My challenge for this fic: work on my emotional scenes and develop characters without putting them through a lot of pain and violence to bring out their inner workings and advance the plot. While keeping things interesting. Yes, I like to make my life difficult. This is a different pace for me, so reviews, comments, suggestions and crits most welcome.

---

Iruka went from deep, pleasant sleep to awake and hurling a kunai in less than a second. The metal left his fingers before his eyes were even open.

His gaze darted around the room, hand grasping for the kodachi he kept near the bed. There-

Hatake Kakashi was standing in the doorway. He had one hand out, holding Iruka's kunai by the blade between two of his fingers. Still mostly asleep, Iruka nonetheless felt a flash of irritation that the man's other hand was still in his pocket.

"And hello to you too," Kakashi murmured. "Not that I blame you. Good throw." He twisted the kunai in his fingers, caught it by the handle and casually imbedded it in the doorframe.

"Wh-wha! Y-do-"

"Not a morning person?"

"What the hell-"

"Shh!" In the near-darkness, Kakashi's finger in the cut-off glove hovered like a white exclamation mark against the black background of his mask. "I went to some lengths to not wake the neighbours with my knocking. Don't start bellowing now."

"Is something wrong?!" Iruka struggled to get his legs from the sheets.

"Shhhhh." The single visible eye creased with amusement as Kakashi made 'shut up already? gestures.

Iruka took a deep, whistling breath in and let it out. He closed his eyes, rubbed them, breathed in more slowly and evenly, combed back his hair, opened his eyes again-

Kakashi was still there, and had completely failed to disappear like a good figment of the imagination always should.

"What are you doing here?" Iruka glanced at the clock. Four twenty five AM. Wonderful. He swung his legs out of the bed, but didn?t have the heart to stand up. He was still distantly hoping this was some kind of dream. "How did you get past my security?"

"You do have a lot of fun traps." Kakashi shrugged aimlessly. "It took me a few minutes."

Bastard, Iruka thought dazedly, rubbing the back of his neck and trying to wake up. His heart was still hammering from the adrenaline jolt, but his head felt full of sawdust. Kakashi was right, Iruka was not a morning person. Especially not this type of morning.

"I was wondering if you're not a bit paranoid, actually. You have almost as much 'insurance' as I do at home." Kakashi wandered over to one side of the bedroom and started scrutinizing photographs by the light of the morning that was just starting to break. "But all your traps are non-lethal. Unlike mine. Why do you have so many?"

"I'm a schoolteacher."

Kakashi glanced back at him. "...So?"

"You figure it out," Iruka declared with some small satisfaction. "You are here for...?"

"Oh, nothing much, nothing much..."

Iruka was polite, serious and very respectful of the chain of command. He found himself reciting 'it is illegal to kill a superior officer' a few times before his temper came under control. He stared reproachfully at Kakashi, who didn't notice because he was examining the photographs on the wall.

He'd seen Kakashi around Konoha before; it wasn't that big a village. Before the man became Naruto's new teacher, Iruka hadn't paid him much attention. Kakashi didn't get noticed; he wasn't striking like Kurenai, hulking like Asuma or as aggressive and loud as Anko, to name but a few. And he wasn't as-...well, he wasn't like Gai. But then, nobody was. Until he'd passed Naruto on the survival test, Kakashi was just an occasionally seen figure leaning against a wall at the back of the meeting room with his arms crossed, or sprawling on a bench, long legs stretched out before him, reading.

Since he became the leader of Team 7, Iruka paid him a lot more attention. But he didn't know much more about Kakashi now than he did before.

He certainly didn't know why the man would appear in his room at this hour of the morning. Iruka would have been worried, but if it were something serious, Kakashi would have said so right from the start. So...

"Sir?" Iruka?s civility was slowly waking up. "What exactly-"

"Who's this?"

"Hm?" Iruka focused on the photograph Kakashi was examining. "Oh, one of my pupils, the day he won the inter-village Orientation Race. Junior division"

"Looks like these are all students, colleagues and friends."

"Yeah."

"None of your family."

Iruka stared, not quite sure he could believe what Kakashi had just said.

Kakashi didn't turn around, but he cocked his head slightly. "Sorry, that was indiscreet."

"Yes, it was." Iruka's voice was calm, possibly because he was just too tired and bewildered to fully assimilate any of this.

"You have two pictures of Mizuki..."

So much for 'sorry for being indiscreet'.

"Yes," Iruka enounced clearly. "I do."

"What was his sentence in the end?"

"...Fifteen years."

"You two were close?"

What was this, an interrogation?! But Kakashi barely sounded curious. Like he'd been invited over on a social occasion and was making small talk, instead of having broken in and woken Iruka up.

"We were friends when we were younger," was all Iruka said. It was no more, no less than the truth, but it seemed so few words to describe pain, shock, betrayal, anger, disappointment and some small measure of undirected guilt, that Iruka almost felt like he was concealing something.

"By the way, I just got back from a mission," Kakashi said over his shoulder, moving away from the photographs.

"...Good for you."

A bemused Iruka watched Kakashi wander over to his weapon rack and examine the contents. If the Jounin started going through the closet, Iruka was going to lose it.

"You have a lot of pictures of Naruto," Kakashi commented, taking in the display of picture frames all along the top of the stand, above the two swords, kunai and other tools of the trade. Naruto?s pictures were all together and in an appropriate martial setting.

"Yeah, he likes posing, the little bugger," Iruka said affectionately, momentarily distracted from feeling annoyed.

"Did you ever see the picture he took with the war paint on?" Kakashi asked, turning towards Iruka, his single eye a crescent of amusement.

"No." Why the hell were they talking about this at four thirty in the morning? Iruka rubbed his arms, feeling cold despite the pants and t-shirt he?d worn to bed.

"You should get him to put that paint on again and take a picture. Add it to the collection. It'll be the centrepiece."

"I'm sure."

"Well, I'm off."

"Huh?!"

There was the swish of displaced air and nothing.

Iruka stared at the empty spot. Then he pinched himself. No, still awake. Unfortunately.

He stood up and walked over to where Kakashi had disappeared. He peered around suspiciously, even went as far as examining the small bathroom and kitchen. Nothing. He absently jerked his kunai from the doorframe and tossed it back on the bed. What the hell had all that been about...?

He ended up going for an early morning run. There wasn?t much point trying to get back to sleep.

He was still tiredly cursing all Jounin doted with a warped sense of humour and no respect for hard-working Chuunin when he heard someone calling his name behind him in the halls of the academy. Ebisu was hurrying towards him, shooing out of his way a small pack of early students.

"Good morn-"

"Iruka, I was looking for you."

Ebisu looked grim. A faint prickle of alarm drifted up Iruka?s spine.

"Yes?"

Ebisu dragged him into an empty classroom. Then he sighed noisily and pushed his glasses up.

"I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this, but I think you'd rather hear it here and now from me than run into rumours all day. Hokage-sama said that you and the Uzumaki child were somewhat close."

The prickles became claws. "Yes? I mean, yes, I guess I'm pretty close- did- surely nothing could have happened to Naruto."

Had- had Kakashi come to tell him- had been unable to tell him- no, surely not!

"He's missing in action," Ebisu said bluntly.

The air in the empty classroom seemed to become very quiet; the distant shouts and laughter of gathering children grew louder in that hush. Every detail seemed to jump into high relief; the way Ebisu shoved his glasses up his nose again, though they were already up as high as they could go. The way a book was nudging into Iruka?s wrist from the bunch he carried. The way the light was slanting across the classroom?s floor. Ebisu?s mouth was turned down at the corners. Iruka distantly noted the expression; Naruto had told him that he?d had a run-in with Ebisu a few months back, and Iruka had gathered that it was hate at first sight for both parties concerned. But Ebisu seemed honestly regretful, if not emotionally involved.

"What happened?" Iruka asked quietly.

"Classified. All I can say is that Naruto and the Uchiha boy are reported missing as of this morning. Their team-mate and the leader made it home safely-"

By the way, I just got back from a mission.

"-but they had to leave the other two behind. I'm sorry, Iruka, they are both presumed dead at this point in time. Fortunately they were both orphans- ahem. I don't know how close you were to Naruto, but if you want to take a day off, Hokage-sama said that would be fine."

You should get him to put that paint on again and take a picture. Add it to the collection. It'll be the centrepiece.

"No, that's alright, Ebisu-san. Thank you for your concern."

"Oh. Good man, good man. Right, I'll be going. Ah, you are not to repeat any of this; it's still classified. I know how rumours fly around the mission desk; you would probably have heard something about it before the day was out. But the details are confidential, and besides, I don't want young Master Konohamaru to learn about this until it's confirmed. There should be an announcement tomorrow. The Hokage and I are, shall we say, bending protocol by telling you now."

"...Thank you. I'll be discreet."

Iruka watched Ebisu leave, then he headed towards his class.

It wasn't entirely unexpected. Iruka knew first-hand how dangerous the Shinobi path was. He'd prepared himself to losing Naruto as soon as he'd tied that headband around the kid?s head. You didn't make friends with another Shinobi if you couldn't keep in mind the fact that he or she might eventually die in action. Some ninja chose not to get attached to anybody; others enjoyed their friends as much as they could while they could. Iruka was of the latter category, but he?d never blinded himself to the fact that Naruto might not come back from a mission one day, even at Genin level.

Iruka repeated the mantras to himself, the ones that allowed you to control your emotions, disassociate yourself from feelings of pain or loss and keep functioning. He taught them to his students from the second year onwards. Naruto had been particularly appalling at learning them.

Naruto.

It just didn't feel real.

And Iruka caught himself hoping - really, really hoping - that Kakashi's casual visit last night meant it wasn't.

---

Iruka flipped slowly through the report, reading snatches here and there. The handwriting was scratchy with the occasional lazy mistake.

'...ran into a group of around fifty armed and hostile individuals at sector 94-21 on the outer border...I decided that beating a retreat and coming back for further observation would be more useful than an immediate attack...during the third scuffle with the pursuing troops, we managed to simulate the deaths of Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto...left behind to gather intelligence on enemy movements...?

"Anything wrong with it?" Kakashi asked him casually.

"No, it's fine." Iruka shut the report and absently rubbed at a coffee stain on the cover. "I must admit I'm curious though."

"Curious?"

"I can understand why, in those unexpected circumstances, you left one of your team behind to spy on the enemy camp; it was fairly safe, as their forces were pursuing you and Sakura."

"Unexpected circumstances? That's a nice way of saying 'Intelligence completely fucked up, our mission went from a C-rank to an A-rank again, and since I was careless enough to let the enemy recognize me, I had to draw them off and leave two kids behind to do my job for me and find out what those guys were doing there in the first place'. Unexpected circumstances. You do have a way with words."

The eye was a pleasant crescent and the voice was calm, almost light-hearted. It was so out of synch with what he was actually saying that Iruka was left gaping at the man.

"Kakashi-sensei, I never meant to imply-"

"You didn?t, I did. And you have to admit that Intelligence fucked up," Kakashi said easily, and looked around the empty missions room with the air of one dismissing the subject.

"Our Intelligence Bureau is under a lot of pressure these days," said Iruka, very diplomatically. He hesitated, but he had a feeling Kakashi neither wanted nor required Iruka's reassurances on the other part of his statement. Kakashi had said it without bitterness, almost as if he wasn't affected. It was...strange, and Iruka felt a prickle of a more personal curiosity which he ruthlessly suppressed.

"What I was wondering was...why Naruto?" Iruka stared at the report as if he could get the answer from it. "I can understand why, in a pinch, you would choose to trust Uchiha Sasuke with that mission. He's a very serious and enormously talented young man. But...well, Naturo..."

"Sasuke was in charge of the actual intelligence gathering."

"Then...why leave Naruto?" Iruka wondered if he wasn't being impertinent. The mission had been declassified a few days ago, since it turned out that Team 7 had only stumbled upon a group of bandits and low-class missing nin lurking on the borders of Fire country, instead of something more sinister, like the start of an invading force. Iruka was free to discuss the facts now, but maybe Kakashi would not like his decisions questioned.

Kakashi shrugged. "Well, there were a lot of the bastards, and they weren?t pushovers, even if they weren't much above Genin level. If Sasuke slipped up and had to run for it, it would have been tight, and I wasn?t around to help."

"But Naruto-"

"-is very, very good at pulling surprises out of thin air," Kakashi finished, a bit enigmatically. "The two together are quite resourceful, even when they drive each other - and me - crazy."

Iruka wanted to talk about this some more ? maybe dig around for something a bit more positive about Naruto than the kid?s abilities at being surprising and driving teachers to distraction ? but Kakashi probably wanted to leave. It was late; Iruka was the last one at the mission desk this evening and had been about to close up and leave himself when Kakashi had sauntered in with his report, giving Iruka the perfect occasion to address an issue that remained between them.

"I wanted to thank you. For dropping by the other day," Iruka said, looking up at the other man.

"What for?"

"...To tell you the truth, Naruto is no relation of mine, and he drove me up the wall ever since he joined my class, but I...we've become friends over the years. I was glad to know that there was nothing to worry about."

The Hokage had sent out a team of Anbu as soon as Kakashi had told him about the small force camped out in the woods two days from Konoha. The Anbu had relieved the two boys and sent them home the next day. In all, four days had elapsed between the morning Ebisu spoke to Iruka, and the moment when Naruto, an irritated Sasuke in tow, had shown up at the village gates, tired, dirty, a bit bruised but still exuberant. It would have been four days of mourning for Iruka if Kakashi hadn't shown up that night.

"Nothing to worry about?" Kakashi sounded perplexed. "Whoever told you that?"

Iruka blinked.

Kakashi rubbed the back of his neck and glanced around the empty room. "Only myself, the Hokage and the Anbu knew the kids weren't dead, and none of us should have told you. We didn't know how serious this was; if this was the start of an attack, there could have been spies in the village. Their mission was top-secret. Confirming that Naruto and Sasuke were dead was the best way of keeping them safe. I certainly didn?t tell you anything."

"...Of course not." Iruka cleared his throat. "Funny, then. I must have had a dream the other night. A premonition that Naruto was okay."

"Oh right. Funny things, premonitions."

"Yes. I was very glad I'd had it. It kept me from worrying too much. I...would have been rather sad otherwise. He's not the best pupil, but he's...he tries hard."

"Very hard," Kakashi agreed, a mite sardonically. "He was worried about you, actually. He didn?t want you to think he was dead. That was the first thing he thought of, after the whole 'oh boy, I have an A-class mission? flap was over."

"Did he? He should have been worrying about his own skin, alone out there with just another Genin." Iruka managed to keep most of the warm smile from his face; Shinobi never showed emotions and so on and so forth.

"Well, if that's all...?"

"Yes." Iruka smiled straight up into the mask and hooded eye. "Thank you. For your hard work, I mean." He patted the report.

"Sure," Kakashi answered with a wave as he turned to leave.

Iruka watched the man go, then he started to pack up the desk. He knew a bit more about Kakashi now. And he rather liked the guy. Behind that laconic exterior, the man seemed to be kind, caring and understanding.

Iruka was left to think so for a few more weeks. Then the Hokage decided it was time to hold the Chuunin exams.

---

TBC...

The chapters will be somewhat self-containing (no cliffies! Yay!), mostly a series of scenes or vignettes in the developing relationship. I don't know how fast I'll write this, it will depend on inspiration. Probably not very fast at all.

Sidenote: The title comes from a song which bears little or no relation to the fic (since the song talks about a guy murdering his chick and going to jail, I thought I'd mention that it has no bearings on the story...) I used it because I'm very, very bad at coming up with titles (suggestions welcome by the way...), because I liked the words 'long time man', and because they match the slow development of the relationship between the two main protagonists in the story. Themes of guilt, remorse and redemption might also lurk in the background, but I won't harp on them. Once again, comments most welcome.

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