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Safe House	By : dolphina23 Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 986 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Naruto manga and anime do not belong to me and I make no money writing this.

Chapter List
- 1
- 2
Iruka finds Naruto, nearly blind from trauma he can't remember, living on the streets. He and Kakashi open their home and watch him as he overcomes his disability as well as the cognitive and emotional impairments and witness his blooming relatioship with a boy he met on a train.

I do not own any part of Naruto and make no money from the
creation of a fiction based off of its characters.

Author�s Note: Oh,
here I go again, and I just got done telling a friend of mine how awful it
would be to try and keep more than two stories straight at once. Oh well,
here�s number three! Again, a Naruto and Sasuke love story interwoven between
the plot and Kakashi and Iruka�s stories. As stated, it also features Kakashi
and Iruka, which is the only other pairing I currently favor aside from Kakashi
and Kurenai, strange as that may sound. The eye of the mind doth see clearly
and far, so gifts aplenty there be, for all who choose to become my prize. Enjoy, good fellows and grand ladies!

Safe House

Chapter�� 1

�� A peaceful
silence enveloped the neighborhood as a dark, late model sedan drove slowly
through it. The night was frigid, frosting up windows and forcing many late
night wanderers to scurry for cover, huddling into their clothes and hunching
their shoulders against the cold. The driver, a male of about thirty with
shoulder length brown hair that he kept in a high pony-tail and warm, brown
eyes along with a distinctive scar running across the bridge of his nose,
shifted in his seat. His eyes burned and the warmth from the car�s heater made
it even worse. Trying not to succumb, he shifted again, feeling his eyelids
droop lazily. Yawning, he flipped the heater to the fan and started it full
blast. He needed to stay awake. Even though it was barely ten, the day had been
long and he wanted nothing more than to hurry home to his lover and a warm bed.
Suddenly, a streak of color passed into his headlights and he slammed on the
breaks, the screech of tires and the slight fishtailing of the car�s rear axle
jolting his heart into a rapid fire pulse. Breathing hard, the man looked
around him along the street. The same coloring caught his eye again as he
spotted a blonde haired boy, perhaps ten or eleven, scooting into the alley on
his right. Jesus, a kid, I nearly hit a
kid.
�� Stopping
the car, he got out to follow, just to make sure he hadn�t done any real damage
despite not hearing or feeling an impact. But, shock could take a while to
recover from, and for all he knew, they both might need medical attention.
Rubbing his shaking hands together and locking the door, the man started off
toward the alley. It abutted another street on the other side that traveled
under an overpass. He could hear a train in the distance calling a warning to
any transients who�d decided to use the shortcut the tracks offered into and
around the city. It was far easier for them to travel that way when walking
since the railways snaked throughout the city quicker and more efficiently than
the streets, usually bogged down by traffic and pedestrians on their way to
work or to run errands. Not a great place to end up even for an adult let alone
a child. The overpass shook visibly as the train ran overhead. It was one of
the few spots that offered both protection and a heightened sense of danger. A
transient on the tracks would have no where to go if they misjudged the timing
to get across the gap, especially if they were under the influence of alcohol
or drugs, as many often got pulled into. The man shuddered when he sighted a
fire set inside a metal trash barrel and the blonde boy shaking a bundle on the
ground. When the bundle stirred, a scraggly, but marginally cleaner looking
older man with graying and dirty hair emerged and took the bread the boy
proffered him. It looked highly questionable, even from this distance.�
�� Hey,� he
called out to them. The sudden sound brought terror to their hooded eyes as
only fearing death by sleep or a cold night on hard pavement while having your
blanket stolen could do. The boy, looking positively terrified, leapt back from
the man and crouched on the ground shaking and whimpering slightly.
�� It�s okay.
I�m not going to hurt you,� he crooned, raising his hands up to his chest. �I
nearly hit you back there and I just wanted to make sure you were okay. My
name�s Iruka, Umino Iruka.�
�� Iruka
offered a hand out to both the man then the boy. When it wasn�t taken, he slid it
calmly down to his side, taking care to keep both his hands in view at all
times. Being a social worker had benefits in learning to read people well and
using that to confront the situations he saw on an almost daily basis. Speaking
to a homeless person could be both the same and very different from talking
down an angry drunk husband from sending his wife through the window for
calling the police on him. Many of them did succumb to alcohol or drug
addiction, after all. It was a hazard of living on the streets with little hope
of ever stepping off of them again in their lifetimes. Then again, sometimes
the addiction was what brought them out in the first place. Iruka was sure that
this was not the case for the boy, or the other one, for that matter. He watched
as the elderly man heaved himself off the blankets and moved to stand in front
of the boy protectively.
�� You leave
him alone! He aint done n-nothing to you! You go on! Get outta here!�
�� Iruka rose
his hands up gently, trying to placate the man and calm the boy down. The
shaking had increased. He was breathing heavily and squinting, probably from
fear of capture and the heat of the fire. Iruka backed off a little but stayed
in a position where he could watch them both at the same time.
�� Can you
tell me your names? I�m not here to start trouble, but the child should be
someplace safe, somewhere that will afford him a chance to go to school. You
haven�t been to school in a while have you?� Iruka addressed first the man and
then the boy.
�� The child
looked confused and canted his eyes at the older man before whipping them back
to Iruka only for them to go out of focus. He began blinking furiously and
shaking his head before squinting again. Iruka wondered if there wasn�t
something wrong with his vision. He had no real time to do or say anything else
about it however. The child listed to the side suddenly and collapsed at
Iruka�s feet when he rushed forward to catch him. The old man was shouting in
his ear and looked ready to bolt when Iruka calmly picked up the boy and headed
to his car. Turning back, he tried to gain his attention through the panic.
�� He needs a
hospital. If you really care for him, I can help, not hurt.� Fishing in his
back pocket for his work identification, he showed it to the man.
�� I work for
the district, as a social worker,� he leveled the badge and the card, safe in
their protective leather wallet, at the man. He backed away from Iruka,
frightened and looking only at the badge. Iruka sighed and started walking once
more. He knew very well that when it came to any member of authority, even if
it wasn�t a police officer, the homeless tended to become defensive and
uncooperative. At least he could make sure the boy found a safe place, even if
it was only temporary until they had a chance to search the system for either
his parents or another more suitable arrangement.

�� Iruka
reached for his phone once he had handed the boy off to a nurse at Okada General Hospital. Tokyo was not the best place to have found a
missing child that appeared to be foreign. Japan itself was notorious for its
lack in enforcement of custody orders, dual parent signatures for passports,
international arrest warrants or extradition requests. He sighed as he keyed in
his home number. Even more than the frustration he felt at his superiors
refusing to contact international agencies, he wanted to at least be sure he
had a place to go back to once he was finished talking to the staff and the
child himself.
�� Hello?� A
lazy drawl came over the line on the third ring and Iruka smiled. His life
partner, Hatake Kakashi, was indeed still home and hadn�t run off with the
nearest piece of ass on the street.
�� Hey, there.
It�s me.�
�� Obviously,�
his lover grunted the reply. �This had better be good. Did you find a lost
puppy or are you calling to tell me you�ll be late because some drunken nutcase
decided hitting his wife or kid would make a great stress reliever for the
night?�
�� Despite the
crass, jaded language, Iruka could hear the edge underneath. Kakashi was
worried for him and for anyone he might have had to make an unscheduled visit
to council or arrange placement for as part of his job.
�� Uh, well,
the thing is . . . now don�t freak out . . .�
�� Iruka,�
Kakashi warned. He knew fairly well as a detective assigned to Tokyo�s Shibuya district
Violent Crime Division, a portion of officers and detectives who investigated
everything from murder to muggings to rape, what people could be capable of.
The worry had increased in his voice and Iruka rushed to reassure him.
�� It�s not
me, don�t worry. I�m at Okada General. There�s a kid here who I think might be
an international abduction, but there�s a lot of red tape to cut through at the
office and my boss wants a name to run through the system, to make sure.
Otherwise, he�ll go to a group home for the night until I can find him
placement in the morning.�
�� You�ve
already checked with the Children�s Rights Council?� Kakashi asked dubiously.
�� Iruka
rolled his eyes. Did Kakashi really think he had gained the recognition as one
of the best child advocates and one of the top social worker�s for victims of
violent crime, again mainly women and children, by accident?
�� Yes,� he
said through clenched teeth, �they have nothing on him so far but you know how
they work. There�s no ID either, and the boy passed out before he even told me
his name.�
�� Passed
out? Where the hell did you find him?� The worry Kakashi felt was back and
stronger than before.
�� Underneath the train overpass, near Shinjuku Central station.
You know I pass by it on the way home.�
�� Yes, but
that would mean you had to follow him to the street that runs parallel to it
and connects through a couple of alleys to get to the overpass. So, want to try
again?�
�� I know how
to get to the overpass from Shinjuku station by foot, thanks,� Iruka snapped
not wanting to reveal just how he�d gotten involved in the whole mess.
�� Besides,
the child�s terrified eyes and constant head turning and blinking had worried
him. If he really had major vision problems he would be hard to place. Most couples,
or even single foster parents, looking to take on a foster child balked at the
thought of medical issues they would have to take care of. Iruka always felt
like reminding them that just because they didn�t share blood as a biological
child would didn�t mean they somehow deserved less care than a sick child they
had birthed or contributed DNA to.
�� A low
whistle from Kakashi caught his attention and Iruka formed a fist with one hand
helplessly.
�� What
happened?�
�� I nearly
hit him with my car,� he mumbled.
�� Excuse me?
Say that again?� Kakashi asked, stunned.
�� I nearly
hit him with my car,� he repeated. �I was tired. I wanted to get home early,
well early for me, for once. He ran out into the street so fast, I didn�t even
see him till he was on the other side. So, I followed him, because he looked
thin and was outside in a windbreaker two sizes too small for him in early
September with the temperature near freezing. Did I do something wrong?� he
said petulantly. He remembered the thin jacket, a faded sort of orange, and the
yellow t-shirt with dirt all over it, a pair of ripped jeans, also too small
for the thin frame, as he spoke, and related it all to his partner. The dirt in
the blonde hair falling into eyes, the color of which he had yet to see clearly,
and the scars on each cheek that he had noted when the harsh yellow hospital
lights had washed over his young charge just made the miserable picture more
heart wrenching.
�� Kakashi listened
as Iruka spoke and waited patiently until the end to offer advice and support.
They had been dating for about a year when he had suggested they move in
together, discreetly, of course. Iruka had vacillated, at first, between
keeping his own apartment so as not to cause trouble for Kakashi at his job and
wanting to commit to something he felt could be the end to all Kakashi�s one
night stands and his own failed relationships of the past.
�� Mmm, well,
isn�t this a mess.�
�� You�re
telling me. I�ve got to go question a scared ten or eleven year old on where
he�s from, if he knows who he is, who his parents are and where he�s been for
god knows how long and then I have to tell him he�ll be spending the night in a
room no better than a cell until a strange couple comes to look him over, not
at all sure they�ll be giving him a home. Sometimes, I hate my job.�
�� No, you
just hate this job, as in this kid�s
predicament. You love everything else you do and know quite a few ways to deal
with the pressure and the stress of not being able to help everyone you want
to, thanks to me.�
�� Why do you
always make that sound so dirty?� Iruka whined lightly.
�� Why do you insist on interpreting it as dirty?� Kakashi
countered.
�� After a
moment, Iruka swallowed hard and closed his eyes, trying to quell the uneasy
feeling in his stomach. Whatever Kakashi thought, he never handled having to
disrupt families and potentially cause children to need therapy later in life
well. He coped, as most in his field did and tried to remain empathic without
attaching himself to his clients too deeply. But, he was right, this one was
different.
�� Kakashi .
. .,� he started.
�� Hmmm?�
�� I want to
stay here, until he wakes up. He�s malnourished and dehydrated. The doctors say
it might be a while. He also has something wrong with his eyes. I think he
might be blind or most of the way there. They haven�t been able to run any
tests because the one time he regained consciousness, they had to sedate him
again to keep him from injuring his airway when he freaked out. I think waking
up in the hospital, on the way to being naked and strangers all around may have
driven him further in.�
�� Kakashi
made a low sound in the back of his throat and huffed indignantly.
�� That would
scare anyone half to death, I think, or they aren�t normal. I�ll be by in a
while. I need a shower first.�
�� Iruka could
hear the faint shifting of Kakashi�s favorite chair being pulled back into the
upright position and the afghan he refused to throw away despite the holes
probably being thrown in a corner somewhere. Honestly, if he hadn�t been the
one to ask, Iruka never would have suggested to him that they live together;
Kakashi hated change and protected himself and his home fiercely from it. So,
his offer to come sit with him instead of returning to his evening routine made
Iruka think hard about the possibility that he really did have a chance at a
life with him; a complete life, not just a relationship that would probably end
amicably enough, but end all the same. He blinked as he realized that Kakashi
had been calling to him loudly enough for a passing nurse to eye him
distrustfully. He smiled at her and spoke quietly into the mouthpiece.
�� I have to
go now. They�re paging me to come to the fourth floor conference room,� he
said, nearly sighing in relief when he heard his name over the intercom. �You
know where that is, right?�
�� Of course! That�s the one we use when we question witnesses
and victim�s family members whenever we pay a visit and they won�t feel
comfortable coming to us,� Kakashi replied airily with a wave of his hand that
Iruka couldn�t see. He also couldn�t see the small, nervous movements his hands
made at the thought of doing what he knew his partner really wanted. He would
need some time to digest everything he�d heard first and call a few contacts he
had inside the Children�s Rights Council. Maybe they could find the boy�s
parents and he wouldn�t have to worry. Iruka wouldn�t need any looking after
either, not that Kakashi minded. But one less night having to sit through the
raucous comedies Iruka forced him to watch in order to release tension, as much
as they worked, and he might just end up on his own couch. Well, their couch.
It still took some getting used to, only having been two weeks since they had
moved the last of Iruka�s belongings in. He hoped he wouldn�t still be saying
that after two years. Iruka would probably say the mere thought that he was
considering the possibility that they would still be living together after that
long was a huge step forward. Kakashi hung up the phone without saying goodbye
as he had been known to do and went to shower. It wasn�t a long drive to the
hospital and he wouldn�t be there all night because he would eventually drag
them both back home or else Iruka would snap back to reality when he realized
he couldn�t take them all home and they would move on.
��
�� Kakashi
strolled through the doors of the hospital�s visitor entrance and headed up the
stairs to the fourth floor. Had Iruka not mentioned that the kid was so sick,
not to mention potentially blind, or as good as, he might have told him to come
home instead of offering to join him. His heart was not as cold as he tried to
make it, no matter what he did. He did care and he might go as far as letting
Iruka do what he wanted, provided he had the chance to meet the boy and they
got along well enough. He had never really considered children as something he
wanted for himself. Nor had he considered adopting with Iruka as it might mean
some of his co-workers finding out about his orientation. He had no problems
letting people know about it, as long as they were gay as well, or had no
connection to the police force and he knew them well enough. Being gay was
still very much a taboo in Japan,
though the struggle to appear more westernized in order to better their foreign
relations with other countries meant that it was now exposed to the rising
acceptance rate of gay relationships, even gay marriage. Even so, Kakashi did
not want to open himself, or Iruka, up to derision, the possibility of a hate
crime, or something worse. Iruka agreed with the sentiment, which was probably
why their relationship worked so well. Kakashi did not like hiding, but it was
necessary to preserve his badge, his relationship with his fellow officers and
their respect for him. He lead them into situations that could be, at times,
dangerous. He would not want to put his faith in someone he could not trust
when his life might depend on it during any given day. Of course, he had never
actually had to pull his weapon, well not to actually shoot someone. But, that
was beside the point. Reaching the fourth floor conference room, he peeked
inside first. Iruka was leaning his head back against the wall and had his
hands draped casually over his knees. Kakashi smiled widely. He had always
loved that pose. He opened the door quietly and stole into the room just as
softly.
�� Kakashi,
don�t you even dare,� Iruka ground out in measured tones. His voice sounded
very strained and the stress showed in his shoulders finally as Kakashi drew
near.
�� Sorry, I
couldn�t resist at least trying. I knew it wouldn�t work and I couldn�t go
through with it anyway,� Kakashi apologized.
�� You look
like you�ve had a hard night right after a hard day,� he commented dryly.
�� Iruka
sighed as he raised his head to stare at him. His eyes were bloodshot and there
was definite worry lacing his forehead with wrinkles.
�� He�s
nearly blind, Kakashi. They called it posterior subscapular cataracts.
Apparently, cataracts can occur at any age, though this type is more common
from particular medications. Of course, the ophthalmologist also said that
injury to the eye can result in cataracts and that they detected a healed
fracture on his forearm and one healed twist fracture of a bone in his wrist. I
don�t have to tell you that injuries like that are common in child abuse cases.
The problem is that, while my boss did find a name and date for a missing child
fitting his description at the Child Rights Council, the number and address the
parents left is now defunct. Apparently, they had another baby and left the
country shortly after, leaving no forwarding address for them to use. They did
provide DNA evidence in case the child was found, from a toothbrush, and from
what the doctors tell me, the age fits as well. The scars have made it a little
harder for a picture ID even with age progression, but we . . . I, think it�s him,� Iruka told him
softly. He smiled a little when Kakashi, a little out of his depth it seemed,
didn�t catch onto the fact that the child did indeed have a name.
�� Kakashi
swallowed roughly, feeling his heart pounding in his chest. There was quit a
lot of information that Iruka had managed to forage out in the half an hour
time span for him to shower and the forty-five minute drive it had taken him to
get to the hospital. None of it sounded good to Kakashi, most harrowing of all
the fact that a nearly blind child was not going to get adequate treatment from
a foster parent who generally had little money to use on their charges despite
assistance from the district government let alone a group home. The best they
would do would be to give him a prescription for lenses and Kakashi knew enough
about cataracts from watching it nearly destroy his grandmother�s sight that he
might need surgery. Something else about what Iruka had said bothered him even
more though.
�� Scars?� he
asked and then swallowed apprehensively at the bleariness overtaking his
lover�s eyes.
�� On his face. Three on each cheek.
They�re deep, clean and look like they might be from glass or a sharp blade. If
what the doctors said is true, then the trauma that might have caused the
cataracts could have done the same thing to his face if he�d hit, or been
shoved into, something like a heavy mirror face first,� still Iruka spoke
softly, as if raising his voice inside the insulated walls of the conference
room would wake the patients in their beds.
�� Iruka . .
. ,� Kakashi admonished softly, �if you want to take him home, you should ask.�
�� Kakashi, I
wouldn�t, except that this boy is different, he feels different than any of the
others. Do you know he still hasn�t said a word except to answer the doctor�s
questions about his eyes? Even then, he looked confused, as if this was how he
thought everyone saw things. He has some serious cognitive issues. He�s twelve
years old and stared at the book I was holding in my hand as if he�d never seen
it before,� Iruka rattled off, counting on his fingers as he went.
�� At any
other time, Kakashi would have smiled when he heard that Iruka had bothered to
grab a book to read from his car rather than suffer through what he called the
mainstream drama that people wrote about in all those magazines that hospitals
and doctor�s offices stocked up on by the cart load.
�� Well,
then, I guess I have to meet him if he has you so wound up you�re willing to
break with one of your cardinal rules regarding a potential client.�
�� I�m not
handling his case, Kurenai is. I�ve already woken Judge Soma and asked for a petition
for foster care to be sent to my office. I�m already approved by the district
court to take him, if the judge agrees. He says he doesn�t see a problem with
it as long as I have a stable environment to show Kurenai when she gets the
paperwork in the morning. It shouldn�t take more than a week and by then he�ll
be out of here.�
�� Iruka
stopped to take a breath and look into Kakashi�s eyes. Kakashi knew that look.
It was the same one that had attracted him to Iruka in the first place. They�d
met while raiding a drug addicts� home. She�d been harboring a fugitive wanted
for assault. They�d questioned her beforehand and she had adamantly denied
knowing where he was. It seemed she�d been sleeping with him in exchange for
drug money, which made her a prostitute as well. Iruka had been called in to
assess the situation concerning her five year old son and seven year old
nephew, both living with her at the time, while they arrested both of the
adults. The children had no other family and were placed in a group home, but
Kakashi had made the mistake of letting fly an offhand comment on how long that
would last before they were in some seedy foster house where the �parents� were
simply feeding them just enough to keep the money coming in and using the rest
for god knows what, or worse, aged out of the system while still in group care.
Iruka had flashed him that determined stare and he had quailed in his military
boots and police issue flak jacket, literally, apologizing to him and the
children immediately. He had asked Iruka out a week later, hoping the time away
had allowed him to forget the asinine remark. He hadn�t but he had agreed to go
out with him and that had been Kakashi�s first gift from the other man. Maybe
Kakashi could accept this as just one more, if the kid wasn�t a hellion and he
could manage to stir up more of the feelings Iruka had begun to recover to give
the boy what he needed and most certainly deserved.
�� If it
means finding somewhere else, Kakashi, I�ll do what I have to,� Iruka said
determinedly.
�� Whoa, hey,
I haven�t even met him. Aren�t I allowed to do that before deciding whether or
not I want him in my house, or whether or not he likes me?�
�� Iruka
smiled pleasantly then and laughed a little.
�� See? I
keep telling you, you�re really just a softy with a lazy mind. Anyone else
would have said, �Shouldn�t we see if I like him�, not the other way around.
But, not you, you�re more worried that he�ll hate you the moment he sets eyes
on you, why I still have yet to get down to. But later, first, you need to come
meet Naruto.�
�� Naruto?�
questioned Kakashi as they made their way out the door and down the hall to
their left. Apparently, this Naruto was being kept out of the ICU which was on
the second floor. That was always a good sign.
�� Uzumaki Naruto,
age twelve, missing since the age of six according to the flier from CRC,� he
said gravely.
�� You really
did get on the balls of the Children�s Rights Council, huh?� Kakashi said
wonderingly.
�� Yeah, and hey! Keep that stuff out of the conversation when
you talk to him!�
�� One thing
before we do that, Iruka.� Kakashi pulled him away from the door of room four
hundred and ten, the one he guessed the Uzumaki kid was in. Iruka looked up at
him arching his brow in silence.
�� If he
hasn�t spoken to anyone except the eye doctor, how are we supposed to get him
to talk? And, how did you manage to get so close to him without even knowing
what he�s like?�
�� You�ll
see, Kakashi,� Iruka answered slyly, smiling a little as he opened the door.

�� A doctor
stood near the edge of the bed while leaning a little over it, running a pen
light from side to side in front of the patient. Kakashi was curious, he had to
admit it. The doctor called over his shoulder to Iruka.
�� I�ve given
him some dilating drops. It should help temporarily improve his eyesight until
we can do further testing at an office. I�ve left my card on the table, but
you�re free to choose another doctor if you like.�
�� Then he
smiled at his patient. Kakashi could see it wink in and out from what little of
the doctor�s profile he could see.
�� I will see
you tomorrow, Naruto-kun. Is there anything you�d like that I can ask the nurse
for?�
�� Kakashi
watched as a tow-headed boy resolved into view when the doctor moved away.
Blond, messy strands fell all around his head and framed it rather cutely. But,
the eyes, the eyes that strained even after the drops, blinked furiously a few
times while the boy shook his head as if to clear it.
�� Remember I
said it might burn a bit at first? You can just tell me what it is you�d like
and I can get it.�
�� The boy,
Naruto, frowned and glanced at the table in front of him looking very out of
place and confused. Kakashi supposed if his vision had been bad long enough
than he probably had no idea how things were really supposed to look. He hoped
the drops were working properly. The color that drew him in would be a travesty
to lose behind clouded lenses. Such a piercing blue and so clear yet they
reflected the shadows and light in a way that seemed to change the type of blue
he was looking at. Those were very interesting eyes. When he spoke his voice
was rough, more like someone far older. Kakashi found he was trapped, in this
room, with this little person who looked the entire world like a four year old
stuck in the body of a ten year old with the voice of an adult, and yet he was
already twelve. What an enigma.
�� That,�
Naruto said simply, pointing to the small plastic juice cup.
�� The doctor
raised his eyebrows and wiggled them. Naruto smiled and Kakashi thought he
really needed to sit down. The world had turned upside down anyway so the floor
should be pretty close by now. Brilliant white teeth looking cleaner than he
had ever expected from someone who�d been on the street for God knows how long
and the scars that had at first engendered pity rose to form a very cat-like
quality that only enhanced, rather than making Naruto anything less.
�� If I ask
for more, they might have to walk more and they�ve already been in here a lot.�
�� The
ophthalmologist shook his head and beamed.
�� You know,
I told you, remember? It�s part of their job to look after you.�
�� Right,
job,� Naruto said the last word slowly, as if he had never done it before and
Kakashi wondered again where he had been all this time and what he had gone
through. There were definitely cognitive issues, from what Iruka had said about
the book and listening to the exchange now. Kakashi�s own studies at college
gave him a little insight into the child�s behavior. He would likely have
issues with touch, emotional responses that seemed rude or out of place,
trouble communicating his emotions and possibly be unable to form lasting
relationships with people. That is, if the boy didn�t receive constant care and
professional guidance. He watched Iruka out of the corner of his eye give Naruto
a gentle look he had seen often enough. Then, Naruto caught sight of them and
while he tensed at seeing Iruka he positively stiffened when he saw Kakashi.
His eyes went wider and he blinked owlishly, his mouth slackening a tiny bit.
It was perhaps the most child-like thing Kakashi had seen outside of a cartoon
show.
�� You�re a fuzz. I don�t have to talk to you. I didn�t do anything,�
he said suspiciously, narrowing his eyes in an adorable pout.
�� Kakashi,
surprised into silence, eyed the boy carefully.
�� Iruka,
hiding his laughter through a loud clearing of his throat whispered discreetly,
�I told you so.�
�� Kakashi
pulled on a bright smile and shook his head, laughing gently.
�� Now, what
gave you that idea?�
�� Taka showed
you to me. He said to watch so I did. You look like a fuzz,
here,� the bright, enigmatic yet hopelessly stunted boy pointed at his own
face. Kakashi was again rendered speechless. He chose to turn to Iruka for help
and found nothing but a very amused lover shaking quiet laughter in his
direction, trying to cover it with one hand and using the other to wave him
near the bed.
�� Go on, say
hello,� Iruka�s eyes pleaded urgently that Kakashi work his incomprehensible
magic at ferreting out information from almost anyone now that Naruto seemed
inclined to talk.
�� Well,
Naruto, you�re right, I�m a detective.� When Naruto frowned and stared at him,
he explained.
�� A patrol
officer can arrest people and investigate small crimes but a detective handles
bigger and harder ones.�
�� He could
see that Naruto didn�t really understand and sighed a little. Did Iruka really
know what he was hooking them into? He supposed he did since he hadn�t bothered
to check with him before deciding to take charge of Naruto�s welfare. And
really, a group home or even an adequately prepared foster parent would have no
hope of working in the time and effort required for Naruto to reasonably catch
up to other children his age without leaving him blunted, perhaps even
dangerously so, for him as well as other people. Naruto rubbed at his eyes a
little and Kakashi looked around to see that the eye doctor had left the room,
presumably to find a juice cup or someone who could retrieve one instead. It
was then that Iruka decided to step forward and save him.�
�� My name is
Iruka. Do you remember seeing me earlier, near the train bridge?� Iruka spoke
calmly and used simpler language he thought the boy would understand easier.
�� I was with
Taka,� he told them and then frowned a little, �I thought you were the fuzz.
Taka said to be careful. They don�t like us. I like trains.�
�� The random
break in speech from one subject to another told Kakashi that Naruto really had
no concept of timing or relation of words to actual conversation. Good God, if
it was this bad he was remarkably lucky he hadn�t ended up environmentally
retarded, or worse, completely sociopathic. He didn�t see any evidence of that
in Naruto, though, thank God. Rather, he seemed to have an innate sensitivity
to people. He had not wanted to bother the nurses to have to walk all the way
down to his room to answer a page only to have to walk back toward their desk
to get to the patient�s refrigerator. Kakashi had been in hospitals for various
criminals, witnesses and victims plenty of times to know that the fridges were
separated into two categories. One for medication and one for snacks and small
amounts of food brought from home as long as it was allowed and properly
labeled. If he was going to be here a while, maybe one of them could get him a
few different foods and see which ones he could recognize and name. It was
going to take a while to get Naruto even close to where he needed to be in
order to attend school. Kakashi froze momentarily, frowning. He had realized it
but too late. This child wouldn�t be going anywhere but to his house, with
Iruka and himself, which meant that he would be risking the need to tell his
captain that he was gay.
�� Kakashi,�
Naruto sounded out his name slowly and then with more confidence and Kakashi
felt his heart lurch painfully. Damn it.
Oh, God damn it.
�� He turned
steely eyes at Iruka who watched him wisely and quietly.
�� Call
Kurenai and put my name in, Iruka.�
�� Flashing a
smile, Iruka bent down, forgetting for a moment who he was with, and ruffled
Naruto�s hair a little. Naruto jumped a bit, unsettled and squinted at Iruka
before hedging a soft smile. Kakashi watched it disappear suddenly as if the
boy realized he�d been doing it and thought he wasn�t supposed to. He saw
flashes of many things in Naruto�s eyes and wanted, needed, to know more.
�� I like
trains a lot,� Naruto mumbled unexpectedly again.
�� That was
the last thing they heard for a while. Naruto slid down on the bed and squirmed
around until he got comfortable, turning to stare out of the window at the
lights of the city. Kakashi saw his eyes move rapidly back and forth, squinting
every now an then as he tried to take everything in. If all he knew of the
world was that overpass and perhaps wherever his abductor had kept him, then
they definitely had a lot of catching up to do.
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Safe House