A/N: Dear goodness gracious of any affinity of shame I have left, I am deeply sorry for people who have been anticipating this story. . Please forgive me. I regret to inform you this would be the last Naruto fanfiction I'm making because of two reasons: 1) Naruto has been a dragging whirlwind of mess, so not much spirit of motivation. 2) New fandoms have popped up so I decided to venture into those waters. Don't worry, I promise to finish this. Maybe a cliffhanger, just for a twinge of responses from you, guys. But definitely finishing this. Without adieu, Chapter 3.

Iruka tried his hardest for his voice not turn into a croak as he read him a bed time story. Naruto, with his big, innocent, blue eyes, turned half-lidded, trying to keep himself awake but couldn't. The story Iruka has weaved for his younger brother had promised Naruto of wishes, chocolate, and unlimited supply of ramen that the little boy finally fell asleep, a soft snore coming from the dreaming child.

Iruka, with a tiny yet sad smile, left the room. Sitting on the old couch, he ran his hand on his hair. He raised his head to stare at the coffee table, only making him regret that after seeing all the piling bills on top. With a sigh of irritation, he hunched his body on the seat, allowing tears of frustration to flow freely on his hard cheeks.

"What am I gonna do… Mom? Dad?" he muttered brokenly.

He closed his eyes, letting his mind wander off back to the few memories he held dearly about his adoptive parents, who cared and loved him deeply as if he were their own. All the praises, jokes, and sometimes scolding (it's a one-sided reprimanding from his temperamental mother and an attempt of calming his wife down from his father) seemed very comforting at that sad moment.

"I can't do this alone… I don't think I could even raise Naruto on my own."

With a sob, Iruka shut his eyes, finding temporary relief from his dreams of the yester years.

-0-

"Iruka… You look like… Shit," Mizuki said, finding it hard to find any other words to describe his friend's current appearance.

Iruka's eye bags grew twice fold due to the swelling on the rim of his eyes. His hair, although usually unkempt, looked messier than normal. His clothes, wrinkled at almost every corner.

"Thanks for your concern, Mizuki," Iruka said sarcastically. Mizuki felt like he stepped on a mine, just about to blow him into smithereens.

"I'm just kidding, Iruka! C'mon now! Don't get mad!"

Iruka could only lean his face on the table, relishing on the solidity of it as if it would anchor him to reality and not drift off to his fantasy world where it involves angels and clouds and meeting his creator and adoptive parents.

"Urghh… What am I going to do, Mizuki? I just don't know how to keep up with this…"

"With what?"

He finally lifted his face off the table, stretching upwards. "Taking care of the house, raising Naruto, and juggling two jobs while studying in the Education course."

Mizuki looked surprise, amazed at the stressed young man's current lifestyle. "Whoa, seriously? Then who's taking care of Naruto right now?"

"He's at school, Mizuki. Like all the time," Iruka tiredly responded. His white-haired companion frowned.

"But it's a holiday, Iruka. That means they don't have class."

Iruka felt his blood freeze with panic. "N-no, it isn't. The holiday starts t-tomorrow, right?" the alarmed man stammered, a cold sweat running down his back.

Mizuki stared at his friend, finally realizing the brunette's mistake. "Where did you drop him off?"

"H-He's at the block before reaching the school. N-Near the playground," he replied, tears streaming down his face. "We got to hurry!"

-0-

Kakashi continued his way, reading one of his favorite porn book; ignoring the whispers and gasps of surprise from the people he passed by. With a canned coffee in his hand, he strolled his way down near the child's park just a few blocks away from his apartment.

"The thnake dweemon ith about to attack, Fwog Thage!" a little voice caught the author's attention. He turned his gaze to the empty playground, just to spot a blonde-haired boy dashing around the monkey bars. The brat climbed up the bars and posed in a cliché-heroic manner.

"Nevew feew, my fwend! I can cath a thpell to thtop him with my magic!" he exclaimed, jumping off the bars and heading towards the slide to glide downwards. With a giggle, he landed on his tiny feet.

With curiosity, Kakashi walked to the swing, sat down while leaving his items on the ground. The boy stopped playing, staring intently at him. He started laughing.

"Mithter, you look funny. Why awe you thitting there? Only kidth can thit there!"

Kakashi merely chuckled, finding the child's reaction innocent, compared to the companies he encounter everyday: from his work to his social life. "I can fit here perfectly," he replied, "What's your name?"

"Nawuto!"

"N-Nawuto?"

"No, not Nawuto. Na. Wu. To!"

"N-Nawooto?"

Giggles. "Not Nawuuto. NA. WU. TO!"

"I give up. May I call you Nawu then?"

The blonde nodded, satisfied with the nickname given to him by the mysterious man. "How about yourth, mithter?"

"It's Kakashi."

"Kakathi?"

"KakaShi."

"Kakathi?"

"How about you give me a name, Nawu," the handsome man suggested, finally understanding that the boy has speech deficiency.

"Hmm…" he pondered momentarily, the grinned when he found the name. "Entai!"

"Entai?" he asked, confused at the choice he selected and what it meant.

"Mm-hm!"

A sudden growl from Nawu's tummy groaned. With a small hand, the boy rubbed his stomach. He pouted, realizing he has not eaten since lunchtime.

"You hungry, Nawu?"

"Uh-huh."

Kakashi, finally having a heart of a normal human being for five minutes, decided to be kind for once.

"What do you wanna eat?"

With twinkling eyes, the boy jumped in the air.

"Wamen!"

-0-

Iruka's voice hurt after calling out his little brother's name for about an hour now. His companion was trying as hard as he was, but their efforts were in vain. Naruto is not here. He's gone.

Gone.

That word ached inside his chest.

It was just a word filled with emptiness and bitterness in the young man's heart. That is his most hated word in all the words in the dictionary.

The first ones that were "gone" were his parents, abandoning him in front of a doorstep, left to be nurtured by someone else, not caring about his total welfare. Second were his adoptive parents, Minato and Kushina. They have given him so much that it had turned his life around. All the cracks in his heart have been repaired by this lovely couple whose lives were taken mercilessly by an accident.

Oh, he couldn't bear thinking if his tiny brother would be next. He couldn't handle the single thought of losing him, let alone the person leaving him behind.

"Naruto!" he shouted brokenly, a tiny sob escaping from his lips.

"Iruka, pull yourself together. I'm sure he could've went home by now," Mizuki assured, hoping to lessen the brunette's hysterics.

No, Iruka thought. He knew his baby brother couldn't have gone home. It is certain that someone has abducted him, took him in an abandoned warehouse, and tortured him just to fill the sicko's perverted, twisted mind with a new form of enjoyment-

Iruka shuddered, his eyes stinging at the thought of little Naruto in any sort of harm. He should stop imagining the worst case scenarios! It would just drive him insane.

With last, remaining strength, Iruka started shouting his brother's name once again.

-0-

"Tell me, Nawu," Kakashi started. "Why were you in the playground all alone?"

With bright blue eyes, he grinned at the mysterious stranger who bought him one piping, hot special ramen. With an additional egg on top, making it even more special. "I went to thcool today!" He slurped heartily the thick noodles with a help of his chopsticks.

The silver eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "But it's a holiday. Why'd you go to school?"

The ashen-faced boy settled his bowl gingerly on the table counter, giving Kakashi the impression that the boy ran away from home. Kakashi shook his head.

"Whatever the reason is, I won't get mad. I just wanna know what happened."

"Well… I heawd Wuka-chan tawking in hith thweep. He didn't wook well."

"Look well?"

The boy nodded once, getting teary-eyed. "He wath tawking to Mama and Papa. Thaying that he ith tho tiyewd. Tho maybe… He doethn't wuv me anymow…"

And with that, Naruto sobbed softly, his eyes that were brimming with tears. A tear drop fell, causing Kakashi to wipe it with a table napkin.

"Nawu, you wouldn't know that. I'm pretty sure this Wuka-chan loves you very much."

"What mekth you thay that?"

"I dunno," he shrugged unceremoniously. "But she might be looking for you right this minute."

The giggle escaping from the young child's mouth made the author relieved that he made him laugh. But at what exactly, he cannot say.

"Entai! Wuka-chan ith not a giwl!"

"Huh? Then what is she?"

"NARUTO!"

The blond kid paled, turning his head towards the entrance of the shop. Apparently, all the customers stopped at what they were doing and diverted their attention towards the exhausted young man at the door.

Kakashi looked surprised, not expecting the waiter to drop inside the ramen store they were situated at right now. Kakashi heard Naruto (apparently, his real name) mumbled "Wuka-chan".

Iruka managed to catch a glimpse of them, causing the little boy to flinch. With no restraint, the young man dashed towards their table and cupped the blond boys cheeks, hands, anything he can grab and inspect into.

"Naruto! You're okay! Are you hurt? Why didn't you wait for me? And why didn't you tell me there was no school today?!"

"Wuka-chan… I didn't mean to…" he softly muttered, eyes brimming once again with tears.

His guardian hugged him tightly, ignoring the stares of the people. "We're going home, okay? We'll talk about this at home and forgive one another, and eat cookies, and-"

"My, my, I didn't know you had a son, Iruka-kun," Kakashi stated, a small smirk on his face.

Iruka directed his attention to the man with Naruto and felt the blood on his face drained. Of all the people who could've been with his brother.

"K-Kakashi-san?"

Naruto, with incredulous eyes filled with wonder, smiled widely at the coincidence of it all.

"Wuka-chan knows Entai? Did you know he bought me wamen?"

A/N: I actually wanted to abandon this project, but a voice in my head was telling me, "YOU CAN'T DO THAT? YOU JUST GAVE YOUR VIEWERS HALF-ASSED PROMISES, YOU STUPID BITCH!" I started laughing and started thinking of what I should do. Hope this would make up for all lost times. .