Sunshine after the rain   von Raiku
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                                  Kapitel 1: 
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Title: Sunshine after the rain
Author: Raiku
Beta: alstarryn (thank you )
Rating: It should be K+ to T (don’t really get the American rating...) 
Warnings: A bit angst
Summary: Iruka just wants to train a bit, but everything goes downhill from
there, until he makes a new friend.
Disclaimer: If I would own Naruto some characters would never have died and the
recent chapters would never have appeared.
Author note: There will be more one-shots, which are connected to this one... I
hope.


“Damn it!” One moment the sky was blue, the sun was shining, the birds were
chirping in the trees—rather annoyingly, Iruka thought, and wondered if he
could use them as moving targets—and the next all hell broke loose. This was
not just a simple downpour, it was a full-fledged storm! The sky had gone almost
stark black; sometimes it was illuminated by the zigzag of bright lightning and
the wind was so strong, it made moving forward rather hard. The muddy forest
soil didn’t help much. 

Grumpily, Iruka tried to free his vision from strands of wet, brown hair, which
had escaped his usual ponytail. However, some rather big leaves decided to
attack him, using the force of the raging wind, thwarted his plan He couldn’t
even say how far he’d come in the last five minutes or so, because the
estimated visual range was less than two meters. Luckily—what could be good in
a situation like this?—he hadn’t gone too far away from the village for his
training, but obviously far enough to almost get lost in this weather. 

‘Go train in your free-time,” his Jounin-sensei had said, ‘You need to
improve your aim, so you will no longer be hindrance to your team.’ Ha! Now
Iruka knew, what good it did him to listen to his advisor’s unbelievably nice
advice. Probably he would catch a cold and then fall behind in training even
more. He didn’t dislike rain in general or refuse to do missions while it
wouldn’t stop pouring, but it was better to sit at home and enjoy the lovely
wet weather from a fair—and most importantly dry—distance.

“Ouch!”  The storm was no longer the main enemy, but had turned into an
accomplice. Iruka had found a new one, which wasn’t just annoying, but
dangerous, too! A rather large tree root, had the audacity to jump into his way
and to make him trip over it. The result was a angry, shaking, mud-covered
genin, who nevertheless gently encompassed his hurt ankle.

“Doesn’t seem to be broken...,” Iruka mumbled, but clenched his teeth with
a hissing sound in the next moment, after touching a more sensitive part of his
foot. A couple of minutes the brown-haired boy did nothing but sit in the
pouring rain. Slowly but surely, the pain subsided. 

He could just hear his Sensei ranting about him being too clumsy to ever become
a good shinobi. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time. Sometimes, Iruka
suspected the man didn’t like him. The reason couldn’t be the prank he had
pulled on him the second day after graduating from the academy, involving a
skunk, black paint and a ribbon, could it? 

A strange sound distracted him from his musings and if he hadn’t been as near,
he probably wouldn’t have heard it. It sounded a bit like whining, but Iruka
couldn’t be sure because the rain and the wind were too loud to make out much.
Slowly he crawled closer, after the sound could be heard again, and was swearing
for a second time this day. 

Today was certainly not his lucky day. 

At all. 

A thorn had found its way into his hand and if he squinted, Iruka could make out
a pricky shrub attached to the offender. Now he could also see a small puppy,
which had made the heartbreaking sounds, under it and winced in sympathy. The
small, brownish dog seemed to have tangled itself with the shrub and was
bleeding. The muzzle was red despite the rain and that couldn’t be a good
sign. Otherwise than that, Iruka was unable to make out the all in all condition
of the puppy. 

The brunet stared at the frightened, hurt animal for a couple of seconds and bit
his lip in contemplation. He couldn’t just leave such a small fluff-ball out
here in the rain. Slowly, he extended the uninjured hand towards the shivering,
still whining dog and carefully untangled the thorny branches, which had wrapped
themselves around the puppy’s body. The small dog was shivering harder and
after its muzzle was freed and Iruka extended his hand to the animals head, the
puppy sank its fangs into the proffered hand, forcing the young genin to clench
his teeth again. 

Yep, it was definitely not the best day in his life and the brunet vaguely
wondered, what would go wrong next. 

His voice was softer than he had hoped for, but loud enough to be heard: “Hey,
ssscht, I won’t hurt you, little one. I’ll take you to my home and then tend
to your wounds... and mine.” Iruka really hoped the puppy would calm down
fast, because the little fangs hurt like hell! 

It took a couple of moments and gently spoken words, until the fangs really
retreated. The brunet sighed, feeling the relieve relaxing his body, even though
the wounds on both his hands still hurt. He cradled the dog, which looked up to
him with still fear-filled, brownish eyes, to his chest and only now he saw some
blue cloth, ragged and tangled in the shrub. Iruka didn’t pay any mind to it
and slowly tried to stand up. 

The pain in his ankle, luckily, had almost disappeared and made it possible to
resume the journey towards Konoha. If he ever found it under these conditions,
that was. Another ten minutes later, the rain lessened a bit and allowed a
clearer view of the surroundings. With a groan Iruka noticed, that he had gone
around in a circuit the whole time and was now standing at his starting-point. 

Well, maybe he had to sharpen his sense of direction a little and his aim was a
bit off, too, but at least he was really good at making traps and he had a lot
of  theoretical knowledge stuffed into his head. He couldn’t be that lousy,
right? 

At least now he knew in which direction he had to go and this time it really
worked, too. It took Iruka less than fifteen minutes to reach the gates of the
village, another five to finally stand before his house. It was one of those
run-down apartment buildings, which had only cold water, a lot of cracks in the
walls and barely functioning heaters—if they worked at all. 

He had lived here for about a year—since his graduation—and it was at least
better than living in an overcrowded orphanage. Locks were useless in a village
full of shinobi and Iruka didn’t really own any valuable things in the first
place, because the house he had lived in had been destroyed completely when the
Kyuubi had attacked a bit over a year ago. 

Slowly, the brunet entered his flat, leaving behind a wet trail and a big puddle
of water on the floor. Home sweet home...right. It was more a canopy—he had
lost his home seventeen months ago. With a deep sigh, Iruka fell onto his ragged
couch, let his head fall back and closed his eyes. He didn’t even pay
attention to the fact, that his wet, muddy—former white—clothes were ruining
the couch even more. 

The way back had been too demanding and slowly the exhaustion seeped into his
body to steal away the last of his strength after the equally hard training he
had done before it had started to rain. The puppy, now silently watching its
surroundings, had slid down into his lap. Iruka gave it a tired smile after
re-opening his eyes and carefully put it next to him. ”Be good and wait here
for me, little one. I’ll be right back.” More or less enthusiastically the
brunet got up and scuffled towards his bathroom to fetch the first-aid kit and a
couple of towels. 

A look-over informed Iruka, that all of the dog’s wounds looked worse than
they really were. Underneath the bloody fur were only scratches, which had been
bleeding like hell, but were slowly stopping to do so. The puppy seemed to have
or have had an owner, too, because a bandaged was wrapped around one of the
forelegs, without even a hint of a wound. As gently as possible Iruka cleaned
the scratches - and the dog in general - and wrapped bandages around those body
parts, trying to ignore the whining of his small guest. 

“Phew... in next to no time you will be jumping around again. Let’s search
for your master tomorrow, shall we?” Thoughtfully Iruka looked at the dog,
which had now a brighter brown fur and a white muzzle, but still bloody spots
here and there. 

“Let’s give you something to eat, you must be starving.”  Iruka went to
his kitchen, which was very small and not separated from the main room at all.
Opening his fridge, the brunet frowned at seeing the empty state it was in.
Sighing he took out some of the rare portion of meat, he had bought from his
last pay and put it on a slightly cracked plate. The puppy wagged its tail and
lunged at the food. After the initial shock the brown furry ball seemed to have
accepted the situation and was adapting to it. 

Finally he could strip his wet, dirty clothes, open his now sloppy ponytail and
dry himself off. After patching himself up and putting on some dry clothes,
Iruka took the empty plate to the kitchen and rolled out the futon, which had
been in one corner of the room. Yawning, the brunet rubbed his eyes, switched
off the lights and laid down, letting the dog sleep on the couch. 

“Good night.” A wistful smile curled his lips as Iruka stared toward the
dark ceiling. It had been such a long time since someone had said these words to
him, hugged him, wished him a good morning and really meant it. 

In moments like now, in the silent dark, he could still feel it, see it, even
smell and taste it. The screaming of dying shinobi, the crashing of trees, the
stuck scream in his own fear-paralysed throat, his own violent trembling and the
arm around his body, which had taken him farther away from his parents. 

There was hardly a night in which he didn’t remember and today was no
exception. His throat seemed to tighten, before the first sobbing  sound could
be heard, while tanned hands clenched the blanket. It would not be the last sob,
but Iruka forced himself to not cry. He had cried enough, instead he should be
proud, because his parents were heroes. They had died while protecting their
village! 

Maybe he was proud of them, but why did they have to leave him all alone? 

‘You must not cry!’ was one of the main rules for a shinobi, but how could
he not? He missed them so much, his heart hurt every time he thought about them.


Always. 

Always a smile on the outside, a prank pulled here and there, a laugh, a joke
made in front of his team mates, but it was not enough. It was as if an abyss
was between himself and other people. An abyss of despair and loneliness without
a bridge to cross. 

Another sob slipped the brunet’s lips, but the next moment his breath hitched,
as something wet touched his cheek. Iruka blinked in the darkness and turned his
head to the side. This time the wet something touched his nose and repeated the
motion a couple of times. “It’s you...” he whispered and this time the
smile was small, but a bit more genuine. He cradled the puppy to his chest and
the small dog quietly whined and tried to lick his face again. 

“Thank you...” 

His heart felt a bit lighter, the lump in his throat seemed to lessen. It was
such a nice feeling to be comforted by someone, even though it wasn’t a human
being. Maybe because it wasn’t a human being, which only pretended to
understand, but could not. Maybe he was lucky and the puppy didn’t have a
master after all. Maybe... he was able to keep it. “...thank you...” he
repeated even softer and was finally able to drift off to sleep. 

~°~

The next morning was a typical case of ‘After a storm, the sun will shine’.
It wasn’t warm per se—it was march after all—but at least the sun was
shining brightly, as if nothing had happened. The village on the other hand was
a dead give away. Roof tiles and other things were lying here and there and were
already in the process of being cleaned up. 

The usual fake smile rested on Iruka’s lips, as he went through the streets,
puppy cradled to his chest, asking all people he met, if they knew the dog’s
owner. Nobody seemed to know, or they weren’t even listening to his questions,
too busy cleaning up. Sighing the brunet decided to buy something to eat,
because his fridge was now even more empty than before anyway. 

Seconds before he reached the ramen stand he stopped in his tracks and stared at
the older boy in front of him, who stared back  with a thoughtful look. 
“Uh...” 

“It seems, you have found my eternal rival’s precious, faithful companion,
which he has searched for the last ten hours. I am ENRAPTURED by your YOUTHFUL
SPIRIT and WILLINGNESS to help and am HONOURED to show you the way to my
ESTEEMED RIVAL’S home! If I cannot show you the way, I shall run 100 laps
around the village backwards on my HANDS!”

Iruka felt blinded by the sheer force of that bright smile and took a couple of
steps back just in case. The thumbs-up and this strange pose couldn’t be
normal, right? This sight would at least hunt him in his darkest nightmares...
“And... uhm... who exactly are you?” Maybe Iruka didn’t even want to know,
but forget this encounter had ever happened. 

“I, my YOUTHFUL FELLOW SHINOBI, am Gai Maito, ‘Konoha’s Noble Green
Beast’!” 

Iruka just blinked. And blinked again, because he could. This was more
terrifying than a B-class mission could ever possibly be. “So... uh... what
was that about... uhm... eternal rival and so on?” The brunet barely stopped
himself from biting his bottom lip. The puppy seemed to have an owner, after
all. Damn! He had really hoped it wasn’t the case. 

“This way!” And so the Green Beast took off at a pace he could never keep up
with. After a couple of other speeches of the same manner and being lost until
the older boy came back after noticing he wasn’t being followed, they finally
were standing in front of an apartment building. Unsurprisingly it was in a much
better shape than his own. It seemed to be the right one, too, because the puppy
had started to wag its tail some time ago. 

Now he only had to go to the right apartment and he would be all alone again.
Gai had disappeared after they had arrived, but not without another blinding
smile, thumbs-up and ridiculous pose. 

There it was, the door, only ten meters away. 

Iruka bit his lip. 

Nine meters. 

Iruka clenched his hands.

Eight meters.

 Iruka’s steps became slower. 

Seven meters. 

He stopped. 

“Yo!” 

“Wah!” With wide eyes and half a heart-attack, the brunet turned around and
was face to chest with another boy... or young man.  Iruka couldn’t really
tell with the dark mask, which covered his face. He couldn’t see anything
except the right eye anyway, because the left was also covered, but with the
hitai’ate. The right one was a bit bloodshot, the silver-haired man seemed to
really have searched for his dog the whole night.

“I... uh...” 

“The green idiot told me, you’ve found Uhei, thanks,” the older one stated
monotonously and almost bored and reached out to take the obviously enthusiastic
and happy puppy. 

“Yes...” Now was the moment of truth and even though he should have given
the dog to its rightful owner, he just couldn’t! His grip tightened a bit, but
Uhei squirmed out of it and jumped towards her master, wagging her tail almost
faster than possible. 

Iruka’s arms fell to his sides and an almost silent sigh escaped his lips.
“You’re... welcome. Well, I will go now.” With a bright—and equally
forced—smile, he waved goodbye and started his way home. He could hear a whine
and the next moment he was startled yet again, when the other boy appeared in
front of him out of nowhere, in his arms Uhei. 

“How about I treat you to lunch... you know, as a ‘thank you’ for finding
my ninken,” the older boy asked and reached up to scratch the back of his
head. Iruka stared at him, dumbfounded. 

“I can’t acc-“ A blush creeped up his cheeks, after his stomach agreed to
the invitation by rumbling. 

“Good! Then come on.” Iruka bit his lip again, but followed nonetheless. He
didn’t want to be alone after all. But maybe he should ask the other boy’s
name. Esteemed rival just sounded embarrassing and ridiculous.

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