Chapter 2
The only issue with allowing himself more free time, Iruka thought as he wandered about the village with his hands in his pockets one bright yet chilly afternoon, was finding things to fill it with.
Of course, as he grew older, he found that he didn’t need attention quite the way he had as a child. In truth he enjoyed the evenings spent meandering the streets alone, enjoying the sights and smells of the local open-air markets, watching the sun lower itself in the sky and the thick blanket of night that eventually drowned out the daily chatter following behind. The days were growing shorter once again, but all that meant to him was that he had less time to walk alone as the sun went down.
Like today, he sometimes felt a little lonely. Everybody needed company now and then. Perhaps that was why he sometimes trailed into Kakashi’s office, hoping to catch the Hokage on one of his frequent breaks so they could discuss their shared former pupils and the local gossip; not that Iruka was a gossiping man. Or perhaps it was the visitors to Kakashi’s office that drew him there: He was glad to count Shizune as a friend, and Gai was always entertaining. Often Naruto and Shikamaru would be hovering by the doors discussing the latest problem Kakashi had asked them to work on, and they were always glad when Iruka could offer some small wisdom.
That was where he most often got to see Naruto, in fact. He would frequently visit Naruto’s home, only to find the boy- now a man- he looked on as a son gone and the place empty. It simply became easier to visit him at work, if he couldn’t find him at Ichiraku's.
Naruto hadn’t been his only student, though. He liked catching up with Sakura over a cup of tea yet, as with Naruto, he rarely got the chance because of how busy a life she led. And, somehow, he didn’t think he would be as warmly welcomed if he was to wander into the hospital for a chat as he would be in the Hokage’s office. It was always nice to get into a deep conversation with Shikamaru or enjoy a cake with Chouji. There was also his new protegee, Shino, and Hinata had really been coming into her own lately. And visiting Kiba was always a good time; Iruka had grown fond of Tsume in a way, once they no longer had to conduct any frankly nerve-wracking parent-teacher meetings.
Now, though, he headed to the flower shop. On a whim, to celebrate the coming of spring some several months ago, he had bought a potted plant from a small market stall he passed by one weekend. He had been meaning to stop in and ask about them. He was no great horticulturalist, and he wasn’t sure whether he needed to do anything…Special for plants in the winter to keep them alive. Buy them a lamp, maybe? Or was that just for baby animals?
As he approached the glass-fronted façade, he hoped Ino would be there. It used to be that every time he walked in, she would be standing around, ready to pounce on the next customer. However, Ino couldn’t run the shop by herself entirely, as much as she might want to, and so Sai had started helping out occasionally. It had startled Iruka the first time he had seen the pale young man standing among a row of potted tulips. Iruka had tried to speak to him but Sai, for all that he had grown, wasn’t exactly a great conversationalist.
He was in luck: Ino stood at the counter to one side of the store, framed by a nice arrangement of flowers in all colors and varieties. She was speaking to a customer, so he merely nodded to her as he entered. She gave him a big smile.
The smell of pollen always overwhelmed him. He should have remembered that. Attempting to hide the way his eyes were watering, Iruka kept his head down and strolled down a random aisle. It didn’t look so awkward in here as it may have done outside: The flowers all sat at roughly hip-height in their plastic trays, heads hanging suspended in the still air.
Iruka continued past them. Just when he thought he was about to hit the back wall of the store and was going to have to turn around and come back, he found what he was seeking.
The shelves were lined with various plant-related accessories: lamps, fertilizer, those small shovels that he could never remember the name of.
He picked one of the little shovels up in his hand. It felt hefty and solid, but the blade was dull. Probably not much use if you were to throw it like a kunai, although if you struck someone with it…
Why was he thinking about weapons? The world was at peace now.
Giving himself a shake, Iruka put the tool back down and squinted at the label.
A trowel. That was the word for it.
“Trowel…”, he mused to himself, before standing upright and wiping at his eyes as his vision blurred. Damned pollen.
Turning back to the shelves, he perused the bags of fertilizer. There were so many different varieties, all promising different things. Would his plants prefer soil that provided all the necessary nutrients? Or soil that encouraged your flowers to flourish? He would have to ask Ino, when she was less busy. He could still hear her talking quietly to the customer.
He let his eyes meander over to the lamps while he waited. Some of them were large and expensive. Iruka guessed he would likely only need a small one. He only had a single plant, after all.
Iruka picked up the nearest lamp that didn’t resemble a six-foot spotlight and turned it over in his hands. As he did, his eyes began to leak once more, and he tried to wipe at them with his upper arm.
He heard Ino clear her throat. “Iruka-sensei? Can I help?”
The noise made him jump and fumble the lamp, almost dropping it. He carefully set it back down before turning to look over the rows of waist-high shelving at her, still wiping at his face.
His former student was watching him with an expression that could only have been labeled as concern. Her pale eyebrows sat halfway up her forehead while a small crease rested in between her eyes.
His gaze drifted to the customer, who was blinking wide-eyed under the fluorescent lights, and Iruka realized for the first time that it was Yamato standing there.
Iruka wasn’t entirely shocked he hadn’t noticed Yamato: Iruka didn’t know him that well, after all, and he seemed so different from the last time Iruka had seen him, several months before. The vest and headplate were back on, though, rendering him unmistakable for anyone else. Instead of the change in outfit making him look more serious, however, Yamato appeared more jovial, cheeks filled with a healthy blush, and a calm smile touching his lips. It was an eerie contrast.
Caught unawares, Iruka stammered; “I- I just wanted a light.” He swept one hand at the row he had picked the lights up from. “To help my plants stay warm.”
When he looked back at them, he saw Ino’s mouth twitching. With a light titter, she asked; “Iruka-sensei, are you aware that you were holding a garden ornament?”
To hide the flush spreading quickly across his cheeks- although, really, what was the point trying to hide from such skilled shinobi as those two?- Iruka looked back down at the lamps and pretended to be inspecting them. “Ah. Oh, yes. I was just looking at them. For my garden.”
“Okay.” From the clear amusement in Ino’s voice, even from that one word, his paper-thin story was practically transparent.
Iruka finally felt it was safe to look back up. His eyes had stopped watering, fortunately, but his nose had betrayed him and was beginning to run. He wiped at it discreetly as he approached the desk. “So, what are you doing here, Yamato?”
Having spoken, he realized how rude he sounded, and winced a little.
Yamato didn’t seem to take offense, however; he appeared even calmer than that distant night they went out drinking, barely blinking at all as he regarded Iruka levelly.
“I stop by to speak to Ino sometimes, about her plants and how best to take care of them. It just… It comes naturally to me, I guess. It makes sense. I have wood-style after all.”
Iruka scratched at his head. He had heard that before: He should have remembered. “Oh, yeah.”
With a gleeful grin, Ino put both hands on the desk and leaned forwards. “Yamato really does help me a lot. Ever since my father… Well, he has a way with plants, as he says!”
Now Yamato was the one who looked embarrassed; still not as oddly skittish as Iruka had seen him before, instead capable of calmly gathering his things- a bag of fertilizer and a few small bottles- and walking out of the door with a smile and a goodbye.
“I didn’t know you knew Yamato”, said Ino.
Iruka jolted and looked back at her. She was staring down at her hands while she poured water from a small jug into one of the pots on the counter, but he caught her speculative glance in his direction. He didn’t say anything. What was there to be said?
She shrugged and continued. “Makes sense, though.”
For a moment Iruka was confused as to what way it made sense. He and Yamato had little in common: Chunin and jonin, schoolteacher and former war hero. Then he realized she most likely meant because of the overlap in their social circles.
He shrugged back at her.
From somewhere under the counter Ino produced some scarily large shears and began to prune the small shrub she had been watering. She spoke as she did so.
“Yamato’s been coming in here more since Sai started working here. I mainly think he’s bored and kind of lonely. But he does know a lot about plants, so I don’t mind very much.” She paused to clear some of the snipped branches into a bag before continuing. “He’s started talking more about his past lately, is what makes me think he’s lonely. More to Sai, and Sakura when she comes in, but to me as well sometimes.”
“His past?”
“Yes. Old missions, things like that.” She spoke lightly, but even as she kept her head down and her cutting steady and constant Iruka could tell she felt troubled.
Oh, he could more than imagine the things Yamato spoke about. He had lived through similar things, and so had Ino, he was sure. He wiped at his eyes again.
Ino cleared her throat and put down the shears. “Anyway, what can I do for you today, Iruka-sensei? You aren’t really here just to buy some garden ornaments, are you?”
Iruka smiled at how concerned her voice grew at that last part. “Ah. Well, I’ve got these plants…”
She tilted her head and fixed him with a piercing stare. “What kind?”
He returned his former student’s gaze blankly. “…Green.”
“Sensei…” Ino shook her head and exhaled, then smacked his wrist lightly. “Go get them and bring them to me.”
A few years ago, she would never have dared speak to him like that, Iruka thought as he complied and headed for his house. Although looking back, perhaps she would have. Ino was always speaking her mind. Maybe he was simply looking at the past the way he wanted to remember it.
And he’d have been shocked if, in a place with a history like Konoha’s, he was the only one.