Iruka stood before the memorial stone, staring at the newest name added to its emerald faces. Hatake Kakashi. Tears filled his chocolate eyes, it was his fault and he would never see his lover again because he had been weak. He had allowed himself to fall, allowed himself to be weak because Kakashi was there and there had always been the assurance that Kakashi would protect him, no matter what. And because of that, because he had been weak when he shouldn’t have been, Kakashi was dead. He would never wander the village with his masked nose thrust between the pages of an Icha Icha book. He would never again arrive late to something and offer up some lame excuse to cover his repeated trips to visit his fallen comrades. He was dead, he was never going to come back and it was all Iruka’s fault.

Sobbing, Iruka fell to his knees and curled over himself. He couldn’t take the pain; it was all far too much for him to bear. He wouldn’t survive long, not without Kakashi beside him, not without Kakashi’s unfailing strength and unsinkable happiness and courage. He was done. He couldn’t be with his lover anymore, he couldn’t be with his lover and it was going to kill him. He knew it.

“Kakashi!” Iruka shouted at the cold stone. “Damnit!” he sobbed, pounding his hands into the cold ground surrounding all he had left of his lover.

It was his fault, it was his fault.

Angst in three parts. The next part will be posted tomorrow night and the last part will be posted on Tuesday (so long as things go according to schedule) There are character deaths and it’s not going to be a happy ending. Please, read and review!