A/N :

Sorry for the late update AGAIN! –bows- It’s taking me forever to write this chapter in the middle of hectic days. As usual, UNBETAED again. Hope u enjoy it though!

- Izky

Chapter 15 – The Lost Boy : 1,891 words

Tsunade groaned as she tried to focus on the medic scrolls before her for the ninth-time or so and failed.

Damn it..... As I expected......there’s nothing I can do...

She had read anything she could in the Hokage library and never found anything that could help that Lee-student to recover again.

“What’s with the awful face, old woman?”

“Get lost, old man.” She had already sensed the other Sannin’s presence for quite some time, but she was too busy reading to bother giving him any response.

Jiraiya pouted before leaned on the desk, facing her. “And what’s made you quite stressed? It’s only your fourth day being the Hokage you know.”

Tsunade scowled back at him (and no, his pout wasn’t cute damnit!) and threw Lee’s file at his head. “For your information, there’s a gennin need to undergo an operation and I still don’t know how I could manage it!”

Jiraiya’s playful self changed as he opened the file (Tsunade ignored his awful expression seeing the genin’s photo) and readed it quickly. “Hm.....this sounds complicated even to me.”

“Anything medical is complicated to you.” Tsunade added wryly.

“....but never complicated enough to you, right?” Jiraiya raised his eyebrow back, a small grin on his face. “Just do your best, Tsunade.”

Tsunade ignored the fluttering inside her stomach as she accepted the file back. Might entertain the idiot now or she would never could go back to her job. “What do you want, Jiraiya?”

Jiraiya’s grin got wider. “I heard that you already had a talk with our Iruka-chan.”

Tsunade’s eyes softened at the mention of her female student. It had been yesterday when they had their first talk since her leaving Konoha years ago.

“She has grown into a beautiful kunoichi.” She eventually said.

“Well....she got it from her sensei, obviously.” Jiraiya winked at her, a hint of teasing in his tone. Tsunade ignored it.

“Then, what is it? I’ve tons of files to read, Jiraiya.” The blonde woman growled.

Jiraiya chuckled, choosing to sit on the files-filled desk. “So....what do you think?”

“What?”

Jiraiya merely raised his eyebrows.

Tsunade stared back.

There was on-going silence. Until the female Sannin relented.

“Fine. Fine. Both of us talked enough. That’s all.” Tsunade grumbled, not wanting to tell her moment of weakness before her teammate.

Jiraiya nodded, a small grin on his face. He knew Tsunade enough not to push, but the slight upturn of her lips was enough telling for him.

“I’m glad.”

Tsunade’s eyebrows twitched a bit before she turned her gaze back to the files. “Anything else, oldman?”

Jiraiya chuckled before he finally remembered the only thing left to ask. “And what do you think of our girl’s copy nin?” He bluntly asked.

Tsunade simply shrugged. “If he hurt her, I’ll simply break his bones. Both of the definition. ”

Jiraiya’s laugh was followed by her teammate’s only response. “I’ll second that.”

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After the silver haired Sannin’s leaving, there was no trace of his presence in the room but a hint of smile on the Godaime’s beautiful face. A new determination filled her being as she tried to find ways to handle Lee’s therapy.

Thanks old man.

Although he was awake already, Tsunade hadn’t let Kakashi go home, claiming that the silver haired nin needed to be monitored for any side-effects at least few days more. Iruka agreed as she faithfully visited and accompanied the still tired silver haired jounin in-between her free time after teaching the Academy, which in return pleased Kakashi greatly.

It was merely two days later when the two was informed that Sasuke was finally awake, thanks to Tsunade’s ministration.

Wanting to see one of her favorite ex-students in her part and fulfilling a certain invalid jounin’s request in the other, Iruka made a visit to Sasuke’s room.

“Good afternoon, Sasuke-kun.” Iruka smiled as she sat beside the bed. A grunt was her only answer.

“How’re you feeling?”

“.....Fine, sensei.” The raven haired genin answered solemnly.

If it was any other people, they wouldn’t detect anything past those simple words. But it was Iruka, the woman who practically raised Sasuke in the Academy since he was eight year old boy. She could feel there was something wrong with Sasuke.

“Sasuke-kun? Are you....alright?”

“.....................” The boy was silent still.

There was silence in the room for a while, before the gennin finally said what was bothering him.

“I’m weak.”

“What do you mean?” The emotionless way the gennin said those words was enough for Iruka to know enough to treat this .... conversation very carefully.

Sasuke sighed, brushing the bangs off his dark eyes as he stared down at both his hands. “That Sand-gennin was so fucking strong. Yet that dobe Naruto....” He stopped his words as a frustated sigh followed that sentence.

Understanding dawned at Iruka as she nodded, letting Sasuke continue his tirade.

“And then Itachi....... I’m not fucking strong enough to kill him. Shit... It’s just that-“

“You feel like you can do nothing to help.” Iruka’s gentle tone finished his thought, for once not minding the kind of language her ex-students used.

Sasuke lifted his eyes to see his sensei. “I am weak, sensei.”

If it was anyone else, say Sakura or Naruto or –hell—Kakashi, Sasuke would never ever admitted that. His Uchiha pride prevented him to do so to the others. But here, facing that familiar gentle tone and those soft brown orbs, Sasuke felt like he was eight-year-old again, sniffing at the small wounds on his knee as the ever gentle and kind female sensei treated and kissed the wounds better.

“Oh dear...” Gently and slowly to not startle the boy, Iruka opened her arms and drew the silent boy into her arms, brushing the spiky yet soft black hair lovingly. “No, you’re not weak, Sasuke. Don’t say that.”

Sasuke didn’t resist those arms, instead burying his face into the chest (and ignoring the little voice inside his head that commented how soft his ‘pillow’ was) and gripped the chuunin’s waist tightly.

It was few moments like this that Sasuke was grateful that he has Umino Iruka as his sensei. The gentleness and softness he felt now reminded him strongly of his own dead mother, where abilities, expectations, and failures never mattered between them but simply love.

Okasaan.....

“Ssh...it’ll be alright Sasuke....it’ll be alright...”

It was until Sasuke heard those soothing words and felt those gentle fingers on his neck and hair that he finally was aware of the wetness against his face. Then a simple sentence formed in his mind.

Naruto, Kakashi, you’re damn lucky bastards.

“So.....how is he?” Kakashi smiled behind his mask as Iruka came for her nightly visit. He patted the sheet next to him, closing the Icha-icha book as he waited for his chuunin’s response.

Iruka accepted the silent invitation, sitting and leaning against the jounin’s shoulder when both of them leaned against the headboard. “He’s troubled enough, Kakashi.” Tiredness was evident on her face and her words.

Nuzzling the familiar ponytail gently, the jounin circled his arm around the tired chuunin, pulling her closer. “Do tell.”

Iruka sighed, snuggling more into those pale arms she had grown fond to these last few days. “He thinks that he’s weak – can’t do anything against Gaara and Itachi.”

Kakashi nodded, understanding dawned on his visible eye. “It’s unavoidable for him to think like that. Still, I think there’s only few people out there that can match against Gaara or Itachi.”

Even I’m not sure that I can fight against them without help.

“He’s so used to win by himself that these defeats tore his pride as Uchiha.” Kakashi concluded, understanding better than the chuunin herself what Sasuke really thought of. Till now, Sasuke was the student that he understood the most. They shared similar personality and background, at least in Kakashi’s mind, which made it easy to know how the Uchiha thought and acted.

Iruka nodded, fingers brushing softly against the thin material the jounin wore as patient. “I just hope that he won’t be too depressed about it.”

Kakashi ‘hm’ed, thinking for a minute before finally deciding to do something about his student’s situation. “I’ll talk to him.”

There’s more to life than strength and ambition, Sasuke.

“Mmh.” Was the chuunin’s only response.

Sensing the tired state of his chuunin, Kakashi’s visible eye curved. Smiling behind the mask, he raised his own hands from her hips as he slowly pulled down the mask. Iruka opened her mouth to make a comment, but Kakashi stopped her. His hand tracing up the side of her face, his fingertips teasing the edges of her flesh and jaw bone. The pads of his thumb carefully tracing over her lips as he looked at them again, although this time it was with more of a hungry expression.

“Kaka-“

“Ssh...”

And the rest of conversation was lost as the couple drowned in their own bliss.

THE NEXT DAY.....

She was busy teaching in the Academy when the news hit her, courtesy of a rather anxious Genma standing behind her class door.

“What!? Sasuke is kidnapped?! How!?” Iruka whispered frantically, dark brown eyes filled with surprise and worry were sharp against brown-honeyed ones.

Genma struggled to keep his lazy composure as he stared back at the clearly worried expression of the soft and beautiful chuunin. “Kakashi didn’t say anything about it. He only gave me a massage for you : ‘Stay at the class and don’t worry. The search party is managed at the moment.’”

Don’t worry my Ass. Genma knew it was futile attempt from Kakashi’s part to send the news to the sweet female kunoichi. He himself didn’t understand why Kakashi –of all people- needed to inform Iruka, Sasuke’s ex-sensei, about the kidnapping. Everyone was aware of how worried the kunoichi could be and sending the massage wasn’t helping the matters.

“Genma-“

“Look. Iruka-kun, you’re needed in your class right now. We’ll inform you again later okay?” He didn’t dare to call her –chan again after Iruka’s last ... outrage. He wasn’t suicidal enough.

The worry was still evident in those dark brown eyes, but Iruka simply nodded. “Alright.”

With that, Genma nodded back before vanished in the swirl of wind.

Leaving a nervous Iruka and the whole of confused class.

Sasuke...!

In the other place, Kakashi was busy leading his team to search for the missing raven-haired Uchiha, running and jumping along the lines of trees to find Sasuke.

He had been informed by Tsunade barely an hour after Sasuke’s missing appearance was confirmed. Tsunade already dispatched a team of gennins (including Naruto) to find him, but they was clearly outmatched against the five cursed children of Sounds, direct subordinates of Orochimaru himself, a fact that Tsunade only confirmed after half an hour sending the gennins out.

Damn, an hour is a long time!

Not waiting anymore, he ignored his aching muscles and bandaged body and grabbing his jounin gear and all, running into the outer border of Konoha. He only barely grabbed Genma (who was guarding the gate along others chuunins Kakashi didn’t bother to identify) on shoulders to send massage to Iruka. She deserved to know.

“Kakashi!! This way!” Pakkun’s voice alerted him as the nin-ken ran toward North direction.

Nodding at Pakkun, he followed.

Sasuke! Naruto! Hold on!

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Tbc....

A/N : I know it’s MUCH shorter than usual, but I think this’s the best to stop the chapter here. Poor Sasuke...... _ Alright, until next time! - Izky