Kaito was sitting at the small table in his playroom, drawing on some paper with his crayons. He was concentrating on a picture of him and his parents, and was nearly finished - all he had to do was add the sun. Smiling to himself, he grabbed the yellow, and scribbled it in on the right hand corner of the page, then picked the page up for inspection. He was very satisfied with his picture, so he got up, and went to show his dad.
He tried looking for him in the living room first, where he liked to sit and read; but after a quick glance, Kaito saw it was empty. Then he heard a sound nearby, of a cup being placed on a table; and decided to try the dining room next; and when he wandered in, he found his dad sitting at the table with his glasses on, looking over some paperwork.
"Papa!" Kaito called happily. Iruka's concentration broke, and he looked down at his son, who had just reached him.
"Hello sweetie." he smiled. "What have you got there?"
"Look what I drawed!"
Iruka gently took the picture Kaito had handed to him, and smiled warmly as he inspected it. There were three smiling heads with long legs sticking out underneath; and two of them had spiky hair scribbled on, and the other had sharp lines at either side, making the person's hair long. In the corner was a yellow ball of scribble; and beneath the people was a mess of green.
"Wow, it's beautiful!"
"It you and me and Daddy!" Kaito declared proudly.
"Very nice! Can I put this up on the fridge for Daddy to see when he gets home?"
"Uh huh!" Kaito grinned happily.
Knock knock. Iruka focused on the chakra signature at the door as he gently set the picture on the table.
"Oh, I think that's Naruto..." he said to himself. Kaito gasped loudly.
"Uncle 'Ruto is here?!"
As though on cue, a muffled voice spoke from outside.
"Oi, Iruka-sensei, are you home?" Iruka grabbed Kaito's shoulder to stop him from running off.
"Just a moment!" he called. He then turned to Kaito, who was studying him curiously; and smiled a wicked grin.
"I have an idea." he whispered. "Do you want to scare Uncle Naruto?"
Kaito's eyes lit up excitedly, and a wild grin crept on his face as he nodded eagerly.
"Okay, come with me; and I'll show you where to hide." Iruka said softly. He put a finger to his lips. "But you have to be very quiet. Don't make a sound."
"Okay!" Kaito whispered loudly.
As they crept to the front door, Iruka noticed that Kaito's chakra signature was less obvious than usual; and he smiled to himself - although he suspected this was mostly subconscious because Kaito was excited and didn't want to get caught, he could tell that he was getting better at controlling his chakra; and Kaito's conscious effort was starting to show, too.
Kaito got to the door first, and turned to his dad, waiting for instructions. He hadn't made a sound since he left the dining room, and he couldn't wait to scare his uncle. Iruka ushered him against the wall, where he would be hidden once the door opened; and he pressed up against it, grinning devilishly while he waited.
Get ready. Iruka mouthed as he twisted the doorknob. Kaito nodded; and Iruka turned away, relaxing his face to hide his smirk; and then he opened the door to greet his guest.
"Hi, Naruto!" he greeted with a warm smile. "It's good to see you again. Come on in!"
Iruka stepped aside to let him in, on the opposite side of the door; and as Naruto stepped in and started to take his shoes off, Iruka noticed Kaito creeping up behind him in his peripheral vision. Naruto was too distracted to notice him, talking about how he just returned from a mission and thought he would say hello since they hadn't seen each other in a while; and suddenly, he launched at him.
"RAAARGH!" Kaito yelled, tackling Naruto's leg.
"AAHHH!" Naruto screamed, jumping in surprise as he turned to see what had attached itself to his leg.
Kaito cackled away as he gripped on; and Iruka chuckled smugly to himself - he was feeling young again, having successfully pulled another prank. He had stopped doing them as he grew up; but having a mischievous son around did inspire him to pull something every now and again, even if he was only the brains of it. Though he knew he shouldn't encourage Kaito too much, or it could cause trouble later... But for now, a little jump scare was perfectly fine.
"Kaito, you scared me!" Naruto laughed, ruffling his hair. "I didn't know you were there!"
"I hided!" Kaito giggled. Naruto looked up at a very amused Iruka, squinting his eyes in suspicion.
"Did you put him up to this?" he accused, pointing a finger.
"You should be grateful," Iruka smirked, crossing his arms. "It could be worse."
"Is that a threat, sensei?"
"I'm just saying... There are all those years at the academy to make up for." he winked.
"You wouldn't!" Naruto's eyes grew wide in mock-horror.
"Uncle 'Ruto, Uncle 'Ruto!" Kaito interrupted, tugging excitedly on his shirt. Naruto turned to him to see what he wanted.
"Can you play with me?"
"Hmm… What do you want to do? Have you been practicing what I taught you?" Kaito nodded enthusiastically.
"I is really strong now!" he grinned.
"Oh yeah? Show me how hard you can hit!"
Naruto squatted down and held a hand up in front of him; and Kaito balled his tiny hand into a fist, and excitedly punched Naruto as hard as he could. His fist hit the top of Naruto's palm with a small thud; and Naruto's eyes widened in surprise - for a toddler of about three years old, he packed a really good punch.
"That was great!" Naruto praised. "Someday, you're going to be as strong as me!"
Kaito giggled and ran off to get something to play with; and Naruto rose, still smiling to himself as he turned to face Iruka. He really did think Kaito had the potential to become a very strong shinobi in the future; and once he had honed his skills, Naruto was really looking forward to sparring with him - being Kakashi's and Iruka's child, he was certainly going to be full of surprises.
"Something tells me you didn't come here for me." Iruka chuckled.
"That's not true!" he protested. "I did want to see you, and uh, maybe ask if you want to go out for ramen or something, since I'm back now. You know, if you want to." Naruto ran a hand through his hair, grinning sheepishly.
"Oh." Iruka said in surprise. "That sounds nice. Uh, tomorrow works, since Kakashi is also free... Would you like to go then?"
"Do you mean just you, or everyone?" Naruto clarified.
"Whichever you'd like." Iruka smiled warmly.
"Hmm…" Naruto pondered for a moment.
He had wanted Iruka to himself, but he hadn't seen Kakashi in a while, either, nor Kaito; and having them around seemed fun, too.
"I've decided!" he declared enthusiastically as his face lit up. "Let's go as a family!"
"A family?"
Iruka's chest went fuzzy with warmth and affection. He still wasn't used to hearing Naruto say out loud that they were family; but it was also how he viewed their relationship, and how he felt from the heart.
"I like the sound of that."