, he sighed. “I won't leave him, Naruto. You know that.”

 

“Won't, or can't?” Naruto said. “You won't leave him because you love him, or you feel like you can't leave him because you owe him one?”

 

Iruka stepped back as if he'd been hit. Tears rolled freely down Naruto's angry face as he shook off the hands of both of his lovers. “He saved your life, Iruka! But you saved his so you're square! You don't owe him any debt! Being here- every day, watching him as he gets paler and thinner and smaller- is destroying you, Iruka!

 

“You don't have to be gone all the time,” Naruto sniffed. “Just a little bit every day. Just enough so that...” Naruto let himself trail off.

 

“But what if he wakes up?” Iruka bit off quietly, automatically moving forward and hugging Naruto. The boy hiccupped and buried himself in his mentor's embrace. “What if he wakes up and I'm not here?”

 

“You don't have to be gone for long,” Sakura whispered gently, setting her flowers down on the table. “If...If it makes you feel better, we could leave something. Like a note. If he wakes up when you're gone, then he'll read the note and know that you'll come back to him.”

 

Iruka paused, still cradling Naruto in his arms. `They're right,' He thought solemnly. `They're completely right. This... it isn't what Kakashi would want for me.'

 

“Not for too long,” Iruka muttered, squeezing Naruto. “And I want to leave a note.”

---

Iruka walked purposefully back into the hospital around dusk, Team 7 accompanying him. The three of them had forced him all about Konoha in their quest to make him have fun.

 

He almost hated to admit it, but he had had fun. It was good seeing his former students again, good being out and about. He even saw Konohamaru, who had thrown himself at his sensei in a monster hug, almost wailing. Iruka had kindly pried the child off and told him that, whoever had said that he was dead had either been lying of wishing because he was as alive as he'd ever be.

 

Iruka entered his lover's hospital room and sat in his normal chair, guilt creeping up around the edges of his mind. He had been out, having fun, while Kakashi was trapped in a hospital from a wound that he'd gotten from saving him.

 

Iruka suddenly jumped as a hand was placed on his shoulder. He looked up into onyx eyes. “Don't feel guilty,” Sasuke stated. “He wouldn't want it.”

 

Iruka nodded, only slightly perturbed that he'd been so easy to read. He picked up Kakashi's hand, wincing at the cold feel of his lover's palm against his own. And then something in his mind clicked.

 

He remembered white, nothing but bright, white, all around him as the fact sunk in: he was dying. Iruka stopped trying to move, stopped trying to struggle. Everything that had been driving him in life- the urgencies, his work, his life- it was all gone now, and he could rest.

 

Until he heard it.

 

It started off softly, an almost undetectable change from the rushing noise of the wind. A low tune, rising and falling to a beat, and Iruka found himself listening intently to the song.

 

"With a thousand sweet kisses, I'll cover you."

It was that voice.

"Without you, the hand gropes. The ear hears, the pulse beats..."

Changing songs? But the other was so good.

"Life goes on, but I'm gone..."

Wait...

"Cause I'd die without you."

Silence. The singing had stopped, replaced by weeping. A drop of something cool fell on his hand. Iruka's muddled brain told him it was water, presumably from a tear.

It was Kakashi. He was... crying? He was calling him back! And suddenly, Iruka remembered. And he knew that he had to wake up.

“That's it,” Iruka muttered. Naruto cocked his head curiously at Iruka.

“Huh? What's it, Iruka?”

“If I just call him back...” Iruka mused. Hope flooded through his mind as he tried to recall the beginning to the song.

It was a special connection; their first date. Who'd have known a simple movie could have meant so much to either of them?

“Without you,” Iruka began, “the ground thaws. The rain falls, the grass grows. Without you--"

“The seeds root,” Sakura picked up the tune, looking at Iruka with hopeful eyes. “The flowers bloom... The children play.”

“The stars gleam...” Naruto fumbled, singing along with Sakura as he struggled to remember the words to a song he had only heard once: when Kakashi sung it as a last hope to bring Iruka back.

Sasuke couldn't remember the words to the song. He felt awful, not being able to do anything while the two best friends he had and a mentor did everything they could to bring someone important to them back. He started as he felt a pressure on his hand, and looked over to see that Sakura had grabbed him. She smiled at him gently, assuring him that what he was doing was just fine.

They sang the song quietly and slowly, almost as if when they finished it would be over and there would be no chance of awakening Kakashi from his slumber.

When they reached the list verse, Iruka did not slow down. He began another song, one that he knew Kakashi would like.

“Live in my house, I'll be your shelter,” Iruka sang softly, his melodious voice ringing throughout the small room. “Just pay me back with one-thousand kisses. Be my lover and I'll cover you.

“Open your door, I'll be your tenant. Don't got much baggage to lay at your feet. But sweet kisses I've got to spare. I'll be there, and I'll cover you.”

Iruka felt tears welling up in his eyes as he sang. “I think they meant it, when they said you can't buy love. Now I know you can rent it and at least you are my l-love--"

“Our lives, all my life...” Naruto whispered.

“I've longed to discover something as true as this is,” Sasuke sang.

“So with a thousand sweet kisses,” Sakura's voice joined them, surprisingly steady but soft.

“You feel cold and you're lonely,” Iruka sang in between Sakura's words and the lyrics that Naruto and Sasuke were sharing. “When you're worn out and tired, when you're heart has expir--"

And none of them could miss it. Kakashi's hand visibly flinched in Iruka's as the man's face tensed up.

“Quick, Sakura!” Sasuke shouted, releasing the girl's hand. “Go get someone... anyone!” Sakura was gone instantly, and they heard her yelling down the hall for a medic.

“Kakashi... Kakashi!” Iruka shouted, grasping the man's hand to his chest with both of his own. “Answer me, Kakashi, please!” Kakashi's entire body was tense and shaking. “Open your eyes!”

Kakashi groaned just as Raven banged through the door, two other nurses at her side. Her green eyes widened to the size of dinner plates at the sight of Kakashi. She shook herself out of her reverie and turned to the two other kunoichi. “Anaine, help me stabilize Hatake!” She barked. “And you, go get Tsunade-sama! Now!” The other nurse scurried out of the room and Raven and the woman named Anaine rushed forward.

“How long has he been like this, Iruka?” Raven asked as she went to check his monitors. Anaine slipped an injection into the opposite arm from the one Iruka was holding, and Kakashi seemed to calm down a bit.

“Only a minute,” Iruka said, griping Kakashi's hand tighter. Naruto was clinging to Sasuke and Sasuke was smoothing the boy's hair in an attempt to calm him down. Sakura re-entered the room and was immediately pulled into the two hugging teens by Naruto, who wrapped his arms around her in a hug. “Will he be okay?”

Kakashi's hand twitched again in Iruka's own, and Iruka suddenly found himself staring into a pair of deep blue eyes.

“I... Ruka?” Kakashi whispered, “Am I dead?”

“Kakashi...” Iruka gasped, squeezing the hand in his position tighter. “You're... You...”

Kakashi winced. “Iruka... You're goin' to break it...”

“If that's the only thing that breaks, you should be happy,” Tsunade stated as she walked into the room. From above Kakashi's bed, she beamed down at him. “You're on incredibly lucky brat, Hatake Kakashi.”

“'Know,” Kakashi slurred, looking sideways at Iruka. “I know.”

Unable to hold out anymore, Iruka threw himself at Kakashi in a tight hug. “You're alive,” he gasped through tears. Kakashi weakly hugged him back.

“So're you,” Kakashi whispered by Iruka's ear. “I'm glad.”

“Don't strain yourself, Kakashi-san,” Raven said cheerfully. “You need to save up your strength.”

Kakashi managed a small nod and wrapped his arms around Iruka tighter in response.

“Don't worry, Kakashi,” Iruka said, smiling. “I'll be right here when you wake up.”

Kakashi nodded again, already drifting off to sleep. “Iruka, love you.”

“I love you, too.”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

tsukiraven: --happy dances—

Kakashi: --sighs-- It wasn't that great, okay?

Iruka: --swats Kakashi's head-- Kakashi! Don't say that, she obviously worked very hard in order to finish this chapter! Good job, Raven-san!

Naruto: Yeah, great job, Tsuki-san! Way to go, dattebayo!

Sasuke: Ch. Whatever.

tsukiraven: --picks up pen threateningly-- If you ever wanna get laid you'll say something nice, dammit!

Sasuke: Good...job. --chugs mouthwash--

Sakura: So, Miss Raven, what will you do next?

tsukiraven: I'm very glad you asked that question, Sakura!

Naruto: --rolls eyes--

tsukiraven: Next up is the final chapter in the series; the wonderful epilogue! Then I'm thinking of a few extra chapters! Hooray for extras!

Sorry for another long wait... but I think it was worth it, ya?

Another apology to anyone who thinks that this is overly corny... I don't, but that's... me.

And thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! You readers are the best I could've ever hoped for! Two hundred plus reviews! -glomps each and every reviewer-- Thank you all! You guys rock! Not just the reviewers, but the readers as well.

And thank you to Icy Sapphire15 once again, for sending me a PM that reminded me that I had work to do! I'm not dead! --waves-- I'm right here!

Until next time, peace out!

Extra: tsuki's final chapter!

tsukiraven: -puts RENT CD in disk drive- This is it... the time when I abide by my own shinobi way...—

Eodaiya (tsuki's sister): Oh shut up! You don't have a Shinobi way!

Naruto: Yeahhh... You really don't.

tsukiraven: Oh be quiet, Naruto!

Eodaiya: -The hells are you talking to?

tsukiraven: An ungrateful little orange demon.

Naruto: Hey!

Eodaiya: Whatever. And you quoted that quote incorrectly, dearest onee-san. (note: Onee-san equals older sister)

tsukiraven: I know, I know, I left out a bit. But it's not like I'm trying to open up the eight inner gates or something.

Eodaiya: Oh yes, you are.

 

Owari.