Two men dressed in silver armor flew through the night finding a place to rest. In one of there hands there was a baby with blonde hair covered in a bundle of maroon fabric. Finally reaching the ground they limped closer to a safe spot where they could rest. Leaving a trail of blood behind them.
"Mitsuki, is they child okay?" The man with brown hair asked holding onto the other for support. The other didn't respond. "I can walk on my own if it's to much to bear."
The other clicked his tongue. "Just shut up and let me bring you both to a safe place. Don't let go of my shoulder."
The brown haired man sighed at his inability to help. Mitsuki seemed to stop and had a look of relief in his eyes. "We're here."
Mitsuki limped forward and set down the brown haired man. Then he slumped down at the other tree and carefully set the child down beside him. He ravaged through his bag to find bandaging for their wounds. He took them out and fortunately a big stream was right near them.
He shortly returned with water that was the size of a shoe box floating above him. Sitting in front of the brown haired man and started to take off his clothes.
"Mitsuki, you don't have to! I can do it by myself!" He exclaimed, pushing the others hands off. Mitsuki grabbed Iruka's hands and gave him a stern look.
"Tell that to that hole in your abdomen." He sassed at him.
"Like your one to talk!"
"Mine isn't as bad as yours. I can still move around for a short amount of time." The other lowered his hands and let him have his way. Mitsuki sighed. "Besides if you do it you'll only do it wrong and I'll have to fix it. Just sit tight Iruka and let me do this quickly before I bleed out."
Iruka smiled and helped him take off his armor and shirt. He used the water he brought and used small portions to go over the wound and clean it up. He separated the the dirty water from the clean while using bits of the clean water to clean him up. 'He's truly amazing.' Iruka admired.
He then disposed the dirty water by throwing it back into the stream. Mitsuki started to unwrap the bandages and wrap them around Iruka's torso. Once he finished he took off his own armor and started to clean his wound. The whole in his chest wasn't as big as Iruka's, a bit smaller. He repeated the process on himself, struggling.
"Can I help?" He asked. Mitsuki huffed he didn't want to ask for help, he was stubborn like that.
"I don't need to ask someone that who can barely move to help me." Iruka gave out a light sigh. He reached over and forcefully fixed it up for him.
"Thanks, but I could have done it myself."
"I know you could have. The baby, how is he?" Mitsuki moved the fabric. He peeked at the baby. He had little blonde hair and big blue eyes, little whiskers on his cheeks. He resembled his father so much.
"The brats still sleeping." He informed the other.
"He's not brat, he's our young master and an adorable one at that." He corrected him. Mitsuki huffed and rolled his eyes.
"I'm not calling this brat Master till he's able to beat me." Pointing to himself.
"He could do that in a couple of months." Iruka sneered.
"What did you say!"
"Nothing! Nothing at all. I was just saying we should rest."
"Whatever." He turned his head and huffed. They both fell asleep.
—————
In the morning the were awaken by shaking, a lot of shaking and yelling.
"Iruka! Mitsuki!! Wake up! Wake up!" A little blonde boy yelled pouncing back and forth between them. He grabbed there faces and while it hoping that it would wake them. "I have to show you something!! Wake up!"
The hazily opened there eyes, seeing a little blonde toddler pouting. He had big blue eyes and little whiskers on his cheeks.
"Naruto? What happened?" Iruka asked him. Mitsuki clicked his tongue.
"You'll never believe what I found! Look! look!" Naruto said holding up a baby Fox. It was small and cute just like Naruto and it had red eyes. Mitsuki rolled his eyes and tried to turn over but his wound hurt when did.
"Isn't it cute! Isn't it!" He said shoving the fox closer to his face. Iruka smiled.
"Yes, yes it is, not as adorable as you, but close." He said patting the little blondes head. Naruto was happy but looked over at Mitsuki because he didn't say anything. The blonde started to frown.
"It's very cute Naruto. Right Mitsuki?" Iruka looked over and glared at him. Mitsuki ignored him and tried to go back to sleep. "Right Mitsuki?" He said again in a more stern voice.
Mitsuki sighed and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Sure brat, it's cute." Naruto smiled and hugged Mitsuki.
"I know right! I haven't even got to the best part yet!" He jumped up and down.
"What is it?" Iruka asked.
"I turned into a fox too! See!" Before they could ask the blonde boy focused really hard and with a sudden poof of air he turned into a little fox. He still had his bright blue eyes and his little whiskers, but instead of white tips on his feet and tail, it was black. Iruka was proud and clapped for Naruto.
"Wow Naruto! You learned how to change forms!" He praised. Naruto suddenly changed back, loosing balance and stumbling back and grinned. Mitsuki clicked his tongue.
—————
The two men were sitting down like any other day. Unable to move stuck in the one place until there wounds could heal, which did not seem to happen. They just bared through the pain and it always seems to get more numb each day.
'The sun is shining, it always does.' Iruka thought staring up at the sky through the spaces between the branches and leaves. He turned to his blue haired friend with a question in mind. "How long has it been?"
Mitsuki stayed quiet for a moment and turned the pages of his book. "If I remember, it's been about 12 years, 67 days and 13 hours." Iruka raised his eye brow in surprise.
"Only twelve? It's feels more then that." Mitsuki only hummed and continued to read.
"Do you think they'll find us?" Iruka stared at the leaves and how the light shines through them. How they easily fall with a single gust of wind. Mitsuki flipped the pegs and nodded his head.
"Yeah."
"I wonder what's taking so long?" The leaf broke off of the branch landing directly on his forehead. He picked it up and the one leaf became two. "Something probably happened." He answered.
Iruka let the leaves get picked up by the wind and rest his had by his side. Right away his eyes focused on the bit of bandage sticking out from his shirt. Iruka covered the hole in his shirt that exposed his bandages with his hand and looked over to Mitsuki. "Mitsuki you know we're....our wounds aren't healing."
"I'm surprised you just noticed." He said gliding his eye across each line of text.
"Yeah, well it's not that I didn't notice, I just didn't want to-." Iruka stopes himself, he wasn't to much of the straight forward type , but when the time came to it, he had to step up. This probably wasn't one of those times but the question ran through this head over and over again since the day they arrived.
"Do you think we're gonna die?"
Mitsuki stoped reading and put his book down on his lap. He looked over at Iruka surprised that he would ask such a thing out both of them. It was concerning.
"Iruka?" Iruka quickly acknowledged his words and fixed his expression.
"No! It's nothing, I was just saying stuff." He played off. Mitsuki still stared at him with an expression Iruka has never seen before. Concern.
Then he turned his head back in front of him and picked up his book. Iruka felt relieved that the other didn't look to much into to it. The brown haired man stared up the at the leaves again and sighed.
"No." Iruka was confused. He looked to Mitsuki. "We're not going to, besides if you die who's gonna take care of the kid?" It was a simple response but really proved something to Iruka. He really is kind.
"What?" Mitsuki said agitated as to why he kept on staring at him. Iruka smiled.
"Thank you Mitsuki, I feel better now." He quickly became more annoyed and yelled at him.
"I wasn't doing it for you! I was just saying so you don't bring down my mood." He said vexingly.
"Of course!" Iruka responded smiling.
"Don't agree with me!" He chuckled and went back to his thoughts. 'It's the first time you called him kid, instead of brat.'
'12 years, 67 days and 13 hours. I think I'll remember that.'
—————
Mitsuki closed his eyes ready to take a nap, but he kept on getting annoyed at his friend next to him rustling around. It was the middle of the day and Iruka was anxiously waiting, turning his head at every sound he heard. His huffing and puffing made it a challenge for the other to take a peaceful nap.
"Can you STOP making so much noise!" Mitsuki yelled.
"Sorry, but I told Naruto not to be long but it's been like a hour. It's almost time to eat." He said. Mitsuki looked at him with a questioning face.
"And?" The blue haired man asked. Iruka was flabbergasted. "Anddd he's a young boy. What if he's hurt?" He said only making himself more anxious.
"I'm sure he's fine." Mitsuki reassured him. He just sighed and kept on looking out for the blonde boy.
5 min later
"IRUKA! MITSUKI!" The sobbing of a young blonde woke Mitsuki up and turned on Iruka's motherly instincts. Iruka searched in the direction of his scream till he finally spotted him. Naruto walked at a fast pace, crying.
"Naruto!? What happened?" Iruka asked.
"Brat?" Naruto saw them and ran towards them. His right hand dripping blood leaving a trail. To Iruka it was like a deja vu.
"Iruka! My h-hand." Naruto held out his trembling hand to them. Iruka went pale. "It h-hurts!"
"I-I uh, ok um let me j-just, ah." The brown haired man panicked, he didn't know what to do. Then his savior answered. "Iruka let me handle this. Kid come here." He said sighing.
Naruto sniffled and walked over to Mitsuki. He looked at the kid and sighed. Gently grabbing his wrist, he wiped Naruto's tears and examined his wound.
"Mitsuki, it hurts a lot." He cried.
"I can help you but only if you can help me too, ok?" He said using his magic to bring water from the stream. The blonde boy nodded. "I'm gonna help guide you so you can heal it with your powers."
"Heal it myself? How do I do that?" Naruto questioned.
"Remember how you made the flower start to grow, do the same thing but just focus it on your hand." The blue haired man used the water to clean the wound. "Ok, I will try." Mitsuki gave him a smile and patted his head.
"Now try to focus on it. Think about it healing." Naruto closed his eyes and tried real hard to imagine it. Suddenly the a light shined from his hand. Iruka was amazed that it was working and Mitsuki held an expression that made it seem like he new he could do it in the first place. The light dimmed down and Naruto opened his eyes. They closed in to see the outcome. The wound was healed but only a scar was left behind.
Mitsuki smiled again. "I did it!" Naruto cheered and he jumped, wrapping his arms around Misuki giving him a big hug. "Good job kid."
Iruka looked at them and felt a sense of relief that everything was okay. Naruto let go of Mitsuki and turned to Iruka and showed him his hand. "Look! Look! Do you see! I healed it all by myself , and Mitsuki helped." Iruka smiled.
"Yes, I'm so proud of you." Naruto grinned at the compliments and then went back to the blue haired man. "Hey Mitsuki, how did you know I could do it?"
Mitsuki thought about it then sat Naruto down to explain it to him. "I'll tell you a story, it's about an idiot." Iruka felt a sense of discomfort, assuming that "idiot" was him.
"This idiot was too kind for his own good. He belittled himself infront of another idiot who was weaker then him. And the other idiot knew that. The first idiot always tried to be nice to the other idiot no matter what he did to keep him away. To the other idiot he was a constant reminder of how horrible and weak of a person the other idiot really is." Iruka stared at him dazed. Mitsuki avoided looking in his direction.
"That's seems so sad and lonely for the both of them, but what does that have to do with you knowing I could do it?" The blonde boy asked tilting his head and him. Mitsuki patted his head and continued.
"Do you know what the moral of the story is?" Naruto thought about it but simply shook his head. "They both failed to acknowledge there true strength." Naruto was still confused.
"It's important for soldiers and all living beings to know there true strength. The only way to do that is to know there strengths, along with the things that make them weak or what they lack and accept them as a whole." Mitsuki explained to the blonde boy. Naruto looked at him dazzled he sounded really wise and he started to understand...kind of.
"What happens if they don't?" Naruto asked.
"Well say someone only sees there weakness they envy those with strength, and slowly the start to lose sight of themselves chasing after strength. People who only see there strength have a constant need to brag and putting themselves on display. They too start to lose sight of what matters to them, who they are. Some cases more severe then others, but in short, it's like descending in a hole. The deeper you go the more you can't see. And sometimes they can climb there way out and sometimes they can't." Naruto took his time processing the information nodding his head.
"You'll get it one day brat. No go off and do whatever you do." He said reverting back to his tsundere self. Naruto went off to play and Iruka sat there silence, he seemed lost in thought.
—————
"Pssst- Mitsuki!"
Someone whispered in the blue haired mans ear. Annoyed he turned the other way.
And again they started to whisper.
"Hey, pssst! Mitsuki!"
He turned over and open his eyes. In front of him was a little blonde tugging at his sleeve. "What are you doing still up?" He asked. Naruto smiled.
"Can I sleep with you tonight?" He asked using his puppy dog face. Mitsuki sighed.
"No." He said sternly. "Go sleep next to Iruka like you usually do." Naruto pouted.
"Please!" He stared at him begging, Mitsuki sighed again. "Fine." Naruto quickly went over to the other side and cuddled near him. Mitsuki hated himself for saying yes, but he let it go and tried to go back to sleep.
"Hey Mitsuki." Naruto said. Mitsuki groaned that his sleep keeps on getting interrupted. "Yes?"
"About the people who can't see," Mitsuki was confused at what he was talking about but then it hit him so he hummed as a response. "You said that the were falling and they couldn't leave cause they couldn't see, but some could and some couldn't, right?"
Mitsuki looked at him suspiciously. "And?" Naruto seemed to be deep in thought, serious about it but still half asleep.
"What if I save them? What if I heal there blindness and help them see again?"
The blue haired man was surprised about what Naruto said. It made him smile warmly and stroke his head. "You're a good kid. Sometimes you might be able to but sometimes you can't. They're just to far out of your reach." Naruto seemed a bit disappointed.
"But don't worry about it. Just sleep." Naruto quickly drifted off into his dreams. Mitsuki sighed.
'I wish you the best Naruto. I truly wish it.' He thought staring at the stars in the sky.
—————
The day started just as any other. The sun was shinning, leaves flowed through the wind, but today felt off. Iruka sat lost in thought like usual and Mitsuki was taking a nap or trying to.
"Mitsuki can we talk?" Iruka asked suddenly. Mitsuki groaned. "Later idiot."
"Mitsuki we need to talk." He said again more sternly, he brushed it off. "Can we do that later?" He whined.
"Mitsuki! For ONCE listen to me!!" He yelled, Mitsuki was dumbfounded he turned to him seeing what's wrong.
"Please..."
Tears fell out of Iruka's eyes. "Iruka? What wrong?! What happened? Is it your wound? Is it hurting?!" He asked many questions but Iruka didn't answer, he just cried. Mitsuki crawls over to Iruka and grabs his shoulder to shake him. "IRUKA!! What's wrong?!"
The most concerned he's ever been for anyone....and it pained Iruka more.
"W-we're gonna die!" He said sobbing. Mitsuki held him close to try to comfort him as much as he could. Even if his wound hurt more he still did it.
"Iruka what happened?" Iruka started to cry less and pushed back Mitsuki and the blue haired man retreated to his spot.
"I have to do it." Iruka muttered. "What are you talking about?"
"The soul seal."
Mitsuki's eyes widen, he would never think it had to come to this. It couldn't.
"No, your not doing that. You still have few years left! They'll come for us!" Iruka shook his head and kept and wiping the tears and more came.
"By that time it'll be to late. It's already been fourth years. Our duty was to protect him and if I don't do it now then I won't have enough in me to do it later." He said in a shaky vioce. Mitsuki shook his head. It couldn't be happening. "I have to do this and you can take care of Naruto. It's my du...t..y..."
Iruka's eyes once again started to overflow and was trembling. "I-I know I have to d-do this but....why? Why am I so scared?!" Started to clench his hands on his clothings, trying desperately not to shake but it couldn't be helped. "I don't want to be alone for the rest of eternity! Not again!" He cried out.
Mitsuki stared at him too shocked. He didn't know what to do until he thought of something. He scooted over him and put his hand on his shoulder.
"You won't be alone Iruka." He said with a sweet smile. "Cause I'll be here with you."
Those words shook Iruka to his core. He widened his eyes. "NO! You can't!" He protested. "Who will take care of Naruto!" Mitsuki still smiled at him.
"We will always be here with him, we won't leave, and you won't be alone."
"You won't change your mind." Mitsuki shook his head. "If your doing this then so am I idiot." Iruka smiled. Silence filled the air and Iruka's hicks. He stoped crying and wiped his tears. The wind blew across the forest making the leaves fall one by one. In the mist of this silence he heard him speak up.
"Iruka?"
He hummed his response.
"I'm not leaving you alone and I won't back out but....damn it! I'm scared Iruka." Mitsuki shed little tears. "Don't be. You'll have me and I'll have you." He said calmly still small hicks from how he was crying. Mitsuki glanced at him. Iruka held his hand out to him and smiled warmly. His eyes still puffy and tears his face flushed yet he smiled warmly. He reached out his hand to me.
"Whenever your ready." He said. Mitsuki hesitated for only a second before grabbing his hand and smiling with him.
"Together." The both said and suddenly the life lifted from there eyes. There hand fell the ground still holding on to each other. Slowly their grip started to loosen and their head tilted to the side. They were no longer breathing.
At that same time rustling came from the forest and a small young blonde boy came out. With shiny blonde hair, blue eyes that reminded you of gems, beautiful tan complexion and little whiskers on his cheeks. Smiling he came out with some flowers humming and skipping along. Suddenly he dropped the flowers.
"I-Iruka? M-Mitsuki?" He stuttered, Naruto's eye started to well up. He could tell, he could sense it. The were gone. Naruto dropped to his knees and started to cry uncontrollably. His cries echoed and-
"Why did you cut it off?"
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Sorry this took so long to post, there was school and other stuff, but hot diggity dog that was a long chapter. Way long, like 3600 words! Any-who bye!
~Zara