A/N: Hey there~! The idea of this fiction hit me when I was just literally sitting and doing nothing, so I thought, why not write it? xD Even tho I promised myself not to start any other fictions while I'm working on "I don't trust you"...Well, as you can see, I broke that promise since KakaIru is my OTP and couldn't help but write it... :'3 Just so you know, I've changed some things from the original story, well, actually quite a lot, they are pretty obvious when you read so I don't think that there's any need of a list of the changes. The main thing is that they meet in a different way, I'm not gonna give any hints in this note tho. Have fun reading~

Iruka was having a bad day. He was on an investigation mission but suddenly lost sight of his teammates, then he realized that he was in a forest that he's never been before and neither has heared of it. On top of that, the once clear sky was turning into a cloudy and blurry one, like it was just about to rain. The first thing that he thought about was that he was caught by a genjutsu, not only that he lost his friends but he also felt like being watched. This was only a C-rank mission so it shouldn't involve any fights. That's what he told himself to calm down his senses so he can find a way back to his teammates, or at least out of the forest.

He let out a frustrated sigh when he knew that he can't do anything but take one of the paths in front of him. Yes, the road split into three ways leading to different areas. He took the left one hoping that his luck would at least smile at him for this one. Wrong. He heared a shuffle coming from the big bushes. He slowly moved his hand towards his pouch and was ready to get a kunai out. Suddenly, a man jumped out attacked him from the same bush but Iruka blocked it and backed out in a swift movement. He observed his enemy and assumed that he was another missing-nin from Kirigakure. But he couldn't see much before he felt someone against his back. His eyes widened and his body froze when he realized that a hand holding a kunai was ready to cut his throat. He kept calm and didn't show any fear. He knew that they could be even some kind of S-rank criminals so he just decided to play along. And he didn't plan on dying on a C-rank mission.

"Spill it out already, where is he?" The one behind them spoke with a deep threatening voice. Iruka thought for a second, 'What..?'.

"Umm, who..?"

"You know damn well what I'm talking about!"

"You and your pals are after us, aren't you?" The other one asked, the obvious anger in him boiling. Iruka realized that he was in a deadly misunderstanding but it's not like they would believe him. 'Well, worth a try, it's not like I can do anything else..'

"I really don't know what you two are-" he was cut off by his own whimper when he felt a burning sensation on his throat and guessed that he pressed the kunai against his tan skin.

"Look, you better talk or this is the end for you!"

'What am I supposed to do, I really have no idea who he is..' Iruka clenched his jaw. He didn't feel any presence close and he was almost sure that no one was around to help him. But, miracles happen. With the speed of sound, the man holding Iruka in place was stabbed in the waist and just collapsed. Before the other one could react the ninja who came out of the nothing made some hand signs and a lightning appeared.

As fast as he appeared he headed towards the missing-nin and hit him.

"Raikiri!"

It was obvious that the enemy was dead. Iruka looked at the man who was wearing an ANBU uniform and had an ANBU mask and tatoo. He sighed in relief, an ally.

"T-thank you.." Iruka said, still not believing that the man was hiding so well that he couldn't feel his presence and took down the criminals easily.

"Are you hurt?" the ANBU asked when he saw the cut on his throat lightly bleeding.

"Um, no but-" Iruka started but was cut off my the other.

"Good," he simply said "and if you're lost, get back and take the path on the right." Then, with a puff of smoke, he dissapeared.

Iruka realized that he was staring at the place where his ally was seconds ago, he shook off every thought in his head and headed back to the split-into-three road so he wouldn't have to deal with any more missing-nin. While walking, he looked up to the sky. The gray clouds were retreating, while the sun showed up behind them, shining brightly. Iruka smiled, maybe it wasnt such a bad day after all. His musings were interrupted by a familiar voice that was calling for him. Was that Mizuki?

"Iruka!" the silver haired chunin ran to him after he spotted the brunette. The other two, Genma and Raidō followed him.

"Where the hell did you wander off to, you idiot! Where you daydreaming again? You made us worry!" Genma frowned.

"S-sorry guys, won't happen again.." he nervously scratched the back of his neck.

"Eh? Iruka-kun, are you okay?" Raidō asked, "What happened to you?" He pointed at the cut on Iruka's throat.

"Don't be so kind to him, he lost so much of our time!" Genma said. "You should be kind only to me 'cause you're mine.." he whispered quietly so that only Raidō could hear him, who in return grinned.

"Hm? Oh, this...You see, I..." he paused for a moment, asking himself if he should tell them, maybe ANBU didn't want to spread this, I guess they were spying the area, he thought. "It's nothing serious, really, it just happened that the path I took was pretty overgrown and I tripped."

"Clumsy as always..Be careful next time!" Mizuki said, "Well, whatever, let's continue with the mission." The others nodded and started looking around for any clues.

-after they returned from the mission-

The Third looked at the door as someone knocked at it.

"Come in."

The door opened and a chunin came in.

"Oh, Iruka! You're back! How did the mission go?"

"Good. Hokage-sama, all of the clues lead us to one conclusion. Everything is a doing of some Kirigakure missing-nin." He stated and gave the written report to the older man who took it.

"I see.." There was a moment of silence while he was reading. He then rised his gaze back to the younger one and noticed the scratch on his throat.

"Tell me, what happened?" He saw the other tense at the question.

"Nothing serious, I just tripped-"

"You've never been good at lying, you know?"

"Um...I was attacked by two of the missing-nin. They asked me if I knew where he is. Then, out of the nowhere, a silver-haired ANBU appeared and helped me. I could just thank him and he disappeared."

"I understand..How come he didn't erase your memory? An ANBU wouldn't risk to let anyone spread rumors around about a secret mission. Perhaps he knew you?"

Iruka shook his head, "I don't think he had any time to deal with me, he looked like he was in hurry."

"Hn. One more question, do you remember how the missing-nin looked like?"

"Well, I could only see one of them, since the other attacked me from behind. He was tall and tan. His hair was black, shoulder-lenght. Oh, and he also had a V-shaped scar on his left cheekbone. That's all I remember."

"Okay , Iruka, thank you, you're free to go and rest, you and your team, you deserved it." The Third said. Iruka turned and was about to exit the office when..

"Oh, and by the way, you mentioned it before, you aren't going to apply for the jōnin exams. Why is that? Do you not feel ready yet? Because, if you ask me, it wouldn't be hard for a ninja like you."

"I'm glad that you think that, Hokage-sama but I already gave my decision a lot of thought and I'm sure." He smiled brightly and left the office with a confused Sandaime in it.

-3 months later-

It was a nice day out. The sun was shining high up in the sky and the birds were chirping happily. Iruka decided to go out for a walk since he didn't have any missions and felt rested. He put on some casual clothes, reminding himself how it would feel if he wasn't a ninja-a white T-shirt and a pair of old worn-out black trousers he found in the dresser. He left his apartment and headed to the busy part of the village. When he realized how crowded it really was, he wasn't really used to it since he preffered to walk through the rooftops. There were many different shops, was it for food, clothes and etc. Just as he passed by a sweets shop he heard..

"Mommy, mommy! Please, buy me!" It was a little boy, probably around 5, who was asking his mother to buy him some candies.

Iruka could only smile softly at the sight. He's always had a thing for kids. He remembered what the Hokage said about him being a jōnin. But Iruka was planning to teach at the academy and watch his students become strong shinobi. The new generation of Konoha. The thing that made him sad is that he didn't have his own children. He just wasn't a person who's interested in relationships, not only that but him being a shinobi and all...he had a risky life and his life could be in danger any second. He couldn't adopt for the same reason, that, and the lack of time made it even harder.

He turned and walked towards the fields, looking for a quiet and peaceful place where he could relax. There were seperate groups of children. One of them was of boys playing tag. He could hear the happy voices yelling and the chuckles which showed that they were having a lot of fun.

Other girls were having smiles on their faces while picking up flowers and singing songs. It was nice to watch them, it made the chunin happy and distracted him from his tiring and stressful life.

Suddenly an idea hit him. There were training grounds 10 minutes away from where he was but no one really went there because of their location. Iruka often went there to train when he was still a genin. But when he arrived, he was really surprised. He hadn't seen anyone come here in years, even the grass had grown tall but, unexpectedly, there was someone.

~Cliffhanger :^)

A/N: Whee~ I'm done with this chaper...At first I was planning to make this a one-shot but...I can't...I just can't keep a story short. u.u"

To make some things clear, as you've noticed, this is not a canon and here are some of the changes which are pretty obvious anyways:-
-Iruka is 20, while Kakashi-21
-Genma and Raidō are still chunin, if they weren't I wouldn't send them to a C-rank mission xD (aw yes, I ship those two so hard)
-Mizuki is a real best-friend of Iruka and doesn't betray him afterwards
-Iruka still doesn't have the scar across his nose(for now :3)

The story is going to be around 3-4 chapters, or at least for now. I have no idea when I'm going to update, I have to update my other story too and I haven't even started yet..and school...is here...;-;