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

Genma sat at the small booth, rubbing his wrists idly. He never had gotten the trick of escaping that knot and he was certain Raidou was going to take full advantage of that later. Iruka sat across from him, both arms on the table and leaning forward heavily. Raidou approached with a tray, several parfaits balanced upon it. The one with the most hot fudge was placed in front of Iruka as the other man sat. “So, what’s going on?”

Iruka reached almost blindly for his spoon, trailing it through the chocolate but not bringing it to his mouth. “I didn’t mean to yell at him like that.”

“But you did,” Genma said very matter-of-factly.

“And he did deserve it,” Raidou added helpfully.

Iruka just shook his head. “I’ve had a hard day, he didn’t deserve to have me take that out on him.” He pulled the spoon to his mouth, licking at the ice cream thoughtfully. “He just makes me so frustrated . . .”

The other two men looked at each other. Finally Raidou leaned closer to the teacher. “What does he do that bothers you so much?” Iruka shook his head and Raidou continued in a whisper. “Is he good in bed?”

At this, Iruka flushed scarlet, ducking his head to avoid looking at his friend. “Yes. I mean, of course. He’s sweet and he’d never hurt me.”

“That’s not what I asked. I asked if he’s good in bed.” Iruka’s blush deepened and he nodded slightly.

Genma scooted around the booth, leaning towards Iruka from the side. “What about me?”

“That’s different, the conditions were . . . completely different.”

Genma didn’t move. “But despite all that, you have said you enjoyed that night.”

Iruka buried his face in his hands. “This is not what I had in mind when I agreed to come out with you two.”

Genma seemed completely nonplussed. “Between him and me, who’s better?”

Iruka looked up, horrified. “I’m not going to-“

Raidou’s hand clamped over the teacher’s mouth and shushed him. “Iruka, quiet, we’re in public here.” He removed his hand, but the teacher kept silent. “Have some faith, Iruka, we actually have a reason for this.”

“You have a reason for comparing . . . him and . . .” he trailed off, unable to say the words aloud now that the shock had passed.

Raidou leaned back, starting on his own dessert. “You know, Genma is a real idiot sometimes.” The other man glared with a slight ‘hey’, but Raidou ignored him. “He’ll piss me off, or bug me when I’m still in mission mode; sometimes he just plain bugs me. You want to know how I deal with it?”

Without waiting for an answer, Raidou leaned towards his boyfriend, pinning him to the booth in a deep kiss. Iruka gaped at them, desperately trying to look away but completely unable as the two men proceeded to lick the back of each other’s throats. After a very long minute, Raidou pulled away, smiling and looking completely satisfied. Iruka, finally able to look away, buried his face in both hands. “Not everything can be solved with sex.”

Raidou just blinked at him. “Who said anything about sex? You’d be surprised what a good long kiss can solve. And you obviously don’t get enough of them, what with that idiot and his mask.”

Iruka kept his face hidden. “All right, fine. But what does that have to do with comparing Kakashi and Genma?”

It was Genma to speak this time, his voice drawing Iruka’s eyes up again. “Well, nothing really.”

“What? Then why-“

“Calm down, I had a reason for asking. But if you can’t relax enough to kiss him, you’ll never be able to answer my next question.”

“I just said sex doesn’t-“

Genma shook his head quickly. “Not sex, let me finish.” Iruka obediently stared at him. “I want you to think about Kakashi and how you feel when you’re together. Then I want you to think about what you want out of this relationship; don’t tell me, just think about it.”

Iruka opened his mouth to say something, but hesitated. Slowly his eyes became thoughtful as he looked inward. Raidou popped another spoonful of ice cream in his mouth, speaking around the spoon. “Do you want a savior, a boyfriend, a fuck buddy? In the end, what you want is most important here. Since you’re fairly new at this, it’s completely understandable, but you haven’t noticed how Kakashi feels either, have you?”

Iruka stared openly and opened his mouth to ask something, but Genma spoke first. “No, Iruka, we aren’t going to tell you how he feels. Not until you figure out what you want.” He sighed deeply, looking away suddenly. “It won’t be easy, you’re going to have to go through a lot of your past to figure it out.”

Raidou reached over, brushing a hand against Iruka’s arm. “We’re right here to help you figure it out, all right?”

Iruka’s eyes were down turned again, already thinking about what this meant. Distantly he nodded, smiling slightly at the other two men.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Kakashi blinked dazedly at the clouds above him. After a moment, a shadow walked over to him, blocking some of the sunlight glinting into his eyes. “My Honorable Rival! Is something the matter?”

Kakashi just blinked again, now staring at the clouds past Gai’s bowl cut. “What makes you say that?”

Gai wrinkled his brow, staring down at the man on his back. “Kakashi, my Hip and Modern friend, you just flew about ten yards from my attack. I know how you fight, you could have avoided that move without a thought. I already had the counter attack ready!”

Kakashi sat up, bending at the waist without moving otherwise, and looked up at Gai again. “Maybe I’m a little distracted.”

“It is a Disgrace to your Honorable and Youthful spirit! You shouldn’t have accepted my challenge if you had no intention of fighting seriously. It moves me to Manly Tears!”

Kakashi stayed where he was, staring at the mighty blue beast blankly. “You do remember that your challenge was issued only a few seconds before your first attack?”

Gai seemed stunned at that, blinking down at the other. It was true, but that was how most of their little battles started, it had never affected the fight in the past. “What is bothering you, oh Worthy Rival?”

Kakashi quirked an eyebrow. “Somehow I doubt you could help.”

The last lingering bit of Gai’s smile faded and he knelt slowly beside the pale jounin. “Kakashi, tell me what is bothering you.” When the masked man stayed quiet, Gai wrinkled his brow in a little frown and plowed ahead. “Is it a mission? No, you could never be so despondent about a mission.” There was a brief pause. “You’ve done something to Iruka!”

Kakashi blinked, completely caught off guard by the accusation. “I did something?”

Kakashi blinked again, blindsided as the taijutsu master suddenly caught him up in a hug. “You must have upset him and been dumped! Such a crushing blow for someone so Hip and-“

Kakashi twisted, not freeing himself from the bear hug, but somehow managing to clamp one hand over his rival’s mouth. “Gai,” he choked out. “Please stop.” The larger man straightened his arms, holding Kakashi partly away from him. Kakashi, for his part, kept his hand where it was. Unfortunately, this meant that he either had to start talking himself, relinquish his hold and be subjected to god knew how many speeches about youth and beauty, or stay in this hold for the rest of eternity, because once Maito Gai had set his sights on talking to you, there was no getting him to quit, even for sleep. “Iruka didn’t . . . dump me . . . exactly.”

Gai’s posture changed, relaxing slightly at the statement, awkward though it was. He mumbled something that sounded vaguely dramatic, but with Kakashi’s hand still firmly in place, the words themselves couldn’t be made out. Kakashi sighed, absolutely certain he’d regret it as he lowered his arm. Gai was silent for a moment before repeating himself. “If he didn’t dump you, what could be bothering you so badly as to Ruin your Manly-“ Kakashi replaced his hand, rolling his eyes in mild pain.

“Please, Gai. We’re just having . . .”

Gai pulled back an inch, reaching up and moving Kakashi’s hand himself. He was oddly subdued, gazing at the other seriously. “Kakashi, tell me what has happened.”

The masked man felt his eyes drop, the weight of the day dragging them down. After another minute of silence, he finally muttered to the ground, “I screwed up.”

Gai blinked at him silently for a minute. “Care to be a little more specific?”

“I keep hurting him. And I’m getting tired of the taste of leather.”

“Ah, yes, and poor Tohiro-“

“That wasn’t my fault!” Kakashi sighed, gathering his thoughts. “That wasn’t my fault, but yes, things like that. And as if that weren’t bad enough, he thinks I see him as weak when the truth is anything but.” He sighed again, throwing himself backwards onto the grass again. “You can see why I don’t think you’ll really be of much help here.”

“It may be true I am less knowledgeable in the area of romance than you, my rival. That does not mean I am ignorant of all the problems facing you and the young sensei.” Gai paused, apparently for dramatic effect, before leaning back on his elbows to gaze at the clouds as well. “You say you don’t think of him as weak, but how do you treat him?”

“I don’t want to hurt him if that’s what you mean. I try to avoid talking about things that upset him, I avoid places that . . .” Kakashi stopped, turning his head to look at Gai. He’d nearly forgotten who he was talking to here. “I try not to hurt him.”

The mighty beast didn’t move, still staring at the sky evenly. “Have you given a thought that it may not be fair to Iruka to do that?”

“What are you talking about, Gai?”

“Iruka is strong. Far, far stronger than he’s usually given credit for. Is it fair to him to keep treating him as if he’s going to break? You want to protect him, a truly Wondrous expression of your Manly Love . . . but what are you missing out on? What are you depriving him of?” Kakashi was silent, staring at the man in wonder. Just how much did Gai know? He was strange beyond description, and obsessed in more ways than one, but he was a jounin and a teacher himself, tied to the school for years. Was it even possible? “You should know as well as anyone that wounds don’t heal by ignoring them, they only grow worse. You want to protect him, and that is more than a Worthy cause. But everyone treats him gently when you are the one person that shouldn’t. You should be helping him heal, Kakashi, no matter what you think you need to do.”

“Gai . . .”

The spandex-clad man jumped to his feet, all his blinding enthusiasm returning, just as strong as it usually was. “You must resolve this Horrible Mis-step and reunite with your True Love!”

“Who said anything about love-“

“Correct this imbalance and regain your Youthful Spirit! Repair the damage to your Soul as well as your technique!”

Kakashi flipped to his feet. He waved a goodbye to the man with one hand, rubbed his forehead lightly with the other, and tuned out his voice as he started walking away. That man could be amazingly sharp some days. Really, looking at him and how he normally acted, one would never guess. Sometime Kakashi would have to sit him down and find out if he actually knew about Iruka’s past or if he was just damn lucky when giving his Inspiring Speeches.

-o-o-o- Iruka, age 23 -o-o-o-

Iruka sat at his desk, quietly taking role as his students trudged in for the day’s classes. He smiled at them one at a time; Hinata, all quiet blushes, ducked her head in a quick greeting as she hurried to her seat, Kaori and Ino were talking loudly as they entered, Sasuke’s name coming up more than once, the young Uchiha entered a few minutes later in all his brooding glory. Naruto bounced into the classroom and straight to Iruka’s desk, talking a mile a minute about the start of summer vacation. Iruka had to remind him twice that the school year didn’t end for another month and that he should be spending his vacation preparing for his next year, if he wanted to graduate with the rest of his class.

He nearly missed Kiba entering the classroom, eyes locked onto Iruka’s form. The teacher looked up and smiled and Kiba immediately scampered to his seat. Iruka frowned slightly at the boy. “Is something wrong, Kiba-san?” The Inuzuka hesitated a minute, before looking away, shaking his head frantically. Iruka’s frown deepened a little. “Just try and stay awake through class, all right?”

As the teacher stood to begin the lesson, Kiba settled his chin onto his desk, never taking his eyes off the man. This was the second morning this week Iruka had smelled so strongly of soap and with only one day in between. The wild boy idly stroked his tiny pup, still soundly asleep inside his coat. The strange scent had bothered Akamaru first and Kiba had started noticing it not much later. Every now and then, when Kiba came in for class, Iruka smelled like soap. Sometimes, like this week, for several days in a row or with only a brief pause between.

Kiba sighed, lost in his thoughts and paying no attention to the lecture at all. Something was going on, but he had no idea what it was, and he didn’t know how to figure it out. They’d had a review of surveillance techniques not long ago, maybe Kiba could use those. He struggled to recall the various ways of doing it, but quickly gave up. Even if he could have remembered them, Iruka-sensei wouldn’t be caught in something so basic. He needed some way of watching the teacher without being found out, but he also had to do it for several days; whatever was going on, it didn’t happen every day and he had no idea which day would be the next. What he needed was help.

Kiba blinked, surprised as Iruka excused the class for lunch. He’d already dreamed away the whole morning. Against his chest, Akamaru – awake for a while now – wiggled and crawled onto the desk. He stayed where he was for a moment, looking towards the front of the room. The little dog looked up at its human, whimpering slightly, and Kiba sighed again. “I know, buddy. But what am I supposed to do about it?”

The pup whimpered again before leaping off the desk with a small ‘arf’. He trotted across the room, easily eluding his master as Kiba stumbled after him, and came to a stop looking up at Shino. He whined loudly, pawing gently at the boy’s leg.

Shino looked down at the dog, face expressionless behind his dark glasses. “I will not get rid of your fleas for you.”

“Hey! Akamaru doesn’t have fleas!” Kiba growled, scratching at his own ear as he finally caught up with his four-legged companion.

Shino looked evenly at the other boy before dropping his gaze again to the small dog. “I will not get rid of your master’s fleas, either.”

“Hey!” Kiba bared his teeth, growling more loudly at the spectacled boy as Akamaru whined at their feet. Slowly his expression softened as he stared. “Hey, Shino. I think I got a favor to ask you.”

Kiba got the distinct impression the other was rolling his eyes. “What?” he bit out.

“I need to borrow your bugs.”

“Kikaichu,” the young Aburame corrected automatically.

“Right, yeah, like that pokemon. I need to borrow them.”

For a long moment, Shino said nothing, just staring at the boy. “Why?”

Kiba opened his mouth, but no sound came out. Quickly he glanced around the room, gauging if anyone was close enough to hear him. His eyes lingered on Iruka, bent over his desk, marking tests. He seemed to be using his red marker quite a bit and Kiba idly hoped it wasn’t his test that was earning it. “I think Iruka-sensei is in trouble.”

Even with the glasses, Kiba could tell Shino was blinking at him, staring like he were Naruto. “Why?” he asked again.

Kiba knelt quickly, scooping Akamaru into his arms. “He smells funny.”

“Funny?”

“Yeah. Like soap. A kinda flowery smell, underneath a really strong citrus.”

“Citrus?”

“Yeah, you know, like cleaners. Bleach, too.”

“Bleach.”

“Yes, damnit! What are you, a freaking parrot?”

Shino shifted, crossing his arms. “Has it occurred to you he may have just done his laundry?”

“Come on, Shino, give me some credit. I can tell you exactly when the laundry is done for anyone in this room. Your clan does laundry every Thursday, Shikamaru’s dad does it on Saturdays. I know what laundry soap smells like – this ain’t it.”

“Soap, citrus, and bleach. To me that sounds like laundry and cleaning. Iruka lives alone, he does all of that himself, you know.”

Akamaru growled angrily at the bug user while Kiba pulled at his hair in frustration. “It’s not normal, Shino. Please, I’m asking you to help me out here!”

For another long moment, Shino stayed quiet. “What do you want?”

“You can watch him. Your bugs can see what’s going on. I just want to know, one way or the other, please.”

Shino grudgingly nodded. “I’ll have the kikaichu watch him for a week, all right?”

Kiba moved on instinct, trapping the other boy in a hug before he thought. It was natural for him as it would be for any Inuzuka. Shino, however, stiffened in the embrace, not drawing breath until Kiba pulled away from him. “Thank you, Shino. You’ll see, I’m not imagining things.”

-o-o-o-o-o-

By the time the weekend came around, Kiba had almost forgotten asking the quiet boy for his help. Iruka still acted perfectly normal during the days and his scent didn’t seem out of place. When the Inuzuka came into the classroom Monday morning and his teacher still smelled normal, he began to lose hope that Shino would see anything. Maybe he was making too much of this.

Kiba struggled to stay awake through his teacher’s lecture, he really did. But Iruka covered concealment so thoroughly . . . and all that talk of controlling your breathing and subduing your chakra . . .

“Kiba Inuzuka, wake up!”

Kiba jerked, falling out of his chair at the sharp voice. From his coat, Akamaru barked and whimpered after nearly being landed on. Kiba looked up to see Iruka glowering down at him. “Ah, um, Sensei . . .”

“Can you tell me the six easiest ways to hide from your enemies?”

Kiba stuttered a moment, desperately trying to think up the answer. “Uh, chakra something and, uh . . .”

“So I’ll be seeing you a half-hour early tomorrow morning for detention?”

Kiba nodded, climbing up to his feet. “Yes, Sensei.” The class had let out and Kiba trudged wearily towards the door. Now he’d have to be awake that much earlier, and if he slept through it, Iruka-sensei would keep him after class even longer.

“Ahem.”

Kiba whirled quickly to the voice. He’d walked right past Shino without even noticing the silent boy. “Shino?” The spectacled boy gave a ‘follow me’ motion, turning and walking down the street. “Um, where are we going?”

“I want to talk to you in private. We’re going to the Aburame compound.”

Kiba stopped in his tracks. “We’re going where?”

“We can’t very well go to your clan’s tents. I’d rather have this conversation behind a door that locks.”

Kiba regained use of his legs and jogged to catch up with the other boy. “Um, okay. Will your dad mind me being there?”

“My father won’t be home for several hours.”

Kiba stumbled again, stopping just in front of the Aburame’s front door. “What? Shino, if he finds out I was here-“

Shino ignored him, wrapping one hand around his wrist and dragging him the last few feet into the building. Shino toed off his shoes and waited for Kiba to do the same before speaking. “You were right.”

Kiba set Akamaru gently on the floor, following as Shino led the way to a neat sitting room. “Um, right? Right about what?”

“About Iruka-sensei.”

Kiba’s jaw dropped and he sat heavily on an overstuffed floor-cushion. “What’s going on?”

Shino sat much more calmly, folding his hands carefully before opening his mouth. “Iruka-sensei had . . . relations . . . with someone Saturday night.”

Kiba stared, confused. “You mean sex? That’s not nearly as bad as what I was afraid was going on,” he cried in relief.

Shino sighed. “No, Kiba. After, he went on some sort of cleaning spree. The kikaichu couldn’t give explicit details, but it didn’t sound like something a willing participant would do.”

For several long minutes Kiba was silent, absorbing the information. Finally he looked off to the side, scowling. “He’s being forced?”

“I can’t be sure, but I think so. We need more information before we can do anything. Someone who can see what we can’t.”

Kiba slouched, glaring at the floor. “You want to tell Hinata-chan?”

“We need a Hyuga if we’re going to help him. I just want to make sure he’s not getting hurt.”

Kiba didn’t look up, but nodded. “We gotta figure this out, for him.”

-o-o-o-o-o-