Drabble: Here We Are In The Years
Title: Here We Are InThe Years
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Summary: Even Kakashi and Iruka grow old...
A/N: Yeah, so it's a little drabble/ficlet kind of thing. The title is also that of a Neil Young song, which is were I got the inspiration.
Not many shinobi lived long enough to retire. Most of them died in battle and those who survived sooner or later sustained some injury that prevented them from pursuing their ninja duties. Age very seldom had any say in the matter.
Kakashi and Iruka both knew this and they had never expected to grow old together. But as the years passed by that was exactly what they found themselves doing. Since Iruka seldom had to go on any missions he managed to remain whole and alive and a well-liked teacher for many years. The same could not be said about Kakashi, who spent most of his time dodging kunai, swords and fists, and he did it well, he survived. But eventually his own weapon turned against him. The Sharingan that was not really his took its toll on his body, making it softer and weaker, more vulnerable. Like any Konoha ninja his vocabulary did not contain the words ‘give up’ and he kept at it until the doctors forbade him to take any more missions, forcing him into retirement. It bothered him at first and he spent a lot of time at the Academy, harassing Iruka in an attempt to escape the restlessness. It took several loud arguments and long therapeutic conversations before Kakashi could accept his fate and settle down. He found other ways to make time pass and it was allright. But no matter how much he tried, or what he told Iruka, he could never quite escape that nagging feeling of worthlessness. He could not contribute anything to the village anymore and those who once needed him to protect them were all gone or grown up. More often was he the one who needed to be taken care of, as he was now plagued by headaches so bad that they reduced him to a helpless infant and made him relive deaths and killings he didn’t even know he remembered. These fits, that were supposedly brought on by the Sharingan, did not come often, but when they did, Kakashi hated himself.
It all became a little better when Iruka retired too. Not even a school teacher can go on forever and like Kakashi he’d had his share of steel piercing his body. So eventually stubbornness had to give in to aching legs and a bad back. Iruka adjusted easier to his new life than Kakashi had. Many of his students still visited him and in some mysterious way he always found things to do. It was small things, things that Kakashi would never have thought of doing himself, but they made time pass. Some times they could spend days just talking or reading. Kakashi’s eyesight had gone bad, so Iruka had taken up reading aloud, and since he refused to read Icha- Icha, Kakashi made the discovery that there are actually other things worth reading.
So between the infirmities of old age and occasional fits of boredom, they lived a good life. But fact remained: retirement is not for shinobi. And they knew that one day something would happen that would force them out of their quiet life and back to the battlefield. And when that day came they would go out to fight, knowing that it was the last thing they did.
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Summary: Even Kakashi and Iruka grow old...
A/N: Yeah, so it's a little drabble/ficlet kind of thing. The title is also that of a Neil Young song, which is were I got the inspiration.
Not many shinobi lived long enough to retire. Most of them died in battle and those who survived sooner or later sustained some injury that prevented them from pursuing their ninja duties. Age very seldom had any say in the matter.
Kakashi and Iruka both knew this and they had never expected to grow old together. But as the years passed by that was exactly what they found themselves doing. Since Iruka seldom had to go on any missions he managed to remain whole and alive and a well-liked teacher for many years. The same could not be said about Kakashi, who spent most of his time dodging kunai, swords and fists, and he did it well, he survived. But eventually his own weapon turned against him. The Sharingan that was not really his took its toll on his body, making it softer and weaker, more vulnerable. Like any Konoha ninja his vocabulary did not contain the words ‘give up’ and he kept at it until the doctors forbade him to take any more missions, forcing him into retirement. It bothered him at first and he spent a lot of time at the Academy, harassing Iruka in an attempt to escape the restlessness. It took several loud arguments and long therapeutic conversations before Kakashi could accept his fate and settle down. He found other ways to make time pass and it was allright. But no matter how much he tried, or what he told Iruka, he could never quite escape that nagging feeling of worthlessness. He could not contribute anything to the village anymore and those who once needed him to protect them were all gone or grown up. More often was he the one who needed to be taken care of, as he was now plagued by headaches so bad that they reduced him to a helpless infant and made him relive deaths and killings he didn’t even know he remembered. These fits, that were supposedly brought on by the Sharingan, did not come often, but when they did, Kakashi hated himself.
It all became a little better when Iruka retired too. Not even a school teacher can go on forever and like Kakashi he’d had his share of steel piercing his body. So eventually stubbornness had to give in to aching legs and a bad back. Iruka adjusted easier to his new life than Kakashi had. Many of his students still visited him and in some mysterious way he always found things to do. It was small things, things that Kakashi would never have thought of doing himself, but they made time pass. Some times they could spend days just talking or reading. Kakashi’s eyesight had gone bad, so Iruka had taken up reading aloud, and since he refused to read Icha- Icha, Kakashi made the discovery that there are actually other things worth reading.
So between the infirmities of old age and occasional fits of boredom, they lived a good life. But fact remained: retirement is not for shinobi. And they knew that one day something would happen that would force them out of their quiet life and back to the battlefield. And when that day came they would go out to fight, knowing that it was the last thing they did.