Chapter One
Lists
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Iruka growled and slammed the files down on his desk at the Mission Office. Genma had written the wrong names on the files again and it would take him several hours to straighten out the mess that had been made. He swore that he would kill that lazy good for nothing when he got back from his mission. Sighing, Iruka bent to grab the not so small stack and go through them again.
It had been three weeks since Iruka and the others had come back from the Grass Daimyo's estate, having taken care of the missing nins that were plaguing his fields and business. The small group of outlaws had learned of their top members dying and had fled. Kakashi and Sakura had followed the three men, detaining one and killing the others. All in all, they had earned a nice bit of change for the mission. Now if only sorting the files would be as easy as ridding the Grass estate of those nins.
Iruka sighed again getting back to sorting the misnamed files. Twenty minutes had passed before he noticed the light fading from the windows. Stretching, he filed the last of the reports and signed off on the few scrolls left on his desk. It was passed time to be heading home and he was hungry. Snatching up a scroll that needed to be rewritten, Iruka closed the Mission Office door and locked it. Slipping the key into his pocket, he headed for home.
As he hopped down the stairs, he wondered if Kakashi would be coming over that night or if he had been sent out on another mission. Sakura was supposed to be coming over that night to help out with dinner. Iruka thought back over the ingredients that he had and made a detour into the merchant district. He needed to pick up some pork and mushrooms as well as some olive oil. Sakura was going to be making them some fried dumplings, rice, tempura, and a spicy chili sauce. As he bought the items, he spied a very sweet looking chocolate cake for dessert. He smiled as he imagined both Sakura and Kakashi's cries of delight. Those two were serious chocoholics. Paying for the groceries, Iruka whistled on the way back to his apartment.
Sakura was waiting at the bottom of his staircase and waved as he got closer. They chatted of inane things as Iruka lead the way up the stairs and into his apartment. Laughing, the two Chuunins went straight to the kitchen and set about preparing dinner. Iruka noticed that they worked well in the kitchen and didn't seem to get in each others way. Sakura would shy out of the way or duck at just the right times to avoid being knocked in the head or poked in the side. Since Iruka never prepared a meal without music, he switched on his radio and set it to a classic rock station. In moments, the two of them were singing, very badly and off key, with the music.
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Kakashi snarled at the Godaime. "I can't do that!"
"You will or I will send you to Snow!" Tsunade yelled. "I want to know what the hell is going on. It might turn out worse if the boy is left alone. I want you to take care of it!" She slammed into her chair and dared the silver haired pup to push her buttons.
Kakashi growled low in his throat and stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Tsunade-sama," he started formally, "I don't think I can do that to him."
Tsunade's golden eyes glowed. "Don't tell me that the famous Copy Ninja is afraid of something?"
"Of course not!" he ground out quickly. He sighed and turned away from those knowing eyes. "I just don't think that it would benefit the village if he was sent out like that so soon. He nearly died the last time and he might not be able to pull it off again." He turned back to the only woman that had ever scared him. "Surely you can see that this is not the best time. He needs time to adjust to his condition."
Tsunade steepled her fingers and leaned her chin on them. "You may be right, but we are so under-powered right now that I can't let this opportunity pass the village by." She sighed and sat back. "Kakashi, I need to know what he is capable of. I need to know what he holds in his head and if it will be a threat to the village."
Kakashi stared at the blonde for a moment as he thought over what she asked had asked of him. He couldn't let the little teacher slip away from him and he doubted that sending him out after nearly a month to recover from his injuries would be enough. What he really didn't want to happen was for Iruka to slip back into what he could only define as something that was completely on another level than what he was used to dealing with in someone close to him. Iruka's past was something to be concerned over but with Kakashi being ANBU he understood that what Iruka suffered as a child was nothing for those that had entered the ANBU at an early age. He only wished that Iruka had never learned of those nightmarish missions.
"I'm still waiting, Kakashi," Tsunade growled, pinning him with her amber eyes.
Hiding his concern and slouching down, Kakashi shrugged. "When do you want us to leave, Godaime-sama?"
Tsunade frowned at his tone, but left it alone. "I want you ready to leave in three days. Sakura is going with you, so make sure she is told to stop by here tomorrow for her briefing. Send Iruka an hour after Sakura for his briefing. We need to get to the bottom of this and I want to know why the Sandaime never mentioned it any of his old diaries." She leaned back in her chair and swiveled around to look out the windows of her office. "I've missed something and I don't like it. Go."
Kakashi bowed and teleported out in a puff of smoke.
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Kakashi muttered under his breath as he skimmed the rooftops of Konoha. He wasn't quite ready to head back to Iruka's apartment, though he knew that his two favorite people were there waiting on him. Iruka concerned him. His past was a blank to everyone in the village except those that were around at the time of his activation. He was sure that Ibiki knew something, but trying to get anything out of him was like trying to pull teeth. He wondered his he could get Anko to get something from him. He shuddered at the thought of what she would do to the man to get what he wanted. She was strange and violent, but she was good in a battle and never let him down in the past.
Still muttering, he decided to put off seeing Iruka for a few more minutes and headed for Anko's small apartment near the Forbidden Forest. She was supposed to have come back yesterday from her mission, so she was well rested and wouldn't try to kill him if he showed up to pester her. He cleared that last few rooftops and landed at Anko's doorstep. Knocking, he waited for her as she called out.
"Yo," he chirped, smiling at the disheveled woman before him. Her hair was spiked all over the place and the oversized shirt she had on was falling off one shoulder. She had on shorts and was scratching her back as she answered the door. "Did I wake you up?"
Anko yawned and opened her door wider to let him in. "No, I woke up not to long ago. Mission was a bitch on sleep. Coffee?" she rattled off, heading into the kitchen. She stuck her head around the corner and looked down at Kakashi's feet. "Get those shoes off and hit the couch. I need to talk to you, so it was a good thing you stopped by tonight."
Kakashi shook his head and toed his sandals off. He had been to Anko's apartment only rarely and she kept it clean. He stopped in the kitchen doorway and watched as she filled the coffeepot with water and flipped the switch. She looked cute when she wasn't trying to kill everyone.
"Want something to eat?" she asked, opening the fridge and rummaging around inside.
"No thanks, Anko. Iruka and Sakura are making dinner tonight," he replied back with deep regret. Anko was an excellent cook, at least when it came to sweets. He was a sucker for sweets.
Anko peered at him over the top of the fridge door and waggled her eyebrows. "So now you have two cooking for you. You sure are fast."
Kakashi snorted. Leaving Anko to forage for her dinner, he padded to her couch and sank into the rich and comfortably deep cushions. "I came by to ask you about Iruka, actually."
Anko stopped moving old take out boxes around. Closing the door, she came out of the kitchen to plop down on the opposite end of the couch and raised a knee to her chin, leaving the other on the floor. "I've been waiting for you to ask me that for a while now. I was going to ask you two to come by when you got back, but that damn mission came in." She lowered her knee and slipped it under her stationary leg. "I've something here that you will want to show to Iruka when you get a chance." She reached under the coffee table, pulling out an old waterstained box.
"I found this box in one of the old storage lockers. The room had been sealed while the Sandaime was in office, but after his death everything he kept in those rooms were to be inventoried and sorted. I was on duty when I was found this box. Anyway, I could read some of the notes inside, but most of them were ruined or so water stained that I couldn't decipher them. I gave them to Genma to look over and he found some very interesting and disturbing facts in those writings." Anko handed box to Kakashi and motioned for him to open the box. "What he found in those writings scared him. When I read over them, I was scared too."
Kakashi opened the box and drew in a breath at the white mask staring back at him. He had hoped that Iruka was just telling him some wild story to help with his rage, but with this box, everything he had been told was coming to be true. He rifled through the rewritten pages and read most of them. They only confirmed Iruka's story. He sighed and looked up as Anko came back into the room with two glasses of water. He took one and gulped down a mouthful.
"Hard to believe, huh?" she asked with a half smile. "Our little Iruka was a secret ANBU weapon. I suppose that his breaking like he did was due to the pressures of losing his family and then being all alone in the world. Neither of his parents had any family so he was an orphan with no one to call on in his time of need. With the oncoming war, we needed all the help we could get." Anko sighed and sipped at her water, staring into its clear depths. "What Sarutobi-sensei didn't count on was him becoming psychotic. He fed him the wrong thing to make him sane. I guess it's lucky that he was able to suppress the original psyche and create the gentle if temperamental Iruka we know today."
Kakashi settled the papers back into the box and put the lid back on. He turned to Anko and said, "Thank you for showing me this. Iruka's been under a lot of pressure these last few years and I don't think any of us could have imagined what was really going on with him." He sighed and stood. "I want to leave the box here with you. Send the box to Genma. Iruka and he have some unsettled issues to work out, anyway. Let Genma be the one to tell him about this."
Anko nodded and stood, walking to the entryway with Kakashi. "I don't like this."
Kakashi slipped his sandals back on and looked over his shoulder at his long time friend. "Neither do I, but it's something we have to deal with."
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A/N:
I know it's been a while since I last wrote anything, but work has been hectic on my writing. Writer's block also contributed to this being so late. I've been writing on this one chapter for four months. DX Unlike before, I will be posting at the least two chapters a month, if not more.
I may be posting some other fics about our favorite village in the near future. I have several fics in the works and it's just a toss up of which ones I want to write about. I have a couple of hetero couplings that I would like to expound on as well as finish with our two love birds.
For those that have waited so long for this, thanks for waiting. It may not be the best starting chapter, but it's a start. I promise more action and more hot scenes. Till next time...