THE wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees,
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
And the highwayman came riding—
Riding—riding—
The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door.

Kakashi rode through the night, listening to the wind as it blew across the nearly barren hills. The full moon was visible through the clouds, giving him enough light by which to see his destination, an old inn, in the distance. He adjusted his bicorn almost absently and pulled at the ruffled, lacy shirt, feeling glad for his red velvet coat, doe-skin breeches, and thigh-high boots as the wind blew a bit more forcefully. He checked his rapier and pistol quickly. While the terrain ensured that he would be ably to see any Red Coats who approached long before they became a problem, it also meant that they would be able to see him, and he wanted nothing to do with them right now – he had little doubt that they would be causing him problems enough later on in the night.

He passed over the moor quickly enough until he came pounding into the cobbled courtyard of the inn, not bothering to hide his presence. He was… tolerated… here, for various reasons. He took his whip and rapped on the shutters, noting that everything was locked up tightly. He wouldn't be entering tonight it seemed, but that was alright with him; he could only stay for a few minutes, and there was someone he wanted to see. He wheeled his horse around and moved until he was just under another window and whistled up to it, smiling as this window opened, revealing a brunette man with a scar across his nose. "Iruka," he greeted quietly.

"Kakashi!" Iruka laughed, leaning out of the window. "You came!"

"Yes, but I can't stay," Kakashi replied, steadying his horse. "One last prize, Iruka, and then we can be together! I should be back before dawn with the gold, but there's a good possibility of complications and Red Coat interference, so it's possible that I won't be able to make it back by then. If they follow me and keep me from returning to you, then look for me by the moonlight – watch for me by the moonlight. I'll return to you by the moonlight, though hell shall bar the way. All I ask of you is one kiss – for luck."

"Which I would gladly give you, but how do you expect to reach me from down there?" Iruka asked him dryly. "You're a whole floor below me. And I wish you wouldn't choose such dangerous targets."

Kakashi grinned wolfishly and stood up in the stirrups. "How far down can you reach?" he asked. "And you know the only targets really worth hitting are the dangerous ones. Besides, after this one, I'm done."

Iruka sighed, well-used to his lover's antics. He leaned a little farther out the window and reached down, only barely able to touch Kakashi's outstretched hand. "Well? Now what would you like to try? And I'll be glad once this is all over."

Kakashi paused to think a moment, before his eyes came to rest on the long red curtain cords. "Iruka, tie the curtain cord to the bed post and pass me the other end."

Iruka just looked at him. "You are not thinking of doing what I think you are," he stated flatly.

The silver-haired man below him just grinned.

Sighing once more, Iruka began to untie the curtains. "You are completely insane, just so that you know." He tightened the knots and tossed the long cord down to the robber. "If you fall, I refuse to take responsibility."

"How could I possibly fall, when it is to you that I climb? Falling would only take me further away," Kakashi nearly purred, taking the cord and giving it an experimental tug before placing his foot on the wall and beginning to climb up it using the cord as Iruka watched, clearly not amused. His horse looked up at him and snorted, but didn't move away. Kakashi quickly reached the window and grinned. "And by going up I can reach you!" he exclaimed as he pulled a stunned Iruka into a passionate kiss.

A blushing Iruka pulled away when he ran out of breath. "Luck," he whispered softly, as Kakashi smiled gently and began to climb back down to his horse. He quickly remounted, and without another word he turned and galloped away to the west. Iruka watched him go, and quietly shut his window before returning to bed.

Neither of them noticed Mizuki, the stableman that Iruka hired, listening from around the corner. He had loved Iruka for a long time, but he knew that the highwayman had stolen Iruka's heart, and as long as he had it, Iruka would never love Mizuki. Madness and jealousy glimmered in his eyes as he began to plan.

*****

He did not come in the dawning; he did not come at noon;
And out o' the tawny sunset, before the rise o' the moon,
When the road was a gypsy's ribbon, looping the purple moor,
A red-coat troop came marching—
Marching—marching—
King George's men came matching, up to the old inn-door.

Iruka waited.

He was up before the sun rose over the horizon to get the inn ready for the day, and he went through all of his chores constantly looking to the west for his lover to return. But as dawn broke and Kakashi still did not appear, Iruka began to worry. It was not the first time Kakashi had been late (indeed, the man was late for nearly everything, and often by several hours), but something just seemed off.

And so Iruka waited.

Noon came around, and still Kakashi did not materialize. Iruka continued running the inn as he always had, and he continued waiting, watching the western horizon for any sign of his highwayman. He was so distracted by it that when Mizuki asked to run to the nearby town for something or other Iruka didn't even give it a second thought before allowing it, completely missing the shifty looks that Mizuki kept on giving him – and completely missing the fact that Mizuki didn't tell him what he was going to get. He knew Mizuki was attracted to him, and even though he had always refused Mizuki's advances the man still did everything in his power to get Iruka's attention. Since Mizuki wasn't exactly in his right mind, this often meant that he always told Iruka what he was doing. Thus, while Mizuki asking him to go to town was normal, not telling Iruka what he was going for was not.

Iruka missed it completely.

When the sun finally began to set, there was finally movement on the horizon, but it wasn't what Iruka had been hoping for – a troop of Red Coats were coming towards the inn. Iruka frowned, and hurried out to meet them.

"Can I help you?" Iruka asked the captain politely when the troops reached the inn. He wanted them gone as quickly as possible; the inn was supposed to be a safe place for Kakashi to return to, and he was already long overdue.

"Iruka Umino, you are under arrest for consorting with and aiding a wanted criminal."

That one sentence was all Iruka heard. He just stared at the man in shock as he continued to speak, wondering how they had known.

That was when he saw Mizuki, standing at the back of the group, with madness and jealousy shining in his eyes.

"Mizuki," Iruka growled as two soldiers began to arrest him. "Mizuki, what have you done?!" He began to struggle against those restraining him as the anger at Mizuki's betrayal began to rise.

"He has done a service to his King and country," the Red Coat commander stated, "and he will be richly compensated for it. You, Master Umino, will have also done us a service by the time this is all over, when you let us use your inn to catch the highwayman." He paused, chuckling a little. "Not that you'll really have any say in the matter. To keep you out of trouble, I think that we'll tie you up in your room."

"Mizuki!" Iruka snapped as they began to drag him away. "This won't get you what you want!"

"Come on," one of the soldiers grunted as the wrestled him up the stairs to his room as Iruka saw others breaking into the caskets of ale. Iruka's struggling was proving to be futile, though he did seem to be angering the guards. "Stop it!" one of them snapped as Iruka got in a particularly vicious kick. The other soldier smacked him across the head, stunning him long enough that they could tie him to the foot of the bed as though he were standing at attention.

"And, so that you can't call out to him…" one of them sniggered, as he gagged Iruka with a piece of cloth. "And lastly, so that you can't do much of anything!" he laughed while tying a musket next to Iruka with the barrel right underneath his chest, pointing at his heart. The two soldiers both seemed to be having a great time as Iruka glared daggers at them, unable to say a thing. As they moved to kneel at the window, Iruka realized that he could see the road that Kakashi would ride on his way back to the inn. "Now, keep good watch!" they laughed, before settling in as the order to keep quiet was heard throughout the inn. Iruka remembered Kakashi's words to him before he left as though he were right there beside him: "Look for me by the moonlight – watch for me by the moonlight. I'll return to you by the moonlight, though hell shall bar the way."

He couldn't let this happen.

He began to twist his hands behind him, but the knots were well tied, and it was difficult. He continued trying to get his hands where he wanted them, writhing and stretching and straining. His hands grew wet with what he hoped was just sweat, but was far more likely to be blood from rubbing his hands raw on the ropes. He forced his aching hands to continue reaching for the prize. The hours crawled by, and Iruka wondered if he would ever make it. And then, on the stroke of midnight, his finger touched it – the trigger of the musket. Relief flooded through him. He pulled himself up as much as he could. He couldn't risk moving again and having the soldiers notice what he was doing, so he would wait, and watch the road, hearing Kakashi's words over and over again in his head.

Tlot-tlot; tlot-tlot!

Iruka's eyes widened slightly, hearing the clear ringing of a horse's hooves. The sound continued, but there was no response from the Red Coats. His eyes narrowed. Couldn't they hear it? More hoof beats –

And Kakashi came riding over the hill. The Red Coats looked up.

Iruka watched his lover riding closer and closer to certain death, and knew that he had no regrets. He stood up straight and still and drew in a deep breath, and then he moved the finger he had worked so hard to position.

Iruka's musket shattered his own chest, and warned Kakashi – with his death.

*****

Kakashi heard the sound of a musket firing from the inn, and immediately wheeled his horse back around to the west. The inn wasn't safe; something was wrong. He would return to Iruka in a few days, give everything a chance to settle down, and see what information he could find. Then, finally, he and Iruka could be together.

*****

It was a few hours later at dawn, when Kakashi wandered into the town carefully, always on watch for the Red Coats – not that they would recognize him anyway without his coat and hat, which he had stowed carefully in his horse's saddlebags. He walked into the tavern that was just opening for the day, and settled in to wait for any information.

It was a little while later when two Red Coats came in and ordered drinks. Kakashi didn't pay them that much attention at first, until he heard one of them mention being at the inn. His interest roused, Kakashi began to listen in more closely.

"You were there, weren't you?" the one on the left was saying to the other. "I thought the troop was supposed to arrest the innkeeper, but he wasn't with those who returned this morning. Are they keeping him at the inn as bait?"

Kakashi felt his blood grow cold.

The soldier was answering, though. "We did arrest him, and we tied him up, too. The guards assigned to him tied a musket to him, though. I'm telling you, we almost had the highwayman – we could see him! But then we all heard a musket go off upstairs, and the man immediately turned around and road off. When we went upstairs, the innkeeper was standing with his head bowed over the musket, drenched in his own blood. Turns out that he killed himself with the musket to warn the highwayman."

Kakashi's stomach dropped, and he felt himself grow dizzy.

Iruka was dead.

Without even really knowing what he was doing, he found himself back with his horse, at which time the shock began to recede and the rage began to set in. He put back on his coat and hat, and checked his gun and rapier, noticing that his pistol no longer had ammo in it. He reloaded it and took off back towards the inn, screaming his rage out across the moor, drawing his rapier.

He rode right into a waiting troop of soldiers. The battle was short, and when it was over, he lay dead on the highway, shot down like a rabid dog.

*****

And still of a winter's night, they say, when the wind is in the trees,
When the moon is a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
When the road is a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
A highwayman comes riding—
Riding—riding—
A highwayman comes riding, up to the old inn-door.