Kakashi sat stiffly in the hospital chair while watching his blood fill the tube. Why the hell is this happening. Now of all times. And why Iruka? Why? The anger returned, as well as the ache in his chest.

Sakura withdrew the needle and applied the cotton ball to his arm. Giving him a small smile, she said, "That's it. I should have the results by the end of the day. Lady Tsunade has instructed me to notify her as soon as possible."

He nodded and glanced across the room at the silver-haired little boy. The small child played, completely engrossed, with a blue, plushie duck. My son.

"Kakashi-sensei. He certainly looks like you." Sakura quickly blushed and stuttered, "Oh…I'm sorry. I'm not saying…I mean…"

"It's okay, Sakura. I understand what you're trying NOT to say." They both gazed back to the child who had stopped playing and intently watched the adults.

Kakashi could not deny the resemblance. The little guy's silver hair stood in spikes at all different angles. Piercing grey eyes stared back at him. The jounin whispered, "He does look like me." Kakashi pulled down the sleeve of his shirt before walking over and, standing there, looked down at the boy. My son.

The small eyes seemed puzzled at the copy-nin's mask. Unblinking, the eyes moved up to the hiate-ate covering the Sharingan. As if losing interest, he looked away, picked up the duck and hugged it.

"Who's taking care of him? Iruka…" Kakashi stopped as pain stabbed within his chest. "Iruka said the mother was gone."

Sakura observed her former sensei. As usual, he showed no outward emotions. He also did not look well. She was sure he had not had any rest since returning to the village. "Choji and Rock Lee. Kenrin's taken a real liking to Choji. Choji left this morning on a mission, and Rock Lee had his annual checkup today. He brought Kenrin with him so I could do his testing at the same time as yours. I said I'd watch him until Rock Lee finished."

"Kenrin." Kakashi repeated. Named after his Mother. Beautiful Rin.

Hearing his name, the little boy smiled at the jounin. The smile brightened his face. He stood and held out the duck to Kakashi.

Kakashi squatted to be eye level to the child, and slowly took the offered toy. He has his mother's smile. "Thanks."

The boy giggled then ran to hide behind Sakura. He shyly peeked out around Sakura's tunic before hiding again.

While keeping her eyes on Kakashi, she reached down and patted Kenrin's head. She carefully asked, "Sensei, did Lady Tsunade tell you everything?"

The copy-nin continued to stare at the small child. "She did." He finally stood and walked toward the door.

"Lady Tsunade told me only what I needed to know. But believe me, I will not tell anyone anything."

"I know." He placed the toy on a chair and walked out.

Sakura continued to stroke the silver hair. Her former sensei was hurting. What confused her was why he was hurting. Was it because Iruka had left him, or because his past had caught up to him, or was it the fact that he had a son he knew nothing about? Whatever the reason, she hated that there was nothing she could do to help Kakashi.

*******

Iruka rubbed his right temple. His headache wouldn't go away. His mind replayed last night's confrontation over.

Kakashi stood in the middle of the Uzumaki living room, face to face with Iruka, the exposed portion of his face furrowed in anger. His hands clenched and unclenched as if resisting the urge to strike the chuunin. "Not once did I question the smell of Raidou on you."

Iruka's eyes widened. Oh shit.

"I remember each occasion. When I returned days early from a mission…after the Land of Rice, the Village of Stone, the …"

Iruka began to tremble. He knew? He whispered, "Stop."

"Or even the one time our bed smelled of him."

Iruka's knees gave out, and he sat down with a thud. "Kakashi…"

"Not once. Not once, did I ask you."

"Kakashi…I…I…it's…"

The jounin held up his right gloved hand in a gesture to silence Iruka. "Not once did I ask you because …"

"Iruka?" Tsunade's voice jolted him from his thoughts. Having received her summons while dressing for work that morning, he quickly hurried to the meeting. He had been sitting outside her office for over an hour now.

Following her into her office he said, "Lady Tsunade, I'm sorry to have dumped all this at your feet. You have enough to deal with running the village."

She seated herself behind her desk. "Nonsense. This is part of my duties. I can't have our ninja roaming the countryside leaving little bastards all over the place. They're grown men—for Pete's sake – they need to be more responsible. Never thought the great copy-nin would be so careless."

Seeing Iruka cringe, her voice softened. "Iruka. We went over this. You know sometimes during a mission, sex is sometimes inevitable in order for the mission to succeed. Sex is sometimes the best tactic to obtain the information needed. This might be the case…and an accident happened."

Iruka shook his head. "No. It wasn't in his report. When this first came to light, I retrieved the paperwork from that mission and went over every page. There wasn't even a hint that he'd been intimate with her. But she is named throughout his report. I know he'd had …during some missions – he never withheld that from the reports or from me but…" He inhaled a deep breath and swallowed hard. "I can see where he could have fallen for her. The name. And her looking so much like his former team member." His voice lowered to barely audible. "Everyone's always speculated on whether he loved Rin."

"I'd heard that rumor too." Tsunade crossed her hands in front of her face. "Kenrin's uncle will return this week wanting answers. It's a good thing Kakashi returned in time. This morning I briefed him on the situation. He didn't seem surprised to hear Rin was dead or that her brother is demanding compensation for the child's upbringing. And as for being named Kenrin's father…he didn't deny it, but he also didn't admit to it." She slammed her hands on the desk. "Even as a kid that damned jounin always was an expert at hiding his emotions. Didn't even flinch when I told him he might have a son. I sent him over to have Sakura run the test." She glanced at her watch. "And he'd better have gone or I'll drag him over there by his ear!"

Iruka rubbed his temple again. Exhausted, he wanted to go home and sleep but knew he couldn't, not with this headache and Kakashi's words still ringing in his head. "Not once did I question the smell of Raidou on you."

As if reading his mind, the Hokage said, "Go home, Sensei. Take something for that headache and get some rest. You look like hell, just like Kakashi. Shikamaru will cover your classes for a few days. As soon as …"

The knock on her door startled them. Tsunade grumbled. "They know better than to interrupt me." She yelled, "Come in!"

Opening the door, Sakura cautiously peered in. "I'm sorry to disturb you." She stopped when she spotted Iruka in the room. "Hello Iruka-sensei."

Nodding, his headache pounded harder. I just need sleep. Just sleep and not to think of Kakashi. He closed his eyes in order to hold back the tears.

Sakura returned her gaze to the Hokage. "I'll come back later."

"No, no. Come on in."

Sakura shook her head. "No really, I'll come back later."

Tsunade waved her in. "Sakura, I said come in."

"But I'm…I'm not alone." Her eyes nervously darted to Iruka.

Patience wearing thin, the blond barked, "Come in already!"

Sakura slowly opened the door to reveal Kenrin holding her hand with one hand and the blue duck in the other.

Iruka bit his lower lip. Kakashi's son.

Sakura lifted Kenrin into a chair. "I don't have the results yet. It will be a couple more hours. I just wanted to let you know that Kakashi-sensei did show up for the test."

Tsunade's gaze went from boy to the chunin. "Iruka. Go home. Go to your home, not Naruto's." When he started to protest, she added, "That's why I summoned you. You can return home. Kakashi has returned to his old apartment."