I’ve seen this meme thing done buy a bunch of people so I thought I would give it a go.

The Rules:
Pick a character, pairing, or fandom you like.
Turn on your music player and put it on random/shuffle.
Write a drabble related to each song that plays. You only have the time frame of the song to finish the drabble; you start when the song starts, and stop when it’s over. No lingering afterwards!
Do ten of these, then post them.

Fandom: Naruto
Pairing: KakaIru, MizuIru, SasuNaru (if you squint and tilt you head sideways)
Rating: M (implied sex)
Themes: Romance and Angst… or at least as close to angst as I seem able to write
Disclaimer: The songs mentioned belong to their respective owners and Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto. I didn’t create this music meme either.
AN: I admit I cheated a little and did a quick spell-check once I had completed this, but I’m sure there’s still a bunch of grammar and spelling errors. Also I did intend for all of these to be KakaIru but the songs and my muse didn't want to cooperate with me.Unbeta-ed.

1. If you could only see - Tonic
Nobody really approved of Iruka's relationship with Kakashi. It was mostly due to prejudices based on his rank and his habit of reading porn in public. And though Iruka had held those same prejudices towards Kakashi back in the days when they were friends, he had found that they really held no ground.
It had happened one inconspicuous day in July when Kakashi let slip one important detail Iruka had missed.

There was something so vulnerable in his eyes, yes both of them, something so...human.

Iruka hated to remember it but it was then that he realised he'd never really thought of him as human. He'd stuck Kakashi on a pedestal like the rest of the village had, placed him high above them. Separated him from everyone. He'd thought of him as the Copy nin, Sharingan Kakashi. He'd never thought of him as Kakashi. That changed with a look and three small words.

I love you.

2. These Kids - Joel Turner
Iruka had hated life after Kyuubi. He hated life after Orochimaru and the Sand. He hated it not because of those who had died. He hated it because of those left alive. The young ones. The orphans. Konaha did almost nothing to help them, unless they would make useful shinobi. Sarutobi, even Tsunade, had tried to explain to him that they couldn't do anything. Explained that Konaha was hard pressed for money enough without having to care for the dozens of orphans who wandered the streets and the ruins of old homes.

Iruka did what he could, ramen at Ichiraku's, a home cooked meal or a set of clothes. But he too was busy to do more, and he hated himself for it.

3. There You Go - PINK
Iruka was an understanding man, but he couldn't stand being played. Being lied to.

He'd told Mizuki that he'd talk it out if the other wanted to but he wouldn't let himself be stood up. Not again.
Being stood up was only half the problem, having his lover, ex-lover, come to his apartment and beg. Beg! Beg like some pathetic boy, that was the problem.

And he knew the man would always come around, every time they fought. He'd beg and look like a pitiful puppy.

"Please Iruka, a second chance! That's all I want!"

And Iruka would listen, because he loved the fool who would forsake his pride to stay with him.

4. Better Days - Pete Murray
Konaha was stuck in a cycle. The village prospered. War. They recovered. Kyuubi. Twelve years of rebuilding both the village and their lives. They grew back to their former strength. Orochimaru.

Kakashi wished for those years before the war, they were hard but there was hope. Now the village seemed stuck in desolation, and endless circle of building and training. The shinobi aged quicker now. It was seen in the nine rookies who after only a few months were ready to become chuunin. And which one had made it? The guy who carried a hundred year old head on his shoulders.

Kakashi longed for the days when life was more then fighting.

5. The First Time ever I saw you - Roberta Flack
It was like entering a dream. At least, that's how it seemed when he looked back on it. It had been an unremarkable day, a mission had just been completed and he had wandered into the mission room to drop of his report. The sun was sitting on a chair behind a desk. He was smiling.

The first time Kakashi kissed him he was sure he felt the world shift. It felt like everything had settled into place for the first time in his life. His sun was shining at him again. He was blushing.

After their first time together he had held his sun as close to him as he could. His head on the chest of his lover, listening to his heartbeat, Their heartbeat. His sun held him and whispered to him. He was beaming.

6. Kryptonite - 3 Doors Down
Kakashi was a legend, he'd been told it a thousand times by every type of person under the sun. And sometimes he felt that distance from reality he was sure legends felt. Like he was living on a separate plane of existence.

Kakashi had searched for something, an anchor, to keep him on the same plane as everyone else. He’d found it in the form of a man who didn't fear him, didn't worship him.

Umino Iruka was like a drug that bound him to the world. he could always smell him in the wind, here his name in the running water of rivers, in the crashing of waves.

Iruka made him human.

7. Better off Alone -Grinspoon
Sasuke has always known he'd end up alone. from the day he'd lost his family he'd known that his life would follow a path so narrow no-one could walk beside him.

He'd lied to himself for a while, during those months as a part of Team 7. He'd deluded himself, thinking that these people could mean more to him then individuals that would help him get stronger. Naruto was the biggest delusion. How had he ever convinced himself that a kid such as Naruto could be his 'best friend'.

He was glad Orochimaru had shaken him from his delusions. He had shaken off those fake bonds he thought he had made. Why hadn't he just killed them? killed Naruto? because that would have meant acknowledging his existence. Acknowledging feelings he didn't have, couldn't have.

Naruto was a lie.

8. I Dare You to Move - Switchfoot
Iruka had always been afraid, at least that was how it seemed. He thought there may have been a time before the Kyuubi, when his parents were alive, that he had not been afraid but it seemed so long ago that it was nothing but a haze in the back of his mind.

So to say he was apprehensive when Konoha’s most dangerous Jounin asked him to dinner was an understatement. He was scared almost witless, and his stuttering didn’t do much to explain to Hatake Kakashi that a date was not something Iruka particularly wanted. This was a man who could die any day, to become involved with such a man was emotional suicide.
But two bowls of ramen and an alarmingly normal conversation later Iruka was quickly warming to the idea of taking the risk Kakashi presented.

9.All Star - Smash Mouth
Naruto was a mould breaker. He single-handedly managed to turn a persons entire belief system upside-down with nothing but a smile and short speech that somehow always managed to wind up ending with him saving everyone and becoming Hokage. It baffled Tsunade how the young man was able to recruit even the stoic Hyuuga into his band of followers.

Naruto was a trend setter… well not in fashion, but his determination and self belief was inspiring. If anyone could become the Hokage, despite the prejudices, It was Naruto.

10. This Love - Maroon 5
Iruka had to admit that he should have seen it coming. Mizuki had been shifting further from the realms of sanity; but his blind infatuation, love, for the man had convinced him that as long as he did everything Mizuki wanted, every fantasy, every act, that the man wouldn’t leave him. But he did, every time.

Iruka wished he had been able to see through the deception, been able to break off his sham of a relationship with Mizuki. Maybe then he would have had the presence of mind to tell the Hokage that Mizuki was becoming unstable. But he hadn’t.

And he had the scar to prove it.
 

A small Iruka-centric fic inspired by the first few lyrics of Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen

I was listening to my ipod yesterday and trying to come up with fics that related to that song, I'm aware that there is a meme for this but I didn't have my laptop or any writing gear with me so I was unable to record any of them. This one song stuck with me though because I couldn't immediately come up with something, a few hours later a half concieved idea regarding Iruka's scar came to me, I listened to the song again and this was the result.

Title: A Hazy Memory
Word count: 514
Rating: um PG I guess, for mentions of blood and death
Disclaimer: Naruto and all its characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto, If I owned it Danzo would already be dead.
Author Notes: Strangely inspired by Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen…. Just the first few lyrics really. Also this is currently unbeta-ed, will rectify that as soon as I can. I also want to apologise beause it feels to me that this doesn’t really go anywhere or have a proper ending, again hopefully getting it beta’ed will help me sort out the problems.

Umino Iruka didn’t quite remember how he got his scar. Being only two years old at the time it was more a small collection of sensations etched in his mind rather than a single complete memory. Although looking back he sometimes wondered if what he thought were snippets of a memory were actually just phantoms inspired by his mother’s retelling of events and his imagination.

The things he remembered, or at least the things he thought he remembered were:
A fierce aura he could now identify as chakra laced with fury.
A feeling of blinding terror.
A burning pain across his nose.
The coppery scent of blood.
The sticky sensation that accompanied it.

His parents were both jounin, both were very good at their job, and as such they had made a few enemies over the years. Of course any enemies that had contemplated revenge hadn’t had the means to do so, until word got out that the Umino pair had a small child.

His parents had known that they had enemies, which was why they had kept their son a secret from the outside world. Unfortunately secrets have a way of getting out.

It was a Thursday night, Iruka’s father was out on a mission and his mother had just turned in for the night. (she had officially retired soon after discovering she was pregnant) Iruka was asleep in his room down the hall. They never found out how but an unmarked ninja somehow managed to bypass the traps guarding the Umino residence and made his way to the infants room. Iruka had always been extra sensitive to chakra and even at that age he somehow picked up on the masked killing intent and began to fuss.

The man had just begun a down-stroke with his knife when Iruka’s mother entered the room. Seeing an unknown man standing over her son she reacted as any concerned mother would, she drew a kunai and slashed his throat. Iruka had wailed as his mother’s chakra spiked and crimson liquid gushed out of the fatal wound and fell over his writhing body. Though the man was dead his hand continued to fall, the blade still clenched in his grip. Death muddled the aim and it gouged a thin but deep stripe across the child’s nose and cheeks rather than severing the vein in his neck.

His mother had rushed him to the hospital but other than cleaning and dressing the wound there wasn’t much the medic nins could do. He was too young to be healed with chakra since his own system was still developing and the skin around his nose was too shallow for stitches. In the end one of the civilian medics suggested they close the wound with superglue, it was a strange idea but it worked; although he would carry a thin scar for the rest of his life.

His parents had never found out who had sent the ninja, it was always difficult to interrogate a corpse. They weren’t overly concerned anyway; they were simply glad that his mother had been nearby. 

After a discussion with my friend we came to the conclusion that Iruka should be the next hokage, he was chosen over Kakashi because he:

1. will do the paperwork
2. will attend meetings
3. is a good diplomat
4. has the adoration of the entire pre-teen ninja population
5. is in the village (Kakashi serves Konaha better when he's in the field)
6. he knows how the village works

..so long live Rokudaime Iruka!