Kakairu Royal AU ✅

Chapter 11

I don't own any of the characters in the story as Masashi Kishimoto owns it all.

"Iruka! Are you okay!" Naruto said as the 'enemy' left the scene, not like the Masiki's leader the Leaf shinobi used to know.

"Naruto, let's get Iruka and leave," I said quickly, grapping onto Iruka as he got removed from the chains he was hanging from by the arms.

"Kakashi, what are you doing here," Iruka whispered weakly as I carried Iruka in a bridal-style.

With Iruka, we headed back to the village at a fast pace, though Naruto and Sasuke were faster, competing on who was faster, leaving me and Iruka alone.

"What did he do to you," I whispered as I was touching a tense subject.

"Th- That wasn't him, there was another with the same face before but had an opposite personality, those chains were draining my ability away,"

I nodded before silence was there for a while.

"Kakashi," I nodded, moving my head to indicated I was listening, "Have we meet before, like when we were children,"

I stopped walking and stood beside a tree, giving balance. Iruka forced his way off my back and looked me straight in the eye.

"Did we promise to be together when we were older,"

Flashback

SNAP!

Iruka smiled as his new camera whirred and a little photo printed out. He held it delicately between his fingers, watching with rapt attention as the black film slowly filled with color, revealing a charming image of a dragonfly sitting on the reeds.

He tucked the photo into his little notebook and looked around.

His parents had gifted him his camera just a few days ago for his birthday. His mama gave him some advice with it, "photos are like memories on paper, make sure you're taking photos of things that you want to remember forever".

Of course, for Iruka that meant most things that were pretty and caught his eye. His papa, suspecting such, added on "and you only have a few sheets of film paper, make them count."

Right.

So he would only take pictures of the prettiest things.

It was still difficult.

Iruka raised the viewfinder of the camera to his eyes and looked around, spinning in circles as he thought of what to take a picture of next.

Something caught his eye.

There! In the bushes!

Iruka ran up to it, his small, sandaled feet loud on the packed earth. He slowed as he got closer, his nerves suddenly telling him that he probably should have been quieter in his approach.

It was a person, leaning tiredly against the side of a tree, passed out. Such a sight wasn't terribly uncommon in a village filled with shinobi training, returning from missions, or just enjoying a quiet moment to themselves.

What made Iruka nervous was the white mask they wore and the bright red swirls that announced this person as ANBU.

His mama had told him about ANBU.

They did some of the hardest things to keep the village safe, and sometimes that made them tired and cranky, she said. It was best to leave them alone.

But Iruka was, much to his parents' chagrin, a child of both a curious and caring nature. It was difficult for him to see anyone looking so worn out and... alone... and not want to help.

Iruka crouched down a good distance away, though. Just in case.

"Hey."

The figure didn't answer.

Iruka frowned and tried again, louder this time. "Hey!"

This time they shifted just a little bit but remained mostly still.

Iruka huffed. Fine. He contented himself with watching the ANBU for a minute. They were shorter than his father and had gray hair that stuck up everywhere. Iruka wondered if this was an old man for a second before shaking his head. Nah. That'd be silly.

But their mask was the coolest thing Iruka had ever seen. The reds were vibrant, climbing up the cheeks and making up the cheerful lines of the eyes. It would almost look playful, but with a kunai in hand the masked shinobi must make for a fearful sight.

Iruka looked down at his camera. He had two sheets of film left.

He raised the viewfinder up to his eye, focusing on the ANBU...

"I wouldn't do that if I were you..."