Shinycry- hi there! The story is about Iruka taking care of Gaara who happens to turn into a chibi! Does he have what it takes to show chibi Gaara love and affection, which the chibi so desperately needs? He'll also have Team 7 helping him out, which means he'll also have Kakashi hanging around him. KakaIru and SasuNaru. Enjoy!

Disclaimer- shinycry does not own Naruto.

Ch. 1 "Mommy?"

'I swear if I ever hear someone say Chuunins have it easy, I'm going to sick 30 ten year olds on them' Iruka thought tiredly before sitting down on his chair in the mission room. Today is his turn to make sure the reports are properly done, turned in, and so on. Although he really wishes it wasn't his turn but someone else's. If it were up to him, he would be heading home right now and into his nice warm bed where he'll sleep the remaining day away. But unfortunately for him, he can't do that right now.

It didn't help that he had a rough morning with Konohamane and his 'followers' today. When they thought he wasn't paying attention, they tried their best to sneak out through the door or by using the open windows which he had to close eventually. At one point, he considered putting bars on those windows and door but had to calmly remind himself this is a school and not a prison He lost count how many times they tired 'escaping'. Call him crazy but that might be the reason for his current headache which is refusing to leave him alone. No one likes stalker headaches. 'Kids these days…in my day, we were never that bad' the thought makes Iruka feel really old and dull.

Much to Iruka's utter relief, the remainder of the day is pretty much uneventful. Earlier on he got lucky when another Chuunin, who's also station in the room with him, offered him some aspirin he had on him. Iruka gratefully thanked the other man over and over until the other Chuunin patted his head with a smile. It's not until around midafternoon when two other Chuunins come in to take their post. He gathers his things after he greets them with a polite 'Hello'. As he's about to leave, one of the Chuunin stops him.

"Ah, Iruka-sensei, if it's not too much trouble could you please give this stack of papers to Tsunade-sama for me?"

Smiling, "No, it's not too much trouble. I'll make sure she gets it."

"Thank you, Iruka-sensei. I owe you one!"

"That's quite alright. I'm heading in Tsunade-sama's direction anyway, so it's really no problem" with a bright smile on his face and the stack of papers tuck neatly under his arm, Iruka leaves towards Hokage's direction.

It's not until he's a few feet away when he hears a small child crying and it sounds like it's coming from within Tsunade's office. "Why is there a crying child in her office?" a confuse Iruka says out loud. It's not like he thinks Tsunade doesn't like children, it's just she kinda of avoids them. 'Maybe she's babysitting…?' he silently thinks.

Looking under his arm at the stack of papers, he signs and knocks on the door. He might as well get this over with now and hope he doesn't get saddle with babysitting. Once he receives a "Come in!" he opens and closes the door quietly. No need to be slamming doors with a crying child is present.

Once he turns around, he's in for a great surprise. Actually, he's more in shock then surprise. He has to blink a couple of times to make sure he's not seeing or imagining things. After a moment of blinking and mouth gapping open and shut, he realizes what he's seeing is, in fact, very real. Here in the Hokage's office is Team 7, along with their sensei, and a small child who's crying loudly on Tsunade's lap. However what really makes this all a shocking view is the small crying child who just so happens to look a lot like…Gaara. The child's red flaming hair and those emerald eyes. Even the mark on the small child's forehead is the same mark as Gaara's. There's no mistake this small child is Gaara.

Or maybe Gaara has a younger brother no one ever knew about until now? It's possible and makes much more sense than what Iruka's thinking at the moment. Regardless he's still not prepared for the slight in front of him. A crying child who looks a lot like Gaara sitting on Tsunade's lap. Iruka notices she looks heavenly annoyed and Team 7 looks panicky while their sensei looks…well, bored. Iruka's not too sure about that but that's what he's getting from the older man. How he can look bored while there's a crying child is beyond Iruka.

Oh wait, little Gaara seems to have stop crying and his staring straight at him. His emerald eyes openly staring at him. This startles him as well as the others. Although for the others, it's more like their just glad the kid isn't crying anymore.

"Look! Gaara stopped crying! Finally, I couldn't stand it anymore!" this earns Naruto a hit to the head by Sakura who says, "It was your fault to begin with, you idiot!"

Iruka silently walks up to the group, who doesn't really seem to notice him at all expect for little Gaara who continues to openly stare at him. Okay, that answers one question. The little child is Gaara but why is he a two/three year old? Just what happened? He decides to make his appearance known to the others, "Um, do I even want to know what's going on here?"

All eyes turn to look at the newcomer, and upon seeing who it is, Naruto runs straight into him. "IRUKA-SENSEI!" Apparently Naruto doesn't seem to notice the stack of papers Iruka has under his arm because when he hugs his favorite teacher, those said papers get thrown into the air only to land everywhere. Tsunade and Sakura twitch their eyes while Sasuke and Kakashi roll their eyes at the mess Naruto created.

After Iruka successfully manages to pry Naruto's hands off of him, he begins to pick up the papers. "Naruto, I know it's been awhile since we last saw each other but really."

Naruto looks down at the mess he caused and apologetically says "I'm sorry Iruka-sensei…" He then produces to help pick up the papers as well, shoulders hunched down. Iruka smiles a fond smile at Naruto and ruffles his hair, silently saying it's okay causing Naruto to give him one of his goofy grins.

During the whole exchange, little Gaara doesn't take his eyes off the Chuunin. He looks at him with teary eyes and a lost look on his face. However something flashes in those small green eyes. Making up his mind, he struggles off Tsunade's lap and walks right up to Iruka with a hopeful look. Sakura's about to grab him and place him back on Tsunade's lap but a hand on her shoulder stops her. Looking up, she sees Tsunade silently telling her to 'wait and watch'. Nodding her head reluctantly, she turns around to see something astonishing happen. For chibi Gaara now stands in front of a crouching Iruka whose still picking up papers off the floor. He stretches a small hand to grab a sleeve so he could get the older man's attention.

When Iruka feels a slight pull on his sleeve, he turns in time to find chibi Gaara trying to hug him the best he can with his small body. The little one struggles to get his small arms around Iruka's waist. Although it should shock Iruka, he finds himself smiling instead because it's too cute. Iruka really can't turn away from any small child, even a chibi Gaara.

"…mommy…?" teary green eyes meant soft brown, slightly larger than usual eyes. Behind them, soft gasps and the sound of paper hitting the floor again can be heard in the background.

Iruka does the first thing that comes to his mind; he picks up the small child into his arms where he lightly hugs him. He just can't help it. His little face for some odd reason remains him so much of Naruto's teary eye look when he was younger. Once he thought about it, Naruto and Gaara are a lot alike. Both having to grow up with a demon inside of them and having no one to love them because of that. He always wished he could have taken better care of a younger Naruto but couldn't because he, too, was young at the time. But now it's different. He's fully capable of taking care of someone who needs him. Quickly making up his mind, Iruka smiles and responds to the child softly "Yes?" Although the 'mommy' part got him really confuse, he can at least be some sort of caregiver or something for the time being.

Just one word is enough to lullaby the small boy into placing his face against the warm neck and closing his eyes peacefully. Chibi Gaara doesn't know who this person is but he likes him, likes him enough to call him 'mommy'. He's not too sure what this words means but it just…feels right to call this person it. He remembers a kid once calling someone 'mommy' and that person hugging the small child with a bright smile on her face. 'Mommy' must mean someone whose kind, soft and very warm because this is how his 'mommy' feels- kind, soft, and so very warm.

Iruka looks at the already sleeping child for a moment, a small smile on his pale features, before looking up to meet several shock faces. 'I guess I can't blame them. This is Gaara we're talking about here but I don't think he'll cause any harm the way he is now. At least I hope so. He just needs someone to care for him especially in this state'.

Kakashi just stares at the way Iruka holds the child; it reminds him a mother holding her child close to her heart. Maybe that's why Gaara choose him to be his 'mommy' but how Gaara could have possible know Iruka's a kind person is beyond him. Kakashi knows Iruka can sometimes enter his mother-hen mode when he sees any child hurt or is around Naruto. 'This is going to be interesting to say the lease.'

Naruto walks up to Iruka to look at the sleeping chibi in his arms. "He's asleep" Naruto looks up to meet Iruka in the eye, "Are you really going to let him call you mommy, Iruka-sensei?"

Iruka doesn't know what to say, he speechless. He's pretty sure he's not exactly qualified to be someone's mother. How Gaara came to call him 'mommy' is really beyond him. All he can do his nod his head slowly. He then notices the worry look in Naruto's eyes. "It's okay Naruto. I don't think he'll hurt me or anything."

"But Iruka-sensei, you never know. He has a demon in him. What if it comes out and tries to hurt you? It might be hard for chibi Gaara to control it, I should know." Naruto can't help but worry about his favorite teacher. Iruka is way too nice to get hurt and toss around like some ragdoll. No. Naruto's going to make sure something like that never happens to his beloved sensei.

After a moment of silence, Tsunade finally decides it's time to speak up, "And that is why I'll be assigning Team 7 to assist Iruka-sensei who, as of right now, is Gaara's care-taker. Don't worry about your classes, Iruka-sensei, I'll have someone take over them for the time being. I want you to be Gaara's care-taker or 'mommy' if you prefer 24/7, show him what it means to be love and all the other stuff. As for Team 7, you guys will be helping out Iruka whenever you guys aren't on any missions. Don't worry I'll have it to where only two of you will be needed to accomplish them, so that Iruka won't be left alone. Any questions?"

Sakura raises her hand and when she sees Tsunade nod her head, asks "Why are you assigning Team 7 and not some Jounins instead? Not that I don't want to help Iruka-sensei or anything." Kakashi and Sasuke turn their eyes back to the Hokage, wanting to know for themselves. Naruto, on the other hand, is just too happy to really care. 'Yea, now I'll be able to look after Iruka-sensei to make sure he doesn't get hurt!' Naruto happily thinks, his face pressed up against one of Iruka's arms as he looks at chibi Gaara sleeping.

Tsunade titles her head and answers calmly, "Well, besides the fact it was one of your own teammate's fault as well as that said teammate is probably going to be bugging me until I gave him the 'Okay' to look after Iruka. Oh and I think it's a great way for Kakashi to make a new friend! Other than those three reasons, it's also because you're the only ones available at the moment." Four heads hit the floor after her explanation.

Sasuke can't help but think about how all those are lame excuses. She should have been honest and said it's because they all know Iruka-sensei so it makes things easier and smoother for everyone involve. Not because everyone else is busy and their sensei needs to make a new friend! Sakura's thoughts are very similar to Sasuke's.

Kakashi's thoughts are a whole different matter then his students. 'What does she mean I need to make a new friend? Is she talking about Iruka? For her information we're already friends…okay, not really. We know just other's names and I'm currently teaching some of his ex-students. But still! That old hag, I'll get her for this. Although, I guess, it might not be so bad if Iruka and I become good friends or something. I do have his ex-students after all. Not too bad on the eye either…'

After listing to Tsunade explanation, Iruka raises an eyebrow. The only person who would bug Tsunade would be Naruto which means he had something to do with Gaara current state.

"Naruto, exactly what did you do to make Gaara like this?" Iruka looks down at Naruto's blond hair. He gets the feeling he might be better off not knowing however he needs to know what happen. Just how did Gaara get like this?

Naruto nervously looks up at expecting eyes. Gulping, he replies sheepishly "Well, you see…."

TBC

shinycry- thank you for reading! Please review and tell me if was good or crappy! As long as there is one review who wants me to continue then I will.