Married To A What?!

Iruka didn't know how long he'd fallen asleep for but he was woken up by a shrill scream that cut through the air like a knife.

The teacher scrambled to his feet. Whoever that was, sounded like she was in trouble. Iruka simply wasn't someone who could leave others in a lurch. It was somewhere in the late afternoon which meant that Iruka had slept for a long time. School has ended for most students and that explained the victim that Iruka found.

She was a pretty blonde girl who was getting bullied by a group of other girls. The fight looked severe and although Iruka was injured, he still had his wits. The teacher quickly pulled out his phone and switched to a video function.

"Stop!" he shouted as the camera recorded. The girls turned around at the sound of his voice like some dumb villains in a cliche movie. Now that Iruka had all their faces, he smiled.

"Congratulations, you're all going to be very famous soon. I wonder what would happen if the video becomes viral and reaches the police. All your faces have been recorded by my camera. What will you do now?"

The three girls paled and cursed at him before running away awkwardly trying to cover their faces from the phone camera that Iruka was still holding up even if he had stopped recording a while ago. The teacher made his way over to the blonde girl who seemed to be alright apart from a few bruises and a very messy hairdo from the hair-pulling that happened earlier.

"Are you alright?" Iruka knelt down to help her up.

The girl introduced herself as Ino and appeared quite shaken. Iruka then led her to the bench that he had been sleeping on and moved his belongings to the side to make space. Ino thanked the kind teacher and called for her boyfriend to pick her up in the park. Iruka stayed with the girl while she waited for her boyfriend who was called Sai.

"Why were you being bullied?" Iruka asked and Ino shook her head. "Just some minor disagreements. Jealousy can be a bitch sometimes. Just because of some attention from their crush and idol, I got beaten up for it. They were just some stupid class notes that I borrowed..."

"You're a student?"

Ino nodded. "I'm studying at Konoha University."

Iruka nodded. "That's quite far from this small town. How did they follow you here?"

The girl laughed. "We had a class gathering here because it is currently the term break. My boyfriend is here too, he accompanied me on the trip. We were supposed to be on a date today, actually."

Iruka smiled kindly. "It's nice to be young. He must be very nice."

Ino blushed a little and coughed awkwardly, glancing at the suitcase and changed the subject.

"What about you, sir? You don't look much older than me. Are you on a trip too? That's a lot of belongings."

Iruka sighed. "No, not really. I was kicked out of my apartment."

Ino didn't say anything for a while but after about half a minute without anyone saying anything, the girl picked up her courage to pry a little more. Kakashi told them all about Iruka but Ino wanted to personally make sure that the teacher was alright. On the surface, Iruka looked fine but the medical student thought that he looked rather fragile at the moment.

"What happened?" she asked carefully.

Iruka didn't answer at once. Instead, he slowly reminisced about the times he spent with Kakashi before everything went downhill with Mizuki. Ino didn't interrupt the teacher as he spoke fondly of the silver-haired stranger he reduced that night that changed his entire life. She only offered the teacher tissues when he started to cry a little when he talked about breaking up with his abusive boyfriend and childhood friend who later did all sorts of nasty things to him.

At this point, Ino was angry on behalf of Iruka and Kakashi. The alpha had found a good mate and as part of the pack, it was also her duty to watch over this fragile human. After Iruka concluded how he was evicted from his apartment, Ino couldn't help but pull the man into a hug, sobbing along with him.

"Why don't you come with us? My boyfriend and I grew up in places that weren't very good either. We were saved and taken in by a complete stranger but he is very nice. The rest of our siblings are orphaned too but if you don't mind, we have enough space for one more person down on luck. Won't you come with us for a while?"

Iruka didn't know what to say. The helping hand that he stretched out to this girl turned out to be one that became the crutches he needed to get back on his feet. Immensely grateful and apologetic to the girl for becoming a future burden, Iruka accepted the invitation.

They chatted about various things and Iruka thought that despite being an orphan, the place that she lived in sounded like a rather happy place. Some bonds are stronger than blood and the definition of family between strangers made Iruka slightly envious.

"It sounds like a wonderful place," he smiled.

"It is," Ino assured him.

Sai appeared after twenty minutes and Ino waved at him. Iruka thought that the teen looked slightly weird with his paler than pale shade of skin and his dead-fish eyes. Still, Ino was expressive enough for both of them. It might look like an od couple but Iruka knew that their love was genuine and pure. their interactions were warm and the teacher felt as if he was intruding on something private after watching them talk for a while.

"I'm so sorry for the late introduction. You can call me Sai. Ino's told me the gist of things, can I help carry some of your stuff? We're heading back in two days but for now, you should stay with us in the inn."

Iruka couldn't refuse help because the two youngsters were already helping themselves to Iruka's belongings. The teacher could only slowly walk after them and shuffled awkwardly behind the couple. His mother used to tell him good things happened to good people who waited and for the first time in his life, Iruka believed that what he did all these years didn't go to waste. Somewhere out there, there was a god listening to him and watching over him.

Up above the clouds in a different dimension, a middle-aged couple smiled down at their orphaned son. Things were finally looking up for him so they held hands and left together for the light that had been waiting for them. With Kakashi around and the red string that tied their pinkies together, the couple could finally be at peace.