-o-o-o- Iruka, age 25 -o-o-o-

Kakashi wandered the street, wondering what he was going to do with the rest of his evening. It was far too early to go to sleep, the sun had barely even set. He’d been looking forward to a nice long snuggle session with Iruka after their perfect, romantic picnic late-lunch. That had been such a wonderful success. Kakashi reached out, idly snapping a fencepost with one hand. It helped him feel better, but not much.

“Kakashi-sensei?” The silver haired man turned to see Naruto looking at him, a strange look in his eyes. “Did the fence do something bad?”

Kakashi numbly looked at the fence, suddenly realizing he’d snapped three more posts, leaving only two holding up a long cross beam. He very deliberately pulled his hand close to his chest. “It insulted my mother,” he muttered, focusing on the whiskered boy again. Beneath his mask, a smile crept across his face. “Hey Naruto, how about some ramen?”

“You kidding? Totally! Your treat, right?”

Kakashi nodded slightly, “Your first five bowls, no more.” Naruto didn’t drop his smile, feverishly agreeing to the condition and following as Kakashi led the way towards the stand, picking up Neji, Hinata, and Kiba on the way. In mere minutes, the four students were ransacking Ichiraku’s under Kakashi’s not-so-watchful eye. The jounin just smiled. Was this why Iruka treated Naruto so often? The pure joy flowing off the boy was positively infectious, seeping into Kakashi and chasing away his darker thoughts and worries.

He wasn’t expecting anything to intrude on this one peaceful moment, so the quiet flare of chakra surprised him. It was the shinobi equivalent of clearing your throat, barely even there and not even remotely threatening. Still it sent a shiver up his spine and he stood to see who was trying to get his attention. He didn’t miss it either as Neji and Hinata both glared through the wall.

Kakashi slipped around the building, doing his best disinterested look as he studied the man waiting there. It wasn’t someone he recognized and Kakashi wondered if it was because he truly didn’t know him or because he was using a jutsu to disguise himself. Either way, there was only one reason he’d want to talk to Kakashi. The copy nin crossed his arms, leaning casually against the wall of the restaurant.

The stranger just glared at him. “I’m here to stop you.”

“Really. That’s interesting since I was the one to stop all of this.”

“Stopped everyone else, you mean.” Kakashi narrowed his eyes, trying to piece that one together. “I’m not the only one that wants to keep you away from him.”

“Last January; scar on his leg required eight stitches.” Kakashi turned to see Neji behind him, scowl on his face.

The ninja growled loudly. “That was an accident! I was the one who brought him to the hospital. I didn’t even finish . . . you know . . .”

Kakashi looked back at the man, eyes narrowing at the distinct blush coloring his cheeks. “What makes you think you have any right to talk to me about relationships?”

The man just glared harder. “When I found out what I was a part of, it made me physically ill. No one’s saying you didn’t do a great thing in stopping it. But that doesn’t mean it’s okay to make him yours. Iruka won’t do a thing about it and most people are too scared of you to fight for him, but not me.”

Kakashi frowned, making sure the man knew exactly how he felt. “Iruka isn’t being forced into anything. I’d watch my step if I were going to go around making unfounded accusations.”

“You can’t intimidate me, Kakashi. You’re just as bad as Mizuki and I won’t-“

Kakashi didn’t know he had any real buttons to push. Insult his father and he was likely to snap at you. Badmouth the fourth and you could expect a mild beating. And he already knew he became rather violent and protective when it came to Iruka. Apparently being compared to Mizuki was something one should never do. He’d moved in an instant, forcing the other against one of the surrounding walls without even thinking. Kakashi’s mind cleared slowly as he stared at his kunai, buried several inches in the middle of the man’s throat.

Shit.

The man’s eyes were huge, gaping at Kakashi as he struggled just to breathe. The blade had cleanly pierced his voice box and Kakashi thanked deities he didn’t believe in that he’d had enough control not to slice through his arteries. Kakashi didn’t even have to look to know that Neji was gone. He prayed even more fervently to those gods that the Hyuga had enough sense to get Tsunade herself; any other medi-nin’s first priority would be to immobilize Kakashi and they would almost certainly use less than pleasant methods.

Hands that were too cold to be good wrapped around Kakashi’s arm, but he struggled not to be moved. He kept his arm where it was, using all the control he had not to so much as shake. As the wound was now, it wasn’t fatal, but the slightest twitch in such a vulnerable area could change that. Double Shit. And he was still struggling slightly, terrified to be completely at the mercy of a shinobi that he clearly thought was the new incarnation of evil. Kakashi closed his eye a moment, slowly going over all the rumors about himself that he knew in a sort of meditation to figure out what had prompted this interaction.

It was another minute before someone landed behind him and Kakashi had to remind his body not to turn and face them. A slim hand reached around his shoulders, gently resting against the hand wrapped around the kunai. “You can let go now, I’ve got it,” Tsunade’s disembodied voice whispered into his ears. Kakashi forced his fingers to release, his arm to retract. He took a step back and turned to face the Hokage to explain himself. He distinctly remembered opening his mouth to speak, but then a well-manicured hand was racing into his field of view, and it would have been unthinkably stupid to try and dodge his only real boss . . . Kakashi’s world dimmed and darkened as he first flew down the alley and then tumbled across the wide street, coming to rest with a solid thunk against a small merchant’s stand.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Kakashi was awake. He did not want to be, but he was. He was lying on a very uncomfortable bed – he assumed a hospital cot – with a pounding headache, several other aches and pains throughout his body, and one seriously pissed off chakra signature less than three feet away. He still had his eyes shut, trying to delay the lecture as long as humanly possible.

The chakra, you see, belonged to one Umino Iruka. Kakashi was well aware that the teacher could conceal his presence when he chose to, so he also knew he was letting that murderous intent leak out deliberately, just so the copy nin would wake up to that feeling. It was intense, sending little movies of the less than pleasant variety running through Kakashi’s head. It would have almost certainly brought a lesser ninja to his knees in pure, unadulterated terror. As it was, it helped quite a bit that Kakashi was already lying down.

There was something else there, too. Something that Iruka never had quite mastered hiding. A deep-seeded depression, thrumming as an underscore to the rage. It was faint, but massively hollow, consuming his whole being while the anger flowed mostly on the surface. Slowly Kakashi put the pieces together as he tried to figure out what it was. Iruka never did let down his control, not completely, not even around Kakashi. This hollow pain was something Kakashi had thought he’d erased, but clearly it had just been covered up. Now that Iruka was using his feelings as a weapon, he could no longer hide it. It was possible he didn’t even recognize it as something detectable any more. All the effort Kakashi had put into healing his lover, the months of gentle caresses and long nights of reassurance . . . suddenly he was faced with the possibility that he hadn’t changed anything at all. This realization made Kakashi open his eyes.

Iruka’s eyes were smoldering. None of that dark emptiness was visible, just pure rage pouring off of him and onto the other jounin. “What did you do?”

Kakashi blinked and swallowed at the straightforward question. The teacher’s voice was actually shaking with contained anger. “I injured-“ Iruka’s eyes narrowed and Kakashi quickly restarted his statement. “I attacked-“ The teacher’s eyes narrowed again and Kakashi’s own grew wider. “Please don’t tell me I killed him.”

Iruka’s jaw twitched. “He’s still alive.”

Kakashi’s eyes shut a moment, prayers of thanks quickly going out to those deities he was starting to have considerable faith in. He forced his eyes open again and forced the sentence from his lips as quickly as possible, ignoring the way Iruka looked like he was about to impale him. “I attacked and seriously injured a fellow shinobi and a good man who really was only thinking about your wellbeing.”

All the extra words to praise the mystery ninja – Kakashi silently vowed to learn the man’s name and bring him flowers or something of the like – didn’t seem to have any effect on the seething man standing over him. “Why did you do it?” he asked in that same quiet voice that promised a slow, slow and painful death.

Kakashi hesitated. Reason or not, bringing up Mizuki’s name wasn’t something he liked doing around Iruka to begin with, much less when the man was homicidal. He settled on a secondary reason, hoping the teacher wouldn’t catch the omission and force it out of him. “He had hurt you, and he accused me of doing the same.”

The sudden absence of killing intent engulfed Kakashi. Iruka had put a tight rein on his chakra, completely blocking the silver-haired man out. Kakashi’s eyes widened and he felt the rather unfamiliar heat in his nose that was the precursor to tears. There was only one reason Iruka would have done that and it was if he didn’t want Kakashi to feel something that would be given away by his chakra. After a statement like that, the only thing he wouldn’t have wanted Kakashi to feel was an agreement. The words pounded into him just as clearly as if Iruka had spoken them aloud. You do hurt him. Tight lipped and still glaring, Iruka turned his back on the injured man. “I have a meeting with the Hyugas in the morning. I’ll let the medi-nin know you’re awake.”

That was it. No goodbye, no more hostile interrogation. Iruka simply shut down, blocking him out again. The unfamiliar burn in his nose grew slightly stronger as Kakashi swung his legs over the edge of the cot. He was dressed in only a few seconds, bounding out the window long before the medi-nin made it through his doorway.

-o-o-o-o-o-

After Iruka had asked Kakashi to leave, he’d settled onto his bed to try and wait out the night and the nightmares he knew were waiting for him. When a soft knocking had drawn him back to the front door, he honestly expected it to be Kakashi, most likely with some ridiculous toy to try and regain access to his bed for the night. He was surprised, however, to see a young boy of the Hyuuga clan, dressed in plain beige robes and looking blankly at him. “Hiashi Hyuga-sama has requested your presence tomorrow morning.”

Iruka frowned, taking the folded letter the boy was holding out to him. His task completed, the runner left, leaving Iruka to contemplate why the head of the village’s most prestigious clan wanted to see him. The letter gave few details beyond time and place, so Iruka’s imagination was left to run free. Unfortunately, his imagination had long since thought of several worst-case scenarios involving meetings with high ranking village elders, so he was really left to debate just how bad it would be.

An hour later he’d been startled from his thoughts by a much less gentle knock. The ninja trying to attract his attention this time was pounding so hard on his door, Iruka was certain it would splinter in another few seconds. He flew to the portal, wrenching it open before he had to start thinking about repair costs. Standing there looking fairly frantic was Kiba, fist still raised for another solid pound. “Kiba-?”

“No time to talk, Kakashi did something really stupid, you gotta come now, really stupid-“

Akamaru was several yards down the hall, looking back at the two shinobi and whimpering loudly, shifting from paw to paw in his eagerness. Iruka’s brow furrowed further. “What-“

Kiba’s hand wrapped around Iruka’s wrist, pulling him into the hallway at a breakneck speed. “I said there’s no time! Kakashi did something really, really, really stupid and you have to come now!”

Iruka didn’t even have the time to reach back and shut his door as the Inuzuka dragged him along, muttering a swift and convoluted story to try and bring the jounin up to speed. Iruka had to remind himself to breathe when he heard the words kunai and throat in the same sentence. He stumbled nearly to the ground when Tsunade’s name came up and he wondered if Kakashi really flew twenty yards. When they reached the hospital, Iruka had to dig his heels into the dirt to keep from being drug straight through the building. At Kiba’s confused look, Iruka just frowned. “I want to see the man he attacked.”

The wild boy nodded, quickly rerouting his path and leading Iruka through the hallways. Iruka pushed open the door to the observatory when they arrived, leaving Kiba behind as he entered. The man was being operated on and Iruka couldn’t actually be at his side, but standing over the room, in a glass encased balcony, he could at least see his face. Iruka’s heart stopped, recognizing one of the other teachers that worked at the academy, Tohiro. Any doubts about what had sparked the attack disappeared as Iruka sank into one of the cushioned seats. He barely twitched as another presence entered the room, waiting for the woman to speak. “He’ll live,” Tsunade said softly. “I got him out of the danger zone and there’s a good chance he’ll even be able to speak without much difficulty.”

Iruka pitched forward, burying his face in his hands. “What did he do?”

“The kunai pierced his larynx and he’ll have to stay under observation to make sure the esophagus wasn’t affected. He’ll be okay though. Kakashi reacted on instinct and afterward did everything he could to minimalize damage.”

Iruka could feel his blood starting to boil. “Where is he?” His voice was hollow as he asked it and he could just feel Tsunade shift away as she gave the poor man’s room number. Iruka had gotten the story from one very frazzled Kiba, and now from a surprisingly sympathetic Hokage. Now he wanted to hear it from Kakashi’s own lips.

And then the idiot had gone and said that. And Iruka had shut down again. He was already stressed from the day’s events, more so from that stupid little messenger. And then Kakashi just had to say that. To make matters that much worse, Iruka knew he hadn’t been able to keep the truth from the other man. Seeing that hurt in his mismatched eyes, imagining the pained frown hidden beneath that stretch of fabric had only wrenched at his heart more. He’d turned his back, hiding his expression from the other, and left, any lingering hope of a peaceful night’s sleep long forgotten.

-o-o-o- Iruka, age 21 -o-o-o-

Mizuki looked evenly at Itsuo, waiting for the man’s reaction to his idea. The brunette frowned slightly, “I thought you were having fun with this.”

“Oh, I am. But he’s gotten used to it. I want to break him, make him suffer like he should be. It’s about time we expanded the game.”

Itsuo nodded slightly, thinking it over. It was true that Iruka seemed to have grown accustomed to their occasional visits. He even talked to them during the days as if nothing was wrong at all. It was because of the boy, he was certain. That stupid blonde, the outcast of the village. He was in Iruka’s younger class now and the teacher drew strength from him. Perhaps Mizuki was right and it was time to extend the game. “I know just who to bring in, too. Leave everything to me, I’ll let Iruka know there’s been a problem and see how he deals with it when he gets a new visitor tonight.”

Mizuki’s lips twitched into a frown. “Is it wise to warn him ahead of time?”

Itsuo just chuckled. “Of course. If some stranger shows up, Iruka might fight back, or even tell them what’s been going on. If he thinks his visitor already knows . . . if he thinks they may go to the school if he doesn’t get what he wants . . . a whole new world of possibilities opens up. Besides, it’ll just reinforce his trust in me if I warn him and apologize ahead of time.”

Mizuki was smiling by the time the other had finished. Yes, this was what he loved about the man. He had the most devious mind and he knew exactly how to put it to use. “We’ll watch tonight and see what happens.”

-o-o-o-o-o-

And things had gone startlingly well. At first. Iruka had insisted he deal with the problem on his own, playing right into the setup. The man Itsuo had chosen was bigger and stronger than Iruka and he didn’t seem to have any moral qualms about forcing a supposedly willing Iruka into the positions he wanted.

But then Iruka had fought back. He’d struggled, and before anyone knew what had happened, the young teacher had been hurt. Badly. Mizuki burst through the window, startling both men and making the larger flee. Itsuo had intercepted him – Mizuki didn’t bother worrying about the blood on the shorter man’s arm as he settled near Iruka. It was all sorts of entertaining to break the teacher slowly and see how much he could take. It was completely different to have the poor man bleed to death on the floor of his own apartment. Mizuki glared up at Itsuo as if it was his fault. “He needs a medic.”

On the floor, Iruka made a whine that sounded surprisingly like a no and Mizuki glanced at him. Itsuo was frowning, too. “No medi-nin, they’d want to know what happened. Who in the village-“

“Rinshi, he knows every field trick there is. Find him and get him here fast.” Itsuo was gone in an instant. Mizuki frowned as he looked down at the teacher. He was already quite pale, the wound in his side leeching away his life rather quickly. He was looking up at the pale man with unfocused, pleading eyes. One hand reached for him weakly, but Mizuki shifted just out of reach. “This is what you get when you fight, Iruka. You did this to yourself.”

Itsuo dropped through the window only a minute later, Rinshi in tow. The tall man took one look at Iruka and was instantly beside him, small bag of medical supplies completely upended on the ground beside him. “What the hell happened?” He muttered, hands flying through seals and applying pressure to the wound.

Mizuki and Itsuo shared a glance, but neither said anything. Rinshi worked in quick silence to stem the bleeding and wrap the wound. The large man looked up at the others again. “He needs to go to the hospital. I’m no medi-nin, I can only do so much. I can’t even tell if his chakra pathways have been damaged-“

He trailed off as fingers tangled in his pants leg. Iruka looked ready to pass out, but his eyes held a sort of intensity while he looked up at the man. “Please,” he managed in a barely there whisper. “Please no.”

Rinshi looked at Mizuki who just shrugged before cradling Iruka’s hand in his own. “All right, all right. Just relax and focus on healing. I’ll do what I can.”

-o-o-o-o-o-