Chapter two
Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own and not for profit!
Kakashi fumed silently, alternately cursing the Hokage and Umino Iruka as he prowled his suddenly too-confining apartment. Eagle and Serpent were still stationed outside, a careful web of chakra keeping him caged. Eagle he knew from his time in ANBU and he knew the man wouldn't be careless enough to let him escape and go wring that scrawny chuunin's neck. Serpent was younger, but from the effortless way his chakra melded with Eagle's, it was clear they had been partners for a long time. There would be no getting out of this trap until Tsunade sent for him.
Seething, he paced the small living room, desperately trying to come up with some way to connect the dots in a way that made sense. Unfortunately, there were glaring gaps in the picture. Kakashi knew well that he was the last of the Hatake clan. Sakumo had been an only child and his father had died well before Kakashi was ever born. Konoha's 'White Fang' had often told his son how they were the last members of the noble clan… before his disgrace (after that, he had seldom spoken of anything).
Hatake was a name feared for their mastery of certain bloodline limits, and the last of their clan had died out, outside the walls of Konoha. The Second Hokage had accepted Kakashi's great-grandfather and his pregnant wife into the village, offering them protection from those who would wipe their bloodline from the earth. As a result, the surviving Hatake's had sworn loyalty to the village that protected them, a blood vow that had come to rest squarely on Kakashi's shoulders after his father's death. That vow had, in part, been the cause of Sakumo's death. His failed mission had hurt Konoha, and with the weight of that added to his own guilt and the disgrace, he had chosen to end his own life. Kakashi knew intimately that he was the only one of his bloodline left.
Therefore, there was no possible way that the child could be of his bloodline, but the evidence was there in the traits he had seen for himself today.
Iruka had returned from a year-long information-gathering mission with the infant in a sling across his chest, and a tale of how the baby's mother had been his source of information (classified, of course) and she had gotten pregnant with his child during their 'association.' He had claimed the woman had never recovered from the birth and had died soon after the boy had come into the world. With his source of information dried up, and the chance that his position would be compromised, Iruka had taken his infant son and fled back to Konoha. There was nothing out of the ordinary in his story, for it had happened before, among other shinobi. Mitsuo's young daughter, Moegi, had happened that way, though it had been the kunoichi's mistake in letting herself get pregnant by her inside information source. Pillow talk had always been one of the best ways of getting information from people.
Kakashi would have thought the young chuunin would have been more careful, but had thought nothing more of it until today. He'd been drowsing in the branches of a tree above a dango stand when he'd heard Anko greet Iruka in her usual boisterous manner. She and the teacher had gotten their dango and sat companionably beneath the striped awning, eating and chattering.
Anko cooed over the baby (making Kakashi thankful she had no children) and had begun asking Iruka questions about the baby's mother. "You can't tell me what she did or who she worked for, but at least tell me what she looked like. What was she like?"
Iruka hesitated a long moment. "S-she was beautiful, in an understated sort of way. She was jounin…" He paused, before adding in a careful tone of voice, "Part of the reason I was chosen for the mission."
"Right… because of that little trick you can do with hiding your chakra. Wish you'd taught me that one." Anko laughed.
"I wasn't about to give away the secret behind how I was able to get away with so many pranks, Anko-san." Iruka chuckled. "Not even to you."
"So, go on. What did she look like?"
"She had silver-pale hair, like his. It was wild, so she kept it out of her eyes with her headband. I never saw her smile, but she had this crazy sense of humor and the ability to make me laugh. She loved to read and could always be found with a book."
Anko laughed heartily. "You bookworm types always find one another attractive."
Iruka snorted. "Maybe we do. But it doesn't really matter. You know the story. She was an assignment, nothing more." There was something that might have been bitterness in his laugh. "I don't think I was much more than that to her. A release, maybe, from the stresses of being a high-level ninja."
Anko didn't laugh, but her voice held a great deal of amusement. "You don't give yourself enough credit, Iruka-kun. I know half the jounin and chuunin population who would have loved to have been in her place. You're very popular. Or haven't you noticed how often Mitsou-san and Kagura-san have called about having parent-teacher meetings? Or how often Tori-san waits until you come on shift to hand in a mission report?"
"Tori-san?" Iruka spluttered.
There was malicious enjoyment in her voice. "Oh, you should hear him in his cups. Genma and I got him drunk once and all we ever heard about was "Iruka-sensei's pert little ass" and how much he wanted to do certain things to it and you. It was a riot!"
"Anko-chan!" Iruka sounded scandalized.
She giggled. Giggled? Kakashi thought incredulously. Anko actually giggled? "So now you relax and drop the formality? I should tease you more often, Iruka-kun!"
Iruka huffed in irritation.
"But seriously, there's not one of them that wouldn't love to help you raise this adorable little one."
Iruka's voice dropped to a low growl. "I don't need any help."
His anger startled Kakashi as much as it did Anko, who managed a contrite and somewhat confused apology.
It was then that Iruka's current group of pre-genin terrorists came running by, Moegi screaming at the top of her lungs as Konohamaru chased her with a large and very ugly beetle.
The shrieks woke the sleeping infant, who began to wail. Iruka emerged from the dango-seller's stall without the infant and snagged Konohamaru by his collar and proceeded to berate him. The boy dropped the beetle as Anko emerged from the stall, too, looking dismayed by the loudly screaming child in her arms.
As confused by the events as Kakashi, the beetle flew straight for the startled kunoichi. Anko reacted like she would have to any threat, freeing her arms to reach for a kunai. That meant dropping the flailing bundle she was holding.
She realized her mistake almost as soon as she made it, diving to keep the baby from hitting the ground.
Terrified, the infant screamed louder and began throwing off random flares of chakra to anyone with eyes to see them. Spikes of white chakra.
Kakashi dropped his book.
Scowling, Kakashi pulled his edition of Icha Icha Violence from the pocket of his vest and smoothed the creased pages where it had hit the ground. He had never dropped his Icha Icha before. That was only more proof that the world as he knew it had been set on its ear.
He looked up as he felt the chakra web keeping him captive in his own apartment waver. Eagle opened the front door. "Hokage-sama wishes to see you now."
