-o-o-o-o-o-

Iruka was shivering. It was one of the first things they’d done, casting a jutsu to make him feel cold, regardless of whatever else happened. It had been hours now, a breaking period to soften him up and make their job easier. The other jutsu the girl had performed was to make him hear things, specifically Kakashi’s voice, screaming and begging, racked with pain. Every now and then, the imposter would stalk towards him, shallow cuts or taunting words. Nothing yet that was truly damaging, but the fact that it was Kakashi’s face, Kakashi’s hands . . . it was more than slightly disturbing.

Iruka had begun to yawn around chattering teeth at two in the morning. His mind was tired and knew he should be sleeping, but the drug in his system kept his eyes open. Now he could see the faint rays of the sunrise creeping through his window. It would probably start to get more painful soon. Iruka knew how to deal with mind games, he could withstand days of them, he was sure, if he needed to. Even if these were somewhat unique . . . Iruka could withstand as long as he needed to and still listen to their interaction, gaining valuable information about the two and their partners. It was the physical part of all this he was worried about. He wouldn’t last once they began with serious pain and once they figured that out . . .

They hadn’t bothered to bind him and Iruka wondered why. It was possible they didn’t consider him enough of a threat, but it was equally possible they knew how good he was with rope and knots. Either way, Iruka was hesitant to try anything, for Kakashi’s sake and because he honestly wasn’t sure he could win in a fight with either of his captors and certainly not both.

The man walked towards him again and Iruka reluctantly focused on him. He knelt slowly, eye level with Iruka, who was curled against the wall. “Iruka,” he whispered, voice sweet and gentle. Kakashi’s voice. Inside Iruka’s mind he could hear that voice scream and whimper and he clenched his eyes shut against it. “Iruka, talk to me. Tell my friend here how to pass as you.”

The teacher shivered again and opened his eyes. “G-go to hell,” he bit out.

“Iru-chan, please. Cooperate with me, please.” Another scream in Iruka’s mind and he shuddered violently again. “No one in the village will be hurt, none of your students will even know anything happened. We’ll get what we want and leave.” There was a pause and the man brushed his hand down the teacher’s jaw. “He’s still alive. Give us what we want and he’ll stay that way. You can see him again.”

Iruka forced his eyes to stay open, wanting to see the imposter’s face. “Go t-to Tsunade-sama and call her an-n old hag. It’s c-code,” he managed through chattering teeth. The man’s face darkened, making Iruka smirk.

Suddenly there was a kunai in the other’s hand and he held it at the teacher’s collar. “I am trying very hard not to have to hurt you, but you seem determined to force my hand.” He hesitated, shifting the weapon up to Iruka’s face. Very slowly he trailed it from one cheek to the other, tracing along the old scar there with just enough pressure to pull droplets of blood from the skin. “He has a scar, too.” He pulled the weapon up, ghosting over Iruka’s eye in a mockery of the scar around the sharingan.

Iruka struggled against shutting his eyes again. He needed to see, be aware of what was about to happen to him and prepare. He said nothing. Before the imposter could do anything else, he was interrupted by a loud knock on the door. The kunai vanished and he pressed his hand tightly against Iruka’s mouth, nearly blocking off the teacher’s air. The pounding at the door sounded again, this time Ibiki’s voice accompanying it. “Iruka! Wake up, I need to talk with you.”

The imposter’s eyes doubled in size. Without releasing Iruka, he turned to the woman, who slinked back into the hallway, weapons appearing in her hands. Iruka took as deep a breath as he could and sent a silent prayer to his lover, hoping Kakashi would forgive him. His chakra flared suddenly, filling the room and beyond in a sudden, violent surge.

The man turned back to him, disbelief clear on his face. He shifted again, kunai reappearing, but was again stopped before he could do anything. It took only milliseconds, the window shattering to allow an ANBU entrance and the man jerked as a kunai buried into his own back. There was a pop and bits of smoke, the man’s disguise, for the first time, fading. He had blonde hair; Iruka focused on that, on the gold strands closer to Naruto’s color than Kakashi’s.

The imposter was dead before he hit the ground, two more kunai hitting his chest as Ibiki broke down the door. The ANBU had already darted to the hall, dealing with the woman there while another masked face appeared in the window as reinforcement.

Slowly the screams and the cold faded, and Iruka pushed himself to his feet, still shivering. He looked at the man at his feet for a very long time before slowly looking up to take in the rest of the room. After another moment his eyes landed on Ibiki’s frowning face. Everything broke and he flung himself into the larger man’s chest. Ibiki’s eyes widened at the move and his hands came up on instinct. Realizing Iruka was almost in tears, he brought one hand down in an awkward pat. “Um . . . there, uh, there.”

Iruka shook his head, face buried in the broad chest. Beside him, the second ANBU stifled a giggle. “Come on, Ibiki-san, you’ve seen this before.”

Ibiki growled and looked at the other man. “Except that I always let others deal with hysterical ninja.” He paused and quickly shifted Iruka into the other’s arms. “You deal with it.”

The mask hid any emotion, but the ANBU sounded a little startled himself when he spoke softly to Iruka. “Hey, calm down. You’re . . . you’re fine. They hardly hurt you, see? You’ll be just fine.”

Iruka shook his head again, clinging to the man’s vest. “He’s dead, gods they’re going to kill him. I should have been able to do something!”

“Iruka, look at me,” Ibiki ordered in his usual gruff tone. Slowly the teacher looked up, tears barely contained in his eyes. Ibiki let his gaze shift to the woman where she was being held. “Akamaru knows where Kakashi is. And I’ll know a lot more soon.”

It took a moment for the information to penetrate Iruka’s brain. Slowly he shifted to look at the woman as well. Then without warning, he bolted for the shattered window. The ANBU started, but Ibiki was already moving. “With me. Sato, you go after him. Do not let him do something stupid!”

The second ANBU was moving instantly, trusting his fellows to restrain their new toy – er, prisoner – and racing after Iruka. Against all logic, he found the teacher just as he entered the main records room. “Iruka,” he said warningly.

The man ignored him completely and stalked toward a shelf of blank scrolls. The professionals weren’t listening to him, he felt no need whatsoever to listen to them. He had to move and quickly, while there was still a chance of getting to Kakashi while he was still alive. “I won’t betray my village,” he growled, gathering several scrolls and scribbling authentic looking labels onto the otherwise worthless things. “But I won’t abandon my partner either!” He ran from the building, taking the streets at a run to get to Inuzuka territory.

Kiba was waiting at the borders of his clan’s land, obviously expecting to guide someone to Kakashi. When he saw Iruka however, flushed and somewhat panicked, he looked rather unsure. Iruka shook his head at the boy’s expression in an attempt to dispel his uncertainty. “Tell me where Kakashi is, Kiba-san.”

The boy was still frowning and shifted slightly to look over the teacher’s shoulder at the masked man still following him. The ANBU nodded slightly and Kiba looked at his Sensei again. “I’ll have to come with you, scent trails don’t translate that well to maps.” At his heals, Akamaru barked loudly.

Iruka nodded quickly. “Show me. Please.”

“Go, as quickly as you can,” Sato muttered. “I’m going to get a medi-nin and we’ll catch up.” With another nod, Kiba was off, his little pup sprinting out in front and Iruka running frantically behind.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Kakashi had let himself slip into meditation. He had the chance to rebuild more strength while still staying aware of the world around him. When the door opened, however, he pulled his focus back to the present. The sound of barely there footfalls met his ears, but after a moment all pretense of stealth vanished.

“Geez, Adel, how hard did you hit him?” It was the woman’s voice, Kakashi could hear her shut the door again.

Adel’s footfalls came closer before he spoke. “Hard enough to keep him out of our hair. Bastard still thinks he has a choice here and I’d just as soon not be caught in his next escape attempt.” Inside, Kakashi grinned widely. He was officially looking forward to shattering that specific hope. There was a touch on his chin and Kakashi forced himself to stay limp. He kept his breath even and low as his head was tilted up and to the side. It was harder when a hand settled over his throat, but after another second the touch retreated.

Closer to the door, the woman laughed. “Well we don’t have to worry about him too much longer. Once we get what we need from that teacher, we don’t have to worry about them at all.” Another laugh. “We should set up the radio so he can hear his boyfriend scream. Probably be more effective than anything else we’ve tried.”

Adel seemed more cautious about the whole idea. “We don’t need anything else from this jerk, and if we did that, he’d have to be awake. I’d be happy just leaving him unconscious until we’re done with this whole thing.” Kakashi strained to hear clearly, making out the large man’s movements without revealing his awareness. He stood, and a shuffle of noise made it sound like he turned around. There was no way to tell if the woman was looking at Kakashi or Adel, but the copy ninja was willing to bet he wasn’t the focus of either of his captors at the moment.

He wasn’t particularly happy that he was making that bet with his life, but he also doubted he’d have a better chance anytime soon.

He was sitting on the ground, back to a solid beam, legs sprawled out in front of him and arms twisted behind his back. The complete and utter lack of leverage from his position was heavy in Kakashi’s thoughts, but he was a trained Konoha jounin. In under a second he was moving, pushing away from the wall without rising at all. The woman jerked back in surprise. “Fuck!” Shuriken appeared in her hands and she let fly at her suddenly-not-unconscious prisoner.

Kakashi ignored the sharp blades, even as one cut across his abdomen, and focused on Adel. The man was turning, but it was far too late. Kakashi hit his knees, bringing him down hard in a tangle of limbs. Unfortunately, Kakashi found himself in the middle of that tangle as Adel managed to get an arm around him. The sudden move wrenched Kakashi’s injured shoulder, tearing a grunt of pain from him.

Adel had a survival knife stashed in his belt and Kakashi made a grab for it. He felt something sharp drive into his leg, but he had the weapon and with an arcing pull he traced a deep cut up Adel’s arm. Kakashi pulled free as the man flinched at the wound and made a break for the door. The woman was disappearing down the hallway, more than likely to bring reinforcements. It gave Kakashi the chance he needed to slip away.

His fingers wrapped around Adel’s hitai-ate and he pushed off the floor to run. He didn’t have the time or strength to properly deal with the muscled man, he needed to get away and now, but his first step on his newly injured leg nearly sent the copy nin back to the floor. Somewhat frantic, Kakashi caught himself with his good hand in an odd sort of half cartwheel to keep moving without losing much speed. The kunai wound in his thigh had cut deep into the muscle. Kakashi grit his teeth and focused on adjusting his gait to compensate for the rather profound limp. In the long run the wound was nothing to worry about, but at the moment it was just one more obstacle he had to fight with. And one more bit of blood loss, Kakashi thought despairingly as a sudden wave of dizziness hit him.

It was an awkward run, but Kakashi managed. Completely ignoring the pain of his shoulder and fingers, he tied the stolen hitai-ate around his head and slid it down to cover the sharingan. The effect was immediate as the steady pull of chakra was abruptly cut off. He stumbled again as his headache lessened, but that chakra was immediately redirected, adding a bit of speed and stability to his legs.

Kakashi could barely remember the layout of the building from when he was brought in. But if what he remembered was correct, then the forest and potential freedom was just beyond the next door. Right on cue, three shadows appeared to block the path. Kakashi didn’t bother with any fancy dodges or misleading tricks. He ducked lower, charging right into the center of the shadow clones. As the shadows attacked, he struck out, fending them off as best he could. None of his attacks really did damage, not even aimed well enough to dispel the jutsu, but that wasn’t Kakashi’s goal right now.

The door burst open under Kakashi’s weight as one of the clones tackled him to the ground. He could hear the interrogator shouting from slightly deeper in the complex. “Damn it, stop him! Don’t let him get into the trees!” Kakashi spun, throwing his attacker off with a swift kick, and leapt into the trees with as much force as he could muster.

“Find him!” Kakashi could hear from the door of the small compound. “Split up and bring him back here, we can’t let him get back to Konoha.”

He stayed at ground level, knowing he was far past being able to move around in the branches safely. Without slowing, he shot out one hand, snapping off a thick branch. The rope was still looped around his fist and Kakashi quickly tied it around the branch and his wrist. It was a poor guard and a poorer brace for his now throbbing wrist, but it would have to do.

He jerked to the side suddenly, catching his injured shoulder on a tree as he barely avoided a solid blow aimed for his head. Shit, it was the woman. Kakashi fell back, blocking her next attack with his improvised shield, pleased to find it was more solid than he’d expected. But he could hear someone rushing towards him, light footfalls in the fallen leaves. Kakashi cursed, slipping his hand up to uncover the sharingan. Almost immediately his head was pounding again; he couldn’t handle the strain for more than a few seconds. Taking a page from Naruto’s book again, he charged at the woman directly, reading her moves and doing what he could to counter them.

In moments, Kakashi was able to slip past the woman’s guard and dart further into the trees. He covered the sharingan again and redirected the chakra into his legs once more. Behind him he could hear the leader giving chase. “You can’t get away,” he called. “And don’t think your little ‘Ruka won’t feel the pain for this.”

Kakashi ground his teeth together, pushing back the panic at those words. He couldn’t afford to worry about Iruka right now, he couldn’t let himself feel the pain of his injuries. He had to focus on just getting away before he collapsed again. Deeper into the woods, running straight away from the voice. It was a beginner’s trick to talk to your prey, it forced them to move in a way you could anticipate. Kakashi ignored the instinct to dodge away from his pursuer and just kept running. He was a leaf ninja and he could feel the trees calling to him, offering a hundred places to hide. He was going to find one and wait this out until he could get back to his home and his love.

-o-o-o-o-o-

At full speed, it was still more than an hour before Kiba began to slow. Both men and Akamaru were panting with the strain, but none of them had any thoughts of stopping. Iruka’s gaze darted over the trees, searching for any sign that something was here. After several minutes, as their breathing returned to normal and it became easier to hear over his racing heart, Iruka jerked as he heard something in the forest nearby. “Kiba, can you henge into Akamaru for me? I want them to think I’ve come alone.” The boy nodded and cast the jutsu before trotting on Iruka’s other side, opposite the real dog.

Iruka stalked through the trees, making no attempt to move silently. He heard the movement hesitate and fall instantly silent, but made no change, moving consistently towards where the sound had been. Reaching the area, he stopped, glaring at nothing and waiting.

After a moment, a dark skinned woman with what looked like acid burns on her face stepped around a tree. Iruka knew his face was unguarded, screaming his anger at the woman. It didn’t matter, was even a good thing at this point. Silent, he shifted so she could see the scrolls and after another moment a second shinobi appeared. The shorter man looked at Iruka for a moment before motioning to his companion, sending her leaping back into the trees. The short man smiled at Iruka, deceptively friendly. “Sensei, what a pleasure to meet you.”

“Where’s Kakashi!” Iruka wasn’t willing to play nice or put up false pleasantries.

The man’s smile didn’t even falter, his stance the picture of relaxed. “Tell me, Iruka-Sensei. What possibly gave you the idea that coming here would be a good idea?”

Iruka’s scowl deepened. “Your man is dead. That woman will wish she was so lucky.” He shifted again, flaunting the small pouch of scrolls and pulling one out. “This is what you were after, right? Tell me where he is!”

For the briefest moment, the man’s eyes glanced at the two dogs on either side of Iruka. The teacher caught the look and growled ever so slightly. “You must know that dogs are pack animals. You really think you could do something to the alpha, let alone try to take his place without facing the consequences? Tell me where he is and you may still survive this, though I doubt for long.”

The man still hesitated and after another moment, Akamaru stuck his nose into the air, sniffing madly. He and Kiba both took off, dogs following the scent of something. The move startled Iruka and the teacher looked after them for a moment, debating on following. He jerked his attention back to his opponent after only a second, but the shinobi had already closed the distance, first attack speeding for Iruka’s throat.

-o-o-o-o-o-