NEVER ALONE

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of it's characters.

A/N: I'm not exactly sure how old Naruto was when he got back from Jiraiya's training. I though 15 so he's fifteen in this fic, if I'm mistaken…please overlook it or let me know.

For Kyuubi….who is offended with the way he's written… in Shippuuden he acts nicer to Naruto, making me think that since Naruto can get almost everyone to like him maybe Kyuubi could befriend him as well…and care for him and leaded the little scene inside here. It's just my vision and I like Kyuubi :P

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Rain poured down on the deserted streets of Konoha as a storm held house there. Trees moved in the strong fierce full wind rapidly and the river water collapsed against the dam strong enough to break through and soak the already soaked streets even further.Electricity had long since broke down and behind every window soft candle light could be seen.

It was then that a figure became slightly visible as he ran down the streets, calling out a name desperately.As he reached the end of the street he stopped and looked around, trying to see something through the heavy rainfall.Thunder rumbled through the sky and a flash of lightning lighted up the academy teachers view for a moment.Wherever he looked he couldn't find the boy he was looking for.

When the first thunder had sounded a few hours ago Iruka had decided to go to his old student to keep him company. When he gotten to the boy's apartment the door had been broken down and the place a mess. It had been easy to see that a struggle had found place there and blood was spread through the room with an alarming amount.

Iruka had followed the blood trail to an alleyway where a great amount of Konoha Shinobi laid unconscious. But the blond had been nowhere to find and the blood trail was washed away when the rain had started making Iruka very worried and bringing him where he was now. In the rain searching for his old student.

He took a deep breath and decided to check the caves near the dam. It was one of the only places he hadn't looked yet. Another lightning stroke and the academy teacher started running again. He started calling the blond again but soon stopped as he realized he wouldn't be heard above the storm. Checking every cave there was he cursed under his breath when he didn't find any trace of him.

Now completely desperate a sob escaped his trembling lips. He looked up when lightning stroke again and saw the Hokage mountain. "Give me a sign where he is, please." He whispered as he looked at the face of the fourth.The thunder stopped making Iruka look up. Lightning stroke in the quiet sky but this time several at once and they all landed on the same spot.The moment the last strike had fallen the thunder restarted as hard as before.Iruka blinked a few times before he ran towards the spot.

As he ran over the dam the escaped water almost dragged him into the river and he had concentrate his chakra so he wouldn't drown. He looked around him to catch a sign of the boy as he spotted more unconscious Shinobi on the dam. Something red catch the corner of his eye and he turned to see something covered in red standing on the water.

"Naruto!" Without a second thought he jumped on the water and ran towards him. From close by he could clearly recognize and feel the horrible chakra, even though it seemed to be exhausted and weak.The boy was completely surrounded by the chakra but his eyes were closed as he slowly walked towards Iruka.

As he reached Iruka he stopped and his eyes opened making the teacher gasp. Fire red eyes looked into his and three tails became visible. But it was easy to see that Naruto wasn't the one in charge. Trembling Iruka took a step back. "Kyuubi." He breathed. The red eyes blinked once before tears appeared. It was so strange to see the demon cry that Iruka stopped walking backwards. When he spoke it wasn't with the hateful harsh brutal voice that Iruka remembered from so long ago, but with a voice filled with regret and sadness. "I tried my hardest to protect him. I really did. There were so many and he was already so badly wounded when he finally accepted my help. I really tried but I'm afraid it wasn't enough."

He looked up to Iruka again and closed his eyes. The red chakra disappeared as he fell forwards. Iruka moved forwards quickly to catch the boy. As he turned him in his arms he noticed the several wounds covering his body.He lifted the boy up with almost no difficulty, making himself make a note to get the kid to eat more.

Quickly he made his way to the Hokage tower, knowing that Tsunade-sama would be there.When he got there he kicked open the door to her room without bothering to knock and walked inside.In the weak candle light she looked up from her papers surprised. "Iruka...Naruto, What happened!" She jumped up and ran towards them. "Help him please." She took him over before she ran towards the medical teams with Iruka closely behind her as she entered the room.She laid Naruto down in the middle of the room and gathered the medics who all surrounded Naruto to begin cure him.

Iruka stood by the wall watching them worried, one of the medics seemed familiar to him but he couldn't place her right then and blocked it out . "Sir, you have to leave." One of the medics touched Iruka's arm. "I'm not going anywhere. So you better return you're attention to Naruto." "The demon kid will be fine. Demons don't die that easily."

Iruka slapped her hand away as he looked at her angry. "Naruto is not a demon. He is one of our own Shinobi and a hero for this village. But most of all, he's like a son to me and I will not allow anyone to speak about him like that so get out!"He yelled. "You can't seriously care about that demon." The women seemed shocked. "Yes I can and I don't want you near him any longer so get out."The women opened her mouth to object when Tsunade turned to her. "Get out." "But Hokage-sama." Tsunade's eyes shot fire. "No buts, you heard him. He doesn't want you near his kid and neither do I. The brat is my family and I will not let you talk about him like that. Get out and report to me late so I can deal with you."The medic nodded and bowed before she whispered. "Yes Hokage-sama." Quickly she left fearing the wrath of Tsunade.Tsunade gave a brief look to Iruka before she turned back to what she was doing and ignored Iruka's presence.Iruka sat down in a corner and closed his eyes as he listened to Tsunade's orders while praying for the boy's survival.

He awake when he felt a hand on his shoulder lightly. Looking up he saw Tsunade looking at him tiredly. " He's stable now and asleep. I brought him to a room." Iruka nodded as he rubbed his eyes and stood up. All his muscles objected as he did and he winched. "How long have I sat here." Tsunade cracked a soft smile. "A few hours. It took us a long time to stabilize him so we could treat the wounds." Iruka nodded again. "Will he be alright?" "Yes, I think so. Something was trying to help us cure his wounds while we were busy and helped us greatly by leading us directly to the most dangerous wounds."

"Kyuubi." Confused Tsunade looked at him. "The nine tailed, what does he have to do with this?" Iruka explained what had happened by the river. After he finished Tsunade nodded. "So the Kyuubi cares. How come I'm not even surprised that our brat befriended the demon inside him?" She shook her head as Iruka smiled. "Only our Naruto can do that." "Yeah."

"What's gonna happen to that medic?" Iruka asked as they walked to Naruto's room. "She'll learn the hard way not to talk badly about him and pass the message to the rest." "You care for Naruto a lot too don't you?" Tsunade stopped walking as she turned to Iruka. She was quiet for a moment before she smiled. "I care for everyone in this village." She said. Then she leaned towards Iruka and whispered. "There might be a few I care a little more about though and just maybe the little brat is one of them."

She moved back to her former position and walked on leaving Iruka behind a little perplex. "Aren't you coming?" "Huh? Yeah." He quickly walked next to her again and they reached the room.

Tsunade opened the door. Surprised Iruka saw Sakura sitting next to the bed. "Sakura…" The pinkhaired girl looked up. "Iruka-sensei." She smiled but Iruka could easily see that she had cried. Silently he took place on Naruto's right side while Sakura stood up. "You don't have to leave because of me." He quickly said.

Sakura smiled and shook her head. "I have to get back to work anyway. I just didn't want Naruto to be alone."

She walked to the door before he turned around. He gaze rested on Naruto for a moment before she looked at Iruka. "Iruka-sensei…Thank you." Confused he looked from Naruto's still form to his former student. "For what?" "For finding him and saving his life." She paused for a moment before she smiled and looked at Naruto again. "For being part of his family." She blushed. Not knowing what to say Iruka looked at her. "I only did what's natural, I just brought him here..." Sakura interrupted him with a shook of her head. "No, it's not natural. I can name multiplied people that would have left him there to die. I hate it how they treat him and he still keeps being nice even though it hurts him. What you said in the medic room means a lot, both to him and to me. I'm glad that he has more people here who care for him other then me."

Iruka blinked but before he had a chance to react she had already left through the open door. He looked at Tsunade. "Where did she go and did she mean what I think she meant?" He trailed of when Tsunade shook her head. "While training Sakura I noticed how much she cared for the brat, she sees him as her brother. And if I'm not mistaken she went to see Rock Lee, he trained to much and is hospitalized due to exhaustion. I swear that brat is bad influence on the entire rookie nine."

She signed. "Right…back to work. "When the brat wakes up, tell him he better not scare me like that again or I'll have him pose as a model for Jiraiya's dirty books." With those words she left as well leaving Iruka with Naruto.

He shook his head and took Naruto's cold hand in his as he looked at the boy. Bandages covered his body under need the hospital shirt and on his face he a small bandage on his left cheek. But he seemed to be peacefully asleep and Iruka smiled. "Looks like you found yourself a loving family." He leaned back into his chair and looked at the storm that hadn't lost any of it's strength.

After a while he felt a soft squeeze in his hand and he pulled himself out of his thoughts to see two half open cerulean eyes look at him tiredly. "Naruto." "Hey Iruka-sensei." His voice sounded raw and rasp, like he had screamed a long time. A chuckle and a sob escaped Iruka's lips before he threw away all his dignity and hugged the surprised blond tightly. He ignored the startled yelp he gave but did loosen his grip a little bit so he wouldn't hurt the other to much. It didn't take long before Naruto buried his head in Iruka's shoulder and held his shoulders tightly but awkwardly. Iruka could easily tell he hadn't been hugged a lot in his life.

When they let go of each other again Iruka sat back in his chair and cleared his troth. Naruto still seemed shocked but got over it when Iruka cleared his troth. "So...you're staying with me for a while, no arguing." He added when Naruto opened his mouth to protest.

"And Tsunade-sama sends her love to you." Suspicion appeared in Naruto's eyes as he looked at Iruka. "Did she threaten me to have to pose for Ero-sennin?" Iruka chuckled as he nodded. "Glad to know she cares." He pouted making Iruka chuckle harder.

"How can a fifteen year old look so incredible cute?" Naruto smiled. "Simple. By having a really weird family." Iruka blinked. "What do you mean?" Naruto chuckled.

" I have an insanely Baa-chan, an incredible perverted Ero-sennin. An almost as perverted Kakashi-sensei, A penis obsessed Sai, A incredible strong sis, an obsessed with revenge brother, a murderous sand Gaara and an worried father." Naruto looked at Iruka as he said that last part. Iruka blushed at Naruto's statement. "That still doesn't explain." "Sure it does. Someone has to be the cute on in the family." He grinned. "Ow, what was that for?" Iruka gave him a soft playful punch on his head. "And why am I not a cute one?" "Not going there, ask that on Kakashi-sensei." Iruka blushed. "You're one crazy kid." Naruto smiled before pain shot through him and he winched.

Iruka immediately turned worried again. "Are you alright?" Naruto closed his eyes for a moment while he adjusted his position a bit and smiled to his old teacher. "Yeah I am." Iruka sat back down. "What happened today?" Naruto frowned. "The usual. I heard them coming but because of the storm I couldn't really sense how many of them there were. When I did find out it was already to late and they attacked. Cornered me by the river where Kyuubi reacted and then everything is dark." Iruka nodded. "I found you on the river, Kyuubi in charge, he had tried to heal you but couldn't." Naruto looked at Iruka before a soft smirk crept up his face. "So the damn fox tried to help me huh, remind me to thank him then." He yawned.

"Tired?" Naruto shook his head, but Iruka could see he was pretty tired. "Why don't you sleep a bit?" "I don't want to." "Why not?" Naruto bit his lip as he looked at the blanket. His eyes fell on his hand that was still being held by Iruka. "Cause…if I go to sleep…you will leave again." Iruka blinked before he smiled. "Silly boy, I'm not going anywhere." Naruto looked into his eyes. "You promise that?" Iruka looked at him and saw the uncertainly in the cerulean eyes and thought about Sasuke. "Yes I promise you that. As a matter of fact, I'm going to sit right next to you tonight."

Gratefulness replaced the uncertainty and Naruto smiled as he turned to his side. "Good night, Iruka-sensei." His eyes closed almost immediately and his breathing became even and calmly. Iruka pulled his chair closer to the boy and brushed some hair out of his face. "You're not alone anymore." He smiled as he took the boy's hand and closed his eyes, waiting for sleep to come for him too. "You're never alone again."

The End

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Alright…when I started this fic…I was trying to write something angsty but I think it turned into something a lot sappier then meant to

Oh well.

For the description for Naru-chan's family…don't kill me…I love them all and didn't mean it! tomatoes thrown at me ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! runs and hides

Right

Anyway, please let me know what you think of it, all reviews are highly appreciated and flames will be tolerated….just…remind that when you do…I'm not too crazy about fire :P

Bye bye