Until You Came

The Hokage's Orders

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Iruka was heading home from a long day at the academy when an anbu approached him and told him to see the Hokage immediately.

He sighed, he was tired and wanted to go home flop on his bed and fall asleep. He pushed that thought out of his head and headed towards the tower. 

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He silently crept through the narrow corridors of the Hokage tower. He could feel his heartbeat increase rapidly to match his nerves, he hadn’t done anything wrong.. so why would the Hokage want to talk to him?

He stopped at the door and took a deep breath and calmed his mind, stopping it from overthinking. ‘I’m a Shinobi’ he thought, ‘I can talk to my Hokage.’ Iruka swallowed the forming lump in his throat and knocked on the door.

“Come in!” A loud booming voice came that belonged to his beloved Hokage.

He stepped inside and closed the door silently behind him. He bowed “Hello Hokage-sama, you called for me?” Iruka was nervous, he didn’t think he had done anything wrong but the Hokages stare was intense and it made him rub his scar, his habit when he was anxious.

The Hokage noticed this and smiled lightly “I assure you Iruka, you have done nothing wrong. I just have a favour to ask you."

Her face went back to it’s serious line with her hands under her chin, her head resting on top of them.

“O-Of course Hokage-sama, what do you need?” Iruka said politely. He was still nervous, he didn’t like that glint of mischief in her eyes.  

“Iruka, do you know what a touchstone is?” She asked in her serious tone.

He did in fact know what a touchstone was. Before he was a teacher at the academy he thought he wanted to be a touchstone so he took some training for it, later he discovered that he’d rather do something that involved teaching so he stopped midway through his training and took up his teaching position he has
now.

“Yes I do. Why do you ask Hokage-sama?” Iruka was nervous. He didn’t like where this conversation was going.. 

“I want you to be Hatake Kakashi’s touchstone.” 

Iruka froze. Why Kakashi? Ever since he had that argument with Kakashi at the Chunin exams he’s been avoiding him like the plague. He did want to thank him somehow though.. for putting his life on the line to save him. He didn’t like Kakashi but he respected him and to be honest.. he owed him his life.

“Iruka?”

That snapped him out of his thoughts. He took a deep breath and looked the Hokage in the eyes and with the most fake confidence he could muster he said, “I’ll do it Hokage-sama, I’ve already had my training to be a touchstone so I think I can do this.”

Tsunade smiled, “I knew I could count on you Iruka. Kakashi has already been informed. You are dismissed.” He smiled sheepishly and bowed
“Thank you Hokage-sama.” He left silently.

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It was dark, the air was crisp, it was almost fall. He loved the fall. The smell of the outdoors and the coziness of his home, it made him feel at peace.  Iruka fumbled with his keys to unlock his apartment blindly searching for the lock. Once he got inside he flicked on his kitchen light and toed his shoes off. 

Iruka was deep in thought when he mindlessly walked to his bathroom and turned on the shower. He stripped himself of his clothes and walked into the warm stream of water.

‘How am I going to do this?’ Iruka was frustrated, he didn’t know how to deal with this. Whenever they talked it turned into some sort of argument. He scrubbed at his scalp until his head hurt, thinking of all the possible scenarios that could happen.

He finally turned off the water and grabbed the white towel that was waiting for him on the sink and wrapped it around his waist. 

 He slowly walked to his bedroom and dug out some pajamas from his dresser; he slipped them on and flopped back onto his bed.

He decided this was a good decision, Kakashi always seemed broken in his eyes and the least he could do was make him feel a little more human after his cruel missions. Tomorrow he’d find Kakashi and have a civilized talk with him, no more arguing. Maybe they could even be friends one day?
Iruka was getting ahead of himself now, a high ranked Jonin would not want to be friends with a lowly ranked academy teacher. 

He scowled at himself and slipped under his covers. He usually read before bed but he was exhausted from the long day and he knew tomorrow wouldn’t be any less stressful. He turned his lamp off and closed his eyes, soon enough he was in a deep sleep.

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