"Stupid jounin with their know-it-all attitudes!" He flailed his arms wildly as he almost fell off the roof of the apartment he was currently standing on. He regained his footing and leapt onto the next building, nearing the outskirts of the village.

Hayate looked up as his lover sat down beside him. The aura of death hung around the chuunin but Hayate was used to it, he was like that some says after teaching he pre-gennin.

"Hey."

Iruka grunted in reply which only made Hayate smile into the darkness.

"What's wrong?"

"Stupid cycloptic fuck entering Naruto's team into the chuunin exams. They haven't even been gennin for half a year yet! They're not ready!" He looked down at his hands clasped in his lap. "I don't know what I'll do if Naruto dies, he's like my son."

Hayate put an arm around the other man, drawing him closer, admiring the way his skin looked so pale in the moonlight. He felt Iruka's head drop onto his shoulder and reached up to run a hand through the dark hair which had escaped being pulled into the haphazard ponytail. He pulled the elastic out of the long hair, stroking it until it was free from knots.

Iruka's eyes drifted shut as Hayate played with his hair. Hayate always made him feel calm, always made him forget his worries. He was almost asleep when he heard the click and saw the familiar flare of orange in the dark. He smelt the burning drug as Hayate inhailed deeply from it before offering it silently to him. He didn't know what it was, never bothered to find out, wasn't sure he wanted to know what sort of damage it was doing to his body. He knew he would eventually end up like Hayate; restless and drained, unable to sleep, but he took it anyway, just like he always had.

**************************************

Years later found him there again, sitting on the rooftops at midnight, staring at the moon. The moon always reminded him of Hayate, how he was pure on the inside, in his soul, even if the darkness from him life clouded it. Yet to Iruka, the light from his soul had spilled and shone from the pale skin like the moonlight bathing the whole village in a silvery glow.

The familiar light shone out, but this time by his own hand, and the end of the drug ignited. He still didn't know what it was, didn't care. All he knew was that if he left 5,000 ryo in the alley behind Hayate's apartment, there would be a month's worth of the drug there. He inhaled deeply. He still didn't care what it did to his body, the only difference now was that he knew what it did to him.

As the rolled cylinder grew smaller, so did the stress that had accumulated in his body, realizing him until he lay on the roof, his feet propped against the gutter to stop him from sliding off.

"Iruka."

He looked up through dark-rimmed eyes to see the torture and interrogation's officer standing over him.

"Go home."

He did. However many time he was told to go, he's always be back. Just like he always had.