Team 8's first gathering...

[Ari ღ]

Iruka watched Kyo silently leave the room. It was now time to talk to Lord Hokage about everything that had just orrcoured.
"Thank you Lord Hokage to have a couple words with me. I'd like to talk to you about Ai, and also Taiki. Mostly about their behavour, and how I should help them improve in becoming a better ninja." He felt a bit akward asking Hokage-sama about theses things, as if he failed becoming a sensei.
"Kyo, he isn't much of a problem. He isn't disrespect ful, nor rude to me. Just mostly Ai and Taiki."

"Ai, she is confusing. Noticing how she took things today, she seems to have problems, problems with her family and her team." He said bluntly but the tone in his voice sounded sad.

[Tenko]

“Don’t be ashamed of asking me assistance, Iruka; I imagine the three to be quite the handful.” After watching Kyo leave the room, the Hokage found himself fingering a third hitai-ite, from the boy who obviously didn’t understand why he was included in the so-thought ‘punishment’. “It will be… rough, I’ll say, especially since you don’t technically have the rank to really challenge them.”

Seeming quite serious, the Hokage lifted his staff and held it at his side, parallel to the ground, as though he were carrying it instead of gaining support from it – and, this was most likely true. “The fact that you take to such a gentle nature, Iruka, makes it seem like you’re not prepared to be a genin sensei in the first place; they aren’t aware that if you were inclined to become Jounin, you would make it without much problem.”

Thinking carefully about the Chuunin’s comment on the kunoichi, the Sandaime had to choose his words with care; ah, girls had always been so troublesome. “Konoha Ai is not, in fact, prepared for this; the girl is quite sensitive, I consider, but she’s trying as best as she can not to be. I plan to speak with Suoh later on her… but the fact is plain: she hasn’t grown up yet.

“On the one hand, Konoha Ai grew up without her mother; on the other, Matsuo Taiki was raised without his father. The boy already has pressure on him and, like Ai, he has a… desperation to excel. Children with a single parent as opposed to both, especially from clans like theirs that require a great honor from their heirs and so much work from their leaders… It is as hard on them as for anyone else, but both will be tempted to feel special because they have a tombstone behind them to be saddened for. You know how it is to loose both parents, however, Iruka – and that is a different sort of hard, but it is similar.”

There were so many suggestions on the Hokage’s tongue but he awaited Iruka’s comment first; the Chuunin had to digest the facts before he could ask Sarutobi’s help on the matter.

[Ari ღ]

Iruka now felt tons of stress, piling upon him as if weights fell on top of him. He had so much to do, so much to look after. He nodded his head up and down while Hokage-sama preached to him.

"This is a very complicated situation, and I just want to be of help, in anyway necessary." He said trying to be as much need as possible.

Iruka felt the same pain as Taiki and Ai do, this pain will never be forgotten nor never be healed. They to have to accept the things they cannot change, as Iruka has done over his years of
mourn.

He glanced down at his feet while he said his understandings.
"This pain, we share is alike, smilier. Ai and Taiki are much the same, they just haven't noticed it yet."

[Tenko]

“It is good of you to understand such a thing, Iruka,” Sarutobi responded, almost anxiously examining the weighted expression on the young man. “Though hard on you, I must admit.”

There was so much to tell him, so much to consider, but a sensei must always follow his own method instead of the teaching of others; the Hokage could only place down a path for him and see how the fine Chuunin would choose to explore it.

You would be a fine teacher to both of them, Iruka, was the thought in his mind, as the other man spoke. It is quite simply that none of you yet realize it.

“Now, this is what you do: you must be hard on them.” A fierce eye was placed on Umino Iruka right then, allowing no argument; if the Chuunin could, Sarutobi knew, he would protect his students forever as children, gentle as a dolphin and careful of their fears. That, however, was not the way of the ninja. “I know you will feel inclined to be kind to these children, Iruka, to make it easy – but they have chosen a difficult path. You must show them your strength as a person and a shinobi respectively.

“I have watched Team Eight through the Toomegane. They have insulted you, yet you’ve done nothing but praised them. You must keep in mind that you are at all times their superior; you must be cold and cruel with them if that is what the moment calls for. In training they are your students, cadets preparing for war at any given moment: you must be as hard on them as you can bare, you must punish them when they perform badly and especially when they insult you. Outside of training however...” He closed his eyes, remembering a pale young boy, a graveyard and a snake skin. “They become your children. It is after training, and aside of missions, where you may be the father and emotional support they need of you – a very separate person. It is outside of appointed training hours where you might take them to Ichiraku, or walk with them home, and ask them – truly – what is wrong, what they need, instead of telling them what they have to do. Most important of all… you must ensure that they care for each other, and you must let them know – not all the time, but when it poses convenient – that you care for them, as well.”

Opening his eyes, Sarutobi awaited Iruka’s response. “You must be two distinctly separate people: you must show them who is truly the ninja present, and you must play an additional parental figure in their lives – but never at the same time. Do you understand?”

[♥Nicole♥]

Kyo didn't care if Taiki was following him or not. He walked solemnly to the training grounds and jumped up into a tree where he sat down on a branch and stared down at the ground. "Damn it! Why did mother and father have to go and get themselves killed, fighting for this village? And why did I have to have the Rokubi sealed inside me?!" He pulled up his white shirt and examined the lightning-like mark on his gut. This only made him more furious. He kicked the trunk of the tree. "Damn it!" He yelled again. "And to make matters worse, now I don't have my hitai-ite!" He kicked the trunk again and again until his foot was sore. He then sighed and closed his golden eyes slowly.

[Ari ღ]

Iruka was most of all surprised to hear Hokage-sama's reply.
"I must be hard on the? Don't be so kind?" He thought over and over again in his mind. It all didn't make much sense to him, being nice is a good thing, right?

"Lord Hokage, I will try my best to become a father figure to them, and try even harder to be tougher on them when it is needed... I promise." She said ensuring Sarutobi. With this, Iruka now promised to become everything he had told them, and even more.

"Right, now I must find Taiki and Kyo, and start our second mission, Repairing the shingles on one of the exam's roof." He thought, as the conversation began to end.
"Thank Lord Hokage, you have taught me how to become a better sensei to team eight, I wouldn't let you down. I will look for Taiki and Kyo to begin our second mission."

This mission should be more meaning ful then the last, teaching each of the members in team eight, remeberly leasons, as a ninja and a human being.

[terrx]

Ai was in a daze. She was in her secret spot. Carefully hidden away from the world The pride around her heart being crushed. The first part was to recover. It was going to be a long painful road before the Ice breaks. She stared into space...Watching the sun start to set and the moon began to rise. This was her spot...And she's willing to risk it all to protect from the clutches of others. Ai yawned a little...Falling asleep on the piller located directly in the middle of the crystal clear pond.

[Tenko]

Sarutobi watched the Chuunin go but didn’t stop him; a grim nod painted the old man’s actions and, even after Iruka had left his company, the Sandaime found himself incapable of turning away from his place, gaze on the floor yet unfocused.

They’re not my team, he recalled, and they’re nothing like my Sannin. That doesn’t mean I shouldn’t do what I can. And-
…I trust Iruka to care for them well.

///-- >

The soft glow of the crystal fell upon the old man’s eyes as he searched for his genin once more; Kyo, in a rage, Taiki suffering because of his humiliation, Ai slumbering against a cool pillar, assuming that she was hidden once more. No, they weren’t his genin, only Konoha’s, but he pacified himself with this because he’d promised to watch over Ai for her father that night, and wanted to ensure that Iruka was not completely alone. It didn’t matter; to see his genin would be like constricting a vice about his heart, and that was something he wouldn’t be able to stand.

Orochimaru, Tsunade, Jiraiya – he could still remember when they seemed to fight for each other.
Jiraiya had failed the bell-test, he recalled; they had fought as a team and passed his initiation exam, and though the ‘dead-last’ of their team had howled with rage at ‘failing’, he had engaged his sensei with the other two knowing that it would happen. Tsunade had loved both of them, for a while, until they began to fade from their places at her side; Orochimaru had forgotten them completely after a while, or at least the duty he associated with his team mates.

The Toomegane proved itself to him once more as he watched Ai’s finally still form in a place he recognized; Sarutobi wouldn’t go for her. The Konoha girl could come home herself. Iruka would take care of her team mates – or else, the two boys would take care of each other.

Let us see how far they can venture.

Tired eyes fixed on that crystal ball, he would spend the night looking after a child of his village, though he knew she was relatively safe.

{End?}

[terrx]

As the night air drifted...Ai sturred as the moon rose high over the piller. She stared at it before she started before deciding to sing, "
Show me the meaning of being lonely
So many words for the broken heart,
Its hard to see in a crimson love,
So hard to breath,
Walk with me and maybe...
Nights of light so soon become.
Wild and free I can feel the sun,
Your every wish will be done they tell me...

Show me the meaning of being lonely,
is this the feeling I need to walk with?
tell me why I can't be there where you are?
there's something missing in my heart.

Life goes on as it never ends.
Eyes of stone observe the trends.
They never say forever gaze, if only,
Guilty roads to an endless love...
There's no control. are you with me now?
Your every wish will be done they tell me...

Show me the meaning of being lonely,
Is this the feeling I need to walk with?
tell me why I can't be there where you are
there's something missing in my heart.

there's nowhere to run I have no place to go surrender
my heart, body, and soul how can it be you're asking me
to feel the things you never show?
you are missing in my heart.
tell me why I can't be there where you are?

Show me the meaning of being lonely
Is this the feeling I need to walk with?
Tell me why I can't be there where you are,
There's something missing in my heart.

There's no way to run I have no place to go
surrender my heart..." She closed her eyes, "Maybe I've been too cold. Maybe I was destined to walk this path...No!! I can change. I just need to find out what's missing there in my Heart...Then I'll show them...I'll show them what they gave me the name...Ai." She said. Sitting down on the platform and began to meditate, "I'm not cold and stubborn. I can show them I'm gentle too."

[Ari ღ]

Iruka stumbled across Taiki, he seemed to be doing, nothing. "Are you ready for our second Taiki?" He asked in a kind manner. Iruka was thinking about what Lord Hokage said, about him being a tougher more, trust worthier senei to each of them. More alike a father figure to each of them. "We'll have to find Ai first.." He remember.

"To complete the mission properly, all members of cell eight have to be present." He thought as he remember Ai storm out of the office of Lord Hokage. "Kyo, shouldn't be too far away from here..." He thought as he took his eyes of Taiki and scanned the area for Kyo.

[Taiki-kun]

^{"Yeah, I am ready."
A sad look was still on Taiki's face, he has changed... for the better.
"Kyo shoulden't be to far from here... and one day, while walking, I heard her singing... it might of be where her 'secret spot' is."
Taiki waited fro further instruction from his sensei.}

[♥Nicole♥]

Kyo heard the all too familiar voices of Taiki and Iruka-sensei. He sighed miserably, opened his eyes, and stood up in the tree. Might as well go do the stupid mission... He thought as he jumped down from the branch.
"Hey Taiki. Hello Iruka-sensei..." He said as he shook his brown hair out of his face. "So what is our mission Iruka-sensei? And where is Ai?" He asked as he reached up to tighten his hitai-ite so he could get his hair out of his face, only to remember that it wasn't there.

[terrx]

Ai felt like someone was watching her, "Maybe I should just stay here for the rest of my life. I know my Grandpa is going to kick me out. Sigh..." She stared in space. Counting the stars, "When I look to the sky,
Hey, the stars are still embracing...
These stars look like a crown of people,
Emitting different types of Light.
That's right, that's why...

I want to shine for once.
I close my eyes and I swear
I entrust my dream to a shooting star.

This is the park I always go to...
I can see the sunset.
On the slide.
Since long ago, it was my own speical seat.
If I have any troubles, I always come here.
Ever since that time, I'm in the middle of that dream.
Even up to now, I am not able to fulfill it.

Maybe this is the end.
What a weak voice I spoke in.
But there are days where it seems I won't make it.
But then I remember
Looking for a shooting star in that starry sky.

The wish that I made when I was small
hasn't change with the passage of time.

When I look to the sky,
Hey, the stars are still embracing...
These stars look like a crown of people,
Emitting different types of Light.
That's right, that's why...

I want to shine for once.
I close my eyes and I swear
I entrust my dream to a shooting star." Ai sang, watching a shooting star streak across the sky.