Mmkay...before we go too much further, I want all of you to know that I do welcome any and all critique, as long as it's done for the betterment of the story. I really, really want to make this particular one stand out, not necessarily because of the 'madness/weirdness' factor, but because it is such a different genre than what I'm used to. So, review away! Good or bad, I will take it in stride. Flames, again, aren't tolerated, but that's because I'm old and I don't give a rat's patootie when I make it clear that it's yaoi/yuri.
Dream On...
Rage, worry, and fear lined Iruka's slender frame, causing him to quiver even he stood still. It radiated in waves around him, giving his chakra a slightly reddish hue. Had most of the ninja of the Leaf seen him right then, they would have scoffed at his lack of control, assured that they were far better shinobi than some chuunin teacher at the Academy. He didn't even teach the older students; he coddled the children. His students were far wiser, and would have been carefully examining their homework, schoolwork, or shoes with all evidence of enjoyment had he been in the classroom. As it was, Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto were following him a few steps behind, sharing silent, fearful glances. Even Sasuke looked a little unnerved, and poor Naruto was beside himself as his teacher and adoptive parent seethed down the hallway, beyond pissed at everyone involved in the whole affair. Iruka had only been summoned an hour ago from the Leaf, after a solid week of waiting for word on how his beloved jounin team had fared.
Behind all of them, Tsunade sighed. She felt marginally guilty that she hadn't brought the chuunin earlier, but how did she explain to the Sand that a mere chuunin was the key to saving the sanity of one of their greatest shinobi? Most places weren't as lenient and open-minded as the Leaf...but in the end, she'd had to no choice. Kakashi was lost to all of them; no one else had half a snowball's chance in hell of drawing him out of the remaining hallucinations. Perhaps his lover, his beloved 'Ruka, could succeed where they all had admittedly failed. Granted, once Iruka had cared for Kakashi, she had no doubt he'd be going out for blood. And not Kabuto's; he would want the elders and council who'd denied his repeated requests to be punished. And for once, Tsunade was heavily inclined to allow him the privilege. They could not afford to lose Kakashi; let alone lose an entire team of capable, powerful jounin. If Iruka was the only person they needed to make sure the team thrived, than she'd be damned if he wasn't given his freedoms.
However...she could very well be wrong, and they might be going to Kakashi's subsequent execution. Honestly, she couldn't put it past the young man, especially if Kakashi made any move to jump him in any way when Iruka stepped inside the room. She just hoped he'd keep the bloodshed to a minimum...She didn't want to have to pay for cleaning up stucco...A gruff, wise-ass voice caused the small group to pause in astonishment as Pakkun appeared in a puff of silver smoke, looking decidedly worse for wear. The pug limped painfully up to Iruka and let himself be picked up, snuggling into sensei's shoulder.
"Hey there, Iruka-sensei...How've you been?" He wheezed softly, sagging in exhaustion. "Worried out of my mind...! Pakkun, what happened? No one's told me anything, save that Kakashi broke..."
"I wish I could help...but with Kakashi's mind in the state it's in, there's no telling what really happened to him. We were summoned, but it was only after the fighting died down...and he was...not right...the others fled back to the other space, but I was foolish..."
"Foolish...?" Iruka's voice died as he noticed the cast around Pakkun's right rear leg, and the cuts across his short, bristly fur. He felt his anger rise again, but it was tempered by sadness and a need to comfort the hurt ninken. He hugged the dog close and stroked his back before handing him carefully to Naruto, pausing to run his fingers through the boy's hair. "I'll kill him...but you'll be okay, Pakkun. Tell the others that they're welcome in the apartment; just ask Gai or Genma to get them food. Now, I have a jerk to talk to." The teacher spun on his heel and stalked forward, wrenching open the door to the max-security cell with a growl and ducking inside, he shoved it shut, his voice already rising in barely concealed rage.
"You inconsiderate asshole of a shinobi! Do you have any idea how fucking worried I was? You are damned lucky I even cam-!" He was silenced by a pair of unmasked lips sealing over his, sharp teeth nipping at the side of his mouth as he shoved hard against the bare chest pressing him into the wall, tipping his head back and snarling as he broke the kiss. The older jounin caught his hands and pinned him to the wall, trailing his lips and teeth down Iruka's neck. As he ground his lower body into his irate lover's, the teacher brought his knee up and slammed his heel down onto the jounin's bared toes, the sound of tiny bones cracking resounding in the chamber.
The jounin stilled, both eyes gaping, and his gray one focused dimly in on Iruka as he mouthed his shock and pain. He seemed to fall away a little, limping as he tried to put weight on his now broken foot, his breathing coming in short, pained gasps. The chuunin caught him and gently pulled his arm over his shoulders, helping him to the bed he'd been lurking around as Iruka had opened the door. The sharingan had been whirling all the time he'd been trying to molest the teacher, and Iruka breathed a soft sigh of relief as he noted it calming and stilling, that eyelid closing in weariness.
"...Ruka...?" Came the soft groan, and he smiled gently, sadly. Kakashi's skin, already pale, had a terrible gray tint to it, and his skinny frame seemed far more spare than usual. He was uninjured, but clearly in a horrid state; Iruka wondered how much of that was from the Mangekyo sharingan's influence. If he had depleted his chakra so much for it to start to have a serious physical effect on him, than what would happen if it should suddenly activate, as it seemed to have on this mission? But Iruka pushed those worries aside for another day, settling his lover into the deep coverlet, cuddling next to him by way of apology.
"I didn't want to do that, my love..."
"...It's okay..." He hissed a little as he shifted to wrap an arm around Iruka's shoulders and draw him close, kissing his forehead and nuzzling his hair. "...s'not like you planned this. How are the kids?" He had to smile at that, and closed his eyes, draping his arm around Kakashi's waist.
"Scared...worried...Sasuke's as stoic as ever, pretending that this doesn't bother him."
"No injuries?"
"Naruto had a few scrapes, and Pakkun got a broken leg. You were in surprisingly good condition...given what I'd been told..." Kakashi seemed to shiver a little, and Iruka was surprised, but not as shocked as he felt he could have been, when he felt hot tears dampen his hair, and a pained sob echo from his beloved's chest. "Kashi, honey..."
"Dear gods, what have I done? I tried to attack Naruto, I tried to hurt you...I hurt my poor, poor Pakkun, for no reason! I remember attacking and fighting and killing...and taunting the kid who practically calls me Dad...and hurting my ninken...And...and...!" Iruka shushed him, holding him close as he broke down, becoming dimly aware of eight nervous, worried chakras appearing, all of them staying at the edges of the room. "I'm such a bastard...no...I'm such a monster! I'm such a monster..." His voice faded to a pained whisper, and Iruka pulled him closer, tilting his head up to place a firm, gentle kiss on his lips.
"Hatake Kakashi, I want you to repeat after me. I am not a monster."
"B-but...!"
"Repeat the phrase, baka."
"...I am not a monster."
"Again."
"I am not a monster."
"With a little more conviction."
"I am not a monster!" Kakashi paused, his eye widening a little as he gazed down at his lover. "You planned that." Iruka smiled gently, and kissed him again, ruffling his lank silver hair.
"I did indeed. How do you think I managed to get Naruto sanely through the whole Mizuki ordeal? He may have been all smiles the next day, but he'd had a terrible nightmare that night and ran to my apartment, sobbing, telling me that he was a monster and that I never should have graduated him. You took considerably less time than he did to figure out the meaning of that little exercise, but its purpose still serves, so I still remember it. Now, I want you to lie here while I get Sakura in here to heal your foot; the kids will feel a lot better knowing that you're not in trouble anymore." Despite Kakashi's pout and tangling arms, Iruka managed to unravel himself and move away, pulling off his hiate-ate and handing it to the older nin.
"Here, cover your eye with this, since yours is in pieces. I'll be right back." Before he moved too far, though, he gestured to the frightened ninken and offered them a few pats and scratches. "Alright, boys, I need you to be my watchers, okay? He's harmless now...and very much upset with himself. Let's do ourselves a favor and give the goofball a little love; he's very repentent." Bull immediately made a bee-line to Kakashi's outstretched hand, his tongue lolling out as the jounin pulled him into a hug, rubbing his ears. The others followed him, save for Pakkun, who eyed the jounin for a moment, then sighed, choosing to hop into Iruka's arms.
"You're gonna go back to him in a bit; walking's still hard for me to do right now, so he can be patient to give me my apology." Iruka laughed a little bit, and strode over to the door and knocked on it politely, waiting while someone scrambled to open the tiny hatch at eye level, clearly fighting off a hysterical Naruto.
"IRUKA-SENSEI!"
"KID WILL YOU BACK OFF? So, Iruka-sensei...is everything okay?" He smiled a little and nodded, turning to point at Kakashi behind him, who waved weakly.
"We're fine. Naruto, calm down so the nice man can open the door for me. I need Sakura-chan to come in here for a bit; I managed to break his foot." The stunned silence that greeted him when the door rolled back almost made him giggle; Naruto looked torn between horror and hysterics, Sakura just looked horrified, while Sasuke was covering his mouth, clearly hiding a grin. "See, I'm in one piece. So are the ninken, and so is Kakashi. Once his foot is healed, we're gonna head back to Konoha so I can spoil all of you with real food that isn't in those damned ration packs." He laughed at the cheer from Naruto, and gently shook Sakura's shoulder, smiling as she came back to herself with a sheepish blush. Sasuke just shook his head and caught Naruto's shoulders, pushing him down the hallway.
"We'll get our crap gathered up, Iruka-sensei." He called, giving him a sort of half wave as they disappeared around a corner. Iruka just shook his head and followed Sakura inside, laying Pakkun down on the bed when he got close enough to crouch down and take Kakashi's hand, smoothing his tanned fingers over the pale skin. His gray eye softened as he stroked Iruka's hand in return, and he smiled a little, sighing.
"I suppose my bad boy-mask image is sorely destroyed now."
"Mm...perhaps, but Gai hasn't seen your face, so I don't doubt you'll still be challenged on a daily basis."
"Maybe we can leave my foot broken...?" The hopeful look died when Iruka crossed his arms. Sakura snickered softly, putting a little more power into her healing chakra.
"Oh yes, and who's going to carry you back? The chuunin you tower above, the two seventeen year olds who have to be our guards, our Hokage, or the kuniochi who's got enough on her plate rebuilding your health. You'll be able to walk just fine, Master Kakashi."
"Aww...you're mean." He grumbled, working one hand through Pakkun's fur.
"No, just truthful. If you were dying, we'd take turns, but since you're not, I see no point in you being carried."
"I carried Naruto when he and Sasuke fought!"
"Because the boy was in a coma for a week afterwards."
"It's only fair, Iruka-koishi. Oh, Tsunade-sama~!"
"No, Kakashi. Save for needing food, you're fine. And I'm making sure you're suspended from all missions for at least a month; given the circumstances, I'd say the elders are likely going to investigate everything anyway. So before they have a chance to court martial you, I'm going to push for medical and psycological leave for you. So, buck up, lover boy; we've got a long road ahead of us." Iruka's eyes softened, though, at Kakashi's hastily hidden worry; he was scared that the outcome could mean exile, imprisonment, isolation...even death. And it wasn't even all of that that scared him...he knew what it was. It was the loss of himself, the loss at a chance at a life that isn't all missions and bloodletting and ANBU. Iruka had known that from the moment he'd first started going steady with the jounin; he knew, better than most, that all Kakashi wanted was a family...and for the first time in his life...he had one.
